I Used to Chew Up Rocks and Spit Out Gravel

Hey, nice to see you! You made it through another holiday, eh? And here we are, back together to enjoy another Saturday Scavenger Shots post. This week's word, GRATITUDE, was chosen by the always learning K_Sra. Check her out, man!

I decided this can be a complex sentiment, but I'm gonna keep it simple. 'Cause I'm simple folk. So, these are things for which I, laura b., feel GRATITUDE.

My own front door, welcoming me home. I view it with GRATITUDE.

Plenty to eat and drink. I feel full of GRATITUDE.

The support of family and friends. I receive it with GRATITUDE.

It has been wonderful reflecting upon the many things that fill me with GRATITUDE! You, too, have my GRATITUDE, of course! Make sure to check with K_Sra and see who she is going to tag for the coming week :-)

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope you're all having a great one with family and friends. Gobble gobble!

Short and Sweet

A quick, late Tuesday post...what to talk about? Well, my tummy is a little off. That isn't sweet. It was one of those long days at work and I'm tired. Also, not sweet. Dang. I don't want to leave on a sour note. Let me think of something happy. Okay. Here is my happy thought...most of the mistakes that I make are caused by impulsiveness rather than by deliberate strategies that fail. That should count for something, right? I'm not sure why, but I am choosing to see that as a less mistakey way to make mistakes. Hey, you gotta work with what you have! Another happy thought...tomorrow is another day :-) Yay!

Happy Monday? Isn't That One of Those Oxymorons?

Did you know that today's Taraday is Monday Appreciatation Day? Well, it is. And it just so happens that the mysterious (not really) laura b. mood cycle is saying "Go ahead, feel great!" So, I am!

I am starting to get a little grip financially, as I've anticipated I would for the past six months. Plus, I have a couple little bumps coming that will help me get through Christmas. I have my longetivity bonus, plus I am selling back some of my vacation time (I still have more than enough on the books). Woo hoo! Makes me feel good!

My family is behaving relatively functionally (as opposed to all the standard dysfunctions). All are on, as I say, relatively good behavior. This makes me feel relieved.

I got to see The Activist, not once, but twice, last week. That was nice. It was fun to talk to him. He's a bit of an odd bird, but I guess that is kinda my thing. Will I see him again anytime soon? Probably not, but it was still nice to see him. I feel positive and peaceful about this.

I met another man on a different personals site. It is called Plenty of Fish. I am not all over the internet, I promise. Just two sites. Anyway, PoF is nice, because it is a huge free site, so you can potentially meet a lot of people. The problem for me is that so far most of them have not been even remotely my type. There are lots of people on there who seem barely able to put together a sentence. I try and realize that not everyone spends a great deal of their time writing, as I do, but still...there are things I just can't forgive. Also, a disproportinate number of these men seem to be very into their Harleys and outdoor sports in general. Me, not so much. I was about to delete my profile because I was tired of awkwardly ignoring random IM's when I logged onto the site...but then... well, lets just say hope springs eternal for a wacky optimist like me. I started talking to someone who wrote beautifully. Let's call him The Guy. We spoke on the phone for a couple of hours and it was...oh, very nice. An extremely good phone call. I can't wait to meet The Guy face-to-face...once again, being the wacky optimist.

So, today, a Monday, I am happy and quite willing to appreciate this much maligned day. You can tell by the lengths of my paragraphs/points what was really on my mind. I am always tranparent like that. But if not here, where? Right? I hope you are all having a Happy Monday too :-)

My Darling Daughter

Girlie Girl looking discolicious.
Here is a rare Sunday post for you, because I had a moment and because my daughter kills me :-) Honestly, sometimes I think some gnome switched her at birth with my true daughter. I love her with all my heart and soul, but boy! She is a handful.

