I’m thrilled to see readers here! You have no idea.
I’ve been busy with post-funeral stuff like writing thank-you notes and things but I have much more to say on this subject. Including some problems I’m having adjusting. No surprise there. But I will post more on the weekend, I promise.
And thanks so much for coming over and saying such nice things 
Posted in Blog Sweet Blog, family, friends, Introspection, Mom, online friends, tragedy
So here I sit, slightly dizzy and trying to wrap my head around the fact that it is July 31, 2010. The Summer is roughly two-thirds behind us and that just boggles my mind. I plodded and scraped and shivered through a taxing Winter with it firmly planted in my mind that if I could just survive it there would be a glorious Summer full of fun and sun waiting for me as my reward.
Summer finally arrived and it’s slipping through my fingers like mercury.
We’ve just (barely) survived a couple weeks of sweltering humidity on top of 80-90 degree temperatures that demanded, pretty much, staying inside taking advantage of the AC and constantly whirring fans which totally get on my last nerve. I detest them. Now today, finally, it seems the humidity has left us and I was actually able to sit comfortably on my porch and enjoy my morning coffee with the birds and flowers. That is one of my Life’s Favorite Pastimes.
So, God willing, here is how I’m hoping to spend what’s left of my precious Summer~
Next weekend I plan to travel back to my hometown to spend the weekend with my BFF Kate, who’s been my BFF since the first grade. The County Fair will be going on and we will OD ourselves on it as we have together, more years than not since we became BFFs. Added bonus~ late-night catching up on what’s new with each other and reliving great memories. Kate can make me laugh like nobody else and there are always tears and sore laugh muscles involved. Yes, I am looking forward to that like crazy.
Later this month brings our Family Reunion. Not your normal reunion. I think you have to have a normal family in order to have a normal reunion… ; ) But we camp at our family park at my father’s homestead and it lasts for three days for some of us. And we have such a hella good time that 3 days is usually not enough. Yeah, I have some truly great relatives. We have made some awesome memories over the years. I cherish those times when so many of the people I love so very much are all in one place.
Next month my Godson is getting married. It promises to be a wonderful celebration with family and friends. The added bonus is that it will be something to look forward to instead of mourning the end of the Summer for me.
I found out yesterday that one of my favorite bands of all time, Yeasayer, will be in concert the end of September near me. I will be able to check off an item on my Bucket List if I can go, and I intend to.
So, being that the first couple months of the Summer have flown by, filled up with a bunch of crap that I’m not even going to go into here, I’m hell-bent on spending what’s left with some fun stuff to make up for the other. Maybe somehow Time will magically slow down and this dizzy feeling will go away.
Posted in back porch, friends, memories, Play Time, travel
If I don’t I’ll burst.
Conversation going on in the change room at work today…
Keep in mind, the room is about 20 by 40 feet. At any given time there may be up to 50+ people in there, scrubbing up and/or changing into clean room gear. There are racks of uniforms, hair covers and shoe covers, stainless sinks, loud Dyson hand dryers, a large table and four stainless benches. Sound carries…
With that many people all trying to talk over one another, you hear many conversations, most of them loud. Pretty much impossible not to overhear.
You may recall the woman I’ve told you about who I have a problem with. The one who has the problem with all other races, creeds, sexual preferences, etc. Well. Today I found out she has a problem with “Artsy-types.” Yes, you read that correctly. And you may also assume that I took that very personally. Not a lot more than any of her other prejudices, which I find offensive- but in a more personal way.
You see, there is a guy we work with who is nothing, if not colorful and interesting. Literally and figuratively. This week his mop of thick black hair is accented with a beautiful bright patch of neon turquoise. The woman in question was giving him her standard third degree… What made you decide to do that? How much did it cost? Does it wash out? Yadda yadda yadda. I just rolled my eyes and gave him my “poor you” look. I’m one of the few people who has taken the time to get to know him and actually have real, meaningful conversations with the kid. Most of the women I work with are either intimidated by him or repulsed by his style. They’ve never taken the time to find out that he’s really nice and funny and a great conversationalist.
As soon as Mr. Prettyhair left the room, she started. Keep in mind, she “hangs” with a group of older and judgemental women who go to church functions and pride themselves in their quote Christianity unquote.
