Technology is so amazing....

I just looked at my blog after having signed up to have the ads placed on it. I noticed the NetFlix, which is something I have recently enrolled in. We move forward in technology so fast these days it is amazing.

I remember back thinking it was so cool we got our first VCR, or our first TV with a remote, our first cable box.

Now, VCR's are a thing of the bast, remotes are "cordless" - yes the first remote I remember having for out television had a cord on it, oh wait, that was for the VCR player and it had a switch you could move up and down that would stop and start the tape. Our first cable box had buttons that you pushed down, you had to get up and go to the TV too, oh the hardships I have known.

I also remember when my mom would fix our TV, she took the back off and there were tubes in the back you took them to a machine that was in most stores and you could check them to see if they were bad and get them replaced. One downside to advanced technology is....you can't fix your own TV.....but.....that is OK I love our HD TV and I will just hold onto those fond memories.

I never had the video games that you played on TV, didn't really get into those but that didn't stop me from sitting in front of the TV all the time I just watched television shows.

Kids now have several different gaming systems, each requiring different games. They even have them in their rooms.

Lets not even get started on computers.

So far I think the NetFlix is great, and I just do it the old fashioned way via snail mail, even with the snail mail they get them too you fast. There are some lucky ones that have the gaming systems and they can just play the movies through them....I this might be my next technological investment....that...or an iPhone 4 ;)

Oh, cell phones....not going to go there either that would take a long time.

I still think the people who are advancing us in this technological world need to focus on advancing our auto industry so that we are not depended on oil!

Take the hint GM!!!! I'm a GM brat, I was raised on your money....time to move forward.

Anyhow - the moral to this blog posting....checkout NetFlix I think you will enjoy it!!!

Okay - I confess...

Okay - I confess...

I have joined the ranks of those trying to earn a few bucks from blogging. I hope you can forgive me. I have heard of many who make somne decent money with their blogs so I thought of "Nothing ventured, Nothing gained"!

So, I hope you will forgive me as I take "Okay, I confess" down a different road ;) who knows it could turn out to be a fun adventure for all of us...and by us I may just mean me, my husband, and my "other mother, Karen" who may be the only ones who read my ramblings ;)

Okay, I confess, this is getting corning and I am going to stop writing for now and go off and make my husband an omelette....

Life is a lesson - can't we learn from it?

Admittedly I am not the most scholarly person, and likely never will be. I have lived my life as ignorant as most of the average Americans.

My choice of reading is typically a novel, though I have expanded from mainly romance novels to a mystery, or just something that sounds entertaining.

In school I always took just what got me through, I did not choose to take college prep courses like most. Yes of course I regret that now, but you would likely not have been able to convince the teenage me that I should be taking better classes. So here we have me now at the ripe old age of 46 creeping up on 47 going back to college.

In my blog you may discover grammatical errors, which I hope are improving over time. I will admit that being grammatically correct has not been my focus in life. My poor husband has tried to improve that over the last four years. I know his 5th graders are smarter than his wife.

Though I may not read the same books the scholars would choose to read, two choices in reading I have read have shown me something I do not remember from my history class, and I’d be willing to bet it is something that is not history text books that students are using now.

Years ago I read Danielle Steel’s – “Silent Honor” and it touched my heart and saddened me that although this was a novel it was based on something real that my country actually did.

Sending Japanese-Americans to internment camps, many who were born in America, yes we were at war with Japan but America is a country founded by immigrants just like these people who left their homeland in hopes of building a better life for their families.

How were these people any different from our founding forefathers?

Last night I just finished reading a book by another one of my favorite authors; Lisa Scottoline – “Killer Smile”. This book touches on Italian-American internment camps, same situation as the Japanese-American internment camps, again innocent people who left their homeland to build a better future for their families. Her own grandparents had faced life in these camps, while her father was fighting for this country.

It just saddens my heart greatly knowing that my country imprisoned these people. People not unlike our ancestors who came to this country, America‘s a country built by immigrants.

Sadly, and I am just as guilty, Americans tend to live their lives ignorant and choose not to learn from the past.

Yes, I hate to have to “press 1 to hear this in English”. I really don’t see anything wrong with those who choose to move to this country to build a better life for themselves to learn the language. So, here is the twist – we did not move here and learn to speak Indian – yes I guess I am your typical American hypocrite.

But, did these camps really have to be used? Can they be compared to Hitler’s concentration camps? No, we were not killing innocent people, but we were locking them up…..at what point in our countries history do we learn from the past? We were in a war because of Hitler and his camps and…yet…we were putting people in camps…

I really don’t know how to describe how it makes me feel, to say it saddens me just seems to put it mildly.

Please – can’t we learn from the past!

Creepy is creepy - even with a pretty name!

So, last night was a night of rudely interrupted sleep. One that has left me is wondering something….

WHAT PURPOSE IN OUR ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM DO COCKROACHES SERVE???

Of all the things to survive since the time of dinosaurs – a cockroach, why a cockroach?
I was sleeping relatively soundly last night when I had to get up to use the restroom, nothing that uncommon. Got back in bed and all snuggled up to my husband ready to drift back into slumber – next thing I know something landed on my head in my hair right by my ear. Living in Florida it was easy to guess – a cockroach. I of course panicked got out of bed so quickly, and was shaking my head about leaving me with one heck of a kink in my neck.

