RitzBits Sandwiches probably aren't the most nutritional thing to eat for breakfast. Guess I'd better go cut up some fruit.

Mother's Day tomorrow!

...said She has a Mother's Day post calling for honoring mothers everyday, not just in the Hallmark moment. That is good advice, but what caught my eye was her line on the tradition of carnation-wearing on Mother's Day. According to her, you wear a white carnation if your mother is departed and a red one if she is alive. I could never remember the tradition, so haven't followed it for years. I was always afraid I'd wear the "departed" signifier and give someone a heart attack!

The Hunt has begun! Good luck!

How to Make a Hurt Feel Better.

Get a different one. Geez, I can be such a klutz. My left foot is still bothering me, especially if I wear heels. So I bought a pair of loafers...a large pair of loafers so they don't pinch. (Discerning readers will probably see where this is going already.)

We're short one person in the office due to lay-offs, and yesterday Elsie was off on a vacation day. We all help answer the phone. I was away from my desk and realized it was ringing, and that Dee was "around the corner". So I speeded toward a phone, and promptly tripped over my new big shoes. Thought I had caught myself, but didn't, so actually ended up with a bounce in there.

Poor Hal, a service technician who was waiting for Dee. He was my only (thankfully) witness. "Are you okay?"

"Just embarrassed. Just embarrassed." I got up slowly and limped into my office. And I let Joyce, our comptroller get the phone. Should have done that in the first place.

So now my foot feels better and I have a knot on my knee.

Color me red.

I love the images and words at Days Come and Days Go, and I've been meaning to share this post of May 3:

We tend to take photos of the times we wish to remember, perhaps to help us forget about the times we wish to forget. When I look back upon the thousands of images I have been fortunate enough to capture, I see more than color and form...I see...me.

Perfect, amit!

Don't you HATE it when the comments don't want to work? Sorry about that.

Meeting went well, but now I am sooooo sleepy. M U S T stay up for Survivor. Yikes!

Hurrah! Cyber-bro Jeeem has resurfaced, and he's paring down his life to commence his great journey! You go, lil brother!

Information, please!
My job title is Information Specialist. We used it humorously at first because I do a lot of data entry and outry. It then umbrellaed into doing the company website, newsletter, and writing the radio blurbs. Plus...I know all the good gossip.

This morning I have to be at work early as we added another arm to the job a few months ago. I call it managing from below. We have installation crews. Some do new house work, some retrofit. Last September we started a couple of procedures with the new house guys. One was to hold job reviews for jobs that went over projections. We left the managers out of these meetings. The guys and I just talked about what the problems on the job were without any finger-pointing, sort of a top-of-mind thing. The second procedure was that I started calling the installers at three each afternoon to see how the job was proceeding. The upshot has been....the installations are going faster AND morale has gone up because the installers feel they have that all important "voice" now.

Now we have to figure out how to manage the retrofit guys. They're a tougher bunch. And it's WAY too early in the morning, but maybe that's good!

Have a great day! Send sun.

Survivor!

Hmm. I hit a little trough there, so let's talk about something fun...Survivor. Thursday is the last regular night **poking LilllyAnne so she remembers**, and the finals are on Sunday.

I started to guess Butch as the bootee this week but have switched back to Heidi. I don't think Rob would risk going to two men two women, so he'll somehow get rid of Heidi, as he would like to go to F2 with Jenna. At least, that's how I think it will go...we all know where thinking got me last week!

**Susan has delightful grandma memories. Go!

Running late this morning. Wait...I don't run. Moving late this morning. Good day to all!

Jennifer and I are going to have to fight for George Clooney, I guess, though she did find him first here.

Michigan in May is Magical

Nature's palette in May is loaded with more greens than you can name. It seems that each moment brings a change on the landscape. I go in to work at 7:45: at noon more flowers and trees are blossoming, at 5:30 p.m. when I leave there are more changes. It's my most favorite time of year.

My great-great-Grandpa Charlie liked to go to Kansas when he was a young man. He would stay with relatives, and the visits were ostensibly for his health. (mmmhmm. Right. Kansas in the 1870's. For your health. Whatever, Grandpa C, you who sparkle in old photos like Gus out of Lonesome Dove.)

We have a letter to Grandpa C that his sister wrote him in 1877. She describes the burgeoning May spring back here in Michigan, and says, "please come home".

He did. And married great-great-Grandma Idy. See what I mean about the magic?

Two longish quotes from Empire Falls by Richard Russo:

Then she said something that surprised him. "You do know that I've had lovers, don't you, Miles?"

"I'm glad, Cindy," he said, feeling himself redden with embarrassment, because, no, he hadn't suspected this.

"I wanted you to know, because I'm leaving tomorrow. The truth is, I don't do very well at home. I never have. There's a man in Augusta who cares for me, and I like him well enough. It's not a wonderful life, but I can see clearly there, and it's important for me to see things clearly. I want you to know about this man, because you always imagine me unhappy, and that hurts my feelings. It's like you decided a long time ago that someone like me is incapable of joy..."

