Carolinn & John- July 2013

Carolinn & John- July 2013
Meeting up with Michelle & Mark Hedges

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Catpots, Geriatric Toaster, Smashed Bagels & WWF Etiquette!

Every spring, I take the plants I brought indoors for the winter back outside. I feed them, re-pot them if needed, water them and wait for the sunshine to do it's job and bring them back to the beautifully crafted blossoms and foliage that they were meant to share.

I have a large planter that I didn't plant properly two years ago, and the dirt was still in it from when my lovely flowers died from too much watering. I didn't put holes in it to drain, nor did I put the usual drainage materials in the bottom...why should I? There were no drainage holes...whatever.  They drowned, it was my fault. I knew better. It was still sitting in the garage, dirt and all. So, this year, I decided I was going to do this thing up right. Had Chris Sacco drill some holes in the bottom of it for me, bought the drainage materials for the bottom, filled it halfway with styrofoam peanuts, (those bitches kept blowing out- because, of course, I picked a windy day to put the lightest thing on earth besides air in a freaking pot o' death. Made Kendrick and Camille chase them and pick them up. Should have video taped that...pretty funny stuff.) put landscaping material on top of that, then proceeded with the filling of the large pot with good potting soil. I even bought little clay feet to keep the pot off of the concrete so that it wouldn't stain it. 

That was two months ago. It's still sitting, on it's new clay feet, in front of our porch. No flowers in it. However, the day before yesterday, I was coming back from grocery shopping and noticed that our neighborhood cat, Snickers, (I think she's hormonal cuz she's crazier than I am) was laying in it, curled up and snoozing the day away. There's a large Boston fern in front of it and a couple of large geraniums around it, so she's kind of hidden. Probably thinks she's camouflaged there. And I guess she is, because she scared the living shit out of me. She's kinda the same colors as the new dirt. And, there's plenty of room left over in the pot when she's in it, so it's not like it's obvious that she's in it, if you're not paying attention or looking for her. (Okay, I believe I just described the very meaning of camouflage.) But, when she picks her little head up, squints at you and does her raspy, half meow-half 80 year old smoker's voice- crazy hormonal cat gonna eat you alive wail at you because you just woke her up with a start, it's a little unnerving. Not gonna lie, I jumped. Well, okay...if you know me, you know I didn't REALLY jump, but...I moved my fat quickly...there. 

So, now...evidently, she's in there every morning, curled up, sleeping and dreaming of chasing mice and birds and finding her cat-man named Tom and settling down and starting a family of beautiful kittens that will be photographed and hopefully be in those pictures that everyone posts on facebook that nobody else wants to see. I mean, I like cats, and when I see yet one more photograph of someone's cat (I've even posted them) or even when that person posts photos of somebody else's kittens or cats that they got off of their "too cute" board on Pinterest, I'm like..."Really? Do you really think we want to see ANOTHER photo of...Oh, . . .  wow...that's adorable."  (None of this will happen though, because Snickers was spayed about three years ago. So, her dreams of Catman Tom and kitties are just that, dreams.) I now have a planter, with a cat in it.  A cat named Snickers, who John always calls Skittles because for the first year, he couldn't remember her name...and now, it's just habit. I was going to go get some plants to put in there tomorrow. But now, I'm hesitant. She's so danged cute all curled up in it. It's late July after all. I know, I'll photograph her in the morning and post it on facebook, then, I'll go get some plants for the catpot.

I just looked back at my writing and thought..."who could have thought I could write four long paragraphs about a cat in a flowerpot?" Not that it matters. It doesn't. It was just a thought.

