I'm just a very minor little bloggerette and yet blogging has opened all kinds of doors for me. I've become acquainted with people from all over the world through my blog and my life is so much richer for that.
I've also been asked to try out products, read new cookbooks and evaluate them, and even corresponded and had blogger friendships with a couple of the "celebrities" of the blogosphere.
And because I wrote a blog entry about a week ago about author Sharon Fiffer's "Jane Wheel" mystery series, I received this e-mail yesterday:
Kathy-Hi!
Thanks so much for posting about my Jane Wheels Series. Always glad to find a kindred spirit among readers. I'm not sure how my brother-in-law saw your post, but he put it up on facebook where I saw it--what a world, huh?
The new book, Scary Stuff, will be out September 29. I'm posting on facebook about it, also twittering as Janewheel and there's a facebook page where you can become a fan of Jane Wheel (you can get there from my facebook page). Oh my gosh--that's way too much social networking--but then again--all of that led me to finding your post and your post made me very happy--so who am I to complain about all of the internet complications?
Do you ever visit The Mystery Company in Carmel, Indiana? There's a big mystery conference, Bouchercon, being held in your city in October. Hundred of mystery authors will be in attendance meeting several hundreds (maybe a thousand?) readers and mystery fans. Great fun! Jim Huang, owner of The Mystery Company, is one of the extraordinary organizers! If you ever stop in his bookstore, ask him about it!
Thanks again for your kind words about my books--hope you continue to enjoy the series--and happy rummaging and garage-sale-ing!
Sharon
How much fun was that?
Social networking is a huge marketing tool these days but it can also result in an unsolicited e-mail from an admired author!
My tomatoes are ripening at a rate that makes it possible for me to indulge in some of my favorite recipes...those that feature homegrown, flavorful, fresh tomatoes! Whenever I have a few slicers on the counter, I always think of the classic BLT. The combination of crispy bacon...no matter what the source...pig or turkey...and that juicy tomato with a little crisp lettuce and the bread of your choice, just can't be beat. I'm not a fan of mayo on this one. I prefer the sweet and snappy flavor of just a smidgen of Miracle Whip.
I tried the California version with the layer of fresh avocado last year, and while I am a big fan of the avocado, I like this sandwich in the original form better. I'll add the avocado to a salad made with the bacon, tomato, and lettuce and be very happy, though!
This dish doesn't look like it features tomatoes, but it is just not the same made without the fresh summer tomatoes. I think the juices from back yard tomatoes seep into the cornbread and make this salad a delight. I make it at least once a summer and take to a family gathering. And I can't help reaching for a tomato if I have a corn muffin left over from the night before and using them to make a smaller version as a lunch salad just for me. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/southern-cornbread-salad-recipe/index.html I love this tomato pie but for obvious reasons, I make it maybe once a summer when the fresh tomatoes are there for the pickin'. The crust, cheeses, and mayo add up to a bizillion calories but when I bite into this beauty, I'm not thinking of that, believe me! And just a small slice is sufficient due to the richness of the ingredients. And the smell from the oven is heavenly! http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/the-essence-of-emeril/cheesy-vidalia-onion-and-tomato-pie-recipe/index.html
What's your favorite way to serve summer tomatoes...other than the obvious...with just a sprinkle of salt and a napkin to catch the drips!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Do you think her arms really look like that? Really? And those jeans? UGH!
This is Jon Hamm as Don Draper in MADMEN! If you haven't watched the first two seasons, try your best to find them on Hulu or something and then be there for the third season in August! It airs on AMC, so it is easy to miss if you're not looking for it. If you were alive in the 60's, it's like having a flashback!
This is how my parents raised 10 kids! Don't sweat the small stuff!
I gave up caffeine, sugar, and fat six weeks ago! I've never felt better!
We heard Adam Lambert is coming out to sign autographs!
GEE! Where should we have lunch???
Monday, July 27, 2009
I saw this the other day and knew I had to share it!
Thanks to all my friends and family who took the time to wish me a Happy Birthday! I don't usually get into my birthday too much but reaching 60 seemed to be a good one to celebrate with a little more intensity.