After pretty much dissecting the poor kid and his wardrobe, jewelry and hair, she proclaimed that his need to “express himself” was way out of whack. Or something to that effect. And she added, “My daughter-in-law is one of those artsy types, so you can imagine how I worry about how my grandson will turn out.” Then, if that wasn’t enough, she went on to describe an “artistic” boy who works at the grocery store. Don’t get her wrong, she stressed, he’s a nice kid and all, but… To which one of her cronies replied, “Did you say autistic or artistic?” and they all hooted and hollered in laughter. I thought I was gonna go ballistic on each and every one of their asses right then and there. Of course I was not part of the conversation and to intercede would make me as rude ok not AS rude as they are.
You know me well enough to know that just about all of my personal principles were offended and slaughtered to shreds in that short period of time. Rather than cause a scene, I quickly left the room and returned to my desk and seethed for about 10 minutes and did some deep breathing exercises. I also vowed that, given the opportunity, no, wait. I will try not to say it. But in my head, I’ll be saying, “You know, your own personal brand of narrow-mindedness is WAY more offensive, shocking and down-right dangerous than any sort of artistic expression I have ever witnessed.”
Man, when I think about it, going off on her (and her friends) would be the ultimate masterpiece of artistic expression.
Dear Blog,
So how have you been? I know that you’re here because I stop in once or twice a day to make sure you’re still up and running…
I apologize for not taking the time to tend to you lately. Things have been especially busy with work and getting the house in order. The kids are coming today and I want to have everything ready so that PD and I can relax and enjoy their wonderful company. I will try my best to come back and at least answer the comments that my friends have been kind enough to leave.
Take care and hope to see you soon.
Sincerely,
One Wink
Posted in Blog Sweet Blog, family, friends, home improvements, work
Every bloody year, I go an’ miss out on Talk Like a Pirate Day. Not this year, Matey. I’m more ‘n ready fer it and I’m gonna tell ya a wee storry about somethin’ in Pirate Talk, I just ain’t d’cided what it be jus’ yet.
Th’ thing is, ya hafta git the properr accent thing goin’ so’s ya can read it out loud to yer wifey er yer dawg or jus’ ta yerself (cuz it’s funnyer if ya do.) I’z wishin’ I hadda voice r’corder thing here so’s ya could leave me a recordin’ of yerself sayin’ Pirate Shit on herre. But since Pirates ain’t perticularly known fer their bloody technical skills, I d’cided to duct tape my parrot, Petey, on here… ‘at way ya can talk ta him for a spell an’ once he gits it learned what ya said to ‘im, he can repeat if back fer us all to have a good laff an’ mebbe a pint er two. That’s is, if ya be willin’ ta make a bloody fool ‘o yerself in fronta all sort of strangers an’ the like.
This is all puttin’ me in the mood fer watchin’ some o’ that handsome bloke, Jack Sparrah. Me loves to watch the way that boy swaggers. Aye
Tho’ it ain’t fair that you be sittin’ here readin’ this (if ya arrre) while I’m at work slavin’ me fine white ass off so I don’t be findin’ meself walkin’ the plank, why don’t ya leave me a wee note and let me know how ya arrrre taday. This evenin’ when I’m sittin’ around the fire swillin’ the brine with me Arrrt School mates from days of Yore, I’ll make a fine toast ta all o’ you bloody swine! Aaaarrrgh.
Blimey, th’ damn parrot took off, tape ‘n all. If ya see ‘im, kindly r’turn ‘im ta me.
Some history here.
So I come on here this morning and I had some mail to read. There were a couple of weird things in my mail which turned out to be invitations to be friends with people from that nablopolamalooza thing that I attempted and failed at last month. Firstly I thought, geez, people you’re a little late, that was last months news. Anyway, I clicked on the invites and they were some of those weird people who claim to make tons of money on the internet doing weird things and I followed my usual impulse to click the delete button. There was a bunch of negative people also leaving weird religious messages about tragic crap and of course they were followed by comments such as “get a life” and crap like that by people who piss me off by using the internet to spew their weird psychotic tendencies because they have nothing better to do with their life. I realized that I’d wasted 5 minutes of my precious morning and just went on the nablopolamalooza site and spent 5 more precious minutes trying to find out how the hell to be an unmember of the whole stupid thing. But I got out of there and deleted my badge which never showed up correctly on my sidebar anyway. So don’t look for me to be signing up for any of that weird crap in the future.
