Zombieland on Halloween

Each year I have written here and on my other blogs about how much I loathe Halloween. I have admitted that I am a Halloween Scrooge. It's my second least favorite holiday after 4th of July. Each year we leave the house during trick-or-treat time so we don't have to answer the door to little candy beggars saying "chick er cheet!" and then complain that you only gave them "one" or complain about the kind of candy you give them. Our neighborhood has always been full of spoiled kids who are used to getting candy at home anytime they want it and the good stuff. Not like in the neighborhood I grew up in back in the 50s and 60s where kids were actually happy getting a Dum-Dum sucker.

Well, we put the tenants in charge of the candy dispensing this year, if they wanted to. They didn't want their cars egged so they helped out. And Jon and I went out to get a hamburger at Wendy's and then went to the show to see Zombieland. I was wondering what it was going to be like. Our oldest son Jason said it was great and usually if he says something is good, it is. And he was right. It was hilarious. Woody Harrelson is so funny! All that happens is they blow away zombies, but they have to have "two taps" to make it stick. You have to see the movie to know what that means. The movie is a combination of fakey horror, comedy, light romance, and action. Something for everyone. It was an entertaining movie. I give it a thumbs up.

Virtual cooking, home decorating and shopping and farming...I am exhausted!

Friends and readers, I apologize for such a long delay in posting but seems I have acquired a weird addiction to virtual cooking and apartment decorating in Cafe World and YoVille which are Zynga games that are played via Facebook. In between my real world stuff, I have been whipping up crabmeat souflees, cherry cheesecakes, Voodoo Chicken Salads, spaghetti and other culinary delights all with the click of my pointy finger. Oh if real-life cooking were so easy. This has been exhausting keeping up with the demand of customers coming into the cafe to eat, and not so easy to do. At first this appears to be a cute little children's game that six-year-olds can play, however they might be able to go through the process of choosing a dish and clicking to make it, however the planning of how much food to make and keeping it going to keep your buzz rating up requires calculators! My husband has been my "assistant chef" and he helps with the planning and managed to help me build up enough to expand three times now. It's getting ridiculous though that now I am starting to plan what I do according to when my crumpets will be done! So today, when we went out, I forgot about the buzz rating and just tossed on a few eight hour dishes and figured if I run out of food, oh well. But it wasn't so easy to get out of my mind. I was thinking about all those little cartoon avatars coming in and leaving because they didn't get served! And that affects my buzz rating. I am WAY to far into this crap!

Then there is YoVille. Virtual village with a condo where all 1, 700, 000 of us players live together, and some even have two, three, four or more houses in addition to their condos. This can get crazy out of control. I like it because I can decorate and costs me nothing except little coins I earn my working in the YoVille Sweets Factory...and by doing ridiculous clicking on "buddy's" profiles to get those hidden pots of gold, turning on lights and picking up left presents. I admit I am really too sucked into these games! But they are fun and once they have you, you must keep playing with it. The funniest way to earn coins is to play games. These games of tic-tac-toe or rock-paper-scissors can be quite time consuming but we all have figured a way around that. We "max" each other out, which means we lose on purpose so the other guy gets all the points they are allowed for the games, then they return the favor. It's sort of like virtual prostitution, however since when we all meet up in front of the condo building we type little messages to each other like "max for max?" or "will one of you max me?" Sounds kinky...virtual kinky.

Then there is FarmVille and Farm Town which I did join so my aunt who is almost 70 can have me as a neighbor to increase her ability to do things and to get more money. I can do without the farms. I am bored sick of them and don't care if I expand them or not. But the thing is now, even though I can block it on my FB profile, I can't quit! I am always there. I don't have to play but the farms will turn to weeds...which I really don't care anymore about either. There are people who are absolutely seriously into this stuff and need therapy. These are the ones who use their credit cards to purchase "YoVille dollars" and Cafe World "money" and FarmVille and Farm Town cash. You give them your credit card number and you can get thousands of coins for like $100. And insane people are doing this. And not just kids. These are grown people. I have asked them how they get the Godfather mansion in YoVille and they say they purchase YoVille dollars to get imaginary stuff. I pointed out to some of these people via our little chatting back and forth that they could go buy a REAL outfit or home furnishings for real cash and actually have something tangible. I just don't get it. I would never buy imaginary money with real money to buy imaginary crap in an online game. I really do need to get a grip though. Even though I don't go so far as to charge on my credit card to play these goofy little games, I am spending way too much time on them.Maybe someone will start virtual therapy sessions?

Cajun bean soup

Autumn has blown in and cold weather is upon us. The winds were howling last night and I thought the roof was going to be lifted up into the air!

Today, the skies are blue, the fall colors are bright and a crispness fills the chilly air. I love this time of year. I also love my slow cooker.

Cajun bean soup is simmering in my slow cooker as I am writing this. I make it with the 18 bean package, soaked overnight. And then after rinsing this morning, I put in water, diced tomatoes, spices and ham cubes and let it simmer. Then I added the cajun spices after it was cooking for a few hours. And I also added white rice. The air in the house is filled with a yummy spicy aroma. Soups and stews taste even better in cold weather.

Travels to Richmond

Went to visit our daughter in Richmond last week and help her move into her new house where she is living with a couple of new people. A young man owns the house and lives there, along with another young woman. It's a very nice house, though I liked the neighborhood with the park across the street where she moved from. But at least she won't have a jungle and fish ponds to maintain anymore.

We left for our journey right after traffic court in Ottawa. It was the appeal for the traffic ticket Jon got for not moving over for a stopped cop at the side of the road when he did move over. But cops can accuse you and ticket you for whatever they want and it's your word against their's. He lost the appeal, which we expected and that was $250 donation to their corrupt county funds! We shrugged it off though, and didn't let it ruin our trip.

We got to Toledo in time for dinner and checked into the Days Inn there. It was pretty decent. Clean. No pool and hot tub like they advertised, though! We were looking forward to that since we arrived early in the evening. We got up the next morning and drove the rest of the way, and we can always count on it to rain in the mountains of Pennsylvania. It never fails. Fog, pouring rain, wind, stupid drivers who can't drive on wet roads. Wish people if they can't drive in bad weather they would car pool with someone else or stay home!

Got to Mary's in time for dinner there. She had a concert later in the evening, but we had plenty of time to for pizza at a good pizza place in Carytown. It's difficult to find good pizza out east, except for New York city. I love New York style pizza...nice and greasy and thin, thin crust and the pie is divided into triangle slices.

Mary had to go to her concert, her boyfriend Dave was at her house and they were going to go out to a party afterwards so Jon and I checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Courtyard of Marriott for two days and it was very nice. Nice comfy beds with lots of puffy pillows, cable television, workout room, swimming pool, hot tub, and restaurant and snack store. We went to Arby's for a quick dinner and then back to the hotel to chill. I read some of my book, Jon watched cable television and we were quite relaxed. Mary and Dave went to their party at a bar in downtown Richmond and they were witness to a shooting! It happened right there outside of their bar, and they were on the patio of this bar outside. The gunman fired five shots, don't know how many times he hit the guy he was after, but it brought him down and the gunman fled. I'm so glad that Mary and Dave and no one else was hurt. The guy who was shot survived and police did capture the gunman, thank goodness! Mary had invited Jon and I to go along with them and so I was glad we had declined and opted to go to our hotel to rest.

