The many ages of a woman

Age 3:  She looks at herself and sees a Queen.

Age 8:  She looks at herself and sees Cinderella

Age 15:   She looks at herself and sees an Ugly Sister (Mom I can't go to school looking like this!)

Age 20:   She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly"- but decides she's going out anyway.

Age 30:   She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" - but decides she doesn't have time to fix it, so she's going out anyway.

Age 40:   She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" - but says, "At least, I am clean" and goes out anyway.

Age 50:   She looks at herself and sees "I am" and goes wherever she wants to go.

Age 60:   She looks at herself and reminds herself of all the people who can't even see themselves in the mirror anymore.  Goes out and conquers the world.

Age 70:   She looks at herself and sees wisdom, laughter and ability, goes out and enjoys life.

Age 80:   She doesn't bother to look.   Just puts on a purple hat and goes out to have fun with the world.

Isn't it nice when we can finally appreciate ourselves?  So, get out there and enjoy yourself.

From me and Katie, have a nice evening, everybody!  : )

My accomplishments

I’m going to be doing some visiting for the next few days, and won’t have as much free time to write blogs.  So…  If you’ve seen this, I’m sorry, but every time I read it, I think it’s funny, and I thought I’d pass it on.

Also, remember the NaBloPoMo September Badge I’m winning at the end of the month for blogging every day.  (Can you tell I’m goal oriented?)

This was posted by Nelia White on the Humor bulletin board of BMUG (Berkeley Macintosh Users Group)

This is an actual essay written (quite a while ago) by a college applicant to NYU. The author was accepted and attended NYU. : )

3A. IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION:

ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?

This was the answer:

—I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.

— Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.

— I woo women with my sensuous and Godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

— Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

— I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400.

—My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.

—I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.

—I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven.

— I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin.

—I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

But I have not yet gone to college.

 

 From me and Katie, have a good evening, everybody! : )

October RV show in LA, and - Coleslaw and Bear Loin Steaks?

Wow, did anyone else have a problem with Blogger last night?  It was acting very weird!

I received an e-mail in answer to a question I posted in a forum - and in her response she mentioned the upcoming RV show in LA in October.  I went to the Pomona show earlier this year, but they didn't have much I was interested in.  I went with my son Tom, and he found it interesting.  They also had boats, and he was interested in those, too, so we covered a lot of ground.

I checked out the October show on their website, and it looks like it's going to be huge, and have lots of RVs and seminars, too.  I'm definitely going to check it out.  I'm a little more familiar with what I'm looking for now, so I should see more rigs that interest me.  Also, I want to see what's available that I'm not looking for, in case I'm limiting myself too much.   There was a coupon on their website that you can print out, and I copied it here, in case anyone wants to go and get in at a discounted price. Click on it first, then print from that page.  Or you can get one from their website.

On the website, it said to print out copies for all your friends, so here you are. : )

I made some coleslaw on Sunday - I LOVE good coleslaw.  It has to be kind of sweet and not dry.  I found a recipe that is perfect (for me).  If you like the coleslaw at Kentucky Fried Chicken, you'll love this:

(I use only 1 tsp mustard).

Funny story:  The cookbook this is in is from a set of Encyclopedias we bought when my former husband and I were first married - in 1965.  An Encyclopedia salesman knocked on our door.  I answered, and he went through his spiel.  As I listened, I looked at him dressed in his suit, white shirt and tie.  Those were the days!  As I was listening, I looked down and noticed his shoes were really old and scuffed, and I felt sorry for him.  My new husband and I decided we WOULD want Encyclopedias for our kids someday, so we bought the whole set.  Along with the Encyclopedias we got free cookbooks.  In a two volume set.  Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking.  The first Copyright is 1947, with mine being the NEW REVISED EDITION Copyright 1959.  The two volumes total 1,564 pages.  You wouldn't believe what's in those cookbooks.  EVERYTHING.

When I was growing up we had an electric egg cooker, but when I was first married, I didn't have one, and had no clue how to hard boil or soft boil an egg.  I looked it up in my cookbooks, and there were two recipes for each.  It has 22 uses for leftover yolks.  And seven for leftover egg whites.

If you are looking for a recipe for ANYTHING, let me know.  I'll look it up.  Of course, now we have Google, so I use that a lot, too.

Anyway, every so often, RVers who are "out and about" mention bear sightings.  I wondered if my cookbooks had anything to say about bears.  It actually explains how to prepare bear for cooking, and has a recipe for Bear Loin Steaks.  Also, "Any beef or deer recipe can be followed successfully for the cooking of the different cuts of bear meat if the fat is carefully removed before cooking."  Just in case you bag a bear.

