Saturday, October 31, 2009

Heart warming and heart sounds all in one afternoon...

Welcome Halloweeners!
Do you have a favorite Halloween movie?
Well, I do.
What, you ask?
E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, but of course, thus the heartwarming and heart sounds in my chosen tonight’s title.
You have got to admit that it, as a movie, has it all, right?
Scariness, plot, love, excitement, sadness, and laughter, what more could a movie critic want?
And the best part of all is that it is intelligent, and wholesome enough for the entire family!
I think that I stated it well my reasoning for it still being one of my all time favorites, and the first that I purchased for home viewing.

That is what we were doing this afternoon watching E.T.
But you ask why with all that marvelous weather down there in good old Florida.
Well, it’s like this too much of a good thing and we all need a break sometimes, don’t we?
The morning had been busy with normal things to get done around the house.

The decision was made, by the way to not give out the candy again this year. You say…that’s not nice… well I beg to differ with you… it’s for my own salvation. You see we never get as many kids as candy purchased and so we have too much left over for me to devour, or we get too little candy, either way with Skipper, our darling pup with opening and closing a door all night is not going to be a pleasant aspect added to the evening, since he feels the need to welcome any prospective guests with too much love!
Best to not do it, we save money calories and a puppy from going berserk!

Hubby and I did something different for a change dinner wise, we ordered in Cuban sandwiches and a side salad to go. Neither one of us have had a decent one since he had been to his yearly hurricane convention in Tampa, as a deputy involved in the first in team years ago, in Ybor City or me when I was on the road as a district manager and had a Cuban restaurant by one of my stores in Orlando. Those were great sandwiches we both agreed. So we decided to try our local fair, and it was delish!
Being a small town, not even incorporated you would be surprised by all the different types of cuisine we have; it’s practically a UN of choices which is rather nice here in Charlotte County Florida!


On that revelation of the area of wealth we have not announced too loudly to the rest of the world…and so I will bid a fond farewell to all of you for the evening and let you count those blessings and I will count mine as well.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Poolie me and Hubby too!

What is a poolie, you ask?
A ‘poolie’ is someone who enjoys going into the swimming pool, a phrase definition that I just coined for my own selfish purposes; which is so typical of, me, Tobi the wordsmith.
I know I know you’re asking what about Merriam Webster and the rest of the professionals in that particular field, too bad I say!
Who’s to say what dignifies the usage of any certain verbiage, I would think that it would be us the consumers, right? So let it be.

Oh, back on track now… what I was starting to tell you is that Hubby was also a part of the poolie scene today too. Yep, but not for exercise or the purpose of swimming, oh no he had much more important reasoning for plunging in amongst the more wet and wilder ones, meaning me and Skipper the dog that is!
He had decided to try and figure out what caused the underwater light to dislodge from its location well within the pool wall. And he found that the stainless steel screws, would you believe… corroded? Unfortunately, the entire system was separated and water had seeped into the unit causing the short most likely! Wow, you say, and the worst of it is my desire to have a heavy dose of chlorine in the pool at all times to keep it bacteria and mold free! We do have an automatic chlorinator that we can turn up or down from the filtering system, and now we will have to find a happy medium to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Hubby said he still doesn’t trust the connection so the light’s electric is still disconnected but the light is firmly back in the wall from where it came.

This weekend the heat continues… whatever should we say…Na, Na, Na, Na are you jealous yet? By Monday we should be getting back to our normal temps for this time of year, oh, you want to know what the norm is. Well, at this time of the year we are usually in the mid-eighties during the day and mid-sixties overnight, still jealous, huh I bet!

Florida is just a short plane ride for most of you, and a little longer for the rest, and so I recommend to all of you to come on down! This should be all of yours favorite destination.


On that thoughtful suggestion I wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

GDP grows 3.5 the market is up nearly two hundred points!

All of that sounds good, right? The Gross Domestic Product has climbed to 3.5 %, but that was all due to programs like cash for clunkers, housing prices going down and becoming more saleable, plus the 8K stimulus to first time buyers and stimulus monies going to some programs that have created jobs!
But is it accurate you all ask? Who knows…we have never been in this situation before, we can only hope so.

We in Florida are having an extreme heat wave with breaking all records with us still in the nineties, degrees that is, this time of year we are usually in the cool mid-eighties! A problem that is significant with this warmth is that it is also a very dry heat, so watch out Arizona for Florida is competing weather-wise! Our rain amounts are down an average of fifteen inches with this wet season being way too dry!

News in this evening Chinese Drywall does NOT cause metal to corrode or harmful fumes or any illnesses, no radiation, huh? According to the Consumer Products Commission, yep, this just in; I will keep you posted if a new decision comes on the news again. You know how that is…wine is healthy; wine will kill you, yadda, yadda, yadda…Que sera sera…

Today Hubby helped me tackle our filing cabinet to get rid of the clutter. I dropped the ball of my organizational A+ skills that I had as a business woman, shame on me. But I am the one who pays the bills online and I do make hard copies of it all, and until recently I would file accordingly, but the last few years that turned into just stuffing the files…oops, not good. So today we accomplished in an hour what I should have been doing right along. I attribute it mostly to the fact that our income is so low and our filing of our taxes are so simple that we don’t organize yearly like we used to, to get the taxes done with itemizing. For the last few years it’s only a small pension and social security to claim, which really makes it simple, and not necessary to go through all that junk anymore! And we do it online the end of January, and have a direct deposit if we get anything back, simplicity personified! Well, I must say it is nice seeing the uncluttered file drawer, which is part of this computer desk.

Good night to you all and to all count your blessings and I will too!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Splash! I make rather a large one, but at least I am making one...

Today was another beautiful day in the neighborhood, and I swam for over an hour again this morning early. Yes, this morning was warm enough already to be in the swimming pool at 86 degrees the water temp was just perfect and the air too was comparable!

The fact that I take the time out of the day to enjoy my exercise program does not mean that is all I do; I do so much more…I did two loads of wash, and washed our area rug with Hubby’s help of course. I managed to get it out the door and he placed it where it needed to be for cleaning while sitting with the bucket, soap and hose nearby.

It’s a rather pretty pastel in wool with a seashell and fish motif, and it is about 3X5, and was a gift from our eldest son and his X-girlfriend who we still hear from occasionally. It is so lovely I do try to take good care of it, and it is washed in cold water and Woolite, which makes most everything look new, and in this case it brightens the vibrant colors that get matted down with everyone walking over it. It is now going on five years old.

Each washing, which by the way is not done too frequently only about once or twice a year, it seems to renew it and fluffs it into its lovely once again status.

Yesterday I shut the TV off after I felt the news channel’s negative bias against our president’s somewhat local visit and what actually occurred with the protestors was unfair. I always was taught that news anchors are supposed to be A-political, or at the very least show both sides of every story? They did not. I switched channels and the other one did.

I do know that when I took journalism way back when in college that it was definitely drummed into our heads, facts nothing but the facts, and good back up research! All angles should be covered. What’s up with each network it appears that they don’t always tell the whole story, and the appearance creates opinion pieces which is inappropriate in my feelings as a major affiliate to deviate from those presumed standards, don’t you think?

It’s not just the fact that what they did was so negative, I can live with that, but where was the other side of the story? Our local stations have done this too many times I’m afraid and when you email them to tell them as tactfully as possible they are not all willing to accept constructive criticism. Sure some are and write back and graciously thank you, but some are quite argumentative when they find the time to respond.
As consumers of the products they expel, not unlike all other products we must insist on quality and edit them too when the well paid professionals are not providing us with what we should expect!

I will say good night to all of you now and let you chew on my words of concern and stand up for your beliefs and try and do something, and hope that you will count those blessings and I will too!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

We are much warmer than we are supposed to be...

