...being a kid...

This is my family at the front door, before we left.









And, believe it or not, this "party" sign was still hanging on the wall of the room up in the attic that was "my" room to party in when I was a teenager!! Kim & I painted that ourselves! (I never had the guts to actually have a party up there, but, be that as it may...

And, this is the kind of workmanship you'll just never find anywhere now...I don't know, but I really doubt that any homebuilders build intricate cabinets & drawers in any house they build. The door to this room is neat, it's like the back door of a house or something, and the whole top half of the door is glass!

What were some of the most favorite games & stuff you played when you were little? I always loved Monopoly...cuz I was good at it (maybe cuz I was always the banker...you think?). This was just a perfect house for playing board games with your friends...the rooms downstairs were big, and if you got tired of playing, it didn't matter if you all got up and did something else, as long as it wasn't in the middle of the room. I liked most board games, like, Life, PayDay, stuff like that. But my first favorite was 'Trouble'. You know, had the thing in the middle that you popped to roll the dice. I still think that was just about the most ingenious thing ever invented...something that rolls the dice, but the dice aren't free to lose (as little kids are wont to do...). Mom and I played card games too. She was always picking up fun things like that! One fun one was 'Rack'O. Another one was called 'Authors'...it had authors like Robert Louis Stevenson, Alfred Lord Tennyson, etc...the point was to match all the books with their authors. That's what made me 'precocious', I guess! lol! Mom had taught me how to read & write when I was about 3, and that was the coolest thing in the world! I remember there was an algebra textbook in our library at home, and Dad teaching me that in 4th grade, but, no matter how it was tried to teach, math just sucked! And reading and writing was just fun! Art was, ummmm, well, Mom tried to get me into drawing and stuff, but...she failed on that. Sorry, Mom! But I still do think there is nothing better than a book! My homeroom teacher when I was in the 6th grade always ended each homeroom period by telling everyone on the way out of the room "Read For Pleasure!" He was a neat old man. I had a ninth grade teacher that said every day when we were leaving "Walk with Light!" That's just neat stuff to remember, most people have at least one or two teachers that were cool like that!
Oh, I talked to my cousin Boo the other day, and we were on the phone for a long time...but before we hung up, I had to call her the "quadro-mom" (well, she does have 4 kids!).
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Citigroup credit...

Well, these are all pictures of the front stairs. And the half-bath down here. These were the best stairs in the world for playing on! (shhhhh). No, seriously, this is where I learned the true meaning of the Slinky! (you know, subliminal, and Zen, and all that...).
That globe in the left front of one of the pictures, I'm pretty sure Mom & Dad left that when they sold this house. I used to look at that all the time when I was little...sometimes, in the evenings, when we were sitting around watching tv (you know, 70's shows; All In The Family, The Jeffersons, Maude, Good Times,

Sanford & Son, Little House On The Prairie, Welcome Back Kotter. These shows are always on TVLand overnight, which is why I'm always up watching tv all night! And a good reason to have cable tv!
Anyway, the wallpaper is the same, the carpet is different, our old chandeliers are still hanging there...they left a lot of things the same, but they made some changes...IMO, they changed what needed to be changed, and left a lot of good stuff alone! I don't live there, but I still think of it as 'my' house!
Actually, Pat, one of my good 'blogging buddies' was down for the day last week, and we went past that house and it had a paper on the door, & that might've been a foreclosure thingy, we didn't walk up & see it close up. I know that the man that bought it from Mom & Dad died after we went over & took pictures & met the man and his "ladyfriend" that lived there. Believe it or not, they bought this house from Mom & Dad for $60,000! That was in the early to mid-80's, when the economy sucked just as bad as it does now. Mom & Dad didn't have to move, they just wanted to, and had their next house picked out (a one-story!). It's a nice house, just...different, ya know? But I think he left the house to his daughter, and I know nothing about her, nor do I want to. I'm just very glad that I thought about that house so much back in 2003, I looked his name up and called to ask if I could come over & see the house again...we set it up, and it did just happen to coincide with 20 years from the day I moved out!
I was just thinking today (pondering, I guess some would call it...)...as a child, when you were growing up, did you EVER need a friggin commercial on tv to tell you to go out & play??? If you were like me & my friends, your mom had to call you to come in & eat, or "It's time to come in, the streetlights just came on!" And you'd say "But I want to catch lightning bugs! Pleeeezzz??" Stop & think about it. Could this possibly have anything to do with the fact that there are so many overweight kids? Hmmm. Ridiculous.
I wanted to mention my Sears credit card. I had called them 2 months ago, trying to get my interest rate lowered, cuz I've never had late payments, or anything, that card is here for emergencies (you know, if my refrigerator dies or something [snark]) only, but their interest rate is like 28%. So I called and talked to people all the way up to the lady that said she was the highest I could get. All of them refused to do anything because "You're not behind in your payments". WTF??? So now, it's a BAD thing to think ahead and be proactive when you see a problem up ahead? Who makes these rules? I must be one of many, because when I got my Sears bill this month, there was a big reduction in the %, and the payment was $200 less than what it had been, and a bunch of explanatory pages about that Citibank South Dakota had (just out of the kindness of their little black hearts, I'm sure) lowered the interest rates. It's really a good thing, because I had decided that I just wasn't going to pay my bill, if that's what it'd take...I'd just pay it to my savings account instead, so there! One black heart meets another...but, since they did that, I paid it last night.
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

