Out with the old....

It's finally here - the last day of 2013.

Yay!

I am not too sad to see it go.

It has been a crazy kind of year.

Some good, some not so good.

Too many things to write about here and why dwell on the past....blah blah....

Now is the time for some new starts.

So I have been thinking about what I should resolve to do or not do in this coming year.

I know I should lose weight, get in shape, and eat healthier, but what fun is that????

I know I need to get my life in order and straighten out my finances, but again, what fun is that???

If you have not guessed, I have decided to resolve to have some fun in 2014.

And how am  I going to do that???

• Let go of faltering friendships. 

It seems that I have been pretty good at screwing up friendships lately.

I moved about a half hour south of my previous residence  - my bad. Apparently that is a little too far for some to travel.  The friendship is there if I visit while I am in that part of town, but I do not seem worth the effort for them to make the trip south.  Of course when I moved up north a few years ago, my southern friends played the same game. And then there are the friends who I hear from when they need something, but other times not so much.  If I do not contact them, we tend to stray far apart.  To my so-called friends who are sometime, someplace friends, I say this:  you know where I am and how to get in touch - your move.

And me being me, I tend to say my peace or piece, however you want to think of it, when one of my friends says something so totally off the wall or hurtful that my logical mind just cannot keep my mouth in line.  To my so-called friends who tend to say/do things that screw with my mind or try make me feel bad about something in my life and then do not understand when I get defensive, I say this: I am who I am  - take me as I am or not....your move. But tread lightly - I am a bitch - as you know.

And how is that having fun you ask?  I tend to fret over these friendships and continually try to mend them which takes away from the fun times I should be/could be having with other friends.The fretting stops here.   

Which brings me to my second resolution.

• Cherish my good friends.
  I do have a couple of really good friends who I would do anything for and who are and have been there for me through good and bad. To keep this resolution, I plan to spend time with my good friends at least once a month  - having fun, doing something we enjoy, and continuing to share our  life's ups and downs....
  
• Attempt to stay socially active...
  I really miss the internet cafes that have been closed down over the past year.  One of the big reasons I miss them is because I do not get to see all of the people I met while cafeing.  I miss my cafe buddies.  Cafeing was my way of getting out of the house and meeting new and interesting people.  I have had a lot of advice from people I know about what I could be doing in place of cafeing - the two most popular being to join a church group or a gym/fitness program.  Well I am not into religion so that would not work for me; I would be kicked out  for speaking my piece.  As far as a gym - I do not want to pay money to sweat - nor do I want to talk to people while I am sweating.  I can walk outside for free; and I tend to  by walk by myself - my thinking time...
  So...after running it past my daughter yesterday (she helps keep my thinking in line) I have decided that I may try to go to the newly opened Hard Rocksino once a week or so.  I enjoy gaming and talking with the random people who are also there gaming.    As long as I can control my spending and at least break even, it may provide the social outlet  I need.  I did really well cafeing  - as far as breaking even; in fact I was enough ahead before they closed to pay off some of my smaller bills. I do not usually have the same kind of luck at casino type venues, but it is certainly worth a shot.  I know that if I do not at least break even, I cannot continue to play - so that is motivation to quit while I am ahead. I will keep you posted.

• Continue to make my apartment more homey....more me.
  I do not spend a lot of time/money on decorating.  I am not into worrying about matching the right colors/window coverings, etc.  I do like that lived in look - because it is so easy to maintain:)
  I have done a few crafty things over the last few months to make my place  a little more more me....

To keep this resolution, I plan to do or purchase at least one thing each month whose sole purpose it to make my place scream my name....

• Walk in at least two organized 5K events this year.
  I really enjoy walking and I enjoyed walking in A Christmas Story 5K Run.  To keep this resolution, I intend to walk 5K two  to three times a week (weather permitting).  I find it is really hard to walk on unshoveled walkaways...
  
• Take a vacation to somewhere warm.
  My son and his girlfriend are seriously considering a move to Belize this year.  If they make that happen, I intend to visit.  If they do not make that happen, I intend to go away for at least a few days to one of those all-inclusive, preferably tropical, resorts.  I deserve it - or so I keep telling myself:)

So there are my resolutions - written down and posted...

