"Money is just a tool." - Ralph V.

For you regular re-re-re-readers, today is the day we re-re-re-finance. Ralph
wrote about the situation yesterday.
Since he is currently unemployed, he had the time to be quite persistent this week with those darn finance companies, knowing full well they would want to get it done before the end of the month, which is today.

Hip, hip, hooray. In our house we get to stay!
Maybe our luck is turning around.

My bad: A misspelling

Here's the new and improved version of my latest seal creation. This time with Blogiversary spelled correctly.

News flash: Michael marks 1st year

Missing: One friendly rabbit

I have a sad story in the newspaper today.
On Sunday someone actually stole a sweet little rabbit from its indoor cage at our local nature center.
The rabbit was a gift to the facility in January, because he had a nice disposition and the person who gave him to the center knew he would be good with people.

The director told me the bunny's cage mate, a guinea pig, has been moping around, depressed that its friend is gone.

The staff has already received several calls from people offering them rabbits, but so far no word on the stolen one.

'Twas a simpler time

toothpastefordinner.com

I am kinda bizzy with work, so I thought I'd simply share a smile today.

Shy gene

I definitely was born with the shy gene, and since I write for a daily newspaper I have to overcome my shyness each and every day to do my job.
So in reality it's more than just a job, it's therapy.
But I am a lot less shy than I was. So that's the good thing.

Hey, thanks for listening.

Eagerly awaited, I'm sure

My welcome home gift to the travelin' couple.

Get up and blog

I didn't blog yesterday and I am currently suffering extreme withdrawal. Well, I'm exaggerating a trifle but between work and partying, I was one busy woman.
But I'm back this morning. YAY!!
Last night I attended a dinner marking a friend's installation as President of the local Rotary Club. She invited me as her guest, and I was honored. The room was pretty evenly divided between friends and family and her fellow club members.
I thought Rotarians were boring, until I started to get to know this club several years ago. I have covered some of their more interesting speakers at their weekly luncheons, when time and subject matter allow.
The members are all fairly crazy, in a good way.

Kid Two shines again

Like I've said before, Mothers can brag. I think we have the right to talk about our children's accomplishments.

Today we went to Kid Two's piano recital, held at our church. He played "As Time Goes By" and did a great job and so his crazy mom decided to make him a seal.

There were more productive ways to spend the last 20 minutes or so, but what the heck.

Re-re-re-re-re-re-re-

finance.

Plans were already in place for us to refinance our humble abode for the umpteenth time before Ralph got his pink slip yesterday.
Now, the new loan can't come through soon enough.

I'm hoping this week will be the week. Then we can breathe a bit easier.

Empty wallet = anxiety

Earlier today I told my mental health professional about my desk chair entry and how I was joking about taking up a collection, and he said it could be the most important post I've done to date.

He said it demonstrates how the current financial problems I'm facing and not really doing anything about are eating away at me.
He doesn't really think I'll ever update my resume and do something about finding different work.

UPDATE: Since I wrote a draft of the above at about 11 this morning, we hit yet another bump in the road. Ralph was laid off today, along with several other people at the company.

Can you say ergonomic?

I'm thinking of taking up a collection...for me!

When I do anything on the computer, which probably adds up to 9 or 10 hours every day, I sit on a most uncomfortable chair.
It is a cushion-less old manual wheelchair that Ralph used to use when the power chair was not working.
I do feel for those folks who must use an uncomfortable chair like this to get around. Wow. It's not easy. Power wheelchairs can be fairly comfy in comparison to this.
(I realize I'm not the only one who needs a better chair, but I might be the only blogger begging for money so I can buy one, don't you think?)

I want something ergonomically correct for my work station. I need a desk chair that doesn't kill my back and neck muscles.
You can send your donations (cash only please) to: Patti, 123 Money St., Fairly small town, CT.

Thank you in advance.

P.S. I also need a new mouse and mouse pad. A girl can dream, can't she?

World traveler: Tagged!

Lynn has urged me to tag her sister, Joan, who is still visiting Ireland. Of course she tagged her too, so I guess our Joan will be busy when she returns to Blogland.

Joan, to make it easy on me, just read my post from yesterday (June 21) or Lynn's from June 20...for your directions. You were on my A-list, but sis beat me to it. ;-)

Welcome back and congratulations on being double-tagged as a Rockin' Girl Blogger.

I'm passing on the honor...

Empress Bee (of the High Sea), whose Muffin 53 is a favorite blog of mine, has tagged me with the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award.
Thank you, Bee, for the honor and the kind words! Never had anyone call me Rockin'. First time for everything, I guess.

