Sunday, August 31, 2014

Here we go again...

I might as well come clean with all of you...
Tonight's blog topic idea is drawing a blank from this vastly usually bull fitted story mind; alas it appears to be running on empty!

Stimulation has to be had by doing more than what I do daily I suspect; lately same ole same ole...

As soon as I awake from anywhere from five thirty to seven thirty A.M.; I open the shades and grab a cup of coffee and then sit in my lounge chair and open my laptop and bring up three screens my welcome, Facebook and My Blog. Check my emails and get rid of the multitude of SPAMS, and then check Facebook for all those nice people and wish my daily ‘Happy Birthday” people their happy day and scan my invites and usually decline, too faraway most. Then answer the trivia question of the day with Hubby or without.


Breakfast is around nine A.M. for Hubby and me and after I swim/exercise in the pool from about nine thirty to ten thirty or there about at times much longer if no plans to go anywhere.
And longer still if my in between out of the pool rest time or busy doing something else takes up more of the allotment for my ROM etc.....
I shower and change and think of what to make for lunch at noon.

When all is done with lunch I either check my emails etc. again or take a nap, lately more naps than before. I guess the water makes me tired.

I check all rooms for straightening usually earlier in the day and after nap time is my checking the hamper for laundry and if there isn’t enough for a load, I sit back in my lounge chair to check the laptop for interesting stories or articles/items on home décor that I do love to look at. If nothing more interesting I check the online TV listings to see what might meet my fancy or Hubby’s if he is in from trimming our outdoor vegetation.



See ordinary.



Hard to be creative writing wise when you’re not being that way in your life.

On the upside Hubby has been very busy maintaining our home-front with from everything to refurbishing our outside paddle fan; it is an outdoor specific one, in our lanai ceiling by de-rusting it and painting it and me washing the paddles and I also was responsible for re-ordering our Dolphin pull online, it’s been here for more than a week, Home Depot did not have it in their store when we were there, if had been originally purchased from there years ago with the Seahorse light pull, which is still doing fine… Do any of you get my rather bold cleverness? Seahorse is for the light, to see? Dolphin is for the fan part to make the fan go on?



Oh well, I guess you had to be there… Yep they have been a part of that fan system, well the original that was in the center of the octagon Gazebo Hubby had made for me prior to Hurricane Charley, only ten feet in diameter, and whoosh Hurricane Charley took it away! But left the fan, which was not reusable, but the pulls were, oddly enough.



So I suppose I did pull this one out of a state of oblivion; and just where is that, she so boldly asked?

Never mind.



On that silly note of whatever, allow me to be the very first to wish you all a very happy good night and might I also ask you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!



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



PS Dinner is usually at five, I know… old people do that!



And bedtime is from anywhere between nine thirty on…I know only old people do that, well; maybe, just maybe we are nearly almost, getting there? HOPE NOT!

Saturday, August 30, 2014

Have you ever Googled just your name?

I suppose many haven't if their name is not or is somewhat, how do I say this without offending too many people...oh alright, common?
Mine is not.
That is my real name, not this pseudonym I use on here.
But the one I am talking/writing here about is my one and only name that I use in my parallel universe, huh?
Yep, it’s used in my other life; my real life.
Many think that I have a 'ma' in front of my name, but no, it really is what is stated by me and of course on my birth certificate, except for my married name of course wasn’t there! Although, some days it does seem like it must have been…a curious mysterious statement, hmm? Not really but when you are married nearly 44 years, and you have known one another for, gosh, 47 tomorrow!
And there never was a ‘ma’ attached to my name, oh my mother was there of course when I was born, but she was never ever referred to as a ‘ma’ and my first name never ever had a ‘ma’ in front of the rest of it...
So in that respect that is why it is not so common, forgive, but I am rather uncommon, albeit many will disagree I am more than sure…
Moving on…
So the idea of Googling one’s self is recommended by all those people who talk about security and protecting your reputation and all… best not to post anything on line that you will regret, huh?
Gosh, wish I realized that one years ago…Kidding, whatever I have said or will say or post pic wise for that matter I do own up to and that is why at times I may appear to be too cautious I am weighing my words more carefully than many might think I do!
Most of us with odd or unusual or as I rather prefer these days now that I have decided to ‘like’ my name, for years I hadn’t, is that it is unique. And so am I!

But the argument is that everyone is.
But many have dare I say, again, common names, so I am a twofer.
WHAT????
See, none of you would ever want to be like me… too different and off to where, one never ever knows…joyous experimentation's with silly, perhaps?

