Christmas Cactus

It's just 3 days before Christmas and look at it. There are still a lot of buds that need to bloom. This plant is thriving well in its location, outside on the table in the lanai.

Merry Christmas!

Happy birthday Jesus!

And today's CC

Note the tons of buds on this plant! It's going to be gorgeous.

It's Christmas Cactus Time Again

This picture was taken about a week ago.

Lila and me

Yeah. Right. Here I'm trying to hide behind Lila. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ... I didn't want anyone to see me in my grunge.

Back to Habitat

I went to go help Lila paint her walls in her almost finished home and we were roped into painting another house. But that was a good thing. I met this fella, Steve, while painting and he is a biology professor at the new college Ave Maria University in the new town being built, Ave Maria. Nice meeting you Steve!

A Souped up Cadillac CTS-V

This baby has 470 horses. It went 70 MPH in 2nd gear!

Look Closely -- Again

Look out the side window of this Hummer! I have to admit that it was amazing.

Look Closely

You'll see the road out the windshield. We drove up a 40 degree hill sideways. Spit the wrong way and it felt like the Hummer would go over. This Hummer walked up a 2 foot block, hills, bumps, and a 60 degree hill that you went straight up, stopped at the top, and then went straight down -- with your foot on the brakes.

It's Hummer time!

For ten bucks ($10) you could take two (2) rides. Drive a souped up car around a race track, or drive an SUV on an off road track. Harold and I did one of each. Here is Harold with the Hummer we drove.

The Man in Back and Jelvis!

Our new found friends we met in Las Vegas while standing in line at a GREAT restaurant located in a casino, Ellis Island. Great meals for $4.95 and great people too! I was serenaded by the Jelvis and Johnny sang The Old Ragged Flag. We had all the people around us stirred up. What fun they were. And great bonus to our trip!

No Jesse, this isn't it.

The Pretenders in Las Vegas!!!

Harold and I were in awe when, as we drove to our motel in Las Vegas we saw on a billboard that The Pretenders were opening for The Who. That was all it took. We like The Who, but we LOVE The Pretenders!!!

Guess WHO we saw in Las Vegas?

Sooooo funny to watch all of us old ladies and balding/graying men rocking to ROCK AND ROLL!!! But we did!

Happy Birthday to ME!

My daughter, Katie, made me this cake. Thank you Katie!

Halloween goofs in my office.

Check us out. We're all kids at heart. There are 4 nurses and 2 doctors in this picture.

Autumn fun

Okay. Okay. I admit it. I can smell those leaves all the way in Florida. Fall is the one thing I truly miss. I can smell the apples, leaves, all of it. I believe we just had the havest moon a few days ago.

But come January I'm sure going to be glad I'm where I'm at.

MI vs OSU

This picture is wonderful. It captures the essence of college football and makes clear what the real issue of the Big 10 football is right now. And believe me, it's not the Rose Bowl that anyone in Michigan or Ohio are thinking about. It is the BIG GAME coming this November 18th!!!

It is the back picture on the November issue of Reader's Digest. I can't help but post this. As of at the time of this post OSU is #1 and MI climbed all the way to #2, from, if I remember correctly, #14.

"THE BIG GAME" by C. F. Payne exclusively for Reader's Digest.
For more great C.F. Payne images, go to rd.com/CFPayne

Atriniti rips you off

Unbelieveable. I have been shopping on the internet for years and years. Before shopping on the internet got cool. No lie. I would have to say my shopping on the internet started in the late 90's. And Atriniti is the first place that sent me the incorrect item and then not accept it back as a return.

Let me start from the beginning.

A friend of mine was over and we were playing around on the net. I have 512 megs of RAM and it was decided I needed another 512 for my computer needs. We go to several search engines and we find what I'm looking for in the upper 40's. I don't remember the exact price. I thought, wow! Cool! Others were more and in the search for 512 megs of RAM, with shipping and all, this was the best buy.

And I don't hear another word from them. I never received a confirmation email, a list of what I bought. Nothing.

