**You Got That Right

I enjoy all kinds of music except rap and techno but I love me some southern rock and roll. Probably because I grew up with it on the radio. The Allman Brothers Band, Black Oak Arkansas, Molly Hatchet, The Outlaws, Marshall Tucker Band, Pure Prairie League and of course Lynyrd Skynard. I went though the albums, 8 tracks, cassettes and now CDs.

While driving about today I heard that today was the 30th anniversary of the death of Ronnie Van Zant. If you don't know of him, he was the founder and lead singer of Lynyrd Skynard. He and some of his band mates were killed in a plane crash due to the fact that it basically ran out of gas. It got me thinking about all the celebrities that have been killed in plane crashes. Off the top of my head I can remember:
JFK Jr.
Jim Croce
Stevie Ray Vaughn (helicopter)
Ricky Nelson
Glenn Miller
Otis Redding
Buddy Holly
Patsy Cline
Aaliyah
Davey Allison NASCAR driver
Alan Kulwicki NASCAR driver
Payne Stewart golfer
I'm sure there are more I don't know about but seems to me that if you travel for your job from gig to gig you should really take the tour bus. Be like Dave Madden.

**Seems so long I been out on my own
Travel light and I'm always alone
Guess I was born with a travellin' bone
When my times up, I'll hold my own
You won't find me in an old folks home
You got that right
Well you got that right
Said, you got that right
Sure got that right

It's a Boy!

An interesting article in the news today about a woman having a child. That is certainly an everyday occurrence but what makes this case different is that the father of this child was a soldier killed in Iraq two years ago. http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071019/sc_afp/usiraqwomenscienceivf Before Brian Smith left for Iraq he had some sperm frozen but not for the reason you may be thinking. Not because he and wife Kathleen were afraid he would die there but because but there were fertility issues and in-vitro would be they way they'd eventually conceive. This article stated that other men were freezing their sperm in advance of going to war due to all of the chemicals they would be exposed to.

The unthinkable happened, Smith was killed and Mrs. Smith was now a war widow. She made the decision to try and have her husband's baby after his death. After all, they had planned to have a child before our president sucked this country into this debacle (my opinion, not hers and let me say for all to see, I support out troops wholeheartedly. My nephew served in Iraq with the 100st Airborne and came home safely. I have the utmost respect for anyone who joins the armed service and those who have layed/laid down their life for this country.)

While one can never really know what they would do in this situation, I'm pretty sure I would have done the same thing. How lucky for her to have a child with the man she loved, the man who also wanted this child. Unfortunately Brian Smith is gone but his spirit lives on in young Benton.

Now of course there are those that don't agree with Kathleen Smith's decision and they have the right. Some may bring up the fact that Benton will be one more fatherless child. Yes, that's true but I can't imagine a more loved child than he. What upset me in this article and prompted this post is the remark from this coward. I copy/pasted right from the article:

A medical professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Washington, who asked not to be named, agreed women who seek to have their late husband's baby are a rarity, and expressed doubt as to whether it was a good idea.
"It's very uncommon. And I don't think it's a good thing, or that it will become more common," he said.
"The problem is regret -- regret is high for those women," he said. "What happens when she meets someone else?"
"The other question is ethical: the guy hadn't planned to die so he didn't say you could use his sperm," the doctor said.

I'd ask to be anonymous too if I said that. REGRET? I know many divorced women who have children. The ex husband may be a bum but NEVER have they expressed any regrets about having their children. One girlfriend says the only good thing to come out of her marriage was havng her children. I know there are women out there that regret their children when it comes to catching a new man, Susan Smith, (no relation), comes to mind and I know that many men want a women without "baggage". I would like to believe that most women think of their children first and foremost. Would most women regret their child when they found someone new?? This women loved her husband, this was their life plan. Yes, he said she could use his sperm when he had it frozen. Not only that but this isn't anyone else's business!! I don't see how he could judge the situation like that.

I don't know, please tell me this isn't how most men would feel.

Kathleen Smith and her 15 mo. old son, Benton.













Okay, rant over. I plan on having a nice relaxing weekend and I hope you do to. :)

Ok, who did it??

I saw these in a catalog I received in the mail. I don't know of one female that would want one of these. I can think of several men in my life that would love one.

Life of a college student

Being a parent is a hard job. It's not for everyone. Some people realize that and don't have children. Others find that out after they have them. As for me, I'm a natural at it. I guess I was born with a huge mother gene.

Most parents want the best for their child. I say most because not every parent is fit to be one. But that's another post. As a mother of two sons, I'm their biggest fan, cheerleader and support system. One of the hardest things for me to deal with was when I was no longer the most important person in their lives. Or so I thought.

Last night son number 1 calls from college. I can tell right away something is not right. The flood gate opens and stresses come pouring out. He is a senior in nursing school, in the spring he will graduate with a 4 year degree as an RN. He already has a job offer but he has to get through this last year.

Seems that at this moment in time he is overwhelmed with life. He has a heavy course load, clinical work in the hospital to do, papers to write, projects to do, tests and mid-terms to study for and to top it off he is president of the university's racquetball team and has 3 tournaments over the next 4 weekends. He has to find time to get his drivers liscence renewed, it expired when he turned 21 in September. No beer with an expired lisence. He's burning the candle at both ends and feeling it.

