Super Bowl Eve!

I am not a football fanatic. In fact, as un-American as this sounds....usually the only football game we watch all season long is the Super Bowl. I love the excitement and especially the ads.

But most of all, I love it because for the last 6 years (or more!) we have been graciously invited over to a friend's house to watch the game there. It is the fun of being with these lovely people that I look forward to every year.

But it is not a typical Super Bowl Party.

Usually, all the other guests are from India. Some of the women will be wearing their gorgeous sari's.
Our hosts, who are my friends, are both Doctors that I worked with at the hospital before I retired. They are also from India.

They have....(are you ready for this?)...............................................................................................a MEDIA ROOM.

I know all you football fanatics are thinking: "Why is this WASTED on someone who doesn't like football?"

I know.

I am blessed.

This media room (I wish I could take pictures to show you. But that would be rude and then I would have to explain the blog and Oh, Lord..it just wouldn't be worth it!) is not just any room to watch the game.

OOOOHHHHHHHH, Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

The room itself is about 14 feet by 14 feet. No windows. Has seats set up like theatre seats. One WHOLE WALL is the TV screen. Surround sound. The whole enchillada.

Just outside of the media room is a stocked bar (with a built-in refrigerator). There is also a pool table and a dining room table to put the food on. Right past that is a jacuzzi room. (No, I haven't tried that during the game, but I sure have been tempted!).

Then, if this doesn't spoil us enough.....at half-time, the wife serves homecooked, genuine Indian food. Curry chicken, rice, all kinds of delicious things I can't pronounce.

Who wouldn't love Super Bowl Sunday when we get spoiled like that?

The funniest thing that has ever happened at one of his parties was that once, the game was kind of lopsided for one team over the other. Finally, a huge interception occurred and the whole room went up in a cheer. My friend yells right along side of the rest of us, runs up to me, gives me a "high five".
Right after that he says (in his thick, wonderful Indian accent): "That is good, no?".
We just all cracked up.
Not only that, but even though he doesn't know much about football, he researches every year and goes and buys one of the team's jerseys and sports it during his party. He never really has a reason which team he decides to root for....he just says; "This time I am going to cheer for (whomever)." And he does. Just as hard as any loyal fan would.
I just love to hear them all talking to each other (and us) with their beautiful, fluid Indian accents. They welcome us as if we are family.

Every year, the Host (my friend) calls to especially invite us by phone. We have the same conversation every year.
Picture him, using his wonderful Indian accent:
It goes:

Him: "Hello. Is this Joan?"
Me: "yes it is".
Him (playfully): "Guess who this is?!"
(yeah, like I couldn't tell, but I always play along).
Me: "Could it be Dr. _____?"
Him: "Oh, you guessed it! What will you be doing on this coming Sunday night?"
Me (feigning suprise): "Well, I might be busy going to a Super Bowl party at your house!"
Him (always laughing): "Then you and Paul can come?"
Me: "We'd be delighted."
Him: "5:30 p.m. then?" "Come at 5:30, Okay?"
Me: "We will be there! Thanks so much for the invite." "Oh...and I will bring the usual sausage and crackers".
(There is a special sausage made at a meat plant locally. It is only sold from Nov. to January and they call it their "holiday sausage". I always buy it and freeze it so I can bring it in Feb. to his Super Bowl parties. It is a wonderfully-seasoned mild kielbasa type sausage that I steam in the slow cooker. It is like crack, (as Aria from Aria'z Ink would say). Ever since I brought it to his first year's Super Bowl party, at EVERY subsequent party, everyone anxiously asks me (the minute I hit his door)..."Did you bring the sausage this year?")
Him: "Oh, no...don't bring anything. It is not necessary to bring anything".
(We have this argument every year. He just tries to be nice. He is usually the first one to get some sausage and try it when I set it up on the side of his gigantic bar!)
Me: "Of course I am bringing the traditional sausage!" "Don't argue with me, you know I am going to bring it!"
Him: "Well, Okay. That would be nice."

We'll get there at 5:30 p.m.
The sausage?
It will be gone before halftime.

And the memories of the delicious Indian food prepared for us with love?
And the memories of a bunch of people who love this country and have made our community so much better by them moving here?
For me, they will last a lifetime.

And, heck....eventually....it just may be enough for me to start liking football.

First Burger King and Now: Domino's????

I worry sometimes that I won't think of anything new that is amusing to blog about.

Well, not to worry today!

Yesterday, I get our local paper (you know, the one I wrote a few blogs back about), and out falls an ad to the floor.

I lean over to pick it up and this is what I see:

Ok...no big deal. "I love pizza! I'll just tuck these little coupons in my purse." I think to myself.

But, then.......I look CLOSER at the ads. And THIS is what I notice:

WHAT????? (WTF??)

THE BFD pizza deal????

Now, I don't know about you, but BFD (to me) has always meant "big f***ing deal".

So, I did what any self-respecting 56 year old mother would do.

I immediately called up my youngest daughter (who is a million times wiser than me regarding texting abbreviations) and I say: "What does the expression "BFD" mean to you?"

Of course, she immediately thought I was finally taking some oh-so-needed therapy or that it was a trick question.

Therefore, my question was met with a loooooooonnnnnnnng pause by her on the phone.

She finally said (hesitatingly, of course): "Ummm, why do you want to know, Mom?" followed by: "Why.....what do YOU think it means???" (Ahhh, she takes after her mother SO much!)

To what I answer: "Big F***ing Deal!" of course, silly!

She says (relieved): "Well, yeah. Of course that is what it means, Mom!" (with a tone that suggested that I am still using a rotary phone and never cooked with a microwave yet).

To what I say: "Whew. I thought it was only me that didn't understand that there might be a double meaning! Because I just got a Domino's ad in my newspaper that is saying they are going to offer a BFD pizza special!"

She says (laughing now): "yeah..I saw that too. In fact, in Tampa, they had it on their sign post outside their pizza shop. I guess Domino's version means: "big fantastic deal". "What is WRONG with their marketers?"

To which we both say AT THE SAME TIME: (I TOLD YOU she was just like her mother):

"Those idiots!" "What were they thinking?"(WWTT?)

