I'm Back

I have returned, survived, enjoyed my trip to NY. The "Girls" are fantastic and we had a great time doing absolutely nothing. Picture a Seinfeld episode crossed with The Golden Girls and you have my weekend in NY. We did go to the movies to see "Julia/Julie" and it was wonderful. We all came out of the movie hungry. I wanted to buy the cook book and start cooking. Jeanne and Sharon wanted me to start cooking so they could start eating. ( I told you we made a great team.) We rode over to Smiths Point to see the ocean waves caused by Hurricane Bill passing by out in the Atlantic. The beach itself was closed to the public which was a good thing since the waves were washing all the way up to the dunes and there was no beach. We also got to play with Jeanne's 2 grandsons, who are adorable. Tyler is 3 and Sal is 6 months. They are such a blessing. My first day in NY we got together with our friend Lynne who was in town from Ohio. We had dinner with her and her wonderful kids and 4 dogs. It was a circus with lots of laughs, good food and wine. And that pretty much sums up the entire weekend. All the time in between was spent talking. Thank you God for these wonderful women in my life !!
As for the actual flight to and from NY, the SOUTHWEST MIRACLE FLIGHTS were packed to the brim. I lucked out with window seats both ways so my trips were fairly comfortable. I also lucked out with skinny people occupying the middle seat. Any "overflow" into adjacent seats was MY overflow not some strangers. I do pity that poor slob in the center seat. That will teach them to forget to check in on line in a timely manner. The trip to NY was most entertaining thanks to the cabin crew. A very talented bunch of stewardesses did some stand up comedy routines and sang a couple of songs . . . IN TUNE ! I wonder if that is what caused the "miracles" to happen? Or is it that Southwest flies closer to Heaven than any other airline? What ever the reason every time I fly SW there are at least 5 people in wheel chairs boarding the flight and when the plane lands PRAISE THE LORD . . . Those 5 people jump up and RUN off the plane! It's Miraculous ! There are occasionally one or two of the original "handicapped" group who, for some reason, don't get healed. I guess they were sleeping when God visited the plane. That would be just my luck. I did sleep most of the flight home. Getting up at 7:30 and staying up till 2 really catches up to me. When I don't get my usual 12 hours sleep a night I'm one tired camper. And I'm not catching up on that sleep any time soon. I was home for 36 hours and then Ger and I were in the car driving to Atlanta to see Abby. I'm not getting a lot of sleep here either but that is another blog in the making . . . I"ll be back one of these days soon. Till then . . . Remember
"GOD LOVES YOU"

Travel

I'm outa here ! My bags (both of them) are packed and sitting by the front door. My flight is at 4 and I'm winging my way to NY to spend some time with my best buddies, Sharon & Jeanne. They haven't figured out yet that Florida is the place to live. But then, they both have grand kids in NY so I know they won't be leaving there any time soon. So I am taking advantage of the fantastic prices on Southwest to take a long weekend with "the girls". I must take a moment to note that I think the president of Southwest Airlines should be running our country. This airline is "no frills" but also the friendliest, cleanest and cheapest airline I have ever flown. (and we have flown on quite a few) It makes me nuts when I'm at the airport waiting to board and the inevitable complainer is mouthing off at full volume about having to stand in line, not having an assigned seat, blagh, blagh. blagh. I just want to slap them. If you want an assigned seat fly some other airline. Of course you'll have to pay an extra $20 for YOUR seat on the isle or by the window or with extra leg room. (middle seats are no extra cost) And then you can pay another extra $20 for each of your bags PLUS $2 a bag to check in at curbside. And when you get to the gate you can wait the extra 2 hours for your flight that has been delayed ! (Southwest is almost always ON TIME if not early. I have never flown on time on Delta . . . NEVER)
And when you get on a Southwest plane you will probably be entertained by a singing steward or stewardess, some corny jokes. and some just plain nice crew members. And don't forget the FREE snack and coffee, tea. juice or soda. Not only does Southwest treat you super they also give you a FREE FLIGHT anywhere they fly after you make a certain number of round trips with them. AND get free alcoholic drink coupons.
Now come on folks, what are you complaining about ?? Either get with the program or dig out your wallet but for heavens sake . . . Stop moaning about you're treated like cattle. Have you looked in the mirror lately? There isn't a cow alive who would wear that outfit !

Apple ? Peach ? Nope . . . Chicken ! Tonight's dinner was home made chicken pot pie and it was delish ! Damn, I'm a good cook. Even if I have to say so myself. And not only did it taste great it made a pretty picture too.

