A Little Monkey and Tails.

I had this cute munchkin visit me yesterday for a bit. Her father (my nephew) was passing through.  He and his wife have a set up where he takes this little one to visit his friends from around where he grew up (they have children also) for the week-end, and her older son (from another relationship) goes to his father's grandparent's for the week-end - resulting in the Mom getting 2 days all to herself. They call it a mental health day (or something similar). I think that is wonderful! Although I am not positive when my nephew gets any totally alone time.

She is the cutest little 3 year old and she climbed the neighbor's swing set/fort like a little monkey.

I am going to try harder to post more often. I have so many things I can do on-line that almost all of my time is spent sitting here at the computer. Almost everything I do can help me in my job in one way or the other. Helping people is still one of the biggest areas in my life for me. Online, I am a reader of redd!t and have several divisions that I read to see if I can help. I also get several ideas and tips from readers to benefit myself.

Just last evening I was reading the area about Tor (The Onion Router). This one has been an example I use when I am instructing the techs about the filter. Most of them have no idea what it is, or how it works. Sigh. But that is an entire book in itself and if you know me, you are probably aware that I can get very long winded when I start talking tech.

Anyway, the user mentioned Tails.  I had not heard or read about this one. So, I had to investigate and of course I had to have it. For testing purposes and to present to the techs how end  users (the savvy ones) are getting around the filter in the schools and endangering their network.

I had to find 2 USB sticks with 4 GB available. (I had always referred to them as flash drives, but I kind of like this term). So I did have one empty 4 GB one (how did THAT happen?), and the other had just back up data on it - so I moved that to one of my external HDDs.

So, I started this new endeavor.  Four hours later I went to bed. LOL!  I am learning a lot, but I am also being very, very cautious. I have screwed up my system before trying this stuff and I should have known not to start this after 9 p.m. I was much too tired to think this through and follow long, intricate instructions.

It is one of those deals where you are going through the steps one at at time, and you come across the step that reads "If you don't have such and such, click here to set that up (or install it). So, you follow that link and you start installing that program. You get halfway through the steps and you come across another one that reads "If you have never installed such and such before, you need to change this or that before you can enable it". And I follow the link to THAT site. It went about 4 sites deep and I was getting very tired.

Well, it didn't work my first go round. But hey, I did learn a lot. And, I will try again today. Maybe. Of course I will - I am too excited to get this puppy on a flash drive and see what I can do with it in my work environment so I can bring it to their attention to watch out for this work around.

I run into the techs who have the attitude "So, what? They are always going to find a way around the filter. I can't stop them all."  This might be true, but I can see that he/she has given up the fight. This saddens me. Yes, there will always be a rogue student who knows so much about technology that he will consider this a challenge (sometimes they don't mean harm, they just want the ego boost that they were able to beat the system) and brag to his friends and share his knowledge.

But once in a while, guys......once in a blue moon - I get a tech who gets that look in his eye, the "Oh really?" look and they write this down. They hopefully are going to take action to block or attempt to block this activity in his or her district.

And that is why I do it. That is why I share what I know with others. I want to make the schools safer for the students. It may be a losing battle, but I can't just say "Screw it. Let 'em see it. They're gonna see it anyway."  Well, I'd prefer them NOT to see it in an educational environment. In other words "Not on MY watch."

Did anybody watch the movie "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?"  You know how I love my movies and I have so many I can talk about. I like Tina Fey in MOST of her movies. I am not a HUGE fan, but at least she does not make me cringe. For this movie, they delicately add humor to a horrifying situation that so many live through. But then there was MASH. I know the humor was exaggerated, and there were only a few times when the show brought us back to the reality of the horror of war.

It is slowly coming back to me. I had trouble remembering my password today. I had trouble finding spell check. But it is coming back. I need to go and ready all of YOUR posts this past year (or has it been longer) to see what is going on with you.

