Monday, April 28, 2008

Is It Safe To Come Out Now??

Well, I made it through the MIL and the Auntie's visit. They are leaving this morning and Grover is on his way to see them off. Was it really that bad? No, not really. The boys really, really enjoyed being with them, and the feeling was mutual, so....anything that my babies enjoy, I can deal with:)

Lukas and Jakob got their very first ride on a carousel....the first ride was in one of the teacup things and the second one was on the horses with Dad....Jakob freaked on the horse ....Mom freaked on the teacup. I didn't know those things would spin like that while the rest of the carousel was spinning the other way! Oh, I got sick and dizzy and they had to stop the thing so I could get off. It was pretty funny, after the fact of course.

And I learned this weekend that going out to eat will make you tired. See that's what they like to do....they don't really like to cook at home and they have the money to do it, so they eat out more often than not. They took us out to eat twice and both times I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home. Still am as a matter of fact.

And now, everyone is gone....MIL and Auntie back to Florida, Josh to school, Grover to see his peoples off and then to work. The kids are asleep and the house is quiet. Aaaaaaaahhhh.....how sweet it is! But maybe I should be catching up on MY sleep.....hmmmm. Clean the house or sleep? Clean the house or sleep? I think we all know who is coming out on top in this one.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY GROVER!!!!!!!!! LOVE YA CUZ!

Peace allllllllllll...............

Monday, April 21, 2008

Go Green? You Know Where You Can Go

You know, I'm just gonna say it. If I see one more magazine advertisement, commercial, or product in a store encouraging me to GO GREEN, I'm going to grab the nearest spin doctor and beat the crap out of him or her. I am SO tired of being told what to do by people who think that they know best. So tired.

I recycle. Have been since I was 10 years old.......a little while before it became fashionable. I turn off the lights if I leave the room and I turn off the water while I'm brushing my teeth. Because I don't want a kazillion dollar electricity or water bill that's why. I don't do it because I'm told to....I do it because it makes sense. I don't do it because I think that if I don't I will kill the earth. I do not think that we will ever kill the earth. It will kill us first. Because guess what people? We are ALL going to die eventually.....the earth is gonna last a whole lot longer than we will.

In the rare case of a Christian agreeing with an atheist on anything;), I do wholeheartedly agree with George Carlin on the absolute arrogance of people who want to 'save the planet'. We can't even take care of the PEOPLE on the planet. "4 and a half billion years of existence vs. 200 years or so of industrialism".........well the math is not hard. These people aren't worried about the planet, they're worried about themselves. Half the world is starving, people in Haiti are having to eat dirt cookies and companies are spending billions of dollars to make their packaging pretty and green and pretend they're socially responsible. If you were socially responsible, you'd be sending someone some rice or cheese or something.

My husband, who is a great guy and who really knows how to push my buttons, bought me something yesterday. He bought me a can of chicken noodle soup. Campbell's chicken noodle soup. In a GREEN and white can...in celebration of Earth Day. WTF?????? You just spent millions of dollars to make that can green and white and with the money you spent to do that you could have just sent some soup to somebody who was HUNGRY!

I celebrate earth day every day. Every day I go outside and I am thankful that we (I and the earth) are still here for another day. And then I proceed to use a little common sense to help take care of the place where I live. I don't do it because it's socially fashionable and I don't do it because some celebrity told me I should. I do it because it makes sense. I don't make commercials about it and I don't take out ads for it. I prefer to use my money for a better cause........like helping the PEOPLE who are on the planet. By trying to make a person or two's life a little easier while they're here on this planet.

My point is, take care of your part of the earth because it makes sense, not because it makes you look good.

And now, I am going outside, taking a deep breath of fresh air, while it's still available, and reminding myself to take care of my little corner of the earth while I'm still here.

Peace allllll................

Friday, April 18, 2008

Hey all....

Sorry I haven't been around much lately. Been trying to prepare for the MIL's impending doom, OOPS...visit. Cleaning, cleaning and cutting the grass and all the various minor junk one must do. Will be back with a real post soon.....

Oh, not to pat my own back or toot my own horn....oh, who am I kidding? Yes I am:) I have been a NON-SMOKER for three weeks today!! Whoo hoo for me!!

Peace alllll..........

Monday, April 14, 2008

My, Grandma....What Big Eye You Have!

The following is a true story.....seriously.

A friend of mine, I'll call him Mr. Naive, bought a digital TV a couple of weeks ago. Well, he had the parental locks set on it so that his children could not access certain channels. One day he wanted to access one of those channels for himself. He couldn't remember the password he had used to set the locks, and he couldn't find the paperwork where he had written it down. (Organization is obviously not one of Mr. Naive's strong suits.)

So, he went to the store where he had bought it to see if they could help him. Of course, they could not. But they did give him a phone number to call. He goes home, he calls the number. After a couple of mechanical menus and a few minutes of irritation, he reaches a real live person. Great! Now we can fix the problem. We'll call the real live person on the other end of the phone Mr. Brother.....Mr. B. Brother if you will.

Okay, Mr. Brother asks Mr. Naive to look on the back of the TV set and give him the registration number and so Mr. Naive does. A few keystrokes later, Mr. Brother says, "Okay, okay...there.....I've GOTCHA!" Mr. Naive does not like the sound of this and asks "What do you mean?" to which Mr. Brother responds "I'm looking at your house from one of our satellites....go outside." Mr. Naive goes outside and Mr. Brother says " Yeah, there you are at such and such street. You're wearing a red shirt and you have a blue truck parked in the drive." At this point Mr. Naive is starting to freak out a little and goes back in the house.

