I just had to write about this before I forgot, and it is too funny not to share.
My father-in-law came down for Thanksgiving dinner as is our usual custom. When he arrived and was in the kitchen taking off his coat and shoes, he seemed to be looking around the kitchen rather intently. Asking if we had painted or anything else. While I though it was a little odd, I figured he hadn't been to the house in awhile and had just forgotten, or he knew that we had been making alot of changes, and he wanted to keep up with the action.
Anyway, we all got settled and had our feast and watched the requisite football games and chatted. It was time for him to head home and he had a secret that he just could not keep to himself. He was fairly bursting at the seems with having to spill. He is a very smart, humorous man of 81, and he has always been known to love a good joke or a prank and enjoys being involved in both.
He starts out by saying that he has a secret and that he isn't supposed to tell, but he is in a quandry and needs help. It seems that Rodney's older sister Linda gave him a "job" to do, in that he was supposed to perform a spy mission and get back to her and tell her what my kitchen "motif" is. Well, he hasn't got a clue what a "motif" is, never mind pronounce it right. I had to start out trying to explain to him what that word meant and then we started disecting the different components of my kitchen. He wanted to focus on the border and I was having a tough time trying to give him something he could relate to her on the phone without it sounding like it came from me. After thinking for a minute I said to him, "look, the border has ribbon and berries and vines, so just think of a twig and berries". At the same time, I reached down and gave my imaginary male genitals a jingle. It honestly took him a minute or so to catch on and we all had an uproarious laughing session. Sometimes he is a littles slow on the uptake, and that is part of our family fun, is to see just how long it takes for him to "get it".
After that, he said that he thought that he could remember that, and swore us to complete secrecy. I am assuming that all is right in his world now that his mission is complete and he has the required information to pass along.

The things people will resort to doing, just to get noticed. I happened upon an article on yahoo that said that Santas will be saying "HA HA HA" instead of his usual "HO HO HO" to prevent women from being offended.
As far as I am concerned, the only women who even come close to being offended by good ol' Saint Nick gleefully says the same thing since the beginning of time, are the women who actually are HO's. Come on, people. Aren't there more pressing concerns in the big ol' world to focus on other than Santa Claus?
Women have been trying for centuries to become equal to men in every way as men.
We had to fight to vote, we have had the "glass ceiling" to deal with for years.
I am frankly tired of some men looking at me and because of my blonde hair, dismiss me out of hand and I don't have the ability to have an intelligent thought. Guess again.
Women are still in this day and age, are paid less than men.
Were we to have had a woman president years ago, it is a very real possibility that we would not be in the middle of this no-win war in another country, when they have clearly shown that they can not or will not behave as human beings. The price we pay are lives lost. It is way past time for the US to stay out of every countries battles, and take care of what we have to fix at home.
I just get so infuriated at the dumb things that have people up in arms. How about getting upset about how many families are living in their cars. How about how many children go to bed hungry every day. How about the number of jobs that are lost every year to foreign countries because they undercut the jobs here.
Wake the hell up people, and leave Santa alone to do his thing, he's not offending anyone.
Focus on what is important, and forget the small stuff.

A stolen me me

Yep, I saw this on Shoo Fly and had to do mine own, just changed it up a bit, so here goes:

My 4 favortite books

The Shining.....scared me silly in high school
Outlander
Dragonfly in Amber
Of Mice and Men....I know, real literature, who knew?

My 4 favorite foods

Chocolate Anything....need I say more?
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy......can't be a good ol' southern girl and not love this
BBQ Ribs....again, my southern roots showing!
Cheesecake

My 4 favorite movies

Gone with the wind....hands down
First Knight....the ultimate chick flick, Richard Gere and Sean Connery in the same movie, WOW
A Christmas Story.....a holiday necessity
The Green Mile....just one of his best stories

4 Places I've lived

Manassas, VA
Springfield, VA
West Peru, ME
Jay, ME

4 Places I want to see before the ol' dirt nap

Mexico
Grand Canyon
Austraila/ New Zealand
Paris

My 4 favorite tv shows

House
Dirty Jobs
Law and Order SVU
Two and a half Men

4 Places I'd rather be

On a cruise to one of the above mentioned places
On a beach with an umbrella drink and Juan the Cabana boy on standby
Riding in the Viper doing at least 100 mph
At the campground with all my friends

And last but not least, if you know me at all, I have to include my favorite
alcoholic beverages

Corona w/ lime
White Russian
Bacardi and Diet Pepsi w/ lime
A great bottle of wine, usually Merlot or a White Zin

Now, wasn't that fun?!

What a cool week I had this last week. It's the only way to describe it. It started off with an unexpected phone call Sat. night from one of my cousins that live in Va. Beach. He wanted to know if I was back to work yet, because he wanted to make a quick trip up to see me. I said come on up, I'm free. I picked him up at the airport Monday around lunchtime and talked non-stop all the way back to Jay. He told me about the really awesome ride that he had bought, and I couldn't resist telling him about the Viper. I was planning on just throwing up the garage door so I could see the look on his face, but I couldn't stand to wait, and I had to spill the beans. Needless to say, he insisted on taking the car out for a ride. To say it was nippy, would be kind. It was great fun to see the look on his face, and I was nice enough to let him drive it for a couple of miles. Tuesday was a trip to Rumford and a visit with my mom. He hadn't seen my mom for well over 25 years, and they had a chance to chat and mom sent some moose steak home with us for me to cook. Wednesday, Christopher came up to meet David, staying for a lunch of moose steak and potatoes. Dave had a flight out of Portland on Wed. evening, so it was back to Portland. I was so happy to have him come up for even a short visit. We were always close when we were kids and lost touch when I moved north. I'm hoping that we can keep in touch in the future. We found out that we have alot in common, and shared lots of stories about our grandparents and things that happened to ourselves that the other had no idea about.

Last night, Rodney and I got together with Randy, Anita, Sheri and Gary at the Longhorn Steakhouse to celebrate my birthday. I had a great time, and I am always happy to see my friends. I did get rather embarrassed when the wait staff came over to the table singing and bringing me a dish of ice cream to celebrate. I am very lucky to have such good friends that care so much for me, and made my birthday special.