One Thing Is Always a Top Priority

Right here next to the typing keyboard i have sticky notes to remind me of business hours for places we need.  The post office, so we can ship things that have sold on ebay, or pick up important certified mail from the Internal Revenue Service, or sometimes something arrives that we want, like a check.

So then we need to be on time to get to the bank and get the check deposited.  It's not easy to remember banker's hours!  So i keep a reminder nearby. 

The third reminder that i glance at several times a week is by far the most important - the Dump.  It's called the Recycling Center but i refer to it as The Dump because that's what we do there.

Dumping is vital to healthy living and the more of it we can do, the healthier we become.

For a Little Light Relief

Washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen up is nice after a big movie snack day.  We watched The Campaign which had some good funny parts and some horrible stuff too.  After that we watched that Steve Carell movie about the end of the world - surprisingly and thoroughly boring.

Then this morning was a two-pan breakfast!  Huge pile of scrambled eggs with cheese, corned beef hash and raisin toast.  It was great but hours later the kitchen is still a mess.

The neighborhood is nice and quiet this week.  Even the grocery store was pleasant and easy to get shopping done quickly.  Cool temps with a little wind but lots of sunshine make a great day here in north Georgia country.

So Holiday Week has a lot to be said for it, even if you don't get into it whole hog.  With school out and people staying home or out of town, errands like running into the post office are so much easier. 
 
Of course everybody you run into is a bit subdued, especially any customer service at Walmart. I guess they feel bad about Christmas being done and over.  I always give a big thank you but their attitudes don't improve any.  Maybe if I looked more like this gal:

Merry Me-Time!

Lots of people feel lonely on Christmas, and maybe just the week before they were going crazy at the office, loaded down with too much work and wishing for a moment's peace and quiet.

Then on THE eve or THE day, they aren't able to get back where they grew up for the family traditions, or on their own for some reason or other.  They start to feel upset because there's no big crowd around, noisy and contentious and maybe even obnoxious and argumentative - because that's what's familiar.

There are so many things worse than being lonely.  There are so many good things to do when nobody is around getting in your way!  Favorite books can be re-read or catch up on movies showing on TV. 

Housework is never really caught up, is it?  How about the laundry, cleaning the fridge, scrubbing the tub, vacuuming and dusting.  Turn up the cd player and get busy.  I'm changing the sheets and moving my feets!

Having my own space by myself is so wonderful.  I don't compare my situation with anyone else, and I don't worry about parties and get-togethers other people decide to occupy their time with. 

Happy Non-Stress Quiet-mas!

Circular Dilemma

Everyone is afraid of too much stuff nowdays!

The warnings began a few years ago, when folks like Don Aslett and his de-cluttering books became popular.  Flylady and the hoarding show constantly keep us aware of the dangers of collecting and accumulating.  The Chinese government even has us thinking about the dangers of copulating and populating.  Don't do it!  Just live with an empty space, you'll be so much happier!

Well, many people have changed from buying everything without a stopping to think, into cautious and even paranoid shoppers who have to stop and stare into space while they consider if they need, want or love every last particle of merchandise offered to them.

This fear of stuff/love of empty space is creating quite a problem when gift-giving occasions arise, like Christmas and the tradition of having a pile of presents to open.

My mother is turning 89 on Christmas Eve.  Her house and garage are fully stocked with years of good bargains, years of shopping and maybe years of gifts received.  My cousins tell of driving up to the house towing trailers to pack with stuff my mother takes out of the garage and gives them.  They said the garage looked just as full when they left.  I wish the guys on that traveling picker show would show up at her house.

What would possibly appeal to someone who apparently has everything and everybody else's everything too? 

Makes me wonder how the fear of hoarding and fear of receiving gifts affects the economy.  Is that what is really slowing everything down?  Maybe instead of buying new houses, people just began to clean out their old ones and found out they could stay where they were!  Now that throws the building industry into the dumpster.  The carpenters and bricklayers are out of work, so they go home and comb through their tools and sell them on ebay.  People buy their used tools, so they don't need new ones from Sears.  Sears begins to notice their Christmas stock of tool sets aren't moving out, so they lay off salespeople.