So, like the Burger King Angry Burger, I had to start thinking of what other TOP TEN future Domino's pizza deals that we may see in the future?
How about:

1. The SOB pizza: (sausage, onion, bacon)

2. The ASS pizza: (artichoke, smoked-sausage)

3. The FART pizza: (fried anchovies, ricotta, tomatoes)

4. The PMS pizza: (pepperoni, mozzarella and sausage)

5. The RUFKM (text interpretation: Are You F***ing Kidding me?) pizza: (Ricotta, unfried kielbasa, mushrooms)

6. The LMAO (text interpretation: Laughing My Ass Off) pizza: (lottsa mushrooms and onions)

7. The PMP (text interpretation: Pissed My Pants) pizza: (pepperoni, mushroom and peppers)

8. The KMA (text interpretation: Kiss My Ass) pizza: (kielbasa, mushrooms, artichokes)

9. The ATAB (text interpretation: Ain't That a Bitch?) pizza: (artichokes, tomatoes and basil)

10. The TPS (text interpretation: That's Pretty Stupid) pizza: (tomatoes, pepperoni and sausage)

******************************************************************************************

RUFKM? That would just be a PITA for them. I mean they might just give me the 5FS AFDN. But I will still be LMAO.

I am Blessed!

Well, I sure had reason to get out of bed this morning!

First, Polly from: http://angelsinmygarden.blogspot.com/ sent me a message (and posted on her blog) that I have been awarded ANOTHER lemonade award !:

Thank you SO much Polly. Readers, if you get a chance, go over and get some inspirational messages at her blogsite. A lady with a lot of heart.

Then, my mentor, my friend, the-reason-I-have-Blogger-envy: Aria from Aria'z Ink at:

http://www.ariazink.blogspot.com/ wrote a whole blog entry explaining the affiliate marketing process more (upon my pleading request!) and then, to top it off, wrote (and I quote her:)"a shameless plug" for folks to stop by my blog and give me a read.

(Now, you gotta know, as a wanna-be writer, this is just one step short of how I felt getting my marriage proposal.)

As I told Aria, (and this is for you too, Polly)...it is like in the show EARL and his theory of karma. When you spread the love, you get the love.

So get ready Aria (and Polly), I have no doubt that good things are coming your way!

And Aria, I am awarding (forwarding) this lemonade award (Yes, you are getting YET another award!) to YOU only this time. Because you were my first follower, and gave me the courage to continue blogging. So, make a note on your website that you have MORE than one lemonade award beside your little widget of it and like me, disobey the rules to list ten more things about yourself (if you want)!! Heck, you don't even need to forward it if you don't want to.

P.S. Please take a few moments, go to Aria's website and click on a few of her ads there.....we need to show this woman some love and give her some clicks!!!! I got the marketing logo now: Chicks for Clicks...or maybe a group of us can be the Click Chicks???? Anyhoo...just DO it. (And after you click on a few of her ads to help her raise her rates, take a read. I can guarantee she will have you spewing your coffee in laughter and you will add her on as one of your favorites.).

LOL

Noblesse Oblige !!

Yippee....Life has handed me another wonderful award on a silver platter!

Thanks to Pehpot at:

http://pehpot.blogspot.com/

I have received the Noblesse Oblige award:

This Award is presented to bloggers who display consistency in any one or a combination of these conditions:
1. The Blogger manifests exemplary attitude, respecting the nuances that pervades amongst different cultures and beliefs.
2. The Blog contents inspire; strives to encourage and offers solutions.
3. There is a clear purpose at the Blog; one that fosters a better understanding on Social, Political, Economic, the Arts, Culture and Sciences and Beliefs.
4. The Blog is refreshing and creative.
5. The Blogger promotes friendship and positive thinking.

The Blogger who receives this award will need to perform the following steps:
1. Create a Post with a mention and link to the person who presented the Noblesse Oblige Award. (Done: see Pehpot's site listed above!)
2. The Award Conditions must be displayed at the Post. (Done: via this section!)
3. Write a short article about what the Blog has thus far achieved – preferably citing one or more older Post to support. (Ah heck, just go back to any of my former posts. I don't know which one to cite?) (What has this blog thus far acheived? Well, I hope it made just one person smile. It sure has helped me get back to writing again, which has always been a passion of mine. This is a wonderful tool to get supportive feedback from other writers.)
4. The Blogger must present the Noblesse Oblige Award in concurrence with the Award conditions. (See below for how I am doing this)

5. The Blogger must display the Award at any location at the Blog. (Done: I added it to my list of awards and on this post).

Now: To meet #4:

I want those reading this post to go to my list of Favorite Blogs at the end of my blogsite.

If you are listed, and have NOT gotten this award bestowed on you yet, then consider this your award notice.

Congratulations!

I love reading ALL of your blogs...everyday. When I get up in the morning, I always read your blogs as part of my daily routine (unless I am in a hurry to get out the door. When that happens, I try and read them before bed each day. I am truly addicted).

Is there a self-help group for us? I can see me now.....HI, My name is "The Retired One" and I can't stop reading blogs"................................................

I'm (NOT) Going Postal!

Remember, just a short time ago, to try to soften (yet another!) price hike in stamps, the U.S. Postal Service developed the "Forever Stamp"?

Well, now I think it needs to be renamed to "The Forever-To-Get-Your-Mail" stamp.

According to the CNN News yesterday, the U.S. Postal Service is now claiming they just can't afford to deliver our mail six days a week. (Despite their many, many hikes in the price of stamps.)

Oh yeah. And they blamed it on the use of the internet. (Less income for them).

If that is the case, then why is UPS and FED EX business volumes higher than ever?

Hmm....could it possibly be the (lack of) service the U.S. Postal Service provides that may be the reason that less people are utilizing them?

The U.S. Postal Service, (still saying they can't afford to give us our mail anymore "because of the use of the internet") are now saying that they would like to stop delivering mail (and begin closing their offices) on Saturdays.

Today, CNN just said the U.S. Postal Service is also considering not delivering (or being open) on Tuesdays. (Which would mean we would only get mail four days a week).

I thought the Postal service could not get any worse.

We live in a rural area, so mail takes forever to get here or to send from here.

Consider this:
Say I drive up to my post office and mail a letter to my daughter (who lives north of Chicago) at 8 a.m. on a Monday morning. I then pull out of the post office and continue driving to her house.
Typically, with one stop to eat lunch and another stop to get gas and to have a potty break, we arrive at her driveway around 4 p.m. that day.

The letter? We are lucky if it gets there by Friday or Saturday. Four to Five days later, folks!

I don't get it.

If you give the same letter to FED EX or UPS, it arrives at her door no later than 1.5 to 2 days later. Don't they utilize the same trucks, airplanes (and perhaps trains?) as the U.S. Postal Service?

So why does it take more than double the time?

