That rambling post from yesterday was not very well thought out, mostly stream of consciousness rambling, but necessary. I just don't understand how everyone became so hateful and Us v. Them. Is it social media and all the fake news and Russian bots messing with every one's minds? Who knows? How is it possible to prove or disprove any of these things?
I do know that when I bring up how I feel to anyone, especially people in my family, they immediately go on the defense and start the whole "Yeah, well what about Bill Clinton?" or even worse my own mother pulled this shit on me "We put up with 8 years of Obama, you can live through 4 years of Trump".
Why does talking about how awful one person is mean we have to compare and contrast to anyone else? Just recognize that you have backed a losing horse and get off of it and start again with more knowledge and choose better. I don't believe our country will be able to recover from much more of this administration. It is unbelievable the damage that has already been started, the relationships with other countries that have been eroded. We have lost all credibility and no way are we considered the number one country in the world, a world power and all that. There is not one area of our lives that hasn't been negatively affected. I am beyond scared and truly do not know where we can go from here.
In the good news column we have some good choices for the next election to put up as candidates to help right this ship. We have Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro (our former mayor and hometown favorite), possibly Beto O'Rourke (we should hear more about this in the coming weeks), and a host of others are still reviewing their options. Surely, we can find 2 great, dynamic, strong candidates to get us back on track. I would love to see Cory Booker and Kamala Harris get in this.
Today is the Women's March, the 3rd annual. And sadly, I did not make it to ours. Our local march turned into a rally and we had cold weather blow in overnight and I wasn't able to get there. They changed it to a rally because the date fell 2 days before the Martin Luther King March on Monday. The MLK march here is usually the largest or one of the largest in the country. They expect at least 300,000 participants. So, the Women's March kind of got lost this year.
If you are experiencing these same emotions and feelings and have any words or advice to help, please share in the comments. I need to find some healthy coping skills. Thanks for coming by and reading.
Showing posts with label rambling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rambling. Show all posts
Saturday, January 19, 2019
Friday, January 18, 2019
The Reason for my Depression
Let's face it, I have been depressed and full of anxiety since the damn election 2 years ago. I am so bewildered that about half of the citizens of this country thought that Hillary was such a horrible choice they would rather elect and support the worst man alive. It baffles me. Hillary was not my first choice. But she was the one the powers that be determined at the Democratic National Convention we were going to have. I am still pissed about how all of that went down. But that's not the issue here. In my head I kept thinking this must be like when Minnesota went and voted for Jesse Ventura for governor not realizing that he would REALLY THEN BE THEIR GOVERNOR. Letting the general public vote is a crap shoot, that's the truth. But think of the alternatives. This is still infinitely better than most.
When I was a girl I read Diary of Anne Frank and like most everyone I wondered how on earth could such a thing happen. How could a country like Germany install a government that created such evil and everyone stood around and watched? How could that happen? Where were the good people who opposed this? And of course, it was not that simple. Things begin one way and present themselves as one thing and then the darker side emerges when enough people seem to be on board. We all know this.
If you want to educate yourself about what is happening here and now in this country of ours, just Google comparisons of 1930s Germany to present-day USA and spend the next few weeks of your life reading how many leading scholars of the holocaust have already seen this and are frankly, worried and concerned about how we are ignoring the warnings. For example: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940610/trump-hitler-history-historian
So, how do we navigate this? How do we do our part to keep shining a light and holding up the mirror and maintain any sort of hopefulness? This is something my friends and I discuss at length. We are not doing well. I am participating at a much higher level than I previously did going to marches, protests, rallies, working on political campaigns, and pointing out when the emperor is going around naked. And it takes it's toll on me. I have to take days and weeks and not read the news and try to stay away from it to try and feel normal and not so depleted.
It has been 2 years now and I have tried so hard, feeling like I am bending over backwards to understand what is going on with the other half. Why do they feel this is their best option? Why do they STILL support this horrible man and his policies? Are they all the same as him? Do I really want to believe that half of of this country's populace are racist, misogynistic assholes who only think of themselves? That can't be right. If it is, then how did this come to pass? How is it that people I know and love and have always thought of as intelligent, and reasonable are now championing the ideas and policies that are the opposite of that? Does that mean I have been naive and never really knew any of them?
The point for me is that I now have no trust in people who continue to support this presidency. I am leery of things they tell me. I don't believe they have my back, nor do they have my best interests at heart. So, what do I do with this? Do I go around unfriending people left and right on social media and only see things I agree with? If I unfriend people am I also unfriending them in real life? And is it really in my best interest to not see things from all perspectives?
I am in uncharted waters here. I don't know what to do. I do know that my feelings about all of this are overwhelming me and I need some resolution.
My voting and activism centers around 3 issues. I support women's rights (and that includes women's right to choose safe, legal abortion), LGBTQ rights, and environmental issues. I believe all humans should have the same rights no matter your gender and that we all have a responsibility to keep this planet clean and safe for future generations. I believe this to be the very basic tenets to operate from and everything else is secondary. And we all know that the current administration is chipping away at all 3 of these issues. We had made good headway over the last 10 years or so but this won't be the case by the end of this presidency. Every time I look at my grandchildren I feel shame at what questions they will have for me in 20 years about what I did or didn't do to make things better and how I could have done better.
I have no answers, only more and more questions. And more anxiety and more depression over the state of things.
When I was a girl I read Diary of Anne Frank and like most everyone I wondered how on earth could such a thing happen. How could a country like Germany install a government that created such evil and everyone stood around and watched? How could that happen? Where were the good people who opposed this? And of course, it was not that simple. Things begin one way and present themselves as one thing and then the darker side emerges when enough people seem to be on board. We all know this.
If you want to educate yourself about what is happening here and now in this country of ours, just Google comparisons of 1930s Germany to present-day USA and spend the next few weeks of your life reading how many leading scholars of the holocaust have already seen this and are frankly, worried and concerned about how we are ignoring the warnings. For example: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/10/5/17940610/trump-hitler-history-historian
So, how do we navigate this? How do we do our part to keep shining a light and holding up the mirror and maintain any sort of hopefulness? This is something my friends and I discuss at length. We are not doing well. I am participating at a much higher level than I previously did going to marches, protests, rallies, working on political campaigns, and pointing out when the emperor is going around naked. And it takes it's toll on me. I have to take days and weeks and not read the news and try to stay away from it to try and feel normal and not so depleted.
It has been 2 years now and I have tried so hard, feeling like I am bending over backwards to understand what is going on with the other half. Why do they feel this is their best option? Why do they STILL support this horrible man and his policies? Are they all the same as him? Do I really want to believe that half of of this country's populace are racist, misogynistic assholes who only think of themselves? That can't be right. If it is, then how did this come to pass? How is it that people I know and love and have always thought of as intelligent, and reasonable are now championing the ideas and policies that are the opposite of that? Does that mean I have been naive and never really knew any of them?
The point for me is that I now have no trust in people who continue to support this presidency. I am leery of things they tell me. I don't believe they have my back, nor do they have my best interests at heart. So, what do I do with this? Do I go around unfriending people left and right on social media and only see things I agree with? If I unfriend people am I also unfriending them in real life? And is it really in my best interest to not see things from all perspectives?
I am in uncharted waters here. I don't know what to do. I do know that my feelings about all of this are overwhelming me and I need some resolution.
My voting and activism centers around 3 issues. I support women's rights (and that includes women's right to choose safe, legal abortion), LGBTQ rights, and environmental issues. I believe all humans should have the same rights no matter your gender and that we all have a responsibility to keep this planet clean and safe for future generations. I believe this to be the very basic tenets to operate from and everything else is secondary. And we all know that the current administration is chipping away at all 3 of these issues. We had made good headway over the last 10 years or so but this won't be the case by the end of this presidency. Every time I look at my grandchildren I feel shame at what questions they will have for me in 20 years about what I did or didn't do to make things better and how I could have done better.
I have no answers, only more and more questions. And more anxiety and more depression over the state of things.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Seriously Random Thoughts
This is something I have thought for a while but haven't really shared with other people. Have you ever looked at your pets in the mirror? My cats love to jump up on the sink and drink water from the slowly dripping, trickling faucet so I have looked at them in the mirror on many occasions and I am struck by the way they look different to me when I look at them straight on or at their reflection.
And that led me to thinking about how we mostly see ourselves in a mirror 90% of the time and maybe the other 10% is in photographs. Which is the real self? The backwards reflection? Or the photographed image?
And is this why people always say they hate photos of themselves? Because our perception of what we should look like is just enough changed from what we see on a daily basis?
This is what happens when you are sick for too long and have way too much time on your hands so you ponder weird shit like this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few years back I posted loads of pictures of all the different kinds of candy corn at the Walgreen's. This year, had I taken pictures of all the new candy corns you would be looking at about 5 more new flavors. Now, why on earth do we need any new types of candy corn? I like regular candy corn and see no reason to add Caramel Macchiato or Pumpkin Spice or S'more flavoring to it. Those things are never going to taste as good as you think they will. I promise to take some pics of the damn candy corn aisle next time I am over there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If I had had any idea back at the first part of April when I got sick and started coughing that damn near SIX MONTHS LATER I would still be sick the smart thing to do would have been to buy Walgreen's stock. It's a good thing I didn't have any idea that this thing would hang in here this long because it is just too ridiculous for words. My next move is to find a good allergist and get some extensive testing done. The fall allergy season is upon us and I am not at all ready to take it on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usually by now I have my Christmas list made and worked out what gifts I will be making and made good headway on having a bunch of them done. And you would think with all the time I have spent at home doing nothing I could have achieved that and even finished most of them by now. And yet, no. I am blaming my lack of energy and stamina on the 93% oxygen saturation that I was at for all summer long and just being exhausted by the never-ending coughing. So the truth is that I have done next to nothing and really have no clue about the Christmas list and gifting. That's sad for me to admit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was really looking forward to The Bastard Executioner, the new show by Kurt Sutter who did the Sons of Anarchy. It premiered last night and was a big 2 hour extravaganza. It took me damn near the first hour to get involved in it and figure out who was who. I can't really tell how it will go yet. There was a LOT of set up of time, place, characters, conflict, etc. It is very reminiscent of The Vikings.
~~~~~~~~~~
Just so you know, I am done D U N with talking about my health and being sick this year. It is boring and a pain in my ass and I am quite sure no one else wants to hear this crap either. So rest assured, if you come back here to read again, there will be no more of the sick talk.
I am also done with using the cute little spacers between my random thoughts. I thought it was a good idea, but now I don't think so.
Hope you are having a really good day in your part of the world. Let me hear from you on the mirror vs photograph idea.
And that led me to thinking about how we mostly see ourselves in a mirror 90% of the time and maybe the other 10% is in photographs. Which is the real self? The backwards reflection? Or the photographed image?
And is this why people always say they hate photos of themselves? Because our perception of what we should look like is just enough changed from what we see on a daily basis?
This is what happens when you are sick for too long and have way too much time on your hands so you ponder weird shit like this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A few years back I posted loads of pictures of all the different kinds of candy corn at the Walgreen's. This year, had I taken pictures of all the new candy corns you would be looking at about 5 more new flavors. Now, why on earth do we need any new types of candy corn? I like regular candy corn and see no reason to add Caramel Macchiato or Pumpkin Spice or S'more flavoring to it. Those things are never going to taste as good as you think they will. I promise to take some pics of the damn candy corn aisle next time I am over there.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If I had had any idea back at the first part of April when I got sick and started coughing that damn near SIX MONTHS LATER I would still be sick the smart thing to do would have been to buy Walgreen's stock. It's a good thing I didn't have any idea that this thing would hang in here this long because it is just too ridiculous for words. My next move is to find a good allergist and get some extensive testing done. The fall allergy season is upon us and I am not at all ready to take it on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Usually by now I have my Christmas list made and worked out what gifts I will be making and made good headway on having a bunch of them done. And you would think with all the time I have spent at home doing nothing I could have achieved that and even finished most of them by now. And yet, no. I am blaming my lack of energy and stamina on the 93% oxygen saturation that I was at for all summer long and just being exhausted by the never-ending coughing. So the truth is that I have done next to nothing and really have no clue about the Christmas list and gifting. That's sad for me to admit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was really looking forward to The Bastard Executioner, the new show by Kurt Sutter who did the Sons of Anarchy. It premiered last night and was a big 2 hour extravaganza. It took me damn near the first hour to get involved in it and figure out who was who. I can't really tell how it will go yet. There was a LOT of set up of time, place, characters, conflict, etc. It is very reminiscent of The Vikings.
