Posted 9:53 PM by Bonnie

So make a liar out of me! The TOPS group I belong to had a drawing for a basket. Some people bought 20 to 40 tickets. I bought 6. Guess who won :-)? Yep, it was me!!! So, I had two of the women in the group come over and we went through and divvied up the contents. The three of us do this when one of us wins something. Sort of sharing the wealth. Anyway, after we emptied it I tried to pawn the big green basket off on one of them, but the one, Linda P. said, "I'll bet one of your cats would like it as a bed." I laughed knowing my cats will not sleep in a basket! Ha! Yeah, right... First thing Mr. Fuzz did was pull my new Christmas throw (a gift from Linda P.) off the back of the couch and into the basket, which I had sitting on the couch at the time and curled up in the basket. So, I put it on the floor and next thing I know Marma-duke-alade is in it! I only got pictures of him/her (that's another story) but so far four of the cats have tried it out and napped in it.

Posted 11:46 AM by Bonnie

I'm still alive! Yes, I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but I've had a serious sinus infection. That's what the doctor finally decided when I got in to see him. So, he put me on these heavy duty anti-biotics that he said should kick ass on this infection. And boy is it!! The only problem is it's kicking ass on me too! They make me groggy and sleepy and fuzzy headed to the point I don't know if I'm coming or going half the time (no double entendre intended). But, I am feeling better. Still coughing once in awhile and still blowing my nose occassionally but nothing in the magnitude it was a few days ago. So, I will at least be able to enjoy my Christmas.

We are planning a quiet day with just us and our fur people, as my sister Victoria calls the cats. And in a way they are little people. I find myself calling them children! when they get in the way or are misbehaving. And they do share our meals with us. As our friend in Iraq said, just share our Christmas dinner with our cats and we have our family.

So, we will visit with others after Christmas, but for now I am still a bit tired from having that infection for so long, and it wearing me down, plus the affects of the drugs don't make for intellectual conversation, when I find at times I can't even follow a conversation when the affects of the two drugs combined hit me :-). Sort of like back in the 60's and early 70's, but we won't talk about those days ;-D.

Well, just wanted to assure all my loyal fans I am still alive and kicking. I'll be back soon with pictures and more updates. Until then... Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, Happy Winter Solstice and whatever else you may be celebrating this time of year. Enjoy!

Posted 4:02 PM by Bonnie

I know I haven't posted in a while... between getting packages ready and mailing out same packages for Christmas and battling a horrific head cold, I just haven't had either the time or enery got post here. So here are a couple funnies to keep you laughing :-).

Posted 4:29 PM by Bonnie

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Well, Christmas looks a little different at our place. First, with 8 cats you don't dare put up a tree or too many decorations :-). Maybe next year when the kittens are older and out of their flying stage. Nothing quite as exciting as watching a kitten fly across the room, crash into something, and watch everything come tumbling while the kitten walks away unscathed and unperturbed.

So, what does Christmas look like around here? Well, there are packages galore for friends living here and even more being boxed and packed and mailed out to PA, OR, CT, and even Iraq! Yes, it's been a busy time for Santa Bonnie here :-). Every year I say I'm sending gift cards next year, and every year my husband says no, you won't, you enjoy this too much. He's right. I do enjoy it! I love buying, wrapping, and sending the gifts off knowing they will make someone on the other end happy. So, I will continue to wrap, box, and mail to my hearts content.

And I got the best Christmas present of all!!!! Okay, I got a karaoke machine and am having a ball with it. Am taking it to two Christmas parties so far, but that is not the best gift...close :-), but even better..... I GOT A JOB!!!! It starts January 3, 2006 right after the holidays!! I couldn't believe it!! And it's perfect! I work Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. I am so excited and so happy!! Everyone knows how hard I have been looking for work here and at the perfect job came around at just the right time :-). Life gets better and better!!

Happy Holidays to everyone!!! I'll be posting again soon.

Posted 8:32 PM by Bonnie

I don't know who write that little ditty, but a friend passed it on to me and I thought it was kind of cute :-).

Posted 5:57 PM by Bonnie

Housewarming: A friend and his fiance had a housewarming today to welcome friends and family to their new home in Alcalu, SC. What a hoot! Good food, good friends, and a lot of fun. And as they say a picture speaks a thousand words so to see all the photos I shot while there just go here.

Posted 1:16 PM by Bonnie

Posted 3:46 PM by Bonnie

Goodbye my friend: It's funny how an obituary can make a persons life seem so trivial and unimportant. My neighbor and friend, from the old apartment complex, died Monday after two weeks in a coma. The obituary doesn't mention the years she dedicated to nursing, even after having a kidney transplant some ten years ago. Or how she suffered from diabetes due to the transplant. It doesn't talk about how she loved her ferrets and would drive all the way to Columbia to get care for them. Not one word is mentioned of what a good friend she was and how she listened and cared and helped me with the stray cats even though, due to her kidney transplant she couldn't have cats of her own. We named many a stray cat together. Shortly before we moved her kidney started rejecting and she was getting sicker and sicker. One day she told me she was tired of feeling so sick and tired and helpless all the time. She didn't want to go through dialysis again. She didn't want to go through another transplant. She was tired of fighting.

After we moved I would drop by but she was always sleeping, or if she was up she was too tired for company. I would call but she never felt like talking. I wanted to tell her about the two stray cats that were coming around here. The large white and gray male with the scarred up face we named Scarface, and the little gray and white female who follows him around adoringly we named Little Friend. Pam loved movies and would have appreciated the reference.

Two weeks ago her blood sugar jumped to over a thousand and she began to seizure. She was rushed to the hospital where she was in an out of a coma. On Monday Pam died and it's odd to think I'll never see her again and now I'll never get to tell her about Scarface and Little Friend. Rest in peace Pam you will be missed.


Goodbye My Friend Lyrics by Karla Bonoff

Oh we never know where life will take us
I know it's just a ride on the wheel
And we never know when death will shake us
And we wonder how it will feel

So goodbye my friend
I know I'll never see you again
But the time together through all the years
Will take away these tears
It's okay now
Goodbye my friend

I've seen a lot things that make me crazy
And I guess I held on to you
We could've run away and left well maybe
But it wasn't time and we both knew

So goodbye my friend
I know I'll never see you again
But the love you gave me through all the years
Will take away these tears
I'm okay now
Goodbye my friend

Life's so fragile and love's so pure
We can't hold on but we try
We watch how quickly it disappears
And we never know why

But I'm okay now
Goodbye my friend
You can go now
Goodbye my friend

Posted 4:55 PM by Bonnie

Click here for some fun :-).

Posted 1:14 PM by Bonnie

TOPS #SC 236 meeting: Had a super meeting today. First I lost another 1/2 pound and the way I look at it the losses aren't big, but I've lost 3 weeks in a row since returning to this group and 1/2 lb. a week is 26 pounds a year.

And of course, today was the big drawing day. As I said before we went around and collected donations of items from local businesses, put the items in a basket, sold tickets for a drawing and the drawing was today. The winner gets the basket and other items on the table in the picture, and we raised $500.00 selling the tickets for the Katrina victims relocated to Shaw AFB here in Sumter, SC. Shaw AFB was kind enough to send two representatives to help with the drawing.

And!! Now The Item, our local paper, wants to do a feature on TOPS #SC236 and will be meeting with our leader to get information and then they will come to a meeting to take pictures. How cool is that? :-).

I've posted a couple pictures here and to view the rest of the pictures and see a current one of me :-) go here.

Posted 8:14 AM by Bonnie

FYI: This was passed on to me by a friend and member of my TOPS group and thought it was interesting and important enough to post. After all, we are reaching the age where our bodies will start needing some of these drugs. I am so grateful I only need my arthritis and asthma medications, while others like my husband are taking more drugs than food to keep functioning. So, for those who have a Costco in there area this should be interesting reading material. Go Costco!!

Let's hear it for Costco!! (This is just mind-boggling!) Make sure
you read all the way past the list of the drugs
The woman that signed below is a Budget Analyst out of federal
Washington, DC offices.

