Catch up because whoa, I've been busy

1. I attended our homeowner's association annual meeting a few weeks back. Once upon a time I too had sat at the board of directors table as the treasurer. I served for several years and enjoyed everyone I worked with, but when I finally said enough I rarely, if ever, saw these people. Which is pitiful seeing as we live in the same neighborhood and enjoy each other's company. But...life. That's my new saying because darn it it is so true. Life happens and in the midst of life we let things slip. SO at this meeting a few weeks ago I caught up with my fellow board members from back in the day. That led to three of us planning a dinner get together. That in turn led to one of them calling me about a job. Me! A Job! I met for an "interview" where I was hired on the spot and put to work. I work for a Realtor who wants to move her business into the world of websites and social media. I am working on her website and doing her social media like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. I can work from home and go into the office once in a while when I need to. So far it has been busy while I work out the who, what, wheres, and how-is-this-going-to-translate-into-$$$. Then suddenly from that job I ended up with another client who needed a website done. Boom! Did a mock version and sent it off today. Third client came from my soon-to-be-although-he-is-mostly-gone neighbor. He causally asked me while coming back for another load from his garage if I knew about websites. Boom! Possibly client number #3. The best part of all of it? Getting to say, "I was working." or "I had to work." Last Monday while the kids were home from school for President's Day my husband came home for lunch. I was at the office and when he came in and looked around he asked, "Where's your mother?" And the kids said, "She's at work!" BOOM!
2. My kids school program's booster organization needs to raise money and I've been roped in to planning a talent show. (I already do their website too) We have given ourselves only three weeks to pull something together and while the main parent is all gung-ho I keep putting off doing much until we have the talent signed up. 
3. My mother's estate is still another job I've been dealing with mostly by lighting fires under the people I thought were working for me. I've listened long enough to my husbands moan about people not wanting to work, but boy, have I experienced it while trying to close this estate. I think when I'm all done with it all I will offer up my services for guiding people through the process.
4. Madison has been slowly receiving acceptances from universities and with that comes more applications. Last week she had to travel to Nova Southeastern University in Ft. Lauderdale, one of the colleges on her list, because she was a finalist for a scholarship. She got to spend Friday and Saturday with 32 other students interviewing, working tasks, and touring the campus. They slept in the dorms and she had a great experience. Four hundred students applied. They whittled it down to 100. They have three weekends with 33 students and will offer only 25 scholarships. Fingers crossed!
5. My relatives were visiting from Indiana and staying at The Condo. It was great having them here. The dilemma I faced was whether or not to bother them. Should I call them and invite them to dinner? Should I leave them be because they are here on vacation? We managed to hook up a couple of times to eat and chat. They didn't have the best weather all the time, but it was warmer than Indiana so they were happy. 

• After they left I went up to The Condo to get the keys and turn off the heat and discovered that my cousin had cleaned the carpets for me. OMG! It is the most awesome job of carpet cleaning ever. My mom had had the carpets cleaned twice in the last year of her life and both times the stains reappeared immediately. She had two really nasty areas where she had spilled liquids and where she had fallen and bled all over the place. After she died I threw her magic carpet over the worst stains and alerted my carpet guy that I would need some new carpet eventually. Now? Those places are GONE. G-O-N-E GONE. I can't tell you how happy it has made me. I just want him to come back down and do my house now.

Wednesdays Wonderings

Things I have looked up for knowledge, curiosity, or fun.

1. Warms the cockles of your heart - I used this expression to my husband who then wondered aloud what that even meant. I pulled out the phone and found that most likely it came from the middle of the seventeenth century. Cockles are a type of bivalue mollusk and they were once a staple part of the diet for British folks. They are heart shaped with ribbed shells and perhaps because of this reminded people of the ventricles of the heart? No one really knows.
2. The meaning of the word obdurate - I read this on social media and had no clue what it meant. It means stubbornly refusing to change one's opinion or course of action.
3. Myakka State Park - I had relatives staying in The Condo the last two weeks and they visited this park just south of us. I had never heard of it and they loved it so I researched it. As soon as the weather warms we are heading down!
4. Teas that Melt Fat - Another thing I read on social media and then googled it again when I was out shopping and happened upon the tea aisle. What I also found was that these same teas are also helpful in weight loss. White tea, Barberry tea, Pu-erh tea, Oolong tea, and Rooibos tea. Hmmm... I didn't find any of these in Target and promptly forgot about them when I went to the grocery. Maybe some day.
5. Butter in coffee - My SIL wrote a post recently about this and I thought, "What? Butter in my coffee?" I had to research it. Apparently, it is a new trend instead of cream and sugar, but you can't just add any butter. It has to be grass-fed butter. Frankly, the entire thought of doing this made me upchuck my coffee.
6. How to watch Amazon prime - My husband signed us up for Amazon prime which I have to admit has been worthwhile (yes, Jay, I know you told me this years ago, but you know T-O-M). Suddenly one night while the kids were out and the hubby was working on my computer I realized that I could watch the new Harry Bosch series (I am a huge fan of the books) with my prime membership. However, after watching the first episode it wouldn't let me watch #2. Turns out even though I was linked to my hubby's prime it didn't allow me to link for TV viewing. Or at least I never figured out how in my searching.