The salespeople go home and start selling bedding and tablecloths or donating stuff to Goodwill that they have cleared out.  I show up at Goodwill and find great deals on nearly-new, very attractive household furnishings. 

I wonder if my mother would like this tablecloth for Christmas? 

Now there's a whole new industry seeking to fill the need for gifts which might not be regarded as clutter.  We need something to buy for gifts that makes us seem considerate, thoughtful and lovable.  We want to look like smart gifters, tasteful and ecologically aware! 

One time my favorite comedian, Roseanne Barr, mentioned how great a thing chocolate air would be.  Of course that's impossible but air is really what we want to give - something that is nothing, clear and consumable without side effects. 

You can't give candy; everybody has diabetes or trying to avoid getting it.  You can't give a piece of pottery or a candle - the pottery is clutter and the candle might be toxic.  You can't give a housewarming gift - the hostility would amaze you as the reluctant recipient sighs over the need to avoid offending the gifter versus the wish to avoid clutter in the new sacred space.  The wish to avoid clutter wins! 

Buzz off, you evil gift-carrying parasite! 

Sorrow and Grief

Well the big thinkers and the non-thinkers and the smart and the dumb and the mean and the well-intentioned have all commented about the Connecticut school tragedy online, on TV, in the newspapers and radio.

They've all included the painful reality of having no words to describe how bad it is, then proceed to try to find some.  We all wish we could do something for the bereaved but really nothing helps that sorrow.  The grieving will ease slightly after a long time goes by.  That's all we know for sure.

Beads and Wire

the STONES!

WHAT Makes People Happy?

There is just no way to know.  The correct question is What makes ME happy?

When you find the answer, then it's time to begin treating people as you want to be treated, in order to find happiness, peace and contentment.

By doing that, I teach people how to treat me.  If you're a good teacher it works out well.

Sometimes it works out lousy but I haven't seen any reasonable alternative to the Golden Rule.

Rocking and Beading

Twelve-twelve-twelve has come and gone, no thrills or lottery wins but a nice day just the same.

Today is stick to the workbench and meet a deadline, with the help of beloved Pandora.com with the Jesse Cook station.  But i can't get my neglected blog off my mind and just get in the beadZone!

Lean Cuisine meals are just 5 or 6 Weight Watcher's Points and delicious.  It's a big help when i don't feel like taking time away from beading to fix something myself.  They have a salmon and veggie that's really good.

Today is sunny and clear after nearly a week's worth of dark cloudy days, but the temps have chilled down.  I moved the potted geraniums inside for a visit, trying to save their buds and blooms a little longer.

Tomorrow night begins Grandkid Weekend, and I can't wait to see that girl.  She plays double bass in the orchestra at her school, and I got to see her Tuesday night in the concert.  She has really learned to read music and play well!  It's exciting to be there and see her enjoyment of the whole experience.

Speaking of music, there's another exciting event this Saturday night that we're looking forward to sharing with Grandkid, and that is a live Rolling Stone concert on pay per view TV!  To see those old guys can still rock out better than ANYONE in the scene today is extremely fun and encouraging to us kids in old people mode.

Finding a Connection

Some of my very favorite books were written by Maeve Binchy, who passed away this year.  She was born and lived her whole life in Ireland, which was a big part of all her stories.  She made Ireland seem like the best place in the world, with the funniest, sweetest people.

So I am pleased for no good reason, to find an ancestor in my family tree who came to America from Ireland.  My friend researched genealogical records for me to demonstrate what genealogy is - and found a great-great-grandfather who was a stone-mason from Ireland.

One website used is called familysearch.org and it's free of charge and easy to understand.  It feels like being a detective, with each bit of information leading to the next, and bringing up long-forgotten snippets of parents' conversations.  It was a lot of fun and interesting.

Maybe I'm really related to Ms. Binchy!  At any rate, I'm Irish for sure, even if it's just a tiny bit. 

