whew

First, I love my man...but I am REALLY sick of racing this weekend!!!! Good grief. Nascar, Indy cars, F1, motorcycle. Thank heavens there wasn't tractor racing or go cart racing or lawn mower racing!

Second, the new lens in the eyeball is pretty cool :-) Everything is just a little brighter now and it's super duper fun to see so clearly out of one eye! I can hardly wait for the other eye to get bad! hahahaha. But the 2 sick days I took were a complete waste. I just slept and slept and slept. But the regular weekend was great.

We got LOTS done this weekend. I even cooked way too much food for today. We were missing Mom (she has the flu) so we had tons extra ~ we would have sent her home with 1/2 of it! mmmmmmmm, pulled pork, potato salad, deviled eggs, corn bread and baked beans. YUM-O! And yes, I cooked it all. Okay, the corn bread came from a mix...but still. Oh, and homemade ice cream!!! Geez, I almost forgot the best part.

I think we ran over a few toads in the backyard with the mower :-( I felt a little bad but there's probably a couple dozen left so I didn't completely annihilate them. They're cute and all, but do we really need that many hopping around???

I even cleaned the carpet with one of those rental Rug Doctor machines. It worked so well I was surprised. And it was only $27. Can't beat that. I dusted things I don't usually get around to, mopped the floors, did all the laundry and cleaned the windows. That extra day off was sure nice. Now I have the rest of the week to goof off!
Woohoo!

Do you remeber these?

You know, these little things you USED TO be able to buy at any local pet shop or Woolworth?
You could even win them at a carnival game. Well, no more!

Please don't ask me why because I don't know...but yesterday on my way home from work I had this thought..."I want a turtle". And a little aquarium to put him in. Seriously, I have NO idea why that popped into my head but I though it would be cute to have one.

My charming husband said, "well honey, you know that as long as it's not too expensive, I would never say no to something you want." Followed by, "what do they eat?" Hmmmm. So I looked it up today, to see exactly what it entails; being a turtle owner.

Did you know that you can't even buy these suckers anymore? They are ILLEGAL in the United States. Any turtle with a shell smaller than 4 inches long. And do you know why? Because small turtles (and other reptiles) can carry salmonella. Seriously! I had no idea! It must have been big news...how did I miss that? So I looked into bigger turtles. They aren't as low maintenance as you would think. My little kitten attention span couldn't handle it.

Oh well.

booooooo

Tomorrow is going to be a stressful day for me. It's the day some eye surgeon is going to stick a tube inside my eyeball, break up my lens, suck it out and put a new one in. EWWWWWW. Today, I'm not so thrilled with the idea. Friday, I will probably be much happier about it? *sigh* Tomorrow morning I'm going to the grocery store to buy some comfort food...just in case I'm feeling sorry for myself. I'm not a big ice cream fan but I'm thinkin' it might be nice to have some Bryer's Butter Pecan in the freezer! Maybe some banana Popsicles too. Oh, and tomato soup.
*sigh*

Could you pass the latest Citizenship Test?

Well, could you? Find out here...I dare ya.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37279732/ns/us_news-immigration_a_nation_divided

Right on!

Boo hoo sniff sniff

Tonight is the series finale of Lost. From 7 to 9 is a recap of the entire 6 years and from 9 to 11:30 is the finale. Yep, you read that right...4 and a 1/2 of Lost!!!! Woohoo!! It's the longest I've ever watched a series, except for Dallas. I guess I have trouble committing to a series.
Oh wait, there were a couple that I really enjoyed that got cancelled ~ Joan of Arcadia, Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies. I might have committed to those if they had lasted longer. I loved Hill Street Blues, but I didn't start watching it until 1/2 through.



Good bye Lost, sniff sniff.

