BlogFodder, Etc

== BlogFodder ==

11 objects in your immediate vicinity.

Oh oh - caught me at work and doing blogging.

In my office:
1 desk
2 computer
3 printer
4 in box, empty (that's why I'm blogging)
5 out box, full
6 calculator
7 CDs for backup
8 telephone
9 clock
10 chair
11 pens

Outside my window:
1 2 story building
2 parking lot
3 10 cars
4 tree
5 fence
6 apartments across street
7 hills
8 telephone pool
9 squirrel
10 green awnings next door
11 bank on corner

All this blog fodder seems to lead me to one thing - lists. Not so much creative writing as I should be doing, but it does trigger my awareness. Who knows what it will lead to.

On my Alphasmart I am working on memories. Memories that should not be written here. Memories that might be a book someday. Just because everyone says I should be doing that.

Currently reading Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer. If she can get published, I think I should be able. Not to say she's not a good writer, but to say that I think I can do that.

No big breaks for new authors on Oprah. Not a chance. Current bookclub classic choice is Steinbecks "East of Eden." I never read it. Maybe I should. A newspaper article this morning pointed out that the book could reach the best seller list even though it is 50 years old. Does anyone go to the library these days? How about garage sales, second hand bookstores? There must be thousands of copies out there already.

Wednesday Wonder

This week's Wednesday Wonder is up. Oh well, I never do things on time lately so here is last weekss WW. I choose to do one "I am not" for each letter, kind of like unconscious mutterings in that I am writing the first thing that comes to mind...

an athiest
beligerant
Cinderella
desperate
eating coconut ever
fasting
grandios
having an affair
in denial
just a housewife
knitting this week
likely to vanish
much into romance
needy
often late
planning a trip
queer
rested
senile
trendy
unhappy
very enthusiastic
well to do
xrayed lately
yelling
zaftig

Unconscious Mutterings and other stuff

1. Arbitrary:: decision
   
2. Sweatshop :: clothes
   
3. Cotton ball:: tail
   
4. Intimate:: notes
   
5. Forgotten:: territory
   
6. Photography:: ham
   
7. Secretary:: Mr. Stiles
   
8. Stadium:: cheers
   
9. Purpose:: reason
   
10. Shoe box:: tax returns
    

And other stuff
Hot enough today to toast your toes if you dare walk on the pavement.

Not too tuned in today. Had Baby J all night last night. He was fun, slept good, but I just get too involved with him. Can't take my eyes of him, can just sit and watch him grow for hours. And then when he settles down for a nap, I carry him to the rocking chair, cuddling, sniffing the sweet baby smells, holding his downy head close to my cheek.

At noon I look at my calendar. Oops forgot my physical therapy appointment. Drat I was supposed to get a blood test this morning. Darn I have a doctors appointment at 2pm. This is ME, the one who NEVER forgets an appointment, the one who hasn't needed a calendar since I ended my income tax career. Did I tell you yesterday that I suffer from CRS?

The baby went home. I went to the doctor. Ready to settle in for an afternoon of leisurely writing. But then I remember. Uncle Mac is still in the hospital. He was perhaps going to be transferred today. He wanted me to bring his elastic waist trousers. So I go to his apartment, can't find the pants. I go to the hospital, the nurse greets me at the door and says "you must wear a mask to see him, he's contagious." Find out he won't be transferred for at least 3 more days. He insists the pants are in his closet. I must look again.

Too hot to cook. All I can think of is ice tea. Not that I want to go home and make it. Why not just go to Marie Calanders, have a salad, load up on ice tea. I'm going to regret this one. Caffeine to keep me awake so I will remember to get up for the bathroom 4 times.

So now I sit back to relax, get some writing done. I'm home alone, the luxury of "Me time". The phone rings. It's a fax. I must prepare payroll for one of my clients. Oh well, I tried to write today.

CRS

I suffer from CRS. I think I talked about that before. So it seems I will not be responsible if I repeat things in my blog... did you think I was actually going to go back and read all this stuff after I write it to make sure I'm not repeating? Are you crazy? Once is enough... probably more than enough.

What I am getting to is, today I had another one of those CRS moments. One of my Red Hat companions asked me if I knew what a "Currant" is (appropriate question during an afternoon tea I guess). The funny thing is, someone asked me that some question a couple of weeks ago, I think at the picnic. But the worse thing is, she knew what a Currant is and she told me and I forgot what she said. So I had to go look it up and this is what I found: Dried currants are not the same thing as fresh currants. Dried currants are actually small raisins - the dried fruit of the Zante grape, originally from Corinth, Greece. Fresh currants (red, pink, black and white) are the fruits of plants in the gooseberry family, genus Ribes.

I will never again forget again what a currant is. Now what is it that CRS stands for? Currants-Raisins-Sh*t? No that's not it. Oh no, now I'm having a Mentalpause.

Fate

From PowerQuotes
"There are no little events in life, those we think of no consequence may be full of fate, and it is at our own risk if we neglect the acquaintances and opportunities that seem to be casually offered, and of small importance."
- Amelia E. Barr, Author

Questions to Ponder
Have I reviewed the events of yesterday, searching for opportunities?
If so, what am I going to do about those opportunities?
=====================================================================

Yesterdays events:
1 Morning newspaper, obituaries - one of my prior tax clients died
2 Worked 8 hours, usual phone calls, paper shuffling, number crunching
3 Went to post office - all ads
4 Ate all meals at home (3rd day in a row, almost a record)
5 Visited uncle at hospital - he's been there for 2 weeks now
6 Checked my email - same old stuff
7 Caught up on Bottom Line from April through June
8 Did all my PT exercises, getting easier
9 Got phone call from Ortho doc re MRI denial, again
10 Went to bed early - 9:30

Any opportunities in all this?
1 Call person who took over my tax practice and let her know
2 Earned my paycheck
3 Held door open for lady with lots of packages - good deed for day
4 Eating at home saves $$ and is good for diet
5 Cheered up uncle
6 Responded to new RHS member
7 Found article about sale of house that will help sister in law
8 This will cure my back, right?
9 Another chance to express my complaints
10 Got 8 hours sleep - should do this every night

Conclusion:
These are all little events, daily little events. While perhaps not of consequence in one day, repeated daily they will influence fate.

Ironing

Yes, I still do it. I buy wash and wear clothes, the ones with the tags that claim the article is “wrinkle free.” That is “wrinkle free” until the article is washed. It’s kind of like the “water repellant” raincoats that work good until it rains.

Anyway, I wash these clothes in the permanent press cycle, warm water wash, cold water rinse. I shake them out when moving them between washer and dryer. The clothes are dried on the permanent press setting, warm heat with ten minute cool down and removed promptly the sound of the buzzer. I shake them and hang them immediately. But the clothes look like they were run over by a truck.

Wrinkle relaxer spray, hanging the clothes in the bathroom steam, or putting them on those pant-stretching hangers doesn’t work.

So I go to the closet, take out the ironing board, set it up, calm the cats because the screech has them cowering under the sofa. I go back to the closet and take out the steam iron, untangle the long extension cord I must use to reach the center of my living room (the only area in my apartment big enough to set up the ironing board), funnel a cup of purified water through the tiny slot on top of the iron, clean up the spills, plug it in.

As the iron warms, I bring out the wrinkled clothes, sorting them by fabric content. The cats come back just as I smooth out the first pair of pants. One of them jumps up on the board; the other attacks the cord. They run back under the sofa when I give them a quick jet of warning spray.

Three hours later I put the iron on the kitchen counter to cool; the cats investigate and sink their burnt noses in the water bowl. I pull the release hinge on the ironing board; the cats once again take shelter under the sofa.

There are solutions:

Solution One: Go out and buy more wrinkle free clothes (Note, this also resolves the shrink-free problem). Result: the ironing pile grows into a cat pleasing mound of fabric sufficient to hide the ironing board.

Solution Two: Start a trend to wear only wrinkled clothes. You first.

But just think: Before steam irons when we had to sprinkle our clothes and iron them before they mildewed. Then we got spray fabric finisher and spray starch that stuck up our irons and necessitated using iron cleaner once a month. Before that there were ten pound cast irons (Note: these are good for weight lifting) heated in front of the fireplace.


BUMPER STICKER: We're born naked, wet, & hungry. Then things get worse.

Unconscious Mutterings

Oops - missed last week

1. Suspected:: guessed
   
2. Indulgent :: fat
   
3. Advertising:: Sunday
   
4. Represent:: show
   
5. Ethical :: honest
   
6. Witness:: Jehovahs
   
7. Triumph:: sportscar
   
8. Talons:: claws
   
9. Finals:: exits
   
10. Squeak:: squeal
    

Bumper Sticker: My kid was inmate of the month at county jail.

Area Notes: Took a ride with my uncle yesterday and found Marsh Creek Springs. Grandma and Grandpa used to take the kids there in the thirties. It is home to the first swimming pool built in Contra Costa in 1927. The pool was concrete built into the creek. While there were three pools at one time now there is one. Place was destroyed twice by floods from Mt. Diablo in 1957 and 1962. Now it is a rather quaint place for weddings or picnics.

Baby J woke up his dad with loud giggles. Approaching 4 months old and has a gentle personality.

Friday Bits

Bumper Sticker: God wants spiritual fruits not religous nuts

Cat TV: Last night I finally managed to get both Rusty and Minnie in front of the TV so I could show them the "Meow Kitty" show that I taped last Friday. They were not impressed, being more entertained by the sound of the klunky old VCR than the screen. Minnie attacked me with rebellious claws as soon as I tried to lift her up to eye level with the TV. Rusty ran into my bedroom seeking refuge under my bed. It was not until kitty cries of the Meow Mix ad that even an ear twitch was exhibited. So, give me a break. Does anyone have a cat that actually enjoyed that show?

Egadd: This morning I noticed one stray long gray eyebrow hair. Why do the gray ones get so long? Perhaps to make it easier to remove them? I thought only men got long bushy gray eyebrows as they aged.

TGIF: I've taken to wearing jeans to work on Friday...can't get more casual than that. No one seems to notice anyway.

Birds: Now that we no longer have a bird feeder, a California Jay perches on the empty hook each morning just to tease the cats. Nature's TV is so much more entertaining than "Meow Kitty"

Weather: Cool relief from heat wave. Looks like comfortable weekend.

Prayers: Uncle Mac is still in hospital and not doing well.

Alphasmart

I finally figured it out. I won't keep up a handwritten journal. It just doesn't work for me. These days I put a notebook of lined paper in front of me and I just stare at it. For a while I was doing good. I sat down every evening with the notebook and wrote anything that came to mind. Then I got bored with it. The notebook wasn't where I was. I got too lazy to get up and get it. No, the truth is, I stopped when my husband moved in with me cause I felt like I needed to hide the notebook and it was too much trouble to dig it out.

I stopped writing my journal on my computer because I get distracted. I sign on to the internet, spend hours reading other blogs and putting an entry in here and there. But it's not the same. I'm not writing what I need to write which is a brain dump of trash. To get it out of my system.

So I think I have the solution. I got a Dana Alphasmart. It arrived at the post office on Monday. I love new toys and this one looks like it will do the trick. I'm going to write again, no excuses. The Dana is portable (only 2 pounds), holds tons of text, runs 25 hours between battery charges, and I can sync it with the computer. It has password protection so no one will need to know what I dump in there. Much better than lugging around the old laptop; I can toss it in my backpack and hardly know it's there.

But then again, I own lots of Palm Pilot software and I can load it all on the Dana. No, better not, the object is to get away from the distractions!

June

Opened up my email today to discover the June Writer's Digest prompts. Seems I didn't do any of the May writing prompts. Ah well another month, another chance.

I will be the one relaxing, drinking cool soothing beverages and alternately placing my feet on the foot massage vibrator and atop soft downy pillows. Yesterday I played Queen Hostess for our RHS Picnic. I think I've earned a pampering day.