Facebook or not?

All the rage is facebook and I still don't have one. I have enough trouble posting here consistently. My daughters have facebook pages. My husband has one too. The girls are not thrilled about that to say the least. More and more, friends of mine are on facebook. They tell me to get a page. Not that I don't want to see their pages, but I am not sure I want to do it. My girls think it's for teenagers only and I had to tell Katharine today, the adults are there too. No stopping it.

My girlfriend called me last week to ask if I knew that David (GOM) had photos of me on his facebook. One of me SLEEPING...I asked him to remove them. He said he thought they were cute. I thought I should have been asked. My friend said she was not sure she should have told me and I said she absolutely did the right thing.

My friend has a ranch with six horses, four dogs, a cat, and now a pig. She was telling me how funny the six week old pig is. I already know what a hoot her two little Brussels Griffins are. One slides down the hill backwards which is very funny. She always has funny animal stories, but the pig story with the dog jumping in its pen was so funny I told her she needs to video tape the pig at least. A six week old pig is much cuter than the five hundred pounds it will grow to. She called this afternoon and her daughter had video'd the pig and it is on her facebook, of course! I can go in to her facebook to look at it since I have her password. She didn't have a problem with me having the password. I helped her set up online banking and have that password too. Anyhow, should I get a facebook or not?

Too Much Time Has Passed

I cannot believe the last time I wrote on my blog was in March...I miss it. I miss all the friends I have made here. I still hear from some of you and am amazed you still remember me! I just saw the article Sarah wrote, which was great. I got an email from another person who read it as well. I have no idea what is going on in her life these days. I am hoping she is doing so much better than the last time I was in contact with her, via blog or email. I do keep in touch, albeit seldom, with a couple people. People who take the time to email me. Not like me at all. I appreciate the effort it takes stay in touch with old online friends and would like to be more like them!

Last time I posted was around Easter and here we are on the heels of Thanksgiving. Unreal! The time is flying by way too fast. Zoe is a senior this year with a full load, because she wanted to, not because she had to. She is applying to colleges and will be gone this time next year. She missed the big year for voting by one year! Zoe is again the editor in chief of the high school paper and loves it. She is one smart cookie and I am very proud of her! Katharine is a sophomore and is in her first high school play. Midsummer Night's Dream as Puck. Opens next weekend. She has been rehearsing since school started, almost nightly. She loves it. She is also learning to drive with me as her teacher. A bit scary, I have to admit, but she is doing a great job. She will be ready to get her license in Feb on her 16th birthday.

David has had a couple cancer scares and some surgery this year. He is doing great though and I am very happy about that! He and Zoe are going to NY this weekend to visit a couple colleges in upstate. They are staying with his sister Phoebe in NYC. Hmm, I wonder if she knows that yet...She will if she reads this. Maybe he clued her in. I am working with David at his office now. I love it. I didn't think it was a good idea, but we seem to work well together. I say I work with David because I don't want him to think he is my boss! I do love the office work and am learning a fair amount about working in a law firm.

I had a birthday last month. Turned 49. Sooo close to 50. I am looking forward to my fifties.

Off to bed. Hi to all my old online friends. I promise to do some blog hopping very soon!

I HAVE PARVO!

Strange right? First I thought my back ached from loading cases of Girl Scout cookies into the car. As the day went on my back was not the only thing hurting. My neck began to hurt as well as my head, legs, arms and even my wrists. I went to the booth sale with all the cookies and thought I would turn around and just come home. I stayed for an hour and a half because I felt bad that our leader Sheri was thinking she had a post surgery hernia. How could I leave her there when all I had were aches and pains?

The longer I stood there watching the girls sell and giggle, the worse I felt. Sheri kept telling me to leave but I wanted to stay until another mom arrived. I finally thought I was getting the flu about the same time the other mom arrived. Sheri insisted I go, especially since I had chills with two layers of sweaters on.

