Saturday Centus #13

It's Saturday Centus again - in a nutshell, Jenny Matlock gives us a prompt from either herself or a guest submitter and then we have to write 100 or words less related to the prompt (the prompt doesn't count toward the 100 words)  Then link it up to her blog.  It's open until the following Saturday, so that means you have all week to participate by either reading or writing a Centus. http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/07/saturday-centus-thats-why-it-meant-so.html  The prompt is in bold..

"Harry, have you been cleaning again? I'm going to visit Nancy tonight and I wanted to wear my old high school sweatshirt". 

 

"Oops, it looked raggedy.  I put it in the garage". 

 

"Harry you don't understand" . "Nancy and I had such good times in high school" and she started to cry. 

"That's why it meant so much to me and I saved it all these years.  Nancy's close to the end and I thought it might bring her some comfort".

 

Harry went to the garage and found the sweatshirt.  "Thanks, Harry.  I think it's going to bring me as much comfort as it will her".

Friday random thoughts

1.  Is anyone watching Big Brother, the Reality Show?  I am half heartedly watching it this year but I don't know if I'll make it through the whole thing.  These people aren't thrilling me much.

 

2.  Corky got groomed last week.  His skin has gotten so much better since I've been giving him vitamins. No  more dandruff.  They did brush his teeth and he's got a lot of tartar.  We're thinking about buying a thing to put on your finger and maybe try to brush his teeth Yuck!! 

 

3.  On Wordless Wednesday, I bought that in a catalog years ago.   I have it  on top of my clothes dryer.  It holds coins when you empty pockets before throwing pants in the washing machine.  You see the slit in the top.

 

4.  Wednesday was Dinner Friends.  The birthday girl turned 65.  We went to a fun place.  It was a micro brewery.  If you want you can make an appointment to make beer and then come up with a label for it.  I had a pulled pork sandwich, salad and one glass of wine (I don't care for beer).  For some reason,  I was clumsy.  My salad dressing was on the side and I don't know how but it spilled all over my capri's, table and the floor.  It was a balsamic vinaigrette so I had to run to the bathroom to try to clean it off.  I think it will be okay but I'll have to wait until I wash my capri's.  Also, I spilled a glass of water on the table.  I wasn't drunk, I didn't even have the whole glass of wine yet, ha. 

 

5. Last month the place the Dinner Friends went to eat was a place that my friend (matron of honor) and I had been to months ago.  I didn't realize it though until we got to the restaurant.  Then the brewery that we just ate at was two doors down from a bakery outlet that her and I had gone to before we went to that restaurant on that same day.  I haven't spoken to her for a while.  I wonder if this is a sign that I need to get in touch with her or if it's just a coincidence.  hmm

 

6.  Yesterday was my annual gynecological exam. Fun times!! I had to laugh when the girl took me to the room, we were both talking about how much we hate these visits ;-).   Then I had to fess up to the doc that I haven't been taking my Fosamax regularly.  It was time for my bone density test as well, so I had it done while I was there.  Luckily, I added a small amount of bone to one hip and lost a small amount in the other. Next thing is to go for my mammogram which is always a little nerve wracking.

 

7.  I got some bad-good news when I got home.  My son is done with doing the Census which isn't good - because no job again but is good - because it looks like he'll be home for the family picnic.  I will be so HAPPY to see him since we haven't seen him since January.  

 

8.  I don't know about everyone else but I'm ready for fall.  It's just been too hot this summer ;-)

 

Alphabe-Thursday Colors

For Alphabe-Thursday's summer school the color is red.  I chose to look for things around my house that were the color red.  I was surprised.   I like red but I guess not so much when it comes to decorating. 

Cherry Tomatoes

Mom's magnets that are on my fridge

Campbell's little soup bowl with cover.  I have two

A cooler

One of hippies many red tool boxes

This is a picture of roses that are on  a plastic cover for the electric roaster.

