One month down, 11 to go....

I am somewhere in the ether these days. During the week I don't know which day is which. It's probably from a lack of human contact. The dog doesn't speak and I only have long conversations with him when I am totally bored. So....on ward and up ward!



The PACKERS are going to the Super Bowl. We're going to a friends house for the afternoon and game. I'm par boiling bratwurst and making baked beans to take over. My mom is coming along too. She will enjoy getting out of her house I am sure. I don't know if they can beat the Steelers, we shall see.



I've got to start boxing things up. I should go to a moving store and buy some boxes or hit up Trader Joes and get some wine boxes to use for books. I also need to start bagging old clothes and dropping them off at the Salvation Army and other thrift stores in the area. I should also start looking at places to move to. I guess I'll call our realtor friend and see if he has any leads. This time we are getting a moving company to move the furniture. If we move all the small stuff, I can get a van and 3 for 4 hours and just move the heavy stuff.


Just for the fun of it, here's the Ipod Shuffle for this morning:
1. Personal Jesus by Johnny Cash
2. Jump With My Baby by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
3. Arabic Dance by the Gipsy Kings
4. Chug All Night by the Eagles
5. I Heard The Voice of Jesus Say by the Trinity College Choir
6. Tired of Your Jive by BB King and Billy Gibbons


In the news:
The riots in Egypt, the Saudi King thinks they are awful. Perhaps he is afraid that people will rise up against the regime and demand equal rights.

Gabrielle Giffords is making progress. Slow and steady.

The guy who shot her will never see freedom again.

The TSA is still crazy. Read their blog about Phil Mocek and you'd never guess that he was acquitted of all charges and the state and TSA lost. Spin doctors rejoice, you can always get a job at TSA.

Charlie Sheen is an entitled little brat who's had everything he's ever wanted and has decided to piss it all away. Now his antics have put a whole lot of people out of work. Hiatus means the producers don't have to pay the crew. No one is that special. I hope the honchos at CBS make him realize that if he doesn't get his act together the show is over. Done. Kaput.

Onto books read, waiting, partially read:

I Know This Much is True: Wally Lamb.
Winter Garden: Kristin Hannah
Heart and Soul: Maeve Binchy
Bone Garden: Tess Gerritsen
A Hundred Years of Solitude: Gabriel Garcia Marquez
You Know When the Men Are Gone: Siobhan Fallon
Freedom: Jonathan Franzen
Angel Time by Anne Rice
Of Love and Evil by Anne Rice

I am waiting for The Handmaid's Tale to get here in the mail. I read it years ago, but after reading a bunch of blogs on patrio-centric Christianity (I use Christian very lightly), they worship the head of the family not Christ and women are subjugated to being helpmeets and SAHM's, they eschew public schooling for home schooling, the outside world is evil. Daughters stay at home until their father's find them a mate and then the father's authority is transferred over to the new man. They are chattel property and it's sad that in a supposedly enlightened time people live this way and believe it's Biblical. I can go on and on but my BP meds might not work.

Well this is more than I envisioned I'd write today.

On a cool note, I saw the Qantas A380 flying alone in a clear blue sky yesterday. What a huge plane. I don't know if I'd want to fly on it or not. I love(d) the 747. Nothing like sitting on the upper deck in a nice big seat. Oh the joys of being a non rev. I truly miss that part of my life.

Peace to all.

Home from the seas is the cruiser

We picked up the cruiser from LAX on Sunday night/Monday morning. She was exhausted. And rightfully so. She flew from FLL to ATL to LAX on the airline i don't like. I wish she could have flown on WN but they couldn't find a flight that would work. It would have saved her and her roommate some $. Her roommate got hit with a $90 overcharge for 2lbs overweight. Nice DL. Real nice.


My kiddo got targeted by ICE in Key West. She was harassed, badgered, falsely accused and had her luggage tossed, as well as her stateroom and the belongings of the other 3 people in the stateroom. Why? The dog alerted outside their door. They had no drugs, they had no contraband, they had nothing. Yet they were treated like hardened criminals by agents of our government. Am I pissed? It's beyond pissed. I am composing with her help a letter to my congressperson, both of my senators and several other people. This is unconscionable, and tells why people are avoiding coming to the US. Treatment of innocent travelers like this :::: ON A CRUISE SHIP AT A US PORT::::: is telling of the gestapo mentality of these employees of the DHS.


