thinking about everything today...

Okay...I hafta start out with some politics, ya know?
First thing is...everybody's screaming to bring the troops in Iraq home. Kinda leads me to wonder....well, then, what the FUCK are there troops still doing in Japan, Germany, Bosnia...did everybody FORGET about them, huh??
All right, I'm done with that political stuff for now, anyway.
So, how cool, Tiff and Zach put up all the lights on the house over the weekend! And it looks great!They even hung up my lighted 6-foot tall carousel horse, and it's been years since we dug that outta the basement!!
And I've had fun today! I made out a Christmas list (no, not a "holiday list"!) of stuff I want! Really, there's not much I want or need, except gift cards that I can use on the internet after Christmas. So that's mostly what I asked for...cards from Victoria's Secret, Amazon, eBay, Wal-Mart, all kindsa stuff. Cuz Kev's family is all HUGE on Christmas, they all wanted everyone's lists ready by this weekend to pass around! And I actually did put some real presents on there too, cuz everybody wants real stuff to wrap up (or, put in a gift bag). So there's books, sweaters, a jacket, that kinda stuff. So, I made out a list of stuff I don't want, that I'll put on here tomorrow!
Tiff started at a new job today, it's a hair salon in town that's been here a while, and I know the woman that owns it. She's been calling Tiff since Tiff graduated & got her license, but Tiff always told her no, but thanks. Then she called Tiff Saturday, asked her again, & Tiff jumped on it! She's getting tired of working 60+ hours a week...only because they won't hire a couple (or, 3 or 4!!) more stylists! So, Tiff & someone else quit Saturday...which leaves, mmm, ' bout 2...including the manager!
Last nights football game REALLY sucked ass!! I was really hoping Pittsburgh Steelers would win, cuz Ben Roethlisberger was back after weeks off for his knee and knee surgery. But, nooooooo, the Colts were running roughshod over the top of 'em!! I almost waws ready to go to bed afterwards, and cry myself to sleep. But I didn't...My cousin that lives in Findlay knows him & his family...Ben's sister watched their house while they were away, even!! Sheesh...EVerybody except me knows someone famous! EVERYbody!! Okay, y'all can stop feeling bad for me now ;-D , I knew you were, after all.
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

??

I have absolutely NO idea what to write about today...it IS a Monday, ya know?
Here are a couple of cool pictures...the first is a catbird (photoshop)...second is a real picture of the Ugliest Dog In The World that actually won that prize a few years in a row (I guess California [of course] has that contest. Anyway, I feel bad today, cuz this dog died a few days ago. Even though it was really old (I think 17?), still, would you like your lasting legacy to be 'The Ugliest Person In The World'? Hmmmm...something to ponder...
Okay...XBox360 was released last week. I really think Microsoft has looked like a monkey fucking a football with this 'release', as they call it. Here in Ohio, the Wal-Marts got, like, 20 of them! Best Buy down by Columbus had 40 of them! (woohoo). Benji went to a Best Buy down by Coumbus, He got there at about 2 am, and had to stand outside in the rain, sleet, snow, etc...until Best Buy opened at 8 am! Cuz he tried to wait in the car for a while, but, he saw a lot of people driving by checking out how long the line was, so he decided to go up and stand in line. There was one guy up way ahead of him in line that got sick of standing there waiting, and said he was gonna leave, but he'd sell his place in the line to anybody for $50.00...and somebody took it! Benji said if he'dve had cash on him, he'dve bought it, cuz the people up that far in line could get the XBox Deluxe (?) which included the hard drive, but if you were farther back, you had to buy the wireless controller, the hard drive, etc! Kevin couldn't do the standing in line thing, because of his back, and everything...+ he did have to show up at his job the next day at 9:45 am. But Benji works from home, for the most part (when he's not traveling to California, NYC, etc...). Kevin looked everywhere online to see if he could find one anywhere the next day, but, you know the only place that had them was...eBay! And the price was $1,000.00 + shipping!! Yeah...the price at a store was supposed to be, ummmm, $400.00! But, Benji had to pay a lot more. You know, the controller, the hard drive etc. Holy Crap! Microsoft, of all companies, should fucking know that they're only screwing their hardcore players that looked forward to this for months, not the little kids, whose mommy & daddy buy it for them for Christmas. In my opinion, they may have created a whole lot of Play Station fans. But, like I said..MY opinion. I know Kev loves the XBox, he'll buy it as soon as he can...but will EVERYBODY??
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

other old shit...(Kim & I, of course)

Okay, Shannon, I apologize profusely for stealing this, but I just HAD to!! It's just TOO cute!!

The first picture up there on the left is the sign on the wall in my old house I grew up in. When Kim & I got to be around 14 or 15, we just took over the attic (yes, the 3rd floor where Kim peed out the damn window!). There were tons of rooms & closets up there, but no bathroom, ya know? ;-) There's a ghost story coming soon about the attic, but this is about us! So pay attention!

No, Kim & I painted 2 signs that said "Party" on them, & hung them on the wall going into that room...and when my family & Kevin's mom went over there in 2003, the signs were still hanging there!! That totally freaked me out! I said something to the wife about how long ago we'd made them, and she said she was gonna take them down a long time ago, but it just seemed wrong, and they didn't want to go!! Holy crap!

