License information is fun

Love this list!!!

So the youngest son decided to go for the driver's license.  I can understand his former reluctance...so many damned crazy drivers on the road.  Hell everyday someone pulls in front of us, weaves all over the road and uses their cell phones, illegally in NY I might add, and thus weaves all over the road because of it.

I moved to Indiana for 7 years but didn't renew my driver's license until I got back to NY.  I just didn't want to sit down and take a written test in Indiana.  My NY license was good for the full 7 years so I kept it.  Besides, the license branch in Lafayette, Indiana was a pure nightmare of wait, wait, wait and wait some more.

So I renewed the damned thing when I moved back here.  "Step up to the line for your picture."  Snap....."Do you like this one or want another one?"  Hell, what's the diff?  Another one looks just as bad only from a new angle.  "No, this one is fine." I tell her.

Well with all the spying on American citizens anymore, I guess there's not much the cops, the feds and maybe even my neighbors, can't find out about me.  Oh joy!

I love how the government wants to regulate vagina's but yet Weiner can send pictures of his dick to whomever and now run for NYC mayor.  Why is it men love sharing their wieners on Instagram and the like?  Sausages everywhere.  Well, I got off the track of licenses, didn't I?  But I can't help but wonder why every guy's sausage needs to be in a digital database.  Maybe for dating service sites?  Hell, yeah!  Just what every normal woman wants..........pictures of a sausage fest for guys she wants to get serious about. 

Seriously? 

Is five kids too many?

My biological mom in front, four kids and my Hippie Yippie days

This is about kids, lots of em.  I'm really glad the Duggars came along on TV, if for nothing else, to make me feel better.  I can honestly say I didn't have 19 or 20 of those little bugger Duggars.  Hey, ya get that 'good feeling' where ever you can in this lifetime.

How did I do it?  How did I keep my sanity?  Damned if I know. I guess you can say I raised some free range kids.  I don't recall a whole lot of punishments (although my oldest daughter seems to remember each and every single one of her punishments) but I honestly do not have such a vivid memory as hers.

They all helped, mostly, sometimes, with chores and such.  Speaking of the eldest girl though, I remember she went through a neat freak phase, at 11, again at 19, again at 25 and by 35 I notice it has tapered off a bit.  She used to love cleaning her room, everything in its place, then she would remind me how I needed to crack the whip on the others to clean their rooms.  She found great joy in cleaning the living room and kitchen sometimes too.  She would grab a sponge or dust cloth and shine everything, all the while lecturing us about being pigs that she had to put up with.  I used to laugh and smile and think how the poor other kids were going to be filthy and live in pig sties when they grew up.  I haven't seen any of mine on Hoarders yet, so I guess one person's filth is another person's normal.

I always grew a big vegetable garden and recently my youngest daughter recalled how those fresh vegetables, always tasted so good.  

I wasn't the perfect parent, but guess what, I have met many who were not either.  So as far as being an expert in imperfect parenting, I guess I pretty much was.  Yeah for me!

We didn't have all the video games that so many kids play now, but we did have a kind of Lego logic going on.  I remember my kids talking to Legos, to their favorite dolls and even to toy graders in the dirt.  These days some psychologist would tell me there is something wrong with talking to inanimate objects, but I don't think so.

In the summer, my kids were allowed to be just kids.  No summer camp, no structured junk, just live, use their imaginations and be themselves.  Those were the days.

Now I think about it, maybe I did discipline the kids once in a while.  When my oldest son was in the Army Reserves, he said he was asked by his DI: "Am I being too harsh Kid?"  It was, of course a rhetorical question.  My son told me he replied: "Naw, I have a mom who could put you to shame."  I'm still wondering if that was a good thing or not.  I let it slide since I would never meet that DI in person anyway.  


Happy Mothers Day to one and all!

Where's concern for American casualties?

I get bugged by all the hype in the media and on social sites concerning this 'great gun debate' to the point of nausea.  I suppose it's so easy for the privileged population to sit back and judge, debate and never really get one damned clue to what is going on in America.

When I say 'privileged' I don't mean in terms of money or wealth......I mean just being treated differently, with respect and most of us taking it all for granted.

When the rest of us are treated a certain way, with respect and just being able to do as we like, mostly, we are just fine.  But now, in 2013, usher in the people who are granted even more privilege, the sands shift, now the elite rich want everything we once had access to and suddenly, well we do not like the taste of losing rights and respect.  Pinches, don't it?

Concerning the big gun debate though, many once middle class, start to listen to the lies, the propaganda vomited out by the group called the NRA.  Why?  Well the NRA understands that Americans need to fear someone, something, fear their rights will be removed and guess what? Then Americans will turn on one another.  It takes very little for American paranoia to be whipped up these days, so the NRA understands that to improve gun sales, it has to create fears in people.  How sad the American people are so prone to such lies.  Does the NRA give a damn about my gun rights?  Hell no, it was created to help their rich, gun making friends sell more guns.  Apparently it works.

What bothers me most is this:  The U.S. government is probably the largest arms dealer in the entire world.  They sell guns to any country for money, usually those countries, once armed, turn those expensive weapons on American soldiers.  Did our government think those countries, bands of rebels or just plain international criminal types would show America gratitude for the weapons?  Oh, please!  

