Saturday, August 29, 2009

Jojo's List of End of Summer Stuff.


MENU OF THE DAY:
Music: Pandora.com is playing an Uncle Tupelo song on the Ryan Adams radio selection.
Book: still struggling with Pat Conroy's new book.
Favorite song these days: Mishka's Above the Bones.
The Best thing that happened this week: Good friends.
* * * * * * * * *
Taking advice from my friend Sarah, here we go. Back to normal.
1. So autumn is coming and maybe i am okay with that because it occurred to me that i am already getting tired of taking care of my patio plants.
2. It's a good thing i was never a parent. I can barely keep up with watering my hanging baskets every other day. How would i have ever make lunches for my kids when they were in elementary school?
3. Speaking of school lunches: I never ate lunch my whole senior year. i was a new kid in school and i hated the idea of sitting alone at a table. And i wasn't sure how the line worked and feared being stupid, not knowing what to do. So i saved the money.
4. Ted Kennedy. Rest in Peace.
5. I never did get that pedicure this summer.
6. What i like about autumn is i usually watch more movies. I miss watching videos. There are so many movies i want to see and it seems like i've had my netflix movies at home for a month before i send them back.
7. The netflix people either love me alot, (cause i don't cost them postage), or they are pissed because they want that top movie back so they can get it out to another customer.
8. I returned Seven Pounds without watching it. Somebody tell me if i need to get it back.
9. Some teachers are going on strike here in our state. The Letters to the Editor of course are not supportive and i have to agree. I love the duties of my job but i don't know how much longer I can continue working in a business where i feel like an outsider.
10. I also like autumn for coming up with home projects. I have been needing to paint around inside since Troy put in my new doors last May. Autumn always seems like a good time for that kind of home work.
Ok, that's all. What's on your list of stuff.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Blog is now open for business for all.

Sorry for the inconvenience of having to set the blog to private over the past about my nephew's obituary. Google was faster than i thought it getting it off. I only mention this now because I hope nobody checked these past days and thought i kicked them out. If so, I apologize. (I don't have emails organized on my home computer and i knew i was missing folks. the problem with the Google search is over.)

We're making a video for Josh's ceremony. We're using "Above the Bones" by Mishka. If you have a chance, check it out. It's a beautiful reggae song with a very perfect message. For the baby pictures I'm trying to decide on whether or not to use Lennon's version or Ben Harper's version of "Beautiful Boy" . I'm leaning towards Lennon one minute and then Ben Harper the other. The only issue i have with the song is "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans." but there is a line in nearly every song that doesn't fit.

Though the Mishka song is perfect. Equeyaya, you little music queen, you might even have this song already.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for my family.

I'll be back very soon with a wine musings to replace this one. Maybe tonight.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Rules that I have for myself....What are your rules?



MENU OF THE DAY:

Music playing: http://www.pandora.com/ - have y'all heard of this? it's so great. You log on, plug in your favorite artist and it chooses similar music (like Genius on iTunes). Right now Counting Crows is playing the stripped version of Rain King.

Book: the new Pat Conroy, South of Broad. It started out great, but now it's starting to seem implausible. Especially the dialogue. And i'm having trouble liking some of the characters. But i will definitely finish it.

Photo: I didn't take it, Brian did. It's not recent, it's from that place we like to go on the beach at Vashon Island. But that's my little spot in the window and my book and my glass of chardonnay. (It's 180 degree view of the Puget Sound from that little spot.)

Quote: "God in his goodness sent the grape to cheer both great & small. Little fools will drink too much, big fools not at all."

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

Being somewhat of an anal retentive personality, I have certain rules for myself that i follow. I am not saying they are good rules by any means, nor am i saying i am always successful following them. Here they are:

1. I could never not exercise even though i don't love it one bit. So i made a rule: that I never miss more than two days of exercise in a row unless I am on a vacation trip where running just isn't an option. (it's usually a flyfishing trip where going on a run could cause me to run into a critter like a cougar or the access is lousy and unsafe.)

2. If i miss more than two days because of a vacation i make certain i run as many days in a row (and longer) for every day i missed.

3. I try and wash my hair every Wednesday and Sunday. I hate washing my hair more than anything about getting ready.

4. I make it a rule to not shop sales. (it's cause i hate shopping.)

5. If i wear eyeliner i either wear it only on top or only on the bottom. I experiment every so often but usually end up looking like Rocky Raccoon or one of those ugly bitchy looking Vanity Fair models.