"Wondrous! he thought, how the heart leaps when one is chosen, especially later in life, after one would suppose the time for choosing and being chosen has passed. To be recognized as lovely, as desirable--to feel lovely and desirable--surely that was precisely what Grace Roby had needed."

Marvelous characters inhabit this book. Thank you, Kathryn!

Oh, and I forgot...yesterday was National Scrapbooking Day.

Astute investing by Bryn! She's the number 4 "Best Player" on blogshares! WAY to go!

It's time for Unconscious Mutterings:

1. Nanny:: Goat
   
2. Weight:: Watchers
   
3. Deep:: Throat
   
4. Sock:: Foot
   
5. 24 hours:: Day
   
6. Tongue:: Twister
   
7. Fees:: Library
   
8. Champagne:: Celebration
   
9. Bruise:: Mark
   
10. Pancakes::Maple Syrup
    

Sending good thoughts out for Robin. Robin has Hep C and is scheduled for some innovative surgery on Tuesday. She's one spunky lady. (She's also Susan's sister: I love to read the two of them cross-blog.) We're wishing the best for her!

Several of you are playing Saturday Snaps (applause, applause) but if you're not, you might want to check out this photographic meme Lynn started. Excellent stuff!

Just swiped this link from LillyAnne:


You are an Extrovert!

Back from the scrapbooking extravaganza! Whoa. It was fun to be a "cut-up" on purpose.

I've been working on some "anxiety" problems. This weekend presented a good chance to see if progress has been made. Among the push-button issues I had to work through were driving alone for over two hours, driving into the dusk (that sun-down thing, Bryn), being involved in a large group where I knew only one person, having to stand firm on certain sales pushes (this was a Creative Memories event, and while I think they have awesome product I buy on the hit-and-miss method instead of system), and finally, performing a craft in front of other people.

By Friday afternoon, my anxiety had reached such a level (palpitations, stomach upset, throat constriction, figuring I'd have a heart attack and die on the road, you know, all the good stuff) that I was sure I would have to cancel.

But I didn't. And I had a good time. And thank you all...because reading about how you cope with stress, how you work through various situations, how you carry on through this business called life, has given me a lot of insight. *Smoochies to all!!**

We made it to Friday. Whew! This is a busy weekend coming up, with the "crop" party and a birthday party for Boo on Sunday. I guess the Peeps will be safe for awhile.

I wish a safe and happy weekend to all of you! See ya!

Sending good thoughts to meg, who is getting a "tune-up". meg is fun to read, and sometimes you have to see what she sneaks into her comments to get as much of the story as she wants you to get. That makes NO sense the way I wrote it...but that's how it is!

I swear, blogger is your best friend that you have to have a big fight with at least once a month. It's been acting goofy tonight, saying "site under construction" not just for my site, but for a couple I've tried to visit. And then I put my URL in and came out with some "law" site. Ah well. They'll get it fixed, eventually.

Yikes! I'm going to my first "crop" party tomorrow night. That's "crop" as in cropping pictures for scrapbooks. My sister-in-law's sister-in-law is a Creative Memories consultant, and so, I have to go. I'm hoping to get quite a few pages done and maybe get motivated. Maybe. I have tons of supplies, so I hope I can squeak out of this without too many more purchases.

Jennifer usually has great "after-Survivor" comments. Sunidesus does a great play-by-play, if you happened to miss the show.

Things I've wondered about today:

Is it racked or wracked with guilt?

Do you say bury BURREE or BAREE?

Sad. Kathryn has put the Wednesday Wonder on hiatus. I've so enjoyed the Wonder, as it usually involved looking at things throughout the week. And of course, I'm going to feel guilty because I didn't get my Wonder posted in time this week. But I do want to say a big thanks to Kathryn for the time she's put into producing the Wonder! I'll just have to go visit her at her other blogs now *grin*.

Survivor Night! Three more weeks to go. I'm gonna guess that Ms. Heidi will be leaving the tribe tonight. (hope hope hope...I've not been impressed with her treatmetn of Christy). Who do you choose?

Morning! Thunder boomers throughout the night. You know what that means: earthworms on the sidewalk this morning! A few years ago we had a huge batch of storms. When we got to work, a mass of earthworms had wriggled under the door and were in the front lobby. EWWWW. I surely hope that hasn't happened today. Glad I'm not the first person in the building.

I'm totally screwed up on BlogShares. I thought they were going "live" May 1, but it still says "Beta". I bought a few shares again. Does anyone know anything about it?

Throw me a life-ring, please! Drowning beneath a boatload of end-of-month paperwork here. *gasp*

This is the before picture of the header picture (the little easter-egg thieving rascal!):

In light of the Saturday Slant this week, this is kind of funny: (and I didn't rig the results!!) Link via Kathryn.


