I came across a little piece that I really like and so thoroughly agree with. It somehow just speaks volumes...even in its brevity. Let me know what you think...maybe you've even seen it before.
And one for the road....as a little tribute to George Carlin, one of my favorite people of all time...may he rest in heavenly humor and poetic peace....
My sweet friend Nancy Leitz sent me a great e-mail the other day thinking I might want to share it with everyone....and she was right. She's gotten to know me pretty well through our e-mails to each other and she knows I love this stuff and have had many similar posts on my blog. Nancy doesn't have her own blog, but many of us know her. She makes many visits around the blogosphere and leaves wonderful and humorous comments wherever she goes. I know I love it when she visits my blog...she always makes me laugh with her witty and thoughtful conversation. She also has written some great posts over at The Elder Storytelling Place....like here.....and here ....just a couple examples of her wonderful warmth and humor.
Thanks again Nancy for thinking of me. Enjoy everyone!
(Click on pictures to enlarge.)
Bye - Bye......
I called my daughter Julie Saturday night to wish her a safe and happy Bon Voyage. She, Chris, Bella and Bastian were leaving for an Alaskan cruise early Sunday morning along with her in-laws Val and Deric. She was still packing like a crazy woman, but was really looking forward to this vacation, and had been for a long time. Still, she had no delusions as to how much of a ‘vacation’ this trip was going to be for her. Outside of not having to cook all the meals, things aren’t very different with two small kids ….she’s pretty much on call 24/7. Even so, she was looking forward to the different atmosphere for a week and to really enjoying the cruise. Now only if the weather would cooperate. She had heard some late weather reports that were a little disheartening. I’m looking forward to some great photos. Val’s an avid picture-taker, and I know she won’t let me down.
Staying in Julie’s beautiful home and having it all to herself for three days will be Jory, Julie’s sister. On Tuesday she’ll be leaving for
But back on the home front in the suburbs of
Today my eldest daughter, Jen, and I ran to the store for a few things. Stopping off at my house to drop things off before heading out again we noticed my son, Joe’s car parked out front. He made an impromptu visit to watch the Cub’s game with me, which he often does....only I didn't know about it. Seems he decided to come over from his graveyard shift at the local police department. He stopped to pick up a couple of nice ‘healthy’ salads for dear 'ol mom from a new place in town (I guess everyone's on the 'Get Mom Healthy' bandwagon) along with something for himself….and just planned to chill and watch the game. But without any sleep, now the challenge would be if he could stay awake long enough to even watch the game. What was that boy thinking? He’s done this before, and his track record hasn’t been good.
We made a deal. We all decided that Jen and I would go out and finish the errands we needed to, and Joe would rest or sleep while we were gone; which is what we did. When we were done, I dropped Jen off at her place. To my amazement, Joe was still awake when I got home. We watched the rest of the Cubs game; which they won…but I could see Joe was fading. I told him to just go ahead and sleep while I went for my walk. When I came back Joe was out cold. I did some work on BlogHer, went on my exercise bike for a while, and went back to mess around on the computer….of course. By that time almost four hours had gone by and Joe stumbled in all groggy….just like the sleepy little kid coming out of his bedroom so many years ago. Does anything really ever change?
And I, in my little ordinary everyday world, just keep taking notes.
Until I began my daily 'health' walks I never realized how many dogs we had in our neighborhood. Honestly, I think there is a dog or two attached to every other yard that I pass. They run up to the fences loudly barking their protests of my intruding on their territory, madly wagging their tails. Some bark and stop and just wait to see if I'll get into conversation with them. Some keep barking until they see the very last hair on my head leave their sight. I know those pups feel they've done their job as protectors of the property.
It doesn't matter which route I take from my house, I always run into pooches that I'll have a little chat with. "Hi fella. How ya doin'? What's going on? I'm Joy....what's your name? Okay, see ya later, bye little guy." Most are very accommodating. Some are downright adorable. Some are not "chatty" material. In fact, there are a few I have learned to walk by quickly....rather angry souls. Fence or not...they make me a little uncomfortable, so I just pick up the pace.
