Just a Simple Well Wishing to Those Non Thinking Souls

To all those people, who during the year, have hit our cars and then decided not to own up to your responsibility by driving away... May you experience the true joy of commitment. May what you have given us, come back to you, two fold and twenty. You know who you are, my chicken hearted little darlings.

May you come upon that experience that teaches you redemption, may you always wonder when it will happen to you, but here's hoping it's right after you make the first payment on that brand new ride you saved up for with the dollars you used to cheat others by not paying for the damage you have done.

To all those who are driving while talking on their cell phones, oh, you are the special and dear ones.

The universe has not given you enough time to declare just how important you are above others, and it can't be your fault that you find yourself in the position to risk the life of mankind, as you mindlessly chatter on a piece of compressed plastic, while motoring a 2000 pound machine forward or backward or into a small parking space, and heaven forbid, making a left turn on a yellow light.

This universe is not good enough for you. May the aliens find you and lift you off to the regions of space where you can roam free and in harm's way of no man.

If the aliens should not find you, may your connections be lost, your cell phone bill ever rise, and you see the lights of your local police in your rear view mirror, always.

To those of you on the top of the corporate ladders in all companies, like not excluding Wall Street and At The Down and Dirty Mortgage Loan Companies or Insurance Companies or Pill Coporations,

who don't look down and see how they got there, who don't take the time to give back to the little guy who bought your countless amounts of stuff and stock and not so great loans, may the explanation of your rise come to you clearly, and may you reap what you have sown.

May your children learn the song Cat's in the Cradle as their anthem, may each of your friends treat you with the feelings you have for those less fortunate than you, and as you enjoy your massage and spa treatment at the expense of people loosing their homes, may the the massage therapist be one of them.

To those of you who care nothing of sneezing and coughing into the universe, with your grossness of wild abandon all the while, sharing your cold and flu season germs, and to those of you who allow your children to do the same, May you be rained upon with knowing the profits you have coughed and sneezed up for the cold and flu medicine industry, the ER rooms you have helped fill, the doctors time you have helped waste, and the countless number of people who had to take time off work because you couldn't take the time to either stay home or at least sneeze into your sleeve, and May you be blessed in heaps with that which you so freely share with the rest of the world. For you, there is not enough tea in China.

In the end, we all get back what we put in, as many of the wise sages before us have tried to tell us. It all comes back on you, People. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of us, as we are the sum of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

So make it a good one for yourself and others.

On figuring it out

1. Every dollar you spend is spent on your education. You either learn something or you don't.

2. Silence is not awkward.

3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFCeJTEzNU

I tried to post it properly, but it's just not working for me. But it's called Silent Monks sing Hallelujah ~~ But sometimes it's spelled Halleluia on the link.

4. More stuff later.

Spinach Balls with Stuffing

Ingredients
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 cups finely crushed herb-seasoned dry bread stuffing mix
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 cup melted butter
3 eggs, beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl combine spinach, stuffing mix, Parmesan cheese, garlic powder, black pepper, Italian seasoning, melted butter and eggs. Shape into walnut-sized balls and place on a baking sheet.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through and browned

~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have these premade and will be cooking them tomorrow for a family party. I did use a Seasoned Pepper - which means I kicked it up a knotch.

I'll make a note to let myself know what I think of these.

A List of Noticing Things

A List of Noticing Things:

1. Lots of people think they see things as they are. When they don't really. They see things as they are.

It would take much stillness for all people to see the same thing. And, stillness of soul and spirit and body? ~ very, very hard to do, grasshoppers. It is hard to cross those streams.

2. Sockdolager is a strange and crazy word you don't hear everyday. Or any day, that I can recall. I don't even recall reading it in a book! I found a definition here, but they seem to be of very different meanings.

3. Watching others living life and not taking your good advice is tough. Try to remember whether or not you took everyones good advice. It's a giant paradox we are in.

(My advice is: give the good advice anyway, just make sure you give it with kindness and caring and no swear words.)

4. It's hard to accept that all is as it should be when we don't feel comfortable with what we are seeing. (Part of the paradox, you know.)

5. Many people speak on about how at Christmas time we remember the poor, but at other times of the year, we don't. But, try to remember that the poor are looking forward to Christmas just as much as anyone else, so reach down in those pockets and give a little more to the poor. (And then make sure you remember them the rest of the year, as well.)

6. There is no excuse for driving badly. None. (Nope, not one. Sorry.)

7. Don't ever let something get you down. Maybe let it stand you still for a second, maybe leave you speechless, or even breathless ~ but don't ever let something get you down. And if it does manage to get you down ~ don't stay there.

