Books I read in 2014

It definitely had to be the fact that I read this many books this year was because I was stuck baby sitting my old washing machine. I guess it is a good excuse as any, huh?

But, how nice. To be forced to step away from the computer, away from the television, away from the kitchen (that is constantly calling me) to stay downstairs with nothing to entertain me except for a stack of books and (when charged) my Nook.

I must have 200 plus books uploaded into that little device. Most of the books come recommended by magazines that I read on-line. I then look up the author and instead of just downloading that one book, I download all by that author.

However, in the case of Atkins - the characters are the same, as are the Jack Reacher ones.

I will try to skip around and read various authors. The Nook is still a puzzle for me, though. I swear the books move. I go to the library - they are not there. I go to lost files, they are there. The next time I go to choose a book, they are no longer in lost files - they are on my shelf. WTH?

It is probably me. I am probably doing something to shuffle them around.

I got the idea for this challenge from Raaji.  Her "Writings for Life" blog. When I started to research and look at all the books I read this year, I almost fell off of my chair. I could not believe it. I don't think I've read like this since before High School. And fiction, to boot. I like biographies and auto biographies and non-fiction the best.

Well, here it goes. For what it's worth. I also think I read them much too fast to retain much from them. Shame on me.

The Wild - Cheryl Strayed

The Ranger  - Ace Atkins

The Broken Places -  Ace Atkins

The Woman Upstairs - Claire Messud

Snow White Must Die  - Nele Neuhaus

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

Tortilla Flat -  John Steinbeck

Things I Overheard While Talking to Myself - Alan Alda

American Rust -  Philipp Meyer

Justified - Elmore Leonard

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star - Paul Theroux

I Loved Lucy - Lee Tannen

Killing Floor (Jack Reacher) - Lee Child

The Other Typist  -  Suzanne Rindell

The Next Best Thing - Jennifer Weiner

Crazy Rich  Asians    -  Kevin Kwan

The Great Gatsby -  F Scott Fitzgerald

The Silent Wife  - A.S.A. Harrison

Love and Limerence - Dorothy Tannov

Some of the book reading ideas came from a movie I watched or plan to watch. Some books (actual hardback physical "hold in your hands") came as gifts. Others are quick pdf files that can easily be downloaded from free Internet sites.

I do want to watch the movie "The Wild" now, of course. What book stayed with me the most? I was looking at the list and thinking about this.

Hmmm.....

I have no idea.

The North Koreans can have it

The movie, that is. "The Interview".  Why did I watch it? I caved to the propaganda. The only part I enjoyed was the puppy (similar shown above) near the end of the movie and the beginning with Eminem. He played his part so dead pan.

Between the beginning and the end, I was reminded why I do not care for S Rogen films. I paid nothing for the film, so at least I did not have that loss.

Christmas eve found us traveling in a hellacious rain storm. At one point, I just could not see. Fortunately for me, I had a car ahead of me (follow the red tail lights) and the vehicle behind me backed off so I did not feel as if I were being "pushed".

We passed no less than four vehicles pulled over, and two serious-looking accidents. A Merry Christmas was NOT had by all.

I hinted to this group that we planned on skipping next year. I hope I can stick to my guns and follow through. Years ago when my sister was incarcerated, I had her two children at my house for Chistmas every year. Now, she is out - they are both married and have children of their own - they have plenty in their family and I feel that it is time to just return to mine. I travel to them now, because it is just the three of us. I hope they understand. Maybe they will be just as relieved.

Anyway, take the security off of Franco and Rogen. I don't think anybody wants to hurt them except for perhaps Katy Perry for ruining her song "Firework".  

Remember Downton Abbey's Mathew Crawley?

Well..here he is in the move "The Guest".  I didn't like him on the Downton Abbey show, although I did not want to see him die.

No wonder he moved on. How boring Downton must be compared to this.

We didn't have a Santa

...but we did have a little elf show up.

Yes, this past Saturday was my family holiday Christmas dinner get together. We have it at a restaurant. 26 adults and 10 children. 10 were unable to make it.

I nearly lost my voice trying to re-gain control of the crowd so that I could finish the games and hand out the remaining gifts. It was a lost effort. My voice just was not strong enough.

I did the usual games of pictures and they were to guess the song the picture depicted. Love that game. I had 4 versions.

For the little ones, there are questions such as "What color is the Grinch?"  "What is the name of one of the reindeer?"  What instrument does "The Little Drummer Boy" play?  "How old are you?"  LOL!

I'll leave you with one of my "search query" requests from the school search engine report:

"Good weapons to kill Santa with"  

Oh, dear.

un-blocked for now

Well, Santa came early this year.

I came home from work on Thursday, having about 20 minutes before my daughter and I (and her beau, who was not working for a change) were to meet my brother and his wife at Red Lobster. (My absolute favorite-ist place ever!).

She was playing her video game and whines "Go get my clothes out of the dryer!"

I told her to "go eff herself" and took the dogs outside. I may not have been that harsh. We lovingly say these things to each other. The words sound harsh, but we joke with them.

I came in. She had not moved. She continued to play her video game and whined "Come on, Mom. Go get my clothes out of the dryer!"

I said "kiss my a..." and used the restroom.

I came out, she whined again. It was weird because her beau was not saying anything. After over a  year with him, I knew that he would either a. Agree with me and tell my daughter to go and get her own clothes or b. would run down and get them for her.

He wasn't saying a word.

Still. I remained vigilant. "No!"  I said.

She came up behind me and gritted her teeth "You HAVE to go downstairs and get my clothes out of the dryer."

The request (demand?) had more emphasis on the "go downstairs" instead of "get my clothes" and it finally dawned on me.

I was given a hint that this gift was coming, so I realized what was going on by now.

I said  "Oh! Okay. I'll go downstairs."  And I giggled and skipped down the basement steps. I knew, I knew... I was clapping my hands.

I was ecstatic! I loved them.

My daughter and her boyfriend were laughing. My daughter had intentionally provoked me trying to get me to get angry, stomp down to get her clothes and then see the new set.

