Early Christmas...

 Santa Claus is alive and well and living in North Carolina.

No that wasn't a typo, Santa does indeed live in the lower 48 states just East of me in the state of North Carolina.

I know it for a fact....and I have proof.

That proof came in the guise of a package addressed just to me and found in my mailbox. Upon opening up my package... I found presents, lots of presents. There was sweet stuff, garden stuff, and other stuff. Stuff that I wanted for Christmas, stuff I had asked Santa for.... stuff Santa must have read my letters or my blog about, because Santa sent me..... a pair of socks.

I got socks.... and I didn't even have to pretend to be good. I didn't have to act nice, be nice, or attempt to make my way off the naughty list over to the other side. The socks were mine, all mine, a gift from my North Carolina Santa along with other goodies.....

All I did was blog about wanting socks for Christmas.

Who knew it was this easy?....


Next year forget the socks, I am asking for George Clooney!

Last Minute Gifts...

Still find yourself shopping for those last minute Christmas gifts? Check out the unique and personalized gifts offered on-line by the latest blogger's catalog. Impress your friends and family with these one of a kind gifts being offered for the holiday season. Operators are standing by now to take your oders, have your credit card on hand....

1. THE GLOGGY/WUKKY SNOW GLOBE! Prepare yourself to hear the squeals of delight from the recipient of the latest and trendiest gift from the land downunder. Just turn the globe upside down and back upright and watch the the big flakes fly....snowflakes that is. A real crowd pleaser and suitable for all ages. From the makers of MoJay INC.**VERY LIMITED SUPPLY**

 

 

 

2. THE MOPSY DOLL! Finally a doll that is both fun and practical too. Imagine the look of pure joy on the face of a little girl that has a doll that can clean her room too. Fun and cleanliness all rolled up into one, where playtime becomes clean-up time with a bucket of water. Order one today!

3. A MAC IN THE BOX! Become the envy of everyone on the block with your very own Mac in the Box. This finally crafted box is crafted of the finest materials that China has lying around. Standard set includes box and Mac. Handle not included but can be ordered seperately for an additional fee.

4. From Dizzy Pictures come the 25th anniversary edition of "SLEEPY LADY AND THE SCAMP". A blogging movie suitable for the whole family. Order your copy today and receive an unedited, unrevised, unauthored version, complete with blogging bloopers and un-before seen pics. This film rated PG for mild British expletives.

 

5. For the craftsman enthusiast a genuine MAHVIN'S BIRD PLAY HOUSE! Be the first kid on the block to have your very own human bird house. Imagine the hours of fun sitting up in a tree and communing with nature. No tools needed as this handy and childproof play bird house is assembled completely with glue and duct tape. Order one for the whole flock! (Not responsible for accidents, failing to secure play bird house to tree properly, or for the development of the Asian bird flu).

6. Beat the crowds and order your very own TICKLE ME JD! With the slightest tickle of encouragement have your Tickle Me JD giggling, snorting, belching, wheezing, and farting along with a host of other bodily noises. Sure to be on every child's wish list. (Batteries and gas mask not included.)

 

 

7. Imagine finding your very own SPOTTY DOG PULL TOY under your Christmas tree this year. This finely crafted dog pull toy features hand painted spots, four wheels, and short plastic leash. Pull Spotty's chain and find him following behind you wagging his tail. As a special bonus, your very own adoption papers included. Imported from the UK.

8. From Canuck Consumer Reports comes the latest craze sweeping Ontario, Canada. The MISTY'S SNO-CONE MACHINE promises to be a hit with both young and old alike. Imagine having your very own sno-cones in the middle of winter. A frosty treat that comes complete with recipe booklet, just add your own yellow snow. **Subject to additional shipping charges**

9. Bring back the nostalgia from the past with your very own SUZI EASY BAKE OVEN! Spend hours reheating your favorite leftovers, baking cookies, or smoking your own turkey. The oven comes complete with two working light bulbs, oven mitt, and plastic serving tray. Oven has three settings,.. Lightly smoked, extra crispy, and charcoal. Order one and cook up something today. (Patent pending,... not allowed for sale in AL,AK,CO,CA,ILL,IND,IA,KY,LA,MN,MO,NE,NV,NM,NY,OH,OR,RI,TX ).

 

10. What Christmas would be complete without a Barbie doll for the little girl (or boy) on your list? Order one of Barbie's latest friends, "ICE ESCAPADES JUDI and JIM". Sure to rival Barbie in popularity, these fine quality vinyl dolls boast glittery outfits, plastic ice skates with a bonus CD of a Jim and Judi duet of the theme for "Ice Castles". Additional accessories and outfits available, call for price quotes.

Enjoy your holiday shopping experience and take the hassle out of fighting the crowds. Order your fun on-line today!

 

(Special thanks to Mopsy for the snowglobe creation for this blog!)

Entry for December 08, 2007 - Wukky's Dilemma...

(click on pic for larger image)



Wukky: "Uh oh"....(flaps arms, shakes bootie, crosses legs)...

Gloggy: "Wow Wukky you can really do the chicken dance, well!"....

Wukky: "I am not doing the chicken dance, I have to go pee"...

Gloggy: "I told you Wukky to go before we got abducted"...

Wukky: "I didn't have to go then...I can't help it that my zipper is stuck on my space suit"....

Gloggy: "Don't get your zipper rusty or we will never get you out of it"....

Wukky: "Gloggy what are you doing with that giant can opener?"...

Gloggy: "Don't worry Wukky I will have you out of that tin can of a space suit in a jiffy"...

Wukky: "Hey!...Watch where you point that thing"....

Gloggy: "This may take awhile"....


Chicken: "You could always use those flaming candles off his birthday cake as a blow torch".....


HAPPY BIRTHDAY WUKKY!!!

Wukky's Dilemma...

 


Wukky: "Uh oh"....(flaps arms, shakes bootie, crosses legs)...

Gloggy: "Wow Wukky you can really do the chicken dance, well!"....

Wukky: "I am not doing the chicken dance, I have to go pee"...

Gloggy: "I told you Wukky to go before we got abducted"...

Wukky: "I didn't have to go then...I can't help it that my zipper is stuck on my space suit"....

Gloggy: "Don't get your zipper rusty or we will never get you out of it"....

Wukky: "Gloggy what are you doing with that giant can opener?"...

Gloggy: "Don't worry Wukky I will have you out of that tin can of a space suit in a jiffy"...

Wukky: "Hey!...Watch where you point that thing"....

Gloggy: "This may take awhile"....


Chicken: "You could always use those flaming candles off his birthday cake as a blow torch".....


HAPPY BIRTHDAY WUKKY!!!

Christmas Practically...

 It's coming....

You can feel it creeping closer and closer with every commercial, advertisement, and credit card bill in the mail. Christmas is only 20 days away, by the time I actually get this blog written and posted it will most likely then be only 19 days away. That is less than three weeks. Are you ready? I am not. In those days counting down to the holiday, I have five different parties, celebrations, and obligations to attend, and each of those require a gift or making or baking something for it. Add to that list, I need to put up the tree, decorate, make out Christmas cards, mail packages, bake cookies and shop for gifts. I know that I will have to cut back on some things, maybe on a lot of things. I am wise enough to know I can't do everything I want. I know that this year I need to be more practical.

I consider myself a pretty practical person, most gifts that I receive or ask for are practical in nature. I think I am fairly easy to shop for, it's the buying for others that isn't so easy. It would be nice if we all could just go shop for what we want and let everyone buy their own gift. That way there would be no disappointments and it would save a lot of time. I guess that would defeat a lot of the purpose of gift giving though. Little kids are easy to shop for, they are happy with anything bright and shiny and that makes noise. Adults are a bit harder but sometimes you will hit the nail on the head and get them just what they wanted. It is those dreaded teen years that are the hardest to shop for....I am clueless. I think a lot of that is compounded by the fact, most if not all of my nephews and nieces, have so much and will get so much during the holidays. Money is usually most popular with gift cards a close second. Real gifts are hard to come by ....hard to shop for.

I have two nieces, both 13, their birthdays less than 10 days apart. One of my nieces grew up in a large city, petite, delicate, very girlie. My other niece grew up a country girl, tom boyish, and stubborn, a bit of a wild child. As a small child she hated to have her mane of long hair combed and she was vocal in her opinions. Such a difference between two girls. Maybe they are a product of their enviroment and maybe they are just meant to be different. So when Thanksgiving rolled around and I had family over I was shocked to see my two nieces being more alike than different. They both showed up wearing black, with dyed black hair and black nail polish and lots of make-up. They spent the night on the computer playing games, discussing rock groups I have never heard of and getting holes in their ears. No, not pierced ears but holes, where spacers or tubes or some such nonsense is used to make holes in their ears. I use to think I was a pretty hip aunt, but I guess I am falling behind in the times on what is popular. Holes in your ears just don't seem practical. Maybe I am confusing practicality with being conservative. I then realized that shopping this year was going to be extra hard.

