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Chillin’ on a Dirt Road

Although I appreciate most genres of music, I’ll admit I’ve grown into a country music kinda girl. My thanks to Keith who keeps me current with other stuff like hip-hop, pop and rock – if it weren’t for him, I’d be stuck on just country for sure.

I love this song. Listening to it puts me in a car pickup on the way to the beach or mountains for a long four-day weekend. Sun’s high in the sky, and it’s mild enough out to have the windows down blowing my hair everywhere. Instead of a beer beside me, there’s an ice-cold diet Coke or diet Dr. Pepper – no DUI for me, thanks.

But when we arrive at the beach/mountains, I’m poppin’ that top. To whoever made this video, you deserve to be at a million hits by now. I tip my hat to you for a fantastic job…

Yeah, I’m chillin’ on a dirt road…
Laid back swervin’ like I’m George Jones.

Posted by  |  June 23, 2011 | Categories: Music | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Summer Solstice (via Life of Bon)

A year ago today, I posted this entry and was so happy to hear it had been Freshly Pressed.
I thought today it might be worthy of a repost. For all you Summer-lovers, enjoy your day –
and all the seasons!

Summer Solstice A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year, when the tilt of the Earth’s axis is most inclined toward or away from the sun, causing the Sun’s apparent position in the sky to reach its northernmost or southernmost extreme. The name is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), because at the solstices, the Sun stands still in declination; that is, the apparent movement of the Sun’s path north or south come … Read More

via Life of Bon

Posted by  |  June 21, 2011 | Categories: Astronomy, Freshly Pressed, Summer | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The Truth

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to have my Dad over. We cooked out Saturday night and watched a movie afterwards, and the next morning attended service at his church. With it being a 50-mile drive from my home to his church, Keith suggested that him spending the night might make things easier. I can’t express how grateful I was for the opportunity to do this.

I was able to meet Dad’s fellow church members, many of which are elders. Those of us who were early sat on the side pews and conversed amongst each other. I didn’t pay much mind to a kindly gentleman who got up and went back outside, until Dad turned around later and said, “That’s Mr. and Mrs. Q. They can’t take care of each other anymore, and live separately. Every Sunday morning he eagerly waits outside for her to arrive.”

I would estimate Mr. and Mrs. Q to be in their nineties. As I turned around and watched them come ever so slowly down the isle, arm in arm – my heart melted. What I saw wasn’t two elders. I saw a very beautiful couple, each wearing a wide smile. Love radiated outward from them, I mean they actually glowed. It seemed a real-life version of The Notebook, and I found myself wanting to know more about this couple I’d never met.

After church, we went to my great aunt and uncle’s house where they had prepared us a feast for lunch. They recently celebrated 62 years together – not only are they very dear, but very wise. I’d like to give you an example of just how wise.

While seated across the table from them, Uncle N said, “The secret of a long and happy marriage is always telling each other the Truth. No matter what, even if it’s something the other doesn’t want to hear. When you tell them the Truth, it gives them worth. It verifies they are valuable to you.” Aunt D listened intently while nodding her head in complete agreement. Anyone could see how deep in love they still are, even more so, after all these years.

None of us are perfect, for there is but One that is. The trivial things in life are really that – trivial. I see it as black and white, really; the things that actually matter in life are just plain common sense. I believe a couple should respect each other enough to abide by Truth together. I’ve never understood what could be so hard about that.

From the very beginning K and I each made Truth a requirement, not an option. Sure, sometimes it’s going to be something hard to say or hear. Some of these things can and will cause hurt. But if you repeatedly withhold that Truth, deprive a person of it – you’ll see what you have left in the end…

Posted by  |  June 20, 2011 | Categories: Family, Relationships | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

Have you ever felt like running somewhere, anywhere – only to be reminded there’s really nowhere for you to run?

Full moon ahead.

Kinda like being caught between the devil and the deep blue sea.

Even as a child, this phrase intrigued me. It seems most logical for me to believe it may have derived from Greek mythology – when Homer’s Odyssey refers to Odysseus being caught between Scylla (a six-headed monster) and Charybdis (a whirlpool).

Full moon alert.

However, I’ve run upon another possible origin that may hold water – pardon the pun – which is the nautical theory. In sailing terminology, the word “Devil” (devill) refers to the seam between the deck planking and the topmost plank of a vessel’s side. This seam had to be watertight, so it required continuous caulking. When a ship was at sea, it sometimes became necessary for a sailor to be suspended over the side or edge to perform this maneuver. Makes perfect sense to me how this might have translated into ‘between the devil and the deep sea’.

