Month: August 2015

Free Range Chicken

While most of my readers reside in the U.S., many do not, and I forget that not all of our pop culture gets exported. 

Some of the best commercials on American television are those for GEICO insurance. And since GEICO is an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company, it’s highly unlikely that these ads are broadcast outside the U.S. Please correct me if I’m wrong about that, non-U.S. residents.

Here’s one of my favorite GEICO ads:

http://youtu.be/3v1wFKKWMCA
Then there’s this one:
http://youtu.be/8R0W5QqWjIg
And this one:

http://youtu.be/pvcj9xptNOQ
And I didn’t even include any featuring the GEICO gecko spokesman. I’ll save him for another day.

Peace, people!

My New Fitbit

  
Apropos of nothing last night my husband, Studly Doright, suggested I purchase a Fitbit. I pretended I had no idea what he was talking about.

Me: What’s that?

Studly: You know, it tracks your steps.

Me: Oh, it’s a pedometer?

Studly: Well, kind of, but it talks to your cell phone and tells you how many calories you’ve burned.

Me: Are you saying I’m fat?

Studly: Well, no, but you’re always talking about losing weight and, well….”

Me: (pouting dramatically) You’ve really caught me off guard. I guess, if you want me to buy a tool to keep me from getting fatter I’ll do it to make you happy. 

Studly: You’re such a knothead.

Me: Yep. Let’s find me a Fitbit.

I researched, a.k.a. surveyed my Facebook friends who by a large majority recommended I buy the Fitbit Charge. I went ahead and got the HR model that also tracks heart rate. My mild technology anxiety fluttered in the back of mind when I contemplated the barriers I might have to deal with in order to get the device synced to my phone, but it was a breeze. 

I’d go walking, but at 7 p.m. it’s still 95° degrees F in my part of the world and super humid. If I can hold out for another hour it’ll drop to 90°, and I might venture out. So far I’ve journeyed to and from the bathroom and clocked 173 steps. I have a feeling I won’t be reaching the pre-set goal of 10,000 steps on my first day of Fitbit ownership.

  
Peace, people!

Ear Buds

Seriously, there are few things as satisfying to me as successfully fitting my iPhone’s ear buds into their storage compartment on the first try.

  
Peace, people!

Masami Nonaka, a Child’s Memories of WWII, Waiting at the Assembly Center, Part One

I remember the first time I learned of the Japanese internment camps that were erected during WWII. I was an adult. Yep, our textbooks made no mention of this atrocity. At first I thought I was reading a piece of fiction, so I researched and found that yes, indeed, our own country, in a fit of fear and ignorance, interred its own citizens in terrible conditions. And there are some who’d do it again–to Muslim Anericans, to Gay Americans, basically to anyone they don’t understand. Read and learn from this piece by one of my favorite bloggers, sanselife.wordpress.com.

sanseilife's avatarsanseilife

imageMas Nonaka  was born August 20, 1934.   The youngest of three children he was the baby of the family.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the evacuation of Japanese Americans to internment camps. Mas was a 7 year old child.

While these relocation camps were being built, evacuees were ordered to stay at what was called assembly centers.  The largest of these assembly centers was the Santa Anita Racetrack in California where Mas remembers spending a hot summer.  These American citizens were allowed to bring only what they could carry with them to the assembly centers and consequently lost most of their possessions.

Beginning in March 1942, the almost 19,000 Japanese Americans that lived at the Santa Anita Racetrack were housed in barracks or in converted horse stalls.  Mas remembers a friend of his that lived in one of the…

View original post 341 more words

Shopping for Clothes Alone Vs. Shopping for Clothes with a Child

Alone:

–Park at a distance from the store for exercise.
–Meander leisurely through the aisles speaking politely to fellow shoppers.
–Take multiple items into the dressing room. Repeat as necessary.
–Try on clothes with grace and humor.
–Speak kindly to crying children.
–Indulge their beleaguered parent(s) with understanding smiles.
–Secretly judge their parenting skills.
–Take your time in the checkout line.
–Contemplate having a glass of wine over lunch at your favorite bistro.
–Linger over lunch.
–Take the long way home after lunch.
–Put your feet up and take a nap; you deserve it.

