Well I'm certainly glad I avoided shopping at Walmart yesterday. Today I'm just going to sit home and knit. A Christmas stocking for my son-in-law. Took me a bit to remember how to "cast on" since I haven't knitted anything for a long long time but it all came back to me. Kind of like riding a bike. I'll worry about the rest of the Christmas stuff next week. There's time. Right?

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Heinke Kamerlingh Omnes, a Dutch physicist, discovered superconductivity in 1911. It wasn't until 1972 that the modern theory regarding the phenomenon was developed by three American physicists. John Bardeen, Leon N. Cooper, and John Robert Schrieffer. Superconductivity is a condition in which many metals, alloys, organic compounds and ceramics conduct electricity without resistance, usually at low temperatures.

I usually restrain myself and avoid "hunting" on the day after Thanksgiving. I got talked into it by my husband. Please note that he slept in while I did the "hunting". I did wake him up by calling him from the field as I shivered in line at Best Buy. Before the store even opened I was notified that the one item I was sent out to retrieve was no longer in existence. Another luckier hunter had caught the prey and I was left empty handed. So...I called the sleeping General to alert him of our (I wasn't hunting alone...I had my married daughter and my semi-conscious son with me) failure. I was directed to the next hunting field. Fry's Electronics. I went a little mad. I sent my daughter and son on ahead while I sought the ever illusive parking spot, which I was able to finally locate. My troops retrieved the prizes but failed to immediately find any shopping carts. My son finally followed a contented shopper out to their car and after helping them load up their purchases into their vehicle, brought back the one of the rare shopping carts. Meanwhile, I and my daughter fortified ourselves with caffeine. My manly son was rewarded with caffeine upon his return with the illusive cart. We then proceeded to see what else Fry's Electronics had to offer at 6:15 AM on the day after Thanksgiving. It was truly amazing. Rebates proliferated the store. I found myself purchasing items that I never knew I needed...just because they were free after the rebate. I bought a paper shredder! I bought an air-compressor! I bought a bunch of other stuff too. I don't really think I was completely sane at the time. I lost my head. The General was back home and in bed after all. I was acting on my own initiative. My troops had gotten out of hand. My son found out that the entire box set of all the 007 movies was on sale! My daughter found a glass chess set! OOOOHHHH! A PDA and it was actually FREE!!!!! Did you know that they make a cordless iron?

OK! No more room in the cart. Wait a minute. The nightmare begins. We are now chasing after a Santa Claus who is holding balloons. He's the guy who is marking the end of the checkout line. And he keeps moving! Farther and farther away from the front of the store. I've never seen anything like it. The line wound all throughout the entire store. Up and down aisles! Through this department and that department! Thankfully I found a place in line before it wound itself right back out the front door! And it did! I could see the balloons bobbing over there by the front door presumably held by Santa from my vantage point in the aisle with the electric toothbrushes. We wove our way back and forth and to and fro, we even went down the battery aisle. And then there was the candy aisle but I restrained myself. The candy bars were a bit too expensive at .69 each. You can buy them 3/$1 at the grocery store afterall. I was hearing horror stories from others in line about previous years. I guess last year at Walmart a fight broke out and paramedics had to be bought in. Two women got into a real hair-puller and they had to call an ambulance for one of them when the dust settled. No one in line could tell me what the prized item that they fought over was but the inference was that Walmart wasn't a very safe place to shop on the day after Thanksgiving. Good thing I hadn't any plans to go there! Good thing I was safe and sound stuck in a Disneyesque line at Fry's Electronics! We finally arrived at the actual checkout (person who scans in your item and is authorized to take your money) at around 8 AM. Not bad. There was actually a person sitting on the top of a 20 foot platform directing the traffic flow through the checkout line. Our poor checkout person womanfully printed out copy after copy of our receipts for the multitude of mail-in rebates that we needed for our many purchases. And then we left the store...after security checked our receipt and unpacked our shopping cart to make sure that we weren't sneaking out with whatever. They like to check and make sure that you've paid for every little item. We had and were free to repack our cart and leave. I stopped my son from selling the cart to a fellow shopper for $5 after we loaded up our vehicle with our purchases.

And so the weary hunters deserved breakfast and coffee before heading on back home. The General is even now filling out rebate forms and entering them into an Exell spreadsheet.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

A 150-pound person burns one calorie per minute during bed rest. I'm going to take a nap.

Happy Thanksgiving! My turkey (free range) is stuffed and baking in the oven. I made the sweet potatoes with brown sugar and pineapple and it's waiting in the fridge for just the right time for the marshmallow topping. The green bean casserole is also waiting in the fridge for just the right time for the French's Onion topping. My son has already made one trip to the store to buy the rolls that I forgot to buy yesterday. Oops! I think I have it all now. I peeled the potatoes and they're resting in a bowl of water waiting for...just the right moment.... to be cooked for the mashed potatoes. Cooking at Thanksgiving is definitely all about timing. Everything has to be cooked at precisely the right time in order for everything to reach the table at the same time...warm would be nice. Oh! And I didn't forget the cranberries. I cooked the cranberries this morning too. They're cooling in the fridge. I made dill pickles three weeks ago. Yes. They're in the fridge too along with the olives (green and black). The butter is sitting out too (just this morning) so people won't have to chip off a piece for their rolls...which my son just bought. My daughter is bringing pie for dessert. I think I'm going to make her set the table for old times sake. The feast will start at 2 PM. Hopefully. If I have the timing right. Not to worry. Today's Thanksgiving and we'll eat when we eat and we'll eat when the food's on the table. Thanksgiving is more then about the food anyway and there's always a lot to be thankful for this year. If we can't be thankful for the things that we do have then maybe we should try being thankful for the things that we don't have. I'm thankful that we don't have snow. Some of you may be thankful that you do have snow. Whatever makes your day. Happy Thanksgiving!

