Heads in a Fog

ALL Day today I could have sworn it was Thursday, SWORN people, I would have bet on it.......what's happening to time since we retired, it's just gone in a flash and what do I have to show for it........welllllllll, I've got 2 blogs that I spend way to much time on and I have my upcoming cruise to get ready for, and there are always photographs to take with my new camera and then there is visiting with Rudy (which I could do all the time). Okay, so there is housework to do, laundry to do (cause we don't run around naked in these old sagging bodies), and we have to eat so I cook (and try my best these days not to poison the people I love - which means I should invite any of my 5 brothers to visit and feed their nasty asses). Oh yeah, I could lay on the float in the pool too and listen to music.

My head is in a fog, brain farts are much too common and I'm falling deeply in love with my husband all over again.

Retired Life Is Fabulous!

4 Things Meme

I was tagged by my friend Mandi over at Neurotic By Nature to tell you a few things about myself through a Meme.


Four jobs I've had
U.S. Army Medic
Wife
Mother
Mental Health Clinic Manager


Four movies I can watch over and over
Pretty Woman
Scarface
I don't watch many movies


Four places I've lived
St. Louis, Missouri
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Sierra Vista, Arizona
El Paso, Texas


Four TV shows I love
Swingtown
Grey's Anatomy
Criminal Minds
Brothers & Sisters


Four places I've vacationed
Caribbean
Las Vegas
Lake Tahoe
Cruising


Four of my favorite dishes
Fajitas
Pasta with any sauce but tomato based
Grilled Sandwiches
Pork Tenderloin


Four sites I visit daily
Passport2Cruising
Neurotic By Nature
Maggie's Mind
CruiseCritic


Four places I would rather be right now
On a cruise
Las Vegas
At an Apple Store
Taking photographs


Four bloggers I am tagging
Random Ramblings
Craft Junkie
Buffy's Blog
Scrappin With Life

Rudy's Laughter in Church

This is a short video of my Grandson Rudy, I hope it will make you smile, there is nothing sweeter than the laughter of a baby.

Birthdays and Feeling Old

Yesterday was my husband's 57th birthday and we celebrated at Pappasitos with Fajitas and Margaritas........this particular one was mine and it was peach but I get these foo-foo ones with salt instead of sugar, just gotta have that salt to take the edge off the tequila and triple sec. The two margaritas and the beef fajitas, rice and beans was muy sabroso.
Happy Birthday Old Man!!!

On a similar note, my husband is not old at 57, not old in comparison to how old my own parents were at 57 - OMG they were old.
What would/does make YOU feel old and do you feel it all the time or only occasionally?

My Second Blog

Well, my second blog is up and running but it's in it's infancy so it's bound to mature.
Come visit at PASSPORT2CRUISING
I have my Entrecard already set up and I've started my dropping - OMG now I'll have to drop 600 a day (like I have such a busy schedule being retired), and of course comment.

The help I had in getting my site up and running was from Iris the BuzzNutter

Come Visit, I'd love to get your feedback.

Legalities of Blogging

Have you ever thought about the legalities of blogging? I haven't really with this blog, it's personal in nature and the photos I use are my own and what I write are my own thoughts, I figure I own it. Well, I'm working on starting a second blog about cruising and the content will come from sources that are not always my own and I've started reading about what I can and cannot print, sometimes even when it's source is quoted. Now I'm a little more than intimidated about publishing this blog. My DIL is an Intellectual Property Rights and Patent Attorney and although she deals mostly with engineering issues (she is also an Electrical Engineer) I'm hoping she can help me to understand all this legal jargon a little more.
In the meantime I'm reading up on this at a great site Electronic Frontier Foundation

Well Hello Dolly

Although Dolly hit our gulf coast yesterday we are getting the severe weather today (about 5 hours north east of South Padre Island). It's been storming for about 90 minutes with one tornado that already touched down and more tornado activity on the way. This is especially scary considering we don't get this kind of weather. Hopefully we'll keep electricity - what would I do without my computer - OMG!!!!


Here was our sky last night (8:30pm) as the atmosphere was getting ready to bring us Dolly, it was spectacular




This was our sky mid about 4pm



Our weather is expected to continue to be dicey until around noon tomorrow.

As beautiful as the coast would be to live at, I couldn't take hurricane season each year. It's bad enough hours away from the coast.

***EDIT***

The weather has quieted down this evening and tomorrow's forecast shows much improvement for tomorrow and beyond. Parts of San Antonio were pounded.

This Post Is All About Winston

It appears that the food poisoning episode is over and I'm back to about 90% which is a fabulous recovery considering I would have put yesterday at MINUS 50%. I'd say I normally run at almost 150% give or take 10% on any given day.

