Catchen' ya all up

Not too many visitors since I passworded - but I will fix that when I get to Florida, I know it is a pain to get through the codes. I'm on my mother's dial up and not able to get everyone's blog up to comment - in fact this is barely taking my keyboarding right now. Repacking, getting medical records together, packing some more and taking off Feb. 1 if weather reports continue good. I was at the public library yesterday trying to get on blogs, apply for jobs, checking bank, etc., and there were so many people there it was as impossible as this dialup. The guy in front of me turned around and threatened to kill me if I continued to cough. The young woman next to him chewed him out good, what a woman she was, and he desisted. I looked about me and it was reminiscent of the movie, "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" but no Ms. Ratchett to keep order. Later I found out that the Mission house a few blocks away sent their clients out in the day time to job search. Methamphetamine which is so rampant here makes people mean, unable to keep themselves clean even physically after a certain point, and robs thinking abilities. Then I start thinking its my fault, I must be a magnet not only for cops, but for the demon possessed? Then I feel sorry for folks who are just down on their luck and are subject to people like this guy who probably should be in the State hospital rather than being where he can really hurt someone. Speaking of the demon possessed, not a peep out of the old workplace. Odd, if I was worthy of being fired that they would approve unemployment. Ok, enough, this is taking eons to type. Will try to visit blogs tonight.

Thursday 13: Thermopolis Vacation

Ran out of energy to pack - so back at the Computer - procrastinating - Couldn't resist a Thursday 13 - have never done it before, hope I've done it right. (Except for the pics being reversed from the text).

Stop #1 - Independence Rock (on Oregon Trail)

Stop #2 - Hell's Half Acre
Stop #3 - Wind River - Canyons

Stop #4 - Looking out over Dinosaur Dig

Stop #5 - Fossil Fish

Stop #6 - Grasseater
Stop #7 - The Spirit Bear imparts some of his wisdom

Stop #8 - The Teddy Bear Museum

Stop #9 - Quilting was an essential part of survival on the Prairie

Stop #10 - In front of a hot pool - you do not want to put your toes in there - unless you are planning on them for dinner!

Stop #11 - In the Plunge - warm, mineral laden swimming

Stop #12 - Checking in for the night

Stop #13 - Dreaming of Ghostriders in the Sky

Sorry - the pictures are in reverse - new blogger is as contrary to setting pictures as old one!

For Mr. Anchovy

Picture #1 - The Platte up by Saratoga (also has Hot Springs there)

Picture #2 - A Hot Pool at Thermopolis, Wyoming

Picture #3 - The River that runs through Wind River Canyon - this is on an Indian Reservation, it is wild and awesome - so many layers in the rock - you can see so far back in history! Great Trout! This is favorite!

Picture #3 - Hell's Half Acre (The depth does not show well) Wyoming's mini version of Hell's Half Acre.

Short Break

Well, tomorrow is the last day to pack before loading up. I'll probably not be logging on for a few days. One of the UPS boys picked up boxes this morning, bless his heart, and I just went over and paid for them, squeaking all the while. Whew, expensive. Sold all furniture except a couple of small items & a couple of antiques. Shipped ahead the paints, art supplies, can't live without those or computers. Also some clothing. While packing, found a pair of birkies in a suitcase that I thought were somehow lost forever, hooray!

Feets are FREEZING - it is hovering around zero temperature wise all of the time. If I weren't leaving I would go invest in heavy rubber boots with lots of warm foam lining and some work gloves. Brrrr. Youngest daughter tells me she found me three sweaters at a really hot sale - yay!!!!!!!!!!

License plate fees are due - so I got the bright idea of calling my southern state and seeing if I could renew long distance so I wouldn't have to pay fees here and there as well, and I could! But I had to switch to that state's auto insurance and after two hours on my cell phone (and about $80 buckeroos a month over what I pay now for auto insurance) that was accomplished. Now to figure out the forms I downloaded. Also forms, forms, forms for unemployment applications, roll over of retirement contributions to IRA so I won't get whapped with taxes all at once (though I'll probably need to use the funds to exist for a while), need to return all DSL modems, TV box, cables, etc., etc. tomorrow. (Will try to figure out how to get the router to work when I get there.) Finally, will take files for church website up to church, load on their computer and drop off ministry manuals.

