Saturday, June 30, 2012

Today

Did not start as well as one may like to think?
I had been up most of the night, although my last awakening was nearly at seven thirty A. M. leaving some (Hubby) to believe that I had had a restful night’s sleep, but nope, no it was my comeuppance.
I did recall an over indulgence of spicy foods before bedtime, or more specifically said is that my tummy reminded me all night long…
I do know that I have the inexplicable desire to add jalapeños into any and all salads I eat, i.e. lettuce and tomato type ones, olives too. I have been known to add jalapeños on top of many and all sandwiches, especially tuna but also my surimi crab salad, made at home too, lettuce, and tomato on multi-grain bread with light mayo and all the above, and a nice Kosher spicy dill pickle; my idea of a delish lunch-time home meal… I know that I am weird, no news there, hmm?
Mind you, no fish and no bread late at night, usually just mini lettuce, tomato, green onion, carrots radishes jalapeños, olives with either fat free sour cream or my homemade dressings of red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil with a dash of sea salt and cracked back pepper and a sprinkle of parmesan, or sometimes balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil, sugar in the raw (Stevia) with garlic powder dressing, hmmm, hmmm good!
I know, not the best idea for after dinner snacking, but actually rather healthy.
You see, a while back I read that jalapeños have been known to raise your metabolism and are not that fattening since there is zero fat in them but their sodium levels are 19% and seven jalapeños are equivalent to five calories, a serving; I suppose I should go for the raw ones not in the jar, hmm? Sure it’s the sodium that gets you! But I rarely add salt into other food that I prepare and even in the above salad dressing the amount is inconsequential since it is a sprinkle only from a salt mill like the pepper mill.
Now the olives I do eat regularly are the green pimento filled salad ones and 19 make a serving with zero sat/fat, but 14% sodium and twenty-five calories for each serving of nineteen.
Those pickles that I crave too often are only five calories per half pickle serving with again zero fat, but having 11% sodium and perhaps that is why I munch so often on them…I could be considered addicted to the above afore mentioned food stuffs!
Not fast foods, chips or fries, being the objects of my desires, but those things above that I confessed to!
My blood work has been within the normal range for my cholesterol and my blood pressure has been within the normal range too! Even my A1C has said that I am still not any type of a diabetic, so what gives? I am fat.

Yep, blah, blah, blah… how I do go on, well you see I want to change this voluptuous body of mine into a more petite package of my old self. I have been going into the pool as regularly as possible and since tomorrow is my sixty-second year of my birth I have been trying hard to figure out how to change a few of my imperfections… nothing wrong with that, right?

Attitude is everything and that is why I have also decided to find more of the funny in my life too…Hubby and I went over to Tuesday Morning, this morning and found two more cute ceramic pots for my indoor gardening continuing, striving for cleaning the indoor air; nothing says that you can’t have character, hmm?
$3.99


This double one was $6.99.



The recommendation is for one plant per hundred square foot of home area, since we have a tiny one, home that is, ten is what I am striving for, or eleven would be more numerically correct. We had five and now with the newest addition of the peace lily from Winn Dixie at $5.99, we now have six!

I will be deciding on which of my newest pots get the honor to be its home.
I am leaning towards the double pot where it is sitting right now on my kitchen bar, that picture is it on the dinette table though.
So I do have some ideas to keep my brain functioning, while deciding on other things to do.
At the library the other day we did take out two new books and so that is also on the agenda. I will see if I can see long enough to complete those choices…

Any-who, birthdays to me had never been evaluations of oneself prior to this up down few years and so I will be trying to enjoy life there fore be more like others in our age group who appear to know not to take themselves or anything else all that seriously!
And so in this next years journey I do hope that I will have all of you there to find out what will be, okay?
All life is a journey, but documenting your own life’s journey is a gift to yourself and your heirs/family… I guess they can decide when you are really ready for that loony bin, hmm? Kidding, maybe not entirely, I’m not telling and you shouldn’t either!
On that asinine, trying hard not to cringe, after all I am an adult, sort of… with that snippet of why I am fat, topped off with my mediocre concept of where I would like to go this year… allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

Friday, June 29, 2012

USS Mohawk creates an artificial reef 13 miles off the Coast of Captiva Island in our Gulf of Mexico...

A Coast Guard cutter named the USS Mohawk will be sunk Monday in Lee County off the Coast of Captiva Island to ninety feet on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico there. The
Cutter is the fifth with its name and was originally commissioned in 1935. “The USS Mohawk was commissioned in 1935. She played a very important role in helping to protect US shores, launching 14 attacks against submarines between 1942 and 1945.” Thanks to WINK news archives in Fort Myers.

It will serve the area well with becoming a local people and tourist dive sight, many of its kind have generated millions in revenue for the local communities where they have been and it could be another boost to our Southwest Florida economy, hooray! Miami was offered the ship first but felt it was garbage and clutter… as many know that expression; what is one person’s trash is an others treasure!
Only time will tell if the Lee County idea will produce that future to their economy; one can only hope that will be the case.

Moving on…
The water and air gods were in my favor today with bringing in perfection for me to enter our swimming pool this late morning, air at a lovely eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit and the water temperature at eighty-three degrees Fahrenheit, a big Wow and a grateful thanks to the powers that be!
See I am not difficult to please, and yes not high maintenance either… I have always been very respectful of how money should and would be spent… and I never expected my husband to lavish me with jewels or fanciful anything!
Perhaps, that is the secret to a long happy marriage, not expecting those things and being blissfully surprised if they are ever generously given, hmm?
It has been in my observation that men or women who expect things for their value don’t seem to realize that things you cannot put a price tag on are devalued like, being kind, respectful, honest and loving and there for you in hard times, not only the good ones… many seem to be forgotten, and those things are actually the true priceless ones!
I am one of those lucky people to have such a wonderful husband all these years and we have been through it all, and have never forgotten our vows.

Why am I getting all sappy and gushy, well this Sunday I will finally be reaching my other year on this planet, twelve months in the making! Yes, just like the rest of you, and don’t you ever forget that! I will have reached my adult age of sixty-two and for that I am very grateful… so many times in life’s ups and downs, as with all of us, we have had times when that very well could have been our last, hmm?
To recount my lists would bore you so I will refrain from that tedium, but I am very proud to be coming of another year to call my own, and hope that I will go forth and make it a good one for others as well as myself, as we all should strive for…true?

We saw advertised a restaurant not far from here in our local magazine that we used to buy but it went up too high in price for our yearly subscription, but now the library carries it for free for you to take, it is a beautiful pictorial and information of our area called, Harbor Style.
The place that caught my eye was not far away at all and we had wanted to go there and all information of its menu were on the page colorfully represented, even including the phone number, which Hubby called and to both our dismay found out that they are closed not only on Sunday my birthday but on Mondays too…boo hoo.
But alas Hubby chose an alternate and we both agreed, see always thinking and I am very easy to please and flexible… get your minds out of the gutter!
PS in that way not so much as I once was, having taken dance for twelve years, ha!

And so being in agreement is a wonderful thing, and so rare with two strong minded individual brained people… contrary to what many think that when you marry you must always be thinking and doing all things together, nah…that’s what can create havoc!
Separate brains and separate ways of thinking, it is respect of our differences that makes it work… just like all other peoples in the world…let us not forget that!
But loving someone does help accept everything easier…

On that, who knows what, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Health Care Bill, a wonderment of a natural disaster's gentle touch, questions about a few family heirlooms

Dear Mr. President:
Did you know all this below:
As per my personal email from the National MS Society’s statement:
“National MS Society’s Statement Regarding the United States Supreme Court Ruling on the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society supports the decision of the United States Supreme Court regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This ruling will have a significant, positive impact on many, including the millions of Americans affected by multiple sclerosis.

Below are some of the provisions of the law that the National MS Society believes will have the biggest impact on people with MS and their families:
• Prohibition of coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions: Too many people living with MS had been routinely denied insurance after receiving their diagnosis, preventing them from getting the care they need.
• Prohibition of lifetime limits: Routine, often costly care is needed to manage MS. This may cause those living with severe forms of the disease to reach their lifetime limit early in life. Elimination of that limit was critically important for continued care.
• Elimination of annual limits: Similar to lifetime limits, many patients reach their annual limit of coverage because of the cost of care for MS. These arbitrary limits should not prevent those in need from receiving care.
• Extension of parent’s insurance to 26: Many people with MS are diagnosed in their 20s and may still be in school or lacking a full time job to help pay for their care. This provision ensures that they can continue coverage under their parent’s policy.
• Closing the Medicare Part D Coverage Gap: Disease Modifying Therapies for someone with MS can cost as much as $4,000 per month, which is out of reach for the average American; therefore, gradually closing the coverage gap has provided financial relief for those who depend on Medicare for prescription coverage.
• Pathway for Biosimilars: The law provides a pathway for biosimilars which provides some hope of lower cost therapies in the future. The FDA had recently indicated it would not have pursued this pathway without the legislative mandate therefore, it will continue to be developed--which is good news for anyone who uses biologic therapies.
Background
Although many people with MS have health care coverage, 70% of those with health insurance still struggle with the cost of health care and 30% are forced to spend less on food, heat, utilities and other necessities in order to afford their health care. Those without access to private insurance and who do not qualify for public programs are often priced out of the market, as individual plans can be prohibitively expensive.

