20-tagged by dddragon! from 10-13...sorry!

This is my DREAM house!!!






Okay...here are the 20 things about me that dddragon tagged me for last week...looking at Tan Lucy Pez's blog today, and, seeing that she had done it kind of 'shamed' me into it.Truly, I wasn't not gonna do it, I just hadn't gotten off my ass (or ON my ass!), and put my book down and done it! Here goes...
1. Well, okay...not that this is the most important thing about my life, but I have ms. Was diagnosed in Nov 1994, and was told that the scars on my brain were in the worst possible place (cerebellum)...pretty much gave me no hope for staying out of a wheelchair...but I'm not in one yet!! (use a walker, but only because of my balance, not strength!), and I kept my full-time job at Verizon (GTE at the time) until Sept 1998, since it was just a cust svc/computer job.
2. I LOVE to read! Usually it's the scary books (Stephen King, etc), but I also love mysteries, politics, history...
3. I'm also hooked on tv, but during the day, any tv that's on has FOX news channel on.
4. I'm a registered Republican, but I have some disagreements with the party...not about Iraq, though, I think it was the right thing to do. And, yes, we should stay til the work is done...how would we feel if it was the other way around?
5. I hate, hate, hate Hillary Clinton!
6. I love, love, love, and more love Kevin and Tiffany!!
7. I also love my (okay...our) cat, Truman!
8. Even though I was the one who picked him out at the animal shelter (it was love at first sight!)!
9. Kevin's family is the best family of in-laws I could have! I knew his mom and his brother Ken before I met Kevin.
10. I always wonder if it has the good effect on Tiffany that I think it does.
11. Kevin's mom & dad, & my mom & dad have never been divorced.
12. But I get along better with Kevin's family than mine!
13. I love NFL football.
14. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers are a great team, and I love the coach, Bill Cowher.
15. I drink Coke, not Pepsi!
16. Even though I've seen what Coke does to corroded battery cables, because my dad had to do that to my car when I still lived at home!
17. I laugh at some of the commercials that are on tv now (you know...French benefits, Arby's oven mitt).
18. I asked for & got a Pets.com sock puppet a couple years ago.
19. Halloween's my favorite holiday...mostly because it's cheaper than Christmas!!
20. I'm hooked on watching FOX 24 hours when a hurricane is coming to our shores (yeah, I know...morbid).
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

everything...

Is this hilarious, or what?? The title of the picture is 'Amish Airlines'... Okay...here's more of Kim & me....
The very first time we actually got together & did anything, was around Christmastime in our 8th grade year. We were all paired up in our English class to do a project on foreign Christmas celebrations. So, actually, it wasn't either of our ideas to be best friends forever, starting in 8th grade! Actually, I have to put this in here...maybe that had something to do with the fact that I got my very first 'C' on my report card in that class, in my 8th grade year! And, yes, my mom DID just about shit when I brought that home..."Oh my God, you'll never go anywhere, you'll NEVER get into college, etc., etc..." followed by the famous crying...but I am digressing horribly here...
anyway...so the teacher was matching us up in pairs, and she put Kim and me together (yeah, so everything stems from Mrs Hawkins! Yeah! It's all HER fault!!), and Kim and I were sitting together trying to figure out what to do...all of a sudden Kim looked up from the book we were looking at, and said, "Here it is! We'll make 'wassail'!" I looked at her and said, "WTF is wassail??" So, she read it to me, it sounded like something I NEEDED to do. I showed up at her house the next day, and we got all the ingredients together for the drink, which we were making in a huge punchbowl, and mixed it up. Then we tried it...and just about PUKED!! We checked all the ingredients again, and we had made it exactly like the book had said...but it was GREEN!! So we dumped it into a huge thermos or something, and traipsed proudly off to school with it the next day.
When we got to English class, we told Mrs Hawkins what we had done for our project when she called on us. She was overjoyed that we had taken so much initiative, and actually made something that everybody in class could take part in. So we thought it was all good, and started pouring the stuff in paper cups for everyone. Lo and behold, as we poured the first cup, most people said, "Eeeeewww! I'm not touching THAT shit!! It's GREEN!!!". But, unbelievably, some people said "Mmmmmm". Then the teacher informed the class that 'everybody's getting a cup! Kim & Libby worked HARD on this!' Suffice it to say that Kim & I politely refused our cups, saying 'no thanks, we already had ours yesterday.'. Not surprisingly, most people drank some and said 'yuk!'. But some people actually liked it and asked for the recipe!! So, in our not-so-humble opinion, we were a success! By the way, Kim just called here, and I told her what I was blogging about, and she laughed her ass off, and said it's a good thing we didn't do it a few years later...we would've put Ex-Lax in it!! She has a really good point..
So...we had no choice but to become friends after that, not to mention the fact that Kim was still afraid of Bonnie & her friends (who were all cheerleaders, for God's sake! Who in the world is afraid of cheerleaders??).
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

everything...

Oh geez, I'm having a total 'blond day' today...(don't tell Kevin!).
And now I'm really pissed, cuz I found the picture I've been looking for, and I want to put it on here, but 'the almighty blog gods' won't let me upload it!! Grrrrrr!!!
OK...still won't go....$% !$^^&(&%&%^*%^^F!!!
I give up...which is not easy for me to admit!
Last evening, Kev, Tiff, & I were sitting here trying to figure out what Tiff ought to be at the Halloween party that Kathy & Benji give every year. This year is the 3rd annual one. Kat & Benji always rent one of the halls in town, & invite tons of people, Kat is the dj, with all the equipment, lights, everything! And all kinds of drinking, dancing, costume contest, everything. And this is how 'inventive' the costumes are. A couple years ago, a girl came dressed (no, Jill, I won't say who...) like a bloody red used tampon! Now THAT took imagination...and guts! And last year Tiff was dressed like a Playboy bunny, and the guy she went with was Hugh Hefner! (no, it wasn't Ricky [Dick-y]). So, we're sitting here discussing the festivities, Tiff mentioned she still wasn't sure, & we had a couple of coconut halves on the table, and I said, "Hey! Be a hula girl, & put those over your boobs!". Tiff looked at me & Kev, picked them up, put 'em on her chest over her boobs (on top of her shirt!), then looked at us, and said, "No, my 'breasticles' will hang out!" Oh, man , what a line!!
So, Kevin just called me from work on his last break, and asked me why it took me so long to answer the phone. I said I was putting on makeup cuz I wanna look good for my husband. ;-) Kevin said 'Cool! What time's he gonna get home?' I thought for a second and said 'Well...we have a little time if you hurry!'. No, he's just been a total smartass lately (yeah, that's why we're married!). I was telling him about something I read yesterday that was so sad, it made me even feel better about my life, and he said 'Wow! That's hard to do, unless you're reading the obituaries...'. Dickweed!!
SHIT!!! The picture I wanted to put on here just went!! How cool!! I want a shirt like that!!
Actually, I told Kevin about 14 years ago, that we should have another kid. You know, so Tiff would have someone to pick on besides us...but then I changed my mind when I remembered how BAD it hurt! Cuz, of course, when I had Tiffany, there were no epidurals or anything, and I didn't want medication, because I didn't want to hurt the baby! HA!! If I'dve had a clue... But, 22 years ago...I was never told to quit smoking while I was pregnant! There was even a smoking waiting room down at the end of the hall, about 30 feet from my room!!
OK...I'm done...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY

...