Landlord is in glee because he thinks he can collect double rent until the end of the month, so I am telling him I'll mail him the key, that I will probably be in and out until the end of the month, though the truth is I never want to come back here ever. I pray we can get everything in one load!

While in my mother's town waiting for a break in the weather on I-10, I can go around and gather up my medical records for transport back to the South. Her house is deliciously warm, so I'll snuggle a bit in between packing the auto for the long trip. Keeping my pounds off that I have lost will be a challenge at her house.

Does anyone know if leaving my computers in the car while it is zero degrees will damage them? I think you are not supposed to leave media where it is extremely hot or cold.

I need about 4 more tranquillizers for Ms. Meowi. Riding is not high up on her list of want to's. (Least I won't be lonely - she will be moaning the whole trip.) I will get bed pads for the bottom of her cage, baking pans for litter when we stop to sleep at a motel. Dear, dear, hope she fits in with the boys ok. Psycho has become a top bunk bed dweller with the little boy. Big Meowie will claim his place at the foot of my bed (hubby will be very unhappy - in fact he and Ms. Meowie will probably be battling for a pillow next to my head.)

Next item for manual on how to live with disability: emptying cat litter box for multiple cats - I have an idea....put the box in a little red wagon and hope kitties don't mind a bit higher jump, and when the box be fulla poopoo, take the handle and pull wagon to garbage can. Perhaps there is some sort of gadget that you can put the box on and stomp a lever with your foot until the litter box becomes level with the top of the garbage and then whoooooooooooop - over the edge!

Lost in His World

While commenting on Candy Minx' blog, the Walter Anderson Museum and Anderson's work popped into my mind. We used to get coupons from the casinos in Biloxi for great room rates and a free buffet. Hey, who can turn down crab legs and a chance to visit that part of the Gulf Coast?

Quite by accident while discovering the area ( we are not much on gambling and the noise of casinos either), we found the Walter Anderson Museum as well as a pottery making commune of artists in the area (Shearwater Pottery). These folks are Andersons as well who do folk art pottery. What a delightful trip that was! Art AND the beach!

Anderson's work is focused on geography and flora and fauna, sea creatures, and spiritual feel of the coastal area that he loved so much. If you ever get close to the area, visit this museum. You will be delighted and awed. Sadly some of his work was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.

I always love finding art that touches me in a way that I feel the production is a "God thing." To me, art is a part of God, since God was the creator of all things - isn't it nice to have that God-like gift within us?

When the Victim gets victimized again

It's been interesting - but yet, its just another story of a person kidnapped and mostly likely abused. The story of Shawn may never completely come out, but I imagine the worst - I'm sure the man that kidnapped this boy and another boy did not do so in order to give them a better life. The questions being asked are shameful such as "why didn't he leave?" -- Why do millions of children in intolerable situations not leave?

Below is one reason: (From "Wikepedia")

The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in an abducted hostage, in which the hostage exhibits loyalty to the hostage-taker, in spite of the danger (or at least risk) in which the hostage has been placed. Stockholm syndrome is also sometimes discussed in reference to other situations with similar tensions, such as battered person syndrome, rape cases, child abuse cases, and bride kidnapping.

Another reason could be - "FEAR." Or being so psychologically manipulated and lied to and threatened that the individual feels they have no place to go and their parents don't love them anymore or they would have found them.

Reminds me of a case in Florida where a child molester got ahold of two young boys. The father began to get suspicious of the time this creep was spending with his boys and cut the creep out of their lives. The creep then sneaked around seeing the kids, manipulating them into thinking their dad was abusing them for setting limits, and finally set up the murder of the boy's father because his access to the boys was limited. The boys ended up being charged with the murder while the creep retained his freedoms. The press printed that that sexual abuse one of the boys was under was an "affair." An 8 year old boy - an "affair?" I wanted to go kill the creep myself and then while I was at it, hang the editor of the newspaper. There was a book written by one of the reporters covering the case. While the boys went to prison, much evidence pointed toward the molester, incidentally had a friend, a sheriff's deputy who visited he and the boys often when he had them.

