Wrapping Up July

Where has the month gone? Here we are already at the end of July with over half the year gone. As of this writing, I could very well be a grandmother for the 2nd time. The little one is due on the 4th, but could possibly have already made his appearance. Time will tell.

This link to the video Arlington Rap was going around the office this week. It is a riot.

I've been spending some time this evening updating the blog. A whole new look.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought for the Day: "No one can walk backwards into the future." - fortune cookie

What's In A Name?
A psychiatrist was conducting a group therapy session with four young mothers and their small children. "You all have obsessions," he observed.

To the first mother, Mary, he said, "You are obsessed with eating. You've even named your daughter Candy."

He turned to the second Mom, Ann: "Your obsession is with money. Again, it manifests itself in your child's name, Penny."

He turned to the third Mom, Joyce: "Your obsession is alcohol. This too shows itself in your child's name, Brandy."

At this point, the fourth mother, Kathy, quietly got up, took her little boy by the hand, and whispered, "Come on, Dick, this guy has no idea what he's talking about. Let's pick up Peter and Willy from school and go get dinner."

End of the week

Here I was all set to get up and get ready for work this morning, but was hit with a horrible migraine headache. I headed back to bed and figured I just sleep it off, but no such luck. The darn thing hung on virtually all day long. Between naps I had a throbbing head, with an added bonus of a slight temperature. The headache is abating, but the temperature is hanging on. It has made for a bad end to the weekend and even worse start to the weekend

I did discover today that our street must be the expressway for ambulances and fire engines. It seemed like they passed through here on quite frequently.

Walter has been busy getting his truck and the camper ready for a trip to the beach. The wiring harness was giving him a bit of trouble, turned out he had three blown fuses too! That will do it every time.

Happy 4th Anniversary

Happy 4th Anniversary to Danielle & Ben.

May your future be bright and joyous.

Fun Things

1. FaceBook, Twitter Widget on Verzion FIOS cable.
2. Free IQ Font from Toyota The video on the making of the font is very cool!
3. Every have one of those days when you delete something by accident, and are afraid it is gone forever. Don't despair. Try CardRecovery. It is a nifty little program for not a lot of money that can possibly recover those files for you in a jiffy. I've used twice with great success. Recovering a 15 minute long concert video and about a dozen photos.

Odds & Ends

We have had a busy day today at the office. Brian and I have been busily preparing a a new promotional video. As I left the office today, the desktop computer was humming right along rendering our first draft version. Should we be particularly lucky, it will be the final version as well.

Sean checked in with me this evening to let me know that his computer has had to make a trip to the shop. Poor thing he won't get it back to sometime around the first of September. He may suffer from withdrawl over the next few weeks.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought for the Day:

I received this Awesome Stress Relief kit in my email today. After careful review of the instructions, I'm sure that there are going to be days to come that it will come in handy.

Drinking with a Redneck Girl

A Mexican, an Arab, and a redneck girl are in the same bar.When the Mexican finishes his beer,he throws his glass in the air, pulls out his pistol, and shoots the glass to pieces.He says, 'In Mexico , our glasses are so cheap we don't need to drink with the same one twice.'

The Arab, obviously impressed by this, drinks his beer, throws it into the air, pulls out his AK-47, and shoots the glass to pieces. He says, 'In the Arab World, we have so much sand to make glasses that we don't need to drink with the same one twice either.'

The redneck girl, cool as a cucumber, picks up her beer, downs it in one gulp, throws the glass into the air, whips out her 45, and shoots the Mexican and the Arab. Catching her glass, setting it on the bar, and calling for a refill, she says, 'In America we have so many illegal aliens that we don't have to drink with the same ones twice.'

Flat Elvis

I finally made out to see Flat Elvis last night at Taella's Bistro in Midlothian, and I'm glad I did.

They put on a terrific show. Great tunes and showmanship. Can't wait till their next event.

Photos from the event are here: Click Here for Photos

A Change of Attitude

I have been keeping this blog now for over five years, and all that time I have been circumspect in my postings when I've really wanted to blow up and yell. Well, times are a changing. Beginning with this post I am changing my position on this. If you have royally pissed me off, chances are you'll know about it. If life is wonderful you'll know about that too. I may not use actual names, to protect the guilty or just for the sake of being nice, but situations will be real. Everyone has now been officially warned.

Dragonfly Trio

I snapped these fellows hanging out in the front yard around the woodpile. Mom told me that they loved being around freshly cut wood. I even saw a green one out in the yard today, but didn't have the camera handy. Maybe before the weekend is out I'll be able to snap one of him.

Work has been fine and dandy. Last week I had couple of good days working with one of the co-workers (who I don't usually spend that much time working with). It was nice getting together the project. This week I've been working with my usual partner in crime at the office putting together a website redo. It's coming together and looking pretty good. Hopefully it will ready to go live sometime next week.

The first of the week I was overcome with a 'grandmother' moment and purchased books for the granddaughter. Now I've not see this precious child in almost 3 years, not by my choice, but wanted to send something to her. I bought the books and proceeded to debate whether to send them or not. The last time that I sent something to her and her mother (things that I brought back from Italy for them) they were hand delivered by Walter. The resulting phone call from my son-in-law, left me in tears for weeks. So here the books sat and waited....I was mulling over just hanging on to them until Walter happened to be heading their way and just letting him give them to them when he saw them. I was happy with just letting it be this way.

Overnight on Tuesday, our mailbox became a victim of a drive-by. We're not really sure how the post ended up being broken off like it was. It was really strange when I went out for work. The mailbox was in the ditch and someone else's Duck's trash can in the ditch on the other side of the driveway. It appeared that the trashcan had flown out of a truck as it rounded the curve in front of the house. A call to Duck's found that the owner of the can was well aware of it's disappearance and had already reported it missing. Later in the day Walter replaced the mailbox, post and street numbers and Duck's came by to get the can. I'm still scratching my head over how it ended up like it did.

I had a wild hair on Wednesday afternoon and ended up taking Sean out to see the new Harry Potter movie. On the way into the theater we stopped by a Christian bookstore to browse around, at his suggestion, and I found the cutest preloaded mp3 player. Now, I had heard that my daughter was looking for one for the granddaughter to use. So when I saw it I immediately thought of her. It was preloaded with memory verses, Sunday School songs, and a few hymns and I thought that it was a safe purchase for the granddaughter. It too was destine to wait with the books for a future delivery.

The Harry Potter movie by the way turned out to be pretty good. Sean and I had a nice time together and I even gave him a bit of a hard time over all the texting he did with his girlfriend. He's a right speedy typist with his thumbs. It would make me crazy trying to type with my thumbs like that all the time.

Thursday morning I decided that instead of waiting to send the books by Walter, I would take a chance and send it to her by Priority Mail. I sent without a note so there would be no chance that what I said could be misconstrued. I didn't want to cause a big stink, just send a gift to my granddaughter. I wasn't expecting any acknowledgement of the package or any comment. It was just the fact that I had sent something to her.

Friday I received an email response to my package. Well, talk about getting your bubble (the little one that it was) burst. The email was very curt and nasty, telling me in no uncertain terms that they:

• do not need anything from me
• do not want anything from me
• do not want me to contact them
• do not want me to send any packages to them,
• do not want me reaching out to them.

I guess that was all designed to put me in my place. It threw me, but not really. I just wasn't expecting nasty.

Here's the rub. I don't know what I have done/not done that has caused such animosity. My biggest clue was given to me on New Year's Day, "You gave up your right to be a mother a long time ago." Whatever that is suppose to mean. I am clueless. If I had been some sort of monster, it would be understandable, but....

I did a whole lot of bending over backwards to keep others out of trouble. In return, I've been cut off from my daughter and granddaughter, and all future grandchildren at this point. Some day, perhaps they will decide I am not the demon that I apparently am in their eyes.

Enough of that...

As you may know, I've been enrolled in the Graphic Design Masters Certification program at Sessions.edu since about mid-May. I've already completed Basic PhotoShop and Basic Illustrator. I'm currently taking Basic InDesign and Color Theory.

I received the nicest thank you e-card yesterday from one of the doctors I work with in Ohio. I had burned a DVD for him from a video file that he had. Not a large project at all, but the card was an absolute riot and really made my afternoon. I had to share it with just about everyone in the office. Dancing chimpanzees are something to smile about.

Sean sent me this picture of a mushroom that he took while he was out in Powhatan. How bright and colorful. It reminds me of the cartoon Smurf houses. Not bad for a cellphone picture.

Well, I'm done ranting and raving for now. Time to get back to my classwork. This evening I'm heading out Taella's Bistro in Midlothian to see Flat Elvis perform. One of my classmates from high school, is in the band. Should be a fun evening.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought for the Day: Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History! -- Lee Milteer

11 PEOPLE ON A ROPE

Eleven people were hanging on a rope, under a helicopter. 10 men and 1 woman.
The rope was not strong enough to carry them all, so they decided that one had to leave, because otherwise they were all going to fall.
They weren't able to choose that person, until the woman gave a very touching speech.
She said that she would voluntarily let go of the rope, because, as a woman, she was used to giving up everything for her husband and kids or for men in general , and was used to always making sacrifices with little in return.

As soon as she finished her speech, all the men started clapping ....... IDIOTS!

Happy Birthday Walter!

Here it is another year down and Walt's another year older. He's growing up so fast, before I know it he'll be a Marine (if he has his way).

I did manage to get him to hold still this evening long enough to get this picture of him and his new haircut. A little different from the usual.