Better Days Ahead

Something has got to get better, right?

I'm waiting for the world to declare a Universal Day of Reading

Allow me to outline the holiday for you.

It will be as important as Christmas.

It will be a paid day off.

All persons should be left to there books, audio books, ebooks. Anyone caught disturbing the reading of that person will be sent directly to a corner...not passing go, not collecting a book of their own.

Peace and quiet are a must.

Special reading activities will take place in libraries all over the world.

People will pay homage to the printed word, as they ought.

It will be a day of rest and relaxation and coffee will flow freely.

Now if only I can convince world leaders to make this day a holiday....

Monday Monday

~ Too many senor cranky pants moments today. Not a fun 8 hours ok?

~ I'm starting to think I'd rather flip burgers.

~ Ordered pizza for supper from my favorite pizza shop and it was lousy.

~ Got a log sized (or at least it felt that way) splinter in my foot. It took a freaking half hour to get it out.

Sometimes I really wish I could just go into witness protection and start over somewhere else, doing something else. Anything else actually.

I'm sick of my life....and everything about it.

Food For Thought

I believe in the second amendment.

However, let's look at two recent shooting rampages, Western Psych in Pittsburgh and Aurora Colorado.

What do these two massacres have in common?

Both were crimes committed by people that mental disorders. Both shooters were or had been in therapy, and yet both were allowed to buy weapons.

To me that doesn't seem right.

Actually people that are allowed to build their own private arsenal doesn't sit right with me either. Sure we have a right to keep and bear arms, but to the extent that we are our own branch of the armed forces?

Plus it seems like any idiot can buy a gun.

How many children are killed each year because parents are careless with their weapons, that they no doubt bought to protect their families?

Sure banning guns is not going to stop them from getting in the hands of criminals, but stricter background checks might keep them out of the hands of nutjobs.

And seriously....no civilian needs an AK 47. Sorry...not necessary..what purpose does that have other than killing?

An Olympic Sized Rant

I have to tell you. I hate the Olympics. I've never enjoyed them one bit and this  year is no exception. I thought I would get some enjoyment from the opening ceremonies, after all, Paul McCartney was performing, but OMG he was awful.

They claimed he was all choked up at the beginning of Hey Jude, but does that account for him sounding so terrible? I don't really think so.

And then there is the matter of how lousy he looks too.

I'm sure Linda is looking down from Heaven shaking her head at him. When she was still alive, Paul was allowing himself to grey gracefully. He looked good. Now that he has to keep up with his "younger" wives and his young daughter, he's coloring his hair and trying to look like he did 40+ years ago.

Note to Paul: It isn't working.

I've always found that the older a person is, the more ridiculous they look when they color their hair. Let's face it, at 70, your hair isn't naturally brown.

Paulie should try to act and look his age...It might be better for our ears and our eyes.

Top 5 On Friday

 Top 5 album's you'd like to recommend to the world.

Click on the images for more info..but first let me say, if you haven't heard Zac Brown, what the heck is wrong with you! The Zac Brown Band is kind of a mashup of Jimmy Buffet and James Taylor. This is good stuff!

 

I Smile At Someone Else's Pain

OK, I have to say it..when I heard Kristen Stewart was cheating on Robert Pattinson, I laughed. Bella Swan was cheating on Edward.

I hate Twilight.

I really dislike the casting for the films. These two just don't fit my image of Bella and Edward. Kristen is just so meh! Not the Rob is much better.

So she was cheating on him with a much older, married director...and when the scandal broke, Robert hit the road!

Kudos to him, I think.

I guess this means we'll stop seeing magazine covers about these two getting married.

Woo hoo!

I absolutely hate celebrity power couples and I take a sadistic delight when they break up...

From Bad To Worse

I think the question really is, what didn't happen to me today.

1. Found out that they shut the electric off in my house (not the one I live in, of course) on May 15th for no good reason.

2. I go down to take out the fuses and discover there was something left in the freezer that is now..super rotten and the house REEKS!

3. There's no water! WTF! I pay the bill every damn month on time!

4. Had to find motel rooms in Baltimore for one night for the work crew. WTF is going on in Baltimore tonight?

5. Boss was getting a bit pissy with me about something that left me unsettled.

I can't take much more. Nothing is going right for me at all. I can't get anything situated..I can't get anything accomplished.

It is just all too damn much!

