I' m on staycation, I'm on staycation! Yay. My first entire week off in 4 years. Good grief, there's just no reason for that.
Today, Chucks daughter and I are going to Nashville, IN for the day. Can't wait!!
Tomorrow is the local art fair, Sunday is another fun afternoon at Wine and Canvas and the rest of the week will be spent on a DIY home improvement project. I'll be the foreman and the helper :-)
We're going to expand our bedroom and build a walk in closet. I have complete confidence in us.
(Keep your fingers crossed)
Friday, September 27, 2013
Thursday, September 26, 2013
a brotherhood
It’s interesting to me, how a certain proffession or activity can create this special, close knit group of people. Like the Armed Forces. They all have a common interest and that gives them a special bond to one another. Cops have their own brotherhood. So do firefighters.
I was thinking about this because in our city, a police officer was shot and killed last week while trying to protect a woman involved in a domestic dispute. The suspect was also shot and killed. Today they are holding the funeral service for him and it’s a big deal. Not to dimish his sacrafice, but you would think a local dignatary was being buried. There are a couple schools closed today because they are on the procession route. The local news has been covering it since 6:00AM this morning and will continue to do so until this evenning. I’m pretty sure it’s not like this in a ‘big’ city. Anyway, I was thinking about the brotherhood of police officers. There will be thousands of them downtown today, to pay their respects. Isn’t that amazing to you? Think about it, all these men and women who truly care about the life of a co-worker.
Why isn’t everybody like that? Why aren’t we, as regular people, a brotherhood? Why don’t we care about our fellow humans just because they’re a fellow human? It made me think of John Lennon’s song, Imagine. If you haven’t heard it in awhile, go listen to it.
It kind of made me sad today.
Imagine there's no heaven
Imagine there's no countries
You may say I'm a dreamer
Imagine no possessions
You may say I'm a dreamer
I was thinking about this because in our city, a police officer was shot and killed last week while trying to protect a woman involved in a domestic dispute. The suspect was also shot and killed. Today they are holding the funeral service for him and it’s a big deal. Not to dimish his sacrafice, but you would think a local dignatary was being buried. There are a couple schools closed today because they are on the procession route. The local news has been covering it since 6:00AM this morning and will continue to do so until this evenning. I’m pretty sure it’s not like this in a ‘big’ city. Anyway, I was thinking about the brotherhood of police officers. There will be thousands of them downtown today, to pay their respects. Isn’t that amazing to you? Think about it, all these men and women who truly care about the life of a co-worker.
Why isn’t everybody like that? Why aren’t we, as regular people, a brotherhood? Why don’t we care about our fellow humans just because they’re a fellow human? It made me think of John Lennon’s song, Imagine. If you haven’t heard it in awhile, go listen to it.
It kind of made me sad today.
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today...
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...
You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Fees
Don't you get tired of all the extra fees tacked onto things!?
I hate it when you buy tickets to a show or concert and they SAY tickets start at $40. But when you buy that ticket, it ends up being $58! So now, that $80/$90 I budgeted for, turned into $120! I wish they would just add the fee into the price of the ticket and be done with it. Because honestly, it really pisses me off when I see the breakdown and how much the fees are.
A couple weeks ago I ordered some paper strips online, for quilling. Actually, I ordered a lot of paper. (It was on saleJ) Anyway, it came to something like $30. But when I got to the checkout page, the total was almost $45 dollars! Shipping was $11. What?! People must not pay attention to those things when they purchase things online. Otherwise, company’s wouldn’t think they could get away with that, right? I wasn’t about to pay that for shipping…so I just went somewhere else, where I ordered MORE paper strips for the same amount and only paid $3.60 for shipping. Yes, I should have shopped around first, but that’s not the point!
Then there’s that annoying “hospitality” fee. The definition of hospitality is;
1. the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers.
2. the quality or disposition of receiving and treating guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.
Is there anything friendly or warm about treating guests to an extra fee or tax? I ask you! They should have called it a bendover fee.
