Happy 40th Anniversary World!

Yes that is what I said; today is the fortieth anniversary of ‘Earth Day’!
You would most likely have to be living under a rock today for you not to know that, and that I am sure of!
And if you were living under that said rock ecologically that would be really great!
Waste not, want not, I always say…
Green is how we roll these days, right?
Of course we all do, and after forty years of learning how to be more aware and concerned with conservation, recycling, reducing and reusing we are all environmental marvels, correct?
I should think so…
A small footprint is what we all need to leave on this planet called earth, because it doesn’t look good for us to be moving off of it anytime in the near future.
Some might have thought that would happen with our space exploration…
Use this planet up and then we would just move on… to the next and then the next etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…nope doesn’t look that way, anyway, anyhow, anytime in our near futures, does it?

So now that we have that cleared up; that this is our one and only earth, the rest should be easy…
Just think about never moving anywhere after you were born, not into your own home/apartment when you reached adulthood, always staying with Mom and Dad and not maturing or becoming independent beings, because where you land when you were born is your only place you will ever be able to be at until the day you die!
Now, wouldn’t that make you want to take care of that place so much more so than you might be doing at this moment?
I should think so!
Cleaning it up from top to bottom afterall it is your home too, and it belongs to you and yours forever that is FOREVER got it?

Feeling earthy right now?
I know me too! LOL
Its sort of a warm and gushy sensation of love of the world and everything that’s in it, and having the power to make a BIG DIFFERENCE in it, WOW what a power, but we are all human beings and that is what we know is right to do!
And it is in our POWER to do it!
Boy are we great or what?
You are allowed to leave your environments to network with all of the other beings of like mindedness, and as a unit that makes you that much more powerful to make those changes for the betterment of all man and womankind!
It all stems from the simple concept united we stand divided we fall.
Geez I wish world conflicts were this simple.

On that provocative idea I will say good night to you all and ask you to count those blessings once again and we will too!
Oh, and by the way…. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Make it memorable for the kids…wink, wink!

You gotta wonder...

Logically we as a nation are sometimes not up to par; most would agree; I think really!
And I know I am a great American, but…
Go with me here… take the fact that today we were shown our new hundred dollar bill, which will be going into circulation by next February.
The reason this was done was to make it more difficult for counterfeiters to make them, sounds logical, right?

OK if you say so, but my question is: who is going to circulate these large denomination bills when most Americans are just living from paycheck to paycheck and many are still using their plastic if they can get away with it, and people like me who have heard that money, the cash kind truly is filthy, not to mention dirty dirt but with traces of cocaine and heroine on the bills which can transfer to you when touched.
Sounds farfetched you say? Perhaps, but… here’s a scenario for you…

Ask anyone who’s had to empty their pockets at the airport and was a teeny weenie bit suspicious looking because they might fit the profile that no one is supposed to be using, but we all know that they do, and they say its for our safety, imagining what those trace elements on their hands might be thought to speak volumes about them in a negative way, capish?

Why they might even go from looking like a possibility to becoming a more definite suspicious character that should be made to wait for the drug sniffing dogs to make sure they are truly not on that dangerous list or wanted poster!

I believe that cash is a good thing for many situations, baby-sitters, paper boys/girls, grass cutters, for a jar for that leftover change and the like, but when out in the world debit cards are still very safe to use and are accepted everywhere!
Most the time I can see using cash for ordering in too!
But let’s get real folks here, how many people do you know walk around with hundred dollar bills in their wallets that aren’t wealthy or looking to be hit over the head and robbed?

With our bureaucracies’ spending so much time on something so not a part of the American reality which does seem a wee bit too over the top to me.

Lets get back to basics and get on that infrastructure, which needs to be worked on; as it was suggested during the campaign, fixing our roads and bridges and the like will create jobs that many are waiting for plus the green initiative would be begun and there you go more necessary jobs for all those waiting for more jobs, a domino affect in a good way!

GM paid off its bailout loan today! Good for them, now if the rest will follow suit we will be back in the black. Their reputation from this has taught many Americans that they are trustworthy and worth dealing with, wow, what a concept!