yay!! it was sunny today!! (but we'll get a couple inches of snow tomorrow...)

This top picture is the kitchen of the house I grew up in (from now on, I'll just refer to it as 351!). I took all these pictures on Apr 8, 2003; that's 20 years to the day from when I moved out & got married when I was pregnant with Tif, a few weeks before I graduated from high school. I always tried to tell her "yes you WERE there at my graduation!"
Anyway, if I close my eyes, I can see Mom giving Tif a bath in that kitchen sink, like she always did! I don't know if this happens with all grandmas, but I know that every time I'd tell Mom I was coming over with Tif for a while, she'd make me bring all of Tif's dirrty clothes, and Tif, and she'd throw a load of clothes in

the washer, and grab Tif, and pop her in the sink to give her a bath!! And no, we were not filthy slobs! Mom just loved babies, and she was the best grandma!

The next picture is up on the third floor (the attic). That floor had about 6 or 7 rooms in it, and most of them were kinda creepy & scary...I never went up there by myself before I was 12! But that window was in the room I moved up into when I was about 15, and Kim & I decided I needed my own stained glass window up there...and it's still there after 30 years!

Then there's Mom's closet door, where she put my height and the dates on...& that's still there too!! Too cool!

I'm dealing with a lot of bullshit stuff right now. My super heavy-duty battery powered wheelechair isn't working right now. And thank God, right now it's not totally necessary, because I had called the United Seating & Mobility company (where I got it 2 years ago...I think that was the last thing Kev waited for me to get before he moved on!), and they had somebody here Jan 21 to check it out, said it needs a new motor & a new battery...said they'd call when they got stuff together (ins, etc). Well, I gave them a week & started calling. I've been talking to one woman at the Columbus office, and I know her name & extension # there...but, who knows. I do know that she told me yesterday she had talked to my dr's office & the nurse there was SO nice. But, this afternoon I called the nurse & talked to her myself (at least I know her name!), and yes, she's very nice, but said nobody called to get a letter of medical necessity for me (you know, cuz everybody wants a wheelchair just for the fun of it? woohoo...demolition derby, anybody?) So I gave her United Mobility's name & the lady's name & phone # & extension #...then I called one of the women at Anthem BC/BS in Columbus that I've worked with for years (she gives health insurance companies something to be proud of! Seriously! I always hear people bitching about rude insurance people, but she's not one of them!). And she said no, they hadn't heard anything from United, nothing! I asked if I'm gonna be a pain in the ass if I call & check Monday, and she said "Honey, you call me back every day until we find out what's the holdup on this, it's not a problem, I'm here to help you!" OMG...I LOVE that woman!

So, that's what's up here...I'm just glad I'm in for the weekend, it's so frickin' cold out, and gonna be sleet, rain, snow, etc all weekend