We used that room for when we had people over for 'parties'...yeah...14 & 15 year olds' parties: nothing but Coca-Cola & pizzas...yawn...then when we got older & better at lying (!), we used to go out running around after dark, cuz, of course, nothing exciting ever happened during the day. We went past one of those big lighted signs in front of a carryout, and swooped our hands over the great big plastic letters on it. They all came out at the end of the sign (well, okay, I lied again...only 1 fell out...but you could see the lightbulbs over our heads going on.). Then we waited til there were no cars coming, and we just 'swooped' our hands across the letters again, and picked them up & ran home! And when we got back to my house, we thundered up the stairs, and into our room in the attic, and spread all the letters out on the floor, and figured out what we could spell with them, also to be hung on the walls! We figured out we could spell 'Ladies Night' and we hung that across one of the walls. Cuz, of course, the song was HUGE back then! (late 70's?). Around that time, we actually got a taste for beer...mostly cuz it was totally cheap. I remember one time Kim had this brilliant idea, & had somebody buy us a six-pack...of Bavarian beer, cuz it was the cheapest ($1.59 for a six-pack! You'dve thought we figured out WHY it was so cheap, huh?). Well, suffice it to say, we did figure out why it was cheap! We took the beer across town with us, and found some convenient bushes to hide in & drink it. And after about 1/2 of one, I got pukey-feeling (Kim hadn't even opened one yet!), so we decided to throw the one I had away, then we carried the other ones under our coats, back to my house. We went in the back door, and up the back stairs straight to my room on the second floor, then hurried up and shoved the rest of the unopened 6-pk in the bottom drawer of my desk because it had a lock on it! And, believe it or not, the shit was STILL there 10 years later! If I'd been smart, I'dve wrapped it up like a Christmas present & gave it to Kim that year!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

Dr Stone....

I really want the kitten at the top! And, as for the picture at the bottom...well, truthfully, where's the jest in that??
As far as funny pets go...I REALLY wish I would've gotten off my lazy ass last night when Tiff & her current boyfriend, Zach were here last night (Zach's, like, the polar opposite of Ricky! Put it this way...ANY parent would pick him for their daughter!! They were together for about a year in high school, yadayada...). Anyway, they were here with the dog! he got a few months ago, really for her, but he keeps it at his college dorm room when he's up there, brings it home to his parents when he's here for the weekends. It's a white with brown spots Papillon, and I even like it! And, odder still, Truman likes her!! (her name's Jenga...Zach named her).Truman, I think, thought that Tiffany brought home a toy for him to play with!! Every time she came over to the corner of my LaZBoy, and put her paws up on the corner to be petted and wagged her short little fluffy tail, Truman would come over and smack it around!! And she would get down and run back to Tiffany to be babied! HA!!
So, yeah, I went to Cleveland Thursday and saw Dr Stone. Yeah, I still have ms , but my strength is still really good. However, some of the worst parts of my ms are my balance and my tremors. I did ask Dr Stone if they had ever tried l-dopa for ms people. She said she didn't think that would work for me, because my tremors are all from my cerebellum, which l-dopa is more for Parkinson's, which is very different. Mine totally affects my hands, voice, swallowing, and now she said it sounds like it's starting to affect my hearing too, according to what Kevin said. Of course, Kevin said my short-term memory is bad too, but I told her I think it's his short-term memory. As in, he THINKS he's told me something, but I KNOW he didn't, dammit!! Did I mention that I LOVE this Dr?? She asked last time "how much do you smoke?" I pointed at Kev, and said "less than HIM!!" and she laughed and let that question go. She's even called me at home a couple times! And I can NOT believe that, NO doctors ever call you at home, unless you're dying! oops, maybe she was giving me a hint? So, anyway...I said the very worst symptom I had was my 'lack of' balance. She propped her chin on her hand for a second, then said the only thing she's heard of for that is DBS. NO!!!! DBS, let me enlighten you. It's where they give you anesthetic, you're asleep, they drill a hole in your skull down to your brain. Then they wake you up while the hole is open, so they can stick a wire directly into your brain (you can't feel that, you don't have pain centers in the part they put the wire in), then you move your hand so that they can see which part they've got, if it's in the right place, yadayada, etc. Then they put you back to sleep to close up your skull. The long name is deep brain stimulation. Dr Stone said there's one dr up there that she respects that does that, so I said "you don't respect any others? That's scary..." So, now that I've bored everybody to sleep...wake the fuck up!!! Yup...bored myself to sleep too, gotta go find something to eat!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

when we were 16...

Driving...okay, you thought Kim & I were little shits when we were walking...then we got our driver's licenses! Good thing they didn't let you have 'em til we were 16 at that time!! But, my mom swears, to this day, that I took to driving "like a duck to water"! And, actually, she was very right on that....I passed my driving test the first time I took it, in 1981, (my birthday's in December). I'd had to take the driving class in the summer of 1980, and that in itself was hilarious, because one of the girls in the class drove herself to the school every day, and after class went out & got in her car & drove home! Tiffany was one of the last to be able to take her class at school, cuz the schools stopped doing that, because of insurance! Kim was livid, cuz her daughter had to go to a driving school for classes! (didn't do much good for A, she's had at least 2 wrecks [bad ones, with charges filed against her!]) But Tiff was like me....also took to it 'like a duck to water'! Actually, Kevin wanted to do all the driving stuff with her, because he said "You got to see her first steps...I get to see her first driving!!" Okay, good point. So she passed the test the first time, too. And I knew she would.
But, anyway, back to me & Kim. Or, 'Kim & I'. It was always a really funny thing for me to put the brakes on (kinda hard), while Kim had her can of pop up to her mouth, taking a drink, and say, "Everybody bow!" I ruined SO many of her shirts! Then there was the time that Kim was driving down to the corner at the end of my street in her parents' blue Hornet, I was in the front passenger seat, and she turned right at the corner. At that time, of course, seat belts were optional (NOBODY wore them til it was law!). And, of course, the car doors weren't shut right, and my damn door flew open! I came real close to flying out the side! Man, did I bitch her out! (even though I was the one who had shut the door!). And, of course, Kim was the one that was famous for never covering her mouth & nose when she sneezed (aahh-CHOO!! snot-rockets straight out on the windshield!) and then she would never wipe it off if it was her parents' car before she took it home! Gross!! The absolute ONLY time I ever had a scratch on my car, was when the dumpster rolled over and hit US!! And, try explaining THAT to your mom! (the dumpster hit ME, I didn't hit IT!!) Well, there was also the time that I was by myself, on the 'wrong side' of town anyway, (according to Mom & Dad), and I was driving my car home (the V8 Comet). I was coming over the railroad tracks, and my muffler fell off! Wouldn't have been a problem if the back or the whole thing fell off. Nahhh, I'm Libby, remember? The FRONT of my muffler dropped off, and I was ON the railroad tracks! I couldn't go forward at all, cuz the muffler was hanging, and it caught on the rail every time I tried to go forward. Tried to go backward too, and by then, it wouldn't do that either. And this was the one set of tracks in town that had another set running parallel, about 10 feet behind it! So there was a pizza shop between the tracks, and there were a bunch of guys working in there, and I ran in & told them what happened, and they dropped what they were doing (ah-hah! a blonde damsel in distress!!), and came running out to (brilliant guys!) lift my car & get it over the tracks! But, keep in mind...this was a really solid 1972 Comet, 8-cylinder car...nobody short of 4 Andre the Giant's could lift it! Of course, 4 big solidly built high-school guys had absolutely NO LUCK! So they were, of course, embarrassed and pissed, & cussed my car out and turned around and stomped back in the pizza place, saying "We've got work to do!". One of the guys did shrug his shoulders sheepishly, and say "Sorry", but that was it!! Then I had to call my trusty (if crabby!) Dad, and he actually hit the phones right away & called whoever was in charge of the trains! and told them they absolutely HAD to reroute the next train coming through, so he had time to get a tow truck to get the car off the tracks! And he did it! Got the tow truck there, and got my car off the tracks, and in to be fixed the next day! OMG, he was awesome, cuz this was 10:30 pm! I did pay for it, emotionally, not monetarily, by hearing about the whole 'debacle' until I was 18! (and then I got pregnant & had to get married, so he had something new!).
All right...I had an appointment with my ms dr at the Cleveland Clinic Thursday afternoon, (3 hours away!), and Dr Stone (a woman dr, who knows SO much more than ANY other dr I've seen in the last 11 years for this...way better than Ohio State!). Anyway, that's my next post...this afternoon is the Ohio State/Michigan football game, so I'll be watchin'!!
BoUnCeS!!! GO OSU!! KICK SOME ASS!! BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