The weather has been fairly warm and perhaps that is why I have been able to use the swimming pool still. Monday I was back in it and it was very toasty at 88 degrees with the air hovering not fair from that, and tomorrow I plan on being also in the warm tub like water once again.
Today was my off day from exercising in the pool. I try for every other day. Hopefully, tomorrow the weather will continue to co-operate for me to have another go at it….What, am I British? Yep, I certainly am on my mother’s side, LOL!

The president did arrive in southwest Florida on time and traveled to Arcadia from the Sarasota airport to the solar power station and we saw him live on the TV tell us of his plans for more of these green machines, clean machines, to make us more environmentally safe for all of our futures. He mentioned the wind power programs already started in Massachusetts, and the hybrid cars being made by GM in Delaware, and his hopes for this all to become the usual not the unusual. And to tell you the truth I totally agree. More jobs will come about with all these new and improved ways to protect the ozone layer from bad emissions, and will lessen our needs to deal with foreign oils. Just the one solar plant alone created 400 jobs in a small, few thousand population town!

I have yet to address that this month has been Breast Cancer Awareness Month, every October is, but I am sure that you all do know that. It is hard to miss all the pink at your local retailers including your groceries, runners clothing and the print media that has been using the ribbon symbol wherever it fits on the pages all of this month! I wish I had stock in the color pink! Good for the Susan G. Komen people for their once again super PSA’s! (Public Service Announcements)
Any-who, I hope all women who read this remember that self examination is a monthly thing, not just yearly, and that all women 40 and over should get their yearly mammograms and that even men get breast cancer though its only 1%, so don’t be shy to tell your doctor about any unusual lumps you may find too!
All women are at risk not just ones with a family member who has had it, but obesity and family genetics does make your risk slightly higher plus being post menopausal and being older. Get the facts by going to good informative sites like: http://ww5.komen.org/
Be selective.

Now I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and I will too!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Lucky!

Thinking about those blessings that I haven't been able to locate lately, and I began to realize things for me could be so much worse than they actually are.
Yep, I am very lucky!
You know we would all have to live on an island in a location where there wasn’t any Internet, TV or newspapers, and then we would have to be downright selfish not to notice how things really are in this world.

Yep, I am so very lucky!
We all know that these are times that try men and women’s souls to get up and train themselves to deal with whatever hardballs life has thrown them, and once again as human beings we come up smelling like roses when we find that resolve proves the theory that we know to be true…we as living complex cells, are very resilient and capable to adjust to what is needed of us, we just do what we need to do whenever we have to do it, its just that simple.

But we may fuss and drive others crazy until that realization hits our brain cells and tells us what we already knew to be true.
Yep, I am so very, very lucky!
The future for the world is looking up, people are helping people, jobs are slowly picking up momentum, the market is hovering near decency, and the housing market is showing a slight comeback with sales…

You all know why I have been complaining and I won’t go into it now, because it is becoming boring, even to me, and so why would I want to do it to you too?

But what some might find a good reason to not be at all happy I must turn around to be more pleasant and positive, because that’s all I got! And everything waste’s precious time of moments of happiness!
It’s like this; we have two choices in life: (1.) to be happy or (2.) To be miserable!
And I choose the former.

On that positive note I will wish you all a very good night and once again ask you to count your blessings and I will count mine TOO, since I seemed to have found them!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Another day and another dollar!

That used to mean working for a salary, but now it means spending the retirement money on necessities, in this particular case it was groceries this morning.
Ah, older age since we are not really old yet, but sort of like tweens are teens in training to become teenagers; we are oldies in training too to become old-agers, and if we are lucky we will become very, very old agers! (Only, if...)

I know, I know what’s the hurry you are saying you aren’t even sixty yet, still a youngin in some societies; you haven’t even qualified for social security or Medicare yet, so calm down missy! Well, you are absolutely right.
But Hubby has all that and I am just waiting in the wings!

Remember when you were a kid of 10 or 11 or even 12, and you said someday I will be a teenager just wait then it will be great since I can do whatever I want…well you have surpassed that and are you happy yet? You betcha, most of the time, but sometimes… you know the drill… there are days that aren’t so slap the thigh robust and lively, but this is what being a grown up is, right? What’s perfect, who’s perfect, nothing and nobody!

Oh you think I had a BAD day, nah, just thinking overtime like I do so often.
Actually, the day was pretty much uneventful. Accept for asking the fishmonger at the grocery to wrap up those two fillets of Mahi Mahi because they were on sale I thought for $5.99 a pound and the two had to be less than that, but guess what they weren’t $5.99 a pound they were $5.99 a portion, yep $11.98 for the two. I didn’t read it correctly until all was wrapped and done…embarrassing…you want to know what I did…well Hubby suggested giving it back, but I thought since they were already wrapped and all that we should take them, and we did, but not without regrets of stupidity on my part! All I could do is think if we ate this particular dish out it would have been considerably more, right? And so that is how I rationalized the over expenditure; thinking, next time I better read more carefully; lesson learned!
It's not the first time that I have not been careful in reading the containers in stores, there was the time I thought I chose spinach and it was collard greens…again, just today I thought I took a jar of red cabbage to only realize when we got home that it was pickled beets! I had taken a can of those also. But that was not quite so big a deal since it was much less expensive a mistake and we both do love beets! Oh well…
If this is the worse I do at this time in my life…I will be a very happy oldie!

On that note of good cheer I will bid you all a very good night, and wish you good eyes to see it all in your future years!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Passwords being changed, old friends from TV leaving us, and cleaning up...

Did you know that it is preferable to change your passwords on a regular basis?
Good for you, if you did! I suppose it’s so the spies that want to steal your all important information cannot by any means retrieve it, but because of changing it so much neither can I.
But to me, I really would like to keep the same password for everything, since my memory is lacking and the password recall retrieval button seems to get stuck. Unfortunately, due to different programs and sites they screw me up when they ask that all empowering; at times scary question…”What’s your password?”
It is not unusual for me to choke, and automatically hit the “I forgot my password button.” Who hasn’t?
Which in turn has had me have to start to try to be creative with choosing a new one that now I have to try and remember too.
I don’t keep states’ secrets so what’s the big deal.
And I definitely don’t have clearance to get into NASA or the Pentagon with theirs either.
I’m baffled why the internet has become such a mysterious secretive place.
As I have said before my life’s and open book and I hope all of you have me on your book list!
But keep it hush, hush I suspect due to no one should know, huh?
Please invite all your friends and family too, to this site; I won’t tell!

New topic: I was amiss this week by not mentioning the fact that a man that was part of most of my generation’s TV viewing passed away, Soupy Sales, or as I remember him the pie in the face guy. And wow did he give it to everyone! From every walk of life; celebrities included. White Fang and Snaggletooth were amongst his many characters that joined him on his show, and were wild but beloved at the same time, another era door has closed loudly, and ye ole Soup you will be sorely missed by all who you managed to cause a giggle to no matter how hard our childhood days may have been!

This morning I was up early and with my new found energy I dusted and cleaned the bathroom and even did some laundry. Decided to put the empty container back outside with a thank you note. As some of you may have remembered that some generous soul seemed to want to feed me and Hubby, but the package was left outside with no note, and with temperatures rising into the seventies we decided to save it in the frig in Limbo until we could decide what to do. Well, this morning we finally chucked it in the garbage since we had no idea how long it was sitting out there or who it was from to ask, and I wrote my thank you note that explains the dilemma we had and honestly said what we did. In the final sentence I also mentioned that we still enjoy cooking, and eating out, and that although the unselfish gift was very thoughtful that they really didn’t need to do it again.
I hope that was tactful.

On that true confession I will wish you all a good night and anonymous gifts work with many things but not with food in a warm climate!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Recycling is just ducky!

Our project to convert leftover free cedar fence wood into valance awnings was successful, and looks great! Although, I must admit that I haven’t worked this hard on anything in quite some time. The taping off and measuring was very tedious but worthwhile and paid off. The motif is slightly different since I goofed on the first one using an odd tool to get those measurements, but I just continued the same mistake design of spacing and it all worked out. I guess I made lemonade out of lemons once again!
Tangible evidence of creating is so delightful to see.