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

~~~~~~~~~~ Oh, I forgot to say..."2XXX Libby Lane, was arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct while intoxicated."

That was in the local paper tonight...I TOLD you I'm famous! Truly, that street is named after me...G was an engineer at the company that designed & built that development when I was still little & cute!

gray, yukky day outside!

This was my room when I was really little, when I grew up (you know, when I was 12 or 13!), I moved to my older brothers' room that they shared (it was a huge house from the outside, but it only had 3 bedrooms...but they were big bedrooms!). This what used to be the backyard, for some reason, they're making it into a parking area!

This is the bedroom I moved to, that was my brothers' before they moved out.

And this was Mom & Dad's room, it goes all the way across the upstairs front.

It might've been raining earlier too. Either way...it's just f*n UGLY outside!! But I'm gonna ignore that, I'm looking through my pix of my old house that I grew up in (lived there from 1966 to 1983), and think about when life was easy, and I didn't have any responsibilities, except do what Mommy & Daddy said...easy when you're in grade school...became progressively harder as I turned 12+!

We went down to the Smokey Mountains a lot. I only have 'snatches' of memories from back then. I remember that every time we went to a motel, I begged for one with a pool, cuz I loved to swim! Once, I remember we were staying in a cabin in, maybe West Virginia (beautiful state!), and looking out the kitchen window, & seeing a big bear standing up on its back legs, leaning on the passenger side window, trying to look in there! We have a picture of it somewhere, I just don't know where.

I also remember one time we went to Oglebay Resort in Weat Virginia, which was a whole lot of fun, even 35 years ago! That was the first time I ever rode a horse, and I loved it! But, turned out, I was allergic to horses, so I spent the rest of the afternoon sneezing, blowing my nose, whining (I was sick on my vacation, for heaven's sake!). And I was about 7 or 8!

Oh, by the way...the stained glass window is on the landing of the front stairs of that house. I'll put a couple more pix up on my next post.

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Sunday the 15th of the worst weekend of the year...

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my mom dying...it's also my 19th wedding anniversary...(hope you enjoy it with Jen, pig) which means I'll always remember that because of what happened with my mom. Hmmmm....sucks, doesn't it? Oh well...live & learn, right?

Okay...on to something funny (no, this whole story isn't funny!). I heard the reporters on Fox news yesterday talking about a photojournalist that took pictures of the plane that wrecked in the flight from Newark to Buffalo. I'm so sorry for all the people involved. Anyway...the photographer's name was Harry Scull! Say that with your eyes closed! Oh, holy shit, can you even imagine the hell he must've gone through as a child?

I'm not watching any news today, I'm watching "Parking Wars" on A & E! I love this show, it's all about the trouble when you get your car ticketed, or booted, or towed in Philadelphia. I never want to park anywhere in Philly! Next is "The Exterminators"...that's good too, but gross!

Oh well...I'll get back to vacations soon...

DrAgS...LibbY!

the country's going down the frickin' drain...

We were promised a new era of hope & change...yeah, I know, Obama's only been president for 3 weeks...he doesn't seem as if it's all easy happy sunshine...
And why? It should be, after all, it's a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate, a socialist, oops, a Democratic president. What's up with all the problems finding people to nominate to cabinet posts? Sure, Republicans have run into problems putting people in them too, but I hardly think they've tried and failed with so many in so few days! And look at the trouble with the Commerce Secretary position. First it was going to be the New Mexico governor...then he dropped out because of 'legal problems'. Well, okay, then they had the brilliant idea to be "bipartisan", and approached Judd Gregg, a senator from New Hampshire,who is anything but a taxer & spender! They thought he was going to take it, and all their problems were solved...until about 5:15 this afternoon...then he said he wanted out before he tried to go any further, and all I could do is think "Smart Guy!!" He said that he and this administration weren't enough in step for him to do this! Which is true, and I'm so glad he realized it in time! I didn't like the way the census bureau was going to be moved into the White House, the census is not supposed to be democrat OR republican, it just IS! It's supposed to be non-political, and yeah, I know, it's probably not been like that as much as it should, but, holy God! The Democrats are acting like little kids whose teacher left the room for a minute! And Rahm Emmanuel doesn't inspire a whole lot of trust in a whole helluva lot of people. Oh, and by the way, if Judd Gregg would've taken that commerce secretary position, well, that would've just opened up a blank senate seat for the governor of New Hampshire to seat (a la Blagojevich?). and, being that the governor is a democrat...which would totally give democrats a filibuster-proof senate! Stop the country...I want off. Only problem is, I have a daughter that's going to inherit this, and I'm ashamed of that...
