Monday, February 28, 2011

Oscars

Who didn’t watch last night?
And were we not all amazed by the way it all looked, the venue, and the people who could complain… just gorgeous, but…honestly…
People were dressed beautifully, women mostly and one specific young lady Hailee Steinfeld, that is, but for some crazy reason it appeared that we were all watching a dress rehearsal and that James Franco forgot we were all there to be entertained by him, since it was the real thing?

And I do know it was not just me…
The airwaves have been buzzing all day long.
Others are just trying to be oh so polite and not say it was what it was, insisting that he did not commit the biggest faux pas of all in any career of boring us to death with his lack of commitment to the job at hand! And some are even telling it as it is for all its worth!
Although, many felt that Anne Hathaway was trying to over-compensate for his lack luster performance by going over the top with sweetness and light.
I must say though what a song belter that young talented beautiful gal is, but she left us flat wanting more…Too bad Hugh Jackman turned her down and even Billy Crystal seemed like he was subdued too, how odd? These two guys have given us what we wanted and needed from their great show stopping Oscar winning hostings of the past!

Could it at all be that the script they were all told to follow was that drab and sad?
And being professionals they just did what they were told? Nah, not most of those peeps do know better.
Sadly, that’s the only excuse I would accept, but aren’t most of these shows hosts allowed to improvise? Yes, I thought it was like the law of the land, keeping it upbeat and lively till the night’s end!
Those children from PS 22 Staten Island’s, NY school were the best part of the entertainment portion of the program and that’s saying a lot with the caliber of stars in that room!
But they were so upbeat and happy and talented and… well maybe James should have handed the baton over to the kids, huh?
I am sure we would have had a much livelier evening going on, don’t you think so too?
In reality though, I must admit, I do so enjoy James Franco’s 'body of work' and his versatility in all of his artistic endeavors, since he does have so many!
He is also a scholar and going for his PhD. too, an amazing man, perhaps that is why he disappointed me so terribly much with all he has going for him... he rudely let us all down!
His previous statements of only rehearsing on weekends due to school only proves that he should finish one important thing to him at a time, no more multi-tasking young man, you hear? I feel I can talk to him like that since I believe he is two years younger than my youngest son who also is quite brilliant, if I do say so myself!
What can anyone say about Anne?
She looked absolutely stunning in any designer they adorned her with, but to be honest I did enjoy her over exuberance, although somehow due to James blah sleepy man attitude, and I do think it was really due to his exhaustion from his hectic schedule that made her look ridiculously perky in comparison.
But we love you kids and all you do and when your scripts are great so are you!
And so in conclusion perhaps all we had last night was a script malfunction, huh?
That’s the ticket, right!
After all, neither of these lovely talented hosts were trying anything ominous, and let’s face it we never even paid to see them last night, did we?
Oddly enough the expression that comes to mind you get what you pay for, nah that’s just ridiculous and slightly mean and so I won’t go there, oops I already did!
Bad Tobi!
PS Congrats to all those winners I voted for you too!
PSS Melissa please watch your mouth, Ooey cringe factor, but congrats, and dear sweet handsome guy, Kirk Douglas, we all do love you and you are truly one heck of a leading man forever!

Allow me to be the first to wish you all a happy good night and to all kindly count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Malfunction!?

To have the nasty malfunction that many of us experience with these techno-marvelous machines, our computers, we must have a breakdown or something must have gone wrong or fail or act up or play up or be at fault creating an error, blip, even my personal favorite, a glitch. I think that says it all.
Sadly too many of us on Facebook have been having these breakdowns of our compu-systems, could there be something evil in the air, wires, phone lines or airwaves, satellites, or fiber-optics; what-have-you? Or is the glitch more ominous than that?
Could there be an evil doer located on our social networking site creating their own brand of joyous havoc?
Too many coincidences make me wonder and ask too many questions with too many possibilities for my non-computer savvy brain to answer.
Let’s face it folks to me this computer thing is a typewriter, a stamp-less letter carrier, no hassle bill payer, and encyclopedia and dictionary, gaming site, as well as a buddy maker, and in reality I couldn’t tell you how it runs or why.
But I think there is something rotten here with so many people having problems that I too can relate to and have had as well on a weekly or daily basis, how strange is that?
Crashes, things running too much and too long, and apps not disappearing after you removed them or having days get all screwed up and icon pictures too; really my list can go on and on!
A normal person would think they were going crazy, but not me since I already know that I am and it still is happening to me and everyone else too!
Not so crazy after all, huh?
Sly is what I think I am and the old mystery writer in me is still questioning all of the cases of peeps dealing with this menacing in their personal testimonies that I read about right on my own home page of my Facebook page from my friends that make me cringe in horror of any of these unjust cases of identical difficulties that we all lay claim to!
With all the brilliance of my FB friends considered on any given day you would think that some, just by stats alone would have the know-with-all to be able to diagnose the problems that we are all suffering. HELLO, ARE YOU OUT THERE?
Please respond.... AND HELP!
Day after day friends crash, and lose data, and like me with things running way too much and without our okays.
Clear out our histories as often as we can and customizing apps and replacing hard drives, defragging and setting more frequent complete systems spy-ware scans are all things to consider and so I have been told to do and have done. And some I am still not too sure what they are, but I do ask for help and so I do try to do what I am told to do when I believe the person that I have asked knows more than me, most all do, like on our free tech support sites from my computer products that I originally paid money for, got that?
And you too should be also careful when looking for help some freebies are worth what you don’t pay for, yet some others are priceless!
Always make sure you have a reputable site, but when in doubt ask the computer store where you bought your computer from or from a trust worthy relative or friend; who needs more problems when we have so many from these tiny machines, huh?

I really do hope that I helped a bit, but it is doubtful since I don’t know what to do either but if you do please steer me in the right direction… since my only problem these day is when I go on my Facebook page it runs, runs, and runs as if too many programs are open and so I did try that getting rid of apps thingy and oddly enough the one says it is gone but keeps showing up on my home screen, how weird is that? And I still hear that grinding noise like the whole world of apps is coming up at the same time in a roaring crescendo!
Wild and crazy, huh?

On that much ado about something I would like to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to all, to kindly ask you to count those blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Endorphins VS. Adrenaline

“An endorphin is a natural pain reliever produced by the body in response to a number of factors. It binds to the parts of the nervous system that bind to morphine, relieving pain and frequently producing a natural high. In contrast to the effects of narcotics, endorphin activity is not addictive. A runner’s high is one response that is thought to be due to the effects of endorphins.
There are a number of endorphins produced by humans. They are neurotransmitters, meaning they transmit signals throughout the nervous system and are found in the brain — specifically in the pituitary gland. A receptor is a molecule that transmits signals, and an endorphin binds to a receptor that morphine and other opiates gravitate to. It is known as an opiate receptor.”
“Adrenaline is a hormone produced by the adrenal gland in the body of many animals. When it is produced in the body it stimulates the heart-rate, dilates blood vessels and air passages, and has a number of more minor effects. Adrenaline is naturally produced in high-stress or physically exhilarating situations.
The term "fight or flight" is often used to characterize the circumstances under which adrenaline is released into the body. It is an early evolutionary adaptation to allow better coping with dangerous and unexpected situations. With dilated blood vessels and air passages, the body is able to pass more blood to the muscles and get more oxygen into the lungs in a timely manner, increasing physical performance for short bursts of time.”
Thanks to wisegeek.com for the above information.

How many of you have experienced the utilization of either of these normal substances in your body?
Many of us have, but the trick is to call upon them when we need them and that’s what I think would be wonderful and also lower the need for so many medications.
Go with me here… we all know that exercise can combat many painful problems from Fibromyalgia to back injuries with slipped or torn discs. There have also been cases with severe pain from some types of cancer that exercise has helped with that pain as well quite miraculously!
And so we do know that exercise can cause our endorphins to work on our behalf.
Physical therapy that is not that dissimilar to routine gym type exercising has also been quite helpful in the non pain wars, and so that is why I think that I may be on to something. And I do feel that my personal experiences with being in all those times of physical therapies, PT (Physical therapy) OT(occupational therapy) and NMT( Neuro Muscular Massage Therapy) a total of fourteen times and four years also of an hour and half each day five days a week of being a gym rat!
And so even if it all sounds rather far fetched wouldn’t it be just hunky dory if it was all any of us needed to deal with our daily pain that so many of us endure?
I am smiling from ear to ear.
Always speak with your physician before starting any type of exercise plan but I bet 90% of you get the go ahead!
Of course no one can beat bicycling, swimming and good old plain walking at any age for the comfortable form of getting started. Even if you have no pain any of those will help take those LBS off!
Healthy diet with more veggies and fruits and less dairy, but in the low fat or no fat variety is still important for those bones to be strengthened and meat, fish and chicken to fill out that menu all in moderation; everyone agrees that portion control is what we all should do and check online for exact measurements its all there for us to access.

Now adrenaline, which my friends is not as simple to call upon when we just want help moving furniture or any other heavy objects. But put a loved one under any of those heavy things a TV, a dresser or even an automobile and then we would probably find that it will kick in or at least we would like to think so.
Anger besides extreme fear also can help, sort of like the comic book character from the series of ‘The Hulk’! Now I am not saying to get that angry but I bet there have been times when some of you have and moved a dresser to get behind it without realizing that you could! Well friends that’s adrenaline too.
Amazing!

Lack of strength and pain are two of the main problems with the many ills that I suffer from daily and I am sure that we all know many other diseases that cause your personal difficulties and I know that even when we deal from day to day with these things it is somehow more positive to try and come up with other ways to alleviate those two annoying symptoms, huh? It is more productive than just sitting around and doing nothing because of them, right?

