Happy Hump Day!

Ok could not resist that pic. And the caption is soon and very appropriate. Someone tomorrow is going to have their video posted if I win a bet and I love to win bets.

Have you ever done something totally embarrassing and someone captured it on one of those new contraptions called cameras that do more than just take pictures? Yep daughter captured mommy singing and dancing to Heartbreak Hotel. I really didn't know what the song was the first time I heard it and saw it. I had to ask. 4 of us saw the video. None of us guessed the right song. Should be posted here tomorrow night if I win....so it gives you something to look forward to...**snicker**

And since no one took at stab at what this means:

hi how r u jw u free 2nite A3 POOT BYOB LMK k?

I will give you till the end of the week. There is a prize. And Ms Anon is disqualified since she is giving me her video. And a wee birdie told me there is another one..........can't wait!

Guilty? Pleasures

Someone sent me an email a month or so ago and asked me for my 10 guilty pleasures. I was to respond and sent it on to others for their guilty pleasures too but yeah, time got in my way.

Deciding to finally answer the email, my mind got to wondering.......
What constitutes a guilty pleasure?" Something that you feel guilty enjoying? If that is the case, then I don't have any guilty pleasures because I enjoy each and every one of them. Finding a definition on the web I got: "There is no guilt unless the pleasure is forbidden." Hmmm.....nope, still no guilt in my pleasures.

So in no particular order here are my pleasures that I do not feel guilty about in the least:

1. Reading. Any book about any subject is fine except stories with vampires or shapeshifters. I read it all: erotica, romantic erotica, medical thrillers, vanilla romance, textbooks, People magazine - doesn't matter as long as there isn't a vampire or shapeshifter. I read for me. My tastes differ even by the week which is why my TBR pile contains all my reading types.

2. Animals. I am a sucker for any animal except snakes (although I love to eat them roasted in an open pit) or reptiles like lizards and geckos. I refuse to even go see them at the zoo and will deliberately avoid them. Now puppies and kitties are my weakness. I stay out of places that have either. You don't know how hard it is for me to say no to taking them home with me which is why we had more animals in the house than people until this past year.

3. Kids. Yeah I love kids as long as they are not bratty or obnoxious or are deliberately cruel. There is nothing like a baby smell or holding a sleeping baby. I love the enthusiasm, the innocence, their ability to question, and tell it like it is. Kids tend to gravitate to me. Some close to me say that it's because deep inside I am still a kid at heart and so I understand them.

4. Music. All kinds. My favs are classical especially involving the piano, spiritual, oldies, tenors, and more recently I am into Celtic music. I ordered some celtic sheet music not too long ago and today had my first chance at trying it on the piano. Of course it sucked but time but it will soon glide off my fingers like Pachebel's Canon or Simon and Garfunkel's Sounds of Silence or Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin or Send in the Clowns or way too many to mention that are my favs.

5. Crafts but more specifically crocheting or cross stitch. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing and giving a finished project.

6. I love sleep. I can sleep for more than 8 hours, wake up and just stay in bed for as long as I like and sleep over and over again. Yep I am a sleep whore but rarely do I get a chance.

7. My computer which I positively adore especially since I have learned how to use Excel. Sure makes things lots easier to keep track of.

8. The male body but especially my husbands. (Bet you didn't think I would actually put that one in Terri, did you? **snicker**)

9. Food: fresh seafood, good old fashioned Southern cooking, deep dish peach pie with homemade peach ice cream.

10. Nursing and helping others.

11. Yep I am actually adding an 11th. Nature. I love love love camping. I hate crowds although I tolerate them and enjoy meeting and talking to others. But put me in a tent on the side of a mountain next to a lake with a horse and my husband and I am in heaven.

See? I am really a simple person.

2nd Anniversary Memories

This is the 2nd anniversary of our dear friend's passing. I like to think he is in a better place and sitting back and looking down on all of us, laughing at what we do and how little we relax and still pulling his pranks as he always did. I know he is still with us. He loves to still play pranks on us (lights going on and off, radio/cd player not working, etc). You just know he's there.