Move along, quickly now… full moon out.

All the talk of deep blue seas and moons brings to mind their lovely counterparts – the tides and currents. Thanks to the gravity force between Earth and the Moon, the Moon is ultimately responsible for many of the tides in our Earth’s oceans. During the full and new Moons, the Earth, Moon and Sun are lined up – which produces higher high tides (Spring Tides) and lower low tides. Sorry to bore, but I’ve always found the tides and their reasoning fascinating.

As a child, I remember walking along the beach in my nightgown under the light of a full moon, which I used to call ‘whole’ moon. I’ve written about this night before.  I had this clear plastic blue ring which I used to filter the moon to a beautiful bright blue hue. Since then, I’ve never witnessed any setting that matched the beauty of the moonlit beach on that particular night. Even as a child I appreciated it – I stood there mesmerized taking it all in, wishing I never had to leave. Since our vacation house was directly behind me on the beach, my mother allowed me to linger there under her watchful eye. It’s still a strong, magical and precious memory – one I hope I never lose.

I’d still like to run somewhere. Preferably to a desolate beach at low tide, underneath a full moon…

Photobucket.com

Aim for the Moon. If you miss, you may hit a star…
~W. Clement Stone

Posted by  |  June 14, 2011 | Categories: Astronomy, Life Struggles, Ocean | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Sense and Sensibility

Once again I’ve let time get the best of me, and I miss writing something. Anything. At almost noon on a Saturday morning with housework and errands poking me on the shoulder, I’m reminded one again of that time thing. About two weeks or so ago, I wrote a quick post on my thoughts of crime and mental instability in the world – but never got around to posting it. I guess a day in which time is pressing hard on me is as good a day as any.

I’ve only read a little bit on the case of Jared Lee Loughner, the man who went on the mass killing spree in Toucson, AZ back in January. As of current, he has been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial for his crimes.

When I first heard of this ruling, I admit my initial reaction was that the world needed rid of this worthless piece of garbage – I was very angry. I had to stop for a minute, take a step back and look hard at the situation. If this man really is mentally incompetent, how could I hold any animosity towards him for that? If it’s truly something mental that dictated his actions, something he himself could not control – how on earth could I blame him?

There are so many psychological issues we have to deal with in the world now. Have these ultra-complex issues actually existed the entire time, of which our medical technology is just now scratching the surface? There’s so much out there in the world now that we don’t understand, things we’ll probably never understand. The human brain is the most intensely complex organ in our body. From mild, moderate to severe – mental instabilities weigh more in our society now than ever before.

During a routine visit to my MD recently, even he admitted there just wasn’t enough medical staff dedicated to the many branches of mental illness that we now know to exist. He said because of this, he and his other colleagues are continually having to ‘up their game’ on their education. This is where we are in the world today – not enough professional help, nor understanding of illnesses or imbalances.

When someone who does a wrong or injustice to another, the human in us wants that person to be held accountable. Unless you are specifically trained in the field, it’s difficult or impossible to recognize a mental illness. Simply said, there are many people committing crimes who are not capable of willfully controlling their actions. All you have to do is watch the world news, heck I’ll take a step back and say local news, to see all the senseless crimes being committed.

I must continually remind myself to tote an extra bit of compassion around just for this cause, and I’ll be the first to admit it’s a tough thing to do.

Posted by  |  June 11, 2011 | Categories: News, Opinion | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ode to a Grown Man

I’d like to eventually have/make more time to spend on reading other’s blogs. It’s something I really enjoy, particularly the ones of those who take their own precious time to comment on mine. With all the stuff I’ve had going on with moving, work and the likes of everything else, my hope is to get settled in soon and do just that – consistently. I’m amazed at the talent that each of you have – whether it be through writing, arts, or a combination of both. It inspires my own desire to do better. I thank each of you for that.

In updating my blog roll tonight, once again I had heavy thoughts of a certain individual in our blogging world. This is someone that I miss very much – known as Grown Man (as self-referred, GM). It’s for this reason I chose to profile Grown Man in this post today. If you’ve never visited his blog, why not hop on over and read a few excerpts. Click the ‘list’ link for more options. I can guarantee you’ll have to break yourself away from it.

Grown Man has not posted since November of 2010. Prior to that, his fairly frequent posts were eloquent, vivacious and packed full of wisdom. Although geared mainly towards the male genre, his content inspired males and females alike. His own hilarity paired with common sense insight on the male psyche made for some darn good reading and entertainment… not to mention education. He remained ever-kind in his replies, to which he always gave. I’ve always been a sucker for that kindness trait. The love he had for his wife was evident, not exactly spelled out – rather something that was apparent between the lines. I deeply respect his writing style.

