Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy

Tonight is the ‘Happy’ part of the New Year and tomorrow… well… we will see won’t we?
We started our festivities at our dinner time with our deviation from our usual by deciding on having more simple treats in small amounts.
So far our menu has consisted of homemade clam chowder, a cup’s worth, with tortellinis in a buttery cheese sauce made light with my unique methods of less is more concept but still good; also just in half portions. Next came the best of it all…shrimp rolls and clams on the half shell, hummm…. What can I say I am sort of a foody! And yes, that is what got me into this body that I am in…but I am proud to say today was day number ten of the re-beautification of Tobi and so far so good, LOL!
And I am going gung-ho on the possibilities!

Moving on…
Now the neighborhood is alive with fireworks!
They started shortly after six and more than likely will be going on and off until well after midnight.

They are a bit smelly though, the fireworks that is, since even at this late hour it is quite nice temperature wise and the windows are open here in the sunroom and the temperature here right now in Port Charlotte Florida on our saltwater canal is seventy-two degrees with only forty-five per cent humidity! Sadly I may just have to close up due to the horrendous odor though… or perhaps the light tropical breeze will take it in another direction…

And yes we have decided to save the best of our celebration for closer to midnight … drum roll please…Strawberries and Champagne! Yes, we splurged for a small bottle of André and a pint of those ruby red succulent romantic juicy fruity jewels.
But somehow the herring for good luck must fit into that later menu, but it doesn’t sound right… oh well we will see!
I did buy the cliché black eyed peas for extra luck but foolishly in all the years living here in the south I never learned a recipe for them and so they may very well stay put.

Darn is that a siren I hear in the distance… I hope I am mistaken…too many have died over the years not remembering that drinking and driving don’t mix!
People wherever you are, be smart, and if you must drink find a designated non-drinking driver or stay where you are!
Here in the United States you can dial the toll free number, 1-800-AAA-HELP, provided by triple A and Budweiser, TOW to Go to keep dangerous people off the roads and they will come and get you and your car and get you home safely! It is a free service so use it!
Put the number in your cell phone and have it ready to hit!

You see, I want all of you back here next time to read this drivel, OK?
And on that classy way of telling you I truly care… I will wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time when you are back here safe and sound I want to hear your stories of this night and how you enjoyed it too! Oh, and yeah, be here or be square, OK?
LOL! I almost forgot…HAPPY NEW YEAR PEEPS!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

NG

‘NG’ in this case means ‘not good’ and that is how I am feeling right now.
We went out fairly early to get our grocery shopping done since surprise Hubby’s pension check had been electronically deposited a day early!
After I paid nearly all our bills online I told him perhaps we should go out before the holiday causes road delays and craziness in the stores and get our bi-monthly list completed and so we did.

I have still been getting high numbers on my test strips for my glucose and so about a week ago I asked Hubby to pick up one of those beverages that supposedly controls the spikes in your glucose. It is not medication, just a supplemental drink not that unlike the diet ones I have been consuming for breakfast on occasion.
And so I saw no reason to think that it could be harmful?
My glucose has been fluctuating a wee bit too high and this morning again it was 115 before breakfast and so I had a drink for that purpose. I have been dizzier than usual too.
One six pack is all Hubby bought and it has been refrigerated for over a week since I really thought it would be there just in case…

So we go to the grocery me in my scooter once we arrive and Hubby with the shopping cart as usual and we accomplish all that has to get done including picking up two of my prescriptions. But to be honest the pharmacist was coughing and not sounding too good.
Any-who I don’t fear this since I am bullet proof with due to September receiving my two in one flu shots, which I am sure are working in full strength by now!

Any-who, we or I should say Hubby thought that we should go through the drive thru at the golden arches since it was nearly twelve thirty and he’s hungry and so I agree and foolishly I decided to get my usual, which to be truthful has been since I was kid and when I was in much better shape than these days… Big Mac and French fries and no chocolate shake, which is the only change that I have made in this usual that only occurs once every few months these days, but it is one of the few places that you still get lunch for two for under ten bucks, true? I can remember when it was under two bucks! Boy, am I old or what? Funny thing about this particular meal; it was my comfort food when I came back from my European tour while in college (the golden arches were not in Europe yet, ancient history), it was the same meal choice but plus the shake since I was barely a hundred pounds soaking wet and so I did it without thought or any concern… it was at Kennedy Airport way back then in 1969! Although, I even had dysentery all the way home on the plane!(I drank the wrong bottled water in Portugal and had been given Paregoric on the trip home from chaperones)And so to me it was the metaphoric concept of kissing the USA ground, eating that burger, fries and shake from you know where!

Moving on… Ahhh memories…
Sadly though it was probably my downfall since my tummy was so bad this evening I have been living on generic tummy meds and ginger ale!
And I refused the nice dinner I helped make.
Actually my tummy refused it not me.

And so that is why I believe I do not feel well, but I could be wrong I have been wrong before. Sometimes trying to find the cause can be as stimulating as solving a mystery or as boring as one too.
All I know is I feel like crap and this is major that I brought myself to the computer to let you all know this, since up until a few minutes before this night's writing I had told Hubby he might have to tell you my fate of the day…
Oh well…life goes on and I am sure with all my other ills daily this is just another glitch in all that, huh? But the good thing about this one is that it will pass while the others seem to hang on…arthritis, ms and high blood pressure, cholesterol, optic neuritis (blind in one eye), ataxia (balance), possible diabetes… so to be honest this is NOT that big a deal, huh?
Sorry for this bologna again but it has been a while since I had any melt downs and I just read my FB friend's Blog and all her equal similar frustrations… but she continues to make lemonade out her lemons and so I will be here tomorrow trying for the same thing!

So happy night to all and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

PS I would like to congratulate one of my other FB friends on the arrival of her new grandson he was early but took his time coming out and as of this time I understand all is well and let’s all hope that continues for his next one hundred years! Welcome X!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Repairs!

Living here on this southwest coast of Florida, has been just perfect barring the hurricane six years ago that devastated our home but in the end it was a blessing for us in disguise…
Yes, you heard that right…
Go with me here…Doing what others would call making lemonade out of lemons that is… with our 1958 home’s destruction we had enough damage to need to gut our home that had only been partially refurbished by then and we had many more plans for it to be accomplished before Hubby’s retirement.
Ironically enough the insurance money enabled us to speed up those renovations due to necessity, and to be able to move out of the 240 square foot trailer that we rented after the hurricane alongside our home so Hubby could stay in county and not have a long commute to work. Because if you didn’t have family or friends in county to stay with there were very few rentals to stay in (too many were destroyed too) during getting our home back to livability.
And so we are thrilled that our little gem or jewel as I love to call it is near as perfect as we had imagined for this phase of our lives.

Except for one small thing…
We are on a saltwater canal like I have mentioned and we have a small swimming pool and boat dock and lift, etc. and the fish pond, gardens and we have a garage and Hubby has a workshop behind it and we have sheds that match our stucco home and it is small one but a two bedroom/ two bath with a nice covered patio and bonus sunroom.
The small thing is we live in an unincorporated area not in city limits and although we have city sewers and city water the water is very hard!
Yes, we could install a water softener but they now ask a small fortune for any we have checked into!
Perhaps we should investigate further, and will more than likely since every time we talk to the utility company and complain they do send someone out to flush the lines.
For my laundry I have been using baking soda with each load and that appears to work or I should say help, less damage to those towels which seem to rip every time I would soak them.
In all the homes we have owned over the years I don’t recall the water ever being this hard.
It has deteriorated the faucets in the kitchen which we were fortunate to be able to replace three times, two of our own and once the faucet company since we really thought it was the flaw of the faucet and most recently it has not allowed me to close the drain in my bathtub and switch the faucet to a downspout for a bath, but I do mostly take showers since I have a special chair in the tub for that purpose and a hand held shower head.
But today besides Hubby fixing the grout around the tub which had cracked slightly he had to fill the tub for that purpose, which is recommended to simulate the weight of a person so he also unstuck the drain and lower tub faucet! Fortunately but I must admit somewhat oddly, I suppose, there is access from our guestroom closet with a little screwed on door which buts right up against the back of my tub and to all the tubs faucets and drains. He admitted that his biggest fear was that couplings could have broken but they were copper and it took detachment very well. You see Hubby also was an apprentice plumber while going through college for engineering, multi faceted he is as the saying goes.
And with the building, physically of our NJ home and all the other homes' renovations and additions it was just another piece of cake for him.
All the problem called for was a cleaning up of the individual parts and a reminder to me that I should use them to keep them from freezing up again anytime in the near future. Apparently that was why they were so stiff and unmovable… remember that folks it goes for just about everything… if you don’t use it you lose it! LOL!
I bet most of you knew I was going to say that!
On that note of hearty silliness I will wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!
And next time please be here or be square, OK?