Doing things to make your home homier always pleases when accomplished…oh what a feeling comes to mind!
The desire to create is within all of us, but many have left that ability untapped.
Ideas can be had by watching others, or a TV show, like most on PBS or even just thumbing through magazines.
Go through items that may be in need of just some TLC within your own realm such as attics, sheds or garages, even in your own closets; reuse items may show up there too.

These are frugal times and we all need to keep our minds on upbeat things so I do believe that when we utilize our creative side, which is definitely a fun side, we are also helping ourselves to cope better while doing something worthwhile.

With the holidays not too far away now would be a good time to perhaps be willing to make something useful for someone, bakery goods included, and always a welcomed gift.
Placemats are great, made from leftover fabric or hand me downs just pick up some batting at the fabric store and quilt those little treat holders. Be bold and make some frames and put some treasured snapshots in them for family members…ah memories!
Let your imagination go wild, and I bet any of you out there who reads this have quite fruitful ones!

I was in the pool again even with my painting project and so I am very tired, and I will bid you all a good night and don't forget to dream, and in those dreams create ideas and who knows what might come of that!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Maintaining...

You know what's maintaining… the stock market due to it only slightly fluctuating minimally from its 10K high, and today it was there once again.

We are also maintaining our interest in being clever in utilizing existing objects.
Yes, I came up with a decorative way to use some more of the cedar fencing that we have left over, and Hubby put my idea into a reality!
My idea was to make valances for over the waffle shades in our sunroom.
The design was unanimous when I searched online and I found one site that had several choices and we both said that’s it at the same time!
It is a scalloped design with two rounded ends and a pointed section in the middle, very eye appealing. My idea is to make them look a little like awnings, and they will be painted with stripes, dusty blue (Wedgwood or light denim blue), satin white and my apple green that I concocted from white latex and a mixture of green and yellow from my acrylic paints that I painted our bar stools solid white tops only.
The intention is this: each valance is 52” wide, and so I will be making the blue vertical stripes two inches wide, ¼ inch for the green, and the white an inch and a half then green again and so forth and so on, and continue the motif over and over to the end, what do you think?
If it looks not so good we do have a lot of white to remedy any problems, and Hubby has already done two coats of primer and two coats of white satin, so the rest is up to me, but it will be tomorrow to make sure the paint has cured. The painter’s tape insists that it must be cured before using it.

Hubby is also maintaining the veggie garden by the fact that he started containers of seeds to plant as soon as they are all ready for transplant! Fall and winter veggie gardens do well here in the south! The only thing that is different at this time of the year is that the sun moves and we plant accordingly to make up for that allowance.

The other thing we maintained down here is; the beautifully warm weather!
Jealous?

President Obama will be visiting us Southwest Floridians next Tuesday to check out the new biggest solar power plant in the nation actually one county over in Desoto, in their main city of Arcadia.

On that insightful information I will bid you all a wonderful good night and everyone please help our main man, why you ask? Because he’s trying to help all of us!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

It's back...

What's back you ask? Our glorious beautiful warm Florida weather!

We are now in the latter part of October, and do you know what?
I was in the pool this morning like the good old times and the water temperature was a toasty eighty-six degrees and the air temperature was a few degrees higher, how about that you northerners?
(An aside: Monday at mid-seventies and windy I could not go in even though the water temperature was up over eighty-three with the wind and cooler weather it wouldn’t have been beneficial for me; rule of thumb for arthritis 85 degrees and over and for MS 85-ish are the water temps preferable for exercising in the pool.)
That solar blanket does work well, even though last night was not as cool as the previous few nights with them being in the low to mid fifties, last night was in the sixties, and boy did that blanket work along of course with our solar roof panels, perfection in concert.

You see, I do believe that my consistent desire to do my ROM (range of motion) exercises in the swimming pool has been a big help to me. And I will continue as long as I can with this new addition of the blanket it seems that it may take me into November! It has been nearly four months now that I have been back at it, and I recommend it highly for anyone with neurological, arthritic or even paraplegia disorders it helps the muscles not to atrophy too severely when done at least a few times a week.

New topic: Do we want to discuss what’s going on with those bailout recipients… oh, all right? If we must! I want our money back and all you fools stop paying out those bonuses before you repay your loan to the rest of us AMERICANS, you hear? Didn’t your Mom teach you responsibility? Bills first then fooling around money! The rest of us are expected to do that, what makes you any different?
Good, now I am so glad I got that off of my chest.

That will be it for tonight unless you want to discuss something else?
You see below this Blog besides checking off you opinionated impression of what you read you can also leave me a message of whatever you care to and that includes discussion material within reasonable perimeters of course. As I have said in the past this Blog is rated PG, but sometimes PG 13, OK fans?

Good night to all and to all I seriously hope for you to leave me some wonderful message, good idea? Yep, I thought so!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

How's your computer working?

Our computer has seen better days even with the anti-virus in place doing its check nightly.
Near invasions seem imminent on a daily basis, worms, horses you name it all those nasty warrior animals that want all of our computers to crash.

I have been communicating with our local newspaper’s internet editor most of the day, since I do read the local paper daily online. I seem to need to tell them when something’s not right, and yesterday it was a story glitch that didn’t go where it was supposed to when you clicked on their read more hot key. Today the problem was more disturbing and as of a few hours ago it still had not been fixed. In their editorial comments section which I read religiously it would not go to further on continuing the story, what it did was go to an inscription stating an error was made and you were not allowed to view the information, below is what it said but much larger and in bright red fonts:
“Server Error in '/' Application. The remote server returned an error: (403) Forbidden.”
Whatever that means, the editor asked me specifics like was it just on the editorials or elsewhere in the paper and I was able to tell him that it was just there in the editorial letters section by checking randomly the rest of the paper.
I just checked now to get the correct wordage to tell you, and found out that it is still happening.
Its nice to be able to help out even a professional, one getting paid to do the job he needs my free help for…now I am not getting angry, just wondering.
You see, when I used to walk all over the neighborhood and call the code enforcement people, and others to let them know about things they didn’t have enough employees to cover they always thanked me, and said that I was a big help to them! Now I can’t walk around to help them out, and so I am giving freebies to the newspaper people, boy I wish there was a way to make a few cents off of all this? Nah, once a volunteer and a Good Samaritan it’s hard to stop, and it does feel so good too, especially when your appreciated with a thank you or two!
Some people won’t do anything unless they are getting paid to do it; sadly they are usually the very rich. More medium income and poor people seem to know that volunteering is a great thing to do, perhaps because it’s easier to relate to people not far from us?
All of you are probably, by now saying well those two you mentioned are not non-profit organizations they are definitely for profit, but even so they have had cut backs in funding and jobs, and as we all know that newspapers all over are suffering as well as small municipalities, so now even the so-called mighty have fallen too. And so help where you can I will too. Optimally non-profits but others could use your helping hand as well, just say yes in these cases.
Good night to you all and do something for another …secretly it makes you feel soooo good!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Question...

“Have you had all your shots?” may very well be the new social conversation opener for the upcoming holiday season…
I know, who would have thunk it this time a year ago?
Doctors here in southwest Florida won’t be giving the H1N1 shots if they can help it…why you ask? One main reason and it’s not because they don’t have confidence in its ability; actually it’s because they feel they would be overwhelmed with the quantity of people needing to get them and so they believe schools and public health officials such as the health departments should be in charge of the distribution of the shots.

Last year at this time, it was change, change, change, and we must keep hope alive!
Well, how soon priorities change, huh?

The jobs market it seems to most has gotten worse but nightly the news confuses us, we are up with jobs we are down with jobs too, same with foreclosures, up and down, and even the stock market the same way! Who would have thought they would end up all in the same conversation? Although, to hear it told the market being up just brushing past 10000 mark, we are doing well, but it’s still more than 400 points below what it was!