And the service?:
We once had an exchange student who went to the Post Office with her Christmas gifts to mail to her family back home in Spain. She arrived at the Post Office at 4:45 p.m. (It closes at 5 p.m.). She said there were maybe 4 people in line ahead of her.
When she got up to the window, it was about 4:55 p.m.
The female postal worker pointed to the clock and said: "You expect ME to mail these many packages out for you at FIVE minutes before five o'clock? You should have come earlier if you expected to mail this many out! How are we supposed to get home on time???"....and basically slammed her packages around in anger, as she put labels on them, etc.

Our little exchange student came home in tears, and asked me if she had done something wrong. She asked (get this) if it was "against the law" in the U.S. to arrive just before closing at a post office.

Nice service, Postal Service.

Really nice.

(Scare the shit out of an innocent foreign exchange student because you might be 5 minutes late getting home! )

FED EX or UPS, upon arrangements, would have probably come and picked them up at our home and even given her a tracking number so she could trace her gifts' journey home to her family.

That's another thing.

If you want to "trace" anything with the U.S. Postal Service, you would have to pay an outrageous fee by purchasing their "overnight" service. (Which by the way, when you go to purchase it, they outright tell you they "cannot guarantee" it will arrive there overnight!) And, sadly, it rarely does. I used to utilize this at work and it rarely got there "overnight".

I say:
Let the U.S. Postal Service go ahead and close two more days a week. Heck, they should just go ahead and close.

Period.

The government should strictly use FED EX or UPS to mail our packages and letters.
We'd get them earlier, we'd be able to "track" them on our computers, and they'd hand deliver them right to our doorstep. (Heck, if you're not home, they even put them inside your garage to keep them safe and dry!)

And, they even happily deliver on Christmas Day!

Oh, I just keep having these uncontrollable brilliant brainstorms for President Obama !!!

( Anyone out there interested in a campaign for him to list my blog site as a "favorite" on his blog list ???????!)

Don't Ya Just Love Your Local Newspaper?

We have a daily newspaper in our rural area called "The Mining Journal". It is named that because one of the industries that made (and still makes) our area great was (is) mining. We still have active mines in our area, which provides an income for a lot of the population in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

But our newspaper is lacking in sooooooooo many ways.

People visiting from "the big city" often get a kick out of reading The Mining Journal's headlines, small-town stories and ads. I have to admit they are right, but if you take a moment to look at the charm (and humor) the paper provides, it is down right entertaining.

I always look first (okay, second..I look at the obituaries first, like you...don't deny it!) at a section in the paper that has become my favorite. It is called the Marquette Police Report. (The city of Marquette is the largest town closest to us, and it is the home of The Mining Journal.)

Somewhere in the past, some brilliant (?) editor of The Mining Journal must have decided that it was the reader's right to know any and all police calls that may have come into their busy (yeah, right!) station over the past 24 hours.
I have found the paper's daily police report article to be so funny that I have now made group e-mail mailings to several of my relatives and regularly send copies of the police reports to them. Some have begun to send them on to others.

Not is it only funny that these reports are true, but it is even funnier the way that they log them for the paper's report. And, it is sometimes just plain hilarious that the people calling the reports in to the police station called them into the police in the first place.

I KNEW you wouldn't believe me if I just told you the content of some of the police reports, so I am attaching them to this blog for you to see them for yourself. (The print is kind of small, so I will copy below them what they said, in case you can't read them. Sorry, when I scanned them I wasn't thinking, so I didn't think to enlarge them then!)

Hopefully, you can see the print. Seeing is believing.






If you couldn't read the small print, it says:
9:27a.m.: person appears to be confused about how debit cards work, 1300 block of N. Third

My comments:
Okay, so that was me. I mean do I push the green button for credit because I don't want to put in my PIN, or do I hit cancel? And why can't they standardize all of those dang machines, anyway???

(No, it wasn't me.......) But, I mean, who calls this into the police? Maybe the clerk was having a bad day? I can hear her now: "If just ONE MORE frickin' customer uses his/her debit card today and asks me which button to push...Well, I am going to...................."

2nd one: )

In case you can't read the small print, it says:
6:30 pm.: wife wants her non-working husband out of house, reported at police station.

My comments:
I think on this one, I am on the wife's side. I mean, call the police and throw the bum out. She only wanted him for the money. The sex was just a perk. And, now that the bum isn't working, well, let's call the police to haul his lazy-ass outta here.

Oh, there are plenty more Police Reports where these came from!

I will try and share more with you again, when they print one that has a report that begs to be shared.

Because the world deserves to see them.

Free comedy like this just has to be shared.

P.S. I didn't think to cut out another past ad from the same paper (damn!) but it also once had a quarter of a page ad (that's a big-ass ad in our little paper and probably costs around $250.00). The ad said: (honest, this is what it said!) (except for the names, which I changed here):

"The Smith family would like to invite you to a SURPRISE party for Aunt Wilma, who will be turning 70 on Saturday, June 12th. Please join us for her SURPRISE party at the Elk's Lodge from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to celebrate her birthday." Please make every effort to make sure Wilma does not know about this surprise party.
"No gifts, please"

My comments?:
Can't Aunt Wilma READ? Are they going to buy every last paper in town so she can't read the ad? And WTF, no presents for her????

I'm telling you, you just can't make this stuff up!

Japan Gets It !!!

Did you hear on the news about Japan encouraging companies to stop making their workers work 12 hour days because they think it is the reason why Japan's birthrate has drastically dropped?

Their government wants couples to leave work early and go home and make whoopie, in hopes that their national birth rate will increase.

Now THAT is a government that understands.

Look at us in the U.S.

We work and work and work some more. Many of us work 12 hour work days, come home, do the laundry, pay the bills, work on this year's income tax report, help our kids do their homework, cook dinner, and on and on. Until we collapse in bed, only to lay awake with insomnia because we are literally too exhausted to fall asleep.

Like the Japanese, we have no energy for anything either...including sex.

C'Mon Obama.

We saw you flirting with your wife at the Inauguration. We saw your romantic waltz at all those evening events. You two got it goin' on. But wait..... Once you start working your regular 18 hour days (which it seems you are already doing) you will soon see what Japan (and most of us) sees. You will be too tired to keep that energy of yours up.

The average American is exhausted, just like in Japan.

So, maybe you will follow their lead and write a proposal that we all go home early?

We don't even have to use the extra time to make whoopie to make babies.

How about just so we can get our bladders back to normal? (We are used to holding it all day while working).

How about just so we can actually buy our food and cook it at home now and then? (We are used to drive-up windows where food can be gulped down in our cars as fast as possible).

