Saturday

Money or Not?

Why are some people in our country poor and some rich, and some in the middle? What makes the biggest difference?  Attitude?  Background?  Family?  Education?  IQ?  Ambition?  Luck?  Values?

Of course there's not an easy answer, but I'd like to hear your ideas/opinions on it. K?  lol....

Thursday

A Gift For Us

This season has been less hectic than most I've had. A little shopping, a lot of cooking, but not too much, a little music, and a lot of rest, and time to reflect on it all. A good Christmas season.

I hope each and every one of you has plenty to be thankful for, and a merry heart.

  I was looking at the weather in Jerusalem last night, and saw it was 45 and rainy, the same as it was where I live in Tennessee. It was Christmas morning there, and I thought about Mary and Joseph, and what things were like then. It made it so real, like they were a couple I know, like Mary would sit at my kitchen table and have coffee with me.

  What a Gift. What Love God has for us. A Gift of Salvation, of Eternal Life and Love.  Jesus.  A Savior Indeed.      

MERRY CHRISTMAS

  MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL !

 

Friday

Catching Up

I guess it took getting a cold to make me sit down long enough to blog, or pretty much be online at all. I hope everyone's having a great holiday season. I'm doing great, with lots to be thankful for, but still a little sad over not being with my kids this time of year. I'm going to go catch up on some of your blogs, and will see you tomorrow.   Oh, and Bonnie, it's just a clip art pic...but I see it as representing part of me....lol.   And Jenny, SO good to see you about...will talk later.   Love to everyone.     jan

Comments not showing up

Now comments are not showing up on my posts. I can see comments on my 'profile' page, and my windows live home page, but they're not at the end of my blogs. Anybody know why? I checked my privacy settings. Anyone having any trouble leaving comments?

Hey, I just made a Group

I was fooling around with my site, and saw the group stuff on the home page. I didn't see anywhere to 'browse' groups to see if I wanted to join one, so I tried making my own. It took 3 clicks...lol.

So, please join my group. Nope don't know what it's about...probably a lot of ADHD stuff though, not sure, we'll figure that out.  Jan      http://sidetracked.groups.live.com/

HOPE THIS HELPS


 

The way I did mine, was going to the option menu on the upper right side of my home page-not my Space page, but the Windows Live home page.  Choose 'more options'. Choose 'notifications'. Choose 'what's new with you'.

 

There are MORE privacy options than before, which is good because they have INVADED more of our privacy than before. But at least there is a way to stop all this info....last names, every comment we make...etc....from being visible. I set mine to allow what it showed before...updated blogs, lists, site....but not comments. My biggest beef is that most of us didn't know our stuff was going to be plastered on our home pages before they did it. We should have had more-or some- warning so we could set our own privacy levels.  jan

 

Thursday

DON'T LEAVE!

I'm glad to see things have kinda sorta calmed down in Spaceland. So far, I haven't lost anything on my site, I don't know why some have and some not. What I do know, is that I like Spaces. I like it a lot. Before I started my site, I cruised all the others I could find. Nothing offered me this set of features. I wanted more than a blog, but MySpace gives me a headache, I'm on Facebook, but I have very few friends, Yahoo 360 didn't have many people around, GeoCities has those ads covering everything up, and a lot of the free web sites I found had SO many ads.

And, to be honest, there are so many out there that the average age is around 19, and I like to have friends that age, but not just that age. You know what I mean? Here, I immediately found people over 30, a lot even in their fifties and over like me, and most of all....real people. Your blogs are about real things in real life. I never feel like I have to be a certain way or do a certain thing, make x amount of money, only write about these particular subjects...etc. I'm pretty much a mess, but I'm often funny, and sometimes smart, and generally likeable...I think. And I get to be all those things and more and often much less. I don't know where I could find you - those I know and those I have yet to meet, don't know where I could safely? post family photos and write personal things. Not that safety is at all guaranteed here or anywhere else. But, hey, I live in a small town. If anyone who knows me stumbles upon this site, I'd guarantee they'd know it was me. lol.

I love the Spaces features. I love knowing what music's on your mind, and the endless number of lists we have, and the surveys we share, and your kids, jobs, hobbies, and of course - food and pets....our favs.

But, anyway, to those of you who are talking about leaving, please let me know where you're going, I'll come there to read your blog and see what you're up to! LOVE YOU ALL!    Jan

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Wednesday

Mackenzie and Tiki

Ohhhh, I made this my screen saver. My Granddaughter!

WHAT'S NEW WITH JANNAJ R?

WHAT'S NEW WITH JANNAJ R? What's new is that she's p.o.'d (even more so because she's trying to write when she's upset and doesn't even know how to abbreviate pissed off...why do we say p o D instead of just p o? wouldn't it be p'd o? humphhh)  ANYWAY, where is everything? I don't like this change, I didn't know they were going to do this, no one asked me. And what is a network and how is it different than my 'friends'?  It seems it's the name for my friends, plus whatever friends or contacts from other sites that I want to add....but if that's the case, why am I getting lots of email with network invitations on them from people on my friends list?  oh dear.   AND   WHAT'S with the R after my name now? Did I get married, did I change my name? My last name just happens to start with R, but I never told them they could put that on there. I tried to remove it and it said I had to have a last name there, hey buddy, I gotta last name for ya...oh my, did I say that? lol.  I noticed others don't have their last names on their sites, and I never did 'till now....

Monday

Yummmmm

I had a great holiday. Missed my kids, but talked with them all, and they're doing so well, it makes me happy. Got to see my cousins and aunt on Saturday. There were 19? of us. We had: Turkey, ham, dressing, cranberry sauce, cranberry & fruit crisp, gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, cabbage, cole slaw, fried apples, rolls, 4 kinds of pie, 2 kinds of cake. Most of the veggies were canned out of the garden from last summer. I cannot believe how much I ate. That girl can cook! That girl is in her 80's and I can never keep up with her. She still mows her yard, paints her house, and gardens.

At home on Thursday, I made turkey, ham, dressing, gravy, glazed sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce (I admit it, it was canned), 2 pies, green bean casserole, and rolls.

I've eaten turkey and sweet potatoes every day since Thursday, and I'm not tired of either. But I did have pizza tonight. lol.

When I was a kid staying at my aunt's or my grandma's, breakfast consisted of the whole family at the table, with eggs, oatmeal, biscuits, gravy, sausage, and one or more of: fried chicken, pork chops, or bacon. At home, it was Corn Flakes. lol. A big difference in having a stay at home aunt and grandma, and a working mom. As soon as breakfast was cleared away, my aunt started on lunch, another big, hot meal. Evenings were light, usually leftovers from lunch.      mmmmmmmmmm

Wednesday

Thanksgiving Tomorrow

Thanksgiving tomorrow. I had a piece of pie as a warm up this evening. It's important to practice for important events. I thought my daughter and grandson in Newport News were going to come for Thanksgiving. I'm bummed that she has to work, but that means they'll be able to come closer to Christmas. That's the hardest thing about living here. I like the area so much, but I'm away from all my kids and grandkids. If they lived in the same area, I'd move there, no matter where it was, but they're scattered, so I stay put. I keep hoping they'll move here.