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Inertia is the tendency of all objects and matter in the universe to stay still, or if moving, to continue moving in the same direction, unless acted on by some outside force. This seems to be a ruling phenomenon in my life. Either I remain still and inactive or I run around like a speed demon dragging everyone behind me like a speeding comet. Today I'm a comet.

To blog or not to blog that is the question. Whether tis nobler to blog or just go downstairs and shove more money into those stupid addictive slot machines here at the casino. That is always the dilemma. As you see, I'm currently blogging.
We left bright and early yesterday for Las Vegas on a computer rescue mission. The computer has been rescued and revived and is hopefully busily downloading data. The computer's owners, The Old Grey Frog's parents, seem to be happy and relieved. Of course, more work may have to be done to speed up Old Grey Frog's Mom's computer. Today's another day.
So what shall I do today? I don't have a clue when it comes to computer. My husband is the technical genius in the family. I'm sure I've blogged before about my technophobia. Good thing that I'm married to my own personal tech support. What do the rest of you do? NO. We're not going to fly to the frozen northlands to come fix your computer. Driving to Vegas (6 hour drive) wasn't all that bad though. Especially with the reward of a free stay at our favorite casino (Sam's Town) along with their wonderfully comped food and drink. I am currently busy racking up enough comp points to pay for our next stay...well maybe the one after that since our next stay over the New Year has already been comped. I'll probably go down and play on the video poker machines again today. I may spend some time at the day spa (I sure hope that they still exist). Or I may just see if I can go see a movie. After breakfast...after picking up my cafe latte at the Java Hut in the park.
Don't expect me to blog tomorrow though.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

The Old Grey Frog is currently compiling data on how many coins one person can shove into a variety of video slot machines in a 48 hour period, allowing for short breaks to eat and sleep and drink.

I don't understand what's going on with my internet server today. It's been working, kinda. Kinda hit or miss. Right now it's kind of missing. Half my blog from yesterday is missing...but not on my main page. I can live with it. My Outlook Express is totally confused. Good thing it checks every minute because some minutes it can't connect. Some minutes it can. I gave up on playing my Pogo game. Good thing I have some books to read.
I tend to slurp down books like a good dish of ice cream. I devour them rapidly as if they'll melt before I finish and then I stare dejectedly at them like one would stare at an empty bowl knowing that the next dish of ice cream is still at some grocery store somewhere in some forgotten world. Sigh. I stock up on "ice cream" whenever possible. Thankfully I have a few books in reserve which I haven't read yet and unlike real ice cream, books can be read over and over again and I have shelves and shelves of my favorites which I keep to my husband's dismay. One of my favorite authors is coming out with a new book next week. I can hardly wait.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

A bucket of water that has been heated or boiled and then allowed to cool then a bucket of cold water at the same temperature. For some reason, previously heated water forms denser ice then unheated water, which is why hot-water pipes tend to burst before cold-water pipes. I am so hoping that the plumber I hired to winterize the water pipes at our lakehome in Wisconsin managed to do his job before this "little" snowstorm hit which I hear has hit the area. Even though we keep the heat on at our lakehome, we have the water turned off and the pipes drained....just in case.

I've never been fond of Spam. My Mother introduced us to this culinary oddity when I was young. Some people love the stuff. I'm not one of those people. I'm not fond of any kind of canned meat. I'm not a vegetarian by any means but this stuff just isn't an exceptable form of meat in my book. Give me a nice juicy steak, a nice bone-in ham, a wonderful stuffed Thanksgiving turkey, or even Kentucky Fried Chicken but please don't give me Spam!
Now I have even more of a reason to hate Spam. Computer Spam. Yuck! I'm ready to change my email address. To think my poor Mother-in-law gets some of this awful stuff. I blush to even mention some of this stuff. All one can do is delete it as fast as it comes over the net. I like the size of every part of my anatomy and have no desire to increase any of my measurements...or those of my husband either. I don't have any interest in buying any prescription drugs for....either.
Yup! Actually, both kinds of Spam are pretty much alike in my book. They kind of slurp out of their can like dog food and smell about the same.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Ever wonder how "absolute zero" defined? Absolute zero is the theoretical temperature at which all substances have zero thermal energy. It was originally conceived as the temperature at which an ideal gas at constant pressure would contract to zero volume. Absolute zero is equivalent to 0°K, -459,67°F, or -273.15°C. The lowest actual temperature ever to be reached was two-billionth of a degree above absolute zero by a team at the Low Temperature Laboratory in the Helsinki University of Technology, Finland, in October, 1989. Now don't you feel better about today's weather? I hear that parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin got some snow today.