On that who can argue with note I will wish you all a very good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Warning! Warning! TOBI A DAY IN THE LIFE BLOGGER!

And you thought I had no last name, ha, fooled you!
Yes, that warning was for me, and do you want to know why?
I guess I will have to tell, and NOT kill you!
I thought I was being invaded by tiny little black gnats all around me!

Nah, this is not withdrawal from a powerful illegal drug, oh no this was a legitimate non hallucination…since I have been told I have a slight vitreous humor tear in my dependable lefty, eye that is!
Sounds scary, eh?
Yes, my lefty, my reading, cataract lens eye, what do you know not so perfect afterall?
And my righty is not too bad yet the other part of my matched set, which I seem to have a slight hemorrhage in, but just a slight.
Right DOC; in your eye it is a slight, but in mine its an uh oh not too good I would say!

Now according to the ophthalmologist who charged us a small arm and a leg to find out this powerful information, and took numerous photos to document the situation for only two eyes mind you. I did request four glossy, 8”x10”s, but they just laughed at me; little did they know I was serious! For the price we had to pay without insurance that’s the least they could do, don’t you think? LOL
I’m good unless I see a veil closing over my vision, specifically my lefty.
Righty should heal itself, ok…
Lefty is the one to watch, yeah right would you be able to watch your own eyes, think about that one a while?
You see M.D. doctor of the eye persuasion says it has a wee bit more of a chance of causing a detached retina, since it has that slight tear. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot that also what the tech called a freckle. (UPDATE: EUREKA I FOUND IT! http://vision.about.com/od/sportsvision/a/Eye_Freckle.htm

I tried looking that one up but for some reason there is no known medical jargon for an eye freckle, hmmm? Trying hard to throw me off track, eh?
Not to worry, so I’ve been told, only if that veil comes down on my sight, you betcha I will worry then folks!
I didn’t just get off a turnip truck folks no way, not me, no how!
What I understand from knowing about people who have had detached retinas that is a no fooling around emergency get me to the surgery type thing or you can lose your vision in no time at all!
A little knowledge is a terrible thing to waste on a person who specializes in a little knowledge and even utilizes that concept to write this drivel nightly.
Why without my mediocre abilities and vast untapped little bits of knowledge in trace amounts this Blog would not exist! And I am definitely being serious this time! LOL

Other than being slightly blurry now from being dilated again I appear to all in the house to be OK.
Since we left the office of the eye peeps, ha, I made another funny!
I was wearing my own sunglasses not those yucky roll em out cheapies they hand you on your way out of the door! For what we had to pay I should have gotten those hard core* new three-D ones, I meant two hundred* buckaroos worth! LOL But actually then I would have to give them back some change of course!

Sorry, but I am cracking myself up, and no it is not withdrawal from any drugs either again! Just me sort of giddy with this newest turn of events in my laundry list of maladies! Gotta laugh or you might cry and right now that would sting, literally, really that is my reaction from that stuff that dilates my eyes!

On that sillier note than I have given any of you in a very long time good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Amazing!

$45.48; that was our savings this month off of our electric bill!
I want to know how we did it…
But bills tell no lies or truths.
What it does tell is this last year for this time we used 1005 Kilowatts, and this year we only used 984 Kilowatts in the same time period of 29 service days, got that?

Now you must know by now that we have a very tiny home, since I know I have told you all many times before and last month our bill was $144.47 and this month it is only $98.89, but not really since our electric service amount was only $90.09, including a $5.90 customer charge, duh, yep I am a customer and the fuel was actually only $37.95, that’s OK I am one with that, but this one I don’t get at all the non-fuel charge of $46.24, huh? OK FPL, and not to mention, but I will be paying my Storm charge of 61 cents that I think should be switched with my non-fuel charge really, Gross receipts tax of $2.33 and let us not forget our franchise charge of $5.86, didn’t know I was a franchise holder hmmm, bringing us to the original total I mentioned of $98.89! TA DA!