Did you ever wonder how much it costs a drug company for the active
ingredient in prescription medications? Some people think it must cost a lot, since
many drugs sell for more than $2.00 per tablet. We did a search of
offshore chemical synthesizers that supply the active ingredients found
in drugs approved by the FDA. As we have revealed in past issues of
Life Extension, a significant percentage of drugs sold in the United
States contain active ingredients made in other countries. In our
independent investigation of how much profit drug companies really make,
we obtained the actual price of active ingredients used in some
of the most popular drugs sold in America.


The data below speaks for itself.


Celebrex: 100 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $130.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.60
Percent markup: 21,712%

Claritin: 10 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $215.17
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.71
Percent markup: 30,306%

Keflex: 250 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $157.39
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.88
Percent markup: 8,372%

Lipitor: 20 mg
Consumer Price (100 tablets): $272.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $5.80
Percent markup: 4,696%

Norvasc: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $188.29
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.14
Percent markup: 134,493%

Paxil: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $220.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $7.60
Percent markup: 2,898%

Prevacid: 30 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $44.77
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.01
Percent markup: 34,136%

Prilosec: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $360.97
Cost of general active ingredients $0.52
Percent markup: 69,417%

Prozac: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $247.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.11
Percent markup: 224,973%

Tenormin: 50 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $104.47
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.13
Percent markup: 80,362%

Vasotec: 10 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $102.37
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.20
Percent markup: 51,185%

Xanax: 1 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) : $136.79
Cost of general active ingredients: $0.024
Percent markup: 569,958%

Zestril: 20 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets) $89.89
Cost of general active ingredients $3.20
Percent markup: 2,809

Zithromax: 600 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $1,482.19
Cost of general active ingredients: $18.78
Percent markup: 7,892%

Zocor: 40 mg
Consumer price (100 tablets): $350.27
Cost of general active ingredients: $8.63
Percent markup: 4,059%

Zoloft: 50 mg
Consumer price: $206.87
Cost of general active ingredients: $1.75
Percent markup: 11,821%

A note from the person who passed the information onto Madeline:

Since the cost of prescription drugs is so outrageous, I thought
everyone should know about this. Please read the following and pass it on.
It pays to shop around. This helps to solve the mystery as to why they
can afford to put a Walgreen's on every corner. On Monday night,
Steve Wilson, an investigative reporter for Channel 7 News in Detroit,
did a story on generic drug price gouging by pharmacies. He found
in his investigation, that some of these generic drugs were marked up as
much as 3,000% or more. Yes, that's not a typo.....three thousand
percent! So often, we blame the drug companies for the high cost of
drugs, and usually rightfully so. But in this case, the fault clearly
lies with the pharmacies themselves. For example, if you had to buy a prescription
drug, and bought the name brand, you might pay $100 for 100 pills.
The pharmacist might tell you that if you get the generic equivalent,
they would only cost $80, making you think you are "saving" $20. What
the pharmacist is not telling you is that those 100 generic pills may
have only cost him $10!

At the end of the report, one of the anchors asked Mr. Wilson whether or
not there were any pharmacies that did not adhere to this practice,
and he said that Costco consistently charged little over their cost for
the generic drugs.

I went to the Costco site, where you can look up any drug, and get its
online price. It says that the in-store prices are consistent with the
online prices. I was appalled. Just to give you one example from my own
experience, I had to use the drug, Compazine, which helps prevent nausea
in chemo patients.

I used the generic equivalent, which cost $54.99 for
60 pills at CVS. I checked the price at Costco, and I could
have bought 100 pills for $19.89. For 145 of my pain pills, I paid
$72.57. I could have got 150 at Costco for $28.08.

I would like to mention, that although Costco is a "membership" type
store, you do NOT have to be a member to buy prescriptions there,
as it is a federally regulated substance. You just tell them at the door
that you wish to use the pharmacy, and they will let you in. (this is
true)

I went there this past Thursday and asked them. I am asking each of you
to please help me by copying this letter, and passing it into your
own e-mail, and send it to everyone you know with an e-mail address.

Posted 8:57 PM by Bonnie

Delia and the Sylvester pillow: I know I've posted before about Delia carrying around this pillow of the head of Sylvester, but we were discussing this recently as she is still doing it and came to the conclusion she thinks it's Bug. When she first came here she was just a baby and Mr. Bug (our black and white tuxedo cat) would carry her around in his mouth like a mommy cat. He would groom her, carry her to the bedroom and put her on the bed and even lay and let her nurse off him. Well, we realized she is carrying the Sylvester pillow around just like Bug carried her and she too takes it to the bedroom and puts it on the bed. Lately she has been carrying it around and leaving it for Keith. If he is in bed she puts it on him in the bed, if he is the living room watching TV she puts it at his feet there. It is so cute and I still have not been able to get a picture.

Posted 8:54 PM by Bonnie

Comments: Just reset my comments section to allow anyone to leave comments. I will try this for awhile, but if things get nasty I will have to reset it back to only registered users. Some people who visit here are not registered users, but I trust them to leave good comments and not use this as a sounding board to get mean. Let's give it a try.

Posted 7:32 PM by Bonnie

Saturday; I know this blog is getting terribly crowded with pictures, and links, and all sorts of stuff, but with so much happening I guess the blog sort of resembles my life. Packed full of stuff :-). I don't know yet exactly when I will start my new job, but I know it will be sometime in December. I see the vocational rehab person this Thursday - another packed day - TOPS with the Katrina drawing in the morning, lunch with the women, then my rehab appointment. She will be happy to learn I have a job that I can do inspite of the down time with the arthritis - especially since there is little down time now thanks to the new meds. I'm even typing faster again!! I feel so much more alive. Anyway...last time I was there she was telling me I was too intelligent for the type of work they train people for there and I would be bored, but if nothing else it would be a paycheck. But, now I have a job that will use my skills and I will be doing a service at the same time. So I am happy.

Now, if Keith's ankle would get better I would be really happy! We got the new inserts Friday, so of course, there hasn't been time to determine if they will help. But, it does help there is football on all weekend so he has no trouble keeping off it as he is supposed to. As he says it's hard to teach math sitting down, so he stands when he should be sitting and off the ankle.

And to top everything off we've reconnected with a very dear friend from PA! He is now in Iraq and we reconnected over the internet - no matter what else is said about the internet I have found more lost friends through it. This is a person who was and is very dear to both of us so we are thrilled to have reconnected and we IM for a bit on Saturdays. Of course, it's about 6 hours later there so I am going to have to start getting on earlier so he won't be up at midnight when he should be sleeping.

That's about it for today...nothing exciting - nothing earth shattering - just happy thoughts.

Posted 9:48 PM by Bonnie

Who let the cat out of the bag?

Posted 2:25 PM by Bonnie

TOPS Day: Today was my second meeting back with the old group. It was auction week so had a lot of fun! I ended up winning a single cup coffee maker that I brought over to my husband for his office at the college. He already made a cup and loves it! I knew he would. Next week is the drawing for the Katrina victims basket. Someone wins the basket and all the money (almost $500 - and hopefully $500 or more by next thursday) goes to the Shaw AFB. They have a group of Katrina victims there and this money will go towards holiday food and such for them. Someone from the AFB will be there to do the drawing and two newspapers will be there to take pictures and get the story for their papers. Someone is the group is going to take a picture and write an article for The Item so there will be quite a bit of coverage on it. Hey, in a small town this is a big event. We're all excited about it.

Went to lunch with a group of the women after and learned of another job offer for me, so I guess when they say when it rains it pours they mean it. I'll be hearing from the person doing the hiring soon and could start that one in December. So, now I don't have to worry about turning down the November one due to Keith's foot and ankle injury and my needing to drive him around, because another job is waiting. It's funny how long I looked and now 3 possibilities pop up in the same time period.

I could still get the other one, but it's better to have too many offers than none :-).

I'll keep you posted.

