I was feeling pretty proud of myself there for awhile. I was steady cranking out blog entries, just like how a good blogger ought to do. And then, well, I wasn't.
Remember my life and lemons entries? Well, I've been sick. Apparently I was sick for several monthes before I even realized it. The gastrointestinal difficulties, ahem, must have occurred sometime in the middle of when I first got sick. Pitiful to say though, isn't it, that I didn't realize I was sick for several monthes?
Prior to the gastro issues I'd been tired. Weary is more like it. And my nose had been running and I'd been sneezing and coughing. I chalked it off to allergies. Yes, allergies probably should have been over by mid September but it's been a wierd year whatwith the incredibly hot and dry summer we'd had and, despite the heart attacks and gall stone troubles of two years ago, I'm still pretty much anti-doctor.
So anyway, when I woke up a week ago and my neck was seriously swollen, and everytime I swallowed it wasn't pleasant, and I felt like a truck had run over me, I decided to go see the doctor. Sinus infection he said. And that it hadn't just happened, these were just more serious manifestations of it.
My antibiotics will run out tomorrow. Unfortunately, I'm still coughing and my nose is a mess. I'm guessing that means I'm not all better and it isn't allergies. I'm also guessing I'll need another prescription. Hopefully no doctor visit because those are, well, not cheap.
Long story short, that's why I haven't been blogging as faithfully as I had been. The mystery has been solved.
----
Otherwise things are going pretty good. I'm cooking Thanksgiving dinner this year and I just about have all of my food shopping done. A trip to Sam's Club, maybe tomorrow, and a trip to Super Greenland (a produce store) next Tuesday and that'll be it.
Normally I have dinner with HSM and her family but they're still living in Alabama. Their #1 Son, and his girlfriend, invited me to have dinner with them but since I'm not all better yet, well, I figured that wasn't a good idea. I don't know if sinus infections are 'catchy' and I would hate to get them sick. As well as her parents, her brother and his girlfriend, and her neice.
My Aunt Glo invited me for dinner too, but I don't want to get her family sick either. And, truth be told, who knows if I'll feel good enough to spend a day at someone elses house. Being at home, if I'm tired, I can go take a nap. As long as I'm awake for the half-time show of the football game. Kid Rock is performing!
----
Read somewhere on FaceBook that 15 states--Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota, Texas, New York, etc.--requested to succeede from the USA shortly after the election. Ted Nugent must have wacko relatives all across the country.
Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawny_ford@webtv.net
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Monday, October 22, 2012
So Little Time
There are days when I have so much to do and so little time in which to get it all taken care of. Like today. My to-do list for today is so long that I started working on it yesterday. Is that awful or what? I was able to scratch three things off the list---packages that needed to be mailed, laundry and cleaning the bathroom. The packages saved the most time. Mondays, no matter what time you go to the post office here in town, there's a line. I would guess it's because they have shorter hours on Saturdays and they're closed on Sundays. If you use a credit card and don't mind working the do-it-yourself kiosk you pretty much have the lobby to yourself on Sundays. The downside, at least for yesterday, was that the tumbler and the door in the wall where you mail priority items were locked. I ended up taking them outside to the mail boxes in the back lot and dropping them in so all wasn't lost but......why let folks have the ability to do-it-yourself mail and then shutdown the very boxes where that specific mail is supposed to go?
Still on the list, besides the library where I am now, is Costco. I've been carrying around a Costco list in my purse for a week and a half now. When I've had the time it's been raining or a traditionally swamped and busy day at Costco (Wednesdays thru Sundays). Today it's always slow there so that means no packed aisles or long lines. And it's sunny and bright without a cloud in the sky.
And I have to call my cousin's husband when I get home. HSM and her family have decided to put their house up for sale. While property is still sluggishly moving in the metro Detroit area, it's not quite as sluggish as it has been. Bob, my cousin's husband, is a realtor and he's going to list the house. I hope it sells quickly, before the snows. When it sells I'm thinking of maybe listing my house. I've had the yen to move for awhile now. I wish I'd sold my house a few years ago when property values were inflated.
After that I think my time will be my own. I've borrowed the newest Lee Childs book and I can't wait to read it. And watch the debate tonight. And maybe even watch the episode of Boardwalk I missed last night because I was instead watching the Jon Stewart fund raiser on the Comedy Channel. And tomorrow I want to watch the episode of Homeland I also missed last night.
See what I mean? So much to do...........................(smile)!
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawny_ford@webtv.net
Still on the list, besides the library where I am now, is Costco. I've been carrying around a Costco list in my purse for a week and a half now. When I've had the time it's been raining or a traditionally swamped and busy day at Costco (Wednesdays thru Sundays). Today it's always slow there so that means no packed aisles or long lines. And it's sunny and bright without a cloud in the sky.
And I have to call my cousin's husband when I get home. HSM and her family have decided to put their house up for sale. While property is still sluggishly moving in the metro Detroit area, it's not quite as sluggish as it has been. Bob, my cousin's husband, is a realtor and he's going to list the house. I hope it sells quickly, before the snows. When it sells I'm thinking of maybe listing my house. I've had the yen to move for awhile now. I wish I'd sold my house a few years ago when property values were inflated.
After that I think my time will be my own. I've borrowed the newest Lee Childs book and I can't wait to read it. And watch the debate tonight. And maybe even watch the episode of Boardwalk I missed last night because I was instead watching the Jon Stewart fund raiser on the Comedy Channel. And tomorrow I want to watch the episode of Homeland I also missed last night.
See what I mean? So much to do...........................(smile)!
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawny_ford@webtv.net
Friday, October 19, 2012
No More Lemons, Maybe
I'm thinking, wishing, hoping and most defintely praying that there are no more lemonade making lemons in my life, leastwise not like the ones I wrote about in the previous blog. I'm feeling good enough to leave the house and not be, well, nervous about it. The working hypothesis is that the medication the doctor switched me to a month and a half ago, lisinopril with a diuretic in it, is the root of my troubles. I went back to plain old lisinopril this morning. Everything crossed.
So you must have seen the Tigers game yesterday afternoon, right? Or at least read/heard about their win, right? As you can imagine it's the bigbigbig news in the metro Detroit media. And people are walking around with grins from ear to ear, even thought it's a wet, gloomy, sort of icky day. Now if the Tigers can win the World series.....!
Did you hear about one of the latest scandals in Detroit? Isn't it a pity to have to stay 'latest scandal'? There are so many of them and most are ongoing. Anyway, this one was brought to light by Charlie LeDuff, an incredibly brilliant reporter for the metro Detroit local Fox station. An EMS worker was written up on disciplinary charges for giving a blanket to an elderly man who was clad only in his underdrawers as a result of his home just burning to the ground. The supervisor said people can't just be giving away property of the City of Detroit (?). Turns out the blanket the fellow gave to the elderly, almost naked survivor was one of a bunch that had been donated (that means free) to the City to give out to people in need. Turns out the blankets were being used as, hold onto your heart, drop cloths (that's right drop cloths for painting projects). So the story went viral and next thing you knew blankets were pouring in from all over the USA, and the world. The poor people of Africa even sent blankets. You know, the people we usually send aid to. Yet another black eye for the Dave Bing administration.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawnyford@webtv.net
So you must have seen the Tigers game yesterday afternoon, right? Or at least read/heard about their win, right? As you can imagine it's the bigbigbig news in the metro Detroit media. And people are walking around with grins from ear to ear, even thought it's a wet, gloomy, sort of icky day. Now if the Tigers can win the World series.....!
Did you hear about one of the latest scandals in Detroit? Isn't it a pity to have to stay 'latest scandal'? There are so many of them and most are ongoing. Anyway, this one was brought to light by Charlie LeDuff, an incredibly brilliant reporter for the metro Detroit local Fox station. An EMS worker was written up on disciplinary charges for giving a blanket to an elderly man who was clad only in his underdrawers as a result of his home just burning to the ground. The supervisor said people can't just be giving away property of the City of Detroit (?). Turns out the blanket the fellow gave to the elderly, almost naked survivor was one of a bunch that had been donated (that means free) to the City to give out to people in need. Turns out the blankets were being used as, hold onto your heart, drop cloths (that's right drop cloths for painting projects). So the story went viral and next thing you knew blankets were pouring in from all over the USA, and the world. The poor people of Africa even sent blankets. You know, the people we usually send aid to. Yet another black eye for the Dave Bing administration.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawnyford@webtv.net
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
When Life Gives You Lemons...
When life gives you lemons make lemonade, right? Take adversity and make it work for you. Okay. Nice motto and great way to look at things.
Sunday life handed me a gastrointestinal smack--diarrhea. It apparently liked me as it's host so much that it decided to hang around all of Monday, too. And, while I would like to say all is back to normal today, well, I really can't, leastwise not with any authority in my voice.
In the tradition of life/lemonade I stayed home all of Sunday and Monday. Okay, it's not like I did it to rest, I did it because I couldn't leave, chained, as I was, to the commode. But I did get some rest. I napped as much as I could during the day, caught up on my reading, even watched waaay more tv than I normally do.
Foodwise, I'm starving. Not to death. But I'm hungry. Yesterday I ate rice. Plain white rice with a smidge of salt and some crackers. And I drank water. I dream about food now. I smell food where there isn't any. Last night I'd have sworn I could smell a nice rich, beefy, oniony gravy. Common sense said it had to be a nose hallucination because I live alone and I hadn't cooked anything like that.
I haven't eaten anything yet today and it's going on 11am. I wanted to be able to go the library and I wanted to take the least amount of risks that 'something' would happen while I was away from the house.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so who wants to read about this? I hear you. But this is what I chose to write about because 1.) it's what's happening in my life right now, and 2). I'm feeling whiney. I listen to you when you're crabbing and whining so suck it up!
That's it for today. I want to go back home. Hopefully this is the last day of it and life will be back to normal when I wake up tomorrow morning.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny 248-615-1300
Sunday life handed me a gastrointestinal smack--diarrhea. It apparently liked me as it's host so much that it decided to hang around all of Monday, too. And, while I would like to say all is back to normal today, well, I really can't, leastwise not with any authority in my voice.
In the tradition of life/lemonade I stayed home all of Sunday and Monday. Okay, it's not like I did it to rest, I did it because I couldn't leave, chained, as I was, to the commode. But I did get some rest. I napped as much as I could during the day, caught up on my reading, even watched waaay more tv than I normally do.
Foodwise, I'm starving. Not to death. But I'm hungry. Yesterday I ate rice. Plain white rice with a smidge of salt and some crackers. And I drank water. I dream about food now. I smell food where there isn't any. Last night I'd have sworn I could smell a nice rich, beefy, oniony gravy. Common sense said it had to be a nose hallucination because I live alone and I hadn't cooked anything like that.
I haven't eaten anything yet today and it's going on 11am. I wanted to be able to go the library and I wanted to take the least amount of risks that 'something' would happen while I was away from the house.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, so who wants to read about this? I hear you. But this is what I chose to write about because 1.) it's what's happening in my life right now, and 2). I'm feeling whiney. I listen to you when you're crabbing and whining so suck it up!
That's it for today. I want to go back home. Hopefully this is the last day of it and life will be back to normal when I wake up tomorrow morning.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny 248-615-1300
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Part Two
Yesterday, as soon as I shut down the computer, I realized I'd forgotten an interesting part of the story I was telling you about Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. Because I was using the library computer, and because someone was impatiently waiting to use it next, I opted to just let it go.
What I neglected to mention was that while Godbee had a top flight unit of Detroit police out in Farmington Hills looking for the police officer who had posted the photo of herself on Twitter with her department issued Glock in her mouth, there were seven shootings in Detroit. Seven shootings. And one of the victims was shot to death.
There aren't anywhere near enough police officers in Detroit. The City has cut their numbers because of lack of funds, and then cut the remaining officers pay so that they now make roughly what a rent-a-cop/security guard makes. But yet Godbee pulled a handful of them off the streets in order to go to Farmington Hills. And he didn't bother to let Farmington Hills police know Detroit was 'on a mission' in their city. Mymymy.
But the real update to this story is that yesterday Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. retired from the Detroit Police Department.
Mayor Dave Bing is now talking about making a rule that says no fraternization (dating/fucking) between City employees, particularly among those in charge with their underlings. Apparently there has never been any such rule amongst City employees. Maybe if their had been, well, this mess with Godbee could have been avoided. And that sex mess with (former) Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beaty never would have happened.
Kwame's corruption trial in Federal Court begins again this morning. Yesterday being Columbus Day the Court was closed. I haven't seen a roster of potential witnesses for this week but if it's anything like last week, well, there ought to be some interesting stuff coming to light.
Again and again and again I am ever so thankful that I do not live in the City of Detroit.
And it's not just the scandals, although there have been some whoppers over the years. And it's not just the crime, although the murder rate is through the roof, and there are more shootings than they even bother to report. Shoot, they don't report all the murders either. And it's not just the lack of City services--like prompt (if they even bother to show up) police response, or the fact that the EMS rigs are prone to break down (if they even show up when you call them) as they're rushing people to the hospital, or the pitiful look of the neighborhoods, etc. And it's not even the fact that homeowners and automobile insurance rates are through the roof in Detroit. It's not any one of any of those things.
