Hubby tonight

Hello people Tonight I am writing to you on paper from my easy chair in our living-room and hubby has said he will transfer this to all of you. My night and day have not been good, from to many spasms, numbness and also being very dizzy. All those things have kept me from the computer most of the day and I have been in bed with hubby taking care of me. Sorry peeps, I miss reading all your posts, truly… Hope to feel better tomorrow… Till then… Nasty M.S.!

Back to basics...

Daily we adjust to life’s trials and tribulations. In reality, if we do not; what choice do we actually have? Living here in paradise is quite lovely and this time of year it is mostly predictable, temperature wise that is, although, next month is the truly lovelier time here in Southwest Florida, with low humidity and temperatures in the seventy-five to eighty-five degree Fahrenheit range; who could ever complain. Not me ever, about that type of weather; oh and yes, March is nearly a carbon copy of November. With that said one might wonder why anyone would hold up in their abode for any length of time and not venture out into this perfection of G-d’s idea of weather? It is not as if I am gainfully employed in any number of professions that I have delved into in my far-a-way past, oh no! (But I do enjoy reading online and of course some research too, online... And no, this PC does not go outside; very well, too cumbersome to carry.) My only one, the only one I currently enjoy is this one of writing and picture taking that neither have ever paid my way in life… Joy is in doing what you love, is so what we have all been told and that is my only reasoning for doing such frivolous undertakings…And as you all know I and my Hubby are not independently wealthy, so rightly so I must be possessed by some unrealistic demons in my soul to be doing this for no monetary benefits what-so-ever, ha, I say to all of you! Now the rest of that above statement about joy is doing what you love and getting paid for it… One out of two ain't bad I say; and so that is how I make my day a happy one! Knowing one's self at any given time in life that alone is something to feel good about; my question to you is if you found something that you truly loved doing: would you do it? Now here’s the clincher: even if you weren’t able to make a living off of it to pay for what you have come to think of wants, instead of needs? Just an idea to look within yourself; not everyone is forced to change lifestyles due to illness or economics, ya know. If, now here's the big if you knew that doing what you loved would bring you the happiness that you've been searching for most all of your life? Geez, I must have discussed here too many times to remember what our enough is, perhaps if I define it once again this will refresh all of our memories: 1. To a satisfactory amount or degree; sufficiently 2. Very; fully; quite 3. Tolerably; rather Thanks to: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/enough Basically the meaning is a measurement of what you personally believe to be a satisfactory amount tolerably and quite fully. At least that is what I've taken away from the definition. But as we all know everyone perceives what they see and what they hear differently and this is the topic we discussed before… In closing what I tried to say tonight is that we as planetary members of society, I am speaking of us as human beings of this world and that we should enjoy it while we're here. As we all know it is just a blip in the space-time continuum. So why not think out-of-the-box, excuse the cliché, and really do what makes you happy. Another side affect of being happy is like smiles, it tends to spill over to everyone around you; now that’s the way to make your day! And again, who could complain about that. With that somewhat pleasant idea in your brain to give a whirl, 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!

Home and Garden Show and Oktoberfest! A twofer...

Tonight’s Blog will be a pictorial of our day’s adventures and I will be posting the pictures in the order that they were taken; starting first with vendors/ businesses at the Home and Garden Show at The Charlotte Harbor Event Center, which continues on tomorrow:

Scentsy is a wickless and lead free ceramic artfully designed and pleasant aroma addition to any home décor. The soft Scentsy Buddy also is a fragrant fun way to add joy to any child’s room or adult’s with a heart full of whimsy. Call (239)273-1141 or go to their site: http://Kim Mastrole.Scentsy.us

From the light and airy to the sublime and necessary need of shutters for the Florida home from Alufab USA, when a storm approaches they are there, that is their product, which not only protects but looks great too; in many styles for the particular minded. In Charlotte County just call (941) 275-9493 consult local listings for other areas. www.Alufabusa.com