stuff...

Okay...I command everybody laugh!!

This story is rather sad now...
A few years ago, there was something big happening in this town. A little 9 year old girl was taken from her bed and found murdered a few days later, out beside a road in the country, wrapped up in a sleeping bag, that had initials on it. The guy whose initials those were, was a close friend of the parents, had been for a long time. The little girl even called him 'Uncle ----'. Unfortunately, a big part of his 'relationship' with both parents was drugs. So he was tracked down by his relationship with the parents, and his initials. There was a trial, and he was convicted of killing the little girl. And, still, to this day, I have a hard time believing it. He's never had any kind of violence in his background, never had ANYTHING to do with kids, the only things on his record is things to do with drugs, I think it's all pot-related. Yeah, I know that's not 'just pot', according to the powers-that-be, but still. Well, after he'd been convicted, and sent to prison for the rest of his life (he's only a couple years older than me), it was rumored around that the little girl was taken & murdered by the parents' drug dealers, (which is NOT the guy sitting in prison!) because they owed a LOT of money. But, I've really never heard any more about it...and it's actually been about 10 years, I think? This whole thing upsets me because, well, I remember him from when I was about 15. He was actually a good friend of my then 18-year old boyfriend, and he was always at his apartment with us all...drinking and getting high. For heaven's sake, I used to sit on the couch and pass a joint from him to me, to the person on my other side! I still to this day, do not believe he did it! And everybody here KNOWS that I don't give criminals the benefit of the doubt!
LibbY!

kim n me...forever ago...

Damn, I don't believe this shit!! I didn't go to bed last night til 3 am and I got up at 9 am this morning, and I've aleady got 3 loads of laundry done, took a shower, etc, made the bed, of course (remember, that's my obsession! I can't do ANYTHING if that's not done!), scooped poop outta Truman's box, got my summer clothes ready to go upstairs, shit! I think my work here is done for the week!!
Anyway, I was remembering some more of the shit that Kim & I did. I'm sure that most of everything I put on here that we did was when we were 15, before we could drive...
We met up with one of the guys who was at the 'tent party' a few weeks later, and decided to go out & ride around town with him. Oh, and of couse, he was over 18, so he could buy beer! Of course also, that was only 'low beer', only, I forget how much less the alcohol content in it was. Back in those days, in Ohio, at least, you could buy 'low beer' at 18, real beer at, I think, 19...I could be wrong...so, he bought beer, we went riding around town, met up with his & our friends, and, since Kim & I had already told Mom we'd be staying with Kris, it got to be, like, 2 or 3 am. I asked Randy to run us over to Kris's house. Obviously, it was late enough that the whole family was asleep, so we were shit outta luck! Randy said it'd be okay, he had an idea. He drove us down to a place, well, it was in our town, but we hadn't been down that way much. He parked the car in a parking lot, and we all got out and locked it. Then we walked down to where there were a lot of big old houses, until he pointed at one, and said 'That's it.' Turns out, his sister had been renting an apartment in that house, and she had moved out the day before. (I bet ya know what's comin', right?). We climbed the stairs outside up to the apartment (Randy too!), and somehow he got the damn kitchen window open, and we climbed in! Now, how ILLEGAL could that be? But, remember, we WERE only 15, and all...but, we just laid down on the living room floor and fell asleep. As soon as it started to get light outside, we woke up & woke Randy up "We hafta get out of here!!". And we got up, and Randy dropped us off a few blocks from my house, so we had to walk & talk, & get our stories straight on why we were coming home so early. We were such lying little shits!!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

something different...