The next day we went over to Mary's house and did some internet and then we went over to the Galaxy Cafe for brunch. I ate my first batter-fried pickle spear and it was so delicious! We also ordered a fried Twinkie with ice cream and four fried Oreo cookies with ice cream and shared it. But we all said once we tasted it we wished we each had one of our own! It was so good. Melted right in your mouth!

Mary's concert at the Carpenter Center was at three so we changed and went there. The performance was Carmina Burana complete with orchestra, adult and children's choruses. It was spectacular. The theater is beautiful. There is a deep blue night sky painted on the ceiling and walls and the sides have arches to see though, as you can see from the photo here to the left. It's my favorite color of blue. The concert was magnificent. My ears after felt as if we had just heard a heavy metal rock concert. Spectacular, just awesome.

That evening we went to Kroger and got fried chicken, salad, rolls, potato skins and brownies and took it back to Mary's to eat. It was a good meal and a fraction of the cost of going to a restaurant. And probably a fraction of the salt. I still have to watch my salt intake and after eating at Galaxy earlier, to eat out again that same day would have made me sick.

We went back to our hotel around nine, and took showers, watched some t.v and fell asleep.The next morning we were up early since we had to check out. We had to switch hotels because Courtyard was doubling their rate on weekdays, which is ridiculous. Isn't a rented room at the half price better than an empty room for no money? Oh well...their loss. We went over to the Best Western and checked in and it was very nice, even nicer than the Marriott. Wish we would have stayed there the entire time. Free hot breakfast, plush comforter and lots of pillows.

That day was moving day for Mary. She borrowed a friend's van and Jon and Dave got most of the bigger stuff over to the new place real quick. We were done moving stuff by noon, but the clean up took awhile. And we took another Galaxy break and got the fried Twinkies and Oreos again. Yum. I got a grilled cheese instead of a big burger the second visit since that would be just too much to eat two days in a row. But had to have those fried pickles, and fried goodies once more. We went back to Mary's house again to clean and wait for the landlord. Then Mary and Dave decided to go back to her new place and Jon and I went back to our hotel and then we get a call from Mary asking if Jon has the key to her friend's van! No...David had it last. Dave said he put it in his pocket and it must have fallen out. They retraced their steps and didn't find it. But luckily, the friend had an extra key after all, after all that time spent looking.

The last day we were there we simply hung out at Mary's new house. She had taken Dave to the airport for him to go back home early in the morning, so we all slept late. Jon and I had breakfast at the hotel. And then when we went to Mary's Jon worked on fixing her bike most of the day. He always finds something to work on everywhere we go. Mr. Fixit.

We went to Carytown Burgers for dinner and while they were ordering I went into CVS to get an itch stick for all the damn mosquito bites I got on moving day in that jungle of a yard over at that place. I looked like I had chicken pox I had so many! Jon ordered burgers for all of us and cheese fries, saying he thought I would like them, when in fact it was he who wanted them, not me. He can never say he wants bad food for himself. He has to say that I want it, makes him feel less like a piggie or something!

After taking Mary home, we sat and talked awhile and then we hit the road. We had hotel reservations in Hagerstown, Maryland and didn't want to be getting there too late. Saying goodbye is always hard and I managed not to cry this time, but still my heart felt heavy having to leave my daughter again.

Driving through D.C. at that time wasn't too bad. Driving through D.C. at rush hour is hell, and why we wanted to get on the other side of D.C. to avoid the morning rush. We got stuck in construction traffic about 20 miles outside of Hagerstown. So, Jon tells me to call the motel, an Econolodge, and tell them that we are on our way but stuck in traffic. It was about 9:30 p.m. An Indian guy answered and I usually don't have a hard time understanding people, but I did with him. I was getting frustrated because he kept saying the word "cancel" and I kept saying "no cancel!" and so handed the phone to Jon who managed to communicate with him that we were indeed coming and to keep our room for us. When we got there the we found ourselves feeling like we walked into a hotel in India. The furnishings, draperies, wall hangings, pictures were all Indian. It was very interesting, but also quite odd for an Econolodge to be decorated this way. The whole place smelled of curry, which many people would like. It wasn't repulsive, but Jon isn't keen on curry and it bothered him. We went up to our room in elevators that seemed like they hadn't been updated since the 60s. It shook and rumbled up to the fourth floor. When we opened the door to our room, we could see the cold wind and drizzle blowing in the opened window, no screen. The room was clean, but the carpet was now wet in that area. We closed the window, and drapes, and took showers and went to sleep on the too-short beds. It was a place to sleep and was clean, and quiet so that was good.

We drove all the next day, stopping at Tim Horton's in Toledo for dinner of soup and chili (Jon had the chili) and then made good time on the rest of the way home. It was good to sleep in my own comfortable bed. There is no place like home.

Fickle washing machine

Yesterday afternoon I carried a load of towels downstairs and put them into the washer and closed the door. I then poured in the liquid detergent into the proper place, and then the fabric softener and pushed the power button and the power came on. Then I pushed "start" and the digital read-out blinked F 01 over and over. Uh, oh...I groaned. What now! So I switched it off, opened the door, closed the door and tried it again....and F 01, F 01, F 01....

Went upstairs and found the manual. It says if it shows F 01 to first try unplugging the unit for two minutes and plug back in and try to set it. Did that and still F 01, F 01, F 01.

I left it for hubby. He was not happy having to deal with this problem with a washer that is only a year old. So, he tried all the stuff I did. Then he found the electrical prints online and saw that he had to take the whole thing apart to get to the circuit board so left it for today. He got up this morning and went downstairs to work on it and decided to try to see if it worked and guess what? It works...for now. But who knows what mood it will be in tomorrow.

It seems that they make these product to fall apart or stop working after the warranty date so you have to go buy a new one. But why would they think we would want to go back and buy one of their products then? Probably no one cares anymore. They just want to make the product as cheaply as they can, charge us high prices and make huge profits and don't care if some of them stop working. They have our money already so who cares. And they think we are going to pay them for service calls on top of it, which many people do. But not these people. Jon can usually repair anything electrical, and if we can't we won't be buying another Kenmore!

Muse - Bliss

A band Helga got me to listen to...awesome video. Reminds me of my blogname. Thanks Helga!

Happy Birthday to me....

I am now the age of the average speed limit. 55 How did I get this old? Where did all the time go?

I like the way Blogger puts a birthday cake at the B logo for your birthday...cute.

A couple of my friends also have birthdays all within a couple of days of each other. My friend Dodie turned 55 yesterday, but Robbin turned 55 on Sept 1st. And all my other friends are either 55 already or are turning 55 before the end of the year. My best friend Pam turned 63 -- though you don't seem that old, Pam ;-)

Hubby got me a yellow cake with light chocolate buttercream frosting, pink flowers and pink writing that says Happy Birthday... which I am going to go cut and serve here in a few minutes. Yum.

It's always something

We have had cable internet and television for some time now and we went with the cable because we didn't want bulky boxes and stuff sitting around. The cable is nice and neat, no bunches of cables, etc. to deal with.

Well, now the cable company informed us that as of September 29th we need to have digital boxes and adapters installed on all of our televisions or else we are going to lose more than 20 stations that are going to digital.

The woman on the phone at the cable company told me that I could go over to this office at a nearby town and pick up the equipment, so that is what I did. I got there and the guy says they don't have them there and told me to go to this other town 30 miles away! I told him that I wasn't going to be driving around the planet trying to track down boxes I shouldn't need. Everything was supposed to come via the cable.

