All right, I must have not been paying attention. Blogmatcher was on my referral list tonight. Looks like a fun place to at which to play.

Charity Tuesday!
How the months roll around. It's the last Tuesday of the month. This time we're having a bake sale for the Animal Shelter.

btw: Our "Legs for Charity" drive brought in $200.00 for Red Cross. Timely!

Oh: And it is time to start thinking about your Survivor bootee!

Monday Madness.

1. quote: Wordsworth: Intimations of Immortality. Which ends:

Thanks to the human heart by which we live,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.

2. movie: A River Runs Through It
3. color: Lilac
4. beverage: Pepsi
5. font: Lucida Sans
6. meal: Roast Beef, Potatoes, Corn, Cottage Cheese
7. book: Narnia Series by C. S. Lewis
8. word: Egalitarian, followed closely by eclectic
9. animal: Grizzly bear
10. fragrance: Tressor

oh good grief.
Computers are screwed up at work. They tell us they will be back up at 11:30, but with data only through last Tuesday. Can I tell you how excited I am to be inputting three days worth of stuff when it is also payroll day AND we're doing inventory on Wednesday? Argh.

Ack! Jennifer at fortysomething pointed to RSVP, and I'm becoming addicted! Thanks a lot! *grin*

Susan coined a new phrase just for me in the comments: I'm tickled green! It surely fits!

G O
GREENThe State of Michigan is home to two Big Ten Universities. It is in football season that we have most glaringly seen the difference between the two schools. In A2 resides the solid, stoic University of Michigan. They always field a winning team, commanded by using a disciplined “head” approach to the game. The Capital Area of Michigan is home to Michigan State University. Here we espouse the “heart” approach to the game. This can lead to good results (a la the Duffy Daugherty years of the 60’s) or bad results, as in last year’s season that saw the suspension of the co-captains, the loss of control of the team by the coach, and his subsequent firing. It was not pretty.

But as in all disasters, there can be beauty in regeneration. This year the Michigan State Spartans have a new coach in John L. Smith. The quarterback, one of the suspended captains from last year, made a good recovery from his substance abuse problems and has been key in the rejuvenation of the team. And the team: that’s the key. Much of this team played last year, but there was no cohesion. Under John L, there is. And yesterday, Michigan State upset the 13/19 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes 20-10. It was a victory of skill, discipline, and heart. And it was sweet.

Unconscious Mutterings
Herpes:: Pain
Freddy:: Fender
October:: Ron's Birthday
Hunting:: November 15
MSN:: ugh
36:: Ron's age
Hotel:: Motel
Travesty:: of justice
Health:: Not as good as it should be
Conditions:: Hair

They're partying in East Lansing tonight!

I have to head out to do errands but the radio will be tuned to Spartan football. What an excellent start to a tough game! See ya all later!

Touchdown Iowa

Touchdown M S U!!!!

Listening on the radio makes it no less exciting . . .

Turnover . . . recovered by M S U!!!

Touchdown . . . M S U!!!

Where was the most inopportune place you’ve fallen asleep?
Don’t have an answer? Then how about the most inopportune time you’ve fallen asleep or nodded off? What happened? What—or who—woke you up?

This one is . . . the impossible question! I don't fall asleep very easily, I guess. My problem is that I don't wake up very well. For example:

Our train had been late returning from our Montana trip of 1988. We had gotten in at about 5:30 a.m., and I had hunkered down for some sleep. Of course, at 8:30, *ring ring* goes the phone.

I answered, sort of. The voice on the other end of the line wanted to sell me insurance.

"How'd you call me on the train?" I asked. If you've ever done a cross-country train trip you may have experienced the "bounce effect" that lasts for awhile after riding the rails. I was dead serious. I thought I was bouncing on the train, and for the life of me couldn't figure out how this dude and I were connecting.

The voice tried to explain that he wanted to make an appointment to stop by and sell me insurance.

"Well, okay, but I sure would like to know how you got on this train." I was zoned.

Guess what . . . he never showed.

First things first . . . because we're REALLY going to need it today. We're playing Iowa. I think they're ranked #13. Eeks!

(We're talking Michigan State University football here.)

Go Green!!

Whew!

We made it to Friday.