Alphabet Soup Tag

Still packing, complied with Unemployment requirements this a.m., and now on my way out to turn over Missions to someone else - I pray there is someone else. Happier posting:

New Tag!

A - Available/Single or Taken? Taken.
B - Best Friend? My girls.
C - Cake or pie? Neither, sugar makes me sorry.
D - Drink Of Choice? Champagne & Orange Juice (Le Mimosa!)
E – Essential Item You Use Everyday? Olay
F - Favourite Color? Green (like grass, trees, earth greens)
G - Gummy Bears Or Worms? Neither after reading Blue Apple's discovery.
H - Hometown? Rawlins, Wyoming (BUT I am never going back ever again, if I could I would dig up my relatives bones and take them out of here with me!)
I - Indulgence? I am bidding on a Barefoot Dreams Robe. Ah wants it.
J - February? February, the gaiety of Mardi Gras, and its that much closer to spring!
K - Kids & Their Names? Oh, definitely Christian, Taylor & Sagie Bear.
L - Life Is Incomplete Without? Family
M - Marriage date? Uh - March 3, 1973 (last time - still married.)
Trying not to remember previous ones.
N - Number Of Siblings? Counting some I've never seen, steps & 1/2's - 4
O - Oranges Or Apples? Depends on my mood.
P - Phobias/Fears? Living on the streets. Getting chronically ill.
Q - Favourite Quote? Since my political fiasco? “It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. “ David Brin

R - Reason to Smile? Sunsets, dolphins, bays, beaches, good art, grandkid arms around my neck
S - Season? Spring or Fall? Neither - I would love a perpetual summer
T - Tag 3 or 4 people? Life, Pickled Olives, TSHM, Puppy, "L," my sister (if you're all packed.)
U - Unknown Fact About Me? None, I blab all
V - Vegetable you don’t like? stewed tomatoes
W -Worst Habit? Right now - procrastination - happens every time I need to pack
X - How many xrays have you had? Too many to count.
Y - Your Favorite Food? uh, that's really hard - great sushi?
Z – Zodiac sign? Capricorn, why oh why. We're supposed to be stable aren't we?

Dysfunction Junction

Oh Folks, woke up down in the dumps today - my back hurt all night - the rest of the packing looks overwhelming - maybe it isn't - just feels that way - I need to get all the bedding off and can't lift the mattresses to get the bed skirts off - watched a depressing movie about politics last night which I shouldn't have ("24") with Keith Sutherland.

Didn't want to go to church because one of the most virulent editorial writers about my old boss goes there.

I don't quite compute how my husband can say he loves me, and leave me out here to deal with all this myself with my back so messed up. If it were turned around, I would help him, I have helped him to my inconvenience, but isn't that what marriage is supposed to be about? But in the future, I would think twice before doing so, I'm so hurt and angry about that, and I'm not even back there yet. Guess he loves me if I am not inconvenient.

My sis can't come help, she's in the middle of moving and trying to find a place to live. My mother is insisting on me staying at her place until well into February - and I would stay a couple of weeks, although I want to get out of this cold weather, and get settled. A month makes me feel hopeless. I'm starting to dread talking to her. She calls me daily with every terrible weather report in the Country and embelishes to make it even worse. She even counted my pills when I had my previous back surgery to make sure I didn't take "too many," never mind what the prescription said, (I still have some left over a year later - taking too many pills is not my thing), goes through the paper work tucked here & there in my car, anywhere else she can find it. I HAVE to mail all important papers directly to my home. Jees, even your own mother, you don't want knowing every detail of your business or life. Maybe I'm being too negative, I know she is going to be lonely - 2,000 miles is a lot further than 125. Maybe I should lay around there, eat just salads & fruit, take walks if the ground is not solid ice, try to get my health built up before leaving. But then why wait until my money is all gone? Oh dear Lord, I need direction.

I often wonder what it would be like to live somewhere besides Dysfunction Junction.