There Are A Few Minutes to Smile

Today's weather was the exact opposite of the great fall blue skies and sunshine we've had for several weeks - it was gloomy and cloudy, spitting rain occasionally and a little chilly, upper 50s maybe.  It was a lot of fun to drive around doing errands and not have to squint.  More relaxing. 

The big Sundance catalog arrived in the mail.  It has beautiful photography and unusual products and inspiring artisan jewelry.  As i glance through a lot of ideas pop up for working on similar designs of my own.

We watched the news at 5 o'clock this evening and wondered why the stock market went down today - we thought the Thanksgiving shopping and the after Thanksgiving shopping and the internet shopping had all gone very well this year - wasn't that the shopping news everyone was waiting for?  I imagine that there is just no pleasing that stock market.  As much as we buy groceries, gasoline, products for work, gadgets for grandkid, toilet paper, paper towels and hairspray, stock market is still not happy.  I'm doing all i can to help him, he needs to just pull up and straighten up and stop causing so much trouble!

If someday this old grammaw begins to understand the stock market, I will undertake to explain it here on the bloggy, and that way I'll be passing down some useful information to posterior.

Posterity hates being called that. 

Timeshare Pirates

We just watched the docu-movie The Queen of Versailles.  Twice.  We couldn't believe it the first time.  What couldn't we believe?  That two adults of evidently normal sanity would allow their lives to descend into utter neglected filth and chaos, simply from having an unlimited amount of money at their disposal.

They had unlimited ability to dispose of money.  But the main point of the show that resounded with me was the insider's view of the source of their wealth, the timeshare-selling industry.

Las Vegas tourists are lured into a sales presentation with the promise of a free ticket to something.  Then the high pressure sales staff, shown being coached to use any means short of murder, goes to work hammer and tongs to force the sale of what is essentially AIR.  They are promised a luxury week every year in any resort owned by the conglomerate.  Once they sign a contract and make a downpayment, the contract is sold to investors as if it was an actual mortgage on a property.

The CEO and Founder has his son running the schooling of the predators, I mean, sales staff.  He excuses the use of intimidation by explaining that the prospective buyers are "mooches" who are "greedy," because they wanted a gift in return for attending a sales presentation.

The customer encounters myriad heartaches ever after the sale, as they try to use the guaranteed vacation they think has been promised.  But the movie doesn't go into that.  The info addressing timeshare owners' problems can be viewed easily online, to the extent that this timeshare sales survivor cannot believe these ogres are still able to sell such a bogus "product" in this information age.

A Good Habit Can Be Addicting

Recently i decided that a worthwhile goal for me to set for myself is writing a post for my blog every day.  It's not easy to pick a topic, they aren't just hanging in the air waiting to be expounded upon.  This morning as i reflected yet again about my addiction to eating more than is good for me, the thought occurred that there are some good habits getting established that i feel addicted to, as well.

One is getting my bed made before leaving the bedroom every morning.  I became convinced of the value of having the bedroom looking neat and nice, after reading feng shui books!  Now the habit is established at last - and i feel addicted to that good feeling i get when i go through the bedroom.

The other has to do with getting up at a regular time every morning, and going to bed early enough to feel good when six a.m. arrives!  I'm addicted to morning coffee, and when that alarm sounds, the thought of coffee is a huge motivation to get moving and feel happy to greet the day.  There is much more time to get things done when feeling energetic enough to use the morning hours.  The whole house looks better.  Laundry is caught up - the washer gets up as soon as i do. 

So i like having a coffee addiction and changing from a surly riser into an early riser, yes!

Five Minute Friday - THANK YOU

  It's Friday after Thanksgiving Day, so Thank You is a great subject for Five Minute Friday.

To my two good old hands, thank you for doing whatever i ask of you.

Thank you to my good old husband, who works hard for us and laughs a lot with me.

Thank you to my family all around the world for being a part of my life, and thank you to the internet for helping us keep in touch.

Thank you to Blogspot, a terrific and helpful website.

That's five minutes! 

