Time goes on and so must we...

Before the Common Era, BCE is now which is what the old B.C. was, and CE is the Common Era, which we live in now that used to be A.D. are you following this?
Learning never ends does it?
And boy, I was under the impression that I was living in 2011 A.D., Geez who knows when this all changed to that above mentioned Politically Correct, PC, time period?
Being out of the loop can be annoying and frustrating, but most of all when someone uses the phrase, word or what-have-you, it creates a dumb factor expression on my mug that I have noticed gets harder to hide as I get older.
It’s not the fact that I am getting any dumber, oh maybe, but in truth I must have forgotten more than most college kids have learned to date! But, you know the more that gets into that brain through actually listening or osmosis or whatever, it appears to be, at times, to be more difficult to access, have you noticed that? Sort of like misplacing your keys, get it? You know where they are, somewhere, but not exactly.
I seem to recall this starts earlier than most would think, before age thirty.
But who knows, I do know somewhere in that space between my ears that we euphemistically call my ‘noggin’ ala brain encasement, hmm?
Intriguing how things become anew for us to learn sometimes the TV news may carry it on all the channels and herald it to the whole wide world but then, like this thing above, it’s more demure in its pronouncement, why it must have been taught in a whisper, since I never ever heard of it before!
Oh sure, you all probably knew that already, right?

See, being at home so much you would think this gal has way too much time on her hands, which I do, but how I spend it is not as fruitful as it probably could be.
I should if not as tired as I am, did you know I awoke at 4:44 A.M. this morning?
And I am up most all night long still, I suppose that thyroid medicine will be a few more weeks before it kicks in, and yes I read it is supposed to help with that problem as a few others like my incredible appetite and weight gaining issues…
Waiting, and so with all this time that I have, besides looking up things that I periodically find a miniscule interest in, nah its bigger than that… I was looking up the person who was trying to find an honest person, since this lying thing has me feeling like I expect too much from everyone.
It could be even considered unhealthy to be so concerned with wanting the world to always tell the truth.
And yes, we have visited this topic before and my blatant honesty has gotten me in trouble more times than not, but tempering that with kindness, to me, borders on dishonesty.
And that is why most days I find myself all alone, because being too honest is a negative thing in this world who wants to hear only the good not the bad… and so this is my forum to share it all!
Let’s face it; you are mostly all I got!
That is to tell my truth to.

On that not as funny as I wanted to be, but you gotta admit some of it may have caused a bit of a grin… allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to 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?

CRAZEE!

Did you hear the one about the lady who pepper sprayed everyone who got in her way of her items?
Or the one who opened fire on others for taking what they thought was theirs?
Boy, and all this is for getting that 70% off of something that you more than likely will have to replace when it becomes obsolete within the year?
Gosh, I don’t get it; hurting people to get all that bling.
Not that I don’t see a real reason for retailers to get the customers to come in, but offer a deal that’s not going to make them maim, blame or at least try to keep them tame in the process, huh?
Why is it that this time of year of love and peace and good will towards man and woman seems to bring out those negative aspects of us?
My educational background is in retail management and I don’t recall in all those years of how many that I was on the other end of those deals and steals… but, I suppose it was traumatic enough to make me not rush out of my home of comfort and perfect temperate climate to get run over by lunatics trying their hardest to get as many of what they can to impress themselves or others in their family or perhaps their friends, but are they real friends and family who love you or do they just LOVE you for what you get them, hmm?
The test of time and trueness of affection is if the ones you think the most of still care about you when you don’t over indulge them. I know it’s an adjustment to many, but go with me here…
Think about it and perhaps try on a not so special an occasion, trueness of love will mean they still react lovingly to you with not as big of an over-the-top display of lunacy that you really can’t afford anyway.
Or even if you can, wouldn’t you want to know why they really appreciate you, hopefully that it is for you and you alone?
BIG SMILE here.
Some of us know how it is to be able to give till it hurts with all that bling and then have financial problems that make you reevaluate what’s it all for and hand make your gifts the next year or two. Those could be the reasons that these days I still see the value in trying to be crafty and yes I do mean in more ways than one, ha!
We all care about each other perhaps at this time of year those feelings are heightened because of all the advertising and who hasn’t shed a tear or two at those Hallmark or Publix TV commercials and Folgers tries too! Boo hoo!
But the real mark of caring is being there and spending time, which is free and listening and helping each other with menial tasks on a daily basis or going that extra mile to do it…even opening a door for a stranger while on your shopping trips and a smile does really go a mile and so in closing be old fashioned and be kind…and if that is boring I will show you mine if you show me yours…smile, that is silly!
Spread the true cheer of the season and make others know it too…
Cause the world gets smaller everyday and don’t we all love you too?

