Didn't Feel Like Thursday

You know how most days of the week have a certain feel to them? Today was really off. I think most people get a "day shift" on three day weekends or when some other random thing is going on. Like if you took Friday off, then Saturday may feel like Sunday. Or if you have a Monday off, then Monday felt like Sunday and Tuesday felt like Monday. Well today (Thursday) felt like Saturday. I've never shifted two whole days before. I have no idea why it felt like Saturday except maybe because I was doing Saturday things. My weekdays are not particularly regimented or anything except for washing the sheets on Mondays and doing MOW on Wednesdays, but I guess I must have a sort of regular cycle of things that I do. On Saturdays I usually do different and unusual things. And that's what I did today I guess. I don't know, it just felt like Saturday all day.

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If you've been around long enough you may remember the hot water leak from last November. One of the after effects of that leak was a big crack over the corner of the large doorway between the entryway and the living room. It was bugging the hell out of My Sweetie, so I decided to patch it. I like to do all my own painting, but our living room has cathedral ceilings and I have "fear of falling." (A lot of people confuse this with fear of heights, but they are different things.) Well the wall with the crack is a regular height wall and I have always wanted to have an accent wall anyway, so I decided to take the plunge.

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I have patched and primed the crack but have to pick out a paint color. I'm looking for a warm honey-colored brown. Or golden brown or "I'll know it when I see it" brown. I'm going to get chips on Saturday because the paint can't clash with that giant honking credenza that was Mom's. I will have pictures when it is all done and I hope that will be real quick like. Maybe by Monday it will be finished.

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I looked at my x-ray films today. It was weird studying my spine and internal organs. And I think I saw my liver and it wasn't huge and angry-looking which is how I had imagined it. The weird thing was I had only seen this picture (that I had posted below), so it sort of freaked me out when I saw my own kidneys. The kidneys that belong to anonymous internet picture person are on the same level. My right kidney is about 2 or so inches below my left one. What's that all about? I always said I was off-balance but that was really odd looking.

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I think this weather has given me a lot of energy. Seriously, I'm the anti-reptile. Reptiles can hardly move once they get cold and I can hardly move when I get too hot. These days of 84° have been like a crazy vitamin boost. I'm wondering what I will get done tomorrow. And I wonder what day it will feel like. Maybe I'll have another Saturday.

I Thought So

David Finfrock, one of our local weather peoples, said tonight that this summer was our 5th hottest on record with 30 days of 100°+ temperatures. That's what I heard anyway. When I looked just now to check the facts: nothing. And that channel has a website. What's the point of their website if they are not going to have the stuff they said on there? So I googled "5th hottest summer DFW" and again, nothing. I demand instant gratification! Or maybe the heat has fried my brain.

By the way, the last two days have been 6° to 7° BELOW average. I even wore long pants both days. I know! I usually never wear long pants this early. I even wore tennis shoes today, but that was mostly because Barney accidentally sliced the top of my foot last night and I knew my sandals would irritate it even with a bandage. But it all worked out fine and when I went to the one MOW lady's house and her poodle jumped up on my legs, I said, "Ha! Ha! I'm wearing long pants. You can't scratch my legs today." I probably ruined his day.

I still haven't looked at my x-ray films. I will look at them tomorrow (later today I mean). It will be weird to look at my "innards." (That's a southern expression that I had to explain to a Cuban lady today.) My x-ray technician lady was very serious and did not even crack a smile the whole hour we were together. I liked the ultra-sound lady a million times better. She was fun. And I feel sorry for the ultra-sound lady because she has to work with dour x-ray tech lady. She had trouble getting a good vein but she poked "only" two holes in me. I had to stop her from trying my other arm that she had already tied up once and told her to do the back of my hand. I actually have a few small bruises from all the tourniquets. But I do bruise easily.

I couldn't believe how many pictures she took. That seems like a lot of radiation. I don't think I'll let anyone x-ray my torso again for 5 years. It would have to be something serious like if I swallowed a 3000 year old Spanish dubloon or something. I'll try not to do that in the next 5 years. The procedure is the radiologist looks at the film and sends a report to my doctor within 48 hours and if there is something, my doctor will call me. Otherwise, I just take the films with me when I go back on October 1st.

It seems to me that if there was something really wrong, the radiologist would have contacted my doctor right away and my doctor would have contacted me today (Wednesday, I mean). So I suspect I had all this anxiety, had to get up early, had to get TWO holes poked in me AND spent $83 for nothing.

Eeks

I am so not looking forward to this thing tomorrow (today actually). I've decided to take my "Dentist Buddy" to squeeze while they slide the needle into my arm. My daughter stopped by Friday night and when I told her all about it, she said, "Well, aren't you allergic to iodine?" I said, "No, Mom always put it on my scrapes when I was a kid." and then she reminded me of the occassional eye lumps I get after eating shrimp. I don't get them every time I eat shrimp. Maybe once every 4 or 5 years, but a doctor did tell me it was from shrimp with a high iodine content. I imagine there is more iodine in iodine being pumped into your veins than there is in a serving of shrimp. The receptionist at the doctor's office had asked me if I "was allergic to IVP fluid." That's all she said. She may as well asked if I were allergic to moon rocks. I said, "I have no idea." It wasn't until I got home and googled the whole thing that I found out it was iodine and even then I thought nothing of it until my daughter said something. So I called the doctor's office.
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They called in a prescription for me for prednisone because I can't take benadryl. I ran over to get it today and there was a CAB in front of me in the drive-thru. They may not seem like anything to you big-city dwellers, but cabs are very rare around here unless they are airport related or you are staying in a fancy hotel. It was really a rare sight to see one in the CVS line. So I took a picture:

Apparently the cabbie saw me take the picture because when they drove away, someone in the back seat waved to me. Those things on my hood are crape myrtle florets. They go everywhere with me. There will probable be some somewhere on my truck when I pull into the place tomorrow. As will my "dentist buddy." He always helps.

Not for the Squeamish

Tuesday morning I have to have an IVP. And yes the IV in IVP stands for IV. I do not like IVs. I do not like them in my arm, I will not eat green eggs and ham. I'd say getting an IV is my second, okay third, least favorite medical thing to have done to me. As you know, root canal is my least favorite:

1. root canal
2. bone reset
3. IV
4. mouth shots
5. dental filling
6. shot in an open wound
7. blood withdrawal
8. cauterization
9. uterine biopsy
10. wart freezing

And yes, I've had all of that done to me by horrible people that charge a lot of money. Evil, evil geniuses. And if you happen to be one of the "lucky" ones that have had a bone reset and a root canal, you might remember the bone resetting as being more painful. Well, okay it was, but this list is not just based on pain. The bone resetting while hideous and gruesome takes less than a minute. That doctor grabs your limb ends and yanks them apart, twists and puts them where he wants them in less than a minute. Probably less than half a minute. Yes, we scream or pass out, but then it's done! Just like that. A root canal? That lasts FOREVER.

