Wheezing Cats

What do you do about a wheezing cat? She makes me feel guilty because I'm not rushing her back to the vet but we have to take her to a specialist in Clackamas and that is the last thing I want to do right now. I've taken way too much work time off lately as it is, not to mention thousands of dollars to have them put a tiny camera up her nose. She's worth it you say, probably so if I hadn't already spent thousands of dollars on our "free" cat. It's really unfortunate they grow on you like they do. Nevertheless, she is making me feel extremely guilty so if she still has this problem mid-December, I'll ask Mike to do it when he has a few days off. Poor kitty!

So right now my house is feeling extraordinarily cluttered, kind of like this. Between Christmas decorations all over the place and Christmas presents not quite so all over the place, and the fall decorations that still need to be put away, there's barely room to move. Once I get the tree in here, it will be even worse. I started out so organized this year. It's amazing how quickly you fall behind the 8-ball. Actually, I'm still ahead of last year as far as organization goes but at this point that's not saying much.

Hopefully my husband will run my address labels so we can at least get the cards done (I've only asked three times). Here it is, December already for heaven's sakes and I've already gotten two cards from family member. Who would have ever believed my youngest disorganized daughter would beat me to the punch. I'm still amazed and shamed. So, I'm off to check a few more things off my list.

Bon soir!

The End...Totally

I have now officially parted ways with little Harry Potter + 7 years. I can't think of another series remotely similar to that one in subject matter, causing obsessive reading behavior or experiencing the tremendous let down after it's all over. The closest I can come to it is living in another world for 2 months, then it's gone. I am curious how they are going to effectively capture the last one on film. And there's still another one to see before that! Oh well, on to the next thing.


I have been talking to more and more people at my company who are retiring or are planning to retire in the very near future. it's beginning to look like a mass exodus, or at least I can easily see that will be the result by 2010.


This bug is seriously opening its mouth and taking big chunks out of me every time I have another conversation. It makes it extremely difficult to stay engaged, especially when I see all the fun those who have left are having "on the outside". In fact, that feeling of prison is becoming more and more real. I think I need to have surgery to implant an attitude adjustment rather than cartilage. It sounds much less painful too. You have to admit though, that drink looks good enough to drink!

No Time

The holidays are upon us and decorating and elfing (shopping and wrapping presents, oh and let's not forget cards) reigns. My 20 Christmas movies are stacked on my bookshelf, just crying to be watched while wrapping, wrapping, wrapping.

So far I'm pretty organized, we'll see how long it takes to blow that whole concept. All I can say is this weekend had better be nice at least part of the time because major decorating has to occur then, no choice. I'm off to begin my new season.

Feliz Feliz

Short Break

OK, before I run upstairs to watch Jodie Foster's "Home for the Holidays" for the 20th or so time, I'll take just a minute to comment on a lovely, sunny, cold Thanksgiving Day. Absolutely gorgeous. Hopefully the same superb weather spanned all the way to Totoland. It would have been a great day to see a giant ball of string.

Yet again, I am absolutely amazed at the size of the balloons in the Thanksgiving Day parade in NYC. Ronald McDonald at 60+ feet long, each of his shoes alone were 22 feet long and 8 feet wide and held I don't know how many pounds of helium gas. I do know it took 50 handlers to keep the balloon from flying off into the atmosphere and plastering the front windshield of some 747. Who makes these balloons and where in the world is there room in NYC to store these inflated balloons? For that matter, where in NYC is there room to store the gigantisimal floats? It is really an event each year, if only we could do without the announcers, I think they get lamer and lamer. They get such a kick out of themselves it sort of feels like they forget the rest of us are here watching and listening to their pointless babble. These pictures tell maybe even more than 10,000 words so who needs empty-headed announcers anyway?

There was Clifford, the big, red dog balloon...

There was Grover, my favorite of the entire Sesame Street gang, especially when he went Up the stairs and Down the stairs. Technically, this may be Grover the Gladiator, I can't be sure...

You had the Pink Bunny balloon, which is not at all the same as a pink elephant balloon, who obviously wasn't going to run out of juice no matter how long the parade lasted. He just kept on going and going and going...