Something is wrong with this picture. At my age, I am supposed to have a home that I am the matriarch of, that runs according to MY schedule, be retired with real retirement $ behind me, and not still roaming the country like a 20 year old just getting started in life wondering what is going to happen to me in the next 20 years.

The girls both have kids in school. So that leaves - nada. Makes it worse because I hate having to have help - I've always been so independent in my life, I could do anything until recent years - well, until coming out here and losing 5 disks in my back. Now I can't even clean a blankety blank house.

Guess I'll go scrounge a couple of eggs for breakfast - I have many, many trips to make out back to dumpster today. It's below zero, but tolerable unless the wind gets into it. Have to go get the rest of Crohn's meds - the pharmacy never keeps enough in stock to fill a whole prescription.

I filed for a hearing at work, per our policies, just so I can say I have followed all the procedures. Makes me sick to my stomach to think about going in front of commissioners and their attorney and the new clerk - SD, but I will if I have to. Unemployment is "deciding" if I should get any because I was dismissed. I just sent off papers with an explanation of, "no reason for dismissal," never worked for new Clerk. All other recommendations - glowing, including commissioners - at least that's what was said when they were saying "goodbye" in December, despite all the put downs while they were trying to get SD into office.

What is the alternative to politics? They are an anarchy all of their own.

Moving & Climate Changes - Inconvenient Truth

Hi folks, thanks for coming to my party. I loved the "gifts" and had a happy evening giggling over some of them. The dancing man was getting thinner toward the end - I think. I forwarded the fart website to my grandchildren - soooooooo much information on that site, I learned a lot. :0

We are in the midst of a snowstorm that is really quite beautiful except for the fact I am trying to sell my furniture and also plan to take boxes to UPS to ship. Yike. Its supposed to keep up until next Weds., Thurs. I guess my rent is paid to end of month, its just when you have people willing to help load trucks, you want to take them when they can come!

A second hand shop owner and antique dealer came by and I was finally able to place my dining room table & little coffee table at about 1930's. I thought so. So, how can I part with them? Can't. Well, maybe.

A friend of mine had the honor of being 1 of 1,000 chosen to be trained on Al Gore's presentation of the Global Warming problem. Now I have become fearful in that regard because I believe he said that we have a 30 year window to do something or our world will be in serious trouble. I believe this. I want to see "Inconvenient Truth." Anyway, if you believe this too, please click on the link below and send it on to your Congress reps. I would rather take action that sit around being scared. Anyone seen the movie? My friend said Al Gore is as brilliant a man as I thought he might be.
Subject: Help Al Gore Send a Message to Congress
Hi,
Al Gore is ready to build on the success of "An Inconvenient Truth" and start organizing to solve the climate crisis. He's working to get hundreds of thousands of messages to Congress demanding real action to stop global warming. And he's asking for our help.
Can you help out by signing the petition at the link below? If you do, Al Gore will personally deliver our comments to Congress. I just did it myself and it only takes a second.
http://pol.moveon.org/climatecrisis/
Thanks!

Invitation

Come to my cyber birthday party. Today, I won't tell ya how old I am. So don't sing that song. Recommendations for great CD's would be welcome. And bring a poem, or link, or you favorite something, or something to share. Dress is - well pretend you are 4 and are dressing yourself in whatever you want and please share what you have on.

We are having tweety bird cake, so bring your kitties with you (or puppies), ice cream and watermelon punch. Also wine, champagne & orange juice, and margueritas will be served with chips and salsa.

We are going to the cyber beach for playing at the shore, making sand castles, a barbecue in the evening. Prizes for the first dolphin sighting! Your party treats are going to be hibiscus blossoms for your hair. (for the girls.), and hand painted wine glasses for the wine, and screen printed sarongs.

After dark, we'll have a cyber bonfire - and who knows (Mr. Anchovy, bring your accordian) when we'll go home.

No RSVP needed.

70 things 'bout me

Going to be gone for a couple of days so, posting early.

