Daily Pitfalls

2009-01-07T18:47:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, I decided to trade in my big red truck for something a little newer with less mileage. Mostly because big red was starting to have issues tranny wise and otherwise.
Little did I know what a fiasco this was going to be.
To make a long ass story short, Rodney had done some researching on the web and found a used 2006 Dodge Ram (ain't no way I'm drivin' anything else). We went to the dealer and they brought the truck up from Portland so we could look at it. We decided to buy that after driving some other trucks, but not wanting to have to pay for anything new for the rest of my life.
Brought the truck home, and all seems well. Went out to go to the store on a Sunday morning after some rain the day before. What I entered into was something akin to Niagra Falls inside the cab of the truck! Water was pouring out of no less than three places, one of them being the computerized doohicky that has the compass and gas mileage. Shit.
Called the dealer the next day and told them they needed to come and get it to fix it. To say that I was peeved would be accurate. Little did I know then that the truck had yet another surprise for me the very next day.
I made the mistake of trying to go somewhere on Tuesday morning to find that the truck was happy sitting in the driveway. It wouldn't start. Shit. Called the man and he came up and fooled around with it and managed to get it started. I drove the thing to the office and called up the salesman...again.
By this time, I am irate and the top of my head is about ready to blow off.I had bought this truck to prevent dealing with just this kind of troubles and I got a lap full of them anyway. I explained to the salesman what had happened that morning and he says "don't be mad". Are you kidding me? Lucky for him he wasn't standing in front of me. He would have been bleeding from numerous places, and crying for his mommy. He was told that his company was going to come and pick up this piece of shit truck and not to bring it back until it was completely fixed.
They rented me this pile of a vehicle to drive while mine was in the shop. I was embarrassed to have it parked in my driveway.
I got the truck back yesterday (kissing and hugging the baby, so happy it's home). They ended up having to replace the fuel pump, with only 30,000 miles on it and replacing the windshield since they attempted to take it out and reseal it and it ended up in a million pieces on the floor, the tech dropped it on the floor! Hope he didn't have to pay for his clumsiness!
Hoping this is the end of issues, and not just opening up a can of problems.

2008-12-29T19:33:00.002-05:00

This Christmas, I bought Rodney a watch from a jewelry store and he no longer has to rely on the Walmart special he's been wearing for years. We needed to go back to the store where I purchased it to have a link removed so he wouldn't have to wear it around his bicep. We decided to brave the big city on Friday, regardless of the hordes of people I expected to be on the roads and in the stores. We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of crowds. We wandered around the jewelry store, dazzled by all the bright and shiny baubles that were mostly calling my name. I never window shop at a jewelry store. I have a great fondness for braclets, earrings and all things that cost a fortune. He was willing to enter abyss to get his watch fixed, even though it was going to take all my will power to leave that store empty handed. I am convinced that somehow, the stores have managed to find a way to pump horomones into the air of the store, depending on the clientele they are hoping to attract. Home Depot, Lowes and all other male type stores, choke us with testosterone, and clothing stores, jewelry stores and all dollar stores, they reek estrogen.
Rodney wanted to make a "quick trip" into Home Depot while we were in the "neighborhood". Let me just say that there is no such thing as a "quick trip" into Home Depot. He bought me a central vac system for the house, and wanted to see if they had parts for it should we need some in the future. We had NO intention of buying said parts on that day, but because of the testosterone swirling around us, he was duty bound to stare at all things that the store had to offer, even the ones we already had....good grief.

2008-12-05T10:05:00.002-05:00

The other day while watching some tv, I happened to catch a commercial about what to get your man for Christmas. I'm thinking to myself, okay, this could be useful. I did not expect what I heard. The woman on the commercial suggested getting the man in your life a prostate exam. What a great idea! Why hadn't I thought of it? What better way to tell the man in your life that he is getting a finger stuffed up his ass.... FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I just don't know how I could possibly dress this up in a way to make this present appealing. It would certainly be on his list of his most memorable gifts in his life. What worries me, is that in return, I could quite possibly end up with a colonoscopy next year as a gift, maybe a mammogram as a stocking stuffer.

I think that I will play it safe this year and stick to my traditional gifts...power tools, fishing stuff, etc.. and hope that he knows that I made the ultimate sacrifice and didn't give him of a visit to "doctor friendly".

2008-11-30T15:48:00.002-05:00

Can't really remember the last time I posted a blog, 'spose I could go and look, but why bother? It's been a really good last couple of days. During Thanksgiving break, Ryan was able to come home for a visit. He hasn't been here since the end of August, and though we talk often, it is not the same thing. While he was here, he did manage to drive me just a little crazy with some of the things he did. He really wouldn't be Ryan if he didn't.
Now, don't get me wrong...I love having a cell phone. Ryan had his either plastered to the side of his head or texting furiously all the other parts of the day. WTF?!!??! His response: "I can't help it if I'm popular". I had to threaten him with bodily harm, and if you have seen him lately, he towers over me and could quite easily throw me over his shoulder and toss me wherever. I swear I could hear that thing going off in my friggin' sleep. On our way to Walmart, I even threatened to chuck the mother out the window. All I got for my statement was the stink eye.
I was mistaken in thinking that since he now has his own apartment, he may have a new-found respect for how much work it takes to keep a place liveable. Obviously, I was wrong once again!!!! He came home and did his usual Ryan thing and left everything wherever it landed and couldn't be bothered to turn off any lights.....aaaahhhh!
Still, it was really great to have the boys here for dinner on Thanksgiving, and relived some of the times when they were small (a right as a mother), amid many eyerolls and lots of laughs.
I look forward to doing it all over again next month.

2008-08-27T08:14:00.003-04:00

My vacation is flying by faster than me hauling ass down the highway in my Viper. I've been at camp since last Friday. It seems like we've spent so little time down here, when in actuality, we've been here every weekend, rain or shine. Did I mention rain?
Yesterday was a wonderfully quiet day, no dogs barking and no screeching kids. However, I was rather bored and decided to give the windows inside the camper a good cleaning.
We had one window in the back of the camper that had a crack in it from who knows when, and my trying to wash it gently had that mother going all the way across the window now.....WTF.
A chat with the campground owners will hopefully get it fixed without too much trouble on my part.
Last night, all that was on tv was the democratic national convention......ugh! Not usually an issue with the millions of other channels to watch, but when you are roughing it and only have 6 to choose from, it's a problem. I would rather have sharp sticks poked in both eyes than waste my time watching all those lying polititicans tell me what they want me to hear, just to get my vote.
I am so disgusted with the entire political process that I could scream. A recent newspaper article was talking about the possible reasons for so few people going out and voting. Their thoughts were that it was just too difficult to make it to the polling places. What a load of crap!
My thoughts are that there are plenty of other intelligent people who refuse to fall for the speal that the presidential hopefuls are spewing and just refuse to endorse any of them. Lately it seems all about choosing the lesser of the evils when it comes to presidents and soon after being sworn into office, all promises are off and they will begin to run their own agendas.
Who needs that shit? I wish the people with the power would remember us, the little people and all the issues that we are having here in this country. How about fixing our own backyard instead of bailing out other countries? Aw hell, I could go on and on.....I'm going to write in Fred Flintsone as a presidential nominee. Yep, he's a loud mouth, but he always used to tell you like it is, and I can respect that.

2008-08-16T18:02:00.002-04:00

Can you say yum? I can, after having a terrific dinner last night at a new chinese restaurant last night. We were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was inside, they even had cloth napkins. There was an extensive menu, with the option of ordering a box with lots of different options. The wonton soup was wonderful and all our dinner choices were just as great. I can hardly wait to go back.

I was lucky enough to catch some of the Olympics that was on late last night, and watch Micheal Phelps win another gold medal. What an exciting race! I don't think I have ever seen one closer. I am hoping he can do it again and bring home the gold again. What a wonderful accomplishment. I am proud to have such dedicated and talented athletes represent our country.

2008-08-13T09:10:00.002-04:00

The news this morning told the story of a little girl who appeared to be singing a patriotic Chinese song, only to find out that the girl with the voice was not attractive enough to be seen by millions of people in the opening ceremonies, and hidden backstage, while a more attractive girl was lip-syncing.
How disgusting. Obviously the Olympic committee cared so little about how they were telling this girl, not in words, but actions, that she didn't measure up.
Women of all ages have been struggling for eons over self image, being bombarded by photos of women who are "perfect" and we should all aspire to be attractive over being ourselves and being valued for being individuals.
Now, the Chinese government wants to hush this up, and even have their people defending the decision, and supposedly they think the western world is making too much of this.
I don't think we are making a big enough stink about it.
Thank goodness for companies like Dove, who encourage girls to be self confident about themselves and see themselves for the beautiful people they are, not the airbrushed beauties that stare at us from magazines, billboards, movies and tv.
The Chinese people are sending a message loud and clear, maybe not the image that they want to send but one that says that physical image is everything.

2008-07-27T10:49:00.002-04:00

Sheri was kind enough to remind me of the exact date of my last blog post, sometime in May if I remember correctly. I told her that I was a loser and had nothing of interest to blog about lately.
Not that any of my previous posts were earth shattering......
Anywho, the past two weeks now, we have gone to not one, but two rock concerts. It had been more years than I would like to remember since we last attended one, but it was fun just the same. The first one was Bryan Adams and Foreigner playing in Augusta. I am a fan of both, and I know Rodney could have happily done without Bryan Adams, but oh friggin well. Before attending, I was almost convinced that we would be some of the oldest ones there, then got to thinking about when it was that they were big time famous. It turns out there were waaay older people there, at least one that I saw was sporting a hearing aid. (I'm thinking it was totally unnecessary there, but what the hell) We got home in the wee hours of the morning and I had to recooperate for days for the lost sleep that night, but worth it
Last week, we bought tickets for the boys and ourselves to the Hinder, Staind (yep, that's how they spell it) and 3 Doors Down concert. I am a huge fan of 3 Doors Down. It was better than I expected. 3 Doors Down even had pyrotechnics, much to the surprise and oh hell yeah from Ryan, who had been bitching the entire time about the fact that he thought that was illlegal here in the state. We were sitting quite a distance from the stage and we could feel the heat. All in all, I could have listened to them all night long happily.

Yesterday was carnival day here at the campground. It was mostly carnival-type food and it was good. Fried everything, I mean everything. I had fried oreos for the first time. I figure, what the hell. They were battered and fried, nothing to rant and rave about, but hey, you never know.
Donna was swinging her hips and kicking ass with a hula hoop. Had I tried that, I would have looked like a friggin epileptic going into a seizure and someone would have been on the horn to call 9-1-1. It was fun to watch and enjoy some food that was cooked by someone else. An ice cream social followed an hour later, and of course, even though I had more than enough to eat of carny food, who am I to turn down a make your own sundae. Willpower, never heard of it.

2008-05-26T17:07:00.003-04:00

What a great weekend we had this last weekend. The weather was good, even though it showered on and off Friday and Saturday. Rodney and I got a new screen house and he worked on that and it was finished on Saturday, and looks terrific. It will be a nice place to eat our meals without us being a meal for the voracious mosquitos. Sunday was our first garbage can turkey of the year. We had all our friends at the campground over, Chris and Ryan made an appearance and our neighbor Danny came down to see Rodney and I as well as our neighbors Mark and Donna. Everyone brought a dish and we did a number on the turkey. Campfire that night was fun, Mark brought down some copper tubing which we stuffed full of garden hose. When put in the fire, produces some really great colors.
Today we got together with Mark and Donna and took a beautiful motorcycle ride. Along the way, we saw so many other bikers, I couldn't begin to keep count. A stop off at Friendlies for lunch and ice cream and back to the campground in time to close up and head home before it started to sprinkle. I can only hope that all our weekends are half a nice. I'm already ready for Friday again.

