book bribery

ok, so.....my child has taken to reading my mother's trashy paperbacks...the bodice-ripping ones with fabio on the cover that.....well...are not worth reviewing here.....my middle child picked one up off the counter and read a random passage over his break that gave us all pause......and reminded us that grandma's taste in books may not be in line with our goals for this child's education....and so we downloaded the ultimate teen book list.....which has hundreds of classics and recent releases...in alphabetical order....and so she started to circle what she wanted to read the moment i mentioned that i would be willing to reward the completion of each book from the list......sadly angela's ashes is right up there at the top, in the a's.....and the moment she mentioned that book my spouse piped up....'don't let her read that book, it is too depressing'...which made her insist all the more to read that particular book first.......i did gather up a dozen selected volumes....easy to find as this list includes most of our book club picks......who know whether she will be willing to read good books for money....but it is certainly better than reading trash for free

wild onions.....

ok, so...i complain about the wild onions every year.....and so not to disappoint my gentle readers......let me just say that i am taking a few moments before and after work to pull out the conundrum weeds.....and letting the piles of fallen stems accumulate as a warning to those that may pop up later......

another work day.....

ok, so.....i stayed up much too late chatting with my spouse after he returned home from d.c.....and now i am exhausted in addition from being sore from gardening......i am so very tempted to take the day off to lay about, but it is spring break and most of my workmates beat me to this conclusion.....so i will drag my sorry body to work and make the best of things.....and daydream about sleeping-in on saturday....

daddy's cell phone....

ok, so one of my spouse's running/biking buddies sits behind us in church....and he asked about the marathon during the morning turn-and-say-hi-to-your-neighbor section of the service...and then he asked for my spouse's phone number so he could call and congratulate him....to which i replied that he would be back in the shop tomorrow morning...and that he wouldn't be home tonight until late.....'oh, i was thinking i would call him on his cell phone'....and it was all i could do not to laugh at how little this friend of my spouse knows him....'he won't have his phone on, so there is no use calling the number' i replied.....'not have his cell on? who does that?.....we have ours on all the time, and we are always on our cell phones.....'......which is precisely the point.....we are not a family of phone-o-holics....we can find far better things to do than to talk on the phone.....i do not even take my phone out of my purse (i toss it behind my seat) when i drive to pick up my daughter after school....no use calling me then because i will not answer the phone while i am driving.....better leave me a message...if i hear the little trill of notes that is my ring i will check when i get home.....i do leave on my phone because being 'on call' is part of my new job...in case of some public health emergency.....i will freely admit that email is in a different realm than the cell phone.....i live to get emails from my far flung children.....but i digress from church.....it was surely a sunday-after-easter service, with the pews mostly empty of those on spring break.....and a fill-in pastor covering for our usual fellow who is on spring break.....i was tempted to beckon to my daughter so that we could sneak out, but as i was sitting in front of a running/biking friend of my spouse i opted to stay and set the moral example, such as it is.....thankfully he wrapped up his sermon in time for my youngest and i to dash to the lowes to get the correct mortar mix to complete our walk project, and some moss and other organics to mix in with the soil in our new beds......i do admit to buying a few more perennials....2 different types of wallflowers, 2 different types of lavender, some mountain salvia, and pink pincushion flower (scabiosa)......i do have to make time this week to lay my seep hoses in my new beds, and figure out how to connect them to the spicket.....but that is for another day.....i most move back to the back room to watch davidson/kansas......

dreams so real.....

ok, so.....i woke up at 4:00 am, tempted to creep downstairs to check my purse....in my dreams i was living in an apartment, and as i was heading to an upstairs apartment to ask a neighbor about something, a quick errand that should not require the locking of doors, i chanced to see a man standing nearby talking on a cell phone....so i ran back inside, grabbed my keys, and locked the door in his full view.....moments later i returned to find that my wallet and checkbook were gone and the back door to my apartment was wide open.....these are curious details......in that the layout of the apartment matches none i have ever visited let alone lived in, and my front door was locked....but my purse was sitting by my computer, as it was when i went to bed last night....and i can recall in my dreams telling the police officer that i had only the one check in my checkbook (true) and that the order blank for obtaining more was inside the checkbook (true).......and the officer was asking about my debit card and did i have the pin number in the wallet (no).....even as i lay awake for a few moments the scenario replayed, with minor adjustments to the plot.....until i arrived back to my apartment to find that the purse had been opened, but that the robber found nothing inside because my checkbook and my cards were all in my coat pockets.....hmmm......no idea why we dream what we dream.....and without getting all freudian, i will let it go at that.....

legal bribery

ok, so.....an hour into my digging project, it occurred to me that as i toiled away...my youngest was sitting on the sofa watching cartoons at her leisure....and so i marched in, and advised her that if we could collectively get the job done by 4:00 i would treat her to supper at applebees.....bingo.....we were out the door, showered and tidied up by 3:45.......we stopped at the lowes to get the materials to use with the brick walk connector, and also to buy a few plants for the enlarged bed...not too many because i like to save my cash for the hospice plant sale.....and then we sat down to a mighty mediocre meal......at least from my seat...my child was thrilled, especially when i offered her my leftovers for a late-night snack.....but i digress from the actual digging.....my neck, back, arms and wrists are in that state of pain that even a hot bath can numb temporarily at best......and when my spouse called to tell me about his marathon....3 hr 50 min......he gently pointed out that i had purchased quickcrete instead of mortar mix......rats...i'll have to go back to the lowes after church.....bottom line....i am on target to be mostly done with my gardening pre-season projects....life is good.....