Betty Boop was there in balloon form more for the adults than the kids, taking all of us back a few years. It's funny how she never ages or puts on any pounds...Spidey the super hero balloon man was was there just in case Betty needed saving at all...

Mr. Monopoly balloon man was there, full of hot air as usual. He was taking care of the financing of this operation...

Scooby balloon dog was there to sniff out any ghost busters who might have been in the crowd, you can't be too careful you know...

Spongey balloon showed up just in case they all ended up underwater and
needed to call Patrick for assistance. You must admit
he doesn't look like your average hero. Who would have ever
thought a kitchen cleaning item would become one of the most beloved cartoon characters in the civilized world...

Then, of course, you've got your star of the show in deflated balloon format, looking for 34th street to perform a miracle...you can now officially say the word Christmas and not be ticketed by the holiday police. And it's all thanks to his presence at the end of this momentous parade.
Enjoy those sugar plums tonight...

Thanksgiving Eve Eve

So, here we are on the eve of the eve and visions of stuffed bird are dancing in our heads. I wonder if turkey is truly the national bird (vs. country) of choice or if there are other special birds devoured during this holiday? I know oyster dressing is considered a delicacy by some (probably very few), but that's the closest I can come to any other sort of Thanksgiving traditions regarding the main dish.

So with it being the season for thanks and all, I thought it would be appropriate to share just a few of my favorite things, i.e.So to start with, it's videos like this that bring the world into your living room. I love presentations where the subtlety knocks you flat. In this case, they do it all with statistics and a little bit of music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHWTLA8WecI

You watch this and you feel very small, very insignificant, very stupid in my case and very confused about what the future holds for kids raised in the U.S. Years ago I had heard that China was focused on only keeping male children but these statistics don't necessarily bear that out unless they are genetically altering the genders of all their births. It is really bizarre to think that will soon be the largest English-speaking country.

OK, back to my alphabetical list of favorites which I'm keeping quite short.

Animals, most kinds
Family, all kinds
Friends, a necessity
Fixing things that are wrong, you know body parts, disorganization, messy yard, etc.
Games, except that I'm not really competitive
Gardening mostly so I can sit in it and enjoy
Going to the beach, any
Movies, especially romantic - movie marathons are my favorite
Playing piano, preferably without mistakes
Reading, except when I'm finishing off a series with no where else to go like the infamous HP
Scrapbooking, online or off
Shopping for some things mainly for others, ixnay on the iftthray orestay
Sitting in the park listening to the symphony
Supporting the women's and children's shelter
Traveling almost anywhere except Asia (I don't like the food alot)
Walking, I can't do enough and don't have enough time to do much
Winning the lottery
Writing if I could - this will be more of a favorite post surgery

That is alot of favorite things. I'm fortunate to have them all in my life. On this Eve Eve, I give thanks thanks.

No Dice

The National Democratic Committee (NDC) called me today only the caller id didn't have the typical political call readout, they were clever and used a regular phone number so I answered thinking it might be someones cell phone who doesn't call very often. Anyway, I listened to the guy's entire spiel and promptly responded that I'm disgusted with everything that's going on so I was unwilling to give them any money and hung up. I hope he feels very passionate about what he's doing because very many calls like mine and he'll be depressed for life.

I can't help it, I don't have any one candidate I can say I'm enamored with at this point in time. I'm almost as disgusted with the Democrats as I am with the Republicans. And none of them have brought home the troops. There's so much infighting you can't tell one from the other anymore other than the fact that all of them seem to be taking on Hillary. She just kind of bugs me, I just can't get to excited about her, maybe it's that hard shell she has created to bounce off all the insults. I can't imagine why she wants this life.

I'm starting to feel like a character in a book where the plot requires that the heroine cut herself off from the world because the world is just too disgusting and/or scary to stay connected to it. I am electing to spend entire days in the house, no trips out whatsoever meaning no makeup of dressing up. That's probably my favorite part. You could say that Internet shopping is bad for your health because I'm doing more and more of mine that way, no trips to the mall or at least minimize them.

What' really scary about this is it sounds just a little bit like my mom and we can't have that. I choose to think it's because I like my house and enjoy being here (even with a tree laying across the deck and patio table up against the house. It's always something.