It's the fact that for all the talk by the City that they're working on things---for example, the abandoned/burned out houses and buildings that they swear they are going to tear down, even though they've been saying this since at least 1989 and all that happens is the numbers increase like bunnies each year---absolutely nothing gets any better. Nothing. And that's why I'm glad I don't live in Detroit. I couldn't stand the nothing.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
What I neglected to mention was that while Godbee had a top flight unit of Detroit police out in Farmington Hills looking for the police officer who had posted the photo of herself on Twitter with her department issued Glock in her mouth, there were seven shootings in Detroit. Seven shootings. And one of the victims was shot to death.
There aren't anywhere near enough police officers in Detroit. The City has cut their numbers because of lack of funds, and then cut the remaining officers pay so that they now make roughly what a rent-a-cop/security guard makes. But yet Godbee pulled a handful of them off the streets in order to go to Farmington Hills. And he didn't bother to let Farmington Hills police know Detroit was 'on a mission' in their city. Mymymy.
But the real update to this story is that yesterday Detroit Police Chief Ralph Godbee Jr. retired from the Detroit Police Department.
Mayor Dave Bing is now talking about making a rule that says no fraternization (dating/fucking) between City employees, particularly among those in charge with their underlings. Apparently there has never been any such rule amongst City employees. Maybe if their had been, well, this mess with Godbee could have been avoided. And that sex mess with (former) Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beaty never would have happened.
Kwame's corruption trial in Federal Court begins again this morning. Yesterday being Columbus Day the Court was closed. I haven't seen a roster of potential witnesses for this week but if it's anything like last week, well, there ought to be some interesting stuff coming to light.
Again and again and again I am ever so thankful that I do not live in the City of Detroit.
And it's not just the scandals, although there have been some whoppers over the years. And it's not just the crime, although the murder rate is through the roof, and there are more shootings than they even bother to report. Shoot, they don't report all the murders either. And it's not just the lack of City services--like prompt (if they even bother to show up) police response, or the fact that the EMS rigs are prone to break down (if they even show up when you call them) as they're rushing people to the hospital, or the pitiful look of the neighborhoods, etc. And it's not even the fact that homeowners and automobile insurance rates are through the roof in Detroit. It's not any one of any of those things.
It's the fact that for all the talk by the City that they're working on things---for example, the abandoned/burned out houses and buildings that they swear they are going to tear down, even though they've been saying this since at least 1989 and all that happens is the numbers increase like bunnies each year---absolutely nothing gets any better. Nothing. And that's why I'm glad I don't live in Detroit. I couldn't stand the nothing.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Monday, October 08, 2012
Chilly Columbus Day
This is the chilliest it's been so far this Fall. When I woke up at 7:30am and turned on the local news morning show, the weather person, Ben Bailey, told me it was 33 degrees. And I could easily believe him because my house, according to the Atomic Clock in the kitchen, said it was 52 degrees. No, I haven't turned the furnace on yet. It's only the second week of October. Surely it'll warm up a bit and I can hold off the inevitable wickedly rising gas bill for a few weeks more.
I can tell you where it's not cold. The City of Detroit. Okay, temperature wise they're in the 30's as well this morning. It's not like they suddenly acquired sub tropical temperatures. But I'm talking about in the City offices. The Mayor's office to be exact.
New scandal in Detroit. Just when everyone kind of thought it couldn't get any worse after (former) Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his sex text message scandal, and now his trial in Federal Court (along with his father, his best buddy and the former head of the Water Department) under the RICO Act. This is, I think, Week Three for the trial and they anticipate it running until at least January 2013.
This new scandal involves the Chief of Police, Ralph Godbee Jr.
First some background: The former Police Chief was Warren Evans., a single man. He was let go by Mayor Dave Bing (yes, the former basketbal player) almost as soon as Bing was elected. The reasons given were--Evans had been having an ongoing affair with another police officer who was also single, and he had a tv show on the local cable network, and a little girl had been killed by police in a botched attempt to grab up a criminal during a raid on a house. Oh yeah, the raid was being filmed for a show on the Discovery Channel. Those were the reasons given by Bing. But, well, word on the street was that Evans wasn't a yes man and Bing (and the power behind him) wanted a yes man.
So Bing appointed Ralph Godbee Jr. as the new chief. Then it become news that Godbee, a married man, had been having an affair with the same police officer that Evans had been fired for screwing. Oh my. Everyone expected Bing to fire Godbee but he didn't. Hmmmmm.
Two weeks ago or so it was discovered, because of a post on Twitter of a woman with a Glock pistol in her mouth, that Godbee, who filed for divorce in April, was having an affair with a married woman, another police officer, who works in Internal Affairs for the City of Detroit. This woman was pissed because Godbee took another woman, a much younger woman, to California with him as he attended a convention for police chiefs. Scorned woman posted the photo of herself with her City issued Glock in her mouth. Godbee, while in California, with the help of the Detroit Police Department, triangulated her cell phone and sent a posse of Detroit police to Farmington Hills (where she lives) to, what? I don't know, tell her to knock that stuff off. But he forgot to alert Farmington Hills police that they were running a mission in their city. A nononono.
A statement was issued by Godbee that this woman was not a scorned woman, but rather a stalker. That was found to be an untruth when she produced text messages from him to her of, well, not a stalker-type relationship.
Then the woman who had been screwing Evans and Godbee, she came on tv and said yes, she had been having an affair with Godbeee while he was married. That she had traded sex with the Chief in order to get abetter job in the Department! Oh my. And she had text messages to back her story up.
It is anticipated that there are other women out there who dallied with the Chief. Possibly some other police officers
Add to the mix that, as it turns out, Godbee is also a preacher.
Bing, who is never around it seems when shit is flying, issued a statement from somewhere, that Godbee was on a 30-day paid leave while this was all investigated.
It is expected that Godbee will be fired. But who knows. Bing never should have hired him as Chief in the first place given that it was common knowledge that he was married and engaged in an affair.
I am so thankful I don't live in Detroit.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
tawny_ford@webtv.net 248-615-1300
I can tell you where it's not cold. The City of Detroit. Okay, temperature wise they're in the 30's as well this morning. It's not like they suddenly acquired sub tropical temperatures. But I'm talking about in the City offices. The Mayor's office to be exact.
New scandal in Detroit. Just when everyone kind of thought it couldn't get any worse after (former) Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his sex text message scandal, and now his trial in Federal Court (along with his father, his best buddy and the former head of the Water Department) under the RICO Act. This is, I think, Week Three for the trial and they anticipate it running until at least January 2013.
This new scandal involves the Chief of Police, Ralph Godbee Jr.
First some background: The former Police Chief was Warren Evans., a single man. He was let go by Mayor Dave Bing (yes, the former basketbal player) almost as soon as Bing was elected. The reasons given were--Evans had been having an ongoing affair with another police officer who was also single, and he had a tv show on the local cable network, and a little girl had been killed by police in a botched attempt to grab up a criminal during a raid on a house. Oh yeah, the raid was being filmed for a show on the Discovery Channel. Those were the reasons given by Bing. But, well, word on the street was that Evans wasn't a yes man and Bing (and the power behind him) wanted a yes man.
So Bing appointed Ralph Godbee Jr. as the new chief. Then it become news that Godbee, a married man, had been having an affair with the same police officer that Evans had been fired for screwing. Oh my. Everyone expected Bing to fire Godbee but he didn't. Hmmmmm.
Two weeks ago or so it was discovered, because of a post on Twitter of a woman with a Glock pistol in her mouth, that Godbee, who filed for divorce in April, was having an affair with a married woman, another police officer, who works in Internal Affairs for the City of Detroit. This woman was pissed because Godbee took another woman, a much younger woman, to California with him as he attended a convention for police chiefs. Scorned woman posted the photo of herself with her City issued Glock in her mouth. Godbee, while in California, with the help of the Detroit Police Department, triangulated her cell phone and sent a posse of Detroit police to Farmington Hills (where she lives) to, what? I don't know, tell her to knock that stuff off. But he forgot to alert Farmington Hills police that they were running a mission in their city. A nononono.
A statement was issued by Godbee that this woman was not a scorned woman, but rather a stalker. That was found to be an untruth when she produced text messages from him to her of, well, not a stalker-type relationship.
Then the woman who had been screwing Evans and Godbee, she came on tv and said yes, she had been having an affair with Godbeee while he was married. That she had traded sex with the Chief in order to get abetter job in the Department! Oh my. And she had text messages to back her story up.
It is anticipated that there are other women out there who dallied with the Chief. Possibly some other police officers
Add to the mix that, as it turns out, Godbee is also a preacher.
Bing, who is never around it seems when shit is flying, issued a statement from somewhere, that Godbee was on a 30-day paid leave while this was all investigated.
It is expected that Godbee will be fired. But who knows. Bing never should have hired him as Chief in the first place given that it was common knowledge that he was married and engaged in an affair.
I am so thankful I don't live in Detroit.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
tawny_ford@webtv.net 248-615-1300
Monday, October 01, 2012
Author! Author!
I think most all of us feel we have a book inside of us just waiting to be written. I know I do. My Mom always said my Grandpa (her dad) and I would write one together but, well, that's out of the question. He passed away some years ago. I've sat down I don't know how many times and tried to crank out a story. In fact, I've got several ideas and none of them have panned out for me. I've even purchased magazines that are geared towards helping people get started and had zero luck with them. I'm starting to think maybe writing a book just isn't in the cards for me.
Now a friend of mine, Paul, not only has he written and published and sold a bazillion copies of his book, he's working on a second, a sequel, as we speak! He's on his second and I can't even get rolling on my first. Plus, he writes an almost daily blog that has followers from all over the world, and he keeps up pretty much incessant chatter on FaceBook and Twitter.
I'm no slouch when it comes to incessant chatter. Geez, you know I can talk your ear off on the phone. No clue why my fingers clam up when it comes to this book thing. Heck, I can even crank out a blog and never run out of topics.
As my library useage will attest, I've even checked out just about every book written by urban authors. That's a really huge market. Okay, the stories are good, they're just not very well written, but they're still incredibly popular. I thought if I read enough of them I'd get the push to write one in my voice. Hasn't happened yet. I'm starting to think I'm shy but I know that's a lie.
My friend, HSM, says the only way she'd ever write a book is if she could be sure it would be of literary value. She says there are way too many poorly written books out there already. She says our minds are what we read. If you spend time reading good stuff your brain will reflect it. If you don't, well, you'll be a mess.
I probably wouldn't be able to write a literary masterpiece. I'm no Charles Dickens. But I have some pretty good life experiences that should translate into an interesting read. Not only have I been a phone sex maven, but I spent years doing volunteer work in the prisons. And I was a bartender once upon a time.
There was an urban writer years ago, Donald Goines, that hailed from Detroit. He wrote a number of very popular books. If you're interested in reading them Amazon is your friend. Goines wrote the stories that he heard the neighborhood gangsters tell and his stories were life-like and rang true. Some people thought he wrote a little too life-like and that led to his untimely demise.
I'm not looking to go out like Goines, nonono. But I am looking to take some of my experiences and put pen to paper. Cross your fingers for me, will you?
In the mean time, if you'd like to read my friend Paul's book, email me and I'll give you his contact information.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Now a friend of mine, Paul, not only has he written and published and sold a bazillion copies of his book, he's working on a second, a sequel, as we speak! He's on his second and I can't even get rolling on my first. Plus, he writes an almost daily blog that has followers from all over the world, and he keeps up pretty much incessant chatter on FaceBook and Twitter.
I'm no slouch when it comes to incessant chatter. Geez, you know I can talk your ear off on the phone. No clue why my fingers clam up when it comes to this book thing. Heck, I can even crank out a blog and never run out of topics.
As my library useage will attest, I've even checked out just about every book written by urban authors. That's a really huge market. Okay, the stories are good, they're just not very well written, but they're still incredibly popular. I thought if I read enough of them I'd get the push to write one in my voice. Hasn't happened yet. I'm starting to think I'm shy but I know that's a lie.
My friend, HSM, says the only way she'd ever write a book is if she could be sure it would be of literary value. She says there are way too many poorly written books out there already. She says our minds are what we read. If you spend time reading good stuff your brain will reflect it. If you don't, well, you'll be a mess.
I probably wouldn't be able to write a literary masterpiece. I'm no Charles Dickens. But I have some pretty good life experiences that should translate into an interesting read. Not only have I been a phone sex maven, but I spent years doing volunteer work in the prisons. And I was a bartender once upon a time.
There was an urban writer years ago, Donald Goines, that hailed from Detroit. He wrote a number of very popular books. If you're interested in reading them Amazon is your friend. Goines wrote the stories that he heard the neighborhood gangsters tell and his stories were life-like and rang true. Some people thought he wrote a little too life-like and that led to his untimely demise.
I'm not looking to go out like Goines, nonono. But I am looking to take some of my experiences and put pen to paper. Cross your fingers for me, will you?
In the mean time, if you'd like to read my friend Paul's book, email me and I'll give you his contact information.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Catch Up, Not Catsup
It's been an exciting couple of days in the Tawny Ford Nation.