I also would be amiss if I didn’t again mention the Lamaze breathing and pinpointing a spot on the wall both also work well in pain control, which as a student of ballet for twelve years we would use too to not get dizzy, the looking at the wall thing not the Lamaze breathing, LOL!

Any-who, on that note of not being a total vegetable on days when I appear to be doing not that much, which is never true, since my brain so far is still crunching away with wild and crazy thoughts to share with all of you!

And so I would love to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And lastly but not least… next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

PS The secret word that caused the stir was… are you ready?
YEP ‘NIKE’, since ‘Nike 2?’ also created the same ten times over response, wild, huh?
Talk about crazy!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Elaborate

Elaborate is only fair after last night’s ‘Basics’ that we should go the other direction, for our evening’s word analysis, huh?
This particular word ‘Elaborate’ can mean complicated or complex, intricate, detailed, involved, convoluted, sophisticated, highly structured, ornate, decorative, rich, highly wrought, highly crafted, enlarged, expanded, and explain.
I am sure that many of you must recall from school when the need to write a paper in history or English that when the teacher asked for all your answers to be in essay form, which meant she wanted you to elaborate on that information that was is your noggin and needed to be disseminated in an orderly fashion from your storage locker, i.e. your brain, from all that studying you had done for just such an occasion as this, right?
And now you know how I may have answered those requests from my own teachers, how convoluted were mine, answers that is, you may ask?
Yes, I could have well been accused of shooting the bull, since I do know there is a law against such things and I do love all animals, so not literally only figuratively and it would work, but only on topics that I did actually study for, and therefore I could not bluff my way out of not knowing like I do on occasion here, oh no! Did I really say that? LOL! But as I always say no harm no foul, and I do try to research whenever I can and so in reality I do not try to steer you in the wrong direction on purpose.
But may I suggest that what is done here is more of the straight shooter type of informative composition and personal to me and sometimes that will be only for me.
No punches are pulled here in an effort to report and entertain at the same time; it’s sort of a type of juggling act and all done without a net, TA DA!
And yes, some night’s I suppose in my attempt to reach my destiny I can be quite flowery in that production of this blog, but alas not always… and for that I am truly sorry.
Perfection is not in my genes, but the desire to try and be the best ‘Tobi’ that I can be is still on the table and I stray constantly from what that should be or even from what it means; in other words who knows … really?
Back on track… all of this that I do nightly is just that… an elaborate exploration of my life, my ideas and my opinions of what all of it means to me and not necessarily you; got that?
People, how many times have I told you don’t believe everything you see, read or hear?
You must use that thing on top of your shoulders for your own purposeful thinking and not allow anyone else to take that logic away from you?
Gosh today we all have the ability to find out just about anything we really want to know and even know where to get that information, don’t we?
Why some would even say that we are sophisticated and highly structured bodies of highly crafted pieces of complex machinery! Not just in our brains but in our bodies too!
But of course I would most definitely have to agree with all of those people.
Let's not forget all those mundane elaborative details in interior design and the historic details of architecture structures of days of yore, but no tangible details are what I deal in mostly these days, which are easier to move around and have a habit to confound!
Yes and lest us not forget that as the human race we are marvelous creations of…you know who, what or when or where, he/she or whomever did it and that is always up for debate but whoever had the idea to make us initially, you must admit, it was some marvelously wonderful ELABORATE PLAN!

On that happy note of why or maybe huh I would like to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night to all and to ask you to all kindly count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!
And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Basics

Basics is things that are essential, fundamental, necessary, indispensable, vital, crucial, critical, central, key, important, principal, major, main, chief, prime, simple, plain and straight forward or could be primitive, rudimentary or even unsophisticated.
I suppose that tells it all; if not most of it.
So when we say “let’s get back to basics,” then the above is what we can mean and most likely do, how about that?
Geez, that doesn’t appear to be that basic to me it seems a little bit complex, huh?
But who am I to judge, not me, never…ha!
When we all talk about making things simpler in life we all feel that it is basically how we wish to live our lives.
Choosing to do what you enjoy for entertainment purpose is one way to have some basic desires fulfilled; I am sure most would agree?
Buying groceries with eggs, milk and bread on your list are considered your basics too.
Nothing fancy in choices of clothing also would be considered basic, as our one son’s high school wardrobe consisted of Levis and T-shirts preferably dark in color and rather plain and very crucial to his way of dressing.
Rudimentary also means undeveloped, which I suppose could be something we may say about a third world country having food, water and a roof over their heads is very basic and that would be considered R-U-D-I-M-E-N-T-A-R-Y, interesting conclusion to what may be needed necessity-wise in all natural disaster hit countries too, including our very own.
Unsophisticated is a much broader sense of what is truly basic but also can mean naïve, as well as artless and natural or unrefined, which if you delve further goes into raw, unprocessed, untouched and would you believe organic?
Gosh what a language this is, huh?
And this is my self-imposed symposium of my word analysis that is not that much different from my surfing through my old fashioned World Book Encyclopedias!
I would head for my white leather bound gold embossed editions that were a wonderful companion to my white and gold trimmed French Provincial furniture in my teen bedroom, and I would choose from A to Z to look up one thing and find myself turning to the next page and then the next and on and on I would go! So simple and so basic and so learning without being told to do or even realizing… hmm…Have you ever done that?
Boy, but we all must have to admit that this is so much easier, really! Or tried that with an online look-up; going on and on I mean?
No more heavy volumes to get off of the shelf and waiting on those updates to come yearly with that new info, here it is changing daily or even sometimes hourly or minute to minute and now we feel that this medium is also essential to our wellbeing for access to all we need to know, huh…what a marvel and I do so gush, sorry!
But I know I mentioned this before... well here I go ahead again, aren’t all of you still amazed by all of this? (My hands are making circles over the elderly PC that is my vehicle for all of this!)
‘The information highways’, such a truly basic all encompassing name hmmm?
Just had to tie that in too, ha!
Points are to be made and so I do try… and some would have to admit that at times I am severely trying, bud ump bum! (Drummer beats!)

Any-who, on that slightly more light hearted ending to... oh I don’t know ... a short tour of what is basic?
Let me please be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you kindly to count all those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Nike 2?

Heck, why not?
Let’s give it another go around, huh?
What ya say folks? Nike IT!
Oddly enough the amount of love that was shown to me on the Nike original night has not been bestowed again upon me or really I should say on this blog and I flagrantly want to complain to whoever will listen, are you there? It must have been one heck of a wonderful fluke!
Now tonight’s blog should be written under the influence of some type of alcoholic substance for some more creative juices to flow… and to be honest I am having one of those, a Cabernet Sauvignon; for medicinal purposes of course and to boost that creativity factor! A mid week pick me up, huh? Who would deny a sixty plus gal and I mean way plus, size that is, ha! Well, that is what the doctor’s approved of, one for the ladies not expecting little ones, that means ‘prego’, with child, for the ones who think I was beating around the bush, at my age that would be a miracle and yes I do have that old ticker its supposed to be good for and two of that same beverage for the gentlemen for the same reason, now does that sound fair?
I believe another case of a double standard!
I’m no Charlie Sheen with all his drinking and drugs, oh no I only take prescribed by doctor medication and an occasional glass or two of wine during the weekends and sometimes mid-week or the other four days perhaps but that’s all; like today! Oh and him sleeping around… not for me…I just try to sleep, but lately not too well; why last night I only got in four and half hours but we won’t go there… not what he really does and friends, (wink, wink!) that’s not sleeping if I recall from when I was feeling well you know what I mean when I was feeling it all, ha! And a real big LOL on that revelation!
Nah… moving on…
It’s a small amount of red wine but I suppose with my lack of sleep last night it is having an effect on me, to my good I did start drinking it with our dinner, which is now over and I am still nursing the same goblet that was only half full. And yes my doctors all approved, since I had the good sense to ask with all the meds I am on, but most of them are taken in the A.M. and only two before bedtime. So they are spaced well apart.
Anyone taking any type of medication should always check with their physicians about drug interaction and if you can have your medicinal wine too, lol.

Oh that’s right I was going to get all pragmatic and ask you all to love thy neighbor like thy self, la, la, la, sorry I meant idealistic!
But we all know that when we don’t stir the pot with anti-social behavior we are considered …. Wait for it SOCIALISTS! Can you believe that me the all American gal that wants us all to play nice so our children will stop being killed was actually told that my attitude meant I was a socialist!
Dear friends I am not a communist but if you are I do respect your desire to be whoever you are, and there’s the rub from those words came the accusation.
Let me put it this way I live in the land of the free and the home of the brave and anyone who was persecuted came here to get away from hatred of who they were or what they believed in and I was lucky enough to have been born in this wonderful country that I love because I say what I know in my heart to be true for me, not necessarily for you… and that is because of the laws of the land that I love that allows me to do that without being persecuted for my feelings and I am being accused of wanting those freedoms to be for everyone who comes here too, hmm… does that sound fishy to you?
I say that this accuser does not know what this land was based on the freedom of speech without causing harm to anyone is fine for me and I will continue.
PS the person who was the accuser unfortunately had the nerve to also tell one of my extended family the same thing and I never owned up to who it was because it was a close to my husband relative and he asked me not to so I respected those wishes… this particular person who I truly believe has too many issues to go into with his only way of thinking about all issues being only one way and that is his way!
And so in my effort to tell him I just want him to respect my feelings and beliefs he called me that above word, socialist! Laughable, but he is one of those macho men who must be the king of his roost and his women should be seen and not heard and that is one of the reasons that you all can well imagine why over the many years we have bucked heads! Since his women listen to him but in our home we live in a democracy! And believe me with two sons and a husband I had to hold my ground and my own and I could with the best of them, no shrinking violets here. He has also given me pause to think about his overwhelming religious beliefs that he wants you to subscribe to and when I would not fall for it he actually asked if I didn’t want him to pray for me?
CRAZY! I do believe in G-d! (PS IF YOU READ MY ‘HATE’ ENTITLED BLOG YOU WILL KNOW THAT I AM OF THE BLUE RELIGION AND THIS PERSON IS OF THE PURPLE AND ALSO A CLOSE RELATIVE) But I leave my religious beliefs with a bit of mystery in my profile and I truly believe that it is a very personal thing, not unlike other personal info… but here I have periodically divulged my truisms on that behalf and if I recall correctly communist are atheists? And I am not an atheist not that there is anything wrong with that; I just don’t want anyone to try to convert me to their religion! And so that is why I should have called him what he is, and that is not a very nice person and a little bit off the wall, but who isn’t?
And I respect his ability to have his own opinion its just when he insists that I should only believe what he does and if I don’t then I am such and such, and this case his ridiculous labeling of a SOCIALIST; which is a communist and atheist.
Well, I have done something that I haven’t done in a very long time I unfriended him.
And removed him from our email contact lists and yet he emailed several times after that I did not read and just deleted, who needs that kind of aggravation, huh?

