Just a quick thought before I leave for work this morning

 

 

I’ve heard it said that a real friend …

 

* is considerate

* is patient

* is independent

* is loyal

* makes you feel less alone

* can stand the test of time

* does not make promises impossible to keep

* has a sense of humor

* is trustworthy

* listens well

* laughs often

* tells great stories

* has charisma

* keeps an open mind

* has tact

* can share emotional and intellectual conversation

* is willing to exchange ideas

* doesn’t say I told you so

* often offers to lend a hand

* accepts you as you are

* is available and accessible

* loves to come out and play, sometimes till 4 am

* is happy for your good fortune

* is concerned about your misfortunes

* isn’t jealous

* offers emotional intimacy

* encourages your creativity

* will sing to you if asked

* shares your interests

* sees beyond your flaws

* believes in humanity

* respects you right to your own opinion

* shares similar values

* has knack for letting you know that you are special

* and much more

If all of this is true then I have one and I am one. For this I am grateful.

 

This is a quick list and in no way complete; please feel free to add to it in the comments.

 

* Viarbooba- I think patientence and consideration are a huge part of friendship.

 

* SloMo- I've heard it said that a real friend...  pimps the mess out of you in their journal.

 

* Freepeace- A real friend is also brutally honest.  Whoops, so much for tact.

 

* Penny- Will help you hide the body.  Just kidding, kinda :)

 

*  Coy- A real friend may have your journal on entry alert. They may see all of your pre edit bloopers, but they see past your mistakes and come to leave a comment anyway.

 

* Tracey-Friends are people who help us cope with life and you have greatly helped me in mine. Thank you.

Weekend Assignment #3 – Recount the worst piece of advice you’ve ever been given.

     I don't often give or take advice, especially bad advice but I'll give this a try any way. I won't go with the really bad advice I got from my divorce attorney the day of my final hearing. (I didn't take it by the way.) Instead... I am going to go with the advice I received from my country cousins when I was about 10 years old.

 

     We will call this Snipe Hunting Advice. Some of you country kids out there may know exactly where I am going with this. To that I say, wipe that silly smirk off you face right now!

 

     When I was about 10 years old, my sister and I went to Alabama to spend the summer with our aunts, uncles and all of those cousins. Not so familiar with the hard work involved in country living, our cousins took much delight in teaching us Florida Girls the ropes. There was a lot to learn about helping on the farm; corn to pick, peas to hull and eggs to collect from the chicken houses and always the next meal to cook.

 

     There were also a lot of fun things like catching fireflies and collecting them in a mason jar, tying a string to the leg of a June Bug and watching it fly around like a toy air plane, making corn husk dolls, blackberry picking, camping, homemade ice-cream churning, porch swings and riding lawnmower.

 

     One night Robert, Dale and Jeanese said that they were going to go snipe hunting in a few days and that if Theresa and I wanted to go they would teach us how to do it. For days they gave advice on how best to catch a snipe, and how to make the very best snipe call. We learned that a snipe is a nocturnal bird and had to be hunted at night. The excitement grew and the advice kept rolling in on best snipe hunting techniques.

 

     The big night finally came and we were led to the woods gunny sack and flashlight in hand along with the snipe calls that we had been practicing. This was also in fact my first experience with a barbed-wire fence. We were led to our separate posts and left alone in the dark to hold the gunny sack, eager to fill our sacks with unsuspecting snipes lured away from their nests by our well rehearsed snipe calls.

 

     We stayed in the woods holding our sacks for what may have been only moments but felt like and eternity to a 10 year old. Needless to say we never did see a single snipe that night, as a matter of fact I guess no one has ever seen a snipe on a snipe hunt before. I can just imaging my good humored cousins standing close by rolling on the ground laughing at these Florida girls falling for this time-honored, country tradition.

 

     This may or may not be the worst advice I was ever given but it was the first thing that came to mind when I read this weeks assignment. Thanks John for bringing back this fond or not so fond memory.