marathon man

ok, so....my spouse is running in the suntrust national marathon this morning.....he started about 7:00 am.....and he will likely finish between 3.5 and 4 hours....i tried to locate the blow-by-blow stats online....some races allow one to enter a bibb number, and you can find out where they are on the course during the race....or at least which checkpoints have been crossed by the microchips on their shoes....but i cannot find this application on the race website.....the weather looked quite chilly given the television coverage i WAS able to find...the brave souls in front of the cameras were bundled up....which means my spouse is likely running in shorts....go figure.....he is also enjoying a weekend with his eldest brother......it is good for siblings to spend time together. as for those of us back home, we seem to have no intention of getting dressed until after noon.....it is quite cold here as well, and i see no point in venturing out to work on my gardening projects until the dirt has warmed up a little....

uncle norm

ok, so i had my first meeting with a local preparedness person...and he was so similar to my uncle norm in size, shape, haircut, and demeanor....that i sat listening for him to say the magic word(s)....kind alike groucho marx who was always delighted when the magic word dropped from the ceiling in the mouth of a pretend bird.....and what would the magic word(s) today have been?......million dollar houses, of course...i'd have rolled on the floor laughing if he'd said that....thankfully he kept that string of words to himself, as i was with the new board chair, and was trying my best to appear poised not preposterous....ah well....

anne taintor....

ok, so this was on crooks and liars in response to a washington post blog about hilary and how long it takes her to get dressed in the morning.....the idiot part appears to refer to the male post writer.....but it could easily extend to dub-ya......

rain, rain.....

ok, so.....the storms seem to have soaked the grass seed....a good thing....but the storms today may keep me from working on the last of my expanded flower beds....i fully intend to finish the job this weekend so that i can start planting perennials, but this intention could be hampered by thunder storms.....in that event i am fully prepared to take long restorative naps.....

losing my touch.....

ok, so.....i used to be adequate at scramble, but it appears that the words have all taken the week off....ah well.....and the applications and notifications are all baffling to me just this minute.....i get notifications about some porcelain vampire who is gonna do some whompin' bad things to the friends of my youngest....what is up with that, notifications about how somebody has a match for me....i click ignore for those.......and the news that i can get blockbuster movies for $3.99.....luckily i have been much too distracted by work to worry too much about what it all means.....especially since i do not believe that porcelain vampires are gonna whomp on me any time soon....i am coming up on doing my new job for 2 full months, and no clue when the actual hiring process for the permanent position will happen, and so it is easy to get a bit downhearted and wonder if i could be going to a lot of trouble only to end up disappointed.....keeping the faith, in myself as well as in the system is not easy....and i must but that smile back on my face and make the best of the chance i have....enough of this...back to scramble......

dream screen

ok, so in my dream i was at a p.c., and on the screen was a place to check yes or no as to teleflowers.....this directive in large bold letters, and i checked no.....i have no recollection of what led up to this part of the dream, or what came after.....other than i wasn't having any of it.....

the lay of the land.....

ok, so.....i came home from picking up the youngest child and sat in my yet-to-be-finished expanded flower bed....and added up just how many rose bushes could be gracefully planted without over-crowding.....and contemplated clusters of perennials planted amongst those roses......and went so far as to imagine patches of lettuces and other vegetables.....this plot of ground has the best sun exposure of any in our front yard.....and given that the back yard drops off into a cliff-like landscape.....i am confined to the front/side yard....i amuse myself with daily emails from jackson and perkins and wayside gardens and parks....all who wish to fill in these empty spaces....for a price.....but i must plan carefully and allow room for the hospice plant sale and the like for most of my plantings......so many options.....but these opportunities keep me hopeful.....and this is a good thing....

waiting for pasta water to boil.....

ok, so.....my life has its mundane moments.....and the waiting on the pasta water is one of those.....can't stray too far from the kitchen.....and because pasta salad tastes better when it has had a chance to sit a bit......i plan to go out and dig up another couple of courses of nearly dead grass.....

a silent memorial

ok, so...this from the huffington post.....a mosaic of all 4000 war dead....too tragic for words.....

promising day in store....

ok, so....my pains, though numerous, appear to have passed....and i am planning to return to the garden after work....still have 2/3 of the expanded bed to clear, and then i can begin to accumulate plants to fill up the space....i have a few roses in mind...some own-root varieties that are harder to kill in bad weather.....and i am looking into some other perennials that have not done well in shadier beds......i am invigorated by the promise of spring.....

pain....

ok, so......i am in pain, as predicted.......the push to finish yard projects on sunday afternoon often results in pain.....for me, the pitiable state of my wrists and forearms is such that typing this blog is a real effort.....we did manage to seed and straw the front yard.....and i did manage to dig up 1/3 of my expanded flower bed...yeah, i may have blogged about this before...but the pain brings it all back.....i am going to work to rest up.....

a daylily-free zone

ok, so....the 12 by 12 foot section of planting bed i am creating from dead lawn will be a certified daylily-free zone......a distinction hard to come by in my little section of eden.....even the beds i painstakingly cleared of daylilies last fall are again matted with sprouts......and while i have taken to plucking them like som many dandelions....the truth is this.....daylilies are like cockroaches.....they will likely survive the nuclear option......but my new bed is an extension of a lily-free bed....and i am confident that any and all plants located there will be safe from the muscling- charms of the day lilies......

melissa etheridge on faith

ok, so...i borrowed this from the washingtonpost.....i hope melissa can forgive me.....

