Birthday Lights?

I just got back from running up to the corner to get my Powerball tickets for tonight's $170 million jackpot (somebody's got to win - it might as well be me) and I spotted an interesting sight on my way back down the street. On a side street, I noticed that someone had lights up on their house. Yes, lights. Lights as in Christmas lights. they were all around the roof, carport, and railings on the house. I couldn't tell much about the colors, but I did notice white lights. There were cars behind me so I couldn't slow down to get a closer look, and I guess I wasn't all that interested or else I would have turned around and drove back by the house to get a closer look. I told Mom that maybe they were Halloween lights, and she suggested that maybe they were birthday lights. Birthday lights. I like that idea. I told her that next September, I was going to put up lights on the house in honor of her birthday. But then I thought "Why wait till next year?" Her birthday was just last week. If I have some energy tomorrow night after work, I think I just might put up some of our lights on the front of the house in honor of Mom's birthday a week late. I can't think of a better way to celebrate.

Effed Up Quote Of The Week

This edition of Effed Up Quote Of The Week comes to us courtesy of my sweet mother. Before we go any further let me say for the record the quote is effed up because it is true. That having been said, here it is:

Background first. Last week, Mom had to go up to the courthouse to get her driver's license renewed. When she got home, she showed it to me, and I commented on how she didn't smile in the picture. She said (and I quote):

"When the police pull you over, you won't be smiling, either."

Nuff said, Mom. Nuff said.

First Day Back At Work Update

This was my first day back at work after a coughing-filled vacation week, and guess what? I'm still coughing!!! And I'm incredibly tired. So tired that I could not keep my eyes open this afternoon at work. But I have the cure-all Z-pack on the way, and hopefully that will help. But for the record, let me just say that I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. I'd write more right now but I'm going to go take a nap. I'll keep you posted.

Link Of The Week

It's that time of the year, faithful readers - this is already week three of the NFL season, and that can only mean one thing -- it's time for the annual Chunky Soup "Clicks For Cans" project. The good folks at Campbells are once again helping out food banks across the country. All you have to do is visit http://www.chunky.com/ClickForCansLanding.aspx every day until the end of the NFL season and vote for your favorite team. Campbell's Chunky soup and the NFL will donate 1,000 cans to each of the 32 NFL teams. At the end of the season, the top 4 teams in each of the AFC and NFC with the most votes will go to the "playoffs" and you will get to vote for your favorite. The AFC and NFC champs get an additional 12,000 cans a piece to their local food bank. The overall champ gets 5,000 cans on top of that—for a total of 18,000 cans of soup for their local Feeding America food bank. So please put this in your favorites and vote for your favorite NFL team every day. It's all for a good cause.

I Should Have Listened

Some interesting, er, ironic, things happened to me today. On one, I should have seen it coming; on another, it came at me totally from left field. They are both connected, however. First of all, I was betrayed by a so-called friend - a coworker that I'd been pretty good friend with for the twelve or so years she's been at my company. I should have seen this one coming, but I was giving her benefit of a doubt; Mom and Diva Stacy both warned me a few weeks ago that it would happen. But I stupidly let my guard down and ended up with a knife in my back. And let me tell you it didn't feel real good. But lesson learned; it will not happen again. The second interesting/ironic thing that happened to me today was that a coworker/friend that had hurt me a month ago stepped up and showed concern and compassion and was the one that told me about the betrayal. She'd found out about it this week while I was off from work, and called me today to warn me about it. During our conversation, she told me how sorry she was for hurting me, and I truly believe she was sincere. I told her I forgave her, and honestly, compared to the big betrayal it was pretty insignificant, but I reminded her that it did hurt me nonetheless. But I digress. She said that I have been nothing but kind and sweet to everybody, and did not deserve it. Well, I couldn't agree with you more on that one. Needless to say, there's been quite a bit to digest today. I've mapped out strategies for dealing with the betrayal, without resorting to retaliation, and I'm going to go to work Monday [hopefully if I'm well enough] with my head held high and will handle it. I'll keep you posted.

