Thursday, July 19-Day 4

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Day 4

We were up and no one else was up. The bathhouse was great. I had a really nice tiled handicap shower. Finally realized again we were on FL time. It wasn’t 7 AM…..it was 6!

Blaine lost his reading glasses. We finally found them on the ground.

Illinois roads are really crummy. Everything inside the camper bounced around. Had to muffle the stove top.

At lunch we became Super Heroes! Everyone was posing. A family of 5 posed in every combination.

Later we saw a wreck. A Yellow Transit semi was pulling also pulling a trailer. The trailer was on its side and there were advertising mail out envelopes all over the interstate.

Also saw a huge cross.

Utica had each store decorate with flowers outside with the theme of their store. The wine place had a wine bucket/bottle, the grocery a lunchbox, and this bank had money! There was a gold bar, a bag of quarters and a bag of dimes.

We had a long detour that had Lola working overtime recalculating. She wanted us to turn at every county road to get us back on the interstate.

We finally made it to Hickory Hollow campground in Utica, IL.

Utica is near Starved Rock state park. Don’t know the story on the starving yet, but the town is cute and once was a stop on the Illinois/Michigan Canal.

Since Blaine REALLY lost his glasses we got directions to LaSalle 6 miles away. No cute here. Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Home Depot. Home.

Tonight at the campground they allow fires so it smells really nice. The air is cool and we only need more family members to sit with us to play Uno or Trivial Pursuit.

July 18-Day 3

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Day 3

I think everyone at this campground is 80-90 years old and all campers try to look fast and aerodynamic by having flowing swooshy stripes on the sides.

Blaine forgets he’s in a camper and drives too fast for me and seems like he wants to pass everyone. When I drive I stay in my center lane, barely go over 70 mph and am perfectly willing to be in a parade of vehicles.

As we neared Nashville, we decided to do the Grand Old Opry. Lola home us through to Jellystone. Come to find out the Opry doesn’t perform daily and we missed it last night and won’t happen till the weekend. There was a dinner show at Nashville Nights down the road from the camp. Kenitra said we could be walk there. The food served at 6 and we should start walking by 5:30.

Spotted this Gator rig at our campground.

What would a trip be without FLOWERS.

Well, Blaine looked at the map and saw there was a Camping World next to where we would be eating so he hustled us out at 4. It FELT like was a mile away. No sidewalks. We cut across a huge RV sales lot with hundreds of
RVs, the trekked across another campground, through the Grey Tours bus lot, past Nashville Nights to Camper World.

He bought a new AC thing. The one from Best Buy requires it to be clamped to the battery. Joined Camper World club to get 10% discount. Should have joined a month ago and then loitered around so we wouldn't be too early at for dinner.

Well, we were really early. Seems we are in the Central Time zone and had to schlep back to the camper. :-(

When we went back at the proper time we were again struck by Southern Hospitality. Everyone seems genuinely considerate.

Come to find out everyone there does double duty. Seating, selling souvenirs, then performing. It’s true that everyone here is a future star and they all write songs.

We saw Mark Powelson, Charlie Vaughan, & Jeannie Seeley. Well worth the effort to walk there twice.

Trip-Day 2

July 17^th

Day 2

Since Scott had to be @ work at 7:00 and left the Condo @ 6:30, we were barely awake when we said our goodbyes.

We wanted to go to Best Buy (not the famous Buy Best) but they didn’t open till 10:00 so I had to while the time away at Kohl’s.

We had to get the set of power plug adapters to play the Rio. Forgot the power cord and we got an AV adapter to run all of our ‘stuff’.

Finally we got on the Turnpike north. It seemed to busy with trucks and they are not timid about dogging your tail. We saw a convoy of 6 or 7 Budget trucks and there were a lot of State Troopers parked along checking for speeders. Not me…….. :-) I maintain a steady 70mph.

We used the Woodall’s guide to find our campground. Lola couldn’t help us find it as the guide doesn’t do addresses, but does have directions and a phone number.

Well, in Unadilla we got lost trying to find the Southern Trails Resort. Their signs were minimal. Lola could have helped.

When we checked in the proprietor looked like my Dad and wore a khaki uniform with a big gold official looking star. He LOOKED like the sheriff, but the uniform just said Security.

We went to Country Boy’s Cookin’ where they have “Award Winning BBQ”.

They had all of their awards hanging on the wall, but some were for 7^th and 10^th place. I wondered how many entries there were to be so proud of 10^th place. Last year they did take 1^st place in Desserts.