Internet Fun Find

In researching information for my new job - wait, WHAT? Sorry, I don't have time to jump into that right now, but I promise I'll get to it. However, in the process of dabbling around on the computer for work I found an article on buzzfeed titled, 23 Words That Have a Totally Different Meaning in Florida. I'll share the ones that spoke to me:

WINTER

What it usually means - The coldest season of the year

What it means in Florida - It is slightly less hot (Yep, this is true. Although, slightly might be an exaggeration.)

HUMIDITY

What it usually means - Hot and sticky

What it means in Florida - An omnipresence that hits you like a brick wall when you step outside at 7 a.m. (This is so true, especially during the next one...)

SUMMER

What it usually means - An enjoyable time for beach trips, frozen yogurt, and fun in the sun.

What it means in Florida - A LITERAL HELLSCAPE (The first year I moved here wasn't bad. I was used to southern Indiana in August. But now that I've been here for 25+ years? I leave in the summer if I can!)

SUBS

What it usually means - A Sandwich

What it means in Florida - A heavenly bundle of joy God spreads to the world through Publix. (I couldn't find a photo of a sub from Publix. Weird because this is the truth. We eat these things for dinner every other week. Madison lives on them. Floridians take them to the beach. Yum!)

FLIP FLOPS

What it usually means - Shoes you wear in the summer, usually to the beach.

What it means in Florida - Shoes you wear to school, to work, to the grocery, to clubs, and to every other event or hangout. (Yep. The truth)

COCKROACH

What it usually means - A terrifying creature you sometimes find in your house

What it means in Florida - OMG! THAT’S NOT A COCKROACH. IT’S A PALMETTO. RUN FOR YOUR LIFE! (I was looking for the picture of my mom upside down pretending to be a dead cockroach, but I couldn't find it, darn it. However, yes, in Florida our roaches are HUGE)

RAIN

What it usually means - A day or two of gray skies and precipitation

What it means in Florida - Your friendly torrential downpour at 3 p.m. every day. (We can always count on that especially in the summer)

STAYCATION

What it usually means - Taking off work to hang out at home.

What it means in Florida - Disney World! (Yep, we are spoiled)

STEERING WHEEL

What it usually means - That piece that allows you to control a car.

What it means in Florida - A burning wheel of death that has been sitting in the parking lot for an hour. (And I would add leather seats to this category as well. Ouch! Miserable in Florida)

65 DEGREES

What it usually means - Great day for a light jacket

What it means in Florida - Where are my UGG boots? (You can always tell the Floridians from the northerners on days like this because we are the ones in gloves and hats!)

SNOW

What it usually means - White stuff that falls from the sky in winter

What it means in Florida - That small pile of ice in the freezer. (Sometimes in the summer we stick our heads in the freezer just to feel the snow)

KEYS

What it usually means - What you use to unlock doors.

What it means in Florida - Paradise (The most beautiful place in Florida!)

TAN

What it usually means - When your skin turns a darker color from being out in the sun all day.

What it means in Florida -  A base level of color you consistently sport just from walking from your car to your office.

WILDLIFE

What it usually means - Deer

What it means in Florida - Gators (Oh, how true this is. Darcy and Tom have a story for how true this is)

MIAMI

What it usually means - A fun place to vacation.

What it means in Florida - Its own separate country. (You will find everyone comes from somewhere other than Florida in Miami)

POOLS

What it usually means - A fun activity to do in the summer. 

What it means in Florida - What you get into when you get home from school. (Sadly, for my kids, not so much any more.)

