What have I been doing for nearly a week?

Among other things, I've been cleaning out this blog, deleting old irrelevant posts and (I know some of you will be disappointed) my 60 years in 60 days posts.  I'm working on a more detailed version to be read by my children  - only after my death.

I also changed my profile pic to an updated one. Although dark and a bit blurry, you can see that I haven't given up the long gray hair yet.  I'm beginning to look like an aging entertainer. (Why is it that only country western singers are willing to have long gray hair?)

 One of these days I'll make it into pigtails and really be cool.

Or I'll pin it all up on top of my head and start going to church.

Meme of Odd Questions - Part Three (will this never end?)

Courtesy of Sunday Stealing:

45. Favorite color?

The one I wrote about here.

46. Have you ever slapped someone?
Only in my dreams, but often.



47. Is your hair curly?
Which hair? Where?

48. What was the last CD you bought?
$5000, 60 day term


49. Do looks matter?
No, but when they turn to stares, it gets a bit creepy.

50. Could you ever forgive a cheater?

Never forgive, never forget.

51. Is your phone bill sky high?

The cell phone is sky high. The land line is low.

52. Do you like your life right now?

Well, I'm living it. If I didn't like it, I'd stop.

53. Do you sleep with the TV on?

It's too heavy and a bit warm for summer.

54. Can you handle the truth?

I once got caught handling the truth in the back seat of a car.

55. Do you have good vision?

I just told you this week I am an amblyope. You never listen to me.

56. Do you hate or dislike more than 3 people?

I actually hate 1 or 2, but dislike many more. I'm a loner for a reason.

57. How often do you talk on the phone?

Let's just say I have years of rollover minutes.

58. The last person you held hands with?
Howie Mandel. As a result he won't touch anyone else.


59. What are you wearing?
blue jeans and blue shirt, underwear and my birthday suit

 60. What is your favorite animal?
my monkey


61. Where was your favorite picture taken at?
This is not my favorite picture, but it is my daughters' favorite of me celebrating one of their birthdays a long time ago.

62. Can you hula hoop?
OMG! Now they've gone and made hula hoop a verb.


63. Do you have a job?
Yes, because I can't make a living doing this.


64. What was the most recent thing you bought?
batteries (yes, really)


65. Have you ever crawled through a window?
Yes, and I've stepped through a looking-glass too.
Bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong, bong and bong. 

The Real Thing - repost from January 2008 and update

My husband gave me this book for Christmas. He is an enabler. This is like giving a drug addict a pharmacy reference manual.

I am a Coke addict. If there were a CCA (Coca Cola Anonymous) group, I'd be a lifetime member.

I've tried to quit numerous times, several times for as long as a year, and did it cold turkey during both my pregnancies. But then I'll get an urge for just one sip... and oh, how I love that first burn in the throat!

The one sip satisfies me for that day, but by the next day I'm thinking that one of those mini 8 oz cans wouldn't hurt. It's only 100 calories and it's not nearly as good as a bubbly Coke directly from the soda fountain from the convenience store, so I won't have a craving after I drink the 8 ounces, and I'll just cut back on bread today to balance the additional calories, and my how good that tastes even if it does come from a can.

By the end of two weeks, I am now drinking an 8 oz can with breakfast and a 20 oz cupful from the convenience store for an afternoon jolt. By the end of the month, the daily fix is two 20 oz drinks from the convenience store. Couple of months go by and now its a twice daily fix of 32 oz drinks. But I am proud of myself that I have never stooped to buying one of those 48 oz big guzzlers. OK, the real reason is I sip my Coke and it would taste flat by the time I finished one of those monstrosities. It's all about the carbonic acid, you know.

After approximately 9-12 months and fifteen additional pounds, the entire cycle starts reversing itself. It comes from me being too cheap to buy a whole new wardrobe. So you see, you can gauge where I am on the Coke cycle by the size of my butt.

I blame the addiction on my childhood when super cold 8 oz green bottles of Coke were dispensed in red freezer chest-like coolers. You inserted your money, then dragged the bottle through a metal maze to a large opening where you pulled out the bottle, dripping with condensation, popped the cap on the built-in opener, and took a swig on a hot summer day. There was nothing better than the burn of that first sip.

Change to Diet Coke, you say. My body doesn't tolerate aspartame or any other fake sugar. Besides, Coke prides itself on being The Real Thing. Diet Coke isn't real and I'm a realist by nature.

I have decided that I am allowed at least one vice in my otherwise perfect life and drinking Coke is it. Since I am not a coffee drinker, I reason it is no worse than someone having a latte and doughnut. Therefore as long as my body isn't suffering any ill effects and it hasn't so far, I'm sticking to the bubbly brown burn over ice.

*************

I reposted the above because if I get a bit surly in the coming weeks, it's because I'm on the wagon. The butt gauge has told me it's time to wean off  the brown stuff, and I'm off to self-regulated rehab.

The good news is if I rid myself once and for all of this one vice of mine, I will be totally perfect.

Er... at least.without vices.

The joys of being an amblyope

In my latest meme I mentioned that I was an amblyope and many readers seem fascinated by the fact.  According to wikipedia, only 1-5% of the population has it.  I guess that makes me special.  Amblyopia has nothing to do with Opie Taylor walking down a country road in Mayberry.