Oh, and luggage fees? Seriously? Just raise the price of the ticket dag-nabit! Geez. It’s so, in your face, to say they’re going to charge you to bring your clothes with you. It’s stupid.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
Hooray for life!
HOORAY!
Bill just passed his 3 year check up, cancer free!
His fantastic doctor was a little (happily) surprised, which didn’t really make Bill feel better. But then he told Bill that considering the amount of cancerous cells in his biopsies, he was pleasantly surprised that his tests are still coming back negative – but since they are, he doesn’t anticipate any more issues. Nice!
He gets on my last nerve sometimes but I’m glad I get to keep him xoxoxoxoxo
Bill just passed his 3 year check up, cancer free!
His fantastic doctor was a little (happily) surprised, which didn’t really make Bill feel better. But then he told Bill that considering the amount of cancerous cells in his biopsies, he was pleasantly surprised that his tests are still coming back negative – but since they are, he doesn’t anticipate any more issues. Nice!
He gets on my last nerve sometimes but I’m glad I get to keep him xoxoxoxoxo
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
Road weary
Do you ever get road weary?
Maybe it’s just because I have an hour commute twice a day. Maybe it’s just rudeness run rampant. Or maybe I just don’t have the patience I used to. In my corner of the world, we have this great little shopping mecca up the road a ways. It has a Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Marsh, Payless, Lowe’s, Target, Hallmark, etc. Really, everything you would need. Since it was built, the residential areas around it have exploded! Now, naturally, there’s A LOT of traffic. So they’ve started widening the streets, building roundabouts and overpasses. I’ve seen the plans and even though I’m totally willing to give a chance, I’m not a fan of a couple of the changes. Anyway, they’re in the middle of building an overpass and frontage street right now so ½ of the highway is closed. Plus, you can’t turn into the west side at all so you have to go WAY around the back way. Over the weekend I needed to run up to Michael's and PetSmart. Pretty simple you would think. A normally 20/30 minute excursion turned into well over an hour. I WAS SO PISSED OFF by the time we left I just wanted to cry. Instead, I proclaimed, “I’m not coming back up here until all this !@3J&*l(#& is done! It could be months…I don’t care. I’m done.
All of that made me think of all the stupid crap I see almost every day, and my list of bad driver pet peeves;
1. Don’t STOP in the lane you’re in, waiting for someone to let you into the lane you wish you were in!
2. Don’t drive into the intersection when the light turns yellow if the cars in front of you aren’t moving!
3. Don’t block the intersection.
4. Tailgating me only stresses YOU out, not me. I’m not the one who’s late.
5. When you are in the right, right turn lane, you’re supposed to stay in the right lane. Don’t turn from the right lane to the left lane!
6. STOP TEXTING WHILE YOU’RE DRIVING! I can’t tell you how many extra lights I’ve had to sit through because someone wasn’t paying attention! Not to mention all the times I’ve had to tap my brakes because someone was ‘drifting’.
7. Would it kill you to acknowledge my kindness when I let you cut in front of me? And don’t give me the stink eye when I don’t – I don’t have to you know.
I’ll probably have to come back and revise this list later!
Maybe it’s just because I have an hour commute twice a day. Maybe it’s just rudeness run rampant. Or maybe I just don’t have the patience I used to. In my corner of the world, we have this great little shopping mecca up the road a ways. It has a Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Marsh, Payless, Lowe’s, Target, Hallmark, etc. Really, everything you would need. Since it was built, the residential areas around it have exploded! Now, naturally, there’s A LOT of traffic. So they’ve started widening the streets, building roundabouts and overpasses. I’ve seen the plans and even though I’m totally willing to give a chance, I’m not a fan of a couple of the changes. Anyway, they’re in the middle of building an overpass and frontage street right now so ½ of the highway is closed. Plus, you can’t turn into the west side at all so you have to go WAY around the back way. Over the weekend I needed to run up to Michael's and PetSmart. Pretty simple you would think. A normally 20/30 minute excursion turned into well over an hour. I WAS SO PISSED OFF by the time we left I just wanted to cry. Instead, I proclaimed, “I’m not coming back up here until all this !@3J&*l(#& is done! It could be months…I don’t care. I’m done.