Thanksgiving is coming up this week and I'm thinking that I'm thankful that I don't find myself in the middle of any of this mayhem and continue to be able to live a good life in relative peace and happiness. A few age-related issues here and there just don't compare to murder and mayhem, war and conflict or crime and mischief.

But the Christmas season is beginning (I refuse to let it actually begin until after the next holiday has passed) regardless of all the decorations, ads and lights I see everywhere already. I'm sure they're trying to stretch out the buying season since they are anticipating lower than average turnout. I am looking forward to one Christmas tradition, our annual Christmas movie with my girl(s) and mother-in-law sometime around the holiday. There are some good ones to choose from, I know there will be more than this, these are just the ones I could quickly find..The whole Love in the Time of Cholera was just a matter of time because the holiday movie that came out a few years ago, Serendipity, used that book as a key part of the plot. I had never heard of it before then. I'm glad I already saw Michael Clayton because that wasn't very holidayish.

Holiday Opportunities

This particular blog will serve more as an e-mail than a blog since I can't seem to access my e-mail from here. So, here are some ideas, Sweet Gherkins.

• The First Noel
• We Three Kings (of Orient Are)
  
• Christmas Pudding
• Let It Snow
• Building a Snowman
• Caroling
• Jingle Bells
• Ho! Ho! Ho!
• Away in the Manger
• O Holy Night
• Silent Night
• Wrapping paper
• The Holly & The Ivy
• Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
• Five golden rings
• Hanging the Stockings
• Wreath
• Blue Christmas
• Little Town of Bethlehem
• Fa La La
  
• Spreading good cheer
• Gift exchange
• Have a Holly Jolly Christmas
• Little Drummer Boy
• Nutcracker
• Cookies and Milk
• Decorations
• Garlands
• Candle glow
• Mulled cider
• Home for the Holidays
• Let it Snow!
• White Christmas
• Jolly Ol' St. Nick
• White elephant
• Twas the Night Before Christmas
• Ornaments
• Sugar Plums dancing in their heads
• Better not cry, better not pout
• Surprise
• Silver Bells
• Evergreen
• Poinsettias
• Please Christmas Don't Be Late
• North Pole
• Packages
• Christmas Bells Are Ringing
• Salvation Army
• Angel Tree-Topper
• Hide the pickle
• Peppermint hot chocolate
• Naughty or nice
• You'll shoot your eye out!
• Rosemary Clooney
• The Bishop's Wife
• Joy to the World
• Hark the Herald Angels Sing
• Carol of the Bells
• Meet Me in St. Louis
• Miracle on 34th Street
• Home Alone
• Scrooge
• The Christmas Carol
• Natalie Wood
• Reindeer
• Elves
• Snow globe
• Trim the tree
• Snowball fight
• How The Grinch Stole Christmas!

That's it for the moment. I'm off to HP #7. I'm afraid to start it because that means there will soon be no more and more characters will be dead!

Bonne nuit!

"Born To Be Wild"

No, I'm not referring to one of my favorite all time songs by Steppenwolf.

What I am referring to is how much of our lives would happen the way they
happen regardless of decisions we make or what we do? Not that this is all about '70's music but "Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is"?


How would we ever know if something different would have happened if we hadn't taken certain steps. How would we know we would have avoided an accident if we had avoided the ill-fated (notice use of term) intersection that night? How would we know we would have ever gotten married if we hadn't happened to attend that party and struck up that conversation with that guy? How would we know if we would have purchased that car if we hadn't done that research or gotten those references from friends and family about it?

Just take a look at all the terminology we have that hints at this kind of predestined phenomenon.

Destiny refers to a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. It is a concept based on the belief that there is a fixed natural order to the universe. This is certainly one of the most dramatic terms.

The word "Kismet" (alt., rarely, "Kismat") derives from the Arabic word "qismah", and entered the English language via the Turkish word "qismet" meaning either "the will\save Allah" or "portion, lot or fate". In English, the word is synonymous with "Fate" or "Destiny". This was also the name of a famous Elvis Presley song in the mid to late 60's.