Melissa Etheridge
Awakening at Easter

Easter.

The word brings up so many different memories. I am a child of the Midwest and I was raised with a little help from the United Methodist Church. My parents felt it was important to indoctrinate their children into some church even though it had long ago stopped being a place for worship for them on a personal level. I think they felt that they had better bring their kids to a church just in case all that heaven and hell stuff might be true. So, at the very least, on Christmas and Easter we would get out of bed early, get dressed up and go to church. There I would hear “Jesus was crucified on the cross and put into the tomb and rose from the dead three days later, now go find some eggs that a bunny left in the yard.” I never thought to question or even try to figure it out. Everyone was doing it and having so much fun, I thought that it must make sense to someone.

I am all grown up now with children of my own. My spiritual path has been an amazing and rewarding one for me. I have opened my heart and mind to the thought that we create our reality. I believe we are on a beautiful heavenly planet that is spinning in perfect balance with the rest of the universe. I believe we all have the capacity to open the Christ consciousness within each of us. I believe that the cancer inside my body reflected the cancer outside of my body, and I believe everyday I heal not only my body but also everything I see. I believe in choice. I believe as above so below. And I believe in the Easter bunny.

Yes, my children and my wife and I will be decorating eggs. See, I believe in traditions; and the tradition of the vernal equinox is the celebration of the earth coming into the newness and everlasting life of spring. It has been celebrated every year by every culture of people who have ever walked this earth. We seemed to have somehow lost sight of that. We have lost sight of our relationship to the earth. We need to be in contact with the earth and it’s seasons. I know that the Romans in the 4th century, grappling with how to control the masses, decided to make the Christian celebrations mirror the pagan ones. Then they hunted down, killed, tortured and burned any who tried to practice those seasonal celebrations of our most ancient ancestors. I know that the winter equinox is when the sun stands still on the horizon for three days and then is “resurrected” on the third. I also know that we are coming to the end of this Piscean age and rolling into the next one, the Aquarian. And I believe that we will all come together in our beautiful differences to discover we are all one. All of us gently spinning in this beautiful space, creating peace within ourselves and experiencing peace in our world. We will soon know that love is all there is.

So I am going to decorate a few eggs (I especially like the blue egg dye), and I will hide them in the yard. I will eat a little chocolate, and I will celebrate once again the earth coming back to life and bringing the warmth of the sun and the promise of salvation.

You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.

Melissa Etheridge is an Academy Award-winning and two-time Grammy Award-winning American rock singer, songwriter and musician.

egg salad

ok, so.....i had a hankering for deviled eggs....so i bought the eggs, and the paprika to sprinkle on top....and took time to boil the eggs yesterday so they would be easy to peel today....or so i thought......seems that really fresh eggs resist and easy peel, and none of the conundrum eggs were salvageable.....ah well......so i went ahead and made egg salad.....with capers rather than pickle relish for the salty edge......and i while this is no substitute for the object of my craving....it will do just fine for a few lunches this week.....if i can remember to stop for some good dark rye.....the only bread for egg salad.....

underdogs.....

ok, so.....i especially enjoy the ncaa tourney for the underdogs.....the opportunity to root for the lower ranked seed...or at least for the cinderella team, the team with the tear-wiping story.....and any big ten team unless there is an underdog or an emotional fave......i was thrilled to watch duke lose after i got home from the l-ville airport....and even happier to see xavier beat purdue.....yeah...purdue is big-ten......but xavier is from cincinnati, and i attended sunday night guitar mass with my spouse at xavier once-upon-a-time.....before i concluded that i was no catholic..... i am just about over the omission of osu from this tournament...almost.....better to watch b-ball than to haul dirt from the treelot.....i did do 2 loads this afternoon......just enough to say that i had worked and before my back and limbs lighted up in pain......maybe tomorrow i can conscript workers to help me finish the job....my first such slave laborer will be the youngest child...the one who went to see the early movie with her mimi, and ate lunch for a second time, and then went to see a second movie before arriving home well after the set time.....full of excuses.....i say...anybody who can sit for 2 movies in one day and eat lunch twice can follow that up with 200 minutes of dirt-hauling......but then....i AM the meanest mamma.....

peep show

ok, so this link is to the finalists of the annual wpost peep diorama contest

sadly, i bought no peeps for my children this year......

old bones, old bones....

ok, so.....i spent most of my freebie good friday day off shoveling dirt, sifting through dirt for rocks, wheelbarrowing dirt, dumping dirt, raking dirt in the empty ruts that dot my yard, and repeating the above mentioned motions 15 times before my body gave out.....i have another 20 or so loads to go before the yard can be reseeded.....and thankfully i am driving my middle child to the airport this morning, so i am under no pressure to get outdoors at this very moment to begin again.....the combination of drought and torrential rains have pockmarked our meager lawn to the point that the gaping holes could be seen from space......i am taking this project as an opportunity to plot out other gardening moves.....expanding the middle bed, connecting the brick walks with a short......well....connector.....and when i get all that done i can lay down my five 75-foot seep hoses.....i received an oak-leaf hydrangea in the mail yesterday.....a plant i ordered last fall and wondered about.....i have to move a rose into the new bed before i can nestle the hydrangea into the curve of the walk.....lots to do.....and i would feel better about it if my back was not in pain, and my upper arms not so sore....