Okay. I've pretty much kept my political rants quiet, but it's really burnin' my ass, what I'm seeing & hearing around the news, tv, blogs, everywhere, so I'm finally gonna let loose, and say what I think...
First of all, a neat website... http://www.abovetopsecret.com/

Well...I'm not a "warmonger", I don't like us being in a war any more than other people do. But, let me say, it honestly was NOT America's choice to do this, was it? I've heard it said that the reason for all the increasing terrorism in the world is because we're in Iraq. Hmmmm. So THAT'S why the world trade center was attacked on 9/11/01, huh. I always wondered. Even though the war didn't start til 2003, I guess the terrorists must've read our minds, huh. And I do NOT think there's any question that Saddam was all for the 'jihadists' having training camps in his country. Yes, a lot of it was in Afghanistan, and we did take care of that area first. And, yes, democracy IS hard for ANY country to build. But think of this...the last time Afghanistan had a free vote was, like, oh, 5000 years ago. So...does anyone think that part of the war should not have been taken care of? Yep, cuz that's where we thought Osama was...we didn't find him...but, maybe that opened some eyes to how BAD things were in that part of the world. And, this is a bunch of BULLSHIT when people say "Bush lied! There were no 'WMD' there!" Holy shit!! If this war was wrong, then why did 100 congresspeople vote for it?? They ALL saw the very same information that the president did! The wimpy UN voted for this to be done too. Even though Saddam had broken 12 previous resolutions. Took them long enough, didn't it? Here's something I wrote a long time ago, before there were blogs...
What the hell is up with our so-called allies?? France has absolutely refused to back up the resolution (1441)…as have Russia, Germany, China, etc! Okay…well, France, if we would’ve done the same to you some decades ago, you wouldn’t be sitting around at your fancy cafes, drinking champagne, & eating your truffles. You’d be drinking beer, and eating wienerschnitzel…and, oh yeah, don’t forget…you’d be speaking GERMAN too!! You were kind enough to give us the Statue of Liberty long ago, which had an inscription on it saying “Give us your tired, your hungry, etc…” Well…even though we’ve been attacked since then, we’ve tightened our borders up, but we still live by that! We have a smart president who sees a threat across the world, and wants to take care of it right now, for not only our safety, but also the safety of the world! Well, France, let me ask your so-called leader Jacques Chirac…if you had a chance to take Hitler out so many years ago…wouldn’t you have? Or, well, maybe not. But you would have come to the USA for help, wouldn’t you?

Okay...that was written in about 2003, but it's still true.
And as for the 'Islamic extremists', being terrorists, and America being the 'bad guys' to all Muslims? Well...which country opened its pockets wide to the Muslim county of Indonesia after the terrible tsunami after Christmas last year? And who was right there helping the Muslim country of Pakistan after that HUGE earthquake, with money, people, supplies? Uh-huh. America the Beautiful. And that was after an awful summer of hurricanes that took out thousands of people's homes, lives, pets, everything! In our own country. And, so, who did the 'jihadists' kill the other day (which was, if you write the date in the European way, 9/11/05!)? They did at least 3 suicide bombs, to kill Muslims in Amman, Jordan. Hmmmm....who did the killing of the Muslims? Not the Americans, unless they happen to be part of 'Al Qaeda in Iraq'. Sure, it was American hotels. But, at least one of the homicide bombers made it a fuckin' point to go into a hall where a Muslim wedding is going on, and sit in the middle of the family, so he could kill the largest number of Muslims that he could! The bride's father and the groom's father were killed. Can you even imagine what it would be like to not go on your honeymoon because your dad & your future step-dad were killed at your wedding and you had to go to their funerals instead?? That's not a real common occurance here, is it? Maybe that's because of tiny little things like The Patriot Act, and the other laws our country has enacted, did anyone think of THAT SHIT?? It's not the same world it was back in the 1950's, 60's, 70's, 80's, 90's...AND it's not the President's fault! The economy goes up & down, if you look back you'll see it. And I would really be interested if ANYONE could tell me how we could have actually avoided war on terrorists. Do you actually think they would have sat down at a table and just talked with us? How stupid would that have been to expect? Someone who already blew up the World Trade Center....twice! And then blew up embassies in Kenya & Tanzania? And then, well, that didn't scare 'em off, let's try flying their airplanes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Capital building, or the White House! Yeah, that's it! And in the process, they succeeded in killing about 3,000 people...and we're supposed to...GIVE THEM A CHANCE, AND TALK?? God help America...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

illegal...maybe?

First of all, I have some 'randomness' I need to get off my brain.
If you owned a company that manufactured and sold an absolutely legal product, do you think that the public is right to expect & demand that you run advertisements telling you how to quit using it? I don't care if you like or hate tobacco companies, that is over the top!! And, as a side question...what in the hell would the United States do for money if everybody all of a sudden stopped buying cigarettes? Just think about how much money is paid to the governments in taxes! I guess I'm not sure if all the money goes to states or federal, but, whichever. All the states are broke now, all that would do is make them lose more money. Do people really want that??
All right, I feel a little better. (not much...but...a little).
One of the very first times that Kim and I decided to test the freedoms that we figured we could get away with, was when we were 15, and really tired of all the "No, no, no, you're too young" bullshit! *Side note to all parents...* always say "aren't you a little OLD to act like this?"
We used the excuse that we began to use forever after it worked that first time..."We're gonna stay overnight with Kris" (or Denise. or Lisa. or Sue. or oh, anybody, as long as they'd 'run interference' for us if my mom called...which she never did). Kris & Denise & Kim & I were invited by some guys at school to go to a big 'tent party' one Friday night, with tons of beer & cigarettes, and everything you never, ever, ever want your 15 yr olds to think about...and, yeah...older guys, too! Even some seniors in high school! Woohoo! (sorry...got carried away). So Kim was staying overnight in town with me (she and her family moved right outside town early in the 9th grade), and we asked my mom or dad if one of them would take us over to Kris's to stay overnight. They just said that's ok, you can stay there, but you can walk. (it WAS only about 9 or 10 blocks...nothin'). When we got to Kris's, she told us that Denise got in trouble and couldn't stay with her, and when Kris had gotten off the phone with her, she was so pissed that she threw her shoe at one of her little sisters & hit her, so she was grounded, and couldn't go either! Kim and I just looked at each other, said "well, that sucks. Bye" And we took off walking towards the west end (past the famous game room!). By then it was dark, and, of course there were guys driving by & honking (great ego boost for 2 stupid-ass 15 yr olds). One car pulled up beside us, and the guys said they were headed to that party too, they were bringing the keg of beer, it was in the trunk (it was, we could see it). We hopped in with 'em, and took off down the street, behind the park (I think). It was louder and more people were there than we'd ever seen at a party! There were tents set up all over the place...actually, I kinda think it was like a big field or something. Then one of the guys we got the ride there with put big plastic cups of beer in our hands, and, well, that was the end of our 'not drinking' life!! We ended up staying there all night in a big tent with the guys that brought us (no, get your minds out of the gutter! We were virgins!), and I don't remember a lot of the next day, except that Kim & I walked home, probly 4 or 5 miles, into town, and then across town. And I have a feeling that we both walked up to bushes every so often and puked, although I don't remember for sure..
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

stormy Tuesday....