Here are the ones I would have added to the list had I been asked. 

SUNSCREEN

What it usually means - A lotion to put on before going to the pool or beach.

What it means in Florida -  Our daily regime we put on every morning before starting our day.

CITRUS

What it usually means - Something you buy in the grocery.

What it means in Florida - Fruit we have to pick up out of our yards after it falls off our trees.

SUNGLASSES

What it usually means - What you put on when going out in the sun.

What it means in Florida - What we put on in the morning and wear all day long.

And lastly, FLORIDA

What it usually means - A place to visit.

What it means in Florida - Home

Steelers Nation Unite Fan

Several months ago I got an email about a new thing the Steelers were creating to thank the fans. Steelers Nation Unite was a way of giving back to the fans that have supported the team and organization through the years. The site told me that I would be rewarded for doing many of the very things I was already doing as a fan and that new opportunities would be available to fuel my fandom! Sign me up!

                                                        

By signing up, I was instantly given a badge. Badges are collected and the more that I collect the more prizes, experiences and discounts I receive. I get emails that give me news and updates, but the most exciting thing are weekly huddle calls. I'm not sure why they are referred to as weekly, as they aren't that often, but OMG LOVE them.

I was sitting at my desk the first time I was alerted to them and the phone rang. It wasn't a number I was familiar with so I picked up expecting to be bombarded with a sales pitch. Instead a voice informed me she was calling from Heinz Field! She told me that tomorrow between the hours of 3-4 Steelers Nation Unite would be having a live telephone conference call with Brett Keisel and that I could participate. I thought it sounded great, but promptly forgot all about it by the next day. Lucky for me, I was home when the call did come since I had typed in my home number when signing up.

Brett Keisel, the defensive end for the Steelers, was on the other end of the phone and he was hilarious! He answered calls and questions, and I got to listen to all of it. This was while the season was still going on and before Keisel was hurt and lost for the year. Fans asked decent questions and he was cracking jokes and acting so giddy about the whole experience. It was tons of fun.

Somewhere along the line I missed the next calls. I really wanted to hear Heinz Ward, but I never got that call. I kept going online to see if I was suppose to do something, but I still haven't figured that out. I changed my number to my cell number though so I would always be available. They have already worked out some kinks. When I participated in that first call you had to send in your questions through the site, but that has since been changed. Now if you want to ask a question you just push a number on the phone and get connected to speak live.

Last week I participated in the live chat with Steelers president Art Rooney II. He was nice and gave us some insight about where they see the team heading. The questions fans were asking were pretty generic and nothing juicy was spilled making me wonder if the questions are vetted. My questions would have been, "Mr. Rooney, how did you feel about Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft signing LaGarrette Blount after you had fired him? Do you take that as a personal slap in the face or is it just business?" I didn't ask it though because I was driving at the time of the call and was listening to it on speaker.

One annoyance I have found is that everyone who participates in the phone calls feels the need to ask the caller how they are or asks, "What's up?" After the third time that gets really annoying. Obviously, if you heard them the first three times say they were good, thanks for asking or thanks for calling, you don't need to do it again. But I don't blame the program for this.

The only marks against the program is the hook up between social media sites. I have nothing against linking them to my Facebook and/or Twitter account except that the site they use, Loyalty Plus,  to access this information insists on knowing everything except my password into these accounts. They want to be able to post for me, and with Twitter they want to update my profile and tweet for me. Really? Update my profile? Uh, how exactly are you thinking you know me that well? And you want to tweet for me? Am I not capable of handling that job myself? I finally linked my Facebook account because it wasn't as invasive, but I haven't hooked up my Twitter which is unfortunate because I tweet quite a bit during the games.

I hooked up my buddy to this program, but he isn't into social media at all and still carries a flip phone. I hooked him up because if you check in while attending a game you might get a surprise visit from the organization and receive tons of prizes. I showed his wife how to do all of this, but I don't think they did it when they went to the game at Christmas time. I guess I'll leave that for myself when I get to a game, hopefully next year!

If you are a Steelers fan, check this site out. It is free to join and so far it has been enjoyable. Plus, put me down as your recommendation. I get a badge if I can sign up 20 people! Woo Hoo!

