Wendy's Wonders

Open Letter to CBS

2008-05-15T07:42:00.001-05:00

Dear The Powers That Be at CBS:

Once again, you got me sucked into a drama and reward me by YANKING it off the air! Gee, didn’t you try the same approach with “Jericho”? I thought I learned my lesson after that stunt, but I guess I’m a slow learner. Forget it! You can put the best drama on next season, with the best actors and actresses, and I am NOT going to watch it. Because I know that as soon as I get involved, work my schedule around watching it, find the episodes engaging – then – it’ll get the axe.

Yes, I’m talking about “Moonlight”. And it has now been turned into dust. Maybe the CW or Fox will come along and re-boot it on their network. Maybe the fans will send CBS enough fake blood to rival the nuts sent from “Jericho” fans.

I’m asking you to please stick with comedies. Seems to be mostly what you are good at. Many of them last a long time! It was even on your network that history was made during the finale of “M*A*S*H”. I guess I thought that since all of your daytime dramas seem to have a corner on the Daytime Emmy market – that just once, CBS would have a winner with a primetime drama. Just wishful thinking on my part.

No, I won’t be boycotting the products of the sponsors of “Moonlight”. It’s not their fault that you didn’t invest enough PR to get the show watched by viewers. Not once did I hear of the principals of the show appearing on any news or talk shows to promote it. You sort of dropped the ball on that one. Do you need PR people? Is that the issue? I’m sure there are lots of candidates who would be happy to have a job promoting wonderful primetime dramas.

Good luck in future endeavors – you’re really going to need it!

Thank you!

2008-05-07T22:25:00.002-05:00

I want to thank everyone who has been stopping by and helping with the "cause"! (Clicking the ads above!) I guess I ought to write something that will enable really great ads to be seen. Maybe something about "American Idol" - finally Jason got voted off. Yes, he's from Rockwall. Yes, it would be cool to have another person from this area in the top 3 or 2 or the Idol but . . . you gotta admit he's been slacking the last couple weeks.

Or how about Designer Purses? Do you know anything about designer purses? I haven't a clue except from what I see on the tube. Shoes - the same thing. I buy shoes because I like them, they fit & they are on sale!

Favorite stores: Walmart, Target, Kohls!!!

Let's see what sort of ads I get now!

Help Needed!

2008-05-05T15:08:00.001-05:00

Please click on the Ads above - I get money! (Shameless self-promotion, huh?! Actually just online panhandling I guess!)

Please Bookmark New Blog Address

2008-05-02T08:08:00.001-05:00

Wow - blogger let me in to post something! But if you are still being directed here - you really need to bookmark my new blog (well it's not so new!)
http://wendylittrell.tripod.com/helloisthisthingon

And for my Genealogy blog go to:
http://allmybranches.wordpress.com

Have fun!

Rice - what NOT to do!

2005-04-13T06:38:00.000-05:00

So it's about noon & I'm trying to decide what to fix for supper yesterday evening - just in case I need to thaw something. I have smoked sausage so how about that with rice and beans? But instead of just plain ol' white rice, how about it cooked in chicken broth for flavor & then . . . not just white rice but half white, half brown. Sounds good so far. Except I wasn't counting on the fact that the instructions call for 2 1/2 cups of water to one cup of brown rice, while only 2 cups of water for white rice. Well if I'm only doing 1/2 c. of each rice, then I'll do one cup of water for white & 1 1/4 water for brown. Seemed to take forever for the water to cook into the rice - that should have been my first clue. Finally the rice seemed moist & ready to serve. One bite told me more than I wanted to know. While the white rice was just a little too "sticky" - the brown rice seemed granuley (if that's even a word). Crunchy was more like it! Now I know that brown rice tastes different - it has a "nutty" flavor - but crunchy was not the texture I was aiming for. So do NOT try this at home! In the future IF I ever decide to do this again, I will cook the 2 rices separately to ensure even cooking for both. The rest of the meal was wonderful - well, what I got to eat. Midway through my daughter called - as she has a habit of doing lately right after we sit down to eat - I could have told her I'd call her back but I didn't - so that's my fault. I ended up letting her talk while I ate! And what did I do with all that leftover rice? Well by that time I couldn't salvage it - so it'll be in the dump where all the little critters who take their nightly strolls can enjoy it! I just hope they all don't go running for the hills!

