TAXES

The Federal giveth and the State taketh away...

This is the time of the year, we all dread...unless

you know for a fact that you are getting a refund..

Then you are down to your local tax person.. or

adventure enough to do it yourself... I say adventure

enough, because they keep changing the rules, so

it is hard to know if you got it right.

This year is a little tougher as you have to show

proof of insurance.. health insurance that is.. because

this is the first year of "no insurance", fines.  Some have

gotten hit for a little over $100...  some talk about $600.

Which when you think about how much it cost for

health insurance...it might be cheaper IF YOU ARE

HEALTH, to just pay the fine.

So Friday, I went into my local guy and laid out

my proof of income, my proof of outgoing... and

at the end it was... what do you want to hear first?

The good news or the bad news... Being I like to

get the bad over with.. and enjoy the good... I went

bad first... I OWE the state... BUT the good news is

I get BACK money from the Federal...so will have

enough to pay the STATE... and that is good news.

At least in my book... 

Tennis elbow?

I think I have tennis elbow... and while I am

at it.. I think I have bowler's wrist...

I decided to alternate my Wii disc...On

Monday, Wednesday and Friday... to do

exercise disc.. And on Tuesday and Thursday

to do the sport disc, that I finally found.

Well, I did some last Thursday and then

on Friday, my wrist hurt a little.. wondered

how I might have strained it.  Then put

it out of my mind.

This week, went well.... well, as well as it

can go for exercising...  Remember I HATE

exercising.  I don't mind walking outside..

but confined exercising is not my forte.

Then Tuesday night, again with the weak

wrist.. with pain.. and the elbow... On to this

morning.. and it is back with a vengeance.

Then I had my AH HA moment.. Last Thurs.,

this Tues. and Thurs.... what was I doing?

Playing tennis, baseball, and bowling.. and

I love to bowl. I use to do the real thing for

years. In fact they thought I was going to have

my twins in the alley on my last game, spring

that year. 1968.  And I only wish I did as well

as I do with the Wii... as I get a lot of spares

and strikes.. but anyway.. each day that I

played, I increased my amount of games.

Especially the bowling..  wa la... now I know

why my wrist hurts and my elbows hurt.  

The yard ....clean up time.

While the East Coast still gets hammered with

snow.. and I feel bad for them...  We have had

rain, wind and fog.  So my once 2 foot of snow

in our yard, is gone.  Only skips of snow we have

here, is where we piled up snow out of our drive

way...and even that is disappearing.

So as I walk around the yard, I see so much work.

And I debate ...should I be removing all those old

leaves from the lilies and etc?  As they do provide

shelter to the new growth.. And there is new growth

under all that..

This is the time of the year where the yard does

not look its best. Dirt, and old leaves, brown grass..

junk that has blown into the yard... 

This is only February, so I don't think I should be

pruning my bushes and etc.. As I found out about

3 years ago in March, when I foolishly thought we

might have a early spring.. only to have a foot of

snow dumped on my pruned Clematis and etc.

Thought I lost them for sure.

So I look with dread, and yet excitement of Spring

to come.. Dread with all the stuff I have to rake and

pull up.. cut back.. and etc..

Weather man has forecasted an warmer winter,

and that is true.. also a drier winter.. but that

so far is not true, as we have had a week of rain.

What do I do... clean up or wait... and I am so out

of shape from last year's yard work.. muscles I haven't

used over the winter.. and etc...  Not looking forward

to that. 

Update... did the work this afternoon.. 

 up went the kits on a stick...

and the flags..

 bird feeder needs cleaning

Pots waiting to be filled...

 scarecrow needs some work but ready for seeds..and birds..

 in the shade it was 40 but in the sun it was 52

 GOOD BYE... SNOW MAN... not quite hello clematis

some of the yard art... bear is 30 years old.. got at Silverwood when it first open and they
had crafts day there..  dog we have had before Misty.. about 9 years.. and the
girl on the left got at a yard sale 2 years ago and had the King paint her.. the
then my Portuguese woman...we have had about 12 years.. she needs a touch up too.
can't wait until we get the table and chairs up on the deck..

Working in a man's world.

Every time I say that or hear someone else say that,

it brings me to the song that James Brown sang..

It's a man's world... Just the one line... don't know

what the rest of the words are.

Working in a man's world runs thru our family.