I had such a good time at our family gathering and tried to indulge just enough to feel it was a special meal and not enough to regret what I'd eaten. Being surrounded by the people I love most in this world was wonderful.
The triplets had picked out a birthday card that sang a song about old people and being scared of wrinkles and they were ready to pop with giggles by the time I got it open!
I have one brother who always seems to know just what will comprise a special gift. He knows I'm one of those people who would rather give than receive so he gives me a gift certificate to Target and insists that I buy nothing that isn't for myself and I take that command seriously. And Target has so many possibilities from special soaps to purses or picture frames or towels...even books and music. I always have a wonderful time just browsing the store and picking something that I will love.
And he also understands that a little box of special chocolates is something a girl won't buy for herself and a little box won't make her feel awful about indulging.
These chocolates are so beautiful to look at that you feel bad about eating one. And the fillings are WONDERFUL! I have eaten just one so far...the coffee bean that is in the upper right hand corner of the box...and it was just SINFULLY GOOD! I'm going to try and hold myself to one a day! Wish me luck with that!
So we left the party and went home thinking we'd settle into our easy chairs when we got a call from our younger daughter and her husband who had an evening with no kids and wanted us to spend a "grown-up" evening with them at the local casino...how could we pass that up?
It was so much fun cheering each other on and commiserating with the losers! Both guys stuffed a cigar into their mouth to appear as intimidating as possible but it didn't help.
The Zeus Penny Machine was kind to the Birthday Girl and turned 20 dollars into $200! And even after I split the winnings with The Husband so he could play a little longer, I managed to take home most of mine.
We left there after 9 o'clock and they treated us to root beer from mugs at Edward's Drive-In in the little town where my daughter went to Junior and High School.
What a wonderful day! I will always remember it and hopefully my 60's will be my best years yet!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Late in the year of 1948, my mother already had seven children...the youngest was eight. She wrote in her daily journal right next to how many pies she had baked that day and how many eggs the hens had laid, "Feel like Hell. Think I know what it is."
She never mentioned "it" again until July 25th of the next year when she wrote, " Had Kathy today. Went in at 11 and had lunch with everyone else after she was born."
I was the first to be born in a hospital and it sounds like I barely made it.
A year and a half later, she gave birth to my younger twin brothers.
I wish she were here to celebrate my 60th today. She would have been 100 on the 13th. She was a tough bird...made of much sturdier stuff than I. And she would have loved all the attention that birthday would have occasioned!
I'm celebrating with my family today...a cookout with ribs and chicken, potato salad, and deviled eggs, and corn on the cob. Later we will have an ice cream cake with chocolate cake, coffee ice cream and Heath Bar crunch! If nothing else, I will eat well today, huh?
My favorite gift came Thursday night when my husband took me to the local casino to meet my favorite race car driver! I had my picture taken with him and he signed the big life-size stand-up I have of him. A dream come true made possible by the guy who knows what I really like! How much fun was that!
So many of us enjoy our garage sales that I thought I might introduce this series of books by Sharon Fiffer. Her heroine in these cozy mysteries is Jane Wheeler who makes a living as a "picker". She is a professional shopper, attending rummage sales, auctions, and garage sales searching for items that she can sell to her customers.
I have enjoyed reading the books because I identify with anyone who searches through boxes prior to an auction and waiting with anticipation before a certain one comes up for bid, hoping no one else is longing as much as I am for the item I've seen hiding within. Or scrambling from the car at a yard sale to lay claim to a special item!
In the books, Jane is surrounded by family and friends who are what I call "characters"! The mother and father run an old tavern...as do Sharon's own parents. The mother is bossy, persistent, and a meddler. The father is the type who whispers reassurances behind the mother's back. Add a son, an ex, and a charming business partner, and the books present a heroine who has loads of help solving the mysteries she finds herself involved with.
The descriptions of her finds just make me want to drop everything and go junkshop hunting!
This is the link to the author's homepage where you can read much more about her and her own love for collecting! Have fun and be sure to pick up one of her books!
