What are some of your favorite, forgotten albums that have stood the test of time?
Submitted by PeterGibbons.
I'm going to have to agree with my husband on this one ... Chris Whitley's Living With the Law. Listen for yourself. Poison Girl is one of the best songs on the album.
I can't comment on stuff anymore. I keep getting the little yellow triangle at the bottom that says error on page. I have no idea what is different now. It's quite frustrating. Can't comment on my stuff or anyone else's stuff. Can't even click on the comment box.
The answer to the question from the other day: Storm was Catra's horse from She-Ra.
You've been through the desert on a horse with no name. Except your horse does have a name. What is it?
Submitted by edubya.vox.com.
Storm. Quick: Name the 80's cartoon/comic villain that had a flying horse named Storm. Hint: The horse had wings, but was not a unicorn. One toy version was grey with black hair. Wings were white and pink. Saddle was dark grey. First toy version was white with black hair.
... Can't figure it out? I'll tell you next time.
Do you like surprises?
It depends on the situation. If you call me and tell me you have a surprise, I will pester you until you tell me what it is. I don't like waiting. ;) Though - I can handle it for holidays.
If you come by with a surprise, the door knock/door bell will probably startle me into heart palpitations. That's never good. If you see me out somewhere and spring a surprise on me ... YAY! I'm all about it. :)
It's difficult working on surprises with people with heart issues sometimes. And it's difficult to surprise me if you're my husband-- and you tell me you have something for me. Heh heh heh. My husband is the best. :)
What are your personal memories of September 11th?
The day before I had been at my the funeral for my grandfather, so my husband and I were both home from work (me on bereavement -- and Jim was scheduled to go in in a few hours).
Shortly after the first plane hit, our phone rang. Jim's mother had called and told him to get out of bed and turn on the news. Then we saw the second plan hit. It was just totally unbelievable. After realizing that I was not having a bad dream-- I immediately called my parents. They were watching it.
I remember my Dad telling me as the first tower collapsed, and it was like it still just wasn't sinking in. A. WHOLE. BUILDING. COLLAPSED. I don't think it sank in until I saw it on television. We flipped from news channel to news channel trying to find the most updated information.
I called my co-workers and told them to turn on the news in the conference room.
Throughout the morning, no one knew what was coming next. There were rumors of terrorist threats against the building my office was in, and the building next to it. The buildings housed the headquarters of a nuclear powerplant. Not the actual plant ... but the headquarters. So, people were very scared. The mall was closed after people reported threats.
I remember walking to the store where Jim worked (yards from our apartment) and giving him updates as I heard them. The disbelief as an entire nation's airports shutdown. It was like time stopped as everyone froze in fear.
It took me a very long time to be able to watch the videos after it happened. In fact, I get teary eyed just typing this.
I'll never forget driving by a Krystal restaurant the next day, "God Bless America. We will survive."
If you could only save one thing in a house fire (thing, not person), what would it be and why?
Submitted by donnunn.I'm going to assume that "things" would not count living animals here -- because you'd see me burn up in a house fire before I'd leave an animal behind. Sorry, that's just how I feel.
If I could save one thing, it would likely be my photo album with box of photos/negatives. Pretty much everything else in here could be replaced. That doesn't mean I'd want to lose the other stuff, but I certainly would miss the photos more.
Miss Nora turned five years old today!!!
I remember the day we went to Cleveland to get her. We had been promised a chihuahua baby (for free) by a guy Jim worked with. When the chihuahua only had two puppies, they were both spoken for by family. And of course, I had already fallen in love with the Mommy. And you see-- when I decide I want something -- heaven help the person that tries to stand in my way. Within hours, I had spoken to the woman about getting an 8 week old female. Jim reluctantly agreed (we were both working, so $200 for a puppy was not a huge deal, and she had agreed to hold a check for a week). Not because he didn't want a chihuahua, he just didn't want to go that day. But we did. :) We headed to Cleveland, TN on September 26, 2001.
Imagine our surprise when we pulled up to an old trailer. A wheel-chair bound ancient woman greeted us. She had just gotten the litter from a person in Georgia the day before. I looked in the box and was horrified. Four puppies barely even able to stand were all cuddled together in a large box. She was giving them antibiotics to boost their immune systems. And feeding them puppy food mixed with hot water. THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ALL THEIR TEETH IN YET! And some idiot had sold off an entire litter like this!