I'm cooking tomorrow and then I get to go to my Aunt's on Saturday. TWO Thanksgivings. I love going to my Aunt's and hanging out with my cousins and their spouses and kids. And last time there was a puppy there! Never did find out who he belonged to, not sure he knew either.     jan

Thursday

Blogging About Blogs

I was talking to someone about blogging, and she said she would have no idea what to write about. I have the opposite problem. I have very little time to blog, but there are a bazillion things I'd LIKE to write about. And every time I read one of your blogs, instead of commenting-I usually want to blog about it. Blog about your blogs. My friends on here have the most interesting blogs. I read blogs on topics that are of interest to me outside of Spaces, but you all write about what I'm really interested in-daily life. I love that. What you did, what you ate, oh especially what you ate...and what your kids and grandkids and pets are into. Love it. And being who I am, every time I read about a hobby of yours, I wanna do it too! Good thing I don't have money for the craft store, and ohhh...I'd get into so much trouble at Home Depot. I need a lot more power tools.   jan

Big Bang Theory Explanation

 

Big Bang Theory is a television show. It's a CBS sit-com that comes on Monday nights. I like it because it's science oriented.  Here's a clip about the show from the show's website:  

Leonard and Sheldon are brilliant physicists, the kind of "beautiful minds" that understand how the universe works. But none of that genius helps them interact with people, especially women. All this begins to change when a free-spirited beauty named Penny moves in next door. Sheldon, Leonard's roommate, is quite content spending his nights playing Klingon Boggle with their socially dysfunctional friends, fellow CalTech scientists Wolowitz and Koothrappali.

Here's a link to the website:   http://www.cbs.com/primetime/big_bang_theory/

It's a show a lot of people would not like, a lot would. I do. I will make an attempt to hold down my exuberance for the show, but I make no promises. 

Tuesday

Big Bang Theory Stuff

The coolest thing. Last night on The Big Bang Theory, ohhh, you won't believe this. Wolowitz got a Mars Rover STUCK. Yes, on MARS. (They didn't specify which one...peculiar, I thought.) So, the Rover's stuck and Howard had to call the guys to come to the lab to help. Then a commercial came on and of course I had to switch channels. I landed on NOVA...and NOVA was a rerun from 2004 where a Rover got STUCK on MARS!  Can you believe this? Amazing! Coincidence or strategic planning...hmmm...    Oh, I can't wait to see the next episode, and they better leave out all that huggy-kissy stuff that's been goin' on the past couple of episodes.  

North Dakota Turtles

There was a very important turtle. He was brave and was a leader of some sort. I explained to people he was like that because he was from North Dakota. I had to explain he was a turtle, not the common huge tortoise that lived in the desert of ND, and that was accompanied by the scene of a hot, dry, desert with cliffs.  Yeah, just dreamin' again.

For the past few weeks, in at least one, usually more, of my many nightly dreams, my car has broken down. Oh my. I lay there half awake and change the dream, I fix the car. I'm hoping it will change the way I think. Or I'll at least learn to fix cars.

 

I was speaking Spanish in a dream, and I remembered LOTS of Spanish from school. In my awake time, I don't.     J

Monday

nothing

It's a little bit hard. While working on my organization system, I've come across things I've kept from my well, my past life. Things like photos, journals, and a few decorative things from my house (photo album "Before Kingsport"). I feel like I've lost myself.

I don't have a sense of who I am now. My life completely changed after my husband left me after 27 years together. The way he did it, I lost my house, money and credit. I've had to start all over again, and I just haven't done very well. I go from job to job and just don't function very well. And this is after recovering from major depression. I have some depression, but not a lot, I'm on Zoloft and that is a miracle drug for me.

I'm mostly embarrassed to admit that it's been a long time and I'm still floundering. I've gotten over him, after a horrible couple of years. I don't know what to do. I don't know what I want to do. I sound like it just happened, it's been years. Other women pull themselves together and become even better and stronger than they were before. I have people who love me, my kids are incredible, and my brother and his whole family loves me. In a way though, I feel very alone.

I must get myself together and get a good job and save money and take care of loose ends and go to church and help my kids finanacially and become like a real person.

Thursday

What Happened?

I got home and came right in here to write an article on ADHD. I was looking for a book I was going to use for reference, and I looked under my bed and there was an electrical cord tangled under a storage container. I didn't recognize it, and started pulling on it to see what it went to. I tugged until my blood pressure monitor fell off another storage container. When I saw it, I remembered that I was supposed to be keeping 2x daily track of my bp, per dr's orders. So glad I remembered. So for the first time in about a month, I took my bp. It was high, 165/101, but not as high as it sometimes is. I was wondering exactly how high is high enough to warrant a trip to the ER, so I went online to Google the info. So I ended up on WebMd, and on the home page, there was an ad for one of their slideshows: "Identifying Bad Bugs and Bug Bites." Well, I caught this huge Black Widow Spider the other day and have it in a jar outside, because I was going to take it to Bays Mountain Nature Park to see if the guy there thought it was an extra large Black Widow. I'm sure he would have thought so, but now when I went outside to get the spider in the jar, it seemed to be much smaller than I remembered. The spider appears to have gone on to it's happy web in the sky, and it's shriveled up and is much smaller now that it's it's .... not alive. But, I thought when I caught it....hmmm...I'm not sure I could identify a Brown Recluse Spider, there are so many light brown spiders after all. SO, this afternoon I saw my opportunity to correct that. I clicked on the Bugs slideshow, and started looking at these bugs. Go there and you'll see how easy it is to be sidetracked!  http://www.webmd.com/allergies/slideshow-bad-bugs

I used my google snippet tool to keep one of the photos in case one of those spiders finds me and one of us needs help in identifying the other. I had completely forgotten about the violin shape on the Brown Recluse! Can you imagine?

 

So anyway, I wound my way back to the Hypertension site, by way of updates on new ADHD medications, and I saw that I definitely need to watch my bp closer, but not run to the ER. And about those adhd meds....       JAN

 

 

 

Monday

Big Bang Theory

I had to go vote. I couldn't stand the guilt. I've been working on my organization project every chance I get. It's actually working.Not near finished, but it's getting there. Monday nights are so exciting. One of the few times I watch tv. BIG BANG THEORY. 

Tuesday

QUESTION about blog entries

Can I copy my blog entries and put them on another site, in addition to this one? 