Scrapbooking

2005-04-12T06:40:00.000-05:00

I have a scrap 4 you business - most people say "how neat?" or something to that effect when I tell them. They'll also immediately ask "how much do you charge?" - I am not a retail store. Nothing is priced exactly the same. You can't come in, pick out a product, pay & get out. This is a lot more involved. Especially if the pictures need to be captioned. I need to know who's who, what's what, where it is, when it was, why it was, and possibly how it came to be. I want to be able to give you a story when it's all said and done. If you had wanted just random photos in a book, you could have gotten a photo album to do that. Or still - just a box where you throw pictures in until you are ready to look at them. Maybe you'll remember when it happened, maybe not. I bet that's what your grandchildren will say someday - NOT!!! I have boxes full of photos from my grandparents young adult years - I have no idea if they are related to me or friends of my grandparents. No clue as to where they were, what they were doing, or any special stories about the event or the photo. Luckily, my mother was able to help me put names to faces for the most part. I want my kids and grandkids to know the story. Wouldn't you? Have you ever been to an antique store or a flea market and found lots of old photos? Those are someone's ancestors - but we don't know who because they people who found them didn't know who they were so they pitched them or sold them. That's like selling your grandmother or your immigrant g-g-g-grandparent. Don't let your pictures be without a story.
So the answer to the above question is - prices are a little different depending on the size of album, how many pages it has, how basic or embellished it is, etc. Also - do I need to do computer journaling or will you really write all the journaling when you get the album back? Do you want your pages scanned and placed on a CD so you have a computer copy of your scrapbook? Do you want copies of the photos in case you need them for other scrapbooks or to have in case something happens to the ones in the scrapbook? If I were to just charge for materials - that would be like saying my time is worth nothing. I have found that those willing to spend that little extra for the quality albums I design are the ones who will treasure these scrapbooks forever. It is history and preserves a part of the present and the past.
In my spare time - when I'm not designing scrapbooks for others - I'm working on my own personal books. I find it cathartic and relaxing - it also gets me away from the television! If you want to invest in this type of preservation go to my business page at http://nanasnovelties.tripod.com/home.html and check out some of my designs. Then give me an email so I can help you preserve the past!

Into the Black Hole . . .

2005-04-11T06:39:00.000-05:00

and never to return! That's what happened to the post I made on April 7th! And it was a good post too - something about having to live without use of a computer or - EGADS! - no email or internet for over a week! Lots of stuff about how my dh played "Super Computer Doc" for a few days until he got the patient ready for ICU (which he admits is one step out of ICU now). Still on the critical list - but working. I can now get online, I can check my emails, I can look at .jpg files, I can use the word processing & Excel programs - wow what was life like back in the day?! I even installed software that I had bought 6 months ago but haven't been able to install due to lack of enough RAM - now I have tons of it! Of course wouldn't you know it - but as soon as I created something in this new scrapbook program - and tried to print - NOTHING!!! My printer is out of ink - so back to the good ol' computer store I go today after work to pick up some ink - this time I'll get both cartridges because I just know that my black ink will be bone dry soon.
So how was your week?

Slow cooked Beans & Ham

2005-03-24T13:33:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I get in the mood to really fix a meal - that includes everything from scratch. Other times when time is short, I like to make do. Below is a recipe I took to a potluck a couple months ago & got some great comments on it. How simple can it be?

Fast - Slow Cooked Beans & Ham
2 cans pinto beans
1 can pinto beans with jalapenos
1 can black beans (rinsed)
1-2 cans great northern beans
1 can red or pink beans
(optional: can of black eyed peas and/or a can of kidney beans)
1 pkg diced ham
1 ham hock
(optional: onion)

About 4 hours before meal time, empty all the cans into a crock pot. I only drain the black beans. Add diced ham & ham hock. You can dice up some onion and throw in as well (or dice it up and let each person add it to their beans when served). Turn on high and let cook.
To serve: You can serve as a soup or just as a side dish. Garnish with onion or green onion. Serve with crackers.

Enjoy!

Car Sick Dogs and Honking Humvees

2005-03-24T13:23:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I thought our new dog was having an issue riding in the van - but she did really good all the way to our destination (about 40 minute ride - mostly on the highway). It was the return trip . . .
If I'd only gone home first - shaving 5-10 minutes off the trip - then the poor thing wouldn't have found herself in that position. She got car sick - all over the passenger seat & floor. I was so concerned for her & whether she'd step in it. So I'm at a green light about to turn left - there are cars coming the opposite direction - so I wait until I can see a break. Someone's in the left turn lane in the other direction. I'm in a minivan - taller than a mini cooper - but not that tall. Guy behind me is either in a Humvee or a humongous truck - you know, they can see clear to South Dakota - honking as if they had to be somewhere now. Last time I trusted an idiot driver behind me, I almost got creamed by a car that came out of no where. So no, thank you, kind driver behind me who wants me to know it's ok to turn left, I will NOT believe you. My motto is - if I can't see, I stay put. If I have any doubts, I stay put. The green arrow will eventually light up and then I can safely turn left. I don't drive ten yards out into the middle of the intersection just so I can turn when the light turns red. Did that once to - almost got creamed as well. I want to get to where ever I'm going - maybe a few minutes late - but in one piece. You in the Hummer or the big truck - people would plow into you & you'd think a bug had been squashed on your vehicle. If I got plowed into, I would have an injured four year old, and yesterday a one year old dog. And then weeks of insurance negotiations, etc. If I wasn't cited to begin with.
You don't think I didn't want to turn left faster? I had dog puke all over the inside of my van. Get off my back (& my bumper!)