I have a lot more to write (tell). This year seemed to be a bad one for cancer hitting my friends. They are fighting the fight. A lot of little children in my family. I always like that. I was the youngest of 8, and I was 12 years old before any of my siblings had a baby. They then came thick and fast, but that first grandchild (for my Mom) and first nephew (for me) was doted on. My sister was the type who packed up her husband and baby and drove 50 miles one way EVERY week-end to stay with us (at my Mom's house). And on Sunday evenings drive 50 miles back.  Well, her husband drove. Her husband did everything for her. Nice in some ways, but over the years (as she has told us) it can be very smothering. We used to chide my sister when the gas stations changed over to self-serve. She had ALL the gas stations marked out who would pump the gas for you. It was ages before she was able to pump her own gas. I'm not sure she can, even now. Hmmmmm..... LOL!

Biggest fan

I do not promote dressing little girls up and showing them off. This is my great niece and she is in dance class. She has her own fan club - two younger brothers, mom and pop and my sister - the grand mother.

I can only imagine all the drama that goes on behind the scenes at these places. The hair spray, the make up the tears.

I loved the movie "Little Miss Sunshine".

Although I do not promote such activity, I also try not to judge. It is colorful - I like color. She does work hard and sacrifices a lot.

My absence from posting is not planned. I post for myself - when the spirit moves me. I guess I have not been moved much lately. I've had my mind on other things. Nothing rash - just puttering through life wondering if I am brave enough to make some changes.

Movie?  - Big Hero Six. Loved it. Very cute. Oh, I know what may be slowing me down with the posting. The kids joined Netflix and I joined Amazon Prime. We've been doing some marathon series watching.

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.

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.

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?

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!

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.

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?

A party for my eyes

I am in need of some color in my life. The outside is so drab with all the browns, yellows and grays. Yuck! I have no flowers blooming. I will have to use artificial color, I guess.

It was a difficult work week. I had some setbacks. I am trying not to panic because I have some serious deadlines coming up and I have been running around trying to fix emergencies so I have not had proper time to prepare for the upcoming events.

Sigh. I am missing my sister who is staying with my brother these days. She is trying to start working but still be close to her granddaughter. I can understand that. She and her son are looking at renting a house almost next door to her little granddaughter.

I had some family time Tuesday. My S-I-L has to give herself (or my brother does) two shots in the gut a day for blood thinners. This is to prevent blood clots. The next step in the cancer phase is for them to go back in and look at the liver.

The one doctor that removed the tumor from her stomach said she did peek at the liver while she was in there and the side that she could see looked good and healthy.

Life is kind of getting me down right now.

The "smoking" road not taken

I found this picture on the Internet and I thought it funny. Of course, smoking is not funny. Neither is high sodium content soup.

I don't think about smoking very much. I was one of the fortunate ones and did not begin in my teens or my twenties. I have no desire to start. I did smoke a cig or two at a bar but I don't think I ever inhaled. I know that sounds funny given the comment from Clinton, but I imagine if I ever inhaled I would have coughed my lungs up.

I think a lot about smoking now that my sister is with us. I think back in the day she and her husband smoked Belair or something like that. Today it is the cheapest she can find - Sonoma Light 100s or something.

My Mom and Dad rolled their own. They purchased Bugler tobacco and my Mom had a cigarette rolling machine. My Dad rolled by hand. When she would go out to a store or restaurant she would smoke Pall Mall.

My brother smoked Camel, I think. He has since stopped. He had a nodule removed from his throat and he switched to cherry cigars and it took a little while but he was able to stop altogether. His companion (who is 17 years his senior) still smokes a lot.

My daughter told her boyfriend he was going to smoke an E-cig and she purchased one for him for Christmas. She told him if she caught him smoking cigarettes it was a relationship breaker. She and I both despise tobacco smoke. It gives us headaches. My sister smokes outside.


This year I have been lucky. Knock on wood. I did not get that awful flu bug that a lot of family got and I did not get strep throat and I did not get that nasty cough. I am in the bout of a misery of headaches because of certain triggers (that I cannot control) but other than that - I am feeling great.

Well, not great. As great as can be expected for my self-inflicted lifestyle.

My brother and his wife have been dealt a serious life threatening situation and I am sharply reminded that life is a fragile blessed thing that I sometimes take for granted.  They found a tumor in my SIL's stomach and removed it. It is cancerous and she is developing blood clots and it is all so awful and scary. They think there is more in there and at first they wanted to go back in as soon as she heals from this surgery, now with the clots they decide to wait six months maybe longer.

