Reality is not my friend....

2011-02-10T19:36:00.001-08:00

No doubt, No Fear

2009-10-02T13:28:00.001-07:00

Pics

2009-09-30T14:32:00.000-07:00

jack is doing well. Fergie adores him and lays down so he can bounce all over her.

2009-09-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Jack & my friend Autumn.

More pictures as soon as I charge the batteries to my camera. He was born on August 8th and weighs 13 1/2lbs right now.

bleah to people who steal

2009-09-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

Someone smashed a window to the car while I was in a store on 39th st. I was in the little parking lot behind some stores. They didn't get anything of value except my mp3 player. Well, of value to anyone else. They got my gratitude journal and my bag of rocks that I have collected, my new lipstick and two magazines that I haven't read yet. I had my cellphone and money in my small purse with me. Mostly they stole my good mood. At least that I will eventually get back.

bleah to people who do this stuff. I hope they cut themselves on the window glass.

Thelma & Louise

2009-09-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

I'm going to pick up a car next month. My friend Stephanie is coming along for the ride so that I don't have to drive back by myself. It's a convertible. I just picked up big sunglasses and scarves for us to wear. Yep, we're gonna do the Thelma and Louise thing. With a much better ending. LOL

Holiday

2009-09-11T11:37:00.001-07:00

Hallmark gets to invent holidays so I think i should too. May 28th is now Vivification Day.

And if you drink as part of your celebration, saying Happy Vivification Day! will probably be hysterical!

hahahhahahahaha

2009-09-09T09:07:00.000-07:00

As part of our security measures, we regularly screen activity in the system.
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We appreciate your understanding as we work to ensure account safety.
Sincerely,
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QDXMMNNWBHEDBUOHVMSJEUDECRIJVWWWWUNSEC

they didn't even fake the return email well, it's a yahoo mail.

geeze if you're going to scam at least put some effort into it.

NSVs

2009-09-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

For people not acquainted with online weight loss support groups NSVs are non scale victories.

here are some of mine.

Getting to where I can hold the stationary bike above 90rpms for the entire 15 min.
Doing 15 reps per set on the chest press machine instead of 10
Buying new undies because mine were too big.

And one of my favorites... walking from the shower to the lockers in my bra and panties with other people in the room. That one was hard because I have body issues, but I did it and again, the world didn't end. Nobody even noticed me. :-)

Sunglasses

2009-09-03T13:10:00.000-07:00

I have a thing for really big sunglasses. I got these at Boomerang's. Any other suggestions for places to find them - let me know. Can never have too many sunglasses.

A WTF kind of moment

2009-09-03T11:26:00.001-07:00

everyone has WTF moments. I know I certainly do. Moments that defy explanation and WTF is really all you can say.

Here is one told to me by my friend Stephanie.

She was out behind her store having a cigarette and she sees a man walking up between the buildings. He's super friendly and has a beard that she thought was kind of cool. She notices that he is wearing headphones and carrying a weed whacker. He strolls up to a few feet from her, still smiling and then starts up the weed whacker and starts to weed eat the devoid of any plant material gravel parking lot. She looks at him for a second as he's weed eating the invisible grass and then says to herself "Oh Hell, this is NOT how my life ends." and goes inside.

Once inside she tells her partner David about the man. His response? "Oh yeah, he's been having problems getting that weed eater started all day." David then goes outside to have a conversation and watch the man cut down the GRASS THAT DOESN'T EXIST. Now there are two men outside who think it's totally normal to weed whack gravel. I don't know, maybe David sees the grass too.

Stephanie who is lacks the magic grass seeing gene just said "WTF?!"

Girls eat too

2009-09-02T13:35:00.001-07:00

for some reason women have issues with people seeing them eat. I have heard whole discussions on "date" food and ways to avoid him noticing you actually consuming it.

eating in public issues go triple for anyone who is or has been overweight.

So I'm posting a picture of me eating.

Nope, world didn't end.

Chop Tops

2009-09-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=443575140

I love this place and Sophia who did my hair is amazing! I went in for a trim, changed my mind and she created a style that I love!

different picture

2009-09-01T16:30:00.001-07:00

I haz less hairz

2009-09-01T13:51:00.001-07:00

Parents Please

2009-08-29T17:21:00.000-07:00

I just worked a very long gig and there were very long lines for everything including balloons. Most people took it in stride and handled things well, but there were more than a few parents who set out to teach their kids the wrong way to handle things. Cutting in line is not nice. The people who wait 20 min don't like it if you go around them. Getting snotty with the balloon lady when she won't take your kid next because you are "in a hurry" or "too tired to wait in such a long line." is not endearing. It's also not very motivating for me. Want me to consider letting you cut? Pull out a hundred dollar bill. I will CONSIDER IT. No guarantees because I don't want to deal with 40 mad customers. For 2 hundred you're pretty much guaranteed to be next. LOL

otherwise get in line and act like a grown up.

Jack

2009-08-29T09:57:00.001-07:00

Aren't they all sorts of adorable???

Before picture

2009-08-27T12:55:00.001-07:00

I am getting a hair cut next Tuesday.

This is the before picture.

Curves Shoes from Avon

2009-08-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

I tried these tennis shoes. I've heard wonderful things about mbt shoes, but while Dan is unemployed I am not spending over 200 on tennis shoes. Same basic concept but a bit cheaper so I thought I would try them.

I love them. I have a high arch so I need to add an insole but other than that they are great. I could feel the workout all the way up my leg when I wore them to the gym this morning. I didn't feel tired exactly, but I could feel different muscles working more. Especially in my ass - which is a good thing. LOL

I wiggle a lot so I like the rocking motion. I go back and forth anyway and this makes it easier and more fun.

The sole did make it a bit harder to go up and down stairs, but I'm sure I will adjust to that.

Bleah!!!!

2009-08-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

I didn't eat meat for a long time because I thought it was a large part of my health issues. It wasn't. Wheat was. So I've been trying various things.

McDonald's. Had one. Never ever having a second one. That stuff is RANCID. Why do people eat it??? How do they stay in business?????

Hardee's. Tiny bit better. Never having another one of those either. Same with Sonic and Taco Bell. I'm not even going to try Burger King.

Now I'm pretty much back to not eating meat. I like steak and I like chicken. I don't like a lot of dairy anymore either. I like chocolate milk, cottage cheese and yogurt, but some cheeses that I used to like taste icky now.

Some days I feel like I am rediscovering food all over again. It's weird, but kinda cool.

I am a foolish foolish woman

2009-08-24T11:04:00.001-07:00

I own sunscreen and hats. Just forgot them. Worked an outside gig without them and now I am paying the price. I even sunburned my scalp. bleah. At least I remembered sunscreen the second day so it didn't get worse.

I have brown hair

2009-08-21T15:56:00.000-07:00

I have been dying my hair red since I was 18. The other day I dyed it brown. It's still a shade or two lighter than my natural (before gray) hair color, but it's closer than I have been in years.

I kinda like it.

One more post

2009-08-20T08:53:00.000-07:00

Since I stopped eating wheat I started losing weight. Since the depression lifted I've started exercising. It feels good.

so far I have lost somewhere around 30lbs. I don't own a scale, but that's my estimate. I know I have lost 2 dress sizes in my stomach and maybe 4 in my legs. After 4 c-sections it's going to take awhile for my tummy to shrink.

I go to the gym several days a week and get together with Stephanie on Tuesday. Our exercise sessions are as much about having fun as they are getting in shape. It's nice to work out with someone who won't laugh at how uncordinated I am.

Last week we tried hula hooping. It seems like good exercise. I got most of my workout from bending over to pick the thing up again. LOL I'm not shaped right for that yet. You need an actual waist I think.