Yesterday, hold onto your hats, I went to a rummage sale at the neighborhood Catholic Church. I probably should have told you to make sure you were sitting down and not drinking anything, that's how exciting that bit of news was, right? They had lots of stuff, as church rummage sales tend to, and most of it, bless the hearts of all those lovely folks who donated it, wasn't worth too much of anything. I'm always looking for music cds and books and most generally I find neither. Okay, I find lots of cds and lots of books but nothing I'm interested in. It's disappointing but I'm used to it so it doesn't, like, ruin my day. I always peruse everything else just in case and their everything else was tired, really tired. Towels and bedding and clothing that looked like all the life had already been worn, used, washed right out of it. Oh well. You donate what you have and that must have been what the folks were able to part with.
The other exciting news is the dog next door, I forget his name, but he's less than a year old, white, one blue eye and one brown eye, pit bull got loose from the house (?) and yard (?) next door and one of the neighbor ladies and I tried really hard to get it back in its backyard (the people next door weren't home). The dog wasn't going for it though. He was having too much fun teasing and taunting us, running up to give is kisses and then taking off again. Fortunately, about the time the neighbor lady and I got tired, the teenage daughter and her boyfriend came home and then he was their problem.
I had noticed the pup running loose when I got home from the library the other day. My first thought was 'oh no!'. Being as he's a pit bull, and you know how frigging paranoid people seem to be about pits these days, I was afraid a neighbor would panic, call the police and they'd come shoot the dog. And the little boy next door, who loves that dog with a passion, would be devastated. Hell, I'd have been devastated, too. The pup isn't dangerous, he's just a silly dog with energy to burn and a million kisses to give. Apparently, while we weren't able to shoo the dog into the backyard, we did keep him busy and out of trouble until one of his family members got home and could take over. The girl and her boyfriend, when the neighbor and I walked away and said 'he's your problem now', said 'aren't you going to help us catch him?'. Uh no, we're tired. You're young, go chase him down.
When I told HSM about this she about lost her mind. She's all for dog owners, particularly pit bull dog owners (because pits are so maligned these days), all but being hung and gutted for not properly restraining their animals. And I can see her point. Dogs are like small children. You have to watch out for them and protect them. The pit next door should have been secured in the house before the girl left. Obviously, he wasn't. It was a blessing the other neighbor and I were able to keep him safe until she could get home to try again.
As tiring as it was messing with that silly dog, it was a lot of fun. I like dogs. A lot. It was fun petting him and getting kisses and playing with him. Kathleen, when I got back in our house, was not so amused. She hissed when she smelled dog on my hands. Oh well.
So that's it from here. Hope all is well with you.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawny_ford@webtv.net
Yesterday, hold onto your hats, I went to a rummage sale at the neighborhood Catholic Church. I probably should have told you to make sure you were sitting down and not drinking anything, that's how exciting that bit of news was, right? They had lots of stuff, as church rummage sales tend to, and most of it, bless the hearts of all those lovely folks who donated it, wasn't worth too much of anything. I'm always looking for music cds and books and most generally I find neither. Okay, I find lots of cds and lots of books but nothing I'm interested in. It's disappointing but I'm used to it so it doesn't, like, ruin my day. I always peruse everything else just in case and their everything else was tired, really tired. Towels and bedding and clothing that looked like all the life had already been worn, used, washed right out of it. Oh well. You donate what you have and that must have been what the folks were able to part with.
The other exciting news is the dog next door, I forget his name, but he's less than a year old, white, one blue eye and one brown eye, pit bull got loose from the house (?) and yard (?) next door and one of the neighbor ladies and I tried really hard to get it back in its backyard (the people next door weren't home). The dog wasn't going for it though. He was having too much fun teasing and taunting us, running up to give is kisses and then taking off again. Fortunately, about the time the neighbor lady and I got tired, the teenage daughter and her boyfriend came home and then he was their problem.
I had noticed the pup running loose when I got home from the library the other day. My first thought was 'oh no!'. Being as he's a pit bull, and you know how frigging paranoid people seem to be about pits these days, I was afraid a neighbor would panic, call the police and they'd come shoot the dog. And the little boy next door, who loves that dog with a passion, would be devastated. Hell, I'd have been devastated, too. The pup isn't dangerous, he's just a silly dog with energy to burn and a million kisses to give. Apparently, while we weren't able to shoo the dog into the backyard, we did keep him busy and out of trouble until one of his family members got home and could take over. The girl and her boyfriend, when the neighbor and I walked away and said 'he's your problem now', said 'aren't you going to help us catch him?'. Uh no, we're tired. You're young, go chase him down.
When I told HSM about this she about lost her mind. She's all for dog owners, particularly pit bull dog owners (because pits are so maligned these days), all but being hung and gutted for not properly restraining their animals. And I can see her point. Dogs are like small children. You have to watch out for them and protect them. The pit next door should have been secured in the house before the girl left. Obviously, he wasn't. It was a blessing the other neighbor and I were able to keep him safe until she could get home to try again.
As tiring as it was messing with that silly dog, it was a lot of fun. I like dogs. A lot. It was fun petting him and getting kisses and playing with him. Kathleen, when I got back in our house, was not so amused. She hissed when she smelled dog on my hands. Oh well.
So that's it from here. Hope all is well with you.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawny_ford@webtv.net
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
So Did You Miss Me?
A fair question, I think, because it's been four whole days since I was able to get to the library and 'talk' with you. I missed you. Big time.
Sunday, the 23rd, was HSM's #1 Son's birthday. He turned 23. While he handles his whole family being over 12 hours away in Alabama admirably well, he still misses the dickens out of them. You can see it on his face and you can hear it in his voice. Typically, HSM will fix the birthday persons favorite dinner and make them the cake of their choice, in addition to a plethora of presents, and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, most of it purposely sung off key. But when your Mom is 12 hours away.......
#1 Son's girlfriend stepped up to the challenge. They've only been together maybe four monthes, not a huge investment of time, but still....She got her whole family involved. Her mother and father, her brother and his girlfriend, and her brother's little girl. They got #1 Son out of the house for a few hours and then the birthday decorating team took over. Balloons everywhere. So many balloons that you couldn't walk through the living room, you had to wade. And there were Happy Birthday banners strung from the walls and the light fixtures. Picture New Years Eve and balls of mistletoe, but HB banners instead. And the food. Her Mom baked a savory pastry, sort of like a leek tart but not (they're from Macedonia originally and I don't recall what she called it), and she made baklava. There were grilled hamburgers with all the toppings, a potato dish, and a salad of tomatoes, green onions and cucumbers.
The birthday cake came from Shatilas, a Lebanese bakery in the Arab part of Dearborn. The women who work there, the bakers, were taught by the French when they occupied Lebanon and they crank out the most wonderfully delicate and flavorful French pastries at a mere fraction of the price you'd pay for them anywhere else. They also bake Lebanese pastries, sweet and savory, and have wonderfully rich Arab ice cream. Shatilas is one of my favorite places. I always pretend I'm a Saudi princess when I'm in there. It is a beautiful store with small tables and twinkle lights on pretend palm trees.
The cake they chose for #1 Son was chocolate, his favorite, with a white icing and fresh fruit on the top. It was spectacular to look at and delightful to eat. It was so rich and wonderful you didn't need ice cream to accompany it.
#1 Son was overwhelmed by the whole event. He was so pleased that these people thought enough of him to go the extra mile to make his special day so very, very nice.
I was there in my (un)official capacity of representing his family. I was the stand-in Mama, sort of, since his Mom and I have been BFFs forever. I'm glad I was invited. It did my old jaded heart good to see the love that #1 Son's girlfriend has for him, and the love and respect her family has for him. Her family is nice people. They told me stories about Macedonia, how they came to America to make a better life for their children. It was a good day. I only wish HSM and ABM and their sons could have been there. It would have been extra icing on the cake.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawny_ford@webtv.net
Sunday, the 23rd, was HSM's #1 Son's birthday. He turned 23. While he handles his whole family being over 12 hours away in Alabama admirably well, he still misses the dickens out of them. You can see it on his face and you can hear it in his voice. Typically, HSM will fix the birthday persons favorite dinner and make them the cake of their choice, in addition to a plethora of presents, and a rousing rendition of Happy Birthday, most of it purposely sung off key. But when your Mom is 12 hours away.......
#1 Son's girlfriend stepped up to the challenge. They've only been together maybe four monthes, not a huge investment of time, but still....She got her whole family involved. Her mother and father, her brother and his girlfriend, and her brother's little girl. They got #1 Son out of the house for a few hours and then the birthday decorating team took over. Balloons everywhere. So many balloons that you couldn't walk through the living room, you had to wade. And there were Happy Birthday banners strung from the walls and the light fixtures. Picture New Years Eve and balls of mistletoe, but HB banners instead. And the food. Her Mom baked a savory pastry, sort of like a leek tart but not (they're from Macedonia originally and I don't recall what she called it), and she made baklava. There were grilled hamburgers with all the toppings, a potato dish, and a salad of tomatoes, green onions and cucumbers.
The birthday cake came from Shatilas, a Lebanese bakery in the Arab part of Dearborn. The women who work there, the bakers, were taught by the French when they occupied Lebanon and they crank out the most wonderfully delicate and flavorful French pastries at a mere fraction of the price you'd pay for them anywhere else. They also bake Lebanese pastries, sweet and savory, and have wonderfully rich Arab ice cream. Shatilas is one of my favorite places. I always pretend I'm a Saudi princess when I'm in there. It is a beautiful store with small tables and twinkle lights on pretend palm trees.
The cake they chose for #1 Son was chocolate, his favorite, with a white icing and fresh fruit on the top. It was spectacular to look at and delightful to eat. It was so rich and wonderful you didn't need ice cream to accompany it.
#1 Son was overwhelmed by the whole event. He was so pleased that these people thought enough of him to go the extra mile to make his special day so very, very nice.
I was there in my (un)official capacity of representing his family. I was the stand-in Mama, sort of, since his Mom and I have been BFFs forever. I'm glad I was invited. It did my old jaded heart good to see the love that #1 Son's girlfriend has for him, and the love and respect her family has for him. Her family is nice people. They told me stories about Macedonia, how they came to America to make a better life for their children. It was a good day. I only wish HSM and ABM and their sons could have been there. It would have been extra icing on the cake.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300 tawny_ford@webtv.net
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Rain Rain Here Today
It's raining this morning. We haven't seen a whole lot of rain in the past so many monthes so when it does rain, well, you peek out your window to see what that noise is because you just can't believe it's actually raining. Thunder earlier. Poor Kathleen, who is scared half to death by the sound of thunder and crackle of lightning, was torn between wanting to sit on my lap and running for cover to the basement. The basement won out. And while she was en route I slipped out the front door so I could begin my errands.
And talk about errands, I have a list of them. A big list. Costco is one of them and that's going to suck on a rainy day. Even if I am able to park sort of near the door I'm still going to get drenched. And when I get home and unload my truck, well, another drenching because I'll have to take everything in through the front door instead of through the garage. Why? The big spring on the top of the garage door broke yesterday. Out of the blue. I heard an enormous bang and went running to the front window half expecting to find that one of my truck tires exploded--that happened a few years ago--and instead it was the garage door spring. It's on my list of things to have fixed, along with finding a plumber for an issue in the bathroom.
I want to buy some beef short ribs. Not to cook for a meal, but to use in soup. I'm thinking a nice hearty beef vegetable soup. And not for today, but for the weekend. Tonight I'm fixing chicken. A Martha Stewart recipe from a few years ago that I found in one of her little magazines. Chicken, potatoes, asparagus and lemons. All roasted together in layers. Wonderful stuff. I was supposed to fix it last night but.....
I had lunch out yesterday. A big lunch. A hot turkey sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes, green beans and all the soup and rolls I wanted. All for $6.00! Such a deal! Choice of three soups at the soup bar--chili, minestrone and cream of potato (no swine in it, thank goodness). I opted for the potato. Anyway, I was too full to want another big meal last night so I had a sandwich and potato chips and dip instead.
I wanted to go to Trader Joes this morning too. A bottle of that two buck chuck (that's actuall $2.99 here in Michigan), not to drink, I don't drink, but to use in a shrimp and pasta recipe. TJ is contingent upon the rain and just how wet I can deal with getting. It's right near Costco it would be a shame if I didn't stop there as well.
So that's about it for me and my proposed day. I stopped at the post office before I got to the library. How come there wasn't any mail from you????
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
www.tawnyford.com
And talk about errands, I have a list of them. A big list. Costco is one of them and that's going to suck on a rainy day. Even if I am able to park sort of near the door I'm still going to get drenched. And when I get home and unload my truck, well, another drenching because I'll have to take everything in through the front door instead of through the garage. Why? The big spring on the top of the garage door broke yesterday. Out of the blue. I heard an enormous bang and went running to the front window half expecting to find that one of my truck tires exploded--that happened a few years ago--and instead it was the garage door spring. It's on my list of things to have fixed, along with finding a plumber for an issue in the bathroom.
I want to buy some beef short ribs. Not to cook for a meal, but to use in soup. I'm thinking a nice hearty beef vegetable soup. And not for today, but for the weekend. Tonight I'm fixing chicken. A Martha Stewart recipe from a few years ago that I found in one of her little magazines. Chicken, potatoes, asparagus and lemons. All roasted together in layers. Wonderful stuff. I was supposed to fix it last night but.....
