25 honest scrap things about me

ORIGINAL POSTING WAS 02/22/09.
Reposting this as tomorrow (02/28/09) is the deadline for the questions mentioned in the last paragraph of this entry. All questions must be in before 11:59pm east coast time. Thanks!



Lainie did the 25 Things one a while back and since then, I've seen it around many of the blogs I read. I figure, with all the new readers I have, I might want to go ahead and do this to get the others caught up. While Im at it, Im going to label it with the Honest Scrap stuff as I can kill 2 birds with 1 stone this way. I cheat, so sue me.

01) There are birthdays and/or anniversaries the 28th or 29th of every month from April to September in my family.

02) Over the course of my lifetime, I've had 26 cats overall and 17 were kept (the others were either re-homed OR lost to natural causes).....and yes, I remember each and every one of them.

03) I still love cartoons and animated movies. When I was growing up, I wanted to be a cartoonist.


04) I was the top 20% of my class of over 300 students. No, I wasnt a nerd...but I was a tad smarter than most in my class.

05) I've spent roughly 1/3 of my life married and wouldnt have it any other way. I've never had a problem being married, just who I was married to.

06) I LOVE stuffed animals. The only one I have left from before both marriages is over 30 years old and is one my mom made for me.

07) Im nearly 40 and still call my parents Mommy and Daddy, behind their backs as well as to their faces.

08) I find it extremely funny that the mascot of my high school was the Spartans and the Christian School I worked for for 4 years in Lousiana had the mascot of the Knights.

09) I find it extremely ironic that my first husband was a Mastered Degreed history teacher and I hate history. I find it even more ironic that I live in a city steeped in Civil War history. Someplace that my first husband would *LOVE* to be living in.

10) I am ecclectic in my musical tastes. My music files range from 12 Stones to ZZTop and a good deal of everything in between. Right now, I cant get enough of instrumentals although my usual playlist contains rock.

11) I love windchimes. At the house in Texas I had about 8 up hanging from the eaves of the covered patio. Here I only have one up because there just isnt any room.

12) Im a night owl. If my days didnt start until 11am and ended around 2am, I'd be perfectly happy with life. If I get a nap in around 9pm, Im good to go until 5am.

13) I was in choir from 3rd grade all the way through highschool. My mom always had fits because I'd practice my songs with the radio going. Like I explained to her, many of my choirmates wouldnt always hit the right notes or rhythm, I had to be ready no matter WHAT I heard and this was the best way to do it.
14) In both marriages, I wore handmade wedding gowns. In the first wedding, my mom made it...the second wedding, I did. The flowers were all handcrafted as well with "silk" flowers. The first time I did them, the second time around a cousin by marriage did them.

15) I love tea. I'll drink it either hot or cold or even luke warm. Coffee, on the other hand, I cant stand the taste of. I do like the smell of certain brands though.

16) In my life, I've held 8 jobs....actually 7 because one company I worked for in two different times of my life. Of these jobs, I've worked for 3 different nationwide companies and only got laid off from one of them.

17) I've spent 2/3 of my life over weight. No matter how hard I try, I never can manage to keep the weight OFF once I've lost it. One time I managed to get down to 129 pounds. The dr's charts all said I was still 5 pounds too heavy, but because of my heavy bone structure I was nothing but skin and bones....

18) I am my own worst critic, especially when it comes to my art work.

19) I have more friends out of state than I do instate. In fact most of them live online with me in blogger or in Myspace.

20) Im back in contact with a couple nieces from my previous marriage and our friendships are coming along nicely. Granted , there's still a bit of trust issue on my half but can you blame me? Especially since the guy turned out to be a psycho jerk that ended up in prison for stalking and harrassing 5 girls....

21) I love my edjumakashunalz. Love them to the point that I read nearly 100 a day and 20 of them I simply will not miss if I can at all help it.

22) I am ADDICTED to American Idol. Woe is me if I find a job before May!! Then again, if it doesnt manage to snag me in... I may forgo the year entirely (I hear Chicago saying "yeah right, you say that every year").

23) I am a *gasp* chocoholic. Shh dont tell anyone. Actually, one week a month Im not...then I crave cinnamon or lemon. Weird, yeah I know.

24) I'm a bottle red. Thank God for Clairol and Redken!!! Otherwise, I'd be riddled with metallic highlights. You'd think with this statement that Im a vain person, but Im not...just about my hair.

25) Im a klutz. Because of this, I always look at the ground while I walk and use my peripheral vision to keep an eye on things around me. I prefer to walk with someone else so I can see when it's safe to move. I remember once while walking in New Orleans, I looked up to see the sites and promptly tripped over a manhole cover that was extending above the street by a half inch....landed on all 4s in the middle of the street and almost got hit by a car.