How about so we can actually talk (face-to-face) with each other? (We are a nation with text messages, voicemails and e-mails. No time for human interaction).

How about so we can actually stay home with our kids and just play outside? (We are continually dropping them off for ballet, soccer, art lessons, and drama classes so we can get home to finish the work we took home because we didn't have time to finish it at work. Your kids then are with someone else interacting with them instead of us, their parents.)

How about so we can actually read a book? (We read more e-mails, text messages and billboards on our rush to and from work and during our workdays then an entire book now).

How about so we can actually be happy? (We are a nation of people on antidepressants, with a high rate of suicide, crime and people displaying driving rage).

Japan was the most forward thinking in car manufacturing, and now this.

Yes, we need to take a lesson from our friends in Japan.

Award!!

Ratty, at http://everyday-adventurer.blogspot.com/ has been a rabble-rouser and has awarded a blogger award :

to several bloggers on his "favorites" list, which included me! (Thanks Ratty!) By the way, can you blog sometime to us on how you got the nickname Ratty?

Anyway, since he refused to "follow the rules" for the blogger award by irreverantly just saying it goes to everyone on his "favorites" list (I like his style!), I am doing the same. His rule (which I have now adopted because Damn! It's a good idea!) is that in order to officially accept and display the award on your blog site, you must make a comment on this post. If you don't want to participate by doing so, then you have that option.

So, go to the very bottom of my blog and you will see a list of the blogs that I am following. If you are listed there, consider yourself an award-winner if you have read this and you are on the list. You may now display your new Lemonade Award after commenting that you accept the award on this (my post). Congratulations everyone!!!! LOL

You Know You've Got Winter Cabin Fever if:

Like many of you, I have been struck with Winter Cabin Fever.

How do I know?

How will YOU know?

So glad you asked!

1. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you can't remember when your took your last shower (and you really don't care).

2. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you now have named all of the birds visiting your birdfeeder after your dead uncles and aunts.

3. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: your spouse tells you the frequency and consistency of his every bowel movement, and you kind of like that. (And, if he doesn't mention it one day, you start asking him if he has had one today).

4. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you don't get out of your robe and slippers until about 2 p.m. every day (and only then by ceremoniously announcing loudly: "I think I'll get dressed now!")

5. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: You physically hurt each other to get to the phone first when it rings.

6. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you accuse your spouse of purposely putting something away where you can never find it, only to realize you have the object in your hands.

7. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you do "the happy dance" because today is the "once a week trip into town for groceries." (Extra special dance if the trip includes a trip to the dentist!)

8. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you think your spouse is Hot when he dons his new pair of girly gloves and (unmatching) purple sock hat to go out and shovel the driveway.

9. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you'd rather buy a new glade candle then take out the stinky garbage in this freeze-your-ass-off cold weather.

10. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: Your UPS man knows you better than your spouse from daily deliveries of all the info-mercial products you've bought on-line. (Anyone need any aqua-globes, pasta cookers or Strap Perfects?) (But,wait....if you order them now, I will include a free gift for 19.95 plus shipping).

11. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: You comment on how beautiful the sunrise is and then your realize that you aren't sure if it is the sunrise or the sunset. (Never mind, it isn't really that frickin' nice, after all).

12. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: Your version of playing "chicken" is to be the first one in the morning to look at the outdoor thermometer reading. (Second best game of chicken is to follow that with being the first one in the morning to look at your indoor thermometer reading).

13 . You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: You envy the prisoners in Sing-Sing. (At least it is probably warmer where they are and they get to go outside).

14. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: You go into your jewelry box, scavenge some old jewelry and re-design them into a medal you pin on your husband for bravery. (For going out every day to the mailbox and to get the daily paper. Because you sure as hell don't have the guts to go outside on a daily basis!)

15. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you have gone on Google and looked up the term: "Waterboarding Torture Techniques for Dummies" right after hearing your local TV station meteorologist give tomorrow's forecast.

16. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you have started to coordinate your eye shadow colors to your wool socks' colors.

17. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you have just spent an entire afternoon writing a ranting letter to Stacie and Clinton from the "What Not to Wear" TV show, challenging them to come to where YOU live and to wear high heels and anything resembling fashion, and still survive. By the way, Stacie: when is the last time YOU changed your hairstyle? (That gray streak you added ( like the lady from the Munster's Show) and then re-colored over doesn't count!)

18. You know you have Winter Cabin Fever if: you blog a list of the ways you know you have Winer Cabin Fever......................................

Burger King's New Burger: "The Angry Burger": Are They Kidding?

Have you seen the ads or been to Burger King lately?

I thought it couldn't get worse for them after they introduced the Creepy Burger King guy. (How many others of you got creeped out by him other than me?)

Well, their newest media announcement is that they now offer "The Angry Burger".

Seriously.

Evidently, it is a burger full of hot seasonings like onions, peppers and a hot sauce.

So, this begs the question:
What other emotion-themed or crazy-themed burgers will they promote next?

I can see the TEN TOP Contenders for the next new BK Burger now:

1. The PMS Burger: a meaty little number filled with bovine hormones. Causes the eater to experience wild mood-swings, water retention, breast tenderness and hot flashes. This will make "The Angry Burger" seem like a wimp.

2. The George W.Bush Burger: stale, tough burger with a sour look that will give you a bitter aftertaste. After eating one, you will immediately wish it farewell forever and never want to have another.

3. The Obama Burger: A fresh burger full of multi-cultural spices, worth every penny. When you taste one, it will remove all of the bitter aftertaste (from the Bush Burger). You can eat the whole thing, YES YOU CAN.

4. The "Randy" Burger: A burger that will "grow on you", and work better than Viagra. Better than Austin Powers, Baby!

5. The Mary Wanna Burger: This tasty burger will remind you of your college days. When you get done reefing one of these down, life will immediately look better to you and you will instantly get a case of the munchies and compulsively order a large order of fries to go with it.

6. The Tom Cruise Burger: If you regularly eat this burger, created by a Nutrition Scientologist, you will no longer need to take your antidepressant. Only weak people need an antidepressant. You are a horrible person if you say you are depressed. All you need is this burger and only this burger. There is no room for discussion about this burger, you are just being glib if you want to talk about this burger.

7. The Rain Man Burger: They offer this on Fridays. On Fridays. Only on Fridays. Offer is on Fridays. On Fridays. I can't go on Tuesday, they offer it on Fridays. They offer this on Fridays.

