Walking to school
and found a ring! Nothing fancy, not expensive, I mean, possibly valuable, in that whole, save-your-soul kind of way.
It’s silver, with the words:
JESUS COVERS ME
wrapped around. Of course there’s a pic. It’s on top of the fish tank. They think it’s food.
Just so we’re clear: Spilling a load on the highway is NOT a good thing??
For those of you who live and work in Chicago, that may or may not be funnier, than to some others. No one was hurt so I can joke a little. Please see the following news article:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1738200,bracket-interstate-80-082709.article
I have to add it because I didn’t write it. But here is a sample from it if you are too lazy to click, as I often am…It is from the Sun-Times, internet news source/wire…something…I really don’t know how it works, but I am just sharing info here, not claiming it as my own. See if you can spot my favorite part! Below.
Cars damaged after bracket load spills on I-80
A dozen vehicles were damaged Thursday morning and the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 were closed after a semi-truck spilled metal brackets onto the road.
Truck driver Douglas Jordan of Houston was cited with spilling a load onto the highway east of the Des Plaines River bridge, said Illinois State Trooper Mark Dorencz. (HINT!! It’s right in this sentence!!)
A cardboard box holding the brackets became soaked from the rain and tore open, Dorencz said. Eastbound I-80 was closed about 7 a.m. for 15 minutes.
OK, back to me now. I’m thinking the guy (or girl–don’t want to assume anything) who wrote the article was being funny. Your job is to write small news items on the internet everyday and you don’t know if anyone actually reads them, or at least beyond the first few lines, so you want to spice it up a bit! Flex the language skills. Make that degree earn its money. I would. There’s nothing really inaccurate about the article, but I love the phrasing. I’m a big word buff. A lover of big words or a big fan of actual English words…See?? I love the way words sound and look and string together to mean a million different things just by moving one around or altering a punctuation mark. (I find myself to be annoying too most of the time, don’t worry, and I write WAY too much crap)
Anyway, I thought it was clever and humorous. And I am wasting time so I don’t have to study. No excuses. The BF is on his way home! The kids will be here shortly. We have a very quick birthday pop-in to do for the kids’ friend (Happy B-day Devin!) and then it’s Open House for Mason. We have to see the school and chat up the teachers. It’s perfect timing too, because Mason is already going to miss a day of school on Friday and I get to tell the teachers personally. Make sure he doesn’t have any homework like he said! Then dinner, bedtime, playtime, and I think I am getting back up. I am bone-ass tired from this week. My adrenaline level is too high and I can’t sleep, and coffee builds up in the blood, but I have to get the required things for school done and out of my mind. I like to believe that I can study at any time, but I work best late at night, if, I don’t get on here. My peeps. I need to stay connected to my peeps. Look here! A whole paragraph dedicated to nothing, just so I don’t have to study. Terrible. I should do another playlist. I should go on I-Tunes. I joined FaceBook and that is a whole other connection I have to wire up. And then fight the urge to scope it out. There are too many people in this world that you never knew you knew and then more you forgot you knew. But they are all out there waiting…and your name is about to drop back into their stratosphere. Now how will you get on?
As a disclaimer, I know FaceBook is not new. But I have been avoiding it for those very reasons. This site is hard enough to maintain in an even slightly interesting way, but you get my point. There is no sum up. Just a finish. I’m out of words.
Alright, here’s another picture. It’s the city!
Wednesday at 10 pm. School is time consuming.
Just thought I’d throw that out there. For me. And for you.
My dream of “6000 by 6 months” may not be possible. (That would be 6000 hits to this site by my 6 month anniversary of it) The date is approaching–Sept. 17—and I am far behind in the count.
Even if I had enough interesting and web generating things to say…I have no time to say them. Pity for you. My head is full of crap you may never get to know about!