When your done here check out what others came with for the color red on Jenny's blog.  I'm interested to see what everyone decided to do.  http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/07/alphabe-thursdays-rainbow-summer-school.html

Wordless Wednesday

Hippie

 I think I'm back, at least for now ;-)

I decided to use my husband's nickname from now on that he got from work, it's hippie.  I really don't like saying husband all the time.

I think I might have mentioned when he first started his job, he was drafted into the Army and went to Vietnam.  When he did his time in the army,  his company held his job for him.  Now, I know there are a lot of people that don't like unions and bailed out companies but he worked for GM and was a skilled UAW worker.  I'm also very proud of the fact that my husband worked for GM for 43 years.  Now that we got that out of the way...

Most people that worked there had nicknames.  In fact, most of the people there that was the only name he knew them by.  Sometimes he would come home and talk about someone and I wondered how the heck they got that nickname lol.

When he first got the nickname, his hair wasn't very long but that's what they called him.  Little did they know he would take it to heart.

When I first met my husband, he had hair a little above his shoulders, a mustache and long sideburns. One time when he got a trim, my Mom told him he looked like Prince Valiant, ha.   After that he grew it longer until it went in a ponytail and stopped shaving completely.  Once when our son was little, he cut his hair and gave it to Locks for Love.  He kept it short for about a year and then grew it long again. 

Until this day, I've never seen my husbands whole face and besides that one time, he had his hair short for that year, he's always looked like a hippie lol.

So, when you see the word hippie you'll know who I'm talking about. 

Dear Water Company

It's now been a little over 3 months since you read Mom's meter for the final reading and still no bill.  I've called 3 times  and you say it's in billing.  I'm debating whether it will do any good to call again.  Over the weekend, I've been looking online and see there are many complaints like mine, not getting final water bills.  Some people have been waiting 2 and 3 years for theirs.  It makes me think what hope do I have with hers being only 3 months since the final reading.

I understand you are trying to put in a new system to rectify some of these issues but when someone calls why can't you flag that account and get the bill out immediately.  It doesn't seem like that would be hard.  I can only imagine the thousands of dollars that are owed the City of Cleveland that they are not collecting.  It's not like this hasn't been reported in the newspaper and on TV.  WAKE UP, there are people that don't pay their bills and here you have people that are pleading to pay their bill and can't get one.  UGH!!

And another thing, the last time I called, I had them change the spelling of our last name on our water bill that has been wrong all these years.  What happened, when we got our water bill last month it was still incorrect which leads me to believe although I talked to a person it must have gone in one ear and out the other.

Needless to say, the Water Company is not very high on my list of businesses I would choose to have but what choice do I have since it's the only game in town. 

In closing,  I'm getting frustrated waiting for this bill so I can get Mom's money out of escrow but I'm not as frustrated as those poor souls that have been waiting for 2 or 3 years.  I'm going to give you some more time only because I have a feeling I'm going to hear the same thing, "It's in billing". 


 

Saturday Centus #12

It's Saturday Centus again - in a nutshell, Jenny Matlock gives us a prompt from either herself or a guest submitter and then we have to write 100 or words less related to the prompt (the prompt doesn't count toward the 100 words)  Then link it up to her blog.  It's open until the following Saturday, so that means you have all week to participate by either reading or writing a Centus.  http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/search/label/Saturday%20Centus



The prompt is in bold. 

Driving six hours is a long time on the road. Six hours spent singing car-aoke and taking in the picturesque scenery, but mostly reminiscing about the good times. But those days were long gone and my mind was in a different place now. Or was it? My pulse quickened as I passed the road sign which read "Medford 27 miles." 

"Are we there yet" my son said for the millionth time".  " Not much longer and we'll be at your grandparents".  Then I'll be free and can visit some friends while they spoil you rotten, I thought.

We barely were in the driveway and they came running to get him and said, "Julie called and she's waiting on you at Monster's.  Go, have fun ". 

As I pulled into the parking lot, I could see Julie and other friends. As I started walking towards them I could hear the music and started dancing and yelled "Let's get this party started".



