Lemonade

I was going to do this post on a show we like called Breaking Bad. This is a shot of the main characters. Walter White, played by Bryan Cranston (Hal from Malcolm in the Middle)is a high school chemistry teacher who finds out he has terminal lung cancer. He is concerned for his pregnant wife and teen aged son who has cerebral palsy. Having been a teacher all his life, he has little in savings and worries about the medical bills and what they will do to his family after he has passed on.

Enter Jesse Pinkman, played by Aaron Paul, an ex-student of Walter's who is sneaking away from a drug bust when observed by Walter. A plan begins to take shape in Walter's head. He goes to Jesse and tells him that he will not turn him in if Jesse will become his partner in meth manufacturing. Since Jesse's meth cook and partner is now residing in jail, he agrees to take Walter into his business.

You like Walter. His battle with medical costs, his love for his family and his desire to see that they have no worries after he's gone confuse the line between good and bad. As you get to know Jesse, you can see how he has gotten messed up and into his line of business. It's a fascinating look at how life can take a severe right angle and end up in a dangerous adventure. It was created and produced by Vince Gilligan, who you may recall from X-files, The Lone Gun-men and Hancock.

I'd love to give you a link, but for some reason Oodles of Funch is unwilling to cooperate with me on this desire today. You'll have to wiki it and ride the links from there. Breaking Bad is on AMC. A link through wiki will get you to scheduling. We don't have AMC or Showtime, but learned that they have shows we like, such as Dexter(Showtime). A friend burns the episodes and passes them on to us. My household has become addicted to it. Does anyone else watch it?

Well, it's early in the morning. Time to get off of this computer and get out and walk. I'm pretty sore after visiting the physical therapist, but armed with my stretches and strengthening exercises I'm up to the challenge... or a glutton for punishment, I'm not sure which. Hope you have a productive day. Keep pushing.

Update: Walk was great... I found a dollar on the ground! That's a nice omen for the day. Then I saw the news... six reports of swine flu in Washington, which is directly across my river, though the cases are higher in the state. They have closed a school. Gee and I thought I was so safe up here basically two states away from Mexico. Wrong. Guess I'll go wash my hands.

It's such a beautiful day and I'm so up attitude wise, that this will explain how I feel.

WEDNESDAY WHINE

DO YOU KNOW WHO THIS MAN IS?
No, it's not a test. I really don't know who he is but he looked so familiar and it seems he must be someone I should recognise. Doesn't it bug you when you know something is hidden in your brain and refuses to come out? This will worry at my brain for days if I let it. Please put me out of my misery if you know. I'm sure he's a muscian. I think I recall seeing this photo in a poster shop. You probably have to be "old" to recall him. Ha.

I know what this is a picture of... another nice shot of Big Sur. It's here because it's so lovely. No other reason. No comment required. I just like it and it's my blog.

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So what is my Wednesday whine? Well, this week I'm a bit pissed at Embarque. My Internet has been screwed up for days and they can't seem to get it together to get on it and get it back up. Everyday they tell me by 7:00 P.M. and that time rolls around and zip. So I call back in the morning and they apologise and send the guy back... which is hard where I live in the middle of nowhere. The guy does not like to come here much. Only every other day or so. The time of 7:00 P.M. is a trick, I'm sure it's to allow them to slip out the office door before I can call back to complain... again.

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It is rare that I get rude on the phone to service people. I know they aren't getting paid squat to take my call. Especially that guy who's accent is so heavy that I can't figure out half of what he says and no doubt visa versa. The result of polite seems to be "prolonged" anxiety. Squeaky is out of his gourd over the lack of Internet at home.

But being him, he has his ways of getting it by standing here or there to snag a random Internet current. I am unwilling to do this. We're talking of standing in the middle of the inner street of the mobile home park. People would want to come out and talk to me. When I go home, I am done talking with people for the day. Only family.

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Besides, the people in my park are a bit on the odd to creepy side. OH... two of our elderly ladies got into a big fight over who's trailer the dumpster should be next to... you have never heard such sailor like cursing in your life! One of them keeps and feeds like 20 cats and the other traps and takes cats to the pound. They call the police on each other constantly. It is quite the busy place. I really do not want to talk to these ladies. All they want to talk about is how much they hate each other and who's side are you on... which leads to trouble no matter how carefully you arrange your answer. Give me a lovely meth head that only wants to hide in his house and leave you alone any day.

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Well, this is a short and fairly useless post. Please feel free to take a moment to rant on any subject that is bugging the piss out of you. Or say whatever you feel like saying. Today is your day to choose.

WHAHOO! THE INTERNET IS FINALLY BACK!

BIG SUR

This is Big Sur, California Big Sur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It's one of my favorite places on earth. You can see why. I spent a good deal of time here, camping and having fun back in the early 70s.

This is Richard Brautigan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia who happened to be my favorite author at the time I was playing in Big Sur. Richard was well known then as a "Beat" type poet and an author of novels. A Confederate General From Big Sur (1964, ISBN 0-224-61923-3) was my favorite of his books. Here you can find a list of his novels Richard Brautigan: Novels—Introduction and a blip about their content. Here you can find his poetry Poet: Richard Brautigan - All poems of Richard Brautigan

Today I have to go to the town to the left and do my Monday meeting thing again. But my head will be in Big Sur. It's featured in The Smithsonian Magazine this month, if you read it. The article talks about my Big Sur and it's unique ambience and the people, famous and not who are connected with it. A good read.

