Feel Like Complaining

I like to call my daughter's room "The Pit". It got to a point of being so messy I couldn't stand it anymore. I can't say it's any different than my room used to look like when I was younger though. Mine and both of my brother's rooms were upstairs and my parents never came up there so they didn't really care what our rooms looked like. They figured if we had friends over and if we were embarrassed by our messy rooms then that would be motivation enough to clean it. I remember my floor was so littered with clothes that I couldn't even see the carpet. But our daughter's room is very visible to anyone that comes over and needs to use the bathroom so it was time to clean it. We started on the first weekend of her Christmas vacation. First, we pulled everything out, except for the large pieces of furniture. While my husband and I vacuumed, cleaned windows and re-arranged the furniture she was left in charge of separating things into piles of keep,...

A few weeks ago my husband brought home a magazine. The owner of the small airfield he goes to thought our daughter would like to look at the photography work in it. The magazine is called Elite Traveler, The Private Jet Lifestyle Magazine. We could see a little price tag in the bottom corner that read $50.00. My husband thought it was the price of the dress the model was wearing on the cover. "Uh, don't think so", I said as I found the price of the dress to be $1300.00. So that means that the per-issue price is $50.00. I went online to see how much a subscription to the magazine was. A mere drop in the bucket for some, $155.00 for a year/6 issues. In this particular issue as well as most I believe, it was filled with ads for beautiful watches that look like pieces of art. And with prices not even listed I don't believe I'd even want to inquire. There are also ads for Executive Jets and Little Indulgences such as a man purse embossed with a tattoo in Utah ca...

My younger brother gave my me, mom and our other brother Amaryllis plants for Christmas. My mom has been sending us updates about everyday on its progress. This morning she said one of the two buds has a total of 4 blooms on it. This was my younger brother's response. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What? No pictures? Mom, take your digital camera, take a pic, download it to your ipad, upload it to your server, save it as a zip file, compress it, but don't forget the USB port cable to the 2nd phase server port, failing this step will cause your hard drive to crash. After all these steps are done you can  cut, copy and paste it to your Facebook home page, but you'll have to use your special thumb-drive with the duel scuss port that simply plugs into the back of your i-pood. But don't forget to download the special software for the thumb-drive, this can be downloaded by going to the website www.imso fu@&king confused.com Sooooo simple, it's funny. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~...

We've probably all seen it by now; the girl in Pennsylvania who was texting and walking at the same time and fell into a mall fountain. Except the girl is 49 year old Cathy Cruz Marrero and she works in the mall. I saw her on Good Morning America this morning with her attorney and they are contemplating suing the Berkshire Mall's security office. Granted, they should not have used the video of her falling and posted it on You Tube. She was squeezing out alligator tears, upset that no one came to her aid after seeing her fall and you can clearly hearing the security officers laughing on the video. She also said that what if a senior citizen had fallen and hurt themselves; would anyone have helped? But.....she is a grown woman who should have known better.  She was not hurt, only embarrassed by her own stupidity. If an elderly person had fallen and been hurt I'm sure many people would have come to his/her aid, as well as security. Clearly if you see a fool texting while ...

As we have now rounded the corner into the New Year and there are hopes of Spring and even Summer, I'm starting to see more tourism commercials for destinations near and far. I saw one the other day that featured Australia. Maybe it was just the timing but I thought it was in bad taste. It's like they were trying to advertise that the whole country is not under water. Then again, maybe it was shown for that reason to bring more tourists into the area to help. I remember years ago when Florida was going through some rough times, whether it was hurricanes or some other natural disaster but the tourism board was working overtime trying to make the state look inviting. But what do people think about the commercials that showcase their own communities? Do other destinations look so much better than your own? Do you snort with laughter and say 'yea right', when you see your own town in a commercial? I do. As far as I know I've only seen one commercial touting Spokane...

Our sweet dog Nellie is as good as you can get. She's 10 and is now in the mellow stage of life, rather than her past hellion days. She loves walks and going anywhere in the car with us. She does have a few downfalls though, her Irrational Fears. Mops Vacuum Cleaner Things that Click and Beep Hoses and Sprinklers Fireplaces Vinyl Floors We keep the mop in a closet in the basement. Whenever she hears the door open she starts pacing. Same with the vacuum, which is in another closet. She starts running all over the house trying to get away when that closet is opened for any reason. As far as I know no one in this house has ever tried to clean her with a mop or suck her up. Microwave beeps don't bother her but the smoke alarm beep does. That could have started when I almost burned the house down by not opening the flue while building a fire. But that was a long time ago, honest. When she hears the smoke alarm beep to tell us to change the battery she starts quaking and sti...

Our beautiful 15 year old daughter is smarter than both of us combined. She's on the National Honor Society and is so close to having a 4.0 this semester. But....sometimes she is so dense we have to laugh. Last night we were watching Gold Rush on the History channel and a commercial for Viagra came on. The announcer said to make sure you talk to your doctor about having sex if you have a heart condition. This is the conversation that ensued. Daughter: "This is a very legitimate question. Why would you have to talk to your doctor about having sex if you have a heart condition." Hubby: "Because sex is a stimulant and you have to be careful if you have a bad heart." Sometimes there is an ick factor when father talks about sex so I tried to put it more medical terms explaining that it's a physical activity like doing a treadmill and you should check with your doctor first before you engage in that activity. Getting back to  her dad's comment she ...

I went to Walmart early this morning to do my shopping and beat the crowd. I got behind a young mother who's cart was loaded with groceries and two kids, around the ages of 4 and 5. Apparently she  used to work there so her and the cashier were catching up. I missed the first part of the conversation but the cashier asked young mama what hobby she was referring to. "IM'ing", she said. The puzzled look on the cashier's face told me that she had no idea what that meant. Young Mama explained, "Instant Messaging, I talk to guys all over the world, like England and India. I love talking to the guys in India, they're soooooo fun."  She went on and on about how much she loved this hobby of hers. The cashier asked what her husband thought of her hobby. "I'm only allowed to IM from 8 to 4 and then when he gets home I have to stop", she explained. When I finally got up to the cashier I told her that I'm probably quite boring in co...

I thought this was a funny one and a good way to start the New Year. Just don't go tying cowbells to your legs and arms. ~~~~~~~~ An ear-splitting, booze-soaked party in downtown Spokane ushered in 1911. "Squads of young men paraded the streets with cow bells tied to their legs and arms," reported The Spokesman-Review. Riverside Avenue was jammed "to the clock posts" with revelers, while the districts closer to the railroad tracks had their own way of celebrating. "Along Front and Main avenues, the festivities resolved into drinking bouts in many of the saloons, which were packed to the doors with men of the laboring and roving classes," said a reporter. "The Chinese quarters gave vent to their feelings at midnight by firing cannon crackers." A sober-minded squad of roaming ministers apparently had little effect on the revelry. One young woman, "not out of her teens," got dead-drunk at the Silver Grill and had to be carr...

No----not my husband! proud grandpa My husband and I finally got to meet his first born son's first born son over Christmas. That was the only gift I wanted this year. Before the baby came along, visits were very brief and more time was usually spent with my husband's ex and my stepson's wife's family. But while were on the phone discussing logistics and meals before they even got to town, I gently brought up that fact and that we often felt like we got the short end of the stick.   hanging on my every word  They only had 9 days to spend time with so many people but they really made an effort to fit everyone in. We saw them for a few hours on Christmas morning for brunch at my other stepson's place. Little Tyler is pretty content to be passed around to total strangers. He's quick to smile and has the most beautiful blue eyes. But being a typical 5 month old, he got tired, hungry, and cranky quickly.  Then they stopped by...