***
I wasn't real happy with my writing this time but I think that's part of the learning process.  lol

Alphabe-Thursday

This was a post I had originally written for the letter P.  Then I thought for sure PJ would do it for her Alphabe-Thursday since she always had such warm and fuzzy feelings for that last guy on her Alphabe-Thursday posts, ha!!  That's what I get for thinking LOL.  So at the last minute,  I came up with my PTA post instead.  Since I still had this one, I thought I would use it for today ;-)  I see PJ did all her Limbaugh posts but this is really different anyhow, ha,ha.

For Alphabet-Soup week here was my original  P post.   I chose one of my pet peeves PUNDITS.

I really think since pundits came on the scene,  they have really played with peoples minds.  No matter what your political persuasion is, you have to take everything pundits say with a plethora of salt.

Some pundits that I won't name, I can only stand to listen to for so long.  I just don't have the patience sometimes to listen to their predictable, paranoia predictions.  

Most of the pundits aren't any smarter than regular people.  People want the truth and don't want a version of the truth that they seem to promote depending on what side they are on.  

I always laugh when pundits paint Celebrities/Hollywood stars as pitiful for speaking up for things they believe in.  Like pundits have all the answers.  I'm also not saying they do but neither do pundits.  Funny thing is when Celebrities/Hollywood stars agree with them all of a sudden they are pleased LOL.  

So, my hope is when people listen to pundits they are very prudent.   That they are not  passive and are picky to find out the truth. 


Go over to Jenny's and see what other people used for this Alphabe-Thursday it should be very interesting..http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/

Wordless Wednesday - Nursing Home Courtyard

Saturday Centus #11

This is the weekly Saturday Centus at Jenny Matlock's.  There's a prompt and then we have to come up with 100 words or less not counting the prompt. The prompt has to be left intact but can be put anywhere in the writing. It's from Saturday to Saturday so there's a lot of time to think up your 100 words or less, so I hope besides reading you will participate.  It's a whole lot of fun. Check it out here. http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/07/saturday-centus-week-11.html



The prompt is in bold.

Somewhere over the rainbow...  sing it Judy, Glinda thought, as she heard the rain and wind howling outside.

From the time she was a little girl she couldn't resist watching The Wizard of Oz whenever it came on.  Just when her favorite part where it turns to color comes, everything in her home went black.  

Laying on the sofa, she could see in her mind Dorothy, the scarecrow, tin man and the lion skipping  and she started singing loudly,  "Follow the yellow brick road" as her little dog barked.  "Okay, I get it, I'm no Judy Garland but your no Toto" and she laughed. 

Alphabe-Thursday

For the letter Z, I chose zero, zilch skills because that's what I'd say my Mom and me had when it came to fixing my hair for school pictures.  

Exhibit A - Mom fixing my hair - Actually except for the bangs being rather short this isn't too bad.

Exhibit B - What was mom thinking?  Looks kind of zany to me.

Exhibit C -  Again Mom fixed my hair.  If this whole hairdo doesn't scream zigzag, I don't know what does.

Exhibit D - Unfortunately, this was probably all my doing, ha.  I look a little zozzled here but I'm not.

P.S.  I think there must have been something on my scanner that I have that big black mark on my face, trust me I wasn't trying to me an old time movie star, ha, ha, ha. 

Thank goodness Alphabe-Thursday is done for now, I think I've embarrassed myself quite enough.  Alphabe-Thursday seemed to just grow and grow which is a testament to the teacher's fun idea.

Now, go over to see what others came up with for the letter Z   http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/  
I'm posting this a little early so alphabe-thursday won't be up until around 9 p.m. or so

Front flower bed

Saturday Centus Shake up

This is Saturday Centus turned upside down.  This week we have to come up with 200 words or less in a Harlequin Romance genre.  Since I've never read any, I'm sure mine isn't correct but it is a little romantic, ha.  So go over to Jenny's and I'm sure you'll find better ones lol.  Saturday Centus. http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/07/saturday-centus-shake-up.html

 

When I turned around I was startled to meet a green eyed gaze..." from Nurse Busy Body.