Excerpt from dead guy's Stuff:
Chapter 1
How do you know, Jane Wheel wondered, not for the first time, whether or not your rituals, your own little signature gestures, are celebrations of your individuality and part of your own quirky charm or if they are neurotic tics, proof positive that you suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder?
For example, at estate sales, as Jane warmed up once inside the house, immersed in the possessions of another, she began humming, sometimes quite loudly, as she thumbed through books, rifled drawers, ran her fingers around the edges of bowls and rims of glassware. Humming seemed innocent enough.
What about the constant checking for car keys in one pocket, checkbook and identification in another, and cold cash in a third? Her fourth pocket, upper left, held a small notebook and tiny mechanical pencil that advertised: GOOSEY UPHOLSTERY -- TAKE A GANDER AT OUR FABRICS. Under the slogan was the telephone number WELLS 2-5206. Natural enough to check your pockets in a crowd. She did pat them in a special order, but that was probably something to do with muscle memory or neurological instinct. Right, left on the bottom; right, left on the top. Perhaps left-handed people who checked their pockets moved left to right, top to bottom. She would keep an eye on her friend Tim. He was a lefty.
It was 9:00 A.M. and Jane had just received her number for the sale. Doors would open at nine-thirty, so she had some time for her presale voodoo in the car. She patted her pockets, swallowed a sip of her now lukewarm coffee -- after all, it had been sitting there as long as she had, two and a half hours, waiting for the numbers.
Pulling out her little notebook, she checked her list. She had a small sketch of a Depression glass pattern that a friend had asked her to look for and several children's book titles that Miriam, her dealer friend in Ohio, was currently searching for. God, she didn't want to have to fight the book people, but Miriam had said condition didn't matter on these. Miriam had a customer who was after illustrations and would remove them from damaged books that the real book hunters would cast aside. Both Jane and Miriam had shuddered at that. They were both strongly against the adulteration of almost any object, unless of course it was already in tatters and one could feel noble about the salvage. A thoroughly moth-eaten coat from the thirties could have its Bakelite buttons removed. Bakelite buckles and clips that had already been damaged and jewelry already broken or deeply cracked could be refashioned, but by god, Martha Stewart, keep your glue gun away from intact buttons and beads. Jane's list had the other usual suspects. Flowerpots, vintage sewing notions, crocheted potholders, bark cloth, all her favorites. She was also hunting old Western objects -- linens, blankets, lampshades with cowboys and Indians, horse-head coat hooks. Tim's sister had just had a baby boy, and Tim was already planning the upgrade from nursery to toddler's room and had settled on turning this small corner of a suburban colonial into a set from Spin and Marty, the dude ranch serial from the original -- the one that mattered -- Mickey Mouse Club.
"Not so politically correct, sweetie, but we'll morph into an Adirondack fishing camp if the whole cowboy-Indie thing gets too Village People for the bro-in-law," Tim had said when she'd talked to him earlier in the week. Jane had only five minutes to write down her Lucky Five. At every house sale, to pass the interminable waiting time, Jane tried to guess by looking at the outside of the house what the inside would hold. She wrote down five objects, and if they were all in the house, she allowed herself an extra fifty dollars to spend for the day. The game didn't exactly make sense, she knew, since if she won, she lost: fifty dollars. But playing the Lucky Five was so satisfying.
She studied the compact Chicago brick bungalow, located a few blocks from Saint Ita's Church. The front sidewalk had cracked, and the brick work on the front steps was in disrepair. The classified ad had said "a lifetime of possessions," "a clean sale, a full basement," and the most delightful tease of all, "we haven't even unpacked all the boxes."
Jane listed the Lucky Five: Ice-O-Matic ice crusher (with red handle); a volume of Reader's Digest Condensed Books, including a title by Pearl S. Buck; a Bakelite rosary; pink Coates and Clarke seam binding wrapped around a 1931 "spool pet" card.
Jane looked at her watch. She needed another item fast, and she was blank. She punched at her cellular phone.
"Yeah? Talk loud."