My list is not based on pain alone, but also ickiness, hideousness, woozies, time, inconvenience (doesn't a root canal require like 3 visits what with the crown fittings and whatnot?), anguish, recovery and probably other things that I can't think of right now. Same thing about the shot in an open wound. It's pretty hideous and painful, but it's quick. A dental filling takes forever and the dental filling has the mouth shots to boot. That's two horrible things together. And recovery from mouth things? It sucks. And you have to eat. I broke my arm twice and figured out how to live without my arm for a while (the funniest was shaving my underarm - just try doing it with the same hand!), but you have to eat.

If you were a guy you might think catheterization is worse than some of those and it probably is for a guy, but that would probably be far down on my list after cortisone shot in my thumb, enema, and hospital food. It's funny but I've always said I'd rather go to the gynecologist than the dentist and if you look at my list, you'll notice pelvic exam isn't even on it.

Well back to my IVP on Tuesday. The link there says you have to take a mild laxative, but they just told me not to eat solid food on Monday. The list said I could have soups, pudding, jello and something else, which I remember as "beer."

Woot! Woot! The End Is Near!

Yesterday (Wednesday, I mean) Ike was supposed to meet me at The House to load up the last of the big furniture to take to an auction house. I got there at 2:20, called and got his voice mail and said something like, "I'm here! Hope to see you soon." Then I waited an hour. I did get some stuff done. I cleared all the pathways for the moving and took the trash container to the curb. When I called back at 3:20 to leave a message to reschedule, he answered. He said, "I'll be right over!" I said, "Too late, they close at 4:00." He asked why I had not called and I told him I had. Anyway I was glad to get home earlier to be there to greet My Sweetie back from his trip, so we decided to do it today. I was a little late today but he pulled up right behind me. That's Ike on the right behind the truck with the rope and his friend on the left. That's my little trucky over there. I put all the computer stuff in my truck. But there it all is, the last of the big stuff. Yay:

The auction house was a big honking warehouse with no discernible air conditioning. I was dripping and it felt like someone was pouring tablespoons of water down the back of my spine. (His site is not updated for the next auction.) He told me to check next week to see pictures of my stuff. Yeah, I don't care. I just needed it out of the house. Getting money for it will just be icing on the cake. When I left the warehouse I was tired and didn't feel like getting on the highway so I decided to take Beach St. down to 121. I passed a park called "Gateway Park" and thought, I guess that's where they sell the gateway drugs. I also saw some big fancy new church that looked like a Disneyland wild west saloon set. That was really weird. I will try to get a picture the next time I am over in that part of the world. Anyway, I was dying for an ice cold beer and stopped in at Logan's Roadhouse. I'm not crazy about the place because A) They play country music and B) Their decor is red and yellow, which is just a bad idea at any time or place. I asked for a Bud Light draft and got the tallest beer I have ever seen:

That's a regular sized Bic lighter, not one of those tiny ones that you can slip through an (I better not type that as the government might have a search engine for that sort of thing) let's just say through the really large sprawling place with the tin birdies. And doesn't that beer look cold and frosty? Well looks can be deceiving. That beer was not cold. I drank half of it and hopped across the mall parking lot to Carraba's. Ahhhh, what a lovely relief in every way. The bar stool was more comfy, the music (classic pop standards from the 40's) was SO much better, and the beer was colder. Not to mention their bread served with olive oil poured over a mash of mixed garlic and herbs. And the decor. The bartender. Okay. I think you get it:

My Sweetie called as I was on my way home to tell me that the school was closed so he didn't have a class (their AC was out in all the buildings, weird, huh?) so he would be coming home. That was a nice surprise. A bad surprise was that the chicken I had taken out of the freezer Tuesday night had still not thawed, but we figured something out:

("Thank You" is right!)

It's so nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I do not have a lot left to do to finally get that house on the market. It will definitely be a celebration and it will be soon. Woot! woot!

What the heck?

So Sunday night I had dinner with my daughter and she told me she and The Boy were discussing marriage. I didn't quite know how to react so I reacted in a business-like manner and told her to figure out what type of wedding she wants and to figure out a budget and start saving for it. It was hard to take it as seriously as I should because she also discussed moving to Alaska if the Republicans win because of the oil boom they promised at their convention. She and The Boy had "done their research" and their company would transfer them there and they would each make $8,000 more a year. Unfortunately I had to burst her balloon by bringing up the fun little fact called "cost-of-living," and while $8,000 is NOT twice what she currently makes, the COL in Alaska is about double that of Texas. Apparently their research did not go that far.
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And then there was the THREE wedding thing. They want to have a traditional churchlike ceremony for all family, friends and co-workers, and then a pagan handfasting ceremony for her pagan group and a Gathering ceremony for his "special friends" there. Uhm, okay.
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Monday evening The Boy stopped by the house to bring me a case of beer and we sat and talked for a little over an hour about all this. It was sad to watch his face drop as I realized that my daughter had not already discussed the Alaskan cost-of-living thing with him. He was man enough to admit that he had not considered that aspect at all. And I don't know if they expected their parents to pay for their wedding but I told my daughter Sunday night that parents do not pay for the weddings of adults living together. Nobody paid for any of my weddings. But I did say I would do the invitations.
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The Boy said his mother had been a wedding planner for 15 years, so I told him she should be able to give him some idea of how much money they need to save. He didn't look like he had even thought of, you know, actually having to save money for this big plan. I imagine they are both looking at this whole thing in a new light now. I hope so.

My Chair

That's my chair. But this post isn't really about my chair, sort of.

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I found it interesting that Jeanette did a post about her husband being gone and called it "alone/lonely" time. And then at the same time, XUP did a post about cohabitation. The reason I found it interesting is because My Sweetie is out of town. It actually made me look at these posts with different eyes. I imagine if it were a regular day, my comments may have been different.

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Their posts made me think about the positives and negatives. Well, that's my chair and I just figured out that I only sit in my chair when My Sweetie is here. He has the couch, I have the chair. I imagine you're thinking that usually the man has the cozy recliner/rocker chair and the woman has the couch. Well then you'd be the waitress that sets down the beer in front of My Sweetie and the gin and tonic in front of me. Meaning, no, you have it wrong.

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But the odd thing is, I never sit in the chair when I'm here by myself (and the beer is for me, thank you very much). I always sit on the couch when it's just me. I don't know why. I never really thought about it until today.

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The only other difference (or good thing) about being here alone is that I can watch a movie late at night with some volume. I'm very polite and turn the TV way down low after My Sweetie goes to bed. Ironically, I have yet to watch a late night movie because I spent my first two "alone/lonely" nights on the phone - the irony being that's something I could do if he were here.

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And speaking of irony, my friend Carole lent me some great movies and she is one of the people I spent a night talking to on the phone. I still have Monday night (tonight) to watch a loud movie in the middle of the night, and I'll sit on the couch, not in my chair.

