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 |  My Blog....Pearls of wisdom and/or foolish mutterings.....You be the judge.... |
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A little of this, a dash of that......epic mood swings.......A LOT of foolish mutterings and occasionally a few words of wisdom. It's a crapshoot. You never know what you'll find in here... |
| I miss blogging. And I miss reading all my friends' blogs and making smart-ass comments (or incredibly insightful comments, as the case may be.) And I miss reading everyone's incredibly insightful and/or smart ass comments to my blog. Being a NANO Robot has its perks, but there's a definite downside. Oh, I almost forgot - there's one more thing I miss. I really miss reviewing. Which I find amazing because when I first became a member on WDC, reviewing was not one of my favorite things. But after a while, it started to grow on me and now, lo and behold, blogging and reviewing are my two favorite activities EVER in the history of the world. Okay, well that might be a slight overstatement, but not by much. So, today I am allowing myself to procrastinate. I got up this morning and logged on to MySpace, posted a few comments, sent some bumper stickers, had a few chuckles, posted a few more comments, dilly-dallied around and now I'm here to blog. With nothing to say, of course, since I haven't blogged in way too long and my damn muse is over in NANO-land, impatiently tapping her foot and shooting me dirty looks. She can be such a bitch sometimes. I fully intend to procrastinate more later today by going to Bed, Bath and Beyond to wander around aimlessly. I haven't done that in a very long time and I can feel it calling me. I may even wander over to Barnes and Noble after that and hang out there for a while, but that is dangerous because I can get stuck there for days, years even. When I arranged my schedule for completing NANO on time, I did build a few procrastination/break days in there, but those have already been gobbled up because my youngest grandson (yes, the brand-spankin' new one) got sick and was in the hospital and I had Baby Ray with me for a few days. For those of you who are mothers of young children and are doing NANO, my hat is off to you. I couldn't even think about writing while Baby Ray was here. He never stops moving, is a one man demolition derby all by himself and aside from all that, he's just so darn cute that he's irresistible. So, for days, I got absolutely nothing done on my novel. Not word one. Normally I would burn the midnight oil to catch up, but I don't seem to have any midnight oil to burn after keeping Baby Ray. Sleep is far too compelling to me after the sun goes down. Several nights of sleeping with an almost-one-year-old left me with an insatiable need to catch up on some REAL sleep. While I had Baby Ray here, I seriously questioned how I was ever able to raise four - count 'em - four children from infancy to full grown adult status. Yep, being young definitely has mad benefits. Enough with the rambling already. Have to get back to NANO-land before that testy Muse of mine comes over here and slaps me upside the head. It's been fun...... Don't forget me...... I will return...... |
| And now, for my thoughts on the election: 1. I was reluctant to open my email this morning, knowing there would be a barrage of “The Sky is Falling” emails and, sure enough, I was right. Some of them were rather frightening in their intensity. 2. I too prayed that God’s will would be done in this election and, while I certainly had my own thoughts about President-elect Obama, I have refused to be swept up into the afore-mentioned “sky is falling” mentality that is so pervasive among so many of my evangelical Christian friends at the moment. 3. I don’t know if it’s due to my having lived long enough to have “been there, done that” (in my younger, more impressionable days when I was apt to jump on the bandwagon with all the other doomsayers who were convinced they knew God’s mind then) or if it’s because I truly have come to trust that God does indeed know what he is doing and that He didn’t wake up surprised this morning, but whatever the reason, I remain confident in the fact that my future and that of America is in God’s hands—the same place it would have been if McCain had been elected. I don’t put my faith in man, my faith is in God. 4. On a completely non-partisan and non-spiritual front, I recognize that I have just witnessed a historic event – a black man has been elected President of the United States. Whether that will be good or bad has nothing to do with the color of his skin, but has everything to do with the man and what he chooses to do with the power of the office he has been elected to. 5. Another historic event took place during this election, as well. Younger generations not only got interested and informed, they got involved—in numbers not seen since the days of JFK. That is not a bad thing, it was a badly needed occurrence. 6. America is in trouble. It has been in trouble for a long time. It is not in trouble simply because Barak Obama has been elected President, in the same way that it was not in trouble simply because George W Bush has been President for eight years. The reasons run much deeper than that, are myriad and too numerous to list. Furthermore, God has either ordained this or allowed it--(my faith tells me that there is no authority except that which God has established [Romans 13:1-2])—either way, God is still the one in charge. 7. No, President-Elect Obama was not the candidate I wanted to win. Truth be told, neither was John McCain. But, as my good friend David McClain  says," I will respect the man, because I respect the office." And because God tells me to do so; again from Romans 13:1-2 - "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities."God Bless America. |
