Wizard of Odd....

(click pics for larger views)

Follow the yellow brick road, follow the yellow brick road....

Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the yellow-brick road...

Follow the yellow-brick, follow the yellow-brick....

Follow the yellow-brick road...

You're off to see the Wizard, the Wonderful Wizard of Odd...

 

Wisdom...

 

 It's been a bit slow in the blogging world lately. I think half of the bloggers are out with the flu and the remaining bloggers are all suffering a bad case of cabin fever. Spring is taking it's sweet time arriving and a lot of us haven't been having much excitement in our lives to blog about. It's been awhile since I wrote a blog and today I thought I better get on the ball and post something...just anything...to blog for blog's sake just to have some kind of activity to stir up the staleness of my page.

So today's blog is going to be out some of my own personal bits of wisdom. Not that I am particularly wise, far from it. All of my personal bits of wisdom I have learned the hard way, but in reality isn't that what wisdom is all about?...Learning stuff the hard way...it makes a lasting impression on you...

Vic's Bits of Wisdom....

Don't lend friends and relatives money. If you feel you have to,... don't call it a loan, call it a gift that doesn't expect to be paid back....because you won't be paid back. Thinking of it as a gift, helps you to deal with watching them buy motorcycles, new cars, big screen tvs, and all kinds of other fun stuff instead of paying you back...

No matter how big of an attitude you have, your cat's is bigger...

Don't throw a bag of frozen gooseberries in a fit of anger,...you will be finding gooseberries for months afterwards....

Don't put a hot glass pyrex dish on a damp counter...it will explode...

Sweet little old ladies are few and far between....

Don't tell your niece and nephew you are an alien from another planet...they will believe it as long as they believe in the Easter bunny and Santa Claus..and possibly longer...

Don't say anything in front of a three year old that you don't want their parents to hear...

Don't correct or chastise a child who is tearing your home apart while visiting... Do expect to hear a lecture from their parents on how since you don't have any kids your opinion doesn't count...

Don't take away anyone's fantasy world by trying to get them to face reality. Some people need their fantasy world in order to function...

Not everyone who attends church is a Christian...

Not all atheists don't believe in something...

Socks are only meant to last one year...

Buy a good bra...

A good neighbor is worth more than a new car...

Do your spring cleaning before May or you will never get it finished the rest of the year...

Pet your neighbor's rotweiller puppy to make sure it grows up to like you...

An active imagination and a bucket of rocks will keep a kid entertained for hours...

Don't steal someone's thunder,even inadvertently...

You don't have to wake up perky and chirpy in the morning...just be glad you woke up...

A good pair of shoes is hard to find...

Four cups of uncooked macaroni makes a heck of a lot of macaroni salad...

Silver has to be polished often, and that dipping stuff doesn't work worth a darn...

Dusting is futile...

Quickest way to learn how out of shape you are, is during the first full day of Spring yardwork...

Don't expect everyone to like you, some people you just rub the wrong way...

Don't expect everyone to read you blog and comment...


I know I have a lot more to learn...and I am sure I will learn it....the hard way...

Have a great week-end peeps!

 

 

Year of Living Dangerously...

  This morning I was chatting with someone on gardening and different things each of us was planning to grow this year, when the conversation turned to cooking. They mentioned that this year they wanted to be adventurous, live dangerously, try new foods, different herbs, recipes, etc. My mind drifted to stir-fried squid, stinky tofu, and a host of other exotic foods heard about but never tasted. I shook my head and mumbled something about can I just live the year dangerously with meatloaf?

Meatloaf is safe, meatloaf is calming, it's filling, it's hot, it's something I can make that requires little effort or skills and still turn out. Anyone that is single out there, knows that we think nothing of calling a handful of pretzels and a diet soda, lunch. When we delve into making a meatloaf it's almost like a commitment... a safe commitment.