Posted 8:30 PM by Bonnie

Just a note! For those of you who are wondering why the heck I am posting those old pictures of me, plus the current one, although I have lost about 20 pounds since that one was taken and need a new one....anyway...if you are wondering why the pictures it's because my 40th!! yes, my 40th HS reunion is this summer and there is a great web page for the SVHS class of '66 (see link on this page) and people are coming from there to visit. The pictures are for the fun and benefit of the old highschool friends visiting the page. If any one wants to visit my HS graduation class homepage just click on the SVHS link at the side. It's a pretty cool site and worth the visit.

Posted 2:07 PM by Bonnie

Cotton Candy Morning: Looked out the window this morning and watched the fog roll in until our little part of the world was wrapped in cotton candy clouds. It felt as if we were cut off from the rest of the world and nothing could reach us or touch us here. We had it all to ourselves. As we drove it was like we were in a different world all together. Surreal and soft and all encompassing. Later the sun came out and burned the fog off and the rest of the world reappeard, but for that moment we were wrapped in cotton candy and all was well with our little world.

Posted 8:30 AM by Bonnie

Just for grins:

"Hollaback Girl" Gwen Stefani


What's Your Theme Song?
brought to you by Quizilla

Uh huh, this my shit
All the girls stomp your feet like this

A few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that
Cause I ain't no hollaback girl
I ain't no hollaback girl
[2x]

Oooh, this my Shit , this my Shit [4x]

I heard that you were talking shit
And you didn't think that I would hear it
People hear you talking like that, getting everybody fired up
So I'm ready to attack, gonna lead the pack
Gonna get a touchdown, gonna take you out
That's right, put your pom-poms down, getting everybody fired up

A few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that
Cause I ain't no hollaback girl
I ain't no hollaback girl
[2x]

Oooh, this my Shit , this my Shit [4x]

So that's right dude, meet me at the bleachers
No principals, no student-teachers
Both of us want to be the winner, but there can only be one
So I'm gonna fight, gonna give it my all
Gonna make you fall, gonna sock it to you
That's right, I'm the last one standing, another one bites the dust

A few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that
Cause I ain't no hollaback girl
I ain't no hollaback girl
[2x]

Oooh, this my Shit , this my Shit 4x]

Let me hear you say, this shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
this shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
Again, this shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S
This shit is bananas
B-A-N-A-N-A-S

A few times I've been around that track
So it's not just gonna happen like that
Cause I ain't no hollaback girl
I ain't no hollaback girl
[2x]

Oooh, this my Shit , this my Shit [4x]

Posted 6:46 PM by Bonnie

Wal-Mart's plan a sham (for more on the moral bankruptcy of Wal-mart click on one of the links on the side of my page)

By Paul Blank - Editorial in USA Today
November 6, 2005
Wal-Mart's announcements about its health care plan are nothing more than a desperate publicity stunt to salvage a faltering public image. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart's new plan is unlikely to insure one additional worker. Here's why: Wal-Mart refuses to address the fundamental reason half of its workers don't have company health care — extremely high deductibles and strict eligibility requirements.
The cheapest deductible on Wal-Mart's new plan is $1,000 for individual coverage and $3,000 for family coverage. For Wal-Mart workers, many of whom make $12,000 to $15,000 a year, the cost could be as much as 25% of their take-home pay for individual coverage and up to 40% for family coverage.

Second, Wal-Mart has strict eligibility requirements. Unlike managers, who qualify immediately, full-time workers are eligible for health care coverage only after six months, twice the national average. Part-time employees are eligible after two years and are never eligible for family coverage.

In addition, Wal-Mart's health savings accounts shift health care costs from the employer onto the individual and are available only to workers who already have health care. Therefore, by definition, the HSAs don't help any uninsured Wal-Mart workers.

The fact is, despite the company's nearly $10 billion profit last year, more than 600,000 Wal-Mart workers live without company health care. Even though Wal-Mart is the USA's largest corporation, it provides health care to 30% fewer workers than the average company in the S&P 500. And, most disturbing, one of every two children of Wal-Mart workers is either uninsured or relies on public health care.

No wonder Wal-Mart Executive Vice President Susan Chambers admits in a leaked memo, "Our coverage is expensive for low-income families, and Wal-Mart has a significant percentage of associates and their children on public assistance."

Behind Wal-Mart's smiley face, senior executives are hatching out new schemes to cut costs at workers' expense. Wal-Mart's internal memo exposes their plan to cut health care costs by dissuading unhealthy or obese people from applying, pushing out more senior workers, shifting to more part-time employees and cutting spousal benefits.

Americans will see Wal-Mart's announcement for what it is — a company desperate to hide its growing moral bankruptcy.

Posted 5:47 PM by Bonnie

Plumbing update: Well, the plumber did show up early this morning and fix the problem. All he had to do was unscrew the little part at the end of the faucet and remove some tiny pieces of plastic. Now! Had I been told it was that simple I could have done it myself! Sheesh!! At least we have running water in the bathroom again! Halleliah! Keith can shave!

Posted 7:55 PM by Bonnie

You gotta love it! When we moved in here there were some issues that needed repaired. One was the hot water was leaking in the bathtub and the sink in that same bathroom was dripping. We called the landlady and she sent a plumber over who fixed the bathtub issue, but she told them not to fix the sink because they would have to replace the faucet unit and she didn't want to pay too much. Well, okay, we could live with the little drip. But last week the little drip turned into a thin steady stream so once again we contacted the landlady. This time she told them to come over and fix it. The plumber showed up Friday and changed out the faucet and I turned it on and it worked. Okay...so by Saturday the water coming out is barely a thin stream and you couldn't get any pressure. I called the plumber and explained the guy had stopped the leaking but now it wasn't working at all. The woman there seemed a bit perturbed I would call back and said, I understand he swapped the faucet unit out. And I said, yes, he did do that, but now it won't work at all. So, she sighed and said, well, he must have left some trash in there when he replaced it and said she'd get him back out the first of the week. Okay, but what is the first of the week? As soon as she can. Okay...so now we have a faucet that no longer leaks and no longer works at all. Good quality workmanship!

Posted 3:53 PM by Bonnie

Too cute!! As you all know we are working on helping one of my older sister's grandchildren with a class project. They are collecting postcards from every state...or at least trying to. My younger sister, Victoria, has a friend, Jim, who is a truck driver. Jim has sent Ashley postcards from 12 or more states and even Mexico. She call him HER truckdriver and is so excited when HER truckdriver sends her another card. She LOVES HER truckdriver. Well, when she got the card from Mexico she sighed and said... "I guess I'll have to marry him!"

Posted 9:38 PM by Bonnie

Something cool: I haven't posted anything about this because I wanted to make sure it was going to work, but I have been working online and not just with my ebay business. This one is a little off the wall, but fun and is actually making some money for me. I am totally surprised by it. If anyone wants to know what I do email me and I will tell you. How's that for a teaser?

Posted 4:36 PM by Bonnie

Congrats to me! Every once in awhile I have to pat myself on the back for a job well done and so here it is... I use a lot of coupons and combine them with store savings and my last trip was a good one. I save over $30 on the in store savings and used $54 in coupons so saved $84.35 in the end with the combined savings. Some of the best buys were Mrs. Pauls fish was on sale 2/$4 ($2 each) and I had coupons for $1 off each package. I got 8 packs at $1 each! I had some Jimmy Dean skillet coupons for $1 off each pkg. and the store already had them special priced at $1 off so that was $2 savings on each pkg. Those are just a couple examples on how I work to save money as long as I'm not working to bring in money. Now if I could just find coupons for fresh fruit, veggies, chicken, fish... ah!! life would be good. I actually got some off ebay for $1 off each pork purchase so will use those soon. But I just had to brag a bit about those savings because that was straight savings! I ended up paying around $76.00 for the rest of the groceries, so saved over 50%! They don't double coupons here. I do miss my coupon days in VT where they triple up to $1.00 coupons!!

Posted 6:23 PM by Bonnie

Postcards from around the U.S.A. update: Spoke with my sister this evening, the grandmother of the little girl who's class is doing the postcard project. So far she has received cards from 44 states and also Asia and Mexico. She doesn't know it but a friend of mine in Ireland is sending one, too. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped with this. She still needs South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Indiana, and Nebraska. Hopefully, we can get these for her.

