cue the crickets

Raise your hand if you love cleaning the fridge?

Not cleaning out old food. Cleaning the actual insides.

Nothing will make you feel more slovenly.

Ugh.

So apparently, we don't have as much clout as we thought! Condi marched over to the Middle East thinking what she had to say was actually going to stick. Of course she was urged on by a host of fat white guys that have filled her head with illusions of grandeur. Looks like her head is hurting a bit here. "Anyone got a Tylenol...Advil...Scotch...a gun?"

Since we weren't "greeted as liberators" here either, we've now gotten the bright idea to go along with the whole silly cease fire thing.

Here's a fun game: Write your own caption for this photo! There are zillions of possibilities! Leave me a comment!

It's Official...

 

hurdle/deadline #1

We made it to the first deadline in the process of listing our house for sale. Watson is listing the house ASAP. Let me tell you that it came with a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, more sweat--ok a lot of sweat, and Biofreeze.

It's now official. Tuesday afternoon began the days of living in a dollhouse/model home. The rules have been thrown down as such:

• everything must be put away upon arrival into house
• no current resident is allowed to eat, drink, sleep, sneeze, shake off, clean themselves or each other, play, live or breathe until the house is sold
• no clutter (refer the bullet #1)
• mow and manicure lawn daily if not more

Lord this has been stressful. We both took turns having mental breakdowns since last Friday. We have both had dreams about various crazy happenings with the house. Proof that I am stressed came in the form of #1 I haven't been able to sleep well #2 started my period a week and half early! OK, it's on now! When the menses get affected IT IS ON!

I don't have time to go to work either. I need to obsessively stand around and dust and vacuum like a Stepford Wife.

Many of you know of our not-so-new obsession to stop taking plastic bags at retail locations. We have purchased our own reusable bags for groceries and whatnots so as to lessen the impact of plastic bags on the environment. *BTW it takes 1000 years for one measly Wal Mart bag to break down.* It's a good thought to try to reuse them once you get them, but the fact remains:

When you are done with them, where do they go?

I digress.

So, I am at Home Depot this weekend, one of a zillion trips, and I am doing the self-check out line which invariably ends up setting off the security alarms when I leave. This time was no different. So I unload my carefully stacked arm in order to show my receipt. The clerk attempts to get me to take a bag, and I refuse. After watching me re-stack my arm, she says quietly, "You know, it is going to take more than just you." Knowing she was talking about my efforts and not the amount of stuff I had to carry, I looked up at her, smiled and said, "I know, but I'm responsible for me." Then she just said a sincere "Thank You".

I will have to say that I was feeling particularly proud of myself. I left Homo Depot bagless, I stood up for a bag-free commerce exchange, and hopefully made someone think.
Get your bags at Reusable Bags. Very handy, strong and safe. Get off your wallet and buy a few every now and then. Before you know it, you have enough for any shopping venture. They even offer quantity discounts now and a variety of colors for you fashion mavens.

It's a bird! It's a plane! Wait--it's a bird?

Anyone want to venture a guess as to what type of bird left this beauty on the hood of my car?

I'm going with pterodactyl!

Just in case any of you thought, "She's not really serious about this election thing, is she?"

Uh, yeah. Oh! BTW I found this on 13th Street at the building next to Lloyd Clark's!

I almost wrecked!

Still thinking that global warming is a myth? Still think that we are just in a little warm trend that is naturally occurring?

*FYI* It was 87 this morning in New York City...at 7:30 am.

Maybe you should get out of the heat today and go see "An Inconvenient Truth". Eight bucks for two hours of air conditioning from our no big deal heat wave. You'll find a new respect for Al Gore and open your mind to the blinding truth in front of us. Go on.

Saint George

Get a load of the saintly leader of the Conservative Christian Right. What a sweet, humble, smart, pure, respectful, full-of-shit guy is he.

So I have been faithfully going to my acupuncture treatments over the last few weeks. This week was #8. She wants me to finish the series of ten, and then if need be, we will change the approach. Frankly, I think I've stumped the doctor. She says most people respond quickly, like within the first couple of visits. I did have a reduction in the itching after the 1st and the 7th, and although I am itchy right now, it feels like it will be manageable today.

This whole thing continues to be very puzzling, frustrating, scary, interesting, expensive,and altogether makes you say "Really? Still itching?"

I do have a shred of hope left, however. Tuesday's session began with the doctor stating that she was going to approach a bit different. She placed all of the regular needles and included both ears this time as well. YIKES! Very tender! Here's were "interesting" gets even more so.
As she placed the next to last needle in my forearm/wrist area, I immediately began to cry. Not just tearing up, but lump-in-throat-can't-talk-for-fear-of-inaudible-sounds-coming-out-crying!
weird right? I found it very strange and not fun.
As most fo you know, I am a bit of a control freak, and I had ZERO control of this. I don't know if it was that I finally hit my pain/discomfort threshold, stress, anxiety, the fact that I had a mounting headache, our obsession/anxiety over whether to buy a new house or not, the fact that I rarely cry anymore because I have no reason, or Freud's explanation: latent anger and unresolved issues with...dum dum dummmm...my mother. Geez... her again.

Who knows. We'll see if it happens again next week. Until then, picture me on the table, knees slightly bent, 24 acupuncture needles in place, me silently crying/freaking out on the table, and the doctor wiping my tears because with the needles in I am virtually paralyzed!
Okay...have a nice day!

Renew my subscription for voting rights please!

The House voted to renew/extend the Voting Rights Act for another 25 years yesterday.

Okay...Am I the only one that this sounds funny to? I thought our RIGHTS were written into the Constitution. It sounds odd doesn't it? "Yes, I'd like to renew my subscription to be treated like a living being in this free country to which I was born. I'd also like to inquire about any Early Bird specials that may apply."

Then I remembered that we had to actually pass an act to insure that ALL people get to vote and that no one is turned away at the polls dues to skin color. Boy, isn't this a harsh remind of our shameful past. I say past like it doesn't happen anymore, but then I look at the voting record and see that 33 votes were cast against this extension.

So does this renewal mean that during the next presidential election, black voters can't/shouldn't be disenfranchised? Tsk...silly me...that would mean that our elected officials would actually abide by the laws they pass.

Pet Peeve # 5,143,051

How smart is it for employees of a business to park their personal vehicles smack dab in the front of the entrance to the building? Clearly it is a case of the owner/manager of the business not thinking ahead to the fact that the clients you so desire to have access to/get money from need to be able to park conveniently and quickly.

Apparently it is more important to let your lazy-chain-smoking-employee's shuffle in the very front of the building with as little effort as possible. Nevermind the fact that now your lack of parking spaces for your clients starts to eat away at the parking spaces for your tenant's patients.

Convenient truth

How interesting that Bob Novak decides to open his fat mouth now!

Where were you when it was important and informative to have your input? Oh yeah...with your head up the administration's ass!

Soaring...Did he say soaring?

Well, our Dumbass in Chief gave a speech yesterday heralding his handiwork at reducing the deficit. Of course, it is all due to the zillions of tax cuts given to the ultra-rich. He is still trying to peddle this logic.

"These tax cuts left nearly $1.1 trillion in the hands of American workers and families and small business owners. And they used this money to help fuel an economic resurgence that's now in its 18th quarter," Bush said. "Economic growth fueled by tax relief has sent our tax revenues soaring."

He conveniently forgot to mention that the long term effects are extremely bleak, and the paltry reduction (relatively speaking) to $296 billion, although a seemingly huge success in comparison to the inflated prediction of $423 billion, is still an embarrassment when you think of the surplus left to this spoiled little 60-year-old frat boy.

Leave it to Tony Snow, Bush's puppet du jour, to find a twisted logic to explain away the red ink in the budget.
"Snow said the Clinton surplus was inflated by a stock-price bubble and that Bush will be remembered for cutting the gap from a record $412 billion in the 2004 fiscal year."
Oh my Lord these people are stupid. What's worse is that they know at least a portion of us is too stupid to read between the lines and figure out this gobbledey-goop. Yeah, I said it.
So we are supposed to praise Bush for miraculously cutting the record breaking deficit HE created?! Okay...

March on lemmings...march on!

**I've been saving this draft for a few weeks, trying to tweak it for whatever reason. I think I'm hesitant to expose my league of followers to this evil being. These signs make me sick and mad. Judy Shepherd must feel horrible when she sees this idiot use Matthew's picture. I do.
So this draft is a bit old, but nonetheless timely. It's always the right time to speak up against bigotry and hate.**
_______________________________

Notice how quickly Bush jumps on this atrocity when it involves boosting his sagging poll numbers. Everyone thinks that this bill is long overdue when they hear that a crazy pastor and his equally crazy church in Kansas is protesting at funerals of war dead.

Even crazier is the fact that this bunch of loons has somehow managed to correlate these war dead with God's disdain for the homosexual lifestyle and America's tolerance for gays.
I agree completely that this is pathetic, disgusting, despicable, and really reaching to make a point. What I don't agree with is that it took officials this long to put a stop to protesting at funerals. This isn't Westboro Baptist Church's first attempt to garner the spotlight with outlandish behavior. Ever see the signs in this post? Wonder where they originated?
This group of "Christians" protested at Matthew Shepherd's funeral and then went on to stage protests at many AIDS victims funerals. Absolutely disgusting and the complete opposite of Christ, but that doesn't warrant any special legislation.

Seeing as we just had Memorial Day, Bush probably figured it was a good time to score some points with those parents who are trying to bury their children. That, and the fact that he already had an ax to grind with this guy. tsk tsk...Leave the Holy First Lady out of this...

keep these names in mind

Mid-term elections are virtually just around the corner. The following list of senators, along with John Kerry and Russ Feingold, had the guts and selflessness to vote correctly for a plan of troop withdrawal:

Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI)

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), co-sponsor

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL)

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA)

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-HI)

Sen. James Jeffords (I-VT)

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA)

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), co-sponsor

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ)

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR)

Yes, there are only 13 votes for this plan. Yes, we have more Senators available to vote. One of two things happened to explain why all Democrats aren't on this list. Either #1 they didn't care enough to show up and vote, or #2 it wasn't in their best political interest to show up and vote along party lines. Either way, I'm ashamed.

MESSAGE SENT TO OUR TROOPS:

Losing votes is more important than you losing your life.

It feels like I haven't posted in a long time. Busy busy.
We went to Charlotte two weekends ago for my nephew's 8th Grade graduation party. Had a really fun time actually. Very tired and worn out from the whirlwind travel and all of the hype that goes with visiting family. All good though.

As is the case since last October, I am still preoccupied with my incessant itching. I can't seem to find an answer or remedy. I had to resort to Allegra finally to give me some relief in the last two weeks, although it really doesn't help a tremendous amount. It has been quite a journey with very little revelation as to why I am plagued with this continual need to scratch. It has been a great lesson in patience and willpower. Not to mention eye opening in regards to the evils of Prednisone.

My latest attempt at solution is acupuncture. I went Tuesday for my first visit. Interesting. More interesting was the fact that I had no itching while the needles were in. In fact, I had very little itching for the rest of the day. The next morning I started up again, so I think that is some progress. After the exam and needles, she put pressure point seeds on my ears for me to press a few times a day and used a method called cupping to remove the bad energy from me that was loosened by the needles. Again interesting. I look like I have been attacked by an octopus!
By now I have been through a lot. So far, everything I have don to myself is either able to be hidden by clothing, or thrown down the biohazard chute! Aside from the little seeds on my ears currently, you'd think everything was fine with me. Who knows what is in store for me at today's appointment.
To be continued...

can't take a hint

"Our nation's founders set a high bar for amending our Constitution, and history has shown us that it can take several tries before an amendment builds the two-thirds support it needs in both houses of Congress." ---Bush, that asshole in the White House

So, I guess we haven't heard the last of the Federal Marriage Amendment. Geez! If we can gain some momentum, and seats, this November maybe it will die, for a little while.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not silly enough to think that this will ever be over until these divisive bigots have us figuratively parading down the street with our identifying symbols sewn on our chests, marching to our areas of confinement.

PROOF!

Finally, proof that Faux News viewers are among the odd brand of mammal known as the Lemming.

What is a Lemming you say?

deja vu anyone?

Gays Aren't Good Enough to Marry...again (yawn)