There's a certain joy I'm finding in trying and failing. I don't mind the failing and the trying is fun. It's nice to be able to share that with someone.

doing the right thing

2009-08-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

I have posted before about my son being an addict. He's not using the hard stuff yet, but I can see the road he's headed down and it scares the hell out of me. I watched my brother suffer through decades of drug use before he managed to turn his life around.

My husband is an enabler. He makes it easy for our son to be an addict. That's not good. He loves him and doesn't mean to hurt him, but sometimes help hurts if you know what I mean.

I sent my son to live with my brother in Arkansas last weekend. My brother is not going to let his nephew get away with crap and he won't buy the lies. My brother knows the score and has been there, done that. It's also a chance for my son to actually finish high school and get away from the stuff that makes it easy for him to use. That's what his friends do and with a reputation as a stoner it was hard to make friends who didn't use.

It was a hard choice and it broke my heart to leave him there. Things are not perfect yet - things are never perfect - but I know it was the right choice. He started school yesterday and when I spoke to him the said he loved me for the first time in 2 years. He also called his sister and told her the same thing.

there are drugs in Arkansas, lots of them. Drugs are everywhere from small towns to big cities to the upscale suburbs. My kid has to make the choice to use or not use. I just wanted to give him a chance to start over and make new choices.

Depression

2009-08-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

I was depressed. That is to say I was suffering from long term chemically induced depression. I didn't know it. I mean I sort of knew it, but didn't know to call it depression. I just knew that inside I didn't feel like me. Depression is hard to explain if you've never felt it. If you haven't felt it then I hope you never do 'cause it kinda sucks.

Wheat seems to have been the cause of my depression. I looked around and found several articles on the subject. Depression is not an uncommon side effect of a wheat intolerance. I know that as the allergen left my system it was like someone turned a light on in my brain. The fog lifted and it was like "wow!". I have energy and focus and clarity. I don't have to fake anything just to get by.

Not faking it is a big thing for me. I'm a balloon artist. I have to be happy and energetic. I had to fake that and faking it is exhausting.

Several other changes in my life in the week since I last posted. those get their own posts.

prepare to be jealous

2009-08-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

I have a little blue balloon dog pendant. Genea made it for me. She does cool work, check her out at genea.etsy.com

Shoes

2009-08-11T10:06:00.000-07:00

I went to the mall. Found lots and lots of cool shoes, but don't want to spend $70 to buy them. well, except one pair that's clear and will show off my cute socks. It's also not $70.

Went to Wal-mart. Found a pair of BORING shoes that were comfortable and only $9.

Fixed them.

Now they are not boring.

Computer is almost up to speed

2009-08-11T10:02:00.001-07:00

It broke (some 16 year old who is in trouble got a virus at a porn site)
Teddy fixed it. He also made me a live usb for web browsing so that the virus thing is less of an issue.

While reinstalling drivers for the bluetooth it broke again.

Teddy fixed it again.

While I was working out of town 16 year old broke it again.

Teddy fixed it again.

Having a compugeek around the house is very very handy.

other son is NOT touching this computer again.

Jack is here

2009-08-07T09:04:00.000-07:00

I am on my way to a big job in Sedalia this weekend, but I had to take time to make an announcement.

Jack was born last night!!!

For those who have no idea what I mean Jack is a great dane puppy. He is a blood relation to both Zelda and Fergie. There were 4 in the litter (2 girls, 2 boys) and I told Terry I wanted the black boy. I've been planning to name him Jack since I decided to get him - way before he was born.

I'm Back!

2009-08-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Unscheduled vacation. My computer decided to quit on me and it took me a couple of days to get it up and running again.

:-)

Maybe an actual post tomorrow!

Another Mirror Pic

2009-07-31T15:41:00.001-07:00

Totally is the world's greatest freakout

2009-07-30T19:40:00.001-07:00

I love the part where he hits himself with the shoe.

Stuff that made me laugh

2009-07-30T18:54:00.001-07:00

too lazy right now to do pictures and that stuff. Just click on the links.

http://itemnotasdescribed.com/2009/06/17/funny-classifieds-free-bibles/

http://itemnotasdescribed.com/2009/06/03/funny-classifieds-house-plant/

http://itemnotasdescribed.com/2009/05/07/funny-classifieds-half-a-surf-board/

http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/2009/07/29/old-school-anger/

http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/2009/07/23/the-infamous-pider-drawing/

Look what I got!!

2009-07-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

A box of legos!! Just came in the mail today!

In the mirror

2009-07-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have a new hobby. Taking pictures of myself in the mirror. It started because my arms are too short to take a picture of myself so I decided to use a mirror. The one in the pink shirt is VERY important. That shirt used to fit before I stopped eating wheat. Now when I lift one arm up it slides off the other one. It's my new favorite shirt! LOL

We went for a walk

2009-07-28T10:16:00.000-07:00

And these are some of the things I saw.

I'll post pictures of the other things I saw tomorrow. First i need to work up a post on the evils of littering.

In other news...

2009-07-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

I finally did the diet coke/mentos thing yesterday.

That was super fun

I want more diet coke and mentos

I can't believe I waited this long to try it!!

Joining the ranks

2009-07-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks before he should be starting back at work Dan just found out that he may be joining the ranks of the laid off teachers.

F'ing KCMSD. They held onto this until it was too late for many teachers to find new jobs in that field for the year.

They don't want 'em but they don't want anyone else to have them either.

This winter is going to be rather suckish. I need to redouble efforts to find a couple of restaurants. Monday anyway. We just found out when we got home last night and I'm still in shock.

I'm glad that we have a cheap mortgage.

Cats in the Cradle

2009-07-25T15:41:00.000-07:00

Today a friend told me that his wife was annoyed because she was stuck with the kids for the day while he made up some hours at work. My initial reaction was kinda harsh. I couldn't help but think WTF???? Stuck with them? Why have them if you resent spending time with them.

In this case I was probably being over harsh. I don't know if she really feels that way or if he was just venting. Either way, I don't get to judge her based on something he said.

Everyone else that's crossed my path this week. Them I get to judge.

I think if it's at all possible a parent needs to be home with the kids when they are little. Doesn't have to be mom. Actually doesn't have to be a parent, but at the very least a family member. Problem is lots of people don't make enough to afford to do this. I wish that were different.

Now to the ones that annoy the crap out of me. Women who can stay home and then don't bother to interact with their children. Off to daycare so mommy can have some alone time. Yeah I know it's hectic to be around small children all day. I've got kids and 3 of them were small at the same time. Mommy needs time off yes, but not 3 or more hours every day. I know one woman who hired a nanny even though she was a stay at home mom. Spent most of her time working on her golf game at the club. She's starting to pay the price for that now. Her kids aren't little anymore and don't have time for her. Whole Cats in the Cradle thing. Sometimes I worry that we're raising a generation of kids who fit that mold.

You get back what you give. actually with kids you get way more than you give, especially if you give them love and attention.

Back to awesomeness

2009-07-25T14:17:00.001-07:00

Teddy has been spending time this week reminding me of how much more awesome I used to be. I think he's referring to it as weird, but I choose not to hear it that way.

He's right. I used to be much more awesome and there's no reason I can't still be.

One of the things he brought up was how I used to discipline my CampFire Boys & Girls. If they didn't listen at meetings they risked getting Barneyed. What sort of this is this you ask? It's an amazing tool that parents around the world can use.

You go up to the misbehaving kid in front of their friends. Preferably at school and sing the Barney theme song at the top of your lungs. Fear of the Barney will keep most kids in check. Doesn't even have to be Barney's theme. Any mushy song will do.

I think Teddy will be Barneyed when school starts this fall.

hahahahahaha

2009-07-24T14:21:00.001-07:00

http://thereifixedit.com/2009/07/22/epic-kludge-photo-hanes-his-way/

Never Enough

2009-07-24T12:51:00.000-07:00

Why are there never enough outlets in my world. I can never find a place to plug stuff in where i want it.