6. I don't give compliments that i don't mean.

7. If i say, 'let's do lunch', you can be sure I will be calling you for lunch.

8. If you say 'let's do lunch' but you make it a habit to not follow through, i won't be cancelling even a chance to go to the dentist to make time. (Because going to the dentist every 6 months is one of my other rules.)

9. I have to straighten crooked levelor blinds and pictures on the wall, no matter where i am. Seriously, i would do it in Buckingham Palace if i had to. So If you have crooked stuff in your home, don't be surprised if i get up in the middle of the conversation to fix them. (I do that so i can go back to concentrating on what you are saying.)

10. You can count on me when you need to get a job completed.

11. You can count on me getting pissed off if you don't get your own job completed if it makes more work for me.

12. I balance my checkbook every single month, to the penny. I always know what is in my account. Sometimes i check it twice just to be sure. (Part of this comes with having been more poor in my younger years. And having always worked in accounting, with confidence i felt I could run my checkbook balance down to about 89 cents a few days before payday since i kept such close tabs. It's why i keep separate checkbooks from my past two husband(s)... )

13. Because i love wine when i drink it i try to keep it to one glass per hour. For example, if it's four hours i will have four glasses. A bottle is my limit.

14. What i don't limit is the number of books i buy, nor will i ever. I figure it's my crack cocaine and it's a lot healthier and cheaper. I think honestly i have likely spent about $300 this summer alone on books.

15. I am never late to appointments.

16. I lift free weights (8 lbs) three days a week at the minimum. I won't go over that weight because i don't want my arms to look like Madonna's.

17. I don't pray, but i make sure that i tell God Thank You.

OK, allofyall..... what rules do you have for yourself? I may come back and add some more as i think of them. Now i have to go, cause it's Sunday and i need to wash my hair.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Thought i'd change my blog, lest y'all start thinking i'm whoring for more Comments!


Disclaimer: Much as i would love to try and get over 50 comments again it's time for a change - vacation is officially over!
MENU OF THE DAY:
on iTunes: I have Genius turned on with a Wilco song and some more good stuff is playing. right now it's Ryan Adams - "To Be Young" - Next is Beck "Lost Cause".
Reading: OMG, the new Jonathan Tropper (NOT Hopper - thank you equeyaya!) book is amazing! "This is Where i Leave You" i love it as much as i loved "Book of Joe". I already finished the Richard Russo book.
Weather: last week was a heat wave over 100 degrees. This week it is 40 degrees cooler and feels like fall. Only 64 degrees!
(It does make it easier for me now that i'm back to work. (Island pearl, how are you doing in Hawaii with Felicia or Felicity or whatever the hell that hurricane is called.)
In my glass: (See photo) The label is actually better than the wine, which is obviously the reason i bought it. But it's not bad.
My most recent iTunes purchase: Don't laugh, but while getting my allergy shot last week and reading the only magazine they ever have in that waiting room - which is called "Outside" and is mostly aimed at extreme rock climber athlete types and likely gay men for all the good advertisements, there was an article by this one dude who said he just loved the song "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" and it reminded me of how long it's been since i heard that song and how much i used to love it. So i bought it. It's one of those guilty pleasure purchases, like "Wichita Lineman" or "Rockafella Skank" by Fatboy Slim (which i purchased one night after my second glass of wine, only to find that it really really grew on me!)
I also bought "Famous Blue Raincoat", but not by Leonard Cohen. This version is by some chick Kate Buckhaven or something like that.
(I am thinking that quotations and italics are being a little bit redundant, so i will from here on out, forego the quotations on titles of stuff and leave off the italics on actual quotes. There is too much formatting in blogging already! )
Quotes: Here's some stuff i came across in one of my many journals of stuff i've read in books:
"We love to buy books because we believe we're buying the time to read them." - the late Warren Zevon quoting Schoppenhauer. (written out 9-13-03)
"I don't try to do the right thing on purpose." - my husband, Brian (written out 9-5-03)
(speaking of Russo:) "She looked like the kind of woman who had spent her whole life waiting in line." - from his book Mohawk. (Isn't this a great description and can't you just picture her?)
Here's one of my favorites:
"If she learned nothing else over the past two years, she had absorbed one painful lesson: There is no such thing as safety, there is only strength." - from the book Folly, by Laurie R. King.
I'm not adding any random thoughts today, just the Menu.
What's on your Menu?

