Bits and Pieces

1. I honestly cannot tell you where this week went. I was so busy it seemed to pass me right by. In fact, the whole year has been like that so far. I used to think my mom was crazy when she said things like that.
2. Hubby is in Nashville for the next couple of days with Mama J. and Papa T.. Papa T. is having surgery to relieve the pressure on his eye so he won't lose the tiny bit of vision he has left. The girls are in charge of the TV remote around here for two days. Count 'em, TWO whole days!
3. Despite my best efforts, I have fallen for that bouncy song, That's Not my Name, by The Ting Tings. That's what I get for listening to the radio. It's vaguely reminiscent of the You Light Up My Life fever I suffered in the early 80's.
4. Sometimes I'm amazed at people's rudeness. A lady came up to us at lunch today, offered condolences to Hubby on the loss of his sister and then proceeded to ask, "Do you know what made her do a thing like that?" I exhibited great restraint by biting my tongue and not saying what I was thinking, which was, "What would make you pick a gosh awful hairdo like the one you're wearing?"
5. The rain finally seems to have stopped after a week on nonstop downpours. All I have to say about that is, "Hot damn!" Our little tomato plants are yellow and mushy, which is not a good thing. It could be August before we get any tomatoes at this pace, and that, my friends, would be a tragedy.
6. Apparently, I'm going to be an early achiever on this menopause thing. It's been about 76 degrees all week, and I have sweated like a thief in Sunday school every day. When the burly man in a long sleeve shirt sitting next to you is cool as a cucumber and you're not, it's a sign that things they are a changin'. I guess the sooner I get it started, the sooner I'll get it over with.
7. Teen Angel's driving is coming along nicely, except for that abrupt lane change she did the other day which made me poop my pants. I'm never going to sleep again, am I?
8. When you buy a new CD and you reach for Celtic Spa, you know y0u have a little stress in your life.
9. What is it with underwear manufacturers? Every time I find underwear I like, they discontinue it. Is there some kind of panty conspiracy I haven't heard about?
10. And finally, my blog time and commenting has been pretty lax lately due to all of the going ons around here and my stress level. That's evening out somewhat, and I should be back to visiting some of your blogs again soon. See ya in blogland!

Fun Monday-Blogging

Our Fun Monday host this week is Bee Dancing As Fast As I Can. Love that name, by the way. Here is the assignment she gave to us.

I'd really like to know WHY you blog. Tell me how you got started or why you got started and why you keep it up. Plus there's a photo requirement: Post a picture of the one person/place/thing that most symbolizes the town or area where you live.

I stumbled into the blogging world a couple of years ago by readings the blogs of friends like janjanmom. It didn't take long for me to get the bug to be really involved in this unique community. I started for two reasons. First of all, my job is in marketing, and I thought it was important for me to understand what this forum is all about and how it works in order to use it if necessary in my work for promotional and informational purposes. It's a medium whose power I believe, cannot and should not be ignored.

Secondly, I have always enjoyed writing and needed an outlet for my writing. Like 50% of the bloggers out there, I have dreams of writing a book one day. I've been taking notes and filing away ideas for a couple of years but needed to develop the habit of writing every day and eeking out time for my writing. I felt like blogging would be a good way to do that, and it has.

Now for the pictorial part of this assignment. I had a hard time sticking to one photo because my town is a bit of a contradiction. It's a river town of about 30,000 people, kind of a big small town. And there is no denying that the river has built and supported this city since its inception. This kind of traffic can be found here every day.

Our community has survived civil war trials and the great flood of 1937. In fact, this picture was taken on the river side of the flood wall built by the Army Corps of Engineers after that devastation. A lot of our community concerts and festival activities take place right here on these riverbanks. I would be remiss if I didn't show you the other side of this flood wall. In fact, my friend M. at the tourism center would whack me up the side of the head if I didn't show you this:

A few years ago, the city commissioned a New Orleans artist to paint scenes from the city's history onto our flood wall. These are a few of the panels. Each scene is from an actual photo or is the artist's interpretation of actual events in the city's history. You must believe me when I tell you this photo doesn't do them justice. They are absolutely beautiful in person.

So, we have a lot of river jobs, some manufacturing jobs and a whole lot of farming around here. There's a definite country feel to this region though. This kind of scene is everywhere you turn, and that's part of why I like it here so much.In fact, if I had to pick just ONE picture that sums up this region, this would be it. This kind of view is available outside just about everyone's back door around here. However, in the midst of all the country flavor we have these unique bright spots of diversity and big city ideas. We have a state of the art performing arts center that brings Broadway shows to our town. We have a symphony, and the historic homes that used to be falling apart have been remodeled into fabulous buildings that are used as homes and art galleries by artists who have moved here from all over the country in the past few years. Who knew they would pick this little rural part of the country to set up shop and bring us such cool businesses and people. This really is a special place to live, cornfields on one side of the road and painters on the other. Now toddle on over to Bee's place to see everybody else's Fun Monday contributions.

All A Twitter

I’m a simple blogger. My website isn’t fancy. It doesn’t really have any bells and whistles. Heck, I haven’t even found the time to add a blog roll. I’m just too busy. I can’t keep up with all the flickers and twitters that could make my little sliver of the internet more interesting. Do you like that word sliver? I do. It’s what one says when he’s offered pie and is too full to eat any but takes a small slice anyway…as in “I’ll take just a sliver”. (This southern moment brought to you by Mrs. Smith’s.) I thought I’d try out that twitter business that everyone is all a-twitter about, but I don’t really have time to figure it out, so here’s a little twitter without the twitter. Hello? Is anyone still there?

