Weekend Memories at Disney World

• The view from the balcony of our Wyndham resort unit wasn't too bad considering we were facing the parking lot but being on the 8th floor did have some disadvantages:

• Despite the cloudy, overcast, yet still 90-degree weather, we managed to spend the day poolside winning games, enjoying the warm water and each other.

• It misted a tad that evening as we set out for Downtown Disney, but because we were in the land where dreams come true it didn't last long. And Darcy took us into this place

where her dreams came true......

• Kelly finally became a true Floridian with her purchase of a Florida Resident Disney Seasonal Pass!

• After enjoying a presentation on Disney's Animation, we ran into some of Disney's newest cast members and a few of Disney's Oscars. 

• While Tom, Kelly, and Madison risked their lives inside this hotel, Darcy and I went to be discovered.

• Awoke to a brisk morning - FINALLY, FALL WEATHER - and we hopped aboard the ferry to take us to the Magic Kingdom which was decorated for the month of October.

• There is something about that castle that brings out the best in people...

• Disney always has great people to meet and interesting critters to enjoy.

• But nothing beats a Disney parade floating down Main Street with all of your favorite characters.

Which is why Disney is Florida's greatest tourist attraction...

even for those of whose who live here!

Modeling in their future? I don't think so!

Photographing these two is always a chore.

Darcy insists on sitting with Kelly where ever we may go. So when we begin the picture taking the two are always together.

And this is the nonsense I get.....

Until they finally give me what I want...

What to do? What to do?

Today while putting away recently purchased groceries, my electricity went off. Poof! Gone! One minute the light inside my refrigerator was burning bright. The next it was pitch black inside there and I was wondering what was up.

Immediately beeping noises, each at different intervals, began making noise throughout my house. All of our major appliances such as computers and televisions are attached to back up battery packs and they alert us with incessant beeping to let us know when there is a power failure.

Because standing in the dark isn't a big enough clue.

I went outside as if all my neighbors would be waiting there to discuss the situation. No one was in sight so I hiked through the itchy grass to my next-door neighbor. He wasn't there and his dog, Penny, wouldn't stop barking long enough to hear me ask her if her power was out.

I continued on to the next neighbor whose dog joined Penny in the barking. Eventually, my neighbor came to the door. When asked if she had any electricity, she leaned inside the door and flipped her light switch. Nothing happened. We agreed to both call the power company and bombard them with inquires.

I trooped back home, picked up my cordless phone and headed into the office to look up the number to the power company on my computer. Oops.

What was I thinking? For a minute I was stumped. How would I find the number to the power company if my computer wasn't accessible?

Then I remembered that years ago we used to look up phone numbers in a free book that was delivered to our door called the phone book. Duh.

I found the phone book and the number, and then I tried to dial it. Nothing happened.

Oh, yeah. No electricity meant no power to my landline. I called from my cell phone and got through to the company's computer-generated voice who assured me it was a problem in my neighborhood and not a delinquent payment. Uh-huh.

I was instructed to push this number and type in that number and while punching in said numbers and listening to the beep, beep, beeping of the computer accessing accounts, my cell phone died. I had not charged it last night and apparently the phone chat I had this morning killed the rest of what battery I did have. Now, it was totally useless. D-E-A-D dead.

I was hopeful that I wouldn't need to get a hold of anyone since all the numbers of everyone I know are buried either in that cell phone or on my computer.

I sat and wondered what in the world I was going to do. I had not had my morning coffee nor breakfast. I had bought some croissants that morning and had envisioned a leisurely breakfast of warm croissants with cream cheese and peppermint coffee. I had planned on eating and then on packing for my weekend visit to Disney.

Now, I couldn't even complete that simple task because my travel list was on the computer. I couldn't harvest my crops. I looked to my right and spotted the pile of library books I had gotten yesterday. 

Ah. I could read using the sun shining into my windows as my light. Instead, I ate a cold croissant, drank some water, and sat down at my desk to write in freehand a list of the things I should do and have to better prepare myself for when the power is out next time.

Email Goodies

These were sent to me by my neighbor. I thought they would give everyone a chuckle.

• A Kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they were drawing. She would occasionally walk around to see each child's work. As she got to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what the drawing was. The girl replied, "I'm drawing God." The teacher paused and said, "But no one knows what God looks like." Without missing a beat, or looking up from her drawing, the girl replied, "They will in a minute."

• A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six-year-old students. After explaining the commandment to 'honor' thy Father and thy Mother, she asked, "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without missing a beat one little boy (the oldest of a family) answered, 'Thou shall not kill.'

• One day a little girl was sitting and watching her mother do the dishes at the kitchen sink. She suddenly noticed that her mother had several strands of white hair sticking out in contrast on her brunette head. She looked at her mother and inquisitively asked, "Why are some of your hairs white, Mum?" Her mother replied, "Well, every time that you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white." The little girl thought about this revelation for a while and then said, "Mummy, how come ALL of grandma's hairs are white?"

• The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, 'Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

• The children had all been photographed, and the teacher was trying to persuade them each to buy a copy of the group picture. "Just think how nice it will be to look at it when you are all grown up and say, "There's Jennifer, she's a lawyer," or "That's Michael, he's a doctor." A small voice at the back of the room rang out, "And there's the teacher; she's dead."

