COUGH SYRUP POPDue to

COUGH SYRUP POP

Due to shopping at a different store for pop than usual a couple of weeks ago, I wound up having to buy diet Dr. Pepper in the cherry-vanilla flavor. When I tried drinking a can of it a couple of days later, I found that it reminded me more than anything of cough syrup. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to drink the small case of 12 cans that I had bought, but I seem to have gotten used to it in the time since then. However, I don't plan to buy more if I can help it.

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The following cartoon, which came in a mailing last night, reminded me of a picture of Socks when she was quite little. I am posting that shot after the cartoon:
























Hee hee -- I get such a kick out of Socks. She is very different from any other cat I've ever had.

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This afternoon is my appointment to have my moles checked. In the meantime, I took 1/2 a Vicodin this morning, for my still-sore arm. My nurse friend, Sheila, feels that I need to have the arm re-evaluated. I am not quite sure how to go about that. I will wait until after the moles are checked before tackling the question of the continuing pain in my deltoid. The Vicodin is making me very sleepy so I will likely nap, setting the timer so I don't go over the time I need to leave for the clinic this afternoon. I will report on the suspicious spots and the evaluation of them when I get back.

FILING -- STRENUOUS?

One of my jobs at my business is to keep the filing caught up, generally doing it Wednesday and Friday evenings. This is important because the guys need to be able to find quotes and order sheets when they are looking for them. I like to do it, to get an idea of who we are quoting and who is ordering and in what quantities. I had to take a week off from the filing due to my injured upper right arm, and so I knew there would be a stack of papers to file last night, when I was able to go back to work.

Actually, though, before I got to the office last night, I was wondering if I had been a wimp to take the doctor-recommended week off from doing it. I found out differently once I started to work.

I had a 3 to 3 1/2 inch stack of filing to sort and to file last night. I had been planning on doing sections at a time and spreading them out over the next few nights, as I had time available, but once I got them sorted and ready to file in a system I use that works very well, I didn't see any way to divide them up for subsequent days, so I just stayed later than usual and finished filing them all. It took me 3 hours, and I discovered when I was finished that my arm was very sore! I came home and put ice on it.

I have been chuckling about the fact that the filing was so strenuous. LOL! I guess maybe I'm a bit of a wimp? ;-) Actually, it was good for me to do the filing, because not using the arm for a week had made it weaker than was healthy for it, and I suspect that the filing was a good way to exercise it and make it stronger. Kaiser's physical therapy department couldn't have done it any better! Hee hee!

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I have been seeing political ads as they have gotten naturally more prolific in the last number of days, since the Oregon primary is May 20, and we Oregonians need to mail in our ballots to get there by that date. I have noticed one particular ad that disappointed me in LDS church member Gordon Smith, who I was planning to vote for. He has been running an ad quoting the big Portland newspaper, The Oregonian, as saying that one of the challengers, Steve Novick, was a big-spending liberal. This confused me because Steve Novick's ad says that The Oregonian has endorsed him. Then I noticed that in Gordon Smith's ad portion criticizing Novick, the date of the editorial criticizing Novick was 1/16/06! Hmmm, that makes me wonder how honest Gordon Smith is being. Would what the ad says bother you as it does me?

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LOVE the Maxine! Oh, so true! I haven't heard a candidate propose a health care plan that I thought sounded good yet -- not even my favorite, Barack Obama.

You can probably see why I wanted to post this

You can probably see why I wanted to post this today, being the cat lover that I am. Sometimes, I do feel this way about Socks, though. ;-)

A PRETTY REMARKABLE DAY

A PRETTY REMARKABLE DAY

This is a day that feels somewhat like any other, except for its being too cold for the third week in April. It is remarkable, however, due to all the good wishes I have been getting because today I turn 60! That is so hard to believe as it seems like just yesterday I was 50, then 55.

Part of what has reminded me has been all the good wishes I have received on my Genchat and Friends and Family Graphics lists, as well as via private e-mail and snail mail cards sent by friends.

I have heard from family members, with Jeff, Steph, Noah and Emily saying they donated to American Idol Gives Back in remembrance of my birthday, which I am very pleased about because I think it is such a good cause and I didn't give to it this year. (Any cause that demonstrates that Simon Cowell has a heart is very worthwhile!) J.D. wrote and said that the "birthday frog" (an invention of my late husband Steve's) was moving slowly and would probably be here by Friday.