Had to do this! Okay....the picture on the top is next door to my old house, it is always thought of with good memories. When my mom & dad moved in next door with me, Helen & Lorene thought I was like a Christmas present for them, too, after all, I was only 2 when we moved there. So, here's 2 widowed friends living in the downstairs part of the house, and their third friend lived in the upstairs half...and, well I had never heard of the term 'elegant' at that age, but the whole house was, inside & out! I was close to all, but Helen used to take me Christmas shopping for my mom & dad & 2 brothers every year starting when I was about 5 or 6....and we'd always finish up with going to McDonald's by the mall, and I had a whole Big Mac! (was a big deal then...look at what you thought was heaven at 5 or 6!) Oh, and remember...Big Macs came in a big styrofoam box, and everything! Then we'd go home, and I'd stay at Helen's and wrap all the presents...and I used to hide them in Helen's house, so nobody'd find them! ...unfortunately, sometimes I hid them TOO well...
The other two pictures I took last week at the cemetary when Kim & I went out last week. I'm really glad I took the picture of the burning bush (is that what it is?), cuz Kevin told me yesterday that they have them all around the Verizon building he works at, and by yesterday...there were no leaves left on them! And the other picture is obviously in the cemetary. It's of that gravestone with the great big ball on top (the Merchants' memorial), surrounded by a circle of bowling ball sized ones. I wanted that picture because the ball is a big mystery to everyone (I even bought a little paperback book from eBay once [yes, for a penny + shipping], and it was a collection of short scary stories, and it had a whole story about it! even told what town, what graveyard, on the east end of it. Anyway, the ball turns slowly. You can even see the dark part of the ball that used to be on the bottom. We always used to go out to the cemetary at night when I was in high school, and look at it, try to see it moving. We always gave up on that, it was much more fun to just hide behind big gravestones, and jump out & scare each other! Anyway, I just thought it was cool...another Kim & Libby story tomorrow (I know, you're all waiting with bated breath...).
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

idunno...

Comparison...2003- the man that bought it from Mom & Dad had this house & loved it as much as I did. This is the year we all got to go over & go through the house again...I even have a picture of me and the owner shaking hands.
And 2005- the man died of old age in 2004 (was in his late 80's)...and I SO hope he sees what the people are doing to it now...and comes back & HAUNTS THEM forever! I have a feeling he will...every time I talked to him, he sounded SO MUCH like me! (his POOR, poor wife...).

OK, OK, I promise (kinda) I won't rant about this any more! Also, I really meant no disrespect to the angels on the porch. They just don't belong there!! Are ya with me??

' I just happened to think of something today. You know the saying, "Good things come in small packages."? I have the strong feeling that phrase was originally coined by a 'quite underendowed' man! Can I get a "Hallelujah" again??

Damn, I'm such a smartass! I guess because I haven't done a DAMN thing all day!! Well, okay, I'm outta bed (since 10 am), took a shower (I know, Kimmy, you were beginning to smell me, right?), and read one of the books I got from Amazon last week. It was really good, but quite short. It's "The Colorado Kid", and it's in the 'Hard Case' series of mysteries, a bunch of mysteries written by different authors, and this was by....Stephen King!! I looked everywhere in the book for something that said it was that Stephen King, but there was nothing. But after I had gotten about halfway through it, well...it's him, nobody else writes like that! Plus, it's even set on an island off of Maine. So anyway, I just have one of the books I got last week left to read..."Because He Could". And I'm not going any further.

And Tiffany was pretty happy when she came home from work, she got $60 in tips, between 10 & 5 today...plus she gets paid an hourly wage...plus she gets commission on all the products she sells! And the biggest & best thing? SHE LOVES THIS JOB!! Honestly, there's no better feeling in the world!! Especially when you can say it about your current chosen job, and MEAN it!

Okay, I guess I'm done...for now...

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

ooga booga, green teeth!

Kim came over this morning around 10:30 am, to pick me up so we could, like, at least go look at the trees. So she banged on the front door, and, at the same time, we each yelled the same thing we used to say to each other in the morning when we were 13 and she stayed overnight..."Ooga Booga, Green Teeth!!" The difference here, is of course, that we're now 40, for heaven's sake! Oh, and also the fact that...I was in the house, and she was outside!! But, that's okay...but, well, I think Tiff was surprised to be woken up like that! haha!! Now we don't embarrass our moms...we embarrass our daughters!!
So, of course, after we went all the way through the cemetery (she pushed me in my wheelchair...yuk!), and I took tons of pictures of all the trees, we went back past my old house (you know, the one Kim peed out of the third floor window?) I took a picture up the side of the house as we were driving through the driveway (which goes from a major street in the back of the house to the major street in front) But if you look right below the point on the roof, well, that's where it was! That house is about 8 blocks from our house here. Which, by the way, is the house in the other picture. I LOVE the dark blue shutters and stuff. Kevin painted our front door dark blue a couple years ago, and since then I've been nagging for the rest!
But...I'm SO disappointed in the way the house looks now, since the man that used to live there died, and the house was auctioned! Kim told me a few weeks ago that she grew up across the street from the woman who bought the house, and "she doesn't deserve to live there!!". Kim's mom has been a realtor here since, well, since forever, and she found out who it was. No, but seriously, that house looks like shit now!! Not only is the beautiful yellow paint peeling off, the backyard was paved over, and it looks like a damn parking lot! And it isn't being used as an office or store! It's a freakin' house!! And there were workers there putting up a solid wood fence around the 'former' backyard, and there were 2 great big ugly stone statues on the porch, and a fucking gas grill back by the bushes out front! In front of the house, on a main street!! Shit!! That house has been there since the late 1800's, and it's never looked worse!! Kim swears she's gonna write a letter to the owners, but, she better not. I'll just wait and, after I die, I'll go back there & haunt them!! And if they're gone, or the house is gone, well...I'll look them up & haunt them in their new house! All I know is, I'm not going past it again! Not on purpose, anyway...
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

news stuff...