Even if you already have your cooling and heating needs handled AirGenie can clean and inspect what you already have. Just call (239) 390-0069. www.theairgenie.com Utilacart is a lightweight @ 12 lbs. answer to transporting those heavier bulkier items from the house to the dock or to the car or RV, beach, what-have-you and it folds fairly flat to use on the other end of that journey! Just call 239.540.2273 or go to their site: www.utilacart.com or info@utilacart.com

The last stop for us was at a unique smart item for every persons garage to get the clutter up and out of the way…this innovative new product is called simply, Monkey Bars, but unlike the ones we all enjoyed as small children these are for our necessary things that we just can’t part with to float above our vehicles and other much needed items that we all have…go to: www.MonkeyBarsSWFL.com to see that you too will feel like a kid again when you find that extra room in your garage for more of your sports equipment due to the space freed up by these Monkey Bars and all the other products to un-clutter your magnetic free for all space…here’s just a peek of this simply smart product:

Oddly enough we did not realize that Fishville A.K.A. Fisherman’s Village in Punta Gorda A.K.A. River City was having their version of Oktoberfest today! And so we found ourselves perusing the place like kids in a candy store, we had missed the hotdog race, actually dachshunds…but we did have some lunch and dare I say my bi-yearly dose of ice-cream, yes I am keeping track sillies! Any-who when we arrived we saw a tasty display of fruits and veggies etc. being sold to help out our local elementary school, unfortunately this is only a one day a year event, but perhaps next year you and we will plan ahead…

East elementary school fund raiser. And last but not least our own Charlotte Symphony was represent by a lovely person named Margi Kanga to contact them use www.charlottesymphony.com or call (941) 205-9743; for up coming events. The Jazz on the Green will be coming up next on Saturday October 27. 2012 at Riverwood Golf Club and here’s a heads up; space is limited so it is advisable to call as soon as possible for tickets.

I am way later than usual getting this out to all of you and so, allow me to be the first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all 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! PS if you double click on the pictures you will see them much larger and clearer.

