Sunday & we're forecast for rain & snow showers this week......more global warming, no doubt...

This is my wonderful ramp that Bro had his company guys build! Yeah. I know it's not exciting to anyone but me, but to me, when Bro got this built & bought me a 4-wheeled scooter, it says nothing but FREEDOM! And you can't put a price on that!! I miss driving SO MUCH, but, this scooter & ramp is the best I can do now, and after 13 years, I'm okay with that.

And this is a tree next door that just looks like spring!

I went down a different street today, and this just says "Spring's coming!"

So, what's everybody else been doing? This is pretty much it for me. Well...I did finally get my indoor wheelchair (battery-powered) fixed. It turned out that it needed new batteries (it takes 2 HUGE ones...that need replaced every year!). I usually don't use that unless I really feel like shit, Mostly I use my walker as much as possible. But it's nice to have it available if I need it! And I've talked to my doctor, and she agreed that I can start taking tysabri! Whee!! I know it's not a 'miracle cure' or anything, but, dammit...I was starting to feel like a pincushion, with all the shots! First it was once a week...then it was 3 times a week...the next option was once a DAY!! Nope...I'm not going there...well, all I can say is "Not now, anyway!". But tysabri is given once a month intravenously, at a hospital's infusion center. And, yup, this is the drug that I talked about before, where some people got PML and died from it. But I've researched it and been talking to lots of good people on it, and it seems that as long as you don't take another injection with it, and don't have steroids with it, it looks relatively safe. Actually, the death rate when it was experimental was only 3 in 3,000. And now it's become a pretty common treatment...it inhibits white blood cells from getting into your brain...I'm sure there's more to it, but, that's kinda it in a nutshell...it's also been used for cancer, and it's used for Crohn's disease too...so I won't be alone! Right now the closest Tysabri center is a hospital about 25 miles away, but I do have good people who have told me to call them any time I need anything, so I might have to (that feels crappy!), but, you do what you have to, right? I'm good friends with the head of nursing at one of the hospitals here in town, and hopefully, this hospital will get certified in this treatment, that way I could just take the city bus out...

So, yeah, I'm pretty excited...it's a new beginning anyway...and Easter is the time for that...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

April Fool's Day!

Christine, I KNOW you'll think this one is good!

And, I really don't need to say anything else here...

I was remembering today some stuff Mom had told me about when I was little. She said that when I was a baby, and we still lived in Massillon, we were getting ready to sell the house there so we could move to Marion, and Dad was at work, Bro & G were in school, & Mom was home with me...their realtor called and asked if she could bring a couple over to see the house. Mom said that'd be fine, so she was doing last minute "picking up", turned around & went to the other room, leaving me standing in my playpen in the middle of the living room...and all of a sudden she heard me laughing like a "loon", and she turned back around to see that I had pulled the top off of my Playtex bottle, and dumped the whole thing all over the living room carpet! Such a lovable, happy little baby I was! (or what a little shit I was...luckily Mom didn't believe in spanking!).

Aw, holy shit...I was just dinking around with Facebook, and I had messages...one told me that every day I don't play dragon wars, God kills a kitten. That's just sick & wrong! Gaaahhhh...

I actually like my new saying...a good person does the right thing even when nobody's watching.

Chester & I still have to figure out when she can get down here. We could probably find trouble to get into here, just as easily as we did in Fostoria...but she's older than me, does that mean she's the bad influence here?? Woohoo! She'll be the first person I'll ever be able to say that about..usually I'M the 'bad influence'!

Mom actually used to say I had 'indomitable spirit', she even has that written down in her "Grandma's Diary" that she left for Tif! I'm assuming & hoping that was meant in a good way...lol?? Actually, I'm sure it was meant in a good way...the only other person I ever heard described that way was Shirley Temple...and everybody loved her, didn't they?

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

nothing in particular today, either...

Now THIS would be funny!! Truman's gotten under the sinks in both the bathroom & the kitchen, but, luckily, I was always watching!














And, I think this looks just like a guy who tried to pick me up at a bar in Toledo. He also used that oh-so-tactful line "I'd drink your bathwater"...oh pleease...I wouldn't even drink my bathwater. And that should make me want to get my mouth anywhere close to HIS?

