Went for a walk yesterday morning, just Lu and me and decided to take some pictures along my way. Nothing too earth shattering as I was using KC's digital rather than my own Nikon SLR. But what her camera lacks in quality, it more than makes up for it in its ease to carry.



And of course, when you've nothing to write about it helps to post lots and lots of pictures to just take up space.

A Saturday Sigh

The day begins early and to the do list grows without ever having written a word. What I need to do right now, is grab a shower, get dressed and get both KC and myself out the door and on our way to this mornings cross country meet... After that, once KC moves on to her Dad's for the remainder of the weekend, what I want most is downtime.

Time to maybe go over to Barnes and Nobles and spend a few glorious hours by myself in the stacks with a gift card tucked in my back left pocket just waiting to be spent. Or just time to leash up Lucy for a walk and enjoy the beginning of fall foliage on the trees. Or just time to do whatever, whenever simply because I want to.

Why I Need To Get Out More

Have you ever noticed just how distracting man nipples can be? They can leave you speechless just when you need words the most. Words to say, "No. I don't have a laundry stick pen," when someone stands in front of you, pulling their polo shirt tight against their skin to demonstrate the location of their not even noticeable stain when all your eyes can focus on is one lonely man nipple, obviously cold and eager to say hello.

Doggie Dearest

Made possible by me... The one who emailed the link to the sister who has been trying to convince her husband to agree to bringing home a new friend for Dieter, sausage dog extraordinaire.

If only more endings happened just as happily...

Welcome to the family Hugo...

From,
Isabella (Izzy), Arabella (Ella), Luciana (Lucy) and of course, your new brother Dieter.

** Hugo was one of the puppies rescued from an out of control puppy breeder.

Without good shelters and the good people who run them, far too many animals would be left without any options for a better life. My local shelter accepts donations of all kinds. Money, food, cleaning supplies and time...

If you don't know what your local shelter needs, give them a call.

You just might find a worthy cause, and a new friend as well.

Take Me Out To the Ballgame

Off to a Yankees game shortly, so no time to take the time to say much of anything at all...

And sometimes you just have to admit that this is the way some things in life work out. Or don't work out. Or sort of kind of work out, but not really work out at all, if you were keeping track of what does and doesn't that is.

If Derek Jeter takes one look at me and falls in love at first site however, don't expect me back anytime soon. That man has enough money to make the term extended honey moon a reality.

A Matter of Friendship

We ate grilled peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with tall glasses of milk. Messy but delightfully warm and delicious, and than it would be back outside, sometimes to swim, sometimes to play in the snow depending upon the season we were in.

She was my best friend before we grew apart, before my best friend became someone else, the person who knew me best until she stopped really knowing me at all. And yet, I can still remember so many minute details. Her Dad's ham radio, the way her Mother styled her silver gray hair, the exact layout of her house.

Small things like eating breakfast in the morning, her cereal never adulterated with milk. Or flying down the hill on our bikes like blurs, careless until we fell, skinning our knees and elbows and whatever else the gravel managed to grab.

We had our good moments, and our bad.

I remember a snowball fight ending once very badly, though I can't remember which of us were really to blame for it beginning. I do know however that it was I who dumped a significantly large shovelful of snow upon her head.

Shocked, cold and crying she ran into the house while I trudged slowly behind her, secretly sorry but feeling justified all the same. Either way it was a turning point, the first real wedge in what had been a solid friendship.

We were changing.

Getting older, seeing opportunity in new people, and beginning new friendships. A new grade, a new school, a transition from child to young adult, it seemed the right thing to do to let some things go, to forget to be friends as unintentional as it all seemed to be.

As an adult, I find I don't make friends as easily as I used to. Much more reserved than I ever was, and less willing to go out on a ledge and suggest the idea of going out to lunch, or sitting down to a cup of coffee, it doesn't seem as simple as throwing out the idea of being friends to make friends.