Posted 1:56 PM by Bonnie

Thursday Photo Challenge
NOW POSTING for 3NOV05
CURRENT Theme is "CREATIVE"
(Artists, Dancing, Singing, Theatre, Bands, Orchestras, Kids Drawing, Sculpture, Architecture, Graffiti,...)

To see my entry go here!

Posted 12:45 PM by Bonnie

Back to TOPS 236! Today was my first day back to TOPS #SC236 after taking a month off after leaving the last chapter. That just didn't work out the way it was supposed to...sometimes we just have to learn our lessons and move on... which is what I chose to do. It was great getting back with old friends, even though most of us had stayed in touch through emails and cards and phone calls, after I had left last May. Lots of hugs for sure!! They announced they had raised almost $400 for the Katrina victims with the raffle basket and it will continue to be raffled through November 17. So, on my older sister's birthday someone will win that beautiful basket full of goodies! After the meeting a bunch of us went to Seasons and had a great lunch and talked. Now I'm back home waiting for 1 PM so I can call the plumber and schedule a time for them to come fix the drip in the bathroom sink. One nice thing about renting is those bills go to the landlord. Whew!! So, it was great to get back home to the old group and back with friends again.

Posted 4:01 PM by Bonnie

Oh what a beautiful morning!! - oh what a beautiful day!!! Started off with rain, but by late morning the rain had cleared, the sun was out, the air was cool but not chilly and it couldn't have been more perfect. Journal meeting and walk and boy did we walk!!! We added four blocks today because I wanted to go past a certain area to get some information and the best part is my arthritis medication is working so well, even with the extra blocks the walk took an hour and 6 minutes. Last week it was an hour and 15 minutes with fewer blocks. So we are not only walking further but faster! My energy level has been high since the walk. Too bad there isn't more time for fun things like that. We talked and talked and talked so much we didn't even realize how fast we were going until we got back to the starting point and checked the time. It's fun having someone you can have so much fun with just walking and talking. Anyway...back home...but wanted to share the great day with everyone.

Posted 9:04 PM by Bonnie

IT - yep, we've all seen the new ebay ads... whatever IT is you can find it on Ebay. So, I'm out in the kitchen tonight and I hear a blast from my past...



Oh, I could hide ’neath the wings
Of the bluebird as she sings.
The six o’clock alarm would never ring.
But it rings and I rise,
Wipe the sleep out of my eyes.
My shavin’ razor’s cold and it stings.

Cheer up, sleepy Jean.
Oh, what can it mean.
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen.

You once thought of me
As a white knight on a steed.
Now you know how happy we can be.
And our good times start and end
Without dollar one to spend.
But how much, baby, do we really need.

Cheer up, sleepy Jean.
Oh, what can it mean.
To a daydream believer
And a homecoming queen.

Is it an ad for The Monkees - are they reviving the old show? I go in the living room to find out why this old song is playing and lo and behold...yep! IT is an ebay commercial!!!! Oh what can IT mean... whatever IT is you can find IT on ebay! Sigh!!

Posted 7:46 PM by Bonnie

Happy Halloween from PooBears Penny :-):

Posted 3:50 PM by Bonnie

Saturday at the mall! I know it's Sunday, but was too tired yesterday to write much here and wanted to tell about all the doings at the mall. At least the ones I was involved in. As you know a few of us went back to the old TOPS group, and Linda, one of the women who went with me decorated a basket full of donations from local businesses and they auctioned it off yesterday. I don't know who the winner is yet, but they did raise over $200 to donate to Shaw AFB for the holiday baskets for the Katrina families living there. Linda also called me with a challenge. She had conquered one of her fears and donated blood for the first time in her life and since I am a seasoned donor and they needed people do give I took the challenge and went over and donated too. I told them I only did it for the pretzels and orange juice. My brother and his wife were there so we had fun chatting and catching up. You wouldn't believe we only live a couple blocks from each other, but when your lives get so busy somehow time slips by. They also had a celebrity dunking but I didn't participate in that one. Also passed by the baked goods... mmm mmm...but I am doing so good these past few weeks I didn't want to blow it. Been walking three times a week, riding my bike in between, and really doing good on the food intake. Have lost 6 pounds the past couple weeks!! Yea!!! Well, just wanted to post my Saturday since it was such a good one. Happy Halloween!!!

Posted 8:40 PM by Bonnie

Halloween Weekend For halloween I'm going to post some great pics I've taken...todays picture is of our cat Ginger. I was taking a really sweet picture of her sitting on the bookcase, when one of the kittens walked by and.. well, you can see by her reaction how she feels about the kittens!

Posted 8:36 PM by Bonnie

How cool is this? The college, where my husband teaches, is planning a Saturday workshop of games. They want to get the students using strategy and realizing that games are also a teaching tool. They've asked me to do a workshop on Scrabble! Gee, I wonder why they would ask me...okay anyone who knows me realizes I love the game and am pretty good at it. My husband will be doing a workshop on Monopoly the same day. What fun!!!

Posted 7:32 AM by Bonnie

In case you're wondering where I've been... About 4 months ago Keith's knee started bothering him and so to exercise it he was walking up and down the stairs at the school. On one of the down trips - about 6 weeks ago - he did something to his ankle and it has been causing him grief ever since. We have been to one doctor who put one of those velcro style casts on it (ones you can take on and off) and gave him pain pills and told him to rest it a few days. So he did that, and since that week was midterms I spent the days driving between school and home with tests, picking up tests, taking back graded tests, picking up grade sheets...etc etc etc....

Then he felt it was better but still couldn't drive so I began driving him to school (which is why I have so much computer time now - it's what I do waiting for him). Yesterday we went to the orthopedic doctor and he told him the side of his foot is bending in and that is causing pressure on a ligament so...here I am today while he teaches his first class and from here we go to get some things put in his shoes that we hope will help. If they don't work the next step is they will build a special brace for him and if that doesn't help he will have to have surgery on the foot. We are hoping it doesn't go that far....

So, I apologize for not returning phone calls, not being available for walks during the week, etc etc etc.... When I am home there are still litter boxes to empty, rooms to clean, laundry to get done.... so I am just a little stretched out right now. Hopefully, my friends and relatives visit my blog and will get this information because I am just too tired to call most evenings.

And on one last note.... GO WHITE SOX!!!!

Posted 3:26 PM by Bonnie

Party Cats! I'm not saying our cats misbehave while we're gone or take advantage and party...but... well you judge for yourself from the hidden cam video I got...

Posted 1:18 PM by Bonnie

Wednesday Mind Hump

Hello humpers! It's your memeduck filling in once again for Friday. Today's theme is Mule Day. Mule Day! I don't really understand that one, so I'm going to ask some Halloween-themed questions. Let the humping begin!

1. Got any plans for this year's Halloween? Dressing up? Going to a spooky party? Taking the kids out trick or treating? Tell us your plans!

Well, since I love halloween I couldn't let this meme pass!

I'll be handing out treats at my house. I will dress all in black including black cape and wear a scream mask. Sitting on a black chair facing the house I will watch for trick-or-treaters and as they approach the house I will sneak up behind them, with my bowl of candy of course, and in a spooky voice ask... are you looking for something?


2. What's the funniest or craziest costume you've ever worn for Halloween? If you can't remember what you wore, you can tell us about a costume you saw someone else wear.

I think the craziest costume was when I went to a party as the bride of dracula. My aunt had sewn me a beautiful white cape and I painted my face and wore fake vampire teeth. That was the most fun I'd had as an adult dressing up.


3. What's your favorite scary movie? There are two that really get to me.
Halloween 3

And... The Haunting of Hill House


4. What's your favorite kind of candy? Candy corn and chocolate covered peanuts.



The rules are, there are no rules!!! All you need to do is copy and paste the above questions into your blog and add your responses. After you've finished, return here and leave us a comment so we'll know you've humped. Be sure your hump is linked back to http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com so others can hump too.

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. If one of the questions doesn't inspire you then simply "pass" it. Just use your imagination!

If you don't have a blog or you're an exhibitionist *woo hoo* feel free to hump right here in our comments section. There's absolutely no pressure ... although it's called the Wednesday Mind Hump you can hump on any day.