Keep looking here though, tell people, post the site somewhere popular, get creative! I can’t because my brain is on skill mode: Make a bed, give an enema, re-position, give a bath, take the vitals…it’s rougher than I want it to be and I already know how to do this stuff! And don’t forget to study for the written test! Let’s be clear, I am NOT complaining. I love it like this…but my head feels fast-forward.
I bought the schedule book, so now I can waste alot of time writing down things that I need to do in the future, by exact time!
And I need to get off of here. But don’t think I’ll be leaving you empty handed, oh no! There was another party in the street and no one invited us!
Stevie and I thought these items, found along our walk this morning (beside the penny) were quite amusing.
Golf Ball. Ignoring the fact that it's garbage, isn't this a good picture?? Look at the color and detail. I took that with my phone camera! In the rain!
Golf Ball. Music CD. Something...was going on. Check out the next pic...
Partied right out of your socks! One anyway. And this is Wednesday.
Last picture. It's another spoon. The detail kind of got washed out by the color, but it's your basic, plastic, white, disposable spoon. This is the second spoon on the street in two weeks. I'm smelling a trend (and a new feature for me) Later in the day, this same spoon was crushed to pieces, still laying in the street, most likely run over by many cars. Sob. 😦
Even though I’d rather not say where I was on Sunday, the pictures speak for themselves.
…If you speak Goa’uld.
And if you know what the hell I am referring to, then I probably saw you on Sunday. Drop a line! Say hi. I know you aren’t doing anything else.
And if this is your car, I hope its ok that I’ve expanded your love to the greater universe, if they be, receiving the message…
“kalach shal tek!”
You really need to know what you are looking at here. And it's a blue car.
Kind of obvious. Blue car.
Once a sci-freak always a sci-freak. But check out the BLUE ride!
I just noticed that all my pictures are of blue vehicles. I don’t know if that is a preferable color for science fiction drivers or just a coincidence. There were other cars with other plates; A black, square, scion-y vehicle, also with a StarGate Vanity Plate, but it was driving away when we were taking pictures. My friend Beth, the one who lured me into this dark world, ALSO has a blue car. Now, I’m not saying anything one way or another, but that does seem mighty suspicious now…
These are with the phone camera. I did bring the real, broken, dropped camera too, and I might have something on there. I think I got mind-melded or something because I can’t remember. Ha. I kid. Don’t suck out my brain.
I better hit the sack. I have a full day of school and I have to practice giving enema’s! What will YOU be doing tomorrow?
“shal met!”
By the way, the BF and I both have silver cars.
Well it’s getting a little thick around here (see below)
Let’s lighten it up with some obscene bus pictures!
The BF had to go to Detroit for work this week, and he gets to the hotel, and what is in the parking lot??
Girls Gone Wild! Or their bus anyway. Just a subtle paint job for traveling around the country (??) to generate interest I guess.
What are these girls wild for?? Hmmm…I can’t figure it out…
This is for the guys! You have to be out there! Tell your friends! This site has half-naked girls!!
Jump in the line!
Rock your body in time!
Oh no! I believe it!
Jump right in…start the body line… shake, shake, shake, Senora! Work it all the time!
I’m kind of making up words and moving them around. I am home from the first official day of school. Short and sweet. Serve it up and push me out the door. This. This. This. Test Monday. Skills Tuesday. See you tomorrow. Don’t be late. Two hours in, and the hand holding portion of the program is over.
I am exaggerating for dramatic and humorous effect. The teachers are all quite friendly and helpful, actually, but, they are not slowly walking us along the education path. They warned us of the fast pace, rapid start, rapid finish; fall behind and you might not be able to catch up. There just isn’t time. Time is fluid. Sometimes we forget when it thickens up. It’s really more like water, and it flows the same whether you are standing in it, sitting in it, swimming in it, being dragged along unmercifully by it, or drowning in it. Unless you cry for help, no one is going to hear you. And even if they do, no guarantee they can always save you. They might be able to get you out of it, but you won’t really be o.k.