I unwrapped the gifts I had here -- the purse from my friend, Jackie, and the gifts from my sister Kathy, and took photos of the purse and Kathy's present of Mooah cats (i.e., kissing due to magnets on their noses). She sent Japanese cherry blossom lotion but I can't get the dispenser to work, although I'll keep working on that. I want to keep it in the kitchen and use it after I dry my hands there. Here are pictures of the purse and the Mooah cats.





I decided to run in to town after lunch to buy a slice of chocolate cake at Cutsforth's Thriftway, and they only had chocolate with mint frosting, but that was okay. I got that and a sandwich, so I can be lazy for dinner. I came home and ate the cake with milk (I didn't think the mint would go too well with decaf). Here is the slice before I ate it.



I did not dunk the cake in milk! Ewww! Steve used to do that and I think J.D. does. I have my own way of obsessing over cake, especially this piece -- eat several bites, take a swig of milk, then repeat. LOL!

Most of the family's celebrating for my birthday will be combined with a Mother's Day dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Molalla, Oregon on May 9th. I'm looking forward to that!

Back to today, though -- regarding the snail mail cards, inside one I got a note from a friend who has had knee surgery (poor lady!) and she brought me up to date on people we knew when we went to the same Mormon ward in town. (She is still Mormon but has retained a lot of her Pentecostal upbringing, despite now living in Utah.) I also received a card from my very good friend in New Jersey, Mary Jane, which she had made on her computer, I believe, and done a very nice job on. (I am jealous!) Then there was a card from my friend from church, Sheila -- very cute, saying "Born to Shop" and with little fabric "purses" hanging from a ribbon. Inside, she said that her husband Ken had wanted to pick out just the perfect stamps for the envelope (he is an avid stamp collector) and what he told her was right -- I did like the stamps very much. (One had a little bear on it, but I had seen none of them before.)

It seems that at my age, I am noticing details that I hadn't in the past, and I am more grateful for the small things, and in fact all things, that I am given. (BTW, thinking of that, another beautiful card I received comes to mind -- from Dawn, who often comments here; I received her card last week.)

Thank you to everyone who has offered your good wishes for this notable birthday. I appreciate them tremendously!

A later note: I just received an e-mail from Tony and he said a package is on the way. So I have heard from all my sons today already -- this is such a pleasure!

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I have had a minor dilemma regarding my car. It turned over to 5,000 miles while I was on vacation at the coast. I had had the oil changed and a lube job at 3,000 miles, and I was told I could wait until 8,000 miles for the next one. I generally have my tires rotated at 5,000 miles but I didn't know if that had been done at the 3,000 mile service or not. I wrote an e-mail to the local Ford dealership regarding this, and Larry, the service manager in the Fast Lube department called this morning to let me know that they hadn't rotated the tires and I believe he said they would wait to do that until the 8,000 mile service. I'm about 99% positive that's what he said. I don't know, though, if that will be waiting too long to have the tires rotated the first time. Something nags at me, wanting me to go to the Les Schwab dealership in town and have it done now, at 5,000 miles, like it's supposed to be! LOL! Really, though, I think those extra 3,000 miles won't hurt the brand new tires. D'ya think?

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The Ziggy all wrapped up in dental floss above is dedicated to my dental hygienist DIL, Stephanie. Enjoy, Steph! ;-)

CLOVERFIELD???When my Australian friend

CLOVERFIELD???

When my Australian friend Lynne sent me the above Ziggy cartoon, she expressed puzzlement about what it meant and I didn't have a clue. As always, Google was my friend and I found out what Cloverfield is. It's a movie, and according to the site linked to in the preceding sentence, it's coming out on DVD on 4/22/08. Basically, it's the story of a monster attack in New York as told from the point of view of a small group of people. So I guess these Ziggy aliens are wanting in on the action? That's my guess, at any rate. ;-)

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Today is one of those annoying days when the mail is very late in arriving. (You can see how unexciting my days can be, when getting the mail is one of the highlights.) Mainly, I'm expecting bills, but it's always good to get them paid and out of the way for another month. In the meantime, I guess I'll do another thing I do at times when I'm bored -- spend money online. I do need the items I will buy, however: blood test strips and stamps. I also have a birthday gift advertisement from Just My Size tempting me as well, offering $3.00 shipping if I buy in the next couple of days. I wish the mailman would come and save me from myself! LOL!