I do worry about what may have happened to him, at the risk of sounding silly. Did he meet a dreadful fate… or did he abandon it for a chance of a lifetime, moving on to a bigger and better thing? I’ve googled to no avail to find out what might have happened, having noticed his twitter feed has also been abandoned. He had the potential to be HUGE, and was already getting there fast. Over 188K hits with less than 80 entries – this thing grew pretty quick, my friends. It’s obvious by reading the comments on his last post that his readers really miss him.

I’ll continue to have Grown Man appear on my blogroll because I prefer his legacy to live on, even if not ongoing. I agree with one of the last commenters who stated, appropriately: We miss you, Grown Man. 

Grown Man’s Blog (or, just click the picture above)

Footnote: Even my Keith enjoyed reading GM’s posts, and he’s not usually into reading blogs unless he’s coerced into reading mine, cough-cough. 🙂

Posted by  |  June 6, 2011 | Categories: Thoughts, Writing | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Don’t forget to name your posts, Part 2

I love my drive in to work. It’s nineteen miles one-way, but well over half of it is through pure country. God’s country. We google-earthed it just to get an aerial…

The land seems to be evenly split between farming and livestock, and the people who live out here have been here many years. There are plenty of sweet-faced little cows and horses to gaze at along the way.

 Sprawling fields of fresh haystacks never cease to mesmerize me – all stacked so perfectly.

Immediately surrounding us is a good-enough sized mountain to climb if we wish, which we have on occasion. In the evenings, we’ll sit outside and listen to the cows call their babies home. When I first heard it I was very concerned, thinking the cows were in pain! Keith had that sly grin on his face when he told me what it really was.

Last night a neighbor had a get-together across the street. I got to meet a lot of Keith’s neighbors, which was nice! All are down-to-earth people who seem really genuine, hard-working and true.

I always wanted to live out ‘away’ from the city – in fact I used to yearn for it, especially during a country drive. It already seems as though I’ve lived here a long time!

Posted by  |  June 4, 2011 | Categories: Home | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Closing Time

For an enhanced viewing experience, ⬆ just click the play arrow above!

Well… it looks like my time is up here…

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I’ll never forget you, my little tree house in the sky. It seems as though you’ve cradled me for a long time. The roots of my initially terrifying journey to find myself began with you. As I felt everything outside was crumbling around me, from the many mistakes I made to the letdowns I endured – you always kept me safe within your walls. The past three years you’ve seen every bit of me. Sadness, joy, anger, surprise, frustration, loneliness… all of it. Soon, I hope there will come another person to live here – perhaps one not so unlike me. Someone who is also in need of comfort, safety and tranquility.

Thank you for letting me call you HOME for awhile. Just as I always expected, it’s hard as hell to say goodbye.

Shhhh… remember, every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end. You just hold your head up now, Bon – and go on home.

(sniff) *nod*… Yeah.  Be seein’ ya.

Posted by  |  May 29, 2011 | Categories: Home | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

An Effective Search

I had the instance to google a word yesterday. I found my results lacking, so I went back and added a few more descriptive or supporting words to aid in my endeavor.

BAM.

There it was, like magic – website after website all neatly lined up in a row, most of them containing the pertinent information or knowledge I’d sought after.

This got me to thinking about something really quite simple. The more sharpened your search is, the more likely you are to have successful results. Such is life. The more positive input you add to something – be it a relationship, a friendship, a job, whatever the case – the more you should end up getting out of it.

Of course this is said while realizing things don’t always turn out to benefit you in the end. Circumstances might determine a final result. People can and will disappoint you. Sometimes the reason a person lets you down is no fault of their own. Things change… life happens. The bottom line is this – the more you give out, the more you put into something, the more you will generally get back as a result.

I have my good and bad days just like everybody else. I laugh, I cry, I hope, I try; I hurt, I need, I fear, I bleed. Truth is, I’d rather be considered an optimist than a pessimist any day of the week.

You get what you give… so give good. 

Posted by  |  May 24, 2011 | Categories: Life Struggles, Thoughts | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Mouseworks

How I’ve missed my little blog – both reading others and writing them. Things have been extremely busy my way with moving, and I can’t wait to reaccustom myself to a more permanent schedule once again. I thought it would make everything easier having 2+ months to pack, get everything out and clean… but it seems as though I’ve been going back and forth now for way longer than I should! I’m finally convinced doing it all in one day is the way to go.

