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!