On average, the financial impact of living with MS is $69,000 per year, and more than half of this amount consists of direct health care costs. Unlike some other diseases, MS is a lifelong illness--typically diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 30s--prime career and family building years. Because of the high cost and complications that can be associated with the disease, the National MS Society has long supported many of the policies that were included in the law just upheld by the Supreme Court.

With guidance of people living with MS, the Society adopted a set of National Health Care Reform Principles several years ago and, as an organization. Our approach is to support legislation that is in line with those principles. We intend to continue to work with Congress and the Administration in pursuit of public policies that address the needs of those impacted by MS.

Contact
For assistance with specific health insurance questions, people with MS, their families or healthcare providers may speak with an MS Navigator by calling 1-800-344-4867 (FIGHT MS). You can find additional information on our website.”
I suppose that a thank you is in order, after all, hmm?

Now moving on---
Many trees were uprooted and floras strewn hither and yon, not to mention flooding and so many more problems with all that Debby’s wrath projected on us as a ‘Sunshine’ state and now in a renewed sun state.
Our damages were minimal; thankfully, a few vines disconnected from trellises, some puddling, fortunately the water over the dock receded nicely and never came into our home. We had one oddity of the storm, when I looked out my weather window yesterday morning our mirror on the lattice trellis was no longer in its frame…Now some logically would have felt it broke due to something hitting it, and that was my first assumption too… but thankfully it was not!
Hubby, located it right below within the garden it decorates and not shattered at all not even cracked!
Wow, I was so happy, since number one son had made that for us way back in high school in a shop class, twenty-five years ago, and wherever we went we always found a place to put it…Today, I hot glued it back on, you see, even twenty-five years ago they did it that way too, or maybe I did it since, anyway it lasted for years! And so it is now back where it belongs, so all narcissistic lizards and birds can look into it…!


When we moved into this house Hubby while cleaning out the overgrown area by the canal, he uncovered many oyster shells and even fourteen years ago I was into reusing and creating things and that is when I went to Jo-Anne’s and bought a grapevine wreath and ribbon and hot glued those shells to it, and it still remains today!


Now, my other questions about those heirlooms hit a wall when I tried again to figure it out for myself three pieces of costume jewelry of my Mom’s. If Mom were alive today she would be one hundred and one year’s old, not too bad by today’s standards but she passed away in 1982.
Any-who, many of her good pieces I know about but these costume ones have baffled me of who made them and when?
I will now attempt to post them here, not that it has ever helped me before with this idea, but who knows… some of you might have another idea where to turn to for figuring out my mini mystery, hmm?
Choker style necklace without any markings,

same situation,

no info, and lastly,

a bracelet, any help where to look next would be wonderful!

Tonight, as usual was about me, me, me…but a little interesting I do hope, and so on that possibility… allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share your overages and we will too!

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

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Going up and down with hope and excitement and then plummeting to the bottom...

Belviq!

Thanks to:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57461956-10391704/fda-approves-obesity-pill-belviq-for-obese-overweight-people-with-weight-related-health-problems/
“The FDA cited three studies of nearly 8,000 overweight and obese patients - with or without Type 2 diabetes - who were treated from 52 weeks to 104 weeks with the drug or a placebo, along with exercise and diet counseling. The studies found about 47 percent of patients without Type 2 diabetes lost at least 5 percent of their body weight compared with about 23 percent of patients treated with placebo. In people with Type 2 diabetes, about 38 percent of patients treated with Belviq lost at least 5 percent of their body weight, compared to 16 percent in patients treated with placebo.”
“Magic cannot happen without failure,” Tobi. Gosh, my statement makes as much sense as the one above, huh?
Actually, readjusting my thinking cap, mine does sound quite profound, but to me only I suspect.

It all goes back to what we all know as fact, “That when it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.”

Moving on… to some really, really good news Debby the Downer, is a goner; now am I the first to mention that truism? The damages that she left in her wake are I am more than sure will take months or years to mend and costs will be in the tens of millions.
Whoever said “that you get what you pay for”?
Didn’t take into account natural disasters!
Post Traumatic Stress Disorders will also be considered with anything of this nature… some times it is more difficult than others realize to get over the types of losses many have suffered…horrendous fires in Colorado too, homes gone, possessions too, pets and who knows what else…Sorry, we were, some of us, slightly self involved with our own disaster here…

Moving on…
Hubby, before all hell broke loose was in the process of moving our virburnum, a bush like plant with white pompom type flowers, very pretty. I do believe it is my fault that I had Hubby plant it a few years back against our white fence where it eventually had grown its roots under it and consequently became squished!
It is one of the two that the county gave out to people who lost trees due to Hurricane Charley, and so we got a Crape Myrtle and the Virburnum, both insect and drought hardy.
Although, the Crape Myrtle is deciduous, and the Virburnum had not flowered until this Debby storm rain, something good came from her! PS Robert Van Winkle, NBC senior meteorologist has just said that Debby has single handedly gotten us out of our drought conditions, another plus from her…! But a double edged sword with all the devastation that she left in her wake… Many shorelines are also sporting many seashells that have come ashore too…Geez, back and forth, good and bad… befuddling!
What had been started before the continuous training of torrential rain showers was Hubby getting the very large root ball of the virburnum out of the hole and sitting it on the ground alongside of it all tied up. And today, it was placed in its new location feet away from its sister adoption of the Crape Myrtle in front of our boat on the lift.
Sadly, although we love living on the water, privacy on that side is a “Comme ci, comme ca,” means like this like that… We do like to look at the water but being so close to neighbors able to see in your yard is a little paranoid. Especially, when I go into the swimming pool, I ask you who wants to see this overly voluptuous body, (I have curves where in some countries would be considered obscene), anyway.

Go, I’ll wait for you to get that awesomely yucky picture out of your memory, if you wait too long it will be etched in there forever, hurry! And than allow me to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share all those overages and we will too!

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

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Missed my anniversary here by this much...Punta Gorda is going forward with Mote Marine’s Aquarium ...A home inspection in this mess... Debby has left us many with nasty memories

As she makes landfall north in Steinhatchee, (pronounced Steenahatchee, not stine) in our big bend area of Florida and begins hopefully to fizzle!

Doesn’t seem that she knows that yet since flooding is all over this area and winds and rains are continuous but with longer lulls though…so I suppose she is diminishing a bit.

Yes, yesterday was my fourth anniversary of this wordy propagandized opinionated liberal lofty extremely honest rendition of what I think about everything, anyone and anything whether you want to know it or not… And for that I am very proud of my stick-to-it-ness, sadly I forgot to mention it last night or to do anything fanfare wise… oh well… tonight could be that night, but what?

I’ll get back to that later…
I was just as thrilled as punch, what does that mean, really? Any-who, of the news that our River City AKA Punta Gorda is committing to the plan with Mote Marine Laboratories to build an aquarium right there where our old Publix shopping center was prior to Hurricane Charley blowing it away!
The facts are they have 85K to put into the project, but I am more than sure it will be much more than that, wherever will the rest of the monies come from?
Methinks thy taxes will be increased, but I do not know for sure…
Just add that into the mix… of more expense for us commoners… too bad we won’t gain from the gains too?

I left the best to last, or not the best, won’t know till they get back to us or perhaps not… the home inspection paid for by our homeowners insurance company, Citizens, don’t let that name fool you…
They are the ones that came in after Hurricane Charley and took over the uninsurable destroyed homes after the wrath of that mighty interloper of terror and destruction and since no one wanted us, even the ones that we had been insured with… they became our only game in town.
Randomly they have decided to inspect their covered homes, and we apparently were in that lottery and they called today, i.e. after kindly sending a form letter days ahead that they would be calling… but he said that he would be here in an hour and he was a bit late… and stayed about an hour… and so we have no idea what will be our fate, stay the same premium, lower, or an increase…all in his hands…
Nothing we can say or do.
Fortunately, Hubby was able to mow before and trim due to a long lull in the weather and he also picked up some flora that fell too… it really looked nice again.
All we would like is another decrease which we had of 31% from when the state was doing the wind discounts; also for free… that’s all, don’t we all need a break, sometimes?