It's probably a sign that i use too many electrical gizmos.

Goal for the week. - cut down on electrical gizmos.

Maybe then I'll feel like I have more than enough plugs. :-)

High School Friends

2009-07-22T14:54:00.001-07:00

I don't have a lot of close associations with people I knew in high school. I have a lot of 'friends' on facebook that are people I knew then, but for most of them I can barely remember a conversation. There's one I would like to track down, but have had no luck. One I found on a whim and one that I gave much thought to before re-establishing contact. Those are all from my days in Ansbach. Honestly I can't name 10 people from my senior class in Arkansas. The few people I spent time with were either older or younger than me. It's odd, but that's how it goes.

College - I can remember the names of lots of people. Only care about one and I'm in contact with her.

This comes to mind because I know a lot of people who really want to find people from their 'glory days'. Maybe that's what it is. I don't look back on high school as the best time of my life. I'm not a sentimental person to begin with and high school was pretty suckish for lots of reasons. I think that age is suckish for most kids. Movie like to pretend it's not, but most of my friends remember it as hard, awkward and difficult. Of course a lot of my friends are a bit outside of society's standard for normal. Being different as a teen can be difficult.

I do enjoy parts of the facebook reunion thing. Some people I didn't know very well in school have turned into very interesting people and I enjoy seeing what they are up to. I just don't get the same feelings of nostalgia when pictures are posted. I look at the faces and the memories do not come flooding back. Besides memories will fool you. What you remember may not be the whole truth.

One person from middle school I always wondered about. I wanted to know where he was but could never quite track him down. Then I found out that he tried to do some bad stuff to my little brother who was 6 or 7 at the time. Now I would prefer to run over him rather than into him.

To any old high school friends reading this - I'm sure you were the one I found on a whim and am thrilled to be in contact with. And if you're Susi Jordan - email me. I have been trying to get in touch with you.

Old Sheet Music

2009-07-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last night I bought some vintage sheet music with the intent of turning it into some kind of art project.

Those intentions have failed. After looking it over I just can't bear to cut it up. One magazine was from 1914 and one was from 1916. The ads are facinating. Of the others they range in age from 1918 to 1940. One called Any Man's Sister has a copyright of 1918 by Kay-See Music Co. Kansas City, MO. It starts with a paragraph above the song that says

NOTE! - This song was written to relate the story of a poor girl who became the victim of circumstances which might befall any girl not knowing conditions that exist in the larger cities.

Newspapers, reformers and societies have been trying to help these poor souls who have fallen into the mercy of traffic dealers.

They are trying to eliminate these unworthy conditions and help the innocent victims to live a legitimate life again before it is too late.

We hope this song will add to the cause.
The Writers.

Now how could I cut that up? Not sure what I am going to do with it, but cutting it into pieces isn't an option.

3 more weeks.

2009-07-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Life is kinda chaotic right now, but the end is in sight. I just have to get through 3 more weeks before the next period of calm. Don't know how long that will last, because life is never always calm.

After that my big project is getting a couple of restaurants for the fall. Anyone in KC have any suggestions? We lost two last year and that cut our income by 1500/month. It made for a suckish winter. I don't want to repeat it. City market is good, but it will end and I want to be ready when it does.

Oh F@#k No he didn't?!!

2009-07-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Saw this on @readheadgirl 's twitter stream

http://jezebel.com/5316314/what-is-the-matter-with-kansas

The title of article asks a good question

What is the matter with Kansas?

What the fuck is wrong with with someplace where this could happen?

If you haven't clicked on the link yet let me sum it up.

17 year old goes to a party and drinks.
Then some men put her in the back of a truck where she is raped.
She may have had some alcohol, but she's with it enough to scream no the entire time.
Other assholes photograph the whole thing.
Rape is reported.
County Attorney declines to prosecute the male.
CA then shows pictures of the assault to the parents of the attacker because of the alcohol being served at the party.
He's then punished by a six month suspension.

spread the word, email everyone. Don't let the people get away with this abuse of the a girl. Yes she should not have been drinking but having a drink DOES NOT MEAN SHE IS ASKING TO GET RAPED OR THAT THE PEOPLE WHO SHOULD HELP HAVE LIBERTY TO VIOLATE HER ALL OVER AGAIN.

Bag Making

2009-07-18T20:04:00.001-07:00

I've spent part of tonight remembering why I prefer to sew or crochet bags. Fusing is hard. Seems easy. Should be easy, but is kinda hard. Still I managed to get several ready to sew. Should have some pics by Tuesday.

Gonna learn to photoshop

2009-07-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

I played with my mugshot style pic today and this is what I came up with.

I think I will take a class in photoshopping pictures.

1. fake, plastic me

2. funner things that I liked.

It doesn't seem like enough

2009-07-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31938315/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

A 17 year old girl is going to jail for letting a kitten named Tiger Lily roast to death. She and her 14 year old friend broke into an apartment, ransacked it and put the kitten in the oven.

Jail isn't enough. She need to be locked up in the loony bin. Maybe we can designate Antarctica as a place to send these dangers to society. She will get out and she won't be any better. I don't want to live near her. As she walked by a group of animal activists she stuck out her tongue and said that Tiger Lily was dead. Her reason for letting the kitten burn to death? She doesn't like cats. I don't see much evidence of a conscience there.

It's harsh I know, but I honestly think some people can not be fixed. She probably belongs on that list.

Rest in peace Tiger Lily. Burn in hell Cheyenne Cherry.

I love this song

2009-07-15T16:33:00.001-07:00

Hair

2009-07-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

I needed a hair cut. Humanature does hair cuts - so off I went.

First I dyed my hair last night.

This is what I looked like before. All scraggly and stuff

I didn't go as wild as I wanted to. I'm going to do something funky, but this stylist didn't seem like the funky type. Funky hair requires a funky stylist to be done right. So I went for normal and not exciting, but not scraggly.

My first after shot looked like a mugshot. I really really need to get more sleep. Lack of makeup didn't help much either.

My daughter is going to hate it because it does drift into my eyes. Looking back, she'll like this one better than the one I am getting next month. :-)

It's as bad as you think and they are all out to get you

2009-07-13T16:01:00.001-07:00

At least according to my husband and son yesterday.

Tommy wanted to be home NOW, not later. He was a whiney pain in the ass about it. I didn't tell him to come with us and I wasn't cutting my errands short because he felt like ending his excursion. Dan just wanted to be out of the car.

Coming back from Martin City we noticed them putting up Road Closed signs. Only they were putting them in the grass, not on the road itself. They are getting ready to do some work on hwy 150 and we figured this was part of the preparation. Later we noticed another road closed sign, again in the grass on the side of the road, kinda sideways even, like it had been set there for future use. There was an LED sign too, but it wasn't turned on yet. Just blank, waiting for them to get ready to rip the road up and complcate my driving experience.

A min later we joined the line of people discovering that the road was indeed closed. The signs were in the street when you got actually up to the construciton with little place to turn around.

So we go back and turn down Botts road. Head up to 139th street and hook up with the access road from there. Excpet 39th street was closed too. This time the signs were crossing the road making sure you didn't go down there. Tommy and Dan took it kinda personal. Me, I just started laughing. Their reactions were a bit over the top and it was just a comedy of errors. A couple of wrong turns later and we were finally on hwy 71. Then it's just a skip and a jump to home.

two things.

1. my family needs to lighten up a bit.

2. MODOT needs to learn how to actually block a road off if they are closing it.

Lists

2009-07-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

These lists are not all inclusive and I've tried to eliminate the obvious answers.

Then things that make me smile.