Last night was the only vice presidential contenders debate

Now to have an educated opinion about anything you must be fully engaged in the experience of what you're watching, and I must admit at times, more times than not I was less than engaged in any of it... I love Joe Biden and he's a sweetie, but he pulled a Mitt Romney in my opinion with how he acted during the debate last night, ie. laughing an interrupting, which I had forgotten is an appropriate debating method, I only had one in my life and I/we won. Although, in my opinion also I felt that he had more accurate information to expound into the debate on international levels than his opponent Paul Ryan and on major topics that concern all of us he was more in keeping with many of us, as if he really listens and knows what we really want. The winner of the contest last night in some polls has it being a draw and in others VP Biden won and in others Congressman Ryan was the winner and that is why I am more than confused. It is the only one we are going to see these two men in action and for that I'm sure they're more than happy. Everyone makes jokes about VPs anyway how they really don't do that much, but as we all know that if heaven forbid the president cannot carry on they will become the man in charge, in this case, man instead of woman, oh darn. So it's our responsibility to know as much as we can about the person in the second seat. Next week the president and governor Romney will be having a town hall meeting and hopefully our dear Barack will be back in his usual explicable dynamic Superman attire inside and out. We need him there as the man that we chose back in 2008 needing and wanting him to lead us out of the doldrums into a happiness of peace of mind and ability to regain the basics that all Americans require to succeed; a place to live, food in their bellies, a good education and a job or career and the knowledge to know when they get older and have paid into their government fund that it will still be there to take care of them for it is theirs/our money or when that time comes that we no longer have the ability to work. Slowly the process is appearing to be showing that it is in flux, which we all know means that time is a factor for the change for the better. Patience is a hard thing to have, but we can all do it we do know to keep our eye on the prize with determination and so we will do it! Moving on… Today we had an inspection to see if we were prepared enough for any possible disaster and this was through our homeowner’s insurance company, Citizens. It was our second one this year, the first one was ridiculous and done by, in our opinion, an unprofessional inspector. This one today, who also lives locally, at least tried listening to what we told him and when Hubby showed him what the other fellow missed, he actually did his darndest to look and realized where the other had made mistakes; the report will take about three weeks and we should find out if we are going to be asked to pay an exorbitant amount on what we already pay yearly. This is one of those things that can throw off keel the delicate balance of finances that we like to try and keep manageable monthly; like everyone else. Stay tuned for when we know what's going on so will you. It's frustrating these little dings in your day for we had more today… It was today the day Hubby was to pick up his new glasses that he had ordered last week he was told that they would be in, in a week or sooner. Today was the latest that they were supposed to be in and so to be sure Hubby called and sure enough the gentleman on the other end of the line said that they came in a few days ago, three or four and that he tried calling but that number was disconnected. And so Hubby asked the man what number he was calling and he was calling a number that Hubby nearly forgotten about, since it was our phone number 14 years ago in Punta Gorda where we lived for less than four years. Oh and yes, the address he had was that address too. I was with Hubby when he went to get his new glasses and the old address was in the computer and the person who helped us put the correct one in, our current 14 years old address and our phone number for the same amount of the time period. The best we can figure out is that the woman who took the information forgot to save it into the computer. And that is what the woman who helped us in the store today said. Me being previously in the business world I felt compelled to ask a simple question, I suppose simpler to me than those who work there, but why hadn't they looked our number up in the phone book we are in it, since we are listed. The woman said oh no, that they can't do that; it has to do with the problems of privacy due to the laws of HIPAA, “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules” “The Office for Civil Rights enforces the HIPAA Privacy Rule, which protects the privacy of individually identifiable health information; the HIPAA Security Rule, which sets national standards for the security of electronic protected health information; and the confidentiality provisions of the Patient Safety Rule, which protect identifiable information being used to analyze patient safety events and improve patient safety.” Thanks to: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/ With that said I still was at my wits end why they couldn't just look up the right phone number or ask the other woman if what they had was correct? As much as I appreciate my civil rights being protected, to me, HIPAA has been a joke; anecdote here: while a patient in 2009 in a local hospital the nurse with a computer on the wall and a patient in the next bed from me in the same room, asked me personal questions in order to put them into the computer. Does that sound like privacy you? In my opinion, HIPAA should be amended I don't know exactly where to begin, but like other things in the laws of the land some things just don't work right and need a lot of tweaking; I'm just saying… And I don't think it is wrong that most of us realize what goes into computers can be hacked or read by people who aren't necessarily the ones we care for to see our personal information; unless you're like me and don't really care. With that to ponder and so much more, you can see that my mind is never idle, because we all know what an idle mind will do; or do we?(Insert big smile here) Allow me to be the first to wish all of you 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?

Being classy...