On those words to do with whatever you care to allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you to 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 Tomorrow is the day of shopping that all small businesses can use your help and love and consideration to continue in your neighborhood so support them by buying whatever they got on sale or not, okay? Install another smile here.
We need them and that means all of us.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Now go shop!
If you must go, otherwise be happy that you can go if you so desire while many still cannot afford to go…
Oops, am I the voice of reality?
Nah, just being my Grinchiest once again!
Everyone has their own reality to deal with and many are not as fortunate to be able to just go out to get those incredible prices with those first come first serve major sales!
But you go on ahead and get what you need… perhaps you should pick up an extra this or that and wrap it up for someone not as lucky as you?
Just another annoying idea from yours truly, you know the items that I am talking about the ones that are sold two for one or buy one get one free, BOGO?

These are only my suggestions for you to take a spin around the block with and you know me my advice is what its worth and free is free… and therefore worth NOTHING, ha!
Gotta love the brain challenged who are also grammatically challenged and usually incorrect and here we go again with my disclaimer announcements of not having a decent spell and grammar check… how odd it just corrected my spelling of ‘grammar’ as I wrote it wrong, G-R-A-M-A-R, missing the second ‘M’, scary! Sorry Spooky thing in my computer…nothing personal, oh sure it is! LOL!
Sometimes I suppose it does work…
But one never knows, does one?

Ideas of how to spend your holidays are always decent from my perspective since I have been fortunate enough to have had all different religious ways, quantitative ways, generational ways and you name-it ways of doing it in my past of over sixty years worth to give you all some input with, hmm?
EXPERIENCE, that’s what I am talking about.
You gotta love it that some of us have gone in all different directions from multiple massive parties to simple soirées for two.
Healthy to handicapped to multi-nationalities to ages from womb to 100 and beyond!
Yep, I’ve done it all.
Not bad, eh?
Sure it’s not.
Ask me anything.
Nah, my turn, you weren’t quick enough…
How did your turkey/ham day go?
Or, right now it should still be going, hmm?
That’s another consideration when only dinner for two and the two that happen to know each other …FOREVER! It doesn’t seem to matter if ONE takes the time to write her nightly drivel, hmm?
Any-who, for you though, I am concerned, since no answer from you could be a good thing or not so good thing, perhaps bad; you know what I mean?
We are friends, right?
Of course we are, and you wouldn’t lie to me when I ask you a straight question like I just have, and no it is not an anti-gay thing when I use the word ‘straight’, it means ‘direct’, for you over sensitive peeps…ha!
Been there too, not gay, just always overly sensitive too, not that there is anything wrong with either one of those…but you knew that!
I thought I should lighten this thing up a bit; especially after last night’s was way too heavy…hmm?
Am I doing any better, no wait…
Don’t give up on me; I haven’t given up on you!

