Sunday was pretty much a repeat performance of Saturday. No accidents just still can't get anything done around here. Now Manic Monday rears it's ugly head so I'm just going to post some pics:
An amarylis bulb that I received for X-mas blooming beautifully, my black lab looking like a yogi, and the reflection of my kitchen light floating eerierly in the pic of the bird feeders.
on cleaning the basement! - not with the way my house looks, but when I heard the scream from downstairs and yelled, "are you allright", as I ran down the steps; he answered quickly, "yeah, but I broke that big think that used to be in Danielle's room". As soon as I got down there I remembered, oh yea that thing that has been down there since her 16th B-day party (she just turned 18). Tall cylinder filled with water and plastic fish now in shards and water everywhere, including all over the drum set and the rug under the drum set. So we spent the better part of an hour cleaning up the mess. I'm supposed to be sanding, putting and binning the woodwork in the living room so what the hell am I doing on here? practicing avoidance? I managed to throw in a load of laundry on the way up - no easy task either - especially with a boy - you have to look at every piece of clothing before you put it in and spray almost every inch of it in hopes of those grape juice and dirt stains coming out, some pieces look like they should be thrown out but they wash up pretty good luckily. Okay enough stalling, time to sand and vacuum that woodwork - for 1/2 and hr. then i have to go pick up the boy at the movies, and i wonder why nothing gets done around here.
THIRTY LINES THAT MIGHT MAKE YOU SMILE
1.. My husband and I divorced over religious differences. He thought he was God and I didn't.
2.. I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
3.. I Work Hard Because Millions On Welfare Depend on Me!
4.. Some people are alive only because it's illegal to kill them.
5.. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke.
6.. Don't take life too seriously; No one gets out alive.
7. You're just jealous because the voices only talk to me
8.. Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder.
9. Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.
10.. I'm not a complete idiot --Some parts are missing.
11.. Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.
12. NyQuil, the stuffy, sneezy, why-the-heck-is-the-room-spinning medicine.
13. God must love stupid people; He made so many.
14. The gene pool could use a little chlorine.
15. Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.
16.. Ever stop to think, and forget to start again?
17. Being "over the hill" is much better than being under it!
18.. Wrinkled Was Not One of the Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew up.
19. Procrastinate Now!
20. I Have a Degree in Liberal Arts; Do You Want Fries With That?
21. A hangover is the wrath of grapes.
22. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a cash advance
23. Stupidity is not a handicap. Park elsewhere!
24.They call it PMS because MadCow Disease was already taken.(for shame!!)
25.He who dies with the most toys is nonetheless dead.
26..A picture is worth a thousand words, but it uses up three thousand times the memory.
27.Ham and eggs. A day's work for a chicken, a lifetime commitment for a pig.
28.The trouble with life is there's no background music.
29. The original point and click interface was a Smith and Wesson.
30. I smile! because I don't know what the hell is going on
Got dinner on the table late as usual and as usual the two of us, my son & I, had our reading material all around us. We eat at the kitchen island because it is usually just the two of us (plus the two animals clamoring for food). His sports magazines and my newspapers from the morning are usually still shrewn around. Sometime I say, " put the magazine away" in an attempt to have normal dinner conversation, but a lot of the time I just let us read cause we are together so much that I don't think that we have to "make dinner conversations" - it's exhausting anyway, trying to pry information from a twelve year old, ie: "what did you do at school today?, "nothing".
He sometimes reads me some sports trivia that I don't have a clue about and tonite I read to him from one of the articles in the newspaper that I 've been saving to read- about this 19 yr. old Indian American Harvard student who got a book deal for 500,000(at age 17!) His response - "what's she need 500,000 dollars for? she's in college.
And I answered(seeing an opportunity for some of that "good dinner conversation," well why do those sports heroes have to make millions of dollars? what about the firefighters saving lives, they're the heroes and they don't make much. His comeback was "well, Jackie Robinson" was a hero- he was one of the first black players" and I said "yea, I bet he didn't make much."
One of our better dinner conversations I'd say.
A man was sick and tired of going to work every day while his wife stayed home. He wanted her to see what he went through so he prayed: "Dear Lord: I go to work every day and put in 8 hours while my wife merely stays at home. I want her to know what I go through, so please allow her body to switch with mine for a day. Amen.
God, in his infinite wisdom, granted the man's wish. The next morning, sure enough, the man awoke as a woman. He arose, cooked breakfast for his mate, awakened the kids, Set out their school clothes, fed them breakfast, packed their lunches, drove them to school, came home and picked up the dry cleaning, took it to the cleaners and stopped at the bank to make a deposit, went grocery shopping, then drove home to put away the groceries, paid the bills and balanced the checkbook.
He cleaned the cat's litter box and bathed the dog. Then it was already 1 P.M. and he hurried to make the beds, do the laundry, vacuum, dust, and sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
Ran to the school to pick up the kids and got into an argument with them on the way home. Set out milk and cookies and got the kids organized to do their homework, Then set up the ironing board and watched TV while he did the ironing.
At 4:30 he began peeling potatoes and washing vegetables for salad, breaded the pork chops and snapped fresh beans for supper.
After supper, he cleaned the kitchen, ran the dishwasher, folded laundry, bathed the kids, and put them to bed. At 9 P.M. he was exhausted and, though his daily chores weren't finished, he went to bed where he was expected to make love, which he managed to get through without complaint.
The next morning, he awoke and immediately knelt by the bed and said, Lord, I don't know what I was thinking. I was so wrong to envy my wife's being able to stay home all day.
Please, oh please, let us trade back."
The Lord, in his infinite wisdom, replied, "My son, I feel you have learned your lesson and I will be happy to change things back to the way they were. You'll just have to wait nine months, though. You got pregnant last night."
Voted Women's Favorite Email of the Year
Here it is Hump Wednesday and I haven't posted since my little poll on Sat. and the post before that was on my abandoned blog. So what's up with that? Let's see for excuses I have 1) my little "procedure" 2) school vacation week 3) someone's always playing Texas hold-em when I'm ready to post; but these are lame excuses as I 1) have the week off 2) the boy is in baseball camp for 4 hrs. in the morning and 3) I do have a laptop that i never use.
So what is my problem? Am I losing interest? Is the bloom off the rose? I had all good intentions of 1) getting my house cleaned 2) attacking my paper clutter/get my papers/life organized 3) attempting some writing (enter a poem in the next carnival).
So I guess the only answer is I am a terrible slacker. Sounds like a title of one of those Series of unfortunate events books that the boy reads. Or maybe it's the 2 hrs. I waste watching American Idol. Whatever it is I am feeling pathetic; I will attack that draft file with a vengence.... later- i'm not done slackin.
Something I've been mulling over for awhile. Should've put this up for Valentines Day.
Do you think:
a) opposites attract?
b) birds of a feather are better?
c) or is this really just G-d's little joke watching men and woman trying to get along
And which combination is better for a marraige or long-term relationship
a) opposites
b) birds of a feather
c) none of the above or other?
George W. was out jogging one morning along the parkway when he tripped, fell over the bridge railing and landed in the creek below.
Before the Secret Service guys could get to him, three kids, who were fishing, pulled him out of the water. He was so grateful he offered the kids whatever they wanted.
The first kid said, "I want to go to Disneyland."
George said, "No problem. I'll take you there on Air Force One".
The second kid said, "I want a new pair of Nike Air Jordan's."
George said, "I'll get them for you and even have Michael sign them!"
The third kid said, "I want a motorized wheelchair with a built-in TV and stereo headset!!"
Bush is a little perplexed by this and says, "But you don't look like you are handicapped."
The kid says, "I will be after my dad finds out I saved your ass from drowning!"
