Crazy Days

Today, I am taking a lazy day.

The last couple of months have been mentally draining.

Honeyman got his diagnosis of IgA nephropathy. The antibodies that fight infection are causing problems with his kidneys. That is an autoimmune kidney disease and that in turn caused his failing kidneys. Right now, they are attempting to slow how fast they crap out.

Been taking several trips to see my sister. She will, hopefully, be headed to rehab shortly.

I started a fundraiser on youcaring.com to help with medical expenses.

This was taken this past Sunday and she is looking a lot better than she was.

This is my big sister, Sheila.

A couple days ago, I spent the day making noodles, mac and cheese, bread, and cookies to take to my brother-in-law and my nephew. It's nice to not have to worry about fixing a meal sometimes.
My daughter and I drove out and delivered it yesterday.

Sheila is the sister I have written about before. She has her own jewelry making business.
She has a published a short story and just finished the first draft on a full-length paranormal romance novel.
The couple days before her stroke, she had started working on edits.

This is all the stuff I have been doing.
I decided to take the day and no do a whole lot.
I have done a fair share of lounging around.

Sometimes you just gotta do that.

Back in the Day

I remember back in the day 99 cent a gallon gas was expensive.
Now, $2.00 a gallon is cheap

If you tattled at school, the teacher would pin a tattle tail to your back and make you walk around school all day.
Now, telling is good.

I remember common sense being more prevalent.
Now, people listen to the "experts".

Parenting used to be left to the parents.
Some did a shitty job.
Some did a good job.

After that, spanking was frowned upon.
Now, a group of people think spanking is good and teaches respect.

"Kids have no discipline today."
"Obviously their parents didn't believe in spanking."

Oh, please.
There are as many rude, lazy, old people as there are young people.
Old people just think they are entitled to speak their mind.

As a parent, you have to parent in the best way that works for you.
All spanking ever taught my child was that it was OK to hit.
All I learned from getting spanked was that I had to be afraid of doing something wrong.

I didn't learn respect.
I spanked a few times cause that is what I knew as discipline.
I learned that it didn't work so I changed what I did.

Back in the day, we had school from August to May and we learned the whole time.
Because that is what we were there for
Now, kids get candy for doing things right, pizza parties and movie days just cause.

Back in the day, going to college was not a given.
Now, if a kid doesn't go people think it is odd.

Back in the day, most stores had ONE bathroom and it was for everyone and you had to wait your turn.
Now, people are fighting about who should be using which bathroom.

Back in the day, you got domestic beer and you were going to like it.
Now, you can go imported or microbrew or even gluten free if you need.

You can get imported chocolate instead of having to buy Hershey's like back when.

Back when, computers were huge.
Now, we can put 'em in our pockets.
And drop them in the toilet.

People want to take America back.
Back to what?

Some things were better back in the day, some things not.

The Young Obsession

Nobody really wants to get old.
Sure, we can be grateful when we live to be 80.
But, no one wants to start forgetting things and where opening a jar of spaghetti sauce becomes an exercise in futility.

But, to the lucky, we age.
It is inevitable.

There is the saying that youth is wasted on the young.
When you're young, you have the energy to do things, but not the time.
When you get old, you have the time, but not the energy.



What I have always hated was the "years young" phrase.
People are young and they are two years old,twenty years old, whatever.
But, at some magical age, they become years young.
Seventy years young. Ugh!

For awhile that phrase was used everywhere.
Thankfully, not so much now.

However, it has been replaced by the decade thing.
Sixty is the new fifty, fifty is the new forty, and forty is the new thirty.
Thirty is not the new twenty cause you are still in your youth.
Or maybe it is.
People like to be young.



But, that just sounds corny too.

I am 44 and that it how it is.
My niece tells me I don't look as old as I am.
And I am not even wearing make-up to hide fine lines.

Honeyman is two years older than I am and he feels old to him.
I don't feel old.
Even when I hurt or when I forget something..

Mentally, I still feel young.



And to people older than me, I am young.
My mother-in-law calls me kid.

That's just how it goes.

Bock Bock Cluck Cluck

Here are my hens coming up to the door to say hi.

 

The tan ones are Buff Orpingtons, the white with a little black ones are a Leghorn mix, and the red one is a Rhode Island Red.

This is the run of their coop. This was last summer before they scratched up all the grass.

These are the newest additions. Five Buff Orpingtons and five White Leghorns are in there. They are getting big enough to divide up into separate totes. They are about two weeks old now and already have wing and tail feathers.

We have all girls. Unless one of the babies was sexed wrong, we won't be having a rooster.

Girl chicks are called pullets and boy chicks are called cockerels.