I probably could add a bit more to this...but I wont. It's taken me days to write it as it is. I will do this, though. I've seen that Interview Me bloggy game going around. If you've noticed, I have yet to put an Interview Me in anyone's comments. Why? Well, to be honest, I'd rather have a variety of different questions and not 5 from just one person. As such, Im now going to open this up to you, my readers. Now...I have 17 followers to this particular blog. So Im guessing maybe one question from each would be good. Oh wait, Im sure not everyone would leave a question so maybe I should just up that to 2 questions each. That's right, 2 questions each ...drop them in the comments below. I'll leave this offer open until February 28th. Only thing I really draw the line at is politics.....I wont discuss those. I also reserve the right to not answer any questions in the blog that I feel are simply not appropriate for my blog (although I may just answer them in an email out of sight of the general public).

How warm are you?

Found this over at Yaya's





You Are Cool



You don't necessarily dislike other people, you just don't feel all that comfortable around them.

You tend to keep your distance. However, people may misread you and think you're being a snob.



If you want to be warmer, try starting small. Smile more. Greet people. Ask them how their days are going.

It doesn't take a lot to get some warm energy going. And it will make both you and the people around you feel better.






Copied for Tori's benefit as Im not sure what exactly her reader will capture in the code section...:

You don't necessarily dislike other people, you just don't feel all that comfortable around them.

You tend to keep your distance. However, people may misread you and think you're being a snob.

If you want to be warmer, try starting small. Smile more. Greet people. Ask them how their days are going. (but what if I dont? I mean, Im just sayin?)

It doesn't take a lot to get some warm energy going. And it will make both you and the people around you feel better. (again, Im gonna ask, what if I dont wanna....because it's really entirely against my nature to do so?)

a new game !

As I was reading in the blogs the other day, I came across one in babyrocasmama's site. According to her entry, A New Feature Here At The Asylum , she is going to be hosting a Wordle Wednesday. In her post she suggested using another program to save the Wordle once you've created it, but I found that my screen cap and paint programs did just fine with it. Anyhow this is what ya do:

01) Go to Wordle.net to create your Wordle. It's lots of fun. You can tweak the colors, fonts and such. If you really want to customize your Wordle for your site you can use this color code chart .

02) Post it on your blog with a link to Shan's Wordle Wednesdays or Last Shreds Of Sanity.

03) Once that's done, go back to Last Shreds Of Sanity and sign the Mr Linky that she'll have up (this will help direct those who play along to your blog...we're talking new peeps reading and maybe new followers for everyone....).

Dont forget to leave a comment on the sites you visit!!

Ok, that said I have 10 blogs on this account....no I dont plan on doing a Wordle for each one every single week, but I do plan on rotating through the 3 main ones that I write on just to keep things interesting. This week's Wordle comes from Like the Phoenix, I have arisen from the ashes , or what you've probably seen me refer to as "The Padded Room". The Wordle was created using the last entry that's posted.


Oh...and the little WW graphic was made using the Wordle site. I figured it was appropriate.

So what do YOU carry around ?

I saw this other one over on QJ's entry, Jeannie's Happy World: I've been PURSE TAGGED!

Here are the rules for this if you wanna play along:

1. Post a picture of whatever bag you are carrying as of late. No, you cannot go up to your closet and pull out that cute little purse you used back before you had kids. I want to know what you carried today or the last time you left the house. No cheating!

2. I want to know how much it costs =). And this is not to judge. It is for entertainment purposes only. So, spill it. And, if there is a story to go along with how you obtained it, I'd love to hear it.

3. Tag some chicks. And link back to this post so people know what the heck you're showing everyone your bag
.

I rarely carry anything that costs more than $10-15. Why? Because I have this nasty habit of leaving it on the floor (house as well as vehicle). I also used to rarely carry anything that wasnt cloth because it would get filthy and cloth purses can be tossed in a washer. I do have a small brown leather purse that I like to carry once in a while but since it's sitting in my closet, Im not allowed to show it. I've actually got a cloth one in there too that I use when we go to zoos and aquariums because it has a long strap on it and I can wear it cross wise on me and not have to worry about it getting caught up somewhere as Im taking pictures. Anyhow. The one I carry now has a short enough strap so it doesnt fall off my shoulder ...so that's mainly why I use it.




That and it didnt cost me a single penny as it was a Christmas present from my mom a couple years ago.


Let's see what treasures Im carrying today. Hmmm :
Whoa....whatta mess. Let's pull the bigger items out and see what's there.

My leopard print wallet, my check book, a pocket calendar, a purple note book with matching pen (for taking notes about my allergy shots) and a Suduko book with a pencil for keeping me occupied in waiting rooms (yeah, so...I old school it, big whoop!).

Oh look...there's still more stuff. Let's pull some more out...

Oooh not a good pic. Oh well. We've got a list of books Im still wanting to get at McKay's, an old shopping list, store coupons (mostly for the bags of frozen fruit I use in my smoothies), a scrap of paper with my email addy on it (because everyone misspells my online nick and I needed to give it to the tax lady) and a baggie with Splenda with fiber packets (hey dont laugh, every one of those packets has 1 gram of fiber in it and the restaurants dont carry the Splenda with fiber!).