My 2 cents . . .

2005-03-24T13:07:00.000-06:00

No one asked me and furthermore everyone has their own opinion but I feel compelled to offer my 2 cents worth - should anyone really care . . .
The case in Florida - Terry Schiavo - caught my attention for a couple of reasons. And before you form any opinions of me as you read this, let me tell you that I am NOT all the way to the right and NOT all the way to the left. I like to think I walk the road of common sense. First and foremost, I've seen someone die from lack of fluids and solids - my brother. He was comatose - waiting for the pancreatic cancer to take him from us - so he was not "awake" or "aware" other than possibly hearing the words we spoke to him on his deathbed. He had already decided after learning of his diagnosis (a mere 2 months prior to his death) - that he did not want any feeding tube or heroic measures - as there was no cure and he would just linger in agony. My mother was very concerned about her son "starving" to death - that is until the hospice nurse - I can't say enough good about Hospice - broke it down very easily for all of us. Giving him liquids (via IV) could cause pneumonia - the liquids could end up in his lungs. We didn't want him to die of pneumonia or suffocation. The nurse told us the same things everyone is reading about in the paper that "starvation" does not cause agony and probably a humane way to die.
Now with that said - I don't know who is right or wrong in Mrs. Schiavo's case. I question why her husband has not divorced her after all these years and move on with the life he has with his new mate and their children. I also don't know if Mr. Schiavo is responsible for the medical bills. However, removing her feeding tube is one thing - why can't the authorities allow her parents or friends to try to feed her normally? That would not be heroic measures.
Bottom line - if you do NOT want to end up as a participant in the middle of a battle like Terry Schiavo's - then make sure EVERYONE in your family knows that - spell it out through a living will. Make sure your parents, your siblings, your spouse, and your children have copies. Sit them all down NOW - with a video camera - and make it clear to everyone - the video will make it clear to the world, the supreme courts of whatever state you are in - everyone. This is each person's responsibility. If Terry Schiavo really did not want to live this way for the last fifteen years - a living will, a video, anything - could have prevented her living without quality of life and stopped us all from attacking each other's beliefs. If she wanted to be kept alive by whatever means necessary - she should have also spelled that out.
So if her life and possible death are to have any meaning - it's that more people are aware of their own mortality and the knowledge they could walk out and get hit by a truck at any time, possibly have severe head injuries, possibly go without oxygen long enough for brain damage to occur, whatever - and then tomorrow won't be here for you to do exactly what I told you to do in the above paragraph. Do it NOW for you, your family, your peace of mind - do it to give Terry Schiavo's life and situation some meaning.

Sunshine in the Middle of the Week

2005-03-04T07:13:00.000-06:00

Sometimes it is a good thing when the week we plan goes all a kilter. Case in point - my week started off just fine - my older daughter was spending the night Sunday and was planning to stay a couple days. Went to work just like normal on Monday but the dinner I'd planned for the evening wasn't going to happen as I just couldn't find the right cut of meat I needed for the recipe I was set on using. So instead of gourmet we had chili dogs! Tuesday when I got up, my tummy was a little upset - so I turned to the trusty pink stuff to calm things down. Busy day at work but as the morning wore on, I felt queasier and started to get chills. When I came home at lunch figured I'd take my temp - didn't have one. I generally don't run fevers and generally never get sick with much more than the common cold a few times a year (I think they are mainly allergies tho). So I go back to work & finish the church's monthly newsletter. As soon as I got home, decided to settle in on the couch with a glass of water, the heavy afghan over me, the cordless within reach, and the trusty TV controls. DH fixed supper for everyone that evening while I wondered why every bone in my body hurt. Started feeling real hot but when I got out from under the afghan was cold again. Time for another temperature check - yup! This time I had a fever - low grade - still below 100 - which explains why everything hurt! Wednesday was a "stay home" day (as we like to tell the grandson) - felt better, went to the grocery - still on my quest for Flank steak! Never found it so figured I'd just fix the roast I had in the fridge. By 2 that afternoon I was once again feverish & on the couch. This was a little more than just the 24 hour stomach virus. Took it easy the rest of the evening. So my plan for Wednesday was shot as I had wanted to finish up some bookkeeping. Thursday morning started off much better - I felt like a new woman and was on a mission - to find a birthday gift for my daughter and do the bookkeeping I'd never done on Wednesday. Midway through the morning a phone call changed my day completely. It was my sister! She lives many states away and I see her maybe once a year - we are extremely close which is interesting as we were raised 16 years apart! She's the older of the two of us. So she already had her own life and family by the time I was old enough to realize how important a sister was. By then I'd alienated almost everyone in my family even though she was one of the few who stuck by me and loved me at my most unloveable. By the time we were back on track to being sisters and friends, she moved away. After we both got email things changed, we wrote constantly and became best friends. After all we had a lot in common - the same parents, the same family members who sometimes drove us crazy, and most of our opinions were similar. We were just different generations! Then she moved back several years ago & we were thrilled to be close in proximity again. That lasted just a few years before she moved to her home now. Her daughter is in the area now waiting to leave for overseas and it was her birthday yesterday. My sister flew in to (among other things) surprise her. And she surprised me! We had a great lunch - during which she gave me a piece of news that might mean she'll be closer in location once again. That was very emotional! Needless to say I didn't get anything I had planned done yesterday but the surprise was well worth it! I'd much rather spend time with my sister than calculating numbers, doing laundry and genearl house cleaning (although I've put that off as long as I can!)
I love it when sunshine peeks through an otherwise dismal week and makes the gray skies seem as if they were never here!