Beauty - Your biggest trouble is that you try to
please everyone. You're willing to sacrifice
yourself and your own best interests to keep
your friends and family happy. Keep in mind,
dear - sometimes it's okay to do what will make
you happy. (From Beauty and the Beast, by
Madame LePrince de Beaumont)

I guess this would be a claimer as opposed to a disclaimer:

The peep involved in the Saturday scan was dispatched in the most human way possible.

Also, a special thanks to Dee at work, who provided me with the peep.

So now it's about Parker House Rolls. This is why I never get anything done, I'm always chasing around in information circles!

I'm reading along in Empire Falls, the book that Kathryn sent me **thanks again, Miz Tejas!** last week. A major feature of the book is the Empire Grill. It's previous owner was Roger Sperry, and they list his favorite special as "Deep-Fried Haddock with Tartar Sauce, Whipped Potatoes with Beef Gravy, a side of Apple Sauce and Parker House Rolls". And I smile, because Grandma Bea's favorite meal was Roast Beef, Whipped Potatoes with Beef Gravy (that woman could hand-beat potatoes to a fine tune), Peas, and Parker House Rolls. I knew the Parker House Rolls as these rolls you bought pre-made, then baked them up in the oven. But then a little bell went off in my head.

I have a jewelry box that contains bits and pieces of Grandma Bea's stuff. There are hankies and jewelry (most broken, none of precious metals but some quite sparkly) and a little leather dance book. The dance book was from a Washington's Birthday Dance at a fraternity in 1923. Grandma Bea would have been 16, and she was in attendance (and not, I may add, with my future grandpa *grin*).

The menu for this dance was: Stuffed Oranges with frozen fruit, Wafers, Olives, Pickles, Celery, Roast Leg of Lamb, Irish and Sweet Potatoes, Lettuce Salad, Dressing, and.....Parker House Rolls. And obviously these wouldn't have been the pre-made kind. So I did a little internet sleuthing. (What was life like before google?)

Well, I found this answer here:
These are yeast-raised dinner rolls created accidently by the baker at Boston's Parker House Hotel in the 1870s. This, incidentally, is the same place that gave us Boston Creme Pie. I know where I'm heading the next time I'm in Boston!

Now the unanswerable question is: why did Grandma Bea always serve Parker House Rolls? hmmmm.

It seems I'm always behind...yikes!



If you were banished from reality into a faery tale of your choice, which would it be, which character would you choose to become, and why?

Beauty and the Beast. I'd like to see it transformed though....female beast, male beauty, and I would be the beast.

In the traditional Disney form though, Belle is the heroine I would most identify. She's not a princess, she's bookish, her hair is somewhat aflutter. I would wish for myself her gift of not being afraid of the beast.

Speaking of Belle, did you know her name in the Disney movie was "Speechless"? Yep. When the movie came out, oh what, about eleven years ago, Glory, my niece was two. All the aunts and cousins were at the Disney store. Glory's mom was carrying her, and I was right behind them.

"What's the Beauty's name," I asked her.

"Speechless," she immediately piped up.

And she was right. In one of the first scenes Belle does reply, "I'm Speechless!"

Kids see everything....literally!

Unconscious Mutterings

1. Slob:: Me
   
2. 60:: Minutes
   
3. Personals:: Ads
   
4. Famous:: Celebrity
   
5. Cancer:: July
   
6. Internet:: Freedom, Friends
   
7. Previously:: Before
   
8. Moonshine:: Tennessee
   
9. Ants:: RAID
   
10. Check::mate
    

Saturday Snaps:

TOYS, that's the theme / topic / assignment. They can be new, old, in a store or on the floor, .... they can be seasonal ones or not, .... become a child again and find a "nifty" toy and snap it!

The second oldest toy I own, and she was made especially for me by Mrs. Hammond, is Annie:

I have reconsidered. Dissection always made me nauseous, so I have opted for a "peepscan" instead of operating. Here is the left side of "la peep".

We are now cleaning the scanner (kids, don't try this at home unless Mom and/or Dad says it is okay...or you've bought your scanner with your own money). Preparing the peep for the right side view.

Scan has been completed. We are editing and uploading now.

The next shot is of the right side of the peep. Note, this is where it has been separated from its brother and sister peeps. The marshmallow that has been exposed doesn't look too tough for eating.

There will now be a somewhat longer delay as we do some serious cleaning of scanner and attempt to prepare the peep for the difficult head shot. (Dang peep is getting kind of cranky, I may have to administer something to calm it down. By the way, how do you tell the sex of a peep?)

And here is the facial view of the peep. While difficult to position, this appears to be the shot that will least mess up the scanner.

Note the positioning of the eyes on the peep. It's all in the eyes, folks. As with humans, so with peeps. It's all in the eyes.

Here you see the posterior view of the peep. Note the deep veining. This peep is just begging to be eaten. Isn't it? Or is that my interpretation?

This scan completes our series. (Always good to end with an end shot, I say.) Thank you for stopping by, and have a super Saturday. Or a sweet Saturday. Or a silly Saturday. Or a....oh, okay, I'll shut up now!