Vacation Fun Continues

Today was the last official day of my vacation week, and I'm still sick. Not as sick as I was early- or mid-week, but still noticably sick. In fact, I'm sick of being sick. I haven't felt like doing anything - it was rare that I didn't post yesterday. But I just did not feel like it. I'm hoping to be over this cold/sinus infection/upper respitory infection/H1N1 or whatever you want to call it soon. Thanks for being patient with me, faithful readers. I promise to be back up to my usual literary level soon.

Happy Birthday, Mom

TWIT would like to wish my mother a very happy 75th birthday today. Now, now - she doesn't mind at all telling her age. And if you were to see her you would swear she was in her 60's. She says it's the Indian genes that keeps her so youthful. Well, we'll see if those genes were passed on to me in 20 or 30 years.

Happy birthday, Mom. I love my "Mother Love" very much.

Mullet Watch

We interrupt the exciting Vacation Week Updates to bring you a mullet sighting. This mullet was spotted by our #1 mullet watcher, JMc. Here's his report:

It’s been a long tough season in mullet spotting, but thanks to the cross country meet yesterday for the little guy I finally found one.

It was perched on a man in his late forties, thinning a little but no scalp showing yet. The flap was beyond the collar about an inch and wavy. Dirty blonde in color and sweaty.

Mullet count: 20

Vacation Fun Continues

This was the first official day of my vacation and I spent it either on the couch on in bed resting and still trying to get over this stupid cold. I felt so bad today I didn't even watch my beloved "AMC" and instead let it be recorded. I'm going to venture to the bathtub shortly, thinking that a nice hot bath might help. Anyhoo, it sucks to be sick. But it sucks even more to be sick on your week off from work.

Link Of The Week

When I got my iPod a few years ago, I spent months trying to find the best free software to download so I could download videos and convert them to the format for my iPod. I found one, and even though I had to pay a few bucks for it, it worked great and got the job done. Just this week I found a site that has software that will do the same thing, except it's free. I downloaded it to test it out and it works great. You can check it out for yourself at http://www.d0wnl0ader.com/. You can download videos and convert them to different foremats. You can even download and convert videos for your cell phone. Give them a try.

Sick Saturday

Well, faithful readers, as my luck would have it, on the first day of my vacation, I get sick. Actually, it started coming on a couple of days ago with a slight headache and annoying cough. Early this morning it was a full blown cough. I didn't sleep much last night, and have been taking cold medicine and laying around today, so I am hoping and praying for a speedy recovery so I can actually enjoy my time off next week. So please say a prayer for a quick recovery for yours truly. I sure would appreciate it.

Flashback Friday

I have to admit that one of my favorite TV shows right now is "Mr. Ed." Yes, I know that it's an old show, but it's still one of my favorite show right now. I watch it every morning while getting ready for work, and as soon as I get to work, I email or call a co-worker upstairs who also watches it every morning so we can discuss the morning's episode. Without a doubt, one of our favorites parts of the show is when Mr. Ed is reading and is wearing his cool reading glasses. I often wonder if Mr. Ed had to have bi-focals, or if he got his readers at the drugstore like I did.

Happy Birthday, Constitution

TWIT would like to wish a very happy birthday to the United States Constitution. On this day back in 1787 the U.S. Constitution was signed in Philadelphia, and the rest, they say, is history. The Constitution consists of a preamble, seven articles and 27 amendments that have been adopted. As a gun owner, I am especially fond of the Second Amendment, which is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects a right to keep and bear arms from infringement by the federal government, including federal enclaves and Washington, DC.

Effed Up Quote Of The Week

Today, we start a new recurring feature in TWIT - a little something I will call the "Effed Up Quote Of The Week." It will be - yes, you guessed it - a quote that I've overheard that is just totally effed up.