All of that made me think of all the stupid crap I see almost every day, and my list of bad driver pet peeves;
1. Don’t STOP in the lane you’re in, waiting for someone to let you into the lane you wish you were in!
2. Don’t drive into the intersection when the light turns yellow if the cars in front of you aren’t moving!
3. Don’t block the intersection.
4. Tailgating me only stresses YOU out, not me. I’m not the one who’s late.
5. When you are in the right, right turn lane, you’re supposed to stay in the right lane. Don’t turn from the right lane to the left lane!
6. STOP TEXTING WHILE YOU’RE DRIVING! I can’t tell you how many extra lights I’ve had to sit through because someone wasn’t paying attention! Not to mention all the times I’ve had to tap my brakes because someone was ‘drifting’.
7. Would it kill you to acknowledge my kindness when I let you cut in front of me? And don’t give me the stink eye when I don’t – I don’t have to you know.
I’ll probably have to come back and revise this list later!
Monday, September 16, 2013
Thank heavens for hobbies!
Cancer SUCKS! Bill is in the process of his next quarterly blood draw and test. Being a 1/2 empty kind of guy, he spends the week before the blood draw, worrying about having cancer. Then he spends the week between the blood draw and the results visit, convincing himself that he has cancer and will most likely parish. Which throws his emotional state into a complete tizzy! I don't mind the lovey dovey emotional outburst but the 'I'll probably die', defeated, my life sucks, emotions are pretty hard to take. Granted, I can't relate to how it feels to have cancer but come on! I'm happy to be back at work and to have a really great hobby!!!
This is the other one I started on;
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
9/11
I wasn’t there. I don’t know anyone personally who was there. I didn’t lose anyone on that day.
Like millions of other Americans though, my heart breaks today. 12 years ago today, we were changed forever. We watched in horror as over 3000 people died. Some of them fell from the buildings. Some of them jumped. Some of them were killed in an instant. Most were crushed when the buildings crumbled to the ground. We wept. We didn’t sleep well. We were glued to our TV’s and radios and computers. The sorrow was immense. The loss of all those lives seemed unreal. How could this be? How many people lost someone they loved that day? A brother, a sister, a parent, a spouse, a child. That loss, even though it wasn’t mine directly, still makes me cry.
Like millions of other Americans though, my heart breaks today. 12 years ago today, we were changed forever. We watched in horror as over 3000 people died. Some of them fell from the buildings. Some of them jumped. Some of them were killed in an instant. Most were crushed when the buildings crumbled to the ground. We wept. We didn’t sleep well. We were glued to our TV’s and radios and computers. The sorrow was immense. The loss of all those lives seemed unreal. How could this be? How many people lost someone they loved that day? A brother, a sister, a parent, a spouse, a child. That loss, even though it wasn’t mine directly, still makes me cry.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
ads and commercials
Truthfully, most of the ads I know about, are on the radio. I don’t pay that much attention to TV ads or commercials. And most of them SUCK! If I do look up when a commercial comes on, I almost always think “you paid somebody a lot of money for THAT?!”
I like a few of them though. As a matter of fact, I LOVE the new Sherwin Williams commercials with the Chameleons! Those are fantastic – visually. I also love the Jimmy Dean commercials with the Sun. They always make me smile. I like the Sun. Oh, and on cable, I love the Purina commercials that show how great dogs are! Especially the one with the montage of clips from videos sent in by dog owners/lovers. Super cute!
On the radio, I like the voice of the dude that does the Walgreen's commercials. He’s not your typical “radio voice”. It’s just a nice friendly voice. He should do audio kids books. And I really love all the Pure Michigan ads. Not so much the guys voice, (although it’s a good one) just the ads themselves are great. They make me want to go to Michigan. Yeah, I know that’s the point and their department of tourism must be thrilled with that campaign! Really, they’re so good that other states spoof them! They’re jealous. If you aren’t from around here, you can find some of the TV versions on YouTube.