OMG!! They found him!! And this looks a whole lot like the 'party apartment' we all used to hang out at when I was in high school, and we could smoke pot, drink, anything, cuz the guys that lived there were out of high school, rented this & lived there, and they were old enough to buy beer!! WOOHOO!
So...last night around 10, an old friend called me that I haven't talked to for years! She lives in the town up north where I transferred to in 1986, and while I worked at that store, she was hired in about a year after I got there. And it's kinda funny now, but the first day she was hired, I hated her at first sight, and she hated me, too! I hated her cuz she was so gorgeous, and had the dark brown hair that I always wished for, AND she was younger!! (by 2 yrs, anyway..me being the elderly 21.). Later I found out (she told me, while we were at the bar one night getting drunk) that the first time I walked past her at the store when she was interviewing, she looked at me and thought to herself "skinny blond bitch"! HAHA!! women...aren't we all like that?? But, actually, once we got to know each other, and, actually, had time to go out and get drunk together, we were friends! And have kept in touch with each other even after I came back down here, and Kev & I got married, and I got ms, she's still been my friend, even though we don't talk much! Her teeny little girl (she WAS, anyway!) is now 14, and starting high school! She had S way after Kevin & I started going out/got married. I'm just thinking back to that time, and I'm remembering some of the shit we used to get away with. Because, the biggest thing we had in common was the fact that we both loved beer, and we weren't afraid to do stupid shit! I was always known as 'the happy idiot' up there, even by customers! ;-) M wasn't that idiotic, cuz she still lived at home with her mom & dad. They were really neat...her dad was chief of police there, so...the only way she could've been worse, I guess, is if he'd been a preacher...
We were just a couple of 'the guys'! Which is actually about the best way to be, cuz no matter what happened, we all went to bat for each other, took each other home if someone got too drunk to drive, the guys would fight for each other or for us if it was needed. It was just cool! And here Tiffany told me the other night that she didn't want to be 'one of the guys'. I tried to explain to her that that isn't a bad thing at all! But, of course, I'm just 'mom', so I have no clue, I guess. Hmmmmppphhhh! It was nice to catch up on stuff. I remember when her daughter was about 6 and she flipped M off when she told her no about something. M actually saw her little precious 6 year old in the mirror doing it, when S thought M wasn't looking! OMG, I laughed my ass off when M told me that!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

??

Okay....gotta start out with a coupla stupid 'jokes'.

The only problem with doing nothing is that you never know when you're finished.

The definition of a 'moderate jihadist'?
One who ran out of ammunition...

All right...Mary, this is for you, at your request!
A few Halloweens ago, when Tiff was 16, she had a job at Kay-Bee Toy Store, and, I think Toy Story 1 had just come out. All the little kids around wanted Halloween costumes from Toy Story, and Tiff must've got carried away with it, or something, and she decided to be Jesse that year. Which is so different from what we've always done!! (as you know!). So she knew that by then, I wasn't able to walk around with her (bummer! this is the best time to!), so she said she'd stay home with me until her friends got off work that evening (you know, so she could go out & get candy with them too!). I always sit on the front porch steps to hand out candy, and she was standing on the top step beside me, helping, because there's usually 150 - 200 kids every year. So, later that evening, when the 'steady stream of' kids had slowed down a little, a little boy was running around across the street, dressed like the little cowboy star of that movie. All of a sudden, Tiffany stood up and yelled, "Hey! I need a Woody!" I just sat there looking at her back in shock...(haha...if she hadn't said it, I would've!), and then she turned around to me and clapped her hands over her mouth, and said "Did I REALLY just yell that??" But I think I'd already rolled down into the bushes laughing!! That was GREAT!! I always use that line to her when I want to (somewhat) embarass her. But, unfortunately, she's like me...un-embarassable!! Unfortunately for me, fortunately for her! Because embarassment for a teen girl is almost unavoidable! Unless you're one of the perfect, pretty, popular girls, that is. Which I was NOT, but Tiffany is!! By the way, Kev's sister Kat was here today, and we were talking about stuff, and she told me that Tiff's always complaining about her "cankles". Then we both just sat here & died laughing, cuz we both know that she has legs any woman would kill for! (as you know, cankles=calves+ankles! from 'Shallow Hal'...good movie!).
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

rainy, rainy,rainy...i think we get more than Seattle!

Okay...who looked like this over the weekend?? Be honest, now...

The year after we had our first 'haunted porch'. Halloween was rainy and cold, but we did it anyway. You know, "Back by Popular Demand!" We had a 25 lb box of, I forget, but it was some kind of individual wrapped chocolate...maybe Hershey kisses? And we had them in a box at the back of the porch, and the kids had to walk through the maze of long black plastic sheets (cut up garbage bags! we're cheap...but creative!) . Ken was standing right behind the box. I forget what he was dressed as, but he'd just stand there all still, not talking, like an Indian or something. He's over six feet tall, and every so often when a kid would stick their hand in the box to get one, Ken would yell, 'HEY!! That's MY candy! Get OUT of MY candy!!' They'd scream, drop the candy, and run....probably dropping little shit-turds outta their pants, too!! I'd stop them on the way out and give them candy, but Tiff's idea worked well too! She stood at the back of the porch too and had a plastic bag with handles, like an old trick or treat bag, and she had some candy in it...she also had some wet, boiled spaghetti in there too!! And she actually said one little boy grabbed up a handful of spaghetti, looked at her, and said "Thank You!" , and put it in his bag, and left. Hey, I only suggested that as a joke, I really didn't think she'd DO it!! (but I'm really glad she did!). Yes, my legacy lives on!
I've always 'given good holidays'! Or, well, done some shit to make them memorable. One April Fool's Day when I was the produce manager at a store up north of here, me & my friends decided we had to do something, so we super-glued a quarter to the floor in the bulk foods department, by a popular seller so we knew someone'd see it...then we hid behind my back room door so we could see them (sneaky, huh?). I can NOT believe the number of people (yes, kids & adults!) who spent at least 10 - 15 minutes trying to pry it up! I can't believe they didn't hear us laughing!!
The next year at Valentine's Day...the bulk foods department had a great big container of those candy hearts that say things on them. So I got a bagfuul of them out, and took them back to the produce room (I didn't have a lot of work to do that day). And went out to the shelves and found a pen/marker, with, like, an even finer point than a shapie marker. And this was red. So, I had them ring it up on produce supplies, and went dancing back to my 'evil-ness'. I took a LOT of time doing it, but by that evening it was all done. All the little hearts were changed to "Suck me hard', 'Wine me, dine me, 69 me', etc. Then I dumped them back in with the rest. Never even thought about the fact that little kids' moms probably bought them for the kids to pass out at school...but I never heard anything about it. Never did that again, either...didn't want to tempt fate!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

friday night...

Okay, yeah, I'm really sick & wrong when I laugh at shit like this (pun definitely intended!!). But, stop it, you're sitting there snorting pop out YOUR nose, too, arentcha? Don't LIE!!
Well, Mom called me yesterday...she didn't even mention the fact that she forgot Tiff's birthday. So, well, what can I say to her? She did bitch about what a bastard my dad is (he's just always crabby...always has been, aways will be...)...she's the one that chose him, not me, for heaven's sake!! My mom has had about 4 or 5 angiograms on her heart, had 1/3 of one of her lungs removed from lung cancer, has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, but she's never been overweight or anything. Basically, she is what I think of as the poster child for "stress causes sickness". Not all of it, but a good part...She's never said a swear word about anybody in her life, well, til a few years ago when I was on the phone with her, and she was like"blah, blah, blah etc' & I said Mom!! SAY IT! You'll feel so much better! So she's starting to, but mostly she whispers it (like God can't hear it or something!). Anyway, she and my dad were always really close to Tiff, had her stay overnight with them 2 nights a week when I was single and she was 1 - 4, and I was working about 50+ hours a week (& her bio-dad never wanted to see her...yay!...BTW...that's why it's so great for her that Kev wanted to adopt her! And he did but it took til she was 7 and we had a court date.). So...when Tiff was in middle school, my dad used to call her after she got home & before we were home, and just 'rag' on her about everything! One day Kev walked in & Tiff was on the phone with someone, and she was crying. Kev grabbed the phone and asked who it was. It was my dad, and he'd been bitching about her not being in the paper as an honor student. Kev told him not to call here & get Tiff upset like that, and Dad said "she's not your daughter..." etc...then Kev hung up.(good for him!). So, we've hardly been on speaking terms since. Even though we live, like, a few blocks from them! My mom hardly ever calls me, she'll call Tiff's cell phone instead. Oh well, I've finally come to terms with it...just nod & smile, and keep my mouth shut unless someone says something about Kevin, which nobody ever will, especially my mom, cuz she knows how good Kev is to both of us!

whew...that was work...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

first birthday of the 'birthday season' is over...now it starts!!