A lot of people have traditions for the holidays. One of the traditions my mom has is that she buys the same gifts every year for some people, because she knows they like that item, or that it is something practical that they will use. Socks and underwear, were always on that list. Without fail you could pick up that soft squishy package under the tree and know automatically what it was before opening it up. Most times you would toss it aside in search of the "real" gifts, ..the fun gifts,... the toys. Once my brothers got married my mom stopped buying them underwear. I guess she felt she was handing that job over to their wives. Being single, I wondered, what about me? Aren't you going to buy my underwear? I guess there come a time in everyone's life that they realize they have reached that passage in life, where they are now an adult and are in charge of buying their own underwear.

Socks though,....socks are a different story. Socks continue, whether hung on the mantle to be stuffed on Christmas eve by Santa or bought by your mom, socks are a part of Christmas.

I chatted with a friend of mine on messenger the other night and asked her what she wanted for Christmas. She told me she wanted socks and jammies. She asks for them every year and every year she never gets them. Her family doesn't consider them real gifts. So after the holidays she goes out and buys her own jammies and socks, which then gets her family angry with her. She couldn't understand why they would be angry about her asking for something as simple as socks and jammies. I told her that maybe her family was wanting to get her a gift that would make her jump up and down with excitement and get her teary eyed. Let's face it, socks just don't do that.... Socks don't illicit that kind of response....They are a practical gift.

This year when my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas the first thing I said was "socks". I can use some new and very practical socks. Taking a good look at a pair I put on today I noticed that the toe area was getting a bit thin,... they were a little faded,... they needed to be replaced.

I think it is a conspiracy, that socks somehow only seem to last from one Christmas year to the next. Maybe that is just the life expectancy of a sock.

Yeah I could darn those socks when my big toe finally pokes thru the end. I could break down and buy more socks thru out the year. That would be the logical and practical thing to do. Or I can keep believing in Santa and look for socks under my Christmas tree every year...

Leftovers...

 Well I am happy to report I made it thru Thanksgiving with nary a kitchen catastrophe, fire, or any bouts of food poisoning....(that I know of). I tried to have a lot of things done ahead of time but on the morning of turkey day I did still find myself in the kitchen most of the day. Thankfully I had made the desserts and salads the day before, so that only left me with cooking the turkey,ham, veggies, stuffing, side dishes, oh heck who was I kidding, I still had a ton of stuff to do that day. I also put off doing some housecleaning til that morning as well so I found myself trying to do a bit of catch up early on. On a bright note we did find Stink Pot's little bear, another small reason to give thanks. Now hopefully the cat will stop being a bit of a packrat and making off with my socks. She has a habit of now running thru the house with a sock between her gums flapping wildly as she runs up and down the hall. I try not to mumble too loudly in her hearing distance that she is just not quite right...poor thing.

I will have to admit though for my bragging on my cooking prowess I did have a few panic moments. First off I had a new roaster to use for cooking the turkey in, problem was it wasn't like the roasters I had used before. So I pulled out the thick manual and read the two whole pages of English over and over while thumbing thru the rest of the book of Spanish and French instructions wondering if they were giving them more instructions or if it just took a lot more words to say it rather than in English. I tried calling their 1-800 number to ask my question but I got a message they were all out to lunch, just my luck. I called back 20 minutes later and got the message they were all gone for the day. I have a secret suspicion someone was really there and just didn't want to work too hard that day. But I figured it out, got the bird in the bag and it was soon cooking away. I then tackled a can of jellied cranberry sauce that was rather persistent about staying in the can. Have you noticed how some tin cans now have a curved bottom? You can no longer open the can from both ends. I struggled for what seemed like 20 minutes trying to get the jellied sauce to slide out of it's container while still in one piece.. I shook it, and shook it, and shook the can til I thought the cranberry sauce would fly across the room and hit the wall with a thud before sliding down in a big pile on the floor. Thankfully with the help of a knife and a lot of coaxing it finally made it's appearance and I was able to slice it and serve it later without looking like too much of a hatchet job.

Feeling somewhat successful I then attempted to make sweet potato casserole. Now I have to admit I have eaten sweet potato casserole before but I have never made it myself. Somewhere I had seen a recipe I wanted to try and of course on that day I couldn't find it. I then came on-line to google for a recipe. I looked and looked and couldn't find exactly the recipe I was looking for. Several recipes had nuts, several had honey and all other sorts of things I didn't have on hand. I got to thinking what would Mac do? ...He would sneak in some pepperoni was my first thought so then I thought what would Vero do? Vero would be saying forget the sweet potatoes and did ya cart off that turkey carcass like I told you to? I then thought what would Cyn do? Cyn would say, well little tater, wing it on the taters.....so I did....and they turned out. Some people even had seconds. So thanks Cyn for the help you didn't even know you gave.

All in all it was a pretty good meal and a pretty good day. In my previous blog I had mentioned that Thanksgiving is a bit of a mixed blessing. That something bad usually happens around the holiday to remind of us being thankful and what the day is about, and without exception there was this year too. The day before Thanksgiving there was a funeral for a family member of my sister-in-law. There was two phone calls from my grandmother on the same topic... It was evident from those phone calls and another incident this past week that she is failing. There is always the good with the bad though, even with holidays.

I got to thinking today how life is like those Thanksgiving leftovers we all have in the fridge. Some leftovers aren't so great the next time around. Some leftovers are actually better the next day after they are given the chance for the flavors to meld. Some leftovers you have to add more stuff to them to make them seem more appealing. The only problem with that is, you now have more leftovers from the previous leftovers.

That is what memories are...they are leftovers. They aren't always as good as that original moment in time, but we have the bits and pieces leftover in our minds that still give us that good feeling. Some memories aren't the best and we try to throw them out before they spoil other memories. We try to remember the good more than the bad. We even will make more of a memory than what there was actually there to remember in the first place.

Memories....some are used, some are changed, some are best left forgotten in the back of our minds, much like those frozen leftover mashed potatoes. When the time is right we can pull them out, thaw, heat, and enjoy.....


or we could just call out for pizza.

Turkey Tidbits...

 It is hard to believe that in just a few days Thanksgiving will be upon us. In recent years Thanksgiving has become like a springboard for Christmas and for shopping. Even now more and more stores are staying open on Thanksgiving day to give shoppers a chance to get ahead of the bigger shopping day that follows on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is a big holiday for some and not such a big celebration for others. Big extended families will gather and pull out the card table and folding chairs and set up tv trays all over the house to make room for all of the company. Couples will quietly bake a chicken, a turkey just too much for two. Some will stand in-line serving others. It's a day of joy for some, and day of sorrow for others.

I never quite know how to feel about Thanksgiving when it rolls around every year. I have fond memories of gathering at my grandparents with cousins, aunts, uncles, great grandparents, and an occasional odd guest or two. It was usually a madhouse. Times change though and the house won't be as crowded, but there will still be family celebrating with memories of past Thanksgivings and thoughts on future turkey days.

I have a bit of apprehension though when the day gets closer. For a time of being thankful of all that we each hold dear, it has also been a time of year that there has been sadness with not so pleasant memories. For all the good things associated with the holidays I have become a bit superstitious, waiting for the bad news to drop. At times it seems as if life tries to even out the happiness of the celebration with sobering reminders that moments are fleeting, as well as people.

Some years, in fact most years, Thanksgiving has become synonymous with having the flu. Someone always seems to be suffering from the affliction and passes the bug to someone else and they in turn pass it on, til you aren't sure by the week-end if you have caught the flu, or if it was food poisoning from the turkey and it's leftovers.

I am feeling pretty good and haven't caught the flu yet - knock wood. This year I am in charge of the dinner and I will be cooking the turkey. In fact I even have one turkey and one turkey breast already bought from awhile ago. I have to admit I haven't cooked that many turkeys. I do know some of the basics about not letting the turkey thaw on the counter, and that you can thaw a partially frozen turkey in cold running water. I have taken the precaution to get those disposable plastic cooking bags to cook it in, and I have even gone so far as to take the frozen turkey out of the freezer in preparation for Thursday.

I couldn't help but stare at my little frozen turkey though and secretly wish I was Martha Stewart. Martha would make a beautiful turkey, she wouldn't use plastic cooking bags. She would have a golden brown turkey cooked under a wine-soaked cheesecloth and basted with a honey-butter-sage-mango sauce....(okay maybe not the mango part of it). Martha knows everything about turkeys. Martha would be able to tell me,... that after spying the expiration date on my turkey,... whether or not a year old frozen turkey is safe to cook....and eat....