The Neil Med Sinus Rinse Experience

I have been off the radar lately because our house has been infected with germs. First Darcy was diagnosed with a sinus infection and put on an antibiotic. Five weeks later she was back in the pediatrician's office with the same thing and a fever. She missed two days of school and was in bed for four with what he said was a virus. He recommended she get a Neil Med bottle and gave me a pamphlet on it.

In one of the blogs I read the author had recommended that everyone get a Neti pot so I had done research on that and had found one on Amazon that I thought I might purchase. I never did, but when the pediatrician told me how he used this Neil Med bottle every night I knew what he was talking about. I took my sick kid directly to Walgreens and purchased one.

She would not allow me to photograph her using the Neil Med bottle so I shall have to describe in great detail how it works. First you must use distilled water in the bottle. You may warm it up which I did in the microwave for about 20 - 25 seconds. Then you open one of the many, and I mean MANY, packets into the water.

Shake it up. Darcy and I did this in the bathroom. I recommend the bathroom as this can get gross and messy. I read the instructions carefully out loud to Darcy who just followed me like a trooper. This kid, while she may not want to do things, always just stands up and takes it. She definitely has the Mason Warrior in her.

Leaning over the sink, she stuck the upright bottle into one nostril and gently squeezed. The rinse mixture traveled through her sinus cavity and exited through her other nostril. She had to keep her mouth open as sometimes it will come out of there too. Hers didn't. She coughed some, which was in the directions, and had to spit because swallowing is a no-no. The stuff that came out of the nostril wasn't all that gross. We were expecting gross, but since it wasn't bacterial it wasn't all that exciting. She did half the bottle in one nostril and then changed sides, blowing gently between. Blowing her nose brought out all sorts of good stuff and opened her up. After doing this twice that day, her fever broke that night. She is better now, but still has a nasty cough.

Madison fell next. Madison rarely gets sick. She is like I was back in the day. She can't swallow pills so she doesn't get sick. Well, that's at least the way I looked at things back in the day, but nowadays, especially in Florida, there is liquid medicine for everything so I guess it isn't that big of a deal. Madison started blowing her nose and hacking for a day. She came home from school saying her ears hurt, her head hurt, and she felt like she was in a tunnel. She asked to go to the doctor.

She had an infection so she is on antibiotics. Her recommended the same procedure with her and so the next morning I sent her into the bathroom with Darcy as her mentor. That was mistake #1. Mistake #2 was not giving her the instructions the day before so she could study them. She is the opposite of Darcy when it comes to doing things like this. She is my whiner and so she whined. Since we needed to get to school that morning I was not in the mood for whining and yelled. She stuck the bottle into one nostril and pushed. Holy Mother of Liquid! Up through the sinus cavity this stuff went and suddenly watery substances were coming out of every facial orifice she had. She had stuff coming out of her nose, her eyes, and her mouth. And it didn't come out in a nice stream, but spewed out all over the sink, the counter, and the mirror. She was hacking and spitting and whining and blowing. Darcy was intrigued with how gross it all was, not that the stuff coming out was gross looking, but how it was so different from her experience. Of course, she made fun of her sister and her sister whined some more.

I was the next to fall. On Thursday of last week I suddenly had a sore throat. By Sunday I was miserable, weak, and stuffy. I went to our hospital walk in clinic where the tiniest woman ever, a doctor, told me it was viral. She recommended rest, chicken soup, and Sudafed. I liked the first two, but decided to also use the Neil Med bottle instead of the Sudafed. I had already taken two different over the counter medications and didn't like them and refused to fork over any more money for something else.

I have to say that my experience was probably the best and the nastiest in terms of goop. The pressure as the water mixture goes through the sinuses is amazing, almost relieving as it breaks up the stuff causing the issues. It isn't pleasant so much, but it isn't horrifying or miserable. The snot that came out of my nose was definitely snot. It came out in a nice stream and I didn't think it would stop. When I removed the bottle from my other nostril snot came pouring of it too. Snot was hanging out of both my nostrils and Darcy had to keep handing me Kleenex after Kleenex so that I could "gently" blow to get rid of it all. The same thing happened with the other side. Snot just didn't want to stop coming out of both my nostrils. I was clear after I used this thing and could breathe, but the smell of the mixture wasn't my favorite and it lingered. I was much better, like Darcy, the next day after using the bottle twice that Sunday.

Tom is now the hold out, but he is sneezing and blowing and we constantly offer up the bottle. He is a big believer of the saline spray and thus far has rejected our offer. Since he spends the least amount of time around the rest of us and the house he might just escape the germs. Of course, he will attribute that to his nasal spray.

