Trying Not To Go Crazy…

…but living without a computer pretty much stinks!  I ordered a new one from Dell a couple of weeks ago, but it’s a special order and is going to still be a few more weeks before I get it!  Do you know how hard it is to find a matte screened laptop that runs on Windows XP these days?  I’m sure you do, so I’ll tell you, you can get them from Dell.  The device is called a Latitude, and it’s a business laptop, but they’ll sell a personal user one as well.  Not only are the matte screen and the XP OS special orders, I wanted it in the brand new red color…also a special order.  (The device also comes with a licensed copy of Vista, should I ever decide I want to take that step!)

So, I occasionally can get to a computer for brief moments (like now), but until the new one arrives, I won’t be here much, AGAIN!  I am missing out on some awesome Photo Fridays, which makes me sad.  I hope to get around to the faithful and check out what they’ve done in my absence ASAP.  But I’m at the mercy of Dell and of my special orders…

On the bright side, you all don’t have to “listen” to my wonderfully crafted political rants, and to my discussions on the global economy, or to my random midnight musings!  Lucky you!!

Sigh.

…

Photo Friday – “Old Cars”

 

Catching up on my assignments!  This was last week’s topic, but last week I did THIS week’s.  Cuz I’m a dope, basically! 

 

From the time I was a little kid, like most Southern California beach kids, I wanted a Volkswagon Bug.  An OLD one, the kind with the small tail lights, not the big round ones.

I was 23 when I walked into the garage of the guy who was selling the 1971 Beetle and I almost heard angels sing.  Fire engine red, factory sunroof, Hurst shifting, dual carbs, baja-style…shiny and beautiful.  It was a race car!  It cost more money than I ever imagined I would spend on a car…2500 dollars!  But I wanted that car.  I actually needed a car.  I’d never owned one and I was in college driving my dad’s old VW van with a shot tranny which threatened to die at any given moment.

I decided to get the car.  Before I even left the house that evening I was thinking “what should I name a fabulous car like this??”.  On a hunch, I asked the owner if the car had a name.  He looked at me quizzically and slowly answered…”yeeeeesss, his name is Dudley”.  Dudley he was and Dudley he remained.  The previous owner liked that I kept the name.  But if you knew Dudley, you knew he was a Dudley.  I think Dudley was alive, just like Herbie in Disney’s “The Love Bug”.  Ask anyone else who knew him, they’ll tell you the same.

In the dead of night one night I decided I needed to see if Dudley really needed that speedometer that went up to 250 mph.  I snuck onto a brand new freeway that was slated to be opened in the next couple of days and I opened him up.  I got him up to 117 mph before I freaked out thinking I’d end up with a felony on my record if I got caught.  But even at 117 mph Dudley was running smooth!!!  That was a GREAT moment. 

But old bugs can be fussy.  I took a basic mechanics class in college, so I was able to deal with small problems that would arise.  It wasn’t rare that I’d have to pull off the road and remove the fuel filter to bang out the rust from the fuel tank.  But years later I took a job that required very dependable transportation, transportation that wouldn’t leave me smelling like gasoline.  I kept two cars for awhile as I didn’t want to give Dudley up, but eventually it became clear to me that I needed to downsize to a single car, and I said good-bye to my old friend.

Now, do you think I could find a single picture of him to share here?  Nope.  I have some, but they are in a box somewhere.  I did know where the ignition key I kept was though, so I thought that might do for this challenge.  Here’s Dudley’s key:

Please check out the other participants’ work!  They are all doing “Stained Glass Windows”.  I’ll activate the links as I get them.

Author

Tina

CuriousC

Melanie

Mrs Nascar

Eiain

Just For Fun

 

 

Coming up on Photo Friday:

12th September: Author’s choice – Step Inside (Pics of inside your own home: they can be of favourite corners, or things, or windows, or unusual features or just unusual angles of somehing in your own home)

19th September: CuriousCs choice - Food (a still life, or food growing on the allotment or in the garden, or  at the market, or in a shop, or your fave food on a plate, or any pic of food)

26th September: CuriousCs choice -  Colours (of Autumn)

3rd October: Eiain’s choice – Music (musicians, concerts, still life of musical instruments or musical  scores, musical boxes etc - I could go on and on …..) You may also like to add a YouTube clip of your favourite music!

10th October: Mrs Nascar’s choice – Night ( moon, stars or any interpretation of night)

17th October: CuriousCs choice - Bridges

24th October: Eiain’s choice - Paws for thought

31st October: Author’s choice - Halloween!

7th November: Tina’s choice - Action Shots

…

Thanks for the button…

I have a few collections.  (Okay, more than a few!)  I used to collect buttons when I was in my teens and twenties.  I had a load of them.  I got rid of all but the most interesting ones in one of my moves, but every once in awhile a button catches my attention and I’ll procure it.  Often this means asking the person who is wearing it if I may have it!    So, when I saw a link on Facebook to get a “free” Obama button from MoveOn.org, I figured I should send away for it.  Afterall, this IS one of the most interesting and historical elections I’ve experienced.  I am not voting for Obama, but wanted the button anyway.  So I followed the link and requested one.