....I guess time does pass quicker than we realize....so I checked the other turkey in the freezer for it's expiration date.

Maybe we will just have ham this year.

Writer's Block...

 This blog entry, courtesy of Farrell. He has accused me of causing a web-wide case of writer's block. So just for Farrell I will stymie the epidemic and write something,... anything my mind can think of to jump-start the rest of you and your own personal case of writer's block.

Actually yesterday I had thought about writing a blog, had even googled for some images and for all good intentions and purposes was going to post it late last night. Even then I would have been pushing the time limit as Veteran's day was technically on Sunday, observed on Monday, and all about forgotten on this Tuesday. It really wasn't going to be much of a blog, most of you had done something better, written more eloquent words, and you had accomplished to make that day be about what it was to be, a day of remembrance. I remembered, I just didn't say it or blog it.

So today I am off on a new subject, any subject, whatever happens to pop into my head to appease Farrell. It's difficult to sit in front of a screen without a thought or idea of what to say, and just force yourself to type anything,... just to blog for blogs sake. I tried to catch up with several of your blogs earlier this morning. Sitting here with jumbled thoughts of Sue's mom, JD's bugs, Mahvin being back or at least appearing to be Mahvin (I have visions of him really being a large ventriloquist doll for Bubs) and Mac's blog on cabbage, I think all of you have hit the high points for the week and it's only Tuesday. I know I could take the easy way out, post a blog on recipes, poems, jokes, or a few quotes. In fact I have a little book of quotes by my computer that I was looking in earlier for my "blast" on 360. Nothing seems to be catching my eye or mind today.... Yes, my mind is a blank, though I am sure many of you already suspected that a long time ago.

Hmmm, I could mention what all I have accomplished this morning....dishes, a load of laundry, checking my real mail box, and feeding the cat. I could tell you that we (the cat and I) have somehow misplaced her tiny stuffed bear. It's a sickly color of flesh tone pink with a little green knitted hat stitched on it's head and it's gone missing. I know it most likely has been devoured by dust bunnies under a heavy piece of furniture and it's just waiting for me to crawl around on the ground peering into the dark depths to find it. I am not in the mood though, so unless the cat finds it on her own, she is stuck today with batting around wadded up pieces of paper.....poor kitty.

It's windy, chilly, and sunny all at the same time today. Leaves are still hanging on, falling off, and in some places just completely gone. Housework, yardwork, and other work, just another day, another Tuesday. A day like many, for many. So there it is.....my blog for Farrell. I know that it will cause your creative juices to flow, you will be blogging with a fiendish passion that you never knew you possessed before....and if it doesn't....(shoulder shrug)...I tried.

This and That, and a Whole Lot of Nothing in Particular...

 Here it is already the 4th of  November, time flies when you are in a leftover Halloween candy induced coma. I am happy to report I didn't scare off too many trick or treaters or make any little children cry, but then there is always next year.

I remembered to change the clocks back last night. After last week-end I was in a bit of a dither. My calendar said to change the clocks, even my computer had changed it's clock for the last Sunday in October. So for a week my computer and I have been behind, but today we are all caught up, or at least trying to catch up.

It's been a pain over on Yahoo blogging lately. Eaten comments, pages not loading, it made me wonder if I even wanted to attempt writing a blog on Yahoo today. I will give it a whirl though, and my apologies to those of you who have stopped by to read my blog and find yourself unable to leave a comment. I think I should warn all of you, or at least let all of you know that I am considering tightening up my circle of friends and my blogs. I know some have had concerns over the security of Multiply.com and having your name and addy showing. I am considering making my blog entries only available to those on my friend's list both here and on my other blog site. I have always had my blog open before and welcomed comments. This is not to make those of you who lurk at my page rush to join my friends list. But I have been thinking of the networks we make of friends and contacts on here and if it would be more personal having it closed. Lately I have been getting  a little bit of spam as well in my inbox, it may not cure that problem completely but it's something I am considering.

I have been lax, and lazy, and just plain busy. There are some on my list here I haven't stopped by to check to see if you are still breathing on your blogs. I hope to do better in the future. Hopefully Yahoo will cooperate and I will be able to let you know I was there and to say howdy.

I tried to do a bit of decorating in here today. I googled for turkeys and all kinds of things to go with a Thanksgiving theme but came across the current background tile of M&M's. The more I thought about it the more I thought it was appropriate. After all I am extremely thankful for the yummy lusciousness of chocolate and chocolate candy, and the thought of burying myself in piles of M&M's would be pure bliss...

...If you put your ear a little closer to the monitor you might even hear the faint sounds of..."gobble, gobble"... Stay safe, play nice, and happy trails of M&M's to you too...

Mirror, Mirror...

 Mirror, mirror on the wall.....I am afraid to ask who is the fairest of them all....I am afraid you will crack,...  you will crack up with laughter.

Have you ever thought what in the world we would do without a mirror? We use it daily to check our appearance, check for imperfections, things that need working on, and sometimes for backing up. No I am I not here to tell you that the object in the rearview mirror was closer than I thought and I ran into something. I do have mirrors on my mind today, and more importantly the reflections we see in them.

There are all kinds of mirrors. Vanity mirrors, compact mirrors, fun house mirrors, rearview mirrors, full length mirrors, so many mirrors it would seem we never tire of looking at ourselves. I have tried to do that today, see reflections both mine and others. Sometimes our mirrors tell us things we don't want to see or know. Sometimes we look in a mirror and see things nobody else sees. I guess that could be considered another kind of mirror, a two way mirror. Some reflections are fleeting, some are cloudy, some are invisible, and some are so distorted we wonder if it is the mirror's fault or our own.

If only we all could be happy with what we see in our own individual mirror. What you see in yours, I may not see in mine. Standing side by side looking in the same mirror would we both see the same reflection? Or do we see what we want to see reguardless of what the mirror is really telling us?

Everyone wants to look good, there is a reason we have vanity mirrors and why they are so named. I use a mirror every day to comb my hair, put on my make-up, make sure I look presentable for the rest of the world. Seeing the same face every day staring back at you, you wonder do I really look like that? Do mirrors lie? or is it just people and our minds? A mirror shows everything, every wrinkle, grey hair, pound gained or lost, it can be our best friend and worst enemy. It's just there though, to try and tell us the truth. What we put in that mirror reflects back on us.

A lot of things we have in our lives are a reflection of us. Our family, our friends, the people we surround ourselves with daily. They reflect a lot about our personalities, likes, dislikes, and things that matter to us. It would be nice if every person came with their own mirror. We could see not only what that person looked liked but what they reflect back to us. That reflection might be beautiful, it might not be so attractive, it might even be empty. But there would be just one view, ...the same view. It would be so  handy. The only problem with that theory is no two people see the same thing. You may try to reflect one thing, but someone sees it or you differently. Mirrors don't lie, but people can,.. and do. People and  their reflections can disappoint you in many ways, just like your own mirror.

Today I looked in the mirror and I saw a woman with tired dark eyes. When you looked in the mirror today what did you see?

S.P. Update...

 A couple of you have inquired about my cat Stink Pot, so today I thought I would give a small update on the cat and also because I am brain dead on a subject to blog about. It is hard to believe it was just August when I acquired the little mite. That little mite has grown by leaps and bounds, in fact, I am afraid if she grows that much in two months time, what size will she be in a year? I don't think they have a Jenny Craig for cats. It's not that she is really fat either, she is just big boned. Well she really isn't big boned either, but it sounds better than saying boy you are getting huge kitty.

I would like to be able to report that I have things totally under control and she now behaves and listens to my every command, but that wouldn't quite be the truth. Quite frankly she is as mean and stubborn as ever with a mind of her own. I think she secretly relishes sticking her claws into me and biting. She loves to chew.....and chew...and chew. Her favorite things to gnaw on are the paper guide on the computer printer, wicker, shoelaces, paper, and me (not necessarily in that order). My phone book is missing several listings in the top right hand corner as well as a few yellow pages...but paper is a good source of fiber isn't it?....

I know the poor kitty is probably teething and I am hoping she will grow out of this stage of chewing and biting. I did take the suggestion about using a squirt gun filled with water to try and "train" her from jumping up and scratching and biting. So far I have had some mixed results. First off I have to remember to pack my pistol with me all the time, I forget to do that a lot and so I am blaming part of the failure on my inconsistency. Once I do remember and give her a squirt from the gun she runs off and then tries to sneak around for a rear attack. That is when I whip around and point the squirt gun at her and scold her with, "I have a gun, and I will use it". One of my biggest fears is that the neighbors will stop by and be poised to knock at the door and hear me say that to the cat. I have visions of them running off to call 911 before I can explain it's not a real gun and it's the cat I want to shoot and not them.