Okay...is anyone but me ready to puke the next time they hear the phrase "the CIA leak"? Yeah, I know it is important news, but, most people in America don't give as much of a shit about it as any media thinks they should. In my opinion, I honestly don't think Lewis 'Scooter' Libby (no relation, haha!) is the end of everything, nor do I think he should be. I don't think this goes to the president's level, but I do think that VP Cheney had something to do with this shit. Whether he should step down isn't up to me, so I'm stopping here on it. I did hear that Valerie P wasn't in the Secret Service anymore by that time, however, her name should never have been revealed, no matter what! If I knew that might happen to me, I'll be damned if I'd EVER want to do that job!! How safe is that for her family??
By the way...I just got Dick Morris' latest book, 'Condi vs. Hillary'....I'm halfway through it, and, man, does he make some excellent points! The only thing I have a problem with, is voters that are like my dad. I love him, but, everyone knows that no matter how much of a Republican he may be, he IS 87 years old, and an Archie Bunker!! He would just, well, not vote for anyone if it were a choice between a Democrat (any one of them!), and a black woman Republican, sad as it is to say. I think there are many more voters that feel like him than anyone knows! Mostly because nobody would EVER admit to feeling that way, but I DO think it's much more widespread than a lot of people think. Trust me, my mom's gonna vote for Hillary, she's the biggest 'Hillary fan' I know, but thank God....there's Kevin, me, & Tiffany to wipe out THAT vote!! (haha)
Speaking of Tiff, she won the most tastefully least dressed in the costume contest at the party Sat. nite! She was a 'hula girl', with the two coconuts sewn to a bra, a full-butt bikini bottom, and a grass skirt. And she had ordered 8 dozen leis online...she wore about 5 or 6 of them, and gave the rest out to people at the party cuz there were close to 200 people there! And in the middle of the dance where everyone was competing for the awards at the end, she whipped off her grass skirt and threw it out in the crowd! How cool of her!!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

hmmmmmm...

...didn't know for sure what I was gonna put on here today, but, DUHHHH, trick-or-treating was last night from 5:30 -7:30. Kevin didn't get off work til 7, so he asked his brother Ken to come over, in case I needed help with anything....read >make sure she doesn't fall down, or anything. [After all, she is crippled, ya know?] No, shit, EVERYBODY knows he didn't mean that. But.....that's exactly what it feels like to me! But, that's okay...part of life (now!). But, Ken & I had fun...until we freakin' ran out of candy at 6:15!! I mean, think about this...that means we had at least 200 kids here in the first 45 minutes!! So, we hurried inside, and turned off the porch light. Then Ken went over to his mom's to see if she had any extra candy. Which, of course, she always has everything for anybody (yeah...she's that kind...the kind everybody can count on!). Ken came back, and we were back out on the porch with the lights on at 6:30, with 3 bags of monster money (chocolate coins with krispies). And ALL OF IT was gone by 6:50! And, no, we weren't the ones that ate it, either! We gave up for good that time, even though it wasn't over til 7:30! Then we were just sitting here talking, and I told him the story I read in one of the newspaper sites yesterday. About a woman in, I think, Massachusetts, that killed herself and nobody knew it for 3 or 4 days. Why? Well, she hung herself from a tree outside her house, and people drove by constantly, and thought she was a Halloween decoration!! Oooooky! But I did tell Ken that if I EVER decided to kill myself, that'd have to be the way! So now that moves to the first choice instead of jumping off the highest building I can find! Okay, now that's second! Ken was also telling me about a religious retreat he & Jill went to, and they each had a name tag, and there were a bunch of 'scrapbooky tools' around. They were each supposed to decorate their own tags, which were white and rectangular. So Ken cut his in the shape of a ghost, used a paper-punch to put holes in it...it was 'A Holey Ghost'!...and of course he won.

I just heard an alarming tv commercial! "80% of Americans have hemmorhoids." Holy CRAP!! Oh, maybe that was the wrong choice of words? Anyway....I think I know 100 people, and, well, that's not a real appealing picture, now, is it? So let's drop that subject...how 'bout the commercials that say, about weight-loss plans 'If I can do it, anyone can!'...how 'bout "I've seen the people on these commercials before. & if THEY can do it, well, I KNOW anyone can!"

Okay, done...laundry time! BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

ever-thing

This is a current picture of my house I grew up in on the right (in 2003)...on the left is the birthday present Kev's brother Ken gave me a few years ago for my birthday (which is a week before Christmas!)

So, that's it with my pictures from my old house. Not that I don't have tons, but this blog's not for that. The only important one I didn't put on here was the one of the sign Kim & I made & painted in 1980, for my 'party room' on the third floor. We hung it on the wall then, and when we all went back in 2003, IT WAS STILL HANGING UP THERE!! They said that, somehow, it seemed to WANT to stay there! Now, THAT, in itself, is rather spooky!
So I tried to post yesterday, but, 'blogger wouldn't let me'! Grrrrrrrrrrr!!
It was about how the whole 'zero tolerance rule' for elementary schools, well, I think all it is is a blanket rule for teachers to not have to make their own decisions!! Because that might be too hard for them to make the judgement call! But the story I read about a while ago...about the 11 year old that was taken away in handcuffs for drawing a picture of a gun!! No shit!! http://www.russelltexas.com/Newspaper/zerotolerance.htm Holy crap! Next thing you know, kids won't be allowed to play tag, because the person that's "it" feels discriminated against...oh, wait, I guess some schools have already gone there, haven't they? This whole thing about making boys more 'sensitive' is going to make for some piss-poor, wimpy-ass men!! Sheesh!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

more old stuff...

These are some of the (hundreds!) of pictures I took when I went through this house again in 2003, 2 days short of 20 years from the day I moved out!!

