Alright! I've posted the last couple of days but haven't included the regular "feature" item - as some of you readers may have noticed. (Some others may have noticed and thought maybe I had reformed and quit reading my daily calendar. Au Contraire!)
So tonight, to make up for lost time and to prepare for the future as well (translated, that means to "cover my butt" -which is quite a task in and of itself too) I'm going to give you the FULL treatment! Not only will I post the Bushisms I missed for Monday and Tuesday, but I'll give you the one for today as well as Thursday, Friday and the weekend ones!
How's that for a peace offering? Probably depends on one's opinion of DUBYA I suppose.
So, here goes!
Monday, July 9, 2007
"The public education system in America is one of the most important foundations of our democracy. After all, it is where children from all over America learn to be responsible citizens, and learn to have the skills necessary to take advantage of our fantastic opportunistic society." - Santa Clara, California; May 1, 2002
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
"That's just the nature of democracy. Sometimes pure politics enters into the rhetoric." - Crawford, Texas; August 8, 2003
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
"Well, we've made the decisin to defeat the terrorists abroad so we don't have to face them here at home. And when you engage the terrorists abroad, it causes activity and action." - Washington, D.C.; April 28, 2005
Thursday, July 12, 2007
"My pan plays down an unprecedented amount of our national debt." - Budget address to Congress; February 27, 2001
Friday, July 13, 2007
"See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction." - Milwaukee, Wisconsin; October 3, 2003
Saturday and Sunday, July 14/15, 2007
"It's one thing about insurance, that's a Washington term." - St. Louis, Missouri' October 18, 2000
And my comment to just about everyone of those is "How's that working for you?" (Courtesy of Doctor Phil there. Do ya think, considering he's a DUBYA supporter he would object to my plagerizing his terminology there? But, what's a person to do anyway. He also says we should "Get real" and "Ya gotta be honest" too ya know!
On a side note here - totally away from the Bushism stuff till next Monday now - we had a near calamity here over the past 24 hour span. Something went missing. Something really, really important to my peace of mind, to my mental stability, to my comfort zone -and a few other things pertinent to how I manage to function on a day-to-day basis. And no, it wasn't my computer that fritzed out on me either. Don't even THINK of something that atrocious. But this was a pretty close race to my computer - right behind my main staples in life - caffeine and nicotine.
What was this important thing that disappeared?
The remote to the living room TV - what else?
I kid you not, I went on a total - and I do mean TOTAL -search and destroy mission about 1 in the morning Wednesday morning trying to find that sweet little thing. I virtually ripped the living room apart - cushions off the sofa, love seat, chair. Combing over my desk area -which in itself is such a disaster zone ALL the time that it looks a lot like the outside area of a home here in town on the other side of the village that is in very dire need of a good healthy overhaul and mega trip to the landfill too. I even moved the sofa, loveseat, chair, tables - the baby's playpen though I left alone save to get down on the floor on my hands and knees to peek under there. (Taking a measure that drastic - me, getting down on the floor on hands and knees - is really risky too because I have to have something really solid then to lean on in order to heave my old stiff-jointed self back to a standing position.) That remote was no where to be seen!
When the step-granddaughter awoke this morning I jumped her first thing asking where the heck she'd put it yesterday. I hadn't seen it since early Tuesday morning as she commandeered it shortly after she woke up. Well, of course, she denied having ever touched it, claiming her Dad hadn't been able to find it either. So, naturally, the one who then was getting blamed for wherever the remote went was poor little Princess Maya.
When the son-in-law got home from work this evening and learned it still hadn't surfaced, he went on a more severe type of "S&D" mission - he and Mandy took the sofa and upended it so they could then search the bottom of the sofa. But alas - no remote. There was however a hair brush, a couple match box cars, a larger car toy of Princess Maya's along with oodles of crayons. (Also, no money found either - RATS!)
My older daughter, her fiance and the Prince (older grandson - age 10) were here for supper tonight and before they went home, Robert and Mandy upended the loveseat then. He was convinced he had adequately searched the nooks and crannies between the cushions and the back of the couch, etc., but Mandy - the one with a really keen eye it seems - spied it lurking in the bottom of the loveseat!
AH RELIEF! I could just feel the tension rushing out of my body. Seriously, I really could. I kid you not!
I am highly addicted to sleeping with the tv running all night long. I started doing that many years ago - oh, about 28 years ago now to be precise. Just about the time my ex-husband moved out for the last time! As a kid, I was always scared of the dark, thought for many years there was someone lying in wait under the bed who was going to reach out and grab my leg when I got in bed (used to take sort of a running leap there so as to not have my leg within reaching distance of that hand that I just KNEW was lurking under there!) And, by having the tv on all night, it's a soothing sound to me - like there's someone else with me, ya know, I suppose. That's my theory there anyway and I am sticking with it!
So now, just about everything here is in its proper place, my world has been righted and I can go to sleep sometime tonight a very happy camper knowing if I wake up periodically, I can pretty much have an idea of what time it is then too just by whatever program is currently playing on the tv. No need for a "bedside" clock that way, ya know!
And, although the stepgranddaughter protested - GREATLY - that she had nothing to do with the remote going missing (remember Sgt. Schultz from Hogan's Heros - "I know NAWTHING!"), I could disprove her theory that other people besides her sit on that loveseat. Yeah, but NOT ME! I camp only on the sofa and in MY chair, in front of my own screen -the monitor of my sweet, wonderful computer!
This particular scare to me ranked right up there on my "fright level" as did one my daughter had one night last week. Mandy was sitting at the computer; I was on the couch. (See, I told you before where I park my carcass, didn't I?) And suddenly, she pushed the chair back from the desk, let out a screech (almost blood-curdling) and jumped up in a mega state of shock with her hands waving and flapping about.
I asked her what the devil was wrong - thinking she'd perhaps had a moth fly around the screen of the monitor or maybe -horror or horrors, a spider might have crossed her path. Either one could bring about a major fright to her. But no, she's pointing at the monitor and yelling "A MOUSE! It's right there, under the monitor, with its beady little eyes staring out at me!"
Ok -time to break out the mouse traps again, by the looks of things!
What irritated Mandy though was the fact we have two cats in this place - an old lazy one and a young, very spring chicken kitten and both of them were curled up in the dining room, about 3-4 foot away from where Mandy -and said mouse -were meeting head on at that point in time!
Mickey (or Minnie) is still probably lurking about though because to my knowledge, no one has put out any traps over in the small area (little bitty open space) between my desk and the wall.
Ah, life is so exciting here now isn't it?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Tough Nut to Chew
I've mulled over this since yesterday when I read the ideas expressed by James in his post yesterday titled "Intimate Knowledge" whether to try to tackle the root issue he was discussing in his post. It's a serious -very serious issue - and one which often does create a whole lot of theories too.
Domestic Abuse/Violence.
In his post, James asks the question why women stay with men who are abusive and uses for his examples, the two recent tragic instances of domestic violence - the Jesse Davis murder and the murder-suicide by the pro-wrestler of his wife, son and himself. James suggests perhaps these women and others much like them could possibly have averted some of these events by having exercised better judgment in their selection process; that perhaps had they thought long and hard about certain traits, characteristics that surely may have been exhibited early on in the relationships, they would have steered clear of these men.
I won't argue his point there because to a certain extent I think he has some very good, very valid points he's putting across. At least, to all women, be a little bit more discerning from the onset of a relationship.
But even that is not a failsafe protective measure all the time.
Suppose, just suppose, the man (and for the record, I am generalizing here too because not all domestic abuse/violence starts with the male of the species but that more often than not is the case) is a bit of a chameleon. He has these ideas, these issues, but has them so well concealed that they don't surface until well into the relationship. What do women do then? And, if they actually realize and acknowledge the abuse is occurring, why then do so many of them choose to stay on in the relationship anyway?
First, let me put it to you this way - if you are in a "committed" relationship and your spouse suddenly dies, do you just pick up and go on your merry way as if nothing had happened or do you perhaps become reclusive for some time thereafter? You grieve, do you not? Well, when a relationship is going down the tubes or has already gone that route, those who are the "victim" then often grieve the loss of the relationship too - not for what it has become but perhaps the sense of loss for what it might have been at the beginning or what the person had dreamed it could be too. And, just as it happens with a death, each person grieves differently -some can pick up and go on fairly quickly while others, it may take a longer time and even a few never fully recover from a loss of that magnitude. This all is quite similar to what takes place in the abused person's mental outlook -it's not an exact comparison, but has many of the same characteristics.
When women are hesitant to leave an abusive partner those emotions are really just the tip of the iceberg though. Many, many other aspects come into play, not the least of which would be finances. Often women in abusive relationships don't always have a good skill or trade or education to fall back on for earning a decent wage to support herself and possibly/probably children too.
Whether the abuse is of a physical, mental or emotional nature, abusers are frequently very possessive, to the point of it being an obsession often; very, very controlling in nature. Emotional abuse is often harder to break completely free of too in that it affects deep in the very soul of the victim -usually doing major damage to the victim's self-esteem. This happens even to highly educated people too -it's kind of like alcoholism and drug abuse in that respect in that it knows no boundaries - rich, poor, highly educated, illiterate and all points in between can and do fall prey to the mental and emotional abuse.
There are those too who, when children are involved, will stay simply because they feel a two-parent home is better than a single parent home regardless of the circumstances. Unfortunately, many studies point to this aspect as being a means of perpetuating the abusive nature when the children -especially sons - see the father being abusive and they then frequently adopt that as their way of life as adults.
When the abuser had additional issues - drugs, alcohol or in the case of the pro-wrestler, steriod abuse, this adds to the momentum as well. Anger fueled on its own volition is terrible. Anger fueled by alcohol, drugs, other entities takes on a whole different life of its own then because that substance abuse affects the victim -usually with very low self-esteem and can cause abusers to lose control and their rage often takes on even more dire aspects with often extremely tragic results.
What can be done about this cycle? There are all kind of ideas floating about on this part of the problem.
One, as James suggested -to get to know who you are dealing with early on in the relationship by "checking the person out" does have a lot going for it. Learn as much as you can about someone before getting really involved with that person -temperment, prior issues the person may have had in other relationship, or any type of offense that may give the smallest clue of a bit of a violent streak that could be lurking.
Learn! Learn anything and anything you can that could possibly enable you to be in a better position sometime to be self-sufficient! Education really is a core issue here - the more you have, ultimately, the better off you will be!
Acquire as much as possible too of a supportive network - family, friends - you can't ever have to much in that department under normal circumstances and when in an abusive relationship, you really often do need a very strong, solid person to lean on, to help lead you back into stability.
Teach your children how to treat others and to have respect as well as how to command respect from others too. Allowing children to become bullies is not giving them a means to command respect -it gives them a means to DEMAND respect - big difference there!
Try to find self-help groups especially if the abuser has drug/alcohol issues. This is one of the best things to try to help put your own life in order to learn how to cope with those who use and abuse drugs of any type. It helps rebuild your self-esteem first, just by learning you are far from alone in what you are dealing with or how it all makes you feel deep inside too.
These are just basic - very basic ground rules to learn, to use if you find yourself in the beginning phases of what appears to be a controlling relationship.
If the abuser tries to isolate you, keep you from friends, from family, restricts your movement in and out of the home, places extremely illogical demands on you as to where you can go, what you can do, how much money you are given access to - all these things are strong signs to gather up steam and get the Hell out of Dodge and do it fast in some instances too.
But I have to go along with James' assertion to be more aware, understanding of others before getting involved in any situation in the first place.
Remember too, being with a man does not have to be the most important thing on your agenda.
Being comfortable within yourself, love yourself, expect to be treated in a proper and respectful manner -it all helps to try to curb the cycle somewhat at any rate.
And, finally, don't be afraid to get help from the police, from women's help groups that offer a safe place to stay and will work to help get your on your feet again from all angles too.
Stay safe, get help and learn to be a strong, viable person, self-sufficient in all respects.
Domestic Abuse/Violence.
In his post, James asks the question why women stay with men who are abusive and uses for his examples, the two recent tragic instances of domestic violence - the Jesse Davis murder and the murder-suicide by the pro-wrestler of his wife, son and himself. James suggests perhaps these women and others much like them could possibly have averted some of these events by having exercised better judgment in their selection process; that perhaps had they thought long and hard about certain traits, characteristics that surely may have been exhibited early on in the relationships, they would have steered clear of these men.
I won't argue his point there because to a certain extent I think he has some very good, very valid points he's putting across. At least, to all women, be a little bit more discerning from the onset of a relationship.
But even that is not a failsafe protective measure all the time.
Suppose, just suppose, the man (and for the record, I am generalizing here too because not all domestic abuse/violence starts with the male of the species but that more often than not is the case) is a bit of a chameleon. He has these ideas, these issues, but has them so well concealed that they don't surface until well into the relationship. What do women do then? And, if they actually realize and acknowledge the abuse is occurring, why then do so many of them choose to stay on in the relationship anyway?
First, let me put it to you this way - if you are in a "committed" relationship and your spouse suddenly dies, do you just pick up and go on your merry way as if nothing had happened or do you perhaps become reclusive for some time thereafter? You grieve, do you not? Well, when a relationship is going down the tubes or has already gone that route, those who are the "victim" then often grieve the loss of the relationship too - not for what it has become but perhaps the sense of loss for what it might have been at the beginning or what the person had dreamed it could be too. And, just as it happens with a death, each person grieves differently -some can pick up and go on fairly quickly while others, it may take a longer time and even a few never fully recover from a loss of that magnitude. This all is quite similar to what takes place in the abused person's mental outlook -it's not an exact comparison, but has many of the same characteristics.
When women are hesitant to leave an abusive partner those emotions are really just the tip of the iceberg though. Many, many other aspects come into play, not the least of which would be finances. Often women in abusive relationships don't always have a good skill or trade or education to fall back on for earning a decent wage to support herself and possibly/probably children too.
Whether the abuse is of a physical, mental or emotional nature, abusers are frequently very possessive, to the point of it being an obsession often; very, very controlling in nature. Emotional abuse is often harder to break completely free of too in that it affects deep in the very soul of the victim -usually doing major damage to the victim's self-esteem. This happens even to highly educated people too -it's kind of like alcoholism and drug abuse in that respect in that it knows no boundaries - rich, poor, highly educated, illiterate and all points in between can and do fall prey to the mental and emotional abuse.
There are those too who, when children are involved, will stay simply because they feel a two-parent home is better than a single parent home regardless of the circumstances. Unfortunately, many studies point to this aspect as being a means of perpetuating the abusive nature when the children -especially sons - see the father being abusive and they then frequently adopt that as their way of life as adults.
When the abuser had additional issues - drugs, alcohol or in the case of the pro-wrestler, steriod abuse, this adds to the momentum as well. Anger fueled on its own volition is terrible. Anger fueled by alcohol, drugs, other entities takes on a whole different life of its own then because that substance abuse affects the victim -usually with very low self-esteem and can cause abusers to lose control and their rage often takes on even more dire aspects with often extremely tragic results.
What can be done about this cycle? There are all kind of ideas floating about on this part of the problem.
One, as James suggested -to get to know who you are dealing with early on in the relationship by "checking the person out" does have a lot going for it. Learn as much as you can about someone before getting really involved with that person -temperment, prior issues the person may have had in other relationship, or any type of offense that may give the smallest clue of a bit of a violent streak that could be lurking.
Learn! Learn anything and anything you can that could possibly enable you to be in a better position sometime to be self-sufficient! Education really is a core issue here - the more you have, ultimately, the better off you will be!
Acquire as much as possible too of a supportive network - family, friends - you can't ever have to much in that department under normal circumstances and when in an abusive relationship, you really often do need a very strong, solid person to lean on, to help lead you back into stability.
Teach your children how to treat others and to have respect as well as how to command respect from others too. Allowing children to become bullies is not giving them a means to command respect -it gives them a means to DEMAND respect - big difference there!
Try to find self-help groups especially if the abuser has drug/alcohol issues. This is one of the best things to try to help put your own life in order to learn how to cope with those who use and abuse drugs of any type. It helps rebuild your self-esteem first, just by learning you are far from alone in what you are dealing with or how it all makes you feel deep inside too.
These are just basic - very basic ground rules to learn, to use if you find yourself in the beginning phases of what appears to be a controlling relationship.
If the abuser tries to isolate you, keep you from friends, from family, restricts your movement in and out of the home, places extremely illogical demands on you as to where you can go, what you can do, how much money you are given access to - all these things are strong signs to gather up steam and get the Hell out of Dodge and do it fast in some instances too.
But I have to go along with James' assertion to be more aware, understanding of others before getting involved in any situation in the first place.
Remember too, being with a man does not have to be the most important thing on your agenda.
Being comfortable within yourself, love yourself, expect to be treated in a proper and respectful manner -it all helps to try to curb the cycle somewhat at any rate.
