Genius??

Captain Beefheart... you are one of the first

modern fucked-up geniuses. When it comes to

creating, you rank right up there with the

likes of James Mangan, John Wilmot and Edvard

Munch.


Which fucked-up genius composer are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Shut up, already!!

I don't know what's going on over on the NS bulletin board. There is so much misinformation! Newbies helping newbies----it's like the blind leading the blind! And it's not their fault. Most oldies are over at Jazzman's BB, so there are not all the people to answer questions like there were a year ago. I cringe when I read some of the replies to posts. Like when somebody asked if they could have asparagus and someone else replied yes---just watch the amount. Whaaaa? Watch the amount??? WHY?? Have as many fucking asparagus as you like, folks! It's not gonna make you fat! Neither is broccoli, spinach, brussel sprouts, green beans OR EVEN peas and corn. Yes, I know they're carbs, but who the hell ever got fat eating peas and corn, honestly? I mean, come on have you ever heard anyone say, "I never should have had that last 1/2 cup of peas cause now I can't fit into my jeans"? It's the Big Macs and fries that make you fat. It the senseless stuffing of your body with chocolate donuts and Kit-Kat bars. It's the BAGS of Doritos and potato chips. I swear, people, it is NOT asparagus!
And medical advice!! OMG! Why would you ask a bunch of strangers for medical advice? Generalizations, maybe, but asking for specific medical advice or GIVING specific medical advice is nuts. I don't care if you ARE a professional--if you don't have access to someone's medical history, why would you give them specific advice?
I don't even give SPECIFIC exercise advice unless I know someone's medical history. Here's a personal example: If I were to ask medical advice or even exercise advice and didn't let anyone know that I have a history of 4 strokes, I would probably receive a lot of advice that would be detrimental to my health. If I were to follow some of that inappropriate advice, I could DIE. I don't know if that's a good example or not. But it's true. So here's my best medical advice---ASK YOUR DOCTOR.
I guess what I'm trying to say here, is take it all with a grain of salt. If you really need an answer to something and what you're reading on the board is confusing or you get 5 different answers to the same question, do a search on Yahoo or Google it or Ask Jeeves for God's sake. Then choose a website that you know is reliable. www.discoveryhealth.com is a really good one-
Or here's a thought....CALL YOUR DOCTOR!!

Stolen from Scarlett's blog.

You Are Mexican Food

Spicy yet dependable. You pull punches, but people still love you.

What Kind of Food Are You?

MMMmmm!!

OMG--I am eating  cookies and cream cheesecake. I have died and gone to heaven!
Savannah is feeling much better after 2 trips to the vet in 2 days. She has severe allergies and was sneezing and coughing so much on Tuesday that we thought she might have inhaled something. They knocked her out so they could look up her nose and down her throat and there was nothing to be found. The vet said her nose was completely raw inside---probably just from pollen. The tree in the picture is in full bloom in February and is probably one of the culprits. It seems like everything has started to bloom around here lately. Then Wednesday, we noticed a raw oozing "hot spot" at the base of Savannah's stub tail and on the underside of it. Her tail has always been a problem. It was docked before we got her and whoever did it docked it too much and pulled the skin too tight. We've actually had exposed bone problems in the past. So it was back to the vet on Wednesday to make sure it wasn't infected. Now we have to spray her 3x a day with her "butt spray". There's apparently nothing a lot of money can't fix! Since Thanksgiving our vet bills have exceeded the $5000 mark! Which is better than 2 years ago when we hit the $10,000 mark! But our 2 dogs are our babies and there's nothing I wouldn't do for either of them. If you go back into my blog archives to the month of November, you can see pics of our first big vet bill of the season!

Howdy Doody!!

Wow, I'm so excited. We finally got our new car yesterday. It's an Audi Quattro TT and it's so pretty. I had an Audi years ago and I wanted personalized license plates that said "Audi DO D" and I never got around to getting it. Now I want one that says "Howdy2T". Or something to that effect. Yeah, I know it's really cheesy, but "cheesy" describes my sense of humor pretty well.
I'm getting pretty excited about the new condo, too. I can't believe it's been 4 months since we sold our house and moved into a temporary rental til our condo is finished. I am SOOoooo ready to get into our new place. I just hope it's completed by March 2nd. We're closing on the 1st, but technically the condo doesn't have to be completed til the second. I just hope this all works out, cause the movers are delivering all my furniture that's been in storage. We've had a few construction set-backs, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I already ordered the plantation shutters for the 8 windows on the front of the condo and one window in the family room, but I still need to find something for the sliding door and the office and Ryan's room. I was hoping plantation shutters would work on the sliding door, but after having them here in the rental, I don't find them very practical.