Oh I suppose you are still wondering what the Nike part of all this was, well, it was just the cleaning house part of ridding yourself of people who take away your happiness and think that you should fit their mold not your own! There you go, and so friends just NIKE IT!
But be nicer than me about the how, ok?

On that somewhat disturbing but revealing and letting go of misery type of rant let me be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to kindly ask you all to count those blessings and to share those overages and we will too! (Now would an atheist say that nightly, I ask you really, LOL?)

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

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Beans

Who took the magic out of the beans?
Do you know where the expression, “You’re full of beans”, came from?
FULL OF PRUNES (OR BEANS) -"Each has the same meaning - peppy, lively, energetic, in high spirits, feeling one's oats, rarin' to go. How about that? But I did find another one that said that they would also say to the poorest people that they were full of beans because anyone could afford them!
I prefer the first idea, since our across the canal neighbors brought us some of their homemade ones, which was thoughtful and kind and that should be all there is to it… but you know me… the devil made me delve into it more closely!
Analysis is my hobby of what things actually mean, hmm?
Or in my wicked brain why did they do that?
Nice people have no ulterior motives, but sadly some of the nicest people I have known have come back to bite me in the behind years later! Only I would think of that!
Ooops did I say that? Ooey cringe factor full force!
Sorry, but I should be better at accepting things from others for what they are worth at the time they are given, and so I will, and so thanks kind neighbors!
Although, this bean thing is rather intriguing from an investigative point of view, what do you all think shall we go there?
Ahhh, what the heck, let’s go!
The history of the bean…they are one of the longest cultivated plants. “Broad beans, with seeds the size of the small fingernail, were gathered in their wild state in Afghanistan and the Himalayan foothills. In a form improved from naturally occurring types, they were already being grown in Thailand since the early seventh millennium BC, predating ceramics. They were deposited with the dead in ancient Egypt. Not until the second millennium BC did cultivated, large-seeded broad beans appear in the Aegean, Iberia and transalpine Europe. In the Iliad (late 8th century) is a passing mention of beans and chickpeas cast on the threshing floor. The common bean has been cultivated for over six thousand years in the Americas,” Thanks to Wikipedia for this info, for more to know go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bean , now who would argue with that interesting stuff, huh?
Moving on… or back to my original question, whatever happened to those magic beans?
Aside from the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk where they were center stage and the main event in the story, since they grew so prolifically and to a land of giants and geese and golden egg laying hens… But today the only concept I found when Googled was that they have become an idea for commercial exploitation for children’s goods, as a moniker of baby and toddler stores selling furniture and toys. More power to them I say; whatever works! But alas I read further and found that there is a coffee shop entitled with that label, as well as an actual person selling them on Amazon with 150 recipes included, wow do you grow too to the sky, I wonder? Nah, which would be way too silly!
Who would have thunk it that there could be so much to think about with the simple bean, but we did and for that I must admit I do have way too much time on my hands!
On that high note of trying NOT to look a gift horse in the mouth … allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to all to count your blessings and to share your overages and we will too!
And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!
PS My eyeglass frames finally arrived today! And Hubby already installed my lenses from the broken ones, what a guy!

Monday, February 21, 2011

Stats

A statistic is a sign, marker, guide, value and gauge for the use of or the amount of or the rendering of some type or person or gender or race or religion or whatever you need to know as long as someone anyone is willing to cooperate and sticks to accuracy with those numbers of information. Why the decimal census is our claim to that fame and if you know anyone who ever did a feasibility study like supposedly our federal, states and local governments do regularly on different theories on what is needed in a community then you know of those statistics too, private business has been known also to do it to see if their particular type of industry will work in a certain area.
All in all people who do attain statistics use them for a significant purposes even in insurance companies who use theoretical ones on death, disasters and the like and of course what they feel your home or car will be worth in the future if they need to be replaced as we all know.

There you go, we all know what they are and why they may be used, and so I may be one of the few people in this world who appears to be baffled by my own determined statistics on how many people view this nightly righteousness that I sometimes spew like last night in particular although many are much more benign in content. Last night’s appeared to hit a nerve with the world! What joy and purpose!

You see, perhaps it was the mention of a major company like ‘Nike’ that peaked their interest or perhaps it was the 'Just Do It' lament or my mention of sneakers being a Karma user. But when I happened to look at my stats, which I really shouldn’t do and they tell you not to do (But I am a firm believer in until I know who ‘they’ are I will do as I please, so there!) And so I did and to my astonishment the stats from the night before and last night’s were quite remarkably contrasted! The amount of people viewing was over 10 times more last night than the night before! Gosh whatever I did I hope I can replicate it!
I do know it is silly for me to be so impressed with just numbers but unless there was some type of glitch and it was a mistake I was so very amazed with it and to me it was simply ‘AWESOME!’
Not that I get paid for this joy of my life’s blood, sweat and tears but I do so love the fact that others have made the effort to actually read this litany of mine, what-have-you, a stream of consciousness form of writing I presumed that it was just for my own enjoyment and cataloguing life’s ups and downs, but knowing whenever I touched one other person is always a plus and I do so care to be aware of that, and so please accept a big thank you to all of you!

Moving on…
To be honest today we did go out again but we took our noble dog Skipper and he was fine most of the time but when I or Hubby were out of sight he went berserk! He suffers from sever separation anxiety we think or so it would seem by his unruly behavior on those occasions.
And that my friends was why this day was more than a bit unnerving for both of us.
We did go back over to Fishville AKA Fisherman’s Village in River City AKA Punta Gorda. Our darling canine was wonderful walking through the crowds but for some reason when it came to other dogs he saw he would bark and did the same with small children. He was never ever vicious only barking, but annoying just the same. I truly believe as Hubby does that it is all caused by his lack of socialization on a regular basis and thus the road trip for that purpose. He would definitely be a handful for anyone and two nice folks once a woman and once a man, tried to help me while on my scooter Hubby had turned his leash over to me while he utilized the facilities once and then to check in the restaurant if we could get seating out on the decking since it was another gorgeous day in paradise and dogs are allowed there!
He was pretty great while we ate too, only spilling his water a couple of times but got comfy and relaxed during our meal. Hubby had fried fish and fries with coffee and I had crab salad with cole slaw over a mixed salad with a Balsamic vinaigrette with my iced tea unsweet and lemon. In the center courtyard there today was a banjo troupe called ‘Four Leaf Strummers’, and they were very enjoyable and apparently played there for free since they requested donations. They even encouraged sing-a-longs but I thought they should have had some hand outs with the words of their selections since not all of them were familiar tunes and many could only hum like me and oh how I do love to sing!
But to their good there also were many songs that we all did know, mostly the patriotic ones, since today is President’s Day!
When I was young we had Lincoln’s Birthday on the 12th of February and Washington’s on the 22nd, which today I am pretty sure most children don’t know that that is their actual birthdays. I always remembered those two dates easily since our younger son was born a day before the one and my Mom was born on the other’s birthday!
Associations like that I learned from my Dad who had a magnificent memory until the day he died, why we even were playing sports trivia with him in the hospital when he had his stroke that sadly he passed away from five weeks later. But he knew all the answers, Dad was amazing. Tomorrow my Mom would have been one hundred years old and Dad would have been 104 on the 27th of last month, but alas sadly they have both been gone for years, but I still miss them every day, especially on the rough ones as you all can probably relate to.
They were wonderful peeps and I think unfortunately since they have been gone I realize that more today as a truism.

Any-who, on that somber note I will like to still be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you kindly to count all those blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Nike

Is more than a manufacturer’s label these days it has drifted into our culture to become an attitude directive with a positive meaning of, “Just Do It!”, or one might say simply, “Nike!”, with the same meaning of intent.
Gosh how many advertising firms can boast that?
I don’t know who originally initiated it but they should be real proud on how that concept took off and of course its longevity.
Other products also have slogans but not as demonstrative but cunning as this one I do believe.
Whoever thought of this one was more than brilliant; if there is such a thing, huh?
Sure wish it was me and that is not to say that I haven’t had clever ideas in my previous life; just ones in not that worldwide acclaim type.
On a much smaller level I wrote a radio jingle for our business in NJ as well as copy too, and I even suggested a tiny idea to one of the non-profits I was a volunteer with using Michael Jackson’s song ‘Beat It’, as the concept for beating their/our disease and showing the many faces, like he did with morphing the many people who also had the disease young or old and all the races that were touched by it personally.
Not worldwide but something.
I did notice the concept in their monthly magazine one time and all I could do was smile that it worked!

