things that are becoming obsolete...

You know I love these articles. Money Talks says these things will soon be obsolete;

1. Cash -  it kind of is already but I think it's still going to be a long time before it goes away
2. Remote controls - their argument was because of apps on your phone, remotes will become obsolete. But...doesn't that mean that your phone will become the remote control? hmmm
3. Car keys - I totally buy this one! Having a new car that doesn't have a key is pretty awesome. Also, we don't have a front door key. We have a keypad instead. Again, awesome!
4. Hotel room keys - is there still such a thing? Oh wait, we stayed in a motel recently that had an actual key. It was weird.
5. House keys - see #3
6. Manual transmission cars - did you know that only 4% of all 2018 car sales were stick shifts?!
7. College textbooks - Absolutely! In this digital age, save a tree, your back & shoulders and tons of money.
8. Mail collection boxes - Nooooo! I need a place to drop my cards in! Oh wait...
9. Shopping malls - I don't know what to think about this one. My mom and I were just in the mall not too long ago. Granted, it didn't look like the 'hang-out' it used to be but there were still a lot of people there.
10. Plastic bags - I'm feeling better about this one. The more I have to dispose of those, the more my own tote bags appeal to me.
11. Straws - well, they jumped on the bandwagon to add this to the list. Maybe there should be a bigger push for "don't be a litterbug" instead of banning trash.
12. Checks - I'm still on the same box of checks I bought 11 years ago. Yeah, I'm in.
13. Desktop computers - I guess it depends; at work? no way. At home? yep. I see laptops everywhere.
14. Print catalogs - what? I guess these people don't check their own mailboxes in October and November!! I LOVE wish books!!!
15. GPS devices - so, this one is misleading. I'll have to call bullshit on this one.
16. Print magazines - nope. NO WAY advertisers will let this go.
17. Alarm clocks - but does everyone have a smart phone?? come on.
18. Landlines - I sure don't miss ours!
19. CD's - I was just talking about this...isn't it funny that my new high tech car still comes with a CD player?!
20. DVD's - I don't know. I have quite a few 'digital' movies but again, not everyone has Netflix or Amazon Prime. I don't buy this.

where you pee

Some public bathrooms are so gross. And some of them, that you expect to be disgusting, aren't bad at all. At home, even if you're bathroom isn't spotless (and let's be honest) at least you know it's only your germs. 

At work, my expectations have always been that our bathrooms should be pretty clean. I mean, do you actually want your co-workers to know that they work with a lazy pig?! So I'm always surprised at how gross our bathrooms are sometimes. Seriously!!! It's shameful to think about all the women I work with that are slobs. Ewwwww. 
Now that I've said though, it's not true on every floor. Isn't that funny? Our office is 3 floors.  The 3rd floor is where most of the high paid, top dogs are. I worked up there for a few years. Our bathrooms were never gross. Now I work on the 1st floor, with all the lower paid worker bees. Our bathrooms are gross. It's shameful. But isn't it incredibly interesting to think that just because you make less money, you're a lazy pig?? Does your salary equate to cleanliness?? That's so crazy. 

don't do drugs...

That's all

Pets

I saw this story a couple months ago about a pet store burglary. The thieves stole $44,000. worth of puppies!!! That's like the whole store, right?? Nope. They stole FIVE dogs. I can do that math. That's over 8 thousand dollars per dog. It turned out that they were Bulldogs. Who cares. Why in the hell does ANY dog cost 8 thousand dollars???!!!! I just don't get it. Why is a pure bred dog so expensive? And why are "designer" dogs so expensive?? They're just mutts! Why is it so expensive to own a dog these days? When I was a kid, your dog got a rabies shot and that was it. And you fed them all sorts of crap. Nobody got their dogs teeth cleaned. Nobody gave their dogs heart-worm protection. Maybe dogs live longer now because of those things, but still. $300 to have their teeth cleaned? But I digress... over 8 thousand dollars for a dog??? A Bulldog???? I mean, Bulldogs are cute and all but they come with a ton of health problems right off the bat! Geeshh. Us humans sure love our furry friends don't we? But to pay that kind of money for  for a pet just seems so wrong. Our next dog is coming from the pound. I want to love a dog that someone else didn't. Come on people, stop paying so much for love! 

 

   

   

song lyrics

Do you have favorites lines from songs? I love some songs just because there's a chorus or 1 line in it that I love.

For instance, I love the song We Own The Night by Lady Antebellum because of this line;
We woke under a blanket, all tangled up in skin.

Or Kieth Urban's Blue, for this line; If I were a painter I wouldn't change you I would just paint you brighter.

Cat Stevens Father and Son, from the moment I could talk, I was ordered to listen.

John Lennon, Imagine, you may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

From I hope You Dance, by Lee Ann Womack, When you get the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance

I love The Air That I Breath by The Hollies for this line;
Sometimes all I need is the air that I breath and to love you.

I bet you're thinking of some right now!

what a surprise!

I wasn't in the market for a new car. I thought about it a couple months ago but it was mostly a, that would be cool, kind of thought. Not a, I need a new car, kind of thought. But last month, after we got back from our 4300 mile road trip, I made an appointment to get my oil changed. Right after that, I got an email from the dealer that said they were interested in buying my car and would help me get a new one. Hmmmm. So I decided to look at cars while mine was being serviced. I always thought it would be cool to have a minivan. I know that sounds dumb but I've always wanted a car big enough to put a lot of stuff in! I've always had small/compact cars, hatchbacks. I'm totally a hatchback kind of gal. 