But that is a little too much for the first day. I’ll save that little rumination for about, October, when I am failing the math test! Just kidding. Positive thoughts. (Not going where you think) I’m only taking it one week, one day, one class, one hour, at a time. Small doses. Even using a teaspoon eventually fills up the bowl. And my bowl is empty!!
So why the heck am I typing on this time wasting website?? Because I like it. And I need it. I need to put all the crazy thoughts somewhere so I can make room for the technical stuff I need to do a job and do it well. I don’t think this writing thing is going to pan out in the way that I had hoped and I only won $3 bucks on the Mega Millions and $2 on a scratch off, and that’s the most we have won on lottery in like, two years.
So this is my future. I will be busy with school, in 16 week chunks, for the next two years. But I’ll still try to post to keep updated and sane. (You should subscribe to me! Top right column…and you won’t miss any of the fun. And you can comment and give me encouragement and make me feel warm and fuzzy!)
In about 20 minutes, when my daughter gets home, we will be going to the store to get me a detailed schedule planner, for the minute day-to-day things I need to do (tests/skills/exercise–yes, I still do it, just don’t talk about it as much—next race is Labor Day!) anyhoo…we need groceries and breakfast food and cash for my son’s gym uniform and sports physical….it seems kind of scattery right? (Run on sentence anyone???) But I have already done laundry and cleaned the house and did the dishes, prepped for dinner and bedtime…I am never more productive than when I have less time for the tasks planned.
Here is a picture of a nurse coffee mug I was given 2 years ago when I started this mess. (Thank you Nancy!!) I tentatively bring it out now in anticipation of success. I am normally superstitious about cart-before-the-horse and all that, but what the hell. I have to pass. Failure is not an option for me.
I also threw in the picture with all the books I was told I would need for the first semester. Semester. 16 weeks. Hey! You keep them, FOREVER! And if you are like me, you’d want to know this too:
Height of books: 17 inches
Weight of books: 42.4 lbs.
You never have to bring them all anywhere, (so they say) but I still think it’s interesting to know the stats.
You can't see it exactly, but it's about 16" tall. AND I forgot a book! I took its picture all by itself. So that brings the total to 17".
The missing book from the pile. I included it in the weight though. I should have taken a picture of the scale! I'm not going to now because I don't feel like moving all those books again. Too heavy. Too many.
House party explosion all over the ground! New feature! Back-to-school Special!
These are the odd things we found on the ground walking to school. They seemed so random to me that I had to take the pictures coming home.
Just think of all the fun we could have with this for the next YEAR!!
I’m always thinking of you guys! Where else on the internet can you find pictures of things that make absolutely no sense whatsoever and have no meaning to anyone at anytime in any life???
Candle Number 1
Spoon. Just laying in the street. I know. It's weird.
Candle Number 2. A block away. Carried and dropped? Or...?...what?
Kid Key. It's a baby toy. Stevie says her new brother Gavin has one. All by itself in the grass. Sad baby.
Thursday. Friday. Weekend. Monday. And all the other days after that…
Wednesday post had to be at one am, because the real world has spun back into motion.
I’ve been on hold for the last year. Preparing, but not actually doing. And here it is.
Thursday. First day of school for kids. Last day of summer for mom. It was a half day, decent weather except for the morning when it rained at the bus stop. Just enough to soak my son for his first time back on the bus since 2nd grade. Yes, I went to the bus stop with him (Sister came too!) and no, we weren’t the only ones. Seems all the moms come out for the first (and second) day of school. My son didn’t care. He even gave me a kiss goodbye. In front of other people. I feel very fortunate (I truly do) to have such a nice boy. An hour later, we were out again. Stevie and I, walking her to school. She is fifth grade now. Top of the school chain! It’s a quiet walk this year. All the fifth graders from last year are gone now. On the bus. And that is what made up most of the kids on the street. One more year and she’ll join her brother at the Jr. High.
