Rest In Peace, Uncle Mickey

We got word yesterday that my Uncle Mickey passed away.  He was 83 years old.  He was my dad's younger brother.  And he was the last of his generation on both sides of my family.  It's odd to know that I no longer have any living aunts or uncles.

Uncle Mickey had 12 children.  Every time I try to name everyone, I miss someone and I miss a different one every time.  I know the first 4 or 5, then I get lost.  I remember the last 2 because they were 2 of the 3 boys in the family.

Let's see.... Michelle, Veronica, Vincent, June, Dorothy, Victoria, Dawn, Nora, Joseph, Brian, Bernadette,  and.... see?  One is missing from my brain.  And I even cheated and went on Facebook to see who I missed.  She's not on Facebook.  It'll come to me, eventually.

It just occurred to me that me, my siblings and my cousins are all now the "older" generation of the family!  We are the aunts who attend the wedding and baby showers of our nieces.  I am not sure how that happened!  It sort of snuck up on me.

CHRISTINE!  Christine is the 12th child!  Actually she's more like 5th or 6th.  I could see her face, but I just could not get a name to the face.

There was another child in the mix, who I always thought was my cousin.  Her name is Angel.  She was a cousin of  my cousins, but not mine.  Angel's mom and my cousin's mom were sisters.  We always thought she was because I think she lived with all the others.  I guess what's one more kid in the mix when you already have 9 or 10 or 12?  As an adult now, I can see the difference in Angel from the others.  Angel is part Hispanic and everyone else is full Irish.

I was hoping to find a photo of Uncle Mickey in my cousins' profiles, but I don't see any.

Rest in peace, Uncle Mickey.  Say hi to my Mom and Dad for me.

World's Shortest Books

World's Shortest Books  _________________________________  THINGS I DID TO DESERVE  THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE    By Barack Obama  ____________________________________________  MY BLACK GIRLFRIENDS  By  Tiger Woods  ____________________________________________  THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY COUNTRY  By Jane Fonda & Cindy Sheehan Illustrated by Michael Moore ________________________________________  MY HUMANITARIAN ACCOMPLISHMENTS  & HOW I HELPED AFTER  KATRINA By  Rev Jesse Jackson, Rev Al Sharpton, Congressional Black Caucus, 99.9% of The National Basketball Association ______________________________________

THINGS I  LOVE ABOUT BILL 

By  Hillary Clinton
_________________ 

Sequel: THINGS I LOVE ABOUT HILLARY

By Bill  Clinton
_________________ 

THINGS I  CANNOT AFFORD

By Bill Gates
____________________________________ 

THINGS I  WOULD NOT DO FOR MONEY

By Dennis Rodman
_________________________________ 

THINGS WE KNOW TO BE TRUE

By Al Gore & John Kerry
_____________________________________
  GUIDE TO THE PACIFIC 

By Amelia Earhart 

__________________________________ 

HOW TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST

By Dr. Jack Kevorkian
__________________________________ 

TO ALL THE MEN WE HAVE LOVED BEFORE 

By Ellen de Generes & Rosie O'Donnell 

____________________________________________ 

GUIDE TO DATING ETIQUETTE

By Mike Tyson

__________________________________

  

THE AMISH  PHONE DIRECTORY
_______________________________________
  

MY PLAN TO FIND THE REAL KILLERS

By O. J. Simpson
_________________________________________ 

HOW TO DRINK & DRIVE SAFELY

By Ted Kennedy 

_________________________________________________ 

MY BOOK OF MORALS 

By Bill Clinton

With introduction by 

The Rev. Jesse Jackson 

******************************************************* 

AND, JUST ADDED: 

My Complete Knowledge of  Military Strategy
  By Nancy Pelosi

Dear So and So

Dear Kat,
Happy 30th Birthday, my friend!  I hope it was wonderful!


Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Chachi (my car),

I'm sorry I haven't taken really good care of you this year.  I promise to do better, especially since the 2 new tires, replacing the bent wheel (damned potholes) and the long overdue oil change cost me $375 the other day.  Getting the other bent wheel replaced and the rear brakes today (ka-ching! another $260) should make you happier, even though my wallet is crying.  Can you please be kind in July when I need to get you  inspected and pass the emissions and inspection tests??  I know you're not as young as you used to be (Chachi was 8 on New Year's Eve) and you have 131,000+ miles on you, but I know we can have many more happy years together.  I really do love you a lot, even though I don't always show it.