Call a Plumber!

2005-02-22T06:45:00.000-06:00

Why is it that just when I get into a busy season of the month, my nose starts running? It's not that I feel sick - no fever, no aches & pains, no headache, no stomach bug - just my nose! It's either running or backed up and I feel like I have 12 gallons of water in my sinuses!
Yesterday I had my first full day of a cold - do I call this a winter cold or a spring cold? As the weather here has been pretty moderate lately. On top of feeling ucky, we were almost out of tissues and out of any allergy/sinus medication - which is the only thing that helps me. So I took a 12 hour decongestant yesterday afternoon. It tends to wear off before the 12 hours are up! Took night time Tylenol liquid medicine before bed and once I was able to get to sleep, it really helped - other than waking up grabbing tissues as my sinuses drained.
Having a cold is one thing - but it's another when I have to wash my hands each time I blow my nose - that's a real time clogger. With so much flu around, I don't dare not wash my hands and I sure don't want to "share" my cold with my family - even tho they shared first.
Parents, please tell your kids that sharing is nice - except they don't have to share cold germs! And since I have a little one in daycare, you just know he's in contact with anything and everything each day he's there.
I guess I shouldn't complaiin too much - I don't really get "sick". Couple colds a year, maybe a stomach bug everyone two - three years. And it also probably wouldn't be too bad except I'm the food preparer. Not only do I have to make sure every surface of my hands is clean and germ free or to cough or sneeze around the food, but I have to fix the meal - I don't know about you but when I'm all congested, nothing sounds good - not even to feed other people. So I let dh figure it out yesterday. Ended up with an old standby - hot dogs & chips. At least people were fed. I opted for chocolate milk.
Here's to feeling better soon!

70s Television

2005-02-18T08:10:00.000-06:00

I was checking out Julie Fidler's "Stuck in the 70s" http://www.stuckinthe70s.com website the other day (as I do almost every day!) and she had posted about the "One Day At A Time" Reunion show coming up on Feb. 22nd. That, of course, got me thinking about all the shows I watched growing up in the 70s. Sometimes I changed my day and activities to make sure I caught my faves (what we called favorites back in the day!). I found a site - oh, no, I can't tell you what it was because I forgot to bookmark it - but it had the entire 1970s television prime time schedule so I went through it to see what I could remember. And boy did the memories come back!
"One Day at a Time" with Bonnie Franklin, MacKenzie Phillips, and Valerie Bertinelli was one of my favorites. Growing up in the home of a divorced mom, I could identify with the girls. I wasn't as "perky" as Barbara Cooper so it was MacKenzie whom I really thought I was like. Loved the Elton John references back then. Early in the 70s my Friday nights revolved around getting my PJs on early and settling down with a pillow in front of the TV to watch "The Brady Bunch" (I was the 3rd child in my family but my siblings were way older than me so it was as if I was an only child - this show allowed me to live vicariously in the large family I'd always wanted); the "Partridge Family" (how cool to be in a family that made records and went on tour? Of course my main reason for watching it was yummy David Cassidy!); "Room 222" (this allowed me a peak at what high school was going to be like!); "Love, American Style" - I was a little too naive to get the risque jokes; and "The Persuaders" with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis. This was one of the few nights I was allowed to stay up late.
Of course there were the "grown up" shows - "Hawaii Five-O", "Cannon", "Barnaby Jones", "Longstreet", "Mannix", "Medical Center" (do you remember the "shocking" episode with Robert Reed portraying a man who was starting to undergo gender-changing surgery?!), "The F.B.I.", and a few more.
Seventies television would never have been the same without the comedies of "All in the Family", "Maude", "Mary Tyler Moore", "The New Dick Van Dyke Show", "Here's Lucy", "Chico and the Man", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Green Acres", "Petticoat Junction" and "My Three Sons". And who could forget the variety shows - "Donny and Marie", "The Carol Burnett Show", and of course "Sonny and Cher!" The three shows that I still catch in syndication or wish were in syndication are "M*A*S*H" (I could watch this show 24/7!), "Happy Days", and "The Waltons." Yes, you read that right - the "Waltons" - I know it was sappy and corny and all that stuff - but I couldn't get enough of it. First off there were 7 kids in that family - how cool was that!! Second off, it was during the Depression - a time my mom lived through - so watching this show together gave me a great insight into her life as a young girl. She would confirm and validate stuff they were portraying on the show and probably gave us some of our best conversations! The family really loved each other and were proud of their heritage on Walton's Mountain. I was always tearing up by the time the show was over.
Just goes to show that television has always played a part in our lives since it's inception. Back then everyone gathered around to watch Uncle Miltie! And Ed Sullivan introduced so many legends into our lives!
So what shows were you watching in the 70s? Which ones made an impact on your life then - how about now? Feedback is welcome!
'til next time - Wendy