Life is a highway and a byway that we must go on, on and on, and on and on…huh?
Why does that sound familiar?
Oh well, moving on…
Since I will hope to hear back from all of you on your day over the next few I will give you an encapsulated version of ours…
Got up at 5:22 A.M. did my usual stuff until nine a.m. and then watched the Macy’s Parade then the National Dog Show right after then Miracle on 34th Street circa 1947 contrary to Matt Lauer’s mistake of stating it being 1957 with who else but golden gal cold case little miss Natalie Wood that cutey that we all knew and really enjoyed in everything she did. All the time poking friends on Facebook and opening emails etcetera all day long… before receiving a phone call of cheer from number one son wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving via his hands free phone on his way home from work and him not knowing that we had also called his home to wish him good cheer for the day leaving the message on his home phone! Gotta love the guy!

And so all in all our day was pleasant enough our meal was good and homemade by us both while enjoying the traditions of the day whether of all the years whether two or fifty-two don’t we all have that programming on in our homey holiday background?
OF COURSE WE ALL DO!
Yep, another holiday another tradition preserved sort of…hmm?
Gotta take whatever we can get, huh?
Making Lemonade out of lemons, and that’s another thing our Ponderosa Lemons were ready for harvest and today Hubby brought in two, but there are a bumper crops more!

On that more than uplifting germ of hope… allow me to be the first to wish you ALL A VERY HAPPY THANKSGIVING, and I hope yours was as good as ours…tradition-wise at least and have a very happy good night and count all those blessings, which I am more than sure you gave thanks for today at your dinner and share those overages and we will too!

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

Reunions and families getting together is so magical!

But Grinch here is just plain jealous and saddened by the sappy loved-one’s reunions!
Sorry!
Nah, did I also mention how annoying those health oriented people walking/ jogging passed my home or with walkers, canes and side by side with an able bodied buddy and the other one in a Jazzy or what-have-you, those battery powered wheel chairs that I was nixed on since I have no insurance or Medicaid or Medicare!
Nope, I cannot do that due to my lack of automatic bodily heat adjustment ability and Hubby doesn’t need to or want to just walk around the blocks here like I used to do just a few short years ago…
Sure I have my cooling vest, but what’s the point to wander hither and yon in my scooter to what?
To be an annoying social neighborhood butterfly that is limited to her time out due to the quick melting in the outer world of her iced packs that cool her vest for only so long?
Yep, that’s me, Mrs. Scrooge and rude and crude, mean and no longer lean, an anger non management machine.
Someone actual told me that, “you get more with honey than vinegar”. Why I used to quote that quote when in the biz world! Since then the customer is always right or so we were taught, but now I am mostly the customer and most don’t do that anymore, have you noticed?

Oh why am I so jealous, because our only son we hear from is working for someone else who is married and has children tomorrow, and so I am very proud of him for doing it. But since most all of my family is dead and Hubby’s is all over the planet and also alienated and our other son who is not willing to make amends, he’s all we got!
I know we should just be happy that he is so generous and well; it does say something for how he was raised.
And there was a time even when our sons were not too busy but were helping others and lived farther away and Hubby, as a deputy, would work for other young families too so they could spend the holiday together and then I would go to the local Methodist church to help serve dinner to the indigent and elderly… and that was sooo rewarding, but I was capable then, not now. Reunions make me sad and I so wish for that too to be something we could have with so many, especially our younger son and now his new wife… and her family!
Pitiful Pearl once again, so sorry, but tis the season to re-evaluate what is right and what is wrong with your life… darn!
I do believe I do it day and night daily, not just now…at this time of the year…
We do have dinner for two planned, but gosh it is never the same as it was with all the family, friends, our loved ones, alive and here and caring and arguing and disagreeing, but always forgiving and loving once again!
What I think that I am trying to say to all of you all over this world of ours is that don’t take friends or family for granted for one day they are here for the next time in a flash they could be all gone!
Just cherish what you’ve got while you’ve got it and don’t let the little things in life cause you to make mountains out of molehills; just enjoy all those breathtaking moments that can leave when you least expect them too…smell the flowers and all those other clichés that when they’re gone you will too miss them as I and also have too many regrets if you don’t savor each second now, warts and all…
And I will be jealous forever because of what you have and we no longer do and sincerely miss…and cannot seem to get back no matter how hard we try…

Love entirely with your heart and soul and don’t be critical or harsh, be accepting even if something rubs you the wrong way or you too will be a lonely older person with this sad gal’s lament… FORGIVE is what I always have done but some do not do that no matter what…

Oh well, frustration is hard to deal with but you are all here and there and everywhere and you don’t let anything go awry; fix it quickly, and truly love those love ones… before they are gone…

Allow me to 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?

