For a brief fleeting second...

I'm at lunch with a little time left before I need to clock back in. For this split second....as I wondered what I can do with myself for the next 10 minutes, I thought I would call my mom! How weird is that? She's been gone for 2.5 years and still...I thought of calling her. Oh, I guess that's normal...I don't know. You can see us here: Me and Mom

It's what they don't say...

It amazes me how people can communicate so much without saying a word. Or how just the way they say something can speak volumes as to how a person feels about you. Yes, it is a matter of interpetation...but often you'd have to be a totally oblivious moron to not know what someone is not saying. It's that whiney voice on the phone that is just two or three octavies louder than normal. It usually comes when you are the one on a fact finding mission; when you need to know how something works and the person you ask has the answers and knows he/she has the answers. Mostly what it is, is hard to explain.

I'll take "Unproductive" for $1000, Alex

Seriously! I have done nothing this weekend. Oh, I have thought about doing stuff. Thought about taking all the furniture out of the extra bedroom and preparing to paint the walls. Thought about cleaning out the garage. Thought about mopping the kitchen floor. Thought about sitting down and learning Photoshop or Indesign or even Word 2007. Thought about getting out that short story I've been working on and that novel I started in 2002. Yeah....what is it they say about paving with good intentions? If only. I have done some serious sleeping. Really. I'm sure I have been asleep more than I've been awake.

I know, I know...blah blah blah. Hey, it's my blog, I can bellyache about whatever I want. How's that for taking control?

Phil has a cold or allergies...he's not sure which but he's coughing up a lung every five minutes. So, can I blame my unproductivity on him? Well, maybe....a little.

I did watch some great football...Bills won!!! Yes. I did empty out the dishwasher and refill it. I did go pick up chinese food. And now, I did blog. So there.

Okay...I'm going to write something

I need to write....how about some ramblings going on inside my head?

Did you know every year I get published? It's true. Yep! I'm in the phonebook! Yes....in black and off-white.

Today I asked my co-worker Sheila, "If you had been borne a boy, would your parents had named you 'Heila?'" To which she responded, "Gawd, I hope not."

Is it acceptable to write emails to your boss that convey the point of the email while trying to make him/her laugh? If he/she doesn't respond to the hilarity of the email, should you stop?

When Christians tell you you need to be born-again, is it disrespectful to tell them you got it right the first time?

If you accidentally touch someone, say in a crowd, and you say to that person, "Oh sorry," to which he/she replies, "that's okay" is that an invitation for you to do it again?

Good Health

It is the most important thing. Each cookie I eat or soda I drink; each time I forfeit the salad for a cheeseburger I have to make myself think that this is wrong....I shouldn't be putting into my body that which I know is bad for me. Why do I do it? I know the risks...the risks of too much cholesterol; too much fat; too much sugar; too many chemicals like those in diet Coke...but I still eat or drink it.

I suppose it's like a smoker - you can't NOT know it's bad - you'd have to be living on the moon to know that it's not good for you, but you still do it. Fortunately I gave that habit up a few years ago.

I am getting a wake up call recently. My dad is really sick. Bladder cancer is very often caused by smoking..., no doubt, is the product of the 60 years of smoking he did. The bladder has to come out. Right now he's sitting in his living room watching TV on his new 37" HDTV. He says he feels pretty good considering. Considering he has a catheter attached to him that fills up with crimson urine. It's crimson because the tumors in his bladder are making him bleed. He was released from the hospital this way. Sounds a little hard to believe that they would release him but they can't do anything more for him there.

Tomorrow my brother takes him to Buffalo General. Hopefully they will see the merit of keeping him and the bladder will be removed. Waiting is not going to make this better. We just have to pray it will happen and that he will make it through the surgery.

Yesterday we got word that a friend of ours died on Thursday. His name is Greg Heim. He lives back home. He's been fighting cancer for a long time. He was barely 50 years old. I so hope he's at peace. It is way too sad for me to even want to fathom. Phil used to bowl with Greg. Greg would call Phil, "Firing Phil" because of how Phil would fire the ball down the lane and usually with great accuracy. Greg had the cutest smile. I didn't see him much after moving to OK but I will always remember him.

Phil's cousin's daughter is sick too. She had a brain tumor and the trials of removing it have taken a tole on her and her family. Her name is Beth Hayes. She lives in Western NY too. You can see her story at: http://friendsofbethhayes.com/. If you'd be so kind, please donate.

Life is so frail. I makes all the stupid petty quarrels and misunderstands...so impossibility stupid. Yeah...I'm waking up now. I have to!

OUR LABOR DAY WEEKEND

This year we decided to keep it simple. We are BBQing for the neighborhood. Oh, yes, it will be a bit crowded, but our friends just love to get together and hang out and talk and laugh and drink and eat. It's such fun. I just love the connection of all the people in our lives. We are truly blessed. Nothing like that connection.