I am happy to report though that we have been playing games and I ALMOST have her trained to fetch. I will throw a wadded up piece of paper, cellophane, or some small object and she will tear off to chase that object. She will pounce, bite, and thrust her hind legs at it, kicking as hard as she can. (She also does this when she has a hold of my arm). I will yell for her to bring it back to me so I can throw the object again. She trots back, empty-handed of course, swishes her tail, plops down and looks at me and then at the item of interest. After a few moments of this "stand off", I will go retrieve the item to throw to her again, and we will play this scenario over and over for as long as I am willing to throw and retrieve the object. It makes me wonder just who is training who in this little game. Either way it's making me tired running back and forth to appease the cat.

I am having mixed feelings on what to do with the cat. I had originally thought Stink Pot would be an outdoor cat. In fact I think she is going to be an excellent mouser, she stalks everything. The other day I brought home a bag of potatoes and left the bag sitting next to the sink on the floor. It was something new, something different and something evidently the cat didn't like. She sniffed....she swatted...she spat at the bag of potatoes. She continued to do it every time she walked by. It was the next day that I noticed a hole she had chewed in the bag. I don't know what the offending potato did, but I am sure she let that potato know who was boss.

I am hoping that as time goes on she will mend her ways and be a bit more docile or at least ease up a bit on the biting. Thankfully it is getting cooler now so I have an excuse for wearing long sleeves and it's not just to cover up the little marks left behind of her "tough love" for me. At least I think it's love,... or like,... or fondness...or it could just be a fondness for being a stink pot.

Broken...

 
I think my blog is broken. Or at least, it has seemed like it this week. Trying to post comments on blogs resulted in missing posts, missing pages, missing blogs, missing people. It's frustrating to know that it's not going to get any better. Yahoo has said they will abandon 360 in lieu of a new better platform, so what bugs there are now will stay. (I know, I know MkChippy you hate the Yahoo talk, skip this paragraph and go to the next, I swear it won't just be another rant on Yahoo,lol).It did give me food for thought when trying to post a comment to a blog, instead of their blog page loading with my comment it took me to MY page on setting up a blog. I then wondered just how secure is anything we have listed with Yahoo. I wanted to mumble under my breath that Yahoo must be another one of those things that is made in China and needs to be recalled....but then I got to thinking that might not go over well with Yahoo's CEO... Mr. Yang.... Sometimes I can put my foot in my mouth with the greatest of ease, if only everything else was that simple.

This week has seemed like a week of things broken. Yahoo, blogs, my lawnmower, and a lamp. I don't know how the lamp was broken. But there it was when I looked closer today, a big crack. I can't remember ever knocking it over, dropping it, or abusing it in any other way, but it's broke. It's not that noticeable til you look it over carefully, but I know the crack is there, and I am sure the crack will grow bigger. I am still using it though til it is of no use and beyond repair or until I get tired of my cracked and imperfect lamp.

Things do that though, they break all of the time. Case in point, a new lawnmower bought in June of this year. Last month a part broke underneath the decking....two weeks past the guarantee from the place of business it was acquired from (grrrrr)... Upon numerous phone calls to that place of business I was given another phone number to call which only lead me to their webpage on the internet. After reading and rereading the owners manual and their website, I found out the lawnmower was under warranty.....(insert happy face!)......but it must be taken to an authorized dealer which isn't listed within a 50 mile radius of me.....(lose the happy face). So I looked up the part on the web on their on-line catalog. It would be around 70 bucks including shipping. Grumble,...grumble,....grumble... I ordered the part. Figuring in the gas mileage to drive to a dealer so far away to drop it off, go back and pick it, and the additional fees that might be charged (according to their website) it was easier and I felt cheaper to buy the part.

It was a week or so ago that I got the part delivered by UPS, and not til yesterday that my kind hearted neighbor was able to replace it. When he was finished he handed over to me, part of my new part. I had to order the whole assembly in order to get the part I needed that was broken. My neighbor told me that the mower was back in perfect working order but that part of my new part was faulty. The four holes where it screwed onto the decking weren't threaded, it hadn't been tapped. Thinking more about that mower part today, I was starting to get a bit peeved. I didn't need the whole assembly but it wasn't being offered seperately in their parts catalog...I had to take what I could get...

This morning I gave them a call....After finally getting thru to the parts department I explained my problem. I was then informed that the part was not faulty at all but that they have self tapping screws that you buy for the part. I could order them thru their on-line catalog or go visit one of their dealers, (you know, the one that lives outside of my 50 mile radius) to get the special screws. I mumbled okay, all the while feeling I was already being screwed, in that I had to buy more parts for my new part to replace my broken part. We were about to have a parting of the ways when out of curiosity I asked about the wholeness of the part. In their catalog it wasn't listed, but could I just buy the part of the part that I needed. Yes I could....but that would require him to go to the warehouse to break down that part and he wasn't sounding too thrilled at the prospect. I wasn't thrilled with it either or any part of the whole deal.

I guess we have to take the stuff we don't need and sift thru til we get what we want. Sometimes all we want is just the simplest of things to life's problems. I would have preferred being able to walk right in and take what I needed off the shelf. Instead it took phone calls, web surfing, another call to find out what I needed and more depositing of funds. It's a rat race this life of ours. Little things that give us pleasure like blogging seem to be becoming more difficult and I know for some of you it hasn't been as much fun as it use to be ....but hang on. Sift thru those parts and people you enjoy and stick the rest back in the blog or box they came in. You never know when you might need the rest of it.....


*sidenote to those of you following Yahoo's product blog. I came across this webpage when googling for a picture of something broken. It's an article on Yahoo being worth more if it was broken up.... some days I just have to giggle on the irony.

** another sidenote to Judy E...I promise an update on Stinkpot coming soon...

Misty Made Me Do It...

 

After reading Misty's blog, and Mac's blog as well, I of course had to visit the link they have posted on their blogs to visit the CEO's page and leave my two cents worth...

It was an interesting read and I am sure that everyone else along with me could read between the lines, well actually every other word or line screamed....."money"....we want more money. Such is a fact of life and big business. Just encase my comment doesn't show this is what I posted:

"Thank you for your posting on what has been going on behind the scenes in Yahoo. It is obvious that what is "relevant" for Yahoo and it's stock holders is money,... bottom line. I know that Yahoo provides a service, in fact a lot of services. Those services are used by us the consumer. The views of those consumers have been voiced in the latest postings in the Yahoo 360 team blogs both here and abroad. What Yahoo fails to do is listen to those consumers. Here lies the "relevancy" of what really mattes. Profit, more advertising, or the opportunities for more advertising and businesses that tie themselves to the Yahoo network. Each small voice of ours though is the basis for consumption of that network. A lot of members of the 360 blogging community are understandably upset. Questions went unanswered for months... Issues sidestepped...promises being made of something that will enhance our Yahoo experience even more. How can promises be made of an "enchanced yahoo experience", when what we the users of 360 have already been experiencing.... such general disreguard?

"Irrelevancy: not relevant: not applicable or pertinent," .... isn't that what you really meant to say?"

I never saw Misty's comment there or one by Mac but I will go back and recheck. My own comment after being posted had a pretty yellow box proclaiming ...

"Your Comment is awaiting moderation"....

I thought my comment was rather moderate already, I didn't use any cuss words or bad language,...perhaps though they sensed a shake of my finger at them?

Sinking blog...

(trying to keep up with two blog pages, I will most likely just copy and paste the same blog on both blogs...so if you keep up with yahoo 360 it will be a repeat for you.... )

 By now most of you have been reading about the fate of Yahoo 360. Blogs have been posted, comments have been left for they Yahoo Team blog page, and some have even abandoned ship and jumped to a different blogging site.

A whole year, that is how long I have been blogging. I was finally getting into the groove of 360 and sailing along quite well til hitting a bit of a snag, well a really big kinda snag.....

I mashed into an iceberg called Yahoo.

I have been reading blogs about 360's demise, other blog sites, and a general feeling of dissatisfaction. Most comments I read viewed 360 as a spot for the more mature blogger. Other sites like Facebook, MySpace, and Mash just weren't cutting it for the aging baby boomer bloggers.

We want substance. We want blogs on us, of home, of family, of work, and of life. Simply put we want it simple. A simple blog page to write and post comments, navigate easily, add friends, photos, and still be able to add some personality to our blogs. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't learn much about someone with glittery smiley faces and quick hellos. It's the blog that you write that tells me about you. Even the simplest of entries can tell me if you like to cook, like to garden, like to parachute out of planes or if you just like a good joke. The joke appears to be on us though with the latest Yahoo blog team entry.