Jane could hear a lot of people in the background. Tim must already be inside some sale or at least scrambling for a place in line.
"I need one last thing for my list!" Jane screamed.
"An advertising key ring with a five-digit telephone number!" Tim screamed back.
"Good."
"Green," he added.
"What?" Jane asked.
"Got to be green. When are you coming down here?"
The phone cut out and Jane unplugged it from the lighter and locked it in the glove compartment. It was almost time. She patted her pockets and drained her coffee. Parked just ahead of her was that nasty woman who had once sent her on a wild goose chase, told her about a great sale, and when Jane got to the address it was a vacant lot. Donna, Jane had named her, for no particular reason other than the fact that she liked her enemies to have names.
Did Donna have a lower number? Would she beat Jane through the front door? So what if she does, Jane told herself. She would race through the house with blinders on, allow no distractions, and beat Donna and everyone else to the treasures.
She would make a beeline down the stairs of this sweet brick bungalow on Chicago's northwest side and be drawn magnetically to the current object of her desire -- whatever it was. She would know it when she saw it. Maybe a '40s brown leather Hartmann vanity case with intact mirror and clean, sky blue, watered silk lining. Jane would snap the sharp locks that would fly open with a clear pop and find the case filled to the brim with ...
You know what it takes to deplete me...to send me crying to my daughter with tears?
First of all, we were switching all of our television, phone, and internet services to AT&T so I could get in on that great DVR service that lets you record 4 shows at once and then watch them on any television in the house! My old service could be arm-twisted into giving us better monthly rates but had no way to offer us this technology so they just had to go! (Yes, I know I spend a lot of time watching television but I'm old and I've earned it! lol)
But this meant having strangers in my house a good portion of the day...I hate that! And when they do this kind of service, they are all over the house...every room, the garage, the attic!
And they want to be under things and behind things and over things!
And they want to ask you questions that you're not sure you have the answers to!
I know it may sound silly, but I was exhausted just thinking about it.
The fella who did the service was one of the sweetest kids I've ever run into! He was patient, took his time teaching me how to use the new equipment, and was neat as a pin. And when he left the house, everything was working as it should. I had a new list of User ID's and Passwords, Pin Numbers, and Star whats-its to commit to memory, but I was satisfied.
About an hour later, I went to use my computer and I couldn't connect to my homepage...I was stuck with an endless circle of AT&T wanting me to register and then when I tried to register to get rid of the page, it told me I was already registered! But it would then take me back to the registration page! (I have to let you know that this was not an isolated computer problem for me. It began when my old one gave up the ghost and my new one kept wanting to not connect to the internet! ) I felt like I had just bought a new car, driven it off the lot, and had it stop running at the first stop light!
By this time I am in tears and calling my daughter to tell her that I'm too stupid to have a computer! And I'm not looking for her help to fix the situation cause I'm much too frustrated to even look at the damned computer at this point...all I want is for someone to tell me that it will be ok, the computer problem will eventually be fixed, and I am capable of handling at least a few computer problems on my own! And she reassured me.
For those of us who are not techno-savy, the only thing we ask is that things are plug-and-play and that we don't run into anything that challenges us. We just want it to be easy! And when it's not, we get frustrated and we get scared that we will not be able to keep up with all this new stuff!
So, on to evening and The Husband is gently trying to get me over this slump and I just want to cover my head up and go to bed! And the other daughter who is an AT&T user reassures me that all I need to do is call the help line and they are sweet and kind and patient...but I am just too weary to bother so I call it a day!
This morning, after a good night's sleep, I have a cup of coffee, get my nerve up, and call the help line. Guess what? It was easily fixed from their end, the fella I talked to was another Sweetie!, and he even made sure that I knew how to use the new voice mail, if I had any questions about how to use the remotes...on and on!
Long story shorter...I'm easily frustrated when it comes to technology and I need to get over my fear of calling for help. These people are wonderful and I could have saved myself about 12 hours of whining if I had just called them when it happened!