Modern usage defines fate as a power or agency that predetermines and orders the course of events. Fate defines events as ordered or "inevitable". Fate is used in regard to the finality of events as they have worked themselves out, and that same finality is projected into the future to become the inevitability of events as they will work themselves out. Fate implies no choice, and ends with a death. Fate is an outcome determined by an outside agency acting upon a person or entity; but with destiny the entity is participating in achieving an outcome that is directly related to itself. Participation happens wilfully. Fate has a slight dark feeling to it, I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because it comprises the first half of fatalist.

Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely. William Boyd coined the term zemblanity to mean somewhat the opposite of serendipity: "making unhappy, unlucky and expected discoveries occurring by design". These sound like terms invented by Cirque du Soleil.

Amor fati is a Latin phrase that loosely translates to "love of fate" or "love of one's fate". It is used to describe an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in one's life, including suffering and loss, as good. That is, one feels that everything that happens is destiny's way of reaching its ultimate purpose, and so should be considered good. Moreover, it is characterized by an acceptance of the events that occur in one's life. My personal favorite simply because I like the sound of it, I like to say it out loud.

Omniscience is the capacity to know everything infinitely, or at least everything that can be known about a character including thoughts, feelings, life and the universe, etc. This is more than just trusting fate, this is where you have already seen fate and there are no surprises left for you.

Predestination (also linked with foreknowledge) is a religious concept, which involves the relationship between God and His creation. The religious character of predestination distinguishes it from other ideas about determinism and free will. Those who believe in predestination, such as John Calvin, believe that before the creation God determined the fate of the universe throughout all of time and space. More of the God will take care of everything stuff if you are reading this blog backwards.

In theology, Divine Providence, or simply Providence, is the sovereignty, superintendence, or agency of God over events in people's lives and throughout history. You know along the lines of God will provide, or I don't need to watch my kids because God will take care of them for me. This is where I run from the room screaming.

"Perchance to Dream" is a phrase from the "To be, or not to be" soliloquy spoken by Shakespeare's Hamlet. See, even Shakespeare had a hand in this.

Or, there's the classic, "Que Sera, Sera" as coined by the renowned seer, Doris Day. Who could doubt her psychic powers?

So where do you fit in all this? Believer or non-believer? And I haven't even started on reincarnation!

Catastrophe of the Day (du Jour)

I can't remember the last time I turned on the local, national or CNN news. This is for one good reason, I'm sick of the negative news. Anything from murder and mayhem to natural disasters to man made disasters like fires started by smokers from Wall Street crashing to every financial organization's CEO resigning (before they're booted out). You start to wonder which way to turn just to get away from it.

We were talking to someone tonight whose daughter is going on a two month hike of the Pacific Crest Trail next summer, ending up in Vancouver, B.C. at some posh hotel with sweet smelly bath salts, soft cushy bathrobes and really strong room deodorizers for how badly they are going to smell after no showers for two months. Her dad was concerned with the fact that she was considering taking this trip without bringing a gun along. He was mostly concerned about some crazy up there but how many crazies are hanging out at a 8,000 foot elevation? Unless it's a crazy bear or mountain lion, I don't think the serial killers have a propensity to backpack along these trails. Regardless, Kara suggested they take a tazer instead, I'm not sure what that would do to a big old bear but possibly it would give you time to turn tail and run. You could also carry along a bucket of water and a hair dryer. You know how they say not to get your hair dryer in the water, that would fix him.

I have simply got to carry a little tablet around with me to capture those great blog ideas I have throughout the day each day but draw a complete blank when I sit down in front of this delightful little screen. This is how I know I could never write anything meaningful or substantial, I can't concentrate enough to plan out a complex outline and I hate details. So, you add that to a bad memory and I'll defer that livelihood to those more disciplined and talented authors. I'm still in awe of J. K. Rowling. How she or anyone else can keep their various story lines, characters, time frames, idiosyncrasies, etc. straight I just can't imagine. The one area she appeared to minimize was her sets or locations. She basically had 5-6 locations and that never changed in all 7 books (well okay, I'm not quite to 7 but very close).