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

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


PS I just thought of how to celebrate my 4th anniversary here with a toast with Hubby with a nice glass of wine! Not that big a deal but neither is this milestone; maybe in twenty years or so…, hmm?

Monday, June 25, 2012

Debby, Debby, Debby! That's all I heard today, and enough is enough!

The newsies/meteorologists say she is stuck and may very well be in our vicinity to our north for days, Friday!
To us it also means wet windy weather for the rest of this week!
Many tornadoes have been spawned as well as flooding all over the place…Hey, they don’t pay me for this stuff I just observe from my own weather window here and listen to the ones that get monetarily reimbursed for their knowledge to talk to the rest of us on air…!
Lost Sarasota and Tampa stations today and I became really concerned, since number one son is up in that area… He’s fine though and a call proved that, he has enormous puddling all over his acre of property, but not in his home, a raised ranch style.
I had to wait till he came home from work to find out… I suppose at his ancient age, of forty, he doesn’t think I should worry so much…
One never stops being a parent, does one?
I have no modeling to know for sure, since mine, that is my parents, were both gone, passed on, well before I was his age…anyone out there know?
Having adult-children, another oxymoron, hmm?

He lives a few hours away and we don’t talk for sometimes months at a time, but when this sort of weather happens I worry, is that so bad?
Gosh, he helped after Hurricane Andrew and here after Hurricane Charley, so he too knows devastation.
Any-who, enough already!

In our neighborhood we had a blackout last night for five hours, and for years I have been the first to call them in, 1-800-4-outage, and yes, I have it memorized, the emergency number for FPL, Florida Power and light company.
Weeks ago they installed what they call a ‘smart meter’ that will supposedly eventually give us the ability to follow our electrical use online. It is to be read remotely without any one needing to come into your home, but since 2004 we had one just like that, this one is better we were told.
And so when I called last night the computer voice got our address from the phone number I called from and then said to wait while they checked to see if our ‘smart meter’ was functioning, being told that it would take about forty seconds, now that sounds exact not about to me, you too I bet…Well, after ‘they” conducted their remote test the conclusion was that perhaps our breaker was tripped due to the storm. Now ordinarily any other time that would make a bit of sense, but our neighborhood was dark too.
They recommended that we try that and if it did not work we might have to call an electrician, what?

I called back trying hard to screw up their computerized system to get a real human being to talk to, and it worked… sometimes I just don’t hit their requests and other times I hit zero a few times and voila, it seems to do the trick!
A human female answered after my supposed wait of five minutes, it seemed much longer… anyway, she was able to ascertain that we certainly did have a power outage not of our doing and that 238 others in our neighborhood were also out of power, now we’re cooking with gas…
Ta da! She also said that we would have our power restored by eleven fifteen tonight, by now it was already nearly nine thirty, what a deal!
They asked which number they could use to keep us updated and I said the one that I was on and she assured me that they could and would…
Hmm, but by nearly eleven fifteen nobody updated us… and so I gave it a call and to my dismay the new fix-it time was moved up to twelve thirty, uh oh… not sounding too good anymore… but I fell asleep apparently and the next thing I notice is the paddle fan above the bed is on and working!
I did not know that Hubby during the night had gotten up to also see what was what and called them a few minutes after two A.M. and the recording said that it wouldn’t be fixed until eight A.M. since it was a much bigger problem than they originally thought… and almost as soon as Hubby got off the phone… the power was back on like magic!

Now I told you ours you tell me yours…
PS our dock has been playing peek-a-boo all day long in and out of the water, but as long as it doesn’t come up here we are okay! Streets are flooded throughout our county and tornadoes have killed a woman and her baby in Highlands County, so all in all for us we are not too bad off… but as I said in the beginning Debby will be causing us all more grief till Friday!

On that tidbit of a bit of interest I do so hope, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and kindly ask you to be safe and count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Whether you care or not our weather is in the news once again thanks to that Sweetie Debby, who is proving to be just the opposite!

In her mass wake she is spewing off tornadoes in a sporadic fashion. The Hurricane Center’s newest cone of uncertainty has her pointed directly at our panhandle in Florida, but even the surrounding counties in the Tampa area are under a tropical storm warning!Our son's county included.
All day long we have been under warnings for tornadoes and flooding…


Some neighbors have been losing items from their yards…too late for one who’s piling up of lumber has already started to float

away… Too dangerous to try to get it sadly.
One thing that horrendous weather systems have taught us was that things don’t matter, since they can be replaced, but people do, since they are irreplaceable…
Now perhaps more will understand why I found out early that money cannot buy happiness… I saw the aftermath back in 1992 of the devastation of Hurricane Andrew a category five the worst there is… and everyone who survived was thankful for their lives!

Tsunamis have proved that as well for survivors and other canes over the last decades, floods, and tornadoes yearly… why don’t so many understand that is truly what is important in life?

Please know that the pictures above are of our saltwater canal that goes directly into the Charlotte Harbor only five minutes away by boat. Our pool and our pond are also quite full…
We are also now in a slight lull of no rain but the winds are picking up… and yes, we are not even in Debby’s realm nor will we be… so the NBC TV meteorologist, Robert Van Winkle has said.
It’s all just to our north of us and that is where the warning and watches have been going on; ours are a tornado watch till eight P.M. tonight and a flood warning for us until tomorrow. That still sounds ominous to me…

We are never ever off our guard when this season lets us know that we have a storm within our area, and neither should we be.
Complacency is the enemy!
Being prepared is more than being a good scout it could mean the difference between life and death!
Listen and watch your weather channels and do whatever they tell you to do for your safety.

The only thing is that our wind chimes are going crazy with their songs of anxiousness and than a calm of quiet begins…soothing and scary too…! The trees and bushes appear to dance to the mellifluous melodies… in a concerto being only directed by a maestro of the wind.

On that image of making this possible devastating weather become tamer in all our minds, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all you blessings and share all those overages and we will too!

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

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Debby is a tropical storm and has the added feature of being the first in over a century to form in the Gulf before July!

So far that’s all I got on this non-cheerleading, but newsworthy historic advent of weather system called, cheerfully, DEBBY!

Gosh, Irene was just a tropical storm, and she sounded non-scary too! But talk to the people up north that had to deal with her wrath.
The spaghetti plots “(Spaghetti plots are a method of viewing data to visualize possible flows through systems. Flows depicted in this manner appear like noodles, hence the coining of this term.[1] This method of statistics was first used to track routing through factories. Visualizing flow in this manner can reduce inefficiency within the flow of a system. In regards to animal populations and weather buoys drifting through the ocean, they are drawn to study distribution and migration patterns. Within meteorology, these diagrams can help determine confidence in a specific weather forecast, as well as positions and intensities of high and low pressure systems.)” Thanks to Wikipedia for that definition.
But they still show her possible tracks either going to Tampa or to our panhandle here in Florida or Brownsville, Texas!
None is where it should go, perhaps it will fizzle and all will be well…
Déjà vu again, Hurricane Charley, August 13th, 2004, a Friday, a direct hit of a category four here and it also was supposed to go to Tampa and all points elsewhere!
Either way it is not good, number one son lives near Tampa.
Now we have no other recourse in ‘the season’ other than watching and listening to all the weather mavens and hoping for the best!

In other news, friends come and friends go and what I have found that people who tell you that you cannot take constructive criticism also cannot take it themselves; how odd?
Nah, human nature that is because none of us like to be told that we are not up to another person’s concept of what something should be, really.
Opinions on many things are subjective, which as you all know mean slanted, biased, prejudiced, skewed or one-sided.
Adversarial can be conflicting as in management, better yet: Synonyms: hostile, adversary, antagonistic, antipathetic, inhospitable, inimical, jaundiced, mortal, negative, unfriendly, unsympathetic… now if you were called that what would you think?

