Seriously cool

Honestly, creativity is SUCH a turn on!!! Check this out;

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/p/about-blog.html

I resolve...

I'm not one to make new year resolutions. This year I thought about it though. I wondered, if I'm going to resolve to do something, what would it be. Something I would actually commit too. Hmmmmm. What. Anything? Hmmm.

Then I thought of something. ME! I resolved to take care of MYSELF. I know how silly that sounds, but it turns out lots of women put themselves last ~ all the time. I'm one of those. I have selfish moments and occasionally I take a selfish day, but I never really think about taking care of my own needs. So this year I resolved to think about ME.

I took the first step yesterday, with my primary care physician. I walked out with a list of things to do. Rats! After I go to the lab and dump some blood, I have to make an appointment with a sleep center. Turns out I have sleep apnea. Next week I have an appointment with a nutritionist. My Dr was very excited about the "quest to fix Cynthia". She's so great, I really like her. I also suspected I have tennis elbow...I do. Luckily, the first step to fixing that is pretty simple. It also turns out that my itchy palm isn't all in my head!! I have a compressed nerve related to a really painful bout of tendinitis in my wrist a couple years ago. There's not a fix for that but at least I know I'm not completely nuts now!

I'm looking forward to finding out what my allergies are, how low my iron is, if my thyroid is working properly and what my cholesterol is.

Now all I have to do is tell my husband that his needs no longer come first. Goodie goodie goodie! Yeah, yeah, I love him, he's important, blah blah blah, but I'm important too - so if he wants a pound of spaghetti for dinner, he better learn to cook. No more excuses for myself!

Yes, it's true, "old age ain't for sissies"
I feel like I'm going to war! I bet I can be a real bitch too :-)

Extra, extra....

Every day there are wacky things going on!
Here's just a sampling of items that are (and aren't) newsworthy;

* The Human Torch, of the Fantastic Four, was killed off by Marvel. Any guesses on what they'll be called now? The Terrific Three maybe. Or how about the Tremendous Three? Or maybe they should be the Tearful Three. In these times, it's not cool to kill off a superhero. I'm sad.
* A car salesman at a dealership in Chicago, was fired for wearing a Packers tie to work.
My guess is that they wanted to fire him for something.
* Taco Bell is being sued for advertising that they use beef - when in fact their "meat filling" is less than 40% beef. Ewwwww. I think I've probably eaten my last taco from Taco Bell. I mean, I'm alright with that but Mexican food is so limited in the Midwest.
* Americans think the best burger comes from In and Out. Nobody asked me! I like In and Out but we have a local joint with a 5 cheese burger that's to die for!
* Toyota has recalled another 1.7 million cars (Lexus) for fuel leaks. Come on people, buy a FORD!!!!!!
* The top ten most popular dog breeds in America are;
10. Shih Tzu
9. Poodle
8. Dachshund
7. Boxer
6. Bulldog
5. Golden Retriever
4. Beagle
3. Yorkie
2. German Shepherd
1. Lab
I was a little disappointed that Miniature Schnauzer wasn't on the list. I see them all the time. Also, I was surprised to see a Shepherd at #2. Mostly because it's nearly impossible to get affordable home owners insurance if you have one.
* A new study says that your shopping habits can be dictated by your last name. If your last name starts with a letter toward the end of the alphabet, you're more apt to buy things more quickly than someone who has a last name that starts with an early letter in the alphabet. It has to do with always being last when you were a kid. I hope MY tax dollars weren't spent on this study!
* There's a controversy brewing in Utah. They want to name a "State" gun, to honor the native Utah inventor, John Browning. Some people think Mr. Browning should be honored as an inventor of many things, not JUST a gun. Hmmm
* Household names left in the past;
Compaq
EF Hutton
Merry Go Round (the cool, hip, clothing store)
MCI (now Verizon)
Eastern Airlines
Enron
Woolworth's
Kinny Shoe Store
Pan Am
General Foods
TWA
* And the number one worst sandwich is the Cheesecake Factory Grilled Shrimp & Bacon Club. It contains 1890 calories, 24 grams of saturated fat, 2964 mg sodium and 125 grams of carbs! But it looks sooooo yummy! The second worst was Chili's Jalapeno Smokehouse Burger. It contains 1780 calories and 125 grams of fat, but only has 71 g of carbs.

I guess there isn't a lot to fill the news with unless you're talking about politics or death.