I requested it using my blog’s e-mail address because I didn’t want a lot of Obama and MoveOn e-mail in my regular in-box. 

Want to see my bright new button?  Well, I’d love to show it to you, but here it is, nearly three weeks later and I still don’t have that button.  But apparently in requesting one I joined MoveOn.org!  No mention of THAT anywhere on the form.  There was a separate link to use for that.  And it seems that MoveOn.org has seen fit to sell my e-mail address to every possible person, corporation, and entity in the known universe, because I am positively flooded with e-mail to that address.

So, THANKS MoveOn.org.  Thanks for the button…

Not.

…

I Want a Communist Artifact!

Today my father, my sister Liz, and her daughter Jesse (yes, that’s the correct spelling), are off to China!!  How blisteringly exciting!  They are taking a 10-day guided tour which sounds absolutely fabulous.

The China they will see is undoubtedly much different than the one that I experienced back in 1982.  It will be a place in the middle of a new kind of revolution!  The big cities are neon bright with tall hotels and tour buses and modern vehicles.  It will be a place of women and men dressed in the latest fashions chatting on the newest cell phones.  There will be restaurants, clubs, and stores.  Tourists will abound, especially since Beijing will be the host for the latest summer Olympics, and I doubt that these tourists will have their hotel phones bugged and be followed around by their own squad of soldiers!

I have put in my request that I be brought a truly Chinese article or some sort of interesting communist artifact…perhaps an old poster of Mao himself?? 

Oh, or maybe an old set of accupuncture needles!  That’d be cool!  Ohohoh, or maybe some silk, or jade?  Wait!  I forgot that this trip isn’t about me! 

Have the best of fun!  Travel safely!  Take LOTS of pictures… 

Hike as far down the Great Wall as far as they’ll let you and as far away fromother people as possible and listen for mongol warriers galloping through the mountains.  You can hear them!  I swear I did…

I can’t wait to hear aaaaalllll about it!

…

(Posted in absentia)

Where Is Iz?

I was adopted this summer.  “She” showed up the day that we did at the Camp in Ispica.  She was sitting behind a fence that separated the camp from the property next door.  She attached herself to our team almost immediately.  She was fearless and always underfoot.  Initially I attempted to keep her out of the kitchen, but it was a losing battle.  And she would sit on the floor and look up at me with the most soulful eyes begging me for a taste of that beef, that chicken, that turkey, that tuna, or whatever else it was that caught her nose’s attention.  (She particularly loved melon rinds.  How bizarre is that?)

I missed my cat, Mew Ling.  So sue me.  I started to feed the skinny gray kitty.  She needed a name.  The girls first came up with Etna, which I thought was really a cute name.  But it didn’t stick.  Isabella, and then eventually Izzy, and Iz, did stick.  And Izzy somehow became my cat.  She had been abandoned by her mother along with a couple of siblings.  The next door neighbor sort of took them in and occasionally fed them.  But only Izzy came over the fence and made friends with us.

Last summer I missed my cat tremendously.  But I had Abner to keep me company, to make me laugh, and to have deep grown up conversation with.  It was a pretty lonely summer for me this past summer.  I was the only head leader.  My assistant leaders were both very young.  All the adults that were at the camp spoke either Italian or German.  Some spoke a little English, but not enough to easily have more than the most simple of conversation.  I think God sent Izzy to me to keep me company and to alleviate my aloneness.  She did a great job of it, too.  It seemed to me like it was her personal mission to be my companion.  And I know that God loves me enough to take the time to arrange something like that for me, too.

At first Izzy never made any sounds except purring.  It was a couple of weeks before I heard the most faint little mews coming from her.  I don’t know if she was abandoned so young that she didn’t know how to meow or what.  When she finally did “learn” to talk, it was so pitiful sounding I couldn’t help but want to make sure I did whatever necessary to make sure she was safe and healthy.  I got sucked in by her situation and her phenomenal cuteness.  I was a goner and it didn’t take long til I was crazy for this kitty.

I think Izzy thought I was her mother.  She would snuggle up to me or snuggle down in my clothes and find a little wrinkle of fabric and suck on it.  For hours she could do that.  I once woke up with a huge wet spot on my shoulder.  She had been sucking on the back of my shirt for who knows how long.  She’d play all day with the kids, following them out to the work site and playing with them into the evening hours.  But when it was time for bed, most nights found Izzy in my room and on my bed.  Since no one was allowed into my room without my being in there, Izzy would retreat there when she needed alone time.  I would often find her stretched out (or curled up) on my bed in the afternoon taking a long leisurely uninterrupted nap.

Izzy’d come when I’d call her, too.  I’d make a very loud long kissing sound, and if she was within hearing distance, she come running like a gray flash.  Sometimes I’d do the sound when she was being held by one of my kids just to see all the acrobats of her twisting and twirling and trying to get down.  It was fun to watch whoever was holding her to try to hang onto her as long as possible.  It was like watching someone trying to hang onto loose Jell-O! 