I Wish Petraeus Had Paid Attention to This

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqW1crr1TZc

Ace of Bass

You know I just hate to complain about anything! BUT, the school my granddaughter attends has put her in a huge catch 22 over the orchestra class and the instrument she plays, which is the Double Bass.

 

There are many problems resulting from trying to be a bassist in the school orchestra.  A double bass is too expensive to buy to have in the home for the musician to practice with, in order to make good grades in orchestra.  The only practice she gets is in school, in the class!

 

Her grandfather and I could have made arrangements to provide one. But the main problem is keeping it safe at the house from getting broken by curious siblings.

 

I often wonder how this is handled in other families.  People do study and learn to play musical instruments as they are growing up - but maybe they are all kids with no sibs!  

 

 

Wish In One Hand...

This is a beautiful day in Fall 2012.  I wish I was at the beach!  It would be a perfect time to enjoy being by the ocean having a cuppa coffee.  But I'm doing fine having coffee surrounded by dry land and millions of brown leaves covering the ground.  Things could be better but they could be a lot worse too!

I wish I could head down to the fancy mall and buy lots of beautiful, expensive clothes for my family.  Even though we have plenty of wardrobe, the shops are tempting and the cool new styles are just calling out for us.  But, the crowds and noise make me tired right away and then i'd be wishing for the back porch and sweeping leaves again.  And who can afford $60 for a sweatshirt? 

I wish we could all go out to eat and have yummy smokin' hot food brought to us while other people do all the work!  But, seems like every time we go to a restaurant somebody gets an upset stomach.  And who wants to pay $35 to eat eggs in a restaurant when a dozen and a half eggs only cost $2.50 at the store?

Well, I've used up all three wishes for today!

Five Minute Friday: STAY

Five minute Friday is all about writing whatever comes first to your mind when you read the word for this Friday - for just five minutes, no stopping to worry about how it sounds.

So the word for today is STAY.  Right away i'm thinking of Jackson Browne singing Stay just a little bit longer!  was that a great song or what!  All about how a performer was enjoying rocking out on stage with his band so much that he wished they could all ignore their schedules and keep on making music together even after the audience had gone.  He was appreciating the gift of musicians blending their skills.

Everyone loves to be appreciated but it takes time to understand an individual for who they are.  Life goes along better if we're aware of the need to observe and quickly recognize something positive about the people around us, and then appreciate it all.

Because nothing can stop change and nothing will ever stay the way it is right now.

River of Life

http://www.flylady.net/

Evidently our bodies respond very positively to routines.  This is the message and huge mission of the Flylady's website, which includes a whole program of building up cheerful living and doing away with harmful, mindless negativity.

In my opinion, her approach works well (once i finally beat down my relentless inner cynic).  Flylady teaches the importance of living in the moment but simultaneously preparing for future necessities.  Getting ready for bed involves doing things that make the next day better, for instance.  That's a big change from how I used to stay up late reading or watching tv or chatting online, then barely getting teeth brushed before falling unconscious into bed - feeling groggy and grumpy the next morning as I struggled to get the day started.

Instead, there's a plan to begin heading for bed at a certain time.  Putting away craft materials, getting clothes picked out for the next day, checking the calendar, caring for nails, moisture cream for face and hands, maybe fixing packed lunch to take in the morning, etc.  Waiting until the hour when I should actually be asleep to begin getting ready for bed, robs me of sleep time.

That's just the beginning and there's plenty for "flybabies" to learn.  But as her motto indicates, anyone can do anything for 15 minutes - step by step, things get done, and as a routine for everything develops, life begins to flow much more smoothly.

The Flylady website is free of charge!  Feeling happy to get up in the morning is priceless.  Thanks, Flylady!

Copper Moonstone Necklace

Copper Mesa Necklace & Earrings

Copper Mesa necklace & earring set - red jasper, turquoise, copper wire-wrap.

Starvation Has Life-Long Effects

As a child I was starved when my father didn't have enough work to get money for food.

One winter after I turned 10 years old and my brother was six, my father found a 100-lb sack of potatoes for $2.00.  For several weeks that was all we had to eat. 

