It's Saturday and time to change the blog. Whether I have anything to say or not

Menu you of the Day

Music: Amos Lee's El Camino

Book: Ahab's Wife. Still loving it. I've just had a busy week and not much time to read.

In my glass: Some Penguin chardonnay. Cheap, but good.

Photos: (If you are on Facebook these will be redundant....) Troy's girlfriend Pam's mom had a 70th birthday party last night and it was a lot of fun. #1 This is my sister's daughter Jessica.(I love this photo of her!)  #2 Jessica's brother Christopher (who is something like 6'7" tall), me, Brian and my nephew Brian. #3, the knuckleheads with Brian (Troy's son) ; #4 Kylee and Brian; #5 (Kylee actually took this one) I liked it so i bumped it in PhotoShop; #6 Troy; #7 My dad with brother Scott; #8 and Mom and Dad (or as i like to call them, Bruce and Elodie)

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1. It's been a nice lazy rainy day. I watched Valentine's Day this morning. then it took nearly two hours to load up and resize these photos (over 275 in all that i had to edit) for Facebook.

2. I'm still in my snowflake pajamas. Is it wrong to be drinking wine while still wearing your pajamas all day? I feel like a bad mom in a Made-for-TV movie!

3. I have not watched Anderson Cooper for over a week now. I haven't heard one pundit talk about Libya or Elizabeth Taylor's death or Linday Lohan's father or Charlie Sheen. It's been nice. And i have slept well all week long.

4. Maybe there is something to this apathy stuff.

5. Not only that. I took my blood pressure yesterday and it was 115/80. That's the lowest it's been since i've been checking it. (I'm also on new medication though too.)

6. Last week was the first time i could have worn shorts while running. I love when we start to emerge from the winter doldrums!

7. I don't have much to say today really but i wanted to change the blog. I'm counting on y'all to come up with some ideas to talk about.

Steve Martin isn't funny anymore....and other things that have changed.

MENU OF THE DAY: 

iTunes: Lay Me Down by Forest Sun. If you don't know Forest Sun. Check him out on his release For the Story . . . every song is so good. 

Book: I am loving Ahab's Wife and have abandoned the other three books that i was reading at the same time. (My brother Troy and I always like the same kinds of books and he wasn't wrong about this one either.)

The Best Thing that Happened:  I think Brian and and I are coming to a solid agreement about where we are going to live in our future. 

The Other Best Thing: i had to work today at a big training for nearly 200 educators. It was so awesomely organized i was proud to be a part of it.  And then the good folks i work with afterwards went out to a cool new wine bar. (I always love finding a new wine bar!) What was also cool was that when we left the bar after 7:00 pm. it was still light outside.

What I am envious about: louielouie/sarah this week called me on what was probably THE VERY worst rainy day these past few months. She called to remind me she was leaving for Hawaii the next day (her son Nick lives there - he's an officer in the Navy). What's notable about this is the last two times louie went to Hawaii, BOTH times it was snowing (and rather late in the wintertime too) the day before she left. 

Ok, on to the list of the Stuff That Has Changed....

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1. Excuuuusssseee Me! .... The reason i even thought of this subject was the other day Brian and I turned on David Letterman. Steve Martin was on that night and it was the most boring of interviews i have seen on Dave's show in a very long time.  This is not the first time i've seen that Steve Martin has lost his edge and zip. I used to love him so much back in the day. (Did anyone else see how bad this Letterman show was?)

2. so it got me thinking ...what do we all observe about what's going on today that has changed? I think i've mentioned this before because it's so unsettling to me!....I forgot that i was going to get old. For so long and in every single job i have ever held, i was THE YOUNGEST person in the department. And now i am the oldest person in my office. So yeah, i forgot that i was getting older. (But i am reminded every day when i look in the mirror.)

3. Some things have changed for the better. 

4. I just wrote that above and a full minute later i am still thinking about what to write. If i don't come back to it at the end, remind me later. Or at least come up with your own.