2008-05-15T13:06:00.002-04:00

I have to confess...Rodney and I are going to our first concert in eons. I would like to call it a rock concert, and would have been when we were in our teens and twenty-somethings. I heard an ad on the classic rock station that we listen to frequently listen to. Trying to maintain my hipness as a mom. That and the fact that I really dislike country. Anyway, they advertised Foreigner and Bryan Adams playing together at the Augusta Civic Center. I threw the idea up in the air with the man last night and he actually agreed to go! Knock me over with a feather! If it doesn't involve fishing, drinking, motorcycle riding, drinking....ah, you see where I am going, he usually pulls his stick in the mud routine and agrees to go, but is only doing it to shut me the hell up. No fun to be had like that.
I am really looking forward to going, even with it being a work night. I miss my teenage days and always ready to do something. I see my sons Chris and Ryan doing that very thing, and I really miss those days. These days the only things that I am really "up" for involves a nice, warm campfire and a spin on the bike or in the car. I hate showing my age, but my body refuses to cooperate with my mind in thinking that I am still young in my mind. I plan to go down with a fight and remind my body that my mind is still in charge.

2008-05-04T09:26:00.002-04:00

Here it is, the opening weekend of camping and it has rained for most of the weekend. The weatherman predicted rain on Sunday, and it started in on Sat. morning. I swear, being a weather person is the only job that I know of that you can be freakin' wrong more often than not and not get fired and they pay you for it. WTF!
Rodney had a club fishing tournament yesterday, and because of the afore mentioned lame ass weather reporting, he didn't take his rain gear. So by the end of the day he was not only cold, but wet and didn't catch anything. He was fishing with his friend Randy, and I asked how he did, and it turns out that Randy won the tournament. I said what were you doing, and he said supposedly the same thing that Randy was doing....apparently NOT.
Anywho...it has been a great time reconnecting with old friends and catching up on the happenings over the long cold winter, and we met some new neighbors. Our neighbors at home, Donna and Mark have moved in across the road here at the campground and are getting their new camper and site ready for the summer. I really hope that they like it here. We had a bunch of friends over at our site after dinner to huddle on the deck under the awning and share some laughs and gripe about the weather while we stared whistfully at the campfire blazing 5 feet from us.
I'm looking forward to another terrific summer here at camp. Should be a fun one!

2008-05-01T11:37:00.002-04:00

Yeah, I'm back to blog more about my fabulous vacation. Did I mention the food....? You haven't eaten until you have eaten on a cruise. There is food EVERYWHERE and at EVERY TIME OF DAY!!!!! Good grief. Let me just say, I love food. It is really apparent by the size of my backside, but all jokes aside, I love to eat. We had our seating in the Platinum Dining room and the food was out of this world. Our waiter Garry was always willing to make some suggestions, and there were no less than at least 5 choices from appetizers to desserts and everything inbetween. I was able to indulge in some of my favorite things and try some new dishes that sounded delish.
In addition to the formal dining rooms, there were numerous buffets that featured what the cruise line called "A taste of the Nations" which meant a new cuisine every day. I made an absolute pig out of my self on the day that they had a chocolate buffet....no shit. My eyes were bugging out and my tongue was dragging the floor as I tried to act all cool and calm when asking for a slice of this and taste of that. I was so naughty I had to go back to the room and take a nap. It was worth it and I would do it again.....gladly.
Our waiter in the dining room picked up on the fact that we all really liked a couple of certain desserts (could it be that we were making oohhh and ahhh noises loud enough to bother others, don't know) He was kind enough to offer to get the recipes for my sister in law and I so we could recreate the desserts for ourselves at home. Great, we say. Smug that we were special enough to get the coveted recipes. He came over with the recipes, and we thanked him graciously for his thoughtfulness, and read the recipes, only to discover that the Bitter and Blanc recipe for the bread pudding was able to feed 700 people!!!!
So, if you are gonna be in town, let me know and I will whip up a few and I am sure that there will be a couple of leftovers you can take home.

2008-04-29T14:34:00.002-04:00

Vacation is but a fond memory, but what a memory it is. We were lucky enough to have on-time smooth flying to Florida. We got in before noon time on Friday and settled into the hotel. Ventured down to the pool bar and partook of the beverages and soaked up some wonderfully warm Florida sun. Since we hadn't been fed on the plane, we needed some food badly and as it turns out, there was a Hooters near by. Oh goody. Huge groan inside from me. Anyway, we walked on over and ordered a massive amount of different appetizers and lots of beverages to wash them all down with. We were there long enough to endure a shift change and the introduction of another buxom waitress. The guys were playing the "real or fake" game. I guess it must be like the boxers or briefs game we women play without the benefit of really seeing any goods.
Saturday was board the ship day. We had the good fortune to be vacationing with Rodney's sister Deb and her hubby Dow. Now they are vacationers extrordiaires. (is that a friggin' word?) That means that they are considered VIP's by the cruise line and entitled to special treatment because of the vast amount of money spent by them on the 18 previous trips on said cruise line. We were able by way of association to become VIP's and skip the ridiculously long check in lines and we breezed thru and were gawking way earlier than most.
Let me tell you, if you have never been on a cruise ship before, it is something to behold. The word opulent comes to mind and pampered is at the top of the list as well. There are approximately 1 crew member on board for every 3 passengers. We were never without clean towels, a freshly made bed or someone at our beck and call offering drinks. Talk a real vacation for all. We had a room with a balcony and spent alot of time out there admiring the beautiful water and ports that were paying a call on.
We visited Cozumel, Mexico; Belize and Nassau, Bahamas. Cozumel wins hands down as our favorite place. The place was warm (90+) and beautiful. We had a fantastic lunch at a place called Pancho's Backyard and then strolled the shops. The jewelry down there is gorgeous and the prices can't be matched in the States....the best part being that it is ALL Duty Free!!
Needless to say, we found a beautiful diamond ring that was calling my name, and they had it ready for us in a short time, sized an all. Our next stop was a place called Senor Frogs. Restaurant, Bar and Clothesline is their catch phrase. I haven't had that much fun in years!! They have someone there making these foolish balloon creations that you wear on your head....Dow had a dick, Deb got a flower as well as I did, and Rodney was fashioned one that looked remarkably like female genetalia, complete with two shades of pink. OMG!!!!! We had shots, and drinks served by the yard, in 3 ft. tall glasses of frozen yumminess. By the time we had to head back to the ship, we were all smiling widely and sorry to have to go so soon.
I'll have more on the rest of our trip in a later post, this one is rather long.

2008-03-26T12:51:00.002-04:00

The countdown to our cruise has begun. Not that I haven't been keeping track of how quickly the time is going, but now that our departure is under the one month mark, things in my mind are really gearing up. Last weekend, Rodney and I took a trip to Lewiston/Auburn to do some shopping for him, namely a suit and all the trimmings. As we are not hoity-toity people, neither one of us posess any kind of dressy clothes that are required when you board a honkin' ship and head south.
Instead of doing the talked about shopping for a "monkey suit" as he puts it, we ended up at not one, but two motorcycle dealerships and walked out with paperwork on "our" new motorcycle. I have to mention the fact that I do not possess a motorcycle license or permit, but somehow or another, this turned out that this purchase was alot about me, how did that happen? That is not to say that I don't like motorcycles, I love riding on them and feeling the openness that is unique to a bike. Rodney and I have been riding together for all the years that we have been together. I think I got "hornswaggled" as a friend of ours puts it. I think the man had a plan all along, and only included me cuz I had the checkbook. Hmmmm.....

2008-03-05T12:11:00.002-05:00

Just a quick post since I am at work and don't have alot of time. I was sent a link to an absolutely ridiculous video on ebaums world that I have watched several times, and laugh my ass off every time I do.
If you need a laugh, or want to witness what some people do with fireworks and little brains, check this out:
www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/1195

I have always wondered, do dumb people know that they are dumb?
My thoughts are no, but that will remain one of those unanswered questions for me.

2008-02-19T15:13:00.002-05:00

Today was an unexpected day off from work. I was planning on going in and wading through the paperwork that mates at night when we are all gone home for the night and produces ridiculous amounts of more paperwork for me to do everyday in my IN box. Yesterday the phones were not busy, and I guess today is more of the same. Anyway, I was faced with the entire day stretched out in front of me. Hmmmm....what to do? I quickly ran through the choices, and decided that I had a great book that needed reading immediately. While there are dishes in the sink and dust bunnies reproducing like mad, John Grisham won out hands down.
Since reading is soooo strenuous, it was necessary to take a nap shortly after. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right?

The livingroom/diningroom is finally completed, and I think it looks great. I have one wall that needs something, it plainly calls for some kind of shopping trip, to be determined later. I really don't have much fun shopping alone, and all my summer buddies are kinda far away to call up and say "let's go shopping". Rodney is about as much fun to shop with as a poke in the eye would be. He is still kinda sorta in the dog house over his neglect of valentines day. In his defense, he says it's just another day for him, well hell, everybody with a brain knows valentines day is for women. Enough said about that.

This weekend is the winter gathering for all of us seasonals at the campground. I am really looking forward to going. I get to see our friends again, and get a chance to check out all the new people that are coming in. Since there are a couple of open sites near us, it is muy important to see who we are going to be neighbors with. Hopefully people with a sense of humor, as we are a pretty fun bunch.

2008-02-11T14:33:00.000-05:00

As I sit here at my desk at work, I can look out the two huge windows in the front of the building and watch the wind whip across the parking lot and road. Can you say COLD. It has been what Winnie the Pooh would call a Blustery Day, for two days. With all the snow that we have gotten the last couple of weeks, the shoveling is tough and the roofs of the house and garage are piled high.
Other than that, we were invited to Gary and Sheri's house for a get together with some of their friends and some wicked good food. We played some left, right, center, and Rodney and I were pretty lucky with winning quite a few pots. Since we were playing for dollars, we made out like bandits.
After looking at the ceiling in our livingroom/diningroom, we decided that it was in need of a paint job. We decided to hire this job out since it is a vaulted ceiling, and neither one of us wanted to paint up over our heads. To make a long story short, the ceiling came out great, and one thing leads to another when it comes to painting, so now we are almost done painting the walls, replacing the moulding around all the doors and windows, and brand new baseboard enclosures. I think the room will look fabulous. Rodney made a comment about how if the housing market wasn't so lousy, we could fix up this house and sell it and make a profit. I have no intention of moving any time soon. I am perfectly happy with where we are living, and am going to be for a very long time.

2008-01-13T07:20:00.000-05:00

Ahh well, another new year. Showed up while I was sleeping, as I knew it would. I can't seem to get myself excited at the thought of staying up half the night to watch the ball drop. Am I ever showing my age, or what?

Ryan was home from school for almost a month. While I was looking forward to seeing him, I was also dreading the inevitable upheaval that he was sure to bring along home with him with mounds of dirty laundry. I was not disappointed. I am convinced that he brought home every stitch of clothing that he and most of the kids on his floor of the dorm home to be washed. My washer hasn't seen that much action in months. Not sure it will ever recover. We noticed a high pitched squealing noise that it had never emitted before and now we are contemplating a replacement. I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that it is 24 years old.

He returned back to the dorm last Sunday to start his new job as security at the school this semester. I tried to convince him to send me a pic of him in his spiffy rent-a-cop uniform, but he has yet to cooperate. I am glad that he has found employment close by, and while the money isn't the greatest, it cuts down on mileage and gallons of gas consumed, and he got a staff parking pass to boot, which means he parks wherever he so chooses, and that is a big deal when you are in college, and have to most of the time park in the next county and walk to your classes.