I had lunch out yesterday. A big lunch. A hot turkey sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes, green beans and all the soup and rolls I wanted. All for $6.00! Such a deal! Choice of three soups at the soup bar--chili, minestrone and cream of potato (no swine in it, thank goodness). I opted for the potato. Anyway, I was too full to want another big meal last night so I had a sandwich and potato chips and dip instead.
I wanted to go to Trader Joes this morning too. A bottle of that two buck chuck (that's actuall $2.99 here in Michigan), not to drink, I don't drink, but to use in a shrimp and pasta recipe. TJ is contingent upon the rain and just how wet I can deal with getting. It's right near Costco it would be a shame if I didn't stop there as well.
So that's about it for me and my proposed day. I stopped at the post office before I got to the library. How come there wasn't any mail from you????
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
www.tawnyford.com
Monday, September 17, 2012
Shhhh!
You know, all through my school years, from kindergarten straight until I graduated high school, I never once, not even once, got shushed for speaking during class or assemblies or any place else I was supposed to be quiet at. Not even once. Must be some kind of a record, huh? But today, just a few minutes ago actually, while I'm sitting here at the library using the computer, some squirrely looking guy turned around, rolled his eyes at me, and shushed me. Me!
Okay, yes, I was talking. To the lady sitting three seats down from me who was using the computers, too. Personally, and this is just me, but I think he shushed me because we were talking about the upcoming Presidential election. The lady I was talking with, we chat every time we run into each other at the library, said how she wasn't voting for Obama or Romney. She couldn't, she said. She didn't like Romney's politics and she didn't like the fact that Obama supported the gays. I said yes, I know what you mean, and that's when the guy shushed me. Not her, nope, not her, me. I rolled my eyes and laughed. He jerked his hoody over his head. I'm still laughing. He's still sulking.
But there are numbers of folks who don't plan to vote this November, and not because of the attempts of the Republicans and Tea Partyers to make it nearly impossible to have adequate documentation to do so. Lots of people think Mormonism is a cult. And if it's not a cult then they think it's just plain dumb. Did you ever catch that South Park episode where they poke at the Mormons? Dumb, dumb, dumb was the refrain of the episode. Lots of people don't like the fact that President Obama openly supports the gays.
I have a friend who isn't planning to vote. She says nobody is going to hold her feet to the hell fires on Judgement Day because she voted for either one of them.
Me, I'm voting. Why? Because I just can't stand the thought of Mitt Romney winning the election. If I have to look at him for four years, or listen to his wife, bless her heart, say anymore dumb stuff, I just might lose what little I have left of my mind. I mean doggone, I was forced to watch the last President Bush smirk at me for eight years. How much can one woman take????
Plus, despite the gay stuff, I like Presedent Obama. And I firmly believe, no matter who happened to be in the White House at this time, the gays were going to get 'pushed' on us. I think someone, I don't know what their name is, or who they are, but the someone who is actually running stuff (and I'm not alluding to God) and they decreed it was time for the gays.
I guess the way the propoganda machine is working overtime to make the 'gay lifestyle' acceptable to the population , making us embracing it, is a sort of good thing. How is that? Well, it's not against the law to be mean to/and or discriminate against gays. At some point, maybe, one day it will be illegal to be mean to/discriminate against fat people, poor people, Muslims, etc. Maybe we'll all get a shot at equality. Who knows, stranger things have been happening.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Okay, yes, I was talking. To the lady sitting three seats down from me who was using the computers, too. Personally, and this is just me, but I think he shushed me because we were talking about the upcoming Presidential election. The lady I was talking with, we chat every time we run into each other at the library, said how she wasn't voting for Obama or Romney. She couldn't, she said. She didn't like Romney's politics and she didn't like the fact that Obama supported the gays. I said yes, I know what you mean, and that's when the guy shushed me. Not her, nope, not her, me. I rolled my eyes and laughed. He jerked his hoody over his head. I'm still laughing. He's still sulking.
But there are numbers of folks who don't plan to vote this November, and not because of the attempts of the Republicans and Tea Partyers to make it nearly impossible to have adequate documentation to do so. Lots of people think Mormonism is a cult. And if it's not a cult then they think it's just plain dumb. Did you ever catch that South Park episode where they poke at the Mormons? Dumb, dumb, dumb was the refrain of the episode. Lots of people don't like the fact that President Obama openly supports the gays.
I have a friend who isn't planning to vote. She says nobody is going to hold her feet to the hell fires on Judgement Day because she voted for either one of them.
Me, I'm voting. Why? Because I just can't stand the thought of Mitt Romney winning the election. If I have to look at him for four years, or listen to his wife, bless her heart, say anymore dumb stuff, I just might lose what little I have left of my mind. I mean doggone, I was forced to watch the last President Bush smirk at me for eight years. How much can one woman take????
Plus, despite the gay stuff, I like Presedent Obama. And I firmly believe, no matter who happened to be in the White House at this time, the gays were going to get 'pushed' on us. I think someone, I don't know what their name is, or who they are, but the someone who is actually running stuff (and I'm not alluding to God) and they decreed it was time for the gays.
I guess the way the propoganda machine is working overtime to make the 'gay lifestyle' acceptable to the population , making us embracing it, is a sort of good thing. How is that? Well, it's not against the law to be mean to/and or discriminate against gays. At some point, maybe, one day it will be illegal to be mean to/discriminate against fat people, poor people, Muslims, etc. Maybe we'll all get a shot at equality. Who knows, stranger things have been happening.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Garbage Day
I suppose we all measure our week in a way unique to our lives and circumstances. Because I work seven days a week one day is pretty much the same to me as any other. Unlike the forty hour a week person, the weekend isn't what I'm living for because I don't have a work off weekend. I hope you followed that convoluted thought (smile). I measure my week by Thursdays. That's the day the garbage goes out to the curb for pick up on Friday morning if we're lucky, Friday afternoon if we're not.
Some weeks it seems like Thursday is every day. That means the week is flying by. Some weeks I think I must have blinked and missed Thursday and that's an indicator that if the week was going any slower I'd be moving backwards, not forwards.
I also, since I'm on wierd subjects here, sleep different, I think. If I can get to bed by 10:30pm I sleep so good, passing out almost before I can get my prayers said. If I miss that window of opportunity for any reason, well, I could easily pull an all nighter because sleep just isn't on my horizon.
Last night I missed my window of sleep opportunity. I think I was watching the local news. Because sleep wasn't even a word I could spell, much less do then, I took to the internet, then late night tv.
Does anyone reading this have Parkinson's? I ask because that's what I was reading about on the internet. One of my uncles thinks he may have it. He has a slight tremor in his hand. From what I read at various sites, the Mayo Clinic being one of them, the thought seems to be that it's a result of a mutated gene, or exposure to chemicals. They said if it runs heavy in a family then it's thought to be the mutated gene. But what is a heavy run of people? My Grandmama had it. One of her sons has it, and another one thinks he may have it. But she had 12 kids so is 1 confirmed, plus her, does that constitute a lot of people?
From the internet I moved to cable tv, hoping to find something that would lull me to sleep. For all the money I spend each money on cable, and the hundreds of channels at my fingertips, I have to tell you sometimes the pickings are still slim. I ended up watching the TLC channel, some new show called (I forget the first part of the title) but Honey BooBoo something or other.
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I am sure the family on the show, it's a reality show, are really nice, good and kind hearted people. I am certain of that. They live somewhere in the US where a southern accent is prevalent so I'm thinking what? Kentucky? Tennessee? Alabama? Mississippi? And they live in a small town, around 700 people. Their house looked nice, the man of the family drove a fairly new and spiffy pick-up truck, and the kids were clean, all four of them (I think there were four daughters).
The family is heavily invested in pageants. You know, those 'beauty' pageants for kids from the age of maybe newborn to 16 years old. The youngest daughter is their pageant girl. These folks do not look like they are wealthy so I imagine, like most other pageant families, that this stuff takes a big bite out of their income.
I think, and I'm not knocking this family, I think it applies to all families who are involved in this stuff, that something is amiss with the mother. I mean, it's not like the 'winners' of these pageants ever go on to lucrative modelling careers, nor do they end up having tv or movie careers. Okay, except in the case of reality shows. So what's the point of it all? If they win any of them I'm betting that they've spent way more over the course of the pageants than what their winnings bring in. Like the person who goes to the casino all the time. Every once in awhile they're going to win, and maybe win a nice little chunk of change, but will it offset their past costs? will it be such a huge windfall that they're waaaay ahead of the game? Odds are good that the answer to that is no.
This family, from their loud, 'large' personalities (I'm trying to find a nice way to say this) to the way they look, well, God bless them. I hope they're making a boat load of money from TLC for this because while I think people laughed watching the show, I think most of it was laughing at this family, not with them. And that's sad.
So that's it from me for today. Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Some weeks it seems like Thursday is every day. That means the week is flying by. Some weeks I think I must have blinked and missed Thursday and that's an indicator that if the week was going any slower I'd be moving backwards, not forwards.
I also, since I'm on wierd subjects here, sleep different, I think. If I can get to bed by 10:30pm I sleep so good, passing out almost before I can get my prayers said. If I miss that window of opportunity for any reason, well, I could easily pull an all nighter because sleep just isn't on my horizon.
Last night I missed my window of sleep opportunity. I think I was watching the local news. Because sleep wasn't even a word I could spell, much less do then, I took to the internet, then late night tv.
Does anyone reading this have Parkinson's? I ask because that's what I was reading about on the internet. One of my uncles thinks he may have it. He has a slight tremor in his hand. From what I read at various sites, the Mayo Clinic being one of them, the thought seems to be that it's a result of a mutated gene, or exposure to chemicals. They said if it runs heavy in a family then it's thought to be the mutated gene. But what is a heavy run of people? My Grandmama had it. One of her sons has it, and another one thinks he may have it. But she had 12 kids so is 1 confirmed, plus her, does that constitute a lot of people?
From the internet I moved to cable tv, hoping to find something that would lull me to sleep. For all the money I spend each money on cable, and the hundreds of channels at my fingertips, I have to tell you sometimes the pickings are still slim. I ended up watching the TLC channel, some new show called (I forget the first part of the title) but Honey BooBoo something or other.
Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. I am sure the family on the show, it's a reality show, are really nice, good and kind hearted people. I am certain of that. They live somewhere in the US where a southern accent is prevalent so I'm thinking what? Kentucky? Tennessee? Alabama? Mississippi? And they live in a small town, around 700 people. Their house looked nice, the man of the family drove a fairly new and spiffy pick-up truck, and the kids were clean, all four of them (I think there were four daughters).
The family is heavily invested in pageants. You know, those 'beauty' pageants for kids from the age of maybe newborn to 16 years old. The youngest daughter is their pageant girl. These folks do not look like they are wealthy so I imagine, like most other pageant families, that this stuff takes a big bite out of their income.
I think, and I'm not knocking this family, I think it applies to all families who are involved in this stuff, that something is amiss with the mother. I mean, it's not like the 'winners' of these pageants ever go on to lucrative modelling careers, nor do they end up having tv or movie careers. Okay, except in the case of reality shows. So what's the point of it all? If they win any of them I'm betting that they've spent way more over the course of the pageants than what their winnings bring in. Like the person who goes to the casino all the time. Every once in awhile they're going to win, and maybe win a nice little chunk of change, but will it offset their past costs? will it be such a huge windfall that they're waaaay ahead of the game? Odds are good that the answer to that is no.
This family, from their loud, 'large' personalities (I'm trying to find a nice way to say this) to the way they look, well, God bless them. I hope they're making a boat load of money from TLC for this because while I think people laughed watching the show, I think most of it was laughing at this family, not with them. And that's sad.
So that's it from me for today. Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Second Installment Of We Are Family
As long as I'm telling you about my extended family, for good or for bad, I might as well fill you in on the rest.
My cousin, second or third, I'm not sure, 'lost' her husband a few years ago. Don't you hate that expression? 'Lost', like they went to the mall and she forgot to hold his hand and that was the end of him, he just up and disappeared on her. I forget what he died from, some type of illness, not murder or mayhem. Several weeks ago she discovered a lump in one of her breasts. Last week she had both breasts removed. Prevention was on her mind, best to get the other one before it has a problem, too. Thankfully, the cancer did not spread to her lymph nodes so full recovery is anticipated.
Her sisters, and their girl children, are extremely unsettled about it all. Their mom died from cancer fifty some odd years ago and now it's in one of them. There has been a mad rush to get mammograms.
Another of my cousins, one that lives in the Michigan City, Indiana area, is dying. I'm a little unclear as to what's wrong. My one aunt says she got bit by a bat. Another says no, not a bat, but she got bit by something. According to the aunts, the doctors don't have any medicine that will cure her and so have told her to get her affairs in order. I'm not understanding any of it.
Uncle Bug, the one who recently had emergency gall bladder surgery, wouldn't let anyone, not even his sisters, who all love visiting people in the hospital almost as much as they love playing bingo and going to the casino, because--get this--they had him on a morphine drip. I still don't see what that has to do with visitors, but that's Uncle Bug.
I've been trying to talk one of my old(er) aunts into going to JoAnn Fabrics with me tomorrow. Why? Tomorrow is Senior Day and everyone 60 years of age or older, and who has state identification to verify their age, will receive 20% off just about everything in the store. Even sale prices and clearance. I would love to get some yarn and some fabric, and I would love to get 20% off of it. So far I've had little luck in talking any of them into going with me. Now if I was trying to get a partner for a casino run they'd be all over me.
