Pink Fire Trucks

Pink fire trucks parade down Main Street in downtown Sarasota on Monday, Sept. 27, 2010, part of a Pink Heals 2010 tour that travels through about 46 locations around the country between August and October to support breast cancer awareness.


HERALD-TRIBUNE STAFF PHOTO E. SKYLAR LITHERLAND
 

Friday Flip Offs 9-24-10

My Friday Flip Offs this week...

• Cancer.
• All of his doctors over the past 50 years that misdiagnosed his health problems.
• The Oncologist for sounding so casual a few months ago as we sat across from him and heard the words "Stage 4  Pancreatic Cancer" and then left the office with no idea what we were in for.
• The Doctors in the ER this week that didn't explain what was going on or what to expect.
• The nurses and hospital staff that were rude when we needed kindness the most.
• My snoring because it was so loud after an exhausting day that Vic couldn't even sleep next to me.
• The uncomfortable chairs in the chapel/waiting room outside of the CCU.
• The not knowing.
• The hurt I feel as my sister cries in my arms.

What's Left

I'm going to be 43 in a few weeks. I wonder if I am passing the half way mark to my life. Will I live past 86? These past 43 years went by pretty quickly, will the next 43 be just as fast? Will I continue to forget amazing things that I've done? I know I won't have all the same people in my life in the second half. In the first half I had to say goodbye to grandparents, pets,teachers and some friends. The second wave is just going to be harder. I imagine more loved ones, family, and sadly more pets will leave me :(

I do believe that we all go to a better place when our bodies leave this life. I am not dreading death. My sadness is selfish I guess because what I fear/dread is not having those people still around for me. It would be better if we all went together.

I really don't mean to make this a dark , sad, post. I love my life. I look forward to each and every day. If I was told that I had only months,days, hours to live would I regret not doing something?

I have never had a bucket list . If I want to do something I do it. If I have not done it ,I figure that either I will or I won't..simple enough. My thinking is a little different on these kind of things. If I would make a bucket list and set about to doing everything on that list I may miss out on other things that I was suppose to be doing. I think that people/things/events are put into our lives for a reason and the simplest things could end up meaning the most to us. I go through life with my eyes and heart wide open. I notice and celebrate the beauty in every sunset, every rose that gives me the gift of blooming in my garden, every puppy kiss....etc.

I don't always know the reasons behind why things happen but I think I come across people all of the time that are here to teach me something or me them. I found a young blogger a while back and feel that pull towards her. I am not sure why, but I feel almost as if we are being introduced to each other for some sort of support or lesson.

When one passes over I'd like to think their spirit still watches over their loved ones left behind, still finishing the earth project. Vic and I were just talking about this last night. She thinks her dad really had a part in making things work for us. I know something in the universe wanted us together because it all just pulled together so perfectly for us when it could have just fallen apart living 3000 miles away from each other.

I went to a psychic once and she told me that I had spirits around me and would always be protected. Nothing bad would happen to me in my life. I always believed this. I've had heart break but very little. I think my positive attitude and outlook on the world helps me to see a bigger picture than myself and be a much happier person than some of the people around me.

What do you think the next 43 years will look like?

9-20-10 Mellow Yellow Monday

The house I grew up in (Moberly, Mo)

and one of my roses

A reposted Note from 2009..Jennifers Rose

March 3, 1991 Vics 13 year old daughter was shot and killed by a playmate. On March 3rd of this year I wanted to do something to remember her by so I had planned to get a yellow rose bush. Her name was Jennifer Rose and she was born in Texas...so a yellow rose bush seemed perfect. When I went to pick out a rose bush I could not just choose one so I got one yellow and one that is yellow with pink tips on the ends (Called a Peace Rose). Over the past month and a half Vic and I have really enjoyed these two rose bushes. Every morning we get up to see the new blooms and as many of you have noticed I take alot of pictures of them! lol We sit out on the lanai and watch the birds, squirrels, bunnies and the furchildren play in the back yard. It's kind of neat because when Vic visited here before the move we use to sit out there in the morning over coffee and talk about how neat it would be to be able to do this every morning...and now we do!







