Lazy Saturday - Fun with Food

You know that you need to find a hobby when the most interesting thing you do all day is look for fun shapes in your food...

An onion reeeeng I almost didn't have the heart to eat.

A sweet little hushmousie

My pet cheetokeet.

Yes, I know I'm strange...

Peace, Blessings, and yomgoogsuf... Sorry. I was talking with food in my mouth.

Teach the Children Well & Honor those who do.

The other day I was standing in line at the grocery store behind a couple of moms with school-age kids in tow. They were complaining, in front of the kids, about the supplies they were having to buy for an upcoming class project.

Mom 1: I don't know what she thinks they're going to learn from such a stupid project.
Mom 2: I know It is so totally lame! You know we are going to end up doing them just to get it done.
Both: HA HA HA HA

Mom 2: The thing that bothers me the most is why WE have to buy the junk to make it. Doesn't the school have a budget for that?
Mom 1: Well even if they don't the teachers get paid enough that they should have to buy the stuff to do it. If nothing else that would cut down on the number of stupid projects they want to do each year.
Both: HA HA HA HA HA!

The whole time the kids, who looked to be about 5th graders, were listening intently to every word. I wonder how long it will be before those two moms are getting notes home about their Little Johnnies acting out in class and disrespecting the teacher? And I wonder who the two mombos (my new name for bimbo moms) will blame it on?

I wanted so desperately to say something, but I knew that whatever I said at that moment would sound something like: "You stupid dumbass b****s! What the hell do you think you're doing undermining your child's education?? Grow the F up you mombo!" which would only have resulted in the total loss of my point. Instead, I opted to (uncharacteristically) bite my tongue and drag out this email from Grandmamargie that I've been saving for a while....

TEACHERS' SALARIES
Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do--baby sit!
We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3 per hour and only the hours they worked, not
any of that silly planning time. That would be $24 a day (7:00 AM to 3:30 (or
so) PM with just 25 min. off for lunch). Each parent should pay $24 a day for
these teachers to baby-sit their children.
NOW...How many do they teach in a class, 30? So that's $24 x 30 =$720.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! We're not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET'S SEE....That's $720 x 180 = $ 129,600 per year.
What about those special teachers and the ones with master's degrees? Well, we could pay them closer to minimum wage. Just to be fair we'll go $7.00 an hour. That would be $7 x 8 hours x 30 children x 180 days = $302,400 per year.
Wait a minute! There' s something wrong here! Average teacher salary $50,000/180 days = $277/per day/30 students =$9.23/8 hours = $1.16 per hour per student.
A very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even try - with or without your help - to EDUCATE your kids!
WHAT A DEAL....And you don't even have to buy them pizza!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Make a teacher smile; show this to someone else who appreciates teachers...

Or someone who SHOULD!

Peace, Blessings & Thank God for those who teach.

Boomer Humor

I got this from a friend via email. Have no idea where she got it but I love it and just had to share!

Some of the artists of the 60's are revising their hits with new lyrics to accommodate aging baby boomers. They include:


Herman's Hermits --- Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Walker.

Ringo Starr --- I Get by With a Little Help From Depends.

The Bee Gees --- How Can You Mend a Broken Hip?

Roberta Flack--- The First Time Ever I Forgot Your Face.

Johnny Nash --- I Can't See Clearly Now.

Paul Simon --- Fifty Ways to Lose Your Liver

The Commodores ---Once, Twice, Three Times to the Bathroom.

Marvin Gaye --- Heard It Through the Grape Nuts.

Procol Harem --- A Whiter Shade of Hair.

Leo Sayer --- You Make Me Feel Like Napping.

The Temptations --- Papa's Got a Kidney Stone.

Abba--- Denture Queen.

Tony Orlando --- Knock 3 Times On The Ceiling If You Hear Me Fall.

Helen Reddy --- I Am Woman, Hear Me Snore.

Leslie Gore--- It's My Procedure, and I'll Cry If I Want To.

Willie Nelson --- On the Commode Again


And Last but NOT least, my personal anthem

Bobby Darin --- Splish, Splash, I Was Havin' a Flash.

Wordless Wednesday - Dinner Companion

This is why we don't eat at the breakfast table anymore...

Peace, Blessings, and Food? You gots food up der??

Goodbye NV. You will be missed.