When I got home, I took my temperature and it was 103 plus. I thought I definitely had the flu. I went to bed under three layers of down and a flannel sheet covering me. The heat was turned way up and I was still shaking. A couple hours of sleep later I managed to come upstairs. My temp was still 103 with Advil in my system. Body aches made it uncomfortable to sleep so I was up until the wee hours while my temperature climbed to 104. My temp and body aches lasted well into the next night.

Saturday night I noticed my leg around my ankle was red. Zoe mentioned I probably had them crossed. My leg was on fire and it didn't go away. I placed a wet cloth on the area with the fan going to try to cool it down, to no avail. In fact, it was spreading. Quietly freaking out, I thought I had figured out what I had. A spider bite. I had a bite a couple days ago right where the redness started so it had to be. By Sunday it had spread even more to my foot and my upper calf. I decided not to go to doc in the box because I had heard several stories about the doctor there who was notorious for misdiagnosing ailments.

Yesterday I went to our doctor. He seemed puzzled at first, saw it as a challenge and looked excited. Not by my leg but the challenge of diagnosing it. Finally he told me I had Parvo virus. I was shocked. "Did I get this from my dog, does my dog have Parvo too?" He said dogs get B12. I said, "This comes from B12? I take B12!" He laughed at my graying, not blond self and said, "No, dogs have Parvo B12 and you didn't get it from your dog." He was quite self satisfied that he had figured it out, much to my disbelief. He told me he could prove it with a blood test. He really wanted to prove it! I asked if he was going to draw my blood or if I had to go to a lab miles away. He said I would have to go to the lab. Like a six year old I said, "I don't want to go to the lab!" and I didn't! He told me it was a virus and the rash would go away in due time, maybe weeks.

On the way home I called my friend Pat and she looked it up and told me it is also called Fifth Disease. Now that I have heard of in humans. I was a little miffed that he didn't tell me that. When I got home I looked it up online of course. Found out it is called Parvo Virus B19. It is usually found in children and nasty when adults get it, like chicken pox is. The doctor told me that a lot of people get it but don't notice a rash, which usually appears on the face of kids. They call it the slapped cheek disease because that is what it looks like. I think both the girls had it when they were little. We also think David may have had it a couple weeks ago when he had similar flu like symptom with a high fever.

Apparently contagious before the rash appears, which would have been at the booth sale. I called a few people to let them know. My friend Amy told me that her daughter Devin had it and she looked really pretty! Well, my leg is not pretty and it is still hot, swollen and red. My fever is gone though, so things are on the mend.

Merry Christmas

I have been bad about blogging for well over two months now. I think about doing it, but never got to it until today. All the shopping done, presents wrapped, cards, well, I still have half to go! I had the best of intentions and bought cards with a photo of the girls. Costco, what a great place, cards are so reasonable there. Upload from home and pick up the next day. LOVE IT. Anyhow, armed with cards and stamps I was ready to get 'er done. I could not find my eighteen year old phone book and it was essential to this task. I had some addresses on my computer address book, but not many. I remembered some addresses from memory after so many years. Others I looked up via google with names or phone numbers and then I was DONE. Of course that is when I found my address book. It was in the "fire" box. Those are boxes we all prepared in case of fire. This one had important papers, etc., ready to grab a moment's notice. Today is another one of those critical fire or red flag days. Winds whipping and stirring up soot from the fires a month or so ago. It is very warm, in the seventies. I know those of you in the snow might prefer the warmer weather, but it's Christmas! I envy you who get a cool or white Christmas.

We did have a lovely morning though and we are all very blessed.

Anyhow, as you can tell, I could go on and on, but I need to get a turkey in the oven. I think of all my blog friends often and really love that some of you still come by when I haven't posted in so long. I will try to make that a priority so I can keep up with you!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody. I wish you fun times and memories with your families and friends.

NO GPS FOR NEW DRIVERS!

We all know how things have changed since we were kids, if you are over 30 at least. Kids cannot play outside after dark even in their own neighborhoods without a parent around. Parents walk or drive their kids to school and back or meet the bus. These sorts of things show drastic changes from the days of my youth.

