NaBloWriMo #11~~I Used My New Toy Today!~~

I came home t'other day and my brand new lawnmower was sitting for me on my front steps, lurking hunched between my two foo dogs.
Here it is again. Isn't it a beauty?!


I put it together in 20 minutes after reading the instructions. Guys don't do that, ya know...That was including losing a screw in a pile of leaves...pfft.

I even tried it this morning...the grass was really wet because it had rained for 5 freakin' days straight. So I didn't do a great job. It was just a shake down tour...

I'm not keen on the bag thing...it doesn't hold a lot and it kept coming off the spindles. I think I'd rather just rake when I'm done.

I took a break did inside stuff, then sat out with Obelisk. I finished the front yard after supper.
DS came to the door and is like "You hafta go over the same spot more than once? I hate this thing already."
Well, fuck you kid! It's MY toy. Go play with the gas one and let my have my old fashioned one...

I was almost done when DH comes to the door. "I think you should stop now..." I had a small patch left to do...but I was enjoying myself!! I LOVE to do outside stuff!

But my new toy worked fine. Obelisk is unamused with the interloper in her domain...but what can ya do?

NaBloWriMo #10~~Time to Change the Air in my Head~~

I completely forgot to blog yesterday. I wound up cleaning in the kitchen a bit...I found lids to 3 pans that I had been missing Yays!

I had been wondering where they had gotten off to! I can honestly say that I am NOT Suzy freakin homemaker. I don't belong on Hoarders though, or some OCD programme where they have their canned goods alphabetized. I'm somewhere in the middle.

Hoarding is classified as an anxiety and panic disorder by the Canadian Mental Health Association, but will be named an official mental disorder in the newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 

There are 'clean' hoarders, who become obsessively collect things like books or newspapers and the other type which are the ones who make the news...
In recent years, psychiatrists had suggested they have a specific type of OCD, but hoarding may be moved to it's own class of psychiatric ills. 
A researcher at Yale gave brain MRI's to hoarders and seems to be leaning towards that new classification.
Hoarding is defined as “the excessive acquisition of and inability to discard objects, resulting in debilitating clutter,” Hoarders don't have to LIKE their stuff, they just don't want to make a bad decision and chuck something that might be useful...which is why they're drowning in STUFF.


I actually HAD an OCD compulsion in my teens...the counting thing...ugh. I dunno whether I "outgrew" it or it fell by the wayside as I was led astray by alcoholism instead...Sorta one bad habit for another, savvy?

My newest "obsessions" are Beads, Fabric, Markers, Coloured Pencils, and Crayons. But that's to be expected cuz I'm a crafter.  And I USE these things.
I get pissy when my DS uses my markers and doesn't put them back into Colour Order, starting with Red, going through the Rainbow and ending at Black, Grey, White, then the Metallics.

I can honestly say that I am a book hoarder too...but it's a good one...It keeps me out of the petshops, adopting fish...Unlike my best friend who has a Betta obsession. I think she's got 5 or 6 now.


I think I've used this picture before...hmmm.  That's okay...it still fits. I have 5 bookcases and stacks next to a couple of them...I AM a voracious reader though. When I'm finished with one, it goes into one of 3 piles. Keep it, give to my sister or give back to the library for their book sale.  

The good thing about Ebooks is that they sure don't take up much room on the night stand even when you have 20+ on your Nooks. ;)

NaBloWriMo #9 ~~Fall~~

I really LOVE fall. The leaves are changing to fiery bright colours, and we don't have the heat and humidity of the summer. You can wear a light jacket or a sweatshirt in the morning and take it off in the afternoon.

I have TONNES of Sparrows, Doves, and BlueJays hanging out at my feeders. I even have a Carolina Wren who ratchets his/her displeasure when I come out.

This is Obelisk the Tormentor and Miss MoneyPenny way back in '07.  Obelisk is the one in the front. The funny thing is was that Penny was so small that she could get lost in a big pile of leaves and you'd see a little head pop up like a periscope.  It was too funny.

This is Pond Meadow Park. Where I love to hang out and walk. I even got hubby walking there after his hip replacement.

These were taken last fall, because I was going into have open heart surgery in November. Originally it was sposta be in October, but they hadta push it back because the doctor had some other patients that got put in ahead of me. We they WERE kids and it WAS at Childrens...I asked for Samhain. I thought that was pretty fitting, but he was off that day. pfft.

There's deer there, chipmunks galore, snapping turtles from Woolworth's size to Gamera size, squirrels both red and grey.I haven't seen any garter snakes in a while, but I DID see a Northern Water Snake this past year.

She was hanging out in Great Meadow. One time I saw her feeding her fawn. It's wonderful to see them up close. Except when they're coming after you, but that's okay too. We've had em in our yard too because our street backs up to the Park.