I met NV in October of 2008. We quickly became fast friends --most always joined at the hip. NV was the smartest little thing that I'd ever seen. I was totally amazed at how quickly she could retrieve a world of information from the recesses of her busy mind. Her ability to identify any song by not only its name but also the artist and album from which it came was astounding. I tend to get lost because of an horrendous lack of any sense of direction. NV, however, had this built-in navigational sense that kept us from ending up in south BFE more times that I can remember.

Late this afternoon, in a misguided attempt to become an Olympic swimmer, NV dove head-first into the shallow end of our pool. Sadly, despite my heroic efforts to fish her out as quickly as possible, she drowned. Mostly because there was no friggin way I was jumping into 60 degree water to save a suicidal CELL PHONE!






RIP Sweet NV. Your replacement comes tomorrow. With any luck the insurance company won't have any more of your siblings and they'll have to send me your nephew, Envy 3. At least then your death won't have been in vain.

Peace, Blessings, and Where the heck is that dang UPS delivery truck???????

My not so rad RADS.

OK! OK! For those of you who keep emailing me wanting to know where the heck I've been since the end of August, here's the skinny...

The first Saturday in September I got a little bit of a sore throat. On Sunday it moved into my chest and I sounded like a bullfrog with a mouthful of cotton balls. When I finally went to the doctor on Wednesday I joked that I'd thought about holding off for another day or so. She laughed and said that would have been OK because then she could have charged me more for visiting me in the hospital. Funny lady.

Whatever hit me has been going around big time but stuff like that effects me more because of my wonderfully sensitive lungs. You see, back in the late 70s I worked in a chemical plant that manufactured stuff using liquid chlorine. If that stuff happened to escape somehow it would form a cloud containing chlorine gas. Deadly if you get caught in it for a long period of time. Lung damaging if you happen to drive through it on your way back from lunch with the windows down. At the time I just had a slight cough and it appeared to be no big deal. And I never thought to attribute the yearly bouts of bronchitis to that exposure until a couple of years ago when a very smart respiratory doc started asking questions trying to figure out why my lungs are so dang finicky. After hearing where I had worked he realized that the stuff I was exposed to has long-term damaging effects in some people. Yay me.

In my case it has caused Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome or RADS. Breathing certain chemicals, including those in lots of colognes, will send my lungs into asthma-like spasms. Over the years the problem has gotten worse until now I have to carry a rescue inhaler with me at all times just like regular asthma patients. But it's not asthma. Weird, huh.

I've spent nearly two months trying to get my feet back under me. Only within the last week have I been able to stay vertical for more than an hour or two at a time, but I'm getting stronger every day. I still have to watch being out in public too much because my immune system isn't back to full strength yet.

So, thank you all for your prayers and concern and requests to get my butt back in the blogging game. But remember to be careful what you wish for... cuz I'M BAAACK!

OK, that's all for tonight. Until tomorrow,

Peace, Blessings, and Easy breathing to all

Nablopomo Intro: 26 things

Guess what! I've decided to do the November post challenge on NaBloPoMo. That's right... go ahead and laugh. And scoff. And doubt. I know: you think I've been body snatched. Nope. I'm just tired of not doing what I love doing: writing. But I'm MORE tired of not talking to all the wonderful people I've met online through this blog. I miss hearing (OK, reading) about your life and times. So, to kick things off I saw this done by Roger (aka MylHiBug on Twitter - and HELLO ROGER! TWEET SOMETHING, WILL YA!) over at A Screed in Time who boosted it from Michelle of My Two Army Brats fame. I liked it so I boosted it, too! OK, so yes, it was several months ago (April!) that they posted theirs and I'm (a) behind. But anywhom, here goes:

A - Age: 53 this month. Unless, like most people, I get to count the day I first met my parents as my birthday, in which case I'm only 43. Either way, I'm good. And old. LOL!

B - Bed size: Queen

C - Chore you hate: Unloading the dishwasher, putting away laundry, filing paper work. I'm happy to load it, wash it, or pay it - just PLEASE don't make me do the rest! Isn't that why I had kids???

D - Dad's Name: Don

E- Essential start to your day item: COOOOOFFFFFEEEEEEE

F - Favorite actor(s): Male: Sam Elliott, Mike Rowe - both are rugged and sexy. Female: Doris Day because in her hayday she was amazingly beautiful, witty, and extremely talented. Plus, she's aged beautiful and gracefully -- something I so dearly aspire to personally achieve.

G - Gold or Silver: Gold

H - Height: 5ft 4in (At least for a few more years.)