Oh the simple part of it all..you wonder? It's all in my friggin' imagination!!!!!

I may not...

• be the best housekeeper
• be real smart
• know anything about child rearing
• be pretty
• be an over achiever

But....I can....

• write a fairly coherent sentence
• make people laugh
• get totally misunderstood despite my best intentions
• tell when I need to back off and let whoever think what he/she has decided to think because nothing I say is going to change them

I got me a new car...

Her name is "T'necca" which means "easy ride" in Mahonnese.

Happy Birthday Madonna...I mean Kathy Wheeler

On Hold with Medicare

When you call Medicare...Provider enrollment...the male voice will tell you that he appreciates your call but all enrollment specialists are busy and to please "hode for the next available specialist." And he says it every 20 seconds, "please hode"..."please hode"...and I want to scream into the phone, "it's HOLD!!!! not HODE...say your LLLLL's! Please!" Makes me nuts!

What movie star does my brother Ed remind you of?

Okay, maybe not. Maybe?

My family in New York

Me and Dad

Me and my brothers

The good aunt

Recently I have been reminded of a memory from my childhood. I must have been eleven or twelve. Gramma Kay, my mom's mom, was visiting from Florida. I rarely saw Gramma Kay but I was the granddaughter who wrote to her... a lot. Writing was my thing so that came easy to me. She sometimes marveled at my writing. I think that made this memory more vivid...I just didn't expect anything but warm acolades for my work.

I had tried something different. I took a beer bottle, one of those short brown glass bottles, and I painted it blue. After the paint had dried, I wasn't happy with the results so I smeared Elmer's Glue on it and took multi-colored blue yarn and laid rows and rows of it around the circumference of the bottle until I came to the top. I made a flower out of multi-colored tissues and I stuck the flower into the opening of the bottle. I then walked across the hall from my bedroom to Ed's room. Gramma Kay was staying in his room while she visited.

"Here, Gramma, I made something for you," I said smiling as I handed to her my creation.

It was a look of sheer displeasure on her face as she looked at it that is enbedded in my brain. This was not the reaction I had expected. Not at all.

"Well, thank you," she said as she took the bottle into her room.

There were no "this is lovely" or "for me? you shouldn't have." Nothing.

I don't think it surprised me to find the bottle in Ed's room after she left.

Now, I don't have grandchildren but I do have two nieces and a nephew. I am visiting them now. My one niece, Kate and her brother Jon, are going through a rather difficult time as their parents have split up.

I'm spending a lot of time at my dad's trying to get his house organized and in shape for when he gets out to the hospital. Last night Kate was suppose to return to his house to help me out. She did not. I told her I was mad and the tears started to flow. I was sad for having said this and upsetting her but I felt relieved to know I matter that much to her; that she still values my opinion. I know after Gramma Kay showed such disregard for my feelings, I didn't value her opinion much after that incident. I would hate for that to happen between me and Kate. I reassured her that I understand she is having a hard time and it was okay that she didn't feel like helping out. (My dad's house is such a mess, it is scaring. So I do understand.)

How many people share your name?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 27 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Free Will

It's a strange concept...free will. Some think it refers to God. I suppose it does but it also doesn't have to. When you are born you have no free will. When you finally learn how to crawl, your mother stops you before you get too far. She puts childproof locks on all the lower cupboards so you can't get in them and taste the Ajax. She removes all of the chairs so you can't climb onto the cupboards and taste the Baileys.

If you want to play with a plastic bag, even though it clearly says on the bag, "this is not a toy," but you have a very attentive mom or dad, you can't play with the plastic bag. Sorry....your free will is limited.

As you grow you get more free will. Mom and dad think that by the time you're 12 you can cross the street without them (unless we're talking a major freeway, in which case you really shouldn't be crossing it because there's probably no need.) By the time you're 12, you also know that Ajax is poison and Baileys is only good at Christmas.

When you graduate from college and are out on your own, you have the most free will. You can stay out late, smoke cigarettes (if you're really stupid to start), swear, wear funky clothes and just do your own thing. You have to be law abiding, and hopefully courteous to your fellow man but you do have more free will.

When you start a job, though, you loose some free will because you might not be able to wear funky clothes to work unless you work in a funky clothes store or at an FM radio station. You can stay up late if you want but you will hate yourself for doing so the next day (or later on, in the event you don't have time to sleep before work starts). You can't sleep in late because your boss will only be understanding about those things so many times before he/she gives you back more of your free will.

When you get married, your free will is eliminated again because your spouse isn't going to be too happy with you seeing other people or staying away from home when there's laundry to fold and garbage to take out.