Lynn has her Saturday Snaps contest posted! Get going, shutterbugs!

Coming at 11:00 a.m.today --
(almost) Live Dissection of a Peeps Chick.

Yikes! I'm late, so we'll just quickly do the Friday Five and be off.

1. What was the last TV show you watched? hahahaha...Survivor!

2. What was the last thing you complained about and what was the problem? Work, and the problem is having a husband and wife working in the same office.

3. Who was the last person you complimented and what did you say? Carol, on the way she brought up her son.

4. What was the last thing you threw away? An old sweater

5. What was the last website (besides this one) that you visited? Okay, I visited several on my sidebar that had been updated...and www.blogshares.com.

Hallelujah! It's Friday!

Spring actually might be finding us. Even the oak trees are starting to bud now. Whew!

Well, I missed my prediction on weblogs: the highwater mark is still 2399. I hope I can do better with the Survivor prediction. I'm sticking with Alex as bootee.

Fearless prediction: weblogs is going over the 2400 mark today. Keep an eye on it!

I am a Bookworm. (Meaning one, that is.) Three of my nieces are also bookworms, and two of them are always in trouble with their mothers. "She's ALWAYS got her nose in a book." Glory got busted late one night when Boo, her dad, was painting the eaves. (Why he was doing it at 11:00 P.M. is a question, too, but I don't know the answer.) He peeked in her window and there she was with her flashlight.

Were/are you a bookworm? If so, have you run into your condition causing consternation with other folk? And if you're not a bookworm, do you get bothered by people who are?

April has not been the kindest month. I've had work problems a little worse than usual (read: loss of confidence and trust), relationships have been going nutty, AND it's 27F/- C out this morning. On April 24 April 23. See, I am losing it.

But there are bright spots. Easter was pleasant, and warm enough for an egg hunt outside. Great birthday party for my niece Glory Saturday: she turned 13. And this Friday she stars in her school play. Other bright spots are visiting my blog pals. Thank you all for sharing your lives. And then, last night, I finally caught up with my postal carrier, and...I had Snail Mail! Kathryn (you are such a sweetie, Ms. Tejas!!) sent me Empire Falls. Can't wait to dive into it. Thanks so much!

For those playing the fantasy stock at BlogShares, remember it is going "live" on May 1, and you can only take cash into that game. Eek! I'll probably get that all muddled up.

All right, who came here via google and marry+that+bitch+shirley+blogs ? Raise your hand high, buddy!

Tuesday This-or-That:

What Is...

1. Yummier: Chocolate ice cream or strawberry cheesecake? cheesecake
2. Better to watch on TV: Movies or sports? sports
3. A better web browser: MSIE or Netscape (or tell us your own favorite!) whatever's available
4. A better way to travel: Automobile or bus/train? Auto....but Train is cool too!
5. Your preferred camera: Digital or film? Film, but I use the digital more. Go figure.
6. A Cooler Vehicle: Motorcycle or sports car? Sports Car
7. More fun: Video games or board games? Board games
8. Sexier: A perfect body or an intelligent mind? Intelligent Mind housed in a Perfect Body
9. A stinkier smell: Skunk or gasoline (petrol)? Skunk
10. Thought-provoking question of the week: What is more important to you: making a ton of money and being at the top of your field, or finding your soulmate and living a comfortable but not wealthy life? Finding soulmate

Oh my goodness, there's another shirl. Hey there!

Does anyone else think Madonna in this incarnation looks like Courtney Cox?

Hankies vs Tissues (I almost typed a brand name there, whoops!)
Tissues are always laying lying around. We throw them away, but then they go to landfills or wherever. All those germs just amassing. Wouldn't it seem that hankies would be more sanitary, especially if you washed them as much and in as hot of water as Grandma Bea did.

Mondays. Time to ponder odd things. Hope yours went well!

Dadgum Squirrel!
We celebrate Easter at my mother's each year. This year she had two of J.R.'s kids, my brother Critz and his friend, Boo and his girls, and my sister Crystal and her boys. Oh, and me.

My sister adores Easter Egg hunts. Her boy is sixteen, but he plays along and still hunts for eggs. Boo's girls are 9, 11 and 13, and they still like the hunt. J.R.'s son still hunts (going along to not hurt his aunt's feelings, I think) and J.R.'s daughter brought treats. (It's so fun to see the older children enjoy playing grown-up.)

Anyway, Crystal had brought real eggs and I had brought plastic eggs that had coins or chocolate in them. We were still hiding them when Boo shouts, "There goes one of the eggs, Shirl!!"

The kids weren't out yet, so I looked around. "Up in the tree," he hollered, as he headed to the back of the lot where I was.

Yep, up in the tree, just above people head height, was a squirrel with one of the plastic eggs. He was yanking at it with his quick little paws. It opened, he discarded it, and claimed the foil-wrapped chocolate in his mouth as he ran up the tree.