So anyway, soon I wanted more roses...we added a pink cherish and a coral tropicana bush, and then yesterday on my way to work I found myself stopping by Walmart and picking up another rose bush..all white this time. Vic says I did this on purpose to commit us into making another row because she said she didnt want to end a row in white lol So last night we went out and found a bright red and purple bush..it is called a double grafted rose...it grows red and purple on the same bush! A perfect end for our first row!






I have always loved flowers but have never planted any myself or had my own garden..My grandpa Dunny used to take tons of pictures of his flowers and I would make fun of it...now I understand and feel a little guilty about not appreciating it more back then.






My mom has always had beautiful roses too. She just planted one the other night and when I talked to her yesterday she said she plans on 4 more! It's contagious!! Vic and I went over to visit her and we drove around the Island looking at landscaping and gardening ideas. There is one really cool gazebo that is covered with Jasmine...I will have to go take a picture to share..it's beautiful! Now we want to plant jasmine all over...one because it climbs and looks so pretty and two because it smells incredible!

9-19-10
Today I noticed that most of our rose bushes have beautiful blooms. Here is the peace rose in full glory!

A night at the movies

Tonight Vic and I went on our Friday night date night. We went to Sarasota to see "The Kids Are All Right" with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. The movie is about a same sex couple and their two children. The kids are 15 and 18 and were conceived by artificial insemination.

We waited for the movie to come to Venice but it never did. We looked online today and saw that it was playing at a discount theater in Sarasota..not too far from us. The tickets were $2 each! Score! I didn't really know what to expect but just figured it would not be very crowded. I was surprised. It filled up by the time the movie started and it was mostly straight older couples. There were a few other gay couples but not many.
Right before the movie started an older couple came in and sat right behind us.

So the movie starts. It is very obvious that Annette and Julianne are a lesbian couple. They are affectionate to each other, the kids call them moms, they kiss. Annette and Julianne are on the screen and the dear old couple behind us that have forgotten their hearing aids say to each other rather loudly "Which one is Annette?". Vic and I about spit out our popcorn trying not to laugh at this sudden outburst.

The movie goes on. The kids in the movie are trying to find out who their sperm donor is. As the kids are explaining the situation to the sperm donor the dear old lady behind me says rather loudly "Oh , I get it now!" , I wonder at this point if they even knew what the movie was about before they came in.

The sex scenes between Annette and Julianne were kind of awkward because I felt like my grandmother was watching it with me, the little old lady shouted out "Oh good ! a lesbian sex scene" which made it even more funny. I think the only thing funnier was when she said that the sperm donor was fucking the black girl that worked for him. Yes she said the word fuck and yes she talked throughout the entire movie telling us what was going on. Her husband joined in and commented on how he could not hear them (the actors) because they were mumbling.

Even with all of this extra entertainment, the movie was wonderful. I think it did a very good job at showing a same sex couple and even thou I didn't get the gay men porn part, I think everything else was pretty believable and I was super happy the way it ended for the family. I don't want to say too much incase you are planning on seeing the movie. Thumbs up for me on this one!

Friday Flip Offs 9-17-10

I am late with  my Friday Flip Off's this week because I was too busy on ebay. I am selling some fine china for my ex mother-in-law, some stuff for my mom, and clothes from my sister. If you are a size 14 or know of anyone that is I have several pants/shorts/jeans on there that you may want to check out! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200520751325&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

For those of you that do sell on ebay you should really tweet about what you are selling..I did and noticed the views on the items that I twittered about jumped like 500% it was crazy!

Don't worry I have not forgotten to flip off a few things...

1. Michael at my moms vet because he was way too rough with her cat. If you don't like cats you should not work for a vet...she already was nervous and not feeling well and you grabbing her and holding her down by her neck only upset her more..Flip Off!
2. Sonnys BBQ $9.99 all you can eat ribs special. The corn on the cob looked like it was sitting around from the day before. The baked potato was so cold butter would not melt on it and when Vic asked for more ribs the waitress brought 2 out. We won't be going back so Flip Off!
3. Weeds because I have not picked them or flipped them off in a while and they are again taking over my rose garden! Flip Off!

