I’m So Jeep In Love Right Now
I’m a little obsessed right now. I’m clinging to my Jeep because it sits faithfully in the parking lot overnight at my new job waiting for me to return every morning. I work nightshift now. No matter how stressed I feel in the hospital, I am instantly better when I see my baby outside, just a few feet from my exit. My heart literally beats with relief some days for this tether to my normal world. I realize I tend to get “attached” to things, but then what the hell is the upside of having OCD if you can’t spread that obsessive love around to a few of your favorite inanimate objects. At least it’s not black tar heroin. Right? Which reminds me. I got a tupperware bowl of change, money change, coins, a drug addicts dream, just sitting around in my room, on my dresser. It’s all the loose change that’s been collected in the last few years. Yes. Last few years. Pause for effect. Years. (I told you OCD. I’m really committed to my causes). So, yes, I still collect this money whenever I see it on the ground. My kids and the BF still do it too. Apples and trees ya know. Ingrained training. In true OCD fashion I will be separating it all by coin and bill first, and then posting the total. It’s really really dirty too. I should probably wear gloves. And spoiler alert, we found a one hundred dollar bill in the Home Depot parking lot a few years back. I actually gave that money to the kids to spend, but it’s in the tally, making the grand total, from numerous years of shameless money scrounging, somewhat impressive I think. I don’t even have a ballpark figure because I pretty much lost track years ago. It just gets dumped into the bowl. It’s more than 100 though. Anyway you’ll have to wait another day, because it is going to take a bit of time to sort this out. If I was super interactive, and better at the internet, I’d set up some kind of poll and entertain comments with guesses at the total. I could even offer some kind of incentive. A prize cut of this filthy, grimy money. But I’m not that good. And that would drag this process out even longer. Looking back on all these words, I think I’ve probably typed enough for today. Now that I’m back on the post boat, every day can be a new opportunity to share all my deep thoughts with a few unsuspecting readers, in long, drawn out, run-on sentences. Or very short sentences. With lots of punctuation. Love long sentences and short sentences. Love commas and periods. For sure we are done here today. Thank you if you made it this far. Stay tuned please. Jeep is Life. Later.
My Site For The Last Few Years
Welcome. My brain has been a brick wall. For years. But. Someone has been visiting this tired site faithfully. Thank you. Life has rolled on. The kids are adults. Nearly 21 and 20. Yes. With interesting, independent lives. I have a new job. More free time. Same BF though (thank god). And a birthday very soon. I’m feeling the changes. Let’s revamp the site. Catch up. Figure out the next chapter. Figure out how to get these words out there. Updates are all around. So stay tuned. Here we go…
Happy Father’s Day!
Another year. I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by great dads my whole life. My kids are equally lucky. I don’t know how I managed it, but I am thankful. To all those daddies out there putting in their time, it’s worth it, keep at it, you got this! You are making a difference. And of course, I can’t let an opportunity go by to post my favorite picture. One dad. Standard issue. Military grade. I see you more and more every day when I look in the mirror at my wrinkly forehead and my squinty pale eyes. It’s weird, but it’s working.
The Ice Curtain
This is from the front door. It was really cold when I was taking these pictures. Like, zero cold. But see how clear and blue the sky is? Such a trade off for all that thin atmosphere.
Another angle. The longer you look at these pictures the more they look like ice monsters.
Kind of the front. If I truly wanted to get the “front” angle, I would have to go stand in 2 feet of iced over snow drifts. No thanks. You’ll have to take my word that it’s pretty thick. It really doesn’t look all that impressive here, I will admit. But it goes all the way to the ground. That’s got to be something.
That’s the top. We really can’t even break it off right now, in fear that it might take the whole gutter down with it. I have a lot more but I’m going to stop here because you get the idea. I have been trying to get pictures of other people’s houses with the curtain of ice all the way across, but I haven’t had much luck photographing them. I better hurry though, it’s supposed to warm up to 50 degrees by next Wednesday. Fifty! Degrees. That seems wrong, but this is Chicago, so it will probably get to about 65 and cause a flash flood. In February. You heard it here first. Next post is going to be my own, personal, ode to self-interest, gratuitous icicle glamour shot. Mostly so I have something pretty to look at when I view my site, in case I get caught up in my job tomorrow and have to leave it as the title shot for a few days. I’m on call this weekend so you never know. And blue is my favorite color, tranquil and serene, in case that wasn’t apparent. Thanks for checking in and leaving a kind comment. It’s those small things that really make you feel connected in this big world. Have a great night. Stay warm and toasty wherever you are. Later.