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Mid-Summer Wine Musings on The Last Few Days of Vacation. :(









MENU OF THE DAY:

In my glass: a chardonnay from this label i thought it was the menage a tois (sp?)wine, but i just noticed only two people are on the label. menage a dos? Whatever. It's good.


On iTunes: I recently discovered just how cool the iTunes Genius feature is. Right now i am listening to Van Morrison and Ryan Adams is next and Neil Young and Teddy Thompson and all my favorites, simply because i hit Genius after a Van Morrison song. Cool.

Weather: finally mid 70's after a Northwest heatwave that is so rare it's like as rare as what...... as a vegetarian having dinner in Tony Roma's Rib place... i'll come back to this.

Book: in the photo you can see i have Richard Russo's new book. it just came out today and i was there this morning to buy it. If i have a favorite author ( and i used to think i did and that it was Pat Conroy) i have to say it is now Russo. A few pages in and i can tell i like it already.


The best thing: My brother Troy, with his lately bad luck, just turned it around. With the messy divorce, his lovable old dog dying last month, having to sell his horse Chief this week and having a hard time keeping up with the economy and building homes, which is all he has done since he was 19, he just found out today that he got the construction supervisor job he applied for and it's a job doing EXACTLY what he wants. He has been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity for a long time and wanted the kind of job that helped people but also needed real benefits, and this is the Northwest version of Habitat that offers him that. He got the job out of 100 applicants. We are so happy and relieved for him.

The worst thing: i know, i know, i shouldn't complain, but i have to go back to work Friday. But this is the first time in all my years i have not been ready. I am losing my heart for union work and i don't feel good about what i do anymore. I can't believe how my attitudes are shifting. It makes me uneasy. I think we hurt more than we help. I need to get an attitude adjustment and figure this out.

OK, enought whining about that.... here are some photos. and even a video. (if i can do this correctly.) That is me flyfishing the Skykomish river in 100 degree weather. (I actually caught four rainbow, which is surprising for me especially since it was during a heat wave.) The video below is of me casting that Brian took. I have a nice cast people tell me so he wanted to video it so i could see it. The thing about casting a fly line is you should NOT do what Brad Pitt does in "A River Runs Through It" because it's just a waste of fly line and means you are showing off. But it's fun to try and do every once in awhile. And it is pretty when you succeed, but it doesn't really catch fish. (PS, it was NOT really Brad Pitt casting either.)

*********************
1. Why do the new TV remotes have no sleep button on them to make it easier?
2. I hate those new Geico insurance commercials with the eyeballs on the stack of dollars and i bet y'all do too. I can't believe this company hasn't put together a focus group that hasn't told them already that they suck and are creepy.
3. Same with that Burger King dude.
4. But then again, you Baby Boomers will remember that terrible commercial for Shake 'N Bake and the little girl in that horrible southern accent saying "And I helped." Only she said it as "hayyyyullllped". And to this day, i remember that commercial.
5. I actually like commercials and usually hate it when my husband flips through them. My favorites are still the E-Trade baby.If you have not seen them, you must YouTube E-Trade baby and watch them all. They are the best.
6. Let me pause here and get myself another glass of that menage a dos chardonnay. (I am mixing up my foreign languages here.) I have no idea if i am spelling this correctly. I was never good in any language by English. And even English gives me fits. (I am telling on myself here: I spoke in double negatives until i was 20 years old.)
7. .....Ok, I'm back. I was just thinking about this the other day. Is it weird that i have read about 11 books on my vacation? Cause I have. And that means i don't do too much adventure stuff if i can read so much. (But then again it's nothing for me to read a book in a day.) And i have been on vacation since June 26.
8. Please, don't hate me for that.
9. I have been running alot! So i'm not TOTALLY lazy. OOOH, today I had a bit of a scare when a pit bull (off leash) came up to me. I had seen this pit bull running loose while driving around here, but never encountered him before but had been worried i might run into him since he is on my route. So when he charged up I stayed calm because i've been told about not showing fear. I just kept running and I didn't even point my pepper spray at him. And i could tell within the first mile of running with him that he was just happy to be running with me and totally harmless. He ended up running all four miles with me today even though i kept trying to lose him. He stayed every step of the way. He was just like a black lab really. However what worried me most was having people seeing this dog running with me all that way thinking it was being irresponsible running with a pit bull off leash. I kept wanting to yell at them, "He's not my dog!"
10. Ok, that's all i got. Where are Donna, MHS, umma, Lynnie, Kat? and all the other 19 followers here? What has your summer been like? Come and tell us.