I'm Prissy? Where Did They Get That?

Thanks to Candid Yammering for this one.

You Are a Bit Prissy

From time to time you can be a princess, but these days, who isn't a little high maintenance? You know what you want, and you're definitely not afraid to ask for it. (Just refrain from having a temper tantrum if you don't get your way!) There's nothing wrong with having high standards... as long as they're occasionally low enough to allow spontaneity and fun!

How Prissy Are You?

Dumb Internet!!

In case I hadn't mentioned it (I know I must have), my internet has been down more than up lately. I finally got it back this morning for a little while; long enough to read email and check out a few of my friends.

It went back down again. Now it's back but I don't know for how long. If you don't hear from me, that's why. I'm doing more lurking than commenting because I'm not sure how long I'll be connected and I want to at least read as many of you as I can.

Anyhow, we're all doing okay. Ray's been in and out of the hospital since I last wrote an actual post. We're becoming accustomed to it.

Girls are fine. They've been doing a lot of swimming in this hot weather.

And this is probably the most boring post I've ever written. I'm watching the modem while typing; waiting for the lights to go out.

Thanks for the comments and glad you enjoyed the "birds".

Please Don't Hate Me For This One!!

HOW TO TELL THE SEX OF A BIRD

This Is AMAZING!!!

Until now I never fully understood how to tell The difference Between Male and Female Birds. I always thought it had to be determined surgically . Until now.

Which of The Two Birds Is a Female??? Below are Two Birds. Study them closely...See If You Can Spot Which of The Two Is The Female.
It can be done. Even by one with limited bird watching skills.

SCROLL DOWN

Update:

So, is she singing or nagging? This came into my mail box as a video. From the video, the nagging was much more obvious. That bird's mouth never stops running.

You Have Won the Lottery!!

Sure we have. Even with a good spam filter, some of these "lotteries" and pleas for money from Nigeria (worst offender I think) slither through. I report them as spam and I'm sure all of you do as well.

However, as my friend PI in Great Britain wrote today, some people, especially seniors with little internet experience, are being taken in. Even people such as her friend, a retiree with extensive business experience, was duped.

One of her commenters included a link to Spam Baiters whose primary mission is to make life miserable for spammers. I'm not sure I'd want to spend my time communicating with the spammers to spam them right back but the site has much valuable information about these online "confidence men (or women)" and how to recognize and combat them.

Some of you may know someone who might not recognize the Lottery emails and the heart rendering pleas for money as fraud. If you do, pass this on.

If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Blogroll - Updated 7-23-07

I've been going back through my feeds adding (mostly), deleting (only when I'm absolutely sure they've closed down), and correcting (bad links, etc.)

I know I didn't get everyone; I was too far behind.

So, do me a favor. The blogroll is over there on the sidebar. Click on "Ann's Friends - Blogroll" (in the section at the top which says "click here first"). I moved it to the top and moved the banners down.

The blogroll is alphabetical - either by your name (if it's public) or the blog name.

If you're not listed, let me know in a comment or email with the name of your blog (a link would be nice) and I'll add you. I'll try to check the links but if you have time, click on your own to see if it works. I know some are outdated.

(Alice in Charlottesville, VA - I can't find you anywhere except my guest book. Do you have a blog?)

There are a few others on the guest book I can't tie in with a blog either. If you left a comment in the guest book and you're not on the blogroll, let me know. Sometimes I can associate first names with blog names and sometimes I just can't remember.

I have no restrictions on the blogroll. If you've commented and have a blog, chances are you're there or should be.

Maybe once it's completed I'll get back to introducing people in my posts. I really enjoyed doing that but it's another custom that fell by the wayside during the last few months.

And I still want to sort it by country. Eventually.

Too Cute to Pass Up

I found these on my friend Heidi's blog today. I hadn't seen them before and I'm always fond of hearing what comes out of the mouths of children.