We walked on over to Piggley Wiggly. This is small town/rural America. Everyone says ‘hi’ and ‘how ya doing’. Watermelons were only $3.00 for a whole watermelon.

Went back to camp and set up. Looks really nice, but I forgot about that Southern Tradition of GNATS.

Great Summer Trip-Day 1

Great Summer Trip of 2007

Day 1
Monday, July 16, 2007

After having the camper ‘stashed’ behind the house since Saturday to avoid detection by the ordinance police, we were finally ready to roll about 12:30. I had had a foot appointment we had to wait for me to finish.

First night is at Scott’s apartment. We spent our first night out in the apt. We went to Camper World (Everything is a WORLD in this area) and got a Fresnel lens for the back window so we can actually see the cars now. The bolo cords Blaine pooh-poohed a couple of weeks ago we now deems very useful. Also go several more AC adaptors as he sort of melted one a home.

We had to get test strips @ Walgreen and ate @ Cracker Barrel. We got a brand new waiter who got flustered and kept getting the order wrong. He also gave us the wrong bill too.

Scott showed us what he had edited of Mark & his European Vacation. It is time consuming to edit, but the results look so professional.

PS-I folded a HEAP of clothes

Foot Care-Part 3

As you can see, the foot looks a lot better. I have exercises to do to gain flexibility. My foot always feels bruised right now when I walk. It also clicks.

The clicking is really annoying. I feel it click and you can hear it click as I walk. I hope this is not permanent. I sure don't want people to know it's me coming because they can hear me clicking.

I have exercises to curl my toes up and down, pick up objects, stretch the muscles, massage the scars and bottom of the foot, and torture myself with tasks I can't possible do and they hurt while I do them and my foot aches afterwards.

I have made progress, but have a ways to go.

Foot Care Part 2

Trials and tribulations.
Allergic to betadine. Notice the blisters and redness.

Food poisoning. 24 hours of misery....with a foot/crutches that made the dash to the bathroom very hard.

Because I was so inactive....my back flipped out. I still have to twist and snap it back into place. Bending is tricky. Back and knees.

I now have a list of about 10 different movements and stretches to do for physical therapy. I sure can't seem to move those toes, BUT I can wear real shoes now and not use crutches.

To quote Mom, "This getting old is not what it's cracked up to be!"
Yeah, it is what it's cracked up to be. :-(

Gypsy...R.I.P July 9, 2007

Gypsy's health continued to decline. This week-end she stopped eating and couldn't drink. I wasn't able to pry her teeth apart to get the little pill in. It's like they were frozen shut.

Sunday night I used the syringe and got water between her teeth and it seemed to revive her a little. We decided to take her to the vet's this morning as she was so feeble and pathetic.

She died in the carrier on the way to vet's office this morning. The ride was too stressful for her. She was with us for 14 years and we will miss her active and inquisitive ways.

My Foot....ITCHES!!

Friday my foot started itching like mad. I could scratch the toe tops and in-between the toes, but that was not near enough.

Tonight, I unwrapped the whole thing. My skin has permanent indentations from the gauze and residual sticky from the wet cast-like bandage they put on the first time them changed the dressing.

The toes are still bruised and plump little sausages, but the foot is not that swollen. You can see where my skin is pinkish amid the betadine stained skin. It's raw and seeping from the binding. It feels so good just to have it uncovered. It's probably a 'sin', but I go in Monday to have the stitches removed and I can't stand it anymore.

I hope I can find something else to put over this so I can sleep.

Gypsy-Part 2

After we took me in to re-dress my foot, we took Gypsy to the vet. She is listless, has a dilated left eye, and clearly is not the bundle of energy that defines her.

She has lost a pound and weights about 8 pounds. They suggested blood work and urine sample to find out what might be out of balance.

Today we got a phone call from the vet. Her blood levels are just fine. So it's not her liver, kidneys, or thyroid. The doctor suggested it may be a brain tumor and there's not much to do about it unless we want to get into mega $$$.

We will try steroid pills. It may shrink 'it' if it is a tumor. We will pop 1/4 of a pill every 12 hours for 3 days, then once a day till they are gone. Poor kitty.

Cats don't show pain, but we certainly don't want her to suffer. She's been active her 14 years with us. Poor kitty.

Gypsy

We think Gypsy is on her way out. She seems to be weak, her eye is dilated, and she sleeps a lot. With my self being out of commission, it's impossible to take her to the vet.

