Ten Randoms

This is not Baby Brady. This is my friend Renee and her little boy Santino. I needed a photo for this post and this one i took yesterday makes me smile every time i look at it so here it is.

1. I joined the YMCA again. My foot is better, but has that kind of ache that doesn't keep you from working out, but is hard to completely ignore. I hope this doesn't mean my running game is over, i really wanted to reach my goal of running until i was 60 years old.

2. The worst thing about joining the Y is that i have to shave my legs more often now.

3. I love having Mondays off. Today the most ambitious thing i've done all day was reduce the percentage of my DVR from 65% full to 40% full by watching those last episodes of the final season of The Office.

4. They made me cry.

5. Is there no more perfect man than Jim on The Office? Or perfect woman than Pam? And how about the perfect prototype of marriage and family?  (You know what? I think i hate them.)

6. The grocery clerks in our county, and surrounding counties, are possibly going on strike today. I hope for their sake it doesn't last 81 days like the last time (in 1989) if they do. I will not be crossing picket lines. At the same time i have no plans to do big grocery shopping today either. But H&L Produce is close by. And the wine shop is next door to H&L. AND there is always going out to dinner!

7. My nephew Brian (who has always been special to me) and his wife Adrienne just had a baby boy named Brady. After a week of being in the hospital they think they come home today if Adrienne's BP comes down. They are exhausted but doing well. It's funny to see him become so smitten. Brian's a big reader and he told me he wants his kid to be one too and that he already bought books for the baby, including the one his Dad read him: Where the Red Fern Grows.

8. One thing you should never do a week before Halloween: open up that big bag of candy that you bought at Costco.

9. My vegan mac N "cheese" turned out surprisingly really good on Friday for my company. One friend is on Weight Watchers and the other a vegan. It was probably one of the cheapest meals i have ever prepared for company, because they didn't want dessert either.

10. Who here watches Orange is the New Black ? I haven't yet but i just found that i can stream it on Netflix on my computer. Also when everyone here watching Project Runway is done with their DVR viewings i would like to talk about the finale.  (No spoilers until we know that louie is done, because i'm pretty sure she isn't.)



Notes to Myself: 
Book: Prep 
Sunrise: 7:36 am
Sunset: 6:13 pm
Temp: 51/45
Shout Out: susieatl
Word Count: 458 (Not counting the captions and these notes) From now on i'm going to try and keep these blog posts under 500 words.

Middlefinger

Disclaimer: I realize that if this is all i have to rant about lately then i'm in a pretty good space. I had written on a post it note  'Middlefinger' as an idea for a blog post awhile back. I recently found it in being used as a bookmark and decided it sounded like a good idea since I had no other.               

1. The Tea Party and Republicans and this whole government shitdown. What is this? The 12th day?

2. And all the pundits talking about it too.

3. We quit getting the newspaper because The Tribune for some stupid reason can't keep our subscription ongoing without interruption or renewal in Brian's checking account.

4. The upside of that is our newpaper carrier didn't know we had not been paying since last May (and neither did Brian because unlike me, he doesn't look at his statement). Now that i think about it, maybe he DID know but gave it to us anyway since we always left him a $6 tip at the beginning of the month. (He used to leave me these great hand written thank-yous for those tips, he was a somewhat mentally challenged adult, but no dummy!)

5. I'm a sucker for thank-yous. You've heard my rant before. Lately my nieces and nephews have been great though. They have heard my non-thank you rants from the past. If i am going to take my time and venture out shopping at the mall for a wedding present or baby present, when i HATE to shop, the least the recipient can do is send a Facebook thank you.

6. I am back on blood pressure medication. I went off in July (same month that i quit getting allergy shots after 34 years!) while on vacation and kept checking it and it was normal. But now, even with working only an 18 hour week, i need them again. 154/103 was the highest reading this evening. (Though i should not complain after hearing about a friend of a friend getting a heart transplant this week.)