This is the pumpkin I want on my front porch this year...of course, I need a person who can carve a pumpkin...anybody wanna volunteer?? Of course, Tiff's a VERY good artist, so I'm sure she'd be glad to..but...I'm her MOM! Moms don't ask their children to do that, do they?? O' course, she IS 22!!
On another subject...she is really good friends with a guy & his wife that own a tattoo parlor here in town. A few days after she broke up with Ricky, she went over to their house in the evening, came home around 1 am, said 'hey, I got another tattoo! Look!' I did, & it's gorgeous & bright colors! It's all kinds of flowers, on the top of her right foot. Cuz she already has one on top of her left foot, a frog, in memory of one of her good friends that committed suicide (she loved frogs!), and a butterfly whose wings are leopardskin on the small of her back (you know...commonly known as 'a tramp stamp'! Kev was afraid it was gonna be of Ricky's name, but, HELL NO! She's way too smart for that, & for him.
We had a great party for her here Sunday night, it was Kev's whole family...my family wasn't invited, only because my mom & dad won't drive after dark (my dad should never drive anyway, he's like, blind in one eye...Mom's 82, Dad's 87). But, Tiffany's, like, always been their favorite. And she still goes to their house and stays overnight when they ask her to, and she goes over at least once a week to clean for Mom. But, get this...my Mom FORGOT Tiff's birthday this year! That has NEVER happened before! She only found out about it because she was shopping at Kroger's and Tiff's friend works there, and mentioned it! After that, Mom called Tiff...at work, and told her she was sorry yesterday, and she & my dad took Tiff to lunch at Applebee's, and Mom gave Tiff what she had asked for, the dvd set of the first season of 'Laguna Beach'. We gave her an MP3 player, and it'll hold about 2000 songs! And Uncle Ken, Kev's brother gave her a convertorr for her car! But still...
Okay, maybe that's petty. But, we can't help it. Someday I'll write about the whole family's 'relationship' with my side of the family...
I really wanted to write about how much more fun birthdays for Tiff used to be...(not to mention cheaper!). For her, like 7th birthday, I bought a shit ton of mini pumpkins, and Kevin and I wrote a number on each one, and put a birthday party prize in a bag with a 'coordinating number' on it, and had those all done the day before, and then Kevin & I went out in the backyard and hid all the pumpkins while Tiff was asleep. The next day, of her party, about 20+ kids showed up, and we had the cake & ice cream, and did all the regular party games. Then we got them all out on the deck out back, and told them what the next game was. They all took off out in the yard to find the pumpkins, and Kev had the camcorder & was taping everybody...so, the girl that Tiff had had a fight with a couple years before, found a pumpkin and screamed "I FOUND one!!". Kev focused the camcorder on her as she was running to the deck. She started to run up the steps, and all of a sudden she disappears and you just hear a thud/oof (she tripped on the top step). She was/is okay. And we still have the TAPE!! (heehee! blackmail?)
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

shit...

Okay...had to do this!! She has always been so f*n CUTE!! Even in her first picture at the hospital!! She was the absolute only cute baby in the nursery!! (yes, smartasses, there WERE other babies in there too!). The other picture is of her standing in front of my favorite, favorite car I actually bought by myself, when I was 24 (yeah, I was spoiled!). A 1983 Mazda RX-7! I always had wanted that particular car, cuz it originally belonged to the guy that lived in the downstairs half of the house I rented for me & Tiff when she was 2. (the upstairs apartment, for $160.00 a month, for a big 2 bedroom apartment!). I saw him outside every week, washing it, fixing it, he took really good care of it. So, actually, in the summer of 1989 (Bryan Adams...'summer of '89', is how I always sing it!), I started looking for a new car, to replace my YUGO!! (quit laughing, dammit!!). So, I went to a car lot, and saw Henry's car! Went home, knocked on his door, and demanded to know WTF was he doing selling it to a dealer?? Turns out he'd traded it in for a brand new RX-7, he was sorry, didn't know I was wanting a car...so Tiff & I went back and bought it. She was real excited, loved it, said "Mommy, it's only got 2 seats!" And I told her "that's all we need, right? It's just me & you!!". She thought that was the BEST!! (so did I...). So, what did I do? Started going out with Kevin in October, on her 6th birthday 1989, then Kev & I got married in Feb, 1990! And, ya know what? She still, to this day, reminds me that I had promised that it was gonna be just 'her & me'! Then I have to remind her how miserable she'd be without Kevin to be her daddy, and she just says "yeah, i know...but STILL!" We took that car everywhere that summer! Went to the zoo in Columbus, went up to Cedar Point, to lighthouses on Lake Erie, to Port Clinton, to Sea World up by Cleveland...all of which she remembers perfectly! From when it started pouring rain & thundering & lightning so hard while we were watching a Shamu show and she was scared & crying, until a few nuns that were sitting a row in front of us turned around to talk to her & calmed her down...and coloring with 'Sister Bear' at Cedar Point all day...well, I guess that's not all that odd, seeing as how she remembers when she was like, 2, and I had her at the mall & she started throwing a fit cuz we were leaving, so I laid down on the floor beside her, and started doing exactly what she was doing, crying, kicking my heels on the floor, saying 'I don't WANNA go!!' etc...she got up immediately, grabbed my hand, saying 'C'mon, Mommy! let's go!' HAHAHA!! Never had a problem with the ol' 'fit monster' again!
Okay...I really wasn't planning on doing all that, but...she IS gonna be 22 Sunday, ya know?
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

i'm thinking today...y'all are in TROUBLE!

I'm just kinda wondering. Doesn't everybody think that the citizens today (especially of the United States!) are SO much smarter than people were, oh, say, in the 1940's or 50's? Then why, in the name of all that's holy, do companies HAVE to print the types of warnings on their products that they do? I was looking at my deodorant bottle last night, and I noticed that it had a big warning about 'keep out of reach of children' on it. That's cool, even though any kind of responsible parent wouldn't need to be told that. However, what really bothers me is that they have to put on there that 'this product only to be used under the arms', 'if eaten, call the poison control center immediately'. Etcetera. OMG!! It's kind of like the warnings that we always laughed at about the iron shouldn't be used on clothes that were worn at the time. Or, on a hairdryer that you 'do not use in the bathtub'! My God! How did the nation that considers itself so smart & advanced get to be so fucking stupid?? Maybe (horrors!) we're just lazy and so book-smart that we've lost all common sense? Because, trust me, our grandparents are rolling in their graves at how we can't seem to figure out the simplest things for ourselves! All they had was the 'keep out of reach of children' on the medicine bottle, and they probably thought that was stupid and unnecessary! 'What? Who wouldn't?'. Now everything you buy is in a stinkin' childproof thing, and has warnings all over it. And now they've had to quit selling Sudafeds off the shelf. You have to ask the pharmacist for a box! Why? Because...the kids have been smart enough to figure out how to make their own drugs out of it! Huh. How did they get smart enough to do that? When we've protected them from everything? Everything from you have to wear a motorcycle helmet (that's really a good one....not only for the rider, but for the car driver, who may see a windshield full of motorcyclist-brains...a basket for your eggs, in other words.)....but then to 'you have to wear a seatbelt', then 'your kids have to be in a carseat', then 'no bike riding without a helmet', then 'no tag, or any games that may have a loser', 'you have to play games without keeping score, so nobody has hurt feelings'. My God! Yes, some of the ideas have been good and saved some lives. BUT.....does anybody besides me remember the days when you could go on vacation across the country with your parents, stretched out in the backseat, reading, sleeping, whatever you wanted! Or riding a bike without a helmet...when you were careful not just because your mom told you to be careful, but also because it would be stupid not to be! And all the other stuff we didn't do, not only because it would've been stupid, but also because you knew that if you did something stupid, you'd get a well-deserved smack on the ass for it! And that was something you could depend on! I don't know, maybe we raised our daughter wrong...but, she's a smart, well-adjusted adult now! And, oh, by the way...she'll be 22 this Sunday!! And I'll have to make sure I keep the tradition going...I always call her on her cell phn at 11:35 am, and say, "Hey Tiff! It's Mommie!! xx years ago RIGHT NOW, I was in the absolute WORST pain I EVER felt in my life, and it was all for YOU!!" I started that when she was, like, 15 or 16...and now it's 'tradition, ya know!'
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

coming soon..