But, I wasn't angry. I was just "I gave you an hour's notice to get ready, you are sitting there playing a video game - I am NOT getting your clothes out of the dryer for you. Kiss My Astronomical behind."

I was a few minutes late meeting my brother and sister-in-law, but I had pictures to show them.

The only problem is - now, when do I read? That was my reading time. While baby-sitting the washing machine (needed to catch the machine when it began filling with water for the rinse cycle and hold the tub back, so the water did not go behind and run out into the floor) I would read my Nook.

The other reason that facilitated this purchase was the fact that my daughter's beau works in the fracking industry and his clothes are fire retardant and very heavy and very dirty. They made certain to get a stainless steel tub (my other was white).

Now, my daughter said I probably won't ever know how to use it because she will be washing all the clothes, now.

Yeah. Let's see how long THAT lasts.

I have lots of good/funny "searches" to share with you. They will be coming up. These kids search for the funniest things!

Y'all excuse me....

..while I continue to push this block out of my head. :D

Still thank ful

We did the family thing on Thursday. whew! All of my Mom's 8 children showed. We did not get any group pictures. Some said nobody was interested, I never heard anybody bring the subject up.

The grandchildren of my Mom came in shifts. Some came earlier, some later. Two are feuding and one was actually going out the back door while the other came in the front door. It all worked out.

Our family traditional games were played - Tripoly and LCR. This is the first year I did not play. I handed the nickels over to my daughter. I noticed the younger set are doing the games. We older set kept moving around talking.

A big group of us stayed over. Just because. Only one was drinking and she no longer drives, but I think we just wanted to extend the visiting. The next day I returned home, exhausted. I rarely sleep at other people's houses.

I think the above photo is the only decent one I got. I put my camera setting on the sports setting because the children kept moving. My flash does not work on that setting (I guess) and all my photos came out grainy, dark and just bleh.

The snow was a surprise. There did not seem to be much indication that we would get any accumulation but we did get some. Just enough to worry people driving back home. I asked my daughter to text me when they got home.

My elder sister's keurig got a work out. One niece went shopping after dinner. She goes every year. The rest of us are like "No, thanks!"

I returned home late Friday, so Saturday was my clean up day.

Today, I am fixing a bird with all the trimmings. While taking the dogs out this morning, my daughter informs me that her beau wants her to go have dinner with his grand pa and his new lady friend. When was this plan made?! I guess I was a big ambiguous about the day I would fix the turkey. I was tired and said I would fix it whatever day I felt like it. I am off work on Monday also - I need at least one day to recover.

And to clean that bird. UGH!

So, I'll fix the bird but what time is their dinner? Screw it. I'm going to fix it when I feel like it. When it is done, it is done. If they are not here, then that is a few less side dishes I have to make, such as noodles.

I watched "Noah". I was very disappointed in the movie. Not certain what I was expecting. I was never a fan of Crowe. I adore Connelly  since Labyrinth - one of my daughter's favorite movies as a child. I do recall saying I was never a fan of middle-earth-type movies. This reminded me of that setting.

The boxer in the snow

I've not shown pics of the pets lately. Here is the boxer. He is still active as all get out. He is still goofy. He nearly brings the house down when somebody comes home or knocks on the door. All hell breaks loose as he slips and slides his big self across my wooden floor.

He is like a bull in a china shop. Not that I have any china. He knocks over chairs, crashes into furniture. We just yell at him. "Slade!"

He is a nut.

When somebody knocks on your door, does it make you jump? I can't seem to explain why I have this fear or anxiety when somebody knocks on my door. I don't mean it to sound funny because of the dog (dogs). I have had this feeling  all my life. Even when I did  not have pets in the house.

Anybody remember the song "Who Can it Be, Now?" from Men at Work.

Oh, wait. After examining the pictures above - take a closer look at the second one. Now, does anybody remember the song "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow?"  - that was Frank Zappa? Huh. I never knew that.

Family pics

 

This little angel is the grand daughter of sister 1956.

 

This is my sister 1956 when she was 8 or so.

When I saw the above picture of her grand daughter posted on FB, I knew that face, that smile - so I looked until I found the same face I had looked at in the family album for years.

Snow car

My car says "You know....you have a perfectly good two-car garage sitting right next to me. What is your problem? Do you enjoy scraping ice and snow off of me on mornings like this?"

Sigh. My car has a good point. Well, it is in the garage now.  Like it matters - 4 days after the snow fall. I pull it in the garage, but can barely get the door open and get out. heh, heh.

Pick a movie title!

Sorry to go here, guys. I have a blast at work. We have a group of "girls" that go out to eat about once a month or so. Using search queries from my report, I came up with this topic of conversation over dinner.

Describe your sex life with the title of a Movie.

Oh. my . gawd.  Hilarious!

Some of the answers:

Titanic (from the table next to us who over heard us)

Gone with the Wind

Dumb and Dumber

Dazed and Confused

Fast and Furious

Gone in 60 seconds

Misery

Mission Impossible

Are we there yet?

Rocky

Some Like it Hot

Psycho

Endless Love

From Dusk til Dawn

Just Go with it

300

Clueless

Wreck-it Ralph

Raging Bull

The Incredible Hulk

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Frozen

The Big Sleep

Heartbreak Ridge

Mama Mia

Heat

Big Daddy

Scary Movie

All is Lost

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

It Happened One Night

Super 8

Mercy

Raging Bull

and for a great laugh....

Toy Story!

Why in the world...?

Back to my "suspicious search" report. There was an entry or two where somebody searched for "sexy pictures of soda pop."

LOL! I was like ...."What the...?"

Then I remembered. Required reading - 8th grade. One of my favorite books and the author was what...17 when she wrote it?

If you have read the book, then you know that the oldest brother had a "regular" name - Darrel. The middle son was "dreamy" looking and the parents had named him "Sodapop".  And the narrator of the story - the youngest boy was named "Ponyboy."

So, sexy pictures of soda pop.....there you go. It made me laugh.

