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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Crying with Laughter

Nobody warns you that when you become a parent your sense of humor might become a little "off". And despite the fact that we're human, proven by the fact that we have human offspring, the look a child will give you when you find something so hilarious that it makes you cry, well, it makes you cry even harder because that makes it even more hilarious.

There have been at least two occasion in which my children have witnessed me laughing until I cried. Once was when we were looking at a Pippy Longstockings movie and just recently it was while we were looking at an episode of the The Amazing World of Gumball (TM-Cartoon Network) . In this particular episode Gumball neglected to return a DVD that his mom had rented and instead of taking responsibility for his actions he tried to hide the many overdue notices from the rental store, despite his little brother's pleading that they just fess up.

The episode was hilarious because it reminded me of one or all of my wonderful children. I remember how they would try and scheme when they were little to either get something or hide something. And then too, it also reminded me of myself and my siblings growing up. Usually I was the culprit and least likely to take responsibility for things that went awry.

I needed the laughter yesterday. It wasn't that I felt bad or even that I felt good. I was in a blah zone, if there is such a thing. Laughing woke me up, brought back fond memories and I now have a new favorite cartoon to watch, with or without my kids and without fear of possibly crying with laughter.

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Not For The Faint of Heart (graphic pics)

The events herein described happened on Tuesday, May 24, 2011

I don't think I will ever forget that morning. I might forget the exact date as time goes on but I won't readily forget the events that unfolded. I woke up in good spirits because I had gotten a good night's rest. I woke up with the intentions of spending some time with my oldest daughter. Getting some exercise and going to the library to play on the computer for a while and also to
handle some business. One thing I wanted to do at the library was to get a pass to the museum. The passes allow you to visit certain museums and the admission fee is free. I wanted to go with my daughter and my sisters on that following Wednesday.

So I got up, took my shower, made some coffee and urged my daughter to do the same because it
was getting close to the time to go to the library. But I was hungry and wanted us to eat first. So I took some chicken tenderloins from the freezer and set them out to thaw in water while I did some other things. I figured we could have chicken and pancakes (waffles would have worked better but we had none) but then realized we had no syrup. But that didn't matter much. I could still use the pancakes as I would bread for a sandwich.

And so once the chicken was thawed, I seasoned it and put the oil on to heat up. All is still well at this point. The oil was heated at the optimal temperature, I delicately placed the four chicken tenderloins in the hot oil. No splatters, the chicken was frying beautifully. I had accomplished to fry the chicken to a lovely golden brown and had taken all but one from the oil when it slipped from my handling utensil and plopped back into the hot oil.

Now I'm not sure how to describe what happened next but I will try. When you know that you
are dealing with something extremely hot with the ability to cause serious harm you do as much as you can to get away from it. But in the case of cooking and splattering hot oil with a very limited range in which to run, you have to decide pretty quickly what your exit strategy will be. Well, I knew for a fact that I did not want the oil to splash in my face so my first reaction was to turn away from it. Unfortunately, I couldn't turn or move away from the stove fast enough and I ended up with hot oil being showered onto my exposed left arm and also on my t-shirt and the floor where I stood some six inches away. I'm thankful that the oil didn't get into my eyes or on my face or neck. The pictures below show the full gravity of the experience more than my words can tell.

I told my daughter to get dressed quickly as we had to walk to the nearest clinic which was about a mile or so down the road. I took pictures along the way, I'm thinking out of curiosity of my own injuries and I'll admit, to share with others and gross a few out. Yes, I'm mean like that sometimes. ;-) The pain from the oil on my skin was as if a handful of bees had stung me. My reaction was to wipe the excess oil off myself and access the damage done. In hind sight, I probably shouldn't have wiped it with my hand as I did, but rather have dabbed the excess away. At first glance I could see where the oil had burned me, it stung and so I had to figure out what to put on it. I gingerly removed the remaining offending piece of chicken from the pot and turned off the burner. The sting intensified and so I turn on some cool water and gently splashed it over my forearm. As I did this I could see where the oil had melted my skin. With no butter (butter not margarine), cocoa butter, aloe vera or any other type of ointment, I assessed that I needed to get to a clinic as quickly as possible. Having been burned before I knew that this one was more serious than any others I had experienced.

To shorten this tale a bit, we made it to the clinic. I was questioned several times and looked at quite strangely when I had to tell how I got my burns. After all, how many people want fried chicken for breakfast. I was admonished to stay away from frying anything and to possibly consider cereal for breakfast. They couldn't have known that I prefer cereal as a late night snack. The nurse slathered my arm with ointment & wrapped it, then I was given a tetanus shot and given my return appointment date and a prescription for antibiotics & more ointment. We get back home and I don't try to go back into the kitchen right away. After all, I'm traumatized but when I decided to I could see oil splatters on the floor and over the stove. I had to clean that up before another incident occurred, like me slipping and breaking something.