Note:  By the time our kids were old enough to use an Encyclopedia, our set was so out of date it was useless.  But 45 years later, I still use the free cookbooks. 

From me and Katie, have a good evening, everybody! : )

The Padres, Granddaughters, and my NaBloPoMo Badge

Today was a long day, and at 8:45 I'm finally sitting down to rest. 

I go into work early on Tuesdays, around 5:45, and by the time I'm home at 4:30, I'm beat!  Today my son and daughter-in-law needed me to take my seven-year-old granddaughter to her "cheer class" so they could both attend the Padres game tonight, so I just now got home.  Go, Padres!

I picked her up on my way home from work at 4:00, shopped, fixed her a quick dinner of scrambled eggs, bagels/cream cheese, grapes, and chocolate milk with ice cream for dessert.  Weird dinner, but she liked it and ate every bite.   She played with the Wii for a little while, then we went to class from 6:30 until 7:30.  

My grandkids are all so great, but seven-year-old girls talk constantly.  You know what I mean?  Even when they don't have anything to say...  I asked her that old question, "Do you know why God gave us two ears and only one mouth?"  I think she got it, but it didn’t work.  Too subtle for a seven-year-old, she didn’t get the hint, and kept on chattering away.  Whew!  

When I was in grammar school the nuns (Catholic School) used to call me "Chatterbox," so I can't complain too much.  My granddaughter probably gets it from me!  : )   And actually, I’m grateful she has so much to tell me, and wants to tell me.  She’s such a happy, bouncy little girl, so bright and self assured.  As only a seven-year-old can be.   

 Thankfully I was only watching – she went non-stop for an hour, and was tired at the end of class. 

Changing gears:  I joined this website, NaBloPoMo, have you seen it?  I saw a link on another blog, and clicked it on it, and ended up at nablopomo.com.  If I’ve got it right, you only have to blog once a day for a month, then you get to put a button for that month on your blog.  Well, I love prizes (doesn’t everybody?) and that seemed like an easy prize to win.

I've gotta tell you, it isn't easy today, I was ready to turn in when I got home. Anyway, if you look at the end of this page, you'll see the "I'm a Member of NaBloPoMo" button.  I assume it's an okay site, I didn't do much looking around when I was there.  I just want the prize!

September’s button is really cool.  Here it is, but I can’t really claim it yet.   

 When I do, it will go on the sidelines or at the bottom of my blog.  It’s only here for informational purposes.  And because I love it.

So...  even if it's only a line or two, I'm posting every day this month.

And that’s it for now.  From Me and My Dog, have a nice night, everyone! : ) 

Katie and I got a lot done today

Well, Katie and I got a lot done today.  It's amazing how much energy you have after spending a day doing absolutely nothing!

First I vacuumed, this is how Katie helps:

 She keeps an ear up and an eye on me until I'm done, then runs back in as soon as the vacuum stops.

You know how you start to do one thing in the house, then end up cleaning for hours?  I started emptying waste baskets in the bathrooms, and ended up cleaning all the drawers and cabinets, throwing away a garbage bag of stuff that was outdated, or I never use.  I also found some treasures for my garage sale. 

Then we went for a walk to the nearby lake - I love walking over to see the ducks there, but there weren't any today.  I did see one crane.  It flew right past us, they look so cool when they fly, but it landed too far away for a good photo.

It was a beautiful day at the lake.  We walked for around 45 minutes.  When we got home I made a peach, blueberry and yogurt smoothie.  I always just put in whatever fruit I have on hand, and they are always good.

I keep my Magic Bullet on the kitchen counter so I'll USE it.   I get points when I use my American Express card, and the first time I got $50 worth, I got a gift card for Linens 'n Things.  Right after that I read they were going out of business.   I went down to cash in my gift card while it was still good, and I couldn't find anything I wanted or needed.  Then I saw the Magic Bullet.  I'd seen it on TV and it looked good, so I got it.  I figured if I didn't like it, at least it didn't cost me anything.   It's one of the best kitchen appliances I have, and it was FREE.  (Well, sort of.)  They have fancier ones now, but this is all I need.  I use it a lot.  This is what I'm talking about in case you haven't seen them:

This is one of the things I have on my list to bring with me in the RV.  Small, light weight, and I use it often.

If you get one, shop around. They have them at Amazon.com and sometimes at COSTCO, too, for a good price.  I went to the Magic Bullet website to check what they have, and you can get a better price elsewhere. 

All the laundry got done, too.  I also took a bunch of new photos of things I want to put on Craig's List.  Too lazy to do it tonight, but at least I've got the photos ready.

Now Katie and I are tired, and we're resting.  Work tomorrow for some of us. : )