Things always work out...

Some people just get so stressed out when things don't go their way. Honey, there's always a plan B and usually things work out anyway, lighten up!

The guy ride is back on. Hallelujah! Not that I don't miss him and worry about him when he's gone, but sometimes the ME time sure is nice. This years ride is only 5 days.

Next, someone finally agreed to take his on-call weekend so we can still go to the Moto GP race. I know he's happy about that. I'm kind of looking forward to it as well. The last time I went we were stuck in the remnants of a hurricane and it was miserable.

Aaaaand, it looks like he's going to get a couple days off to go to Nashville with me for the last Brooks and Dunn concert. It won't be the vacation we had hoped for, but a long weekend is nice too.

All that needs to happen now is for Mom to keep her spleen! I have my fingers crossed :-)

MJ's greedy estate

Oh brother...nobody cared about this when he was alive. I LOVE this game!!!

by Winda Benedetti Citizen Gamer
msnbc.com
updated 7/27/2010 8:11:47 PM ET

Bye bye Michael Jackson zombie. Hello … disco zombie?
The estate of Michael Jackson has stirred up a hubbub over a moonwalking zombie that appears in the hit game "Plants vs. Zombies."
Game developer PopCap Games says it is removing the famed "dancing zombie" from the PC and iPhone versions of the game after the late King of Pop's people contacted the company about the undead character's familiar features.
In "Plants vs. Zombies," players pit an army of vegetation against wave after wave of reanimated corpses. The game features different zombie characters who each have different, uh, skills and therefore must be fended off in unique ways.
With his red attire and black Jheri curl, the offending zombie even performed an in-game dance with a troupe of back-up dancer zombies — a la Jackson's "Thriller" music video.
PopCap spokesman Garth Chouteau released the following statement about the rotten situation:
"The Estate of Michael Jackson objected to our use of the 'dancing zombie' in 'Plants vs. Zombies' based on its view that the zombie too closely resembled Michael Jackson.
"After receiving this objection, PopCap made a business decision to retire the original 'dancing zombie' and replace it with a different 'dancing zombie' character for future builds of 'Plants vs. Zombies' on all platforms. The phase-out and replacement process is underway."

Friday funnies

The biggest things

Can you imagine?!

The world's largest rubber band ball stands six feet seven inches tall and has a circumference of 25 feet. It took five years for Joel Waul of Lauderhill to create, weighs more than 9,400 pounds, and contains approximately 720,000 rubber bands. The outer layers consist of multicolored industrial-size bands that weigh several pounds each.


Christy Harp brought a 1,725 pound pumpkin to the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers (OVGPG) Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off on Saturday, October 3, 2009.

This big beast is 7 feet, 3 inches long, 43 inches tall at the shoulder, and weighs an impressive 245 pounds! Every month, owners feed Giant George 110 pounds of dog food, and he sleeps in his very own Queen-sized bed.

The longest stick bug in the world is ove 22 inches long.

The World's Longest Yard Sale Details:
Yard Sale Date: August 5-8, 2010Place: The Lookout Mountain Parkway and the U.S. 127 Corridor From: Gadsden, Alabama to Hudson, Michigan

Big Jake is 6-foot-11 (20 hands) from the bottom of his unshod hooves to his withers, making him the largest horse in the world right now.

I know I usually like the really little tiny things, but I couldn't help but looking for more really big things after I saw the big dog! Whoa. That dog is so big that he can stick his nose in the kitchen sink without jumping up on the counter!!!!

Peppers big adventure

Down the woodchuck hole to parts unknown. But she popped back out so I guess she didn't find the woodchuck!

Do you know this song?

(father)
It's not time to make a change,
Just relax, take it easy.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to know.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.

I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy,
To be calm when you've found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot,
Why, think of everything you've got.
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not.

(son)
How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again.
It's always been the same, same old story.
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.

(father)
It's not time to make a change,
Just sit down take it slowly.
You're still young, that's your fault,
There's so much you have to go through.
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy.

(son)
All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it.
If they were right, I'd agree, but it's them you know not me.
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away.
I know I have to go.

The best ad jingles ever

The first thing I noticed though, was that none of these are new. Hmmmm

Counting down;

Number 10

Double your pleasure with doublemint gum (I don't remember this one, was it a song?)

Number 9

I am stuck on Band-Aid brand cuz Band-Aids stuck on me
Number 8

Plop plop, fizz fizz, oh what a relief it is

Number 7

Mmm mmm good, mmm mmm good, that's what Campbells soup is, mmm mmm good.

Number 6

I'm a pepper, he's a pepper, she's a pepper, we're a pepper, wouldn't you like to be a pepper too

Number 5

You deserve a break today, so get up and get away...to McDonald's

Number 4
I don't wanna grow up I'm a Toys R Us kid

Number 3 (this wasn't a 'song' though so I'm not sure that it should have been included)
Two all beef patties, special sauce, pickles, cheese...

Number 2

Oh I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener, that is what I'd truly like to be

And the number 1 best ad jingle of all time?

