29 days of joy....

ok, so...i have been in charge for 29 days...so far...and i must say that i have been moving and shaking every moment.....in the past 24 hours i have offered a local school district a part-time school nurse, whose services we can bill to 3rd party payers.....at little or no cost to the school system.....and i have figured out that i can use tax dollars to pay for gardisil for uninsured women aged 19-25...women who have aged out of medicare but who could still benefit from this vaccine......this is huge.....and that i can send our nurses to the county schools to do dental varnish for preschoolers (a fluoride treatment) and buy carseats and booster seats with tax dollars for people who cannot afford them.....and partner with the red cross to plan for disaster rather than paying for a planner on our own....yes...this has been a big month....and i am overjoyed to have taken advantage of what one person in charge can do......

brian williams on the daily show....

ok, so...my family and friends do not seem to want to watch clips...but here goes anyway...

shelving books....

ok, so.....in my dreams i had somehow managed to extend bookshelves, quite a feat as our shelves are tucked between walls and windows or walls and doors....and i was focusing on the arrangement of books in natural groups.....i can recall sorting through to arrange all of the little house on the prairie books in one spot....only to come back and find them all missing....my entire dream sequence was riddled with the shelving of books, and the subsequent looking for books that disappeared from said shelves.....not quite like the guy who kept pushing the boulder up the hill only for it to roll back down....but close...and no explanation for why i would dream such a dream.....at least today is friday and i can sleep longer tomorrow morning......maybe something was lost in the getting up at 6:30 am that might have been revealed had i stayed abed til 8.....

random thoughts....

ok, so...at some point in the past few weeks, npr did a piece on my morning commute about animals in movies....and i only recall that very trivial detail from that entire 3 minutes of my life....that dogs/cats/animals are paid a flat rate of $35 a day to be on a movie set.....i am just saying......

Bourbon Truffles

ok, so....the folks back in Austria have asked for the recipe for the bourbon confections i sent last month... the recipe is as follows/for the record i used ground pecans to coat these luscious morsels....

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
* 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 tablespoons bourbon
* 1/2 to 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
* granulated sugar, unsweetened cocoa, or very finely chopped pecans

PREPARATION:
Combine chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat. Heat, stirring, until melted and smooth; remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla, bourbon, and 1/2 to 3/4 cup pecans. Transfer to a small bowl. Cover and chill for 3 to 4 hours, or until mixture is firm. Working with fingertips, shape into 1-inch balls; roll in finely chopped pecans, sugar, or unsweetened cocoa. Place on a tray or baking sheet, cover loosely, and chill for at least 1 hour. If desired, put each truffle in a decorative fluted paper or foil cup and keep in tightly covered container in the refrigerator until giving or serving. Keep these refrigerated, tightly covered.

lecture du jour....

ok, so...this evening were the contraception and abortion lectures......my cheeks were still burning with blush when i returned home this evening..such is my level of discomfort with the subject matter.....if i wanted to demo condom use i'd have been a nurse.....or at the very least an aids volunteer in africa....for the record i have never unwrapped the wooden to-scale model for condom demos that came with the demo kit provided by my employer/eku.....i use whatever is available....like a soda can...this day it was a large water bottle.....but i digress.....i was able to show all of my stored videos....from their source and not from this blog.....i especially enjoyed the class reaction to the golden girls condom-buying video.....a nice time to bring up life-long sexuality as well as std prevention....and i did show the snl spoof on the seasonale pills, which promise periods only 4 times a year...the snl pill offered once a year....and called it annuale.....the pms for this pill was brutal.....just too funny......the last fellow out of class turned out to be a youth minister, who told me he appreciated my information, as he has discovered that church-going kids are not necessarily virgins.....nor hip to contraception.....who knew?

scramble with a scrambled mind....

ok, so....i played a round of scramble first thing this morning, and scored poorly.....my brain is not as acute and my fingers not especially agile at this hour......i sense that those valuable 7-letter words are somewhere on the board...but all i see in my current foggy state are the cheap single point words like hog and hag....ah well.....

5037

ok, so...it seems that i passed by 5000 posts sometime in the past month.......who knew that such a feat could go by without my even noticing?......kinda like The White Album i listen to as i type.....each song blends into the next......at least i was not climbing in the bathroom window as the 5000th blog was posted....would have been embarrassing....oh yeah.....

deer in the headlights.....

ok, so.....some state folks visited us today...4-strong....to show us where we can make improvements in operations.....and though i was not at the helm when these conundrum statistics were earned.....i am in charge from here on out....hopefully in charge....and must do much better with issues like collection and billings....and scheduling of staff for the client load in question...oy...such a very lot to keep track of....yeah...well....the state folks do keep track of these things, but it appears that nobody onsite has done so.....and so i am feeling a tad shell-shocked.....not downtrodden....but certainly weary at all that must be done to make things right.....