Hopefully for keeping:)

May your 2014 bring you and your family health and happiness and a lot of fun:)

Hoping your stockings were hung...

I just realized that it has been almost a week since my last post...

Time flies when you are having fun...

Or working too much.

If you are reading this, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and can extend the holiday cheer for another week...

At least....

I had a wonderful day with my kids and parents - got some really cool things.

My favorite part of the day was hearing the kids loving their ornament.

Every year I give them an ornament.  I try to find or design one that depicts some sort of memory for the year.

 It was a crazy year and I was having a difficult time finding something special for each of them.

I finally decided on digital picture frame ornaments and loaded them with pictures I gathered from our family happenings and their facebook pages.  That took me a few hours earlier this week.  My computer died in the middle of it - turns out the battery just gave out for a bit. 

But it was awesome to see and hear their appreciation of my efforts.

I got a lot of cool things, too.  

Coffee and tea and Under Armour sweats and a cheese board and candle....

I am loved.

I love being loved.

But now I need to get back to my day job....

Because they have decided the show must go on and I am holding it up...

Same old story...different year.

It was one of those days....

Did you ever have one of those days?

I had one yesterday.

Things were just not clicking in my brain the way they should.

At all...

I had a few on-line conversations yesterday that suddenly took a turn that did not make sense to me, but oh well, I went with it...

And a little while later I realized, in an enlightening flash (I should coin that), that the conversation did not take such a left turn - I just thought it did.  And my response to it is what really took the left turn....

And having done that more than once yesterday, I decided I must be over-tired from trying to do too many things at once...baking, making candy, watching the Browns lose, talking....

I finally realized I just needed to call it a night.

So I sat down with a cup of rum-laced tea and a couple of books.

I usually read mysteries.  I also like laugh out loud humor, especially after a long left turn kind of day.

I had picked up Janet Evanovich's latest book from the library the other day and was about a third of the way through it.  All of her Plum novels are fast reads for me - usually one sitting.  I cannot get enough of Ranger.  I speed read through all the laugh out loud LuLu/Stephanie antics (laughing out loud at times) just to get to the Ranger appearances.  He is so hot.  I could use a Ranger in my life.

But I digress...

After I finished with Ranger, I picked up my Kindle version of Indigo Roth's "Testament: Funny Badgers."

The first thing I noticed was that all the paragraphs are numbered.  WTF?   Maybe it is a kindle version snafu.  This looks annoyingly familiar.  I actually made it all the way through the first book of the Testament before the enlightening flash hit me. 

Yeah, it was still one of those days.

I am not a big fan of sci-fi or fairy tales.  And honestly, if I did not have a blogger connection to the author, I probably would have put the book down and not picked it back up - not because it is not well-written- it is. It just did not seem like my cup of tea. Or coffee. I drink more coffee than tea.  Not that that matters to anyone.

But I decided I should give Indigo's creation  more of a chance. 

And it was a good decision - probably the best decision I made yesterday.

1Roth kept me laughing.  What do a dating agency, clogged drain, bad back, gps, and fast food restaurant chain have in common?  They all found a part in the early chapters of 1Roth.

Too bad I need to run some errands today; otherwise I could just sit on the couch with my coffee and continue reading.  

But I will be back and will share more about this great read in a future post.



In the meantime, you should check it out for yourself.

The Kindle version is actually free on Amazon for a couple more days. Here is the link:

'Tis the Season.

Happy Holidays.

I just needed to say that.

It makes me feel so politically correct.

And for the record, I do not see anything wrong with wishing all of my friends Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays covers the season; all of it - without offending. After all, I do have some Jewish friends and some atheist friends and some non-Christian friends who are celebrating  holidays other than Christmas at this time of year.
  
Happy to you! All of you!

Now on Christmas Day, you will hear me say Merry Christmas  - because after all, it is Christmas  - Christ's birthday - or the day we choose to celebrate his birthday. Jesus was a good person, and a good teacher, in my opinion.  I like the things he taught - do unto others and all that. His birthday is certainly worth celebrating. And since he is no longer here on earth to receive birthday presents, let's celebrate by giving each other presents and spending time together.  I am good with that.  You can all celebrate my birthday when I am dead and gone.  Give each other presents.  It would make me happy.  And cake - chocolate cake:)

If you believe Jesus was more, you are entitled to your opinion - and your celebration of that belief.  