Woohoo! No Italian class tomorrow. The teacher is sick. OK. I'm sorry that the teacher is sick. I'm not feeling all that well myself. Colds. What can you do? They're a reality. But I'm happy that I don't have class tomorrow because now I can put off doing my homework that I should have done already but haven't. Procrastination. Gotta love it.
I may just sleep in tomorrow. With a pending cold this may be the perfect solution. Unfortunately dogs still need to be fed, walked and watered. Usually at predawn- thirty. I'm going to prep my coffee-maker tonight so I don't have to think too much tomorrow at predawn-thirty. Did you ever notice how difficult it is to separate those stupid coffee filters (just get one) before your brain has really had an opportunity to wake up? How do they manage to package those suckers so tightly packed together? I actually spent about a half an hour the other day, in the afternoon while I was fully conscious, separating just a few of them so I could be prepared in the predawn mornings to make my coffee. Let's not get ridiculous. I'm not an engineer. I know that if I should read the owner's manual I can "program" the coffeemaker to brew a perfect pot of coffee, ready, waiting for me, in the predawn hours of the morning. Ever have a coffeemaker fail? Did you ever have to clean up after a coffeepot that spewed its contents over the entire surrounding environs of your kitchen? I have. Repeatedly. I'm still cleaning coffee grounds out of my knife drawer. And this is when I've been "watching". I don't trust these suckers. Not a minute. I'll only go so far as to load the thing. I refuse to actually program it to fire.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

The Oreo is the world's bestselling cookie. Over five billion are sold every year. And that's just in America. And there's no hiding the fact that you've snuck a couple of those suckers from someone on a diet. The telltale evidence on your tongue and teeth will give you away every time. Kinda like that telltale smell of a McDonald's gourmand meal.

I'm addicted to Pogo. I tried their new game of TriPeaks Solitaire. No time to write this blog. I have to get back to that new game. Indiana Jones meets TriPeaks.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean, was falsely accused of treason and beheaded in 1517.

I have done absolutely nothing all day. It feels great! I got my Pioneer Super Badge from Pogo and I'm working on my Word Whomp Whackdown.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Smokey the Bear's original name was Hot Foot Teddy.

The repair person came out to fix my oven today. My oven works but I've been cautioned against cleaning it until they can come back and replace some part which controls the locking mechanism. That's OK by me. I already cleaned the oven and don't have any future oven cleaning activities planned. I do have some baking planned...soon. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and then comes serious Christmas baking. I need my oven. I'm told that it will work just fine. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

When a living thing is in a state of suspended animation during the winter, it's known as hibernation. Estivation is the state of suspended animation during the summer. I wonder if a person can both hibernate and estivate?

Today was fun. I went to the dentist and got a temporary crown. Now I have to look forward to going back to the dentist in a few weeks for the permanent crown. Oh well...that visit shouldn't be as traumatic. I have nothing against dentists. I just don't like pain...or torture. I've always felt that it was inhumane to make someone go through that kind of experience while they are conscious. They knock out animals when they take care of their teeth. I suppose it's because they're afraid that the animal will struggle and bite them. If I promise to bite the dentist, maybe they'll knock me unconscious. They're starting to wise up though. They drug me silly to get me through their doors and then they gas me while I'm in the chair. I still break out into a cold sweat though just thinking about dentists and dental work.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Dentophobia is the fear of dentists. I definitely have a mild case of dentophobia as well as odontaphobia...fear of dental surgery.

I gave into temptation. KitchenAid mixers come in a variety of designer colors. After years of owning a basic white KitchenAid mixer, I finally bought myself a red one today. It was on sale. My not that old white KitchenAid went to a new home. It works just fine. KitchenAid mixers are wonderful. My mother still has the KitchenAid mixer that she was given when she got married. I have the KitchenAid mixer that I was given when I got married (It's in Wisconsin). Both work great! My daughter now has the the plain white KitchenAid that used to grace the kitchen of my home here in Arizona. I have great plans for my shiny new red KitchenAid mixer. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Life would not be the same without a KitchenAid mixer. KitchenAid ovens are another story all-together. A repairman will be coming on Tuesday for the bi-annual repair work on my KitchenAid oven. Good thing I extended the warranty.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Balneology is the science of the therapeutic use of bathing. I think I'll go take a bath. I wore myself out shopping today. Good exercise but hard on the legs.