And yes, I was called the above or should I say accused of being what the above implies?
Now, most would take that very insulting comment and run as far away from that person as one can get…


Here’s where my little story begins so fascinating it would actually make a great book or even a movie…
This person commented on something that is solely mine with a better than thou attitude… who seems to have forgotten from whence she came…not ghetto poor but not too wealthy either, and had the good fortune of marrying for money a much older man who happened to die, in testate… oddly enough he was an attorney. And another interesting tidbit she always had said that she would marry an old guy who would kick off; Déjà vu again …She had been his secretary in his law firm while he was married with two young children at home… He fell hard for she was a beauty and knew her flirtatious stuff like any twenty-five year old should.
The relationship was kept quiet, but if all innocent, why?
During those years I was already a married woman with one and two-thirds children, the youngest was a bun in my oven, of my own and so as any good friend would do for another friend I tried introducing her to other fellows…but no, she was not interested… and soon, I never told her this, I thought that she might be gay, but in the 1970’s none of us were as smart about that then…
But in my mind if she didn’t like young men, than that was not such a leap, was it?
Any-who, I was wrong, and as I have said many times before that I have been wrong before, yes many, many times; too many to count actually!
The deal was that she was seeing a married man!
Shocking for Miss Goody, Goody Two Shoes here to know how to handle! So, I said to my friend, after much listening to my inner self’s best way to handle this precarious situation that I trusted her judgment when she finally confessed, since I felt that she must love this man very, very much since I knew that she would never split up a family…
It was the 1970’s actually 1975-ish…
This woman who I had known for over ten years at that point made me wonder about my own husband’s fidelity too… If a lawyer with a family could cheat with my friend that I knew longer than my husband, could my husband do that too?
Thankfully after over forty-one years of marriage, to this day I want to believe that he never has, but you know who hasn’t wondered if one argument too many wouldn’t make the most faithful stray? Nah, he says he didn’t and I believe that to be true!
Back to this little story of mine… even when her husband was dying from cancer they lived eighty miles away from one another, he closer to the hospital for chemo treatments and his office and she in their mountain palatial-contemporary cedar home with spiral staircase et all… on ten acres with waterfalls and a brook included.
She would complain that he was verbally abusive and I said so leave him, actually I said either p—s or get off the pot, since he was very ill and her negative attitude would either have to change or that she should get out!
Occasionally she would work for him even then in his office and called me one day in utter horror!
For she was on the office computer and found out that he had cut her out of his will!
She was utterly upset, but I had a feeling he would have figured out her trips with guys, so-called friends, to Las Vegas and all…eventually that she had told me about with even pictures sent and no I never told him… I didn’t know him that well to let him know.
That is why I wondered why she stayed with him, but apparently she had enough on him to get him to tear up his will… therefore everything going to his legal widow, her!
All true.
Now if I was of the right mindset, I would have gotten into the aftermath, but she interfered in my relationship with our second son, thus partially causing our estrangement with her and him.
Our younger son was in his late twenties by then, and when she emailed me that her husband had died, I forwarded it to our younger son as she had to me…He went berserk! Saying that was awful!
And he seemed to respect this woman more than me and said she looked to him like one of the famous blonde actresses, which one eludes right now, ah Michelle Pfeiffer… so in that respect she could do no wrong, huh?
Any-way, he is just a man and that is all she ever needed to get them in her power, fortunately my husband and older son were not bamboozled, like the younger one was with all women! Thus he being on his second wife before the age of thirty-five, and marrying his first one at the age of twenty-eight, not to mention the steady influx of women from high-school and college that he not only dated but lived with! More like his pseudo aunt, her, than his own parents… with her same morals too, since his first wife said that he cheated on her, but he claimed the same… who knows, she is also remarried with a baby today!

And there are the beginnings of an interesting but trite story, a secretary shagging her boss and as it appears redundant too… oh well!
For motive as a possible fictional alleged murder mystery too it seems like we have all heard this somewhere before…hmm?
Odd how we as people try hard to forgive the worse transgressions in others when in truth we have no reason to feel that need, since I hear tell when all is said and done we all answer to a higher power…in the end who is the only one who will judge us.

On that more than you ever would care to know essay of why I am down another so-called long term friendship with trying so hard not to be judgmental but becoming judged, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and kindly ask you all to count your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

PS she has now told me that after a year after her dear husband died that I reminded her that I had married for love, what? Of course I did!

Friday, June 22, 2012

A malapropism and other grammatically incorrect not corrected grammar and spell check items

A malapropism is the misuse of similar sounding words, especially with humorous results. Norm Crosby, the comedian has a fine career from doing just that!
Which when you have a hearing impairment or auditory discrimination problems it is not that funny,… but here I am speaking of the former. I too have been guilty of doing this in the written word and in speaking too, but I have been told my hearing is no longer perfect.

May I ask the rest of the world why we think we have grammar and spell check systems built into our WORD programs?
It never picks up the differences in homonyms in the context of the body of the written work, there or their, plain or plane, are just two that it has never ever picked up to my knowledge, but wait there are more, they’re, Ta Da! And many more that elude me at this time…

Sadly, in my last night’s published post I did not pick up on another; ‘diseased’ instead of ‘deceased’ was written without me realizing that horrid mistake while speaking of Princess Diana! Of course, I reread it this morning and corrected it, but I supposedly have grammar check, but why didn’t it detect that; so way off, but in its wee brain I suppose it could be correct?
It baffles me why ‘they’ have the nerve to call it a ‘grammar check’; and I do know it is not as capable as a human editor, but what is one to do?
I always spell and grammar check with this WORD program that I write initially on here, nightly, before I copy and paste it to publish and I do believe I reread again and again, but GEEZ, I am only a one-eyed human and somehow, someway I always seem to find more mistakes, after! How embarrassing!
I am not that stupid, (keep your personal thoughts to yourself please) but I lose a little more of the brightness in my bulb whenever these oopses occur. (Again, leave that alone too)
And I was so thrilled to get nearly three times the hits of interest on last night’s blog offering, but now I don’t know if it was to make fun of my stupidity or to enjoy what I did write right, got that?

Moving on… and I do hope that this will be grammatically correct…
More aggravation from those if you need me to do anything for you medical suppliers of no other choice caretakers, ha!
I mailed in a prescription for my Dexilant 60 mg. for my GERD and that does not allow me to choke in my sleep medication, on June 4th to the company that I am receiving it from with the prescription I received from the doctor at the health department. But brilliant medical school practicing for decade’s doc did not put the quantity on it and he’s the one that told me that I should be dead if I had had MS for thirty years; my cousin is not dead and was diagnosed when she was twenty-seven and is now sixty-four!
Any-who, I do not like him and now when the fax for the mistake was sent out on the fifteenth to him, the company insisted that they did not receive my mailed out prescription until the thirteenth and it takes them twenty-four to forty-eight hours to process, and yet when they faxed my doctor last week, seven days ago on the fifteenth they did not receive a response until yesterday, mind you by fax!
Sunday night I will be out of this medication that keeps me from choking in my sleep and I am at my wits end.
They did take pity on me and said they will ship it over night that is over Monday night meaning I should receive it by Tuesday! Monday night is my worry.
I did what I was told, I mailed it within the time constraints I was told to do…and yet I have found depending on others never seems to work!
But I did call before tonight, on the fourteenth and they said that they received it the day before and that I should have it before I ran out!
Am I crazy or is this not right?
Watch how you answer this; most probably would say yes to both, but take a breath and rethink, I beg.
Hubby suggested that I try and call Monday for them to send a prescription for one pill to my pharmacist to hold me over, but I doubt they would do that…!
They don’t like me, since I don’t like how they treat me and I seem to have no other choice financially to go elsewhere… But maybe that is why they tried to charge me that $130.40 for my bill thinking it would make me try elsewhere?
Sure some places charge less I know my own neuro charges around $42-62 a visit and so does my ophthalmologist now if I could only find a similarly priced GP that would be able to take me?
Don’t they all get the big bucks from the insurance companies? Than why can’t they have a heart for us who don’t have insurance?

Tonight, I once again leave you in a confused state of my mind… but even with that, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Granny being bullied, Prince William getting a princely inheritance and the candidates trying hard to win the...

Votes from our Hispanic Floridians at the Latino Conference and so they all have managed to attain a location in Central Florida to hawk their wares, i.e. themselves and what they can do for all people of Spanish heritage, and that is in Lake Buena Vista, where Disney properties are, although the media insists on calling it Orlando, which in reality it is not!

Back to my first topic which irks most all decent folks… the bullying of a sixty-eight year old hearing impaired woman, Karen Huff Klein on board as a school bus monitor of the children of the Greece, N.Y school system. Mrs. Klein held her tongue and gave the monster children more respect in that respect than they gave to her…
Unfortunately, the children on the bus, of middle school age, 12 to 13 I am told, should have been removed by whoever does that sort of thing or by whoever was filming the incident, which was a fourteen minute tape in all and was of course placed on youtube by someone named: CapitalTrigga, where it got the world to notice the horrendous injustice. Police are debating on how to handle the situation.
Mrs. Klein is asking for an apology and new bus route; bless her heart…Meanwhile the public set up a fund for her to take a vacation, which has topped off at more than 300K, as of this writing, original intention was for five thousand dollars!