I want a toaster with four slots, big enough for bagels. We have the same toaster that we got for our wedding, in 1995. It's 2014. It's been a great toaster- (thank you to whoever bought it for us, it's been well used!) BUT, it's time for a new one. You know the drill, no matter what setting you slide the little bar to, light or dark-it always comes out the same- half light and half dark. Then, you can't immediately put anything else in it, because when you push the lever down, it makes this LOUD, annoying, scare the cream cheese off your cute spreader that your sister got you for your birthday, BUUUUZZZZing sound and pops right back up. So, then the wait game begins. Let's see, I'll get the coffee going while I wait for it to change it's mind, and accept the two halves of the bagel I just smashed with my hand- on the paper towel- on top of the counter- so the bitch would fit into the too narrow, two slotted, geriatric toaster. Oh, come on! You know you've done it. The bagels are too thick, so, you have to smash them down to fit. Don't even act like you don't know what I'm talking about! So, I make the coffee, go back to the shiny, silver, buzzing machine of frustration, all the while quietly saying under my breath... "come on...okay... work...work you, bitch." AND, it works. BUT, no... it pops up even earlier, and the bagel isn't toasted. And, the waiting game begins again. Each time the toasting time gets shorter and the waiting time to avoid the BUZZER from hell gets longer. I hate that damn toaster. Maybe I'll buy a new one tomorrow when I go buy my plants for the catpot. 

Okay, Words With Friends peeps, I have a beef. If you're going to play Words With Friends, you need to learn some WWF etiquette. Well, it's MY WWF etiquette. But, it's good advice...so as to not totally piss off your opponent. Here goes...#1. DO NOT freaking make a word, starting on the space right next to a triple letter score space. It's just rude. It keeps both you and your opponent from being able to use the triple letter blank. Ridiculous. That's the whole point of the game for me...try to get all the triple letter blanks. Okay, #2. If you are using a dictionary to help figure out long, uncommon words, you shouldn't be. If you are just that smart and know all of those big assed words, you shouldn't be playing against me. But then, that's why YOU ARE playing against me, isn't it? ass. And no, Scott, I'm not talking about you. Well, maybe a little. :) #3. If you are starting the game, try to make your word cover the left side of the board first. Just makes it easier to use all of the board. If you start on the right, it's harder to spread out to the left. Just do it. Trust me. That's all on that. For now.

It's now Sunday morning. Yep, Snickersskittles was in the pot. I will be posting this on facebook, too. You know I will. Then, I'm going to go buy a new, four holed, bagel sized toaster. :) And some catpot flowers??











Saturday, May 10, 2014

WalMart and Weightloss

She was wearing a "wifebeater" with no bra, black shorts that were waaaayyyy too tight and dirty white flip flops. This was not a thin middle-aged woman, and I don't think she'd had a shower in a while from her appearance. She was the 1st person in a row of four people who were walking side by side pushing Wal- Mart shopping carts down the center of the parking lot aisle.Why do they ALWAYS walk side by side instead of in a single file line when cars are driving up and down the rows??? WHYYY, I ask! I was driving straight toward her, and as she flicked her cigarette ashes out in front of my car, (can't afford shampoo but can buy cigarettes) while I was at a complete stop, waiting for the oncoming car to pass so that I could drive around her and her posse, all I could think of was..."should I turn my white trash bitch attitude on and tell her to move her cigarette smoking, nipple hangin', greasy, dirty blonde in need of a good die job, fat ass outta the way?" I decided not to. Then....THEN...she stared me down....REALLY?? Well, you skanky, gross.....my little prayer..."give me the strength to not run her over. Then back up over her again." I didn't run her over. In fact, I didn't even say anything. I know, I know....missed opportunity, right? But her bitches could probably have taken me...too many for me to tag. :) LMAO. Hag.