ADHD Baby Likes Ducks

I'm participating in a school project with my niece in Seattle. It involves her writing me letters and asking things about my life, and me sending letters back, telling stories from my childhood on. I wrote the first one, which was about my "early years". Thinking about my early childhood of course brought up all kinds of memories. But one glaring thing stood out: I could have been the poster child for ADHD. In the fifties and sixties, I know they knew of Attention Deficit (Hyperactive) Disorder, but I hadn't heard of it, and I know until the seventies, it wasn't much publicized. And for many years, they said adults and females did not have it. If I was growing up now, I think by the time I was two, parents and pretty much everyone around me would have figured it out. I always HAD to be doing something. When I was two, my dad and siblings and I were waiting in the park in downtown Houston for my mom to get off of work. Waiting is not something I've ever been good at. I jumped in the huge pond to get a duck. My dad picked me up by the back of my sunsuit, and I was yelling, "I wanna quack-quack". Well, I was bored, the ducks were there, what was I supposed to do?

When I was writing the letter, all I could think of were incidences that are so clearly ADHD related, but at the time, I was just a hyper kid who couldn't sit still. Academically school was always very easy, but my behavior was so bad I got paddled every year but fourth grade. Most years I was the only girl in the class to do so. Until now, I never really thought much about it, but hey, that's not very common, didn't anyone wonder what the problem was? I was never mean, I'd just get in trouble for talking, interrupting the teacher, laughing and making others laugh. "Disrupting the classroom" is what notes home always said.

It's a whole new world, and people are realizing what a gift and asset ADHD can often be if managed properly. I'd like to manage mine properly. lol.   Jan

Saturday

Ann Taylor and Cuban Black Bean Soup

K. I'm back home and really am going to get started. I have a pot of Cuban Black Bean Soup on the stove, even splurged and put a little Chorizo in it. Good news, Pat said Goodwill was having the sale, but it was Salvation Army, which I like much more. Every now and then they have a dollar sale where every item of clothing, even heavy coats and shoes, is a dollar. I bought a blue stripe button up shirt and a black sweater. In the past, I've bought several blazers and suit jackets, some brand new, and brands like Jones New York and one Ann Taylor. Yep, for a dollar. I plan on wearing them if I go back to working a regular job and not painting. Painting is very hard on Ann Taylor jackets. The only place I wear anything but jeans is to church, and boys and girls, we know how often Jan goes to church, don't we? Jan comes home and blogs about it and sends church humor stories. Yes, it's been a while. I did go to church a couple of weeks ago, it was on a Saturday afternoon and they were having a pig roast.  Yum, I like that church.  Jan

Dollar Day


Crisis. I have no cookies. I stole a Little Debbie's Oatmeal Cream Pie out of somebody's box in the kitchen. Shhh, don't tell. No nutritional value, but somehow I feel better.  

I'm going to try to use the same organizational system I used for many years that worked so well for me. My life then was: raising 3 GREAT kids, having a home day care- keeping 3-5 kids in addition to my own three 50 hours a week, going to college 3 nights a week, and BEING HAPPY. My home was so clean and organized I constantly got comments, and taught the system to some of my day care moms.

So, umm, if I can get away from here, I guess I'll start. Here I go. I'm going now. Hey, remember that commercial with the little boy running away from home, and he was saying that? What was that for? Soup? I don't know. What are/were your favorite commercials? My favorite ever was the elephant dancing in the rain in the jungle. Wasn't that long ago. I also LOVE the one where the boy's with his mom at the bank and he starts putting stuff in the vacuum tube. It flies out and hits cars in the drive-through. He's definitely ADHD. I love him. Pat just called, Goodwill has all their clothes for a dollar today, I gotta go.  jan

adhd plans

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I need to regroup. While working only a few weeks, my life fell apart. As it does every time I do that. And I know what I need to do, I just don't do it. I know that being ADHD, I have to be extremely organized or my whole world is chaos. I've lived both ways, and I don't know why I have not been organized the past few years. But I want to change that, and am going to start working on it today. Right after I have a cookie or two.  jan

Thursday

McCain nope Obama nope

Voting time is almost here. It's the first time I ever felt like I couldn't vote because I had no one to vote for. I wonder how many people are thinking this way. I disagree with McCain on pretty much all the issues he talks about. Obama has a history of making very poor, and potentially very dangerous decisions. And he has no experience that can help him face what's ahead. On the surface I come closer to agreeing with a lot of what he says, but what someone 'says' during campaigning is superficial and to me doesn't mean much at all. What someone has done and proven in the past does mean a lot to me. I know people who are voting for Obama because they keep saying we need a change. Don't they get that change is not always better? I want a change too, but I want a change for the better. A lot of years I feel like I'm voting for who I think is the best out of two great men. Not this year. But hey, I'm just jan the painter.   jan

Monday

PAINTING

Okay, it's been a little longer than I thought. I've had tons of painting work, people getting ready for winter/holidays, and some jobs have come from people who are remodeling instead of moving.Then I've had leftover paint, so I decided to paint some of this house...why why why does it take 5X as long to paint the place you live? Okay, I know the answer...I paint "around" things, over things, no organization,whereas someone else's place is empty or at least everything's moved out of the way, and dropcloths EVERYWHERE. I love to paint, but I'm sick of it right now. Enough. I have paint spots on me that I could have sworn I got off, I think they're coming through my pores. I had the ummm interesting experience of painting with a lower price Glidden paint the other day. (I'm a Behr baby!). It was only 13 bucks a gallon. Five coats later, it may have been the most expensive paint I've used. A whole gallon for a small hall. Satin finish, beautiful color, but it doesn't cover...it's like it's transparent. And it feels "slimy". I know that sounds weird, but it does. It feels slimy rolling or brushing it on. It's a lot cheaper to buy a 25-30 dollar a gallon paint.   Jan

Saturday

A Month?

It's been a month since I've been here. I've been working from 7am until 9-10 pm, 6 sometimes 7 days a week the past month. I get up, shower go to work, come home and go to bed. Eat supper in bed while I watch a few minutes of tv and then to sleep. I've lost weight, gotten stronger, in all it's good for me, but I don't want to do it for very long. I've got 2 more weeks on this project, then I'll be back on Spaces whining because I have no work.   jan

Thursday

Pardee Coal Camp

 

The genealogy research is getting to me. Sometimes it's very exciting, reading stories about ancestors in other countries, and ones right out of history books. But some of it makes me sad, and I'm not sure why. I had a lot of relatives born and raised in coal mining camps, and I've grown up hearing stories about life there. Pardee, Virginia was a coal camp, a mining town. Now, it's been buried by the coal companies, the mountain has been moved on top of it.

I've heard a lot of good stories, and they have a lot of good memories. I guess I don't understand why it makes me sad. Looking from the outside, it sounds like a hard way of life. And a lot of those places are so far back in the mountains, I don't know how they ever got out. The sun rises over the mountains half way through the morning, and it's going down way before the top of the mountain runs out of light, that's for sure. It didn't matter to the miners, it was dark when they went in, dark all day, dark when they came out.

But, anyway, I have access to ancestry.com for 6 weeks, and then I'll move on to researching something else.         