This wheel chair-bound woman could barely even lift the puppies out of the box. It was evident that she was really struggling to take care of them. I almost cried because I couldn't take all of the puppies and put them with a surrogate or something. She handed me the tiniest black and tan little girl. I melted. Jim knew from my look that we needed to get the puppy out quickly before I really told the woman how I felt.
As it turned out, Nora had turned five weeks old the day we picked her up. Puppies are usually not even weaned until they are 6-8 weeks old. And any sensible person will tell you, the longer the puppy stays with the mommy, the better off they will be.
So, this tiny little girl (that fit in one hand) became my canine child. I had to feed her special moistened food. She slept in a box and then a pet carrier (when she proved too smart to stay in the box). And she's rarely been away from my lap from that moment forward. As I type this, she sleeps on my lap. She's my angel. And a one-of-a-kind trooper. I think the ones that have the hardest start become some of the most special ones.
I wanted to post a better photo of her, but my Flickr account expired ... and so thousands of photos are now tucked away where I can't get to them. Oh well. *sigh* Just trust me when I tell you ... she's beautiful.
I realized I hadn't posted a real update in quite a while. The AC is chugging along with sporadic blower fan incidents. But with temperatures as high as they've been, I suppose it's to be expected.
I went to the rheumatologist last week. As it turns out -- all the times I thought I was getting a kidney infection because of IMMENSE pain in my back ... it was likely arthritic flare-ups. The only reason I thought it was kidney related was because of a diagnosis by a UTC nurse about 7-8 years ago. All those antibiotics that I was allergic to ... I didn't need. Keep in mind, she told me it was a horribly bad kidney infection ... that's what caused the back pain. She never cared that I had no other kidney infection symptoms. Ah ... medicine.
Anyway. The doctor was quite unsettled by the ill-effects of the amitriptyline. He told me to stop taking it immediately. When we cash a five dollar survey check tomorrow ... I get a prescription for Pamelor filled. It's in the same family of amitriptyline ... so he's not expecting much. He said after two weeks -- if I am sleeping as heavily as before, to call him and we'll switch to Cymbalta or something like that. And yes, I know all of these are anti-depressants. But in 10mg dosages, it's used to treat pain and sleeplessness of fibromyalgia. Though now ... he's back to thinking it's something more than fibromyalgia. So, I guess we'll keep playing the medicine game until we figure something out.
A few years ago, a friend loaned us her Ronco Rotisserie Oven. We got a lot of use out of it when we first moved in here. Today- we used it to cook split chicken breasts. I found a recipe on the internet for a seasoning ... and it made perhaps the best chicken I have ever eaten. Amazing, because chicken has kind of been turning my stomach lately. And we tried Chef Paul (can't remember his last name) seasoning in our mashed potatoes. Outstanding. I think I was in heaven during dinner. I LOVE cooking something that has such an awesome taste. It makes my day.
We had a friend come over and visit us this evening. It was cool to get to hang out with him. Jim and I were telling the doctor how my sleepiness had pretty much put a halt to us even being social enough to have a guest over. I'm hoping before long I'll actually feel up to getting out and about again.
I'm hoping the Zombie Holly days will be coming to a halt soon. Though, if you hear little from me, know that I'm still around. And I still care about my friends.
Trying to place cats didn't work. If we ever get ink for our printer again, we'll probably be posting photos at our vet office. No, I am not dumping any kitties in the street. So, if you know someone wanting a kitty-- let me know.
What was the last wedding you went to? Were you in the wedding?
The last wedding I attended was in the Spring. I was not in the wedding, but was a member of a very select group of guests. My husband performed the wedding.
The last wedding I was in, I served as matron of honor. It was about three years ago, and Jim also performed that wedding.
I have a cute selection of dresses from a formal wedding I attended, a wedding I was in, and a semi-formal wedding I attended. I'll likely never wear any of them again. Unless ... some people start planning some fancy weddings. :) Come on ... give a chance to wear something besides jeans for a day! Heh heh.