What this post is about is Winston. Winston is my 15lb poodle and it would cut this guy short to say he was a pet - Yeee Gads he's so much more than a pet, even more than most human beings I know. Anyway, this little man would not for any reason whatsoever leave my side in the bed or at the toilet yesterday or last night. My husband had to come into our room and physically pick him up to force him to go outside and by around 8pm last night I got up to get a bite of toast and to make him eat because he wouldn't leave my side.
What is that, dedication, love, dedication, devotion?
This love puppy, my friend would have died of starvation in order to stay by my side..........I'm embarrassed to admit that I probably would not do the same.

You would have thought I'd have learned something with the last dog we had who died not long after my husband was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma - this perfectly healthy dog of about 9 years suddenly became deathly ill and by the time we got him to the Vet he told us to have him put down, that he had developed more than 33 kidney stones and although they could remove them through surgery that they would without a doubt continue to reoccur.
We later realized that Merlyn internalized my husband's kidney cancer into his own demise trying to alleviate my husband's disease.

Food Poisoning

Everyone that came to my house on Saturday to meet Rudy is sick with food poisoning. This is the first time this has ever happened to me and I'm mortified with embarrassment.
To know me is to know that I really hate to be sick to my stomach and I wish I would die instead of vomiting. I feel trashed.
My dear husband made me a 7-Up to sip on and hopefully calm this angry gastrointestinal thing I've got going, I'm headed back to bed.

What's Happing with Firefox, Entrecard, Blah-Blah-Blah

What's happening folks? How long has everything been on the fritz? I come back after my weekend with Rudy to find my favorite past time in the shitter. I've read on the Entrecard site that this has to do with Amazon - really? I'm able to access my blog with Safari without issue but not with Firefox although I'm not so lucky with the EC site (although I'm accessing better with Safari than Firefox).

I'm so disappointed in trying to get caught up some with my dropping and reading of blogs as I'm sure I have plenty to comment on (I've been with a baby all weekend, I need adult BS to read). HA

***EDIT***

Okay so it's back up again - thank goodness I can finish my drops.
Wow, I reread this post and yeee gads I sound like a bitch.......sorry.
I've missed y'all this weekend (although spending time with Rudy really is my "drug" of choice :)).

Is SezWho working any better with being up for a few days now? I still have my account but sorry people, I refuse to go around rating your comments everywhere, especially on my blog.......I'm just so glad to have your peek your head in the door and say hello that I wouldn't dream of rating those kind gestures.

Rudy's Visit to Grandma's House

For anyone new to my blog, I'm a first time Grandma to Rudy.  Rudy was born in March 2008 and at 4.5 months weighs in at 18 lbs (most of that being his gigantic noggin).  This weekend his Mommy (my DIL) drove from Houston for Rudy's first visit to San Antonio.  We last saw Rudy almost a month ago and OMG has he grown!  The visit was wonderful and I want to share some photos (although they will enlarge please don't be too agast at my thin grey hair).

I've never been happier in my life!!

Rudy has to be one of the happiest babies I've ever been around, always smiling and laughing aloud and cooooing when he isn't laughing.  I saw him get pissed off just twice and both times because of gas - hahhhhhaaaaaa

Here he was pulling my hair (the little I have left) and it hurt, he kept giggling.

This was Rudy's first time in a swimming pool and it was in a pair of nifty baby swim trunks with a diaper built in.  He loved the pool time.

This is Rudy with Aunt Jenny, they get such a kick out of each other!!

Rudy's Coming To Town

Sorry I haven't posted today, in fact I just got finished my daily EC drops and commenting on probably 20+ blogs (I have a list of those I wasn't able to comment on and just have to go back to - I do this often).
My DIL called today and asked if she could drive in with Rudy a day earlier (tomorrow) and I jumped at the chance to spend more time with my little man. This will also be the first time my DIL has come to stay with us without our son being with her (they've been married 5 years).
Rudy's mood is best before mid afternoon and she wanted us to have at least 2 days of that before she drove back home.
We cannot hardly wait to see and love on Rudy (and of course there will be photos to follow).

My husband had a doctor's appt earlier and then we went to a new Greek/Mediterranean place for lunch, it's a little hole in the wall but the service was good and the food was great.

Okay, well I need to get back to some housework and I'll be back to my blog this evening.

SezWho Affiliation with Entrecard

Hmmmm, I've spent way too much time on trying to understand SezWho today and I'm supposing I'm dumb as a box of rocks cause I just don't get it and I don't think mine is working right anyway. Needing to rate comments and such is going to take a good amount of time. I really would like to comment on more blogs but along with this it's going to take even more time............I dunno 'bout this.

