Tubes

New Fuel Supplement!

I finally see how my 2005 Elantra gets its energy & stamina.

Lizard power!

How Many People Have Your Name?

Amazingly, the answer was the same when I searched by my maiden name and by my current legal name! My maiden name is so strange!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 5 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Dee Dee Dee Song

Dee Dee Dee Song from Mind of Mencia. Carlos Mencia.

Tattoo: My Personality Brand

This is my first! Not very painful, in fact, I feel asleep towards the end. I love it!

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, when I was but a little girl, I had a dream that one day I'd find a magical beast and my kiss would make him into a prince. Well, at least I found the beast part. The magic and prince thing I'm still working on...

Hail to Mother's Day!!

One minute sunny 75 degrees with clouds. Next 65 degrees, ice cold rain and quarter size hail! And look at the fog created!

public service announcement

While trained zoologists attempted to apprehend an escaped gorilla, Koko knocked down this tree temporarily eluding them. The public was never in any danger from Koko. The jury is still out on whether or not the zoologists are a public hazard.

Me! with straight hair!

kiss or not to kiss

Sometimes they just don't kiss back. Dammit.

don't mess with me

Despite the discomfort from my injured hand, I'm persevering in my goal of attaining a black belt in Kickass, a martial art native to the southern states in the US.

Here I am practicing a few moves as my dog, also martially inclined, works on his balance.

World... don't mess with me--or my dog!

injured

My younger son was moving from an apartment today and I was enlisted to help. I was injured! Everyone else escaped without injury. Why is life so hard on me???

A Very Happy Valentine's Day!

Aren't the roses beautiful? I am blessed to have such a loving man in my life!
I love you David.

In Memorium for Duncan (02/13/1992 - 12/15/2005)

Handsome. Intelligent. Sensitive. Loving.
Caring. Precocious. Family.
Loved.

He'll Be Missed.

What's up with Me??

What's up with me???!! I spend 23 years in a marriage; much longer than I should have because I didn't have the courage or confidence or something to leave. Now, I'm in a 2 year relationship that is satisfying on many levels, but still leaves me wanting more; yet, I stay. Why?

Someone is better than no one? What is it I want? Intimacy. Not just the sex kind, but real person to person intimacy. A relationship of sharing, learning, communicating honestly, building a life together. What I have is a relationship of learning, sharing many things, seeing each other only on weekends, living separate lives, separate homes, separate journeys with just docking points at the end of the week and phone calls in between. Phone calls with lots of words and little emotion.

Not what I was counting on. Perhaps I'm just needy, requiring too much of another person. But damn it, I deserve more than I'm getting. I deserve someone who loves me back, who doesn't mind showing love and making me feel warm and secure. I deserve someone who wants to be with me and much as I want to be with them. Yet, I'm too much a wimp to say 'no more', I want what I want. Chances are I'd be without at all and I refuse to be with my single women friends all the time; where they've ended up I don't want to be either!

Why can't I have things the way I want them? Am I dreaming of the ideal that just won't happen? Am I being self-destructive by choosing men that just wont' work? I get so close; men who are so close to my ideal, but no cigar so-to-speak. As much as I enjoy alone-time, I love being with someone who loves me and that I love. Seems so simple.

So, here I am, sitting here alone (not by my choice) for this weekend. I contemplate moving on in search of the ideal. I don't move on because I love the fool for what he does offer up. I don't move on because I'd be only more alone. I don't move on because I do think he loves me, just not as much as he should and could. I don't move on and that makes me feel bad about myself, because I don't make choices that are good for me.

Suggestions?

Refurbished Exterior!

I have cedar siding on my house. It was faded, green with algae and otherwise in need of attention. After a powerwashing, fresh stain and new trim color, the house seems to smile when I drive into the driveway. It looks very happy sitting back in the woods.

My New Floor!

When I bought my home 3 years ago, the living room had orange and gold shag carpeting! Some ask me why I bought the thing, but we connected....what can I say. A few months ago though, the carpet or I had to go. DPK and I ripped up the carpet leaving the subflooring; particle board to be exact. As I was unsure of when I'd have the cash to move forward with flooring, we painted the subfloor black. In our minds, it made the floor more attractive. You can see for yourself below.















This weekend, new flooring arrived! This picture shows progress.
















And here's the finished product!! It's so beautiful!





The floor's only natural predator??? Duncan, my old slightly incontinent Westie!

Movies: Favorites through the Years

Childhood (1960s):

• Bambi: Thumper, Flower, Wise Owl...they all touched me!
• Gone with the Wind: although very young, the scene where Scarlett pulls the carrot out of the wartorn hill has stuck with me
• 2001: Space Odyssey: visually amazing and Hal changes your perspective on things
• To Kill a Mockingbird: first film I think I'd seen where good men win, justice is done, the ideal is attainable!
• Wizard of Oz: still a favorite today!

Teens (1970s):

• Jesus Christ Superstar
• The Godfather
• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• Taxi Driver
• Patton
• Annie Hall
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Star Wars
• The Sting

20s (1980s):

• Apocalypse Now
• Tootsie
• Amadeus
• Raiders of the Lost Ark
• A Christmas Carol (w/George C. Scott)
• ET

30s (1990s):

• Jerry Maguire
• Forrest Gump
• Babe
• Shawshank Redemption
• Princess Bride
  

40s (now):

• Shrek
• Spiderman 2
• Almost Famous
• Lord of the Ring Trilogy
• Memento
  

From Before My Time:

• Rear Window
• Vertigo
• Citizen Kane
• Seven Samurai
• Lawrence of Arabia

"The world let its guard down after 9/11"...HUH??!!

I'm enraged. Did you happen to see the cnn.com article "Blair: World slept after 9/11"?

WE, the WORLD, slept!!!???? How dare he! Who was it that diverted attention, money, military resources, etc to IRAQ? It for damned sure wasn't "the world".

Our leaders may have gone to sleep on terrorism, but the world did not.

Soccer

A polling question on cnn.com today was, in essence, should professional soccer players get multi-million dollar contracts. This was, no doubt, in response to the news regarding David Beckham's riches in Europe. Per the article, he earns 8.26 million yearly salary; with endorsements 37.4 million. My vote was a resounding YES!

I was a real soccer mom not too long ago and fell in love with game. The men & women who partipate in this game at the professional level are the top of the athletic heap. The conditioning and training they must endure just to stay in the game! And then to finesse the ball around the field as if there was an invisible wire between the ball and teammates' feet sometimes. A well-played game can be so beautiful to witness. SO....are they worth the same amount of money that:

• football (american) players - play, sit, play, sit for 4 hours; lots of strategy, lots of braun, little action
• baseball players - no explanation needed; talent yes; exertion, I don't think so
• basketball players - close in terms of finesse at college level, less in pro
• hockey players - finesse again, but dynamic substitutions, smaller area, too much fighting. They have meaningful fouls/rules in soccer to protect players; please try it!
  

You bet soccer players can and are worth that much money!!

Of course, that assumes that any athlete or entertainer, for that matter, is worth that amount of money. I think not. But if society thinks otherwise, then by god, soccer players deserve to be up there with the highest earners!