While I was talking to the guy at the counter, this man behind me said he was there for the same thing. Someone on the phone from the cable company told him to come over there and get this digital boxes!

Then the guy behind the counter says that we can have them shipped to our houses. I said why didn't the woman on the phone tell us that? Why did she send us over to pick them up at a place that doesn't have them? So, I phoned the cable company again from right there and set it up to have our digital boxes delivered. When at the end of the call she asked "anything else I can do for you?" I said, "Why don't you inform your customer service reps not to be sending people over to a place to pick up digital equipment when they don't have it there." and she just thanked me and told me to have a nice day. I have a feeling that my message will never be passed on.

So, hubby opens the box when it arrives. It has very, very short cables to connect the box to the tv, and also the power cables are quite short. SO, this is going to cost more money out of our pockets to buy cables that are long enough and some sort of jacks to make sure we get the right reception. What a bunch of crap!

Satellite dish is sounding better and better.

Labor Day weekend

I hope everyone is having a fun and relaxing weekend and hope those of you who have to work will find time to fit in some enjoyment, too. What are Jon and I doing? Not much, just relaxing since we have the house to ourselves. We did do some work around here yesterday, finishing some more projects, installing new screens for the new windows. We did some shopping, including grocery shopping after we went out for breakfast yesterday. We just went to Denny's and I behaved myself and got the scrambled egg whites, plain English muffin, crispy bacon, and ate part of my hash browns and a small OJ and a cup of decaf. Jon got the whole shebang with the pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and a large orange juice. If I get breakfast out I have to get either pancakes or eggs but never both together. That's just way too much food.

Today didn't do a whole lot. Jon had to go out to the store again. We did go out for lunch to our favorite pizza buffet at Chicago Dough Company where they have the worlds best buttery cinnamon sticks that are drizzled with white icing and hot out of the oven. Forget the rest of the food, I just want a plate of these things!

Besides the noise of the cicadas and crickets, we also have to endure our neighbors inflatable jumping thing they put up in their back yard for all the kids and grandkids that will be at their backyard hoopla for the weekend. Not only do you have screaming kids, but there is also the constant running of the motor that keeps the jumping house inflated. Makes me tempted to go see if we still have that old game of jarts...that put a nice hole in our swimming pool one time, and I am sure it could bring down one of these vinyl rugrat traps in no time. (I'm so evil.)

These people who live behind us have too many kids. I don't know whose are whose over there anymore. The couple who owns the house are my and Jon's ages and they have grown kids, school age kids and now it looks like toddlers...also some of their grown kids have kids now so it's a regular free for all over there all the time. The father is often drunk and yells and screams at all the kids, sometimes smacking one of them if he loses his temper. I don't know if he is screaming at a kid or a grandkid. Doesn't matter, his behavior is obviously because he is drunk and probably all those kids really get on his nerves...but hey, that's what happens when you worship the Pope and as Monty Python sings "every sperm is sacred".

Soon it will be winter and everyone will be hibernating in their homes and it will be so quiet there won't even be any birds around except for the little winter birds that do not migrate. Then all will be peaceful, and calm...but I will miss those summer sounds I complain about now. I will NOT miss the sound of the family with the herd of kids, however. They are too obnoxious for words.

Loudest insects on planet?

This is a cicada. It's amazing how much noise only one of these critters can make. The decibel is unbelievable. And where there is a chorus of them, like there always is in late summer it can be quiet deafening. It's nearly impossible to try to sit outside and have any type of conversation while these things are going at it. The cicada along with the cricket choruses are also annoying when trying to fall asleep...unless the windows are shut tightly and the a/c on, which has been out house most of summer. Now I want to enjoy the cool evening breezes and while that is wonderful, we have to put up with the bug noise.

Does anyone know of any insects that are louder than a cicada?

Julie and Julia

Went to see Julie and Julia with my good friend Pam today and this film was really good. Meryl Streep, who I normally do not care for in a movie, did a fantastic job portraying chef Julia Child. She had the voice and actions down pat. I used to watch Julia Child's cooking show on television when I was a kid and through the years and found her to be quite humorous the way she would make a mess while she was cooking and if she messed up, no biggie. Then the way she would cook with wine and then chug it while she was cooking it was also amusing. Of course today, drinking on television, for real, is totally unacceptable.

The movie conveys how very much in love Julia Child and her husband were. He was a gem, and she was very good to him, also. It seemed like they never fought, and though may have disagreed they didn't let it get out of control. A team.

The Julie of the movie is quite the opposite, though she idolizes Julia Child. She is moody, spazzes out and alienates her husband at one point. However, Julie, while writing a blog about Julia Child's recipes and life, manages to find herself.

Good movie, two thumbs up.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom turned 72-years-young today. She doesn't seem that old at all. She still works, still does everything on her own and can get down to the floor and sit and get back up again unassisted, which is something I can't do anymore!

Hope you have a great birthday Mom, and many more to come yet!

Love you very much!

Rain Choir

Beautiful... my mom showed me this while I was over at my parents' house visiting yesterday. It's really cool how they made it sound like a real thundershower.

Subbing for Bunco

How many of my lady friends who read here have played Bunco and do you enjoy it? I subbed this past Monday at my friend Pam's Bunco game and it was fun to get out and have snacks and socialize with some very nice women, and I did have a good time. However, I don't think I could make a regular thing of this Bunco stuff. Sitting and rolling the dice for ones, twos, threes, fours, fives, and then sixes...then start all over again. It's just throwing dice and seeing what team gets 21 first, then stop...then rotate and do it again. And they give prizes for being lucky. I would rather just get together and talk for the evening and have dessert and coffee and forget the dice-throwing. They also pay money to do this. If asked, I might do it again as a favor because the women are such nice and interesting people. But to join the Bunco "club", no thank you.

I stayed overnight at my friend's house and the next morning she made breakfast and we went shopping at the antique stores near where she lives. I found myself a gorgeous aquamarine Trifari necklace for only $20. That was a good find! It's worth a lot more than I paid for it. I will be keeping my eyes open when I go to second hand shops and antique stores from now on. People don't know what they are giving away!

Back to reality

Now that Heidi is in New York City continuing her vacation, it's back to reality for me and Jon...windows, windows, windows, will it never end?! And then he goes outside today and sees that a piece of our siding has popped off the house! What the heck??? He wants me to get off this computer now and get my staining clothes on. Staining, staining, staining. I would rather do some more vacation type stuff!

Mom and Dad, if you read this, I will come over for a visit soon! I promise!

Heidi from Aussie visits

I haven't been blogging or doing much online for the past week because my pen pal Heidi from Australia was here for a visit since last Monday. It was a busy week and we did a lot of things we haven't done in a couple of decades. Heidi and I have been pen pals for twelve years!

Monday we drove to Ohare to pick Heidi up when she arrived and I recognized her from her photos right away. We drove her to her motel and then we took her back to our town for dinner at Chicago Dough Company which she thought was delicious (it is). We sat on the deck and chatted till the mosquitoes got too bad then I drove her to her motel for the night.