I've been feeling remiss this week on not having posted since Sun. But you know.. "Life's what happens while you're making other plans." I don't know where I read that but it's so true. Anyway I've been a little preoccupied of late- introspective i guess. Anyway I'm off today and going into the big city - Boston- for a little procedure ( nothing remotely life threatening). So maybe i'll blog about it, maybe i won't.
Views from my window. Wish i had a better camara, but this was my first digital. Really glad I filled those bird feeders yesterday, looks like they are too.
The fat squirrel looks like one of those guys in Atlantic City, NJ at the all you can eat buffets.
He profited from my ADD style of filling the bird feeders- bring bag out on deck and leave on table to the next day.
The Pasta Diet
1) You walka pasta da bakery.
2) You walka pasta da candy store.
3) You walka pasta da Ice Cream shop.
4) You walka pasta da table and fridge.
And for those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on
nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all the
conflicting medical studies:
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks
than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than
Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks
than Americans.
4. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and suffer
fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausage and suffer
fewer heart attacks than Americans.
CONCLUSION:
Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you.
Todays patient,a diabetic, tells me he cheats, then feels guilty. We get into a fairly lengthy discussion about this.
After finishing the next patient, I notice that he has left his hot chocolate behind and I go out to the waiting room to find him to give it to him.
I find him in the optical shop; he looks up and sees me and smiles and says," I know I left it." I say jokingly, "Yeah, I confiscated it."
he smiles and puts up his hand and says "that's ok - thanks."
Sometimes I am the one giving the help(not like in my previous work posts, in which the patients brought words of wisdom to me); but like this pep talk to a diabetic about how food = medicine but don't beat yourself up over it. Sometimes when people are worried and nervous,a line I use alot is," don't worry till you have something to worry about."
today, there was no way i could drag my tired body into work. My back was hurting real bad last night so I took a pain pill, when it didn't seem to be doing the trick, i remembered that it said take 1 or 2 every 4 hrs. as needed so i took a second. I was sure that I would be out like a light in no time. The exact opposite happenned, i was wide awake most of the night. At 2 in the morning I decided to take 2 more for the pain cause i didn't realize at the time that they seemed to be having an opposite affect to sleepiness. So this morning when i dragged myself to the phone to call in and realized just how bad I did feel - dizzy and all, I attempted to go back to bed and get some rest. But 1/2 hr. later when i was just falling off, the damn phone rang, my supervisor from work, calling to beg me to come in this afternoon if i felt beter because they were so shorthanded. Then 1/2 hr. later and the door bell is ringing - the electrician - now he gets here! I wish i coulda curled up like the perfect looking little angel here.
Wow! What about that Mick Jagger and the Stones?? Not your average 60 yr. old. He's skinnier than most 20 yr. olds. Now - he can wear a belly shirt, no problem. How do they stay so thin? drugs?? are they vegetarians?? They're nothing short of incredible. If it weren't for them and the commercials I'd be asleep.
(This is a draft from Nov. 5th., i just couldn't delete it, i'm going thru my drafts folder one by one and deleting or posting or saving)
I just realized that I write like I do everything and maybe this is the problem. Do I have ADD? I tend to jump from one thing to another, be it housecleaning, yardwork, and now even writing. I start a post, get an idea for another, just don't want to finish the one I'm working on it seems; jump from one to another. I know i've written about this before in terms of my housekeeping ability or should i say disability. And I always thought that maybe it was just because housekeeping is just so boring, mundane. but writing is fluid, different, thought provoking. So then it must just be a flaw of mine. No stickwithitness, when the blogging gets tough the blogger goes surfing. Also the problem with all these drafts is that they're not in real time and may not reflect what's going on now.
(I was actually relieved that I didn't remember them all)
DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN...?
All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?
It took five minutes for the TV warm up?
Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?
Nobody owned a purebred dog?
When a quarter was a decent allowance?
You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?
Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?
All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had
their hair done every day and wore high heels?
You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped,
without asking, all for free, every time?
And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?
Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?
It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner
at a real restaurant with your parents?
They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . .and they did?
When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise,
peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?
No one ever asked where the car keys were
because they were always in the car,
in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?
Lying on your back in the grass with your friends
and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a ."
and playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?
Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals
because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?
And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once,
you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace,
and share it with the children of today?
When being sent to the principal's office was nothing
compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?
Basically we were in fear for our lives,
but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.
Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!
But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.
Send this on to someone who can still remember
Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Laurel and Hardy,
Howdy Dowdy and the Peanut Gallery,
the Lone Ranger, The Shadow Knows,
Nellie Bell, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk.
As well as summers filled with bike rides, baseball games,
Hula Hoops, bowling and visits to the pool,
and eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar.
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that"?
I am sharing this with you today
because it ended with a double dog dare to pass it on.
To remember what a double dog dare is, read on.
And remember that the perfect age is somewhere between
old enough to know better and too young to care.
How many of these do you remember?
Candy cigarettes
Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside
Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes
Blackjack, Clove and Teaberry chewing gum
Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
Newsreels before the movie
P.F. Fliers
Telephone numbers with a word prefix....(Raymond 4-601).
Party lines
Peashooters
Howdy Dowdy
45 RPM records
Green Stamps
Hi-Fi's
Metal ice cubes trays with levers
Mimeograph paper
Beanie and Cecil
Roller-skate keys
Cork pop guns
Drive ins
Studebakers
Washtub wringers
The Fuller Brush Man
Reel-To-Reel tape recorders
Tinkertoys
Erector Sets
The Fort Apache Play Set
Lincoln Logs
15 cent McDonald hamburgers
5 cent packs of baseball cards -
with that awful pink slab of bubble gum
Penny candy
35 cent a gallon gasoline
Jiffy Pop popcorn
Do you remember a time when...
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?
Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"?
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?
Catching the fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening?
It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"?
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"?
Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?
A foot of snow was a dream come true?
Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?
"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?
War was a card game?
Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?
Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin?
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived!!!!!!!
Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from
their "grown-up" life . . .I double-dog-dare-ya!
Why is it that sometimes it just rolls off the page like butter and then other times it feels like homework? Is it a state of mind? i guess - sometimes its a NewYork state of mind (exciting, an adventure) and sometimes its Hoboken(used to be a pitty kind of place in NJ, tho i hear now its nice).
And even tho it is something that I enjoy doing, sometimes you just have to break down and cook and clean. Today I'm wearing my painter's hat, tho I am not actually painting, just doing the prep work, spackling, sanding and vacumming. Sometimes I'm good at juggling, throw in a load of laundry, help the kid with homework (tho he rarely asks anymore - thank goodness he's smart - cause 6th grade math is beyond my expertise - and i think he's smart enof to realize this), blog a little, make dinner (uh-oh, better get to the store - no food!)
I had intended to get to one of those drafts, I guess i did but I might get a "C" for ? incomplete. The dog just dove under the computer and the kids telling me something about someone in sports on TV. How can I get any homework done!
Hope you all are having a great weekend!
This ought to make you feel better about your computer skills.
Tech support: What kind of computer do you have?
Blonde customer: A white one...
Customer: Hi, this is Celine. I can't get my diskette out.
Tech support: Have you tried pushing the button?
Customer: Yes, sure, it's really stuck.
T ech support: That doesn't sound good; I'll make a note.
Customer: No .. wait a minute... I hadn't inserted it yet... it's still on my desk... sorry....
Customer: Hi this is Sharlene, I'm having trouble running my computer.
Tech support: So what do you have on your computer?
Customer: This cute purple teddy that my boyfriend bought me.
Customer: I have problems printing in red...
Tech support: Do you have a color printer?
Customer: Aaaah....................thank you.
Customer: I can't get on the Internet.
Tech support: Are you sure you used the right password?