Wanting to Start a Second Blog

I'm wanting to start a second blog with a topic of cruise travel and I can't decide which blogging platform to use. Do I stay with Blogger, or go with Wordpress, or something else? What should I look for? If you utilize a platform other than Blogger, I would be interested in knowing if you are happy with that platform and what makes you happy or unhappy.

This really is a solicitation for your comments, advice, recommendations.
I'm ready, willing, able to read if you point me in the right direction.

Thanks in advance for your help!

A Visit To Brackenridge Park

Today is my Birthday (thank you for the well wishes, I appreciate your kindness, really) and I wanted to take my nifty new Nikon to the park and take photos - I was not disappointed. I took 357 photos in less than 90 minutes. I've attached a few here for you to enjoy.

You can open these up to see the larger file and really get an eye full.

I'm In Love

I've found a new hobby and ooooh do I love it!
Here are three of the hundreds of photos I've already taken with my Nikon D40 (I can't imagine needing more pixels than this). These are the kind of photos I've always wanted to take and couldn't.
Tomorrow morning my dear husband is taking me to the park to feed the ducks early (it's my 53rd birthday, shhhhh, don't tell anyone please).

I feel for Rudy now that Grandma has this nifty new camera. Sweetie, I promise you'll be the most photographed baby ever!!

Magoo

This is our stray cat Magoo, as in Mr. Magoo. Magoo came to us almost 4 years ago in November during a bitter cold streak we were experiencing here in South Texas. It was in the single digits with sleet coming down and I went out on the front porch to have a smoke (that was when I was still smoking, which I don't do anymore) and there was this kitty crying. She was so cold and hungry that she didn't even run away from me.
I've never had a cat as a pet so all I had was dog food and gave her some, which she hungrily gobbled up. I went in and got some old towels and blankets to make her a bed with a plastic box for protection from the elements and she stayed. She lives outside, and has been known to stay away for days at a time but she always comes back cause she loves us (and we love her).
What she doesn't like is having her picture taken but these are two shots I got yesterday with my nifty new camera.

Nikon D40

I took the plunge, however timidly into the world of DSLR Cameras by purchasing Nikon's beginners DSLR, the D40. This camera isn't heavy with megapixel but from what I've read it isn't all that important unless you are making poster sized prints or needing to crop into a miniscual detail. I didn't want overkill, I wanted a good camera and from all the research I've done this Nikon fit the bill.
If you are interested in learning more about DSLRs and especially Nikon, please visit Ken Rockwell's site where you will gain much first hand professional knowledge. There are many photography blogs with so much information your head will spin.

I was given a few very good pieces of advice to keep in mind while shopping:
A. You are buying into a family of lenses (Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Olympus, Sony, etc)
B. Its more important to spend your money on the lenses, not the camera
C. There are no bad cameras, only bad photographers

At the present time I'm waiting for my battery to fully charge in order to start using my new baby. It came with a 18-55 lens and I purchased a 70-200 VR lens.
I have enough reading to keep me busy for weeks. My goal is to become very familiar with this camera before our Panama Canal Transit this coming fall and my Grandson Rudy is being Christianed next month.
Of course I'll be posting lots of photos in the meantime while I practice.

Here's Deb with her creature companions.

I Need Your Input Once Again

Okay, before I asked you about a mattress (I'm satisfied but husband isn't so we have until 60 days to decide), but anyway........
We would like to finally move into the realm of DSLR cameras and I'm fence sitting on five different cameras, 3 different brands.

Nikon D40
Nikon D60
Nikon D80
Canon Rebel XSi
Olympus 510

What kind of telephoto lens would I need to add to the original kit?
What additional items such as tripods, extra memory, extra battery, etc?

We are beginners but I'd love to expand my knowledge into a hobby. Photos mostly when we travel (some taken from the balcony of cruise ships), nature, sky, and of course my grandson Rudy.
Photos I'd love to be able to enlarge (not gigantic or poster sized), great detail, and photos that I don't have to be atop of my subject to take. Ease of use, comfortable to hold, change settings, taking multiple photos (like when you see a whale breeching and you don't want to miss a single moment of the time out of the water).

Why Do We Define Ourselves With Division?

Why are we always looking for ways of separating ourselves from one another? When we call ourselves American, or African, or Mexican, or Mexican American, or African American, we're Catholic, or Jewish, or Muslim, or Lutheran, we're black or white, yellow or brown. We're old or young, we're male or female, gay or straight, smart or stupid.
Why do we use labels to define ourselves as PEOPLE?
We all do it, we whittle ourselves down to a fraction of who, what we really are as PEOPLE.

Isn't there a better way to define ourselves, can't we find a label that unites us instead of divides us?

***EDIT***
My dear husband just reminded me when he read my post that in saying PEOPLE that I have again divided, we are simply BEINGS.