Promising to show you more love in the future,

Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Mother Nature,

Flood warnings and high wind alerts for this weekend?  Really?   Haven't you punished us enough this year?

I just have one small request.  If you must knock down one of my trees, can you make sure that it hits the roof?  I need a new one and the insurance will cover it if you do this.  A $500 roof  I can afford... a $6,000 one?  Not so much.

Tired of all this "weather",

Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Greg from work,

Thank you SO MUCH for giving me your "old" Droid!  I really do love it!  I still can't believe you just gave it to me!  I know you love your newer Droid X.  It is so much faster than the Blackberry!  

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Joanie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Friends,
If you like Dear So and So, and want to give it a try, just pop over to Kat's Place at Three Bedroom Bungalow, hook up with her Linky and add your own!  It's a great way to blow off steam, and you can read lots of other letters!

Love,

Joanie

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Keely  is the host for Random Tuesday Thoughts.  Go check her out at  The Un Mom for lots more fun Randomness!! 


We had Spring.... for 2 whole days.  Then, cold and snow and wind came back.  Yay us.


A friend from work gave me, GAVE ME, no charge, his old Droid!  He bought the Droid last year when it first came out (and I bought his 3 month old Blackberry from him).  He lost his Droid, so Verizon sent him another.  He used that one for a couple of months, then his boyfriend gave him the Droid X because Verizon had a BOGO sale.  When I mentioned that I really wanted to get a Droid, but I needed to wait until after my daughter's wedding to get it, he told me I could have his!!!  How cool is that!!!


I discovered that the Droid is soooo much faster and cooler than the Blackberry!  I'm having fun, learning my way around it and downloading free apps.  


I'm keeping my Blackberry for my audio books.  I listen to a lot of books in my car.


Maleficent has Facebook.  Great.


I do a check every now and then to see if she or the ex has Facebook.   She now does, he does not.  


I also (for fun) check on John's ex-wives.  Yes, I said Wives (plural).  He has 4 of them.  And you all wonder why I'm not chomping at the bit to marry him!  


Anyway, 3 of the 4 of them have Facebook.  We are NOT friends on Facebook.  I do, however, post really glowing things on his family members' pages.  I'm fun like that!


I've decided that my son shows up here every week or so for a few days, not to see me, but to catch up on all the shows he watches on Showtime.  They don't have that channel where he lives the rest of the time.  I'll take it though!  He also gets to do his laundry for free.  And I might even cook him a meal once in a while.


I think I'm randomed out.  Cya!

Apple does it again!

I thought this was too important not to share.

Apple does it again! 

 

Apple announced today that it has  developed a breast implant that can store and play music.The iTit will cost from $499 to $699, depending on cup and speaker size. This is considered a major social breakthrough, because women are always  complaining about men staring at their breasts and not listening to them.

Blah

I have a bad case of the blahs.  

Don't feel like writing.

Don't feel like reading.  

Don't feel like trying to be humorous.  

Just don't feel like it.

I'll be back though (fair warning)

Musical Mondays Moves Me!: Love Songs!

 Lorie at The Shrewbridges of Celebration, FL told me about Monday's Music Moves Me, 

so here's another cool music blog meme to do.

Amanda at Bloggin’ with Amanda hosts Musical Monday – What Move’s You?. 

You can get the instructions by clicking here.

All month long, in honor of Valentine's Day, we are doing love songs!


When I was a teenager and young adult, I loved this song and wanted it to be the song I danced to at my wedding.  Of course, time passed.  I didn't marry my high school sweetheart (who turned out to be a cheating jerk).  I met and married someone else (who, ironically, also turned out to be cheating jerk).  I did NOT use this song as my first dance song.  To tell you the truth, I can't even remember the song I danced with my new husband because the band didn't bother to learn the one we had chosen.  But that's a whole 'nother story for another day.  


So when I was a teenager, young and in love, I wanted to dance to Elvis Presley's I Can't Help Falling In Love With You.  To this day, it's still one of my favorite love songs!





I also learned that I was chosen as a "Tag Dancer" on the Spotlight Dance! How cool is that!!  Thanks Marie and Callie and Lorie and Larry for the honor!

Prompt Me! Wednesday: A Treasured Gift

This is my first try at Prompt Me! Wednesday.  This week's prompt is A Treasured Gift.


It took me a while to think of something to write about.  Then I remembered a gift I received for Christmas 6 years ago from my daughter, Gina and my future favorite son-in-law, Gene.