And when Obama was campaigning, he promised that everything was going to be open and everybody would have 5 days to look at anything before he signed it into law...but he's signed things into law already, and nobody had a chance to see it. It was supposed to be posted on the web first, so we could ALL see it first. I guess there's a big difference between campaigning & governing...
Hmmmm....

more fun memories...

...and since these are the only good things I see about Valentine's Day this year...and for the forseeable future...



anyway, I just hafta touch on this bit of politics again...Tinothy Geithner (again!), I think he's going to be the last downfall for this economy. First of all, I don't think he's the "financial genius" he's being touted as. Yeah, he was the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York...so what? Ummmm....well, look at what Obama said last night, and a lot of people are saying today, that these money problems all started during the Bush administration. Timothy Geithner was in charge of the MONEY in the country from 2003 until he got the treasury of the secretary position. So, what made him all of a sudden be the best person to put in charge of the country's money, not just Wall Street?? The fact that he was smart enough to not pay his income tax?? Huh...the last I heard, that doesn't take brains, just cunning!! Because I've known some really stupid people who've gotten away with not paying taxes...but they get away with it because they're just inherently sneaky-ass people...not because they're smart, for God's sake! I've pretty much lost any kind of hope I had for this president. He said he was all about change & hope & all that...the only change I'm seeing is the economy going down the toilet faster & faster. I'm kinda even thinking that tax cuts can't even help now, because, holy shit...you need to have a job to notice any more money on your check every week or two! And I'm hearing about the $7,000 tax deduction if you buy a car. Number one...what bank is going to loan ANYBODY money for a car right now? Number two...if a person has a job at this point, pretty much, they're not looking to spend any extra money right now! How depressing. I guess it's probably a good thing I don't know any more about money. The only thing I know for sure is that the only people I've ever heard say "I hate money!" were the people who have plenty of it! Huh...I LOVE money. And, yeah, I know the root of all evil is that...but at least I'm not lying, which is, I think right there beside it!

Hey, let's talk about old vacations. When I was little, we always went on vacation for a couple of weeks in the summer. Usually it was getting in the car (I got the whole backseat to myself, to share with all my library books!), and driving to, well, wherever Mom & Dad had planned for us. I remember a lot of places, Mount Rushmore was neat! And Wyoming...but that's the farthest west I can remember...most of where we went was on the east half of the US. Mom told me once that we went to New York City, but I definitely don't remember that! I do remember a lot of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell, Virginia, Williamsburg, et al.
Among many others...I just had amazing vacations. Hell, I had an amazing childhood!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

February...even more hated than November...

Yup...This is the "after effect" of the beautiful snow we had. Well, I guess you have to take the bad if you get the good, no matter how sucky it is, right? It's been really warm this weekend, like lower 40's...and Monday and the rest of the week are going to be high 40's/low 50's!! Which is good...but it's gonna be ugly and rainy
for the next couple days...
Speaking of which...did everyone hear about the 138 people who were ice fishing this weekend on Lake Erie, and the 8-mile ice floe they were on broke off and they were on it? Holy crap. I know the police chief of Oak Harbor (neat little town...I used to take Tif up there in the summers when she was 10 or 11, just to swim and chase seagulls and everything...there and Port Clinton!) said they were idiots for going out on the ice now, and I pretty much have to agree with that. Come on! Ice fishing must be a really neat thing to do, but...even I know that you shouldn't go out on a lake that looks frozen over...on the warmest weekend Ohio has had in months!! Sheesh...
Wow, I haven't thought about Port Clinton in a long time!That town was just a good time! Of course, I only went in the summer, it might just be cold and miserable in the winter, like the rest of Ohio is?
When I had a job at the first grocery store I worked at (actually, that was my first job I'd ever had), Tif was about 18 months old, and I ended up getting a vacation the year after I was hired (was still just a cashier, learning to do the books for the store too...you know, the more you learn at a job, the more hours they'll give you! Even if you never wanted to be a bookkeeper,when you're 19 and making $3.50 an hour, part time,with a little baby at home, if that's what you have to do for more hours...). My friend Kelly and I decided to take that week and go up to Port Clinton for the week, and I left Tif with Mom and Dad. So we went to Port Clinton, and got a cheap motel room in a motel on their little beach (& I AM talking cheap! Like, maybe $20 a night?). But we weren't going to be sitting around in the room anyway. We had a lot of fun that week! Went out drinking at the bars, and