Once back in the house, Mr. Brother asks Mr. Naive to take a seat and he will fix the problem with his TV. He says that it will take a few moments and suggests that Mr. Naive might want to get something to drink. Mr. Naive says that he already has a soda to which Mr. Brother responds "No, you don't....I'm looking right at you." He then went on to describe Mr. Naive's living room furniture, etc. right down to the pictures on the walls. How could he do this? Well, it turns out that Mr. Brother was looking at Mr. Naive through his own TV.

What? Mr. Naive is then instructed to turn his TV off and Mr. Brother will then fry the system so that he can access whatever channels he wants. Of course, this will permanently wreck his parental lock system so that he can never use it again...but I don't think that at this point Mr. Naive really cares. So, after a second the big green dot appears on the screen, gets brighter and brighter, the TV starts rattling (literally shaking like it will explode) and poof, it's done. The TV is reset. And so is Mr. Naive's trust in his government.

You know, way back when Orwell wrote 1984, big brother was really just a matter of fantasy. Now it is a matter of reality. There are cameras on our street corners, at every traffic light, in every sewer and subway system. Some of these are for safety reasons, sure. But why in the world would you want to look into my living room or my bedroom? And now we have this whole switch over to digital TV for everyone in 2009. Hmmmmm...........I am not a conspiracy theorist or anything.....my name is not Fox Mulder. But it will certainly make you think won't it?

And it makes me think that I'll be doing a whole lot more reading in the future, because I"m probably throwing my TVs out. They might view me with some other camera but they're not gonna get my help to do it.

Just remember, next time you go outside SMILE for the camera that's watching you.......and if there are no small children around, you can use your favorite obscene gesture as well:)

Peace allllllllll..................

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Irritation, Frustration and All the Other Ations

I'm frustrated and irritated.

I am frustrated because people have a tendency to frustrate and irritate other people and this is what has happened to me recently. Some of it could be considered none of my business but that has never stopped me (or any other breathing human) from having an opinion.

I'm irritated that a whore has a "singing career" jump started and people are inordinately interested in her because she's a whore. Prostitute, call girl, trollop....whatever you wanna call it...a ho is a ho is a ho. Not that I have anything against them necessarily, except for their tendency to perpetuate the marginalization, objectification and exploitation of women in our society. Sorry, yes you CAN work at Waffle House. (And no, I don't think I am better than anyone......except maybe someone who would sleep with a married man and use the fallout from it NOT to apologize for my part in it but to further my non-existent "career".)

I'm frustrated because I've been watching American Idol and this whole talk of some the contestants having had previous record deals is annoying. In my fantasies, the winner of this show should be someone who has been plucked from the cornfields of Kansas or the subways of New York....a person whose only audience to this point has been their church members or their parents or the family cat, or horse, or chicken. You know, a real undiscovered talent. These people with their previous record deals that went nowhere, well you had your shot, now let someone else get theirs.

I'm aggravated because this season's crop on Hell's Kitchen is pathetic.

I'm frustrated because no network execs have come to make a reality show out of MY life....I gots some reality for ya! And it has nothing to do with big boobs and who is sleeping with whom.

I'm irritated because my mother -in-law and her sister are coming to town for the weekend of Grover's birthday. Oh, I love them....it just takes an entire month for me to get the house "clean enough" for them. And even then it won't be....you know it won't. And he acts like a totally different person when his mom is here.....kinda rude and patronizing like he's afraid I'll make a mistake or something. What kind of mistake? Oh, who knows....maybe buying the wrong kind of gum...something dumb like that. The whole thing is making him a nervous wreck and irritating me.

I'm aggravated because I reallllllllly want a cigarette.....realllllly.

And I'm frustrated because, courtesy of YouTube (which I love, don't get me wrong), idiots can become stars overnight. Literally.

And on that note, let me figure out how this webcam thing works.:)

Peace alllllll..............

Thursday, April 03, 2008

Additions and Checking In

I woke up today, went to the bathroom, took out the trash, and woke Grover up for work ......all without coughing once. So? So, I haven't been able to wake up without hacking up a lung in 10 years! Yeah, this whole no smoking thing is working out pretty well. This whole gaining weight thing ....well, maybe not so much:)

We have had a few new members added to our household recently. We got a call yesterday from a friend of mine asking if we wanted a dog. Well, as you know, we only lost Prancer last week, so we weren't really sure if it was too soon or if we should wait. But, since it was my friend calling, we thought we would go over and give it a look-see. It was a little rat terrier/hound puppy who was about two seconds from having to go to the pound. It was love at first sight. When Grover gets watery eyed, know that all bets are off.....the puppy was coming with us.:)

So we got him home and made introductions all around and the puppy proceeded to start jumping on Foxy's head....which she did not like at all but she put up with it. We have named the puppy Colonel. Because he came in and took over the house:)

Our cat Thunder just had a litter of kittens 3 days ago. Her first litter but she's a natural born mommy cat. She has 4 babies...don't know if they're boys or girls yet...haven't wanted to bother her by looking. But I have explained to her that this is her last hurrah. She's getting spayed in 6 weeks. We had the appointment to do it 2 months ago, but that was before we realized she was pregnant already. Tramp:)

So, let's do the head count now for sprinkleshouse:

2 dogs
2 cats
4 kittens
2 little boys
1 teenager
1 dad

and me.

Where did I put my Calgon? I think I'm gonna need it!

Peace alllllllllllllll.............