Geeeez. Look. There's still more in there!!


Hmmm the last "bits n bobs" from the main section and two of the three pockets. We've got 4 hand wipes from nights out eating ribs, a packet of Lactaid, 2 packets of Tylenol, a tube of Aveeno anti-itch cream (for shot day), Gold Bond lotion (the hands get so chapped in the winter), a pair of tweezers (because mirrors in store dressing rooms are so much better than mine in the bathroom ya know), lip balm (the hands arent the only things that chap in the winter), an eraser (because the eraser on the pencil wont last forever), my cell phone, spare batteries (for the camera which isnt pictured because Im using it), an appointment card (for my allergy shots), a business card from the H&R Block person doing our taxes (she isnt done yet....we've got an appointment on Wednesday to finish up.......NONONONO!!! Not on American Idol night!!! *sigh*), and my keys. The wood piece has my name on it....you can see I have store fobs on it as well.....and that one other keychain hooked to it all says "Confidence". It was the first key chain I bought for myself after I moved in with my now husband. Oh and the tube attached has more Lactaid....just in case.

There ya have it. That's what I carry. Thankfully my purse isnt as big and bad as it used to be. Why? Because THIS husband knows how to carry his own wallet n crap.

If this is the first entry you have seen from me today, you may wanna backtrack some because I've been pretty productive the last 18 hours or so.....

my absolute favorite pic in the whole wide world

Hey look at this... Queenie Jeannie over at Jeannie's Happy World has hit an anniversary on her blog. Congrats!! She's got a giveaway going in order to celebrate. The rules are in her entry, Blogiversary Week - Day One! .

I have so many favorite pictures on my computer but up until a few minutes ago, my absolute favorite only existed in a hard copy sitting in a gold frame on my night stand.

This pic was taken pre-digital camera days with a regular ol 35mm camera. It was snapped by me sometime during our first trip as a couple to meet his folks (I'd only known hubby a few months at the time and was still married to that other louse). I just adore how the love just radiates off of him in this picture.

Yeah, there are 2 garages on the house...you arent seeing things. Both garages hold at least 3 antique cars each.

Straight outta the Camera

While I was over reading Straight out of the Camera Sunday in Life According to Jan and Jer , I saw a really neat game that was found over at murrieta365. The rules on the site are:



Do you ever take a photo that you love; it comes out so well, straight from the camera, that you're not tempted to do a thing with it, once you've downloaded it. It's wonderful and you want to share it. I've decided to start a new meme - Straight Out Of the Camera Sunday. I'll host it here, each Sunday. So put your thinking cap on, scroll through your files and decide what to post. The subject is open, no weekly theme, just have fun.



Im not bothering with the Mr Linky thingy though....just that's the way I roll.



So here's my pic, I just pulled it off the camera:
This is KatyLou, hubby's dog. She was all excited because she was going on a road trip this past Wednesday, but then she saw the cat in the carrier and suspected SOMETHING was up. Katy travels really well though....she generally just curls up on the bench and sleeps most of the way. Unfortunately, with the cat travelling with us, there wasnt much room on the truck bench for her to do that. The trip on Wednesday was to the vet and of course she didnt like that too well. She was none too happy with us afterwards.

No retouching of any sort was done on this picture, not even cropping. I cant believe how well it turned out. I wish some of my other pix turned out as well....especially the ones I take of the cat!!

an attempt to fill in a void

The other night, my hubby was playing one of his computer games (DOOM3) and he yelled out "OMG!! They've even invaded my game!!!"

So of course, I nearly get whiplash turning around to see wtf he's talking about when I see IT. There, standing boldly in the light from his gun...in all it's orange glory.....an ALIEN!

I look at hubby and he very slowly nodded his head...so I very carefully grabbed my camera, fired it off and snapped a shot of one...standing next to a pool of blood. He saw at least 3 more, all basically in the same state.

So here it is, proof that OCHAs are taking over much more than we realize.



I just sent this off to to iggy and thought I'd share it with all of you too. Just my lame attempt to say we miss him lots.

just some pictures

I took these a few weeks back, just after our last cold snap. I'd meant to post them but by the looks of my edit section, I got sidetracked several times over. They were all taken while we were headed in to Logan's Restaurant for lunch. The retention pond was all frozen over yet they still had the fountains running. The geese were all up on the ice near the main road while the gulls were walking where ever they felt like being. The first shot below was actually the last shot I took. As I was snapping shots of the birds, I heard hubby say "That would make a neat shot". When I looked down I saw these awesome tracks...








Another stolen from Mimi's

I give you money and send you into the grocery store to pick up 5 items. You can only pick one thing from the following departments.. what is it?