When Gina was in college, she majored in Theatre.  In her Junior year, she was cast as Dinah Lord, the bratty little sister in The Philadelphia Story.  I thought she was simply marvelous, but don't just take it from me, an unbiased mom.  Here's what  Myra Yellin Outwater, a theater critic from the Allentown Morning Call newspaper had to say about her performance:

• From the moment that Regina P walks out on the Labuda Center stage at DeSales University, her performance as Dinah Lord lights up Act 1's production of Philip Barry's "The Philadelphia Story." Regina, who plays the delightfully impish tomboyish younger sister of Main Line heiress Tracy Lord, is just great fun to watch, a troublemaker with a "Capital T." She mugs and sasses and stirs up Barry's 1930s period comedy of Philadelphia Main Line manners as she irreverently stokes the fires of mischief. (the only change I made here was to remove her last name)

Sorry... a little digression there.  Anyway, in the lobby of the theatre, they post pictures of the dress rehearsals.  There was one photo, of Gina, as Dinah, "performing" for the newsman and photographer who were there to document her sister, Tracy Lord's upcoming wedding. I loved loved loved this photo!!!  It's a good 2 feet by 3 feet!  

Imagine my surprise, on Christmas morning, when Gina and Gene come into my house carrying this large package for me!  I could not imagine what it could be!!  I was jumping up and down and clapping happy when I saw this framed picture of Gina!  It hangs in a prominent place in my family room.

I thought I'd find the picture on Gina's Facebook page, but it's not there, so I took a photo of the framed picture.  And here it is!

This is a most treasured gift.  This scene was so damned funny!  And Gina had to sing badly, but she has a lovely strong voice.  I wish I had a video of this play!

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Keely  is the host for Random Tuesday Thoughts.  Go check her out at The Un Mom for lots more fun Randomness!! 

So my 20 year old daughter is in Las Vegas until Friday.  She's not even old enough to gamble OR drink!  How is this fair?  Yes, I'm jealous!  She's there for a Paul Mitchell Convention.  She goes to a Paul Mitchell Cosmetology School on the other side of Pennsylvania.  So it's a learning experience.  Yeah, right.


We're getting some precipitation right now and it's ... RAIN, not snow!!!  YAY!!! (I'm writing this on Monday evening)


I keep discovering new authors and of course, they have series of books, so now I want all of the books in the series!  I just downloaded 2 more books in Paul Levine's Jake Lassiter series.  I really liked the first one!  


I few people commented on my blog post about Reading and have suggested a few goodies.  So now I have MORE books to look out for!  Good thing my Kindle can hold up to 1500 books!

I'm trying to write here, but Cameron has other ideas.  Do you think he wants some attention?

So Christina Aguilera really messed up the National Anthem.  It's sad that so many people don't know it any more.  She looked like crap too.  Why can't "professional singers" just sing it like we learned it in school?    Look and listen, if you can stand it.     

Have you met Bill Balsamico?  He's the owner of a restaurant and lounge in North Versailles, PA, located in Western Pennsylvania.  He puts messages on his sign outside his place of business, Casa D'Ice.  I love this guy!  He does NOT know the meaning of the term "Politically Incorrect".  He takes shots at local government, the President, Illegal aliens, and more!  He's now on Facebook and has his own website, www.casadice.com. Check out his website and you can see all of his famous signs!  Here's an example.  This is the sign he has displayed this week.

That's it for me!  Now check out some other Random folks!  I bet you find stuff you like!

Musical Mondays Moves Me!: Love Songs

 Lorie at The Shrewbridges of Celebration, FL told me about Monday's Music Moves Me, 

so here's another cool music blog meme to do

Amanda at Bloggin’ with Amanda hosts Musical Monday – What Move’s You?. 

You can get the instructions by clicking here.

It's February, and that means our songs will be all about LOVE!!  I've posted about this video before.  If I ever get married again, this is the song I want played.  I know that Beyonce recorded this song, but nobody can do justice to this song like Etta James.  Here is At Last.

Another lazy Sunday

Oh Boy, do I love Sundays!  We went to bed around 11:30 last night.  I was so tired!  I think I fell asleep rather quickly.  Unfortunately, I drank way too much diet coke and water and was up just about every hour to use the facilities.  This old bladder ain't what it used to be!


We managed to stay in bed until after noon.  I guess by daybreak, my bladder was finally empty, once and for all, and I got several hours of uninterrupted sleep.