I find it quite interesting that an entry was made on their blog page on August 10th, and it wasn't till October 9th they posted a new blog on "360 question's".... "let's talk" in the entry title....and talk we did, so many comments, hundreds of comments. I wonder how long it took for them to read them as it was nary a week later they were posting a new entry about 360 and it's demise....Pardon me, they really didn't come out and say it but tiptoed around that direct question like a well seasoned politician. Were they on vacation between August and October? Wow, they accomplished so much in that weeks time between postings this month. Not only did they want to talk about our concerns but then had miraculously formed a whole new idea of a blogging experience that would be an improvement over 360. I don't think those team members of the UK blogging team have been doing any better. They snuck over to the American Yahoo blog team and copied their blog word for word. I would be outraged at such plagiarism. It makes you wonder, just who is on that team and how big of a team is it? Maybe there is only a handful of people behind the scenes of Yahoo. Perhaps the person who could do his best Tony Blair impersonation was given the job of being the UK Blog Team captain. Maybe it's the same for the other foreign blog teams as well. They guy who had curry for lunch could do the India blog team page, and the other guy who once ate vegemite could be the Aus/NZ blog team captain. Or maybe there is just one poor computer geek forced to make imaginary friends and blog team members as he tries to vainly blog along and appear to be more than one person. Any way you look at it, it's not leaving people with a very good sense of Yahoo and it's practices.

Many bloggers have looked for greener pastures. I went ahead and created a blog at Multiply.com. At the moment I am trying to learn the ins and outs and quite frankly the coming and going has only multiplied my headaches. I picked a simple page theme that I liked that has martini glasses on it. I might have to change it already, Bubs is worried I have become a lush over all of the blogging drama. I can assure you all I am not a big drinker if you happen to wander over to my blog page. Once I figure out how to do some customizing it will probably change. .

I am not abandoning the 360 ship though. I still log onto 360 first thing in the morning when I get on the computer. E-mail most days is a distance 2nd and with the new blog on Multiply.com it may become an even more distant third. I refuse to lose any of you. Whatever ship or blog page you will be on, I will be there, .... treading water behind you with my floaties.

Testing...testing...testing...

Pay me no attention, I am just puttering around a bit and trying to find my barings. I am blaming all of my mental confusion on Cyn for wandering over here to "Multiply" and making it hard for me to keep an eye on her. Tomorrow I will blame my mental confusion on someone else, ...(so feel free to step right up to volunteer for that spot).

I don't really have anything much to say for my first blog entry other than... "hi". I will get back to ya when I have something of more interest... til then, nap hard!

 

Entry for October 15, 2007 -Scary Blog ...

Lately there has been a lot of scary stories posted of ghosts, unexplainable happenings, and creepy things in the spirit of October and Halloween. I have been racking my brain for anything scary or any ghost sightings on my part and I keep drawing a blank. I am feeling a bit left out that I haven't been visited by a ghost, or seen any apparitions, or experienced anything hair raising to ellicit a Halloween scary story for my blog.

No ghosts, no witches, not even a stale piece of candycorn floating around to blog about. Halloween seems to have left me holding the bag....empty with nary even a Charlie Brown rock.

I thought about writing a blog on scary movies, making a poll on your favorite monster, or posting something as filler till I started seeing dead people.

Just what is scary? For each person there is a different answer. What someone might view as scary others might see as exciting...like rollercoasters, or haunted houses, or flying. Something that gives pleasure to some can strike fear in the hearts and minds of others. We all have experienced something in life that was frightening, life it's self can be scary...the alternative even scarier. The sound of a helicopter will make my heart race and give me a sick feeling. Having sat in a hospital waiting on Life Line to transport a loved one to a bigger hospital for life threatening injuries now makes me dread the sound of those whirling blades. Two o'clock phone calls in the morning scare me. The red engine light of the car, flashing on scares me. Brussel sprouts, okra, and liver scare me.

Boobs scare me.

I know, you did a double take on that comment. Scary boobs.... I've seen them.

One day last week while 360 seemed to be so slow and there wasn't very many new blog postings I went on a tour of 360. I randomly chose a friend's page and just clicked someone on their page to visit. I then clicked a friend on the front of their blog page and continued blogging in circles. Each time I tried to click on a friend listed on their front page that had a real pic up of themselves that was at least my age or older. It's scary what is out there. Oh I know we have all seen the pages with body parts and graphic photos and art work. I don't consider myself a prude in any way. The human form can be quite beautiful. Beauty is also in the eye of the beholder. I was surprised though, so many older bloggers who posted pics of themselves or more specifically, their cleavage. I know that I should give them kudos for being so comfortable and accepting of their bodies.

But I thought it was scary. The more pages I clicked on, the more it seemed the bloggers were getting older and with more cleavage showing. I was afraid I was only a click away from finding my own mother or grandmother posting a cam shot of their cleavage for the world to admire. I don't think it was the actual boobs that scared me as much as the age of the people posting the pics. Maybe I am guilty of age discrimination, a boob is a boob, and it shouldn't matter the size, or shape, or if they can be tucked in the waistband of your pants. I think what scared me most was....why? Are people that lonely, starved for any kind of human contact? Are they game playing, seeking the titillation (no pun intended) of exhibitionism? In so many ways it was like finding out June and Ward Cleaver were really nudists and left Wally and the Beaver in the dark of their alternative lifestyle.

Some don't find it scary though, in fact a lot won't. We all have different feelings on what we feel is scary. There has been a lot of talk of 360 even going by the wayside and being abandoned by Yahoo, most of us find that scary. Some fears are real, some fears are imagined, and some fears are silly.

In fact I am even a little afraid to post this blog entry. I know some won't agree with me, some will think I am nuts, some will no doubt even be a bit offended which isn't my intent at all. Everyone is different, with different thoughts and ideas, and different things they view as scary.

It's a big scary world,... just beware of the booby traps.

Entry for October 12, 2007 - Duped by a Zombie...

Thump...thump...thump.....

If you haven't noticed by now, I have lost my head. Yes that rascally Scaretaker was lurking in my mailbox this evening as I went to read my e-mail. It was with a scowl that I opened my e-mail attachment and found my pink tresses now being admired (and acquired) by Gloggy's latest creature feature. I knew, I just knew he would be snickering and snorting that New Zealand chipmunk-accented laugh of his while he calmly detached my head graphically and pasted it into the loving arms of his zombie pic.

Now normally I would think nothing of loosing my head, usually I do that quite frequently at the most inappropriate times too.... But yesterday I had a very late night chat with the zombie maker. I distinctly told him "NO"...you can't have my head, which only seemed to make him desire it more. It was with a lot of arm twisting, (and yes zombie's arms can be twisted round and round many times) that I thought we had come to a mutual agreement....be nice to Vic and let her keep her head.

Was it pure bedevilment? Was it a mean mischieveous streak? Was it the fact that zombies hate to be told no? I even at the time of the argument, was furiously Googling for a neck brace to paste on my poor avatar. I made threats, I called him stinky farts, and I told him his Scaretaker zombie ran like a girl.

I guess zombies take exception to being told they run funny. I think he already knew the stinkyfarts were a given, we all knew he smelled....zombie or no zombie.

I know it was with fiendish glee he took my head. But now is my turn to warn the Scaretaker Zombie head stealer... you are stuck with me. Yes, my head will be rolling right along behind you everywhere you go..... Chattering incessantly, singing show tunes, and generally making myself a pain in the neck...er head....

Yes you have done it now Mr. Scaretaker Zombie dude.... you have created a monster,....and it's me!

Entry for October 07, 2007 - Warts

I know I was a bit early and jumped the gun with already decorating my blog and creating a new avatar with a Halloween theme. I was worried that time would get away from me like it always seems to do. I do that a lot, lose time...and worry.

I am a worry wart.

I know most of you blogged over and thought I was going to blog about warts. It would have been a timely entry with all of the frogs and wart-nosed witches adorning a lot of blogs lately. In fact when I was a kid I had a wart once on the bottom of my foot. The cure was almost more painful then the wart it's self. Freezing it off didn't hurt nearly as badly as the doctor then poking the medicine into the freshly burned off wart with a toothpick. Thankfully I haven't had it grow back. Googling for a pic for today's blog I came across a webpage on home cures for warts. Diet seems to be a popular remedy for the prevention of warts along with rubbing them with garlic. But I digress... this blog is more about worries.

We all have them, some of us more than others. My grandmother has to be the worst case of being a worry wart that I have ever seen. I worry that I will be like her in that respect. She worries about each of her children, her grandchildren, her great grandchildren, and her great-great grandchildren. One can spend a lot of time wasted by worrying. That adage that we need to change the things we can't accept and accept the things we can not change is good in theory. I worry though I don't have the wisdom to tell the difference....and then I worry that the things we accept that we can't change is only because we give up too easily.