Okay...I had to put my 'baby' on here first...the second picture is Truman studying my bellybutton ring, to figure out how he could get it out. And I think I should put the other picture on the 'kitty-porn' website! And, somehow, I wanna hook a mini camera to his head & see what he sees all day. I'll put it on a website called "pussy-cam"! Bet I'll get tons of hits!!

Okay, now I need to get to the important stuff...I can just see what the mainstream media is gonna say next week. "Texas got fixed so fast only because the president lives there and it's all rich people, as opposed to the poor people that all died in New Orleans. The rat bastard!" Cuz that's the first thought I had when they did stuff the right way in Texas, it doesn't make any difference to them that the local government works the way the constitution says it should in Texas...

Enough of that...the wedding's off......not getting into it, but Tiff did the right thing by breaking everything off...I'm very proud of her...

Well, I just heard a commercial on tv (on FOX news channel, of course!) for Cherry Valley Lodge, and it said something about dine "al fresco" on the patio, and, of course, all I could think of was "dine commando on the patio"!! HA!! Would that 'whet your appettite'? Well, if it wasn't fat guys...

Got a book back from Benji yesterday that I had let him borrow a while ago, and I'm already on page 375 of it! I recommend it SO MUCH!! It's Stephen King's book of short stories, called "Everything's Eventual"! And the stories are so good, it's all I can do to put the book down to write in here! I was already in the middle of rereading one of my Robin Cook books (medical mysteries...he's a doctor!), and Benji brought that back (which I've already read too, but...it's kinda like an old friend you haven't seen for a year!), so I just put that one down...I'll get back to it later. And Benji & Kevin painted our shutters on the house dark blue, to match the front door and the scallopy trim on the front Friday, and that is just what this house needed! They went to Lowe's to find new shutters, but they didn't have dark blue...all they had was "country blue, dark red, dark green...so they just got paint, and that worked!

Well, I just realized that I still have a gift certificate for about 30 songs on msm music, and I want the album 'Wango Tango' by Ted Nugent! Kim and I always used to ride around with that song & Terminus Eldorado playing super-loud in my car!!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

another hurricane...

This is the very best radio station I've ever been able to find on the internet...I love it!! http://1069thepoint.com/ a Houston/Conroe radio station! It's great to listen to if you have broadband, cable modem, or dsl...it's all 80's music!!
And, this is the absolute only souvenir I have from New Orleans...no, I was never fortunate enough to get to see the place, which I'll always be sorry for never seeing it, cuz I know it'll never be the same. Kevin won a trip there back in 2002, from work, and the only thing I told him to pick up for me was a real voodoo doll from a real store there! He did good...even though I've never tried it yet, it looks like it MIGHT work!
And, I'm sad about hurricane Rita, heading straight for Galveston! Because that is a place I DID see, in 1981! One of my very best friends & her sister moved with their parents down to Houston the summer after my 8th grade year (1978 or 9, I think...). We wrote letters (no, not email!) all the time, and Mary asked me to come down and stay with her & her sister & mom & dad for a couple weeks in the summer of '81. So, of course, Mom & Dad let me, bought me a plane ticket to go there, And some of our other family friends had moved to San Antonio a few years before that, and they had been bugging Mom & Dad for years to come down. So, somehow they got everything set up so I flew down there, and was there for 2 weeks, and they picked me up and drove me home after they were done with their stuff. Mary & her family had a beach house in Galveston, and we went there for a few days while I was there...it was SO much fun!! We went down to the beach every day, which WAS easy to do...after all, the house was on the frickin' beach, after all! All we had to do was walk down the steps cuz the house was on the beach, on stilts! I've never seen anyplace like that! One day Mary, her sister, & I walked down the beach to a horse place....oh, I guess that'd be a stable, huh? So we got three horses for the afternoon, and took them out riding them down the beach! That was so much fun! I used to have pictures of the three of us on the horses on the beach, but....poof, they've been lost somewhere over the years. But I totally loved that beach in Galveston! I remember there was a thunderstom one of the nights, and the next morning, their dad said, "Come on, guys, let's go out on the lifeboat!" So we all went out and 'launched', and Mary's dad got the paddles out and started rowing us out away from the beach. All of a sudden, we looked at the water we were going through, and it was totally covered with JELLYFISH!! OMG!! I have never seen anything like that!! So then Mary's dad started laughing like he was crazy or something, and he picked one of the paddles up out of the water (Gulf of Mexico), and hit it down on top of the water!! A few times!! Holy CRAP!! I guess that's what happens when 'a guy' sees that he's scaring women, huh? Anyway, we got out of there, and back inside the beach house! And, I swore that I'd never go to the beach again! Yeah, right..anyway, Texas has to have the biggest BUGS I've ever seen in my life!! We ran down to the beach the next day to hide from some the next day! And the first thing we saw on the beach? Yup. Jellyfish. Evaporating in the sun! I never thought they really did that, but it's true! We kept watching one all day, and it got smaller & smaller! We went back to Houston the next day, and that night we went out for dinner with some of the dad's business friends to a really good Mexican restaurant, then they took us to Gilley's, where all 3 of us rode the bull (we took turns, ya perverts!). So, that's all I can think about, hearing about hurricane Rita, that beautiful beach. God bless the people of southeastern Texas...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

forwarded letter from Katrina's victims

David Millican is a retired preacher from McComb.To my friends and family: What I have seen since Katrina:
The poor and the wealthy hurt by the storm.
Black, white, hispanic, oriental and Indian all hurt by the storm.
Christian people giving, giving, giving.
Churches going all out to minister in Jesus' name.
Neighbors going door to door helping one another.
Thugs and hoodlums going door to door looking for someone vunerable. Ice and water being fought over as police tried to keep the peace.
People coming up from New Orleans taking over empty houses because shelters are full.
Out of town volunteers coming with food and staying for now a week still serving it.
The Churches all over this part of the country doing what Christians do in a crisis.
Fema doing a wonderful job in getting help to us; the Red Cross doing a great job in the shelters.
The Salvation Army doing a great job in the community.
Four Hundred crewman from everywhere bring back the power to our homes, churches, and businesses.
Lines at service stations a block to a mile long.
National Guardsman patroling the streets of Mccomb along with Kentucky policemen protecting us from the hoodlums and thugs of McComb, Pike County, and New Orleans (the most dangerous city in the world before Katrina).
Drug dealers working outside shelters.
Doctors, nurses, and other hospital personnel working tirelessly, even sleeping at the hospital to do the job God called them to do. WHAT I HAVE NOT SEEN:
The ACLU setting up a feeding line.
People for the American Way helping in the shelters.
The NAACP doing any work whatsover.
The American Atheist organization serving meals in the shelters.
Jesse Jackson directing traffic at the gas stations. I could go on, but you get my message. It's the Christian people with love and compassion who do the work. The gripers in Congress should come on down and get in line to pass the water and the ice. Are you listening Hillary, Chuck, Teddy and all the sorry loafers we call Senators and Congressmen? They don't have a clue as to what this life is all about here on the Gulf Coast. Boy I feel better now. David A. Millican

again with the hurricane & flood...then I'll stop...first post of today...