Cleaning the Closets

2005-02-03T06:50:00.000-06:00

For all of you who are like me and decide once every 6 months to a year that it's time to clean those closets out - this post is probably not for you - except to laugh and say "I've been there!" The rest of you will get a quick glimpse into what it's like NOT being a fastidious cleaner! First I need to explain our room - it's not all that big and we have a queen size water bed. Funny thing with water beds - you need to know exactly how you want the furniture arranged when you set it up because you just can't pick it up and move it on a whim! Besides the bed, we also have a large 6 drawer dresser with a mirror, a two drawer nightstand which is on my husband's side, a four drawer bureau - also on his side closer to the foot of the bed along the wall, another 2 drawer nightstand that sits in my husband's closet right now, and a clothes hamper. That doesn't include the footstool at the end of the bed which was originally put there to serve as a place to sit to put on shoes, etc. Now it collects stuff we don't know what to do with or haven't gotten around to putting away. There's also a large plastic tub filled with all those blankets and pillows I need to store somewhere. On top of that is a box that I need to pitch - my daughter's huge display doll came shipped in it. Well, the hamper was on my side of the bed - the side where the closets are. I have to move the hamper to the other side of the room before I can even open the left hand folding door of my closet. On top of that I had a file box with all my genealogy stuff in it sitting by the closet and two boxes that lay away items from Christmas were packed in sitting there.
Yesterday, I thought I had better get in that closet. No telling how many clothes are in there that I haven't seen in - well - since I last cleaned the closet. Ever notice that when you go to clean something like that, the piles of stuff get bigger and bigger? Whittled away at my clothes in the closet - has a rip & I don't' want to fix it, too outdated and won't wear, never could wear to begin with (this is usually relegated to stuff my mom sent me that are her hand-me-downs!), and "what was I thinking when I bought that?" I sorted them - into one box went a bunch of clothes one of my daughters might want. Another box is for clothing that I will give to the local charity. I carted a bunch of clothes to an (almost) empty closet in another bedroom as I can't bear to part with them - stuff my mom made or wore or were my grandmother's. It's nice to know they are there and remember the history and stories behind those clothing items. Then there was the trash pile.
Shoes - I don't have as many pairs as my mom - but I have quite a few. Several pair were out of their boxes, strewn on the floor of the closet. I got all those paired up and put back in their places. Now you know what this means - the next time I want to slip on a pair of nice shoes I'll have to go digging around again! Once my husband got me a hanging shoe rack. Those big things encased in plastic that you hang in your closet. If I only had a few sets of clothes it would have been okay. As it happened, shoes would fall out of it, the sides would half way collapse, and of course I couldn't reach the ones I really wanted to wear.
The Closet Shelf - what's on yours? Mine has a box - inside are all my children's baby blankets - there is no way I can part with them. They were either hand made or hand crocheted by grandmothers or great-grandmothers. Those are things that I want to pass down someday. On top of that box are a few more blankets that the box is too small for. Purses - my mom likes purses as much as she likes shoes. Consequently when one purse has outlasted its usefulness or style, I get it. They are perfectly good. Several of them look brand new - that's because she swapped out purses so much, none of them got a lot of wear. These are the "nice" purses that you use when you go out for the evening or take to church. Not the everyday "going to the grocery store, running errands, taking kids places" purse. So I have 4-5 of those on my shelf. Plus two stacks of jeans. If I don't have room in my closet to hang all my clothes, I certainly do not have enough room to hang jeans. Which is what my mom used to do with all mine when I was growing up - they were always hung up so there wouldn't be any unnecessary wrinkles in them. This was before the days when everyone bought jeans that had the color bleached out, were baggy, or had holes in them. Next to the jeans is a large shoebox - top has been lost. Inside are items I pulled out of a box on the bottom of the closet - one of my kids' baby books, my school years book (with all my report cards and school pictures), memorabilia from my school dances, my junior high autograph book (no, none of those people who signed ever became famous!), school magazines that my poetry was published in, and school awards. I want to keep these separate so I can make a scrapbook of my own "growing up" years just as soon as I'm done doing all the other scrapbooks I have ideas for!
When I finished up, I decided that the hamper had to be moved. I was tired of never being able to get into half of my closet. So I found an empty spot (I have an empty spot in my room?!) along the wall by the door & set it in its new place. I even managed to sweep most of the floor while I was cleaning yesterday. Next project in there is to clean my vanity off. And my vanity is not the regular "sit down and preen" sort. It's a shelf built in between the two walls of our two closets. I decided years ago that would be a wonderful place for my to keep my jewelry boxes (not that I have any "real" jewelry). I haven't been able to find complete sets of earrings for about 4 years - there is so much stuff piled on it.
So how is your "winter" cleaning coming along? Have you found many things you had forgotten you had?