Tuesday

MULTI-TAGGED


RULES

Each person must post the rules before their list, then list 8 things about themselves.  After your list you then list the 8 other people that you want to tag (or spring upon) and visit each of their (the victim's) site leaving a comment that they have been tagged & to come to your space & read the post so they will know what to do

I haven't had time to do this, and I've lost count of who all's tagged me, Artistic Baker was the last, so here goes

1. Number one is: I just went to a couple of other people's sites to see what they wrote in their tags! Is that cheating? Can I copy their answers?? Naw, believe me, you don't want to hear about MY sex life, don't have one, would HAVE to copy their answers!

2. I could spend weeks alone, as long as I had books and a pen and paper.

3. I tent camped by myself from New Mexico up through the Rockies in Colorado.Was there on 9-11.

4. I've spent hours alone, watching bears, eagles, and dolphins in the wild.

5. I camped in Terlingua, Texas and Big Bend National Park with my husband and my son. Saw javalinas, a mountain lion, and was trapped inside the tent by a skunk. Sat up on a mountain watching wild horses down in Mexico.

6. I like being outside, can you tell?

7. I dress pure tomboy-jeans, t's, sneakers and boots, but wear sexy ling..langur...loung...umm..underwear underneath.

8. I've worn Obsession for 20 years. It just smells like me.

whew, i did it, I'm not tagging anyone because I think everyone on my friend's list has BEEN tagged.

fast fast fast springsummeralmostfall

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A day off and it's half gone already. Time goes by so fast, I feel like I have to hold on or I'll fall. I never did like merry-go-rounds. Things are going pretty good for me, I've had a lot of good things happen, the puppy situation, I've had work, some good some yucky, among a couple of other things I'm working part-time for a great non-profit organization, not much money but I love it, my kids are all doing well, and the best thing was going to see my daughter and family last month.

I also have a renewed interest in genealogy, brought on by Pat's subscription to Ancestry.com. I admit, last night instead of writing and blog-walking, I spent it in 1600 Scotland. I already have tons of genealogy records, done by my Mom and mostly my cousin Diane. I'm going off on another side of the family, the Marshall side.

School has already started here, I grew up starting school after Labor Day, and ending the second week in June. No spring break though, and in Florida and Texas, we didn't have snow days, but we usually had a couple of hurricane days.

Wednesday

Dreams

 

My dreams have been a little more nuts than usual lately. They're on a Christmas kick. My Mom has her place decorated in the dreams (probably 11 in the last two weeks). But, these are my dreams, so of course there are lots of animals running around too. I had 2 wolves last night, seemed like a good thing to me. I've had this pet...looks like a green plastic dinosaur. It stands on it's two hind feet to walk, and it's about 2 feet tall. It's been in a couple of dreams lately, I like it. It's kind of mean, will bite others, I call it Sweetie. So, I'm in and out of my Mom's place, which varies with the dream, we are doing last minute Christmas shopping at Target and K-Mart, and a grocery store that's my dream grocery store. Not that it's my DREAM Grocery store, it's just the store I get groceries in, and often work in in dreams. I'm not sure where the lions and tigers are, I think I saw two of the lions on YouTube. It's like going to the movies every night.  

Thursday

TIKI

   

 

One week, 38 hours of driving, in 3 parts, a tiny puppy named Tiki, and over 100 bucks in rolled pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Vacations are a wonder*ful thing. Pat looked for months last year to find a Bichon Frise breeder she liked. Finally, she found one about 350 miles from here. She and I went to get the puppy, ended up getting two puppies, and fell in love with the whole family. My daughter (N), who has one Bichon for my granddaughter and has wanted another for my grandson (D), immediately said she'd wait for the next litter from L's dogs. We stayed in touch with L for almost a year, sending pics and updates on the doggies. All her people stay in touch, which is a cool thing to see how all the brothers and sisters are doing. So, when the mama dog was pregnant a few weeks ago, there was already a waiting list of friends and friends of friends for puppies. L had told N she could have first pick a long time ago.

I'm trying to make this short, it could be a book. Short version...N couldn't come to see or get a puppy, Pat and I went and picked out the puppy, with a lot of calling and sending pics over the phone while we were there. As soon as I walked in though, Tiki came up to me and said, "Oh there you are, I'm ready to go". There was no contest, it was obvious which puppy belonged to D. So, Tiki came home with me for a couple of days, until we could make plans to get the dog another 600+ miles to N. We left Wednesday, and left there to come back home Sunday. I'm still tired. It was wonderful to see L and her husband again, we took the other two Bichons with us, so there were 8 Bichons running around being funny. They are the happiest, most entertaining dogs ever.

The visit with my daughter, son-in-law, and grandkids was perfect, except it was so hard to leave. Tiki and their other dog, Coconut, were immediately best friends, and by the time we left, Tiki was mostly potty trained and followed the kids everywhere they went.

There's so much more, it was a very special event, with lots of twists and turns, I might write more another time.

Gas prices! Went progressively higher heading north. Started at 3.73 here, ended at 4.19. Cost was probably about the same per mile, the low prices were where we were going over mountains, watching the gas gauge needle go down, higher prices were over flat land.

Tuesday

Back from visiting.

Hi! I've been gallavanting around the country, visiting kids and grandkids. I just got back from seeing my daughter N, and her family. Two grandkids there, boy 13, girl 8. Incredible! I had not been with them for a year, and they've grown SO much! You just can't tell in photos. D is 13, and about 5'9". He was about 5'3" last year. M is Gorgeous. She's always been the cutest kid anywhere, but that's turned into an incredible beauty, while still being Super Cute!

Homeschooled kids have so much creativity and energy. And usually far, far advanced academically. I've been home a little over 24 hours and I'm still in awe.

My kids have grown into the most wonderful adults. I am so proud of them, words just cannot say.

 

So, anyway, tears again. I haven't blog walked, it will take me days, I know. I wanted to say hi and to let you know I didn't get so Sidetracked that I disappeared or anything permanent.

Wednesday

light

 

I've read that sleeping in total darkness is good for you. It's never dark in my room. I've got so many little blue, red and green leds, you'd think it was a space ship. Or a Circuit City.

I like it, it makes me feel high tech, and like I, I don't know, have stuff. lol. A lot of the leds are on the same things and on very inexpensive things, but I like them anyway. And if I unplugged everything - please don't bombard me with eco-carbon-footprint stuff, (there's an Eastman Chemical Company on the other side of town), there'd still be a lot of light, because I have white blinds and thin white curtains, and there's a big ol' street light down the block.

I don't like it when some of these leds are attached to things that beep though. It took me forever to figure out that the reason my computer often sneezes, is that when one of my 'buddies' signs on to AOL, there's a sneeze wav that plays. I didn't know what was making my computer sneeze, until I started opening my buddy list and I looked up all the wavs and stuff. Actually, there's not a sneeze one, but I'm assuming, or just making it up...that at one time there was, and she got the wav then. Hey, when I "figured?" that out, it stopped driving me nuts anyway. And there are wavs like coughing and doorbells and dogs barking.