Well, here I go again, due to 'a request' that I not stop. And, you know me...I aim to please, ya know...actually, that can be a good sign for a bathroom (Kim & I put this up in her bathhouse 20 years ago) "We aim to please...your aim will help!" (for before guys showed up for a pool party).
All right...the new head of FEMA, Thad Allen (sounded like 'Fat Albert' the first time I heard it!), who seems to know a lot more about handling a national emergency, and his background backs this up, has been telling the mayor & the governor that they really should back off on moving people home to N. O. this soon, but, no, he's not trying to take over and give orders or anything. He's just doing his job! Advising them that maybe this is too soon, and all. But the mayor says he wants people back to normal in his city fast! Does anybody besides me think that this mayor is pushing this too hard?? I think the only thing this is going to do is put those poor people in SO much more danger! The places they've been told to return to (Algiers section, today)...yeah, they're dry...NOW! After soaking in water that had all kinds of stuff in it...10 feet of water! For almost 3 weeks! But, there's no electricity, no water, no hospitals, no fucking 911 service, and there's the stuff left sticking to all the houses inside and out, that you or I could NEVER imagine! Oh, and the levees haven't had time to be totally fixed and shored up, and now, hurricane Rita is on its way to the same area! And he's sending people back now?? This guy is scary! He's just asking for his 'constituents' to be in danger! But, fortunately, the feds are staying out of this, I think they're following the constitution, and staying out of the states' business, and, in other words, giving him enough rope to hang himself.Hopefully, it's going to work...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

i think i'm almost done bitchin'! (you all say "thank God!)

Okay, I said 'almost', didn't I?? A good friend in South Africa (who is a very strong Christian, and works with the children with aids) emailed me this article last week, so I'll try to link it on here...http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0905/0905evac.htm

That seemed to work...we'll see...I'm not saying you have to agree or disagree...it just adds to everybody's knowledge, which is ALWAYS a good thing, ya know?

Okay, time for some 'light' stuff...I'm tired of thinking.
Tiff got promoted to assistant manager of the Fiesta salon she's worked at since, maybe March? And, since the former manager quit a couple weeks ago, (she actually walked out, with no notice! coward!), the other Tiffany there got promoted to manager, and she and my Tiff really work well together! The new district manager was in last week, and they got together and 'cleaned house'! There were lots of stylists there that called off a lot, when they were only working like, 8 hrs a week, and they were never coming in to help out when they were asked to. So...gone!! Tiff & the DM even went up to the State Beauty Academy to let them know they had some positions open.
And the DM & Tiff get along really well. When Tiff showed up for work this am at 8, she was squeezing through the door, and the DM made a crack about her being too fat to get through the door (keep in mind, she's 5'4", 115 lbs!) and Tiff made some sort of smartass comment back at her, & the DM was dying laughing! I told Tiff she should've told her about the 'Fat Ladies Club' she goes to every Wed nite, to work out, it's just a bunch of her friends...Tiff loved it last year, because they went out and got hula hoops, and had a contest for who could do it the longest...Tiff won, of course. But I LOVE that she inherited my smartassness!! She was telling me once, a long time ago, about some guys from school running around streaking. I asked her, "Doesn't that hurt, you know, when they're running?' Kev was sittin' there, and he said 'hell, yeah it would!'...and Tiff looked at us and said it sounded like this, and she clapped her hands together a few times! Ouch!!
Okay...now I feel as if I've done something for the hurricane & flood victims! The other day, Jill emailed me, and said that their church was gonna get a truck loaded up with everything, and someone was gonna drive it down to where a family had relocated to. I didn't have the sizes that family needed, but I figure if they'll get them to someone, someone can use them! So, I really can't give money...we have a hard enough time paying our own bills, but I went through all my clothes, and ended up with 4 or 5 bags full! And I had told Mom about it, so...she had a lot of expensive clothes (she shops more than anyone I know!) and she brought over about 3 bags, and a bag of baby & little kids clothes she had gone to WalMart & bought, after I told her about this! Yeah, she's like that...shopping's her 'thing'. Yeah, I know..."dammit! she's spending my inheritance!!" So, I've done SOMETHING, and I feel better.
Kim had called me a couple weeks ago, and said 'Oh, did I fuck up! You won't believe this shit!' Okay...her daughter, A, 20 yrs old, had went & spent about, probly, $75 on a pair of jeans, that were 'fashionable', you know, holes in them and everything. So, after A was at work or school, Kim ran across them, and thought she would do A a favor & fix them for her...she sewed patches over all the holes!! OMG!! A was SO pissed!! haha!!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

rants continued from 5:30 this am

...okay...if you just now started reading these 'rants', go down and read what I started on the last one. Because I had written SO MUCH more, and that was the only part that published! Grrrrrr!! I was SO pissed!! And this is really the wrong week to piss me off! # 1...I just got off of 15 days of steroids, which tends to make ANYBODY a little 'aggressive' shall we say. And # 2...this is PMS week!! Which also tends to make most women a little 'aggressive', too! Arrrgghhh!
So, I'll try to remember my rants from overnight.
...the ACLU is so anti-American it's not even funny! They're supposed to be there for the people who are truly disadvantaged, yet, who are they there for? Yup. Anywhere they can make trouble for anyone! They're kinda like Jesse Jackson...anywhere there's a camera, he'll knock the truly disadvantaged down to get in front of it! Which probably embarasses the hell out of the people they claim to represent! They're so worried about the fact that anybody in America wants to do stuff for themselves...like...choose what religion they want to be. Hence, the disappearance of people in stores that used to smile at you at Christmastime and say 'Merry Christmas!' Now it's all 'Happy Holidays!'. I'd love to see someone go to the American Civil Liberties Union and complain about the fact that they're not allowed to display a cross on their lawn. What exactly would they say? 'No, we're not interested. Sorry!'
...the 9th circuit court of appeals in California. Who wants to remove the 'under God' from the Pledge of Allegiance...! Which, some of the lines say 'one nation, under God, INDIVISIBLE, with liberty and justice for all'. Who doesn't still remember saying that every morning? And did anyone ever feel pressured to be a Christian because of it? Nope. We were just kids, who liked to have something to depend on, that was just a routine that we did, and never thought about it. WE were never 'offended'!
...the Senate hearings for the Supreme Court Justice. Democratic senators (some, anyway...notably Ted Kennedy & Diane Feinstein) would ask him questions and then interrupt him in the middle of the answer he was giving, until the chairman told them to 'let him answer!'. You teach your 5 year old not to interrupt, yet, they see these people do it!
...also, I think he should be approved by the Senate to replace Judge Renquist...and to replace Sandra Day O'Conner? Judge Judy!
...The district attorney of Louisiana is filing a lawsuit against the husband and wife who owned the St Rita's nursing home, because they left the residents there to die (34 people). How long do you think it'll take New Orleans residents to realize that 'Hey! Our mayor didn't bend over backwards and do everything in his power to save US, either!' Yeah. The mayor is already whining about the fact that his city is broke...just wait till these class-action lawsuits come rolling in...
...speaking of that..it was also mentioned that back, I think, in the 70's, that someone said then that the levees needed to be reinforced...but that idea was killed because 'Nooo...that might hurt the wetlands!' But I thought the 'tree-huggers' were supposed to be the sensitive, caring ones...nahh, not for people, anyway! I really doubt that any of them are clamoring for attention now.
...ok...I guess I'm done...for now, anyway...remember, vote for me!! ;-D
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

random rants...

Geez...all kinds of stuff happened in the news today...and since all I do all day is watch Fox news channel...well, I do take a break from Fox from 6 to 7, to watch the ABC news, just to see what they have to say...SO different!

First of all...something kinda funny...

In Japan, they have replaced the impersonal and unhelpful Microsoft error messages with Haiku poetry messages. Haiku poetry has strict construction rules. Each poem has only three lines, 17 syllables: five syllables in the first line, seven in the second, five in the third. Haiku's are used to communicate a timeless message, often achieving a wistful, yearning and powerful insight through extreme brevity - the essence of Zen. We could learn from this...

Your file was so big.
It might be very useful.
But now it is gone.

The Web site you seek
Cannot be located, but
Countless more exist.

Chaos reigns within.
Reflect, repent, and reboot.
Order shall return.

Program aborting.
Close all that you have worked on.
You ask far too much.

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.

First snow, then silence.
This thousand-dollar screen dies
So beautifully.

With searching comes loss
And the presence of absence
"My Novel" not found.

The Tao that is seen
Is not the true Tao-until
You bring fresh toner.

Stay the patient course.
Of little worth is your ire.
The network is down.

A crash reduces
Your expensive computer
To a simple stone.

Three things are certain:
Death, taxes, and lost data
Guess which has occurred.