Everything Is Gonna Be O-Kizz-Ay
It’s February. It’s Super Bowl! (In about 18 hours–Peyton! Go Bronco’s!) I finally, kinda, sorta, feel like I might be back on track to have a job and a life that actually entertains outside interests. Maybe. I am giving it a test-go right here. It’s been snowing every other day with periods of sub-zero temps in between and it feels like I drive to work on the ice roads of Alaska instead of the ice roads of Illinois. Big difference. Except that it’s actually warmer, with less snow, in Alaska right now. Of course. Anyway, first post back and I’m not going to type on and on. This is from the Zoo. Yes. We are crazy in Chicago. We go to the zoo, in the winter time, with the intentional and specific purpose of walking around in the dark and cold and snow to see the lights and take a few pictures. FYI, it was actually like, negative 5 (that’s 5 below zero) with a healthy breeze, this day that I went. Alcohol was my friend. Didn’t feel a thing. In fact, I’m drinking right now, after being in the house all day, while 6 more inches of pure frozen hell fell to the ground and covered the other 6 inches we already had. Here’s to the rest of the year. Looking back and catching up. Thanks for hanging with me as always. I promise to be a better…well…everything. Later.
Flowers From The BF
Just because. So bright. So beautiful. Love you. Thank you. I updated three pages, posted a few things, babysat the nephew, watched football, and did a little, little, work. This weekend is over. I need to go to bed. I have an early work day tomorrow. Sleep sweet with good dreams. And stay warm all my friends in the Midwest. The cold is here, and the snow is coming for us. Good night.
My One Summer Butterfly
Hello and thank you to all my new friends and followers! I’m not sure what has changed in these last few days but I am glad for the chance to expand my world and to become a part of someone else’s. Maybe all those storms that blew through the middle of America shook up the airwaves somehow and blew out the dust of our random lives and we all ended up in fresh spots to wait out the winter that’s looming ahead. Maybe it’s just a fluke.
Either way, here we all are and it’s good. Now on to my picture story: All those wild flowers in front of the house, that everyone else calls weeds, and I only managed to attract this one, big, beautiful, patterned butterfly. And he was late to boot. Showed up in August/Sept. But look at that photo. It’s nice, right? Perfect American image. Not planned, I swear. We keep the flag up all the time, and I was taking pictures too fast to frame this on purpose, because he kept flying around and landing anywhere that was away from me and my phone. Oh yeah, did I mention that picture was taken with my phone?? Just a smidge more bragging on the G4 even if I have to do it myself. Here are some more pictures of that butterfly below. All the flowers are gone now and it’s too cold for flyers. I’m just gonna start posting all my pictures as fast as I can without any central theme. Maybe I will just start at the first one and run down the line. I know I’ve said this before, but this time, this time, I swear I mean it. My time is really tight now because my new job is trying to kill me with paperwork. Nursing at it’s finest I swear. And I suppose I really really have to go back to school. As usual I find myself to be the least educated person in the crowd. Again. I swear, I keep saying I swear, and FYI for the kiddies out there: School NEVER ends. Love it. Tolerate it. Keep at it. You will be a student forever. Even when you work you still have to keep plugging away at the next big thing. Or little thing. It doesn’t matter. Forward roll. Oh Geez. As usual, I have run off the thought track and I wanted to, needed to, get some sleep tonight. Like I was saying, about the pictures, I can’t even remember why I took some of these or if I had any idea of what to write, so this should actually be kind of fun. Random. Just like me and my life and my personal beliefs. We live in a random world and I am good with that. Now, what was I talking about again? Butterflies. And flowers. Later.
Veterans Day
Another year to say thank you and to post my favorite picture of my dad.
To all who serve. Past, present, and future. Thank you.
Halloween. Bare Bones Style.
Not a single decoration. No scary movies. Rain all day, but so, so warm. I bought just enough candy, apparently. Thank goodness. I have about 20 pieces of chocolate left in the pot. The rush came between 5 and 7 pm. But I am happy that I get to be here tonight. Day shift is good sometimes. At least now I don’t have to de-decorate. I will update this here bloggy thing as soon as possible. Thank you to my 2 new followers and all you wonderful people out there who are still checking and reading the same old thing every day. I am funny and relevant and have things to say. I just don’t have as much time to say them anymore now that I have my new job. Soon. Soon. Tomorrow is All Saints Day. Then the Day of the Dead or All Soul’s Day. Since I am lazy, I will link all my cool past posts here, and you can be amazed and hungry for the next thing I might write. Click the holiday to read about it! In the meantime, here is a giant spider that was in our house. We have had a lot of them but this is the only picture. And it’s blurry with the eyes all flashed out. But I post it because you can clearly see how big it is. Each one of those small squares is 4 inches in area. That spider is taking charge of at least half of those inches. Now 2 inches may not seem like a lot, but this is a house spider. Wolf spiders mostly. Go get a ruler and look at 2 inches. Really look. We forget how big an inch is because it’s always portrayed so small. 2 inches of spider is just a little bit too uncomfortably big to kill with a kleenex. And there seems to be a rash of these giant mutated spiders all over the Midwest this year. We all better be careful. Focusing too much on zombies and forgetting the real, live, predator threats that crawl around our houses at night when we are all snuggled in bed. So you are welcome for that. Have a safe and happy Halloween. The dead will be rising in a few hours and I need to go get a spell casted to keep the spirits where they belong. And dinner. Later.
