Happy Thanksgiving

Today, I am thankful for so very many things.
 For the opportunity to express my views without persecution.
For the love of my family and friends.
For the laughter shared.
For the roof over my head, and the food in my stomach.
For my girls...
For my boys.
I am thankful that the place where I live, here in the N.E., was undisturbed by Sandy.

Today, while lighting the candles on my overfull table, I will think of the people I know, and that I never knew, that have no warm home,  no table left to gather around, and hope that very soon, they will be able to go back to their normal lives.

I will think of loved ones gone, never to share our table again.  And once again...

Be thankful for so very many things.

Happy, Healthy, Holiday to you all... Wherever you may be.

Much love,

Amanda

I. Am bored.

This almost never happens to me.  I can't even remember the last time I was this bored.  It's one of those "I'm bored"s that comes with total apathy.  My fingers ache, so yarn is out of the question... I don't feel like reading, and the internet has failed.  Failed *utterly*!  An epic, and utter, failure, the internet is tonight.  Did I mention I'm bored?  I get wordy when I'm bored. And I drone on, and on, and on...

Meet Ichi.  Our second suicidal Japanese fighting....Betta.










The first one... George... Managed to jump out of the tank.  My bad. I had it filled too high, and didn't have the lid on all the way... WHO KNEW?!?!  He was still alive when I dumped him back in the tank, but I guess he was out too long by the time we noticed.  (Those suckers dry out *fast*!)

I must've noticed Ichi right away, because he's still kicking a week later.  I still have no idea how he managed to swim fast enough to go through the plastic seaweed, and through the tiny gap in the lid, but, well, there it is.
Here he's in his new amusement par... ummm... tank.  It has a filter, and bubbler with lights.  he swims to the bottom of the tank, stays there by furiously spinning his fins, then lets himself drift into the bubbles and rides them to the top.  Pretty funny to watch, but I always thought he must be bored just swimming around in a tank with nothing but bits of plastic to amuse himself with.

That's my problem! I think I need to go search the internet for a giant bubbler!  Or I could, y'know, go to bed.

As usual folks,
Thanks for Noticing me!

Here we go again.

The life of a crafter does not lend itself to too many other pursuits. Add that to responsibilities, and things like needing to shower, and eat once in a while, and sleep... sleeping's good...  I tend to forget that I started this blog.

Working on gifts for everyone again, and realizing that I might actually make it is a pretty cool feeling.   So, since I will continue to be a blog slacker, I figure you deserve a bit of my own personal retail hell...
After I found my scraps of paper and receipts last time, I instantly lost them again, and ... well ... They've been in the notebook I keep next to my computer this whole time.

Duh.

We could start with the very pleasant girl who chatted with me the whole time she was making her med. sized coffee.... With 15 (I counted, because she did each one individually!) Splenda packets, then hit in 4 flavor shots in ex. large cup concentrations, (in other words, 1 would go in an ex-lg coffee cup, to flavor that much coffee.) took a sip, claimed the coffee was disgusting and tossed it in the garbage without paying for it.

Or a mildly funny.,.
We kept the gas station at about 70 degrees all year long.  On one particularly hot summer day, I could see folks walking toward the door, all sweaty and pissy, walk through the door and have this look of wonder cross their faces, and then smile and sigh. Every. Single. One.

And to finish it off, a jaw dropper...
A customer comes up the the U-scan... puts everything through until she gets to her bananas.  She's staring at the screen, and is completely ignoring my calls to her to see if she needed help.  She finally turns to me and asks, "Is this a fruit or a vegetable?"
No. Kidding.

Well, off to finish up a row! ( :

Have a great week, and as usual... Thanks for noticing me!

It's scary how my mind works...

 Let me start by saying, I'm not much of a "chick flick" watcher. I love "Fried Green Tomatoes", and that is one of maybe 3 movies of that genre I'll watch.  My collection includes more action/ comedies, sci-fi and superhero movies than anything else.  My TV tastes flow to mysteries, geekiness, and sci-fi.
Why do I bring this up?

For days I've had the song the girls sing in "A League of Their Own" stuck in my head, and today I decided to sit down and try to figure out why, considering I haven't seen the movie, or a commercial for it, in ages.  I don't like baseball, or dramas, or chick-flicks, but I love the cast, and I think the movie rocks.

AH-HA!