$1.05

ok, so....last evening, my spouse asked me to help him find a song he heard on wuky in its adult rock segment...it was an updated version of the oldie walk away renee, which was 1st recorded by a group called the left banke in 1966.... we located the song in the playlist section of the station's website, which listed the song as a duet: peppino d'agostonia/david wilcox.....and we immediately clicked on the buy at amazon button conveniently located after every song on the playlist.....to no avail.....the amazon clicked came up empty.....rats.....and so we moved on to google, searching for the song title, for the duet, and then with the individual performers.....with little success......and then we started in searching itunes for the performers......and then other download-for-money sources..........an hour into the quest, we scored a 99 cent download on amazon....for peppino d'agostonia.......and we are unclear if it is actually peppino singing, as the youtube videos we watched were of his guitar skills rather than his singing...and the harmonizing voice was of a woman....and so we wonder if this david wilcox was the singer on the piece, as originally listed on wuky's playlist.....despite the fact that we could find no download for poor david......yikes.....an hour of our time is worth more than the $1.05 (including tax) that we paid for this song....i would have given up if it were not for my desire to find this song for my spouse.....and one would think that those who promote music would go out of their way to make music immediately findable to those keen on buying it....

seep hose....

ok, so.....i stopped at the lowes on my way to teach my class.....and i bought 5 seventy-five foot rolls of seep hose, and a connector unit for the water spigot, and rose food, and a mega-bag of grass seed, and a few herb plants.......this purchase barely fit into the trunk......but as i am off tomorrow i decided that now was the time to make my big move.....i will wheel-barrow topsoil from the side-lot into the divoted front yard....and rake it out, and plant a blend of bluegrass and fescue. and then i will lay out all of my seep hoses.....and it will be a grand day.....yard work-season is my favorite time of year.....

board meeting

ok, so....my first board meeting is today at noon...and while i thought i was prepared before taking time off with my middle child, i am now seized with doubts, and will likely spend my morning going over obscure details in hopes that i can verbalize well if asked about them.....it will be over, i will survive it, and then i will have a nice three-day weekend to recover......

avatar of the day.....

ok, so....i have changed my little avatar twice in 24 hours......the cat, much as i loved this cat picture, was getting a bit tired.....and though the picture of the greek salad has sentimental value, it doesn't show up well in the small screen....and so i am posting the 'big boy' for a bit.....the yellow dog......a fitting icon in this political season.......?

back to work

ok, so.....i must put in 2 days of work before i am off friday and the weekend.....could not be helped that spring break coincided with pre-scheduled events.....and sadly i spent far too much time worrying over work issues while i should have been sleeping.....i went so far as to send an email in the middle of the night so that i could not forget to do it in the morning.....and this act may have turned the tide....as i eventually slumbered....only for the alarm to sound so rudely at 6:30 am......well....we don't use an actual alarm...the karl castle comes on with the news on npr.....but i react to his voice as if it were an alarm....and i will leap out of bed if he begins to read from the body count......ah well.....i will make it through the next 2 days just fine.....

wtf?

ok, so......the most current of the ny governors has come forward to fess up that both he and his spouse have had extra-marital affairs since their marriage...taking the offensive route rather than the defensive it would appear......seems they have worked out their differences since then.......just so very sad.....for them as well as for the rest of us.......enough of the dirty laundry.....lets get back to the business at hand.....

another day off....

ok, so.....i am off today, then off again friday.....would have taken off wednesday and thursday but for pressing work entanglements....and i am thinking seriously of climbing back into bed now that those who must go to work/school have left the house....and he who is tired is still sleeping.....so many things i could do with this time....i could go out and weed the beds.....or i could walk on the treadmill....or i could climb back into bed for a quick nap before we have fixed appointments to attend to.....it is nice to have options....ironically, the alarm on my cellphone calendar has gone off three times in the past 30 minutes....to remind me that i am off today.....as if one could forget such a detail....

retail therapy.....

ok, so.....on this day i ventured into an actual mall......in search of well-fitting khakis.....and was delighted to pay the actual retail price for the banana republic pair.....after striking out on a similar pair at gap in the wrong color...gentle readers......i cannot remember paying retail for any article of clothing in so long that it was sort of a thrill to stand at the register and hand over my plastic.....well....debit card....i did rebuff the saleswoman's suggestion that we could open an account and save 15%......15% savings would not begin to cover the ruckus that such a credit card account would have spawned in my household.....curiously...we ate at j.beth, and i have never found it difficult to pay retail for books, and birthday cards, and any number of wonderful goods sold there.....but then...one just cannot get these items at area goodwills.....i will admit to remarkable goodwill day....with 3 tremendous blouse and sweater purchases....and an upscale up-east catalog pair of chinos that made my outing lucrative.......we were unable to select the perfect pair of casual loafers for my middle child.....but there is always tomorrow to zero in on another mall in another side of lexington.....

omelets.....