Healthy heart

A little over 2 years ago, after a couple of years feeling like crap, my little brother was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
heart failure 
–noun
1.
a condition in which the heart fatally ceases to function.
2.
Also called congestive heart failure. a condition in which the heart fails to pump adequate amounts of blood to the tissues, resulting in accumulation of blood returning to the heart from the veins, and often accompanied by distension of the ventricles, edema, and shortness of breath.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
It was scary. He was in the hospital several times and had many doctors. Nothing was really helping. Some of it was his own stubbornness about making some vital lifestyle changes. I think that's more of a man thing. I know it's hard to accept that you're not perfect, but I believe it's harder for a man because of his ego.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Anyway...then he got married. And because of his love of life with his new bride, and her love for him, he finally decided to take things more seriously. He also started seeing a new group of physicians. This was a God send for him. They actually listened to him and were interested in making his life better. Through many months and countless tests, different cocktails of meds and pints of blood they decided to 'jump start' his heart. (like in the movies) They believed that doing this could shock his heart back into a normal rhythm and it wouldn't have to work so hard and would become stronger. His heart was only functioning at 30%. Again, it was scary.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
Yesterday he had his 6 month check-up with his very cool cardiologist and she had FANTASTIC news for him...his heart is in perfect rhythm and now functioning at 60%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! His BP was 118/69 and his pulse was 72. She's even going to take him off of 4 of his meds!!!!
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
WE ARE SOOOOOO STINKIN' HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To all of you who were inclined at one time or another to bless my brother with your prayers, THANK YOU!
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
I almost cried tears of unadulterated joy! Life IS good :-) And even though he's acted so cavalier about the whole thing, I could hear a lot of happiness in his voice when he was telling me.
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY

Our dogs are so great

If you have dogs, you probably say the same thing about yours :-)

Last night at 3AM, I woke up with a killer headache that went from zero to sixty in about 10 minutes. Yep, migraine. A really good one too. I got up and headed straight for the migraine Rx and then just sat very still on the couch waiting for it to work. A few minutes later, there's Greta, snuggled in just as close as she could get, looking out for da mama. So sweet. And that rascally Pepper? She sat on the couch for awhile and then went to tell Bill, then came back to me for a few minutes and then went to tell Bill again. After he came to check on me and went back to bed, he had to close the bedroom door to keep Pepper from harassing him to come back out. Awwwww. For a retarded dog, she's pretty smart! Finally she came out to lay down on me too.

If you don't have a dog, you should get at least one. Dogs rule. They love you every day, no matter what. You could be in the worst mood, not feeling well, or just be having a bad hair day and they don't care a lick! How cool is that??? I love all that joy when I get home from work. Greta with the little U turn wiggle and Pepper with the woohoo! howl. It's good stuff.

Okay, kids are great too, but if you don't have any of those, DOGS RULE!!!
:-)

talented people in the arts

I love talent.
I love creativity.
It turns me on.

Take a look at this. It's a pencil drawing by a man named Brian Asher. Yep, this is a drawing...

Unbelievable isn't it? I also love CM Russell and Remington. Check them out sometime. It blows my mind when I look at their paintings and think, no one posed for those ~ it's all in their head and they have the ability to translate that into a piece of art. Stunning.

I also love Julian Beever...

How can you not smile when you see his sidewalk art.

And it isn't just art I love. I love writers too. There's nothing better than a really great story that you loose sleep over reading! Especially when the author is so good that you can become a part of the landscape and see it unfolding. Even the writers of a movie script, along with a good actor and all those wonderfully talented FX people can make you believe anything is possible.

And dancers. I'm not terribly coordinated or bendy, so talented dancers astound me as well.

Singers and musician too. Music can inspire your mood can't it? It can make you wiggle in your seat or hop to your feet. It can sooth you and relax you and make you feel. That's pretty cool.

Talented photographers can let you travel the world without leaving your home.

And last but certainly not least...I love the talent and creativity of all those people who sell their wares at local art fairs and craft shows.

I've seen some really beautiful things at those shows. I've seen things that were so delightful and unique, I just had to have them. Where else can you find a purse made out of old album covers? Or tin animals made out of old - tins! I just love things that are recycled into something else that's actually fun and useful.

Food

Do you ever wonder why we eat some of the things we do?

Haven't you ever wondered who the first person was that thought of eating an artichoke? And how did they decide when the right time to pick it was ? If you wait too long, it looks like this;

So you have to pick it before it flowers. And even at that, it's got little prickly things on the end.
Who was the first brave person to eat an avocado?

Some things just don't look that edible. Clams or oysters come to mind. AND they smell. Who was the first person that thought to pry this open,

and that it looked good enough to eat?

Brussel sprouts, which look like this;

are definitely not something you think you would want to try.

And who went to all the trouble to eat peas?! Why not eat them like you do green beans?

You know the first person who ate an egg, ate it raw. Yuck.

But then some other smarty pants decided to cook it and presto!

And peanuts...you know they ate the whole thing, shell and all, in the beginning.

And whoever thought THIS looked good....

God bless them!!!!!! Where would we be without salt!

Oh, and SUGAR!

They should be sainted for sure!

Sort of makes you appreciate your dinner a lot more doesn't it?

Argh...SORRY!!

I completely forgot to tell y'all what's happening in the month of May!!!