Ladies, have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and thought "who the hell is that?" That's me. Yesterday. Got out of the shower, did my hair, took off my robe to dress, realized I hadn't sprayed the back of my hair, went back into the bathroom to spray it (nude), picked up my hand mirror to see the back and realized...holy shit...that's my back and my ass...or should I say AAAAAASSSSSS. That name better suits what I saw in the mirror. What follows is the conversation I had with myself inside my head. "Ummm, excuse me, did you know that your stretch marks have stretch marks?" "NO! But...I didn't even realize that I looked like THAT..., I mean, I know I'm fat, but what have I done to myself?" "Well, you eat too much, sometimes the wrong stuff, don't exercise, come on, you know this...you're a smart lady." "Yeah, but I'm still Carolinn....a whole lotta Carolinn though." "You've got to lose this, you've got to lose this now! For health reasons, mobility reasons, to look better, feel better...think better" Wake up call answered. Let me just say...well, fill in a bunch of your own cuss words...then I'm adding....shit. Right now, where there should be motivation, all I'm feeling is tired, frustrated and disappointed in myself. Not a good combo to start a new lifestyle and embark on a weight loss program. Then, I remembered seeing a photo of Ryan Blocker. New him when he was a kid and I first started teaching...from my home town, is a band director now... He's lost 329 pounds the last couple of years. He looks fantastic. I can do this...yes, I can!


Way to go, Ryan! I'm so happy for you and proud of you. You are an inspiration to me! (Hope you don't mind me stealing your photo for my blog!)

So, again, I'm saying to myself...goodbye, fatass...hello, healthy lady! And, it starts...God help me, I do love to eat.

Hope you all are finding your inspiration for whatever you need to accomplish, and from wherever you can. 

Monday, February 24, 2014

Keep Calm and Binge Watch On!

Ahh, sweet blog, how I've missed thee. It's been months since I put fingers to keys and filled your web address with my disturbing thoughts, crazy antics and observations of funny people. 

Let's talk about sex, bay-bee...no, no, no!! That song just popped into my head as a typed "Let's talk about..." so my fingers followed my brain. Let's REALLY talk about Netflix and binge watching House of Cards and Orange is the New Black. I LOVE binge watching those shows...any show that has multiple episodes available. John and I have binge watched Lost, Breaking Bad (even though we saw it as it aired...best show ever, btw), True Blood (not on Netflix) The Guardian and Sherlock. And these two shows... House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, we have completed and they are fanfreakingtastic also. Binge watching is so very bad, and SOOOOOO good at the same time.

Things that are bad about binge watching are: 1. Your ass goes numb...2. You want to eat snacks while you're doing it, which in turn, makes your ass even larger, therefore, more area for numbness to invade... 3. You lose track of what happened in what episode because it all runs together. 4. Kevin Spacey kinda starts looking hot. 5. The only time your spouse is awake during most of the binge is during the nude scenes. 6. You can't talk to anyone about it because they are never in the same place on their binge that you are, hence, they get pissed off because you spoil the plot for them. 7. When the phone rings, or there's a knock at the door, it's so very easy to be annoyed at the interruption...that's right, you've been watching for 6 straight hours and they are messing with the rhythm of the binge! Don't they know you have 7 more hours to watch on this season alone??? People should be more considerate of us bingers. And number 8. When you do have to stop watching to sleep or urinate or eat or whatever, it almost feels like you're cheating on the show...like you've failed to complete your task. Don't give up...you can do it...now get back in there with your unsweet tea and your lightly salted all natural popcorn and caress that play button and then fast forward through the opening credits and theme song and press that play button again on that one particular screen that you know will allow the show to load and not miss the very first lines of that particular episode! Yeah, you know what I'm talking about...you've got it down to a science too, admit it.  9. Your dreams become a disturbing, mixed up mash of all the episodes, leaving you dazed and confused when you wake up to begin binging again. 10. Non-bingers think you're crazy, lazy and idiotic for watching that much television at once. They just don't get it, though...they think it has to be unhealthy...well, I suppose it is in the fact that you're not exercising your body while binging, however, it is good for you in other ways. Check out this article, nonbingers and bingers, alike! 

http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2014/02/is_binge_watching_the_new_season_of_house_of_cards_bad_for_you.html


I will let the "restorative experience" of binge watching whatever series tickles my fancy, flow over me like water over a cliff. It's soothing...even with a numb bahooky. Yes, you do have to get up and stretch, walk around a little, watch your caloric intake, brush and floss your teeth to get the popcorn kernels out of them and make sure your spouse is still breathing, but other than those things, it truly is relaxing. 

So, my bingers, Keep Calm, and Binge Watch On!