Food.Inc ~ The Movie

Food.Inc.

Wow. This film made an impression on me. I've eaten only refried beans and vegetables since. It's not a new film, 2008, but I just got around to watching it. I would recommend this as a must see for everyone. Actually, I would challenge everyone to watch it.

I had heard a few people say that once you watch this film it will be hard to eat for a week. And, depending on what you eat, it just may very well be so (and perhaps longer than a week)!

Does it matter to you that your food is being genetically altered? If that fact is, indeed, true, don't think it won't affect you because it will. Everything in this universe is connected. The evil and the good all cycle around, well, maybe it's like a spiral, but it is all connected. And when you eat food that been fooled around with, your system is about to be fooled around with, too. You can believe me, or you can just take your chances. Either way, it is what it is.

I don't want to eat meat from animals that have not been able to breathe the fresh air and been treated kindly or forced to eat stuff they don't naturally eat. My gosh, salmon are even being force feed food they don't normally eat!

You may not think that has anything to do with you, and maybe it won't. Maybe you are older, like me, but it sure will have something to do with your children, (or grandchildren, as they are still developing.) I say To You People, give this film a viewing and at least give the kids a chance. Educate yourself. If the people who made this film are all crazy, then walk away mumbling how those of us who are still shaking our heads at what is happening with our food are all crazy, too. I would seriously recommend you take that chance.

My head is spinning here after just viewing this...but maybe you should view it, just to be sure this blogger is not stark raving mad...

Think:

1. If you begin to eat genetically altered food, what do you think your body is going to do with that foreign stuff entering your body? It has to deal with it. And your body will become genetically altered, or mutated, as it were, or something other than the normal we know. It may even evolve into another species. Maybe you think that means nothing to you, as I am not a scientist, so how could I possibly know what I'm taking about.

Then, I ask you, does the word natural mean anything to you? If it does not, then fire up the grill and cook up some burgers and steaks and go to sleep tonight without thinking that the meat you are eating, unless you know specifically where it has come from, has, most likely, not lived a lovely life, and is quiet possibly shot up with some kind of something-weird that doesn't belong in your system, and, also it has been washed in ammonia to kill some bacteria that will kill you, and who knows what else.

If it does mean something to you, then you need to get on the train that will try to stop this madness. It may not be too late.

2. Does anyone out there have a concern about the government having to much control? What would you think, if you knew that maybe three or four Corporations had control over what you eat and what you eat is fed, and doesn't want anyone to know about it? And They and the Government are best friends?


3. Do you know what Veggie Libel means?

"The realistic objective of the frivolous 'veggie-libel' statutes and lawsuits is not money," says consumer advocate Ralph Nader. "It is to send a chilling message to millions of people that they better keep their opinions to themselves."

Not a fan of Ralph Nader? Is he to liberal for you? Better Goggle the topic for your own research and information.

There is no side to be picked here, except for the side of health. But the corporations are not picking that side. They are picking the side of ....well, watch the movie and draw your own conclusion.

I am Spatially Impaired ~ Respect That

If I kept this blog the way I would like to, it would take a lot more work. I think I am lazy. I get so messed up on the simple things ~ like Archiving and Labels. I forget all about labels. I'm not sure anyone cares enough that I should even bother with it.

Truth be told, I have enough trouble just locating my shoes on a daily basis (okay, well, hourly, or any time I need them. And I live in a small house, so - I have no excuse).

All the above was injected and has nothing to do with what I was actually thinking about.

Directions is what I was thinking about.

I am Spatially impaired so, i.e.

Map reading, transformation of visual arrays, navigation around an unfamiliar space are just some of the many tasks which are beyond the spatially impaired brain. Suffers display the phenomena of neglecting the left half of their surrounding space and the inability to recognise even familiar objects viewed from unusual perspectives.

I was thinking about directions today. I was thinking about people who give me directions. I try not to find these people irritating, you know just to be fair, because what I am realizing is, everyone is in their own little world, with their own little view finder, and have their own little way of seeing things.

And, if someone tells you, "it's on the west side" -- they really have no idea that you have to stop and figure out where the ocean is, so that you can find WEST. And, while you are trying to remember where the ocean is, your brain has no input to any of the words they may be saying. But, as long as we on on the topic of directions, let's discuss some general rules that really should work for anyone. Even those of us with special needs.