They have a long road ahead of them and the incident has all of us sitting up and taking notice of how precious our health and life really are.

This and That

Saturday we had two birthday parties to attend. The above little girl turned one, is my sister 1956's only grandchild. My sister is staying with me, now.

The other birthday was for a four year old boy - sister 1944's second grandchild. She has three boy grandchildren. They dressed him as a minion from Despicable Me 2. I did not get a photo of him in full costume (goggles) and all. To get an idea you only need to search for the word "minion" in Google, and then click images. He was adorable. We watched the movie while waiting for another nephew from out of town to arrive with his family. They showed me all the little extra things that go on in the background that are just as funny as the movie. Things only somebody who has had to watch a show dozens of times would see.

Twisted my neck (slept wrong, I guess) on Saturday night and still feeling the after effects.

I hate changing time - my inside clock gets all messed up. Was up at 2:30 yesterday and 2:00 a.m. today. Starting to feel groggy. After two cups of coffee I will crash in my TV chair until the alarm rings (cell phone) and probably re-twist my neck.

Work is going to get crazy.

Been reading. Missing planes, shooting through bathroom doors, quakes in CA, quakes in OH, airplane hitting a skydiver, mamas driving into the ocean, and landmines. My head spins.

I have to sign off now because soon I won't be making any sense at all. Must sleep.

Happy you know what

My grand/great nephew posing with a Mylar heart balloon.

I am still here. I am sharing my computer with my sister (1956) who is living with me at this time. You may see a lot of deleted comments on your posts. Well, that is me forgetting that my sister is logged into Google and it comments under her name. LOL!

Adjustment.  Heh.

Been super busy at work, too.

Been running almost every evening after work. Came down with a migraine last night. My body just quit. It said "Enough!"

I am going to try to sleep all day Sunday.

Have to work on Monday because so many schools are using this as a make-up day. I can work from  home, though.

Lots of happenings in family this month and next. SO many birthdays. So many dinners and cakes.

A big seven-oh for my oldest sister (1944) the other night. She held up well with the crazy get together of fifteen people.

Here she is with her husband and one of their three grandsons this past summer. He is the little tyke in the Mylar heart pictured above.

In my mind

When I was in my twenties, I thought it was pretty cut and dry. Decisions. How you chose to live your life, etc... I was confused and angry at women who remained in a violent environment.

As I grew older, became wiser (I hope) and read more, I came to understand a bit more about how the human mind works. About strength. I used to think that women who remained in this situation were weak until one day I thought "Maybe they are really, really strong!?"

I am so fortunate to have instilled inside my brain (as puny as it may be) the audacity to be independent and to stand up for my rights. Maybe not in everything all the time - but enough to matter.

My sister is a victim of verbal abuse. Fortunately, there is no physical (except one time many years ago). Verbal abuse is just as ugly and it tears away at your psyche on a daily basis until you don't know who you are any longer and you don't know up from down, night from day.

I believe it is a form of brain washing and victims are left so confused they no longer can make decisions for themselves. Especially when your genetic make-up was one where that was a weak area, anyway.

So, the above photo is lifted from the Internets, but it depicts pretty much how I feel when it comes to physical violence or verbal abuse in a relationship. I do not believe I know anyone (man or woman) who is the abuser (physical) in a relationship. I know they are out there, I am just glad I am not aware of it. I probably know plenty of verbal abusers and those who play mind games with their spouse. The subject seems to be taboo, whispered only with closest friends and trusted family members.

Don't even get me started on child or animal abuse. It will ruin my day for sure.

Barely here

I'm here. I'm just not posting, much. This little tyke above was surrounded by Christmas lights when his Mom snapped a photo. I added the dinosaur frame from picjoke.com - fun site.

I have a sister visiting and we are busy chatting, playing Words with Friends, watching movies and running around.

Stay warm out there.I may not post until February. I have a conference next week in Columbus (ugh). I hate staying away from home unless it is with my family.

Free Lunch

Sorry this photo became skewed. I lifted it off the Internets. Anyway, the photo is the closest I could find to the lunch plates that were used when I was in grade school.

I am having a hard time deciding if I am going to post about this topic or not. Thirty, twenty and even ten years ago I would never have considered it. I try not to talk about these things.