yikes.....

ok, so...there is more snow.....hardly enough to call snow....but then this is ky and even d-ville schools are closed today and eku d-ville has a delay.....so my workmates and i are doing a 1-hour delay...just to be on the safe side.....though...i am going on in because we are expecting state auditors, and they will be mad as fire if nobody is in the parking lot.....when they descend......

late tributes...

ok, so...i came home from a hard day at work...well.....y'all know that is an exaggeration...but i digress.....from the 6 birthday cards that were in the mail...made my day-after-birth....day.....

trolls

ok, so.....let me tell you a sad tale from my childhood....about the time when trolls were the big, BIG thing.....and my parents would not buy me trolls.....trolls came in costumes, and with different colored hair....and the trolls could be purchased in sizes that ranged from keychain dangling trolls to monster trolls.....and as i type i happen to have a troll on my bookshelf upstairs....some give=away from some event i attended....and i was given grief for accepting a troll....gentle readers.....better late than never to have a troll of your own...mine has pink hair...and clothing.....no naked troll for me....

birthday blues?

ok, so...i went to bed early on my birthday, but not because i was blue or depressed or otherwise sad about being older.....nah.....i just went on to bed because i stayed up way too late on sunday watching those pesky oscars....and getting enough sleep is a good idea at any age....

52

ok, so......my first facebook walll comment of the day assured me that 52 is the new 38....I like how this woman thinks....

woo-worthy

ok, so....we stayed up really late watching the oscars....and though we were delighted at the song from once winning, and the best original screenplay award going to juno, we not only did not see the bulk of the nominated films...we likely will not when they come out on dvd......at this point in our lives the prospect of sitting down to a film that promises death and destruction across western texas is not the feel-good, hopeful film we are so looking for to help us forget just how much death and destruction there is in the real world.....or at least as reported by npr on our journeys to and from work....for the few times a year that we break down and either go to see a film on the bigscreen, or rent a new release we want some shred of glass-half-ful.....i do not see this as wanting insipid entertainment....we do not bother with reality tv as a rule because it is so very ....well...stupid....we prefer to leave the television off at night because the quiet makes reading so much more enjoyable....ah well...must get ready for work despite my fatigue.....

from jezebel

ok, so....

bitch is the new black....

ok, so this from snl

no room at the red lobster....

ok, so....we piled in the car after church and drove to lexington to meet with the eldest child for our annual red lobster birthday meal....for the record, the r.l. is far from my favorite dining choice....but grandma likes to go there and so we try to be happy with her choice.....but on this day...arriving at 1:30 pm.....there were so many in the lobby one could not stir them with a stick...and there were separate folks taking names for small and large groups....and our group, being large at 5, was told it would be as much as 45 minutes....and so we left and drove over to j.beth to take our chances with the cafe.....grandma was not pleased, but as she was not driving, and given that she was not the birthday girl, she settled down.....well....after a fashion.....i had a marvelous hot brown....and that is saying something for a person who used to make them on a daily basis for others....the sauce was superb.....the turkey was from a real turkey breast, not pressed and processed...and the toast tasted like sourdough...and the bacon and tomato perfect complements..just yummy.....a nice birthday treat.....

macaroni and cheese

ok, so...in my dreams i was living in an apartment that had the washer/dryer in a closet that was also wide enough to accommodate a stove, sink and fridge....no counter space save for the tops of the washer and dryer.....and the shelving above was taken up by broken suitcases....each and every one had a handle that was not completely attached....and i was trying to make macaroni and cheese throughout the dream sequence, which involved trying to find items lost on the subway, and trying to pick up bits if ripped paper off of the floor, and trying to hand up clothing in another wide closet. I did manage to get a pan of marinated fish into the oven...mahimahi with garlic marinade....and i have no idea if i had vegetables in mind or if maybe i had a salad int eh fridge....and i cannot recall whether there was a table or chairs....but that is how things are in dreams....there are intricately detailed things, and great gaps in other sections.....ah well.....

an artful interlude....

ok, so.....i turned the television back on for some background noise, and wandered off in search of a book i need to pass along this evening....and all the sudden i heard the voice of an artist i know (and i know only 2....) explaining the featured still life as a riot of color.....and i sat down to listen to him track the progression of his work from outdoors to photographs of outdoors to all indoors from materials brought inside.....he was working on a melon, and the camera close-up showed the moisture clinging to the melon...wow.....later on in the program (KET, naturally) he discussed a small painting by cezanne as anything but small....and went into great detail about how the apples and the plate were deliberate and intricately shaded..it takes an artist to be able to understand thr work of other artists, i suppose....and to discuss must be just as difficult as to paint...and to have such talent...the l.o. must be so very proud of her papa....