Here are a couple of Brautigan poems. I once laid on the very edge of one of those cliffs up there in the top photograph, drinking Strawberry Hill wine, as my friend and I dangeled our idiot's legs off the end of the cliff and took turns reading Brautigan's poems. There was a good deal of laughing involved too. :-) He was an interesting fellow, our Richard. Parody, satire, black humor and Zen.

As it turns out, Richard had a long battle with mental illness and took his own life the

age of 49 back in 1984. I think it was a tragic loss. Here, where this tiny lettering and heart are... is a poem that I find particularly relavant to my life currently. I should have known that Richard Brautigan would have had the right words. As it turns out, you can't enlarge it so here it is:

Love Poem

It's so nice

to wake up in the morning

all alone.

and not to have to tell somebody

you love them

when you don't love them

anymore.

Hope your evening has something warm and sentimental.

COMEDIENNES; A TRIBUTE TO BEA ARTHUR

I know by now most of you have heard that Bea Arthur passed away. I thought it would be a nice tribute to Bea to look at comediennes over the years and the sort of roles they took to entertain us. To the left, of course, is Bea Arthur herself. Bea is best known for her staring roles in Maud and Golden Girls.




"Women Who Can Hold Their Own"



Bea and the two next pictured comediennes; Rose Marie and a personal favorite of mine, Betty White were among those first comediennes who played women capable of holding their own with men.




If you're old enough, you'll recall Rose Marie as Sally Rogers, one of the team of writers on the Dick Van Dyke Show. A working woman in a man's field.


Hulu - The Dick Van Dyke Show


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Betty White plays the old woman I'd like to be. Sort of a sweet faced saber toothed tiger. Razor tongued, needle wit and always smiling. She played Sue-Ann Nivens on the Mary Tyler Moore Show.Hulu - The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Betty ends the category of "Women who can hold their own."






"Feather-Headed Ditz Brains"

Despite the fact that Mary Tyler Moore would eventually star in The Mary Tyler Moore Show and play a woman determined to be accepted as an equal, she began as a typical "Feather Headed Ditz Brain." On the Dick Van Dyke Show.







Lucy is probably the most famous of the Ditzes. I was not that fond of Lucy. I tended to think of her as the fourth female Stooge. I had trouble believing that anyone could be that dumb or inept. Of course I have proved to be able in that way myself, so who am I to talk. ha. Lucy is popular and much adored.







This category would not be complete without Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker. Archie's beloved "dingbat". I also enjoyed her in the movie
Michael (1996) starring John Travolta. Jean plays the angle, Posey.
Here is a scene from Michael where John dances with women in "heat".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qspe6s2UiLU This video does not have the song in the sound track that was in the movie. Does anyone know what was the original song that John punches into the jukebox?

The last category of comediennes is one I call "Character Portrayers". It includes
Imogene Coca - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , Carol Burnett - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Gilda Radner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Tracey Ullman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and last but never least, Lily Tomlin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. These gals dressed up in some pretty wacky outfits to make us laugh. You never knew what you'd see or what accent you might hear.

Any comments on comediennes or comedians, the movie Michael or anything else are welcome. Who did you like, who did you not like?

I hope that you have a happy evening filled with laughter and good company. Here is a video to help you down that path...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9e3dTOJi0o Enjoy!

Don't forget the Great Turtle Race! Visit billy pilgrim at anubis, anubis, anubis to ride his link to the race.

THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN

I wish I was talking about baseball. Red Sox beat the Yankees 5 to 4 yesterday. Waaahooo! But, sorry... I am not. I'll leave that to the guys who are good at telling a good sports tale. (Gotta love them.)


Every year our town has a giant town yard sale. People get into this event like you would not believe. They even make foods that you can purchase and eat while you look at their junk... er... stuff. It's such a big deal.


I like to go to yard sales sometimes. I have to have money that I feel that I can spare. I can't spend money easily. We have had some lean times and its just too hard to come by. My friend K tells me that I am being silly. That I can save money buying at yard sales. Yes, if I was going to spend money getting one of those for more money somewhere else. But not if I am grabbing up random stuff because it seems like a good deal. That's not saving... that's spending.

The entire town gets into this. You can buy an "X" on the yard sale map that they print. Signs are everywhere. Balloons too. Lots of balloons to grab our attention.

But the one thing that really drives me wild are the herds of people. They are everywhere and they don't watch what they are doing. Car doors open suddenly as you pass. They walk out from between mini vans in front of your car. They stop in the middle of the street to look at their maps. Or crawl along trying to find an address.

This morning before I had anywhere near enough coffee to deal with idiots... I'm sitting at a stop sign behind a maroon SUV with darkened windows. I sit there and sit there and I'm still sitting there but getting mad. The clown car does not have a normal horn. This car that runs on curses and prayer only honks when it feels like it. That's usually when I have accidentally set my purse on the honk button that refuses to work for me otherwise.