Do you think he'll be okay with the combination of chocolate and foil? Argh. Silly Squirrel!

Unconscious Mutterings:

I say and you think:

1. Milk:: Shake
   
2. Itch:: Rash
   
3. Raisin:: Bran
   
4. Contempt:: Scorn
   
5. High:: Low
   
6. Take:: Give
   
7. Hamburger::Bun
   
8. Frilly:: Lacy
   
9. Tigger:: Pooh
   
10. Creek::Montana
    

Happy Easter

I shirley do believe

That's Why I Go to the Mountains.

They just don't change. And my feelings on seeing them again, just don't change. (Can you tell I'm gearing up for a Montana trip *grin*??)

Edit: They've started clearing the Going-to-the-Sun Road. Hopefully it will be done by June.

You Can't Go Home Again
....even if you live in your own hometown.

Sometimes I'll be thinking, boy, I ought to stop by and have dinner at such-and-such restaurant. And then I remember: it is closed. A cycle shop is there now. Or I'll remember movie opening nights at the Spartan Theater. Done. Gone. Closed. Razed and rebuilt as a Rite-Aid. While the new SuperTheaters are nice, they just don't have the panache.

And even going to the mall. This is the same mall. The only two stores left from that initial opening, which of course I well remember, are J.C.Penneys and the novelty shop. And drat! Cinnabon is gone.

My early childhood homes? Gone to parking lots, every one. One is a church parking lot, one is a hospital parking lot. I see they're erecting a big parking structure at the hospital lot now.

I'm not sure change is good, but it sure is inevitable.

Makes it hard to go home again, even if you're already there.

Whoops! Someone came here looking for "brussels sprouts recipes". I don't think so!

I wrote about the book Holes earlier. This is the book that my ten-year-old niece highly recommends as the "best book in the whole world". In fact, it's so good that she would read chapters to us when we visited. This week I finished reading the book on my own...and it IS a good book!

The movie Holes is opening today. I have no idea how they're going to handle the multi-stories involved, but I bet I'll go see it sometime this weekend. The reviewer in our paper gave it a seven and said that it was a movie that could be enjoyed by both adults and children...so I have high hopes!

Slow starting today. *sigh*

I believe Survivor is a recap, but in case it's not...I'm betting on Alex.

Vitamins and supplements: What do you recommend? I'm looking to be a little more involved with self-care here, and am curious what you all might suggest. Thanks in advance!

Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Today is that moon.

The Wednesday Wonder this week was about Pinatas:

1. Learn how to make a pinata and make one. Someone you know has a birthday around the corner, or you can just have a party to celebrate spring. If that doesn't snag your interest, play with making projects with papier-mache.

2. See, the human mind is kind of like...a pinata. When it breaks open, there's a lot of surprises inside.
Once you get the pinata perspective, you see that losing your mind can be a peak experience.
~Jane Wagner, in the
Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe;
excerpted from 100 Ways to Keep Your Soul Alive

Do something completely outrageous this week. Make noise! Take up space. Blow your mind and see what happens.

Well, outrageous is relative, I suppose. The Rally of Writers I attended on Saturday was an all day event. Lunch was optional and an additional $15. While I can handle going to seminars alone, I didn't really want to eat alone within a large group of people. So at the lunch break I grabbed my camera and went over to the hotel's dining room. I stopped at the restroom first, and guess who was coming out? Mmmmhmmm....Dianne Hicks, the poet I had met on Friday at the bookstore. She was dining alone and asked if I would like to join her.

Normally I beg off from these situations. Normally. But this time, I broke the pinata and agreed.

Lunch was delightful. We were such a contrast, both about the same age but one an elegantly dressed black woman with wonderful gold elephant earrings and one an aging hippie-era white chick with wild hair, gauze shirt, and small turquoise earrings. She was so kind and so loving. And she was SO emphatic about the importance of stretching oneself.

As we went back to the seminar I chuckled to myself. I had had my own private author's luncheon. Cool!

Link via Kathryn: (wanna bet THIS one doesn't stay up til morning????)

Okay okay...I couldn't leave it up. Sheesh. Those Double Dog Dares are killers!

That Blog Silence last night was ....
the silence of a 79F day AND having to finish up my taxes. Hope your day went well!!

I just looked at my template and it's the March Sidebar there, not the April one. Argh. I had heard there were template problems at Blogger. Now how can I cross off doing taxes? Will wait and see how things look tonight, I guess.

More Obsessions:
the Bible, bears, bathrooms, words that begin with e, and obsessing about obsessions

Sunday night insomnia strikes again. *sigh*
I must have slept in too late this morning, it's hard to get to sleep tonight. (Of course, that little snooze from 5-7 this evening probably didn't help either.)

I know, I have to finish blogging the writers' conference. Will finish up tomorrow later today.

Sometimes when I've had a really really up time, such as this week-end, I crash when it is over. Almost like a sine wave, ya know? A real high and then a real low. Does that happen to you too?