Posted 12:57 PM by Bonnie

Tuesdays at the coffee shop! It's funny but my husband looks forward to my tuesdays with my journal group as much as I do. Why you ask? Because he has a long break between classes and after the journal meeting and our walk around town we end up back at the coffee shop. Since he is still between classes I pick up a cup of decaf Irish cream coffee for him to enjoy and make the rest of the day more pleasant. He calls it his Irish Cream coffee day. There's something about drinking coffee from a styro-foam to-go cup that makes it taste special.

Today we had a great meeting and were joined by another coffee drinker and discussed an upcoming day outing to Congaree Park. It's a wilderness trail I have been to and loved so we are planning to go for a long nature hike in November.

We walked our extra two blocks today - we add two more each week - and it was such a beautiful day we didn't even feel it. With the cool air you just get more and more invigorated as you go. ah!! my favorite time of the year.

Posted 8:30 AM by Bonnie

Monday Music Mambo - Week 70

Greetings everyone! It's your music-mad memeduck checking in again. This week's mambo is too hot to touch! The theme for the day is Match Day. So put on that firefighter suit and come mambo with me!!

1. What fire-related music moment do you think tops them all? Jimi Hendrix lighting his guitar on fire, Keith Moon's drum set exploding, Michael Jackson's jheri curl catching fire during a Pepsi commercial, or Left Eye of TLC setting her boyfriend's house on fire? If you can think of one I didn't list that's even better, let's hear about it!

More on the disastrous side of fire-related music moments was the one that started off the new year for Buenos Aires on Jan 1 2005. AP , BUENOS AIRES
Saturday, Jan 01, 2005,Page 1

Fire roared through a Buenos Aires nightclub packed with youngsters attending a rock concert, killing at least 174 people and injuring some 410 in one of Argentina's worst disasters in decades.



2. Is there a CD/LP/mp3 in your collection that you'd like to watch burn down to nothing? It could be a current album that you're embarassed to own, or an album you bought in the past that you regret buying.

Neal Young - Old Ways (need I say more?)

3. What musical performance, either live or recorded, do you think was so smokin' hot that the fire brigade should have been called?

Paul Simon Rhythm of the Saints

4. Ok this isn't a match question, but sort of related. Have you ever held up a lighter during a concert? If not, would you ever and what band would you do it for?

Yes, Joan Baez was playing at of all places, the Ganon Auditorium in Erie, PA and she was my hero! And even in my late 50's if I had the chance to see her again in concert I would do it again!! Love ya Joan!!!!

The rules are, there are no rules!!! All you need to do is copy and paste the above questions into your blog and add your responses. After you've finished, return here and leave us a comment so we'll know you've Mamboed. Be sure your Mambo is linked back to http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com so others can dance too.

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. If one of the questions doesn't inspire you then simply "pass" it. Just use your imagination and dance like crazy!

Posted 4:16 PM by Bonnie

There's a sign post up ahead.... Well, at least I think there's a sign post that follows us from place to place. I was sitting here at my computer, doing some work on my online business, when I heard a cat crying outside my window. All our cats are indoor cats now, so I knew it wasn't one of them. I went out to investigate and there was a beautiful white cat with gray splotches on it sitting there crying at the house. So, I took it out some food, and it came over and started chowing down. Of course, it sees our cats in the window and figured with all those fat cats there must be good eats in there. No, we will not adopt this one!!! Nein to nine!!!

Posted 12:18 PM by Bonnie

Ashley update! As of yesterday Ashley had recieved 24!! yes, 24 post cards from different states. The teacher thinks no one will get any from Hawaii or Alaska... ah, ye of little faith! I know for sure she is getting one from Hawaii and Bernie knows someone is Alaska she is asking so I have a feeling we're going to cover those states too. But remember, duplicates are great because then she can help other students who don't get many. So, keep those cards coming...remember to write a line or two about the state. You can send them to:

Waterford Elementary School
Ashley L. - 2nd Grade
P.O. Box 811
Waterford, PA 16441

Thanks to everyone who has already sent her a card and thanks to those who are going to!!!

Posted 6:26 PM by Bonnie

Irish Cream coffee: In a couple minutes I'll be sitting down with a cup of Irish Cream coffee and watching jeopardy. No, not the liquor Irish Cream but the dairy Irish Cream flavoring. And decaf coffee. A pleasant wind down time at the end of the day. Things are going well with my little journal group. We meet on tuesday at the Brick Street Coffee Shop, which is where I got hooked on the Irish Cream coffee. It's a different kind of journaling. We keep food diaries, and not only write what we ate and drank, but how our day was going and what we were feeling. We write about things that make us happy, upset us, etc. It's a full spectrum picture of why we eat what we do when we do. After we read each others journals we write comments in the journal and then discuss what we did right, what we did wrong, and how we can change the latter. Then we walk...each time we add two more blocks to the walk so we are getting more and more exercise. It's fun and we're seeing a lot of the downtown area. On Sunday evenings we meet at Swan Lake and walk around the lake. We talk, we laugh, we just enjoy the friendship and the beautiful weather we're having now. I'm certainly not complaining! It's nice and cool at night and early morning, then warms up to the 80's towards late afternoon. I'm not complaining because with the skyrocketing fuel bills so far we haven't had to turn on the heat (propane) and it's the middle of October. Well, time to go catch jeopardy. Hope everyone else is having a good time too.

Posted 8:18 AM by Bonnie

Playing Hooky: Keith has a 10 a.m. class and then a 2 P.M. class today, so in between he has to go back to the FastER to have his ankle rechecked, which of course, means I am driving. So I drove him to school and am waiting for his class to end to drive him to the next place and then back to school. So, there is no housework to do, no cats in my way, no phone calls to make...so here I sit in school and feeling like I'm playing hooky! Ahhhhh.....

Posted 4:59 PM by Bonnie

Postcards from around the USA! My sister, in PA, called me a couple weeks ago with a project. Her 7 year old granddaughter, who is in 2nd grade, had a project to get postcards from as many states as possible, with a bit of information about the state written on the card. So, I sent out emails to all my friends who sent out emails to their friends and family. By the end of last week I had promises for at least 23 cards, from different states, and so far 13 have arrived!! Thank you Victoria! Bernie! Priscilla! Glenda! and all my scrabble playing buddies for sending cards and for getting their friends and family to send cards. I am going to post the mailing address here for anyone who visits to send a card. It doesn't matter if she gets duplicates because they can trade with each other or just give someone a duplicate of theirs...so here it is...and thanks again!!! You guys are the greatest!!!

Send a postcard of your state with a blurb about the state to:

Waterford Elementary School
Ashley L. - 2nd Grade
P.O. Box 811
Waterford, PA 16441

Posted 1:07 PM by Bonnie

Oct 16, 2005
Random 10 Week 26

10 songs that sum up your weekend...or were on your weekend playlist...and one picture that relates back. (oh, and if you feel like it, tell us why you picked the songs you did).

1. Cat Scratch Fever - Ted Nugent
2. Cat in the Window - Petula Clark
3. They're Coming to Take Me Away - Napoleon XIV
4. Going Going Gone - Bob Dylan
5. Crazy - Patsy Cline
6. Both Sides Now - Judy Collins
7. (The) Circle Game - Joni Mitchell
8. Unemployment Line - Arlo Guthrie
9. Dizzy Miss Lizzy - The Beatles
10.Tapestry - Carole King

Well, in case you haven't guessed I had a crazy weekend. One cat at the vets with bronchitis, the two kittens flying off the wall and driving me insane. My husband sprained his ankle so is on crutches and ... in the meantime I'm still unemployed although it looks good for a job by the end of November. I just felt like I was coming unglued for parts of it, but I bounce back nicely and things are getting better. :-)

Posted 12:46 PM by Bonnie

Having some fun with music memes - here's another!

Take Me Back Tuesday - Week 41

All right...let's see if I can think of something a little more player friendly for this week.

Name three songs with music or music related words in the title.

1. Let the Music Play
2. Make Your Own Kind of Music
3. The Music is You

Name three artists with music related words in their name.