once

ok, so...after work i spent nearly 45 minutes in the video store selecting 3 films....knowing that our youngest would be at church retreat until church on sunday...,and i was looking for 2 movies to watch with my spouse, and one to watch on my own....and i selected...the nanny diaries, elizabeth the golden age, and once.......and we watched the end of the nanny diaries while i finished supper....i had watched the beginning while on the treadmill....and finished the evening with once....a movie that was entirely unexpected.....i think we were as intrigued by the Irish fellow as the Czech pianist...both characters were completely genuine and endearing....a movie such that could have been made about us ( my spouse and i) had we any musical talent at all....which we do not....and that is one of the sadder realities of my life...that i long for musical talent but have none.....in a shameful season my mother drove my brother and i over to marion, ohio to a music shop for organ lessons....and despite months of instruction i can recognize no notes.....i can only manage to follow hymns by ear at church....but certainly not repeat the chords this poor fellow tried to teach us....not surprising for a person who cannot type with more than 2 fingers...i would call this mm's 2 finger blog but it would diminish what self-esteem i have retained over the years since my parents sold that conundrum organ.....but i digress........ .one of the soundtrack songs from once has an Oscar nod....also unexpected, since john mayer's say is on the radio every time i get in my car.....but occasionally the academy recognizes something simple and pure....maybe these truths will luck out this year.......we cannot wait to hear it sung live...on stage......a sweet film....a moving soundtrack.....

ooops.....

ok, so.....i do enjoy perusing the national papers online.....and this day i noticed an article about a couple trying to find common ground with regards to dietary issues.....and i was intrigued to discover that the female partner in this case....with gluten intolerance....was a harvard-grad from ky......hmmmm.....not many of them especially with a name i have known for years in d-ville cross-country circles..and it was her boyfriend (the article called him her live-in boyfriend) who emailed a local chef for recipe ideas.....and the gist of the article was a lovely meal of tea-smoked trout with spinach salad that the chef taught the boyfriend to make.....and so i emailed her mother with one of those small world-isn't it exciting your daughter's picture is in the w-post.....?...and her mom emailed back almost immediately with the update....that her daughter had disclosed none of this to her or to other family, probably because of the living together thing, but that she had already heard from other folks from around the country about the article.....and she did not know how she could keep it a secret that she already knows.....got that?.....i would like to try the recipe, though.....

gift from god...

ok, so.....on this dreary friday morning...i reached into my (newly-laundered pants) pocket and found a ten dollar bill and a one....both well washed.....and i thought...wow...i am not so daft as to forget $11....so this must be a gift from god...and i thank her whole-heartedly....

more crappy weather

ok, so...it is raining, and it is hovering on 32 degrees.....so my travel to work will be sketchy.....and my coworkers will be frantic....granted, area schools have not canceled....only gone on a delay.....and since the county judge exec in my work county called a delay for the court house, we take a delay as well......thinking of making latkes.....

word of the day.....

ok, so...the word of the day was virga a term that explained the gap between doppler radar and the lack of actual precipitation as viewed from the back door of my thursday clinic.....one of my nurse/coworkers quoted the weather guy from channel 18 as saying that virga is precip that fails to fall all the way to the ground...huh....never knew that so i confirmed it with wikipedia.....who knew?...mostly my day was consumed with coworkers back at the ranch who wanted to go home before the first drop of rain/ice/sleet fell......oy.....

jittery over the weather.....

ok, so.....we have a freezing rain warning for this afternoon.....not what someone who teaches an evening class wants to hear......if it should come, i hope that eku class off early enough so that i can get myself on home...

just like joy....

ok, so.....i have been on a roll of nearly perfect workdays...with everybody i associate with in good spirits and doing a passable job of looking busy.....wow.....and i have arrived home every day this entire month feeling happy and optimistic......i knock on wood with my right hand as i type this with my left.....just in case....

afterbirth....

ok, so one of the things i just found out about my place of employment is this: we officially register homebirths...which means that we must certify that a baby has actually been born with some sort of proof...like a baby....seems a couple who recently gave birth at home were taking no chances on the proof thing...they took the trouble of freezing the placenta...and went so far as to offer to bring it on in for show-and-tell with the clerk involved. She understandably declined.

yet another meeting...

ok, so....i have to attend yet another meeting today...thankfully i need only climb the stairs to the conference room...it is my first staff meeting in charge....and i already have the agenda outlined and my talking notes rehearsed on key issues. Hopefully this debut meeting will go better than the previous administrator's last meeting....it was ugly.....a reality that may actually be reflected in the minutes.

frustration

ok, so...one of my Scramble opponents took the time to photograph her board and email it to me so as to emphasize her frustration as to the lack of words available...on a board full of vowels......i feel her pain.....i know so few words that are mostly a's.....almost as much as i am belittled by boards with mostly x's and z' or qu's.....oy!...my friend is the sister of my brother-in-law...and an english major...so i feel her pain acutely.....