All weekend we worked over at my place and now, thankfully I can say I’m pretty much done. I still have to get the washer/dryer out to store for my daughter and find a home for my couch. K has worked his rear off the entire time, and cleaning should now be a cinch since the place is now empty! I did happen across a most precious commodity (ahem) for my cat Camille, that made her very very happy.

Meet my mousse! (Mousse because Mademoiselle Camille has always pronounced the word in French.) The Little Girl has been reunited with her long-lost BFF who has been MIA for at least a year and a half. Maybe longer. How old is this thing, you ask? Oh, I realize it looks like it was resurrected from the caveman era. But to Cam… it’s a thing of sheer beauty. A huge basket full of toys is no match for this one item sent straight from Heaven. She’s carrying her baby around again while talking, then dropping it for daddy to play fetch. She is one Happy Girl.

A view of the front of Keith’s. Note: it now comes complete with it’s own set of nightlites located in bottom left window…

I actually went to type a blog out last night, and in addition to all the nerve-wracking hustle and bustle of moving noticed my mouse (MY mouse, one S) was all but operable. I had to go out and purchase another one after work today. I guess I’ve been behind-the-times until now, because I’ve always had a corded mouse. At last I made the ‘jump’ and opted (pardon the pun) for a ‘new improved one’. That is, one that is non-corded.

Left: old one… Right: new-improved (non-corded) one. My hand hardly knows what to do with something so very small in comparison – but I’m finding it ever-functional.

So who gets the points on the cat’s eyes being covered up??

Posted by  |  May 23, 2011 | Categories: Animals, Home, Technology | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Jigsaw

Recently, a friend of mine posed a question that captured my attention – so much so, that I decided to grab the question by it’s hand and take it for a little walk.

Have you ever worked a puzzle only to find that when the pieces start coming together you start seeing a picture you really don’t want to see?

Why yes B, I have. In my own life, there have been times where I spent much longer on a puzzle than I should have. Times where I tried hard to convince myself there were no missing pieces, or pieces that neither fit nor belonged. An imperfect puzzle, if you will. Admittedly, there were times where I would ‘cheat’, having shaved a bit off here and there in hopes I would make a piece fit. To make the puzzle whole.

Weird as it may sound, starting a brand new puzzle can be a difficult and trying thing. Here you have all these tiny little pieces with no real beginning. Just like anything that’s worth the effort – it requires effort. Slowly, intricately, you embark on a journey of building something whole from a thousand little scattered pieces. You set aside pieces that might match up later, or have a similar color/pattern. You take mental snapshots of different shapes. Slowly, methodically… it begins to form.

Upon completion of an intact puzzle, your patience and perseverance is hopefully rewarded with something pretty or at least pleasurable to look at – not something ugly. So what happens when you work halfway through a puzzle then begin to see something unspeakable taking form? Your first notion might be to push the thought of it away – it simply couldn’t be. You work through a few more pieces, and oh –

Couldn’t be. Hope it’s not…

Maybe the situation’s new to you and you’re shocked. Perhaps you’ve been there before and aren’t. Or, could be you’ve been there before, but you’re still shocked. You may ask yourself, how could something you’ve worked that hard on, invested that much time in – turn out to be a picture of something you don’t want to look at, for whatever reason.

Just a day in the life of a jigsaw.

Posted by  |  May 16, 2011 | Categories: Relationships, Thoughts | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

Stormy nights

After more storms whisked through the south the night before last, the current estimated time of power restoration has been moved from 5pm last night to 5pm tonight. What’s up with the south and all these destructive storms this year? The thunder, lightning, wind and rain of this storm out-did all other storms so far. Even the hailstorm didn’t have these kind of damaging winds and lightning… it only pounded things into oblivion. We’re supposed to get more storms through Tuesday, so I guess it’s time to batten down the hatches.

Thank goodness I still have my apartment, albeit one with no bed. It does still have a/c (a must in the south in May) and cable tv (a must since it was Survivor night and I’ve never missed an episode). With these two amenities calling us, Keith packed up a few things and our spoiled kitty Camille, and met me over at my apartment. He even thought to bring my bp meds – whatta guy that man is. 🙂

I must admit that I was a little sad I’d unknowingly spend my last night in my apartment last Thursday night. We’d decided to carry my bed over on a whim last Sunday, meaning there was no ‘reflection time’ assigned to my last night spent there. This power outage was a hidden blessing. I found it only befitting that I got to spend just one more night there, with both my man and my little animal. So the palette on the floor did just fine.

