*In no particular order....* You cannot make someone love you. Sex does NOT equal love. People who talk a lot usually know very little. People who speak very little usually know a lot. There is no religion greater than the truth. Other people will judge you by those you associate with. Karma is a whore who requires payment up front (many thanks to LW for her eloquence ). Plaid pants and safety pins do not a punk make. Communism is a good idea in theory, but it does...

It’s hot around here.   Very hot.   Almost 100 degrees hot.   Miserably hot, in other words.  The kind of heat that becomes the sole topic of conversation on the news and in stores and over telephone lines. Growing up the in UK, I was never exposed to much heat.   Bikini weather for us was 70 degrees, and   anything over 85 was described as a heatwave.   I got my first real taste of heat when I lived in North Carolina.   My first summer t...

I finally got my dream appliance today.  I've been hankering after a Dyson for a couple of years, so when the opportunity for me to get one presented itself, I took it. My hands were literally rembling when I got it home and started taking it out of the box.  It's a pretty spendy machine, retailing at $369, and I was worried that it wouldn't perform to my expectations (or to my husband's expectations; he wasn't very happy about my dropping nearly $400 on a hoover. I had nothing t...

I quit my so-called knitting instructor job yesterday. When I was hired at the start of June, I was asked to provide them with a short bio and a photo.  My supervisor - we'll call her 'Betty' - said that she needed that as soon as I could get it to her, along with some samples not only of my work in general, but of the items we'd be making in class.  She said that she'd put the bio and the samples up on the classroom wall so that people could see them and perhaps be enticed into com...

Recently, thre's been a trend towards 'mineral' cosmetics versus the traditional liquid foundations.  I've tried a couple of them - Cover Girl and Physicians Formula - and I haven't been too pleased with the results.  Each one claimed that it's leave me with an 'airbrused complexion', free of age spots and imperfections, but all it did was settle into my crows feet and fine lines and make me look 10 years older.  So, I tossed them away and went back to using my old standby, l...

I'm a big fan of BBC America's 'How Clean Is Your House?'.  People write in and nominate their friend's, relatives or neighbors who have very dirty homes, and Kim Woodburn and Aggie MacKenzie go pay them a visit and help them clean the place up. There have been some FILTHY homes on that show.  Nasty, dirty, smelly, moldy....people who have had poo and pee smeared all over their toilet bowls and walls, mildew in all the wondows, laundry piled up 6' high, pee stained couches and carpe...

I had some shots into the nerve roots alongside my spine yesterday, in an effort to reduce (or perhaps eliminate entirely) the amount of sciatica I've been having. It was painful, yes.  I had to lay on my belly, which causes me pain anyway.  Then the doc numbed up my skin with some local anasthesia (6 shots, 3 on either side at three diffeent levels of my spine)- and when that had started to work, he placed needles right into the nerve roots (under x-ray so he could see where he nee...

One: I wish that I had never done what I just did.  I hadn't seen Larry King's interview with Tammy Faye Mesner, so I (via the wonder that is the internet) just watched it. I wish that I had never done it.  I'd have preferred to remember her as she was.  I don't think I need to say any more; those of you who saw the interview will know exactly what I mean. I think that one of the best things that woman ever did was to go on VH1's 'The Surreal Life'.  It gave us a chance...

I wish that the internet had a smell feature, because the smell wafting out of my kitchen right now is just divine.  I'm baking blackberry and peach crumbles (separate ones, not blackberry and peach mixed together) and they smell good enough to make my tummy rumble. We went to Brautigum's orchard this morning and picked our berries right off the bush.  Brautigum's is smaller and makes the other local 'country' orchard look like an industrial conglomerate.  Mr Brautigum let us w...

One of my worst fears was recognized today. My patient fell.  On my watch. She likes to have some privacy in the bathroom - as would anyone - so I normally help her in there, help her get her underthings down, and then leave her in peace.  She hollers when she's ready to get up, and I'm never far away (usually in the bedroom or kitchen, both of which are on either side of the bathroom). I go back and check on her every few minutes, knocking on the door and asking if she needs any...

I'm hooked on Jelly Belly jellybeans.  The Commissary here at Scott AFB sells them in bulk for $4.29 a pound; you can either get the 49 flavor mix, the Fruit Bowl mix, the Sour mix, individual flavors or a mix of all of the above should you so desire.  Every time I go to the store I make a point of getting some - I keep them in a Mason jar on the kitchen counter and have a little tin that I carry in my purse so I can have Jelly Belly beans whenever, wherever.   I've tried...