Tuesday, I picked Heidi up from her motel and we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We then drove to Frankfort to look in the shops there but we were disappointed to find that most of the antique shops that had been there for years had closed up. A sign of the bad economic times when shops are closing in a prosperous town like Frankfort! We drove to Orland Park after that and went to Borders where Heidi found some books to buy, and then we drove back to town and bought Un wiches from Jimmy Johns...they are the best! Lettuce wrapped around whatever filling you want. Better than all that bread. We then went to Jewel and got some things to make a stir fry for dinner, and after dinner we sat on the deck and talked again. I think she was cold inside the air conditioning and why she wanted to sit outside. It's winter in Aussie so she wants warmth. I like it cool year-round. I would be better off living somewhere like Maine!

Wednesday, Jon started vacation and he drove us around everywhere. I had purchased tickets ahead of time online for the Spirit of Chicago lunch cruise. We picked Heidi up around ten and we drove downtown, arriving at Navy Pier a little after eleven a.m. We easily found a place to park and we made sure we picked up our tickets and then looked in some of the shops while waiting for it to be time to board. The cruise was great. Beautiful weather. The host of the ship asked if anyone was celebrating anything special and I said that Heidi was visiting from Sydney Australia, and they welcomed her. I didn't know Jon was going to do this, but he told the waiter that it was our 34th anniversary and they announced that too. I was so surprised, and I also felt bad that I hadn't thought to say it before. That was really sweet of him. The weather was so gorgeous. We got some very good photos of the city from the ship, and also of the lake and some sailboats etc that I will post on my Photography blog. The food was excellent. It was a buffet of salads, a couple of casseroles, baked flounder, chicken with marinara sauce, rolls, fresh fruit and desserts. There was dancing on the main floor, but we chose to go out on deck to see the view of the skyline and feel the breeze and sunshine. After the cruise we walked around Navy Pier, visiting the two stained glass museums that are are the far end. Heidi and I took a ride on the Ferris Wheel, and I will also post those photos on my photo blog. We ate at a little place on the Pier and got Chicago Style Hotdogs, nothing Heidi had ever seen or eaten before. She took a photo of it before she ate it! She said in Aussie they only have hot dogs with mustard, nothing else on them.
We drove back home.

Thursday we picked Heidi up a big earlier and we drove to Chicago once again. We started with the Sears Tower, now called the Willis Tower because the main lease-holder said he would only sign a lease if they let him change the name of it...what a doofus! It's my guess they will change it back after his lease has ended. The stuff they sell still says Sears Tower, I saw no souveniers that said Willis Tower on them. Anyway, we went up to the top and was the first time we were up there since 1978! The buildings below are more numerous now. Lots of new buildings, some blocking the view of Buckingham Fountain and Soldier's Field. There is a good view of the new Museum Campus where the aquarium, planetarium and Field Museum are. Sears Tower now has glass balconies, and while I didn't think I would ever step on one, I did...and here is proof!















Click on picture to enlarge


After Sears Tower we went to Adler Planetarium where there is a presentation called Cosmic Collisions. It was a fantastic 20-minute show in one of the sky theaters. We looked around the museum, and then took a walk outside and then sat by the lake on the far side of the planetarium and watched the boats go by. Afterwards we drove back home, stopping to get Chinese food to bring back for dinner. I was so tired and sore from all the walking, but was a nice day. We watched a movie before taking Heidi back to her motel for the night. The movie was Bruce Campbell Lives...corny but she thought it was funny as the guys did so that was good.

Friday was Museum of Science and Industry day and I really felt I would keel over a couple of times. I was really getting to be exhausted from all the running around. I had to keep sitting down. Every exhibit I saw with a seat and a little movie going I would go sit and watch it, even boring ones about energy, and war generals, etc! We went on the submarine tour of the U-505 German submarine that was captured by the Americans. This is the only one in U.S. possession. They built a whole building around it and very nice and interesting exhibits with little film clips, etc. I made sure we saw the Fairy Castle, and also we took a tour of the Zephyr train which I never had a chance to see on past visits because the line was usually too long. This time there were only about eight people on the tour. We left the museum around 3:45 and headed over to Bennigan's on Michigan Avenue for dinner. Jon parked the car while Heidi and I ordered and started eating while waiting for him. He got there finally a half hour later...said he found a place to park for six bucks. He loathes having to pay $16 everywhere for parking downtown now. After dinner we walked over to Millennium Park and we put down a blanket and got situated for the Grant Park Symphony Concert. They performed Beethoven's Ninth...the Grant Park Chorus also performed with the orchestra. It was a magnificent performance. A bit weird though sitting in the grass with yuppies all around with their folding tables and chairs and fruit, wine and crackers and cheese...etc. etc. and what was annoying was that they had to have soft chats while the music was playing! During Beethoven's Ninth...what is wrong with these people! After the concert we walked over to Buckingham Fountain where there was a light show since it was dusk by then. We sat there for quite awhile. Jon finally went to get the car while Heidi and I waited on the corner of Jackson and Columbus chatting while waiting for him to get there. Then since it was very late we drove Heidi directly to her motel. It was a great day for her last day of her visit to Chicago.

We got up early yesterday morning to take Heidi to the airport. Jon drove the van so I could sit in the back next to Heidi to talk. It's a bit hard in the car to twist around and talk between the seat headrests. We said goodbye at the curb at departures, and she hugged me for a long time, and handed me a couple of envelopes. Inside one was a pair of crystal earrings. Then a thank-you card for me and Jon for being such good hosts. She said she would miss us. We are hoping to get over to Sydney in a couple years to let her show us around her city.

Now it is back to email, snail mail and Skype with me and Heidi. :-(

34 years

The couple in this photo is how Jon and I are getting to look! LOL! With the way the years fly by it won't be long! We both will be 70 in about 15 years only! Eeegghads!

Today is our 34th wedding anniversary, and actually we have been together about 38 years if you count the dating years. Though we have changed in physical appearance, I can see so much about him that is still the same...the way his eyes smile first before he breaks out into a big grin or laugh, the way his hair curls up in ringlets when it is getting too long. The way he sleeps curled on his side in a fetal position at night. His profile as we are moving along down the highway in our van. The way he breaks out into sing-along with the songs he likes...especially Robert Palmer's "Simply Irrestible". Lots of little things like that.

So what are we doing today to celebrate? We are still staining windows and cleaning house in preparation of my Australian friend who is coming for a visit starting tomorrow and will be here all week. He is taking vacation so we can show her the sights of Chicago and the area around where we live. Maybe go to the Indiana Dunes one day if it isn't too hot.

For now, it's back to work and we plan on celebrating after Heidi leaves to continue her U.S. visit on Saturday. Maybe we will go to Alexanders for a nice steak dinner and a movie Saturday night.

Time in a Bottle

Jim Croce
This is mine and Jon's song. . .

Traffic court in LaSalle County

Some things just don't make sense in life. Hubby who drives very conservatively now that he is older and wiser, and also because he is trying to get best gas mileage possible out of his new Honda Civic Hybrid, was driving back from a safety seminar he was helping to conduct in upstate Rockford last month when a cop pulled him over and gave him a ticket for not moving over as hubby passed him on the highway while the cop was parked alongside the road in the emergency lane behind an abandoned car he says he was "investigating." But the truth is that Jon DID go around him. He moved over as law requires one to do when passing by an emergency vehicle at the side of the road. And he does this if anyone is stopped at the side of the road if no one is next to him in the left lane and he is able to do so....which the law also states. He did nothing wrong.