8. The Oprah Burger: Sometimes you get a lean burger, sometimes it is a little more "full-bodied" with some extra fat added. Whenever you order one, you get the Politics Meal along with a free Obama doll, whether you want it or not. Over and over. If you refuse to get the doll, you are forced to listen to a ten minute, emotional description of the Obama doll from the Burger King counter staff until you give in and just tell them to give you the damn doll.

9. The LOST Burger: You are sure you experienced the burger, but now it has just completely disappeared. You aren't sure if you just had a flashback to eating the burger, or if the burger was an image of the future. In fact, the lady you just sat with to eat the burger (that you thought was someone you just met) turns out to be your future adopted child's grandmother. Or maybe you are (in reality) dead from the plane trip you took (where it crashed) and the burger and you aren't real after all.

10. The Angelina Burger: After you order one of these babies, you will want another and another and another. Don't worry, you will still remain beautiful after eating all of them. In fact, you may want yet another. Actually, this burger is the Pitts.

Oh, the list is endless....................

I Have Been Truly Blessed!!

Aria at http://www.ariazink.blogspot.com and Sara at http://www.thebreathingpost.com

have both notified me this week that I have won two more blogger's awards.

For me, that means plenty of shock and awe.

Aria awarded me this award:
Sara awarded me this award:

Blogging and trying to learn all about the gadgets, widgets, contests and links (which I still don't do very well!) has been brand-new for me since I started my blog (when I retired a few short months ago), so this astounds me.

I am humbled and can't thank all my readers enough.

I am slowly learning how to add things to my blog. I am sure there is a manual called "Blogging for Dummies" so I will go on-line and search for one. Because I could really use one! (I do everthing by trial and error).

It started out as just a journal for me and a way to find my way back to creative writing,which has been a passion of mine for the past 40 years of my life. I have always written, but just for me. Having a new forum (a blog on-line) to share with others, was a brand new concept and attempt for me and I have self-taught myself how to do it, along with watching what some of you all did on your beautiful blogs.

S0, to have gotten some blogger awards means a LOT to me, as a novice, especially.

The people who have given blogger "awards" to me continue to be my mentors in this newly-found addiction and I consider them the real experts in this newly-found world of wonderful writers.

They say the more you give, the more you receive.

Well, ladies, I know this will happen for you.

You continue to MAKE my day! Please know that you have many fans reading your writing, too. It doesn't matter if you ever get officially published (or Aria, if Oprah ever finds you!).....because you touch many people's lives who read your blogs that you don't even know.

I know.

Because I am definitely one of them.

UGH! I am Frustrated!

Yesterday, I set up a Slideshow with several of my favorite pictures. This morning when I checked, they were all gone!
I have contacted the site and hopefully, they will be back up soon under the title you see above that says: "Things that I Love"....
I really do love a few things....it isn't blank because I don't love things....
haha
Hopefully I can fix it by tomorrow....
but I AM FRUSTRATED!!!
Thanks for being patient.....

Tagged!

Brittany, at The Greer 5 (http://www.greer5intexas.blogspot.com/) has tagged me in my own game!

So, I checked with her (because I am still new at this!) and she states that now I must name 7 more things about me and name 7 more people to award for great blogs! Okey Dokey.

Here goes!!

7 more things about me:

1. Yep, I AM a list-maker. Always has been. I even bought a note pad that had lines to make a list (like post a notes). Yikes! I should make a list on how I make lists?

2. My natural hair started turning gray when I was around 18. Therefore, I have had it colored since then. It runs in our family.

3. I have Fibromylagia. It is a very frustrating syndrome where you can feel great one day and hurt like hell the next day. Not many meds. help except maybe Naprosyn.

4. I have a tattoo. (Small one on my ankle that I got when I turned 50 as a celebration). Watch out when I turn 60. Woo-hoo!!

5. I live in a log home on a beautiful inland lake in Upper Michigan. I know, I am blessed.

6. I love to fish.

7. I hate any food with nuts, peanut butter or mint in them. (The mint thing is problematic when I pick out my toothpastes.)

Whew! There....you probably know more about me then you ever wanted to know.

Now for EIGHT more great blogsites you should check out:

http://www.thebreathingpost.com/

http://lifejustkeepsgettingweirder.blogspot.com/

http://www.ksquaredcomfort.blogspot.com/

http://homeiswherethecarsparked.com/

http://www.forloveorfunny.blogspot.com/

http://www.dreamwalkersworld.com/

http://www.idosmilealot.blogspot.com/

http://www.kimnfam.blogspot.com/

Hope you all can take a few moments to visit these sites above...they are wonderful and I read them everyday!!

Cursed!

I just KNEW I would get punished for making fun of my husband's dream! (See previous post).

So, it was only fate that I was cursed with one strange one of my own last night.
*********************************************************
I can see the gray sleeve (it looks like my own, some kind of uniform?). It is reaching up and ringing someone's doorbell.
The door opens.
I say: "Are you Jerry Seinfeld?".
He says: "Yes, why?"
I hand him official, legal-looking pages and say: "I am so sorry."
I leave.
Jerry closes the door, opens the papers and says (in his famous screechy-yelling type of voice): "I can't believe it. She is divorcing me!".
Kramer, George and Elaine are all there. They do their shocked looks (that we all know so well).
"I can't understand it!" Jerry whines on. "I've always been good to her!". The rest of them nod in agreement.

I roll over in my sleep, which now knocks me out of the scene and into a thought process dream.
"No wonder she divorced him.", I start thinking.

"I mean, he's never home. He is always hanging out with his friends in another apartment."
"Heck, I think he even dated and boldly complained about all his other dates to his friends, if I remember correctly."

"He even gave George dating advice, if I remember correctly. I mean the balls on that man to do that!"

"And what about his strange relationship with Elaine?" "I mean, him being that close to another woman would upset me if I was his wife, too." "I think he and Elaine even slept together...yes...I am sure I remember that time....."

"I wonder if that be-atch Elaine thought HE was sponge-worthy?"

"No wonder the Soup Nazi said: "No soup for you!" when Jerry came there....he probably knew Seinfeld was cheating on his wife.

" Hmmmm.......I wonder if I was wearing one of Newman's post office uniforms when I delivered his divorce papers? Kinda looked like that, I think they were gray."

My real-life, timed-to-start coffee pot starts rumbling, rudely waking me up.
**************************************************

WOW!

I don't think I even want to look any of those symbols up in my dream books (or speculate on what they might mean).

Perhaps I better watch some old sit-coms????

Or watch less?

One thing's for sure......I am NOT going to share this one with my husband after all the teasing I have subjected HIM to over his baseball-playing bird dream....nope....