But  for the record, I do not believe that you have to believe Jesus Christ  is God or the son of God to celebrate his birthday.  Just as we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday.  I do not think anyone believes MLK is a god, but his birthday is certainly worth celebrating.  In my opinion, they could step up that celebration a bit and give us all a paid holiday....

Personally, I do not believe Jesus was or is  the son of the one true God.  I am not sure I believe in the concept of one true God.  I believe there are gods that each of us worship in our own way.  If they help us through life, more power to us  - and them.

I also do not believe that Jesus was immaculately conceived. That is just a little too far-fetched for my logical mind.  I have a feeling Joseph the carpenter probably felt the same way. In fact, I bet he was pretty offended that someone else was taking credit for his son.  But then again, maybe not.  It did get him off the hook for Mary's pre-marital pregnancy. Lucky for him DNA technology was still far off in the future.  

You ran out of what????

Yesterday, I WALKED the 5k Christmas Story Run.

I realize now that I should have tried to actually RUN  a little more, instead of at the very end to make it look good as I crossed the finish line.

Because, if I had RAN just a little more and actually passed up a couple more people, I would have not had to wait around another hour in the freezing cold to get the medal I just earned.

It's a major award and I earned it....

And as I crossed the finish line a volunteer was supposed to hand me one....

I watched as the runner in front of me got his....

And heard the volunteer tell me...wait for it...

"We're out of medals."

Say what????

You are out of medals????  I walked for that medal.  I paid for that medal - this run was not cheap!!!  

Ok, so maybe that is not totally fair.  Come to find out, they just ran out of medals at the 5k finish line.

I could go to the 10k finish line and get my medal. Or I could wait a few minutes and they would send some from the 10k finish to the 5k finish. My choice.

Ok, I could wait a few minutes.  I was still warm from walking/running (a little).

Well the few minutes turned into over an hour - I kid you not.  The wait was longer than it took me, or any one else for that matter, to run/walk 5k.  By that time, I was freezing - as were the nearly 100 hundred other runners/walkers who finished the 5k behind me (I wasn't last as I had feared all week- yay me!).

It was not a pleasant wait.  They kept telling us that the medals would be sent to different locations near the finish...wait right here, no wait over there, no we will bring them here.....

And then, when the box of medals finally arrived, it was handed to the unnamed  (because I do not know it) person  (I will not say gentleman, because he is not)  in charge.  Mr. Non-Gentleman grabbed the box and literally plowed (like a football linebacker) through the crowd of waiting finishers, actually knocking into me (and a few others) almost dropping me/us to the ground.  He ran right through us and kept going 100 yards to the food tent where we had been told the medals would definitely not be sent (after we had been told they would be there and then not and then yes and then...).

[Sigh]

There were other snafus along the way that kind of irked a few of us....conflicting packet pickup instructions, and changing parking and busing info.  The event is the first annual, so the planning should only get better, right?  I am not sure I will make the trip back next year to find out.  It was pretty expensive to begin with and I am not sure I trust them to plan better enough next year to make it worth it.  Standing in the cold for an hour was the last straw.  Granted, we could have waited in the over-warm, overcrowded gift shop but every few minutes we were told the medals were on the way.  I just did not realize that it would take the same amount of time to go 3 miles by car that it took me on foot. My bad.


But all in all it was a fun walk through downtown Cleveland.
And there were posters along the way with trivia about the movie.
And there was plenty to do downtown had I chosen to stick around,  but a hot bath seemed to be calling...

And best of all, I had a personal best time: 55:56.7 
OK, so maybe it is not that great, but it was my first official walk,and I can only get better, right?

And my daughter and her friend, who actually ran fast enough to not have to worry about getting get a medal before they ran out, also had personal bests....under 35 minutes.

Yay us!

So I may not do the Christmas Story Run next year, but I have resolved to keep walking and to register to walk in at least one other run this spring.

Who knows, next time I may even RUN a little more than the last 10 yards:)

Say what????