So When You’re Near Me, Darling Can’t You Hear Me? S.O.S.
The love you gave me, nothing else can save me, S.O.S.! When you’re gone, how can I, even try, to go on?
Oh the drama. September is over. My favorite month. I’m going to bookend this month with one last post. I think I hit the significant dates though: 2, 10, 30. Hmmm. Maybe I should play the lottery. That would be a nice October. Anyway, I really am bummed that September is over because now that means we have to get ready for the long, brisk, shuffle into winter and start praying for an early spring.
There is football though. And I was contemplating just making this site a homage to football players and their personal bodies, you know, muscles, hair, bootys, etc., and of course their teams and stats and all that, blah blah, along with a feature like, “Arms Of The Week” or something along those lines, where I could feature a player of the week. Body wise, it’s still Clay Matthews for me.
But for pure NFL power, no one beats Peyton Manning.
He is my all time favorite, and he’s practically a super hero this year. I think they fixed him up with bionic parts the year before and he needed last season to reboot, like a RoboCop, except for football, where he is throwing passes like bullets. He is a man on fire. And of course I have missed every single one of his games so far due to a little thing I like to call, work. It’s all work it seems like. Except that’s not really true either. I have done lots of stuff, and this month literally feels like it flew past on fast forward, and I did not type one word about it here. Too busy living I guess.
The truth is, I feel adrift in this bloggy world. And kind of in real life. No direction. I have potential work changes on the horizon, but I really can’t say anything yet. One, because it’s all confidential and nurse-type stuff. And two, I really don’t know anything beyond a couple of interviews and the occasional reference to the job at hand.
At any rate, I will find my way. I always do. And while I’m waiting, today in particular, since I was off, I made my daughters favorite “big-pot” meal: Jambalaya. It’s a mix of many recipes and my own spin, but I try to stay as true as I can to my oldest, and best-good friend Beverly’s, original recipe that she kind of gave me many many years ago. She said it’s not really a write-down kind of thing as it is made in her family the old fashioned way. One person knows how and just makes it. She’s true blood Creole and French from the swamps of Louisiana. And when I made it for her to judge my skills, she tasted it and said, and I quote, “Hmmp. Not bad.”
I will take it. Also, I have been drinking since 2. While cooking. And listening to really really loud music. It helps while you are cutting up the 50 ingredients that this meal requires in order to be, “not bad”. My drink of choice was Redd’s Apple Ale. Here’s a pic with the chicken, because everyone likes the chicken.
This is the apple beer with the really stupid commercials where they throw an apple at someone’s head. Terrible. But soooo tasty. Seriously. I wanted Bloody Mary’s but I forgot to buy the V8 when I was at the store. And we already had the beer. FYI, if you like apple juice, you will like this beer. It tastes like alcoholic apple juice with a bit of beer flavor. I have also tried Angry Orchard apple ale, or, I think it’s called hard cider. That’s even more apple juicy and less beery. I have no picture of that one though. You will have to take my word. Not bad. See how I wrapped that right up? The BF is home now and I am cooking up a little garlic bread to go with the Jambalaya, so I need to get off this.
Oh, one more thing. Thank you loyal readers, followers, or general browsers! Whoever you are. Even though I haven’t posted but 3 little blurbs all month, I still have 10-20 people checking in and hoping for something great every day. I really don’t know how that is possible, but one of these times I hope I can deliver on this optimistic, anonymous vote of confidence. The BF is opening wine so I really really have to go.
New kind we are trying tonight. I picked it because of the 2010 year. I looked it up. It was a good year for wine in general. I will let you know. However, I probably won’t be able to post anything later due to “intake” issues, but there is always tomorrow. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow. Your only a day away….Cheesy Broadway ending. Later.
just shy of pretty 