For many reason. First and foremost is - I don't want pity. I don't want people to think I want pity, either. That bothers me beyond belief.

But, I read a post today that got me to thinking.

Free lunches, free breakfasts in schools.

So many people say it is a great idea - how nice to help the needy.

Today's kids are different than we were back in the 50's and 60's. In that era it was a SHAME to get a free lunch. Breakfasts were not even considered, yet. My Mom told me that when our brother (1953) signed up for free lunches the teacher would write their names on the chalkboard. That is right. The entire list of students who were to get a free lunch written for all the world to see. The "haves" had a field day teasing the "have nots".

Since that time my Mom never let us sign up for free anything again. She lined up five brown bags (at that time five of us were in school) every morning and we ate a bologna sandwich, one small orange and about three cookies every day. It was twenty years before I could touch bologna again. To this day I won't eat it with mayonnaise.  In high school I just did not eat lunch.

And, every time I eat a sandwich or an orange, my stomach wants those three damn cookies. Well, okay - my brain wants the three damn cookies. Funny thing, I never seem to want the orange. My brain is completely satisfied skipping the orange but never the cookies. Sigh.

Anyway, for those that think it is a wonderful idea - it is. But consider this. It ain't so wonderful for the child who gets ridiculed by other students and teachers (OH YES THEY DO) when you are getting something free. There is always a teacher or two who believe she is paying for your lunch right out of her pocket and she wants to make certain that you are aware of where that money (lunch) is coming from.

A co-worker told me a story her daughter shared about just such an incident. This incident (which I hope my co-worker reported to the school superintendent) was about her daughter sitting with a friend at lunch. The friend had chosen a salad for lunch. A teacher came up behind the child and snapped "You better eat ALL that salad because I paid for it! Why didn't you get a peanut butter sandwich or something?"  TRUE!  As if to say that the free loaders need only have a bland sandwich and were not entitled to a more healthy fresh salad as privileged children are. My friend's daughter was confused. She asked her Mom why the teacher paid for her friends' lunches. I don't recall  how my co-worker handled the question. She is a wonderful and bright lady, so I am certain her daughter learned something valuable that day.

2013 folks. It is alive and well in our schools today. Shame on the children of the lousy free loaders!

In the post I read I came across the word discrete. The free food is given to the students in need discretely. Really? Does a machine give them the food? Because if there is a human handing out that free food there is always going to be talk. That human tells another human who gets the free lunches. Really - they do. They can't seem to help themselves. Pretty soon a dozen people now know who gets free hand outs. And if even one person has a chip on their shoulder about a family getting free stuff because the father is no good (must be his wife's fault) then it all comes pouring out.

My older sister and brother tell me stories of their youth. Before they became old enough to help the family begin to stand on our own and not rely on hand outs. My father was a drunk. There, I said it. He barely worked. My Mom had 8 children. She was not able to work outside the home, although she did get flack from the welfare agency as to why she thought she could not work and provide for her family and of course they made her feel like it was her fault that my dad was a drunk, etc..

That stopped the welfare. My Mom refused to go back. My older brother joined the Air Force and began sending money home. My older sister put herself through college, worked two jobs and paid the bills with the help from my older brother. They are still close today and live together and help each other. And they still hand money out to the siblings that just keep asking for it. Sigh. I don't know why. It is ingrained in them, I suppose.

Enough of that. It makes me want to vomit just re-reading what I wrote. If you do comment, please do not comment about that. Thanks.

Back to discrete and human nature. I worked as a data entry operator in the early 80's. The business was food distribution to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, bars and diners. At one point a saleslady came up to me with an order and she said "This order is for the shelter for abused and battered women."  She said "You know where it is, don't you?"  And before I could utter no or any other word she proceeded to tell me where this shelter was. I did NOT need to know. I was not the driver or delivery person. Sheesh. Why couldn't she have kept her mouth shut? Then I began thinking about all the people who actually knew where the shelter is physically located - and then how safe is that? Every policeman would know. The fire department would know. The creepy truck drivers we employed would know. The sleazy salesmen we have would all have know. Discrete my ass. Sorry. No such thing.