With Children

–Park next to a shopping cart corral.
–Wrestle child into a cart.
–Bribe as needed.
–Circumvent any aisle in the store that might be construed as a toy aisle.
–Select outfits based on concentration of Disney characters per square inch.
–Herd child into dressing room.
–Bribe as needed.
–If clothing fits, buy in every color.
–Make beeline to checkout counter.
–Pay while talking over chatty and/or crying child.
–Make rude gesture at judgemental childless person. How dare they smile.
–Forget which aisle you’ve parked on.
–Finally find car, wrestle child out of cart and into car seat.
–Promise driving through McDonald’s for a Happy Meal if the child stays awake on the way home.
–Contemplate having a nap later if the kid doesn’t fall asleep in the car on the way home.
–Take two Advil, straight up, no water.

  

Volunteer Gig

One week from today I will begin volunteering at Tallahassee Animal Services. I’ve passed the interview process, attended an orientation, and even successfully answered a brief quiz. I’m so ready!

Lately I’ve been dreaming about the cats I’ll be working with. Cats and kittens of all sizes visit my subconscious, demanding love, food, and care. In my dreams I also feel I am responsible for naming them: Vader, Anakin, Katniss, Four, and Tris. Okay, I read way too many young adult and scifi novels. 

Sometimes in my dreams the cats carry on full blown conversations with me. We discuss their days and the people they saw come through the shelter since my last scheduled visit. These cats have a lot of hopes and dreams for their futures. I sure hope I can help them with that.

Peace, people! 

sample cat

Hormonally Challenged

Some nights it doesn’t pay
to try and fall asleep.
I toss, turn, fume, and burn
and sometimes even weep.

My brain is heavy in its cage
too tired to engage in thought,
still round and round it plods
until every nerve is shot.

Physically I’m just a mess
of hot and sweaty limbs;
sticky breasts, and chafing thighs
turn nighttime hours grim.

Just once I’d like to fall asleep
free of worry, care, and pain,
yet I fear that won’t take place
until I’ve died or gone insane.

  

Peace, people!

Prince Charm-ing.

History of Language: Write a piece of fiction describing how the phrase, “third time’s a charm” came to be.

Blame it on Ella;
although, she had no intent
to implement three
as the gold standard
in fairy tale decisions.
When the shoe didn’t
fit either sister,
and the prince was at wit’s end
Ella rose from ash
placing her dainty
foot inside the glass slipper
and Cinderella
won the heart and soul
of the handsome Prince Charm-ing.
And they all rejoiced.

Ok, I know the prince’s retinue scoured the countryside for the foot that fit the glass slipper. Technically, Cinderella wasn’t the third one to try it on, but she was the third one in her household to make the attempt. So this is my story and I’m sticking to it!

  
Peace, people!

The Songs of Whales

humpback males sing soulfully
beautiful songs beyond belief.
who among us can listen and
doubt their deep intelligence?

we only share this earth
it is not ours alone,
yet we have pretended,
squandered, and decimated.

This poem was inspired by a story on National Public Radio. I’ve linked to it below. I must admit, the songs made me cry.

http://www.npr.org/2015/08/06/427851306/it-took-a-musicians-ear-to-decode-the-complex-song-in-whale-calls?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20150806

  

Peace, people!

Three Coins; Double or Nothing

I’ve tossed in one coin
over my shoulder, eyes closed
end over end, plop!

Wish made earnestly:
happiness for my grandkids.
with a taste of strife.

Next coin flies with ease
sails into fountained circle
carries second wish:

Please grant us peace now
on this earth we call our home;
celebrate all life.

One final coin soars,
skips across the still surface
one final grand wish

For three more wishes,
three more chances to change life,
double or nothing.