How alarming! Yesterday was one of those days which I could have lived without. Actually, it wasn't all bad. I just could have lived without our smoke alarms. The day would have been perfect if those stupid fire alarms wouldn't have gone off...repeatedly. There was no fire. There was no smoke. The windows were open but the only smell coming in from outside was the smell of new mowed grass. The alarms went off and then stopped. OK. Which fire alarm system went off? Was it our system that calls the fire department automatically? Was it the system that comes built into our house? My husband and I went frantically searching the file cabinets for the information that we keep on both systems. Blessedly the fire alarms had ceased after only a few short moments. No fire engines showed up at our doorstep. No calls came in from our monitoring station (I think it's somewhere in Kansas). Still no smoke smelled, no evidence of fire. All of a sudden the alarms went off again. They were loud. Which alarm was it? We scurried about from one smoke detector to the other, peering anxiously up at them to see if we could see....anything. Nothing. The alarming noise ceased. We determined that the culprit smoke detectors were those that came built into our house after I tested the monitoring system. The alarm given off by the monitor system is loud enough to make your ears bleed. The alarm that we had heard three times now wasn't all that loud. It was loud but it wasn't ear bleed loud. My husband decided to check the batteries in the smoke detectors. From past experience the sound these particular smoke detectors make when they need new backup batteries hasn't ever been alarming...it's more of an irritating, single pulse screech and it's usually only noticeable in the middle of the night when you're trying to get some sleep and they won't stop and they won't let you sleep until you get up, drag out the ladder and replace the stupid batteries. This was nothing like we were experiencing for the fourth time as my husband grabbed the ladder from the garage. None of these detectors are reachable by anything by a 10-foot ladder. Awww!!! There they went off again. We ran around looking for a blinking red LED light on one of the detector units but again failed to reach the culprit in time to see it. We started uninstalling units, one by one. Our house has 9 smoke detectors not counting the one unit that came with our monitoring service. Apparently there are building codes which require smoke detectors in every room and hallway. After the alarms went off yet again (backup batteries), my husband decided to dissect the suckers and see if he could see anything. Could there be a spider infestation? I could just imagine some little tiny spider doing the hoochie-coochie over the sensor of one of my nine smoke detectors, laughing it's little butt off. Do spiders have butts? As my husband dissected smoke detectors looking for who knows what or who knows who, we enjoyed blessed silence. I was given two of the smoke detectors to babysit while I sat at my computer. We were still watching in vain for the red LED sensor that would denoter THE detector that was the cause of our shattered nerves and my poor headache. Silence reigned. No more alarms....until 10PM last night. Darn it! More silence. My husband finally dissected the last smoke detector this afternoon. This last detector was filthy. We're praying that dust was causing it to imagine that there was smoke in the house. I pray for this because my husband cleaned said unit and has finally reinstalled all the smoke detectors back into their proper places in the house. I pray for this because I don't want to hear another smoke detector as long as I live. I pray for this because I still have my headache. If they go off again I'm going to make him go out and buy all new smoke detectors to replace these stupid things...ones that will glow red if they're triggered and wave a red flag of surrender after misfiring so we can kill them.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Where there's smoke there's lunt. That's what the fume from a pipe is called. There was no lunt in my house yesterday.

I have to laugh. After reading the article from Onion yesterday, I read the following on the Blogger Homepage.

The Onion: Mom Finds Out About Blog. Here at Blogger, we have no official stance on what to do when your mom discovers your blog. Maybe we should think about that.

Update: We now have an official stance on this matter.

Blogger's Official Solution to Mom's

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

The expression to "mind your p's and q's" comes from old English Pubs. The bartenders had to keep track of how much a customer drank by the pints and quarts in front of them.

Never write in your blog about anything you would be embarrassed to have your Mother see. Good Grief! People! Get Real! You all must have totally missed the Nixon years and Watergate! I am so old. Didn't you guys learn anything from your history lessons? Surely they mentioned something about the Nixon tapes in those history books. Never ever write anything anywhere that may come back and haunt you. Is this a lesson that someone missed? You were absent that day? MY mother reads MY blog and she reads my brother's blog and she reads my daughter's blog. I would never post embarrassing pictures of myself or write about anything doing something that I wouldn't want my mother or my Grandmother to see or know about. I remember my mother telling me to never ever write or say anything that could reach the eyes or ears of anyone that would be offended or embarrassed by it. I try. I really try. I'm not always successful. But no-one's is going to impeach me. I have no presidential or political ambitions but I still know better then to write something that I wouldn't want my mother, father, or preacher to read.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Casanova journeyed with a custom-made portable bath. It was for two.

It's raining. We need the rain here in Arizona. I won't feel so guilty about overseeding my lawn with winter grass if it continues to rain. I try to be environmentally conscious. I made a conscious decision to overseed my lawn this winter. Do I get points because I didn't overseed last winter? Do I get points for moving into a house where the landscaping will be desert friendly and water-efficient? The problem arises that I have to sell this house before I can move into the new house. I've bought and sold houses throughout the 25 years of my marriage. We joke that we put our house up for sale every time the windows need washing. I need to sell this house. In order to do that I have to make things look unnaturally wonderful. No spiderwebs, no toilet bowl rings, no dust, the carpet must look like no-one has ever walked there before, the appliances must look brand-new, the house will look like it has been newly painted because it will have been newly painted, the windows will reflect the beauty of the lake and the grass must be green. If you have ever walked into a Model Home Village to view the homes in a housing developement, you should note that no-one has ever lived in these homes. The TV's if there are TV's are fake. The fruit on the table is fake. The flowers are fake. The house is clean, there are no messy fingerprints and no-one has ever cooked in the kitchen. My goal is to make my house, my home, look like one of these unlived in homes until it sells. I have from now until January to make it look like this. While the house is up for sale our electricity bill will go through the roof because every light will burning whenever a potential buyer stops by. A fire will be kept lite in the fireplace. There will be fresh flowers in vases on the tables. The floor will be vacuumed and swept to erase any sign of habitation. Beds will be made with decorative pillow shams on a daily basis. Even though we're adhereing to a strict no/low carbohydrate diet, there will be the smell of fresh baked bread or cinnamon rolls purmiating the house. No-one will ever know that I own two dogs or that I have a son who isn't the best at cleaning up after himself. All thought of living a normal existance while this house is up for sale will be forgotten. So although I feel guilty about overseeding the lawn this winter because of environmental concerns, I'll just have continue feeling that way until after the house sells. Oh...and I drive an SUV too but that's another whole story.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

"Utopia" is an ancient Greek word meaning "nowhere". I know that I've used this bit of trivia before but it just seemed to fit the theme today.