HSM's #1 son, the one who was left behind to attend UofM, is searching for a job. He needs at least $10 an hour, preferably $12 or more, and 40 hours per week. He's been trying to not have to take out any student loans and so far he's been successful. But he needs a job in order to keep his dream going. He's resigned to the fact that he'll probably need student loans for law school, but until then.....Anyone in the metro Detroit area, and I don't mean the City of Detroit, who would like to hire a bright, young man, give me a holler-----248-615-1300 or tawny_ford@webtv.net.
And speaking of the City of Detroit, they've cut the pay of their police officers by 20%. And it's not like they were making much before the cut. I figure, unless a major miracle occurs, the Detroit police officers will end up having to resort to graft and robbing the dope dealers in order to make their mortgage payments, etc. New hires, I believe, will make a mere $12 an hour. Wrong wrong wrong.
So that's it for today. You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
tawny_ford@webtv.net
My cousin, second or third, I'm not sure, 'lost' her husband a few years ago. Don't you hate that expression? 'Lost', like they went to the mall and she forgot to hold his hand and that was the end of him, he just up and disappeared on her. I forget what he died from, some type of illness, not murder or mayhem. Several weeks ago she discovered a lump in one of her breasts. Last week she had both breasts removed. Prevention was on her mind, best to get the other one before it has a problem, too. Thankfully, the cancer did not spread to her lymph nodes so full recovery is anticipated.
Her sisters, and their girl children, are extremely unsettled about it all. Their mom died from cancer fifty some odd years ago and now it's in one of them. There has been a mad rush to get mammograms.
Another of my cousins, one that lives in the Michigan City, Indiana area, is dying. I'm a little unclear as to what's wrong. My one aunt says she got bit by a bat. Another says no, not a bat, but she got bit by something. According to the aunts, the doctors don't have any medicine that will cure her and so have told her to get her affairs in order. I'm not understanding any of it.
Uncle Bug, the one who recently had emergency gall bladder surgery, wouldn't let anyone, not even his sisters, who all love visiting people in the hospital almost as much as they love playing bingo and going to the casino, because--get this--they had him on a morphine drip. I still don't see what that has to do with visitors, but that's Uncle Bug.
I've been trying to talk one of my old(er) aunts into going to JoAnn Fabrics with me tomorrow. Why? Tomorrow is Senior Day and everyone 60 years of age or older, and who has state identification to verify their age, will receive 20% off just about everything in the store. Even sale prices and clearance. I would love to get some yarn and some fabric, and I would love to get 20% off of it. So far I've had little luck in talking any of them into going with me. Now if I was trying to get a partner for a casino run they'd be all over me.
HSM's #1 son, the one who was left behind to attend UofM, is searching for a job. He needs at least $10 an hour, preferably $12 or more, and 40 hours per week. He's been trying to not have to take out any student loans and so far he's been successful. But he needs a job in order to keep his dream going. He's resigned to the fact that he'll probably need student loans for law school, but until then.....Anyone in the metro Detroit area, and I don't mean the City of Detroit, who would like to hire a bright, young man, give me a holler-----248-615-1300 or tawny_ford@webtv.net.
And speaking of the City of Detroit, they've cut the pay of their police officers by 20%. And it's not like they were making much before the cut. I figure, unless a major miracle occurs, the Detroit police officers will end up having to resort to graft and robbing the dope dealers in order to make their mortgage payments, etc. New hires, I believe, will make a mere $12 an hour. Wrong wrong wrong.
So that's it for today. You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Monday, September 10, 2012
We Are Family
As you know, while I don't have any brothers or sisters, I have a humongous extended family. I have so many extended family members that even though I don't talk or associate with at least 50+ of them, I still have hundreds I do interact with. Sometimes I think of them as a nation, Ford Nation. Sometimes, when I'm feeling benevolent, or when at least the majority of them haven't stomped on my last nerve, I wish I could live in a family compound with them, ala the Kennedy family at Hyannis Port. And then there are the days when I think calling in an air strike on Ford Nation would be the best thing anyone could do.
This past weekend out of the blue I got a call from one of my uncles. Not my favorite uncle, Uncle David. Nope. And not my least favorite uncle, the one that's in prison. He can't call me any more. I had my phone number blocked at the institution. One of the many others. Uncle Bug.
Caller id showed it was coming from the hospital. My first thought was--I don't owe them any money, why is the hospital calling me? Turned out it was Uncle Bug, calling to say he was going in for emergency gall bladder surgery in two hours. He wanted to let someone in the family know where he was so just in case he didn't make it, well, we'd know where to collect his body from. All righty.
I called Uncle David to let him know where Bug was. And to tell him I was going over to the hospital to sit with him so he wouldn't have to be alone. No, said Uncle David, don't you waste your time driving over there. Huh??? He reminded me that the only time I ever heard from Bug was when he needed something. Like three monthes ago when he called to borrow some money that he never paid me back. Like usual. He'll be just fine, Uncle David said, let his buddies and his lady friends deal with him, stay home. So that's what I did.
On another note (more extended family, although not blood related), today I went to Meijers, a huge grocery store/discount store (think Super Walmart, but manymanymany years before Super Walmart came into being) and purchased UofM tshirts, hats and a tote bag to mail to HSM and her brood. So they can represent down in the land of Alabama. I saw some really cool I Am Detroit tshirts, too, but she's not wild about Detroit so I had to pass them up. Maybe a glimpse of home via UofM gear will brighten their days.
Well, that's it for today. You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
tawny_ford@webtv.net
248-615-1300
This past weekend out of the blue I got a call from one of my uncles. Not my favorite uncle, Uncle David. Nope. And not my least favorite uncle, the one that's in prison. He can't call me any more. I had my phone number blocked at the institution. One of the many others. Uncle Bug.
Caller id showed it was coming from the hospital. My first thought was--I don't owe them any money, why is the hospital calling me? Turned out it was Uncle Bug, calling to say he was going in for emergency gall bladder surgery in two hours. He wanted to let someone in the family know where he was so just in case he didn't make it, well, we'd know where to collect his body from. All righty.
I called Uncle David to let him know where Bug was. And to tell him I was going over to the hospital to sit with him so he wouldn't have to be alone. No, said Uncle David, don't you waste your time driving over there. Huh??? He reminded me that the only time I ever heard from Bug was when he needed something. Like three monthes ago when he called to borrow some money that he never paid me back. Like usual. He'll be just fine, Uncle David said, let his buddies and his lady friends deal with him, stay home. So that's what I did.
On another note (more extended family, although not blood related), today I went to Meijers, a huge grocery store/discount store (think Super Walmart, but manymanymany years before Super Walmart came into being) and purchased UofM tshirts, hats and a tote bag to mail to HSM and her brood. So they can represent down in the land of Alabama. I saw some really cool I Am Detroit tshirts, too, but she's not wild about Detroit so I had to pass them up. Maybe a glimpse of home via UofM gear will brighten their days.
Well, that's it for today. You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
tawny_ford@webtv.net
248-615-1300
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Under Seige
That's how I'm feeling lately, like my house is under seige. Why? Well, let me tell you....
As you know, I have a cat, Kathleen. She and I have been together since she was around 10 weeks old. She's 16 years old now. And beautiful. And sweet. And just about the smartest cat in the whole wide world. Kathleen is an indoor cat. She has always been an indoor cat. I think, unless you live way out in the country, it is totally irresponsible to let your cat roam free and loose outdoors. Apparently that's just my way of thinking and not a universal concept.
It seems like there are always stray cats, or cats whose owners let them outside to roam and pillage the neighborhood. And it seems as if more than my fair share of them end up in my backyard. Over the years I have been blessed to know Glo (my name for her), Stray Kitty and Grey Kitty. All of them homeless.
Glo was the first one I found a home for. Glo deserved to have a home and someone to love her. She did everything in her power to get me to take her into my home but I couldn't, Kathleen was not going for it. Then along came Stray Kitty last summer. She was exceptionally beautiful, sweet and it was painfully apparent that her previous owners had just booted her out the door and left her to survive on her own. Stray Kitty had no clue how to fend for herself. I wanted to bring her in, I liked her so much, but Kathleen is accustomed to being an only cat and she's old, so I found Stray Kitty a home. A good home. With a nice couple I knew from online who were local. Stray Kitty has been renamed and is thriving with their love. Grey Kitty, now that's a different story. I think it's feral. It'll sit as close as ten feet from me outdoors, and has for two years, but won't come any closer. Oh well.
Lately there's been another orange cat in my yard. At first I thought maybe Stray Kitty had somehow gotten loose from her new house and found her way back to me, but I emailed her new family and nope, not the case. This new orange cat is a loose cannon. I assume it's a female but I don't know this to be a fact. I also assume she's a stray but I don't know this to be a fact either. I just know that I only see her in the wee hours of the morning and after dusk settles in. Either she's homeless or her people put her outside for the night.
Anyway, numerous times this new orange cat has attacked my house. Attacked as in jumped up to the window, dug her nails into my screen and had a spitting, snarling, yeowling scream fest at my dear sweet Kathleen. It has been horribly upsetting, both for Kathleen and for me, each time it's happened. I'm at a loss as to why this cat is bothering us (yes, I've taken it personal). Since Kathleen never goes outside, is neutered and has no prior interactions with this, I liken it to the neighborhood bully picking on the homeschool kid. My friend, HSM, says yeah, let a neighborhood bully pick on her homeschool kids and watch them get their as beat.
This morning the orange cat attacked at 7am and woke me and Kathleen up. Kathleen, ever the warrior even though she's never had a 'real' fight in her life, hit the bedroom window screen and gave as good as she got, maybe better. It was a wild, loud, nasty mess.
When I hollered out the window the orange cat, while not exiting my yard, did move about ten feet from the window. I then went to pet Kathleen, to calm her down, comfort her, tell her she did a good job. Kathleen obviously was not in the mind set to calm down yet because she turned to me still snarling, still yeowling and spitting, and smacked the crap out of my right hand. Nope, she doesn't have claws so I didn't get tore up. But she hit hard. I mean really hard for a small cat. My right hand is always a bit tender anyway from just below the thumb to my wrist, I think it's maybe arthritis, all those years of tending bar and having my hand in the icy bins. I didn't surprise me a bit, after feeling the power behind Kathleen's smack, when my hand turned a lovely shade of bruise.
Not only do I not know why this darn cat is attacking our house, but I don't know how to make it stop. Someone suggested I spray it with water out the window but I'd have to strap a water source to a tool belt in order to have it with me when I needed it because you never know when this crap is going to occur. I thought about shooting it but you can't discharge a fire arm in the city. Unless you're in mortal danger and I don't think we're in mortal danger from this stupid cat. I thought about trying to poison it but I can't bring myself to do that.
Have you ever had anything like this happen? If so, how did you deal with it? I need advice, please. tawny_ford@webtv.net or 248-615-1300.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
As you know, I have a cat, Kathleen. She and I have been together since she was around 10 weeks old. She's 16 years old now. And beautiful. And sweet. And just about the smartest cat in the whole wide world. Kathleen is an indoor cat. She has always been an indoor cat. I think, unless you live way out in the country, it is totally irresponsible to let your cat roam free and loose outdoors. Apparently that's just my way of thinking and not a universal concept.
It seems like there are always stray cats, or cats whose owners let them outside to roam and pillage the neighborhood. And it seems as if more than my fair share of them end up in my backyard. Over the years I have been blessed to know Glo (my name for her), Stray Kitty and Grey Kitty. All of them homeless.
Glo was the first one I found a home for. Glo deserved to have a home and someone to love her. She did everything in her power to get me to take her into my home but I couldn't, Kathleen was not going for it. Then along came Stray Kitty last summer. She was exceptionally beautiful, sweet and it was painfully apparent that her previous owners had just booted her out the door and left her to survive on her own. Stray Kitty had no clue how to fend for herself. I wanted to bring her in, I liked her so much, but Kathleen is accustomed to being an only cat and she's old, so I found Stray Kitty a home. A good home. With a nice couple I knew from online who were local. Stray Kitty has been renamed and is thriving with their love. Grey Kitty, now that's a different story. I think it's feral. It'll sit as close as ten feet from me outdoors, and has for two years, but won't come any closer. Oh well.
Lately there's been another orange cat in my yard. At first I thought maybe Stray Kitty had somehow gotten loose from her new house and found her way back to me, but I emailed her new family and nope, not the case. This new orange cat is a loose cannon. I assume it's a female but I don't know this to be a fact. I also assume she's a stray but I don't know this to be a fact either. I just know that I only see her in the wee hours of the morning and after dusk settles in. Either she's homeless or her people put her outside for the night.
Anyway, numerous times this new orange cat has attacked my house. Attacked as in jumped up to the window, dug her nails into my screen and had a spitting, snarling, yeowling scream fest at my dear sweet Kathleen. It has been horribly upsetting, both for Kathleen and for me, each time it's happened. I'm at a loss as to why this cat is bothering us (yes, I've taken it personal). Since Kathleen never goes outside, is neutered and has no prior interactions with this, I liken it to the neighborhood bully picking on the homeschool kid. My friend, HSM, says yeah, let a neighborhood bully pick on her homeschool kids and watch them get their as beat.