ok, so...... being as i am off for 2 days i got up early and made omelets.....and hash browns...but as these are still in the oven, and are not yet brown.....it may be that i am the only person who will be home long enough to enjoy them....at least hash browns made this way are far less fatty.......i used muenster cheese inside this time, and made certain that the pan was quite hot before adding the beaten eggs.....such an omelet flips nicely without sticking.....lots of errands to do today with he who has many errands on his short list......likely a trip to lex for essential shopping.....

best (silda) spitzer quote of the day

ok, so.....amy poehler on snl last night said this......'even tammy wynette would not have stood by that man'.....

you win some....

ok, so....it seems from my drop down menu that i have already given this designation to a blog in my past...ah well...sometimes the shoe fits twice.....shoes are my first subject...the shoes that got away.....i was in the l-burg goodwill....having bought gas at $3.09 with my kroger card next door...and there....on the shelf looking like i was born to wear them....was a pair of black ferragamo (sp?) slingback pumps...looking quite italian and sleak...and sadly...my feet were just 2 sizes too small to wear them...rats.....i had been studying a recipe all week....a vegetarian creation from some gourmet vegan site that sounded promising with sour cream rather than blended cashews.... hungarian braised mushrooms...i used portabello and cremini and button......with potato dumplings.....and from the leftovers i can only surmise that i was the only person who enjoyed this recipe.....hard to figure what people will eat and what they will not....a reasonable person would fix what she liked and expect everybody else to belly up or go hungry......

notes to self....

ok, so....i have tried in vain to change the default media player back to something that will allow to save downloaded mp3's....anything but quicktime, which appears to have taken over our p.c. once again.....i have dabbled in my control panel, the default settings at the window's start screen......all for naught.....and then i got the brilliant idea to google default media players...and voila.....directions on how to do this....i had done this before, but had forgotten...being so very old you see.....and for future reference...this is how it is done......go to tools pulldown menu, and choose options....go to file types....and click on manage.....there will be numerous files that could be downloaded, as well as the current default program for downloading.....simply replace quicktime with winamp....and click save/apply. life will again be good......thus far i have downloaded numerous random singer-songwriters from the south by southwest festival website...and have compiled a disc for airport transport entertainment.....did i mention life is good?

a forwarded joke....

ok, so....this was forwarded to me by close kin, with the subtext that the agent involved was nothing like my dad.....

A cocky U.S. Department of Agriculture representative stopped at a farm and approached the elderly farmer. He told the farmer, 'I need to inspect your farm.' The farmer said, 'OK, but don't go in that field over there.'
The Agriculture representative said, 'Mister, I have the authority of the United States Government with me. See this card? The card means I am allowed to go WHEREVER I WISH on any agricultural land. No questions asked or answered. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?'
The farmer nodded politely and went about his farm chores.
Half an hour later, the farmer heard loud screams and saw the Agriculture Rep running for the fence and close behind was the farmer's huge-horned prize bull. The bull was gaining on the Agriculture Rep with every step. The Rep was clearly terrified, so the farmer threw down his tools, ran to the fence and shouted:

'Your card! Your card! Show him your card!'

rain, rain....

ok, so.....i left work early because of my late training last night.....and given the rain, i opted for a cozy friday afternoon nap before venturing back out to shop and to pick up child #3. great plan, as i woke up with plenty of time to run by the library for the book i had reserved, peruse 2 grocery stores and buy my lottery ticket, with a repeat broadcast of R.E.M. from south by southwest on npr....so glad they waited to play man in the moon until i got back in the car.... I had forgotten about the reality of shopping whilst hungry.....ooops......no junk but plenty of wholesome foods that spilled over into the downstairs fridge and freezer....we are a vegetarian's paradise at this point....but then....all of my children will be home for the weekend...and i am so very grateful for the opportunity to prepare foods i think they will like....all the while i am listening to south by southwest music from a blog i like.....at this moment i am linked to the myspace site of dragonette, a toronto group that remind me of early madonna.....but then....don't so many groups want to be her madge-ness?.....next comes katy perry, and then more chester french....and eric hutchinson......so many bands so little time...even for someone not less than 16 hours from austin......the rain has abated, to be replaced by flurries tomorrow.....no matter....

tgif

ok, so...today is the last i will work until wednesday.....and only then because of an unavoidable training at work.....the middle child is coming home for spring break, and the eldest will be back from nyc and the joy in our little household is palpable....we have not laid eyes on said middle-child since mid-november, and this gap is far too long for adoring parents.....i have put off shopping for their favorite foods until today.....wanting everything to be fresh....and now that i hear that rain is likely this afternoon just in time for my afterwork errands.....ah well.....what is a little dampness when one's sons are coming home.....?

why i love ellen

ok, so this from ellen....

see-saw.....

ok, so these days i seem to be having a see-saw relationship with sleep......a night of deep slumber followed by a night of agitated fitfulness......and when one gets little sleep the next day one usually goes on to bed early and sleeps like the dead.....i don't recall waking up at all last night, and thus i only feel slightly old and creaky this morning....most mornings i feel so very old and rickety.....and dotty.......dotty is a great word to describe the mental fog that greets my aching tired body as i drag myself out of bed......ah well.....last evening i had an extended dotty episode....i was trying to download music from south by southwest....and the quicktime player kept coming on rather than the winamp or dell musicplayer....both of which allow for an actual download.....quicktime only plays.....and i could not recall how i dealt with this same issue last year.....how DID I manage to change the default player last year.....yeah, i found a place to change default settings, but the settings did not want to 'stick'....and quicktime kept popping up as default...just maddening.....when my fogginess meets an intrepid foe......will try again tonight....as for SxSW I have been listening to music by Chester French, and Eric Hutchison thus far.....I was in need of something new to listen to.....brains need to be rewired with the new and different to keep agile......or so i remember hearing, which is nothing to take to the bank at this moment.....