I am supposed to tag five female bloggers, but three of them I wanted to tag have already been tagged for this by someone else.
No fair! (stomping feet on floor).
But I do know one woman who clearly rocks 24/7. That is the lively and ever-amusing Sari, who writes about her two little boys, Eight and Five, and her family's life in Arizona. Sari shares lyrics from songs she listens to, and they range from oldies to music by artists I've never heard of who are popular today.

Sari, I lifted this rule from Bee's blog: "If you get tagged, grab the pretty badge up top (because you deserve it!) and then list five women bloggers who are TOTALLY ROCKIN’."

I just checked with computer geek, Kid One, and he told me to go ahead and re-tag those I want to. I am at a loss...

To do today...

1) tag five Rockin' Girl Bloggers
2) work
3) buy replacement toaster
4) mail in warranty for replacement coffeemaker we just purchased
5) take Kid One for training session for job (yay!)
6) look forward to a THREE-DAY WEEKEND

And some more coolness

So Saturday Ralph and I went to watch a video shoot featuring a local 17-year old girl who was making a hip-hop video at the high school.
We had no idea we were about to meet one extremely cool dude ~Thelonious Sphere Monk Jr., a renowned R&B and jazz musician. Probably one of the coolest people either of us had ever met. Although a long time ago I had met Richie Havens and B.B. King, and they were both cool.

He is the son of the late jazz legend Thelonious Monk and he enjoys finding and promoting young talent.
He was a great guy to talk to about music, and the music business, and life.
Ralph and I asked him questions about the industry and he was more than happy to chat with us.
I even asked him what the difference between rap and hip-hop is. (I don't listen to either one, and neither do my kids).

Monk said there is more music in hip-hop than rap.
Yeah, we're bad.

This was cool

At dinner tonight Kid One and I were reminiscing about how when we went to London ('05 high school trip) our tour guide, Francy, had the bus driver stop on our way to Heathrow so Allegra could photograph the Battersea Power Station.
Francy, the bestest guide in the world, accompanied us to London after our stay in Paris. Thank goodness he did. We would not have had as good a time in London if he hadn't been there.
He is a musician and he enjoyed getting to know the teen-agers in the group and their musical tastes.
Francy knew how much Allegra shared his love for Pink Floyd, so when the bus driver was taking us to the airport that Sunday morning he asked him to stop, so she could take a picture.
It was just one of those cool things that happen in life.
The power plant is pictured on the cover of Pink Floyd's "Animals" album from 1977, which you can see below.


Hard to believe this middle-aged mom still has some coolness left, isn't it?

Dads and grads and weddings, oh my

They say June is all about celebrations of weddings, dads and grads. Well, I've done all three and the month isn't over yet. What a busy life.

I just attended my second high school graduation of the season. I cannot even count how many I have covered over the years. Too many would be an accurate description.

I did something cool over the weekend, but I can't post about it until it runs in the newspaper.
Stay tuned.

Dads are great

Putting it simply

Question: Do you ever feel taken for granted? Kinda like a doormat?

I've about had it. I need a vacation.

Under the rainbow

This picture was taken last June when a jubilant Kid One graduated from high school. It was a beautiful sight when a rainbow appeared just as the outdoor ceremony had ended.

I feel it symbolized good luck for the entire Class of 2006!

In memory of a special cat

Humphrey's in Heaven

Our furry little guy died this afternoon on the kitchen floor. Now he is in a box.
And Kid Two dug a hole in our backyard, and he and I just had a burial.

I certainly am glad I wasn't alone in the house when it happened. My mother and both of my children were here too.
We adopted Humphrey when a friend who had eight cats asked us to take him. Humphrey had strayed into his yard and our friend thought he needed another home. We said OK. That was 1999.
At the time the vet said Humphrey looked to be about 14 months old. So he was about nine years old today, when he died and went to cat heaven.

I don't know if I want to go into all the details here. I immediately called the vet when I sensed by the way Humphrey was acting that he was dying. It all happened quite fast.
This is my first cat, so I never saw this before.

The few, the proud...

This morning I got a call from Staff Sgt. "Smith" with the United States Marine Corps, looking for my dear daughter. I said, "The Marines?" even though I had heard him correctly.

I told him she was asleep!

I said she was in college and wouldn't be interested, but thank you. I was polite.
The thought of Kid One joining the Marines is too much for me to process.
I respect the Marines and all they do for our country to keep us safe, but she simply is not a candidate.

And this is for The Moose Buyer

For Joan (world traveler)

And don't forget to take your shillelagh

Extra! Extra!

I am thinking I missed the boat today. I could have been one of the many extra wannabes headed into the Elm City with hopes of being in the fourth installment of the "Indiana Jones" series.
What was I thinking? I could have been standing in line right this very minute for the chance to be in the background when a car chase is filmed through the Yale campus later this summer.
This would have been good therapy for me, to help me start thinking outside the box. And it would have provided interesting fodder for a future blog post as well.
But instead I am doing what I am supposed to be doing, sitting here getting ready for work.