Profitable though, to take them out. Found a lot of loose change and some odd items for the next posts; Street Money and Odd Items.
After school we went to play mini-golf. The very last afternoon of summer and all its ease. Then we came home and waited for morning. Ha. Not really. The kids played outside until dinner and the BF’s friend came back (sunshine and blue skies) and fixed the roof pipe. Ten minutes. Done. It’s nice when there isn’t a typhoon trying to sweep you off the roof to your death! And don’t worry. There’s a picture. Observe:
Then, Friday. Full day. Boy on the bus. Girl walking. More change. Another odd item. This time the rain waited to pour down on Mason when he got off the bus walking home. I managed to get all the laundry done, pay the bills, organize my school papers and start the prep work. The nursing starts immediately. You don’t ease into the pool, you jump straight in. (Not with the people yet, just in the water. No worries.) Anyway, it’s good. I have some reading and vocab and, oh no, here come the kids. Mom on hold. Kids take the front. Papers to sign, homework (they jump in too) and a snack. And back to me. But I want to type. So here it is. I have a few days of catching up to do.
I’ll just end it here and post more pictures! I can’t concentrate on a good conclusion because Stevie turned on Hannah Montana and I swear to God and all things holy or hellish, that damn show makes me laugh out loud and sucks me in faster than a low flying goose in an airplane engine. To borrow a phrase from a hillbilly soliloquy. Those Cyrus folk can sure turn a phrase. Hardy har har.
Severe Weather Wednesday
It’s all about tornado’s, fierce lightning strikes and those crackling, rumbling, low-in-the-throat, crashing, thunder rolls. And what’s worse is when the wind picks up out of nowhere, a leaf here and there, a branch on the roof, another branch…a limb…holy hell! And your BF’s friend is trying to do you a favor and fix your WW II, rooftop, chimney pipe that is crumbling to shit, but it’s pouring down rain and the clouds are moving fast across the sky looking like they are taking aim directly at the soaking wet guy kneeling on a high roof holding sheet metal pieces, a screwdriver and a drill. Not good. Pretty damn scary actually.
I appreciate the attempt, for real, but I can’t have him being killed in the effort. Rain is one thing, this was another.
And the day started out so…semi-sunny. Storms were predicted. I went to school. Got the final info before the real work begins. Have some assignments. Reading. The usual. I feel good though. It’s the same at school, semi-sunny then storms. (To definitely mix metaphors. See Zero Effect) Mind set is what they talked about today. (And by “they”, I mean all our teachers that we met today, the speeches, the handouts, and the rundown of the schedule and how the classes are actually coordinated. All the good stuff before you are bumping around in the halls looking lost and feeling like a failure. Graduation will never come.) “They” said, “Think of yourself as the nurse. In all future questions, studies, clinicals, tests…you will be referred to as the nurse. The program doesn’t ask what you will do in two years when you become a nurse, it asks what you will do right now as the nurse. That’s a tough mind game. But not as tough as this, also told in a story, (from my memory to the page):
“An evil wizard was always trying to get rid of the beloved prince. The wizard was always thinking of ways to outsmart the prince and show him for a fool to the rest of the kingdom. But the prince was smart and he knew the wizard was always tricking. One day the wizard had a plan that couldn’t fail. He would hold a bird in his hand and ask the prince if it was dead or alive. If the prince answered alive, the wizard would crush the bird to death and show the dead bird proving that the prince was wrong. And if the prince said dead, the wizard would let the bird fly away to prove his error. The plan could not fail. So the wizard, in front of all the kingdom, said, “Prince, is the bird in my hand dead or alive?” And the prince thought about it, knowing he was being tricked somehow, and answered the wizard finally, “It is what you make it.”
“This adventure, and it is an adventure, you are about to embark on, is only what you make it. You hold in your hand the power to make it anything you want. To give and take what you will from the next few years. How much effort or how little effort you devote to this goal. It’s all up to you. No one can force you to participate or not. You will have in your hands the power to care and to comfort, and the power to heal the sick. But you will also have the power to make someone even sicker and to possibly even kill them if you are not very careful. Is it scary? It should be. But it is worth all the sweat, every drop of blood, and every shed tear”
So they say.