1. Legos
2. Bubbles
3. Spirographs
4. My nickel from 1941
5. New books
6. My kitchen aid mixer
7. Schoolhouse Rock
8. Fireflies
9. The ocean
10.Giant trees

Nine things that make me sad.

1. Empty fortune coookies

2. Finding a lost toy on the street.

3. Watching a child stand outside the group.

4. Very poor people buying lottery tickets.

5. Senior citizens with nobody to talk to.

6. Giant SUVs with one occupant.

7. Beautiful buildings that are abandoned

8. Children's beauty pagents

9. Stray animals

Eight things that scare me.

1. Spiders

2. Things that in any way resemble spiders.

3. Deep water. Not so much the water, but the drowning part.

4. Public speaking - unless it's teaching balloons.

5. People who are politically to the far right or left.

6. Quality of public education in the United States

7. When elevators jerk.

8. Flying - again, not the flying, but the crashing part.

Seven things that make me say ewwwwww.

1. Slugs

2. Bot flies

3. People who get their tongue split.

4. When Dan blows air out of his tear ducts.

5. Smokers' breath

6. The smell of cooking eggs.

7. People swapping gum.

Six things that I think should be invented.

1. Heels that are cute AND comfortable.

2. Non-stinky hair dye.

3. A pill that allows me to eat wheat.

4. Upgradeable printers. Don't trash them, upgrade them.

5. Sharpies with lids that are attached so they won't get lost. (not clickable ones)

6. Scratchproof cds and dvds

Five places I plan to go before I die.

1. Mt. Rushmore

2. Pacific Coast Highway

3. Yosemite

4. Big Bend National Park.

5. Burning Man

Four things I miss.

1. Waffles. I can't eat them and I miss them.

2. Beer. Same reason.

3. The breasts I had at 20.

4. Saturday morning cartoons.

Three things that I would buy if they were easily available here.

1. Eddings markers (UK)

2. Kinder Eggs (Germany)

3. Super giant modeling balloons. (Austria)

Two things I want to learn.

1. Latin.

2. To bellydance WITHOUT looking like a camel having a seizure (how I do it now)

One Wish I would make on a falling star.

Can't tell. If you do it won't come true.

Sex Ed toys that made me laugh.

2009-07-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

got this off of twitter

cracked me up!!

Safe for my work where I'm the boss, but your work? maybe not so much

http://bitchmagazine.org/post/strange-sex-ed-tools-from-around-the-world

A velvet vulva puppet? Going to have to order one just to say I own it.

People - my friend Donna

2009-07-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Donna is my best friend. We don't live anywhere close to each other, but modern communication makes it easy to stay close.

I've known her since the fall of 1985. We lived in the same dorm at the University of Arkansas. We lost touch for awhile but she tracked me down in 1993 and we've be in constant contact ever since.

Donna is legally blind. She can see, just not all that well. It's rarely stopped her and I admire that. I've told her 1000 times to get on SSI. Especially when $$ was tight for her and John, but she never does. Instead she went to college and got a degree in teaching. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she finds a job soon. She deserves one and the kids deserve to have her as a teacher.

Knowing her has changed my life in little and not so little ways. It's nice to know that there is someone I can tell anything and everything too. She knows the good and she knows the bad and for some reason still loves me. I love her too.

She's one of 3 people I know who I would call a 'real' Christian. I know a lot of people who give lip service to being Christian, but don't seem to follow those beliefs very well. Although there's a lot to her religion that I don't get, she lives it instead of just preaching it.

This isn't written to give you a real picture of my friend. I don't think I can do that in a blog. This post is just to say that I'm lucky to have this really cool person in my life. I hope you have someone equally as cool in yours.

Wussy Baby Pants

2009-07-07T05:08:00.000-07:00

I was having a discussion with my husband yesterday on catheters and who they are more painful for - men or women. He, like so many others assumed they would be more painful for men.

why?

It's a heck of a lot easier to find the entrance on a guy and then go from there. For women there's a bit more looking to do. Once you get inside the plumbing isn't that different. It's a tube that leads to the bladder where the balloon will be inflated. Why that would be worse for a man than a woman I don't know. except that men are wussy baby pants when it comes to anything to do with their penises. I've had several catheters and while none felt good they were not all that bad either.

As a nurses aide I assisted in the insertion of lots of them. Both on men and women. Nervous people felt more pain, calm people felt less. Men were more likely to freak out when you came at them with it than women, but if they were calmed down enough there didn't seem to be any more problems than with women.

The most pain from a catheter is when something happens to cause it to get ripped out while the balloon is still inflated. I've seen several patients with dementia do that. It didn't look good. Going in - not so bad. Coming out properly - not so bad. Over all - way less painful than stepping on a thumb tack. (which I did yesterday and it hurt like hell)

I stand by my totally unscientific analysis on men and catheters. Wussy Baby Pants Syndrome.

If you haven't grimaced enough yet fellows - look up sounding. Those guys LIKE catheters.

And next time you have to get one - put on your big girl panties and deal with it.

Why

2009-07-06T05:12:00.000-07:00

I came across this "program" (scam) that helps you to become an elite power user of twitter. here's the url. I'm not going to bother to rehash it for you. you can check it out if you want to.

My question is Why???

Is being in the top ranks of twitter so important that you will spend $197 on it? Maybe you can argue that it will bring you $$ somehow. I don't know how, but maybe it will. I know twitter has brought me $$ in the form of jobs, but those are local. I don't think being in the top 200 of the world users will benefit me that much. I just want to keep up with what's going on in my neck of the woods.

I think usually it's an ego thing. If I have 2k followers I am more important than someone who has 1k. bleah. I follow a lot of people and have about the same number of followers. I can't keep up with everything, but I do only follow people who generally interest me. I twitter when I can and can't imagine trying to keep up with over a thousand people.

auto DM's on twitter suck

2009-07-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

On twitter I get automated messages that say "thanks for following me" About half the time I immediately unfollow the person.

I hate automated messages.

I got one today that was as generic as the rest and the irksome part is that it was from someone who I know. Someone I've met in person several times. bleah.

I wish there was a way to block automatic DM's without blocking the person.

Chad Gibson

2009-07-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

Read this and even though most of you are not in Ft. Worth - write them anyway.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/06/30/fort-worth-police-chief-that-faggot-had-it-coming

Classes

2009-07-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be offering some classes during the rest of the summer. Several of us are actually.

July 13 - How to make recycled bag totes. I'll provide the plastic bags. I have LOTS of them. You provide a basic knowledge of crochet skills and a large (n or p) hook.

July 20 - Basic ballooning Making balloon animals is a lot of fun. We'll provide a kit that includes balloons and a hand pump.

Teddy will be teaching trumpet lessons 3 days a week Tues. Wed, Thurs. from 10 - 12:30 and 7 - 8:30 in half hour sessions. If you know any beginning trumpet students who want some extra instruction - send them his way. He's saving up extra $$ for college expenses since it's only a year away. The boy is scary good, and his trumpet teacher thought it was a good time for him to start sharing that.

Call 816-401-1465 for prices and more information.

In other news....

2009-07-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few things that happened recently that DON'T REVOLVE AROUND MICHAEL JACKSON.

* India recently overturned a 148 year old law that criminalized gay sex. I don't know where people stand on it morally, but legally you can be gay in India now.

* North Korea fired two short range missiles. There is some fear in Japan and South Korea that N.Korea may be planning a long rage attack.

* Venus & Serena may make Wimbledon an all Williams final.

* Amnesty International has issued a report detailing Gaza war crimes.

* The gap between Aboriginal people and non-aboriginal people in Australia is growing.

* A two year old girl was strangled by her mom's boyfriend's pet python in Florida.