This evening I heard her on the phone in her room. I wasn't eavesdropping, she was speaking quite loudly as she often does. She was telling her friend Joanna "So, you are saying you expect my mom to give you you a ride to Tori's AND home? My mom works tomorrow, she's not going to want to go all the way over to Tori's, then all the way over to your house!" Well, I have to say I was uncommonly touched. It is not like Girlie Girl to worry about my feelings like that. She loves offering up my driving services! Anyway, a couple minutes later she comes out and asks me to take her and Joanna to Tori's. I said sure. As we're leaving she starts mock complaining about her popularity. How she would prefer to just stay home and watch tv...why couldn't she be like one of those girls who does Pageantry. Of course, I get mildly offended, as an old time Drill Team co-captain. I told her those girls are every bit as busy as her, just not WITH her. She asked who they could possibly be spending time with and I explained to her that they had each other and their other geeky band friends to enjoy. I don't think she bought it. Then in the car, she explains to me that they are going to Tori's, but that at around 10, she is going to call me and could I take her to Dani's to spend the night. Joanna will get a ride from her dad later, but she is telling Joanna that I have to come so "early" because I have work tomorrow. So that whole defense of me thing was a cover story to get her from one friends house to another's with no hurt feelings! Lawd. So, I have to ask myself, where did this little girl come from? haha! Okay, thats my little Girlie Girl story. Time to begin another week...

Me Achin' Nose!

Oh goodness. Trickster Woman with No Regrets chose this week's word for our Saturday Scavenger Shots. She chose it and it's a doozy. SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS. You might see me spell it differently or wrong or both...um, yeah. It is exciting to have a challenge and I tried to rise to it. Still, I fear I've fallen short.

First, I went where all good libearians go...books!Here is some of the score and words to SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS that I found in The Walt Disney Song Book.

I think of SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS as something that expresses happiness about something that you really, really like. So, well, sorry, but I must then present my people.
Girlie Girl and Handsome Lad
Miss Personality trying to fly and Love Bug just trying not to fall :-)
Little Prince giving us a look

To me they are SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS. Um diddle diddle diddle, um diddle ay, indeed...

Thank you for bringing your SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS selves on by to check up on me. And don't forget to find out from NoRegrets who she wants to tag for next week. There goes a clever gent!

Crushes on Inanimate Objects

Here are some things that I love that can never love me back :-) Takes a lot of the pressure off!

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

&

Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Both of these books are by Jared Diamond and they are some serious, kickass books! They are both pretty popular non-fiction titles, but since I don't read all that much non-fiction they kind of scared me. But I loved them. They were very detailed, very clearly written, and full of the most amazing stories about people all throughout history. Amazing. Okay, moving on...


The Smart Car Roadster
Isn't this guy the cutest? I would love to tool around in one of these teeny, economical cars! When I see them on the street I want to stop the drivers and hug them. Wow, that would scare them, wouldn't it!


Pyrex bowls
Even though I'm not so domestically inclined, I just love Pyrex. It is so pretty and useful. I also like CorningWare. So sue me. :-)


Popcorn
Possibly a perfect food. Air popped, it is pretty healthy! I don't even like mine all greasy and buttery. But different seasonings are fun. And when you're in the mood for something sweet and not so healthy, you can have caramel corn! Sometimes it is the simple things in life, such as a crunchy, fragrant bowl of popcorn with the beverage of your choice...hot or cold, either works...that make it a life worth living.

What inanimate (or okay, animate, for the more well adjusted) things do you have a crush on lately? The laura b. would love to know.

What Does My Home Say About Me?

What Your Home Says About You

You come across as very intellectual. People take your wisdom seriously. Your hygiene is passable, but you may be hiding some dirty secrets. You are a fairly domestic person. You can probably make a decent batch of home cooked cookies. You are not a nurturing person by nature, but you can easily take care of someone you truly love. You don't feel settled in your life yet. You are scrambling to figure things out. You are a somewhat self sufficient person. You can do fine on your own if you have to. Your friends see you as accommodating, peaceful, and forgiving.

What Does Your Home Say About You?

Blogthings has done it once again. Dang. How amazing. hee hee!

Dancing Fool

Choose and Defend Wednesday is here! Choose and Defend Wednesday is here! And guess what? Everyone is invited to a big party. The whole family will be there, all ages...and guess what else? There's gonna be dancing! Oh, I know some of you will object and claim that you never ever so much as tap your foot to the beat. Today, however, you must all dance. You do have some choice here though. I mean, after all, that is the whole point of Choose and Defend Wednesday.

Okay, so which dance are you going to do?

The Macarena?

Or....

The Chicken Dance?

Take your time. Think it over. Choose a dance and give us a nice defense, right? I thank you in advance for you cooperation in this urgent matter.