The Techno-Kids came yesterday and helped us move the old television into the "front parlor", build the stand for the new one to set on, and then connect the glamorous new 40". Now, you know when I say "helped us" that what I really mean is that we bumbled around on the sidelines offering our assistance and they did the work in spite of us! And, yes, we are more than comfortable with that. We are slowly adjusting to the perks of being old and we have been known to exaggerate our shortcomings if it is beneficial to do so! But don't tell the kids!
So, as we had promised, after all the work was done, we treated them to lunch. As we were sitting there chomping on our salads, the son-in-law mentioned the anniversary of the first moonwalk and asked if we had actually watched it live. I threw my arm around my best guy and said, "You mean you haven't heard our story about that day?" Then, I saw the little smirk and I was sure he had heard it but wanted to give us a chance to repeat it one more time. (The kids have their little tricks they use on us, too! And giving intro to a family tale is one of them!)
The Husband was just The Boyfriend of about a year back then. We met during our second year at the same college and had been an item pretty much from the time we had our first "date". I put the date in quote marks because it consisted of his having to go buy a new bucket for the college's kitchen where he worked for extra income while he was a student there. He had "borrowed" a bucket from the kitchen which he had destroyed by beating on it during a pep rally. Buying them a new one was the honorable thing to do and he asked if I'd like to go with him to pick it out.
We drove to the hardware store in his Hillman Minx and I was smitten. He was funny, good looking, and comfortable to be with. And he seemed to want to me with me too. It was a whirlwind school year of his meeting me for breakfast very early in the morning before I got on the bus which took me to the hospital for my nurse's training, walking across campus hand in hand, and sharing stolen moments here and there when we found any time at all.
I graduated from my Associate Degree Program in the spring of '69 and became an RN with a paycheck and an apartment that I shared with my college roommate. He worked for a construction company and lived on campus that summer but spent every evening with me at the little apartment. He still had two years of college left before he would receive his degree. But that summer had brought us to the point where we knew we wanted to be together for a long time.
That is how we came to the day of the lunar landing. We were in my apartment watching the news coverage while sitting on my roommate's homemade sofa. As we watched, we also talked about our future and came to the decision that we wanted to be married for those next two years he would be in school and decided to have our wedding before school started again in the fall.
That was it...no grand theatrics of getting on one knee or engagement rings...just the decision that we were happy as a couple and wanted to be together the rest of our lives! And, oh yeah, there were men walking on the moon! After all the stress of Viet Nam and the assassinations of our public figures that had occurred in the near past, this evening stood out as one of the best of our lives!
But family stories usually have a way of reshaping themselves over the years and what started as a simple story of two young kids making plans to marry turned into The Husband's tale that I asked him to marry me and he replied that he would when there were men on the moon! And Apollo 11 is what did him in!
And to think I fell in love with him because of his sense of humor!
A NEW SHERLOCK HOLMES MOVIE STARRING ROBERT DOWNEY, JR AND JUDE LAW AS DR. WATSON OPENS CHRISTMAS DAY! NOW I JUST HAVE TO DECIDE WHEN TO OPEN MY PRESENTS!
NOW THAT YOU'VE SEEN THE OUTSIDE VIEW TAKE A LOOK AT THE INSIDE VIEW
IT'S MADE ENTIRELY OF ONE-WAY GLASS! NO ONE CAN SEE YOU FROM THE OUTSIDE, BUT WHEN YOU ARE INSIDE IT IS LIKE SITTING IN A CLEAR BOX!
COULD YOU USE THIS FACILITY?
I have to say this is one of my most frequent nightmares!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
I ran across the first book in what is known as "The Mitford Series" a few years ago at a yard sale and I was hooked from page one. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading these books, I highly recommend them.
The main character that links the books is Father Tim, rector of Lord's Chapel in Mitford, a small little town in the mountains of North Carolina. Father Tim is a sixty year old bachelor who has served the town for twelve years and is yearning for more to his life. And he gets it in spades in the very first chapter of the book as a huge black dog decides that he will make Father Tim his new owner! He is followed by the introduction of a very attractive new neighbor just next door and a boy who is in need of a home and love.