PS he also repaired the adorable sailboat and lighthouse whirligig that he had made years ago; its wooden broom handle pole stand had broken so he repurposed a metal pole we had in the shed we had left over from our dock swing that wind also destroyed way back. Yep, Hubby is a saver, so far not a hoarder, at least I hope not! LOL! Any-who it is back in the veggie garden doing its thing keeping the critters/birds away that might eat our crops that haven’t come up yet! Lucky for them with this weather, huh? But Florida is coming back and real soon too, tomorrow we have been told!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Treasures?

I found old jewelry from us and my parents in my drawer.
What a find!
Nah, most of it looks as if it is costume, but I could be wrong I have been wrong before.
It did keep me busy and out of trouble for on and off this afternoon while searching the net.
Three time pieces were included in the find.
One is a bejeweled piece with an image cameo, not a carved ivory one, on its reverse side with the jewels of either real or simulated pearls and diamonds inset in a gold or gold plated circumference around the cameo which is a Norman De Luxe Swiss watch fob that is really a ladies necklace.
Number two and three are both Bulova watches that are mine from my uncle who was an executive with the company and so they could be worth a bit.
Neither work too well right now since the watch for my wrist that I recall once had a black leather band on it well it needs a new battery and Hubby was able to get it out it is an accutron quartz watch, a rectangle one with Roman numerals and with what looks like a sapphire in the stem for the time and I must have had it at least forty years; the third of this group is just a gold tone watch fob again but this is not so elaborate as the last one and it is a Bulova too but a wind one and it did not keep time but it could possibly need an adjustment or a cleaning and its necklace is missing.
I do also have a couple of those lockets that you put your loved ones pictures in and I found one with mine and my brother’s that must have been my mother’s and another with just my parents photo, quite old and of course that had to be mine. Nice little treasures to find on a cold day.
Another interesting piece I found baffles me a bit since my Mother and I both have pierced ears I found clip-ons. I suppose she wore them too. And they are quite ornate with gold tone discs encompassed by silver tone or stainless triangles and within the centers are square green set stones or emeralds, and dangling from the gold discs three on each one clear glass or diamond slender rectangular set stones.
Not really my Mom’s style, any-who… there were two gold tone brooches too.
But fortunately one had a name on it, Coventry, which I do know was a well respected costume jewelry manufacturer.

So far I do not think any of the items have any enormous value but most would claim they have more than that intrinsic value of sentimentality and I am sure they would if I could remember when my mother wore them or if at all…she might have gotten them from someone else is all I am saying, people do that, right?
I just don’t recall except the pieces from my uncle.
As I have mentioned before I do enjoy doing research and if I was in a better frame of mind I probably would have started that type of business, since it would be fun, not work for me.
But then I am not always successful in finding answers and I doubt I would have a clientele that would appreciate that, huh?
When you try to find answers for yourself that’s one thing but for anyone else that’s a whole different story, but of course I would not charge for my services unless I was successful to be legit and honest and I would state that in a contract to be binding, right?
Sounds like I have been thinking about this one, huh?
My research would be of any kind from backgrounds on people to historic to things and accuracy would be my rechecking point of no return.
You make one mistake in any business and there goes your reputation, correct?

Ahhh suppositions and imagining is a wonderful mind game; don’t you think?
More exciting than many I have seen online, sorry folks!

Tonight is one of the last days of the year and fortunately we are being told one of our last night’s of this cold front that has created ungodly frigid weather here in the Sunshine state. Who says we don’t get season’s we got a quick freeze that turned a lot of our flora pretty golden colors and oranges and all those autumnal warm rich tones that all you northerners complain that we never ever get down here, and did I mention the frosty lawns and dock we had?
Yep, we had winter in all its glory and tomorrow folks…guess what we are getting our glorious Florida warmth and sunshine back! Here comes the overnights of just mid-fifties and day time temperatures into the seventies and nearly eighty by the weekend, hooray!
This is what I signed on for, yippy!

On that positive note of a happy future here where I live I wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

Monday, December 27, 2010

Usual

Today was somewhat back to the old grind of what we consider usual.
There’s a word for a little more scrutiny, huh?
Since in reality it means what is common for you, which could be way unusual for the rest of us, huh?

Let’s play with this for a minute.
If every morning I usually get up at seven A.M. and exercise and then go into the shower to get ready to go work, have breakfast and then leave for work that would be my usual, right?
But if the next day I awake at ten A.M. and then go to the fridge look inside decide there is nothing I want in it and then think I will go out for breakfast and get one of those grand slam thingy’s because I can go to the gym later since I am not working that would not be my usual, correct?

Hmmm, we all have rituals that we follow and some days more than others.
But deviating from them makes us… what?
More interesting or NOT boring, huh?

OK, so today I suppose was NOT my usual, here’s my true confession…I awoke at eight thirty, wow I slept half the day away! So unlike me! LOL!
But to be fair I did stay up to watch the Sound of Music until after eleven.
How many of you saw it when it first came out? (Maybe again last night for the millionth time that it has since been on the TV, but to be honest I don’t think we watched it on the TV since the boys have been on their own…)
Anyway I did and boy did Hubby when it originally came out!
Why you ask?
My dear Hubby was an assistant manager of the Fox Theater in Hackensack New Jersey and so he got to see it every night for months since it was held over then! Way back in 1965 when we were both teenagers.

We did not know each other then.
Interestingly though I went to see it at that same theater with my cousin who was more like a brother at the time and I do believe there were adults with us probably my aunt and uncle his parents and perhaps my own parents but for some reason I can’t seem to remember that.
We all remember the movie though, us alive ones, he and I and wow it was something!
I think it was the first movie that had an intermission like at the live Broadway shows.
And it was just as great as going to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall or any Broadway show, which we had done often if you recall my childhood neighborhood… and growing up fifteen minutes from the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan.
And many of my neighbors either being actors, singers or dancers, techs or producers and directors on Broadway or in TV during those years of growing up in Paramus New Jersey! A great youth to remember, don’t you all think?

Any-who, usual was never ever in those days, many were unique.
You know I do believe remembering all that made it easier for me to conform to the quiet lifestyle that I have most days now.

Moving on...
Who knows… we are going to have a Florida freeze tonight here in southwest Florida will you believe?
Gosh Hubby had to go out and bring in our baby tomato plants and our potted pineapple that I started from the top of one, it’s really easy and I am sure many of you have done it yourselves. Ours is enormous now but nothing compared to my avocado seed that has to be about fifteen feet now with a trunk of nearly a foot wide! PS it was planted in the ground years ago!
As you can tell I am a proud Momma of my plants!
Well, what else have I got, no youngins anymore or grands.

On that beating an old repetitive horse sing song once again, my usual form of wishful self pity.
I will say instead that I want you all to have a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

PS the story was fictional for the Sound of Music and if you Google it you will know what I said is true, but made for a great movie!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Another

Yes, we do have another year of holidays nearly done; let’s not forget we still have New Year’s Eve to contend with…
But for us that is a no brainer.
You see we stopped going out on New Year’s Eve too!
Boy, are we boring or what?
Well, to be honest it is dangerous for us oldies but goodies with all those youngsters on roads drinking too much!
And we fall asleep early anyway.
In fact the last two years we didn’t even make it to midnight! Sad but true.
Not good I hear you all saying!
LOL!
We don’t mind really!
The New Year comes in with or without our observing that process.
Hopefully you are not feeling that ‘after it all’ let down?
Sadly, so many do after the rushing around type holidays.

Oh in the day we did go out even to fancy places, but then when we had our sons we used to just have a party at the neighbors and put the boys to bed with their kids or in their empty bedrooms or the same thing was done at our home with their children.
And it was a neighborhood when we lived in our first home, our townhouse condo and so there was no driving involved only walking from here to there and back again on sidewalks and sober.

Although, when Hubby was a Fire chief in NJ and we were in our bi-level home that we had built. We did have those firehouse parties, and one year we even won the basket of cheer, which was ridiculous because we were not drinkers at that time. Actually we only started with the wine thing after 9/11, with our eldest son being twenty-nine and the younger one being twenty-five and so by then our sons were well on their own, plus we were a few years into our fifties and it was common knowledge that wine is good for older hearts!
So after they were grown we used to go out with my cousins or have a party at our home or with them at theirs, but even that stopped when we had our health issues to deal with.
Before I told them my true concerns and feeling with what they did about lying to us and all… so that ‘friend’ ship sailed a while ago before my honesty mouth unrestrained went wild!

I used to enjoy getting all the food prepared and everything, but with my current weight and health issue that is something I shouldn’t look forward to so much anymore in truth, my own truth this time.

Any-who, I do know that by this time next year that will not be that big of an issue or at least it will be a lesser one; that’s the plan anyway!

Everyone has their reasons to do whatever they do, do during the ‘holidays’ and to all of us that could be their tradition.
So the best thing we can do is support those choices by acceptance.
And encourage individuality in whatever they may decide.
Dear friends who celebrate Kwanzaa, which begun tonight for the next six I do believe, please accept my wishes for a very happy holiday for you too!

On that note of acceptance for all of us to live a more cheerful coexistence I would like to wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and ask you to please share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

Saturday, December 25, 2010

T'is

T’is the BIG DAY!
(PS: T’is’s definition is: ‘it is’, in the poetic form, now we all know, ok? But many of you probably knew that.)