I read in a magazine that pine cleaners are bad for cats. That it is bad for their liver. Blaine uses Pine-Sol.

She doesn't seem to be in any pain. I know the vet will rack up $$$$$, but it seems to be terrible not to do anything for her. I can barely take care of myself let alone helping her.

OMG! What Have I DONE!?!

What have I done?!?

Scott didn't stop me.

Blaine was certainly not stopping me.

It looked soooo good.

Yup! A Ritz!

There are a couple of items that need to be fixed......this is NOT suppose to be a bidet.

The micro-wave needs some screws to keep it in.

It will get an attached awning, a roof rack, and a 101 point inspection of items to be repaired.

Meet you at the RITZ!

View the VIDEO

Bits of Drama

1. The Pepto-Bismol MAX commercial with giants (Godzilla, 50ft women, a big robot ) with 'nausea, heartburn, indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea'. Now, THAT's a lot of diarrhea. Yuck.

2. Rosa, the new custodian for the media center threw away more than the books labeled 'discard' and we had to go dumpster diving to retrieve them.

3. The pumber or cable guy doesn't have a corner on the problem of crack. While eating at Firehouse subs tonight there was a young woman who had on very low cut jeans. When standing, they were just low with a big belt. When she sat down, she exposed her whole butt. I now know she doesn't wear underwear...not even a thong. She has a butterfly tatoo next to her crack, but it isn't colored in yet. We could see 2-3 inches of her butt crack and several times her bare butt would touch the chair cushion. Not a pretty sight when eating.

4. I don't like muscovy ducks and doves. They hog the birdfeeder. The windchime rings and it's like a dinner bell for them.....the ducks come waddeling over in hopes the clumsy doves will nock down seeds.

My Two Yuck Feet

I went to the podiatrist today. After several years of not being able to bend my toes, I reached a critical stage when I wasn't able to walk in my shoes and had to buy $75 sandals at a resort boutique in order to survive.

The doctor took x-rays. You can see the bad big-toe joint with bone chips. The surprising thing was that I have a needle/pin buried in my left foot. I thought he was joking, but he showed me. I then recalled that when I was little I stepped on a pin. I remember Dad and Mom putting my foot in cold water then warm water and then Dad being the Tokheim guy, brought out this HUGE round magnet. It must have been the size of a saucer and about2-3 inches thick. Who knows why he would have it, but he tried to use it to see if it would pull out the pin/needle. It must have been so deep that they probably wondered if I even stepped on anything.

I remembered that evening we walked over to the street fair on Warren street. I didn't want to have a 'bad' foot then. Steve, my brother was little and was being pushed in a baby buggy rather then a stroller. He could sit up, but I guess they didn't have a stroller yet. On the way home my foot hurt and they let me ride in the buggy from about Jefferson St home. That would make me about 6-7 years old.

I also told him about my jumping off the couch onto the coffee can and cutting my foot to the bone. I guess I wasn't too good about wearing shoes and it's getting even now.

I was given shots of cortisone in both feet for the Morton's neuroma. OUCH!!! That is very painful. We also spoke of surgery to clean up the joints and using 'osteocure' rather than bio-pro. I have decisions and of course Dr. Kauffman is helping me with my research.

Mom used to say, "this getting old isn't what it's cracked up to be!"
AMEN!

It's here and already decorated.

BEFORE.......










AFTER!









The delivery window was 9-11 and the guy called about 9:25 and said he'd be there in 5 min. I rushed to remove the food, but he was already at the door.

They had to remove the new refrigerator's doors to get it through the kitchen, but they went right to work and hooked everything up and away they went.

The hardest part was figuring where to put everything. It's a new configuration. It's like when they remodel the a store and you can't find anything thing. I'm sure we'll be moving things around some more.

Then to 'decorate' it. I have to have the calendar, mirrors (so I can watch TV) and various magnets. I know it seems like a sacrilege to cover up a pure surface, but this personalizes it and 'makes it our own'.

Already Blaine has reached for the old door handle.

Welcome to the Family

We have a new family member arriving Thursday.


After 25+ years we are getting a new refrigerator.

Ultra Satin Kenmore 21.8 cu. ft. Side-By-Side Refrigerator with PuR® Ultimate II Water Filtration

Yesterday was a tense fact finding day. Our space is not big enough for most of the the units out there. We had to take very precise measurements and look at the heights with/with-out hinge.