Here is a beginning list:

1. Never tell anyone, or even use the phrase "It's just a little ways down the road."
There is no such thing as "a little ways" in driving. Unless, for some stupid reason, I have to make a complete perpendicular turn that keeps me from going into a ditch, do not say 'it's just a little ways' because you know that it is not. It never is that. That's a myth.

"A Little Ways Down the Road" might be the name of a band, or a song, or a movie, but it is definitely not a driving direction.

(I have a friend, a darlin' from the South, and once, she told me to drive a little ways down the road -- how about 15 miles?)

You could say, "a short distance" or "a car's length" or "make the turn as soon as you can or you are going into the ditch". Those things would work.

2. Never tell anyone, "You'll go through a couple of lights" if those lights are miles apart. Firstly, a couple of lights is only TWO lights. And when you say, 'you'll go through a couple of lights', I will tell you honestly -- People think those lights are together.

And, if they go through the first one, and the next one is not for 4 miles, they will forget about the first one they went through when they go through the second one. So. Write that down.

3. Never say, "You will see a long line" ~~ What? What does that mean anyway!? A long white line painted on the road? A line painted on the side of a building? A line of people waiting to get in a building? A line of cars? I could be sitting in a line of parked cars for hours! (which I did do, so seriously, it could happen). But, just never say that.

4. Never give to many details. Especially all at once.

Never say things like, "You'll go through the round-about near the hospital that isn't really a hospital it's an old folks home well not really it's a rehabilitation center and my friend's father's uncle was there a couple of years ago maybe three and he and his family used to go through that round about and forget to turn in it was the funniest thing going over there with them and they would just go round and round...but you'll see a tree and a rock and a shell and there's a flag pole with a pair of shoes on it if there are still there and..."

(I am scrunching my eyes shut real hard right now in the conversation, and my jaw is held firm in an effort to not let my mind just totally drift away to the planet Narcan where directions are no longer feared... and this is what I hear you saying "wot wah, wot wah, wot wah, and blah blah blah blah blah blah blahhhhh.")

Stay on task, say, "Go to the round about, and keep to that first right which will bring you right into the road you need to be on". That's all you say. Learn when to shut up. It's a polite thing to do.

I'll continue this list later. This is all I can handle for now.

Lists again. Spelling Optional.

1. I was listening to Christmas songs on the radio today. The station played all different ones from all kinds of standards to rock groups who had made a contribution for a Christmas song. Some people get really annoyed by Christmas songs.

I mostly just get annoyed with people getting annoyed with things. So here is a message for you all:

~~You know. People are going to do stuff you don't really like. So what? You're most likely not going to die from most of the things that annoy you. So time to just Get over it.~~

2. Last week at school, police officers blocked the pick up car line while they approached one of the parents, had her get out of her car, then handcuffed her - all this in front of her wide eyed little girl -- then after what seemed like forever, they uncuffed her, and told her they had the wrong person. And they left.

No apology. No Have a Nice Day.

3. Tiger Woods. Whatever reputation you had before -- ummm, I'm not sure it will be all about your ability to handle a 2 iron that will be remembered most in the days to come.

4. Christmas Day is tomorrow! Not really, but it might as well be. Time will be flying fast now, you watch. Get your stuff done!

5. Pray for your children. They need it. You need it. It will be the tie that binds.

Does your 'fridge tell a story?

A lot of families I know, put things on their refrigerator for lots of reasons --

1. Special photos
2. Reminders
3. Inspirational Stuff
4. Magnets from stores and doctors they frequent
5. Calendars
6. Etc, you get what I mean ....

Which made me think of something, which is that some people's refrigerators are so full of stuff, you don't see any story; you see nothing but a cluttered mess,

So, this gave me the idea, to have your refrigerator tell the story of a year! Then, if you wish, you can take all that stuff down, and scapebook it, or put it in a zip lock bag and mark it that year, or frame it up ...any way you want to remember that year ~~

And then, January One of every year, you can start again~!! That's my idea. And that's what I'm going to do.

Don't Worry, Be Happy

I am not sure what to write today. I need to update my granddaughter's blog, truly I do. She is 11 months old now and doing amazing things! Such a bright little star in every ones' life. She does her job ~ she makes people happy when they come into a room! A true gift from God.

Last night the Gators lost the SEC Championship. My kids were really disappointed. They had planned a trip together to California to go see the Gators play in whatever That Bowl would be. I was thinking it was very cool that they were going to California together. But, oh well ...another day for another reason.

