High School

Got together last night with a few of the girls I went to high school with. Had a few laughs, some good snacks, and an interesting drink that tasted like an orange creamsicle (?)...it was good, but didn't go so well with the asiago/artichoke dip.

She's So Cute!!

Had a little visit tonight from my very special friend, who is so cute and is very sweet! She wanted to come over to see Auntie's tree.

She seemed to love the skating Santa and Snowman.







Her mom came along for the visit, and was nice enough to bring my mom a birthday present--a beautiful little beaded bag which she made to match her rosary beads. It was very thoughtful, and my mom really loves it.

Holidays

Christmas Carols for the Disturbed

* 1. Schizophrenia --- Do You Hear What I Hear?

* 2. Multiple Personality Disorder --- We Three Kings Disoriented Are

* 3. Dementia --- I Think I'll be Home for Christmas

* 4. Narcissistic --- Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me

* 5. Manic --- Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and.....

* 6. Paranoid --- Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me

* 7. Borderline Personality Disorder --- Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire

* 8. Personality Disorder --- You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why

* 9. Attention Deficit Disorder --- Silent night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?

* 10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder --- Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, JingleBells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells,Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells,....

And Now for Something Completely Different

So after my post, on the Nutters out there, my Blog surfing serendiptiously brought me to a blog that had a beautiful message in two posts, that made me pause and go hmmm, how true and lovely:

Post 1

An old Sufi tradition advises us to speak only after our words have managed to pass through four gates.
At the first gate, we ask ourselves, “Are these words true?” If so, we let them pass on; if not, back they go.
At the second gate we ask; “Are they necessary?”
At the third gate we ask; “Are they beneficial?”
And at the fourth gate, we ask, “Are they kind?”
If the answer to any of these is no, then what you are about to say should be left unsaid.

Post 2

Meet people in such a way that if you die, they should weep for you, and if you live, they should long for you.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you have knowledge and wisdom, let others light their candles with it.

What hurts the soul? To live without tasting the water of its own essence.

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.

Learn silence as you have learned speech. Speech will guide you and silence will protect you.

Expressing spiritual faith in physical practice is the key to life.

Life is the art of drawing without an eraser.

Many things in life will catch your eye but few will catch your heart. Pursue those.

One day at a time - this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.

Carb-o-Whore

I am an admitted carboholic, loving my bread, pasta, potatoes, cookies, cakes, oh and fruits. Lately, as my stress level climbed, so has my need for carbs, particularly bread--foccacia, ciabatta, with Black Olive Tapinade, has become a staple for me. I had shared this with my friend, who called me what I thought was a "Carb-o-Whore". Of course, I had found this hysterically funny and ever so witty and apropos.

Today I made tortellini, and shared with said friend and family, who in turn shared some of their "to-die-for" biscotti and other goodies with me, and off we went on our separate ways with our parcels.

After lunch, I had some running around to do, and as I was awaiting my turn in the car wash line, the cell phone rang, and it was Jewels, of the said tortellini/biscotti exchange. We talked a bit about our lunch & dessert, at which point I asked her, if she of the NOT A CARB-O-WHORE mode, had actually eaten some of the tortellini.

She must have asked me about 3 or 4 times what I was saying, as she couldn't understand what I meant, as I'm thinking wtf? I finally said, well, that's what you've been calling me, a Carb-o-Whore, how come you don't understand it? She said, that's because I've been calling you a Carb-o-Voor, not a Carb-o-Whore.

We shared a good laugh about this, and somehow, I think it will not be forgotten soon, and will become part of the vocabulary. Doesn't it describe a carboholic perfectly?

By the way, the biscotti, and the capuccino brownies are fantastic. The biscotti with the black pepper, are a real surprise at first, but by the second bite, I realize how addictive they are. Yummy! Thanks to Jin for baking them, and Jewels & Chris for sharing them with me.

Nutter Buddies

Having had a home computer for a relatively short few months, I have been brought up to speed on the joys of blogging, various "networking" sites, youtube, games, tagging. Strange places like MySpace, Hi5, where one of the goals seems to be how many friends can you accumulate...doesn't matter who they are, so long as you can add to your list.

I have a new job at night, as a MySpace secretary to my 17 year old godchild, to whom I report any activity on her account. She's up to 170 friends, compared to my 4 friends, which strikes her as hilarious and sad all at the same time.

Then there's the thousands of self enlightenment tests. Who needs a shrink when the internet is full of "tests", that can tell you so much about yourself.

For example, I've learned that I act 29; that I am Green; that I am a hornbeam tree(?); that I am the Moon; etc, etc. After awhile, I realized that most of these tests tell you only one thing: QUIT WASTING TIME ON THESE STUPID TESTS. Go do something productive, say like clean the house.

But no matter how nuts you think you are, all you need to do is surf around some of these sites and you quickly realize in comparison, how many other nutters there are out there.

Tacky Rules

Definition of TACKY: not having or exhibiting good taste:

a) marked by lack of style

b) marked by cheap showiness

Lovely? Yes, but you gotta love tacky, and the decorations I love the best are the tackier the better. Each year I search for a new addition to the tacky collection. .



Here are two of my old favourites:




I haven't yet found my selection for this new year, but will post when I do.

If you have any tacky decorations, let's see them!

Shorts and Boots

After planning on having a relaxing evening of puttering around the house, maybe putting up the tree, or maybe getting ready for the big class trip tomorrow, I found myself instead in shorts and boots in the basement.

After hearing all day about the number of homes flooded thanks to the rain, I walked into mine, and immediately smelled something was amiss. Sure enough, the basement was flooded with about 1-2 inches of water all over about three quarters of it. Thankfully, it was just flooded with water and some dirt, indicating seepage, and not sewage.

Spent about 3 hours vacuuming it up, getting about 8 or 9 shop vacs full. Rugs are drenched, with one large area rug, rolled up and still sitting downstairs, as there no way to lift it sopping wet. Nothing damaged, but a LOT of wet boxes, that had to be unpacked and moved and brought outside, dumping more water as I moved them.

Finally finished and have the dehumidifier and fan and fireplace running to try to dry things off. The whole downstairs will need to be washed down and sanitized, but thought I'd wait a few days, since the ground is so saturated that there's a chance more water will seep in. Who needs to go to the gym to get a work out?

This all between running up & down the stairs, as the patient is having a bad few days, and is moaning and groaning in pain.

I am so looking forward to getting away on our class excursion to see the belly dancers in Toronto, tomorrow.