Whew, it's still Sunday so I can do my Unconscious Mutterings:

1. Compassionate:: Caring
   
2. Zodiac:: Capricorn
   
3. Suit:: Business
   
4. Marble:: Agate
   
5. Track:: Bear
   
6. Miscellanous::Me
   
7. Supermarket:: Refrigerator
   
8. Stone:: Wishing
   
9. Daylight:: Savings Time, and oh I am so glad it is here!!!!
   
10. Cap::Night
    

And isn't it terrific about the 7? Such good news!!!

And more on the Rally...
The rally consists of four sessions with a half hour break between the first and second and third and fourth, and an hour and a half between the second and third. Each session offers four different subjects and with no repeats it can be very hard to choose.

The second session that I chose was Nuts-n-Bolts. It was presented by Steven Harper Piziks. He does a lot of sci-fi original writing and his latest project is a Star-Trek book. He had a lot of pertinent, usable information on how to format submissions and query letters.

Continuing on with the week-end report...
A Rally of Writers!
The local community college here has a powerhouse writing program, and for the last 16 years they have put on a one-day writing conference. This was my second year to attend, and it was sparkalicious.

The first session I attended was Treasure Your Obsessions: How and why writers must continue to nourish their imaginations, presented by Bonnie Jo Campbell. Bonnie is a Michigan writer who has published a book of short stories and just published her first novel, Q Road. She was the perfect first session...her segment was about the obsessiveness of writing and the use of other obsessions to fuel writing, to provide short story ideas, and to give our characters depth.

I decided to list some of my obsessions: (in no particular order)
lilacs...work...Ron...railroads...Glacier National Park
J.R....lighthouses...Montana...scrapbooking...confetti...sex
Kevin Costner...Eminem...Lansing...Go Green, MSU
cemeteries...HVAC...CP...photography...barns...C.S.Lewis
Ernest Hemingway...Ansel Adams...Teddy Roosevelt...Jim Harrison
Survivor...native Americans...lady bugs

Yours?

Yikes! Blog*spot sites weren't opening this morning. Such withdrawal! I couldn't do my Sunday morning visits to so many of my blogging pals' sites. Well, all appears ok now. (Where's that wood to knock on????)

Week 6
If asked to pick just one, what event of your childhood most shaped the person you are now?
We are all the sum of our laughter and tears. As children, events occur in and around our lives that shape our world forever more. Which one event—for better or for worse—might you say shaped you? Why was it significant? How do you feel about it? How does the effect of that event reach across the years to influence your adult life now?

The event that has most shaped my life....hmmm. Well, having a brother with cerebral palsy was a big life shaper, but the childhood event that most shaped my life was the death of my best friend Linda. We went to the same school in third and fourth grade. She moved to the other side of town in fifth grade, but we spent each Saturday together, until one day in December of sixth grade. She was coming to my house. There was a phone call. Linda had a terrible, terrible headache and fever and they were taking her to the hospital. She died of a brain aneurism a couple of hours later.

Ten-year-olds don't process death very well. Heck, fifty-year olds have trouble with it. I'm sure that was the beginning of my loner tendencies. Umm, say something funny, someone!

Oops. I'm too late for Lynn's Saturday Snaps! I forgot she was an hour ahead of me. Ah well. Check out the people who posted: they're great with cameras and great with telling time!

just to prove I'm not unhinged.
On my way to do Lynn's Saturday Snaps.

Friday Night Movie.
And the Friday night movie was...Anger Management. Some good laughs, but not nearly the belly rippers of Queen Latifah's Bringing Down the House.

Also, prior to movie, a good time was had spending Christmas money (yep, I had saved it) at Lane Bryant.

Argh. Have to subscribe to readAnne Lamott now. Waaah! Anyway, I love her description of Easter.
(to be continued)

Here come the Sun! (and the fun!)

Whee! This has turned into an interesting weekend. The weekend has several components, so I'll have to post in pieces.

It all started yesterday noon, when I stopped in at the Way Station Bookstore downtown. This store has been in business since last July, but it took me until December to warm up to it. This is no reflection on the store. My friend Nancy had a novelties and card store downtown. It was a warm, fun place, but she had to close it in May as she was relocating to be near her parents who were in poor health. The Way Station moved into that building. The first few times I visited the new store, I missed Nancy too much. But times do change, and the proprietor of this new/used bookstore is a real sweetheart, so it has become a regular stopping place.

It's a small bookstore, though, and I usually don't like to stop when they're having author signings. Yesterday I didn't notice the sign about author signings, so in I went. Oops. I have an early lunch hour, and they were just setting up the author's table.

The author was Dianne M. Hicks, and she was just delightful! So nice, in fact, that I bought her book, Soulful Expressions, On Love and Women. I never purchase poetry books. Never.

Fawlty logic is hard to understand. Remember, you heard it here first. (Don't mind me, it's been a cranky day at work, but it is five minutes from being done, and then, YES! The Weekend! Whew. And the sun is shining, at last.)