Slow Learner

I finally figured out some stuff about sketchfu and made a decent picture!
Okay, this one embedded diferently than the last one and is very small I have no idea why. Oh yeah, I'm a slow learner.



Learn how to draw cartoons, comics, and anime at Sketchfu!

A Very Long Post About My First Adventure

I grew up in a little place called Belfast. Not the big one in Ireland. This was a small community just outside of Goldsboro, North Carolina. We had an elementary school, a volunteer fire department, two store/gas stations and maybe three churches. The two different houses I lived in were on dirt roads that did not have names. Our addresses were Route 7, Box (some three digit number). We never locked our doors and my parents kept their car keys in the ignitions. Dad worked for a tobacco company in town and there were tobacco farms everywhere. Sometime around 5th grade, some larger tobacco company in Virginia paid Dad's tobacco company for his services and those services were for him to go to the Dominican Republic and train people to do something. (I would like to be more specific, but Dad is dead so I can't ask him.) So he would go for several months in the spring and summer. This was different because in his regular job he used to be gone in the winter months (in Kentucky). In April of 1973, he had been gone for a while and the company offered to send us all over there for a visit. Mom had been once and I believe it was the first time she had flown. I had never flown. We all got passports and then there was big deal about me. My birthday was going to happen over there and the flight rates changed for those particular ages, so Mom was freaked about that. Whatever airlines or travel agents or whatever gave me the kid rate as that was my age as of the booking and beginning of travel. (Man that was a stupid sentence!)

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Mom had to do some wheeling and dealing with our schools because we would be gone for almost two weeks and not during a school holiday. Fortunately my brother and I were very good students so it was worked out. I remember my teacher (Oh, Mrs. Howell, how I LOVED you!) said, "The cultural experience will far outweigh those days of basic subjects." Or something like that.

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Mom had just flown the one time I think, and hated it. She was very tense. My brother and I were very excited. I don't remember how we got to the Raliegh/Durham airport, but I remember loving being on the plane to Atlanta. Unfortunately, the "changing of the planes in Atlanta" became a longtime family story. Oh, we didn't miss our plane but one of our suitcases exploded in the terminal. I guess back then you had to cart your luggage from plane to plane. Anyway we were running through a terminal and not with a bang, but a whimper, the suitcase came apart. I remember there was about a 12 foot path of my brother's clothes because we were moving so fast. Mom was mortified! If Mom wasn't already frazzled enough, this was bad. She realized she would have to use a charge card and buy a suitcase in the airport. That was a big deal for her. Oh, if you are young and reading this, they were called "charge cards" back then. We ended up making it to our plane with our new suitcase and boarded a plane to Miami. In Miami we got on a very small plane to go to the Dominican Republic and I'm not even sure if anyone else was on it. My brother and I were running around whooping it up and napping across whole rows of seats while Mom sat in her one seat gripping the armrests. If I had to guess, I believe that was April 19th, because it seems like the very next day was my birthday.

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Dad was very disappointed on my birthday. We were at El Embajador Hotel in Santo Domingo and Dad had planned a big deal with musicians and a bunch of foreign friendly folks to celebrate my birthday by the pool, but it was pouring rain. Of course, I had no idea about any of this, so when my parents called our room to tell us to come to their room, I was surprised to walk into a crowd mashed into their room singing "Happy Birthday" with all sorts of accents. I was ecstatic and as Dad kept apologizing for it not being what he had planned, I kept telling him how great it was.

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The weather cleared on Saturday (the next day) and we did our tour of Santo Domingo. That's me at Alcazar:

Alcazar was the home of Diego, the son of Christopher Columbus and his wife Filipa who was the niece of the king of Spain (Ferdinand). (Was I supposed to capitalize "king"?) This "home" was built in the 1500's and was a museum type place when I visited and it was AWESOME! (Sorry, Jazz, but it really was.) We also visited the oldest cathedral in the western hemisphere (Catedral de Santa Maria la Menor) which is described by Frommer's like this:

The oldest cathedral in the Americas was begun in 1514 and completed in 1540. Fronted with a golden-tinted coral limestone facade, the church combines elements of both Gothic and baroque with some lavish plateresque styles as exemplified by the high altar chiseled out of silver. The treasury has an excellent art collection of ancient woodcarvings, furnishings, funerary monuments, silver, and jewelry.

That's a picture I found on the internet, but it doesn't show the museum quality side rooms or alcoves. I had never been to a Catholic church so I thought they were all like that. You can't begin to imagine my disappointment the first time I went to a Catholic church after that. They also had a fancy golden thing that was supposed to encase part of the remains of Christopher Columbus (although that has been contested). I thought it was all wonderful. I guess we left the next day, Sunday to head to Santiago which is where Dad "lived."

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I fell in love with the Hotel Matum. My brother and I had our own room and were told we could order anything we wanted anywhere as it was being paid for by the company. Dad did warn us not to order eggs for breakfast because they were cooked in peanut oil and we would hate them so of course we did and we learned the hard way that "Father knows best." One of my favorite things was the smell of the place. It smelled so clean. Mom was more of a bleach person so I had never smelled this smell before. Several years later I discovered it was Pine Sol and to this day, it's one of my favorite smells. I Googled "Hotel Matum" and it's still there and this picture was there and no kidding, it looks just like our room!

