A Girl From Home

Does This Mean I Am Officially Old???

2007-04-10T10:32:00.001-04:00

This is the new song in an Ore Ida french Fry commercial!!!
I feel so old!

Easter.......Bunnies?????

2007-03-30T16:57:00.000-04:00

Several of my neighbors have those geese that you dress for holidays.
Well.......no one has ever accused me of being normal.....

TCRF Is Back In Action

2007-03-27T15:13:00.000-04:00

I am not locked out anymore!
Actually, I had forgotten completely that I was still logged in on my laptop. I was able to fix it from there.

Remember, don't forget to mail me if you have ANY problems logging in! I will fix it up as soon as I see your message.

A Nice Suprise

2007-03-27T12:42:00.000-04:00

As you know, we moved into our house at the beginning of last fall.
Imagine my suprise when these showed up as soon as spring came!

Now that the weather has warmed up I can continue working on the walls on the 3rd floor. We had turned the heat off up there and the walls were so cold I was afraid the paint wouldn't stick.
I've spent the last few days tidying up the yard, trimming the rose bushes back so that they are semi-managable, picking up all of the sticks and stuff that fell out of the trees over the winter, etc.
The weather has been astounding gorgeous. Highs in the high 70's-low 80's, bright sunshine, and little to no humidity. We've had all of the windows and doors open trying to get the house aired out. It's amazing how stinky a house can get when you keep it closed up tight for months. LOL!
I am sooooooooooooooo happy that Spring is here!!!!!!!!!

TCRF Is Broken!

2007-03-23T17:14:00.000-04:00

*SOB*
How lovely, I am locked out of my own forum! What kind of crap is that?
We have had major problems with the forum script (yABB2)ever since we changed it over from yABB1. It keeps deleting members out of the member list and then has to be manually rebuilt to get everyone back in.
Normally I am able to get in and fix it, but I knew the day would come when it would zap me too.
Today was the day. I am unable to log into either of my Admin accounts.
I have mailed Trader (the co-admin) and I hope like hell that he can get in. Maybe THIS will convince him that we need a new script!?!?!?!?!
Send those cards and letters to Trader people!
We need a new script!!!!!!

Elton John - Your Song - Live in Central Park

2007-03-21T10:51:00.001-04:00

27 years later and I STILL don't get the duck suit.

Elton John - Funeral For A Friend - Love Lies Bleeding

2007-03-21T10:50:00.001-04:00

Because I am not able to walk and chew gum at the same time, I am totally baffled at how this man plays the piano and sings like this at the same time.
Simply one of the most fantastic performances EVER, by anyone.

Dragon Fetus!!!

2007-02-28T08:20:00.000-05:00

Looky what I found....a dragon fetus! OK, my little sister found it first, but she shared him with me.
And it looks just like my tattoo!!!

I adopted a cute lil' dragon fetus
from Fetusmart! Hooray fetus!

Make sure to check them out. They have a bunch of different little fetuses. Too funny!

Also check the links on the site. Pay particular attention to the link for Shag Mart.
I keep meaning to put up a link to that site. Actually, I must update ALL of my links soon.

Something To Pass The Time

2007-02-21T17:51:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple things you may or may not be interested in. I guess it depends on if you get as bored as I do sometimes.

Treasure Trooper is a site that pays you to look at ads, respond to offers, and to shop. You can earn anywhere from 50 cents to 33 dollars per offer. There are free offers that require no credit cards and trial/paid offers that do.
In just over one month I have earned $38.45 without using a credit card.
Hey, it's a way to pass the time when you have nothing else to do right?

Inbox Dollars is a pretty much the same deal only they send you mail and when you click the links in the mails you get paid anywhere from 2 to 10 cents. You can also earn more money by responding to the same types of offers that Treasure Trooper has.

A bit of advice on both of these sites:
After responding to a few of the offers/surveys make sure to clean your cookies. This will help your approval rate.
Also make sure to use several different email addresses as this too will help your approvals go through.

Can you tell I have been housebound and bored lately?

Well Darn

2007-02-05T15:54:00.000-05:00

I was trying to do an update showing my favorite Super Bowl commercials from yesterday, but after changing over to the "new" Blogger I can't get them to accept here.
Either Blogger or YouTube are playing games with me (or maybe both?)

I know I have been horribly bad at updating over the last couple of months. I just can't seem to think of anything that would remotely interest anyone but me. What oh what should I write about?????

How Was YOUR Christmas???

2006-12-31T22:08:00.000-05:00

I hope all of you had a nice Christmas!

My parents and my nephew came up to visit for a week. I was happy to see them because it seems like forever since I have been down to Florida. Of course I talk to them on the phone all of the time but that is completely different than seeing someone in person.
Ap0k and I took them sight-seeing, to the malls, to the local restaurant we love to eat at, to Mount Echo, and to Mount Adams. They really seemed to like the area. Luckily the weather was good for most of the time they were here. They predicted snow on Christmas night, but all we got was a small bit of rain. That made my mom happy because she was dreading the thought of snow. Snow is why they moved to Florida in the first place. LOL!

Christmas morning went well. Everyone liked all of the presents they got, though I think I liked mine the most. I already told you what I got from Ap0k so you can see why I was so thrilled. I got him a new surround sound system for the living room, but I don’t think he is that enamored with it. I know he wanted one that was WAY more expensive, but I couldn’t afford that. He seemed to like the “Pinky and the Brain” DVD the most.
I got Guitar Hero 2 for my nephew and he LOVED it. He played it every second he could while he was here. He is GREAT at it too.
Dad liked his camera the most and Mom liked her Victoria’s Secret travel bag full of goodies.

For Christmas dinner I made a giant smoked ham, scalloped potatoes, peas and corn, deviled eggs, macaroni salad, and rolls. Everyone ate like they had been starving for weeks. I had also made a whole pile of buckeyes and various types of cookies a couple of days previously. Those went over VERY well!

The day after Christmas Mom and I hit the craft stores HARD. Everything was on sale for at least 50% off. I brought home bags and bags of stuff. I actually went back today and bought more because now a lot of what was left was 75% off. WEEEEE!!!!

I ate way too much every day, and I stayed up too late every night. My house was pretty much a disaster at the end of the week, but it was all worth it. I had a great time and I hated to see them go home.

They said they are hoping to come back up during the summer. That would be GREAT!

Now here it is New Year’s Eve. I am sitting here messing with the computer and watching “Design on a Dime” on HGTV and Ap0k is upstairs asleep. Boy, what party animals we have become.

A Complete Suprise!

2006-12-25T12:28:00.000-05:00

What did you get for Christmas?
Ap0k got me a new 250 gig WD Seta 300 HD, new AMD 64 Athlon X2 dual core processor, a new 500 watt power supply, a new geforce 7600 GS OC video card, a new MSI K9N Platinum motherboard, 2 Buffalo Firestick DDR2 800 memory sticks (512MB each), AND a new black aluminum whoop-ti-do case with 3 giant fans in it.This thing will be finished doing what I want before I even knew I wanted to do it!I was shocked! I had NO IDEA I was getting this. I did wonder why he seemed to have no interest in fixing my other one. It had pretty much crapped out completely. Normally he can't stand it when a computer is broken and won't sleep til it's fixed. I've known him to actually hunt down computer parts in the middle of the night. I just figured he was all involved in what's going on at work. I had decided if he hadn't fixed it in a month I would start nagging.Well NOW I understand why!!!!!He's across the room now building my new one. I am BEYOND tickled to death!!! We were just joking about how we are going to have to bolt it to the floor because when we fire it up it just may scoot right out of the room.

He also got me a new 10 piece set of Rachel Ray pans. We were in Sears the other night and I saw them and squealed like a little girl. He went back the next day and bought them. They are NIIIIICE!!!!Here they are:http://www.famousfoods.com/raray10pihaa.html

More later.........

Eddie Van Halen Scores Adult Movie

2006-12-16T01:25:00.000-05:00

Did you know that Eddie Van Halen has scored a porn movie? I don’t know about you, but I see this as a very good thing. The more mainstream artists that become involved in the porn industry, the more mainstream porn becomes.
The movie, titled “Sacred Sin”, pairs Van Halen with legendary director Michael Ninn who has brought us some of the best porn movies ever made including titles such as “Innocence: Baby Doll”, “”In the Garden of Shadows”, and “Ghetto Fabulous.”

Below is an article from AVN.com

CHATSWORTH, Calif. - In a major crossover move, rock superstar Eddie Van Halen
has joined forces with adult director Michael Ninn to write and perform two songs for the upcoming Ninn Worx feature, Sacred Sin.
Although several big-name rappers have contributed material to XXX movies, Van Halen is probably the first major rock star to lend his name to an adult project.
Van Halen told AVN.com he’s not bothered by possible criticism. “I’m working with a friend — very simple. I like his work,” he said. “Michael Ninn is like a Spielberg to
me: the imagery, the way he makes things look, just… sensual.
“We hooked up, I ended up doing the music, and it’s some whompin-ass shit. I think it’s the best work he’s ever done, and me too. And more to come.”
“Eddie is from Amsterdam, born and raised, and his interpretation of sex and music are all in one, so it wasn’t a big step for him,” Ninn told AVN.com in an exclusive
interview.
He and Van Halen, he said, have been friends for “a couple of lifetimes, it seems like. It started out as him ringing me up to work on some music together. One thing just led to another, and it ended up, I had this movie in mind. We would sit at the piano — he has two grand pianos in the house — and play and talk all night long.”
The project came to life as a result of “the things we talked about: life in general, imagery and the power of imagery.
Sometimes as he’d play I’d walk around the estate and the story kind of came to
me while I was there.”
The Van Halen songs in Sacred Sin are “Rise” and “Catherine,” a remix of the theme from Ninn’s 2005 movie of the same name.
“One of the things that Eddie really, really liked,” Ninn said, “was the theme from Catherine. He did a remix, it still carries the melody, but it’s got a Kashmir-Led Zeppelin kind of feel to it now. A very, very powerful piece of music.”
He said Van Halen was “absolutely elated with the track,” and the rocker himself confirmed, “If ‘Catherine’ doesn’t move you, you’re brain-dead.”
The second song, “Rise,” was a tune he had been working on already. “I heard it and just fell in love with it,” Ninn said. Van Halen also contributed some "transitional piano pieces that are sprinkled throughout the movie.” The rest of
the music is the work of frequent Ninn collaborator Loren Alexander.
Ninn Worx will release Sacred Sin on September 13, distributed by Red Light District.
The two-disc set will contain music videos for both Van Halen songs. “They’re pretty powerful,” Ninn said, calling his friend “an incredible performer who really comes to life when the cameras are on. He’s a showman.”
Ninn is also cutting a non-explicit version of the movie, to be called Rise, for the general market. Release date is unsure, he said, because it has yet to be submitted to the MPAA board for a rating.
The picture introduces new Ninn Worx contract girl Heather Vuur, in her first adult movie. “She’s an incredible actress on top of being stunningly beautiful,” Ninn said. “Anyone that can pull off my psychobabble and make it believable is one hell of an actress. Her energy for this picture was just amazing.”
The movie was completely shot on High Definition video and is frankly aimed at the couples market. Ninn called it “180 degrees from Catherine,” in which the sex scenes, because of the nature of stars Audrey Hollander and Otto Bauer, “were all over the top — carnival X.”
In Sacred Sin, he said, “I wanted the sex to be for couples, nothing too crazy, a picture that couples could get off on.”
He said the budget “might push $200,000. We’re around $150,000 right now and we’re not finished with post work. I’m not sure. I try to stay out of that and just get the best picture I can make.”
Van Halen, he said, has “seen a lot of the movie and has seen this is real. He seems to be relatively happy with what we’re trying to achieve.”
http://www.avn.com/index.php?Primary_Navigation=Articles&Action=View_Article&Content_ID=272492

You can get the mp3’s for the songs “Rise” and “Catherine” performed by Eddie Van Halen here:
http://www.ninnworx.com/sacredsin/music/rise_evh.mp3
http://www.ninnworx.com/sacredsin/music/catherine_evh.mp3

And here is a piece of the video for the song “Rise”

Coolness

2006-12-04T08:58:00.000-05:00

The first snow of the year. Check out the individual snowflakes:

The Queen of Procrastination

2006-11-30T11:57:00.000-05:00

Lately I have become the Queen of Procrastination.

I was supposed to have gone to the grocery store on this past Sunday, but I still haven’t gone. I keep telling myself that there is plenty of food in the pantry.
I have only bought one Christmas present. Hey, I still have 23 days!
I was supposed to start painting the stairs going up to the 3rd floor, but haven’t even opened the door. It’s not like it’s going anywhere.
I’ve had a movie uploaded for almost two weeks, but I haven’t made a preview yet so that I can post it. It will still be there when I get around to it.