Wait – it gets better! My husband turned on the light asking what was going on and I told him there was a cockroach, he pulled back the covers from where I laid and there he was; cockroach-zilla. I told my husband “kill-it please, kill it”.

The huge thing dodged the first punch, and the second punch made contact and took him out! Yay! I brought him some toilet paper and he picked it up and handed it to me and told me to give it a burial at sea.

I took it in, put it in the toilet and flushed it.

Aaahhhh….drama time is over, time to get back to bed.

Oh, no, now there is some icing for the drama cake. My husband headed into the bathroom after I flushed it to go and….as the nights luck would have it the toilet was overflowing! Oh the joy…..he plunged it and then I mopped up the water….

So, please can anyone tell me what purpose cockroaches serve other than to torment us in our sleep?

Also, some have told me it was a “Palmetto Bug” – to me there is no difference give it a fancy name but it is still a creepy creature!!!

Last dime given to Catherines!

This is what I think of World Financial Network National bank!!

This is the response I got to an email regarding calls I had been receiving repeatedly about my Catherine’s credit card. I thought I had paid it off, and had not received a statement in at least a couple of months.

“Thank you for your recent inquiry to our Sales and Services Department. World Financial Network National Bank issues your account and responds to all credit related inquiries.I apologize for any trouble you experienced on your account. When your account falls past due, we may contact you to inform you of the past due status. We realize that the past due status of the account may or may not be an indication of a customer’s ability or willingness to pay. During that contact, it is our goal to assist you in bringing your account current as soon as possible regardless of your situation.Our records reflect that you have opted to receive your paper statements on 06/04/2010. Once this option has been chosen the web statements are no longer sent. If this option of receiving your statement is not favorable to you, you may select to have the web statements sent once again. You may change this online by signing into your account choosing"My Profile". This may take one to two billing cycles to get update. You may use the link provided below.”

OMG - how incredibly stupid can their company be? If what they are saying is correct, that I requested paper statements as of June 4th. The statement that I did not get had to be from April or May so how is what they are claiming even relevant, so where are those statements? Apparently statements can get lost in the email world as well as though snail mail.

Also, it is one thing to call your customer and say, "we see you have not made a payment for this month, perhaps there is a problem with you getting your statements, did you receive your statement", this is something that would be fine and acceptable. That would be customer service, what they practice is actually customer harassment. They call numerous times, leave no message, and when you call back all they say is "can I have your account number" - well again how incredibly stupid can their company be if a person does not know where you are calling from or what it is regards too how can the customer begin to know what card they are referring too – do you think that they are calling hoping to get the one person who only has one card?

So, Catherine's and any store associated with them will not get another dime from this consumer!

disappointing, dependant, innocent wildlife.....

At work today I mentioned to co-workers, “how do these BP exec’s sleep at night”. I think the effort to get it under control has definitely been weak. I was less than impressed with the exec’s I have heard on the news.

When I see the pictures of the wildlife that is being affected by this, it just breaks your heart.

This has affected so many things, much more than we realize.

One of ladies I work with made a very good point. We have to share part of the blame. We do love to drive our car from point A to point B.

Our dependency on oil is quite sad. I am just as guilty as the next person.

The situation with BP has this in the forefront of my mind, not that it would make a big difference. What I would hope is that it would bring it to the forefront of the minds of people who can actually take steps towards changing this dependency we have on oil.

The quality of cars has gone down, yet the price has not.

They have so much computerization that the average mechanic no longer can fix his own car. You have to hook the car up to a computer system to find out what is wrong with it.

If a computer can run part of the car why can’t it make the car go with out the use of gas and oil that do nothing but pollute the environment.

There are so many technological advances in so many industries. Just think if the people who create all these bells and whistles that go off with each new model of cell phone were in charge of the car industry- I bet you we would not be dependent on the oil industry.

If only the car industry could move forward in the ways that computers and cell phones have.

Thoughts....

It is kind of tough being someone who has never had a child of their own living among parents. They tend to look at you and think, what do you know, you never had a kid!

I had accepted my life and was facing spinsterhood head on. A wonderful man entered my life and saved me from that. Though, I was much too old at that point to have kids.

So, no, I never had a kid but I have two eyes and have observed the varied techniques that parents use. I get an idea of what works, and what doesn’t.

I see the result of the different ways people use.

Heck, I learned from my own parents as to what worked and didn’t. I was spoiled, I will openly admit that. I loved my parents both so very much, and miss them with every fiber of my being! Might I have turned out better had I had more chores? I had no set chores; I cleaned up after myself and did dishes when necessary. But my dad liked to do dishes- he said it got his hands clean. But I knew how to do them and could do them when I was home alone, or when I got out on my won. Had I wanted for something rather than never have wanted for things? Maybe, I might be better at managing money. I might be a better cook, housekeeper.