One day late..

I'll post here (one day late) what I posted on my fb page  yesterday:

Today when I thought of veteran's day, my memory slipped back to stories I heard about soldiers being spat upon as they returned from the Viet Nam war. I can't wrap my head around the fact that someone would do such a vile, senseless thing.

Calling them baby killers, throwing beer bottles and human waste at them. What kind of propaganda were the brain-washed people listening to back then? I was too young and fortunately I did not know of anybody who taunted the soldiers.

Soldiers were sent to war to do a job. Everyone of them paid a price for this service. Not one was left unscathed. Most of them saw and experienced things that we could only imagine in our worst nightmare.

More on the way

This is how my niece decided to let the family know she was expecting again. The one pictured above is having his first birthday party on Sunday.

Okay, bring it. Who is next?  The family went through a baby phase the past two years. Will it start again? Please, not my daughter. Please, not my daughter. I can wait.

I finished reading "Snow White Must Die"  by Nele Neuhaus. The difficult part for me were (was?) the German names. I got lost going back and forth in the story as to who she was introducing or writing about. And there just seemed to be a lot of bad luck for the one main character. Spoiler alert: He gets out of prison for doing ten years for a crime he did not commit. The same time he gets out, somebody throws his mother off a bridge (she survives but is in a coma),  he gets beat up a few times  over the next couple of weeks, and his father dies a horrible death. He also finds out that almost the entire town knew he was innocent but let him take the fall.

Okay, on to the next book. I hope I get something a little bit lighter this time. I may never get my washing machine fixed. (I have to baby sit it during the rinse cycle and hold the tub back so it does not leak) - so I have my nook down in the laundry room and I read.

Oh, and for the times my nook is charging - I have an old (real hard cover) book with various stories in it. I am almost done with "Tortilla Flat" by John Steinbeck. My daughter is not familiar with Steinbeck. I think I will call her school this week to see what is the required reading there. No, not really. Steinbeck must be out of vogue.

Mutant grape

I found this in a bunch of grapes at work the other day. I painted clear finger nail polish on it and snapped a photo of it. Yeah, I have THAT kind of job.

The other staff members and I laughed at how it looked a bit like a pumpkin/gourd.

I am not looking forward to seeing it tomorrow. It was looking a bit peaked on Friday.

One Angry Quarter

Still bringing up funny "searches" from the school kids.

"If I threw a quarter off the Empire State Building, would it kill me?"

LOL!

I chuckle at this. First of all, when I was in school and heard the story - it was a penny.

I have to chuckle because all I could think of was that quarter would be so damn angry at that kid for throwing it off the tall building, it ran all the way back up all 103 floors and murdered that kid.

Or, after tossing the coin - did the kid run down the 103 floors (or rode the elevator) to the bottom, jumped out on the sidewalk in time for the quarter to do it's damage?

Of course, what the kid meant to ask is "Would it kill somebody on the sidewalk or the street if it were to hit them on the head?"  Just asking if the coin would kill him made me laugh.

Regardless, no. One coin would not "kill" you. A roll of coins might, though. I'm taking my hard hat if I ever go to New York. There are some crazy people in this world.

After typing that, all I can think of is the people laughing at me wearing my hard hat, shaking their heads in mockery that I actually thought I was going to get hit by some penny flying through the air.

This topic did bring up an interesting story at work. One guy said his kid's sippy cup full of milk, rolled under the balcony railing at their motel room - 27 stories up.  Fortunately it didn't hit anyone below. I think he said the lid stayed on and everything. Well, it must have fallen in the bushes or in the grass,then.

Technology, election, assault and family

That is pretty much how my time is filled up. Work and technology, decision on the election (thank god it's over), my huge family happenings and plans for the holidays and assault. Wait...what?

Yes. I won't go into a lot of detail. This post is not to elaborate on the assault. The person was my sister 1954. The assault was aggravated rape and aggravated robbery. She is okay. She is no shrinking violet. She has been in prison numerous times and is not a timid person, she survived but was afraid for her life. A knife was involved. That is all I am saying about the actual assault.

The real reason for the post is the technology part. The abuser stole her cell phone. She has a cell plan with her son (my nephew the technology guru/wizard). He called the provider and they set it up so that if the phone was turned on, it would beam the location to a tower and then shut down.

The "perp" turned it on. Technology worked, provider called my nephew, my nephew called the police and they picked the guy up right in front of his house sitting in a car. Wearing the same clothes my sister had described. Yes, it took a while to talk her into going to the police and hospital the next morning, but she did. So, her attacker was arrested within 24 hours of the crime. YAY!

She had already had plans to move out of that neighborhood - the plan was actually in the works. Two weeks notice at the job, plans for a new place - she had one more week, there. Let the healing begin.

Getting stoned

One of the search queries on the list that I glance over asked:

"Do people still get stoned today?"

We laughed. Yes, and sadly....yes.

Or, maybe sadly for both ways of getting stoned.

My cohorts and I found the question funny because the obvious one is apparent. We are like, "where has this guy been?"  and "Doesn't he watch TV?"

You may have to dig a little deeper to find the other "stoned".

But, sadly - it is front page news.

 http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/23/syrian-woman-accused-of-adultery-is-stoned-to-deat/

I just finished reading "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest".

I am going to re-watch the movie, next.  I have not see it in years.

The author wanted Gene Hackman to play the lead part instead of Jack.  If I remember correctly, Jack did a fantastic job, and I imagine Gene would have, too.

The author was also dismayed that the movie did not narrate the story as the Indian in the book. That is how the book is written - all from the Indian's point of view.

Three geese in a flock.
One flew east, one flew west,
One flew over the cuckoo's nest.
O-U-T spells OUT,
Goose swoops down and plucks you out.

All those rings

I smile when I look at this picture. I was paying for my daughter and I to get into the fair last month and the lady at the ticket stand had all these rings. Well, since I planned on taking pictures, I had my camera and of course - I asked  - and she obliged.

When you think about it, I guess they want people to notice and comment.