1. Lena HORNe
2. David SINGER
3. Simon BELL

Name three albums with music or music related words in the title.

1. Can't Stop The Music - Village People
2. The Jazz Singer - Neil Diamond
3. Serenade - Neil Diamond

Happy meme'ing

Posted 12:13 PM by Bonnie

Waiting to drive my husband home so decided to log onto his computer and have some fun while waiting...so onto Insanity and the Monday Music Mambo!

Greetings crazy mamboers! Your music-loving memeduck is back again with more music questions to make you think and make you dance. Monday the 17th is Brain Cell Reduction Day! For some, that's every day, but that's another topic for another time. Let's start the mambo!

1. What kind of music, songs or artists do you listen to when you want to relax and use as few brain cells as possible?

Classical preferably Mozart. I have learned not to put on Wagner when I want to relax :-).

2. Can you think of a lyric or two that makes the songwriter seem like he or she had a sudden drop in brain cells when he or she was writing the song?

Little Annie Fannie, Morgan and Christian, Katy and Nathan, Tommy and Zem Zem....
(Joan Baez - Children and All That Jazz)

3. Sometimes a person completely misunderstands a lyric or can't think of the name of a song. We've all done it, there's no denying that. What are some of your greatest misheard lyric moments (or moments when you completely forgot the name of a song)? If you need some help, check out this site.

Ever since my sister was singing CCR's Bad Moon and sang There's a Bathroom on the right instead of There's a bad moon on the rise I can't sing it with the correct lyrics.

And now, because this is week 69 of the Mambo, a bonus question:

4. Who do you think has the sexiest singing voice? Could be male, female or both.

Hands down Luther Vandross. No competition.

Yeah yeah, I have a dirty mind. I'm sure I'm not the only one!

The rules are, there are no rules!!! All you need to do is copy and paste the above questions into your blog and add your responses. After you've finished, return here and leave us a comment so we'll know you've Mamboed. Be sure your Mambo is linked back to http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com so others can dance too.

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. If one of the questions doesn't inspire you then simply "pass" it. Just use your imagination and dance like crazy!

If you don't have a blog or you're an exhibitionist *woo hoo* feel free to Mambo right here in our comments section. There's absolutely no pressure ... although it's called the Monday Music Mambo you can Mambo on any day.

Posted 6:43 PM by Bonnie

ARD - Area Recognition Day for TOPS! And for those who don't know TOPS stands for Take Off Pounds Sensibly. I didn't go to this years ARD rally, but one of my friends and fellow members did and lo and behold! I won an award for perfect attendance. Okay, it isn't a big deal but it's fun to have another charm and ribbon to add to my sash. She said after lunch they even had line dancing and since I had gotten her to take lessons with me she was able to get up there and dance with the group. So she had a ball and I even got something out of it! So now she's happy I talked her into taking the lessons and wants to go even more now.

Posted 7:30 PM by Bonnie

STOCKS:

Normally I avoid discussing my advice regarding buying or selling stocks, but I feel this is important enough to share and warn you since this explosive situation might prove to be yet another ENRON.

Please review any holdings you might have in the following stocks:

*American Can
*Interstate Water
*National Gas Company
*Northern Tissue Company

I advise you to sit tight on your American Can, hold your water and let go of your gas. You may be interested to know that Northern Tissue touched a new bottom today and millions were wiped clean!

It's a tough market out there. Be careful!

Posted 3:43 PM by Bonnie

Well, good news to report in the employment dept! By the end of November I will be among the employed! I won't put details here because someone who unfortunately would like to see bad things happen to me reads this and would cause problems for me. If anyone wants details on the job email me and I will be happy to share. How's that for a teaser? But good things are happening now that I have moved away from the negative force in my life. It was amazing that the very next day after I severed ties completely with this negative force that all sorts of good things came my way.

In the meantime I'm helping another friend with her housekeeping business. So that's some good money coming in on top of my house/pet sitting. Once I get a REAL job I will have to let these temporary things go, but for now....

Life is good!!!!!!

Posted 4:06 PM by Bonnie

I wish I could get a picture of this, it is so cute, but you know cats. As soon as I get the camera out they stop doing the cute stuff and sit there looking like ordinary cats, or they take off in a streak and all I get is a blur. Anyway...

You all know the story of our two kittens, Delia the devil cat, and Marmadukealade the not quite male/not quite female cat. Since their traumatic surgery and recovery they have become demon cats again. But, Delia has developed a love of stuffed animals. We have a few around that she can get to and she will carry them around like they were kittens. The funny part is she carries stuffed animals that are twice as big as her!! She will drag them into boxes to hide them on Marmadukealade who follows her around trying to get them away from her.

But the cutest thing is she has developed a love for a Sylvester pillow. It is just the face and is black and white (like Bug who adopted her when she first moved in - I'll rehash on that in a bit) and she will carry it around and then jump up on the bed and leave it with Keith if he is still in bed. This pillow is bigger than her! I tried and tried to get a picture of it but it just isn't going to happen.

Anyway..about Bug and Delia...Bug is the black and white tuxedo cat that moved in on us a few years ago out of nowhere and just refused to leave. He knew when he had it good. When Delia joined us she was 6 weeks old and he took her under his wing..or paw in this case and snuggled her and she even nursed off him. They still snuggle once in awhile and groom each other, but she is growing up and doesn't need the comfort as much as she used to.

So, I will keep trying to get that picture and maybe someday I will and I'll post it.

Posted 3:25 PM by Bonnie

I finally got it done. I wanted to do something for this months B4B because it was such a fun topic. So below is my entry.

It’s funny how a song playing at just the right moment can not only take on a life of its own, but bring new meaning to what you are doing at the time. Life takes some strange twists and turns and at fifty I found myself divorced and reunited with an old love. Old in the true sense of the word as we were both fifty. Also, our relationship had started over 35 years ago. We met at 15 and from that time on became the best of friends and lovers. Over the years we would each go in and out of different relationships, but whenever we were both free and needed someone we would drift back together. We had both been married numerous times – me twice and him three times. But something was always lacking.

So, here we were once again drifting into each others lives and wondering where it would lead this time. We started a business together and also moved in together, but still I felt uneasy about the relationship. And one day as we were making love, with the radio playing in the background, Meatloaf’s Two Out of Three came on.

As it played,”I want you, I need you, but there aint no way I’m ever gonna love you” I realized just what it was about us that didn’t feel right. Even though we said the words to each other it really wasn’t true. Oh, yes, I would always love him as a friend, but the words went deeper than friend love. There was no way I was ever going to love him in the "I want to be with you and no one else forever and ever" sense of the word.

We have since drifted apart again and each remarried, but we do keep in touch and now another song has taken on a better meaning for us. It was a song that Joan Baez sang that ran through my mind as I packed the last time I was leaving. “We may not always be the best of lovers, But if you leave it to me I think I can see, We’ll always be the best of friends.”

Posted 12:57 PM by Bonnie

Taken from Cheddar X

This is making the meme rounds right now and I thought I'd grab it before it became completely passe to do. And I added one more to make it a 7x7 and no more forwarding it to 7 people like a new age chain letter.

7 things you plan to do before you die:

1. Get back to north to see my family again.
2. See my friend Rick at least one more time.
3. Visit Alaska
4. Open a small used book store
5. Provide open mic for 'real' poets (see number 3)
6. Hike along the appalchian trail
7. Get back to VT and see all my friends there.

7 things you can do:

1. Play guitar
2. Play the violin (sort of :-))
3. Play scrabble ;-D
4. Write poetry
5. Give shots to cats
6. Love
7. Enjoy a sunrise or sunset

7 things you cannot do:

1. Play banjo
2. Marshal arts
3. Program a computer
4. Drive a tractor
5. Fly a plane
6. Parachute from a plane
7. Stop the rain :-)

7 things you never thought you'd do:

1. Be married 3 times!
2. Live past 30 :-)
3. Produce a CD!
4. Have my own music production company
5. Live in so many states - including the state of confusion ;-D
6. Travel to Europe
7. Live in the south!