If you don't like my cussing, go away.

The whole censorship thing on the Nutrisystem bulletin board is just too darned funny. Apparently they're using some sort of filter to eliminate swear words from the posts. But it's backfiring! You can't write "finish it" because the "sh" at end of finish and "it" form the word shit. You can't combine weight loss and exercise because of the "s" at the end of loss and the "ex" at the beginning of exercise. You CAN write ASS, BITCH and SCREW. But you CAN'T say cocktail.
I'm guessing their filter works kinda like spellcheck. It just can't differentiate so it says everything is wrong.
But what the fuck is wrong with these damned assholes over at Nutrisystem?? (sorry, I just had to write that). Give them a position of power and they become Hitler or Dubya---depending on your politics. I hate people who think that because they have a title, they have control over all things. But like the wizard of Oz, they eventually are found out. So, Stacy Jimenez, NS board moderator---come out from behind the curtain at NS. Click your heels together 3 times and go home.

No Butts about it.

I scored the following in the Butt Quiz 12 out of 15 Can you spot the difference between a male and female butt? Take the Butt Quiz at JokesUnlimited.com

RY-ANNNNNNN!!!!!!

Okay, so we all want to raise our kids to become loving, compassionate, generous of spirit, kind, caring self-sufficient people, right? At least that's the kind of adults I want my children to be. Well, I guess I forgot to put self-sufficent on the list when I got to my youngest child! Yikes!! My nineteen old "baby" seems to be just that sometimes---a baby! In the course of 24 hours he has let out a scream because there was a moth in his room--a moth!!!! ( From the decibel level of that scream,I swear, I thought he'd cut off a finger),he has come to me because the cat puked in his room and apparently he didn't know how to clean it up---hunh!!---and he came in complaining that he had muddy shoes. What the F@$%&??? Now in all fairness, Ryan IS everything else on that list. I have tried to raise him in a way that he would be an ideal husband/partner one day. And I set the bar pretty damned high. He is a wonderful boyfriend to his girlfriend of 3 years, Shannon. He is loving and generous and extremely romantic. He even took culinary classes so he can cook for her every weekend when he visits her at UCBerkeley. He wants her to have home-cooked meals instead of all that cafeteria junk. He buys her flowers on a regular basis. He puts a lot of thought into the gifts he gives her. He even eats fruit and vegetables when he's with her---no small feat for a guy who had never tasted broccoli or eaten a banana in his entire life!
On top of all that, he's worked extremely hard at the junior college for the last 2 years to stay on the deans' honors list so he could be accepted at San Francisco State University this coming fall. (yeeha!!--he just got his acceptance letter).
But he's afraid of moths, and cat puke grosses him out and he stills steps in mud.
One the one hand, it all strikes me as totally silly. On the other, it's just part of what makes him so endearingly charming. And maybe the whole school experience will help with the self-sufficiency.
Hmmmmmm. Maybe he IS all those things on the list. Whaddya know?!
And did I mention cute?

What decade do you identify with? (Stolen from Jan's blog)

what decade does your personality live in?


quiz brought to you by lady interference, ltd

Tree's up. Whoop.

It just doesn't feel like Christmas this year. Maybe it's because we're not in our new home yet. Maybe it's because this is a sad time of year for so many. Don't know. But look out NEXT year. Cause I'm gonna make it the Christmas to beat all Christmases! I am not going to let my own losses spoil the holidays for the rest of the family--especially my little step-grandbabies. I REFUSE to allow my depression around the holidays to spoil it for everyone else. And with that said, the pics above are what Christmas is all about.... My 4 year old grandson's preschool Christmas show and my 21 month old granddaughter's red sweater. She loves that sweater and wants to wear it every day. Happy Holidays, ALL!!!

What the....?

We're finally reaching some decisions as far as upgrades for the condo goes. Unfortunately, the vanity we ordered for the guest bathroom had a big chunk missing from one side. So now we have to return it and we're kinda back to square one on that. We might just get the standard vanity and have it topped with slate and put in a brushed stainless vessel sink. There's really not enough time to order anything else. Oh well. Roger would like one of those really cool glass vanities with the sink molded in, but with the hard water we have here, I'm afraid we'll have water spots we'll never be able to get rid of with it.
Tonight I'm hoping to get some sleep. I have to do marathon Christmas shopping tomorrow. Yikes--I hate going to the mall. Hate any kind of shopping, period. Last night I didn't get to sleep til about 4-4:30 and I woke up about 5:30 after a disturbing dream. I dreamed that Dianna was beating the crap out of me. I don't know what provoked the beating. I just remember feeling the punches and the kicks. I woke after she clipped me on the jaw! I'd love to have that dream analyzed! I imagine it has something to do with the emotional beating she's given me over the last year. Who knows?