May is....

National Bike Month
National Book Month
National Barbecue Month
National Chocolate Custard Month
National Egg Month
National Hamburger Month
National Salad Month
National Salsa Month
National Strawberry Month

May 1-7 National Raisin Week
May 3-9 National Herb Week

May 1 May Day
May 1 Mother Goose Day
May 1 Law Day
May 1 Loyalty Day (Display U.S. Flag)
May 1 National Chocolate Parfait Day
May 2 Brother and Sisters Day
May 3 National Raspberry Popover Day
May 3 National Chocolate Custard Day
May 4 National Hoagie Day
May 5 Cinco De Mayo
May 6 Nurses Day
May 7 National Roast Leg of Lamb Day
May 8 National Coconut Cream Pie Day
May 8 V.E. Day
May 9 MOTHERS DAY
May 11 Eat what you want day
May 12 National Nutty Fudge Day
May 13 National Apple Pie Day
May 14 National Buttermilk Biscuit Day
May 15 Armed Forced Day
May 15 Hug your cat Day
May 17 National Cherry Cobbler Day
May 18 National Cheese Souffle Day
May 19 National Devil's Food Cake Day
May 20 National Quiche Lorraine Day
May 22 National Vanilla Pudding Day
May 23 National Taffy Day
May 23 World Turtle Day
May 24 National Escargot Day
May 25 National Brown-Bag-It Day
May 26 National Blueberry Cheesecake Day
May 26 Neighbor Day
May 31 National Macaroon day
May 31 Memorial Day

Very interesting

Click on, a LEO's view, over on the right. MC's post on May 10 is very interesting.

SO much going on this weekend.

First off, eye surgery scheduled for the end of the month. But because my right eye is so much worse than my left, they'll only do the cataract in the right, which means I'll still be wearing glasses. But hey, I'm NOT complaining!! It'll be great just to see clearly again!

Next, I finally caught the woodchuck munching out in the wild back yard. HOW DO WE GET RID OF IT????


Next, gun class on Saturday ~ 8 hours worth. It was excellent. We learned so much and he was an awesome instructor. LOVED it. This morning was the actual shooting, at the outdoor range. I was nervous and it was stressful. There's so much to remember, especially about all the safety rules. I like the way it smells. Is that weird? We got to shoot 7 different kinds of hand guns and it surprised me how different they all shoot and feel in your hand. But look!!!!


yep that's MY name on that certificate :-)

And this is my target;

Not bad for an old broad who never fired a gun before. I had the best 'grouping' in the class. Just imagine how much better I'll be when I can see!!! hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Then we came home and Mom came over and we drank wine and ate snacks, drove by her future new home, visited awhile and went to dinner.

I'm pooped.

Mom's RULE!

Happy Mother's Day !!!

Mom's new home

Bill says he's a little jealous ~ she'll have an awesome lawn. Plus, her garage has windows! And it's heated! I guess that's a guy thing :-) I like the fireplace in the family room and the spice cupboard in the kitchen. And the big sliding glass door in the master bdrm is pretty sweet too!
Soooooooooo exciting for her!

Next up....

Eye surgery. I have my first appt with the eye surgeon tomorrow. For TWO HOURS. Good grief. A 2 hour evaluation? I can say with some certainty that I'll bee grumpy after that.

Today is already shaping up to be a beautiful day. I love early summer mornings.

And Mom made an offer on her new home and it was accepted!!! Woohoo!!! Way to go Mom, BIG CONGRATS!! It's very exciting. She's going to love it in my neck of the woods...low property taxes, great snow removal, really low crime rate, a great art district and close to ME! Hooray!!!

This weekend, besides being Mother's Day, we are taking our gun class :-) All day in the classroom on Saturday and all morning at the range on Sunday. Looking forward it. I know that seems funny coming from me but it's true!

War is ugly

I say that because I'm recording some of the HBO series, "The Pacific" for someone. I have the day off and it's going in the background while I do some stuff around the house. Every once in awhile I come through the family room and look at it. I know it's a cliche thing to say, but war is ugly. Profoundly ugly. I see a fluffy chick flick in my future :-) Maybe even a musical!!

Anyway...it's also a super pretty day outside! The storms have blown through, the sun is out the skies are blue. Simply lovely. It will be nice to get out in it!

And I have an appt with the OD this afternoon. Stupid cataracts! Grrrrrr. It's only been since December since I had my eyes checked and already one of them is MUCH worse. Phooey.

cool

I LOVE this kind of thing...click on the link;

http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_illusion.html