Any-who…
I hope that you are all extremely happy with whatever you received!

We no longer give each other gifts and gosh I don’t know when that stopped but it did years ago.
Our decorations are bleak too.
Just a wreath on the front door, but that one I do know why we went understated instead of tastefully gaudy it was around the time Hubby injured his back, about five years ago. Climbing ladders and reaching became difficult and for me… let’s put it this way… FORGET IT!
I am no longer a ladder climber but that goes way back since I primarily was a faller offer, clumsy was my middle name in my twenties, but little did we know then that it was a precursor to MS as one of the first signs and symptoms.
There were many but it wasn’t in our personal vocabulary then so I took the brunt of jokes about being uncoordinated, which was baffling since I had ice figure-skated for years from the age of four and let us not forget my years as a ballet dance student.
And so none of us picked up on it then or thought it was a serious problem to bear further investigation.

Moving on…
We had a quiet morning and heard from number one son by phone as usual the one who does not forget his old parents even when he has to work, which he is today since he works at Busch Gardens that is open!
He is a lead mechanic for all those rides you enjoy when you go there, and so he is there when they tell him to be to keep all of them safe for everyone!

After watching the parades from the two US Disney’s which was quite entertaining and on for a few hours with top entertainment including Mariah Carey and Jackie Evancho we went out to eat.

I did do my exercises folks and I am proud to say I am now up to a count of fifteen per exercise! I do lying flat on my back leg lifts, tummy crunches with bent knees, side leg lifts with bottom leg slight bent and lastly my free weights with elbows on the mat and arms extended from there! A nice beginning for a couch potato for the last few years; I can’t say five since I was walking up until about three years ago.
If any of you recall those were my cane days, and what happened due to my Ataxia I had to keep switching sides with my cane which caused shoulder problems too, and then oddly enough my osteoarthritis in my hips started to cause me to lose sleep due to pain and since my stomach can’t take any pain meds and so the doctor basically told me to stop walking altogether!
TA DA!
So here I am all those years later with fear of doing counter productive exercising, got that?
And that is why I am so happy to have finally figured out a way to help myself, and you know something?
THAT IS MY HUNUKAH/CHRISTMAS PRESENT TO ME!
I even probably mentioned a while ago how many gyms were afraid to take me on due to the fall issue.
Ataxia is a symptom of the MS that oddly enough not everyone gets so I have been told just like the optic neuritis not everyone gets that either.
Unfortunately I did get both.

Oh the present thing, well, Hubby and I decided that we didn’t actually need anything because we have everything we could possibly want or need.
Besides if we do need anything we don’t wait until the holidays we save up and buy it when we need it hopefully! Another TA DA! I thought that was in order.
We did send our eldest a gift since he is in our life.
But our younger son sadly has been known to return what we have sent in the past and as sad as that is, no, that is heartbreaking and so we don’t anymore…
And all our other long distance relatives, we as a family decided that it was a bit much so we stopped years ago!
Even cards are now done just online.
Streamlined and cost effective, huh?

On that rather weird concept of our way of celebrating to most of you I bet, but it works for us anyway I do want to wish you all a very happy good night and to all please do not forget to count all those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time I expect to see you here or you will be square, OK?
LOL, I am still trying to figure out how I will see you? LOL, LOL, I break myself up!
And yea, Merry Christmas PEEPS!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Eve

Tonight is the night for all the little ones to try hard to stay up to see the BIG GUY!
Yep, I know since we celebrate everything also because Hubby is of the Christmas persuasion peeps and yes our sons did enjoy all that that goes with the holidays.
And they had the eyes wide open and were hard to get to bed on the night of this particular holiday!

When they were very, very small and I still bathed them we used to hear Santa’s Ho, Ho, Ho from the bathroom Christmas Eve delivering their presents.
And that was my clue to get them both out of the tub and get them into their PJs for we knew Santa had delivered their fondest wishes.
When they got older it was difficult even just with helping the old chubby guy with all his gifts since we had to find real creative places to help him hide it all!
We even had surf boards in our shower the first Christmas we spent here in Florida!
Santa requested our aid and so we of course did.

I have to admit being a Jew I did enjoy those days too, and was truly engulfed in the whole deal.
At Hanukah we always lit the Menorah but having big bucks for eight presents for that and to celebrate Christmas too was quite a bit to think about and a really big expense so we told them about Hanukah and actually bought Christmas presents.
Sadly I feel badly about that now, but what can you do?
You can’t go back.
One thing I do remember about those days the most is how we definitely tried our hardest to fulfill all their wants on that list that they both had, and I do believe we did accomplish it yearly!
So fond memories are what we have and who can complain about any of that?
And I want to wish to my readership here in the US and all over the world please have a terrific Christmas Eve and day (if you celebrate it) and don’t forget the photographs but if you do I predict that your memories will be right where you stow them in your brain as I have!
Its scary sometimes it’s almost like they, our sons were just peanuts yesterday, and how I miss that!
Thankfully they grew into fine independent healthy men, but any Mom knows what I mean.
If you’re lucky enough to have grandbabies to continue the traditions with you have it all, and I too hope we can say the same someday; but not yet.
Below my gift once again to you all is the poem: T’was the Night Before Christmas…

Night Before Christmas
by Major Henry Livingston Jr. (1748-1828)



'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

'Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!'

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"

And so on the remembrance of the season I will wish you a very happy good night to all and to all please count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

PS here’s your Santa tracker too, just copy and paste: http://www.noradsanta.org/

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Steps

“A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step,” which is a quote from Lao Tzu, Laozi an old master or old one, a Chinese philosopher who supposedly lived during the sixth century BC, but he was mythological and he is generally considered honorific.
An East Asian philosopher of the school of Taoism, notable ideas of Wu wei which translates to taking action.
How interesting, huh?

Well I thought the quote was relevant since I have begun my journey that may even be more than a thousand steps. Yes, probably two hundred thousand or more like a million more, lol.
Today was day two of this undertaking one that is purely selfish and well worth the effort!
Odd and perhaps not so nice of me being that way at this time of the year but I do think being good to ones self is important too.
I have been unjustly mean or bad to myself with my self-defeprecating attitude with me.

And today I did step up the program with adding a count of fifteen for my arms. I did have a nasty leg cramp and I will from now on have to remember to take my Baclofen, my anti-spasmodic, before beginning, because once I am down on the mat, I am down on that mat!

I have such high hopes and I do know that I am capable of sticking to this self improvement project of mine; since it is literally a matter of life and death!
Like anything these days it is not a temporary situation; it is a lifestyle change.
I am also watching my salt intake too.
It seems that I was hooked too much on pickles and olives, not chips like most of the obese.
But to my good I do love salads of the fresh vegetable kind and I do love to make homemade soup. Today I made my own asparagus soup and had a salad topped with canned salmon, about two ounces, and a light homemade dressing of our own lemons from our tree juice and a bit of olive oil with a wee bit of sea salt and ground black pepper with a dash of ground garlic. Breakfast was an over the counter canned diet drink of 190 calories, mid morning snack was a fresh peach, dinner was chicken, white meat a few slices and one wing, half of a sweet potato and another dose of my salad this time with fat free sour cream, approximately a teaspoon full; hummm. I did mention that I am a Jew, but never a kosher one…LOL! Because if I were I would never mix milk and meat!

Any-who, moving on…
Last night our internet provider did not come back online until after ten P.M., and so I was sound asleep for hours by then thus why my post was delayed.
I was for some strange reason exhausted.
And I hit the hay, as the expression goes…which means for my foreign readers, went to sleep and it was early like before eight o’clock.
But I suppose that was good since they, here we go again, who is, ‘they’?
The theory is by 'they' that lack of sleep also helps with weight gain, and so therefore sleeping has the opposite effect, correct?
I did sleep except for a few bathroom runs until after seven in the morning!
Wow!
If this trend continues I could be my old self in no time at all!
All the puzzle pieces could be falling into place.
Dear out of America friends again this expression just means going to work out with my work outs, got that?
LOL!

Our weather here has also been fairly nice enough to leave the windows open the last two days, fresh air, how wonderful!
But we are going to be getting a few colder nights starting next Tuesday but only another aberration of our norms, and we have been promised that all will return to the right stuff that we are so proud of and brag about once again after only a couple of colder nights, but with days in the sixties and back to the mid-seventies after that! Christmas will be a beautiful sunny mid seventies day!

On that short weather report from this novice reporter of such I will wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Exercise

I told you a few nights ago I had a plan to start my own exercise program, and today was the day!
In reality I should take some before pictures of me so I can prove when I am gorgeous again from where I came from and how great I am at self help! LOL!

But honestly I should know what I am doing since I was also in physical therapy as well as occupational and neuromuscular therapy a total of fourteen times.
I know you remember I mentioned my dance background that’s twelve years strong not to mention those four years working out at the gym, and also those four years I was race walking!

