Down But Not Out

I hope everyone had a great holiday.
I hope it was filled with fun and memories and whatever you wished it to be.

I was sick.
Really, really sick.

I had a fever of 102 degrees F.
and I felt not so festive.

By Christmas morning, my fever was subsiding, but I still felt like crap.

I am still sleeping a lot, but feeling better.

See you soon!

Ten Things Tuesday- Sayings From My Youth

I know it's Thursday.
I moved it for this week due to no posting on Tuesday.

Iowa's got some bad weather outside.
I am glad I have power, my tv, and the internet.

Every generation has sayings that seem fairly unique.
Maybe not totally, but they reach a peak and later on you don't hear them much.

That's what this week's ten things is about.

Here we go:

1. What crawled up your ass and died?
    My sister used to say this a lot to me. I may have been just a bit moody in my younger years. For some reason, I never hear it used anymore.

2. Well, duh!
    When someone says something that is commonsensical, it just does not need to be said. Say it and make them feel stupid.

3. Don't have a cow!
    Bart Simpson always added man, but  totally unnecessary. Just don't get so worked up, OK?

4. She must be on the rag.
    Now, it is mostly referred to as the time of the month. Among teens, on the rag isn't used much these days. Back then, if anyone acted bitchy at all, people tended to say they were on the rag.

5. It's a knee slapper.
    This is another one from my sister. When something was not funny, she'd say "that's a knee slapper" and slap her elbow.

6. Doi!
    My other sister would say this one. I haven't heard it too many places since the 80s, but the teenager in the movie Dodgeball said it. It's a variation of duh.

7. Sit and spin!
    When saying this, you must stick up your middle finger or it really has no meaning.

8. Man, he's baked!
    Now, it's high as a kite. Or he's really messed up. Being baked  is when someone is so stoned they just sit there in their own little world looking really out of it.

9.  Just say no!
    Nancy Reagan made it her mission to get kids to "Just say no!" to drugs and alcohol. All the schools had speakers come talk to the kids. I even have a button pin that says "just say no" on it.

10. You are so full of shit, your eyes are brown.
    This is a pretty old saying, but I never hear it anymore.

OK, my power is flickering so I best be going.

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Have a great day!

Shaking My Head

There are things in life that I just don't understand.

Why do some people have to know everything about everything?

Why do we always have to know why something happened?

Why do we have to know why someone did something?

Why does the manner in which someone dies, seem to matter more than the fact that they are no longer alive?

I believe that there are some things in this world that we are just not meant to understand.
Things just happen.
There is no explanation.

My daughter had childhood epilepsy, which by definition is two or more seizures of unknown origin.
Her brain just misfired for no reason.

Sometimes, you can figure out why someone does something.
Sometimes, you are just never going to know.

It's one of the complexities of people.

I have known so many people that have died of all kinds of things:
massive heart attack, cancer, SIDS, murder, AIDS, stillbirth
You name it. I know someone that it happened to.

And it doesn't matter how.
They are gone and it is a very sad thing.

Knowledge is a good thing.
But, we don't have to stay three forever and continually ask why.

Sometimes, it just happens because it does.

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I will not be doing a Ten Things Tuesday (may move to Thursday) due to there being an "All Quiet on the Blogosphere" to show respect to the people that died in Newtown, CT last Friday.

I Have a Lot of Freckles

The One About the Award

Gossip_Grl is giving out the Liebster Award.
On my award page, I have one, but it's a different Liebster so it's all good.

In order to accept the award, the honored(me) is supposed to answer a list of questions asked by the honorer.

Here we go-

 1. Have you ever played a drinking game? (alcohol or non alcohol) If so, which one?
If I have it has been so long that I don't remember. Though I do believe if I played one using uh and um as the drinking word, I would be drunk off my ass almost constantly.  

2. Have you ever laughed so hard you snorted or worse yet, wet yourself? Tell me about it.
No, that would be completely unladylike. And you know me. Always a lady.

3. Have you ever had to go so bad you went to an opposite gender public bathroom?
Of course. Got odd looks, but then others followed my lead. Women need more stalls. Technically men have twice as much pee potential space as women because of the urinals. That's just not right since we have a uterus that presses on our bladder making us have to pee A LOT more.  