Boy there are alot of people who are sick right now. Have you ever noticed how little sympathy you get when everyone else is sick too? I guess that means when the pandemic hits, it's going to be each man for himself (I use that term figuratively of course). Someone brought me an article a few weeks ago about the Dengue Fever which is similar to the bird flu but coming this way from South America. It's like it's inevitable, something is going to hit, it's just where and when. If only the researchers could move a little faster with finding antidotes to all these killer diseases. I have a great idea, let's take all the salaries/incentives from all the pharmaceutical lobbyists and sales reps, fire them, and use that money to fund pandemic R&D. This would be a much better use of those considerable funds and would benefit the masses vs. a few very wealthy and in some cases powerful individuals.

I will say that Michael Clayton definitely reminded me of the whole Executive Action or JFK film genre. With sufficient financial and power incentives, people will do anything. And once they've done anything, they will stop at nothing. All morality, all ethics, all integrity become a thing of the past, no longer part of who they are or how they operate. Good luck to those poor suckers who try to stand up to it, to put it in a non-professional way.


OK, time to open some Christmas boxes...Santa's workshop is officially open for business!

P. S. Why does cat food have to stink?




Is it because cat's just naturally have poor taste in bathing suits?

Opposites Attract

Isn't it interesting how the same world that can create something so beautiful and perfect as a tiny human being can also create a horribly deformed, two-headed lamb or person for that matter where everything in their bodies is combined but their heads. Modern medicine has worked wonders in cases like these but why did they have to happen in the first place?

This same world repeatedly creates the most perfect, aromatic evenly proportioned rose but at the same time, in a distant region you can find a foul-smelling, treacherous Venus fly trap. There is the perfection of a spiderweb covered in dew but on the other hand a huge furry tarantula that can bite and cause serious injury to its victim. Oh yea, the fly trap would love to get its "jaws" on that spider.


A beautiful almost bottomless mountain lake in one location and a drier than dry, parched completely waterless desert somewhere else. A polar ice cap that's no longer frozen on one end and an equatorial region a few thousand miles away that fluctuates very little outside of the 80's.



We are a world of amazing accomplishments, in fact they even extend outside of this world, nature can produce more perfect things than man will ever be able to reproduce, we are also the world where genocide continues to exist, where discrimination and hatred run rampant, where tsunamis wipe out entire towns in minutes and volcanoes restructure a mountain in no time at all.



We have more fitness clubs, more fitness paraphernalia being sold on tv every other commercial, more diet clubs, more health food stores, more freedom to do and go wherever we want whenever we want yet we also have the highest levels of obesity, especially in children. With obesity comes so many other health problems like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, etc.

How did our economy get so screwed up that it's only the most fattening and unhealthy foods that are the cheapest and the easiest and fastest to prepare and frequently taste the best? I think we have unfortunately conditioned taste buds that react to these poor choices.

The really scary thing is that it seems to take 30-40 years for these trends to play themselves out so does that mean it's going to take that long for us to turn all this around? That's really scary. It means that each of us individually truly needs to take control of any of these factors that would cause this untenable situation to spread or increase. The health of this country is absolutely in the tank and we're all only getting older all the while folks.

HGTV Overload

I have had it on all day as backdrop to my working so at this point I can't keep any of their design ideas straight. I still love it I've just seen enough for one day. I'd still like to know where exactly they shop to get the deals they get and complete as much as they do for the $ they admit. I've always wondered if shows like that get incredibly fantastic deals from stores just for the on camera exposure they get.

OK, I'm having another coughing fit so this will be short. I'm beginning to wonder if there will be any presidential candidates come primary time. The parties are so divided and the front runners have so much opposition I'm not sure how there can be. Last night I saw that Al Gore is now being promoted as a write-in http://www.algore.org/. The question is could he possibly beat the Hillary machine, the can't make up his mind which women he wants Guilianni or the ever-switchable McCain? I have to admit I can't imagine voting for any of them right now. None of the three inspire confidence, none of them have sufficient experience or even exposure to foreign affairs.

Why is it that is the lamest area of experience for current president, cabinet members and all the candidates I know of; especially considering the turmoil underway in practically every continent and major region of the world.

I still think M.A.S.H. was one of the best sitcoms ever. It never gets old and their writers were certainly never out on strike. In fact, their actors became their writers, very successfully too I might add. It's interesting how they were able to convey both the need for humor in the grimmest of conditions and still keep your interest and appreciation. It makes you hope the real MASH was even remotely as good at balancing the horror with humor.