...and I'm taking this as a horrible warning from Truman's astral twin!

...also, one more phrase..."It gave me pause"...That just makes me think of a person standing in front of you, and their hands turning into cat paws or something...
X-Dell was at his parents' house in Cincy this week, and was going to come on up here, but he ended up having to fly home today, so we'll catch up another time this summer...at least I talked to him and heard him on the phone, so now I know he's a real person! Not just "X-Dell:The Man, The Myth, The Legend!" (or the legume?).
I'm sitting here watching "Dirty Jobs" on Discovery Channel, I love this show! He's riding around with the guy from 'The Tydee-Whitee Company', that picks up bags of dirty diapers weekly at people's houses, and delivers clean ones, then they showed them taking the dirty ones back to the company, and they were washing them & drying them...and folding them...oh Lord! I'm sure there are worse jobs...but...I can't think of many right now...
I got a Facebook message last night, and it was from my friend, Chester! That was neat...I'm the second Libby on her friends list...she has a sister Libby, too. One of the women that works at Haley's hair salon told me "My niece is named Libby, too!"...and I expressed my sympathies to her...but she said she likes it! Obviously, these people didn't grow up at the height of the "Libby, Libby, Libby on the label" commercials! Sheesh! When my Mom told her sister what she was going to name me, my aunt said, "What are you going to name the next one? Stokely Van Camp?" lolololol! I love my aunt! But it really is a family name...it was my mom's grandma, who, I guess was a really neat lady, and my mom loved her very much.
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

randomness...

This is the new mailbox Bro put up for me! The other one was all the way to the left of this picture...not there anymore, but it was okay when I was still "mobile".

It's kinda cold out today, and drizzly, and my butt is staying inside where it's warm! And I just checked the weather for the rest of the week, and it's gonna be cloudy and rainy til Monday! Sucks, sucks, sucks!!

Well, I have a new favorite afternoon tv show..Glenn Beck...he's not a conservative or liberal, he's a libertarian...he makes a lot of sense...he's like me, didn't like Bush, doesn't like what he sees now...equal opportunity hater...

I was up late last night (surprise, surprise...) and watching an old 'The Jefferson's'. I loved that show too, especially the maid, Florence! She said the shit that nobody dared to! Anyway, George was getting on a bowling league, and that just brought back total memories for me! Yeah, I bowled a lot starting when I got on a Saturday moning league when I was 12. And I had a lot of fun with it! Mom & G were in one on Friday nights forever. I remember Mom wanted to join, and Dad didn't, so G was right there, of course. And, since he never had a date or anything...well....'nuff said! After a few years, I remember, they needed someone else on their team, or their league, or something, and I wanted to join, so I remember, I had to sign something saying I wasn't going to be in high school sports anymore. I guess it was something to do with the fact that I'd get money back at the end of the year or something...I didn't care, cuz I was junior in high school anyway, and wasn't on anything in school (just drugs...lol). I remember my average starting on it was 131, but by the time I had Tif and quit, it was 168! Yeah, I was good. I bowled a 269 once (just once!). I had Tif on a Sunday, and still bowled the next Friday night. But, I didn't keep up with it...too bad. My friend in Findlay (Chester) went bowling with me once on a Saturday night when we had nothing to do! She was good too, and she was a lot bigger than me...(intimidating?).

I'm just thinking about random words & phrases I've heard in the last couple days. Like "occasional table"...is that a table that's there most of the time, but 'occasionally', when you're not watching it closely, it sneaks off?

Or when someone says "I want to play with reckless abandon." Well...do I know him? Does he do drugs or anything? Where does he live? Do I know his family?

The right to bear arms...don't you just get a picture in your head of a person with great big grizzly bear arms?

Or maybe I'm just a goof...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

spite & malice...

This has got to be one of the funniest pictures I ever saw! And, no, I wasn't applauding behind her while she did this!