I made another seal

Since last Wednesday, June 6, was BlogBlast for Peace, I thought I'd continue the theme and create another seal, using a peace symbol.

If you ever feel a need to procrastinate...

... just make one of these seals.


It's fun to work on but it takes a l-o-n-g time, choosing among all the possible shapes, borders and colors and figuring out what message you want to convey. This is especially true if you are like me, and not too quick with this technical stuff.
To make one click here.
I must thank dear Mr. Curmudgeon over at Second Effort for introducing me to the site. Someday when I get my energy back I'll create another one.
That's a bamboo border, by the way.

Thoughts and feelings

So the aforementioned mental health professional knows me so well that he knew I would be just writing light stuff here in the blogosphere.
I talked to him yesterday about my interest in blogging and he understood how it could be therapeutic for me and for a lot of us.

He knew I wouldn't be touching on many thoughts and feelings in my blog, because that would be too revealing.
Yep.

Take a message

Our son, Kid Two, has an interesting array of "away messages" I enjoy sharing. This was from Wednesday.

Messages delivered too late: "custer, stay where you are." "mr. lincoln, the show got bad reviews!" "mr. clinton, stay away from the fat broad."

Eating alone

Several years ago I read something by humor columnist/author Dave Barry that stuck with me, in a manner of speaking.
And since I'm working at home now it really, well, hits home. (ouch)
He said one of the perks of working at home is that you get to eat "20 lunches" if you want to and nobody knows.
'Nuf said.

* Addendum to today's earlier post

I looked up Emily Dickinson's poetry to get the complete work. Here it is:

HOPE is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

~ Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Peace ... and hope

I don't think it was a coincidence that, on BlogBlast for Peace day yesterday, I suddenly found a beautiful quote from Emily Dickinson as I was working at my computer.
The quote was printed on the back of a small calendar from Easter Seals sitting in a pile on my desk. I hadn't noticed it before.
It is in keeping with the spirit of the day. It's about hope, and peace is something for which we all hope.

"Hope is the thing with feathers
that perches in the soul.
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all."
~ Emily Dickinson

~ Dona Nobis Pacem ~

Blogging for Peace

Tomorrow is Peace Globe Day

G'day all.
Take a look to your right ----------->
to see a peace globe.
Tomorrow, June 6, 2007 is the second Blog Blast for Peace.
You too can have a peace globe. Just go and visit the lovely Mimi, founder of the Peace Globe Movement in the blogosphere, over at Mimi Writes, and get one for your blog.
While there you will also get to read about the movement's origins and see a slideshow of other people's peace globes.
I hope you make one. You will feel good about doing your part to help spread the message of peace.

Say what?

I am sharing yet another of Kid Two's amusing 'away messages.' He informed me that it is from the Broadway musical "The Drowsy Chaperone" that he enjoyed a few weeks ago on a school trip to the big city. He loved the show and wants to see it again.

Here goes:

"You're in truffle now, and there's muffin you can do about it."

Groan.

Something old, something new...

... something (definitely) borrowed, something blue.
So
Presenting moi, post-ceremony, pre-reception.
Ralph took this picture outside the church.
Unfortunately neither of us had the presence of mind to have someone take a photo of the two of us lovebirds together.
Click on his name to read about my cousin's daughter's beautiful wedding from his perspective.
We had a great time, everything was perfect.
Today the bride and groom leave for two weeks in Hawaii.
Not a bad honeymoon!

Who's getting married anyway?

Running around like the proverbial chicken with its head cut off.
Just got my hair cut and took Kid One to apply for a job at the new Target opening here in July.
Went to the bank and now off for the "transaction" with my wealthy teacher friend.
I'm not high maintenance. No time (or money) for a manicure or a pedicure, or a facial, or whatever.
You can call me the Queen of Frump.

Another update: Boys can read it too

Yesterday my friend Terry dropped off two black evening purses for me to consider. My sandals are black and so there is a matching thing going on.
I looked inside one of them and saw some "green."
I said to myself, "she must have left a dollar in here." I pulled it out and it was a folded up, crisp $100 bill.
Inside it was another folded up, crisp $100 bill.
So naturally that is the purse I chose! The one containing 200 bucks.

When I finally reached Terry "Money Bags" on the phone last night, she was stunned. She had no idea she had (and misplaced) that cash. She said after dropping the purses off she had to go to the bank to get money she was short to pay a big bill, and this would have covered the difference.
She said 'Bless You' and 'Thank You' about 500 times during the phone call. As if I wouldn't have told her. This is honest Patti speaking.

So this morning I will put them in an envelope and bring them over to her at school. It's going to look like a drug transaction if anyone is watching us!