If

Survivor Reminder. Pick your bootee. That is all. (Oh, hope your day goes well. See ya!)

Eep! Thunderstorm coming. Gotta run, find the candles. Later!

Back. Storm over. Didn't need candles. Made a nice pot of 'sketti . . . enough for two more meals.

Bad News: No Christmas Party at work this year.

Good News: Raises actually will go through in 4th quarter.

Definitely good news outweighing the bad.

LA is on the fence. Beautiful writing!

Mz's Flapper dress is coming right along, with black fringe now. Mz is a red hat lady . . . at the scrapbooking store tonight I saw loads of red hat scrapping stickers and add-ons. Guess who I thought of!

amit, phone home, dammit. We miss you.

Survivors Ready???
Time to pick our bootees for Thursday night's episode. We draw for Survivors at work. I own Rupert, so I won't be picking him! (My choice is in the comments.)

Soar, eat ether, see what has never
been seen; depart, be lost,
But climb.

~~Edna St. Vincent Millay

Change

The Seasons

So what are we thinking of Dr. Phil's Weight Loss Challenge? Weight loss is heavily on my mind these days.

Heads up from Roni . . . Trading Spaces has a $100,000 show coming up. Designers Doug & Laurie and both Ty and Amy Wynn carpentering. All rightee! (Ack, I called it Trading Places over at Roni's. I am losing it.)

Monday noon, eating chicken noodle soup and reading the blogs. A fine way to make oneself feel better, I think!

It's a grey, rainy day but we oh so badly needed the rain.

A call for seamstresses over at Wittbitts! I'd help . . . but I am not a seamstress.

Saw it first at ottos:

Which Season are you?

Michelle welcomes a new granddaughter with beautiful words. Congratulations!

Monday Madness.

1. If you had the means, what type of limousine would you rent? Ummm. A nice one?

2. Where would this limousine take you? Dinner at Dusty's and then around the sites and sights of Lansing/East Lansing.

3. Would it just be transportation for you to get to a social gathering, or would the ride BE the social gathering? Yes and yes *grin*

4. Who would you take with you in this limo? Umm...a special dude.

5. Have you ever ridden in a limousine? If so, where to? If not, would you like to? No. Yes....ala the movie No Way Out. **BIG EVIL GRIN**

Good Morning.

I stopped over at Fred's and he pointed to this exquisite walk in a cemetery. Takes a few minutes and is well worth the time. Thanks, Fred! (There are four seasons, and within each season are little crosses to click on for new images.)

Unconscious Mutterings

I say … and you think … ?

Savings:: Account
On:: Off
Wire:: Electricity
Word:: One
Bladder:: Infection
Missing:: Tooth
Side:: Other
Window:: Open
Digit:: Finger
Swirl:: Chocolate

There is always an Other Side, isn't there? I was elated that Michigan State University won this afternoon: Roscoe was broken-hearted.

What item have you seen in someone’s house that you most wanted?
Was it something in a friend’s home or perhaps a bauble you spied during a “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” tour of a celebrity’s home? So, tell us: What item—large or small, preferably inanimate—have you most wanted after seeing it in someone else’s home?

A baby grand piano. Friends used to have one, and they had it in an alcove with windows on three sides and wood floors and it was just perfect. I've been thinking that perhaps I should develop a five year plan around obtaining a grand piano. I think that might be a good way to order the next few years. Cool question!

Oops! I almost forgot! We need all the luck we can get, we're playing Notre D (away).

Go Green!!!

Art*o*mat ®. What an interesting concept. Link via John. It says there is one is Asheville. Have you seen it, Susan?

Weird dream last night that a crow flew onto my foot and latched there. Did I mention my foot has been hurting lately?

Oh great. I just looked up what a crow in a dream means at this site. This is not good.

CROW Seeing a crow in your dream means disappointment in everything, grief and misfortune.

or let's see, here we have:

Bird - The simplicity of nature and the need to get in touch with nature. An invitation to enter into the spiritual realm. May symbolize energies that can bring you healing or balance in life. A bird taking wing may represent the need for you to take wing, encombered by circumstances that prevents you from the freedom you require. A black bird may represent your unconscious, or may symbolize the feminine aspect in a negative way.