WISHFUL THINKINGI

WISHFUL THINKING

I believe that the signature tag above is totally wishful thinking, even though there are a few flowers (mainly daffodils and camellias) blooming outside my house. None of the variety in this graphic, though. It has been quite cold here, enough for people to wonder when Spring is actually going to get here. We've been in the 40's F during the days and around freezing at night. It's still flannel pajama time!

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My Australian friend Jen sent me an e-mail directing me to a site where she had recorded her voice to go along with cat pictures, and she gave me permission to post the URL. I love hearing her Aussie accent, although she thought she sounded more like a Brit. You can hear it by going here. It's really cute!

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I watched -- or rather, tried to watch -- the movie "A Death at a Funeral" yesterday evening. It is a British film, and on the jacket it was called "a jet black comedy", which should have warned me when it came time to watch it. I managed to stand an hour of the 90-minute movie, and I was pushing it at making it that far. The movie is rated "R", which should also have warned me, as I prefer to watch films with milder ratings, although once in a while I let an "R"-rated movie slip through, as I did with this one. For me, it's not the actual rating so much as the content and why the movie has been given that rating that makes the difference. At any rate, it definitely was not my thing and I don't recommend it to anyone. I will be giving it 1/2 star when I rate it on Blockbuster Online, and that's being generous.

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After writing about hypersensitivity yesterday, I guess venting helped me to reach a state of forgiveness of the person who had annoyed me with her comments on that subject. Today, I am feeling less bothered by her or what she had said. I did discuss the subject privately with another friend, who added to my evaluation of why people are hypersensitive that some people are just born that way and it's part of their natural personality. So it was good to have that input from her, especially as she is a person who is qualified due to her education to make such judgments.

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When Lynne sent me the above Ziggy, she included the comment that this kind of thing happens in Australia, too. ;-) It sure does here! LOL!

FAMILY TREESA friend in Canada e-mailed me

FAMILY TREES

A friend in Canada e-mailed me an article about the familial relationship between Barack Obama and Dick Cheney a day or two ago, which I didn't bother to dig up for this post but instead found the same information at another online site, here. In joking around with this friend about family trees, especially since we both had been members of a church that emphasizes genealogy for use in proxy ordinances in their temples, she said that her step-father (and I don't know what his religious affiliation was) had traced his lineage back to Charlemagne, and that was what my maternal grandfather claimed to have done as well. My Grandpa said that doing so brought our family into the lineage of the kings of Europe and thus to the Bible and back to Adam. I remember being shown a scroll-like, long piece of paper with the genealogy back to Adam written on it in calligraphy, when I was told this. I have no idea where the scroll is now -- perhaps one of my sisters found it and took it home with her after Mom's passing several months ago. It's kind of funny and interesting to be related to kings, but I am sure that the royal blood has been watered down so much that we in my family are nothing more than average joes. ;-)

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I don't know if I have written about how hypersensitive I have sometimes been in the past, but it has been somewhat of a curse at times. I had talked about it on one usually-supportive chat list quite a while ago and -- as things tend to go on that list with some of the members -- the subject has been discussed on and on, ad nauseum. One of the members who drags subjects on forever said yesterday that a person who was hypersensitive suffered from selfishness and pride and the answer to their problem was to care more about others. That brought me to a bit of a boil but, as is my habit, rather than argue and start a flame war on the list, I just deleted her post but not without thinking in the process that she was very tactless and unkind. What do you think about hypersensitivity? Can it be the product of emotional abuse in a person's life, from parents and/or a spouse? Or is it indeed a sign of selfishness? If you have opinions, I would like to hear them, although I hope you will be kind in the process. ;-)

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The current grounding of large numbers of jets by Delta and American Airlines to check the electrical bundles on them, resulting in a lot of passengers being stranded in airports, brought back memories of my flying experiences around the first of January. As I have already written in detail about them after I got home, I won't repeat them here, but I can truly empathize with the people who were waiting for long periods of time. I didn't have to wait due to inclement weather in Salt Lake for my jet back to Portland nearly as long as some other passengers did; there were individuals waiting for that plane who had been there for 10 hours or more.