I only know the names of two angels. Hark and Harold.
~Gregory, 5

Everybody’s got it all wrong. Angels don’t wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it.
~Olive, 9

It’s not easy to become an angel! First, you die. Then you go to heaven, and then there’s still the flight training to go through. And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes.
~Matthew, 9

Angels work for God and watch over kids when God has to go do something else.
~Mitchell, 7

My guardian angel helps me with math, but he’s not much good for science.
~Henry, 8

Angels don’t eat, but they drink milk from Holy Cows!
~Jack, 6

Angels talk all the way while they’re flying you up to heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead.
~Daniel, 9

When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten. And when he lets out his breath, somewhere there’s a tornado.
~Reagan, 10

Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy. If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow. Then when it gets cold, angels go north for the winter.
~Sara, 6

Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his son, who’s a very good carpenter.
~Jared, 8

All angels are girls because they gotta wear dresses and boys didn’t go for it.
~Antonio, 9

My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got a big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth.
~Katelynn, 9

Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal sick animals and pets. And if they don’t make the animals get better, they help the child get over it.
~Vicki, 8

What I don’t get about angels is why, when someone is in love, they shoot arrows at them.
~Sarah, 7

Castleberry Food Recall

I don't often do this sort of thing but since the type of contamination (botulism) is so serious and this brand so common, I thought I'd link to the Parent Dish post today.

Castleberry makes things like stews, etc. and some of their products are sold under the Kroger name as well. I see their brands every time I shop and Kroger's is huge on our east coast and Canada.

Take care everyone.

Jonathan Worn Out Finally

Below this post are three posts of videos, one quite like the next. Stop if you get tired of watching Jonathan in destruct mode.

It looks like only 2 of the 3 video pages are showing. You may have to go back into July archives for the earliest one.

And feel free to disregard all the "related" clips at the bottom of each video. I "tagged" them "family" and all that stuff popped up. Next time I won't tag them.

His shirt reads "I tried to be good but I got bored". That's my newest grandbaby for sure. He doesn't stop until he passes out. His daddy was just like that and this is my revenge.

His dad came in on a 14 day leave yesterday so today we got together at his house. For once I remembered the camera.

I also remembered my net goes down whenever it feels like it so I rushed to upload the videos to YouTube and then over here. Better too many than none.

Hope all of you had a good weekend. I think I finally got around to most of you. On top of my problems with the net, Bloglines (my feeder) decided to update everything at once and showed all of you with anything from 10 to 25 posts each. Some were on blogs that hadn't posted since April and still hadn't added anything. I finally got them all cleared and hope I didn't miss anyone.

It may be the shove I need to switch over to the google reader I hear so much about. The dumb thing was showing over 2,000 new posts. Insane.

Blogger spell check still can't spell google.

I'm on Book V of Harry Potter and avoiding any web site that might tell me what happens in Books VI and VII. I'd read the first 3 years ago and started on Book IV but never finished it. Now I'm almost caught up.

Thanks to all for the comments and take care.

And Yet More Jonathan

Two more posts of videos below. Much the same - all Jonathan. I'm still having net problems so I copied them and posted them as quickly as possible - unedited.

That room is his playroom and leads to the kitchen area. The rest of the house is gated. I figure it will be about 2 more weeks before he learns to leap the gate.

I'll be back.

More Jonathan

Jonathan Today

I have several of these so bear with me.

More Pictures - See Post Below

After Rochelle had opted out of the fair and Elcie had said she didn't want to go in the first place, they decided at the last minute to go with their mom.

No car races for them; they discovered there will be a free concert. I can't remember who's singing but it's no doubt country and western. They just set out with their mom and Rochelle taking turns pushing Elcie (yes it's walking distance) in the chair.

It was just turning dusk so the quality isn't too great but if you click on it, it will be more clear. The picture of the three of them was really too dark to show up well here.

Rushing to get this on before the net goes back down again. Tomorrow I'll call Comcast and find out what's happening. Our "On Demand" function isn't working on the t.v. either so I'll have 3 different gripes. We ordered replacement remotes and they took two weeks and a second phone call before they sent one. We need two more because our old ones are just that - old. And sticky and work when they feel like it - something like the internet.

Take care everyone.

Happy, Happy!!

My friend Dawn has just said something (I don't know what) that gave them fits of laughter. I ran for the camera so I could post it here and brighten everyone's day.

If I can catch up with Miss Elcie, I'll add her on later.

Rebecca just left with Dawn to go to the kids' free day at the county fair, Elcie is at the library with a friend, and Rochelle just finished cleaning up the living room (or at least hitting the high spots). She owed Rebecca for a couple of cleaning jobs and Elcie's job is always to keep up with her video collection which ends up all over the floor.