That all came from the front page of www.bbc.co.uk where they seem to have managed to have gotten back to non-Michael news. Lots of other stuff has happened in the world and I wish American media would talk more about that and less about Jackson.

I also hope they don't make Neverland into a shrine like Graceland. What is it with our need to make posthumous heroes out of men who were not such great role models in life? Are we going to get reports that MJ's death was faked and he's been seen in a mall in New Jersey? bleah

Karl Malden died. I didn't know much about him outside of his work. I'm starting to kinda like that in a celebrity. I liked his work and the rest of his life didn't really matter to me. I wish Brad & Angie would make me like them more. Or Miley Cyrus. Actually I don't care what they do. I wish the media would stop treating every little move made by a celebrity as breaking news. Talk more about missing kids (of ALL races) or corporations harming the environment. Maybe talk more about normal folk who manage to do good stuff in the course of every day life. I would rather hear about a paramedic who saved a life over what the Jonas Brothers had for dinner any day.

That means that we, the American public, have to STOP GIVING $$ TO THE PEOPLE WHO PUBLISH THIS CRAP. next time you see Kate & John on a cover - DON'T BUY IT. If we shrink the demand, the supply will shrink too. And I think a world with more focus on what matters will be a better world for the next generation.

Obligatory Michael Jackson Post

2009-06-26T04:30:00.000-07:00

When I heard that Michael Jackson died I had 3 thoughts.

1. Maybe he has the peace now that he never got in life.
2. What is going to happen to his kids?
3. There goes any sort of real news coverage for the next week.

Is it callous to say that I'm not going to miss him? I didn't know him personally and his life now seemed to be more about the freak show he had become than the music. I wasn't looking forward to buying a new cd or anticipating anything he had planned. I can and still do listen to his music from the past, but the present MJ kinda weirded me out.

I think a whole lot of the mourning is not mourning the man, but rather bemoaning a visible end to many people's youth. His death is a mirror that reminds people that they are not any more immortal than those the idolized in their youth. A woman on the radio today said that she's sad that her kids are never going to know Michael Jackson. Of course they can. I know the music of a whole lot of folks who died before I was born or when I was very young. She talked about how important he was when she was a teen. Again, it's not missing the man, but missing what she associated with him. Her kids can know Michael Jackson. They can know his music and not have to know about the trials, surgeries or general oddness that surrounded him.

All that being said. My heart goes out to the people who did really know him. His family and friends. I wish them comfort in this time of grief.

Question about Tornados

2009-06-25T15:41:00.001-07:00

For most of my life I've lived in places that get tornadoes. I've been up close and personal with two and I don't want to make it 3. Recently I've been wondering about tornadoes in other parts of the world. I never hear about them. I lived in Germany for 5 years and never once recall a tornado warning. It seems likely that they do occur other places, but I am surprised that that I don't know for sure.

So I looked it up.

Every continent except Antarctica has them. Here is a link to Wikipedia's list of European ones. At least the worst ones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_tornadoes_and_tornado_outbreaks

I guess they have them, we just seem to have more. The US has about 1000 tornadoes a year. Due to the size of the nation the UK has a higher percentage of land covered by tornadic activity.

Information about tornadoes

http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html

My baby is 10

2009-06-25T04:49:00.000-07:00

My youngest child turns 10 today. My oldest is 20. I'm not one to be overly emotional about changes in life. I like the adventure of seeing what comes next. Still, my youngest is now in double digits. Hormones are starting to flow and full on puberty is not far away. Seems a bit weird that she would be this old and wanting Taylor Swift cd's instead of Barbies for her birthday. Little kids are so easy to shop for. I'm going to miss that stage.

Bessie

Is named after my grandmother who died a month before I became pregnant with her.

Looks very much like her brother Teddy, but has more in common with Tommy's personality.

She's devoted to her big sister. Her big sister is equally devoted to her.

I suspect she's the most musically talented of the 4. All play an instrument and Teddy is very gifted with his trumpet, but Bessie seems to pick up on things very fast. Faster than the others.

She's won an award for a film she wrote. At 6 she wrote a script to enter into the balloon film competition. At 7 she won "most inspiring film". Granted it was an award created for her by the competition's producers, but they also admitted she was in the top 3 of entrants. Everyone else who entered was at least 23.

She likes clothes, makeup and shoes way more that I ever did. Well, except for that point in the 80's where I dressed a lot like Boy George.

She NEVER forgets a birthday or other holiday. She's Dan's little reminder system.

She's so many things that the list could go on for pages. Mostly she's my little girl. For now. And she's the rest of the family's little girl too. Because her siblings are so much older than her, she's grown up with several 'parents'. There's always someone to tell her what to do. Got to be frustrating at times, but I guess the added security of always having a family member around is a good trade off for that frustration.

Happy Birthday Bessie. I love you.

Jonas Brothers

2009-06-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite Jonas Brother video ever

The boy balances better than I do in those heels.

I wish

2009-06-21T08:30:00.000-07:00

That when the police use horses in Westport at night they would do something about the poop. There is so much crap all over the place. It would be nice if they would use bags or something. If we have to pick up after our dogs then the city should pick up after their horses.

F-ing hot and tired

2009-06-19T12:15:00.001-07:00

I went out to Chalk & Walk for awhile this morning. When it was time for me to come back to the shop I discovered that Dan had lost the van. Totally couldn't remember where he parked it. Said it was in red lot 3d. It was in purple lot 2c which is not anywhere near red lot. It took 2 security guards and a golf cart an hour to find it. It is HOT in the parking garage. I was so overheated I felt like melting.

At least he didn't lose it for 4 hours like he did after Brookside St. Patrick's day parade. And I'm happy for every minute I was not with him that day.

Zelda Lily

2009-06-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

I like this blog called Zelda Lily There are some pretty good reads on it. It's where I first heard of MeMe Roth (I don't pay attention to AI and missed all that controversy) - and a search on her led me to this article. The Day The Sprinkles Died Contained in that article is this

Her extreme methods have earned her attention before: The police were called to a Y.M.C.A. in 2007 when she absconded with the sprinkles and syrups on a table where members were being served ice cream.

The mental image of someone snatching the sprinkles and syrup up and absconding with them is just too funny.

MeMe is a fruit loop on the loose, I look forward to more of her insane antics. You have to read up on her to truly appreciate the whack job that she is. She has serious body issues and projects them onto everyone. I think she's too thin, but heck, she only eats once a day. How is she going to gain any weight? It's worrisome that her kids are going to grow up with complexes centered around food. I'm also very glad that she's not in my school's P.T.A. Of course we could probably fend her off with some cotton candy on a stick from the school fair.

Brave Little Girl

2009-06-17T05:58:00.000-07:00

yesterday a girl came into the store asking to put out flyers for events going on "downtown". I asked where downtown and she hesitated before she admitted it was Power & Light. I started laughing at her. she seemed to get that a lot.

It's no secret that the city wants Westport to vanish so that people can head over to P&L for some overpriced party times. It is pretty funny that this girl was sent to Westport to pass out flyers. Do they think, everyone here wakes up and says "how can I push our customers over to that other district?" every day.

I kinda felt sorry for the young lady. I don't think she had much luck getting them out. And I know of at least one case where they were thrown away after she left. Seems she got smarter and started just asking to leave flyers out - not mentioning where they were for. When the business owner read it - in the trash it went.

some pictures i like

2009-06-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Not all of these are recent, but I was going through old pics and decided to post them anyway. Hard to find one of Tommy. He does NOT like having his picture taken.

yummy

2009-06-16T13:20:00.001-07:00

I've started getting slushies at KC Juice. Today I was in a tropical mood and got one made with guava & pineapple juices with mango fruit added to it.

Yummy yummy yummy

Hidden wheat

2009-06-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Researching wheat allergies I found several legitimate sources that claimed most starch in food is corn starch and that if it's wheat it's usually listed.