5:30am—Hit the alarm without opening eyes. Is it raining?
5:40am—Did the alarm ring? Did I turn it off or am I dreaming that it’s time to get up and it’s not and I should be mad because I won’t be able to go back to sleep.
5:43am—Feet touch the floor.
5:55am—Drag reluctant dog out into the pouring rain to pee. Tell dog not to pee on wheels of car in driveway and make a mental note to consider wearing underwear when walking the dog at daylight..in the rain.
6:10am—Put on makeup while watching VH1 Classic.
6:42am—Kiss Hubby while he still sleeps and smile with satisfaction that the rain will keep his retired butt from laying in the pool all afternoon like he did yesterday while I was at work.
7am—Arrive at work. Begin checking email and voicemail.
7:46am—Eat yogurt and flaxseed while opening mail. Close eyes, click heels together three times and repeat, “I wish this was biscuits and gravy. I wish this was biscuits and gravy”.
7:55am—Start new project.
8:05am—Discover new ink pen with sliding picture. Play briefly with ink pen.
8:52am—Spill drink on dress.
10am—Attend groundbreaking ceremony. Hope no one notices spot on dress. Survey the refreshment table and wonder if the event will run long and keep me from running at lunch.
11:35am—Event runs long. Pretend to be sad that I won’t get to run. Scrap plans to eat veggies and buy fried chicken for lunch. Whine because I didn’t get a biscuit.
11:55am—Get update from Hubby on how school registration went.
12pm—Eat lunch in break room while watching the news. Giggle uncontrollably during a story about a couple getting arrested in Dubai for having sex on the beach because the reporter’s name is Jeff Wiener.
12:30pm—Get back to work. Curse myself for procrastinating on a particular project.
3pm—Think about a snack. Remember that I’ll be eating a sliver of pie later and suck on four LifeSavers instead. Compliment the folks at LifeSavers on the new sweet mint flavor.
3:22pm—Play with sliding pen again.
3:23pm—Get back to the grindstone. Make a note to buy a lottery ticket and research the price of a small home in Aruba.
4:32pm—Leave work and head to the store for a card before aerobics class. Question where my motivation for exercise is hiding today. Question the need for exercise period.
4:48pm—Enter Walgreens. Get all excited over the 75% t-shirts. Keep moving. Buy card and bag of LifeSaver sweet mints.
4:55pm—Eat three more LifeSavers on the way to aerobics.
5:15pm—Change for class. Diddle with paperwork for upcoming personnel committee meeting at church. Make a mental note to volunteer for the trustees committee next time they’re handing out committee assignments.
5:30pm—Smile for my class and pretend that I’m excited about jumping jacks and crunches. Share homegrown tomatoes with ladies in class.
6:03pm—Declare that it’s hotter than Guam in this freakin’ building. Wonder if this is what menopause is going to be like.
6:30pm—Finish class and head into room next door for meeting.
6:31pm—Pat self on the back for planning to bring pie to this meeting. It will quell the hunger pangs until I get to dinner and I am HUNGRY.
8:15pm—Wrap up meeting and head home. Pray that no crisis awaits me.
8:25pm—Crisis awaits. Let Hubby deal with it. Begin making dinner, nixing idea of serving cereal.
8:32pm—Time moves fast. Nix dinner idea. Make Teen Angel a grilled cheese. Plan to eat a bag of microwave popcorn after my shower and feed Hubby a leftover piece of pie.
9:10pm—Take shower. Think about going to bed early but don’t because I don’t want to feel like my mother.
9:25pm-Pop popcorn. Finally sit down for the day. Think about blogging but decide to put it off for the next morning. Wonder why in the world anyone would want to hear about my day. Realize how much work it will be to blog the log of my day day. Wonder what all the twitter is about twitter.

Top Ten Ways to Know You're Hooked

I think there comes a time for most bloggers when we realize we are hooked on blogging. That’s it’s not just some little dalliance we can walk away from at any time despite our best efforts to pretend that it’s just a casual relationship, that the need for posting and affirmation from our blog buddies is an important part of our day. Perhaps it’s the day we notice our mood is based on the number of comments left on a post (27 comments? Oh, you love me. You really, really love me!) Or it dawns on you that your last three conversations with your brother were in your comments sections. Whatever the reason, there is a moment when you know that you are hooked. AND that those around you who don’t blog, don’t understand. If by some small chance you haven’t had that breakthrough moment, here area few clues to watch for. Brothers and sisters, I give you the top ten ways to tell if you’re addicted to blogging. (Insert music by the Paul Schaffer band here.)

10. A family member trips or does something horribly embarrassing and you can’t wait to get home and post about it.
9. A blog friend fails to post for a few days and you begin to get nervous that something bad has happened. You wonder if you should ship a broccoli casserole to his house in California.
8. You think the woman sitting next to you at a charity luncheon looks like boomama.
7. A friend needs advice on bra shopping and you say, “I know, we’ll ask Tootsie Farklepants!”…and your friend gives you that what the smell are you talking about look.
6. A friend asks if you want to grab a meal after work, and you say you can’t because you really want to get home and check your comments.
5. You see a traffic sign that would make a really funny post, and you curse yourself for not having your camera. In fact, you make a note to carry a disposable camera for just such emergencies.
4. You wonder if the steak you’re eating came from the Pioneer Woman’s ranch…which also makes you wonder who won today’s “Name That Photo” contest.
3. Your family asks what you want for Christmas and you tell them you want the Pioneer Woman’s PhotoShop Elements.
2. You see a friend you haven’t seen in months and realize you’re all caught up on each other’s lives because you’ve been reading each other’s blogs.
1. And finally….you reconsider whether or not that vacation will be worth it because you’ll be away from the internet for a WHOLE WEEK!