Just gonna keep this one to myself (and you of course)..................

What would Freud Say????

Husband: "I had a really weird dream last night".
Me: "I thought you said you hardly ever remember your dreams?"

Husband: "This one was just so weird, I had to tell you about it".
Me: "Was it scary?"

Husband: "No.....(pause)......"Just so................................... weird."
Me: "?"

Husband: (pause continuing)
Me: "So, are you going to tell me about it?"

Husband: "ok, I guess...just as long as it doesn't end up in your blog or something."
Me: (Pause) (followed by me, looking up at the ceiling, whistling, picking lint off my robe, anything but provide eye-contact) (followed by: l-----o---n---ggggg pause again)

Husband: "Ok...here goes....":
"There were these cute little birds.....but the weird thing is that they were playing baseball."
Me: "Did you say:................playing BASEBALL???"

Husband: "Yeah. They were all at the bases and everything. What's even weirder is that they had on these cute little baseball caps. They had little bird-sized bats and everything."
Me: (thoughts, not out loud: Holy Shit, he's losing it!) Outloud: "That's interesting, I wonder why you dreamt about something so weird?!"

Husband: (Pause)
Me: (Longer Pause)

Me again: (as an afterthought, out loud): "Did the birds run to the bases or fly to the bases when they got a hit?"

Husband: (With a serious face, matter-of-factly): "Oh, they kind of did a little of both."
Me: (now getting into it): "So, how could you tell the teams apart? Were they wearing little different colored jerseys?" "Did they give each other high-fives when they got a home-run with their wings? Did they chew tobacco and spit it out?"

Husband: (Now inpatient): "Funny honey, really funny. ................................I don't remember...but it sure was weird. I just had to tell you about it."
Me: "I'll get the dream books out, this should be interesting."

**end of conversation**

My interpretation: (before I looked anything up in my dreams interpretation books. (Yes, I have some...I found them at a rummage sale and we have had some fun using them!)
First, my interpretation:
1. Bat=obviously a penis symbol. At least Freud would say so.
2. Bird=obviously means "a piece of tail" (see where this is going?)
3. Cap=putting a lid on something
4. Bases=tempted to play the bases if something doesn't happen soon.

See, we've been really sick (couped up for many days!) and well, let's say, the ball park hasn't seen any action in a while due to both of us feeling like bird(crap).....

There, ...............................................................dream understood.

So, let's see what the dream books say it meant: (there is more than one book, so if I list more than one meaning, it is because they are all listed):

1. Bat=Books only listed the other kind of bat,with fangs. (Hmm...no mention of a penis symbol. Wouldn't Freud be pissed?)
2. Bird=First book=flying birds denote joy and prosperity. Second book=It is good omen to dream of birds with beautiful plumage (wonder if baseball-cap-wearing-birds fits this?) Third book=the bird is the soul (yikes!)
3. Cap:=First book=you will take part in some festivities. Any sports cap indicates a light outlook in life that will be much help to you. Second book=It is a good sign to dream of wearing a cap, whether you are a man or a woman. (What about if you are a bird?). It goes on: "You will find that your worries will cease and that you will be fortunate in your investments". (Wow, has the stock market heard this? Maybe all of the people at the stock exchange should start wearing baseball caps that say "Just do it?")
4. Bases=nothing in either book. But First Book had baseball=you will be very popular among your friends due to your easygoing ways and charm. Second book had baseball=a baseball game in your dreams assures you of contentment and your cheerfulness will make you a popular companion.

I don't know about you, but I am positive I need to write my own dream interpretation book. I think I am more correct....but hey, maybe we can combine the two ?

I need to fly. Gotta find him and make him sing again in the cage..........................................

My First!!!!!

I am doing the Happy Dance.

Sara, from http://www.thebreathingpost.com/ just informed me that I have won the "Honest Scrap Award....so being a virgin to this type of thing, I hope I do the right thing in getting this honor.

Here are the rules for the Honest Scrap award:

The honorees are to:

A) first list 10 honest things about yourself - and make it interesting, even if you have to dig deep!

B) pass the award on to 7 bloggers that you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap.

So, first things first:
Ten Honest things about Me:

1. I am a retired R.N., but do not like emergencies or blood much. However, I have been with over 10 people when they died. (including both my parents and my husband's parents). Sometimes I was alone with the dying...only them and me. I used to be very frightened of death when I was younger...but since these experiences, I no longer am.

2. I have met and had dinner with one movie star. (I will blog about this sometime soon. But I will not reveal her identity, because she was WEIRD...and if I reveal her, she would probably SUE me!)

3. I used to run an Assisted Living facility. (I will blog about some of my experiences with some of the Residents in the future!...I had some really funny experiences with a lot of them!)

4. I once was a Weight Watchers Lecturer. (Yup, lost over 60 pounds....and like Oprah, have gained and lost the same 40-50 back more than once since). It's a lot scarier than being with someone dying. *grin*

5. I once (recently) saw (I am pretty sure) a UFO (thus my previous post!). And once, when my brother was around 4 or 5 and we lived in Texas, he SWEARS he saw an Alien.

6. We once had a ghost living in a Victorian house we owned. We think it was an adolescent boy named "Ben" (at least according to my daughter's Ouiji Board inquiry). He never harmed us, just did pranks on us and made noise. (He did a LOT of things...which I will blog about sometime).

7. I played the Virgin Mary in a Christmas play in Canada.

8. I was an "Air Force Brat" as my Dad was a lifer in the Air Force, so we moved around when I was kid.

9. I also was the narrator in another Christmas school play when I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade (maybe I should have pursued that career in show business? I mean, the Virgin Mary in one and a narrator in another? WHAT was the universe trying to show me? Maybe it was the Aliens?)

10. I am afraid of heights, but not of flying in an airplane. I only get the cold sweats if I am not enclosed in something when I am at heights.

There you have it!
Seven other Bloggers I will pass this award to:

http://ariazink.blogspot.com

http://pearl-whyyoulittle.blogspot.com

http://soundsliketomatoes.wordpress.com

http://writeandrewrite.blogspot.com

http://www.wellplayedmyc.com

http://thirtysomethinginreality.blogspot.com

http://everyday-adventurer.blogspot.com

Hope you all can take a few moments to click on the links above and read their blogs. These are talented, funny and/or interesting people and more than deserve both awards and to be read.

Thanks so much, Sara...at The Breathing post (link is above). Stop by and see her too, she is terrific! LOL

It Must Be the Aliens..........