True story...

I am sure you have seen lists of translations gone wrong....

I have one for you...

No (company) names or (translation) vendor names mentioned (to protect the guilty)...

Source Phrase: "Breathe in and hold your breath."

Translation (according to some very trustworthy sources):  "Breathe in and drop your pants."

I kid you not.

So maybe it is not as bad as this one, but still....

Perhaps...

Perhaps he says too much....

But if it's true, who cares, right?

But is it true? Is any of it true?  Is any of what true?

I digress, obviously.

The intent of this post is to help you with your Christmas shopping.

Really.

We all have at least one person on our list who has everything, including a warped sense of humor.

This is the gift for them.

And for yourself, because we all need some laughter in our lives.  And believe me, you will laugh.

If you are anywhere near my age (your guess is as good as mine), you may want  this book to be your bathroom reader - that way when you laugh so hard that you have to pee or poo, there is less chance of making a mess.

What's to laugh about?  

• Bionic fingers 
• Self-combusting Tiffany lamps
• Rubber spiders 
• Ventriloquist dolls
• Vindictive mothers throwing women down stairs
• And brain nuggets - those little snippets of info you might be better off not knowing.

In this, his second book, Rodney Lacroix takes us along for the ride as he recounts some of his life's biggest  misadventures.  The man can turn any ordinary life event into an extraordinary fiasco. He finds himself in a mess and lies his way into it deeper. Where does he come up with this shit?

Being a little (again, just guessing here) older than Rodney, I can almost relate to some of the stories from his early years.  The 70s were a much simpler time.

But Rodney does not grow up in the 70s...he does not grow up at all.
He continues to create havoc at work and at home.  And he brings us along for the ride - with his coworkers and family.  And if you are wondering how much shit he can dish out before it starts getting flung back at him....he shares that as well.

This book of messing with people is worth a read or two. Yes, I am on my second time through.  There is so much good stuff in here, I know I missed some the first time through.  I am having trouble putting it down long enough to share my thoughts with you.

But do not take my word for it.... follow the links to Amazon or Barnes and Noble and pick up your own copy. And then, if you can stop laughing long enough, let me know what you think. 

• Amazon.com - Paperback
  
• Amazon.com - Kindle
  
• Barnes and Noble - Paperback
  
• RCG Publishing - all formats INCLUDING AUTOGRAPHED COPIES! 

And, if after that read, you want more of Rodney, check out his first book: "Things Go Wrong for Me"

  And for a daily dose of Rodney's Mental Poo,  follow his blog.

Enjoy!

No shopping for me yesterday...

Yesterday was Black Friday.

Just another day to me...

I have never wanted or needed anything bad enough to fight the black friday crowds for it.  I am thankful for that; I have enough addictions without that one on my list.

I understand that to some it is an adventure.  Have at it.  Without me.

My oldest son loves a good bargain.   He looks forward to Black Friday.  He does most of his shopping on line. But Thursday evening, after Thanksgiving dinner, he decided to do a little pre-black Friday in-store shopping.

First stop  - Walmart.  He was not really looking for bargains here.  He was getting some canned chicken and rice for my grand puppy who was sick.  Guy has a some stomach issues and the vet recommended the canned chicken/rice combo to help him through the rough times.  So thank you Walmart for being open on Thanksgiving:)  

While there, he saw several people waiting in line to buy ammo. Seriously, black friday deals on ammo - at Walmart????  I only hope they had enough in stock for everyone....Would not want a riot to break out in Walmart because there is not enough ammo to go around....

Next stop - a little later in the evening, Best Buy.  Larry has been shopping for  a treadmill for awhile.  He waited outside in the cold for 45 minutes - not too bad.  And he actually got a treadmill he wanted at a bargain price....go Larry.  And he did not stampede through the door knocking down employees on the way in.  I taught him better than that:)

I hope those of you who braved the stores for black Friday deals had fun and/or found a few bargains that made it all worth it....

I love my Facebook friends...

Today, I want to thank FaceBook...

• For making it possible for me to reconnect and stay connected with so many friends from my past - from grade school, from high school, those I moved away from after my divorce, from previous employments.  I am so thankful to have all (well most) of my FB friends in my life.