Unknowingly, on our way home, my prescription had fallen out of my back pocket nearby the rail road tracks we had to cross along the way. I was informed of this the following morning when I called the docs office to tell them I had lost my script. Another patient of the same clinic had turned it in for me. That was very nice of them. I don't like to even, unintentionally litter. And so the story ends with me all bandaged up. Arm sore from the burns and a shot. And like the menace to society that I am, I sent picture messages from my phone and the next day posted pics of my battle scars on FB for friends and family to see so that they would take pity on me.

My sister and friends have offered to fry me chicken the next time I'm in the mood for eating some. You can believe that I will take them up on their offers. I never could fry foods that well. I've been warned to stay out of the kitchen. My dear husband asked me if I could get him a glass of water. Of course, I love him and want him to stay hydrated, but he had jokes. While I'm on my way to get water for us both he says to me, "Be careful. Don't burn yourself getting the water." And so many other comments from family and friends. I have a good sense of humor and have even poked fun at myself.

I've tried many times over the years to make the perfect fried foods. I was proud of how my chicken looked that morning and for all the trouble it caused me it still wasn't seasoned that well. I ended up adding BBQ sauce to it because there's no way I was going through all that pain and not eating it. My husband will have to forgive me because if we don't buy chicken already fried from some place else, he'll have to cook it for us. My frying days are done!











Thursday, May 19, 2011

That Didn't Last Long

Eighteen days. That's how long it took before I decided that I wouldn't survive the whole summer without some kind of schedule. I had all kinds of good intentions. Ideas ran through my mind of what I could accomplish during a whole summer but in the end, I decided that I'm going to take some summer classes after all. What changed my mind you ask? Well...

  • I can and will sleep most of the day if I don't have a plan. --Not good
  • I procrastinate in making plans because I figure I have enough time later. --Not good
  • The plans I made still left me with too much time on my hands. --Not good & asking for trouble.
So taking classes this summer will allow me to
  • Pursue some of my summer interests and all are at the same location! --Very good (saves gas & travel time)
  • I will be active (getting exercise)
  • I will learn something new and also improve skills I already have! --Very, very good
So now I'm just waiting for all the financial details to be settled so that I can start in July. Once again I'm excited about my summer plans.

Rain. Again. But it's May...

I'm not really complaining. I know that rain serves a purpose. It's something we need to survive or plants won't grow and some places wouldn't have drinking water. But it just doesn't seem to want to stop raining. I always thought the saying that goes April showers brings May flowers, meant that it would rain like crazy in April but by May we would have sunshine. That has not been the case. A couple of nice, sunny warm days and then the rest of the week has been wet and dreary. I'm extremely grateful that we haven't had the major flooding here that some states have experienced. And also for them I pray that the rain ceases, for just a while.

Driving on the highway in the morning is the worst. The sun isn't fully risen and not only is it raining but the water spray from all the vehicles on the road sends up a fine mist of water that makes the entire area gray. The street lights don't even seem to penetrate the gloom. The anxiety of having to drive through it can sometimes be enough to make a person want a drink and/or smoke after they've gotten to their destination. You just hope and pray that the person in front of, behind, and on the sides of you value their life as much as you value yours, and that they don't try to pull an high speed stunt along the way. I personally believe that a person, intentionally, doing 75+ mph in the rain has a death wish. On dry pavement it would be hard enough to stop, let alone a road that may have puddles of standing water.

Besides all that I want to break out with the spring gear. I want to wear cute spring jackets or sweaters, Capri pants and open toe/heel shoes. I want to go outside without worrying about my hair turning into what would resemble a giant brown cotton ball (Yeah, that doesn't sound pleasant at all does it?). Having an ice cream cone or just being able to eat outside at a cafe would be a nice change of pace. So all in all. I'm ready for the rain to cease. Just for a bit. Maybe it can come back another day. Like on a sweltering June day, when it seems like water was never invented and then all of a sudden the skies burst open and everything is back in balance once again.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Day 3 -Summer Break


Not sure how I will survive a whole summer if I don't get out there and do some of the things on my list. I was so bored the first two days. Watching TV & sleeping is not enough. I still have some laundry to do but how exciting has doing laundry ever been? LOL