So there.
Anyway… it’s a beautiful morning and I’m waiting for PD to wake up so that we can get on with our day. We’ll most likely attend a huge annual Labor Day celebration at a park near our home which we usually attend. There are rides for the kiddies, pretty good food which is bad for you, a giant flea market, music, sometimes a celebrity or two, a petting zoo, some artists displaying their work and some nifty port-a-potties with running water so you can actually wash your hands. It’s all sponsored by assorted Labor Unions. More often than not, we get sunburns and end up buying a bunch of stuff we don’t really need and seeing a few people that we haven’t talked to in ages and get some exercise walking the whole length of the park to search for wherever we left our car. But it’s fun and it’s a tradition. Oh yeah, they have all-day Bingo too, for those people who think that’s what celebrating Labor Day is all about. Which I’ll never understand, but who am I to judge? The sunburn thing makes more sense to me. What’s a good holiday without a sunburn?
You enjoy your weekend and be safe.
Recently I read a silly thing about how you can find out what your porn name is. To find your first name, you use the name of your first pet. To find your last name, you use the name of the street you live on. At the risk of being hunted down and killed by a stalker, I will tell you that my porn name is Buffy Hancock. Which I thought was pretty funny until I had this conversation with my three lunch buddies at work on Friday. They are Debbie and Dave and Josh. They don’t read here but I don’t think they’ll mind me telling you their porn names. They will henceforth be known as Sheba Longfellow, Benjie Armstrong and ~
(this was hilarious…)
Josh is very quiet. He seldom initiates conversation but participates when he has something to contribute. The other three of us each shared our names and laughed until we were all near tears. In the mean time, Josh was sitting there frowning and looking as though he was trying to figure something out.
“Well, Josh,” I said, “Time to fess up. What’s your porn name?” Very seriously, with not even a trace of a smile on his face, he announced, “Midnight Pump Station.” We lost it. As soon as he realized the hilarity of what he’d said, he busted up too. We laughed for a solid five minutes. And every time we thought of it for the rest of the day.
Before I get on to the funny stuff, I need to tell y’all that on Sunday the neighbor used the word “echo” in a conversation we were having (which I forget, but I was looking at a pile of river rocks when she said it. Ok, maybe I wasn’t really paying attention. My bad.) And then last night Michael, the son, was sitting here and we were talking about movies and he said “echo.” Maybe the lapse is over and the echoes have started to reverberate once again. That was a triple redundant sentence, did you catch it catch it catch it?
So the other night after I went to bed, there was an awesome Moon. PD knows how much I love awesome Moons and he took some pictures so that I could see it. He told me they didn’t come out well. Just a little while ago I was clearing off some random papers from the dining room table when I came across a photograph depicting four shots of what I thought were pictures of the Moon that PD had taken.
Turned out to be pictures of my kidney stone. (I made it small because they’re gross.)
You know how sometimes you find yourself randomly clicking and realize that you have about 24 windows open and you start closing them and you’ll see something that piques your interest and you’ll click on it and then all of a sudden you have 53 other windows open and you can’t even remember what you were looking for in the first place? Well… firstly, of course I’m exaggerating about the numbers here and secondly, this was supposed to be an intro to get you to read this old post of mine from Old One Wink at a Time and I got sidetracked way back, like halfway through the first sentence.
Anyway, before I get an aneurysm, click here and read this. I don’t even remember posting it but I think it’s funny as heck. Mostly the ensuing comments, I mean. Feel free to share your own total (again or for the first time.) I’ll warn you now, it might take a few minutes. More if you’re honest… 
Posted in Blog Sweet Blog, exercise, friends, Introspection, Quiz
 | Mike (@JerseySamurai… on My Mom and Dad |
 | One Wink on Two Weeks And One Day |
 | JeffA on Two Weeks And One Day |
 | Mark Williams on Two Weeks And One Day |
 | TC on Two Weeks And One Day |
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