Tobi the truthslayer ooops that should be Tobi the truth sayer is your road to the facts of life. I will always tell you all the truth whether you want to hear it or not!
And I sure hope there is no copyright infringement in using that line, facts of life, but the expression was around way before the sit-com. Never know whose watching I could get in big trouble not unlike those crazy Heene’s those Colorado peeps who enjoy the limelight no matter how they get there. Sadly the local law enforcement feels the family is not all together that Kosher, if you know what I mean? And they will be filing felony charges against the parents.
Daddy and Mommy seem to want fame at all costs, and the boys are the useful willing, though have it underage, shill to get them there; what a family.
I sure wish the children well; they are way too young to understand any of this baloney!


Good night to all… and to all remember one thing…children first!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

We did a lot of somethings!

We left the compound today and journeyed forth into the world of band shows, boat shows, and seafood festival shows and artsy fartsy stuff! Yep, I suppose you can say we ventured out into the land of the lost and found?
And what is that supposed to mean, you ask?

Well, I will tell you all my mighty inquisitive audience that I truly love…it means…that we found out about the festivities and became lost in the crowds!
And there were many peeps out there in that world of joy and amusement; all there to have some good old fashioned fun, parking was timely, finding a spot that is, and we managed on the second go round or was it the third? No, it was after we came back from fishville and then we came back to the other showings at the park on the other side of the town. In reality we had a third choice at our event center they also had today a craft’s show that we felt too pooped to pop over to.

Any-who, we made legit stops on the way home to, picked up my prescription at the grocery, and something for din-din. Sandwiches fit the bill Hubby’s was cheese steak, and mine was my usual roast beef on multigrain with salad to the brim! We stopped at the wine shop for a few beverages too.

But when we got home we found a surprise was left at our front door and we don’t know from whom? Someone must be thinking that we are needier than we think we are, and they left a container of spaghetti already cooked, and two rolls, this is way too weird… It was cooler today but in the seventies way too warm for any food to survive without bacteria forming, but by who is a mystery, and so unfortunately we feel the need to throw it all away or suffer unhealthy consequences. But right now the good gesture is in the frig in cool storage in limbo. No note was enclosed; do we have an admirer or admirers?

What would you do under the circumstances?
I have no clue.

On this mysterious ending I will say to you my good night and tell you to keep smiling and have some fun, heaven knows we all need it!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

77....

YES! Its seventy-seven degrees with the humidity down to 44%, at five thirty P.M.!
Wow, are you all jealous?
I know you are.
Good ole Florida is going into heat arrest!
It’s nice and comfy now, but in no time at all it will be heading down the thermometer sliding towards outright cold!
Ha, you snicker, but the truth is the truth.
Everything is relative, what one person thinks is cold another may just believe is chilly.

I can remember a time when sixty degrees was the beginning of warming up in the old days of being a northlander.
But here it means the temperature is dropping, possibly to the point of no return for several……….hours! And it creates a very frosty feeling on the skin just the thought of it!
Stop that heehawing; who amongst us has not felt cold?
Tell the truth you all know what I mean, goose-bumps included.
A chill is something one never ever forgets once you have had it once or twice or more…
But our physiology somehow knows how to cope with those unnatural moments of air freeze on body, and makes allowances.

Now that we know this, it is one more thing that we as humans share; isn’t it refreshing, in a comfortable way, to know another commonality? I cannot tell you anything that is not common knowledge, because folks, now get this….I’m not that smart!

I only over-think most everything that there is a thought to be produced over it, got it?
Over thinkers are not that bright but portend to fool their public with throwing them off track with fanciful disconnected thinking and speaking, huh, you say?
There I got-cha! Doubletalk has been around since the almighty has made con-artists or other artists of fluidity of speech. Got it?

Tonight was just an uninformative trial of non expressive jabberwocky, all right I suppose a bit expressive, but downright ridiculous.
You must agree. Did you notice that was a statement not a question?
I do know that when we haven’t done much here, I have a tendency to ramble, and I guess by now you all have figured it out that today was a dud excitement wise, so sorry to bore you all, but you know me, big mouth with lotsa gobblygook to express thoughts in writing whenever there is an audience for that sort of thing, ha, how about that friends?

So now I will bid you a good night, and try to be more interesting like you all are daily, wink, I am sure!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Oh what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive...

Gotcha! No deceiving here, are you disappointed? I sure hope not.
The balloon boy is being accused of being a liar and that the whole thing was a hoax, but the family insists it is not. If you recall the search ensued due to the six year old child thought to be in the helium balloon floating in the sky, but it turns out that it was empty when it landed gently on the ground. The child says that his father yelled at him so he went and hid in the attic above the garage and was afraid to come down for hours; hope that is the truth, because the dad has somewhat of a reputation.


Miracles do happen…you all saw it that the six month old baby in the rolling stroller that fell on the train tracks in a Melbourne Australia train station and the baby was all right accept for a slight bump on its head?
Wow! But I bet that stroller was history… but who cares…


Now let’s talk seriously about Jon and Kate Goselin, you know them, the plus eight couple? They have a set of twins and a set of sextuplets! How could they get divorced or cancel their show they really need the money, but that daddy seems to have forgotten why they originally agreed to the whole deal. Be real people those babies need you and probably sixteen pairs of new shoes! Fight off camera if you please; think about those kids first!

New topic: personal and important to yours truly: Today, Hubby configured our bargain discount store solar blanket to our swimming pool. It is an oval but much larger than our pool, actually twice its size, and so Hubby marked it off in black indelible marker and then cut it to size, and now it fits like a glove! And just in time too; the winter is coming to Florida this weekend! Yep, I do not kid you; tomorrow alone will be only a high of 75, and tomorrow night in the mid-fifties, yeow! Our next few days promise to be rather chilly, yes, I do know that it has snowed in most of the country, which is considered early for this year, but somehow its not supposed to get cold here, after all this is southwest Florida, you know?

Please wish us safety in our weather time of stress, and we will wish you all the same thing, OK? Good night.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

I take it all back! Well, most of it.

What I am talking about is my cooing and crooning about the stock market doing so well, last night; its not that it didn’t do well as you must know by now, it did, and has maintained that level again tonight. The thing I want to take back is my semi-excitement over it.
People all over the country, about ten percent of our population, are losing their jobs daily and even stooping to negotiate working for less money to save what minimal positions that they do have available!

It’s too obscene the total idea that the rich are getting richer, which does come to mind, and how a truer statement has never been made, oh phooey! And so I apologize for making such a big deal of something so traumatic to so many!

New topic: FAT CHILDREN, it appears to be rampant. A baby of only two months old weighing in at nineteen pounds, a three year old at ninety pounds, and last but not least a thirteen year old at four hundred pounds! Shocking, what’s up with that? I must admit when interviewed it does seem like that two out of three cases the mother’s were also obese, but the infant’s Mom appears to be slender in the news story, but the father is not shown; so who knows?
I do know that obesity is at an all time high nationally, nearly up to 60%, unfortunately, myself included; true horrors. We all have to find out why, most would suggest ingesting too many calories, and not moving enough, but I truly believe it is more complicated than that. We will see, it could be glandular, food additives have been investigated, and more are all real possibilities.

Moving on… today was not that busy, but I did notice the news keeps saying that we senior types on SSI will be receiving a little ‘checky’ for being told we are no longer getting the COLA, cost of living allowance increase, which has been around 3%, but as high as 5.8%, for this year or even in the coming years, and so they are talking about giving us a check for $250 bucks, and that is less than half of what the normal increase would have been! Not bad, but still not great with everything going up, such as utilities and other major bills waiting right behind to follow suit. But who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth, and to be honest they are just talking about it now anyway, once in the hand then I will believe it! Something to think about…

Good night to all and to all take care, be safe, and count those blessings, and in my ultimate wisdom I will think about stopping the search…whatever… you never know.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Dow closes up over 10K!