Anyways, now I'm hungry. What to eat, what to eat. I have a taste for some chili fries or nachos. On my way to drop sil to her appointment I'll be sure to find some. In the meantime, I need to write out my daily schedule so that when I wake up at 5:30 a.m. I know which direction my day is supposed to take. ;-)

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Last Week of Semester

I took an exam on Monday and I kid you not, my head felt like it was about to fall off. I tried my best though. I answered what I could and guessed at some others but I don't know folks. I don't feel like I did well enough to pass this class...this semester. My mind seems to clutter with all kinds of information when I'm taking a test. So I'll be talking to the professor momentarily to see if I even need to attend class this afternoon and on Monday for the final exam. Because if I'm not going to pass, I really don't want to spend the rest of my day on campus even if it is raining outside. I could be cleaning my house or aggravating my sister at her house.

My grade point average will suffer slightly but I did very well in my Ceramics class and I'm on my way to a B in my Medical Terminology class so not all is lost in the way of my grades. This has been the hardest semester yet. So much has transpired within the last six months. I'm wanting this week to be over already.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Ah, laundry day.


It's not going so well right now. My sisder's basement is flooded so I can't finish my washing. I only had about three more loads of sheets and towels. I guess that's what I get for procrastinating. I should have done them last week or just went to the laundromat in the first place. But I hate sitting up there and I'd rather give the money to my sister.

So I've been sitting here for the past couple of hours playing a game on FB and making comments on Twitter. I don't know who reads what I write. I hope they get some enjoyment from all the random thoughts I have. Some days I'm chattier than others. Today is one of those days. ;-)

So now I'm trying to find a ride up to my husband's job so that I can get my own vehicle and do some errands. I should have just followed my first mind and dropped him off. Better yet, I should do what I'm supposed to be doing today which is resting and meditating. But before I do that, I have to figure out a way to drain the water from the washer and take out the comforter & sheets within it. I hope during the process I don't hurt my back because it's feeling better today. Yesterday was a rough day. The only thing stiff on me today is my upper left jaw. I don't have a clue as to why it hurts.

So that's my early morning post for today. If I'm still feeling chatty, I'll type something up later.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Almost There!

This semester is slowly winding down. Two more weeks and I'll be free from school, free from books, free from teachers dirty looks! I'm giddy with excitement! The weather has improved. No more snow, temps in the low 50's during the day and not too much rain either. It was almost 80 one day last week. Well, not really but it was hot and I loved it. LOL

I've already made plans with my sisters to hang out the weekend after my finals. Dinner and a movie and whatever else we can think of. I haven't really been able to do much else because of having to study and reserve any energy I have for the greater good. (That would be me passing my classes with great grades, not just good ones).

Not much else happening right now so I'll be logging off now.


Thursday, March 31, 2011

I Took A Deep Breath & Relaxed


It won't be long until this semester is over and summer will be upon us. It won't come too soon either because I'm tired of wearing my winter gear. Being able to leave out of the house with only a light jacket would be wonderful. But c'est la vie, this is Michigan and it does weather the way no other sane state seems to.

I believe I'm making significant progress in my ceramics class. So far I've gotten B's on three of my projects. There are more that need to be glazed and then submitted before I'll find out what my final grade will be. But I find the class to be refreshing...well now I do. The first two weeks of class I was on the verge of decided if I would keep it or drop it. I'm glad I stuck with it because it helps me with my other subjects.

No longer am I gritting my teeth and dreading my Algebra or Medical Terminology class and I owe it all to being able to pummel some clay during ceramics class. I can twist it, cut it, squeeze it, press it and it doesn't protest. In fact, the more I strive to accomplish, a better person I become. At first I tried to do all the projects within the allotted class time. When I couldn't that raised my stress levels. (This is when knowing how to read became very helpful.)

We are allowed to visit the art studio during lab times in order to finish our projects. Well, duh, that means I only had to come to campus when I didn't have a class in order to finish what I started. The notion of not having to rush allowed me to be more imaginative and to venture out of the norm. I literally sat at the table the first time I came to lab and took a deep breath before I started and amazingly enough my projects started looking better. Now that I've got the bug I don't want to stop but I'll save my new secret weapon for fall semester when I'll have to take Biology and possibly some other type of science class. Look at me now! ;-)


Thursday, March 24, 2011

Nice to Take A Break

I stopped at my sis' house because I had some time to kill before it's time to pick up JP. Well, that's not the entire reason. I stopped over my sis' house because she usually has something yummy in her fridge that I can eat and I was hungry. And also because I could get online to check my FB account and appease my addiction to Backyard Monsters. Yeah, life gets exciting like that for me. LOL

Today I scored some homemade soup. Egg noodles, peas, carrots & nice sized pieces of chicken breast. Mmm, mmm good. Better than Campbell's soup any day of the year. I also ate half a roll of crackers. Did I mention that I was really hungry? I think my medical terminology class does that to me. I have to expend so much energy while learning that information that I have to take in calories afterwards. The class is a killer though. The last 15-20 minutes are spent struggling to stay awake. Not because the subject is boring but the way it's presented. The lights are off and we look at a PowerPoint for just about the whole time we are there. The teacher's voice is just loud enough for you to hear her at the back of the room but not grating enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. I've found myself and my classmates dozing off numerous times.