What most likely happened was is that the cop didn't see Jon till he was back in the right lane after going around him because the officer was looking downward towards something and most likly didn't see Jon till he passed by. But he came after him and gave him a ticket anyway, almost immediately going after him as if he was waiting for the next car to come by to give a ticket to. A van had been right ahead of Jon going well over the speed limit, so at first Jon thought that the cop was going to go after that guy, but no...easier to stop Jon and make something up. A ticket is a ticket when trying to meet one's quota for the day.

So, we went out to Ottawa in LaSalle County which is about a 50 mile drive. This is nearly six weeks since the ticket. When we got inside the courtroom there were lawyers up front, calling people by name to come forward to talk to them either to dismiss tickets or to make "deals", and for Jon they said he could pay the $250 fine and get six months supervision or he could come back in September for another hearing. Jon said "why can't we do this today?" There were only about eight or ten people and usually if you wait weeks to go to traffic court, the hearing is held, and a verdict given, fines paid that day and it's over with. Well, the lawyer says "that's not how we operate here in LaSalle Co." SO, he got a second court date now for September 25th and has to go all the say back out there again and miss another day of work. Hopefully he will win his case then. Life is not fair at times. So many people drive like maniacs and get away with it, but here is a man who follows all the rules, never breaks the speed limit, and he gets the ticket when he hasn't done anything wrong.

Watchmen review

We watched the film Watchmen the other night and must say it was pretty good for a "superhero" flick. The difference with this one is that all but one didn't have super powers. Dr Manhattan, the blue guy, is a godlike being who is the only one with actual supernatural powers.

The film is based on the critically acclaimed graphic novel by the same name. This film was even more dark and gloomy than Batman: "The Dark Knight". "Watchmen" follows a group of retired costumed heroes living in an alternate 1985 where Nixon is still president and fear of nuclear doomsday looms over planet Earth.

When one of the heroes named the Comedian is murdered, his former colleague--the unhinged, masked Rorschach begins investigating who is behind his death. The other masked crimefighters--Silk Spectre 2, Ozymandias, Nite Owl 2 , and Dr. Manhattan , soon learn that there may be a plot to rid the world of their kind.

Watchmen is not a comic book movie for kids since there’s sex and violence throughout the entire film, but the story is a complex and interesting one for adults. I won't give away the ending in case some of you haven't seen it yet, but one of the main messages is that human nature cannot be changed. We might be able to be shocked into "uniting" for a little while, like after the 911 tragedy, but "life goes on" and humans go back to being human. But there is always "hope".

Regulating blood pressure

I think after a few weeks of experimenting with blood pressure medicine, I finally am now on the right one and the right dosage. Started out with Inderal because of the bad headaches I was having and also the high blood pressure. Well, while it brought down the blood pressure and controlled the headaches, my heart rate was in the 40s! So, I called the doctor who said via his nurse, that no, 40s was not good and so I needed to be switched to something else. I told her specifically not to give me Zebeta since that also made my heart rate slow when I was on it a couple of years ago. When I went to the ER with my gall bladder attack, they could hardly get a pulse it was going so slow and was so weak. So, what does the nurse call in to the pharmacy? A prescription for Zebeta! And of course that was a Friday before the weekend. But the following Monday I got ahold of the doctor again, I should say got ahold of his nurse who then called in a prescription for Metoprolol and said to take half. Well, the blood pressure went back up again, the headaches started coming back again. So, now I have to take a whole pill each day, and that seems to control everything pretty well. However, I told the doctor to please call in another prescription as I am now only getting 15 pills a month and need 30 now so need a new script. They called the pharmacy on Friday, and then I didn't get around to going over there to pick it up till today and guess what? They didn't know anything about it, so they said. So, I called the cardiologist's office back and asked what's up...and they said that the prescription WAS called in and so they called the pharmacy. I then made a back-up call to the pharmacy and now they say I can't get the rest of the prescription till the 9th and that is when they will put through the change. Lucky I have enough pills to last till that long. Things are a hassle enough, and wonder what the hell they will be like if we get to National Health Care with the government in control of things. Oh boy!

Staining, staining, staining

Our whole house smells like wood stain. All we have been doing in recent days is staining window trim. It smells good while we are doing it. I love the smell of paint and stain, however, after it is on for awhile it gets in the air and sort of hangs there. Made a baked chicken tonight and can barely smell it because of the odor of the stain.

We have all the upstairs windows and trim stained, but now have to do all the downstairs' windows. Can't wait till it's all done and trim is on and we can carry on with all the other unfinished projects that have been left hanging.

Today was a Mr Blue Sky day!

Crazy question Meme

Click on image to enlarge
I found this over at my friend Poodles Place and decided to tag myself...

Here are the rules:
1. Respond and rework; answer the questions on your blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your invention, add one more question of your own. (I didn’t replace any questions, but added one of my own.)

2. Tag other people. Sounds simple enough, right?

What is your current obsession?
Blogging

What are you wearing today?
jeans, blouse and my New Balance gym shoes

What’s for dinner?
left over spaghetti and salad

What would you eat for your last meal?
Portillo's beef and cheddar croissant and a chocolate cake shake

What are you listening to right now?
Jon flipping channels in the livingroom

Which language do you want to learn?
I have been trying to master Spanish for the past several years.

What do you love most about where you currently live?
My house, the walking trails and library

What style is your current home decorated in?
Contemporary, medium wood

If you were a time traveler what era would you live in?
Sometime in the future, to see what advances have been made.

What is your favorite color?
Blue

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
jeans

What were you doing ten years ago?
Finishing my Masters degree and working full time.

If you had $300 now, what would you spend it on?
A little trip away for hubby and me.

When was the last time you cried?
At a funeral on Saturday.

What are your favorite films?
Caddyshack, Animal House, Mad House, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Summer Place, Giant, Inherit the Wind, too many to list . . .

Your favorite books?
Doris Lessing's Mara and Dann and most of her other books, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, House of Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne, White Noise By Don Delillo, stories by Dorothy Parker...more listed in my profile.

Do you collect anything?
Porcelain mice, books, stamps, postcards, bookmarks, pens

What makes you follow a blog?
Personable, informative, intelligently written.

What was the most enjoyable thing you did today?
Gave my husband a big hug and kiss when he got home after a long day at work.

Ann’s Question: What makes you comment on a blog?
If I feel I have something worthwhile to contribute, funny or serious. I never troll.

Amy’s Question: What is your favorite thing to do when you have some free time?
Read, write letters to my many penfriends, talk on the phone to close friend or my mom.

Tonya’s Question: What is a talent you wished you had?
Ice skate.

Kyooty’s Question: If you could be any other animal other then Human, what would you be?
A dolpin swimming free in the ocean.

Carrin’s Question: Rush just told me that by 2042, white people will be the minority. Do you believe that? Would that be a big deal to you?
I agree that Rush is an idiot. His brain is so fried on drugs what the heck does he know!

Melissa’s Question: Would you want your blog to be as popular as Dooce? What would be some of the pros and cons?
No, I spend way too much time on here as it is. Pros would be if I get some kind of money for it, cons would be all the asshats that would come by to troll and also all the time it would suck up.

Unknown Mami’s Question: What do you admire most about yourself? Don’t be modest.
I have a quick wit and consider myself to be a good writer.

Traci's Question: If you could be anyone else, who would you be?
I would not want to be anyone else.

Poodle's Question: Dogs or cats?
Dogs, cats are evil (sorry my cat-loving friends and family members)

My Question: Where is your favorite vacation place/places?

As far as tagging goes, whoever wants to waste time doing this ! Please let me know if you play along!