And so this should be a piece a cake… not good to mention that when you’re trying to get back into shape! Kidding, but not myself this is serious and very necessary.
Even more so now, since that diabetes scare has returned.
For the heck of it I wasn’t feeling too well yesterday and since I still do have the kit to test my glucose I did. The first test two hours after a meal was 141, not good but not too bad, the second before bed I felt was necessary due to that number and it went down to 121.
To try to reassure myself this morning I tested one more time with a complete fast from the dinner meal of last evening and this morning my glucose was at 125, which is bad for overnight and fasting. Morning numbers should be under 100 to be normal.

As if I needed more motivation than my own full length mirror; this other health issue is looming large once again, and I hate that!
Who needs this anytime anywhere?

Any-who the exercises consisted of my wonderful Yoga mat that I have owned for years and my three pound free weights; I do have two pound and five as well.
I really thought that the three’s were light enough after all my hands are bad but not all that weak yet, and hopefully my plan is to make them stronger too.
Getting up and down off the mat is the only slight glitch of my whole project, but I locked the handles of my walker alongside the mat and utilized it for that purpose and it worked! I even had a cute little pillow I made years ago from a T-shirt that I didn’t want to get rid of; the one with the Native American’s face on it saying the 'Great American Clean Up'. It is small and the perfect size for my head support on the mat.

I start with slow leg lifts together, since my tummy looks as if I were pregnant, and my hips look as if I were that wide bodied woman in the funny but weird Super Bowl commercial of a few years ago.
Sadly at the time that came out my hips were tiny, only thirty inches around!
Heaven knows what they are now, but it must be at least twice that.
I am too scared to know that truth.
All I do know is this body of mine is in a very serious health problem and so I had to intervene with myself and do what I enjoy or I should say used to… working out!
Then I rolled on to my side to do some leg lifts from that position ten on each side, and a ten count for all my beginning programs start including the raising of the three pound free weights in each hand. Good thing about already being on the floor your balance is not compromised and there is no where to fall, because you are already there!
It’s hard to believe I used to do 200 crunches with my very cute 20 inched waistline and washboard abdomen, and oh those fifteen inch thighs, were so oh wonderfully able to get into any pair of pants or slacks I desired! This was only a little over five years ago, not twenty friends!
I can do it I know I can with my own logical caution and knowledge of my own body I will… as I said before I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired!

On that note of doing something positive I would like to wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ok?

PS If you are receiving this late it is not my fault my provider was down sorry!

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Reference

We all need to reference material on occasion, correct?
Be it to check on our own works accuracy or on people as in recommendations.
Referring to items or persons in our world is an everyday occurrence, right?
But unless we have a method to make sure we get it right then most of these items would be suppositions.

I enjoy researching information on numerous topics and I just go bonkers for the immediate access that we all get with utilizing the internet!
Gosh, nothing wrong with these information highways as they are called.
Amazing is an understatement with the quickness that we have of everything right here at our fingertips literally!

Disagreements and discussions can be tamed with a few clicks of the wrist plain and simple. Searching for the answer to any question is basically without delay; only as quick as you can type.
Who besides me doesn't gawk daily at this wonderful invention and all of its abilities that can cause us all to be so much better informed than in our wildest dreams of decades ago?
It’s like so many other things that we take for granted in life.
This generation would all be jaded as ours was with the TV and telephones… although, you must admit that the evolution of those two in particular was and still are astonishing; since to this day they are always changing!

Have you ever had the desire to know why something is?
Or who someone is?
From apples to zebras the internet has taken the place of dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, newspaper, books you name the materials and medium it covers beyond our imaginations.
We are able to talk to people all over the world just by pushing or touching a few keys and some by only using their voices, which to me is mind-blowing!
You can zero in on your own home, know where your children are or your car too!
Depending on what type of programs you install, and yes due to programs like Skype people can have face to face chats no matter where they are!

Yes, I know I am gushing, but seriously we all should be.
Technology is something the nay-Sayers I truly believe cannot grasp the newness of these things.
Now if I wanted to know how many people actually use computers and the internet I can just put that question up on one of the many search engines available for free to all of us, and sure enough: Answers.com came up with the answer of 365 million use computers and 1,733,993,741 use the internet! How about that for instantaneous information, wow! Huh? Those numbers don’t jive. I bet it’s because of all those internet connected phones, cars etc., gotta be? I’ll get back to you on that.
Are you impressed? I still am and will be for many years to come.

I suspect clarifications of stats is all in how you ask your questions and that is only human. Mistakes can be made and often if not properly asked when trying to get that information we can get the wrong stuff without realizing it, correct?
Fact checking then should be duplicated and even done in triplicate I would suspect when needing it for sensitive work related situations.
But we hacks of the writing for our own interests and concerns type should just find sites that we know we can trust for whatever we need to float our boatloads of information we disseminate daily to give some worthwhile facts to our readerships nightly.
What we do is not earth shattering but still should have a smattering of accuracy!

And so the reference I made to referencing is of our ultimate choice to be better people with the ability to gather facts in actuality at the drop of a hat! And if that doesn’t send chills down your spine when you think that only fifty years ago we had dial up phones and black and white TV pictures and no cable or internet!
Wow what a time to be living in, huh?
HA we have so much and rarely realize that significance, but we all should…

On that thought to ponder I will wish you all a very happy good night and I will also ask you all to count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

Monday, December 20, 2010

Soup

Have you ever felt that you were drowning in soup?
How odd you all say.
Well, some days that’s the way my life goes, I am pretty sure that you too have had days like that too.
Nothing goes right?
You all know what I mean.
I suppose the first question was a wee bit abstract for some to wrap their minds around; and for that I am truly sorry! If it was clear bullion soup no problem but vegetable; what a hard swim! And most of us prefer a little bit of sustenance in our broth.

But as life goes on daily and as we all know things change too daily I am hoping for tomorrow to be a better day, OK?
Am I being a little too vague this banner waver of everything personal exposed, me, huh?
I guess evasive would be more accurate.

Disagreements in life are inevitable with anyone but especially when you live day in and day out with that same person.
Whoa, you all know what I am saying is true.
Be it your perfect children or spouse there are days that not everyone can get along; it’s just human nature and if any of you think otherwise than you are living in dreamland, really! (Here’s where my friends with multiple marriages tell me oh yes you can have all days of peace! Yep and then you trade those husbands in for someone who gives you peace again, lol?) Some of the nicest people I know have been married five times!
Let’s all face the facts, we are not clones of one another if we were we would all think alike and be more boring than we already are, LOL!

Life is not for sissies!
Where have I heard that one before, LOL?
Well, it’s true nothing that we encounter in any shape or form is simple.
Being agreeable all of the time I suppose would make my life simpler, but then I would be losing my backbone just as ignorance I have been told can be bliss, who wants that?

Having individual thoughts and reasoning out those thoughts and speaking them aloud makes for a volatile situation at times, but at least NOT boring!
And my thirst for knowledge has not yet wavered.

Human nature being what it is we all must find a way to handle these glitches in our lives.
When you find out, please let me know, OK?
Not kidding.
Yes, that’s what makes everyday interesting I suspect.
Not knowing what will happen next.

Moving on…
Tomorrow marks the last one of my Cipro, my antibiotic, second round of dosing after those seventy-two hours of penicillin that didn’t work; sadly I hate to report that my gland on my left side under the oral surgery side is swelling once again!
It’s sore and I hate this.
What do I do now?
Shall I forget about it until it’s so bad like last time before Thanksgiving and waiting until after? When I tried to make it to that Monday, and didn’t?
Or think more positively and say to myself over and over again like a mantra, “it will be all better now, it will be all better now…”

Wouldn’t that be just great for ills to be mantra-ed away or positive thoughts away?
Why we would be able to cure cancer and all other ills like MS, Parkinson’s and even ALS!
That would be wonderful!

You do know that there are people that believe so strongly in the power of positive thinking that they feel that’s all there is to it!
Some even practice denial and that works for them, how marvelous I say!
Homeopathy works for others.

Clarity is in the mode of thought one has within their own perception of things in life, and who am I to disagree with their logic when it works for them.
And so being in a cloudy or lumpy soup is not helpful, metaphorically speaking that is.
How I don’t want to be opaque; I need to know how to do things for myself just in case.
I have already been doing all seven shots a week for myself for the last week or more.
To be honest it is one of those things that give me a feeling of independence more than I have had in the last few years.
I have turned into a too needy and dependent a person and it is one of my negative attributes that I so hate.
It is so unlike the young woman I vaguely remember well into my forties and fifties too…sadly its just a ghostly image of the old me.
So much of me has been lost these last few years, and I want to think of a plan to return some of the old me to me…
Yes, I did have a plan to start working out but apparently the person I thought would help me never called back and I called her too many times that I was afraid I would be considered an annoyance. And the other possibility was well within my reach but unfortunately the one side effect of the Cipro is that it seems to have some negative affects on your tendons and with all my problems I decided it would be more beneficial to start any program after it was all done with.
And this is where I now sit, I would have said stand if that was what I was doing but I am sitting.