It's finally been raining here. The lawn looks great, rich and green. The plants on my porch looked green and so happy. I've been into potting plants now since I am unable to unearth any soil in the yard and buy any new bushes or shrubs. By potting, I can take cuttings and I only have to buy the dirt. I have several more pots around. And it's fun to arrange them on the porch, too. And, also, I like the fact that my granddaughter is growing up with plants in her vision. Looking at flowers makes people happy.

I'll write more later. My granddaughter is coming over for her morning visit. She spreads the love. I wanna get my dose.

More things for no reason

1. I do not support President Obama sending more troops into Afghanistan.

2. Leave Tiger Woods alone. He crashed his car. Maybe had a fight with his wife. It's not our business.

3. Holiday stress is real.

4. I don't have anything for number 4.

5. If you are a person who holds on to stuff - think long and hard about that. It's a habit. I am such a one, and right now, I wish I was not.

6. The public option looks about shot out of orbit. Meaning, we won't get one most likely, and this country goes back to being controlled by the big cooporations.

7. God is good. People are a whole 'nother ball of wax.

These Days

"Well, I've been out walking, don't do that much talking, these days..."
Lines from a Jackson Browne song. And that's kind of like me lately.
I feel like I am running out of things to say. I'm not sure why. Sometimes, I think it's because I'm really realizing how little people listen to what you say, or hear what you say, or maybe think they hear what you say but don't know what you mean, or don't hear what you mean while they are not listening to what you say. (what??) or they really don't care what you say ... or I need to expand on the information I currently have - update as it were, reboot ...get a new battery as it were or is.


It's not words these days that I need to come through. It's some other form of art. Something that involves silence.

And I really need to get to it before I turn into a pillar of salt.

At random, I have decided to just list some things for no reason:

1. I ate a piece of apple pie. I thought I wanted it. I thought I wanted something sweet. I put Cool Whip on top. I hate Cool Whip. IMO, it is nothing but a plastic bowl of chemicals. I hate plastic. I distain chemicals. But, there you go, I did something I didn't want to do, and now I am not happy about it. And my stomach is not happy either. Conclusion: I didn't really want the pie. I wanted chocolate. And - the worst part is, I did something I didn't want to do in the first place.

2. I already forgot the second thing.

3. It dawned on me last night, that now is the time to encourage my granddaughter to express herself with words , even though at 11 months she has some, but not many words, and many that she has may not express how she is feeling at the time she loudly broadcasting, but since she is beginning to use -very loud sounds - to express herself, I should participate in helping her communicate instead of picking her up while she is in the middle of the loud self expression. (Oh, Grandma...)

4. I like to color and don't do it often enough. Some crayons that you buy now are too waxy or something, not nice and soft like crayons of olden year before the invention of Made in China.

5. I want to paint.


A Poem by Me ~~Miss Roxie

Nonsense and ramblings

the trash is piled high

of crumpled ideas, stories and lies,
tales and truths,
and of thought on others,

Obama included
if only Afghanistan, he could have eluded

of choices of colors
and marks on a page
of random notes that me, myself, made
of things needed to be remembered

like a list of groceries
that probably did not include
all that I needed
nor all I could use

I have writer's block

boulders, rocks, flowers and trees,
my passage is on pause

my journeys been slowed

by things in my head

that don't need to be there
but that's totally not true
because we all know,
it's all suppose to be there ...

It's time to grow ....

Writer's Block

...Yep.

Surely you know days like this

Daddy Fell into the Pond.
~~Alfred Noyes

Everyone grumbled.
The sky was grey.
We had nothing to do and nothing to say.
We were nearing the end of a dismal day,
And there seemed to be nothing beyond,
THEN Daddy fell into the pond!

And everyone's face grew merry and bright,
And Timothy danced for sheer delight.
"Give me the camera, quick, oh quick! He's crawling out of the duckweed."
Click!

Then the gardener suddenly slapped his knee,
And doubled up, shaking silently,
And the ducks all quacked as if they were daft
And is sounded as if the old drake laughed.

O, there wasn't a thing that didn't respond

WHEN Daddy fell into the pond!

What comes next?

A 4 month old chubby baby boy named Alex Lange has been denied health care because he has been declared "too fat". The child was born at 8 1/4 pounds and is on a diet of only breast milk, according to the article.

They are calling it a pre-existing condition --

"Alex's pre-existing condition — "obesity" — makes him a financial risk. Health insurance reform measures are trying to do away with such denials that come from a process called "underwriting."