Deep frying the turkey

The "guys" busy at work frying the turkey. Every year the office I work out of has a Thanksgiving lunch where everybody brings a covered dish. We have a wonderful lady who brings a roaster full of turkey with delicious juices. We usually run out and it is too much for her so we decided to supplement with a second turkey. I think they were nervous that the meat be a true 165º that it was a bit dry, but hey - it was delicious! And we had plenty of gravy.

Of course wouldn't you know that the main guy doing the frying is a volunteer fireman. If you are related to -  or a friend of a fireman then you know they are the most dangerous! LOL! I finally talked him into having a fire extinguisher on hand. They are just so daring because 'They've seen it all!'

This year I brought the jiffy cornbread cream corn pudding. I had doubled the batch and it was so creamy when I mixed it I was worried about it being done in the middle. So I cooked it too long and it was dry. Some recipes called for sugar and some did not so I was nervous about the sugar so I added very little. Another mistake. Next time (and there WILL be a next time) I am adding more sugar and not baking it as long.

I battled my headache all day. We were all running around getting our covered dishes ready, many dishes were in and out of the oven all morning in our office kitchen. I had to run back home to get crackers since I had forgotten them. I also take hot pepper jelly with cream cheese for folks to nibble on during the morning as they try to wait until the food is ready and lunch time. With all the fantastic smells we are all just walking around drooling.

We did not have fun and games (I am usually the one who creates the trivia and a game or two) but I told them about my migraine and I just could not do any more. The big laugh though was the fact that I had put my top on inside-out. The office secretary came up to me in the food line and whispered that fact to me. I laughed and said "I wondered why it looked so light today. I just thought perhaps I had goofed and washed it with a load of whites and bleached it!"

It got a good laugh from everybody and I loved it! I finished getting my food, set my plate down and proceeded to the restroom to turn my top inside-right. I quipped "You are all lucky I even managed to put a top ON today, with the way I feel!"

After lunch, I had time to sit quietly and just work. My headache finally subsided enough. But, I had a hair appointment. The good thing about that is somebody is scrubbing my head (always makes my headache feel better) but I was getting the roots colored so the smell was going to be an issue. Waiting for the dye to finish setting I literally fell asleep twice in the chair.

I have no appointments or events this week-end so I can lay low and just chill out. Give my body time to rest and if I want to take a nap, I will.

Until I read sister 1944's e-mail. She is very depressed. Me (being me) told her to give me a day and time and I would be there to listen and to paint love all over her. Because that is what family does and that is what sisters are for. I truly believe that those raised with nothing and in poverty conditions have a much stronger and beautiful bond with their siblings. And I truly believe it is more precious than any amount of money and you better believe that I am humbly grateful that I was fortunate enough to be born into such a family. My cup runneth over this Thanksgiving.

Hey...what? Runneth is not a word, blogger?  Aw - shame on you!  Alright - dictionary.com says it is not a word, either. Too bad. I am using it and I am keeping it because I heard it a lot growing up!

Four by four

My niece had a four by four baby. Four pounds four ounces. The hospital will not let him go home until he is "properly" fitted into a car seat. Sigh. This is our best try. I left before they inspected the seat.

I drove up on Saturday (my sister had told me her daughter's water broke and they were in the hospital on Friday). I missed the birth by one hour. I would have been able to see it. Three people were allowed in the room. My sister (grandmother) was there and her husband. They said it was awesome, but so scary because he was so tiny. They were not permitted to film the event. My niece's husband threw a fit. He is so....he is such a.... he's complicated. There.

Names

Over 58.000 names. My brother-in-law had a couple of names he wanted to search for. They give you a paper with the panel that the name is displayed on. There are two sides: East and West. His card would say W8, we would find the 8th panel. Then the name is number 124. There are dots on the side to count by tens. We counted down 120 and then you only have ten names in that section. The name you are looking for is number four into the section, but there are still so many it is easy to get lost in the sea of names.

We found the first one. My brother-in-law and I and his seven year old grandson. My brother-in-law told me the boy was 18 (the name we were searching for). He had to walk away and his grandson asked me where he was going. I said "It is very hard for him." My sister could not even come over. She said it took her husband a long time before he even talked about Viet Nam. She said that it was far too emotional for her to handle so she stayed back with the three year old grandson.