 

*** Coy ***

To shop at Wal-Mart or not to Shop at Wal-Mart

I just got back from a morning trip to my friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart. O.K. I’ll admit it; I have been shopping at Wal-Mart for years. Yes, yes, yes all that junk from China, Guilty! However for about a year or so, I have found myself shopping there less and less.

     I know that many people feel strongly about the world’s largest corporation and its lack of responsibility to its employees. If asked I would have to agree that low wages, long hours, overnight lock in’s of its employees and high medical coverage is wrong, very wrong. It just so happens that my reason for not shopping there is much less political.

     My problem with the Wal-Mart in my neighborhood is the ridiculously, inconvenient way they redesigned their parking lot a year or so ago. They have taken the entire front half of the parking lot and not only reserved it for handicapped parking; they have also designed the spots for parallel parking.

     Now I am not saying that I am against handicapped parking. No way, I am all for anything that will make their life any easier. I am just saying that they have used ½ of the parking lot for these parallel spots that are 90% empty almost every time I go to that store. That means that the rest of us are enormously unconvinced, especially if it is pouring down rain. For absolutely no reason at all. There is no way they will ever need that many handicapped spots. Not Ever!!!

     Luckily, a Walgreen’s opened up right across the street about the same time as the parking lot dilemma occurred. Walgreen’s has plenty of front door parking including an appropriate number of spots for people with handicapped permits as well. So problem solved, we all win. For all of those quick stops that use to be made to Wal-Mart, I can now run right in and right out of Walgreen’s.

     All of that aside, I did stop in to Wal-Mart today for some copy paper and a few other office supplies. I came out with all of that plus a cute new night gown for the summer, 2 new shades of nail polish, a tiny umbrella for my purse and a bran new blue jean skirt. YAY!

     When heading to the check out line, I saw for the first time, the 4 new self checkout stations. I just had to give it a try even though I felt a little guilty knowing that they have probably put at least 8 cashiers out of work. They actually worked great. You put your merchandise on the belt, scan everything yourself and place it in bags that are sitting on scales. Hint- if you try this yourself, make sure to get rid of any hangers or shoe boxes before you put things in the bag or the machine scolds you. There is no receptacle to place them in mind you but the machine will say, “take unscanned item out of the bag please.” I scanned everything, slid my ATM card through and I was on my way out the door really quickly. It even takes cash and gives you exact change. But their was no nice smile or friendly have a nice day like with a real person.

    I doubt I would use it again, even though it was super convenient. I want to do all that I can to insure some body keeps their job.

 

*** Coy ***

 

 

My daughter is working with my sister now. YAY! Last night when they were driving home, they called and invited me over for dinner. I had already eaten but jumped at the opportunity to spend a couple of hours with some of the people that I love the most in the world.

     It was nice; Brittney (my niece) had prom pictures to show off… pretty, pretty!  Chris’ sister Lisa was over with her baby Jack… cutie, cutie! Lot’s of joking around, some not so appetizing cosmo talk over dinner and some plain old catching up time. One of my favorite kind of evenings.       

     My sister works very hard to keep her business and all of her employees up and running. She lives her life running 100 mph at all times. I work 6 days a week 3 of them until 10:00 at night so I don’t see her as often as I would like to. Maybe that will change a little now that she is spending so much time with Mandy, I sure hope so!

*** Coy ***

New Furniture for the Florida Room

 

     In Florida, we have Florida rooms. I don’t know what you call them in other parts of the country, but in Florida they are Florida rooms. It’s not a den. A den is usually darker, maybe with wood paneling a desk and bookshelves sometimes a couch with pull out bed for when we have company. It’s not necessarily a Cabana or Pool House room. Not a game room or a basement. Maybe closely related to family room or a sun room only it’s in Florida.

     Well regardless of why it’s called a Florida room we just got new furniture for ours. Beautiful leather Lazboy Reclining Furniture. Now this is not going to be a commercial for Lazboy or anything but you really should try these recliners out next time you are furniture shopping.  They give full body support in any position. Hey, they are more comfortable than my bed. I’m going to spend a lot of time reading here.