My friend Shawn over at Happy Publishing posted this today. Although it’s been around a while, it’s a few great reminders of how to make the world a little more livable. I found it more than worthy of a repost.

  • Do not contradict people, even if you are sure you are right.
  • Do not be inquisitive about the affairs of even your most intimate friend.
  • Do not underrate anything because you do not possess it.
  • Do not believe all the evil you hear.
  • Do not repeat gossip, even if it does interest a crowd.
  • Do not jeer at anyone’s religious belief.
  • Learn to hide your aches and pains under a pleasant smile; few care whether you have an earache, headache, or rheumatism.
  • Learn to attend to your own business – a very important point.
  • Do not try to be anything else but a gentleman or a lady; and that means one who has consideration for the whole world, and all races.

~Unknown

Posted by  |  May 12, 2011 | Categories: Home, Thoughts, Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Bed, Breakfast and Wine

I hope all the mothers out there had a fantastic Mother’s Day weekend! Saturday night we took both of our mothers out to eat (they finally got to meet each other, yay!). Sunday, my daughter took me out to lunch then drove me about an hour down the road to Old Stone Winery. There we enjoyed a wine tasting then some down time on the patio which overlooked the vineyards. I fell in love with the peach wine, of which she bought me a bottle to enjoy later. 🙂

Once back in town, Keith met me over at my place and we gave our best attempt at getting my bed to his house. My mattress is one of the heaviest ever made, I’m convinced of it. As far as help goes, unfortunately I was no good to him so we ended up enlisting help from a fellow apartment-dweller. Many thanks again to a good samaritan! Since my bed’s now a permanent resident of a spare room at Keith’s house, I am as well. There’s still much to do before the final move when I rent the truck, but since I pass right by there on the way ‘home’ at least it’s convenient to be there every day to pack.

It’s now nineteen miles one way to work. I realize some people drive much further than that, but it’s still a big difference from what I’m used to. From the angle I’m seeing it, it averages about two gallons of gas per day. Ugh. But, I knew this beforehand.

K’s new pool liner was installed yesterday! It’s gonna be a good summer…

Posted by  |  May 10, 2011 | Categories: Holidays, Home, Weekend | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Instant Karma (okay, maybe it wasn’t INSTANT…)

♫♪  Instant Karma’s gonna get you –
Gonna look you right in the face
Better get yourself together darlin’
and join the human race…

Greedy greedy greedy. My oh my – this world could use so much less of the word greed, couldn’t it? But such is the age we’re currently living in, and honestly I don’t see any improvement in store for the near future.

Once in a while, the good guy actually DOES win. Once in a very small while, we get to witness Karma come back around and bite hard a person in the ass who has so totally asked for it.

An example, you ask? I’m sure I can find one lying low around here somewhere… yes, I’ve got it. How about a lying cheat of an ex who for years tried so very hard to ruin a man’s life and everything good within it, up to and including keeping his daughter from him?

For this post – I shall refer to the individual as lowlife.

No truth can come from lowlife’s putrid mouth, for truth must first exist in order to pass through parted lips. History tells of lowlife’s many infidelities, to which the knob is still set on ‘repeat’. Concerning her own destructive self-destructive antics, lowlife reassigns any and all blame to her ex. I look at it this way… if you’re going to be conniving, at least be good at it. Her transparent lies were easily read by the most high of courts, who awarded lowlife with nothing.

TWICE.

Nada. Zilch. Zip. Zero. OH WAIT – it’s actually much less than nothing, seeing as how lowlife was grabbing for the entire universe. Can’t forget about those costly attorney fees that belong solely to her now, not to mention that expensive appeal. I have heard those things aren’t cheap nowadays! Is there such a thing as double-ought? If there wasn’t before, there is now. Well that’s just gotta plain suck…

The most insincere of congratulations go out to lowlife for all her non-valiant efforts on a job not well done. My advice to lowlife now would be to invest in a broom (no, not to ride) and dustpan with which to begin cleaning all the droppings she’s left behind, as well as many more she’s sure to excrete in the future. Because a respectable person always cleans up their mess.

Let us not forget the old but wise quote, ‘One man’s trash is another man’s treasure’. Or woman’s, as the case may be. Hey, speaking of universe… I’m outta here to go see the shining sun of mine. 🙂

Well we all shine on…
Like the moon and the stars and the sun
Yeah we all shine on
On and on and on and on…  ♪♫

Posted by  |  May 6, 2011 | Categories: Legal Stuff | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Lesson #8,853,414

You’re never too old to be taught a lesson. In my forty-three years, I have never been bitten by an animal. Never. I’ve been bitten by plenty of insects, and I can even throw a boyfriend or two in the mix. But never an actual animal bite.