You know it is nice to get credit for some things in life.
But it’s not the only reason to do them, correct?
Like being a good neighbor or helping as a volunteer for something you truly believe in?
I have told many people over and over again how when I am at my most self involved point I found helping others helps to get out of your own miserable self and that help you give makes you in turn feel just wonderful once again! I suppose in reality it is the ultimate selfishness!
That’s why Hubby and I did enjoy helping others all those years as volunteers, unfortunately though the last few have not been good though with our lack of abilities.
But I shall not harp once again on those because any of you who read this regularly know all about it anyway!
And so I will move on…
Back to the first thought about ‘Nike-ing it’ is to say that we should all not make excuses and when there is a time or place we need to take care of business then we should go right ahead and do it!
I so miss all those times but I did do for nearly forty years on and off, and so I feel pretty darn good about all those years…of my Nike times.
All in all that is what I want the world to know with all this current turmoil in it, people have found out how the other half lives and want in…
And so they are just doing it!
Not that I would suggest or agree with their methods but they need to do what they need to do and who am I to tell anyone who lived in those extreme conditions for so long?
Sadly, negotiations with rationale do not work in other parts of the world like we have also found out here too at times.
My hope for our world is to find something that settles the disagreements and calms the masses to work together, not too much to ask, huh?
Any-who, let’s all pray that somehow someway it will all work out since people this is the only world we got! So NIKE IT!

On that plea to wish peace on earth goodwill toward men and women; let me be the first to say happy good night to all and kindly ask you to also count those blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Festival!

Organizations from any ills you can think of, to houses of worship have them to raise money for that particular cause and by rights of sheer decency and need they should all do well financially and have great turnouts!
On these fair-like occasions they usually consist of artsy type tents and food and beverage venders, as well as some type of music to add merriment of a type of ambiance to the festivities, correct?
And today we went to a Greek Festival locally; it is one that we have gone to for the last few years. The Greek food is great and the jewelry and artwork are also quite good too.
And they do provide the musicians with an enormous shaded tent to perform in that also doubles as a dinning room for the many guests buying the food from the outdoor vendors.
As I said we have been going to this particular one for maybe the last few years and for some reason this year the music seemed exceptionally loud. And since I am heat and sun sensitive we did find a table way in the back in that shaded tent to consume our lunches, but my head pounded heavily with the severely thunderous sound of this year’s music and I am a very big music lover and used to feel at times that louder was better, but this was way too much! And Hubby did agree.
We left after about three hours which is more than enough anyway.

Moving on…
And we went on to the next venue that we had on our docket for the day… Sam’s Warehouse Club and to try the car key that was mailed to us to see if we won a car!
Ha, you all say and you would be right of course but the two times Hubby took the key by himself he came home empty handed and this time he thought that I should try with his heartfelt encouragement. And so he handed the mailer to me and as we approached the tented area a women walked toward us and asked if we were there to buy a car and we said no we were there to try the key to see if we won a car! She asked to see the mailer and then ignored me and spoke to Hubby directly like I was chop-liver! But to be honest the mailer did have his name on it not mine, but he did hand it over to me saying maybe that I would have better luck! I hate when people ignore you just when she saw that I was no longer a viable driver; for that fact or for any other reason really!

Any-who, Hubby and I both thought they were there to sell new vehicles, but found out quickly they were all used. And so we decided to try the key anyway and of course… wait for it… YEP, YOU WERE ALL RIGHT and no we did not win any autos new or used. But the woman at the table seemed to think that we wanted their lottery tickets that were NOT state tickets and that you must fill out the whole back with your personal info before you scratched them off and so Hubby and I decided to not take them and left.
TA DA!

Let’s put it this way it was something to do and the weather here was the bragging rights type low eighties and low humidity.
To keep me cool today I did wear my Copaxone advertising in electric blue colored neck cooler, which is a tube like fabric with beads that absorb cold water and retain it and I also stuck a cool pack in my bra too, ooops, did I say that? LOL!
Don’t we all say whatever works?
I also of course had my bottle of water with a spare in the car.
All in all it was a day to be outside in the glorious weather and who can complain about that?
The reason I thought this was going to be a more humorous blog tonight is because I recently saw a commercial for another important festival coming up soon on Pine Island and the name of it threw me into a silly dither since they chose to name it… now hold on… wait for it… THE BREAST FEST! Clever and sort of ridiculous at the same time, huh?
Is it just me or have we all gone crazy with the way we market fundraising for important diseases like breast cancer? I could be wrong because it did make me laugh perhaps I am the irreverent one I certainly have shown latent tendencies before, huh?

On that more revealing of me than I probably should have done please allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, ya hear!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Feel?

How do you feel?
Sense, experience, suffer, undergo, be aware of, think, believe, consider, deem, and be of the opinion, suspect, touch, finger, stroke, caress, handle, ambiance, impression of that thing we all call ‘feeling’.
Do you do it with your heart, with your hands or with your emotions, may be some of the ways to truly feel…
Some days I wish I weren’t able to feel…
Pain that is and yes that is under the physical kind or even emotional type, but I am sure there is not a living soul who would not agree with that one!
To be able to not feel any hurt bodily or within the realm of the mind; wouldn’t that be great?
Although, many may say that pain in either arena gives you the ability to really appreciate when there is none at all!

Today was a painful day physically for me not the brain wave feeling one, but as you may have figured out that is what I was trying to communicate to all of you.
But I always worry when I do if I will lose your attention.
Yes, though today has been a bad one all day long on and off and I really have no idea why it has been more so than some other ones.
It started before I was to begin my exercise program even before I took my Baclofen which I always try to take before I begin since it is my anti-spasmodic that meaning it would supposedly help prevent painful spasms while I incorporate my plan.
To be honest this headache, backache, neck ache thingy did start to get bad a few days ago. You see I do also have cervical stenosis with spinal spondylosis besides the MS and so when these problems happen who knows which is causing what, huh?
I do know that exercise at least the ones that I do are not harmful to me or my already old physical problems so after the tushy rolls and belly crunches I decided to rest in between before I began the rest of my leg lifts flat on my back and then on each side and then those five pound weight lifts; all to that count of fifty reps, but in spite of the pain I must admit I completed my program and survived!
Normally when anyone starts an exercise program the soreness starts shortly after, but I am going into my second month; in fact Tuesday it will be two whole months!
And so that cause and affect didn’t make any sense to me, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t be the cause?
The worst is that nasty neck spasm that I have gotten only a few times before where, now hold on I do want to warn you this is going to be a pretty graphic explanation, are you ready? Well, when my neck goes into this weird contortion like my esophagus is going to take a left turn out of my neck, scary! And my headaches aren’t normal either, besides being a soreness in the back of my head and numbness at my temples and my eye sockets get painful almost like a sinus headache but not since I do know the difference.
Crazy!
My back goes into spasms too and thighs and the calves do have the MS hugs as well as my rib cage and upper thighs too…
Oh MS hugs definition: feeling like an elastic band or girdle is tightening around wherever it is happening got that? Ooops TMI!

Sorry, but it’s been a bad day.
And to top it all off at different times of the day I nod off and so today I tried to take a nap and that didn’t seem to help at all!
I do know that most of us MS peeps do have these things daily and so unless they trash me as a massive army like today where I think they must have some general discussing how to get Tobi to pay attention to her bodily malfunctions!
How I do try hard to distract myself like I am sure many others do.
Any-who, it is because I cannot take pain meds without them not working or causing more problems than they are worth since I have severe allergic reactions and so I don’t, got that?
Over these many years I found exercise to be the most helpful to alleviate pain but also when all else fails Lamaze breathing and pinpointing locations on the wall to stare at…has been known to help, so I recommend to try it, it couldn’t hurt.

On that note of one less medication let me please be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to kindly ask you to count those blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Mystery...