Madison discussed the Neil Med bottle with her chemistry teacher who relayed her story of using the Neti Pot. She and her husband bought one to take with them to China. They used it every night before bed and she told Madison that the stream that came out of them was black from the poor pollution in the country. I'm thinking I might just have to take my bottle to Europe with me just in case. I might start taking it with me every time I travel.

All in all, we found the Neil Med bottle to be a plus in a house full of sickos. I recommend it. Plus, it can be a great source of entertainment at a party if you feel your guests are getting bored.

Wednesday's Wonderings

Since the purchase of my smart phone I have found that I am, while not smarter, much more knowledgeable. This little device has allowed me to find the answer to questions that dog me all day. Now instead of wondering and wondering I have the answer immediately and can continue about my day knowingly. In the old days I might have looked it up in an encyclopedia. We had a library in my house and we had a nice set of the informative books, but I was more than likely, if the answer couldn't be given to me verbally, more apt at forgetting the whole thing and continuing along in ignorant bliss.

My mother was a great encyclopedia. She seemed to know the answer to everything, and if she didn't she would look it up. But that meant we would have to listen to the answer in great detail and maybe even write a paper on it. (I'm sort of kidding) Not really what I was looking for when asking the question as I was more the instantaneous, easy way out of things girl. In her latter years, she still had most of the answers, but I tended to look them up after asking the question out loud. She was irritated at first that I would turn to this electronic device, but eventually she turned it into a game to see if her memory was still intact. "Look that up on your smarty pants phone," she would say, "See how right I am. Or wrong. I don't believe I know everything. I'm pretty close, but..."

Lately, I've noticed that I pull my phone out constantly during the day to discover answers to questions that pop into my head. And when things pop into my head, I wonder if other people are interested in my thoughts and if perhaps a blog post should be written. Thus for the next month or so I shall mid week offer up the questions that plaque me and the answers discovered. In case you too have wondered.

1. Why do school buses stop so long at railroad tracks? This week I have been stopped several times by these yellow thugs and the driver seems to be waiting for something. A train? A train robber? Is there a law about how long a bus must sit before crossing the tracks? - According to several sites, school buses are loud and hearing a train is difficult. Thus buses must stop prior to crossing the tracks to look several times right and left before proceeding. I could not find any mention of a driver having to do this for a certain amount of seconds. Each state has certain laws on crossing and according to AAA in Florida a driver of a school bus must stop within 50 feet, but not less than 15 feet of a railroad crossing. 
2. This whole Brian Williams thing is perplexing to me. Wasn't he the anchor that got hit by a bomb in Iraq? Are we know saying he faked all of that? - It wasn't Brian Williams. It was Bob Woodruff who was injured by an IED while traveling with a cameraman outside of Baghdad. Hmmm. Don't remember him at all. Don't care for Brian Williams either.
3. How many calories should I eat each day? All the sites wanted to know my age, my height, my weight, and how much activity I did in a day. Well, everything was easy except for the activity as each site varied in their description of Light, Medium, and Heavy exercise. I finally figured out between 1320 - 1500 to lose weight. 
4. Is Bridget Moynahan married now? Was that her son at the Super Bowl with his baby daddy? It had to be. What in the world was that kid's name? His initials were JET, but I don't remember now what that stood for. - No, she is not married, but she is dating. Yes, that was her son at the Super Bowl. His name is John Edward Thomas Moynahan.
5. Darcy keeps getting these emails and certifications in the mail telling her she has been accepted into the National Student Leadership Conference. Is this a legit thing? - It seems based on PSAT scores and is as legit as folks want it to be by paying big bucks to travel to Washington DC to learn a few things about leadership and seeing the sights.
6. Jeez, that RV across the street is ginormous! I can't even imagine navigating that thing on the road. I wonder if you have to have a special license to drive something like that? Like a Commercial Driver's License? -  Each state appears to have different rules. In Florida you do not need a special license to drive an RV. Of course, you don't. Florida doesn't care about who drives what on their roads. I found that out with my teen drivers who don't even need to take a class on driving.
7. The groomer told my friend her dog, that she thought was a mutt, is actually a Catahoula Leopard dog. Does this woman know what she is talking about? - Yep, this dog is a Catahoula dog AND needs tons of running and exercise. Which my friend does not give this dog. Which is why this dog is crazy and hyper and out of control.
8. Is schmegma a real word or something my friend just made up when talking to our waitress? - Oh, boy. It is a real word and I can honestly say I never would have guessed this in a million years. This is what I get for hanging around with medical people.