Dear sweet sadly deceased Princess Diana, she will never ever be a commoner to me…left her eldest son in his inheritance, a princely gift, of a fifteen million dollar trust fund to receive on his thirtieth birthday and that happens to be today! Spend it wisely son or save it for a rainy day! What luck, it is raining here in Florida!
His Mom and I had shared the same birth date, so I always felt that kinship to the family…kidding, we aren’t related at all!

Now that I straightened you all out on that… let’s discuss that rain that we so badly needed, but oops here we go again with that old adage, be careful of what you wish for…hmm?
So far, we have had over an inch and half, today, not counting the nearly half inch from yesterday and they say more is coming and even a slight disturbance in the Gulf that needs to be watched, that in ‘meteorologist speak’ means it could be something or might not be anything, huh?
But we have been warned to stay tuned and do diligence to watch, watch, watch these possible occurrences of who knows what?
Chris was our first hurricane in our hemisphere but has gone up and way out to sea…thankfully.
We always have the baddies start up in the Gulf of Mexico for us on the west coast…
If this one should develop it will be named Debby, sounds more like a college cheerleader than a nasty storm that could destroy all you hold near and dear!
If you are keeping track so far we had two tropical named systems Alberto before the season was legally begun in May, then Beryl who met the criteria of a tropical to attain its standing in weather history and you all know about Chris, now if Debby is anything we will hear more about her over the next few days, no cone of uncertainty yet, but that would be this weekend and that starts tomorrow, oh no!
Stay tuned…

On that cliffhanger sort of ending to tonight’s jibber jabber allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and we will too!

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

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Happy Summer Solstice all, that is in this hemisphere of the world...! Our longest day of the year, spend your extra lighted time wisely, huh?

That first day of summer, does it really mean what it used to?
Lazy days? Warm weather? Time to go out and enjoy the out of doors?
SURE! For many who live under rocks... not in our world where weather has no time zone anymore! Or rhyme or reason of when it should be cold or hot, hot, hot...? Global warming is a real possibility and no one knows what season it is anymore by the temperature of the air. All I know is that it gives us all a level playing field and no one has to move from where they are to enjoy all its benefits of warmth when it should be cold or even scary weather; when it never should ever have happened where they are... it can.

Like today, here in southwest Florida, it was eighty degrees Fahrenheit this morning and then dropped down to seventy-six after it was rain cooled. Although, this Spring it was ungodly warm even for us with many days in the nineties!

Most summers here are in the eighties until rain cools us off, while to our north pretty far north, actually the northeast and upper east, New England and Midwest and west, west they have quite a few days in the nineties and sometimes even in the hundreds in their summers!

Not that I am complaining with our cooler temperatures, it is quite refreshing, that is 80’s and 70’s and at least it doesn’t usually freeze here, oh we have had that but not too often.

You know most of this conversation is a moot point since nearly everyone here has air-conditioning in their homes, cars, stores, schools and buildings where they work. I think it is a law or something here, health ordinance.
Yep, that’s it; it is unhealthy to be too hot!
Now get your minds out of the gutter, what I meant is it is dangerous in the respect you can die from too warm weather, just like too cold.

It is against the law to leave an animal in a car here due to that very thing and sadly some stupid/ forgetting parents have left babies and children in their cars with the windows closed and doors locked, and death occurs in moments! We have all heard this on the news, yet it still happens.
Up north, in Chicago, I recall a few years back when several elderly people either did not have air-conditioners or couldn’t afford to have them on and they all died… so very sad. So check on your elderly friends and neighbors up there please!
Public buildings I do believe have cooling systems that they can go to if not by you, malls, grocery stores, theaters etc…
Here since we are known for warm weather it is more unusual not to have one central cooling system or in lower income areas window or wall units.
Many here have both, for subsequent logical need to be cool…venting in older homes varies, thus the need for adding those little ones. Even not a bad idea with power outages if you have a generator to turn that one on, we have two gas driven generators bought after Hurricane Charley, who knew gas would go up so high.
We have considered just that.
Like wood burning fireplaces, up north, in that too cold weather when the power goes out.
We have had many fireplaces, in fact in three out of five of our homes and two of those were here in Florida!
And once it was used for just that thing in Ormond Beach for a winter power failure, how about that?
But that was north central Florida and since we have been this far south it has never stayed that cold for too long in the winter, and yes we do have central heat too, but no power outage for that long and we have been on this coast for over seventeen years.

Any-who, my point is that you never know and we all should enjoy whatever our days bring to us and act accordingly to however our personal body temperature can handle whatever we get.

On that gotta get geared up for anything possible lament, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you to kindly to count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Eggplant parmesan, tossed green salad, and baguette = DINNER!

Now I do know that there is a resurgence of an idea to make Monday’s meatless and today is Tuesday, but what the heck, hmm?

Economically, it is a fine idea to save a few bucks. Especially when fresh, reasonable, produce is readily available this time of year, either from your own garden or the grocery or the Farmer’s Market; where our veggies came from, for this particular meal.

Our menu was simple eggplant parmesan, tossed green salad with a homemade vinaigrette and a baguette.
All in all it was simple and concise and delish, for just the two of us; a bargain, a healthy eat-in meal.

Today, our Skipper had his hair cut and so did Hubby, and our canine pal's is more than three times the cost of Hubby’s, but of course Skipper gets a manicure and a pedicure and full bath, styling and blow dry, along with other private parts expressed…

His groomer is new to him, but he appeared to have a fine time. The other one that he went to for years had a tizzy fit yesterday when Hubby first brought him into there and dropped him off… He said to Hubby we will make him have the Bichon cut if he isn’t too matted, which later the nasty man confessed our little darling wasn’t matted at all!
He also did not check his log very well since he said that Skipper hadn’t been there since November!
And I had it, my proof, in my check book, since they only take checks or cash for eight years we went there, and my proof was that he was there less than three months ago on March 30th! I called this man when Hubby contacted me
from his destination’s parking lot, the barber shop he goes to. I used to cut everyone’s hair from the time we were married, even the boys when small into their teens, but since my hands are not too swift for the last few years Hubby has been going to a BARBER, due to my fear of cutting him instead of his hair.
Any-who, Hubby was the one slightly concerned with the way the man seemed annoyed and so I called him back to let him know that he was mistaken.
And he argued with us that we should be taking him in every six weeks now, but as handsome as a Bichon Skipper is, he is not a show dog and does not compete and financially with our income that would be difficult, at one time we could afford it, but not these days… and so, I felt that we could let his hair grow a bit; after all he was bathed in the interim and brushed so for a while we did wait a month or two longer… but this time it was less than three months! And this was his fourth haircut since last fall, when he won a freebie one and then the November and then March and then…yesterday would have been less than three months but the man was calling me a female dog, yes, the 'b' word on the phone and so I called back Hubby and asked him to pick up Skipper and get him before that man hurt him!
I was shaking, after all no one has spoken to me with that kind of language in a very long time!
I quickly called our vet and asked her receptionist to recommend another groomer and she did and asked me why and I told her and named the place and she confessed that he spoke to her the same way and that’s why she no longer goes there!
It is D & D dog grooming in Port Charlotte and the owner is a nasty mouthed man, who doesn’t seem to care to keep long time customers at all… Now the tech/receptionist, Sherrie, at our vet's office gave me the name of the other she goes to now and I did try calling but there was no answer, and I gave up.
Hubby recalled the one on this side of route forty-one actually much closer than even the other and they even have a kennel if we need be and they are called Paws R US and so today Skipper tried it and liked it and he actually looks great and came home with a big smile on his face with his fluffy

pretty handsome dog for an eight year old, hmm? That’s like fifty-six in our years, and he flaunts his age well!
This new groomer, i.e. for us, also has better scarves, lately the other wasn’t giving them out all of the time, and these are more vibrant colors!
He’s all set for the fourth, early.

Oh last night was a real stinker, sleep wise…
“Up since 2-ish, choking in my sleep, couldn't lie down and so I took Pepcid (antacid) I am told to take two of them a day, guess I forgot one, had already taken my Dexilant (for GERD) after dinner as always and I had two cups of hot green tea in the wee hours, but nothing worked so I played Dominoes, checked emails and everything else. Googled possible help sites, always goes back to MS with lesions, frustrating this throat thingy, neurological due to that.
Some blame it on the hypothyroid, which I also have that too... I really felt like if I didn't get up I would choke in my sleep, scary!”

My usual TMI to ole pal with again an interest in my nocturnal benefits, too kind.

On that bits of this and bits of that, allow me to be the first to wish you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share your overages and we will too!

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

PS I am still waiting on my new total on that medical bill and called again today but no one called back yet…oh well…

Monday, June 18, 2012

Conversations of silliness can lead to BIG mistakes of not getting it!