The inaugural Effed Up Quote comes from an email that a co-worker received today from someone within the company. To give you you the background so it will make more sense, the speaker of the quote cancelled an order for a big item that my co-worker schedules, and they didn't let them know they cancelled the order, so my co-worker had the people out in the factory build this big item. My co-worker called them out on it and they sent an email consisiting of one sentence, and I quote:

"I didn't notify you because I didn't think anyone would notice."

Anybody Got Any Motrin?

I've had a headache since before lunch today and it just will not go away. I've taken pain relief medication to no avail; it didn't even phase it. It's not as bad as it was earlier in the afternoon but it is still just annoying. I rode 7 miles after work with the annoying headache, and no amount of pedaling and exercising got rid of it. I had supper and a glass of iced tea, but the caffeine in the tea didn't help, either. I'm pretty sure it's stress right now. I'm nerved up over a possible job change at work, and nerved up over being a bit behind in my school work, too. Thank the Lord I'm on vacation next week - that's about all I can say.

Link Of The Week

TWIT brings you the very popular Link of the Week one day late. But better late than never, I always say. Well, I don't always say it, but you know what I mean.



A friend sent this link to me this week, and as soon as I checked it out, I knew I had to share with you, my faithful readers, in hopes that you will share it with your friends and family. It's simply called Wireless Amber Alerts. Just give them your cell phone number, choose up to five different zip codes and you will get a text when an Amber Alert is issued for a missing child in that zip code. Please sign up if you have text messaging on your phone. It could be one of the most important text messages you get. Who knows? Maybe someone getting one of these Amber Alert text messages could be the person to bring a child safely back home. Visit http://www/wirelessamberalerts.org and sign up today.

Way To Go, Bats

We interrupt this week's Link Of The Week to say way to go Bats for winning the International League's Western Division two years in a row. Unfortunately they lost the playoff series 3 games to 2, but I am still very proud of them. And the city of Louisville should be proud of them as well. Game after game they bring in the crowds down at Slugger Field. It's the closest thing we have to any professional team.

I'm already looking forward to April when the next season starts. And I can't wait to see what players will come back and what players have moved on to the Reds.

TWIT's Winter Predictions

Sometime within the next few weeks here in Louisville, our Curious Journal newspaper will publish an annual artical with predictions for the coming winter. These are based on quasi-scientific methods by Dick Frymire down in Irvington, who predicts the weather based on information he gathers from his Japanese maple tree and his rooster. There will also be predictions from people that study wooly worms, persimmon seeds, and other things. Based on things I've personally seen and experienced in the past few weeks, I will give TWIT's winter prediction: it's going to be a long, cold winter. I studied the coats of various animals that live near the compound and after talking with their owners, I found out that they all started getting their winter coats very early this year. Why, that in itself is enough to tell it's going to be a bad winter. It's also been extremely foggy the past couple of months. Local weather watchers say that if you count the number of foggy mornings in a certain time period, that will tell you how many snows we will have. Unfortunately I don't know the time period, but I do know that the mornings this summer and early fall have been unusually foggy. And just today I saw another oddity that I believe to be a sign of a bad winter. While riding my bike this morning I saw acorns almost as big as ping pong balls. I even brought a couple home to show the 'Rents just so they wouldn't think I was exaggerating. As soon as Mr. Frymire's predictions are in the newspaper, I'll post them here. In any case, winter is coming. Bring it on.

Flashback Friday

Welcome, New Neighbors

TWIT would like to welcome our new neighbors, T & D, to the neighborhood. They officially moved into the house across the street this week after a major overhaul on their house and built-in pool. They are a very cool couple - and even their little dog, Harley, is cool. T is retired, and watches their 3 year old grandson a few days during the week. T and the grandson came across the street to visit with the 'Rents today, and the grandson proudly started counting in Spanish, much to the amazement of the 'Rents. I'm pretty sure I wasn't able to do that until middle school. But I digress. We welcome you to the neighborhood, T & D, and Harley, too, and you all are welcome at The Compound anytime.