So I am good and steamed at the SUV and I give a good poke at the horn button only to get silence. I roll down my window as I grab my purse and bash the steering wheel with it. The horn honks! The secret it seems is in using a purse. Right about then a woman comes hurrying from the sidewalk around the front of the SUV, she opens the door and jumps inside yelling "Sorry... I just had to stop and..."

I'm glad it only comes once a year. Next weekend is Spring Clean Up where the whole town gets rid of junk and yard debris. They put giant dumpsters out for us to use. So it's interesting to see the stuff going down the road in the back of so many trucks. Sort of a trash on parade. That one I enjoy. Plus the town looks pretty good for awhile.

Well, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and do something you enjoy doing. I did!I got to swing with the Bear, baby Mikey and Squeaky... who will never admit that he got on a swing and had so much fun to anyone who wasn't there. Ha. It was pretty funny. There were only two swings that were not baby swings, so we had to have a knock down drag out to see who got to swing first. The baby sat in his safety swing and laughed at us. Simple times can be sublime.

ALL FIRED UP

Oh my, what a day! But it ended as well as it could. I get to keep my job, with the loss of .5 to 1 full hour. The library will be only open 4.5 hours and the rest of my time goes to one on one teaching. Adapt or die. I am grateful to have a job when others do not.

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At home we have a problem with the computer line that is waiting to be repaired. I hope my neighbor behind me didn't try to tap into my Internet like he did my cable. It took us awhile to guess what was wrong with it that it would go so fuzzy. He even buried the cable he spliced into mine. What some people will do!

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So here I am at 7:58 P.M. on a Friday night doing a quickie post to let folk know that things turned out acceptably for me today and I feel a huge relief! I can maybe sleep again tonight. I've been working off of about 3 hours a night. When I can't sleep I have to get up and move around or go crazy. I used to lie there and flop around. Now I clean or read or cook for the next day. Anyway, I'm sure I've been sleep deprived. No wonder I giggle too much. I'm slap happy!

I am at my library using my library computer. Best I can do. I can come and go here. I'll be back to check on things tomorrow after the lock down people leave. It's like a giant school wide slumber party. They will be locked in with chaperons until morning. I did not volunteer. I am going home to have margaritas, dance like a lunatic in the bathroom for a time and then when exhausted, go to bed.

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Why the bathroom dance floor? Fair question. I'd ask that. I have a two bedroom house with two boys at home... one is 21 and the other is 17. I believe that it is more important for them to have privacy at this point than for me to. So each of them has his own room. I sleep in the living room in a big comfy overstuffed chair with an ottoman. I have a fold down sofa... it sucks. I could sleep laying down on the sofa unopened but that sucks too. The chair is heavenly.

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Anyway... there you have it. I won't be answering posts as they come in this time. I'll be off boozing, dancing and eventually snoozing. Tomorrow I'll be back to check on Odles of Funch.

Oh, that's dancing in the bathroom because I am forbidden to dance where the boys can see me. It's too painful they tell me.

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I have no clue what they mean... though I did attend the Jello Biafra school of dance. (Dead Kennedys) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOgfMnpwjhE Jello is seen here with the band Pennywise and the song is called "Let's Lynch the Landlord". Jello is different and yes, bizarre in some ways. He tells the greatest story about getting a flat in P'Land and the ill that befell him here. Unfortunately I have not found that video yet.

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A little Madness in the Spring Is wholesome even for the King.~ Emily Dickinson

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Please do not forget the Great Turtle Race... visit billy pilgrim at his blog, anubis, anubis, anubis . It's a hoot!

THE AX-MAN COMETH / LOOSING BALANCE

*************************************Today, Friday, is the day "we" have all been waiting for... the day of dread.

I know I mentioned it awhile back that our budget has been slashed like all school budgets everywhere.

Our high school is being closed at the end of the year. Squeaky will not graduate on the stage where he sang The Tooth Brushing Song and Must Be Santa (as did my other children) but instead in the town to the left.

We have made adjustments to most of these complaints. Squeaky will graduate and that is a great thing all by itself. The stage really does not matter beyond sentimentality. My pride in him will be no less. I'll still cry and embarrass the heck out of him. We will celebrate.

But today we are back to the real problem. If I do not lose my job today, I may lose hours that I cannot afford to lose. I will certainly be losing friends. All of my friends in my lunch bunch are at serious risk. All are high school teachers. It's pretty sure that we won't need them without that high school. There is a teacher who was hired as temporary that will be gone.

There are no jobs open right now in teaching. Too many teachers are being laid off. We, the support staff... that's those of us who are not teachers but work as Instructional Assistants, Secretaries, Bookkeepers, Janitors, Cooks, Media Specialists like myself... we will fall by the way as well.

Today the ax man cometh. He will meet with us one by one and we will learn our fates. There will be the gauntlet of high anxiety, tears, anger, grief and most especially felt by all... loss. I can't tell you how much I will miss these people. I am dreading today and that foul ax-man.
(Yes I know, he's just doing his job and who would want that crap assignment?)