He spent 47 minutes on the phone with me last night spilling his guts over his life in general. I of course listened to him, offered suggestions, told him that we all go through it. We all get through it, there's light at the end of the tunnel, you're in the home stretch, all the cliches you can think of. At times he would say nothing, I would say nothing. The two of us would be silent. I realized that he just needed the emotional connection with mom, even if it was over the telephone. Just knowing that I was at the other end of the line was comforting.

It was breaking my heart that I couldn't do anything to help him. I couldn't hug him or give him a smile. When one of my children is hurting, I hurt along with them. When he's stressed, it stresses me although I would never tell him that. I finally suggested he go for a walk, get some fresh air, have some ice cream, put a time limit on his studying for the evening and get some sleep. We hung up. I don't know what he did after that. I will give him a few days and then call him.

I realized last night that I am still the most important person in his life, it just shows in a different way now. He may be 21 years old but still needs dear old mom when the going gets rough.

I couldn't love him more. The above picture is mom and son at Lighthouse Beach in the town of Chatham on Cape Cod this past summer.

Good Vibrations

Today there was an article on Yahoo about phantom vibrations that people are having. I'm not talking about vibrations of the ghostly kind but rather vibrations from their Blackberry and/or cell phones. Read about it here.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071010/ap_on_hi_te/phantom_vibrations. They actually feel a vibration where there isn't one. Similar to a person who has lost a leg but still feels leg pain.



I had a cell phone once. It was always on the kitchen counter. I never remembered to take it with me. It eventually became my #2 son's cell phone. I love lots of people and I'm pretty sure they love me too and I enjoy talking with them but do I need to speak with them immediately whenever and wherever I am? Ninety nine percent of the time, no. I sort of like the fact that I'm not connected at the hip to everyone I know. Sure there have been a few times I wish I had a cell phone, recently when I had car trouble and had to use a germ covered public telephone is one but not enough to go and get me one. I'm behind the times, still living in the '70's and I like it that way.

I have a calendar, it's on my wall. I have an address/phonebook, it's in a drawer. I have a phone, 4 actually in my house. If I need a reminder, I write a note. And test messaging, I don't have a clue, nor do I want one. I don't need all of this electronic stuff to make my life simpler. I know myself and I would end up frustrated with it all.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for the advancement of science and technology, I'm just not good with it. I love my DVR (very similar to TEVO)

I like the fact that I don't have to answer a cell phone, I'm not crazy about answering my home telephone either. Peaceful and quiet, no one bothering me, heaven. Many times there is no TV or music on in my house. I'm not one that needs background noise. I'm in noise all day long. Some days I come home and I don't want to talk or be talked to. Comes from dealing with students all day long.

Speaking of Number 2 son, here he is at about age 16 months and his senior picture. I look at him everyday and am grateful for a healthy, smart, good looking child. How did I get so lucky? He has the most beautiful eyes, they're a combination of green, teal and aqua.

Cherry Bombs

I am a very curvaceous woman. I guess you can say I've got curves in all the right places. All my life I've been well endowed on top (and other places too) and it's been somewhat of a catch 22. While I can fill out jeans and a sweater pretty well, they also attract unwanted attention at times. But that's another story. Here's the the thing with being big busted; when eating, if something falls off of your fork it lands smack dab in the middle of your chest. Does it fall into your lap where you have your napkin? Noooooo. It has to land right on my boobs. I have ruined many a shirt this way. I'm certainly not a slob and am a slow eater, it's not like I'm steam shoveling it in. When I eat I am extra careful not to get any food on myself. Some people can eat and never get anything on them. I'm sorry to say, I'm not one of them.

We went out to eat on Friday evening with Sean's brother and wife. I wore a new white sweater that had a v-neck and some lacy bits around it. It shows just enough of the girls.We are sitting at a square table for four with Sean to my right. While eating my salad (and being extra careful because any salad dressing will stain, I was having honey mustard) I look down and notice some nice red splotches on my sweater! WTF! I wasn't eating anything red. I look closer and see a tomato seed. It seems that Sean was was having a battle while trying to spear a cherry tomato and it exploded. Did tomato guts land on him? NO. They squirt in my direction and landed on new white sweater. Long story short, the tomato lost it's battle and my sweater was collateral damage. I hope it washes out.

I'm not a Blond

I'm a red head, not a blond but I can have blond moments.
We got a new car in July, a Honda CRV. We traded in our Ford Explorer, a truck that I loved. We'd never had a vehicle that was that luxurious. The review mirror automatically changed when a car came up behind you at night. There were what they called puddle lights on the bottom of the sideview mirror that came on when you remotly unlocked the door. It had a compass, fog lights, power adjustable drivers seat, keyless entry, seperate climate control for the back seats and best of all it was a V6. Worse of all it got about 15 miles to the gallon.

The Honda has none of those accoutrements but gets better gas mileage and has a lower monthly payment. It's a nice vehicle, peppy enough. I like it but do miss somethings that I had on the truck. Well twice last week when I put it in gear or shall I say tried to put it in gear, the button you push in on the shifter wouldn't go in and I couldn't get it out of park.
The first time it happened I was in the garage trying to get it into reverse. Now I can walk to school, about a mile away from my house but I have to be there by 8:30 and when I drive I usually leave around 8:28. I tried shutting off the engine, starting it again, wouldn't go in gear. This went on for about 5 minutes. Finally I got it did and was just 5 minutes late. It's all good if I beat the students to the classroom.