Most of you have friends from childhood I bet, and when you talk to them you may revert to that child-like behavior of your youth, hmm?

Although, when talking long distance on these techno marvels we usually use the aspects of them that we have become most familiar with… for me, sadly it is as simple as using my email or messaging.
For others it may be texting, Skype or Twitter.

Some things are nice to know that albeit we have evolved into these masters of our own universe in the techno wars… We, as individuals all have our limitations on how we decide to communicate, and with that said… My ye ole chum and I send silly and bizarre emails to one another, in fractures of ye ole English and other languages that we had studied or not…using translation apps.
And on and on we go being our youthful fun loving selves…

Little did I realize that our innocent game could cause a miscommunication with an actual not so funny occurrence?

To my dismay and ridiculousness of going on and on about most everything, hey, it’s keeping this gig alive, hmm?

Any-who, when she innocently asked me, “Did you get enough sleep last night? My response was: “More importantly; did sleep get enough of me? :)
With Nocturia, night, relieving of ones bladder, due to having to drink enough liquids to not dehydrate yourself from all the medication that requires one to drink plenty of fluids, other than getting up to NOT flood out the sleeping quarters. I suppose that with those journeys to the toilette with usually a count of three or more nightly episodic motions. Yep, I remained within the environs of my resting horizontal positioning until approximately six of the thirty of the morning of today-ith, huh? TMI, as thee usual...
And how was your sleep upon your bedding of the night of fullfillment or tiredness, duth yours too quenched-ith and resolve that desire of rested? :) Me hope-ess that thee were!”, since the previous one I had gotten up for the day at 3:37 A.M. mostly due to pain… And so with a polite question, of equal concern for her respite of the night…I asked how she had slept, you see with her being a caregiver for her Mom Clara, who did get a great report from her cardiologist that she is doing great! I know that she has quite a bit on her plate… I do believe that sleep could be of concern for her too.

Any-way, today my ole buddy who works for her city still, a few days a week and she did not receive my response to her question until she arrived home, and her response also in the same silly fractured ye ole English as mine, was more disturbing… “Thy repose was not as resplendent as thy would have seeketh or thy wanted but I woke up anyway-ith. Mine eyes were hurtith after I took all of Mom's meds this break of dawn and hied to the loo-ith, stuck my finger down my throat over and over until thy releaseth the stuff. All day long I thought my eyes were going to pop out and hit the wall. Thy will sleepeth better during the darkest hours of tonight-ith. :)”
Now at the time I did not realize that it was a BIG mistake, since I hadn’t seen her in quite some time and I knew that she had been through the deaths of two of her family members, one her husband and the other her sister, and her Mom’s recent heart surgeries adding to those eye diseases causing near blindness for dear sweet Mom…I thought when she wrote: that she took her Mom’s medication and spent the night trying to get them out of her after she realized what she had done, by the only means effective, vomiting…

I bet you too all jumped to the same conclusion, but no, thank heavens; it was a mistake of exhaustion more than anything else! I wrote back asking in non-broken regular English “it was a mistake and are you alright?”

This dumb computer, for some reason, doesn’t always let me know when I have emails and so when I noticed there was no response I called her via landline and then hung up, since once again I did have email but on my welcome screen it did not show that I did! The note was short and to the point, “I'm still ALIVE!
Yes, I would say that was a mistake. There I was, putting all Mom's pills in the little silver cup, just like I do every morning, chatting away, then got myself a glass of water and took them. Needless to say I skipped my own meds after that.”
She had called me in the interim seeing that I had called, probably on her caller I.D. Anyway the main thing is that hearing her voice was a good idea; all in all it was more reassuring than emails will ever be…!

That’ll teach us all… emotion and full understandings are never ever the same as when you hear that person on the other end of that old fashioned cell phone line or landline…!

Disclaimer:
Now, hopefully, I will not anger her, since in reality she is anonymous via her identity never ever being truthfully divulged including her Mom’s, no one knows for sure, but I do have a tendency to change the names to protect the innocent or not so innocent, hmm?
And there are times when I should have, but didn’t, got that?

On those last few words of mass confusion or slight of hand…allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

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

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Father's Day, Edgar Rice Buroughs, another nice day of enjoyment....

Learning is an ongoing process; nothing new there, hmm?
Sure everyone knows that and realizes that no one can possibly know everything, and sometimes we even might forget what we knew once before and that it has gotta be stored somewhere in that melon that we call our heads that has an organ, get your minds out of the gutter, in it called the, ‘brain’! Yup, that’s what they call it whether you have an I.Q. barely discernable or one that breaks all the charts skyward, huh?
Yes, why even the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz had one, but didn’t know it.
I suppose with the way the world is some days many also forget that they have one too, hmm?

Now with that said, we as a mass unit of humans, nearly seven billion strong, yep, with a ‘B’ we must call upon our desire to access what this magical organ holds for each and everyone of us or just try to remember what we had been taught as school children from our earliest remembrances…
Yes, perhaps in the womb, sure I spoke to my sons when they were in there, and I do believe that was the last time that they listened to me, bud dump, bum…KIDDING!

Any-who, my point is that we were all taught that Edgar Rice Burroughs, wrote the Tarzan series, but what I cannot recall if I was told that he also wrote the Jack Carter, in Mars one too?
I was fascinated to find that out, since Hubby had chosen the Jack Carter recent movie to see last night, and it is science fiction, yep, of so long ago by this amazing man with an impressive melon if I do say so myself. And to know that he has been gone, OK dead, since a few months before I was born, actually March 19, of 1950, amazing!
He not unlike Jules Verne was a man before his time… and consequently I recommend this movie heartedly!
It was a big wow! And the beginning of Hubby’s journey into today, you see we watched the movie last night.
Today, I served Hubby breakfast, simple but good an egg and toast. And next we set sail, a figure of speech in this case, although we always seem to have power boats not sail ones, but we left via auto… anyway, after breakfast we went down south to our History Park on the corner of Shreve and Henry Streets in Punta Gorda AKA River City.
Every Sunday they have a Farmer’s Market and this time we went prepared with cash and a cooler and made a beeline to the produce, although they were all kinds of vendors there from plants to candles and everything in between. We bought, plum or I should say plom (misspelled by the vendor, PS he also spelled plum, plom), the tomatoes, romaine, an avocado and an eggplant, green onions, radishes, the size of a baby’s head, not really, but almost, and gorgeous peaches; all for $16.50! Healthy stuff and helping the local farmers, a win, win!

There are four houses there now, it has been a slow process but the land has filled in nicely since the acquisition of the two acres back in 1994.
"In May of 1995, a lease was signed between the city of Punta Gorda and Old Punta Gorda (a.k.a. Punta Gorda Historical Society) for a term of 50 years at an annual lease of $1.00 a year." The Park is on city property. Buildings belong to PGHS. The eldest of the lot is the Trabue Land Sales Office circa 1885, next is the Cigar Cottage from the 1890’s, and The Price House circa 1914, and lastly is the one under renovations now and they could used your donations to finish this project which is the Quednau/Hindman ca 1925. The gardens are noteworthy too and try to be historically accurate with the floras chosen to encompass the park.

From there we had lunch at the Fish Market at Fishville AKA Fisherman’s Village, Hubby’s choice.
And from there we went for a drive, feeling not too badly with gas prices plummeting to 3.21.9 a gallon; who would have thunk that would be considered lower, five years ago, hmm?
So we went the scenic route home Bayshore Drive along Charlotte Harbor from there we went over to the Beach Complex where you can temporarily park for free, we can always with our handicap status, but everyone else can right now until they fix their meters, so hurry up and enjoy the freebie!
There we have an Olympic size lifeguard-ed pool for a few bucks you and your friends can enjoy; there is the sandy beach to swim in the harbor and also boat docks and launches too. And don’t forget the tennis courts, basketball and volleyball as well as bocce also. Snack bar and pavilions for families to enjoy with barbecues included bathrooms of course and outdoor showers, holy cow!
Sounds like a great place to go to with friends and family!

Oh that’s right before we came to Port Charlotte where the Beach Complex is we went over to the Ponce De Leon Park in Punta Gorda where the animal preserve is, yes a miniature zoo like place for injured local wildlife… we didn’t go in but if it was cooler than the 91F it said on our car digital info; we might have, since its occupants always change.
At the park there is a small amphitheater for nature classes and there is a walking path/wooden bridge to check things out as well as a pavilion and another little beach.
We drove through all those afore mentioned, but gosh for any of you who want something to do we sure have a lot of choices!
Last stop was Publix for only about a half dozen items and I waited in the car since my blue rider was tapped out battery wise, although Hubby charged it.
It must need a new battery after all…?
We will see…

On that way to much information but in a good way, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to all those Daddy’s out there A VERY HAPPY FATHER’S DAY and always kindly count those blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

PS our son that we usually see, could not come down, but did call and that was the cherry on top for his daddy!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Spontaneity, looking for the bright side, and trying hard not to punt...