These Are the Days of Our Lives...

I feel one of those Variety Show posts coming on. There isn't one big thing to talk about, just a few little things.

* This week was the paycheck week that I felt was going to sort of bring me back under control. Of course on Thursday morning I had a tire basically fall apart. I knew a couple of them were not in great shape, but naturally I was putting off doing anything. It became non-negotiable and the tire place gave me enough of a financial incentive that I decided it would be worth it to replace the whole set. While I'm relieved to have it taken care of, I am once again paddling harder to keep my head above water for the next little bit.

* If there are any Pixies fans out there I'd like to recommend the documentary "loudOUIETloud: A Film About The Pixies". Actually, if you're a fan, you've probably seen it, as it came out in 2006. I didn't see it when it originally came out, but happened to notice it was coming on cable. I recorded it and was able to sit and watch it on Friday evening. That was good Friday evening!

* Saturday I worked and it was a really busy day, so it went quickly. Then after work I took Kick Back Dude and his family out to dinner. We've all been on financial lock down for awhile, so this was our special little treat.

* Sunday was a quiet day. I took Girlie Girl to get a couple of clothing items she'd been pretty desperate about. We went to Mervyn's, which is going out of business. At this point they're offering 40% discounts and their stuff still isn't that cheap! No wonder they went out of business... In the evening she and I went to WTG's house because he was doing a birthday dinner for his mom. This was the first family thing I'd been invited to since I moved out. It worked out fine and it was great to be able to leave when it was over :-)

* Monday, blah blah blah, I gots nothin'. Back to work. Worky work work.

* Today was actually nice in that I finally got to meet The Activist I've been talking to from The Onion Personals. Took long enough, but he finally gathered his momentum, borrowed a car and came over here. We met at the Arcadia Historical Museum as he was interested in seeing our Tongva exhibit. It was really nice to talk to him in person and we hit it off as I knew we would. Unfortunately we didn't have a great deal of time. I had to get to work after only 90 minutes or so, which had gone very quickly. He did come to the Library with me and hung out for awhile, but you know, that couldn't go on for too long. I think we'll definitely be getting together again and I have a new friend if nothing else.



And so time is passing...so, so, so quickly. It is the middle of November, feels like July, looks a little like a war movie with all the smoke in the air... Whew! Thanks for letting me lay it all out for you!

I'll Miss You Muriel

When I came into work today, I found out that one of my co-workers died last night. Her name was Muriel. She was the only person left in this department who was here before I came to work here. She worked here as a clerk, just 15 hours per week, a little job to keep her busy and in the community. She was one of those women who was a sort of pillar of the community, very involved with her children's schools through the years, working on the Coordinating Council, volunteering on the Library Board. She was also the heart of her family, which includes a husband, three children and five grandchildren. She was only 65 years old, but had been in poor health quite a bit over the past few years. This most recent hospitalization was due to a leg wound which hadn't healed properly. She got a series of infections, fell into a coma, and finally passed last night.

I don't believe I ever talked about Muriel here. Probably because she was so sweet and quiet that I would never make fun of her as I do my other co-workers. She had the most beautiful smile and was never anything but kind. Here at work she did an assortment of clerical tasks. Most importantly, she used her ties within the community to do the difficult task of fundraising for our Summer Reading Program. While we were hastily assured that we'd be able to keep her position, as it is negligable within the budget, there is a great feeling of 'why bother?' No one is going to be able to do what Muriel did. I am going to miss her so much.

This picture is from about four years ago. Muriel is on your right. Can't you just see how sweet she was? She made everyone want to be a nicer person. Good bye, Muriel.

...Is Where You'll Find Me Hiding, Waiting For You

I'm excited to find myself at Saturday again! My excitement is tempered by the fact that it is a work Saturday, but man! I love posting Saturday Scavenger Shots! See all the !!! ? Yeah. This week's word, choosen by K_sra, is LACUNA. We all had to run look it up when she put it out there. It wasn't just me, right? Um, okay. Anyway LACUNA required some real thought. I have only one shot this week, but I'm thinking it isn't bad.

The patterns created by the space between represents the LACUNA. It isn't what is there, but what is not there. LACUNA.