In their defense, they say that Comcast, my isp, has their emails blocked. (humfpt! for good reason too I'd say)

I began to think that the transaction never happened. Then about 10 days later (just an aproximate guess because I have nothing to base it on) I receive a package. I look and in this huge box is a small bar of RAM. Wow! It went through and I went and checked my credit card account and sure enough there is a charge there. A much smaller one of $34 from Atriniti. Hmmmm ...

And I look at the bar and UNFORTUNATELY FOR ME I had to open up the package to see what it was compared to my RAM. The middle notch didn't match up. It was DDR2 and NOT DDR which is what I ordered. And stupid me should've noticed the /256 at the end of the lettering too, but I didn't.

Is it a total loss? No, my daughter can use the RAM for her kids computer and I've sent it to her. But that's not the point.

The point is, I did a 512 meg search, clicked on the best price, and received a 256 bar that wasn't even appropriate for my computer. Okay. I'm the stupid one. I'm the dummy. NOT!!! I'll bet anything their website had a glitch, I clicked correctly, but the click was sent incorrectly and voila. The wrong package at my door.

Their customer service department -- ugh. They reminded me of when I caught my kids doing something wrong and they would try to convince me that I didn't see or find what I did see or find. Please don't try to tell me I purchased something I was not in the market for.

My lesson learned? I will never open up another package that does not have an email confirmation stating what my purchase was. I will send it back unopened directly to the sender -- and finally, I will NEVER buy anything from Atriniti again.

And if by posting this I stop one person from the same problem with Atriniti then that's even better.

And she's off ...

and running!

When she sees this picture on my blog she'll kill me, but what the hay? She wanted to take a picture of herself in the Detroit hat that her new found friend gave her at school. She's very over weight and just runs from cameras. Her mistake is she used my camera and my computer.

But here's the story. Katie turned 18 on August 19th and we haven't gotten along well for quite some time. She likes to blame it on this and I like to blame it on that. So therefore, at the first opportunity she moved out and in with another new found friend.

Yeah. You may all pick your mouths off the ground now.

My Favorite 3 little kittens

Aren't they just the finest? And look at that strapping young fellow on the left with the big blue eyes. He's going to knock them dead when he gets older. Meanwhile, he's got his hands full with his two sisters. Clara gives him a run for the money and Cooper will too as soon as she's big enough.

Ugh. That couch -- again. That thing is the worst thing to sleep on. I know because I slept on it for almost two months! And poor Missi had to sleep on it for ??? months while she was pregnant and in heart failure. She dislikes that couch as much as me!

I have to hand it to John though as he offered me the bed and said he'd take the couch. I just couldn't do that to him. He needed his space and what the hell? I didn't have a space there in the first place. Mine was home with my husband and that was 1200 miles away.

Oh no! Not her too!

First my daughter and now my granddaughter both proudly wearing their little OSU outfits and my daughter talking crap about Michigan. Okay, I'll be honest, she doesn't talk crap, but her husband, John, a HUGE OSU fan, and her mother, me, a HUGE U of M fan, does, and she just won't get in the middle.

Great game last week Michigan! Unbelievable what you did to Notre Dame. GO BLUE!!!

Boo to the Cigarette Companies

My daughter is in art school at OSU and has a lot of artsy friends. This is the 2nd piece of art she has been given of herself. This was done last school year. Look at it. The dark, circled eyes and that long cigarette in her hands/mouth. Her friend was very intuitive indeed because at the time we had no clue how bad her heart was.

Thank goodness she has no more desire for cigarettes. She had been trying and trying to quit and it took her near death experience to put them down for good. And that was without help from the cigarette companies who have increased nicotine in cigarettes in the last 6 years another 10%. Booooo to all cigarette companies. What a farce their commercials are about how to educate our children so they don't start smoking. Indeed!

I was in awe

For those of you who've been following the story of my daughter and I, you will find this very, very, very cool.

I was talking to Missi on the phone and I heard Cooper fussing a bit and getting a little louder and louder as the minutes went by. I said, put the phone up to her ear, and started talking to her. Just like I did when I took care of her. And she settled down and stopped crying -- just like that.