I remember the day I first met him. I was a home care nursing supervisor and had just admitted a patient into our agency. It was not in a nice part of town. So leaving their apartment, I held onto my purse, nursing bag, and went straight to my car, only to figure out I locked the keys inside. Yeah not brilliant. I called my husband who was my fiancee at the time and he couldn't drive the spare up to me but said the new associate with him would and I was to wait on the corner for him to come. He described his car to me and told me his name but said he wouldn't be there for at least a half hour. So I anxiously paced the corner carefully watching my surroundings at all times.

20 minutes later a car approached me and slowed down and then stopped. I swear you could hear my heartbeat a mile away. I avoided eye contact, trying to ignore this person and looking around for where I could run and thinking of what was in my medical bag that I could hit him with. Yeah, bandages, ointments, blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, bandaids, foley catheter kit, etc were just not going to cut it. Then I remembered my scissors. So I dug in the bag for my scissors and pulled what I thought was them when I heard someone singing.

"Standing on a street corner watching all the boys go by"......I snuck a look and there was the guy my fiancee had described....L in his convertible singing to me and then laughing and said: "I don't think those Q-tips will do much damage. Is that all you got? Oh by the way, I am L and you obviously are *****. You look exactly as your fiancee described you, only shorter. Here's your key and I'm going to give you a hint: a street corner is not the place for someone like you to be standing without singing. Now if you want your key, you have to sing the song."

Yep I sang the song and threw my bag at him. Thus began a long friendship. We still miss you, our friend!

Welcome Home A

and a huge thank you! In the past 6 years you have endured 2 tours of duty in Iraq, one tour in Kuwait, one in Korea, one in Afghanistan, and one in Germany. You were not escorted to your home by the police and fire departments because that is so not who you are and would have hated it. Instead you were welcomed with a huge party comprised of those who know and love you - your friends and their families, your neighbors, and your family and their friends. All of us are so proud of you and in some way or another, helped either you, your family, or the zillions of kids you encountered during your 6 long years away and were proud to be at your welcome home party.

Please know that when you announced your decision last night to re-up, we all will still be there to support you and your family in any way possible. Enjoy your time home!

THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated.

~Thomas Paine, 1776

The New Math

I was reading an article at cnn dot com about a new math:

Frustrated parents sneak 'old math' to kids

Basically the article states that parents are struggling with the new concept-based math.

I remember back....ok ok way way way back.....in the good old days, when we were introduced to something called "new math". We learned to memorize the times tables and had speed contests on who could add, subtract, multiply and divide the fastest. Division was done the long way, you know, with descending columns of numbers, subtracting all the way down. I remember slide rules and that a calculator (a new idea) cost way too much for anyone to get.

Then the next generation came along with another 'new math'. I remember my kids learning it and while my son caught onto that way perfectly fine, my daughter was like a deer in the headlights. We would work with her and work with her trying to teach her the 'new way' they wanted her to learn. They wanted her to solve problems using only one way. She just could not grasp that way. It wasn't until we taught her the old way and a much simpler way that the light bulb went on and she got it. She went on to get her degree in business administration in accounting with an 4.8 of 5 grade point average. Not bad for someone who couldn't grasp the memorization or their new way.

Most kids learn things in different ways but most schools don't take the time to explain all those ways. There are just too many kids. I was in advanced math classes my whole life. I do math in my head. I saw patterns in math and use them to solve a problem. For example: if I am figuring a tip of 20% on a $35.00 bill, I would think what 10% would be ($3.50) and then add $3.50 + $3.50 or $7.00. I have seen many people get out pen and paper and try to multiply out the formula. You don't need to. The same would be to multiply 55 by 5. Most people would multiply the 5 by 5, putting down the 5 and carrying the 2, then multiplying the 5 by 5 and adding the 2 to get 275. It's much simpler using conceptual math. Conceptual math teaches the kids to make it easy. You know that 5 is half of 10 so if I multiply 55 by 10 I get 550 and half of 550 is 275. Much simpler and no pen and no paper.

I for one am glad to see this. Kids nowadays out in the job world have no clue how to add or subtract without a calculator. If the electricity went out, they would sit and stare and unless someone had batteries, they would be lost. I have seen it.

There have been many a kid I have confused giving them a $20.00 bill and a $1.00 bill and 1 penny when my bill is $16.01. They say I am giving them way too much money. I tell them I want one $5.00 bill back and not 3 singles and 99 cents of change. They just shake their heads like I am cheating them.