Secrecy, anonymity, obscurity, ambiguity, inscrutability, vagueness, unknown, anonymous, unidentified, a whodunit, detective novel, thriller and last but not least a crime novel all are forms of mystery; whew am I exhausted, what a mouthful!
How many of you knew that? I bet all of you did!
But I am happy that my own confusion on genres of books that I classified as mysteries fell into those four categories of a whodunit, detective novel, thriller and crime novel.
You know I always thought they did but I thought that some authors prefer one of those labels over the others and it is good to know that it is just a personal preference not my actual mistake to call someone’s work this or that!
I think I mentioned, maybe a hundred times or more about the series of five murder mysteries I did write that were nearly published way back in the late 1990’s by Gardenia Publishing, any-who I screwed that up with a speaking out of turn misinformation, you know some things never change.
I also contacted one of my favorite woman author's publishing house and I suppose I ruined that by saying that the real person and her character she wrote about were as different as Cher and Mother Teresa! But I did say how I loved and read all her books; it was just her bio that threw me thus such a contrast! PS it was Sue Grafton, oops did I say that?
I was always told to write about what you know… although, I must admit that I have never ever murdered anyone though I did enjoy reading that genre and Hubby is a retired deputy and so I had insider info on how it all works, and that is why I thought that was a good start in the knowing factor?
Apparently, my mouthy display of my opinion or honesty does not sit well with most of the publishing world, huh?
Poor me, nah, I sabotage myself all of the time, and then I wonder why I did it?
I engage my mouth before I think all controversies through; that’s why writing is a better communication venue for me, since I can edit as I go…hmmm…
But as we all know I have written many things that I shouldn’t have including those letters to those publishers and that is why there is NO MYSTERY in this gal!
Sadly I exposed myself to scrutiny and ruined my own imposing mystique of how I literally appear to the world by going out into it and now there is one of my Facebook friends that saw the damage that the years and illness has taken on this being of me. Pretty young thing now obese and ugly! The ugly is due to an extreme dog bite over my lips by my younger son’s dog that we took in when he went into the Navy as well as his cat. The dog Andrew was a pup from that same hurricane that we all had gone down to help with in that aftermath it was not the collie-Shepard’s fault really I had been writing and editing on my books and he decided to lie below my computer chair and for some strange reason I had to get up for more coffee or something and I rolled over his tail and when he yelped I bent down and asked him if he was all right and then he growled and ripped my lip nearly off!
At the time I was all alone since Hubby was in Tampa, one hundred miles away at a hurricane conference and so I got into the shower and washed it out, got myself dressed held gauze on it and drove myself to the hospital on a Sunday!
They took one look at me and asked me how it happened and I told them and they immediately said that I would need a plastic surgeon and that they would call him and as far as I know they did right away. But when the wait turned into one hour then another and then finally after five he did show up Dr. Constantine who has recently rose to some political office, the so-called best in the area. He told me two things that he was at a barbecue or perhaps the nurse did; it was quite a while ago, anyway the next thing he said that he wouldn’t touch it since I smoked!
He wanted me to promise if he did fix my lip that I would quit and I was internally fuming at this point as anyone could well imagine after waiting five hours with a literal bloody lip falling off their face! I again was honest and said no that I couldn’t promise that right now and that was the truth! Others may have lied just to get him to do his so-called superior G-d-like mending but no, not me! I was too truthful under devastating to me circumstances, and yet he gave in and said OK.
I suppose I called his bluff. My little lip took forty tiny stitches that many say they cannot see; all but me... since I see them daily! Then to top it off a couple years later I had a hard lump in my left cheek that the dermatologist felt the need to biopsy and he too cut into my face! And installed a couple of more stitches! Am I sounding like a horror movie to you yet?
Full disclosure here, and now many say that gathered skin has also diminished but once again I still see it! Being so fat does seem to take care of lines and gatherings on the face though; I must admit one of the only advantages to being this fat!

Are we all so shallow or is just me with my appearance, although my temperament is also not where it should be either and I do have many personality flaws.
I honestly thought I was not that great looking as a young woman but a decent human being just a bit naive. Although I did model for all the department stores that I worked in there in a managerial capacity; they asked me to model and so I did and it was fun. And consistently moved up my positions in their companies at fairly quick paces, had to be my abilities, but who really knew.
Doesn’t that prove my point we are never satisfied as human beings when that is so sad.
And that is not to say that we should stop trying to be better than what we are at this moment, but perhaps we should re-evaluate and not be that disappointed in who we are when we are, got that?
I am me, and you are you and now the mystery is lessened, huh?
Someday I might even publish a current photo of me; in this body now that would be a gutsy move, nah… what will that prove?

On that wee bit of continuing mystery in me I would love to be the first tonight to wish you a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count those blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

PS Andrew the dog did die a few years later of liver cancer that we nursed him with for several weeks, but when our son was originally told what had happened with me and his dog a while after it happened and we were actually all better he thought that I should have put the dog down.
I still contend that it was my fault and we did find out that Andrew had arthritis and it very well may have been what caused him to react as he did, and ironically we think it may have been his arthritis medication that caused his liver cancer which is rare in dogs. He was jaundice and vomited bile it was a dreadful way to go! And he was only eight weeks old when he was saved from Hurricane Andrew that poor dog what a sad life, although he did give us many years of happiness nine in total if I recall correctly. He was our son’s companion through all his college years at USF!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Flavor?

Flavor has many interesting definitions: a hint or suggestion, the aspect of the situation or a feeling or just the sense may be the spice or seasoning or even aroma… nah the essence perhaps of the tang or zest of the thingy, but we all must savor the idea when it may very well, might not be our taste, huh? TA DA!
Words can be amusing and I definitely feel we all should make them our friends, right?
Well that’s just silly, of course they are… aren’t they?
No one can utter a sound without their use, amazing you say!
Nah, you didn’t but I did and now you see and know what I meant.

The reason I chose the word ‘FLAVOR’ tonight to investigate is because I feel it can mean so many things, true?
My first sentence of the evening gave you an inkling of the depth of the word; little did we realize its significance in the world; not so small after all, huh?
Such a tiny inconspicuous regular type guy fixture in most of ours' vocabularies, and never did we figure that it might be one of the most underused expressions of descriptiveness.
But tonight we can rectify its meager utilization and show its profound ability to zestfully broaden the use in any conversation or even any letters or email sentences!
Ask someone for instance, “What flavor are they?”
Or maybe, “Do you smell that wonderful aroma; what flavor is that?”
Let’s try this, “Are you zesty or tangy tonight my dear; your flavor I so want to savor?” Pretty damn sexy huh; OOPS there goes my cringe factor once again…
These lines are to be used with only your family and very close friends since I have no idea what others may think if you try them on them, be careful and this was my disclaimer, thank you very much, all right?
As the expression goes: use it or lose it, got that?

Moving on… today we had company our neighbor from across the canal she spent nearly two hours here and allowed me to speak ridiculously way too much and too long as usual since she can be quite polite and gracious.
After she left we had a quick fast lunch then went off on an errand trip which consisted of the home store this time Lowe’s, since we had a coupon for weed and feed and chose a few other items a packet of marigolds, a dimmer switch for the repair of our broken one for the kitchen and last but not least a hybrid lily, specifically for Florida that comes back yearly and prolifically makes more and a bag of potting soil to start the process in one of our many attractive large pots that we have empty now. This one is a dark red raised designed one but in a lightweight material that I can even lift and NOT break! We have a few like that that we have had for years. Unfortunately the last things in them passed on to that great plant heaven somewhere in the faraway sky…
Next stop was to Jo-Anne’s Crafts and Fabrics and I would also like to add wedding album center, since I was lucky enough to find one with Hubby’s help to replace ours that forty years and hurricane dampness (due to no utilities for two weeks after Charley hit, the hurricane that is, and in the ninety degrees temperatures inside and out in August circa 2004!) had their way with it… this new one is acid free and the book does expand and ten extra pages, sold separately and 40% off of it all and it was all less than $18 bucks, what a great deal!
Last stop was to Publix and we chose some lunches and tonight’s dinner and then home sweet home…

On that flavor-ific near ending to a savory day let me be the first to wish you and yours a very happy good night and to kindly ask you to count hose blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Complicated

Complicated: complex, difficult, intricate, knotty, dense, thorny, convoluted, problematical, and full of twists and turns and that about covers the synonymous words meaning what many have decided to call their relationships. And I suppose now we all should understand why they used that term, huh?
Not really, but aren’t all human associations just that?
Who among us have not felt that at times our soul mate doesn’t understand us?
Come on now folks we are talking honesty here… and you know I won’t tell…
Love makes life complicated.
Arguing makes life complicated.
Shoes make life complicated… no? Oh, I was just seeing if you were listening.
And ha, I see YOU ARE! Nah that would be ridiculous cause I can’t see any of you there…And a great big thank you to you anyway!
I always wondered when at one time people were asked what their relationship status was they would just put down that all encompassing word… say it with me now PEEPS, C-O-M-P-L-I-C-A-T-E-D!
Perhaps it is avoidance of a true commitment?
Or maybe just a simple denial that you are in one?
You know when I think about it those who used that anti-verbose wordage we would usually leave them alone as if we understood exactly what they meant, huh?
Clever of them, hmmm.
Sort of like saying none of your G-- D--- business to us, huh?
Okay, they must have removed that choice from our Facebook pages, since I never do see it anymore or maybe people just don’t answer at all when asked that almightily highly controversial question, what’s your marital status?
You do know that you will go to ‘hello’, without the ‘o’, ha!
Ooops my darn cringe factor is showing once again with those last few sentences.
Enough already you say!

All righty now, I will move on…then…
I have a friend on Facebook who also just so happens to be the well renowned author, James W. Hall. He has many books to his credit and his main character’s name in his novels is Thorn and I have read all of those great books of his and I can’t wait until the next comes out this coming fall he said. And I always wondered why he chose that name of ‘Thorn’ and now that I am reading the meaning of so many of our daily used words, do you think it was a joke on all of us that he chose that name to throw us all off track and he really felt it was just too ‘COMPLICATED’ to find another name since ‘thorny’ is a synonym for that all so allusive word, I do wonder? Or maybe he told us in his text but with my MS brain I could have forgotten, and yes I do play the MS card as often as I can!LOL!
Yep, you got that right; I also stuck out my adult tongue again too!

Oh well, perhaps I should ask him outright all he could say is that it’s none of my GD business, huh? Where did I hear that before…, huh?
But in reality he does seem way too nice to do that; one never does really know though, does one?

On that childishly silly note let me be the first tonight to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you kindly to count your blessings and to share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Chocolates, Champagne, a rose and a heartfelt card

What does any of that mean without the person who goes with them?
Valentine’s Days come and go and some are ripe with anticipation and others are just over ripe and stink, huh?
Thought that would catch your attention.