Next time (a few days later) I was at the salon getting my eyebrows waxed. Came out to leave and damn if that Honda wouldn't shift into drive. I'm one of the few people in the world that don't have a cell phone so I had to use a public phone to call Sean. Do you know that it cost 50 cents to make a phone call now??!! Not to mention, they're gross. In my wallet I had a casino token from Niagara Falls, a Canadian dollar coin, some pennies and my magic stone that my son found on Ballston Beach in Cape Cod 17 years ago. (my father always told me to have a few dollars in my wallet but jeez, I never do). I went into the card store to see if they'd give me change for this Canadian coin. Which by the way is now worth as much as an American dollar. Well guess what, they wouldn't do it even when I told them I had car trouble and needed to make a phone call. Luckily my night in shining armor came to my rescue. The man behind me gave me 4 quarters to make the phone call. He said keep your dollar, take all 4 quarters, you might have to make another call.

So I called Sean who was on the way out the door headed for an after work happy hour. While waiting for him to arrive I'm thinking how I'm going to let the dealer know what a piece of crap their car is while they're to wing it away. Sean arrives, gets in, starts it up, puts it in drive. WTF?! Turns out with Honda's you have to have your foot on the brake in order for the shifter to go into gear. Who knew? For some reason twice this week I hadn't done that. Why all of a sudden? I don't remember doing that with any other car I've driven. Maybe I always have without realizing it. But why suddenly stop doing it?

Dear Abby,
My husband is a liar and a cheat. He has cheated on me from the beginning,and, when I confront him, he denies everything. What’s worse, everyone knows that he cheats on me. It is so humiliating. Also, since he lost his job six years ago, he hasn’t even looked for a new one. All he does all day is smoke cigars, cruise around and bullshit with his buddies while I have to work to pay the bills. Since our daughter went away to college he doesn’t even pretend to like me and hints that I may be a lesbian. What should I do?
Signed: Clueless

Dear Clueless,
Grow up and dump him. Good grief, woman. You don’t need him anymore! You’re a United States Senator from New York running for President of the United States. Act like one.

I stole the above from Nobody on My Blog is About Nothing, hope he doesn't mind.

Regardless of this joke, I really liked Bill Clinton and still do. He's very intelligent, articulate, charismatic and respected around the world. I think the country was at it's best when he was president. Do I like the fact that he was unfaithful to his wife? Hell no. Obviously there is some discontent in that marriage. I'm sure being under a microscope didn't help. I don't think that the "sexual relations" with Monica made him any less capable of running the country. And I'm not making excuses for him but Clinton is not the first president to be unfaithful. FDR, a great and popular president had a long term affair with Lucy Mercer and was with her when he died. There was a revolving door and a line of women coming and going from the White House when JFK was in residence. The difference here was that Clinton was hung out to dry for it. I'm not condoning extramarital affairs but I don't think that every issue in a person's private life should be in the public eye. It is between the husband and wife. Yes, I did lose some respect for him on that. What was he thinking?? In the Oval Office no less. More proof that men think with their dicks at times.

Bottom line, I'll take a smart, savy, womanizing president over the cowboy we have in office now. He's an embarrassment.

One last thing, I'm very grateful that I live in a country where I can express the above opinions and not be thrown in jail or worse. While I don't agree with every Bill of Rights in the United States constitution, some are out of date or taken too literally, (that's a subject for another blog entry) I do thank the founding fathers and framers of the constitution for the freedoms we have today.

obsession

I have developed an obsession for Tootsie Pops. I don't care for the chocolate ones or the new flavor (well new to me) lemon lime. But the other flavors, yummmmm. I've never been able to get to the tootsie roll inside without crunching. Some things I have no self control with.

I'm happy that the new TV season has started. I still enjoy Survivor, love Boston Legal and the dancing shows. Right now is Dancing with the Stars. If only I could dance, just a little. I have no rhythm at all. Believe me. Oh how I would love to have a body like the professional women have. Professional dancers I mean. Edyta Sliwinska. Hot. Tall with long legs. I drool over her and I'm not into ladies. But, is it my imagination or do the dancers both professional and stars seem very shiny and too tan?

This year in school I am working between fifth grade and kindergarten with most of my day with the little ones. What a difference between the 2 grades. I have to say I still see some of the kindergartner in the fifth grader at times. One nice thing about the kindergartners is they don't stink. Today the 5th graders ran the mile in P.E. in 90 degree heat. Right after that I had to work with them in science class. They were hot and sweaty. Usually its at the end of the school year they get ripe but today, I couldn't wait to get out of the room.

Also one of my kindergartners told me today that he got a bumblesting while waiting at the bus stop this morning. How cute is that? I love my job.

College Shopping

Number 2 son is a senior in high school and we've started the dreaded college search. Some parents find this fun and exciting. I don't. I find it stressful.

At this stage in the game he wants to be a teacher. A high school English teacher to be exact. The state I live in, New York, has very rigorous standards for the education of future teachers. Other states love NY certified teachers so our search will be confined to our state.

Number 2 is a bright kid, he scored 1440 on the SAT, has a 3.8 GPA and takes honors and AP classes. He has many universities from around the country interested in him. A persistent one is University of Southern California. Three thousand miles away and a mere $49,600 per year! WTF! Who has that kind money? Other schools interested in him are the U.S.military academies. The price is right, free, but they own you for a while. I'm not signing my baby over to the armed forces. As soon as he made Eagle Scout he heard from every branch of the military.

Big school? Small school? Private school or State school? His older brother goes to a large Division 1 school and is a serious student. Number 2 is a social butterfly and very laid back, what kind of school is right for him? I guess the only way to tell is to visit all kinds. He doesn't seem stressed so I guess I shouldn't be either.