And, finally, don't be afraid to get help from the police, from women's help groups that offer a safe place to stay and will work to help get your on your feet again from all angles too.
Stay safe, get help and learn to be a strong, viable person, self-sufficient in all respects.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
"And, The Award Goes To...."
What a surprise I had this evening!
My daughter, her husband, his sister, all three of the step-grandchildren, Maya, Kurtis and I went for a walk around the village. It amounts to close to two miles we covered, taking turns pushing Kurtis in his stroller and holding Maya's hand so she wouldn't get too rambunctious on us along the way.
It was a nice walk -warm, yes but starting to cool off and not very many of the pesky little gnats that love to fly in your face or worse, right up your nose and into your eyes were out this evening which made it even better. Saw a few neighbors out along our street and spoke to them and along the road in the back section of town, we stopped briefly so the kids could say hello to their grandfather too. Just a nice leisurely walk and thankfully, so far, my legs and back aren't sending up a bunch of nasty pain signals to me.
After we got home and I logged back into the computer, there I found a surprise waiting for me. Seems I have been given the "Schmoozer Blogger Award" from my friend Linda.
I know I have the "gift for gab" - learned that early on in elementary school when every report card I brought home, much to my mother's chagrin, always had a checkmark under the deportment area, "Whispers." Sometimes the teacher even elaborated a bit on just how much I whispered too!
And the "whispers" thing must also be an inherited thing too because my son, after his very first day in kindergarten, when asked at supper that night if he learned anything or if the teacher told him anything and he replied, "Yes, she said to "zip your lip!"
And, over the years, I often employed that ability to talk usually fairly easily with people -old, young, strangers, old friends alike -when I worked as a waitress and also for the eighteen plus years that I was also the Avon representative in my area. For most of the years I sold Avon I was consistently in the Top Ten reps in our district for sales so the ability to converse obviously came in handy there.
Now, schmoozing on the other hand - I may be able to do that but remember I said it also is apparently an inherited trait because "schmoozing" per se - well, that's something my son REALLY does and does it much, much better than I ever could! Too bad he doesn't have a blog cause I could definitely give this award to him!
But, I can think of several other bloggers who definitely deserve this award and I'm going to share this with them here and now.
Here's to each of you - for your "schmoozing" and great blogging abilities:
Debo Blue @
LatteGirl @
Mr. Burnett @
Vic up in British Columbia @
Gene the Fireman @
Shelby, my grad student friend in Alabama @
Mau in Ontario @
and to A certain produce worker in Georgia with his unique style @
And those are just for openers! So come on by and pick up your award and wear it on your blog in good health and for being the great, interesting, empathetic and often humorous bloggers that you are!
Schmooze On!
My daughter, her husband, his sister, all three of the step-grandchildren, Maya, Kurtis and I went for a walk around the village. It amounts to close to two miles we covered, taking turns pushing Kurtis in his stroller and holding Maya's hand so she wouldn't get too rambunctious on us along the way.
It was a nice walk -warm, yes but starting to cool off and not very many of the pesky little gnats that love to fly in your face or worse, right up your nose and into your eyes were out this evening which made it even better. Saw a few neighbors out along our street and spoke to them and along the road in the back section of town, we stopped briefly so the kids could say hello to their grandfather too. Just a nice leisurely walk and thankfully, so far, my legs and back aren't sending up a bunch of nasty pain signals to me.
After we got home and I logged back into the computer, there I found a surprise waiting for me. Seems I have been given the "Schmoozer Blogger Award" from my friend Linda.
I know I have the "gift for gab" - learned that early on in elementary school when every report card I brought home, much to my mother's chagrin, always had a checkmark under the deportment area, "Whispers." Sometimes the teacher even elaborated a bit on just how much I whispered too!
And the "whispers" thing must also be an inherited thing too because my son, after his very first day in kindergarten, when asked at supper that night if he learned anything or if the teacher told him anything and he replied, "Yes, she said to "zip your lip!"
And, over the years, I often employed that ability to talk usually fairly easily with people -old, young, strangers, old friends alike -when I worked as a waitress and also for the eighteen plus years that I was also the Avon representative in my area. For most of the years I sold Avon I was consistently in the Top Ten reps in our district for sales so the ability to converse obviously came in handy there.
Now, schmoozing on the other hand - I may be able to do that but remember I said it also is apparently an inherited trait because "schmoozing" per se - well, that's something my son REALLY does and does it much, much better than I ever could! Too bad he doesn't have a blog cause I could definitely give this award to him!
But, I can think of several other bloggers who definitely deserve this award and I'm going to share this with them here and now.
Here's to each of you - for your "schmoozing" and great blogging abilities:Debo Blue @
LatteGirl @
Mr. Burnett @
Vic up in British Columbia @
Gene the Fireman @
Shelby, my grad student friend in Alabama @
Mau in Ontario @
and to A certain produce worker in Georgia with his unique style @
And those are just for openers! So come on by and pick up your award and wear it on your blog in good health and for being the great, interesting, empathetic and often humorous bloggers that you are!
Schmooze On!
Making Progress
This morning, when I finally got around to doing a post, as you will recall, I was grumping about my life being so bloody bland and boring and how I accomplished absolutely zilch over the prior two day period.
Actually, I did manage to get SOMETHING done in that time span. I had been practically sweating bullets here trying to put together a newsletter-announcement to e-mail and also, snail mail, to members of my family and I was just not getting anything to come together there. I had written to two of my cousins - both who are big supporters of our reunion too - lamenting about this darned newsletter really bugging me and last night, one of my cousins sent me an e-mail that solved my problem!
She's the President of our reunion for this year so she took it upon herself then to write an announcement in which she said a lot of the same things I've been saying to the family about the reunion going down the tubes, etc., but she was able to do it in a good way. So, I took her piece, added about 2-3 small paragraphs with current information about the event and e-mailed it then to all members of the family I have e-mail addys for. Now I just have to print and send maybe 20 other copies out to family members who are not "online."
After that, I pulled up a web photo album I had been working on -family photos, etc., - finished putting captions on the pictures and e-mailed the website for the albums to family members too. As a result, tonight, I did get a response from two cousins about the photo albums sites. And one even wrote an additional note telling me his family WON'T be able to attend the reunion and why so at least I now have one reunion response to record too!
Then, I took photos I have on my computer - recent ones - and uploaded about three rolls of pictures to create another web album. The pictures in this album has quite a few of the recent pictures I had posted on my blog of my grandkids in their pool as well as the Mother's day photos of my daughter, the grandkids and me with my "new swing" and the pics of my son taking me on my motorcycle ride too on Mother's Day.
Now I was on a roll so I went in and pulled off all the photos I had taken at our 45th Class Reunion along with the group photo of my classmates (and me) taken by the husband of one of our classmates, and uploaded those pictures into an album just for our 45th class reunion. And, I sent the url for that out to all classmates I have an e-mail address for. I also sent a copy of the album to a guy who graduated a year ahead of our class and who maintains a really neat set-up to keep his classmates in contact via e-mail. He wrote back within about 15 minutes after I sent this website out saying he really liked the job I'd done on that album and wanted to know how I'd done it. (I use picasa2 web albums, etc.) I wrote back and told him what I use etc., and that considering he is much more savvy in the technical and photo department than I am so once he downloads picasa2, he can then give me more instructions on how to make better use of that program.
Right now, as I type this post, I am currently uploading over 30 photos to yet another album I'm going to have about my high school class. This album will hold photos from previous class reunions we've had - 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th and 40th - and I'll send that out to make it available too for my classmates.
And, finally - remember I said how I made this big posterboard collage of photos of my classmates with pictures some dating back to 1945 and up through current pictures of classmates as well as their families? Well, my next photo project will be to take all those pictures I have on my computer that I used for the posterboard display and will upload them all to a big album too. But I will break it out so that the photos are organized by each classmate then and now. How's that sound? I hope it works out and turns out ok!
I have also been reading a book this week too - another Jodi Picoult book - "Finding Faith." If anyone likes a good fiction book, I highly recommend anything by Jodi Picoult! And this book was no exception to that rule as it was really a spellbinder type read. So, I did accomplish something else there too.
This evening, Mandy and I went for a walk down the road from our house with the two little ones. Mandy had Kurtis in his stroller and Maya was walking with me. When we were ready to start out on our walk, I asked Mandy which direction we were heading and she motioned we would go to our left and head down the street because Maya wanted to "See the 25!" See the what? Yes, the 25! It seems there is a sign about 3-4 houses down from our place - a speed limit sign no less, that says 25 on it and Maya had spied that and that's what she wanted to go see. This child has a major fascination for numbers -in any way, shape or form! And, especially route numbers along the highway or speed signs too as we realized this evening. Go figure, huh?
So now, for anyone from my class who didn't receive an e-mail with the photo website - (and for anyone else who wants to take a peek at what my "old" classmates and I look like these days) -here's the picasa web album for your viewing pleasure.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jenihill1/ClassOf196245thReunionJune22007
Enjoy!
And with that too, I bid you all a very good night with wishes for a great day tomorrow!
Actually, I did manage to get SOMETHING done in that time span. I had been practically sweating bullets here trying to put together a newsletter-announcement to e-mail and also, snail mail, to members of my family and I was just not getting anything to come together there. I had written to two of my cousins - both who are big supporters of our reunion too - lamenting about this darned newsletter really bugging me and last night, one of my cousins sent me an e-mail that solved my problem!
She's the President of our reunion for this year so she took it upon herself then to write an announcement in which she said a lot of the same things I've been saying to the family about the reunion going down the tubes, etc., but she was able to do it in a good way. So, I took her piece, added about 2-3 small paragraphs with current information about the event and e-mailed it then to all members of the family I have e-mail addys for. Now I just have to print and send maybe 20 other copies out to family members who are not "online."
After that, I pulled up a web photo album I had been working on -family photos, etc., - finished putting captions on the pictures and e-mailed the website for the albums to family members too. As a result, tonight, I did get a response from two cousins about the photo albums sites. And one even wrote an additional note telling me his family WON'T be able to attend the reunion and why so at least I now have one reunion response to record too!
Then, I took photos I have on my computer - recent ones - and uploaded about three rolls of pictures to create another web album. The pictures in this album has quite a few of the recent pictures I had posted on my blog of my grandkids in their pool as well as the Mother's day photos of my daughter, the grandkids and me with my "new swing" and the pics of my son taking me on my motorcycle ride too on Mother's Day.
Now I was on a roll so I went in and pulled off all the photos I had taken at our 45th Class Reunion along with the group photo of my classmates (and me) taken by the husband of one of our classmates, and uploaded those pictures into an album just for our 45th class reunion. And, I sent the url for that out to all classmates I have an e-mail address for. I also sent a copy of the album to a guy who graduated a year ahead of our class and who maintains a really neat set-up to keep his classmates in contact via e-mail. He wrote back within about 15 minutes after I sent this website out saying he really liked the job I'd done on that album and wanted to know how I'd done it. (I use picasa2 web albums, etc.) I wrote back and told him what I use etc., and that considering he is much more savvy in the technical and photo department than I am so once he downloads picasa2, he can then give me more instructions on how to make better use of that program.
Right now, as I type this post, I am currently uploading over 30 photos to yet another album I'm going to have about my high school class. This album will hold photos from previous class reunions we've had - 20th, 25th, 30th, 35th and 40th - and I'll send that out to make it available too for my classmates.
And, finally - remember I said how I made this big posterboard collage of photos of my classmates with pictures some dating back to 1945 and up through current pictures of classmates as well as their families? Well, my next photo project will be to take all those pictures I have on my computer that I used for the posterboard display and will upload them all to a big album too. But I will break it out so that the photos are organized by each classmate then and now. How's that sound? I hope it works out and turns out ok!
I have also been reading a book this week too - another Jodi Picoult book - "Finding Faith." If anyone likes a good fiction book, I highly recommend anything by Jodi Picoult! And this book was no exception to that rule as it was really a spellbinder type read. So, I did accomplish something else there too.
This evening, Mandy and I went for a walk down the road from our house with the two little ones. Mandy had Kurtis in his stroller and Maya was walking with me. When we were ready to start out on our walk, I asked Mandy which direction we were heading and she motioned we would go to our left and head down the street because Maya wanted to "See the 25!" See the what? Yes, the 25! It seems there is a sign about 3-4 houses down from our place - a speed limit sign no less, that says 25 on it and Maya had spied that and that's what she wanted to go see. This child has a major fascination for numbers -in any way, shape or form! And, especially route numbers along the highway or speed signs too as we realized this evening. Go figure, huh?
So now, for anyone from my class who didn't receive an e-mail with the photo website - (and for anyone else who wants to take a peek at what my "old" classmates and I look like these days) -here's the picasa web album for your viewing pleasure.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Jenihill1/ClassOf196245thReunionJune22007
Enjoy!
And with that too, I bid you all a very good night with wishes for a great day tomorrow!
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Boring! Boring!
I really do lead a very bland life!
No, it's even beyond bland; It's boring. Downright BORING!
I've known for a long, long time that my life really lacks a lot - money, social stuff, excitement of any type but this morning it really hit me full in the face I guess that it is so beyond bland that even boring doesn't do it justice.
This revelation came to me as I was trying to think what exactly I did the last two days that was so bloody important as to cause me to get behind in making a post at all. Not even a tiny post giving a single paragraph with the Bushism for the day could I manage.
And what exactly was it I was doing to prevent that? Nothing, absolutely nothing!
Then I have the nerve to wonder why I get depressed. DUH!
So, since my mind has wandered far off into some netherland somewhere, doing it's own particular brand of "nothing" I'll give you here the BUSHISM for Thursday, Friday and the weekend and then, call this post quits for today. Fair enough?
Thursday, July 5, 2007
"He understands the need for a timely write of the constitution." - On former prime minister Iyad Allawi of Iraq; Washington, D.C.; April 28, 2005.
Friday, July 6, 2007
"Laura and I really don't realize how bright our children is sometimes until we get an objective analysis." - CNBC; April 15, 2000.
Saturday and Sunday - July 7th and 8th, 2007
"Do you have blacks, too?" - To Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso; Washington, D.C.; November 8, 2001
Now doesn't that middle one -for Friday, July 6th - just make you wonder if George I and Barbara ever realize how bright their "children is" doesn't it?
On the last quote though - doesn't that make you wonder what the heck rock he's living under and just crawled out from under there?
No, it's even beyond bland; It's boring. Downright BORING!
I've known for a long, long time that my life really lacks a lot - money, social stuff, excitement of any type but this morning it really hit me full in the face I guess that it is so beyond bland that even boring doesn't do it justice.
This revelation came to me as I was trying to think what exactly I did the last two days that was so bloody important as to cause me to get behind in making a post at all. Not even a tiny post giving a single paragraph with the Bushism for the day could I manage.
And what exactly was it I was doing to prevent that? Nothing, absolutely nothing!
Then I have the nerve to wonder why I get depressed. DUH!
So, since my mind has wandered far off into some netherland somewhere, doing it's own particular brand of "nothing" I'll give you here the BUSHISM for Thursday, Friday and the weekend and then, call this post quits for today. Fair enough?
Thursday, July 5, 2007
"He understands the need for a timely write of the constitution." - On former prime minister Iyad Allawi of Iraq; Washington, D.C.; April 28, 2005.
Friday, July 6, 2007
"Laura and I really don't realize how bright our children is sometimes until we get an objective analysis." - CNBC; April 15, 2000.
Saturday and Sunday - July 7th and 8th, 2007
"Do you have blacks, too?" - To Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso; Washington, D.C.; November 8, 2001
Now doesn't that middle one -for Friday, July 6th - just make you wonder if George I and Barbara ever realize how bright their "children is" doesn't it?
On the last quote though - doesn't that make you wonder what the heck rock he's living under and just crawled out from under there?
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Close Call
This is my little Princess, Maya, on one of the rides at DelGrosso's Park in Tyrone at the Hill Family Reunion there a week ago this past Saturday. Today, we had a situation that could have turned out tragic for us. Thankfully, it didn't but is certainly serves as one big wake-up call!
This morning, things looked like this would be a really nice day. The sun was shining nice and bright. The weather forecast shortly before 9 a.m. sounded ok too -with the exception of the warning that there could be "sudden pop-up showers" that is. But about five minutes after that forecast was broadcast, the sky suddenly turned gray and pretty much stayed that way the rest of the day then.
My niece, her husband and their two children arrived here about 12:30 - 1 p.m. or so. It had been at least a year I think since the last time we'd seen Angie and Davey and the kids. Maya and Angie's daughter, Lizzie, are only four days apart - Maya is the older of the two girls - so we were really anxious to see how well the girls hit it off together.
In less than five minutes time, the two girls were playing - riding Maya's Princess tricycle and a little rider-thing that belongs to Kurtis. Playing "bumper cars" through the living room, dining room and kitchen, laughing, squealing, have a great time.