4. Have you ever been kicked out of Chuck E. Cheese?
Is that even possible? That would be nice though.

5. Tell me about the worse boss you ever had.
I had one that would sit up in her office that overlooked the store and just watched everyone. Thankfully my department was children's shoes and there was one spot back there that you could hide and not get seen.


 6. What was the craziest question you were asked at a job interview?
If I knew that the drug test only detected over a certain level. No, I didn't know that. It didn't matter. I never got to take the test.

7. Have you ever had an argument with a coworker at work?
No.


8. Why did you leave your last job?
When you dread just the thought of walking into work and you feel like your sanity is going, that might be a good time to leave. I thought so anyway. 

9. Have you ever went to a job interview after having a few shots?
I am going to guess shots of alcohol and not heroin. Either way, the answer is no. When I was pretty young, I did get pretty drunk before an interview and just never went to the interview.

10. Have you ever protested? Burned a bra or underwear at a protest?
I've signed online petitions.That is as far as it goes.

11. Are you finished with your Christmas Shopping?
Maybe. If you count getting a tree,definitely not. Pretty much for my husband and daughter. I have to get baking supplies for gifts for others. 

I guess I need to ask some questions.

1. What's your favorite holiday?
2. What is your biggest pet peeve?
3. If you could be any animal in the world what would it be and why?
4. Do you cook and if so what is your specialty?
5. What is your favorite season?
6. What part of the world do you live in?
7. What is you dream job?
8. Do you have your dream job?
9. How fast do you write a blog post? Do you spend hours and lots of research or do you just crank one out?
10. Do you have any superstitions and what are they?
11. Are you finding this as fun as I?

In Gossip_Grl fashion, I am leaving this Liebster award for you to take along with answering the questions I have asked.
If you answer them, let me know so I don't miss reading the answers.

Ten Things Tuesday- Christmas Songs

We all have our favorite Christmas songs.

I would bet you do, even if you don't celebrate Christmas for any reason.

I am not really religious and my family doesn't celebrate Christmas in that fashion.
It is a time to share love and that is pretty much where it ends for me.

I know all the religious carols from growing up going to church.
So, I like listening to all kinds of Christmas songs.

Today's Ten Things Tuesday is a list of some of my favorite songs this time of year.

So without further adieu and in no certain order...

1. Back Door Santa
    This is definitely not church music, but I like it. This is written and performed by Clarence Carter, though it has been redone by several artists over the years. If you get offended easily DO NOT click on the link.

2. Heavy Metal Christmas
     This is Twisted Sister performing it's version of the 12 Days of Christmas. I have the whole album.

3. Be Clause I Got High
     This is made by Bob Rivers Comedy Group. The things that won't get done if you are really doped up.

4. The Night Santa Went Crazy
     It's from Weird Al Yankovic. That gives you an idea what to expect.

5. Little Drummer Boy
     This is from Bob Seger. I have always loved this song. When I went to Sunday School and we'd have our Christmas concert, they'd always have one of the kids that played drums be the drummer boy. Even if the only drummer was not a boy.

6. Do They Know It's Christmas
     A group of artists known as Band Aid recorded this for African relief.

7. Christmas All Over Again
     Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers perform this.

8. Wonderful Christmastime
     This is from Paul McCartney and the Wings.

9. Happy Christmas
     This is John Lennon.

10. Santa Claus is Coming to Town
     This is the Bruce Springsteen version.


There are SO many songs to pick from. Do you have a favorite Christmas or holiday song?
Let me know!

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Have a great Tuesday!

It's a Miracle!

I have water!
Not tons and tons.

The toilet fills up on it's own and the faucet has water coming out.

Do you know what this means?

I have water!

I still have to ration
unless it starts to rain more regularly.

But, I don't have to rush into making a decision about drilling a new drill or dumping water down my well and possibly collapsing the brick walls or even hooking into rural water.

I am not sure how it went from being so dry that the hand pump couldn't bring water up to the electric pump being able to pull it into the house in only a couple days.
The hand pump goes down deeper.