Oops, he did it again

I don't usually venture into political things on this blog but holy shit, I can't wait until the presidential election. It can't come soon enough. I didn't think that Bush could make him self look and seem any more stupid but he has succeeded again. I should be used to him making these blunders but every time he does it, it still shocks me that the President of the United States sticks his foot in his mouth time and time again. By doing that he sends the world a message saying this country is a bunch of nit wits.

Now I'm not saying that the job of President is an easy one. Hell no. It must be the hardest job in the world. I can't believe that anyone would want to do it. The stress, the pressure, the knowledge you have to have. The names of countries and their leaders must be extremely hard to remember let alone to pronounce. I cut him some slack on that. Personally I don't think anyone in the country should make more money than the president. I know I'll never have to worry about that but look at the professional athletes for one. They make millions for playing a game they love. Say they miss a game winning field goal in the Superbowl, (Scott Norwood, you broke the heart of thousands of western New Yorkers) What's the worse that can happen? You get run out of town and become a piece of sports trivia.

Screw up as president and you get us in a war that is killing sons and daughters of this country everyday. Yes, I support our troops and this is my opinion, I think we should have dedicated the manpower and money towards the hunt for Bin Laden.

To sum it all up, I am proud to be an American. I hate the fact that the majority of the world thinks of us as power hungry, over indulgent, selfish, soulless people. Some of these same people that think we are the evil empire but whether they know it or not, they Americanize themselves by listening to American music, wearing our clothes, sneakers , electronics, etc. (ok, not made in this country but still.) Some come to our country to educate themselves at our universities or to receive medical treatment.

But back to our 43rd president. Read below for his latest gaffe.


Mandela still alive after embarrassing Bush remark
Fri Sep 21, 8:15 AM ET
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader's death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.
"It's out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive," Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush's comments received worldwide coverage.
In a speech defending his administration's Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern nation.
"I heard somebody say, Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.
Jailed for 27 years for fighting white minority rule, Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for preaching racial harmony and guiding the nation peacefully into the post-apartheid era.
References to his death -- Mandela is now 89 and increasingly frail -- are seen as insensitive in South Africa.

I need to sleep

In our bedroom we have a clock that projects the time and the outside temperature on the ceiling. I love it. I can crack open an eyelid to check it in the middle of the night, go right back to sleep. Some winter morning it does make it hard to get out of bed when the temp is -10 degrees F. It's not the friendliest when using the alarm feature so I use a clock radio on my side of the bed. Yes, I have to wake the man up 90 minutes before I need to get up. Yes I have to hit the snooze button for him too. This means I have to wake up too. If I left it up to him, he'd keep on sleeping.

I bought a new alarm clock about 6 weeks ago. Old Faithful decided that retirement sounded pretty good and stopped working. I like all of the features on the new one. No more going around again if you go past the time you want, you can reverse! Duel alarms, perfect. You can program it to go off Mon. though Friday but not on weekends. It tells you the day and date. Automatically falls back or springs ahead for daylight savings time. What more could a girl want. It is the Cadillac of alarm clocks. Of course anything would be better than the Chevy Vega model I had.

But all is not perfect with this clock. The numbers light up in blue and even on the dim setting this thing is so damn bright that I can't sleep. My room glows blue. I like it as dark as possible when I'm sleeping. Unfortunately I have plantation shutters and a valance on each window so light comes in. The full moon is bad. But back to my clock. I can't have it facing me and blinding me so I turn it sideways so I can't see it. Remember I have the time on the ceiling. Scully and Mulder could use this clock as a flashlight when they're hunting aliens. Since I've turned it I've overslept 3 times. I realized today as I woke up at 8:05 and had to be to school at 8:30, that I must be turning it off rather than hitting the snooze bar. I guess the next step it to put it on the floor. Or buy one of these.

OJ in trouble again

I just don't get O.J. The man essentially gets away with the murder of two people and can't manage to keep his nose clean.

I think he thinks he's made of Teflon and nothing will stick to him. This isn't the first time he's been in trouble with the law since that fateful time in 1994. While O.J. is all over the TV networks, he'll get no face time on this blog. The only people I will feature are the people whose lives he took, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. I have already heard people voice the opinion that he was set up in this so called sting operation. Give me a break. This man thinks he can do what he pleases without fear of recrimination. After all he got away with double murder once. You can't do better than that.
People wonder why is he in jail and not the other people that he roped into his crime. Can you say flight risk? Remember the white Bronco chase. The little smirk he had on his face when he was doing the "perp walk" was sickening. Please do the right thing and keep him in jail. The party's over. He hasn't found his former wife's killer in the last 13 years so jail is a good place for him.

Autumn Days of a Life

I have a friend, just a couple years older than myself. Her name is Ginny. We became friends 16 years ago when number 1 son had her as his first grade teacher. I knew then she was something special and begged number 2's kindergarten teacher to place him in Ginny's first grade as well. I wish it wasn't so but she is in the autumn of her life. I spoke with her several weeks ago and she hopes that she can hang on until her first child's wedding next June. She has a husband and three children, the youngest being 16. She is no stranger to the insidious disease of cancer as this is her fourth bout with it in 25 years. Unfortunately for this world, "it" is going to win this fight.

When you speak with her she has the uncanny ability to make you feel better and to comfort you. She wants to keep everything as normal as possible as long as she can. While her body is weak and frail, her spirit is energetic and upbeat. Ginny is the strongest woman I know. She is a kind, gentle, nurturing person, and deserves to spend a long life spoiling her future grandchildren. She would be a wonderful grandmother.