Now children gather around for I am about to tell you a tale of decision making for when you set your wedding dates, OK?
Getting married on the most lovability day of the year is not always the best choice!
As romantic as it must appear to most to celebrate the day it is difficult after the main event, the wedding…
Why do we every year foolishly forget all the lines, the parking, the inefficient servers who get nasty from work overload!
Kids get married on the thirteenth of February or the fifteenth too might work, but forget about the fourteenth since it takes the romance out of romantic when you attempt to leave your home for just that thingy called a loving evening. Eat in, order in, and don’t leave your dwelling! We had reservations for two whole weeks but so did everyone else!
Believe it or not when we lived on the other coast of Florida in Ormond Beach next door to Daytona it was so much worse to go out for our anniversary since the Daytona 500 was usually that week too. Most restaurants there didn’t even take reservations so it was a matter of hurry up and wait in those days!
Sometimes for hours…but we were younger then and much more patient.
Tonight we went to a restaurant that on a non holiday night is usually quite good and the service not bad either. But tonight Benedetto’s in Punta Gorda was lack luster, but not in the food which I must admit was great but in the ambiance due to a few rude servers, not ours personal one, Nicole a younger woman who was pleasant enough but not able to keep up with simple requests like another napkin or lemon with my meal and when we ordered one dessert with two spoons she brought two desserts and no spoons, but other than that she was pretty good considering the overload she seemed to be under. She said she would also get in trouble for taking the second dessert off our bill it was $6.95 plus tax, but listen… we only ordered one! The other server an older woman that we found to be rude was not allowing us to each have a menu, would you believe they wanted us to share; a restaurant like that didn’t have enough menus, huh? It is true we had ordered the Valentine special which was lobster tales and primes ribs for two at $39.95 with a bottle of Champagne, more than we would usually spend eating out but it was our FORTIETH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY and for those items it was rather a good price you all must have to admit!
The other was a male server who when Hubby said that we were waiting for the spoons he brought us forks and said that would work fine with the mousse, but what happened to the customer is always right? And we wanted spoons? Not good and so we did tip our server the appropriate amount of 20%, since she really was polite and did appear to try, but Hubby felt the necessity to speak to management and when he did he felt that he wasn’t really being heard!
We already had paid our bill.
Then of course we did not finish the bottle of Champagne but they insisted we could not take it home, we thought that the law had been changed, but really we are not sure.
To calm ourselves down I suggested going over to Fishville to see if anything was going on there, since it was still early, around seven, you see we had a five o’clock reservation, I know like old folks huh? But we were not alone!
Everyone there was old and Hubby looked around and after careful consideration came to the conclusion that we were the kids! And when I went to the ladies room with my walker a woman stared at me and then turned her head like she was embarrassed and then when I came back she started to do it again and I gave her a great big smile and said hello and guess what she smiled back and said hello too! See it does work!

While I waited for him to get the car I sat outside by another group of people waiting to go in and they were looking at the posters on the window hawking all the things going on locally during the winter… Well, the Elaine Boosler in me infiltrated out, for those of you who don’t remember my previous references to her character on the old TV show Night Court where she played a blind court stenographer I believe but I could be wrong on her job related position but she was a nasty bitter woman who told everyone that she was that way due to her being blind! And so when I get like that I speak my nastiness out loud when in reality I should keep it in my subconscious mind, wherever that is, huh?
They were amazed and happy about all the activities and I chimed in yep but it is ONLY IN THE WINTER FOR YOU SNOWBIRDS! And went on to mention how we all year round people get gypped with not much going on the rest of the year here, which sadly is true at many different times. And you do know that I have mentioned it.
And I threw in that is on this coast it is the more reasonable to live on though since it is always more quiet to live here and surmised that perhaps the reason more went on, on the other coast was because of higher taxes! Boy, am I fun or what?
Debbie Downer amplified with Elaine’s character thrown in, because I have MS and arthritis and I am blind in one eye, boo hoo blah , blah poor pitiful me… bad me… bad me!
Oh well Hubby was getting the car and I get bored easily, huh? LOL! NOT NICE TOBI!

And then at Fishville I got annoyed by all the healthy souls walking up my scooter ramp when the stairs were right next to it! I had to wait for them to go passed! To top it off Hubby saw THEIR POINT! He said maybe they had bad knees or something, sweet guy, huh?
I suppose I have been not going to sleep too early these last few days and still waking too early so I am sleep deprived and act depraved due to that? No excuse, but I can complain…Hubby was great and we are having a flute of the André he purchased with the chocolates and one perfect rose and Hallmark card that he had waiting for me when I awoke early this day…sadly with my inability to go out and do what he did too I turned the items he purchased around to the other side of the table and made him a card from our computer card program and reinstalled it in his envelope and so we shared our gifts bought with our monies anyway! Only seemed fair, eight chocolates four each in a beautiful heart shaped box with a red rose on it too, the rose was for us both and so is the Champagne which we now are drinking together! I know too sad but I had no choice since the world is better without a one eyed weak legged driver on the road, don’t you all think? LOL!

On that somewhat silly but end to another decade of life as a couple we would like to be the first to wish all of you a very happy good night and to kindly ask you to count those blessings and share those overages and we will too! And of course we both hope that you had a very HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY TOO!
And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Obsessed?

Are any of you out there obsessed with anything? Fixated, preoccupied, never stop thinking about certain things from shopping for that special pair of shoes or dress, to having to have things neat or pillows set a definite way, or only eating certain foods or playing some particular only games, you know what I mean needing to have to do something because you are unable to stop yourself or lacking self control with this silly little thing that’s really not that big a deal?
Is that an obsessive compulsive disorder or just a quirk? An idiosyncrasy, Geez it does sound idiotic, huh? Perhaps being just a wee bit eccentric sounds a bit better, sort of like a dotty rich old maiden aunt, right?
I say it’s okay to be unconventional!
Here, here, aren’t we all somewhat a smidge off the wall at different times in our lives?
Standard behavior can be rather boring and so I say let yourself go!
Be silly; be passionate over anything including those shoes or game that you enjoy or whatever as long as you hurt no one including yourself.
The pillow thing though can be annoying and I do speak from experience on that one, oops that can be me…
Skipper our Bichon Frise is a spoiled child/dog and is allowed on furniture and our bed even oh, no you say!
Yep we are bad parents I suppose but he is only a fifteen pounder and lovable and I do have his Mommy Blankets on the sofa that are white and fluffy like him thus the name.
You see, he does have his moments of rambunctious behavior where he knocks our decorative pillows off onto the floor from the other side away from his Mommy Blankets which cover one side and the back too for he lies there to look out our picture window. The blankets sort of look like fleece on those suede jackets we had up north? Those pillows are my slight obsession for I believe they should remain where I place them! LOL of course that’s silly and if it was a grandchild doing it I would probably just laugh and pick them up, which I do anyway but I do tell Skipper about my dismay with his behavior.
But we are most of the time way too liberal with him and so he has become a free thinker and misbehaves accordingly; testing his allowances not unlike any human child; Hubby more so than me with that leeway.
I suppose in many cultures his attitude may be considered flagrant disobedience but he is a true friend and loving child and my exercise cheerleader!
As you all must know by now that I have been exercising daily since just a few days before Christmas.
Any-who, as I lie on my yoga mat to do my exercises Skipper kisses me, silly tickle-y smoochie kisses, but I worry that I will roll on him with my still obese body or hit him with my now five pound free weights! I am up to fifty reps for each exercise now and switched to the five pound weights a couple of days ago I am so proud to say!
He does listen when Hubby is in a seat and I say go by daddy, yes Hubby is daddy and I am mommy, remember it’s not MY fault I don’t have grandbabies to have them call us granny and pop-pop! LOL!

My obsession is not with a too severe problem I think many have asked me to play those Facebook games and I have said sorry I don’t do those games… but in truth I am a DOMINOES junky and yes it is online on Yahoo! I am so embarrassed with that confession! LOL!
That one small obsession of mine comes and goes but today from sheer boredom I found myself playing for hours and when Hubby questioned me about what we needed at the grocery for him to pick up I felt he made me lose the game I was playing because he distracted me! Scary! I will try to not be so nasty or at least keep my thoughts to myself and not play so long for I even got myself homemade lemonade during waiting for the other person to go!
I have tamed myself from the evil doings of that fixation, but I must admit I am amazed how it is set up for one to win and one to lose at different intervals… there have been days where I would win, win, win and then others that I would lose, lose, lose… just the law of averages or the way the bones are shuffled, not unlike a card game in that fact for that I am sure.
Keeping our minds busy and multiples of fives helps with my math skills, huh?
Nah, too easy, I think we learned those five times tables in first grade or there about, right?
Surprisingly though you will be shocked at how many don’t seem to know them.
The best part I found is meeting people from all over the world there; bet you didn’t know that almost every country knows how to play dominoes? Sure you did.
I can do without the ones who rather talk more than play; some seem to be there for nothing more than have socialization but I truly love the game and the faster the better. I seem to have no patience for slow people either; another flaw!
So come and play you might find me there, but not for too many hours since today I found out that I better cut back; since it can become habitual!

On that silly note of switching out one obsession, food, for another time consumer; I would like to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to all please count those blessings and kindly share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Occupied

Doing things other than what is expected at times is occupied?
Busyness or otherwise engaged in something, taken or unavailable may be some other possible reasons.
I have been otherwise occupied in watching the remake movie of The Untouchables circa 1987, the Kevin Costner one and actually quite good.
I think most of us gals do like Kevin Costner.