Once a few years ago, there was a very faint beeping in my house. Listening, repeatedly muting the TV, and sneaking around, eventually led me to the garage. In the garage, I tracked the noise down to a big, dust-covered box that had been packed away for a couple of years. I pulled it down off the shelf, and slowly and carefully opened it. (I grew up watching all those police shows where there was usually a beeping time-bomb involved.) And we don't want to talk about how umm...rich... my imagination is. So, I open the box, and start removing the contents, as the beeping is getting louder. A bunch of clothes hangers and empty baby food jars later,  I see an old smoke alarm. It was beeping to let me know the battery was low and needed replacing. So, of course, I went to Wal-Mart and got a 9-volt battery for it, came back and replaced the battery, put it in the box, piled the hangers and all but one of the baby food jars on top, taped it up, and put it back up on the shelf.

quiet

 

I've seen a few blogs on sound and quiet topics lately. Instead of getting carried away writing comments, I thought I'd write an entry myself. Quiet. Living in a small town in Tennessee, you'd think it was very quiet. But it's more of a - I can't say suburban, but it's a residential neighborhood. The lot size is 1-2 acres, so we're not right on top of each other, but it's close enough to hear each other's cars, dogs, kids, etc. And close enough to traffic to hear sirens. After midnight, it's much quieter, but there are a lot of shift workers here, and young people, so there's some traffic on the street all night.

The street....it's very narrow, barely big enough for two cars, and a horrible curves that I don't get used to. I can't see around them to see who's coming, and I hate that. I would not have chosen the house to buy for that reason alone, but...people here learn to drive on those curves as young teenagers, and they don't have a problem at all. I learned to drive in the middle of downtown Tampa, which made me a good city driver, but when I'm in the mountains, I'll pull over when I have a chance to let the locals by. They were more understanding when I got here with my Florida plates, but I guess by the time you have local plates you should be able to handle these curves and hills. And since my accident, I'm afraid of what 'might' be coming over the hill. Like a huge yellow speeding school bus.

So, anyway, back to noise and/or the lack of it. I lived in a little beach town in Florida, close to St. Pete, where I heard gunshots most nights. I've lived in city and rural environments. The noisiest place I ever lived was also the most rural. There were no houses or people for almost a mile. I rented, but it was on several acres of land, and came complete with a swimming pool, a pond, and 20 head of cattle. At night, the sound was deafening. The frogs and toads at the pond. Oh my. With the windows open, you couldn't hear the television. And the cows loved to come up to the bedroom window and moo in the middle of the night. Nope, I don't know why.

Question About Views

When I look at my 'Views', sometimes where the person came from is listed, but often it's not. If it's not, why?

Tuesday

Past Week

I had such a good time with my daughter L, and grandson. R is 11 years old, and owns 5 game systems, and of course spends a good deal of time playing video games. He had the best time here. We have a PlayStation 2, and he brought his WI and I have a Nintendo DS. He spent very little time with any of them. We even rented 3 new games for him. We went to Roan Mountain State Park, and he loved it. The weather was perfect for being outside in the mountains. We went on the Appalachian Trail, for about 10 minutes, while I told him some things about it, and now he can say he's been on part of it. And we talked to a couple of hikers and gave them a box of PopTarts. It's always a good idea to feed AT hikers, can you imagine how many calories they use a day? Then he stood with one foot in North Carolina, and one in Tennessee, and thought that was pretty cool. He hung out with me and his mom, and listened to family stories and history. At one point I realized there were four generations sitting in the living room talking together. Pat, L, R, and I played....BOARD games! I thought he would not be interested in that, but he found some, Outburst and a Monopoly game that was a Virginia State Parks theme, and wanted to play. We played both for hours. Oh yeah, I guess I should mention, he won Monopoly by about a gazillion dollars. He's very intelligent, and sat and told us all kinds of Virginia history. He lives in Newport News, which is by Norfolk and Williamsburg. His school class went on lots of field trips and taught them so much history! This is his first year there, after moving from Phoenix. I learned a lot! In the evenings, we made a fire in our little fire pit, and sat outside under the stars watching the lightening bugs and talking. It was so nice. I miss all my kids and grandkids so much. 

Thursday

Drunk Driving

An aquaintance of mine died Monday. He's driven drunk on a daily basis for many years. Sunday night was the last time. He wrecked, and didn't make it. He was in ICU for a few hours before he died. His funeral was tonight. I'm so glad he was the only one injured, physically anyway. There's a 21 year old girl, whose car he hit, and a 25 year old guy, whose pickup truck he was thrown under and who ran over him. There was no way to avoid it, I know it will affect the guy for the rest of his life, and probably cause quite a lot of trauma for the girl too.

Within the past week, two of Pat's relatives have also died. It was expected, but that doesn't mean it makes it easy. Rough week.

The GOOD part is, my daughter and grandson from Newport News are visiting! They came Tuesday and have brightened up my days that's for sure.   

Sunday

Saving Photos

I've been working on a photo project. I'm trying to get my photos into a digital format. I'm putting them on my computer, and backing them up on Picasa and on DVDs. This sounds so easy. It is extremely time-consuming. And you know what? There are so many pictures that I'm thinking...why am I saving this? I've always kept every photo, and at the time it seemed like a good idea. I have so many that are either not relevant to anything or anybody I know, or there're 29 shots of a birthday cake, whose I don't remember. Do I need 29 shots of a birthday cake? If it were the Queen of England's, I still don't think I'd need 29 photos of it.Would I dare throw a photograph away? Do you? Is it okay? Will the photosaving police come get me? Really? Will they take me for ice cream? Oh, got carried away. I have limited space where I live, in my little room, and I have 3 ginormic storage containers of photos.And I don't want to say anything about the organizational system I use with them. lol.     jan 

Wednesday

Okay, One More


Old, but I came across it and laughed again.

 

Tiger Puzzle               
A blonde calls her boyfriend and says, "Please 
come over here and help me.....I have a killer 
jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get it started" Her 
boyfriend asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished"? The blonde says "According to the picture on the box, it's a tiger." Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table. He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says, "First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger". He held her hand and said, "Second, I'd advise you to relax. Let's have a cup of coffee, then ..........." he sighed, "let's put all these Frosted
Flakes  back in the box."

Tiger Puzzle 
A blonde calls her boyfriend and says, "Please 
come over here and help me.....I have a killer 
jigsaw puzzle, and I can't figure out how to get it started" Her 
boyfriend asks, "What is it supposed to be when it's finished"? The blonde says "According to the picture on the box, it's a tiger." Her boyfriend decides to go over and help with the puzzle. She lets him in and shows him where she has the puzzle spread all over the table. He studies the pieces for a moment, then looks at the box, then turns to her and says, "First of all, no matter what we do, we're not going to be able to assemble these pieces into anything resembling a tiger". He held her hand and said, "Second, I'd advise you to relax. Let's have a cup of coffee, then ..........." he sighed, "let's put all these Frosted
Flakes  back in the box."