~~~~~~~~~~
Just so you know, I am done D U N with talking about my health and being sick this year. It is boring and a pain in my ass and I am quite sure no one else wants to hear this crap either. So rest assured, if you come back here to read again, there will be no more of the sick talk.
I am also done with using the cute little spacers between my random thoughts. I thought it was a good idea, but now I don't think so.
Hope you are having a really good day in your part of the world. Let me hear from you on the mirror vs photograph idea.
Monday, August 17, 2015
Detoxing and Cleansing
As much fun as detoxing and cleansing your body out sounds, it's not nearly that much fun. Not nearly.
I started with the 3 day juice and fruit cleanse. Hey, it's summer! There's fresh fruit everywhere and I love fruit. What could be bad about this?
Have you ever had a colonoscopy? You know the whole 24 hours ahead of that when you cleanse your whole colon of everything that has ever been inside it? This is similar to that.
Here's the good thing; I have never eaten so much in my whole life. I am continually grazing on watermelon, pineapple, grapes, honeydew and jicama. It's all been really good, but I had to throw in the jicama for a crunch and a change in texture.
Oh! I was at Central Market today to load up on more fresh fruit and vegetable goodness and there among the grapes was this:
And I was starving, so I took one to try them. OH MY GOD!
This is the most horrific thing I have ever put in my mouth! Vile, disgusting, putrid with a lingering aftertaste that will make you want to chew your own arm off if it would make that flavor go away. And I have eaten some gross things but this was just the worst.
I had to sample every other grape in the store to finally get rid of it. Even now, the memory of that flavor is making me nauseous just writing about it. Please, for the love of God, get rid of these abominations.
If I have saved even one person from this atrocity, it was worth it.
I have no idea how long it will take my body to adjust to being mostly all vegan, and gluten-free. Nor whether this will be a long-term change or just a temporary thing. I am willing and ready to give it a try to regain my health and hopefully reverse some of the inflammation going on.
If you are so inclined, give me a thought or a prayer tomorrow as I am seeing the pulmonologist at long last. I don't know if the scope and biopsy of the lungs is still a reasonable choice or if I am past the stage where that would be valuable information.
And I am off to brush my teeth again to get rid of the memory of those disgusting fake-flavored grapes.
I started with the 3 day juice and fruit cleanse. Hey, it's summer! There's fresh fruit everywhere and I love fruit. What could be bad about this?
Have you ever had a colonoscopy? You know the whole 24 hours ahead of that when you cleanse your whole colon of everything that has ever been inside it? This is similar to that.
Here's the good thing; I have never eaten so much in my whole life. I am continually grazing on watermelon, pineapple, grapes, honeydew and jicama. It's all been really good, but I had to throw in the jicama for a crunch and a change in texture.
Oh! I was at Central Market today to load up on more fresh fruit and vegetable goodness and there among the grapes was this:
This is the most horrific thing I have ever put in my mouth! Vile, disgusting, putrid with a lingering aftertaste that will make you want to chew your own arm off if it would make that flavor go away. And I have eaten some gross things but this was just the worst.
I had to sample every other grape in the store to finally get rid of it. Even now, the memory of that flavor is making me nauseous just writing about it. Please, for the love of God, get rid of these abominations.
If I have saved even one person from this atrocity, it was worth it.
I have no idea how long it will take my body to adjust to being mostly all vegan, and gluten-free. Nor whether this will be a long-term change or just a temporary thing. I am willing and ready to give it a try to regain my health and hopefully reverse some of the inflammation going on.
If you are so inclined, give me a thought or a prayer tomorrow as I am seeing the pulmonologist at long last. I don't know if the scope and biopsy of the lungs is still a reasonable choice or if I am past the stage where that would be valuable information.
And I am off to brush my teeth again to get rid of the memory of those disgusting fake-flavored grapes.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Apologies
Good morning to all! It is actually a great morning, as it *might* even rain on us! So cross your fingers, eyes, arms, legs, whatever you like to cross that it really happens.
I have been having a really hard time blogging lately and I am not sure why. Sometimes I want to tell you things I have learned, but I feel like I might come across as preachy, so I don't. And other times I think I might be funny and witty, but I read it and it sounds pithy and smart-assy. So I have been censoring myself A LOT.
I guess what I need to do is to figure out exactly what I want to share and just say it as honestly as I can from my heart and not worry about what others think. And yet I DO worry about what other people think. Who knows why! I know all the sayings: "What other people think of you is none of your business", "If you knew how infrequently people think of you, you would be surprised", and all that stuff. And yet, I guess I do care. Apparently I care enough that it is inhibiting my posting.
I would love to just put my thoughts down and if for example, my mom or my kids read this, that they would not be offended or feel like I have violated their privacy. It's really hard to tell your story without also including a bit of someone else's. You know the whole "no man is an island" thing. So I guess I am going to go out on a limb and just say things from my heart and hope that no one is upset or offended. If they are, well, that might just be their issue, and not mine. Here goes!
Here are some truths as I see them:
1. I am amazed when I run in to someone I haven't seen in years and they say things like "Oh, you are just the same as you were way back when!" Really? I don't feel the same. I know that I have lived a lot of different experiences over the last THIRTY YEARS, and surely they have affected me? I don't think I am the same person I was even just a few years ago. Too many things happen and life is not constant. I just don't think it is possible to stay the same. And not only that, why on earth would I want to be the same person I was at 19 or 20? or even 40?
2. Recognizing Truth #1 above, it seems weird that #2 for me is that I don't deal well with change. I like things to be the same. I like the constancy, the comfort of knowing that things and places will be what they were in the past. Maybe it's just the consistency of knowing a particular place will always be a landmark in my memory? Or that a certain food or scent that brings back a flood of memories? How awful would it be if after a lifetime of memories around holiday time with certain foods that suddenly the recipe was changed and you can't get the original ever again? That would suck for sure! But this doesn't hold true for me with people. I do want my kids and nephews and nieces to grow and mature and change and experience life. Does this make sense?
3. For every new thing you acquire in your life it seems you have to let go of something else. This holds true whether it is a tangible item or an idea or a dream or a belief. Every time I have moved to a new place it is exciting to get to go to a new place, find a new home and all the new and wonderful things that place has to offer. But what goes along with that is the loss of the former place, no more getting to have that old routine, no more getting to see those friends on a regular basis, never eating at that favorite around-the-corner-restaurant. Moving to new and exciting places was a wonderful adventure, but the sacrifice was not being nearby to our families and watching the nieces and nephews grow up.
When my kids were babies I had the usual Mom Dreams in my head of what wide-open futures were available to them. And as life happens to us, some of those dreams get cut off and new dreams and realities take their place. This doesn't mean that I am disappointed in the new possibilities, but I do need to be allowed to grieve a bit for the loss of the dream.
My kids should know that I am always on their side, in their camp, and always fiercely proud of them for the people they have grown up to be, and are still growing into. Whatever path they choose will be the right one for them.
4. It is my truth that I have learned more from my kids and my nieces and nephews (the next generation down) than I will ever impart to them. It surprised me to learn and acknowledge this.
5. The more I grow and age and learn, the more I know that I need to just shut up. Everything I do can be done with less words and more action. Or more of just being there, and being quiet.
That's my 5 truths for the day. I hope you weren't bored to tears or to sleep with this list.
As always, I love to hear from you. Post away!
I have been having a really hard time blogging lately and I am not sure why. Sometimes I want to tell you things I have learned, but I feel like I might come across as preachy, so I don't. And other times I think I might be funny and witty, but I read it and it sounds pithy and smart-assy. So I have been censoring myself A LOT.
I guess what I need to do is to figure out exactly what I want to share and just say it as honestly as I can from my heart and not worry about what others think. And yet I DO worry about what other people think. Who knows why! I know all the sayings: "What other people think of you is none of your business", "If you knew how infrequently people think of you, you would be surprised", and all that stuff. And yet, I guess I do care. Apparently I care enough that it is inhibiting my posting.
I would love to just put my thoughts down and if for example, my mom or my kids read this, that they would not be offended or feel like I have violated their privacy. It's really hard to tell your story without also including a bit of someone else's. You know the whole "no man is an island" thing. So I guess I am going to go out on a limb and just say things from my heart and hope that no one is upset or offended. If they are, well, that might just be their issue, and not mine. Here goes!
Here are some truths as I see them:
1. I am amazed when I run in to someone I haven't seen in years and they say things like "Oh, you are just the same as you were way back when!" Really? I don't feel the same. I know that I have lived a lot of different experiences over the last THIRTY YEARS, and surely they have affected me? I don't think I am the same person I was even just a few years ago. Too many things happen and life is not constant. I just don't think it is possible to stay the same. And not only that, why on earth would I want to be the same person I was at 19 or 20? or even 40?
2. Recognizing Truth #1 above, it seems weird that #2 for me is that I don't deal well with change. I like things to be the same. I like the constancy, the comfort of knowing that things and places will be what they were in the past. Maybe it's just the consistency of knowing a particular place will always be a landmark in my memory? Or that a certain food or scent that brings back a flood of memories? How awful would it be if after a lifetime of memories around holiday time with certain foods that suddenly the recipe was changed and you can't get the original ever again? That would suck for sure! But this doesn't hold true for me with people. I do want my kids and nephews and nieces to grow and mature and change and experience life. Does this make sense?
3. For every new thing you acquire in your life it seems you have to let go of something else. This holds true whether it is a tangible item or an idea or a dream or a belief. Every time I have moved to a new place it is exciting to get to go to a new place, find a new home and all the new and wonderful things that place has to offer. But what goes along with that is the loss of the former place, no more getting to have that old routine, no more getting to see those friends on a regular basis, never eating at that favorite around-the-corner-restaurant. Moving to new and exciting places was a wonderful adventure, but the sacrifice was not being nearby to our families and watching the nieces and nephews grow up.
When my kids were babies I had the usual Mom Dreams in my head of what wide-open futures were available to them. And as life happens to us, some of those dreams get cut off and new dreams and realities take their place. This doesn't mean that I am disappointed in the new possibilities, but I do need to be allowed to grieve a bit for the loss of the dream.
My kids should know that I am always on their side, in their camp, and always fiercely proud of them for the people they have grown up to be, and are still growing into. Whatever path they choose will be the right one for them.
4. It is my truth that I have learned more from my kids and my nieces and nephews (the next generation down) than I will ever impart to them. It surprised me to learn and acknowledge this.
5. The more I grow and age and learn, the more I know that I need to just shut up. Everything I do can be done with less words and more action. Or more of just being there, and being quiet.
That's my 5 truths for the day. I hope you weren't bored to tears or to sleep with this list.
As always, I love to hear from you. Post away!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Seriously Random Stuff
Another of those posts that kind of follow my thought pattern.
1. Do you ever watch t.v. and see a commercial that is either so hilarious or so horrible you immediately think, "Holy shit, I have to remember to blog about THAT!"??
Well, I do that all the time. And by the time I get to youtube and go to look it up so I can share it with you, I can't remember what it was. It's gone. Poof!
2. We are still looking for a home for the little Mama Kitty who is the cutest, sweetest, most precious little teeny kitty you ever saw. If you are at all interested in providing a loving home for this girl, let me know.
And before you ask, no. She can not stay here. Angus MacPhee absolutely hates her and would make her life a living hell. Angus is a dick.
3. My across-the-street neighbor was robbed yesterday morning. In broad daylight. While he AND his yard worker were both around. It was a completely bizarre incident. And 4 years ago when Ernest T. Bass was dropped off here I tried and tried to get my neighbor to take him. And if he had, well, I don't think that idiot thieving thief would have made it into the garage. Ernest T. is quite loud and protective of his property.
4. The Texas wildfires are popping up all over the place. The area just east of us that is on fire is said to be the size of Connecticut.
5. Did I ever mention here that I am growing out my hair color and going all natural? Well, I am. Since menopause is totally kicking my memory's ass six ways to Sunday, I decided that I need to lessen my brain's exposure to chemicals. Also, I am super annoyed with seeing people in their 70s trotting around with jet black hair. And I didn't want to be one of them.
So I decided to embrace my silver hairs and let them grow in and let's just see what we shall see! So far, people are very complimentary of the new color. I never know if they really mean it or are just taking pity on the poor old gray haired lady.
6. This is the first year that we have kept the round card table up in the living room all year. We put it up at Christmas time to do jigsaw puzzles near the Christmas tree. And this year? It has just stayed up and we have continued doing puzzle after puzzle. It has to stay in that room because we can close it off away from the cats.