A lot of fascinating things happened in our week or so at the Hotel Matum. My brother came out to my parents as a cigarette smoker. He was 15, almost 16. We were North Carolinians, Dad was in the tobacco business and it was 1973. What were they going to say? Dad just told him he was glad that he was honest about it. Also he was drinking there. Hell, they tried to serve me drinks! We were taller than everybody. My brother kept ordering Cuba Libres. After I realized they didn't have Pepsi there I tried a Coke and it did not taste right so I drank a local red fruit drink that I remember as being called a "refresca" or something like that. I loved those things.
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One night as I was sleeping, I woke up to what I thought was my brother kicking my bed. I said, "Stop kicking my bed!" He replied, in a shaken voice, "I'm not kicking your bed." He sounded scared, and that totally woke me up. He said, "I think the Cubans are attacking." I thought a volcano was erupting. Yeah, I know now that there are no volcanos there. I was 12! It stopped and we went back to sleep. In the morning we asked our parents about it and it was an earthquake. Mom was the only one that got it right. Dad thought a cab driver had run into the building.
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There were two waiters there that we really liked: Leonardo and Luis. We wanted them to hang out with us and they kept saying they were "on duty" and nervously glancing around. My parents told us later that they were like indentured servants that lived on the premises and worked for food and board and that any extra money was sent to their families. Anyway at the time, we whined and complained that they couldn't hang with us, and suddenly the manager made it their new job to entertain us. Wow, they became so happy and relaxed. Luis was actually a crazy wild contortionist and would go off the high dive all tangled up and almost give me heart attacks. They really loved the freedom to swim in the pool and just hang out. Leonardo gave us little gifts when we left.
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One evening we went to the home of someone Dad was working with or playing poker with, I don't remember. here's what I do remember: To me it was like a MANSION. And they had servants. We went in and sat down in a living room like I had never seen. Now I would say it was like a really fancy hotel lobby. They brought me something in a tiny porcelain little cup (sake?) and I hated it (politely) and then they brought me something else. I don't remember much else about that place except that I wanted to go back to the hotel.
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One day Dad wanted to show us "the real people." Mom was not so much into the real people. We drove around on small roads and saw all sorts of native villager type people. Mom was freaking out but not as much as when we came across a band of musicians. Dad pulled over on the side of the road and Mom was so tense and mad, like "Don't get out of the car!" I remember the music and how fantastic and special it was. But I didn't know what it was. It wasn't until I was in college and was walking across the campus that I heard it again. My ears perked up and I ran over there and it was a steel drum band! I still love the steel drum.
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Dominican Republic has (or had) one day a year that they hate the United States. That is April 28th. I don't know how or why it was arranged for us, but some Dutch people were going into town to see a movie and took my brother and me with them. We were told that it was "Hate America" day and that we should not speak. I remember walking behind them down a sidewalk as they spoke their Dutch garble and my brother and I looking at each other and looking around wondering if we were going to be shot. Worse, the move was Dutch or German with Spanish subtitles and showed an actual live childbirth. I was TWELVE.
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One of the best things about the Dominican Republic? We met the most amazing man, Henrik Ravn. He was Dad's best friend there. I guess he was like a cross between Indiana Jones and Brad Pitt. I'm not a Brad Pitt fan, but I would have found him awesome cute when I was 12. Henrik was Danish and spoke 5 or 6 languages and like 12 African dialects. He danced the merengue with both Mom and me. Years later I asked Mom, "How did you not fall in love with this man?" I've always wondered what happened to him. But at least I have his crazy painting.
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Part of me wants to go back to the Dominican Republic, and the other part says, "Why mess with a great memory?"
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And I guess the really best part of the trip is that it took a little country girl out into the world. My brain was expanded.

Maybe it was the creepy Santa Claus?

If you've been a reader here for a while, you may remember back in April when I was having so much trouble trying to make this ribbon photo board. Well, not that I had trouble making it, but I didn't have enough ribbon on my first attempt and then kept trying to get more ribbon and then had to end up using this sorry pink rick rack:

The reason I am bringing this up, is that some time back I noticed that Lone Grey Squirrel had a neat little gizmo on his blog called "feedjit" and it showed where people were coming from. And by coming from, I thought that meant like cities, states, countries and whatnot and I thought that was pretty interesting (although feedjit actually just shows what city your server is in, not what city you are in). I'd always heard that way more people visit your blog than leave comments, but I thought it was just a rumor. Which is silly because there are 4 or 5 blogs that I read, but never leave comments. I didn't know that the feedjit thing (down on the bottom right) also showed search results, like when someone searches for something and comes to your blog. Well it does show that and no one could be more surprised than I was to discover that the number one search subject that brings folks here is that original ribbon photo board post. I couldn't understand why so many people ended up here from that, so today I googled either "photo ribbon board" or "ribbon photo board" and my post was on the first page! Apparently there is not a lot of info out there about these things, which surprised me because for a while there every HGTV show had someone making one.
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I know that is the number one searchie thing, but I'm not sure exactly which is number two, but there are three other posts that bring a lot of traffic through search engines. Number two may be my Gardenia post, and people end up here from searching "google images" and that makes me feel terrible because I lifted that photo from the internet. I wish I had given credit to the source. I suppose I should go put a caption on that pic: "I found this lovely photo on the internet."
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Another one, which really makes me scratch my head, is Christmassy Night Out and the part that is weird is that most of the people, like 98% of the people that are looking at that old post are coming from Germany. What does that mean? I also get a lot of hits on my random skin problems, like the skin tag on my eyelid and my contact dermatitis. And my sketchfu picture from last July. I don't know what any of this means, I just find it interesting. And just in case you came here looking for the ribbon photo board: DON'T FORGET TO DO THE OVER/UNDER WHEN CRISS-CROSSING THE RIBBON. Because I did.

No Drinking Age

Recently it has been in the news that some groups are pushing to lower the drinking age in the U.S. from 21 to 18. There are two sets of arguments, for it: One by some college association about students going wild in their senior year or something and one by the people that say military people should be able to drink.
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I have a better idea. I say there should not be a drinking age at all. Now don't get your britches in a bunch, let me finish. I say regardless of age, you can drink once you get a high school diploma. No diploma, no drinking, even when you reach 50 or 75. I would grandfather the law, though. I would have it apply to anyone born after 30 years prior to the year the law is passed. That would give all those 20-somethings some incentive to go get that GED. I imagine the high school drop-out rate would become miniscule. That also covers all military personnel, because you have to have a high school diploma to join the military.
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Your driver's license or photo I.D. (if you don't drive) would simply be stamped "GRAD." Non-grad drinkers and servers/suppliers to non-grad drinkers would be subject to the same laws that are currently in place for underage drinkers/servers. And what about the geniuses that graduate at 12 or 16? Well, they can legally drink, but since they are still minors, I imagine their parents would have to sign a permission waiver or something. Besides, if they are so smart, I doubt they would be abusing alcohol anyway. And if being able to drink gives kids the incentive to work hard in high school, that's good right? I think so.

Congratulations! Now go have a beer!

No Pill, No Limo, No Sense

Saturday we were taking a giant load of Mom's old clothes and shoes to the Women's Haven resale store. The women staying in the shelter get first pick of the clothes and then the rest are sold with the profits going to the Women's Haven. As we were driving down one street, My Sweetie suddenly pulled over and stopped. It took a second for me to realize we were being met by a funeral procession. I hadn't seen a funeral procession in years, so I had even forgotten that you are supposed to stop. I was proud of his manners. This morning on my way to the church to pick up my Meals on Wheels food, I saw a motorcycle with a line of cars behind it coming towards me and got flustered because I was on the inside lane of a 7 lane road. My brain is going, "What should I do? I can't pull over, should I just slow down?" Then the motorcylce gets closer and it's just a guy in shorts on a blue and white motorcycle and those just happen to be modern cars that always have lights on and they just happened to all be tailgating each other (I guess they had all just come off of a light). Man did I feel stupid. Next time, I will look for a limousine.
~
I had even more new people on my MOW list. I'm surprised they fit on one page. Not only that, but we were giving out the "shelf stable" holiday meals for Monday (Labor Day in the U.S.) and as always when we have the extras we don't have the breakfasts. So at every stop I had to go through my schpiel: Hi! There's no breakfast today, but this is a shelf stable meal for Monday because we will be closed on Monday for the Labor Day holiday. Fortunately, I didn't have the deaf lady today. But I do have a sort of new lady that I've never seen. Her meal is always taken by a man that is obviously disabled on some level. He's really hard to describe in print, but he's kinda scary and weird looking and sort of hops and makes odd sounds. Well, I realize there are people with physical disabilites that make them seem like they have mental disabilities, so I decided to do my normal line about the special meal with him just as if he were mentally all there. Yeah, now I'm thinking "not so much." He responded with a vacant look and a weird Uuuuuh type of sound and a little hop and went inside. Hopefully the lady inside is okay and can read because there were instructions printed on the box. I had to go to the Gyna Colleges* at 4:00, so I thought I'd have lunch at Friday's because that's a cozy place to camp out and do the USA Today crossword puzzle. I pulled up and it was gone. GONE! Not the building, but Friday's was gone. I couldn't believe it. I remember when they were building it. I was sitting across the way at Bennigan's and the bartender said, "They're going to put us out of business." Well that was like 12 years ago and Bennigan's just went out of business about 3 months ago. But it was their entire corporation, not that store. So now with no competition, Friday's closes? Huh? The bartender at Chili's said they were renting the spot and didn't want to renew their lease. Sheeeesh!
~