They lied

they so lied

every time I try something with starch on the label it makes me react. I don't react to corn, so it must be wheat. even my pimento spread with jalapeno's had some hidden wheat.

no more unknown starches for me.

salad for lunch. no wheat hiding in the greens.

good stuff

2009-06-14T10:44:00.000-07:00

There is another art gallery in Westport. The Gypsy Gallery is open where the Starbucks used to be. I've been told that it's just until the landlord rents the place, but I also have been told how much he wants to rent it for. Gypsy Gallery may be there for quite awhile. I like having more galleries in Westport. I enjoy looking at the art.

Other good news.

Awhile I posted about the tire damaging stretch of 71. Seems like they are going to fix it. I noticed that they have the pot holes numbered and it goes over 200 for that stretch. Shame the didn't do something to maintain it before it got to be that bad and they had to work harder to fix it. At least it's going to be fixed now. :-)

261 days

2009-06-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

Raising $2million to fight cancer. Trying to at least. check him out, you'll enjoy it.

The music is great and the project is too.

http://sureshsingaratnam.com/blog/261-days/

Bathtime

2009-06-12T10:25:00.000-07:00

yesterday Fergie had another bath. There was a lot less drama this time. She still does not like water much, but seems to be adjusting to the idea of getting a bath anyway. She was probably just testing us before, seeing if she could force us to not do it. Dog are like that. If they think there's a chance you won't make them do something they don't want to do - they'll work hard to avoid it. Kinda like kids. Of course Fergie is much bigger and stronger than your average 3 year old. :-)

Try this

2009-06-11T12:31:00.001-07:00

http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

Fergie pictures

2009-06-09T05:19:00.000-07:00

Big dog, lilttle shop

2009-06-08T13:19:00.001-07:00

I brought Fergie to the shop for the first time yesterday. Everything went way better than I could have hoped for. She loves to ride in the car now and is pretty mellow when meeting people, so she's a good shop dog. From now on, unless it's raining - she'll be up here on Tuesdays and Sundays.

The day was mostly uneventful. Fergie did bark at one large poodle, but that was the only barking/grownling incident. Don't know why either. She didn't bark at other dogs, but really didn't like that poodle. she preferred to lay in the middle of the store, but I had to convince her to lay in back on her pillow. I warned everyone who came in that I had a dog. I figured people with allergies would be happier knowing BEFORE they encountered her. Other people, I just figured they wouldn't want a 100lb dog to sit up and scare them.

I was going to take pictures, but my camera was dead. Got new batteries for tomorrow.

It's been one of those days

2009-06-06T18:14:00.001-07:00

Usually people mean one of those bad days when they say that. I mean one of those fantastic days that leaves a smile on your face.

Sunny, happy and fun. What more could you ask for. Actually today's good day started yesterday.

My daughter got her work study taken care of. Now she can afford tuition next fall and just has to earn $$ for her rent and food.

Gabby told me about Boomerang AND that Waldo's has a wheat free pizza And that her friend knows of a beer that's good and ok for me to drink.

I remembered that Jimmy Johns will put their sandwiches in lettuce instead of bread.

I generally feel good.

I lost 5lbs since I stopped eating wheat.

Got the contract for Chalk & Walk today. It's one of my favorite events to work. They still need artists if anyone knows anyone who wants to sign up - MAY EVANS for example. It's free and they give you the chalk.

Sold a lot of buttons. I swear some days I think I could just open up a place that sold nothing but buttons. Call it's Betty's Button Bonanza and giggle when people trip over the name.

Croman decided to behave himself.

got Sims 3 and it's amazing. Probably too amazing. I have to set limits or I will lose track of my actual world.

Susi managed to make enough with balloons to pay for her rent. I've told her about 1000 times that she should just do balloons if she need a job. Today she believes me.

Teddy cat gave me snuggles last night. So did Fergie. So did puppy. so did that kitten. So did Paul. I'm glad it was a cool night and that they took turns because I would have been overheated.

So that's why I am happy. Well, some of the reasons anyway. I hope that everyone who reads this has a huge list of reasons why they are happy too.

Don't believe everything you hear/read/see on tv

2009-06-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

Westport is NOT dying as fast as rumor would have you believe.

A new art gallery/frame shop is opening up in the horseshoe. A new clothing store called Evolve is going to open soon and today I just fount out that Boomerang is moving to the area.

I can't speak to the night time economy, but in the day time there has been a real increase in business to to retail stores.

Lots of times I feel like the city is trying to do this district in. Why? i don't know, just seems like it. Even if that's true, it looks like they are failing and Westport is going to survive after all.

Updates

2009-06-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Fergie - She's doing well. We gave her a bath yesterday. She's needed one for awhile, but it took several people to do it. She's strong and DOES NOT LIKE baths. We did it outside and had to corner her on the porch before we could get it done. As much work as it was I'm going to do it again soon. Maybe if we do it on a regular basis she will finally just accept that it is going to happen. She's also gained about 15lbs which looks good on her. I'm guessing that she'll gain 5-10 more pounds before she reaches her full weight. She's a big dog overall. She stood up an put her paws on my shoulder yesterday and I think she's between 6' and 6'2" when she stands up like that. Her jowls started getting droopier too. I never thought about it before, but I guess that's a part of aging with danes. Her muzzle looked more like a labs than a great dane's, but there has been a noticeable change in the past month or so.

Stupid bags - Ok, not so stupid. I am grateful for the donation and am using them, but man that was a lot of bags. I'm working on getting them rolled up into workable amounts. Each box can be cut down to about 1/10 the size this way. That will take up a lot less room.

Wheat - based on the way I feel after just a few days without wheat - yeah that was the problem. It sucks big time, but it also doesn't suck. I'm still going to eat the occasional waffles, but not so often. I made a list of foods I will miss and most of them are bad for me anyway - so not being able to eat them will be a good thing in the long run. I think I've been dealing with this for a lot longer than I imagined. For nearly 3 years I've had chronic sinusitis. After a couple of wheat free days it's markedly improved. Not gone yet, but much better than it has been in ages. Some of the odd skin irritations have started to diminish as well.

Grocery shopping yesterday was a new experience. Dan and Teddy thought it would be funny to tease me about all the things I can no longer eat. I am a huge fan of frosted mini-wheats. Obviously those are off limits now along with lots of other things. My family thought they were being funny until I pointed out that I do all the grocery shopping and if they didn't knock it off I might only buy things that I can eat. Dan & Teddy decided that they would prefer to not annoy the person who buys their food. It was a wise choice.

The shop - Next Sunday Peter Eddings will be playing sax in front of the shop. Time is still up in the air, but I think it will be around 1. Peter is a fantastic young jazz musician. Stop by and hear him play if you have time.

is there life after wheat?

2009-05-30T15:49:00.001-07:00

It has come to my attention that I may have developed a wheat allergy. I didn't know such a thing was possible at this stage in my life - but I guess I don't know everything.

It's been going on for several months - I just didn't know what it was. I never thought to look at bread as the cause of anything. It was always the other parts of the meal that must have upset my stomach. Then there was the cough. That started about 3 months ago. I had a cold so I didn't think much of it. The cold went away, but the cough didn't. Ok, that happens to me too. Coughs take a long time to go away. Still, it felt different. I didn't have any lingering chest congestion, just a sudden an unpredictable cough. Also eating was getting weird. It felt like stuff was always getting caught in my tonsils and choking me. I had choking/coughing fits while drinking things with raspberries in them. The tiny tiny little seeds would cause me to choke and then cough to the point of vomiting. Sometimes my own saliva would choke me. While my throat wasn't swollen enough to cause problems with breathing, it must have been swollen. Eventually I started to vomit after every meal with wheat in it. (every meal) I still didn't look at the breads and say "you're doing this to me." Well my active brain didn't. My subconscious must have known because the sight of bread would make me go "uggghck" even though I love fresh bread.

