Should I Worry?

By the time this post is published, Joe and I should be well on our way to Florida (at least I hope so). There is always so much to do to get ready to go it kind of takes the fun out of it. The hardest thing about going though is leaving everyone. My Mom, kids, grand kids, chickens etc.... Mom wasn't very happy when I told her that I was leaving. It breaks my heart. I see Julian, Nicholas and Jaxon on a regular basis and it's hard leaving those sweet little faces behind. Both Jaxon and Julian said they would go with me.

I found a goggle site called PackWhiz. It's helps make a list of things you need for vacations or whatever. I'm trying to perfect my list so that I can reuse it every time I go to Florida. I made a list for Bryan too. It's his "To Do" list while I'm gone. He's gonna take care of the animals and water my plants and other things. The list is pretty precise so he shouldn't have any questions. Problem is he probably won't even read it. He said he did; but I don't believe him. He's taken care of things before while we were gone, so he knows what to do. I guarantee; however, he will call me and ask how to take the rabbit's water bottles off the cage even though in my instructions I specifically state that they shouldn't come off as they are filled from the top. He says to me today after I ask him about the list: "Mom, if I have a question I'll just call." He doesn't understand that that defeats the purpose of the list and I'm all about the list!

Bryan may not do everything according to my list, but I know everything will work out fine and things will get done. I figure what I don't know won't freak me out.
However, I'm not without cause for concern. Last year when we were in Florida one of the chickens got it's leg broken. Bryan was worried because he thought Julian did something to it accidentally and it got hurt. I never got a direct answer from Bryan on why he thought Julian hurt him. He made some vague statements about Julian being "around" the chicken. I reassured Julian that he didn't do anything and not to worry about it. From what Bryan had described, there is no way that Julian hurt it. When we get back from Florida, our neighbor came over and confessed that his dog attacked the chicken when it was in their yard. Bryan and Julian were both relieved that the mystery was solved. Case closed.

About a month ago Bryan and I were talking about what I don't remember, but the chicken was brought up. Bryan gave a few more details as to why he was so concerned that Julian had injured the chicken. "Yah, I looked over and Julian had the chicken up in the play set and then he went down the slide with her." Really???? "You kind of left that detail out before." "Aah it doesn't matter now, we know what happened to her and it's over." He wonders why I worry and why I gave him a list.

What Did I Do Now?

Julian and Nicholas were over yesterday and they wanted to hear a specific Christmas song. I didn't have the song they requested. Being the ever attentive Nanu that I am, after they left I decided to download the song from ITunes and email it to them. They loved it. Nicholas was impressed and thought I was magic for being able to send it to their house. So.....today Joe and I are packing for Florida. I decided to fill up my ipod with music and listen to it while I pack. Upbeat music always gives me more energy. I tryed to download songs; however, there is now only one song in my library. WTF????? I have no idea what I did, and I'm not sure how to fix it. Listen to my one and only song left in my iTunes library.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Bear! Bear is 16 today and still going. I can't say he's going strong, because everytime he exerts himself he has to stop to cough up a lung. Poor guy! He's the best dog ever even if he is now deaf and blind. Bear came from the animal shelter when he was about 4 months old. We have no idea what kind of dog he is or his exact birthdate because he was a stray. He's definetly Chow Chow and some kind of terrier. Bear has lived to be 16 because he has the will to survive. We almost lost him shortly after we brought him home. Vet said he probably had parvo or distemper and after IV's and treatment the vet sent him home with us; with the assumption he probably wouldn't make it through the night. Happy Birthday Bear Bear you've endured a lot. We love you!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Hailey. Wish I could be there to celebrate your Bday with you. I hope you have a great day! Hugs and Kisses from all of us in Indiana! XXXOOO

Use It Or Lose It

My desk doesn't look like that, but I'm pretty sure the inside of my head does. I have lots of things pinging around in my brain; it's hard to remember it all. I know what some people would say. "You can't remember because you are getting old!" To those people I like to say: "kiss my ass!". I prefer to call it information overload. It's just like when a computer gets bogged down with information and starts to run slower. It can't think as fast, so you have to do a disk clean and reboot. I haven't quite figured out how to clean my brain and reboot, but if I do you will be the first to know.