*And now a short break for this joke courtesy of Carole:

Husband's note on refrigerator for wife:

Someone from the Gyna Colleges called.

They said the Pabst beer is normal.

I didn't know you liked beer.

~
So as I'm pulling into the medical complex, I notice this whole long row of empty parking spaces between the complex and the hospital:

( Pardon the poor quality: these were drive-by shootings)

How funny is that? I laughed and laughed. What on earth can you do at a medical plaza or hospital in less than an hour? Deliver a pizza? Run a toothbrush up to someone? No wonder the spaces were all vacant. Talk about poor planning.

~

I got pretty mad at the doctor's office when they handed me a clipboard with 4 or 5 forms to fill out. I said, "Why? Nothing's changed!" The girl insisted my insurance company made them do it. So I called my insurance company. The guy said they didn't need anything and then I made him talk to them. Writing really hurts my thumb and I had just filled out a bunch of forms at the ultrasound place on Monday. So they argued for a bit and then the claim was it was THE LAW. By then I was really mad (I figured out later I had forgotten to take my 11:00 am crazy pill and was in the fight aspect of "fight or flight." I rarely forget a pill and I surely will not be forgetting again anytime soon). I grabbed the forms and wrote "on file" over and over again on almost every line. I still think it's ridiculous. My regular doctor's office just hands you a form to sign to say that nothing has changed.

~

Anyway, I get into the room and strip down and put on my snazzy paper vest and "skirt" and without even pulling out the extender thing to make the "bed" longer, I just went flat on my back and went to sleep. I've mentioned many times that I have waiting narcolepsy, so I knew I was going to go to sleep. I don't know how much time had passed but apparently I started snoring and made a loud "SNORK!!!" sound and it woke me up and I realized my lower leg pieces, which were just hanging down off the end of the examining table, were going to sleep. I readjusted all my paper parts and curled up on my side and was just dozing off when they finally came in. The doctor did two odd things. He kept tugging at my papers while he was talking to me, like "AW hell no, I don't want to see that!" or something. I thought it was weird. I'm never modest around medical people. If it were up to me I wouldn't even put the paper stuff on. The other odd thing was at the end, he said, "Do you need any prescriptions?" I still don't get that. He's not even my regular doctor. Why would he say that? I went in for a PAP smear and he asks me if I need any prescriptions? What? I should have said, "Like what?" Maybe his doctor sense knew I was short one crazy pill.

Something We Can All Agree On

When I was over at The House the other day, I found something called moleskin, it's a Dr. Scholl's product. It apparently is not actually made from the skin of a mole because it says it is cotton flannel. I'm not going to google the word moleskin, because my blog is not meant to be informational. It's not meant to be anything really. Anyway, on the back of the box, it says, "...protects feet from painful shoe friction." I've never had the words "painful shoe friction" together in my brain before, but I really like them. All my life I've always wondered if there was anything, ANYTHING, in the world that everyone could agree on, because let's face it, there's not a lot. I mean, I know people who don't like the beach! How could people not like the beach!!!!? And there are trillions of subjects that cause people to take sides. And often in a very strident manner. But after reading "painful shoe friction" I am thinking that surely, surely, no one likes that. At least I hope not. If they do, I hope they have it every day. That seems right. Surely we can all agree on that?

Not Like Other People

I've noticed that most people like a song because of the lyrics. The words say something to them or remind them of something. I do have a lot of songs that I like that remind me of something but not because of the words. It's because of what was going on when the song was out or the song was playing in a certain place. I actually feel pretty stupid sometimes when I realize I don't know any of the words to some of my favorite songs. I'm not like that with all of my favorite songs. I know every word to "Daniel" and know what it's all about and many others, but I'd say half of my favorite songs, I just like the way they sound. One of my favorite songs is "C'mon Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the song but don't have a clue what the words are or what it's about. I guess I go more for the sound of a song or something. Anyway, the other day, I thought maybe I should print out the lyrics and play it over and over and try to learn what it's all about. Well I have played it, but I haven't printed out the lyrics yet. Or maybe I'll just keep enjoying it as it is. It just makes me happy. Do you like it?