While the kids played, Mandy and Angie had some time to kind of get caught up with what's going on in each of their lives - enjoying the moment, you know. Angie said two of her aunts were up here for the holiday from Florida and her Aunt Patti had said if Mandy and I wanted to see her, meet her husband and her daughter, we were going to have to come out to the big cook-out at her brother, Jim's camp this afternoon. So, Mandy got the kids dressed, fixed a bag for them of some extra clothes, diapers, a bottle for Kurtis -you know the drill with a baby and a toddler - and away we went following Angie and Davey out to the camp "Uncle Jim" has with his father-in-law and a couple of other guys about 6-8 miles from our house.
Two things to explain here too - this "camp" is set back in the woods but in an area here that tends to be more farm land, gentle rolling hills and woods than the area right by where we live. And, Angie's mother, her sisters/brothers as well as Angie's great-aunts/great-uncles are as close to being family to me in a lot of ways as are my own cousins are. Angie's great-grandparents lived next door to me from when I was about six years old until I was around thirty. My kids called Angie's great-grandparents Grammy and Pap Little, refer to all of Angie's great aunts and uncles and her Mom's siblings as Aunt this, Uncle that. Close, very close friends we've been over the years.
Since we hadn't seen "Aunt" Patti in probably 10 years, both Mandy and I were anxious to see her, "Aunt" Tina too and of course, Angie's mom -my kids' legitimate Aunt, Lou Ann. We knew too we'd see lots and lots of kids as well - little kids, bigger ones and that Maya would have a good time with so many other little ones around.
This camp has a huge field were people were parking - enough space there to hold almost as many cars as you might see at a high school football game around here. As you drive down the road to the camp, there are also two big ponds there and I noticed they even had a small paddle boat there that some of the older kids were riding in.
True to form, Maya and Lizzie were surrounded almost immediately with by my nephew's two little girls - Gabby and Ivy. Then a few more children gathered and off the kids went to play games in the big field.
Shortly after we got there, Mandy and I had a little scare though with Maya. These kids were all grouped together, going over to Aunt Patti's car, Maya tagging along and when they started back to where Mandy and I were sitting, Maya was missing! Where the heck did she disappear to? We both started going in between the vehicles, looking for her. She's like a slippery little eel - can slip away from you in a flash. We came back towards the porch and said something to someone there that we couldn't find Maya and someone asked if we'd looked in the house. Just as Mandy and I started in the door and we glanced across the great room and kitchen, there was Maya, nice as can be, getting off a bed in the bedroom in the rear of the camp! Phew! What a relief to find her there that quickly. But that should really have served as a big, big warning there to both of us to make sure we were keeping close tabs on her at all times.
The kids played and played. My son came out and joined us. Some of Angie's Great Aunts and their spouses, some of their children and grandchildren showed up too. And, remember the guy from my high school class who I did the post about - begging him to reconsider and attend our class reunion? Well, even he and his wife were there too.
Now, I get along very well with Joe's wife. Judy's a terrific lady - lots of fun, easy to talk to, all those good things. And I ended up sitting with her on the porch with Kurtis in his stroller by my feet - just keeping tabs on him that way. Mandy and Clate -as well as my niece - were trying to keep an eye on Maya as much as possible and all seemed to be pretty well under control.
But, unbeknownst to me, Maya had managed to elude them - disappeared again into thin air and Mandy, Clate, Angie and a few other people from around the area who know Maya were searching for her, trying not to alarm people, but yet - well yes, sort of trying to alert them though that they couldn't find this little girl. Chelsea, the granddaughter of my neighbors a few doors down the street, asked Clate if anyone had checked down at the pond and he said he had told her that he was on his way down there then.
And what a good thing it was that Uncle Clate did go down to the pond because there was Maya, wading in the water, just slopping around in the muddy water, jeans soaked up to her waist, sneakers on and full of water (of course) and pond silt! How lucky we were that she hadn't stepped into a sudden drop off or stumbled and fallen -or whatever else could possibly have happened in the beat of a heart, I don't know, don't even want to think about this other than to thank God my son found her when he did!
How do you teach a child, almost four years old, to stay within sight range? For openers, that is. How do you teach a child who has no concept whatsoever of "fear" of things she should be fearful of - like water? Or, of strangers too, for that matter. How do you explain these things to a child who frequently doesn't understand oh so many things.
She saw no danger in that pond at all, not a whit of fear there - and yet, take her into our church and she becomes terrified -of what, we have no idea. Take her into the lobby of the nursing home where my aunt is a patient and she is scared to death. Take her near an elevator too, and she is terrified of that as well. But a pond, well heck, what's there to be afraid of with water in a pond is her attitude there and no amount of trying to explain these things to her will leave the slightest impression on her right now. What's even more frightening is that with her being autistic, we don't really know if she will ever learn to be cautious, fearful of things that she should be extremely careful around or stay completely away from them.
As soon as Clate handed Maya over to Mandy, she came down to the porch were I was sitting, grabbed my arm and said "We have to leave - NOW!" And then, she said something else about Maya but I couldn't hear, couldn't understand what she said but I could tell she was very upset. So I gathered Kurtis up and headed towards the car at the fastest pace my stiff old legs would carry me.
As I got almost to the car, Clate met up with me and told me that Maya had been missing and had been in the pond. I didn't know then if she'd fallen in, or just been by it or what until I saw her standing in the van and Mandy was pulling her wet clothes off her, trying to dry her off and Angie was handing her a little outfit of Lizzie's to put on her so she'd have something dry on for our ride home.
To say Mandy was quiet in the car would be an understatement. I could see out of the corner of my eye she was constantly biting her lip, and it was obvious how nervous and upset she was. Knowing how she is when something has her really worked up, I didn't dare talk to her until she was good and ready - which was a couple hours later after we'd been home and she was somewhat calmer then and she told me the story. A little later, I called my son and he then explained more to me about how he happened to go down to the pond -just in case - and had found her there.
Mandy was embarrassed by the whole event too - in addition to having the living daylights scared out of her. Embarrassed because so many people there had no idea that Maya has "issues" - that she is autistic. So when they first couldn't locate her and Mandy would ask someone if he/she had seen her, because she looks like a perfectly normal little 3-year-old, a lot of folks just said "Oh, she's here someplace." Yes, thankfully she was and she was safe, unhurt - all that. But how easily things could have turned out so very much differently too!
Mandy and I both know you can't leave a child to just run at that age - even ones who have more comprehension about things than Maya does. But, even when you are watching little kids - especially ones with no fear of things like this - they can just be there one minute, gone the next - in the blink of an eye.
So, how DO you teach a child to be cautious? How do you explain to them things that are really dangerous, things that could be dangerous? How do you get it across that you can't just run off any where you want to roam?
I sure don't know any of the answers there but I really want to learn as many ideas as possible to teach her of what things may look like so much fun but how she could so easily get hurt - very, very badly too.
And for right now, I'm still trying to calm down completely over the whole experience.
This morning, things looked like this would be a really nice day. The sun was shining nice and bright. The weather forecast shortly before 9 a.m. sounded ok too -with the exception of the warning that there could be "sudden pop-up showers" that is. But about five minutes after that forecast was broadcast, the sky suddenly turned gray and pretty much stayed that way the rest of the day then.
My niece, her husband and their two children arrived here about 12:30 - 1 p.m. or so. It had been at least a year I think since the last time we'd seen Angie and Davey and the kids. Maya and Angie's daughter, Lizzie, are only four days apart - Maya is the older of the two girls - so we were really anxious to see how well the girls hit it off together.
In less than five minutes time, the two girls were playing - riding Maya's Princess tricycle and a little rider-thing that belongs to Kurtis. Playing "bumper cars" through the living room, dining room and kitchen, laughing, squealing, have a great time.
While the kids played, Mandy and Angie had some time to kind of get caught up with what's going on in each of their lives - enjoying the moment, you know. Angie said two of her aunts were up here for the holiday from Florida and her Aunt Patti had said if Mandy and I wanted to see her, meet her husband and her daughter, we were going to have to come out to the big cook-out at her brother, Jim's camp this afternoon. So, Mandy got the kids dressed, fixed a bag for them of some extra clothes, diapers, a bottle for Kurtis -you know the drill with a baby and a toddler - and away we went following Angie and Davey out to the camp "Uncle Jim" has with his father-in-law and a couple of other guys about 6-8 miles from our house.
Two things to explain here too - this "camp" is set back in the woods but in an area here that tends to be more farm land, gentle rolling hills and woods than the area right by where we live. And, Angie's mother, her sisters/brothers as well as Angie's great-aunts/great-uncles are as close to being family to me in a lot of ways as are my own cousins are. Angie's great-grandparents lived next door to me from when I was about six years old until I was around thirty. My kids called Angie's great-grandparents Grammy and Pap Little, refer to all of Angie's great aunts and uncles and her Mom's siblings as Aunt this, Uncle that. Close, very close friends we've been over the years.
Since we hadn't seen "Aunt" Patti in probably 10 years, both Mandy and I were anxious to see her, "Aunt" Tina too and of course, Angie's mom -my kids' legitimate Aunt, Lou Ann. We knew too we'd see lots and lots of kids as well - little kids, bigger ones and that Maya would have a good time with so many other little ones around.
This camp has a huge field were people were parking - enough space there to hold almost as many cars as you might see at a high school football game around here. As you drive down the road to the camp, there are also two big ponds there and I noticed they even had a small paddle boat there that some of the older kids were riding in.
True to form, Maya and Lizzie were surrounded almost immediately with by my nephew's two little girls - Gabby and Ivy. Then a few more children gathered and off the kids went to play games in the big field.
Shortly after we got there, Mandy and I had a little scare though with Maya. These kids were all grouped together, going over to Aunt Patti's car, Maya tagging along and when they started back to where Mandy and I were sitting, Maya was missing! Where the heck did she disappear to? We both started going in between the vehicles, looking for her. She's like a slippery little eel - can slip away from you in a flash. We came back towards the porch and said something to someone there that we couldn't find Maya and someone asked if we'd looked in the house. Just as Mandy and I started in the door and we glanced across the great room and kitchen, there was Maya, nice as can be, getting off a bed in the bedroom in the rear of the camp! Phew! What a relief to find her there that quickly. But that should really have served as a big, big warning there to both of us to make sure we were keeping close tabs on her at all times.
The kids played and played. My son came out and joined us. Some of Angie's Great Aunts and their spouses, some of their children and grandchildren showed up too. And, remember the guy from my high school class who I did the post about - begging him to reconsider and attend our class reunion? Well, even he and his wife were there too.
Now, I get along very well with Joe's wife. Judy's a terrific lady - lots of fun, easy to talk to, all those good things. And I ended up sitting with her on the porch with Kurtis in his stroller by my feet - just keeping tabs on him that way. Mandy and Clate -as well as my niece - were trying to keep an eye on Maya as much as possible and all seemed to be pretty well under control.
But, unbeknownst to me, Maya had managed to elude them - disappeared again into thin air and Mandy, Clate, Angie and a few other people from around the area who know Maya were searching for her, trying not to alarm people, but yet - well yes, sort of trying to alert them though that they couldn't find this little girl. Chelsea, the granddaughter of my neighbors a few doors down the street, asked Clate if anyone had checked down at the pond and he said he had told her that he was on his way down there then.
And what a good thing it was that Uncle Clate did go down to the pond because there was Maya, wading in the water, just slopping around in the muddy water, jeans soaked up to her waist, sneakers on and full of water (of course) and pond silt! How lucky we were that she hadn't stepped into a sudden drop off or stumbled and fallen -or whatever else could possibly have happened in the beat of a heart, I don't know, don't even want to think about this other than to thank God my son found her when he did!
How do you teach a child, almost four years old, to stay within sight range? For openers, that is. How do you teach a child who has no concept whatsoever of "fear" of things she should be fearful of - like water? Or, of strangers too, for that matter. How do you explain these things to a child who frequently doesn't understand oh so many things.
She saw no danger in that pond at all, not a whit of fear there - and yet, take her into our church and she becomes terrified -of what, we have no idea. Take her into the lobby of the nursing home where my aunt is a patient and she is scared to death. Take her near an elevator too, and she is terrified of that as well. But a pond, well heck, what's there to be afraid of with water in a pond is her attitude there and no amount of trying to explain these things to her will leave the slightest impression on her right now. What's even more frightening is that with her being autistic, we don't really know if she will ever learn to be cautious, fearful of things that she should be extremely careful around or stay completely away from them.
As soon as Clate handed Maya over to Mandy, she came down to the porch were I was sitting, grabbed my arm and said "We have to leave - NOW!" And then, she said something else about Maya but I couldn't hear, couldn't understand what she said but I could tell she was very upset. So I gathered Kurtis up and headed towards the car at the fastest pace my stiff old legs would carry me.
As I got almost to the car, Clate met up with me and told me that Maya had been missing and had been in the pond. I didn't know then if she'd fallen in, or just been by it or what until I saw her standing in the van and Mandy was pulling her wet clothes off her, trying to dry her off and Angie was handing her a little outfit of Lizzie's to put on her so she'd have something dry on for our ride home.
To say Mandy was quiet in the car would be an understatement. I could see out of the corner of my eye she was constantly biting her lip, and it was obvious how nervous and upset she was. Knowing how she is when something has her really worked up, I didn't dare talk to her until she was good and ready - which was a couple hours later after we'd been home and she was somewhat calmer then and she told me the story. A little later, I called my son and he then explained more to me about how he happened to go down to the pond -just in case - and had found her there.
Mandy was embarrassed by the whole event too - in addition to having the living daylights scared out of her. Embarrassed because so many people there had no idea that Maya has "issues" - that she is autistic. So when they first couldn't locate her and Mandy would ask someone if he/she had seen her, because she looks like a perfectly normal little 3-year-old, a lot of folks just said "Oh, she's here someplace." Yes, thankfully she was and she was safe, unhurt - all that. But how easily things could have turned out so very much differently too!
Mandy and I both know you can't leave a child to just run at that age - even ones who have more comprehension about things than Maya does. But, even when you are watching little kids - especially ones with no fear of things like this - they can just be there one minute, gone the next - in the blink of an eye.
So, how DO you teach a child to be cautious? How do you explain to them things that are really dangerous, things that could be dangerous? How do you get it across that you can't just run off any where you want to roam?
I sure don't know any of the answers there but I really want to learn as many ideas as possible to teach her of what things may look like so much fun but how she could so easily get hurt - very, very badly too.
And for right now, I'm still trying to calm down completely over the whole experience.
Two Hundred and Thirty One
What kind of a title is that? Well, I just thought I'd put that in there as a reminder that today is our - the United States, that is - birthday and 231 years is how many years it's been since those good old boys, the Founding Fathers, began the signing process of the Declaration of Independence.
So Happy Birthday, Uncle Sam! Hope everyone has a really great Fourth of July!
And now- on to other things!
Last evening, my son-in-law (Bill) took his daughter (Kate) fishing. They left here about 5:30 p.m. and went to a little stream about 5 miles from here - one of those fast-running, mountain streams. They left before having supper too although I was not "cooking" a meal per se - we were going to have the lasagne Mandy made Sunday afternoon and each on just heat a big serving of it when the desire to eat hit.
But, I really figured they would be home by 8 or 8:30 at the latest - considering they had no food with them and Bill had worked all day and Kate had - ok, well Kate had been flopped basically the entire day watching the "Soap" channel on the tv.
One of Bill's buddies had phoned for him a little after 8 p.m. and I told him Bill was fishing, not home yet but I expected them back very shortly. A little after 9 p.m., that guy called back and he was pretty surprised when I again told him "No, they aren't home yet!" He was concerned that perhaps they got out to that stream and perhaps had problems with the truck or something and Bill's cellphone isn't working right now either so they would have no way of contacting anyone to come give them a ride or assist them in getting the truck going - whatever scenario, ya know. So Josh -the friend - said he thought maybe he would take a run out to Six-Mile Run and see if they were still there; see if they were ok, etc.
And, wouldn't you just know though about two minutes or not much longer than that after Josh called, Katie and Bill arrived back home. Talk about two happy, excited people too that they were because, surprise, surprise, they had each caught a fish!
Bill couldn't wait to open this newspaper out to show me their bounty too and it was really something to behold - for sure. There were two fish alright. A little tiny fish that Bill said Kate had caught and probably had just made it to the length of being legal. But laying right next to that tiny fish was a really nice BIG trout! I'm a lousy judge of length of anything but I'd guess the big fish to be at least 18 inches in length and a pretty good sized girth to it as well!
I don't have a digital camera here but if we had one, you can bet there would be a photo popping up here about now to show you Bill's Big Catch! He cleaned both fish and he' s the one gonna cook supper today too - and yes, it will be trout tonight!
My niece and her husband along with their two children will be here shortly for a little 4th of July visit. They live about 100 miles west of here and we haven't seen them since last summer some time so it will be nice to see them again. And also will be interesting too in that her little girl, Lizzie, who is four days younger than our little Princess Maya, to observe how much both the girls have grown and matured too.