wrong address...

ok, so...last week's new yorker finally showed up today.....just in time.....as i was about to accuse the youngest of wandering off to look at the cartoons, and then leaving it in some obscure household hidey-hole......and it was not until i brought it in from the mailbox...and glanced more than a cursory regard for the cover...that i noticed that the print lettering was original to the cover art....no...somebody had written in bold marker....sent to wrong address...gentle readers....i treasure certain framed new yorker covers....and the reality that others would write upon last week's portrait of a lady is beyond my understanding.....yeah, well.....it did reach my house because of the boldly written directive.....maybe those words make it more savable.....especially given that the picture vaguely reminds me of bjork, and she would write on a picture of herself in a nanosecond....wrongly addressed is on my mind of late, as i have been opening somebody else's mail for the past couple of weeks.... somebody has to open the director's mail, it just seems off to be peeking into letters sent to somebody else......it might be fun to return the junk with boldly lettered sent to the wrong address on the outside.....too much effort when i just toss it into the recycle bin....

deja vu......

ok, so.... the mm is old enough to remember living in cincinnati when then-mayor jerry springer was caught paying for a newport, ky hooker with a personal check...on his wedding day...... some men just don't think they will get caught.....some things never change......

herbs played badly......

ok, so.....marriage is like playing poker, i suppose....and sometimes one plays cards well.....and sometimes not.....i stopped at the kroger last evening to buy salad fixings....and ended up paying the big bucks for a spring mix that looked just scrumptious....and it was not until we were in the middle of dinner that it dawned on me that the feathery greens so liberally mixed in with the other darkly colored vegetation....were....dill...fresh and feathery dill....an herb that my spouse despises......seems his (Romanian ) grandmother added dill to everything....and this herb ranks right up there with curry on foods he will not cross the street to eat......but there he sat....munching his mixed greens....while i watched....and i must have grinned just a bit too broadly, for finally he stopped, and looked closely, and then noticed that he was, in fact, eating dill.......tonight we worked on the same salad, and he was quite careful to search through every bite to weed out the dill......ah well.....it was funny while it lasted......

spring's a coming....

ok, so....the spring flowers are starting to come out despite the recent cold snap.....sounds hopeful to me.....

so very tired.....

ok, so....worry is so very exhausting....and though worry is an emotion i have elevated to an art form, there are times when the side effects are debilitating....i did not sleep well the last 2 nights....and will not likely slumber soundly til i get the call that all is well with child #1.....not that i can do anything about anything connected with his break plans.....but reality never dampens a mother's prerogative to worry....

midnight madness.....

ok, so...our eldest called late last night to tell us that he would be coming by to borrow the camera....in the next hour or so, as he and 2 friends had decided on an impromptu spring break trip to nyc.....we tried to stay awake to see him off, but being old and tired we must have dozed off and he did not have the heart to wake us up.....bon voyage....

retirement home

ok, so...we went to an annual event in lexington celebrating february birthdays....yeah...it never actually happens until march, but i am grateful to be included in the honorees....this evening was the first time i can recall the issue of retirement popping up.....we have a few semi-retired friends, but nobody who will own up to staying put at home...until this evening...when i was standing with 4 other 'wives'.....and the issue of a spouse's 65th coming up in april was broached...and one wife said to the wife in question......'honey....you don't want to retire until you have to, especially if he is going to be home all of the time....'....wow....i knew that women discussed such things...it simply has not been in my presence until now.....and i know what was implied.....not one of us got married to somebody that was home 24/7...we married a man who was home about as infrequently as ourselves....and so we are bound to be taken by surprise at the newly-home spouse who takes to picking up things that one has just laid down....omg.....no wonder i am surrounded by retired nurses who came back part-time .....the prospects were too much to handle.....

facebook

ok, so......i uploaded an article to my facebook account just a few moments ago.....an article in the washington post about parents wanting to friend their children......and i am highly amused by what several of these youngsters had to say about the horror of having a parent wanting access.....i started my facebook account at the urging of a vietnam vet-aged brother-in-law.....who saw the venue as a way for kinfolk to keep in touch.....sadly, not all of the family branches have signed on...but through facebook i have come to know the sisters of my brother in law, and that has been a lot of fun......fun is the operative work here.....rather than nefarious....which 2 of my 3 children seem to think are my intentions in having a facebook account...i enjoy the bookshelf add-on....i just ordered a book i saw on the facebook-bookshelf of a friend who lives here in town.....and the world map where have i been add-on, and especially scramble.....i usually have 3-4 games running on any given day with 3-4 folks.....i will admit that it is a good thing to be friended to the account of my 15 year-old....yes, we play scramble...i just love to play scramble....but it does remind me just how raucous and rude 15 year-olds can get, and i can take the opportunity to reel her in when things get out of hand....i have no need to reel in her siblings......all college-aged folks seem determined to relearn the lessons that their parents likely never admitted they learned about mayhem one can get into while away at school.....and i would frankly rather not know about any lessons learned recently.....don't ask/don't tell seems a good rule here......but enough of this....there are open scramble games going on as i type.....must practice.....