I worry about work, I worry about gas prices, getting behind, getting ahead, and the upcoming winter. I worry about family and friends, and changes consciously made and changes made out of circumstance. I worry that this is as good as it gets and I would prefer it to be a whole lot better. I worry about choices and if they are the right ones. I worry that there are things I haven't even considered. I worry about life passing me by, and then I worry that maybe I haven't even gotten on the merry-go-round yet and I am actually still standing in line. Thanks to Mac's blogs and the comments on his blogs this week I now worry about Minute rice, hamburger, and bar-be-que potato chips. I really used to like bar-be-que potato chips too. I worry that Suzi will start to count the number of times I have used the word "worry" in this blog....

I worry that I worry to much and get too involved. It seems lately I keep finding myself in the middle of things and I am not quite sure how I got there. I worry that when asked for advice or my opinion that when I give it .... it's not what the person was really wanting to hear. I worry if maybe I should be more quieter. Maybe I should just listen and give a non-committal type answer that keeps me as neutral as possible. I worry about lost friendships and I even worry about making new friends.

When I first joined 360, I bit the bullet and often clicked on someone's profile to ask them to be my friend. Usually I got an immediate reply. There has been a time or two that I didn't. Then I worried that those individuals weren't all that keen to be my friend. Perhaps I came across too weird, too dorky, too immature, too ..too much of something. It made me think though. Now I worry about adding new friends. Some days I boldly click and ask will you be my friend? Most days I worry and think ...no... if they want to be my friend they will ask me. I then worry they are thinking the same thing. One instance or moment in our lives can give us doubt and worry.

I have a couple of friends that I have chatted to this week on different concerns and worries. It's been an odd week or two in some respects. You worry for someone and express those worries to them and it brings a totally different outcome then you were expecting, which only brings about a different set of worries. One of my friends told me several times.....don't worry. It's easier said than done. They told me they would accept all blame for everything.....to just blame them for all the worries. So I am...

I am going to blame them for me not winning the lotto last night, I will also blame them for me forgetting to buy a ticket for that lotto drawing. I will blame them for my burnt toast, unfolded laundry, and my cat that still bites and scratches. I will blame them for sleeping in, staying up late, not eating my veggies and for rambling on this blog. It's nice not to have to worry and being able to blame them for everything. I don't know what I did to deserve their friendship. I will, though, keep them and their friendship close. No matter what the worries I will stick by them thru thick and thin, and be constantly by their side. They can't lose me or my friendship. They are stuck with me....



...maybe they should worry....

Entry for September 29, 2007 - Three Wishes...

I had meant to write this blog last night. Whether from it being just too eventful of a day for this birthday girl, or old age creeping up on me, I didn't get it done. I knew all of you would be on tenterhooks wanting to know about a day in the life of Vic on such a momentous occasion.

I got news for ya... birthdays aren't so hot when you get older. I know one should always be glad that you are having a birthday because it means you are still on this good earth. But birthdays aren't at all like they were when you were a kid. Anticipation of presents,and cards, and cake, and parties filled your mind when you were a kid. When you are older you no longer have that anticipation, that joy of a special day you consider all of your own. Being a twin, birthdays always meant sharing for me. First of all you had to share your special day and most often you had to share gifts, even your candle laden birthday cake you had to share. I wish my scanner was working so I could upload a pic I have of my 7th birthday. There in front of my twin bro and I are two cakes, yes TWO cakes with candles. My grandmother, wise woman that she is, always made it a point to bake two cakes, one for each of us. I think she knew that birthdays were special, especially to a child. Nothing says birthday more than your own cake.

Yesterday my mom wanted to take me to lunch for my birthday. We were discussing in the car on where to go to eat. Upon spying one of her favorite eateries she asked about stopping there for my birthday dinner. After we had eaten, my mom pulled out a small notepad and a pen. She is notorious for making lists. Lists on everything, and then leaving them at home on the kitchen table. But today she had remembered her lists, on it already were things she needed to get. She pushed the pad towards me and asked me what did I wish for, and to add it to her list. I jokingly replied, " is there where I ask for three wishes and my fairy godmother will grant them?" She just smiled and said write down what I wanted. I sat there and thought. Most things that popped into my mind were too much to ask for. Big ticket items that I knew she could not afford and I wouldn't dream of asking her to buy. My mind drew a blank. I said, "well today is my birthday, it should be my lucky day, so how about a lotto ticket?"... "What else?" , she asked... I grinned and wrote down for my second wish, a new and bigger kitty litter pan for Stinkpot the cat, she was outgrowing her old one. We both had a chuckle over that wish. She asked again, "what else?". After some thought I wrote down birthday cake. Cake, I wanted cake. She stuffed the notepad back in her purse and we went shopping.

We stopped at a store my mom wanted to visit. I window shopped and eventually went and bought a lotto ticket while waiting on her. We went to another store, and off she went with her shopping cart. I went in the other direction and finally just picked up a new kitty litter pan on my own. She wanted to make one more stop at Wal Mart. I told her I had bought my lotto ticket, and new cat pan, but reminded her, don't forget my cake,... I wanted cake. I wandered around looking at everything but not particularly needing anything, the only wish left on the list was cake and my mom was buying that.....or so I thought. Upon leaving the store I caught up with my mom with a shopping cart full of stuff including a new tv. I asked her about the tv, and she exclaimed, "oh that's for me."... Pulling out of the parking lot I casually asked, what kind of cake did you get me? What cake? It seems she forgot to buy my birthday cake. She exclaimed she did get ice cream though....Ice cream? I didn't ask for ice cream, upon which she smiled and said, "but I like ice cream". It was at that point that I mumbled rather loudly under my breath, "there seems to be a recurring theme today and it is not going in my favor", my mom just giggled. Once back at her home I had to carry in the tv and set it up for her. This day was not going exactly as I had expected it too.

I was beginning to feel a bit like a birthday-zilla. It was suppose to be my special day, my special day where I was suppose to get cake. My fairy godmother wasn't being much of a fairy godmother. Two of my wishes I bought myself, and my third wish was still back in the cake aisle at Wal Mart.

(Grumble...grumble...dark mood...no cake.)

I didn't give my mom too hard of a time though. We had a huge chuckle over the whole day. I guess when you get older the magic of birthdays has to be created by you. You are in charge of making your wishes come true, even if all you did ask for was a lotto ticket, a kitty litter pan, and cake.

Late last night as I read a few blogs I ate a piece of cake, still slightly warm from the oven. It wasn't chocolate...(sigh), but it was cake. My birthday was a bit wierd, a little bit funny, a bit unpredictable, ... a bit like me.

You can bet I will remember my fairy godmother on her birthday...I don't know about asking her what her three wishes are.....but there will be cake....and it will be the kind that I like.

Entry for September 26, 2007 - New and Improved...

Welcome to my new and improved blog. I know you are now wondering, what is new and what is improved about it, ..it looks the same as it does every day. If the truth be told, nothing is really new or improved, but I am counting this blog entry as an upgrade, so that makes it new....Improved? ....Maybe, maybe not.

We are bombarded with those words in advertising a lot. New, improved, upgraded, updated, they make a product or item sound more appealing. A promise of something better, something better than it was before. I don't really think I can claim this blog entry as really anything better than what has been posted before. But just saying it's new and improved made you stop and look. I often wonder how can something be brand new......and improved? To claim it has been improved would be to admit to it being not so new.

I think it's all a gimmick.

Have you ever picked up an item and saw that it was claiming to be better than ever? Upon closer inspection you notice the item may be in the same colored packaging, but now because it was improved you have less of it? I fail to see how that improves the value for my dollar. Most days I don't want anything new and improved... I want it to stay the same... the same as it has always been. I like reliability. When I think new and improved I think of Coke Cola when it came out with it's new version of the "New Coke". One of the biggest mistakes any company could have made.... changing a product when there was nothing wrong with the original.

Everyone likes new things. We want new things. We love the freshness of new things, opening that package for the first time, using that item, admiring it for the very first time. I think a new car is on a lot of people's wish list. New and shiny with that new car smell. Gadgets and buttons and new upholstery unstained yet with ketchup and hiding cold fries. We love new cars. My mom got a new vehicle a couple of years ago. She was dazzled by it's bright shininess. Today she is still dazzled by it. Not by how bright and shiny it is, but by all the features she has still to figure out on the vehicle. So many features, such a thick owner's manual, she hasn't gotten thru either of them yet. She has figured out that if the gas tank cap isn't screwed on tight enough the engine light comes on. If any car functioning fluids are low the engine will not turn over. Child safety features keep the back door locked at all times. Trapped in the back seat of your own vehicle evidently is an improvement.