I hope that one year before I go I get an antler, even a piece of one. I got coyote fur this spring. Looked like there was a difference of opinion.

My wonderful DH got me a wicked pissah gift this past week: A Troybilt Push Mower...that's right. One of them old bastages that you hafta do all the work with. I used to mow my lawn down the beach with one growing up.  Ours was yellow and white and green with no bag so you hadta rake after you were done. This one has a bag and levels!


I can't wait to use it! My front lawn needs to be mowed this week and the back one too...

NaBloWriMo #8~~Columbus Day?! Come on!!!

Since I didn't know any better in school, it was considered a very good thing because he "discovered" the "new world" and brought civilization to the savages...

Umm..really?I had always heard of Columbus:

IN 1492
"In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

He had three ships and left from Spain;
He sailed through sunshine, wind and rain.

He sailed by night; he sailed by day;
He used the stars to find his way.

A compass also helped him know
How to find the way to go.

Ninety sailors were on board;
Some men worked while others snored.

Then the workers went to sleep;
And others watched the ocean deep.

Day after day they looked for land;
They dreamed of trees and rocks and sand.

October 12 their dream came true,
You never saw a happier crew!

"Indians!  Indians!"  Columbus cried;
His heart was filled with joyful pride.

But "India" the land was not;
It was the Bahamas, and it was hot.

The Arakawa natives were very nice;
They gave the sailors food and spice.

Columbus sailed on to find some gold
To bring back home, as he'd been told.

He made the trip again and again,
Trading gold to bring to Spain.

The first American?  No, not quite.
But Columbus was brave, and he was bright."

Oh boy is there tonnes of shite in this!!!
He wasn't looking for India though. It was Japan! Just a bit off...dontcha think?

The "Indians" were Arawak not Arakawa. AND it was a catch all term for the ones that were amenable to the Spaniards. Caribs were war-like cannibals that didn't agree or wanna have anything to do with the Spanish. Isabella said that only if the people were better off being slaves, they could be taken as slaves. If they were labelled Cannibals, the land grab and massacre were a given.

A look out first saw land, not Columbus, even though he said that he had seen it the previous night and didn't want to get anyone's hopes up in case he was wrong...Columbus got the lifelong pension for being the first person to spy the "New World." Rodrigo de Triana, the guy who actually DID got squat! No credit, no nothing.  Part of that might have been because he was Morisco, a Muslim that converted to Christianity so they wouldn't get the old heave ho from Spain and Portugal.

He didn't trade ANYTHING, but stole some dozen or so natives to show off to Ferdinand and Isabella. Only about half of them made it.

Brave. Nope. Cocky bastard maybe.
Bright. Deffo not. He had steel swords while the natives had stone or shell knives and daggers. I won't even discuss black powder weapons.



Who are REALLY the savages??



As for the pompous twit that thought he DISCOVERED the "New World". Well, lotsa folks got there ahead of him...
"America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up." 
Oscar Wilde

Folks crossed from Asia over the Bering Land Bridge, tens of thousands of years ago. And there were already Aboriginal Tribes living on both sides of the Strait. The Yupik people of Russia and Alaska had several migrations back and forth 3,000 years ago.

The Vikings came over around the year 1,000. Leif Erickson wrote about his adventures in Vineland(Newfoundland), which was just a hop, skip and a jump from Greenland.  Then there's the Kensingston Rune Stone found 1898, in Minnesota which was dated to 1362. Along with the Newport Tower in Rhode Island,and the Dighton Writing Rock in Berkeley, Massachusetts.

There's St Brendan the Navigator who took a few brothers on a ship with him for 7 years on a voyage to find Eden or Paradise about 530 CE.  But in 1976, a bunch of intrepid gents set out from Brandon Creek on the West Coast of Ireland in a leather curragh. They DID make it, so it IS possible, but no definitive proof like at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland.

To really and truly, fuck with peoples heads, look at the Olmec sculptures...


Whom does HE look like??? Looks rather African to me and to a bunch of other folks...

There's an author called Frank Joseph that edits a magazine called Ancient American which explains some of these hypotheses.

This "holiday" was named "Columbus Day" to garner votes for FDR from the Italian Americans in 1937, not just to commemorate this day of infamy.  

I've heard it now called "Indigenous Peoples' Day" I sure like that better. Especially since I fell in with a crowd of NA buddies. Most are Cherokee, but there's Creek,  Blackfeet, Ojibwe, Apache and a couple of others who make up the Etsy Native Forum Team. 

I've also heard that some folks want to name today, National Explorers Day, which would include Space, the Arctic, the Antarctic, the Oceans, inside the Earth, and the Moon and Mars. I think this is the best of them all...