The town is full of characters from Emma the church secretary to Uncle Billy who always has a joke to tell. Getting to know all the townspeople is half the fun of reading the books. I kept comparing them to people I have known through the years.
This is a Christian series and that is reflected in Father Tim's ministry to his parish and the abundance of prayer and references to scripture, but I never felt I was being preached to throughout the nine books. The spirituality was more like a warm hug and fit well within the text.
There was love, pain, a little mystery, comfort and lots of laughs within the pages and I never finished one book without wanting desperately to begin the next. And there was enough food talk within the pages of the original books that author, Jan Karon, actually wrote a cookbook which featured the recipes for items prepared in them.
You can go to www.mitfordbooks.com and click on "First Chapters" and then "At Home in Mitford" and read the first chapter of the book.
Monday, July 13, 2009
What ever happened to the Chinese restaurant of decades past? The ones where you go in and are seated at a round table with a turn-table in the middle?
They offer pots of hot tea and glasses of sweet plum wine. There is a bowl of fried noodles and another with sweet and sour sauce to dip them in and they never bring enough.
There are appetizers galore, but the kids love the PuPu Platter with its little hibachi and the varied selection of delicacies.
And the soups? My husband and I loved this little place that had the best house soup with well seasoned chicken broth, big pink shrimp, and just the right amount of vegetables! It was so good and we took it for granted!
And the restaurant that was just a few blocks from our old house...the one that taught us about Chinese cuisine back when we were in our 20's and had only heard of a handful of Chinese dishes? We eventually tried every item on their menu from Fong Wong Chicken...a favorite of mine with a piece of ham wrapped in the middle of a chicken breast, dipped and fried, then sliced and served with a wonderful sauce and vegetables!...to the whole fish that was dipped and fried and served whole on the platter. The waiter tried to convince us not to order it but we defied him and loved it!
There were several of these restaurants around the city including more than a few just on the south side that were convenient to us. And now they are gone!
All that remains are the Egg Roll Kings and the buffets and they are just not the same!
We searched the internet, the phone book, and even drove by several of our old haunts and they were closed...closed...closed! So sad!
Our older daughter and son-in-law took us to one that still exists on the east side a few months ago and it was pure nostalgia walking in and seeing the old decor and the original menus! Truth be told there was a lot of dust and the building was in need of a few updates! But the food...down to the fried noodles and sauce...were a sweet trip down memory lane.
I suppose people prefer the buffets and quick Americanized carry outs or they wouldn't be the fashion, but I wish someone had been able to preserve a few more of the PuPu Platter joints! Just for old times sake!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Yesterday was much too hot for yard sales and it is raining steadily here this morning, so I will have to amuse myself in other ways. My husband took a second week of vacation so we've had a week of his being home after his week away for his Canada fishing trip.
He has plenty of vacation days coming each year so I don't know why we've never put two weeks together before. But, let me say this...it has been good for him. He actually slept until 8 this morning and has had a chance to really relax and shift his mind and body away from the work routine.
We have had a chance to do some things that we've put off for a while like getting a new set of tires put on the Trail Blazer along with an oil change and general servicing. Gotta take care of it...don't know when the next new vehicle is likely to make an appearance in our "we're getting perilously close to complete retirement" budget!
We've been debating buying a new television for a long time but our old one has been such a reliable friend that the thought of a bigger screen and better picture just wasn't enough to lure us in, but we finally took the plunge this week after The Husband struck it rich at the Wheel of Fortune at the local casino! A thousand bucks just fell into our hands and we made a bee-line for the door before we could reinvest our windfall! It just seemed like it was meant to be so we bought a 40" RCA with HD and 1080 something or other and now we just have to figure out how to hook it up so we can see all those warts and bad complexions we've been promised with the new televisions!
The old trusty model will go in another room for the grandkids to watch while they are here. Spongebob needs his own space! I am nearly certain that moving it will break its spirit and its days will be numbered, but we will see.
Word broke this week that my favorite race driver will drive only a limited schedule next year...as I have suspected...and will devote more time to being a team owner. It is a sad announcement for me, but he has had a really long career as a driver and it is probably time to hang up the helmet and fire suit! Martin Truex, Jr. will be driving the 56 NAPA car beginning next year and I will have to see if my heart will make the jump to a new face in the NAPA car.