I did finally buy new Christmas decorations. When we moved to Ohio I gave all of my decorations to my daughter and my little sister. How stupid was that??? Most of them were things I had made myself. I guess I didn’t think ahead on that one huh?
Tuesday I hit store after store after store and bought all kinds of neato crap.
I am sure I will end up buying more, but so far this one is my favorite:

Cheesy yes, but remember, it’s me we are talking about here. When I am not being the Queen of Procrastination I am the Queen of Tacky.

I was looking for a wreath but dang they are expensive! In the end I ended up buying a naked one and decorated it myself:

I did end up taking the living room ceiling fan apart so that I could paint the blades to match the tables:

Ap0k found a really nice looking tv stand that matched the general look of our end tables. He bought it naked then took one of the small tables to Home Depot to be color matched. By the time he was done it was an exact match:

Oh look, evidence that I really did fall down the stairs. My butt ended up right in that puddle:

It is a bit hard to see at this point, but this is how the purple paint came out in the computer room:

It looks really really good in person. I was surprised at how much Ap0k liked it when it was done. I think he was a bit leery in the beginning, but at the end he was really pleased. Now all I need is some furniture to put in the room.

I hit eBay a few weeks ago. I bought a bunch of new pulp novels from the 50’s and 60’s to add to my collection. $45 for 40 books and that included the shipping. You can’t argue with that:

Could this be Satan’s Squirrel?

I WIN!!!!!!!!!!!
It took about 30+ bags total, and a lot of work, but I beat that dang tree in the end:

Now, as the Queen of Procrastination, let’s see if I can manage to get the poly on the fan blades today.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

2006-11-23T21:11:00.000-05:00

It was just the two of us today, but you would have thought I was cooking for an army!
I made an 11 pound citrus turkey, real mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, dressing, corn on the cob, macaroni salad, deviled eggs, gravy, rolls, and an apple crisp.
We ate so much food at dinner that we haven't even touched the apple crisp yet.
I want to take this time to pat myself on the back because, dang it, I made the best macaroni salad EVER!
My daughter taught me how to make the citrus turkey and it always comes out moist as can be.
We ate almost 5 hours ago and I am still soooooooo full!

This is the one meal a year that I really try to outdo myself. I love cooking for Ap0k because he loves food so much.
I love the look on his face when he comes to the table and it's all loaded down with tons of things that he loves. I know I've done good when he moans and groans for an hour after he eats.

Here's some pictures of dinner before Ap0k attacked it:

I've been raking up leaves seemingly nonstop for the last two+ weeks. This past Sunday I had 13 - 40 gallon bags full of leaves set out by the road to be picked up. I have raked them up, mowed them down, and cursed them endlessly, and yet when I look outside......there's more out there on the ground!!!!! Three of the trees are finally naked, but the big one in the front yard refuses to stop dropping leaves. I think it is growing more when I am not looking. I want to go out and shake the crap out of it so they will all fall out! Oh well, I guess it DOES give me an excuse to go outside.

2006-11-12T00:35:00.000-05:00

Jonzun Crew | Pack Jam | (1983)

FOr Ap0k...More from our drives!

2006-11-12T00:33:00.000-05:00

The Jonzun Crew

For Ap0k...Remember the drives?

The Purplest Purple That Ever Purpled!

2006-11-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

Yeah, it sounded like a great idea.
"Let's paint the computer room purple!" we said.
Well I sure hope that when I am done it looks better than the initial bit I have put on because this is the most obnoxious purple I have ever seen!
Yes I know, I have to wait until all of the coats are on (at least two) and it's set for a couple of days to let the color calm down. But right now it looks like a grape Kool-Aid explosion.
The plan was purple walls with white accessories. I am thinking I am going to need A LOT of white to tone this down.

==============================

They are almost finished with my road. Today they are putting the final lift of asphalt on. I have never seen people work so slowly in my life. They are definitely getting paid by the hour. They are doing good work though, I won't take that away from them. And like I said before, I will miss them when they are gone.

==============================

The temperature here has plummeted over the last few days. It was only 24F this morning. That's cold! I am dreading seeing what the heating bill is going to be. I figured we would go one month with the house at a very comfortable temperature and if the electric/gas bill is too high then I will cut it down several degrees and put on more clothes.

==============================

I am currently reading a book titled "The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry" by Legs McNeil and Jennifer Osborne. I will give it a good review when I am finished. Let's just say that at this point my sympathy for Linda Lovelace has waned considerably.
Here's a bit of trivia for you; Did you know the Marilyn Chambers married Linda Lovelace's ex-husband and that Sammy Davis Jr. was the best man at their wedding? Chuck Traynor, what an ass!

Halloween Locusts

2006-11-01T00:23:00.000-05:00

This was our first Halloween in our new house so we had no idea what to expect in regards to the amount of trick-or-treaters we be getting.
Monday night we went out and bought an absolute boatload of candy “just in case.” I was SURE that we had bought way too much. Because we didn’t know how much we would need we bought everything that we like so that we could eat the left-overs. This afternoon when I was opening the bags and pouring it all out into our cauldron I was horrified at the amount I had.

Boy was I ever mistaken!

Kids came out of the woodwork. They were like a swarm of locusts! I have never seen so many trick-or-treaters in my life. We ended up handing out all of that candy in less than an hour and then I had to make an emergency run to the store to buy that much more again.

My mom said that it was Karma coming back and biting me in the butt. When our daughter was little we always took her trick-or-treating in a “good” neighborhood instead of our own. Tonight carloads of people were showing up in our neighborhood from goodness knows where.

It was all good though. We had a really good time handing the candy out. All of the kids were extremely friendly and amazingly polite. My favorite costumes were the little bee with the stinger on his butt, the 3 month old in a pink fur cat costume who was sound asleep but who’s mom was having a ball, Batman who was really too old to be trick-or-treating but had a kick ass costume, and the living dead football player. Some of the littlest kids were beyond adorable, and some of the older kids were really funny. I was definitely pleased with the amount of adults that were out with the kids. It scares me to see little kids out wandering around by themselves.

All in all it went off very well, but next year I will know that I need at least twice as much candy as I thought!

The Soft Soothing Sounds Of.....A Jackhammer???

2006-10-23T12:52:00.000-04:00

For the last two weeks the county has had a crew out tearing up and replacing the curbs and driveways on my street.
For some reason I find the sound of them to be strangely calming.
First they chop everything up with a jackhammer, then they come through with a backhoe and scoop it all up and dump it in dump trucks, and finally they run the curb machine along the road. There is an amazing amount of crashing and banging going on out there. Lots of beep beep beeps when they are backing the machinery and trucks around. I am especially fond of the sound of the concrete trucks.
I know it all goes back to how much time I spent on construction sites in the past, but why do I find it so calming that I can actually fall asleep to the sound of them jackhammering out my driveway?
Call me strange if you like, but the sound of construction is music to my ears.
I will miss them when they are gone.

On another note; it’s already gotten cold enough outside that we had to pull down all of the storm windows. Brrrrr!!!! I’ve found that the warmest room in this house is actually the bathroom on the second floor. Guess I will have to put a reading chair in there!

The Big Crash

2006-10-21T03:19:00.000-04:00

I haven’t written much lately because I know the whole painting thing has to be boring you to tears.
Well today, even though it involves painting, something happened that I just had to tell you!

I have moved on to the stairway from the kitchen down to the side door and then on down to the basement. I have already painted the ceilings, primed the walls, baseboards, doors, and doorframes, and taped everything off. Today I was cutting in the color and everything was going along smoothly, when BAM, I fell right down the stairs and landed in the basement!!!! People say accidents like that happen in slow motion, but that did not happen to me at all. One second I was on the top step and the next I was sitting on the basement floor in a puddle of yellow paint.
It scared the absolute crap out of me! It took me a few seconds to even move because I was afraid I had broken something. I moved around a bit until I was sure no bones were broken and I wasn’t bleeding. Then I realized that my head hurt like a bitch. I touched my forehead and found a lump the size of a golf ball. I was horrified! Evidentially I had whacked the hell out of my head on the hand rail.
I stood up and saw that I had yellow paint all over me which meant I couldn’t even go upstairs. Luckily I found a shirt by the washing machine so I was able to change into that. I found a roll of paper towels and wiped as much paint off of my pants as I could. I hobbled slowly up the stairs because my left calf was completely knotted up and stood in the kitchen for awhile trying to let some of the paint dry before I went upstairs to change.
I thought it over and decided that since I had a giant lump on my forehead I should call Ap0k to tell him what I did. I didn’t want to bother him with it at work, but I figured if he came home later and found out he would be livid. As soon as I told him he rushed right home to make sure I was still in one piece then he made me dinner. He is such a sweetheart! And to top it all off, he didn’t laugh at me until he knew for sure that I was alright.
So here I sit tonight, stiff as can be. My butt hurts like mad, my head is sore, my calf keeps knotting up, and I just found a bruise on my arm. I feel like a complete buffoon!

My advice to you………don’t try to paint while standing on wood stairs in socks and no shoes. You REALLY can slip and fall right on your butt. I’m guess I am just lucky I didn’t break anything.

2006-10-10T11:26:00.000-04:00

2 Live Crew - Shake a lil Somethin'

This one is straight up for me, because no matter what anyone says, 2 Live Crew and Uncle Luke will ALWAYS be the shit!!!

2006-10-10T11:19:00.000-04:00

DJ Laz - Journey Into Bass

This one is for AP0k, she'll be fixed soon and she'll be better than ever!!!

2006-10-10T11:10:00.000-04:00

Whodini - Freaks come out at Night (original)

One of my absolute all time favorite songs. I still think my phone is ringing when I hear it on the radio!

2006-10-10T11:03:00.000-04:00

2 Unlimited - No Limit DVD-Rip

Now THIS is a great song and a great video!!!!

Painting For Dummies (Like Me!)

2006-10-09T22:07:00.000-04:00

I thought I would pass along some things I have learned over the last month about painting 100 year old plaster walls.

1. Do not rely on the blue painters tape to keep your paint where you want it. No matter how hard you stick the tape down, the paint WILL leak under it. Yes I followed the rules about not painting up against it, but it bled under in every single room I have done so far. I have primed every room just as you should, but that has bled under the tape too. Maybe the tape works ok on newer drywall, but not plaster walls that are almost 100 years old. These walls laugh at blue tape!

2. No matter how much paint they say you will need plan on a minimum of twice as much. Old plaster walls, even those that are properly primed, will suck up your paint as fast as you can put it on. Red and orange tones are especially bad about this. Both my orange and red rooms took 4-5 coats of paint after being primed. The yellow gold and green all took two coats, and surprisingly the blue only took one coat.

3. Do not under any circumstances get high gloss paint on a flat paint! I can not stress this enough!!! I am painting the dressing room a deep red with high gloss white trim. Of course the gloss white leaked over onto the flat red and I am playing hell trying to cover it up. A flat paint will NOT cover a gloss without a minimum of 1000 coats. You think I am exaggerating, but trust me, this is a nightmare. On the other hand, one coat of gloss white WILL cover flat red. Red won’t cover white, but white will cover red? I don’t know about you, but to me this just seems to defy all laws of physics.

4. The line between the top of the walls and the ceilings, which are also plaster by the way, is not, has never been, and will never be straight. Learn to live with it or put up molding.

5. No matter how hard you try to keep paint off of the wood floors, even if you cover them with plastic, you WILL get paint on them. Do not try to wipe it up! Let it dry! If you try to wipe it up while it’s wet it smears and can get into the grain of the wood and into the spaces between the slats. Dried dots will pop right off with your fingernails, and larger spots will peel or wash off easily. Another tip, Clorox wipes work great for getting the dried paint off. Not only will you have a clean floor when you are done, it will also be disinfected.

6. Razorblades will become your best friends. Whether it’s cutting stuck tape off of a wall so that you don’t tear the paint, or it’s scraping paint off of things you never meant to get paint on, they will become indispensable.

7. You may think you are done with a room, but in a week you will find something you missed. Be it the inside of a closet left unpainted, paint on a baseboard, or a smudge of paint on the ceiling, you won’t see it right away. Usually you won’t see it until you move the furniture in so you have to work around it. Sometimes I think there is a ghost coming along behind me leaving a paint trail for me to clean up.

8. Even if you make a list, you will never make it home from the store with all of the things you will need. You will never have enough tape, you will always need at least one more roller, and all of your brushes will disappear. Be prepared to make runs to Home Depot on almost a daily basis. I even asked for, and received, Home Depot gift certificates for my birthday.

9. Don’t be afraid to try different colors! White/cream/beige walls are boring at best. Be brave and put some bright or deep colors on the wall. I am painting every room a completely different color and Ap0k and I joke that we are trying to turn the house into a box of crayons.