You step in the stream,
But the water has moved on.
This page is not here.

Out of memory.
We wish to hold the whole sky,
But we never will.

Having been erased,
The document you're seeking
Must now be retyped.

Serious error.
All shortcuts have disappeared.
Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

~~~Okay...enough funny shit...
Some bullshit that caught my ears Tuesday night, right before I went to bed. First of all...President Bush appeared in front of the press, and said he takes full responsibility for the failure of the FEDERAL level of government to react as quickly as they should have. Also, as we all know, basically, he was saying 'the buck stops here!' However...I NEVER heard the mayor of New Orleans or the governor of Louisiana say a fuckin' word about their responsibility! How come? Ashamed of themselves? They should be...I know damn well I'd get out of office if I was that inept! The FEMA guy (from the federal level!) was gone within a day or two, cuz President Bush saw firsthand what a shit job he was doing, and 'took action'!

wow!!...

...this is SO Tiffany!!

"Libra – Librans gave birth to the term "shopaholic". These folks have every credit card known to man. And while their taste is undeniably impeccable, it can get them in trouble at bankruptcy court. What's really at stake here is a quest for beauty. Enjoying simple but inexpensive pleasures like nature walks and museums can quell the urge to splurge.
...and mine fits perfectly, too!
"Sagittarius – Archers have a bad habit of telling the truth. And while these folks have the best intentions, that doesn't take the sting out of comments like, "Gee, those pants make you look fat!" or "Were you drunk when you wrote this report?" The best way for Archers to cultivate tact is through prodigious study. Etiquette books will definitely help!

yup...that'd be me! and here I mistakenly had the impression that honesty is the best policy...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

worried...

This is the closet door in my old house that Mom always marked my height on...the people that lived there when we went over to go through the house in 2003...that is SO neat that they said they didn't ever paint over it, cuz it was 'history' of the house!

Well, this is kind of ironic in itself...just think...AlQaeda doesn't have to do a damn thing at all to us...we're all so 'on edge' because of the response to the flood in New Orleans, and the response to it that we're jumping at shadows. And, like the president or not, I do admit the 'response' of our leader was slower than anyone here would have liked, especially because the whole world is watching....especially bin Laden! Even though I know they don't have a tv in their cave! Our government, top to bottom (or bottom to top, as I think!) was a total embarassment to our country in front of the world! And, no, I still don't think 'the government' ought to 'take care' of people! That's why we have the system we have, after all. So that people can step up & do everything they can to help themselves! Bad shit happens sometimes, through no fault of the government! Everyone makes mistakes, as people say for themselves, when they go to court for a settlement! The only difference is that EVERYONE doesn't have a fuckin' camera in their face when they fuck up! Sorry, but this pisses me off..the response to the flood, especially by the mayor & the governor! That is why the constitution was set by the original framers, so that the states would have a sovereign government...each one!! And it's worked for 200+ years! & people like Ted Kennedy are NOT better than the people who wrote the constitution! Yeah, it's great that we changed some stuff in it, like the voting for women & blacks. But, why should that also be 'rewritten' for gay marriage, and stuff like that? Man, do I sound like I'm 'far right' today?? I'd like to see what would happen if gay people had to follow the same laws as people who are from 'traditional' families! They'd all be screaming, "that's not FAIR!" You know, things such as the divorce and custody, etc. And gay pride parades...I have yet to see a 'straight pride' parade! Sorry...but why should THAT have to happen? Who cares? Keep that in the bedroom...we don't CARE what you do...as long as we don't have to watch!! Why is it so important to rub it in everyone's face?? Shit, I didn't mean to go off like that!! Oh well, I'm writing this for myself and nobody else! And, I do think that gay couples should have the right to get insurance on their families....if you HAVE to have a kid (ok, a child), they should be able to be covered, as well as your partner...as long as they're not going out and fucking everyone 'willy-nilly'! Like I said before...straight couples aren't allowed to do that, and get special rights for it! they say they want equal rights...but they ACT as if they want SPECIAL rights! Remember...actions speak louder than words...

Okay...back to my original reason for writing this...
AlQaeda doesn't have to do a thing to us anymore right now! All it took was a video turned over to ABC news, Pakistan, on 9/11, about 'yesterday New York & the Pentagon..tomorrow, Los Angeles & Melbourne!' And, we're quaking in our shoes! Don't get me wrong, we should be worried...but not so much so that we act like we're scared, visibly! After all...if America SHOWS how afraid we are (re: the power failure 9/12 in LA!)...after all...this is the object of 'terrorism', isn't it? To strike terror into us?? We need to show that we're stronger than them, and that their terror won't do that shit to us!! They're a LOT weaker than us!! Come on, everyone! We're stronger than that! We aren't the ones that are hiding in caves or anything!! OK...I feel better!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

s'more memories from the festival...

Well, it's Saturday night, and I feel better tonight...I'm just remembering the last time I went to the festival...I had gotten in touch with my best, best friend from kindergarten to the 5th grade on classmates.com. She lives in southern Ohio, and after I emailed her, she called me, and we talked for at least 3 hours, catching up! Then she all of a sudden said that she wanted to come up here, so we planned it for a week or 2 out. She really missed this town, and she wanted to see me, and her old house that she grew up in...and also, see the house I grew up in, cuz she was there a lot when we were little...everybody was, I guess! We couldn't go inside, cuz I hadn't gotten in touch with the man who lived there at that time. But we did go drive around it, and through the driveway and everything. We used to all get together at my house, when we were little, and play hide and seek in it, cuz it was 3 stories, + a big basement, so if you really wanted to hide, nobody would find you for, like, a week or so! Trust me, I used to take advantage of that when I was a little shit, and Mom or Dad caught me doing something wrong...cuz it had a front staircase, and a back one, so if I didn't want anybody to find me, well, it was easy! So...here I go down that long-ass road to nowhere again...
Anyway...we decided that we should get all our old friends together for an 18 year class reunion at the festival that year. We emailed everybody, and set it all up. The whole thing was kind of ironic, because she & her family had moved south when we were in 10th grade, but we hadn't been friends after elementary school at all...she had kind of...ummm...moved in a different 'circle' of friends...you know, she became gorgeous, a cheerleader, and everything I never would be. Meanwhile, I just hung out with the druggies, drunks, hoods, etc...wow...off on a wild tangent again...
We all got together at the festival on the Saturday night...some came down from Cleveland, up from Cincinnati, and everywhere around Ohio. We all went out to Applebee's for dinner first, then went up to the festival. I really kind of didn't want to, cuz I can't dance anymore, can't get drunk...and couldn't walk all the way downtown...you get the fuckin' picture, right? But S wouldn't let me not go, she brought me back to our house, came in & told Kev I was gonna back out...he got the wheelchair that I never, ever use out of the basement, gave it to S, and she put it in her car, and said I was going, & that was it! We drove most of the way, then parked, and she made me get in the chair, and we all went downtown to a beer garden (of course). And once we got there, there were probably about 30 other people from our class...and I was surprised...didn't think that many would show! And it was totally different from high school...i.e., the preppie, perfect people were friendly! Of course, maybe they were just being nice to me because...no, I'm kidding.
Anyway, we all had fun, & yes, I did drink...but not as much as everyone else did! When we were going back to the car (around 2), I offered to let S sit in the chair & I'd push her, cuz she was pushing me all crooked & everything. I still have the strength to walk, just not any balance! But she wouldn't...
The date of this 18th reunion? September 8, 2001. Three days later, life in America was changed forever.
LibbY!

stuff on my mind i need to write about...