Thank you MommaKiss since Gigi is busy..I don't know what I'd do without my weekly vent session

More TV Talk

Today when I got up to let the dogs out I was surprised with cool air when I opened the door. Most mornings it has been a breeze of hot air hitting me in the face mixed in with such humidity that your skin almost looks wet. Summer is coming to an end.

Tonight is the final episode of Big Brother.  I will watch but really don't care who wins at this point. As much as I hate to admit it, the show became rather boring after Rachel and Brendan left. I was hoping for Brittany to win but with the brigade in place that just wasn't happening.

Survivor starts tonight too but I have not been watching the last few years. I may try the first episode but I don't think it will be come a "must watch" I like Modern Family and the Middle too much and they are also on Wednesday nights.

While watching Oprah yesterday she said that she has 130 shows in her final season. We are two down :( , I wonder if i will cry during every dang one?! I made it all the way thru yesterdays show until the Judds starting singing and showing a video full of clips from popular Oprah moments. Where have the past 25 years gone..holy cow that went fast!

Oprah, VMA's and Twitter

As much as I have been looking forward to the new fall shows starting, I have dreaded Oprah's final season to start because I know it's the last one. If I had a melt down over Guiding Light going off the air and never seeing my favorite characters again, you can just imagine the hard time I've been having with a real person leaving my life after 25 years!

I just sat down and watched the first show of her final season. I cried through almost every minute of it. It was great seeing the flash backs of previous guests, hairstyles gone by and the changes the opening of the show has gone through. Oprah is such a classy lady and I know that she will continue to do great things in the world, but I will miss watching her every afternoon.

More tv news...did you see the Video Music Awards last night on MTV? I was switching back and forth between the Dallas Cowboys game and the VMA's...I'm not sure which was worse.  I think Chelsea Handler is NOT funny at all. I love, love, loved her shoes but do not care for her mean girl humor at all. Most of the songs/groups up for awards last night I had never heard of and the ones I had heard of I would not really say it was "music".  Kanye West proved yet again that he has no class and as much as I like Taylor Swift her song sounded off key and was boring compared to the energy of the night. Cher looked hot, Lady Gaga did not...not even in her meat dress...ack!

I did enjoy watching twitter while flipping channels so I could read what Caroline Manso from Real Housewives of NJ, and Bethany from RHONY thought about the VMA's (they were both there). I find myself reading twitter a lot during sporting events, or live television shows not only to read what other people think but to see what the people that are actually there are thinking...oh how times have changed, eh?

9/11

9 years ago now..in so many ways it seems like longer.
As Vic and I were driving to dinner last night we were observing all of the flags . One storage place here in Venice puts flags all over the front "yard" along the highway for this day. They are big flags now and a number big enough so that you know it's something special.more than just one flag. The first year they used tiny flags, thousands of them, each flag represented a life lost. The boy scouts put them up.

The area I live in was made famous that day nine years ago. It was mentioned for something other than our beautiful beaches and luscious landscapes. Sarasota would first make the news because as the attacks took place in NYC, President Bush was at Booker High School here in Sarasota reading to school children.

Then we would make news again when it was learned that one of the pilots,Mohammed Atta , was trained here in Venice at our flight school. I remember hearing stories of the days that followed when the world was under a no flight zone, planes coming here to investigate and search his home and to investigate the school, to find out more about this terrorist that lived among us, unnoticed.

We all have stories of where we were and what we were doing that day. Most of our stories sound the same in the hours to follow...we were glued to our TVs in a state of shock. I went and stood in line at the blood bank. There was a line all the way around the building and what stood out to me is that no one spoke. Everyone was very nice and many had tears in their eyes but no one spoke. We did what little we could to help in a very helpless time.

Something I recall now , these nine years later , is how we as a country stood together. People were a little nicer for a while, we were proud to be Americans. I had American flag stickers on my cars and wore patriotic shirts a lot. We would smile when we saw other people doing the same. We came together. We volunteered, we listened to each other and offered our hugs to those that were more directly effected than we were.