When you have kids your free will is almost totally removed from your life. No more coming home from work and watching Wheel of Forture while eating pizza from Dominos. No more just doing your thing unless you have parents who can take the kids for a little while while you and your spouse try to reconnect - which will generally turn into painting something in the house and child-proofing the cupboards where the Ajax is stored.

Maybe people don't realize that having kids means you put their happiness first....always! Not just sometimes..always. If you find out you're not happy...you need to redefine happiness within the new boundaries that you have established for yourself. We all make choices. If they're not the right ones, work with what you got. Of course, if you're being physically abused, by all means, get out - take the kids with you. But if it's just a matter of not connecting with your spouse, get over it.

It's way to much pressure to put on someone...to make them your everything. If he/she doesn't provide you with something you need...like talking about the political downfall of George Bush....and you really love talking about Bubba...find someone who likes to talk about him. It's okay. If you find you have little in common with your spouse, take what you have and exploit it. There's something in this person that you loved enough to marry. Hold onto it.

quotes that just stick with me

"Silence is golden but sometimes it's yellow!" I remember that quote from the original Password with Alan Ludden..when I was a kid. After every show Alan would say a quote he received in the mail from the "home audience." It's just kind of weird how some of the various lines I use today (yes, I didn't make them up) had come from my childhood TV watching.

"Spare me your poisonous barbs for your whims of humor fall on deaf ears." Guess who? Dr. Smith on "Lost in Space." Yeah...remember Promo the robot who kept saying "Warning warning!" and little Will?

"I could never be a nurse. I get whoosing looking at an open faced sandwich." Guess who? Norm on Cheers!

"I haven't been around but...I've been near by." Mary Richards on MTM Show.

"You're mildly unrepugnant." Diane referring to Sam on Cheers!

"He's as gay as a picnic basket." Sophia on The Golden Girls.

Oh, and I lifted this one off my sixth grade English assignment..."Do not compute the number of your barnyard fowls prior to their incubation."

I know...

Silence is power

I truly believe that moody people need to be shot. Seriously...there is no room in this world for people who want to be negative; who would rather ignore someone's cheerfulness for the sake of not feeding into their joy. Life is just too friggin short. Okay...if you miss your dose of lithum...fine...I'll spare you the firing squad. If you've been just told you are terminal ill...fine..spend the rest of your days in a negative funk.

But if this is your natural disposition...sorry...no use for you. Take aim...fire!

And don't blame being overworked or "have too much to do." Nah...that won't cut it either. Everyone who works for someone else is over worked. It's called "working" for a reason. You can only get done what you can get done. Unless you're spending too much time on "break" and you are truly doing your job, you're not going to get fired for being too personable and friendly...for saying "good morning," "how's it going?" "you're looking very nice today." If you do get fired for any of these thing, you don't need to work there. You don't need that kind of negativity around you.

That's just all there is to it.

Liberty Fest: Taste of Edmond

We just got back from the Taste of Edmond. This is a huge part of Edmond's Liberty Fest (which was rated as CNN top 10 places to be over the July 4th Weekend). And it's great...they have many vendors donating the food that is a favorite at their respective restaurant...they have many people helping out...and they have a great venue. It's all great...in theory!

The problem is so many people partake. Normally this is a good thing but here, it's wall to wall people and there's all these lines to wait in but the lines are schewd, overlapping each other and you don't know what vendor you're in line for until you get closer.

By my fourth line, I had had it. It wasn't fun anymore. It was endless waiting, juggling the item you rec'd in the last line you waited in for 15 minutes along with your drink, dodging strollers and people who don't believe they are supposed to say, "excuse me" before crossing in front of you so they could get to another line.

I hate to be a killjoy but....I probably will not be going next year.

If it were up to me, I think it should be set up like this. Seat the people and have the vendor's hire highschool kids to bring their fare to each table. I'm all for this. Instead of having 3000 people running around; have 300. This makes more sense to me..but it's not up to me...so I'll get off my high horse and go watch Password.

Just call us Gramma and Grampa

I finally got around to visiting the new neighbors. They moved in across the street about 3 weeks ago. I've been meaning to go over to welcome them to the neighborhood. They appear to be a very nice young couple with a 5 year old daughter. I would guess they are in their mid-20's.

We had a pleasant conversation about the usual...what we did for a living, how long we've been in Edmond..blah blah blah...but I swear things came to a screeching halt when he said, "I think you and your husband are probably the oldest couple on the street."

"Oh righty then!"

I didn't stay long after that and as I left I did have this overwhelming urge to say, "Well, I gotta go...I think the Ex-lax is kicking in and it's almost time for my Geritol."

Or I should have asked if he had any tennis balls for the feet of my walker.

I told Phil that next time he sees him to say, "Hey how ya doing there son?"

It's kind of strange to be thought of as "old." I'm not sure I've earned it.