     The reason for this entry is the indecision about adding the accessories. Sometimes less is more. I think that is very true when it comes to overkill by way of pillows. Check photos above and let me know what you think. If every one agrees then back to pottery barn we will go to get it right.

     By the way, we have to wait for the cable guy to move the cable to the other side of the room. Untill then I guess the TV stays here in the middle of nowhere.

 

 

*** Coy ***

       

Weekend assignment

2nd Favorites.

Definitely not as easy as First Favorites!

 

Here’s my list…

 

Movie- Dirty Dancing. It’s also my 1st favorite,  as a matter of fact it is my only favorite. I always feel like I am there when I watch it. Rarely will I watch a movie more than once.

 

Book- How to win friends and influence people, 1936 book by Dale Carnegie. Should be required reading for all teenagers. Although technology has affected the way we communicate with each other,  the basic principles are still the same as they were way back then. Good book, 2nd favorite.

 

Album- Tom Waits, The heart of Saturday Night. Still love Tom waits after all these years. Most of my music collection is exactly the same as it was in the 70's and 80's only in CD's not vinal. No Disco.

 

School Teacher- Mr. Rupert, my Jr. High Band director. We all loved Mr. Rupert. He looked so much like Abe Lincoln that they asked him to pose for a painting of Abe that hangs in theWhite House.

 

Ice Cream- Strawberry Blonde from Cold Stone. Yum… Mandy use to work there.

 

Sports Team- The Florida Marlins, but not until they got close to making it to the World Series last year. Then they became interesting. Still can’t believe they won. My first favorite team has always been what ever little league team one of my kids were on when they were growing up.

 

Comfort Food- Not much on mashed potatoes or Macaroni and cheese. My comfort foods are 2nd Favorite,  Boiled Crawfish, 1st Favorite Sushi. If it were not for the love of seafood, I would have become strictly Vegan years ago.

 

Celebrity Crush- Never really had a celebrity crush, guess I’ll go with Patrick Swayze. My very favorite Celebrity of all times is Oprah, I think she should be president.

 

Ways to Relax- 2nd Favorite, A day at the beach with a good friend, a good book or Mandy. 1st favorite is sort of private.

20th Annual Pompano Beach Seafood Festival

  Spent this beautiful spring day at the 20th Annual Pompano Beach Seafood Festival. By now most of you know how I feel about the beach. (I Love The Beach.) I thought I might find something that I could take pictures of plus I always want to make sure I don't miss anything. "Didn't want Parades just passing by me." Isn't that a song or something?    

     There was something for everyone there today. Disney was doing it's version of Star Search, karaoke style. I saw some pretty talented kids up there. There were booths filled with exotic trinkets and I always look for the Herb guy, I love habanero pepper dip. The guy from the keys was not there but there was a different guy there from Vermont. No Habanero mix had to settle for Jalapeno & Garlic. Not the same but close.   

     I saw a beautiful sand sculpture of a seafood chef in the making, should look great by the end of the day tomorrow. Now that is art. There is lot's of entertainment scheduled through out the weekend. and mostly their was seafood, lots and lots of seafood. Enormous, Gigantic, Massive amounts of seafood.

     For the past 5 weeks it seems I am living my life through the lens of my digital camera and through the pages of this journal. Don't know if that is good or bad but is the way things are right now. Like any new creative project I get involved in, this journal has become almost an obsession. I do work 6 day's a week and I do spend a lot of time being Mandy's mom but other than that, right now learning to use this journal is what I do with my spare time.    

     My friend Dan built my computer in November, I have enough software loaded to publish my own magazine, I just don't know how to use it all. I plan to spend the next year teaching my self to become really good at this. I thought I would start with something easy like this journal, master it in a week or so and move on to the tough stuff.  hugh... as you acn see I am still using you've got pictures to load my photos. But I am getting close, so very close to getting it figured out. If I could just have a 2 day weekend like everybody else I could get it.     

     Once I started here I got hooked. I spend so much of my time in search of new photos and new thoughts to put into words, not to mention all of the time spent reading all of these other wonderful journals I've found here. You all have such interesting lives. I guess I'll just relax and stay a while, I like it here

                                             *** Coy ***