Missi got back on the phone and said, do you believe that? I said, no, I'm shocked. I believe she misses her grandma. AND remembers my voice quite well.

Three Little Kittens

I've been talking about being in Ohio and the drama unfolding with my daughter, Missi's, heart condition. Well, these little guys were born while I was there. I remember looking at mama Ramona and watching her belly swell. Nobody believed me initially, well, except for Victoria who'd been suspecting the same thing I was. Ramona was preggers.

And Ramona wouldn't leave my side while in labor, which she was having unbeknownst to me. I go to the bathroom and she'd follow me to the bathroom. She slept by my feet on the couch that night. Then the next morning after feeding CoopD and then Q and Sis I was cleaning up the kitchen and I heard Sis say, "A black kitty!" And I tuned it out. Then Meew, meew, meew and Missi, who was in the livingroom said, "Mom? What is that?" Ramona was in labor and indeed, there was a small black kitty on the kitchen floor underneath the table. I hurried and got a laundry basket with a towel in the bottom of it and that ended up being their home. I fed Ramona what was left of CoopD's bottles while I was there as she was now a nursing mama kitty.

Aren't the little guys cute?

Sunny Girl and Matilda

There they are! Hanging right next to me every night. This picture on my blog doesn't do the picture, nor the frame, any justice. What a gift from my daughter, which came from her heart as this picture came right from her very own hands. Thank you Missi! I love those dogs!

This Picture is Better

I know I published a picture of Missi with her favorite man further down my blog, but when I got a good look at this picture I thought it better and worth putting it up here. See the adoration in her eyes? And grandpa looks happy and content also.

Happy Birthday My Darling!!!

Today my daughter is 29 years old! OMG!!! Next year she's going to be +choke+ THIRTY +gasp+!!!

Still full of hot air!

That cake was GREAT!!!

The Magnum

Harold and I have had a hard time lately. Me, with my daughter and her illness, and Harold with the death of his sister, Brenda. And we were apart and not able to support each other. Not an easy time for either of us.

Harold's sister was given a 4-6 week prognosis and put on hospice. Harold couldn't get the first weekend off as boss man said no, so I bought him airline tickets for the 2nd weekend after we were informed. And Harold's sister didn't make it a week. She died 5 days after being given her prognosis. More like a 4-6 DAY prognosis.

Rather than dealing with the airlines and paying the huge change fees, we decided he'd take that time off anyway. And we both had a nice long, healing weekend together and was able to forget about things -- for a while.

One of those days we went to Cedar Point. I'm ALWAYS bragging about Cedar Point. Unbeknownst to me, I grew up close to the best amusement park in the WORLD. Living in Florida, well, everyone believes Orlando is all that -- but it's not all that. And finally I had a chance to prove it.

Knowing that my dear husband is not a big fan of roller coasters we walked the park and passed over most of them. BUT! I was able to talk him into going on The Magnum, my favorite roller coaster ever. As we stood in line I told him how I've always ridden this ride, laughed my ass off, ran back into line and did it all over again. He was able to become quite comfortable seeing that the ride was built in 1989 and was pretty much a relic compared to roller coasters of today -- until the ride started moving.

Me? I started laughing like an ol' wet hen. Howling my butt off. As usual. That is what I've always done. And Harold was furious. He couldn't stand the ride and started growling, "It's not funny. It's NOT FUNNY! I'm NOT getting back on this ride. I said, it's not funny! I hate this !@#$%^& ride. It's not funny!

Hence the picture. Enjoy!

Oh, and one more thing. He agreed that Cedar Point has it all over Orlando *IF* he liked those kinds of rides.

It was just announced on yesterday's news that the price of Disney's tickets are going up to $67. The 2nd increase this year. It cost Harold and me $65 for the both of us at Cedar Point and there is no question, no doubt, where the best park is.

And Cedar Point is in the process of making the next biggest, highest, fastest roller coaster in the world. It was pretty cool to see the signs over by the construction saying, Here we go again. Ha ha ha

Her Favorite Man

I don't believe there is any man in the world Missi loves more than her grandpa, my dad. He took special care of her when she was small and needed him.