As for myself, I have decided that what is meant to be will be. If I lose my job, there is another somewhere. Maybe in the town to the left. I truly have been wanting to move anyway. I will let this decide if I stay or go. I will call it an adventure...like I do when we get lost on trips to places we have not yet been... and hope no one notices that I am lost. Again.

All I really have left to say about it is... MAN THIS SUCKS! I'll let you know what happens. Until I know, I'm just one of those stupid concrete statues in the photograph above... waiting my turn in line. I'm hoping the concrete keeps the ax at bay. The Clash - Should I stay or should I go

Don't forget to go check out The Great Turtle Race... go to billy's anubis, anubis, anubis http://ghostofruby.blogspot.com/

GORGEOUS OREGON

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These photos are so awesome...

the sky will steal your breath! I think you can enlarge them by double clicking on them.

They were taken on a hiking trail above the John Day River in Oregon.

Night in the country, far from the lights... aaaahhh. Doesn't it look relaxing? You can imagine maybe a guitar and songs around the camp fire. Marshmallows toasting on a stick you walked around to find and cleaned by picking off the bark. You have to raft to get here or hike a couple of miles. I do not raft. Nope. Water and I have an agreement. I do not pollute it with my person and it leaves me on the shore.

Last night Squeaky turned seventeen. My last baby. I guess I'll have to start letting go and teach him how to drive the clown car. Max has some understanding of the clutch and can roughly drive. But don't tell him I told you so... he needs an automatic! Squeaky will not have that problem. He has coordination by the pounds. The only reason that Max does not have a license by now is that I'm afraid for my car! Not fear of his having an accident, he's pretty cautious but my clutch would not last long at all. Yikes. I don't want to have to put in another new clutch anytime soon. I am not a mechanic and I can't afford to pay for one.

Have you guessed yet that mom is a bit over-protective? Sigh. I know... they are boys, let them become men! I'm trying. It's hard. I had no trouble teaching the Bear... their sister. She learned how to drive when she was 14 and was excellent at it. I had serious asthma problems at the time that resulted in trips to the hospital that ended with me singing Wizard of Oz songs from the medication. I had no business driving home that way. I had no one else... so the Bear learned to drive. You do what you have to do.

Well, Squeaky only wanted a hard drive for a lap top he's building from scrap and scratch. What he does not know is that I'm buying a car from the Bear and hubby... for him. I think it's great that he was happy with just a hard drive. I'm pretty proud of him... a junior in high school who already has 3 college classes under his belt and will have almost a full term by the time he even arrives there... and keeps his grades up. I think he deserves the free ride.

I hope your skies are filled with a billion stars tonight and that you sleep as soundly as one does in the fresh air of the wild country.

The Tripods - Season One Re-Cap W/S

Cousins Will and Henry are only a year away from capping when they hear of a hold-out of men who are fighting the machines and live free of the caps. The show follows their journey to try and locate the freedom fighters.

We used to watch this show every Sunday morning on the PBS while having breakfast in bed. It was a great way to start the day.

NOBODY HERE BUT US CHICKENS!

Bear and I found this sign at our local motel on Sunday and it "quacked" us up! (I love a bad pun... you may groan now.)

This will be a random events post. Sorry, it's been a long day... my Mondays are always full of stuff that take great gobs of time. No time to research or collect fun things to pass on... tomorrow, I promise. :-)

Sunday was fun. Bear and I took Mikey, now 2, to P'land to shop. G'ma needed new shoes. Out with the "cruel shoes" and in with the heavenly
"God shoes" that have blessed me with "happy feet".( Steve Martin, Happy Feet and steve martin cruel shoes ) It is amazing what a decent pair of shoes can do for your feet.

After shopping, which Mikey had zero interest in doing and did some strange acrobatics while shrieking, motivating us to rethink our plan to continue. Babies are babies only one time... enjoy it, shopping can wait.

So we brought our little hero home to my town and took him to the school playground to play.
G'ma put him on the swing for the first time. You never know with little guys if they will be scared or happy. G'ma was in the swing next to him... yep, I'm a swinger of the chain link and rubber butt strap type. He seemed to think it was funny that G'ma could swing.

I swing as often as I can. It's good exercise and it's fun. I still like to lean way back once I'm going good and high and close my eyes to feel the sensation of air rushing around me and not knowing where I'm going... or caring. I grin like an idiot and enjoy the flight. A few weeks back I did it on my lunch break when I was feeling anxious. Eyes closed, tilted way back, feet out straight ahead of me... and opened my eyes to the kindergarten and first grade shouting "Hip-hip hooray!" for me. We are good like that where I work. A thousand smiles a day.

But I digress... again. Mikey enjoyed the playground. He gave us a good laugh when he went down the small slide and exclaimed "Totally hot!" But you should know that he meant the temperature of the slide, which was in the sun, not that it was fun. He would not go back on it after that ride. Sadly I said good bye to my sweeties and they went home.

Monday came early. It was manic... I often have manic Mondays. I wake up extra early and can't go back to sleep, so I get up and do something to make the time pass. Today I had way too much time because I did not go to work in the morning. I had an appointment with the podiatrist. This all began when I was walking up the steps and managed to fall up them. Yes, I can fall up as well as down. I am talented like that. This led to a painful knee that combined with cruel shoes and sore feet.