I'm hoping I can find a camera here (disposable type) with some pictures left on it so I can get some shots of Miss Maya and Lizzie together. Last year, because of the issues Maya has, Lizzie often got the upperhand when they would play together. However, this year now - Maya has learned more about social interactions and playing (productively, that is) - so the girls might be on a bit more of a level playing field now. It should be interesting, to say the least.
And, the little Duke - Kurtis - well apparently he must have really wore himself out yesterday too because he went to sleep probably about 11:30 last night, didn't wake up at all during the night either (which made for a better restful sleep for old Grammie that way) and he is still zonked out and it's now after 10:30 a.m. here! It's not all that unusual for him to sleep late but he doesn't usually sleep solid for that many hours at a clip -usually tends to wake up at least once or twice - sometimes more - then go back to sleep. But I sure as heck am not going to go wake him up ya know!
And now - so I will be all done playing on the computer for a while, got my post in for today now too - I'll give you the Bushism for today - the 231st anniversary of the Fourth of July! (Yes, I know there were oodles and oodles of 4th of Julys but you know what I mean there! I hope!)
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
"Well, it's an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July of this country. It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable right of our country. We're blessed with such values in America. And I --it's--I'm a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values." - Visiting the Jefferson Memorial; Washington, D.C.; July 2, 2001.
Huh? What did he just say there?
So Happy Birthday, Uncle Sam! Hope everyone has a really great Fourth of July!
And now- on to other things!
Last evening, my son-in-law (Bill) took his daughter (Kate) fishing. They left here about 5:30 p.m. and went to a little stream about 5 miles from here - one of those fast-running, mountain streams. They left before having supper too although I was not "cooking" a meal per se - we were going to have the lasagne Mandy made Sunday afternoon and each on just heat a big serving of it when the desire to eat hit.
But, I really figured they would be home by 8 or 8:30 at the latest - considering they had no food with them and Bill had worked all day and Kate had - ok, well Kate had been flopped basically the entire day watching the "Soap" channel on the tv.
One of Bill's buddies had phoned for him a little after 8 p.m. and I told him Bill was fishing, not home yet but I expected them back very shortly. A little after 9 p.m., that guy called back and he was pretty surprised when I again told him "No, they aren't home yet!" He was concerned that perhaps they got out to that stream and perhaps had problems with the truck or something and Bill's cellphone isn't working right now either so they would have no way of contacting anyone to come give them a ride or assist them in getting the truck going - whatever scenario, ya know. So Josh -the friend - said he thought maybe he would take a run out to Six-Mile Run and see if they were still there; see if they were ok, etc.
And, wouldn't you just know though about two minutes or not much longer than that after Josh called, Katie and Bill arrived back home. Talk about two happy, excited people too that they were because, surprise, surprise, they had each caught a fish!
Bill couldn't wait to open this newspaper out to show me their bounty too and it was really something to behold - for sure. There were two fish alright. A little tiny fish that Bill said Kate had caught and probably had just made it to the length of being legal. But laying right next to that tiny fish was a really nice BIG trout! I'm a lousy judge of length of anything but I'd guess the big fish to be at least 18 inches in length and a pretty good sized girth to it as well!
I don't have a digital camera here but if we had one, you can bet there would be a photo popping up here about now to show you Bill's Big Catch! He cleaned both fish and he' s the one gonna cook supper today too - and yes, it will be trout tonight!
My niece and her husband along with their two children will be here shortly for a little 4th of July visit. They live about 100 miles west of here and we haven't seen them since last summer some time so it will be nice to see them again. And also will be interesting too in that her little girl, Lizzie, who is four days younger than our little Princess Maya, to observe how much both the girls have grown and matured too.
I'm hoping I can find a camera here (disposable type) with some pictures left on it so I can get some shots of Miss Maya and Lizzie together. Last year, because of the issues Maya has, Lizzie often got the upperhand when they would play together. However, this year now - Maya has learned more about social interactions and playing (productively, that is) - so the girls might be on a bit more of a level playing field now. It should be interesting, to say the least.
And, the little Duke - Kurtis - well apparently he must have really wore himself out yesterday too because he went to sleep probably about 11:30 last night, didn't wake up at all during the night either (which made for a better restful sleep for old Grammie that way) and he is still zonked out and it's now after 10:30 a.m. here! It's not all that unusual for him to sleep late but he doesn't usually sleep solid for that many hours at a clip -usually tends to wake up at least once or twice - sometimes more - then go back to sleep. But I sure as heck am not going to go wake him up ya know!
And now - so I will be all done playing on the computer for a while, got my post in for today now too - I'll give you the Bushism for today - the 231st anniversary of the Fourth of July! (Yes, I know there were oodles and oodles of 4th of Julys but you know what I mean there! I hope!)
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
"Well, it's an unimaginable honor to be the president during the Fourth of July of this country. It means what these words say, for starters. The great inalienable right of our country. We're blessed with such values in America. And I --it's--I'm a proud man to be the nation based upon such wonderful values." - Visiting the Jefferson Memorial; Washington, D.C.; July 2, 2001.
Huh? What did he just say there?
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Tuckered Out!
For the past several weeks now, Mandy has been taking the two little ones to her friend's house to spend the day there every Tuesday. It works pretty darned good I think for all concerned. Gives her friend a couple extra bucks for watching Maya and Kurtis; gives me a little bit of a break from dealing with them 24/7 all the time and helps keep Mandy and her friend in closer contact too. They really enjoy each other's company, have a lot in common and well, all young mom's need to have a good friend - especially if that friend also has two small children of her own too - to keep the lines of communication running freer then, someone who can share the good and the bad parts of motherhood so much easier that way.
This morning, I was awakened by a strange sound shortly after 7 a.m. It really had me a bit confused at first too. It was Kurtis. But, the sound he was making wasn't the type of noise I am accustomed to having him make to wake me up! He was standing in his playpen and just laughing like crazy. The tv was on - of course (it's always on) and was on the NBC channel so the Today Show was the program that apparently little Kurtis was seeing something on the screen that really tripped his trigger. Bill was getting ready for work and I spoke to him about this strange phenomenom - Kurtis up and LAUGHING at that hour of the morning. I suppose stranger things than that have happened though.
Mandy took the kids around 8:15 or so to get them to her friend's house and still have time that she would get to work on time too. They didn't get back home today till about 3:30 and by 4 p.m., Maya was wiped out on the couch. Sound - and I do mean, really, really sound asleep! And she's been there ever since too and here it is now almost 10 p.m. She was semi-awake a little while ago and now that her Dad and big sister just got home from fishing, she's starting to spring to life. Soooo -if she's been napping now for close to 6 hours, I can just imagine how late she's going to keep good old Grammy up tonight!!! When Mandy called home a little while ago and I told her Maya was still asleep, she really wasn't too concerned because she said that Maya had played really hard ALL DAY with Nancy's little boy Ben - who is five and also, with Nancy's two little nephews who were there too.
Tonight, my son and Mandy went to the viewing and funeral for the young man who took his own life last Friday. After the funeral, they were going to the family's home for a while. I've had so many of my regular readers thank me for posting about what happened to him and for being honest in explaining his death was a suicide. The general consensus of opinion was that this is a topic all too often we try not to think about, rarely discuss the ramifications of it. But, because it does happen and when it does, it really knocks a person on their tail for a while too.
People have mentioned the gamut of emotions that take over when a close family member or friend has taken his/her own life -anger and guilt being two that really do get a grip on the survivors. And I remember when my cousin did that, how torn our family was.
We had one uncle still living at that time and he had always been quite close to my cousin as well as to the others in that uncle's family. But my cousin Dave had been the baby there and well - ya'll know how it tends to be with the baby of any family - they do get a bit more attention most of the time.
About two months before my cousin's death, he and his mother and his three daughter had decided to drive to this uncle's place and spent New Year's with him and our aunt. That uncle also happened to own and operate a roller skating rink so Dave's three little girls had a great time skating and my uncle and Dave had very much enjoyed this time together.
But at that time too, there were two things about Dave that our uncle (and the rest of the family as well) didn't know. One was that Dave and his wife were separated and the other was that none of us were aware that Dave had a very bad problem with alcohol. Two months later, after having been out drinking, Dave had wrecked his vehicle and was arrested for a DUI at the time. He was released to go home and being a truck driver - and drunk - not thinking straight at all, plus being depressed because of the marital problems, his thoughts were that he would lose his job, be unable to keep current with the child support and a myriad of other terrible thoughts all of which led him to go home, take out a gun and put it to his head and pull the trigger.
After his death and for several years Dave's oldest sister always worried that our uncle perhaps could not forgive her brother for the actions he had taken. And, I always believed then - still do -that there was never any question over whether our uncle forgave Dave, as I know he did. But it was rather that he could never forgive himself for not understanding, not knowing what terrible feelings Dave had and the magnitude of his addiction to alcohol that brought him to that point.
One of my favorite bloggers used my post to take this issue a step further in her blog. She's a 911 dispatcher up in Connecticut and in her job, she has often had to be the first person family members had to speak to when calling for help after finding a loved one dead from suicide. This is an issue she very much has strong feelings about and I'd recommend - if you don't already read her blog -"Are We There Yet" - that especially for this particular post, you read what Linda has to say. And maybe, just maybe, between my talking about this here and Linda talking about it on her blog, maybe someone will read our words and through them, recognize some warning signs and be able to help someone from doing something this drastic.
Who knows, just bringing this subject to the forefront may also help some who have gone through the loss of a loved one in this manner to understand some things, release themselves from the blame and guilt and pain somehow. And maybe, just maybe, the words will get someone to stop and think before taking such a terrible action.
Maybe, just maybe a whole lot of prayers just might help too, don't 'cha think?
And now, cause I am really getting almost as "tuckered out" tonight as Maya was this afternoon and evening, on this eve of the 4th of July, I'm going to be nice and forgo posting the Bushism for the 4th -it can wait till tomorrow - and ask that we all stop and remember too what a great and glorious land we live in and how so many of our soldiers are now far from home, involved in a conflict not by their choice necessarily but because the government says it is their job. Whether each of us supports our being in Iraq is really immaterial as what counts is that we all do support those men and women sent there to do a terribly difficult job.
Remember them, remember their families left behind here at home too and pray that they will be back home soon, very soon, where they belong - safe and sound.
Peace.
This morning, I was awakened by a strange sound shortly after 7 a.m. It really had me a bit confused at first too. It was Kurtis. But, the sound he was making wasn't the type of noise I am accustomed to having him make to wake me up! He was standing in his playpen and just laughing like crazy. The tv was on - of course (it's always on) and was on the NBC channel so the Today Show was the program that apparently little Kurtis was seeing something on the screen that really tripped his trigger. Bill was getting ready for work and I spoke to him about this strange phenomenom - Kurtis up and LAUGHING at that hour of the morning. I suppose stranger things than that have happened though.
Mandy took the kids around 8:15 or so to get them to her friend's house and still have time that she would get to work on time too. They didn't get back home today till about 3:30 and by 4 p.m., Maya was wiped out on the couch. Sound - and I do mean, really, really sound asleep! And she's been there ever since too and here it is now almost 10 p.m. She was semi-awake a little while ago and now that her Dad and big sister just got home from fishing, she's starting to spring to life. Soooo -if she's been napping now for close to 6 hours, I can just imagine how late she's going to keep good old Grammy up tonight!!! When Mandy called home a little while ago and I told her Maya was still asleep, she really wasn't too concerned because she said that Maya had played really hard ALL DAY with Nancy's little boy Ben - who is five and also, with Nancy's two little nephews who were there too.
Tonight, my son and Mandy went to the viewing and funeral for the young man who took his own life last Friday. After the funeral, they were going to the family's home for a while. I've had so many of my regular readers thank me for posting about what happened to him and for being honest in explaining his death was a suicide. The general consensus of opinion was that this is a topic all too often we try not to think about, rarely discuss the ramifications of it. But, because it does happen and when it does, it really knocks a person on their tail for a while too.
People have mentioned the gamut of emotions that take over when a close family member or friend has taken his/her own life -anger and guilt being two that really do get a grip on the survivors. And I remember when my cousin did that, how torn our family was.
We had one uncle still living at that time and he had always been quite close to my cousin as well as to the others in that uncle's family. But my cousin Dave had been the baby there and well - ya'll know how it tends to be with the baby of any family - they do get a bit more attention most of the time.
About two months before my cousin's death, he and his mother and his three daughter had decided to drive to this uncle's place and spent New Year's with him and our aunt. That uncle also happened to own and operate a roller skating rink so Dave's three little girls had a great time skating and my uncle and Dave had very much enjoyed this time together.
But at that time too, there were two things about Dave that our uncle (and the rest of the family as well) didn't know. One was that Dave and his wife were separated and the other was that none of us were aware that Dave had a very bad problem with alcohol. Two months later, after having been out drinking, Dave had wrecked his vehicle and was arrested for a DUI at the time. He was released to go home and being a truck driver - and drunk - not thinking straight at all, plus being depressed because of the marital problems, his thoughts were that he would lose his job, be unable to keep current with the child support and a myriad of other terrible thoughts all of which led him to go home, take out a gun and put it to his head and pull the trigger.
After his death and for several years Dave's oldest sister always worried that our uncle perhaps could not forgive her brother for the actions he had taken. And, I always believed then - still do -that there was never any question over whether our uncle forgave Dave, as I know he did. But it was rather that he could never forgive himself for not understanding, not knowing what terrible feelings Dave had and the magnitude of his addiction to alcohol that brought him to that point.
One of my favorite bloggers used my post to take this issue a step further in her blog. She's a 911 dispatcher up in Connecticut and in her job, she has often had to be the first person family members had to speak to when calling for help after finding a loved one dead from suicide. This is an issue she very much has strong feelings about and I'd recommend - if you don't already read her blog -"Are We There Yet" - that especially for this particular post, you read what Linda has to say. And maybe, just maybe, between my talking about this here and Linda talking about it on her blog, maybe someone will read our words and through them, recognize some warning signs and be able to help someone from doing something this drastic.
Who knows, just bringing this subject to the forefront may also help some who have gone through the loss of a loved one in this manner to understand some things, release themselves from the blame and guilt and pain somehow. And maybe, just maybe, the words will get someone to stop and think before taking such a terrible action.
Maybe, just maybe a whole lot of prayers just might help too, don't 'cha think?
And now, cause I am really getting almost as "tuckered out" tonight as Maya was this afternoon and evening, on this eve of the 4th of July, I'm going to be nice and forgo posting the Bushism for the 4th -it can wait till tomorrow - and ask that we all stop and remember too what a great and glorious land we live in and how so many of our soldiers are now far from home, involved in a conflict not by their choice necessarily but because the government says it is their job. Whether each of us supports our being in Iraq is really immaterial as what counts is that we all do support those men and women sent there to do a terribly difficult job.
Remember them, remember their families left behind here at home too and pray that they will be back home soon, very soon, where they belong - safe and sound.
Peace.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Time to Think
In view of the events I wrote about in last night's post, here is what my kids and I learned happened to the young man who took his own life.
He was troubled -for sure. Had some issues with drugs and had been on house arrest. But about two weeks ago, he was observed apparently by a parole or probation officer as being "under the influence" and this was a breach of his parole/probation so was placed in the prison in a county adjacent to ours. He was incarcerated there about a week and even though he was supposed to be under a "suicide watch" he still managed to hang himself in his cell. And, to add to this issue, it is the second time in a two-week time span that an inmate in this particular jail -also while under "suicide watch" managed to commit suicide there.
One question I have now is what do they do when inmates are incarcerated and have a "suicide watch" in effect? Apparently, not too much actual "watching" - or so it does seem.
On a very positive note here - my cousin whose wife had a heart transplant done a week ago -Monday of last week that was - all reports coming to me about her, about the transplant, etc are still running very, very positive. As a matter of fact, the update I received late Monday afternoon was such that there is even a possibility she might be discharged as early as TODAY! Is that incredible news or what?
What's ahead for me right now? First off, I absolutely have to get my fat lazy behind totally in gear and write up the newsletter about our upcoming family reunion on my Mom's side that will be held the last full weekend of July. This task is something that is imperative I get done and get it done soon - like last week, actually! Ok, since I am already behind -well, anyway - I just gotta get moving and do it, and that's all there is to it too!
I'm still a tad miffed with many of my relatives -pertaining to the above mentioned reunion - because I sent out a bulk e-mail message about 2-3 weeks ago now asking each one of those cousins to please send me a reply so I would know then that the e-mail address I am using for each one of them is still working. I also asked them to send me their current snail mail address too so I can update my regular address book and so far only 7 or 8 family members responded to my request. In addition, because of the problems we're having maintaining this particular reunion, I also asked several key questions as to what each one thinks could/should be done to try to keep the reunion alive and only three family members gave me ANY feedback in that respect. And that whole thing there really does depress me greatly because it seems to indicate to me that the majority of the family has lost interest in keeping connected.