Once I accidentally kicked over my desk because I was yawning & stretching and I wanted to rest my foot on a bar under the desk. But it's not one of those full student desks, it's a half desk so my seat doesn't lend to the weight of it. The desk jerked forward and my book and some other stuff on my desk went skidding across the floor. I was mortified but it woke everyone up. The teacher even made a comment to that fact and momentarily proceeded with her lecture.

Anyways, it's about that time that I leave my sis' house and get on the road to pick up hubby. I missed him. The best part of my afternoon is riding home with him. And so I'm outta here! Laterz!

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Too Blessed To Be Stressed

Between the rain, the crazy drivers, getting a breakfast sandwich that I can't eat and generally just feeling like blah this morning I was ready to blow a few gaskets. Stress will do that to you. It'll have you acting all kinds of crazy. Ready to get out of your vehicle and fight a stranger, cuss out your neighbors and possibly even stomp your breakfast (that's another story for another day, but it wasn't me that did it. LOL).

So while I was sitting here thinking about all the stuff that went wrong, I started thinking of all the stuff that has REALLY gone wrong lately. There are people right now that don't have food, water, housing, clothing and simply the basic necessities in life. They don't know where to get it or where it's coming from. Everything I need, I have and more. I'm blessed, so why am I stressing over such trivial things? I had to get my mind right. Pray and meditate before I started walking around here like some of these other folks with a jacked up attitude.

We are all allowed to have our feelings and to express them, but that shouldn't hinder yourself or anybody else. If it is then something needs to be changed, ASAP. So I'm going to take my blessed self and do something positive. I will find me a breakfast I can eat. I'm going to go into this studio and finish my class project with a calm mind. And I thank the Lord for all my many blessings, my family, friends and health. And I hope for you a blessed day also. ;-)

Saturday, March 19, 2011

I Need A Real Hobby

I need a real hobby, something I will enjoy and dedicate myself to, that is, besides harassing my husband. ;-)

I've always wanted to build a doll house but I never started because I wanted to be in my own home. A place where I knew I wouldn't have to move anytime soon because it would become a permanent fixture. And now that I've started taking ceramics class, I've gotten the bug and now I want to do more of that. Working with the clay has been therapeutic. And then there's my love for trains. How can I not incorporate trains into my collection of hobbies? But that brings up the space/home issue again.

And so I'm starting to see where my problem begins. I want to do so much but I haven't started one project yet. I've collected cows and teapots. One has nothing to do with the other and yet I remember the thrill of finding them and adding them to my collection. But it lacked the excitement I get from actually creating something with my hands. I used to draw, not sure why I stopped but when I try to draw now I have to laugh at myself. I once made a doll house, dolls with furniture included, out of a very large cardboard box using a steak knife. I played with it until my younger siblings destroyed it. But I've always been creative and now that my children are adults, I find that I have more time for myself and my imagination.

So what to do? I guess I'll know in the near future if I decide to do anything or not. I hope so, I'm looking forward to showing off my talent. :-D


Thursday, March 17, 2011

The Good Times & The Bad.





It always make me giggle to say that line from The Color Purple, "I's married now".

This is a pic we took at a small ceremony with family and friends at my sister's house. I adore this man. He keeps me smiling, laughing and if he loved me any more I think I would explode from all the happiness. ;-)

I'm still doing the college thing but plan to take a break this summer. I need the vacation because my mind has been heavily tasked over the past few months. First the planning of the wedding ceremony, my general course load and just a few weeks ago my husband's mom passed.

She was a wonderful woman and I loved her dearly. She will be truly missed but the Lord saw fit to not have her suffer anymore. If it were within my power I would find the cure right now for such a horrible disease that has stolen the lives of so many. (My grandfather also passed due to cancer.)

So I'm outta here for now. Class starts soon and I need to be in my seat and paying attention. Finals are coming up and I need a solid A+ and I might even ask for some extra credit assignments if my grade isn't what I think it should be. Be well and have a pleasant and productive day. :-)