What's In There Wednesday

This week's topic is "What's In My Town". 

I've lived in Florida for 20 years, which is hard to believe when I think about it. The "town" I live in is sandwiched between several other small "towns", and while we have the same as everybody including Starbucks and a Walgreens and CVS on every corner, what we really have is water.

The Gulf of Mexico is five minutes from my house. The road that runs along the Gulf stretches for miles and goes through one town after another each one with a beach.

Where we can enjoy sunsets like this one.

Or just peace and quiet on the sand.

We also have water in our backyards. Most of the homes in my town have backyard pools to cool off in or to use as emergency water in the event of a hurricane.

Each town also has its own community pool which is open for recreation activities and for cooling off.

For a person who spent her young life submerged in the water, this town was made for me!

Because I can

My brother is a San Diego Chargers fan so there is a little rivalry between us when our two teams play each other. Two weeks ago before the Steelers / Chargers game, I got this text from him:

Him: "After 2 night you will be 1 -3."

Me: "In your dreams, ye of zero Super Bowl wins."

Him: "Ouch."

After my Steelers put a beating on his Chargers, I did not call him and harass him. I didn't email him and gloat. I didn't even text him and laugh. I just was quiet and let him think that I was letting it all go...


Behold his non-football daughter who, for some reason, cheered for the Pittsburgh Steelers to win last year's Super Bowl, and because she did, I promised her a shirt. 

Fitting that it just arrived this week, huh?

Monday morning sports recap

• The big news everywhere, not just Florida, was whether Tim Tebow would play in Saturday's Florida's / LSU game. Some of the bloggers and sportswriters said it was up to Coach Meyer to make the decision because he is an adult. Tebow at 22 isn't an adult? And really how can we expect a 22-year-old to keep himself out of a game when Cincinnati Bengals coordinator Mike Zimmer flew to Baltimore to work the Bengals / Ravens game Sunday just 2 days after his wife's death?

• How great is it to see two women working ESPN's SportsCenter on Sunday night? And how cool are their names: Hannah Storm and Sage Steele? 

• Watching Sunday's evening game with the Colts against the Titans one of the commentators made a comment right before halftime that Peyton Manning wasn't playing like himself and was maybe off a bit. Manning went on to finish the night with 309 yards, three touchdown passes, and he moved up the list to join Kurt Warner and Steve Young as the only NFL quarterbacks to open a season by throwing for at least 300 yards in the first five games. Tee Hee. 

• How stupid was Owen Schmitt, the Seattle Seahawk fullback who was so excited about his introduction at Sunday's game against the Jacksonville Jaguars that he bashed himself in the head with his own helmet several times causing a bloody wound that needed stitches?

• What must it have been like to watch the Browns / Bills 6-3 game on Sunday live and in person?

• Interesting that all of the NFL teams wore pink this Sunday to promote October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but what was up with the fushia? And what is going on with the throwback uniforms that each team wears during one game? Please, stop the nonsense.

• Is there a reason that three of the major sports are now overlapping? We are playing baseball in weather where there is snow? It really needs to end before football starts.

• Frank Caliendo's comment, "Tony Romo used to date a girl with big busts, now he just plays on a team that's bust" is one only men find funny. 

• Now that Gloria Estefan owns a piece of the Miami Dolphins she has to butt her way into Hank William Jr.'s Monday night football song? I admit though it was catchy and quite entertaining.

Sunday Photos

Photo #1 - This is the weekly photo of the replacement tree to our dead tangerine tree. Not much difference except I believe, in comparing this picture with last week's photo, that two more leaves have grown in a week. Wow. Exciting. Perhaps this experiment will work!

Photo #2 - Last Saturday we decided to get out two new puzzles I bought on a sale at Toys R' Us. My family enjoys working a puzzle at Christmas time. We put it all out on a table and sit at random times to work on it. Whenever the mood may strike.

The girls were bored so we got out one of the puzzles and left it out all week. It made for a nice distraction from television during my ill week. Friday night the three of us finished it.

Or so we thought...

We haven't a clue what happened to this piece and despite spending a good chunk of our day on Saturday cleaning we have not found it.

Photo #3 - This next photo is one of Madison's science projects. She had to cut up a pumpkin into 12 chunks, swipe it with some nasty germs from an object (she used a Q tip to swipe around the inside and outside of our water jug), and put them into separate baggies where she then had to place them in pairs in six different spots around the house.

She placed them in the refrigerator, in the window sill of the kitchen, in the garage, under an air duct in a shelf in her bedroom, the pool patio, and on a table in her bedroom. Each day she is to look at them and write down anything she observes. For a week now nothing has happened to any of the bags, but everyone else at school has mold growing. I told her to put down that it is because our house is so pure and clean.

Saturday she went about her observing and came in with this little gem:

You can't tell well from this photo, but there is hair growing on the pumpkin piece. It is seriously disgusting. So much for clean air in my house! Ugh! The rest of the pumpkin pieces are still without growth, thank god.

Photo #4 - This picture is what has been lying on the floor of my playroom for a week now. Everyone steps over it, but no one has yet to pick it up. It belongs to either Madison or Darcy, although I think it resembles Piper's fur, since we haven't had Piper here in over six months I'm hoping it came from one of my daughters.