I have a tracphone that my mom gave me to figure out for her. Not having a cell phone she thought having one of those prepaid phones would be so handy while on the road. It is a week old, and she has yet to make a phone call. I have looked up all of the info on the web and I keep getting the response from their website,.... her brand new phone needs an update. Upon clicking on the info, I am then given a message it can't be processed at this time. Evidently updates are not always available, even though they are a requirement for use of the brand new product. I hate to tell my mom when I hand the phone back I have used 10 of her precious minutes being unable to call or receive calls but I can get a message on her phone, that with the use of her credit card, she can buy additional minutes. I am tempted to tell her it is not really a phone at all but a miniature slot machine, once she is able to make a call she will have hit the jackpot, till then she will just have to keep feeding it her prepaid minutes.

I need a new computer. Well, I really should rephrase that sentence in that I WANT a new computer. My computer still works. It still boots up for me. It still performs the same task as it always has,....but, it's old. It's my original computer of 10+ years. One new modem from an electric storm and that is all that has been required of it's maintenance. It's slow though. Slow and small and cluttered and not at all trendy. I lust after a new computer. Something quick and shiny with tons of memory and a bigger screen.... and one that makes coffee and toast first thing in the morning. A big part of me, tells me not to mess with anything that works. Especially anything that is technical. I just know a big light will flash on the screen that I am not updated or upgraded, or improved enough for such a spiffy new computer.

So much technology, it grows by leaps and bounds each day. It is mind boggling what all we have and are privy too...so much stuff to make our lives easier, make our lives better and improved. But a lot of days when I pick up a paper, listen to the tv, read a story on-line, I wonder where is the improvement? How can we have so much as a society and as people are not improved? We still have wars, we still have racism - from all sides, we still have hatred,... and selfishness,... and apathy.

No matter how pretty the packaging and the claims of being improved and updated and upgraded and new and fantastic, they are just that...claims. It's what is on the inside that counts. If it works, don't fix it. Shiny and new isn't all it's cracked up to be. For now I will stick with what works and my computer. Once it quits on me, well then I will have to think about getting an improved model, and while I am at it I will think of what needs improving in me.

Entry for September 17, 2007 - It's All Relative...

*Warning, fluff blog ahead*....

Yes it is me again, with another one of those blogs that is really about nothing in particular but cleverly (or not so cleverly) disguised as a chatty blog entry. I was hoping for something exciting to blog about, but once again life is continuing in it's monotonous path...or rut... whichever way you want to look at it. I wish I could say I was busying living life, but that to me, sounds like I would be saying that I am living it to it's fullest, doing all that I want to do, embracing it with wild abandonment and riding that rollercoaster for all it's worth...but I am not. I am busy ..."being"....

I think life is like that a lot, filled with lots of humdrum,... doing all those things we need to do to survive, to pay bills, to keep a roof over our heads.... Til we have those short sporadic moments of wonderfulness that makes you realize that is what life should be. Most of us if we are honest with ourselves will admit that life has a hold on us and it's not the other way around, that we have a hold on life.

I've been busy this week-end, nothing all that exciting, but busy. Yardwork, garden work, work in general, family, friends ...they all fill up those moments that become yesterdays memories. I have spent a lot of time with family lately. It goes like that sometimes, little spurts of contact and visits and phone calls. You can pick your friends but you can't pick your relatives, and that is very true. Given some of my family members I might think twice upon first meeting them, but in the long run I would pick them. What I should be more concerned about is if they would pick me.

Marriage, birth, death, sickness, divorce, they are all little hiccups in life, some of them maybe even more than just a hiccup. At the moment one family member or another of mine is facing or dealing with those life changing moments....well with the exception of birth. No one is pregnant that I know of, and NO I am not here to tell you that the rabbit died,...so bite your tongue.

I'm am single. No kids. Never married, and that doesn't bother me. I don't think I have to get married, but I still continue to get comments from friends and relatives on getting married and having a family. I'm too old to have a family, I am happy being a family of one. Maybe if I didn't have other relatives I would feel differently....I am not afraid to be alone though. That scares a lot of people, being alone. I will admit I hate to eat out in public alone, travel alone, attend events alone. When I get overwhelmed with so much to do I consider marriage and having family then...but I don't know if marrying someone so they will mow the yard and help weed the garden is a very good reason though. I think my family worries I will be that crazy, eccentric cat lady that lives down the block. I don't know if they can really call me that since all I have is the one cat, Stinkpot, and I am not so sure it likes me...or if it ever will.

Family can be a blessing, and a curse. They can drive you crazy, make you wonder about the gene pool, make you want to rattle those skeletons in the closet, or just plain hide from them. When push comes to shove and life shoves you down, it's family to help pull you up. One of my family members is dealing with divorce. His own family, now fractured and pulled apart has made him pull closer to his "first" family. I have noticed that a lot lately. Kids grow up, they marry, have families of their own, and then their kids grow up and move on and have families of their own. Then those grown up kids who are empty nesters find their way back home.

You grow, you fly, you come back to what you have always known.... your family.

It's all relative....

Entry for September 07, 2007 - Child of the 60's

It's been quite awhile since I have written a blog. I had planned on writing one sooner but lack of motivation, time, and suitable blog material was a major factor. Even now I am not so sure I really have a blog in mind. Most blogs I just sit down and start writing. I have tried to write blogs "in advance" with intentions of having a blog in all preparedness to post at any given time, but I have found that just doesn't work for me. I will sit and stare at that white screen and be totally blank. So I just sit and type and hope by the time I post the new blog that it somehow came together and made some sort of sense without too many typos.

I have noticed this week that there seems to be a theme in so many blogs. Blogs by Dixie, Mo, Victoria (aka Madge), Dolly, and I am sure there are others, that have visited the past in their subject matter, with comments, and memories, and all kinds of stories of "the good ole days".

I am a child of the 60's. No I didn't have love beads, smoked pot, attend Woodstock or protest the Vietnam war. I really was but a child. Out of all the memories we store away in vaults of time, it's odd how that some things just seem to stick in our young minds. It seemed like such a simpler time, a slower time, a more innocent time. In retrospect I think we did live in a magical time. Way back before the time of computers, iPods, cell phones, game boys, and a hundred and one other gadgets that now seem common place in our lives.

But we still had kewl "stuff". We had Mr.Magoo, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Partridge Family, Gilligan's Island and Marcia Brady. We had tricycles, hula hoops, romper stompers, pick up sticks, Lincoln logs, and Slinkies....well we did til we threw the Slinky in the toy box with the other toys and it no longer slinked. It was just a jumble of twisted wire that got stuck in Barbie's hair. We had games, lots of games that didn't even require batteries. Simple toys of which some survived and continue today.... G.I. Joe and hot wheels, barrel of monkeys and monopoly, troll dolls and paper dolls. I didn't really play with paper dolls much though, after punching out the perforated dolls from the books and their clothes, it wasn't long before they tore, got dirty,... got lost. I did have Colorforms though... those nifty vinyl magnetized bits of plastic that were like paperdolls. They stuck and clung to their plastic black plastic background. We all have some cherished toy that meant a lot to us, that we kept and played with for ages till it either disintegrated or was stuffed in some box to be forgotten in the back of the closet.

It doesn't seem that long ago, all of those nifty toys and cherished memories. Time flies faster than we give it credit for sometimes. Maybe September is just a melancholy time for a lot of us. Maybe it is just coincidence that so many blogs had a recurring theme in them this week. Out of all those memories of family, friends, tv shows, icons, and toys,...paperdolls came to my mind. I said I never really played much with paperdolls as a kid and I didn't.... but a few years ago when I was helping out a neighbor who was stricken with cancer, we played paper dolls. Actually we made paperdolls for one of her grandkids. She had loved playing with them when she was a child and she wanted to in some way create those same memories for her granddaughter. So we made dolls cut from old magazines and pasted on cardstock... and made their doll clothes out of bits of paper from old wallpaper sample books, and glued on buttons, and ribbons and lace. It was something my friend and neighbor could do between bouts of sickness and exhaustion,... make paperdolls.

Sometimes it is the smallest of memories or moments from our past that we hold dearest. I just never dreamed that I would be so much older when I played with paper dolls. Maybe times were simpler back then, or it could be it was just the distorted perception of the child in us.

Yeah, they really were the good ole days, and today is too....

Entry for August 20, 2007 - The Nose Knows....

The nose knows....or it use to know...