Alrighty! Now, I can't wait to see everyone else's LACUNA. Come on, baby...just a peek at your LACUNA, hm? ha! Oh, and for those of you following along thus far, K_sra has tagged Woman with No Regrets to choose next week's word! Yay!

I'd Like to Thank All the Little People

I am indeed honored to have been nominated for this stunning award by both Tara @ Eclectic Spaghetti and Mrs Hairy Woman @ Northern Sky Chronicles. You have r-r-r-rocked mah world, gurls!

This time, I am making it all about me. I'm not nominating anyone else, because I tend to be a selfish bastahd like that. That's how I kick it, dawg. Um, okay, thats not quite it...but I just went blog trawling and all of you have nominated everyone I know to nominate! I am just not blogtastic enough to come up with any other blogs to nominate :-(

Boooooo! You suck, laura b! (I am doing your part for you, right here on my blog!)

Anyway, I humbly thank you and have placed this award in a permanent spot on my ever more elaborate sidebar. Please feel free to hum a few bars of...ahhh...I don't know...some sort of recessional song...as I leave the podium. Adieu.

Three Random Dewey Classifications, Because We Love the Dewey!

laura b's Dewey Decimal Section:

023 Personnel management

laura b = 211812 = 211+812 = 1023


Class:
000 Computer Science, Information & General Works


Contains:
Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations.



What it says about you:
You are very informative and up to date. You're working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

laura b's Dewey Decimal Section:

177 Ethics of social relations

laura b's birthday: 2/14/1963 = 214+1963 = 2177


Class:
100 Philosophy & Psychology


Contains:
Books on metaphysics, logic, ethics and philosophy.



What it says about you:
You're a careful thinker, but your life can be complicated and hard for others to understand at times. You try to explain things and strive to express yourself.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

laura b's Dewey Decimal Section:

777 [Unassigned]


Class:
700 Arts & Recreation


Contains:
Architecture, drawing, painting, music, sports.



What it says about you:
You're creative and fun, and you're good at motivating the people around you. You're attracted to things that are visually interesting. Other people might not always understand your taste or style, but it's yours.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Do You Want to Know a Secret?

Hello all and welcome to another Choose and Defend Wednesday. I invite you all to make a choice and then to defend that choice! This week I was wondering about people's roles in social discourse. Naturally, we can all have different roles with different people, but just in general....

Are you...

A Listener?

Or are you...

A Talker?

Yes, you are probably all a bit of both. Completely one or the other and it isn't really social discourse anymore, now is it? But you know you are much more inclined towards one....so tell me about it! Choose and Defend!

Looks Like Someone's Got a Case of the Mondays

Well, back on task again after a rather lovely, quiet weekend. There is something almost soothing about being so broke that you really cannot do much of anything. There is enough food in the house to get through until the end of the week, as long as Girlie Girl can keep being unpicky and just eat what’s here. I didn’t even want to drive much as I am being careful of gas. So I stayed in and read, talked on the phone, listened to music, and watched tv. Of course there were the obligatory trips to get Girlie Girl and Handsome Lad where they needed to go, but aside from that I was very hermit-like. It was probably a favor to humans in the world that I seclude myself for a while. I am feeling awfully moody and broody. Not exactly depressed, just a mild feeling of triste. Anyone reading my posts regularly could probably plot some sort of chart on my moods. Maybe I should start doing that actually… I doubt there is much mystery to it and is all about hormones/body chemistry. And just being aware of that helps me wait for the lighter mood that will surely come along.

Take Me to the River

Here is another shout out to Tara @ Eclectic Spaghetti for choosing this week's Saturday Scavenger Shots word! The word? WATER. The photos? Um...WATER? Yes, WATER!

As you will see, my WATER pictures are very tame. You'd think someone living so near the ocean would have some great WATER shots, but not so much.... Oh well.

Here is the WATER bottle which I keep at my desk for purposes of regular hydration. Gots to keep hydrated! It looks like I am about to crush my Dwight bobblehead with my WATER bottle...

Here is Love Bug floating around in the WATER of the pool at my apartment. You can also see Miss Personality's little head just above WATER. Don't worry, she's wearing floaties :-)

Okay, that's it! That's what I have to show you for today, for WATER, for da game. Stop by Tara's to see who she is tagging for next week. And thanks for diving in...you knew the WATER was fine, right? Right.