I liked her immediately when I heard her talking to herself. To me that is a sign of sanity and an organized mind. (Okay, I admit it, I talk to myself all the time.) I have something called Plantar Fasciitis. In short, it means that I have a pain in the bottom of my foot under the heel. (Squeaky calls it planter fishies... and says I have "flaming fishies". It's inflamed fasci. Not to be confused with flaming feces, which is what Squeaky first called it.)

I should have gone to a foot doctor long ago... it feels really good. She tested my feet for nerve damage from diabetes, which tickled and then felt all around them, which was close to a massage.
She even trimmed my toe nails before she wrapped my feet in tape. Yes, she taped my feet. I will keep the tape on for 5 days. Until then, I must put them in a baggie with a hand towel tightly bound around the ankle in order to shower. I expect teasing.

I may not walk without shoes, even in the middle of the night if I have to go to the loo. I may only wear my new walking Asics gels. Puff! I am not allowed to do my precious walk for another week. I must go back in a month to get injections into the bottom of my heels... yikes! I have to do stretches morning and night. But I do not mind. My feet and even my knee feel better already. Foot pain is right up there with back pain to make you wish you could croak... or get good drugs to knock it out. I am allergic to all drugs that would help, so this feeling better is heaven to me.

I managed to get back to work in time to have my full lunch. I spent it answering a very welcome long email. I love those. The rest of my afternoon went by in a flash. Then it was off to the town on the left for my usual night of sitting in the car reading while the ex does his meetings. But this time, no second meeting. I left my car at Les Schwab Tires to have a nail removed and the hole plugged while we walked to my favorite Mexican food restaurant for great food and margaritas. Yeah, I'm smiling. Big smile. Happy feet.

The Cell (2000)

The Cell starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Jennifer Lopez has got to be one of the most fascinating movies of all time. The imagery is rich and well developed. It has a true nightmare/dream quality that pulls you into the mind of a seriously deranged man, a disturbed boy and a strong woman.

A murder mystery with a race against time... where the key to rescue lies in the head of a murder trapped in a coma. I could never think this one up. It compells me to watch it. All I have to do is get a glimps of a scene or hear the lead in music and I'm in the nightmare, eating it all up. It is currently my favorite horror film and may stay that way forever.

The top link takes you to the movie site. This one takes you to a YouTube music video that is filled with haunting scenes from the movie and equally haunting music. The two go together well.
Massive Attack's Angel (The Cell) I was pleased to find it to share.

I have been a fan of horror and science fiction since I was a kid and first saw and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956) and later, Night of the Living Dead (1968)... which should not be confused in anyway with this:

Night of the Living Dead in 30 seconds with bunnies (A hoot!)

I still cannot watch the original Night of the Living Dead alone and certainly it should be avoided if I have to drive anywhere alone at night. Or go outside alone at night. Well, I just shouldn't be alone when I see it. I probably shouldn't watch it at night. Why it still has that kind of power to create that level of anxiety in me after all these years is beyond me. You'll have to ask ...

George A. Romero - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia , the director what his secret is.

Curiosity begs me to ask you... what horror movie(s) really creeped you out. Did you ever really get over it or are you a chicken like me?

You may also be interested in this:

Homepage of the Dead: George A Romero's Dead Films

Don't forget The Great Turtle Race! Go to anubis, anubis, anubis .

Have you picked your turtle yet?

HOW TO GET THE PERFECT JOB

My oldest was 5 when I started him in soccer. Turned out he had a real talent for it and caught on quickly. Naturally we encouraged him to continue. (Later he and and sister, Bear would play on the same "boy's" high school soccer team. Go Bear! Kick down those doors!)
But when we moved to this town, there was no soccer unless you drove 22 miles up river or paid bridge toll two ways across the river where you had to be quick to sign up on the crowded teams.

I went to the organizers and asked why there weren't any teams in our town if enough kids from our town were signing up for teams outside of town. The lady looked and me and smiled. "We'd love for your town to have teams but there doesn't seem to be anyone willing to take that on."
I'm sure she thought that would do the trick and the pesky over the river mom would go away.
No way. I said "What if I run the sign-ups myself?" The next thing I knew, I was not only signing kids up, I was finding coaches, equipment and arranging for field use. One of those proud parent moments that you later ask yourself... what was I thinking? But I managed to get it all scraped together except for the field.

At the time I was a "meat wrapper" at our local market. It was one of my favorite job titles of all time. People go "Meat Wrapper? What's that?" Duh... you wrap the meat the butcher cuts.
Guys with knives, saws, slicers and great senses of humor. Does it get any better than that? ha. I think I had the world's best butcher boss and I loved that job as much as I love the one I currently have. It was hard for me to leave, but in the end worked out because I would have lost my boss anyway and not been happy anymore.

So I called the school and arranged a meeting on my lunch hour. I knew the principal of course because of my kids. I had applied for a job there previously as a janitor, which I did not get. A guy did. Couldn't you see that coming? When I asked the principal if there was anything I could have said or done to sell myself better, he laughed and said no. So I was pretty relaxed about speaking with him. I was glad that I had decided to wear a vest that day so that I could present myself well.