New math. Old math. I for one would just be glad if people knew how to add, subtract using their heads and not pen and paper.

Things that make me go awwww......

Someone sent me this email stating that these gorgeous lab puppies were dumped and were being given away. OMG have you not seen anything cuter?

While some of you are shoe addicts or skittle addicts, my addiction is puppies or kitties. We used to have a yellow lab that was the light of our lives. He lived a great 13 years and died in my arms Jan of 1998.

7 years ago our daughter brought home B and 6 years ago B. Up until 3 years ago, they lived with us. They had been gone about a year when my husband and I thought it might be time for us to get another dog. We had been debating what type and had decided on a lab again and had even thought of getting 2 so they could keep each other company. Then our friend passed away and we acquired another office, throwing our schedules into 60-80 hour weeks. That type of schedule is not conducive to taking care of puppies and I am so not a lock them in a cage type of person. Puppies need to be puppies and need lots of room to run and play. I know - we raised one.

But those faces.........it is so hard to say no. **sigh**

Happy Birthday Daughter

Ok I am officially really old. Our oldest turned 28 today. She was born on a Tuesday (actually all my kids were along with hubs and me). After 12 hours on Pitocin the docs decided to do a C-section. I had a spinal and hubs got to assist with the surgery. When daughter was born, my doc turned to him and said, Congratulations you have a daughter. He turned to me and told me the exact same thing. I looked at him and said well dingaling, so do you. He quickly switched out of surgeon mode into father mode and then I became chopped liver. Daughter has had and still has him wrapped around his little finger and he doesn't have a clue. She is a very strong minded assertive woman now and recently married. She and her husband have the 2 bulldogs we get to babysit on the weekends. She has recently been doing some babysitting for people since she has been laid off and looking for a job. Her response to the babysitting tonight at dinner was: Yeah mom, you are definitely quitting and watching my kids because I don't know how mothers do it. I want to work. My comment was....we shall wait and see. It's different with your own kid.

So 28 trivia things for either July 15th or 1980.
1. The Pittsburgh Steelers become the first NFL franchise to win 4 Super Bowls.
2. The XIII Winter Olympics open in Lake Placid, New York.
3. The United States Olympic Hockey Team defeats the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the Winter Olympics, in the Miracle on Ice.
4. U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will boycott the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
5. Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 and causing US$3 billion in damage.
6. Pac-Man is released, the best-selling Arcade game of all time.
7. The Cable News Network (CNN) is officially launched.
8. Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel and Xerox introduce the DIX standard for Ethernet, which is the first implementation outside of Xerox, and the first to support 10 Mbit/s speeds.
9. Millions of viewers tune into the U.S. TV soap opera Dallas to learn who shot lead character J.R. Ewing. The "Who shot J.R.?" event is a national obsession.
10. Former Beatle John Lennon dies in hospital after being shot outside his New York City apartment by Mark David Chapman, a deranged fan who had received his signature earlier in the day.
11. World population: 4,434,682,000
12. Alicia Keys was born.
Michelle Kwan, American figure skater, was born.
13. "Call Me" by Blondie was the #1 US single.
14. Hewlett-Packard announces release of its first personal computer.
15. Top Songs for 1980: Lady by Kenny Rogers, Upside Down by Diana Ross, Call Me by Blondie, Starting Over by John Lennon, Another Brick In the Wall by Pink Floyd, Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen, Rock with You by Michael Jackson, Magic by Olivia Newton-John, Funkytown by Lipps, Inc., Another One Bites the Dust by Queen.
16. Top TV Shows: M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Happy Days, Little House on the Prairie, Dallas, Barney Miller, Laverne & Shirley, Magnum P.I., Charlie's Angels, The Waltons, Hawaii Five-0, CHiPs, Soap, Taxi, WKRP in Cincinnati, Three's Company, The Rockford Files, Alice, Mork & Mindy.
17. The Magna doodle was the top toy for 1980.
18. 1980 prices: Bread was $0.51/loaf, Milk was $1.60/gallon, Eggs were $1.33/dozen, Average price of a car was $7574.00, Stamps were $0.15/each, Average Income was $23,974/year, Minimum wage was $3.10/hour.
19. US President was Jimmy Carter and VP was Walter Mondale.
20. Best Picture was Ordinary People, directed by Robert Redford.
21. Best Actor was Robert De Niro in "Raging Bull".
22. Best Actress was Sissy Spacek in "Coal Miner's Daughter".
23. Rembrandt was born in 1606–69.
24. On July 15th in 1869, margarine was patented in France by Hippolyte Mege Mouries.
25. On July 15, 1870, Georgia became the last of the Confederate States to be readmitted to the Union.
26. Academy Award, Best Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
27. Smallpox eradicated.
28. A brown eyed 8 pound, 3 ounce, 21 and 1/2 inch baby girl was born.