A couple of years ago, if you recall - I went through a Hardee's for coffee and the lady there also obliged me with an opportunity to take her picture.

Someone asked me if they were the same person. I said "no" because the one taken a few  years back said hers were all diamonds (most from pawn shops).

I wear no jewelry. Once in a while (when I dress up for an evening out) I will wear a necklace. I think the only ring I ever wore was my high school ring.

I wore an "engagement" ring for one month. I couldn't stand it. I stayed with the guy another five years - just never liked to wear a ring.

But for me - it is the sanitary issue. How sanitary is this? As for the one working at the fast food restaurant - I really don't think I want her giving me any edible food. I'm glad I was just getting coffee. Of course, if a ring fell into the order.....

It kind of grosses me out. Probably because I wash my hands a lot. I'm not obsessive. It is just a habit I have developed. I can't help but think that they skip many hand washing opportunities because of all those rings.

Some fall color

I have been doing very little. This is the month for festivals and I canceled on every single one of them. Above photo is courtesy of sister 1956 (her grand daughter). I love how the pink clashes with the orange.

Sister 1956 is not doing well. She had pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital. She has now been diagnosed with C.O.P.D.  Yeah. I figured it was just a matter of time. She is on oxygen. She said she will need it all the time.

I don't know how this will affect her watching the above little one. She watches her about three times a week.

I have a birthday party today I am not going to cancel. The boy turns three. Ahh...where's my Advil?

I want to be like Dear Abby

So, when I read my latest suspicious search report, I want to be like Dear Abby. Most end users are searching for unsavory subject matter, but once in a while you just get questions.

Such as "Where is the nearest Dick's Sporting Goods?"  This shows in my report because the word "dick" is included in the subject matter. If somebody searched for "Where is the nearest Target?" I won't see that request.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, you get the occasional question that makes me go "hmmmm". One that comes to mind is "Will make-up kill a turtle?"   I went "Yikes".

Hopefully that story had a happy ending.

But imagine if I were like Dear Abby. You can call me "Dr. Answering Suspicious Searches"  or Dr. ASS for short.

One question popped out at me the other day.  I can't help but pretend I am like Dear Abby and my mind just answers them as she would.

Dear Dr. ASS:  "Will having sex push back my period?"

Answer:  "Sure, probably by about nine months!"

(Same end user because it was the same IP address, but about twenty minutes later)

Dear Dr. ASS:  "Can I eat baked beans while I am pregnant?"

Answer:  "Sure, but I wouldn't recommend it."

Things like that. I have become desensitized to the other searches. I see so many. You can imagine a young teenagers' mind and curiosity and what shows up in the "suspicious" search query. Sigh. Just to give you an example, they probably do not know what bestiality is yet, but hey - they search for and I imagine hope to find graphic images. I am certainly hoping that the filter is holding strong and just because they try to search for the subject matter, does not mean they see or get any web pages that hold that horrific content.

The horrible thing is, to test the filter one kind of has to search for things like this themselves. Let me tell you it isn't as easy as you might think. For starters, being raised to be a "good girl" and going to Sunday School and mean looks from my Mom if I mentioned even the word "period" let alone anything stronger. You seriously got the look of death from her. Suffice it to say, I did not learn the facts of life from her.

It just is not that easy for me to type in "gir1 having s3x with a h0rse" into the search engine. I mean, My God! What if an image were to slip through?!  You just can't erase that kind of picture from your mind. And, GROSS!  I can only imagine because I have not (nor probably ever will) search for anything of that nature. This is all just information to let you know what I see in the searches. Yuck!

I have searched images and we have an issue with Bing images that will not force the "safe search" feature like Google does.  With the filter on, if an end users tries long and hard enough, pretty soon they will be rewarded with images that just floor my adult 54-year old mind.

If it makes you feel any better, I have set the filter up to block ALL Bing images that are on their explicit.bing.com server. That is "supposedly" where all the icky stuff resides. If you want to test this, go to bing.com, click on Images and type in any unsavory word or phrase that you can think of.  If your bing is like mine, the search setting defaults to Medium. Changing this setting to "Strict" cuts out the most obscene images out of the search. Maybe Bing got their act together, but for some reason, end users were able to override this setting and choose the setting "off".  This is disastrous. This is why we blocked bing images altogether.

Now, do the same in Google. Even before changing any settings the results are less nasty. At least mine were. The only setting that Google has now (they must have changed it) is to choose "Filter Explicit Results" and when you do that, depending on what subject matter you searched for you may get nothing. That is what happened to me. I typed the upper female body part in Google and got quite an eye full. When I changed the setting to "Filter Explicit Results" Google told me it could not find any images for my request. YAY!

How Vending Machines Kill People

It is a cold, rainy night.

Troy is a lonely salesman, checking into a small, dingy motel. No other buildings or houses around.

Creepy guy at the desk takes his money, gives him a key for a room at the end of a long row of rooms.

They are all dark, eerie, quiet.

Middle of the night, Troy can't sleep. He gets up to get a snack from the vending machine he saw in a little alcove between the rooms and the office.

The office is empty. One little dim light on but nobody around.

Troy steps into the alcove - not much light here, and looks at the machine.
Chips, crackers, cookies, the usual stuff.

He puts his money in, pushes his selection.

Nothing.

He punches the button a couple more times. The machine gives a little shiver.

He is irritated. He has a headache, he is tired but can't sleep and he wants something salty .

He gives the machine a shove.

It starts to rain really hard. So hard the sound is almost deafening.

Troy is really mad knowing he will probably get soaked walking back to his room.

He gives the machine a mighty shove.

The machines is jostled.

Troy really starts smacking the machine....

"How vending machines kill people"

**********************************************************************************

Of course this is a phrase I saw on my "suspicious search" report. Somebody actually searched for the phrase "How vending machines kill people".

My first thought was a machine falling over on somebody (of course), then I thought 'well...unhealthy eating habits, like snacks you find in a vending machine - could kill you over time'.

Then I thought the macabre.  A vending machine gets tired of getting smacked and punched and jostled. It has had enough. This one cold, rainy night it takes it's first victim....