I still can't hear many patriotic songs or songs about that day without crying. I can't sit in a crowd filled stadium while the pledge of allegiance is said or the star spangled banner is sung without tears streaming down my face.

I am proud to live in this country! When we stand together there is nothing more beautiful to me, and nothing so ugly as when we don't.

Sarasota Pride

The Sarasota Pride Tervis tumbler is coming. They will be unveiled at the Women's Dance Sept 25th and available for purchase. And the best deal...you bring your Sarasota Pride Tervis tumbler to Pride....you get 16 oz of beer for a 12 oz price...and a cup that will keep your beer COLD !!!! They retail for $14.95 ...we are selling them for $12.00....if you want to reserve one or four...email Cindy at sarasotapride@gmail.com and get your cups reserved. Send her your name and contact information......Limit 4 per person.

Fawk You Friday

I know that I normally do the Friday Flip Off's blog hop but this week I'm more into the Fawk You Friday kinda mood.

So with that said , let's get to it shall we.

Fawk You Enzo for making Brittany cry! Yo...you really should be proud of yourself.

Fawk You Ebay for losing all my info after I spent an hour trying to post some china for my ex mother in law!

Fawk You facebook friends that keep making big announcements about who they are going to "un" friend this week...just do it all ready, and be sure to include me so I don't have to read that crap anymore.

Fawk You Florida Lottery for never having the numbers I pick on the nights I pick them!

Fawk You KFC for screwing up our chicken this week. It tasted awful.

Fawk You Dachshund breeder for putting your dogs on sale so we are tempted to get a fifth dog!

Fawk You lack of will power....

Whew..I had some issues this week!
Happy Friday Ya'll!

New Fall Schedule

Is anyone else excited about the new fall TV schedule? I got out my calendar today and wrote in all of the season premiers so I would not miss any. I have NO idea what I'll do on the 23rd because I can only record two shows at a time and have to be watching one. I guess I can record two and watch something else in the bedroom...yes I'm insane! But if the fall TV schedule is the biggest issue I have in my life I think I'm doing pretty damn good! :)

Some of the shows I wrote down are: The Apprentice, Parenthood,Castle,Modern Family, The Middle,Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Desperate Housewives, Brothers and Sisters, The Good Wife.

And I have not even begun to do the cable channels with Cake Boss, Ruby, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,Atlanta, Etc,.and so on, and so on....

Yes, I know. I watch way too much TV. I also rent movies from Netflix but don't always get around to watching them right away.  We have HBO but do not watch it very often. Is it just me or does HBO play old movies and the same ones over and over? I mean I have like five HBO stations and they all either have the same thing playing or it's old stuff. It's not the HBO I remember from back in the day. It came free for two years with my cable plan so I don't much care but I will not renew it if it costs even a penny!

We also make it out to date night at the movies on a pretty regular basis. The last three movies we have seen are: Last Exorcism (bad movie), Eat, Pray, Love (Awesome movie) Toy Story 3 (I cried). I love going to the movies and watching on the big screen. And who doesnt love milk duds and popcorn?! I was accused of just going to the movies for the milk duds..maybe that is a little true sometimes.

I guess movies/TV are my vice. I don't smoke, or drink or really do much of anything else that costs alot of money. The beach is our playground living just a few miles away so we spend most of our weekends, sitting on the sand with our toes in the water. Life is good! :)

The Dog Park

Today we took the littles to the dog park for the first time. There were a few dogs in the big dog area but we were the only ones in the small dog area. It was very hot and humid but the dogs LOVED it. We will definately be returning with them.

Mellow Yellow Monday

Saturday Six

Saturday Six




1.) List 3 celebrities that you would throat punch if given a free pass to throat punch them, and tell us why you picked them.
Nancy Grace because she's damn annoying
Tom Cruise because he deserves it
Rachel from BB12 because her laugh makes me want to jump off a cliff



2.) Would you spend the night *wink wink* *nudge nudge* with someone other than your significant other for a million dollars?
yes, a million dollars could buy a lotta forgiveness



3.) Is it just me, or is Kat Von D one of the stupidest people on earth for dating Jesse James AFTER the world found out that he's a man whore and also one of the stupidest people on earth?
She wasn't real bright before she started dating him...