Chrome Plated Heart

Allrighty. It's 1 am and I can tell sleep is not gonna happen for quite a while. I have a zillion things running through my head and if I could just reach a conclusion on any of them, I might be able to fall asleep before dawn. I'm thinking of all the stuff I still have to do as far as the new condo goes. I've got lists a mile long in my mind. I had hoped that if I wrote those lists down in a notebook, I'd stop thinking about everything on them for a while. Not. So maybe if I post them here, it will work. Yeah, right. List #1, Things already done: Picked out carpet Picked out slate for entry floor, powder room floor and around fireplace Chose vinyl for laundry room Picked flooring for kitchen Argued with Appliance company and building contractor about kitchen appliances Won argument and got appliances I wanted, including a microwave that has to be shipped from God-only-knows-where. Argued with building contractor and cabinet maker about changing the door style on the cabinets. Won argument and got the style doors I wanted Found the perfect granite for the kitchen counters, only to be told it was not available. Cried over granite 'cause I don't want to pay $7500 for some other granite I don't like as well Talked to the granite guy who located some of the granite 200 miles away and agreed to have it shipped up here for my perusal List #2, Things I haven't done: Haven't found faucets for the 2 upstairs bathrooms Haven't found a faucet for the vessel sink in the downstairs bathroom Haven't found a kitchen faucet Haven't found ANY light fixtures I love Haven't found any glass mosaic tile for the kitchen backsplash Haven't ordered the new entertainment center Haven't ordered the dining room table Haven't bought the 2 extra chairs for the dining room Haven't found new speakers, etc. for the theatre system Haven't found tile, marble, limestone or anything else for the 2 upstairs bathrooms Okay, so those are the condo related things on running around in my head. Then there's the Dianna thing. Which is what the title of this post refers to. But it's not just about her, really. It's the time of year that things start to push me down. I get really, really depressed around the holidays. Nothing special about that. A lot of people do. I'd just like to get through Christmas without all the negative emotions it brings on. I miss my family desperately. Nothing special about that, either. Again, a lot of people do. But would it be too much to ask, to have the people who ARE around me to give me a little support here? I have lost so many people close to me. Thanksgiving was the anniversary of my father's death. So that always gets the holiday season off to a great start. He died on Thanksgiving day on the 24th of November. So this year Thanksgiving fell on the 24th, which made it even more poignant. My very best friend Priscilla died in 1992 at the age of 43. My sister died at the age of 45 in 1993. And my baby brother died 2 years ago at the age of 45. The last time anyone in the family saw him was on Christmas Day, and as far as we can tell, he died on New Year's Day. So now we're up to 3 holidays shot to hell. I'd like to just sleep from about the middle of November til the middle of January. But we all know that ain't gonna happen. I can't even sleep through the friggin night! Hell, I can't even GET to sleep. So I think trying to play the Rip van Winkle thing just isn't gonna work. And then there's Dianna. Again. A recap for those who never read my post about her: Dianna and I were best friends for about 10 years. We met through a mutual friend who recommended her to me as a personal trainer. (yeah, I know you're probably wondering why a personal trainer needs a personal trainer. Hey, EVERYONE can use some motivation!) Anyhow, D and I became really good friends. You know, the kind you can tell anything to, the kind you want to share everything with, the kind you do everything with. The kind of friend you can call at 3 am just because you want to. We spent many nights, all night long, on the phone. (Probably another reason my sleep habits are all screwed up) We were both very involved in bodybuilding--she as a very successful bodybuilder, I as the trainer of very successful bodybuilders. My own competitive years were already long gone when we met. We traveled all over the state for her competitions. We always managed to turn those trips into vacations--a week here, a week in LA, a couple days in S.F., a few more in Sacramento or Orange County. It would be work hard, train hard for months, then the contest, THEN the vacation. Did I mention that my husband and I paid for all of it? The travel expenses, the hotels, the posing suits (bikinis) and Pro-Tan for her contests. All of it. Everything. Because I know how hard it is to compete without the money to do it right. So, I'm a little off track here. Turns out my best friend, the winner of EVERY major contest on the west coast, is an alcoholic. Oh, I knew she drank. I just never realized how much until my DH and I separated for 18 months and D and I shared an apartment. Bad idea. And the beginning of the end of our friendship. To make this very long story a little shorter, suffice it to say that her drinking got worse and worse, she lost like 12 jobs in 9 years due to her drinking, she got evicted from I don't know how many places and was hospitalized once after vomiting blood due to lack of stomach lining from drinking. After her last eviction, when I refused to help her financially (but DID offer her a tent and tarp. LOL) our friendship went down the tubes. But I had paid her deposits on her last 2 apts., as well as her utility deposits and there was no way I could do it again. (Now, I know some of you are gonna say she used me for the money. Perhaps, a little. But it never felt that way while we were friends. She also did a lot for me--housework, housesitting, petsitting, yardwork, etc.) On the day she had to be out of her apt. someone finally rented her a room in his house. A month later someone else moved in, she and D became buddies and I became non-existent. Sure, D called occasionally, when she had no one else to talk to. Until her new friend--a newly straight and sober person---decided I was probably part of D's drinking problem. (did I mention I'm not really a drinker, myself?) Anyhow, I have not heard from Dianna since August when she got fired and arrested all in one day. She called me --drunk-- 9 times that day. From work. I have not heard from her since. You're probably thinking, right about now, something like "why would you even WANT a friend like that?" Answer: I don't. But I truly and terribly miss the Dianna I first met 10 years ago. Before her drinking became a serious problem. I miss the person with the kind generous spirit who was really great to be around. Dianna was the person who built my confidence and self-esteem. The person who always picked me up when I fell, as I did for her. The one person who could push me past my own perception of what my physical limits were. I'd never bench pressed my own body weight before I met D and I never would have tried if she hadn't yelled at me, spit flying, and told me I could. I never would have done a 505 lb. leg press without her telling me I could. I NEVER would have gone catfishing at midnight, or gone crabbing at the end of a jetty sticking out into the Pacific. I never would have tubed down the Russian River and I never EVER would have skinny-dipped at a gay resort, for sure! So what is this leading to? Just that I miss her. And I don't understand why she decided to shut me out of her life. Or why she moved to a different town without giving me her address. Or why she would call me, but wouldn't let me have her new phone number. I think I could be okay with not having her in my life if I just knew where she was and that she was okay.