7 things that attract you to other people:

1. Honesty - don't lie to me or about me if you want to stay my friend
2. Integrity
3. Morals
4. Respect
5. Loyalty
6. Ability to love
7. Giving nature

7 things that you say most often:

1. Lord love a duck!
2. Shit fuck piss
3. No shit?
4. Get out of the way you stupid cat!!
5. Put on Art Bell
6. I'm going on line for a bit
7. What's it like outside today?

7 celebrity crushes:

Lord love a duck!! Do I really have to to this one? I'm 57 years old! Who can remember their childhood crushes... but let me try...

1. Peter Tork of the Monkees
2. William Holden - Sugarfoot
3. Peter Noone - Hermans Hermits
4. Bobby Breen
5. Joan Baez
6. oh dear... I know there were more but I can't think of the names right now.

Shamelessly lifted from Flower in the Breeze who had it tagged to her.
Happy Cheddaring!

Posted 1:59 PM by Bonnie

Oh what a beautiful morning... When I stepped outside today and was greeted by a cool breeze that old song came to mind. Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day, I've got a wonderful feeling, Everything's going my way. And then I realized it was!! My hip didn't hurt as much today, the weather was perfect, and all I had to do was go pick up some filters for the air vent and I got to spend the rest of the day cleaning and doing what needed to be done around the house. No obligations to anyone except myself today and I was loving it! And now a refreshing rain is washing everything clean. So... oh what a beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day!

Posted 7:19 PM by Bonnie

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blogging4Books-Announce/ For those interested Blogging for Books has a fun topic for this months competition.

Since Off The Record is about a plain, predictable, responsible woman named Jane Marlow who discovers that a one-hit wonder 12 years ago was written about HER, this month's topic should be about your close personal relationship, real or imagined, with a song. If you, like me, are dead inside and have no close personal relationships with songs, I suggest you lie. You could, for example, write about your close, personal relationship with your childhood dog, and substitute "Tainted Love by Soft Cell" for her name. This will inevitably lead to sentences like, "Ah those halcyon days running through the meadows with Soft Cell's Tainted Love gamboling innocently beside me..." and "Tainted Love by Soft Cell brought back the stick no matter how many times I threw it." But that's what you get for being dead inside.

B4B closes at MIDNIGHT your time next Monday.

I'm going back and forth between a couple songs but hope to have an entry for this one. I never win but I have fun getting the creative juices flowing. So, if you aren't a subscriber to B4B but love to write you might want to check them out.

Posted 7:01 PM by Bonnie

HUH?? Last week I went to Voc/Rehab here to see if they could help me get a job, since my arthritis is considered a disability. One of the first things I was asked was why I didn't apply for disability... fast forward to today.... one of the places she sent me when I explained I wanted to work not collect a disability check was to Job Services. They have a program called Experience Works and it's to help people 55 and over find employment and put their experience to work. I had an appt. to see the woman who heads it up and went in this morning. Well, she informs me this is for low income families only...since my husband is employed he would have to make $16,000 or less a year for me to be eligible.... UNLESS I went on disability and then she could help me. She explained if I went on disability then I would be considered a one person family and my disability income would be the only income that counted. HUH??? Right now I have 0 income - zilch - nada!! but if I have an income from disability then I would be considered for the program. I am still trying to figure that one out.

But, I have issues with people telling me to apply for disability. Yes, I have a disability but I am not disabled. See, I have a friend named Rick whom I have known since we were 15. Rick was born with spina-bifida and his back is mishapen, his legs never grew and he has a lot of health issues due to this. Rick had a band in the 60's and 70's called the Electric Zoo. He plays rhythmn and bass guitar, keyboards, sings and writes his own songs. He got around in his wheelchair better than most people who have the use of both legs. He worked in customer service because you could sit all day and just help people over the phone. When I got divorced and we were both in our 50's we started a music promotion company to fulfill a childhood dream of ours. A few years ago Rick could no longer sit comfortably for 8 hours a day and is now on oxygen 24/7 and is now collecting disability. So, I have a hard time thinking I deserve disability when I can walk, I can type, I can sit in a chair 8 hours a day and do the customer service work we both did in Florida and I also did in PA. There is a difference between having a disability and being disabled.

I know people who are more disabled than Rick will ever be and it isn't a physical disability but a disability of character, morals, judgement, etc. They are crippled in their minds and therefor mentally disabled. But, for people to tell me to get on disability irks me. If I have to I guess I will have to, but I am going to explore all other avenues first and somewhere there is a job out there with my name on it. Somewhere there is someone out there who will look at me as a viable person with a lot to contribute yet to the workforce and say, yes, we want you. Somewhere out there someone will look at me as a person and not a disability. They will not see my mishapen fingers, not care that I limp with pain some days and that other days the pain is so bad I have to drag my left leg along...They will only care that my mind is sharp and I am a hard worker who gives 100% to the job. Until that day... the hunt continues.

Posted 12:56 PM by Bonnie

Pity the poor misguided souls: Ah, alack and alas, someone has taken it upon themselves to post, out of spite, a bunch of back stabbing lies on their blog about me and another friend, simply because we chose to leave the TOPS group due to an extreme change in this persons attitude that has made it uncomfortable to sit through the meetings. In the past few weeks this person has changed from a nice caring person to someone I don't recognize. Mean, vindictive, and just plain cruel. Publicly humiliating her mother and trying to play mind games with others and trying to take control over the group. It just wasn't working for us so we chose to move on. Now this person has posted a bunch of hateful lies and it just isn't going to work. I pity her and hope she finds what she is looking for, but anyone who needs to stoop that low to build their own self-esteem needs some help. Of course, her friends who have never met us, will never hear our side are saying poor her...ah, if they only knew. But I know, and the others in the group know, and that is all that is important.

Why am I not defending the point, because there really was no point. Just the ramblings of an angry person. Why don't I write my side? Because a wise person once said there are three sides to every story. My side, their side, and the truth lies somewhere in between. I suppose I could do as they did and type my perspective on it, although I wouldn't fill mine with lies trying to cause dissention between her and her friends, but it would be my side and my side only. Of course, my friends would side with me but it wouldn't be fair. It just made me sad to see the rantings and ravings on this persons blog that were so full of half truths and some downright lies that I just wanted to put something here that says be careful what you write..it may come back to bite you in the ass.

If anyone reading this blog has issues with someone else and have to post about it on their blog at least try to post the truth and remember that others will be reading your blog so don't embarrass yourself with rantings that are obviously full of anger and vindictiveness and then say you have no anger. Sigh... well, as the song says...

oobla dee oobla da...life goes on!

Posted 12:14 PM by Bonnie

Monday Music Mambo - Week 67
Hello you crazy Mamboers! This is your NEW mememeister rfduck, taking over for Friday while she gets things settled with her new place and waits for internet service. This is my first time writing the Mambo and I'm very excited!

Allow me to briefly introduce myself. I'm 25, male, live in Oregon, and I LOVE music! You can find my blog at rfduck.blogspot.com and of course I mambo every Monday with the rest of you!

Before I get this mambo started, let's give a round of applause for Friday and all the hard work she's done for us! Even with all the hurricane drama, she's somehow found time to update this site. That's awesome!

To honor our good friend Friday, I'll begin the mambo with some New Orleans-related questions.

1. Who are some of your favorite New Orleans and Louisiana musicians? (Here's a list to get you started: Fats Domino, Louis Armstrong, Harry Connick, Jr.)

Hmmmmmm....interesting question. Personally I never even think about where a musician is from. If I like their music I like their music, but don't get into where they were born, etc. Too technical for me. I just want to enjoy what they do.

2. Gumbo is a favorite New Orleans meal. It's a big pot filled with all sorts of vegetables, seafood, meat, all held together by a thick dark roux. What's in your musical gumbo? (Artists, bands, styles etc.)

Arlo Guthrie, Janis Joplin, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, Meatloaf (the singer not the food), Phranc, Susan Vega, Pete Seeger,CCR, and a little of the Irish Rovers for flavoring.

Now, in honor of today's theme which is Income Tax Day (ugggghhh!), here's the third Mambo question.