I - Instruments you play(ed): Clarinet starting in 6th grade but only so I could get in the band to be a twirler.

J- Occupation: SAHMFCEFTN (stay at home mom/former corporate educator/full-time nut!)

K- Kid(s): Legally mine: Bug 30, Twig 27, MG 18 Should have been mine: Tori, DD, Angel

L - Living arrangements: Wonderfully blessed with a beautiful home that share with my husband of almost 30 years, MG, and DD (MG's best friend who needed a safe place to be for a while.)

M - Mom's name: Jo

N- Nicknames: B**** (At least that's what I get called by MG most of the time unless she wants something.) Sweetie (by Hubby)

O - Overnight hospital stay other than giving birth: Accidental MEKP poisoning in 1980. Almost died. Hysterectomy/Wisdom teeth extraction resulting in an anaerobic bacterial infection in my face in 1986. Almost died. If I was a cat I'd be down to only 8 lives left!

P - Pet Peeve: Tripping over MG's friggin clodhoppers in the middle of whatever floor she happens to be walking across when she decides to go barefoot!

Q - Quotes you like: We go through what we go through so we can help others go through what we went through. ~from my wonderful friend over at Family Life In the Desert

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Siblings: None

T - Time you wake up: Use to be as late as possible but in the last few years I can't sleep past 8:30 or 9:00 most of the time.

U- Underwear: Granny panties... I CANNOT do buttfloss!

V - Vegetable you dislike: peas! I total agree with Michelle who said, "Seriously food should not explode in my mouth when I bite into it IYKWIM!!" Especially when the explosion is malodorous green slime! YUUUUCK!

W - Ways you run late: Just need to do one more quick thing...

X - X-rays you've had: So many I could be my own light source!

Y - Yummy food you make: Meatloaf. Seriously. It is one of my kids' favorites 'cuz it's all meat. None of those nasty fillers like carrots, corn, peas, etc. Just good old lean ground beef seasoned and cooked to perfection!

Z - Zodiac: Scorpio

OK, so that's it. Feel free to do your own 26 and then come let me know so I can see what all we have in common. I was amazed at how alike Michelle and I are.

For now, Peace Blessings and A B, C D, E F G....

Damama's Use it or Lose it Advice on: Living with a Clutterbug

My latest question over at my advice column, Damama's Way in the ezine DeKalbRamblings.com, is something that hits way too close to home. It's definitely one of those "she who can't do, teaches" type of things. Amazingly (to me anyway) in typing the response to a reader's question I actually realized that I haven't been giving my husband nearly enough credit for all he puts up with. Here, in part, is what brought about this miraculous epiphany:

...

Dear Clutter Bug's Wife,

You and my hubby should really get together sometime and commiserate! I am
also a clutter-bug or as we say around here, a junker. (Hubby actually calls my
treasures, junk. Sadly, in lots of regards he's right. BUT IT'S MY JUNK,
dangit!!). Aw, honey. I'm sorry if I just ruined your image of me, but it's
true! It has taken me years to be able to start letting go of some things. Let
me share a little of what I've learned on my personal dejunking journey...

For most of us junkers our stuff falls in three categories:

• Memories
• Possibly Useful Sometime - Definitely useful 3 days after I get rid of
  it.
• SOME DAY THIS WILL BE PRICELESS!

Let's break it down:

...

Now here is where you get to decide if you really want to be challenged to rethink your junkatude or not. If you're interested in the rest of the story, jump on over to DeKalb Ramblings and check out the letter from Clutter Bug's Wife. (Note: If you're reading this more than two weeks after the date of this post, the letter may have been moved to the Advice Archives.) Then, please, please come back here and let me know if you agree or disagree and why. After a lifetime of trying to learn how to be a no-junker I'm really interested in better ways of living a simpler life.

As always, Peace, Blessings, and Hurry back!

Happy 30th Birthday Bug

I use to sing this to you almost every night. It still holds true.

You are and always will be my sunshine.




I love you very much.

Oh, and.. llama llama




Love ya!
Mama

What's so special about July 8, 2009?

What is so different about the 8th of July this year?

At 34 minutes and 56 seconds after 12 on the 8th of July this year, the time and date will be:

12:34:56 07/08/09

AND

At five minutes and six seconds after 4 on the 8th of July this year, the time and date will be:

04:05:06 07/08/09

That's all. Just thought it was a cool thing to share.