Telemarketers

2005-01-31T08:00:00.000-06:00

You've had a so-so day and are just ready to sit down and eat that delicious dinner that you've had simmering in the crock pot all day. You take that first bite and realized that your new chef should be "Rival" when out of the blue . . . the phone rings. No, it's not important news or even a friend who caught you at the wrong time - it's the dreaded "sales pitch". Within the last year or two, you don't even get a call from a real, live person - it's a computer. Barb the Computer called my house a lot for awhile - haven't heard from her in awhile. Those are so easy to hang up on. No one there to hurt their feelings. Sometimes I'll even listen to the end just in case they give you a code or a number to call to be taken off the list. It's the real people that bug me - half the time I can't understand what they are trying to say - let alone sell - they can't pronounce my last name, ask me how much I'm paying on my mortgage, ask if I have children younger than 18 living in the house, ask if my carpets need cleaned (listen, if I have children younger than 18 living here you can be sure my carpets need cleaned!), ask me if I have "just a couple minutes" to answer some survey questions, or try to tell me they are sending me on a "all inclusive paid" trip to somewhere I don't really want to go. Last I knew, if you are given something, you must claim it on your taxes as a gift & pay gift taxes - even when they tell you "Oh, no you don't have to pay sales tax." If I can't afford to go on a trip - I can't afford the gift taxes! And the last time I had people clean my carpet, they hooked me into allowing them to use some kind of cleaner that will disinfect the worst water damage, dog odors, etc. The "treatment" costs more than the cleaning. And whenever I answer survey questions, I get ten more calls trying to sell me whatever my answers seemed to tell them about products I need or purchase.
I'm one of those people who just never got around to being put on the do not call list. I guess it's because I need an outlet - someone that I can vent to without caring if I hurt their feelings. What I really want to say is "Get a REAL job!" Only a teeny-tiny percentage of people in the sales industry are going to make that $100,000 a week income - the rest of you - you'll be wondering why you don't have money to pay the bills or buy groceries. That pay by the week motel room is sounding better and better than a $2000 mortgage payment.
My daughter and I had a favorite - if the caller ID showed an "unavailable" number, we figured it was a telemarketer - so we'd answer the phone with "Roadhouse Cafe - you kill it, we grill it, what did you run-over?" One telemarketer laughed so hard and thanked me and hung up. I guess we made her day. That response worked for awhile until my sister-in-law called - at that time her number wouldn't show up on the called ID - she didn't think it was so funny. Then I started double-talking the telemarketers until they got so frustrated they hung up. Now I respond to their question with a question. They don't want me to ask them personal stuff - don't ask me. It really works when I've had a really bad day or I'm really ticked off with bad drivers (see post "Road Rants" below). I give these people on the phone a piece of my mind until they hang up. Just a waste of everyone's time.
Door to door salesmen - I had a neighbor who really fixed the Kirby vacuum people. I loved her approach. They came to her door & upon answering they handed her a dust buster vacuum and told her it was free gift. She thanked them & slammed the door. They knocked again and explained that it was a free gift IF she allowed them in to clean her carpet to show her what a great vacuum Kirby was (& by the way Kirby is a GREAT vacuum - we had one for years!) - she explained her husband worked nights & was sleeping so they couldn't vacuum as the noise would bother him. And no, she didn't return their free gift. I wondered why they didn't show up at my house! They lost their free gift! When they returned to our street the following week, they explained what they were giving away and for what reason before they handed the free gift to someone! Guess they learned their lesson. Anyone else have a funny story to tell about telemarketers or door-to-door salesmen?

Sites you should check out

2005-01-28T07:08:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I chose to "goof off" & do some surfing - mind you I've never "hung 10" or sought after that big wave, but I do seek those "out of the way" websites that you only seem to come across by mistake or via another site. Which is exactly what I found yesterday. Wes Clark (see previous post ("Game Mentioned Below") has a site called "Avacado Memories" - he reminsces about growing up in Burbank, California. Lots of stuff on his site. Go check it out: http://wesclark.com/am
Via his website I came across a site that has ads for a bunch of 60s toys: http://www.toyadz.com
If you ever visited Disneyland years ago, you also might want to check out Yesterland at http://www.yesterland.com - it has stuff about rides/attractions that have been discountinued as well as other goodies you might enjoy.