What not to do when ill

Shows that I have watched either on television or the Internet while sick at home:

• Jon and Kate Plus 8 - This show is seriously sad. How nutty is this woman? I just want to bring the kids home with me. Especially Cara and Maddy.

• The Bonnie Hunt Show - What a nice woman. So funny. Entertaining.

• Sports Center - Nothing better on Monday mornings then this show. I loved the coverage on Brett Favre and the Vikings.

• Bring it On: All or Nothing - A really cheesy movie starring Hayden Panettiere from Heroes.

• What Not To Wear - I loved this episode because it still had Nick Arrojo, my hero.

• A Baby Story - Still cry when I watch these shows.

• Little People Big World - These were some "lost" episodes. I enjoy this show, but always forget to watch it unless I'm channel surfing on a weekend.

• The Duggars - Read about this family, but to watch them....whoa.

• Reba - My sister-in-law introduced me to this show while on vacation two years ago. I never watch many sitcoms, and despite my love for country music, I never watched this show. But I have to tell you....it is hysterical! Catch the reruns on cable.
• Rescue Me - I'm still trying to get through my recordings of this season. One of the best shows on television today.

• Modern Family - I decided to check out pilots of some of the new shows that got decent reviews. I have to say that the pilot of this show is laug-out-loud funny. I enjoyed it so much I set my DVR to record it each Wednesday.

• Cougar Town - Not something I'll record, but entertaining for a sick-at-home woman.

• Medium - I forgot to record the season premiere of my fav show so I caught up on it via the Net.

• Today Show - Got to get some news.

• Wife Swap - WOW! It took me about four episodes of this show to realize that there is a setup. Some of these people! Some of these wives! And the husbands and their screaming? Jeez! Makes for entertaining television though.

• The View - Watched the Halloween costume episode today where I discovered that Kate Gosselin is the number one selling costume this year. How sad is that?

I'm over this heat

In most parts of the country, fall has arrived. In my part, unfortunately, summer has not left. Our weather is so hot that we set a record yesterday in parts of Florida. Today's high at 93 degrees is bringing a heat index of 105 degrees. IN October. According to the experts, there is no end in sight. We have some kind of high-pressure dome that is locking everything in place and until something comes along to push it out we are living in summer weather.

Back in September, I was whining about the heat while vacationing in Disney and a friend of mine told me that the weather would be cool on October 1st. I pooh-poohed that because last year I was teaching swimming lessons into the beginning of November. Now, thinking back on that I realize the weather was still in the '80s and not the 90's.

On September 30th our weather changed. I woke up and went outside to my garage to get some bottled water and I was cold. Cold! Immediately I opened up the garage door and danced down the driveway in the dark singing, my arms in the air, twirling around in circles. It was wonderful. We had a high of 82 and a low in the '60s that night. I told everyone my friend was a meteorologist genius. But then October 2nd came and with it came the 90-degree weather and it hasn't left us yet.

The problem with living in Florida is at this time of the year while the rest of the country is getting out their fall decorations and readying their house for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas we are standing in our dried, dead yard sweat running down our brows thinking "Fall? We wish we had it!"

We just can't get motivated to enjoy fall when we are still stuck in summer. My kids aren't even into planning their costumes for Halloween because the thought of putting on something hot or long is enough to start them sweating. Not even the lure of chocolate and suckers can get them motivated. They would rather go swimming.

While I appreciate the fact that others in areas that are chilly right now might not feel our agony it is the same. When it is snowing in parts of the U.S. and homebound people are moaning we do understand. Because this is our time to moan. This is our snow. We are sweltering and we need some relief.

Feeling Low

Sunday afternoon I started feeling low. Low as in not feeling well. We visited all the grandparents and helped out with odd chores and things around their houses. By the time I arrived back home I had a low-grade fever and was plain miserable.

Monday morning I had a sore throat and tons of nasal drip. I knew this was causing my sore throat so I lopped around the house watching television and working on the puzzle we got out on Saturday.

By Tuesday I was a mess. I had a fever, sore throat, terrible congestion, and by the evening it felt like I had a weight upon my chest. It wasn't anything I hadn't experienced in my life. I knew it was a cold, but a nasty one. I lay on the couch the entire day watching TLC, bad movies, and ESPN's Sports Center. I was feeling so bad I couldn't even bring myself to harvest my crops.

Yesterday I felt a little better, although the low-grade fever was still lurking. I took my oldest to the doctor because she had been miserable with sinus issues. She got a diagnosis of a sinus infection so we both trooped off to the pharmacy, got her meds, and she went home to bed. Her doctor had suggested that I see someone so I called my doctor. She was on her honeymoon. The receptionist suggested I go to the immediate care center to be tested for the flu.

When I had finished filling out the paperwork at the immediate care center they gave me a mask.

Them: "Since you have a fever."

I put it on and joined the rest of the waiting room some in masks and some without. The mask wasn't uncomfortable, but it threw off my vision. It came up past my nose and settled right around my lower lashes. This made it a tad impossible to see with my peripheral vision. It also made it difficult to blow my nose.

I had to lower the mask and each time I did this, I felt guilty for spreading nasal germs throughout the waiting room. After blowing my nose I would then continue reading the magazine I had found on a nearby table, turning the pages and thus leaving more nasty germs for the person who would pick up the magazine next.