With him back to school, I no longer have to hug the wall on the opposite side of the hallway where he takes up residence when he is home, for fear of something leaping out and sucking me into the blackhole that was at some point a nice clean, welcoming spare bedroom. No longer do I spend hours sweeping and mopping the floors to see within nano seconds of the floors being dried, to seeing gigantic white boot prints all over the floor in the dining room right next to the TWO boot trays provided to prevent such things from happening. The threat of bodily harm does nothing to deter him from doing anything that messes up the routine in our now childless household. The fact that he is way bigger and stronger than me definately comes into play. The statement that I in fact brought him into this world and I can take him out and also my other old standby, I know where you sleep, elicits a hearty laugh and a "yeah right mom" from him as the threatens to take me into his room, never to be seen again.

I have bestowed upon him the mother's curse. Not only to I wish upon him one child that acts just like him, but have upped the stakes to 3. It gives me something to look forward to in the coming years.

2007-12-24T06:37:00.000-05:00

In this day and age where we are bombarded with ridiculous commercials, I just had to speak out about one that I find deeply disturbing. So much so that I don't have enough sleeping pills in my possesion to erase the images burned on my retinas to get a night's sleep after seeing it right before bed.

I am talking about the new commercial about the Kia sales event with the male salesman gyrating around the showroom, jutting out his pelvis in disgusting ways, and in the conclusion of the commercial, he dives head first over a car, lands in a chair and leans back in a dirty dancing kind of way and gets doused by a bucket of water by a female co-worker.

In a word....UGH!!!!!

That is just wrong, there are no two ways about it.

Unless you look and dance like Patrick Swayse, you have NO business shaking your business around in public, never mind on national tv for all the world to see, forcing us to scream at the damage that has been done to our retinas, all the bleach in the world ain't gonna fix.

I guess the car company is trying to get on the "sex sells" bandwagon. After viewing that spot several times, that is just about the absolute last make of car I would purchase. Just driving by a dealership gives me the cringies (heads up...new word here).

Most commercials are irritating at the very least. The ones that are disturing on as many levels as this one, the advertising agency who thought this was gonna sell cars, should be taken out and tied naked over a hill of fire ants and left. That may not even be punishment enough.

2007-12-16T09:04:00.000-05:00

Since it has been awhile since I have posted a blog, I guess it is time to catch up. We are in the midst of a nor'easter as the locals "fondly" call a hugely ridiculous freakin snowstorm. I personally could stand a bit of snow as atmosphere for Christmas, then call the rest of winter off. Oh, should I have that power....
Gary and Sheri made the rather long trek to the house yesterday to visit and we have a heater and purchases I made from both Hannah and Sheri to exchange. The four of us went to lunch at one of few local restaurants, and had a grand time with our good natured waitress. Gary and Rodney were in their usual form, slinging shit and she was able to toss it back with a smile. Sheri and I just watched and laughed, as that is SOP when we are out together, and it wouldn't be the same without it. Sheri and Gary were kind enough to bring gifts for Christmas and one of the best ones was a beautiful basket that was handmade by women in Rwanda and filled with lots of wonderful treasures. Tealights, cookies and snacks. It was so thoughtful. Thank you both for your kindness.
As to the last couple of weeks, things have changed drastically for Rodney and his job. The employee buyout that was in the works for weeks fell through, and one of the owners was at the point of shutting down the business unless Rodney agreed to take on the enormous responsibility of becoming Operations Manager. I was very scared of that move since he had been in that position in his last job, and ended up over worked to the point of a stroke or just being burned out mentally and physically. I hesitantly agreed to support him in this, and told him that I would help him as much as I could in helping him turn the company around. Since the beginning of this month, I have been working in the office, learning as much as I can about the day to day operations of the office manager. So far, I like the work, and my mental attitude has improved. I don't have time to sit home all day and have a pity party. It's just enough to get me out of the house and not enough to overwhelm me. The company has a long row to how, so to speak, before it is out of the red, but it will be rewarding if we can overcome the obstacles and make the company profitable again. Only time will tell, and we will need all the luck and skill we have to make that happen.

2007-11-23T06:52:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-11-20T10:46:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-11-15T15:34:00.000-05:00

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?!

2007-11-11T10:36:00.000-05:00

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.

2007-10-29T11:48:00.000-04:00

This was a very productive weekend for us, as it was raining buckets on Saturday and we tackled some of the things on our "honey-do" list. I had been waiting not always so patiently for hubby to change a few curtain rods for the really cool curtains that have been sitting in the closet for weeks on end. After making a mad dash to the garage for the step ladder, the work began in earnest. Hubby was up on the ladder, taking down the old curtain rods, muttering about how stupid it is that one screw in each end was phillips, and one was a straight screw, which necessitated the changing of the bit in the cordless drill, my thoughts were "big damn deal, it involved turning the friggin bit around". Hubby is most happy bitching about the things that other people do. His views are that it is some kind of conspiracy against him in all things that don't go right the very first time. He managed to knock the drill off the shelf on the ladder no less than 4 times, and swore like a sailor each and every time it happened. How the curtain rods got changed out, is way beyond my comprehension.
Sunday we woke up to beautiful sunny skies and more work, only this time of the outside variety. We have this horribly messy apple tree on one side of the driveway, intertwined with some other kind of tree that bears some kind of red berries. We had both had just about enough of the mess, one time backing the viper up the driveway, I had an apple fall and damn near knocked me out, thankfully it landed in the front of my shirt, as opposed to my head. Rodney got out the chainsaw and went to town. I was helping pick up the branches and loading them into the cart behind the wheeler. After dumping the cart in the woods and coming back for another load, he is trying to back the trailer up to where we were working, and getting seriously hurt in the process. It took him no less than 10 tries, and progressively cussing worse with each attempt. I wasn't very smart in pointing out to him after he finally got the thing where it needed to be, that he gets angry when Ryan throws a hissy fit over foolish things, and that he is where Ryan got his lesson on proper fit-throwing. I got a look and figured it would be a good idea for me to let that one go, before a fight ensued.
Anyway, lots of progress on all the things that we would like to take care of before the snow flies, we still have a bunch left. Hopefully, mother nature will cooperate with our plans.

2007-10-27T08:45:00.000-04:00

After reading Sheri's blog and viewing the pics, I have to thank her for the creepy, crawling feeling that I now have, and in all likelyhood, remain with me for the rest of the day. Regardless of the vast amounts of shower gel, scruffy and SOS pads that I will employ to try and rid myself of the feeling.
I have to say that decorating a house like that is just wrong, and the stuff nightmares are made of. It's true, anyone who has known me for any length of time knows of my outright terror of spiders. I have been known to break the land speed record when one is in close proximity or if one is about to land on me. They are sneaky and have some kind of internal radar that when someone such as myself is close by, they send out signals to others of their species and gleefully converge. I am further convinced that they lie in wait for others who dont have the rational fear that I do, and hide themselves until others are out of sight, but still within earshot to come out of hiding and silently scream "AHA!".
Having been married since dirt was new, Rodney is well aware of what that blood curdling scream from me means, and usually comes to my rescue if he can find me several blocks from the scene. He always has to decide that said arachnid is either tiny, small or not really that big, to the occasional "wow, that's a big one". Well, no shit.....if you can see the mother, in my book, its big. End of story. I can't imagine how he would feel if I were to label certain parts of his anatomy with the same casual comments, unless of course it involved the "wow" part.
With winter coming in short order, all manner of creatures are lining up in droves to winter in our casa. We have gotten huge amounts of spray to hopefully prevent as much of this happening as possible. I really dislike bugs of any sort, with the exception of ladybugs and they are coming into the house faster than I can catch them and shoo them out the door. While I can see why the bugs want to winter with us, seeing as we are way cool to hang out with, there is only room for one of us, that being me.

2007-10-11T12:07:00.000-04:00

This week has pretty much been busy as usual, except the man picked up his newest toy on Monday. Yep, he's spoiled and I have enabled him. Last Friday, the weather was beautiful, and a wonderful day to take the viper out for a spin. Since Rodney had the day off and still hadn't found the four wheeler he was going to buy, a trip to Rumford was called for. We donned our long sleeve shirts and hit the open road. You giggle with glee with the feel of the wind in your hair and all the thumbs-up and necks snapping as you speed by. I have to admit, all the attention is addicting, and oh so much fun.
Anyway, we stopped at Rodney's old office, to show off the car and see how the guys were doing since we hadn't talked to them in awhile, and we used to be friends. The guys made the proper ohs and ahs and caught us up on news of the families.
Next was stop at Rowe Rumford, who carry cars, trucks, snowmachines and four wheelers. A ride on a used wheeler and a new one, with lots of hemming a hawing, he finally decided on the new one. Arrangement for a set of handwarmers and a plow were made, as well as for us to pick it up on Monday. I have to say it's nice. Black with a two-up seat, in case we want to ride together, windshield, oh shit handles and shiny chrome wheels it is a nice ride. We also had to get some ramps to get the beast into and out of the back of the truck. I took one look at those narrow, aluminum ramps and said to myself there was no way in hell I would ever ride anything up or down those things. Men are not so discerning. The more danger and adventure, the better, and they wonder why women live longer than men. Most women know enough that it is a recipe for possible diaster and can forsee us upside down with a ton of weight landing on us, smooshing us to smithereens. Not my choice of a way to go, personally.

2007-10-02T11:38:00.001-04:00

This weekend is the last "official" weekend of camping. We have had a wonderful summer full of campfires, friends, fishing and get togethers with our group of friends. The social part of the camping experience makes us looking forward to every weekend. Two weeks ago was a pig roast, with Gary doing the honors of cooking. The pig, known as Pauline, was cooked to perfection, and we had a huge assortment of side dishes. Rodney and I had the slush puppy machine going with mudslides and pina coladas. It was a great day, and we have plans to do it again next year.
This weekend is the continuation of getting things ready for the winter. Taking down all of our decorations and washing of the camper. Thankfully we don't have to move this year again. What a job that is. Gary and Sheri have decided to move to a site right next door to us, as well as getting a new camper provided they sell the one that they have. I know that they will have no trouble selling the one that they have, and they will love the new space that they will have in the new one.
Rodney is doing a new job at work. He is now the project manager, a job that used to be done by
Ricky. Ricky is now doing the service manager job. Rodney's new job entails visits to job sites and meeting with the crews, reading blue prints, working up job bids and managing the install crew. He has some things to learn, but with his drive to do things exceptionally well, I know that he will excel with his new position and help the company do jobs that actually turn a profit.

2007-09-19T18:20:00.000-04:00

It's been a rather busy couple of weeks. Rodney was searching the internet for cars that I might be interested in since I said that it would be nice to have a convertible for the summer months. We tossed around the idea of a Dodge Charger, or maybe a Crossfire. I wasn't even sure that I wanted to even spend the money on a car. Anyway, Rodney found a 1993 Dodge Viper at a used car dealer up in Waterville. I have been lusting after one of those since we saw one at a car dealer when they first came out. The idea of a convertible, 10 cylinders with all that horsepower made me giddy. Never expecting to be able to own one, it was worship from afar.
We took the car for a ride last week and it was amazing. The speed, the handling, it was all that a speed freak could hope for. With it only having a little under 4400 miles on it, it was calling my name.
The drive home from Waterville on the highway was so much fun, I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face. I was smart enough to follow Rodney in the truck, because giving the car it's head, I would have been flying down the highway doing at least 100mph, and loving every minute of it.
Complete strangers come up to us and ask us about the car, lots of comments and compliments everywhere we go. I have to admit, the attention is addicting. The bad thing is having to park my baby in the garage with winter coming, which happens to be way too long in this state.
In the mean time, I plan to get in as much time in the seat as I can while the weather is nice.
Hopefully, we will have nice weather up until December, like last year.