1. Produce: bananas
2. Dairy: yogurt (plain or vanilla)
3. Meat: pork
4. Frozen: fruit (peaches, blueberries, strawberries but more than likely mangos)
5. Dry goods: Total Cinnamon (sweet enough to take care of a sweet tooth)

Let’s say we’re heading out for a weekend getaway this weekend. You’re only allowed to bring 3 articles of clothing with you. So, what’s in your bag?

1. knit pants
2. Eeyore hoodie
3. Sneakers

If I was to listen in on one of your conversations throughout the day, what 3 phrases or words would I be most likely to hear?

1. You silly sh!t
2. Nuh uh! Get down! (aimed at one of the furry ones)
3. What's on tv tonight?

So, what 3 things do you find yourself doing every single day, and if you didn’t get to do, you probably wouldn’t be in the best mood?

1. Reading my email, comics and blogs
2. Listening to music
3. havin a smoothie!! (gotta get my fruits and dairy in ya know)

Sweet, you just scored a whole afternoon to yourself. We’re talking a 3 hour block with nobody around. What 3 activities might we find you doing? (How does this differ from any other day? Hubby works 12 hr shifts 3-4 days a week and there are no kids here so I get much more than 3 hrs alone most days anyhow!!)

1. blogs
2. music
3. tv

We’re going to the zoo. But, it looks like it could start storming, so it’ll have to be a quick visit. What 3 exhibits do we have to get to?

1. Big Cats
2. Big Cats
3. Big Cats (no sense going anywhere else if it's gonna get stormy...actually I wouldnt bother going if I cant see the whole zoo)

You just scored tickets to the taping of any show that comes on T.V. of your choice. You can pick between 3, so what are you deciding between? (Just 3? Oh wait all the ones I'd wanna see have closed sets so I can bring it down to one)

1. American Idol
2.
3.


You’re hungry for ice cream. I’ll give you a triple dipper ice cream cone. What 3 flavors can I pile on for ya?

1. Chocolate
2. Chocolate with brownie chunks
3. Double chocolate peanut butter

Somebody stole your purse/wallet…in order to get it back, you have to name 5 things you know are inside to claim it. So, what’s in there? (oooh ! This leads right into the purse meme that's going around! That's one of my next ones to day too!!)

1. My Samsung Digimax camera
2. List of books that Im wanting to buy at McKays
3. Keys with several key chains attached (one says confidence and one has my name)
4. Suduko book and pencil
5. leopard print wallet with id in it


You are at a job fair, and asked what areas you are interested in pursuing a career in. Let’s pretend you have every talent and ability to be whatever you wanted, so what 3 careers would be fun for you?

1. DJ of my own station where I play what I want WHEN I want
2. an awesome site designer (I mean better than what I do now...I wanna be able to do it all from scratch!)
3. an artist

Name game

I got this over at Mimi's Meme Fun!!! entry:

YOUR REAL NAME: *censored* sorry....nope nope not gonna give that one here.

WITNESS PROTECTION NAME:(mother and fathers middle names) Elaine Michael-Stephen

NASCAR NAME:(first name of your mother's dad, father's dad) Lawrence Leon

STAR WARS NAME:(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Bulhe

DETECTIVE NAME:(favorite color, favorite animal) Purple Horse

SOAP OPERA NAME:(middle name, town where you were born) Marie Syracuse

SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning) The Red Sangria

FLY NAME:(first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name) Hell (yeah....*snortles* I found it oddly funny too)

STREET NAME:(fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie) Strawberry Cheesecake Oreo

Flight Attendant NAME: (1st pet's name, street you grew up on) Brandy West Second

YOUR GANGSTA NAME:(first 3 letters of last name plus izzle) Bulizzle

YOUR GOTH NAME:(black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Dharma

Night Club Singer NAME: (name of your fav perfume/cologne, fav candy) Cashmere Chocolate

update

Last Thursday was a very rough day for me. We have 3 handsets for our phone, but they dont share info. You see...cell phones generally come up "cellphone" and ~sometimes~ have a state listing next to it. If I dont recognize the number, I wont pick up. Once I know who it is, I enter their info in the phone so it shows up as who it is on the next call. Generally, I pick up on the extension in the livingroom OR the one in the office. The one in the bedroom rarely gets used.... except during times when we're in bed and someone calls during sleep cycles. Normally, I crack an eye to see who's calling and then decide whether to take it or let the machine answer it. This said, my SCSis called during a sleep cycle early in the bloody morning (ok, it was 10:29am but considering bedtime is around 5am these days...)....and I had no clue as to who it was so I let the machine get it. She's like me, hates talking to a damn answering machine unless ya gotta....especially in the day and age of caller id. If it's really important I talk to you, I leave a message but usually I just hang up and try later. I listened and no message was left so I crawled outta bed and went to the office where I picked up that handset and realized it was her so I called back and got voicemail so I left a message (Lord knows what at this point as I was NOT awake enough to remember what I said...just a "if you still need to talk gimme a jingle"). I crawled into bed and had a hard time getting back to sleep. I must have been asleep only 30 minutes or so, just enough to get good and under....I know I was in REM as I was definitely dreaming at that point....when she called at 11:42am. I barely remember that conversation either. I do remember her asking if I was ok and I muttered something about us being on night shift here. She said something about it being a badtime, she didnt realize we were on the nightshift, and that she really hadnt been thinking straight, and when would be better to call...I told her 3-330pm and she hung up on me. Well of course when I finally woke up, I kicked my own arse for not spending time talking to her when she'd called earlier. Didnt matter that I wasnt entirely cognizant of things around me at that point. When the phone didnt ring at 3pm, I called her...and got the voicemail. I didnt bother leaving a message, just called her right back. I tried a good part of Thursday, ringing her number and got no answer. Of course considering Wednesday's mess, I was beyond worried. I didnt sleep well Friday morning because I was worried all day and I half expected a phone call saying I needed to write the eulogy. I worried all day on Friday (after the sleep cycle)....oh hell, I hadnt slept well either....so I called when we got home from our errands, around 930pm. Much to my relief she picked up...sounding better than she had in a long time. She hadnt picked up the day before because she was having some Mom and her time. Seems they get along just fine when all of them arent crammed into 1 efficiency apartment.

