The gods hate me

I am convinced of it....out of the blue who should call but the one high school friend of my husband's that really gets my gull!

This guy is worse than ADHD....he's like the teacher on caffine patches from "Meet the Robinson's"==only worse! He is like a rollercoaster that only goes downhill.....this guy hardly stops talking long enough to breath...then seems to get upset when you don't ask him questions.

We haven't seen the guy in nearly 19years--oh why couldn't it be 20?--so he wanted to catch me up on all the news....appearently he didnt get the message the last time we got together with him.

His wife and I did not get along at all...she even rubbed my husband the wrong way, and he isn't that hard to get along with--he is very laid back...my yarn stash will prove that!

I don't mind so much that he is getting in touch with hubby--I would never deny hubby his friends--but its the thought that he knows where we live...he's the type to just stop by and expect you to stop whatever you are doing to entertain him for as long as he wants it.

I hate people like that---its rude to stop by with out calling first; its rude to assume that someone has nothing better to do....they are those type of people too.

Oh well....into every life some rain must fall....as mom used to say. I say--that which will not kill me, had better beware....er, I mean...will only make me stronger...right?

Please tell me how am I supposed to pretend I can get along with these people if they start coming over & over & over again??????

So what happened today in Your life? pt 4

Okay--so here we go. Mail came early today...I had to sign for a package...and in there was a letter from someone whom I did not recognize. It was a personalized return address label so I thought perhaps it was someone about the ACX...we've had over 100 people over the years in the exchange and I can't remember every one but I certainly didn't recall any body from Little Rock (that name always brings up some unknown song from my childhood, but the only words I remember are "...from Little Rock"--I figure it has to be from the Flintstones)

Anyways--in the letter was a chain letter/pyramid sceme~with a twist. Instead of the usual "send a dollar to 5 people..." schpeel it had a new bit---send envelopes to 200 people from a mailing list you buy from this one firm.

what?

So I am supposed to take the word of someone I don't know, from a city who's name drives me crazy, to buy a list of names for $40 that I don't need, give my credit card info to someone who will do who knows what with...and they are trying to convince me that this is all completely legal?

No I don't think so....but thank you....I don't need help looking stupid.

So I called the post office and they took the info....I called the postal service fraud line and had to leave a message (they must get a lot of calls)....I called the states attorney's office thinking they would need to know....they in turn sent me to the FBI who now want me to forward the letter onto them.

IIII-yii-yiii

On the bright side I think the package is from my HSS partner....on the down side I realized this morning that I had a major error on her socks and I had to take one sock all the way back to before the heel.

I need to write her a letter an let her know it came and that I will be clicking away on her socks this weekend--but with hubby out of town, there is just no way I will be able to get them off before Halloween.

So what happened today in Your life? pt 3

Okay...this isn't really a complaint session--as posts titled this usually are--we had the parent-teacher conference for our son today and found out that...he's typical.

He is reading and comprehending at a level above his grade (not surprising, the kid read "Call of the Wild" in 4th grade for fun), he is doing great in science class...but his grades suffer mostly from tests and forgetting to turn in homework.

His teacher did say that he tends to fiddle around at his desk alot although he doesn't disturb the other children around him...he just keeps himself occupied and will miss out on instructions because he's busy doing whatever it is he is doing.

We talked about how we studied at home.....at how I have changed many of the ways we study to resemble games or plans for future computer games. She thought that was cool...I think it just comes from growing up with so many brothers and watching my mother go thru a simular problem.

Now I have to get him to read...no strike that...get him to write about things he has read. They are doing a program where he has to make out a book report card everytime he reads something on his own...until he reaches 1000pgs. One thousand for each quarter--thing is, he hates doing the cards---loves the reading though.

Well off to help him study for the three tests he has tomorrow....oh that was the other thing-I told her I thought 3 tests in one day was really too much to expect from kids his age--that that is a college expectation (okay more like high school) and I thought unreasonable. They are the same three teachers that all the kids rotate to, I don't know why they don't just get together and figure out what days they can each take to do their tests so that the kids will only have one test a day.