10. Don’t be afraid to change your mind mid-stream. It’s just paint and if you don’t like it you can always start over.

11. However much you think it will cost, budget more! However long you think it will take, be prepared for it to take longer.

12. Above all else, don’t be afraid to try. At first it will be overwhelming, but once you get into your groove things will go much more smoothly. You will swear a lot in the beginning, but that will soon turn to laughter, and the sense of satisfaction you will feel when you complete a room is well worth any effort you put into it.

(5 down.....10 to go!)

A WTF Suspension

2006-10-02T22:07:00.000-04:00

I am filing this under the “WTF???” heading.

Art Teacher Loses Job After Kids See Nude Sculpture

Children Were On School-Approved Field Trip

POSTED: 10:32 am EDT September 26, 2006
FRISCO, Texas -- An award-winning Texas art teacher who was reprimanded after one of her fifth-grade students saw a nude sculpture during a trip to a museum has lost her job.
The school board in Frisco has voted not to renew Sydney McGee's contract after 28 years. She has been on administrative leave.
The teacher took her students on an approved field trip to a Dallas museum, and now some parents are upset.
The Fisher Elementary School art teacher came under fire last April when she took 89 fifth-graders on a field trip to the Dallas Museum of Art. Parents raised concerns over the field trip after their children reported seeing a nude sculpture at the art museum.
The parents had signed permission slips allowing their children to take part in the field trip.
McGee's lawyer said the principal at Fisher Elementary School admonished her after a parent complained that a student had seen nude art.
McGee said the principal had urged her to take the students to the museum.
Now, McGee, who was honored with a Star Teacher Award two years ago, is on paid administrative leave until her contract with the school district expires in March.
Other parents are worried about the future of the art program at the school, which they cite as a reason for moving into the neighborhood.
"Our main concern right now is what's going to happen to the children and what's going to happen to the art program at Fisher Elementary. It is the best art program. That's the reason we moved to this neighborhood. It's because of the teachers," said Shannon Allen, a parent. "It was a principal-approved trip. What's the big deal?"
Officials with the Frisco school district declined to comment on the matter.

I don’t understand people like this. What is the problem? So some 5th graders saw a nude statue. I really doubt they will be scarred for life. I also doubt it will turn them into sexual deviants.
What these parents don’t seem to understand is that if they want to blame someone, they need to blame THEMSELVES. The children all had signed permission slips. It was up to the parents to know where they were sending their child.
What really aggravates me is that an award winning teacher was suspended just because some uptight stick-up-the-ass parents complained. And this after the principal encouraged the field trip. Ridiculous. Complete and utter bullshit. I am not one to encourage litigation, but if I were this teacher I would sue their asses off!

Here is a larger, more in depth, article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/30/education/30teacher.html?ex=1159848000&en=0adf54fecf9b630b&ei=5087%0A

THis article includes photos of the offending statues. You be the judge:

http://www.computernewbie.info/wheatdogg/2006/09/30/dallas-art-teacher-sacked-after-students-see-nude-boy-woman/

Screwed By Bush....Again!

2006-09-25T23:50:00.000-04:00

Well the vacation is finally over. I was really sad to see my sister go back home. If I had my way she would move up here with us.

We made it down to Tennessee on Friday. The visit went well and our granddaughter is doing very well. She’s 11 months old and already wears 18-24 month clothes! The girl is not fat in the slightest, she’s just big. On both the drive down and the drive back we ran into some of the worst weather EVER! I was driving down I-71 doing about 20MPH. It was raining so hard that you couldn’t see anything. On the way down you could hardly see the car in front of you, and if it was a white car you couldn’t see it at all. People were pulled over all up and down the side of the road. On the way back it was dark of course and that made it even worse. All you could do was follow the tail lights of the car in front of you and hope to hell they knew where they were going. As we were coming back we were listening to the weather and they had alert after alert on how bad the conditions were. I would have pulled off at an exit but I couldn’t even SEE the exits! I finally drove out of the worst about 15 miles or so north of Louisville, but it rained on us the rest of the way home. I have never been so happy to see the Cut In The Hill before!

I had to return the rental car today so in the end Ap0k was stuck at work with no vehicle. When I went to pick him up this afternoon I was screwed royally. I was on I-74 and when I got to the I-75 North ramp it was blocked off! There were police everywhere! They shoved us all over into the lanes for I-75 South. “No biggie”, I thought, “I’ll just get off and go up to the next entrance ramp.” WRONG! The exit (and entrance) ramps were all blocked off too. There were even police officers on the overpasses. The first exit I came to that was open was the one that takes me right back home again. Now how ridiculous is that? I drove for over 30 minutes only to end up back at the same spot I started from. Of course that meant I had to start all over again only this time I had to stick to ground level streets instead of the interstate. I ended up getting to Ap0k’s office almost an hour later than I intended.
So what was all the hoo-ha about? Why was the interstate shut down?
Because Bush was here visiting! They shut all of the northbound lanes down so that he could travel alone on it. What kind of crap is that?
This is the THIRD time that Bush has screwed up my drives. It happened twice in Tampa and now once here. Grrrrrr!!!!!! I understand he’s an important man and all, but come on, I had places to go as did everyone else on the interstate. It probably wouldn’t have bothered me near as bad if they had just made us wait, but to make us go the exact opposite way we were intending was just not cool.

What A Week!

2006-09-21T11:46:00.000-04:00

What a busy week this has been, and it’s not over yet!
My little sister is visiting this week and we have been going all over the place.

On Monday we went to the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.

The museum was originally Cincinnati’s main train terminal. The terminal was originally opened in 1933. During WW2 it was a major transportation hub for the military and the general population. With the explosion of interstates and air travel during the 1950’s the terminal died a slow death. By 1972 only 2 trains passed through the terminal each day so it was officially closed. In 1977 it was declared a National Historic Landmark. At one point during the 1980’s a developer tried to run a mall in the terminal but due to the recession the venture failed. In the late 1980’s the terminal was completely refurbished and in 1990 it was reopened as the Museum Center. The museum center actually contains 3 separate museums,; The Cincinnati History Museum, The Museum of Natural History and Science, and The Children’s Museum. It also houses the OmniMax Theater which is currently going through major renovations.
The terminal is actually a working terminal again. In 1991 Amtrak Passenger service resumed.
The museum center attracts more than 1.4 million visitors each year.
Whether you are a fan of museums, or a lover of Art Deco architecture, if you are ever in the Cincinnati area I would highly recommend visiting the Union Terminal Museum Center.

On Tuesday we went to The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.
The Zoo opened in 1875 and is the 2nd oldest zoo in the United States. It’s been nicknamed “The Sexiest Zoo in America” due to it’s extensive world renowned breeding program. For some reason I find that totally hysterical.

As most of you know I am a flower picture taking fool. Here are some of the pictures I took at the zoo of the various flowers in bloom:

Wednesday was shopping day. This included the antique mall, Tuesday Morning, the mall, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Jungle Jims.

Today is Thursday. We are going to go to Sharon Woods and take a ton more nature pictures.

Tomorrow we are going to go down to Tennessee to see my daughter and granddaughter.

No plans yet for Saturday or Sunday except for the fact that we have to have her back to the airport by 6:00PM on Sunday.

To add to all of the above, Monday was my birthday and today is Ap0k’s and my 21st anniversary.

Come Monday you will probably find me asleep in a corner somewhere!

Welcome Home Tippy!!!!

2006-09-18T02:27:00.000-04:00

Saturday, after a shopping trip, we somehow managed to leave the side door wide open and Tippy got out. In just the couple minutes it took to realize the door was open he had completely and utterly disappeared. The poor guy has never been outside before.
Ap0k, my little sister, and I all looked everywhere for him. We searched the yard from one end to the other. We walked up and down the street looking in everyone’s yard while calling his name. He was just GONE.
Sunday morning at 5AM we started looking again. All over the yard and up and down the street without catching a glimpse of him anywhere. I was a wreck inside and I don’t think Ap0k was feeling much better. We’ve had Tippy since the day he was born. If it weren’t for Ap0k taking care of him he wouldn’t have even survived. He was so tiny and cold.
The later it got in the day the more upset I got. Where on earth could he have gone? We looked in every nook and cranny around.
I was worried sick! The poor baby had to be scared, tired, and hungry.
About 12:30AM on Monday (today) I saw the neighbor’s cat in the driveway next door. When he walked behind the house he looked to his side, stopped, and hissed like mad. I went out and chased him off and looked all over again. I called and called but again I couldn’t find him anywhere. I was devastated!
About 1:30AM I went out on the back porch and saw him sitting on the back steps! My heart about fell right out on the ground. I opened the door of the porch and that scared him a bit. He jumped down and went around the corner of the house and under the porch where we store the trash cans. I called him and he started hollering like mad. I sat down on the sidewalk and he came out and walked over to me. I snatched him up and took him right into the house. For the next 30 minutes he hollered and yelled and basically raised one heck of a fuss. Boy was he not in a good mood! I chopped up some chicken for him and he calmed down a bit.
He’s wandering around the house now, smelling and looking at everything. I guess he’s just making sure that everything is as he left it. It did throw him for a loop when he walked into the living room and saw the 3 new tables we bought. I will admit that that made me laugh.

I am soooooo relieved that he is back home!

All Stressed Out Over Nothing

2006-09-14T00:02:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to transferring my driver’s license from Florida to Ohio. I had kept putting it off because it was going to be such a hassle to get it all done. In the end I finally had to go through with it because my Florida license was due to expire on Monday.
I looked up the BMV site to see what info I would need to bring and was horrified. Not only did you need your current license and your social security card, it also said you need a birth certificate, a marriage license if you have changed your name, and possibly a credit card or other form of ID with your name and/or social security number on it. To top it all off, a person transferring license from another state to Ohio has to take a written test! I haven’t had to take a written driving test in over 20 years.
I downloaded the BMV driver’s handbook in pdf format and read through it but couldn’t find anything different from Florida other that what to do if you are on the highway during ice and snow conditions.
Of course I got all stressed out because tests always throw me for a loop. I can know a subject forwards, backwards, and upside down, but if you ask me to take a test on it I will almost always have a minor panic attack.
There are only 2 places in this county that you can take the test so I was sure I would have to wait in line forever.
I gathered all of my forms of ID and headed for the office farthest away from the center of the city.
When I got to the sheriff’s sub-station to take the test I didn’t even have to wait in line. The officer looked at my Florida license, filled out the info on paper, and then gave me an eye test. He then sent me over to the computer to take the test and I went through my minor attack. The test consisted of 40 questions total and you were only allowed to miss 11 of them or you fail. I answered the first 29 questions correctly and it stopped the test on me and said I passed. WHEW! What a relief that was!!!! I would have been terribly embarrassed if I had failed the test after having driven for so many years. I went to the next counter and another officer filled out my paperwork and sent me to the office next door to get the license itself.
Again I didn’t have to wait. I was called right up to the counter and I went up armed with all the forms of ID they said I would need. In the end the girl only asked for my Florida license, my social security card, and $23. Why do they make you bring all that other stuff and then not ask to see it?
I had my picture taken (gag!), waited the 2 minutes it takes for the computer to spit the license out, and off I went.
The whole thing, which I thought was going to be a major ordeal, took only 35 minutes from beginning to end. Now I am officially a citizen of Ohio!
Here is what I really don’t understand. When I entered the sheriff’s substation there were four people sitting at computers taking the test. When I left the office those same four people were STILL sitting at the computers. What was taking them so long? The test is multiple choice and almost all of the questions are brain dead simple. When I went to the other office to get the license itself there were 3 people standing at windows doing their thing. When I left they were all still standing there! One guy was getting pretty belligerent too. He wanted to know why he needed to show ID to get his license. He said that he had legitimately passed the written test and that is all that should matter. He should be able to get his license without showing any ID at all. The other two people didn’t have anything with their social security numbers on them. The clerks were trying to explain to them how to get copies of their social security cards and birth certificates, but even though both people looked normal enough, evidently they were dumb as rocks because they just weren’t getting it at all.

As a reward forgetting through the whole thing without panicking I took myself shopping. I bought 3 small dressers (2 white and one pine), a blue king size comforter, a bed skirt, 6 towels, 6 pairs of undies (gotta have my new undies!!!), a silver bowl for my blue balls, 2 blankets, and a pink/grey/white Adidas tracksuit.

All that stress over nothing. When will I learn not to worry about things that MIGHT happen?

For Your Fun And Enjoyment

2006-09-10T11:59:00.000-04:00

Here’s a bit of an update on how things have been going:

The living room furniture arrived and looks fantastic! The colors of the furniture go well, but contrast nicely, with the wall color.

