16
Dec

One Lone House Spreading Christmas Cheer

   Posted by: jude   in Home and Family

Christmas Lights From My Balcony
neighbors_christmaslights
My neighborhood looks bare this Christmas except for the lights one little old lady has put up to brighten and cheer herself up with. When I go out on my balcony little does she know that they cheer me a bit also. Her husband is in a nursing home and she lives all by herself, yet she still keeps their traditions alive.

Of course she has lots of help from family and friends and that’s what Christmas is all about sharing and caring and trying to make the world a little better. I really admire this little old lady for her spirit and tenacity in keeping her life as normal as possible.

My life this past year has been turned upside down and I wish just a little of this wonderful womans spirit would rub off on me. Actually maybe it is because every time I go out on my balcony and see her lights shining I feel a little bit of peace spread through my soul.

I was going to write a post about older people and their fears of marriage and what they may have to give up and or share financially if they decide to remarry, but I’ve lost all my notes, references, and statistics so I have to postpone that until I either find them or research them again. Now this puts me in an awkward place because I had already asked Tina of Luvem Or Leaveem if I could use the reply she sent me when I left a recent comment on one of her posts and add a link back to her article.

Since I don’t know when I’ll get that article together again I don’t think it’s fair to not give her that recognition because for those of you that have never visited I think you would really enjoy her blog. Tina has a relationship advice blog called Luvem Or Leavem which I always visit and she writes very interesting and thought provoking posts. Recently she wrote a  post about Rules Of Engagement and I know most people feel like the diamond is the traditional choice, but they are not the only choice. I  left the following comment:

“I personally like simple and low key. Bill played Ann Murray’s Can I Have This Dance which made me cry and then proposed. He let me pick out my own ring which being low key I chose a Ruby with diamonds on either side because I don’t care for diamonds and when I showed it to his Sister she commented, “Oh how sweet your pre-engagement ring, which hurt Bill’s feelings because he had tried to buy me a diamond and I had made him look cheap, well it was my choice. Not sure when we’ll get married though if ever. I could call it a companion ring I suppose.”

Tina’s reply:

“Dear Jude,
I just had to reply to your engagement ring comment about rubies and diamonds (especially after reading Bill’s sister’s comment).  When I was researching a while back I discovered that the circular ring is the tradition of forever, not the diamond.  The notion that “a diamond is forever” was just a campaign created by De Beers Diamonds and it worked so well that the diamond became part of the ring tradition without anyone realizing they were the victims of what is considered the greatest marketing victory of all time.  My diamond is very special to me, but I’m a colored gem stone kind of woman.  If I had chosen my own I would definitely choose color over a diamond.
I love that you’re low key.  It comes across in your writing style, and I think that is a big part of what attracts so many people to your blog.

All the best,
Tina”

I have never followed  rules or traditions which other people dictate are set in stone so Tina’s reply made me feel vindicated, of course I really don’t need reinforcement for my choices, but I thought it was so sweet of her to share her knowledge with me and thought I’d share it with you. Of course if Bill had decided to choose my ring himself before hand I know it would have been a diamond because he was under the impression that it had to be a diamond. I would have accepted it and loved it because I know he loves me, but thankfully he’s smart enough to let me choose for myself, even Princess Di chose a blue sapphire. Never feel like you have to be locked into only one choice decide for yourself.

Red = the heart, love, and passion

Green= faithfulness and continuity

Blue= spirituality and purity

Saturday I couldn’t connect with the Internet no matter what I tried so later in the afternoon I finally called the Verizon tech support to see if something was wrong in my area. The tech guy walked me through several procedures and still it was a no go. I was getting very frustrated especially when he told me to flip the switch on the modem and then go to start. I then asked him how I was suppose to do that if I had turned the modem off? When I turn my modem off the whole thing goes off.

The young guy had a lot of patience because apparently I can’t hear right on the phone either and I had to ask him over and over to repeat what he had told me. He finally got to the point of talking to me like I was a child that was mentally challenged. I got so frustrated that I unplugged the whole thing finally and then replugged it. Those little green lights finally started flashing which they hadn’t done before they had just stayed on solid and he said this was a good thing. Finally I was connected.

I thought he had performed some Christmas miracle from his end and started thanking him profusely, but he told me he hadn’t done anything except run some tests to see why it wasn’t connecting and that I had made it connect from my end. I still don’t know why it has started acting weird all of a sudden, but when I need to connect I now have to power down everything and then restart which is a pain because I have to crawl under the desk just to get to the outlet believe me getting up and down isn’t as easy as it use to be.

I probably wont be doing drops every day till the holidays are over, at least not on weekends and not as many during the week so take care and enjoy.