Yesterday was my brother's birthday. He's even older then I am. Actually, I may call myself The Old Grey Frog, but I really don't think of myself as old. I don't even think of my parents as old. We're all just experienced. Some of us just have a bit more experience then others. I suppose I could list a resume of all the things that I've experieced over my lifetime.

Color TV--I remember when my grandparents got their color TV. My grandmother hated it. She made my grandfather turn off the color so she could enjoy the black and white reception. I remember when we got our first color TV. It sat in our living room next to our "stereo".

Microwave ovens--My husband bought me an Amana RadarRange. Wow! We were given free cooking classes with our purchase. There were microwaves in our dorm building when I went to college but they rarely worked. Someone always tried to heat up a TV dinner in them and they'd blow up. Keep in mind that TV dinners always came in aluminum "trays". Despite written warnings about using metal in the microwave someone always forgot that aluminum was a metal.

The Beatles--I never was much of a fan but they sure had cool hair.

JFK--Yes, I do remember where I was when JFK was assassinated.

Vietnam--I remember one day when I came home from school. There was a note on the fridge. My brother had left to go to the May Day demonstrations in Washington D.C. with a bunch of his friends. I'm sure my parents were thrilled. And yes, he was arrested. I'm sure he's on some government watch list to this day. I remember sitdowns and tear gas. I remember the draft and the lottery system. I remember conscientous objectors.

Car phones--That's relatively recent. Motorola. Hey! I just got my first cell phone.

Cordless phones--It took me forever to learn that I could walk around the house while talking on the phone instead of staying anchored to the base. Of course, new problems arose. Where's the phone?

TV remotes--Where's the remote? I remember when these first came out. Now no-one knows how to change the channels without one. I think there still may be buttons on the TV set, just in case you lose the remote.

VCR's--I used to be able to program them but now DVD players are out and I can't figure out which remote goes to which device.

Records--I remember when we bought 331/3 instead of 48's. You couldn't even play your 78's anymore on some record players.

Tape recorders--Reel to reel. They were expensive too. Then you could get cassette tapes. Wow! Not those little cassettes but those big chunky huge 8-track cassettes. And then I bought myself a new smaller audio cassette player and recorder. Woohoo!

Answering machines--I loved it when they came out with these. Do they still sell the one's with little cassettes? We've gone digital now. My in-laws still refuse to have a cordless phone or and answering machine. I think they may have a VCR but they don't know how to use it.

I could go on and on. Bubble gum. Flavored bubble gum. The shrinking chocolate bar. Lean Cuisine. McDonalds. Burger King. I even remember when smoking became bad for you. Only one problem with experienced people. There are no guarantees that the unexperienced will listen to the experienced. That's something that will never change.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Pop Quiz and we aren't talking Cola Wars. Ratings Below. How many of these things do you remember?

1. Blackjack chewing gum (this stuff was truly yucky)
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water (wax lips too...)
3. Candy cigarettes (before cigarettes were bad for you and at the same time that Popeye was still allowed to beat up the bad guy.)
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed bottles (church basement and camp)
5. Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes (Clancy's)
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers (we never signed up for this but I remember telling him to "Get out of Town before Midnight" with my cap gun.)
7. Party lines (They gave us one by mistake when we first moved to Arizona in the 80's)
8. Newsreels before the movie (cartoons before the movie)
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. Telephone numbers with a word prefix (Olive-6933) (Walnut6-3008)
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody (This and Romper Room)
14. 45 RPM records (Please! If I can remember 78's, I certainly haven't forgotten 45's)
15. S&H Green Stamps (I'm not sure what my mom bought with all those stamps. I'm sure she did use them...eventually...I'd hate to think that she saved them and licked them for all those years and just threw them away. Please tell me that she doesn't still have them stored in the basement of the condo.)
16. Hi-fi's (no comment)
17. Metal ice trays with lever (I wonder if my sister still has hers?)
18. Mimeograph paper (and I think I remember how to use that machine too I can still remember the smell. MMMM)
19. Blue flashbulb (I think I still have eye damage from those things. Remember flashcubes for the instamatics? Remember instamatics?)
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys (our skates were stored in the orange crate shelves in the garage..the keys were tied neatly to the skates so we couldn't lose them.)
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins (It was real tricky to see if you could still hear the movie but not let in the mosquitoes when you hooked the soundbox to your car.)
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers

If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!

It's 9 PM and I still can't think of anything to write about in this darn blog. I just got back from a Veteran's Day concert put on by my son's band. The band was very good. I think they need to hire a publicity agent though. It would have been nice to have more of an audience. Oh well...instead of thinking up an original blog, I'll share a "funny" that a friend sent. Good thing I keep a file of them.

