TRUTH

All truths are easy to understand
once they are discovered;
the point is to discover them. - Galileo Galilei

Who knows where it may lead...

I love my new soap opera!! Who will be the loser? Who is being talked about? Who is doing the talking??? ROF oops! we know that one, no surprise there!!


A Day in my Life...

Oh the irony of it all...today's quote:

Those who stand for nothing fall for anything.
Alexander Hamilton

luccccyyyyyy you have some 'splainin' to do!

and some days you are the bug! Today, I think I must be the bug. On the calendar, today was my day off but due to the current scheduling crisis and the fact that I am in charge of scheduling, I went in at 8 this morning to work with the GM and see if there was any way in hell we were going to get through the holiday with any of us left intact. I left there at 10:30. I came home and fixed some lunch,watched the last of the DVD's I rented the other day (Lonely Hearts with John Travolta and Salma Hayek). Now I have to get some books packed up to go to the PO, go to the PO, pick Mark up at tutoring, take the DVD's back, drop Mark off at my in-laws and go BACK to work to cashier from 5-9 since we don't have enough people. Sound fun? Tomorrow, I get to go in an hour early to cover for a cashier who has a morning class and then I get to work my full shift. I don't have another day off until Sunday. *sigh*

My afghan is going quickly. I love the periwinkle blue color I am working the border in. I didn't buy enough of that though for what I decided to do. That is the problem with making things up as you go along. As predicted, as soon as I bought 2 more skeins of the white yarn, I found the skeins I bought earlier! Oh well, I can always use that.

OK, off to get the packing tape out, walk the dog and get going again. Somewhere in there I can dream about a vacation in Virginia Beach... Too bad it isn't mine! No rest for the wicked...oh boy, I can just hear the response to that comment...ROFLOL

for years I have watched someone on the web ingratiate themselves into the lives of people as a friend and the turn around and shred them if she didn't get the response or sympathy she felt was her due. It is now coming back to her 10 fold. I am not sure exactly how it started and I sure don't know how it will end but it is like watching a soap opera as she gets a taste of her own meddling, vindictive medicine. No names will be mentioned and I am not sure I am always in agreement with the methods but I am in agreement with the point. Want a peek of the drama? A Day in my Life

This is all true. Wonder if Sheriff Joe would want to be President!


For those of you not familiar with Sheriff Joe Arpaio, he is the Sheriff of Maricpoa County, Arizona. Here's his philosophy...

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (in Arizona ) who created the "tent city jail":

He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving
and charges the inmates for them. (His web site actually says 15 cents) Bio

He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails.
Took away their weights. Cut off all but "G" movies.

He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work
on county and city projects.

Then he started chain gangs for women
so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.

He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court
order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the
cable TV again only let in the Disney channel and the weather channel.

When asked why the weather channel he replied,
so they will know how hot it's gonna be while
they are working on my chain gangs.

He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value.

When the inmates complained, he told them,
"This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."


More on the Arizona Sheriff:

With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix
(116 degrees just set a new record), the Associated Press
reports: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded
tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail
have been given permission to strip down
to their government-issued pink boxer shorts.

On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers
were either curled up on their bunk beds or
chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees
inside the week before.

Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as
sweat collected on their chests and dripped down
to their pink socks.

"It feels like we are in a furnace," said James Zanzot,
an inmate who has lived in the tents for 1 year. "It's inhumane."

Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city
and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink,
and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates:

"It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too,
and they have to wear full battle gear,
but they didn't commit any crimes,
so shut your damned mouths!"

Way to go, Sheriff! Maybe if all prisons were like this one
there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders.
Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury
until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit
another crime so they can get back in to live on
taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers
can't afford to have for themselves.

Sheriff Joe was just reelected Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona for an unprecentented 4th 4 year term.



Snopes Urban Legends

Two years ago the Hubbard family in Clovis, Califorinia lost their son Jared in fighting in Iraq. This week they received the news that their youngest son Nathan was killed in the helicopter crashed that killed 14 soldiers. Their oldest son Jason was in the same unit as Nathan and was a part of the crew assigned to search the wreckage. There were no survivors.

For more information read Loss hits family for the second time and please pray for this family.