At the request of Pickled Olives, here it 'tis... THE LIST

1. Getting old in the body, but not in the head.
2. Lost 15 pounds since going to Florida and coming back to get fired.
3. I have a raven tattoo, ha hoo.
4. I love curries, indian food.
5. I love my kids, grandkids, madly.
6. I love music, but am a music idiot sort of.
7. I love anything to do with computers.
8. I want to be a well known artist.
9. I would like to learn how to tattoo.
10.I yearn to get closer to God.
11. I can live for three days off of artichoke hearts.
12. I can live for three days off of palm hearts.
13. I had a very miserable childhood.
14. Add into that miserable teen years.
15. Married at 17 to get out of house.
16. Divorced at 18 when I got pregnant.
17. Second time around, married a Pakistani, lasted two days, he went back to Pakistan, returned two years later, and I stayed married two more years so he could get citizenship even though I hit the road at his return.
18. Married a country boy from Iowa who was the baby of the family. He wanted to stay in that position. Another divorce.
19. Hitchhiked to the East Village in New York City from Baltimore, Maryland (with a girl friend.)
20. Have always adored Bob Dylan.
21. I think Elvis was the sexiest man ever alive on earth.
22. Tried out to be a playboy bunny. (Picture a six foot two woman in five inch heals and a bunny tail - of course, I did not get picked.)
23. Fell in love with an artist - the love of my youth. Whatever that kind of love was.
24. Pretended to be an intellectual - this charms older guys when you are a pretty young thing.
25. Spent ten years of my life not watching TV, movies, listening to "secular" music, to get closer to God.
26. Spent two days with the Hare Krishnas in New York.
27. Traveled to Albania.
28. Worked ten years for a missions organization.
29. Worked ten years for a municipality.
30. Worked two years in an insane county.
31. Used to be a wimp, now you can't back me down, ever.
32. Loved cats. Now, like cats.
33. Dogs overwhelm me. I don't like fighting to be alpha every minute. They don't understand me when I claim to be Alpha Woman.
34. I like deep sea fishing.
35. I like deli food.
36. Want to abruptly throw clothes, kids, grandkids in car and go to Graceland.
37. Want to dance on the beach in the moonlight in celebration of upcoming birthday.
38. I have too much of a conviction of what is right. It is hard for me to look away from wrong doings if it affects me.
39. I can't save, I like to buy presents way too much.
40. I love tomato soup with crackers.
41. I used to never sleep in, now I love to.
42. I like fluffy down things, pillows, covers, vests.
43. I have an eclectic bunch of friends.
44. I am conservative mostly except for a few idiosyncracies. :)
45. I am still looking to what my future might bring.
46. If I had the money, I would get plastic surgery - what kind is your guess, tee hee.
47. Actually, I would love an extreme makeover.
48. I am loyal, extremely loyal, until I have been betrayed.
49. I love pampering at the spa when I get a chance.
50. I cry when I see a Dolphin jump out of the water on the bay.
51 I cry when I read about a manatee being ripped by a boat and killed.
52. I cry a lot.
53. I love clothes, if I were rich I would have the hugest closet full!
54. I get very ticked when the environment, children, women, men, get abused.
55. I love French Bakery's.
56. I love old movies, if they are good. (Casablanca, etc.)
57. I want to be a writer.
58. I spent a lot of years thinking I was ugly, gawky, & no one could love me.

59. Now I'm sad I didn't know that I was beautiful. This is a lot of our stories, huh?

60. Me as a Jr. in High School - see piccy above.

61. I'm almost a compulsive worrier.

62. I like a place with everything in its place, but can rarely achieve it.

63. I used to like to go to the hospital when I was a child, it was comforting. (Go figure)

64. Iranians used to run after me - they thought I was bea-you-tee-ful, like movie star.

65. In my 20's & 30's I hid from Iranian men who thought I was bea-you-tee-ful like movie star.

66. I used to be attracted to bad relationships - I think. Somehow ended up in them.

67. I've been married to same hubby since 1973. Record!

68. My boss talked me out of moving to Pakistan with the 2nd hubby. Said he might have another wife. Good boss! There was a first wife, I would be second wife also four children he forgot to mention.