Since then we've talked one other time. Things seem to be going ok. She's got a job at a local diner and the boss is already talking about creating a new position for her. She's skeptical about it though as she doesnt really trust anyone at this point. Her lawyer got in touch with her and said his lawyer got in touch with arrangements to pick up her stuff and the 2 cats. This pretty much has her ticked off as there were 4 cats, not 2...meaning he sent 2 of them to the pound. She let her lawyer know the arrangements were inadequate as she was out of state and even if she did drive in, it's a 4 hour drive one way plus she doesnt have a vehicle large enough to get all her stuff (she drives a Miata). She also told her lawyer that he needs to put a hurry on things because she wants the divorce finalized "as of yesterday". Things are still kinda bad, but she's got a bit of hope there and is finally getting her legs under her a bit so that's good. I dont feel the need to be on suicide watch right now....which is good for me.

Im having trouble keeping up with the blogs lately. It seems like I just dont have enough hours in the day anymore (that and I just havent had the desire to be in them much lately...yeah, I know, it's a sign of depression...Im fighting it though). God help me if I read every entry (which I usually do, I just dont always comment). I still need to write in the Jukebox....once American Idol fires up (like, ummm, tonight), I doubt I'll have much time for keeping up. It'll all depend on how fast I get hooked into the show (ok, Im obsessed).

While I was reading the other night, however, I saw an entry that came along very timely. I'd like to thank Bookbitten for the reminder....I needed it.


From the entry at BookBitten: Eye of the Tiger

Rocky is surprisingly profound, in addition to being one of the most
inspirational film series I know of. After a rough night, hell, a rough year, I
went to sleep last night thinking about what he said to his yuppie punk son
(paraphrased): Life will try to keep you down. It is not about how hard you hit
back, rather it is about how hard you can get hit and keeping moving forward.


The next several entries might be nothing but games and such as I found a few while reading that looked like fun.....which means I gotta empty my email inbox out *again*. Until then, I'll be keeping on moving forward.

Thank you

A little girl with the hem of her dress raised and looking at her feet. The graphic says next to her...Your friendship is like an angel send from Heaven above Today, I have hope and things are looking a bit brighter for a change.
PS...yeah, I know the graphic has a typo...but I didnt make it...just found it online.

in a dark dark spot right now....

depressed angel

Having a bad night.....received a couple calls that I really wish I didnt get...I feel like I've fallen into a very black area and Im not sure how to handle it....
How the hell do you talk to someone who's stubborn and so bent on self destruction? Someone that WONT tell you where she's at because, as she put it, she "doesnt want to be saved"??

The first call (3:48pm for 45 minutes)....after much melt down and asking for an explanation as to why it was all happening to her....was signed off as "I'll talk to you later"

The second call was from her friend (@6:07pm for about 30 minutes), worried because she hadnt arrived home tonight, asking me to call and talk some sense into her. And now, I suspect the first call was just a goodbye because I keep calling to check on her and she's not picking up.......


EDIT:10:55pm: She called about 8:15pm or so and is headed to Georgia. Not sure why she's headed that way because of the falling out she had with her mom and sister...said she's not sure where she's headed, that she may end up sleeping on the beach....

Fun Monday

This week one of my new bloggy buddies, Pam (http://thedustwillwait.blogspot.com/), is hosting the Fun Monday game. This week's subject is:
Show me in pictures or tell me in words what defines the place where you live. I want to leave the interpretation open to include any possibility.
She went into detail as to what she meant in her post called THE DUST WILL WAIT: Invitation: Play Fun Monday on February 9 . Boy did SHE open a can of worms because she really DID leave it quite open for interpretation! I can hear some of my usual readers groaning at this point because they know me real well. You leave a little loophole and I'll open it nice and wide (case in point the Letter Game which resulted in a multi-entry arc on the letter M). I promise...I will NOT do that this time (although with all the moving I did Im sure I could do several entries on just this topic). I will, however, dissect it in my usual obsessive way. Starting right with the subject itself.