When they called my name about 45 minutes into the ordeal I stumbled up and followed the nurse into an exam room. She took my vitals, and since I didn't have a fever according to her, I could remove the mask. I gulped the air as if it were freshly pumped into the room free of germs and purified. Suddenly the world seemed cleaner, newer, fresher. I felt almost cured.

The doctor decided against checking me for the flu. He diagnosed me with an upper respiratory infection, or in layman's terms, a cold. He armed me with the same exact prescriptions I had filled that morning for my daughter and off I went. Later that night my temperature spiked to 101 and I had visions of dying from the swine flu all because I hadn't been tested. I worried for about an hour, took some drugs, and went to bed.

This morning my head is stuffy and the fever is back down to low grade. My nose is running, but the sore throat is gone. I'm disappointed that I'm not beating this like I used to do in my youth. Hell, I would've gone to work like this back in my youth. Now I'm reduced to working puzzles, harvesting crops, and occasionally getting some laundry washed and dried.

Pretty much what I do daily when I'm not sick. Hmmm...

What's In There Wednesday

Today's topic is "What's in your iPod or MP3 player".

I have an iPod Nano. It was given to me by my husband who always purchases technology for others when he really wants it for himself.

My iPod Nano is black. Hubby said he bought it in black to represent the Steelers. I whined about the cost. I wasn't sure I'd even use it.

Truth? It scared me. This newfangled technology.

How wrong I was. I love it.

It has a capacity of 7.41 GB. I figured out this means it can hold a certain amount of songs, but that it isn't the highest GB in Ipods. At the time I didn't think this would be an issue, but now I know how wrong I was. I almost have filled up my little Nano. I have 1,757 songs, 1 video, 55 photos and 3 games stored. And I have no idea where the games are located or what they even are, but it says all of this in my "About" section of the iPod.

In the beginning, I used my iPod when I worked out. Eventually, I realized that I could take it with me to grocery shop and that I wouldn't have to communicate with anyone. It's like living in my own little world and looking out at others in their strange world.

Here are my playlists:

• 70's music - One of my favorite in this category is Top of the World by the Carpenters. It was a song that I enjoyed during my youth. I thought I sounded just like Karen Carpenter when I sang it in the privacy of my own room.

• 80's music - Years ago on the television show Fame, I watched Valerie Landsburg perform I Need a Hero and decided that it was my anthem. Most of the time I lived inside of my head creating characters and places and stories. For some reason this song and the reason for Doris Schwartz's character singing it in the show made sense. Unfortunately, outside of Valerie performing it, I hadn't a clue who sang it and when I went to download it I found that Bonnie Tyler, Laura Branigan, and Pat Benetar had all recorded that song. So I have all three.

• 80's/90's country - At some point during the 80's I turned to country music. I discovered Eddie Rabbitt first and purchased his album. The thing I like about country music is the story that it tells. Two of my favorites stories are I See You in a Different Light by Doug Stone and She's Crazy for Leavin' by Rodney Crowell.

• 90's music - Love Joey by Concrete Blonde in this category. This song came out while I was working as a lifeguard here in Florida. I just loved the beat and the singer.

• American Idol - Once they started downloading this music on Itunes I knew I had to make a playlist. I like You Had a Bad Day by Daniel Powter because I thought it a fitting song to play after someone got voted off.

• Cara's Childhood LP's - This category is self-explanatory and my most favorite is Rupert Holmes' album with Answering Machine as my favorite.

• Cara's 45's - I have all my 45's from my youth. I actually still have a record player to play them on too, but of course, I rarely do that. Instead, I downloaded most of them on to my iPod. I have 82 songs in this category. Each one of them has some story behind it. I've written musicals with a few of these songs that we acted out in my bedroom. There was Run, Joey Run by David Geddes....ah, so heartbreaking. There was The Rain by Oran "Juice" Jones where she got hers, that cheating slut. Rex Smith singing Sooner or Later from the book and movie. Seasons in the Sun and Billy Don't Be a Hero by Terry Jacks that we performed each July 4th celebration when all the neighborhood kids got together and performed for the parents. Night Ranger, Oak Ridge Boys, Orleans, and Billy Vera and the Beaters. Goodies. 

• Cardio Music - This is the playlist that I work out too every day. You would think I would get bored, but so far I haven't. The one song that really makes me move is Barbie Girl by Aqua. I just want to seriously belt this baby out when I hear it.

• Classic Country Singles - Again too many to just single out one. I love Tight Fittin Jeans by Conway Twitty, Meet Me in Montana by Marie Osmond and Dan Seals, Cornell Crawford by K.T. Oslin, and Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses by Kathy Mattea. And then there is Darlene by T. Graham Brown who I almost got to meet in person in Nashville a few summers ago and whose song makes Susan and me and laugh.

• Cool Down Music - I realized that some of my cardio music really wasn't good for getting the old heart rate up so I put it into this category. Most of the music is some that I've discovered recently like Plain White T's, Adele and Corinne Bailey Rae.

• Country Classics - Who doesn't love George Jones and Tammy Wynette?