Eventually my conscious and subconscious got together and had a talk. It happened after two distinct instances last week. First I had a cup of soup and half sandwich from Panara. It was hard to eat the sandwich even though it was 4pm and I hadn't eaten since 11pm the night before. I was only able to eat part of the sandwich and a few min later I threw up. I also spent the rest of the day coughing and feeling headachy and bitchy. The next day I had a soft pretzel and juice with blueberries in it. Again I only ate half of the pretzel. I almost choked on the blueberries. Somewhere in those few min I realized that wheat might be my enemy. A few min later as i was puking up the pretzel I decided to give wheat free life a try.

So this week I am not ingesting products with gluten in them. Sucks because I generally love products with gluten in them. Probably good for me though. I am already less congested and I haven't coughed or vomited in two days. In a couple of weeks I will try eating some bread or something and see what happens.

I do have one very very important question. If I am sensitive to wheat does that mean I can't drink beer anymore? So far research says the answer is no and that sucks on so many levels.

Running Away

2009-05-29T06:36:00.001-07:00

A woman recently faked her own kidnapping in order to run away to Disney World.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30996217/

She cleaned out her bank account and took coworkers id (probably for the plane ride), grabbed one of her 3 daughters and headed off to the land of the giant mouse. She's in all sorts of trouble with the law, her work, her husband and probably tons of other people. Basically she just snapped and ran away.

Before that she was one of those hard working overly scheduled types. I'm guessing that she never learned one of the most important things my grandmother taught me. She taught me that sometimes you just have to say "Fuck it" (my word, she didn't cuss) You have to chuck responsibility for a few hours and have some fun. I remember the times she would call the school and tell them I had an appointment and then pick me up to go shopping. It wasn't often, and I was still expected to keep up with my work, but it was memorable. It was freeing and made the rest of the crappy stuff more bearable.

People don't do that very often anymore. Too many give up taking time off from work and what little time they do take is still scheduled. It starts with kids. When do they just play anymore? Soccer, scouts, dance, art lessons, music lessons - it goes on and on and on. What's wrong with just laying in the grass looking at bugs. There is no rule that we have to be productive 100% of our waking hours. Everyone needs some down time.

Dear Officer Parker

2009-05-28T17:49:00.001-07:00

Officer Parker,Badge #1939

Kansas City does NOT have an entertainer's license. If you're going to be paid to enforce the law at least KNOW IT. There are restrictions on performing. Do you know what they are? Did you know the magician at 13th & Wyandotte was asked to be there to participate in the scavenger hunt. He was NOT breaking the law as it is currently written. You personally not have the legal right to restrict free speech except as already restricted by Kansas City code. You're paid to enforce, not create laws.

Look up the code dumbass.

Hey, while you're doing that - check with your boss. See the Chief of Police recognizes that the code as it is written is unconstitutional and has publicly stated so.

No the magician moved on because you were a dick and threatened him. Way to treat a law abiding citizen. Glad to see you working so hard to solve actual crime in this city.

*******************

Thanks to couple of emails I'm going to clarify things a bit.

My dad is a cop.(not here) He retires this year after nearly 30 years as an officer. I have respect for the work, stress and danger of being a police officer. I know they don't get paid crap for what they do. I don't respect the ones who get John Wayne Syndrome and act like they are above the laws they are supposed to enforce. Telling someone to cease a legal activity or face arrest is wrong and my post reflects my anger at that.

As a side note - anon emails are not really anon. They can be traced back to at least the server they were sent from. Sending me emails with my own email as the return address is amusing, but if you're gonna say it, why not use your own name?

How come

2009-05-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

a very high percentage of the people current mayor Funkhouser follows on Twitter seem top be shell accounts? No pictures, most of the time very few or even no updates and most were set up around the same time. This is not true of the people following him just the ones he follows.

It's not like there is a shortage of people in the KC area with twitter accounts. And there are a lot of interesting ones out there to follow. He might be more in touch with people if he tried interacting occasionally.

Hair cut

2009-05-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Bessie called yesterday and she wanted to know if her friend's grandmother could cut her hair. I said no. She could trim a couple of inches off, but no more than that. I know Bessie wants her hair cut because all of her friends have shorter hair now, but mommy isn't ready for her to take that next step. She wants to do it because SHE wants to do it, not to copy her friends I will say ok. My baby is getting older and is heading towards that stage where friends are all important. We've already left Barbie behind and soon she'll leave mommy behind too. Just for awhile. I've been through this before. They come back emotionally just before they are ready to leave physically.

There will be other things that Bessie wants to try and I hope she has the sense of self to know when it's time to say no to her friends. It's a hard thing to do. And it's hard for me to be there to help out during this time. I'll try, but she'll put up a front of not wanting my advice. Support and rules are what I have, she won't want the first and won't like the second. Oh well, no need to borrow trouble yet. She's still my baby for the most part. I'll enjoy that while I can. Soon enough will come time to worry.

and to beat the boys off with a large stick. That's another scary part that's coming. Dating.

I met M.V. and his daughter the other day. She's a beautiful girl and he's going to need a very big stick and maybe some bear traps here in a year or two. She was also very sweet and happy to spend time with her dad, so he's not in the danger zone yet. It got me to thinking though. She's only a couple of years older than my youngest and 2 years can make a huge difference. I'm trying and failing to picture Bessie as a middle schooler. Probably failing because I don't want think of that.

Of course my other daughter is now 20. I've been through all of this, so I should be better prepared. Should be, not am.

And it made me sad the first time she got a grown up hair cut too. Part of me like the chop job she gave herself at 5 more.

Dont' forget your Sunscreen

2009-05-22T15:14:00.001-07:00

It's a lakeside weekend for many people. If you spend a lot of time outdoors this weekend, don't forget your sunscreen. someone shared this picture on twitter and it was too good to not share here.

Thank You Jim & Stacy

2009-05-22T08:48:00.000-07:00

A while back I got some boxes from Jim & Stacy at the Edward Jones office. Big, giant boxes that could sleep 2 if need be. I planned to make benches out of them - but those plans are on hold. Right now I have emptied 10 of the boxes of bags into them. couldn't quite fit 11 - but I tried. At least I can turn around now. Still a bit crowded, but not quite as bad. Everything should be back to my normal disorganized state by Sunday.

OMG

2009-05-20T10:22:00.001-07:00

I have to find my camera because words do not describe the number of bags I have sitting in here right now. 11 boxes that are 2'x18"x3' or somewhere in that vicinity. Stuffed full of empty balloon bags. I'm still in awe of them.

Bad day for poor Dan

2009-05-20T08:03:00.000-07:00

yesterday was not a good day for my husband. At least the morning kinda sucked.

It started the day before with our younger son. He likes to pressurize two liter bottles and then toss them so they'll explode. This may or may not be entirely due to my setting a bad example, but we'll leave that question for another day. He never throws them at or near anyone. It's just kinda fun to watch them go nuts when he tosses them.

The other day he tried to pressurize one with some canned air. It didn't work and he wasted the air I used on my computer. He came in and for reasons yet unknown didn't dispose of the 2 liter. He just left it in the living room. Dan came across it yesterday morning and thought he would take a quick drink before we headed out the door.

Did you know that canned air contains some kind of bittering agent to keep people from huffing it? I didn't until yesterday morning. I don't think Dan did either until that liquid his his mouth. He started sputtering and coughing and then puking. The boys told us what had been done to that particular coke and thankfully Dan didn't swallow any of it. He did feel queasy for the rest of the day.

I felt bad for him. He's ok, so his reaction is kinda funny now. Well, not to Dan - it may take awhile before he thinks it's funny.