Chickens are pretty easy to take care of. They do get to free range part of the day and they love it.

They make noise when laying eggs. It's the egg laying song.

It will be 16-24 weeks before the pullets start laying.

I also have baby ducks.

One might say they were a parting gift for buying all the chicks.

We think the yellow ones are Pekin and the brown/yellow are Rouen. They came from the assorted bin so that is what we are guessing for now.

They were given to my husband because they were getting picked on and they were not doing too good. If we didn't take them, they would be taken back to die and tossed in the garbage. 

Since he is a softy, he brought them home.

Ten Things Tuesday- Internet Rules

It's been a long time since I did one of these.

I've been missing my Ten Things Tuesday list.

There seems to be some strange rules people follow when on the internet. Some things are just OK and other things are so bad.
I am going to take a look at those things today.

Today's Ten Things Tuesday is all about rules~ internet rules.

1. Use horrible spelling and/or bad grammar, but under no circumstances should you use ALL CAPS.
     ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IS YELLING, YOU KNOW. IT IS NEVER ABOUT THE FACT THAT SOMEONE MAY SEE THE CAPITAL LETTERS BETTER BECAUSE THEY DON'T SEE SO WELL. OR, BECAUSE, IN THE CASE OF MY HUSBAND, USING THE SHIFT KEY IS A PAIN AND IT IS EASIER(i.e. LAZY).

2. When you use the internet, manners are not important.
     Be rude. After all, no one can see you. They can't bitchslap you through the monitor for your insensitive comments.

3. WebMD is the go to for medical advice.
     Type in your symptoms and you are good to go. Except that your headache might be a brain tumor. You might need to check that out.

4. There are no such things as too many ads.
     Between you and me, I zone most of them out so the joke's on them. By the way, if you click on one of the ads on my blog, I will make 10 cents. Click away. Shhh. If Blogger knows that I am asking for clicks, they won't give me my pennies.

5. Make a meme about a week, day, or year and circulate it without a date.
     Is is Autism Awareness Week now when I see it or two months from now when someone else sees it and posts it? Or was it a few weeks before I saw it? That's OK. We don't need to know.

6. SPAM is just like hangers in your closet.
     It multiplies. Do not be alarmed.

7. So people understand you are kidding, you must make a winky face or write jk.
     If you don't, people will not know you are just kidding. Fonts don't show emotion, People!

8. Mail you want inevitably will end up in your junk folder and crap mail will make it into your inbox.
     It's a scam to make sure you look through all your mail.

9. Google it!
     If you don't know something, go to Google and only look at the first three pages, at most.
Sure another search engine might give you the answer. But, Google is where it is at. And the link you want might be on page 8, but why bother. It just takes time. Time that you could use to play Criminal Case on Facebook.

10. Changing passwords gets more and more complicated for security.
     Never forget your password. Changing it involves special characters, upper case, lower case, numbers and some creativity to make it good and strong. Too weak. Ohh...too bad, so sad. Try again.

Oh, Internet, what would we do without you?

Have a great day!

No Baboons Here

Have you seen this picture?

Do you believe this picture?

Please don't.

Even though Congress may act like baboons, they are not.
You may be insulting the baboon.

Checking into various sources, I have learned that a group of baboons are known as a troop.

We have troops of baboons running around the savanna.

Baboons are some of the world's largest monkeys.

Following the logic set forth in this lovely meme, you could be calling our soldiers baboons.

And really, for all we know, whoever decided to call our soldiers troops may have known this.
It may have started out as a slang term used only in the military.
But, like most slang, it eventually becomes mainstream.

However, in other countries, soldiers are called troopers.
Maybe the good ole USA just decided to shorten the word.

I really don't know.

All I could find was that journalists just started using the word troops because it was shorter than writing soldiers.

It doesn't really matter when it started.
Just know that baboons and Congress do not belong together.
In the dictionary sense, anyway.

The Day Is Fast Approaching

My baby is going to be a high school graduate in just a week and a half.
Today is her last day of class.

Time goes by so fast.

I am really glad for her in so many ways.
No more putting up with a school full of people that think it is fine to dismiss other people as inconsequential. (There's my big word of the day!)

My husband says how tough it is in the real world, but I'd still rather be in it rather then back in school.
His life wasn't great, he had fun and friends. But he was also not sober too often in those days.

I had a horrible time in school. Not well liked as well as always sober.
My daughter is pretty much like me.

She is such a great kid, but no one ever gave her a chance.
And she is just so over pretending all of it doesn't bug her.

She doesn't like most of the kids so what they think really doesn't matter that much.
At the same time, being in that environment day after day takes its toll.