• And for allowing me to play Candy Crush with my friends. I only hope I can beat level 350 sometime in this life time....

Most thankfully yours....

Happy Thanksgiving blogger friends.

The day is here.

I am loving it.

I am actually working hard at taking some of the stress out of the holidays.

Not just my stress but everyone's around me.

I use to really love the holidays more than I do - so much so that I would try very hard to make it perfect for everyone - which actually made it more stressful, believe it or not.

With age, I have come to realize that the "day" does not really matter so much anymore.

Yes, I enjoy when my family is all together for a holiday.  But I enjoy it any  day.  So if one or more of the kids choose to spend the holidays with friends or other family, it does not bother me.

And if stores choose to stay open and people choose to shop, it does not bother me.

And I know if I someday choose to do any of that, I will be ok with that - guilt be gone.

But I love to cook holiday food; my place is smelling pretty good right now:)

And I cleaned the place pretty good yesterday - holiday family get-togethers  provide that motivation.

I realize that I have not blogged the past few days.  I have been in a grumpy mood -not really sure why.   I think a lot of little things (a little work shit, a little friend shit, a little family shit) have added up to make it so. Nothing so bad that I should be grumpy; I just am and am going with it. Take me as I am and all that shit....

But I am here today to catch up on my Thanksgiving.

Thankful on the 23rd for my son's girlfriend, Margo - I am so happy she is a part of our life.  (It is her birthday, today - Happy Thanksgiving birthday, Margo).  On the 23rd, I went on a little shopping trip with my son for her.  What fun.

Thankful on the 24th for my parents - they drive me crazy at times, as I am sure I drive my kids crazy; it is parenting 101.  I try to visit every Sunday during Brown's season and watch the game with my Dad and visit with my Mom. (I do visit outside of football season - just not always on Sunday.)

Thankful on the 25th for my kids' friends. I enjoy hearing my kids talk about their good friends who have in essence become my friends as well.  It does a Mom's heart good to know that her kids and their friends all look out for each other.  In times of hardship, they are there for each other.  In times of joy, they celebrate together.

On the 26th, I am thankful for my really close friends.  I am so blessed to have such good friends - friends to laugh with, cry with, share the good times with, and help each other through the rough times.

On the 27th, I am thankful for my son-in-law, Kevin.  He is smart and funny and, most importantly, a good friend and husband to my daughter.  And he does not treat me like the Mom-in-law from hell...tho, at times, I may be.   It is an effort, but I do my best to live up to the mother-in law reputation.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I am most thankful for my children Larry, Carrie, Gary. They are all different and unique.  They are each at such different places in their lives right now - exciting and promising places. From each of them, I have learned important life lessons. I will not bore you with all the mush I am feeling right now. Just know that my heart is just so full of love for each of them.

I hope you have as much to be thankful for, blogger friends.  Have a wonderful day, however you choose to celebrate. 

Now it is time for me to get busy and stuff that turkey.

Caught the Crud :(

I have not been feeling so great this week.

It started Sunday evening....stuffy nose, headache, earache, feeling all around blah.

Got worse Monday...but I was still functioning.

Tuesday, I had to call in sick, maybe because instead of resting, I  worked most of my PTO day Monday. So much to do, so little time. At least that is what project management is telling us.

I did not actually take all of Tuesday off, either; I slept most of the morning then worked about 6 hrs.  After work, I turned into a couch potato. I read a little.  I surfed a little.  Thankfully, I came across this video  (laughter being the best medicine and  all):

Wednesday, I made it into the office.  And I made it home.  That was about it. I did not walk. But I did read.  In fact, I have read quite a bit this week. I have read two hard copy books, two kindle books, and two  downloaded PDFs.  I am appreciative of and thankful for the the two public library systems that I use the most.

        

Thursday I made it into the office and did pretty good in the morning.  But the day took its toll.  By 2:30 I was ready to head home.   I made myself a concoction of my favorite tea and honey and cinnamon.  Have I told you how thankful I am for the medicinal benefits of rum?  Yeah, I added a bit of that to the tea.