Any-who, I think I may give it a go myself with all my background in dance and race walking and those four years at the gym, why not I say?
Nothing to lose no monies wasted and if its time I am worried about nah, I have plenty.

A new chapter begins, a new day will start and a resurgence of a desire to find where I lost me, and try my darndest to find her or is that me too?

On those promissory notes to myself I want to wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Flow...

Interestingly enough this is the third choice for my title this evening. I nixed the other two.
Nothing seems to be flowing from my minute brain into those boney fingertips to make any significant commentary tonight.
But not so fast friends it will come to me…I could hear the silence and yes it was deafening!
I know you were hoping perhaps for a night off, but it is in my utmost persona to not leave you hanging without something to make fun of during your work day tomorrow!

As I hear it these blogs, not mine in particular but blogs in general are the topic of many office conversations.
Almost like the soap operas used to be…hmm… gossip!

And like all who write at times we hit a wall of blanks; sounds like a TV police show or mystery series, huh?
Nah, no guns here only remnants of what used to be muscles in my upper arms that have since turned to lumpy mush…. Or even those shoot ‘em up kind that are not here at all either!
My blanks have been on occasion on the computer screen, blanking-out meaning without anything to say or write on it thus the white page without any colorful analysis of the world and how I see it, uh oh, not good…

You see, as I see it this is my job to be able to keep you all informed about the things you might never ever think about.
A window into what could be, got that?
And so I take this responsibility very seriously!
If I neglect that duty of mine to help this world in any capacity however minute then I have no idea of what might happen, but in my heart of hearts I do believe it could be disastrous!

I know I hear you all saying how could one person have such an impact on the world.
That was rhetorical because logically you all know the answer to that question, by studying history great people and horrendous people have been nearly all alone in changing the world’s outcome in one way or another, good or bad. You all can just put that faith in your own abilities for good only please!

That’s not to say that this little information guide of mine has any of that type of influence, but one never knows does one?
Balance and flow has everything to do with an even keel, but this is not sailing!

Danger is in the eye of the beholder and sometimes not even then.
Exposing our thoughts to others is a risk that I have never feared taking.
Must have to do with that broken filter thing I mentioned on last night’s blog.
But to be honest that is the only type of physical peril I would ever care to take!
Some feel naked by expressing their utmost confidential information but I throw caution to the wind more times than not, or so it appears…whoa, am I brave or just plain STUPID?
Okay, you all may be right but it’s my secrets exposed nightly here and that is my free choice. As I have unrelentingly have surmised it’s the commonalties in life that unite us as a species, so I say, what the heck, really?
I have always considered myself an open book and why not? …Not many can lay claim to be all this boring daily! LOL!

On that note of perhaps incorrect grammar I will love to wish you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, OK?

PS Hey, did you notice? I did it, I am all done! I tell you Seinfeld should have hired me for one of his writers, since I am soooo good at writing about NOTHING!
And I am sure you all agree.
LOL

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Basic

Tonight I decided to try and pick a new title for this Blog as usual that I have told you all before I just do that and the rest of this just flows out of my fingertips and perhaps my brain sets them off. And Hubby so boldly interjected that, since in all his wisdom and logic he has told me that my fingertips do not think for themselves; although some nights I do wonder, lol.

Life as we all see it changes daily and for that we always know that we are in transition from our previous times. And so the idiom, ‘Today is the first day of the rest of my life’, can go on, and on… one would think that to be true.
And so taking that above expression for all its worth then you as a person can renew your life daily and begin once again.
Basically what happened yesterday is not of any reason to be concerned with what will happen today, got that?
This is an exoneration of all previous mistakes; how do you like that concept?
Geez, wouldn’t that be just dandy?
Never ever having to own up to your last mistakes?
Or would it be a disaster?

I hear you saying that you never ever make any serious mistakes to make you worry about and so each day for you is just peachy keen and a no-brainer of worry or concern.
Wow, I am dealing with superior human beings, terrific!
What a marvelous thing to know that my readership is that perfect that they never make any mistakes to feel guilty or sorry about!
Only wish that I could say the same thing because that no regrets thingy is quite amazing and awesome!
But alas I cannot.
Daily I suffer from foot and mouth disease.
You all might not be familiar with the ill since you never ever do anything that you are the least bit upset about or ashamed.
Then let me explain, when I say foot and mouth disease it is not truly a disease like all my others and should really be much more controllable, but unfortunately I have never learned the proper way to do that…. You see, it refers to my words coming out of my mouth before totally thinking about the results that those words produce.
The worst are when I say something stupid or inappropriate or mean; shall I go on?
It’s a control issue which mean in my case I lose control of setting my brain in gear and then allowing the words to come out, and yes it does even sometimes, oh who am I fooling it happens when I write too!
Basically I do believe I was hatched or born or produced without a filter on my brain, because this is nothing new I have been like this all of my life.
Sadly, as you can well imagine it is not something to brag about, but in actuality I am sure you have all picked up on it.
Polite people have EXCELLENT FILTERS and never seem to say anything WRONG, hmmm, but I ask you are they any fun at all?
I truly think NOT!
People who watch every word like G-d told them to hush all day long cannot have much fun with their wants or desires, because how would anyone even know, huh?
I ask you?
LOL!

Basically, I am just the run of the mill excuse maker, who does believe in that first idiot oh that was idiom, hmmm… let’s make each day a new beginning and all have clean slates, yea that’s the ticket!
All the prisons would be empty, all the bad marriages would be good, all those mistake children would be back in … well they couldn’t be in the prisons because all those peeps would be free, and we definitely know they can’t go back where they came from, oh my, I guess it can’t really work for everything, no what a stupid idea, who came up with that one?

You know, being idealistic is getting tougher these days…but forgiveness is forever and basically that is what I was trying to say tis the season to forgive others as well as yourself and each day should be a new beginning…that’s all!

On that note of how the heck did I finally make my point I would like to wish you all a very happy good night and to all please count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, OK?

Friday, December 17, 2010

Thousand!

That’s not entirely correct, actually it is my thousand and first entry of Blog postings.
Who would have thunk it that I could have such stick-to-it-ness, not me; that’s for sure!
But I must admit that I am proud of this particular accomplishment in this, the wonder word wars, and all I really wanted to know is if I won anything yet, did I?

Nah, as I have said before I do this purely out of love of reading my own crap up online and of course informing the public with pure and concise information! LOL! If you believe that one I have a brick that would make a great condo? Kidding.

But something interesting tonight occurred on the evening news, and that’s not to say that interesting things don’t occur every night, because they usually do, but…

Supposedly Sarah Palin, X- Alaska governor, currently TV host and author, was taking issue with the fact that John Boehner the new Speaker of the House seems to be able to get away without nasty comments about his public crying bouts and if it were her that she would definitely be part of that old double standard and it would be widely discussed negatively!

Now I don’t really think this is possible but I wrote about that just a few days ago and I hmmm wonder could she be reading this drivel that I lovingly call my own opinionated hogwash.

Perhaps she picked up on me when I was briefly discussing her daughter Bristol’s appearance on Dancing with the Stars and my wonderment at her not getting kicked off due to no talent? Although, I must admit towards the end, her technical ability did improve considerably, but other’s that were kicked off earlier had much more ability, technical, musicality and show presence. So we all know that the ‘TEA PARTY’ must have voted often.
Hmmm, I wonder?

I guess one could Google her lovely daughter’s name and see who was talking about her; I am sure that might be possible, huh?

Oh well, who am I to care if she reads this and perhaps her Tea Party friends might too!
Well, I say ‘the more the merrier’, so there! (I just stuck out my adult tongue once again!)
Shame on me I hear you all saying, well this is my medium so there…I say!

Any-who, I do believe that freedom of the press is legal here in these our US of A, and I am writing this in the US of A, so that could mean me, correct?
Although, I more often than not touch these keyboard keys lightly and there is no pressing involved in any of this publishing, OK?
Accuracy is of the utmost importance when explaining things to your public domain at large.
And so on that note of utter ridiculousness I will wish you all a very happy good night and to all ask you to count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time be here please or be square, OK?

PS And Sarah Palin, if I may call you Sarah Palin, thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts that are so similar to mine it’s uncanny and to be honest a wee bit scary; and for the fact that when you can get into where I can’t seem to get into to tell everyone your opinion, although I have been trying for a very long time since I am much older than you, got that, GF? I am just wondering about that double standard thing, should I have been an X-Governor not an X-co-president of an Arthritis Support Group and board member of the foundation, Aquacize instructor, fund raiser etc… but that’s my cross to bear, not yours GF, and so in closing, please know that there are no hard feelings about the fact that you have been stealing my ideas.
I suppose coming up with new ones are hard for you, and I do understand; that’s all I am saying. No harm no foul.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Careful!

Hello again friends.
Tonight I would like to discuss something that was brought up again on our evening news.
Trusting older ladies who leave their purses in the child seat in their grocery carts!
DON’T!
Why? I hear you asking.
Because you are asking to be robbed!