and the answer is....

ok, so.....i have said this more than once to every single close-kin folk i know.....my dearest desire for a monumental birthday gift is....seep-hoses....enough to cover the garden-side of the house....let's start with a dozen and go from there...plus the connector gizmos to attach them to the spicket.....

meetings....

ok, so.....i have spent the last 2 days in meetings....not every minute, but enough to say that the rest of each day was wasted on the parsing of the meeting to those who were not (required) to attend.....and there is nothing like a meeting to suck the life out of you....to take the hop out of your step and the lilt out of your voice...state govt doesn't appear to cater to optimists...or dietitians...one of the big-shots i met with yesterday made a point of identifying me as the dietitian....in a tone of voice that was near-to-but-not-quite-an-insult.......but as i see it, all will seem better tomorrow....

a good night's sleep

ok, so...yet again the c-dubs were in bed early....well before 10....and so i feel refreshed and ready for yet another meeting in frankfort.....thankfully someone offered to pick me up, as this is a meeting of other directors and so far i know only 2 of these folks....hopefully the gathering is worth my time.....so many meetings are not productive......and those in charge seem oblivious when the agenda is to thin for the time allotted.....

deleted blogs

ok, so i have posted and deleted blogs for the past 10 minutes.....sometimes it is best to leave some emotions go unblogged......

just posting this so i can find it come classtime thursday....

ok, so......this was just too funny....and since i need it to show to my health class on thursday....

meeting

ok, so...i drive to frankfort this morning for my first official meeting......with people likely to tell me just what it will take to clean up after the last director.....it won't be pretty.....

automatic coffeemaker

ok, so...in my dreams i was dog-sitting for a family with a master bathroom bigger than....well....most every room in my house....and the dogs stay in this room....and when i got up to let them all outside i heard the automatic coffeemaker start up......and was disappointed when i returned to find no coffee.....just a weak green tea filling up a carafe that also contained cut lemons and limes.......and when i started in looking for coffee in the pantry i found all sorts of gift miniatures coffees...each with a sticky note that specified do not use......and so i went out for coffee only to return to find that the dogs had gotten out of the party bathroom and had made quite a mess in the rest of the house.......a curious dream......

(not quite) spring

ok, so.....these lovely little flowers are blooming next to my brickwalk...i just love crocus.....they are a most happy flower.

words

ok, so.....i get great amusement from scramble on facebook....not from the competition...i am often bested by those who are younger and smarter.....my enjoyment lies in the random discovery of words that i have not thought of in awhile, or those who i can see others saying...or even words that are work-related....just a few minutes ago i scored 9 points on lactose.....the word just leaped off the screen......and earlier still i found the word belly which reminded me of a word that one of my children used to use frequently to describe the cat.....or at least that is how i remember it....it might have been underbelly.....ah well......we find our little snippets of joy where we can.....though there are those who find my playing facebook scramble as somehow strange and obsessive....it is only words......not anything more than that......

the bucket list

ok, so....i really try to avoid movies with sketchy reviews.....say....films that roger ebert gives only a single star.....but this afternoon my spouse and i went to see a move showing locally that friends recommended.....2 sets of friends brought it up at book club as enjoyable and worth our time......and while there is no case for any sort of award......i left feeling hopeful and happy and with tears in my eyes.....and therefore the film could not have been quite as bad as the reviews i have read since i got home......then again.....i have sat through highly lauded films and wondered why i had wasted my time on such drivel...yeah....there was cheesy dialog, and trite banter....but the sweet scene at the end when the last item was marked off the list was unexpected......and sometimes these fleeting moments make up for a world of banality......

a video worth your 12 minutes

ok, so this came by email as a forward.....and i am relieved that i did not hit delete....a last lecture from a professor at carnegie-mellon...reprised for oprah who can arrange these things....i can only wish to speak so boldly if i was dying.....

more about sex

ok, so......i am trying to post this slip so i can access it next week when i get to my contraception lecture......

parts is parts.....

ok, so...this evening's lecture included relationships.....and their potential positive/negative affects on one's health.....and sexual health, which included anatomy, hormones, cycles, dysfunctions, etc......quite an ironic topic for valentine's day......thankfully...this is a talkative group...and when we were discussing the advantages of circumcision, and i quipped that i would not ask for a show of hands either way, there was a hearty laugh rather than shocked silence.....i suppose that is one of the few advantages to being in my 50's rather than......younger.......meanmammas can get by saying a lot more than women who are neither mean, nor mammas...i suppose.....we even got to talking about whether mary (THE mary) was betrothed to an old guy (joseph) as was the custom.....and that while we do not want our daughters now being married to old guys....we also do not feel comfortable with our own 14-year old marys having sex with young guys or old guys.....even though 14 year olds have been having sex with their old-guy husbands since biblical times.....gentle readers....this lecture is maybe the only one worth what they pay me.....