Unfortunately, I  do not think I added enough rum.   When I woke up this morning, I knew I was not going to make it into the office.  My ear hurt something terrible.  So back to bed for me.  I finally got it together about noon and worked a few hours.  My earache keeps coming back.  When it gets unbearable, I  put a few drops of warm witch hazel in it which seems to help for a while.  A few minutes ago I shut the work computer down and am now vegging on the couch, surfing - medicinally.  

Tonight, I want to thank Sweden for this gem:).

This post may get me in trouble...

There are a lot of people posting on Facebook about not shopping on Thanksgiving because if there are shoppers there are workers who cannot be with their familiy...

I am not one of them...

Granted, I probably will not shop on Thanksgiving...

Not because I do not believe in family...

I will be  busy running around, cooking, picking up parents, etc....

And after the festivities, I will be too exhausted to do much, except maybe to go see a movie...

Hmmm....

OK, so here is what I believe.

I believe some people do not mind working on Thanksgiving.  They may not have family in the area or any family or any family that they are thankful for or care to celebrate with.

I believe some  people may need the money more than they need to be with their family...and are actually thankful to be able to work on Thanksgiving or Hanukkah or whatever holiday their family is celebrating.

Some may not need the money, but may want the money if they are saving for that fantasy vacation (family or not).  

I believe, for some, shopping can take the lonelies (new word) away...

I remember working at a theater when I  was in college.  I worked most  holidays and I actually enjoyed it. Sometimes holiday family stress can get to you. Having the work excuse was pretty welcome at times. 

And the most important reason I will not promise to not shop on Thanksgiving...

When I realize that I forgot that critical ingredient (or spill it all over the floor) I will be so thankful that there are stores open with employees willing to ring me up...

I am sorry if you are working on Thanksgiving and do not want to be...

But thank you for being there for me and whoever else may need you.

So...where has the week gone???

I have not posted for almost a week:(

It is not because I quit being thankful - too many good things going on in my life for that.

Last Wednesday, I was once again thankful to have a job...even tho I had to work til 7:00 PM in order to summarize the status of the several projects that needed completed while I was away for a few days.  
I could not complete the projects before I let because nothing was ready...nothing! But they all had to be completed immediately when they were ready. I am anxious to see what, if anything, even got ready to  to complete in my absence.   So often, it is realizing that I am going to be gone a couple of days that makes everyone think they are going to need me..It's the old :Why didn't you tell me you would be gone?  Why did you not tell me that this week was crunch mode for all of your projects that you do not have ready???

Thursday, my first scheduled day off, I was thankful that I had made breakfast plans with a good friend/co-worker who happens to be on medical leave.  We spent the morning sharing office war stories.  Which only left me 6 hours of my scheduled day off to work on a couple of the above mentioned critical projects and a brand new one that popped up...ugh...

I have back up...that would be my boss.  He is awesome, but he has so much to do that we try really hard not to leave too much extra for him...because he will do it - if he has to be online 24/7.

I am not even looking at my work email tonight to see what is waiting for me.  I will do that tomorrow - on my third scheduled day  off...  I am also working on breakfast and lunch plans...

Friday was the start of our family getaway weekend.  I am so thankful that my kids still want to getaway with me sometimes.  I reserved a cabin for the nine of us: my three kids, one son-in-law, one almost daughter-in-law, and my three grandpuppies - who are not really puppies anymore.  They planned the meals and  entertainment...well mostly we entertained ourselves with hiking and hot tubbing and imbibing.  But the meal prep was awesome.  Carrie and Kevin made Non-Parmesan Chicken Friday (because they forgot the parmesan) and bacon-wrapped beef tenderloin Saturday.  Larry and Margo and Gary brought drinks and breakfast and snack food.  Carrie brought her MixMaster and made home made toll house cookies and real mashed potatoes. Do not ask me where she got her domesticity; just know it was not from me.  Also know that the rest of us lover her for it...

Saturday, I was thankful for the realization that the hike thorough Old Man's Cave was a one way ordeal.  We got all the way through it and stopped to take a picture when I commented something about dreading the return trip.  I was pretty winded.  As I have mentioned before, I am sooooo out of shape.  Larry enlightened me that our cars were parked "right over there...we are done".  My smile for that picture just got a lot more real...