Hey there! Happy Birthday to JJ at Wittbits! #54, eh? Love the blue plate on the table...my mom has the full set too!

Swiped from a visit to Bryn's:

Eek! I forgot! Tonight is Survivor night. I'll go with Deena for the boot.

I've had the book for a year, but I've finally started working through The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, Third Edition

We have Sunshine! And the temperature is 46F. Things are improving.

A big thanks to Jennifer at fortysomething. Jennifer is awesome at BlogShares. She's so good, she gave away some of her shares...and she still ranks in the top ten players! Wow! And I was one of the people who received a gift from her. Thanks, Jennifer!

The Wednesday Wonder this week was to plan(t) a garden. I live in an apartment, on the third floor, but I do have a large balcony that gives me a lot of "mini-gardening" joy during the growing season.

I have about 12 pots on the balcony, and each year I vary what they hold. Geraniums (both regular and ivy), ivy, petunias, pansies, Gerber Daisies, one year foxglove, peppers, dianthus (they even overwintered one year), strawberries, corn (that didn't work very well). Usually I buy plants already started at the nursery, but this year, taking a page from meg and her miracle seeds, I've purchased seeds and will start them in pots this weekend.

I have two chairs on the balcony, and a little stand for reading material. Because it is on the third floor, and there are trees in front of the apartment, it feels like I have my own little nest. Most evenings (when the weather permits, and this is Michigan, so....) find me enjoying the setting sun in my most favorite place.

And, this being Michigan, right now the thought of gardening is an exercise in hope. Thanks, Kathryn, for a terrific topic!

Cool! Lynn had one, and of course I had to have one too! You can make your own right here.

Tuesday This-or-That:
April 8...The Who Is Edition
Who is:

1. Sexier (female)...Pamela Anderson or Jennifer Garner? Jennifer
2. Sexier (male)...Ben Affleck or Matt Damon? Ben
3. The better piano player...Billy Joel or Elton John? Billy
4. Funnier...David Letterman or Craig Kilborn? David
5. The dumber cartoon cat...Stimpy (of *Ren & Stimpy*) or Tom (of *Tom & Jerry*)? Tom
6. A better news anchor...Tom Brokaw or Dan Rather? Tom (but I watch Dan, go figure)
7. A better TV chef...Emeril Lagasse or Jacques Pepin? Emeril
8. The trashier talk show host...Maury Povich or Jerry Springer? Jerry
9. The worse fast food burger joint...McDonald's or Burger King? MickeyD's
10. Thought-provoking question of the week: Only a handful of U.S. Presidents have been considered to be *great* Of the following two, which one do you consider to be greater...Franklin D. Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln? Why? Lincoln...I'll do the why later, I'm outta time!
Have a great Tuesday!

Oh good. There are 0" of the 4-6" they were predicting for this morning.

Yesterday didn't quite turn out the way I had planned.

I had planned to spend yesterday midday taking pics of downtown while my car was getting a tune-up. Somewhere in the morning preparations I had stubbed my toe. My left little toe. (I'm always doing things to my left foot. I broke the big toe once, marched in a parade with a defective boot zipper and blood dripping out of the boot, almost cut it off in a craft class another time...Dee never has invited me to take a craft class with her since that episode, come to think of it.) Anyway, I noticed a twinge when I pulled my boot on, an ouch by the time I hit the Wendy's at Cedar, and a major owwee by the time I was headed north on the Riverwalk.

The good news was that while the trees still had a thin ice coat, asphalt was clear. The bad news was that the Riverwalk turns into a wooden walk near the museum triangle, and it was slippery. The only thing to do was to veer over to Mill Road...which was a hill. Up. By the time I reached the top, I knew I had to change my plans for the day.

So, off we plodded to the Library. I do so love libraries. An Oprah magazine and some gardening books were laying on a table. Perfect. The magazine had an article written by a 40-year-old on the aches and pains of aging. It made me feel less elderly. The gardening books (supplemented by some others I went looking for) were fodder for the Wednesday Wonder.

And eventually Sam called (aren't cell phones grand) and my afternoon was done.

Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how. The moment you know how, you begin to die a little. The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark.
~~Agnes de Mille

Winter Must Now Be Officially Over.

Please!! I broke my scraper yesterday. Enough is enough!

Unconscious Mutterings:

1. Cost ::Price
   
2. Head :: Toe
   
3. Eclipse :: Sun
   
4. Pestacide :: Dangerous
   
5. Private :: Intimacy
   
6. Betty :: Boop
   
7. Leech :: Squishy
   
8. Jam :: Jelly
   
9. Playground :: Childhood
   
10. Trauma:: Death
    

Via meg:

Gary Turner has changed his name to Slake. Pass it on. It's a Google thing.

Good Saturday Morning!
We had a lovely ice storm in the middle of the night. I have to take my car in for a tune-up by my favorite mechanic Sam at 10:30 this morning. Guess I'd better go start chipping ice soon.