The other day I was using the spare key to my truck that has the door unlocking thing that doesn't work. I forgot that it was broken and I tried to unlock my door. For a split second I freaked because I wasn't sure how I was going to get into my car. Oh yeah, use the key. Who would have thought using a key in a lock would be old fashioned. Everything is soooo technical and has it's own set of instructions to memorize. I'm pretty sure that every gadget I own does a lot more than what I use it for, but I don't have the time or memory storage to figure it out. Plus, the older a person is the more they have to unlearn as well. Take for instance driving your car. Older cars required pumping the gas pedal to get it to start. If you did that to cars of today I'm not even sure what would happen. The biggest thing for me with regards to cars is to remember not to pump the brakes if you start to slide on ice. If you do that to anti lock brakes they go all screwy.

I apparently mumble a lot more too. Joe is constantly asking me: "What?" Talking out loud helps me remember what I need to do. I finally told Joe not to worry about what I say if he can't hear me. "If I want you to know something I will make sure you hear me, otherwise just ignore me or agree."

I have taken to carrying a small journal around with me wherever I go so I can keep notes. The problem is sometimes I can't remember where I put the journal. I could always put it on a chain around my neck with my reading glasses but that would be annoying. I read somewhere that if you want to look 10 years older, just wear a pair of glasses on a chain around your neck. I try not to do that, so consequently I forget where I put my reading glasses as well. I have 10 pair of them. They are usually pretty easy to find. Sometimes I find them on top of my head. That's the best place to find them because if I have to go to another room to look for them I will probably forget what I'm looking for by the time I get to the other room.

"Use it or lose it", they say. I'm definetly using it, I just wish the warranty was better.

Let's Stop The Pussy Foot Train

After leaving my favorite coffee shop (Dunkin Donuts) and driving past the employee entrance of the local IHop, I had an epiphany. I know how we can fix the health care problem.

You see, at the employee entrance of the IHop there were 7 people standing outside in the 20 degree temperature smoking cigarettes. How can one not see the sheer stupidity of that scenario???? Human survival instinct tells us to avoid situations that would put us in harms way. Standing in below freezing temperatures with inappropriate clothing and ingesting a substance that further restricts blood flow goes against natural survival instincts and brings to mind the Darwinian theory of natural selection (survival of the fittest).

So, how does this relate to the health care issue? You ask. If you smoke, you are penalized with higher insurance premiums than those that don't smoke. You would also pay higher deductibles for procedures you need that are related to smoking. You wouldn't be allowed to be on Medicaid or Medicare if you smoked either. If you're asking for a government handout, then you should not be able to spend your money on $4 a pack cigarettes.

Nothing pisses me off more than to see a woman with 4 kids, cigarettes in her purse, talking on a cell phone about what club she's going to tonight, and paying for her groceries with food stamps. Come on lady why don't you just slap me in the face and laugh at me, because that's what it feels like your doing.

Can America get off the pussy foot train and start getting tough on freeloaders. While we're at it, lets limit the number of babies a woman on welfare can have. That's right, I said it and I mean it. They're asking for a handout, then there should be conditions with that handout.

I am so sick of hearing about being politically correct. Some people just need to have their asses handed to them.

The other thing that really got me going tonight was what I heard on the news about the second Nigerian that caused a "disturbance" on a plane. They reported that he was on the terrorist watch list, but not on the no fly list. HOW FUCKING STUPID CAN WE BE!!!!!! This guys own father turned him in. But we can't do anything to him because there is no evidence he's a terrorists. We're just going to let him do whatever he wants and then we'll pick up the pieces after he blows something up. Fry the bastard now or send him back to Nigeria.

I'm sure that things would be a lot better if America just focused on America and let everyone else fend for themselves.

I feel better that I got that off of my chest, but really I mostly feel sad that this is where we are as a culture. I think we need a do over.