This will allow me to see most of our food without having to sit down on a chair because of my crummy knees and our milk, veggies, and OJ won't be frozen anymore.

This one has ice & water dispenser and OMG......it's new.

He's no Robert

I have been spoiled. I took my first cruise with Star Princess and loved it all. Robert was our dining guru and fussed over us and treated us like royalty. Replacing silverware, refilling glasses, and anticipating our needs.

Last night we went to Olive Garden because we enjoyed the last time, we were celebrating Spring Break, and we both had Fettuccine Alfredo on the brain.

We had probably the worst server in the world. Others were waited on who sat down after us. They had their drinks and bread. Billy finally brought our drinks and bread, but not the plate to put the bread on. There wasn't any butter either. We requested the butter when eventually he breezed by, but it was a LONG time before it got there. I had to ask for straws for our drinks too.

Our meal arrived. Other tables were being asked it they wanted Parmesan cheese on their food. Not us and we had fettuccine and spaghetti. We sat not even touching our food. Blaine was going to go get the little grater himself, but I made him sit back down. When Billy popped back 5 min later I requested the cheese. Oh, no problem and off he blew. Well, 5 min later he came back with the Styrofoam containers, a bag to put them in and a little bowl of grated cheese. I took the containers. Big mistake. When I looked up for the cheese, he had left. We never did get the cheese!

At this point we plopped our food in the containers and prepared to leave. With a minimum tip, were were out of there.

Robert......I miss you and your fanning menus.

T.P.

Grandpa would shop at Aldies for bargain food when he had to take over the buying when Grandma couldn't. He would buy brands of food I never heard of, but they where cheap. I DO like my brands.

Well, Blaine fell into that mode when he decided we were using too much toilet paper and my Charmin Ultra was too expensive. He bought a 12 pack of Store brand TP for a good price and they were big rolls.

Well, they needed to be big rolls because you have to use so much of it. If it gets wet, it falls apart. Think about all of the ramifications of that. He finally admitted he was having to fold and fold and fold a huge amount and well, yes, he didn't like it either. He actually threw away all 12 rolls and went out to get the Charmin. Not much 'saved' in money, but a lot gained in experience.

Smell

I wish you could stop and smell the roses. So ofter roses are bred for being pretty, but the trade-off is that they don't have any smell.

My birthday roses smell great. They are opening up and look lush and old fashioned.

Uh-huh...It's My Birthday....Yeah

It's my Birthday! Oh My! I received 2 bouquets of flowers. ........AT SCHOOL!

Birthday wishes from Brain Age Guy, too.

Here are my flowers and my big present.

Thanks everyone. Big Smile.

Total Eclipse of the Moon

Saturday was an eclipse of the moon. We ate at Cracker Barrel then headed over to Deerfield Beach. Seems everyone else had the same idea about going to the beach.Traffic was bumper-to-bumper at 2 mph scoping for parking. We bit the bullet and paid for a parking lot. Well spent money. Right there on the strip.


Families, dates, oldies were camped on the beach, on beach chairs, and blankets waiting. It was slightly cloudy.





We paid the $1 to go out on the Deerfield Beach pier. Worth it too. I never realized that so much fishing took place at night. It was fun. When the moon finally popped out from behind the clouds, the moon was already heading out of the eclipse.

Volunteer

I feed the birds and fill the birdfeeder with a seed mix that has fruits, nuts, and sunflower seeds. Some of the birds shove the seeds around to get whatever is their favorite seed. The seeds that fall to the ground get eaten by a faithful crew of Muscovy ducks. They waddle over and check to see what's been discarded and eye the feeder and hope the others will fling more seeds down on them. Well, they didn't get them all because I've discovered a sunflower growing in the planter. It's a cute little thing and if I had TRIED to grow sunflowers it wouldn't work. Most of the other plants we've planted are lame-looking or dead. I have 1 poinsettia that's still red. The rest are dead. The christmas cactus have been eaten by snails and the orchid on the patio is brown. Sigh.

The bird bath still gets used as a watering hole....by a cat. TC (we call it TC because it used to be Tammy's cat before she moved and abandoned it) She/he will come by and drink. It drives Gypsy crazy to have it right THERE in front of HER window.

Bone Night

Garbage pick up is on Thursdays and Mondays. Bone-night is Wednesdays and Sundays. We will eat well on those nights because our bones and leftovers that don't go down the disposer go out in the trash the next day.

Friday Night in the Big City

OK, I got home late from school. I was pulling books that needed AR labels. I have a program that identifies which books I have and have tests for. It's easy to work when it is quiet and no one interrupts.It was closer to six.