Bloggers, I Appreciate You!

This is an Eclectic Spaghetti Taraday that I couldn't let pass me by. If it is time to appreciate bloggers and blogging, then count me in!

I tentatively started blogging about six years ago. There were at least three personal blogs that came and went. I also involved myself with...lets see....five group blogs. I think those ones are actually all still up, but inactive for the most part. I have had this blog for about 3.5 years now. For the first year, at least, I had virtually no contact with the outside world. People may have stumbled in now and then, but I wasn't part of a community, so to speak. I do know that Tara was the first one to start regularly commenting and it was through her blog that I connected with several of the bloggers whom I read and comment on, while they read and comment here! A community. I love reading people's comments...getting that feedback makes blogging feel productive and there is the whole venting aspect as well. If you look at my blogroll, you will see not just fellow bloggers, but in my mind at least, friends! People whom I respect, admire, and appreciate every day.


So, cheers! Here's to you, B-B-B-Bloggers! I ♥ you and your blogs and your comments on my blog.

Sincerely,

laura b.

My Castle Personality. That's Right.

The Castle Personality Test

You have no problem diving into new experiences. You're so brave that you don't even notice how courageous you are. You like to think that people are impressed by you. You know that you have a lot to offer. You are a very romantic person. You can't help but see the world as it should be. Right now, you feel like the whole world is open to you. You see lots of possibilities. Overall, your life is very peaceful - if not a little solitary. Much of what goes on goes on in your head. You feel like the fate of the future partially rests in your hands. You believe you need to help make the world a better place.

The Castle Personality Test

Aw, this was kinda kewl! I like this assessment of me :-)

That's Why They Call Me Mr. Fahrenheit

We deserve some fun now, don't we? I think we do, so this week's Choose and Defend Wednesday is a good time, baby! Today you are a superhero. Yeeesshhh. As such, you get to have a superpower, of course. Because it is my simple little game you have only two choices. They're good ones though!

What will your superpower be?

Invisibility?

Or

Flight?

Make a choice, defend your choice, humor laura b. and play her blog game. Thanks!

Hail to the Chief!

President Barack Obama

I'm doing a happy dance, I promise you.

It Was Better Before, Before They Voted For Whatsisname

I voted this morning on the way back home after dropping Girlie Girl and Handsome Lad off at their respective schools. My polling place is in the cafeteria of the continuation High School. It wasn't at all crowded when I stopped in. After they triple checked me in, I got my ballot and went to my Ink-a-Vote booth. There were...like, 14 Propositions on the ballot, plus some judgeships, plus Congress, and of course, the Big Show. So I had my cheat sheet and blazed right through that sucker. I had to gently awaken the elderly gentleman minding the ballot box. Poor old fellow...anyway, he was able to show me just how to insert my ballot, he looked at his screen and assured me it had been successfully entered, and handed me my sticker from the tip of his finger to mine. Right on. Now it's all over for me but the waiting. I do have a few things on the ballot that I felt pretty strongly about...well, we'll see. I hope that you all rocked the vote too.

I AM the Wiz! Nobody Beats Me! Nobody!

Now that it is almost a week later I am finally getting around to posting up a couple of pictures from my Trick or Treat at the Library program. I can't have you missing out on seeing me as a wizard for the entertainment of some very lucky 2-6 year olds. Because that is the coolest thing ever, right? Um, right.




I'm the Wiz! I'm the Wiz! I'm the Wiz!

The Word's on the STREETs and It's On the News...

That's right! The word is STREET, the game is Saturday Scavenger Shots, and Churlita the Churlish Figure choose the word. Good one, eh?

At first I wanted to do something showing my STREET cred. Turns out I gots nothin'. Shocking, right? So, um, anyway...STREET signs it is! Here you go...

This is one of the main STREETs running through my city and it is also the name of the city.

Zzyzx Rd. is right off I-15 on the way to Vegas. Everyone takes pictures of this STREET sign because it is so odd and it is really out in the middle of nowhere.

Okay, you got me. This isn't an actual STREET sign. I didn't photograph it myself. I made it over at Street Sign Generator.com. Kinda cool, if not original :-)

Thanks for taking it to the STREET with me today. I can't wait to see who Churlita tags for next week.