There are excuses as well... Being a parent, having a job, maintaining a household, or having a significant other, there are far too many reasons why there are simply not enough hours in a day to have more than one or two close personal friends.

But I am blessed with two such people, that regardless of the number I choose to call friend, quality in my case certainly exceeds quantity. To both Brenda and Sue, I say thank you. Your friendships are among the most treasured of my possessions...

Still I am reminded of a song we used to sing in Brownies, never mind that I never made it to full fledged Girl Scout.

Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, and the other gold.

You don't need me to tell you how true of a statement this really is. You remember friends you've lost through nothing more than neglect as well as I do. Our only difference, is that I'm the one talking about it now.

I talk with reason however. A random copy on an email that results in a new old friendship taking blossom. And I find that regardless of how long a friendship has laid dormant, it takes only a few simple words to wake it from slumber. And I think to myself how wonderful this is, to be given a new opportunity once more, to meet again later in life and learn what has changed, and what has not.

I don't know if friendships are the same for men. But I do know that as women we need the relationships we forge between true sisters, and the sisters we create from our hearts. No one can make you feel better than a friend who knows you. Who is there to laugh and take joy from every good and wonderful thing to come your way and who stands strong and firm when gale force winds threaten to take you apart.

In whatever way we choose to be friends, be it through daily phone calls, once in a while emails, or the pages I leave her on this blog for you to read, I hope that if you take anything away from me at all, it's the warmth of unconditional friendship in the true spirit of which it's given.

Getting Rid of the Green Catchphrase

Have you ever noticed that the government has gone big on promoting all things GREEN but still refuses to admit that global warning exists?

Or that businesses that claim they're greener than a retirees well manicured front lawn still fail to implement a recycling plan right within their own facilities?

And can you even imagine that there are people out there right now who are absolutely against utilizing the classroom as a place to teach our children about the importance of conservation, thinking instead it's just an open opportunity excuse for liberal brainwashing?

To those people and really to anyone who thinks we're doing enough doing the very little we do, a wake up call! We have a responsibility to this planet, to leave it, if not the way we found it, than at least no more worse for wear.

The world is not a replenishable resource. If we ruin it beyond recognition, there is no easy fix to put our mistakes right. Even now, we are fighting an uphill battle to combat against everything the human race collectively has already done.

But do we do enough?

Sadly the answer is no... And because we don't look at this beyond our own front door, or beyond our own lifespan, too many of us toss our concerns (if we have any)into the dumpster like one more bag of garbage to be gotten rid of.

Every individual needs to care. Every individual needs to be responsible for what they put in and what they take out.

It takes a lot more to live green than it is to say you are green.

Isn't it time to admit we have a problem?

Someone Could Have Told Me

When trying to renew your vehicle registration, it's good to keep one thing in mind. The month it expires doesn't necessarily mean you have to go into panic mode if it's good through 2009.

Evidently it's still 2008 and as usual, I'm the last one to know.

If It Doesn't Make Sense, I Understand It Perfectly

I need a to don't list.

Let's face it. The to do list is old news. Been there. Done that. Or tried to do some of it before giving up halfway through.

It just seems to me that a to do list only knows how to do one thing, starting with one little got to be done and ending up with a whole batch of still got to do, which adds up to only one thing... Stress!

So I'm switching it up, turning things around, and trying something new on for size just to see how it might feel to be high up on the probability chart for completing a task by doing nothing much at all.

Doubt not my genius good people! I am like a pioneer left stranded on the Oregon Trail faced with the horror of making a decision between (A), (B), (C), or (Depending Doom). Will I trade the bullets needed to shoot big game to buy a two ounce vial of Chicken Pox vaccine to save poor Tommy's life, or will I hook up with another wagon train, and barter my old washing tub in return for a ride on a half dead donkey?

Or will I completely get off topic and wind up talking about something so out of the blue that I'll have no idea of how to get back to what I was originally saying?

Some things, like how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, the world may never know...

To Do List Be Damned

There are about a hundred things on my to do list tonight and only about a one in one hundred chance that something on that list might actually get done...