The bedroom furniture arrived also. We painted the bedroom blue and it makes the wood of the furniture jump right off the wall. It’s the biggest bedroom we have ever had. We put a king size bed, a full dresser, and two large nightstands in it and there is still plenty of room to wander around in there. I am used to tiny little bedrooms so this one is pretty much tickling me to death.

The appliances, now that is another story! The guys came Friday with the stove and dishwasher. The dishwasher had a large dent in the door so I refused it. Then when they brought the stove in it was white instead of black. I told them it was supposed to be black and they actually asked if I was sure Ap0k had ordered a black one. I asked why, if I had a black refrigerator already, and had ordered a black dishwasher, then why on earth would he have ordered a white stove? They tried to get me to accept it anyway but I refused it. We paid extra for black and I want black! Ap0k went to the store the next morning and they brought us a new black stove, but had no one to hook up the gas. They are bringing the dishwasher on Monday and they are supposed to be sending someone along who can hook up both the stove and the dishwasher correctly. I can’t even use the kitchen sink now. The first guys unhooked the old dishwasher and left the connection to the drain open. That means when I run the water in the sink it drains into the cabinet. Of course I did not realize that until after I ran the water! I will say this for Home Depot; it was not their fault that Maytag delivered a dented dishwasher, but they are replacing it themselves. They are trying to make the stove issue right too, plus they gave us a $50 credit for our troubles.

I have gotten the dressing room red finally. It took 3 coats of paint on the wall and 4 coats on the edges, but it’s finally done. Now I have to wait a week for the paint to set up so that I can tape it up for the white parts.

The hallway and stairway has one coat of paint already and I will do the final coat today. I chose a yellowish-khaki color. LOL! Some people would say that a paint store had exploded in my house, but it’s not near as bad as it sounds. All of the colors really do work together. Each room flows nicely into the next and while the entry room would look silly next to the dressing room, you can’t see them both at once from anywhere. Any room that can be seen from any other, goes together.

We still can’t find a 5’x8’ pub table for the dining room. Apparently the largest anyone makes is 5’x5’? Ap0k is going to call some of the Amish furniture stores to see if he can get one made. 5’x5’ would be too small for the room. 5’x8’ is as small as you can go without looking silly.

On a different note; the people who live two doors down had a party last night. By the time it was over (around 4am) there were some DRUNK people wandering around! At about 2am they were all out there singing “Sweet Caroline” at the tops of their lungs. It was really pretty funny. The cool thing was that because these houses are built so well you could only hear them if you were in the kitchen. One step out of the kitchen and you literally couldn’t hear a peep.

Now I am off to paint some more!

Sitting In A Corner With A Razor Blade

2006-09-04T02:46:00.000-04:00

Was talking to my little sister on the phone yesterday and she asked what I was doing. I told her I was sitting in the corner of the bedroom with a razor blade. She thought I had lost my mind!
No, I have not gone suicidal; I was actually scraping paint off of a baseboard. And no, it wasn’t me who got the paint on the baseboard; this paint is ancient and beige.

I have completed the bedroom and the new bedroom furniture will be delivered on Friday. I painted the room blue and the furniture is a lighter wood. It should go very well together.

I started working on the dressing room today. It’s all primed and ready for paint tomorrow. It will take a week to get it done because the wall color has to dry enough to be able to tape it off so that I can paint the window frames, baseboards, and wardrobe. This room will be red with white trim.

I don’t think I ever told you that we have officially moved in. This past Wednesday the movers came and loaded up. We decided to go with movers instead of doing it ourselves because we had so much heavy stuff that went on upper floors. My books alone would have taken us days to get to the 3rd floor!

The new living room furniture will be delivered on Tuesday. It’s very “retro-ish.” Kind of a 50’s-60’s hip and modern style. Low backed with no arms. Very coooooool.

My new stove and dishwasher will be here Friday. Yes, I am spoiled rotten!

The floors are all sanded and ready for stain. We just have a few more stairs to strip and then we will be staining fools.

Ap0k has been working his butt off around here. He’s run electrical and cable wires, he’s helped me paint, he’s toted boxes to wherever I tell him to, he’s made countless trips to Home Depot, etc etc. He’s also spent a mint on buying me new stuff. I hope he knows how much I appreciate everything he’s done.

I still have to touch up the ceilings in the dining room and entry room, I still have to paint the stairway walls, I still need to paint the bathroom and computer room. Eventually I will make it to the 3rd floor.

WOW! This has been a lot more work than I thought it was going to be!!!!!
But I would recommend it to anyone. The sense of satisfaction over knowing you’ve done it yourself is amazing. It’s easy to pay someone to do it, but to be able to step back and say “I did that” is something you have to experience at least once in your life.

One More Day

2006-08-29T11:27:00.000-04:00

Only one more day until we officially move into our new house. The movers will be here at 7:30AM tomorrow morning. I started packing up everything here last night. I have the closets emptied, the bathroom is done, the clothes are all packed except for what we need to wear, and the hall storage closet is all packed away and ready to go.
Today I will pack up the kitchen, which should take very little time, and the computer room, which I am dreading. Ap0k has already loaded up most of the stuff from the garage into my truck and is taking it over to the house now. The more we can get over there ourselves today, the cheaper the bill will be tomorrow.
We are leaving the big things to the movers like the fridge, the washer and dryer, the bed, the TV, the gigantor couch, etc. Oh, and my mass amounts of books too. There are approx. 15 boxes each weighing about 50 pounds and each one has to go on the third floor. Oh well, I guess that’s why the moving company gets paid so much. I know I would much rather pay someone to move them up there than to try to do it myself!
Thankfully Ap0k was able to get time off of work so I won’t have to do the whole move myself again. That’s not something I wanted to do.
I can’t wait to see the driver’s faces when they see the weights and bench though. The last time you would have thought I had asked them to pick up the whole house at once. Apparently movers are not fond of weight sets.

OK, I am getting nothing done sitting here am I?

Now THAT'S What I Call A View!

2006-08-26T00:41:00.000-04:00

This is the view of downtown Cincinnati (on the left of the river) and Kentucky (on the right of the river) as seen from Mount Echo Park in Price Hill. This is why we don't need flood insurance. If the river ever comes up this high the people at the insurance company will have already left the country.

So Much To Do - So Little Time

2006-08-23T00:11:00.000-04:00

Lordy Lordy I have SOOO much to do and SOOOOOOO little time!

The living room, dining room, and entry room are done except for minor touch-ups on the ceilings. I have started the stairways and the 2nd floor hall. I still have to get at least one of the bedrooms done before we move in.
One of the kitchen cabinets needs to be lifted a few inches so that my fridge will fit under it. We need to go buy a new stove. We need to buy living room furniture because the big ass sectional sofa that we have now won’t fit through any of the doors of the new house!
ARGH!!! It’s less than two years old and is in PERFECT condition. I have to pack up the entire house, but from experience I know that I can do that in less than 24 hours flat. We have to go get a new bed. Ap0k has gotten so big from weightlifting that a queen size bed just isn’t big enough anymore. The bed we have now is only 2 years old so I will stick it in the guest room.
I can honestly say that I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

We pulled up the carpets over the weekend and the wood floors are in really really good shape. Because they are faded to several different tones throughout the 3 rooms we want to see how much it will cost to have them refinished. We also really need to get the second bit of the 1st to 2nd floor stairs refinished because they have of course seen A LOT of traffic. We had an appointment for an estimate today. The guy was supposed to be there between 10-11:00am. At 12:30pm he finally called and said he was running late (DUH!) but that he would be there within the hour. Well the dumbass never showed up!
His loss, I was ready to fork over money for a lot of work to be done. We’ll call someone else to come give an estimate I guess.

Thankfully they are paving my new street! It was really rough, bumpy, and full of pot holes. Ap0k’s poor mistress just didn’t like the road at all. In fact he had to go several blocks out of the way just to miss as much of the crap as possible.

Speaking of Ap0k’s mistress; she JUST fits in the new garage. And I do mean JUST!!!
There is no way on earth I could ever get it in enough to close the door. I don’t know how he does it. He gets the nose of her about ¼ inch from the back wall and the door closes with about 1 inch to spare behind the car. There is plenty of space on either side, but lengthwise…..sheesh! We will probably either get the garage extended or replaced soon. I am rooting for extending it out the back. I would hate to lose the original front of it because the brick matches the brick of the house.

I know that I have said it before, but it needs to be repeated:
I LOVE MY NEW HOUSE!!!!!!

Soccer Babies And More

2006-08-16T09:59:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was on my way to the post office when I passed a soccer school that boasts "Classes For 18 Months Through 6 Years old."
18 MONTHS???
What kind of a fruit loop sends their 18 month old to soccer classes?
I had my own 18 month old and spent a lot of time with two others, and trust me, they are NOT ready for sports at that age.
This has to be the most ridiculous thing I have EVER heard of!
This whole "Soccer Mom Nation" has finally lost it's frikkin mind.

On a happier note; tomorrow starts the annual library warehouse sale. I will be there when the doors open ready to elbow the bitches out of the way!

On another happy note; the painting is coming along nicely. The dining room is finished except for touch-ups, the livingroom needs one more light coat, and the entrance room needs a light coat in the main part of the room (haven't braved the stairway yet.)
It's a good thing we decided to leave the carpet down until after the painting was completed because last night I dumped a small tray of marigold paint right in the middle of the livingroom floor. You would be amazed at how far a small bit of paint can go when it falls off of a ladder!
Ap0k said it looked like "an unfortunate cheeze-whiz accident."

I should be down there today, but I decided I really should clean THIS house up a bit first. Of course it would be nice if I actually started cleaning instead of just sitting here writing this..........

Tired!

2006-08-14T00:03:00.000-04:00

Man I am beat. This is harder than I thought it would be.
We got the first floor all taped up and primed yesterday. Today we got the dining room painted and the paint cut in in the entrance room.
The walls are 10’ high and I think I have been up and down the ladder about eight billion times. My back is sore, my neck is stiff, and my legs are all wobbly.

We chose a pretty green for the dining room, a red-orange for the entrance room, and a marigold for the living room. All of the colors flow really nicely from one room to the next (there’s something I never thought I would say!) When the painting is finished we are going to take the carpet out of the living room, the entrance room, and the stairs. I have no idea what the condition of the wood is underneath, but I am going into it with an open mind. I know that the floors throughout the entire rest of the house are in great condition so they shouldn’t be too bad.

I am going to leave the kitchen as it is for now. It has a nice calm white wallpaper with tiny blue-green flowers. While it’s not what I would pick, it’s pretty enough for now. I would like to paint it a nice blue eventually.

When we get the first floor done we will move on to the second. I want to paint our bedroom coffee, coffee with cream, and marshmallow. That is what I did in Tampa and it came out really nice. I need to strip the paint off the floor boards and the built in wardrobe. Now what on earth possessed someone to paint it white???

We also need to update the faucets in the second floor bathroom. That’s minor though.

Here’s a question:
It’s pretty much a proven fact that 90 years ago people were shorter than they are today. So how come my back steps are so high? I am 5’9” and I have to practically drag myself up the steps. Odd!

God I love this house!!!!!!
I never imagined that we would ever have a house this nice or this big.

Our New House

2006-08-12T02:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have been among the missing this week.
Monday morning Ap0k and I finally bought our new house!

It is 91 years old and is in amazing shape. It still has all of it's original woodwork, the original pocket doors, the original hardwood floors, and all of the original stained glass windows. It has 3 full floors plus a full basement. I love it more than a person should possible love an inatimate object. THis truly is my dream house! The entire 3rd floor is mine and I am going to make a library and a kick ass craft room up there.
We have been spending the evenings there getting the first floor ready for paint. It took 3 days to tape off all of the wood work and windows!

I will post more pictures soon.

I am sooooooooooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!

Jenna In Wax

2006-08-04T16:35:00.000-04:00

Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Las Vegas unveiled the new Jenna Jameson wax figure on August 2nd.
This just proves the effect that Jenna has had on popular culture.

2006-08-04T16:33:00.000-04:00

Ice Cube It Was A Good Day

Doesn't get much better than this.

A Baby Bunny Comes To Visit

2006-08-02T01:40:00.000-04:00

Monday evening Ap0k and I were sitting in the living room watching TV as usual. From where I sit I have a direct view out of the sliding glass doors so I am always seeing birds and squirrels in the back yard.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw something outside moving around and assumed it was a bird. When I looked up I realized it had ears. Birds don’t have ears!
It was a tiny tiny baby bunny. We hopped up and I grabbed my camera and we went out the front door so that we could sneak around back without scaring him off. We took turns taking his picture and in the end I got about 4 feet from him before he hopped off.

Baby bunnies are just TOO cute!!!!!!!

The Jolly Green Giant Used to Live In My House!