It became clear this summer that Ginny can no longer work and would not be coming back to school in September. Our school is not the same without her energy there. There is a long term sub in for her and we're welcoming her into the family but it's just not the same, plus she has huge shoes to fill.

I've had a card for her that I've been looking at for 3 weeks and struggling with what to write. It's been at home, sort of out of sight, out of mind but not really. I took it to work and put it on my desk so I see it everyday. I just didn't know what to write in it. I didn't just want to sign my name, I wanted to acknowledge that I know how hard it must be to not return to the teaching job she loves. What do you say to someone in this situation? Finally yesterday I forced myself to confront it. It was a hard, tearful and painful but once I started, the words tumbled out.

For many, writing words are easier than speaking them. I'm one of those people. I did let her know I understand how hard it must be for her to not be working, how we all miss her and on a personal level how much I miss our friendship. I told her the above story about knowing how special she was all those years ago when my boys had her, how she is an inspiration to all. My original goal 30 years ago was to be a teacher but I went into the corporate world for 18. I left that job and started coming into her classroom once a week to help out. She put the bug in my ear that eventually got me where I am today. In a job that I love, I get to work with all types of kids, to see their joy for life and to hopefully guide them into intelligent, wonderful adults. I told her thank you for that.

All things I might never have told her had she not been sick. I guess the moral of the story is to not wait for that to happen. Don't wait to tell people you love those things. Make their day.

No regrets.

Remembering those who lost their lives in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

Little Boy and Puppy Dog

Last week was the first week back to school. This is Number 2 son on the morning of his first day. He's a senior in high school this year and has a full schedule, no early arrival or early dismissal for him. He's taking 3 AP classes and several honors classes as well as driver ed.When I was in high school I was out of there by 10:30. You wouldn't catch me taking any extra classes if I didn't need to. While he's in high school, I'm back too in the elementary school, working in fifth grade and kindergarten. I have 157 names to learn. Yikes.




















I'm a puppy aunt also!! My sister's family got a new puppy this weekend, a golden retriever. Her name is Maise and she is the cutest fur ball you ever saw. She's just 8 weeks old and has the soft puppy fur, sharp needle teeth and puppy smell.

They paid a lot of money for this dog and had a puppy fund for about 8 months to save for her. Whenever I went over or saw the kids I'd give them a few bucks for the puppy fund. This dog cost a cool one thousand dollars. Yes, I said $1,000. Thank goodness Cody only cost us 50 bucks.

Which leads me to this. I always thought that if the mother and father of a dog were of different breeds they were called mutts. Nobody paid much if anything for a mutt. When I look in the newspaper today I see dogs called Labradoodles $300. (Lab & Poodle) Goldendoodle $600. (Golden Retriever & Poodle) Chiwauzer $450. (Chihauahua & Schnauzer) Jug $200. (Jack Russell & Pug) In my day (don't I sound like an old grandmaw?) these were called mutts and you gave them away. Now they command big money. So I wonder if you breed a bulldog and a shih-tzu would you call it a Bullshit?

Up, Up and Away

This Labor Day weekend we took Number 2 and his best friend to a hot air balloon festival.

The day was beautiful with a cloudless blue sky, a slight breeze from the west and the aroma of barbecue chicken and cow manure in the air.

This festival was in a rural area some distance from my city. By the end of the day I became a firm believer of the saying, "you can take a girl out of the city but you can't take the city out of the girl."










While I don't live in the city proper, I live in a suburb on the very fringe of it, downtown is about 5 miles away. My zip code is said city. It's not a mega city but it is the 3rd largest city in my state with a metropolitan population of 1,037,831. The lovely little town the festival was held in has a population of about 6,000.
I was surrounded by good 'ol boys in John Deere and deer huntin' tee shirts and other walks of life that I won't go into here.







Around 6 PM the balloon pilots begin to let cool air into the envelope. (the balloon in layman's terms) When it's almost filled they start up the burner to warm the air and the balloon rises. If you remember any basic science, warm air is lighter than cool air and will rise . That's why the upstairs of your house is warmer in the winter and the downstairs is cooler in the summer.








The balloons are so graceful and quiet except when they give a blast from the burner to keep that air warm. We were lucky in the fact the the breeze was blowing west to east so the balloons travelled right over our heads upon lift off.


We weren't sure what to expect being that we had never been to this festival before. The first balloon launch was at 6 AM. For those of you that know me, I'm not a morning person. I'd have to get up about 4 o'clock to see them in the morning launch and there was just no way.

We weren't sure how many balloons we'd see there. I thought maybe 12 - 15. We were pleasantly surprised to see that there were 47 balloons in attendance!

This one is "The Flying Purple People Eater"






It was a beautiful sight to see them aloft and worth the wait. They played a game where they had to find a big bulls eye on the ground, lower down and drop beanbags to see which balloon could get closest. The festival cost only 5 bucks per person to get in but if you wanted a ride in one of these balloons, be prepared to pony up $200.00 per person!







I apologize for the blurry picture, we were in the car and Sean didn't pull over. This pilot and his balloon didn't fare too well. They ended up stuck in the trees. Don't know how that happened. I don't know how they got them out but I'd want my $200.00 back!














Green Acres TV Theme

Green acres is the place for me.
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide.
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
No, New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue....
The chores....
The stores....
Fresh air....
Times Square
You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.