Since I think of you all as my family too…

Commentary

To have an opinion is fine, and as human beings it is a right to be treated with the respect that was given to you by the all mighty and your parents. TA! DA!
But to make loud noises of little effectiveness and much abusive behavior is just downright rude.
And that’s my OPINION!
Sure we have the right to complain and again today I did just that.
You see, we were given an offer to try a new magazine to us, not really a new magazine, just for our purposes; being one that we had not gotten before, got that?
The Smithsonian, a fine magazine which in its heyday I am more than sure that it was jam packed full of intelligent information for the scientific community and us others… But unfortunately, today it has the alienation potential that I have found let’s say a flaw of so many magazines these days, too much advertising and not enough substance!
I say, in my opinion again that we have enough catalogues for that sort of thing in all venues of technology and otherwise…Although, I do understand the reasoning of needing to fund the magazine, just like a TV commercial does…
But that was not my only complaint it was that the initial postcard mailed to me had the offer as one free issue to decide if you wanted to order a years subscription, and yesterday the first one came and today the second one came too…
Hubby and I gave it the once over and we both decided that it did not meet our needs with substance of use for our continued learning purposes like years ago when we subscribed to National Geographic mostly for the boys for school but we enjoyed it too…

Oddly enough, when we lived in NJ we used to drive the five and half hours often for long weekends, camping in Lake Fairfax Virginia, to go to the Smithsonian’s in D.C. and our sons loved it! And Benji, our Yorkie, got to go into them too via his soft carrier, no wonder he was so bright eyed and bushy tailed and acted not much different from the movie Benji. We enjoyed also bringing things home from the farmer’s market ala coolers along the Potomac and on Labor Day weekends, if I also recall that was when they occurred, watching the Frisbee dog competitions on the mall lawn were really terrific! We, so much had a happier time then…

Any-who, so I called the subscription department by way of their 800 line and let them know that we decided that we did not want to subscribe and I told them why.
I also let them know that their marketing practice of sending more than one so close together was wasteful and not cost effective to the company.
The young woman in Tampa told me it was their policy and I told her that she should tell them it stinks, the more they waste money the more they have no money to pay their employees!
She agreed.
Is it just me who sees the simplicity in it all?

Another problem cropped up too today that I handled almost similarly but realized after hearing both sides, it ended up finding me with egg all over my face and apologizing and making nice, nice…
And yes, I do admit when I am wrong.
But fortunately, it doesn’t happen that often! KIDDING FOLKS!
Sure I am wrong too much of the time, but I do know when to say that I am sorry and when to hold my ground… or not?
Learning that that will teach you that old dogs can learn new tricks, huh?

That is why opinion-wise I have not recently weighed-in about all the media circuses going on from national politics to local happenings…I don’t know enough yet to have one.
Sometimes I do listen before I speak, ha!

On that which seems nearly an impossibility, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and to ask you to kindly count all your blessings and to kindly share your overages and we will too!

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

His and hers...

How many out there prefer things that their significant other’s do not or vice versa?
And how many besides me know from experience that ‘separate but equal’, works so much better than arguing?
Aha! I do believe it is called a form of compromise, hmm?
Some people who fall in love believe that when you do you become one, but sadly or happily it does not mean you all of a sudden have just one brain to share that comes much later… in your senior years when you finish each others sentences and thoughts and with luck get them correct when you speak them aloud, ha!