 

"Where are you going Mr. Smith". 

 

"Uh, I'm going for a little walk with Emily". 

 

"Okay, but it's almost time for lights out". 

 

Mr. Smith went down a couple of rooms and picked up Emily.  "Fred, you were a little late tonight", Emily said.  "I know Nurse Busy Body was watching me.  She said lights out pretty soon.  I told her we were going for a walk".  "That's okay, Fred.  She'll be going on her break soon and I'll slip into your room.  We've outsmarted her before and we can do it again". 

 

They took one walk around the whole nursing home and Fred dropped Emily back at her room.  As he was going to his room he heard, "Good night Mr. Smith".  That Busy Body, he thought,  as he closed his door.

 

A half hour later, his door quietly opened and Emily came towards him.  "Are you ready, Freddie" Emily chuckled.     

 

Fred got up from his bed "You look beautiful tonight just like a goddess.  Okay, what do you want to play scrabble or poker".   "I have a new game", Emily said and she turned the lights off.  

Friday random thoughts

1. I decided I'm taking a blogging break.   I'm struggling more and more to come up with stuff to write.  It's been a pretty uneventful summer overall (which is good for me) but not so much for blogging.

2.  I've become obsessed with Mary from Saturday Centus.  I think I might need an intervention, ha.  After last Saturday's Centus I've written 9 or so pages about Mary and her life and there's more in my head.  Obviously, I can't use her anymore for Centus.  I would have enough words right now for over a year, ha. I hope no one will be upset that I'm ending her on Centus.  In fact, I probably got obsessed with her because I got so many nice compliments about her.

3. I will probably still do Centus minus Mary, and finish up Alphabe-Thursday next week.  Like I usually say if anything earth shattering happens I'll post it or if I take any blog worthy pictures.

4. I'm way behind in reading blogs.  I've got more than over 400 posts in my google reader. Ugh!   Even though I won't be posting regularly, I'll still be reading and commenting.

In other not so whining random thoughts:

5.  We'll be eating our first cucumber pretty soon it's almost ready.  Can't wait.

6.  There's something so wrong about the fact that Ringo Starr turned 70 on Wednesday.  I don't know about him but it makes me want to sing "Help". 

7.  Since I'm going to take a break, I think I'm finally going to bite the bullet and get a new computer.  Who knows if I do, how long it will take me to figure out how to work it, ha.

8.  I have a lot of other things I want to catch up with around here too.

9.  After "witnessing" the spectacle that was "the decision"  from "the chosen one" or "King James", I do have a few things to say but not for a while.  Eventually I will "rise up" and post it. 

10.  See ya' later. 

Alphabe-Thursday

I had another hard time with Y this week.  So I chose for the letter Y, Yellowstone National Park.

When we got married, we decided to drive to California and see the sites a long the way for our honeymoon.  While it seemed like a good idea at the time, it really didn't give us a whole lot of time to see many things.  One place we did stop was Yellowstone National Park to see Old Faithful.  Here are a couple of pictures we took.

As long as I had the honeymoon pictures here are few more that we took along the way..

This is called the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Of course this is Mt. Rushmore

I was to the Hearst Castle before but there is so much to see and my husband had never seen it.  Here's a picture of the outdoor pool.  A must see place I think if you're ever in California.  It is decadence personified but so much fun to look at.  You could take a vacation just to go see this place because there is so much to see. 

This last one is one of the animals we saw at the San Diego Zoo.  I had been here too before but I never saw then or since such a beautiful zoo.

These are just some of the places we visited.  We only took 2 weeks so we didn't stay any one place very long.