Final Four Basketball on tonight. And here is the spot where I need to hang my head for Michigan State. After our loss last Sunday to Texas, there was another ding-dong riot in East Lansing. I thought we were beyond that sort of thing (there was an extreme one in 1999 after our loss to Duke in the final four) and it is very embarrassing to this Spartan fan.

So once I get the ice chipped from my car, I'll tool down to Sam's (everyone's mechanic should look like Sam) and then take a walk around downtown while I'm waiting for the tune-up to be done. Have you checked out reconstructed mind? Bobbi does some wonderful things will alleyway photos. The bug has bit me to take a different type look at my fair city.

Speaking of photos, Lynn has a new Saturday meme up here. Check it out, please!

Well, it's shirley not getting any warmer out, so I guess it's off to get my exercise cleaning the car. Have a great day! Catch ya later!

Obviously a mistake, as we all know I drink Pepsi.

What Drink Are You?

Ok doke...first person who comments correctly as to where this came from gets a prize. On your mark, get set, go!

-

Oh good grief. It's 33F/1C and rainy and dark and this has been a bitch of a week and I'm going home and make Vodka Gimlets! Yes I am.

Sometimes it's the little things.
I was at the drugstore yesterday, buying some Easter candy, bottled water, and a magazine. The clerk rang up my purchases and said, "That will be nine and a nickel."

For some reason the sounds of those words together just tickled me. I've thought about it several times. I should go back and thank her for the amusement she gave me.

Fading it is up here in these parts. This week has taken a toll. Bed at 8:00 p.m. last night, and I still don't fee refreshed. But, we'll Survive! And speaking of Survivor...I think Deena is going to get the boot tonight!

H A P P Y W E D N E S D A Y - - A L M O S T H A L F W A Y T H E R E


thank you meg *grin*

whew. Amit has a very scary post today (and do remember that it is April 1.) Yikes!

Kathryn, as usual, set up a very thought-provoking Wednesday Wonder last week. The project was to make a Self Box, following these instructions:
1. take a box of any size you choose, with or without a lid or flaps.
2. gather as many varieties of magazine that you can.
3. on the outside of the box, affix images that represent what you show the world.
4. on the inside, affix images that represent your inner life, whether or not it's something to express to the world.
5. cover the entire box, and if you want, seal it with decoupage glaze.
6. you now have a work of art that hopefully was enjoyable, stirring, or comforting to make.
7. lastly, if you want, you can choose items of personal importance to keep in the box -- photos, memorabilia, articles, etc.

As usual, I didn't do the assignment quite the way it was laid out....thank heavens Kathryn understands about Wonders. I used an empty Altoids box. (Does anyone else have bunches of those lying around? And no, I hadn't been using them for THAT trick!!)

The top of the box is covered in a green/brown outdoorsy feeling craft paper. The bottom of the box is...tada...Spartan Green paper!

I left one side of the interior blank. This leaves a blurry reflective surface. The other side has layers of paper with various stickers interspersed. The next to the bottom layer has a picture of the girl on the right. I lost her somewhere. And I feel that I have a short, perhaps six-month period, to find her again. Underneath the picture is a designer cut of a fireworks.

Anyway, this is all mishmash to write, but it was very meaningful to me, so once again Kathryn....Thanks!

Oh my, Tuesday This-or-That has a new site...and a new slant!

1. The Bogey-Man or Henry Kissinger? Bogey-Man
2. Whips 'n chains or soft ropes with furbound cuffs? Soft Ropes
3. Fish sticks or Amazon.com? Amazon.com
4. Whitewall tires or color TV? TV
5. Leather or lace? Lace
6. Abraham Lincoln or leftover turkey? Abe
7. Movable Type or Star Trek? Star Trek
8. Happy Happy Joy Joy or Bounce Bounce Bounce like Tigger? Happy Happy Joy Joy
9. The Michelin Man or the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man? Stay-Puft
10. Thought-Provoking Question of the Week: If you HAD to marry one of the talking M&M's in the TV commercials, would it be the red one or the yellow one? Why? Yellow. Because he's happier.

EDIT: Oops! These were the April Fool Set, not the real set. Ah, well, the cat's out of the bag now, might as well let them stand. *sigh* This will teach me to read the "more" section.

And our prank at work didn't work out...they didn't believe me. Elsie says next time SHE'S gonna be the one to yell at them, she's tough!

Well, we're 20% into the work week. Today is statement day, and the payroll has to be prepped for run tomorrow. Bleah.

On the other hand....it's April 1st. April Fool's. The guys that work in the shop are notorious practical jokers. Today I think I'll give them their inventory pack back and tell them they did it all wrong, that they need to do the count again. And in the pack will be a sign that says:

APRIL FOOL

I just hope they don't get tooo mad before they open the pack.

And in the top 100 traders on BlogShare we have: Lynn Rockwell and Jennifer from 40something. Nice work!