Wow Was All She Could Say

While I was riding my bike tonight, I passed by our 'hood adult beverage establishment, and I saw a friend's car in the parking lot so I stopped in for a minute and had a bottle of water and chatted with my friend. While I was there I was chatting with the bartender and she invited me to come back in a week for a fundraiser they were having. One of the other bartenders had some pregnancy complications and went into premature labor and delivered a one pound six ounce baby girl, and as with a lot of people, the parents are having trouble paying bills and dealing with insurance. As you can imagine, there are more complications with the baby than I could even begin to write about here. But while I was there, the baby's grandmother stopped in to leave some signs for the fundraiser, and she was shedding tears of joy because baby Kayetlin had gained an ounce this week. I told them that I would help all I could with the fundraiser - all they had to do was tell me what they needed and I would do all I could. I rode back home in silence - no dance music blaring from my iPod - as I thought about this baby and her family. Somehow it made my big dilemna of the week seem like nothing.

Now You Know

My dear friend and faithful reader Big Mama sent this very informative essay to me the other day, and I feel compelled to share it with the rest of my faithful readers. Neither one of us can totally vouch for it's validity, but we both agree that it makes perfect sense to us. So we believe it's true, and I guess that's all that matters. I did some quick research and found this to be true.

Today, we examine the origin of the phrases "piss poor" and "didn't have a pot to piss in." Back in the day, people used urine to tan animal skins. Urine was used to dehair the skins, tan the skins, and make the skins supple. Urine contains formic acid and uric acid, which are used as preservatives. And when urine is left to stand, amonia is formed. When the hides are left to soak in the urine, the amonia breaks down the hide and dehairs the skin. But I digress. So family members used to pee in a pot and then once a day the pot was taken and sold to the tannery. If you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor". But worse than that were the really really poor folks who couldn't even afford to buy a pot; they "didn't have a pot to piss in" and were the lowest of the low.

The Recession Affects Us All

Today's Bat's game was bittersweet -- it was the last regular game of the season, and it was "Fan Appreciation Day". On Fan Appreciation Day, the Bats pull out all of the stops - $1 hot dogs and small soft drinks, and usually "Clean Out The Closet Day" where they give away all of the different things they've given away during the season - ball caps, t-shirts, backpacks, mugs, bobbleheads, etc. After you walk through the turnstiles as you enter the ballpark, someone is there at each entrance giving out colored cards - each color denotes a different prize. So you don't know what you get till you get up to the table where you pick up the stuff. But the key word is usually. Today, there was no Clean Out The Closet Day. Sure we got dollar hot dogs and soft drinks but we didn't get anything free. Nothing. Nada. We were talking about it, I mean, bitching about it, in our section of seats and then we realized that this season the Bats didn't give out as much free stuff as they did in years past. We got one free t-shirt and a free very flimsy ball cap and that was it for the free stuff. I guess they didn't even have enough stuff to give away today. So it looks like the recession has even affected the Bats baseball organization. Oh well. Maybe we'll get free stuff next season. Go Bats.

Link Of The Week

Anyone that even remotely knows me knows that I love t-shirts. Especially old school t-shirs and ones with funny or sarcastic phrases on them. I admit I'm a sucker for an obscenely priced concert t-shirt, too. But I digress. I found a site this week that I quickly added to my favorites and vowed I would visit every day. It's called Tee Fury. Every day, they will be selling a t-shirt. They sell a t-shirt for only 24 hours and then it's gone and another one is for sale. The t-shirts are designed by artists around the world. They're extremely cool shirts, and best of all they're only $9 each, with an unheard of $2 shipping. You can't beat that deal anywhere. Please check them out at http://www.teefury.com and buy a cool shirt like I did.