bookclub

ok, so...it turned out that the majority of the folks who showed up last night for bookclub had not actually finished the book......quite a disappointment to me, and to the person who chose the book.....and the conversation turned to centre's basketball run long before we should have given up on plot discussion.....ah well.....the next book is cormac mccarthy's the road.....and then kurt vonnegut's slaughterhouse 5....and then something else that las left my brain entirely.....today is valentine's day....quite appropriate for my health class lecture on sexual body parts and love versus friend relationships.....and the positive and negative effects these states have on health....hopefully i can talk fast so as to get on back home to my own valentine......

birthday money

ok, so......i referenced birthday money a few days ago...and it is still on my mind....the day after my youngest turned 15....and her birthday money is still on the table...in envelopes or in gift cards...but still within inches of where it was received......and i am in awe that the young can walk away so casually from a source that will dry up all too quickly......i have fond memories....and saved birthday cards as proof.....of checks from both grandmothers.....and later from my parents if they would not be coming down for my birthday....never from my in-laws.....that is actually an inside joke from us outlaws...who were the only group excluded in the final will and testament let alone birthdays....but i digress.....the day will come when there is nobody left to send birthday cash.......when we are so old as to be orphans.....that day is approaching and i am not sure how i will handle the birthdays that follow......

perchance to dream

ok, so....i had a detailed dream about visiting my grandparents farm-house to see the expansion project being funded by my cousin janet- who neither owns nor lives in the house in question, by the way- in my dream the addition was accessible only through the room that was the bathroom- now a pantry lined with canned goods.....and there was a new kitchen and a new family room- with a door to the outside.......and i never did see a replacement bathroom.....but is suppose people don't need these in dreams.....what i recal most about the dream was meeting janet's grandchildren, who looked just like her, and glimpsing her sister caroline's grandchildren, who looked like her- quite a feat as her own children are adopted- and there was a car outside the front door that looked like a boat on wheels.....another curious detail was the dining room/entryway into the house- i looked around for the oak buffet, which i knew not to be there because grandma's buffet is in MY dining area.....

a good day

ok, so.....the decision to 1-hour (paid) delay was well-received....and i must admit it gave me great joy to decide for myself to stay in my jammies and make eggs and hashbrowns rather than to risk life and limb driving to work in the dark and under icy conditions....and folks took another hour or so sharing their tales of peril...so a 2-hour delay would have been a bad idea....because we really did have a two hour delay once one counted the natural down-time that one must take after such a beginning to the work day.....plus...the alarm system fixer-guy came....which is a good thing, as the alarm was ringing when i arrived, and I have to disable it to get the shrill noise to stop.....i love my new job.....

a sheet of ice.....

ok, so....i announced a 1-hour delay this morning for my workplace....seemed the least one could do given the sheet of ice that is my yard.....i barely made it up and back to the road to get the newspaper....thankfully my spouse did make it back from town....where he runs on tuesdays and thursdays.....i was quite worried....

since you asked

ok, so.....i have been on a youtube adventure....from the grammys to dan fogelberg...to judy collins singing her own song, one that dan fogelberg recorded...one so beloved that we had it read at our wedding.....

What I'll give you since you asked
Is all my time together;
Take the rugged sunny days,
The warm and Rocky weather,
Take the roads that I have walked along,
Looking for tomorrows time,
Peace of mind.
As my life spills into yours,
Changing with the hours
Filling up the world with time,
Turning time to flowers,
I can show you all the songs
That I never sang to one man before.
We have seen a million stones lying by the water.
You have climbed the hills with me
To the mountain shelter,
Taken off the days one by one,
Setting them to breathe in the sun.
Take the lilies and the lace
From the days if childhood,
All the willow winding paths
Leading up and outward,
This is what I give,
This is what I ask you for;
Nothing more.

tenors

ok, so...this was the best part of the grammys that i did not see because i went to bed......

catalogs....

ok, so...i routinely recycle catalogs that come to the house without a glance....the pile grows especially large after thanksgiving and through the holidays....clothing, trinkets, movies,.....i am easily toss them....but not the plant catalogs.....seeds, roses.....you name it...if it grows...i worry over the photos and the zones, and if the plants are own-roots...for the record...rose bushes sold on own-roots can come back after a bad winter....but roses on a stock root...such as Dr Huey....will come back as Dr Huey....the rose growing nearest the door to Miss Lulu's cabin is Dr Huey....though i bought it as something else entirely.....but i digress....i have ordered nothing despite my rapt attentions....because i plan to buy nothing until i install my drip-soaker hose system first....and i am hoping to at least buy this equipment with birthday money....ah yes....birthday money......there is nothing quite as sweet as birthday money.....and as my list of donors gets smaller and smaller....i must use these funds wisely......