Foot (Feet) - looking at your feet is asking to look at the direction (or lack of) you are taking in life; feet moving forard means making progress; gronding, balance in your life; what your life is based on; contact with nature; washing your feet means healing.

That's a bit better.

Or it could be that my foot hurts and the screen needs fixing.

As it is "talk like a pirate" day, you can go here to find out what type of pirate you are. Or something like that.

Blogging type questions:

1. Which is the biggest rush: comments, email, or being blogged?

2. Do you believe in the A-list? If so, who do you think is on it?

3. How do you choose your blogroll? How often do you run through your blogroll?

4. Do you have other blogs you read beside those on your blogroll?

That's all I can think of for now.

Cybertoad is back from London. Pssst. . . she has pictures.

8 Mile.

An internet friend saw 8 Mile. I'm glad. It's a very raw yet subdued movie. I liked it immensely. It was real...real right down to the problems working class people have with their ding-dong cars...real in trying to figure out how far a reach should be...real in so many ways. Glad you saw it, Rune.

Edit: Oh good. For some reason I thought 8 Mile was only out in DVD. I'm wrong, yippee!

Edit 2: And of course we all know what happens when I play Lose Yourself.

Hang in there, those of you caught in Isabel's power.

Reading too fast again.

I thought meg's orange post said "Halloween Cultured Box". Oops.

Check out Todd Barry's receipts.

Just one.

Just: adj. Conformable to law, human and divine; impartial, fair, honest in dealling with others.

Just: adv. exactly

Just: adj. reasonable, proper, fair, upright

Just one.

Mandarin meg had a wild dream the other day and there were several bloggers running through it and so of COURSE I had to follow some of the links. Of Course!

One of the links I followed was to Paul Katcher and his September 13 The 'Falling Man.' He Was Us post was riveting, as were the links within that post. Powerful, somber stuff. Thanks for the pointer, meg.

Survivors Ready????
Yep, Survivor is back on Thursday, September 18, with a new gang. Here on the Other Side we try to guess who will be the "bootee" of the week. My guess is in the comments. Survivornews.net is a good place to get the skinny (and the fat) on the contestants. Jennifer at fortysomething always has a good "after" discussion. So...Survivors ready???

Legs for Charity Day!!

Today is Tuesday, our "Legs for Charity Day" where we vote by $$$ for the best legs where I work. This year we had fifteen entries, eliminate three each week so it has been five fine Tuesdays. *smirk*

Speaking of Tuesdays, Mike Sanders has gone to a once-a-week posting. On Tuesdays. Give him a peek.

Hope your day goes well!

One of the sadnesses of my life is that I do not have children. At this stage of the game it is not something I dwell upon. It is what it is. Richard has a wonderful piece on childless couples here. Thanks.

oh great. I have email from Lisa, regarding my pen1s. That's just duckie!

Just one of those bluesy days.

Sometimes it happens. Sometimes you wake up and just know it's gonna be a bluesy kind of day. And it was.
Sometimes I try to distract myself from these days: go to a movie, read a hot book, find a friend, turn on the orange.
Today I just went down with the day, rolled with it, seeing where it took me. Hopefully tomorrow I'll come out on the other side.

Unconscious Mutterings

Wedding:: Yesterday, Bob and Crystal's
Roach:: Coach
Expense:: Account
Fight:: the good Fight
Air:: Force
Protect:: and defend
Glance:: Second
Boo:: my baby Brother
Steamy:: sex
Caviar:: icky

Places we're checking out:
Creative Class: How does your city rank?

Benchmarks in information services.

C. S. Lewis Conference at Taylor University March 12-14, 2004.

What's in a name? Click here.
Your name of Shirl gives you a very happy-go-lucky, spontaneous nature. You see the humorous side of many situations and can laugh at yourself as well as at others. This name gives you a musical, artistic nature and you would do well in any occupation in the entertainment field. You have many friends because of your generous, happy nature, but if crossed you have a quick temper, although your annoyance does not last too long. You do enjoy an argument and will at times say things just to get others going and then you sit back and enjoy the debate. You lack system and order and find it very difficult to budget and save money. This name creates a nature that can be the life of the party, but many times you can become involved in emotional situations against your better judgment. Your compassionate nature causes you to be too generous and you often give more than you can afford to.