What's your hidden talent?

Here's mine!

Your Hidden Talent

You have the natural talent of rocking the boat, thwarting the system. And while this may not seem big, it can be. It's people like you who serve as the catalysts to major cultural changes. You're just a bit behind the scenes, so no one really notices.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

More pics of where we'll be moving to.

For condos, these are very cool. There more like urban loft apts. Each condo is above a business--we'll have a yarn store below ours. Then the second floor of the building is actually the first floor of the condo. It's one big open space--no walls. The kitchen sort of divides the casual family room area from the formal dining room and living room area. The powder room and the pantry are across from the kitchen. Then the third floor of the building is the second floor of the condo---does this make sense? The 3 bedrooms, 2 of the bathrooms and the laundry room are up there. All of the condos and shops surround the town "green". Right now it's gorgeous--all of the trees are strung with Christmas lights and they just put up the town Christmas tree there. The streetlamps are the old fashioned kind and it just looks so pretty all decorated for the holidays. I really wish we could have been in by Christmas!

Warm would be good.

Geesh, it's so friggin freezing today. It's wet, gloomy and cold outside and inside isn't a whole lot better. This condo must not be well insulated because I have the heat truned up to about 75 and it's still cold in here!
On a much nicer note--things are going well all the way around. Cinnamon is feeling a lot better today and the swelling on either side of her jaw has gone down considerably. She had the drain removed from the top of her head yesterday afternoon and doesn't have to wear her clown collar 24 hours a day. Thank God, cause every time she tried walking with it on, she'd trip over it and land on her head. That can't be good!
We found out about our trash compactor in the new place today. The builder has been so snotty about the changes we want to make. We sort of demanded a compactor---we do not have individual garbage cans there, and I'm not walking half a block to the Dumpster every time I need to take out the trash. He was not happy about it at the time. But lo and behold--now anyone can have one. It's being offered as an upgrade now. My only fear was that that would mean I couldn't pick out the exact one I wanted. Turns out THAT'S the one they're now offering as an upgrade! It's funny, but I was hoping to get away from the "cookie cutter effect"--I wanted my place to be different from all of the neighbors. Now it seems like everything I picked out for my place is being offered as an upgrade to anyone. I think I've fooled them on the powder room downstairs, though!! I said I wanted them to eliminate the standard bathroom vanity cause I thought I'd put in a pedestal sink instead, so they didn't order the vanity cabinet. THEN I found out they started offering pedestal sinks as an upgrade. So I bought a gorgeous cabinet and a stainless steel vessel sink instead. They're gonna shit when they find out, but I'm keeping it a secret til I absolutely have to let them know. HEE HEE. Same with all the lighting fixtures--I didn't like what they offered, so I went and bought my own. If they don't want to install them, we'll take the standard offering and put our own up after we move in. I bet I can sell the other stuff on Ebay or Craigslist. I'm doing the same thing with my faucets, too. They're offering a bunch of different styles but they're all very country or Victorian looking. Our taste runs to comtemporary.
I'm once again getting excited about moving there. Now if I can just find some carpet I like. AAARGH. I am so not good at this!