OK, back to work and more cough drops.

Talking vs. Coughing

If you think about talking, it requires your vocal chords and your mouth. If you think about coughing, it requires your lungs and of course your mouth for it come out. So how does talking cause coughing, at least when you're sick. The way I figure it is that there is one more common theme, breathing. There's the key. If only I didn't have to breathe, I'd stop coughing. At this point, my lungs, my diaphragm, my shoulders are all sore from coughing. And all I want to do it lay down and take a nice nap but I have a pile of work sitting here in front of me that's about 7-8 inches high. Yukky!
It's especially yukky when the weather outside is truly beautiful. At least that helps keep my spirits up, otherwise I'd be getting nothing done, that whole endorphin thing again. I think I've drunk about 3-4 gallons of tea over the last week. I just realized I've been sick for more than a week. Hm, that's not good. What will really not be good is if I get anyone else sick who I've been around. So far so good.

What is going on in the Near East, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Far East, Asia Major, Asia Minor; what the heck do you call Afghanistan, Pakistan and India? I don't know exactly where they are in the bigger scheme of things to know what geographical moniker to place on that region. (And there are actually some attractive parts to these two countries as demonstrated here by the way.) Anyway, are they imploding or what? Why now? I think I've missed something to help me understand what is driving this current mayhem. I wonder if this disruption was the cause for Comedy Central to crash and burn last night at about 8:20 when Jake Gyllenhal was having such a great time with John Stewart? Probably not the reason. Maybe it was something the handyman astronaut who went up in the recent Space Shuttle did to one of the satellites up in space of something, you know turned the wrong knob, got his wires crossed or something?


In the meantime, China has hit pay dirt, literally. They are taking over the financial world and here we sit getting deeper and deeper in it, so to speak. The dollar is becoming devalued to the point it won't be worth a penny at the rate we're going. Better hold on to those pennies after all I guess. It is going to be a very different world for our grand kids and their grand kids. Anyone who was smart enough to invest in China's financials is sitting back fat and happy now. Kind of the modern day Microsoft phenomena. Okay, similar to Google and Apple too. Why aren't I smart enough to pick up on any of these signs. They seem so obvious after the fact. You gotta love that 20/20 hindsight.

I'm Falling!

Now this is the Fall weather we have been waiting for. It's so sunny and beautiful it makes it hard to concentrate while you are indoors because it is drawing you outside. I will say that Beckett and I took a nice long walk yesterday ending up in the church playground next door where we went down the slide then stood back to watch and enjoy all the big kids playing. This is what we have been expecting since September 1st but it took until the end of October to get to it. I mean the weather is in the 60's. So I guess we just needed to endure a little Winter sneak preview in order to earn it. As a result, most of the leaves have fallen and I've started to lose some of my plants but not all. Every Fall acts as a reminder of how much work I'm going to have to do come Spring/Summer. Lots and lots and there never seems to be enough time in the Summer to actually enjoy all the fruits of our labor. Maybe next year?

Halloween officially left the premises today and we transitioned into Fallishness instead. Of course, this will only be for about 3 weeks at which time I'll need to quickly transition to Christmas since I agreed to have a holiday party for my work peers, boss and spouses on the 8th of December. I've already decided that means the tree will not be up yet otherwise it will be deader than a doornail by Christmas and I'm unwilling to let that happen. Beckett is going to have a heyday with the tree and all the decorations this year. I plan to have one low level set of decorations he can go right to and play with to his heart's content. We'll see how long that makes him happy.

Speaking of that particular holiday, I need to sign off so I can get shopping since I already located some stuff that will work beautifully for some friends and family. This is what happens when I don't get lists early. Speaking of lists, wish lists on sites like Amazon are great because you always know what the person wants BUT it also means if they go out there to update it they will figure out what they're getting. If it's not a surprise, it's not happenin'! So I think the rule is going to be get them updated now and then leave them alone for the next two months. That should take care of my dilemma.

So, I'm off to do the pre-Christmas, pre-Thanksgiving, pre-Veteran's Day online shopping I so enjoy. Thank goodness for the net. See you "net" time.