Go RV-ing

Don't you love those commercials about seeing the country in an RV? I do. They make it look like such fun. Even to a non-camper, non-outdoorsy chick like me. My husband loves the outdoors. So does my Mom. Maybe that gene skips a generation? I want a hotel. OK, I take that back...I want, at the very least, a campground with hot and cold running water, showers, toilets and built in grills. None of that Coleman lantern and portable stove crap. NO sleeping bags on the ground with the bugs. But an RV or travel trailer would be acceptable. So the 3 of us went to the RV show last weekend. Do you know that you can get a pretty cool travel trailer for under 25k? And a 10 year loan would only make your payments about $230 a month! Ahhhh, but then reality sets in ~ how will tow it, how much are the campgrounds, hook ups, etc. Where will you store it, how much extra $$ in gas will you use, how much is insurance...But if you don't worry about any of those until after the show, it's a lot of fun!

We also went to the new concert hall in town. They had an open house. It's a beautiful building. It only seats 1600 people, it's within walking distance AND we have season tickets to the Great American Songbook series! I can't wait! During the open house, they have different choral groups and bands and the symphony playing on stage, so you could get a feel for the acoustics of the place ~ which were amazing by the way. It was a 2 day event. Who would have thought that THOUSANDS of people would want to check it out?!?!?! I'm glad it's going to be so successful for our little berg, but holy bananas! We went at 3:00 and even though it only seats 1600, there had to have been 3 times that many people there. It was nuts! Now I'm looking forward to the first show even more!

Bill went back to work yesterday. Hallelujah! He's really going to need a hobby when he retires...and a part time job for sure. I love being around him most of the time, just not ALL of the time. Anyway, he was pretty pooped out at the end of the day. I suspect he'll be pretty pooped out all week. But I bet by the end of the week, he'll be glad to be back on the job.

Here's the new Pallidium;

Health Care Reform

Yes, we need it. Do we need the reform plan that's in place right now? No.
If you've never suffered from a serious injury, medical procedure or sickness, you would be shocked at the cost of health care. A broken ankle will cost you about $35K ~ and that's with insurance. Triple that if you don't have health insurance. Of course, if you didn't have health insurance, you would probably file bankruptcy because you could never pay off a bill like that.
I remember thinking when they wheeled me into surgery for my ankle, "I don't really give a shit that there's nice art on the walls in the hallway, but I'm sure I'll be paying for it!" (Yes, I understand about R&D) I also wonder, why does the medical profession/industry charge $1000 for something if the negotiated rate with the insurance company is only $180.00? That's just stupid.
I brought all this up because we've pretty much gotten all the bills for the removal of the big ugly word. The grand total was $66,292.56. The negotiated rate paid by insurance was $38,107.57.
The craziest charge was $11,00.00 for the biopsy!! Insurance paid $1186. So why do they even bother to say they charge $11,000 if they really only want $1186.?

Don't take that the wrong way...I'm sooooooo grateful, every single day. But holy bananas!

:-)

What a good day! First of all, the very first thing I heard this morning was "happy birthday sweetie". Awwwww. Second, it's snowing! I like it. I know most Hoosiers say they are snow fatigued, but we've had much worse winters. Third, I got a really great Suzy Toronto print from Chucks daughter. She's so sweet and I really like Suzy Toronto. Fourth, I got chocolate cake after lunch! Fifth...my man is making me breakfast for dinner ~ with lots of bacon! Really, what could bee better?! Oh! And the 2nd night of American Idol is tonight :-) LOVE the new judges. Yup, it's a fanTAStic day

On my little Mary Engelbreit desk calendar, today says, "We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same."
I like that.

Yippee!

Here. We. Go! Tonight at 8PM on FOX is the American Idol 2011 premiere episode that we’ve all been waiting eight months to see since last season’s finale.
Simon may be gone, but will he be missed? Of course! But we’re about to see if the new power duo of Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler can calm the nervous twitches of loyal viewers for whom American Idol is synonymous with Simon Cowell.
Randy and Ryan will ease the transition as we get our first glimpse of a judges panel featuring new faces and more importantly, new voices in front of that panel.
We’ll get a full two hours tonight of Idol hopefuls coming to New Jersey to do their best in hopes of earning a golden ticket to Hollywood.

a week later

Dang! A whole week has gone by already! Zooooooooom

So, Mom is back from sunny California. She had a wonderful time. I'm soooo glad. She needed a fun getaway. It seems a little quieter without Bud though. Not that he's a busy dog or anything, but it's quieter none the less.