Later on there were several periods of time when we coped with food shortages but that was the worst.

My father had taken my brother and me away from our mother and moved us across the country and took us out of school so we couldn't be traced.  He had studied "living off the grid."  When you're off the grid you can't take a regular job and get paid by check.  You have to find menial labor that pays cash and no social security number needed.  Some weeks he earned no more than $5. 

In 1963, five dollars bought more that it would now but it still wasn't enough for two growing children.

Finally he was able to falsify his birth certificate and change his name.  He got a job with regular pay and we began eating somewhat better.  Sometimes we had cornbread with creases (greens) which we gathered on the riverbank.  Sometimes we had a plateful of sweet potatoes and that was it.  There was never what you could call a balanced diet.  He considered our life to be good enough and his conscience never bothered him.

Now at nearly 60 years old, I am morbidly obese, at nearly 300 pounds.  I have tried various theories and methods to lose weight.  Currently I'm attending Weight Watchers meetings and have hope of learning how to apply their points system.  But the memory of those months of living without enough to eat often drive me to the kitchen convinced that I've got to get something to eat.

Priorities Are Decisions Are Choices Are Feelings

Oh man! i have got to take a little break from breaking my back in my bathroom, which has not been cleaned thoroughly since we moved into this house a few years ago!  So as the work gets a sweat worked up, my thoughts turned to the WHY i allowed this room to get into such a neglected state!  I only made trouble for myself by frequently choosing not to spend time in here cleaning - and rushing to keep rooms clean that others would be seeing.

I have only been going in there when I had to and everytime I rushed out of the room I would think, I've GOT to take a few minutes and clean this bathroom!

Well finally I just could not stand the sight of the dusty dirty molding around the baseboards; the thick dust on the floor around the back of the toilet; the gray blanket of dust over the tub which i only use for throwing laundry into baskets.  I'm good about cleaning the toilet and shower stall but all around them is DISGUSTING.  I had non-slip mats placed all around the floor that hadn't been washed since i bought them over a year ago.  The container with the toilet cleaning equipment was so dirty i couldn't see what color it is.

I mean this room was FILTHY!  Needless to say i don't let anybody in here, EVER!

So TODAY is the day and I feel good about my feeling to choose to decide that my priorities have to include luxurious time spent making a room enjoyable even though no one else will see it but me.

Thanks For the Commercials!

Being online is great!  Just consider the enormous amount and variety of things we can now buy over the internet that just a few years ago would have seemed impossible! 

One internet company currently making a big push is Stamps.com.  They have frequent radio commercials and today they sent me an info cd in the mail, offering a free digital scale, free this, free that, which would amount to $50 in savings.  I can open an account with them and never have to ride to the post office again!

It seemed like a great deal, offering convenience and savings of both time and money.  I've learned to look up other peoples' opinions of great offers like these, on the internet, very conveniently.  People are anxious to help everyone by telling about their own experiences with products and purveyors, and they bring up aspects that might not have occurred to me, which is appreciated.

After looking at every angle i decided to use the USPS website, which does not charge a usage fee.  But thanks to the vendor who put me in the mood to find out about printing postage at home.

Five Minute Friday: Quiet

Quiet inside is the best, most complete way to analyze reality.  To stop all the thoughts in the brain's stacked intersections, pull myself over to the shoulder of the road and watch, see, feel, be aware but so quiet i have to remind myself to breathe - just for a minute or even less than that.

It's like that phrase Check Yourself.  To me it means, stop and check if i'm really doing the thing that will get me the result i want, or am i defaulting to thoughtless behavior that will sabotage what i really want to accomplish.

The Voting Psychosis, by R. A. Childs, Jr., in 1968

Americans are largely governed by myths and illusions. This has always been the case with every "people," and may well be inevitable. But nowhere outside of America do we find the dominance of one single belief: the belief in voting. Everywhere and for every purpose, voting is seen as the sacred answer for any problem whatever.