Some things do happen for the good. The Dow Jones at 10,015.86 up 144.80, and the NASDAQ 2,172.23 up 32.34! Are we back? Well, we are to our high of a year ago. Not really, when things were really great we were at 14000, still quite a ways to go, but to hear it told Wall Street seems to think that we are getting there for sure.
Bully for them!
We got out of the market back the last time it went south in 1987, and we lost big bucks on Black Monday it was, and that wasn’t even as bad as the Black Tuesday one, October 29th 1929 crash way back when, the big one!

So when the market did go way down this time, we fortunately didn’t lose anything since we didn’t have anything in it to lose. And in an odd way that was good.
We, not so wealthy people don’t’ feel the losses that the rich do, since we have become jaded in our poverty. But have learned from when we did have a bit, not rich but more than we have now; if you cannot afford to lose it (money) don’t play it, the market that is; that is why it is called playing the market friends; it is a wild and wooly game of chance, bulls or bears included in that game. True security is not living beyond your means and paying your own way as you go.

New Topic: Casey’s ashes were brought home today by Hubby who went down to pick them up; they were in a red simplistic gold latched box. The funeral home, which also does handle human remains, they sent us a condolence card, and a packet of Forget-me-not seeds within it. I have mixed emotions about all that. I have always stated that when I leave here that I want to also be cremated, and that is why all of our loving pets have been. Now this might be odd to some who lovingly bury their pets in their yards and planted commemorative trees there too. But my fear is that some other creature might dig them up or we might move and others may just use the space to add on to their new home or some other type of construction, you know what I mean. And with all the horror stories on the news lately of cemeteries being dug up or moved elsewhere it gives me the willies just thinking about it, being buried in the ground, got it?
I know most religions think it is desecrating the body, including my own faith, but it is my own desire to be neat, clean and reasonably done away with, and I truly believe it is kinder to all family and friends and the world too as truly being green as you can get in that finale, the end, fini, right?

I will bid you all a good night and to all take care, be safe and count those blessings of yours, and I will desperately, nah, when I get around to it…look for mine!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

We are now protected a little bit! And health bill is getting there,so we hear...

This morning I called my hookup for the flu shot at 10:20 A.M., wondering why they hadn’t called to confirm the eleven o’clock appointment I made yesterday evening.
And you know what they told me? They never call back to confirm; go figure.
Any-who, they said that we should come in fifteen minutes early to fill out some paperwork; I asked can’t we do this now on the phone, she said OK, and so we did most of it, but the young woman stated there would be another page to fill out once we got there and to come a few minutes early anyway. All right I said.

We got there late due to the fact that their parking lot entrance was cordoned off due to re-tarring the lot, and so we had to go all the way around the block but hit into some dead-end streets since we hadn’t been there in quite some time, oops!

Which did make us even more late, but so were they on getting started. We had one person ahead of us, and then it was our turn. Hubby was a brave soul and went first; without much ado but needy of a band aid due to some light blood, which he thought, was a lot and then it was my turn. I couldn’t decide on which arm due to them both hurting, shoulders that is, but my left is worse than my right so he did the right, the pharmacist that is. I didn’t know pharmacist could do this sort of thing. Oddly enough with even the fact that I take aspirin there was no blood what-so-ever, oddly a first for me!

So far, neither of us is seemingly to have any negative reaction, which I suppose is a good thing. And I do feel better protected, a smidge anyway.

Although, for some reason my right upper thigh has been acting up in the daytime, which is unusual; it seems to do that more at night. And so I had to hop, not literally, I actually slowly slid into bed this afternoon to have it go into a less compromising position of being bent sitting or slightly bent as in the recliner, straight out seems to be less painful, and I may have to close this early since it is starting up again in this sitting position, OK?

Today is a sad anniversary of my niece’s death; three years ago today she passed away from colon cancer at the tender age of fifty, less than two weeks from her fifty-first birthday on the twenty-sixth; of this month of October.
She was something else, as my dad would have said, and you are being thought of too, all of my loved ones that have gone to I hope a better place.

Good night to all and to all take care, be safe and count those blessings and I will think about new locations of where mine may have gone.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Today I finally think that I talked Hubby into...

Hubby has agreed to get a seasonal flu shot!
I am so happy and that makes one less worry for me!
But the disturbing part is that he was willing to take me in for it, and then I found him searching after that to see if the flu shot had killed anyone…huh?
He knows that for the last two years I have been getting one due to my susceptibility factor and I have had no flu and no reaction either, (if you are allergic to eggs you should not get a shot) this was just ridiculous on his part in my book, but then again he has agreed to get one too for me he says so he won’t give it to me, if he had gotten it. I was really surprised since I truly believed that he was way too smart to over think this one.

I do understand that the H1 N1 shot will be given out free for all who meet the criteria which I do, but I am not sure he does.

Any-who, I am happy that at least the minimal protection against the flu will be given to him as well as me. But my last two year free source doesn’t have enough, so even their volunteers have had to go elsewhere.
So I will be calling the local pharmacy and setting up an appointment for both of us! Done, I just called and we are set for11A.M., tomorrow but they will call back to confirm. Their charge will be $24.99 each.
Not too much for peace of mind.

People, I can not express my concerns enough for our fellow Americans and of course the rest of the world; people are dying from the H1N1 and we must all do whatever we can to stop it in its tracks!
Go to any site that has legitimate information, NIH.gov, CDC.gov, MAYO Clinic etc.

We all need to be proactive to not allow the flu to win!

On that note of concern good night to all, and to all take care and be safe, count those blessings and I will be on the look out for mine!

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Sunday, October 11. 2009

After the day we had yesterday I can't say that uneventful is not nice.
Quiet would be an understatement, and non busy would be one too.
But, somehow that’s not so bad.
After all in many faiths Sunday is the day of rest.

I did accomplish a bit by getting two small loads of wash done today and I also went into the swimming pool too; the water was a toasty 91 degrees, in October! I bet you’re all real jealous!

No rain was in our forecast, although we are getting some right now.
I suppose that they the hotsy totsy weather mixed with the high humidity and something just had to give…well, now it has stopped once again, odd it sure made a big announcement that it was coming at us! It’s back…. Weird weather we’re having, but this is Florida, and I should know better that this is not unusual. It’s stopped again; crazy!

And people wonder why we are so different down here; could it be our funky weather systems?

When we first moved to Florida back in August of 1986 we knew that the later attitude of doing things instead of right now, was all part of the states charm, an island nature. But being northeasterners it took quite awhile to assimilate, and I kid the newbie’s that I still am, assimilating that is. In truth at this older age who doesn’t want to slow down somewhat? And my body took that cause up all on its own.

Talk about indecisive; big drops of rain are falling again! How can I tell they are big drops? By looking out the sunroom glass door out into our swimming pool, but I thought you all knew that! It looks almost the same as someone skipping a rock across a pond with the continuing ripples. The only difference is that our ripples are accompanied by loud booming roars of thunder!

With my concern for a possible power outage I will close for the night, and wish you all a good one, and to take care and be safe, and count all your blessings and I will try harder to ascertain where mine may have gone, OK?

Saturday, October 10, 2009

The inevitable happened,Casey has been released from his horrible illness...

Today at eight A.M., I called Casey’s veterinarian’s office to ask if we could bring him in for perhaps another steroid shot and some anti-biotics. They said to come in at nine thirty.
Saturdays they are open half days.

Shortly after arriving we were brought into the examining room, and waited while the tech examined Casey, weighed him and took his temperature, his temp was normal but he lost more weight; he was down to six and half pounds. Nearly half of what he used to weigh, less than a month ago. The fact that he was now having problems eating; he wanted to desperately, but couldn’t not even drink the water he would just stare at it.
We waited for the doctor to come in, I knew what she was going to say since the tech could have administered the shot of steroids and given us the anti-biotics to take home.