You would think that having a $200 electric bill to cool this ancient apartment would mean that it's between 60-65 degrees on that hottest days of the summer. Especially since our AC unit is barely a year old. At this very moment, the coolest room in the apartment is over 85 degrees. True, our heat index is 108 right now ... but look at the freaking power bill!!! Jim and I are of the belief that the unit they purchased is not capable of cooling a two story apartment. The people across the parking lot have one story apartments and have the same kind of AC units. They don't get hot in the summer. But those apartments are also super tiny. In a perfect world, we'd find a new place to live. We'd pay a deposit, we'd pay moving expenses, and we'd move. We'd live happily ever after. */end of whine*
And now for a funny story (not the pain part of it:
Friday it rained really hard. Jim was at work. He had to open the guard shack door to sign someone in, so water blew into the shack. The floor mats that normally absorb all the water had been taken out of the shack. So ... when Jim steps back into the guard shack ... he slips and falls. This re-injures the shoulder that was hurt twice at work last year. The first incident involved a slip on a wet restroom floor. The second occured when he was not placed on light duty (as he was supposed to be) two days later. He had to restrain a violent patient ... and the already injured arm was re-injured. Needless to say, they freak out and tell him to go to the ER. We head to the ER. We arrive at approximately 5:30 PM -- Friday evening. I'm wearing the skirt a dear friend sent me a few months back and a white top ... thinking I won't die in the car on the 2 minute trip over there. Jim's in his security uniform. Aside from Jim's obvious swollen hand/arm, we don't really look like we belong in the ER.
After signing in, we sit down in two of the four empty seats in the waiting room. Then the rain starts. The wind blows. We wonder if we're going to end up over the rainbow. Suddenly, I panic. Did we put the brick behind the tire, so it doesn't roll out and hit someone/something???!!! I ready myself to go look. Jim insists that I stay. I'm thinking Jim needs to stay put -- considering his recent luck -- but he went anyway. He came back drenched ... but intact.
I begin giggling. I can't help it. I've seen a number of people wearing scary outfits. I'm not saying dress to impress on a trip to an ER. When I had to be hooked up to IV's ... I showed up in a bath robe. But I felt like I had stepped into an 80's party. It was wild.
Then a couple walks in. The guy is wearing an "FBI Academy" t-shirt. I immediately think, oh no ... some FBI dude was assaulted. Then I get a better look at the shirt. The "FBI" part had words written in the block letters. It's a "Firm Believer in Christ Academy" t-shirt. That's a new one. Anyway ... the guy is holding a bloody rag over his hand. He looks like he's going to pass out. He sits in a chair opposite ours. I try to stay calm and look the other way.
And then. It happens. He pulls the rag away. He starts pulling back the cut tip of his finger ... exposing the bone ... to look. at. it. I mean ... yeah, that's fun and exciting, but he does it repeatedly. His female companion looks horrified. Each time he does it, it bleeds more. I try not to be ill. I look down. Jim missed it, and asked me (whispering of course) what happened. I tell him ... very quietly. And I start giggling again. There's a part of Jim that gives the guy the benefit of the doubt. I must have seen it wrong. And then ... the dude does it again. Jim turns a dusky shade of gray, and looks away. "Oh ... my ... God," he whispers. Yep-- Jim saw it for real! Then I start laughing again. I told Jim that I should have had my camera. I suddenly remembered an ER LJ entry from several months ago. I said that our friend Cherie thinks to bring her camera to the ER ... I should have remembered that and done the same. Though I'm sure there's some kind of privacy issue with my photographing waiting room patrons ... but I could have had Jim photograph the bathroom (see below).
About that time the Hazardous Wastes lady walks in with her gloves and cleaners. She sprays down the desk where the guy signed in. Then she goes off to take care of other hazardous things.
An hour passes. During this time the guy (who I fear will bleed out) goes to the bathroom to change his paper towel rags multiple times. He asks when he'll be seen. Then we're all informed there is only one doctor there. No one had been called back in the hour and a half we'd been there.
Shortly after 7PM, the man and woman storm out of the hospital. I can't blame him. I was always under the impression that open wounds should be treated sooner rather than later. Jim gets up to go to the bathroom. When he returns he goes straight to speak with the desk clerk. Then he informs me that the male restroom is COVERED in blood. The desk clerk throws up an "Out of Order" sign and calls Hazardous Waste again.
At about 9PM, Jim was called back. It was the doc I saw when I was sick and needed the IV's. He's really nice. He did some x-rays, ordered a shot, and sent us home.
Jim finally got an appointment at the pain management clinic yesterday, and is back at work today. Just in time for a two day work week.
I'm hoping the curious finger dude is sewn up and healing well. :)
If you could open any sort of restaurant, what would it be like?
My husband and I both love to cook. We've often discussed how much we would like to open our own restaurant. If we could ... it would be a different menu all the time. It would be the kind of food your parents or grandparents used to make. Not the meal in a box kind that so many people these days equate with "real" cooking.
90% of the time ... we either don't use a recipe, or we make changes to it-- so you'd never get bored with the choices.