Is it truly more refined seemingly not to respond to a scathing commentary in the form of letters or e-mails? I just read something that made me wonder about that. One of our local newscasters/anchor had received, a few years ago, a letter telling her that she was so fat that they couldn't understand how her husband could stay with her; and I am paraphrasing her naysayers comment… Someone told her she had more class for not responding to the perpetrator. And she said to everyone, little did they know that I was nine months pregnant. Now, in retrospect I would've thought it would have been nice for her to let that person know that she was expecting and perhaps that person would have thought again before they wrote or said anything of that nature to anyone ever again. And that person would probably be more cautious in the future. Knowing not to say that I learned the hard way, when I asked a woman with a protruding belly one time, when is the baby due; and she said to me I'm not pregnant I'm just fat. I realized that I probably hurt her feelings, even though mine was said without malice or forethought. The woman was very nice about it and I learned a very good lesson that day. Sadly, I now have a protruding belly and I'm way too old to be accused of being expecting at the age of 62. Oddly enough when the topic was brought up on her site people thought her not saying anything was the appropriate way to handle the situation. I suppose that the fact that she was an older expectant mother never occurred to her causing confusion. The only reason I brought that fact up is because my own mother also was an older mother and I'm sure many people wondered if she was fat too, at 39. But in late 1949/50 when I was born most mothers were in their 20s. I do know that there have been miracles where women in their 50s or 60s have given birth; I guess not miracles but doctor aided pregnancies. And even with all that information many are surprised to see women older expecting; especially with the obesity rate so high, it's an easy mistake. Now this woman, also an anchor, but in the Midwest was not expecting and she knew she was overweight, even obese according to a doctor’s BMI chart and so she responded to her negative e-mail. And I do believe the way she handle it also was with class! Mean people, bullies, have to be told that when they go over the limit of appropriate behavior they have to be reeled in or they will continue to misbehave without any qualms of how they think they should handle people. This was a personal affront to this woman and she used the airwaves to call him out on it; mind you she never mentioned his name, just what he wrote. It was his decision to out himself. And as I said before he did apologize after the fact. When did no action become the proper reaction? I know in ancient times or long ago times we’re told to turn the other cheek. I can remember being told sticks and stones may break my bones and names will never hurt me. But over the years, bullying has become out of hand and so I still believe the Midwesterner, the anchor, took the right road with her decision to face the person responsible. It is a form of persecution and like any other persecution, be it racial, religious or how we look people have no right to judge you and that is what I truly believe this was about; as simple as that. PS on this topic at the time the woman with a protruding belly that was fat not pregnant she told me; I myself was a skinny belink, with a 20 inch waist, again all perspective. If it wasn't for the people who said something we might still have colored and white bathrooms. We may have lost more than 6 million Jews in World War II, and Ellen DeGeneres might not have a TV show today, just thinking and realizing that many things that people don't like because they're different from what they're personal experience is would've never changed. So if your decision is to shut up when somebody hurts your feelings so hard so deep that you are crying inside, but you're too classy to say anything than try to remember what I wrote here today… And next time just an idea try 'speaking your mind' and see if you can make this world a little bit better place for everyone not just the bullies getting away with something. On that note-worthy realization, 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!

Posting and our responsibility to project…

Tonight, I thought I would talk to my Facebook friends to tell them that I think it is wonderful that so many of us, a world wide group, so course we have differing ideas and concepts and we state them boldly and proudly all over our Facebook pages. Personally, I think it's absolutely marvelous to have opinions; if I didn't think that I'd be a hypocrite. The only thing that has been stated nationally with social media is the ramifications of posting extremely negative opinions. And so as I and you should think about is to perhaps count to 10 and to be cautious when posting something on someone else's site that might be something that will come back and bite us in the butt in our futures. Now, there is a way to delete it after you’re sorry you said it and personally I've done that several times. All of know that we can try different ways to express our feelings without personalizing our interest in someone else's site for commentary or links to other sites. Being helpful is wonderful and I highly recommend it, but perhaps it should be tempered with staying on-topic, theirs. Mean spirited talk/writing conversations never turn out well. As I'm growing older, I'm finding out that not unlike tangible items in life words have to be doled out cautiously with prioritizing intact as well. I slip, more often than not, but as I said: no one is perfect, especially me; all right that sounds like I'm more human than others and we all know that certainly is not true! So I've been told that in this world of 7 billion strong we are all humans, nothing new there. I just had a very weird thought, now if each one of us humans, 7 billion of us, made, let's just say 3 mistakes a day that would be 21 billion mistakes a day, 7665 billion a year, not counting leap year! That's crazy! You see my point and not even a ripple in the space-time continuum; it is somewhat miraculous, don't you all think? Of course you all do… Perspective that's what I talk about putting things in perspective; let's examine that word ‘perspective’ its meanings: viewpoint, standpoint, outlook, point of view, perception, side, angle…lookout, prospect, view, scene, picture…Whew! I'm pooped, how are you? Now, all of that above info doesn't tell you that it is your opinion, which I believe is the true meaning of what a perspective is. I don't believe even with education that we can give someone else's perspective on anything; oh wait unless we plagiarize their thoughts and ideas, nah and not a very good idea at all! This is why the arts are so wonderful, music, painting, dancing, writing, you get the idea… They all allow for self expression, therefore opinions! Hip, hip hooray! Individual as we all believe ourselves to be we are affected by others, by teachings, by friends and family and just by social mores of what others may think we should think. That's not to say that we are so malleable that we are that easily influenced, but through osmosis or what-have-you it is inevitable that some opinions strong or weak have been ingrained within us by sneaking through into our sub-conscientiousness’. And etchings of that sort are extremely difficult to shake. As we all think as young parents that our children at times don't listen to us; I beg to differ with you, they sure do! And so in closing what we say online has an enormous effect on how we present ourselves on the world stage. That's all folks! This was a mother speaking and that is my only excuse. Love to all... On that who knows what, allow me to be the first to wish all of you 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?