2007-09-11T13:26:00.000-04:00

Things have been pretty quiet since my last post until last week, and things got busy. I received my inheritance check in the mail from my grandparents. That event also constituted a meltdown when I was putting the check in the bank. The knowledged of financial security is nice, but the knowledge of where the money came from is a hard thing to swallow for me. I felt like such a fool bawling at the tellers window, but I just felt so overwhelmed.
The money has made it possible to pay off Chris' car, which he has been paying for faithfully. I also got some new furniture for the house that we had been needing for oh so long.
Rodney also happens to be driving the biggest, baddest Dodge known to mankind. He is tickled to death, and it puts a smile in my heart to know that I could get him something that makes him so happy, and his co-workers green with envy. It must be the testosterone thing.
The other great thing that has happened is that Rodney agreed to quit smoking. I have quite honestly been nagging his ass for years to stop. He has been wearing the patch and doing awesome, except when the patch fell off unknowingly and he started the Jeckyl and Hyde routine. I will try to be patient. It's a habit he has had for years, and a bad one to kick.
Sunday is the Nascar race in Loudon, and since we have tickets, I am really looking forward to going. My mom is going to her first cup race and I am looking forward to see her enjoy it as much as we did the first time.

2007-08-28T09:10:00.000-04:00

Today is a rather thoughtful day for me. My dad, who if he was still here, would have turned 67 today. Of course I miss him terribly, but I wish that my boys could have known him, and have him be a part of their lives. Since I only had a sister growing up, I would like to think that my dad would have had a wonderful time with my guys.
Dad was always very strict while I was growing up, and my mom was the proverbial marshmallow. If you wanted to do something, I always knew not to ask dad. We were taught manners, and how to behave in public. I personally think that is in short supply these days, if what I see in public is any indication. Were one of us to throw a screaming shit fit in public, there would have been hell to pay, and not another chance to go out again for quite some time.
Always a hard worker, dad had many things that he had going at any given time. He had 4 gardens every summer, growing everything from cukes, tomatoes and squash, to potatoes, onions, lettuce, beets, and everything in between. He was very mechanically inclined, and did his own car repairs, repairs on lawn equipment and anything else that had an engine. I was taught that you had to work for the things that you want and need, and not wait for it to be handed to you. (another thing in short supply these days)
This is a tribute to my dad who I loved dearly and miss daily. He was a good dad, and great role model. If you are out there somewhere dad, Happy Birthday, I love you always.

2007-08-27T10:58:00.000-04:00

Surprisingly, after my meltdown on Wednesday, taking Ryan to school on Sunday turned out better than expected. We headed home from camp on Saturday night to make sure we got a good night's sleep and an early start, since he had to check in between 9 and 12. We made it down to Portland Hall by around 10 and got his room key and an escort to find his room. It is on the second floor, and already warm in there. Since he was there ahead of his roommate, he grabbed the bed by the only window and started bring in his things. A trip to the Maine Mall for some forgotten bed pillows and lunch at the Old Country Buffet and we were all set. By the time we returned, his roommate had arrived and we found out that he is also taking the Plumbing and Heating courses. That was such a nice surprise, and made Ryan feel much better about living in a dorm room with a stranger. He seems to be a nice kid, and I am sure they will get along fine. That was a big concern of mine, was the roommate situation.
We finally headed back to the campground and arrived around mid afternoon. A visit with Chris and Nancy, and we were talked into playing Ladderball. What a fun game! I had never tried it before and after I was paired with Rodney, we had to finally step down as the champs so others could play.
Sheri had made reservations at a restaurant that we had never been to before called The Sedgley Inn. What a lovely house that was converted to a restaurant. Dinner was fantastic! Sheri and I had the Surf and Turf, beef tenderloin skewers with huge sea scallops, Rodney had the prime rib, and Gary ordered the duck. He was nice enough to share a piece of his entree with us since we had never tasted duck before. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the taste. It tasted like beef. it was really delicious. I think we have found a new restaurant that we will go to for our special occasion meals out. It was a very lovely meal, and a memorably evening with great food and great friends. I look forward to more evenings like that in the future.

2007-08-25T10:25:00.000-04:00

You know you are having a bad day when:

-You haven't gotten a decent night's sleep in the last two nights and you are grouchy as a hibernating bear

-Lack of sleep necessitates a trip to the doctor's office to pick up some samples of sleeping pills that your cheap-ass medical insurance won't cover for shit. The co-pay is ridiculous

-You stop at Shaw's to pick up a few things and they try to charge you more than the sticker on the chicken says it costs with their oh-so-important card having been used

-You attempt to put said chickens on the rotisserie of your grill, finding out the chickens from hell are too heavy and they won't turn all the way around.

-Calling in reinforcements and resorting to removing the metal rod from the asses of the chickens and cooking them with the indirect heat method

After all was said and done, the chickens were fabulous and we completely devoured one and we have one leftover for some tasty sandwiches. My philosophy is cook once and eat twice.

This has been a tough week for me. I had a meltdown on poor Sheri while we were chatting on aol, I am more upset than I thought I would be with Ryan leaving for school on Sunday. He is after all my baby (all 6 feet of him) and I will truly miss having him around. I am glad that he is pursueing his education and will be able to have a good job when schooling is done. It's just that having children in the house with you for the last 24 years, and then all of the sudden they have gone, it's going to take some adjusting for me. I know I will be okay after awhile, and he is only moving to Portland. Tomorrow will be moving day, and I am trying to tell myself that I can make it thru without bawling again. Wish me luck.

2007-08-19T10:18:00.000-04:00

Turkey day went off without a hitch. The turkey was perfectly cooked and we all enjoyed a table full of great food and lots of laughs. Gary was around for the day yesterday and did a awesome job on the fresh french fries. Slushy adult drinks were flowing out of the machine and it was an all around great day.
I did go over to visit Sheri yesterday morning after rustling myself out of bed and she had quite a story to tell me to get my day started off with a laugh. It seems that Hannah had left a rather large poopie in the toilet in their camper. Although Hannah got the blame, I was rather skeptical, but rolled with the story anyway. Sheri proceeded to tell me that it was so large that it wouldn't fit down the opening in the toilet. It being a chemical toilet, there is only a stream of water to wash things down, not like the ones we are used to at home. Anyway, she said that she had come up with the idea of sprinkling it with some of the chemicals that are used in the tank to break down all the stuff that you don't want to think about again. I was given the update that the chemicals were doing their job and "melting" the uncooperative object. However, it wasn't working as well as hoped, and Sheri had to resort to grabbing a marshmallow toasting stick from their deck, and beating the obstinate poopie to a pulp. I know this because I was a witness from the dining table, and not an up close and personal view. I was asked if I wanted to view it for my very own self, but gracefully declined. Living with three males for the last 24 years, I have seen , smelled and dealt with all the crap I care to, without checking out someone elses stuff. I do have to admit that I was laughing quite hard and got my day off to an interesting start.
That is part of why I love camp so much, never a dull moment from any of us.

2007-08-15T17:52:00.000-04:00

Here it is, another week of summer is slowly fading away. Rodney is on vacation this week and things have been fairly quiet as usual. Ryan is due to start school at the end of the month, and we are still working on financing his schooling. He was lucky enough to get a grant, but housing associated with the school is outrageously priced, and he will be staying in Portland Hall on Congress Street. Now we get to do the shopping thing to get him set up with all the things he needs. I think I would rather have a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Honestly, he is a difficult person to satisfy, and shopping is not fun at all with him. Doses of medicinal alcohol may indeed be needed before as well as after to make it through the event.
I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about him going off to school. On one hand, I am used to having him around for company and help if I need it, but on the other hand, I am looking forward to having the house to ourselves after having children with us for the last 24 years. The ability to run around in my birthday suit if it strikes my fancy (not very likely, due to shape of said suit), but just the thought is freeing. I am glad that he is finally starting on getting a career that he will be able to support himself in a couple of years.
Off to camp hopefully sometime tomorrow. We are cooking a garbage can turkey this weekend again, and firing up the slushpuppy machine. Party on!

2007-08-05T08:03:00.000-04:00

So far so good. It's been a good weekend. We came up to camp on Thursday during the one stretch of hot and humid weather so far in the so called summer. It was waaay to hot to eat, so Rodney and I decided that drinking was the way to go instead. Needless to say, we were both under the weather come Friday morning, but things have smoothed out now.
Yesterday the campground was having a carnival food fundraiser and our group of friends headed down to partake of the food. It was great! They had a wide variety of things, including sausage subs (my personal fave), chicken nuggets, onion rings, fresh cut fries, popcorn, cotton candy and rootbeer. We all walked/waddled away feeling full and talking about what a great idea that had been, and hoping it will become a yearly thing.
Gary returned home from fishing and had placed in the money, so that was good news. They had treated us the night before with a killer tenderloin that Gary had cooked on the grill, I wanted to return the favor and have them over for a meal Sheri didn't have to dishes after. It had finally cooled down some, and we had dinner outside and enjoyed the evening. It really doesn't get any better than sitting around the campfire with friends, relaxing, and swapping stories. Most of the time at our campfire they are fishing stories that are just about worn out, but the guys still rehash their losses and the ones that got away stories with so much enthusiam, you just have to laugh at the amount of detail that accompanies each story.
Here at the end, my heart goes out to the people involved in the bridge collapse. I have a huge fear of just that happening to me at any time, so you people will all be in my thoughts. Have courage to stay strong.

2007-07-25T09:36:00.000-04:00

Hot damn, a bit of good news. The newest in the Stephanie Plum series is finally out! Hooray!
I have been waiting anxiously for her to cough up another novel at long last. I have to admit,
Stephanie is my secret hero. She is one tough cookie. Her dysfunctional family is a complete riot and oh so hilariously normal, for many families. Her willingness to put herself into a job that is not your normal choice for a woman, but she goes out and attempts to bring home her bad bad guy as well as the bacon. Her love triangle with the mysterious Ranger and the steady Joe Morelli makes things interesting and makes me secretly lust hard for Ranger. Okay, what woman doesn't want a mysteriously hunky guy who comes and goes and sexes her up and leaves her wanting more.....come on, you know you do.
I think Janet Evanovich's books are perfect reads for the beach, or anywhere else for that matter. I pleasant diversion, I always laugh outloud at her writitng and I will never get enough of her character. I wonder why there hasn't been a movie made out of here characters. Hello tv executives......!
On another note, going to camp finally tomorrow. Rodney has a club tournament on Saturday, and Sheri and I will go to the Christmas Tree Shops and happily while away some time and I am sure some money as well.
The deck is finally done, after 3 gallons and 3 days of work and a case of sunstroke. The man has recovered and back to his old self.