Customer: Yes, I'm sure. I saw my colleague do it.
Tech support: Can you tell me what the password was?
Customer: Five stars.
Tech support: How may I help you?
Customer: I'm writing my first e-mail.
Tech support: OK, and what seems to be the problem?
Customer: Well, I have the letter 'a' in the address, but how do I get the circle around it?
And last but not least...
Tech support: "Okay Bob, let's press the control and escape keys at the same time. That brings up a task list in the middle of the screen. Now type the letter "P" to bring up the Program Manager."
Customer: I don't have a P.
Tech support: On your keyboard, Bob.
Customer: What do you mean?
Tech support: "P".....on your keyboard, Bob.
Customer: I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT!
I hate to admit it but I love toys. I lust after them for months/years -like those widescreen/flat screen TV's, but I don't see one of those in my immediate future, unless I win the lottery. Yesteday I did get a Palm pilot tho. It's charging as I type. I got one at xmas time, the cheapest version and hadn't opened it. This weekend in the flyers , where i persue all those expensive toys, there was the nicer Palm tungston E on sale. This one can take a memory card and hold music and pictures. So besides having a fancy organizer I now have what I am calling my "E pod". Now if I can only figure out how to use it.
The show you love to hate or hate to love? It's dumb, it's moronic, but it's funny; my favorite of course is Simon- so mean and sharp-tongued.I started watching it with Luke last year,at the end of the year before actually.But sitting on the couch with him reminds me of when I was a kid and watched The Ed Sullivan Show with my parents on Sunday nights. I won't tell you how many times I voted for Bo. So anyway that's what I'll be doing tonite I'm afraid to say.
Seasonal Adjusment Disorder(for those of you not familiar with this - it's real - it's been studied) this is what I think I'm suffering from, among other things. This happens every winter it seems, cold and dark don't agree with me. I just noticed that I haven't posted since sat.(except for my call for help for the new name.) I have seen some signs of it around the blogosphere as well. It evidently also explains my cravings for sweets and carbs - mmm pasta and hot fudge.You can read more about it here, in case you think i made it up. Think Spring!
Got this idea from Musings of a Middle-aged Woman.These are the opening lines on my blog for each month of 2005:
April: This is a work in progress ( my 1st attempt at this).
May: Well, I'm finally back from my little foray into computer hell.
June: Well I had good intentions of writing in here and also turning over my garden but my old back is telling me to just go lie down.
July: I am seriously thinking of giving up blogging - its seems to be my latest addiction.
August: just one more load of laundry..
..fore I die ( sounds like a Bob Dylan song.)
Sept: Well it seems our illustrious President(synonymous with jackass) has proven his total ineffectiveness/uselessness once again.
Oct: Feel my best
Staring at this screen, typing on these keys. Writing a post or reading a post.
Nov: Feel like when I was six and had whooping cough; everyone else was out playing and I wasn't.
Dec: Over at The Glittering Muse my poem is included in The Symphonic Poetry Carnival.
This is why I don't like to watch the news or read the newspaper. I used to only get the Sunday paper but because a telemarketer caught me on a good day and it was a good deal (less than the Sunday only paper) and because my son likes reading the sports page while he eats his cereal, we've been getting it daily. So I've been reading the front page and of course other than that blog news there is only bad news - This poor girls kidnapping, Bin Laden's new threat(which makes me wonder about my upcoming trip) and 2 pictures of kids, one who was beaten to death and one nearly to death (in vegatative coma).
I can't wait to we go back to just getting the paper on Sunday. For 2 reasons, the above and because all that paper (all those trees) and lugging them to the transfer station (dump) to be recycled.
So when I was trying to find a joke to post for Joke friday it just didn't seem right. I can't get that picture of Jill Carroll as a hostage out of my head. I downloaded that picture of her but then found the one of her as the vibrant woman she is. I am praying for her release.
Change of mind/heart: Not wanting to disappoint any who come here for Joke Friday and thinking after all humor is good medicine.
Things to Ponder- Some of these are great, make sure you read at least the last 3.
Number 10 - Life is sexually transmitted
Number 9 - Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
Number 8 - Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.
Number 7 - Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.
Number 6 - Some people are like a Slinky.....not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.
Number 5 - Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. Number 4 - All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism. Number 3 - Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?
Number 2 - In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
AND THE NUMBER 1 THOUGHT FOR 2006: We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration.
Life's a magazine. How much?.. 25 cents.. only got a nickel..that's life.. what's life?... a magaizine. (From when i was a kid growing up in NJ.)
Then there is this quote:
Life's what happens while you're making other plans.
I had all intentions of posting one of those 35 drafts today, but i got involved in a number of things, none of which i've finished, unfortunately. So I still have to find Red Sox/Yankees tickets on Ebay ( which I am new to) if I can figure out how to just finish registering. I am signed up for Paypay so i'll be able to pay for those tickets when I find them. And the worst part of all this is that my 12 yr. old doesn't think I should go to the game; well I can he says if he explains things to me before we go, or I promise not to talk. hmmmmm.
Then there is school vacation,Spring Training and baseball camp. Still have to make plans/find reservations for all that.
Who would've ever believed that my live would revolve around baseball.
Update: Exciting news- I just won my first bid on Ebay - tickets to the LA Dodgers/Redsox Spring Training Game!!!
Going thru a extreme drafting phase here. That's me - non-committal with a dash of ADD. I just counted I have 35!! if you go way back. Most of those will be deleted tho. So does anyone else do this? or do you just fire them out and don't look back? Turning into a wicked night owl here, forget that i have to get up at the crack of dawn or before actually, still dark at 6:20AM. Too late to work on those drafts now; maybe tomorrow.
Creative types, don't balance checkbooks or put makeup on for their son's basketball game where all the other moms will be perfectly coiffed. They take pictures of the birds at the feeder, go to the beach on a rainy day, and of course blog, what else.
January 15, 2006
Quote of the Week: Martin Luther King, Jr. on War
"It is time for all people of conscience to call upon America to return to her true home of brotherhood and peaceful pursuits. We cannot remain silent as our nation engages in one of history's most cruel and senseless wars.
During these days of human travail, we must encourage creative dissenters. We need them because the thunder of their fearless voices will be the only sound stronger than the blasts of bombs and the clamor of war hysteria.
Those of us who love peace must organize as effectively as war hawks. As they spread the propaganda of war, we must spread the propaganda of peace. "
---------------
"Now let me say that the next thing we must be concerned about if we are to have peace on earth and good will toward men is the nonviolent affirmation of the sacredness of all human life."
---- both quotes by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968)
Came downstairs this morning to make coffee and breakfast for the kid and there on the front page of The Boston Globe (on the top half - not bottom!) is this article about bloggers!
Headline: Website wants to unite bloggers smaller headline under that:
Mass. startup to pay writers (ok now they have my attention).
Now is when I wish I had a scanner, this would be so much easier than typing this whole thing. Well, light dawns on Marblehead, I'll hyperlink to it( so maybe i don't need a scanner). So you can read it for yourself right here
I've gone to the website but haven't had that much time to explore it; I must say I wasn't very impressed by what I saw. I was impressed with that Headline though.
Seven Things
this meme(I forget where I found it)was deceptively difficult to answer, but it actually appealed to me.