In closing, my journey, which was rather short but continues on my laptop while I plug away here on my ancient desktop that once again is serving me well… up to interpretation I suppose… while I write here tonight as I was saying the other has on its face at this time my search of all those 964 women with my same name all over the world who must have had some relationship with the online world to have been counted as their existence is noted and what I was trying so diligently to do was to find me!

And so far… I have not shown up there, could be due to me being here, but that is ridiculous!

Since most/all of those there are just there in name only.

On that adventurous trek to find myself again for the umpteenth time, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and might I kindly ask for you 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!

Friday, August 29, 2014

Another Holiday Weekend!



This is the beginning of what many Americans call the last weekend of the summer.
But we all know that fall doesn't actually start yet here in this hemisphere for about three weeks.
"September 22, 10:29 P.M. EDT the Fall Equinox" to be exact, Thanks to NASA http://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-seasons


Labor Day on the other hand is celebrated in different countries at different times of the year.
Ten countries throughout the world celebrate the holiday.


 Australia first Monday in May
Bangladesh April 24in memory of the victims of the Rana Plaza building collapse.[2]
 Bahamas June 7, in commemoration of a significant workers' strike that began on that day in 1942.
  •  Canada Labour Day (French: Fête du Travail) has been celebrated on the first Monday in September in Canada since the 1880s.
 Jamaica Before 1961, May 24 was celebrated in Jamaica as Empire Day in honour of the birthday of Queen Victoria and her emancipation of slaves in Jamaica.
Jordan Labour Day is celebrated on May 1. It is one of the 16 public holidays celebrated annually in the country.
Lebanon Labour Day is celebrated on May 1. It is one of the 16 public holidays celebrated annually in the country.
New Zealand Labour Day is a public holiday held on the fourth Monday in October. Its origins are traced back to the eight-hour working day movement that arose in the newly founded Wellington colony in 1840, primarily because of carpenter Samuel Parnell's refusal to work more than eight hours a day.
Trinidad and Tobago Labour Day is celebrated every June 19. This holiday was proposed in 1973[6] to be commemorated on the anniversary of the 1937 Butler labour riots.
United States In the United States, Labor Day is a federal holiday observed on the first Monday of September. It is customarily viewed as the end of the summer vacation season.[7] Many schools open for the year on the day after Labor Day.[8] The holiday is shared with Canada, where it is known as Labour Day.
And so we are not alone here in the USA, maybe on our chosen date, but not on the fact we honor our laborers by giving them a time to enjoy the fruits of their labor!

Now we know, or maybe you all did already but then now I know too?

Any-who on this one of the busiest and fun holiday weekend here in the USA, please enjoy it all and be safe on the roads. If you drink find someone who doesn’t to drive you home call triple A who does usually provide free towing and delivery of you safely to your home.


On that note of trying hard to tell all of you to have a wonderful safe weekend, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night ask you all 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, August 28, 2014

"May the good spirits be with you always."

"Happy news is on its way to you." Sure hope so!
 
This one is one of mine too as well as the one above in the title; the fortune cookies are Hubby's usually, but tonight I did steal one of the three, oops. 

 
The recipe these days makes them taste like sugar cones. Is that what they always tasted like? I seem to recall they were different?

 
Hubby's only one is, "An ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of time."
So very true, but I added that an ounce of gold cannot buy an ounce of health either.

It is so true that gold cannot buy many things. Although many people hold it in higher regard than less tangible things that cannot be priced, which are therefore priceless; such as love, health, and happiness, you get the idea.

 
I do believe that priorities when the ugly realization slaps any of us in the face, of things out of our control.
Some things in life are just not able to be controlled.
But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try to change things by investigating how to take care of a situation that might appear unmanageable...

Okay, here's what I mean.
Even though many ills in this world do not as of yet have a cure it doesn't mean that we should just sit around and wait for all those medical and pharmaceutical and supplement people, and the like do all the work...
We have to take some responsibility for our own health, by getting our hands on as much information and possibilities as we can to change our own lives for the better... but keep in mind, even people with the same diseases do not always react to the same combination of ingredients to change their outcome.

Sure the doctors and research people are working constantly to help many of the chronic and deadly diseases out there to solve the mystery of what causes them and so then they will be able to CURE them!