2007-07-20T14:06:00.000-04:00

Today is another what was I thinking day today, that's not to say that they don't occur more often than twice a week, I guess I just noticed this week for some reason. I decided to make the 10 minute trip to Walmart. It is only a short drive, but I was mentally kicking myself constantly on the way over for even thinking it was going to go without me being frustrated by the other drivers on the road. It constantly amazes me at the fact that the state of Maine gives a driver's license to anyone who has a pulse. I have several pet peeves about how badly people drive, which means nearly everytime I am behind the wheel, I feel a case of road rage creeping up the back of my neck. My first issue with other drivers is that they seem to fluctuate between any speed on the speedometer. If the speed limit is 55, they feel it necessary to hit anywhere between 40 and 60. I really don't care WHAT speed you drive, JUST PICK ONE! If you aren't driving as fast as I would like to go, I will be more than happy to pass your drag ass. My next issue is wandering all over the friggin road. They paint the lines on the road for a reason! If you are unable to keep whatever it is that you are driving inbetween those quite generous lines, I think you should get the hell off the road. I guess I am just not happy unless I am the only one on the road and I am not too proud to admit it. I will also be the first one to admit to giving someone who has forgotten where the gas pedal is, (while also riding the brakes) a good look at my big red grill. I love it when they finally look in the rearview mirror and all they see is red. Most often, they either speed up and figure out they are holding up traffic, or the pull over to the side of the road for their own safety. Yes, I know that you are thinking that I am the bad driver....I know the rules of the road, and besides speeding, I tend to follow them. If only more people would remember what they were taught, driving would be so much more pleasureable. After this rant and rave, I guess I don't even need to talk about what a CF Walmart was. If you have ever in your life have shopped there, you know that there is no such thing as a quick trip there.
Now that I have calmed down, maybe I should work on my sudoku puzzles. Talk about a glutton for punishment....
I will conquer those damn puzzles, if it kills me, and it just might.

2007-07-16T11:31:00.000-04:00

What was I thinking?!? As usual, I am slow in getting on the bandwagon of new fads. Sheri, Chris and Shelby have been doing Sudoku puzzles at camp for months. I had been wondering what the attraction is and now I know. I made a comment/a mistake, in mentioning to Sheri that I would like to learn how to do those puzzles. I have been a fan of crosswords ( the very, very simple ones), fill-it-ins and word searches for years. Anyway, word got back to Sheri's mom that I was interested, and this weekend I was the recipient of a sudoku book and a brand new pencil. Not wanting to look like a total idiot, I decided to try my hand at the book when was alone. It has been slow going, but thankfully there are lots of what the puzzle creator called light and easy. To say that I don't share that labelling, is putting it lightly. My poor brain has been on overload for days now, and I finally see the attraction. I can't seem to put the book down. I get to a point where I can't figure out what friggin' number goes where (the instructions warn of NOT guessing) lest you have to start the entire puzzle over, and trigger a complete and total internal meltdown. I am not sure whether I want to thank Sheri's mom. Of course I am thankful that she thinks enough of me to send me a gift, but what said gift is going to do to my mental health remains to be seen.

2007-07-10T14:53:00.000-04:00

Well, here it is July, and summer is flying by. I know this because we are almost half way thru our schedule of events at the campground. It was a good week last week since Rodney took off of work Thursday and Friday and we had a nice long stay at the camper. Sheri and Gary were there, as well as Anita, Nancy D and George. Nancy S and Chris as well as Randy were there later in the week. Rodney spent a good part of the week fishing and I did what I do best, relaxing and partaking of adult beverages.
Sunday was a get together with some of our friends. Jana and Laurie made a deep fried turkey, we did our usual garbage can turkey, with Gary and Sheri making bloomin' onions, fresh french fries and deep fried mushrooms. We also had lots of yummy salads and appetizers. It was a feast to say the least.
Last night, Rodney was downstairs in Manland working on some things and came upstairs looking for Tigger. He was fast asleep on the hassock in front of the chair I was sitting in, and when I questioned what he wanted the cat for, he said it sounded like one of them was running around overhead in the back bedroom. Both kitties were accounted for and sleeping, which leads us to the determination that we have a rodent making his home inbetween the floor and the ceiling downstairs. Rodney rousted Tigger with difficulty and a loud MEW and carried him downstairs, trying to temp him into earning his keep and hunting down and killing whatever is running around in there. Tigger had other ideas and promptly came back upstairs and flopped back down where he had been sleeping, with no intentions of working. I think he just missed me too much to be too far away from me, since he was glued to my side the entire night and took his usual spot by my head last night and slept with me on my pillow. At least he doesn't snore.

2007-06-25T19:45:00.000-04:00

At last we are getting back to normal after a pretty busy week. Monday was re-coop day after our trip south. Catching up on housework and laundry kept me busy. Tuesday was lunch with Anita after my doctor's appointment. We haven't spent as much time together by this time this year as usual, so it was nice to have a quiet lunch and have girl talk. Our new carpet and laminated flooring were installed on Thursday, and I just have to say WOW! All of our friends have either seen or have heard about the avacado carpet in the livingroom/diningroom that was here in the house when we bought it. It was ugly enough to induce nightmares. The company that we hired to install it all did a terrific job and it looks fantastic. Next will be the bedrooms and we plan to gut the main bathroom and give it a major overhaul, but not until the fall when camping is done, and we have time to dedicate to it.
The weekend was good, Rodney fished an open with Randy and came in just short of the money. They had a good day considering that Rodney's motor wouldn't run for long because it sucked up some mud and kept overheating. Randy came down on Saturday and wanted to put his pontoon boat in the water. The fiasco that ensued with the loading of the boat onto a make-shift trailer was something to see! You really had to be there. words don't describe the events that happened. All that were there to witness the process will always remember the chain of events. George and Nancy were at our campsite at the time it was going on, and George could only shake his head and laugh. None of us that have been at the campground for years were surprised by the show, it was same old, same old for us. Needless to say, things are never boring up there.

2007-06-19T08:23:00.000-04:00

I don't think I realized just how much I appreciate my home. After our four day trip to Virginia, by Saturday, I was really missing my house. Spending time away really makes me love it all the more. Rodney and I had a safe trip both down and back, and for that I am thankful. Our trip took us across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. It was Rodney's first time crossing it, and I offered to drive so he could spend the 15 miles across just sight-seeing. I really am not fond of bridges of any kind, the higher up they are, the more I dislike them, but strangly enough, going thru the tunnel part of the bridge, didn't bother me at all. Weird, huh?
Friday and Saturday we spent helping my aunt and uncle clean out my grandmother's apartment. I was stunned at just how much stuff she had managed to store in that tiny two bedroom apartment. Before she passed away, she had wanted me to take some of her much loved belongings, and I was able to bring home her china and sterling silver. I will cherish them and use them with love, and hopefully one day I will be able to pass them on to the boys.

2007-06-13T13:59:00.000-04:00

For the past couple of days, I have been trying to think of the words that I wanted to say in my blog, but words fail me. I lost my grandmother last Friday. I was unable to make it to see her before she passed, I hope in my heart that she knew I was with her just the same. After she lost my grandfather 6 months ago, I can only imagine her lonliness and pain. In my heart, I understand her going as soon after him as she did, but my heart still hurts just the same. I was lucky enough to have two grandparents that I was very close to growing up, and they always had the time to spend showing me how to do things, or just going for a walk or talking about daily happenings. Both of them were very talented, painting, sewing, woodworking, knitting, crocheting or gardening. I learned alot about all of those things with them by my side.
My grandmother was a tiny woman, but large in personality and kindness. She used to work with the women in the church they belonged to, making quilt blocks for people who were needy. Her kindness went out to neighbors and friends and also to people she had never met. Always ready with some canned goods, or something hand-crafted, many people were lucky enough to share in her friendship.
My grandparents were the epitome of unconditional love. One of my favorite memories as a child, was running as fast as I could, jumping into my grandpa's arms that were wide open. I used to love helping my grandma in the kitchen making a family meal or some homemade bread.
They will always be in my heart and I hope to some day pass on to my grandchildren the love and special bond that only a child can have with their grandparents.
I love you both.

2007-06-07T11:31:00.000-04:00

This has been one of the funkiest springs that I can ever remember. We get a week of killer great weather, and the suffer through a week's worth of torrential rain and cloudy days. My mood meter can't make up it's mind. The mosquitos are ridiculous and at camp we have named the arm waving, high-stepping moves that you make while attempting to do ANYTHING outside, including a not-so-leisurely stroll around the circle, as the "mosquito boogy". I haven't figured out if the black flies are worse or not, but thank goodness for screens!
Our old house was sitting on a small spot of land, approximately the size of a postage stamp. This house is sitting on half an acre. While not a huge plot of land, it is considerably alot more work than our old one. We have had to buy all kinds of yardworking equipment and the fun of learning how to use some of them. I got the pleasure of taking our riding lawnmower out for a spin last night. After a crash course on where all the levers and clutch/brake is, I was off and running. Rodney spent some time watching what I was doing to make sure that I didn't crash into one of several trees in the front yard, or mow over roots, etc... I was told not to put into a faster gear than 3 (there are 6) and I putted around, and all that was missing was a cup holder and a cold beverage. I guess I was doing okay, since the man went up on the roof to take down some cables that were hanging, or else he needed to look down on me from above. I have to say, that I did not run over anything I wasn't supposed to, and I did not get knocked off while I drove under our apple trees. I have to be careful, or else that may turn out to my job now. I wonder what the chances of getting ahold of the chainsaw......
Rodney and Gary are fishing in a tournament this weekend, and the plan is to slay those fish and bring home the big bucks. Even if they don't bring home the big bucks, Rodney will have spent the day fishing with a good friend and have plenty of stories to tell about the one that got away.

2007-05-31T09:24:00.000-04:00

I have been neglectful in posting on a regular basis, mainly because I had a major brain fart and entered the wrong email address when blogger moved my account. With much thanks to my good friend, Sheri, I am back up and running with scissors. I still blame blogger, my thoughts are, if it ain't broke, don't friggin ' fix it.
Anyway, camping is in full swing now. The mosquitos are out in full force, and I am forever grateful that we have a screenroom on the front of my camper. Those little blood thirsty little bastards find a way in no matter what lengths you go to. I was trying desparately to sleep in the morning that Rodney went fishing with Gary, and I heard the tell-tale high pitched whine of a mosquito, and ended up thrashing around to try and smush the thing, and it took me at least 5 minutes of chasing the mother around the bedroom before I managed to flatten the sucker.
By the time he died, my hand was stinging, and there was no more sleep to be had that morning. Supposedly there is a reason for every creature on this earth, but I have to seriously wonder about mosquitos, fleas, ticks, black flies, and my personal fave, spiders. (I know that the last critter has a purpose, but ewwww......)
We have yet to fire up the slushpuppy machine this year. We have just been too damn busy with other projects. We went to camp last Thursday, and our first order of business was the aforementioned screenroom. Since in his wisdom, the man decided that it would be a MUCH better idea to go fishing with Gary instead of putting up the bug-barrier. As were were sorting out pieces and swatting more than we were working, I couldn't help but express my displeasure by commenting" I am so glad you decided to go fishing instead of getting this put up before the bugs came out" Fishing isn't usually an issue with me, but there are priorities when you are in the woods in May.
I am off to get another couple of estimates on carpet and laminated flooring for the living/diningroom. I dread the thought of moving furniture that we just moved in, but I have to let go of my avacado carpet.

2007-04-08T11:11:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter today! The sun is out and it is windy, but all in all, after the last couple of dreary, cloudy days, I'll take it. Had some turkeys in the yard today, they managed to find one of the few bare spots in the yard and were diligently pecking and scratching for breakfast. They were all hens, but big birds just the same. Maybe we will get the chance to go out and throw some birdseed in that spot so we can intice them back. We also had the chance to catch either a woodchuck or groundhog hanging out up on the hill behind the house. He didn't hang around long, but it was just another critter to keep an eye out for.
We got a rather impromtu invite from Sheri and Gary for a visit to their house down in Kenneburkport. The offer of burgers and dogs on the grill, hey, we're there! It was a nice day for a road trip, and we hadn't seen them since they were here for the birthday get-together. We had a great time chatting and visiting. Their kitties are so cute, and Chloe actually remembered us from this last summer camping. Sheri's mom is very crafty, and had some lovely quilts that she had made. I am envious of people who are talented in that way. I would love to tackle something like that, but don't know if my hands and attentions span will hold out long enough ot actually finish.
Roland is due in awhile for dinner, as well as Christopher, so time to get busy in the kitchen. Happy eating!