Happy 28th Birthday Daughter!

Busy Sunday

My TBR pile was getting really pathetic. I still have 5 books left in it but to an avid reader, that scares me....I just need to have at least 10 or more in that pile. So last night I made a book run.

Here's what I picked up:
1. Panic in Level 4: Cannibals, Killer Viruses, and Other Journeys to the Edge of Science by Richard Preston (an auto buy author for me)
2. Wild for Him by Janelle Denison (another auto buy author for me)
3. Belong to Me by Marisa de los Santos (a new author who came highly recommended)
4. Gravity : A Novel of Medical Suspense by Tess Gerritsen (I was checking out her books when I found this one. I can't believe I had missed it as she is usually an auto buy for me).
5. Oxygen by Carol Wiley Cassella (This is a new author for me and someone one of the clerks at B&N who knows me, recommended).
6. Infected by Scott Sigler (Another new author for me and that clerk recommended).
7. Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (recommended by a fellow cager - thanks Terri)
8. River God, Volume 1 by Wilbur Smith (recommended by another fellow cager - thanks Tate)

So pretty good. I still had money on the gift cards left over. I was going to start one last night but fell asleep instead.

Now the falling asleep as soon as my body hits the bed is something I am going to have to work on. Seem to be doing it a lot lately. Really kills my reading.

Yellow Bird

A few days ago I asked if anyone knew what a yellow bird pecking at my window meant. Well, this bird has not let up. He doesn't stick around long after either son or hubs come into my room but seems to love to incessantly peck the window when I am in the room trying to work. It alternates between the pecking and then landing on the sill, only to pace back and forth and return then to the tap, tap, tap. Hubs and son could catch him doing it if they stood in the doorway to my office but not if they entered the room or tried to come close to it. Hubs tried to go out the back and come around to the front to see if he could spot it, but it seems to only like me coming close to it and I can get right up next to the window with it.

At first I thought it was a canary that was lost but have since learned it is probably a warbler or a finch although finches have dark heads and this one is all yellow.

I wondered if his appearance meant something so I did some research. Kinda gave me a few eebies. Here is what I found in bird folklore:

The Devil or 'Old Nick', and negative forces, are often said to be disturbed and attracted by the loud chattering of birds. At the very least such attentions can be seen in weather changes if the noise continues. One of the most common signs of such negative omens relate to birds flying in and out of rooms/windows. This action is seen as a sign of an imminent death, whilst the flight or hovering of a bird around a house or the tapping against a window are seen to indicate negative forces and perhaps death is close.

As I said, kinda gave me the eebiejeebies especially since it would only stick around for me. So I did some more hunting and found this:

Birds are often seen attacking a window, pecking at, or tapping on a window. Birds will also attack mirrors on cars, glossy flower pots, and shiny hubcaps.

A bird is tapping on the window with its beak. Sometimes it is merely pecking at the window; sometimes it seems to be attacking the window. What is going on? In the past, many people took this to be a bad omen foretelling the imminent death of someone in the household. An ancient belief cast birds as the souls of the dead and a bird attacking a window or otherwise trying to enter a house was believed to be the soul of a dead person coming to lead a departing soul into the afterlife. You can read more about souls arriving and leaving in bird

This strange behavior, however, has a less romantic, more scientific explanation. Birds attack shiny surfaces because they see their own reflections. In the case of a window, the bird does not see through the glass: it sees a reflection of the outside, possibly trees and the sky, and another bird of its own species. The real bird does not recognize itself and mistakes the reflected bird for a competitor for territory or mates. It attacks the image in the window, trying to drive the other bird away.