3. Your income tax return has finally arrived! You've budgeted enough money for five new CDs. What are you going to get?

Positively Phranc - Phranc
Bat out of Hell - Meatloaf
Freewheelin' - Bob Dylan
Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez
God Bless the Grass - Pete Seeger (this one especially because it has one of my all time favorites of his... The People are Scratching

The rules are, there are no rules!!! All you need to do is copy and paste the above questions into your blog and add your responses. After you've finished, return here and leave us a comment so we'll know you've Mamboed. Be sure your Mambo is linked back to http://bdinsanity.blogdrive.com so others can dance too.

Posted 9:34 PM by Bonnie

Monday Music Mambo - Week 66

Today the Monday Music Mambo is dedicated to International Tool Day which honors folks who make their living using all kinds of tools. One and a two and a three -- let's Mambo.

01. What music tools (PC applications) do you use? Windows Media Player

02. What song(s) or lyrics can you name that mention tools?

If I Had a Hammer - Peter, Paul, and Mary
Screwdriver - The White Stripes


03. Think of a tool. Now, using the letters of that tool list either artists names or song titles.

Wrench:

W - Wayward Wind
R - Red River Valley
E - Endless Love
N - Nowhere Man
C - Can't Stop The Music
H - Help!

Posted 9:22 PM by Bonnie

Just for grins:

Posted 9:10 PM by Bonnie

Job Hunting: Figured it was time I posted an update on my adventures in job hunting. One positive thing has come out of my latest arthritis flare up. I have been directed to the Vocational Rehabilitation Center here in Sumter for help. The arthritis has now become a disability, even though I don't consider myself disabled. So, they are trying to help me find something I can do and have given me a list of places to try. If nothing comes of it they will open a file on me and work to find me a job or if nothing else help me get on disability. That is a last resort for me.

Also, out of the leads I have come upon a woman who heads up a program called Experience Works. She helps people 55 and over find part-time employment. I will be seeing her next Tuesday.

In the meantime, my last visit to the doctor was interesting. He did the usual range of motion tests and has informed me that now I not only have arthritis in my left hip, knee, back, both hands, and right shoulder, but also in my right knee. I had been hoping that that leg would not be affected. He put me on a different medication, since nothing was helping and the pain had gone beyond bearable. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the worst it was hitting around 15 to 20. With the new medication it was back down to between 5 and 10. So he told me to add extra-strength tylenol with it and that seems to be helping for now.

When I couldn't walk or do my line dancing I knew I had to do something more.

So...the job hunt continues but I am feeling more positive about it now. I checked in with the staffing agency I am also using and they had four jobs come in, but all involved heavy lifting. Not for me!!! All in all I am feeling better mentally and emotionally with the pain back under control and more "in control" again.

One place I'm applying is with the school district here. Hey, with my husband teaching here, my sister, Victoria, teaching in CT, I figured I'd get involved in the school in some capacity, too.

Look out world here I come... well, at least look out Sumter, SC here I come!

Stay tuned for the continuing saga of Bonnie J!

Posted 2:57 PM by Bonnie

Will you still love me... Well, went to the doctors last night for my arthritis to see what could be done. After doing the usual range of motion stuff he told me not only do I have it in my hands, left knee and hip and back, but it is now in my right knee. Oh joy! At least it isn't causing me pain there...yet, but it's nice to know it's in the future. Yeah, right. He gave me a different medication and we are going to see if that helps. So far it has made the pain tolerable which is better than AAARRRGGGHHHH!!! which is where I was for the past couple of weeks.

So, went to talk with Voc/Rehab today and they set me up with a bunch of places to see if there is a match for me. One is really cool. It's a t-shirt silk screening and they need someone to take orders and do office work. I can do that. They are supposed to call me and haven't yet.

Another is a place that finds jobs for people 55 and over. I have to call the woman tomorrow to set up an interview. Those were the two most hopeful ones. She gave me some other leads to follow up tomorrow and if none of these pan out for me I have an appt. with her on 10/10 and she will open a case file and we will go from there. She asked me if I was on disability and I told her know, I was trying to avoid that route.

But, the cutest part of the interview was when she said, well, it's too bad you aren't 55 because there's an agency that works only with people of that age and over. I love her!!! I told her I am 57. She was taken aback for a minute, but recovered her professional demeanor quickly and said, oh! well then go to job services and she gave me the address and directions.

So, I am once again on the hunt and at least have something to fall back on if these don't work out for me. I'd keep my fingers crossed but it's too painful!

Posted 9:40 PM by Bonnie

Poor Mr. Fuzz! I would have to say of all our cats Mr. Fuzz is the most sincere. If he accidentally scratches us he looks sad and will come and kiss us to make up for the injury he has caused. He likes certain canned cat foods and eats them with great happiness and will even share with a kitten if needed. He has his concubine Heidi, whom he will sing to and if he can't find her will go around calling until he does find her. He snuggles in at the bottom of my husbands bed at night, and then will curl up behind my back. When it's time for breakfast he wakes me as gently as possible...unlike the kittens who scratch at my face and feet until I finally get up. But... he also has asthma. Last weekend he had an attack and we took him for his shot. They gave him the lesser of the shots because the big shot can make him sick. He was fine until Friday when he had another bad attack. I took him back in and they gave him the "big shot" and kept him all day and overnight to keep an eye on him. I brought him home Saturday but only with the promise to bring him back first thing Monday morning so they could recheck him. I promised and will do so. They have all fallen in love with this gentle giant (a 14 pound sweetie) and worry over him as much as we do. (One of the receptionists used to sing to him) I guess most people would have given up on him and had him put down by now, but he does have good weeks and even good months where he doesn't have attacks. Now he also has a lump on his neck and they are concerned over that too and are measuring it each visit to make sure it isn't growing. If it does grow they will need to remove it and have a biopsy done on it and we are all hoping it is just a fatty deposit or something benign. You gotta love a cat who KNOWS when he has done wrong and tries to rectify the situation.

When I brought him home Saturday he had his priorities...first find his Heidi cat, then go eat, then use the litter box, have a drink and take a nap. Yep, he has his priorities straight. So send good thoughts for this poor baby and hope all goes well with him. He's just one of those sweet cats you really get attached to.

On the other hand we do have this BAAAAAD orange cat - marmadukealade - since we aren't sure of the sex... that is up for grabs most days.

Posted 8:01 PM by Bonnie

HUH??? Keith and I went to get the oil changed in our cars today and while there the young woman brought up the hurricane and we started discussing all the repercussions. We got to the gas prices and she said... and I quote... if people weren't so greedy and would stop buying gas there wouldn't be shortages and they wouldn't have to raise the prices and there would be plenty for the people who really need it. Like her I guess. HUH??? So, if OTHER people would just stop using their cars she wouldn't have to pay so much at the pump. Of course, she also thought none of this was the shrubs fault and blamed it all on us greedy consumers who use their cars for work, grocery shopping, doctor appts., and such. You gotta wonder at how some of these people rationalize these ideas. Well, I just found it amusing so thought I post it here for some grins.

Posted 2:59 PM by Bonnie

It could only happen to me! I have been back and forth to the vets so much the past couple weeks that what happened this morning is perfectly understandable. Since I was taking in the kittens I was using the smaller carriers. A fabric one and a small blue one. This morning I had to take in Mr. Fuzz because he woke me up having an asthma attack at 5 a.m. I gave him his albuteral and it stopped the attack, but it being the weekend and the vet not being open again until Monday morning, we decided I should take him in for a shot. So, I did. And then set the gray carrier down as I paid the bill. I picked up the carrier on the way out and called my husband from the car to let him know we were on the way home. Mr. Fuzz sounded a bit odd so I decided to check on him before we left. I turned the small blue carrier so I could look in and to my amazement found a small dog instead of my cat. It was then I realized my error! I had grabbed the wrong carrier! Okay, stop laughing. The man who saw me come back in and swap carriers was laughing hard enough. As I told him, it's a good thing I checked BEFORE I got home! I can only imagine how my husband would have felt when I released a dog into the house! It was an honest mistake!!!!!