Things never stay the same and we have to be flexible enough to embrace the new and shed the old.
I don't think I've cooked a meal at home all week and I really need to get back into the kitchen and put some fresh vegetables and fruits on our plates. As good as restaurant meals can be, they do tend to feature the same meat, potato, and salad routine that gets a little stale after a few days! We have our own cucumbers and a few tomatoes that we've been picking and snacking on so we haven't gone completely without veg, but we do need to step it up. I like to eat as close to WW Core as I can through the summer just for health's sake.
Have a fantastic weekend, Blogger Buddies! Hope the sun is shining where you are!
These are my triplet grandchildren, Teagan, Morrigan, and Xander and their step-brother Jackson, all seven years old, in their first episode of "Mitey Mites of Science". The theme is gravity...and wearing big thick black glasses!
They're learning something and the streets of Bloomington, Indiana are safer when they are busy! lol
We were having breakfast in our favorite restaurant this morning and I was enjoying my second cup of coffee when I couldn't help overhear the conversation that was taking place at the booth behind me. There was a couple and the gentleman with them, all well into the senior citizen category, and they were discussing the lives of several celebrities.
The man who was without a partner seemed to have the most to say about the physical attributes of the women celebrities they were discussing, but none of the three seemed to have the ability to call forth details which would have come in handy for mutual understanding.
I will refer to them as Husband, Wife, and Man #2.
The conversation began with Man #2 saying that Oprah was no longer the richest celebrity. No...Oprah was no longer as rich and she had gained a lot of weight! Now she had heavy lips and heavy hips!
Hmmm...
Wife jumped in to say that the richest actress now was that other actress with the big lips who had married that one actor that she did that movie with where they tried to kill each other and everything happened in their own living room. None of them could come up with her name, his name, or the name of the movie but Man #2 gave his opinion that her ass had looked much better before she had all those kids! He went on to say that the actress who had really lost her looks was that Christy girl...you know the one who played in that television show where they were in a bar? None of them could remember her name or the name of the bar or the television show!
Man #2 did remember that she had beautiful eyes but even her eyes weren't pretty anymore! Wife asks, "You know who had beautiful eyes? Liz!" Husband tries to remember the rest of Liz' name but even with the help of the other two, they are stumped! But Husband does remember she played an empress or something in that one movie... and her co-star was one of her husbands! Wife calls out, "Eddie Fisher???" Husband and Man #2 decide it is the guy who played Hercules in the movies! Wife calls out, "Jeff Chandler???"
Man #2 says no, but no one played an Indian better than Jeff Chandler in Cochise!!!
Well, the check came before we had a chance to travel any further down Memory Lane, but I left reassured that there were people out there who survived with far less memory than I have!
I got bored last night and decided I might be able to rid my computer of some programs I haven't been using. I thought I was capable of picking and choosing among them and I also thought I was being ever so careful. And I have been told so many times that I should not be afraid of the computer cause I'm not going to break it.
Hmmm...
My uber-intelligent daughter and son-in-law who have well paying careers in the computer world and who were practically weaned in the virtual world refused to come out and say that I was the cause of my computer giving up its ability to connect with that same virtual world, but I think they were just being kind to an old lady and didn't want to break my spirit.
They don't understand that old ladies rarely have their spirit broken...we've seen to much for that. But we did all agree that I should remain connected to the "tubes" so we discussed the fact that my old computer kinda compared to a Commodore 64 against the newer beauties that are out there and it was time, perhaps, to put the old one in cold storage and get me a new one.
Since The Husband has not returned yet, I sent them out to get what I needed and I was to reimburse them upon their return.
They came back with a new and improved model, set everything up for me, and then assured me that they had stolen the new one and I need not pay them a cent!
Just when you think you've raised them to be model citizens!
So, I am sitting here enjoying my new toy and feeling pretty darned lucky to have my very own technical support team...Butch and Sundance!