Freestyle 101

I like the fact that blogging is not Engish Composition. We don't have to have the opening paragraph with our three points, then our three paragraphs wrapped up with our concluding paragraph. I don't have any problem with that type of writing. It just doesn't seem to be what blogging is all about. And this post would definitely get an F in Eng. Comp.
~
I was such a doofus on Wednesday. I had one of those crazy long Meals On Wheels days. Not only did I have a full sheet of people, I had a new person that was way off the route. And then there were little things along the way making everything take longer. I have this newish guy, about 4 weeks now, that the route sheet says to: "Knock on door, yell, MOW and then go in." Well that has never happened. The door was always locked. Then the man always shows up and says, "The door wasn't locked." It's been really getting on my nerves and Wednesday when he said it again, I said, "The door was locked." So he steps outside and pulls it closed and he can't open it. So now we're both on his front porch and he says. "Well the back door is open." And just as I'm saying, "I'll go around" he shoulders it open. He probably can't move his arm now. So after he got it open, I inspect it and the problem is the fancy push button handle outside door knob leaves about 1/8" of that springy thing that goes in and out but when I turned the inside knob it goes all the way in. Anyway I was glad he saw the problem because it was getting very tiresome. He said he'd have his son fix it.
~
The new lady that was way out of the way had a really cute dog. I haven't had a dog in a while, and by "had" I mean, one of my MOW people. His name was Jake and he was a crazy speed dog going 90 MPH. I think it was a toy poodle, but I don't know anything about dogs, but I know it wasn't a great dane. Oh, so anyway everything was taking forever and when I finally finished my route I was on my way to my bar to get my post-MOW beers and hoping that annoying old man wasn't there. Seriously this guy is like 56 years old and plays Ozzie Osbourne. It's gross. And loud. And annoying. I was looking at the clock and thinking, "Man, I finished late. I'm glad this isn't one of the last two Wednesdays of the month when I have those two doctor appointments." Mmm Hmmm. yep.
~
I bet you were thinking, "This IS one of the last two Wednesdays of the month." Well turn around and pat yourself on the back, because you would be right! Well, what happened was, I made these appointments so long ago that they were stored in my brain as "the last two Wednesdays of August." Just that and nothing else. Not which doctor was which Wednesday or what time or anything. I always write my regular doctor's number on the back of my insurance card with a Sharpie, so I had that number and called it first. I felt so "special" when I called and said, "Do I have an appointment today?" I was really hoping I did because it was a discussion appointment whereas my other appointment was the "other" doctor with the dreaded woman stirrupy thing and an hour and a half is not enough time to mentally prepare for that.
~
I got lucky and it was the easy appointment but it was for 2:30 and it was almost 1:00. I had one quick beer and was lucky that it wasn't too hot because I had to drink it on the patio since that annoying man was there blasting his Ozzie Osbourne. Then I grabbed chips and salsa and queso at a Mexican restaurant near my doctor's office. I made it there in time and gave him my long story about my possibly having gall bladder problems. I was going to do a link to my post about that but after doing a blog search, I realize I never mentioned it before.
~
Anyway since that would add way too many alphabet pieces to this post, I'll do that later. So he made an appointment for me to go to another place for a gall bladder sonogram on Monday. I either have gallstones or a bad gall bladder. My doctor was talking about fatty foods and "alkee-hall" being a factor and he pronounced it like that every time. Alkee-hall. I should have said, "Dude! Just say BEER!"
~
I left there and went to THE HOUSE and the garage had been cleaned out by my parents' gardener and he did a great job. I didn't even realize there was a wall back there. That was a great relief seeing that done. I was still overwhelmed by all the work left to be done but I have made it a point to set tasks and focus on those. My tasks for Wednesday were to get all of the women's clothes and shoes into my truck to take to the women's shelter store for donation, to bring home my my mother-in-law's two rolling clothes racks I had borrowed for the estate sale, and to fill the garbage bin and set it out.
~
The weird weather we've been having has given me sinus problems. Monday I told my husband it felt like I had a gummy worm lodged behind my left eyeball. So Wednesday I was getting that again AND being overwhelmed about the house and then my daughter called. So I'm out at the house working my butt off and she calls and her birthday is Saturday and the call is about her dad and the birthday and my head already hurt before she called, but then it was compounded. I very rarely get headaches (I just searched my blog for "headache" and got only two posts that just had the word "ache" in them) so I always get flummoxed by headaches. I think I had a double whammy on Wednesday and had a sinus headache and then topped it off with a stress headache. Anyway, I went to bed at 11:00 pm and if you knew me well, you would freak out because my normal bedtime is between 2:00 and 4:00 am. I woke up 12 hours later and I was fine.
~
In conclusion, I really like that bunny in the picture

But It's Still Good

That's a picture of Regina Brett. Here's her mini-biography:

For over 7 years, Regina Brett was a columnist at The Beacon Journal in Akron , Ohio . During that time, she was diagnosed and successfully treated for breast cancer. Regina is now a columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland , Ohio . Her column runs on Sunday, Wednesday and Friday.

~To celebrate growing older, she wrote "The 45 lessons life taught me." I really like nearly all of them a lot. Today I will focus on #40: If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back. This really appealed to me. It's one of those things that's so obvious, but maybe we've never heard it put quite that way. I mean, sure, we all grew up with our parents forcing us to clean our plates by telling us about the starving children in (insert country here). And I'm sure we've all known someone with problems we considered way worse than our own, but I really love the way this is worded. And really if we traded your problems with someone else, wouldn't we be giving away our lives? I don't want someone else's life. Sure, I'd like this person's looks, or that person's talents, but I don't want to BE that person. I'm thinking of printing this on a card and tossing it in my purse. I'm forever looking for something in my purse and I'd be sure to see it from time to time. And it would make me relax and calm about whatever I was frantically looking for. It might even make me laugh.

~

Oddly enough, her #42 is Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful. I wonder if that was my inspiration for all of my cleaning, as had I read this list on August 5th. I think that's a great life lesson. I'll be talking about more of her life lessons in later posts and I'll leave you with her #1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

Condensation

Lately I have been doing a lot of decluttering all over the place and one of the main things I was working on was making space in the garage for Mom's Christmas stuff. See, I decided that June was not a great time to sell Christmas stuff and so I didn't put that out at the estate sale. Also my mother-in-law has a lot of extra Christmas stuff she'd like to sell, so we decided we would have a yard sale of Christmas stuff at her place in November. As good as I have been about not being a pack rat since 1998, I still had 3 boxes of stuff that I have been carting around for + or - 25 years. Friday night between midnight and 4:00 a.m. I went through the 3 boxes on the right of this picture. The box on the left was just for trash.

The funny part was I had been wanting to do this for quite some time and had asked My Sweetie to buy me one of those clear container bins to condense this stuff into. He bought a giant bin the size of a large rolling suitcase. Well actually he bought 3 of them. I laughed when he came home with 3 of them and thought for sure I could fit everything that I wanted to keep into just one of them. Well that was just silly. I had the thing out and there wasn't really much to put into it as you will see at the end of this post. All the stuff in the picture above is trash. I did find some really cool stuff in my stuff, though. Like these dorm message slips:

My freshman year in college, was very 1950's like in that anyone wanting to visit you in the dorm had to go to the front desk. You were then paged and if you didn't come down, your guest could leave a message. The same with phone calls. There were a couple of phones at the end of each hall and you would be paged for a phone call and if you didn't go pick up, they could leave a message. Being a pack rat, I saved all my message slips. I get a kick out of reading them now even though I don't remember some of the guys, although I DO remember John Shell. I also found an envelope with a bunch of concert ticket stubs. The one that surprised me the most was the one from the Who concert when I was in 9th grade. And I don't even remember seeing Foreigner. I wonder what happened to my Styx, Moody Blues and Tommy Tutone stubs? Not to mention my Aerosmith concert, although I did see them again at Champagne Jam:

Also the stubs above verify my story about seeing The Stones twice in a row which I've either posted about or left on comments. I'm too lazy to look it up. My favorite find in the ticket envelope was my Madison Square Garden ticket to the Holiday Doubleheader college basketball game in 1978. In 1977, Dad and I had gone together, but in '78 it was Dad, my brother, his friend Jay, my high school boyfriend and me. That was also the year we stayed for the Times Square New Year's Eve thing. That was one memorable trip. I had always wondered which hotel we had stayed at, but in one of the boxes I found a little hotel soap for Hotel Edison, which I was VERY surprised to find still exists. I remember that if we pressed the left side of our face against the window we could see the giant Coca-Cola sign on Times Square. I also remember a lot of other stuff that I'm not going to mention here although I think Dad wouldn't mind me telling that story now that he is no longer "here." And besides today is his birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!). I'll save it for a few days.