I am baffled. He's a baby. It's not like he needs to stop going to McDonald's or something.
I never thought I would live to see the day that Baby Fat was actually a preexisting condition.

Never get to full of yourself

I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.
~English Professor (Name Unknown), Ohio University

Be obscure clearly. ~E.B. White

A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one. ~Baltasar Gracián

When you are describing,
A shape, or sound, or tint;
Don't state the matter plainly,
But put it in a hint;
And learn to look at all things,
With a sort of mental squint.
~Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

Every author in some way portrays himself in his works, even if it be against his will.
~Goethe

On this day...What are you saying?

This is a sign posted in a store in Key West. I have no idea how old it is or what it really means other than if you are not Spanish, English or Bahamian, you can talk while reading is in progress.

People talk a lot. People say things when they don't even realize that others may be influenced by what they say. Words are reactionary, arbitrary, but never stationary. They are twisted and folded and hung out to dry, used wrongly, sometimes to sparingly in truth and taken out of context just so a person can admire the way they strung them together.

They are written on subway walls, tenement halls - oh wait that's Simon and Garfunkel - but it's true. Words are written in a lot of places you wouldn't think they would be found.

Some people use words of encouragement as often as they can, looking for ways to uplift someone's spirits. Others might lean toward a black hole of cynicism, for reasons none other than that they can. Some try to express love in words that people just won't take from them, and there are those who spew hateful words into the universe because someone hurt them as a child.

The world is filled up with words in songs of all sorts, books of all kinds, notes on refrigerators and in lunch boxes, blogs, letters, and threats in a past due notice. legal papers, and precious misspelled words from a child to a parent on a crumpled, stained piece of paper that is worth it's weight in gold,

and the world will still hold a trillion zillion more words in places unknown and unnamed before we have exhausted our stay here, and what am I going on about?

I just want to ask:

What are you saying? What are you saying to people when you speak, when you write, when you sing? If anyone listens to you or reads your words, you are taking up space in their brain. That is a responsibility of a sort.

Be smart. Be kind. Don't scare people. Don't be mean to people. Be prayful. Be encouraging. Be good. Be diligent to make this world a better place. And, why not? After all, it's the only place we have for this moment in time. There may be no words in the next world. But what if there are only your words in the next world? Will you enjoy hearing them?


Other than that, it's a Friday on the planet and today

Jackson Browne, classic rock's eternally young poet of choosing badly in relationships and then going forward in your life, is 61.

President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize.

And, good grief, we bombed the moon. Google it.

Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them.
~Nathaniel Hawthorne

At the altar of cats

These are two of my daughter's cats. Jasper and Shadus. They think they are her real parents. Each morning - and oh this is so gross -- but each morning, there is a dead little creature on our front porch.



We really think it's Jasper who is doing this.

He is sneakier than the others. Doesn't show the same open affection as the others, and stalks my daughter more than the others.

Perhaps he is rebelling because she once tried to keep him on a leash.

But we really don't know. We just know, that every morning, there is one or more small dead creature on our porch. (May they rest in peace)

There are several schools of thought about this.

1. Your cat loves you dearly, worships you so much that he is bringing you an offering.

2. Your cat thinks you are a total inept human bean who can't take care of themselves.

3. Your cat is reminding you to feed him.

4. Your cat takes great pleasure in dining at home.

The weird thing about this is, it just started a few weeks ago. So what I am thinking is, they think (one of them or all, as you never know with cats, as they could have formed an alliance to get their message across), they think someone should be there with their food very first thing in the AM. Which we are not. (Cats were gods in Egypt, you know, and they have never forgotten that)

And, we have found out that if you leave their food there for them the night before, they don't like *that* food in the morning. Their food must be poured fresh out of that bag, and they are much happier about the whole thing, if they hear the sound of it coming out of the bag, and they can bump your arm, so that it spills everywhere. Oh joy, they do a happy dance for that one act of rebellion. I did read a head butt from a cat is suppose to represent love, but you know, I'm not sure I buy that.

These cats are not mine. They belong to my daughter, or she belongs to them, not sure which. Her dad and I were never animal people. We love animals, of course, who doesn't love animals? -- we just love them in their natural habitat. We love other peoples' animals. We have, many times, taken care of other people's animals and done a very good job.

But, our daughter is crazy smiten for animals. She is a vegetarian (and would own every little kitty within her reach if she could). When she and I go for walks, we see more cats than I ever, ever see when I walk with someone else. It is to the point of weird. Cat radar or something ....

How do people get like that?