Vacation, party time!

Ha! I did not purchase this alcohol. I was asked what I wanted to drink. We were heading South about 200 miles to visit relatives smack dab in the middle of Wild Wonderful West Virginia. I said I would get it at the store when we arrived at the motel. My daughter's beau would not take no for an answer, so I suggested lime-a-rita.

As I predicted we ended up hauling all this liquor down to West Virginia and all the way back to Ohio. I didn't even open the case of lime-a-rita. The Jack, vodka and Bud were missing a few. And the jagermeister is down about 1/8th. Whoop! 

I had one margarita at the bar. Then ginger ale.

Sigh.

We had 14 show up. Usually it is 20 or more. The young ones who really like to drink were unable to show. That's what happens when you have kids! One niece was kind of excited though because she had not had a drink in....I don't know how long. She had just weaned her little girl and was going to celebrate. She drank two drinks that I saw and got silly. LOL!

We did get to visit with some wonderful people. Our relatives that we visit are just the best. There are others, but we just do not seem to meld with them as well. Not that they are not just as nice and funny. There is only so much time to visit.

Sunday I awoke with a crushing headache. Advil (or the generic form) did not touch it, another migraine tablet and I felt the nausea. I was miserable. My daughter and her beau stepped in and packed me up and into the car and drove me home. As I was resting in the back seat - my headache finally abating (after some weak coffee - caffeine!), I thought to myself "Hey, I could get used to this!"

Note: I am kind of Independent. I have to be the one driving, I have to pack all my own stuff and I have to do this myself and this....it was easy to let things go this time because I was so damn sick.

So, I missed out on the last visit or two. The others went and took pictures. We had a great time. I am going to talk to the doctor about changing my migraine medication. I have been on Imitrex (or the generic form) for about four years and the rebound headaches are killing me. Causing me to take a second tablet the next day to fix the rebound headache. I took another the third day and today I awoke with the same crushing headache.

But, I was home. I had my fan blowing cool air on me. I gulped down three generic Advil (no migraine pill today) and moved around and got my coffee in me.

In no time, the headache was gone and we will see what tomorrow brings when I return to work.

I always take an extra day off after vacation to recuperate. I know from experience that I am drained and can barely function, so I had today off also.

I think I will be ready to tackle getting up and going and having my head on straight by tomorrow  morning.  Whew! These darn headaches just slay me!

Moving fast

We did see the trotters on Saturday. They were moving pretty good. Quite a few "broke" . After reading the terms and definitions from the link I just provided I read that "cross fire" is the term my daughter had asked me about on Saturday.  She wondered if the front leg/foot ever hit the back one. She said "you know, like when  your ankle bones smack together when you are running?'' Well, I cringed - the brought up some memories. Ouch!

It was a beautiful day Saturday. Not too hot. Warm but with a breeze. We tired ourselves out pretty good walking around. I topped my day off with a fair sausage sandwich. She wanted nothing. I threw the elephant ear and funnel cake away. I had brought them home. Can you believe nobody ate them?

Ramblings about nothing much in particular

I read an article where somebody thinks this pirogi has the markings of a religious biblical being. Me? I think it looks like Charles M@nson. Not that I want to give that creep any recognition or any mention, but yikes!

No matter to me. I hate pirogis. Never tasted one I liked.

I am so far behind in reading all your posts. I am trying to catch up. I got to where I was reading two books and jumped right into another one. I was reading, reading, reading - forgot to read your posts and forgot to blog for a while.

Then I found a bunch of Johnny C@rson shows. The best of...etc... Oh, my. Laughter is good for the heart, mind and soul. My nephew had purchased them for me years ago and I had forgotten about them. They are great!

I was intrigued by the episodes with Tiny Tim. Remember him? I remember when he married "Miss Vickie" on the C@rson show. But back to Tiny Tim - he acted and sounded just like Michael J@ckson. I had to laugh at that.

I didn't get far with our "R0bin Williams" marathon. I did watch "Awakenings" which I had not seen for a long time. The most popular ones I know too well. But one of the early ones - "The World According to Garp" I may watch. The book was mentioned on one of the C@rson episodes I was watching before they brought R0bin out. He looked so "out" of it. Self medicating, I guess.

Anyway, I may download the book and read it. Put it among the other dozen or so I have to read. Sheesh. I really need to get outside.

Which reminds me. I think we are going to the fair tomorrow. (Oh, crap - make that later today. I have lost track of time). My daughter and I love to watch the "trotters".  But, I am still torn. Is it animal abuse? I just think the animals are beautiful and truly amazing. I will try to get some pictures.

It was a beautiful day out there today. The tiny school I was working at was located close to one of the most beautiful spots in my county. I had my camera. I was so worn out, hot and frustrated when I finished I had no energy or heart to go take pictures afterwards. I just went straight home and collapsed. Grrrr.

The link above is a YouTube video I captured in September 2008. Six years? SIX YEARS ago? Mama!  And the link mentioned with this paragraph is where I posted about it. LOL!

Let's go to the park!

People come from miles around to visit our little park in town. This is where I held our "family reunion". Immediate family only. This year 28 showed. Poor weather plus some illness kept the numbers down.

But, everybody loves our park.

No dogs allowed. :(  Boo!

Gearing up for a family get away to WV to visit some cousins. No aunts/uncles are left. My older sister told me the weather is going to be gorgeous. I just hope certain family members do not make the evenings unbearable with their drinking and ruin things the next day with their hangovers. If they are hungover - they stay at the motel.

We have one branch of the family that insist we stay with them. We did once but we are not at all comfortable doing that. We have to have a motel. We did agree to eat there. Such wonderful hospitality. I feed everybody that comes to my door also. Four legs or two.

Pray for Turtles...

....everywhere!

As most of you know, I manage a filter for a group of schools in my area. This filter has an option to run a report for any end user(s) looking up anything suspicious. P0rn is depicted on the list, as is suicide, fear of pregnancy, abuse and bomb making. Things of this nature that you may want to monitor in an educational setting.