A year of living dangerously....it got me to thinking. I haven't been dangerous in a long time. I have been content in my little rut, continuing to make it deeper so that my rut has ruts. Meatloaf, like my life has been safe ....and predictable. Reading the blogs by Teddy and Possum lately of their plans to go on the Orange Walk in Vietnam have made me realize just how un-adventurous it has been around here lately. I have never been to a foreign country, flown in an airplane, or even experienced a culture completely different than my own. A huge part of that I blame on fear. Fear of people speaking differently than me, fear of flying, and fear of tapeworms. Yeah, I know, I have watched too many reruns on tv of Gregory House, but it's still there....fear of tapeworms or some parasitic creature in that foreign delicacy about to be served to me. So I play it safe and stick with what I know. Maybe this should be the year I live dangerously too.

I am not even sure where to begin on living dangerously. There are so many parts of my life that could stand to be shook up and given a change. Adventure and change go hand in hand. Some adventures, okay a lot of adventures though are out of my reach, just as they are for a lot of people. Changing myself though or being willing to change isn't. At my age...it's kinda scary. Old habits are hard to break, ruts are hard to climb out of, making a change to live dangerously is scary. I know for me it will take babysteps.

A year of living dangerously....it sounds like an adventure. Maybe this year of 2008 will be that big adventure. I don't even have a clue on where or what to change, but if only one small thing happens, it will at least be something.

As I sit here writing this blog, StinkPot the cat is perched precariously on top of my old monitor, trying to keep an eye on me while enjoying the warmth generated from the computer. Looking at her, it's obvious from the left side of her face, with the shortened, frizzled whiskers she has gotten to close to a light bulb or from the crock pot bubbling away on the kitchen counter. Poor StinkPot, I don't know, maybe we should stick with the "Year of meatloaf", this year of living dangerously stuff just might kill us...

Romantic...

 

"Isn’t it romantic?

Music in the night, a dream that can be heard.

Isn’t it romantic?

Moving shadows write the oldest magic word.

I hear the breezes playing in the trees above

While all the world is saying you were meant for love.

Isn’t it romantic

Merely to be young on such a night as this?

Isn’t it romantic?

Every note that’s sung is like a lover’s kiss.

Sweet symbols in the moonlight,

Do you mean that I will fall in love perchance?

Isn’t it romance?

(instrumental)

Sweet symbols in the moonlight,

Do you mean that I will fall in love perchance?

Isn’t it romantic?

Isn’t it romance?"

( Lyrics by Lorenz Hart, music by Richard Rodgers)

 

 

What is romantic?

The past couple of days leading up to Valentine's Day today I have pondered on that question. Every person has different thoughts and views on what they would consider is romantic. I thought that for this holiday for lovers, it would make a good blog entry,... this romantic stuff. So one evening this past week after having dinner with my mom I asked her the question...."What is romantic?".. Our conversation didn't exactly quite go as I was expecting,... It went something like this:

Me: "Mom, what do you think is romantic?"
Mom: "What is romantic? I don't know any romantic men, all I know is rheumatic men".
Me:... (eye roll)...Okay well what do you think is the most romantic gift you have ever gotten?
Mom: "Expensive jewelry".
Me: "Expensive jewelry you consider romantic?"..."you don't wear jewelry hardly at all".
Mom: "Well getting the jewelry was a surprise".
Me: "So anything else you want to elaborate on stuff that is romantic?"
Mom: "I did date a few guys in my younger years, but I just wanted a good time".
Me:...(shocked look)" MOM, do you know how that sounds?"
Mom: "I didn't mean it like that, I just liked to go out dancing, dinners, movies, some guys wanted to be more serious".
Me: "So when I write my blog on romance, I can tell everyone my mom said she only sees rheumatic men, thinks expensive jewelry is the most romantic gift, and you only were out for a good time"..."do you know how bad that sounds?".
Mom"...(giggle)... "well I did have a few encounters in my life".
Me:.. "ENCOUNTERS??!!"...."MOTHER!"...
Mom: ....(giggle)..." I only meant I have dated more than I thought when I look back on my life when I was younger"...."maybe I have been reading too many romance novels"....(giggle).
Me: "Yeah I think so"....(eye roll).