I suppose it's one of those things I will never know the answer, too.

"I got shot off my horse,

So what, I'm up again"* ...

Everything is supposed to happen in threes, say the old legends and tales, and stories from the twilight zone, and old ladies in airports.

The end of last week, I fell over my dishwasher. Well, actually, I flew over my dishwasher, as the door was down and I was walking while reading, which I thought was not as bad as running with scissors, but as truths are told in fables, alas, it is probably the same thing, as some part of my body hit something foreign and large, and then the standard line beginning 'next thing I knew' enters my story...

I was on the floor, somewhere in the kitchen, while various parts of my body began wondering what had happened, as my brain began to register the feel of the signals of pain and send messages under lined with the subtext of 'you idiot'.

Yet, I have to say, 'my egregious error', as it had been I who left the dishwasher door open, prone to the multitasking gene that would probably function better with medication that I have always refused to take, thinking myself better than most at multi-tasking, but certainly proving by my life that is not even so in the slightest regard. Perhaps I should, again, weigh the good and bad of that decision.

Blathering on, I was to discover, that was one of two because yesterday, I was stabbed by the silverware in my dishwasher. It was a direct hit with a very sharp knife, most likely the only one I own, and the penetration of said weapon entered in the finger, again most likely, the only place where blood would profusely flow at a great speed making one unable to find the wound directly upon observation, and so causing a peril of panic in the mind. I mean ~*blood* ~ so, surely, we are perhaps maybe could be dying.

While addressing that wound, that's when it hit me ~ I am on the count down of doom list, as everyone knows --Things happen in threes.


Threes. One, two ....


Oh dread, now I must wait for the one more thing that might kill me. Perhaps, I should go to bed and stay there.

As it happens, according to all who gather statistics and put them in places where you can find them easily with a quick Goggle search just in case you should wish to scare yourself with something that day, and, myself already knowing the grand total of most accidents happen in the home, and, I am standing there, in the place where I had, on many occasions, considered myself safe, but was now on my way to bearing out two of the most dreaded statements we all live with:

1. Things (always) happen in threes.

2. Most (the majority of) accidents happen in the home.

And with the most serious accidents being credited to the kitchen (look it up)! My thinking was, after being flailed across the kitchen and stabbed by my dishwasher, I should go work outside today.

Hah! It didn't take long for the strings in the universe to connect the dots belonging to human behavior and zero in on keeping with those strange truths that we pass on for generation to generation.... And, bingo!

My hand clippers chopped off a piece of my thumb.

But, tedious as it may have been, it's over now, and I am out of the legend of curses loop and ready to live another day.

Have a safe and happy day,


Miss Roxie

*Mark Knopfler ~ Everybody pays to play

Put out there what you want...

Giving is supposed to be the way to get what you need. Empty a place and a place will be filled with the *things* you need.

So, today, I will put it out there. I will give gifts of *something* and see what comes back to me.

Top 10 Reasons for choosing a wine

10. Someone brought the bottle to your house. To be polite you try it even though you are sure you saw this exact bottle in the markdown bin at the Dollar General. (Even though you think it unusual to find wine on your front porch. Already opened...)

9. You thought you were going to be invited to a party, so you bought some wine you thought would be appropriate i.e. cheap and on sale cheaper, and had a nice label, and you didn't go to the party because, actually, well, you weren't invited, so might as well drink the wine.

8. It was cheap. And right in the end cap so you didn't have far to walk. Made it easy to grab a bag of chips on the way out. Maybe some M & M's.

7. It was a small store and your choices were limited., and you only had that $10.00 you stole.

6. You read the back of the bottle and the story seemed interesting enough to be enticing. (Do you read those stories? They are like little novellas! I mean, that's why I bought Goats Do Roam.)

5. It came with a coupon for $1.00 off chicken or fish or a $10.00 rebate (that you thought was for one bottle, but really was for purchasing 10 bottles. You are wondering does your boss care you haven't been to work all week.)

4. You thought someone might have told you about this wine. If it was a good friend, you are thinking this might be a good wine. Usually, it is.

3. The get-a-way car was running and the line on the gas gauge says E in red.

2. Someone left it in a grocery cart.

1. The name of the wine is Xplorador and since Dora the Explorer is the only show your granddaughter is allowed to watch, you think "hey, you know it's got to be good!" (This is actually a true story. It was a Chilean wine ~ merlot, from French grapes vines the Spaniards brought to Chili -- I read the story on the back . And, I added the *a* at the end. Clever...)