Casey, could no longer eat due to the cancer metastasizing throughout his throat, thus the bloody discharge and mucous from his mouth that I had been telling them about by phone and removing by wiping away almost daily.
Doc said honestly if he were hers she would let him go, and so we did, and Hubby and I cried in her office, and in our car and all the way home and at home too, but we did do the right thing we had no choice, even knowing that it doesn’t make in any easier.

Casey the cat would have been thirteen this January, and his original bud Andrew the collie Shepard mix from the hurricane of the same name were both our younger son’s. He gave them to us when he went into the Navy back in 1998. But since he has disowned us for some horrid reason for over five years now his former pets were also my hope in seeing him again, Casey, himself was a loving affectionate cat, and he was my last connection to our younger son who won’t speak to us and we don’t know why. It’s so sad, and so you see why it’s not just the passing of Casey it’s so much more to me anyway. Does anyone out there understand what I mean?
It’s like my heart keeps breaking over and over again.
Andrew his dog also passed away back in 2001 from liver cancer at the age of nine.
So all his pets are gone now and he has no excuse to contact us, no connection to us in his way of thinking.
Mother’s of the world if any of you have an estranged child you know how I feel I am sure.
Any-who, that’s what has happened in our little world today, death, once again, so truly sad.

Good night to you all and to all of you take care, and be safe and count your blessings and I will try to dig deeper in my soul for mine, but for now I will be sad, please forgive.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Shoot the moon and the Pres talks peace and gets the prize!

Did you see it? No one did. We all were glued waiting for that large plume of spewing sparkling ice spread from that crater on the moon that we were promised, but we saw nothing, and everyone stared at each other wondering…but NASA says they saw it and that’s all that matters, really?
At least they haven’t requested a bailout, yet.

Our first African American and white (Never forget his Mom folks!) president has received the Nobel Peace Price for wanting peace! Now people are discussing the fact that he hasn’t really done that much in his nine months in office. Well, friends as a goodwill ambassador he has done plenty!
The world sees us again in a good light with our leadership in tact, and they are listening with a new regained respect! If that’s not something, what is? And all that in less than a year, bravo sir!

Today, I was back in the pool continuing with my three day a week plan, oddly enough it is still rather warm, but only since we have been having an unusual heat wave; nineties with indices nearing one hundred for the last few days. The pool was a toasty 86 with the solar panels off! Oddly enough, just yesterday we picked up the solar blanket from that discount store; well we are definitely prepared for those cooler temperatures, when our nights fall into the chilly sixties, brrr.

Casey, as I told you last night is hanging in there, but just barely. He is very thin although he is eating and demands his special prescription diet constantly. He comes up on my lap to snuggle, and I look into his helpless eyes and feel like crying because he looks to me to make it all better and I am powerless to change his fate. The doctor stated it right, we are running a cat hospice, and even with a cat it isn’t easy, and it is still tremendously sad and hard to do.
His pain medication, which I looked up and found out that it is a morphine based, is given to him twice a day by oral injection. But you can feel his previously muscular body that the cancer is literally eating him away. Since he can’t talk we have no idea when we should consider he’s had enough, but I am in close contact with his vet’s office by phone and speak to them often with each new thing that comes up.

We started out on an upbeat note and I am sorry that I brought you down, but as everyone whose lost anyone human or critter a like, death, is a part of life, and we will all eventually experience it. Wow! I bet you all knew that!

Good night to all and have a wonderful safe holiday weekend, and take care, and count those blessings and I am still looking, but who knows when I may find some?

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Tonight, welcome folks!

How's that? Sounds friendly, “Welcome to you all, folks!” doesn’t it?
Regionally that might sound a bit too familiar or corny.
But down south that’s just plain nice to hear.

We as Americans who all supposedly speak the same language surely have a tough time communicating at times with one another, true?

Some would think with the advent of TV, which I have noticed somewhat there are people that have no longer any accents from their region, but of course many still do.

It would appear that in most transient states; such as Florida, Arizona and California, with what I call transplants from other areas that is the main cause for the homogenization of the indigenous verbal non-differences becoming widespread.

I suppose the heartland or what most would call the mid-west is where the most unique language would be utilized. I also noticed that years ago most mid country peeps taught there children to have very nice manners, and say yes ma’am and sir too. Youngsters (boys) opened doors for all females. Or could that just have been in the era of the1960’s that I am recalling?

Now I do know that in many southern and western states that guns are a welcome part of the home utilities; many people hunt and find them useful for that sport, and eat what they shoot. And it has not been unusual for young boys and girls to be taught the proper handling of such weapons from an early age. But for some reason I winced when a five year old accompanied by his proud father and mother all boldly smiling and bragging on this effort of the child who they showed just the head of his kill, which was a fourteen foot alligator appeared on the Today Show this past weekend. They happened to be from Texas, if that has anything to do with it? Is it me? Or is it the fact that a FIVE year old using a gun seems odd and wrong to anyone else?
I hate to put a damper on this child’s natural ability that made his two parents seem as proud of their son as if he won the Nobel Peace Prize or the likes, which to me would have been a great reasoning for pride, but this? It seemed just way too weird and horrible to me. I would love to hear some feedback on this.

Remember that Christmas movie that the child wanted a Beebe gun, and his parents kept telling him it could take his eye out? Well, I was definitely more like that Mom. Guns scare me. I always thought during my petite years that if I had one for protection it could have been taken easily away from me and used against me. That’s why I could never see any use for them. Far as hunting goes I couldn’t see eating Bambi or Porky, and so that wasn’t my thing either.
I felt shooting off my camera lens at those critters was a better idea.
Although, I have been known to fish, but even if the rod misfires you can still pretty much make it out of that situation alive, but with hooks in this or that as a possibility. But we still have been known to catch and release and take photographs of those fishes too!

I guess it could be my remembrance of Western TV Shows as a child growing up in the fifties and sixties; we all played cowboys and Indians in those days. Good guys and bad guys and the so-called good guys were the ones who killed the bad guys, horrors now when I think about that, same game with cops and robbers and army or war. Death was always a game not a reality in our childhoods, and so when real killing occurs it does give me the willies. Inner city kids deal with that reality everyday. It just seems wrong for it to be considered a sport, like baseball, hockey or something, doesn’t it? Violence in video games is not reality, but psychiatrist believes it attributes to childhood violence. I beg to differ none of my friends who played those good guy/bad guy games grew up to kill as far as I know. I believe it is the reality of killing that promotes violence, and parents misguiding children into thinking a gun is a necessary part of life, but that’s just me.

Change of topic: We did go out today and did many errands in case you were wondering with my side stepping my own reality with this jabberwocky of mine, but common place things aren’t as interesting, true?

PS Casey the cat is hanging in there.

Good night to all and to all take care, be safe, and count those blessings and I will try harder to find mine; they have to be around here somewhere.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

A new doctor was visited today..

I did it again! Well, it has been some time since I did that… I published just the title.
How ridiculous?

The title did state that I went to my new neurologist office visit today, and all I can say is that it was not that exciting with the usual workup of tests of reflexes, walking, and typical questions.
The woman neurologist was pleasant and knowledgeable enough and fairly young, most likely in her thirties. I will see her on an as needed basis, with any prescriptions being able to be called in on request.
It’s been strange these last few years knowing that most of the physicians are our sons ages or even younger; totally competent people in their fields, but an adjustment to our angle of seeing things.