So much for going to my mom for the source of romance. Having four kids I thought for sure she would enlighten me on to what could be considered romantic.

Off I went on a search for what is romantic. I was lucky enough to catch a few friends on messenger and I posed the question to them. I asked the same amount of men and women to make it more fair and then thought I would post the results from my survey of what is romantic.

I have to tell you I was shocked. Not shocked at the answers but by who gave me those answers. Would you believe that the more romantic and sentimental answers were given by the men? I thought for sure when I asked the question of them, I would receive answers back such as ....hockey tickets, powertools, and sex.. Okay maybe that is a bit chauvinistic of me to expect those kind of answers, but I didn't expect the level of "mushiness" from the men. Maybe they were giving me the answers they thought I wanted to hear, but I don't think so. When you get right down to it, men like romance as much as women. Some of the responses I got from both sides of the spectrum when asked the question "what is romantic" were:

Feeling special, feeling supported
What someone does
Cooking dinner for your lady while she is taking a bubble bath
A loving glance
Touching and holding someone's face
Kissing
Holding hands while walking
A gentle touch
A gleam in the eye
Watching sunsets together



Hearing their answers it made me think harder on what I thought was romantic and I was asked by one or two people on what I thought was romantic. I told them, what I think is romantic ....is the unexpected.

I am not just talking about spontaneity either. I think romance can be found in almost anything and in anyone. It can be said with flowers, candy, jewelry, greeting cards....and it can be said with just a smile, a touch or fried potatoes....

Fried potatoes you ask,....yes in fried potatoes. I knew a guy that would stay up waiting for his wife to get home from working second shift. When she walked thru the door after midnight he would have waiting for her a plate of hot fried potatoes,...one of her favorite foods. He did it just because....

I like that... fried potatoes....it's just so unexpected.... and romantic...

 

 

Shadow...

 It's official...

Over this past week-end, Santa saw his shadow and it will be at LEAST another six weeks til Easter...

...or something like that....

This past Saturday my family finally gathered on groundhog's day to finish the last of our Christmas celebrations from 2007, that had been rescheduled 3 times because of the weather. It was a nice day overall, sometimes sunny, sometimes cloudy, with nary a groundhog or reindeer or any other creature making an appearance....(well, not counting relatives of course).

After finally coming out of a sugary,chocolatey, fudge induced coma from December, I found my own shadow looming over the fudge plate again....twice. I will promise to refrain from fudge again for another year, or 10 months, or whenever Christmas should make it's appearance again in 2008. I have even contemplated giving up chocolate......(yes you read that right)....giving up chocolate for the next month or two, along with all of the other candy delights of Valentine's Day and Easter.

No chocolate for 60 days. It's hard to type, let alone whisper out loud. It would be a lot easier to substitute brussell sprouts instead. I could give up those too,....those cabbage-y tasting brussell sprouts. Brussell sprouts and chocolate...chocolate covered brussell sprouts... or I could just give up one of them....say the brussell sprouts and still have the chocolate.

So there ya go....I am giving up brussell sprouts for the next 60 days....who said I didn't have will power?...

Well....we will see about the chocolate...... I am weak... weak and pathetic...I willingly admit that...But thoughts of being shadowed by a big behind might make me stick to it....

It's been a long winter, and I have been having the worst case of cabin fever. Just when you think the weather will start to warm up, more snow will fall, along with the frigid temps. I keep searching for the slightest hint of spring, but haven't found it yet....

No robins....no flowers....no green buds....and no chocolate.

I guess it's still stuck, hiding in winter's shadow....

...along with the groundhog, Santa...and the fudge.....

 

 

The Bloggy Bunch...