69. I have allergies.

70. I love to travel world wide, fantasy trip: Orient Express from England to Instanbul!

Now I tag YOU!

What a day! My back burns like fire. BUT, hired a lady to come help and we packed and we packed some more. I'm down to the nitty gritty - sorting stuff, stuff I need to live, so its getting close. I think I might be ahead of the game as far as packing goes. She even loaded my car with some loose stuff that I will drive to my mother's tomorrow and hauled loads of garbage out to the dumpster in 75 mph winds. I simply couldn't have done it myself. These winds are from hell. Don't know how much more I can stand. At least there seems to be less snow.

My final check has not shown up and this was the day, according to State Statute it was supposed to be here. Now I wonder what is up. Ok, no worry, self, stop it! Do not worry, do not!

I'm going to Subway and get a meatball sub and a Coke and come back and fire up that DVD player Christmas present and put heat on my owie back.

Avalanches

There is so much snow here and it keeps coming and coming and coming. I wanted to go get my kitty from boarding today, but the roads were closed pretty much every way there is out of town because of blowing snow and limited visibility.

Colorado experienced what could have been a deadly avalanche - tons of snow sliding down the mountain at 50 mph right over the top of cars that were traveling a mountain road gave everyone quite a scare.

I hate driving in winter. I'm ok with snow, with cold, but add solid ice to the roads and wind limiting visibility and tons of snow falling on my car, no thanks! I have to unpack boxes & packing materials out of the car, and I'm terrified I'll fall on the thick ice with snow over the top of it in the lot and hurt what's already hurt worse. Been there, done that. I'm looking closely at the atlas trying to find the least possible snow/blizzard impacted routes southeast. Tomorrow 65 mph winds are supposed to hit with all the snow we are getting. Well, maybe it'll blow away?

Spent the day paying bills, trying to figure a much reduced budget, and sorting an avalanche of paperwork until I couldn't stand it anymore. I'm a paper packrat, I'm a nut for paper trails. I was probably a house mouse in a previous life, if there were such a thing. I have a garbage sack full of old statements, offers, interesting articles, etc., etc. Business cards from people I will never need to contact again. You name it, I got it. I need to purchase a shredder when I go get Ms. Meowi.

I'm thinking of the ol' work place, laughing at whoever is/has/will be snooping through an avalanche of files in my computer at work, and hundreds of paper files looking for who really knows what. They'll just be plumb flat out exhausted. Not enough information ? No, instead a whopping big overload, detailed beyond sanity. But on the other hand it is so fun to just whip papers out of the file or emails and say, "no, here is what I asked you to do," or "here is the plan, the payment," etc., etc. , "all the info you need!" or "no, I did not say that, here's the email, memo, fax, outlining what I did say." Big smile.

A rogue telephone company turns me over for collection every year for the past six years. I have all the proof of complete payment. Just found it today, which was great, because I just got my annual notice from a collection agency that Vartech thinks I still owe them money. I imagine Vartech running a paperless office, several computer crashes, and that is why they don't know they have been paid. After six years, with an evil grin and malicious glee (one can only be tormented so long without going over the edge!), I tell the collection agency of the year to send me $20.00 for my trip to Kinko Copies and for postage and I will mail them the evidence of payment they need. I then do not hear from anyone again for another year. Have yet to find them on my credit report - so far so good.

SUCCESS (sort of)

Flowers to all of you for negotiating the maze to loftyperch. (You folks have seen me through a lot of stuff out here!)

I was locked out of blogger for a few days myself because I couldn't find my password. I just don't know what else to do other than quit blogging!

Any of you who read this - never, never, never read your comments at work or even in the privacy of your own home, blog about work, as you could go down on your job! (BUT in our corporate culture, its ok to go outside and and smoke several times a day, order from the Schwann's man, spend hours on the phone, etc., and gossip about coworkers, bosses, etc.) Blogging can be used as a weapon against you. Probably not legally, but you could be hassled until you were ready to hang yourself. I would've never dreamed. Anyway, I, before the privacy controls, was sure having a lot of hits! (There's not much for people to do out here but mind someone else's business, thus my grandma's many amusing euphanisms.)