Drying clothes outdoors

I love how clothes smell after being allowed to air-dry outdoors in the wind and sunshine. I have a drying rack similar to the one shown here, and I have a lot of clothes that I don't like to dry in the dryer. But our town has a no-clothesline ordinance, which I think is really foo-foo stupid. Yuppies say that clotheslines are an "eyesore". I don't think so. Clotheslines never bother me any. And it's not like people hang their clothes up and leave them there forever. In a couple hours they are dry and we bring them in and put them away.

I get around this clothesline rule with my clothes-drying rack. I set it up on the deck and let nature do the drying for me and then bring them in to fold them and put it all away.

I did this with my bedding yesterday and it all smelled so nice and fresh. It brings back memories of when I was a kid and all of our clothes were dried this way in the summertime. It's a nice, fresh feeling to climb between crisp, freshly-washed, natured dried sheets. Thanks mom for those memories...I love you.

Brain scan results

The results of my brain scan came back already and nothing serious. . . and yes Jon, they could see that no my head is not empty, Mr Funnyman! It appears that my lingering headache was just one long, very stubborn migraine. Possibly made worse by the Estradiol I was on, as we assumed. So, no more estrogen replacements. I have some pills to help ward off a headache when they first start, and if that doesn't work and it gets bad again, I just go in for a shot of Toradol. Hopefully I won't get any more bad ones that last for days and days. That was awful.
(Sorry Mom that I didn't call to let you know I was having the test done and you had to read about it on here.)

Goodbye pool :-(

Sadly, after about twenty six years of having a swimming pool, we are taking it down and giving it away to a friend of our son's. It was getting too much to take care of and no one else had the time or interest to help clean it. It takes a lot of work to manage the chemicals so it doesn't "go green" and look like the swamp monster lives in it. And another thing was that no one used it. We would get it all cleaned out and running and we had to run it daily and put chemicals in daily. Last year I think Jon and I used it twice, at most. No one else had the time or desire to. So, it's coming down, and will be a lot of work to take it down, fill in the huge hole and grow grass there, put additional railing on the lower deck. But once that is done, no more work except cutting some extra grass.

We got the pool in 1983 when the kids were all little and we lived in a different town at the time. They all learned to swim in this pool. I remember when our middle son wanted to just stand on the stairs with a mask on and didn't want to get splashed. He would just block the ladder and scream and yell if he got the slightest bit wet...except for his feet which were in the water. Eventually, he became the crazy one to jump in and do all kinds of stunts.

We literally lived in the pool all summer, all of us getting nice and tanned from the sun's rays. When we moved to this town, we took the pool down, brought it here and dug a hole and went through the ordeal of setting it up. Only at this house, instead of flat across, we dug it out to nearly six feet in the middle and got an expandable liner. The kids loved jumping into it and doing all kinds of tricks. Jon would jump in, too in those days. I think now if he jumped into it all the water would come out or the sides would collapse! Shhhhh...don't tell him I said that!

I will miss the pool, but we are getting older and have to just admit and accept there are things we just can't or don't want to do anymore. We will just buy a membership at the Y or alumni membership at the university I went to. We can still enjoy swimming, but leave the maintenance to someone else.

Brain scan

I've been getting these terrible migraines . . . this last one has been with me for seven days. Though the pain is quite decreased because of Ultram, it's still there, a dull ache. I went to the doctor for an injection of Toradol last night and that helped quite a bit. But by six a.m. it had totally worn off and the head pain started again. I took two Ultram as directed and it eased off again, so have been taking that every six hours to keep it at bay. The doctor sent me for a brain scan. Jon, being the wiseguy that he is, Mr. Funnyman...said "well, did they find one in there?" hahaha
:P

It's probably just a stubborn migraine. I was on Estradiol (estrogen) and know those can cause some nasty headaches, and can also make migraines worse. The doctor wanted me to have the brain scan to make sure it's not something more serious. Lupus can also cause terrible headaches because of the inflammation it may cause. The brain scan would also show if the Lupus is causing fluid build-up in the covering of the brain, or inflammation in the vessels, etc. It's great we have the technology today to be able to catch things early if that's the problem. But right now, doctor thinks it's just a stubborn migraine.

Blast from the Past

Joe Cocker, Leon Russell...Cry Me a River! Jon and I loved Leon Russell and Joe Cocker...listened to all their stuff again and again. This sure brings back memories. Look how young they are, and we were still teenagers when this was made. Crazy.

In Memoriam

So sad we have to say goodbye to those we love. Grandma K wasn't a blood relative, but she was Jon's second mom. She had taken care of him starting when he was only six-years-old while his mother was working and he just started hanging out with the K family, going on family vacations with them, being there for holidays and special activities. He did everything with this family. When his real mom died when he was only 17, and he had no close blood relatives left (his half brother is 21 years older and lives far away), she and her family "adopted" Jon and all of us and treated us just like family all these years. Grandma and Grandpa K were the only paternal grandparents our kids have known. She bought them gifts, invited us for dinner, remembered their birthdays just like her own blood grandkids. We have spent every Christmas Eve with her and her family and they were all kind enough to share with us.

The wake is Friday, the funeral Saturday. It's going to be so extremely sad. But she lived a good, long life (until she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years ago and had other problems as she got older). She was 86.

Migaloo - Albino Humpback Whale on The Great Barrier Reef

What a sight this must have been to see for real.

Invasion

I suspect it may have been raccoons that got into our trash can and made an incredible mess all over the driveway and grass this morning. Since the garbage guys seem to have done something with our lid, we were taking a chance leaving the bags just stacked in the open can, but so far we had been lucky . . . till today. It was totally disgusting.

The "invaders" could have been a pack of coyotes since the meat packages were all half-eaten. Coyotes have been coming into the neighborhood in search of food since more and more of their land is being taken up with subdivisions of houses.

I don't think it could have been a deer. Deer have been wandering around, too. But they don't usually attack the meat wrappers and don't usually dig so nice and neatly. I don't think the coyotes would be so careful as to leave the can standing, either. Had to have been those crafty raccoons and their opposable thumbs.

Whoever the culprits were, they really made a mess and wasn't a pleasant thing to wake up to at all.

Stavros Flatley - Britain's Got Talent

This is a riot! The first guy has Michael Flatley's moves and mannerisms perfectly! Great spoof.

Hot Time Summer in the City

For all that hot weather we are having.
Lovin' Spoonful - another blast from my past. 1966, I was 12.

Happy 55th Mom and Dad!

Hi Mom and Dad, Happy Anniversary tomorrow! Hope you have a good day! Seems like we just celebrated your 50th not that long ago. The time is rolling by too quickly.

Enjoy your day, will see you soon to bring you your present.
Love you guys very much.

Windows

After 22 years of living in this house, it's time to replace the windows. Not something we want to spend our money on, but one of those home maintenance things that must be done. We put in wood windows when we first built the house, and they were the windows the construction company stipulated we have. And now we are having to replace them.

So, hubby orders all 16 windows at the same time and plans to install them all on his upcoming scheduled vacation time. I would rather have gone to the Bahamas or somewhere exotic with the money, but like I said, this must be done. So, the windows were all delivered on Saturday, all but the one window we really need first. Jon called to find out where the heck it was, and they said they didn't know. So, the next day no phone call so he called again. No one knew anything. They said it would probably be on the truck yesterday, and it wasn't so they said it probably would be in today. Then they called him back today and said they forgot to make the friggin' window! Now, why did it take nearly a week to find that out?

