I think I miss....

blogging! But it's been so long, I've let my blog lapse and now it'd be like talking to myself. Don't know if I'm ready to start doing that. lol

Three Months in a Nutshell

Wow. I've not blogged in almost 3 months. I think I've forgotten how. lol
So much is going on these days. A new grandbaby has arrived. Another new grandbaby is on the way. We're slowly repainting the entire upstairs of the house. Randey's job is moving to Georgia sometime in the next year or year and a half. I've become a tattoo addict. Youngest son is mere days away from graduating high school. Oldest son has finally returned from Okinawa and is living back in Florida. Ummmm let's see...what else? I've celebrated 17 months on the Weight Watchers Maintenance Program (yay me!). And I guess that's about it. All the major highlights anyway.


Huh. Okay. So that wasn't so bad. Maybe I do remember how to blog after all (sort of!)

Which One Doesn't Belong in this Picture?

This magazine covers illustrates so very well what exactly is wrong with media in America today. Katie Couric, who calls herself a "journalist", spends more time on magazine covers, posing with actors, than she does digging around for real news. You ask me? She's no journalist. She might have been at one time, but she's most certainly not one now. Nope. Katie's a "Star", with a capital "S". Yes ma'am. She's now, happily, willfully and smugly, someone who is the story, rather than someone who is reporting on the story. Absolutely shameful, Katie. Absolutely shameful. Sadly, though, you're not alone. Far too many of your compatriots have fallen into the same cesspool of "stardom". You're as overpaid as professional athletes (Katie makes $15 million per year. Yes. Really!), as catered to as spoiled actors and as immoral as wild-ass rock stars. And that, my dear, is not the stuff that makes a journalist. Not a real one anyway.

Oops, I Did It Again....

Yep, me and my new found love of tattoos. Now don't be shocked! I know they're not for everybody, but I look at my tattoos as tributes AND amazing artwork. I got this one today in memory of our beautiful grandson, Conner.

Randey kind of laughed when he saw this one and said, "I see a Harley in my future". Apparently, he was referring to me being a "biker chick". LOL I asked him if he was going to get me a sidecar so that I could ride in style with him on that Harley. He told me not only a sidecar, he was going to get me a pair of goggles and a little helmet with a pointy thing on top, too. Goober. Like I'd be caught dead wearing those unstylish goggles. Sheesh. :)

Combining Politics and the Olympics in One Little Ol' Picture

Yeah, no medals for the Democrats this Olympic season. Unless the Olympic committee has added a Lead Medal, for the team that comes in dead last because they got lost somewhere along the route. I'm just sayin'....

The Obama Plan to Butter Up the Masses

'Nuff said.

And now for a report on my big, big week (drum roll please.....)

Okay, people, when I said I had a big week coming up on my last post, I think I may have left you ya'll with the wrong impression! I mean, sure, it was a big week FOR ME, but not so much in the big scheme of things! It's not like I'm pregnant, moving or joining the circus! My "big week" was because I was getting an opportunity to meet two more blogging friends in person! I don't know about ya'll, but that definitely qualifies as big in my world. :) So why didn't I just come right out and say that from the beginning? Because geez people! I didn't want to announce on my blog that Randey and I were going to be away from the house for an entire week. You never know who's reading your blog, right?
So anyhoo...who did I get to meet, you ask? The lovely Lynne from Lynne's Little Corner of the World. This is us, at a charming little Denny's Diner at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Locust Grove, Georgia. Lynne drove down there from her home and I drove up there from Warner Robins. I had the most amazing time with Lynne. I felt like I'd known her forever. We had so much in common; crazy relatives, a loathing of mushrooms, wonderful granddaughters, a distaste for cooking (but a love of cooking gadgets!)...the list goes on and on. The afternoon went by way too fast for my liking. I hope we're able to get together again one of these days because Lynne is great fun to be around. I need more fun people like her in my life!
I also got to meet with Sandy from Dream, Create, Inspire. More than meet her, I also got to attend one of her art classes!!! Talk about a dream come true! I've long said that if I ever got to her area, I would definitely want to take part in one of her classes so getting to do so was absolutely amazing! Sandy is an amazing teacher (and positively STUNNING in person!). Look what she taught me to do in just 2 hours:

And, as an added bonus, I won her painting in the drawing that was held at the end of class. I had her painting framed and it's on my living room wall already. I'm debating what to do with my painting, though. I was thinking about giving it to my daughter or my granddaughter. I'm actually pretty proud of it so I don't want to give it to one of them unless they really, really want it. lol Sandy also gifted me with this beautiful clock she'd made:

I've hung right next to my computer desk so I can see it all the time. It's just lovely, isn't it? She also gave me this picture frame she'd made:

I haven't decided what picture to put in there yet. Maybe one of Randey and me from that Sky Ball we went to a few months ago. How lucky am I to own three pieces of original Sandy McTier artwork? I think she kind of scoffs when I say stuff like that, but I treasure her artwork - it's truly amazing. :)
Here's Sandy's painting, hanging on our living room wall:

And here's a long shot of the living room wall. I'm always saying I've never met a blank wall I didn't want to cover and this wall is proof of that compulsion. lol

Our visit to Georgia was a lot of fun. I missed the boys quite a bit so I spent probably too much time worrying about them, but getting to meet Lynne and Sandy was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. I'm so glad I finally got to meet them in person and I sure hope I get to do it again one day soon. Randey's job is actually slated to move to Warner Robins in a year or so. I was kicking my heels, screaming that I did NOT want to live there (Sorry guys! I'm a cold weather person and the heart of Georgia doesn't fit that bill!), but I've decided that there might just be certain advantages to living there after all. :)

On the way to Georgia, I realized that our path went right through Selma, Alabama, where my grandparents are buried. Randey and I made arrangements to stop by and pay our respects to them on our return trip home. It was very exciting to get to do this. I haven't been to their gravesites in over 5 years, I guess. I can't believe that much time has gone by.

We brought them a little cast iron bird to leave there. My grandparents, particularly Grandma, loved to sit on the front porch and watch the birds. The whole family spent many a wonderful hour sitting in the rocking chairs on their front porch, enjoying each other and the sights. Those were good days back then. Here's the bird we left for them:

And finally, here's a crazy bird I got for myself a few weeks ago. I love this crazy chicken.

I found it down in Granbury and couldn't resist getting it. It just makes me smile everytime I look at it. Everyone should have a velvet crazy chicken, don'tcha think? Hope everyone is having a wonderful week! It's hard to believe we're already into the 3rd week in February!!

How To Make Divorce Taste Good (*smirk*)

I've got a big week ahead of me - won't say too much here until I've got actual pictures to show. Suffice it to say, I have two major events I'm really, really, really looking forward to. (And, lest I start a terrible rumor of break-up, let me say right now that my big week has nothing to do with the title of this post!! My big week is good and happy news, all the way around, I promise!) In the meantime, let me continue along my current vein of unpolitical correctness, this time with "Ways to Make Your Divorce Funny". Again...none of this pertains to Randey and me but I received these pictures in an e-mail a while back and they totally cracked me up. The dissolution of a marriage is a bad thing (barring any abuse, of course), but it's good if you can laugh about it at some point, right? So should you ever find yourself in the unenviable position of facing a divorce, why don't you order one of these cakes and celebrate your new-found foray into the World of Uncoupledom. Or whatever you want to call it. This first one is my favorite. LOL

Notice the location of the wedding ring in this next one:
This is such a cliche'. She gets the nice stuff, he gets the garbage. (Like it's the woman's fault she got a better lawyer! Sheesh.)

This little bride seem a tad harsh, eh?

And talk about splitting up! These guys mean business! But the cake looks like it tastes so good....

Remember people! A little laughter can make even a divorce somewhat easier to bear. And cake just helps everything look better. Right? (Kind of sad how obvious it is that I'll make any excuse to eat cake sound better than it is, huh? LOL)

Okay, moving on...can't wait to share my big, fun news with you guys! Hope to do that within a week.

Kettle? Meet Pot....Pot? Meet Kettle.

While I'm being so politically incorrect (see previous post for proof of that), let me just pile it on with this particular post. It kind of feels like the inmates are now running the asylum. Or maybe the fox is now guarding the henhouse. Or maybe the government is now adopting that ultimate of parental commandments, "Do as I say and not as I do". Let me set the scene first...........there I was, surfing the internet, checking out the news, clicking on one story to the next when, 'lo and behold, couched somewhere between the news that so-called "lesser" royals of Great Britain will be taking taxi cabs in an effort to cut back on costs (via edict of the queen) and the story entitled "The Big Fat Lies about Britain's obesity epidemic and why you shouldn't believe the government when it tells you to exercise more and eat less" (yeah, somehow I'd ended up on Great Britain's Daily Mail website, don't ask me to trace my route backwards 'cause I don't think I could), I found a little ditty entitled "Reform begins at home: Michelle Obama puts daughters on a diet as she launches anti-obesity campaign". The story caught my attention because I'd heard that Michelle was going to rescue our youth of today from childhood obesity and I was wondering what her game plan was. As the legend goes (and isn't everything related to the Obamas the stuff of legend?), First Lady Michelle Obama framed her national campaign against childhood obesity in intensely personal terms, relating that her own daughters were starting to get off-track before the family's pediatrician gave her a wake-up call and warned her to watch it.

"In my eyes, I thought my children were perfect," the first lady said. "I didn't see the changes."

