So what I've been thinking about a lot today is how thankful I am that the freezing rain has not been as huge an issue here as it has been in other parts of the nation. What did I hear, 600,000 maybe? without power across the US. That's just awful. Here it is winter and most folks need their electricity to keep the furnace operating. A year or two ago the power went out here one wintery day and it was terrible. I stayed in bed as much as I could, Kathleen huddled under the covers with me, but it was still freezing cold. I hope and I pray that these people without power will have it restored as soon as possible, and that until it's restored they have a warm place to seek refuge at.

Here it's raining. If it wasn't for the fact that it's cold, temperature hovering right around 33, you'd think it was spring. I still haven't been out of the house and if I thought I was feeling buggy yesterday, well, yesterday was nothing compared with today (smile). Rumor has it tomorrow is going to be a nice day and if it is, I am so out of here for a few hours!

Aside from talking with you on the phone today, I've stayed busy doing laundry, reading and surfing the internet. I'm making progress on that book I told you about, Palace Walk, and I'm enjoying it. I also read the latest issue of A Little Good News, the newsletter of the Human Kindness Foundation www.humankindness.org that arrived in today's mail. I don'tknow if this latest issue, Christmas 2007, is online yet but you could always send them a donation and then they'd send it to your house. They're good people, Bo + Sita Lozoff, who run the HKF, and they sure could use a donation to keep their work going. Think about it, okay?

Another thing that showed in today's mail was a letter from Harpers magazine informing me that their December 2007 issue is the last one that will be accepting phone sex ads. Wow, that knocked the air out of me. No explanation as to why, just not going to do it any longer.

Okay, so if you know of any main stream magazines (NOT sex magazines) that accept phone sex ads in their classified section, please email me. tawnyford@webtv.net I am running out of places to advertise.

Background music for all this has been the new Alicia Keys cd. I've been playing it over and over. Right now it's my favorite cd.

Oh yeah, I've been pedaling that weird 'bike' I probably told you about. It's just the bottom part, the pedals, I bought it out of the JCPenney catalog months ago. I pedal for as long as I'm surfing the interneteach day. I'm just sitting surfing, might as well get some exercise too. The 'bike' is pulled up to my chair, the keyboard is on my lap, I'm exercising without even realizing it (smile). Yes, sometimes I can still fool myself (smile).

Well, I guess that's about it for now. I'm hungry. Can't think when my stomach is talking to me (smile).

Take care, be good, be careful, stay strong.

Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
tawnyford@webtv.net

Not going outside all day sure can make you wrong about the weather.Yesterday I told you that we dodged the bullet and never got the freezing rain the local weather forecasters were calling for. Well. Come to find out we did, just not in sufficient quantity to knock down tree limbs and power lines. My truck, as it turned out, was encased in ice and my driveway and sidewalks were slippery, as was the street out in front of my house. Oh well, I'm not perfect (smile).

I haven't left the house yet today. It's cold and damp and I just couldn't talk myself into it this morning. Yes, I'm feeling a little buggy from being in here all weekend, but that still hasn't been a good enough motivator for me. And with it going on 4pm, well, maybe I'll go to town tomorrow.

How am I posting this if I'm not at the library? Did I get a computer? My friend the homeschool mom, when I don't feel like travelling to the library for whatever reason, lets me send them to her from my webtv and then she cuts 'n pastes them at the blog site. Isn't that nice of her? I think so.

What's on your agenda for tonight? Football? Me, I'm going to watch theTLC cable channel show, Little People Big World. Last weeks episode, which I missed, comes on at 7 pm est, and the new episode follows at 8 pm est.

I've probably asked you this before but do you get Canadian televisionwhere you live? Living as I do in the metro Detroit area, not all that far from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, we have always been able to accessthe CBC channel. They have the cutest show, Little Mosque On ThePrairie, now in it's second season. If you get Canadian tv, check it out, you might enjoy it. If you don't, well, I do believe you can purchase season 1 on dvd.