The two verbs I'll be concentrating on are:

Define: (v): To describe the nature or basic qualities of; explain
(Im using the 2nd definition of the word as it's the one that best fits this situation)

and

Live: (v): multiple definitions
4. To reside; dwell
5. To conduct one's life in a particular manner
6. To pursue a positive, satisfying existence; enjoy life


(4-6 used as that is what Im beliving her to mean for the assignment...4 will stand alone while 5 & 6 will be combined)

as well as this noun:

place: (n):
1. a. An area with definite or indefinite boundaries; a portion of space.
b. Room or space, especially adequate space



2. a. The particular portion of space occupied by or allocated to a person or thing.
b. A building or an area set aside for a specified purpose



3. a. A dwelling; a house:
b. A business establishment or office.
c. A locality, such as a town or city



(definitions gotten from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/)



A gypsy caravan house with 2 horsesThat all said, I could just wuss out and post a picture of the town I presently reside in ... as the running joke in my family is that I actually live in a gypsy caravan (and live everywhere as well as nowhere at the same time). I spent a good deal of my adult life on the move and everyone pretty much puts my address and phone number in pencil because they changed so often. To be honest, almost anywhere I hang my hat (not that I normally wear one, but if I did) is home enough for me. But this isnt about where I call home, this is where I LIVE....which is another story completely.


I could also just put up pictures from Google of the battlefield or the museums, but my friends all know I won't do that. For one reason, I really have no interest in being in any of those locations and for a second reason...it's simply just too easy (who wants to use Google when they can use the pix they actually clicked while out and about?). Besides it doesnt show the Manassas I see day to day. The area I exist in is mostly businesses, strip malls, restaurants and townhouses (not to mention vanity plates that are seen on every other vehicle!!). Even with the economy the way it is in this day and age, we have sections of expansion.


On the road in the picture above, we have a new Walgreens, Panda Express and Chik Fil A being built. I suspect there will be another business or two going in sometime in the future.



Photobucket
The townhouse that I'm presently occupying, well at least for the next 18 months or less, is situated in a cul de sac behind one of the many strip malls on the main road in the area. We are definitely in the minority racially in this neighborhood. The neighbor in the unit to the left there is the one Im continually griping about. The neighbor to the right (in the grey townhouse) is really nice. I bearly even know when he's home. I can't wait to move though. Im hoping we get into an actual HOUSE on property without the neighbors so darned close as I feel like a sardine in this place (even though technically this place has more square footage than the house in Texas did).

Although that picture alone would satisfy the goals of the project, it's not truly where I LIVE. My closest buddies (that have known me for roughly 5 years and in some cases a bit more) know that where I LIVE is truly in a much much smaller place. I love music and working on decor for my places online. So realistically, I LIVE here:



Yeah, it's perpetually a mess. I just like everything within arm's length because I never know when Im going to need something. I must have about 3-5 projects running at all times in the place where I live.

update, apology and a plethora of awards

As pretty much everyone here knows, I've been down with a nasty bug. It's lasted a bit over a week now. So I went to the doctor yesterday. The good news is that I dropped another 2 pounds over the course of the week (266.8 now). The bad news...my bp is up to a 142/77 BUT this is pretty much normal when I have a sinus infection. The doctor has me on a 10 day course of Avelox , she says it's the best thing out there right now. Unfortunately, if you read that link, you'll see that there is a SLEW of side effects. One of them has already hit me (even though I only had the one dose so far) and according to the reading, Im not allowed to take anything to fix the problem. *sigh* Also, because of that same side effect, I dont dare stick to my eating modification nor get on my bike. The last thing I want is to be caught in a position where I cant get to where I need to be quickly.

Anyhow, as the doctor was peeking in the ears, nose and throat with that little light thing, she says to me...."You could stand to lose a little weight". WTF? Excuse me? Ok...credit, yes I do. But please look at the file before you make a comment like that! What is the sense of having our files on a computer so every doctor in the circle has access to them in the blink of an eye and then NOT REFER TO IT??? Even with the hard copy files that my last dr dealt with, she could tell when there was a weight loss or gain just at a glance, no matter HOW much time was between visits (shoot, she'd remember something we discussed nearly a year prior and ask me about it at a later appointment). Well, of course I opened my mouth and informed her I was down 2 pounds from the week before at the dietitian's and down about 30 from August (when I weighed 298). What do I get for the hard work? "Oh, well I guess that's ok then". *inserts a HUGE eyeroll* Man I miss that doctor...

Due to the problems I detailled out in my last entry, I havent exactly been keeping up very well with posting the awards. Since I got no response to the inquiry of who all had recently sent awards for me to pass, I did a little digging into the blogs of the usual suspects and emailed the links to myself (I hate a junked up email inbox and it's the only way to be sure I at least give a second look at things that I found interesting initially).