Friday night...and here I sit...being totally pissed off! Not at anyone, mind you, just at my situation...this weekend is the 25th anniversary of our local festival in town, where they close the whole downtown, & have (sometimes) good national, well-known bands. Like, the year that Kevin & I finally got together & went out (1989), I had finally gotten the guts together to ask Kev to meet me & a bunch of friends at the main concert stage, cuz Gloria Estefan was gonna be there that year. So he had said he might, he had to be up there to pick up his new motorcycle seat, and if it wasn't too crowded, he would. So, did he show up? Uhhhh....hell no!! I was bitching all night at the beer gardens to my friends that 'he stood me up!! how DARE he??' ;-) Then when we all went walking up the main street, I ran into his mom (I knew her, she worked at the bank I went to, right down the street from my apartment, and I liked her a lot...and from the time Tiff was, like, 2, she gave Tiff a sucker every time we walked in there! & now she's Grandma!)...so, anyway, we talked for a minute, she said, 'I thought Kevin was coming up.' I said 'I thought so too!' Well, I learned MY lesson...NEVER take the suggestions in the Cosmo magazine! (the ones in the 80's, anyway!). They always said you shouldn't ask a guy on your first date to meet you by yourself, you should always make it a 'group thing'. Hmmmff...see what a good suggestion THAT was! But, he said he was sorry when I saw him Monday at work, he just wasn't 'in a real sociable mood that night'. Of course, you know me...'sucker' is stamped on my forehead in bright red ink...then I asked him to come over to my apartment a couple weeks later for Tiff's 6th birthday party, and he actually did come!!...and, well, after that, it worked. God! To see it written out like that, well, I can't believe I didn't scare him off!!
Anyway, that was a long road to nowhere wasn't it?
I remember the first festival our town had, and Kim and I were 15...and we were more excited about that than anything...nothing this big had EVER happened in this town, nothing! So she came into town and stayed with me Fri & Sat night. My mom & dad's house, where I lived with them, was kinda close (well, only about 6 or 8 blocks, which was nothin' to us!) to the downtown area where the rides, food, everything was! When she called me the other day, we were talking about how excited & stupid we'd been those nights! Of course, Mom & Dad trusted me completely, so we walked out the front door, and said we'd be back by midnight, we promise! We walked downtown, and looked at everything that was up, and just...walked around, looking. Like I said, nothing like this had ever been done here before! Kim reminded me of when we walked down a skinny, dark alley, and there was a bum (we think now) hanging out down there. I was smoking, and he asked me if he could have a puff of my cigarette...stupid me, (I was basically the 'happy idiot', ya know...). I said, "Sure", and started to walk over to him with my hand stretched out with the cigarette, and Kim's like, "Libby!!". That stopped me. Kim never sounded like that...it's honestly not like she was always the 'voice of reason', or anything. So, I backed up into Kim, and we did our first run for safety! The first of many, might I add...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

random thoughts about stuff...

Okay...I really have to get this out there...everybody else has, after all! And I really don't give a shit who disagrees...that's what this country is all about, after all...and, wow, have 'we the people' emphasized that lately!
Yeah, again, the hurricane. AND the flood. The fact that the hurricane at all was nobody's fault, it was weather! But I don't hear a lot of bitching about that, as much as many people bitch about the way it was handled afterward. And you know what? I totally agree! But...I honestly don't think you can lay this at Bush's feet totally. Think about this like a business...which, after all, is what a government is, no matter what country you're thinking of. President Bush is like the 'owner' of this business. Then he has people below him, like middle management (which I've been, and, trust me, you don't really want!). That would be the governors of the states...and, worst of all for the 'owner of the company', you don't pick them, the 'masses' choose them for you. Then there's lower management, which would be the mayors, police chiefs, etc, none of which you mostly even know, unless they do something stupendous, and they get the honor of meeting you. And they'll be among the millions of people you'll meet & shake hands with over the years. They'll remember it, but you may not. So, anyway...your middle managers have their own departments to run, but they have the lower managers to run the cities. So when you start throwing blame at somebody, the truly effective way is to work from the 'bottom of the ladder' up. Now people are saying that most of the people that have been through the worst of this mess are the black people...therefore, the president hates black people, or at least doesn't give a shit about them. Well, again, start at the bottom. Where was the Democratic mayor (who is, himself, black)? Why did he not order every bus in the schoolyards loaded up before the flood with people who had no way of their own out? Have you seen the pictures of the hundreds of buses sitting in the schoolyard...with the flood waters up to their roofs? How was the president supposed to know they were there? That would fall under the local manager's (the mayor's) department. Why is nobody accusing him of racism? If you want to go higher, you go to the governor. THEN you scream at the president. Plus, he also has all kinds of departments set up for this type of things. You know...FEMA, which is under the Homeland Security...which, in my opinion, that was President Bush's biggest mistake. Putting a couple of buffoons in those positions! I really wish that Bernie Kerik had been made head of the DHS. There would have been a little bit of hope for this disaster to have been handled better!
Anyway...I need to quit...it's getting late (early). Oh, by the way, a congressman from Florida advised the people that were trying to evacuate people from their houses because they're sitting in the middle of two stories of 'toxic cesspool water'. A lot of them refuse to go, even when they're told that it's suicide to stay. He said that the effective way to make your point is to hand the person a big black marker and tell them to write their social security number on their forearm so they can identify them when they have to come back and remove their dead body. He said that has worked amazingly well in Florida. Would put a little bit of a scare into ya, wouldn't it?
TiReD DrOoPy BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

tag answers for the questions from christine!

56 Questions that have no meaning or relevance to anything but they are fun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UNIQUE
1. Nervous habits - I refuse to BE nervous...nope!
2. Are you double jointed? - Well....never on purpose...
3. Can you roll your tongue? - Around what?
4. Can you raise one eyebrow at a time? - Yeah, but only my left.
5. Can you blow spit bubbles? - Oh yeah! Tiffany and I used to compete for who could make a bigger one...all hail to me, cuz I was the champion! (she was only 3, though)
6. Can you cross your eyes? - I dunno. I can't see myself in the mirror when I try. Maybe that means I'm doing it right?
7. Tattoos? - Nope, never got the guts. Not yet, anyway.
8. Piercings? - Two holes in each ear, and took Tiffany & got her bellybutton pierced when she was 15, then I broke down and had to do it too.
9. Do you make your bed daily? - That is the ONLY thing I HAVE to do every day...join me in an obsession, anyone? Wait, that didn't quite come out right, did it?

CLOTHES

10. Which shoe goes on first? - Left.
11. Speaking of shoes, have you ever thrown one at anybody? - Not that I remember, anyway...I'm sure if I did, they probably threw it back...
12. On the average, how much money do you carry? - I don't...Kevin carries it...I just use credit cards....much simpler (for me...not so for Kev, since he pays the bills).
13. What jewelry do you wear 24/7? - Wedding rings, 10th anniversay ring, another ring on my right hand.
14. Favorite piece of clothing? - Levi's jeans!

FOOD

15. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? - Neither...we like those funky-shaped pasta thingys...you know, abc's, bowties, etc...
16. Have you ever eaten Spam? - Are ya kiddin'??
17. Do you use extra salt on your food? - Nahh....but give me the pepper and get outta my way!
18. How many cereals in your cabinet? - 4> 1 grape nuts, 2 post toasties (i have absolutely no idea where they came from..), peanut butter crunch, cocoa puffs
19. What's your favorite beverage? - ummm, anything with caffeine, Coke, Mountain Dew Code Red, Mountain Dew Live Wire, Red Bull, etc
20. What's your favorite fast food restaurant? - Taco Bell, or anything else Mexican-like.
21. Do you cook? - hahahahahahahahahaha....are ya crazy? I LOVE my family!
22. How often do you brush your teeth a day? - 3 or 4...why, is there something in them?
23. Hair drying method? - Towel it off, brush it out, & I'm done...oh, unless I want to look good, also hahahahahahahahaha..but it does what I want it to.
24. Have you ever colored/highlighted your hair? - As often as I can! Luckily, my daughter has grown up to be a beautician!

MANNERS

25. Do you swear? - Like a sailor (?). Well, that's the expression, but I haven't been around too many sailors...
26. Do you ever spit? - Depends on what's in my mouth...

FAVORITE

27. Animal - Kittens and Cats
28. Food - Pizza
29. Month - October
30. Day - Monday
31. Cartoon - old Bugs Bunny
32. Shoe brand - Skechers tennis shoes