The eyes don't have it…

All day long I've been having weird occurrences and I don't mean phenomena wise; that should be last night and today that my eyes have been doing their trickery on me. Whatever does she mean? Well, last night I saw four glasses when there should've been two and then lefty has been playing clear unclear with its window on the world all day long. I awoke with left hip down to my heel of my foot same side numb and not sure that it would hold me up, but it did and so I did my Chester routine (for you youngins I was referring to the Gunsmoke character of Chester, the man with the lame leg that he dragged behind him, as he called to Marshall Dillon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunsmoke) into the kitchen for a cup of Java and then into the Sun room here to turn on this techno marvel its daily journey into the world and beyond… My day went up and down most all of it and I did hear back from the doctor’s office about my two questions that Hubby reminded me last night were premature. The reasons were logical and so when the nurse called back this morning I started to laugh and she said what he said that my medications were good till January and that's when I should call back, two or three days before I need them and as far as the insurance goes I don't even know the name of the company yet that I'll be having and so that too was premature. As human beings we are all imperfect and I myself prove that to me daily, hourly, minute to minute and even by the second some days. With that said I allow myself to know that mistakes can be made, but here's the hard part not without guilt in my case. It amazes me how some can consistently make mistakes and never be concerned or apologize if their mistake has a negative result affecting other people. Fortunately, or unfortunately, most of mine only affect me. Self deprecating is what I seem to do lately. Although, I am one of the first to speak up when bullies bully me or another. A newswoman in the Midwest faced her criticizing bully on air by reading his e-mail to her viewers and responded accordingly, all I have to say to this woman is, “BRAVA!” Well done. She responded by calling the man out on his impolite behavior by not being someone who knew her personally or a family member and she felt that he should own up to his mistake. And he did, after the fact; of course that's what they all do; retraction not all do. We live in a world where on-air personalities come into our homes and for some reason many of us forget that they are not part of our families, as much as many of us would like them to be or in some cases not be. Oprah Winfrey made it easy to feel that way, although many of us did not understand that line to not cross. We would e-mail and talk to her as if she was our best friend and ask her for favors that of course were ridiculous, but Oprah sometimes would make dreams come true for a few. That's why I believe she sent mixed signals to her adoring audience. No wonder so many thought she was their personal fairy godmother for 25 years. We all love Oprah, and were saddened by her decision to leave network television behind to start her own, OWN, network on cable. Unfortunately, as most of you know, we don't get cable since we use an antenna and lately we go to our Blockbuster site and order shows that we see advertised on network commercials or on TV shows or ones that win awards. Most recently, we've been watching Homeland, but we watch shows from the sci-fi channel and others just by ordering them online to be sent to our house. This way is much more reasonable than monthly cable bills. That's how we keep up in life with bargain basement prices, ta-da! It's going on 17 years now that we haven't had cable and every time we get the urge we remember that we can write down the names or search online for anything that we like and request it to be sent to us, I must admit it has been working out fine for us. But all of you have to do what's best for you and of course we all prefer creature comforts. It's just a matter of how much you're willing to pay for them… Leaving you with the realization that I am still thrifty, allow me to be the first to wish all of you 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! PS I did match up those like minded people and even added another into the mix an author of impeccable although none of us are truly perfect he comes fairly close in his profession… in his abilities and reputation.