So, now he is going over there to where we bought them from after work and I am not going with because when he gets pissed off it makes me nervous. He will not be nice, he's been nice for a whole week, so it's built up for a bit. But he's in the right for being upset. Just that one window was more than $600...why wasn't it made? Why did it take so long for them to find out it wasn't made? If they had investigated properly, the thing could be being made at this moment instead of just starting the process of making a new one.

It's like this with everything nowadays. The new generation of workers just don't care.

Tom Terrific!

I used to watch this all the time when I was a kid!

Dog attacking his own leg

This dog is really, really stupid!

Hot and humid...blah!

Thank goodness for air conditioning. But we are going to have an enormous bill if this heat keeps up. It's incredibly hot and humid here, and I can't imagine being without a/c like my poor sister and her hubby. Their a/c unit caught fire a couple days ago and they have had repairmen working on it for two days. My Mom and Dad's a/c also went out yesterday and fortunately theirs was able to be repaired in one evening. Otherwise they would have had to go stay with my brother with their little dog till it was fixed. This is the kind of weather where the cooling centers are full of over-heated people and pets.

Hard to believe that just a couple weeks ago people were complaining that it was so cold and wondering when the summer weather was going to arrive. Well, now here it is. I had a hunch that we were going to get hit with extreme heat after freezing for so long.

My flowers are loving it. I bought some hens and chicks to plant yesterday and still haven't done so yet. Something is happening to me now that I am older. I love to plant stuff and I actually can cook. Guess I am getting to that "grandma" stage, but only need the grandbabies to make it all complete. Hear me Jeff and Whitney??? ;-) (wink)

More foot crap

Going today to have plaster molds made of my feet to have new inserts made for my shoes so hopefully that will stop the incredible pain I have when I walk. I will be so glad to get rid of the big robotic-looking boot that is so hot to wear in this weather.

I have had plasters made before, and custom inserts made for the plantar fascitis and they helped tremendously, so hopefully they will help again this time and prevent another operation. If this doesn't work, it's back to surgery to release the plantar tendon and nerve that is pinched...and to remove the bone spur. I am going to try all possible things to avoid having to go through that again. If I end up back on crutches or in a wheel chair again I will go crazy! I am sure Jon will too, because being caretaker for all this time is really getting to him. I am just starting to be able to do normal things again and while he is a good husband and will take care of me, it is wearing on him. He has his own problems with sciatica and joint stuff that he complains little about. He always puts me first.

So, let's hope this does the trick!

Give me my senior citizen discounts!

At first I was resistant to the AARP card and admitting that I was now getting into the senior citizen "age range" and kept ignoring the advertisements and invitations to join AARP after my 50th birthday a few years ago. But then I needed new glasses and when they tallied up the tab for that I was like EEEEGHADS! $430 for new lineless bifocals. Well, the girl at the eye place said that if I had an AARP card I could get 20-30% off, so I went home and signed up online. I went back to the eye place and ordered my new glasses for only $320. Still a lot, but much better than before. A big savings.

Now I am paying attention to what I can get for merely being old. LOL! I can soon get the Senior menu prices at Denny's for just being 55 (which happens in a couple of months! yay!) and I can get free coffee at different restaurants and shops. I can get 10% off at certain stores on certain days. Kohl's has senior citizen day on Wednesday (or is it Tuesday?) where older people get 20% off.

Aging has its advantages. :-)

Father's Day

Father's day at Mom and Dad's looks pretty much like the little cartoon here. It's getting to be more like "open house" for occasions anymore, though. People coming and going since there are so many of us now and the grandkids are getting all grown up and girlfriends, boyfriends, children of their own.

Mom made a big pot of spaghetti and a nice salad and for dessert she made her own homemade chocolate cake. Her cakes are the best. (Thanks Mom for the nice meal.)

So, while we were there my sister arrived (her hubby is sick, poor guy), my two nephews came by, one with his girlfriend, the other nephew's girlfriend had to work or something. And one of my brothers came over and his wife, and then Jon and I. My other brother and his family had been their earlier. He works midnights so had to get back to take a nap before work.

But it was another nice get-together, as usual.

Dad, hope you had a real good day and hope you enjoy the movies we got you and the Beethoven CD. :-)

Taken

I give this film four stars. I usually don't like movies that make me tense and afraid anymore, but this is a good one. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. There were no lulls or boring lapses. Similar to the Bourne movies, the suspense maintains a steady pace and the action is non-stop. Liam Neeson is awesome.

I highly recommend renting this one if you haven't see it already.

Mary here visiting

I've been enjoying our time with Mary and David so far. They arrived here on Wednesday after driving through the night in her 2001 Neon with no a/c. Mary is a true road warrior like her father!

So good to see her again, and to meet David. Haven't seen Mary since November when she was here over Thanksgiving! She flew here back then. Whether she is here for a few days or a couple of weeks, it's never long enough and time goes by too quickly.

Nice to hear Mary and Dave play duets on their trumpets, it sound so pretty. They have similar sounds and blend very nicely together.

We've been eating out some days, which is nice for me! Standing and cooking is a bit hard for me right now since the foot is still giving me problems...pain when standing or walking too much. Grrr! We went out for pizza at Chicago Dough Company the first night they were here and got the all-you-can-eat buffet. All I can eat is three or four pieces, at most but also make room for the yummy, buttery cinnamon sticks with icing. :)

Then we ordered Chinese food a couple nights ago. Even with the whole family for dinner, we still have leftovers two days later.

Today we went to our favorite breakfast place called Lumes. I tried something different today and ordered the chocolate, strawberry, banana crepes...and I think I am now addicted to them. I could only eat one, but brought leftovers home. They're mine! All mine!

Some went into a food coma for awhile and fell into a long sleep, and then Mary and Dave are now over and the Commons band shell playing trumpet in the great outdoors. As good as they are, I am sure they have managed to attract an audience.

Bird in my flower pot of marigolds

This morning, while I was outside on the deck staining a bookcase, a very bold female robin landed in a pot of marigolds on my deck as if it was a nest and just sat there much like the robin in this photo I found online. I should have gotten my camera and snapped a pic, and will if she comes back and lands there again. I think maybe she wants to next in the pot. I tried to shoo it away and it didn't budge. It was as if it was just daring me to get closer! So, I just left her be and she sat there for a whole 20 minutes. It was very strange. I never saw a bird do that before, except starlings that would not vacate my gas grill a few years ago.

Mary's coming to town!

Mary and her boyfriend David are planning to drive through the night and arrive here sometime tomorrow. I am so excited! We haven't seen her since November and looking forward to having her here for at least ten days. Planning lots of fun things for us all to do together!

Foot setback

Well, I'm on crutches AGAIN! Arrrrggghh! I was doing so well, getting back to driving again, walking around with only a slight limp and Saturday I don't know what happened but I suddenly had excruciating heel pain when I put weight on the foot and tried shoe inserts, the gel kind and the cushion kind...then put them both together and that doesn't help either. It's so frustrating because I've been doing everything I am supposed to be doing, bought new $100 shoes, and have been careful when climbing stairs and careful not to twist the ankle, etc. So I don't know what happened.

I had an appointment with the foot surgeon for June 8th but called to move it up to tomorrow. I hope that it isn't anything bad. If I end up back in a walking boot oh well, but if I end up back in a cast and wheel chair I think I will go absolutely insane!