Oh well.....this is why I'm not teaching--I buck the system too much.

So what happened today in Your life? pt 2

well actually this isn't a day--it's more like this week....

1)the furnace stopped working
2)hubby nearly electricuted himself trying to find out what was wrong
3)hubby got new part two days later, but had to pull the electricity when he kept shocking himself trying to put in on
4)the dog broke free of her tie out (luckily she decided to see my daughter who had just gotten home from school instead of the dogs on the other side of the freeway)
5)found out hubby is being sent out of town next week--thus the rush to get the furnace fixed
6)the water heater won't stay lit--we are hoping its just the thermal coupler
7)period is a week late so hormones are going nuts
8)I've had a major headache that has lasted three days now--its just the hormones I'm sure
9)son got detention from his homeroom teacher
10)son is in big trouble with his math teacher
11)cub scouts don't seem to know what they are doing for meetings yet
12)I have to boil water to do two days worth of dishes. Daughter piled the dishes in the dishwasher and ran them with cold water (since the water heater has been turned off)
13)I have to find time to finish these socks--they are the last thing for my package so I can get it off to my partner.
14)the new coupler hubby bought isn't working for the water heater
15)daughter just announced that the Masquarade Ball is back on for Friday and she needs a costume.

Am I ever going to have time to finish these socks??

I'm keeping my mouth shut

KSTP.com - Minn. drug dealer, sex-offender captured in Mexico

But if you have learned anything about me in my blog, you know what I would say...

NAFTA

Shot gun would work...

KSTP.com - Find out some easy ways you can help control the cat overpopulation

JUST KIDDING!!!

Spaying and neutering is quite expensinve....it cost almost $500 we we got our Addy done....of course she was a 60lb Newfoundland pup at the time...but I can't imagine that its that much cheaper for cats.

I remember when you used to be able to adopt an animal from the center..."fixed", shots, wormed, the works for about $20 all told....now adays with the administration costs it is more like $100! For less than that you can go out and get one from the paper.

The moment that these animal shelters started charging the super prices they set themselves up for budget shortfalls. Who is going to pay $100 for a cat when they can get one at the grocery store for free? Get some vet students from the U to do the sterilizing and exams for free (they get the experience out of it), get the local vets to donate some supplies---there have got to be over 200 vets in the city alone--and work with some of the local pet supply places for donating product and start practically giving these animals away.

Or you can just do what my son, the one who wants to be a vet, says--just put the dogs and cats in a room together and they will take care of the population growth themselves.....I'm pretty sure he was joking though.

Our family has a very morbid sense of humor....in case you couldn't tell

Mess free pumpkins

I just got turned on to the coolest site!!!!

If you love pumpkins but hate the mess check out The Pumpkin Patch to create a virtual pumpkin/jack-o-lantern.

It is so cool!!! I have got to go see if I can make one.

Check it out!

why is this a sport?

KSTP.com - Pacers beat Wolves, 106-95

Can someone explain to me the appeal of basketball? You have 5 guys bouncing a ball, they run from one end to the other and throw the ball at a little hoop...okay I get that, that takes skill...but if the score gets above 50 its no longer a difficult skill...especially when the guys doing it are only 2 foot shorter than the hoop---that's like an arms length--and its usually all by the same player on the team.

To me its about as exciting as golf or tennis--although I understand the rules of golf and can really appreciate the skills involved. While yes, eventually everyone will get their ball into the hole...you need to do it in as little hits as possible so there's some stradegy involved too...is it better to hit it as far as you can the first time and hope you can get the ball close enough to the hole to get out fast-or-would it be better to take shorter strokes and land the ball exactly where you want it on the green?

Tennis--its grunting and sweating, to me...that's it. Some skill is involved but luck has a lot to do with it--and I have to admit that during Wimbledon I've been known to get involved in a match or two....although last time I played my knees saw more of the court than my racket did the ball. I went for a high lob--should have let it go, it would have been out.