I have however had dinner. A truly gourmet meal of Kashi whole grain, honey imbibed something that looked like cereal - but didn't taste nearly as good as a bowl of chocolate peanut butter pops - dowsed with just the right amount of skim milk to make it look perfectly enticing.

If we must be honest with each other, and I feel we must, enticing is was not. It was however quick, easy, to the point, and absolutely no fuss on a night when I was running late from work, had nothing much else in the house to make, and no intention of cleaning up until tomorrow.

In other words, it worked for me.

KC on the other hand had a microwave mac and cheese meal courtesy of Stouffer's. I might have had some too, but I made the mistake of looking at the calorie count including the calorie count from fats and decided as my breath expelled itself out in a sigh, that it was most definitely off my list of the can eat eats.

Still even KC knows better than to think that this kind of meal is the norm in our house. We are more a brown rice and chicken prepared in a thousand different ways family. A family who avoids fast food at all cost, and rarely buys prepacked prepared meals except for infrequent occasions when it's just too convenient to pass up.

My daughter however isn't happy over our healthier lifestyle. She thinks I'm denying her her right to double cheeseburgers at McDonald's, and she had a perfectly good snit the other night when I absolutely refused to stop at the drive-thru to fulfill her need for a chocolate milkshake. Twenty unbearable minutes of listening to her whine, complain, and moan incessantly over my not stopping, she finally went mute and gave it up.

In other news, and yes, I do have other news. I finally found my missing library book on Saturday beneath my dresser in my room, though I swear I had looked there about a thousand time before to no avail. Excited as I was to have it in my hands, I must admit I was a little nervous about the overdue fee. After all there are only so many times you can renew something you can't find before the library catches on. Lucky for me, the fine was reasonable. Seven dollars, paid in full, was well worth being able to check out more books. Two of which I've already read and returned and one that as of this morning, I am now halfway through. I just can't seem to help myself...

Books are like a constant northern star, always a new name, and a new place, but a welcome respite all the same.

Actually I think I finally did manage to make a dent in my own prolific scratchings. Like a mute swan in a frozen lake, my ideas have been trapped in ice. And nothing, no matter what I did, could chip those ice blocks away. That is, until I read something quite by accident. And then the thaw began, and a name popped into my mind and I could see her as if she had been patiently waiting just to exist the moment I was able to call her into being.

Her story began tumbling out of me, breathing its own air, waking me from my sleep to sit in front of my computer late at night and listen to everything she had to say. And she is very wordy, wanting to talk no matter what the time, no matter what it is I should be doing. And so I wake up to the randomness of her mutterings and do my best to write them down as fast as I am able before they slip away like fading headlights into the fog.

Who's Your Daddy?

Dear Noisy Neighbors Downstairs,

It would be ever so nice of you to not leave your television set on at top volume from the moment my head hits the pillow at night, to the minute my alarm goes off in the morning. You see, and I don't think is going to come as any out of the blue surprise, people who have jobs need plenty of peaceful and relaxing sleep in order to be able to function properly throughout their workday.

I'm sure that if you had a job, you would probably be better able to see the bigger picture as to why I can't stand you without ever having met you face to face...

As for your sex life which you so kindly decided to share with everyone within a one mile hearing distance the other night, let me just point out that I honestly do hope he's really not your Daddy, and that you have some hair left in your head despite your pleas for him to pull it harder...

Had I not heard it for myself, I might have gone on to believe that white trash sex talk didn't exist... Thank you for providing me with such an extensive repertoire to add to my vocabulary. I can now rest easy in my new found knowledge that should the situation ever call for it, I'll know exactly what to say and when!

Here's hoping you'll find a new place to move that's much more suitable to your personality really soon...

Your Neighbor and Nemesis Upstairs

PS... Garbage goes in the bin, not outside it. Try lifting the lid, it always seems to work really well for me.