spring forward....

ok, so.....let us all remember to reset those clocks before climbing into bed this evening.....seems for the next few weeks the united states will be out of sync with those countries who have opted to change time later....in the actual spring.....go figure

snow in march

ok, so......we did miss the bulk of the predicted snowfall.....but still managed to accumulate about 4 inches...snow continues to fall....albeit very, very slowly......a nice day to stay warm and cozy inside.....

coma

ok, so.....the words that illude (is this the right word?) me on scramble are numerous......coma in this last open-game....utopia in the last......why i cannot see these words that are clearly there on the board is a mystery....one that appears to have nothing to do with time of day.....yeah...i know i am not agile at the keyboard at 6:45 am...but after supper/after bath i should do much better, shouldn't i?.....

waiting.....

ok, so....we missed the worst of the first wave of bad weather.....and we are assured as of the 6:00 news that the second wave is on its way with up to 10 inches of snow......good thing tomorrow is saturday....and i can lay in the bed looking at the snow across the creek, and know that i have no place i have to go, other than downstairs to make coffee....

snow's a-comin....

ok, so. with the winter storm warning in affect til 4:00 pm on saturday, my co-workers will be in a tizzy until they leave work today, even if there is no hint of precipitation......ah well......good thing tomorrow IS saturday, as nobody can call me up to ask if they have to go to work......and by monday it will mostly be gone from roadways....

vanity fair....

ok, so...several of my fave blogs mention the new vanity fair issue that features female comedians.....and i was amazed that i somehow missed this 2005 new yorker article about sarah silverman...i just just wiled away the past 30 minutes reading it online....yeah...well...i have subscribed to the new yorker these many years but i somehow missed this article....i find her style of humor quite amusing...especially her video tribute to her 'relationship' with matt damon.......but i digress from the vanity fair issue on funny females.....must remember to actually buy this issue as it will not be available online.....

how not to look old....

ok, so.....salon.com reviewed a book about how not to look old....an issue which hits close to home as i inch from my early-fifties to my mid fifties.....i now dress for comfort at work....and the notion of trading in comfort for ...what....stiff but stylish shoes, and church clothes for everyday is not something i will do without serious consideration.....i do draw the line at pants with elastic waists.....i suppose that is part of my granny-ish image that i am trying to avoid......but i digress from this book....which suggests lightening one's hair......hmmmm......this directive implies keeping up with roots....and as my hair grows very fast, i could sink a small fortune into hair upkeep.....no, gentle readers....i prefer to focus my attention on getting enough sleep so as not to appear tired.....as nothing ages a woman so much as fatigue......if i wasn't hungry i would consider going on to bed now to get a jump start on a good night's sleep.....

ky has a shot

ok, so....given that yesterday's primaries were far from definitive....we here in ky may still have a shot at breaking this stalemate come may......and that could mean that both obama and clinton could come close to home shopping for votes...i can only hope....

a head start

ok, so.....i downloaded a copy of the official job application for the permanent director's position today...the job has not been posted, so i am ahead of the game....because the first thing I noticed is that the state now requires original and untouched-by-my-hands transcripts from all post-secondary education......and while i do have copies of my transcripts attached to the copy of my original (and successful) nutritionist's application, i set about to acquire these transcripts this afternoon. OSU's was done on-line, with a faxed in signed request, and a credit card....but U of C's required that I mail a check and a signed letter as the mode of requesting, and therefore the transcript for my master of education degree may take 2 or more weeks to arrive.....yikes...good thing i am not in a hurry, or need to drive up there in person.....even with an on-site application, they still reserved the right to 5-10 business days....and that brings me to the application itself...the last time i only needed dates....this time i need not only a listing of where i have ever worked, but also my supervisor's name and phone number, and starting and ending salaries....i have no clue beyond my current job, but figure i can recreate these figures to some extent from social security information sent to me yearly...this lists year-by-year what my income was since i started paying into the system.....1973, by the way...when i worked behind the counter at a bowling alley.....and so i will give these folks in frankfort an approximation of salary.....which will hopefully be good enough.....gentle readers, if you are young and able, be sure to keep a record of all of these details...it will make your life easier at some point.....which brings me to really specific details i still lacked until today, such as the years that i was food service and/or nutrition services director at the hospital.....my desired job requires a minimum of three years as a director....i have been picking my brain for these minute details for weeks.....trying to recall if i took over before or after my second child was born, and then....when was the foodservice taken over by a contract group, and when was i swept into the community education and marketing dept?......i was blessed this day to go to an other wise boring training in frankfort today.....a training that i fussed about all the time i drove up there, until in walked a dietitian who works in bourbon county, and i was filled with joy and relief.....she was hired at the hospital way back when to take my place when i was promoted to director.....and so she was able to confirm that she worked for me from 1985-1988.....a place to start in piecing this all together.....my glass is at least half-full on this dreary march day......

all locked up

ok, so this from crooks and liars.... The Bush administration’s Executive Order 13233 underscores the new fact that presidential legacies, once the domain of academic historians and parlor game aficionados, have become a serious business — so much so that a president has mounted a Kremlinesque campaign to stifle the free dissemination of information. The Bush administration is playing for keeps.