So going back to my condensing of my momentos from those three boxes, I first started putting stuff in the giant bin. I put two notebooks and my Snoopy lunchbox in and then I realized the rest of the stuff could fit into a tiny box. That's when I realized I could just fit it all into my bedside table which had never been organized anyway. Well, here it all is and as a matter of fact, the stuff I kept is only in the bottom storage box, the notebooks on the left and the Snoopy lunchbox on top of the other storage box:

So how stupid was I to cart around those big cardboard boxes all of these years? A quarter of a century! Maybe it took me that long to be able to throw the rest away. I also discovered that I used to be a Herman addict. I must have found 30 or 40 Herman clippings. And I was meticulous, too. They were all cut out the same way. I don't even remember doing that. I do feel better about getting this done. It was nice to condense it down to the fun and important stuff. And now it's right there by my bed instead of mixed in with a bunch of trash in three different large boxes taking up space in my garage. What took me so long?

Random Friday Goof Gab

Tuesday I was over at the house doing some packing and whatnot and I couldn't find the scissors so I imagined I could find some other scissors that most likely didn't exist and was going through the few drawers left that still have stuff in them and I found THAT.
~
I found it inordinately amusing. First I just laughed without really knowing why, and then I thought, well if this isn't the perfect illustration of poor planning, I don't know what is. I tossed it in my purse because it amuses the hell out of me. I think I'll get one of those deep frames for medals or whatever and frame it. I really like it.
~
~
Every night between 11:00 and midnight I go out to water the poor struggling dry crisps flowers on the deck. I can't believe they haven't all burst into flames by now. It's generally not too hot at that time of night, but I have to deal with spider webs and mosquitoes. I usually spray my legs with this lemon body splash I have, and that helps with the mosquitoes, but tonight I got a bite on each arm. Then about an hour ago a giant storm blew up and now it is pouring rain. So I got those bites for nothing! It’s like when I kept having contractions after they told me I had to have a C-section. What was the point?
~
~
So just as I was typing that last paragraph, the cable went out. Now no TV or internet, but I did have the presence of mind to copy and paste this into Word on my computer. I better quit while I’m ahead in case the power goes out.
~
Okay, the storm is gone, I'm back on the worldwide.
~
XUP did a post about hands so of course I've been looking at my hands a lot. And I mean A LOT. I think my right hand is bigger than my left hand. I mean I knew my ring sizes were different, but I attributed that to use. Like finger muscles I guess. But now I think my right hand is just bigger, like my right foot is bigger than my left. Also something else was bigger on the right, but I had that taken care of when I did that thing I did. I'm just lopsided. Pretty much like this post. TGIF!

It Floats

I just realized something today. My mess and clutter are like a floating seaweed clump in the ocean. With the ocean being my house. My friend/neighbor Carole came over on Tuesday to bring me some delicious homemade Italian Orange Ice and I was happy to show her my clean library. My library has been so cluttered and messy for so long that Carole thought that green chair was new. That chair has always been there, but she could never see it because of the mess. I should be embarrassed, but it was just funny to me. I told my husband when he got home and he thought it was funny too. Now every time I look in there I picture Carole saying, "Is that chair new?" and it cracks me up.
~
So I'm all proud of my clean library and then I bring Carole through (to this room) to show her the window view of the new wall that my neighbor put up between our yards, and then I realize that the seaweed clump has drifted in here. This room is horribly cluttered and messy and I never really noticed until I brought Carole in here. How is that? Is all my junk invisible unless someone else is in the room? Am I just moving it around the house without realizing it? My goal this weekend is to declutter every room in the house (except the guest room, hey! I know, don't even say it!). I have to somehow rid my ocean of this clump of seaweed. And since my mess seems to become somewhat invisible to me over time, I should have Carole come over more often so I can see it.

Let the Games Begin

BEIJING - AUGUST 11: (L-R) Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak, Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale of the United States pose with the gold medal during the medal ceremony for the Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay held at the National Aquatics Center on Day 3 of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games on August 11, 2008 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) From Yahoo

I probably will not have much to say in the next two weeks because I will be glued to the TV watching the Olympics. It was a family tradition when I was a kid and fortunately I married a man that loves the games like I do. He is even taking three days off this week just to be able to see MORE Olympics! Woot woot! And for all of my Canadian friends, I have been pulling for some of your athletes this weekend. The Olympics is all about sportsmanship over nationality and we have found ourselves rooting for various underdogs over our own athletes. I have really enjoyed this weekend and can't wait to enjoy the rest. If you have never been a fan, please check it out. It's really wonderful.

I Have Questions

I see this sign every time I go to the convenience store near my house. What the heck does it mean? Does it mean you can drop off unwanted babies there? Does it mean no one will come up behind you and grab your chest? I guess I could ask the employees in the store, but I bet they don't know either.

Why do I get so much joy from the grocery store self check-out? I really hate going to the grocery store but I love the self check-out. I always feel like a happy little kid playing with toys. You might think it's just the fact that I'm happy that I am finished shopping, but that's not it. I never feel that way with a cashier. I love how the little beep happens when I pass something over the glass scanner thing. I always wish I had more things to scan. I have no idea why it makes me so joyful.
~
Where did this rogue celosia come from and why is it and the plant it is robbing doing so well? This pot is new from last year and has only previously housed cherry tomatoes. This year I planted that shrubby viney thing with the white flowers (I don't know what it is) and this giant rogue celosia showed up one day. I've grown celosia before and it has NEVER looked like that.

You'd think that since this random plant showed up and is growing like gangbusters, the original plant would be doing poorly, but this pot is the best of all of them for lushness. What the heck?
~
Why is it that after a week of 105° to 108° that 98° feels pleasant? That doesn't make any sense to me. 98° is still 98°! Shouldn't it still feel hot?
~
I'm sure I will have more questions in the future, but those are all of my questions for today. I hope.