Of course, this is a fruitless exercise. The bird reflection will always be there, forever inaccessible behind an invisible barrier. The real bird often returns many times, compulsively launching itself at the window. If it is very aggressive, it could damage its beak, but most often it just wastes energy and time. Very large birds may break the glass, to the distress of bird and home occupants alike.

If your windows are suffering from the attack of a confused bird and you want to discourage the behavior, the best thing to do is to cover the outside of the window with something. (Don’t cover the inside as the covering will probably be invisible behind the mirror that the birds see.) If you don’t want to cut out too much light, use an opaque plastic that will let light in but not reflect any image. You can also buy black silhouettes of hawks, or spider web decals (see the photograph and my recent blog entry) to discourage birds from attacking windows or flying into them, but again, if the bird is attacking the window, the decal would probably have to be placed on the outside of the pane.

Still kinda eebiejeebied but not as bad. There is a youtube video that is actually one of my favorite songs.

One of THOSE Mondays

Interestingly enough, there weren't statement people to deal with, nor was anyone particularly nasty or difficult. Pretty calm in fact. Patients showed up on time. Nothing to complain about. I pray for this type of day.....usually!

It was just one of THOSE Mondays. Yanno the kind....where you just want to go back to bed and say to h...e...double hockey stick to everyone and everything. Maybe it was the 4 days off that did it. Dunno but I could get used to being off.

On a side note....say a few prayers for new son-in-law who is having surgery again tomorrow. I know he will be fine....he's in good hands.

So all you people out there who see signs in things...what does it mean when a yellow canary keeps tapping at your window?

Saying Good-bye is hard to do

Almost 2 years ago we said good-bye to our dearest friend. Today the family and a few close friends gathered for one last family 4th of July party to say good-bye to the house he beautifully rebuilt into this gorgeous home. The house finally sold and his widow, our friend, will be moving out this week. In another week it will be sold, then demolished to make way for a new fancy smancy house. There was nothing wrong with the house except it's age. It was located on a prime acre wooded lot with a sloping backyard.

So today we said good-bye to L all over again. It wasn't as sad as melancholic, each of us remembering when each part of the house was redone and remembering a lot of the funny incidents that happened with each revision since so much of Larry was in that house. The house also had character and held a great many good parties that yes, even summoned the police a few times.

In some ways I am glad to see it demolished. The memories of the good times of that house live in my heart. I no longer need to hang onto the structure. But I will forever miss our friend.

Happy 4th of July

Stay Safe! We have so many fests to choose from:

In a town called Westmont, they play a game called B-I-N-G-OH. Good deed-doers buy "deeds" to each of 400 squares marked off in a field. Four-legged farm animals will roam the field of squares until one of them experiences an Ex-Lax moment. Whoever owns the deed to the square where the deed's been dropped is a winner indeed.

Daughter and son-in-law went to this one last night: Naperville's Ribfest which featured a bonus this year: Maybelline and Garnier teamed up to do The Great Beauty Tour, which involves a huge trailer and stage where they'll hand out free samples of their makeup and haircare products, provide individual consultations, and even do a few makeovers.

I heard the hunks are great here: In Lisle, the All American Lumberjack Show returns to Lisle's Eyes to the Skies Festival, featuring chopping, sawing, logrolling and other displays of lumberjack skills and the guys are all hunks wearing only shorts or overalls.

Then just a short drive over the border to Wisconsin is the Bristol Renaissance Faire. It features more than 1,200 period performers, artisans and merchants who take guests on a romp through Elizabethan England. Highlights include 16th century games, rides, crafts food and encounters with a colorful cast of era characters. It actually opens the 1st weekend in July and runs through August.

But for the actual 4th - hubs and I always go here: Itasca Fourth of July fest, concert and fireworks. REO Speedwagon is supposed to be the band. It has the largest firework display outside of Chicago's lakefront display which happened last night. Hubs and I went one year since I had never been and decided to get prime seats - at the top of the Hancock. Well, the view was great but not of the fireworks. We were taller than them and only got the top effect which is nothing much. We have never made it downtown yet...the crowds are a huge deterrent.

But whatever you are doing, have a safe holiday and leave the fireworks to those who know how to handle them!