So am I just good like that? Absolutely not – I’m just lucky and trust me I know this. The past couple of days have been a heartache for my mother and I.

An adolescent stray calico cat had taken up residence in mom’s yard for about three days. Let me say first that if I were a stray, I’d go to my mother’s back yard to live. Her yard is literally a Utopia – add the fact that she loves animals and it’s a win-win for the stray. Both of us were trying to find the cat which she called Callie a home. Two days ago, I dropped by her house to see her on the way home from work. Sure enough, the little thing jumped right up in my lap the moment I went outside and sat down. It was obvious by how tame she was that someone had likely dumped her out. Oh how I hate that – our pets should not be disposable.

For the next 20 minutes or so, I continued petting her as she nuzzled her head and made biscuits like cats do. Mom even got a movie of her doing this, she just melted our hearts. Lo and behold, for whatever reason something spooked her – and within less than a second she had bitten my hand and was back down on the ground. She got me good, too – all four incisors made puncture wounds. It took until later that night to get the bleeding to subside.

Since the cat was a stray, Mom had to make the dreaded decision of letting animal control take custody of her, where she’ll be held in quarantine for ten days to monitor for rabies. With us both being animal lovers, it’s really taken it’s toll on us. Mom had already gotten attached to the little thing. As for myself – I feel very responsible for what will likely be certain death for the cat. I’m told I shouldn’t, but so far it’s not something I’ve been able to shake off.

Mom went through so much crap yesterday just to get to the right source – that’s a perk of living in a big city, everything is automated with call-backs. Cops here don’t even come out to car break-ins anymore to take a report. We both had to meet with animal control to file the report and let them see the bite. Today, I’ve already gotten two calls from city workers at the health department ensuring I took the right steps. I held my breath as I answered what I recognize to be ‘city prefix numbers’ – afraid it might be a positive on the rabies, or at the least a call to come in for the shots. I felt compelled to immediately insert a line about having my own doctor who was aware of the situation (done as I hear this little voice screaming inside my head… ‘nooo, you can’t make me!!’).

My most recently learned lesson… don’t pet strays.

Posted by  |  May 5, 2011 | Categories: Animals, Health | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Okay May, can we slow it down a bit now?

This past weekend was one of the most awesomely relaxing weekends in a long time. Did I mention it was a three-dayer? It started Thursday night (I had taken Friday off for the Royal Wedding). Keith had to drag my a** out of bed at 4am to see it – honestly I would’ve missed it if he hadn’t. It was my first attempt at a ‘live-tweet’ for an event such as this… I realize this is very minute to most people, but I can reflect back on it myself and smile. That’s the big thing for me – the memories.

Watched a couple movies recommended by a friend this weekend, both older but awesome.Red Dawn with Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen, and Double Jeopardy with Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones. I can’t say I was blown away by Red Dawn, primarily because it was compared to Shawshank Redemption, which I thought it not even close. Shawshank is EPIC and an all-time fave of mine. But Double Jeopardy – just wow. I could definitely watch that one again.

Saturday we bought some flowers and such for the yard, and spent a good bit of time arranging and planting them. We have a couple of ferns hanging from the porch now and a gorgeous Calibrachoa hanging basket (the flowers look like vibrant mini-petunias). My bright idea was to make a little flower bed surrounding the mailbox at the end of the yard, and we decided on begonias for this. It’s sparse right now, but it’ll grow… Keith’s sister even joked that it must look like a girl is living here now. 🙂

Today there was finally a televised NYY game on – they’re very rare. After a couple of hours of sun, we both opted for a late-afternoon nappiepoo game-front. I love afternoon naps. If the opportunity would present itself a little more often, trust me I would partake. There’s just nothing better – well, almost nothing better.

Finally, today K and I opened a forgotten carton of strawberries we’d gotten at the store Friday… and noticed a label that read “Limited Edition – Fresh California Strawberries”. Being that I’m very attentive to labels, it caught my attention. Limited Edition, seriously? Strawberries? Upon washing, slicing, sprinkling with sugar and sampling, we were looking at each other with owl eyes and saying WTF? Those were the best strawberries I’ve ever had the pleasure of having in my mouth. (Taking note that I never even ate a strawberry until 2.75 years ago when my friend Lori and her son Matt fed me one at a farmers market.) Still… earthshatteringly delectable; blogworthy for sure.