 


 

Hunting Elephants – or What I Was Reading Instead of the Job Ads

 

HUNTING ELEPHANTS

Mathematicians hunt elephants by going to Africa, throwing out everything that is not an elephant, and catching one of whatever is left.
Experienced mathematicians will prove the existence of at least one unique elephant and then leave the detection and capture of an actual elephant as an exercise for their graduate students.

Computer programmers hunt elephants by exercising Algorithm A:
1. Go to Africa.
2. Start at the Cape of Good Hope.
3. Work northward in an orderly manner, traversing the continent alternately east and west.
4. During each traverse pass,
   a. Catch each animal seen.
   b. Compare each animal caught to a known elephant.
   c. Stop when a match is detected.
Experienced computer programmers modify Algorithm A by placing a known elephant in Cairo to ensure that the algorithm will terminate.

Economists don't hunt elephants, but they believe that if elephants are paid enough, they will hunt themselves.
Experienced economists never saw an elephant, but they try to hunt one by controlling the interest rates.

Statisticians hunt the first gray animal they see N times and call it an elephant.
Experienced statisticians add that there is a small probability that the animal they hunted is a mouse.

Lawyers can let hunting a single elephant drag out for several years.
Experienced lawyers can make it last even longer.

Consultants don't hunt elephants, and many have never hunted anything at all, but they can be hired by the hour to advise those people who do.
Experienced consultants can also measure the correlation of hat size and bullet color to the efficiency of elephant-hunting strategies, if someone else will only identify the elephants.

Politicians don't hunt elephants, but they will share the elephants you catch with the people who voted for them.
Experienced politicians take the elephant for themselves and blame the press.

Managers set broad elephant-hunting policy based on the assumption that elephants are just like field mice, but with deeper voices.
Experienced managers keep in the project file the advise that claims that elephants are just like field mice.

Sales people don't hunt elephants but spend their time selling elephants they haven't caught, for delivery two days before the season opens.
Experienced sales people ship the first thing they catch and write up an invoice for an elephant.

Computer sales people catch gray animals at random, and sell any one of them weighs within plus or minus 15 percent of any previously observed elephant.
Experienced computer sales people catch gray rabbits, and sell them as desktop elephants.

Sunday

Musical Chairs

 

My characters are playing musical chairs.

I'm working in the yard and every one of them are busy, doing mundane things, doing wild unbelievable things, with lots of physical activity...going here and there, causing all kinds of commotion, or at least shopping for groceries.

And I come in to write and everyone sits down and is still.

No activity, the same look on everyone's face, I'm the only one without a chair.

I'm painting a house across town, running from bees and watching bugs stick in the wet paint. I think of what Junior's doing, and worry that Sharon's gone over to her ex's, never a good thing, etc.

I get home, take a quick shower ignoring the remaining paint speckled on my hands and hair, and sit down to catch up with what's going on. Everything, everybody stops and sits down. Musical chairs.

No one's doing anything. junior, what were you doing in Norton today? "Aw, nothin'." So Sharon, I heard you were over at your ex's. Sharon nods her head, looking bored, picking at something on her jeans. Nothin', I got nothin'.

I sometimes write stories about a bunch of characters I made up, but the above happens most of the time I try to write.  Jan

Hillary

It surprised me when I cried watching Hillary's speech yesterday. I'm not really sure why it made me cry. I guess I just love her, and was sad she didn't get what she wanted, what she worked so hard for, and what she deserved. I'm not a big fan of Hillary being president, but it was our best choice in some ways. Obama is no one's best choice. McCain is the best qualified, and the most honorable and honest of the three-now two. But I don't agree with him on the issues. Do I vote for someone who says?? they will support some of the things I want? He's a liar and has been caught lying repeatedly, do I believe that he will work for things that matter to me? Or do I vote for the person with integrity and honor, even if they don't agree with what I think is important. After all, I only know what I know. I can say we all should have health care, no matter what, but I don't know what that entails or how to go about it. Private sector or government based, darned if I know. The war? Don't even pretend to know what to do. Jan

Wednesday

Stuff

 

    The weather warmed up, and all of a sudden the days go from 24 hours long to 6 1/2. I need much more time. We're having a cool spring, even if it gets in the 80's, which hasn't happened much, it cools off a lot at night. Neither heat nor cold bothers me, I love to be outside.

I have been working, painting, building bird houses and feeders, helping my neighbor who had surgery and isn't able to do much right now, learning Photoshop Elements, trying to learn Dreamweaver, spending lots of time at the gym teaching Pat to swim, working in the yard, and gathering information for web sites I'm building.

I'm also in a bad mood. I have to loose some weight, and I've never dieted. I hate to not eat what I want to eat. I'm two years old all over again. I'm mad at myself that I've let myself get so out of shape. I get quite a bit of exercise, I'm on my feet most of the day, I swim and workout at the gym a couple of times a week, I just plain eat too much. I still eat like I'm 30 and twice as active, and it's not working that well for me. I feel very spoiled to have food that important, I'm trying to work on my attitude towards food as well as limiting the junk and amount. As far as 'a diet', I'm just eating healthy foods and cutting out most of the unhealthy foods. I already have basically good eating habits, I eat lots of veggies, almost no fat other than olive and canola oil, I love fruit, and try to get enough healthy protein. The problem is, I eat too much of those foods and do eat junk food sometimes. Okay Okay, Sunday mornings I have biscuits and gravy from McDonald's. Luckily, they are the only biscuits and gravy I like, otherwise, in this part of the country I'd be biggeranna barn door.  Jan

Friday

Hi!

I can't believe it's been this long since I was here. I'm off all weekend, looking forward to seeing what everyone's been up to. Thank you so much for the medical comments.I'm feeling good right now. It's funny how for me, and probably for most of you, we become a part of each other's lives, even in a small way. Seeing certain things, a certain bird, or cattle, or a Canadian license plate...even plates from states that different friends on here live in, I automatically think of you. I was describing a certain kind of bird feeder that I want to make to Pat, and I said, "Like in Kimmy's pictures", and she immediately knew what I meant. Love you all!    Jan

Monday

Medical Question.

I have a question about health stuff. I am NOT whining, I do not mean this in any way to be a complaining type of thing here.

I don't have insurance, there is no way I can go to the doctor. I could pay the office visit, but of course there will be tests/labs stuff like that. I thought maybe somebody else has been through this and could tell me what could possibly be going on.