Damn!! I'm trying to get a picture on here that I took of the outside of this house that day, too...but for some reason blogger won't let me...yet. So anyway, this is the stained glass window on the landing between the first & second floors, and the other is the height marks my mom made for me on her closet door, and they didn't paint over them, said they were part of the history of the house!

My grandma's house (again)...no pictures...just good memories...out in Grandma's barn, which had 2 floors in it, it was enormous...and scary...shhhh, don't tell anybody I said that! The top floor was the haymow, and the bottom was for the few cows, sheep, pigs, etc. They never had a bunch of animals on the farm, mostly, the farm was corn, wheat, etc. And sometimes when I stayed there overnight, Grandma had me gather the eggs from the chicken coop (at 5 am!)...although, for a 6 year old kid, those things can be awful aggressive. And if they don't stand up & say "Here you go, little girl!", I was supposed to reach my hand under them, and take the egg! How intimidating was that for a puny little 'city girl'? At least Grandma milked the cows, and never tried to teach me that!!

Once, my uncle (Mom's little brother) got a huge, thick rope and tied it up to one of the rafters at the top of the barn. Then my cousins & I just had to climb the ladder up to the haymow, grab the rope, and swing!! And when you swung on it, you'd go out the barn door. Man, was that a lot of fun!

BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

ago...

You will not believe this...this is the house I grew up in! This picture was in the newspaper a few years ago! Lived there from 1966 to 1983! I'm not exactly sure when this picture was taken, but the guy all the way on the right lived there with his mom & dad, the best I can figure out, it's around 1921 (the picture!), and the guy on the right was our 29th president's secretary! The president's house is right behind this one. I learned how to ride a two-wheel bike in the parking lot of his house, which by then was a tourist attraction! So, I know you're all wondering...the window Kim peed outta is on the third floor on the right side!!
And (off the subject), when I was that age (3-17?), we always went to my Grandma's (Mom's mom) every Sunday, after we had the big Sunday dinner that Mom made. It was about an hour away, out in the country. And I always had a lot of fun up there! Mostly because my cousins were always there, too. My cousin Lori, who is about 2 years younger than me, lived right around the corner of Grandma's road, but I could never call her to have her come over, cuz her phone number was a long distance extension from Grandma's, even though there was only, like, an acre of land between the properties! And long distance phone calls were expensive in the early 70's!
My cousins & I were always doing stuff to get in trouble up there, though. In the winter we went sledding down the hill behind the house. And in the summer, we always played "War" (I had older boy cousins, too), and we always used any sticks that were shaped like guns to shoot each other (would never be allowed to happen now, huh?), and one Christmas I got, from my Mom & Dad, a leather holster that held two cap guns!! So...I was known as the 'spoiled brat' after that! Once, we were playing in the summer, and found a Radio Flyer blue wagon in the barn. We decided to all pile in it and ride down the big hill of Grandma's road. We got halfway down, and my aunt (Mom's sister) came out the door, and yelled, 'There's 100 acres back there to play in, and you can get out of the road and play in it!!' And, once when Lori & I were mad at K ( a boy cousin...he's about 3 years older than me), we walked all over Grandma's yard backwards (it was winter), so our footprints looked like we were going the opposite way! He told me a couple years ago, that he was watching us & laughing, the whole time!! Jerkwad!! (haha, if you're reading this, I truly didn't mean it!). Okay, done.
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

All kindsa stuff!

Well, I WAS gonna put a Halloween-type picture on here, but...blogger won't let me!! So I'll put it on later...
I'm thinking a LOT today...first thing is - I'm gonna be the most pissed-off person in the world if they actually start selling RU486 (abortion pill) off the shelf at the local drugstore...but we still have to go to the pharmacist & ask for a fuckin box of Sudafed, because they have to keep that shit behind the counter!! Are ya with me??
Anyway...had to just yell about that first...I'm listening to a lot of songs we have on Windows media player (we're up to 7,035 songs downloaded on here!), and yesterday I got one of my favorites from the early 90's...I'm Too Sexy, by Right Said Fred!! And I'm playing some Styx, cuz, well...just cuz! So I was listening to Tom Sawyer, and that made me think about my 10th grade year in high school (my very WORST!). We had a big stereo system in the cafeteria that was always on QFM96, Columbus rock station, and that song was on every day when I was at lunch! One of the girls at my school when I was in 8th grade loved Styx, too, and she had the biggest crush on Geddy Lee. So, a few years ago when Tiffany was in high school, she said something about a guy in her class named Geddy, and she thought that was a dumb name. I just looked at her, and said "Is his mom's name Regina??" and Tiff said yeah. Holy shit!! Wow. I'm still floored by that...
I'm jumping around here, but this story is just too freakin' funny NOT to tell! After I had gotten my job,(at 20), and they scheduled me a vacation the next summer, I had no clue what to do on it, didn't have a lot of money (still don't, come to think of it...), and a one and a half year old little girl. But I did have one friend who had never gotten married...Kim HAD gotten married, but I hated her husband since they started going out in high school, but I can get along with him by now..but..beside the point. So my single friend Kelly and I made plans to go up to Port Clinton for a week, and I left Tiff with my mom for the week. That was some of the most fun I'd had in forever!! We went swimming, played pool, even got to go skinny dipping in Lake Erie with a cute guy I picked up in a bar...I made Kel go with us, cuz neither one of us wanted to be anywhere alone. So, we're all in the lake, naked, and I pointed across the lake to a thing with a bunch of lights on it, and said "What's that, Kevin?" (d'oh! another Kevin!) He said that's just Davis-Bessie. After a minute of thought, I realized Davis-Bessie was a nuclear power plant!! I think we left right then!! A couple days later, Kel & I went to Cedar Point, and that was the BEST, cuz from home, it's 2 & a half hrs...from our motel it was maybe 10-15 minutes!! That evening when we were getting dressed in our 'clubbing clothes', she told me that when she was in high school, she was at lunch with her friends, and they were all laughing at something. She was eating a Hostess cherry pie, and they all started laughing at something, and she said she kinda choked, but not too bad. Then she went to the bathroom, blew her nose, and A FUCKIN' CHERRY CAME OUT!! I can hardly type this now, 20 yrs later, without falling off my chair laughing!!

more stupid-ass shit!!