First is my daughter's... each one works in a

job that usually is done by a man.  All 4 of them

at one time or another has had that kind of job.

Me, I use to work with my husband who died in 1986,

and we smashed cars for a living..  My job was to set

them on fire, so we could reach in and pull the wire

harness out.. It was copper wire. Also it burnt the

seats and left the metal... Then we would smash it,

load it up on the truck and take them to Seattle.

My job was, as I said.. burn the cars.. also pull

out the wire... and when loading them, I would

stand on the top of the cab and line up the car

we were loading so it was straight, and then give

the signal to lower the car on top of the previous

one.  One time when my husband was out of town,

he called and said he was heading back home to

start a load... So with his partner, I smashed 7

cars, so they were ready to load. Our smasher

was a card table piece of iron.. about 4 or 6 inches

thick. It was connected to a cable, which was on

pulleys.  There was a wheel that the cable would

wind up on.. and then I would hit the lever and it

would fly down on top of the car... By moving around

the car, I would have it all about 3 feet high, when

done...

My mother, was well known for being a woman fishing

net seamstress.  She would sting two white fishing nets

thru our living room in the winter.. and sew them together.

They would be about 50 feet long.  They were used for

trapping fish by a commercial fisherman. And in the summer,

they would drop the nets in to the tar pit.  And during the

summer they would bring back difference nets.. (they

had about 3 of them) and string them out across the field.

She would stand out there all day, going over each section,

finding the holes and repair them..  This brought her a

very dark tan and skin that was almost like leather. Giving

her a round look the rest of her life.  This went on for about

10 years.  She was the only known woman net seamstress

on the East Coast.

My grandmother, was a teacher... while there were some

women teachers in her time..  most were men, especially

when they were on an island.. She taught at Prudence Island

first and then Jamestown.

So we come from a long line of "working in a man's world".

By the way, I just went and checked out the words to that

song.. and like one of the lines... 

This is a mans world
But it would be nothing, nothing
Not one little thing
Without a women or a girl

that is very true.. at least in our family...

I help load this.. my job was to stand on the cab and hold the car that is held in the air.. and
make sure it is straight with the rest of the load, before I nod my head to have it lowered... 
I had smashed 3/4 of this load while Marv was out of state... already to be loaded and then he smashed the rest. 

President's Day???

Happy President's Day.. I think.

Why are we celebrating President's Day

on February 16th?  I know.. some idiot

thought it would save government money

if they did it on ...what?? second Monday?

It makes no sense.. First of all, when I was

young.... I know, I know...no one wants to

hear those words.... but still... At least I

knew it was Lincoln's birthday on the 12th

of February....and I knew that it was

Washington's birthday on the 22nd of February.

How the heck are the kids suppose to know

with this type of stuff...

Oh, I get it.. the schools and government

don't care if the kids know when Lincoln

and Washington were born. That is not

important anymore.  So why did WE, have to

know when it was? It was on many test, as

we grew up and had civic classes and history.

And I suppose that now, that it is called

President's Day, that  includes  ALL Presidents.

Why bother?  Presidents aren't as important

as they use to be. Now they are just some

one to hold up to ridicule....be it Obama or

Bush.  So why bother...

HEY, I got an idea.. why not have employee birthday
day off...  that way it is staggered.. or if they want to 
do it all the same day.. how about the last day of 
June.. that way it is in the middle of the year. 
After all the place I worked at did that.. because we
didn't get holidays off.. You had to put in 2 months 
ahead if you wanted a holiday off.. other wise we got
paid time and half. 

President's Day cancelled.. due to lack of interest. 

Trying to keep the circle small.....

As I told you a year or more ago... I have

gave up on keeping a close eye on things

of the national or even international sort.

It started mostly in the election year...where

I got discussed with all the things going on.

Don't get me wrong, I watch the news with

cynic view and following the old saying of...

believe 1/4 of what you hear and 1/2 of what

you see.  And when it comes to the media..

well maybe 1/8..

Brian Williamson hasn't helped the situation.

Sad, as he seemed to be such a nice young

man. Why he chose to lie to make his story

be more important, I don't have a clue. But

here it is 10 + years later it comes to bit him

in the butt.  making one even more cynical

than before.