And a very different nature emerges if I check out the name Shirley, which is what I use on the job.

I forgot to say GO GREEN this morning, and drat . . . Michigan State lost in the final minute! Darn!

She gets around.

WittBitts has a piece on Baby Safety spoons! What will they think of next?

At the movies:

Oh yeah! Matchstick Men. With Nic Cage. Directed by Ridley Scott. Well worth the $7.50. (How much are movies going for in your area?)

And picked this one up at Rune's:



You are a muse.

What legend are you?. Take the Legendary Being Quiz by Paradox

So I Howled at the Moon One More Time.

The first and only time I saw Johnny Cash sing in person was at the MichiganFest in 1995. I hadn't been feeling well that summer. Johnny and June and crew sang on a Wednesday night, a balmy August night with the almost full moon rising as they took the stage. (Remember, this is farm country, and you can see those big old moons cross the horizon.)

Johnny talked about the moon, about how it made him feel like howling, and sure enough, within minutes the crowd of 30,000 was howling together at the rising orb.

I felt better after that concert.

Tonight, as I was returning home from the mall, I spotted the moon rising in my rearview mirror. As I turned south, I watched it emerge over the trees. I couldn't help it. I howled.

Thanks, Johnny. Thanks, June. Bet you're having a grand old time tonight!

Hmmmm....I almost bought a Tom Clancy at the bookstore tonight. Quiz found at Bryn's.


What fiction genre are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

They didn't want me!

Yesterday was my last day for calling in for jury duty...and they didn't want me.

It was odd. The summons was for district court. The notice said that there were about forty jurors. Can you believe it? Another employee from our company (we have about 40 employees) was also on this week's roster. Odd.

It's impossible not to get caught up in memories today. Catch you all tomorrow!

Harvest Moon Tonight!

I feel eee.

Ummm. Comments are back. Blogrolling is down. Long live the web!

Wednesday Wonder

There were three activities to choose from for this week's wonder. I chose:

Take a stroll through a cemetery. Observe markers. Which ones pique your curiosity? Do the family plots intrigue you, or the lone plot tucked under an ancient shrub? Imagine the stories of the people memorialized and write a page about what that person or family might have been like.

I enjoy strolling in cemeteries and have taken some photos of some of the statue type markers. My favorite is a lifesize woman clad in nightgown, barefoot, and clinging to a cross. I had always figured she was a marker for a young woman who had died a lingering death in the early 1900's and whose faith had sustained her through her time of illness. I realized that I had never actually looked at the individual stones in that plot, so I wandered over and had a look-see. And now I have MORE to wonder about!

There are three markers that go with that plot. One is Mother, with dates from 1842 to 1917. One is Son: 1873. And the third one is Wife: 1865 to 1929.

Wife can't go with Son. Where is Husband? And why are there two necklaces wrapped around the crossbar of the cross, on the side away from the road? Hmmm.

Susan reports that comments appear to be back. So here we go: testing, testing, testing.

Well, this evening will tell the tale on YACCS. Status is posted here.

Jury Duty

I have jury duty this week. The summons is for district court, and the way it is set up is that the juror calls each morning between 9:15 and 9:40. If selected, the juror has until 10:15 to get downtown, park in one of four city ramps, and get to the sixth floor of City Hall. The notice says a juror probably won't have to sit, but to call Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Today is also our Legs for Charity day, where we set out cups with pictures of the installers' legs and vote for the best set by dropping money in the cup. It is a relaxed day with a little bit of eye candy.

Wanna bet I have to go down to City Hall today? That's just how my luck has been going lately.

Hope your day goes well!

Oh yeah! Otto reminds us about Connect8. Check it out, today is the day!

Red Clover, Red Clover,
Send Summer Back Over

Monday Madness
1. Describe the perfect setting for a picnic. A little two-track in the Montana Highwoods, next to a little stream that we've crossed in the jeep. There is a beaver dam about 100 yards east of us, which makes the stream deeper right here.

2. What's in your picnic basket? A loaf of bread, baloney, cheese, a partial bag of chips and bananas.

3. Who is joining you for your picnic? My brother Boo, his wife Ruby, and their three girls.

This was the most perfect picnic. However, I'm a picnic type of gal, and we usually attend several family picnics throughout the summer. I usually bring the fruit salad and the baked beans.