The above photo I made by taking a picture of the shiny granite display of three servicemen. It was facing the wall. I was able to capture the wall in the reflection and surprisingly - no people in the frame. The crowd had dwindled by this time.

Speaking to an organizer of the wall he said that an entire military group failed to show for the event. They were the ones who were supposed to guard the wall at night.

I have more pictures and more stories. These are too important to throw into one long post. I want to give each one a little bit of time and space here.

Thr Travelling Wall

Going here today.  Not to the real one, the traveling one.

It started yesterday. Sister 1944 wanted a sister to go with her to the genealogy picnic. I said "Sure". I wasn't doing anything. I got myself up and ready, made my calico beans and went. I don't know what has happened to me over the past few years but I have become a super-charged extrovert. This is a 180 from when I was growing up as a shy, bashful introvert. How does that happen? I have no idea.

Regardless, my medication (that I have taken for maybe a  year, now) has exacerbated the extrovertism. Ha, that isn't a word. But,you get the idea.

Gabapentin is the generic name. Here is a list of side effects.  I seriously think it would have been easier to print things that it "DOES NOT" do.

Hyperactivity. Oh, yeah. I got that one covered. It started about 11 o'clock. It did not stop until I was by myself in the car on the way home at 4:30. Sometimes I wonder if my brother-in-law just wants to tell me to shut the f@ck up. My sister laughs with me. I think he just tolerates us. (Seriously I think he really enjoys his wife laughing and having a good time. She is under a lot of stress right now). I certainly am the one to entertain.

I was the bingo caller at the picnic. When they said they were going to start the bingo game I automatically got up to call. Sister 1944 asked me how I knew I was going to be the caller, I just gave her my incredulous look. Like "Seriously? Who else would do it? Who else has this big of a mouth?"

We stopped on the way home to visit another sister and brother. The laughter did not stop. Sister 1944 was getting a headache from laughing so much. The movie "The Mask" with Jim Carey comes to mind. When he spins and says "Somebody stop me!"  That is truly what I feel like because I feel like I cannot stop myself. I am like a runaway train or a bouncing ping pong ball.

In the car by myself,  I do calm down a little bit. Not much, though. I crank the music and sing. Maybe I should begin to cut the caffeine intake. Sigh.

Anyway, sister 1944's husband was a marine in the Viet Nam war. They said they are coming to my neck of the woods today to visit with their grandson and if I wanted to go. I said "I'm not doing anything,  I'm in!"

We will go today and I will definitely be curbing my hyperactivity today. When I read that there would be clergy and counsel available I began a slow panic. Oh, no. I can't handle the crying. I am going to be bawling like a baby and I don't know one soul who passed away in the war. None that I can think of anyway. No cousins, either. Oh dear. The other side effect to the medicine:  Over-reacting too quickly, and too emotional. Oh, dear, dear, dear. I am done for. Focus, I  must focus. I need super glue for my mouth because I know I will be going up to people, hugging them and asking them to tell me all about their lost loved one.

I'm talking complete strangers, here. I have no fear. If somebody is freaked out by my actions, I read the environment, back-pedal and move on to the next victim..err, person.

The vocation of counseling does run in my family. I have three relatives in the therapy area. We seem to know what to say and when to listen. The drawback is we fall victim to the emotional vampires. People (co-workers) who unload all their problems and issues onto us. Then they feel better and we become depressed - zapped of our energy. They sucked the energy right out of us when they go on and on about their problems. How does a therapist do it?

Passing time

Sitting in my car while waiting for my daughter to get her lunch break at work. The parking lot across the road is Walletmart. My daughter works at the national gaming store. It suits her.

This day was extremely hot.

That is not the case, today. The cold front and rain has moved in. I am so surprised I have no headache or sinus pressure. A lot of folks were complaining yesterday.

It is weird that sometimes I will get it and other times - nope.

I am going with sister 1944 tomorrow to a genealogy picnic. I guess I need to wash my jackets and wear one of them. Brrr.

I get blood drawn today. I drank so much water yesterday I had to get up during the night three times! Drinking lots of water makes it easier for them to draw blood.