So many things go into the possibilities of what is the cause for most.
Lately the interesting, with a lot of positive results has been the use of stem cells to cure almost everything!
We do manufacture our own you know?
And there are several studies going on with very good results right at this minute!
“Studying stem cells will help us understand how they transform into the dazzling array of specialized cells that make us what we are. Some of the most serious medical conditions, such as cancer and birth defects, are due to problems that occur somewhere in this process. A better understanding of normal cell development will allow us to understand and perhaps correct the errors that cause these medical conditions.
Another potential application of stem cells is making cells and tissues for medical therapies. Today, donated organs and tissues are often used to replace those that are diseased or destroyed. Unfortunately, the number of people needing a transplant far exceeds the number of organs available for transplantation. Pluripotent stem cells offer the possibility of a renewable source of replacement cells and tissues to treat a myriad of diseases, conditions, and disabilities including Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal cord injury, burns, heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.”


“Human induced pluripotent stem cells:

Late in 2007, scientists reported that they had been able to reprogram adult human skin cells to behave like hESCs. This type of stem cells is known as induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs. Since these first reports, researchers have rapidly improved the techniques to generate iPSCs, creating a powerful new way to "de-differentiate" cells whose developmental fates were thought to be determined.
In July 2013, Japan’s health minister approved the first clinical trial using cells derived from iPSCs. Masayo Takahashiin Kobe, Japan will use the cells to attempt to treat a form of blindness&8212;age-related macular degeneration.”

 


“Human Central Nervous System Stem Cells (HuCNS-SCs):

A biotechnology company called Stem Cells Inc. (corporate headquarters in Newark, CA) is currently recruting participants for a Phase1/2 study of Human Central Nervous System Stem Cells (HuCNS-SC) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Human spinal cord stem cells:

A biotechnology company called Neuralstem (corporate headquarters in Rockville, Maryland) is conducting a clinical trial testing the use of human spinal cord stem cells to treat Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The company obtained FDA approval to conduct a Phase I trial (safety and tolerability study) and began enrolling patients in January 2010. Twelve participants have received lumbar transplants, and in March 2012, the second participant received an injection in the cervial region. Details about this trial are listed on the ClinicalTrials.gov website.”

Thanks to: http://stemcells.nih.gov/info/pages/health.aspx

More info for all practices with stem cell use is on the National Institute of Health’s site above, as well as trials being conducted.
Where was I… oh that’s right, we as people can never ever give up no matter what life deals us, but again no one thing can change our lives for the better.
Although, many will rightfully argue that research dollars can change things and that is many ounces of gold, and I agree, but in reality we need many people who are not made of gold to work on these projects to develop the cures and for that there is no price of any monies to achieve that.
Think of Madam Curie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Curie and Jonas Salk: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonas_Salk and all those other incredible people who looked for that proverbial needle in a haystack, and won!
And so shall these people in this timeline of life… that many of us are counting on… What I still cannot fathom is the why that research has become so expensive?
I suppose like most everything else, inflation?

Any-who, I do hope it does work with all those people and monies for them to get the equipment and whatever it takes to change the world for the better…

Moving on…

Now many might be wondering why I chose this topic with all the wars going on in the world and murderous people devastating lives just because they seem to want to… well as much as all of that is extremely important to discuss… until there is an election for me to change things peaceably I have no ability to make a dent in the overwhelming wars that horrify our generations…for way too long.

My hands are tied on that, but learning on a localized basis how to perhaps help myself is a very small reward, in the bigger picture of things, do you get it? I am sure you do.
I cannot physically help with the wars, but getting smarter about what is out there to help myself is doable.

On that note of trying so hard to hope, for it all, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and kindly count all your blessings and share those overages and we will too!

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

PS Hang in there Joan Rivers!

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

When thunder roars, go indoors!

Cute!


But very helpful too with trying hard to make it evident, in every way that you can think of that lightening can KILL you!

Summertime, and the livin′ is easy,” so the George Gershwin song goes. True, it is a time for picnics in the park, dips in the pool, golf outings, and hikes in the mountains.
But summer weather isn’t all fun in the sun.
Violent summer storms can form quickly and stretch for hundreds of miles. Thunderstorms can produce deadly lightning capable of striking up to 10 miles away — so, even if you don't see rain you could be in harm’s way.
“When planning outdoor activities, we want you to remember that lightning is extremely dangerous,” says John Jensenius, National Weather Service lightning safety expert. “Lightning can kill — and even those who survive a lightning strike are often left with permanent and serious disabilities. The best advice is ‘when thunder roars, go indoors’.”



Thanks to: http://www.noaa.gov/features/monitoring_0609/lightning.html

Many articles verify that Florida is the lightening capital of the world. To be honest though all places have lightening that I am aware of and the same reasoning to not be cavalier when you know it is in the vicinity is mostly the logical way to handle the danger by heeding the words composing my tonight's title, and please do!
So when I tell you some things to protect you it is for all our own good to know what to do in many situations.