11
Dec

I Am Not An Expert On Any Niche

   Posted by: jude   in Mature Not Senile Misc

I really wouldn’t want to be stuck in a specific niche blog because I don’t like typing about the same thing over and over and besides I’m not an expert on anything even though I think I’m a know it all at times.

I wish I was a humor blogger because people really like to be entertained, but I’m just not creatively funny. I have a very weird sense of humor and poor Bill never gets my jokes in person so I’m sure it would be hard to convey it online.

I’m a terrible cook even though I’ve cooked in restaurants so I really can’t give any tips on cooking either. I could put some great recipes on here from a book, but there are already great recipe blogs out there.

I can’t even give any great advice on how to raise your children because I’m so out of touch and besides there are so many mommy blogs out there that already give excellent advice.

I don’t have a clue about finances or investing even though I give it a shot every now and then. I could probably help you lose your money so that’s not a good idea to blog about. I could certainly teach you how to go in debt, but I’m sure you all know how to do that yourself.

Even though I love nature and all those little critters I can’t give specific info on any of them. I like to fish, but haven’t done that in years so I’d certainly be of no help in teaching you which bait and rod to use to catch a fish besides I can’t tell one type from another.

I can’t give relationship advice because it took me 50 years to finally as I refer to it, just luck out and find a decent honorable man. I’m pretty sure there are a lot more like him, but I certainly never found any till him, pity that happened when I was so damn old.

Even though I have 2 dogs I certainly can’t claim to be an expert on any how to’s for pet care and training.  I took care of a feral cat for 2 years, but I know absolutely nothing about cats so I certainly couldn’t have a pet blog.

I could certainly talk about depression, but that would only depress you and myself more, besides there is already so much information available my experiences and dealing with  issues would sound paltry.

Too much competition out there for all the niches you can think of so I guess I’ll just stick with writing about what I feel like whenever I feel like it even though I’m not an expert, have a great weekend and be safe.

10
Dec

Christmas With Louise

   Posted by: jude8753   in Mature Not Senile Misc

The following story was passed around back in 2001 and since I have a weird sense of humor I thought it was funny. I think it’s just another  piece of fiction someone thought up and made up the part about it being sent to the Louisville Sentinel because I don’t think the Sentinel exists although I could be wrong. Hopefully you wont be offended and it will make you chuckle, but if you’re easily offended then don’t read it.

This article was submitted to a 1999 Louisville Sentinel contest to find out who had the wildest Christmas dinner. This won first prize.

Christmas with Louise

As a joke, my brother used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them. What they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every Christmas morning, although Jay’s kids’ stockings were overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty.

One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don’t sell those things at Wal-Mart.

I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown. If you’ve never been in an X-rated store, don’t go. You’ll only confuse yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, “What does this do?” “You’re kidding me!” “Who would buy that?” Finally, I made it to the inflatable doll section.

I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane during rush hour. Finding what I wanted was difficult. Love dolls come in many different models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could do things I’d only seen in a book on animal husbandry.

I settled for “Lovable Louise”. She was at the bottom of the price scale. To call Louise a “doll” took a huge leap of imagination. On Christmas Eve, with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to life.

My sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning hours, long after Santa had come and gone, I filled the dangling pantyhose with Louise’s pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby tray. I went home, and giggled for a couple of hours.

The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his house and left a present that had made him VERY happy but had left the dog confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some more.

We all agreed that Louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional Christmas dinner.

My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door. “What the hell is that?” she asked. My brother quickly explained, “It’s a doll.” “Who would play with something like that?” Granny snapped. I had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut. “Where are her clothes?” Granny continued.

“Boy, that turkey sure smells nice, Gran,” Jay said, trying to steer her into the dining room. But Granny was relentless. “Why doesn’t she have any teeth?” Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It’s Christmas and who wants to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, “Hang on Granny, Hang on!”

My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me and said, ” Hey, who’s the naked gal by the fireplace?” I told him she was Jay’s friend. A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise. Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this might be Grandpa’s last Christmas at home.

The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise that sounded a lot like my father in the bathroom in the morning. Then she lurched from the panty hose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the sofa.

The cat screamed. I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and grandpa ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering mouth to mouth resuscitation. My brother fell back over his chair and wet his pants and Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car.

It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember. Later in my brother’s garage, we conducted a thorough examination to decide the cause of Louise’s collapse. We discovered that Louise had suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh. Fortunately, thanks to a wonder drug called duct tape, we restored her to perfect health.

Louise went on to star in several bachelor party movies. I think Grandpa still calls her whenever he can get out of the house.

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