But of late, it is even harder to read the news

or watch the news.  The horror of the so called

adults, torturing children.. throwing them off

bridges, burning them.. drowning them.. starving

them and keeping them in closets for months

to year..  I have wrote before...CHILDREN ARE

NOT DISPOSABLE..  God entrust us with these

sweet innocent children.. If I had my way,

people would have to go thru parenting class

before they would be allowed to have a child.

I know, I know, there are some wonderful

parents out there.. I have them in my own

family, who I watch with amazement and pride.

I never have been able to watch a show about

abused children..  I was slightly abused as a

child. A woman who never been around children,

who had no clue how to deal with them.. and

only knew discipline side of things.  I say

slightly because it is nothing compared to what

you read in the media... And at the time I was

going thru it...I didn't think much about it, as I

thought all parents were like that.  My father

was a loving man, and my salvation.  And later

I thanked my mother for raising me as she did.

Because without it, I wouldn't have made it thru

what life threw at me.. I was already strong, and

stood up for myself. For that I thanked her for.

She didn't quite understand.

As I close the circle closer...meaning letting go

of the world problems.. as I can't do anything

about them... letting go of the national problems

as I can't do anything about that either. I vote..

Every time.. but even that only goes so far.

Votes are bought on the national level.

Letting go somewhat on the state level.. as

other than voting there isn't much I can do there.

I stand up for what I can do.. that I have a possibility

of changing.    Like they say, "if you don't stand for

something, you'll fall for anything"..

But most of all I have closed the circle around those

who I love..  be they family or friends... with my

motto... do no harm...

But it saddens me that others don't feel the same

for their love ones.. how can they destroy those

around them.  It is one thing to walk away.. but

why have the need to destroy..  especially a child.

I had an ex who said I saw the world thru roses

colored glasses.. guess I still do.. or maybe want

to. wishing other would.. And the older I get, the

closer the circle, has gotten. 

Balance and coordination.. NOT...

It is amazing I can chew gum and walk.

I know I am not the best, but I thought

I was doing pretty well..... but then again.

When I think about my dancing.. or lack of..

well, let's just say  white girl has no rhythm.

As I was working out on my Wii today, I

decided to try out the boxing set.  It is

easy peasy they say... lol.. they don't know

me.  They have the mimes or what ever they

call them.. show you the moves.. it is a matter

of stepping one foot off the Wii board and take

the ones in your hands and wave them at the

tv set in the motion of punching the punching

bag.  Easy right?  I made the first 3 moves

pretty good.. but then they step it up.. and

all a sudden I am moving the wrong foot off,

and throwing left when it is suppose to be

the right..  It is easy, just watch and move

when they do.. but I get so into the punching

I forget what my feet are doing.

So I moved on to the dance steps, on and

off the board.. step up one foot, then the other

and back off again, skip the blanks, and back

up again and back off... Some times it tells

you it is ok.. some times and rarely for me,

it says PERFECT... and then you do one step

up, and then to the side, and back to the board.

Well, the more I try the worse I seem to get..

But I ever was very good at that stuff anyway.

That is why I flunked square dancing classes.

I was glad the hokey pokey was slow, or I would

have been putting the wrong foot in..

Thankfully, my walking is still working...  

Be your Valentine? ?

Every year I see so many people who spend so

much money,  just to prove to their love ones that

they, in fact, do love them.

I trained the King years ago.. NO FLOWERS...

definitely no candy (not a candy person, nor do

my hips need it) ... ABSOLUTELY NO JEWELRY!!

We may go to breakfast if it is the weekend. But

rarely go out to dinner, as there are so many crowds.

So unless we do the senior citizen 3:30 or 4:00pm

crowd.. we skip that too...  So we might fix dinner

together.. buying something special, like clams,

scallops or grab an elk steak out of the freezer.

I know the Valentine dealing stores would have a

heart attack if everyone thought like I do.. but I just

can't see where one has to buy and some times

buy big time.. to prove you love your love one.

Flowers double in price.. candy comes in bigger

and more expensive boxes.. and jewelry.. what is

up with that.. more like guilt jewelry.

But maybe it is because I am lucky... the King

buys me flowers thru the year.... for no reason

at all.. or if he does.. he does it because he knows

I had a rough day, and wants to cheer me up. I

am not really big on roses.. they are pretty but

most store roses smell like a funeral home. So

I get carnations.. if they smell good, as some of them

are like funeral homes too.