Bill had a checkup last Friday and he's good to go back to work next Monday. Hooray!!! I asked him this morning if he was looking forward to it and he said "not really. I've been gone so long now that it'll seem like starting a new job" I guess I can see that. I'm happy he's going back to work though, he needs something to do :-)

We went to the gun show Friday afternoon. There a lot of gun totting Hoosiers. Seriously! We got there right at 2:00, that's when it opened, and there was a line of people about 1/2 mile long just waiting to get in. Wow! I read that Indiana is 2nd only to NY in licensed gun owners. Lots of denim and camo. LOL Bill said we won't have to go again...he would rather go to a good shop.
Whew!

It was a good 3 day weekend for me. I got lots of quilling done and started on rug hooking project. I also groomed all 3 dogs. That was fun. No really, it was fun. I had to get new clippers and instead of just buying another cheap $30 dollar clipper, I sprang for some good ones. What a difference!!! They look great! I'm so happy. And, because it costs $40 to get your dog groomed if you take them somewhere, my new clippers have already paid for themselves. That's a good investment. Pepper looks so cute, not like a dust bunny anymore.

And more snow is in the forecast. 5 inches on Thursday. I bet Mom is sad. Saturday she had a t-shirt on and it was hot out. But me? Oh goodie!!! Snow on my birthday...hooray!

The future, minus some things...

I was reading an article the other day that talked about all the things that are on their way out and/or disappearing.

Land lines.
I can see that. We haven't had one for about 7 years. Except, I still think cell phones cost too much.

Hand-written letters
I can't even tell you the last time I wrote a letter to someone. Sometimes I miss it. It took time, and thought.

Travel Agents
I didn't even know there still were travel agents!

Cameras that require film
My grand kids won't ever have one of these. Isn't that weird? I love my digital camera but my 35mm is still easier to point and shoot. I know they've gotten better since I got mine ~ 3 years ago. But I don't like it that I would have to give it up for something that's better just 3 short years later. It's that throw away mentality and it bothers me. I worked hard to earn the money to buy that camera/pc/game system/etc...

Catalogs
Thank heavens!!! I get waaaaay too many of those. Really, if I want something I just get on the computer. Yeah, I won't miss those. Same for phone books...it's a big waste of resources. Good riddance.

Paper maps
That's too bad. But in another decade, people will be doing all of that on their phones. Even the portable and in-dash GPS is practically obsolete.

CD's
I think they've been saying that for at least 10 years already. I don't buy a lot of CD's anyway so I don't care. I like the music channels on cable and my radio is fine in the car.

Books
They've been saying that for at least 10 years too. I love books. I love having books. (I guess there are some folks who say the same thing about record albums) I know people who think it would be nice to have an e-reader, but I don't know anybody that does have one. Do you want one? Why? Do you have one? Do you like it? Why? I miss Walden's and B.Dalton's. If Borders and Barns and Noble disappears, I will be sad. And what about libraries? Kids will really be missing out if they don't ever get a chance to hang out at the library. Are you going to read them stories from your iPad? Ick.

There were a few more things on the list but those were the big ones.

Quilling

Oooooooo, I still really like quilling...a lot. Right now I'm in the process of quilling shapes for a drawing Bill is working on for me. So far, it looks like it will be about 12"x16". I can't wait to get started on it! After that, I might get started on the quilling for next years Christmas cards. Now that I'm getting the hang of it, you'll like next years even more!

I LOVE this woman's work;

Her name is Yulia Brodskaya.

Breaking the rule

Really? Only one person could venture a guess as to what all the below words have in common?

And a few of my readers are teachers!

Well, give up? They all break the i before e except after c rule. And there are a lot more words that break that rule. So what's the point of the rule???

I've heard it said that English is the hardest language to learn. No wonder! We have rules that don't even apply.

This morning while we were watching the news, a picture of our state seal came up. Bill had to pause it so he could check it out. I guess he's never seen it. I see it every day, several times.

Anyway, he had several comments;

1. what is that animal?

2. what's with the guy by the trees?

3. is that a mountain? in Indiana?

To be fair, it wasn't a very good picture. It did sort of look like a cross between a lamb and a lion. It's a buffalo.

And the guy by the tree is holding an ax.

And, um, yeah, it does look like a mountain but it's supposed to be a hill.

It's not the dorkiest state seal out there. You can find them all here;

http://www.netstate.com/states/symb/seals/al_seal.htm

It was fun to look at.

What do you think...

What do these words have in common? I'll give a couple days to think about it.

ceiling, efficient, receive, seize, weird, caffeine, eight, feisty, protein, height,
sovereignty, neither, vein, species, kaleidoscope, weight, being, neighbor,
their, foreign, ancient, deceive

WHAT time is it????