The Culprit

The Victim

If it weren't stressful and chaotic, it would be someone else's life.

Thanksgiving started out as a nice quiet day. Over the meadow and through the woods, etc. Off to my mom's for the day. No cooking, no cleaning... just Rog, Ryan, the 2 dogs and me, off to Grandma's.
Well, I still don't know what provoked it, but Savannah (the boxer) attacked Cinnamon (the chihuahua). It was so awful. One minute they were fine--Savannah was lying on her bed and Cinnamon was just wandering around. The next minute, Savannah had Cinnamon by the head and was shaking her like a rag doll. I screamed and yelled and Savannah dropped her, but before I could get to Cinnamon, Savannah got her again. OMG. It all happened in an INSTANT. Anyhow, Cinnamon's head immediately started swelling up and she had a grand mal seizure. Rog and I jumped in the car with the phone book and headed off, calling the emergency vet's office from the car to get directions. When we arrived at the vet's, they immediately took her in and gave her manitol (sp?) to relieve the swelling. Fortunately, Cinnamon still has an open fontanel on the top of her head which allowed her brain to swell with less pressure. I should probably inject here the fact that a similar occurance happened 2 years ago on Christmas Day. But that time, Savannah had been sedated and while still groggy, Cinnamon walked up into her face and Savannah just pounced. Cinnamon's skull was fractured. It was a nightmare, but we thought it happened because Savannah was groggy and didn't know what was in front of her. We also thought it was an isolated freaky sort of thing and would never happen again. These 2 dogs have lived together as best buddies for over 6 1/2 years.
Anyhow, Cinnamon had to stay in the hospital down near my mom's, which is over 100 miles from home. Of course, we did not have her seizure meds with us (she already had a seizure disorder) so Roger had to drive all the way home to get it, bring it all the way back down there and then drive all of us home that night. Cinnamon stayed down there. Then on Friday he had to go back down there to pick her up and bring her to the hospital up here.
Cinnamon is now home and doing quite well. She has a drain in the top of her head that hopefully will be removed this afternoon, and she has considerable swelling and bruising on either side of her face. But she's alive and seems to have suffered no brain damage.
I'm dealing with a considerable amount of guilt even though 4 different vets have told me it wasn't my fault. I already know that, but I just feel so awful that this poor little dog has had to go through this--TWICE. All 4 vets told me that when you have multiple dogs in a home, they will occasionally have a squabble. If the dogs are of equal size, it's no big deal. They usually just work it out between them and then it's over. But when you have a 60 lb. dog and a 6 lb. dog, THEN it's a problem. Yes, I know this makes sense, but I feel horrible just the same. I will never allow these 2 dogs to be in the same room again unless Savannah is muzzled. They have never been left together without someone with them, but this incident--and the last one--happened while we were right there.
So the lesson here is: If you own multiple dogs, even if they are the sweetest, most gentle lovable animals in the world, be aware that anything can happen at any time.
We have learned also that the hectic holiday season is NOT the time to include both of them in our plans.

The Story of Thanksgiving. I hope yours is wonderful!

The Princess and the Pee.

No, this is not the story of the princess and the pea. It is the story of MY princess and her pee. So,all right, some of you already know I spoil my dog ridiculously. She has full reign over our home. And she is definitely my princess. I bought her this gorgeous dog bed and it's so funny how she knew, before it was out of the box, that it was HERS. The thing's so big, it's ridiculous. You could sleep a family of 4 pygmies in it. (Please don't send cards and letters, emails or other---I'm not prejudiced. But it is a fact, that pygmies are small people. If this still bothers you, pretend for a moment that I'm talking about pygmy goats). Anyhow, in a nutshell: my princess dog's bed is huge. Or my dog has a huge princess bed.
Next chapter. Savannah, though not well-trained in doggy etiquette, IS very well housetrained and has never, not once, had an "accident" in the house. Until yesterday. She had to wait until we were renting someone else's fully-beautifully- furnished home before she'd pee on carpet. This is what I get for buying her a $300+ doggy bed?
There is no moral to this at all. But it does involve a princess, a mattress and a pee. So I thought I'd write about it.