• Country Sunshine - This is an album my father had that I confiscated. I don't have all the music, but I love every song on it. My favorite is Bobby Bare with his son Bobby Bare Jr. singing Daddy What If. If that doesn't pull at your heart strings, then nothing will.

• TV Songs - This is one of my favorites with theme songs from Dallas, Charlie's Angels, Starsky and Hutch, and so on and so on.

• One Hit Wonders - Gotta be C.W. McCall's Convoy. My brother had this album and its another one that I have confiscated.

• Today's Country Singles - Right now my favorite is Keith Urban's You Look Good in my Shirt.

• Steelers - All songs related to the 6 time Super Bowl Champs.

• Makes Me Happy - A little Jason Mraz, James Blunt, jaymay and Yael Naim.

It all comes back to you....as my mother always said

In my younger days, I was, according to my brother, a prude. This is because I caught him in a compromising position with a girl in his bedroom while my parents were out of town. I then proceeded to tell my parents when they returned because we had rules.... one of which was no one in the house when my parents were not there unless they knew about it beforehand.

 And I might have wanted some payback for all the crappy times he turned me in for minor discretions.

Years later, my brother married that same girl. Now, he still likes to mention what a prude I was back in the day making fun of me for telling our parents. Personally, I think he still holds a grudge. I mean, by now he should be fuzzy on the details, wouldn't you think?

He and his wife are now dealing with their sixteen-year-old son who is in love. What with the Internet and texting it is easier for parents to keep abreast of these types of carrying-on, but they can't watch their kid all of the time. And fortunately for my nephew, his closest sibling is six years younger. Because he treats her with respect most of her life, revenge isn't high on her list.

Today I got the first story of my nephew going outside the boundaries. Said nephew went home with his crush between school and play practice to engage in video games in her basement.

While there was an adult present, as well as two other kids, my SIL was not only horrified but angry..
Susan: "I reacted as if he had just told me he smoked pot."

She was upset that he hadn't texted her he was going to do this.

SIL: "I mean, what would have happened if his father had been in an accident and I would've come to school to pick up my son only to find him gone?"

I've got to tell you that I laughed my ass off.

I laughed at all the other things she said to my nephew as well.

SIL: "What if she had offered you a beer? Would you have drunk that? Because this girl can obviously make you do things you don't normally do."

SIL: "Her parents weren't even there! I don't care that her grandmother was there! I don't even know where she lives!"

My mother always use to say that "it all comes back to you."

It's a cycle. A rite of passage.

We once were that kid who tested the waters. What could go wrong? Absolutely, nothing! Then we became the parent. The one who doesn't want to let go, or to see his child hurt. We know things can go wrong. Because WE LEARNED IT AS A KID!

The truth is, I didn't tell my parents about my brother and his now-wife to get some kind of revenge. I told them because I was worried. Because while my mother obviously didn't put the fear of pregnancy into her son's head, she sure put it into mine. Warned me not to get pregnant. Warned me of the consequences. Warning, warning, warning.

And then, I heard my brother in a fictional conversation where the girlfriend ended up pregnant and my parents went beserk.

Brother: "Well, Cara knew I was messing around."

So, while I can laugh at my brother and his SIL's comeuppance and roll my eyes at the story of my revenge, I cringe for both sides and worry for myself in the parenting of two daughters. Yikes!

Famous Amos?

Now that my sister-in-law has started us blogging What's in there Wednesday my friend Kelly has decided we should give each other questions that we must answer in our blogs. She has thrown out the challenge with the question: "If you could live the life of a famous person for one week, who would you choose and, more importantly, why???????"

My first thought was that I would choose to live her life for a week because then I could learn firsthand her job life which she recites to us in hysterical detail, but then I knew she wouldn't allow that as an answer because she doesn't consider herself "famous".

But this really isn't a question that can be answered so quickly. I would have to spend days really thinking this through because right off the top of my head I would want to be:

• Troy Polamalu - after he is healthy enough to play football. He leads a good life outside the field as far as I know and being amongst all those sweaty guys and being able to wear the Steelers uniform...priceless. But then there is having to take care of all that hair...
• Jeff Probst from Survivor - This man has it made. He is good looking, athletic, funny, and he gets to travel to all of these exotic places and doesn't have to sleep in horrid conditions. And he has great hair.
• Abraham Lincoln - I've always found his life interesting starting from boyhood to adulthood, but there is that shooting in the head thing...
• Angelina Jolie - and I don't even think Brad Pitt is cute, but she...she is hot. But I want to be her after she got the tattoos because that would hurt. And then there are all those children, but surely she has a nanny...
• Jillie Mack - married to Tom Selleck...Nuff said.

And, after thinking about it, I think my final decision would have to be Robert Guza Jr. who is currently the head writer for General Hospital because seriously this man needs to get his head out of his spy novels and get back to the hospital.

Or maybe I should aim for the executive producer, Jill Farren Phelps because then I could fire old Bob. But are these people even considered famous?

Sigh. Let me think some more...

My husband's green thumb

Several years ago we had to remove our wonderful, delicious, red ruby grapefruit tree to make room for our pool. In our area, the rule of thumb is if you remove a tree you must plant another tree. Tit for tat, so to speak.

We replaced the grapefruit tree with a pool a tangerine tree. Tom planted it on the side of our house in the front yard.