Moving on…

One of my old and dear Facebook friends put up a sign, as a joke I truly believe, but it did hit home yesterday having to do with our aging bodies and feeling a commonality there.
The gist of it was “if you woke up tomorrow without any pain would you think you were dead?”

Now she does have a bit of a black humor in her I do believe.
And lumps sadly too many ills in the same boat, but sadly, and oddly enough with many of my days with the MS, Multiple Sclerosis, I have found that due to numbness, parathesia, in so many locations, even when I give myself my Copaxone shots I no longer feel them, or my legs on occasion, or arms or hands or feet… you get the idea.
So pain would be nice in that sense; of course I would prefer not having numbness or pain, but pain does make you know whether to do this or that, and numbness, just keeps quiet, ya know?

Black Humor defined, thanks to:

“noun
1.
a form of humor that regards human suffering as absurd rather than pitiable, or that considers human existence as ironic and pointless but somehow comic.
1965-1970

“Contemporary definitions for black humor
noun
in literature and drama, combining the morbid and grotesque with humor and farce to give a disturbing effect and convey the absurdity and cruelty of life”
So many things in life make you stop and think about what ifs.
As of today I have been pushing myself to try to walk more with my walker, which an upgrade will be arriving within the next few weeks, and in the interim, today I surprised myself.
I did another hour in the pool this time with my water weights!
I walked into the eye doctor’s office with my older model walker and his office is quite a distance from the parking lot; even from the handicap spots and previously I had to use my scooter, and from there we went to Sam’s Club, but Hubby just went in for our extra virgin olive oil and coffee, next I walked, via my walker, into Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase a new hair dryer my twenty year old finally decided to die this morning while getting ready to go out!
I had been using my scooter previously in there too, ha!
Then we tried the Firehouse Subs locally, we had been to the one in Sarasota years ago, and they have even healthy low cal choices too, and so I ordered their hook and ladder choice for 370 calories, but it was so large we took about half of it home!  Hubby had a sub, a NY steamer, he had water, believe or not they don’t have coffee!  Hubby being a former Fire Chief was surprised.
I had iced unsweet tea with lemon. The owner, Russ, was very friendly and chatted with me while I waited for Hubby to place our orders. He was a former police officer in Maryland, and I mentioned that Hubby had been a deputy here in Florida too.
He and his wife own the franchise here for the last four and half years. Wonder why we had not stopped in before; it’s in the same shopping center as BB and B and Best Buy, Marshall’s etc where we have gone to all before at one time or another, as today for my new hair dryer. I had a five dollar off coupon, which worked out better than the 20% off one we also had; a dollar more off!

Last stop before my last visit for PT, yep all done unless I feel I need it, was Walgreen’s and guess what I walked, ala walker, in there too!

Then I had my last forty-five minutes of physical therapy unless I need to, or the doctors think I need to go back.I see the PA next week.
On the vertigo test, when I went in I was a 7 on their chart and normal is 28, Monday I was all the way up to 19, still a falling risk but better!
I don’t think that they can really help too much more really, with the Ataxia; the vertigo is just a newer problem that at home exercises I have and will be given a couple more for each plane to deal with my BPPV and that is all that can be done.

I am helping myself more with more vitamin D as per smiley doc.
And of course even with the sailcloth outside and my skim milk consumption D is coming from the sun… B complex is taken too and is quite high according to what suits my needs… And the next time my nutritionist calls we will discuss them again. The new walker will have the ability to transform in to a transporter too if need be, if I should happen to fizzle. It is now ordered from the manufacturer once delivered to California and then distributed to me via a Georgia warehouse and FedEx after September 11, 2014. Sure hope that date doesn’t have a negative affect on the whole shebang? My insurance company has sent a letter stating that I have met my deductible and they will be paying for it entirely 100%!

YAY!

On that more positive note of much desire to change things even if only temporarily… allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you to kindly count all you blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

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


Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Flowers are in bloom all over the world...





And as we all know that we the people of this universe are not unlike the flowers on the earth in the respect of all coming in many different sizes, shapes and colors making them and us all beautiful in our own ways and at times coming from unexpected interestingly different looking parents... case in point, orchid?





NO! Elephant ears, are the parent plant!


That’s what makes the world wonderful!

There is too much going on in the world with hatred again; the cause for wars and death.

When will we ever learn and stop it all?



I’m just saying.

The above message about flowers and people was happily plagiarized from Sesame Street, although I just Googled it and it does not say that that is where it is from…so… I call dibs!