When I was invited into the office, the Bear's teacher was sitting there with the principal. I recalled that the last time we had spoken was when the Bear had beaten up a boy bully in her class. What had the Bear done now? When in doubt, fake it. I smiled. There were hellos all around and they began to ask questions. I answered as honestly as I could. It seemed an odd conversation mostly aimed at me and my head was circling the block for reasons. I played along. They stood up, hands were shaken and I was thanked for my interest and told that they would let me know. At this point it dawned on me that I had just been interviewed for a job.
Yes, I can be a bit slow to catch on. I opted not to mention the soccer field and beat a hasty retreat.

The whole reason I had applied for the janitor's job was because the school is one of the few local jobs that offer retirement and insurance. I was not getting younger and my brood of four needed as much insurance as the two of us could muster. They're all bruisers. I headed back to work thinking that I would not likely get this job, but wondered what the job was. When I walked through the automated doors at the market, the phone was ringing off the hook and the checker had her hands full. I stepped into the other cashier station and grabbed the phone.

It was the school secretary. She said "You've got the job if you want it, but he needs you to start on Monday." I was shocked. It was Friday. I had just accepted a job and was going to abandon the world's best boss with no notice at all. This went against my personal code not to leave friends hanging. I walked to his office and confessed. He was so good about it and insisted that I needed to do this for the good of my family. He told me not to worry, he would train someone else. His motto was "Don't sweat the small stuff... and it's all small stuff."

Monday morning I found out the job was as an Instructional Assistant. I was sent across the river to the jail to be finger printed and run through the system to be sure that I was not a creep.
Then I was off to orientation and my world took a right angle for the better. (The following year my hours would be increased to include time as a librarian's assistant that gave me thirteen years of on the job training before taking over the library myself.) That first afternoon, as I left my new job I asked my boss... "Do you mind if we use the field for soccer?"

This is the most serendipitous experience of my life. I lucked into being in the right place at the right time. I am so grateful to God, fate, or whatever led me here. This is where I belong. This is what I do well. This is my la raison pour etre... my reason to be. I get to read at work. I get to share stories. I get to teach children to love reading as much as I do. I know what I do makes a positive difference in the world.

My hope for you today is that you are working at a job that is fulfilling, enriching, and has a positive affect for yourself and others. I hope that you love what you do since we spend so much of our lives at work. If not, then I hope that fate will intervene and opens a door that will show you the way to a place that will.

anubis, anubis, anubis Hey! Go here and see what billy pilgrim is up to... very cool beans.

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY IS COMING! MAY 2, 2009

This is the first love of my life, Thor. The guy that made me first love heroes. Do you see what he's doing here? That bloody wreck under his feet? Take that Superman... the man of steel, the invincible. Ha!

Thor (Marvel Comics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Below is Beta Ray Bill... Thor in another galaxy. A Thor by any other name is still as sweet. This Beta Ray Bill cover is one of the best covers of all time, according to

Wizard Universe : Comic Book News, Previews, Reviews, Message ...

Check him out here:

Beta Ray Bill - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We had no girls in my neighborhood near my age. Only boys. I played with cars and trucks, played actual hardball baseball... took two batted hard balls to the middle of my forehead in one day-- now you know why Ananda girl is the way she is... played army and the Man From Uncle... and naturally read tons of comic books. (The only time I acted like a girl was when we played pioneers and I got to be Becky Boon.)

When I heard that there was going to be aFree Comic Book Day, I got excited and wanted to share the word.

Comic Book Resources > CBR News: Free Comic Book Day 2009 Gold ...

Here is a store locator for Free Comic Book Day

Otherwise not much of a post today. Its been a long weird one. But ended well for me.

My hope for everyone today is that they will always have heroes to believe in. I hope too that those heroes will always provide the comfort and protection you need. Thor has never failed me.

So who is your hero? Comic book or otherwise?

SOFA STALKER

Have you ever heard of a crouch? Check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUYSTVKLKdE The four nuts on this crouch remind me of four nuts I used to live with once upon a time.

I had seen it several times and paid it no mind other than to bank the information that this was the ugliest sofa I had ever seen. It was Pepto-Bismol pink, covered in tiny, sharp, hairs and had a taste vacuum where style should have been. I may have thought that whoever had tossed the India print bedspread over it had made a wise choice, but you know, you don't think much about other people's sofas, you sit on them.

At the time I was still in college, living in the bottom half of an old farm house that had been poorly converted into a large apartment. There were five of us to split the $75.00 a month rent. Could you handle that? Ha. The college had purchased all the houses and building for a couple of blocks for future expansion. In the meantime, they rented to students cheap. My roommates were all male, E, R,M and W... W was my boyfriend. (N0, not that W... eew!) The guys had all been buds since grammar school and we were plagued with pranks and insanity. Someone was constantly waking me up in the middle of the night and begging me to cook for them. Yeah, I did it.

We had a curious bathroom. The shower was a small tiled room with six shower heads. There were three pedestal sinks and down a long narrow hall behind the shower room was the toilet... sitting in the dark without a door. We got a kick out of the reactions of anyone who needed to use the loo. E would say "We never have to wait our turn in the shower." Or "We have an extra head if you want to use it." face stone sober. People would ask me... is he kidding? Duh.