2007-04-06T10:59:00.000-04:00

Well, yesterday was fun. A buttload of snow, when we really could have done without it. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of snow. Yes, I know, I live in the wrong part of the country, I got that.
Anyway, I had to remind Ryan that he needed to go out and work on snowblowing the driveway before he left for work, or his dad would tweak. He already knew that, but I figured I should remind him, and maybe spare him an ass chewing. He goes outside and fires up the snowblower and works on the driveway. Part of the way thru, I hear him out there swearing like a sailor, and dropping the f-bomb every other word. I'm not saying that that word hasn't crossed my lips, many times in fact. But it really wasn't necessary for the entire neighborhood to witness his potty mouth. I wanted to find a hole to crawl in and hide my embarrasement. Finally, he has decided that he has done enough and dad can finish. Whatever. Rodney comes home from work early since business is slow due to the storm, fires up the snowblower and finishes the job. Not only did he tidy up some of the snow Ryan missed, but shoveled the parts of the deck no one walks on and takes the shovel to the snowbanks beside the driveway. He spent at least 3 hours out there doing a bunch of stuff most people (me included) think is unnecessary. He is very much a perfectionist, so it goes with the territory. I have not managed to convince him in 24 years of marriage, that sometimes good enough is good enough. Oh well, I guess over ambitious is much better than ambitionless ( is that a word??)

2007-04-05T10:07:00.000-04:00

Are you kidding me?!!? Why the hell is Sanjaya STILL on American Idol? It can't be because he is talented or even attactive...pleeeeez. Showing us an audience full of screaming, crying teenage girls, now that's good television. Question is, for who? Certainly not for me. Does he fit the bill in as much as what I think should be a role model, no way. I have to continue to tell myself that the only reason he is still there, is that adults have no access to telephones from 10pm to 12pm, and that the only people voting are blind and deaf teenage girls. It was always my impression that this show was about having talent, and having it be discovered by the public and rewarded the ability to share their talent with the world. Last year I was sadly disappointed in Chris Daughtry being voted off waaaaay before he deserved to be, as well as Mandisa. I think her downfall was her appearance. I found she was a talented and beautiful woman. Yes, a woman, not a stick figure that we are continuing to have shoved down our throats, and told that is what all us women should aspire to look like. When the average size of women in America is a size 14, when is a normal looking woman going to be accepted as normal and beautiful?
I used to enjoy the show on a weekly basis, but now it is just to see the pathetic performances by people who have been mislead and told they have talent. The only talented people this year in my opinion are LaKisha and my personal fave, Melinda Doolittle. I only hope that the american public will somehow come to their senses and give the title to the woman that deserves it. Go Melinda!!!!

2007-04-03T09:13:00.000-04:00

We woke up this morning to several inches of snow! Mother Nature refuses to let spring come to stay. Sunday was a beautiful day and yesterday was one of those dreary, rainy, snowy days that makes you want to snuggle down with a great book and sip something warm.
The kitties are very much unhappy with this turn in the weather, hating to get their paws wet. Tigger paced and meowed so mournfully, you could tell that he wanted to be outside and not cooped up in the house. He must've made up his mind to tough it out today, since I haven't seen him since 6 this morning. He will no doubt come in soaking wet and want to cuddle.
I was the recipient of about 70 books several weeks ago, and I am dilligently working my way thru them. I would rather get engrossed in a good book than watch tv. I was always an avid reader and love nothing better than browsing the bookstores and libraries. I have read so many books, that many times I had forgotten I had already read something until several pages into the book. My mother and grandmother usually gift me with a giftcard to Waldenbooks for my birthday or Christmas. The trouble is narrowing it down to the must haves. It's always a tough decision for me. One fear of mine is not living long enough to read all the books I would love to read. Maybe I should pick up the pace....

2007-03-28T19:37:00.000-04:00

At long last, the weather is improving, in that the sun is shining more often and I can see bare ground in many places. Spring is so slow to come to the north. I am used to Virginia, when this time of year the daffodils and croecus are blooming and the grass is turning green. It's such an awakening.
Christopher called yesterday afternoon to see what we were doing, planning on coming up for a visit after he got home from work. It's funny, and I mentioned it to him before, that I think that we spoke and saw him more often when we lived in Rumford. NO! I am not moving back to Rumford, but I will remind Chris that we do like to see him. Anyway, I was planning roast chicken for dinner and invited him to join us. Since he lives by himself, I always think that he is not eating well, and even though he works at Amatos, it's just not the same as a home cooked meal. He's not wasting away by any means, but it's just a mom thing. At least it is for me. After dinner, the weather was still nice, so we set out for a walk around the circle. On our way back, we were able to meet more of our neighbors. We had met Mark, who lives directly across from us, but his wife was inside the first time we spoke. She was on her way out for her own walk last night, so we stopped to introduce ourselves and another neighbor was driving down the street, and he stopped as well and he ended up there so long, he turned off his Jeep. Everyone we have met so far have been really great, and we all have things in common, namely NASCAR. Rodney is in heaven when he can talk racing, and Dan, (the guy in the Jeep), happens to be a Tony Stewart fan....big ugh there!!! I will try not to hold that against him. They assured us that everyone tends to look out for everyone else, and it was nice to know that there are still neighbors that care about each other. I am so glad we are here.
Sheri sent me some awesome CD's to burn and I can hardly wait to listen to them all. I'm trying to broaden my music horizons and my newest love is of celtic music. It is so relaxing and soothing. I would also like to get some classical music to listen to when I need some down time. Man, I must be getting old!!!

2007-03-27T10:21:00.000-04:00

After being away for awhile, I think I am finally ready to start posting again. Moving to the new house was an event I wouldn't want to repeat on a regular basis. The new house is great, and I am happy as hell to be here. The neighborhood is very nice and quiet, something we didn't have at the old place. Our backyard is woods, with no houses behind us and we have seen some wild turkeys sashaying thru the yard looking for breakfast. Sometimes there are only one or two, sometimes there are five or six. You don't realize just how big these birds are until you get close. The cats are in their glory with all this new territory to explore and are gone for hours at a time checking out the woods.
We got up one morning a couple of weekends ago, to find several turkeys pecking around at the top of the hill. Both cats were out and I was nervous as hell that Tigger would have his hunter/killer instincts kick in and he would charge into the middle of he flock and end up torn to shreds. He was smart enough to sit quietly and just observe, phew! He is the one that tends to have more balls than brains, so you can imagine what must be going thru his mind looking at all that bird.
The other day the turkeys were coming down over the hill behind the house after the rain we had gotten on top of the snow, and it was quite a sight! They would walk a couple of steps and fall on their asses, get up and try again! They managed to make it into the neighbors yard, where it slopes down toward their shed and they got to the point where gravity took over and they just gave up and just went with the flow. If you have never seen turkeys take a dump on their butts, it's a sight to see. I laughed for hours over the memory. I wish I had a video camera to record the action.
It's almost time for camping to begin, we seasonals are chomping at the bit to get up there and get set up to go. This year we are moving to a new site and have all kinds of work to do, It will be worth it since we love being there, seeing our friends and relaxing. Hoping for warm, dry weather to speed up the melting. I wonder if anyone knows how to do a sun dance?

2007-01-27T10:59:00.000-05:00

It's been some time since I had anything to write about on my blog, besides the new house and all the work that it involves. When it's winter up here, I all but hibernate and only come out when necessary.
This is a tough post for me. On Saturday I received a phone call from my uncle in Virginia. My grandparents also live there, and the call was to tell me that my grandfather was not doing well, and the doctors said that he wasn't going to be alive much longer. He had been in the hospital for several weeks and wasn't improving. I made some quick decisions, and decided to drive to Va. for a visit before it was too late. Ryan and I drove all day Sunday and arrived about 8:30 and my uncle came to meet us since I had never been to his house before. Monday morning. my grandmother, uncle and I made the trip to the hospital. I can't explain how hard it was to see my only grandfather in that bed, struggling to breathe. I held his hand and talked to him, the doctors seem to think that even though he couldn't respond, he could hear people and we should talk to him. I told him how much I loved him and that I would be back to see him. We were getting ready to leave and I reached up and stroked his cheek, and he turned his head slightly and opened his eyes and looked at me. Until then, he hadn't opened his eyes for over a week. I think that once he knew on Sunday that I was on my way down, he waited for me. We received the call Monday night that he had passed. Even as difficult as it is to know that he is gone, I was glad to have had the chance to see and touch him one more time. He was a wonderful person, kind, caring, loving, funny and always had time to spend with me. Whether it was in his workshop when I was small, pounding nails in an old board, or when I was older, showing me how to use the wood working equipment in his shop, making gifts for the family.
I couldn't have asked for a better grandfather.

2007-01-08T09:52:00.000-05:00

Winter in Maine, what can I say? The first time I ever set foot in this state was Thanksgiving in the mid 70's. Growing up in Virginia, we rarely had any snow that hung around, so we didn't do alot of sledding or ice skating. I lived on a dirt road and there were a few kids around that used to get together whenever mother nature saw fit to grace us with some snow that hung around long enough to haul out the sleds and wax up the runners. A small snowfall always meant a day off from school and it was an occasion to celebrate!
I moved up here with my mother, sister and stepfather(stepasshole, but that is another story). I, needless to say, had never seen sooooo much snow on the ground in all my life combined! I wondered how people could stand it for what seemed like 6 months out of the year. It took me many, many years to come to terms that if you live here, suck it up and keep moving. I am perpetually cold, my thermostat is set for tropical climes, umbrella drinks and hunky cabana boys. It has been tough for me to deal with the cold for such long periods of time.
This winter has been different from winters in the past. For one thing, until today, we have no snow on the ground. We have had very few days in the neighborhood of freezing. Saturday, we had some rain, but the temps have been up in the 50's or higher in many places. In my world, you couldn't ask for anything better. No snow, no long lasting mud season and not having to drive with idiots in four wheel drive vehicles that think they are invincible because of what they drive. I have a big ass truck with four wheel drive, but to this day, driving in the snow still terrifies me.
Anyway, yesterday, our campground group, which has grown to 5 couples, got together at the campground and had a fire and lunch. While the sun was out, and the fire was blazing, it was pleasant enough, but once the sun went down, it was time to pack up and head home. We had a great afternoon with lots of laughs and cocktails and reconnecting with people we don't see on a weekly basis right now. I truly think we have something rare, a group of people who enjoy each other's company so much that we have to see each other regularly. My life would truly be vacant if we ever had to give up our friends.
Things are progressing on the new house, not nearly fast enough for us, but wheels move slowly when it comes to banks. We are hoping to close at the end of the month and begin moving. I am both excited and dreading the work. We have lots of plans for decorating and such when we get there. I can hardly wait.