quadrant 6

ok, so....when i arrived at work the fire/security alarm by the front door was beeping loudly....and though we have the key to disarm it we called the fire department to come on over and heck out the building just in case. It seems the alarm is tied to neither the police or fire departments, nor the upstairs in our building for that matter.....and the conundrum alarm kept going off....and we stopped calling the fire department....when we figured out that the message that was blinking was not quadrant 6 but trouble b...as in battery...it was nothing more than the battery in a smoke alarm that has started the whole thing chirping......omg.....i live and learn.....

stolen famous art

ok, so.....why would someone steal art that is clearly too famous for any buyer to display in public?

obama wins,,,,again....

ok, so.....obama won a grammy last evening...for his audio recording of the audacity of hope....beating out bill clinton and jimmy carter among others for the honor....his award did not make the televised show....i stayed up til about 10:30.....and missed amy winehouse's satellite performance.....but sleep always trumps satellites.....and/or awards.....

so old, so cold.....

ok, so.....i walked on the treadmill, graded exams, studied my next chapters, and then finally settled into a sweet nap in the beam of sunshine that had settled onto the loveseat in our bedroom....one can only sleep on the loveseat if one curls up on one's side....alas.....the sun sunk behind the horizon, and the temperature dropped drastically, and i woke up cold, and somewhat stiffened into my position, and i am now trying to warm up with a cup of (decaf) tea....i have taken the time to finish the random piece of reading material i fished out of the basket behind the sofa.....a basket of travel related media....the booklet i read was about sissinghurst garden(s?) in kent....one of the earth's best gardens...the booklet is old, and in black and white as was the style in the 80's....surely the national trust has moved on to full-color booklets.....i enjoyed reading my own list of roses from the elizabethan-walled rose garden....i actually own a few of these roses and covet the rest.....a spectacular rose is the centerpiece of the white garden.....a trellis rose that one could entertain under.....the white garden is quite special, with its silvery shades.....ah, to be in england during garden season.....

shock and awe

ok, so...the new york post gossip section had a small piece about dolly parton....and as per usual she was asked about her breasts, which she refers to as 'shock and awe'.....and jokes about the pair as more like public property at this point.....and i was most surprised when she admitted to having them 'jacked up a bit'.....had i her cash i'd have had them toned down a bit, if for no other reason than to be able to sleep on my belly.....and to preserve my back.....those babies must be quite debilitating.....

sonnet 18

ok, so...this was read at heath ledger's funeral...i had forgotten how lovely and how very sad it is....

Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

a way with words....

ok, so my eldest recently described his memories of home as having an ambient atmosphere of comfort and support ....that is such so very precious for a son to say and a mother to hear......

quotations....

ok, so.....i woke up last night and among other things on my mind i tried to remember the quotation from nietzche that my eldest included, in german of course, in a piece he let me read yesterday over lunch......and because i had it wrong it took several passes at google to find it....here goes...When one has a great deal to put into it a day has a hundred pockets. such a lovely sentiment.....

a good day......

ok, so......i had a call about 9 am from a state office, which took my breath away for a moment....as the caller said something to the affect that we had a meeting with you, but when we started around the room asking just who had called you. it seemed that nobody had actually made contact and so we have to reschedule.....that is just too funny, but indicative of what i am in for....and they offered a time slot this afternoon, which i declined because i was meeting my eldest for lunch, and one does not change these plans frivolously ....and when i left work, taking back time worked monday night.....i managed to visit 5 goodwills between h-burg, jessamine county and lexington .....not quite the record earned from a memorable outing with reese and the middle child....but darn close.....and it was the first 2 stores that racked up the big haul......pants, tops, for at least 3 persons in my buying circle......i will forward photos of the buttondowns and the spring-line structure sweater to ......well...you know.....i ended up having wine and cheese with 2 of my favorite people, artistic types who have either been to france recently or who will travel to amsterdam this spring.....the 2 framed pieces of art recently gifted from an oberlin artist were stellar.....and made me wish i had my own in-house source......well, i do, but he is rather busy these days......i did buy a replacement black purse/carryall/tote for work purposes, and though i did not pay retail i opted to buy what i liked at the marshall';s rather than search through an endless round of goodwill castoffs...that could have taken months...it was worth the price i paid.....

living in a cave

ok, so...in one dream sequence i was living in a cave with some women from work, and we were packing up to leave for the weekend.....the place appeared to be some sort of college research station.....and we had work cubicles positioned off of a common room with a sagging sofa.....and one of the ladies was trying to pour wine from a bottle with the cork only partially removed, and i was trying to get the rest of the cork out, only to discover that the wine was pretty terrible.......and when we left the room, we locked a door leading to a passageway......the passage was strewn with boxes and assorted junk......and when we came out into the fresh air we were in my backyard in millerburg, oh....a house i lived in until 5th grade.....you can do that in dreams.....