And now it is Sunday, and I am back home, resting, drinking tea laced with rum to try to combat this cold and the blues.  I was not ready for the weekend to end.  But I am thankful that the  nasty NE Ohio weather held off until after I got out of the hocking  hills.  OMG, what the hell was I thinking??? Short me driving a small car on roads that I am pretty sure were designed as a blueprint for the coasters as Cedar Point.    I could only wonder (very fearfully) what was going to be staring back at me when I got to the top of each hill. Was I going to slam into a stopped school bus full of kids?  Was the road going to curve 90 degrees...with a drop off directly in front of me????  Friday, after I finished the roller coaster there, I drank heavily.  Today, I took a way home that avoided a couple of those treacherous hill-top scenarios. But it was still pretty bad.   The triple shot of rum in my tea is 151. 

Thank you Snopes.com

Today I would like to thank Snopes.com for helping to restore at least some of my faith in the decency of humanity...

Apparently, according to Snopes.com, the following news stories are just that - stories.

Man sues wife after she gives him ‘ugly’ baby

Woman to give 'obese' children letters, no candy

Thank you Cleveland Browns...

I know this is late and should have been posted Sunday, but better late than never, right? 

On Sunday, I was thankful that the Cleveland browns did not lose .... 

Granted, they did not play, but, still...

Thank You Vets...

A big thank you today to all the veterans who have served to keep American freedoms in place.

A special thanks to those of you who were drafted to go into a war that you may not have wanted to be a part of...

Thank you fellow Candy Crush addicts....

Yes, you read right.

Today I am thankful for all of those candy crush addicts who blog about how they crushed all the candy on level such and such....

I am not talking about the you tube video posters...

Those do nothing for me.

I want to thank those who actually post useful hints.

Like this one, that is really useful...

If you start out with a bad board,  you can exit the board without losing a life if you have not made any moves.  

It extends my playing time by letting me choose to not waste a life on a loser board...

Be warned, it only works on to mobile devices, though; I lost several lives trying to get it to work on my pc...

I would personally thank all the candy crush bloggers, but there are way too many to list...

I also want you to know that I am even more thankful for all my FB friends who send me love in the guise of candy crush lives and extra moves....again, too many to list, but you know who you are:)  

Damn you autocorrect!!!

You gotta love autocorrect - NOT!

I was texting a friend this morning and intended to ask how her grandbaby was doing...

Somehow "grandbaby" was autocorrected to "transient".

Today I am thankful that I had enough caffeine in me to catch that lil goof before I hit send!

Smart what?

What did I do before I started using a Smartphone?

I have to admit, I did not get my first Smartphone until last year...

After all my kids had smart phones...

After most everyone I know had a smart phone - ok, not quite.

Up until a year before that, I was happy with my phone that just made phone calls.

What else do you need a phone for?

Up until about three years ago I had a contract with Verizon.  It was a 2-yr contract  that turned into a ten year contract because my youngest would upgrade to a new phone every chance he got.  Verizon let me out of that contract because my condo ended up in a dead zone when they moved some of their towers...

So I became a Virgin (Mobile) customer. I told the kids they were on their own.  I got a pay as you go plan that gave me 300 minutes talk time and unlimited texting for $25 a month.  So, needless to say, I took up texting.  I do not need a Smart Phone, but I will take a texter.

Then, last year, I found myself with a new boss at work.  My new boss insisted that we all have company phones.  he may need to get in touch with us when we are out of the office.

So I got a company phone on the company plan.  A Smart Phone.

Witth Email (personal and work accounts).

With synced calendars (office and personal).

With Lync chat.

With Google...

With Kindle apps and pedometer apps and music apps (that I have added)...

With games - like Candy Crush and Free Cell Solitaire...

With GPS and navigation apps...

With Facebook...

With a camera (a pretty decent one at that)...

So, on this November 7th, I am thankful for my Smartphone, for my boss that inisisted that I get it, and for my company for footing the bill:)

I am thankful that I can play Candy Crush on two devices.

I am thankful that I can check Facebook and my personal email accounts from my phone rather than blatantly displaying them on my work computer screen...