We eat out on Friday nights, so other than a quick turn-around we were off to eat. Traffic is thick on Friday nights at 6:00 and Blaine was headed for Steak-And-Shake. He turned off for it in the wrong block and then had to turn left and then a u-turn to head south on University again. Because traffic was streaming by in a steady stream, it took several minutes to finally get across to the restaurant.

We were seat next to a group of children (boys) that had pushed several tables together to accommodate their group. They seemed to think they owned the whole place. Loud talking. Yelling to the help in the kitchen and the kitchen help not discouraging it. Not for me on a Friday. We got up and left.

He headed next for Cheeburger-Cheeburger and we were seated clear in the back next to the wall in the corner at a table for two. When he looked over the menu there wasn't enough 'choices'.......and we again we got up and left the restaurant.

Again heading north on University he decided on Panero's. When he turned into the shopping center, he was in the wrong lane and had people flash their headlights at him. Oh MY!

After our meal we headed for Pet Supermarket because I wanted to get the fish tank up and running again. I let him pick out the plastic water plants while I got tubing, an aerator, and pondered over charcoal filters.

They had hamsters running madly about in their container, parakeets twirling on a wheel, and a cat that looked like Gypsy's sister. It was busy with people, pets, and customer's who have to shop WITH their dogs.

FINALLY got home and was so tired I just went to bed. By Friday night there is no way I can stay up and it's probably the best night to stay up.

Does it mean.....

We get advertisments and flyers stuck on our front door knob and in the yard. This morning on the way out to get the paper there was one wadded up and stuck through the door handle. It was an ad for painting the house. I tossed it. Tonight when I came home from school there was another ad in a plastic bag that they had weighted with 2 very white rocks so they could toss them out the car as they drove by. Guess what it was for. House painting.

Does it look like we NEED our house painted? or is this a general thing. I'm starting to feel picked on.

The Dog House

This weekend we experienced a dog day afternoon. Blaine went off to buy some groceries and when he returned and came into the garage, 2 pit bulls followed him right to the door! He couldn't shut the door because they were still in the garage. He knew where they lived as they bark at him from their backyard on his daily walks.

He sneaked out to his car and went down to the neighbors house to ask if their dogs were home. They thought they were, but the fence gate was open. Blaine drove the guy back to our house where the guy proceeded to get the brutes on leases.

Next thing I know as I'm sitting at my computer, another dog comes up and inspects my bird bath and another dog right behind him. Seems this pair belongs to IB. Blaine went over to knock on their door, while I tracked them down in our back yard to keep them from bolting. Jasmine barked at me like crazy, but I was able to sweet talk Syd into coming with me. Poor thing limps with arthritis. Mrs. IB told Blaine IB forgets to shut the gate. DUH! And she know when Blaine knocks on the doors, it's because of the dogs.

What?

We went grocery shopping today and as I am want to do, I walk ALL the aisles. This time we took our time looking at the different foods. It was in the International Section that we had the most fun.


What is Irish Moss drink. It seems to really have irish moss as an ingrediant.

You can get Guarana Antartica Soda in a very tall 2 liter bottle.
And how about those soup mixes for Fish Tea Soup and Cock Soup.


You can buy Callaloo. Couldn't figure out what it was. It was near the Old Harbor Style Bammy. I'll bet the old harbor style must be the best kind.


Mauby Conentrate Drink is some kind of fruit?


In a box-type of container was Maracuja concentrate or drink. The picture looked like fish eyes. Yum.


How about Ty-Phoo. Regular or Decaf.

And finally Nestles Klim!


We are such boring eaters.

Cool People

I was in Orlando to attend the FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference)
this last week and got to hang out with some presenters. That was really fun. Every year when it's over I get depressed because I'm a LOSER. I never WIN anything. I should win something because I want it more than other people. It's no good to tell me about all the cool stuff that companies give me. They give it to everyone.

I REALLY wanted to win a clicker system. I sat next to the people who win whole systems from eInstruction and Quizdom. Loser!

I went to Orlando Premium Outlets (with Lola's help) This is where Cool People shop. Big brand name$. Fendi, Armani, Calvin Klein, Hilfiger, Perry Ellis.
What does it take to be Cool?

• Cool people's clothes look immaculate. Crisp, bright, expensive without looking gaudy.
• Cool people have a foot size that can try on any shoe especially the high heeled ones. In fact, they love to shop and walk everywhere in heels.....heels with long pointy toes that look like weapons. Their feet never hurt.
  