Back to School

In many parts of the country kids are back to school already. As for us in the northeast,

today was the last day of summer vacation. Starting Tuesday for me but Wednesday for students, it's back to school. After spending 5 years in fifth grade I am going to kindergarten. While I love the little ones I have to get out of the 10 year old mindset and into the 5 year old mind. I'm looking forward to it!

And I love Dinosaur Comics.

Sex appeal

Do you ever wonder why some people look good to you? I think it has to do with sex appeal.

The first thing I look at on a guy is his eyes. Eyes can be very sexy and I don't prefer one color over another. Then I look at his mouth, his smile. As for hair, dark. And of course put a man in a uniform and that's all he needs to attract the ladies. Police, Firemen, Military even UPS!



I've have never been interested in the classically handsome, the movie idol look or any man who looks slightly feminine at all. I like the rugged type. Sam Elliott, Bryan Adams, Sean.





If you watch Flight of the Conchords on HBO you will recognize Jamaine Clement. A very funny show but the best part is you get 30 minutes of this guy. Maybe it's his accent, he hails from New Zealand and its ever so nice. Give me a guy with an accent anytime as long as I can understand him. A sexy southern drawl from Louisiana is nice. :)






He just has a certain sex appeal for me but if you cleaned him up, took away the glasses I don't know how I'd feel.

I do know that he looks like Jim Morrison and Jeff Goldblum.








Jim Morrison sexy? Yes Jeff Goldblum? Sorry, no

Male vs Female

Scientists don't know everything about the brain and I know very little about it but a book at the library caught my attention. It's entitled, "The Female Brain" written by Louann Brizendine MD. It is chock full of interesting information.

For instance, did you know that all brains start out as female brains? It's true. At 8 weeks gestation if a fetus will be a male several things will happen in the brain. It will be flooded with testosterone which kills some cells in the area responsible for communication and reduces the hearing cortex. By growing more cells in the part of the brain that processes sex, it makes it twice as large as in females. In the male brain, the most primitive part of the brain, the amygadala, men have larger processors where fear is recognized and aggression is triggered.


A female brain is outstanding in verbal agility, women use more adjectives when they speak and write. It has a greater ability to connect deeply in friendships. It can read faces, tone of voice and cues for emotions making it good at defusing conflict. The communication center is bigger and emotional memory is better. This all comes down to the female hormones.

In the areas of sex, male brains are more endowed in this area. Men and women have the same hormone that triggers sexual desire called androgen testosterone. The difference being that men have 10 to 100 times more of this hormone. It works the same way in both sexes by turning on the hypothalamus, lighting the fire with erotic feelings, triggering fantasies and physical feeling in the erogenous zones. According to research, men think about sex every 52 seconds (really guys?!) while most women think about it once a day, on fertile days as many as 3 or 4. Of course everyone is different depending on how much androgen testosterone they produce.

So women, when your men don't seem to hear you when speak or don't communicate well, blame it on their brains. And as for men, when your women don't feel sexy at the drop of a hat, blame it on their brains.

Sundays not Sundaes

Here it is, another Sunday. I don't like Sundays. I'm not really sure why but have felt this way for most of my life. It is different from the other six days of the week. I know for some that it's a joyous day that they celebrate in church. It just seems like a more subdued day.











Even as a kid I knew if didn't like Sunday's. I would've just liked to skip over it and go right to Monday but then Saturday would become my new Sunday.

As I got older Sunday became the day before I had to return to work, a job that I wasn't crazy about that had a Monday deadline which many things had to fall into place perfectly to meet it.

Then I had children and it became the dreaded day before I had to take them back to daycare.




Today my kids are well past that age and I have a job that I love going to but I still am not a fan of Sundays. I just find them somewhat depressing. Not every Sunday but enough of them. Several times a year I am overwhelmed with it. Actually heart wrenchingly sad. Anyone who has suffered with depression knows that empty aching feeling. I will go back to bed and hope to sleep most of the day away. I think of days gone by, that my parents are no longer young, they won't live forever. The carefree days of youth when you didn't have a care in the world are gone. Then Monday comes and things look better. Can I be the only person that likes Mondays?




This was a very busy bee. He was very interesting to watch. Click and enlarge these pictures, he's a very cute worker bee.



Just one of the several things I don't like about Blogger is that you can spend lots of time laying your post out, getting it just right and when you publish it, Blogger does it the way it wants to anyway.

Back to School

Number 1 son leaves for his senior year in college tomorrow. This year he finally has his own car so he can drive himself down. For three years we have driven him and helped him move into his dorm. I always make his bed and leave a card with a little cash in it under his pillow.

His car is a Honda Civic, pretty small and he has a lot of stuff to take down. He's going to be living in an apartment for the first time although it's on campus. Several times we have commented to him that he will not get everything in his car, we'll need to come with him to bring the overflow. He always sort of blows off the idea saying things like, "that's going to take extra gas or I'll get it all in or I have to come home for a weekend in Sept. to work at the hospital, I can take the rest then."

Tonight I told him that he needs to let us know, Sean has to take the day off from work and we have to make arrangements to get Number 2 to work. He comes over and sits on the couch with some heavy sighs. "What's the matter?" I ask. Welllllll... Finally I just ask him, "do you not want us to come down with you tomorrow? Do you not want your parents to help you move in? Do you think no one else's parents will be there?" "I won't be mad, honestly I don't care if we come or not." "Yes, I don't want you to come" he says looking at me sheepishly.