7 things I plan to do before I die:
1) Travel around the world
2) Write more/better
3) Play the piano more/better
4) see the grand canyon
5) Buy a boat
6) go to New Orleans
7) finish everything I've started
7 things I can do:
1) Play piano
2) Make a mean margarita
3) write poems
4) twirl a baton
5) knit
6) Grow basil and make pesto
7) tell jokes
7 things I cannot do:
1) Quit my job
2) Get enough sleep
3) Play the piano as well as i'd like to
4) Move
5) Drive without swearing
6) Write a book
7) Vote Republican
7 things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1) Smarts
2) A dark/twisted/wicked sense of humor
3) Tall,dark and handsome
4) Not fat, not bald
5) Sensitivity
6) Musical/artistic talent
7) A big, knowing grin
7 things that I say most often:
1) Idiot/moron (while driving)
2) Jackson!(loudly - it's the dog's name)
3) I love you Lukie (to my son)
4) Shut up ( to the cat)
5) pick that up
6) damn it
7) where's my car, keys..
7 celebrity crushes:
1) House
2) Sting
3) Morton Downey Jr.
4) Bono
5) Charlie Sheen
6) Kevin Costner
7) Paul Newman (when he was younger)
As usual I'm tagging everyone who wants to be tagged.
Choosing a wife
A man wanted to get married. He was having trouble choosing among three likely candidates. He gives each woman a present of $5,000 and watches to see what they do with the money. The first does a total make over. She goes to a fancy beauty salon gets her hair done, new make up and buys several new outfits and dresses up very nicely for the man. She tells him that she has done this to be more attractive for him because she loves him so much.
The man was impressed.
The second goes shopping to buy the man gifts. She gets him a new set of golf clubs, some new gizmos for his computer, and some expensive clothes. As she presents these gifts, she tells him that she has spent all the money on him because she loves him so much.
Again, the man is impressed.
The third invests the money in the stock market. She earns several !times the $5,000. She gives him back his $5000 and reinvests the remainder in a joint account. She tells him that she wants to save for their future because she loves him so much.
Obviously, the man was impressed.
The man thought for a long time about what each woman had done with the money he'd given her.
Then, he married the one with the biggest boobs.
Men are like that, you know.
There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.
Took the bad cat, Dakota, to the vet today to be checked-to rule out any disease that could be causing his bad behavior. Also discussed with the vet if its not any thyroid or diabetes type problem causing his mood disorder then we will try amitryptiline to see if we can improve his mood (50% chance of it working he said). maybe I'll try it too. He was in full form today; put on quite a display. The assistant put on those huge suede gloves like you see the bird handlers wear with hawks. He was putting up a good fight tho for 16 and the vet went and got a blanket to throw over him and they had to knock him out with gas so that they could get a blood sample. This is why I don't take him to the vet much and have ordered from the foster and smith catalog and done his vaccines myself (except for the rabies vaccine which is only every 3 yrs. thankfully). So sounds like there is an outside chance that the bad cat can be rehabilatated - I'll believe it when I see it. Like the vet said, he really is a beautiful cat.
Update: Vet called today with the blood results, the good news is he doesn't have diabetes or thyroid(tho it's borderline); the bad news is he has kidney disease - not renal failure but renal unsufficiency. Well, he is old i guess. We are going to treat him with a blood pressure medication that's supposed to help for some reason that fails me now. And I'm going to try and have a cat door installed to the basement so that I can keep food out for him that he can get too all the time. We're going to hold off on the psych. drugs for awhile, for him anyway.
When I first moved into this house,5 years ago, the previous owners were bird lovers, so I filled the bird feeders dutifully; I didn't realize it was a full-time job and costing me quite a bit of $$( I was also feeding a pretty fat squirrel.) I was filling them every day it seemed.
I remember coming downstair that first morning (it was the middle of Feb.) and going into the sunroom and seeing my cat and dog watching the bird show - both of them sat mesmerized by it and myself included.
It was so neat and I kept it up for awhile til i got tired of filling those feeders constantly, going out on the snow covered deck, climbing up to reach the feeder and then the expense of buying those huge bags of seed and lugging them home.
Then recently, I don't know why, but I bought some birdseed and then a new feeder, more birdseed. It's really quite amazing and fun watching them. I didn't get a picture of the magnificent cardinal and bluebird, maybe next time.
Well we hit 2 bookstores in 2 days. Yesterday we went to Barnes and Noble to return a xmas book. Luke picked out a Red sox book ( what a surprise! - the consumate Red Sox fan.) The last book I bought him for a good report card was "The Idiot" by Johnny Damon, that I just found out today has some inappropriate stuff. Oh well, I can't proofread everything he's gonna read, can I? I suppose I should be more careful. But this coming from someone whose mother let her read Peyton Place ( and if you're as old as me you know that was steamy way back then.) His book selection yesterday was," Now I can die happy" by the ESPN sports guy.
Today we went to Borders, I had a gift card for $20 that I got for opening a charge card. I also had a coupon for 1/2 off the 2nd book. It took me a little longer than him to find one tho. of couse he had 2 sports books picked out in no time and settled on Stephen Kings " Faithful", yep bout the Red Sox . I guess my boy is a little obsessed, guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I had a list of books, some of which i couldn't find. The problem with not buying many books is deciding when you finally do. The one I settled on after going back and forth between fiction, poetry, and writing books was in the religion area with the buddhism books, one called "When things fall apart". Maybe this will be the one.
(Yes, I used to take all those silly quizzes in the ladies magazines.)
 I took the "The Animal Spirit" quiz on gURL.com | |||
 |  | My animal spirit is... The Mongoose The mongoose is the only animal that would risk life and limb for a loved one. The mongoose also uses its speed to escape danger when it finds itself in a tight spot. According to shamanistic wisdom, mongoose people value relationships over everything and are the most loyal of friends. Read more... What is your animal spirit? | |
Blonde joke:
A blonde decides to try horseback riding, even though she has had no lessons or prior experience. She mounts the horse, unassisted, and the horse immediately springs into motion. It gallops along at a steady and rhythmic pace, but the blonde begins to slip from the saddle.
In terror, she grabs for the horse's mane, but cannot seem to get a firm grip. She tries to throw her arms around the horses neck, but she slides down the side of the horse anyway. The horse gallops along, seemingly impervious to its slipping rider. Finally, giving up her frail grip, the blonde attempts to leap away from the horse and throw herself to safety.
Unfortunately, her foot has become entangled in the stirrup, she is now at the mercy of the horse's pounding hooves as her head is struck against the ground over and over. As her head is battered against the ground, she is mere moments away from unconsciousness when to her great fortune...
Frank, the Walmart greeter, sees her and unplugs the horse.
Another meme:
Four jobs you've had in your life: Ophthalmic technician, bartender, tv crewperson, charter boat office manager.
Four movies you could watch over and over: When Harry met Sally, Casablanca,Forrest Gump, Dumb and dumber
Four places you've lived: Boston, Key West, St. Croix, Martha's Vineyard
Four TV shows you love to watch: House,Seinfeld, Everybody loves Raymond, Cheers
Four places you've been on vacation: Florida, California, Paris,Bahamas
Four websites you visit daily: Simply Wait, Musings of a middleage woman, find me a bluebird, follow that star.
Four of your favorite foods: pizza, pasta,cheese,Thai.
Four places you'd rather be right now: Hawaii, Caribbean, Italy, Paris
You know the drill: play if you feel like it.
I guess us chicks (women) in the burbs are desperate. Desperate for entertainment, desperate to get out of our houses. Tonite I went buncoing - to a bunco party. A bunch of grown women sit around tables and roll dice - don't ask ,I just do what I am told. I am not a regular (cause I don't want to commit(admit) to this silly game but hey I like a night out, excuse to eat and drink and talk grown up ladies talk. Tonite I actually won the prize for the last Bunco ( the last roll of 3 die). I was thrilled, it was the first time in more than a year that I have been playing that i have actually won anything.
When i was in college, we used to play bid-whist (something like bridge). If I had my druthers, we'd be playing pool or poker.