For quite some time now, I have been convinced there are Aliens. I mean there is no other definitive answer for so many, many questions. For instance:

1. Why a George W. Bush? (Had to be an Alien immaculate conception of his mother. Theory: Many ufo-olgists feel that Aliens have an "under the sea" site. Where else would George W.'s mother get those many, many pearls for her necklaces?).

2. Why income taxes and politics? (Aliens,of course)

3. Why my last Boss? (Definitely an Alien)

4. Why have women go through PMS, painful childbirth, bikini waxes? (Aliens' sick humor: they are all male but can procreate themselves without the rituals or pain. Plus Aliens do not have any body hair)

5. Why do Americans work themselves to death? (an Alien plot).

6. Why do all things that taste good make you gain weight and all things that taste like shit help you lose weight? (An cruel Alien joke. All Alien food tastes like chocolate, caramel,or warm homemade pies and breads. The more an Alien eats, the more weight they lose).

7. Why do all the celebrities with no talent (but beautiful bodies) get paid millions, but the poor suckers who collect our garbage (or even take care of the sick or teach our children) can barely make enough income to make it? (The celebreties are all Aliens, of course...I mean, how else could they have those bodies?)

8. Why are there Engineers? (After all they speak a totally different language...have you TALKED to one of them? Or worse yet, dated one of them?) (Of course they are Aliens).

9. Why is there E-Harmony? (Alien match-making site).

10. Why are there teenagers? (Aliens in-training).

11. Why are there two year olds who have non-ending tantrums? (Memories of womb Alien inhabiting).

12. Why are there X-husbands and X-wifes? (Aliens who's true colors finally came out) (Besides, you've heard of the X-files, haven't you? Where else could they have gotten the idea?)

13. Why are there used car dealers? (Aliens who couldn't make it in their own Alien societies).

14. Why is there fruitcake? (Alien gourmet food).

15. Why do they serve liver? (Don't ask an Alien, you will be grossed out by their answer).

16. Why Rush Limbough? (Alien's punishment to mankind on Earth).

17. Why rap music? (Alien's attempt at denying Humans to have any joy left at all in music selections)

18. Why the pants hanging below teenage boy's asses? (Aliens attempt at getting humans to trip on their pants and killing us.) I say, let this one go, maybe they are right...any teenage boy doing this needs to disappear.

19. Why thongs? (Alien's attempt at trying to get Human females to slice themselves in half with a string. Hey, they clearly saw that it works with cheese, so I can see where they got the concept.)

20. Why UFO's? (Aliens way to tease us and to show us that our government WILL hide just about anything from us).

So, from now on, when you have ANY deep question about life....just answer it with:

It must be the Aliens.

Like me:

Husband: "honey, how did that scratch come in our rear left bumper?"
ME: "It must be the Aliens".

Husband: "Do you know where the TV remote is?" "I swear I put it right beside the newspaper."
ME: "It must be the Aliens"

Husband: "Where did all the chocolate cake go? I thought we had at least 3 slices left."
ME: "It must be the Aliens."

Try it, it works........

Who Needs a Dozen Roses?........

So....
There I was laying on the couch, wrapped like a mummy in my two favorite couch afghans....teeth chattering HARD (damn this flu!).

I mean I had goosebumps on top of my goosebumps.

The couch sits right in front of our fireplace (with a blower) and I was STILL cold.

My husband was trying to cuddle with me to chase away the chills....it helped. But it only staved off the chills enough that my muscles could unclench about 50 percent.

It was time to go to bed...my eyes were glazing over and it was late.

But I was dreading unwrapping from the semi-warmth surrounding me and having to climb into the icey sheets and getting the chills all over again.


He got up and said: "Time for Bed." Followed by: "Stay here, honey...just wait a minute."

Now, at this point, I am thinking: "Oh Lord!" "He can't possibly be thinking of getting a little sumpin' -sumpin' can he? "You have GOT to be kidding!"

I mean, I am SICK for God's sake!!!! Hasn't he heard me hacking up my lungs? Hasn't he seen the mountain of kleenex? The red nose? Felt me shivering?"

I hear him rustling in the bedroom.

Then, he says: "Ok...c'mon in....It's ready for you!"

Cute, honey.....really cute. I mean, I am half dead, for Chrissake.

I stagger in, still dizzy from my medicine-head.

He's in bed.

Smiling.

And then,

he........

says........................................................

"I rolled all over the bedsheets and layed in your spot so it would warm up for you so you wouldn't have to get any colder climbing into bed. I hope it helped! C'mon in, honey and I will cuddle against your back to help keep you warm so you can sleep better." "I hope you feel better tomorrow." "Love ya!"

God, I love this man.

Oh, Just Kill Me and Get it Over With

Well, I got it. That nasty, ugly, cold/virus/flu that all of you blogged about before.

Oh, I was pretty conceited.

I thought because I had taken this year's flu shot, I would be safe.

Snickering, I smugly thought: "They should have gotten a flu shot, they wouldn't be suffering like that."

Well, God has a sense of humor. (Yes, SHE does!)

Ever since we pulled in our driveway from vacation, I have had increasing symptoms of a cold/flu that has turned out to be the worst I have had in the last five years.

Observations?:

1. One is not particularly attractive with two wads of toilet paper sticking out of one's nostrils.

2. It IS possible to hack up a lung. In fact, even two. I have them on my lap to prove it.

3. It is not possible to lay down and breathe at the same time. Take your pick...comfort or life.

4. You can gop on a whole container of vaseline along your nose line and lip line with one hand, while balancing the cold capsules in the other hand.

5. Make sure you are on the commode, ready to pee when you have a sneezing fit. (If you are a woman over 50 yrs. old and have had at least one child). (Trust me, it isn't pretty).

6. The only thing HOT about you is your forehead.

7. You can layer on two nightgowns, a robe, a sweater, two pairs of socks and a pair of slippers and still be frickin' cold.

8. Two minutes after you do the above, you can whip it all of in 3 seconds while loudly whining: "Why is it so frickin' HOT in here?"

9. You can put a pile of kleenex on your left shoulder to lean your face into while typing on your laptop to blog. (They slip, but that helps wipe up the continuing drainage on its own).

10. You can train your brain headache throbs to go in beat to all the game show music you are stuck watching, but not really understanding (because of the medicine head fog).

11. You can personally be responsible for the stock market going up because of all the cold medicines you have bought over the last 48 hours.

12. The only thing "green" you have is your nasal drainage because you are also responsible for killing thousands of trees to make the kleenex you have used in the last 24 hours.