In regards to shitty ads and commercials, I saw one this morning that just made me shake my head. It was an ad for an episode of Dr. Phil. It’s going to be about that young woman from some reality TV show that recently committed suicide. What made me shake my head was people will tune in and watch someone else’s grief. AND that those grief stricken family members don’t mind showing their grief to the world. I don’t get it.
I like a few of them though. As a matter of fact, I LOVE the new Sherwin Williams commercials with the Chameleons! Those are fantastic – visually. I also love the Jimmy Dean commercials with the Sun. They always make me smile. I like the Sun. Oh, and on cable, I love the Purina commercials that show how great dogs are! Especially the one with the montage of clips from videos sent in by dog owners/lovers. Super cute!
On the radio, I like the voice of the dude that does the Walgreen's commercials. He’s not your typical “radio voice”. It’s just a nice friendly voice. He should do audio kids books. And I really love all the Pure Michigan ads. Not so much the guys voice, (although it’s a good one) just the ads themselves are great. They make me want to go to Michigan. Yeah, I know that’s the point and their department of tourism must be thrilled with that campaign! Really, they’re so good that other states spoof them! They’re jealous. If you aren’t from around here, you can find some of the TV versions on YouTube.
In regards to shitty ads and commercials, I saw one this morning that just made me shake my head. It was an ad for an episode of Dr. Phil. It’s going to be about that young woman from some reality TV show that recently committed suicide. What made me shake my head was people will tune in and watch someone else’s grief. AND that those grief stricken family members don’t mind showing their grief to the world. I don’t get it.
Friday, September 6, 2013
random things...
Did you know that you can tell what side your gas tank is on by looking at your gas gauge?
See the little gas pump? See that little arrow thingy on the left? That means the gas tank is on the left.
Who knew?! LOL
I'm sure you've seen this next picture;
It's called Fly Geyser. I had to look it up because in my head, I said "photoshoped" I was wrong. That's wild!!
I also looked this one up because it was so cool!
Chand Baori, in the village of Abhaneri near Bandikui, Rajasthan, is a famous stepwell. The well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple. It was built in the 9th century by King Chanda of the Nikumbha Dynasty and has 3,500 narrow steps in 13 stories and is 100 feet deep.
As the green water at the base attests, the Chand Baori well is no longer in use, but it makes for an interesting stop-over to an architecturally impressive structure.
That's incredible! Do you ever really think about the people who did these things, centuries ago? As I've grown older I find that I appreciate the time, pride, craftsmanship and knowledge it took to create things. To build structures. To sculpt statues. To sew/weave clothing and rugs and blankets. Everything done by hand. From sun up to sun down. Willingly or not. A few years ago, we had a chance to see the King Tut Exhibit. I was really taken aback by the time it must have taken to create a pair of beaded slippers. It's not like they could go to Hobby Lobby and buy the beads they needed or thread or the right size needle. Over three THOUSAND years ago!
I don't feel very accomplished right now.
See the little gas pump? See that little arrow thingy on the left? That means the gas tank is on the left.
Who knew?! LOL
I'm sure you've seen this next picture;
I also looked this one up because it was so cool!
As the green water at the base attests, the Chand Baori well is no longer in use, but it makes for an interesting stop-over to an architecturally impressive structure.
That's incredible! Do you ever really think about the people who did these things, centuries ago? As I've grown older I find that I appreciate the time, pride, craftsmanship and knowledge it took to create things. To build structures. To sculpt statues. To sew/weave clothing and rugs and blankets. Everything done by hand. From sun up to sun down. Willingly or not. A few years ago, we had a chance to see the King Tut Exhibit. I was really taken aback by the time it must have taken to create a pair of beaded slippers. It's not like they could go to Hobby Lobby and buy the beads they needed or thread or the right size needle. Over three THOUSAND years ago!
I don't feel very accomplished right now.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
painting
You know, Mom and I really like Wine And Canvas. It's a fun way to spend the evening. Plus, when you're done you have your own art to take home. But we don't always want to go to a class. Sooooo, we decided to do our own over the weekend! Only we drank rum instead of wine :-) And this is what we painted;
We think we did a pretty good job considering we were 'on our own'!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)