| Okay, I'm far enough into it now that I'm willing to 'fess up and publicly commit. Yes, I'm doing Nano - first time. I'm 5,616 words into it as of today - a little behind goal, but not far. Tonight I am E.X.H.A.U.S.T.E.D. With that said, I am going to bed. Sleep well, all, and good luck to all you NANOers.  |
Some adorably precious pictures of my grandchildren, some wild pictures of my children and a MahJongg group gone wild... Yes, folks, Halloween does strange things to people.  |
| Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been a week since my last confession........ Hee hee - just a little humor there - very little, I know. (I've never even been Catholic, but I've watched tv and that's what they always say when they go in that little room next to the priest. It has been a week since I updated my blog and, of course, that pesky little blog reminder I set once upon a blue moon has been bugging the crap out of me. So, to get the monkey off my back, I figured I'd better find something to blog about. I managed to get myself a teensy bit over-committed and one of my favorite activities - blogging - has suffered for it. I really miss blogging when I don't do it. But my email friends get a payoff from it because it's at those times when I tend to write long, rambling emails to them. Those words have to come out somewhere, I figure. There is a flip side to that, though, that I'm sure they don't appreciate so much. When I write a long, chatty email, well... I expect to receive a long, chatty email back. I have a couple of friends who do respond in kind, but when they don't, to be quite honest, I hound them mercilessly. I can be quite the nag when I have to. And let's face it - there are those times when nagging is a necessity. I try to be patient and talk myself through it, telling myself when I check my email and there is NOTHING (well, actually LESS THAN NOTHING because there are always those irritating emails from sites I signed up with and now still get emails years later, emails that I don't give a hoot about reading) that if I will just be patient, they will write when they have a chance. Patience has never been one of my virtues, so I never quite manage to leave it alone. When I don't get the return email I'm looking for, I am compelled to dash off some incredibly witty, two or three liner that is specifically designed to kick-start my friend into writing me back. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Here's where the nagging part comes in. And to any of you who have seen me nag, it's not something you want to be subjected to. Actually I shouldn't even be admitting to nagging in a public forum. No telling who might obtain that information and use it against me. But... what the hell. I think I'll just throw caution to the wind and admit not only to nagging, but also to being slightly compulsive, a procrastinator, maybe just a tad stubborn and oh, yeah, a meddler. That's all I'm admitting to today. The more heinous sins I'll save for my tell-all-book that I'll write when I'm on my death bed. Enough with the confessing already. How about some trivial minutiae from my daily life? Yes, you shout? Okay, well here goes. My 10-month-old grandson, Baby Ray, spent the night with me last night. It wasn't planned, it just happened because my daughter and her hubby had to take Baby Ray's tiny little 3 week old brother to the ER. Turns out poor little Isaiah inherited his father's asthma just like his big brother did. So, Baby Ray spent the night with Mimi and GrandDad. Baby Ray and I took pity on GrandDad and let him have the bed to himself, while we went upstairs and slept in one of the guestrooms. Ray actually slept better than I thought he would and my worst fears did not materialize - I was not up all night with a fussy baby. I'm not sure I would know how to do that anymore. Baby Ray and I slept peacefully through the night and this morning at about 7:30, I woke up to the most cherubic little smiling face. It was a wonderful way to start the day and I'm still feeling the effects of it. I'm trying to teach Ray to say "Mimi." He hasn't said it yet, but every time I tell him, "Say Mimi," his face lights up and he points at me. That's good enough for now. God sure knew what He was doing when he created babies. Are they not just the absolute embodiment of pure, unadulterated joy? ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** |
I just want to say thank you all for your kind and supportive comments to my last blog entry. You are all wonderful friends and your support means a lot to me.  |