NaBloWriMo #7~~I think I'm gonna go with #12~~

What trend(s) in pop culture turns you off?  (I think things like this are AWESOME in list form.)  

1) Bikinis for little kids Really? Why? Great for the kiddy porn industry but for the rest of us...not so much.


2) Wandering all over the bloody place with your coffee. Can't you make this at home and sit like a human being?  I don't want coffee all over myself or my things. (Yeah, I've ranted about this already)

3) Cellphones attached to your face. Ugh. (See above)

4) Wearing your nightclothes outside. When did THIS become okay? Unless your dog/chicken/fish has escaped or you are chasing the rubbish truck, put some freakin CLOTHES on!


5) Twilight. Ugh...Obelisk writes better and I'm pretty sure chickens are illiterate. 

6) 50 Shades of Grey See above

7) Rap Music 99% of it is shite. I like Kid Rock, who's sorta rap and Coolio's Gangsta Paradise. 

8) Reality shows. How much of THIS CRAP is unscripted?.Prolly hardly any...in the real world most of us are crashing bores. Noone except for anthropologists would pay to watch us otherwise.

9) Clothing for kids The boys can look like hoodlums and the girls like streetwalkers...c'mon! 

10) Wearing clothes just because they're "in." Why why why?! Dear Gods, why?!!! 
Skinny jeans - no thanks, I'd look like a sausage. 
Tube tops - last time I wore one, I had no chest...
Thong underwear - I wore them when I was 70 pounds lighter and you couldn't see them because I didn't show them off.
Wearing clothes that maybe fit you 70 pounds ago...
Thank you people of Walmart for these do's and don'ts





That my dear readers is exactly why you wear what you're comfortable in, that fits and makes you feel wearing...

NaBloWriMo #6~~PC Is Getting Ridiculous!

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NaBloWriMo #5~~Employment or lack thereof~~

I have a job or well I DID until I went out almost a year ago to have a valve replaced in my heart and a stent too...
I came through that pretty well even though having your giblets rummaged through then being put back together with superglue is sorta creepy. I really don't care if it makes for a nicer scar, since I heal keloid anyways...that nice lumpy, humpy stuff. I even healed keloid from my episiotomy, which caused great joy in mudville...KWIM?



My first two are from throat to 6 inches away from belly button...The newest is a tiny bit smaller (rolls eyes)
But on with the show...

After recovering, I went through 12 weeks of Cardiac Rehab. I brought down the age of the room...I was the youngest one there...But I was the life of the party, which is hard to do at 7:30 in the morning.

So I got back into shape, was released from Rehab, then emailed the surgeon to give him the joyful news.  In between DH had his right hip replaced...groovy...but he came that through well, thank the Gods.

I'm raring to go and I haven't heard anything. When I had an appt with my surgeon, he asked if I was back to work and I said no. So he emailed the company. I wound up calling the HR #. First time I was on hold for 15 minutes with nary a person on the other end. Next I didn't get through for 4 freakin DAYS!! I thought it was my house phone, so I tried the cell and got the same thing. Next was faxing...It was then August.  I finally got ahold of someone and the lovely young man at the call centre in India told me that they had never gotten the freakin fax!!!ugh.


More email to the surgeon. He's leaving on a trip to Alaska. Come to find out, that's where our regional mgr is going too...hmm...too bad I didn't know that ahead of time...


In September I called work again. The assistant was like "Don't call us, we'll call you..." I visited and actually got to see the manager and I asked straight out, "Do I have a job or do you not want me back?" I mean for fucksakes! I've been doing everything except hopping the closest broom to freakin Delhi or Mumbay or even  San Diego..

My manager wasn't in today. So joy oh joy, I got the assistant. She was like "Oh you haven't gotten a call yet? We've been faxing and emailing.." Ya know what? This is getting fucking tedious. "We'll let you know if we hear anything...

I won't hold my fucking breath...

Every time I go in, the people are like "Are you ever coming back?"  I can't even say...

I put in an application at Barnes and Noble in September. I went in today. The tool I got when I asked if they had reviewed apps yet said that if I hadn't been called yet, I "wasn't a good fit." Dude I prolly have read MORE fucking books than are in your whole freaking store! And some not in English too...
This is basically my house:


I've run bookfairs, done special events at an educational toy store, and you don't think I'd be a good fit...pfft.
My Vietnamese might be bastardized from the Rogue Warrior, but it's certainly apropos:
"Du Mhan Yhu" Go fuck yourself...Mr Barnes and Noble tool...

In addition my DS has applied and applied and applied yet again to a mall store.



He's waiting for a callback tomorrow to see if he gets an interview with a fish higher up the food chain. I sincerely hope so. Cuz he's driving me absolutely round the bend!