• Cool people can always find a place to sit to eat in the food court. They don't balance a tray their lap because there are no tables available.
• When they are finished with their food, they just sit there forever doing nothing but being cool.
• Their packages never seem to be heavy and a burden to tote around.
• They are usually tall and never seem to have bad hair.
• Really cool folks don't have little children that have to be toted or pushed. Their children are a little older and already have a keen sense of what to buy too.

I'm not cool. I'm totally not impressed with a must-have Fendi purse or the pointy toed shoes. I did find a couple pairs of shoes I can wear. I can't wear the $$$ sandals from Gaylord Palms for every situation that may require something other than my New Balance shoes or my black school shoes. Yes, I think I have a modest dressy shoe.

I do love Kohl's though. I can always find something there that I must have. This last time I even got a 15% discount because it was Wednesday. Works for me! :-) How cool is THAT?

What's Going Up?

Rumors? What rumors?


The Toys-R-Us is gone and building has been empty for awhile, but in "The Magazine for the Premier Community in which to Live, Work and Raise a Family---Coral Springs, Winter 2007 it describes a project that is exciting for the electronic junkies in the family. Best Buy! (not to be confused with Buy Best) is going in the old store.


The open date in the magazine says Jan 19th, but that date has passed. I don't really know if it's open or the opening date is delayed.

In checking the city web site it seems that a Super Target will go in close to the old Target. It also lists a Target/Ross (?) going up at University and Westview. That's across from Magnolia Theaters.

Wow.

Girl Scouts & Cookies

It's that time of year again. Love the girl scout cookies. (Yeah, the Thin Mints). Being a Media Specialist at an elementary schools means I have access to cookies. We have a teacher who has 2 daughters that are scouts. Order you cookies and bing-0, they are delivered ASAP. I've already bought 5 boxes, 4 mints and 1 cafe.

This weekend the scouts were set up in the lobby of Publix. Parents are savvy and put the littlest brownies out front to beg you to buy cookies. There were so many of them that surged towards everyone who was entering or leaving the store that you could hardly get through the lobby. Then, because they are the youngest scouts, they are easily distracted and are just being little girls not sales-persons.

They don't know that I've already supported scouting already with my purchases. There should be some kind of sticker or button you can wear like the 'I voted' stickers you get on exiting the polling booths that could show that you'd already supported the cause and it's going to be fruitless to ask for more again.

Comet McNaught

Who knew? Evidently this comet has been out there awhile, but today is the first I saw something about it. The last comet I've seen is when Coral Springs still had 'the edge of the earth' to go view night items without light pollution. I wasn't able to tell if it's viewable in SoFLa.

Christmas-pas deux

It's not many that get to celebrate 2 Christmases. Our second 'go-round' was this last week-end and it was as awesome as the one on December 25th. Both times we we able to include NY NinJa via skype to be a part of our 'good times'. This includes the Monopoly game as a present.

When I think of the presents, the one that seems to get the most play is Potty Putty. The endless joke of making 'potty' sounds never tires. It's still just as funny the 200th time.

Lip gloss on little girls is charming. They haven't mastered how to apply it and it's all over the lips and adjoing face. And then the invitation to 'smell' the flavor of cherry, grape, or chocolate is adorable.

The GPA that hubby got was quickly named 'Lola' and she bossed us all the way home. Little Lola doesn't ALWAYS know the best way. We got off the turnpike to travel on I95. She did NOT like that. She continued to prompt us to exit and get back on the turnpike. When the exit she chose for us was ignored, she would say (I think with an attitude) "recalculating". Now he takes her to Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and just around the block for a spin. Good grief!

Finally the Gators Mojo and Juju to prepare for. The 'lucky' shirts, croc shoes, car magnets, amd trash talk. It worked! What a great feeling to have backed a winning team all year.

Drama-Drama

This has been a drama-drama 2 weeks.

• I got a new computer for Christmas. The drama-drama is switching all the important stuff from the older computer and then trying to make it work. Tears....HELP!....more tears.....IT DOESN"T WORK.....tears....I ALREADY did that.....OK...OK....I'll just leave......Stupid computers.


• The older computer goes to hubby and he can't get it to work for him. After spending hours/days reformatting etc he finally discovered it required 7-8 discs that Dell sent and you have to search the discs for the drivers you need.