partying with the cute guys we met up there, took one day and went to Cedar Point amusement park...that was the BEST! Because I had gone there at least once every summer since I was like, 2 or 3! And until this time, I never realized how much the drive up there took out of you! It's about a 3 hour drive from here, which isn't horrible, but still. But from Port Clinton, it was maybe 20 minutes, and after a whole day at Cedar Point, we got back to the motel room, and took showers, changed our clothes, and we were ready to go out partying that night! I met a really cute guy that night (he was also a Kevin...weird...), and he was staying in his family's cabin up there, and talked us (well, me) into skinny dipping in the lake with him. So we went, and while I was standing in the water, I pointed to what I thought was a smokestack, and asked "What's that?" He said, oh, that's Davis-Bessie. That would be the nuclear plant...!!
Okay, my pizza and salad just got here, so I need to eat...hopefully, I'll have more interesting stuff to talk about when I come back!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...rabbit, rabbit...

Rabbit, rabbit...or, maybe in honor of it being February 2...I should say, 'groundhog, groundhog!' Naahhh...Punxatawney Phil saw his shadow today, so that means 6 more weeks of winter. hmmm...actually, just look at your calendar...of course there's six more weeks of winter!! I'm just hoping for a "strawberry spring"...you know, when spring comes all of a sudden, it seems like overnight! I've had my snow, & cold weather for the year, January's over, I'm done with winter weather...mostly because I truly can't get out of here...there's 4-6 inches of snow on my yard, which is actually my stone 'driveway' in the summer, and I can't even get my scooter out to the street where the city bus could pick me up! And I will not ask any of the little kids that shovel sidewalks to get that! This much snow absolutely needs a snowblower, which I don't have. And I'm checking to see if I can find anyone with one! Bro, of course, has one, but it's out at his house in the country, about 15 miles from here...that does me no good...but, I'll get one here this week...and then, when the snow & cold is gone for this winter, my ass is gonna be at Wal Mart or somewhere, buying one of those little snowblower thingys!

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Tom Daschle...well, what is there to say there? Holy shit! The Dems totally ripped the ass off of Bush's people while they were in office...and, now that they hold ALL the power in DC, WTF are they doing?? They are openly putting people in cabinet positions that, well, I know I don't trust, obviously, though, they're stupid enough to! Tom Daschle is only getting the health and human services position.../snark/, but the head of the treasury department, Timothy Geithner, was already confirmed, and HE, of all people, should know better!! Do we really, as Americans, even deserve the fucking right to expect our friends, neighbors, husbands, wives, coworkers to tell us the truth about ANYTHING?? Crap...this used to be a good, honorable country. And I've already had all my trust taken from me by my x, after 17 years, well...who can you trust now? At least I know better now than to trust ANYBODY! Speaking of getting fucked over...what would've been my 19th wedding anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks, so if I have extra attitude for a while, that'll be my reason. thanks Kevin & Jen! Obviously, I'm not an evil person, or I'd put her email address in here...but I'm not EVIL, no matter what anyone says! I'm just snarky & smartass, but, there's lots of us like that here!

So, any thoughts out there about the woman who just had 8 babies, on top of the 6 she already had? And these were not just 'unexpected', or anything, she had eight embryos implanted ON PURPOSE!! And she's single, lives with her parents, and is now unemployed (her last job was in a fertility clinic...shocking, huh?). She lives in a two-bedroom house that her mom & dad bought for her a few years ago, because she didn't have money to buy her own (for God's sake!), and had her first 6 kids to raise by herself, one of whom has autism!! and two of whom are two year old twins! This is a woman who 'just loves kids'! For some fortunate reason, all 8 lived, and are breathing on their own...but the medical costs for these babies is unbelievable! They'll have to stay in the neonatal intensive care unit for at least a month at a cost of one thousand dollars per day, per baby! So who gets that bill? Uh-huh..the state of California....who can't even afford to pay people's income tax refunds! Jeez...incredible...and here I was always careful to never get pregnant again, after I had Tif. Why? Well, stupid reason, but...I couldn't afford it!! Well, to be honest, I really didn't want any more too...but, still!

Okay, that's it from here...I tivo'd Glenn Beck's show on Fox, so I want to watch that...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

~~~~~~~~~~~addendum~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bro shoveling out my driveway was the noise I woke up to at 8:45 this morning! I love him, did I ever tell you that? I did get up and go to the front door to tell him thanks, but he said it was no problem, it was a pleasure to be able to do something like that for me! Where are husbands like that? I even got to tell him happy birthday, cuz today is his 55th!

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