5. Music and bookstores. iPods. Pandora. No more going to the music store.  I CANNOT believe that one of my favorite stores  has closed its doors here.  Borders Books & Music is gone in Tacoma. When Kylee/modern hippie was a little girl I used to take her to Borders. It was fairly new then and such a hot spot when it opened up. I used to buy all my books and music there. 

6. I am partly to blame. I quit going to Borders when I got my iTunes account.

7. My eyebrows. My eyebrows have changed. In a really freaky funky wild hair out of this world way. They would take over my whole face if i let them, like a caterpillar on steroids.

8. Politics and Hope have changed:  I thought Obama could get our country back on a more even keel after Bush and stop the polarization of the two right wing/left wing attitudes. But i was wrong because i underestimated the tenacity of the right wing to amp it up BECAUSE Obama was President. And now we have the Tea Party and worse.

9. I still have hope. And i hope Obama doesn't decide to say, 'f*ck it, i will not seek or accept the nomination for re-election." (but if Obama was/were (still don't know the proper word there)  my brother, i might give him the advice to do this very thing, even as i wouldn't want him to really follow it...)

9. For ummagumma. 

10. The country is going to hell in a handbasket when it comes to public schools and unions. And i worry about the future of how this country will change without unions and collective bargaining.

And i am most worried about is how the media has adopted this conception that public workers are the evils about who is to blame for our economy and i am incredulous that they would go after public workers in a way that bankers and corporate CEOS were never attacked. Including oil companies who have destroyed our environment. how did we come to a place where teachers are bigger villians and get more negative media attention from Fox News than the BP oil company who nearly destroyed Lousiana's coast?

Who will be left to tell the truth in the news?   How long before Rachel Maddow is gone?

11. Thank-yous. I have mentioned this before too. It's a huge pet peeve.

Nobody thanks anyone anymore. Last summer I gave a $100 check (which was indeed cashed) for a wedding present to the daughter of Troy's best friend. I never got a thank you. ( Kylee's mom also said she didn't get one .) This bride is both our Facebook friends. How hard could it be to drop an email thankyou? This kind of thing seems to happening more often even as technology has made it easier to do so.

That's all i have for now. I'll be back with more later.

A random jojo chardonnay post... like in the old days....sorta...

I just added the Amos Lee video after making this post. It's the song, track #3 Violin song that I am talking about. This is from his appearance on David Letterman.

1. took these photos today. I've posted similar ones before. But today  I took down some of the pictures on the living room wall because I am feng shuing even the walls. I've already done knickknacks, closets, cupboards and drawers. It feels good.

2. However I did realize recently that i packed up all but one of my salad bowls AND my book journal, (the one where i write the good stuff from books i am reading.)

3. Uh oh, in that second photo,  I just realized the framed photograph on the far end is a little crooked and my OCD is starting to kick in and makes me want to fix it, only i can't unless i take a new photo and upload it. 

4. That photograph is the one i took of all the paint colors in their cans when I was doing my painting project last year between February through June.

5. The Japan news is very scary. I thought Wisconsin was scary. And now this. What is weird about the Japan earthquake is i got my news about it in the old fashioned way. Neither Brian nor I had been on the computer Thursday night and we didn't watch TV. So the first i heard this news was on Friday morning when it was HUGE headlines in the News Tribune. 

6. I wonder what this means for us all globally too. 

7. I want to blame all of this on Charlie Sheen.

8. I am reading three books: Ahab's Wife, Youth in Revolt, oops...no, make that four books.... World Without End and Townsie. Yep, I am reading four books right now.

9. My hair is too long right now. So i french braid it everyday. I am thinking that if i turned into a bohemian, i might save over $1500 a year by not cutting and dyeing my hair. I'm getting it cut this week.

10. I don't think we are going to buy a house now. Brian said tonight that as he has been looking he realizes he appreciates the charm of our place more now and also the one in Point Defiance that we didn't buy. I'm fine with not moving now that we've fixed our roof and mold issues. 

11. I might re-upholster our sofa now. Spend some money on decorating. Maybe redo bathroom floors and vanities.

12. Oh my lord, this is a really boring random post. When did this happen that i got this way? i blame it on SAD...(Season Affective Disorder).