Being able to be flexible for doing things, (get your mind out of the gutter) at the drop of a hat; is called, being spontaneous or being not involved in anything else therefore being available for whatever anyone has in mind that you might be interested in doing or that they might talk you into doing, okay, ‘spontaneity’! Got that?

I enjoy being spontaneous as any other gal would or should, but lately those choices have gotten smaller… go out, stay in, go here, go there, go into the pool or stay out of the pool, blinds up, blinds down, watch the rain or keep the sun out…you got that?

What has happened to MY spontaneity in MY life?
The craziest thing I have done lately is order sweet and sour chicken off the China King menu, instead of anything with shrimp.

Adventures, where are my adventures?
I can’t be tapped all out, can I be?
Yes, I do realize that I have limitations with my challenges the PC thingy I am supposed to call my inability to walk only with an aid or see only half of the world with one eye functioning, but hey, I’m good! All smiles, martyr here, can you see my wide grin?

Life is a laugh a minute, especially when I do those gyrations in the pool without any music, oh you thought I was talking about spasms, nah they have been renamed to make you all feel more comfortable…
One of the organizations that care for this particular fun filled laugh a minute ill has requested that we with this particular joyous disease that has no cure to date, but can be maintained with a boatload of medications. They, this organizations send out a newsletter and magazine and they actually requested for us who have this thing, that some do not call it as it is, they have asked for us to write about the positives of dealing with this albatross or should that be a dove around our proverbial necks, nah a dove is too small the latter was correct, called Multiple Sclerosis and its upside?

How dare they!
Do they think that most people can manage this disease with grace and dignity?
I suppose many do.
But are those too good to be true people in denial or have they felt that that is the only way others will associate with them?
Sure, I wonder what tact to take, whining is not flattering, but is going the other way honest?
Of course we all must find a happy medium, but not be made to feel worse when we SAY THAT WE ARE DOWN and need to feel the love; not be ignored.

Many illnesses are respected for what they can lay claim to.
Tell someone you have cancer and people rally around you waiting to see how it will all turn out…until you are in remission then they say Geez you beat it, no more pity parties for you! Not out loud, but inside they sometimes do; I hope not.
Sure, you’re a survivor, and that should count for something…If you horribly don’t survive at least they were there, hmm?
Everyone feels great about that, no regrets all around.
But have a chronic disease that lingers and boy, sympathy, try and get some after the initial inaugural of the pronouncement… well, besides being asked how you are when seen by them or phone calls or emails…silence if you say alright and gotta go; if you are honest… sadly true.

Oh, you say it's because I have a tendency to go on, and you are definitely right!
Getting a life in this condition is not as easy as many may think, but I am working on that with my big move back into something I love, volunteering, at that free clinic, once a week, as a patient advocate.

Reading used to be my outlet for discussion with people but with these eyes not working too well that joy has diminished and books on tape are for people who know how to listen well; still working on that one.
I do love DIY projects, but Hubby is put into action too much with my ideas, so I have to cut back a bit.
Crafts are fun too.
Perusing museums are limited in our last few years to a ten mile radius of our home, but I am hopeful that time and creativity may change that…our county that I am referring to, that is.
The desire is there, I have heard it being discussed.

And if Mote Marine builds their aquarium here, in Punta Gorda that would be wonderful and we would definitely go to that and a water park here in Port Charlotte, but no, we would not go to that, but others would.
At one time someone wanted to donate property for a botanic garden on the Peace River, but I haven’t heard anymore about that one, if that came into being, yep, I would go to that one too, on a cool day that is.

So the potential is there in my ten mile radius I just have to wait it out and then they will come? HA!
See, a positive thought about what I would like to do, and so much more… we used to have an antique mall that Hurricane Charley took away that would be great to rebuild it where it had been, right on this side of bridge, right alongside the Peace River again, so much potential and so many ideas…

Oh, that is for our area and for me too!
I suppose you could say that like everything else we are all works in progress, hmm?

On that upside of what life could and should be, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages an we will too!

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

Friday, June 15, 2012

Easy breezy, sort of day...

Easy Breezy! Was the answer to my ole northern school chum when asked how my training on the computer went today?
After two hours of online lessons with my password appropriated, I called Hubby to pick me up and we went out to lunch at The Cultural Center's Midtown Cafe, and then perused their shops, trash or treasure and clothing shop, around the corner in the facility. I found a neat, different waterfront photo under glass, almost as if it was a porthole with a brass frame, twelve inches in diameter, and it was only $7.50 but on sale for half price would you believe?

And a long denim dress and go-with blouse, bluish and a wee bit floral, for five bucks for both, BOGO free! I would send you a picture of them,(I told her) but they are still in the dryer after being washed...thrift shop and all… bargains are great but gotta do that if you don’t want more than you bargained for, really!

How I love finding things at bargain prices.
I started thrifting way back in the 1980’s for clothes for another job, but a paying one and I had budget concerns with two young sons and that’s when I found designer clothes at amazing prices and I was hooked!
Almost as fulfilling as helping people dressing well and looking great for minimal bucks!
Nah, helping people wins that one ten times over.

Any-who, it was a pleasant day and even dinner went on without a hassle with last night’s leftovers that Hubby enjoyed and actually requested, what was it that I made that caused the encore presentation?
Well, some may think ordinary but I jazz things up a bit when I make it from scratch, tuna noodle casserole.
Yep, I make my own cheese sauce with different cheeses this time it was Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, and Swiss, fat free milk, butter and flour… and even homemade mushroom soup from frozen mushrooms, fresh onion, fresh garlic, chicken bouillon, and a dash of sherry and thyme. (Now, I use light cheeses, and no sodium bouillon, but real sweet butter, just a bit and a wee bit of extra virgin olive oil to cancel the butter’s adverse affects, but allowing for the flavor) With no salt you can add some and Mrs. Dash’s table blend helps too!
Carrots, peas, corn, (pre-cooked veggies) cooked elbow macaroni, canned tuna flaked, mix all together, sprinkle with parmesan and bake at 350 for about a half an hour then two minutes or watch to decide how long it should go under the broiler for.

On that hodgepodge of this and that’s; we are expecting heavy storm weather soon coming in with a heavy storm warning, please allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

Thursday, June 14, 2012

I really thought that today I would be sitting here or in front of the TV most of the day...

But thankfully my UPS delivery of my Copaxone arrived before eleven A.M., whew! This sounds so possessive but I am the only one in the household who takes Copaxone and for that I am grateful. I wouldn’t wish this on anyone else, i.e MS!


That alone allowed me the right to go out of our back door and enjoy another swim in the pool today, hooray!
You see, even though I have had life saving and taught Aquacize for years… these days Hubby is my life guard, just in case something happens to me, so he watches me in the pool. I am not in that bad shape except when I go into spasms even after I take my Baclofen during breakfast before I go in, my first dose then is ingested for the day with other medications too. But on occasion those spasms can cause havoc with my ability to get back to the ladder or steps; so far so good.

Any-who, I felt great in the very warm water, warmer than it has been in a long time… 88 degrees!
But for some reason to me it was still refreshing, it’s gotta be that lower body temperature thing from my hypothyroid condition, hmm?

Whatever the cause, it has been giving me the daily option to go in if the weather holds or if we don’t have any other plans to go out.

Not only did I swim on and off today, I felt the energy to do some touch up painting to the trim under the sunroom window here. Hubby got the equipment for me, paint, newspaper, brush and wet towel for drips and between a little collapsible outdoor table and my rolling walker I managed to get the job done. Oh yes, we have that garden one that holds tools and rolls with a seat on it, but this worked just fine.
While in the pool I have also noticed for a while that the gutter along the back of the house looking dirty. We oddly enough only installed one gutter after the hurricane in the back of the house for it to go directly into our rain barrels. And so, Hubby was kind enough to set me up once again, this time with a bucket with commercial grade cleaner and water but all natural and an extendible handled brush that reached up very nicely to the gutters. I also used the same cleaner on the lattice on the shed where we have another Pandora vine and ground plantings too, Wandering Jews and Mother-in-law’s tongue. The white fence too got a cleaning touch up around the pretty red Hibiscus growing against it.

I felt quite accomplished and had my last dip after. During the time I was in there, the pool, Skipper joined me once again, so all in all it was a very pleasant late morning, early afternoon exercise plan…Ta da! Perhaps there is hope for me after all, hmm?