I was off Friday and Saturday, and since it was so hot, I wasn't going anywhere I didn't have to and planned on spending most of the weekend watching movies, stitching and crocheting. Well I did most of that but was really on a roll on the afghan and ran out of the cream yarn I was using. Now that pisses me off for 2 reasons, number one, I am sure I have more...somewhere, I just can't remember where I stored it. Secondly, I was at Hobby Lobby yesterday! I could have just purchased more! In any case, the movie the guys were watching was awful (Doom) so I just put my crocheting away and played on the computer for a while, trying to remember where I stashed that yarn...I haven't remembered though so I will buy some more when I am at lunch today. Thankfully it is a common color and brand and Michaels is right next door to Sam's.

I am enjoying playing with this afghan. I started with the dragonfly block that I posted below and when I finished that I crocheted all around it to start a border. I found another, smaller dragonfly that I am going to work into the border now. The center is done in cream and the outside dragonflies are in periwinkle blue. I really like that blue too. :-)

I need to get back to my stitching though since I still have a wedding sampler and an exchange block to finish and I need to get another wedding sampler done for my nephew who is getting married in December. As the weather cools, I will feel more like stitching. These last couple weeks with our awful heat have kept me from wanted to sit under a lamp that generated heat...although I can't imagine why!! Thankfully, things really cooled down last night. We didn't get any of the promised rain though...

OK, off to get dressed and head off to work.

I went looking this morning for a picture of the sun and found this one with the title I used for today. It is HOT, HOT, HOT. Holy Cow. Even if it cools off as local meterologists predict for this end of this month, it will still go down as the hottest August on record for my area. Hotter even than the Dust Bowls of the 1930's! We are dry too, under an extreme drought and code red as far as fires go. Everything is tinder... Bad, bad, news.

Here's is the iformation that goes with the picture I borrowed from Space.com Which has some really great images and stories.

The Sun Goes Wild

The Sun ended 2004 with a bang, firing off one of the most unusual eruptions scientists have ever seen.

The complex eruption is called a coronal mass ejection (CME). It originated from a region of the solar surface where pent-up magnetic energy was unleashed. Superheated gas, called plasma, was flung into space. All that is normal.

But in this case, several white strands of plasma elongated and lingered "longer than anyone can remember seeing," said Paal Brekke of the Norwegian Space Center. The strands were visible to scientists over a nine-hour stretch.

"The pieces appear almost like shreds of torn clothing after something ripped through it," Brekke said. "They clearly illustrate how a CME drags pieces of the Suns magnetic field out in space."

In this picture, the overwhelming light of the Sun's main disk is blocked out by an instrument aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft, allowing it to capture the action in the solar atmosphere and beyond.

As for me, I am making big "ice cubes" to put into the dogs dish, drinking LOTS of water and staying out of the heat as much as possible... I don't want to wish for fall because then winter is not far behind but I am wishing for a little relief! Rain would be oh so welcome!

Yesterday I didn't have to go to work until 3 so I took the morning to have a little me time and started working on a new afghan. This one is a filet crochet block with a dragonfly in it. I am doing it in worsted weight cream colored yarn and it is bigger than I expected, probably close to 20 inches although I haven't measured it yet. The directions given with it use that one square and then a border to make a lapghan. I think I will make probably 6 of those dragonfly blocks and put a border around and between them to make a much larger afghan. I hate skimpy stuff. I am up to starting the first row on the body. I think I will take it to work with me today since I am in the liquor room all day.

My stitching itself has stalled since I have been dealing with a cold for the last 5 days or so. I am getting better but it is hard to concentrate when you can't breathe and all you want to do it sleep. The crocheting is easier to deal with.

My uncle has now completed the beginnings of his chemotherapy and they say there is no trace of the cancer in his blookd right now. I don't know how much that means though becasue I would guess that's like killing the wasp in your kitchen without removing the nest outside your window. until they can get his bone marrow to not produce those cancer cells, there isn't a lot of progress. For now he is feeling pretty good other than dealing with bloating from the chemo. We continue to pray.

here's today's quote which goes out to all the people stirring up trouble because they can't get their own way... What goes around comes around, and then they are surprised when they get bit in the a$$

What you are will show in what you do.
Thomas A. Edison

Today's quote comes from Vince Lombardi and I did a double take when I saw it.

Winners never quit and quitters never win.