The fair tonight will include free car races. They'll go over around five, look through the exhibits, see the animals, and then wait for the races to start. Rochelle was supposed to go but begged off at the last minute. She may have outgrown the kids' part of the fair and I won't let them go on the rides. For one thing it's expensive and for another I may be paranoid but I don't trust the rides that travel from town to town. I know they hire local people to help put them up and I've seen some of the people they hire. Rebecca will spend the night with Dawn and come home tomorrow.

Strange. Up until last year it was Rochelle who loved the races and went to all the free nights with dawn. Suddenly now it's Rebecca. Elcie could care less about either one so she can hole up with her library books or just hang out.

I told Rebecca (and Rochelle) that they could go to the Nickel Arcade with some of the money we saved by not splurging on the fair. They were fine with that.

Ray is sitting here eating leftover pizza - cold. No accounting for tastes as the old lady said when she kissed the frog. He's been fixing breakfast for everyone lately (with Rebecca's help). She's perfectly capable of doing pancakes and eggs now but he likes to do it.

And me? I could probably think of more productive things but it's hot here so my project for today will be to start through my picture collection. I just learned how to change file names and do captions so I'll start with the newest and work backwards. I'll be using the delete key as I go. There are so many duplicates or near duplicates and far too many pics of the floor and ceiling. From now on, I've made a resolution to edit as I upload (or download as the case may be) from the camera.

Then I'll figure out a home for them. Right now, they're at at least 3 different sites and there may be one which is easier than the others. Let's see. I have Kodak (from the camera), Adobe, Picasa2, and Google. I think they're over on Yahoo and possibly Flickr as well.

Obviously I have some work to do. If I ever get them cleaned up, I'll save them to disc.

I may be here until December.

My net just went down - again. It's been doing that off and on for days. It will leave suddenly and come back 20 or 30 minutes later. Or 10 minutes or 2 hours - I never know.

I'll copy this to something and come back later.

Aha! The whole thing saved before the net went down. Meantime I did something productive - a couple loads of laundry.

Posting now before it happens again.

Thanks to all for the comments. I'll catch up with all of you eventually if this net will ever behave.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon

Here's a silly little meme I haven't seen before.

You are most like: Black
You are bold with a dark side. You make clear lines wherever you go, though you color outside of the lines. Many people may just see the surface of you and think you are merely plain, but you have a lot of depth to you as well.
Take this quiz: Which Crayola Box of 8 Color Are You?
Visit Toys For Your Blog.com for more blog quizzes

Once again I'm behind on posting, reading, and commenting. So do I catch up? No, I go hunting through the internet for memes and/or recipes.

We had a busy week. I'm finally getting around to many things I'd put off. Tackline one project a day which means I break even. New projects take their place. A friend of a friend sent us two huge boxes of clothes and they've been sitting in the front room waiting for me.

Finally I went through them. Out of both boxes, there might have been a couple of pairs of shorts or capris that fit me and one pair of jeans for one of the girls. Everything else was too big or too small. I bagged them up and passed them on.

We have accumulated so darn much stuff and I'm married to a packrat who suffers untold agony every time I suggest thinning it out. So I move things from one spot to another - rather like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

In between all that, Ray went to the emergency room twice (they didn't keep him but sent him home once at 1:00 a.m. and the other time at 4:00 a.m.). The last time they gave him a prescription for generic Aleve.

I sent his list of medications to the e.r.; two of which are ibuprofen (for inflammation and/or pain) and aspirin (for heart). I read the warning for the Aleve. DO NOT TAKE IBUPROFEN OR ASPIRIN while taking this medicine, it said. Needless to say, we didn't fill the prescription but what if I weren't so obsessive about reading instructions?

And why didn't someone take a look at the list I sent?

Poor Ray. He's turned into a pincushion. This last time the only vein they could access was in his foot. They've worn out both arms with blood tests and i.v's.

He's feeling better now I think.

The two younger girls and I did get to the barbecue Tuesday night and had a wonderful time. I have pictures but they include other people so I'm not sure about posting them. I think Rebecca ate 4 hot dogs, one hamburger, and grabbed one more hamburger "to go" as we left. She's suddenly experiencing a growth spurt along with the urge to eat everything in sight. She's our 2 pounder and was so tiny and frail appearing for so long. No more - she's almost caught me and closing in on her sisters.