Originally meant to be this post but is now this post

I feel I have embraced this whole social media thing pretty well. I love Twitter. I use Instagram fairly regularly. I check Facebook daily. The other day someone posted something of interest to me on Facebook. It was an article about cool things to do to make your situations and things in life simpler. I was so excited to see some of the creative things I could immediately act on and showed my daughter. She smiled her she-is-so-behind-the-times-god-love-her smile, and when I inquired why that face she told me all of those things she had already seen on Pinterest.

The one think I have not jumped on is Pinterest. I have an account, but let's face it, crafty I am not, and I find Pinterest mostly an arts and crafty thing. Once in a blue moon I find myself on it when researching something, but I find it confusing. I think the only thing I have "pinned" is some Pittsburgh Steelers emblem that I put on there to show my team. Madison, on the other hand, is a Pinterest fanatic. Whenever I see her hunched over her phone I know she is on the site pinning and viewing and planning, and I have to say that I have enjoyed several of the dishes she has discovered on Pinterest.

I so enjoyed this Pinterest Facebook link that I thought I would try some of the suggestions on it and then post it and my experience on here. I wrote the following after I tried it and planned on adding the others as I tried them:

1. Foil in the dryer - Living in Florida, we have very few days of static electricity worry, but when we do have cold days like the ones we've had lately I have to add a sheet to my dryer to avoid getting shocked by certain items. I had read about how fabric softener and dryer sheets gunk up your clothes and towels, not to mention the lint trap, so this alternative seemed a dream come true. Take a piece of aluminium foil and wad it up into a ball. Throw it into the dryer with your wet, clean clothes and turn on the dryer. When the load is done there will be no static cling. And there wasn't. I've used the same wadded up foil ball now for the last week and still have yet to be shocked. I love it!

Unfortunately, when I went back to Facebook I couldn't find the darned article, and I couldn't remember who had posted it in the beginning. I spent quite a bit of time trying to locate it and the friend, and finally I turned to the Internet and instead found something even more interesting. How to find posts on Facebook search got me not only the answer to that question, but a few more vital usages I had no idea about.

1. Searching posts - If you want to find a post that you remembering seeing, but can't remember which friend posted it, you can just type keywords into the Search Facebook and it will hopefully pop up for easy clicking. Because I didn't really remember the title of mine or any keywords I was not successful in finding my post.
2. Saving posts - There are a lot of recipes that I see on Facebook that I want to try and my girls showed me how to take a picture of it using my Iphone or Ipad, but that is so passe'. In the upper right hand corner of a post is an arrow pointing down. Click on this arrow and a drop down menu will appear. Choose the Save option and the post will go into a Saved File that you can access hand side of  your Facebook page under your News Feed.
3. Hidden messages - In your Messenger in the upper left hand corner it says Inbox and it is always highlighted when you go into Messenger. But next to Inbox there is Other. Tap on Other and you will find messages from people who are not your friends. 

The Save post was my favorite bit of information found until I read about the Hidden messages. I immediately went onto my Facebook and tried it and discovered I had six messages dating back to 2009! Two of them were from men who wanted to meet me. WHAT? One guy gave me all sorts of personal information and asked me tons of questions. The other guy told me that my profile picture looked "interesting and gorgeous" which made me snicker since my profile is of my dog! But then I realized this was from 2010 and who knows what photo I used then. Most likely one from the 80's. Two other messages were worthless and uninteresting. One was from someone who I'm friends with now and the other one, OMG, was very cool. 

It was from a woman who gave me her name and the link to her page. She told me that she use to babysit my brother and me when I lived in Pennsylvania (and she named the neighborhood). She wrote that she was thinking about "moms" who had influenced her through the years and that my mother was at the top of the list. She told me how my mother had influenced her and said that she would love for me to pass that on to her and to say hello. The sad thing about it was that she wrote it in 2013, almost a year prior to my mother's death. I could have done that very thing if I had only known!

So there Pinterest! 

Out of the mouths of my babe

Darcy: "Did you go to the grocery store today?"

Me: "No, I'm going now. I waited for you to get home because I know how much you love to go."