One night Annie and I went to a party at her boyfriend's house. The place was jammed. But as it emptied out, I realized that Annie was gone for the night. I could not deal with walking that far in the dark alone, so I settled down on the ugly sofa for the night. A house renter passed me, took pity and brought me a pillow and a beach towel to use for a blanket. Then he thoughtfully turned on Sticky Fingers (The Rolling Stones) loud enough to make the floor vibrate. I dropped off anyway. Adapt or die. This is the album cover... yeah, you can unzip him. It's Andy Warhol, in the pants and in the whitie- tighties inside the zipper. I still have this album.

I had to fight that crouch all night long! The pillows kept sliding out from under me. I'd fall off the outer edge or get sucked into the valley left by the evacuation of the pillows. By the time dawn arrived, I was more than ready to walk home alone. I left Annie to follow her path and made the journey back to my own sweet bed, glad to leave the people eating crouch behind.

Two brothers lived above us in the top half of the converted house. They would sit on their balcony and we'd visit from below. A few weeks after the party, I looked up to wave at the brothers and stopped dead in my tracks. They were sitting on the ulgy sofa. THE ugly sofa that eats people.
I gave an inward shiver and decided it was their problem, grateful it was not mine. I pretty much put it out of my mind after that.

But you've guessed by now what happened. I came home from work one day and there was E and R sitting on the ugly sofa in my living room. They looked so happy and proud. I didn't have the heart to tell them that their big furniture score was my dreaded crouch. Not much long after, W and I split up. I hated to leave the strange house behind. Time for Quonset hut life. See photo below. I took E with me ( he was happily dating a friend of mine). I left the people eating crouch.
It seemed a fitting parting gift, but that's an inside joke. giggle



(I had to post this partially complete, because it was the night I go to the town to the left for much of my evening. As Mondays go, it was not bad at all. I had an especially fun morning. It was lovely. Thanks to all who have stopped by.)

My hope for everyone tonight is that you find a way to leave those things behind you that follow you, unwanted. And take those things with you that make you feel safe and do your heart good, like my friend E. Big smile.

The Easter Bunny came last night And left this little scoop. Because you weren't too good this year, You're getting Bunny Poop!

Hope you all have a trippy Easter!

As you can see, we have a hippy bunny. I found him on top of a card rack in a gift shop. Could not resist. My kind of guy.

It's not really Easter yet. That's tomorrow, but it will take me that long to finish this post. I'm mentally constipated. So I'll just ramble on and tell you about my day. Try not to yawn... but if you do, I have no room to complain.


Got up and walked. I need new shoes badly. So my dogs are barking and will until pay day. I refuse to stop walking. Where else can I get legal endorphins to make me giggle? That's my favorite part of walking... ah, the high.

This photo was taken outside my library in my window box that is in dire need of weeding and new paint. Some repair wouldn't hurt. All the rest of the photos are taken there. We had an egg hunt for our K-4th yesterday. They had a blast. I love to hear kids laughing.

The kindergarten and first grade planted my window box, which is huge. I liked the colors in these photos and the contrast with the concrete where it has shed it's paint. Some of the paint has been faded by the sun. I also liked the odd angles of them. I am a completely accidental photographer. I take a lot of shots and the ones that don't get trashed are okay. I have zero talent. But am okay with that.



The first tulip opened up. I love the color. Once I found a wallet with about $375.00 in it and a pound of plastic. I found the man's number in the phone book and told him I had it. He came in and thanked me and thanked me. When he tried to give me a reward, I refused. The next day he sent me a dozen roses this color. The tulips remind me of him, how nice he was and how good it feels to do the right thing.

After walking, the boy's dad needed some help, so I went there... even though I had 3 emails I wanted to open and read. They had to wait. After I helped him out, he paid for breakfast. That was nice. But the mocha he got me afterward was way better. I require caffeine. I have not had enough today. Is there enough?

Last night Squeaky was using the bottom of his shoe like a puppet to tell us he needed new ones.
The dad came up with some money to get the boy shoes. So I rushed home after dropping the dad off, opened my email at last and then took the boy to the town to the left for shoes. It was a quick trip. I was ready to write. I even had a few ideas that no longer exist.

When I got here, a friend dropped by. Normally I do not have friends here. I live in your basic house in a box mobile home. It is old. I am a bit of a hermit, even though I love people and talking. This is my sanctuary and I don't like others in it. Weird huh?

So this friend has problems. He's young, about 30. He developed an infection in his brain and they had to remove parts of it. He has trouble with speech. Simple conversation is difficult for him. It may take 3- 5 minutes for him to come up with a word and it's all I can do to keep from shouting out words in a panic to help him find his word. Today I shamefully fell asleep while he was talking to me. I feel really bad about it.

I didn't sleep well last night. That is a problem I have. I have lots of little problems. But on the scale of life, I must say, it weighs heavier on the happy side. It has not always been that way. I have things to be thankful for and I know plenty of folk who have it much worse off than I do. Troubles come but they also go. All it takes is time.