Pampering your child may be what you want to do, and to a degree it is fine. But there is a line you cross when it becomes too much and your child won’t learn to do anything on their own, be independent, or apt to take initiative to do something on their own. It can hinder their move into adulthood.

Chores, again, fine to a degree. You face a line to cross too. Yes, it does them good to have chores, responsibilities, they learn from this, how to take care of themselves on their own. It can ease their transition into living on their own.

But, hello, don’t burden them with too much they are only children once.

Don’t make them your slaves, and don’t be a slave to them!

But, what do I know? I am just an old lady who never had any kids, guess it is good I have only had cats, because I would have made a terrible parent.

My next mission....how do you not let things frustrate you....is it possible with out taking a pill?

So, what is with cats...

Okay, so, what is it with cats. Why do they change their favorite sleeping spot more than some people change the bedding they sleep on, cats sleep here one minute and someplace else two minutes later.

Our cat Lucky for instance, her former favorite sleeping spot was behind my husband’s recliner, well, okay I can kind of see her changing her mind on that one given as it would be a rather high traffic area at times.

Her other haunts are:

· my husbands shoes – in the bedroom behind the door
· my shoes – wherever they land
· the back of the loveseat – when there is a blanket there
· in front of the fireplace – when there is a blanket there
· her tent, that a co-worker gave me for her that is out in the sunroom
· underneath our bed – mostly when it is raining
· under the couch – mostly when it is raining and she can’t get into our bedroom to get under the bed.

I am sure there are many more that I am not aware of, oh wait, how did I forget – just about any empty box that she can fit herself into.

She abandoned the tent during the cold months, but I noticed yesterday that with the windows opened in the screen room and the return of warm weather she was once again happily curled up in her tent.

So, what is it with cat’s why do they sleep around – in more ways than one ;)

To be...or not to be....

Okay, so I do realize that I am not the first person to go back to school at my age, 46. Yet, it still is a daunting aspect to me. I pretty much blamed my lack of desire to go on in school on my poor math skills.

Or I blamed it on the fact that I really did not know what I wanted to go to school for, heck I still don’t but none the less I am going. I have always been envious of those who just always knew what they wanted to be. How do you decide?

My mother became a nurse. She was the first on in her family, well, the only one of the 6 kids to go on in school. My father, well he actually did not graduate from high school. He joined the Navy and after getting out he went to work for General Motors.

My oldest sister, Sally, followed my mother into nursing, and she enjoyed it. But it sure was not my cup of tea. It takes a certain kind of person to be a nurse. Nurses have something special deep in their hearts at least that is how I feel about those who choose that profession.

My middle sister, Judy, followed my father into the GM world and is now a retired shop rat at the age of 54.

I started with GM, worked for a year and was laid off. I had the option to go to work at the Saturn plant in Tennessee and opted to take the buyout they offered. Was that a mistake, maybe, but I’m where I was meant to be.

I was a bit of a tomboy growing up, I loved to hang with my father, whether it was going out to the school house to mow the lawn or just watching him make something out of wood on his band saw. My father thought I should follow him into the Navy, he went so far as to put my name on one of those “invites” that used to be in the magazines for recruiters….yep….I got a call from a recruiter one day and was a little surprised.

But, nope, the Navy was not for me either.

So…what do I want to be when I grow up? What do I want to go to school for? To be or not to be what??? Well, I still don’t know but for now I am starting to practice what I have been preaching to my niece, Julie, get your basics you just may stumble on something that you want to do along the way.

Getting back on the bike!

Wow, I knew it had been a long time since I have posted an entry on my blog. So long that my husband took me off his links on his blog. He is pretty religious about posting entries on his blog, but me, I was always a once in awhile poster. Once in awhile turned into - "how do I get to my blog again?".

Well, blog world I am back. I will try and be more attentive to you.

In a lot of ways I have still be adjusting to life with out my mom in it, as I may have mentioned I always knew it would hit me hard. I just did not realize how hard. I don't expect anyone to understand, and really know one can losing someone you love is really and individual thing. Everyone accepts, or copes in there own way.

Losing the first parent sucks the breath out of you, like a sucker punch from your worst enemy - death. When you lose your last parent, wow, well to me anyway it has been quite diffacult to accept. My husband has lost both parents, and he knows, but, again we all deal with it differently.

How come we never realize how much someone means to us until their gone? When you can't call them every morning on your break, or call them to say - "hey, how do you do this?". Or call them to share the latest events in your life - "hey, guess what..." Reality bites!

It struck me the other day too, that in my immediate family all three of the loved ones we have lost have passed away around someones birthday. First my father, February 9, 1996. Four days after my middle sisters 50th birthday. Then my oldest sister, Sally, passed away on April 16, 1999, one day after her own 45th birthday. I'm now older than she ever was. Lastly, my mom suffered her anurysm on my birthday, October 3, 2008 and passed away one day before her own birthday, October 6th. I had always loved that our birthdays were so close.

I have to learn to like my birthday again....hated the last one as it made it a year since losing my mom.

My mother did so much for me all my life, and I don't think I showed the appreciation that I should have.

Well, I am getting back on the bike in many ways. I started taking classes at our community college, which is a bit daunting, hopefully I don't get a flat tire on the bike!