POVERTY, What's causing it? What Can Be Done? Is It Really Poverty?

I was listening to a news report tonight on Poverty in America and it made me wonder why we have so much poverty, what has caused it, what causes poverty to continue, and what, if anything can we do to overcome poverty.

I will probably be flamed but ya know what, I'm still going to say what I feel and I expect you to do the same.

I personally don't believe poverty can be overcome by society, the only way we're going to see poverty eliminated is for those living in poverty to decide they want to live differently and are willing to do what it takes to achieve a different life.

You can't spend like you're making 30k when you're making 20k.
You can't have another child when you can't house, feed, cloth the children you already have.
You can't expect to make $10 per hour when you didn't even finish high school.
You can't drive your own car when you can barely afford a bus pass.
If you're paying for your food with assistance, you shouldn't be drinking a beer, and eating a steak.
If you can't afford healthcare you shouldn't be having a latte at Starbucks.
If you can't find work where you live, live where you can find work. Any kind of work is better than having something handed to you for doing nothing.

I see the above everyday but never as blatantly as at the grocery store. There are young couples, well dressed, designer clothing, high end footwear and purses, tats, piercings, the kids are wild, dirty and dressed in rags. The food is two different batches, one that is paid with food stamps, the other with steaks and liquor, cigarettes, and other assorted goodies paid with cash. Out the door they go and get into a high end, late model vehicle.

I don't believe people on public assistance need more money, what they need is motivation to get the hell out of their current situation but the government can't do that for them, motivation is something they will have to find themselves. They need reasonable, safe child care so they can work and go to school. They need reasonable healthcare so they can continue to work and go to school. They need parenting classes and they need shopping and cooking classes, they need classes on how to best use the money that is coming into their households. They need reasonable housing that is safe and on a bus route. We have to stop throwing money at the situation, it's not eliminating poverty.
Public assistance is to "help, assist, aid" for the short term, it is not income so you can do nothing.

Don't tell me that it's easy for me to say when I'm not in that situation. I could have been in that situation had I not made a different choice, if I hadn't been motivated to have a different type of life. I didn't come from money, there was no silver spoon in my family least of all stuck in my mouth when I was born.

Real Poverty is the situation in Third World Countries when people don't have a choice. There are no jobs, there is no housing, there is no food, there is no healthcare, there is nothing.

Rudy's First Independence Day

Unfortunately we weren't there to share Rudy's 4th of July but his other Grandparents from New Jersey were there to visit.
Happy Independence Day Rudy!!

Do Yourself A Favor and Read......

If you want to read an outstanding post about relationships, you have to head right over to ZENTAL FLOSS and read A Bitch in Heat
This post is without a doubt about a woman who understands how to love her man.

I'm Just Plain Fun To Read!!

My friend Anajz just paid me a huge compliment. Thank You!


Every single day I come upon a blog, a person that enters my life in such unexplainable ways and I'm so excited with the new found friendship.
With every blog post that we read and each one that we comment to, we are bringing ourselves closer to another person, another thought process, and the definite possibility of World Peace. I honestly believe that it's this simple and that we have been unable to achieve World Peace because we think it's some big bad monster to overcome, the monster is ignorance, it's big government. Peace is achieved by two people at at time, we pay friendship forward and the ultimate friendship is peace.

***EDIT***
7/11/08 - I was just given this compliment also by my friend at Chica & Pumuckl
Thank You!!

Am I a Senior?

I've been listed on the seniorsforliving.com site. Wow, I guess it's an honor but damn, I'm only going to be 53 this month. By the way, can you believe that today is July 1st already - OMG!! I guess officially I'm not a senior.....at least I'm not able to get senior prices anywhere, not yet at least, and I'm not old enough to collect my Social Security.
Does blogging as a retired Grandma automatically make me a senior?

At what age would you consider moving into smaller digs?
What kind of living environment would you downsize to - a smaller single family home, an apartment, a condo, or an active seniors development?

We've considered downsizing (and may have done it already had the economy not gotten soft) as our 3,300 sqft home is just too large for just the 2 of us. We have a large lot that we pay someone to cut, and we have a pool which someone does the chemicals and maintenance - we really don't need all this.
I don't want something too small, I don't want us to run into one another all the time, nor do I want to hear his TV blaring when I'm trying to listen to mine. I'm thinking that 1500-1800 sqft would be perfect. I'd love a condo (has to be single level living) closer to the city but damn they're expensive for something much smaller than 1,500 sq ft (more than what I could sell my 3,300 sq ft home for).
I like the idea of living in a complex with other people that are empty nesters, grandparents, retirees.

So, does blogging as a RETIRED GRANDMA automatically make me a SENIOR?