This back and forth stuff between my place and Keith’s is taking it’s toll on me. There’s so much to be done before I move! K suggested this weekend just going ahead and bringing my bed over (going in a middle room) this way I can’t go back there to sleep during the week. My reasoning for not doing this is I’ll never get packed if I’m not there at night to do it. Now – my mind is recalculating. I pass right by my place anyway to and from work, it might actually work better. I made the decision a week ago for Camille to reside with him instead of toting her back and forth – she’s had a year and a half of that and that’s enough. Hmmm. If I said the word, that gorgeous man would be right over with a truck to load up my bed sporting a big smile. So is it really that hard of a decision for me?

Oh yeah, and bin laden is dead. Supposedly. I’ll save all that for another time, another place… another blog.

Posted by  |  May 2, 2011 | Categories: Home, Weekend | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Royal Wedding

Well, the big day has finally arrived! The Royal Wedding will take place in less than 24 hours. I must ask beforehand that you forgive the sarcastic undertone of this post. You see, for the past couple of weeks I’ve heard more than my share of negative comments and opinions about the Royal Wedding – in turn, this has propelled me into smartass-Bon mode (not good). Allow me to elaborate.

The original title of this post was “Asses that attempt to ruin Royal Weddings“. I have since changed it, but still thought it noteworthy. I didn’t change it because I no longer believe negative people to be asses… I changed it because I didn’t want the word to be in the same sentence as Royal Wedding. So there. (Negative people – that means you’re still an ass.)

Additionally, I will make it my mission to overuse the words Royal Wedding in this post. If this offends you, know that I find that awesome. Now, on to more talk about the Royal Wedding. Because I can.

Most of the posts I see are so very redundant. If you’re so bored and ‘over’ the Royal Wedding, must you use your precious time to talk about it? By doing this, aren’t you allowing even more ‘air time’ to the Royal Wedding? Here’s some food for thought: posting comments of how sick you are of the Royal Wedding translates into how very intriguing and appealing it must be to you. If you’re truly sick of the Royal Wedding, why not simply change channels or read on to something else? Or perhaps there’s something deeper going on than meets the eye, other than the Royal Wedding. (Hey, how am I doing on that overuse thing?)

Here’s my comparison: when the college ball games were all going on a few weeks back, that entire series of games seemed to last for about a year. I know for a fact that I’m not the only person who doesn’t follow or care for it. But I absolutely would not post on Twitter, FB, ABC News, etc.: “No one gives a s**t about college basketball!!” It would be ridiculous. Why? Because yes, people do exist that give a s**t about college basketball.

Well, so what? It’s my status or comment, and I’ll post what I want! Isn’t that the purpose of it all? Freedom of speech, baby – take it or leave it. I choose to take it. So back off.

Okay, yeah it IS your comment. As far as freedom of speech, I beg to differ – we do not have anything of the sort here in America. There’s only a handful of things we may blurt out without risk of offense to others. If we do say something inappropriate we get blasted for it, or even worse, sued. Freedom of speech, pfftthh – sore subject with me. I’ll save that for another post to be listed in the category The Angry American. Coming soon to a blog near you.

Okay Bon. So what’s your point? If it’s my post and I can write about what I want, and I want to write about how much I hate all the hype of the Royal Wedding, what the heck IS your point?

Here’s my bottom line. Very rarely do we the people get the opportunity to enjoy anything good on the news. Everything is terrorism, war and soldiers dying, missing people, rape, murder and catastrophic weather events. The Royal Wedding is a bright spot in the midst of a storm – dare I even say it brings a ray of light and hope to many. I realize that women tend to be more susceptible to swoon over a fairytale romance, but I also know of quite a few men who appreciate it too. Not swoon over it, mind you – but appreciate it. Who couldn’t use an extra serving of love?

I guess everyone’s got something to say about something – this just happens to be mine. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to enjoy a fantastic Royal Wedding with the haters left scurrying behind me. Cheers!!

Posted by  |  April 28, 2011 | Categories: News, Relationships | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Oil and water really DON’T mix…

When I came into work yesterday, I found out a coworker had an ‘incident’ in the kitchen over the weekend for which he was awarded several severe burns. After a couple days of coworkers hounding him about possible infection, he’s finally making a trip to the doctor today. The large area on his arm appears to be third-degree.