But Basketball.....I've played it in school....I've seen it on television....by brother was on the district champion team when I was in jr high---but I don't get the appeal. I think its because the scores are so high...it just seems to easy for the players.

Something smells fishy

and it isn't the Ready-To-Eat Meals in the trailer!

KSTP.com - Stolen Twin Cities boy scout trailer bought online (video page)

Why would you hand over $1600 without getting paperwork? At the very least a reciept showing payment incase anything came up....some type of bill-of-sale so that they couldn't report the trailer as stolen later on and end up getting it back plus your money....anything in writing at all.

But no--this guy finds it listed on craigslist.com (red flag one), meets them at a gas station (red flag 2), realizes that the trailer is worth over twice as much as they are asking (red flag 3), won't let him see their driver's liscense (red flag 4), doesn't have any ownership papers on them (red flag 5), and no registration papers to change the plates (red flag 6)....oh did I mention it was a cash only deal? (red flags 7-1607)

I just have a hard time that with all these red flags that he wouldn't think something was up and call police. How hard would it be to say to the guys "you know I don't know....let me call my friend to come take a look at it....he's only about 10 minutes away" and then go off to either a pay phone or use your cell to call the cops to come by and look at it?

No this guy, supposibly, handed over the money without a second thought. Too bad for him when he went to change the liscense plates--they ran the plates and found it was the stolen trailer.

Now I don't know this guy, so I can't say he is shady....but the whole story just doesn't ring true somehow. At least not to me.

What a choice...

KSTP.com - Meeting works to finalize aesthetics of 35W bridge

Okay be sure to watch the video--is it me, or are the two pier options just the same piers just turned 90⁰ ?

Sorry but color? I thought this was a concrete bridge.....the color will be, um, grey? That's the only color I know that concrete comes in--it starts out whitish, then it dulls to a light grey and then darkens with time to a steel grey color....I suppose they could put some colorant into it.

How about Viking Purple & Gold?? Wild Green/Red/Gold? UofM maroon&gold? or how about just plain GREY?? Save the tax payers some money instead of spending it on meaningless frivolities that are just going to get tagged anyways.

And parks by the piers? they would be held liable for anyone that slipped off into the water--I can see the lawsuits now--they would have to maintain the grounds and try to keep the gangs from taking them over like they have the other parks in mpls. I say no to the parks...thank you, but no. Would be nice, but they can't take care of the ones they've already got--lets not give them any more.

Actually I'm surprised they aren't asking for another dog-park....but that's a totally different post.

This is sad

KSTP.com - Mpls. woman dies after being hit by dump truck

Okay so the authorities are trying to figure out how this happened....I can give them three ideas:

(a)she was crossing against the light--we've got a stupid pedestrian law that says if someone steps off the curb you are supposed to stop...it makes no allowances for distance/speed/size of vehicle and most liberals in the state think everyone knows about the law.

(b)the driver was already committed to the turn when she stepped off the curb, her thinking that he was going to go into one lane (not realizing that trucks need to make a bigger swing) when he was really coming into the closer lane

(c)because of the height differential between where the driver sits and trying to watch traffic around him (for purposes of this post, I will assume the driver is male) that he didn't see her in his blind-spot...if you ever get the chance to sit in a dump truck, be sure to check out their blind spot--it is HUGE. That's why if you have a small car you should get out from beside them ASAP.

I'm not sure this is anyone's fault, per say....I think it was a tragic combination of incidences that occurred at the same time...only way to avoid it would be to block off the streets to the public---which simply isn't practical.

meanwhile, I still sit a wait for the news story about the rash of accidents we have had by the high school--so far it seems to be getting the cold shoulder from the news room....I may be forced to change stations if they don't help call this to the forefront.

Oh look its Mr Whinner!

KSTP.com - WEB POLL: Vikings' Jackson has injured finger

I doubt many of you will remember the Whinners from SNL (back when they still had some good bits) but that is what most of the QBs are becoming in the NFL.