2006-07-31T22:50:00.000-04:00

The house I am living in now was built some time in the 1960’s. At some point the Jolly Green Giant, or at least one of his siblings, must have lived here.
The shower head in the master bathroom is about 8 feet off the ground. No matter what setting I put it on, the water has spread so far out by the time it gets down to me that I have to run in circles to get wet. It has to be hysterical to watch me try to wash my hair because all I can get is the front part of the water cone. If I step back I am literally in the middle of the cone and I get no water on my head at all.
My dad is 6’6” tall, he would love it.

Lazlo has a new shower head and I am jealous!!!!! It sounds like a dream come true.

2006-07-30T01:32:00.000-04:00

Kool Moe Dee goes to work

Simply one of the best ever!

2006-07-30T01:30:00.000-04:00

M.C. Shy-D -

This is the shit!!!!!

2006-07-30T01:28:00.000-04:00

Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock - It takes two

Here's my special shout out to Ap0k!

2006-07-30T01:20:00.000-04:00

Whodini - Big Mouth

NOW we're talkin!!!!!!!!!!

2006-07-30T01:14:00.000-04:00

Mary Jane Girls - In My House

Am I the only one who would have bet money that the girl in blue was really a guy?

2006-07-30T01:11:00.000-04:00

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street

Why do I love this song so much?

Time To Move On

2006-07-27T05:40:00.000-04:00

I have been sick the last 24 hours. In fact I thought I was dying! But no, I guess I will be continuing on.

I woke up this morning to find the co-admin of the new forum had taken it upon herself to shut the forum down. What kind of crap is that?
It just goes to show that unless I am working with Trader it's best just to do things on my own.

So, to all of you who took the time to register at that forum, I apologize. I am considering opening a new one, but I need to wait until I feel a bit better and can concentrate for more than two minutes at a time.

It's Not The Heat, It's The Lack Of Humidity

2006-07-18T15:33:00.000-04:00

People around here are all in a tizzy over the weather. Granted, it IS hot, but most of these people don’t realize how much worse it could be.
I am used to Tampa heat mixed with Tampa humidity. The Cincinnati heat to humidity ratio is completely different.
Take today for example; it is currently 94F with a heat index of 96. The humidity is sitting at 55%.
What I am used to is basically the same temperatures, but with humidity levels in the 95-100% range. At that point it’s like getting hit in the face with a hot wet towel every time you walk out of the door.
55% humidity is for lightweights!

I love the heat and the sun and I honestly do look forward to the hot days here.
The people who live across the street told me the other day that when they see me out mowing my grass they automatically know it’s too hot for them to go outside.

Yesterday it was 99F and I had to go to WalMart. I tossed on some jeans and a tank top, jumped in my truck, opened all the windows, and off I went happy as could be. Sitting at stoplights I realized I was the only one with my windows down. Everyone else was completely closed up in their cars with their air conditioners on. I try to go to WalMart during the day on weekdays because there are A LOT less people there. Because of this, the only other people shopping are stay-at-home moms and older people. The outfits I saw people wearing were absolutely hysterical to say the least. Some of these people, mostly women, had the least amount of clothes on that you could imagine. Little tiny tiny shorts and skirts, half shirts, bikini tops, etc. A few of them looked pretty good, some looked halfway decent, but trust me on this, the vast majority of them had no business leaving their houses dressed the way were. Yes, I understand it’s hot, but do these people really think we want to look at sweaty fat rolls? If you are running from your air conditioned car to a massively air conditioned building, it would not kill you to wear all of your clothes! At least show a little class and wear an entire shirt for goodness sake!

Everywhere I go lately all people want to do is bitch about how hot it is. The grocery store, the book store, the convenience store, everywhere it’s the same. These people wouldn’t last 5 minutes in Florida!

This And That

2006-07-15T23:36:00.000-04:00

Ap0k Is A Pain In My Back!

My back is killing me. It hurts when I sit down, lie down, stand up, or bend over.
I blame it on Ap0k. It was fine earlier today, but ever since we had a bit of a romp it’s been all out of whack. When will he learn that I am just not physically capable of swinging from the chandelier?

-----------------------------------------------------------

Bashing Celebrities Children

I post on a couple different celebrity gossip forums. Most of the time it’s just good natured cattiness, but sometimes it gets out of hand.
I can’t see how people get such joy out of completely trashing someone that they don’t even know. Yes, it can be fun talking crap about the awful outfits and hairstyles some celebrities sport. Yes, sometimes it can a bit of a hoot making fun of an actress’ bad implants. What I don’t find amusing is when people call actresses whores or sluts. We don’t know these people so how can we judge their personal lives? All we know about them is what the tabloids print and we all know how unreliable they are. Just because an actress wears a revealing outfit it doesn’t automatically make her a whore.
What I find completely over the top is when people start bashing the child of a celebrity. What would cause a person to say that a child looks retarded? What joy do you get out of saying a child is ugly? These people like to defend themselves by saying it is actually a bash aimed at the celebrity and not the child, but somehow I really doubt the child would see it that way if they were to read some of the comments that are made about them. While an adult celebrity chose the lifestyle that requires them to be followed around by photographers 24 hours a day, the child did not. I think celebrity children should be off limits to the paparazzi. It has to be awful for these poor kids.
What sad little lives these people must live when they get enjoyment out of bashing a child.

Living Alone Would Be Fattening!

2006-07-13T20:53:00.000-04:00

Ap0k had to go to Atlanta yesterday, and tonight he is in Nashville.

Since he left yesterday I have eaten an entire Philly Steak pizza, a box of macaroni and cheese, a bag of Cool Ranch Dorritos, chocolate pudding, and two bowls of cereal. Now I hear the cherry Pop-Tarts calling my name.

He had better get home soon or I am going to be as big as a house!

How Do I Let It Go?

2006-07-11T23:47:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday the man who lived next door to me committed suicide. I won’t go into any of the details because that is a private matter to his family.

Ever since that day I have not been able to shake this odd feeling that I have.

Here I was, sitting in my living room, having a good time messing around on my computer like always, while 75 feet away a man was ending his life.

If I had known what he was doing could I have saved him?

What could possibly have been so bad in his life that he felt the need to die?

I just keep thinking that he was there dying while I was so close and yet I had no idea.

I did not know him at all, but that does not mean I wouldn’t have helped him. I would have done anything I could to stop him if I had only known.

It’s both sad and a bit creepy. Hopefully the feeling goes away soon because I do NOT like it.

We Hit 100,000!

2006-07-08T15:24:00.000-04:00

We went over 100,000 hits on this site this morning!
WOO-HOO!!!!!

Who would have thought this blog would last this long? A friend had a blog and he kept pestering me to start one too. I finally started this one to hush him up. I had no idea what it would turn into.

I want to thank all of you who take the time to visit, and a special thanks go to those who leave replies. I enjoy reading all of your replies very much and each and every one of them is appreciated.

Now.......on to 200,000!

Stacey Dash Isn't Clueless Anymore! NSFW

2006-07-08T00:23:00.000-04:00

Do any of you remember the movie “Clueless”?

How about the TV series “Clueless”?

Both the movie and the TV series were harmless fun at it’s best. Spoiled rich teenagers going to high school, never any violence, and never any real drama.

Stacey Dash played the character “Dionne” (Dee) in both the movie and the series. She played (and looked like) a 17 year old, but in reality she was in her late 20’s at the time. For some unknown reason Ap0k loved the show and STILL can’t pass it up if he comes across it while flipping channels. Well, I say “unknown reason”, but I know it’s because he has always had the hots for Stacey.

This is Stacey when she was on the show:

And here is Stacey today….from this months Playboy:

Maybe it’s just me, but I think she looks DAMN good for being 40 years old!!!

I want to put out a special thanks to JanCollector for the pictures!

I Must Disagree With Anne

2006-07-06T22:43:00.000-04:00

Anne swears up and down that Friendly’s Butter Nut Crunch ice cream is the best.

Well I am sorry, but I just have to put a stop to this nonsense right now!

If you are really looking for the BEST ice cream in the universe then you only need to take one bite of Graeter’s Coconut Chip to know that you have found the pinnacle of ice cream goodness.

Butter Crunch? HA! That’s lightweight. Coconut Chip will kick it’s butt any day on any spoon!

Attack Of The Fugly Girls

2006-07-05T17:45:00.000-04:00

Lately I have become aware of an alarming trend in porn.
I know and completely understand that the people who watch porn like all different kinds of girls. Some like skinny blondes, some like chunky brunettes, some like fat girls, some like only Latin or Asian girls, and the list goes on.
What I want to know though is who on earth likes all these FUGLY girls they are featuring in porn movies lately?
I don’t mean girls who aren’t model gorgeous either; I am talking about the girls who look like they get beat with the fugly stick every day of their lives.
Of course there have always been fugly girls in porn, but they were usually in the background somewhere. Once in awhile a scene would feature a girl that just made you cringe.
Some of the movies coming out these days though feature some butt ugly girls in several if not all of the scenes. Pay sites are full of them too. These girls are not the typical “normal” girl who shouldn’t do porn. They are cracked out looking horrors. In fact, there is even a pay site that claims to feature crack whores, and after seeing some of the videos they offer I truly believe them. Who pays for access to sites like that?
The mass appeal of MILF movies hasn’t helped things either. There are some gorgeous MILFs in porn, but sadly the majority of them are terribly less than desirable.

Now I will be the first one to admit that I am not model quality by any means. No amount of make-up or soft lighting would help either. At least I am smart enough to keep my clothes on when there are cameras around.

I often wonder what some of these girls get paid. It can’t be much.

Yes, there are definetly some FUGLY guys in porn too! But we've gone over that already.

And don’t even get me started on the amount of BAD fake boobs in porn!
*shudder*

Florida Truisms

2006-07-02T15:40:00.000-04:00

*It's not called a shopping cart, it's a buggy.
*"Down South" means Key West.
*You think no-one over 70 should be allowed to drive.
*Flip-flops are everyday wear.Shoes are for business meetings and church.No, wait, flip flops are good for church too, unless it's Easter orChristmas.
*Sweet tea can be served at any meal.
*An alligator once walked through your neighborhood.
*You smirk when a game show's "Grand Prize" is a trip or cruise to Florida.
*You measure distance in minutes.
*You have a drawer full of bathing suits, and one sweatshirt.
*You get annoyed at the tourists who feed seagulls.
*All the local festivals are named after a fruit.
*A mountain is any hill 100 feet above sea level.
*You think everyone from a bigger city has a northern accent.
*You know the four seasons really are: almost summer, summer,not summer but really hot, and Christmas.
*It's not soda, cola, or pop...it's coke, regardless of brand or flavor, "What kinda coke you want?" *Anything under 95° is just warm.
*You've hosted a hurricane party.
*You go to a theme park for an afternoon, and know when to get on the best rides.
*You pass on the right and honk at the elderly.
*You understand the futility of exterminating cockroaches.
*You can pronounce Okeechobee, Kissimmee and Withlacoochee.
*You understand why it's better to have a friend with a boat, than have a boat yourself.
*Bumperstickers on the pickup in front of you include: various fish, NRA, and a confederate flag.
*You were 12 when you first met someone who couldn't swim.
*"Fixinto" is one word, "I'm fixinto go to the store.
*"Breakfast might include grits, biscuits n' gravy, or country fried steak.
*You get angry when people say "Florida isn't really part of the SOUTH"
*You've worn shorts and used the A/C on Christmas.
*You know what the "stingray shuffle" is, and why it's important!

Less Than 2000 To Go!

2006-07-01T09:22:00.000-04:00

Less than 2000 hits and I will hit 100,000 main page views.
You guys rock!!
Thanks for putting up with all of my random gibberish.

MySpace

2006-07-01T08:26:00.000-04:00

The Tattooed Princess set up a MySpace page for me.
Check it out here:

http://www.myspace.com/agfh

How Private Is Your Information?

2006-06-28T16:24:00.000-04:00

Is your personal info as private as you think it is?

While looking for a house I have found ways to get a lot of info on a person. All I need is an address or a name, and for some things all I need is a street name.
I can find out how much you paid for your house, how much your house is actually worth according to the government, all of the information about the inside of your house (how many rooms, square footage, etc), how much you pay for utilities, and even how much you pay for property taxes and if you are current on the tax payments.

Do to a change in our car insurance I found that if you have a person’s driver’s license number you can find out if there are any items pending on their license.

All of the above information is available for free; you just have to know where to look to find it.

http://zillow.com is of course a good place to start looking for info on someone’s house. You can find some of the information on the inside of the house and you can see an estimate of it’s value.

A better place to look is your county’s auditor’s or recorder’s websites. For my county I can put in a street name and then find out all of the details including price and tax info on every house on that street including the names of the owners.