Once again the in-store security camera picked up a man, this time, stealing a woman’s wallet right out of her purse, and when she returned to her cart she appeared to have no knowledge of what had happened! Wait till she gets up to that register and tries to pay for all her groceries, oh my!

Personally, here at the Publix we go to there was an incident with an innocent looking mom who was the thief and her child was the distracter.
So please people watch you stuff!
I have told many a woman not to leave her purse there, and oddly enough it never seems to occur to them as being a problem, oh but it is!
I explain that my husband is retired law enforcement to legitimize my knowledge and concern for their safety and that usually does the job and they then opt to carry their purse or put it on their shoulder or under their arm.
The best advice anyone can give to anybody is just to be aware of your surroundings and keep any valuables close or out of sight or leave them home under lock and key.

While involved with the support group for arthritis back in the late 1990’s until the early turn of this century we would have many guest speakers come to our meetings to talk to our people about this and that, besides dealing with all of the one hundred different types of arthritis on a daily basis.
Since it was mostly all seniors with the mean age of about seventy-five years old or young whatever you prefer, I thought that any members of the sheriff’s office who could teach them about scams or self protection were good ideas. At the time I was a co-president of the all volunteer group, and of course I had access to those people to come on over to the Cultural Center where we would meet monthly.

There are generations who are so trusting and that is the only reason that they get taken so I really felt I was doing a service to these fine people who adopted me as one of their own, since I was about the age of most of their kids at the time.

Many have since passed away for that I am sure, law of averages and all.
But oddly enough I did bump into one of those older woman who consequently is now much older I thought that I had recognized her but couldn’t remember her name, and when I said to her I think I know you, while we're both in line at the cafeteria style eatery at the cultural center she said, “you probably do I have been here forever” and then she said her name and sure enough I did know her! But she sort of remembered me, slightly but I look so different these days and we were both quite a bit older than then, oh well…
The meeting was bittersweet, as they say.

My fondest memories of those older folks that I did enjoy quite a bit since we all went through so much together, not only me teaching them Aquacize, doing fashion shows with using them as my models even once having a golf tournament, but all those losses of spouses and pets and homes after the hurricanes that we had to bond over.
Yes, my surrogate moms and dads… how I do miss them all…

Since all those older folks did somewhat really adopt me; knowing that when we moved here back in 1986 and that both of my parents had already passed away at the ages of 70 and 79 (you see my parents had me late in life at 39 and 43, their second marriage and all), and so they appeared to really care to take me too under their wings; it was so nice of them.

I slowly disconnected from them due oddly enough to my own health problems, but to be honest I don’t think I could have taken their deaths full-out up-close and personal.
My own parent's deaths were hard enough to take, and then moving into a neighborhood with a large elderly population it never seemed to end, the deaths that is.
But making friends with anyone over seventy seemed like I would lose them and I tried hard not to get so attached.
And yes I do know that death is as much a part of life as life is.
But I am a BIG chicken with losing friends, and that is not to say that some of my best friends have not been younger and gone too… my own niece, for one, was only fifty, cousins too under sixty, and kids in high school dying from leukemia; in those days it wasn't so curable.

And so I am being way too maudlin, so sorry!
Where was I?
And what was the point of my title tonight?
Oh, that’s right, ‘CAREFUL’; yep, all of you please try to be; all of my friends out there in cyberspace.
Do whatever it takes to be, remember to watch your stuff and dear ones and hold them all close; it keeps you warm anyway, so why not? LOL!

On that slightly more positive note I would like you all to have a very happy good night and to count all those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Anticipation!

Can you feel it?
It’s in the air…
What? You ask…. why…
JOY of course!
The joy of the season and the thrill of the ideas of love and peace and good will towards all mankind and that means womankind too!

We are all so expecting the best to come magically.
With the chill in the atmosphere we feel this time of year is destine to be whatever our hopes and dreams have surmised.
And if we are optimists it will be just as exciting as we expect!
Ten more days for all of the Christians of the world to celebrate their holiday and it is in my feelings that, that has always been contagious to the rest of us.
Yes there are many religions in this world who do not celebrate this holiday called Christmas, but amazingly the world has taken to it as a very wonderful time of the year and welcomes all to celebrate with them; how truly nice.
Yet when we invite them to celebrate our different winter holidays sometimes we don’t get that same response, huh?

Not to divide us as a human race but I just wonder why that is?
Many holidays like Hanukah, Kwanza and the like would welcome the world too, but you rarely hear of such enthusiasm to join them in celebration.
How odd, I say and at this ripe old age I wonder why?
Freedom to believe in whatever you want to in this country is definitely allowed and traditions are part of all people’s faiths for this I am sure.
So why is it that we don’t try to recognize all others holidays as well and celebrate with them too?

I am not trying to start any trouble, you all know me… I am just an inquiring mind who wants to know why that is?
Yep, that’s it.

Anyone have any ideas I am opened to all suggestions, OK?
You see, in my immediate family we are of two different religions Hubby and me and everyone always wished me a Merry Christmas along with him when it is not my holiday, but people assume that I celebrate it since my husband did, got that?
Actually, not to be rude I haven’t said anything all these years, but neither of us converted from our religions.
He is still a Catholic and I am still a Jew.
And after all these years I would have loved for one of my in-laws to wish me a Happy Hanukah, since I always wished them a Merry Christmas, but no, it never ever happened and I wouldn’t ever make a big deal of it except I am now getting old and I have time to think about it.
I guess it always bothered me.
To me it is respecting others for who they are.
Am I wrong?
Oh dear another TABOO subject, RELIGION!
And why is that I ask you?
Since it is over religions that more wars than any have been fought, and no one wants to discuss it!
Crazy! Perhaps that is the reason for all those wars!
It could be just me, but I am not that smart…
Any-who, all of you wonderful people out in the world know that being of any religion means to love all of the world equally and respect our similarities as much as our differences, OK?
What a world it would be, huh?

On those words of joy of the season to ponder I want to wish all of you a happy, merry or whatever you need to be you to be happy and celebratory!
Because you know that Tobi loves you as you are and hopefully you love her too!

On that note of happiness beyond belief please have a very happy night and count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, OK?

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Complaining...

Is there something wrong with that?
We all have to say one way or another how it really is, true?
How come though when women complain it’s called the ‘b’ word that rhymes with itching or witching?
But somehow when a man does it its being strong and assertive?
Just like this crying thing… you know we get the double standard on that one too, I am speaking about us women in case you weren’t sure!
John Boehner our new upcoming speaker of the house seems to cry at the drop of the hat, and it’s no longer a crime for any man to be that emotional, but still we women would be considered weak now? What?
Yes, that’s what the story is when Hilary Clinton nearly did while running for the presidency she nearly broke down into a crying state during it and it was commented on that she was showing her human but weaker side, huh?
Men are now allowed to but we are not!
Boy, how things have changed, although, we were never allowed, it was considered unprofessional or worse!

I know I do have the habit of complaining nearly nightly and if I cry at times I occasionally mention it but not all of the time because that would just add to the boredom, but I do have feelings too!
And why would mine be considered wrong and now all these gents being allowed to show how they sincerely feel about something without being told that they found their feminine side?
Yep, you got that right!
Crying is no longer considered a gender thing and us who used to be called the weaker sex are no longer?
Well, that’s a good thing, I think! Sure it is.
You know, that is true over the last few decades we females as a gender have proven that we are extremely capable of holding our own in any situation!
And many today are the so-called bread winners with many Hubbies’s staying home and taking care of the kiddies, wow! Or many women are the sole parent.

Topsy turvey, huh?
Upside down from what my generation knew and held in temporary esteem, since we are the ones who began the women’s movement of equality for all.
Men and women should be able to play any sports that they wanted and to also be paid the same for the same work as any man. This one I still think is a wee bit off so I have been told… men are still getting more than their fair share for when they are in the work force.

Emotions as I have mentioned a few times over the years are not unique to one gender over the other we just used to show our feelings differently.
At one time men were told to hold their emotions in and to buck up and not cry.
Women were told to try not to, but if you must do it, do it privately not publicly, what?
Mixed messages as always have been the problem, but now I am confused does this mean we all now can cry if we wanna?
It would be so nice to know the rules.
I’m not COMPLAING, oh yes I am, but in some ways it does make things easier being no definitive gender defining attributes or flaws, or what-have-you?
We are all just human beings in the reality of going about our business and so I do believe it may be a good thing that we are equal in this crying thing.
I can live with it.
But please stop changing the rules every few decades because as I get older I don’t think that I will be able to necessarily be capable of keeping up, OK?

On that slight bit of silliness I will ask you to politely, since that never seems to go out of style, to please count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please, here I go again, nice, huh?
Be here or be square, OK?

Monday, December 13, 2010

Taboo

Conventional wisdom is to keep private things that you are concerned with becoming a problem when exposed private, correct?
Most of us have a few things in our lives which we know may not be ordinary and could even be considered controversial.

Lately many celebrities have come around and out about the fact that they had suffered a miscarriage or even a few.
Sadly this topic had been considered taboo for way too long.
Lisa Ling: copy and paste her site below: http://www.dosomething.org/blog/celebsgonegood/lisa-ling-provides-forum-women has started a web page for women who have these so-called sensitive secrets that seem to have touched many but that we as a gender have been told not to discuss in public.