The Bitch Blog

Feeling much more myself tonight and not like I'm about to knock, knock on heaven's door, it's a good time to open up with a little bit more bitch and a lot less bite my tongue until it bleeds.

I am annoyed...

Though admittedly I've been annoyed almost my entire life towards one thing or another and cannot say at this time that this is something new...

This time however I'm really above my limit of tolerance annoyed.

Annoyed at people who act more like a spoiled three year old child set loose in a workplace with behavior that is quite unacceptable in the parameters of nine to five office life.

My philosophy is do your job, work with whom you must work with, and leave your personal differences at the door. Notice I didn't mention like or respect. That kind of thing isn't necessary when relying on professionalism.

So if someone chooses not to talk to me, I'm all for their choice and more than happy that they made one.

I do not however enjoy playing patty cakes with a third co-worker whose only purpose in the mix is to relay messages back and forth as if they're the cheap ass string in a two tin can conversation.

(The Scenario)

Ten minutes into my day, co-worker "A" utilized co-worker "B" for what I have now decided is the absolute, not going to play this game anymore, last time.

What is was exactly that set me off my ice block this morning, I'm not sure I know. All I know is that it was just enough to push me out of my chair and across the hall to say what I've been wanting to say for over six months.

It went a little something like this...

"If you have a question you need to ask me, or some documentation you need to get to me or from me, I'd appreciate it if you would ask me direct rather than sending in co-worker "B" to get it for you."

Co-worker "A" froze, looking at me as if she were a shocked deer in the headlights, visibly stumbling over what to say in response. (It could of course be contributed to the fact than when I'm angry, and I was seething, I can be quite formidable, in a very intimidating way when one does not take into account my five foot stature.)

She didn't have much to say however, other than an excuse which I quickly blew to smithereens with one little huff and a short little puff.

"Don't think I haven't noticed that you've been bypassing me for months. Whatever grudge you've got, you feel free to keep right on carrying it, but for the sake of getting the job done, get over it when it comes to our working relationship, so we can all stop playing footsie."

I didn't wait for a reply. And to be honest, I didn't find it necessary. Had my buttons not been pushed to the point of must explode or else, I would have let it slide another day, another week, another month, only for the sake of not giving her the satisfaction of letting her know that I was ever affected by any of it at all.

There are two truths I know when it comes down to holding a grudge.

One, it's a well known fact that the person holding it expands much more energy to do so than the one the grudge is being held against.

And two, if you're the rock in my pocket, believe you me, I've already let you go.

Chillin' & Illin'

When you're coughing up phlegm, you can look at it in one of two ways. And while completely sucking on the sick front is a valid opinion of catching a cold in the tail end of summer, a more positive spin on the situation would be to say, "It's better out than in."

I may have stolen that line from Shrek, and you'll just have to forgive me if I did...

But honestly, feeling as ill as I have for the past four days, a little slack on the whole plagiarism issue is an absolute must have for the September season. I am after all sick, and should be treated with some respect if not at least a marginal amount of passing concern.

Chicken soup however doesn't seem to be doing its job. I made a whole super size batch from scratch Thursday night when I first felt this coming on, and it hasn't made a lick of difference. At least not one that I've noticed. Then again it's pretty hard to notice much of anything when you're passed out on the furniture drooling.

Being sick did not keep me from taking KC to her Jonas Brother's concert Friday night despite a pounding headache made much worse by the sound of a thousand, if not more, screaming girls professing their undying love for Kevin, Nick and Joe. And I must admit, though it's begrudgingly, that those partly prepubescent boys do indeed have natural God given talent enabling them to put on quite a show.

And KC, well to say she had a great time would be putting it mildly... In fact, I'd even go so far to say that in her opinion it was a most perfect night. Heartfelt thanks should then be said (again and in print) to Grandma Nancy for making the impossible possible. Had it been left up to me, this is one concert that might not have had a happy ending.

Ending a Dry Spell

Understanding defies logic. You cannot after all make sense out of something that makes no sense at all. But there it is. A light shining beacon in the darkness that turns itself on faster than you can flick a switch and the idea begins to grow.