Since we all know now what we are actually paying for, not really but I take it if I don’t pay this bill like all the others that I have been paying earlier than usual than when due; that we will have no TV, no lights, no washing machine or dryer, no microwave, stove etc…
And we must pay this along with my monthly drawer full on the first of each and every month, although this one is never due until the middle or beyond like this one is really due on the 17th of next month so there you go folks, aren’t I oh so good?

I know that is one commonality amongst us all if we reside under any roof we must all have bills to pay for said roofs, right?
Yesiree-bob, I suspect, another Tobism and you can bet we do.

When we discuss things that make us relatable to one another in this world it appears that we have people out there who will subscribe to that way of thinking or not…
Occasionally we hit a homerun in that arena and have people who come out of the walls; figuratively that is, with yeah you’re right or boy that is so true!

Unfortunately, we long winded writers and speakers don’t always find the right knee jerk reactions that we are looking for using that method.

Talking to people is a crap shoot not unlike raising children.
Listening is also hard to do when you have so much bursting within you to say when you may have been stifled for way too long.
That’s my problem mostly these days, listening.
Never was very good at it but now I am so much worse.
Try as I might it is like I am afraid that there might not be another living human being to speak to and so I must get all my information out in one sitting!

Today my neighbor stopped by from across the canal, and like usual I talked her head off. This time at least I did serve homemade peanut butter cookies and tea.
Talk about long winded that was an understatement but that’s my MO I’m afraid since I was this big (my hand is about two and half feet from the floor, if you were wondering).
That would make me I suppose around the age of two when I gave the expression ‘motor mouth’ its true meaning so I was told.

On that joyful TMI I will wish you all a very good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

742, what does that mean to anyone?

Well, to me that means that this is my 742nd posting of this Blog, really amazing, huh?
Mind you its not pages its how many Blogs completely have been written here and put out there for publication.
In actuality, some were a few pages long and others, not too many though, might have been only half a page due to ill health, but tonight I will not bore you with that topic again, OK?

Rain, rain, go away, nah, we need it.
Last year at this time of the year our lack of rain readings were over 600 on the meteorologist meter for such things, but this year we are around only 40, whatever that means?
In truth it means that we are that much less likely to have a forest fire in this our dry season! And that is a very good thing.

Due to the rainfall Hubby was unable to complete the shingling on the shed roof, which by the way is a stucco duplicate of our main house; as is the long one (shed) parallel to our garage in the courtyard style cemented western side yard there.

The due opposite side of our home, on the eastern side is where our raised bed veggie garden resides in all it’s splendor with its arbor entry and classic designs encompassed by a cottage style white fencing.
At this time of year our tomato plants have taken center stage and are in the process of becoming major producers, in other words many flowers are hanging from many limbs of grassy colored stems, and some are already with the fruit appearing, although not yet ripe and currently green.
Carrots are still very much there, as well as the peppers plants starting to bear their vegetables in a small but growing larger consistency. Cucumbers are climbing into bloom and the last of the lettuce is fussing on; with the Romaine still showing a gallant effort to produce.

Last night Hubby watched the ‘Hurt Locker’, but I could not, for some reason I have gotten touchy in my old age about violent movies and any movie that is not wholesome, PG and PG-13 are mostly my speed these days. I wonder if any of you feel the same, and could it be an age thing?

Although, the movie ‘Precious’ was also violent in the respect that it dealt with abuse, but I felt the need to watch it, it being such an important film, and I found myself crying.
‘Blindsided’, was heartwarming and very enjoyable, Hubby wanted to watch twice.

Being inside all day long I finally got exonerated and so did Skipper! Hubby heard the noise too, and oddly enough it is emanating once again from under my bathtub … OH NO! It may very well mean we have another critter stuck there.
But Hubby checked his plugged holes and none are disturbed what-so-ever, so we have no idea how this one got in!
Meanwhile he left, leftover ‘Pounce’ from Casey our dearly departed cat’s snack food on the water heater to set a trap, and so we will see…

Updates: Our sink will be replaced within two weeks from when they called back, which was last Monday; sorry I forgot to tell you all. Also the shed interloper must have escaped when no one was looking because Hubby has maintained the doors’ closures without anything moving within.