13. You have spent the last 3 hours on-line on the internet looking up comfortable ways to commit suicide (if there is such a way.) Unfortunately, taking an overdose of pills isn't an option...you have already done that with cold medicines and it hasn't worked.

14. You didn't think it was possible to look older, but with the black rings under your eyes, your bulging, watering eyes and your red nose, congratulations...you no longer look like your mother, you look more like your grandmother. (Or , better yet, probably your grandfather).

15. You whine more than a new puppy about how sick you are feeling...but it does no good...your husband is just as bad and no one else lives with us.....not even a puppy.

So, I had no choice...you were the lucky ones!!

Hope I live to see tomorrow so I can again blog with clarity.

The Ten Top Things Not to Do When in the Tropics

Holla!

I am back!!

We had 7 glorious days in the Dominican Republic of weather in the 80's and when we pulled in our Upper Peninsula of Michigan driveway early Saturday morning (around 1:30 a.m.) it was a balmy -13 degrees! (yep, you read right...that is 13 degrees BELOW zero!) Just about a 90 degree difference, folks!!!!

My wonderful, sweet, saintly, (and any other adjectives to describe one who you are forever grateful to) brother had snow-blowed our driveway that day so at least we could drive straight into our attached garage and rush into the house without having to wade in waist-high snow to get into the house. (He told me yesterday that it had snowed every day that we were gone and that the snow was indeed: waist high!)

I am not sure we were on the same planet. Perhaps we did space travel on the way home in the jet?

Anyway, during our L----O---N---------G flight home I had plenty of time to reflect on the Ten Top Things Not to Do When in the Tropics, because we saw a lot of them.

So, here goes:

1. If you are pregnant...(or even if you are NOT pregnant), for-the-love-of-God, please do NOT wear a thong bikini bottom if your ass is the the shape, size and form or an Orangatang (spelling?) ape.

2. If you like those God-awful, stenchy, stinking, putrid, make-anyone's-eyes-within-50-feet-water-endlessly cigars....please do not light one up and chain smoke them. (Every lobby, beach, palm-tree laden walkway had some idiot (even women) smoking them everywhere!)

3. If you like to sunbathe topless, please go ahead. But don't flaunt the girls.
(It was obvious that plenty of the topless sunbathers simply wanted to shock others or get attention to themselves by purposely laying out, backs arched like in Playboy, right next to the main walkway into the beach area.)
So, Okay, already....we SEE them....!

4. If you are male and have had about a 100 too-many beers, please, I beg of you, do not wear speedos tucked under your enormous belly.
I mean, I don't mind that you are overweight, (really! because I have a weight issue too)....but speedos?
Isn't that adding insult to injury?
And aren't you the ones oggling the topless wonders who are arching their backs by the main walkway into the beach?
(Good God, I hope you don't mate one of them).

5. Parents....please parent.
There was an open-air theatre at our resort where every night around 8 p.m., they had a show on-stage where the little kids were invited up to dance with clowns, etc. Cute.
But not so cute when the show was over and the parents had wandered off to some beach bar and left the little darlings there on stage to run screaming in circles and behind the stage, etc.
There were adult shows that followed at 9 p.m. every night, and those same kids would just run wild up and down the stage right up to the start of the adult show...still screaming and playing with the stage sets.
Parents? .....no where in sight.
(Maybe they were still topless at the beach or strolling in their speedos?)

6. Please do NOT treat the local workers like the scum of the earth.
I saw French, Canadians, Russians, Americans all roll their eyes or throw a verbal snit if they didn't get coffee immediately upon sitting their sunburned arses down to their spoiled-life tables in the dining room and be downright rude to the resort workers working hard to please everybody (for less-than-minimum wage, to be sure!). They would rudely fuss, frown, flick off any attempt at the workers when they offered them more beverages than I care to admit.
These bad tourists are the reason we all get labeled as awful to the locals, I am sure.

7. If you bargain at the local markets (which is expected), be polite about it.
I saw rude people who would act like the local's homemade wares were garbage (and face it, some of it is to a lot of us....but they hand-made them to try and make a living, people!)
Just be polite, and say "no thankyou!"....but don't make faces or laugh at their products and throw them back on the shelf!

8. Wear sunscreen people!
We saw people who were in the sun so long, they literally glowed orange-red and had blisters on them by the end of the day.
I saw one lady in her 70's whose skin was so leathery, it looked like what is stretched across a bongo, only with more wrinkles and age spots than my latest connect-the-dot puzzle book has.
Yuck.

9. If you have thighs that rub together when you walk (and you KNOW WHO YOU ARE!), puh-leeze do not wear those mini denim skirts.
I mean every time you leaned over to pick up your sandals, I had to hold my breath that I didn't have to see your woo-hoo!
It just isn't pretty.
Do you OWN a mirror?

10. I don't want to offend all of you smokers, but OH-MY-GOD, must you smoke everywhere, all the time?
Even on the wonderful beach, where tropical breezes were wafting up, we had to search for a little spot of fresh air to enjoy the beach. (Not to mention the aforementioned cigar-smoking beach-goers, also!).
Then there was the family who were in the lobby/lounge area....all playing cards. I thought: "How nice, look at them...vacationing together, spending "family time" playing cards...and THEN...they ALL (even the 2 teenagers with them), pulled out these foul-smelling, skinny combination cigarette-cigar Tiperello-type things and all lit them up. Immediately a blue cloud of stench surrounded them (and the surrounding 50 feet circumference).
We moved, and so did several others around them.
They didn't have a clue.

****************************************************************************************
But, all in all....we did have a wonderful time.

It was one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. (Bavaro Beach in Punta Cana).

White sand and many, many coconut palm trees.

The sand? White and powdery...not a single pebble or rock to be found. You could walk barefoot on it and into the ocean without shoes/sandals and it felt heavenly between your toes. The water was shallow far out into the water, so you could jump the large waves rolling in.
Days sunny and in the 80's and nights balmy and in the 70's.

Wonderful...simply wonderful.

I SO needed it.......

However, despite the below-zero weather upon coming home, our bed felt exquisite and that first hot shower (they didn't believe in warm water showers in our resort in Punta Cana) was GREAT!!!

I missed blogging (sick isn't it?) and now today we are both down with flu-like symptoms...runny noses and pounding headaches.

Maybe it is the tropical-weather-withdrawal-flu?

I figured the only anecdote/cure to be found was to start blogging again.

So, I took one dose with plenty of fluids and I am sure I will feel better tomorrow!!!

I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz....I just clicked my red sparkly shoes together and am repeating (three times, of course!): "There's no place like home...there's no place like home",..."there's no place...like............home........"