And that idea, to me -is just plain sad!
The weather here the past couple days has been very pretty - sunny, bright and nice except that it has also been a bit on the cool side. Now, I don't especially like it when it is super hot and very humid -so much so that it feels like everything is just crushing you and you are going to dehydrate completely from sweating so profusely. But I also don't like it when it is cold either! The past two days, I have been wearing a cotton cardigan sweater over top of my tee shirt although I have also been wearing shorts too. Strange combination there - shorts, tee shirt and a sweater, isn't it? Last night, sitting here typing, I could feel a really strong draft on my legs and feet but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I'd closed all the living room windows, bathroom and kitchen ones too. THe doors were also all tightly closed as well. I mentioned being so cold to Mandy - who was on the couch with two blankets over her, reading the latest Jodi Picoult book she just brought home last week. She said she even noticed the heavy draft too. THen she asked me if I'd checked on the window in my room - if it was open or closed. I went out to my room and lo and behold, one window there was open - with a nice big screen in it which I immediately took the screen out and closed the window.
I told Mandy when I came back in and sat down that my room was actually colder out there then than it was back during the winter when the temps outside were well below zero. My bedroom in the winter gets very little heat to it because the radiator in that room rarely works at all and if it does, it usually only heats to about luke warm, if that. So, that should give an idea how doggone cold it was out there last night! Today, I spent the bulk of the afternoon on the couch shivering as I could not seem to get my feet and legs warm at all! But tonight now, it doesn't seem to be affecting me that drastically. I'm not really warm here but at least I'm not shivering and shaking from the cold so that's progress.
Maya - always in search of some new thing I guess as are most 3-year-olds -found something today and there is trace evidence now on her little cheeks of her face that she located from someplace in the bathroom something no little kid should be messing with - someone's razor! She either got in the bathroom by some older sister living the door ajar and also, leaving a razor within Maya's reach in the tub or Maya found a pack of razors under the sink and removed one from that pack and tried her hand at shaving. If she found them under the sink, then she knows more about things that are stashed away under there than I do but what I can't figure out is how she got the idea to use it on her face? She's never in the bathroom when her dad does his daily shave routine -none of the rest of us in the house shave our faces - at least not to my knowledge anyway - so where did this prior knowledge of shaving come from then? You tell me!
And that pretty much outlines what's been happening here, what's been and still is on my mind for the past twenty-four hours. Hope your day and your time went by in a better fashion that did mine.
And now -time for those old nasty Bushisms!
For Monday, July 2, 2007 we have this one:
"After standing on the stage, after the debates, I made it very plain, we will not have an all-volunteer army. And yet, this week - we will have an all-volunteer army. Le me restate that." - Daytona Beach, Florida; October 16, 2004
For Tuesday, July 3, 2007, there's this:
"I thought how proud I am to be standing up beside my dad. Never did it occur to me that he would become the gist for cartoonists." - Quoted in Newsweek; February 28, 2000.
And with respect to both those quotes, all I can do is sit back and say "HMMMM!"
He was troubled -for sure. Had some issues with drugs and had been on house arrest. But about two weeks ago, he was observed apparently by a parole or probation officer as being "under the influence" and this was a breach of his parole/probation so was placed in the prison in a county adjacent to ours. He was incarcerated there about a week and even though he was supposed to be under a "suicide watch" he still managed to hang himself in his cell. And, to add to this issue, it is the second time in a two-week time span that an inmate in this particular jail -also while under "suicide watch" managed to commit suicide there.
One question I have now is what do they do when inmates are incarcerated and have a "suicide watch" in effect? Apparently, not too much actual "watching" - or so it does seem.
On a very positive note here - my cousin whose wife had a heart transplant done a week ago -Monday of last week that was - all reports coming to me about her, about the transplant, etc are still running very, very positive. As a matter of fact, the update I received late Monday afternoon was such that there is even a possibility she might be discharged as early as TODAY! Is that incredible news or what?
What's ahead for me right now? First off, I absolutely have to get my fat lazy behind totally in gear and write up the newsletter about our upcoming family reunion on my Mom's side that will be held the last full weekend of July. This task is something that is imperative I get done and get it done soon - like last week, actually! Ok, since I am already behind -well, anyway - I just gotta get moving and do it, and that's all there is to it too!
I'm still a tad miffed with many of my relatives -pertaining to the above mentioned reunion - because I sent out a bulk e-mail message about 2-3 weeks ago now asking each one of those cousins to please send me a reply so I would know then that the e-mail address I am using for each one of them is still working. I also asked them to send me their current snail mail address too so I can update my regular address book and so far only 7 or 8 family members responded to my request. In addition, because of the problems we're having maintaining this particular reunion, I also asked several key questions as to what each one thinks could/should be done to try to keep the reunion alive and only three family members gave me ANY feedback in that respect. And that whole thing there really does depress me greatly because it seems to indicate to me that the majority of the family has lost interest in keeping connected.
And that idea, to me -is just plain sad!
The weather here the past couple days has been very pretty - sunny, bright and nice except that it has also been a bit on the cool side. Now, I don't especially like it when it is super hot and very humid -so much so that it feels like everything is just crushing you and you are going to dehydrate completely from sweating so profusely. But I also don't like it when it is cold either! The past two days, I have been wearing a cotton cardigan sweater over top of my tee shirt although I have also been wearing shorts too. Strange combination there - shorts, tee shirt and a sweater, isn't it? Last night, sitting here typing, I could feel a really strong draft on my legs and feet but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I'd closed all the living room windows, bathroom and kitchen ones too. THe doors were also all tightly closed as well. I mentioned being so cold to Mandy - who was on the couch with two blankets over her, reading the latest Jodi Picoult book she just brought home last week. She said she even noticed the heavy draft too. THen she asked me if I'd checked on the window in my room - if it was open or closed. I went out to my room and lo and behold, one window there was open - with a nice big screen in it which I immediately took the screen out and closed the window.
I told Mandy when I came back in and sat down that my room was actually colder out there then than it was back during the winter when the temps outside were well below zero. My bedroom in the winter gets very little heat to it because the radiator in that room rarely works at all and if it does, it usually only heats to about luke warm, if that. So, that should give an idea how doggone cold it was out there last night! Today, I spent the bulk of the afternoon on the couch shivering as I could not seem to get my feet and legs warm at all! But tonight now, it doesn't seem to be affecting me that drastically. I'm not really warm here but at least I'm not shivering and shaking from the cold so that's progress.
Maya - always in search of some new thing I guess as are most 3-year-olds -found something today and there is trace evidence now on her little cheeks of her face that she located from someplace in the bathroom something no little kid should be messing with - someone's razor! She either got in the bathroom by some older sister living the door ajar and also, leaving a razor within Maya's reach in the tub or Maya found a pack of razors under the sink and removed one from that pack and tried her hand at shaving. If she found them under the sink, then she knows more about things that are stashed away under there than I do but what I can't figure out is how she got the idea to use it on her face? She's never in the bathroom when her dad does his daily shave routine -none of the rest of us in the house shave our faces - at least not to my knowledge anyway - so where did this prior knowledge of shaving come from then? You tell me!
And that pretty much outlines what's been happening here, what's been and still is on my mind for the past twenty-four hours. Hope your day and your time went by in a better fashion that did mine.
And now -time for those old nasty Bushisms!
For Monday, July 2, 2007 we have this one:
"After standing on the stage, after the debates, I made it very plain, we will not have an all-volunteer army. And yet, this week - we will have an all-volunteer army. Le me restate that." - Daytona Beach, Florida; October 16, 2004
For Tuesday, July 3, 2007, there's this:
"I thought how proud I am to be standing up beside my dad. Never did it occur to me that he would become the gist for cartoonists." - Quoted in Newsweek; February 28, 2000.
And with respect to both those quotes, all I can do is sit back and say "HMMMM!"
Sunday, July 01, 2007
A Sudden Ending.
This morning, as either my daughter, son-in-law or I do every Sunday at some point, I went up to the local grocery store to pick up the Sunday paper. Brought home a few other things too - fresh ground beef, buns, hot dog rolls; a honeydew melon and fresh strawberries as well - to have for supper tonight - grilled burgers and hot dogs, macaroni salad and a nice fruit salad. I took my little Princess Maya with me too so she'd get a little bit of an outing today at least.
At the store, the clerks all make a big fuss over her because they know her. Until about two months ago, this is where Mandy worked. And, Maya knows the names of almost all the cashiers, the girls who work behind the office desk and the folks back in the deli too which is where Mandy worked. As we were leaving the deli area though, one of the deli clerks had a visitor - her sister came in and brought the clerk's little girl -who is about 2-3 weeks younger than our little Kurtis - in to see her Mommie and seeing another little child like that always excites Maya very much. For most of the rest of the time we were in the store she kept telling me over and over "Wan' see the baby?" The funny thing about how excited she gets out in public over babies, other children -even adults ("Wan' see the peoples" becomes the chant then) - but at home, the only time she gives any mention to her baby brother, Kurtis, is if she is trying to get our attention AWAY from where we are trying to get hers!!! A great diversionary tactitian she does try to be.
I make sure one of us makes this regular stop every Sunday mainly because I don't have a subscription to the Centre Daily Times and I am addicted to the darned Sunday crossword puzzle. I didn't say I was good at doing it now -just admitted that I am addicted to it though. I generally have already read the CDT online early Sunday morning before going up for the print edition - always read the headlines of national or state news, then I click in to the local news and read through articles of interest, which includes the CDT's obituary section and I finish up with the editorial section online.
Generally, this keeps me somewhat up-to-date with local comings, goings and with the obituaries, passings too. However, the CDT has two obituary sections - sort of. One is the full obituary they publish and the other often is just a death notice which is merely a small blurb that so-and-so died, the age, date of death and viewing and funeral arrangements. I don't usually read the "death notice section as sometimes, it seems they don't always have things in there in the online version. Today was one of those days when I didn't check the death notices.
Got back home, got my coffee, ash tray, smokes, lighter, a big old fresh donut too (actually, a big old chocolate eclair, just what I really do NOT need) and was ready to start in on the crossword puzzle but for some reason or other, I opened up the paper and was glancing down the obit and death notice section when something caught my eye under the notices.
I gasped, audibly and Mandy looked at me with a very puzzled look, then asked me "What's wrong?" With my finger, I pointed to a death notice and she was shocked too.
There was a death notice for a young man, 27 years old, whose sister happens to be a very, very good friend of my son's. The sister has been to our home many, many times over the years and not only are she and my son very good friends, but my girls and I consider her to be a good friend of ours too.
Seeing that piece, and because my son had never mentioned anything at all being wrong with his friend's brother, I knew, instinctively this death had to be from one of two causes. I don't know as yet what happened to him, but my heart goes out to his parents, his sister, his extended family, because no family should have to suffer the kind of hurt it is to lose a child to begin with, much less under the type of circumstances I am sure most likely caused his death.
Mandy decided then and there she was going to fix something to take to the family home - well to the mother and sister - the parents are divorced. So between the two of us - I made the sauce, she mixed the ricotta cheese and other stuff, cooked the noodles and put together a big pan of lasagne to take up to his mother and sister. My son was on his way home today from their last run for this week and when Mandy called and told him what little we knew, he was very upset - hurting for his friend and her parents and also grieving for the brother as he knew him quite well, considered him also a friend.
Alcohol and/or drugs really are terrible components you know. Over the past 31 years now, I have known at least four or five truck drivers I was friends with through the truckstop I worked at, as well as a classmate or two, a woman who was a former neighbor, a neighbor's son that I grew up with and a cousin - son of my Mom's oldest brother - all died through their own hands. When people take that step, the aftermath it leaves for the family and yes, for friends too, as they try to cope is complicated then with feelings of guilt, confusion, anger and of course, the terrible consuming grief of the loss. Of the suicides I mentioned above, only two were not fueled by alcohol and/or drugs.
I know what an awful void my cousin's death left in our family, although we knew his choice came from alcohol. But my neighbor's son - because no one had a clue, not a clue that he had such thoughts, it devasted his parents as well as his siblings and completely rocked the entire community here as well.
I can't say that I don't understand the feelings that sometimes grip us of such despair because I can - and many years ago I thought of doing the same thing. I even tried once and failed. But, although some friends and family members accuse me today of having self-destructive thoughts because I still smoke, I did get help I very much needed way back when I really DID have thoughts of that nature. And, although there are days when I do get down in the dumps, depressed, sometimes even yes, think things might be better if I were not here, I won't follow through with them now simply because I would not want to ever put my children and now, my grandchildren through that type of anguish.
Today, seeing how Mandy immediately began planning to fix something to take to the family's home though did make me feel good about my daughter - to see that she is that caring, wanting to reach out, to try to offer comfort in some small way. Knowing too my son was going to go see the family too makes me very proud of both these kids of mine. They are both very caring, sympathetic and empathetic people who also know how much it means to have arms and prayers wrapped around you when you are feeling at what has to be the lowest of your life.
So - what's the message in my posting this tragedy? Simply this - if you - anyone reading this - is feeling this is the ONLY way to possibly deal with the problems facing you, please, please, PLEASE reach out and find help from someone, from anyone, from a pastor, priest, rabbi, counselor, close friend, relative. There is someone, always there really is, another person who can and will listen, who can and will help to find the help needed to guide back to living without those terrible thoughts running wild in your mind. Do not do anything to destroy yourself. Don't do anything that will devastate. possibly even destroy your family too.
And please, remember this young man in your prayers. Remember his parents and sister too that some peace, some comfort will begin to flow their way.
Thanks for reading; for listening; for caring.
Nite now.
At the store, the clerks all make a big fuss over her because they know her. Until about two months ago, this is where Mandy worked. And, Maya knows the names of almost all the cashiers, the girls who work behind the office desk and the folks back in the deli too which is where Mandy worked. As we were leaving the deli area though, one of the deli clerks had a visitor - her sister came in and brought the clerk's little girl -who is about 2-3 weeks younger than our little Kurtis - in to see her Mommie and seeing another little child like that always excites Maya very much. For most of the rest of the time we were in the store she kept telling me over and over "Wan' see the baby?" The funny thing about how excited she gets out in public over babies, other children -even adults ("Wan' see the peoples" becomes the chant then) - but at home, the only time she gives any mention to her baby brother, Kurtis, is if she is trying to get our attention AWAY from where we are trying to get hers!!! A great diversionary tactitian she does try to be.
I make sure one of us makes this regular stop every Sunday mainly because I don't have a subscription to the Centre Daily Times and I am addicted to the darned Sunday crossword puzzle. I didn't say I was good at doing it now -just admitted that I am addicted to it though. I generally have already read the CDT online early Sunday morning before going up for the print edition - always read the headlines of national or state news, then I click in to the local news and read through articles of interest, which includes the CDT's obituary section and I finish up with the editorial section online.
Generally, this keeps me somewhat up-to-date with local comings, goings and with the obituaries, passings too. However, the CDT has two obituary sections - sort of. One is the full obituary they publish and the other often is just a death notice which is merely a small blurb that so-and-so died, the age, date of death and viewing and funeral arrangements. I don't usually read the "death notice section as sometimes, it seems they don't always have things in there in the online version. Today was one of those days when I didn't check the death notices.
Got back home, got my coffee, ash tray, smokes, lighter, a big old fresh donut too (actually, a big old chocolate eclair, just what I really do NOT need) and was ready to start in on the crossword puzzle but for some reason or other, I opened up the paper and was glancing down the obit and death notice section when something caught my eye under the notices.
I gasped, audibly and Mandy looked at me with a very puzzled look, then asked me "What's wrong?" With my finger, I pointed to a death notice and she was shocked too.
There was a death notice for a young man, 27 years old, whose sister happens to be a very, very good friend of my son's. The sister has been to our home many, many times over the years and not only are she and my son very good friends, but my girls and I consider her to be a good friend of ours too.
Seeing that piece, and because my son had never mentioned anything at all being wrong with his friend's brother, I knew, instinctively this death had to be from one of two causes. I don't know as yet what happened to him, but my heart goes out to his parents, his sister, his extended family, because no family should have to suffer the kind of hurt it is to lose a child to begin with, much less under the type of circumstances I am sure most likely caused his death.
Mandy decided then and there she was going to fix something to take to the family home - well to the mother and sister - the parents are divorced. So between the two of us - I made the sauce, she mixed the ricotta cheese and other stuff, cooked the noodles and put together a big pan of lasagne to take up to his mother and sister. My son was on his way home today from their last run for this week and when Mandy called and told him what little we knew, he was very upset - hurting for his friend and her parents and also grieving for the brother as he knew him quite well, considered him also a friend.