Now listen little chillin and you will hear of another spinning of how it works at this time of year…
ALA C-O-M-P-R-O-M-I-S-E!
Yep, you hear me; don’t you?
I said COMPROMISE, and yea I am sure to say that not only does it work when the temperatures fluctuate, well, here not so much, but maybe where you are, any-who; it WORKS ALL YEAR LONG and with others that may not be your loving ones too!

More than likely you are wondering why I chose this topic for tonight and as sure as the day is short, yep our government is responsible for that too, I better be moving on…
So here I go…
Tonight we tried the recipe in the 75th anniversary edition of our cookbook, from Better Homes and Gardens that we replaced after, ‘Charley’ i.e. the hurricane, destroyed our others with mold and they had to be tossed… we only have two now, this indoor one and an outdoor barbecue cooking one too, but all other recipes I get off of the net if I so choose to. Here’s the recipe for all to share: Basic for all pastas:
On page 377 BHG cookbook, and this is my first gift to you of the season…
2 1/3 cups of flour, the third is reserved for rolling out the dough
1 tsp of dried basil, marjoram or sage crushed (optional)
½ teaspoon of salt
2 beaten eggs
1/3 of a cup of water
1 teaspoon of cooking oil or olive oil
In food processor place your metal blade in the bowl then all the dry ingredients plus the eggs, and cover and process until mixture forms fine crumbs (about the consistency of cornmeal) pour the oil and water through the feed tube. Continue processing until the dough forms a ball. Cover and let rest for about ten minutes then continue on to rolling it out to form whatever type of shapes you wish, cooking time varies with size and type of pasta; when dropped into boiling water.
Bowties 2 to 3 min.
Fettuccine 1 ½ to 2 min.
Lasagna 2 to 3 min.
Linguine 1 ½ to 2 min.
Noodles 1 ½ to 2 min.
Ravioli 7 to 9 min.
Tortellini 7 to 9 min.
If dried or frozen pasta, allow a minute or two more.
And remember all pasta should be rolled out to no more than 1/16th of inch thickness.
My little note *Left over turkey and ham make great fillings too! Just a thought…

And sometimes, just on occasion I create my own unique recipes that often do work, but at times they do not… let’s face it friends the joy is in experimentation, hmm?
(Get your mind out of the gutter, but if over twenty-one go where you please!)

And so tonight we decided to make raviolis but Hubby wanted plain cheese which was made with ricotta and parmesan, and I wanted shrimp that we had gotten a good supply of the frozen large ones from our last Sam’s Club visit, all shelled cleaned and deveined and so I grabbed ten defrosted and cooked them put them in the food processor with some spinach, ricotta and parmesan, lemon juice splashed and garlic powder, and spun!
This was after the pasta was made and Hubby’s were all set with their cheese fillings, we had ten each of our favs, but only ate half of them due to them being so filling!
He had a tomato sauce that I jazzed up with more basil, oregano and garlic.
Mine was a buttery (actually margarine light) with lemon, chicken no salt bullion, garlic, black cracked pepper, a healthy pinch of old bay seasoning and left over filling that I apparently overshot the quantity of, but actually made a great sauce!
All in all we were happily stuffed, not that that’s a good thing, but not that bad either, hmm, mmm, mmm oh so good!
On that bit of trickery, let’s face it anything not similar to this Thursday’s dinning choices is a welcome idea for meals now, hmm?

Now 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 all your overages and we will too!

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

Hubby got his belated birthday present I suppose...