Starbucks bags

2009-05-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

I get silver bags from the local Starbucks. What is the plural of Starbucks anyway, Starbuckses?

I get lots of bags from them. I've crocheted one purse but am going to make a purse like this one from some of the others. Black topstitching on the silver bag looks great. I'll line it with some cool print, just don't know what yet.

I'll post pictures of the crocheted one tomorrow. It may be a one of a kind because that material is HARD to work with.

a solution

2009-05-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

we have a rotary mower. my son says it's too hard to use. I found a solution while looking at fail blog today.

see more Fail Blog

Bags

2009-05-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

I mentioned this on Twitter, but didn't make a big announcement here.

I asked Pioneer Balloon Company if they would donate some of their bags. They do a lot of events and save the bags afterwards to track how many balloons they used. Betty Valamis was very gracious and said she would be happy to.

I got an email from Kenny in the warehouse on Friday. They've shipped me some bags and I should have them any day now. I was very excited. The tote made from balloon bags was one of my favorites. Then I reread the email. Kenny had shipped two PALLETS worth of bags. I don't know exactly how many that is, but it's a LOT!!

I will be making many many totes and purses from the balloon bag.

And I will build a wall of boxes containing balloon bags that I will take down one brick at a time. :-)

Mad

2009-05-18T12:56:00.000-07:00

mad, jealous, annoyed, disgusted. I'm a whirlwind of emotions and none of them are good. Why? My parents are going to visit my brother this summer and watch hid kids for him since he can't afford a babysitter. I suggested they come up here for a day or two, but they can't because they will have all those kids.

Nice that they are helping him out. Fucking sucks that this is my dad's 3rd or 4th trip to Arkansas to help with the boys in the past couple of years and HE HASN'T SEEN MY KIDS IN A DECADE. Fuck that. I'm going to be pissed off for ages.

We were going to go and visit them last Thanksgiving, but my mom wanted us to go to my brother's house instead. My older kids wouldn't go if they had to go to Arkansas and I didn't enjoy that once again my kids would be pushed to the back so my mom could spend time with my nephews. The only time they saw my mom without a cousin in tow was when my brother was in prison and all the boys were with their mom.

10 - 1 odds that she forgets my oldest daughter's birthday on Friday.

I enjoyed spending time with my grandparents when I was young and I hate that my kids missed out on that. No wonder my youngest likes going with her best friend to the friend's grandparent's house.

yep, going to be mad for ages.

High Jump

2009-05-16T06:58:00.001-07:00

When I was dropping my son off for Saturday school this morning I saw a sign congratulating James White on taking the national high jump record. I'm late to the game since he did it in April but still - WOW.

he's 5'10, the same height at my older son, and he jumped 7'5 3/4' which is 1 foot 3 3/4 inches higher than the top of my younger son's head.

That's freaking incredible.

Here's a link to a story on it

http://www.kmbc.com/news/19251983/detail.html

lotto scam

2009-05-16T06:10:00.001-07:00

So yesterday we got a legitimate looking check in the mail for $4800. Since nobody owes us that amount I was immediately suspicious. The attached letter explains that we have won a random lottery. All I have to do is send them $2800 to cover the taxes. and keep the other 2k for myself. Plus I still have $120k coming to me!! So cool!

Of course I know it's a scam. I've even heard of this one before and I'm not about to deposit the check and send them 2800. It's probably too much work, but I would like to track down the person who sent the check and do 2 things.

1. If they are in the US I would deposit the check without spending any of it. When it comes back to my bank I would then sue the guy for a bad check and try to get my 4800 out of him.

2. Explain to him all the wrong things he did in his scam letter.
for example:

The envelope was a dead giveaway. No return address, generic envelope with a poor quality sticker on the front. Legit companies usually care about their image and my 9 year old could have made a better looking envelope. Where's the logo? The color?

The letter was obviously photocopied. It was addressed to Dear Sir/Madam. Oh come on now. Given the abundant availability of word processing programs you can do better than that. It only takes a second to change the greeting and print a new copy for each potential sucker.

A company that appears to be in Canada with a bank that is clearly in the United States. Keep your geography straight.

Grammar is important.

Ok, I might not share those insights with him. It's probably better off if he keeps screwing up while he's trying to scam. The lack of attention to details will get him caught eventually. I'm going to turn my envelope and letter over to the post office person in charge of mail fraud and hope they get one step closer to shutting down this operation.

Still wish I had the opportunity to scam him back though. Oh well, some links that I find interesting.

http://www.fraudaid.com/check_liability.htm

http://www.419eater.com/ the image at the top of the page is from 419eater.com The trophy room cracks me up but most are a bit too offensive to post here.

something to think about

2009-05-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

A few interesting links which have parts that may be applicable to Kansas city - though many parts are NOT. Some deal with squatting which is a concept I do support if it's done correctly. I do not support using abandoned houses for drugs and prostitution. Why do I support squatting? Because it's a better alternative to having abandoned buildings AND homeless people.

Still...

http://www.thesimpleway.org/housing/getting/index.html

http://squattheplanet.com/

http://urbanedibles.org/

http://www.ehow.com/how_5015637_fight-abandoned-homes-neighborhood.html

http://www.sftu.org/chronhnj.html

http://www.innercitypress.org/housing.html this one is especially interesting to me since part of the sources claim that in 2000 KC had 7500 abandoned buildings.

http://www.wikihow.com/Squat-in-Abandoned-Property

http://www.greenusesforwaste.co.uk/about-squatting-living-for-free-abandoned-building.html

http://squat.net/

http://takebacktheland.blogspot.com/

Two things

2009-05-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

Two things I wish. Well, two of many things I wish, but these are related.

1. I wish that new construction permits would be put on hold until it has been proven that new is better than rebuilding existing construction in the city.

2. I wish that it was easier to take abandoned houses away from the people who abandoned them and put them up for sale at a low price.

I see so many houses in this city that just sit vacant or worse vandalized. Why are the owners allowed to just leave them there to rot? Why do people use resources to build new buildings when so many of these could be reused? Reuse them and you serve more than one purpose. You don't waste more resources of course, but you also help to rebuild our neighborhoods. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle can apply to the construction and housing industries too.

Blog post on abandoned houses
from Toellner Tells It

bath milks

2009-05-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

When I lived in Texas I used to make and sell bath salts and bath milks. In Mississippi I sold herbs in bulk as well as a few other products from my favorite wholesaler. I finally tracked that wholesaler down and am going to start making the bath milks, oils and salts again. No soap. Can't do that very well. I've been into aromatherapy for 20+ years, so it will be cool to incorporate that into the store. Expect to see the first items around June 1st.

naps

2009-05-13T04:57:00.000-07:00

I'm a night owl. Given my choice I would stay up until 2 or 3 and then sleep until 10 or so. My most creative and productive hours are after midnight. Sadly I don't get to stay up much after midnight lately. To save $$ I ride in with Dan, so I have to be getting out of bed at 5:30. Not a good thing to do if you only just got to bed at 3.

To cope with my altered sleep schedule I nap. I have an air mattress at the shop and I set it up at 6:30 (when I get here) and sleep until 8:30. It's not a perfect solution, but it does make a huge difference in my day. The store doesn't open until 12 and before the nap time I would just try to get things done. I was always exhausted by later afternoon. Now I nap instead of work and get a LOT more done in the afternoon. Naps are good.

Too bad most people aren't in jobs that allow them to nap. There have been studies that show an increase in overall productivity for workers who nap. The Danish government has approved naps for night shit workers. That's pretty cool. I've worked the night shift and while I didn't usually need a nap I know a lot of people who did. Not everyone is programmed to stay up all night like I am and a lot of people who should work day shift end up on the night shift. Naps would be good for them.