But the family's pediatrician, she said, kept a close eye on trends in African-American children and "warned that he was concerned that something was getting off-balance." The doctor "cautioned me that I had to take a look at my own children's BMI," or body mass index, the first lady said.

The first lady said that over the next few months she made some small changes that got her daughters back on track. More attention to portion sizes. Low-fat milk. Water bottles in the lunch boxes. Grapes on the breakfast table. Apple slices at lunch. Colorful vegetables on the dinner table.
Gosh. Tough stuff to figure out, eh? She's so much smarter than the rest of us commoners, isn't she? That's probably why she's going to lead us in the battle against fat. But even the Vaunted Michelle can't do this alone. To assist her, she's signed up none other than our own United States Surgeon General Regina Benjamin! Yowza! Talk about bringing in the "big guns", eh? Well,.....er.....actually, yeah. The "Big" Gun, indeed. Take a look at General Benjamin:
Now I'm not saying she's not a competent person. By all accounts I've read thus far, she is. She's apparently a wonderful person, a compassionate neighbor, a dedicated doctor and a fine American. She's also fat. I know some of you are gasping at my lack of tack. "Oh my gosh! How rude and hateful to point out that she's overweight! Being fat doesn't make her bad!", etc., etc., etc. As a person who struggles with weight issues each and every day of my life, I understand that the large size of her pants doesn't make her bad. But being a great person doesn't change the fact that a fat person is standing up there telling us that we need to keep our kids from being fat. Here's a thought! How 'bout you lead by example, General Benjamin? Lose that extra weight you've talked about struggling with. You don't have to tell me it's not an easy thing to do, because I know it's not. I am definitely of the "been there, done that" school of experience. The difference is that never once, in all my fat years (and there were MANY!), did I stand up in front of everyone and suggest that I was going to help lead their children to a thinner, healthier lifestyle. Would anyone have believed me if I had? Of course not! Because I was fat, therefore who could trust in my advice on how not to be fat? But you know, there's going to be people in this country and all over the world, who will stand up and applaud ol' Regina and ol' Michelle as if they're the greatest thing to ever happen to our children when I think it's appallingly obvious that this "campaign" they're launching is just a talking point, an empty promise of a program and a blatant attempt to convince America that our children matter the most to those in Washington. These same people can't even pick a good example to do their preachin' for 'em! It's all bull-hockey.

Wake up, America! We don't need a politician, a politicians wife, a political appointee, a school teacher or even an oracle to tell us how to abolish childhood obesity (for the most part and barring any underlying health issues that are not covered by this discussion! - let's get that caveat in there before somebody briefs me on my lack of sensitivity to the children). We abolish childhood obesity by not buying our children soft drinks and candy bars and Little Debbie snack cakes and potato chips and greasy hamburgers and fried everything. I mean come on, people, if Michelle Obama can figure this crap out, surely the rest of us can to! Or do you honestly believe we need our government's help in even this area of our lives, too. At what point do we start doing for ourselves, America? At what point do we tell Washington we can handle our own business? At what point do we start moving forward because we want to and not because Washington is beckoning us with a handout. (Can you tell I'm against big government, stupid social programs and the dumbing-down of our country? You can? Then good!)

Everyone who is feeling a little peeved that I've dissed Michelle and what I feel is her ridiculous "campaign" and/or that I've committed a grievous social faux pas for pointing out the fact that General Benjamin is overweight, please take the time to figure out why you think that before you brief me in a comment. I'd love to hear your opinions, but only so long as they're not framed as platitudes or trite admonitions. I've had just about all I want to of saying and hearing and seeing political correctness in this country, I truly have. Honest views may not be pretty sometimes, but they're still more valuable than insincerity, at least in my book. And with that, I'll climb down off my soapbox and give it a rest.

Is it Life Imitating Art? Or Vice-Versa?

Call me crazy (go ahead! you won't be the first!) but are some members of our government starting to resemble a certain ventriloquist/comedian's puppet stable? You tell me if you can see it, too...

Joe Biden, our esteemed vice-president...to my eyes, he frequently looks startlingly like Walter, Jeff Dunham's irascible and snarky old guy puppet. I first noticed this resemblance while watching the State of the Union address the other night. During almost the complete speech, Biden sat there with the crankiest grimace on his face (ah, but who could blame him, right?) and I was reminded forcibly of Walter. Bearing an even closer resemblance to one of Dunham's funny marionettes however, is Nancy Pelosi to Achmed the Dead Terrorist.