To find out what a person pays for utilities, all you have to do is call the electric/gas company and ask. Just today I called and said “I am thinking of buying a house and I was wondering if you could tell me what the bills are each month.” The girl on the phone answered, “Sure! What’s the address?” She then gave me all of the info I wanted.

Now of course it may not be the same in all states or all counties, but what I have told you above does apply in Hamilton County Ohio. Your state or county may have the information in a different place, but I am sure if you hunt around you will be able to find it.

Once you start looking you will be amazed at the amount of information you can dig up about a person in a very short time, and for free!

2006-06-23T04:00:00.000-04:00

Johnny Cash & Bob Hope

Two of my favorites in one video!

2006-06-23T03:54:00.000-04:00

Johnny Cash on the Muppet Show

That Dirty Old Egg Sucking Dog!

2006-06-23T03:49:00.000-04:00

Johnny Cash on Sesame Street

Johnny Cash and Big Bird? How can you top that????

2006-06-23T03:39:00.000-04:00

Johnny Cash & The Monkees

Some things are just too cool for description!

TCRF and MM Are Having Major Issues

2006-06-22T16:05:00.000-04:00

Both TCRF and MM are having major server issues at the moment.

TCRF's redirect is intermitantly accessing a spam page. Neither forum will load correctly. Sometimes it loads with an old backup, sometimes only the top banner loads. More often than not you will get a "Page Cannot Be Displayed" error.

The server owners have been contacted for assistance.

Keep your fingers croseed that Trader has a current back up if we need it!

Bette Page Documentary

2006-06-20T15:21:00.000-04:00

This is a true documentary, not the big screen fluff.

It requires the DivX codec.

Each piece is viewable, no need to join the files unless you want to.

Enjoy!

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WX01GHI3
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YWIH8T5Q
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WDUV73SC
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VBEX81F4
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VXD3DU1S

Torn Between Desire and Brains

2006-06-16T02:26:00.000-04:00

I am torn in so many directions over this whole house hunt thing.

Part of me says to be reasonable and buy one close to where Ap0k works so that no matter what the weather is, he can still get there.

Part of me says; just find the house you want. He said he would buy a 4-wheel drive truck if he has to.

Part of me says; do you really want to get into an older home that may need repairs down the line? I am capable of home repairs though.

There is a house I REALLY want. It is in a nice area and it’s in GREAT shape. All I would really have to do to restore it is strip the paint of the woodwork, which is original by the way. It still has it’s leaded stained glass windows. It’s a 3 story with a full unfinished basement.

This house is very (surprisingly) affordable. The house 2 doors down is for sale for $50,000 more than the one I want. Another house down the road from it is in the process of being sold for $50,000 more than the one I want. I looked at one of them and the only real difference is that the more expensive one has already had the woodwork stripped and the basement is finished. I can do that for WAY less than $50,000!

The drawbacks are that it is a bit of a drive for Ap0k to get back and forth to work, and the roads aren’t in that great of condition. Of course if he buys a truck like he says then I won’t have to worry about him beating his car to death.

I have looked at literally hundreds of houses and I keep coming back to this one.
I REALLY want it. It’s everything I said I wanted in the beginning.

Do the pros outweigh the cons?

ARGH!!!! To stressful!!!!!

The Koala and the Little Lizard

2006-06-13T01:37:00.000-04:00

A koala is sitting in a gum tree smoking a joint

when a little lizard walks past, and looks up and says

"Hey Koala ! What are you doing?"

The koala says: "Smoking a joint, come up and have some."

So the little lizard climbs up and sits next to the koala and they have a few joints.

After a while the little lizard says his mouth is 'dry' and is going to get a drink from the river.

But the little lizard is so stoned that he leans too far over and falls into the river.

A crocodile sees this and swims over to the little lizard and helps him to the side, then asks the little lizard: "What's the matter with you?"

The little lizard explains to the crocodile that he was sitting smoking a joint with the koala in the tree, got too stoned and then fell into the river while taking a drink.

The crocodile says he has to check this out and walks into the rain forest, finds the tree where the koala is sitting finishing a joint, and he looks up and says "Hey you!"

The koala looks down at him and says:

"Fuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkkk dude... How much water did you drink?!!"

A Ride To Nowhere

2006-06-10T22:52:00.000-04:00

The other day Ap0k and I were driving down I-75 South heading into Cincinnati when I saw two very large doors on the side of the road. The doors, surrounded by large concrete frames were placed directly on a hillside, and it was evident that whatever was behind them was underground.
We discussed what could possibly be under the hill, but since we just moved here we of course had no real idea. All we could think of was that it was possibly some sort of bomb or storm shelter.

Today, while I was looking for picture of Cincinnati on Google I came across something that to me was pretty interesting. It was a picture of the doors!

Apparently during the 1920’s Cincinnati began building a subway system but in 1928 ran out of money and the project was never completed. There are actually three stations under the city also. No tracks were ever laid and neither the tunnels nor the stations have ever been used.

When the money ran out the open ends of the tunnels were simply closed off with either bricks, doors, or grates. Over time the grates have been replaced with doors to keep people out.

In the 1960’s the Liberty Street Station was converted into a nuclear fallout shelter. Beds and supplies were laid, but of course it was never used.

The layout of the subway system must have been good because today they have built major roads directly over the top of the tunnels. This includes Central Parkway and parts of I-75.

Recently it was proposed that the subway system be completed, but because the project had an estimated cost of 2.6 Billion dollars and would take approximately 30 years to complete it was rejected.

Here are some pictures of what the subway looks like today:

If you would like to see more pictures or read more information on the abandoned subway line I recommend the following sites:

http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/subway.html
http://www.forgottenoh.com/subway.html
http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/transeng/pages/-7185-/
http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/subway-section6.html

Free Money

2006-06-10T02:56:00.000-04:00

Don't you just love it when you open your mailbox and find a good-sized check you weren't even expecting!

What Is It?

2006-06-07T02:43:00.000-04:00

This is my first attempt at a “what is it” post, so don’t laugh. None of them are very difficult.
You’d be amazed at how hard it is to find objects to photograph at 2AM.

All of the pictures feature common everyday items (in the US.)

What is it?

Those were too easy. Next time I will try for something more difficult.

Boredom Shopping

2006-06-02T06:17:00.000-04:00

I have developed the nasty habit of going shopping when I am bored.
It would not be so bad if I was buying things I needed, but I am amassing a large pile of unread books.
Whenever I get to feeling this way I hit Borders or Half-Price-Books and load up.
Not good at all. I am feeling like that today, so I am making sure Ap0k takes the truck to work. The stores are too far away to walk to so I will be safe! But dang it, I have a coupon for 20% off a book at Borders. ARGH!

Sometimes I need a WalMart fix. I go in and buy the stupidest things I have no use or need for. Did I REALLY need to buy that over-the-door shower rack? Do I REALLY need 10 new pairs of undies when I already have stacks of them? Do I REALLY need more clothes when I already have a closet full that I don’t wear? Do I REALLY need more bottles of soaps and shower gels? Nope, I don’t think so!

Well, at least I don’t buy shoes……yet.

Losing Our History To Criminals

2006-05-30T11:52:00.000-04:00

As you know, Ap0k and I are trying to find the perfect house. We would like either an older Tudor or Victorian home. We have looked through many neighborhoods that are full or these types of homes, but unfortunately people are allowing them to rot away. It is a huge shame that these houses are going to be lost due to crime and neglect.

What were once beautiful stately homes are now falling apart at the seams. Many of these homes still have the original woodwork and original leaded stained glass windows.

Areas that were once thought of as the best neighborhoods are now full of criminal activity.

Take these houses for example:

Each of the houses shown above is a minimum of 75 years old. Each are also in areas that are so crime ridden no one wants to even drive through anymore.

This next house is absolutely beautiful. The problem is that THIS is the house that is next to the bridge people are using for an outhouse. This house is 126 years old, and has actually had many updates recently. The entire area is full of beautiful houses, but most of them are run down and/or are split up into multi-units.

The last house I want to show you breaks my heart. Take a look at the pictures of both the exterior and interior features:

The above house is 98 years old and was part of the Frank Herschede estate. Frank Herschede owned a an award winning clock company amongst other things. The house also includes a 5 car garage and a carriage house with an apartment. By all rights you would think this house would be worth millions. Because of the direction the road this house is located on has taken the house is currently for sale for only $825,000. So far there are no takers and I highly doubt there will be. Anyone with that much money doesn’t want to live in that area anymore because it has declined so badly.

So what has happened to these areas that were once so sought after?

Times changed. It became more and more expensive to maintain these houses so people either moved away or divided the houses into apartments. It became fashionable to move to the suburbs. And of course at a certain point in time these houses were just seen as old. Of course the changes in local businesses also affected the areas. Neighborhood grocery stores closed due to the chain stores they could not fight and were replaced by gas stations and convenience stores. Local clothiers, Five and Dimes, etc closed because they could not compete with the malls. Today many of the buildings that once housed these stores sit empty and boarded up. When this happens the entire area begins to lose value and the prices of the homes drop.
Plus as everyone knows, when areas start to decline, the criminal element tends to move in.

There is a section of town here called “Over The Rhine.” At one time it was a very nice area full of grand homes and buildings. Today parts of it are so full of crime that the police have had to set up a special task force to try to clean it up. The National Historical Society recently added Over The Rhine to it’s list of the top endangered historical areas in the U.S.
Thankfully there are still some decent people living in that area that are trying to turn it around and restore it to what it once was.
What surprises me most about this area is that it is immediately adjacent to downtown. On one block you have beautiful buildings that house offices and restaurants, but on the next block there have been multiple shootings over the past few months. People are honestly afraid to drive down the roads. The police are trying to rid the area of drug dealers and prostitutes. There are homeless people everywhere you look. We drove through there the other day and I actually saw a guy peeing on a wall right alongside the road. Until people like this are totally removed from the area no one will want to move down there and restore the homes and buildings to their glory.

Moving the criminals out then poses another problem. Where do they go? From what I have heard in the news all that is really happening is that they are moving to another area of town and continuing on with their business. This is causing that area to now be worthless. The police are now starting to work on that area too thankfully. But in the end all that will happen is that the low-lifes will just move to another area and another and another until the police force is nothing more than task forces chasing them around the city.

People like Ap0k and I would give our right arms to have one of these houses, but how do you work up the nerve to buy one? People like us need to go in and buy up the houses and fix them back up. It is affordable and easy to do. The hard part is trying to figure out which area to do this in. What happens if I fork over all of my money to buy and repair one of these houses and the police don’t clean the area up? Personally, because some of these areas are so bad, I would not feel comfortable living there until it is cleaned up, if it ever is. I am just not that brave or stupid.

Something needs to be done about the criminals. Chasing them around the city is not the answer. They need to be locked up and locked up for good. They are destroying our history one neighborhood at a time. I don’t know about you, but think this is extremely sad.

Because the cost of construction has gotten so high, it is virtually impossible to replace these houses and buildings. These designs are part of our history and they are swiftly rotting away.

I wish I knew how to fix it.

House Hunting Is A Pain In The Butt!

2006-05-27T03:37:00.000-04:00

Ap0k and I have been looking for a house to buy for a couple of weeks now. I have looked at so many it seems like they are all starting to look alike.
Our problem is that we want a house with character. I do NOT want a box! I’ve lived in a box my whole life and now I want peaks and angles. We are mainly looking at Tudor and Victorians, which around here are pretty much a dime a dozen. So what’s the problem you ask?

We have a set spending limit that we will not go over. We discussed it and agreed that being “house poor” is not an option with us. Our budget is fairly respectable I think, but we are having a hard time finding the right house.

We have looked at who knows how many houses within our price range, and while some of the houses have been perfect in every way themselves, the neighborhoods they are located in are not. We’ve also looked at a bunch in the perfect neighborhoods, but those houses are too expensive. ARGH!

If we scrimped we could buy one in the neighborhoods we want, but then we would have no money for anything else. That is what I meant when I said “house poor.” We have found a couple we could manage, but they have no garages and some don’t even have driveways. There is no way we can park his car on the street! Plus we don’t want to have just a house. We like to eat out, he likes to work on his car, and I like to shop now and then. If we go over our allotted budget we would have to give some or all of those things up. Having a nice house is great, but there is more to life than just that.

We looked at a Victorian today that was absolutely gorgeous and well within our budget. The problem with it was that it is located next to a big bridge and when we walked over to it you can tell that people are using it as an outhouse. I was devastated! I don’t know if it’s just people passing by, or if people are living under there. Either way, I can’t live next to it.

We have looked at many many Tudor style houses also. Sadly, so far the only ones we have found that we can afford are in the less than desirable areas of town.

Luckily we are in no rush to find a house. One of these days the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood will just spring up out of nowhere and we will jump on it.

In the meantime I will continue to search the MLS database everyday.