7. Remember the little crocheted bottle cap trivets I was making? I got 3 more done before I ran out of bottle caps. So that is 3 Christmas gifts done. I need to get a source for clean, unsmashed bottle caps. Any ideas?
8. Our garden is completely dead. Nothing survived this horrendous drought and 4 months of 100+ temps. I am worried about our massive oak trees. I could give two figs for the damn stupid grass, but my trees? That's another story.
9. Normally, I have good book recommendations for you, but not now. Lately, all I have been reading is about food, healthy diets, good food for your body and for the environment. And you know what? Some of these things contradict each other! It's confusing. I can't decide whether to try out The Diet That Seems Easiest To Work With or The One That Seems Best For the Earth and Hardest For Me.
It's a bit daunting and overwhelming, all this information.
10. And finally! My last thought for the day. Well, my last thought to share here, not necessarily the last thought I will have the whole DAY!
Life is good. It can be as complicated as you want, or as easy and simple as you want. It's all in how you look at it.
I have a friend who I play Mah Jongg with who has a needlepoint sampler on her wall that says something like "The difference between Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones, is in how you use them". And that's kind of what I have been thinking. The situation is what it is regardless of how you feel about it. You can choose to have negative feelings about something but that doesn't make the facts negative, does it? Facts are facts. A situation is what it is whether you choose to love it or hate it. Which set of feelings will get you through the day?
1. Do you ever watch t.v. and see a commercial that is either so hilarious or so horrible you immediately think, "Holy shit, I have to remember to blog about THAT!"??
Well, I do that all the time. And by the time I get to youtube and go to look it up so I can share it with you, I can't remember what it was. It's gone. Poof!
2. We are still looking for a home for the little Mama Kitty who is the cutest, sweetest, most precious little teeny kitty you ever saw. If you are at all interested in providing a loving home for this girl, let me know.
And before you ask, no. She can not stay here. Angus MacPhee absolutely hates her and would make her life a living hell. Angus is a dick.
3. My across-the-street neighbor was robbed yesterday morning. In broad daylight. While he AND his yard worker were both around. It was a completely bizarre incident. And 4 years ago when Ernest T. Bass was dropped off here I tried and tried to get my neighbor to take him. And if he had, well, I don't think that idiot thieving thief would have made it into the garage. Ernest T. is quite loud and protective of his property.
4. The Texas wildfires are popping up all over the place. The area just east of us that is on fire is said to be the size of Connecticut.
5. Did I ever mention here that I am growing out my hair color and going all natural? Well, I am. Since menopause is totally kicking my memory's ass six ways to Sunday, I decided that I need to lessen my brain's exposure to chemicals. Also, I am super annoyed with seeing people in their 70s trotting around with jet black hair. And I didn't want to be one of them.
So I decided to embrace my silver hairs and let them grow in and let's just see what we shall see! So far, people are very complimentary of the new color. I never know if they really mean it or are just taking pity on the poor old gray haired lady.
6. This is the first year that we have kept the round card table up in the living room all year. We put it up at Christmas time to do jigsaw puzzles near the Christmas tree. And this year? It has just stayed up and we have continued doing puzzle after puzzle. It has to stay in that room because we can close it off away from the cats.
7. Remember the little crocheted bottle cap trivets I was making? I got 3 more done before I ran out of bottle caps. So that is 3 Christmas gifts done. I need to get a source for clean, unsmashed bottle caps. Any ideas?
8. Our garden is completely dead. Nothing survived this horrendous drought and 4 months of 100+ temps. I am worried about our massive oak trees. I could give two figs for the damn stupid grass, but my trees? That's another story.
9. Normally, I have good book recommendations for you, but not now. Lately, all I have been reading is about food, healthy diets, good food for your body and for the environment. And you know what? Some of these things contradict each other! It's confusing. I can't decide whether to try out The Diet That Seems Easiest To Work With or The One That Seems Best For the Earth and Hardest For Me.
It's a bit daunting and overwhelming, all this information.
10. And finally! My last thought for the day. Well, my last thought to share here, not necessarily the last thought I will have the whole DAY!
Life is good. It can be as complicated as you want, or as easy and simple as you want. It's all in how you look at it.
I have a friend who I play Mah Jongg with who has a needlepoint sampler on her wall that says something like "The difference between Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones, is in how you use them". And that's kind of what I have been thinking. The situation is what it is regardless of how you feel about it. You can choose to have negative feelings about something but that doesn't make the facts negative, does it? Facts are facts. A situation is what it is whether you choose to love it or hate it. Which set of feelings will get you through the day?
Thursday, August 11, 2011
List of Six
I just got an email that talked about the List of Six. I am over 50 flipping years old and am just now being told about this! What gives? Why am I always out of the loop?
Apparently there is a List of Six things that you are allowed to be as snobby about as you want to be. But only six. After that you are just being a snob and no one wants to put up with your triflin' ass.
This article gave examples of the perfect cup of coffee, hubcaps, head-turning boots, whatever floats YOUR boat. You are allowed six items to be that particular about and the whole world will be with you and support this.
So of course I had to start thinking about what my perfect List of Six might be. And as they love to say on DWTS, "here in no particular order" is my list.
1. Vosges Chocolate Bars
Have you tried these? Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness. The absolute BEST chocolate bars made.
The very first one I ever tried is the Red Fire Bar.
It's like letting all the best things about Mexico melt on your tongue at the same time. Deep chocolate, vanilla, a little cinnamon, and then different types of dried chiles that wake up the back of your throat. Lordy, lordy, I don't even know what to tell you about this one. It is still my favorite, even after trying so many others.
My second favorite bar from Vosges is the Mo's Bacon Bar. Chocolate, applewood bacon and alderwood smoked salt all combine to make the perfect taste experience ever.
Until . . . . . My sister bought me a box of Vosges Mo's Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix!
I know, right!!!
Some warm pure maple syrup on top of those babies and you will want to sit right up and slap your mama. It's like a bit of heaven on a fork.
So yeah, I am gonna be a snob about the Vosges chocolate. Check out their website to see all the outstanding flavor combinations and giftie stuff they have.
2. This one is going to be completely different, but I am going to be a pushy advocate here. I have become extremely selective about how things are packaged, where they come from and how those companies choose to treat their employees and Mother Earth. So if I have a choice of a product that is inexpensive but bad environmentally produced or an alternative that is much more sustainably produced and more expensive I am going to support the sustainable one. Less often due to the cost, but enough so that they know to keep doing what they are doing.
Case in point; I was looking for some bay scallops for a recipe the other day. Bay scallops are the cute smaller ones about the size of mini marshmallows, not the big ones you want to wrap with bacon. The store I was at had 2 scallops, the big ones and the little ones. I needed the smaller ones for my recipe (which I need to share with you) but on the sign in the scallop bin in the fine print it said 2 things that got me. 1. Farm Raised and 2. Product of China. Ewww and Ewwwww. There was so much wrong with that product there was no way in hell I was going to buy it.
If you don't believe me just go google factory farming of fish and seafood and see what you think. Then think about doing that in China. They are willing to put melamine in the baby formula, put almost nothing in their cheaper drugs so essentially you are wasting your money and NOT getting well by taking them, and to top it all off these scallops then have to be shipped all the way across the world to get here. That sounds safe and appetizing, doesn't it?
By the by these farm-raised Chinese bay scallops were going for 5.99 per lb.
The other scallops that I ended up buying claimed to be wild-caught from the U.S.A. They were 15.99 per lb.
I consider the extra $20. I paid for those 2 lbs. of scallops a bargain. And if it meant that I couldn't afford the difference, then we would have had beans and rice instead. Be selective and never settle for an inferior product. I promise you won't be happy with it anyway.
So that is my number 2.
3. My Teva sandals.
I used to be a shoe-holic. I had so many pairs of shoes it was crazy! Like more than 100 crazy. That's how crazy I was about shoes. Love the shoes! I still love shoes.
But if I look at my life on a day-to-day basis and what I do and where I go and what I wear to these things, I see a pattern of wearing the same 7 or so pairs of shoes on a more consistent basis and the others less often.
And I said to myself the other day, "Self, if you could only have one pair of shoes for the rest of your days, which ones would they be?"
My Teva sandals. Hands down. Number one choice, no debate. Love the Tevas! Other than dressing up, there is nothing you can't do in these shoes. Nothing.
4. Giant screen t.v., cable and dvr.
Oh please! I know it makes me look like a wiener that watches too much mind-numbing t.v. But have you met me? I can't imagine any person that loves their t.v. as much as I do. And t.v. combined with a great cable package with a dvr? Well, you have just hit the motherlode!!
I can think of many, many things I would, and do, give up to keep that t.v., cable, dvr combo going.
5. Customer Service.
I am fanatical about great customer service. If you as a company don't care enough to put your best people in the front lines dealing with your customers, you don't deserve to have my money end up in your profits. That's it.
Treat me with respect, consideration and above all, do what you say you will do. Have some integrity, for heaven's sake! And I will be a loyal customer forever. But you fuck me over and treat me badly (speaking directly to YOU dickweeds at Home Depot) and that's it. We are done. I will never, never darken your door, I will never drop another penny into your coffers and I WILL tell every single person I ever come in contact with about your shoddy excuse for customer service.
Oh hell, now I have gone and gotten on my high horse about the jackwagons at Home Depot again.
I treat my clients with the respect that I expect to be shown and can't imagine why it should ever be otherwise. And this is why I am happy with T-Mobile. They are always, and I mean ALWAYS, great to deal with.
Yay T-Mobile!! (boo, hiss on the Home Depot)
6. My Borsa Bella Bag.
I have shown you my Borsa Bella bag before. (Good Lord, that was alliterative!!)
This is the fabric I chose. It's called Kleo Pink. Isn't it gorgeous? I have the larger Kindle DX and so I have the larger eReader bag to house it. In the front zipper pocket I have room for the headphones, the little reading light, the charging cord and any other little things I need to have with my Kindle.
If you have an electronic device of any kind , an iPad, an eReader, a laptop, whatever it is, if you want to carry it around with you safely and in style you should have a custom-made Borsa Bella Bag. I truly love my Borsa Bella bag. Enough so that I called Melissa and had her custom make a particular bag with a certain fabric and do custom monogram on it for my mama for her birthday.
So go check out Borsa Bella Bags and tell Melissa I sent you. She had a deal on facebook for a while that if you liked her page she would give you a code for a discount. Check it out and see if it is still running.
Okay, that's my List of Six for today. I am sure if I made it again next week it might be different. Maybe not. But it's a woman's perogative to change her mind. Just ask Bobby Brown!
Please do share your List of Six here, I would love to see them.
Apparently there is a List of Six things that you are allowed to be as snobby about as you want to be. But only six. After that you are just being a snob and no one wants to put up with your triflin' ass.
This article gave examples of the perfect cup of coffee, hubcaps, head-turning boots, whatever floats YOUR boat. You are allowed six items to be that particular about and the whole world will be with you and support this.
So of course I had to start thinking about what my perfect List of Six might be. And as they love to say on DWTS, "here in no particular order" is my list.
1. Vosges Chocolate Bars
Have you tried these? Oh. My. Freaking. Goodness. The absolute BEST chocolate bars made.
The very first one I ever tried is the Red Fire Bar.
It's like letting all the best things about Mexico melt on your tongue at the same time. Deep chocolate, vanilla, a little cinnamon, and then different types of dried chiles that wake up the back of your throat. Lordy, lordy, I don't even know what to tell you about this one. It is still my favorite, even after trying so many others.
My second favorite bar from Vosges is the Mo's Bacon Bar. Chocolate, applewood bacon and alderwood smoked salt all combine to make the perfect taste experience ever.
Until . . . . . My sister bought me a box of Vosges Mo's Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix!
I know, right!!!
Some warm pure maple syrup on top of those babies and you will want to sit right up and slap your mama. It's like a bit of heaven on a fork.
So yeah, I am gonna be a snob about the Vosges chocolate. Check out their website to see all the outstanding flavor combinations and giftie stuff they have.
2. This one is going to be completely different, but I am going to be a pushy advocate here. I have become extremely selective about how things are packaged, where they come from and how those companies choose to treat their employees and Mother Earth. So if I have a choice of a product that is inexpensive but bad environmentally produced or an alternative that is much more sustainably produced and more expensive I am going to support the sustainable one. Less often due to the cost, but enough so that they know to keep doing what they are doing.