SILENCE!!! I keel you...(Sorry. I always picture Nance screaming that whenever I see her on TV, which seems to happen about a hundred times a day.) Now I know some of you are thinking I'm just being plain mean spirited by making this particular comparison. Well, you're right. I am. I really can't stand that ultra liberal, tone deaf, willfully ignorant wench. And I don't much like her politics either. But still, I did pause before deciding to go ahead with this post. Then I figured that Nancy paid one or more plastic surgeons a lot of cold hard cash to end up with that frozen, perpetually surprised and disturbingly skeletal mug, therefore high-lighting her plastic visage at this point in the game can't be too painful for her, eh?
So.............I don't want to become known as one of those crazy, conspiracy theory nuts, but here's something else to ponder...Barack Obama's mother's maiden name was.......yeah.....that's right.....Dunham, just like that of the puppet man. Coincidence? Or does it shore up the theory that there's truly some great puppet master at work behind the scenes in Washington? Things that make you go, "Hmmmmmm". Let's be honest, though. It'd actually be a bit of a relief if it were so. The thought that maybe Jeff Dunham is behind the shenanigans being done by our government officials would make it all just a little less scary and a whole lot more funny, wouldn't it? I'm fantasizing right now over who he's got in mind for the roles of Bubba J, Peanut and Jalapeno - On a Steeck. lol And just think, if Jeff Dunham really is in control here, we can pack Biden/Walter and Pelosi/Achmed in a trunk together one day and never have to listen to their talking heads again. Ahhhhhhhh.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is your happy thought of the day. (No, no. Don't thank me. I'm just glad to be of service. )

Welsh supermarket bans shopping in pyjamas

It seems silly, but I wish more of our stores would adopt such dress codes. I can't even begin to count the number of times I see people out and about, wearing their flippin' pajama bottoms, as they're cruising through Wal-Mart or Hobby Lobby or even the mall. What's up with that?? Didn't anyone ever teach these people proper clothes etiquette? Sheesh.

Welsh supermarket bans shopping in pyjamas

The Ego of a Terrorist

This was sent to me in an e-mail today. 'Course it's fake, but it's still funny. :)

Sydney the Wonder Dog Has Got Some Problems

My poor Sydney has injured his back again. The vet said he's got some sort of pinched nerve along his spinal cord and has to take medicine for the next two weeks. He's also restricted to a dog cage, unless he's sitting on one of our laps, because he can't run or jump until his back heals completely. This is going to make it tough for him to discipline the neighbors and any other citizens that make the mistake of walking in view of our house. Sydney loves to bark and chase them down, don'tcha know. He had to have a shot of cortisone today to get him started down the path of healing and he's been kind of sad looking and listless ever since. Bless his heart...I'm hoping he starts feeling better soon.

Elves and Eagles

Don't really have a lot going on, but thought I should post something in an effort to get used to posting again. lol I was going through my picture folder and came across these two pictures to share. I'm thinking of using this one for next year's Christmas card.... That's Kaleb, Des and Jacob - nestled all snug in their bed on Christmas Eve. Okay, so they're faking like their nestled, but so what - it's still adorable in their mother's eyes. lol Des and I had found those elf shoes one day and thought it would be funny to have her and her little brother's pose like this. And they were great sports for doing it, too. :)

This next picture is me and my three sons. Nick bought him and his brothers tickets to the Eagles vs. Cowboys game and here they were, all dressed up and ready to go. Too bad the Eagles didn't go to that game with the boys, though. The final score was something like 0-24, Cowboys. Crushing defeat for my loyal Eagles fans, but at least they got to spend the day together, eh?

That's Nick, me, Kaleb and Jacob. A great looking trio of boys, if I do say so myself. (Look how naked the house is in the background with all the Christmas stuff taken down! Yikes!)

Our Christmas Decorations 2009 :)

I know my last post and the one 2 posts before that make it seem like I've been just sitting around moping this holiday season, but that's really not the case. Despite woes with the relatives, etc., I'm still feeling the holiday spirit. We've decorated the house and done our Christmas cards and bought some gifts. Life isn't perfect but I've still got much to be thankful for. I've got a wonderful husband, great kids and pretty awesome dogs, too. :) I do spend a fair amount of time lamenting our family's losses (we'll forever miss Russell and Skye), and thinking about my own imperfections and my relationship failures (I'm hooked on drama, what do you expect from me!!!???), but I'm still taken with the magic of the Christmas season. Something about all the music, the glitter, the shine and the goodwill I feel out amongst the crowds just soothes me. Here's some pictures of our holiday home this year. Gaudy, tacky, slightly overdone (ha!) and totally how we like it. Merry Christmas everyone! The bathroom mirror in our downstairs 1/2 bath.

Des and Kaleb, wearing their elf houseshoes.

Sydney the Wonder Dog and Blu - waiting on Randey to give them their treat.

Looking towards the kitchen from the living room.

The backdoor, guarded by the Grinch.

The dining room light fixture, complete with Cindy Lou Who, Max and the Grinch.

The nativity scene and our Christmas movie collection.

The main tree and my favorite seating area in the living room.

The Christmas village.

The fireplace and the tree with the handmade ornaments (that tree wants to lean, no matter what I do to the base!!).