So onto other things. There was a shooting at a local high school and it's breaking news.  I bet if I went outside I could see a gaggle of helicopters over their location. It's about 4 miles from here. I knew their old principal. He was a micromanager and didn't foster much love between the parents because literally it was his way or the highway. I worked for him at another high school.



A blogger I have followed for several years got married and quit blogging. She was my sons age and she was a stay at home daughter by choice. Actually she was basically the mother of the family because her mother couldn't deal in my opinion. She home-schooled her brothers, was her younger sisters mother figure, did the accounting for the family farm and other businesses,  bush hogged lots with a tractor and cutter and did a lot of other things. Her mother blogged that her daughter was in training. So she ran the farm. A guy found her blog on the internet and they ended up getting married. I wish her well because she is now in Oxford with her husband. She has a home school high school education. He's a Rhodes Scholar, Princeton graduate who's going to be serving in the Army. I think she's going to have a rough time unless she loosens up. She refers to things as "sweet". Her husband is on a pedestal so high that when he leaves his underwear on the floor, she will gladly pick it up. I commented quite often on her blog but since I left a comment likening watching 27 bellringers (she had them proceed her down the aisle at the wedding) to herding cats, I have been persona non grata. Well honey, I did weddings for 10 years and the ones with children were the hardest to deal with.



And a train wreck that I've followed on another site is now back in her home town and owns 2 homes courtesy of her deceased dad. The homes have been vacant while she has dragged her children from Michigan to New York to Ohio to Kentucky to New York to Kentucky and now back to Michigan. She was with one guy this whole time until the last time in Kentucky. Now she is with someone else. Her little boys have gone along for this road trip. They are 5 and 3. It's amazing how some people fall into it and come up smelling like roses. And as with some vacant homes, they were used as a drug squats and will need a lot of work to make them habitable. I wish her luck too.



I love my new washer. In fact as soon as I am done writing this missive, I am going to start a load. You know when you're down to your emergency underwear it's time to do wash. It's nice to have real clean clothes.



I have some cash for a Christmas present and I think I am going to spend part of it on Itunes. And some books. Good idea. Now I need to get a new Ipod. Maybe....



I wish you peace.

Happy New Year 2011

Albeit a bit late, but I've been way under the weather. Yep, the bug hit me after me thinking that I was going to get away with staying healthy. I was pretty miserable to the point I went to see the doctor. I was on the verge of pneumonia. Nasty bronchitis. I took the Z-pack, used the inhaler (still am because my chest really hurts) and used to codeine cough syrup. I wish I had a percussive vest to break up what ever is still sitting in my chest. And of course, I used the most effective means of birth control ever created::: VICKS!
Vicks on my feet with white cotton socks, Vicks on my chest to aerate the room, and Vicks around my nose.



The social butterfly has been gone since 1 Jan.She's on a cruise. Yesterday she had a day time transit of the Panama Canal. She's had a great time. She will be home on Sunday night. God Willing and the Creeks don't rise.



Been reading a bunch of different and varied blogs. One young woman got married, had 27 bell-ringers, 9 attendants and is now moving to England. I wish her the best. Others, well, let's say I don't think beating your children into submission using the name of the Lord is exactly what he intended. But when you have a skewered knowledge of peace and love in Jesus, and can only see the Lord as a vindictive hate filled figure, sheesh. And then of course the wonderful home schooled quiverfulls who see that sending their girl children to college is worthless. But if something happens and they need to go to the ER, chances are they might be treated by a female doctor who shock of shocks, is educated!!! Such hypocrisy.

Well, it's time I get another load of laundry done, and in my brand new washer with lots of bells and whistles. I am so happy. It's easy to make me happy..... a new Coach purse, dishes done, a new used stove, and a new washer. What an easy lady. Ha. Ha. Ha.

Peace and grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you.