For the past few weeks I have found myself having lost the sense of smell. I am pretty sure there is a direct link from the cold/virus that I had in July and my loss of sniffing ability. I thought that given a little bit of time, my nose would be back to it's full time job of smelling, but it hasn't. The tastebuds have been on a bit of a strike as well. They haven't completely defected as my nose has, but tasting has become absent as well. I can taste sweet,salty, and spicy, but I can't distinguish flavor. It's a bit disconcerting, to crave something and eat it, and realize you really can't taste it. It's become serious. I can not....(hold onto your seats)...taste chocolate.... I can taste it as being sweet but that is it. It's tragic, not being able to taste chocolate, but the lack of being able to smell is bothering me more. I read somewhere that smelling can actually account for as much as 80-90 percent of what we perceive as flavor. There could really be something to that,... the two combining for a total sensory sensation.

Given a choice though, I think I would want my nose over my tastebuds. Don't get me wrong, I have the biggest sweet tooth there is, and maybe because I do still have somewhat of a sensation of taste I feel able to make that comment. The nose stuff bugs me though. I can't smell flowers or perfumes or baking cookies. I can't smell odors, spoiled broccoli in the back of the fridge, chlorox bleach, or things burning. I never thought I would miss my nose so much, or it's capabilities.

I got to thinking about the five sense we all have. I know some people have experienced losing one or more of those senses in their lifetime. Sight, sound, touch, taste, scent....I don't know which I would choose if I had to lose one. I thought scent would be an easy one, but I am finding out it isn't. I wouldn't want to be blind, or deaf, or be unable to feel a hug ...or the hugger. Thoughts of never tasting chocolate again doesn't set well with me either....but the more I thought about it, giving up taste would be a dieter's dream. If you couldn't taste anything, well you might as well eat all of those veggies your mom told you too. Liver would be your new best friend. Junk food would become just a memory and you wouldn't feel deprived. It would be like going thru life just eating rice cakes and celery though ... meal time would be more of a chore than a pleasure....bland would become boring.

...But then I think about chocolate...wonderful, luscious chocolate. It's one of those things that is both a blessing and a curse. It tastes good... it dances on your palate....it has tons of calories and sugar... but darn it tastes good.... or it use too, from what I remember...

It's not an easy decision, making such a choice. If you suddenly found yourself having to choose which of the five senses you had to give up, what would you choose and why?

Would it be Sight?... Sound?.... Taste?... Touch?....

or would you pick your nose?...

Entry for August 17, 2007 - My Pet Has Issues...

I think my new kitten is defective.

Hopes for a little furry bundle of cute kitten-ness has yet to appear. Instead in it's place is a stalking, biting, scratching bundle of pure spitfire. Stinkpot is living up to his name of being a stinkpot.
They say pets are like their owners but I don't ever remember being such a brat. I am starting to wonder if perhaps I had stuck with a more cutsey name like "cuddles", the kitten would have a different personality. The kitten has issues...maybe more than I can handle.

I did a little web surfing today on how to tame the kitten. So far I have only had the pet for just a couple of weeks, but it appears I have done everything wrong. I must have. Most psychologists blame everything on the mother, so I know that when the finger pointing happens, I will be first in the line of that finger. I've had cats before, in fact my favorite pet was a Siamese cat I had for over 20 years. Maybe I am comparing the kitten to that favorite pet and he feels he can't live up to his predecessor. Maybe I am expecting to much. Maybe I have just bitten off more than I can chew and the kitten needs round the clock attention.

One of the websearches I came across mentioned that kittens taken too soon from their mother's, might be more aggressive... Aggressive is an understatement. I am in desperate need of a "Cat Whisperer" or a cat shouter, either way I still don't think Stinkpot will listen. Even now as I type this blog I can hear the cat bouncing off the walls in the next room. I have the door shut, to keep him from roaming and to be quite frank,... for my own safety. I have learned the hard way not to go barefoot, or wear shorts....all body parts much be covered at all times. Just reaching down to give a little pet has the kitten jumping in a ninja like pounce on my arm while kicking and biting the heck out of it. A stern worded "NO", only makes him consider a different approach for the attack. I think I am the only woman in Nebraska who sits, sweating under a wrapped up blanket in 100 degree weather, to ward off the sharp claws and bites of a maniacal kitten.

I have yet to hear him purr....when do kittens purr? I thought all kittens purred from the get go. I have heard tiny mews, hisses, spitting, and the galloping thud of little feet tearing thru the house. I wanted a house cat. A nice,... sitting in your lap to pet... house cat,...I think that notion is a pipe dream. Stinkpot will most likely end up being an outside cat where I can feel more assured of the safety of my furniture and of me. The only thing that prevents me from giving him the boot outside is I think he is too small....and fear. Fear that I will hear from my neighbors of how the were out working in their yards and the kitten ran up and bit them, or attacked their rottweiler fluffy. I am having visions of the kitten as it gets bigger and being afraid to go outside myself. Each morning I will stick my head out the door and take a cautious look around before running like mad for the car with my keys in hand.... Hoping beyond all hope I will make it before I am mowed down in my own driveway by a killer cat.

He is so darn cute....but cuteness is not gonna cut it any more. I am going to have to be more diligent in his care. Somehow just sticking a litterbox, catfood and a few toys in his room is not helping him live up to his potential. I am just going to have to get use to wearing layers of clothes and oven mitts that go up to my elbows when dealing with the stinker. I am sure that given time and a lot of patience (mainly on my part) I can get him to be a more civil cat....and if that is not the case, beware of any boxes left on your doorstep in the dead of night..... Don't worry I will leave you the oven mitts....

Entry for August 11, 2007 - Flirt, flirt, flirt...

Are you a flirt?

I am sure I have seen a quiz or questionnaire on flirting somewhere. It's funny how out of the blue something you haven't really considered makes you stop and question yourself. In the past couple of days I have chatted with a few different people and the question of flirting was discussed. In fact the premise for this blog was from a conversation I had last night with a fellow blogger on flirting.

We all flirt a bit. It's harmless for the most part and even some of the time I don't think we actually realize we are doing it...that flirting business.

I never really considered myself much of a flirt. I joke and tease and maybe at times even seem a bit bratty, but I never really thought of how teasing and flirting can be considered the same by some and totally different by others. I got to wondering then, if you tease a guy is it flirting?...and in the same thought if you tease someone of the same sex (which for me would be a girl), is that still considered teasing? Does gender make the difference?

In my blast at the top of my blog page is a mention of Martha Stewart. Most won't know it is a subtle teasing reference to a chat and blog friend - Softi. If you are lucky enough to be on her friend's list you have gotten to see some gorgeous flower pics and read some great recipes. I have also heard thru the grapevine....er...e-mail, that she also sews, knits, crochets, and basically can do anything. She almost puts Martha to shame. It's just a little teasing though, but if a guy had mentioned the same abilities or even if he had told of his mechanical aptitude and I teased him about it,...would it still be considered teasing...or would it be flirting?

I use to love to go into chat and flirt. I will admit it. I would pounce on any newbie that entered the room, slide up to them on the cyber bench... bat my eyes, cross my Band-aid covered knees, and leer adoringly at them with a toothless smile. Some thought it was funny, some thought I was nuts, and some people I scared to death and they left quicker than you can press the escape button on your keyboard. I thought it was great fun, the teasing....the flirting... I wasn't interested in looking for a guy for any other reason than to have a giggle or two in chat. No cybering, no webcamming, nothing of that sort, ...just a giggle and to gauge a reaction.

Last night talking to my friend, he called me a flirt, and I started to disagree with him. After all, I figured if I was a big flirt, my avatar would at least be a pic of me with all of my teeth in and a bit of cleavage. Maybe there is something to this... the difference of the sexes seeing it as two different things. My blog friend can be silly though. He will try to get my goat every chance he can get. I then mentioned something about giving him a huge wedgie, at which point he informed he had no underwear on. I giggled, but at the same time a part of my mind went.....ewwwwwww, ...ick.

I then threatened him with my blogging the next day about him being nekkid at his computer desk. He asked if I wanted him to e-mail me a pic of his underwear for my blog. I am sure if I said yes he would have done it. He is nuts,....a bit crazy.... and even if he won't admit it, I think his mentioning about not having underwear on, could be considered as..... flirting. ...."gasp"...

It was all very innocent though. At least I hope everyone considers my teasing...even my flirting as innocent. I'm not looking for any relationship on here other than friendship. I will admit that people can get caught up in a moment, people can go too far, and some people see it all as a game. Flirting can be fun when it's kept in perspective, and when both parties know the true intentions of the other...

I feel I know my blog friend well enough to know he was joking last night while I was chatting with him. I feel I know his character from our chats and his blogs. He has never overstepped the boundaries, or what I consider my personal boundaries of what is acceptable. I will admit the thought of him sitting there nekkid at his computer sent me into fits of giggles.

It does make the mind wander though....all the joking and teasing....and afterwhile you can't help but wonder.... was he serious? I shake my head no... not my friend, surely not. He is not like that....he is just a big tease....

....and a flirt.