Character Counts is a thing in Iowa that schools tout and pretend that they give a crap.
They all pretend that bullying doesn't happen in their school.

Until the school gets sued or a student kills himself because of bullying.

She is glad she won't have to put up with the kids AND the school.
I am glad I don't have to put up with that school.

Kiddo plans to stay working where she is at and hopefully get full time soon.

For graduation, they gave her a sheet cake and I got that ordered.

Now, shit just got real.
I have to start cleaning and cooking and buying stuff for the reception.

I hope it doesn't rain.
I don't know how I would fit all those people in my house.

Are You Sure?

Do you notice how lots of people believe the dumbest shit, but when they read the truth they don't believe it?

I know too many of these people.

From what I understand, this has been around for awhile.
It is just making it's rounds around social media.
Again.

Why is this believable? If you have a question about the validity, do a search for tick eggs.

This is what you are gonna find:

.

These are tick eggs.
You are not going to find a picture of something strongly resembling squished blackberries or dewberries.

Yes, this annoys me. People don't check. They just believe it and pass it on and it goes round and round.

I could put out so many examples.
The Jackie Kennedy curtain that somehow became a Muslim curtain, Pepsi taking Under God out of the Pledge of Allegiance on a soda pop can, and the list goes on.

And telling these people does nothing to stop them from sharing the next thing they see.

Z Marks the Spot

No, I know what I mean.
In my X post, I determined that the majority of X words sounds like they should start with Z.

Following this logic Z, and not X, marks the spot.
And the Z is where is all comes to a conclusion.

I got to the half-way point and thought the alphabet was so long.
But, I went on and I could see the Z was in my sights,

Now, I have reached
the pinnacle
the end
the climax.

Now, it is time to pat myself on the back and congratulate everyone else for reaching Z.

And in celebration, I am going to go plant my potatoes

Yes I Am

Yes, I am actually writing and scheduling this post ahead because my husband has a "procedure" on Y day.
I have had trouble so let's hope this works.

Yes, I am the type of person that has strange funny things running through my head when seeing or hearing serious news stories.
Did you know that Timmy fell down the well? Timmy was a dog and no Lassie was involved.
But, yes my mind went there.
The dog is fine and rescued by firemen.

It gets worse.
Yes, I am keeping that to myself.

Yes, I blame my husband for this.

Yes, I am very aware you might think I have a warped mind.

Yes, I am the proud owner of  the George Carlin collection of HBO stand-up specials.

Yes, I am the brains of my operation.
Yes, I am totally serious.
Yes, you can ask the hubs.

Yes, I do love Cary Grant movies.

Yes, I am a fan of the band Yes.

And, yes, this is a scene from a movie I love.

But it Sounds Like a Z

I have thought long and hard about my X word.

In the past, I have done Xanadu and X-ray and I don't remember what else.

Xenu came into my head, but everyone knows Xenu is a guy floating around the sky that Tom Cruise prays to.

My next option was to get out my dictionary and look for X words.
Xenophobe was good.

That's a person that is afraid of strangers- which pretty much describes every kid in the free world.

But, then I realized something...

Most X words seem like they should start with Z.
Unless it is like X-ray, it has a Z sound.


Except for Xmas, cause the X is really the Greek letter meaning Christ.

Xerox, xylophone, and so on and so forth.

So, in conclusion, I really have no X word for today.
Pretty much a bunch of mumbo-jumbo.

And I'm OK with that.

It's a Weighty Issue

There are two types of people in this world.

The ones that don't care one bit about what they weigh and the ones that do.
Some of those people pretend they don't but really they do.

I am one of those people that cares.
Because I could stand to GAIN a few pounds.

Normally you hear about the people that bitch and moan about how hard it is to LOSE weight and how they hate people that can drop weight so easily.
And God forbid, I mention that I can't gain.
"You're so lucky".

Cause, it's nice having hip bones stick out.

I can eat whatever and don't gain.


I can eat all the 1-2-3-4 peanut butter cookies or flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies I want, but that does nothing.

Several years ago, I was a little on the heavy side.
So, I started to lose weight.

And I did.
I got to where I wanted and I thought it was all good.

I got all healthy and eating the right foods.
Figured that more money in good food, less in getting sick and doctor bills.

But, I lost some more and I am going to bitch and moan about that.

It's not easy trying to lose, but the same is true if you need to gain.

We are all different.
For some people, it is as simple as calories in/calories out.
For others, it is the type of food you eat.
Some people need more carbs and some people less.

I can keep my weight steady by eating more carbs. The tricky part is getting enough to gain what I need without eating stuff I shouldn't.