Izzy liked to hang out in the kitchen.  Probably because she knew she’d be able to get food out of pretty much anyone, especially me.  She got stepped on a lot.  Eventually she found a place she could hang out without getting crunched.  She’d curl up with the pots and pans in the kitchen island.

 

When I’d go to my room to do paperwork, or whatever, Izzy liked to jump up on my shoulder.  Why do you suppose she would do this?  I have no theories.  But it seemed like she was very interested in whatever I was doing and liked a good view.

 

And we all absolutely loved her.  Me especially.  And I had to leave her behind.  Sad day.  I had been hoping to bring her to Colorado to live with me.  The missionary’s son said he’d help me get her if it was possible.  It doesn’t look like it is.  Even if I could arrange to get her to a vet there in Sicily and get a certificate of health (a requirement of British Airways), British Airways makes all animals travel as cargo.  They don’t offer cargo services from Catania, Sicily.  The only way I could get her to the U.S. IF I had a certificate of health, would be to have her fly out of Rome.  I guess Iz is staying in Sicily. 

I’m worried that Izzy has no one to feed her.  I wonder if she is trying to get into my room at night.  Do you think she wonders what the heck happened to all of her people?  I feel terrible that we had to leave her behind.

Stupid.  I know.

She’s just a cat, afterall.  Right?

…

Apples to Apples

Have you ever played this game?  Tonight was my “small group” Christmas dinner.  A small group is like a mini-church, just FYI.  There are about fifteen people from my big church that attend this small group.  And we were all able to sit around the table after dinner and play this easily.  It doesn’t require a lot of smarts, but it helps to have a handle on the people you’re playing with.  You might be able to get them to pick the card you submit for a category as the best one if you know what you think they might lean towards picking!

I’d never heard of it before.  But I think I’ll get it for when my family is out here.  We like to play games, but even Diana G. liked it, and she HATES games! 

Click HERE for more information

Unpaid Product Endorsement – Kayla’s Rag Bags

Kayla is my sister Diane’s best friend’s daughter.  She’s 16 and trying to raise money to go to New York with her school choir.  She’s working pretty hard at it, not just asking for handouts.  For example, her latest endeavor is to deliver phone books (somebody has to do it!).  That doesn’t exactly pay so great.  One of the things that she is doing is making purses!  And they’re CUTE.  She crochets the exterior and lines them with T-shirts that have seen better days.  I bought two.  I am keeping the purple and green and fuscia one lined with a Sponge Bob T and I am giving the green and rust and cream one lined with a matching T to my niece.  Here’s the thing….I would buy one of these even if it wasn’t helping Kayla reach her goal.  A goal, by the way, that her parents think will be a great experience for her.  It’s not as though they’ve said “you can go if you raise the money, but we think it’s a bad idea and we’re not going to pay for it.”  So, here’s a picture of these ever so cute purses (the one I’m keeping is turned inside out, in case you weren’t sure!).  If you are interested in buying a Kayla original Rag Bag then leave a comment.  I’ll forward your info on to her.  She’ll even make them special order.  If you have a favorite T-shirt that you can’t wear anymore, but can’t bear to throw away, perhaps she’ll turn it into a purse for you!  And what the heck, I haven’t done an unpaid product endorsement (UPE) for awhile, so let’s make this one of those!

(Kayla’s Rag Bags, originally uploaded by Blah Blah Blog)

Gorillawhat?

Oh, wow!  I need me one of these!  Saw it in the Skymall magazine on my last flight from LA.  A must have for anyone who uses a digital camera!!!  Check it out!

The Gorillapod

I Want a Teardrop Camper!

(That needs to be read with a hint of a whine in your voice.)

I have too many blog drafts in my queue, so you’re getting two right off the bat today!

I have been letting my magazines stack up.  Be horrified.  My magaizine subscriptions are as follows:

1. Time
2. Cottage Living
3. Conde Naste’s Travel
4. Reader’s Digest

I get Time because I need something that gets my ire up every once in awhile!  I get Cottage Living because I love all the design ideas for small spaces.  I get Travel.  Do I need to explain myself on this subscription?  I get Reader’s Digest because it’s one of the best magazines around and I have subscribed to it for as long as I can remember.  And my family competes to see who gets the most right in “It Pays To Enrich Your Word Power” (which they now just call “Word Power”).

While reading my May copy of RD yesterday I came across a tiny little article which talked about hitting the road in a “teardrop camper”.  OH MY GOSH.  These things are CUTE!  Even I might camp if I had one of these little babies!

http://www.tinycamper.com/

One of the things on my “List of Fifty” is to drive the original Route 66.  Now tell me, how much fun would it be to do THAT with one of THESE!!  I do believe even my Honda could tow this!

 

(http://www.cozycruiser.com/images/super-deluxe-teardrop-trailer.gif)

That’s a kitchen in the back, and in the front is a sleeping/living/storage space.  I’ve done some shopping, and, as with most things, they pretty much run the gamut as far as cost and amenities are concerned!  I like how the aluminum ones look.  They have a retro Route 66 sort of feel to them.  These seem to be very popular in Australia and New Zealand, and they’ve got some really sharp ones for sale down there!

Anybody want to go with me???