Darcy: "I can't do it this week. I have too much homework."

Me: "Okay, then I'll go now."

Darcy: "Can you get me some stuff? Put it on your list?"

Me: "What stuff?"

Darcy: "Well, I need Lay's Sour Cream and Onion potato chips. They are buy one, get one free."

Me: "Uh huh. Is that it?"

Darcy: "I need cookie dough mix. Peanut butter with chocolate chips. Times 2".

Me: "Another buy one, get one free?"

Darcy: "No, but they are on sale. Do you know what kind I mean? The Nestle (ˈnesəl) kind."

Me: "The what kind?"

Darcy: "Nestle (ˈnesəl)"

Me: "Ah, that is so adorable. Nestle instead of Nestle's (Nestlé)"

Darcy: "Oh. Really? All this time I thought it was Nestle. Whatever. Can you get them?"

• © 2014 Nest

And I'm dreaming...

Recently I have had dreams about people I haven't seen in years. One dream I was sitting and having a conversation with the mother of a friend of mine from high school. I probably have not seen either one of them in over twenty five years. I use to visit my friend and her family when I would go home to Indiana, but somewhere that just petered out. Life. So when I woke up from this dream I thought it so odd and then naturally I worried that her mother was ill. Or dying. And reaching out to me? My mind is full of this type of nonsense and because it lingered with me all that day I decided to Google the mother.

For years I have tried to find my friend via Facebook to no avail. When I Googled her mother I got an article from the local newspaper on a 50th wedding anniversary celebration that included the names of all three of her daughters. From there I looked up my friend's two sisters on Facebook, found them, left them messages, and waited. By that evening I had my friend's phone number and her name on Facebook. Gotta love social media. We texted and agreed to catch up via phone some day when we both had the time.

The next person I dreamed about was a girl I met here in Florida at the gym several months after Darcy was born. She had a son the same age and we started hanging out after we worked out together. We had several fun years together and then she took ill with a back issue that required her to have several surgeries out of state. We lost touch. I don't know what the dream was about that she was in, but since my own back problems I have thought of her often and it wasn't a surprise to me that I dreamed about her. I took to the Internet again to find her. Googling her got me another name for her then the one I knew and that name got me to her Facebook page where I friended her. We have connected, but haven't gotten to chat yet.

My dreams are odd and I've spoken about them before in this blog. If I'm in the dream, I'm in there twice. Once as the person in the dream and also as the Director. The Director Me always thinks odd things aloud. After my dad died I use to dream of him almost nightly. In the dreams he was alive and somewhere in the dream Director Me would say, "Wait a minute. You're dead. How is this possible?" The Director Me is always discovering things in the dream that are odd or couldn't possible be and while she shrugs off a lot of it she also points it out. In the dream.

I have not dreamed about my mother much. I have had maybe a handful of dreams with her in them, but they haven't been very satisfying. Mostly the me in the dream panics at the thought of going back to the way things were with me taking care of her and her in pain and angry. The Director Me points out that this isn't true, that she is in real life dead, but then I usually wake up and feel guilty for feeling that it was a burden. I have had two dreams that were happy and she was the way she was before she got so sick and miserable. Those were nice dreams.

The other night I had some dream that I don't remember. The only part of the dream I remember is a line of people coming through to greet my cousin Jason who is lounging in a comfortable chair holding court. I am beside him introducing him to people. My dad suddenly appears in the line with his smiling face and bald head and he smells of a mixture of cologne and the nasty, sweet, cigar smell that we despised. In the dream I giggle at him and what he says to Jason, but I'm also embarrassed that he stinks as he hugs Jason. I wonder if Jason notices. Then Director Me reminds me that "this is what your mother always meant about his cigar stink. This is what she was talking about." And suddenly the smell was so vivid that I woke up immediately and thought I would surely smell it, but it was gone.

The last person I dreamed about from my past was a teacher of mine. I haven't spoken to him since I was student teaching at the high school I went to. He saw me in the hall and told me he still used my papers in his class. He too is on Facebook and so after my dream, which I don't remember, I sent him a friend request. He accepted it and sent me a very nice email updating me on his life. He asked me to write him back if I was interested and catch him up on my life. Since he was my English teacher in high school I have yet to do that, but I have written several drafts.