Alcohol and/or drugs really are terrible components you know. Over the past 31 years now, I have known at least four or five truck drivers I was friends with through the truckstop I worked at, as well as a classmate or two, a woman who was a former neighbor, a neighbor's son that I grew up with and a cousin - son of my Mom's oldest brother - all died through their own hands. When people take that step, the aftermath it leaves for the family and yes, for friends too, as they try to cope is complicated then with feelings of guilt, confusion, anger and of course, the terrible consuming grief of the loss. Of the suicides I mentioned above, only two were not fueled by alcohol and/or drugs.
I know what an awful void my cousin's death left in our family, although we knew his choice came from alcohol. But my neighbor's son - because no one had a clue, not a clue that he had such thoughts, it devasted his parents as well as his siblings and completely rocked the entire community here as well.
I can't say that I don't understand the feelings that sometimes grip us of such despair because I can - and many years ago I thought of doing the same thing. I even tried once and failed. But, although some friends and family members accuse me today of having self-destructive thoughts because I still smoke, I did get help I very much needed way back when I really DID have thoughts of that nature. And, although there are days when I do get down in the dumps, depressed, sometimes even yes, think things might be better if I were not here, I won't follow through with them now simply because I would not want to ever put my children and now, my grandchildren through that type of anguish.
Today, seeing how Mandy immediately began planning to fix something to take to the family's home though did make me feel good about my daughter - to see that she is that caring, wanting to reach out, to try to offer comfort in some small way. Knowing too my son was going to go see the family too makes me very proud of both these kids of mine. They are both very caring, sympathetic and empathetic people who also know how much it means to have arms and prayers wrapped around you when you are feeling at what has to be the lowest of your life.
So - what's the message in my posting this tragedy? Simply this - if you - anyone reading this - is feeling this is the ONLY way to possibly deal with the problems facing you, please, please, PLEASE reach out and find help from someone, from anyone, from a pastor, priest, rabbi, counselor, close friend, relative. There is someone, always there really is, another person who can and will listen, who can and will help to find the help needed to guide back to living without those terrible thoughts running wild in your mind. Do not do anything to destroy yourself. Don't do anything that will devastate. possibly even destroy your family too.
And please, remember this young man in your prayers. Remember his parents and sister too that some peace, some comfort will begin to flow their way.
Thanks for reading; for listening; for caring.
Nite now.
Things That Go Bump
So, here I was tonight, sitting in my normal chair, same place as always - in front of the computer -same position too with the right leg curled up under me - and trying to read two-three days worth of posts on my favorite blog sites. Are you with me thus far? Ok, it's not a long trip to do that ya know. Anyway, my little grandson -that would be the "Duke" -Kurtis - is in the playpen and he's managed to do his version of housecleaning his space. He's tossed out this really nifty polar bear type pillow along with a really pretty, very soft and cuddly white pillow case that has a huge bunny's head on it. Trust me when I tell you, this thing is soooo neat, so awesome. (Both were gifts to the Princess, Maya, when she was a between 12-18 months old from a my cousin Bea, with whom my kids and I are very, very close.) I hear him start to do his whimper/whine type of cry, glance over at him and see all this stuff laying about on the floor in front of the playpen - not a really big surprise as he "housecleans" like that every now and again - but what I saw inside the playpen with him really about made me drop my teeth on the spot!
Mandy has this huge ball - almost like a medicine ball type, at least in size, but not near as heavy and somehow or other that little guy had managed -heaven only knows how though - to get a grasp on that ball and he'd pulled it into the playpen with him! And now that it was there, sharing his space, he wasn't to enthused about it being present.
Maya had fallen asleep on the sofa and was sleeping away, ever so peaceful so to try to settle Kurtis down a bit, I removed the ball, replaced it with the bunny and bear and added to it his normal pre-sleep first bottle. (Usually it takes about two bottles every night to get him all ready then to fall asleep.) And I returned to my reading the blog favorites, making comments here and there, etc.
All of a sudden, I hear this really loud thump noise and Kurtis is howling -I mean really loud and I look but can't see where there is anything wrong unless maybe he was rooting around and had bumped his head maybe. But he didn't begin to quiet down so I got up to go check closer on him and then I realized there was another set of lungs adding wailing to the mix. And there was Miss Maya laying on the floor between the sofa and the chest/table in front of the couch. Poor kid had rolled over in her sleep and rolled right off the sofa and clunked her head on the floor. And, the noise of her falling had startled Kurtis which then set him off too so there I was with two really loud bawling kids!
Fortunately, once I got Maya up and checked to make sure she hadn't hit her head on a corner of the chest/table or anything really serious like that, she quieted down fairly quickly and so did Kurtis then so I was able to return to my original fun - reading blogs!
To those of you who commented on my post "Lost" -mainly about the employer who gave me the unpaid week's vacation and write-up for something that was actually his fault, I could tell some other stories of things he did to some of the other employees at that place as well as to some customers too because of his own lack of properly attending to his duties as the General Manager of the Complex. However, and this just goes to prove a point I've always tried to make with my kids - never bother setting out to try to get revenge as it almost always backfires and then, you've expended so much time and energy to have something blow up in your face, figuratively speaking. Instead, I try to put things aside and if revenge is intended, then Karma or whatever powers that be in that respect, will come along and set things right. And you know, in the case of that guy, I feel that is exactly what happened too because about two years ago this spring or summer, I received an e-mail from one of the cooks at that place who had worked there for me telling me that guy had just been fired. They got him for cheating several of the mechanics and fuel workers out of hours they deserved to be paid for; along with stealing from the company by ordering stuff for his home and paying for it with company funds, for not fulfilling his weekly hours contract with the company and a few other minor infractions! Revenge, when you haven't had to use up any of your own valuable energy is truly sweet! Now, if the powers that be in that company had actually paid attention to the termination survey I had to fill out in which I listed several things about the way things happened in that place, they could have saved themselves a whole heck of a lot of loss of money. Maybe the next time some dumb broad quasi management person tells them something they'll think twice that there just might be more than a smidgen of truth to what is said then. D'ya think that will happen? Probably not as they tend to be a bit of the "dumber than a doorknob" variety there but it's nice to think maybe, just maybe, they learned a lesson too. You all have no idea how happy I am that I am no longer working there and haven't since August of 2001 either. I gave my notice about two weeks after that unpaid vacation deal and was going to leave just to work three nights a week as a waitress at a truckstop about 4 miles from my house and look for a decent job (dreaming again that such things actually do exist in this neck of the woods) that might actually have utilized my education instead of ruining my health.
And, before I close up shop here tonight I just have one question for my friend, Shelby, down in Alabama - how did you know when you posted your comments tonight that I was still up and playing on the computer anyway? LOL
But I won't be for very much longer - as I am tired tonight and maybe, just maybe, if my little Duke here is cooperative and sleeps through the whole night without waking old Grammy up, I'll be able to fall asleep and sleep soundly enough to awaken in time -and rested enough - to get ready to make it to church in the morning. That's a lot of variables there folks, but every once in a while, things like that do come together - Kurtis sleeps straight through and so does Gram - and I get a solid, decent nights sleep.
Say a prayer for that and for all kinds of other things too while you're at it -like say maybe Peace? Wouldn't that just be a nice one to have come our way though? Or good health, love, prosperity, end world hunger, a cure for AIDS, Cancer, Heart Disease and well, everything atrocious like that. And, I haven't heard anything now since Thursday about my cousin's wife, Karen, who had the heart transplant but I'm sure things must be going along on a smooth path there or I certainly would have heard by now if it were other than that.
Anyway - just say those prayers, will ya please.!!!
Mandy has this huge ball - almost like a medicine ball type, at least in size, but not near as heavy and somehow or other that little guy had managed -heaven only knows how though - to get a grasp on that ball and he'd pulled it into the playpen with him! And now that it was there, sharing his space, he wasn't to enthused about it being present.
Maya had fallen asleep on the sofa and was sleeping away, ever so peaceful so to try to settle Kurtis down a bit, I removed the ball, replaced it with the bunny and bear and added to it his normal pre-sleep first bottle. (Usually it takes about two bottles every night to get him all ready then to fall asleep.) And I returned to my reading the blog favorites, making comments here and there, etc.
All of a sudden, I hear this really loud thump noise and Kurtis is howling -I mean really loud and I look but can't see where there is anything wrong unless maybe he was rooting around and had bumped his head maybe. But he didn't begin to quiet down so I got up to go check closer on him and then I realized there was another set of lungs adding wailing to the mix. And there was Miss Maya laying on the floor between the sofa and the chest/table in front of the couch. Poor kid had rolled over in her sleep and rolled right off the sofa and clunked her head on the floor. And, the noise of her falling had startled Kurtis which then set him off too so there I was with two really loud bawling kids!
Fortunately, once I got Maya up and checked to make sure she hadn't hit her head on a corner of the chest/table or anything really serious like that, she quieted down fairly quickly and so did Kurtis then so I was able to return to my original fun - reading blogs!
To those of you who commented on my post "Lost" -mainly about the employer who gave me the unpaid week's vacation and write-up for something that was actually his fault, I could tell some other stories of things he did to some of the other employees at that place as well as to some customers too because of his own lack of properly attending to his duties as the General Manager of the Complex. However, and this just goes to prove a point I've always tried to make with my kids - never bother setting out to try to get revenge as it almost always backfires and then, you've expended so much time and energy to have something blow up in your face, figuratively speaking. Instead, I try to put things aside and if revenge is intended, then Karma or whatever powers that be in that respect, will come along and set things right. And you know, in the case of that guy, I feel that is exactly what happened too because about two years ago this spring or summer, I received an e-mail from one of the cooks at that place who had worked there for me telling me that guy had just been fired. They got him for cheating several of the mechanics and fuel workers out of hours they deserved to be paid for; along with stealing from the company by ordering stuff for his home and paying for it with company funds, for not fulfilling his weekly hours contract with the company and a few other minor infractions! Revenge, when you haven't had to use up any of your own valuable energy is truly sweet! Now, if the powers that be in that company had actually paid attention to the termination survey I had to fill out in which I listed several things about the way things happened in that place, they could have saved themselves a whole heck of a lot of loss of money. Maybe the next time some dumb broad quasi management person tells them something they'll think twice that there just might be more than a smidgen of truth to what is said then. D'ya think that will happen? Probably not as they tend to be a bit of the "dumber than a doorknob" variety there but it's nice to think maybe, just maybe, they learned a lesson too. You all have no idea how happy I am that I am no longer working there and haven't since August of 2001 either. I gave my notice about two weeks after that unpaid vacation deal and was going to leave just to work three nights a week as a waitress at a truckstop about 4 miles from my house and look for a decent job (dreaming again that such things actually do exist in this neck of the woods) that might actually have utilized my education instead of ruining my health.
And, before I close up shop here tonight I just have one question for my friend, Shelby, down in Alabama - how did you know when you posted your comments tonight that I was still up and playing on the computer anyway? LOL
But I won't be for very much longer - as I am tired tonight and maybe, just maybe, if my little Duke here is cooperative and sleeps through the whole night without waking old Grammy up, I'll be able to fall asleep and sleep soundly enough to awaken in time -and rested enough - to get ready to make it to church in the morning. That's a lot of variables there folks, but every once in a while, things like that do come together - Kurtis sleeps straight through and so does Gram - and I get a solid, decent nights sleep.
Say a prayer for that and for all kinds of other things too while you're at it -like say maybe Peace? Wouldn't that just be a nice one to have come our way though? Or good health, love, prosperity, end world hunger, a cure for AIDS, Cancer, Heart Disease and well, everything atrocious like that. And, I haven't heard anything now since Thursday about my cousin's wife, Karen, who had the heart transplant but I'm sure things must be going along on a smooth path there or I certainly would have heard by now if it were other than that.
Anyway - just say those prayers, will ya please.!!!
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Lost!
Last night, things were really quiet here, and I decided to do something I haven't done for quite a while now. I went surfing! Not just regular surfing, but blog surfing. And not the blog surfing where you click the next button either. No sirreee! I decided I was going to try to click into the favorite blogs of some of my favorite bloggers.
This would have been fine and dandy except for one small thing. If you look at my list of favorites, the first blogger on my list belongs to a sweet lady out in Phoenix, Arizona - Debo Blue. I love reading her blog as she always has some nice things to say, lots of common sense things, humor, nifty photos too and a quiet humor that I really appreciate.
I clicked into almost all the blogs she has listed under her favorites, checked them out a bit by reading several posts and all was going swimmingly until ... I hit one called "Behind The Counter" and I really did get LOST there! Totally lost as a matter of fact for the rest of last night until about 3 in the morning. Then when I got up today, the first thing I did was to pick up reading where I left off last night. Every chance I had today, I was glued to the screen on the computer here, reading yet another post , and another and another. You get the picture. So far, I think I have read every post this blogger has made since October of 2006 until today and if I weren't about to go blind or cross-eyed soon, I'd still be glued to reading her writing right now too!
The writer of this blog is a customer support associate at a Wal-Mart in southern Florida and in her blog she writes of things that happened to her in her job behind that counter. If you've never worked in any type of a "customer service" position, it will definitely open your eyes. Hell, even if you've worked many different types of customer service jobs in your lifetime, it will still give you a big eye-opener as to the way the general public often treats people doing this type of work. It also shows how so many elements of society often try to take advantage of companies or the scams, games, thefts that people often try to perpetrate on companies too.
I've worked in customer service positions in the past - my most recent was back in 2002 when I worked part-time as a sales associate for a large store in Camp Hill, PA in the women's clothing department. And yes, sometimes we had to deal with people trying to scam or cheat the company or shoplifters and such, but not to the extent the CSA's at Wal-Mart have to cope with these things. Thankfully! If I'd had to deal with what she puts up with, I definitely would never have lasted the whole summer I worked at the store that employed me, that much I can say for sure!
But it brought back to my mind a lot of memories about other "customer service" work I've had over the years too. I worked for roughly 8-9 years as a waitress in two different truckstop restaurants and as assistant restaurant manager too in yet another truckstop restaurant near my home. And the things people will do in restaurants that I thought were obnoxious and rude (which often brought out the truly obnoxious and rude side of me too - not always a good thing when you are relying on those tips ya know) -well, bad as they were at times, they don't really hold a candle to what shoppers and scammers and thieves often try to do at many Wal-marts across the country but especially at the one where this blogger is employed.
On several occasions during my tenure in the food service industry, I wrote letters to either "Dear Abby" or "Ann Landers" to state issues waiters/waitresses often had to deal with on the job. I never had enough nerve to actually put those letters in the mail though and send them for fear that someone might realize I was writing and complaining about their actions and they'd turn around and go complain to my boss - who was not overly fond of me - and well, I really did need the work to feed, clothe, keep a roof over my kids and my heads during that time.
Today, as I think back on those days of running my fanny off just to barely make enough to scrape by - forget about vacations, any type of luxury, etc., - I don't remember all that many specifics now of events that really ticked me off. But there were a few here and there that do stand out in my mind.
I remember while working as the assistant manager, one Saturday in June in particular, when I came into work, found out I was going to be short-staffed and couldn't find anyone who would or could come in to cover so I had to run between trying to help out in the kitchen and being out on the floor actually working a section of the dining room. And during this, don't you just know, we got hit with a busload of tourists!
In most any restaurant, milkshake orders or the announcement that a busload of people just pulled in when you are super busy to begin with, both tend to create lots of panic with the help.
I got the folks who sat in my section set-up, orders turned into the kitchen, trying to get their side stuff out to them and who appears at the doorway to the waitress workway but the assistant manager of the fuel side of the truckstop in need of change. So I had to drop my waitress "hat" and run back to the main office, open the safe to get him change, only to learn we were short on change! We needed packs of one's desperately. But by that time of day, of course the bank was already closed so that was not an option.
I had to then try to call other establishments around to see if I could "buy" some change from them -and then, of course, it was up to me to also leave the facility, drive over to where ever I could locate a place that had enough change to sell some to me as well and this meant leaving the dining room floor, asking the other waitresses to please see to my customer's food order, etc. A great way to impress customers into returning when their waitress has to disappear completely from the building then for roughly 45 minutes time, isn' t it?
What caused this issue to begin with is that the general manager -who had been in there early that Saturday morning had not bothered to go to the bank and get an adequate supply of change to cover the fuel side and the restaurant side for the weekend. The asst. manager at the fuel side was alone and no way could he leave his post so that left me to do the running.
What really irked me about this whole situation was, after the fact, and because there were numerous complaints turned in by the bus people about the service, I ended up getting written up and was given a week off without pay because I hadn't seen to it that there was adequate change in the safe -even though I was not scheduled to come into work that day until about two hours after the banks had closed and it had been the general manager's responsibility to see to the change issues for the weekend. Talk about passing the buck, huh?
Another time, a family of six had piled into a booth barely large enough to accommodate four in the non-smoking area, in the very last booth in that section which just happened to be right beside the disabled ramp door -so that door was often being opened and shut. That, along with the fact the air conditioner wasn't working up to snuff either - par for the course - so the girls often would prop that door open a bit just to keep a little tiny bit of air moving through that section.