And you remember what it is to write with purpose and with passion.

One seed. One thought. Fed, watered, allowed to bloom, taking shape beneath a tender hand.

Home Chillin'

I skipped the gym tonight in favor of staying home with Lucy, who with her plastic looks like she got her head stuck in a lampshade but effectively keeps her from getting at her stitches collar, looks ready for a flight into outer space.

Our lunar landing notwithstanding, I am at least doing one positive thing today just by stopping in to say hello. Of course that doesn't mean my hello is going to last all that long. Not tonight I'm afraid when I'm more than ready to call it a night, than fight with myself for something to write about.

And since today was more work than play, there really isn't much fodder in the larder for public fanfare. It was so busy in fact, that I never even noticed that my radio remained eerily off.

My yawning however has reminded me that it's far beyond the time for bed.

I am to sleep posthaste...

Making Faces

People who take random pictures of you sticking your tongue out and then post them on the Internet ought to be taken out and flogged until they can't so much as press the button on a point and shoot camera.

Seriously... I'm not photogenic. And it certainly doesn't help when I'm making faces in the midst of an unscripted Kodak moment.

And yes, I know I'm partly to blame... I mean I was the one sticking my tongue out and all, but honestly, does that mean we have to share it with the entire world?

Sigh... If only I were a vampire, this so wouldn't be a problem.

Not A Political Blog

Oh dear...

I am days late again with keeping up to date on events that are for the most part current. As usual however there is nothing of any great import to share with you, nor the world at large.

I sit here in the dark, attempting to fade out the noise of cars passing by with Italian arias. I am if I were to be honest, a tad bit lonely tonight with both my daughter and my fearless pup gone away.

KC at her father's is for the most part a welcome respite. After the pass few days, one of which included a four girl sleepover, and then an entire day spent in their sleep deprived company, followed by an even more heinous day of school shopping on a budget, I am more than ready for my fair share of solitude.

Lulu's absence however sits on my heart like a rock. And as bad as I know this is going to sound, I miss my little rat dog with her goofy grin, her half cocked ears and the way she cuddles up on the couch, resting her chin on the edge so she's always near me, even while I write.

I am overly attached to my dog. I admit it. It's just a welcome relief to know that at the end of the day, there's at least one happy face to greet me at the door. Not that KC doesn't try, but her greetings are usually followed up with a long want list and then a long face when I do my parental duty by saying, "No." (I practice that one in the mirror all of the time, and only manage to get it right half of the time.)

Thankfully Lulu will be home tomorrow from her brief and temporary stay at the vets. As a responsible pet owner, I did what must be done and had her spayed. I didn't want to do it necessarily, but it was the right thing to do and I (almost) always (except for occasionally once in a while) do the right thing.

Of course, when I do do the wrong thing, I can be counted on to make it one hell of a big blunder. But honestly, who can be good all of the time? (Okay... So Mother Theresa! But besides her, who?)

Which brings me to yet another opinion I feel the need to share...

What was Obama thinking? Joseph Biden? What?

Okay... okay. I get it. With Hillary in his camp, he would have had a constant power struggle on his hand, someone who would have always questioned his politics, policies and procedures. And yet, I can't say that this sounds like a bad thing...

Sure I probably wouldn't appreciate having someone all up in my business (not you guys, you're like invited) all of the time, but then again, I'm not on a public platform asking to be nominated as your President. Unless you really want me there, and then by all means, throw in my name and we'll see what happens.

Note to self: Mandatory three day work week to be implemented the minute I hit the oval office. Change weekends to include Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. No exceptions!

But honestly, it would have been a political dream team. And I would feel a hell of a lot more secure in my vote had he chosen a woman who many in this country are still more for than either Barack himself or Bush's clone McCain...

And just to point out the obvious, if you hadn't yet realized I'm a registered democrat, I guess the cat is pretty much out of the bag at this point. This will not, as no one as my witness however, become a political blog... I just don't have it in me to stay on top of every issue that's going to be in the news for the next three months.