Within two years our tree had fruit and we enjoyed it each season. (Sometimes it also had a monkey, but that is a story I've already written about - see archives) This season right after Tom devoured all of the tangerines, the tree began to die. The cause turned out to be some sort of nasty bug that had attacked it several years ago, lay dormant in the roots, and then slowly began to kill off the tree. Eventually, we had to remove the tree.

To replace it I suggested a lemon or a lime tree. Something I could use in my liquor cooking. Tom listened, heard the ocean when I spoke, and returned with a key lime tree. I suppose he had visions of key lime pies for Sunday dinners. I sent him and the tree packing.

We went a few months trying to decide what to plant. Then one day while backing out of my driveway I saw he had come up with a solution. I saw this:

Only it didn't quite look like this at the time I spied it. What I saw were two sticks protruding out of the hole where our tangerine tree once stood. When questioned, Tom told me it was a cutting from a plumeria tree. These trees produce a fragrant flower that is used to make leis in Hawaii. A good friend of ours from Hawaii once assured us that these are the easiest trees to grow.

Her: "Just stick a cutting in the ground and watch it grow, grow, grow! Nothing to it."

Because our neighbor behind us never trims his trees and branches are constantly hovering over our fence and poking our screen, Tom is forever having to chop away so that the screen is not punctured. During one of his trimming sessions, he chopped off these two cuttings from the Bali Palace Plumeria tree. Then he did what our friend suggested and stuck them in the ground.

I didn't have much hope for these two sticks as nothing much has happened, but recently the leaves have started sprouting on the sticks. Tom has high hopes that it will produce foliage like the one in my neighbor's yard across the street.

They planted their tree several years ago and it has taken over the front yard. They are forever outside hacking away at the thing so it doesn't overtake the house.

It does produce a nice yellow and white flower and the smell is wonderful.

I've decided I shall take weekly photos of our sticks to see how long it takes to produce a flower. While this isn't what I envisioned as a replacement tree it does give me something to blog about!

What the hell?

• For the past 15 years, my garbage pick-up has been on Mondays and Thursdays. Now for some reason, they have changed it to Tuesdays and Fridays. WTH?


• How can someone have so many forwarded joke/junk emails daily? And why do they feel the need to forward it to me? WTH?


• Going out of turn at a four-way stop. My pet-peeve. Seriously? It isn't that hard, WTH?


• My 5th-grade daughter and three other kids don't have math books at school because they don't have enough books for everyone. WTH? At a private school!


• My husband wants a dog. Not just a dog, but a puppy! WTH?


• The tendon in my right arm is sore from farming...virtually. WTH?


• The Pittsburgh Steelers, the champs of 6 super bowls, are 1-3. WTH?


• I cashed a check for my ten-year-old and told her she could have the money after she wrote a letter thanking the person who gave her the check. Now I don't know what I did with the bank envelope full of money. WTH?


• I pack lunches each morning, but the girls can't seem to clean the bags out after school. WTH?


• I'm utterly exhausted during the day, but can't seem to sleep at night. WTH?


• My crockpot burned my pot roast while on low for 8 hours. WTH?
  
  
• But...this rainbow appeared out of nowhere and I'm taking it as a sign that things will soon be better and more to my liking! 

What's in there Wednesday

My lovely SIL is participating in a weekly blogger question that she has passed on to me called, "What's in there Wednesday". I think for her the idea is to get us blogging, especially if we have been idle lately like I have been since my mother's hospitalization.

I followed her directions and went to her blog (see above) where I discovered that this week's "What's in there Wednesday" was "What's in your make-up bag".

So much for my excitement at having a topic to blog about that didn't have anything to do with heart attacks, oxygen tanks, and hospital visits, because if there is one thing, besides nursing, I'm not an expert on, it is make-up.

I am not old enough to have grown up in the era of Leave it to Beaver where the mothers wore dresses and pearls to clean the house. My mother was an athlete who bowled weekly and golfed daily. She rarely wore dresses and only when she wore them did she wear make-up. I had no introduction to make-up, no tutorials on how to apply it, and zero discussions on what was best for my skin tone.

My experiences with make-up were sneaking into my mother's bathroom right before I caught the bus, using her sparse assortment, and then screaming good-bye as I ran out the door so she wouldn't catch me. God only knows what I must have looked like, but I wanted to fit in and be older. I thought make-up was the answer.

As a teenager I tried, but it just seemed like a hassle. In the summers I worked at a pool and life was all about a tan face sans make-up. As a young adult before children, I worked at a pool and make-up just rubbed off after hours teaching in the water. By the time the children came, I was married to a man who hated make-up and so it just didn't really matter to me.

At times I tried. I had a Mary Kay beauty consultant come to my house. I went to a beauty party at someone else's house. I bought the expensive bottles and wands and lip liners, but no matter what I caked on my face I just felt inadequate.

Finally, my good friend, Kelly took matters into her hands. Kelly is never without make-up in public if she can help it. She is a beauty and an expert at the face stuff and watching her perform her daily ritual is fascinating not only to me but to my children. In fact, she is the one that will be educating my children on the art of make-up.

At Christmas in 2006 Kelly discovered Bare Essential make-up and she insisted I try it as it was something she thought I could handle. This is the before photo she took of my natural beauty without Bare Essentials. I emulated the faces of all real people in their before photos.