No complaining from me today, oh wait a little… the wonderful doctor apparently called me back yesterday on my ancient cell phone and left a message stating that perhaps he could give me a senior discount. I had no idea he called, I do carry that phone around in my walker seat, but for some reason it never rang. Lately it has been doing that more often than not. I called his two possible locations and left messages on both of his voice mails.
Without thinking I said yes to the offer forgetting asking about why the bill was so high! Another mistake that I will be paying dearly for I suspect… oh well…

On that fallibility blunder of stupidity of not thinking before acting…allow me to be the first to wish you a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

When do scientific theories become scientific fact?

I know when they, the scientists, in this case prove it to be so.
But still, as consumers counting on the FDA, here in the states, which to non Americans is our Food and Drug Administration: “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines, biopharmaceuticals, blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), veterinary products, and cosmetics.”
As per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FDA
So when dealing with possible charlatans we as citizens of these fine United States of America have the right, before purchasing from anyone, even decent reputable vendors, we are entitled to full disclosure relating to said items and all their side affects that we may consider in our needs or in our family’s needs to use.
Commonly many don’t realize that this right should be exercised not only with a car, but with doctor or with medication or even supplements that will be ingested by you or someone you love.

Now here is where the iffy part comes into effect when you interview the perspective executor of the product that you desire and hit a brick wall with not receiving any answers, RED LIGHT!
And so was my yesterday interview with a woman who has a weight loss supplement company online via Facebook.
I made the appointment for the free session to find out about her product that would help me finally to lose the weight I have discussed over and over again here too many times to recall an exact number.
I even filled out her questionnaire that was enclosed in her email to me, and yet with all my true and honest desire to do something finally, she would not answer three questions of mine that I felt were simple enough to determine if what her company had to offer me was going to be my answer.
And so I tried calling her number that had been enclosed in the email and it was nearly an hour prior to our arranged time for the free offer to begin. I only felt it fair if she could answer my three little questions then I would more than likely be willing to proceed and we would be coach and willing client to become my old thinner healthy self.
My questions were simple and concise:
1. How much do you charge?
2. Did you check to see if my medications would interact with your supplement? ( I had sent her the list)
3. Do you have FDA approval?

She chose not to call me back prior to our allotted appointment which I called her business number at 9:47 A.M. and her outgoing message stated that her business hours started at 8:A.M. When she did call it was two minutes later than our agreed upon time, stickler, you betcha! Ten forty-five, we had made the appointment for and when a professional doesn’t show on or before their time that alone is a red light to me!
Not one question was answered that gave me confidence to proceed and we terminated the conversation.
When I asked the first one, she said I determine what the price is as we go on, or some such thing; not verbatim, but close.
The second one about checking if her supplement was compatible with what I am already ingesting daily, fifteen pills and one injection, the answer was no, she had not; dangerous!
The third question about FDA approval was, no too.
Although, I do know that many supplements are not considered controlled substances many an interaction with prescribed medications has caused a persons death!
Perhaps, many think that I was too harsh and not flexible enough when dealing with someone who truly wanted to help me change me for the better…, hmm?
I found over my many years on this planet whenever it sounds too good to be true it usually is and I am more than sure that you have too.
Legitimate businesses should always have set or available price lists for products, not vague, if it goes this way or that pricing, is another red flag!
Answering other legitimate concerns when dealing with people with chronic illnesses is something that any weight loss Guru’s should be more careful with too.
Far as having affiliation with government agencies that approve or disapprove of ingested medications or foods is only a possible reliability; since we have all heard many horrors of recalls… but unregulated consumed products should always be checked out thoroughly to be safe, and that is all I am saying here…
It could be that I was too worried with being taken, since it has happened to me even with all my cautions to others. Why I am human and have been known to also be too trusting and that is when I was taken!
So think of tonight’s rant as being a cautionary tale to be used for whatever you care to do…
Don’t ever be shy about asking questions, and too bad if they don’t like them or act as if you insulted them… over the phone they aren’t likely to spit in your face, food, or shoes, and no never ever happened to me… but who knows what my future may bring, since I do have a most inquisitive inquiring mind and it appears to be all I got these days!
On that trying to help make the world a better place for all of us beings, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share all you overages and we will too!

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

PS in the end I felt it best to unfriend her on Facebook, but you know what she beat me to it, by this much...

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Frustration is rampant!Semantics is the study of meaning in language.

Why? You may ask that I chose that title?
Mostly due to getting nowhere with that high bill, although I did get to speak with the woman who thought that she could help me.
Unfortunately, all she could tell me is that I had seven complaints and that is why it was large…
I said no that is not right, not complaints, many ills, OKAY and yes I do not like them, but ‘Complaints’?

She offered for an RN to call me back, and I countered that they were not in the room with me and do not know what actually was done or not done.
My Hubby was there and like me he is baffled; since nothing MORE than usual transpired.

Later on…I did receive a call back that the doctor will go over it once again and get back to me himself…hmmm… Doctor Wonderful, now I am wondering…
I will not say anything until I know what he has to say… I really want to know why such a large discrepancy in price from previous visits?

Moving on to the next topic of my interest…
Any-who, the semantics part is that we signed up with our rewards card from our bank that we switched, one of regular cards to way back in March, got that?
It gives you back 1% on everything, 2% on groceries, and 3% on gas, all monthly and we chose to have it deposited monthly, automatically, into our checking account also with that bank, way back when we accepted their offer.
But every month we have had to call to tell them to do it.
And every month they say we did not activate it to do it…what?
And so… you got that right I had to call once again, and this time they treated me as if I was a kept child.
Asking me MY HUSBAND’S DOB, I ask you; are we in the twenty-first century or what? And worst of all it was a woman!
After I straightened her out, I told her that I brought up our rewards account online from the bank, and it stated that we were entitled to 29.1, or in bank speak, 25 dollar increments, and that we had 19.79 pending this month with (125) already redeemed, but below that: 100 points pending…huh?
I said that I want those! And why were they pending…
She said that it referred to my one time only above, the 125, in bank speak, but actually in dollars and they were already used… but I reiterated that it stated that they were pending, not redeemed, which logically it should have said, that is if that really is what they were, right?
This so-called deal, we thought was going to give us non-taxable rebates monthly that would be worthwhile and so instead of using our bank debit card connected to our checking account, we stopped using it and decided that this was such a deal to use the rewards card all of the time, but I am very good at keeping track… I go to the site daily and use an online checking that does not connect directly to the bank, thankfully!
But I check balances and always make sure to set aside the spent money in an account in that non-online account and I pay it when it gets to a certain amount, monthly or bi-monthly or what-ever it needs to be… I am always to the penny anyway. After all I was a credit manager and pay all our bills online and I did go to school for business, so that is why I do it!
Even the women Pamela Johnson in Maine, the bank representative, of thirteen years, who said that I knew from what I speak and realized that what was there was not what she had on her page…how odd?
A fly in the ointment, hmm?
Although, she was insistent and according to her we are only entitled to the $25 bucks which doesn’t seem too bad, but not as good as we thought it would be… a nice little amount if they remember to do it!

Lastly…
This is just a pet peeve of mine as many who come to this state… but it is more annoying when a news anchor mispronounces a place or doesn’t know the geography of our great state of Florida. Today the cringe factor was when NBC in Fort Myers, again, newest anchor fresh from Arizona, reminded me of how all the on air newbies should be trained in knowing the businesses unique to our area…my cringe factor this late afternoon is when Peter Busch discussed one of our Beall’s Outlet stores in Collier County, he pronounced as BEELS, which oddly enough it is not, at first glance that does seem correct but, no it is pronounced Bells, sorry Peter… train those on-air seasoned professionals with the localisms pronouncements and to this day I can remember when one weather newbie insisted we had a Punta Gorda Beach up by Englewood, and no that was Englewood Beach not Punta Gorda which is only Punta Gorda south of Port Charlotte, PLEASE, I IMPLORE YOU!
Sadly, I don’t recall what Mr. Busch’s story was actually about since his mispronunciation, to me, was as if he screeched chalk against a blackboard… OUCH!
I do believe these anchors have to be more than talking heads, since I do not believe they have the money locally for others to write their scripts for them… but they should confer, really with ones that have been here a while, hmm?

I know I am not perfect and I prove that here nightly, but I don’t get paid the big bucks and no one really cares if I goof, since they can’t hear me mispronounce those magical localisms that we twenty-six year transplants hold near and dear, but even we had to be told, not that, this!
That is what is what here…learning to meld into the place of your chosen home.

And on that note of heaven knows what, allow me 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 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...