The ‘N’ Was Silent

Recently I was watching TV and I caught an ad for these:

With advancing years, I know I am experiencing some hearing loss, so I guess I should have known better.

Still, for a moment, the advertiser held my undivided attention. My interest was piqued. I was becoming quite excited over this. To think that you could buy something that by their own description was “incredible”!

So I went to their website.

Imagine my disappointment when I learned that they were selling “nut sNacks”.

That’s “nut sNacks”.

With an “N“.

oh.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

What’s a Gurl to do?!

Someone offered to take this gurl on a date. His regular date will be otherwise occupied. With all the pretty girls in the dorm, he asked me!

At first I did not know where the handsome man was offering to take me. Even after he drew me a map, I was clueless. I found out it has something to do with this handsome guy and his partner.

Alas! I started to get all gussied up when I realized that my dance card is full the weekend of the date. It would also probably be hard to get a pass for that weekend even so.

But the gurl was so flattered even so that she got the vapors!

(Thanks, Mike! and best wishes Doug and Chris! )

[image courtesy of here.]

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

If You Show Me Yours, I’ll Show You Mine

Lilacs, that is.

Living in the Woods had some pictures of the landscape around his home in the woods of California, including the lilacs growing there.

I love lilacs. I love the look and I love the scent. I was thrilled to discover a lilac bush in the midst of the thick brush on our property when we acquired it last year, although it had already finished blooming by the time of our possession.

I was even more thrilled to learn this year when it bloomed that it is a deep purple colored variety.

Here are a few pictures taken at the beginning of this past week and then again about mid week.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

The Check Is Not in the Mail

On the fifth anniversary of “Mission Accomplished”, from Rob Rogers:

Courtesy of Yahoo Editorial Cartoons.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Bigg’s Playing Tag Again

Bigg tagged me with Woe’s meme:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share six non important things/habits/quirks about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

So, here goes:
1. Bigg tagged me.

2. See above.

3. Here goes: (BTW, Bigg, you only did 5! You owe us one! )

A. My newest favorite TV/game show is Cash Cab. I watch it while I am walking the treadmill and it makes the time fly. I think Ben Bailey is a hoot and, may I say, hot. I love trying out my gaydar on contestants - especially those going to or coming from the Village.

B. For an extended period in my life, I was seriously considering a career as an architect. I loved to design buildings, especially homes and churches, but I realized that I would be drowned in minutiae and calculating stresses and other phenomena of physics that bore me to tears. (I never did get that whole thing about the floor pushing back up at me when I walk on it.)

C. Speaking of details, I get easily bored with details and repetition, yet my every day life is filled with them. I earn my bread as a computer programmer in which I must be focused on the details of code and debugging. My daily life is very much centered around routine and I can get very stressed at times if that routine varies. Go figure.

D. I used to be prone to wanderlust. The family joke was that I was vaccinated with gasoline. I yearned for a job in which I would travel a lot. But of late, I have become quite the stay-at-home and I do not think it has much to do with the increased cost of fuel, etc. I just seem more and more to be comfortable being at home.

E. I’m not sure if I reveal this quirk before, but I am very anal about my socks matching, which may seem to be a good trick since I only wear either all black [for dress] or all white [for casual with sneakers] socks. To help pair my white socks I used to use a magic marker to number the pairs when I first bought them. I would write a unique number on the soles of both socks of a pair. Believe it or not there are varying hues of black -even within the same type of black socks by the same manufacturer. I spend quality time trying to mate my black socks by the subtle differences in hues.

F. I own no clothes that are orange. I own few clothes that are red: two dress shirts and they are dark red. I have a few dark red ties, but only one bright red one. Only one t-shirt that would be considered yellow; the closest dress shirt is a dark goldish color. No purple clothes. Most of my clothes are earth tones, blues, grays, and blacks. I like blue and I like to wear blue because it enhances the blue of my eyes.

4. I will not tag any one in particular but if you’ve stopped by and read this post consider yourself tagged. Just leave a note in the comments that you are willing to do this.

5. I’ll gladly stop by your blog if you participate.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Friend: Addendum

His death is affecting me greatly, in part, because his work in this film helped me to deal with myself.

Somehow this song from Brokeback Mountain seems appropriate.

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That’s wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Somehow My Translation of the Greek Reads Differently

Thought Theater is a Family blog maintained by Daniel. He often has good reads.

Today he included this post. As it saddened him, it angered me. If there was any evidence of how far askew this group is, it is in this “music video”. Watch it to the end. If you are not sickened by the sight of the little girl, you will be by the approving laughter that greets her performance.

My own sarcastic reaction to their lyrics was, if we can’t do anything about it, then I guess we might as well carry on!

Somehow I think they need to listen to their own song or else try actually reading the book.

Wishing you a great weekend.

56 days, baby!
That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Pride (part two)

Continuing the theme of pride and diversity, I thought of this song and in particular this verse. I’m not a big C&W fan, but this song speaks to some of my core values. I hope it resonates with you.

…When we’re free to love anyone we choose
When this world’s big enough for all different views
When we all can worship from our own kind of pew
Then we shall be free
We shall be free
-Garth Brooks

That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Pictures from the Past

Via Boing Boing, I found this photo blog (Shorpy) that has a lot of pictures of life 100 years or so ago. Many of the pictures are very poignant. If you are interested in old photographs or in the way our ancestors lived a hundred years ago, you might find this site interesting.

Shorpy entitles this one “Carnival Ride from Hell”. It is a picture of “breaker boys” in a Pennsylvania mine.

That’s a wrap.

Sening HUGS to all!

Report From the Other Side

It is Tuesday night at 10 pm. We arrived back home about 6 pm and I have been spending the last four hours unpacking, putting away, reading emails, deleting spam (300+ in my “regular” email account), answering emails, and - the (truly) most delightful thing of all - catching up with my blogger friends and their holidays.

I am hoping that you all had a great holiday!

Before I submit my report, I must clarify a previous post. If the picture left the impression that I had red hair (as some of you suggested in your comments), I hate to disappoint you by stating that the illusion was only a matter of trick photography. It is likely the effect of discolored film. I started life as a blonde, but my hair quickly changed to light brown that would bleach in the sun. As I grew older, my hair became darker brown in color and much thinner in texture and quantity. The present evidence suggests salt and pepper at best, and that evidence is sparse. I regret any misrepresentation or false hopes that may have arisen from the Foto Fest. Law suits will not be entertained.

My holiday was typical. For nearly four decades now, my Christmas is spent at my in-laws who get all dressed up and pay an exorbitant price to eat their Christmas dinner at a hotel. I grew up with a homemade one eaten while wearing casual, comfortable clothes.

The food this year at the hotel was good. There was a new chef who actually mingled with the guests. He was Italian so the meal had some Italian overtones that were quite welcome - especially at the dessert table! All bets were off for this holiday. It will take me a month for my BRP to get back to where I was a week ago!

Sadly the entertainment this year was mainly watching a family dissolve into dysfunction. As the outsider I get to observe. This year (2006) was not a good year overall for the larger family. The facade carefully crafted for many years began to crack. One could state that was the cracks revealed was normalcy. The kinds of things that nearly every family experiences happened. This year there were cancers, failed health, DUI’s, the acknowledgment that a young family member was Family, martial separations, and assorted bickering and carrying on. The year 2007 should be an interesting sequel. The question looms large whether I will play a role in next year’s entertainment.

In the midst of it all, my own family seemed to keep the focus… and the love.

It is good to be back home. It is good to share with friends.

That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!