(click for larger image)

Here’s the story of a crazy Kiwi,

Who was blogging with some others over time.

All of them had blogs of fun, like their cohort,

The bloggers shared in crime.

 

Here’s the story of a man named Wukky,

Who was busy with mischief of his own.

They were bloggers, blogging all together,

Yet they were all alone.

 

Til the one day when this blogger met this fellow,

And he knew that he was much more than a chump.

That this guy was much more than some huhus,

That’s the way they all became the Bloggy Bunch.

 

 

The Bloggy Bunch...

The Bloggy Bunch...

That’s the way they became the Bloggy Bunch...

 

(okay maybe I shouldn't be left alone when I am really bored)...

 

 

Guilty as Charged.....

 I am being stalked by Girl Scouts....

Okay it was only one Girl Scout, but she showed up at my door late this evening. I was surprised, it was unexpected. It was cold, it was dark and it had been a snowy day. Thin mints and coconut thingies hadn't even crossed my mind, and I did something I have never done before.... I said "no". Well I did turn her down a little more kindly explaining that I had already bought cookies from another Girl Scout. She turned and left back into the cold darkness and as I shut the door, it hit me....the guilt.

Why is it that turning down a kid selling cookies can wrangle so much guilt? I was tempted to throw the door back open, beckon the little Girl Scout in and buy cookies, extra cookies, to make up for my callousness in saying no. It's just something I haven't really done before. I have blogged before on my weakness for little kids sent door to door to sell stuff. I never say no, I always buy something. I have bought cookies, cookie dough, pizzas, candy, nuts, gift wrap, candles, popcorn, beef logs, cheese tubs, ornaments, bread braids, cookbooks, raffle tickets, magazine subscriptions and almost anything else that those two legged creatures can carry on their return trip to exchange for my money.

I still felt guilty though, and adding to that guilt was the fact I knew this particular Girl Scout. I knew her mom, her dad, her other siblings who had sold me stuff in the past. I knew her grandparents, and pretty much everyone ever related to her. I mentally cringed. I just know the shockwaves would be reverberating off of her parents, her grandparents, and her siblings, and all those other relatives. For the first and only time I had refused to buy anything. All of those purchases in the past I knew would be overlooked in this one moment. It wouldn't matter that I have spent enough in my past purchases to put their other kids thru college...(okay maybe just a junior college)..... I had said no...and it bothered me and still continues to bother me.

I am not even sure why I said no to begin with.... It might have been that it was late and I was tired. Part of it might be the fact that expenses are rising and I need to cut back on non-essential things. It might just be that I am tired of seeing little creatures at my door asking for money for things I don't particularly want or need.

I was tempted to call....call up her mom and say ...Yes! yes, I have found room in the freezer I can take some Girl Scout cookies after all, and then proceed to buy boxes of more cookies to cover my obvious faux paux. It's ridiculous, this guilt feeling. It use to be I would feel guilty for eating the cookies, now I have the added guilt of not just eating, but also not buying the cookies. Guilt can work on you, and it does. Without even leaving your home or doing anything.... guilt will find you. Just saying "No" opens up those floodgates of guilt. It just doesn't cover cookies either, it covers everything, or at least it does for me. I hate saying 'no' when someone asks me for something. Whether it is my time, or a favor, or even just cookies, denying the person who requested something of me, makes me feel guilty. It shouldn't, but it does. I am not sure if it is some deep seated feeling that by saying "no" to them, that I am somehow failing them.

At this point you are most likely mumbling under your breath and rolling your eyes, and thinking..."Vic, it was just a box of overpriced cookies". Call me a sap...a sucker...I know it was only cookies.

I can't help but think of the little girl in dark and the cold and the snow, trudging door to door to ring the bell to make the same plea while I sit at my computer and sip hot cocoa....

A steaming cup of rich hot cocoa with gobs of sugary marshmallows...




...that is a whole other guilt trip all of it's own.