Headline Stories for Year 2035


1. Castro finally dies at age 112; Cuban cigars can now be imported legally but President Chelsea Clinton has banned all smoking.


2. Spotted Owl plague threatens Western North America crops & livestock.


3. Last remaining Fundamentalist Muslim dies in the American Territory of the Middle East (formerly known as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon)


4. Afghanistan still closed off; physicists estimate it will take at least ten more years before radioactivity decreases to safe levels.


5. George Z. Bush says he will run for President in 2036.


6. 35 year study: diet and exercise is the key to weight loss.


7. Nursing home event... Bill Clinton denies allegations of affair with candy striper.


8. Texas executes last remaining citizen.


9. Upcoming NFL draft likely to focus on use of mutants.


10. Baby conceived naturally.....scientists stumped.


11. Authentic year 2000 "chad" sells at Sotheby's for $4.6 million.


12. Ozone created by electric cars now killing thousands in Los Angeles.


13. Average height of NBA players now nine foot seven inches.


14. Microsoft announces it has perfected its newest version of Windows so it crashes BEFORE installation is completed.


15. New California law requires that all nail clippers, screwdrivers, and baseball bats be registered by January 2036.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

The words loosen and unloosen mean the same thing. On the other hand, cleave and cleave are two completely opposite words. Isn't the English language wonderful. I sure am glad that I don't have to learn it as a second language. Learning Italian is challenging enough.

I got up at 5:30 AM. Church. That explains a lot. I played my clarinet at the first two services. It was pledge Sunday. Amazingly enough the place was packed. This could be a sign of an improving economy. Last year there weren't too many people in the pews for pledge Sunday and the poor minister ended up preaching to the converted. Regardless on how many people showed up today, encouraging as that may be, the minister still ended up preaching to the converted...there just were a lot more of the converted on hand.

A good friend sent me the following "funny" that I just had to pass along. I do dye my hair red but I never concidered myself "blond".

A young redhead goes into the doctor's office and says that her body hurts wherever she touches it.

"Impossible" says the doctor. "Show me!"

She takes her finger and pushes her elbow and screams in agony.

She pushes her knee and screams, she pushes her ankle and screams.

Everywhere she touches makes her scream.

The doctor asks, "You're not really a redhead, are you"

"No" she says, "I'm actually a blonde."

"I thought so," the doctor says. "Your finger is broken."


Today's Little Bit of Trivia

When asked to name a color, three out of five people will say "red".

What? You blinked and missed the picture that I had posted of the Mother-of-the-Bride? OK. For those who failed to read my blog yesterday, here's your last opportunity. Just click on the highlighted word above and you will finally see what The Old Grey Frog looks like after visiting a beauty parlor.

My husband and I stopped by to visit our new home today. It's still a vacant lot. No progress visible as yet though it looked like someone drove their car over the lot because there were tire tracks.

I went outside tonight and viewed the eclipsed moon. Neighbors were oohing and awing over it's beauty from their boats on the lake. It was beautiful. I went back inside. It's cold outside....for my little bit of Arizona.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

The average person will catch 140 colds in their lifetime. I don't know how many colds I've had in my lifetime so far. I try to avoid them and, failing that, I strive not to dwell upon my past experiences with them.

Confession is good for the soul. I added a couple of pictures to my blog this morning. A past blog. One of the pictures is the Mother-of-the-Bride which I've since posted for all of you to enjoy. I will be changing it soon. I have this crazed look in my eye and I'm not sure how long I want to have everyone think that I look like that on a daily basis. The other picture is of The Happy Couple which you can now enjoy without checking out past blogs. I promise not to alter past blogs...unless I warn you about it after the fact.

Tomorrow I have Italian class. My husband and I signed up for Italian language classes a while back. We completed the first classes offered and signed up for the second group of classes. Unfortunately we missed the first class of the new series due to the marriage of our daughter. Now we need to quickly see if we can cram for this next class which we'll be attending tomorrow morning. I hate playing catch-up.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

The comic strip Peanuts was originally called Li'l Folks. I used to love reading that comic strip. Just as I often feel torn between identifying with Rocky on the one hand and Bullwinkle on the other, I also feel torn between identifying with Snoopy on the one hand and Charlie Brown on the other. My sister was definitely Lucy.

I'm still tired from all the activity surrounding my daughter's wedding. I suppose I shall eventually recover. There's so much to do between now and the first of the year. We have to prepare the house so we can sell it. We have to figure out where to put all this stuff. Just like there is no way that one can fit a square peg into a round hole, one can not fit the accumulated years of stuff from a 3000 square foot house into a 1900 square foot house. It just isn't going to happen. There's this wonderful program on TV right now where they go to people's homes and organize them. They take everything out of the house and make them sort it into three piles. Things to throw away, things to sell at a garage sale(that which doesn't sell is donated), and things to keep. Sounds like a plan to me. Things to throw away, things to sell at a garage sale or donate, and things that are kept...here or moved to Wisconsin. Only problem will be that I hate to get rid of anything. One never knows when one may need the very thing that one gets rid of but one knows for certain that this usually occurs one week after one gets rid of said object.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Gangster Al Capone's business card listed him as a "second-hand furniture dealer". I may have to see if his descendants are still in the business.