I have some arthritis, not terrible or anything, it's Osteoarthritis and is in some but not all of my joints. No problem, very common, I deal with that fine. But the past few weeks, I've had pain in some of my muscles. Not bad pain, but enough to make me kind of worried about it, because I've never had it before. It's in my shoulders, upper back, and neck all the time, and is in my legs part of the time. Pain that feels like a bruise, but it's not bruised or hot to the touch or anything. No redness. And pain that's usually relieved by Excedrin or Ibuprofen.

What could cause muscle pain? It's sure not physical exercise, I can tell you that. lol. It's not 'sore' muscles. I can't think of anything like the way or places I sit or sleep that are different. No changes in lifestyle. I am overweight enough to have problems, but have never had this problem.

Also, I've run a very low fever lately, didn't know it until the past few days. It's fine for hours or days, then I get a headache and achy feeling and it finally occurred to me that it felt like I had a fever, and out of the maybe 5 times I've taken it, 3 times it's been 99-100.5. That might even be very normal. I know it doesn't have to be 98.6 to be normal.

I have high blood pressure, could that have anything to do with it? I don't have diabetes or anything else. I also have some allergies this time of year as do most of the people I know. Could that have anything to do with it? I've never heard of muscle pain from anything like that, but I don't have much medical knowledge at all.

The only other thing, is...I still have pain from my October accident, where I broke 2 ribs and my breast bone. NOT bad pain, just very mild but constant pain. And it hurts more when I yawn or take a deep breath. But not bad like I'd go to the emergency room or anything like that.

This is bothering me mentally more than physically because I don't know what's going on. I've tried to find things online, but they talk about Fibromyalgia and things like that. I don't think it's anything near that serious.

Okay Docs and Moms (most moms have more medical knowledge than most docs I think...lol), whadda ya think?    Sicko Jan

Sunday

Friday Movie

Pat and I went to see Nim's Island last Friday. It is so good. I dreamed of living on an island in a treehouse when I was growing up. I thought it would be the most wonderful thing. I didn't grow up on the beach, but it was only about 5 miles away. And as much time as I spent in trees, another few hours a day and I would have been living in one. So when I saw this movie, I cried for that little girl in me. I lost a lot of those dreams, and they just came flooding back with the movie.

And the grown-up me can totally relate to Jodie Foster's role as an agoraphobic writer. I fight agoraphobia at times, and sometimes it wins. But like her, I could go out to help someone. Undoubtedly. Especially a child.

Now the movie is very unrealistic, in many ways, but it's a movie, not a documentary. Kids will love it, you can take any age to this movie, it's got enough adventure to be exciting, but not anything that I think would bother even young kids. It's rated PG, but I can't think of why it's not G. I don't know anything about ratings anyway.

Here's a link:   http://www.nimsisland.com/

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Quirks?

The rules for the tag are as follows:

Link the person who tagged you

Mention the rules in your blog

Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours

Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them

Leave a comment on each of the tagged bloggers blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

I don't have any quirks. They are 'special features'. If I did have quirks, they would be spectacular!

1. I like to be alone. A lot.

2. I'm a very impatient waiter. If I have to wait in line or for something, I usually occupy myself by counting in prime numbers.

3. I don't answer the door unless I'm expecting someone. I only answer the phone if it's family.

4. I have to know the names of plants and animals around me. No, not like Rover the dog. But I don't have to know their Latin names, so it's not weird, right? ?

5. I have to have a stack of new reading material at all times. I cannot run out.

6. If it's a day with a lot of social anxiety, I must have my baseball cap on if I go out of the house. Or if I'm playing baseball.

Whew, I hope no one shows up in white coats to get me after they read this. Won't matter...I don't answer the door!

So, I'm tagging: who hasn't been tagged? Pat, Curtis, Pecaso Pat

Saturday

Catching Up

Busy week, haven't even been blogwalking. Going to hang out for a while,see what y'all are up to. Jan

LUNA MOTH PHOTOS

Here's some photos of the Luna Moth. I always feel it's a personal blessing when I see anything very uncommon in nature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Pineapple Upside-Down Cupcakes

I made fish, rice, asparagus and fresh tomatoes for supper. I made Pineapple Upside-Down CUPCAKES for dessert. YUMMO! Didn't know how they'd turn out, just experimenting, but they're great. Immediately took some to the neighbors so that we don't eat them all..., cannot afford to buy bigger clothes.

 

 

 

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Happy Luna Moth

Hey, I caught a Luna Moth. Caught is probably not what I did. He was in front of a store on the hot concrete, not moving. I thought he was dead. I took some pictures of him, then I picked him up and he barely moved his wing. So I took him home and let him go. On the way home, I had him in a cardboard box, and he started to move a little, by the time I got home he was flapping his wings! I opened the box to let him down gently in the grass, and he flew away! He was Oh So Happy!

I'll send my photos later, but here's what he looks like:

 

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Here's a link for him:

http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/view_default.asp?curGroupID=2&source=&parkid=&fromWhere=&searchText=&allSpecies=&shapeID=977&lshapeID=0&curAbbr=&lgFromWhere=&curPageNum=1&lastView=default&lastGroup=2&lastRegion=&lastFilter=4&lastShapeName=&trackType=&curRegionID=2209&size=&habitat=&fruit=&color=&sortBy=family&viewType=default&curFamilyID=&regionSelect=Southeast&regionZIP=

Tuesday

FLDS Kids

I'm off today, had an appointment this morning, and now I'm home for the day. I've had the news on, and am upset over the FLDS situation and how it's being handled.

I cannot believe there is a question on whether or not the FLDS children should be returned to their mothers.

Return them? To be r**** at a young age by their fathers and/or other older men? Or to live in an environment where other girls are? To live in an environment where this is ever, ever okay?

What are people thinking? This is nuts. As in most domestic violence cases, the men are being left alone for the most part. Why do the women have to leave their homes? Why do the children have to be uprooted? They are the ones who have already suffered the most, going through the most suffering now, and the ones who will go through the most suffering in the future. (Of course, our shelters are full of women and children who have been beaten and r**** while their abusers are at home. But I'm trying to just write about the current FLDS situation.)

The women should be willing to go through deprogramming and counseling if they want to retain custody of their children. The children at this point should be everyone’s priority. They should have complete protective care, with the help of agencies and volunteers. There should be provisions for the mothers to live in a supervised shelter with their children if they are in a sound counseling program.

On the news, they are even saying how important it is for the children to be with their mothers. They're kidding, right? The mothers are abusive and neglectful. I believe they don't know what they're doing. They have been brainwashed beyond any type of rational thinking. People can get used to just about anything, believe and accept most circumstances, most behaviors as 'normal'. And as far as the kids go, kids love their parents. As a counselor, I saw little kids so excited, so happy, to see a parent, to go home with a parent, who abused them horribly.

Monday

Are You Hungry?