Too Much Junk

I'm in the processing of cleaning up a lot of stuff.  And when I say a lot of stuff, I mean a lot. Ours is a family of  pack rats. We don't like to get rid of stuff. So it gets put in boxes and bins and is filed away taking up unnecessary space in our house that is too damn small.

In the course of the last few weeks, I've probably made the garbage man curse us at least a dozen times. He'll probably keep cursing us for the next few weeks, because there is so much more crap to pitch out..old magazines, post cards etc.

There' s no making this house look pretty. I don't have the money for that, but I would like it to look semi-presentable some day. That's not too much to ask right?

However if anyone wants to make a donation to help me get carpeting or curtains..I'm not going to complain! Oh and while I'm at it a garbage dumpster..that would make things so much easier! I could just toss the crap out the window! (I've always wanted to do that!)

Maybe by Christmas I'll have this house in some semblance of order!

Yeah right!

Breakfast For Dinner!

Today's dinner was chocolate chip waffles with a side of sausage links.

Yum is the word for it.

I love finding easy things to make on Sunday. Only 3 bowls to clean and we used paper plates.

Easy and lazy. That's what Sunday's are all about!

I think I may do this waffle thing more often!

Too Tired

I spent most of the day trying to clean the dining room.

We have entirely too much clutter in this house and over the past few weeks, I've been trying to get rid of stuff that isn't necessary.

I'm pretty sure the garbage man hates me.

I'm working on the first floor right now...Kitchen, Dining Room and Living Room. I have managed to get a few things in the bathroom in order too. That's a plus.

Having a house that was never remodeled and is over 100 years old is not fun for many reasons.

1. No central air..and erm..we have a coal furnace.

2. No closet space in any of the bedrooms.

3. No cabinets in the kitchen either. I would love to know how the couple that lived in this house before 1967 did their cooking, because using the kitchen table to prepare meals is not fun in any sense of the word.

I still have lots to do tomorrow...laundry and more dejunking. If anyone wants to help...Please show up with garbage bags and a squeezy mop please! I want to clean the walls.

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 albums you would buy right now if you had the money.

 

Most of these have been on my wishlist in ages. The Pistol Annie's CD and the Lightfoot Live disc are new additons though.

Cat Thursday!

Welcome to the weekly meme that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats!

I have to share a picture of two of the kittens, because they are just too darn cute!!

 

Something To Ponder

Why is it that the safe place you put something, is also the place you forget about when you have to look for that item?

I put a library book in a gym bag, because one of my cats isn't fond of books at all. Apparently he's upset that he doesn't know how to read, and he uses them, and any other form of print media as a scratching pad.

So today, I'm hunting down my books, because they are due on Saturday and I want to get them read, so I don't have to renew them again, and I can't find the damn thing.

It took 2 hours and 3 people to find the safe place I put the book, which we had all walked past about 3 dozen times during our search.

~Sigh~

Once again proving that none of us attended Millvale School For The Gifted

Bad Computer

At 6 o'clock my desktop computer decided it didn't want to start. It took many attempts to actually get it started normally.

My whole life is on this stupid computer. My invoices and reviews, my downloads of music and books and for a minute there I saw my whole life flash before me. Thank god, it turned on about a half hour later.

So since I've been home I've been glued to my chair in this room that is hotter than hades trying to move files to my external harddrive where they should have been in the first place.

I've also been listening to music that I haven't listened to in ages...Dolly Parton, Olivia Newton John, Rob Thomas and Davy Jones.

Weird stuff.

It made for a pleasant evening, even though the whole process isn't much fun.

I'm hoping I get a chance to get everything moved before it totally dies.

Again, thank god I bought that laptop!

Cos technology hates me.

Oh and while I'm hating on technology did I mention that my smartphone, the lousy piece of crap, died last week? I'm 3 months before my upgrade period and I don't even know if I plan to stay with Verizon and the damn phone decides its USB charging port is going to bite the big one.

Bastard!

So yeah, technology hates my guts and smartphones are stupid!

And dammit...I miss my apps!

Signs Signs Everywhere Signs

Remember the song Signs by Five Man Electrical Band?

Its a wonderful little thing called a protest song. The fact that in this current political climate there aren't scads of songs like this shows how the music industry has sold out since the 1960s.

Music has no meaning anymore. Its so much fluff.

The sad thing about this classic tune is that it is still relevant 40+ years after its release. The times they aren't a changin'.

Have a listen and let me know if you agree.



It is a shame there aren't any hippies or flower children around now..maybe the world would be a better place.