The Second line of thinking that bothers me is:  Are Americans so dumb they think all guns will stay legal and stay only in the hands of responsible gun owners?  Please don't try to convince me they do.  Has American education sunk so low?  Has American education failed us so miserably?  By that I mean:  How have people come to be so gullible?  How have Americans lost their power to reason, to use that thing between their ears so much that they will buy anything dished out to them?  Is our stupidity the legacy of just how powerful the corporate selling machine and its bombarding us daily with ads and sales that we are now just indoctrinated with fallacies?  This has to be the saddest state I, or probably anyone, has seen America sink to since our history began.

I saw a news article today about Sarah Palin rallying for 'gun rights.'  This is a woman who stole big money from those who believed in her. through a super PAC, she took her family on vacation on your dime and now has the unmitigated gall to tell any of us what is 'right.'  

The BIG question is this:  Why do you love rich corporations who want to steal every cent you own?  Who wish to leave you in poverty while they laugh at you for being so gullible?  Do you Honestly think that because YOU gave them your Last red cent for their guns, their poisoned food and their ammunition that THEY EARNED it all alone?  Well they've put you out of your jobs and now you show them respect?  Best count the little money you have in your wallet Before answering That question honestly!

If you think you will 'stand up against the government' one day, you better check Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan Before answering that one too.  American troops invaded entire countries, with bigger and more powerful weapons than YOU will Ever own.  Are you this delusional? If so, you are much more far gone in your brains than I once suspected.

We all have to jump in to invade another country, yet we have children dying every day on American soil.  Children suffering from as much PTSD as Any soldier in a war.  WHERE is our concern, where is American help for our own?  So if America is so concerned for rights, so Christian, why are we NOT sending in help to clean up drugs and poverty on our own streets?  Why?  Because Someone of higher privilege is Benefiting from NOT making America better.  People who live in our own midst, people who call themselves Congress and Senate members.  America, get a grip on something I like to call REALITY!

Do I think I will 'get through' to people whose brains are in the trigger of their guns, the emotions in their reptilian bodies or in the barrels of their weapons?  Nope, but I certainly hope they have an ounce of brain left to maybe, just maybe, understand facts not fallacies.  Probably a losing battle, just as lost as any battle those gun carrying people think they could win against the American government.

Why don't YOU look to see just WHO the enemy REALLY is before hating on your neighbor?  You who hate your neighbors are NOT Christian by ANY stretch of imagination either!

About being self-sufficient

With Earth Day and all, I was browsing Facebook sites like: Mother Earth News and many DIY sites.  It's nice to know I have a good friend, Suzanne, who, like me, loves to garden and is pretty good at it.  I have a husband who loves to garden and is quite good at it.  I once lived in a log home on 4 1/2 acres of land and that is where I learned to garden.

We had all those acres of mostly clay.  But I learned to raise chickens, milk goats and rabbits so I had plenty of organic fertilizer.  I also learned when it comes to compost and animal fertilizer, one can never have enough.  But eventually, with the help of raised beds, I turned that clay into very nice soil that would grow nearly anything from 
scratch.

But I think about the younger generation.  They move to the cities for jobs and if the economy ever gets very bad, well, those super markets will run out of food in probably 24 hours.  They can grow rooftop gardens and patio gardens, but I often wonder how many actually do that.  

Growing up, we lived on five acres and quite a bit of that land was a huge garden.  My dad grew every vegetable we ever needed.  Mom never bought vegetables, she canned and froze everything we needed for winter months too.  That little farm was where I learned to drive a standard shift too.  By the time I was twelve, I was driving that tractor down those rows of food and soaking up sunshine.

My Mom told stories of how she would make 21 loaves of bread a week, to feed a bunch of growing kids.  She said that, in those days, if a bride bought bread the rumors flew about: "Poor thing, she cannot cook."  It was essential to know how to sew on a treadle sewing machine, using nothing more than skill and physical labor.  We also used, every Monday, a wringer washing machine, requiring more labor, filling rinse tubs by hand and filling the washer by hand.  Then we would hang it all outdoors on the line.  I feel sorry for the kids who don't grow up with that wash day smell.  I still recall it, a mixture of bleach, laundry soap and sunshine, glorious sunshine.  Nothing feels, or smells, nicer than snuggling into sheets hung on a line, freshness never smelled so good.

I feel sorry for the kids who have never experienced pickling day.  Walking into the house, smelling dill, vinegar and fresh cucumbers. 

Do I think everyone should live like that?  No, our days are much busier, maybe, although there were the same hours in a day then as there is now.  But I do think everyone should know these skills, just in case.  Some skills are invaluable and might make the difference between going hungry and being able to eat.  There isn't anything quite as satisfying as knowing how to feed yourself if you need to know how.

Well, thanks for stopping in again.  Have another cup of coffee and some homemade muffins. 

Sit down have coffee just talkin

Sit down, let me pour you some coffee, let's chat, let's get to know each other.

I really like the picture I posted today.  Back before the age of the 'disposable spouse' when couples didn't split at the slightest thing or setback.  