Kids

I just want to say that kids are the greatest gift God has given us. No matter how old they are or how old I am, my kids are the biggest blessing I have ever received . . . with the one exception of my fabulous grand kids.
I look forward to every day that I hear something from or about my kids. I am living vicariously through them.
K&K in Ft Laudy are my most entertaining. Mostly cause they both have blogs and I am super entertained by that. I keep telling my DIL that she is a fantastic writer and should make a living from her saucy writings. This girl can do everything she puts her mind to. What a lucky guy our son is to have found her.
K&B&A, in the peachy state of Georgia, keep us entertained in a different way. We keep trying to surprise them with our super "coolness" and they keep rewarding us with being surprised. They have yet to learn that Cath & Ger are just 2 old farts who really don't make a lot of judgments about what you are or are not doing. In fact, we really don't care much about anything these days. Just give us a drink by the pool and we are good to go. (Ger does need his daily dose of Fox News)
K&S&K up in the farm country of Southern Maryland never fail to entertain us with their down home living. Here is our daughter, born and raised in Small town Long Island who is loving life in small town Maryland. She was always a country girl at heart and found the perfect husband and the perfect place to make a life.
How does that happen? . . . Everyone is where they should be . . . God Bless their little hearts !

HUMMMMMMMMMM

So, when you are just hanging out with nothing to do but wait for the muscles in your back to ease up, one gets to thinking. Now for me that is a dangerous thing. Usually I make more trouble for myself because I think too much. My thoughts are never profound but they sure do entertain me.

Today's thoughts are about stupid things people think about. ( I told you I was bored!) But seriously, with the world on the brink of total chaos, famine, murder, and all sorts of evil things going on, why do people concern themselves about which way the toilet paper should go? There seems to be quite a list of "DUMB THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT" and I welcome your additions.

1. Toilet paper . . . tear from the top or bottom ?
2. Pillow case opening to the outside or inside of the bed ?
3. Which side of your dinner plate does the bread plate go ? (that's not opinion, it's etiquite. But
if you can't afford bread, do you really need a plate for it ?)
4. Is Country music really music ? And what country did it come from ?
5. Which came first, the chicken or the egg ?
6. Top sheet on the bed . . . good side up or down ?
7. Republican or Democrat ? Who cares, they are all liars.
8. If your cell phone isn't working how can you call "service" ?
9. Do we REALLY need to have a phone attached to us 24/7 ?
10. Why would anyone want to put their thoughts out there for all the world to see ?

Ouch !

It was only a matter of time. I spent 2 weeks celebrating husband's 70th birthday with all of the family coming and going. 2 weeks with the grand kids, who are better than grand. (Kaelin 1 and Abby 4) We partied and played, swam and swayed to the rhythms of South Florida. Sea breezes and hot summer days filled with incredible joy. But now it's time to pay for it all.
Woke up this morning feeling GOOD ~ that should be the first warning of trouble brewing. I actually said to myself, "wow, my back feels good today." Then I went to get the wash out of the dryer and all those good vibes blew up in one stabbing pain in my lower back. As soon as I bent down I knew it was an "OH S__t' moment. My plans of going to Curves and running some errands evaporated and were replaced by a stop at the chiropractor and an afternoon of lying on my back on an ice pack or heating pad, depending on which 20 min. cycle I am on.
It seems that my lower back is my Achilles heel. Almost 33 years ago I bent over my daughter's crib and experienced back pain for the first time. Child birth has nothing on this. Been there, done that, 3 times no less. Yeh, yeh . . . child birth is a bitch but there are happy drugs if you care to partake, you know that you get a break between contractions where you can move. It's over in a couple of hours and you get that amazing gift of a child as a bonus prize for enduring the pain. There is no up side to back pain, just varying degrees of of pain and duration. Thankfully, I am not in a major, all out, "KILL ME NOW" episode. Just a run of the mill, "Damn, I really need to loose some weight and stretch more" event. Hopefully with another visit to THE WITCH DOCTOR, (my husband's name for the doc, not mine), some much appreciated down time (that includes writing on my blog and watching lots of HBO movies), and just plain slowing down for a couple of days, I should be up and running to Long Island next week to spend a couple of days with my best buds. (Even if I am doubled over in pain, I'm going. Nothing is getting in the way of "The Girls" get together.) Actually this back pain could be sympathy pains for Sharon who just had eye surgery and had to sit or lay FACE DOWN for 7 days. Now that is some suffering time for a person with a bad back. So MY little episode shall pass with any and all pain offered up to God. Maybe He can use it for some good.

Where to begin . . .

Well, I suppose it was only a matter of time. I have been enjoying may hours of "blog surfing" since Kristen and Kent introduced me to the world of blogging so it was inevitable that I would give this a go for myself. Since my therapist recommended I keep a journal, I figured why not "journal" 2009 style. (Yes, I am part of the millions who are in need of therapy and actually go.) I'm sure that will be a huge part of my sharing with you but we'll save that for another day, month, year . . .
Right now I am just trying to get my feet wet and figure out how to actually set this whole thing up. Bear with me and we can journey together to see where this goes.
I'm thinking if Erma Bombeck had a blog she would have been even more famous and been able to reach oh so many more of us old housewives. Or what about George Carlin? Would you not have been checking his blog every day to see what outrageous thoughts he had come up with each day.
Don't get your hopes up. I'm no where near those two when it comes to outrageous thoughts but then, you just never know!