...and, this is kinda what I think about when I think of the Wall Street brainiacs lately...
Tom & I were just talking about all the financial shit going on right now...and I told him I was watching Fox News today, and when they were talking about AIG, they showed just a random shot of regular people going in & out the doors to work there, and all I could think of was how horrible it would be to just be, like, a regular person that works there now...not a bigwig, or an executive, just an office assistant, or working in the mailroom, or something! You really need your job, but, at what price, ya know? Then we talked about the enormous bonuses and all, and the government is trying to push through something that taxes the bonuses at 90%. Hmmm...You know, I don't like that idea either. I agree wholeheartedly that they should NOT get the bonus money, but somebody was asleep at the switch and let this go through, now it's a contract, and 'for better or worse', you can't break this! But, taxing it at that rate would suck and be wrong too. And two wrongs don't make a right, definitely not in this situation! Because, when I worked at the phone company and dealt with billing questions all the time, I learned a lot about taxes...you know, if you look at your landline phone bill, there's so many little taxes stuck in here and there, you wouldn't believe it! And a lot of them were put on back in World War II, and everybody was told, "These are temporary taxes, because of the war, etc, they're for our own good, they'll be off soon."...they're still there. Once they get a tax on, it will NEVER be taken off. No, I don't have any idea how to get this money back, but taxing it just is not the right thing to do. What happens, then, if someone wins millions in the lottery, or inherits millions? What would stop them from taxing that at that rate? It's just a bad situation, with no obvious answers. Well, yeah, I guess there's an obvious answer, but murder is also against the law...this kind of shit wouldn't happen if people still had any honor or integrity...hell, even shame! I guess I'm sick of the whole Dem/Repub thing...I like the libertarian idea better every day. Bob Barr, Ron Paul...looking back, I wish...
I did get out today for a couple hours, rode down to the Dollar Store, cuz I had to get a birthday card for someone, and kitty litter, and stuff like that. I took my camera and got some cool pictures of the sky, really neat clouds! And there's a great place in that plaza, it's called Blue Fusion, it's like a huge game room, has pool tables, a bowling alley, bars...it's really neat! I wish there would've been something like that here when I was a kid!! So, I was sitting there smoking a cigarette before I headed home, and a family with 3 kids walked by, and it really hit me that, no, I don't ever want to be a mommy again, I had that early, it was great, but Tif's the only one I'm a Mom to...and, you know, it'd be different if it was an older kid, like a teenager, but I guess I'm now at that awkward 'in-between' age, where I'm too old to be a mommy, too young to be a grandma! I know there are plenty of people that have kids in their late 30's, and that's okay, if that's what you want. I'm just not wanting to ever start all over again.
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...new week,,,new attitude!

All right, all right...no, I haven't taken any more pictures after my haircut pictures...so, for now, I'll stick with all the stupid kitty pictures! But they are funny!
I've been out a few places on my scooter in the last couple days, seeing people again, I had an appointment with a person at a church today. I got off the bus up there at the back door, and there were a bunch

of guys hanging around the picnic table with an ashtray. So as soon as I told the driver thanks, I scooted over to the group, saying, "This must be where all the kewl kids hang out, huh?" and got my cigarettes out...lol! A couple hours later I came out, and everybody was gone, except there were a couple guys volunteering, they were scraping the windowsills for painting, and we just talked about how gorgeous a day it was outside! And I really wish I would've had my camera with me today, cuz the sky was SO blue, and had little puffy clouds! Plus, I was downtown, and those buildings down there are just, well, they're solid-looking!! They need my camera!

I've just been a little introspective for the last week or so. It was two years ago this week I was officially dumped, & I know, this is taking a long friggin time to get over. But, I was a happily married woman with jobs & a life for 15-17 years before that...it's gonna take some time to get over! But I'll do it, no worry!

I got out of the shower Wednesday, and came out here to open the front door to let some sun in, and looked down at the porch in front of my door, and my mailbox was laying in front of the door, and I had a new mailbox next to my front door! That was just another awesome thing Bro did for me! I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was wanting to get a new mailbox beside the door, because the one I've always had was on the porch wall out toward the steps, and I was getting to the point that I can't walk to the mailbox anymore. So, he got me a new one, and put it up while I was in the shower, and it's right outside the door I just open the door & stick my hand out around the corner of it!! Holy crap!! I came back over to the desk and called him, and said, "Oh, XXXX, thank you!!" He just said, "Libby, it's just a mailbox." That started me laughing & crying at the same time! Sometimes the littlest things that you do for someone, might seem little to you, but it's the world to them...