• Repairs.....the new garage door is beautiful. The opener quit working. The guy installed a new opener. Great. Works fine. When we came home from shopping the door went up and I walked over to turn on the outside lights. A shower of sparks and the circuit breaker tripped. We cannot turn on the outside lights without short-circuiting something. Now to get someone to find out why.


• Ancestors. I spent this last summer researching our geneology. There was nothing on the hubby's side. I finally hit a gold mine and found out the names of his Aunts and Uncles. He had no idea. Today, we received an email from an actual live cousin who happened to find my work on a page somewhere. He has a book about his ancestors and has even used DNA testing to positively trace the right branch. Seems the ancestors have been Amish/Mennonites and were traced back to Switzerland. What a gift.

Mailing Lists

I wonder what I must have bought to get on such a variety of mailing listts. I bought NiJA's winter coat last year.....so I get Land's End. I never knew they had specialty catalogs. There must be a catalog for every situation. I ALSO get L.L. Bean. Both of these have terrific looking COLD weather stuff not really practical for most of the family living in Florida.


I bought the Shushing Librarian 'Action' Figure from Archie McPhee. What a blast it is to look through those.

I get catalogs from some company trying to sell me supplies and templates for all my scroll saw work. Why someone thinks I have a scroll saw is beyond me. Wond what list I was on for that to be sent.


I bought Christmas cards last year after Christmas on sale from MOMA. I know they sold my name. I got a really beautiful catalog last week with works of art items make of blown glass and artsy items, none costing less than $75 and that was for some very minor thing.


Our newspaper had a slick papered-high definition 1/4 " magazine in the daily newspaper showcasing jewelry. Jewelry that all cost HUNDREDS of thousands of dollars worn by people in very strange poses. That was very expensive for them to produce, but if one person buys something, it will pay for it.

I ordered a couple of kid's magazines for the grands, and now I get upscale catalogs for all kinds of pricy toys. Educational of course. Because they magazines were animal-based, I get pleas from the National Wildlife Foundation.

They are all beautifully done and I couldn't begin to be able to afford to buy from even half of them. What a waste of paper and trees.

Help the Drunk get home

A friend sent me this and I love games.

It's called...Help the drunk get home.
Try this and see how far you can keep this drunk man up......Good Luck!
You just move your mouse left to right (no clicking) to keep him walking in a straight line.
The object of the game is to keep him walking, without falling over, by using your mouse from left to right or right to left - you can't see your mouse which makes it more difficult.

I got as far as 62 meters, but will probably try to match the german record.

Ms. Dewey

The website, Ms. Dewey, is a hoot. It's a search engine, but while you're waitng for her to locate info, she performs. She is very expressive. I like to let her wait a while and see what kind of tactics she takes.

Also, this is the beta version of blogger.I'm having trouble publishing though.

Pain in the Foot

The FAME (Florida Association of Media Educators) is in Orlando and Penguin and I were going to a free dinner at the Gaylord Palms sponsored by Garrett Books. Gaylord Palms is a swanky place and I convinced Penguin not to 'just' wear his jeans and a shirt, but put on a tie and sports coat. I looked nice and put on 'real' shoes, not the black supportive shoes I wear to school or the New Balance athletic shoes I wear on the week-end.

Well, I have feet that need surgery. My toes don't bend, but the occasion called for dressier shoes. My dressier shoes are not heels or fancy, but modest 1 " plain little things. It was dicey just putting them on, but I thought I could survive.I couldn't. While we were walking to the restaurant at the Palms, I could barely walk. My feet were red and bruising.

Penguin got the wrong time, so we had an hour and a half to waste. He suggested we just get some shoes at the Palms, but their shoes were resortwear. Sandles. Sandles are the new dress shoe...right? We found some sandles. There were plain black numbers and because there were at the Palms....$75. Pain makes you buy stuff you would never otherwise even think about.

Now my feet were comfortable, but they looked naked. I needed polish to make it look finished. So we headed for the spa for polish. Of course it wouldn't be the $3 bottle you can get at Wal-Mart. No, this was an $8 bottle. Superior polish. I sat in the 'Everglades' and polished my toes. Voila. Now the only thing that would have been better would be if the sandles had sparklies on them. My free meal cost me about about $85. It was great food though.

BOO! Scared you didn't I?

Jack, Bones, and the other guy wish you a Happy Halloween.

Bones is showing where the doorbells is and 'glows' on his head from the collection of cams Terrier-mode NBK put there.

I hope we give all the candy away so I won't be tempted to eat it.