4.) Which would you choose, true love with a guarantee of a heart break or have never loved before?
True love of course!



5.) Do you consider yourself 'old fashioned' or more 'modern'?
more modern



6.) What's your favorite thing about the opposite sex?
Their partners..*smiles*

Making Themselves At Home: The Fur Children

9/3/10 It's Friday ya'll!

First my Friday Flip Offs!!

• People (mainly I'm talking about family here) that do not ever, ever, ever answer or return emails. We work together and it's frustrating to send questions about work and not even get a hint of a response. So my darling sister I am flipping you off!
• My bathroom scale. After days of doing so much walking my legs are about to fall off, the number on the scale went UP and not down..FLIP THE HELL OFF!
• The Florida Lottery for never having MY numbers.
• Brittany and Lane on Big Brother for not voting Hayden off when they had the chance last night!
• The four boys that acted like thugs at the drum circle on the beach last Sunday. You looked like idiots teasing that guy and really bring down the quality of the circle by being even there.

Five Question Friday:

1. What do you do when you have time to yourself?
Play around online either blogging, twitter,facebook



2. When you look out your kitchen window, what do you see?
My front yard, the street, my neighbors houses




3. Who/What would you want to be reincarnated as?
someones well loved dog




4. What is your biggest pet peeve about other people's kids?
Rudeness. When they interrupt or act disrespectful to adults





5. Regular or Diet soda?
Diet Dr. Pepper,diet 7-up or diet coke

Lasting Impressions

A few weeks ago I was watching Todd Bridges on Oprah talk about his childhood and how it effects how he is around his children today. He said that he always tries to be happy and in a good mood around his kids because he doesn't want them to remember him as being mad or cranky, the way he remembers his father.

That comment really stuck with me. I think all parents should take the time to think about what kind of "memories" they are making for their children. You never know what things kids will remember. I do not have kids but I don't want my nieces, nephews, friends, neighbors,etc. to remember me as a negative person or someone that was always unhappy. I'm sure if you stop and think about it you can pull people from your life into one those lists.

I think about the people in my life that always seem to be "Happy". My dad is one of these people. I know he has not always had perfect days but you'd never know it. He is funny, loving and always goes the extra mile to add a smile to someone Else's face. I really noticed this once we became "friends" on facebook. He takes the time to leave people little comments when they are not having a good day, or leave remarks on pictures to show interest in what other people have going on. My dad is my hero and the person I most look up to and try to be like.

Last December my dad moved to TN and I sure do miss having him live right around the corner! Love you dad!

Wee Bit Wednesdays 9-1-2010

{one} what’s your favorite day of the week and why?
Friday because it's payday and date night and the start of the weekend!

{two} if you could have a glimpse of your future, would you choose to see it and what time would you want to see?
I'd love to see it..all of it!

{three} if you could be any animal, which animal would you be?
Depends on how long I am going to be this animal. Long term I'd like to be one of my dogs, if it's short I'd like to be a bug on the wall listening to important conversations, for a few hours I'd love to be a bird

{four} do you have a lucky number?
My birthday is on the 7th of October and as long as I can remember my lucky number has been 7 but I dont know what luck it has ever brought me.

{five} if you could bring one famous person back from the dead, who would it be and why?
Wow, I'm not sure but someone that made a difference in the world..Martin L. King, John Lennon, Harvey Milk

{six} fill in the blank: peanut butter and ____________.
jelly,honey,pretzels...anything is good with peanut butter!

{seven} would you rather live by the mountains or by the beach?
The beach

{eight} do you have any tattoos?
One

{nine} if you could retire tomorrow, what would you do?

I can't imagine it being much different than my life now except with no where to go. I'd travel more if money allowed.

{ten} what is your favorite all time movie?

I can never pick just one..I loved "It's a wonderful life" , "On Golden Pond","St. Elmos Fire"