I purposely said I didn't care and of course I wouldn't be mad but I did want to come down. As I said, we've done it for the last three years. After he told me that he left to go out for the last time with some friends. I couldn't help it, I cried. Not really because he didn't want us to come but for the reason that my son is really growing up, becoming independent, separating from his parents. I guess maybe it's a mom thing. I have never been one of the parents that can't wait for their child to go off to school. I enjoy him immensely. He's smart, funny and opinionated. I miss him when he's gone.

While I'm sitting there all teary, Number 2 comes over and gives me a big hug and tells me, "Mom, you still have me, I'm not going anywhere for a whole year!" which in turn makes me cry even more. Times flies, to think that we have these kids for only 18-21 years, then we have to turn them loose to live their own lives and hope we did a good job.

sniff, sniff

My dog probably gets more attention in our house than anyone else. We love our dog and he's part of our family. I never understood why people get a dog and then leave them tied up outside all the time. I'm talking about people that leave the dog outside 24/7. Of course people have dogs that are working dogs, farmers for example and they aren't house dogs. Cody is a big dog, takes up a lot of space and his tail is knocking things over. He sheds too and at any given time we're picking up dog hair tumbleweeds. Yes, he drinks out of the toilet. We have tried closing the door and leaving water in a dish but he doesn't want that so we just put up with his quirks. Only a dog lover understands it.

What I am just sick over is this whole thing with Michael Vick. How can a human being with any shred of compassion do what he has plead guilty to. Those poor dogs, what a life, being trained to fight and kill for the entertainment of people. What kind of person wants to watch that? To make it worse he then allegedly killed dogs that didn't preform well or didn't have the killer instinct by strangling or hanging them. I feel for these dogs. There is no way now that they can be acclimated back to a normal life. The dogs had no choice in the matter, they were bred to fight. What kind of man is he? There's something missing in his soul. If he treats animals like that I bet he treats people that he has no use for not much better.

Vick really had no choice but to plead guilty, imagine the details that would come out in a trial. He knew, hence the plea agreement. The maximum prison term is 5 years, I doubt he will serve that long but I think his football career is over. Maybe that's just me but I wouldn't want him on my team. Your quarterback is the leader of the team, he is your marketing, kids look up to the quarterback but in fact morally he's a thug. Now maybe I'm wrong and some team, somewhere will snatch him up after his jail time, as for me, there's a special place in hell for him.

A Love Story

This is a story about a young man who lived and went to school in New York. During his college days he was in the co-op program, meaning he went to school for 3 months then worked at a job in his field of study for 3 months, school, work, school, work...

Also in this story is a young woman living in a very small town in Ohio with her parents and brothers.






This young man had a friend he met while working his co-op job in Ohio who set him up on a blind date with the young local girl.

The met, they dated and 10 weeks later they were married. This was August 17, 1957. They spent the first years living between Ohio and New York, finally settling in NY. Yesterday on August 17, 2007, my parents along with their 3 children and spouses, 4 grandchildren and her two brothers and wives, celebrated 50 years of marriage.

My father was in college at the time and didn't have money for an engagement ring. Soon children came along as well as a mortgage and the expenses of life and living. During dinner last night my father surprised my mother with the engagement ring that she never received 50 years ago.

We took them out to a beautiful restaurant on the lake where we wined and dined them then returned to my sister's home to celebrate with a wedding cake and champagne. We spent the evening listening to stories of their married life together as well as stories about my mother and uncles growing up.

My parents have nurtured and taught us three girls how to grow into responsible adults and have inspired us in our married lives today. They have helped us become the people we are today.

Thank you Mom and Dad and Happy Anniversary!

I love you!
XO

Happy Left Handed Day!

If you're a lefty that is. My youngest son, the curly headed one, is a lefty. Neither Sean nor I are lefties. My sister and her husband are both left handed but both of their kids are righties.

Number One is right handed but golfs, bats and shoots hockey pucks left handed.

Number Two is a lefty and golfs and bats right handed. Hhhhmmmm.

Being left handed can be a challenge. The world is made for righties. Desks, scissors, the computer mouse, knives, spiral and composition notebooks some power tools and more I can't think of are all for the rights. One thing a lefty has an advantage over a rightie is the keyboard. The left side of a keyboard has more of the most common letters in the English language than the right.

I found out that mothers over 40 have a 128% of having a left handed child than a mother in her twenties. More men are left handed than women. Years ago children were forced to use their right hand if they favored the left. Thank goodness not anymore. I love my lefty and was happy when he went left, just something different from others.

Some famous left handed people: Albert Enstein, Leonardo Da Vinci and David Bowie

We went to the wedding of our niece on Saturday and had a great time but I came to the conclusion that I'm getting old.

Why's that you may wonder? Two words: The Music. I can rock with the best of them. I grew up listening to The Who, The Stones, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin. I enjoy all kinds of music; soft, hard, R&B, some country, classical, bagpipes but I don't listen to very much current music at all.

This wedding had a lot of loud music I didn't know. I had a headache when we left.




It reminds me of a conversation that I had with a friend the other day about May/December romances. I don't mean someone 10 years younger or older, I guess I don't understand what people see in each other when one is 20 plus years older or younger. That's a whole genreation apart. He said maybe men like trophey wives and trophey wives like powerful men. I think young women are looking for a father figure or someone that has been through lifes trials and is ready to take care of someone.