The only "work" I did was to move clothing from the washer to the dryer and do up the dishes I left soaking overnight.  My plan was also to  sweep and mop the kitchen floor and vacuum the downstairs, but I'm not really feeling it right now. We'll see how I feel after I finish this blog post.


In a little while, John and I will drive to his place because he needs to be at work tomorrow at 7:30 AM and I need to be at work at 11:00 AM.  If he stayed here, he'd have to get up at 5:30 AM instead of 6:30 AM, so we generally spend Sunday night at his place.   


We'll stop for brunch (usually) but it's so late, it'll definitely be lunch.  No cooking for me today!  We're going out for dinner too!  Then a quiet night, watching a little TV, maybe some computer time, then back to bed for more shut eye!  


Boy!  Do I love Sundays!!

Six Word Saturday

Here comes another round of snow.

sigh

Want to try your own Six Word Saturday? Go see Cate at Show My Face and link up!

Boy, do I love to read! (this is longer than originally planned)

First of all, I love to read.  I used to read 3 or 4 books a week, but that was BK (before kids).  Taking care of small kids, my reading time was limited.  I'd often fall asleep after reading only a few pages of a book.  Then came household computers and the internet.  I found myself reading message boards and chat rooms, rather than books.  For a lot of years, I was lucky to read 3 or 4 books a year, rather than 3 or 4 books a week!  I kept buying books, especially when Borders or Barnes and Noble had buy 3, get 1 free, or buy 1, get a 2nd one for half price.  I'm a sucker for books and sales.


I was reading books on Oprah's Book Club, but so many of her books were SO DEEP, or books about women triumphing over adversity.  They are all well and good, but every now and then, you just need a good trashy novel!  I did find a few real gems in her books club though.  House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III, Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts,  The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve (this book had me hooked from page 1) were the few books that I simply loved.  


I discovered that the Good Morning America Book Club was even better!  I found so many other books that I was more interested in reading!  Books like The Secret Life of Bees  by Sue Monk Kidd,  The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold,  Three Junes by Julia Glass,  The Dive from Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer (this book was sooo good!)  


A couple of years ago, I made a deal with myself to try to read a book a month. I had a huge pile of books (50 or more), many from some of my favorite authors (Sue Grafton, Patricia Cornwell, John Grisham, Dan Brown,  James Patterson, Jennifer Weiner to name a few)  I was really surprised to realize that I read 23 books in 2009!  


John gave me a Kindle for Christmas in 2009 (just months before the price dropped drastically!)  I started buying books for my Kindle, even though I still had a good 30 or more print books at home, waiting to be read.  I learned how to search for free books and the newest books were considerably less than the hard-cover versions in the store! (My Kindle has more than paid for itself this past year)


I also bought a Blackberry from a co-worker who just HAD to get the Droid as soon as it came out, even though he bought the Blackberry only 3 months before.  I found out that I could download audio books from my local library to my computer and transfer them to my BB!  So instead of having music on the MP3 player part of my phone, I have BOOKS!!    And I listen to them in my car when I'm driving for 30 minutes or more.  The best $10 I ever spent was for a Jupiter Jack.  It works like a charm! (Thanks Billy Mays, wherever you are!)  Plug that baby into my Blackberry, tune my car radio to channel 99.3 FM, and I hear my books clear as a bell (most of the time... it doesn' t like the mountains on the PA Turnpike and parts of Wilmington, DE)


So I now have 3 different ways to get my book loving in.  The print books I keep in my work bag.  I'm afraid to bring my Kindle into work.  All I need is someone to spill a drink on it and it's ruined.  I keep my Kindle in my regular bag or in my netbook bag.  I often read that when I'm at John's.  I bet I have 35 books on my Kindle right now.  Some were freebies that are only so-so.  Others are books by my favorite authors and I have some new favorite authors now.   


I have happily discovered Elin Hilderbrand, whose books all take place on Nantucket.  Janet Evanovich, who has me laughing out loud with the antics of her Trenton, NJ heroine, Stephanie Plum.  Lisa Scottoline, who writes a series of book about an all-women law firm, as well as other books.  Maryann McFadden who has 2 excellent books under her belt. Sarah Pekkanen whose 2 books I simply could not put down until they were finished. Tamera Lawrence,a local writer (I wait on her at Fridays all the time) who has one book published (The Pond.. it's spooky and really good!) and has another that will be out by the end of the year. And Paul Levine, who has a series of books I'm reading about an attorney in Miami.   And I keep discovering new authors all the time!