The short story goes something like this. He left a pot heating on the stove filled with oil, no less – and walked upstairs and forgot about it until the smoke alarms started blaring. He ran back down to the kitchen and saw the flames, panicked, and threw a pail of water on the flames. Of course the water reacted much like gasoline when tossed on top of the grease fire, blowing the fire back at him. It severely burned the back of his forearm, his neck, and side of his face. He is extremely lucky to have gotten away with the burns he has, and that it wasn’t more severe.

In hindsight, he said he should have taken an extra second and stepped back to assess the situation. He stressed the importance to us of having a couple of extinguishers available, and checking the working condition of them regularly. It sure got me thinking – even after all the fire training we’ve had here at work, I can see me doing exactly what he did under duress. That is until now! When you come face to face with the results of a poor decision like that, it really packs a punch in the ole’ kisser.

In an emergency situation, it’s all too easy to make that snap decision you’ll regret – something I think we can compare to life itself. I know one thing, I don’t think I’ll be throwing water on a grease fire anytime soon.

The following information gathered via http://www.ehow.com

How to Put Out a Grease Fire

Don’t be caught unprepared when cooking in the kitchen. If you are working with grease or oil, it is critical that you know what to do in the event it catches fire. Should you ever find yourself faced with a grease fire in your kitchen, follow these steps to ensure that it is extinguished quickly and safely.

Instructions

  1. Place a metal lid over the flame. Do not use glass since the heat from the fire can cause it to break.
  2. Smother the fire with a liberal amount of baking soda if it is relatively small and contained. Try finding a lid if possible. Because it requires so much baking soda to extinguish a fire, a lid is faster and generally more effective than baking soda.
  3. Spray the fire with a Class B dry chemical fire extinguisher. Use this method if it is your only option, because it will ruin food and contaminate kitchen dishes and utensils.
  4. Use a Class K wet chemical fire extinguisher if it is available. Though more effective for extinguishing large grease fires, these are generally found only in commercial settings.
  5. Call 911 immediately if the fire is not quickly extinguished or if it grows too large to be controlled. Leave immediately if you feel threatened or endangered in any way!!

Posted by  |  April 27, 2011 | Categories: Food, Home | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Demise of a Planet

Didn’t sleep worth a darn last night. I woke up at 2:30 thinking it was about time to get up, and when I went back to sleep I dreamt a horrible series of dreams.

It was so very real, as most bad dreams are prone to vivacity. I was watching the news on television, and a reporter came on to make the announcement. The earth’s axis had tilted in a most unpredictable manner, and at this time it was strongly recommended that you locate any loved ones to ‘spend time’ with. It was known in my dream just what that translated to, there wasn’t even a question.

The battle began in my head – how do I get my family together? What will my daughter do? After all, she’d be torn between me and her Dad. What about Keith’s daughter? And of course Keith was thinking of his family. How do you go about doing this? The mayhem, oh my gracious, the mayhem that ensued. Every mode of transportation seemed full, gas stations were already in ration, the roads were full of vehicles. Many resorted to walk as far as their feet would take them.

Emotions everywhere were off the charts. There were no dry eyes anywhere to be found. How are you supposed to act when you’re told you won’t be here much longer, that none of us will? How do you choose the appropriate family members to spend your last bit of time with, if they’re local enough to even get to? Would I make it in time to see my precious mother, father and daughter? I finally woke as the decision was about to be made for Keith and I to part ways in order to each be with our families. I tear up as I write this, just as it tore me up in my dream.

What a horrible dream.

But was it really? As I sit here writing this, I begin to tie it in with yesterday’s message. Empowered by the Blood of Jesus. Because if you believe in this Blood, this most precious Blood that Jesus Christ shed for us, and accept it – you’ll never have to say goodbye. What a gift, of which I am so undeserving. Yet it’s there for the taking… Praise God for this.

Posted by  |  April 25, 2011 | Categories: Dreams | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hoppy Saturday

It was a nice Friday off yesterday, even though it rained the majority of the day. Any day off work is a good one in my book!

We got a good bit moved yesterday from my place to Keiths. Also lots of cleaning, tossing and rearranging at his house afterwards. It’s slowly becoming apparent just how much ‘stuff’ we both have, combined.

Later this afternoon, we’re meeting some of my former classmates and old neighborhood buddies from my school days. A girlfriend and I set this up and created an event on Facebook detailing date and time – very cool indeed! I hope there’ll be a good showing of people there, some of which I haven’t seen in 27-28 years. I’m looking so forward to it!

I hope all of you Easter bunnies out there have a very meaningful and relaxing Easter Sunday with family and friends… and God bless you all.

Posted by  |  April 23, 2011 | Categories: Friends, Weekend | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments