A Spot of T

Centerpiece of the Month-February

This month's Centerpiece of the Month is something I made myself.  I've wanted something to put on top of my tea cup curio cabinet for ages now but haven't seen anything that's caught my eye.  So when I was in Michael's Craft store the other day and saw all their silk plant items I said to myself "Self.  You can make up one of those centerpiece things.  I mean, how hard could it be.  A monkey could do it right?"  So I did.  I bought all the goodies and came home and made up the arrangement that is now my Centerpiece of the Month.

   

Take a peak over at Janelle's Talk of Tomatoes blog on March 7th for all of the February Centerpiece of the Month participants.  The deadline is today to submit for February, but don't hesitate to pick up that camera of yours and submit a photo by next month's deadline. 

Phone A Friend

I was going to comment on Debbie's post about phone calls, but thought since I had more than two lines to write, it warranted a post of it's own over here.

She wrote she felt a little bummed because she does a lot of the calling when it comes to getting play dates together for her kids and such.

It really had me thinking.  Especially the part about pride.  I never call people.  Never.  Ok, very very rarely.  And I know my hubby and kids read this so they will be nodding their heads up and down in agreement here.....I hate the phone and avoid it with a passion.  Gregg and I will talk on the phone because he's my husband and he's out of town for weeks on end and that's the only way we can have sex....I mean talk about our daily lives and what goes on with the kids.  My oldest daughter has moved out and I will talk to her on the phone, and sometimes it will be long conversations but mostly it's to say what we have to say and then off I get.  Which reminds me, she called and left a message and I have yet to get back to her.  Darn.  I'm just not a phone person and I don't know why.

Maybe it stems from childhood because, you know, doesn't everything.  My earliest recollection of the phone was what they called a party-line.  Yep, three or four different families all on one line.  You could, at any time, pick up the phone and you'd hear Martha Mae on the other line talking about Cindy Lou down the road and what a bag she was.  I would walk in the kitchen sometimes and catch my mother listening in to other people's conversations and remember really thinking bad of her for doing that.  Yes, even as a child I thought a person's privacy was sacred.

Then when the party-lines got taken out and we had our own private line, we were never allowed to really use the phone.  We happened to live 'just' outside the vicinity of where my friends were so the phone calls were long distance and there was no money for any long distance phone bills back then.  So I just never talked on the phone.

When I moved in with my sister she was the one who was always on the phone and when I moved out on my own shortly after that, I didn't have a phone for the first little while because I didn't feel the need for one.

Then I met and married my husband.  A guy who will break his neck running down the stairs looking for the phone because he hears it ringing and HAS to answer it.  You wanna see a normally passive guy come unglued?  Have him run all over the house looking for the phone that's ringing only to discover it sitting on the coffee table you're sitting beside.  He gets cranky when that happens.  I get amused.

So when Debbie wrote that she seemed to be the only one who calls, it kind of made me think.  Is that why a lot of people don't call me anymore?  Because, surely it's not my charming personality they are avoiding right?  Ok kidding.  I'll get emails inviting me out so I know friends still want to visit with me, but very rarely phone calls.  Have I complained about phone calls so much to everyone that they now think they can't call me?  And how funny is that if that's what they're thinking?  I mean, a quick call is nothing.  I can do quick calls.  As a matter of fact, I, me, Joy, have called people on their birthday's, asked them how they're doing, wished them a happy birthday and gotten off the phone in a matter of 2 minutes.  I'm sure they're sitting there thinking "What the hell just happened" but good friends who know me and receive those calls know it's with love.  Just quick happy birthday love.

So for heaven's sake go to the phone today.  Go right now and phone a friend.  Phone a friend who usually does all the phoning and surprise the hell out of them.  Phone Debbie even :o)

Still Working Out Comments

I'm still receiving emails saying you can't comment on my blog and I'm STILL writing to TypePad to see if this can be worked out.  I know it's not just my blog who is having this problem because I've tried commenting on other TypePad blogs and get the same thing.  It's definitely TypePad that's having the problem.

Hang in there people.  I don't get many of you who comment....hint hint to all of you who EMAIL...but I know it's frustrating when you do decide to leave a comment.

To Do's and Toodle-oo

 

It doesn't show it but the list is much longer.  I found this card generator and thought it was cool.  Ok it's not really cool at all but it gave me something to play with at 4:00 in the morning.

My computer is like my house.  Clean and pretty organized on the whole but sometimes I gotta go in and do a real deep cleaning.  I have been getting rid of folders, making up new folders and going through month old emails.  It's feeling a little more organized on here and now that emails are going into the 'right' folders, it sure makes it easier to go through them quickly.

I've got a few more bloggers I want to add to my favorites so will have to find time to add them.  I worry the more I blog the bigger the list will get and the list will take over the entire right side of my blog.  I'm trying to research what I can add that would make all those blogs nice and compact.  I'm sure I'm not making any sense, but "I" know what I want and sometimes it's nice to be in our happy place all by ourselves.

I have photography blogs I visit, cooking blogs I visit and I want them having their own category.  But because I had someone do the design on my blog, I'm horribly terrified a bit scared to go in and try and figure out which codes I need and where to add them to set up those new categories.  I'm going to try though.  I mean what's the worse that can happen right?  Have designer's email address handy.

I also want to learn about RSS Feeds.  She says as she puts on hat that says "Thinking Cap".  I see lots of blogs have them, I think I even have one, but the blog designer added it and I'm not exactly sure what they are.  I know I KNOW, I can't believe I'm admitting it in front of god and the two readers I have, how completely incompetent I am when it comes to most things on this computer.  But I'm pretty sure RSS Feeds will save me a bit of time when it comes to visiting all my favorite blogs so I want to check into it.

I have little toys that have been sitting here forever for a certain 'kitty' that I need to wrap up and get sent out already, and I have snail mails that have been written typed but not sent as well.  Why is it I can get these things done, but I can't complete the full task?  I'll tell you why.  I can't seem to focus on anything lately and when I do manage to get out of the house, I am running on full tilt and forget to stop at a post office or mail box.

I've got pictures to download off my camera, I have an eye appointment and doctor's appointments, I have projects I've been wanting to work on but have had no time for and books piling up to the ceiling in my office I want to get to.  The laundry room is getting full again, the dust is starting to show and the dog needs to be taken in for his annual check-up.  Oh.  And I have three kids who even though one has moved out and two are pretty self sufficient, they still seem to demand take up much of my attention lately.  Will the madness ever end??  Without the need for men in white suits I mean?

The 'Toodle-oo" is for Happy.  I'm sad because Happy has decided to call it quits when it comes to blogging.  He says he may return in the future, but I'm sad at the thought he might not.  Sigh.  Who else is going to do Thankful Thursday Thirteen with me.  There will never be another soul who will be able to fill his 'Nekkids'.  Sniff.  I hate good-byes.

And since I don't believe in ending things on a sad note, I am happy for this blog I visit regularly because she is thrilled to be published and I think she deserves to be so thrilled.  Aren't those bag holders the cutest things you have ever seen?  I always save my bread bags and these holders would be so perfect for smaller bags like that.  It makes me want to learn to crochet.  Ha.  One more thing to add to my 'To Do' list.   

Does this MRI make me look fat?

MRI in medical terms stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging.  In my terms it stands for big stupid inconvenient doody head.

Things I learned in the MRI office......

1. I learned to never sit in the Ultrasound side of the clinic when you are going for an MRI.  Because you will sit there muttering under your breath that everyone runs late nowadays and no one can be bothered to be on time anymore when in fact the MRI side of the clinic is saying the same thing about you because you're now ten minutes late.
2. I learned to never look, talk or say "fine thanks how are you?" back to the scary ruffled gentleman who is talking to himself in the corner.  Because when you do answer him he will come and sit by you and talk much too close for your personal boundry issues you have.
3. I learned to always go for the 'big girl' gown right off the hop.  Beacuse if you don't, when you step outside your dressing room to get a bigger size you just might give the gal sitting out there waiting for her MRI, a free peep show.
4. I learned if two techs and one doctor can't get the stupid IV in your arm, don't get angry with them, it's not their fault your veins suck.  It is their fault if your arm still hurts hours after having the IV taken out though.
5. I learned if the tech says "Do you have any questions?" once you're all tucked in and strapped down on the MRI bed and you say "Just one.  Does this MRI make me look fat?" you will get two techs and one doctor who think you should apply to a comedy club because you're so damn funny. 
6. I learned that the little round black thing on the MRI machine is actually a tiny microphone for the techs to hear what you are saying while you're lying in the MRI bed.  I learned this all on my own about 20 minutes into the test because the tech came on over my headphones laughing at my made up song to Coppa Cabana and asked me to 'sing it again Joy'.    
7. I learned it's not wise to chew bubble gum while having an MRI test because some sick twisted childish side of you will want to blow a bubble with that bubble gum and since your hands are strapped down to the side of your body, you won't be able to get the bubble gum off should fate want it to blow up all over your face.
8. I learned that not only is there a tiny little microphone on the MRI machine but there is also a camera so the techs can see things like bubble gum blowing up in a patient's face. 
9. I learned that techs are really good sports about stopping a test to come take gum off a patient's face.  They'll laugh but they will also confiscate your gum.
10. I learned that even though the headphones they put on you are supposed to keep the incredibly loud noise of the machine down, you still come out with ringing ears and saying things like "Huh?" "Whadya say?" "Excuse me?" for a little more than two hours after the test.
11. I learned that when one of the techs grabs your arm and turns you around to look at her and says "Good luck Joy, we hope everything works out for you." that you take what she said with a grain of salt.  And that perhaps she was wishing you good luck on the lotto ticket you just bought and 'works out' really means 'working out' as in the gym, and not something else.  Because thinking anything else might make one lose sleep and someone who already suffers from insomnia really doesn't need any help in that department.
12. And finally I learned there's nothing better after an MRI test than to take a bit of time for yourself to go antique shopping and then stopping at your favorite coffee shop for a wonderful cup of Hazelnut Latte to really set things straight with the world.

A Beautiful Obituary...Kinda

I was drinking tea when I clicked this and I tell you....I'm dying here.  Not literally.  Thank god.  But if I was dying here the good news is, I will be missed....terribly missed.

Now.....if you'll excuse me I need to go make a pedicure appointment.

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

It's Not A MeMe...It's A YouYou

I will often go to my favourite blogs and if I see a comment I like, I'll follow that person over to their blog.  Borderline stalker I know.

I was at Debbie's blog A Step At A Time and saw a comment from Emma in Canada I liked, so I followed her over to her blog.  I'll be going back to her blog too.  Great blog.

I'll be going back, even though on the particular day I happened to follow her, she had this 'YouYou' up.  I thought it was great, talk about a challenge.  So what the heck right, there's nothing I love more than a good challenge so I sat down and wrote one up too.  It's not as easy as you may think, and if you don't believe me try it.  I got a bit stressed thinking about who to put in and who not too, erased lots because it started sounding too mean.  Good grief.  And kudos to Emma because she also made one up for Bloggers.  I won't be doing that any time soon.  I have to let my butt cheeks unclench from the stress of working on this first list before attempting another one.

The idea is to list something about 50 people you know...or knew.  So read away and who knows, I could be talking about you in my fifty people :o)

1. I caught you stealing money from a coat in the girl's locker room and because I knew how poor you were I told you I'd never tell a soul.
2. You lost a baby when you were 8 1/2 months pregnant.
3. You said you were going to play in the NHL and I heard you did.
4. I caught you picking your nose when I walked into your office without knocking.
5. The first time I played golf with you you got mad because I beat you.
6. You were my best friend in elementary and junior high school but we parted ways in high school. 
7. I think you write the most beautiful poems and I've said so on my blog.
8. You made me so mad I took a knife after you when I was 12 and you were 15.
9. You taught me how to write my last name.
10. I think it's sad you always think I'm talking about you in my blog if I vent about something that ticks me off.
11. I get embarrassed when you treat people so mean.
12. I see right through your fakeness every time you're around me.
13. If someone is in a crisis we can always count on you to turn things around....and make it all about you.
14. The three of us keep talking about a Bloggers Anonymous Meeting.
15. You were my Grade One teacher and you used to give me hugs all the time.
16. You stuck a BB up your nose and when your mom smacked the back of your head for being so dumb, the BB came out.
17. We would get together every couple of weeks and let the kids play while we drank a little wine and had a great visit.
18. You knew I was wasted in typing class and then let me sleep through two more of your classes and never turned me in.
19. I think if we met in person we'd have a great time with lots of laughter.
20. Our parents were so certain you and I were going to marry.
21. I used to like having sleep-overs at your place because I thought you had 'the' perfect family.
22. You and I couldn't walk past each other in high school without fighting.
23. You have the greatest laugh.  When you laugh everyone laughs.
24. We were fighting one time and you scratched me with your freakishly long nails.  I still have the scars too.
25. I knew your husband was cheating on you with the secretary from work.
26. You got me my job out of high school which meant I could move away from home.
27. I thought you were the prissiest thing I had ever seen in my life and always laughed when you said something because you sounded like a smurf.
28. I think what you did to your husband is horrible.
29. I met someone from school years later and they told me you named your first child after me.
30. We used to get together and talk about the books we read.  We always had different opinions but that's what we loved about getting together.
31. The guys used to ask you to dance because they knew you would let them put their hands on your bum.
32. You showed me how to smoke a joint in the high school smoke room.
33. The three of us toilet papered my sister's boyfriends house.
34. You have been a friend of mine since I was 13 and you were 17.
35. You took me to one of 'your' bars and for the first time in my life I knew what it felt like to be labelled as 'different' in this world.
36. It wasn't the person you thought it was who pushed you in the pool at that party....it was me.
37. I put pin holes in your cigarettes one time.
38. You wrote me a nasty note and I showed the entire office because no one believed that you were mean to me.  You sneaky bitch you.
39. You were the first 'Angel' I met and I thought you had the gentlest soul.
40. I used to give you a ride home because you made me laugh and I thought you were a good kid.
41. You told me I could do anything I wanted to because I was too stubborn to fail.
42. I like when you call, which tells you a lot, because I despise talking on the phone.
43. I took the stapler when I quit because you tried to make me feel bad for leaving.  I also took the dictionary.
44. You and I would go into one of the little sound proof rooms in music class and scream and sing our lungs out thinking no one could hear us.
45. Before everyone moved away the five of us would make a commitment to get together every month or two for some 'girl' talk and laughs.
46. When you told me the previous owners of your home were drug dealers I wanted to go into the basement and rip it apart to look for the drug money 'stash'.
47. You wrote me an email saying "You know Joy, I've known you in (Yahoo Group) for probably five years now and thought you were so prim and proper I never really knew what to say to you.  But now that you blog I see you in a totally different light.  I really like you now!"  I thought it was hilarious someone would write that....and then actually send it.
48. I think it's your loss that you only see me as an 'internet' friend.
49. I gave your dog beer when you weren't looking and then he burped in your face and you got mad at me.
50. You said I was more fun before I had kids and now that I did have kids you thought I led a completely boring and unfulfilling life.  I thought you were high on crack for saying something so stupid and we haven't seen each other for 15 years now.

Welcome Home a Hero

"Welcome Home a Hero" Program.  Do we have something like this in Canada?  Because if we don't...we really really should!

Here is the official website on this program.

How Much Have You Changed in 10 Years?

Hmmm very interesting.....and very true.

You've Changed 64% in 10 Years

Compared to who you were ten years ago, you've changed a great deal. In fact, you're probably in a completely different phase of your life - and very happy about it!

How Much Have You Changed in 10 Years?

Comment Hell

Ok lots of emails saying you can't comment.  I get it.  You can't comment.  Do you know what?  "I" can't even comment on my own blog.  I've tried and all I get is my comment in limbo.  Tap tap tap waiting for it to go through, finally get frustrated and just forget it.  Sound familiar?  Well I hear ya, and TypePad hear's me.

I have contacted TypePad and this is what they said:

It's possible that these users may have been affected by recent spam filtering changes that we have made in TypePad. Can you tell us what their IP addresses are? They can find this at www.ipchicken.com.  (Joy's note here:  IP Chicken is pretty cool, I never knew my IP address.  I know I know, I should but I didn't.  But now I do)  Once we receive this information, we will report it so it can be added to our whitelist.

Now.  Am I a complete moron....don't answer that....or is this not making sense.  I mean, how is it possible to know everyone's IP addresses?  I could probably give them the 'regular' commenters IP addresses, but I sometimes have people just stop by for a visit and want to comment.  How am I to know their IP addresses to be able to add them to whatever TypePad wants to add them too?  Wouldn't they have to comment first for me to know their address?  And if so, then round and round we go, because TypePad isn't letting them comment so if they don't comment I can't get IP addresses.  I do believe I'm in a pickle here.  But I really don't think I'm the moron.

So anyway, if you're trying to comment I don't know what to tell you.  Keep trying?  I can't even comment to comment on those commenters who have....commented.  I think I need a drink.

I can however keep posting, which I will do.

I suppose now would be a good time to start making fun of Happy, Sirdar,Emily, Sher or Debbie since they can't comment to tell me to smarten up.  Heeheehee