My order from Femail Creations www.femailcreations.com arrived today and one of my items was a pink and white sign that says 'Put on your big girl panties and just deal with it!' I hung it on the wall over my desk in my office. It makes me laugh and I think it's a superb motivator for when there's something I have to do that I don't particularly want to do and I'm procrastinating.

One of the first things I purchased after I bought this business was a large, colorful poster showing a woman leaping from the edge of one cliff to another, a deep chasm beneath her. 'The Greap Leap Of Faith' is what it's titled. It reminded me of what I did--refinancing my home to purchase the phone sex business. It took a whole lot of faith in myselfto do such a thing.

Yes, I'm big on little signs and posters, how could you tell (smile)? They make me think, they motivate me, they make me laugh. There's one inthe bathroom that says 'Confidence is the feeling you have until you fully understand the situation'. How true is that one?

Some of them I pick up at garage sales for next to nothing, some I order from catalogs and online. They're all over the house. 'Life is fragile, handle with prayer', that's a good one and it's in the living room. This one's in my office, it's supposedly an old Gaelic blessing:

'May those who love us, love us
And those that don't love us,
May God turn their hearts;
And if He doesn't turn their hearts
May He turn their ankles
So we'll know them by their limping'

If only (smile).

Be good, be careful, take care, stay strong.

Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

As someone pointed out to me the other day on the phone, it sure does sound like I love living in this little town of mine. And I do love living in Farmington Hills, it's a great place. But, truth is, it's only a little town in my mind. Fact is, it's the most populous town/city in Oakland County, Michigan. According to the 2000 census there are 82,111 people living in FH.

Farmington Hills is sister city to Farmington, Michigan. A great manyservices are shared between them--school district, libraries, parks,etc. The city of Farmington has a population, according to the 2000census, of 10,423 people.

Lookswise the two cities are a donut. Don't laugh! Farmington Hills is the big round part, Farmington is the donut hole. I don't mean donut hole in a bad way. FH surrounds F, F is right in the middle, bordered on all sides by FH. See, the donut analogy fits (smile).

Compared to places like New York City, well, Farmington/Farmingon Hills, with their combined population of 92,534, is a teeny town. But comparedto Marquette, Michigan, the largest community in the whole entire upper peninsula of Michigan, population of 20,714, we're a megalopolis (smile).

I think I've mentioned to you that my friend, we'll call her Talulah, not her real name but it sure makes her sound oh so mysterious!, lives in Marquette, right? She made the big move up there in early fall after selling her home in Westland, MI (population 86,602). It's kind of funny her living up there.

See, and you may remember this, for several years I scouted properties in the upper peninsula. I wanted to live up there something fierce. Housing is much less expensive and I knew that whatever I sold my house down here for, the profit would enable me to buy a house up there outright and get me out from under a monthly house payment. Doesn't it sound heavenly to not make a house payment? It does to me. Anyway, I subscribed to the Mining Journal www.miningjournal.net the largest paper in the UP and devoted myself to reading the real estate section. I looked at properties online. I even enterred into dialogue with residents of the UP on internet message boards, all in an effort to find the right house in the right location. And I made several trips to the UP armed with real estate listings so, with the help of an agent, I could 'see' the houses up close and personal.

I figured, realisitically, since I was accustomed to living in the metro Detroit area, my best bet was to live in Marquette since that's the biggest city up there and has the widest selection of stores and restaurants. I toured some interesting houses. One, a huge 3,500 square foot home, priced at $75,000. A comparable home in FH would list at$300,000. But for all of the places I looked at, nothing was right, nothing called my name.

I said then to Talulah, you watch you'll end up living up there, not me and she said no way, she never wanted to live in the UP. And look how it turned out (smile).

If you're the least bit curious about Marquette, an old and interesting city located on the shores of the mighty Lake Superior, go to http://hunts-upguide.com/marquette.html Not only is there lots of good info there, but they link you to all sorts of places. Hunts is the best guide to the UP, look at all they have on the entire area. And then, of course, google is your friend too, you can run a search on Michigan's Upper Peninsula and be absolutely astounded at all of the wonderful and amazing things you find--from waterfalls to mountains to........