Years ago I refused to use speed calling and still do. I like to remember the numbers. I knew I would lose the ability to recall them if I stopped practicing them. Same thing is happening with GPS. More and more of us have one in our car. We plug in the address and a voice tells us where and when to turn or we can just follow in silence using the map on the dashboard.

When I turned 16, the very day, I got my license. Those days we had driver's ed in school. My daughter turned 16 yesterday and wants to drive too, but she needs to still get her permit and we need to make arrangements with a driving school to teach her. What a pain in the ass for kids today. It should still be a class!

Anyhow, since kids cannot run around like we did, they don't learn their own neighborhoods, let alone the city or county where they live. Part of the fun of learning to drive is discovering new areas. Areas the kids of today will not know how to get back to without their talking maps. I think they should be advised to use no GPS systems until they have been driving for two years so they can establish roots!

A new California law was just signed prohibiting teen drivers from using their cell phones while driving. And that includes talking and texting! We should all abide by that rule.

Happy Sweet Sixteen to my Zoe!

Imports

I just read that our country is buying more imported cars than domestic, for the first time ever. I say let's make it cool to buy American made cars again. We can make a difference. Shaming people who buy foreign cars won't be so hard. We did it with smokers, fur owners, SUV owners all for the greater good. Why not do it for our country? Why is it that American cars are for the most part, ugly? Not all, but many models are just matronly looking. Missing some blinds in the back window is all! For the record, I don't smoke any more and haven't for seventeen months. I don't have any furs, once had a sweater with a fur collar that I really liked though. I drive an American SUV. I would like my next car to be an American hybrid. Now, if only there is one I like.

We have hit the one trillion dollar mark for spending for this war. I have nothing nice to say so I won't.

On a lighter note, an old woman in a Camry (foreign!) pulled out in front of me yesterday. She had to be ninety. My first thought, after I honked at her, as did the person behind me, was that she really shouldn't be driving any longer. I honked at her not because she pulled out in front of me, but because she was going zero mph! Seriously. No gas. She was looking at a house under construction as she was going nowhere. There were four unhappy people in cars behind me. The elderly woman rounded the corner and when she could manage the wheel with one hand, she flipped me off!!! I started laughing so damn hard. She could see me laughing too. I didn't flip her off, I just laughed. As we rounded the next corner, she turned onto the first street and honked as if to tell me "Screw You" and I followed her. I was turning as well. I am sure when I turned she thought I was a woman with road rage and maybe she shouldn't have flipped me off. I stopped to drop my daughter off at her friend's and the woman drove on. Still, how funny that this elderly woman flipped me off. I suppose if I am lucky enough to make it to that age, I would do the very same thing.

New Research About Fat People

As if being fat isn't enough of a self esteem killer, now this. New research says that if you are fat, you will make those around you fat. If you have a fat friend, you are likely to be fat too. Nothing to do with genes this time, no, this is contagious and caught by just being near a fat person!

It is already to the point of making fat people feel worse than they already do. Similar to how our society got the word out about the bad people who smoked. Yes, it is bad for us, so let's shame them into not smoking when we see them. Same thing now with obesity. It really makes me sick to think that nobody plays with the fat kid now. What happens next, the kids say they cannot play with the fat kid because they don't want to catch it? (Say that with a British accent for a little added effect)

Yes, we know what to eat. We know we are supposed to exercise. We know it could be years before we can look like we are supposed to look and that right there is the unbelievably hard part. It is such a daunting task for some that we go back to our old patterns. Some fatties actually have reasons other than they are not eating enough veggies and fruits. Should the lucky thinner people be able to treat us like lepers now that the new research says it is contagious? If we are to be banished to our own island, I already have mine picked out.

Where is the research that says that having thin friends makes chubby people lose weight? Maybe helps them learn how choose the right foods by example? Maybe the thinnies can choose a chubby buddy to exercise with? I would like to see somebody do that kind of research and then come back and announce to the world that being thin is contagious.

Who funds this stuff anyhow? Live and let live damn it!