I can remember when most doctors were elderly, or just appeared that way to me because I was so young. As a teen the T V show’s Dr. Kildare, Richard Chamberlain, was the man for the job, so handsome, and dreamy! It would be years later that we all would find out that our unrequited love couldn’t and wouldn’t ever be returned even in our teen girl dreams since he didn’t swing that way…hetero. (Darn, all the cuties seem to be gay! Not that there is anything wrong with that! I also had a crush on Rock Hudson, can I pick ‘em, or what?) In my twenties when the TV show Marcus Welby, Robert Young, was all the rage I don’t think that any young woman wouldn’t want a doctor, the dear sweet fatherly older man type, for him to be theirs with his so kind sincerity and real and very true caring, and who even made house calls!

Any-who, doctors are well educated people and they are still only practicing their jobs, and so we no longer put them on pedestals, thank goodness. Over the same many years, the last fifty I would say, teachers, clergy and coaches have all met with the same fate of being just human beings with human flaws. And boy when they screw up we sure get to know it! Thanks media!
Personally, I think that is a good thing. No one should ever be treated superior to anyone else. And when they do wrong it should be put out there for us to know about.
Breaking the law is just that, against the law!
I won’t go into details over what has transpired over the years, it’s too disgusting in some cases, because you all know what I am talking about.
I think as much as we all hate to hear bad news some things we cannot stick our heads in the sand for; we must know!

I suppose I have been rather lucky, but I do have a nosey need to know all about the doctor I will be seeing, and fortunately with the internet it is so much easier to seek that info out. We all should. Do it for anyone you need to deal with; you will be surprised to see what you can find out. Last resort is hospitals for those docs they have supposedly basic information. They are many free sites too for just about anything or anybody to get a better handle on. Don’t be shy. With the way the last few years being the way they have been, we should all be that much more careful who we deal with, don’t you think?

On that note I will wish you all a good night and to all take care, and be safe and count those blessings, and I will continue on my path to find some of my own.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Whatever happened to our hurricane season?

We have gotten up to numbers 7 and 8 for storm names for this season, but as you may or may not have noticed not much has happened...and that is great! We will take it!
These last two, in case you are at all interested, are named respectively, Grace and Henri both just storms that have met up with or will, as in Henri’s case will have to deal with wind shear. And that is a good thing; it knocks the dickens out of a storm.
October has been historically not a good month for hurricanes to develop and so to any of us south west gulf coasters that is a great thing to hear.
Seven weeks left in our nasty weather period that does arrive yearly, and was not noticed by the rest of the world until those two very bad years, 2004-2005.
Gosh that was four/five years ago!

For us anyway here in southwest Florida the hurricanes have all but forgotten us, but Texas had that last years devastation by Ike in Galveston just a year ago this past September 13.2008, a Saturday. Would make a person have the common fear of the number 13, Triskaidekaphobia one would think.
I have been known to have that fear on occasion.
Hurricane Charley came on August 13, 2004, a Friday, but my first positive stabilization MRI of my MS was also done on a Friday October 13, 2006!
But unfortunately, unbeknownst to me my niece passed away on that same day, October 13, 2006!
Crazy, coincidences.

When I was a first grader I had another horrible coincidence that had nothing to do with the number 13, just a very weird experience, which gave me the creeps for years to come… My parents had taken me away on a vacation for one of the school or legal holidays. But right now I don’t recall which one with so much time passing, but when I returned to school it was Fire Prevention Week, and each of us in the class were asked to make posters for the teachers of something consistent showing what it all represented and why it was important to acknowledge. And so I drew a hotel with people at the windows screaming and flames coming out of it with the name of the hotel on the marquee that I had just spent my vacation at, and within the week, before it was over a similar picture/photograph was in the newspaper of my hotel actually on fire!
Scary and I was only six.
Have any of you ever had that happen?
I bet everyone can relate to something similar, or not.
For years I thought I was a jinx, and was afraid of drawing.

I was frightened as an adult too when a person I didn’t like passed away, and even being in my twenties; I was not that unsure my thinking it didn’t have something to do with it!
Crazy I suppose or just crazy coincidence?

Nobody has that power, or do they?
Some believe they do have that ability, and some who know that we only use a small fraction of our brain’s resources insist that if we knew how to we could do so much more than most of us really do.
That, in all common sense, does sound plausible though.
Who knows what us human beings could do if we think hard enough about anything.
On that thought provoking possibility I will say good night to all, and ask you all to please take care, be safe in all that you do, and count your blessings and I will continue on my search for mine!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Provocative happenings..

A fairytale, when was the last time you let your imagination go wild?
Lately, that’s all I got.

Throbbing shapely massive breasts full of heartfelt longings screaming for love…how’s that?
Sorry folks that’s all she wrote…this site is rated ‘G’, OK, occasionally ‘PG’, maybe even PG-13 at times.

Perhaps that’s my problem with writing, I write clean, but I have been known to write gory, which I suppose could be rated not so clean.

As we approach one of the scariest times of the year I no longer yearn to write about that chopping dismembering of body parts, but at this time in life I think reality is way too frightening to compete with any of that, don’t you?

Superstitions are based on our fears, and play off of them. But even the least of us who would insist on not being a party to such ridiculous behavior will have to admit to on an occasion or two knocking on wood or not stepping on a crack in fear of breaking your mother’s back? With me it is those as well as broken mirrors; seven years bad luck and all, but I never did actually count those seven years when or if they were up! But most things in life are in cycles of seven years, skin renewing itself, and even fashion!

Yep, we all can make a claim to such silly reactions to things in life.
When was the last time you went to your house of worship?
Many go weekly, while also others have found organized religion doesn’t serve their particular needs.
That’s OK; this is America, home of the free and brave, right?
The only reason I brought any of that up is because, now don’t take offense, but I am sure many of you do know that many religions are based on superstitions; OK, you can take offense, but hear me out…
And many would also like to take apart the bibles of all the different beliefs, and try and disprove what they say in them, but I won’t do that.
We are a free nation and can think whatever we so please to do, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, right?
It seems that the ACLU feels that even if it does hurt others, feelings that is, anything is all right. Now, I would say in many ways I am about as liberal as it gets, but some things just aren’t right, you know?
Here’s where you expect me to become real specific, well, in reality I will…spewing hate at any one group that doesn’t believe as you do, there I’ve said it!
I can’t stand; perhaps ironically hate that, when the protectors of our first amendment feel that it is included in all of the rest of our rights!
Assembling to promote hatred also bugs the heck out of me too!
Aren’t you sorry you got me started?
No soap box here tonight, and so I will leave you with your own thoughts of what might anger you or just make you think about in a fierce way…

So I will bid you all a good night and to all take care, be safe, and count your blessings. I will be more intense on my search, since we all need something to be thankful for with Thanksgiving around the corner…

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Do you have dreams?

I suppose we have had or still do have those unreachable desires to have something not quite attainable, but something that we are hopeful for.
It is a human trait to feel this way; a part of human nature.
How would it be if all of our dreams really did come true?
Oprah and others truly believe that if we want something badly enough and set our goals to achieve it …all is possible!
But in reality who does have that strong a will to complete that fulfillment of cravings for tangible futures of wants and expectations to gain that metaphoric prize at the end of each and everyone’s individual plausible or perhaps not so plausible rainbows.
If we truly know that whatever we need to fulfill our lives wishes were in our power just by thinking hard enough… wouldn’t we all be doing that?
Plans to take the proper steps to get to point ‘A’, from point ‘B’, could be as simple as writing ourselves a blueprint of a logical way to do it; amazing.

Are any of us wild enough to take that chance and do something so crazy to be noticed to succeed?
Sometimes in life one has to, take that leap of faith, and I don’t necessarily mean the religious one, believing in oneself to try could be just that simple springboard for that leap, and get you there without hesitation or even at jolting yourself to look backwards.
Hang on tight and take the chance.
A very wise man once said to me, “Tobi, all you need is confidence and you can do anything!”

And so this morning I took a leap of faith and I sent the Blog site link to one of the people I feel is on my side in the world and he does something about it. I will have to leave you all guessing, since the worst part about doing something this brave, putting yourself out there is if you fail everyone will know if you tell, and so now that is all that you are getting from me until … something good comes of it?