Game Mentioned Below

2005-01-28T06:50:00.000-06:00

For those of you who have no clue what the "Booby Trap" game is - as well as those who had one - you're probably saying to yourself, "This lady can't describe the game at all!" Well I found a picture - on another site dedicated to growing up in the 60s/70s that you can check out for yourself.
http://wesclark.com/am/booby_trap.jpg
Check it out & you'll see exactly what I mean about the spring loaded gizmo taking your fingers, hands, & arms off!

Toys

2005-01-27T14:03:00.000-06:00

I've been surfing the web - some of my favorite sites - www.stuckinthe70s.com (Stuck in the 70s) and www.theimaginaryworld.com (The Imaginary World) - take me back to my childhood days of the 60s into the teen years of the 70s. Got me thinking about some of the toys I had. Does anyone remember the Parker Brothers Game "Booby Trap"? If that thing was sold today you can bet there would be lawsuits all over the place! It was a game where the top part of the board was where you put all these different colored and different sized round wooden pieces. They were pushed to the top by this kamikaze like spring loaded wooden piece. The object was to not be the person whose fingers got smashed when you took out a wooden piece. Talk about dangerous to small children (not to mention their parents!), animals, and anything else!

Another toy that got lots of attention in the early 70s were those Klackers. Two (basically fiberglass) balls on strings. The object was to "klack" them together (kind of like paddle ball or something you did yourself when everyone else was grounded or you were snowed in). They were recalled (I don't think they called it that back then) - because they were known to smash into millions of flying shards sending kids to the emergency rooms with cuts in their eyes, etc.

Some of my favorite board games back then included "Sorry" - got that one for my birthday one year. Seemed every time my niece, nephew & I played it (they were only a few years younger than me) - we were always sending my niece back to the "home" square. She got so frustrated I bet she never played it again! We also played "Battleship" - there were no lights, sounds, or talking computer chips. Just red and white pegs and your own strategy. I hated Monopoly because I'd always play with people who were lucky enough to always have the right amount of money to buy Park Place and Boardwalk and then take us for the rest of our money afer they put hotels on them. Plus it took forever to play. Card games we played - "Kings Corners" - it was just as popular with us kids back then as "Texas Hold'em" is to all kinds of card players today. We also played this one game called "Spit" (and no we didn't actually spit when we played) - it was a very fast "slap 'em" kind of game. Almost like "Slap Jack". Most of the time we made up our own games - at school we had one called "Red Ant". There were 5 of us the first day we started playing and the entire 4th grade the next day. The "object" was one person was the "Red Ant" and tried to tag people into being the next "Red Ant". We had circles painted on our playground - I think they were for some PE game - anyway - if you wanted to be safe, you had to get into one of two circles. Imagine over 100 kids in two circles? It was kind of lame. And the whole reason we started this ridiculous game was because we couldn't get on the hopscotch board or the monkey bars because there were already too many people playing. So we started a game that lasted about one week until everyone figured out it was pretty stupid.
Hopscotch - man that takes me back. In 5th grade my two friends and I made up a bunch of stupid rules to keep other kids from working their way into our hopscotch space. You had to have a "brown" rock. You had to have a "teeny" rock. You couldn't have blue on. And on and on. It wasn't until years later that I realized how bad I felt for keeping other kids from playing. But there were only 4 hopscotch places & 50 girls who wanted to play!
Jump rope - there's always one person who can't jump as good as everyone else - they usually became "official" rope holders. The other end was tied to something. Anyone remember any good jump rope rhymes - because for the life of me I can't. Chinese jump rope - that's probably not very PC - but that's what we called it back then. It looked like a bungee cord all in one piece (circle). Two people started it around their ankles while a third person jumped/danced in it. Then the cord went to the knees, then the hips, then the stomach, then the arms - I don't remember much about that as I wasn't a very good Chinese jump roper. I'm just not that coordinated!

My Day

2005-01-27T10:34:00.000-06:00

Teenage daughter came home yesterday sick. Thought it was allergies - appears not to be as she had a low grade fever this morning. She was up at 6 a.m. complaining about a sore throat. Gave her tylenol and robittussin & sent her back to bed. Called the school to alert them that she wasn't going to be there. See, a lot has changed in the last several years. I used to tell them if the fever wasn't over 100 they were going to school come hell or high water. Then if they were sick enough the nurse would send them home. I have to work when I don't feel good - they can go to school. That brings me to a whole other subject . . . see later in this post.

Anyway - I don't pretend to be a nurturer. I grew up with the theory that unless you were bleeding from both ears, throwing up projectile vomit, had a fever that would send you to the emergency room, or bones sticking out - you were OK! And you better not complain about every little ache or pain you had. As a kid when I was sick - whether real sick, psychosomatic sick, or just feeling "ucky" Mom would keep me in bed all day. I couldn't watch television or heaven forbid go outside even to check the mail. I got my meals on TV trays. Had to stay in my pajamas and I couldn't even play in my room. If you said you were sick - then you were sick. I think when I got the chicken pox in first grade, both my mom and I were confused. I couldn't go anywhere because I was contagious. I couldn't go outside. I couldn't scratch. But I wasn't sleepy or feverish or even "ucky". I think I was allowed to watch television that week. But that was the rare exception.