In 2010, I'm happy and surprised to report that I've read 65 books!!  


For 2011, I signed up for a few reading challenges and my goal is to read 100 books (or as close to that as I can get!)


I'm reading all of Nicolas Sparks' books.  I have 2 (of the 15) finished so far.  


I'm doing a James Patterson challenge that ends at the end of August (it started in September.)  I'm hoping to read more than 10 of his books. I have 3 finished and 1 nearly finished.   I mostly listen to his books on audio.  


Then there is a general reading challenge.  I keep track of all the books I'm reading on that blog. I have 6 books finished so far this year.  I do keep track of all my reading on my sidebar.  You can see what I'm currently reading and what I've finished so far this year.  Check them out!  Maybe you'll find a book or two that you might be interested in checking out!

Old Friends

I had a completely different thing to post, but I was catching up on my blog reading and came across Peggy's Musical Monday's choice.  It was a few songs by Simon and Garfunkle.  I love Simon and Garfunkle, always have.  I love their harmony.


Anyway, it got me thinking of what my favorite Simon and Garfunkle song was.  I truly do love so many of them, but the one I can play over and over and over again is one that wasn't a big hit.   


When I hear this song, I can picture my friend, Margie, who has been my friend since we were in first grade.  We went through 12 years of Catholic school together.  She lived around the corner from me.  She introduced me to my husband (now my ex but that's a whole 'nother story).  We were bridesmaids in each other's weddings.  

That's me on the left and Margie on the right

The song is Old Friends and I can see Margie and me, as little old ladies, sitting on a bench and laughing about the good old days.

Ice, Ice Baby!

Last night, we got that ice storm that was moving across so much of the US.  I was lucky.  Although I was prepared with flashlights and candles.  I kept my phone and laptop plugged in so they'd be fully changed if I lost power.  I had several half gallon containers filled with water (I have a well that won't work if I lose power).

I think my neighbor's tree looks really cool!

I was very lucky.  I discovered in the morning that I had lost power at least once during the night, but it was on when I woke up.  I don't know if it flashed off and back on or if it was out for any length of time.  I kept my TV on in my bedroom, so I'd know if power was out. 

this is what my TV looked like from 10 am until around 4 pm today.

One thing I wasn't happy about was my cable and internet were knocked out for about 6 hours today.  I do have a netbook,  but my Fios connection was lousy!  I was able to get on Facebook and read what was coming in, but I wasn't able to respond to anyone all day.  Like being gagged while all this great conversation is going on all around you!

my walkway this morning. you can see why I stayed inside all day!

As the day went on, the temperature went above freezing, to about 40 degrees and quite a bit of the ice melted away.  All morning long, I could hear loud cracks as branches fell off trees in my neighborhood.  I could also hear ice falling off the trees on my property. I had small branches fall to the ground, but nothing major.  

Punxatawny Phil

In other news, Punxatawny Phil, that craft old groundhog, did not see his shadow this morning and legend has it that we'll be having an early Spring.  Yeah.  I'll believe that when I see it!  I won't be breaking out the short sleeve shirts, capris and sandals any time soon!

Random Tuesday Thoughts: Winter Winter Everywhere

Keely  is the host for Random Tuesday Thoughts.  Go check her out at The Un Mom for lots more fun Randomness!! 




One week later and I still have hot water!  Woo hoo!!  Only I could buy the one water heater at Lowe's  that was defective.  


We're expecting an ice storm today.  Got a bit of snow overnight.  I still have to go to work today (where no one will come in to eat because duh!  it's icy outside!)  If I wreck my car, my boss is paying the deductible to get it fixed.


For the record, I got to work just fine.  I waited on a grand total of 2 tables and made $12.50.  Luckily, tomorrow, when it REALLY gets bad, it's my normal day off.


Speaking of this bad weather, Mother Nature and Old Man Winter are wreaking havoc on my sex life and I don't like that one. little. bit.  Knock it off, you two!

Why do people with trucks and SUVs think because they have 4 wheel drive, they can drive as fast as they want and not be a danger to everyone around them when there is snow on the roads?  I will admit to a little chuckle when I see them stuck in a ditch.  I don't want them to be hurt.  I just want them majorly inconvenienced when they're stuck and can't get their vehicle out.


My niece is on a 9-night Caribbean cruise right now.  Lucky bitch.


How did it get to be February already?

(swiped from Candy's blog)

OK, that's it for me.  


Got random?