Case in point; I was looking for some bay scallops for a recipe the other day. Bay scallops are the cute smaller ones about the size of mini marshmallows, not the big ones you want to wrap with bacon. The store I was at had 2 scallops, the big ones and the little ones. I needed the smaller ones for my recipe (which I need to share with you) but on the sign in the scallop bin in the fine print it said 2 things that got me. 1. Farm Raised and 2. Product of China. Ewww and Ewwwww. There was so much wrong with that product there was no way in hell I was going to buy it.
If you don't believe me just go google factory farming of fish and seafood and see what you think. Then think about doing that in China. They are willing to put melamine in the baby formula, put almost nothing in their cheaper drugs so essentially you are wasting your money and NOT getting well by taking them, and to top it all off these scallops then have to be shipped all the way across the world to get here. That sounds safe and appetizing, doesn't it?
By the by these farm-raised Chinese bay scallops were going for 5.99 per lb.
The other scallops that I ended up buying claimed to be wild-caught from the U.S.A. They were 15.99 per lb.
I consider the extra $20. I paid for those 2 lbs. of scallops a bargain. And if it meant that I couldn't afford the difference, then we would have had beans and rice instead. Be selective and never settle for an inferior product. I promise you won't be happy with it anyway.
So that is my number 2.
3. My Teva sandals.
I used to be a shoe-holic. I had so many pairs of shoes it was crazy! Like more than 100 crazy. That's how crazy I was about shoes. Love the shoes! I still love shoes.
But if I look at my life on a day-to-day basis and what I do and where I go and what I wear to these things, I see a pattern of wearing the same 7 or so pairs of shoes on a more consistent basis and the others less often.
And I said to myself the other day, "Self, if you could only have one pair of shoes for the rest of your days, which ones would they be?"
My Teva sandals. Hands down. Number one choice, no debate. Love the Tevas! Other than dressing up, there is nothing you can't do in these shoes. Nothing.
4. Giant screen t.v., cable and dvr.
Oh please! I know it makes me look like a wiener that watches too much mind-numbing t.v. But have you met me? I can't imagine any person that loves their t.v. as much as I do. And t.v. combined with a great cable package with a dvr? Well, you have just hit the motherlode!!
I can think of many, many things I would, and do, give up to keep that t.v., cable, dvr combo going.
5. Customer Service.
I am fanatical about great customer service. If you as a company don't care enough to put your best people in the front lines dealing with your customers, you don't deserve to have my money end up in your profits. That's it.
Treat me with respect, consideration and above all, do what you say you will do. Have some integrity, for heaven's sake! And I will be a loyal customer forever. But you fuck me over and treat me badly (speaking directly to YOU dickweeds at Home Depot) and that's it. We are done. I will never, never darken your door, I will never drop another penny into your coffers and I WILL tell every single person I ever come in contact with about your shoddy excuse for customer service.
Oh hell, now I have gone and gotten on my high horse about the jackwagons at Home Depot again.
I treat my clients with the respect that I expect to be shown and can't imagine why it should ever be otherwise. And this is why I am happy with T-Mobile. They are always, and I mean ALWAYS, great to deal with.
Yay T-Mobile!! (boo, hiss on the Home Depot)
6. My Borsa Bella Bag.
I have shown you my Borsa Bella bag before. (Good Lord, that was alliterative!!)
This is the fabric I chose. It's called Kleo Pink. Isn't it gorgeous? I have the larger Kindle DX and so I have the larger eReader bag to house it. In the front zipper pocket I have room for the headphones, the little reading light, the charging cord and any other little things I need to have with my Kindle.
If you have an electronic device of any kind , an iPad, an eReader, a laptop, whatever it is, if you want to carry it around with you safely and in style you should have a custom-made Borsa Bella Bag. I truly love my Borsa Bella bag. Enough so that I called Melissa and had her custom make a particular bag with a certain fabric and do custom monogram on it for my mama for her birthday.
So go check out Borsa Bella Bags and tell Melissa I sent you. She had a deal on facebook for a while that if you liked her page she would give you a code for a discount. Check it out and see if it is still running.
Okay, that's my List of Six for today. I am sure if I made it again next week it might be different. Maybe not. But it's a woman's perogative to change her mind. Just ask Bobby Brown!
Please do share your List of Six here, I would love to see them.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
If I only had $1.25 mill, here's what I would buy
Please go here and see all these gorgeous pictures.
Maybe I could go buy a lottery ticket? Not sure how else to go about getting the asking price, but I am open to ideas!
Maybe I could go buy a lottery ticket? Not sure how else to go about getting the asking price, but I am open to ideas!
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Carbs, Protein, Sciatica and DNA, oh my!
I am still on the Phase 1 of the High Protein, Low Fat, NO CARB diet. This is Day 6. And I believe it may be the last day.
I have Phase 2 printed out and items bought, and since I am dreaming about sweet things, it is time to switch. My husband, Mr. Big Ed, walked in today with a glass of tea and for a split second it looked like cranberry juice and I wanted to wrestle it from his hands and steal it.
Phase 2 will bring in some yogurt, tofu, and most excitingly CARROTS, BEETS and Pita breads. Woot!! Oh yeah, there will be the occasional orange too. All good things.
Does anyone know why I am craving peanut butter at this stage? Every night I have been dying for a spoon of peanut butter. Sometimes I get one, sometimes I don't. It just depends on how I feel.
Anyhoo, I had high plans for making some ketchup or chili sauce out of all those tomatoes that I can't eat, and yesterday morning I woke up and walked to the bathroom. Somehow I stood up wrong or leaned over wrong or something and that damn sciatica hit me full force. It is all over my lower back and over to the right and down my right leg. The same right leg with the arthritis in the hip and knee.
Yeah.
Nothing going on here but ice and ibuprofen. (Here in my house it is Wal-profen from Walgreen's)
Today marks the first day of the defense presenting their case in the Casey Anthony trial. It also marks the 3rd anniversary of little Caylee's death. I don't know how they were able to pinpoint the date down so exactly, but this is the date they are using.
I think the defense lawyer is getting on the job training, and I also think his strategy is to bore the jurors till they say "Uncle, I give, we swear we won't vote for death penalty, if you just STOP!!!!"
I have never seen anything like the sidebar after sidebar in this case. And then there are the sidebars ABOUT the sidebars. It is crazy. That's what it is.
So I am sticking to this diet. I can't stand up. And I am glued to the trial online. In case you are interested in watching something move slower than paint dries, go to wftv.com on casey anthony trial live.
How are things in your life?
I have Phase 2 printed out and items bought, and since I am dreaming about sweet things, it is time to switch. My husband, Mr. Big Ed, walked in today with a glass of tea and for a split second it looked like cranberry juice and I wanted to wrestle it from his hands and steal it.
Phase 2 will bring in some yogurt, tofu, and most excitingly CARROTS, BEETS and Pita breads. Woot!! Oh yeah, there will be the occasional orange too. All good things.
Does anyone know why I am craving peanut butter at this stage? Every night I have been dying for a spoon of peanut butter. Sometimes I get one, sometimes I don't. It just depends on how I feel.
Anyhoo, I had high plans for making some ketchup or chili sauce out of all those tomatoes that I can't eat, and yesterday morning I woke up and walked to the bathroom. Somehow I stood up wrong or leaned over wrong or something and that damn sciatica hit me full force. It is all over my lower back and over to the right and down my right leg. The same right leg with the arthritis in the hip and knee.
Yeah.
Nothing going on here but ice and ibuprofen. (Here in my house it is Wal-profen from Walgreen's)
Today marks the first day of the defense presenting their case in the Casey Anthony trial. It also marks the 3rd anniversary of little Caylee's death. I don't know how they were able to pinpoint the date down so exactly, but this is the date they are using.
I think the defense lawyer is getting on the job training, and I also think his strategy is to bore the jurors till they say "Uncle, I give, we swear we won't vote for death penalty, if you just STOP!!!!"
I have never seen anything like the sidebar after sidebar in this case. And then there are the sidebars ABOUT the sidebars. It is crazy. That's what it is.
So I am sticking to this diet. I can't stand up. And I am glued to the trial online. In case you are interested in watching something move slower than paint dries, go to wftv.com on casey anthony trial live.
How are things in your life?
Thursday, March 24, 2011
What to post
I have been trying all morning to decide what to talk about here. And I was perusing previous posts and you know what?
It seems like all I ever do is promise to follow up one post with some pictures and stories that tell you the rest of the story. And then . . . . . nothing. wth?
I had no idea I was that big of a dingbat. So I either need to come up with a system that tells me it is time to take some pictures and do a follow-up post, or I need to just shut the hell up and quit promising things I am clearly not capable of delivering.
Did any of you notice that I do this? If not, never mind.
But! I do have something awesome to show you.
This is actually courtesy of Mr. Big Ed. Follow the link here to the Washington Post and see this slide show. I tried and tried to capture each photo and post them individually here and could not make it happen. I also have no idea how to imbed this slide show here. So please, click over to the Washington Post and scope this out.
If you have been here for any length of time you already know about my love of Peeps. And did you know that you can go to the Peeps website and have loads of fun?? When you are in the Peeps site, click on the general store and there are gift tags, coloring pages, wallpaper, all sorts of fun things you can print up. Not to mention recipes using Peeps! Love the Peeps!!
Since St. Patrick's Day I have been listening to my Irish Drinking Music and I finally had my fill of The Clancy Brothers and switched today to my 70's Soul Music. This is my go-to play list. What could be any better than a couple hours worth of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Teddy Pendergrass, Barry White, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Isley Bros.?
I got sucked into a 30 minute long infomercial the other night by Smokey Robinson. It was all Time-Life DVDs of Soul Train. And do you know it took the the whole 30 minutes to figure out that the Soul Train DVDs in question were in fact . . . . DVDs???
The whole flipping time I was thinking that it was going to be cds to listen to, not watch. What a goober! Anyhoo, if you haven't seen old Soul Train episodes in a long, long time you are probably like me and didn't remember how epic the outfits and the hair was! O.M.G. Indeed!
I am probably going to have to go to the Time-Life site and order the damn set. Oh! And the DVDs are supposed to include the old Afro-Sheen and Ultra-Sheen cosmetics commercials. Woot!
I really didn't like being a boring white person without an afro in the 1970's. I could have rocked a nice big afro and carried a pick in my back pocket. But no, sadly I am just a generic Irish-German white person.
It is only a month till Easter. Time to start making my plans. It's not like I have that much to do with grown kidlets and no grandbabies yet. Pretty much it's just a few decorations, and planning the Easter menu. And that has become entirely too easy since we have settled on our very traditional Easter paella. I mean paella is a big one dish meal with some salad and bread. I still boil and color eggs so that we can have deviled eggs, egg salad and such afterwards.
Enough rambling from me. Let me hear from you! And I hope it's a great day for you. Thanks for stopping by.
It seems like all I ever do is promise to follow up one post with some pictures and stories that tell you the rest of the story. And then . . . . . nothing. wth?
I had no idea I was that big of a dingbat. So I either need to come up with a system that tells me it is time to take some pictures and do a follow-up post, or I need to just shut the hell up and quit promising things I am clearly not capable of delivering.
Did any of you notice that I do this? If not, never mind.
But! I do have something awesome to show you.
This is actually courtesy of Mr. Big Ed. Follow the link here to the Washington Post and see this slide show. I tried and tried to capture each photo and post them individually here and could not make it happen. I also have no idea how to imbed this slide show here. So please, click over to the Washington Post and scope this out.
If you have been here for any length of time you already know about my love of Peeps. And did you know that you can go to the Peeps website and have loads of fun?? When you are in the Peeps site, click on the general store and there are gift tags, coloring pages, wallpaper, all sorts of fun things you can print up. Not to mention recipes using Peeps! Love the Peeps!!
Since St. Patrick's Day I have been listening to my Irish Drinking Music and I finally had my fill of The Clancy Brothers and switched today to my 70's Soul Music. This is my go-to play list. What could be any better than a couple hours worth of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Teddy Pendergrass, Barry White, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Isley Bros.?
I got sucked into a 30 minute long infomercial the other night by Smokey Robinson. It was all Time-Life DVDs of Soul Train. And do you know it took the the whole 30 minutes to figure out that the Soul Train DVDs in question were in fact . . . . DVDs???
The whole flipping time I was thinking that it was going to be cds to listen to, not watch. What a goober! Anyhoo, if you haven't seen old Soul Train episodes in a long, long time you are probably like me and didn't remember how epic the outfits and the hair was! O.M.G. Indeed!