This morning the orange cat attacked at 7am and woke me and Kathleen up. Kathleen, ever the warrior even though she's never had a 'real' fight in her life, hit the bedroom window screen and gave as good as she got, maybe better. It was a wild, loud, nasty mess.
When I hollered out the window the orange cat, while not exiting my yard, did move about ten feet from the window. I then went to pet Kathleen, to calm her down, comfort her, tell her she did a good job. Kathleen obviously was not in the mind set to calm down yet because she turned to me still snarling, still yeowling and spitting, and smacked the crap out of my right hand. Nope, she doesn't have claws so I didn't get tore up. But she hit hard. I mean really hard for a small cat. My right hand is always a bit tender anyway from just below the thumb to my wrist, I think it's maybe arthritis, all those years of tending bar and having my hand in the icy bins. I didn't surprise me a bit, after feeling the power behind Kathleen's smack, when my hand turned a lovely shade of bruise.
Not only do I not know why this darn cat is attacking our house, but I don't know how to make it stop. Someone suggested I spray it with water out the window but I'd have to strap a water source to a tool belt in order to have it with me when I needed it because you never know when this crap is going to occur. I thought about shooting it but you can't discharge a fire arm in the city. Unless you're in mortal danger and I don't think we're in mortal danger from this stupid cat. I thought about trying to poison it but I can't bring myself to do that.
Have you ever had anything like this happen? If so, how did you deal with it? I need advice, please. tawny_ford@webtv.net or 248-615-1300.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
September Has Finally Arrived
What a stupid, yet dramatic title for a blog post, huh? That's what happens when I can't think of anything snappy (smile). But it is true, it is September, finally.
So how was your Labor Day Weekend? Did you go any place? Bbq?
I can say yes to both. Saturday night I had dinner with HSM's #1 son and his girlfriend. She made lasagne (from scratch, she didn't heat up Stouffers) and a nice salad with cauliflower, radishes, tomatoes, cukes, etc. I am a sucker for a good salad so I was a happy camper. And her lasagne, well, I just always add a layer of cheese on the very top/last layer of noodles when I make it, but she whipped up an egg, some cottage cheese and some freshly grated parmesan and spread it on the top. Gosh but it was good! She gave me leftovers to take home, of salad and lasagne, and, don't laugh, but that's what I had for breakfast yesterday morning. Look, anybody can eat Fruit Loops. I had lasagne!
Monday I bbq'd in my backyard. Chicken wings, sliced potatoes with onions in foil packets, and beans with hamburger and onions and cole slaw. I cooked enough so I have leftovers for a few days.
Have you ever used an ereader? #1 son's girlfriend loaned me hers. It's not the one from Barnes + Noble, it's the other name brand. It was awfully nice of her. You know me, I'm pretty much the last one to take up with new technology so first she had to give me a lengthy tutorial on how to use it. Yes, I'm slow to adapt, so what? Last night I read almost a whole 'book' on it. No, I don't recall the name of the book, it was one I wasn't familiar with. It was about phone sex. Go figure. The heroine was a phone sex worker who was intent on solving the murder of her best client. What a girl (smile). You know, while it's convenient as can be to have a gazillion books in a device the size of a small notebook or diary, it's also, I don't know, not quite right. I guess I'm old school but I like the feel of a 'real book' in my hands. And to tell you the truth, I'm a little concerned that if these ereaders become terribly popular then 'real' books will disappear like 'real' newspapers have. Something to think about.
Did you watch any of the Democratic National Convention last night? I tuned in to hear Michelle Obama speak. She sure seems like a nice lady, and she dresses well, too. I liked the way she spoke about her daughters and her husband. I plan to watch the night President Obama speaks, too.
Speaking of the President, you know what I'm sick and tired of? Well, two things. One, people talking that stupid stuff about where he was born. Birthers have got to be some of the stupidest people on the planet. Two, people insisting he's a Muslim. Remember back when he was going to church in Chicago? to the Christian church where Reverend Wright was the pastor? and people complained so bitterly about Wright's politics that the Obamas switched churches? Now he's at another Christian church and people fuss that he's a Muslim. You know what I think? Well, I'm going to tell you. I think people fuss that he's a Muslim because they don't have the balls to say he's a ni--er in public. So, because they still want to be insulting to him, they say he's a Muslim. They think calling someone a Muslim is a dirty, nasty insult. You know, like how people used to call people faggots when they wanted to insult them, even though the people weren't homosexuals. Of course now you can't say stuff like that. That's a hate crime to pick on/insult homosexuals.
I'll tell you what. It's not an insult to be called a Muslim. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a Muslim if you are one. I should know, I am a Muslim.
Remember when the US (under President Bush's leadership) insisted, swore up and down, their hands on a stack of Bibles, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction? And so we went in and laid waste to that country, the people, everything they held dear. Remember that? And remember how there weren't any weapons of mass destruction? Just like how Saddam said? Well, that's eerily familar. President Obama says he's not a Muslim but idiots swear he is.
But do you know what Muslim means? It means a person who submits their will to God. I'm thinking, particularly if y'all want to get to heaven someday, that it might be a good thing to start submitting your will to God. Just a thought.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
So how was your Labor Day Weekend? Did you go any place? Bbq?
I can say yes to both. Saturday night I had dinner with HSM's #1 son and his girlfriend. She made lasagne (from scratch, she didn't heat up Stouffers) and a nice salad with cauliflower, radishes, tomatoes, cukes, etc. I am a sucker for a good salad so I was a happy camper. And her lasagne, well, I just always add a layer of cheese on the very top/last layer of noodles when I make it, but she whipped up an egg, some cottage cheese and some freshly grated parmesan and spread it on the top. Gosh but it was good! She gave me leftovers to take home, of salad and lasagne, and, don't laugh, but that's what I had for breakfast yesterday morning. Look, anybody can eat Fruit Loops. I had lasagne!
Monday I bbq'd in my backyard. Chicken wings, sliced potatoes with onions in foil packets, and beans with hamburger and onions and cole slaw. I cooked enough so I have leftovers for a few days.
Have you ever used an ereader? #1 son's girlfriend loaned me hers. It's not the one from Barnes + Noble, it's the other name brand. It was awfully nice of her. You know me, I'm pretty much the last one to take up with new technology so first she had to give me a lengthy tutorial on how to use it. Yes, I'm slow to adapt, so what? Last night I read almost a whole 'book' on it. No, I don't recall the name of the book, it was one I wasn't familiar with. It was about phone sex. Go figure. The heroine was a phone sex worker who was intent on solving the murder of her best client. What a girl (smile). You know, while it's convenient as can be to have a gazillion books in a device the size of a small notebook or diary, it's also, I don't know, not quite right. I guess I'm old school but I like the feel of a 'real book' in my hands. And to tell you the truth, I'm a little concerned that if these ereaders become terribly popular then 'real' books will disappear like 'real' newspapers have. Something to think about.
Did you watch any of the Democratic National Convention last night? I tuned in to hear Michelle Obama speak. She sure seems like a nice lady, and she dresses well, too. I liked the way she spoke about her daughters and her husband. I plan to watch the night President Obama speaks, too.
Speaking of the President, you know what I'm sick and tired of? Well, two things. One, people talking that stupid stuff about where he was born. Birthers have got to be some of the stupidest people on the planet. Two, people insisting he's a Muslim. Remember back when he was going to church in Chicago? to the Christian church where Reverend Wright was the pastor? and people complained so bitterly about Wright's politics that the Obamas switched churches? Now he's at another Christian church and people fuss that he's a Muslim. You know what I think? Well, I'm going to tell you. I think people fuss that he's a Muslim because they don't have the balls to say he's a ni--er in public. So, because they still want to be insulting to him, they say he's a Muslim. They think calling someone a Muslim is a dirty, nasty insult. You know, like how people used to call people faggots when they wanted to insult them, even though the people weren't homosexuals. Of course now you can't say stuff like that. That's a hate crime to pick on/insult homosexuals.
I'll tell you what. It's not an insult to be called a Muslim. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a Muslim if you are one. I should know, I am a Muslim.
Remember when the US (under President Bush's leadership) insisted, swore up and down, their hands on a stack of Bibles, that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction? And so we went in and laid waste to that country, the people, everything they held dear. Remember that? And remember how there weren't any weapons of mass destruction? Just like how Saddam said? Well, that's eerily familar. President Obama says he's not a Muslim but idiots swear he is.
But do you know what Muslim means? It means a person who submits their will to God. I'm thinking, particularly if y'all want to get to heaven someday, that it might be a good thing to start submitting your will to God. Just a thought.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Back Again
Just when you thought I was on the miss tip---here I am again! So where have I been? Well......
About a week ago or so I fell. Yeah, I know, I'm as sure footed as a goat (smile)! Not! I was closing the window in the living room, I turned to leave and next thing I knew I was laying across the coffee table. I don't know what happened unless maybe my foot got tangled up in the leg of the coffee table and then BOOM! Not only did I smack the crap out of my leg, causing it to swell like crazy and turn wierd colors, but I did something to my foot, too. It swelled and turned crazy colors, too. I ended up at the doctors office on Monday because it wasn't getting any better and because I was tired of staying home with a foot too sore to drive. After xrays he said I had a severe ankle sprain. I am now wearing the most divine fashion accessory--an air boot (I think that's what you call them). He said if it's not all better in a week to come on back and he'd send me for an MRI. I'm feeling better, I'm driving (I'm at the library!) and I think it's going to be all right.
Have you been watching coverage of Hurricane Isaac on tv? I've been sort of glued to The Weather Channel where they have continuous coverage of it. Uncle David says I'm a ghoul because I like watching stuff like this as it's happening. And I'm not just fond of the hurricanes, I like watching big snows, too. Especially when they aren't happening where I live. And who knows, maybe I do have a touch of ghoul in me, but leastwise I'm not as bad as a friend of his is. Little Man (name changed to protect the guilty) goes to funerals like I go to the library. He doesn't even have to know the deceased. My uncle says it's because Little Man wants a free meal (he always attends the Dead Spread back at the family house), and I can believe that, but it's also because he gets off looking at dead people.
I've been particularly interested in Isaac because HSM and her family are living in rural Alabama. It appears as if the hurricane/tropical storm is going to miss Alabama, leastwise where they live, but they're going to get fall out from it--heavy rains, some winds, maybe tornadoes. They say Michigan, the lower peninsula, will get some of it as well. We can sure use the rain, although the crops are pretty much toast because of the drought. Tornadoes we don't need or want, but then who does?
I lucked out, although I don't believe in luck, and got a bunch of Michigan sweet corn from a place called Blocks which is out near Metro Airport. They sell it two bags for $5. You pack the bags yourself (no total shucking or you pay dearly) and if you know how to pack it right, well, you can get close to 40 ears in a bag. I bought six bags, over 200 ears, and shucked it, cooked it in a little butter, and then froze it in single servings for winter when freshsweet corn is but a distant memory.
They're talking close to 100 degrees for tomorrow around here. I hope they're wrong but I bet they're not. I was sure hoping the wicked heat was a memory, too. Anyway, because of that, I won't be out and about so no blog posting for me. And with it being the Labor Day weekend, and the library closed, I won't have a shot at this again until Tuesday at the earliest.
So I hope you have a wonderful and safe weekend!
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
tawny_ford@webtv.net
248-615-1300
About a week ago or so I fell. Yeah, I know, I'm as sure footed as a goat (smile)! Not! I was closing the window in the living room, I turned to leave and next thing I knew I was laying across the coffee table. I don't know what happened unless maybe my foot got tangled up in the leg of the coffee table and then BOOM! Not only did I smack the crap out of my leg, causing it to swell like crazy and turn wierd colors, but I did something to my foot, too. It swelled and turned crazy colors, too. I ended up at the doctors office on Monday because it wasn't getting any better and because I was tired of staying home with a foot too sore to drive. After xrays he said I had a severe ankle sprain. I am now wearing the most divine fashion accessory--an air boot (I think that's what you call them). He said if it's not all better in a week to come on back and he'd send me for an MRI. I'm feeling better, I'm driving (I'm at the library!) and I think it's going to be all right.
Have you been watching coverage of Hurricane Isaac on tv? I've been sort of glued to The Weather Channel where they have continuous coverage of it. Uncle David says I'm a ghoul because I like watching stuff like this as it's happening. And I'm not just fond of the hurricanes, I like watching big snows, too. Especially when they aren't happening where I live. And who knows, maybe I do have a touch of ghoul in me, but leastwise I'm not as bad as a friend of his is. Little Man (name changed to protect the guilty) goes to funerals like I go to the library. He doesn't even have to know the deceased. My uncle says it's because Little Man wants a free meal (he always attends the Dead Spread back at the family house), and I can believe that, but it's also because he gets off looking at dead people.
I've been particularly interested in Isaac because HSM and her family are living in rural Alabama. It appears as if the hurricane/tropical storm is going to miss Alabama, leastwise where they live, but they're going to get fall out from it--heavy rains, some winds, maybe tornadoes. They say Michigan, the lower peninsula, will get some of it as well. We can sure use the rain, although the crops are pretty much toast because of the drought. Tornadoes we don't need or want, but then who does?