2007-01-03T09:55:00.000-05:00

Now that Christmas and New Year's is finally over, things can get back to normal. Normal for me is about as boring as things can get, but such is my life at the moment. We had our usual family get-together with Rodney's family at Roland's house on Christmas Eve day. Most of the day is spent stuffing our faces and sharing stories and just enjoying being together. Rodney and I shared our news that we have found a house and made an offer, and that our offer has been accepted. Christmas day was spent here at home, except for a visit to my mom's to see her and my grandmother. Since Grammie can't climb stairs anymore, it was easier for us to go to them. Mom bought me a Kitchen Aid mixer that I have been coveting for more years than I want to admit. Men just cannot appreciate just how awesome a mixer it is, I told them that it is the cadillac of mixers, but it just sails over their heads.
Our newest kitty, Miss Scarlett is adjusting to life at our house, and having to share all of us with two other kitties. They are all very jealous of time and attention spent with someone else, but we have plenty of attention for all. Miss Scarlett loves to sleep in bed with me and wake me up in the morning nibbling on my hair, fingers, and face, you name it. With the hairspray and mousse that goes into my hair every day, ewwww! Can't imagine wanting to chew on that!
A plan to get all of our group of campers together this Saturday in the works, courtesy of Randy, and the weather is supposed to cooperate and now I am anxious for the weekend. Next weekend is our birthday party for Randy. This year it will be held at George's house. Makes no difference to us where we meet, it's always a good time for all. Hopefully Chris and Nancy can make the trip this weekend, we haven't seen them since October.
Last weekend was spent doing some fixing up around the house in preparation of renting/selling this house once we move into our new one. Things that should have been done LONG ago, but we kept putting off, things like touch up painting and getting rid of the gross carpet in the hall. Things are going well and we will be done with everything soon. It's amazing what a coat of paint will improve or cover up. A trip to Home Depot or Lowes, or maybe even Mardens will get a new runner for the hall and the steps. It also means lunch or dinner out, and I never turn that down!

2006-12-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday and today have both been exciting days for us. Yesterday we finally found the house that we had been looking for to buy in Jay. It turns out that it is one that we drove by several times, but didn't ask to see it, why, I don't know. After touring the house yesterday, we discovered that it was just what we were looking for and quickly decided to make an offer. Charlotte typed an offer and submitted it and we found out today that the owners accepted it!!
Rodney and I are both so excited that things are happening so quickly! I didn't sleep last night and I doubt I will sleep tonight thinking about it. Now all the work will begin, all the packing and unpacking. We have been in this house for over 20 years, and do we ever have alot of shit!! It is a great time to go thru everything and make some donations to the free store.

2006-12-18T13:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was fun day! It was our annual get-together with our friends from the campground. As usual, we all met at Randy and Anita's house since they are pretty centrally located for all of us. There were 8 of us in attendance, Rodney and I, Randy and Anita, Nancy and George and Gary and Sheri. We all brought goodies to share and had a yankee swap. While we were noshing on appetizers, we had cocktails and told stories, you know the kind of thing. Nancy and George shared the news with everyone that they would be seasonal at the campground, since George bought Randy V.'s camper and liked the site that it was on. It will be great to have Nancy around more often this summer, we all missed her last year. George will fit right in with the rest of us, thankfully he has a good sense of humor (all important!). Our yankee swap was fun, and everyone managed to bring something different, and I was lucky enough to pick the number one, so that meant going first, and at the end, getting to have the pick of all the gifts at the end. I chose a box with two huge insulated mugs full of airline size bottles of booze (ALL GOOD!!!)
George thought he would be clever and swap his crystal dish for my booze, needless to say, he didn't have posession of that gift for long, the hooch was coming home with me!! We never fail to have a good time together, whether we are doing something, or just hanging around talking. You just don't get lucky enough to find such great friends and we are always thankful we have them all.
I still have not put up my tree and haven't wrapped a single gift. If I can get rid of Ryan this week one day, I will have the time to wrap. I still have things to make in the kitchen, and the cold weather is supposed to return tomorrow. Good day to stay in and bake.

2006-12-11T11:42:00.000-05:00

Another week closer to the chaos otherwise known as Christmas! With me not working, it has very easy for me to get shopping done, and now I have to work on all the goodies that the family has come to enjoy and expect for the holidays. Armed with my gift list, it was off to Auburn to do some shopping for my men. Chris and Ryan are certainly not as much fun to shop for as they were when they were small. Of course the price tags get bigger as the kids do, but thats fine. They are both great boys and I love to indulge them with things they wouldn't buy for themselves. I did pretty well on Wednesday, it's always easier to shop by myself, that way I can wander and backtrack if need be, and I'm not driving anyone crazy with wonder about my methods or madness. Rodney is a tool guy and it is fun to find cool tools that he doesn't have and I am anxious to surprise him with his gifts as well.
Saturday was another trip to Auburn for more shopping, this time with Rodney in tow. I offered to drive since he is frequently overtaken with road rage this time of year especially with all the traffic, and I thought it would be safer for me and all the other drivers. He drove, and did pretty well keeping his rage in check and didn't scare me like usual behind the wheel. That evening we met up with Gary, Sheri and Hannah, as well as Nancy and her new squeeze, George. We went to the Longhorn Steakhouse for the first time and had a great time at dinner, as we always do with such terrific friends. George is just getting to know us all, so he is fitting right in with us, and has a good sense of humor. Extremely important with our group, because we are all jokesters! The restaurant was nice, but I think I prefer Mac's Grill myself.
This Sunday is our annual get together with our campground group of friends. We all invade Randy and Anita's since they live in Lewiston and are pretty central to all of us. Lots of great food and a yankee swap are on the agenda. Should be a good time and I am looking forward to it.
I'd better get back in the kitchen and do some more baking before I lose the ambition and sit my ass down in front of the tv.

2006-12-07T05:55:00.000-05:00

This week, the proverbial axe has fallen. Not on me, nooo (for once), but instead on Ryan. Ryan has only had his driver's license for two years. He was stopped the first summer for speeding and paid the fine. He was just stopped early this year for criminal speeding and had a date with a judge. He tried to convince his father and I that the throttle stuck. Does he think we were born last night?! I owned that car and drove that car prior to Ryan driving it and there were no mechanical malfunctions of that sort when I had it. The only malfunction that car had was Ryan's foot planted to the floorboard. We convinced him not to go in front of the judge and spin his tail, and he finally listened and pled guilty. As he should. He paid his fine and thought all was done and over with. The state of Maine has really cracked down on new drivers and takes a tough love approach to them misbehaving behind the wheel. Having said that, Ryan received a letter from the secretary of stat this week telling him that he will lose his license for a month starting on the 15th. He came unglued, convinced that his life is now over. I reminded him that he knew that he needed to drive slower and that if he needed to go somewhere, that he has friends that will help him out. I will not be his taxi, nope, ain't doin' it. Yes, that sounds mean, but Ryan is one of those kids who has to learn the hard way. I drive fast myself. I love speed and I will be the first to admit it. I have never gotten a speeding ticket in all the years that I have been driving, and I have been very lucky. I expect someday will come for me, and I will pay the fine and shut my mouth and think about how many times that could have happened in the past.

2006-11-22T08:47:00.000-05:00

Today I just had to write about something that has been bothering me for a couple of days. I watched an episode of Dr. Phil (yeah, I know). Anyway, there were twin teenage girls who became addicted to drugs, namely heroin and crack and a smorgasbord of anything they could lay hands on. The usual story ensued about how they left home, were living on the streets, prostituting for drug money, the whole nine yards. I will spare the descriptions of the girls, I'm sure that you have the picture.
The part of the show that pissed me off is when he talked to the mother of the girls and it was the poor me show and claimed there was "nothing she could do"
That is the biggest load of bullshit I have ever heard. She admits to the doctor that she experimented with drugs and alcohol at the age of 13, and thought it was normal. Apparently her normal and my normal are different. She also admitted that she KNEW that they were doing drugs and alcohol. Her defense, and I use that term LOOSELY that she is a single parent, what was she supposed to do???
WTF!!!
Being involved in a childs life for starters. Knowing their friends, where they hang out. Having curfews (dirty word for most teenagers). SAYING NO, is a huge start. I made a commitment when I became a parent to bring my children up to be good people. I won't say that it was difficult at times, but we stayed the course, even though we were very unpopular parents more often than not. I knew my kids' friends and most of the parents. There were power wars for many years, and it was tough to do what we thought was the right thing to do.
The point to all this rambling on is that she was not called to the carpet and held accountable for the path her daughters took. I know that all kids are not going to follow the straight and narrow, but more of them would if only the parents cared enough to be involved. There are two words that I think are missing in this society. Responsibility and accountability. All kids make mistakes, but teach them to own up to what they have done and move on. Lesson learned. By no means are these words missing only from the vocabularies of teenagers. Many adults refuse to accept responsibility for their actions. It's always easier to blame someone else. It truly makes me sick.

2006-11-08T16:15:00.000-05:00

I usually refrain from being too political, but I have to share my thoughts on the whole situation. I have to admit to not voting yesterday. I am so disgusted with the political ads, the irritating phone calls and all the signs cluttering up our roads. My thoughts are that the only way I personally can vote, is to pick the lesser of the evils..how discouraging to me. Bill Clinton was actually on one of the recordings I received yesterday on the phone....like I would listen to any of the suggestions that he would make, be real. The only person that would listen to him is Monica Lewinsky. Enough said.

After reading Sheri's blog, she suggested that I too, answer the questions posed on her blog, so I will indulge her. The following may not be used to incriminate me in any way....

1. Explain what ended your last relationship.... I met Rodney

2. When was the last time you shaved? yesterday morn

3. Waht were you doing at 8 a.m.? checking out the voting results on the net

4. What were you doing 15minutes ago? chatting with Sheri and mixing a cocktail

5. Are you any good at math? not at all

6. What about your prom night? My last prom was with a guy who was legal to drink, so we went out to a nice restaurant and the whole nine yards, he dumped me a couple weeks later

7. Do you have any famous ancestors? not that I know of

8. Have youhad to take a loan out for school? not up until now

9. Do you know the words to the song on your myspace profile? I don't have one yet, but my son thinks I need one

10. Last thing you received in the mail? a card from my father-in-law

11. How many different beverages have you had today? coffee, diet pepsi, and a diet pepsi with bacardi

12. Do you ever leave messages on people's answering machines? only if it is important to talk to them

13.Who did you lose your concert virginity to? Foghat, and I was close enough to the stage to snag a piece of a sweaty towel they were throwing out at us

14. Do you draw your name in the sand at the beach? not usually

15. What is the most painful dental procedure you have had? a tooth pulled

16. What is out your back door? our small backyard and the neighbors

17. Any plans for Friday night? Christopher is coming home for a visit, but that's it

18. Do you like what the ocean does to your hair? love the ocean, hate the damage to my hair and skin

19. Have you ever received one of those big tins with 3 different kinds of popcorn? yeah, and Rodney usually eats it, he LOVES popcorn

20. Have you ever been to a plantetarium? yes, and it was fabulous!

21. Do you re-use your towels after showering? yep, I scrub real good

22. Some things you are excited about? the only thing that comes to mind is camping this spring and seeing our friends

23. What is your favorite Jello flavor? hmmmm.....raspberry with hot damn, orange with peach schnapps, cherry jello with chocolate schapps, that about sums it up

24.Describe your keychain. keys and a corona bottle opener, of course

25. The missing question.....I'll make one up...what is your favorite author?
I have several, Diana Gabaldon, Stephen King and Nora Roberts

26. Where do you keep your change? in a ceramic piggybank that used to belong to my dad, it's older than I am and I love it!

27. What kind of winter coat do you have? very, very warm ones...a black leather, a columbia 3-n-1 and one from LL Bean

28. What was the weather like on your graduation? sunny

29. Do you sleep with the door to your room open or closed? closed since I am in bed before everyone else and they talk loudly

30. Did you read this far? of course, how else would I know this question?

Now you know my deepest secrets...hope you can sleep tonight.

2006-11-06T11:28:00.000-05:00

All in all, it has been a quiet week, which was welcomed after the close call we had last weekend. We attended the BASS Federation Banquet Saturday night with Gary and Sheri. It's not what I would call a real good time, but the food is good, as well as the company. Happy Hour features an open bar, and who doesn't love that?! Sheri had some issues with her tickets for the chinese auction, mainly that she had about a hundred tickets all folded up like an accordian, set them down to get a drink, and they all fell on the floor, kind of like one of thoses snakes in a can. It was even funnier the second time!
Rodney's sister and her husband were here to visit her dad, and already the discussion turned to the holidays..how did this time of year get here so fast? We always have to decide where to hold the family get together and who is bringing what. You know the drill. They are already showing commercials with snow and christmas presents....ugh. There should be a law that only allows those commercials after turkey day, it won't happen, but it's a thought.