I am probably going to have to go to the Time-Life site and order the damn set. Oh! And the DVDs are supposed to include the old Afro-Sheen and Ultra-Sheen cosmetics commercials. Woot!
I really didn't like being a boring white person without an afro in the 1970's. I could have rocked a nice big afro and carried a pick in my back pocket. But no, sadly I am just a generic Irish-German white person.
It is only a month till Easter. Time to start making my plans. It's not like I have that much to do with grown kidlets and no grandbabies yet. Pretty much it's just a few decorations, and planning the Easter menu. And that has become entirely too easy since we have settled on our very traditional Easter paella. I mean paella is a big one dish meal with some salad and bread. I still boil and color eggs so that we can have deviled eggs, egg salad and such afterwards.
Enough rambling from me. Let me hear from you! And I hope it's a great day for you. Thanks for stopping by.
Friday, March 18, 2011
St. Patrick
Yesterday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with the usual Irish beer, corned beef and cabbage (which was excellent, by the by) and the wearing o'the green. And I asked myself "Self, what does any of this have to with St. Patrick???"
And I had no answer to that question.
But! I do have a book on the Lives of the Saints. So, I proceeded to look up the Irish Saint and read about him and his life. Let me share with you what I gleaned from it.
He was born in either Ireland, Scotland or Wales. There is dispute about that. His father, the deacon Calpurnius, (you will notice the father has a Roman name. He was some sort of muckity-muck from Rome sent to oversee these heathen Irish) had a farm beside the sea. About 404 a.d. it was pillaged by pirates (aarrrggh) who carried off Patrick, aged sixteen. They sold him to an islander who employed him for six years in tending his flocks, after which Patrick fled and returned to his parents.
In a dream he had a vision that caused him to devote himself to the evangelization of Ireland, still in idolatry. So he crossed the sea, stayed with the monks of Le`rins, then went to Auxerre where, from 415 to 432 he was at the school of the bishops St. Amator and St. Germain.
**(So he left being a pagan Irish farmer to follow his dream of being a French-trained Roman Catholic bishop). Then it goes on to explain how after being freed from Roman domination, the Irish were ruled by a host of minor kings. And it was towards these kings that Patrick directed his "zeal" on arriving back in the country. Wielding absolute power, the kings' religion was their subjects' religion. And since they owned all the land, they alone controlled the building of churches. And the story of the evangelization of Ireland is almost entirely written in terms of the conversions made by St. Patrick among the heads of the clans and families.
There are many legends about St. Patrick but the main idea expressed by all of them is the extreme veneration of the Irish people for the apostle who made them Christians. One of the stories is how he used the Irish shamrock to show the trinity as the three parts in one whole.
** There is no mention of the pagans who were perfectly happy in their paganism being forced to convert. And typically that conversion meant "convert or die". Sorry, I meant to just relate the information and not put my own sensibilities in there, but I just can't abide the whole "oh, my particular brand of religion is the true faith, and unless you convert, you are totally less-than and just not getting in to the Really Good Heaven with us".
And then I googled images of St. Patrick to get a look at who people are venerating. Here's what I found.
Thus endeth today's lesson.
Go in peace.
And I had no answer to that question.
But! I do have a book on the Lives of the Saints. So, I proceeded to look up the Irish Saint and read about him and his life. Let me share with you what I gleaned from it.
He was born in either Ireland, Scotland or Wales. There is dispute about that. His father, the deacon Calpurnius, (you will notice the father has a Roman name. He was some sort of muckity-muck from Rome sent to oversee these heathen Irish) had a farm beside the sea. About 404 a.d. it was pillaged by pirates (aarrrggh) who carried off Patrick, aged sixteen. They sold him to an islander who employed him for six years in tending his flocks, after which Patrick fled and returned to his parents.
In a dream he had a vision that caused him to devote himself to the evangelization of Ireland, still in idolatry. So he crossed the sea, stayed with the monks of Le`rins, then went to Auxerre where, from 415 to 432 he was at the school of the bishops St. Amator and St. Germain.
**(So he left being a pagan Irish farmer to follow his dream of being a French-trained Roman Catholic bishop). Then it goes on to explain how after being freed from Roman domination, the Irish were ruled by a host of minor kings. And it was towards these kings that Patrick directed his "zeal" on arriving back in the country. Wielding absolute power, the kings' religion was their subjects' religion. And since they owned all the land, they alone controlled the building of churches. And the story of the evangelization of Ireland is almost entirely written in terms of the conversions made by St. Patrick among the heads of the clans and families.
There are many legends about St. Patrick but the main idea expressed by all of them is the extreme veneration of the Irish people for the apostle who made them Christians. One of the stories is how he used the Irish shamrock to show the trinity as the three parts in one whole.
** There is no mention of the pagans who were perfectly happy in their paganism being forced to convert. And typically that conversion meant "convert or die". Sorry, I meant to just relate the information and not put my own sensibilities in there, but I just can't abide the whole "oh, my particular brand of religion is the true faith, and unless you convert, you are totally less-than and just not getting in to the Really Good Heaven with us".
And then I googled images of St. Patrick to get a look at who people are venerating. Here's what I found.
Thus endeth today's lesson.
Go in peace.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Rambling and Musing
I have not been able to string two coherent thoughts together for over 2 weeks now. Maybe it is this virus from hell that has attached itself to my body? I am so tired of the headache, the chest wheezing and the infernal cough, cough, cough, cough, run to the bathroom so I don't pee on myself, and then cough some more. Things need to be getting done, and I am not doing them. It sucks being sick is what it does.
So my brain has had all sorts of random thoughts and I thought I might share some of them with you.
1. It is a tradition in my family to put out a jigsaw puzzle during the Christmas holidays and leisurely work on it with Christmas carols playing in the background while nibbling on cookies and such. This year we have left the big round folding table up that houses the puzzle and have done one after the other after the next. I think we are on the 7th one since the holidays. We are some jigsaw puzzling fools!
If you have a puzzle that needs putting together, send it on down. We will do it and then take a picture of it for you.
2. I have been researching on ancestry.com since I have been sick. It's a new hobby and it is a good change of pace from the usual things you do when you don't feel good. I work on one branch for a while and then switch over to another. It has been really interesting looking at the old census pages and seeing what all you can find out from reading them. And reading between the lines, too. For example, in looking at a census of one family branch I noticed that a different branch of my family was listed on that same page. This means that they were neighbors.
Some of the censuses, censi, whatever the hell the plural of census is, ask questions like
A. What color is this person?
B. How many children have you given birth to? How many still living?
C. Where was your father from?
D. Highest level of school attended?
E. Rent or own home?
F. Employment?
G. When did you come to this country?
In every case, the man is listed as head of household, unless he is dead and the widow is working the farm with the help of a bunch of the living kids. When she gets older, the son or son-in-law is then listed as head of household and she is listed as retired, even though they never moved!
In the early 1800's the census also asked for an accounting of how many free white people and how many slaves. Where did the indentured white people go on that list? There only seemed to be the two categories.
3. Spring is springing up all over! It is so beautiful. If we could get a good long misting, sprinkling rain I think it would be just what we need to push all the wildflowers into bloom.
4. Showtime's new series to fill the void left after The Tudors finished, The Borgias is due to start on Sunday, April 3rd. And if this isn't the best thing on t.v. (since the Tudors) I will eat my hat. Go, run over to Showtime and scope it out. Read up on those e-vil Borgias and get ready.
5. Over at Bye Bye Pie in the comments the last couple of days, we have been discussing our favorite soups. Now, this is NOT what June posted about, but somehow the comments over there take on a life of their own and there we go. Anyhoo, we were all discussing our favorite soups. So I am curious, what are your favorite soups? Homemade? Restaurant? Cream based? Brothy? Do you have one in each category?
Soup, it's good food!
Time for me to go make some more hot tea and get a cough drop.
Get your corned beefs ready! Get your Irish soda bread made! Bake up some gingerbread! Get your Guinness or Harps beer on ice. And think about ole St. Paddy. Driving the snakes out of Ireland. Makes you wonder what happened next, doesn't it? I have a book on all the saints, so I will look it up and give you a full report on St. Patrick tomorrow.
So my brain has had all sorts of random thoughts and I thought I might share some of them with you.
1. It is a tradition in my family to put out a jigsaw puzzle during the Christmas holidays and leisurely work on it with Christmas carols playing in the background while nibbling on cookies and such. This year we have left the big round folding table up that houses the puzzle and have done one after the other after the next. I think we are on the 7th one since the holidays. We are some jigsaw puzzling fools!
If you have a puzzle that needs putting together, send it on down. We will do it and then take a picture of it for you.
2. I have been researching on ancestry.com since I have been sick. It's a new hobby and it is a good change of pace from the usual things you do when you don't feel good. I work on one branch for a while and then switch over to another. It has been really interesting looking at the old census pages and seeing what all you can find out from reading them. And reading between the lines, too. For example, in looking at a census of one family branch I noticed that a different branch of my family was listed on that same page. This means that they were neighbors.
Some of the censuses, censi, whatever the hell the plural of census is, ask questions like
A. What color is this person?
B. How many children have you given birth to? How many still living?
C. Where was your father from?
D. Highest level of school attended?
E. Rent or own home?
F. Employment?
G. When did you come to this country?
In every case, the man is listed as head of household, unless he is dead and the widow is working the farm with the help of a bunch of the living kids. When she gets older, the son or son-in-law is then listed as head of household and she is listed as retired, even though they never moved!
In the early 1800's the census also asked for an accounting of how many free white people and how many slaves. Where did the indentured white people go on that list? There only seemed to be the two categories.
3. Spring is springing up all over! It is so beautiful. If we could get a good long misting, sprinkling rain I think it would be just what we need to push all the wildflowers into bloom.
4. Showtime's new series to fill the void left after The Tudors finished, The Borgias is due to start on Sunday, April 3rd. And if this isn't the best thing on t.v. (since the Tudors) I will eat my hat. Go, run over to Showtime and scope it out. Read up on those e-vil Borgias and get ready.
5. Over at Bye Bye Pie in the comments the last couple of days, we have been discussing our favorite soups. Now, this is NOT what June posted about, but somehow the comments over there take on a life of their own and there we go. Anyhoo, we were all discussing our favorite soups. So I am curious, what are your favorite soups? Homemade? Restaurant? Cream based? Brothy? Do you have one in each category?
Soup, it's good food!
Time for me to go make some more hot tea and get a cough drop.
Get your corned beefs ready! Get your Irish soda bread made! Bake up some gingerbread! Get your Guinness or Harps beer on ice. And think about ole St. Paddy. Driving the snakes out of Ireland. Makes you wonder what happened next, doesn't it? I have a book on all the saints, so I will look it up and give you a full report on St. Patrick tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Getting political today
I have made it a point to not get political here. I don't really want any dischord in my life or my cyber-life. But I am going to step a bit, just a big toe dipping into this political pool, so please bear with me.
I am a birth doula. I am also a post-partum doula. And I am a massage therapist who specializes in prenatal and infant massage. I am also a mother. And I hope one day to be a grandmother. So you might tend to pigeon-hole me into the group of people who like to call themselves Pro-Life. Who would not want to consider themselves Pro-Life? Are we ever Anti-Life?
Groups have ways of finding innocuous-sounding names to bring in people who might never darken their doors had they really known the group's agenda.
Because of all that mentioned above, I am firmly encamped in the Pro-Choice side of this debate. One thing that is sacred to me as a woman mentoring other women is choice. I tell every. single. one. of my clients over and over again
If you don't know your choices, you have none.
It's true. It is true about childbirth, about parenting, about making food choices, about budgeting, whatever. If you only know one way, that's what you do. If you only have one viable choice, you go along. Even if there is a niggling little feeling in the back of your heart telling you "there must be another way".
So, today I am here to say that this is absolute bullshit being put out there that funding must be cut to Planned Parenthood. Please go check out Planned Parenthood and see just exactly what kind of work they do. There is so much need for the kind of education they provide, the testing of HIV they do, the pregnancy testing, just everything.
If the Pink Bus is coming to a city near you, please go and support them. Go and find out. Go and educate yourself about the need to educate.
Just don't do nothing while they get their funding slashed and the rights of women get trampled and thrown back to the 1940's.
I work with pregnant teenagers, some who have homes, some who do not. I work with some at the juvenile detention center. And I work with some who believe they are in a committed relationship and have the rose-colored view that everything will be the way they are picturing it in their head as opposed to reality. The numbers of my actual clients who end up staying together with their boyfriend, keeping their babies, and living as a family unit are dismal. This never happens. It does not matter what the ecomonic level of the family is, this is such a ridiculously hard way to start out, that most of these girls can not find their way through it with this dream intact.