I lucked out, although I don't believe in luck, and got a bunch of Michigan sweet corn from a place called Blocks which is out near Metro Airport. They sell it two bags for $5. You pack the bags yourself (no total shucking or you pay dearly) and if you know how to pack it right, well, you can get close to 40 ears in a bag. I bought six bags, over 200 ears, and shucked it, cooked it in a little butter, and then froze it in single servings for winter when freshsweet corn is but a distant memory.
They're talking close to 100 degrees for tomorrow around here. I hope they're wrong but I bet they're not. I was sure hoping the wicked heat was a memory, too. Anyway, because of that, I won't be out and about so no blog posting for me. And with it being the Labor Day weekend, and the library closed, I won't have a shot at this again until Tuesday at the earliest.
So I hope you have a wonderful and safe weekend!
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
tawny_ford@webtv.net
248-615-1300
Monday, August 20, 2012
Monday Monday
Over the weekend my local PBS station, as part of their fundraising efforts, showed a one hour best of the best of Ed Sullivan shows. It was like watching vintage rock 'n roll videos! The Mamas and the Papas, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, etc. I really enjoyed it. If it plays in your area, well, don't miss it. Even if you're not from that era of music, like me, I think you'll still be tapping your toes and clapping your hands, and maybe even singing along. One thing though I don't understand from the sixties--why did the girls scream all during the Beatles and the Stones performances? What's up with that? Okay, I get that they liked them, but.....? Hysteria is a scarey thing and they all looked hysterical to me. And to think they went on to become the mothers of a whole generation. That's scarey too.
Another PBS special for fund raising that ran this past weekend was a look back at Detroit. From the early 1900's to, I don't know, maybe present day. What I found fascinating was Russ Gibb talking about a venue he used to operate at Joy Road and Grand River, the Grande Ballroom. Geez, for such a small place, I forget how small but small by todays standards, he was able to secure all of the top talent of the 1960's. From Jefferson Airplane (were they called Jefferson Starship then?) to Janis Joplin to.....Wish I'd been around then and able to catch the shows at the Grande. It must have been something.
My Uncle David said that there were a lot of drugs being used at the Grande back then. Marijuanna, heroin, LSD. He said it was a bad place to be if you weren't a stoner. I asked him how did he know, did he used to go there? and he said no, it was predominately white people who went to the Grande. He said black people went to the 24 Karat Club. That's where all the big name black acts played. And where the who's who of Detroit black gangsters went to see and be seen.
Uncle David told me how there used to be big shows at the Fox Theater (in Detroit), especially at Christmas time. All the big Motown stars played together, act after act. He said for less than 2 bucks you had hours of music from the Temptations, Four Tops. Miracles, Supremes, etc. I wish I'd been around to see those shows, too.
On a more present note, Ramadan is over. Saturday night when the sun went down, locally around 8:31pm, that was it. I read on FaceBook, where I have more Muslim friends than I almost know what to do with, most of them ones I've never met, you know how FB is (smile), that the companions of Muhammed used to weep at the end of Ramadan. Evidently I am nowhere near as enlightened as they were because it never once occured to me to weep. I was kind of thankful that I'd managed to keep in tact all of my decisions during the 30 days and not mess up.
Saturday night I went to dinner with HSM's oldest son, the one who didn't go to Alabama with his family, who stayed behind to finish his degree at University of Michigan, and his girlfriend. We went to the Chinese Buffet. Typically, I would have dined with his whole family that night, so it only made sense that us 'orphans' got together for a celebratory meal. The Chinese Buffet is one of my favorite places to go and eat. Theirs too. #1 Son has a thing for General Tsao chicken and egg drop soup. His girlfriend likes Mongolian BBQ. I like everything. Okay, not the sushi (even if it made to order) and not the pork (I'm Muslim, remember), but everything else.
Most Muslims celebrate big time the next day, the day after Ramadan ends. They call it Eid. It's a celebration. We all, my Muslim cohorts and I, have never done that. Our big 'party' is when the sun goes down on the last day of Ramadan.
This was the best Ramadan I have ever had. I got the most out of it. Why? I don't know. I guess God blessed me. That's the only answer I can come up with. It's not like I did anything different, I don't think. Whatever caused it, I am thankful. And I hope next Ramadan, if it be the Will of God, I will have an even better one.
You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Another PBS special for fund raising that ran this past weekend was a look back at Detroit. From the early 1900's to, I don't know, maybe present day. What I found fascinating was Russ Gibb talking about a venue he used to operate at Joy Road and Grand River, the Grande Ballroom. Geez, for such a small place, I forget how small but small by todays standards, he was able to secure all of the top talent of the 1960's. From Jefferson Airplane (were they called Jefferson Starship then?) to Janis Joplin to.....Wish I'd been around then and able to catch the shows at the Grande. It must have been something.
My Uncle David said that there were a lot of drugs being used at the Grande back then. Marijuanna, heroin, LSD. He said it was a bad place to be if you weren't a stoner. I asked him how did he know, did he used to go there? and he said no, it was predominately white people who went to the Grande. He said black people went to the 24 Karat Club. That's where all the big name black acts played. And where the who's who of Detroit black gangsters went to see and be seen.
Uncle David told me how there used to be big shows at the Fox Theater (in Detroit), especially at Christmas time. All the big Motown stars played together, act after act. He said for less than 2 bucks you had hours of music from the Temptations, Four Tops. Miracles, Supremes, etc. I wish I'd been around to see those shows, too.
On a more present note, Ramadan is over. Saturday night when the sun went down, locally around 8:31pm, that was it. I read on FaceBook, where I have more Muslim friends than I almost know what to do with, most of them ones I've never met, you know how FB is (smile), that the companions of Muhammed used to weep at the end of Ramadan. Evidently I am nowhere near as enlightened as they were because it never once occured to me to weep. I was kind of thankful that I'd managed to keep in tact all of my decisions during the 30 days and not mess up.
Saturday night I went to dinner with HSM's oldest son, the one who didn't go to Alabama with his family, who stayed behind to finish his degree at University of Michigan, and his girlfriend. We went to the Chinese Buffet. Typically, I would have dined with his whole family that night, so it only made sense that us 'orphans' got together for a celebratory meal. The Chinese Buffet is one of my favorite places to go and eat. Theirs too. #1 Son has a thing for General Tsao chicken and egg drop soup. His girlfriend likes Mongolian BBQ. I like everything. Okay, not the sushi (even if it made to order) and not the pork (I'm Muslim, remember), but everything else.
Most Muslims celebrate big time the next day, the day after Ramadan ends. They call it Eid. It's a celebration. We all, my Muslim cohorts and I, have never done that. Our big 'party' is when the sun goes down on the last day of Ramadan.
This was the best Ramadan I have ever had. I got the most out of it. Why? I don't know. I guess God blessed me. That's the only answer I can come up with. It's not like I did anything different, I don't think. Whatever caused it, I am thankful. And I hope next Ramadan, if it be the Will of God, I will have an even better one.
You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
tawny_ford@webtv.net
Friday, August 17, 2012
More On The South, This Time Mississippi
Part of my family is from Mississippi. A little bitty town near the Delta. Right outside of Jackson. I've never been there, not ever, but I've heard a gazillion stories about the town and what it was like growing up there, both before and after the Civil Rights Movement. Being as I am a Northern girl, and one who has never had a yen for living in the Deep South, not a single one of the stories ever sounded good to me. Not even one.
My Uncle David told me about how as kids , he and his siblings would run behind a truck that sprayed the streets. Back then, this would have been in the late 1950's, nobody really knew what they were spraying. Okay, the officials knew but the poor folks who lived in those areas didn't have a clue. The kids just thought it was fun, something to do on a hot summer day, run in the mist/wetness that came out of the trucks. Turns out it was some sort of chemical spray, probably some kind of DDT. Wow, that was good for the kids. Not.
I've heard stories about how he and his siblings would go into the fields, as kids, and work, day laborers, pickers, whatever you want to call them. They picked sweet potatoes and cotton and whatever else the land owners needed picked for harvest. They got paid by the pound and, being kids, they were lucky if they made enough per day to buy a little package of soda crackers and a piece of bologna to eat as their lunch. Their parents picked too. Back then sometimes that was the only work my grandparents were able to get and they needed the money desperately in order to feed their 12 kids and keep a roof over them. Even if the house had a dirt floor in it and an outhouse out back.
There have been countless funerals over the years and I could have gone back for them, but I didn't. The thought of riding 15+ hours stuffed into a vehicle with relatives, some of whom I can barely tolerate when I have miles seperating us, was never a draw. The last funeral that I missed, Uncle Richard's, my cousins husband, Bob, drove his motorhome down loaded with relartives and things got so bad en route that Bob had to pull over somewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee, or maybe Ohio, who remembers, and leave one of the cousins, dope fiend Michael, at the side of the interstate. Michael, back when he was smoking crack, was not a joy to be around. I hear he's been clean now for six monthes, but, while I wish him well, kicking crack is a mofo.
Anyway, yesterday a caravan went down to Mississippi. Okay, not exactly a caravan. Uncle Ted drove his motorhome and he packed it whoever wanted to go. Then his AC broke down before he got out of Michigan. Needless to say, I didn't make the trip.
The purpose of this trip is pre-funeral. See, Uncle Walter is sick. Sick and he's going to die, it's only a matter of time, he's already in hospice care. He has Lou Gehrigs Disease. Uncle Walter, bless his heart, and I'm serious about that, doesn't want a funeral when he dies. He wants to be cremated. That way relatives won't feel obligated to make the long trek to Mississippi to plant him in the ground. I am so thankful for that because otherwise I know I'd have to go to his funeral. He's one of the have-to funeral family members. Don't ask why, just take my word for it.
Anyway, Aunt Gloria decided, since Uncle Walter didn't want the traditional kind of burial, why not go see him while he's still alive and tell him how much he's loved and going to be missed, etc. Uncle Ted and Aunt Anniebelle and Uncle Walter's daughter all piled into the motorhome, scooped up Aunt Gloria, and off they went from Detroit.. They drove straight thru, no hotel break overnight, few potty breaks, virtually none for food. They are hard core travellers. Uncle Johnny and Aunt Betty drove down from Kentucky, and Uncle Robert (never Bob) and Aunt Dot drove down from California. The only siblings missing are Uncle George (he lives in Minnesota), Uncle Ricky (who lives in Indiana), and Uncle David (who lives in Michigan). Uncle Mack is dead, he died some years ago, Aunt Sister is dead, she died earlier this year, and Uncle Larry is in still in prison. All of Uncle Walter's siblings accounted for.
Lou Gehrigs Disease isn't one of those that runs in families. It's situational, although I'm sure that's not the correct word. I did a Google on it a few weeks ago and it said you got it from inhaling chemicals (the burning oil fields in Iraq, for example), I forget the second way, and from certain drugs. Bingo.
Uncle Walter, for years, was on a cholesterol medication. Doctors push cholesterol meds like the dope man pushes heroin and cocaine and crack. Heck, they had me on it for almost a year after the heart attacks. Anyway, statins (cholesterold meds) can cause all sorts of side effects. Everything from muscle deterioration to psoriasis to diabets to Loue Gehrigs, etc.
If your doctor puts you on statins, please please please do some research before you pop that first pill. Look into diet changes, physical exercise, vitamins and supplements. Uncle Walter has Lou Gehrigs Disease and he's going to die. And it's not a pretty way to die either. All because his doctor wanted to get his cholesterol down.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
My Uncle David told me about how as kids , he and his siblings would run behind a truck that sprayed the streets. Back then, this would have been in the late 1950's, nobody really knew what they were spraying. Okay, the officials knew but the poor folks who lived in those areas didn't have a clue. The kids just thought it was fun, something to do on a hot summer day, run in the mist/wetness that came out of the trucks. Turns out it was some sort of chemical spray, probably some kind of DDT. Wow, that was good for the kids. Not.
I've heard stories about how he and his siblings would go into the fields, as kids, and work, day laborers, pickers, whatever you want to call them. They picked sweet potatoes and cotton and whatever else the land owners needed picked for harvest. They got paid by the pound and, being kids, they were lucky if they made enough per day to buy a little package of soda crackers and a piece of bologna to eat as their lunch. Their parents picked too. Back then sometimes that was the only work my grandparents were able to get and they needed the money desperately in order to feed their 12 kids and keep a roof over them. Even if the house had a dirt floor in it and an outhouse out back.
There have been countless funerals over the years and I could have gone back for them, but I didn't. The thought of riding 15+ hours stuffed into a vehicle with relatives, some of whom I can barely tolerate when I have miles seperating us, was never a draw. The last funeral that I missed, Uncle Richard's, my cousins husband, Bob, drove his motorhome down loaded with relartives and things got so bad en route that Bob had to pull over somewhere in Kentucky or Tennessee, or maybe Ohio, who remembers, and leave one of the cousins, dope fiend Michael, at the side of the interstate. Michael, back when he was smoking crack, was not a joy to be around. I hear he's been clean now for six monthes, but, while I wish him well, kicking crack is a mofo.
Anyway, yesterday a caravan went down to Mississippi. Okay, not exactly a caravan. Uncle Ted drove his motorhome and he packed it whoever wanted to go. Then his AC broke down before he got out of Michigan. Needless to say, I didn't make the trip.