And now I am ready to wish you all a very good night and also to mention to you to count those blessings and we will too!

Better now... but on occasion... or I should say periodically…

I fall off the wagon of better health through pain, discomfort and downright misery, but why should I complain… I’m not dying…yet!

As a past fund raiser for different non-profit organizations I always found it interesting how people just love to give if the disease was fatal, but if just annoyingly chronic forget about it.

Unfortunately, sympathy for ailments of the non lethal right away kind is few and far between on the, ‘you poor dear meters’.

People just don’t get it.
If you weren’t given a prognosis to be dead, yes I did use the ‘D’ word, within a certain amount of time, forget about it, who cares, no its much worse than that; why should your organization get any money for research when you can live with all that pain and suffering until you are an old person.

Sadly people tried not to admit that was the way they actually felt when I was out there trying so hard to get these funds, but nobody got it, even if most all peoples will get some form of arthritis if they live long enough. PS Rheumatoid, and Lupus you can die from complications that is, which are just two of the more than one hundred kinds of arthritis that harms, maims, and disfigures many people.

Multiple Sclerosis is way more ominous though since in reality people do not always live a full life span. Many with the progressive form die way too young, in their forties or fifties. But that is the only one people seem to know about, when there are three types. Mine being the Relapsing Remitting kind which is the most common for women, and you can go into complete remission, which I had several times over my thirty odd years dealing with it and that is why I say it is ominous, people just don’t get that because they think you are cured, and some are; not going out of remission ever again.
But then it can comeback, and each time take a little bit more of your abilities away with each one of its new visits, some even may go into the progressive type. Fortunately, I did not but my last year’s hospitalization made me think it was that, and I would not get any of me totally back again. I have not gotten worse thankfully but not that much better either. Every time, I have my daily episodes of weakness in my legs that make me nearly fall off of them and I must sit before I do, or the muscles spasms, which by the way for all you Mothers out there who may be able to relate this way to them, think of labor pains because that is how it feels, those spasms, got it? No fun at all.

What a joy I am tonight, eh?
Sorry, but being curably ill for a few days gave me time to think about how awful my chronic ailments are. But to be honest those sinus/migraine like headaches which cause vomiting and the inability to sleep or sit upright are no fun and seemed to have become chronic too, since I get them several times a year, and with high blood pressure I cannot take any over the counter medicines for sinus.

On a different note…Hubby has been in a repair mode, our solar panels have been leaking again and his usual method of fixing them has not been working, but he will try again after… He finishes fixing the shed roof that a windstorm ripped to shreds, oh what fun he is having too!
Because of him trying to take care of me and fix all those things and that is why we had the pizza and salad of last night fame.
Tonight I was a wee bit better and so I prepped dinner and he barbequed our burgers and rosemary/garlic potatoes. The very lean chopped meat 97% was embellished with mushrooms, scallions, onions, garlic and secret ingredients, all healthy.
It’s the least I could do, yep the very least.
But I did accomplish to do three loads of wash, all dried and put away! TA DA!

On that positive note I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Endurance...

Tonight will be a trial by fire since I am not completely all better, and sitting straight up in this chair makes my head ach.
And so I will try to be forthcoming in speaking to my readers candidly for as long as is tolerable.

The day was mostly a yawn due to my lack of wellness. I took it easy and that was the mode of my entire day.

I did manage to get a load of wash into the machine and then later on into the dryer.
But that is not that big a deal to most everyone else.

My head is telling me at this moment that it can not sustain this position much longer so I suppose I will be leaving you all again for tonight early.

The odd thing is leaning back or lying down now is not as bad.
Upright is the worse.

Dinner was a call up pizza and salad for tonight.

I do hope I will be able to watch movie night tonight; it’s not ours its NBC’s family movie night with the first one, ‘Secrets of the Mountain’ at 8 P.M. here in south west Florida. I imagine you should check your local listings for times in your area.

On that helpful note; I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!