Any-who, we have been on an entertainment spree starting with, last night’s advent of actually leaving our home after dark to attend a surprisingly good concert at our local Center for Performing Arts right here in River City AKA Punta Gorda, actually one of the few venues that does not skirt the river.
It was the, Feel the Spirit concert that you might have read and that I did mention, on I believe Wednesday.
We had been gifted free tickets from the executive director, Mr. Lee Stein, and as I said it was an offer that we couldn’t refuse and are extremely happy that we didn’t.
For me though physically it was a trial of my abilities that I had not tested in quite some time, after getting seated in excellent orchestra seats by the usher we found that ours were the ones across the aisle, but he already parked my walker and then when his mistake was discovered he brought it back dear Alan Brown and his wife Carol who were volunteer ushers both in their seventies and just darling, during intermission Carol and I had quite a conversation discussing hurricane experiences and other things too… uh oh, I had, had a fear that I was going to be a problem, but the volunteers there were very gracious and never made me feel that way. Even when during the intermission Hubby felt that we should move into the wider open area behind where we were sat so he could get me my scooter since I would never be able to get to the car with my walker. And that was due to the fact that he had to park the car quite a distance away. He originally dropped me off at the door, but even then I had to sit a few times on the way to our seats, fortunately my walker has a built in seat for just those times with a compartment for my purse and my water bottle that I did not realize was not allowed within the center, oops! I do have that habit of keeping water with me at all times, if necessary so I can take my medication like my Baclofen, my anti-spasmodic, which I did take during the intermission. And it turned out to be fortuitous because the lines to the ladies room and other things were very long since they had a very nice turnout.
Hubby and I spent the second half in the back where he did have a regular seat and I was able to park next to him on my scooter, it was just perfect!

The first half of the concert was dedicated to old Negro Spirituals that many of us are familiar with if any of you grew up in the nineteen fifties and sixties with the Civil Rights Movement well underway which we did! Mr. Earl Nelson was the guest conductor for that first half; he is a former senator from Michigan and now a Punta Gorda resident who just so happens to also be an African-American who has been also noted for his forming of the Earl Nelson Singers that still performs in Lansing Michigan and continues to enjoy their retirement by singing! He feels they “are preserving the beauty and dignity of Negro folk music.”
After we returned from the intermission the patriotic songs were sung…this half the conductor was the man who is responsible for the chorale all the rest of the time, Mr. R. Bruce MacGregor and for the whole shebang the accompanist was Angela Navarro who did an excellent job with the many changes of voices from song to spoken words flawlessly…
The voices of the choir were just as lovely for this portion as well as the first; all had pure richness of tone. And even the spoken words by a man who had the power and depth of a James Earl Jones bass in his larynx spoken with affirmation and his name is Mr. Richard Weber, as he gravely articulated the wonderful Testament of Freedom and also America the Beautiful. What a gem. Hubby and I both wondered why he wasn’t a singer he sure had the chops for it!

Interestingly there were two occasions that the audience was asked in the program to chime in and we all did, for America and Let There be Peace on Earth, so appropriate with the recent Egyptian crisis appearing to have finally subsided with Hosni Mubarak deciding that the people really did want him gone and so he is leaving and just being earlier that day.

The Charlotte Chorale on April first will be having another concert which is entitled “A Bouquet of Chorale Favorites” at a different location and for more information call 941-204-0033, may I suggest calling way ahead for the time, day and tickets since they will be more than likely SRO, for you regular folks that means, sold right out! But you all knew that…LOL

On that unabashedly giving of my wholeheartedly enjoyment of something that I didn’t do in a very long time; please folks don’t be like me… going out here and there during the day is fine but stretch your cultural needs too and try a night time venue of entertainment fun also! And I am sure that you will not be sorry I wasn’t…

Enjoy the world; there is much to see even in your own backyard!

On that joyous reality let me be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to kindly ask you to count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Friday, February 11, 2011

Significant day for us...

Today is the day I gave birth to our youngest son.
He fooled the doctor by coming earlier than the doctor thought he would labor-wise, date wise a bit later although on schedule, huh? He was expected anywhere from December to February 16th, due to my miss-carriage before him which confused things.
You see my first took twenty-nine and a half hours and of course was worth the wait!
But since I had, had that miss in between and this was a different doctor who didn't know about it; the doctor thought that when he met us at the hospital he had time to go home since it was only a couple of hours, but I fooled him our little darling this time, actually much larger than his big brother (5lbs.12 oz. and 19 inches long) by nearly two pounds and three inches longer at seven pounds eight and a half ounces and twenty-two inches long, he arrived in only four hours and twenty minutes later!
At this rate I calculated that perhaps going in for each successive delivery should or could be at inception, just kidding! And was to never be…

Any-who, this babe of ours, our youngest son, sadly is the one who is estranged from us. Which is his idea not ours; we love him whole heartedly and miss him daily; enough of that sad stuff.
I did send him another birthday card; it went out Tuesday hope he got it on time.

Today Hubby and I went out to pick up this and that and this time we went to the Town Center Mall in Port Charlotte, less than five miles from our home, how convenient.
I found a great black cardigan at JC Penney on sale, a Nicole Miller originally $44 but half price at $22 plus tax! My favorite black loafer comfy shoes too were on sale at Sears for $19.98, their name is I ‘heart’ comfort, how appropriate for this time of year, huh?
I know I don’t walk much anymore except in the house from chair to chair with my walker but I drag my feet and it does do a number on my shoes and so my last favorite similar shoes were nasty worn.

We had a bargain lunch at the food court there, mine was a healthy salad with grilled chicken from Subway and Hubby’s was a calzone from the pizza place there, he couldn’t tell me the name, he forgot and I was sitting holding the table when he went there, so I am sorry for that! I had my water and so lunch was a true cheapo, less than $13.00 bucks for the two of us.

It has been cloudy damp all day although the weekend does promise to bring out the sun longer than the peek-a-boo one we had all day long today!
Low seventies and sunshine is coming back, thank heavens we sure could use some of that, huh?

With that amateur attempt at weather forecasting, sorry Haley!
Oh Haley Webb NBC-2 news, she is our little new momma meteorologist that is out on maternity leave but checks in occasionally on our Facebook page, she, her hubby and son are doing well, by the way, but we do miss her and weather has not been the same without her smiling face but she has promised her return will be in April, hooray!

On that slightly more than interesting tidbit of gossip or is that news?
Let me be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to all to kindly ask you to count all your blessings and to share those overages and we will too!
And next time be here or be square, ya hear?

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Trim is in and my continuing quest to become my thinner me is still...

My slim is in the works but progressing rather slowly for my liking.
I even increased my reps again tushy roll to fifty and all other exercises to thirty!
Let me give you the run down again:
1.tushy rolls, 50 reps, lying on back legs bent towards chest then roll from side to side
2.bent knee tummy crunches, 30 reps
3.straight legs together lifts on back half way up, 30 reps
4.side leg lifts bottom knee bent extended half way up too, 30 reps
5.other side leg lifts knee bent extended half way up too, 30 reps
6.three pound free weights(still) on either side of Yoga mat lying with knees bent, lift clenched weighted hands to the count of thirty from the elbow simultaneously and done!
Altogether now, sound good? I do think so.
Remember this is coming from a woman who was basically sedentary for nearly three years, no walking or anything! And if you recall I did start with only five exercises with 10 reps way back on December 22.2010!

Sadly I scoured the net today to find out why this weight thingy to lose has become so difficult for me and what I found out was what I was most afraid of…my medication is causing the countering of my determination to lose this weight!
As I first investigated four of my prescribed medications, including my daily injections are doing me in!
I checked one of the many discussion groups and found out that many felt that they had to weigh whether having no more active lesions was more beneficial than becoming obese, some gained as much as forty to eighty pounds, and unable to move with their limited abilities, either way it is a lose, lose situation. Only no weight losses, ha and not funny at all! I was wondering if that was the case since I did know the other medications that I am on were weight gainers for me and now with this additional confirmation of my newest addition I will be reevaluating when this year is up in July. Since I seem to be stable at this time, perhaps my time will be right to try either a new pill form of medication or go without for a while… only time will tell.

Hubby was Mr. Edward Scissor hands but with actual shears in hand and mechanical clippers, he pruned back our Bougainvilleas, one by our patio and the other down by the water and our Hibiscuses alongside of the fence and also the Cape honeysuckle on the garage side which has a tendency to drop those pretty orange flowers all over the place; it does work well as a canopy there though.

On some nights I may sound more articulate than others I am sure you all have noticed those nights that I so enjoy utilizing my Thesaurus! Oh what fun to learn new words for the common ones I definitely redundantly use. I am sure you all remember the power of the Thesaurus on those school papers that those teachers loved to read.
Any-who, it’s always a plus to encourage lexis expansion, true?

On that somewhat pretentious usage of a fifty dollar word, ha, kidding, I am just a simple semi-illiterate gal who tries sometimes a little too hard!
Let me please be the first to wish you all a very happy good night to all and ask you to kindly count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Mission trip...and an offer we couldn't refuse...

Today set us on a journey to accomplish two repairs.
One for the emulsifier that we purchased from the big discount store, Super Wal-Mart a few weeks ago, it cracked while smoothing over some homemade applesauce this morning and yes the apples were soft from being cooked!
The other was my newest eye glasses but with the older lovable frames that went with everything since they were a combo of gold and silver metals, but the lenses were brand new, well at least only a couple of months old. And the frames broke!
And so once we returned the plastic based Hamilton Beach emulsifier or hand held mixer or whichever you prefer to call them it was a bargain at $19.99 and we did save the receipt and box; we decided to try, another chain that specializes in kitchen items Bed Bath and Beyond and went in with their 20% discount mailer card and purchased a stainless steel based Cuisinart one for $29.99 but with the coupon, $23.99 plus tax and we went on our merry way wish us luck with this one!
On our way to the other stores we stopped at one Eyeglass World and John the tech there did really try to see if they had any frames that would work and nope. Then at Wal-Mart we checked and no either but the tech Kelli did read the name of the style off the frames for me and thought that I could call around for them since it had been so long ago I did not remember where I originally got them, but I had a better idea that if Sam’s Club didn’t have them then I would try online, actually Hubby did by searching just the name.
And voila he found it and it was much less than the many stores which were pretty high priced and really didn’t have the one I wanted or even a facsimile that I would have to settle for, and so I am proud to say that for $71.10 plus shipping ‘go-optic’ will be sending them within 1-5 days the exact one I love, hooray!
Sam’s Rose said they would install my lenses for free too but Hubby thinks he can do it; good grief with me and all lenses I have had falling out of glasses so often with loose screws he’s almost a professional by now!