What do you like for supper/dinner? And is it supper or dinner? What do you have at least once a week? What do you not like? If you don't live alone, how would you eat differently if you did? How often do you eat at fast food places? What do you like that's more regional food? Do you watch The Food Network? What are your favorite programs if you do? Do you like to cook? Jenny, Help with this one!   Jan

Light Bulb

Again, we've gone from 79 degrees to 30 and snow within a few days. I've got to go cover some of the more tender blooms out there. Even the doggies have their coats on. I had no idea dogs liked clothing. All three love to wear clothes and will bring you a jacket to put on them. They need clothes because the groomer they went to has no idea what a puppy cut is. Nope, didn't know she didn't until the poor little shaking, shaved things came out from the grooming area. At least their hair's growing back in fast. I'm also thinking how plain the color white is. Bichons kind of look like cotton candy anyway, and Kool-Aid is totally non-toxic, and comes in all different colors, and doesn't stain as much as food coloring. Hmmmm.....

So, anyone had any nice cupcakes lately? LOL, sounds like a euphemism to me. But you know me well enough to know I really do mean cupcakes. Possibly with sprinkles. giggle  Jan

 

Sunday

Eeyore's Anxiety

Depressed with tons of anxiety this week. Yuck. I try to let Snoopy and his happy dance, or Tiger and his energy, or Calvin with his ever faithful companion Hobbes and their ADHD antics, serve as my role models. Really, Hillary and Oprah are reaching a little too high for me right now. But no, Eeyore is the only one who will play with me a lot of days. He is kind of cute though. At least I'm not in any danger of loosing my tail, that's for sure.

So, anyway...I need a job that I WANT to go to. I know Googillions of people have jobs they hate, and it might be asking a lot, but I want to WANT to get up and go to work in the mornings. Most mornings, anyway. I'm having to turn down a painting job that I was looking forward to because of my physical limitations right now, and a lot of jobs I've had and liked, are too hard physically now.

I need a stay at home, computer oriented job. What can I do?   Jan

Tuesday

Sue T-Rex Extraordinaire

SUNSHINE and 75! Great day today. Sunshine on my anything makes me happy. LOL. Did not work today. Did not make money. DID go to the Gray Fossil Site, that's about 10 miles from here. I used to be a Geology major for a while...in school, and still love things like this. The very famous T-Rex, named Sue, is visiting. It's usually at the Chicago Field Museum, and it's been visiting here this winter. The Gray site is new, and making history just about by the day. Very exciting stuff.

Here's the Chicago Field Museum site for Sue:     http://www.fieldmuseum.org/sue/

 

Here's a couple of our sites here:

Main Site:


 

This has a little about Sue and the Gray site:


 

Will have photos soon.      jan

Saturday

Sea Pony

OD'd on dreams. Too many to remember anything but bits and pieces.

One was a very long dream. A lot happened before, but at one point, I was going to go somewhere with 2 friends. They were rich and had a Dad that was like a real person, and a mom that had her nose up in the air and was somewhat horrified at them being friends with me. They had a very different life at home, like rich people had different customs, clothing, and a different 'reality' than I did. (I know that's somewhat true anyway, but it was in a weird way in my dream). So I was going to go out on their boat, a medium sized cruiser, for the Fourth of July. We were out there to see the fireworks over the water, there was a parade in the little town. (This was a town that I'm often in in my dreams, so there were a lot of familiar places and things going on.

The water was rough up near the shore, and I kept seeing something very large sticking up out of the water, told myself it might just be a rock ledge, visible when the waves subsided. I thought to myself though that it might be a whale. It was kind of translucent and a pale yellowish whitish color.

In the meantime, we came across several species of sea life in rather shallow water. One was oh so cute...it was a sea pony! Not a little version of a seahorse, it looked just like a pony, only it was maybe a foot high and maybe weighed 3 pounds.

Another very (ahem) interesting animal was a tiny elephant looking type of species. it was like a tiny elephant, not much bigger than the sea pony. It was white with different colored spots on it.  It also had a strange outer appearance. The skin was like one of those balls you can get for babies, it had cube-like bumps on the surface. So, anyway...it was very cute, but when I reached down and picked it up, it shocked me and I put it down and it was trying to bite me.

The large thing I kept seeing poking up out of the water was getting closer, and I pointed it out, and we went over to it. They started saying, oh, yes, that's a blah blah blah, and I was very excited saying I know what it is, I know what it is, and I started singing Puff the Magic Dragon.

Oh this is too much, I gotta go for now.   Jan

 

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Wednesday

Fire Notes

Wet leaves don't burn. Only about 10% were wet. I thought the dry ones would burn and dry out the wet ones and they'd burn. Nope. Lots of smoke though. I left my window open. I think my smoke alarm doesn't work. cough cough cough         Jan

Spring's Here!

Hey, it's here. Spring! Flowers and birds and sunshine. Who'd a thunk it a month ago? It's in the 60's and sunny and so very beautiful. My computer is in front of my open window, there's sunshine on my bed (next to the computer in front of aforementioned window). If it didn't have my clean laundry on it, I'd lie down in the sun. That's an incentive to fold my laundry if I ever heard one!

I haven't been home much the past few days and had tons of housework to do today. The housemates left early and I've gotten just about everything done. Can NOT get anything done with them here. I'm going outside to play. I mean to work. I better rake those ol' leaves up. Right now.   Cya.    Jan

Kids Update

Update on kids. The mom came home yesterday. She was in an emergency shelter for addictions and mental illness, awaiting placement in a 28 day rehab. There are still no beds available so they sent her home to wait. Her husband made sure she had drugs and money waiting for her at home. I am disappointed, but after years of doing social work, not really that surprised. She was picked up by her 'friend' anda fellow addict. They were NOT coming home until last night. The mom said how good it was to be out, and she couldn't wait to go get her hair done, and hang out with friend.

Wait a minute....she had a sick 2 year old daughter and a 6 year old son at home who had not seen her in over a week. Now the kids didn't show any signs of wanting to see her, but still. The baby's had a cold with a lot of congestion. They both have asthma, and they always have congestion. They had been to the doctor last week though, and the baby was on an antibiotic, and both on Sudafed and Tylenol and Cingulair. She runs a fever whenever the Tylenol wears off. Now I know this time of year, especially with a child in the family in school, it's very common for kids to pretty much have cold and allergy symptoms most of the time. But most mom's would prefer to be with their feverish 2 year old.

I am trying very hard to not make judgements. I do understand, that I do NOT understand much of anything about addictions. I don't pretend to know what that must be like, but I feel a lot of love towards those with a drug problem, even though it causes such terror, death, and abuse to others. I find myself thinking 'she should' 'she should', and I'm trying not to. I would like any type of response from anyone, and especially anything from those who have had an addiction or who work in that field. When I worked as a domestic violence counselor, one place was a YWCA shelter that was mostly for addiction rehab, and about a fourth for a domestic violence shelter. I've thought of going into that field, but don't plan on doing any type of social work at this time. That sounded silly when I think of the social work I do during most weeks....lol.

Anyway, I'll go get some work done. Maybe. Take care, be kind. Love Ya All  Jan