New News: Drove through ground blizzards to get to work at 8:00 a.m. My computer was missing and my whole work area looked like a burglar had turned everything upside down. SD was waiting..............she promptly fired me, no reason stated, told me to get my personal things and leave. She was at war with me from the beginning because she had applied for my job. I just want them to give me the money due me for paycheck and final for unused benefits and the whopping two weeks severance pay offered so I can get on with my life and leave the cesspool to the sharks who like to swim in it. I had felt in my heart, I would be here only to get my boss through the elections. Little did I know the hell entailed in that road! Then I starting thinking, maybe two more years and retirement - but I tried, and the only failing is to not try at anything.

When I walked out of there, I felt like an elephant had been removed from my shoulders.

For those of you who tried to email me, my email address was also down - the provider told me that the address was associated with another account, not mine. Well, that scared the whoodiddy out of me, thinking that these people accessed my personal computer somehow. So the Bresnan.net address is re-associated with MY account once again with a new IP address assignment and new password. When I asked who it was associated with, they just blithly told me that "actually it was just 'disassociated'." What kind of explanation is that? I will be glad to hit that highway so I can quit looking over my shoulder wondering what will happen next.

Success: I did bring home my car that no longer has a crushed trunk! The next few days will be spent packing, sorting personal papers, etc. I can't even begin to think about back surgery. I just want out even if I have to crawl, so I will feel like they can't cause me anymore harm or grief. I'm getting so paranoid, I'm wondering if the "accident" that caused my back trouble was even really an "accident." It happened right in the middle of elections. I travel the same road everyday, day in and day out.

I guess paranoid means just thinking someone is after you. So, since there really is someone(s) after me, that leaves me sane, doesn't it?

Success: The battery for my camera finally arrived and that is what was wrong with the camera. Whew! I was thinking it was done for.

Blessing: Had a great Christmas just being with family, and that's all I usually want except for all the stuff that is broken and thrown in the garage to be fixed. But I got a beautiful leather jacket, a DVD player, a pedicure, nice eyebrows, a PDA/cell phone that will take some time to learn how to use - I have lusted quietly after one of those for months - new slacks & sweater, and just treated like royalty.

Gotta get to busting business around here - I want to have a load ready for my mom's garage when I go to pick up Ms. Meowi from boarding as soon as the roads clear a bit. Will try to drop by everyone's blogs as I take a breaks from sorting and packing.

Last night in Florida

Goodbye, goodbye my Florida once again and for a while. This was sunset tonight. Nice, huh? This is awful, but I haven't slept much for five nights just thinking of returning to work........checked on the decompression therapy today..........and then called my old chiropractor......he thinks the chiros here that do the decompression are not perhaps as qualified or successful as they are advertising......women's hair things - got almost my whole face waxed today, eyebrows done - woo, woo - my youngest has informed me the younger crowd has more than their face waxed nowadays - and I'm thinking "Oh, is this more information than I want, but I do not want to gross out my gynocologist - oh what to do now." Just in case you are laughing - who ever wants to talk about hair removal - hahah, do any of you remember the days of the Epilady? An electonic device similar to a razor - only it ripped the hair out of your legs? You would epilady and scream. OK, now I bet you wish I was blogging as if the government was still watching!

Happy New Year

Hey, folks, part of my New Year intentions are: Privacy controls on my blog. I am now tediously attempting to email all of you with an invite into my blog. I have also gone Beta, scary - we'll see. So if ya get this wierd invite, that's what's going on. So, I'm trying to figure out why Beta will not take a tab for paragraphs! While looking for pics for New Year's post, I'm wondering why all show celebration, or an old man with a clock? Anyone know? For a person who has suffered depression in the past, most of the stuff concerning New Year's did not interest me, because I was just wondering how on earth to face ANOTHER year. I'm glad things have changed. We did nothing but movies and green chili for New Years. Everyone was working. I've seen enough movies for most of the rest of my life. Well, not really, but sure did watch a lot of them. I'm packing to return to the mountains.