My Daughter's Wedding Day

I took my daughters out for breakfast at one of Sam's Town's restaurants. It was about 8 AM. My daughters and I had a hair appointment at 9 AM. We each were getting prepped and primped and pampered for the wedding. We were "finished" at around 11:45PM. Please note that I don't normally clean up this nicely. This is when we learned that we had to quickly corral the Matron of Honor and her daugher The Flower Girl so we could all race over to Paris to check into the Bridal Suite in order to get dressed for the wedding. We were to be joined by our photographer, my oldest daughter, The Mink.

We arrived at the Paris at a little after 1 PM. As we were all piling out of the car with all our various "stuff"...the wedding gown, the dresses, etc. etc. etc. we ran into some of the wedding guests who were exploring the Vegas Strip. Pictures were taken of the frantic Mother-of-the-Bride by two of said Mother's former Bride's Maids from 25 years ago. We checked into the Paris Bridal Suite which we discovered was a non-smoking suite. No problemo for me. I don't smoke. Unfortunately, the bride was horrified. She smokes. So does the groom. OK. I went down to the check-in desk and begged for a smoking suite. I got one. Yuck! Those rooms sure do stink. The smoker didn't seem to notice.

I left everyone smoking in the room (well...not the flowergirl...just the rest of them) while I raced up to the Wedding Chapel so I could meet the Wedding Co-Ordinator. My husband had warned me that the gal that we'd been working with all this time was sick and they had had to find a replacement. I hurried up to the reception desk and asked to see the co-ordinator for the wedding. The receptionist called back to the offices saying, "The bride for the wedding is here to see the co-ordinator." Blink, Blink? "I'm the Mother-of-the-Bride". I straightened that out and met with the co-ordinator, making sure that she had the names correct and the times etc.

Returning to the room, I found that we still had plenty of time before we had to get dressed for the wedding. I was already dressed (maybe this is why the receptionist thought I was the bride) because I didn't want to have to lug all my stuff back to Sam's Town after the wedding like the Matron-of-Honor and her daughter would have to do. My daughters and I went down to the casino, had a drink at the bar, and then I played a couple of quarter machines. I doubled my money, cashed out, and we all returned to the room to get ready for the wedding.

In all of our wedding attire, we arrived at the chapel to meet the co-ordinator at around 4:15 PM. My husband was waiting for us. The rest of our guests were waiting down in the casino, having arrived by chartered bus earlier then anticipated. We quickly hustled the bride and her attendants into the Bride's Waiting Room. A photographer (professional) came and took a multitude of pictures. A photograper (The Mink) had already taken a multitude of pictures. The professional photographer and The Mink discussed cameras. The bride drank a glass of water, wanted more water but was reminded of the difficulties that could present themselves should she decide that she had to go to visit the little girl's room in all of her wedding splendor.

Meanwhile, the co-ordinator was lining people up and pinning flowers on all the immediate family members. This is when we discovered that the ringbearer's pillow had been left up in the Bridal Suite. Thankfully it wasn't left at Sam's Town. The Mink raced (she really did race...she took off her shoes and ran) back to the Bridal Suite to get the ringbearer's pillow. Thankfully, I wasn't around when my husband asked the groom if he had the marriage license (he had left it up in the room at Sam's Town). Fortunately, this disaster wasn't too bad since they hadn't as yet left Sam's Town. The groom raced up to his room at Sam's Town and recovered the missing document. The Best Man did not lose the rings.

Everyone was seated in the Chapel du Paradis. The minister waited by the podium. The groom waited nervously at the front of the chapel. He quipped that he wished he had hired a juggler to take some of the attention off of him. The music started. In walked the Matron-of-Honor on the arm of the Best-Man. After a short pause, in walked the Flowergirl on the arm of the Ring-bearer. Music. More music. More music. I think they time the music for a larger wedding party. More bride's maids and groom's men. Then everyone is directed to stand and in marches my daughter, The Bride on the arm of her Father. She was so beautiful!

I'm sure the minister was a professional actor who happened to be a minister but that was just fine. He sounded like he really knew my daughter and her fiance. He sounded really sincere. He delivered a moving wedding speech. He didn't sound like he'd been giving the same speech night after night down through the ages. It was a beautiful ceremony.

Afterwards the guests were directed to head back to the chartered bus area while the wedding party and their families stayed behind for more pictures. More pictures were taken. The family was directed to leave so that even more pictures could be taken of just the Bride and the Groom and their attendants. We all headed down to the bus to wait for the Bride and Groom. Soon, the attendants joined us as we waited for the Bride and Groom. While we waited, we watched as my husband's father tried one of the slot machines. No luck. Oh well.

We oogled the limosine that was waiting to pick up the Bride and Groom and their attendants. Wow! A red stretch limo with flames painted on it's side and a leopard print interior. Sinful4 was the license plate. And then the fire alarms went off inside the casino. Thankfully it was a false alarm but the Bride told me that the elevators were sealed shut. They had to wait until the all-clear was given before they could join us downstairs. The wedding couple and their attendants entered the Sinful limosine and were off to Sam's Town and the reception. The wedding guests piled into the humble CoachUSA bus and followed them to Sam's Town and the reception.