Here are the awards I've received over the last month (give or take a week or so). If you havent gotten any of these awards yet (most that I follow have though), or just wanna swipe them, please feel free to do so:

The following were received from wifey:
















The above was also received from Chicagolady in her entry http://makingsmallthoughtfulblogentries.blogspot.com/search?q=awards







<<(both of these from this entry)>>












The next was received in Queenie Jeannie's entry
http://happy-jeannie.blogspot.com/2009/01/really-great-
award.html







From iggy, I received this one (this is a brand NEW award so I know many of those that are reading this more than likely DONT have this one yet!!!): http://intenseguy.blogspot.com/2009/02/650-kilogram-metersminute-lbe.html I dont recall if we made any rules for this one so if there's a blog that gives you the warm fuzzies (like Jeannie, Cassandra, Babyrocasmama.. and the rest of you that are just joining this particular circle of friends) then feel free to hand it out. Nothing like a nice warm hug especially on these chilly late winter days!!




The lemonade award was received from babyrocasmama in her entry http://mylastshredsofsanity.blogspot.com/2009/01/i-got-another-award-this-one-is-really.html










And this last one, I've received twice now! It was given to me by Cassandra in her entry http://mommaneedsatimeout.blogspot.com/2009/01/some-bling-meme.html




Thank you all for the wonderful bling. I really do appreciate them, honestly.


I have another large entry coming up on Monday, Im in the middle of writing it at this point. With any luck I'll get it squared away to have it posted on time.

just some fun tests

Just goes to prove I ~really~ need to get out more often...

Your result for Name That Tune - TV Edition Test...

Totally Completely Addicted!


Wow! You truly ARE addicted to TV! You watch way too much! You should really get up off that couch (or bed or computer) and get out and live some! Click Here for the answer key.


And please rate this test if you enjoyed it!!


Take Name That Tune - TV Edition Test
at HelloQuizzy





Your result for Name That Tune - Movies Edition Test...

Movie King/Queen!


You Rock! You must own just about every movie ever made and have seen them tons of times! I bet you have a room in your home dedicated to your movie collection! I bet you also have every soundtrack ever released! Click Here for the answer key.


And please rate this test if you enjoyed it!!


Take Name That Tune - Movies Edition Test
at HelloQuizzy





Your result for Name That Tune - 90's Edition Test...

Child Of The 90's!


Wow! You ARE a child of the 90's! Let me guess, you were born in the mid-late 80's and probably remember all the cool toys, tv shows and music from that era!! I bet you graduated high school within the last 5-8 years, didn't you? Click Here for the answer key.


And please rate this test if you enjoyed it!!



Take Name That Tune - 90's Edition Test
at HelloQuizzy

EDIT 11:16pm to add the 80's Quiz


Your result for Name That Tune - 80's Edition Test...

Still Living In The 80s


Congratulations! You are a true 80's music fan! I bet you still have ALL of your old records and tapes, don't ya?! And dance to them wearing your leggings and side pony-tail with a headband (female) or parachute pants and gel spiked hair with a headband (male). Click Here for the answer key.


And please rate this test if you enjoyed it!!


Take Name That Tune - 80's Edition Test
at HelloQuizzy

mental blow up

Ok. So first and foremost, Im going to apologize to all of you as I havent exactly been the best bloggy buddy lately. The green-eyed monster likes to pay me a visit around the end of December when people start talking about going to visit (or having over) family for the holidays . Why? Well because my family happens to have gypsy tendencies and is scattered to the 4 corners of America so the ONLY family I manage to get to see during the holidays is my hubby's family (who all conveniently live in one place). God forbid if we were to plan a trip to see my family or my friends because somehow we'd just have to visit his family anyhow (cutting the trip to see mine in at least half). Ok, his gramma's in her 90's and frail...I'll give them that... but still. We wont even go into the fact that they ask every other phone call (and both sis AND mom call once a week each) when we're coming back in.


If the family issue wasnt bad enough, Christmastime is usually when some blogs go into high gear posting about the kids in their lives....sharing videos and pictures of little ones having a great time opening presents and joining in on the festivities. I CANT be telling others that they can't discuss these things as they're THEIR blogs and I have absolutely no right to tell others what they can and cant discuss such matters. All I ask is that you understand why, at times, I seemingly just fall off the planet. Thing is, I was married before for more than 10 years.....and there are no little ones (other than the furbabies) gracing my home. Although some days Im grateful that one didnt come along at that point of my life because the divorce would have been worse than it was, the fact still stands that Im going to be 40 this year and the clock's ticking away. I know there are a few of you out there that know exactly what Im going through.

The end of January was a little rough too. I was running on a high from my appointment and a low from the bug (discussed below) that I almost forgot a couple of very important dates. The 28th is an important date for me.....this year is Independence Day 4. On the 31st, was my daddy's 63rd birthday and my gramma's 2nd year Heavenly Birthday....man I miss her.