Go on to Jenny's and see what others have come up with their Y post.  Only Z left and we'll be done with Alphabe-Thursday for now.  http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2010/07/alphabe-thursday-y.html

One of these things is not like the others

Usually we have a couple of flower pots that my husband buys flowers and plants them.  One for the back porch and one for the front.  This year he only did one for the back.  He  bought 4 purple petunias.  At first I thought one flower that was coming up was a freak.  Then I realized it wasn't.  There must have been a red one mixed in with the purple.    They look kind of battered but  this was taken after the big storm. 

Little Italy

We have a place in Cleveland called "Little Italy".  There are Italian restaurants, bakeries and stores.    One time we went with friends for dinner. After dinner,  we stopped at the bakery for donuts. Yummy!!  Then I saw this little trinket box  from Italy and had to have it.  .

Saturday Centus #9

Today is Saturday Centus which we are given a prompt and then have to write 100 words relating to the prompt.  It's from Jenny Matlock's blog. My prompt is in bold.   We have all week to write it from Saturday to Saturday.  Then post a link on her blog.  Go over and read them there are some fantastic writers over there and creative ways people are going about the prompts each week.  Check it out.  Click here Saturday Centus

For a  few weeks I have been writing about the same character named Mary.  I don't know what travails Mary has been through but I'm trying to figure it out.  If you want to catch up go here


Part 1 
Part 2
Part 3

Week 9

Mary only got as far as the living room when she fell to her knees and started weeping.

With a heavy heart, Johnny knew Mary blamed herself for their parents deaths.  If only she would have traveled this past Christmas home instead of their parents traveling to see her.  If only that truck driver hadn't fallen asleep.

"Are you sure that's the one you want?"



I felt a little lump in my throat as I peered down at my choice, held tightly in my hand. I didn't think this would be so nerve-wracking. Was I making the wrong decision? I couldn't agonize over this any longer.



I took a deep breath before managing to say, "... Yes, it is."

 

When I got back, I could still hear Mary crying and thought, baby sister, why don't you want anyone to know your here.  I don't understand.

I put the guardian angel on the rocker on the front porch and left.

Friday random thoughts

1.  I think we have a cat family living not too far from our home.  I saw a cat and two little ones the other day coming from the front flower bed.  When I mentioned it to my husband he said some cats have been using it for their litter box.  Yuck, for him when he has to weed.  Any suggestions? 

2.  I don't think I mentioned that I started taking mom's laundry home.  I was having problems and I started doing it about a month or so ago.  She has a lot of things so I only have to do it once a week.  Over the weekend, I brought it home and there was a towel in there when I opened it up it was all filled with hair.  Ewwww.  I noticed that day the roommate had her haircut.  I thought she went to the beauty parlor, apparently not.  At first I bagged it all up and was going to take it to the nursing home but by Monday I decided that would be petty, ha.   When we went,  I talked to the nurse and asked her where she got her haircut and told her what I found.    Apparently, someone cut it in her room.  Even though it is technically a garbage can it is used for her laundry.  I had to write on the top "For Laundry Only".  You would have thought they would have seen clothes in it. Ugh!!   Guess not.

3.  Since Tuesday it's been in the high 60's and low 70's with no humidity, and in the 50's at night.  It's like a little bit of heaven.  Unfortunately  that's about to change back to hot weather again.  But it was nice while it lasted.

4.  I  can't believe it's going to be the 4th of July already.  Could this year be going by any faster.

5.  Wednesday we got our first green beans.  There weren't a lot but I cooked them and they were yummy!

6.  I've got 1 more dish cloth to go and I'm done with my Christmas knitting.  (if this applies to you, pretend you didn't read this, ha)

7.  I was shocked that so many people knew XYZ.  Where have my husband and I been all these years.

8.  Debbie said voting ends on July 3rd, so there's still time to vote http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=8231&promo_id=1

9.  I'll be doing Saturday Centus and catching up with my blog reading over the holiday.  Unless something earth shattering happens, I'll be back on Tuesday.  Have a good holiday weekend everyone.  Be careful out there if your around fireworks.