What they need is more support from the community. From people like me who have lists and lists of organizations, agencies and such that can provide education, support groups for the young moms and dads, access to birth control so that they can cope with what they have before adding to it.
What they don't need is to be treated like children who have done wrong and now have to be punished. "You made this bed, now you have to lie in it". Really? That's how you want them to approach parenting? As a consequence of being bad? How does that translate to their feelings about this baby? Are you able to love a baby that is a daily reminder of your transgressions and your failings?
It's a thorny issue this one. I just thought I would go ahead and let you know my stance on this. I will be standing outside my closest Planned Parenthood clinic tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. in solidarity with others.
Please do some research and arm yourself with facts. If you don't know your choices, you have none.
I am a birth doula. I am also a post-partum doula. And I am a massage therapist who specializes in prenatal and infant massage. I am also a mother. And I hope one day to be a grandmother. So you might tend to pigeon-hole me into the group of people who like to call themselves Pro-Life. Who would not want to consider themselves Pro-Life? Are we ever Anti-Life?
Groups have ways of finding innocuous-sounding names to bring in people who might never darken their doors had they really known the group's agenda.
Because of all that mentioned above, I am firmly encamped in the Pro-Choice side of this debate. One thing that is sacred to me as a woman mentoring other women is choice. I tell every. single. one. of my clients over and over again
If you don't know your choices, you have none.
It's true. It is true about childbirth, about parenting, about making food choices, about budgeting, whatever. If you only know one way, that's what you do. If you only have one viable choice, you go along. Even if there is a niggling little feeling in the back of your heart telling you "there must be another way".
So, today I am here to say that this is absolute bullshit being put out there that funding must be cut to Planned Parenthood. Please go check out Planned Parenthood and see just exactly what kind of work they do. There is so much need for the kind of education they provide, the testing of HIV they do, the pregnancy testing, just everything.
If the Pink Bus is coming to a city near you, please go and support them. Go and find out. Go and educate yourself about the need to educate.
Just don't do nothing while they get their funding slashed and the rights of women get trampled and thrown back to the 1940's.
I work with pregnant teenagers, some who have homes, some who do not. I work with some at the juvenile detention center. And I work with some who believe they are in a committed relationship and have the rose-colored view that everything will be the way they are picturing it in their head as opposed to reality. The numbers of my actual clients who end up staying together with their boyfriend, keeping their babies, and living as a family unit are dismal. This never happens. It does not matter what the ecomonic level of the family is, this is such a ridiculously hard way to start out, that most of these girls can not find their way through it with this dream intact.
What they need is more support from the community. From people like me who have lists and lists of organizations, agencies and such that can provide education, support groups for the young moms and dads, access to birth control so that they can cope with what they have before adding to it.
What they don't need is to be treated like children who have done wrong and now have to be punished. "You made this bed, now you have to lie in it". Really? That's how you want them to approach parenting? As a consequence of being bad? How does that translate to their feelings about this baby? Are you able to love a baby that is a daily reminder of your transgressions and your failings?
It's a thorny issue this one. I just thought I would go ahead and let you know my stance on this. I will be standing outside my closest Planned Parenthood clinic tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. in solidarity with others.
Please do some research and arm yourself with facts. If you don't know your choices, you have none.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Have you missed me?
It has been more than a week since I have posted! Have you missed me? Here's what's been going on at Chez Lisa Pie:
I HAVE BEEN SICK!
Yes, I have been sick. I have had the crud for what seems like for-freaking-ever! At about day 4 I was sitting up on the couch covered in a cat blanket watching mindless t.v. because the thought of trying to lay down and then start the coughing jags was too much; and I had to turn the t.v. up louder because the damn cats were snoring and I couldn't hear anything. And you know how it goes when you hear an annoying background sound, it begins to be all you CAN hear. So I started investigating to see which one of these cats was being so darn noisy. At this point I was noticing that the snoring seemed to be in rhythm with my own personal breathing. Weird. But we are all sitting together, so whatever. Anyhoo, it took me about an hour to figure out that it was not the cats snoring, but rather it was my own personal chest wheezing!!!!! Never in my life have I ever wheezed. Not once. Even when I wanted to try and do the Muttley wheezy laugh, I had to really work for it. This was very disconcerting.
I got to about 5 or 6 days in and figured out that I was not going to get better on my own so I went to the doctor. After a not very long wait (yea!!) the doctor listened to my chest and sent me to get x-rayed.
Have you had your chesticle area x-rayed? The frontal view was not too bad. But that sideways profile view? Weeeeellll. Hmmmmmm.
Do you recall that cartoon Granny from Playboy? The one with the really long breasticles? It seems gravity is not my friend and that is the direction my own lovely breasticles are headed.
Downward.
I didn't really need to see that x-ray is what I am sayin'. A blow to my vanity.
Anyhoo . . . . . .
So I am now on all sorts of new and improved medications, inhalers and steroids. Yep, I am on the 'roids. Juiced up, as it were. Maybe these 'roids will perk up the breasticeees? That would be a nice little benefit, wouldn't it?
The doctor seemed to think this particular little viral infection would take about 3 weeks to clear out and I am about halfway there. And thank the Lord about for that! This staying home, coughing and having no energy and wheezing has not been a picnic. Or a day at the park. Or a walk in the park. Or whichever saying you like best.
What have I been doing to fill up my day while I can't sleep or talk or anything else, you might ask?
I signed up on ancestry.com and have been researching and filling up my family tree. Ooooh, I know what you are thinking, "I bet Lisa Pie has some really interesting charactersnuts in her family tree!"
Well, that my friends, is news for the next time!
I hope you and yours are all well and not wheezing, coughing, snotty, or disgusting.
p.s. to QueenB, your tea is sitting on my kitchen table just waiting for me to take it to the UPS store. You will receive it really soon!
p.p.s. Since it is already the first week of the Month again. Plan on a new tea drawing in the next few days!!
I HAVE BEEN SICK!
Yes, I have been sick. I have had the crud for what seems like for-freaking-ever! At about day 4 I was sitting up on the couch covered in a cat blanket watching mindless t.v. because the thought of trying to lay down and then start the coughing jags was too much; and I had to turn the t.v. up louder because the damn cats were snoring and I couldn't hear anything. And you know how it goes when you hear an annoying background sound, it begins to be all you CAN hear. So I started investigating to see which one of these cats was being so darn noisy. At this point I was noticing that the snoring seemed to be in rhythm with my own personal breathing. Weird. But we are all sitting together, so whatever. Anyhoo, it took me about an hour to figure out that it was not the cats snoring, but rather it was my own personal chest wheezing!!!!! Never in my life have I ever wheezed. Not once. Even when I wanted to try and do the Muttley wheezy laugh, I had to really work for it. This was very disconcerting.
I got to about 5 or 6 days in and figured out that I was not going to get better on my own so I went to the doctor. After a not very long wait (yea!!) the doctor listened to my chest and sent me to get x-rayed.
Have you had your chesticle area x-rayed? The frontal view was not too bad. But that sideways profile view? Weeeeellll. Hmmmmmm.
Do you recall that cartoon Granny from Playboy? The one with the really long breasticles? It seems gravity is not my friend and that is the direction my own lovely breasticles are headed.
Downward.
I didn't really need to see that x-ray is what I am sayin'. A blow to my vanity.
Anyhoo . . . . . .
So I am now on all sorts of new and improved medications, inhalers and steroids. Yep, I am on the 'roids. Juiced up, as it were. Maybe these 'roids will perk up the breasticeees? That would be a nice little benefit, wouldn't it?
The doctor seemed to think this particular little viral infection would take about 3 weeks to clear out and I am about halfway there. And thank the Lord about for that! This staying home, coughing and having no energy and wheezing has not been a picnic. Or a day at the park. Or a walk in the park. Or whichever saying you like best.
What have I been doing to fill up my day while I can't sleep or talk or anything else, you might ask?
I signed up on ancestry.com and have been researching and filling up my family tree. Ooooh, I know what you are thinking, "I bet Lisa Pie has some really interesting characters
Well, that my friends, is news for the next time!
I hope you and yours are all well and not wheezing, coughing, snotty, or disgusting.
p.s. to QueenB, your tea is sitting on my kitchen table just waiting for me to take it to the UPS store. You will receive it really soon!
p.p.s. Since it is already the first week of the Month again. Plan on a new tea drawing in the next few days!!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Where'd ya hear that? Return of the Jedi
O. M. G.! Ever since I wrote all those movie quotes a couple days ago, that's all I can get in my head is MORE movie quotes. And you know how that is, the only thing to do with something stuck in your head is to share with the rest of the class.
I can NOT believe I didn't put Princess Bride at the top of the list! Think of how many great quote-a-longs there are from that movie.
"Inconceivable!"
"Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
"Mawwiage is what bwings us togethew. Wuv, twue wuv"
"As you wish"
Awwww, the most perfect kiss of all time. Who knew Princess Buttercup would grow up to become Forrest's Jenny.
"Run, Forrest, Run!"
"and me and Jenny, we was like peas and carrots"
"I'm sorry I ruined your Black Panther Party"
"there's boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, shrimp cocktail, shrimp salad, shrimp etoufee', creole shrimp, . . . . "
"Lieutenant Daaaaaaan!"
"You got magic legs"
"Mama always says, (insert pertinent Mama quote)"
and then there is:
"There's no crying in baseball!"
"Houston, we have a problem"
"say Hello to my little friend"
and Jack Nicholson whose cheese has slid right off his cracker when he says "Here's Johnny!"
"Surely, you can't be serious?" "Yes I am, and stop calling me Shirley"
and one of the most hilarious lines ever from When Harry met Sally, "I'll have what she's having".
So, I got online and looked up famous movie quotes and boy are there a bunch of them. Wikipedia has a list of the Top 100 most famous movie quotes. And even though I knew Casablanca had a lot of great quotes, it surprised me that it has the most, followed up by Wizard of Oz. Interesting stuff.
I promise I am all done on this topic for a while. But be sure to let me know your favorites.
I can NOT believe I didn't put Princess Bride at the top of the list! Think of how many great quote-a-longs there are from that movie.
"Inconceivable!"
"Hello, My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
"Mawwiage is what bwings us togethew. Wuv, twue wuv"
"As you wish"
Awwww, the most perfect kiss of all time. Who knew Princess Buttercup would grow up to become Forrest's Jenny.
"Run, Forrest, Run!"
"and me and Jenny, we was like peas and carrots"
"I'm sorry I ruined your Black Panther Party"
"there's boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, shrimp cocktail, shrimp salad, shrimp etoufee', creole shrimp, . . . . "
"Lieutenant Daaaaaaan!"
"You got magic legs"
"Mama always says, (insert pertinent Mama quote)"
and then there is:
"There's no crying in baseball!"
"Houston, we have a problem"
"say Hello to my little friend"
and Jack Nicholson whose cheese has slid right off his cracker when he says "Here's Johnny!"
"Surely, you can't be serious?" "Yes I am, and stop calling me Shirley"
and one of the most hilarious lines ever from When Harry met Sally, "I'll have what she's having".
So, I got online and looked up famous movie quotes and boy are there a bunch of them. Wikipedia has a list of the Top 100 most famous movie quotes. And even though I knew Casablanca had a lot of great quotes, it surprised me that it has the most, followed up by Wizard of Oz. Interesting stuff.
I promise I am all done on this topic for a while. But be sure to let me know your favorites.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Where'd ya hear that?
I was thinking the other day of how many things have become part of our daily lexicon that came from books or movies. For example, if I said "a rose by any other name" you would know that this is part of a line from William Shakespeare. As is "kill all the lawyers".
Everyone knows We're gonna need a bigger boat! (Jaws)
Nobody puts Baby in a corner! (Dirty Dancing)
Mistakenly people use "Play it again, Sam" when Bogey really says "Play it, Sam". Hell, you could use that whole movie as quotes, there are so many great lines.
How many times have you heard "You're KILLING me, Smalls!"? (Another fabulous movie right there!)
"Anyone? Buehler? Buehler?"
"These aren't the droids you're looking for"
Pretty much the whole movie, Dazed and Confused, for me is a quote.
and who in the whole world hasn't heard "You'll shoot your eye out!"? OMG, yet another great quotable movie!!
"Fra-geee-lay, must be Italian"
"Bumpus!!!!"
"Fa Ra Ra Ra Rahhhhh"
Seriously, A Christmas Story is one of the all-time great movies. I could watch it every single week of the year.