But honestly, you'd think that we could vote for people who would be above mud slinging. Every side may do it, but then again, I'm not jumping off a bridge just because my best friend might decide to give it a try. And the fact that I am seriously afraid of heights pretty much keeps me away from the edge anyway.

When It Rains

Odd happenings in the world today that have raised the question of, "Huh?"

Namely an email conversation that started early on this morning and lasted until the very last minutes of my day with the not so mysterious and until today extremely silent Mister H.

And since my current flirtation was too busy to play email tag whilst preparing for his vacation, I simply switched my attentions back momentarily to see what it was my old friend had to say.

It turns out we had lots of skimming the surface to speak of, though it was painfully obvious that anything else would have been too much information after too long a silence. And yet, I have to wonder what exactly is was all about and what purpose it might have served.

For me the answers are not forthcoming. And as much as I am a woman who likes answers to every single question I've ever had, even I know that for some questions the only true answer you'll ever hear is quite simply the one you don't.

Which doesn't make me feel any less in the middle of wanting to feel something and feeling nothing at all. Perhaps there is no remedy for water already under the bridge other than just to let it go.

Ocean Pebbles

There was something I heard today, that I was trying to remember, that I've evidently forgotten... And it seems to me that most profound thoughts seem to be as easily lost as they are found.

I used to carry a small notebook around with me to jot everything down in. But somewhere along the way, I fell out of that habit. Mostly because I also had a bad habit of leaving those notebooks lying around where anyone could prop them open and read them to their heart's content.

I think the difference between words here compared to words there is the level of polish they've been given. Private words on paper are seemingly more raw than the poetics applied to a post. And a post is more accurately described as a shelter, protected from the elements on the inside while seemingly exposed for all to see.

Or better yet, perhaps all of this is simply my version of cheap talk therapy...

Whatever it is or for that matter isn't, it keeps me in tune to the sound of my own voice.

LuLu's Two Cents

She's listening to classical music again, which can only mean one thing. She's in a sappy, all you really need is love kind of mood. Don't tell anyone, but I think she met a boy today. Or kind of sort of met a boy today that she has been not so harmlessly flirting with these past two months.

I could tell from the moment she got home. One... She managed to completely ignore me for five minutes, a feat practically unheard of in our house, and this after she told her own Mother the other night, that I, yes I did say I, I complete her. (A bit over dramatic and all, but if you know my owner, you'd understand.)

Two... And this is just odd... If she had birds sailing around her head and no tan, I would have pegged her for Snow White. Snow White minus the ruby red lips that is. And just to clarify, that whole fairest in the land thing, as far as this pup's opinion goes, is about as overrated as overrated can get.

Needless to say, she was in good humor which meant treats for me, a pat on the head, and not the least little bit of trouble over that tasty little morsel of a shoe I sort of helped myself to earlier today while everyone was going goo goo over those gosh darn cats.

Cats I might add that live to torment me when no one else is home. You'd think they were here first or something...

But back to this boy thing... I don't know much about him at all other than she thinks he may actually be the last nice guy left on the planet that is without a doubt single and unattached. It doesn't hurt either that he's a single Dad with physical custody of his son. Not only does he get the whole parenting thing, but he gets it on a level that for the sake of not being politically correct, most non-custodial Dad's don't.

She however is keeping mum on this whole thing, not wanting to build it up too much in case it turns out to be nothing, but I can tell she's interested all the same... Let's just say when it comes to my owner, I know her mind better than she knows it herself. After all, I'm what's known as a muse when it comes to supplying her with things to write about. Don't blame me for her unexcused absences though, the credit for that belongs to only one place, and I'll tell you it rhymes with Jim.

Seriously however it is getting a little past this wee doggies bedtime and my warm spot beneath the covers is calling my name... Or at least I think it's my name...

Anyhoo this is L to the L to the double U signing off. Over and dog gone out.