yes we can

ok, so this from obama's website.....

shame on hilary...

ok, so this from wonkette: Hillary trots out her daughter on the campaign trail to convert younger voters, and what happens? A 9-year-old reporter for Scholastic News has the temerity to ask if Bill would make a good “first man,” and Chelsea tells her “I’m sorry, I don’t talk to the press, and that applies to you, unfortunately.”

rough night

ok, so....the storms that passed through swept away all hopes of a good night's sleep.....hopes that were only a bit dashed by printer failure just before bedtime....we had booked my spouse's marathon registration and plane flight, and i resorted to saving both receipts as word files and emailing them to the bike shop, as the verbally-gifted printer repeatedly announced printer failure. I cannot deal with these malfunctions when i am tired. We did unplug the computer just in case the storms were severe and electrically-charged. I did the same at work, just in case. The last storm actually took out part of our electrical system for a short time. The line that runs down the outside wall was shorted out, and several of my work-mate's computers were thought dead until they were plugged in elsewhere. these issues were all on my mind as the storm raged sometime after midnight- i tried not to open my eyes or look at the clock...but going back to sleep when one is thinking that one should go the basement is problematic.....and so this morning i feel less-than-refreshed and wish i could climb back in bed

16% of the world

ok, so...i just got an email from the map portion of facebook, advising me that i have been to 16% of the world....and announcing expanded map/where have i been tools that i can use......and the first thing i thought when i read this email was.....it is a good thing i am not in midlife crisis mode.....you can't email a 51 year old woman that she has only managed to visit 16% of the earth without considering that she might feel bad about herself......i freely admit that had i gone places other than france these past 13 trips i might have racked up a more respectable statistic....even diverting a few travel days to italy, portugal, denmark....scotland...ireland.....i could have covered a bit more territory and felt less.....globally isolated....16%....omg....

unseasonably warm....

ok, so i felt a blast of warm wet air when i went out to get the newspaper this morning....an eerie warmness......a storms-a-coming warmness......very very strange for february

vote early and often

ok, so...i have emailed my friend beth in california to encourage her to follow our ky lead....and to vote early and often.....yeah, well....they have a harder time getting by with such things in ky these days.....i have had to show my driver's license the last few times i have voted, because the elderly precinct staff have died off and the new whippersnappers do not immediately recognize us old timers.....tomorrow may be the making of my fave obama.....he brings out the best of my deep-set optimism....and that is a good thing

michael chabon

ok, so in this episode of celebrity endorsements, michael chabon defends obama more so than he endorses him...worth your time to read......

palm treo

ok, so.....my ex-boss turned in, among other things, an unopened palm treo......when i say unopened i mean still in the cellophane wrapper and the admin asst in charge got it activated for me.....for about the same as i am paying for my ancient basic blue cell....which means that i need to revisit my own contract...but i digress from this amazing piece of techie pleasure...it does everything.....and eventually i will make time to figure out how to make all this wonderfulness work for me....

super sunday....

ok, so.....we attended a superbowl party with assorted runners and cyclists......and left just after the half to assure that the youngest child could get to bed at a reasonable time, and to take a late phone call from child #2. My spouse and i were lightweights, as the drink of choice at this gathering was a blender concoction, and the sight of a blender alone is enough to spur 27 year-old hangover flashbacks......at least on my part.....my favorite commercial was the one with shaq riding the thoroughbred in a race, and winning....the jockeys giving him bottom pats at the end in congratulations was priceless....as these little men had to reach up...well, enough of bottoms.....and a few words about the game before i start my first full week on my new job.....i was neutral up until the part where the patriot coach threw down this red scarf in protest for a (12th) giant player having 1 foot on the field while the legal 11 were in the snap...there was a huge to-do over watching the film of this fellow leaping to the sideline....and though it was a valid point, it seemed petty on the patriot's part and i feel it turned the tide.....

potato bake

ok, so...this recipe came from extended kin today...something someone will take tonight to a party....i have not tried it....