I have been thinking about how much we trusted those airplanes, and believed and hoped they were safe. I think that, if I were wanting to fly during this time of grounded jets, I would have mixed feelings; I would not like waiting a long time for a flight, as passengers lately have been, but on the other hand, I would be glad to know that the airplane I was on was as safe as it could be.

I'm just glad that I am not having to fly now, or any time that I know of in the foreseeable future.

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When my friend Lynne sent me the above Ziggy cartoon, she had to explain to me what it meant. She sent me a link to a site showing cargo pants, which have all the pockets in them. LOL! I guess I'm kind of out of it when it comes to men's fashion trends.

TODAY, AUSSIE TIME, IS

TODAY, AUSSIE TIME, IS LYNNE'S DAY!

It is my privilege to know and to write here about another remarkable woman, Lynne, who is an Aussie who has touched my life in very special ways. I have referred to her before because she sends me the fun Ziggy cartoons, and I well know her enjoyable sense of humor. Today I am devoting much of my blog entry to her, because since it is the 29th there, she will be getting up in a while and then readying herself for a ceremony that symbolizes a great accomplishment: graduating with her Bachelor's Degree in Theology. She talks about this in a blog entry that is eloquent and beautiful, which I could never paraphrase, so I would hope you will go to the link at the beginning of this sentence to read what she has said about attaining this honor and what has motivated her to do so.

Have a wonderful day, Lynne!

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The Ziggy is funny to me because it has seemed like there was a Starbucks on almost every other corner in the big cities. Even in my small town, there is a Starbucks store in a strip mall and then just across the parking lot from it, there is a Starbucks bar in the Fred Meyers superstore so you can get a latte while you shop, if you so desire. I have heard that Starbucks was having some trouble but I'm not sure exactly what that is. Perhaps over-expansion?

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I heard the funniest line on CNN last night, and I wish I knew exactly who to attribute it to, but it was from one of several panel members who were, I believe, on Anderson Cooper 360, although Larry King had a similar discussion. Because I have to be so vague about it, I will just paraphrase the person, who said -- in essence -- that Hillary Clinton's comment about Barack Obama where she said you couldn't pick your grandmother but you could choose your pastor (referring to the retired Rev. Jeremiah White) could also be turned back to her, saying that, yes, you couldn't pick your grandmother but you could your pastor and your husband. The person making this comment elaborated that Clinton chose to stay with her husband despite the obvious problems he has had, while Obama chose to be loyal in some ways to his former pastor.

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I want to get this posted before too much more time elapses and then go downstairs to see if my sleepiness will produce much of a nap today, which hasn't happened in the last couple of days.

THE GAME PLANDue to some

THE GAME PLAN

Due to some recommendations by a few online friends, I put "The Game Plan" in my Blockbuster Online queue a few weeks ago and it was sent to me this past week for watching. I had time last night to view it and my concluding feelings afterwards were mixed.

It stars Dwayne ("The Rock") Johnson as a selfish star football player who is confronted by a young girl played by Madison Pettis, who contends she is his daughter and is able to prove it. Naturally, the bulk of the movie consists of his trying to win a championship game while dealing with the fact that he has a little daughter, and it is done in a rather Disney way (but then it is a Disney movie) -- sometimes silly, generally unrealistic and exaggerated, but little Madison is a cutie and does a very good job in her role, while "The Rock" turns out to be a better actor than I would have expected.

One point that was brought up by a couple of my online friends after they watched it was that, if children viewed it, their parents should explain and elaborate on "The Rock's" key saying and mantra, "Never Say No." These friends felt it was important for children to know that sometimes it is important and necessary to say no. I think that would be a good thing to discuss with children who see this movie. As for me, I just have my 3 cats in my household, and although Socks was on top of the television set the other evening and looking down at the TV screen in fascination, I don't worry about the effect of this movie on them (although I wish sometimes that they knew the meaning of the word no). ;-)

I will probably give "The Game Plan" 3 1/2 stars out of a possible 5 when I rate it on Blockbuster. So take that as you will.

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The Ziggy cartoon above was once again sent to me by my friend, Lynne in Australia, and we both had the same reaction to it. I looked at it and concluded that it portrayed a very frightening idea, and then I noticed that Lynne had written a note below it, saying how scary it was. LOL!