7. I can't run so it might have something to do with that. It's been two weeks. But i'm thinking it's work. I hurt my foot while laying beauty bark two weeks ago. I think i pulled something in it by pushing hard on the shovel for those 6 hours. I went out last night and did it anyway but it really felt bad. I'm afraid i'm getting near the end of my running days. I know i love to say i hate running. But in truth i would totally miss it if i couldn't. It has been making me cranky.

8. Miley Cyrus. She used to be a rather nice role model for awhile there. Now look at her. She's the worst. Miley makes Madonna....well..... almost look like the real Madonna. It's sickening when musical artists have to hype up their image to that degree which degrades the music, not matter what style. Lady Gaga comes to mind too.

9. Who else does that shit? Elton John comes to mind from back in the day, but that's when i stopped liking him so much too. You wont see Petty, Neil Young and Springsteen doing that crap. Can y'all think of anyone?

10. Yeah, i'm going to keep writing here like a bunch of you are still reading. So from time to time i'll still put those requests for feedback here.

11. Back to #4 for a moment: I kind of miss the newspaper and think i'll have Brian restart it. Hell, i have no idea what is going on anymore because i refuse to watch CNN or MSNBC and my favorite King 5 never has a story anymore that isn't some big shooting, it's enough to make this little homebody turn agoraphobic. And I don't need any more reasons to not leave the house. Next thing you know i'll be getting cats.

12. Of course that is a lie. Cats definitely get the middlefinger - especially those posted on Facebook.

13.  I have to cook for a vegan friend next Friday! HELP! I stupidly thought i had the best idea: gnocchi and i even was going to make it with ricotta instead of potato (because it's much better with the cheese) forgetting, of course, that vegan is far more militant than just being vegetarian. My friend Debbie is going to help me so she will share in the blame for cooking a meal that tastes like air.

OK so if you are reading i have two requests:

#1 Do you have any good vegan recipes that are fit for serving for a nice dinner? (Thug Kitchen isn't what i want for this.)

#2 What other musicians are in the Miley Cyrus/Lady Gaga genre of clowns who sing?


Notes to myself:
Sunset: 6:35 pm
Sunrise: 7:19 am
Book: Cuckoo's Calling (The Harry Potter author writing under a pseudonym)
Blood pressure meds: Day 1... again.

I should have known.....

You're really NOT here. I started checking around to figure out why this blog gets so many views but no responses. Here's the thing: it's NOT really getting so many views.

http://spamspoiler.blogspot.com/2012/12/adsense-watchdog-zombiestat-vampirestat.html

I got suspicious when i put up the previous blog post right and right away it got a hit. That seemed weird to me because i don't have any alerts like that. So I clicked through my blog audience and noticed something called 'vampirestat', also 'adwatch' and something with 'secret' in the title. These links showed having the most views. Thankfully I didn't click on their URL but when i Googled these I found that many bloggers were asking the same question. I found this site above which explains that they are not legitimate views at all. Makes so much sense to me now.

I'm putting this link here so if you are indeed reading and have a blog you need to be careful. I am not doing it so that you too can find that you are not as popular as you thought you were on your blog, (which is a blow to the ego, i have to admit)  I'm doing it to warn you NOT to click on those sites in your audience if you see them.

Well i guess there goes THAT post-retirement career! :)

Plus... i feel kind of stupid.

Notes to Self:            
Sunrise: 7:10 am
Sunset: 6:49 pm
Temp: 58 hi/46 low
All time page views for real: certainly nowhere close to what i thought!
Page views yesterday: 0
Last Book: two of them: Sisterland and Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Book i'm wanting to read: Why I Jump by that 13 year old autistic boy. (Jon Stewart really talked this book up earlier this week on his show in a big way and made me curious.)
No run: Day 5 because of foot.

Closed temporarily....due to Government Shutdown.

Jon Stewart compared the Republicans to a losing football team.

"Did you see the Giants game on Sunday?" he asked. "They lost 31-7. Do you know what the Giants didn't say after that game? 'If you don't give us 25 more points by midnight on Monday, we will shut down the fucking NFL.'"