Remember these:
"I could have been somebody. I could have been a contender"
"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"
"You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm gonna get medieval on your ass."
"I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
"Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself.' And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked 'em up."
***Actually, our favorite quote from A Fish Called Wanda is when Otto (Kevin Kline) keeps driving his giant American car around London on the wrong side of the road and yelling "ASSHOLES!!!" out the window to all the very correct British people who almost hit him.
Remember this one:
"My daughter is in pain...Give my daughter the shot!"
"One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas, I don't know."
***Let me just say here, there never has been anyone like Groucho and there never will be. I will watch the Marx Bros. anytime and any place. Love Groucho!!
"But I want to be alone."
And from Gone with the Wind we have tons of great quotes:
"Lawdy! We got to have a doctor! I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies."
"No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed - and often, and by someone who knows how."
"...Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?"
- "Frankly, my dear. I don't give a damn."
"As God is my witness, they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folks! If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill! As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."
"I'll think about it tomorrow. Tara! Home. I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!"
and think about The Wizard of Oz. Good Lord, that whole movie is a bunch of great quotes. How many times have you heard people say, "Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore"? or even "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"?
I had to look this one up to get all of it right.
"I know what you're thinkin'. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"
My kids even know this one, but from subsequent parodies, not from the original.
"Is it safe?"
Doesn't that one give you the heebee jeebees?
"But, Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa NOW!!"
"Soylent Green is people!"
"What we've got here is a failure to communicate"
"Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?"
And for your enjoyment, check these latest photos of Lester Buster.
Now, can you imagine being that relaxed? That boy loves himself some basking in the sun, that is for sure!!
Everyone knows We're gonna need a bigger boat! (Jaws)
Nobody puts Baby in a corner! (Dirty Dancing)
Mistakenly people use "Play it again, Sam" when Bogey really says "Play it, Sam". Hell, you could use that whole movie as quotes, there are so many great lines.
How many times have you heard "You're KILLING me, Smalls!"? (Another fabulous movie right there!)
"Anyone? Buehler? Buehler?"
"These aren't the droids you're looking for"
Pretty much the whole movie, Dazed and Confused, for me is a quote.
and who in the whole world hasn't heard "You'll shoot your eye out!"? OMG, yet another great quotable movie!!
"Fra-geee-lay, must be Italian"
"Bumpus!!!!"
"Fa Ra Ra Ra Rahhhhh"
Seriously, A Christmas Story is one of the all-time great movies. I could watch it every single week of the year.
Remember these:
"I could have been somebody. I could have been a contender"
"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers"
"You hear me talkin', hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'm gonna get medieval on your ass."
"I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."
"Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not 'every man for himself.' And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked 'em up."
***Actually, our favorite quote from A Fish Called Wanda is when Otto (Kevin Kline) keeps driving his giant American car around London on the wrong side of the road and yelling "ASSHOLES!!!" out the window to all the very correct British people who almost hit him.
Remember this one:
"My daughter is in pain...Give my daughter the shot!"
"One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas, I don't know."
***Let me just say here, there never has been anyone like Groucho and there never will be. I will watch the Marx Bros. anytime and any place. Love Groucho!!
"But I want to be alone."
And from Gone with the Wind we have tons of great quotes:
"Lawdy! We got to have a doctor! I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies."
"No, I don't think I will kiss you, although you need kissing badly. That's what's wrong with you. You should be kissed - and often, and by someone who knows how."
"...Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?"
- "Frankly, my dear. I don't give a damn."
"As God is my witness, they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again. No, nor any of my folks! If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill! As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again."
"I'll think about it tomorrow. Tara! Home. I'll go home, and I'll think of some way to get him back! After all, tomorrow is another day!"
and think about The Wizard of Oz. Good Lord, that whole movie is a bunch of great quotes. How many times have you heard people say, "Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore"? or even "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain"?
I had to look this one up to get all of it right.
"I know what you're thinkin'. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya punk?"
My kids even know this one, but from subsequent parodies, not from the original.
"Is it safe?"
Doesn't that one give you the heebee jeebees?
"But, Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa NOW!!"
"Soylent Green is people!"
"What we've got here is a failure to communicate"
"Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?"
And for your enjoyment, check these latest photos of Lester Buster.
Now, can you imagine being that relaxed? That boy loves himself some basking in the sun, that is for sure!!
Friday, February 11, 2011
Here's what I forgot to show you earlier this week
Look at that! It "snowed". It snowed enought to cover the steps, sidewalk, street and other really cold stuff, but not fully cover the grass. We must have really warm dirt. See where there was another car that left early?
I wish we had real snow, real winters. I loved it so much when we were in Minnesota, the land of 4 distinct seasons. I loved how things changed so much from month to month. Come spring, every single month there were totally new things blooming. There was not a single season I didn't love there. Funny how it is not on my short list of places to retire. I might have to think on that.
Then when the huge drifts of snow cleared, Mr. Big Ed and I went mattress shopping! Yea!! We have needed a new bed for forever it seems. I got a fabulous coupon deal in the mail from Sears and we spent a lot of time online scoping out what was available and getting Mr. Big Ed over his sticker shock before we ventured out to brave the cold, snow and ice. And listen, it can be downright painful shopping with Mr. Big Ed. He shops with both hands tightly over his wallet and his eyeballs glued to the price section of all the signs. "Mr. Big Ed, which bed is most comfy and the one you think you can sleep on for the next 10 years?" His answer? "The cheapest". Really? Low prices make you that relaxed, do they? Me, I need a little more from a bed than just cheapness.
Anyhoo, we headed out to go to Sears and take advantage of the great deal they mailed to me. But we stopped off at JC Penney first. We tried out every mattress there. Now, if you are like me and have not shopped for mattresses in the last 10 years, here's a little head's up. They have store models that have a "Firm" side and a "Plush" side. This is good because they can show off twice as many beds in half as much space. It is BAD because there is no possible way for you and another person to both try out the same bed at the same time. But since Mr. Big Ed thought he wanted a Firm, Hard as a Brick, Really Cheap bed, and I wanted the softest, Princess and the Pea Plushy model, it would have been perfect serendipity if they would just sell us one of those floor models. Right?
Not a snowball's chance in Texas.
I started taking pics of the beds to document which ones we liked but it turned out to be more informative to take pics of the signs on the beds to remember the names of that model, since they all pretty much look the same. So we narrowed down the Penney's beds to 4 that we liked. The Sealy Oak Grove, the Serta Gentle Haven, the Simmons Danvers and the Simmons Marlowe.
Then we drove down to Mattress Firm, which threw me off my game in trying out beds because they had the word FIRM on all the beds and I didn't want to try them out. And can I just say here that you know you are getting old when you fall in love with the bed with the electric controls to raise and lower the head and the knee sections? Loved that bed. Loved that bed. Mr. Big Ed? Not so much. He saw the price and went in to a complete sticker shock and refused to get in it. Dick.
FINALLY, we made our way to Sears and tried out all their beds and narrowed it down to 4 as well. Then I pulled out my lovely letter from them entitling me to not only the 50% off, but the store was having another 10% on top of that and my letter gave me an ADDITIONAL 10%, PLUS free delivery and hauling off of Old Lumpy AND a free bed frame. Turns out only 1 of the 4 we had selected was eligible for all this free stuff. So we were between 1 bed at Sears and the 4 at Penney's.
Mr. Big Ed came out of his high price-induced coma and told me that the one feature that impressed him above all the others was the ones that had completely separate coils that worked independently from each other rather than as one big connected wire bouncy thing. That narrowed the list down to 2 of the Penney's beds. The beds that have this are the Simmons Beautyrest, in case you care. So back to Mr. J. C. Penney's store we went.
And here is the winner! The Simmons Beautyrest Danvers in the Plush, cushy, comfy version. It is due to be delivered on either the 16th or the 18th. Then Old Lumpy will be carted off by the Penney's people to get a Viking funeral or some such thing. Normally, I really care about what happens to things, where they go and keeping things out of the landfill that don't necessarily need to be there, but I don't know of anything I can do with this poor, tired old bed. So if you are in the market for a really old, sad, lumpy, saggy bed you have until either the 16th or the 18th to come get it.
Meanwhile, please feast your eyes on the soon-to-be new bed! Aaaaah, can't you just feel the relaxation? I sure can!
And for the last time this month, please do let me know if you want to be in the drawing for some FREE tea! I will be choosing someone next week. Maybe I will get organized and do it Monday for Valentine's Day? Let me hear from you!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Random Things from This Week
Nothing like a big serving of randomness, is there?
1. Yesterday I posted my usual thing of obit reading. But I also talked about a t.v. show that ended. And since I led with the t.v. show and ended with the best obit I have ever read, I kinda thought that the last thing you read would be the first thing commented on. Nope. Not so much. Either y'all don't really give a shit about the obits, or you really liked the husband from the t.v. show! Ha! That was pretty much the concensus of the comments. Everyone liked that guy. Did anyone give a rat's ass about the poor dead concentration camp survivor guy? Apparently not.
2. We had a storm come through here last night and dropped the temp about 50 degrees, with lots of wind and rain. And this usually makes for some great sleeping at my house. Love, love to sleep during a rainstorm. However, last night? All the flipping pets were up at one time or another and were all a bit on edge. None of us got a good night's sleep. In spite of that, I still have a full day of things to do. Those dogs and kitties? I am sure they will be basking in front of a window with lots of warm sunbeams on their fur. I intend to poke each of them and wake them up every time I walk by and see one of them sleeping. Twice if they were one of the ones who kept me up all night. Revenge, it's what's for breakfast!
3. I am reading a book that my son has for one of his classes this semester. He brought it in and said he thought I might like it and he doesn't have to start on it for a few weeks. So I have been reading it at night and it is really an interesting premise. Let me go get it so I can tell you the title.
Okay, I got it. And I went ahead and took a pic of the cover so you can see it.
A World of Babies, Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies. The little blurb on the bottom left is from T. Berry Brazelton, my favorite of all pediatricians.
So, here is the deal on this book - The opening chapters are explaining what the premise is behind each supposed childcare guide. Then with each childcare guide there is a synopsis of this particular society, how it functions, how large it is, what are the social, religious, spiritual more's, etc. Then there is the imagined childcare guide written from the perspective of a healer, a grandmother, a midwife, or whoever would be a respected person from that culture.
It is really interesting. And all these babies will grow up just fine not because of the way their parents rear them, but in spite of! There are so many conflicting customs. Some believe in bathing babies 5 times a day, some 2 times a day, some not until they are 210 days old. Some swaddle tightly for months, some never.
What all this means is there is no one right way to do things. There never has been. What is appropriate in one society in one time period would never work across the world in that same time period or any other. What we can take from this is that we should all be open to learning new ways and not judging things as "right" and "wrong".
I think I am on the 4th society and have 3 more to go. I will let you know if I change my opinion when I finish.
4. Since Lester Buster made it back home safely, I have not let him go outside at all. Everyone else thinks I am being too hard on him, taking away his Outside Privileges, but I swear to you I lost 5 years of my life worrying about him and I don't think I can do it again. I am sure that in time I will loosen up and let him go out front again, but for the time being, he needs to be indoors. Which brings up all kinds of my codependent issues. It's like I am learning to be better in one area of my life, and BAM! Lester goes missing and I fell right back into my old familiar pattern. Nice.
5. Yesterday would have been the birthday of one of my sisters. She died 15 years ago, way too young. Her best friend and I sent each other email messages remembering things about her. It was a rather sad, nostalgic day. R.I.P. sweet beautiful girl.
6. And before this turns any more maudlin and depressing, I have this for you!
I sure hope he gets picked up for a new series or new movie or something. He is a cutie, isn't he?
1. Yesterday I posted my usual thing of obit reading. But I also talked about a t.v. show that ended. And since I led with the t.v. show and ended with the best obit I have ever read, I kinda thought that the last thing you read would be the first thing commented on. Nope. Not so much. Either y'all don't really give a shit about the obits, or you really liked the husband from the t.v. show! Ha! That was pretty much the concensus of the comments. Everyone liked that guy. Did anyone give a rat's ass about the poor dead concentration camp survivor guy? Apparently not.
2. We had a storm come through here last night and dropped the temp about 50 degrees, with lots of wind and rain. And this usually makes for some great sleeping at my house. Love, love to sleep during a rainstorm. However, last night? All the flipping pets were up at one time or another and were all a bit on edge. None of us got a good night's sleep. In spite of that, I still have a full day of things to do. Those dogs and kitties? I am sure they will be basking in front of a window with lots of warm sunbeams on their fur. I intend to poke each of them and wake them up every time I walk by and see one of them sleeping. Twice if they were one of the ones who kept me up all night. Revenge, it's what's for breakfast!