Today my hope for everyone is that we can all see our troubles for their true size, and keep them in perspective. Chances are no matter how large our troubles seem to us, there is someone out there with a trouble that can top it. So enjoy your holiday, if you celebrate it or not and as always, share it with people you love.

Here is a blog I found that I thought was a hoot!
Super-Duper Amazingly Fantastic Friday, All Sins Forgiven Or Your Money Back Take a good sense of humor with you. If you don't like religious irreverence, forget it. The opening "free" poem comes from here: http://www.theholidayspot.com Credit where it's due.

In the posts below a strange thing began... it is not intended to offend anyone and I sincerely hope it does not offend followers of the Pope. It's all in fun. : )

God shoes

Blogger is being a deevil today. I wrote a wonderful post, in my not very humble opinion and it did all sorts of deevilish things to it when I tried to post! So...

This is an old post... obviously since in it I talk about spring break, which is over everywhere by now. But it happens to be my very favorite post ever! I suppose its the absurdity of the content. I hope you enjoy it as a re-run, which I don't often do. Hopefully Blogger will be better behaved tomorrow. :-)

My friend Annie also works in education. She's on her spring break this week and had to email me to rub it in. That's okay, I did the same to her last week. My reply was that I was tired and my feet were killing me. I have totally worn out the pair of shoes I got five months back. She emailed back the solution...

"God shoes! Take care of your feet!" Well, yes. Of course. Why didn't I think of that?

So what were we talking about here? Jesus sandals? Perhaps Mercury's winged sandals? Those would never wear out. But the down side is that I would lose the benefit of walking. I can't imagine you'd burn many calories when your sandals did all the flying. Your heart rate wouldn't budge.

By the way, don't confuse Mercury (Roman) with his counterpart Hermes (Greek). Mercury was the messenger to all his gods and Hermes was for Zeus. Only Mercury had winged sandals called talaria, a winged hat called a petasos, and a messenger staff called a caduceus... which we in America see as a medical symbol. Hermes just had itty-bitty wings on his ankles. I don't need those. It's bad enough I've got to worry about Zeus's thunder thing happening with my thighs.
Hermes did have a messenger staff too, the rod of Asclepius. But they were different... a "one snake or two" sort of deal.

So I sat down and googled "god shoes" and sure enough, it's there. My favorite is the episode of
Married...With Children called God's Shoes.
I loved that show. I would have fed Al. Bad Peg!

Married...With Children: God's Shoes

But I also like John Leguizamo. He was a great villain in Spawn (1997) as an eeeevil clown. He made a great "girl" named Chi-Chi Rodriguez in To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995). He has played Catalina's cousin on My Name Is Earl . Talk about a wide range! But for my purposes today...Where God Left His Shoes (2007). Maybe if I watch it I can find out where they are.

There are also "Jesus sandals" and something called "God Shoes" that are really "Jesus sandals" of a type that Jesus would never be caught wearing.

By this time though, I had figured it out. What I had seen as "God shoes", was "good shoes" with an "o" missing. Who knows where the other "o" went. I knew what my next step was... email her and raz her about it.

Tonight I hope that you have good shoes... of the god type or not and happy feet. I hope too that if you are able that you will use yours to enjoy the wonders of spring.

61 things on my cat

My cat would never allow this !

Bizarre IM Friend

It's been a beautiful four days with 70+ weather. We really felt like we needed it. Suddenly everything is budding or blooming. Daffodills, Grape Hyacynth, sweet violets but the crocus have spent themselves. Soon the tulips will be blooming.

I just got the oddest IM! I have never done an IM before. I am an idiot when it comes to being computer literate. Anyway. It kept popping up but I needed to okay it. I kept ignoring it and it would go away then come back. One of my huge flaws is that I am a very curious person. If I was a mouse, I'd have been done in by a mouse trap long ago... just checking it out, you know. You can't put something mysterious in front of me and then go away without explanation.

Now I am curious, but I'm not a dweeb. When we said hello back and forth, I was thinking that it might be one of the folk that I like to have email conversations with. That was the reason that I okayed it. You know blog names and email names are not always the same. I thought... how fun! I can learn to IM and talk in now time instead of waiting for replies to show up. Cool beans.

I was fairly certain after a few lines that this was not someone that I knew. At least I don't think so. It said that it knew me and I was supposed to guess who it was. It was highly entertaining. I was very, very curious. I almost clicked on the link that it sent. I say "it", because I was not sure if it was male or female. It had a female lead in name. But it's intention seemed to be ah... well, you know. So I was utterly confused at that. And it had done something to itself that really made me want to go and look at the photos, because it was very bizarre sounding. But not unlike something I had recently mentioned... which made me laugh.

Has anyone else ever gotten anything like this? I have not. I have no clue how safe it is to check out. I could use a good laugh today. I have always loved the bizarre. Still, there is a little voice in the back of my head that says... run away! Yes, thing that has a "crush" on me... I am a big chicken. Gullible, but chicken.

But thanks for that picture in my head...lol! I'm sure it's a scam of some sort. But what a hoot!

Well, I hope all of you have someone crushing you in a nice way. Or what ever way you'd like them to. Big smile! hahahahhaha Really, in it's way, it sort of made my night.