And It Vanished

It was the case of the vanishing brain power,

She could no longer recall the word she wanted.
It was there.
And POOF, it vanished.

Only to be remembered five minutes later.

She called her cat, her dead cat's name.
She forgot that cat died.

Where were all these brain farts coming from?

She forgot that she did U yesterday and did another U word today.
That post has now since vanished.

Was it brain fog from the fibro that her doctor thinks she has?
Or did her brain just take a small vacation without telling her?

However, it is just crazy.
Her mind seems very lazy.

Very mysterious indeed.

Under the Weather

Let's stop and think about this for a minute.

What does UNDER the weather really mean?

Sure, it is supposed to mean that you are not feeling so hot.
You are sick.
Whatever.

But, aren't all of us always under the weather?
The weather is above us all and falls to the earth.

Sun and clouds are above us.
Rain and snow comes from above.

So, we are all UNDER the weather.
All the time.

Unless, we are in an airplane flying above the clouds and storms.
Or, in a spaceship in another galaxy.

At that point, we would be above the weather.

The Trees Are Blooming

Over at the dump, the plastic bag trees are in full bloom.

Sleepy Time

I like sleep.
Sleep is great.

Unfortunately, it also seems to be an illusive bugger.

Naps don't work.
By the time my brain decides to allow for sleepy time
it is time to get up.

Power nap?
Nap for 15 to 20 minutes.
What is this?

My husband does this really miraculous thing.
He lays down and lets his mind go blank and is out.
Right away.

If he is awake for 15 minutes, he calls that having trouble.
I call that quickly going to sleep.

Nights are spent laying trying to get to sleep.
Do I just get up?
But, I am tired.
If I get up and stay up, it takes me that much longer to get to sleep.

I finally get to sleep.
Then I wake up to pee.
Next comes the alarm.

Two hours later I just want to go back to sleep.
Cause I didn't want to wake up in the first place.

But, I can't go back to sleep because I have things to do
Or, I can't relax enough to fall asleep.

Yet, I can take a bath and fall asleep.
Is that a bad thing?
As long as I don't slide into the water.

Ahhh, sleep.

Really?

You know those people?
The ones that say "really" all the time.
Maybe you are one.

I truly hope not.
Cause it is "really" annoying.

After everything you say they say "Really?"
It's like they got nothin' else.

No, People, I just made it up.
I really, really felt like making up the fact that blind people are being given gun permits in Iowa.


But, if I were to answer " No, not really" in response to the "Really?" I get a very confused look.
Yes, this really has happened.

"Really?" in response to anything someone says to you is along the same vein as yes or no.
After that, the conversation just has nowhere to go.

Really, it is just dead in the water.

And I really, really, really, truly mean it.

Quite Possibly

I really don't know where I am going with this or what I am going to write.

Q has always been a toughy for me.
Quite possibly, the toughest.

Why not X?
I don't know.

Where does the word quite come from?
It means completely OR actually OR to a considerable extent.
It is Middle English.

Is there a High English or Low English?
I've never heard of either.
Does anyone know?

Anyway....

Possibly means it could happen.

So, quite possibly means it could happen completely or to a considerable extent.
That's kinda broad isn't it?

Quite possibly.

This is quite possibly the most interesting thing I have heard.
Am I intrigued?
Maybe.
Maybe not.

You be the judge.

I Like Pockets

I hate pants with no pockets.

It's even doubly bad when they stitch the pants to make it look like pockets.
But, no pockets.

What kind of sorry crap is that?

Don't try and trick me with "it's a fashion statement".
You want me to pay for less material.

Why don't you take it a step further and make those pants stretchy?

Stretchy pants with no pockets.

I think they had those back in my mom's day.
They called them polyester stretch pants.

Most of those didn't have pockets either.

I deserve pockets.
I demand pockets!

Oat Flour Drop Biscuts

I promised a couple people that I would stick a recipe or two in this challenge.
These are pretty simple to make and they taste pretty good.

I love my biscuits and gravy so I had to come up with something.

If you are gluten free, make sure your oats( or oat flour) are certified as such.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit/218 Celsius.
You will get 8 to 9 biscuits. Maybe less, if you make them big.

If you are starting with oats, grind some up until fine in a food processor or blender. If you have a spice grinder, it works great. Grind about 1 cup of oats.

Ingredients:

1 Cup oat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 Cup milk
2 Tablespoons oil, butter, lard, or what type of fat you prefer
1 egg

Put the oat flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Stir in the egg and milk.
Drop the biscuits by tablespoon onto a baking sheet.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until they spring back when lightly touched

They do spread and really aren't made to be cut in half and spread with butter or jam. But, you can always turn them upside down and spread what you want on the bottom.