Any-who, it is an amazing way to examine the world without baggage.



Sadly, it is also a very idealistic way to look at the world, since many of us will admit that not unlike most relationships, it’s complicated!



Not funny!



Although, we must remember that no matter how tough things seem they have been better and yes they too have been worse, true?



As we all should do at times is take a flowery vacation and stop to smell them, as many as we can find, and for that moment breathe as if you mean it… as if that aroma is battling all the horrors of the world all in the name of love and is compressed into that minutia blip of time and then release that breath with a new found reasoning of how to approach the world with time and patience and the Golden Rule etched within your mind’s eye…



Quite a few of my Facebook friends have found that time to appreciate nature all around them from flowers, to sunrises and sunsets to beach scenes to you name it… people in my estimation really do know what is important in life…

Things without prices and some of the things that too many take for granted, but don’t; please don’t…

These are our grasps of sanity, our hanging onto home and family and of course most of all love for all of those things…



So let me leave you tonight with a glimpse of some of our personal favorites…
 
 
 On that peaceful note allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

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

Monday, August 25, 2014

It worked!





What is that, one might ask?
Our sign for our neighborhood friends and families...with dogs.

You see, our little guy, Skipper, our ten year old Bichon Frise has never been allowed to wander, except in his own fenced back yard!

We are strong believers in safety first with our family members, whether they be two or four-legged, although our sons were never put on leads, and when they were little is when those things for two legged children did start to become a choice for some parents with children who try to run when left out by themselves in the world or out with them as well...
And so with or without a leash law, which our county happens to have, for dogs, or four legged children whichever you care to refer to them as... our third son, who is a *bog, meaning boy-dog and rhymes with dog, not log, has never been let out of our front door due to our front yard not being fenced in, even if we go out we have baggies to pick up his sweet smelling wastage and deposit it accordingly in the proper receptacles designated for such things!(*To be honest our younger son coined that word for his lovingly called son/dog, his bog, Andrew, a beautiful/handsome, collie-Shepard mix, a puppy survivor of Hurricane Andrew, circa 1992 and passed away after only nine years in 2001, from liver cancer, sadly.)

Any-who, Hubby has been using his new lawn mower; his first in over a decade that he must walk behind to use, all though self propelled and has all those modern gizmos, anyway, as he doesn't mind cleaning up our own backyard from those dainty little do dos of our sweet baby boy, Skipper, and he has always whether using his ride on or walk behind mower those were/are family defecations, NOT strangers' made being rather largess smelly made poops, from horse sized doggie’s belonging to other families... YUCK!
Each to his/her own of course.

And so when Hubby went out to mow our lawn last week he was taken aback with an annoying problem; caused by people who do not respect other people's yards as their own, FIVE nasty plop, plop, plop, plop, plops of doggy defecations!
Now most would turn the other cheek and become passive and just clean it up and say, oh well...

And in reality, Hubby felt that is probably what we should do...
But alas I had tried something years ago, well yeah actually Hubby acquiesced to my suggestion even then, and so I felt it was again time to try it since it had worked, but Hubby had forgotten that it had and was saying that what if they go crazy and throw poop or do other horrid things to our lovely front lawn...well he didn't say lovely or use the word poop, I am paraphrasing what he did actually say and felt...

It seems that it has been years since this yucky incident had occurred, albeit Hubby hadn't noticed due to the ride-on mower use for all those years?

Well, the idea was simple and not violent, rather peaceable really.
And rustic, much on the level of its audience I suspect...who hopefully can read! (Sorry that was mean spirited, but they started it, don't you think?) Many people while walking with and without their pups did stop to read and even cars slowed down too to read our...SIGN

Now that is simplicity at its finest, true? (The sign looks crowded word wise due to originally saying 'my' instead of 'our', twice.)

Hubby had removed the sign to mow the lawn today and found out happily that no one had let their darlings utilize our lawn for their personal potty room, and so it worked! We will be leaving if off, unless... need be!
Hubby was kind enough to put it in temporarily to get its PIC for my tonight blog, which does rhyme oddly enough with log and bog, but not the four-legged kind that we call our bog, boy dog! Got that?

On that note of so much hope for our neighbors respect, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too!

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

PS We live in an unincorporated area in the county of Charlotte and so no there is no law, as of yet, for carrying baggies and cleaning up after your pets, but there is in our incorporated city of Punta Gorda, soon here too?

PSS Hubby reminded me that the term 'bog' for boy-dog was actually from the movie Spaceballs, the movie circa 1987, our youngest son's favorite movie! Thus him using the term for his four-legged son. 

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...