Spread Pillsbury Crescent rolls in 13x9 pan (not sure if 1 or 2 packages)
Bake for specified amount of time on package (10 minutes?)
cool for a few minutes
spread with a light layer of cream cheese
prepare Betty Crocker butter & herb instant mashed potatoes
(simply potatoes garlic & herb was what I tasted) they were very stiff
spread on top of cream cheese layer
sprinkle with Colby or Mild Cheddar cheese
sprinkle with bacon bits
bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes or until cheese melts
cool for 15-20 minutes, cut into squares

pimento cheese

ok, so yesterday i made pimento cheese....a concoction i no longer make on a daily basis....to take to a super bowl gathering as a side for chili. My version is cream cheese-based, as opposed to mayo-based.....and has a bit of tang from garlic and hot sauce.....and minced onion.....and i had this stuff all made, the mixing bowl washed, and everything put away when it seemed something was missing.....but i put it in the fridge to chill...and it was not until hours later that it dawned on me....that i had actually forgotten to add the pimentos.....i laughed aloud, despite being home alone.....i have a scattered history of such faux pas....in a cooking class i once put a chicken casserole in the oven to bake minus the actual chicken...and it was not until a student pointed it out that i quickly added the chicken and attempted to re-stir a dish that had a crumb topping...ouch!.....yesterday's pimento cheese was made from memory...i do know that the original recipe is in this house somewhere.....and when i find it i will post it......

the sun shines bright....

ok, so.....we all slept in past 8:00......which is as rare as hen's teeth in these parts....and the sun was shining so brightly through the bathroom window that it seemed that someone had left on both the bathroom and the hall lights......such a pleasant way to get up in the morning...i did sleep much better last evening....and dreamed of peeling clementines, a pretty neutral dream theme.....neither work nor play.....and so i am feeling refreshed and not quite as old as i felt dragging myself out of bed in the cold and dark to make it to work on time each and every day this week.....life is good.....i read a report in the BBC this week about depression around the world...about research that seems to pinpoint the most likely age for depression for both genders as 44.....square in midlife......this research seemed to also suggest that folks tended to bounce back by their early to med-fifties....as if to say that they re-evaluated their original values and dreams and replaced them with more realistic but no less valuable ones.....i find this all fascinating, in that i have struggled with depression in the past, and find myself completely undepressed at this very moment.....

oh, oh, oh.......

ok, so.....my middle child is back....not home but at his home away from home.....and he called to let us know he was ok....gentle readers, there are few things on this earth as marvelous as the sound of your child's voice over the phone.....

another call coming in...

ok, so...i tried to tell my mother on the phone tonight about my interim-potential for a better job situation....and she would not let me have a word in edgewise....first i heard about how aunt lola may or may not have a new cat from a neighbor or from somebody going to a nursing home to replace the cat who may or may not have wandered off...got that?.....and then she talked of the centre events she has been to or will go to...and then she has another call coming in and then she hung up.....

from jezebel.com

ok, so...it is her expletive, not mine.....

The Mississippi State House is proposing a law that would ban restaurants from serving people with a BMI higher than 30. On one hand, of course, you could say that's no worse than laws preventing bartenders from serving another shot of whiskey to that guy who just chipped a tooth falling off his stool. On the other hand, of course, an obese person is not going to use the opportunity afforded by an unnecessary plate of chicken and dumplings to pinch the ass of the waitress, puke in the bathroom sink, take a piss next to your dumpster and ram into an oncoming car on the way home, so there's really not much of a comparison. More seriously though, would it work? Wouldn't the nation's fat people, faces hot with the shame of being weighed publicly on a scale outside the Outback Steakhouse, simply drive straight to the nearest convenience store and pick up a few pints of Karamel Sutra to cool off? Aren't our seriously fat citizens too poor to indulge in that much Panera bread anyway? Moreover, did Rep. W.T. Mayhall not hear? Americans are officially no longer the fats of the world. Just like with that whole economy racket, we're being surpassed by the Euros!

And Finland, Germany, Greece, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Malta all have a higher proportion of overweight adults than the United States, according to a report by the International Obesity Task Force in 2005.

Seriously, WTF, Greece and Cyprus? So much for the Mediterranean diet! If you manage to get fat off olives and red wine, do you have any idea how fat you'd be if you were born in the land of the deep-fried Oreo???

Anyway, suffice it to say that no one expects the bill to pass, but you can't fault them for trying to combat obesity, which could result in mass foot amputations remember, in new and innovative ways. And obesity is not the only terrible societal ill they are targeting!

Many bills are likely to fall to the wayside, such as HB 282, which discourages restaurants from serving certain kinds of food to obese people, and HB 291, which authorizes castration as part of a sentence for a rape conviction.

I fucking love this country.

improv everywhere agents....

ok, so this is so great.....

a nervous wreck.....

ok, so.....my middle child flies from paris back to nj this day......and i cannot get his journey off of my mind....when i went to sleep last night...much later than usual, i immediately calculated the time in paris, and hoped aloud that he was thinking about getting up, dressed, and to the airport......and my first thoughts of this morning were of him aloft, hopefully having navigated himself through the paris tranport system, through the numerous layers of security at cdg....and now i must wait....until his plane has landed, and he has made his way back to school, and into his new dorm room......until such time as he calls us to let us know that all is well.....