Now I Want Some Ice Cream

Earlier this afternoon, I drove Mom up to our Meijers store in the hood to pick up a few things that they had on sale today, and while we were looking in the produce section, my attention turned over to the deli counter where they also have a small ice cream shop. It's nothing fancy - just a dozen flavors of ice cream served either in a cone or a paper cup. I admit it got the best of me. I walked over to the ice cream counter and when I brought out my wallet from my purse, I realized that I had left my money at home. I didn't want to get out my debit card to pay for an ice cream cone, and Mom was already in another part of the store so I couldn't run across the produce section to get a couple of bucks from her, so I just went on back and found where she was and we finished our shopping. But it seemed like every other person that we passed down the aisles of that store was eating an ice cream cone or ice cream in a paper cup. And an ice cream flavor what was Smurf blue was what the majority of the people were eating.

We left the store and came on home, but I still wanted ice cream. But lucky for me, Mom bought a half gallon of double vanilla, so you can bet I will have a scoop or two later tonight. I know it won't be the same as Smurf blue ice cream, but I guess it will have to do.

Flashback Friday

When I was a kid, one of my favorite soft drinks, next to Coke, was Mountain Dew. I liked it because of the picture of the hillbilly holding a shotgun on the front of the bottle. My Grandpa's sister, Aunt Maimie, who lived a few minutes away in Valley Station, would always have plenty of bottles of Mountain Dew, Orange Crush (Grandma's favorite) and Coke in the small bottles (Grandpa's favorite) when we would go to visit. Mom and Dad weren't big soft drink fans, so they would usually just drink coffee with Aunt Maimie's husband, Uncle Lon, while the rest of us drank our pop.

Today, I will drink maybe one diet Mountain Dew a week, and I make sure I buy the caffeine-free ones. Looking back, I don't think the original Mountain Dews had as much caffeine as the ones today. I don't ever remember being all buzzed up on Mountain Dew like people are today. In fact, I'm pretty sure Grandma wouldn't have let me had even a shot glass full of it if it had buzzed me up. I remember loving the taste of it. And I liked the hillbilly bottle.

I Need Longer Arms

For the past week or two while I've been laying on my bed reading my chapters for school, I've noticed that it was getting a bit hard to focus. I blamed it on my eyes just being tired after a long day at work. Yeah right. I noticed when I scooted the book farther away from me, it became easier to read. (I believe you know the direction this is going). When I had my eyes checked a couple of months ago, my eye doctor changed my prescription to what she called "almost bifocals". We laughed about it, and then she said that if I noticed a change, I might want to go to the drugstore and buy a pair of the reader glasses to wear over my contacts for when I read. I laughed again and told her I wouldn't need that. Well, as of now, I do need that. She also said that I could notice a change literally overnight. She was right. When I got my new contact lens, I didn't notice that big of a change in the prescription. And when I wore my glasses, I noticed I could read easier. So now I guess I can just take my contacts out and wear my glasses when I read, which is every day, or I can go buy a pair of the $7.99 reader glasses at the drugstore. I swore I'd never do that but it looks I'm going to have to eat my words. Either that or get longer arms.

More Flip Flops In The News

Like a lot of people, the 'Rents and I watched Ted Kennedy's funeral service this past weekend. The coverage was only supposed to be for a couple of hours but the channel we were watching preempted their regular programs and kept showing the funeral coverage. It was a solemn service, with the honor guard carrying the flag-draped casket. But the coverage was not without one WTF moment. The cameras showed all of the Kennedy clan standing outside of Ted's house at their compound watching while the honor guard carried the casket to the hearse. The women were wearing black or navy dresses, and the men were wearing suits or blazers. Even the kids were dressed up like their parents, with the exception of one kid. I'm not sure who he was, or who he belonged to, but he was wearing a navy blazer, khaki shorts, and flip-flops. Yes, flip-flops. With a blazer. At a funeral.

Weird Tuesday

It's been a weird Tuesday, that's all I can say.