Memorial Day weekend...home repairs

This past week we accomplished a lot of stuff, or I should give Jon most of the credit since he worked a lot harder than I did. Got my shower fixed that has been broken since January when a pipe broke and water leaked all in the downstairs kitchen area. It was so nice to be able to shower in my own bathroom again instead of using the main bathroom where the guys shower. :P My bathroom is all pink, white, light gray and frilly. Their's is black, white, and gray and geometric...and the tub gets hairy on the bottom (which I have to end up cleaning anyway).

He got the handles on the cabinets in the downstairs kitchen, fixed the sofa, mowed the lawn front and back and weed-whacked, helped Jason and Whitney get the workout room cleaned up so they could set up their exercise equipment, put in new smoke and carbon monoxide detectors on both levels, and managed to get some more window quotes. (Talking about windows with sales people makes me glaze over with boredom.) Now that things are orderly we can start finishing projects around here that need to get done, finally...hopefully.

Price of windows - yikes!

When you have lived in a house for more than 20 years, things start falling apart. Everything that had 15-20 year warranties, in particular are in need of replacing. Like I was saying in an earlier post, we need a new roof, fence, windows, garage door just to name the big things.

The windows are actually urgently needed. Several of them are rotting. We had wood windows put in when we built the house since that is all the company would offer at that time. We would have put vinyl in if we had had the choice.

Well, now they all need replacing and so Jon has been getting quotes and estimates and most places want to come to your house before they tell you anything. Jon has the measurements, just give us a quick price so we can compare who is going to be the best deal. Nope...they say they have to come out. But when we have them come out, and we don't buy, they get pissy. The guy we had here the day before yesterday was getting sort of snotty about us "having him come out" when it was his company's rules for him to come here. Jon wouldn't let him pull that crap and told him that he could have saved gas and time to just tell him what the windows would cost over the phone for the sizes we need.

The quote we got from this guy was $20,000+ for replacement windows...we were thinking more in the ballpark of no more than $10,000 for all the windows in our house, including the big ones and patio doors. He has priced them online individually and installing them himself should be around that price. So, basically, it's double to have them installed.

Tonight another dude is coming over from Pella. It's going to be the same damn thing. They are going to come and look, it's going to be too stinkin high and they are going to get put out because they didn't make an instant sale. We were in their store already a few days ago and he gave us a price for one window in the showroom but said he really had to come out to give us an official price. I am like Gene Simmon's girlfriend, Shannon, I HATE people coming into my house who I don't know. And especially when I know we aren't going to buy anything from them. I told Jon to cancel but he wants to let the guy come and waste his time and argue with him.

Computer crash

Yep, my computer bit the dust a few days ago and had to go buy a whole new one this time. I didn't get as upset being without my computer for a few days like I have in the past. My only irritation is that I was working on a project for the company I work for online and only had a couple days left to make some money. Now the project is over and done and who knows when the next one will be.

The motherboard was burned up, the processor was shot and the hard drive appears to have some sort of virus on it. I don't know if I will be able to retrieve anything on it or not.

What kind of dull lives do people have to be living in order to take up so much time and brainpower to hack into someone's computer and cause havoc and not even be able to witness the ire of the person it has happened to? There can't be any personal sadistic joy in it, there can't be any obscene happiness in seeing someone frustrated and angry by the grief that the hacker has caused them. But if these nerds would use the same brainpower to do something positive, they could be making loads of money for their efforts and be doing something productive for society.

Anyway, like I said I had to go buy all new computer hardware and hubby spent a whole day getting everything working again. Then I have been having to reinstall all of my programs and try to find all my links and bookmarks again. What a hassle and colossal waste of time!

But I LOVE my new computer now, it's so much faster and got a new video card too so things look so much brighter and more storage space, too. So something good came out of it, but we weren't really wanting to spend the money on this right now when we have a houseful of windows we need to get.

Speaking of windows, read my latest rant about that in my next post.

Listen to the falling rain

Forecast for tonight: Windy with thunderstorms, especially this evening. Low 49F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Additional rainfall possibly over one inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.

Makes me think of this oldie by Jose Feliciano:

Dune -- boring, boring, boring

I have tried to watch this film so many times, so many people think it's the greatest. I tried once again this evening to watch it and just can't. My rear end starts hurting, I get figgety, my eyes get tired, and I am just falling asleep to the dull, droning soundtrack (if you want to call it a soundtrack).

I realized though that one of the stars of this is the same dude who played Charlotte's first husband, Trey MacDougal in Sex and the City! Kyle MacLachlan played the young Paul Atreides in Dune in 1984. I thought he looked familiar, like I had seen him somewhere before.

Anyway, all this traipsing around a sandy planet full of giant worms in search of magical spice is a bit much for me.

Moody Blues and the works of my favorite artist, Maxfield Parrish

Starry, Starry Night

And a tribute to Vincent Van Gogh

My first album

For all you young un's, this is a turntable in this video. LOL! And this is the first album I ever owned, as I wrote about in my previous post. Gary Lewis and the Playboys. Brings back cool memories. My parents were very cool to us. And at ages nearly 72 and 81 they are still rock and roll fans! They went to a Styx concert last year, believe it or not! Rock on Mom and Dad!


And maybe I am a bit nostalgic the past couple of days because my Grandfather's birthday is today and he would have been 98 years old. Yikes! He sadly passed away in 1977 at the age of 67.

My very first 45 rpm

My mom and dad bought me a portable record player back in 1968 and with it a few 45 records and an album which I will post about later. But here is American Breed...Bend Me Shape Me! (I'm nostaltic lately. )

Oldest dog in world

Chanel, the oldest dog in the world just turned 21. What a little sweetheart!

Mother's Day

Today was a very nice Mother's Day. Jeff and Whitney took me, Jon and Jason all out for breakfast at Lumes which has the best breakfast food in the Chicagoland area. I ordered the Florentine Benedict which is pretty much like the Veggie Benedict pictured to the left. Poached eggs with spinach and bacon with a Hollandaise sauce on an English muffin served with home made hashbrown potatoes, and a peach half. Deeeelicious! I also had to cups of decaf with French vanilla creamer.

The restaurant was very busy and we thought we were going to have to wait forever, but fortunately for us, who they called depended on how big of a table or booth opened up and they called us after only about a ten minute wait. When we sat down the bus boys brought water and the poor kid dropped a glass and where did it dump? On Jon's side of the u-shaped booth seat and went all under his butt drenching his pants. But, he didn't get mad, didn't get up...just sat there after wiping up what he could.

We had a real nice time sitting and talking all together for a change. Usually everyone is so busy with work and other things that some days we barely see each other even though we are all under one roof.

Later in the day we went to my mom's place and had Popeye's chicken and then desserts later. My brother and sis-in-law came over and their older son and his girlfriend. It was our first time meeting Meghan and she is a very sweet girl. Mom always buys me and my sister and sis-in-laws presents on Mother's Day even though we are the daughters. Mom gave me a set of Dove body wash, lotion, soap and deodorant and it came with a little scrubbie puff. I love this new fresh Dove cucumber stuff...and I like all their scents. Thanks Mom!

I got Mom a pot of Hens and Chicks. If you don't know what they are, here is a picture:

When I bought the Hens and Chicks plant for my mom, I also bought myself a yellow dahlia plant for the deck. I am still gradually trying to fill my pots with flowers. Five done, fifteen more to go.