On my way home from a clients house, I pass a road called Stillwell... Stillwell Angel... "A League of Their Own"!
  So now random scenes of the movie flash through my head, and the League founder pops into my mind eye view... Ooh! NOW I know why that guy on "Alphas" looks so familiar!

 *sigh*

Randomness, people, randomness.

As usual, Thanks for Noticing me!

This is what I have been up to

Pumpkin picking with all the boys

Taking random road trips to see the foliage

Braving crowds of people to go to the Apple Festival, and I only freaked out twice!

Being awed by the critters in my own back yard

Baking  with what few apples are around

And adopting Ichi.  The pic doesn't do him justice, he's terribly pretty.

So. What have you been up to?  And as usual...
Thanks for Noticing me!

Belief

I love this picture, it encompasses all the Elements... Earth, Air, Fire (sunlight), Water, and Love.

I'm not someone that is often vocal about my religious beliefs, I believe they are more personal than your sex life, (because, be honest, you enjoy bragging or complaining about that! lol)  

But this election season has brought up a major issue for me.  And that is mixing religion and government.  No matter what your personal beliefs are, what right do you have to tell me what I do is wrong because it doesn't mesh with your religious beliefs? I'm trying to keep this very general, because I know lots of people have lots of opinions, and beliefs on this score..

Let's be honest here, it's my blog, so I can say what I want, right? And hopefully we can agree to disagree, so I'm going to get specific on a point here.

Politicians want to legislate female reproductive care.  I've been having a friendly, spirited debate with an old high school friend on this point, because he believes that my body isn't mine, it's Gods' and I don't have the right to do with it as I please.  A point I have yet to make with him is "If  it's Gods', what right does the government have to say what happens to it?"  But the point I made was how come I should have to bear the consequences of what happens to it?  He believes if I'm raped, it isn't the "childs" fault, my point was, it's not a child.  Until it can survive on its' own, the thing growing in me is a parasitical mass, and as such should be subject to the whims of the host.  He thinks nothing of the fact that the government can say what I can legally do with the body I have, but that if the government suddenly mandated vasectomies, (therefore rendering any abortion other than one that threatens the mothers life completely unnecessary) it would be like withholding gas for cars.  Sure we wouldn't have vehicular manslaughter anymore, but how would we get along? How would we procreate and bring about new generations?  Ummm, vasectomies are reversible, therefore you could petition to get your right to get your wife pregnant.
Isn't this the flip side of his argument?

This is my favorite saying lately...
  

Let's face this truth, choosing the care I receive for my body, is my *right*!

And as usual...
Thanks for noticing me!

Bonus post!

Since I've been SUCH a slacker lately.  ( :

MEAT LOAF!

Tomorrow morning I am going down town to wait in line for tickets, and for the first time I get to see a favorite artist in a non-alcoholic setting.
(Update, I went, butt crack of dawn early [for me] and no one else showed until 20 after 9 for a 10 o'clock box office opening!)

  No, I like liquor, really... But I hate having to compete with drunken as5holes at a concert.  I came to see the artist, not you puking, or bashing into me, or standing in front of me, bobbing and weaving with your arms in the air... I am 4'11", and I dislike, greatly, getting trampled!

I have been to 3 rock concerts in my life... pathetic, I know. I've been to others, but those were certainly not the rowdy crowd type shows. ( :

  I went to 2 Cheap Trick concerts, the first one I almost killed the drunk in front of me by bashing his head in with my 15lb purse, when he gave me the finger for politely asking him to sit down so I could see the show.  Sadly, I was restrained by my husband, and 2 highly amused girls behind us.

The second time was in a smaller venue, and the crowd was so loud I could barely hear the band over them, even though I was directly in front of the stage.  I mean, Robin Zander sweated on me!  That time I was lucky enough to get in a little of my own when some pimp muscled me out of the way so his *ahem* "girlfriends" could get my spot... He ended up on his butt from a well placed foot behind him, and the *ahem*, "lady" lost many hairs when she whipped me in the face with her ponytail.
Please, don't mess with short chicks, we get mean.

Last year when we went to see Mr. Loaf, people couldn't remember that they had seats, and would rush up to the front, effectively blocking my sight considering the awesome 3rd row seats we had.

This theater sells wine, and craft beer.  Not exactly Budwiser and chips. YaY!

30 days... COUNTDOWN!

And as usual... Thanks for Noticing me!