I don’t think that it is any surprise to any of you that I want to find a publisher for my writing wares. And so on many occasions I have sent or given segment samples of my literary turmoil onto the powers that be, but so far there have been no takers. I had gotten close years ago, but that’s too long a story to go into here.

Update on the garden wire balls: While out yesterday we found iridescent pink and yellow paint, and today Hubby has transformed the spheres into bright, possibly glow in the dark globes!

Tonight I wish you all a good one, please take care, and be safe, and count those blessings and I will see where mine may have been left?

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Voluptuous brunette at 42 gets free cataract surgery!

What does one have to do these days to get a little attention? Knock on doctor’s office doors dressed in a gorilla suit?
One would think so after today’s news worthy entry.
A forty-two year old voluptuous brunette, ‘GORILLA’ that goes by the name of Josephine was able to wangle a ‘FREE’ cataract surgery from a ‘PEOPLE’ ophthalmologist in Miami!
The middle-aged woman, Gorilla, has been living at the Miami Metrozoo for years and the sad story is she was nearly blind from her cataracts. Most likely sunshine related friends! I am NOT kidding this is a true story!
For more info go to: http://www.justnews.com/news/21181195/detail.html
Wouldn’t it have been cheaper to have bought the gal polarized sunglasses, I ask you?

According to all reports Josephine is resting comfortably, and will be back to harassing her caregivers and eating food instead of her toys, and now she can even get to some of her favorite novels it would seem to me!
What are they crazy?
I must be doing something all wrong.
Although, these days my body type is not much different than Josie’s, but on a shorter more petite scale of course… who knows maybe I could pass?

Desperation is a horrible frenetic thing at times.
We as the American public have an obligation to not allow wasteful spending.
To the good I do feel sympathy for Josephine’s previous now rectified situation, and I am sure she will have many healthy sighted years to come, but come on folks, she’s a Gorilla!
I am a human being, I’ll give you that I am a close relative, more than likely to dear sweet Jo, but why can’t I get that special treatment too?
Why isn’t there a PETA for PEOPLE?
Oh yeah, that’s right, there is… its Michael Moore.

New topic: today we went on an outing to what I thought was an indoor flea market but instead they were holding Bingo in the same room that I would bet my next born’s life on if that were something that could miraculously happen at nearly sixty since online it stated that the first and third Saturday of the month it was to be held in that same room at our local cultural center, but no there it was a Bingo Hall, with not a flea in sight! But then again my sight aint what it used to be!

Any-who, we swiftly moved on to errands towards the northern part of our county to the office supply store and home store for this and that; we actually got more this than that, but then we had lunch too out.
It was too much of everything food wise, and so we took home those cartons that used to be called doggy bags and devoured most of the remainder for this evening’s dinner with a few of the items still remaining for tomorrow, would you believe?

On that note I will wish you all a good night and to all take care, be safe, and look for those blessings and I will keep trying, because we all know that I am…trying that is.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Buy me time...

Yep! That's what I need is a large case of unlawful dishonesty!
You are all saying to yourselves right now, what is she crazy?
Nope; not at all.
John Coey an in state convicted child murderer died in the hospital after forty-one days of being cared for in there, total cost to us tax payers, $231,000 plus.
Did you know that it’s not just elected officials that have medical coverage for free or nearly for free, so do all those prisoners on death row!
What’s wrong with this picture?
Perhaps it would be better judgment on my part to run for a political office? Only kidding, really!

New topic: I forgot to welcome all of you yesterday to October, so sorry, this is a month that I used to enjoy tremendously. Halloween is at the end of this month of the harvest moon month, and so is daylight savings time, so don’t forget to fall back!

When our boys were young… how I so enjoyed making their costumes and getting all those sweet treats for the children who would knock on the door come Old Hollow’s Eve; how those days went by so swiftly. You, young Moms out there please remember it’s all just a blip in time when those kiddies drive you up the wall occasionally. Have fun with it all, for alas it too will be gone way too soon!

But unfortunately, the boys are well grown and on their own far away from here, and over these last several years with my enormous weight gain, and dog’s that have barked at anyone that came to the door the whole idea of the holiday makes me only dream of an easier time gone by.
I did have Hubby bring in a few of our decorations which one is a Happy Halloween sign of wood, quite cheerful and it hangs on the front door. The other decorations are artificial pumpkins and gourds that sit on our hallway table for display. I have a few weeks to come to terms with whether or not I will put any candy out. I made a sign for a few years ago that was a little poem asking the children to have fun and take just one, and taped it to the front door with a chair used to hold the large plastic pumpkin full of the goodies.
But one year a rather difficult child stole most all of it, and all the previous years it had gone off without any problems what-so-ever, and there were several very good years!
So the last two or so we have not done anything for the day/evening of trick or treat.
But that child is long gone and perhaps we could or should try again.
I really hate being jaded about anything!
We will see…

I did find myself once again in our pool at a chilly 83 degrees due to the overnight cooling down, it did go up eventually to 84 with the solar panels on, but we have ordered a solar blanket today from one of those discount stores online, and it gets free delivery to their store, oh joy! Maybe the water will stay a little bit warmer? We had it up north on that pool… and so we will see what happens with this too…

Good night to all and to all take care, be safe, and count those blessings, and I will keep looking I think I am getting warmer!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Now we had a real COLD FRONT!

This morning it was very chilly, but I didn't go out. I’m not kidding my royally hotsy totsy Florida was in the cool sixties this morning, degrees that is! And it almost put a kibosh on me getting a swim in again. The dilemma was solved when logic took over after yesterday’s mid-seventies crisis; I realized that the afternoon got back up to a more classic Florida temperature in the upper eighties to low nineties, ah the warmth returned by late morning to early afternoon; something’s are reliable!
Now, this morning the only dilemma would be to check to make sure the water in the pool had not gone down as well. Hubby checked for me while I stayed in the warmth of our happy home, as feared the temp had dropped, but not that severely, all the way to 82, and it was salvageable. Once the solar panels went on by post lunch time I was ready to delve into my exercise program again with a temperature hovering around a toasty 85, purr…fect!

I enjoyed my time in the tepid pool, and while doing my ROM (range of motion) program I got a small brain storm. I know you are all saying LOL, since she has a small brain, of course, and that my friends was a no brainer!

Any-who, us gardener’s are using, or I should say reusing regular household products for decorative displays within the gardens themselves, since they have lost their usual vitality, or usefulness, so to speak. In this particular case I am referring to an old wooden ladder that not even at a dollar price that we could get rid of it at a garage sale years ago; and so Hubby painted it a brilliant grass green, and secured it to the ground, and it became a shelving system for several potted plants, which have since gone onto their great reward; OK, they died there!

The reason may very well be because of the containers that they were in; they were those open metal baskets that you must use moss to make them viable for such things. In the direct sun it brought havoc to the plants and would dry out quite significantly and much too quickly.

Oh, right I was about to tell you about my ingenious idea, well those metal half ball baskets, make a complete sphere when attached to one another. Hubby was quick to want to toss them, but I saw their uniqueness and asked for his assistance, and he jumped right in as a willing partner in my project. Yes, it was in my mind’s eye that I saw the reuse for these metal baskets, once cleaned up and painted a bright cheerful, perhaps iridescent color they could be a different type of garden ball?

We are as far as the cleaning up process. I was given a bucket with soap to scrub them, while sitting on the patio, and then Hubby took them into the garage to scrape the rest of the flaking paint with a hard metal brush used for such things after they had dried. When they are all cleaned up we will then decided on a color scheme, and let you know how they turn out, OK?

That’s something, huh? We did do a little today, right?

So now I wish you all a good night and to all take care, be safe, and count those blessings, and I will look for mine, they have to be around here somewhere?

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go?

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go? :   My eyesight is going again... in case you missed it... Netanyahu snaps back against growing...