Vote, politicians tell us, and you shall be saved from all disasters. You shall inherit the earth, and establish the kingdom of God here on earth. Peace, freedom, wealth, happiness - all shall be yours. Just vote. So, like a herd of cattle, Americans periodically round themselves up, file by the millions into voting booths, pull levers, and "cast a ballot." The question is:  Why bother indulging in this massive opinion mongering contest?

To vote is not to "govern yourself" or any other such absurdity. A nation is not a self: It is only an abstraction meaning a whole lot of people. Govern a nation? You are governing others. You are supporting a system founded on the principle of pushing people around. YOU can govern YOURSELF without any help. So why bring others into the picture?

You are choosing your own leaders? To lead you where? And if you don't really know, why pretend that you are really choosing your own course of action? You are making no "social contract" with anyone, for the terms are not specified, the agreement not explicit or written. No politician will be bound by his promises. Peace, or liberty, can only come when leaders are too weak or feeble to lead, coerce or command. Choose your own destiny? You are deceived, citizen. YOU are on a political leash.

You are electing "representatives?" Then you will be personally responsible for his action? How can you be, when you hide behind a "secret ballot?" Representatives to do something in your name? Can you, then, dismiss him when he breaks his promises, and does not do what he claimed he would? When he lies, and betrays you? You cannot. You are stuck with him. His will is sacred - it is "law" and he enforces it upon YOU. No representation here, citizen. He does not obey YOUR will, or conform to YOUR demands. You are subordinated to HIS. You are HIS tool, he is not yours. Who, after all, forces whom to do what? Who takes all he wants from whom? Who sends whom off to become cannon fodder and fertilizer in foreign lands? Who pushes whom around? Who imprisons whom? If a politician is indeed YOUR representative, how can HE tell YOU what to do? How can HE punish YOU for disobeying HIM? Strange representation, citizen.

Someone has total power - power even of life and death - over you, and you think HE represents YOU. You think HE is the servant, and YOU the master. Ah, delusion! What is it then, to vote? It is to deceive oneself, to pretend that YOU are not governed. Citizen, remember Proudhon:

"To be governed is to be watched, inspected, directed, regulated, penned up, preached at, checked, appraised, censored, commanded. To be governed is to have every operation, every transaction, every movement voted, stamped, rated, measured, counted, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, indulged, prevented, referred, redressed. To be governed is, under pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be laid under contribution, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted, exhausted, hoaxed, and robbed. Then, upon the sightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, vilified, annoyed, hunted down, beaten, disarmed, imprisoned, shot, judged, condemned, banished, sacrificed, betrayed, and to crown all, ridiculed, derided, outraged, and dishonored."

Look around you, law-abiding citizen, taxpayer, filer of a thousand forms, gun bearer, warrior, victim, corpse, you with a thousand other scarred faces. Who governs whom?

Is this what you vote for?

Think It and Get It, Sometimes

 

Here is a nice tiffany-style lamp with the dragon flies and rose that i wished for everytime i saw it in my favorite show, McLeod's Daughters.

 

Just last Saturday i felt a powerful urge to head into our favorite antique/junque store in town, the Green Bean.  The closest parking space was available, which never happens!  Steve said, There must be something big in there calling us, and this way we won't have to carry it very far.

 

Well i didn't take more than two steps inside before i spotted the lamp of my wishes.  I said, LOOK, i found what i came here for! 



A Ship Much Loved, HMS Bounty

She was the beautiful HMS Bounty, a replica of the 18th century English ship famous for the story of the abusive captain whose sailors took the ship away from him.  This replica was built from the same blueprints in 1960 and starred in Mutiny on the Bounty with Marlon Brando in 1962.

 

She was kept for many years as a tourist attraction in Tampa, Florida, and I visited her and walked all around the decks, and inside the captain's quarters where the signature windows were located.  I had never been on a sailing ship before.

 

Two days ago she sank off the coast of North Carolina in a hurricane.  Her captain was attempting to sail away from the coast and around massive Hurricane Sandy, which he thought would protect her from getting pounded at the docks.  But something went wrong with the pumps, as she took on water in the high waves.  Her crew abandoned ship; one member who was a distant relative of the original mutineer, could not be revived.  As of this writing her captain has not been found.