I'm kinda ashamed to admit that I didn't like this one as much as King Kong. Probably shoulda seen this one first. Of course Kong moved along like a Hollywood blockbuster and Narnia moved to the beat of different drummer, had purpose, meaning. Tho I do think this is one that is better to read and absorb and get lost in. I'm sure I've tried to read this book long ago and I know there is a copy of it on Luke's bookshelf. I probably thought I might read it to him, tho the last book that I read to him was the 1st Harry Potter and now I'm buying him books from the adult shelves, like the Idiot by Johnny Damon. Anyway I say, two thumbs up for the gorilla and one for the lion.
The witch was pretty cool tho.
I am officially holidayed out. No holiday letdown, but holiday burnout. I've eaten enof food, drank enof wine and spent enof money. If i could I'd like to get on one of those boats that go and offer medical help to those who need it in foreign countries. Mother duties prevent me from running away, that and a mortgage. So now we have to relearn how to eat; as in not expecting each meal to end with dessert or begin with wine and cheese and crackers. I am purging my house tomorrow, bringing the brownies that i forgot to put out yesteday to work; and also that box of unopened chocolates . No temptation please, yes I am weak(i have the backbone of jellyfish, don't tempt me.) So nowwe are free and clear til Valentines Day, and I don't think I have to worry about getting a pound of chocolates for that one. Then if we skip the Easter chocolate bunnies and jelly beans we can sail into swimsuit season without those extra pounds, one could only hope.
As much as I love New York City, I'm glad I'm not in Times Square tonite. Not on my list of things to do fore I die. The one that was on my list I won't be able to see, at least the way it was, is New Orleans. Alot of sad doings in the world this year, let's hope for a better New Year. Thai food and a movie with the kid tonite. New Years Day Open House tomorrow. Will be making the meatballs tonite as the ball comes down at midnite.
Everyone have a safe and Happy New Year!!!!!!
Here are 8 cute ones for you, one for each night of Hannukah.
1)A small boy is sent to bed by his father: Five minutes later....."Da-ad...." "What?" "I'm thirsty. Can you bring drink of water?" "No, You had your chance. Lights out." Five minutes later: "Da-aaaad....." "WHAT?" "I'm THIRSTY. Can I have a drink of water??" I told you NO! If you ask again, I'll have to spank you!!" Five minutes later......"Daaaa-aaaad...." "WHAT!" "When you come in to spank me, can you bring a drink of water?"
2. An exasperated mother, whose son was always getting into mischief, finally asked him: "How do you expect to get into Heaven?" The boy thought it over and said, "Well, I'll run in and out and in and out and keep slamming the door until St. Peter says, 'For Heaven's sake, Dylan, come in or stay out!'"
3 One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her son into bed: She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?" The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. "I can't dear," s he said. "I have to sleep in Daddy's room." A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: "The big sissy."
4. It was that time, during the Sunday morning service, for the children's sermon: All the children were invited to come forward. One little girl was wearing a particularly pretty dress and, as she sat down, the pastor leaned over and said, "That is a very pretty dress. Is it your Easter Dress?" The little girl replied, directly into the pastor's clip-on microphone, "Yes, and my Mom says it's a bitch to iron."
5. When I was six months pregnant with my third child, my three year old came into the room: I was just getting ready to get into the shower. She said, "Mommy, you are getting fat!" I replied, "Yes, honey, remember Mommy has a baby growing in her tummy." "I know," she replied, but what's growing in your butt?"
6. A little boy was doing his math homework: He said to himself, "Two plus five, that son of a bitch is seven. Three plus six, that son of a bitch is nine...." His mother heard what he was saying and gasped, "What are you doing?" The little boy answered, "I'm doing my math homework, Mom." "And this is how your teacher taught you to do it?" the mother asked. "Yes," he answered. Infuriated, the mother asked the teacher the next day, "What are you teaching my son in math?" The teacher replied, "Right now, we are learning addition." The mother asked, "And are you teaching them to say two plus two, that son of a bitch is four?" After the teacher stopped laughing, she answered, "What I taught them was, two plus two, THE SUM OF WHICH, is four."
7. One day the first grade teacher was reading the story of Chicken Little to her class: She came to t he part of the story where Chicken Little tried to warn the farmer. She read, ".... and so Chicken Little went up to the farmer and said, "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" The teacher paused then asked the class, "And what do you think that farmer said?" One little girl raised her hand and said, "I think he said: 'Holy Shit! A talking chicken!'" The teacher was unable to teach for the next 10 minutes.
8. A certain little girl, when asked her name, would reply, "I'm Mr. Sugarbrown's daughter." Her mother told her this was wrong, she must say, "I'm Jane Sugarbrown." The Vicar spoke to her in Sunday School, and said, "Aren't you Mr. Sugarbrown's daughter?" She replied, "I thought I was, but mother says I'm not."
As in potato, not the guy in Taxi. Well I surprised myself tonite and pulled off making potato latkes( I've only done this once or twice and not in several years). I wasn't sure how they would turn out til we all tried them and it was unanimous - they were pretty good. The only think was I didn't have any sour cream for them - big disappointment for me but my son uses applesauce and my mother-in-law, well she just puts ranch dressing on everything, since we never have any "gravy". I even made a pot roast( in the oven) that didn't taste like shoe leather and even remembered to make a green vegetable, tho I almost burnt it but I discovered in time that there was no water in the pot (my mother in law was helping).
Another thing that is good to remember is to put the fan on to suck up the grease.
Why do I blog? Because I like to, almost need to. Because this is my creative outlet? along with playing piano and photography. I'm not a writer but I love to write. I've always been a book lover. I've written poetry for over 30 yrs, does that make me a poet?
Or do i blog for friendship? I have plenty of friends; tho ones that I hardly ever see, that we never seem to have time for, hardly even for phone calls for months, years. And these are lifelong really good friends, this can't be. Life is definitely what happens while you are making other plans. Then there are the new friends: work friends, friends made thru the kids- that you talk to either on a daily or wkly basis; but even these, some of them I just talk to on the phone. When was the last time we went to lunch or dinner? or even just had tea and a heart to heart. So does the blogosphere provide more of this rarefied time, experience, interests that we find missing, that we all need, crave? can we really count these friends or are they just acquaintances, nice people; more than strangers you meet standing in line, but less than real friends with familiar faces and history ,but cyber friends indeed.
I'd just like to thank all of you for hanging out with me, I've loved every minute.
Drafts on the subject:
From My blog (written on Oct. 23)
It's like my room, my place to go, to retreat, reflect, create and even rant if need be. A room of my own, a room with a view. And then there are all the new blogfriends, kinda reminds me of having penpals.
From Hangin on the blog corner (written Oct.30)
Seems all I want to do is hang out in the blogosphere these days. As my 11 yr. old reminds me all the time...I need to get a life. And what does that say about all us bloggers? are we social beings because we like recognition in the form of a comment? or are we recluses hiding behind our computer screens.
It does seem like a crowd, gang, community. Almost wish you could just pull up a blogstool and chew the fat.
Pack up all your cares and woes...... bye bye blackbird. For the price of an admission ticket I was taken away for 3 hours from the guilt and excesses of X-mas, from thinking about the credit card bills that will come do, from the ravages of time on my sore arm,from the reality of returning to work tomorrow.
The director, Peter Jackson, did a phenomenal job ( tho I think he coulda edited about 15 min. out of the prehistoric (Jurassic like ) scenes; but that's just me, always the editor. Jack Black(Karl)was excellent, as was Naomi Watts and the rest of the cast. One of the few movies that I felt was worth the price I paid. And it was just like an old time movie, adventure, exciting, fun and especially so watching it with my son. It was riveting to the end when Karl simply said, "It was beauty killed the Beast".