Rebecca had a friend "sleep" over last night and I don't believe either of them slept at all. Now they're both out like lights. Rochelle and Elcie are swimming at a friend's house and it's as quiet here as it ever gets.

I cooked enough chicken for two meals yesterday so today will be leftovers.

And the girls are getting bored with all this leisure. They might not admit it but I think they'll be glad to see school start.

Their Uncle Tim took Rochelle and Rebecca to see the new Harry Potter on Friday (Elcie wasn't here). I sent her on Saturday afternoon. Elcie is the true Harry Potter fan but they all loved it. Said it was sad but it was good. I wouldn't let them tell me. Right now, I've read only three of the books and the final one comes out next week. I'm playing catch up with the films on dvd so I'll have some idea of what's happening in the Harry world.

Let's see - what else? Not much. I went for coffee earlier, picked up rat food and litter for Elcie's pets, a few things at the grocer's, and a book called Catatopia for Elcie that I couldn't resist - especially at 20% off plus my 10% discount.

And the Giants are about to lose their 3rd game sraight to the Dodgers. Yep, they did. There is no joy in Mudville.

Thanks to all for the visits, the guest book, and the comments. Since I don't feel like housework today, perhaps I'll get around to most of you even if I don't leave comments on all.

Testing #2 Home Videos

Okay, if I did this right, it should be a video of Tim. Update: It did so I'm adding another one, also YouTube.

You understand I'm writing this to myself as in:

Ann: Be sure you enter the description of the video on YouTube first.

Anvilcloud, I overlooked the obvious.


There's supposed to be a direct upload from YouTube to Blogger but I haven't figured it out yet. This is pasting code and not hard. I'll stick with what works for now.

This one is from YouTube. I also signed up with DropShots as Alissa suggested. She's right; it's simple but I had problems copying the extra long url. I'll ask Alissa what she did so at least I'll have choices.

She could be a professional photographer if she chose. She's won awards with her photos of family life.

Testing

This is how I feel today!! Is there a cool spot anywhere in the country?

(Not like dancing around the castle courtyard, you understand). Like the title of this old song.

Anvilcloud is graciously helping me with YouTube. I managed to post the commercial video but still have to figure out getting my own videos over there.

In the meanttime, enjoy the pictures of Rebecca preparing to jump, midjump, and under the water.

Patience is a virtue but I want to go kill something.

Instead I'll go boil a few eggs and start my tuna, ham, and macaroni salad for tonight's supper.

They Had A Good Time

I have more and better pics and some videos (if I can figure out how to post them).

Elcie wasn't feeling well so she stayed home with Grandpa and I took the other two. They swam and dove and dove and swam some more. They ate and watched big screen t.v. (Hannah Montana?)

It was just us, Tim and our two card playing friends but they went all out. Lots of fresh veggies and chips with dip and guacamole. For dinner, ribs, macaroni salad with artichokes and hearts of palm, deviled eggs, and baked beans. Wow!!

And now, they're headed out with friends to the fireworks at the Fairgrounds. They should start in another 35 or 45 minutes. Fireworks are also exploding all up and down our block. For once, I didn't buy any.

They had a wonderful day and so did I. I wish Elcie hadn't missed it. She seems to feel better now so I'm not sure if she was sick or just didn't want to go but I wouldn't force her.

I may be back later tonight or tomorrow with more pictures.

Thanks for the comments and good wishes. Hi to Eileen, a new visitor.

Please note my two sons finally signed my guestbook. I had to threaten Tim and he posted a picture of the two of them.

Hope you in the states had a good Fourth and the rest of you enjoyed your Wednesday or Thursday as the case may be.

Take care everyone.

Independence Day

I'm recycling an updated version of last year's post for the 4th as a reminder of what we're about. Happy Fourth, everyone.