Bush’s Executive Order 13233 could change history — literally — by restricting historians’ access to materials that help them document and ultimately judge a president’s actions, lapses, and principles.

Executive Order 13233 gives ex-presidents nearly unlimited discretionary authority to prohibit the release of their papers, and allows them to name designees who can act in their stead.

words do not always come easy...

ok, so.....i spoke to a group of teachers this afternoon....and managed to ad lib my rudimentary nutrition talk going for 45 minutes before i decided that it was time to call for questions before making my exit.....and there were good questions...which is why one shows up to this sort of event...to answer the question somebody showed up to ask....i can only guess what people want to hear....and then i waited around for nearly 2 hours for my diabetes support group.....a raucous crowd of 12-18 dependable attendees.....all trying to talk as one...thankfully the two ladies who are not diabetic stayed home this evening....reeling them in can be so very tiresome.....and so i am home...and trying to wind down.....we received the fafsa letter today....it was time and i was looking for it....the doctor who showed up for his turn at our ob clinic this morning was all agog about his fafsa deadlines.....seems the financial aid folks are unkind to medical men who make upwards of....well.....you know what paygrade we are talking here.....and he asked me point-blank how we managed to send our child to......well.... you know where.....and then...he told me that he was so very worried about the upcoming election, because hil. would take him to the cleaners with her tax hikes........gentle readers.....in such cases it is wise to sit and smile while such folk get it all off of their collective bombastic chests.....especially give that state employees are forbidden to take sides......bombastic or otherwise....

monday, monday....

ok, so.....i stayed up til 11 washing clothes...not my own, but those of my eldest who popped in for the night....to get his mounds of laundry done.....and given that i have so few opportunities to mother/smother a child these days.......and because he looked so very tired and in need of repose....i went ahead and did the job for him.....and this morning i am feeling the effects of staying up late.....yeah, 11 is lame-ishly early in some camps.....this may be a good footnote to my facebook avitar-k c-dub is living the lame-ish life. If i was truly lame-ish i'd go on back to bed and blow off work.....but i have 2 speaking engagements today, and cannot even begin to consider this option....

happy 21st

ok, so the mm sends a shout-out happy 21st to the l.o.......

96

ok, so...i indulged myself with the book entitled 1000 things to see before you die..and after making margin notes i have only added up to 96...or maybe 106...i got kinda confused at some points with the comings and goings this evening......i did get to count the bluegrass of kentucky.....and the rhine valley.....and snowdonia park in wales that i drove through with my parents in 1976....i have not one listing in central or south america...none in africa....none in asia.....and in many places i missed out on listings for restaurants and/or hotels i made the choice to avoid...for example.....high-end hotels and eating places took up several pages in paris....and while i could see myself setting up residence in the ritz....i do not need to stay or eat there to feel as though i have seen paris.......and no...i did not hang out in amsterdam cafes because in january it was colder than...well...you know........clearly...i have a lot of things to look forward to seeing.....my to-do list is focused on new zealand and australia.......and austria, and italy, and cities like prague and berlin....and dublin and the ring of kerry...and st petersburg.....and hawaii......so many places to see.....

mary todd....

ok, so....the lincoln special produced by ket aired last night....for 3 hours when one factored in pledge breaks......but an instructive and valuable program for this adoptive kentuckian.....i never learned anything but the basics in elementary school when one studied these things....but then there appears to be a lot we never learned about lincoln in school.....such as the fact that he was to marry a woman named anne who died of some sort of fever, and then there was a woman he courted, who had bad teeth according to letters he wrote, that he backed away from....and even with mary todd, a native of lexington.....they courted and broke up before finally tying the knot.....she was an unusual woman for her day......being educated nearly 12 years......she was by all accounts very ambitious for her new husband....and sadly, lacking in social graces.....she arrived at the white house when the nation was at war...the object of distrust by both the north (3 of her half-brothers were fighting for the confederacy and she was widely thought to be their spy) and the south (who viewed her as a traitor) .and rather than focus on some sort of first lady war effort she set about re-doing the public areas of the white house for parties and traveling to nyc to buy expensive clothing......which did not go over very well at all...she did actually do many good things in washington, but these were overshadowed by her spending habits.......after lincoln was assassinated she kept up this buying spree back in illinois, and her oldest and only living son had her institutionalized for a time thinking her malady must be mental......the program featured an expert on m.t. lincoln, and she surely has written some sort of biography that i can read. Bookclub has never spent much time on her native sons or daughters.....this might be a good time to do so......

jack endorses hilary

ok, so....this from the web.....

be kind....

ok, so i took my daughter to see be kind, rewind....in lexington......it was not showing locally despite the fact that the previews were shown before the bucket list......go figure.....and it was quite sweet, for a jack black film.....and we had lunch at j.beth, shopped to use up her birthday gift card, and then came on home......and now all i want to do is to take a quickie nap......

could have slept in....

ok, so....i intended to turn off the 6:30 am alarm and go back to sleep indefinitely ... but as it happened i was awake and waiting for the alarm to go off, and could not go back to sleep.....best laid plans....and so i have read the newspaper whilst watching birds on the feeder, and fed the cat, and played scramble.....and the time is not yet 8:00 am......i suppose i could start laundry, or tidy up closets, or even weed out some wild onions from the beds.....but i prefer to cozy up to the computer screen with my coffee on this lazy morning....