My left eye sees things but it's just lazy, and you know when there's work to be done and something is lazy, something else comes in and takes over, i.e. the right eye.

As a child, if I covered my right eye, it seemed as though the images seen with the left eye would get darker and certainly blurry.  I was forced to wear an eye patch when reading or watching TV and it was so annoying it ruined the pleasure.  My family even had to take speech lessons to understand me.  After several years, the problem remained and the patch was thrown away.



It wasn't until I was in mid-life and became good friends with my optometrist, that I learned more about my condition and finally had an explanation about parts of my life.

Now I know why I could never hit a moving target, be it a baseball, tennis ball, badminton birdie - I have no depth perception.  I'm not sure what the excuse is for a stationary golf  ball, but after 2-3 hours of 30 strokes per hole and the ball still sitting on the tee, I gave up on that too.  At least I finally had an excuse for being the last pick in gym class.

So how does one survive without depth perception? It's easy; my brain has adapted.  I do have perspective, so I can tell objects are far away because they are smaller. I've never really known what 3-D looks like. As a result, that explains why I could do well at bowling and archery since I could focus on a distant stationary target.

I can also parallel park, but for me objects are actually farther than they appear to be so there is always plenty of room for maneuvering in the spots I choose. But when I'm a passenger and someone else is parking, I cringe, shut my eyes, and get ready for the inevitable crunch (which never happens) against another vehicle. The parking space always looks too darn small.

I remember a family vacation when I was young where we were all excited about going to see a 3-D movie.  I put on the special glasses and all I could see were red and blue double images that drove me crazy.  I saw the same thing without the glasses.

"Didn't you see that arm reach out of the movie screen and almost touch you?"

"Nope. And I'm getting a headache so get me out of here." Whiners always ruin the fun for others.

What is weird is that I think three dimensionally.  When looking at photographs or blue prints, I can visualize the space and understand the dimension and volume in my mind, more so than most people do. Perhaps it's because two dimensions is my reality.

The only real problem I have with amblyopia is being beaten up all the time.  My left side is always bruised and sore from door jambs and table corners jumping in front of me.

Many amblyopes have misaligned eyes and if I'm really tired and if you look really hard, you'll find my left eye just slightly turned toward my nose.  There is some entertainment value with this condition. If I feel like being goofy, I can get that left eye looking at the bridge of my nose while my right eye looks straight ahead.

Loving the wrong animals

A while back I wrote about the baby skunks my daughter had trapped at her stable/kennel.  Yes, they are stinkin' cute, but they are dangerous pests.

Some animal rights people don't like the idea of trapping wild animals, even in live traps.  Here's exactly why skunks (and also bats)  should be removed away from humans and pets. Five family members are taking rabies shots and their dog in quarantine for 6 months. I wrote about my experience with bats here.


Just recently there was a bit of an uproar in a neighboring community about rubber traps being set for coyotes that were roaming in a city park.  Someone didn't like the rubber traps because the coyote appeared to be in pain.  Apparently that person does not know that coyotes are predators and will feast on small animals including cats and dogs

Meme of many questions, Part Two

Courtesy of Sunday Stealing:

23. Do you rent movies often?
Netflix has loved me for years.

24. Is there anything sparkly in the room you're in?
No. I'm not attracted to sparkly things so you can keep the diamonds. Now chocolate is a different matter.

25. How many countries have you visited?
5 but who's counting?

26. Have you made a prank phone call?
No. I have better things to do.

27. Ever been on a train?

No, but I have been in a train.  I'm afraid I wouldn't see the tunnel coming if I were on the train or I might have to wrestle some outlaw and risk dangling precariously over the edge.

28. Brown or white eggs?

I prefer blue robin eggs, but it takes so darn many to make a omelet.

29. Do you have a cell-phone?
No, and I don't have Internet access, TV, radio, car, refrigerator, stove, toilet, or any other modern device that would make my life easy. Life should be full of isolation and hardship.

30. Do you use Chap Stick?
My chaps stick without any assistance.

31. Do you own a gun?
Go ahead, make my day and you'll find out.

32. Can you use chop sticks?
Not very well, but I can play chop sticks on the piano

33. Who are you going to be with tonight?
A fat cat
34. Are you too forgiving?
Nope, and I never forget either.

35. Ever been in love?
Many, many, times, but I'll never fall in love again.

36. What is your best friend(s) doing tomorrow (or the next soonest week day)?

sipping a cold beer after a long hot day of work

37. Ever have cream puffs?
Not recently, but yes, and I make them myself.

38. Last time you cried?
When I spilled the milk this morning.

39. What was the last question you asked?
Why?

40. Favorite time of the year?
Autumn.

41. Do you have any tattoos?
My body is not an art gallery.

42. Are you sarcastic?
Hardly never.

43. Have you ever seen The Butterfly Effect?
Yes, and don't ask me to name all the other movies I've seen because I don't want to sit here all day.

44. Ever walked into a wall?
I'm an amblyope, so I not only walk into walls, I also bounce off them.

The old guys can still do it

Ides of March first recorded "Vehicle" in 1970 and they can still crank it out. Perhaps even better. Jim Peterik still has an amazing voice. I was fortunate enough to see them many times in person at various clubs back in the old days.  I'm a bit partial to the brass sounds put out by them and fellow group Chicago.