I'd like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company...

Wasn't that fun?

What's your car worth?

It's worth a lot if you factor in why you need it. It gets you to work or the grocery store. It gets you to the Dr. or to school or just down the road a ways.

If you think about it that way, I suppose it's worth what you pay for a vehicle?

But if you think about it like this...

I spend, on average, 85 minutes a day in my car.
That's about 7 hours a week.
Annually, I spend 19.5 days in my car.
That's 5.3% of the year.

...don't you feel like you're getting ripped off?

According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, the average price of a new car sold in the United States is $28,400. WHAT? I can't imagine EVER spending that much on CAR! 28 grand for something you only spend an average of 12 days a year in? (oh, I got that 12 days figure from an article I read recently) whoa

Monsters in the yard

OK, so they aren't real monsters, but if you saw them in a movie you would think it's a monster;

In case you don't know what these are, they're called cicadas.

They're big, loud and disgusting. However, the Humane Society says, to a dog or cat, it will seem like a yard full of chicken nuggets.

Ewwwwwwww. Well, it's true. Pepper found her first cicada yesterday morning. She almost brought it in the house but I made her stay outside with it. She ate the whole thing. Ick. Bill said she actually did bring one in after work yesterday. She went straight to her little dog bed and had her own little feast. ICK!

The Humane Society also says;
" like junk food, the cicadas can make pets sick. Randall Lockwood, a Humane Society vice president and animal behaviorist, says the insects are protein-rich but their exoskeletons are indigestible, so eating too many can cause vomiting or constipation."

Guess I'll have to keep an eye on her. I mean, it's better than eating poo but still.

Noteworthy news

On Friday, July 9th, the very last PT Cruiser rolled off the line.

sniff, sniff, sniff.

No, I'm not being funny. My PT Cruiser is my dream car. I want to own it forever! If I could afford it, I'd buy another one right now so when this one dies, I'll still have one. Chrysler is going to replace it with the Fiat 500, a really stooopid looking car. Booooooooo. It just looks like an amped up version of the Smart car! Blech.

The other incredibly stooopid news story I saw this weekend had to do with, surprise, the Rev. Jesse Jackson. He said, in regard to Dan Gillberts statement that LeBron James was a coward;

"He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers," Jackson told The Associated Press. "His feelings of betrayal personify a slave-master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave."

I don't give a shit about LeBron James. He's NOT the greatest to ever play. He's not even in the same league as Magic or Jordan or Bird or Shaq. He sure is full of himself though. His old team feels betrayed that he's leaving, and so do the fans. It happens all the time for heavens sake! But for Jesse Jackson to make a statement like that is so incredibly asinine, on soooo many levels!! If someone told me this story, I would have said they made it up. The Rev should retire. His time has come and gone.

My favorite article is written by Jason Whitlock;

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/Jesse-Jackson-LeBron-James-Dan-Gilbert-slavery-comparison-071210

And in this article, you can find a job suited to your personality!

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2304-Salaries-and-Promotions-High-Paying-Jobs-for-Your-Personality-Type/?sc_extcmp=JS_2304_home&SiteId=cbmsnhp42304&ArticleID=2304&GT1=23000&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=298f5eb7acf244ca86156b0ac8a4aac6-332241361-wq-6

And the big question Yahoo is asking this morning? Are silly bandz just a fad? Duh.

Oh brother.

What's in YOUR wallet?

It was a serious question...do you know?

I happen to know what's in mine because I bought a new one recently so I had to transfer everything. A wallet, even a mans, holds a lot of crap. Mine had receipts (ooooold ones too) reward cards to stores I don't go to anymore, band aids, several notes to myself, a little pill that I don't recognize, my license, my debit card, pictures, all my insurance cards ~ auto, scooter, medical ~ my Kohl's card, my Kroger card, my CostCo ID, some Christmas stamps and some regular forever ones, and 1 credit card. I could barely snap it closed.

Here's another serious question...if you lost your wallet, do you know who to call for what? Think about it, save yourself some frustration and keep a separate list somewhere. I promise you'll bee happy you did.

My Mom's wallet weighs about 3 lbs. What the hell does she have in that thing anyway??? Not me, mine is nice and trim now :-) I think my husband has more in his wallet!

That was kind of like a PSA wasn't it? (that was inspired by you JC)

Look what I bought myself yesterday!

hahahahahahahahahaha! Soooo cute! I really like Jim Shore. I like folk art and he kind of fits the bill for me. I've been wanting to buy myself some little Jim Shore figurine for the longest time. I popped in on his website yesterday and saw this little thing...Bee Happy. OF COURSE it was the perfect one for ME. I can't wait for it to arrive!

And last but certainly not least...Dr. Death had GREAT news for Mom yesterday. (he was much nicer so Mom forgave him for being a big cranky pants last week) Her aneurysm is actually smaller!!! He said he can't explain why that is, but it is. So she can go see him again in 6 months for another check up. I can explain it...PRAYER.