| Once upon a time, I went to Barnes and Noble in search of a book by an obscure author, one whose name escapes me at the moment. I searched the shelves for a while myself without asking for any help (because I have this quirky thing about not asking for directions or help if I can avoid it - don't ask, I don't know why.) Finally, I gave up and went to the help desk and asked where I could find any book written by this particular author. The woman at the held desk was very pleasant; she asked me for the spelling of the name and then typed it into her computer. Then me she looked me dead in the eyes and said, "I'm sorry, we don't carry any books by that ARTHUR." I was certain I must have misunderstood her. "Pardon me?" I asked, suppressing a laugh that was fighting its way up from my belly. And once again, she said to me, very clearly and slowly this time as if I were a dim-witted child, "I said we don't carry books by that ARTHUR." I couldn't help myself. "You have nothing by that AUTHOR?" with great emphasis on the last word. "I'm sorry, ma'am," with a tinge of irritation in her voice, "that ARTHUR is not even in our database." I mumbled my thanks to her as I turned away, by now stifling a giggle that refused to be contained. I tried to continue shopping because I can spend hours in Barnes and Noble, but my periodic outbursts of giggling were disturbing the other customers, not to mention making them look at me sideways like I was some kind of idiot. I left the store and drove home, laughing out loud all the way home. I kept repeating to myself, "We don't carry books by that ARTHUR." Then I would launch into a fresh bout of uncontrolled giggling. I still chuckle when I think about it. The question begs to be asked: In an interview with this woman for a job at the helpdesk in Barnes and Noble, how in the world did the word "author" never come up? And if it didn't, well, I think that B&N should make that a standard part of their interview process. They should have the word "author" written on a notecard, which they could push across the table and ask the interviewee to pronounce the word for them. I think I'll send them that suggestion. Arthur, indeed! |
| More photos from the Balloon Fest in Albuquerque. I took these in October of 2007. Enjoy! |
....then I just posted a book. Check out my new photo album.   |
| I haven't written anything in my blog today because I've been having a hair crisis. I think I may be recovered enough to write about it now, but if, for any reason, something causes me to get up from my chair and walk by a mirror... well, I probably won't be finishing this entry. I will be in the bathroom obsessing over my hair. I had an appointment yesterday to get my hair cut. You know how it is when you have the perfect haircut and in the twinkle of an eye, it grows just a fraction of an inch too much and suddenly it goes from perfect haircut to--well, in my case, it went to mullet-gone-wild. So, that by itself was bad enough because I had to go to both the Renaissance Festival and the Texans game with bad hair. Really bad hair. Seriously, mullet-gone-wild. But I suffered through and managed to bide my time until I could get in to my hairdresser at the soonest possible moment, which happened to be Tuesday at noon. The reason I used to have the perfect haircut is because when I went to Las Vegas recently, there was a woman standing in front of me at the airport when we were coming home who had MY haircut. Well, she had what I wanted to be my haircut. The one I knew I wanted but had not been able to describe well enough to my stylist for her to cut it that way. So I asked her if I could take a picture of her hair; she said sure and I took front, side and back views. Then I took those pictures to my stylist and voila'--the perfect haircut was mine. I carefully folded up those pictures, which I had printed full-size on 8 1/2 X 11 paper, and put them in my purse to carry with me at all times so they would be available to refresh my stylist's memory when it came time for the next haircut. Unfortunately, I changed purses several times since my last haircut and somehow the Hair Gods were not with me and my pictures did not make the switch to the purse I carried yesterday. WTF? I was about to have a freak out when my stylist - let's just call her Madame X to protect her privacy since I am about to bash her skills really badly - Madame X said to me, "Don't worry, I think I can remember the cut." Then she described what sounded to my untrained ears (I am not a hair stylist, just a hair-wearer) like the perfect cut she gave me last time. Stupidly, I said, "Yeah, that sounds right. Okay, go ahead." She did not remember the cut. What she remembered is some kind of haircut that says, "Nothing to look at here folks. I'm just the boring, completely unoriginal hair of a house frau. No mystery or excitement here at all. Move along." And to make matters worse, my boring box-head cut is so short that I can't go back to Madame X and have her re-cut it because then I might end up with a flat-top or something equally hideous. I'll tell you one thing, though. I rifled through my purses today until I found those freakin' pictures of the perfect haircut and they are now safely ensconced in the bag I'm carrying now (lot of good that's doing me now, right?) and when I change purses again, those pictures will be the FIRST thing that gets transferred to the new bag. Can you believe I just wrote a whole blog about a bad haircut? Well, you would have no trouble believing it if you saw my hair right now, but you won't see it. Frankly, I'm tempted to wear a bag over my head when I leave the house until my damn hair grows out. Thanks a lot Madame X. You do not have mad hair-cutting skills as I mistakenly believed. |
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