The reception went well. The bride changed into a pair of running shoes studded with diamonds (not real ones...let's get real). The food was fabulous. The guests blew bubbles. The bride and groom kissed upon request. Wedding Confetti (Jordan Almonds) was explained for those who didn't understand the Italian tradition. The Bride's Father danced with the Bride. The Groom's Mother danced with the Groom. The Bride and Groom danced. The Bride threw her wedding bouquet...no-one caught it. The Groom threw the wedding garter...the Groom's 5-year-old nephew caught it. The Bride and Groom cut the cake and shared their first bites. Cameras flashed. Lots of Kodak moments. Champagne flowed.

Guests were swept out the door at 10:30PM. Many adjourned to Roxie's (a Sam's Town nightclub and bar) after the reception. Meanwhile, I rescued the cake-topper and all the rest of the numerous items that we wished to save until we don't want to save them anymore. My parents took the flowers and the rest of the wedding cake off to their house so that at least one layer of the cake could be preserved for the happy couple's first anniversary (it's sitting in my freezer right now wrapped in multiple layers of plastic). The unopened bottles of champagne were delivered up to my room (No...I did not drink them....not yet) along with the wedding guest book, all the extra wedding confetti, the cake knife and server, etc. etc. Thank goodness for bell people.

And so ends the tale of My Daughter's Wedding. The Friday and Saturday after the wedding was spent connecting with as many of our guests as we could because we didn't have nearly enough time at the wedding or the reception to talk to everyone we needed to and wanted to talk to before we had to say goodbye. Sunday was spent recovering from My Daughter's Wedding and it's aftermath, not to mention that I finally had time to play video poker.

Monday we left for home...after my husband played with my father's computer. Hoover Dam is really pretty after dark. There was little or no traffic on our trip back home. We arrived back in Phoenix at around 2 AM....Tuesday.

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

The father of writer Hart Crane is the creator of Life Savers candy. Clarence Crane.

And now we skip right over to post partem wedding. My daughter's wedding was beautiful. Since so much went on during the days when I didn't find time to blog, I'll have to split the story into various blogs.

We left for Vegas on Wednesday, Oct. 29th. The morning started with my coffeemaker overflowing and making a real mess of my countertop. Not a good way to start the morning. Thankfully we were able to pick up some coffee in Wickenburg on the way to Vegas. My husband is currently out looking for a new coffeemaker.

When we arrived in Vegas, we stopped to drop our dogs off at my folk's place in Henderson. They had kindly agreed to look after the little monsters for us while we were in Vegas. We picked up the bridal shower supplies and the wedding supplies that I'd left with them on a previous trip to Vegas.

After checking into Sam's Town, my son and I raced the wedding reception stuff (Jordan Almonds, wedding favors, cake topper, etc) over to the caterer. I made sure that the pop and champagne was chilling in the fridge in our room for the bridal shower planned for later in the evening after the rehearsal dinner and then I joined my oldest daughter and my sister and brother-in-law down at the bar in the park. They had arrived earlier in the day. In the meantime, because of the wildfires in California, there were numerous flight delays for people arriving at the airport for the wedding. Plan A had to be scrapped and Plan B had to be quickly formulated. Plan A was that the groom's relatives would all take the airport shuttle to Sam's Town and would arrive there at 3 PM. Plan A would allow my husband to go the airport and pick his parents up at 3:30 PM. Plan A would allow my husband to gather all those needing to be fitted for tuxedos and take them for a fitting at 5 PM. Plan A needed to be tossed in the trash can due to the fires in California. The skies in Vegas were brown and choking with smoke. All flights were delayed at least one hour. Plan B still provided that the groom's relatives would all take the airport shuttle to Sam's Town. Just later then expected and we all prayed that the ringbearers tuxedo would fit since he wouldn't be able to go to the tuxedo fitting. Plan B demanded that my husband corral the groom, the Best Man, and my son to immediately take them all for the tuxedo fitting before racing off to the airport to pick up his parents from their delayed flight. Plan B worked just fine. Thankfully we didn't have to resort to Plan C which obviously hadn't been formulated. We were lucky to have the presence of mind to formulate Plan B on the fly.

In the meantime (post tuxedo), the groom and his future bride raced over to the courthouse to correct a glaring error on the wedding license. After correcting this, everyone who was invited and a couple who weren't all met to have a rehearsal dinner buffet.

After the dinner, the women all deserted the men and headed directly to our suite for the bridal shower. Champagne flowed. Henna was used to decorate the bride's feet. The female wedding guests bonded. All went well. I have no idea what the male wedding guests and the groom did with themselves. I heard something about cigars and the bar.

You may have noticed that although we all were staying at a casino hotel, there was no gambling going on. There was no time to gamble on Wednesday. And so ends my tale of 1 Day Before My Daughter's Wedding. I will continue this wedding story in tomorrow's blog. Just writing about all this exhausts me. Thurday was the wedding day and that was just as exhausting and more so then what I've just described. You may also note that even though I had access to a computer during this entire wedding trip, I never touched it and am only now able to finally "blog".

Today's Little Bit of Trivia

Astronauts on the moon weigh only one-sixth of what they do on earth. Since I don't live on the moon, I'll have to work really hard at losing all the weight I gained while we were in Vegas.