This is the after photo with Kelly's expertly applied Bare Essentials. I spent the rest of the day staring at myself in the mirror enjoying the beauty of my made-up face. I especially liked the fact that I didn't feel the make-up. With the Mary Kay brand foundation, I felt like I had mud caked on my face and the color was never quite right making me look like I had pancake batter on my face. This make-up was quite nice.

Thus Kelly spent her hard-earned money on setting me up in style with Bare Essentials. She bought me the starter kit from QVC and gave me another lesson on how to use the stuff. She bought me the correct brushes and even set me up with extras from her own stash with some handwritten notes telling me when and how to use it.

Eventually, I used it all up and had to go to Sephora to purchase new make-up on my own, although I was armed with a Bare Essentials catalog with items circled by Kelly. I pretty much handed it over to the clerk and she tossed it all into a little shopping bag and we met up at the cash register.

I don't own a make-up bag. All of my make-up is stored in two pockets of a three pocket basket that sits on my dresser. When I wear make-up, usually during cold weather and special occasions, I pull the following from my basket:

• Bare Essentials bareMinerals foundation with a SPF 15 sunscreen in medium beige, mineral veil, and a tiny "warmth" from Kelly's personal collection, along with the handy dandy brush for use with the foundation.

• BareMinerals compatible blush duo in joyous jennifer and sorbet with the handy dandy brush that came with the starter kit purchased by Kelly.

• BareMinerals blendable eye collection in wine country glimpses, which I purchased alone. The colors are chardonnay glimpse, merlot glimpse, and pinot noir glimpse. Whichever color I wear is the wine that I feel like drinking that night. No, I'm just kidding. 

• While I own these lipsticks, liners and such they are rarely used. Instead, my preferred lip choice is Blistex and Chapstick, and despite a daily and nightly regiment of either or both my lips still looked cracked and chapped.

So, that is my make-up not in my make-up bag. Sigh. A lost cause indeed.

Hospitals I have known

This past week my mother was taken by ambulance to yet another hospital. She wasn't feeling well, was nauseated and vomiting, and was very sleepy. She did not want me to dial 911, but with the encouragement of my brother and her own doctor, I did just that and watched as she was once again whisked off to another hospital, this one at her request.

For the past four years, she has been in and out of various hospitals. I have been with her in an ER at Vanderbilt University, an ER in Indiana and in ERs here in Florida. I have been with her for various stages of pneumonia and two different back surgeries. Each hospital visit has been quite an adventure not only for her but for me as well.

No matter where she ends up she has excitement. Once she was in a room with another woman who was crazy enough that she had to have a sitter with her at all times. Apparently, she had stabbed her boyfriend or husband with a fork or a knife or something. She was a character and my mother just egged her on when she found herself getting bored. She was giving this woman relationship advice and a little bit of therapy to boot.

Another roommate was a little lady that thought my mother led the most interesting soap opera of a life. She was so into my mother's life that she knew all the characters by names and would listen silently behind her curtain to all the gossip from visitors or phone conversations. I thought she would follow my mother home just to keep abreast in her life.

This hospital visit was for pneumonia, despite no evidence of coughing, and low oxygen which put stress on her heart and caused her to have what they think was a mild heart attack (Connie thinks differently). She spent almost a week in the hospital following orders to inhale and exhale into various medical contraptions and complaining about the food. She had lots of antibiotics, a bag of iron, and a blood transfusion.

I took a few photos each day which set some of the nurses into a tizzy thinking I was documenting lack of care, but for the most part, I was just gathering photos for my explanation no blogging.

She came home with us for almost a week on continuous oxygen and returned home this week to fend for herself with the help of home care nurses and physical therapists. Her immune system is quite compromised with all of her steroid use (for medicinal purposes not baseball-related) and so she must treat herself with care. She preferred this hospital over the other one in our area and felt she got great care. She also enjoyed the "united nations feel" of the staff inquiring daily about each member's nationality. (These inappropriate comments have trickled into her language since her hospitalizations and they horrify me more than you can know)

We are both hopeful that she will continue to improve and can avoid any more hospital visits this year. Fingers crossed...

Something beside junk mail in my box

This little gem appeared in my mailbox last week:

It reads:

The (email address included) Steelers Nation has found your mailbox to be out of compliance with the Steelers Fan Code of Ethics which states:

"All red-blooded Steelers Fans will display their loyalty on their mailboxes in a manner which should piss off their opposing fan neighbors."

Please bring this matter up to compliance or you may be sentenced to wearing the opposing team's mascot costume while watching the Steelers play. (Imagine how hot a fuzzy Bear outfit would be)

Go Steelers!

The picture, I assume, is what a Steelers Fan mailbox should be.

I immediately responded:

To whom it may concern,

In regards to the matter of bringing my mailbox into compliance with the neighborhood Steelers Nation, I have taken action and hope to have it resolved within the next month. An order for a Steelers mailbox had already been sent to the North Pole prior to receiving the violation notice, but due to a backorder issue, it will not be sent in the time frame needed to come into compliance. I have hopes that a temporary, but worthy, solution will be in place before long in order to "piss off my opposing fan neighbors". 

Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention as I have been quite busy working on turning an ordinary playroom/office into a Pittsburgh Steelers room as great as the one my own neighbor on (I supplied his address) owns. Rest assure that the mailbox situation is under construction and will be in compliance shortly.

Go Steelers!

Several years ago while on the Board of our neighborhood association I had to drop off a gift certificate at this neighbor's house. I was wearing a Steelers shirt when the wife opened the door and so she invited me in to view her husband's Steelers room. He, of course, was not there and thus I'm hoping he will be thrown off guard with that last paragraph.

What fun we Steelers fans are!

Email Goodie

I have friends who, like myself, spend quite a bit of time on the computer. This poem I received, the author not credited, says it quite nicely:

Cleaning Poem

I asked the Lord to tell me

Why my house was such a mess.

He asked if I'd been 'computering',

And I had to answer 'yes.'

He told me to get off my fanny,

And tidy up the house.

And so I started cleaning up...

The smudges off my mouse.

I wiped and shined the topside.

That really did the trick...

I was just admiring my good work.
I didn't mean to 'click.'

But click, I did, and oops - I found

A real absorbing site

That I got SO way into it
I was into it all night.

Nothing's changed except my mouse.

It's very, very shiny.

I guess my house will stay a mess...

While I sit here on my hiney.

Random Thoughts

• Why would Troy Polamalu let them put his face on the cover of the new Madden Xbox game? When I saw this cover back in July I moaned and began praying for his health. Didn't do a damn bit of good. Troy got hurt and is out for 3 to 6 weeks. Larry Fitzgerald, start drinking your protein shakes and taking your vitamins. The Madden curse is staring you down now.
• Didn't Sarina Williams' parents teach her sportsmanlike conduct? She is one of my favorite tennis players, but her actions this weekend were horrid and uncalled for and she should be apologizing to the line judge, the US Open officials and the fans instead of excusing her behavior with, ".....in the heat of battle I let my passion and emotion get the better of me and as a result handled the situation poorly." Poorly is not the word I would have used.
• If I were Jay Cutler and had behaved the way he did this past season in Denver, I would have come out yesterday playing the game of my life. Instead, Cutler had 4 interceptions and his whining face on.
• I'm glad I didn't waste my time watching the MTV Video Awards where Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's speech to tell the world someone else should have won. And I'm not impressed with Beyonce bringing her up later on stage to try to save the day. Faked or not it didn't benefit Taylor Swift in anyway. Let's pick on the country people? Whatever. She still has the highest selling rate of recordings this year overall. Country musicians tend to let their work speak for them.
• Hines Ward will have a great game this next Sunday to make up for the dropped pass this past Thursday.
• Why is it that football coaches are getting fatter? Charlie Weiss? Rex Ryan? Andy Reid? Do they even look at themselves in the mirror? Exercise?
• Hurrah for Kim Clijsters! She helped give all mothers a big step up. And while we are at it another cheer for 17-year-old Melanie Oudin who just might give the United States something to look forward to. (Let's just hope her parents are doing their job in the sportsmanship category.)
• Why the hell does the person running the football pool I'm involved in add 4 college games in with 16 NFL games? I've never cared for college football and now I'm having to watch it and learn from it just to try to win the pot.
• Enjoyed the Sears commercial with Brett Favre making fun of himself. Lets hope he really does laugh at himself and can one day find something else to do.
• Thank god there are still gracious and poised athletes out there that make up for all the whiners and tantrum throwers in the sports world. Roger Federer comes to mind. In his last loss he cried instead of threatening someone and cursing, and then he came back and kicked ass the next time he played.

Out of the mouths of my babes

(The names have been changed to protect the innocent (and minors))

Darcy: "On the football bus I'm the only girl so the boys were trying to get information out of me, and I was trying hard to get information out of them."

Me: "Information about who they like?"

Darcy: "Yes, so Colby admitted he has feelings for Mary. They like each other supposedly. But one of the things I found out was that Nicole always said she and Colby were buddies for like seven years and Colby said that wasn't true at all."

Me: "So Nicole likes Colby?"

Darcy: "No she is with Jay."

Me: "Who does Leonard like?"

Darcy: "Nobody. He's single like me."

When gaming becomes a reality

When I play any type of game it tends to carry over into my daily life. For example, years ago we use to have a Ms. Pacman machine in the lifeguard room at the club where I swam. After practice, we would all pop our coins in the machine and play for hours. After a few games of this, I would go to read a book and my eyes would want to run up and down and cross over the lines of the book as if Ms. Pacman herself were in the pages running from the ghosts.

After I got my Nintendo and starting playing Animal Crossing I would notice patches of clovers in the yards and would want to pull them to clean up my "city" and possibly earn good luck four-leaf clover for my pockets. Or I would see discarded furniture at the end of someone's driveway and think about how I should grab that and sell it to Tom Nook.

Now that I'm playing Farmville on Facebook, I've started noticing all sorts of crops that are ready to be harvested outside of the game.

Wheat

Peppers

Blueberries or could it be Eggplant?

Squash

Pumpkins

So far I haven't spotted any brown cows that look like they need to be milked for their chocolate milk nor have I seen any white or black sheep to be sheared. I wouldn't mind pulling some hair off of horses, but alas, I haven't run into them either. But I'm looking for the pink aura that surrounds them...