My neighborhood has probably always had a lot of dogs....I just never noticed it when I was busy raising kids in it. Now when there are very few kids to be seen running down our sidewalks and through our yards, at least there are always an abundance of little furry friends to stop and say hi to.
Just some things I thought were cool and wanted to share.......(Click on any of the pictures to make them bigger for easier viewing.)
How many horses do you see? Should be seven. (Click on picture to get a better view.)
Where does the middle column end?
Can you see four people in this picture?
(Definitely click on the picture above to make larger.)
I dialed a number and got the following recording:
"I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call.
I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the Beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes."
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Aspire to inspire before you expire.
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My wife and I had words, but I didn't get to use mine.
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Frustration is trying to find your glasses without your glasses.
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Blessed are those who can give without remembering, and take without forgetting.
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The irony of life is that, by the time you're old enough to know your way around, you're not going anywhere.
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God made man before woman so as to give him time to think of an answer for her first question.
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I was always taught to respect my elders, but it keeps getting harder to find one.
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Every morning is the dawn of a new error.
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Handle every stressful situation like a dog.
If you can't eat it or play with it,
pee on it and walk away.
And.....just a little more for the road...... Love, Joy 
A few days ago I made the fatal mistake of going into my garage to look for something. I try my best not to go into the garage because I'm faced with the constant reminder that I need to seriously clean out and organize that sad and neglected little place. I have a storage room in my basement in the very same shape.
As I stood there just looking at all the "stuff" overflowing from the shelves and corners of the room, this overwhelming urge to just pick something in need of throwing out rushed over me. I've had it before, but never get it enough; and I'm always disappointed when I don't get it and just leave without touching a single thing. I wind up with great guilt that once again I have done nothing about organizing that 'zoo'.
This time I got the spark. I grabbed an ancient computer monitor that my husband was keeping for posterity and walked it out next to the trash can. He wasn't there to stop me....bless his heavenly soul. Believe me, anyone out there thinking...."Oh no, what did she throw out?" No, no....I'm not totally insane. This thing was a relic; and there were more just like it sitting there. Bits and pieces from Fred Flintstone days....I swear. My husband saved all this stuff thinking...."You never know, maybe I'll need some parts from them some day." Yeah, if we were going BACK in time.
There it sat next to the trash bin. WOW! 'One small step for......'
It felt so good I went back for another old monitor, then another computer part, and another, and another. I took whatever computer parts I could reach and hauled them out next to the trash knowing full well that either the city would come and pick them up....or some person in their truck or car I see cruising down the alley all the time might take them away. You know the old saying...."One man's trash is another man's treasure."
Along with the computer parts I added a little rusty white table and a bizaar "Beanie Baby" stand that was my daughter, Jenna's. (and something she never used or wanted...hence why it was still in my garage and not in her apartment) What makes us keep these things?
It was a start. Admittedly it was all baby steps. Believe me, if you saw my garage....you would know it was just baby steps; but it felt good. I had visions of what could be next. I was already eyeing an old baby stroller sitting high on a shelf. There were still more computer parts on another shelf. I went back into the house to do some other things.
This was a different feeling than all the times I'd put out bags and bags of things for the Purle Heart Veterans, The Salvatian Army or Am Vets. For one thing, this was stuff none of these organizations would want or take. They have lists now....they don't just take anything. I recently gave the Salvation Army eight huge brown plastic bags filled with paperback books. Years and years of books my husband had sitting in our bookcases that needed to be passed on to.....SOMEONE. After going through them all with a couple of my kids to see what they wanted....Salvation Army got the nod.
After about 1 1/2 hours I got curious and went out to check by the trash. I couldn't believe it. Everything was gone! Everything but that idiot Beanie Baby stand. But a short time later....even that was gone. "One man's trash......"