Good questions, otto!

Lynn did a tutorial at Mandarin Design on colorization which was really simple and easy to follow.
She also gives tips in these comments as to how to put a border on a picture. Way Cool!

(Had to edit this because I said cool three times. Eek!

What—or who—is your forbidden fruit?
What is it that you crave but cannot have? Is it a fiendishly delicious but fatty food? Perhaps it’s a delectable but emotionally incompatible lover? Is your forbidden fruit a sinfully satisfying activity that aggravates a physical condition? We all have a forbidden fruit, so juicy and palatable, hanging from a taboo tree. What mouth watering something must you keep at a distance?

Ouch! Men named Ron. There have been two of them, wonderful guys, but both were involved with other women and I ended up on the short end of both relationships.

In an interesting bit of symmetry: both other women were named Sherry, both Rons were born in October (though one is a Libra and one a Scorpio), and one was 14 years older and one 14 years younger.

Maybe if there was a Ron just my age? Hmmm.

Unconscious Mutterings

Bookends:: not enough!
Compliment:: thank you!
Gutter::my mind
Obsession:: passion
Heavy:: thinker
Real:: true
Disposable::razors
Breeze:: sea
Work:: sucks
Sweetheart::*grin*

L O N E L Y

Half-time. MSU 31 - Rutgers 21. Go Green!

Retreat

When you type in retreat at Merriam Webster you get:

Main Entry: 1re·treat
Pronunciation: ri-'trEt
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English retret, from Middle French retrait, from past participle of retraire to withdraw, from Latin retrahere, from re- + trahere to draw
Date: 14th century
1 a (1) : an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable (2) : the process of receding from a position or state attained b (1) : the usually forced withdrawal of troops from an enemy or from an advanced position (2) : a signal for retreating c (1) : a signal given by bugle at the beginning of a military flag-lowering ceremony (2) : a military flag-lowering ceremony
2 : a place of privacy or safety : REFUGE
3 : a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, and instruction under a director

I have a new definition I'd like to add: re-treat. To treat again. I think I'll go have another cookie.

Okay, posting into the void. Blog*spot will return someday, I think. Susan had this trick and I want to see if it works. It was 39° out this morning. Oh yay, it works! To get the degree symbol press the alt key and then type (on the key pad) 0176. Sweet! And cold.

Wow! Blogger is finally up (it's been down for 7 hours). Now if blogspot can make it back up we might just be in business. Drat! I wish Saturday morning wasn't my big blogging time. This has been frustrating!

We'll be playing with the zonkboard a little this weekend. Let's try it here first.

EDIT: Moved up to the top post again on Saturday.

This is the latest update from YACCS.

Estimated time for fix: September 8, 7PM EST

Update (September 3, 4:35 PM EST): It looks like the old server is still failing intermittently. I can't debug the problem (since the server is located across the country), so the quickest solution is to ship a new server to the colocation facility. I'm going to build a server tomorrow and ship it on Friday. It should arrive Monday, September 8 around 6PM EST and should be online around 7PM.

Again, I apologize for the downtime. Unfortunately, there is nothing I can do to speed things up; the process of ordering and shipping a server takes time, and yesterday was the first day since the outage that any stores were open.

The good news is that the new server is much better than the old one, so the site should be significantly faster/more responsive once it's running.

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Part of me says, "Go get another comment system."

The other part of me says hang tight and wait for YACCS.

I guess I'll sit tight for now and .... there's a zonkboard down in the lower left hand corner. (Should I move it up a bit?) Hope you all are doing well!

Scrapbooking Links
Scrapbooking.com
Creative Scrapbooking
Creative Memories
Creating Keepsakes
dMarie

AND IT IS A RED LETTER DAY FOR ANOTHER REASON.

I picked my vehicle up at the shop about 2:00 p.m. Matt's wife and little girl were there. The little girl is about 18 months old, absolutely adorable with saucer blue eyes. She googooed something and smiled at me.

"She thinks you're her grandma," her mom said.

Now, I'm definitely old enough to be grandma of a child much older...but this was the first time I had been identified as such. I was just talking to MY mother on the phone: she can remember when she had the same experience of being called "grandma" by an unrelated child. She figures it's one of those marker moments.