Back in the dark ages when I was a student at Lawrence Intermediate School, I had a music teacher named Mr. Cole. Mr. Cole was one of my absolute favorites. First I just loved (and still do) music of all kinds. Second, he was a hands on type of guy with instruments of all types in the classroom and third, he didn't treat us like little kids (at that time the school was grades 5,6 and 7). One of the things that was a part of each of his classes was that we got a quote that we were to memorize for the next week and we were quizzed on it and periodically he gave a bonus question of our favorite quote. Today's quote was it for me. I have carried that with me all my life. That quote took me through college, moving 600+ miles from my family, raising kids, jobs I loved but stressed me, jobs I hate but need, you name it. One of my former bosses used to give me jobs that would absolutely drive me nuts but I would complete them totally and well. When I asked her why I was the one that always got those thing she replied because I was like her terrier. Once I got my teeth into something, it was as good as done. I took that as a great compliment...This is a quote that I hope I passed on to my kids.

Now, for one of the only times in my life, I am walking away from something that I started. I am walking away because if I don't, it may take more of me than I have to give to it. It isn't anything catastrophic but it is bugging me all the same. I am hoping if I leave that some of the problems that plague this will walk away too. Somehow I doubt it but I have to hope.

I haven't seen Mr. Cole in many years. His love of quotes was the start of mine and now I have probably over 1000 that I have collected. It would be nice if he could know how he has influenced my life just by passing on some words that stuck. :-)

That is today's quote from Lord Chesterfield.

I guess dear Lord Chesterfield was a British statesman, I am not...well I guess I should say that I am neither, British or a statesman; meaning sometimes oh heck, a lot of the time I just speak my mind. somehow, LC ended up as my quote of today and it fits my "topic" of choice.

I apparently made a comment on a friend's blog that has some folks up in arms because I agreed with the blog. Never mind that neither I or the blogger mentioned any one's names or any other identifying characteristics... I just thought a lot of her comments were as another great Brit would say "spot on".

You know what? Tough nuts. Very few folks even know I blog and those that do, I have told selectively. Now apparently there are a lot of people who want to come here and make comments about me and my life so I have now chosen to add comments only by moderation because if I haven't invited you, how about this, I don't care about you or what you have to say. NOW if you have something intelligent to say or you want to have an intellectual argument about something I put out there that is different... Just don't come dump trash in my lawn.

TOODLES! *oh gag me*

You can read more about it at
Army Times

It was a tough day for me yesterday. My "baby" started HS. I cannot believe time has gone that quickly. Ironically, Last week we found an old undeveloped roll of film and I picked it up last night. The pictures were of when Tall Stacks was in Cincinnati in 1999. Mark was in 1st grade and Tommy had just started Middle School. Mark was still missing his front teeth! How funny it was to see that when I saw my tall, lanky son leaving for his first day of HS that morning.

Today's quote fits right in...

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal.
Arthur Schopenhauer

And away we go.

Well the news on my uncle's health has gone from bad to worse. He got the diagnosis of AML Acute Myelogenous Leukemia yesterday. This morning, the oncologist was in and told him he had 3-6 months unless they can get it to go into remission. Odds are with his age and the fact that he is now an insulin dependant diabetic (thanks to the leukemia) that even with chemo, that may not be possible. If they can get him into remission, he will need a bone marrow transplant and again for the same reasons listed above, he may not be a candidate.

His first response was to say "no chemo". If he only had a short time, he didn't want to be miserable. He has now decided that he wants to at least give it a chance. Since he will be transferred to a hospital several hours from home, there will be major upheaval for his family. They will all need all the prayers they can get.

All that means Live well, Love often and laugh much and that is JUST what we do on reunion week every year. I look forward to the 4 days or so I have in New York State every summer with the people I love the most. I have posted a couple of pictures but there are my in my dotphoto
album. we are all a little nuts. Throw in some Hard Mikes and DeKuypers Butter shot and well...you get the picture! ROF

This trip was actually not great. On Friday my uncle was admitted to the hospital with some sort of infection that they cannot identify plus chronic anemia and as of today is still there awaiting the results of numerous tests, still not doing well and growing more impatient by the day. All we can do now is pray. He has 10 years almost clean of prostate cancer and we are praying that it is nothing related to that but I think leukemia is suspected since they did a bone marrow biopsy last week as well.

Yesterday I went back to work and work straight through until next Monday. What a way to come back from vacation! As soon as I am off here I am going to fix my cousin's sweet and sour kielbasa and put it in the crick pot so the guys will have something to eat tonight. Then it is off for a cool shower to help offset this awful heat and then to work again! YUCK!!