 

 

 

 

Nooz or Snooze?

Our Atlanta newspaper is fun to have every day, fun to pick up every morning from the end of the driveway and devour with coffee.  There are always topics of interest to spark nice conversations and get the day going well.

We had a subscription for several years.  It was affordable and the delivery was dependable.  It was a good value for the money.  So why on earth would someone want to end such a beneficial arrangement?

I'll tell you why, just as i have told the subscription solicitation department of the Atlanta paper every time they call, which is a mite tedious but i guess they enjoy hearing it:

The dear paper delivery person's car coming into the cul de sac at 4:00 a.m. wakes me up and all the dogs, old people, school kids, working folks and everything else that lives around here.  I hate being awakened like that and then trying to get back to sleep is nearly impossible.  The thought of all my neighbors being disturbed out of their precious rest just so we have a newspaper delivered takes away all my peace of mind and my enjoyment of the paper.

"We get the paper at the store," I say to the salespeople every time they call.  But their records only show that i used to be one of their subscribers; they never note my reason for stopping the paper. 

"What can we do to get you back, ma'm?  We have a GREAT DEAL for you! Three months of seven days a week, including Saturday and Sunday, that's the SUNDAY PAPER, for $10.  No?  Okay, if you will just re-up right now, WE will pay YOU $10! That's right!  We'll send the guy out with the cash right NOW!  You cannot afford to pass up this wonderful offer!  Why, we'll wash your car, sweep your porch, we'll bring in the mail, we'll bring you coffee and doughnuts, we have GOT to get your subscription, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU??!!!....."

The MUSE!

This is a fantastic group of musicians who keep me company while i'm working - the music easily guides the mind into that creative focused oblivion which is the only way you can get any real work done!

Comedy in Real Life

Sometimes i tune in and yesterday while grocery shopping with Papacito i was fortunate to hear a hilarious exchange between a young mom and her nice young son.

This lady seemed to be enjoying herself, as her son and daughter followed her through the store.  She was keeping them up to date on how much longer they would be there, and what items on the list they still needed.

"Let's see, we got the vegetables and the chicken quarters..."

There was a moment, and then i heard him ask, with that questioning disbelief in his voice, "...chicken QUARTERS??!"  She just answered Yes, with no explanation.  Maybe she was waiting for the next question.

As we rounded the corner i just about lost all my good sense, i laughed so hard.  I had to explain the episode to Steve.  Then he nearly had to pick up his crazy laughing wife after he remarked, "What we need is chicken DOLLARS!"

LOOK, at the scenery we're driving through!  Nobody else in the car cares how pretty the countryside is.  The grandkid plays with her toys and gadgets or reads a book.  Her grandfather is usually asleep if he's riding in the car.

I can save my urge to share the scene.  I just look, by myself.

Enlarging Your Vocabulary!

The great writer and storyteller, Jeffrey Archer, has my attention this Fall of 2012.  The novels about Harry Clifton are great reading.

At one point he uses the word Codswallop to describe something being nonsense.

We need to be mindful of teaching schoolkids their adjectives, in our day and age.  Something more than just Amazing and Awesome, BS and Crap.

I think saying codswallop makes one sound much more intellectual than sinking to the word crap.

Take a Pill

So many people use the phrase, One Day At A Time. Take one day at a time. They don't want to be overwhelmed by your overwhelmedness.

Imagine Images

There are lots of electronic toys in active popular usage now that recent generations would not have understood no matter how many times they read about them.  I remember thinking just a few years ago, when I first heard talk of a cellular telephone with a built-in camera, that there would never be a reason for me to have a camera with my telephone!

Now I can't imagine not having my phone-cam within inches of my reach at all times!  Yesterday I was stopped in traffic on a street where the county fair is held every October.  Once a year busy traffic is interrupted so people can turn into the parking lot, and then walk across to get into the fair enclosure.

Instead of finding the delay irritating, I can reach for the phone camera and snap photos that otherwise I would never have had! 

Landing Page

www.tmsfloorcare.com