Bliss

2006-05-24T13:06:00.000-04:00

I am beside my myself.

Here it is 1:00PM and all my housework is done.
It is 73F outside and the weather is sheer perfection. The sun is shining as bright as it can and there isn't a cloud in the sky.

I have drug the big canvas chair out on the patio, I have a glass of crushed ice and my trusty laptop.

My flowers are blooming and the lady next door just mowed her lawn. The combined smell of the flowers and cut grass is almost overwhelming.

There are about 15 birds hopping around the back yard.

Could life get any better than this????

Did We Move To A Zoo?

2006-05-21T03:22:00.000-04:00

I am beginning to think that we have moved to a zoo and someone forgot to tell us.

For one thing, I have never seen so many birds in all my life, birds of all colors and sizes.
Shocking reds, brilliant blues, chocolate browns, and satin blacks. They are, to put it plainly, just beautiful.

I have also never seen so many squirrels. They are everywhere. Big fat squirrels too, and all they do is eat eat eat.

Several times we have found rabbits in our yard, and there are raccoons all over in the mornings.

Just today I saw a little chipmunk standing in the middle of the road. He was the tiniest cutest little thing!

Now we come to the fun stuff! Remember though that we live in the middle of a giant city full of hundreds of thousands of people:

The day before yesterday Ap0k came home and told me that he had been out driving in one of the company trucks and a deer almost jumped off a wall onto his truck. A deer??? In the middle of the city??? Of course I believed him, but I will admit that I found that awfully odd. Later that night we were driving around looking at houses and as we passed on house Ap0k slammed on the brakes and told me to look. There were TWO deer standing in a yard. This neighborhood is abut 80 years old and it’s right smack in the middle of the city. Where on earth did deer come from? It’s not like they are being pushed out of any areas because there is no construction going on anywhere. I swear this is the least active construction area in the country. So where on earth are deer coming from? Someone that works for Ap0k said that they saw 3 deer right outside of the warehouse the night. There are deer all over the place. It makes no sense to me at all.

Today we were again driving around looking at houses and we passed a small pond that was just off the road. In between the pond and the road there sat a huge beaver. A beaver??? In the middle of the city??? This was the first time I had ever seen a wild beaver and I will say that I was completely shocked.

Florida has snakes, lizards, brown birds, seagulls and alligators. That’s about it. Seeing all these animals, especially right in the middle of a huge city, is completely fascinating to me.

Deer and beavers in the middle of the city……..who would have thought???

TCRF and MM Are Having Problems

2006-05-20T01:53:00.000-04:00

Just letting everyone know that I am aware of the problems at TCRF and Moviemart.
Trader and I both have sent mails to the people who can fix it. Hopefully one of these days they will see the mails!
I think the server needs rebooted.
Keep your fingers crossed!!!!!

What Makes You Smile?

2006-05-18T01:11:00.000-04:00

For some reason new flowers make me smile from ear to ear.

Here are my roses. I have never had roses before in my life, so when these came up in the back yard I almost hurt myself with glee. I never thought they would actually bloom, but as you can see they really are doing pretty well.

These flowers are actually on a bush. Because I have no idea what the bush is I call it the snow bush. The flowers are actually very tiny and it really does look like snow on the branches.

This one is for my little sister, the ladybug fanatic. It's not the greatest picture, but trying to catch a pic of a bug when it's on a branch blowing in the wind is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

Drama At The Waffle House

2006-05-14T01:38:00.000-04:00

Ap0k and I went to Waffle House at 5:30AM Saturday morning. For some reason nothing in town stays open all night or opens early, so when you are hungry in middle of the night (or early morning), Waffle House it is.
Apparently the 3rd shift staff did not complete all of their scheduled cleaning tasks before they left because the 1st shift staff was pretty annoyed about it. Of course the restaurant has to be cleaned so the 1st shift staff was doing it all. The two guys working there weren’t complaining much, but the two girls were fussing pretty good.
One of the girls finally took it upon herself to complain to the manager, which of course I think was the right thing to do. Unfortunately instead of going about it the right way she was loud and kind of obnoxious about it. When the manager tried to explain to her that while he would deal with the 3rd shift later, they still had to clean everything up at that time. Instead of letting it drop the girl just kept getting louder and more belligerent.
Now if you haven’t actually eaten at a Waffle House before, I know you had to have at least seen them. They are tiny little places. So of course we, and all of the other customers, could every word of the argument going on. By now everyone in the restaurant, employees and customers were completely silent. Not a peep from anyone. Total silence except for the waitress because by now the manager was being very quiet. All of a sudden she came storming out of the back crying saying that she had been fired. Still not a peep from anyone else in the whole place. She stomped around a bit gathering up her stuff and saying things like “They’ll have a hard time replacing me.” Finally the other girl who works there asked her if she was going to be ok, but crying girl just mumbled something and went outside.
The customers started talking again then, but the rest of the staff just went about their duties like little ants. They wanted no part in any of it!
When we had finished eating and went outside to leave, the girl was still sitting outside on a curb crying like mad.

I totally understand her point of view. She was right that it wasn’t fair that the 1st shift had to do the 3rd shift’s duties. Sadly she went about it totally unprofessionally and got fired. I felt bad for her, but the manager only did what he had to do.

Ahhhhh……drama!

Long Overdue Update

2006-05-11T06:20:00.000-04:00

If you look over to the left you will see that I have updated all of my favorites.
There are new blogs, forums, music sites, and oddball sites.
I hope you find something that you like!

Remember, if you want me to add your link, just shoot me an email with your site info and I will check it out.

Senze Magazine - Issue #5

2006-05-10T18:19:00.000-04:00

Issue #5 of Senze Magazine is out!

This issue features:

*A profile on Nelly Recchia, a Hollywood make-up artist and body painter. There are several pictures featuring her work and I find all of the to be completely stunning.

*The Fashion section is all about black and red latex whith photos taken by Stellan Stebe.

*Annelie and Anton are musician and fetish wear designers. There is a nice interview with both of them.

*Eva Bende is a Hungarian artstistic clothing designer who's designs are based on nature. There is a very interesting article about her along with some samples of her work. The dress on page 72 is almost shockingly beautiful.

*Page 81 is a small featurette from Kija explaining how she became a fetish model. Leave it to Stellan Stebe to find us the most beuatiful girls around.

*Pay special attention to the ten page spread featuring the photography work of Nicola Ranaldi. These pictures are fantastic!

*This issue's Book Section contains a review of the photography book "Digital Diaries" by Natacha Merritt.

All in all this issue is another top-notch effort from the whole Senze staff!

Not A Care In The World

2006-05-08T04:42:00.000-04:00

Lenore

2006-05-07T02:18:00.000-04:00

A dirge for her, the doubly dead.
In that she died so young.
"Lenore" - Edgar Allen Poe

Roman Dirge has drawn and written some of the best comics around. These include "Haunted Masion" and "Sloth". but without a doubt my favorite is the series titled "Lenore: The Cute Little Dead Girl."
The Lenore series follows the adventures of, just as the title says, a pretty little dead girl and her friends. These comics are only for people like me who have a completely warped sense of humor. Lenore is stalked by Mr. Gosh, who wants to marry her. She drags around her cat, also dead. She even has a friend named Ragamuffin, a vampire trapped in a ragdoll's body for all eternity.

If you are interested in checking out some of the Lenore info you can go to the following sites.

Roman Dirge's official site:
http://www.spookyland.com

Lenore's Wikipedia Page. Contains info on all of the characters:
http://www.answers.com/topic/lenore-the-cute-little-dead-girl

This site has over 20 short Lenore cartoons in Flash animation:
http://www.nightrose.com/lenore.htm
My favorite is "Little Bunny Foo-Foo". The moral is hysterical.

I have begun collecting Lenore items too. So far I have the set of PVC characters:

I also have a keychain. A couple of years ago I bought my daughter the stuffed doll. I wish I had bought myself one too! If anyone is looking to get me a gift, I want the doll!!!! Of course there are other Lenore doo-dads I want to get my hands on too. Bit by bit I will get them.

No More Taquitos Before Bed!

2006-05-02T12:51:00.000-04:00

Sometimes eating odd food really CAN affect your dreams!
Take last night for example. I had the great idea that eating 5 taquitos and a Godiva truffle at 3:00AM would be a great idea. Yeah, right.

AMERICAN IDOL WANNABE:

Dream number one had me actually WINNING American Idol. Yes, I know I can not sing a note, but even in the dream that did not matter. Yes, I know that I am 40 years old and way over the age limit, but for some reason that worked in my favor.
I went to the auditions and Simon raved over the fact that I was older. He said that America is tired of all the cookie cutter young people. They also called my voice “unique.”
Jump to the voting episodes of the show. Amazingly each week I was getting more votes than anyone else by a landslide. All of the forums were raving about how new and different I was.
In the final show I was up against a Carrie Underwood type clone and we had to sing “Mountains” by Prince. The clone had never even heard the song and she butchered it up completely, but I was able to knock the song out perfectly. The audience gave me a standing ovation and on the next nights show I was named the newest Idol.
Now how silly is that?

Break to get out of bed to use the bathroom

NIGHTMARE:

Dream number two was not all light and happy; in fact it upset me really badly. It made absolutely no sense at all, yet made all the sense in the world at the time.
Ap0k had to drive to Indianapolis (which is true, he’s there now) and I told him to call me when he got there. He, of course, forgot (which is also true, he was supposed to call and hasn’t) so I was left wondering if he made it ok. Because it was (and is) a business event I was (and can’t) unable to call him to check.
After a few hours I became worried (which I’m not because he always forgets to call me) so I decided to go look for him. Two guys from my IRC chat, Napier and Nautley, decided they were going to come too because it was unsafe for me to go alone. Of course in real life neither one of them lives anywhere near me and the whole scenario is totally unfeasible. For some reason all three of us took our own trucks and traveled in a line down the interstate. Once we left Ohio and made it into Indiana the scenery changed dramatically, which is silly as both states actually look alike. The area became very mountainous and it was really really dark and stormy. About an hour into our drive we went over a big bridge. When you went over it you actually lost traction with the ground and fell about 50’ straight down. Luckily we all landed safely but somehow we had become hopelessly lost. We found a little town and went into a small restaurant. My little sister was there and for some never explained reason she was dressed as a story book princess. She had on the stereotypical princess dress and pointy hat and it was all in the prettiest shade of purple. Everyone else in the restaurant was dressed equally as odd and we couldn’t figure out why. In fact they looked at the three of us like WE were crazy. We sat down to eat and these odd people kept coming up to our table to sit with us. We were really getting freaked out because the people were all talking oddly about some really screwy things.
By now it was storming horribly outside, but we felt that we had to leave the place or something bad was going to happen. When we got out to the parking lot a police officer came up and started yelling at us that we had not left the waitress a tip. We tried to explain that we had, but he was getting angrier and angrier by the second until he took out his nightstick and started swinging it at all of us. I managed to get into my truck and got it started and the other two jumped in with me and we took off. The police officer jumped in his car and started following us down the road. It was so dark and stormy that I was having a really hard time seeing where I was going and somehow I drove right off the side of a mountain and we were falling falling falling……..
Then I woke up, but I was really still dreaming. I was back in my living room lying on the couch and Ap0k said “Thank goodness you are alright!” I tried to ask him what had happened, but then I actually DID wake up.

So, even though Ap0k really did forget to call me, I am NOT going to go looking for him!!! And I really need to stop eating crap before I go to bed!!!

I think I will just go to the bank and then go try to find my Mom a Mother’s Day present instead. Hopefully that will knock that last dream out of my head.

Excitement

2006-04-28T03:51:00.000-04:00

Let me tell you about my oh so exciting week.

Monday I went to WalMart and bought groceries, new undies, and a new bra.

Tuesday and Wednesday I pretty much did nothing besides the normal housework.

Thursday I mowed the lawn, whacked the weeds, edged, stuff like that. I did manage to upset the man across the street. He is completely anal about his yard being perfect. When he got home and saw how good my yard looked he literally freaked out and started mowing his yard like a mad man. He even made his wife get their spare mower to help him. I will admit that I laughed hysterically. My yard looks goooooooooood!

Today is Friday and it is 3:45am. I will go lay down for 2 hours and then get up, make breakfast, take Ap0k to work, and then go to the store to get meat for the weekend.

Sometimes the life of a housewife can be so overly exciting that it's really hard to manage it all.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

Oh, I did teach myself to use two new DVD rippers.

I feel like I had to have done SOMETHING else, but for the life of me I can't think of anything.

Winton Woods

2006-04-23T21:58:00.000-04:00

Ap0k and I went to Winton Woods today. It is an absolutely gorgeous park! I have talked about Sharon Woods in the past and posted a number of pictures of that park. Winton Woods is even bigger than Sharon Woods!