I am not going to question it.
I am just going to be grateful that it happened.

For now, I am so happy.

It's a good day!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Waterless In Iowa

It finally happened.

Mother Nature got the upper hand on my well.

The well did me proud.
She stayed pumping out the water throughout the long, hot, dry, dry, dry summer.
Did I mention dry?

But, the fall rains never came.
It's December and not so much as a snowflake to be seen.

My well just couldn't take it anyway.
She fell victim to chronic dryness last eve about 11 o'clock.

There is no large amounts of precip. in the foreseeable future.
I have no idea if or when she will ever fill back up.

Next course of action to is make some calls.
Hook up to rural water or maybe have water hauled and dumped in the well.
Or, go without water until who knows when.

Yay for chemically treated water!
Yay for paying a monthly water bill!
Yay for borrowing money from my inlaws to get rural water!

And there is the waiting until we can get water hauled or water hooked up.

Is it too much to hope that Jasper County, Iowa get buttloads of rain overnight to fill up my well?
Maybe we should all have a blogosphere rain dance.
But, than it might rain everywhere and not everywhere needs it.

Send rain requests to Mother Nature?

I don't know.
I am out of ideas.

Look Alikes? December 4, 2012

The elves- Snap, Crackle, and Pop

Olympic gymnast- Shawn Johnson 

 source

Ten Things Tueday- December Holidays

 Have you seen all the hoopla over saying Merry Christmas versus Happy Holidays?

I honestly don't understand what is wrong with saying Happy Holidays.
Say what you want, it's all good to me.

But, lots of people seem to be upset that Happy Holidays is used. It is supposed to be Merry Christmas for some reason.

I get that people are sick of the whole political correctness in the world.
But when someone is saying something to be nice, should it really matter that they didn't stick Christmas into the greeting?

All this has inspired me to look into the many different holidays we can choose to celebrate in December.

This week's Ten Things Tuesday is about the different December holidays.
So, in no special order, here we go:


1. Hanukkah- December 8-16
     It is also known as the festival of lights. It is an 8 day celebration commemorating the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

2. Yule- December 21 or 22
     This is when the Goddess gives birth to the new sun God. The new God is born on the shortest day of the year.

3. Christmas- December 25
     If you are a Christian, this is the day you celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

4. Boxing Day- December 26
     It's a big shopping day now, but roots can be traced back many centuries. It may be called Boxing Day because that is the day charity boxes given to the church were opened, but no one knows for sure.

5. Kwanzaa- December 26
     The word is Swahili meaning fruits of the harvest and celebrated by many Africans to pay homage to their heritage.

6. Festivus- December 23
     For the rest of us. Originally from a Seinfeld episode. Put up an aluminum pole and read a list of grievances that occurred over the course of the year. 

7. The Feast of Immaculate Conception- December 8
     To celebrate the day that the Virgin Mary was conceived by Saint Anne.

8. Saint Nicholas Day- December 6
     Saint Nicholas was a saint and bishop that gave to the poor. He was known to toss bags of coins through open windows. A coin fell into a child's shoe and so began the tradition of putting out stockings for Saint Nicholas to put things in.

9. Bodhi Day or Rohatsu-  December 8
     The day to commemorate the day that Buddha found enlightenment(bodhi).

10. Hogmanay- December 31
     This is the Scottish word for the last day of the year. It is also known to be the Scottish way of celebrating New Year's Eve. Each area of Scotland has it's own Hogmanay ritual. Singing "Auld Lang Syne" is also a Hogmanay custom.


Other awesome December holidays!- There are fun ones like national roast suckling pig day, bathtub party day, and wear brown shoes day.

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Have a great Tuesday!

Thoughts of Times Past

It's getting cold in my area of the world.

I'd like to look back on a few memories from spring and summer past.

 Fun with food!

It's deer out in the yard,

 Stormy weather!

 This was fun to clean up first thing in the morning.

 It's time for freezing some corn!

Bob, the squirrel, got tired of me snapping his picture so he left.

I named him Bob because he was quite the barker.