(hope i don't offend anyone - this is sick)
If Santa answered his mail honestly...
Dear Santa
I wud like a kool toy space ranjur fer Xmas. Iv ben a
gud boy all yeer.
yer Frend,
BiLLy
Dear Billy,
Nice spelling. You're on your way to a career in lawn care.
How about I send you a frickin book so you can learn to read and write?
I'm giving your older brother the space ranger. At least HE can spell!
Santa
_______________________________________________________
Dear Santa,
I have been a good girl all year, and the only thing I
ask for is peace and joy in the world for everybody!
Love,
Sarah
Dear Sarah,
Your parents smoked pot when they had you, didn't they?
Santa
_______________________________________________________
Dear Santa,
I don't know if you can do this, but for Christmas,
I'd like for my mommy and daddy to get back together.
Please see what you can do?
Love
Teddy
Dear Teddy,
Look, your dad's banging the babysitter like a screen door in a hurricane.
Do you think he's gonna give that up to come back to
your frigid mom,who rides his ass constantly? It's time to give up that dream.
Let me get you some nice Legos instead.
Santa
_______________________________________________________
Dear Santa,
I want a new bike, a Playstation, a train, some G.I. Joes, a dog, a drum kit, a pony and a tuba.
Love,
Francis
Dear Francis,
Who names their kid "Francis" nowadays? I bet you're gay,I'll set you up with a Barbie.
Santa
_______________________________________________________
Dear Santa,
I left milk and cookies for you under the tree, and I
left carrots for your reindeer outside the back door.
Love,
Susan
Dear Susan,
Milk gives me the runs and carrots make the deer fart
in my face when riding in the sleigh. You want to do me a favor?
Leave me a bottle of scotch.
Santa
_______________________________________________________
Dear Santa,
What do you do the other 364 days of the year? Are you busy making toys?
Your friend,
Thomas
Dear Thomas,
All the toys are made in China. I have a condo in
Vegas,where I spend most of my time making low-budget
porno films. I unwind by drinking myself silly and
squeezing the asses of cocktail waitresses while
losing money at the craps table.
Hey, you wanted to know.
Santa
______________________________________________________
Dear Santa,
Do you see us when we're sleeping, do you really know
when we're awake, like in the song?
Love,
Jessica
Dear Jessica,
Are you really that gullible? Good luck in whatever you do.
I'm skipping your house.
Santa
___________________________________________________
Dear Santa,
I really really want a puppy this year. Please please
please PLEASE PLEASE could I have one?
Timmy
Timmy,
That whiney begging shit may work with your folks, but
that crap doesn't work with me.
You're getting a sweater again.
Santa
_____________________________________________________
Dearest Santa,
We don't have a chimney in our house, how do you get
nto our home?
Love,
Marky
Mark,
First, stop calling yourself "Marky", that's why
you're getting your ass whipped at school. Second, you
don't live in a house, you live in a low-rent
apartment complex. Third, I get inside your pad
just like the boogeyman does, through your bedroom window.
Sweet Dreams,
Santa
Is what ran thru my mind right before it happened.(Always thinking of the next post). And once again it happened so fast I had not time to plan. That thought was the only thing that crossed my mind in the 3-4 seconds before he struck again, sending his teeth with such force into the forearm of my good arm that I cried out in pain and shock.
This wasn't a scratch or even a bite that you could just shrug off to he's just a being a cat, treating me like a cat. But a preemptive attack with intent to harm, main. He bit down with such force that I felt it to the bones. All I can compare it to is when they get a mouse in their teeth and come down hard and shake them within inches of death. When he finally released my arm from his vise like grip he scampered off downstairs. My husband got up and sleepily asked "what he bit you?" In between cries and sobs, I said 'yes", "put him in the basement". A few minutes later he came back upstairs and when I asked if he was in the basement he just said, "he's downstairs somewhere". At which I said again in between sobs, "please put ;him in the basement"(freedom was not good enof for this traitor). When he came back up now I was sobbing not because of the pain and trauma of what had occurred but because of the thoughts now running thru my head, I said, "what am I going to do? Put him to sleep?
To which he replied - "keep him downstairs" but there are no doors downstairs to keep him from getting up, no kitchen door to lock him in and he would cry and howl like he does .
I had just got up from a sound drug induced sleep - pain and sleep meds) to feed him, then he came crying again and I lifted him up to the bed ( not good for the bad arm!) I was petting him to get him to settle down and go to sleep. I guess that's not what he had in mind.
So what do I do:
A) Put him up for adoption ( who's gonna want a 15 yr. old psycho cat)
B) Banish him to the basement every nite and hope he doesn't howl.
c) Put him to sleep. ( out of his misery and save me from possible losing an eye next time)
So here is my 1st survey, not the one that I had planned. If you vote A please include yr. address and if B) please send ear plugs and if you think C) is cruel and abusive please don't tell me.
I guess I will call the vet shrink tomorrow-for him and me.
And I bet you thought this was going to be a baseball post here from Red Sox country , where we are reeling with the news of our Johnny Damon becoming a dreaded Yankee. Yesterday morning I heard a "Oh no "from downstair when the boy read the headlines. I think Johnny is going to lose some of his sex appeal when he goes clean cut. And I wonder what exactly is the difference between 40 and 50 million? A couple more yachts, planes or automobiles i guess.
I dreamt this last sat. nite. was cleanin out my drafts folder and I just couldn't hit delete.
Dreamt last nite that I was in my hometown. I was driving down Boulevard A, around 46th St., and the numbers were going up and I asked someone if The Boulevard was to the right, the way i was pointing, and they said yes so I turned up the street. There were all kinds of crazy shops and things. I guess i was trying to get home, because I lived downtown past The Boulevard. But I woke up.I guess they're right,"you can never go back" and it reminds me of when I wrote.. "You can never go home."
Well I got a shot in the arm today(not in a good sense) for my tennis elbow. Tennis elbow! I don't play tennis!! The shoulder is holding up though (knocking wood) i think. The shot hurt like a mother...; I told the Dr. that it's the worse pain since childbirth. I asked the lady at the desk outside if she heard me and she said yes; oh well. After the shot my hand didn't work, couldn't pick anything up or hold anything very well. She said that should be better by morning. I hope so, else work will be very interesting - the proverbial one armed paper hanger. Typing is not that easy so I'll be signing off - I have my doctor's note. House better be on else there will be one unhappy patient.
The bad cat has been nice of late, no transgressions like trying to take my face off in the middle of the nite. He still cries in the middle of the nite, sometimes for food ( because he can't get enof during the day because of the dog) and sometimes cause he wants me to pick him up and put him in the bed. I don't think he can jump that high anymore. He either settles down by my side ( nice heater this time of year) or perches on my shoulder rite next to my head, like a bird. With the dog at my feet, this must be some sight.
the other day, when i was talking on the phone to my friend, i realized I hadn't heard from his highness last night and went looking for him. He is only usually upstair in the computer room on the futon; he wasnt' there. i looked around and didn't' see him, my friend said she wanted to get off the phone, she didn't want to hear me scream, when I found my dead cat. I even looked in the basement, then hung up with her to continue looking. what if he got outside and was out all nite and froze; then I turned around from looking outside and lo and behold there he was under the bench next to the door in the boot tray.
I was getting the papers together to recycle when I came upon this in the Boston Globe:
LONDON- This week, an animated film, "It's a Boy", about the birth of Jesus is being distributed to all 26,00 British elementary schools.
"I decided we had to do this film after hearing about a 5-year-old boy who saw the Christmas story last year and asked afterwards why Mary named her baby after a swear word, said Steve Legg, the founding director of Christian charity Breakout Trust, which is funding the project.
Christmas story is my favorite .
Wait until you read the last line!