What a day.

Bryn is back! YAY!

YACCS is not back. *sigh*

Check out Scott's Caption game. Here.

HOW DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE ATTEMPTED TO STEAL YOUR CAR LAST NIGHT?

Clue 1. The seat is not in the position you left it in.
Clue 2. (For the clueless like me.) You put your key into the ignition, but the ignition isn't there. It's been mangled. BIG BIG Clue!

Yep, I got caught last night. Hadn't locked the doors. Normally that's not an issue in this mostly college-aged/multi-national apartment complex. But last night or this morning I must have helped a good boy or girl go bad. At least they didn't succeed.

You know it's probably time to look at a newer car when your mechanic (wonderful awesome MATT) meets you at the garage door and asks "What kind of self-respecting car thief would try to steal that?"

On the other hand, until I have a garage I can call my own, it probably behooves me to stick with older model vehicles.

And how was your day?

(BTW, meg: love this lemonchiffon!)

From status.blogger.com:

Tuesday, September 02, 2003
There is a BlogSpot-wide networking problem currently occurring which started a little over an hour ago. Full resources are being devoted to this problem at this time.

I think the internet is trying to tell me to shut up. *sigh*

*grin*
Leah, I just found your creativity list at Amazon! Cool! I was tracking Julia Cameron. I didn't know that she had been married to Martin Scorsese.

Good Tuesday Morning!
Hope all who celebrated Labor Day yesterday are rested and ready for a short week. Sometimes those can be hectic, but it was nice having the day off, wasn't it? We start the week with Statement Run and Payroll. Oh goodie! At least it is also round two of the "Legs for Charity" contest. Now where did I put my dollar bills?

Big 10 Football - oh yeah!

I'm a spring/summer person. Fall/winter are not my favorite times of year. But an element has been added to autumn the last ten years that has made it much more palatable. And that element is: Big Ten Football! I live in the shadow of Michigan State University. I graduated from the school years ago. Until 1994, I had attended exactly ONE football game. Fortunately that has changed.

The boss has season tickets given to him. He only goes to one or two games. (Of course, the MICHIGAN game is usually high on the list of the games he goes to, but two years ago *grin*). He divies the rest of the tickets up among the staff. The only criteria is...you must go! He hates to give away tickets and then hear that they weren't used.

Back in 1994, my nephew Paul was my companion to the games. He was seven years old, but my sister and her husband somehow let him go. He was so little but so interested in the game. I remember that it was an Indiana game, and we sat way up in the next to the last row of the south side of the stadium. He would ask questions and most of the time I could answer them. We stayed until the very end of the game.

A precedent was started that year. Paul still goes to the games with me, even though now he's a tall 16-year-old and I have to ask him about some of the calls. Now he leads through the crowds, his height and broad shoulders cutting an easy swath through the masses. He's a mighty nice kid.

As a family we started doing a group trip to the stadium in 1995. This year we're set for the October homecoming game. We'll have a fine tailgate, good talk, and hopefully a win for our Spartans.

So be prepared if you stop by the OTHER SIDE during the next few months ... you're in Spartan Country!

Everyone needs a battle cry, don't you think? Swiped from FerroLad.

What Is Your Battle Cry?

Prowling amidst the hotel lobby, carrying a jeweled meat hammer, cometh Shirl! And she gives a spectacular scream: "I'm seriously going to brutalize you until you taste like chicken!!"

Find out! Enter username: Are you a girl, or a guy ?

created by beatings : powered by monkeys

Monday Madness!
1. If you discovered the brakes on your car weren't working, what would be the first thing you'd do? (Assume that you NEEDED to stop.)
If enough time, I'd downshift to slow the car, then apply emergency brake.
2. Do you consider yourself to be a safe driver; respecting speed limits and all other road rules?
That's a toughie...I try to respect speed limits, but if you've ever come down I-75 on a Sunday afternoon you have to keep up with the flow somehow to be safe...so there's my quandary.
3. If you see someone on the side of the road that appears to be having car problems, would you stop to help them? Why or why not?
As a woman driving alone I probably wouldn't stop unless I could see children involved.

Happy Labor Day