The purpose of this trip is pre-funeral. See, Uncle Walter is sick. Sick and he's going to die, it's only a matter of time, he's already in hospice care. He has Lou Gehrigs Disease. Uncle Walter, bless his heart, and I'm serious about that, doesn't want a funeral when he dies. He wants to be cremated. That way relatives won't feel obligated to make the long trek to Mississippi to plant him in the ground. I am so thankful for that because otherwise I know I'd have to go to his funeral. He's one of the have-to funeral family members. Don't ask why, just take my word for it.
Anyway, Aunt Gloria decided, since Uncle Walter didn't want the traditional kind of burial, why not go see him while he's still alive and tell him how much he's loved and going to be missed, etc. Uncle Ted and Aunt Anniebelle and Uncle Walter's daughter all piled into the motorhome, scooped up Aunt Gloria, and off they went from Detroit.. They drove straight thru, no hotel break overnight, few potty breaks, virtually none for food. They are hard core travellers. Uncle Johnny and Aunt Betty drove down from Kentucky, and Uncle Robert (never Bob) and Aunt Dot drove down from California. The only siblings missing are Uncle George (he lives in Minnesota), Uncle Ricky (who lives in Indiana), and Uncle David (who lives in Michigan). Uncle Mack is dead, he died some years ago, Aunt Sister is dead, she died earlier this year, and Uncle Larry is in still in prison. All of Uncle Walter's siblings accounted for.
Lou Gehrigs Disease isn't one of those that runs in families. It's situational, although I'm sure that's not the correct word. I did a Google on it a few weeks ago and it said you got it from inhaling chemicals (the burning oil fields in Iraq, for example), I forget the second way, and from certain drugs. Bingo.
Uncle Walter, for years, was on a cholesterol medication. Doctors push cholesterol meds like the dope man pushes heroin and cocaine and crack. Heck, they had me on it for almost a year after the heart attacks. Anyway, statins (cholesterold meds) can cause all sorts of side effects. Everything from muscle deterioration to psoriasis to diabets to Loue Gehrigs, etc.
If your doctor puts you on statins, please please please do some research before you pop that first pill. Look into diet changes, physical exercise, vitamins and supplements. Uncle Walter has Lou Gehrigs Disease and he's going to die. And it's not a pretty way to die either. All because his doctor wanted to get his cholesterol down.
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Two Days in A Row! Must Be A Record!
Today there is no one using the computers. How wierd, but how wonderful for me. I was able to score my favorite seat, the one in the last row of computers, the one where no one else (if there was anyone else in the computer lab) can see what I'm writing. Yes, I know, it's not like this stuff is top secret or anything, but still. It's wierd to look around and see everyone else staring at my screen. Just because they have writers block, or a severe case of the nosies.....
So yesterday I told you that HSM and her brood moved to rural Alabama. I wish I could say I was just joshing so as to have something to write about but the sad and sorry truth is--they moved. It was mid-May when they rolled out with two huge do-it-yourself moving vans and HSM's vehicle on one of those, I don't know what you call them, things you drive your vehicle onto so it can be towed without racking up mileage.
ABM, who had a good job here in Detroit working at a body shop, got offered a perfectly awesome job doing body work in rural Alabama. I know, who'd have thunk he could make more money in rural Alabama than in Detroit. But he can.
They're renting a house down there. A nice one. I've seen photos. Big kitchen, deck off the back of the house, etc. And, maybe best of all, when something goes wrong, and there's always something needing fixing on a house, it's not their problem. They just pick up the phone and holler at the landlord. Sounds like heaven to me. So far they've only had to bother the landlord twice, both times the AC went out. The AC guy came out the first time and fixed something but it wasn't the right something so another fellow had to come out. Turns out it was the thermostat. Fortunately they weren't totally without air. Aside from the central AC system, there are also two in-the-wall units, but HSm says they're expensive to run. She says a house that size needs two central air type AC units to effectively cool a house that size. She says when they buy a house down there eventually they'll have two compressors (or whatever they're called).
At first the sun and the heat was all but killing them. HSM said they all got headaches when they went outside because the sun was so much brighter down there. They ended up purchasing black-out drapes for all of the bedroom windows (in addition to the blinds that came with the house) and darkening curtains for the rest of the windows. And putting up a tinted removeable plastic-type material on door windows, etc.
One of the next obstacles, or maybe things to get used to would be a better way to phrase it, was grocery shopping. Yes, there are stores in rural Alabama. Walmart (which is like the Southern equivalent of a northern shopping mall), Publix, Winn Dixie, Piggily Wiggily, etc. But because the South isn't the Midwest, well, things she normally bought up here don't exsist down there. Or at least she hasn't located a local source for them yet.
Never one to be thwarted at anything she's doing, HSM now bakes her own pita bread from scratch, her own soft rye bread, etc. The local bakery which always has a sign on it that says open but it never is (?) has forced her to bake cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, bread, etc. from scratch. She even makes their own donuts. Necessity and mother of invention.
There's a Costco and a Sam's Club, both in Hoover, the nearest big town to them, still a long ways away, so once a month she makes the drive to get the staples that seem to be universal north or south. Turkey bacon from Sam's. I don't recall the brand name but I buy it here and it's wonderful. About $8 or $9 for a two pound package. Lay-down case if you're looking for it. The slices are big and meaty and two slices is enough for a TBLT. She was thrilled to see Alabama Sam's sells it, too.
The kids have made friends. They play basketball in the evenings when the sun isn't as bright and it's cooled off some. Two of her son, #2 and #4, run at night. They say the only other people they ever see running are middle-aged folks. No teens (?). HSM is still home schooling them so changing schools isn't an issue.
#1 son is up here still. He's at University of Michigan. They wanted him to move with them but they also wanted him to graduate from UofM. Conundrum.
Well, that's it for today. The clock on the computer says my time is just about up.
You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
So yesterday I told you that HSM and her brood moved to rural Alabama. I wish I could say I was just joshing so as to have something to write about but the sad and sorry truth is--they moved. It was mid-May when they rolled out with two huge do-it-yourself moving vans and HSM's vehicle on one of those, I don't know what you call them, things you drive your vehicle onto so it can be towed without racking up mileage.
ABM, who had a good job here in Detroit working at a body shop, got offered a perfectly awesome job doing body work in rural Alabama. I know, who'd have thunk he could make more money in rural Alabama than in Detroit. But he can.
They're renting a house down there. A nice one. I've seen photos. Big kitchen, deck off the back of the house, etc. And, maybe best of all, when something goes wrong, and there's always something needing fixing on a house, it's not their problem. They just pick up the phone and holler at the landlord. Sounds like heaven to me. So far they've only had to bother the landlord twice, both times the AC went out. The AC guy came out the first time and fixed something but it wasn't the right something so another fellow had to come out. Turns out it was the thermostat. Fortunately they weren't totally without air. Aside from the central AC system, there are also two in-the-wall units, but HSm says they're expensive to run. She says a house that size needs two central air type AC units to effectively cool a house that size. She says when they buy a house down there eventually they'll have two compressors (or whatever they're called).
At first the sun and the heat was all but killing them. HSM said they all got headaches when they went outside because the sun was so much brighter down there. They ended up purchasing black-out drapes for all of the bedroom windows (in addition to the blinds that came with the house) and darkening curtains for the rest of the windows. And putting up a tinted removeable plastic-type material on door windows, etc.
One of the next obstacles, or maybe things to get used to would be a better way to phrase it, was grocery shopping. Yes, there are stores in rural Alabama. Walmart (which is like the Southern equivalent of a northern shopping mall), Publix, Winn Dixie, Piggily Wiggily, etc. But because the South isn't the Midwest, well, things she normally bought up here don't exsist down there. Or at least she hasn't located a local source for them yet.
Never one to be thwarted at anything she's doing, HSM now bakes her own pita bread from scratch, her own soft rye bread, etc. The local bakery which always has a sign on it that says open but it never is (?) has forced her to bake cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, bread, etc. from scratch. She even makes their own donuts. Necessity and mother of invention.
There's a Costco and a Sam's Club, both in Hoover, the nearest big town to them, still a long ways away, so once a month she makes the drive to get the staples that seem to be universal north or south. Turkey bacon from Sam's. I don't recall the brand name but I buy it here and it's wonderful. About $8 or $9 for a two pound package. Lay-down case if you're looking for it. The slices are big and meaty and two slices is enough for a TBLT. She was thrilled to see Alabama Sam's sells it, too.
The kids have made friends. They play basketball in the evenings when the sun isn't as bright and it's cooled off some. Two of her son, #2 and #4, run at night. They say the only other people they ever see running are middle-aged folks. No teens (?). HSM is still home schooling them so changing schools isn't an issue.
#1 son is up here still. He's at University of Michigan. They wanted him to move with them but they also wanted him to graduate from UofM. Conundrum.
Well, that's it for today. The clock on the computer says my time is just about up.
You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Here We Go Again!
Hey, first post of the new year and it's only August! Better late than never.
One of my biggest problems with being able to post, or not being able to post, has been the lack of access to the library computers. Unemployment is raging here in Michigan and many folks need these machines to do job searches, post resumes, etc. And then there's the kids who want to use the library computers to surf without parental interruption. I always seemed to be vying for one of the machines with about 100 other people. But now, with school getting ready to start again, and the kids at the mall with their parents purchasing clothes and other back to school necessities, well, I stand a chance at gaining access. And I don't know where the unemployed are, maybe they've given up or are taking a break, I don't know, but thank goodness.
Anyway, lots and lots has happened since last December. I hardly know where to begin. Let's see.
Kathleen, my beloved cat of almost 16 years, has been ill. It started with any time she drank more than a few sips of water at a time, she would puke. According to my internet research (I have webtv at home, it's just not compatable with the blogger site) she had a blockage. She's almost 16 which is about a thousand years in human terms so surgery did not seem to be an option for us. I started restricting her water intake, giving her as much as she wanted but in small dosages, small enough that she wouldn't puke. That meant getting up at all hours of the night with her. Sleep and I were not in tandem. But it worked! Whatever was blocking her up disappeared! And she is her old self again. Thank God!
This is icky, this next news flash, so be prepared: In late December and mid-January there were two rats in my house. Not mice, rats. Big rats. They chewed their way in through the addition on the back of the house. I won't go into all the gory, gruesome details, I like you too much to put you through it. But if you really want to hear, well, give me a call and I'll tell you all about it. Thanks to the efforts of my Uncle David and the assistance of ABM and his #1 son, the rats were killed. Gruesome story about that, too. And the exterminator came and all is well, no more rats. Rats are awful.
Next, in May HSM (my best friend), ABM and three of their kids moved to Alabama. Yes, you read me right, Alabama. Over 12 hours away. Their #1 son, who attends University of Michigan. stayed behind at the family homestead in order to finish his degree.
Because the damn clock on the library computer is clicking away and my time is almost up I'll have to tell you about their Southern exploits next time.
Yes, the library computer gives you 60 minute intervals to do your business, but I lost lots of minutes because I couldn't remember how to use this doggone thing, it's been so long, and my cheat sheet is hopelessly outdated. Embarassingly enough, I had to have the librarian help me twice, much to the amusement of my fellow computer users. The things I go through for you (smile).
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
One of my biggest problems with being able to post, or not being able to post, has been the lack of access to the library computers. Unemployment is raging here in Michigan and many folks need these machines to do job searches, post resumes, etc. And then there's the kids who want to use the library computers to surf without parental interruption. I always seemed to be vying for one of the machines with about 100 other people. But now, with school getting ready to start again, and the kids at the mall with their parents purchasing clothes and other back to school necessities, well, I stand a chance at gaining access. And I don't know where the unemployed are, maybe they've given up or are taking a break, I don't know, but thank goodness.
Anyway, lots and lots has happened since last December. I hardly know where to begin. Let's see.
Kathleen, my beloved cat of almost 16 years, has been ill. It started with any time she drank more than a few sips of water at a time, she would puke. According to my internet research (I have webtv at home, it's just not compatable with the blogger site) she had a blockage. She's almost 16 which is about a thousand years in human terms so surgery did not seem to be an option for us. I started restricting her water intake, giving her as much as she wanted but in small dosages, small enough that she wouldn't puke. That meant getting up at all hours of the night with her. Sleep and I were not in tandem. But it worked! Whatever was blocking her up disappeared! And she is her old self again. Thank God!
This is icky, this next news flash, so be prepared: In late December and mid-January there were two rats in my house. Not mice, rats. Big rats. They chewed their way in through the addition on the back of the house. I won't go into all the gory, gruesome details, I like you too much to put you through it. But if you really want to hear, well, give me a call and I'll tell you all about it. Thanks to the efforts of my Uncle David and the assistance of ABM and his #1 son, the rats were killed. Gruesome story about that, too. And the exterminator came and all is well, no more rats. Rats are awful.
Next, in May HSM (my best friend), ABM and three of their kids moved to Alabama. Yes, you read me right, Alabama. Over 12 hours away. Their #1 son, who attends University of Michigan. stayed behind at the family homestead in order to finish his degree.
Because the damn clock on the library computer is clicking away and my time is almost up I'll have to tell you about their Southern exploits next time.
Yes, the library computer gives you 60 minute intervals to do your business, but I lost lots of minutes because I couldn't remember how to use this doggone thing, it's been so long, and my cheat sheet is hopelessly outdated. Embarassingly enough, I had to have the librarian help me twice, much to the amusement of my fellow computer users. The things I go through for you (smile).
Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.
hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300
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