One of my friends that I worked at GTE with came over for a few hours the other day. That was just neat! She's about 15 or 20 years older than me, and she's very religious, Wesleyan. And we sat next to each other at work, it was an office with about 1000 people working there then, 3 floors, and we never would've met if we hadn't ended up being "cube-mates" lol! Seriously, I don't think anyone would've ever guessed that we would be this good of friends, you know...I smoke, she doesn't, I watch tv, she doesn't, she wears dresses and keeps her hair in a bun, I don't...but we just get along great. I guess it's because we both have tolerance and don't try to push our lifestyles on each other. Her husband is the part-time pastor at their church, and he's really nice too. They're just good people, and have 4 good sons, one of whom is a missionary with his wife in, I think, Kosovo! They just have neat stories to tell! Her life is like a book! I wouldn't want to live it, but, she wouldn't want mine either. And that's okay with us...so why is there so much trouble between religions? (people in the religions) I guess that'd all go back to the whole tolerance thing...tolerance seems to be in such short supply these days. sheesh...I'd think everybody would have more immediate things in their lives to fight about, wouldn't you?

Tom and I still are on the phone or seeing each other a lot, I just am taking advantage of the better weather and going everywhere in town that I can on my scooter. We just want two totally opposite lifestyles...if you think about it, we're kinda like the couple in 'Green Acres' tv show! hahaha!
And, did anyone hear on Nancy Grace the other night that they tested Lee's (Casey's brother) DNA, because the FBI wanted to know if he was Caylee's dad too? Well, I guess he's not...but, damn, I wasn't the only person in the world to suspect it!
Well, I'm gonna go read one of the books I got off ebay, an Ann Rule one. I'd never heard of her before, but, Cindy said I'd like her books, and she's right!! Good thing I still have a lot of my ebay gift certificate from Christmas from Bro left!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

almost st patrick's day! (green beer, anyone?)

Okay, I did it...no more bitching about my hair! Now I'll be able to go to sleep at night without having to try to push my hair off my face all the time! And, best of all, this cut with my hair doean't need blow-dried or anything...all it'll need is some hair gel and brushed, & go! Tif highlighted it last week & I thought about having her cut it...we talked
about it, but I said no...then I realized I just had too f*n' much hair to deal with so...
The girl that gave me this cut was my best friend in 3rd grade! We were inseparable in grade school. She was even allowed to go to Florida with me & Mom & Dad for 2 wks in the summer after 3rd grade (or the year before, not sure!). We talked about my

house growing up, because she always loved it! And she said that she already told her husband that if that house was ever for sale, they were buying it! And we talked about our favorite tv shows when we were kids...and she remembered that I was a HUGE Arnold Horshack fan! Not like 'had a crush on', or anything....he just had my sense of humor! No, I was like every girl in my grade...John Travolta was THE crush!!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

tarot reading for friday the 13th...

The emotional climate today is anything but cheerful, libby... The cards of Death and Temperance indicate a rupture or a loss that will cause you great pain.

my political ramblings...may be offensive

...and keep in mind. My views are probably different than yours, but don't hate me for that (I'm sure if you really get to know me, you'll find better reasons!).
I feel like Obama's taken his eye off the ball here, as far as this country's problems. In my opinion, and the rest of the 8.1% of unemployed Americans, our economy should be the focus here! Not reforming health care, getting the card check passed for unions, gun control is right around the corner, not pushing through a stimulus and budget for 2010 that is so full of pork it oinks! Raising taxes, education reform...Holy shit, yes, all of this needs done. Well, not all of it, but whatever. Rome's burning here, so put the fiddle down, Nero, and FOCUS!!

Okay...that's pretty much it for my political rant.

I really haven't been doing too much else lately. Well, I was at the dr's office the other day, and ran into the lady that I haven't seen for years, that sent me a plaque with a religious saying on it for Christmas! I was friends with her daughter in 8th grade!