Saturday and Friday (in that order)

Saturday I felt like getting up, taking a shower and going out to lunch and running errands. I know that doesn't sound like much to you normal people, but that's a big deal for me. I've been working on that a lot this year. Intellectually, I KNOW my medicine works, but anxiety has a way of playing with you, so my new motto is "just do it." And it has been working for me so far. We went to Ruby Tuesday's because I love their salad bar. After lunch we stopped by Cat's Unlimited so My Sweetie could meet Petey the naked Sphinx Cat. I bought a halter and leash because I've always wanted to try my cats on them to take a little walk outside. Barney just could not deal and kept flopping over, like the leash was some sort of quaalude. Lily, the really weird cat was just fine and walked all over the yard. Cats are weird. Barney is obviously smarter than Lily, yet leashwise, Lily was triumphant. I didn't try Maxie, the inherited cat, because I know he is leash trained already from when my parents were RVing him all over the country.
~
There's a new shopping center just north of our house, and I wanted a new liner for My Sweetie's tub and a shower curtain for my shower. Last time, I accidentally bought a frosted one and I was really mad at myself. I like to look out the windows and see the clock when I shower. I also wanted some new hand towels for my bathroom. While I was perusing the shower section I saw a sweet beach shower curtain for a regular bathtub. (I have a shower stall with separate garden tub.) Well, My Sweetie's bathroom has a regular tub and a beach theme. I know. I did a post on decorating mistakes that I saw on HGTV, and inappropriate themes was one of them. Okay so I live in North Texas and have a beach bathroom and a forest bathroom. If you don't like it, you can P somewhere else. Anyway, I bought the old beach-themed shower curtain from the internet and the beach picture did not look as well as it did in a small pic on the net as you can see here:

I know! You can't even tell it's a beach from that picture. Well this is the one I bought on Saturday. This is obviously the beach and I love it. I just love how $19.99 can change a whole room. You can't really do that in any other room. Maybe a kitchen.

As we were walking between PetSmart (for cat grass) and Bed, Bath and Beyond, it was so hot we stopped in a shoe store that was already going out of business. Which was sad considering how new the shopping center was, but once we got inside, I could see why. It was like they had taken a Chinese store and transplanted it in North Texas. it was all these size 4 and 5 funky disco techno shoes. It took forever to find any real shoes. I did find a pair of navy sandals that claimed to be Italian, but who knows? I really needed a pair of navy shoes. They are not flattering at all but I have Fred Flintstone feet and it's just like chocolate icing is not going to be flattering on cabbage. But they will match my clothes.

~

We stopped into the Chili's there and I fortified myself with several beers because I think all the doctors tell you that when it is 107 and you are sweating a lot you should drink as many beers as possible. Wait, did I say doctors? I meant the voices in my head. But that's okay because voice #6 surely has a doctorate degree. Anyway I went into the grocery store after that to get all the fixings for peel and eat shrimp and homemade cocktail sauce and seriously, if you like boiled shrimp, make your own cocktail sauce. It's only 4 ingredients and better than anything you can get in a bottle: Chili sauce, fresh squeezed lemon juice, horseradish and a splash of worcestershire sauce. Also while I was at the grocery store, I saw and bought the WORLD'S SMALLEST WATERMELON:

I don't know how they grow such tiny watermelons, but it's great for only two people. I guess since I mentioned my minor emergency from Friday in the comments section of my last post I should explain that. What happened was, I was moving a picture frame across the kitchen counter and caught a half-full bottle of tonic water. It slid off the counter and onto the floor and exploded sending several shards of glass into me. My first main concern was how to get out of there, because I was barefoot and sort of in a corner. Fortunately I was next to the kitchen table which had some magazines on it. I planned to set the magazines down as stepping stones. When I picked up my right foot there was blood all over the tile. Also I had stinging feelings in my left ankle. After I got out of the kitchen I made it to the bathroom and was able to rinse all the glass out of my feet and hands (i had small bits in my knuckles, somehow) in the tub, but the bleeding part of my right foot still had glass in it and it was a spot I could not get to. I have all the phone numbers to my neighbors on a small bulletin board, but it was right over the glass, so I just went outside. I knew Carole was out of town, but I was surprised to find that no one else was home either. Finally I noticed some people doing yard work and hobbled up the hill. I was carrying two types of tweezers and a magnifying glass. Hey, I was a Girl Scout Brownie when I was 7:Be Prepared! Anyway they were very nice and her husband got the glass out and it wasn't as big or long as we all thought it was and I hobbled back home. They were very nice people and I'm sure they thought I was weird as hell. How astute they are! Anyway, that's what that was. And this has gotten ridiculously long. So...

I was going to do a whole post about our long day out today (Saturday, I mean) and how it was so hot, 107 degrees, (no kidding) and I had pictures of my before and after shower curtains in my beach themed bathroom, but I just spent 2 hours working on photos and posting some of the collectibles from Mom's house on Craig's List, so I decided to delay that post and was also wondering how long I could make this sentence. It was pretty long. But I do really love the new shower curtain. I don't know why I don't like doing the Craig's List ads. I feel like I sound like a cheesy 4 am infomercial. But hey! They wouldn't be buying that air time if they weren't making money, right? Right? Who knows? Maybe it's a tax write off. Anyway here are my Craig's List ads if you are curious and any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/clt/781012956.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/clt/781010630.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/clt/781007362.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/clt/781003333.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/mdf/clt/780993448.html

I introduced My Sweetie to Petey the naked Sphinx Cat today. That was fun. I'll tell all the rest later. I am very tired. Happy August everyone and now we are all burning to a crisp. I think it's supposed to be 109 today. Seriously, that's just not appropriate.

Spit Free

I remember in the 70's there was a lot of talk about acid rain. You don't hear much about it anymore, but after Wednesday morning, I'm starting to wonder. See, I park under a crape-myrtle tree and crape-myrtle's spit. I just glanced at the wikipedia entry and it did not mention the spitting, but they do. My doctor's office actually has a crape-myrtle lined sidewalk leading to the door and I hate it because they are spitting all over you. Well they are spitting some serious stuff because it gets all over my windshield.

And you can't get it off. Well unless you have tried everything and figured out what works. Last year, it got really bad and was starting to bother me in the middle of my Meals-on-wheels route. My windshield washer fluid had no effect whatsoever, so I asked one of my clients if she had any rubbing alcohol. I knew that would take it off, and being an old person she had the alcohol, but it did nothing. I was starting to get desperate and when I got home I tried different things and even was afraid that crape-myrtles were spitting out some sort of glass-etching acid or something. But no! Guess what took it right off? Scrub Free.

How weird is that? This stuff is made to clean soap scum in your shower. So I guess crape-myrtle spit is similar chemichaly (is that a word?) to soap scum. That doesn't even make sense. But what do I know? Maybe shampoo is made from crape-myrtle spit. Anyway, getting back to the acid rain thing that I started with (because that's what I was taught in school): Wednesday morning there was a thunderstorm with pouring rain before MOW, and I had it strongly in my head to spray the windshield with Scrub Free because I had gone out on Tuesday and forgot, and it was very annoying. Oh, and I forgot to say that if you drive in the dark with the crape-myrtle spittles all over your windshield, they act as prisms, so when a car is coming towards you, you see trillions of little rainbow circles in front of you. Instead of the important things. Like the ROAD. Oh yeah, back to acid rain. So I go out on Wednesday morning to start putting stuff in my truck (the rain had stopped) and am thinking "DON"T forget the Scrub Free!" and look at my windshield - which had been terrible the day before. AND IT IS PERFECTLY CLEAN.

~

The rain had cleaned the crape-myrtle spit off. I thought rain was just water. Apparently not. Now I want to buy a bunch of rain barrels and bottle and sell it as windshield cleaner. I will call it Texas Rain: particularly effective on crape-myrtle spit.