Truly.
I may not have it written word for word, but that was the basic story and summary. The woman who spoke it is very powerful, but quiet to listen to. She is very calming, while at the same time, managing to scare the poop out of you. But I feel that it’s all true. Why would they lie? It’s hard. But the reward is great. That’s what they say. That’s all and that should be enough. Everything else after is extra. I believe it. I worried about the whole life/death, mistake/error, kill the patient thing, and the teacher said that we should be worried. We should always be a tiny bit wary and prepared for what could happen, because anything can happen at any moment and at any place. Now isn’t that comforting? Luckily, amazingly, and more miraculously, it’s a wonder things don’t go bad more often than they do. It’s a fine line.
But I think that is enough for tonight. It’s late, and my kids have their first day of school, and I need to get up to be with them. My daughter is fine. Same school, same friends, same schedule. She’s the top class now! But my son is in Jr. High. New school, the bus (again), new classes, new schedules, new teachers, new students. Small fish in the big pond!
So, the weather is calm right now, the storm has passed for the next few hours. They say the morning might be rough, but then smooth sailing through all next week. Is this a weather report or a damn soul-searching, reflection-on-a-life-yet-lived, or what? I need to lighten it up with some kind of image. This is just the thing to restore your faith in my (ill-advised representation) sense of humor and shallow/callous self.
When we went to the zoo, so many days ago, (more pictures, I swear.) we got a few pictures of the lions. The animals were really animated that day. Like, ALL of them. It was weird. I have video of the apes and they were acting crazy. (You Tube soon, I swear.) Usually they just lay around looking like they all want to commit suicide, but for some reason, everyone was jacked up and pacing or jumping or chasing or playing…whatever the various species to do to get us humans close enough to attack. And the lion was working it! He was walking back and forth in front of this “viewing” window. Right against the glass. Stopping, looking, staring (evilly and maliciously) most likely devising some way to get from where he was to where we were. Well, not us, exactly. We were waa-aayyy in the back, trying to figure out what the lion was up to. The lady lion was trying to get a ball out of the water. But the man lion had something cooking. You could just tell. Stevie would barely let me take the pictures I took because she was sure that the lion was about to chuck it all, go for broke and try to bust out of that glass and kill us all.
At any rate, when you think about it like that, these pictures are kind of funny. The people are so colorfully dressed and so interested and amazed by the lion being so close, that I have no doubt, any one of them would say they were completely surprised and shocked that the nice little kitty would try to hurt them, even while he was chewing on one of their legs or ripping out their intestines. But you judge for yourself.
Curious animal/performer/vegetarian, aka, Alex from Madagascar OR bored/angry/ bloodthirsty, carnivorous lion, hell-bent for destruction?
Look into his eyes and then decide.
Oh!! Isn't he cute?!?!
All I see is: lunch, lunch and more lunch!
Won't all those colorful clothes, torn to shreds, covered in blood and scattered all over the ground, add that extra oomph! to the news story later when they pan the scene 50 times for our sick sense of viewing enjoyment??
Snack time! You know that lion is NOT posing for a picture. He's thinking, "I could get a head AND an arm."
The picture BELOW ↓, was taken after he walked away from the window to go take the ball away from the lady lion, in between canvassing for people. She would get it out of the water and he would roll it back in. But not that last time. He finally quit that bitch and took the ball and rolled it right off the rock wall, into the protective moat that separates the people from the lions. Then he went and laid on a rock. Playtime was over. That’s when I took my picture.
Dumb-ass, crazy humans. I'll kill them all as soon as I get big enough.
Feel better? Me too!!
Sweet dreams! Goodnight! Don’t let the man-eating lion bite!
just shy of pretty 