I grew up in a time when my mom was home after school, when you knew someone was there to ask 'how was your day?'  Now I know in this modern era, in order to just place food on the table, mom probably has to work.  A shame, really, but then it is a shame when being a mom pays no retirement benefits either.  Sux all around.  But, hey, parents do what they can.

The Internet is all buzzing about the Boston Marathon bombing.  Hell, it's gotten so I'm leery to shop the malls anymore.  I do make it a point to not go there during the Christmas rush.  Probably just as well, the mall only brings out every materialistic bone in my body anyway.  Best not to be tempted by all that glitter and glitz.  But, the bombing.  For many years other countries have lived with this kind of thing.  I suppose Americans sat all smug feeling it never happens to us.  I think all that has changed now though.  We now see and feel, how the 'other half lives.'

Americans always felt American middle class would always be safe too,  So much has changed in recent years.  So many things we always felt were the other person's problem.  Well, here those problems are.  At our own door step. 

Well thanks for stopping by.  Here have another cup of coffee before you go. 

Can you believe how much this liquid costs now at Starbucks?  

Just talkin

Posting a story that, I thought was good, what in hell do I know, I ask myself since then. 

 So never knowing what anyone wants to read at this point, I am just going to ramble, to talk, like you are at my table having coffee with me.

I am cheeky enough today to post my funky pictures I created from a cool program on the Internet.  No frills, no catchy famous people.

Recently I visited my brother, whom I hadn't seen in about 27 years.  Long time between visits you could say.  Go ahead, say it. 

 We had a very nice visit and I was chatting often with my niece before the visit.  Now it amazes me when people send "Friend request" on Facebook.  You accept the request, then, pow! They hardly ever talk to you anymore. Conversations with my niece pretty much stopped after the visit.  My perfume, soap, deoderant?   OK

Recently a person whom I grew up with and once was a close friend to, her husband died.  I knew he had been sick and we are 'friends' on FB too. Well no one answered my inquiries about how he was doing, next thing I know he passed away.  OK

I never know what makes people annoyed so if I have offended anyone, I was not aware of it.

Why did my family (brothers and sisters) drift apart in the first place?  Well I got divorced and I imagine those, friends and family, who have good marriages, just steer clear of those divorced people.  I spent my divorced years on my own, except for one friend I made when single.  She helped me a lot, she too was a single mom and so she didn't worry that divorce or singleness might rub off on her I guess.

Sit down, have some coffee

I didn't see 'family' the entire time I was divorced, struggling and living alone, but I don't hold a grudge.  They have lives and were very busy I'm sure.  So along comes FB and if I am not acknowledging some life changes, I guess I have offended though I didn't mean to.  I never know what to say to people in crisis.  Nothing is going to make their crisis go away so I am not always sure what the right words are.  Not a judgement call, simply my observation.  

Just talkin about every day things in life. 

Unpacking the dishes 3

I froze in the middle of my unpacking, still clutching 

the high ball glass in one hand and the packing paper 

in the other. 

His voice was as smooth as glass against silk.  

Like no voice I'd ever heard before. I couldn't believe 

my eyes. 

When I saw his face, I was astonished.This guy looked 

so much like my first love, the guy I'd 

fallen for in college.  The guy I lost my virginity to. 

We never worked out, after graduation he went off to 

a foreign country to help teach and I never heard from 

him again.  

For years I carried a torch for him though.  I never 

really got over him or my broken heart.

"I hope my being shirtless isn't offending you, but I 

figured with the humidity and all and I guess I didn't 

think anyone would be home.  I'm glad you are though, it makes it easier for me to find the unit that needs fixing."

Still staring I did manage to find my voice.

"That's quite alright, I was just daydreaming while unpacking and I didn't hear you come in.  I'm fine.  Let me show you where the unit is.  Follow me please."

Brushing by him, I couldn't help but notice his smell.

He smelled like fresh air, sunshine and the salty water of the beach on a windy day, all rolled into one. His smell was very sensual to me, quite intoxicating, actually. 

As he followed me, I was keenly aware of his presence 

behind me.  

When we got to the cooling unit, I stopped, he was walking fast to keep up with me and he nearly ran into my back. His slight brush behind me from the near collision of our bodies made my skin tingle.  I could feel his breath on the back of my neck. 

Suddenly, it wasn't too hot at all, I felt chills going up my spine.  His smell was stronger now, that smell, it was like a drug and beginning to make me feel heady.

I turned around, looked at him and he seemed to be incredibly calm.  Much calmer than me anyway.  I spoke quickly before he noticed the affect his presence was having on me. 

"Here it is, I hope it's not too far gone."His attention turned to the unit for a moment.

  "I'll do the best I can to get it going for you."

He smiled, flashing big, beautiful, perfect, white teeth 

and even his smile was beginning to make my legs feel 

like rubber.

For a split second, I noticed his gaze slipped to my nipples and I suddenly realized I had no bra on.

I had simply thrown on a halter top and short, shorts 

after my shower because of the sultry heat.

I felt a bit uneasy and flattered at the same time 

because he was noticing my breasts.