This Weekend I Cleaned

I think I mentioned that our house is over 100 years old, and Amish people could use it...except that we have electricity.

Our kitchen is a huge pain in the butt. Thanks to some not so well placed windows we have no counter space what so ever. No cabinets..nothing. So we always have to improvise.

This weekend I did a lot of improvising in the kitchen.

Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

The plus is that the kitchen looks a lot better. The problem is, I still need to wash walls down, and I don't know how in the hell that is going to happen. There is a market lack of men in my life that can help me with walls.

Again I ponder why there isn't a rent a man shop for these little things. I just want the house looking semi habitable. That's not too much to ask right?

So anyone have any tips for cleaning walls?

Baked Ziti Today

A friend of mine bought me a cookbook for my birthday, knowing how I love cooking. I was excited to find a recipe for Baked Ziti in it.

Needless to say that is the first recipe I made from the book.

Why?

Ziti is a food that always brings me happy memories. When we used to go on vacation, I'd always get baked ziti at the Sbarro's on the PA turnpike, either near Lancaster or Bedford. This was before Sbarro's were in our malls, so it was a once a year kind of thing, It was special.

Baked Ziti is one of my favorite pasta dishes, and the recipe I found in the new cookbook was very similar to the one I ate at Sbarro's. That makes me a very happy girl.

It is a shame that food seems to be the thing that brings me the most joy these days, but hey,  you take your joy any way that you can get it! If my joy comes from cooking and eating good food, so be it.

If anyone wants the recipe, let me know and I'll share it.

Top 5 On Friday

Top 5 songs from the first half of 2012

1. Zac Brown Band - The Wind

2. Matchbox Twenty - She's So Mean

3 Dolly Parton & Queen Latifah - Not Enough

4. Miranda Lambert - Over You

5. Keith Urban - You Gonna Fly

The Daily Blah Blah Blahs

~ May end up working part time for awhile because of mom's health. Not sure yet though

~ Have to write a check for 22 cents tomorrow. Seriously, how do you even do that?

~ Got $12.00 back from the local tax authority. Woot!

~ Made country fried steak for the first time and I think I succeeded! That's my favorite comfort food of all time. Now if only I didn't have to toss dad outside while I do the frying.

~ I need sleep. Badly...like 8 hours of it. If I don't get it soon, I think I may end up in the hospital with exhaustion. Does anyone care? No I didn't think so.

~ Bought the new Zac Brown CD...now if only I could listen to it.

~ Desperately want to have a movie night, but I can't keep my eyes open long enough to watch one.

~ Mitt Romney is an asshat and I want tax breaks for my cats if he gets one for his freaking horse.

Let Me Tell You About My Day

Mom was set for discharge at 5:30 today. That way I wouldn't have any issues with work. I could work a full day. As I'm driving to work the social worker calls to tell me that they need the bed and could she come home early.

So much for working a full day today!

Mom still isn't strong and her meds have all been rearranged. This does not make me a happy camper. Doing her pills from now on is going to be stressful. Plus I have to schedule a doctor's appointment for her in 10 days. ARGH!

Then at some point my cell phone's charger port dies, therefore making my smartphone useless. I headed to Verizon only to be told there was nothing they could do. Thank god I still had my old LG enV, so  I have a phone, but all my apps and photos are gone because the USB connector died. Tomorrow I swear I'm going to drop that phone out of the window so it shatters into a million pieces on the pavement.

On a happy note, I got the new Zac Brown Band CD and a wonderful iced coffee at Starbucks. It really is the little things in life that make me happy.

Oh and I read a really great historical novel about Princess Louise of England, The Wild Princess. If that is your thing, this is definitely a great read. Good historical detail mixed with fiction.

Don't Take My Job

No I don't mean my actual job. Someone can take that if they want it. (Tee hee)

No what I mean is my job at home.

I may get frustrated. I may get angry. I may want to throw things, but in 2008 I made a promise to my grandmother that I would take care of my mom. I promised gram that and I will not go back on that promise.

See I loved my gram so much..and I love my mom so much, that I really don't care about other things. Yes, I'd love to get out every now and then, and it would be nice if other people would actually relieve me for a few hours, but I hate when other people do the job I feel that I should be doing. It bugs me an awful lot.

Plus in the last few years, I've really come to enjoy cooking, and I like to try new recipes, so there is that.

So does my insanity make sense?

I hope so.

Exhaustion

Right now I just feel like I'm constantly running. I went back to work today and I'm hoping I can work close to my regular hours this week.