The last month or more hubby and I have had a cold going back and forth between the two of us. For the most part it's been lasting a day or so with me and then pops back over to spend time with him. The same bug's been going around his work as well. This past Thursday, after that wonderful appointment, I came home and wasnt feeling so well. My cheekbones were hurting and my face felt warm. I felt so unwell that I took the first dose of that antibiotic that's been sitting on my counter (it was issued to me over a month ago "just in case")...I even skipped my bike ride. Yeah, I felt ~THAT~ sick. I crawled upstairs to watch my usual Thursday night line up and ended up putting on my long sleeve night gown AND the plush robe.....and I was still cold. I ended up cancelling my shot for Friday because I cant have it if I've been on antibiotics. Friday I was still ill enough to keep me off the bike. Saturday I felt a bit better so I did a gentle ride that day as well as Sunday and Monday. I was schedulled to go to level 8 on Monday *IF* I felt well enough but when I went for my ride, I felt I better not push things. Im going to give it another week or two and see about increasing at that time. It'll all depend on the dr's appointment on Friday. The ZPak didnt seem to do too much good this time around and I suspect by Friday I'll be miserable again. I've been so out of it that I not only failed to keep up in the blogs in a timely manner (there are more than 50 I follow and some of ya'll write many times a day!!), but it was also Monday evening before I switched my tunes out in my MySpace..... Oh man...and I still have a few awards I'm meant to be posting (and then update in the Awards entry) but for the life of me I cant remember who all awarded me ones lately. If you'd be so kind and check...if you have one you awarded me and I havent posted it yet.....leave the link to the entry in my comments and I'll get to them............................I promise.

I havent written my review for Idol yet. There werent too many I was really thrilled with. Alot of "I likes" and not enough "Hell yeahs" to fill an entry...even with 3 night's worth of notes. Im wondering if this will be my last year watching ...or if I'll even make it through the whole year. So damn many plants this year. We'll see once we get through Hollywood week. The big question is, do I really want to put myself through that work again this year?

My SCSis is presently staying with her sister and mom in Ga. The last call I got was loaded with boo-hoos because she'd had a ~really~ horrid day. I wont go into details here. I will say that I finally had enough for the most part and as she was raging at all the things she wanted to do to the man (and I can understand those feelings...I had them at one point or another myself)...I told her to "shut up". Yeah...I used that term with my bestie of nearly 30 years. I told her that yeah I know she wanted to do all this mean, hurtful stuff and it's ok to feel that way BUT she shouldnt ACT on it and proceeded to tell her why she shouldnt (can anyone say stalking and harrassment with the intent to do harm?). I then gave her a suggestion to check out a certain not for profit organization that might be able to help her out, if not directly...then certainly they may have certain resources that will get her steered on the right path. I told her she needed to go sooner rather than later. She did do one thing right though....she called ME at 1230am...and NOT her x2b. Im so proud of her for that. She's also started taking steps for life after divorce.....address change and bank account changed so he has no access to her funds (not that she has any to work with anyhow). I wish she would have done all this sooner to be honest. She IS facing the fact that she's "screwed" and has actually used that term. The one mistake she made during this call was when she asked me how I'd feel in her shoes. It's a mistake because Im likely to be alot more blunt with what I say when Im feeling poorly. I was extremely blunt with her. I told her from day one I would have been packing, getting my ducks in order, changing accounts and would have been talking to a lawyer already. It would have all been done BEFORE I lost my job (not that that was expected but you have to figure if the jerk you're living with gets you thrown in jail, it's highly possible they're going to find a way to leak info to someone in Human Resources or a Co-Owner and manage to get you fired from your job )...at least I would have gotten the first meeting out of the way so I had an idea which steps I needed to take. I qualified it with a "but then again, Im much more pessimistic than you". Boiled down, I told her "I told you so" without being overly cruel about it. Yeah, I know it wasnt really nice, but it was stuff she needed to hear.

We started getting some mixed precip last night (Monday). When I peeked outside, it looked like we were getting some white stuff on the ground again. YAY. The weather's calling for a couple days worth of snow. It'll be nice if the ground gets fully covered over again.

We're on the night shift here. I havent decided if I'm going to stay up real late as per my usual or if Im going to go to bed at a reasonable hour. Im leaning towards the latter to be honest. Not today, obviously....maybe the next sleep cycle. I could use the extra sleep....

I have scads of stuff I emailled myself that I've meant to blog. With any luck, I'll be getting the email cleaned out in the next few days and get some of it put up. I think there's a game or three in there that I saw in other blogs that I wanted to do in mine....I know there were a few jokes that will be going up in the appropriate blog area.

I think that's it....if you can think of something that I didnt cover that you're wanting to know about....put it below in the comments.

Oh...and if someone could kindly talk me through those nifty little messages that some people have up near their comment boxes (Jeannie....Dorky.....someone.....anyone....)...Im thinking I'd like to add something like that to my blog as well.

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