When is it too early or too late to get up or go to bed? What exactly is an uncivilized hour for you?

When I was a teen, sleeping late meant 11:00 am or noon.
And staying up late meant 4:00 am. Or sometimes, the next morning!
That all ends when you have kids.

Now, sleeping late means 7:30 am. Even when I don't have to tend to the dogs, I still get up early. And staying up late is midnight ~ and sometimes that's a struggle.

Some people come into work at 6:30 or 7:00. I think that's uncivilized. I get up at 6:20, to be at work by 8:15. But if I didn't have to commute downtown, I would absolutely be staying in bed longer.

This morning I woke up at 3:45 am. That's when my husbands alarm went off. See, he was assigned the task of taking Mom to the airport. She needed to be there by 5:ish. I made him do it because he could come home and go back to bed. If I did it, I would have to stay up. So much for my plans! So, it's 3:45...no biggie, I can go back to sleep. Except he came back in several times to get his clothes, etc. And he wasn't very quiet about it either. I think he was subconsciously getting back at me for having to get up. Just when I started to doze back off, they put Bud (Mom's dog) in our bedroom and left for the airport. Well, poor Bud has separation anxiety. Yeah, after 20 minutes of trying to calm him down I decided I was too awake to go back to sleep and we all got up. I like Bud though...he plays with Pepper and he looooooves Greta. But damn! It's going to be a L*O*N*G day for me. It's 9:45 right now and I've been up for 6 hours already! That's just not right.

Thank heavens it's Friday. I'm not cooking when I get home - I'm taking a nap :-)

think about it...

Today on Daily Steals, they're giving away, that's right, FREE, electric potato peelers.


Call me master of the obvious but I'm pretty sure I know why these didn't sell.

the past is just a good-bye...

Things change all the time.

30 years ago, it was seriously uncool to have a tattoo if you were a female.
Then they started to show up ankles, which was kind of cool. Now, they're everywhere! It still limits your opportunities in life, (I love mine though) but now people don't look at you like you're trash. Same for men. (unless you're Jesse James)

20 years ago, no one in their right mind would have gotten their tongue pierced! Why would you even think of doing that? Same for belly buttons and eyebrows and nipples. Not so uncommon now.

Oh don't get me wrong. I'm not "longing" for the good ol days. There's plenty not to like about the times we live in, but there are plenty of things that are pretty great.

I was just thinking today though...when did this or that change? Not necessarily about the big things either. Take Lifesavers for instance. Do you remember those Storybook Lifesavers you used to get at Christmas? I loved those. Except for the Pep o mint and Spear o mint flavors. Butter Rum was my favorite. Anyway, they used to look like this;

Now they look like this;
You only get one side now. That's 6 less rolls! What a rip.
And while they got rid of the minty flavors, which is okay with millions of kids, they also got rid of Butter Rum. Phooey!

humph!

Don't you hate it when you wake up in a bad mood ~ for no reason? Actually, I have about 100 reasons but none of them stand out as that ONE reason. I'm sure I'll get over it but still, it's a crappy way to start the day.

Apparently our little winter warm up was just enough to soften up the ground...that STUPID FRICKIN mole is back! There are ridges ALL OVER our front yard. It really puts a damper on wanting to look forward to Spring and gardening. Seriously, how do we get rid of it? Grrrrrrr. I don't even feel bad about wanting it to die. Moles aren't even cute. Oh sure I know...all God's creatures...but come on! Enough already. Hmmm...I think that little rant made me feel better. I might have to come back and rant some more today!

Happy New Year!

Lets all welcome the new year, full of things that have never been! (That was on my ME calendar on Saturday)

Here's to good health, weight loss, better eating habits, positive attitudes, vacations and LESS STRESS!
I feel like Miss America when I say this but...I wish for a cure for cancer. (you thought I was gonna say world peace huh?!)

Have any of you seen the latest doomsday prediction? According to http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40885541/ns/us_news-life/?gt1=43001
the world is going to end on May 21st...this year. Well, that's not entirely true. All believers will be raptured on May 21st and the non-believers will be left to suffer. I guess they decided to overlooked the part in Revelations that says,
"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. [33] Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. [34] It's like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch." Mark 13:32-34

That part seems like a pretty big deal too! Hmmmmm
People are funny. Interpretation is an interesting thing. You can make up anything you want and just call it your interpretation. Isn't that lying?

Oh! And I finally got a spare key made :-) Two in fact. I'm not taking any chances this time!