What do you have in common? Where are the shared experiences? What happens when one is 80 years old and the other is 40? Are you his nurse then? What about children? A 20 something may tell her 40, 50, 60 year old beau that she doesn't want any children but that can and will probably change. If you acquiesce you will be an old man for most of said child's life. I'm sure that there are many older man/younger woman or older woman/younger man relationships out there and I'm sure many work. I think of Hugh Heffner and his 3 young girlfriends, gross. For me I'd much rather chat and get to know someone around my own age plus or minus 10 years. More age difference than that and what would I talk about? Of course this is just my opinion, I certainly can't tell someone what they should do, it's a personal thing. Only you can say if it's right for you. (Hi John) I can just point out the facts.

By the way, isn't the bride beautiful?? Notice her husband's cuff links! :)

Time Marches On

Time. How much of it do we have? Have we used it to our best advantage? How much of it have we wasted?

It seems like yesterday that I was in high school and had the rest of my life ahead of me. Where did that time go?

I married at 24 years old. I was at the begining of my life as I know it now. We bought our home. Went on some nice vacations. We both had good jobs and the money was flowing.






I had my first child at 28 and my second at 32. Life started to pick up speed. As a young mother, I thrived. I was born to be one.You never know how fast time flies until you have children. Everything in your life becomes measured by their growth. First smile, first steps, first words, kindergarten, driver's license, first job, high school graduation, first girlfriend, taking them to college for the first time.






What a wake up call when the day comes that you're no longer the most important person in your children's life. You realize as much as your children have aged, growing into fine young, you have aged as well and so have your parents.

Today we still live in that house we bought when we were first married and money is tighter than it ever was. I always thought the older I got, the more money I would have. I'm disappointed, that's not true these days.

The other day Number Two was watching a movie while I was in the kitchen. Listening to the music, words and phrases they used I went in and asked him, "what movie is this and does it place in 1976?" "Dazed and Confused he answered and yes, it's 1976." He was astounded. "How did you know that?" he asked. "Because I was in high school at that time and some things you never forget." It seemed like that was just yesterday. Mentally I still feel like I'm about 25, physicially, some days like I'm 80.

How much time do I have left and will I have any regrets? I don't know if I will have any regrets but I sure have some things that I would have done or handled differently. I consider them learning experiences. Did I waste any time? I look at it this way, if I enjoyed doing it, then it wasn't time wasted.

Ramble On

It's late, 2:25 to be exact and I can't get to sleep. Even the boys are in bed. I haven't been sleeping that great lately. When I am asleep I have strange dreams. Not good or bad dreams, just weird ones that seem very vivid. And I remember them. While I enjoy the quiet, no Guitar Hero being played or TV blasting, did you ever notice how really quiet it is at night? I can hear things I never hear during the day. The clock ticking, creaks in the house, the blades of the ceiling fan and a drip from the kitchen faucet every few minutes.


I got a jury duty questionnaire today in the mail. This means that within the next 12 months I will be called for it. I don't get it, I know many people that have never been called and this is my 5th time. Leave me alone please. I have been on federal jury duty twice and city twice. The very first time (federal court) I was the first name called, sat in chair number one. Survived all the questioning by the judge and lawyer while others were questioned and let go. I ended up being the jury foreperson because I was in seat one. I was so nervous that when I read the verdict and gave the form to the judge I had forgotten to sign it. He was very nice and told the defendant that it wasn't too late for me to sign, he was still going to jail. You're eligible for federal jury duty every 7 years. Almost 7 years to the day I got another summons. I must have done a better job than I thought. :) These days there is no getting out of jury duty, if you're excused as I once was because my students were preparing for the 5th grade state social studies test, the court signs you up automatically for a date 6 months later. For me that happened to be during spring break. How lucky was that. Insert eye roll here.

I hate going to the doctor but not for the reason that most people do. I love my doctor and the staff. I go there several times a year to monitor my diabetes. What I hate is that he is in an office building attached to the hospital and the only parking is in a parking garage. First, that means you have to pay to park and second, I once forgot where I parked (that seems to be a problem I have so whenever I go to stores that I go to regularly I always park in the same general area every time. It makes for a smaller area to search.

I also get somewhat panicked when I don't see my car right away. That comes from a trip to Canada when I took my sister and a friend to an away game of our AHL hockey team. We had never been to St. Catherine's before and and parked in a lot of a small store that was closed for the night. The lot had other cars in it. When we came out of the game, the lot was empty. WTF I go up to the closed store to see if there was a pay phone around and posted on the door is this tiny sign that says "no hockey parking" Now what do I do? Luckily I recognized a local women that traveled to our home games when we played her team. I approached her and told her my story. Apparently this store and a local towing company were in bed together. They post this tiny sign to cover their ass and the towing company gives them a kickback for the business. Claire, the Canadian, takes me to the impound lot where my car is and the guy tells me how much to get my car back. CASH only. Canadian cash only. All I had was American money and not enough of it either. I had to save some to pay the toll on the bridge and thruway. This was in the days before ATMs so I have no way to get any money. I told him I had 45.00 American money, that's all he was getting from me. No good he says. I told him that my money was worth .47 more per dollar than his, he'd make it up at the bank when he turned it in. Nope was his reply. I then told him to call the cops because the jig was up. Long story short, well sort of, Claire was my guardian angel while he was the only Canadian I had ever met and I've met lots, been there many times, who was ever rude and obnoxious. I have always found Canadians to be very friendly and nice. Where this whole thing is going is here, when I come out of a store and can't see my car right away I have this irrational fear that it's been towed for some reason. Thanks a lot Mr. Greasy Tow Truck jockey.

It's now 3:10 am, time for me and the dog to go back to bed and try again. Thanks for reading my ramblings. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