As I go through my "daily suspicious search" list of phrases and words that are picked up by the filter that denote an end user attempting to search for p0rn or violence, yes - I am getting desensitized. I figured that would happen. I scroll through lines and lines of searches for various body parts and functions. Same thing every single day. Along with every single day somebody searches for "Dick's Sporting Goods" and "To Kill a Mockingbird".  Every single day.

Once in a while a new one will catch my eye.

This one did.

"Will makeup kill a turtle?"

Whoa. I asked myself "Who would put makeup on a poor, defenseless turtle?"  Visions of mean older/younger brothers popped into my head. They are out there, you know.

Later in the day it occurred to me. Well, maybe they meant that the turtle got into her makeup and ate some of it.

Either way, I hope the turtle survived. We may never know.

Does anybody know.....

...Philipp Meyer?  If you do, would you call him and tell him he forgot to finish writing his book? Few things irritate me more than a book that just stops. This one tops them all. It left you the same place you were at the beginning.

At least with a movie, usually you are watching it with somebody else and you can both look at each other and go "WTF?"  "Tell me that movie did not just end like that?!"

But with a book, it is only you.  "American Rust".

And, with a book - you can toss it across the room. "Damn it!" and there it goes flying across the room and the cats run and the dogs duck. It hits the wall or the couch and falls to the floor, probably bending backwards and it will lay there and you might kick it a couple of times as you walk past it.

But, a Nook?  Sigh. I do have it in a nice padded nylon zipped protection cover, but I really don't dare throw it across the room. Not that I didn't want to.

I'd rather slap Phil up the side of his bald head and say "Finish the damn book! Don't leave us guess as to what happens to the characters!"  Hell, if that is the case, I'll write the damn book next time.

Sheesh!

My letter opener

you know. the other end. not the end that opens the envelopes.

I am reading two books. Okay, I finished one. "Wild" by Cheryl Strayed. Recommended by Kat. 

I am also reading "American Rust" by Philipp Meyer. 

The similarities between the two stories was pure coincidence.

Yale

Harvard

Backpack

Hike

Aching feet

Aching back

Walking

Starving

Eating too fast

Above average intelligence of main character

Drinking contaminated water

In both books a character sets out walking. Along the way they find themselves ill prepared for their journey. Thus the aching feet/back and starving state.

Both are above average intelligence with prospects of Yale/Harvard . 

One is fiction and one is non fiction.

I just found it strange that the similarities kept cropping up as I would read one and then the other.

Strange head gear

This one is the grand daughter of Sister 1956. Her photo, also. And, I am sure - her handy work on the strange head gear. Too cute, though.

This little one did not make it to the family picnic at the park. Darn it. I would love to have seen her on the merry go round with my other great niece who just adored the ride.

Maybe, soon.

Hibachi - style

I joined some friends and we went to Wasaibi's Steakhouse a few days ago. I love this place but the night turned kind of sour.

I've been here before so I understand the fun of the chef squirting sake into the customer's mouths across the table. (Using the squirt bottle shown above in the photo). The last time I was there the sake tasted like water.

This time it was very strong tasting. I closed my mouth and he continued to squirt sake all over my chest and top area. It dried sure enough, but in the car it was all I could smell. Sour sake.

The other issue I had that evening was one of my friends that sat to my right became a little juiced and smacked my leg almost all night long.

I hate this. I swear, I looked for a bruise on my leg the next day.

They just kind of smack  you with the back of their hand as if they are used to people ignoring them and they have to smack them to get their attention. I came very close to saying something to her but I bit my tongue. It was her birthday celebration, after all.

The grand finale was when one of the waiters bent over in front of us and his clothing was quite tight to say the least and she continued to smack my leg for about 50 whacks as if saying "Look! Look! Look!"

For starters, I don't care to make an ass of myself and ogle men (or women).  And, I certainly believe that one short discreet  look would have been plenty and not fifty whacks of her hand to let me know she was looking at him.

I bucked up and just enjoyed the food for the evening. She had the nerve to say "You were awfully quiet tonight."

Probably because I was biting my tongue.

Annual Labor Day picnic at the park

This little one loved playing in the ice water. That was even BEFORE he burned his hand. The grill you can see off to the top right of the photo. It is a stationery grill that the park provides. I almost stopped him. I saw him walking up to the back of it with his hand out-stretched and yelled "Too hot!' He looked at me and the hand made contact. I prayed the grill had cooled enough. It had not.

Tears ensued. Possibly one tiny little blister. There was an ice pack handy and he held onto it for the rest of his day. Well, later he rode the rides some more. It was quickly forgotten. I am going to ask his mommy about it today.

He is freaking adorable. But in a kind "I know I am cute so I can get away with it" mentality. He plays it to the hilt.

I had 28 people show. The youngest was a couple of months old, my oldest sister (1944) was the eldest there. One entire branch backed out - my sister claimed "depression" -  her son said she drank too much the night before. She said it was because she buried her "best friend" twenty years ago that day (her son's father) and I call baloney (a.k.a. bullshit) on that.

She then went on fb crying that nobody ever returns her calls, that she has nobody to talk to, blah, blah, blah. I ignore the drama, messaged back that we missed her and told her a bit about what her grand-daughter did that was adorable. I learned long ago not to take her bait.

I took her grand-daughter on her very first merry-go-round ride. The little girl wanted to ride that thing from then on. She became SO excited each time she saw it. It was so sweet. She is 14 months old.

I helped to raise my niece and nephew so I take advantage of any time I can spend with their children. She played shy with all of us at first, but by the end of the picnic that girl was all over everybody and all smiles. She was deliriously tired, for sure. You could see it in her glazed eyes.

Me. I too, was exhausted. I wanted a new pair of feet. Ibuprofin this morning, but not for a headache. My legs (calves mostly) ache, my back aches, my arms ache - and my feet are inconsolable. 

Legs hurt from walking, back hurts from loading and unloading, arms ache from  holding babies as I am not used to it and feet - well the feet. They take the brunt of it all, don't they?