Perhaps all of these dreams are telling me to reach out to people from my past. Reconnect. Share stories. So far I've found the three people that I've searched for and hopefully I can continue to communicate with them. I also think I will try to write down what I remember of my dreams. Maybe I'll do a dream post each week with all of my crazy dreams and someone will see them and analyze them or me. What fun!

Monday morning Super Bowl recap

Hmmmm, Where should I start? Just kidding.

Ending - This one will be talked about for years to come. This is one that will haunt coaches, and not just the Seahawks coaches. Three chances, seconds on the clock, one yard from the endzone, and a beast of a running back. The only thing I worried about was how much time would be left on the clock for Brady to make a play. Before I could formulate my play, Seattle made theirs and it was...to pass? Pete Carroll said the plan was to throw because of New England's goal line defense and run later if necessary. What? An interception didn't cross your mind? Look. I've said the same thing many times when the Steelers have been at the goal line. Trick play. My buddy argues with me because he always worries about an interception. But I even I wouldn't have made that call. This was the Super Bowl. The big game  With 25 seconds left on the clock. With Marshawn Lynch, the Beast, on your side? With a running quarterback? I'm still shaking my head. 

Pete Carroll - He said it was his call and not offensive coach Darrell Bevell's. I believe him. Carroll, who is a heck of a coach without a doubt, also is a tad full of himself. He is enthusiastic, but goes overboard at times. He is full of ideas, but never thinks before he acts. I don't think he was looking at the defense. I think he was thinking like I've thought; they'll expect the pass so I'll throw it. Ah, Pete. Maybe you will stop and smell the roses now after that mistake. Worst call ever. 

Players annoyed - Yep, the tweets said the Seahawks were more than pissed about that last play, but let's not forget guys that you were ten points ahead and let the Patriots take the lead. Shame on you. This is why you play until the time clicks to zero. I'm afraid the Hawks celebrated a bit too early.  

Tom Brady - Much as I dislike him, he is good. Did he get there legally? We probably won't ever know the truth about all the shady things this team has done, but he led that comeback and won the game and took the MVP. 

Chris Matthews - The Seattle receiver would have been MVP had the Seahawks won. At 6'5 he made monsterous catches in the end zone for huge touchdowns.  

Jermaine Kearse - Made the unbelievable catch at the end when the ball hit his leg and bounced back into the air so he could catch it. If only he hadn't been so shocked and had gotten up and gotten into the end zone, but he hesitated just a tad too long. 

Refs - I caught them making two mistakes, calling the wrong downs on mike. Seriously? Biggest game and you say "repeat third down" on first down and "second down" on third down? Crazy. Why didn't anyone else catch this?

Deflategate - The powers that be in the NFL sighed with relief when the Pats won because that brought an end to the ball scandal. I think the NFL will say nothing came of the investigation now that New England is the champs. Roger Goodell slobbering over Robert Kraft as he handed over the Lombardi spoke volumes. Plus, that ending has already taken deflategate out of everyone's mind. Hey. Maybe Pete Carroll was forced to throw the game on purpose! See how rumors start?

Richard Sherman - Early word came down from ESPN that he has torn ligaments in his left elbow, might need Tommy John surgery, and played anyway. Man. My first thought was he won't be much help to his girlfriend with the new baby soon to arrive. 

Ickey Woods - My favorite commercial is his dancing at the deli counter, but the "I got Yahtzee!" Laughed so hard. Been there baby! 

Depressing ads - Wow, what was up with most of those commercials? I thought I worried on a daily basis, but now I know I'm not the only one. Jeez. Worst? Hands down Nationwide. Did it get everyone talking? Yep. Still. Ugh. 

Truest Tweet - @jamiekharding who tweeted, "Belichick should not be mentioned in the same sentence as Chuck Noll". Amen sister!

Best line at my house - Kelly who said, "When the Seahawks are asked how in the world they lost that game they can say "We threw it." And it has two meanings" (She obviously didn't think we would get it)

Until next year peeps! Football is over and out. Sniff. 

Super Bowl Pick

Seattle over New England - Yep. I'm going with my heart and my gut. Heart says New England, no matter whether they knew about inflation or deflation of balls in the playoffs, shouldn't be winners because winners should be admirable, respectful (taking Blount, ahem), and honest. Gut says defense is tough, Russell Wilson is a leader, and coach knows what is happening on his team. Having said all of that, this won't be an easy game like last year. Seattle isn't the same team. Brady isn't Manning. Should be interesting.