13. I has rained everyday for a week now. With another week of rain forecast.

14. Would i be a more fun person if i lived where the sun is not constantly the color of of semen?

15. Two cool things: A really good movie : "On a Clear Day" about a guy who at the age of 55 makes a goal to swim the English Channel with the help of good and fun friends. Another: Amos Lee's new cd "Mission Bell". Best song on the cd is track #3. Only i forget the name of it. 

Ok, i'm going to end this right now because #1 either i have not had enough wine to make this an riveting random musing or #2 I am just not into blogging these days and probably should take a hiatus.

God is mad; lies we tell ourselves; & 10 things i wish would happen

Topics I'm considering:

1. What Pisses off God

2. Lies I tell Myself

3. What God Would Say in my Evaluation

4. Ten Best Things Right Now

5. Ten Things I Wish Would Happen

Let's Talk Oscars in Realtime!

I once did this on the Gumbo yaya board and it was fun. Blogging about the Oscars as you watch gives you something to do in betweem commercials and those super boring Oscar awards where the documentary of short films director makes the longest and most boring speech.

I am coming in to this alittle bit late, but not much.

1. So far the Best Actress award went to someone i don't know in a movie i haven't seen. I think her name was melissa? I liked her.

2. I don't expect too much from James Franco as a host. I saw him host SNL and he wasn't that great. I did like him on Freaks and Geeks years back though. And i actually did see his movie 127 hours.

3. Ann Hathaway's dress is gorgeous!

I'll be back.

4. Oops one more thing. Javier Bardem looks alittle bit fleshy.

Don't even get me started.

1. I do not want to hear from Sarah Palin one iota about what is happening in Wisconsin. Her kind of leadership is why unions were born.

2. And yeah, that Governor in Wisconsin..... . I commented on this in my previous blog post (in response to amulbunny) about this. 

Here's how i view this, in my simplistic black and white way:

George W. & Co. used Sept. 11th to go into Iraq and do what they wanted to do. And Walker is doing the same. Busting unions and using the budget deficit as an excuse. 

3. I think the Wisconsin governor's leadership is a perfect example of why we still need unions. And i believe what he is doing may backfire. Unions have always done their best work when they are under fire.

4. And i say that, knowing i do not always agree with our positions.

5. And dammit....what the hell is happening when peaceful protesters are being shot in Egypt and Libya? Is this true?  I say all this knowing i don't know all that is going on. Does anyone? The news doesn't quite get out there in the same way as it does in America.

6. And did i read somewhere that Donald Trump might be a hopeful candidate for the Republicans in 2012? Oh please, tell me this is true! I would so love that. He may even be worse than Sarah Palin!

7. Re: the House Drama: We made a third counter offer on the house i wanted. The owner countered back with adding a lousy $2500. this makes me think he's in it for the joy of bargaining and winning. We already know he is 80 years old and has lots of money and lives in a retirement home while he pays for fees on this one since last August. We already know that his house is listed as the highest of all for sale in that same area, by about $20,000. And here come in, prequalified without asking him to fix anything, no contingency, and we pay all our closing costs and still offer $15,000 more than the one that sold there last month that we liked even more because it was bigger. And he balks....so we walks. (But we still look.)

8. I think we are firing our real estate agent. She knew Brian had some misgivings about moving there and she didn't close the deal over a lousy $2500. It was enough of a blink for us to take a step back. My brother Troy met her too and when i said i think she might be too timid to be able to work with us, he said 'timid' was the word he would use. I just know i would have closed that deal if i could sit across the table from the owner. But it's okay. Brian and i keep looking. And we'll find something we both get excited about.

9. There is a lot of stuff happening in the world right now besides Egypt and Libya and natural disasters that makes me wonder if the end is coming. 

10. If that's the case. well then,  i want to go out and spend all my money on something frivulous because i have never in my life done that.

11. 'Frivilous' has that dreaded red line under it. (Even when i changed the spelling, it's still there!) But i am too lazy to look up the correct spelling.I knew the minute i wrote it it did not look correct. But i still don't know what it should be.