Read the story completely thru...they have to wait for the swelling to go down before they can tell where it is--in other words, they don't know for sure that it is injured the way they think.

I'm sure he hurt his finger--but please! I remember seeing games when I was a kid of a player dislocating their finger in a play and they would go to the sidelines and the coaches would pop it back in place and then send the player back out next play. My son was in a football game last year where a player got smacked down so hard that he fell three times to the ground trying to get his legs back under him, even went to the wrong sidelines he was so confused...he sat out three plays and then asked to get back in-and went!

Hurt finger---suck it up. What the heck would you do if you ever had to play Iron Man football?--that's where they players do both offense & defense (no rest for the wicked).

You know I bet if you watched him carefully you'd find him doing all sorts of stuff with that finger....maybe even including a pick up game of fb with his buds in the park.

Alberta Cliper?

KSTP.com - UND plane reported missing

We had nasty, nasty wind yesterday that just didn't stop--a regular Alberta Clipper....cold, strong...they have been known to move trucks on the highways, so extreme caution is needed when you got out in one. As a matter of fact, if you are talking and the wind picks up while your mouth is open you will feel like you are being smothered in the brief instant.

I simply can not imagine the instructor allowing that plane to go up no matter how experienced the student pilot was---I don't know why they would risk it.

Here's hoping all is fine and they were able to put down somewhere safe.

Grunt if you've got 'em

Experts Sound Off on Workout Grunting - Yahoo! News:

"Planet Fitness, a national chain, has a solid 'no-grunting' policy in place "

Okay, so did they know what kind of business they were getting into here??

Why the heck would you open a fitness center that allowed body builders in and then tell them that they can't do what, for most, comes naturally without control??

Why not just put a big sign out side that reads "Girly Men only, Girly Girls too"....this is ridiculous.

When I was in college my weight training instructor told us to grunt, if we had to or if he couldn't hear us exhaling.

See the natural tendency when you are lifting weights is to hold your breath....well this is bad-it leads to hernias....to avoid those nasty things you need to breath while working the muscle in the direction you want it to developed (which is actually kind of silly, because muscles are like ropes--you can only pull with them you can't push, more in a bit). This releases chemicals in your muscles that makes them work more efficiently, not to mention that it keeps your body oxygenated.

But if you grunt when you exhale then your trainer or partner can hear that you are breathing. It goes hand & hand with working with weights, or at least it should if people are doing it right.

Don't like the grunting? Buy a home gym.....you never hear the pros bitch about it, just the wimpy ones who don't want to be reminded that they aren't putting their full effort into it.

Now about muscles...many people think you can push with muscles--after all you can push a box....push open a door...push a car.....whatever. But if you study the muscles and what they are doing you will find you aren't really "pushing" at all. When you push with your legs, what you are really doing is pulling with the muscles that surround your knee and your upper thigh (front quadriceps) muscles. The back of your legs are fairly mellow. Same thing when you walk....you will use the front of your thigh and the calf muscles, the muscles surrounding your ankles and your toes, the muscles in hips and your buttocks...but if you study them carefully you will find that when you step forward--your hip flexor muscles work but not your ass....at least on one side, it will be just the opposite for the muscles on the other leg which you are propelling backwards.

As you step downward the muscles on the top of the foot do the work, as you raise it up the calf muscles will do the work.

By knowing how muscles work you can find ways of exercising them with out having to do a lot of complicated things---even knitting can be good exercise--even if only for the wrists, fingers, arms, eyes. Oh yes---your eyes and your tongue are all muscles too...tongue exercises can be fun, do your work out with an ice cream cone! (heehee, I had a really devilish comment for this too but I won't put that one in...heehee)

Hmmm, who greased their pockets???