2006-10-29T04:58:00.000-05:00

2006-10-29T04:28:00.000-05:00

Disaster Averted
The campground called the house yesterday, and the minute that I saw the name on the caller I.D., I knew something bad happened. Marc and Lovia don't make a habit of calling off-season to chat. Marc was calling to tell us that one of the huge pine trees that separate our campsite from the road had split in half, with one half laying in the road, and the other about ready to land on our camper or Rodneys boat. Shit on both counts. While the boat is paid for, the camper isn't even a year old to us and we prize both of them.
The point of this post is that by the time that Rodney and Ryan and one of Ryan's friends dressed and drove to the campground, Marc had been at our site and was preparing to move our camper. He offered to help us, even though it really wasn't his problem. So little these days, do people care enough about other people that they are willing to "go the extra mile". I can't tell you just how lucky that we are to have the owners that we have and they are both willing to help out their seasonals however they can. It could be something as minor as stocking something at the store that you would like, or filling a propane tank that's empty and bringing it back to the camper for wimpy women like myself.
Anyway, disaster is averted, the camper is moved to the safety of the field, and the boat is out of harm's way as well. It just gives us more work to do this spring with having to level everything all over again, but it's better that than the other possibility.

2006-10-23T20:01:00.000-04:00

Hard to believe, but today we had our first snow of the season. It was only big, fat wet flakes, but the did end up accumulating on the ground for a little while.Way too soon for that stuff to be showing up.
I started my winter project a couple of days ago, an afghan for my camper, and spent almost as much time pulling out the crap I messed up, as I have making progress. Things decided to go my way with it most of the day today, but when I started screwing up big time, it was time to call it quits. The pattern isn't difficult, but I do need to pay attention, so tv has to be relegated to the background.
The search is on for land and a home to put on it. Saturday we spent all day looking at modulars and double wides, I couldn't keep them straight. We pretty much narrowed it down to two. The plan is to wait until spring, but I am getting pretty excited now. We have been in this house for almost 20 yrs. and it
is time for a change. Can hardly wait.

2006-10-21T05:54:00.000-04:00

While sitting at the computer this morning early, my mind started to wander and think about totally ridiculous things...like my absolute fear of spiders. Now, anyone that knows me, knows that my fear is HUGE!!!! In my mind, there is no
such thing as a "small" spider.....if you can see the damn thing, it's freakin' huge!
For years now, my family has teased me about this, deriving great pleasure in relating spider stories about me and my husband has even gone so far as to make me think that I had one of the things on me. I have always said that if I ever got one of those sneaky bastards in my hair, it would be all over....rubber room, here I come. Let's face it, I couldn't touch the thing to get it out.......eeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww!
It seems that no matter where I go, if there is a spider, it will search me out and stalk me. On Randy's boat last summer, after I pleaded with him to make sure that it was "spider-free" (yeah, right) and if you have been around the water at all, there are mutant spiders down there, the side of dinner plates. Sure enough, one came crawling out of it's hiding place, right towards me. A scream of untold proportions came out of my mouth as well as a new land speed record recorded on that boat, and I was in the front of that boat in milliseconds. Rodney knew instantly what was going on...... and always looks at the thing and says "aw, that's just a little one" (I can't put my thoughts here, I'm sure you know why)
Then there was the year that those things were especially bad and insisted on building a web in the basement door going out into the driveway on a daily basis. So every morning before going out to my truck, I would have to open said door slowly, and armed with a broom, swat the bastards so I could go out the door. One morning I was running late for work and forgot about the things and flew out the door and forgot to lock it. Turned around to reach inside to turn the lock and one came down to look me right in the eye. I damn near died!!
That night I told Rodney about my harrowing experience and sure enough, the next time we were leaving, he made sure that he was walking behind me and as I was walking thru the doorway, reached up and tapped me on the top of the head, making me think I had one in my hair. I screamed and ran and he stood there laughing his fucking ass off. AND, had to tell damn near everyone he knew, so they could laugh too. It's no wonder I drink......

2006-10-19T17:11:00.000-04:00

It has been a quiet week, partly because of the lousy weather and partly because I haven't felt the best. Just more of the usual crap that I have been dealing with for the past couple of years.
Anyway, after chatting with my friend Sheri, I have realized just how dumb I am when it comes to computers. Ryan seems to know what he is talking about and has built his own desktop unit, much to my surprise. She is working on jazzing up my blogspot, and I can use all the help that I can get!
Rodney has finished putting the new motor in the truck that he is going to buy, and says that it runs great. He is great with anything mechanical and I don't know what we would do without that knowledge. There have been times when I have had to take one of our vehicles to a new garage, and have had the mechanics there try to take advantage of me and get me to pay for unneeded repairs. It really does pay to have someone who you know on a personal basis and one you can trust. I guess it is like that with damn near anything, but we women (at least most of us) don't know about much under the hood of whatever we drive, so we are easily taken advantage of, and the guys know it.
Rodney's dad, Roland is in Florida visiting his last remaining brother for as long as he isn't bored, so I look forward to hearing about his trip. I'm sure he will be ready to come back before long, as he isn't one for the sunshine state. I will have to take him some of our leftovers and invite him for dinner like we have been doing since Dot passed away. He is always so happy to have something new to eat and it's good to be appreciated.

2006-10-13T12:40:00.000-04:00

Today I have to write and tell about my mom. She applied for a moose permit this year, and was one of the lucky ones to get one. She sets off with Dale, a friend of hers, and Fred, Dale's son-in-law on Monday. Tuesday, they headed out again and just as it was becoming daylight, they spotted a bull walking down an old logging road. Dale and mom shot, with Dale's shot going high and hitting the moose in his antler, crazy, huh? Needless to say that moose took off and they searched for it for about 6 hours and were unable to find it. They again went back to the same place and low and behold, that SAME moose was walking right towards them! No shit! Anyway, mom again fired at the moose, and this time she hit her mark, and down he went. Now thankfully, Fred is a logger and had a crane to pick up that moose and put it in the back of Dale's truck. When they went to tag the moose, they found out that it weighed in at around 800 lbs! She said that she was shaking all over for most of the day, I guess that I would have been too! After the moose is processed, I'm sure that she will end up with between 500-600 lbs of meat. Plenty to fill a couple of freezers...she had to go and buy one, just for the occasion.
Anyway, I'm pretty proud of my mom and she has a great story to tell around the campfire, if she ever has the occasion to be at one. Girls rule.

2006-10-10T11:50:00.000-04:00

Okay, after getting "talked to" by my campground neighbor Sheri, I will dedicate this post to her...here ya go girl!
After being away at camp for the most of the summer, my two babies, my kitties Tigger and Milo have gotten the fine art of the cold shoulder down to a science. I always look forward to seeing them when I have been away, and at first, that sentiment is not returned by them without much begging and pleading to be paid attention to by me. My cat, Tigger is a beautiful gray tiger cat and has more than his share of "cattitude". He is of the belief that he is in control of this house and makes sure that we are reminded of that daily. Milo, who is a yellow tiger is Rodney's cat and is very lovable and pleasantly plump ( fits in with the rest of the family). Milo tends to be very skittish, while Tigger is the cat that coined the phrase "curiosity killed the cat". He had our neighbors buying him cat treats last winter and feels that it is his duty to patrol the neighborhood and make sure all is well. I would love to have a couple more cats, but the man has said no more, although he loves them just as much as I do and is usually the first one that sees a new cat around the house and thinks it's stray and wants to feed it.
It's also rather a sad day today with having to clean out the camper and move most everything home. Winter won't be over soon enough for me. I so look forward to each weekend down there to reconnect with the great friends we have made over the last couple of years, and we all plan to keep in touch over the winter months, if we didn't I would miss them all too much.

2006-09-05T09:11:00.000-04:00

Ahhhh.....blogger finally allowed me back into its graces after turning me away for several days. Anyway, camp was fun this weekend, and usually is. We have got some really great friends, both old and new and we always have a great time when we are together. Last weekend was the last "busy" weekend of the year and things will start to wind down until closing.
Where did the summer go? Rodney and I spent more time down there this year than ever before, and it's already Sept. I'm not ready to give up spending the weekends in my camper and seeing friends. The owners, Marc and Lovia are really great about letting us in at anytime to check out our campers all winter. Last year a group of us met down there on one of those awesome sunny and warm days in February and we had a cook-out and snowball fight. What fun!

2006-08-16T13:53:00.000-04:00

Today is my day to spend some time at home and check on the ol' homestead. Since Rodney and I are spending most of our time at camp, that leaves Ryan, Bailey and the two kitties holding down the fort, so to speak. So far, I have yet to come home and find a disaster area, good thing.
Went down to my father-in-law's house to meet his friend from Florida, and she seems nice. They are coming down to camp on Saturday for a cook-out and hopefully get to know each other a little more. I am still not convinced as yet, that her motives are as pure as Roland claims. The jury is still out on that one.
We have had good reviews on our slushpuppy/adult beverage machine. It freezes the drinks in only about 20, and it is pure delight when they are done. No chunks of ice like you would get with a blender, like we resorted to last year. We damn near wore out a blender with all the pina coladas that we drank last year. Last weekend was strawberry daquiris and they were delish!

2006-08-09T07:12:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Sheri and her sister Sue for making me welcome my first day out. I'm glad to hear that Sue had a good time at our campground and hopefully sometime this summer she will get the chance to try out our drink machine herself. Consider yourself invited.
Just this morning I was thinking about my day and the pitfalls that I will have to encounter while doing my chores, which involve the ever dreaded shopping. It doesn't seem to matter what time I set out to shop, I always have to deal with inconsiderate people who stand in the aisle to chat, or leave their basket completely blocking my way...what gives? It seems to take twice as long as it ought to take just having to deal with these things. Another thing that is always fun to deal with are the people who insist on using the express lane with more than the allowed number of items....do they not know how to count, or are they just that special? Now, this is just a guess, but they must be special. Would be way too embarrasing to admit the inability to count.
Anyway, today is my day to get things together to head down to the campground for the weekend. It is so great during the week, peaceful and quiet with only seasonal people there for the most part. Rodney has a bass fishing club tournament on Friday night (stupid idea if you ask me, but no one asked).They plan to fish from 9pm Friday until 5am on Saturday. Ha! That means I get the bed by myself....woohoo!!
TTFN (ta-ta for now)

2006-08-08T16:14:00.000-04:00

Hello all.....
Yep, I have finally gotten on the bandwagon and joined the computer age. Took me long enough, didn't it.
Anyway, here are my ramblings for what they are worth, hopefully they are worth a couple of chuckles now and then.
Our family are avid campers and have a seasonal campsite at a great campground in Maine. This is our third year doing this and we are finally feeling like family. Our two sons don't spend much time with us while we are at camp as they must feel like they have their own lives and forget about their parents. That is until trouble strikes and they are on the phone! This last fall my husband finally talked me into buying a new camper with a slide in the livingroom...how did I
EVER live without one all these years?!
The campground has some really terrific people that we have come to know well and we have great fun getting together to eat, have campfire and the most important part of camping....drink!!
We have recently been able to buy a slushpuppie machine and it is now taking residence at our campsite. Are we ever popular now!
Not that we weren't before, mind you...
We are having great fun experimenting with what will work and I can tell you without fail that we have made some outstanding pina coladas! Rodney(my husband) wants to have strawberry daquiries this weekend, so on with the experiments. It's a good thing that all our friends live within walking distance.....