A woman comes home and tells her husband, "Remember those headaches I've been having all these years? Well, they're gone." "No more headaches?" the husband asks, "What happened?" His wife replies, "Margie referred me to a hypnotist. He told me to stand in front of a mirror, stare at myself and repeat 'I do not have a headache; I do not have a headache, I do not have a headache.
"It worked, the headaches are all gone!" The husband replies, "Well, that is wonderful." His wife then says, "You know, you haven't been exactly a ball of fire in the bedroom these last few years. Why don't you go see the hypnotist and see if he can do anything for that?" The husband agrees to try it. Following his appointment, the husband comes home, rips off his clothes, picks up his wife and carries her into the bedroom.
He puts her on the bed and says, "Don't move, I'll be right back." He goes into the bathroom and comes back a few minutes later and jumps into bed and makes passionate love to his wife like never before. His wife says, Boy, that was wonderful!" The husband says, "Don't move! I will be right back." He goes back into the bathroom, comes back and round two was even better than the first time. The wife sits up and her head is spinning. Her husband again says, "Don't move, I'll be right back." With that, he goes back in the bathroom. This time, his wife quietly follows him and there, in the bathroom, she sees him standing at the mirror and saying, "She's not my wife. She's not my wife. She's not my wife!" His funeral services will be held on Monday.
Well, you might be seeing less of me as christmas rears, no that is not a typo for nears but I did in fact mean rears, as in rears it's ugly head. I am scrooge when it comes to xmas, the american materialistic holiday, but then guilt gets in the way and I succumb to it like someone under hypnosis... must get The best present, at The best price. So I read thru the flyers and do my research and make my endless lists -(but not for long, i've already bought my present - a Palm pilot!)
So if you don't see me around it's because I'm out at the mall with all the other idiots. But of course now that I've said that I'll probably post something every day. Go figure. I guess I have to use reverse psychology on myself.
This was written on Fri. the day of the storm; I'm a little behind due to the the power failure and laziness of course. I love how the telephone pole in the picture looks like a cross.
Checking out at the hairdresser's today, it was raining and snowing and hailing and we heard thunder and saw lightening. Very eerie; people were shocked. Someone said, "I've never seen this before", and the big guy behind the desk said," I did, in 1974 at my Grandmother's funeral", and she predicted it. She always said that it would rain, snow, hail, thunder and lightening when she died and it did.
I had forgotten my phone, left it charging on the kitchen counter. Nice day to forget yr. phone. I call the kid from there to make sure he made it in the house ok and off I drive into the storm.
Driving home the roads all snowy and slushy, wind blowing like crazy, white-out conditions. Future post going thru my head and again I'm wishin I had one of those mini tape recorders. Maybe I'll ask for one for X-mas; but I've already asked for a car starter.
When I get home the kid meets me at the door with his earphones on and informs me that the power is out. I cook dinner in the dark, by candlelight and we play cards til we are bored and cold and go to bed about 10.
Life in New England; you gotta love it!
I wrote this on Wed. 2 days after my a strange thing post. This was supposed to be a sequel; but I've become an obsessed shopper ( i hate xmas - there i've said it) I can go months without shopping, wear the same rags, I mean jeans and don't care. and I'm also in that lazy draft phase - a thought/idea presents - I jot it down, sometimes almost finish it and log off, on to the next one or blog hopping.
Ok now something happened again today, not like the other day, this was different.
Today I called in this nice 30 0r 40 something woman, a massage specialist, who, in the course of the exam, told me you have to take care of yourself,treat yourself good. She says she has pedicures and massages regularly; she says do whatever makes you feel good, happy, treat yr. kids better.
Then we got on the subject of marraige, marraige counseling and also depression and medicine for depression.
So by the end of the exam i have her card with the name of a book and the marraige counselor's name and phone number. And they think I'm working behind that closed door . These are the patients that make it worth while.
(Lest you think this happens all the time, it doesn't. Actually some of the timeI am the one giving advice/help.)
So who's sending me all these signs? Dad, mom, someone else up there? trying to help me out.
whomever/whatever it is , I'll take all the help I can get. I do need to resolve all the conflict in my life, one way or another.
MAMA'S BIBLE
Four brothers left home for college, and they became successful doctors and lawyers and prospered.
Some years later, they chatted after having dinner together. They discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother who lived far away in another city.
The first said, "I had a big house built for Mama."
The second said, "I had a hundred thousand dollar theater built in the house."
The third said, "I had my Mercedes dealer deliver an SL600 to her."
The fourth said, "You know how Mamma loved reading the Bible and you know she can't read anymore because she can't see very well. I met this preacher who told me about a parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took twenty preachers 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $100,000 a year for twenty years to the church, but it was worth it. Mamma just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot will recite it."
The other brothers were impressed.
After the holidays Mom sent out her Thank You notes.
She wrote:
"Milton, the house you built is so huge I live in only one room, but I
have to clean the whole house. Thanks anyway."
"Marvin, I am too old to travel. I stay home, I have my groceries
delivered, so I never use the Mercedes. The thought was good. Thanks."
"Michael, you gave me an expensive theater with Dolby sound, it could
hold 50 people, but all of my friends are dead, I've lost my hearing and
I'm nearly blind. I'll never use it. Thank you for the gesture just the
same."
"Dearest Melvin, you were the only son to have the good sense to give a
little thought to your gift. The chicken was delicious. Thank you."
Luv Ya, Mama
John Lennon was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. The following information was obtained from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
John Lennon didn't invent it rock and roll, nor did he embody it as toweringly as figures like Elvis Presley and Little Richard, but he did more than anyone else to shake it up, move it forward and instill it with a conscience. As the most daring and outspoken of the four Beatles, he helped shape the agenda of the Sixties - socially and politically, no less than musically. As a solo artist, he made music that alternately disturbed and soothed, provoked and sought community. As a human being, he served as an exemplar of honesty in his art and life. As Jann Wenner wrote in the foreword to a collection of writings entitled The Ballad of John and Yoko, "Of the many things that will be long remembered about John Lennon - his genius as a musician and singer, his wit and literary swiftness, his social intuition and leadership - among the most haunting was the stark, unembarrassed commitment of his life, his work and his undernourished frame to truth, to peace and to humanity."
Lennon was born in 1940 during the Nazi bombing of Britain and given the middle name Winston, after prime minister Churchill. Knowing firsthand the horror of a world at war and living through the era of Vietnam's senseless carnage as well, Lennon came to embrace and embody pacifism via such classics of the Beatles era as "All You Need Is Love" and "Strawberry Fields Forever." Yet he also had a countervailing dark side that found expression in pained outcries that dated as far back as "Help." This unvarnished aspect of the Lennon persona reached a fevered pitch with the drug-withdrawal blues of "Cold Turkey," a 1969 single released under the name Plastic Ono Band.
Although Lennon was a complicated man, he chose at this juncture to simplify his art in order to figure out his life, erasing the boundaries between the two. As he explained it, he started trying "to shave off all imagery, pretensions of poetry, illusions of grandeur...Just say what it is, simple English, make it rhyme and put a backbeat on it, and express yourself as simply [and] straightforwardly as possible." His most fully realized statement as a solo artist was 1970's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. Lennon's first solo album, it followed several avant-garde sound collages recorded toward the end of the Beatles era with his wife and collaborator, Yoko Ono. The raw, confessional nature of Plastic Ono Band reflected the primal-scream therapy that Lennon and Ono had been undergoing with psychologist Arthur Janov.