Justified

Just finished reading the novel "Fire in the Hole" by Elmore Leonard. The TV Series "Justified" is based on the book.

It was a short/quick read. I got confused because the story seems to pick up loose ends from out of nowhere.

I recognized some of the plot in some of the episodes of the TV show. The series should pick up again in January.

Next to imdb.com, this site is tops for TV series information:  http://epguides.com/

Who knew?

Well, now I do and you do, too. Who knew that My Little Pony had a sex p0rn site? In fact it seems to be rather popular by my first quick glance. After one glance I closed the browser and heaved a sigh of defeat.

I was flying high thinking those little dumplings were pure and magical and still played with colorful, innocent toys.

The filter's suspicious search reports have quadrupled in size now that school has started. Sure, a lot of it is "to kill a mocking bird" and "dick's sporting goods" - during school hours. A few are brave and search for more adult themed sites,  but now that they have their own devices and take them home, the searches are filling up my filter's report log fast and furious with their ugly searches.

The school does not have them set up to authenticate by name. In fact on my main report they all come through as one IP address but there are thousands of searches for the unsavory subjects.

If I log in as the district, I can see what provider is connected to the searches but that is pointless. They are all in the same district - they all use pretty much the same provider.

So, everything is anonymous. And by searching, it does not mean they are actually getting to the site. It just means they tried to look up possible sites to try.  Hopefully, the filter is holding fast and blocking what it is supposed to.

So, there you have it. My Little Pony is not so innocent any longer. I'm not even going to tell you what they do with Gummy Bears. I just don't have the heart.

Trepidation

Quite a few school districts are issuing devices to students in a 1:1 enterprise. As you can imagine, they would like the devices to connect to the Internet through the filter at the school when taken home or off the school premises.

I was finally successful in getting our pilot school to do this. They were extremely happy and sent home iP@ds with a lot of students.

A couple of days later I was looking over the settings to ensure all was working as it should and I saw the "search queries" report.

With "trepidation" I opened the report to see what it was the students were searching for after hours.

The heavens opened, bells rang in all the churches as I read "My Little Pony"!

I nearly jumped for joy. I did in fact run and tell some of my co-workers that I have shared stories with. The ones about p0rn etc...

I wanted to be Julie Andrews and twirl and sing! I was so relieved.

Now, whether or not it stays that way - who knows?

*Note:  I am also thinking that the age group the district assigned the iP@ds to was very elementary, and could be why the search query was so innocent. But, I'll take it!

Smiling baby

My niece put her youngest in this truck and he still smiles? Wow. He didn't get that from our side of the family. Most little ones I know would pucker up, feel that hard surface on the back of their neck and scream (in baby speak, of course) "Get me the hell outta here!"

By the way. The one pictured above is the youngest of the two I posted earlier in the week. (The girl holding the sleeping boy who missed her.) They are the older siblings of this little tyke.

The ole wringer washing machine

Isn't this a funny thing to find in an elementary building? Maybe not, since I was out in the middle of Amish country. Or, at least on the cusp. Holmes county in Ohio is more Amish, but my districts border the edges. There are a lot of Amish children in the schools.

So, to find an old wringer washing machine in a little elementary is no surprise. This elementary is just now getting fiber Internet connection and dis-connecting their T1 line.

In an area of the county where you watch for Amish buggies as you drive and pass several houses that have no electrical poles leading into their homes, and the wash hangs on the line outside - this is not such a rarity.

He missed her

The older girl  in the photo (courtesy of my niece - her Mom) had a showing at the fair over the week-end. She was gone for about four full days.

Her little brother missed her.

Rainy Days and Mondays

It was not my choice to hold a training session on a Monday morning. I am the kind of person who believes folks should ease into Monday with nothing on their schedule. Keep Mondays open so that we can ease back into the work week. Nothing to jar the system.

Alas, somebody picked Monday morning for the training and I obliged. And it rained. My God - it rained. Driving the interstate was dicey. Although I did not see anybody pulled over, I considered it. Sometimes that is more dangerous than just staying the course. A steady, keep the same speed course.

Then  you have the folks in the left lane who pass you, but they must be nervous because their vehicle is way over the line on YOUR side. Please people!

Anyway, I had my filter training Monday morning. I stopped to get donuts for the crew. 15 of them. You can't really hold an umbrella and three dozen donuts, you know. My beautiful hair-do was ruined. I do have a jacket with a hood, but it also happened to be very muggy and warm. I tried.

At times the folks in the class looked like the picture above. No more Monday morning trainings if I can help it.

The blueberries have it

This is the banana bread recipe I have been making for years. It is in my Pillsbury cookbook. As you can see this is one of the pages that looks a bit used. I copied the recipe to the back of an old used envelope so I would not have to haul this old cookbook out any more. The pages are delicate and beginning to come out.

I (re) use old envelopes from the mail for shopping lists, to do lists, notes and recipes.

I only began adding blueberries to this recipe a couple of months ago. Today I tried strawberries.

Nah. We voted, blueberries are the best with this.

No nuts in the house. Well, no edible English walnuts in the house. Wink, wink.

Summer stuff

Found the charger to my Nook and I have been reading, reading, reading. Since my washing machine leaks, I have had to babysit the appliance during the rinse cycle and after consuming a box of books my sister gave me for Christmas, my nook is my companion in the basement washroom, now.

Currently reading Theroux. My nook is full of about a hundred books and I have so much to pick from and I keep downloading more.

If I am not reading, I am working on my filter training. I have a class Monday morning (why oh why did they pick Monday?) for 16 people. I know the filter very well so I am not too stressed. There will be the occasional question that I won't know the answer to, but after working with a few on the telephone over the past few weeks I can see that I am miles ahead of them. I am not bragging, this is how it is supposed to be. They are very busy with a million other things, while my main focus is the filter. I have had so much more time to learn this and it is a passion with me.

I love sharing my knowledge with them. A lot of times I get the call that says "My district cannot access such and such." It is my job to help them figure out why and fix it. I love a puzzle.