Okay....this is Kim & I in the 9th grade...it's a picture we got in one of those stupid little booths in the mall. Kim put this picture in the frame and gave it to me for Christmas a few years ago! And, OMG, I just about cried!! But the good thing is, we both look about the same, but, thank God...better? I think?
Once around this age, she was at my house (of course), and we decided we were thirsty for 'Slush Puppies'. So we got on my 10-speed and I rode down to the Lawson's, or whatever, we rode double (with no helmets...how in the hell did we ever survive?). We got our cups of flavored slush, and got ready to come home.. me with my green slush, her with her bright blue slush. We got about halfway home down Center St (yup...we rode in the street too.), and all of a sudden, I hear Kim yell, "Eeeewww!". So...I pulled up to the sidewlk, stopped the bike, and turned around and asked WTF was wrong with her? She just looked at me with the right side of her lip curled, and showed me her cup of slush. And floating in the middle of it was a great big white bird-turd! I just about laughed my ass off! And asked her, "Should we go back & get you a straw?" I think I still have the bruise that remark earned me...
One time we were sitting on the radiator downstairs (we had radiators covered with big wood seats in that house) and we were looking out the front window at the cars driving past. Our town, when I was 14 or 15, well, the national pasttime here was 'shooting the loop'. And of course, since we lived on one of the main streets of the town, we saw & heard it all, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. People would drag-race down our street (& get pulled over regularly...my brother got pulled over for that once, in front of the house, too!!). So, Mom & Dad were upstairs in bed (it was like 2 or 3 am!), and we were watching for this one certain guy's car to go past. And it was all quiet in there and everything (I'm totally gonna make a dork out of myself here, but I beg of you...I was 14...what's some of the stupid shit you did, hmmm?), anyway...we were whispering secrets & stuff, talking soft so we didn't wake Mom & Dad up (it was 2 or 3 am), and all of a sudden I farted & it was loud, cuz of the wooden top of the radiator. And we both started dying laughing...but everybody knows what happens when Kim laughs too hard, right? Uh-Huh. Then I start hearing SSSSSSSSssssss...yup...Kim peed her pants, and it must've been winter, which means the radiator was HOT!! And I had to quietly sneak upstairs and get a towel out of the linen closet...I took it back down to Kim & threw it at her, and told her to clean the smelly stuff up herself, and don't forget the radiator itself, and the wood underneath it!! Oh, shit, nobody laughed as much as us...even now, when we talk on the phone!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

stupid shit we did...

A blonde, out of money and down on her luck after buying air at a real bargain, needed money desperately. To raise cash, she decided to kidnap a child and hold him for ransom.She went to the local playground, grabbed a kid randomly, took him behind a building, and told her, "I've kidnapped you."She then wrote a big note saying, "I've kidnapped your kid. Tomorrow morning, put $10,000 in a paper bag and leave it under the apple tree next to the slides on the south side of the playground. Signed, A blonde." The blonde then pinned the note to the kid's shirt and sent him home to show it to his parents. The next morning the blonde checked, and sure enough, a paper bag was sitting beneath the apple tree. The blonde looked in the bag and found the $10,000 with a note that said, "How could you do this to a fellow blonde?"

All right, that's a really stupid-ass joke, and, as a blonde, I should be all offended and shit, but I hafta admit it, I laughed my ass off at this!

Some of the stupid stuff Kim and I used to do (when we were way too young to drive!)...
Once, in the late 70's (we were about 14), there was a parade going down Center Street here in town (only a block away from my house!). Kim & I were all pissed, because we couldn't see anything, 'old people' had put lawn chairs out by the street early, so...then I happened to look behind me at the grocery store (yes, this is the one I got a job at when I was 19, and met Kevin!), and there were people sitting on the roof watching the parade! So I pointed this out to Kim (quietly, so no old people knew what we were doing), and we figured there HAD to be some way up there. We ran to the back of the store, and there were bread racks against the building. They looked strong, like they'd hold us (yeah...we were like 85 lbs each, soaking wet!). So we pushed one of 'em over right next to the building, and started climbing. After a struggle, we made it to the back of the roof, and started walking nonchalantly to the front that was right above Center St. Of course, we stayed at the end opposite the other people up there. I noticed a guy in the crowd looking at us, but I just didn't look at him, cuz I knew if I did, he'd come over there and tell us to get lost, ya little whippersnappers! (he was cute, but he was way old!). Years later, I found out that this guy was Kevin's boss (supervisor of all meat depts for that co.)! And we all had a good laugh about it...he'd thought that Kim & I were sisters (we do look a lot alike)! And after I had been working there awhile, that supv asked me how we ever got up there. I told him, he was dying laughing, and took me behind the meat dept, and showed me the stairs that went up from inside! D'oh!
Then once when we were at my old house (the huge one, with 3 floors), we were on the 3rd floor in 'my' room in the attic, the one I'd made into our 'party/smoking room. It had all kinds of windows that faced the west, and we could see all the cars coming down the street.Two of the windows opened outward on hinges, and there weren't any screens in them. Kim decided she had to pee, but didn't feel like going 'all the way' down to the second floor (where there were two bathrooms, mind you!). So, since it was nighttime, she figured she'd just wait til the next batch of cars went past...then she turned around, pulled down her pants, opened the window, and hung her butt out, and peed all the way from the 3rd floor to the driveway!!! And you know what's comin', don't ya? Yup, the light down the block changed, and here came about 25 cars down the street...and of course they had their lights on!! And, once you start, you can NOT stop!! She got more honks from cars...
Once we were walking around on one of the main roads in our city, after we'd gone to McDonald's, and it was March. *Evil idea sprouting* We bought a couple extra green milkshakes (St Patrick's Day, remember?) and went out by the road and put them on their sides. Then when a really fancy white car went past, we stomped on them, as hard as we could! Then, of course, took off running! Nope, never got caught. But now...I'd kick a kid's ass if they did that to MY car!!
BoUnCeS!! LibbY!

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!