Now, what happens when you have a door open -and food around too?
You attract flys and other bugs, right? You also can't go around swatting these things, nor can you spray anything, or try to politely show the creatures the way out by which they entered in either so you're stuck with the little demons.
And don't you just know it but about five minutes after the waitress had served this family of six their meals, some little bug of some type, landed on the top of their booth and decided to walk across it, thus freaking every member of that family out. (I have to add here the family was from New Jersey and the mother had an extremely shrill voice, very, very thick "Joisey" accent too - also loud and she immediately began to scream for the manager (me) that there was a cockroach walking on the top of their tabletop.
She threw one royal fit at me about this situation and I immediately took their bill, voided the entire meal - although said bug never had landed on anyone's plates or anything and she still screamed at me the entire time I was doing this, as she was herding up her lovely children and husband and as they stomped through the non-smoking and the smoking sections of the dining room.
I still don't know what more she expected me to do for them! Considering I had offered to get them other meals - no, didn't want that -and when I took the check and voided it completely, she was still angry at me because of one stupid little insect's ill-timed walk.
I've had customers come in the dining rooms with children from little toddlers to kids old enough to be disciplined, who should be the ages of 6-10 years know enough, have adequate manners to realize you shouldn't be running, playing games of tag or hide 'n' seek etc., while waitresses are trying to manuever around carrying big trays of hot foods or pots of coffee. Had any of these little so-and-so's ever tripped a waitress and been burned by the hot coffee or food, you do know of course, the parents would have been on the horn before they got out of the establishment to their attorney drawing up a lawsuit, don't you?
I've had families come in too and allow their children to take food and throw it on the floor and never move a single muscle to try to clean one speck of this mess up before they leave too. I've even had a co-worker - a fellow waitress - bring her husband and three small children into the place were we worked and allowed their children to make one really nasty big mess all over the floor around their table too and get up and walk away from it and leave that for their own co-workers to have to contend with as well. There's compassion for your co-workers isn't it?
I've cleaned up just about any kind of mess you can think of left behind by restaurant customers - kids' vomit; adults too. Little kids often have other issues too -one reason ya know why they generally wear diapers - and had to clean that up as well - and even have had to clean that same commodity up too after adults who, when that happened, generally it was because they were too darned drunk to have a clue what they'd just done too! (Yeah, I worked the midnight shift as a waitress for several years and there is nothing like a full moon to bring out the worst drinkers in the whole world who HAVE to go have breakfast after having been drinking the whole night -probably even the better part of the day light hours away too.)
For the most part, when I waitressed at the one truckstop, I usually got along relatively well with most of the truckers though. I used to grump a lot to them and my favorite line was that I hated to wait on women - usually they tend to be cheap tippers; I disliked waiting on families, especially those who complimented me profusely on the food, the service, etc., because I learned the more they complimented added up almost always to a much lower tip -if there was one at all. I didn't like to wait on teenagers or college kids either -as they tended not to have enough money left over to tip. And I made no bones about the fact I HATED, absolutely LOATHED, ABHORRED and DESPISED waiting on drunks!
Now the truckers who know me used to question me about the latter aspect there because they also knew I liked as much as the next one to have a drink or two - or five, whatever! I always told them drunks just never impressed me and when they would point out my liking to toss a few back and hadn't I ever done anything to get more than a little toasted I would tell them "Yes, and sometimes I don't necessarily impress myself either!"
[ There were many, many times though when I waitressed that much as I hated going into work, I also hated NOT to be there too simply because some of the truckers I met -no, not some, most of them - were such great people, even really good friends, that I wanted to be there for my shift simply to see this or that driver if he came in that day and be able to talk to the guys, joke with them, play lots and lots of practical jokes on each other too much of the time.
I almost always had a bunch of jokes that I'd heard and memorized to share with these gusy and they used to tell me all kinds of funny stories of things that happened to them or to other drivers on the road too. Rarely was there ever a dull moment while I worked at that place!
Sometimes now, I will have dreams that I am back at that particular restaurant, waitressing. The customers will often be the same folks I waited on back then -some who could be pretty demanding too at times - but it would be me, as I am today, trying to run around and keep track of orders, keeping coffee cups refilled, serving meals and such at the pace I used to move at twenty some years ago but with knees and ankles often very swollen and stiff as they tend to be now, with a back that doesn't like to allow legs to move much beyond a snail's pace and customers getting really, really ticked at me because I definitely can't be everything to everyone all at once now. Not that I could then but I had a better chance at trying and surviving doing that back then.
And when I worked in food service, frequently, just as the writer of this blog does now, I ranted and raved and bitched and complained about the customers, about management, oh yes, did I ever complain about management, but in honestly, I never really hated the waitressing end of food service. I can't honestly say the same about working as quasi-management though as I really did HATE that job! Mainly though that was because of the lunacy that persisted thanks so very much to the upper level of management above me!
Food service is hard, sometimes very, very hard physical work! Don't believe me, you try it sometime and you'll see what I mean. It is also difficult work mentally too because you have to be very good at "multi-tasking." You have to keep track of each of the tables in your particular section - people coming in, leaving; set up new customers, take their orders, prepare certain segments of their orders yourself at times; make sure to keep tabs on how soon this table or that table's order is due to come out; check back if they have everything they need/want, keep the drinks flowing properly, check for dessert orders, hand out bills and all the while trying to bus tables as you go so when the people actually do leave, you have things down to only having maybe a water glass and a coffee cup and saucer and teaspoon left to clear off the table before clearing it off and resetting it for the next group.
Which reminds me too of something else I always did hate about restaurant customers in an establishment where people "seat themselves" - why is it if you have ten tables all cleared off and reset and one table that has been slow to finish and you don't have it bussed off yet, if a someone comes in, guess which table they will automatically head to? If you picked the dirty table, you win the big prize - a free cup of coffee on me - provided you can find me to get it for you now! What is it about a dirty table that is soooo darned enticing when there can be at least one or two - maybe a lot more clean and reset tables right beside it but people just gravitate to the dirty one and then, get mad at the waitress because they can't get their coffee and ice water immediately! I never could figure the logic out on that one!
Now, go over - if you haven't already discovered this blog and check it out but, if you are like me, be prepared to quickly become addicted to reading her words and wanting to keep reading more and more and more of the things that happen to her in the store where she puts her time in!
Just make sure you come up for air, food, a beverage, etc., and don't get so engrossed that you get lost like I did! I'd be going back there right now if I could still see without my eyes going crossed on me tonight from having spent so many hours last night and today glued to reading that blog on my computer screen.
And now - in anticipation of the lovely weekend - which I do wish each and everyone of you has - a lovely one that is - here's this weekend's Bushism supply.
Saturday and Sunday - June 30 and July 1st, 2007
"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law." - Tucson, Arizona; November 28, 2005.
Now there's a really brilliant deduction, don't 'cha think?
This would have been fine and dandy except for one small thing. If you look at my list of favorites, the first blogger on my list belongs to a sweet lady out in Phoenix, Arizona - Debo Blue. I love reading her blog as she always has some nice things to say, lots of common sense things, humor, nifty photos too and a quiet humor that I really appreciate.
I clicked into almost all the blogs she has listed under her favorites, checked them out a bit by reading several posts and all was going swimmingly until ... I hit one called "Behind The Counter" and I really did get LOST there! Totally lost as a matter of fact for the rest of last night until about 3 in the morning. Then when I got up today, the first thing I did was to pick up reading where I left off last night. Every chance I had today, I was glued to the screen on the computer here, reading yet another post , and another and another. You get the picture. So far, I think I have read every post this blogger has made since October of 2006 until today and if I weren't about to go blind or cross-eyed soon, I'd still be glued to reading her writing right now too!
The writer of this blog is a customer support associate at a Wal-Mart in southern Florida and in her blog she writes of things that happened to her in her job behind that counter. If you've never worked in any type of a "customer service" position, it will definitely open your eyes. Hell, even if you've worked many different types of customer service jobs in your lifetime, it will still give you a big eye-opener as to the way the general public often treats people doing this type of work. It also shows how so many elements of society often try to take advantage of companies or the scams, games, thefts that people often try to perpetrate on companies too.
I've worked in customer service positions in the past - my most recent was back in 2002 when I worked part-time as a sales associate for a large store in Camp Hill, PA in the women's clothing department. And yes, sometimes we had to deal with people trying to scam or cheat the company or shoplifters and such, but not to the extent the CSA's at Wal-Mart have to cope with these things. Thankfully! If I'd had to deal with what she puts up with, I definitely would never have lasted the whole summer I worked at the store that employed me, that much I can say for sure!
But it brought back to my mind a lot of memories about other "customer service" work I've had over the years too. I worked for roughly 8-9 years as a waitress in two different truckstop restaurants and as assistant restaurant manager too in yet another truckstop restaurant near my home. And the things people will do in restaurants that I thought were obnoxious and rude (which often brought out the truly obnoxious and rude side of me too - not always a good thing when you are relying on those tips ya know) -well, bad as they were at times, they don't really hold a candle to what shoppers and scammers and thieves often try to do at many Wal-marts across the country but especially at the one where this blogger is employed.
On several occasions during my tenure in the food service industry, I wrote letters to either "Dear Abby" or "Ann Landers" to state issues waiters/waitresses often had to deal with on the job. I never had enough nerve to actually put those letters in the mail though and send them for fear that someone might realize I was writing and complaining about their actions and they'd turn around and go complain to my boss - who was not overly fond of me - and well, I really did need the work to feed, clothe, keep a roof over my kids and my heads during that time.
Today, as I think back on those days of running my fanny off just to barely make enough to scrape by - forget about vacations, any type of luxury, etc., - I don't remember all that many specifics now of events that really ticked me off. But there were a few here and there that do stand out in my mind.
I remember while working as the assistant manager, one Saturday in June in particular, when I came into work, found out I was going to be short-staffed and couldn't find anyone who would or could come in to cover so I had to run between trying to help out in the kitchen and being out on the floor actually working a section of the dining room. And during this, don't you just know, we got hit with a busload of tourists!
In most any restaurant, milkshake orders or the announcement that a busload of people just pulled in when you are super busy to begin with, both tend to create lots of panic with the help.
I got the folks who sat in my section set-up, orders turned into the kitchen, trying to get their side stuff out to them and who appears at the doorway to the waitress workway but the assistant manager of the fuel side of the truckstop in need of change. So I had to drop my waitress "hat" and run back to the main office, open the safe to get him change, only to learn we were short on change! We needed packs of one's desperately. But by that time of day, of course the bank was already closed so that was not an option.
I had to then try to call other establishments around to see if I could "buy" some change from them -and then, of course, it was up to me to also leave the facility, drive over to where ever I could locate a place that had enough change to sell some to me as well and this meant leaving the dining room floor, asking the other waitresses to please see to my customer's food order, etc. A great way to impress customers into returning when their waitress has to disappear completely from the building then for roughly 45 minutes time, isn' t it?
What caused this issue to begin with is that the general manager -who had been in there early that Saturday morning had not bothered to go to the bank and get an adequate supply of change to cover the fuel side and the restaurant side for the weekend. The asst. manager at the fuel side was alone and no way could he leave his post so that left me to do the running.
What really irked me about this whole situation was, after the fact, and because there were numerous complaints turned in by the bus people about the service, I ended up getting written up and was given a week off without pay because I hadn't seen to it that there was adequate change in the safe -even though I was not scheduled to come into work that day until about two hours after the banks had closed and it had been the general manager's responsibility to see to the change issues for the weekend. Talk about passing the buck, huh?
Another time, a family of six had piled into a booth barely large enough to accommodate four in the non-smoking area, in the very last booth in that section which just happened to be right beside the disabled ramp door -so that door was often being opened and shut. That, along with the fact the air conditioner wasn't working up to snuff either - par for the course - so the girls often would prop that door open a bit just to keep a little tiny bit of air moving through that section.
Now, what happens when you have a door open -and food around too?
You attract flys and other bugs, right? You also can't go around swatting these things, nor can you spray anything, or try to politely show the creatures the way out by which they entered in either so you're stuck with the little demons.
And don't you just know it but about five minutes after the waitress had served this family of six their meals, some little bug of some type, landed on the top of their booth and decided to walk across it, thus freaking every member of that family out. (I have to add here the family was from New Jersey and the mother had an extremely shrill voice, very, very thick "Joisey" accent too - also loud and she immediately began to scream for the manager (me) that there was a cockroach walking on the top of their tabletop.
She threw one royal fit at me about this situation and I immediately took their bill, voided the entire meal - although said bug never had landed on anyone's plates or anything and she still screamed at me the entire time I was doing this, as she was herding up her lovely children and husband and as they stomped through the non-smoking and the smoking sections of the dining room.
I still don't know what more she expected me to do for them! Considering I had offered to get them other meals - no, didn't want that -and when I took the check and voided it completely, she was still angry at me because of one stupid little insect's ill-timed walk.
I've had customers come in the dining rooms with children from little toddlers to kids old enough to be disciplined, who should be the ages of 6-10 years know enough, have adequate manners to realize you shouldn't be running, playing games of tag or hide 'n' seek etc., while waitresses are trying to manuever around carrying big trays of hot foods or pots of coffee. Had any of these little so-and-so's ever tripped a waitress and been burned by the hot coffee or food, you do know of course, the parents would have been on the horn before they got out of the establishment to their attorney drawing up a lawsuit, don't you?
I've had families come in too and allow their children to take food and throw it on the floor and never move a single muscle to try to clean one speck of this mess up before they leave too. I've even had a co-worker - a fellow waitress - bring her husband and three small children into the place were we worked and allowed their children to make one really nasty big mess all over the floor around their table too and get up and walk away from it and leave that for their own co-workers to have to contend with as well. There's compassion for your co-workers isn't it?
I've cleaned up just about any kind of mess you can think of left behind by restaurant customers - kids' vomit; adults too. Little kids often have other issues too -one reason ya know why they generally wear diapers - and had to clean that up as well - and even have had to clean that same commodity up too after adults who, when that happened, generally it was because they were too darned drunk to have a clue what they'd just done too! (Yeah, I worked the midnight shift as a waitress for several years and there is nothing like a full moon to bring out the worst drinkers in the whole world who HAVE to go have breakfast after having been drinking the whole night -probably even the better part of the day light hours away too.)
For the most part, when I waitressed at the one truckstop, I usually got along relatively well with most of the truckers though. I used to grump a lot to them and my favorite line was that I hated to wait on women - usually they tend to be cheap tippers; I disliked waiting on families, especially those who complimented me profusely on the food, the service, etc., because I learned the more they complimented added up almost always to a much lower tip -if there was one at all. I didn't like to wait on teenagers or college kids either -as they tended not to have enough money left over to tip. And I made no bones about the fact I HATED, absolutely LOATHED, ABHORRED and DESPISED waiting on drunks!
Now the truckers who know me used to question me about the latter aspect there because they also knew I liked as much as the next one to have a drink or two - or five, whatever! I always told them drunks just never impressed me and when they would point out my liking to toss a few back and hadn't I ever done anything to get more than a little toasted I would tell them "Yes, and sometimes I don't necessarily impress myself either!"
[ There were many, many times though when I waitressed that much as I hated going into work, I also hated NOT to be there too simply because some of the truckers I met -no, not some, most of them - were such great people, even really good friends, that I wanted to be there for my shift simply to see this or that driver if he came in that day and be able to talk to the guys, joke with them, play lots and lots of practical jokes on each other too much of the time.
I almost always had a bunch of jokes that I'd heard and memorized to share with these gusy and they used to tell me all kinds of funny stories of things that happened to them or to other drivers on the road too. Rarely was there ever a dull moment while I worked at that place!
Sometimes now, I will have dreams that I am back at that particular restaurant, waitressing. The customers will often be the same folks I waited on back then -some who could be pretty demanding too at times - but it would be me, as I am today, trying to run around and keep track of orders, keeping coffee cups refilled, serving meals and such at the pace I used to move at twenty some years ago but with knees and ankles often very swollen and stiff as they tend to be now, with a back that doesn't like to allow legs to move much beyond a snail's pace and customers getting really, really ticked at me because I definitely can't be everything to everyone all at once now. Not that I could then but I had a better chance at trying and surviving doing that back then.
And when I worked in food service, frequently, just as the writer of this blog does now, I ranted and raved and bitched and complained about the customers, about management, oh yes, did I ever complain about management, but in honestly, I never really hated the waitressing end of food service. I can't honestly say the same about working as quasi-management though as I really did HATE that job! Mainly though that was because of the lunacy that persisted thanks so very much to the upper level of management above me!