"Purple Rain" greatest film soundtrack: Vanity Fair - Yahoo! News

you have got to shitting me....Purple Rain???? I've got this soundtrack and I've got to tell you...it pretty much stunk. Yeah there were lots of good songs on there, but I have got to say that Saturday Night Fever (BeeGees) or Hard Days Night (Beatles) are better than it....actually I lean towards SNF because it had the music that defined a generation--every song in the film was in the Top 10, most even went all the way to #1!

The music in SNF changed the way artists started making/recording/performing music....it change....literally changed...the music industry! It put RKO records on the map as a major player...not that RKO wasn't big to start with but not many everyday people had heard of them since the 60's when the BeeGees first came to America.

Purple Rain????? I would like to know the ages of the people who made up the list or the demographics of the people who voted....my guess is that they were all preteens in the 80's so they had no real idea of the other soundtracks or the movies they came from.

Purple Rain????? My gods it was a horrid film....with ultimately bad acting--in fact I'm sure its the film they show inspiring students so they will know bad acting when they see it. YUK!!

And Prince? There's a walking nerosis---I used to work with a couple of gals who got to meet him, even invited him back to one of their apartments. Prince spent the entire time there sitting in the closet...in fact the gals said that he opened the closet and put his seat in there to sit---how weird is that??? You know what Freud would say......introduce him to Dumby.

No thank you.....if I weren't so attached to them, I'd almost be willing to part with my PR sountrack LP--yup got it on vinyl! I bet the majority of the people taking that poll have never even seen vinyl unless it was dancing on stage.

Purple Rain!!! What a JOKE.

Oh wow

Robert Goulet awaits lung transplant - Yahoo! News

Well, the one thing this generation will remember Goulet for is that Blue Diamon Almond commercial he did for the SuperBowl earlier this year.

By the sound of it, he was getting ready to make a new one when he "went down".

Because I would hate for him to only be remembered as the Nut Man crawling on the cieling or a really bad lounge-singer, here is a link to his imdb.com (Internet Movie DataBase) page

Wow, I didn't realize he was in Beetle Juice and Scrooged (a very funny and underrated movie imho)....time to break out the old videos and check it out!

I thought he was in "Camelot" too as King Arthur but his isn't listed at all.

We had a simular situation here in MN

4 flamingos found dead at zoo in Germany - Yahoo! News

Wonder if they have had any tourists from Denver? I think that was where the guy was from that ripped the head off of a tamed goose here at a local hotel...he said he was hungry and wanted to have goose for supper.

Isn't it nice to know some things will never change??

Clinton talks of Bill's romantic gifts - Yahoo! News

And people want her to be president? Deary.....hate to tell you, but chances are with his record....these are guilt-gifts.

The watch that he got you that reminded him of teeth when you had your dental surgery......he probably boffed the hygenist. The giant wooden giraffe---oh please! What bigger phallic symbol could be get you?!

"Now obviously we've had challenges as everybody in the world knows," she said. "But I never doubted that it was a marriage worth investing in even in the midst of those challenges, and I'm really happy that I made that decision."

Everyone got the feeling that she stayed married just because she knew she was going to run for office...a decision I felt she made back when Slick Willie first got into office and she was basically told that she had no say in the health care debate because such programs could only be implimented by elected officials...and as first lady she was not elected.

I feel that the real reason she is happy about it is because Americans love to feel like they are a part of history--you can bet that people will vote for her so they can say years from now that they voted for the first woman President...although it will be a double record too--she will also be the first First Lady to be elected to be President...this was something they touted when she was running for NY senator, that she would be the first First Lady to win and elected office, and it worked!

'...While sticking it out might not be for everyone, Mrs. Clinton said women should support each other in the choices they make in their marriages.

"I think it's so important for women to stand up for the right of women to make a decision that is best for them," she said...'

Yeah....right....in otherwords she doesn't want any of the ladies out there with brains to sit back and go "You idiot!" Women should stand up for women--I'm sorry but if I think someone is being an ass I'm gonna let them know it.

Hillary---you're being an ASS

Drawing suspensin update

Okay....so I just saw a copy of that little boys drawing on FoxNews--OMGs!!