There were, in fact, numerous facets to Lennon's character captured in the ongoing diary of his life in song. Many of his post-Beatles compositions - "Imagine," "Mind Games," "Instant Karma," and "Give Peace a Chance" - have rightfully become anthems, flaunting tough-minded realism, cosmic epiphany, hard-won idealism and visionary utopianism in equal measure. For all of the unvarnished genius of Lennon's recordings, however, much of what lingers in the public memory goes beyond musical legacy. Rather, it has to do with leading by example. The relationship between John and Yoko endured challenges from within and without to became one of the most touching and celebrated of 20th-century romances. They were gallantly foolish in undertaking performance art pieces - bed-ins, happenings, full-page ads declaring "War Is Over!" - to spread their message of peace. During the early Seventies Lennon fought the U.S. government to avoid deportation - a campaign of harassment by Nixon-era conservatives that was overturned by the courts in 1975 - and came to love his adopted city of New York.
Then there were those five quiet years when Lennon chose to lay low and raise their son, Sean Ono Lennon. Simply by stepping back and "watching the wheels" from the sidelines, John Lennon made a statement about priorities that said more than words and music. His eventual return to the recording scene in 1980 after that lengthy hiatus - his last album of original songs had been 1974's Walls and Bridges - was one of the more eagerly anticipated musical events of the year. The album Double Fantasy, jointly credited to John Lennon/Yoko Ono, was released on December 6th. Two days later, a brilliant life came to an untimely end when John Winston Lennon was fatally shot by a deranged fan outside his New York City apartment upon returning from a recording session.
I loved the Beatles. I had a schoolgirl crush on Paul when they first came to the US. Later John appealed more to the hippie in me. I think I wore out the grooves in my Abby Road album that was always playing in my dorm room. It's sad to think on what we missed out on from this wonderful and talented man.
happened today at work. I picked up two charts and looked at them both - husband & wife; I picked the wife. I looked at the date to calculate her age to write in her chart and saw she was 65, but when she sat down I saw that she didn't look like any 65 yr. old I'd seen lately. I started asking medical questions: "take any medications?" her reply, "No"; any medical problems? she proudly replied, "No , I'm fine". She had longish blonde moderately curly hair and wore these cool jeans with studs and just generally had this very youthful appearance. So when i asked her "you're 65?" , she said "yes, I was wondering when you were going to ask, everyone always does." So then I asked her what her secret was? she said none, but when I pressed her and even asked about cosmetic surgery - which she said no. She just said that she took good care of herself. Ate good, used good creams and shampoo. Then I shut the lights off and started the eye exam; in the middle of it she said, "you have a stressful aura around you". "Wow", I said, you can see that? is it a color?" but then she said, "we better not talk about it"; I'm assuming she was afraid she was gonna wind up with the wrong glass presecription. evidently she doesn't know I can do this in my sleep. Later she asked me if I pray? I said, no. and then she asked if I was an Agnostic, and I said I wouldn't go that far and explained that I was Jewish but that growing up my family didn't practice anything but that my son went to Sunday school. She said something like, "You'll find your way". When we were walking out of the room I told her that I had had both hers and her husbands chart in my hand and I picked hers and said " I guess for a reason". And she smiled, put her arm around me and hugged me and said "Yes".
"Whenever I’m at a crossroads, be it choosing what bar to go to next or whether to launch a preposterous new venture, I ask myself, WWJGD? And I know just what to do—slam a double scotch and leap wildly toward the light while cracking wise at the suckers I’m leaving behind."
I came upon this online when I was looking for a picture of him as Joe the bartender for my previous post, but didn't find one.I loved Jackie Gleason and I love that WWJGD do line.
I tended bar tonite. I was asked to do it as a favor, because they were stuck. It was like I never left. I tended bar for years; I started in Amherst and Northampton, MA. The first job I had,I lied, I said I bartended before. I hadn't, but I'd cocktail waitressed and saw them all made and being a Leo I figured hey I can do that. Bartending also got me into traveling. (what terrible english).
One snowy night upon leaving work I had this revelation: Hey, I'm just a bartender, I can do this anywhere. So I decided to move to the US Virgin Islands - St. Croix(with a friend) ,where I landed a bartending job almost immediately and made a lot of Pina Coladas and Strawberry Daiquiri's. My boss was a complete and utter jerk , so I quit and moved to the restaurant down the street.
Next a friend convinced me to manage his boat charter company(the benefits were good, all the rum punch and sailing you wanted). Then I had the break of my life, I got a job working(pt time) for the local TV station - that was fun and great,butI moved back to the states and yup you guessed it - bartending, this time on Martha's Vineyard (yes I have a thing for Islands). After the summer I went back to Northampton - tending bar - what else. But i missed the ocean so back to the Vineyard I went with the plan to just stay long enof to make some money to move to NY to pursue a career in TV/film - my dream. Well my back went out and I wound up spending the winter on the island - another post.
Then I did a stint in Boston and worked some real fancy places and was even a Bar Manager. But I got tired of working nites and didn't want to be a forty year old bartender ( someday as Meg Ryan says(not about bartending but about Turning 40) in When Harry Met Sally ( one of my favorite movies).
This is why & when I made my big career move to Medicine, got married, moved to the suburbs and had a baby. Then since I was only working part time in my Tech. job I decided to come out of retirement(kinda like the athletes) and started tending bar at the country club near where I lived. My boss, Daniel, was from Ireland and the best boss that I ever had. It wasn't like work, my husband used to say it was my nite out and it was. I ate, drank and sometimes even danced. It was way fun. But then Daniel got a better job and left and it wasn't so fun anymore and I started doing my day job more - kid was in school now. So I gave up bartending again, that was about 6 yrs. ago.
Tonite I came out of retirement yet again,and it was just like the first time that i went back , like I never left. I remember when i started back that first time- walking into the walk-in(big fridge - for you guys not in the biz) to get some beer or wine and it felt like i was home,like the smell of the greasepaint. Walking back behind the bar tonite it was just like riding a bike.
addendum: I wrote this last night after a few cocktails and I realized I left out the craziest place I worked- Key West; I spent a winter there in between Martha's Vineyard stints. I did more cocktail waitressing there tho ( I worked at a topless beach - the customers not me!); I left out all the waitressing jobs and hostessing jobs that I had else this post woulda been even longer.
LIFE EXPLAINED
On the first day God created the dog. God said, "Sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past.; I will give you a life span of twenty years." The dog said, "That's too long to be barking. Give me ten years and I'll give you back the other ten." So God agreed.
On the second day God created the monkey. God said, "Entertain people, do monkey tricks, make them laugh. I'll give you a twenty-year life span. "The monkey said, "How boring, monkey tricks for twenty years? I don't think so. Dog gave you back ten, so that's what I'll do too, okay?" And God agreed.
On the third day God created the cow. God said, "You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer. I will give you a life span of sixty years." The cow said, "That's kind of a tough life you want me to live for sixty years. Let me have twenty and I'll give back the other forty." And God agreed again.
On the forth day God created man. God said, "Eat, sleep, play, marry and enjoy your life. I'll give you twenty years." Man said, "What? Only twenty years! Tell you what, I'll take my twenty, and the forty the cow gave back and the ten the monkey gave back and the ten the dog gave back, that makes eighty, okay?" "Okay," said God, "You've got a deal."
So that is why the first twenty years we eat, sleep, play, and enjoy ourselves; for the next forty years we slave in the sun to support our family; for the next ten years we do monkey tricks to entertain the grandchildren; and for the last ten years we sit on the front porch and bark at everyone.
Life has now been explained to you
Over at The Glittering Muse my poem is included in The Symphonic Poetry Carnival.
I've posted it here but please go read the others.
Believe
Is it that we are not fond
of one another anymore
no endearing looks, touches
no secret, knowing glances
It's so hard to live this way
no harmony, no closeness
feel like there is a weight on my chest
holding me down
hard to breathe
believe