To get back to my original thought - I think I've just gotten tired of fighting with my kids on whether or not they are really sick. Back in the fall this same daughter didn't feel well and I suggested she take it easy one day - we were starting flu season and I didn't want her to get it with her immune system down. She realized she had some major tests or stuff to do at school and went on in. By the afternoon she felt better. Guess that's what happens as you get older and most of your kids are off doing their own thing. I have less kids to deal with when it comes to being sick at home.

Now - for that whole other story - School Nurses. When I was a kid the teacher wouldn't even allow you to go to the school nurse unless you were bleeding, throwing up, etc. Nowadays all of my kids have gone to the school nurse because
1) they are "tired"
2) they have a headache
3) their stomach hurts (probably because they didn't eat breakfast & are hungry)
4) some other stupid ailment
Each time one of these stupid nurses called to tell my my kid had a headache, I'd tell the nurse I had a headache - could I leave work too? I finally had to give each nurse I dealt with my criteria for calling me. If nothing fit the criteria, I wasn't to be bothered. Do you know how difficult it is to leave work, drive 30 minutes home to get the kid from school, take the kid home, make sure they were going to live for the next 3-4 hours, then go back to work? Of course the kid had to be old enough to stay home by themselves. When that wasn't possible, I got black marks on my attendance at work, lost pay, and on top of that had a sick, complaining, whiny kid to deal with. That was way before I got a cool job working for my church - which allows me to be very flexible in my schedule. The corporate world was lousy - too political, too "social", etc. No matter how great of an employee someone was or no matter that they went above and beyond 99% of the time, when they had to take off due to dr. appts or sick kids, they felt persecuted. Ugh - I don't miss those days at all.

Does anyone else have sick kid stories to share?

Road Rants

2005-01-27T10:30:00.000-06:00

Well I was just sitting here thinking about stuff that really annoys me to no end - like people driving school zone speeds when the zone time IS OVER!!! Haven't had to deal with that this school year but for the last 2, 3, heck - 18 years - I have. It was especially irritating when I had kids at four different schools - which meant about 2-3 times the school zones. I would go to LHS to pick up one or both of my daughters, then drive across town (through 3 more school zones to get my son at DeLay Middle School). However, by then the time for the elementary school zone was finished. Needless to say I'd get behind some jerk who insisted on going the 15-20 mph the whole way through it even with me honking my horn & pointing to my watch trying to tell the idiot driver - school zone is over! Then on the way home from DeLay, I'd encounter the same type of driver - you know the kind - they either can't tell time or can't read - one of the two (maybe both)! No wonder I was always in such a foul mood by the time I got home from chauffering kids around! Luckily, I've put somewhat of an end to that. My youngest - now a Freshman who has to go to the other end of town for school - rides the bus. Now she gets to be irritated by late buses, stupid kids on the bus, etc.

While we are on the subject of idiot drivers - have you ever tried to turn right at the corner of Edmonds and Main Street but can't because of all the drivers who insist on waiting for the next light in the intersection? I can't wait until a firetruck or a police car has to get through there - I want to be there to see how many tickets are issued! There has got to be something they can do about that intersection.

And what about all those people who have no clue what that little stick is on the left side of the steering wheel - you know the one that makes those lights blink on either side of your headlights and tail lights? For those of you who have never been introduced to it before - it's called a BLINKER!!! Use it! If you know you plan on turning left or right - not in the next five miles - but some sort of distance before you get there - USE IT!! Let those of us who are around you know what you are planning to do - please!

Parking Lots - I was never so happy when Wal-mart installed medians all along their parking lot. If nothing else - it cuts down on all those people who think a big parking lot means drive anywhere at whatever speed you want. I'd be driving along a lane looking for a spot and whoosh - there goes a car at 50 mph crisscrossing right in front of me. I'm one of those people who used to (I don't anymore with the advent of the whole road rage thing & drivers carrying guns to kill another driver) - slam on my brakes when some idiot decided to ride my back end. Buy me a new car!! When I'm going the speed limit there is no reason to ride my butt. I don't do that anymore - too many jerks want to kill you as to look at you. And if you are on a two lane road - especially one that is hilly and winding - drive the speed limit. Have you ever looked in your rearview mirror - there is a 2 mile long line behind you when you drive at 20 mph because they can't pass you! Second off - do everything possible not to wreck on one of those country roads - you back people up for hours and then no one gets to where they are going and everyone gets in a foul mood. Stop messing with people's days.

Welcome!

2005-01-26T19:47:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my new Blog! I hope you will feel welcome here and feel free to add comments to any of my posts!