3. I am reading a book that my son has for one of his classes this semester. He brought it in and said he thought I might like it and he doesn't have to start on it for a few weeks. So I have been reading it at night and it is really an interesting premise. Let me go get it so I can tell you the title.
Okay, I got it. And I went ahead and took a pic of the cover so you can see it.
A World of Babies, Imagined Childcare Guides for Seven Societies. The little blurb on the bottom left is from T. Berry Brazelton, my favorite of all pediatricians.
So, here is the deal on this book - The opening chapters are explaining what the premise is behind each supposed childcare guide. Then with each childcare guide there is a synopsis of this particular society, how it functions, how large it is, what are the social, religious, spiritual more's, etc. Then there is the imagined childcare guide written from the perspective of a healer, a grandmother, a midwife, or whoever would be a respected person from that culture.
It is really interesting. And all these babies will grow up just fine not because of the way their parents rear them, but in spite of! There are so many conflicting customs. Some believe in bathing babies 5 times a day, some 2 times a day, some not until they are 210 days old. Some swaddle tightly for months, some never.
What all this means is there is no one right way to do things. There never has been. What is appropriate in one society in one time period would never work across the world in that same time period or any other. What we can take from this is that we should all be open to learning new ways and not judging things as "right" and "wrong".
I think I am on the 4th society and have 3 more to go. I will let you know if I change my opinion when I finish.
4. Since Lester Buster made it back home safely, I have not let him go outside at all. Everyone else thinks I am being too hard on him, taking away his Outside Privileges, but I swear to you I lost 5 years of my life worrying about him and I don't think I can do it again. I am sure that in time I will loosen up and let him go out front again, but for the time being, he needs to be indoors. Which brings up all kinds of my codependent issues. It's like I am learning to be better in one area of my life, and BAM! Lester goes missing and I fell right back into my old familiar pattern. Nice.
5. Yesterday would have been the birthday of one of my sisters. She died 15 years ago, way too young. Her best friend and I sent each other email messages remembering things about her. It was a rather sad, nostalgic day. R.I.P. sweet beautiful girl.
6. And before this turns any more maudlin and depressing, I have this for you!
I sure hope he gets picked up for a new series or new movie or something. He is a cutie, isn't he?
Monday, December 20, 2010
Reading the Obits the week before Christmas
Isn't it sad that people really and truly do die at the holidays? And more of them do it then than at the rest of the year. Since before Thanksgiving we have had 3 full pages each Sunday rather than just the usual two or two and a bit. That's a pretty big increase.
There was a really cute photo of a man by the name of Alonzo David King, Jr. who was known by one and all as Bill. Bill was received into the arms of the Lord. Bill was married to his high school sweetheart Daisy Mae for 60 years. 60 years!
Kenneth Duke Morrison (note that Duke appears to be a real middle name and not a nickname in quotations) passed away peacefully of multiple myeloma. I don't know much about multiple myeloma but they mention apprecation to the bone marrow transplant unit at the hospital.
Rudolph Robles lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.
There were a lot, and I mean a lot of the obituaries that mentioned sending money to the Alzheimer's Association. It's really scary to me to think about getting Alzheimer's. It is such a horrible disease for the whole family to deal with.
Several of the obituaries were heartfelt and beautifully written and truly touched my heart. I wish that everyone would be so well-loved that someone in their family would memorialize them this way.
The family of Tomas Rivera wrote one of the best ones I have read this year. Here are some highlights of what they said about him. "Tomas and his loving wife Frances created a home that would foster acceptance, understanding, and love. He represented the passion and strong work ethic of a devoted steelworker who supported his family in both the good and the hard times. Through his children and down to his great grandchildren he exemplified the meaning of dedication and honor. His presence will never cease to exist as it can be seen in all 53 of his descendants. It is because of him we all know where we come from and where we are going. We thank you for teaching us how to lead and love a family."
Isn't that beautiful? Did you tear up a little? I sure did. What a loving and respectful tribute.
Bob Williams family summed it up with this: "Bob liked everybody and everybody liked Bob. Friendly and outgoing with a great sense of humor, he will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him."
And the best name today goes to . . . . . . (insert drum roll) . . . . . . .
Annie Maude Murphy Norris. Who goes by the name Maudie.
Which makes her girlhood name Maudie Murphy.
Maudie Murphy! Like Audie Murphy. Only Maudie. Bah!! I love it!
Maudie lived a full and exciting life. She traveled, she loved to crochet and grow orchids and African violets, going bowling, making gifts for her friends. She sounds like a real charmer. I would have loved to have known her.
I really would love to start hanging out at the senior centers or the retirement homes or something. But I don't think I would be able to read the obits afterwards, if they were all people I might know. I don't think my heart would be able to do it and not break into a thousand pieces.
But seriously, for years I have considered taking the training to be a hospice volunteer. It would be like being a doula for people who are dying and helping them to make the transition peacefully and on their own terms. That is still on the list of things I want to accomplish. Like quilting, learning to speak Italian and Russian.
I am off to bake some cookies for a cookie exchange tomorrow. Enjoy your Monday.
Oh! And don't forget that tonight is the big full lunar eclipse. Tomorrow is the winter solstice and also the full moon. It seems exciting to have all this at once, doesn't it?
There was a really cute photo of a man by the name of Alonzo David King, Jr. who was known by one and all as Bill. Bill was received into the arms of the Lord. Bill was married to his high school sweetheart Daisy Mae for 60 years. 60 years!
Kenneth Duke Morrison (note that Duke appears to be a real middle name and not a nickname in quotations) passed away peacefully of multiple myeloma. I don't know much about multiple myeloma but they mention apprecation to the bone marrow transplant unit at the hospital.
Rudolph Robles lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.
There were a lot, and I mean a lot of the obituaries that mentioned sending money to the Alzheimer's Association. It's really scary to me to think about getting Alzheimer's. It is such a horrible disease for the whole family to deal with.
Several of the obituaries were heartfelt and beautifully written and truly touched my heart. I wish that everyone would be so well-loved that someone in their family would memorialize them this way.
The family of Tomas Rivera wrote one of the best ones I have read this year. Here are some highlights of what they said about him. "Tomas and his loving wife Frances created a home that would foster acceptance, understanding, and love. He represented the passion and strong work ethic of a devoted steelworker who supported his family in both the good and the hard times. Through his children and down to his great grandchildren he exemplified the meaning of dedication and honor. His presence will never cease to exist as it can be seen in all 53 of his descendants. It is because of him we all know where we come from and where we are going. We thank you for teaching us how to lead and love a family."
Isn't that beautiful? Did you tear up a little? I sure did. What a loving and respectful tribute.
Bob Williams family summed it up with this: "Bob liked everybody and everybody liked Bob. Friendly and outgoing with a great sense of humor, he will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him."
And the best name today goes to . . . . . . (insert drum roll) . . . . . . .
Annie Maude Murphy Norris. Who goes by the name Maudie.
Which makes her girlhood name Maudie Murphy.
Maudie Murphy! Like Audie Murphy. Only Maudie. Bah!! I love it!
Maudie lived a full and exciting life. She traveled, she loved to crochet and grow orchids and African violets, going bowling, making gifts for her friends. She sounds like a real charmer. I would have loved to have known her.
I really would love to start hanging out at the senior centers or the retirement homes or something. But I don't think I would be able to read the obits afterwards, if they were all people I might know. I don't think my heart would be able to do it and not break into a thousand pieces.
But seriously, for years I have considered taking the training to be a hospice volunteer. It would be like being a doula for people who are dying and helping them to make the transition peacefully and on their own terms. That is still on the list of things I want to accomplish. Like quilting, learning to speak Italian and Russian.
I am off to bake some cookies for a cookie exchange tomorrow. Enjoy your Monday.
Oh! And don't forget that tonight is the big full lunar eclipse. Tomorrow is the winter solstice and also the full moon. It seems exciting to have all this at once, doesn't it?
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Rambling and Musing
Prince William is getting married! This is such good news. I truly hope he (and his brother Harry) are both going to be happy and fulfilled in their lives. It just broke my heart when their Mama died in such a tragic way leaving them to the care of their dork of a father. Ol' Prince Charlie doesn't exactly scream "I am a warm, and loving kind of guy" now does he?
My Grandma has been transferred from the hospital back to the rehab nursing facility she was at when I was there. I don't know that this is the best option for her. But it is certainly the best one open to her right now. I don't know what this will mean for her. I also don't know if I should be planning another trip out there right now or not. Maybe take a wait-and-see attitude for a while? I just don't know.
I did finally decide to read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and force myself to sit long enough to get immersed in the story. It took me close to halfway through that book to decide that I liked it. So the first thing I did when I finished was to go to the Kindle store and get the sequel! And I have just started that one. There are some really quirky and interesting characters in here.
I am also reading a book recommended to me called The Five Love Languages or the The Five Languages of Love. Or something along those lines. It's all about how people seem to be in one of five different categories as to how they instinctively prefer to give and show their love. And if your style of giving doesn't match your spouse/child/friend/etc. way of receiving love, you will end up with some problems. I can't imagine that there are many couples out there who have paired up whose style of giving and receiving is exactly the same. I immediately on hearing this assumed I was in one category, then upon reading I sort of vacilated between two others. Then at the end I took the test and ended up back in the first category. Maybe the first instinct is the right one? Now I just have to figure out which one is Mr. Big Ed's category and go from there!
Speaking of tests, I was reading Bye Bye Pie yesterday and June had us all go over to 9types and take a enneagram personality test. So I did. And boy oh boy, was I amazed and astounded by the results. There are 9 personality types and most people I think are dominant in one or two, some even in three. But my score looks like I am totally and damn near completely in one and totally deficient and even in the negative in most all the others. This does not seem like the results of a well-rounded healthy individual, does it? Apparently I am a Helper, a nurturer and care-giver individual with some artistic tendencies thrown in. Other than that, I have no personality. The other categories have to do with being a leader, a thinker, a questioner, a peacemaker (every time I see that I think pacemaker. Ha!). But I have no leading, motivating, or making of peace qualities I guess.
Anyone else doing any introspection? It's hard work for me because it does not come naturally and I have to really focus. Apparently being a helper, nurturer type does not include helping and nurturing the self! : )
Enjoy your Wednesday!
My Grandma has been transferred from the hospital back to the rehab nursing facility she was at when I was there. I don't know that this is the best option for her. But it is certainly the best one open to her right now. I don't know what this will mean for her. I also don't know if I should be planning another trip out there right now or not. Maybe take a wait-and-see attitude for a while? I just don't know.
I did finally decide to read the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and force myself to sit long enough to get immersed in the story. It took me close to halfway through that book to decide that I liked it. So the first thing I did when I finished was to go to the Kindle store and get the sequel! And I have just started that one. There are some really quirky and interesting characters in here.
I am also reading a book recommended to me called The Five Love Languages or the The Five Languages of Love. Or something along those lines. It's all about how people seem to be in one of five different categories as to how they instinctively prefer to give and show their love. And if your style of giving doesn't match your spouse/child/friend/etc. way of receiving love, you will end up with some problems. I can't imagine that there are many couples out there who have paired up whose style of giving and receiving is exactly the same. I immediately on hearing this assumed I was in one category, then upon reading I sort of vacilated between two others. Then at the end I took the test and ended up back in the first category. Maybe the first instinct is the right one? Now I just have to figure out which one is Mr. Big Ed's category and go from there!
Speaking of tests, I was reading Bye Bye Pie yesterday and June had us all go over to 9types and take a enneagram personality test. So I did. And boy oh boy, was I amazed and astounded by the results. There are 9 personality types and most people I think are dominant in one or two, some even in three. But my score looks like I am totally and damn near completely in one and totally deficient and even in the negative in most all the others. This does not seem like the results of a well-rounded healthy individual, does it? Apparently I am a Helper, a nurturer and care-giver individual with some artistic tendencies thrown in. Other than that, I have no personality. The other categories have to do with being a leader, a thinker, a questioner, a peacemaker (every time I see that I think pacemaker. Ha!). But I have no leading, motivating, or making of peace qualities I guess.
Anyone else doing any introspection? It's hard work for me because it does not come naturally and I have to really focus. Apparently being a helper, nurturer type does not include helping and nurturing the self! : )
Enjoy your Wednesday!
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