Food service is hard, sometimes very, very hard physical work! Don't believe me, you try it sometime and you'll see what I mean. It is also difficult work mentally too because you have to be very good at "multi-tasking." You have to keep track of each of the tables in your particular section - people coming in, leaving; set up new customers, take their orders, prepare certain segments of their orders yourself at times; make sure to keep tabs on how soon this table or that table's order is due to come out; check back if they have everything they need/want, keep the drinks flowing properly, check for dessert orders, hand out bills and all the while trying to bus tables as you go so when the people actually do leave, you have things down to only having maybe a water glass and a coffee cup and saucer and teaspoon left to clear off the table before clearing it off and resetting it for the next group.
Which reminds me too of something else I always did hate about restaurant customers in an establishment where people "seat themselves" - why is it if you have ten tables all cleared off and reset and one table that has been slow to finish and you don't have it bussed off yet, if a someone comes in, guess which table they will automatically head to? If you picked the dirty table, you win the big prize - a free cup of coffee on me - provided you can find me to get it for you now! What is it about a dirty table that is soooo darned enticing when there can be at least one or two - maybe a lot more clean and reset tables right beside it but people just gravitate to the dirty one and then, get mad at the waitress because they can't get their coffee and ice water immediately! I never could figure the logic out on that one!
Now, go over - if you haven't already discovered this blog and check it out but, if you are like me, be prepared to quickly become addicted to reading her words and wanting to keep reading more and more and more of the things that happen to her in the store where she puts her time in!
Just make sure you come up for air, food, a beverage, etc., and don't get so engrossed that you get lost like I did! I'd be going back there right now if I could still see without my eyes going crossed on me tonight from having spent so many hours last night and today glued to reading that blog on my computer screen.
And now - in anticipation of the lovely weekend - which I do wish each and everyone of you has - a lovely one that is - here's this weekend's Bushism supply.
Saturday and Sunday - June 30 and July 1st, 2007
"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law." - Tucson, Arizona; November 28, 2005.
Now there's a really brilliant deduction, don't 'cha think?
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Thursday Thoughts
Ok, this is my own version (maybe) of the "Thursday Thirteen" but I figured I'd title this "Thursday Thoughts" since I might not actually have Thirteen things of interest to post about!
1. My cousin, Tom Hill's wife, Karen, continues to make good progress since her heart transplant surgery this past Monday. Thanks so much again for the prayers and thoughts, well wishes people have been having for her and her family.
2. I'm baking Swedish Limpa Rye bread as I type this today. I had planned to bake it on Monday but had been dealing all weekend with a pain in my left shoulder blade that was really preventing me from doing much of any type of movement and I knew there was no way I could possibly have been able to do all the kneading necessary to get a good batch of bread mixed up, rising and baked! But today, feeling pretty chipper in that respect and very hungry for some good hot, fresh-out-of-the oven rye bread slathered with loads of REAL butter so that's why I'm baking this today.
3. I watched maybe 2-3 minutes last night of the Larry King-Paris Hilton so-called interview. Disgusting! That was no interview at all, just pablum! Check out this blog to read some good discourse on that interview and tell me JB here isn't totally on target with his thoughts about that so-called interview! This blog is one of my big favorites to read as Mr. Burnett writes a really concise blog about lots and lots of things important in society today.
4. My kids, especially my son and younger daughter, from the time they were really small have always had a "thing" about the sounds various things make when they are almost empty - like a ketchup bottle or mustard or the dish detergent, etc. Any noise that even remotely resembles that of flatulence and they have always seemed to be quite fascinated with it. It's a trait I believe they inherited from their father -who also loved to do things like pulling bed covers over others' heads too -tightly, no less - so you got the full exposure that way! But I digress a bit there. Yesterday, as Mandy was fixing Princess Maya a cup of choc-a-lit (her pronunciation there) milk, and squeezing the chocolate syrup bottle, it was near to empty and gave out this loud, "Pfffft" sound. Maya immediately looked up at her mother and said "EWWWW! Fart!" Just thought it rather amusing there - history repeating itself maybe?
5 And, speaking of Miss Maya -again (or still) -this is for my good friend Sharon, over in State College. You probably weren't aware that Maya knows your name and can identify you by your photo (the one with the Nittany Lion at the Autism Walk this spring) which is among the pictures that blink in and out on my screensaver here. But yes indeed, Maya knows when she sees your picture and she points to it and and says "Sharon? Sharon?" She also includes you in her evening prayers too - when she gets to the "God Blesses" Mandy says she always includes "Sharon!" I thought that was pretty cool considering she's only ever met my friend Sharon one time when she came to the house about 5-6 weeks ago to give me an assist with pictures for the photo display for our class reunion!
6. I sent out a questionnaire last week to everyone on my e-mail address book who is a part of my Mom's side of my family tree and who should/will be getting a reminder sometime in the near future about our upcoming reunion the end of July. I'm very concerned about how much longer this reunion will last because attendance has been dropping - like flies -for the past 3-5 years. The past two years I think we only had about 23-25 in attendance; three years ago, maybe we topped out at 28-30 or so, but it is very small at any rate. Those of us who are faithful, regular attendees at that reunion have discussed this at every reunion for the past so many years trying to figure out a way to get our attendance to grow instead of diminishing, as it has been doing. In my questionnaire, I requested everyone to reply so that I would then know the e-mail address I have on record is still working and also, to provide me with their current mailing address too - snail mail that is. Then, I went a step further and explained the dilemma our family reunion is in and would they please answer the questions I posted below -trying to get people's opinions on how to keep the reunion alive, how to improve it, etc.
To date, only six of the probably 30-35 cousins who received that e-mail have responded with their snail mail address and of those six, only two took the time to try to give any suggestions on what they think could/should be done to keep the reunion going.
I find that response really sad, you know. Apparently very few of my cousins have much interest or faith in keeping this event running. It's been an annual tradition for 57 years thus far; this year would be our 58th reunion, and I really, really, REALLY hate the thought of it going down the tubes forever ya know! And, especially after having been to the reunion on my Dad's side last weekend and seeing well over 100 people there, all having a really great time, just makes me even more depressed then I suppose. I'm happy that my Dad's family gets that type of response to their reunion and just sad that my Mom's family seems prone now to forgetting where we all came from - those ancestral roots, ya know. Maybe I'm one of only a select few now who still thinks they are important to know.
7. Something my daughter and I have noticed of late in our local daily newspaper that really annoys both of us is that the paper and at least one of their staff writers is putting small pieces and photos in the paper about the township where we live and they are stating in the paper that this area is in "Centre County." That is an error! The township where we live is most certainly a part of Clearfield County - those folks -editors and reporters alike - need to check a map of the county and see which townships fall in Clearfield and which in Centre County!
A continuance of that annoyance is that last night I received an e-mail from my good friend up in Michigan - Jeff - who, though he was born and raised there knows as much if not more than many folks who have been born and raised here about the history of our county, of this township too. In his note, he asked about what "hamlet" the newspaper was referring to in recent reports of our Township Supervisors Meetings - called "Lance" because he'd never heard of another village around here with that name. Well, that's because there is no other village here with a name like that -save the village of "Lanse, PA" that is! This one particular reporter has a habit of not just placing our township in the adjacent county but also of not knowing how to spell correctly the names of some of the little villages in our fair township either. It is LANSE, not Lance - make the corrections NOW, please! Yeah right! I'm sure they'll respond right away to MY blog post now won't they! I suggested to Jeff that he write a "letter to the editor" and question them on this spelling confusion thing, which he did. Now, it will be interesting to see if they correct themselves in the future, won't it.
In my opinion, it just proves it to me more than ever that our local newspaper doesn't like to acknowledge that those of us who live in the "Down River" region from Clearfield exist unless, that is, they want us to subscribe to their lovely little newspaper that rarely reports any newsworthy events from this neck of the woods! I'll not go out on a limb here and name the paper outright but just wish they would make some PROGRESS in the accuracy department, as well as the reporting of happenings around the entire county area too!
9. On some side notes here, someone on my blog favorite list is celebrating her 22nd wedding anniversary tomorrow. Stop by here and wish Shelby another 22 years and more! Or go check out Smalltown Rn's blog about a difficult case she has to deal with in her work. She also posts some really gorgeous photos on her blog of British Columbia and the island she calls home too.
If you're looking for something to read that almost always provides at least a little chuckle, sometimes a big hearty laugh, check out this blog here or maybe this one, here.
But, if you want to read something that will really touch you to the very bottom of your heart, check this blog out that I bookmarked last night after my buddy, Skittles, pointed me in the direction of Rants from Sunnybrook. I haven't yet added Rebecca to my "favorites" list but I plan to do that in the near future. If you've never visited her place, do so - she's a member of a very important group in this country that you will wish, especially after reading her blog, that there was no need for such a group as this to exist, but sadly, there is just such a necessity.
10. Ok, my bread is now all baked, my chicken (bbq) is ready to go into the oven now so I can have supper ready when Mandy and the 15-year-old get home from a visit to the foot doctor and I've pretty well covered most everything on my mind at this point in time. Well, everything that is, except for the MEME I got tagged with the other day by my blogger buddy, Linda! The MEME she hit me with wants virtually your total biography and then some! I have copied it over to a text file so I can look it over some more, study it closely that way and maybe I'll be able to post in without causing my pea brain to totally explode from overusage!
So, having said all that - here then is tomorrow's Bushism for the day, while I'm still writing here.
Friday, June 29, 2007
"I must confess. It did confuse some of the folks at the Crawford, Texas, coffee shop when I was traveling around the country with Theodore Kennedy." - Chicago, Illinois, May 13, 2002
Yep -if you referred to him as "Theodore" I'll just bet it confused a whole lot of people then! LOL
1. My cousin, Tom Hill's wife, Karen, continues to make good progress since her heart transplant surgery this past Monday. Thanks so much again for the prayers and thoughts, well wishes people have been having for her and her family.
2. I'm baking Swedish Limpa Rye bread as I type this today. I had planned to bake it on Monday but had been dealing all weekend with a pain in my left shoulder blade that was really preventing me from doing much of any type of movement and I knew there was no way I could possibly have been able to do all the kneading necessary to get a good batch of bread mixed up, rising and baked! But today, feeling pretty chipper in that respect and very hungry for some good hot, fresh-out-of-the oven rye bread slathered with loads of REAL butter so that's why I'm baking this today.
3. I watched maybe 2-3 minutes last night of the Larry King-Paris Hilton so-called interview. Disgusting! That was no interview at all, just pablum! Check out this blog to read some good discourse on that interview and tell me JB here isn't totally on target with his thoughts about that so-called interview! This blog is one of my big favorites to read as Mr. Burnett writes a really concise blog about lots and lots of things important in society today.
4. My kids, especially my son and younger daughter, from the time they were really small have always had a "thing" about the sounds various things make when they are almost empty - like a ketchup bottle or mustard or the dish detergent, etc. Any noise that even remotely resembles that of flatulence and they have always seemed to be quite fascinated with it. It's a trait I believe they inherited from their father -who also loved to do things like pulling bed covers over others' heads too -tightly, no less - so you got the full exposure that way! But I digress a bit there. Yesterday, as Mandy was fixing Princess Maya a cup of choc-a-lit (her pronunciation there) milk, and squeezing the chocolate syrup bottle, it was near to empty and gave out this loud, "Pfffft" sound. Maya immediately looked up at her mother and said "EWWWW! Fart!" Just thought it rather amusing there - history repeating itself maybe?
5 And, speaking of Miss Maya -again (or still) -this is for my good friend Sharon, over in State College. You probably weren't aware that Maya knows your name and can identify you by your photo (the one with the Nittany Lion at the Autism Walk this spring) which is among the pictures that blink in and out on my screensaver here. But yes indeed, Maya knows when she sees your picture and she points to it and and says "Sharon? Sharon?" She also includes you in her evening prayers too - when she gets to the "God Blesses" Mandy says she always includes "Sharon!" I thought that was pretty cool considering she's only ever met my friend Sharon one time when she came to the house about 5-6 weeks ago to give me an assist with pictures for the photo display for our class reunion!
6. I sent out a questionnaire last week to everyone on my e-mail address book who is a part of my Mom's side of my family tree and who should/will be getting a reminder sometime in the near future about our upcoming reunion the end of July. I'm very concerned about how much longer this reunion will last because attendance has been dropping - like flies -for the past 3-5 years. The past two years I think we only had about 23-25 in attendance; three years ago, maybe we topped out at 28-30 or so, but it is very small at any rate. Those of us who are faithful, regular attendees at that reunion have discussed this at every reunion for the past so many years trying to figure out a way to get our attendance to grow instead of diminishing, as it has been doing. In my questionnaire, I requested everyone to reply so that I would then know the e-mail address I have on record is still working and also, to provide me with their current mailing address too - snail mail that is. Then, I went a step further and explained the dilemma our family reunion is in and would they please answer the questions I posted below -trying to get people's opinions on how to keep the reunion alive, how to improve it, etc.
To date, only six of the probably 30-35 cousins who received that e-mail have responded with their snail mail address and of those six, only two took the time to try to give any suggestions on what they think could/should be done to keep the reunion going.
I find that response really sad, you know. Apparently very few of my cousins have much interest or faith in keeping this event running. It's been an annual tradition for 57 years thus far; this year would be our 58th reunion, and I really, really, REALLY hate the thought of it going down the tubes forever ya know! And, especially after having been to the reunion on my Dad's side last weekend and seeing well over 100 people there, all having a really great time, just makes me even more depressed then I suppose. I'm happy that my Dad's family gets that type of response to their reunion and just sad that my Mom's family seems prone now to forgetting where we all came from - those ancestral roots, ya know. Maybe I'm one of only a select few now who still thinks they are important to know.
7. Something my daughter and I have noticed of late in our local daily newspaper that really annoys both of us is that the paper and at least one of their staff writers is putting small pieces and photos in the paper about the township where we live and they are stating in the paper that this area is in "Centre County." That is an error! The township where we live is most certainly a part of Clearfield County - those folks -editors and reporters alike - need to check a map of the county and see which townships fall in Clearfield and which in Centre County!
A continuance of that annoyance is that last night I received an e-mail from my good friend up in Michigan - Jeff - who, though he was born and raised there knows as much if not more than many folks who have been born and raised here about the history of our county, of this township too. In his note, he asked about what "hamlet" the newspaper was referring to in recent reports of our Township Supervisors Meetings - called "Lance" because he'd never heard of another village around here with that name. Well, that's because there is no other village here with a name like that -save the village of "Lanse, PA" that is! This one particular reporter has a habit of not just placing our township in the adjacent county but also of not knowing how to spell correctly the names of some of the little villages in our fair township either. It is LANSE, not Lance - make the corrections NOW, please! Yeah right! I'm sure they'll respond right away to MY blog post now won't they! I suggested to Jeff that he write a "letter to the editor" and question them on this spelling confusion thing, which he did. Now, it will be interesting to see if they correct themselves in the future, won't it.
In my opinion, it just proves it to me more than ever that our local newspaper doesn't like to acknowledge that those of us who live in the "Down River" region from Clearfield exist unless, that is, they want us to subscribe to their lovely little newspaper that rarely reports any newsworthy events from this neck of the woods! I'll not go out on a limb here and name the paper outright but just wish they would make some PROGRESS in the accuracy department, as well as the reporting of happenings around the entire county area too!
9. On some side notes here, someone on my blog favorite list is celebrating her 22nd wedding anniversary tomorrow. Stop by here and wish Shelby another 22 years and more! Or go check out Smalltown Rn's blog about a difficult case she has to deal with in her work. She also posts some really gorgeous photos on her blog of British Columbia and the island she calls home too.
If you're looking for something to read that almost always provides at least a little chuckle, sometimes a big hearty laugh, check out this blog here or maybe this one, here.
But, if you want to read something that will really touch you to the very bottom of your heart, check this blog out that I bookmarked last night after my buddy, Skittles, pointed me in the direction of Rants from Sunnybrook. I haven't yet added Rebecca to my "favorites" list but I plan to do that in the near future. If you've never visited her place, do so - she's a member of a very important group in this country that you will wish, especially after reading her blog, that there was no need for such a group as this to exist, but sadly, there is just such a necessity.
10. Ok, my bread is now all baked, my chicken (bbq) is ready to go into the oven now so I can have supper ready when Mandy and the 15-year-old get home from a visit to the foot doctor and I've pretty well covered most everything on my mind at this point in time. Well, everything that is, except for the MEME I got tagged with the other day by my blogger buddy, Linda! The MEME she hit me with wants virtually your total biography and then some! I have copied it over to a text file so I can look it over some more, study it closely that way and maybe I'll be able to post in without causing my pea brain to totally explode from overusage!
So, having said all that - here then is tomorrow's Bushism for the day, while I'm still writing here.
Friday, June 29, 2007
"I must confess. It did confuse some of the folks at the Crawford, Texas, coffee shop when I was traveling around the country with Theodore Kennedy." - Chicago, Illinois, May 13, 2002
Yep -if you referred to him as "Theodore" I'll just bet it confused a whole lot of people then! LOL
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