Like Sharon Woods, Winton Woods surrounds a large lake. Since we were looking for something new and different to do today we rented one of the pedal boats and peddled our happy buts all over the place. Let me just say this; you will never know just how out of shape your thighs really are until you pedal a boat around in the water!! I pedaled by myself quite a bit and at one point my thighs were cramping up so bad I was just sure my muscles were going to explode right out of my pants. I probably won’t be able to walk tomorrow. It was A LOT of fun.

Now you KNOW I couldn’t go out and not take pictures.

This is Winton Pavilion at Winton Harbor. It was taken from the middle of the lake:

Of course I had to take a picture of the prerequisite duck:

Here is an Ohio Gator. OK OK it’s a log, but if you were in Florida and saw that shape you would head the other way immediately:

Just to show what a gorgeous day it was, I took a picture of one of the many kites flying around. The sky was a pristine blue:

There was no way that Ap0k could have left the driveway today without his girlfriend.
Isn’t she stunning!!!

It was a fantastic day all around.

By Request

2006-04-20T16:21:00.000-04:00

I was asked by someone to take these pictures, so here they are:

Everything is going smashingly well here. Smashingly, I've always wanted an excuse to say that! The weather has been picture perfect. I haven't heard the emergency sirens in almost a week. I hate the emergency sirens! If they only went off when there was an actual emergency that would be fine, but for some reason Hamilton County has decided they must turn them on when there is a severe weather watch too. You never know when they go off if you should ignore them or go hide in the bathroom.

Ap0k had sex with his girlfriend.....oops.....I mean Ap0k drove his car the other day. It was so nice out he just couldn't leave her in the garage another minute.

It's supposed to rain this weekend so that means more lawn mowing in my future. Every time it rains the grass grows 6" over night.

My Day In A Nutshell

2006-04-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

4:30AM – Take a nap
6:30AM – Get up and eat two bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits from McDonalds.
7-8:00AM – Hang around with Ap0k until he leaves for work.
8:30AM – Go to sleep.
12:00PM – Wake up and stagger aimlessly around the house.
12:30-1:00PM – Computer time.
1-4:30PM – Weed whack the entire yard. Edge the driveway and all sidewalks. Find the edge of the one sidewalk by the house where the dirt had overtaken it. Get the blower out and clean the sidewalks, driveway, and patio. Wash the dishes. Sweep the floors. Mop the floors. Clean the bathroom. Wash, dry, and put away the laundry. Vacuum all the carpets.
4:30-6:30PM – Computer time.
6:30PM – Dinner. Chicken wings and fries from Beef O’Brady’s.
7-8:00PM – Hang around with Ap0k and watch crap on TV.
8-9:00PM – American Idol. Computer time.
9-10:00PM – House M.D. Computer time.
10-11:00PM – Law and Order SVU. Computer time.
11-11:30PM – News. Write this.

12:00AM – Hopefully bed all night. But I will probably sleep for about 3 hours and then up and mess with the computer until Ap0k gets up in the morning.

The Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens

2006-04-15T20:43:00.000-04:00

Ap0k and I made our first trip to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens today. The weather was almost illegally gorgeous! Of course I took my normal one zillion pictures, but I have paired them down to show just a few of them. Have I ever said that I am totally in love with my camera? There were tons of people there, but it wasn’t really too bad. I will say that by the time we left I had had my fill of children and their ignorant parents.

Because this is Easter weekend, all of the animals were given paper-mache Easter eggs filled with treats. It was really cute!

First I will start with the animals:

These are the “Siegfried & Roy's White
Lions of Timbavati”. They are amazingly pretty. I thought it was neat how their manes looked like they had been freshly styled. (I know, I’m a dork!)

This is a Sumatran Rhino

A Grevy’s Zebra

Greater Flamingos. These flamingos are nesting. Please note the egg in the first picture.

A Great Eland

An Indo-Chinese Tiger

Asian White Tigers

This is a Japanese Macaque

The world’s largest lizard, the Kimodo Dragon. It’s one of my favorite animals on the planet.

Some kind of a BIG icky spider. It was as big as my hand.

Stellar’s Sea Eagle. The biggest bird I have ever seen.

A male peacock showing off for the ladies.

A Trumpeter Swan

And of course, a Polar Bear

We toured the zoo during the Zoo Bloom Tulip Mania. Below are examples of some of the tulips and various other flowers.

This was only 8.7MB out of 252MB. It was really difficult to choose which pictures to post. I hope you enjoy them.

We will definitely be going back, whether Ap0k likes it or not! LOL! Just kidding, he will take me wherever I want to go, whenever I want to go, with no complaints. I missed a few exhibits this time, so I have to go back and check them out.

Gregory Dark - Combining Porn and Mainstream Into One Career

2006-04-14T02:36:00.000-04:00

Gregory Dark, one half of the infamous “Dark Brothers”, has returned to the mainstream!
But the question is, did he ever really leave?

In 1983 Dark directed a short 12 minute drama titled “Dark Cherry” that starred Roger Daltrey of the Who. Around the same time he was an assistant director of several mainstream movies including the James Bond film “Never Say Never Again.”

In 1984 Dark directed his first porn film titled “Let Me Tell Ya ‘Bout White Chicks” featuring Lois Ayres. He then went on to direct many porn films that are today considered classics such as the “New Wave Hookers” series, and three from “The Devil in Miss Jones” series. As far as I know, the last porn movie he directed was 1998’s “Psychosexuals 2.”

Throughout his porn directing career, Gregory Dark continued to direct and produce several mainstream movies and TV shows. Among his credits are “Clockwise” starring John Cleese, the 1988 version of “Dead Man Waking” starring Wings Hauser, “Body of Influence” starring Nick Cassavetes, the TV series “The Profession”, and a special video for the TV series “Oz.”

In 2000, Dark began directing music videos. Bone Thugs –n – Harmony, Xzibit, and Britney Spears all have videos directed by Dark.

Today, Gregory Dark has returned to mainstream movies with a bang. You may have seen the commercials for the new movie titled “See No Evil”, a teen horror film which is sure to do well. Teenagers are always ready for new horror flick.

I know of no other director who has gone back and forth between porn and mainstream like this. Do you? If you do know of anyone, please let me know.

Back In Business!

2006-04-12T17:16:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Ap0k bought me a new 320 gig network drive. I am now back in business! I had totally run out of space on all my other hard drives and was having massive problems downloading anything of substance. I hadn’t downloaded any full mainstream movies in months, but today I got five of them. I was also having problems getting movies ready to post because of course rar’ing a file doubles the space used. It had gotten to the point where I was having to shift files from one drive to another just to make room enough to get one post ready.

We had a massive storm last week that knocked out the power for a couple of hours. Normally this would have been no big deal, but I am trying to set an unbeatable PM Crew record for the longest time between reboots. I was up to 14 ½ weeks of constant boot time and then the power went out. ARGH! Now I have to start all over again.
Ap0k built this computer and it is amazingly stable. I can edit files, make previews, convert movies, browse the internet, use OE, etc all at the same time with no problems. When it seems to be “getting tired” I just let it set for 30 minutes and when I come back it’s good as new. Somehow he managed to build a self healing computer!

Well I had thought I would actually write more today, but Ap0k just called and wants to go out to dinner. Since I am just wearing a ratty t-shirt and an old pair of shorts I guess I should go change.

Shipping Packages - The New Scam?

2006-04-06T17:06:00.000-04:00

Shipping packages seems to have become a money making scam.

The last two times I have shipped packages through the post office I have paid extra for 3-4 day delivery. Both times the packages actually took 10 days to arrive at their destination. Now keep in mind these packages were not going any great distance. Both were shipped to a residence five hours away. They were shipped to a house in a town that has a post office so it wasn’t like they had to be trekked out into the boonies. The first package delay I could almost forgive because it was sent just before Christmas, but the second was shipped in February. In both cases I paid an extra $10 to get them there by a specific date. Of course there is no one to complain to about this. The post office ships so many letters and packages each day that one complaint means nothing to them.

Now we come to today. I had two packages to ship, one to Florida and one to Tennessee. The package to Florida needed a box and peanuts. The package to Tennessee was already boxed and only needed a label. Having had such bad luck with the post office I decided to use UPS this time. Imagine my surprise when everything was totaled up and the cost came to $73!!! I didn’t even choose rapid delivery; I went with straight ground delivery.
I could darn near have driven the packages to the locations for less money. For that price the packages damn well better get there on time!

The cost of shipping a package has gotten ridiculous!!!!

Cincinnati's Arty Side

2006-04-04T02:13:00.000-04:00

While I was busy trying to get a clear shot of the Cincinnati skyline while shivering to death, my little sister went a different route and took the shivering to an extreme. I think the pictures came out fabulously. She has a knack for this I think.

yABB Sucks!

2006-03-31T17:28:00.000-05:00

The people over at yABB may SAY that the new version of the script is stable, but personally I think they are full of poop!
We are holding TCRF together with duct tape and twine at the moment. Posts disappear from the post index, members disappear from the member index, post count totals for members decrease if you delete replies like normal people would, and sometimes posts just go dead.
It's not just us having the problems either. If you look at the yABB support forums alot of people are having the same problems.
They tried to blame our server host by saying we were out of space, but I know for a fact that we have way more than enough space available. Plus, if it was a space issue rebuilding the indexes would not bring the messed up posts back.

This is honestly starting to drive me nuts!

Glorious Day!

2006-03-31T02:57:00.000-05:00

Thursday was possibly the most glorious day ever!

The temperature was a fabulous 72 degrees and the sun was shining like mad. Of course I spent all afternoon outside!! There was no sitting around either. I got TONS of stuff done.
First I trimmed back the pampas grass because it was dead and out of control. I looked up how to care for it and luckily you are supposed to chop it all off in March in this area. If it is over 5 years old they recommend you burn it to make it flourish, but I have no clue how old this one is.
I also cleaned out from under all the hedges in the front of house. They were pretty sad looking.
Next I cleaned out two small flower beds. Both had mulch in them that had to be at least 10 years old. I also found an insane amount of garbage buried in them. Nasty!
After that I talked the bushes along the side of the house. I had to cut out a bunch of the stalks because they had totally taken over the sidewalk along side them. There was a big piece of plastic under them and when I tried to lift it up I found a bajillion rolly-polly bugs. I will admnit that I freaked and put the plastic back. Ap0k, bless his heart, got rid of it for me when he got home. .I can deal with bugs in small numbers, but a bajillion is just too many for me.
Being the hard head that I am, I then went in the back yard and raked up all the old leaves and dead grass. After awhile I began to think I had lost my mind. I spent all winter typing, washing dishes, and doing laundry. All the physical labor today really knocked me out.
Oh yeah, I also cleaned the garage.
I am sitting here now with a cramped up back, sliced up fingers, and a wrenched knee. I LOVE IT!!!!!

There is something I am going to have to get used to though. Ohio actually has dirt. Dirt is slimy! I am used to Florida sand. With sand you can just stomp your feet and it’s gone. Today I tracked dirt all over the kitchen. Also the dirt is full of worms. I probably saw 5 worms total in the 12 years I lived in my last house. I’m not afraid of worms, but I really don’t like grabbing a handful of dirt and squishing a worm in my fingers. Blech!

Even though I am sore, I wouldn’t have traded the day for any other. Messing in the yard for 5 ½ hours in perfect weather. What more could I ask for?

Clearing My Head

2006-03-28T22:07:00.000-05:00

No, I did not forget about this site. I’ve been trying to spend a bit more time doing other things. I was sitting at the computer darn near 24/7 and it was getting a tad extreme. I was so worried about keeping TCRF running that I put everything else aside. Housework was not getting done and I was not sleeping more than three hours a night. It had to stop.
Taking our little vacation made me realize I was turning into a computer zombie. I’ve gotten a good amount of reading done and the house doesn’t look like a trash heap any more. I’ve been cooking better food instead of just slamming something together.

Sometimes you just have to walk away from the computer and let your head clear out a bit.

Cincinnati At Night

2006-03-23T00:47:00.000-05:00

We took my little sister to Newport for dinner tonight and then stopped along the river to take some photos of the Cincinnati skyline at night. Sadly it was really cold and I had a hard time keeping the camera still enough to get good shots. How sad is that? Well, it was 35F and the wind was blowing pretty good. Standing next to the Ohio River was a bit more than chilly! Here is the best one I came up with:

My sister is leaving for home tomorrow morning. I wish she could stay longer. I have REALLY enjoyed having her here. It's been fun having someone around who likes to do the same silly things that I do. Somehow I just can't see Ap0k spending hours on end in the antique mall.

Since we left for Tampa last week I have been so off my diet. I have managed to gain back four pounds in the last week. Yuck! Starting tomorrow it's back to roasted chicken and steamed vegetables for me!