Anyway, I got in a minivan and thought, ahhhhhh. This is cool. Then my fella suggested I get into a midsize SUV (4WD), so I did. That's when I thought, ahhhhh, this has to be mine. So we bought it!! It was so surprising!

I've been driving it for a couple of weeks now and it's still so overwhelming. I feel like I'm never going to figure out how everything works! Today's technology is so outrageous. There's no key for this car. It's so hard to get used to. It's got a built in GPS, with a nice voice, a huge back up camera, satellite radio, and apps! With the press of a button it will tell me what traffic is like...as I'm driving! Heated seats and steering wheel! I don't think my butt gets cold but I'm totally gonna try it out! Oh! It also lane corrects - if I don't have my blinker on and I cross the white line, the steering wheel turns back into my lane. Whaaaat!? It's ASTOUNDING! 

It's the first car I've ever had that has wheels instead of hubcaps. I feel so grownup.

Seniors gone wild - Day 13

We woke up in Omaha this morning. We took our time, ate breakfast, had coffee, showered. It was a nice morning. I think we were only headed to Peoria IL but by the time we got there, the sun was still shinning, the skies were blue, the traffic was light, so we just decided to keep going. We took turns driving more frequently, had more shorter stops, but made it all the way home! To tell you the truth, we were ready to be home. We drove a total of 4371 miles in 13 days. We saw more of the country than we thought we would and it's pretty incredible. We saw wondrous things, beautiful things, big skies, vast prairies, the Rockies!, lakes and rivers, historical landmarks and just plain old things. I was a grand vacation and the memories will be priceless!

Next time, the northeast!!!

Seniors gone wild - Day 12

Today we drove to Omaha. It actually took us a long time because of the detours we had to take, due to flooding. Tonight was a free hotel night through hotels.com :-) So we chose a nice little studio condo! It was awesome. Relaxing and quiet. Did some laundry, had dinner around the corner at Olive Garden. 

Along the way, we stopped at the Corn Palace. Who knew??

We also stopped at a rest stop that was part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. 

 If you click on the picture, I want you to read the part that says, "What's for supper?" Does that sound crazy to you??? I think I can eat a lot but dang!!!

Then we went to the Falls that made Sioux. Super pretty. It's an awesome park in the middle of the city. If I lived around there, I would go there frequently! 

Seniors gone wild - Day 11

This is Deadwood, South Dakota. Deadwood has a pretty interesting history. It's burned to the ground twice and wiped out by a flood. Naturally, not much of Deadwood is original. The saloon where Wild Bill was shot is still under the saloon that took it's place and for 10 bucks you can go down and see it. We passed. None the less, Deadwood is really pretty. 

Nestled in a little canyon surrounded by mountains. We arrived fairly early in the day so we missed a lot of people :-)

 

At this shop, we bought a buffalo skull. We've talked about getting one for a long time. Now, every time we look up at it, we'll think of our 2 week adventure and our 30th anniversary.

After Deadwood, we headed for Wind Cave National Park. Along the way though, we got side tracked by the Crazy Horse Memorial

Some day it's going to look like this;

It's a really beautiful complex. Lots of information, displays, artifacts, etc. But after watching the mini movie about the memorial, you come to realize it's really about the $$. In 70 years they've only gotten the face done. Yeah, they'll never finish it. And why should they? I still really enjoyed it though, for what it is.

We never made to Wind Cave. We got lost. ADVENTURE! 

Did you know there was a place called Wall Drug, in South Dakota? We saw a few signs;

 

 

  

 

It has a fun history but mostly now it's just an enclosed strip center. 

Seniors gone wild - Day 10

TODAY!

Today we left Yellowstone and headed for Devils Tower. It was a pretty long drive and most of it looked like this;

It's a ways off the beaten path, but then you see it...IT'S SO AWESOME!

It was the biggest surprise of trip. That's my fella standing down there at the bottom. It's so hard to describe, how amazing it is. Even standing there, looking up at it, it's hard to believe it's real. It just doesn't look like it belongs there. Very cool. No wonder aliens chose it!

There's a trail that goes all the way around it. Of course we had to go! It was a little over a mile and a 1/2, very hilly. (no ticks) 

There were several of these signs;

Because it's a sacred site, there are a lot of prayer cloths tied to tree branches, all around it.

This was the end of the day for us, so we got a hotel in the nearest little town...called Hullett. Remember the name...Hullet, Wyoming. Population, 383. Don't go there. You might be trapped forever...like a Twilight Zone episode or Stephen King short story. It's like some broken little town that wants to be cool, only...well...it isn't! We stayed at a fairly new Best Western. Seems safe, right? When you walked into the lobby you're greeted with this, 
(It is cowboy country after all)

not my photo

We asked the almost friendly gal at the front desk, where was a good place to eat. There were only a couple options. We went with The Ponderosa because it's "great"

not my photo

It was a classic diner kind of place; two tables in the middle, 3 booths on each side, lots of cowboy decor.

not my photo

Anyway, the highschool age waitress was completely stressed out because there were 6 tables with customers! When her mom showed up to help, it got even weirder! After we got our food, magically, we became completely invisible! Totally not seen. It was the most bizarre dinning experience we've ever had!

I said a little prayer when we went to bed that night that we would wake up, in the same condition we went to sleep in! 

ADVENTURE!