33. Subject in school - English....I was the one everybody wanted to sit next to during a test.
34. Color - dark blue and gray
35. Sport - NFL!! GO STEELERS!!
36. TV Shows - Dr G-Medical Examiner, Family Plots, Cold Case, American Justice...and yes, I DO live life in front of the stupid 'idiot box'!
37. Thing to do in the spring - Watch the birds & squirrels wake up!
38. Thing to do in the summer - Hide in the air conditioning!
39. Thing to do in the autumn - Everything! Watch football, watch trees change color, plan halloween "festivities".
40. Thing to do in the winter - Besides Thanksgiving & Christmas, there's my birthday, Kevin's birthday...so mostly I sit around dreaming about all the presents!!

IN AND AROUND

41. In the cd player - Nuthin'...all my music is on a hard drive on here, so all it takes is a mouse click.
42. Person you talk most on the phone with - Kim.
43. Reading - 100 People Who Are Fucking Up America...piss me off, and I'll make you 101!
44. Do you regularly check yourself out in store window/mirrors? - Not so anyone sees me, I hope!
45. What color is your bedroom? - gray, gray, gray (with some dark blue)
46. Do you use an alarm clock? - Nope...but then, I don't work anymore, so that's a moot point...
47. Window seat or aisle? - Aisle...unless we're talking about something on the ground, where the windows can be opened & jumped out of!

DUMB

48. What's your sleeping position? - I think it's my stomach...but Kevin always says I 'take my half out of the middle'.
49. Even in hot weather, do you use a blanket? - Just a sheet
50. Do you snore? - Kevin says I do, but I know better...that would be uncouth!
51. Do you sleepwalk? - Nope.
52. Do you talk in your sleep? - My God, I never thought about that! Thanks...give me something else to worry about, why dontcha?
53. Do you sleep with stuffed animals? - No, Kevin & I are happy with each other, thank you very much.I did suggest him putting a cat door in the bedroom door. That was 5 years ago, and Truman & I are still waiting...
54. How about with the light on? - Only if I fall asleep reading a book.
55. Do you fall asleep with the tv or radio on? - Can't go to sleep without George Noory, and Coast ot Coast AM, can I??
56. Last interesting person you met? The friends I email in Spain, Australia, South Africa...

Okay, that's it...how much did you say I'd get paid for this??
Anyone else that wants tagged, let me know!!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

RDA'S suggestions to add with Pirate's plan! ...and, please, go to Pirate's blog!

RDAs Agenda items for helping the survivors of Katrina
This is a copy of a comment my friend and scholar Reverend Doctor Abigambi suggests needs to be done to move forward in helping the survivors of Katrina in attaining housing. Pirate, just a quick rundown for you to magnify your idea:1. Locate bases that have been mothballed but not deconstructed.2. Determine # of housing units available.3. Determine # of medical staff needed.4. Determine amount of food, personal supplies and medical supplies based upon projected number of occupants.5. Work on logistics for movement of refugees. Look specifically for bases that are near railroads, highways and working airports. Look at cost effective mass relocation.6. Investigate usage of military hospitals for special needs victims, such as infants, elderly, mentally handicapped and critically injured.7. Development registration program for refugees. Need to track new locale as well as assistance provided.8. Use Federal funds to rebuild housing lost to floods. I would prefer to spend on permanent housing rather than cash assistance.9. Use Federal funds to transport refugees back to rebuilt housing.10. Encourage private charities to contribute to refugees while at the military bases.11. My preference would be to use the military bases as transitional housing as opposed to permanent housing.Let's focus less on how much money these people would be allotted and focus on the logisitics of helping these people. Its obvious those in charge aren't able to move the large bureaucratic machine to help anyone. I also would add several people have suggested opening their homes in the immediate to help these people. I am game for that and I think we need to put some pressure on the local churches as well.
posted by Pirate @ 10:27 AM http://www.piratewriting.blogspot.com/

pirate's plan!! i didn't think of it, but i wish i did!!

Suggestion to relocating Katrina survivors
The long term problem after all the back biting and finger pointing is done and the survivors are attended to for medical and food needs is where are all these people going to go? How will they get their lives back? How are they going to go on?I suggest the Dpeartment of Defense re-open all of the closed bases we have around the country. These bases have facilties for housing, schools, medical clinics and other infrastructures needed for communities. We then give every individual $25,000 a piece and a housing unit at a base. I mean everyone $25,000. For example the young lady who was a single mother with six kids I saw on TV last night would have a new apartment unit on a base and $150,000 to get her life restarted. All of these bases are near communities already. Those business people who lost their stores and shops can restart their entrepreneur ways in their new communities with the $25,000 and the additional funds they get from their insurances. Then the local and federal government can rebuild New Orleans over a period of years. When the city is rebuilt those who had been relocated can move back on their own dime if they wish or continue with their revived lives in their new homes. This would give the survivors new hope and be a boost in the economy for the communities near the bases. It will also keep a lot of those opportunist from ciphering a lot of the $10,5 billion off for themselves. If you think this is a good idea let's get the word out in blogosphere. I am sure there are a lot of logisitics that need to be considered but it is a good start.
posted by Pirate @ 10:41 AM

This is something that REALLY should be looked at!
Thank you, Pirate!! http://www.piratewriting.blogspot.com/

tagged answers...

All right...before I answer Pirate's questions, I hafta know...was ANYBODY as big a fan of Ferdinand The Bull as I was when I was little? Actually, I still am. Kevin's dad gave me a hardcover Ferdinand book a few years ago that his dad had given him when he was little! Wow, that was so neat!
OK...number of books I own...so many I could not even begin to count them! A bunch of shelves full down here, that Kev built for me 10 years ago...and I promptly filled them up completely with a lot of my newer hardcover/dustjacket books. And there's also a closet upstairs with all my cheap-o paperbacks I bnought 'in the 80's' when I was single. There's a cool secondhand bookstore in town that I used to take Tiff to all the time, so we could poke around in there...and, yes, I bought her almost as many kids' books as I bought scary paperbacks for me! BTW, the closet upstairs is full floor to ceiling with all my old scary paperbacks, because I refuse to ever get rid of my books! I'd sell my kidney first! (one of 'em, anyway).
last book purchased was 'A Deadly Game' by Catherine Crier, about the Scott Peterson trial. I've always been hooked on that case, because I told Kevin the first night it was in the news & I saw him, that 'he did it, just look at him!' I also have two of the other books, the one by Amber Frey, and the one by his half sister called 'Blood Brother'.
last book completed was actually a Mary Higgins Clark mystery called 'I'll Be Seeing You'. I've become hooked on her books! They're really well-written mysteries And, best of all, I always buy 'em on eBay when somebody's selling one for like, a penny. Yeah, the shipping's lots more, but...it's worth it!
five books that meant a lot to me...how can I narrow it down to five?? holy crap!! okay, I'll try...gotta put Stephen King's 'The Stand' up there...and 'It'...and 'Christine', cuz that's where I got Tiffany's middle name from (Leigh)...read that book while I was pregnant with her...and, oh shit! All of his books!! And 'Through The Looking Glass' by Lewis Carroll. It goes along with 'Alice In Wonderland', and it's really good! I haven't actually read it since I was little, but I still remember a couple of the poems from it, like "Jabberwocky". And 'Harriet The Spy'...don't remember who wrote that, but most girls will know it...I remember the poem in that too, about "of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings. and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings". 'The Notebook', by Nicholas Sparks. very sad, made me sob so hard I woke Kev up from 3 rooms away at 4 am! Because Kevin IS Noah! and I always figure I'm gonna be the one to end up like his wife does, oh, if you haven't read it, stop right here! I tell Kevin that 'well, if I end up with Alzheimer's, just think! It'll be like the 80's again! I'll be crawling in bed with a different guy every night!' And then I promptly started laughing and crying at the same time, because I knew how crass & tasteless that was! And 'American Mania: When More Is Not Enough' by Peter Whybrow, MD. That one's neat, it makes you think! Most books I read don't! I always go by what my 6th grade teacher used to say to his classes every day..."Read For Pleasure"! And that's actually what I've always done...not always read to learn stuff, but just to read what's fun for me!
And anyone else that wants tagged, lemme know!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!