So, not much here at blogdom these days. Not much else going on in my life. Animals are itchy and should probably be treated for their summer allergy/flea/dry skin condition.  I need to buck up and get them in for all their shot updates, too. Kennel cough (bordetella)  is the big one. I think they are due for a distemper booster, too. Some other vaccines are on a 3  year cycle and I believe I caught those up last year. The vet sends me a postcard reminding me.

In fact, I am going to sign off of here and call the vet right now to make an appointment.

What is it with these people?

Well, we had just recovered from the shocking story of this school outrage: /Cover up    ,

and now we are slapped with this story:

This goon

What is it with these people?

Wow! There IS an app for that!

There you are in a movie theater, the middle of a movie and the urge to pee just won't go away. But, you don't want to miss anything important, right?

Well, worry no more! There's an app for that!

Straight from their web page:  http://runpee.com/

Each movie has a list of carefully selected Peetimes. We try to find 3-5 minute long scenes that don’t have crucial plot twists, or LOL moments, or exciting  action.

Blueberry banana bread

This picture does not do the bread justice. I had some very ripe bananas and decided to make my banana bread (or Pillsbury,s rather) and having lots of blueberries decided to try adding them. It turned out great! Very moist. I also just happened to have mixed berry cream cheese (for some blueberry bagels I had picked up) and the combination was heaven.

We can't stop eating it. My daughter and her boyfriend both insisted on taking a loaf to work with them today. I awoke with a stomach ache (having imbibed in two small pieces right before retiring). That will teach me. Pfffttt!

Black icing

I am wondering if the parents were thinking that Minnie Mouse on the baby's cake may not have been such a great idea. Black icing! Photo courtesy of my nephew (her dad).

She cleaned up wonderfully, though. She was clean as a whistle when she returned to open her gifts.

I don't have much guys. I don't know what it is. I don't know if nothing is going on, if I am being lazy, or what?

I forgot my 10th year anniversary of this blog. June 21st or so. I am not stopping, now. I am in for another ten years.

Which brings me (again) to the mystery of writers who just stop and disappear in thin air. No remark of "I'm done, good-bye!"  Or, "I am taking a break. Maybe I'll start posting again."  I have two more that I went to where I was a regular reader, and 'poof' nothing from them in months.

Where do they go?

Too much water

This is the little neighbor boy playing in some standing water between my house and his. He is three years old and I grabbed this photo opportunity hidden behind my front door. As soon as he sees me he comes over and he is stuck to me like glue. Sigh.

Anyway, their basement wall caved in that night. This side of it. There was a crew that began working on water proofing their basement on Monday. The wall fell in on Wednesday (heavy rains on top of this water already standing and no place to go).  Fortunately, for my neighbor the crew that is water proofing the basement will pay for all damages.

Today there is a huge mountain of dirt that divides our houses. And yellow caution tape. I joked with my neighbor after calling my dogs back away from the cave-in. "Now if a couple of dogs go missing when this mess is finished, I wouldn't mind a bit.  Nor, a couple of cats."

They laughed. I wasn't kidding. Oh come on! Yes, I was. Just kidding. ;)

Independence

I grabbed this shot at the end of June outside a Bob Evans near Cleveland. The wind was howling and a storm was coming fast. It rained while we were inside and sunny when we came out. The flag was drooped and lifeless when we returned to our car. I was glad I got this shot when it was windy.

My Independence day was quiet. My town set off fireworks last night. I waited until about two minutes before ten and under the cover of darkness snuck outside, grabbed my lawn chair and quickly made my way to the far side of my house and yard (away from my neighbors). Don't get me wrong, I love my neighbors - I just wanted to be by myself and I was afraid if they saw me, they would invite me over and you know I would have had to go sit with them. And the three year old boy. I have been avoiding them lately - just not in a social mood. I wanted to be independent. LOL!

The trees are either very tall or the fireworks are not reaching as high as they used to. Half of the display I did not see. It just looked like heat lightning behind the tree line. When they started, the dogs in the neighborhood began barking and they never stopped through the entire 23 minutes. My dogs remained silent (in the house) the entire time. They got special treats when I went back inside.

Some one's car alarm went off at the beginning, but either they stopped it or it just quit on it's own. My street was packed with cars parked while their occupants walked up and over the hill to view the display.

I sat in my lawn chair and watched the latecomers. It is kind of sad, really. The ones who are late. They are desperately trying to find a parking space, some even risking it and parking close to the fire hydrant. Then they drag their crying kids quickly through the dark streets with the fireworks booming and illuminating the sky like some eerie B-rated horror movie. If the kids aren't traumatized I would be surprised.

As I sat there, I was reminded of my previous 4th holidays when I would have the big party for the family at my house. It was fun but a lot of work. I don't miss it. At all. (I now do Labor day at the park). I always had them come to my house because they could watch the fireworks from my lawn, but really - the trees have grown too high. I guess after ten  years - they tend to do that. I can do without all the work and the expense, too. I always overdid it - that is my custom. It is genetic. And the alcohol. I don't miss the fact that things can always get edgy when there is alcohol around.

And the weed. I have some family members who smoke weed. It doesn't bother me - they are discreet and smoke in the garage so they don't let the children see or smell. The smell comes out anyway. I can remember one time sitting in a group and chatting with family and I said "Whew. I smell a skunk."  My next sentence was "Where is Jock, Susan and Larry?"  (Not their real names). After a two second pause we all looked at each other and just busted out laughing. Because I smelled the skunk (a lot of times weed smells like skunk) and they are the three that smoke it and that is exactly what they were doing.

I enjoy the quiet times because I have had so many crazy and loud times. There will be more loud and crazy. It is just nice to sit and relax and not have to converse. With anyone. I got to see my beautiful pink fireworks. They are my favorite. Not the red ones, but the pink ones.

I thank the military and the US for my independence and to spend it the way I want to. That is freedom. We have the choice. Some paid dearly for this privilege we are enjoying and I am so grateful to them.