Honestly it took me a few days to come to my own personal conclusion to bring up this particular topic which happened so long ago and at the time I felt was swept under the rug as if I did something wrong, which I did not.

I had three miscarriages in total, one two years after my first son was born in 1974, he was born in 1972 and I was at four and half months and told by the doctor at the time that it was a mal formed fetus since I was hemorrhaging profusely and that I needed surgery to complete what was happening and it was G-d’s way of taking care of these things. By my third pregnancy in my third month in 1975 I began cramping and the doctor put me in the hospital under bed rest and on Provera, a drug at the time for preventing early delivery, and our second son was born perfect at full term, six months later in 1976.
It was when he was a teenager that I attained a Physicians’ Desk Reference book and found out how dangerous Provera was and could have caused deformities not unlike Thalidomide used in forties and fifties for the same purpose, I suppose we’re extremely fortunate!

I had two more miscarriages after my younger son(1976) was born, one in 1979 only at six weeks but placenta was caught in my uterus and so surgery again was done, and the third was another four and half month one in 1981, and not once was I told what was the gender of the children that I had lost and no one instructed me that I could have asked, I had no guidance what-so-ever. I was so naïve and under the circumstances it was not discussed.

Five pregnancies in the first ten years of marriage that was not due to my lack of knowledge of birth control for I had been on six different types of ‘the pill’ and even had an IUD after my first son was born; the pills caused what is called breakthrough bleeding and the IUD ripped my insides and most likely caused the next four pregnancy problems although one doctor did cauterize me. I always wanted two sons and a daughter that is all I ever wanted, but by the third four and half month miscarriage, which took another severe toll on my body with hemorrhaging, and so I gave in to the only type of birth control that would be permanent and at the tender age of thirty-one I opted for having my tubes tied, a tubal ligation, a final irreversible way to not have anymore pregnancies. Sadly my mother passed away within months after that final step and I was miserable for I would have loved another child to name for her.

Clearing the air feels so wonderful, and I hope that we as women in this twenty-first century could and should feel able to talk about anything without anyone telling us that we shouldn’t!

Only one woman in memory was willing to discuss these traumas that I went through in peculiar shame of the times and oddly enough it was an octogenarian who had been through it herself, my Hubby’s grandmother who confided in me of her own miscarriage before she had either of her two children.

What has happened to us as a people when we can’t discuss these things of utmost frailty and importance to us as human beings; I thought we were truly in this together, are we not?

That is why when everyone out there is talking about their grand’s and children’s spouses I feel sad and sorrowfully stupidly jealous, for that was in my plan and unfortunately none has come to pass….
And I fear that I may never see that day.

Sorry for this sadness but my heart aches at this time of year for family and we are short in that arena.

But please remember to count your own blessings and to share your overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, OK?
I need all of you; for you are my abstract family.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Again!

Once more we are heading towards brrr temperatures and no, we have not enjoyed the short cold snaps that kept on staccato-ing through the last few weeks.

But alas, here we go AGAIN!
The chill is in the air and is to your bones and when not used to these things as many long time southerners aren’t, even we transplants seem to find it too much for us to deal with; this is hideous weather for us.
Oddly enough as I write this my toolbar reads only sixty-one degrees!
And to most, anyone that is not bone chilling but I do believe it is incorrect or we are bloodless souls here in the Sunshine State because to me it is definitely freezing!
That is the outside temperature by the by… in the house it is in the seventy-six degree range, just lovely!
The humidity seems to add to that feeling when outdoors; cold or hot temperatures with humidity appears to cause more of an effect.

Today we stayed home and Hubby mowed the lawn, I know, with all this cold however did it grow, but it did here and there and needed a neatening up of all those bits of sticker uppers, as I boldly call them, which he did do.
Besides we have been periodically getting a bit of rain, not very much or for very long, but drizzle would be more accurate, really!
Water still has a tendency to make things grow though, you know?
I am a poet and I know it. LOL!

While Hubby did his manicuring of the lawn thingy I on the other hand did not do too much. I did take care of a bit of cleaning and changing the sheets and a load of wash too, but not very much really.
It saddens me that I won’t or can’t do more.
I did play some online dominoes which I do enjoy and lost and then reclaimed my dignity and won again.
Some agains are good, wouldn’t you say?

Again life tells us that we should be knowledgeable of how things go at this time of year, since it does come every year, correct? Then why do we seem more times than not to allow it to get us soooo stressed out?
Experience is supposed to teach us, and that is why this again confuses me, does it do it to you too?
Hustle and bustle of the season they say… here we go again with ‘they’, please let me know, if you do, who ‘they’ are? LOL!
Shouldn’t logically by now we all know that tis the season is here and now that we should not be soooo surprised by what we must accomplish to make it all go smoothly?
Oh yes, it is possible.
We are capable human beings with logical minds and simplicity and lists are the way we handle things at other times of the year, what makes this time soooo different?
Deadlines in many types of jobs are not unusual, reports, proposals or whatever’s need to be done by a certain time, same with homework for those kiddies to relate to all of this.
We are accomplishers tried and true and so…STOP being concerned and take a deep breath and you know that YOU will get it all done!
You HEAR ME?
Now breathe again…
And smile and tell yourself you are a wonderful capable person who can do whatever you set your mind to, got that?


LET US ALL PRAY THAT I AM RIGHT! LOL!

On that consoling silliness but done with love in my heart and soul, happy night to all and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, OK?

PS please ask those weather angels to turn up the HEAT!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Whirlwind

Whirlwind: noun
1 [count] : a very strong wind that moves in a spinning or swirling motion and that can damage buildings, trees, etc.
2 [singular] : something that involves many quickly changing events, feelings, etc. ▪ My life has been a whirlwind lately. ▪ He attended a whirlwind of meetings. ▪ an emotional whirlwind = a whirlwind of emotions
Thanks to Merriam Webster Learner’s Dictionary

I have been a guilty user of words that are not always clear in their meanings, you know?
And so I enjoy delving further into my first language that I utilize usually without much thought.
And yes today was a whirlwind of movement, therefore definition number two would be what we did.

We left the home front fairly early on our venture to accomplish shopping for gifts and needed items. The weather was to be much warmer today than it has been over the last few days… and it did get there in and out really due to whenever the sun showed its face.
And so Hubby and I were prepared for anything temperature wise, layers is what we wore and periodically would zip up or remove clothing during our morning rounds. Yes we had a few stops a flea market for my ideas of finding this or that for the house, no luck there, and then a quickie healthy lunch at our restaurant for that Crispers, which has something to do with the Publix grocery chain I believe they own them, but I could be wrong. They do not allow tipping there only contributions to their one and only charity, United Way and so we do give what we can when we can and today Hubby did once again, got that?
The food is of the soup and salad variety with a few other choices on the menu which changes often and the prices are not very high considering no tipping is allowed. From there our intention was to go on to the larger chain store where I felt I could find the remainder of the items we were searching for.
But after going down a few isles and through a few departments I had a strange feeling come over me. Of nausea and being closed in, and so I urged Hubby to return the one item we had chosen and to get me out of the store!
And so we did leave, oddly enough once outside of the building the sensation of foreboding left me immediately as we got into the car though I did feel light-headed and needed cooler air the open window didn’t help, and even though the outside temperature stated it was fifty-six degrees, we have a computer read in the car itself which came with the car, but I needed the air-conditioner on and as soon as it went on I felt some relief, except from the sun that was shinning in and hurting my bad eye, my right.
So strange I wonder what it was all about even at home when my blood pressure was checked it had gone up and my pulse too.
An anomaly I suspect for within hours I was better, thankfully.

And having all this new found time on my hands I decided to get to a pleasant relaxing calming job that Hubby was not interested in that of watching two movies that I had chosen Humble Pie and The Wronged Man, which he actually watched part of while checking our chicken cooking on the barbecue. Both movies were quite different and both of a quality that was quite incredible in many different aspects, one was a fictional story and the other was based on a true one. I would give you a synopsis but that would ruin the stories for you! But I do recommend both.

On that note of peeked interest, I hope that you will count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

PS A site was provided somehow to me this morning on my Face book page and it is to send free letters to the military and so I will share the site with you, just copy and paste:http://www.letssaythanks.com/Home1280.html
And create smiles on their faces...

Friday, December 10, 2010

Have

Used to be during the ‘great depression’ of the last century, 1929 to 1941 there was an expression that went, “The haves and have-nots”, referencing people’s financial situations of the times. If you still had some money you were of course the haves and no money of course the have-nots.
A plain and simple explanation of how it was going during those horrendous notorious years.
People at the time and till this day truly believe that if it wasn’t for us getting finally involved in the Second World War, it had actually begun in the 1930’s and until Pearl Harbor was bombed we did not physically go ‘over there’ to fight, many believe it was what had helped to get us out of the depression.
Men went to war while women held down the home front by taking many of the jobs that men used to do, ah the days of ‘Rosie the Riveter’.
Movies portrayed the war as romantic and exciting and people volunteered left and right to partake in getting rid of the enemy!
Sadly, at the time little of the actual horrors I think were told of all the murders of innocent people, death chambers and prisoner of war camps that were really just more death camps, yes millions were killed for no reason accept for HATRED! Yes, there were news reels, but not so graphic until after the war was actually over, I believe.