And that's it for me for today. It's cold and dreary, although not as bad weatherwise as it could have been, they were calling for feezing rain. Thank goodness it missed us. I always worry about losing power. No electricity in the summer is a royal pain in the patooty, but no electricity in the winter means the furnace doesn't work.

Take care, be good, be careful, stay strong.

Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

I have a confession to make. Here goes. My cat, the beautiful Kathleen, is a closet Christmas lights junkie. Oh, the shame of it (smile).

The neighbors who live two doors down and across the street have decorated the exterior of their home with gazillions of colored lights and those enormous blow-up Santa's, Rudolph's and three or four other characters whose names I don't know. Me, I don't look at their house at night because it's so bright and the lights flicker on and off at such a fast pace that it makes me feel queasy and I'm afraid I might suffer a seizure (smile). Kathleen, on the other hand, lays on the back of the couch with her head stuck between the panels of the drapes and stares and stares at the lights. I can't prove it because I fall asleep beforeshe does but I think she stays up at night until they turn them off. That would account for why she's so cranky in the morning (smile).

Be good, be careful, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

PS Speaking of Christmas decorations, there's an enormous store inFrankenmuth, Michigan (a small town maybe an hour and a half north of the metro Detroit area), Bronners www.bronners.com that is the place to go if you're looking for unique decorations. They bill themselves as the largest Christmas store in the world. Aside from decorations for the home, they also provide those enormous displays you see at the shopping malls. Even if you're not a Christmas practicioner, the store is still interesting to walk through because there is so much to see.

The town of Frankenmuth is one of the major tourist attractions in the state. It's nick named 'little Bavaria' because of the old German style of the buildings. It is famous for family-style chicken dinners. I know that sounds hokey, but you should see the crowds. They line up outside even when the weather is awful. Zendhers www.zendhers.com is one of the restaurants and their food is good. I've been there lots of times and it's fun. When you have a minute google the city.

See, I didn't forget! I told you yesterday that I'd let you know the author's name, as well as the titles of the books that I'm reading.

The author is Naguib Mahfouz. The titles of his 3 book trilogy are Palace Walk, Palace of Desire and Sugar Street. The books were originally written in Arabic and are now translated to English. I'm reading the first book, maybe halfway through it, and I like it. Checkit out on www.amazon.com and perhaps you'll find it appealing.

Still in the spriit of sharing, if you're looking for unsual and clever gifts for the woman in your life, look at www.femailcreations.com I love shopping with them!

I ran across these web sites in a magazine and thought you might findthem helpful:
www.fuelcostcalculator.com
www.cellswapper.com
www.coupondivas.com

And, last but not least, I read where African Shea Butter is what youneed if you suffer from intensely dry skin. I have dry skin in the winter and I'm going to give that stuff a try as soon as I can find some. Thing is, I don't have a clue where you get it. The magazine article acted like it was a staple so hopefully it shouldn't be too tough to find.

I don't know how much gas is by you but here in the metro Detroit area regular is under $3.00 per gallon. I paid $2.89 a gallon yesterday at the BP in Farmington and I think it may be a bit lower than that in some of the other suburbs around here. I get so sick and tired of hearing people on tv, the news anchors as well as the folks that get interviewed on the street, saying how glad they are that gas is cheap now. Excuseme, cheap? Are they smoking crack? They must be to think this is cheap. Okay, it's not as expensive as it has been, $2.89 a gallon beats $3.46 a gallon. But that still doesn't make it cheap. I refuse to be all giddy and thankful about it. That means I'm accepting this high price BS and I'm not. Let it get to $1.45 a gallon, where it was when I initially started crabbing about it, and then I might, maybe, say something pleasant about it. Until then, please.

Take care, be good, be careful, stay strong.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com