Any-who before our final trips to the last two designations we did stop for lunch at Crispers the Publix owned soup and salad restaurant that doesn’t let you tip but if you must it goes to the United Way! Healthy food and charity too, what more can anyone ask for.

And I saved the best for last we had a very lovely offer given to us, an invite to a concert that is local and we accepted! It is a little bit overwhelming since the generosity is from nearly a complete stranger but a Facebook friend and the executive director of the choir. Amazing for such extreme munificence to come at such a loving time of the year and so close to our anniversary! How truly sweet and he does read this all the time, what loyalty! LOL! It is the, “Feel the Spirit", concert at the Center for Performing Arts in Punta Gorda; A celebration of patriotic music and a salute to Black History Month, check with the center for times and days, phone number(941) 637-0459 or (941)-204-0033
I suppose he read all those things I wrote about my growing up time with dancing and singing and happiness and so much joy! Don’t you all remember those times when music was a very big part of that special occasion, yes you remember for this I am sure… and probably you still have that reaction with any music you hear anytime that sparks that wonderful recollection in your musical soul!

On that enchanting thought to ponder I will very much like to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you kindly to count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Rambunctious

The definition of tonight’s title is: unruly: noisy, very active, and hard to control, usually as a result of excitement or youthful energy; and isn’t that just so cool?
No?
Where did that me go?
Or was it ever there?
Not really, but for maybe a night or two when I was seventeen… at fifteen I was just very difficult…
How many of you out there would have at one time considered yourself ‘rambunctious’?
Then I suppose you would have been what we lovingly called a ‘wild child’, huh?
Oh what fun you must have had, caused and were most likely a handful for your loving bewildered parents, who probably started pulling their hair out early on in those teen years that you created all that havoc in, huh?
Do you ever look back and just wonder?
What was I thinking?
Or why might have I done any of that?
Many older people do not remember just how it really was when they were in their prime, some due to drugs or alcohol use or others for a more benign reason, because they just have selective recall…
Whatever the case, life was never ever blah, although I bet that I am not alone when I say that we all had our moments of complaining to our cohorts/peers or parents that you might even have said…”I am soooo bored!”

Déjà vu when our children said that to us and all we can hope for is that the tradition goes on with the same results with the grands, children that is, LOL!
Sadly too many forget that some things never change.
I do know that for my parents it was a cue to turn on their thinking caps with ideas of what we could do to take the boring out of the boredom.
And so brilliant consults were begun and we became a think tank, fertile with creative ideas! Tons of inspiration discharged from the massive concepts in those blossoming brains of some of the many who played the game.
Boredom no more to dwell in the house that we did dwell in!
Singing songs, reading a good book, crafts or telling stories are all possibilities that might sound archaic to this high tech bunch. Going out for a car drive to see new places nearby and to become a tourist in you own land, just a few things that fit the bill.

Life is what we make of it and sometimes we must all admit that quiet too can be very nice…

And so on that pleasant thought dwelling in your fertile brain allow me to be the first to wish you a very happy good night and to all kindly count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

Monday, February 7, 2011

Excursion

On the road again, la, la, and la, hmmm...We did leave the compound once again but one cannot use too many descriptive words to describe how we go about that effort.
In reality no effort, a pleasure when you go through bouts of cabin fever periodically and anyone who knows why as much as they love their home that they need to leave it too. And that haven is a place to go home to; not hold up in indefinitely, got that?

Today was a fun errands day. Hubby dropped me off with my blue blazing scooter rider (trying on a name, do you like?) et al at the local Beall’s Outlet store at the Promenades not even two miles from the ole homestead and he went over to the head shearer’s shop to excavate his crop of elongated mop-ster he had spewing from his brain container, translation he went to the barbershop to get a haircut, but I prefer my version/ vision better, huh? HA!
Any-who, I was looking for a pretty outfit to wear just in-case I, had an occasion to use something of that nature. Fortunately I got this size thing figured out without even having to try on anything, wow! And I did find a pretty pink blouse, Sag Harbor, and all first quality no seconds here, normally forty dollars but their price $19.99 but today an additional 15% off on Mondays for the fifty and over crowd and I am proud to say that I meet that criteria for over ten years now. And the blouse actually had a necklace with it detachable, with black and white pearls and they even named the blouse, Pearly Girl!
There has to be something said for a company that names their clothes… but we won’t go there, huh?
This pretty in pink, parfait pink that is, girl has black slacks and also a great sleeveless dress also in black that it should look just spiffy with! At the check out register there was a box of very wild print note paper monogrammed with our last name's initial the only box there, how amazing and so I threw it in my basket with my blouse it was $4.99, normally $10.00, but with that same 15% off, what a bargain and monogrammed too with our own monogram; what a coincidence, huh?

And from there I scooted over to the Shack, used to be called Radio Shack but now they are trying to confuse us all… since I thought one of my favorite nice guy basketball players is also the Shaq, Shaquille O’Neal that is! But it doesn’t take too much to confuse me as we all know. I just wanted to find out about current techno trends and prices for them too and I thought it was a good place to learn a bit and the sales personnel guy, Dave was most helpful and forthcoming he even hooked me up to a dictation site if I can configure it for my use to dictate this and not touch a key at all for free! Cool, huh?
From there I headed over to the Dockesider Home Décor Store just for a peek to see if anything made me fall in love with it and was practical and necessary, nope, not anything there fit my bill! Hubby met me there since he had his hair surgery completed by then and it was a good thing since my last stop was the Winn Dixie grocery there to pick up a few this and that’s and maybe I was going to need some help with my gallon of fat free milk that I have recently gone back to drinking like a fish, oops did I say that?
But maybe it’s all those commercials, “it does a body good!”
Perhaps now with that daily exercise program which now for the last three days I incorporated a tushy roll into too! Five exercises all to twenty-five reps each, moving up, hopefully getting thinner, but only time will tell…

On that positive note allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to all kindly count those blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Pronunciation?

Illinois, castle, Kissimmee; Forked River, how do you say it?
Hubby chose tonight’s topic since he thinks our language confuses many with words that do not logically come-by pronouncing that easily.
Many we still hear say Illinois with saying the, ‘S’ that should be silent which is the correct way. Hubby thinks that a foreigner may find the word ‘castle’ difficult to say because in his logic it should actually be pronounced cast-el, also wrong it is cas-sel. Kissimmee, here in Florida, many find difficult to say correctly and to be honest until we moved here permanently in 1986 I do believe we were guilty of saying Kiss-a-me instead of Kiss-sim-me!
This last one logically is not that public since it is in an area from where we used to live, in good ole NJ, Forked River is part of Lacey Township which encompasses three towns, Lanoka Harbor, Forked River and Bamber Lake where we did actually live. Everyone that passed through though thought that Fork-ed River was pronounced Forked River,( no way to tell by its spelling either) but in reality it was named for two rivers which intersected there the Fork and the Ed thus the name Fork-ed River but spelled Forked River, got that? And really that is no one's fault for that mispronunciation. See confusion is pretty much universal for this I am more than sure.

I hope that cleared up some questions if any of you were wondering, probably not though, huh?
Don’t blame me since this was Hubby’s topic choice.
I keep telling him to start his own blog.
Way back when, at one time; he did write a monthly newsletter for the sheriff’s office for his north county peeps to let them know what was going on ala safety hints crime stopping etc. it was well appreciated and I was his editor, would you believe. Ha!
Any-who, town crying I guess is all in the family.

Our winter garden is showing lotsa lovely flowers on our tomato plants and two heads of cabbage have blossomed, besides oodles of wild flowers, Hubby planted more basil today in purple and green.
On a morning PBS show it said that basil and mint were two natural ways to keep mosquitoes and flies away! I know we don't get many this time of year but I thought I would pass it on for your future reference.

Last night was movie night again and I feel really awful since we have quite a few that I had forgotten to report on. Our viewing pleasure last night was two that I chose, Easy A, starring Emma Stone, Lisa Kudrow and many other familiar faces; it was cute in spite of the cursing that I am still guilty of cringing at, but the pretense was if you haven’t seen the trailers that a seventeen year old virgin tries to spice up her reputation by telling her best friend that she is dating an older college guy and that they did it, but they didn’t!
She almost confesses but this is done in the bathroom at school where another girl hears it all and it starts the chain of events…
Let your imagination go wild with that rumor mill taking hold on a high school campus!
But in the end reality check when her loose woman reputation nearly causes a serious assault on her.

The second movie we watched was also my pick and quite delightful, Percy Jackson and the Lightening Bolt Thief, Logan Lorman as the title character, it is one in a series of books that is done quite well, could be the next answer to the Harry Potter withdrawal you’re all going through, and yes I do know there is one more, since I am a fan too. Adventurous and many special effects, and PG for the whole family! Good plot premise.


On those short critiques I do hope you will try to enjoy some at home fun too… yes I do know it is Super Bowl Sunday, but after this; then what? LOL!
With that wilder than I wanted to be comment I would like to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you all to kindly count those blessings and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?

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...