Crafty me

I got my beginner Quilling kit right before the long weekend... I think I'll like quilling! It's much easier than the egg painting thing. But I think everything looks like it would be easy to do. I wonder why that is? It's never easy. Why do I think it will be? Hmmm. Maybe easy isn't the right way to express it. Perhaps I look at things and think, "I could do that" Yep, I think that's it. Anyway, it can be very detailed and there's definitely skill involved. Mostly you have to keep the same pressure with your fingers when you're twirling the paper. That's not easy. It gets better if I go slower. I won't tell you what my first design was though ~ I'm going to give it to Chuck's daughter and she reads my blog :-) The rest of you can probably expect to get one too. Today Mom gets to see "Dr Death". She calls him that because he's SUPER grouchy and gloomy. He's the vascular surgeon that's going to tell her his 'plan' for the aneurysm. I bet he's one of those people who became a Dr for the $$. You can tell can't you? I loved my first adult primary physician. He really listened and never rushed. He always gave suggestions instead of being bossy just because he was smarter than me. He was also a parrot head and had long hair. He was the best. I love my dentist too. He's a dream come true for a sissy girl like me. I've been going to him for 15 years and now I'm converted ~ I go every 6 months and I'm never afraid! That says more than you know. Oh yeah, I was talking about crafting wasn't I?! See how easy I get distracted? Good grief!

I love long weekends!

I know, if you're retired, you don't care about 3 days off in a row. But us worker bees really enjoy them. We got so much accomplished this weekend. Our July 4th menu was a do-over of Memorial day...for Mom. Since she was sick and missed it. We had pulled pork and potato salad. Mmmmmmmmm. Oh, and 3 different flavors of homemade ice cream - peach, vanilla and banana coconut. I didn't use to be a big ice cream fan, but I'm lovin' the homemade stuff! Aaaaand I made jerky. I just love yummy things.

Last night was the big fireworks show. I know what you're thinking, but it was the 5th. Yeah, we all thought the same thing. Seriously, who was the bonehead that said we should have our towns celebration on the 5th??? I am completely stumped by that one. So we got home late and had to get up early. Not cool. But...I got my elephant ear :-) It was delicious too.

Mom is settling into her new home nicely. I know she's frustrated that she can't do stuff, but it already seems just perfect for her. She has the most amazing neighbors. They've all introduced themselves and have been downright lovely to her. Just like in the good 'ol days. I love that for her. I can't wait to take the little rascals over to see the Grams new place!

We're expecting some miserable heat and humidity this week. Ahhhh, summertime. I don't mind though...we have AC. I do wonder though, how did people live without AC? Uh huh, I'm a sissy. I could live without a lot of things; dishwasher, ice maker, garage door opener, a mulching mower, a cell phone, even a microwave. But go without AC???? No way man!

July is...

National Baked Bean Month
National Hot Dog Month
National Ice Cream Month ~ Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month in 1984. He also appointed the third Sunday in July as National Ice Cream Day.
National Picnic Month

July 1 National Gingersnap Day
July 1 International Joke Day
July 1 Praise a Postal Worker Day
July 3 National Chocolate Wafer Day
July 3 Dog Days of Summer Begin
July 4 Independence Day ~ Happy Birthday America!
July 4 National Barbecue Day
July 4 Country Music Day ~ give it a try, you might like it!
July 5 National Apple Turnover Day
July 6 National Fried Chicken Day ~ I'm not cooking it, but I'll go to KFC!
July 6 National Cherry Festival
July 6 Running of the Bulls
July 7 National Strawberry Sundae Day
July 7 National Macaroni Day
July 8 Video Games Day
July 9 National Sugar Cookie Day
July 9 National Blonde Day ~ They get their own day? WHY?
July 10 National Pina Colada Day
July 11 National Blueberry Muffin Day
July 11 Swimming Pool Day
July 11 Cheer Up The Lonely Day ~ awwwwww
July 12 National Pecan Pie Day ~ I think Chuck's daughter will love this one
July 15 National Tapioca Pudding Day
July 16 International Juggling Day ~ I would like to say I finally learned how to do this, but it's still on my list.
July 17 National Peach Ice Cream Day ~ Yes Mom, you can celebrate ALL of these days!
July 18 National Caviar Day
July 20 National Ice Cream Day
July 20 National Lollipop Day
July 21 National Creme Brulee Day
July 22 National Penuche Day ~ You know you're dying to know what this is - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penuche
July 23 National Vanilla Ice Cream Day
July 25 National Hot Fudge Sundae Day
July 25 Act Like a Caveman Day ~ Probably not a stretch for some of you
July 26 National Bagelfest
July 28 National Milk Chocolate Day
July 28 National Parent's Day ~ does this mean you get to take the day off?
July 28 National Hamburger Day ~ Bubs Burgers here we come!
July 29 National Lasagna Day
July 29 NASA's Anniversary
July 30 National Cheesecake Day
July 31 National Raspberry Cake Day