Thanks to Wikipedia

Annotated text of the Declaration

The declaration is not divided into formal sections; but it is often discussed as consisting of five parts: Introduction, the Preamble, the Indictment of George III, the Denunciation of the British people, and the Conclusion.^[9]

Introduction Asserts as a matter of Natural Law the ability of a people to assume political independence; acknowledges that the grounds for such independence must be reasonable, and therefore explicable, and ought to be explained.	In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America. When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands, which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
Preamble Outlines a general philosophy of government that justifies revolution when government harms natural rights.[10]	We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Indictment A bill of particulars documenting the king's "repeated injuries and usurpations" of the Americans' rights and liberties. [11]	Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness of his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Denunciation This section essentially finished the case for independence. The conditions that justified revolution have been shown. [12]	Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
Conclusion The signers assert that there exist conditions under which people must change their government, that the British have produced such conditions, and by necessity the colonies must throw off political ties with the British Crown and become independent states. The conclusion contains, at its core, the Lee Resolution that had been passed on July 2.	We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Signatures The first and most famous signature on the engrossed copy was that of John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress. Two future presidents, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, were among the signatories. Edward Rutledge (age 26), was the youngest signer, and Benjamin Franklin (age 70) was the oldest signer. The fifty-six signers of the Declaration represented the new states as follows (from North to South):[13]	New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton Massachusetts: Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross Delaware: George Read, Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Happy Anniversary to Us - 18 Years

I was digging back through the archives to find my anniversary post from last year. There wasn't one because he was, once again, in the hospital. As of this writing, he's sitting right here.

We're heading out for lunch (by ourselves) and I'll come back and finish this.

Later (around 3:45 p.m.)

Since I couldn't find my earlier post, I went way back to September 2005 when I first started the blog and found my first post about Ray . Not much has changed. We're a little older, a little grayer, but we've never regretted our impromptu Reno trip for a moment. The highlight is the link.

Those of you who haven't read it before may find some things you didn't already know about me. My earlier posts touch on some of the darker episodes in my life. I wanted to get them out of the way early and move on.

This link contains links to some, but not all, of those early posts.

Son Tim used to call us twitterpated. It still fits. Marrying Ray was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Ray went out to the store yesterday to check on a part for the icemaker (no luck) and came back with a lovely bouquet of purple carnations. Do two three (I just went back and looked again) carnations comprise a bouquet? Yes, they do.

I wondered why he insisted I stay home and rest. He wanted to sneak around and buy the flowers, of course. Some things haven't changed in 18 years.

We enjoyed our lunch except for my steak which was properly cooked but too tough to eat. My fault - I should have known better than to order steak at anything except a steakhouse. The French onion soup, asparagus, potatoes, and bread that came with it were fine and I boxed the meat up and brought it home to my friend. She can cut it up into tiny pieces for fajita or something.

Ray had the soup and a Chinese chicken salad type thing wrapped in a tortilla. This town leans toward wrapping everything in tortillas, even moo shu pork. Seriously. They've converted me. I bought 2 packages of 30 flour tortillas each today and they'll be gone in no time. The girls prefer them to bread.

We walked over to Barnes & Noble for a cold drink (forgetting that Tim was off today) and then came back home in time to see most of the Giants game. Sorry, my Phoenix friends. SF 13 - AZ 0. Why can't we save a few of those runs for the games we lost by one run?

Not that the other baristas at B&N can't fix a cold drink but I enjoy it more when I can pick on Tim.

I digress again.

Rochelle took a couple of pictures; one or two of Ray and me and one of the flowers. I haven't cleared the camera since my sons borrowed it almost a month ago for my granddaughter's high school graduation. I tried to plug it in - wrong cord. Looked all over - cord nowhere. Called Tim who looked around and said oops. He's going to bring it to me so I should have pictures to add.

Elcie is spending the night with a friend and the other two have gone swimming with some other friends and parents. The house is quiet.

I'll put a bookmark in this and return when/if I have photos.

5:00 p.m.

Tim has been and gone. I now have the correct cord and he has the one to some unknown camera. The pics are uploaded or downloaded as the case may be (they're on the computer) and I'm about to try to get them on here.

If it works, one is a picture of the purple carnations, the other is a picture of me, Ray, and an oxygen tank in front of our house. You can probably identify which is which.

His t-shirt reads "I Am the Boss in My House and I Have My Wife's Permission to Say So!!

The pictures are on the blog and even I can see them. Evidently when I fixed the picture glitch I fixed whatever was keeping me from seeing them on the blog at the same time.

Thanks for all the comments and the guest book signatures once again.

Take care everyone.