I can not believe that someone reported that! It shows two stick figures....one is holding a gun and his buddy is standing on the same side as the gun--now if you were totally stupid or super paranoid, yes it does look kindof like the is pointing at the one figure....

But kids don't draw with a sense of perspective--hell, adults for the most part can't draw with a sense of perspective---you are basically talking cave drawings here people!!!

To me the image shows two people standing next to each other, one pointing a gun at something in front of them....maybe its monsters under the bed---but I highly doubt that it is a threat to the other child.

Only 64 more days til Christmas, or in my case Yule

I love hubby so much!!! My daughter went out and brought in the mail and in there was the new "American Girls" catalog with the new doll! Well I went online and saw they had it on sale for $99 with the special TV offer. So I showed it to him and his eyes just about rolled out of his head....I explained to him that the doll itself is usually over $100 so it was a fantastic deal for our youngest daughter.

Well....if we had gotten it....it would end up being the ONLY thing she got....we wouldn't be able to afford anything else.

I told him that if I could find the cheaper dolls that look just like the American Girl dolls that I had gotten for my daughter when she was 4 when her brother was born, for myself in '98, and then again for my oldest daughter and her cousin for their 10th birthdays....I would....but I hadn't been able to find them anywhere.

On a whim I did a quick Google search and low-n-behold I found the Springfield Doll website!!!
These dolls are fantastic--they look incredibly like the AG dolls but are about 1/4 of the price, and if you have a child who is a bit more rough on dolls they are the perfect solution....and the AG clothes & patterns fit them!

So they had Michael's stores listed as a distributor, but the last time I was there they no longer were carrying them at our store, but on a whim I called. They had two models, both for $24.99 (I was told, but at check out they were only $18 each, and hubby let me get both - one for each of the girls)...one was very much like the first one my oldest daughter had when she was 4--red hair, green eyes....it bit the dust when she colored on the face and body with an ink pen and I decided to wash it to try to get the body clean...actually it was putting it in the drier that killed it.

Her hair fried into clumps and her eyelashes came off....so I cut down the hair as far as I could and tried to get one of those wigs for her, but it just wouldn't stay on---but my daughter loved her so much that she played with her anyways...until one of the arms fell off in 2000, then I had to take the doll to try to fix it.

The original collection, in 1996, was a Stuff-Your-Own type and they sold an armature that you put inside. This allowed you to make the doll as skinny or fat as you wanted--I like my dolls on the thick side so I packed her....in order to fix the arm I figured I would just have to undo the back where I had sewn her shut, pull out the stuffing and then attach the arm with a zip-tie from the inside as they had originally done (its the standard)...but first I forgot where I put the arm...then I forgot where I stored the doll for save keeping.

You can see a photo of "Amy" as my daughter named her on my website, she is featured on my doll sweater pattern. (before the wahing incident).

The ones I got for the girls 10th birthday we had to order via internet because no one was selling them.

Now I had already gotten each of my girls, and myself, one of those round knitting machines that you hand crank....normally $45-60, I got them for $5 each! It was such a bargain! This is working out great....plus I got my older daughter and myself booklets on patterns that used the Addi machine, but they should still be able to apply.

I love hubby---it was so sweet of him to take me out....the football game was starting in 1/2hr...and he usually keeps me away from Michael's like the plague (its almost as tempting as Walmart)....I was so surprised when I called Michael's and he over heard the call when I said the price---I think that may have been what did it....even buying two dolls we saved over 1/2 the money of buying one AG doll.

Yes I do have an AG doll for comparison.....several years ago I bought "Kirsten" for myself so I would have one AG doll for designing crochet pattern dolls for....but when she came I found she was the EXACT same doll as the Springfield dolls. I also have "Megan" from the Magic Attic Club dolls--I was so sad when I heard they went out of business....I loved that collection and the stories...

I KNEW it!!!

Dog DNA study reveals new role for protein - Yahoo! News

I always thought my poodle had the look of knowing some secret of life!!

Poodles---the future of the human race.