So that war was not glamorous, no war is.
My brother fought, actually he was a medic in the Air Force during the Korean War where he was injured and spent the remainder of his years in and out of Veterans Hospitals.
Viet Nam was just as horrific and I was against that war for many reasons, one was my brother’s horrendous experiences, and my visits as a child to those VA hospitals that he was in, which made me realize even without outer scars inner scars are just as devastating, but also from the friends we were losing while we were still in high school and later on in college.
Even our younger son was six years in the Navy, but…
I will, to this and everyday support our military, but I would much prefer for them to never have to fight. They are someone’s fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, nieces and nephews as well siblings…all loved by someone who respects and hates the ambivalence of the war processes and what it does to all involved.
Sadly reports of friendly fire and innocent people not warriors die all of the time, not to mention all the suicides that come from having to deal with the war itself.
So again, I repeat war is not glamorous and I want any movie makers not to portray it that way and recently in the last thirty or so years the truth has been shown more than not.

Oh, why did I go off on the war tangent when I was discussing our depression?
Well, we are at war now and this time it did not do its magic trick… oh what trick is that, you boldly ask?
Put us Americans back to work.
Notice the other problem, without a draft like we had years ago many are not volunteering except the ones already in and so they go back again and again causing exhaustion and many of the above mentioned problems.
Good men and women pushed to the limits of what they got.
We love them all for what they do … they do this for all of US!
I only wish there was a resolve to help them more than just sending gifts and cards and the like, all good and needed, but you know what I mean…someway to relieve them of what they must endure…physical and emotional support too!

Sadly as I mentioned above this long war of ours, nine years plus so far, has not proven to help with providing jobs on the home front, but that isn’t why we are there; we all know it is to stop our enemies, the Taliban and the extremists that killed all of our loved ones on 9/11 and threaten us daily from all over the world.; good logical reasoning. But horrifically more than the three thousand who died on 9/11/01 have died fighting in this war, how ironic war is. We chose to fight due to many of our people being killed and then we killed more of theirs and ours and still do daily….in the process… now you know why I am at odds with the concept.
Yes, I do believe that there are bad people who must be stopped and righteous people who need to do it. I am just saying that it seems by now in this twenty-first century you would think we would have come up with a better way to solve these devastating dilemmas? It confuses my sensibilities as a human being on this planet.
Militaries are an absolute necessity I truly believe but I only wish they could be there to protect not to do what they have to be trained to do.
I know it’s my dumb idealism running rampant again!
I also think it’s because of the time of the year when family means so much to us all…
And when a war is going on there are separations of loved ones from one another and that makes me want to cry for all of them!
My only solace is to know that they are there because they chose to be, and that their families’ support and love them wholeheartedly and call and tweet and computer Skype them to tell them that; which is soooo twenty-first century! LOL!
In spite of my ambivalence of this practice to make the world a better place for our freedoms I would like all the people serving around the world or even here on our home shores now during these holidays to know how much WE/ME all appreciate what they do daily!
And in my own strange way this is a love letter to all of you!

In closing I suppose in our own ways we are all, ‘haves’ because it is more than money we have its love of all mankind, huh?

And so once again I will ask you politely to count all those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Tantalizing!

Now that I have gotten your attention I will start tonight’s dissertation by saying that I have always wanted to sidetrack others thoughts, did it work? LOL!
Maybe calling this…what I do, ‘a dissertation’, is rather too grand an idea of what this really is, at times it could be considered a mere train wreck of thought but on other occasions at the very least an experimentation in humorous outpourings, and perhaps at other times actual informative ideas when the brain is in good shape.
Thus whatever I wish to supply you with at any given time or at my will of desires, since this is my genre of ‘talk writing’ that I call it.
Let’s face it no one ever knows what one might get when they enter this realm of Tobi-ism, true?
But that is what makes it not boring, correct?
Ordinary is not what you get here for that is for the wimps.

Yes, provocative words can create certain images in one’s mind that don’t necessarily have to do with the sinful form of the speaker’s pretense of where they may want to take you, somewhat like a slight of hand.
But you all know I am a long way from there.

Tonight I seem to be having some unusual difficulty in writing what I want to say.
I know, so unlike me, huh?
But even prolific writers on occasion do get blank spots in their frontal lobes, oh dear!
What a ghastly thought!
Okay, I’ve got it!

Tantalizing: means: possessing a quality that arouses or stimulates desire or interest; also: mockingly or teasingly out of reach (Thanks to Merriam Webster dictionary)

OK, I felt it was only fair to give you the exact meaning of my tonight’s title.
But usually there is a tie-in to why I chose such a title, huh?
Well, it could be considered subterfuge to distract you from where this was going …
Back to how one feels…medically yep, ok, I am much better than I had been but not great yet, although whoever feels great at any age? Hey wait…. I used to!
I am still on antibiotics and getting up during the night for more Tylenol.

Also Hubby and I have not been home everyday; by the way, we had been going out nearly daily.
Shopping like the rest of you, but we also had to buy a few items to send to our eldest son’s X-girlfriend who had invited us to her wedding to someone else of course, and we had all stayed friends and that is why we’re invited; in fact our son and his current girlfriend are going to the wedding, which happens to be a week before Christmas!
And so we went out and shopped for that immediate present to get it shipped yesterday!
Also as I mentioned we shopped for warmer clothes and something interesting happened two of the slacks I got were actually too big and one of Hubby’s was too small for him!
How odd, since his were all the same brand and size and mine were the same size and brand that I had been wearing.
Oh well, they will be going back to the store when we go out once more; more than likely within the next few days, and yes we saved the receipt and yes they are already in the car in the garage waiting for our next trip out!

Organizing is my strong sooth, tonight’s discussion was neither funny or very informative I dare say… shall I try to put on my thinking cap for tomorrow’s rant and try hard to be much more entertaining?
Yes!
Sorry folks but not all thoughts are gems… I guess that makes me more common than I want to be…

On that wacko realization of my own lack of abilities to hit every one of these out of the ball park…LOL! I will still ask you to politely count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, OK?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Predictable

If life was always the same all of the time, then it would be considered predictable, right?
So tonight I have decided to throw you all a curve and NOT discuss this continuing COLD SNAP, which I personally would wish for it to SNAP BACK TO a wee bit warmer, huh?
Redundant and boring comes to mind whenever the topic comes up around town or on the news, in the paper or around the water cooler, if there still is such a thing?

Come on people I have been ‘out of the office’ for years now! LOL!
So many of your daily loops of the way things really are, therefore I am out of too, got that?
And not to gloat but to be me, honestly I don’t miss it!

Dancing in the isles of business offices would be my cup of tea today, if at all possible for me to do.
I would turnkey those places into joyous rambunctious children’s schoolrooms!
Fantasies of having a great old time while at work sure turns the idea of working into a more interesting proposition, don’t you think?
Why can’t we do what I suggested previously combine indigenous production into real fulfillment of creation and completion while enjoying the getting there?
There is no law to not do it that way?
I proclaim for all industry to try it for a week and see what comes of it, you have nothing to lose really.
Okay, maybe some big bucks if it falls flat, but think about the possibilities of the imagination it could supply with a work force that is happy and where no one is stressed out?

Tis the season to try such an experiment, the week before Christmas could be utilized for this, huh?
Just think of it as an extended casual Friday with minds also in a casual mode in thinking, hmmm?
Let’s face it most people have way too much stress at this time of the year anyway, and perhaps this concept could catch on to help dissolve those worries.
Knowing that they all have jobs and the ability to relax at those jobs and be able to add input in the form of a somewhat a loose ‘Think Tank’ concept, yea that’s the ticket!
A ‘think tank’, for employees to give real welcomed contributions into running the business, now what do you all say to that?
Everyone loves to feel important and this could be that, an effort to really listen to what they all have to say or write down on paper or toss into a suggestion box?

Excitement on the home front in any industry or business is sometimes just what you might need to change up the flatness of sales or production.
I know the economy is improving but how fast, really?
The other way to make this idea work is to offer the winning concept a prize.
From a day off, a spa day, some monetary reward, take them out to lunch oh I don’t know but you get the idea.
In spite of the days ideas being casual there is no reason to take away that competitive edge that the best of your employees will enjoy no matter what!
And yes, the vote for the best of the ideas should be a democratic process that means everyone gets to vote!

Being unpredictable makes for a more interesting company, don’t you think?
And believe me when I tell you that this not only helps with morale but makes you look good to all your co-workers, which is the best way to run any business with working alongside of all of them. You betcha!

So on that note of taking a chance on your norms or predictability I will bid you all a very happy good night and to all count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, OK?

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...