I've always been a word person, and I’ve actually seen some of these before. I love this kind of stuff. Someone out there is great at Scrabble.
DORMITORY
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM
PRESBYTERIAN
When you rearrange the letters:
BEST IN PRAYER
ASTRONOMER
When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER
DESPERATION
When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT
THE EYES
When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE
GEORGE BUSH
When you rearrange the letters:
HE BUGS GORE
THE MORSE CODE
When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS
SLOT MACHINES
When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME
ANIMOSITY
When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY
ELECTION RESULTS
When you rearrange the letters:
LIES - LET'S RECOUNT
SNOOZE ALARMS
When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE Z 'S
A DECIMAL POINT
When you rearrange the letters:
IM A DOT IN PLACE
THE EARTHQUAKES
When you rearrange the letters:
THAT QUEER SHAKE
ELEVEN PLUS TWO
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE
MOTHER-IN-LAW
When you rearrange the letters:
WOMAN HITLER (Ha, ha, very funny)
Yep! Someone has waaaaaaaaaaay too much time on their hands!
AND NOW FOR YOU LADIES....it's what you've long been waiting for....SIT BACK AND ENJOY!!
Remember the old saying, “Find a penny, pick it up; and all day long you’ll have good luck?” I’d be the luckiest person on the face of the earth if I picked up every penny I see laying on the ground in parking lots, stores and street corners. Heck, I still pick them up most times, but these days they don’t get much respect. Well, they’re STILL money to me.
Does anyone still collect pennies? Does anyone even use them anymore? I do. Not long ago I had my son carry a huge bottle over to the “Exchange Your Coins for Dollars” machine. I had been collecting them for so long that I walked out of there with well over $100. Do you know how many pennies that is? Of course you do if you can multiply. I have another little stash of pennies collecting in another jar right now. I just can’t ignore them. It seems so wrong.
I’ve been hearing for a long time how many people are calling for the penny to be eliminated as a unit of currency. I’ve heard they’re talking about getting rid of the penny in Canada. How can we get rid of ‘Ol Abe like that? I guess there are several reasons for the debate. Many of us don’t even spend them anymore…and only get them back in change to return them to a bank for higher denomination currencies. Most modern vending machines don’t accept cents, further diminishing their usefulness. But most of all, people don’t think the production cost to make them is worth it….that it exceeds the value of the coin due to increasing metal prices. Even though the penny is no longer made entirely of copper, it still costs more to make than it is worth.
Here’s a few facts: As of February, 2008, the copper-plated zinc cent contains 0.6 cents worth of metal. All pre-1982 US 1-cent pennies are worth more in metal content than face value. Canada switched to making iron based coins in the year 2000, where the face value of coins is above the metal content of the coins. The US is in line to change the metal composition of US pennies and US nickels….if not all US metal coinage at a coming future date.
I don’t care….I still feel badly for the ‘little guy.’ Whatever happened to “A penny saved….is a penny earned?”
What do you think? Do you think we should get rid of the little copper-plated castaway?
Why isn't the number 11 pronounced onety-one?
Why do croutons come in airtight packages? Aren't they just stale bread to begin with?
If people from Poland are called Poles, then why aren't people from Holland called Holes?
Why is a person who plays the piano called a pianist, but a person who drives a racecar is not called a racist?
If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the others here for?
If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, then doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed?
If Fed Ex and UPS were to merge, would they call it Fed UP?
Do Lipton Tea employees take 'coffee breaks?'
What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?
I thought about how mothers feed their babies with tiny little spoons and forks, so I wondered what do Chinese mothers use. Toothpicks?
Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do, write to them? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen can look for them while they deliver the mail?
If a cow laughed, would milk come out of her nose?
Whatever happened to Preparations A through G?
It's income tax time! Did you ever notice: When you put the two words 'The' and 'IRS' together, it spells 'THEIRS'?
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