Boredom does not wear well even with someone like me with my level of acceptance of making the most out of what many would consider the ordinary.
Nope, some days I need more to keep this somewhat active brain happy and moving in any sort of a recognizable direction… Yep, that’s me all over the place, needy!
And so Hubby co-operated by my whim to gather ourselves up at one in the afternoon, mind you, and take me out for the mediocre trek all the way nearly five whole miles over to our one and only indoor mall of the familiar type to anyone who’s a mall maven, called surprisingly, The Town Center Mall; since it is neither in a town, us here in Port Charlotte being unincorporated and that also makes it impossible to be in the center of our unincorporated, what, not a town, than what? Who knows…?
So being from Paramus New Jersey, a town, even perhaps now a city, which at one time was considered the mall capital of the nation, in the late nineteen-fifties early nineteen-sixties eras, and so I do believe that I know about my malls…
And that our one and only here is pretty nice for its lack of enormity of floors and fancifulness, but still with many quality of choice stores… suitable to all wallet types with any kind of monetary innards, diverse.

So that is where we went to get a tickle of the beginnings of the season, and sure enough many were there too. I can only imagine trying to get ahead of the holiday shopping.
Parking was a game in the sheer need to find a handicap space close to an opening of a store. And we did, right across from the Sears entrance where we had a ten dollar off coupon that was sent to Hubby as a birthday gift. Our intent was to see what he needed, which was more of his favorite shorts of the denim variety or a rechargeable battery for his cordless drill, since his has been a goner for quite some time, not a good thing for us DIYers, hmm? (Note: It was quite difficult to get into the store in my scooter especially if Hubby had not been with me, oddly enough they had no automatic door pusher there and the foyer and doorway were quite tight for maneuverability to access the door even with Hubby opening them both. Even with my additional weight on me, my scooter footprint has remained the same, and Hubby is quite slender, at six foot and only 154lbs. ADA, American’s with disability act, would not be happy with that!)

Whichever was the better deal was going to get the discount coupon used on it.
The shorts were one of the few items not on sale, most everything else was, how odd?
Any-who, we saw that his battery was also on sale, but we thought that we would go out into the mall and look around at Old Navy and Beall’s, too for his shorts first, and the fact that that was where we were parked we knew we had to come back passed the batteries again on our way out to the parking lot.

Our success for finding denim shorts on sale was not happening and so we headed towards our next stop after, Hubby got his battery!
Last stop for our whirlwind adventure of the day was, again the grocery, since believe it or not our cupboards were nearly bare once again!
Before we arrived I had been having weird sensations in my head and legs and a new one that began just yesterday…how can I say this delicately, like I had saddle sores with numbness on my tushy? That will have to do.
Anyway, Hubby suggested I take another dose of my Baclofen since I have been cutting back and had recently cut back to only fifty mg; when I am suppose to take seventy.
It did not seem to work…But I insisted we go together to the grocery in spite of how I felt… You see, I have recently become afraid to be alone when I feel badly, is that strange?
I don’t think so.
Hubby had wanted to drop me off at home to rest but I said no, and we both went straight past our home to Publix.
Usually, I am a social butterfly in there with constantly chattering with whomever I see that I know or even people I don’t, but I felt downright crummy and for some reason nauseas and my head started too.
Hubby was ordering from their deli and I usually would speak to anyone who was waiting too, but I just couldn’t and so I moved to the end of the counter and stared into space.
It seemed to help a little.
At the end of their counter it starts the produce department our next stop and so I waited for Hubby there. While staring I saw something quite unusual even for me with my active imagination. What I saw was enormous Lucite salad tongs, and an enormous cutting board, and over sized packaged disposable plastic tablecloths in bright colors, off to the center of the produce department, and so I rolled closer… and when I got nearer to what I thought I saw I actually was in front of a normal sized display of all those items I mentioned; now if that is not too weird I don’t know what is?
Hubby sloughed it off and told me not to worry about it, which of course made me worry more since he seemed to know more about me than I did, hmm?
Must be the mystery gal in me, I guess…

Well, on that more confusion to an already mixed up lady, allow me to be the first to wish you a very happy good night and to ask you to kindly count all your blessings and to share all your overages and we will too!

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

PS with sugarless gum and a light dinner I appear to be okay for now… HA!