And early last week I was at a different dr appt, and had the city bus drop me off at Certified, and I got a carton of cigarrettes for the week, and a few candy bars for the week, and a bag of cat food, & rode my scooter home, and, damn, that felt good! No, it's far from warm, but, THERE'S NO SNOW!!
Anyway...I've been really bad with any of my medicine. I was on avonex for the first 13 years I had ms, which was one im shot a week. Then I started getting totally stiff legs & everything, so I figured maybe I should try something else, so I tried Rebif. That's 3 shots a week, but they're only the under-the-skin shots, like diabetics have to get. They do hurt less than the intra-muscular shots, but it's not that big of a difference! So, anyway, I did those for probably the last couple months of last year, then I just gave up on everything! When I saw her a couple weeks ago, she asked if I want to try copaxone. And I said no, just put me back on avonex, because, I think a lot of the problems started when my weight got down to 88 lbs, + everything else that I had goin' on in the last 2 years.(you know, my life as I knew it was tossed aside like a used Kleenex, and all). But she agreed with me that all that shit probably had everything to do with it, so I'm going to start avonex again next month. Copaxone sounds good, but...it's a shot every day!...uhhhhh...no thanks!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...March..& daylight saving time starts tonight! WooHoo!

Yay!! It's March and not raining (yet...it will be tomorrow...)

Tom called last night and we started talking about our regular subject...death, & cremation & all that stuff...(joking! really!) He still thinks the crematorium/pizza shop would be good. And I told him about the woman in New England a couple years ago that hung herself in a tree in her yard around Halloween, and people drove past a lot & thought she was a decoration, for days! Brilliant! I said that when I was still driving, I used to want to go up to Macinaw Island and drive off the bridge...then he asked what car I had planned to do this in...I said my Geo Metro. And he laughed his ASS off! Said he could just see me now...the car didn't have the weight to sink...I'd just be floating down the lake, and all, & the people that stopped would all be laughing & waving and such. Grrrrrr!!~ I guess I'd just pull out my trusty book I always had under my front seat, and a cigarrette, &...well, nothing! That would be just my luck, though...to decide to off myself, and then I'd do that wrong too! Don't even worry about it, though. There's too many people that it would just be a relief for if I did that, so THAT ain't gonna happen...

Has anybody else been following the Caylee Anthony murder trial as close as I am? Probably not. Anyway...Caylee's mom, Casey, is charged with her murder...Caylee was 2 yrs old. And Casey just says the father is dead, he died in a car accident when she was pregnant. I beg to differ...nobody's even mentioned it, but, honestly, I think her brother, Lee, is probably Caylee's father. Just from the way he acts about Casey & everything, he just looks like that's what's up...I don't know, it's just my theory...

Anyway, I'm outta here!!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Rabbit, rabbit!!

Happy March!! Thank God, the snow went a lot further south and east than here! Sorry for all who got it, though!

The top picture on here, the open door is my room when I was a teenager, the one to the left goes up to the attic, the one on the right is the linen closet.

Then this one here is our front door with the mail slot beside it...is that cool as hell, or what?

I've been watching a cool show on TVLand...it's called High School Reunion, and it has a class from 1988 having a 2-week reunion at a big house with a pool & everything in hawaii. I'm looking forward to their new serial starting April 15 (at 10 pm, in case you were wondering!) called "The Cougar"! Of course, it's like the bachelorette, only the woman is about 40, & all the guys are in their 20's! Ricardo, you really oughtta try to find out how to get on it!! That would be a good acting debut for you! 'course, I don't know how much 'acting' you'd do...

OMG!! The movie "Desperation" is on the Scifi channel right now, I saw it a long time ago, but I have the book, & it's really good too. And, yes, I watch tv a lot when the weather is this shitty out!! But I always am reading during commercials...I just finished the book about body language last night. That was really good! Learned a whole lot!

I stayed up last night listening to another infomercial for 'rock ballads'. Like "Every Rose Has Its Thorn"...says a lot. Poison had deep songs for such shallow minds, didn't they?

Mouse called the other day. Nothin' much is going on up there...her boyfriend got laid off last week, that totally sucks. She still has her job, but it's only part-time, at a nursing home. I haven't heard of too many full-time jobs around anywhere, anyway!

Joe called tonight, he's got a job teaching at a charter school, & that seems to be going good! I'm glad, and I'm happy that he likes it! And no wonder I can never get ahold of him...the job is an hour and a half drive south, so he goes to bed at like 7:30 or 8 at night, and doesn't get home til about 6!

In other words...this economy sucks a big girl's butt!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

...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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