I'm seriously broke, and I can't rob Peter to pay Paul anymore. Peter has run away.

Mom is still in the hospital being treated for blood clots in her legs.

Dad is a basket case from missing her. You don't go through 60 years with someone and not feel their absence when they are away, even if it just a few miles down the road in the hospital. There's so much I have to do, and I'm just not getting anything done and I hate that. I want to feel like I've accomplished something.

And while I'm bitching, I can't seem to read right now..or do much of anything. I feel like the life has been sucked out of me.

Can I have a pity party please?

Watching Movies Is Difficult

I bought The Other Boleyn Girl years ago, because I've always been fascinated with Tudor England. However, I'm not really good at watching movies. I've done better recently when I was getting stuff from Redbox, but for the most part, I never can bring myself to pop a movie in. It is either too late, and I don't want to stay up to watch it or I have other things to do. I've been meaning to watch TOBG for about a month now. It still hasn't made its way into my DVD player. Maybe I'm just not in the mood for movies right now. I do have a lot on my plate. I can barely concentrate on reading. It probably doesn't help much that I don't have any popcorn in the house. I mean, how can you watch a movie without popcorn. I know I can't. It might have been easier to watch if the movie were a comedy. I seriously need something to make me laugh these days. There's too many depressing things going on in my life right now. It is a shame Dark Shadows just came out a few months ago, because that's a movie I could enjoy watching with or without popcorn. Johnny Depp can make anything better.

Welcome To Hell

Dealing with this heat when there are only 2 air conditioned rooms in my house is not that easy. I'm swollen, cranky and tired. Mom has been in the hospital since my birthday on Monday, a day I totally let pass without much of a mention. It sucked. I just want to curl up somewhere and sleep for 8 hours. 8 full hours. But no one seems to think that I deserve sleep. That makes me crabbier. I can't read, because I just end up falling asleep. It just isn't fair. Please make this summer be over. I think I want snow.

Top 5 On Friday

 Top 5 songs that fit the description of "sad songs say so much"

1. Zac Brown Band - Colder Weather
2. Roxette - Listen To Your Heart
3. The Moody Blues - Talking Out Of Turn
4. Elvis Costello - Veronica
5. Gordon Lightfoot - If You Could Read My Mind

Doctors Doctors Doctors

Let's see, mom's still in the hospital, they moved her to progressive care because she was getting short of breath.

I have to take Dad to 3 Doctor's appointments tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. Oh and it's going to be pretty close to 100 degrees outside.

ARGH!

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.

Not to mention the 80 bajillion things I have to do at home. I've started a cleaning project and it is about to take over my life, quite literally to.

Wish me luck that I escape what little sanity I have.

RIP Andy Griffith

A few tribute photos I found today on Facebook. This year all the good ones are dying. It is so unfair.

Why Do Things Sucketh So?

Yesterday was my 38th birthday. I don't usually expect much when it comes to these things, but yesterday was exceptionally awful. By 8:30 I was dealing with an insurance claim from my little fall down the stairs that could cost me $1000.00

Yikes!

Then after only 30 minutes at work, my mom ends up at the ER where I spend most of the day. When I leave the ER...with 5% charge on my battery, my brother calls, wishes me a happy birthday and mentions that it might be time to put mom in a home.

Well fuck you really hard dry!

After a small tiff that escalated on Facebook today. Thank you political pictures, I am no longer speaking to my brother. In fact, I refuse to acknowledge him as my brother. I wash my hands of him, so much so that his birthday present is getting mailed back. I don't want his money.

In fact. I want nothing to do with him.

So lots of drama in the past 48 hours. A lot of it I could do without...and you only know half of it. I am however sure, my brother was switched at birth and somewhere out there is a 60 year old man that is my actual brother.

An Early Present To Me

I helped stimulate the economy yesterday.  I bought a brand new Dell laptop. Mostly because it is getting to difficult to do my work from upstairs when I have to take care of mom and dad.

I think I got a pretty sweet deal too.

500 GB harddrive

4 GB of memory (Do I have that right..where is my box?)

A DVD writer drive.

Windows 7, of course

Oh and a 15.6 screen. The screen is absolutely stunning, I must say.

Right now my only issue is learning how to type on the keyboard. I'm not used to laptops at all. I think I could come to love this thing though.

Oh and did I mention the puter and a 2 year service plan were only a little over $500? And I've got no interest financing for 12 months?

Yay!

That's a good deal!