12. I could say i have never been stupid with spending money. and that takes care of the spelling. Cause i know how to spell 'stupid'. 

13. This disappoints me because i did once win a spelling contest in the fifth grade. But it was within my own class, not the whole school. Isn't that funny that i still remember that and want to hang my hat on the glory of winning a fifth grade class spelling contest? 

14. Still not doing the Facebook thing that much these days, so please forgive me if i miss a comment or post or a birthday. I only check every once in awhile to catch up and be sure there is no spam virus thing attached to my name. And i do need to use it to comment on our own Facebook page at work.

15. Back to unions for a second.....why do we get the blame for everything wrong these days? Unions didn't get a government bailout like the damn banks. Unions didn't start a war that we had no business going in to that added to the deficit. We weren't the cause of the all of the bank foreclosures on the housing industry. We didn't cause Katrina, the Gulf Spill,

....and we didn't bring about the existence of Lady Gaga. 

So there. 

Come in and tell us your own elementary grade stories where you shined. And what else is going on that makes you want to rant (or rave). I never mean to make any blog post a totally negative one. 

jojo's Friday Night Rambling Randoms w/ brand new e-Trade Baby commercial

MENU OF THE DAY:

In my Glass: first sip of a glass of Wente Brothers chardonnay.

On iTunes: Friend of the Devil by Counting Crows.

Book: I'm reading about four of them. Can't remember any of the titles. One is Ken Follett's about the World end or something.

Shocker: I am thinking about finally breaking down and getting a Kindle.

Another Shocker: jojo the Status Quoquo Queen and Brian are making an offer on a home!(We have lived here in our little 1000 sq foot condo for 19 years!)

Looking forward to : Moving to a bit bigger place in a jazzier area of town.

Not looking forward to: Selling our little place. It's not a seller's market.

What worries me: aside from buying a house, the anti abortion legislation (don't know enough about it to debate, just know enough to be scared); Egypt, (again same disclaimer) and also that Anderson Cooper is going to get hurt again!

On with the randomness....

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1. Pray for Anderson to be safe! (I love him almost as much as Jon Stewart.)

2. Who do you think would win in a wrestling contest? Anderson or John Stewart?

3. I'm thinking it's a draw. They aren't the manliest of men. Sort of in an equally unmanly way.

4. Who do you think would win between Sarah Palin and Barbara Bush? (I put my money on Barbara.)

5. I might watch the Superbowl. At least i will make bloody marys and low fat chili for it. But i haven't really cared about football since Roman Gabriel and Joe Namath played. That's how old i am.

6. Speaking of old. This week i had to get a different blood pressure medicine (the other one hasn't been bringing it down) and this time i will take a diuretic because of edema. I've never taken a water pill before. I hear it means you go to the bathroom A LOT!.

7. This means i will be in the bathroom approximately 7.25 hours per day now, since i'm always in there anyway with my bladder since it is about the size of a raisin. ....or Sarah Palin's brain.

8. I just hope it allows me to not want to rip off my jeans immediately after eating anything. I was getting ready to carrying a pair of sweats in my purse everytime i went out for Mexican or Chinese food.

9. Next week i go get bifocals. I don't think i will ever mind being old. I just hate GETTING older.

10. Speaking of Sarah Palin's brain. Why is it that the folks with the very largest egos have the smallest brains?I bet y'all can come up with more examples!

11. I wish there was a surgery to operate on egos. I know about 4 people i would love to schedule.

12. Course they are the same ones who probably want to schedule ME for a lobotomy.

13.I think i might have chosen to have a kid if i could have given birth to the E-Trade baby.

14. Welcome any yaya-ers who might be lurking. I heard this blog was linked on Facebook for a short while. I wouldn't have a problem with that if i was active on Facebook, but i'm not and i think we all know i have control issues. So i didn't want to keep it up. But if you came here because of that. I hope you post and introduce yourself. 

15. Y'all know the rules: come here with your own randomness!