Feel Like Complaining

Summertime is the time for swimming, ice-cream, and camping. It is also the time for road construction. I don't know about where you live, but here in our city it seems like every main thoroughfare is going through some type of fixin' up. We live on a busy one way street and the neighbors behind us live on the opposite one way street. A few years ago we went through a total  tear down and rebuild of both of those streets, not just a simple repaving. It was a pain but worth the inconvenience now that we have a nice smooth road to drive on. Traffic from another nearby street in repair is being diverted to our street now.  There is so much more traffic and it's getting hard to get across; either while walking or driving. Yesterday when my husband and I were on the way to the store we had quite a wait before we could get across. He said "Those Alberta people are so rude. They come over here and drive too fast and won't let me cross when I'm trying to walk the...

After my most depressingt post the other day I thought I should lighten it up a bit. I got this stuff out of a catalog that I order doggy supplements from. In North Carolina, it is against the law to use elephants to plow cotton fields. People can be fined, arrested or jailed for making ugly faces at a dog in Oklahoma. It is illegal to take a French Poodle to the opera in Chicago. In Texas, it's illegal to put graffiti on someone else's cow. In New York, donkeys are not allowed to sleep in bathtubs. In Baltimore, Maryland, it is necessary to document any services performed by a jackass. In Seattle, goldfish can ride the city buses in bowls only if they keep still. In Oklahoma, it is illegal to get a fish drunk. If the admission fee is paid before they enter, horses in Burns, Oregon, are allowed in the town's taverns. Cats in International Falls, Minnesota, are not allowed to chase dogs up telephone poles. Fights between cats and dogs are prohibited by statue in ...

Do you ever have days when you just feel like crap? Not physically, but mentally? Today is one of those days. Nothing anybody can say or do will make it feel any better. It's not one thing in general bothering me but many things, all piled up. I'm aggravated that my plantar faciitis is back. I have been pain free since last fall but even my beloved Crocs can't help me now. I change my shoes 2-3 times a day to try and find some comfort. It's always worse in the morning and I swear if I had a pair of crutches handy this morning I would have used them. Tape a marble to the bottom of your foot in the heel area, and try to walk. Yea, that's it. Walking the dog has been out for months. I go occasionally but pay for it later in the day. I even bought some new expensive shoes but had to break them in slowly due to pain. And with vacation coming up in a week and-a-half, what fun am I going to be? A few years ago I was sidelined from walking on beach and had to watch my hus...

A small group of girls I graduated with invited me to a S.L.U.T. weekend. This is the third year they've gotten together but only the first that I had been invited. I guess it paid to join Facebook and reconnect with friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I thought it was something they came up with but found out later that it is an acronym used by a lot of women. Stress-Out Ladies Unwinding Together seems like a good excuse as any to get together to drink, laugh so hard you wet your pants, and relive old high school memories. I laughed as I packed my bag for the weekend. Back in high school I would have packed makeup, clothes, sleeping bag and a pillow. Oh and lots of alcohol. This time I packed clothes of course but also so many more comforts from home. Advil, earplugs, sunscreen, sleeping bag with two foam pads, my special buckwheat pillow plus another one that I use between my knees, no makeup, and three measly Mike's Hard Lemonade's. It was a beautif...

Our local news has a neat little daily bit called "Cool Clicks". Colleen will give us a daily cool click that makes life easier or just plain fun. I might start posting more of them from now on. If you go to I Write Like and paste in an entire blog post (or anything you write) it will analyze the type of famous writer you most write like. I used ten random posts and came up with a variety of writers. Cory Doctorow 4 Stephen King 2 Mario Puzo 1 Charles Dickens 1 Agatha Christie 1 David Foster Wallace 1 I don't believe for a minute that I can be compared to Charles Dickens or Stephen King but that Cory guy sounds cool and I should check him out. He must be a sarcastic witty guy. So go give it a try and let me know who You most write like.

A few weeks ago I was reading my friend Grumpys account of his life of crime as a youth. I won't tell you what he was reading to bring about such memories. There's all kinds of mischief one can get into, especially from living in a small town. Trouble ranges anywhere from throwing snowballs at cars while hiding in the park. Going to one of biggest parties of the summer; hosted by the ministers son. Hanging out with a bunch of friends when one of them throws a rock and breaks the school's window. The assembly on Monday morning was NOT pleasant and I think my friend finally confessed after the Principal threatened to take the entire school hostage. I would say that most activities started with drinking and probably ended with drinking too. I had a hangover when I took the test for my drivers license on my 16th birthday. I don't suggest anyone does that, but I passed anyway. Now I could legally be more of a menace on the road. But then I tried to think of the worst t...

I've had a laptop for about 6 months now but had to rely on dial-up to use it. The low price I pay for dial-up makes it worth not switching to high speed. But we're going on vacation in a month and I want to take it with me. Knowing my phone cord won't reach that far, I started researching usb broadband modems. I contemplated Cricket, but after reading such bad reviews about the product and customer service, decided against it. Then I ran across the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go  . After you buy the usb modem, there are no monthly bills to contend with or hunting for wifi spots. You pay as you go with varied plans and use the same coverage area as their cell phones. I mapped the area we're going and we will be able to use it just about everywhere we go, with the exception of our motel. And that's only because it's pretty remote. I can't give too much away because we're keeping our destination a secret from our daughter. She hates being tortured but I l...

My older brother and his wife recently went to San Francisco where he took this picture of a 'for rent' sign. Two bedroom, one bath--$2,495.00 PLUS another $150.00 for parking. That's 4x our house payment for a month. Just another good reason to stay away from California.