Good Grief!

Candidate wants to arm students with thick books.

Oh sure, let's get students really heavy books to tote around 'for protection'. And you certainly shouldn't pull them in the little rolly carts, it would need to be in their backpacks so it could stop that bullet. Make the students be responsible for their safety. Good idea.

Good Times

I have a blog I like to visit. For the Birds lives in Florida and works at the Kennedy Space Center. She posted a picture of what must be the smallest little frog/toad I've ever seen.

Today we ate out on our patio while the weather was great and we spotted the 'small' iguanna that lives by the canal. The huge one is spectacular but I haven't seen it very often since we had the trees level after Hurricane Wilma. It could be its lost too much protective shading or the neighboring kids had discovered it. It's still exciting to see wildlife even after all these years.

Iris Blah Blah

Random blah-blah

• Bookfairs are insane times. Too bad libraries have to find different ways to get money to buy books, equipment, and supplies for the school. Bets and I always try to discourage the kids from blowing all of their money on trinkets. They need at least ONE book, then they can get the bendy pencils, the spikey top pens, and jumbo clicker erasers. They even had a little pack of 'monkey' tissues for an exorbitant price.

• I was offered a sub for the days of the fair by my principal. In five days I've had 4 different people and today they took the only one who would have spent 2 consecutive days for another class. 'Smiley' wanted Bets to take my classes then and just have me man to bookfair. Oh, yeah Bets already has a lunch duty time with a unique child while I have classes. How was she going to be in 2 places at once? Eventually we got 'Smiley' to spit my classes up among the other specials. It would only mean an extra 4 students in their classes per period.

• Shout out to Penguin this AM for remotely solving a black/white issue on the morning news. The cameras were sending color, but the computer powerpoints on D were black and white. Found out to be a connection not all the way pushed in. When it was securely in, COLOR!

• Science Friday with Dr. Moody and Mrs. Willis was rushed because of the technical issues. That an she showed up too late to rehearse.

• Reports came in that the mics are not loud enough and I don't have any time to play with the settings. Guess they'll have to read lips.

• Hubby is OBSESSED with his cams. We had a cheapy security cam we picked up last year at Sam's club and later another one for the patio. This year, not good enough. We now have 4 cams; 2 of them super digital and the 2 older ones.Again.....not good enough. We had to get a digital recorder with a 4 split screen. Now his month long quest is to get it on the web 'when we want to check the house when we're away'. Good grief! We hardly ever go away and why we would want to view it while 300 miles away escapes me. He's in terrier mode. THAT's the real reason he hasn't blogged. Morning-noon-night he's obsessing with this.

• I'm going to have so much leftover Halloween candy and it's the kind I like. I'm going to give a lot this year.(Except to the non-costumed teenagers with mustaches and cell phones)

• TC the 'evil' cat who sits outside our patio screen and drives our cat to try to attack him/her through the screen struck again this AM...In the 5:00 AM dark. I've a glass of water ready on the patio to fling at TC to scare him/her away. TC thinks this is where her/she should hang out. On/under our cars, on the front wall, and lounging on the screen room stoops. He/she would love to be our cat, but Gypsy hates him/her. TC is well-fed by someone, but our house is the place to be.

• Iris Blah-blah is done. You should read Martha blah blah about the dog who can speak because her family feeds her alphabet soup.

This is Fashion?

These 'fashion' pictures have been on the Yahoo page this last week and this is a creation for French fashion house Guy Laroche as part of their Spring/Summer 2007 ready-to-wear fashion collection.

Oh! My!

My real dismay is that this model is so skinny that you can count her ribs. The ASPCA rescues horses and dogs that have their ribs showing like this model does and arrest the owners as being cruel to animals.

Besides that, the 'dress' is not much either.

Where Shopping is............

We went bicycling this evening. The weather cleared up and the heat of the day was gone. It is also good exercise.

After ride around almost the whole developement we headed over to the 7-11 store at the corner of Coral Ridge and Sample where there is construction behind the building. It takes the whole rest of the corner. We were trying to figure out what it could be. Doors, but no windows to speak of. We tried to find the building permit, but signs posted said we were going to be charge with a felony if we tresspassed on the construction site.

Blaine finally went inside 7-11 to ask them if they knew what the building was going to be.

PUBLIX!!

How close is that!? We COULD ride over and not have to cross the streets like you do with McDonald's and Walgreens.

PUBLIX!!......where shopping is a pleasure.