You see.. in my house...every day is Valentine's

Day.  We tell each other that we love each other

daily, some times more.. last thing we say on the

phone, last thing we say before one of us leaves

the house. And sometimes.. one of us will come

up to the other and hug and say ...you know..I

love you...  Now young people probably think

that we are corny.  but it just comes second

nature to us. No be hurrah, just a lovingly

said words.

I think if one really wanted to do something to

impress their love one that they really do love

them.. they would write a little note... in their

own handwriting... of how much they love each

other.. how when they met, they had certain thoughts

of what love was, and as the years have gone by,,

that they have found out that love means so much

more.. And if they can express that, explain what

so much more is to them..   Now that would be a

wonderful gift to your love one.. And I bet that note

will end up in a special place in a drawer to be saved

for years to come.. These are the type of notes that

children find after their parents pass away... because

it meant so much to the receiver.

So you all add to till in each store.. add to your

credit card... just to prove your love.. but I will take

that dinner we make together... or a note of love anytime..

 Oh, one more thing, what is the deal with the guy

has to buy the flowers, the candy, the dinner and

the jewelry? What is with you girls?  Do you buy

anything for your guy?  Tools,  or anything else

of equal value??? after all this is equal times for

men and WOMEN..

Prisoners of war....

There is or was a young lady from Arizona,

who is suppose to be held as a prisoner.

American prisoner, held by ISIS.

I won't use her name as her family has

asked the media not to name her. Although

by now the media has her name.. And her

family has said, yes, she is their daughter.

ISIS has said she was killed by the American

or allies, bombing of houses.  But there is no proof.

I can just imagine the horror and hopes of the

family.. hoping against all hope that she is

still alive.

Myself, I think she was killed a long time ago.

Had she been alive up until the bombing they

speak of.. she would have been on their

videos..  After all, ISIS has learn that the

American government is not going to be

black mail for any prisoners. They have time

and time, been executed in the most horrible way.

ISIS has  tried to get Obama to react

to each threat before the execution. With no

results.. No out cry from the American public.

For the most part.

But what would it take to get the American

public attention and outcry, to get them to

scream at Obama?  The answer to that is,

a woman prisoner with the threat of her

life.  We, as Americans, have never had to

really deal with an American woman as a

prisoner, except for Lynch and she was

rescued asap. And besides those enemies

were not in to the beheading of the prisoners,

at that time.  And certainly not women.

So don't you think, that ISIS would have had

her on the videos right after they beheaded the

other two American's?  I think so... so therefore

I sadly think she has been dead for quite some

time.  We have to remember, that ISIS and the

rest of their country men, think of woman as a

lowly subservient   . They think more of their dogs,

then they do woman.. so it would be nothing to

them, to kill a woman.

I, as a parent, would want to believe my child is

still alive.. we all do.. we hope beyond hope,

that there is a chance... and I pray I am wrong.

But ISIS already has said she is gone.

PHASE TWO

As I explain about 2 weeks ago... I was going to make

some changes.. just for fun...  This change is for about

6 months...

It is funny what we perceive about ourselves.  We have

a look, and it is set in your mind, unless you change a lot.

Because as i walk around the house, or the store.. going on

my merry little way... I think of myself like I was a month

ago, and for that matter for over 9 years...  So you can

imagine the look on my face as I walk by a mirror or a window

and see my reflection.  This is so much out of my

comfort zone.  Which is the results I wanted.  To do some

thing that isn't the usual safe Cis.

Well, I got that.. and it sure is taking a LOT of adjusting

to my new look... Even for my friends, and say nothing

about my husband...  "It isn't you"...

To make it worse is.. I do not like red hair. Don't get me

wrong, there are a lot of people out there who look fabulous

in red hair.. My oldest daughter can pull it off very well.

As a child, as a teen, it looked great on her.. Her teen

picture that I have .. I think it is a graduation picture maybe,

she looks BEAUTIFUL with her red hair.  And even now

with it turning grey on her.. she still pulls it off pretty well...

But me.. as a redhead.. no way. Yet constantly it shows up.

My natural color is auburn.. Even in the winter when it looked

it's darkest brown, the red would show up in the lights.  And

summer sun would bleach you my hair to a strawberry like

blonde where the sun got it.. ( wore it in a pony tail 90% of

my childhood, so I would have streaks when I put my hair down.

As I grew older, when I dyed my hair.. the red would come out.

One of the reasons why I gave up dying it.  But I thought maybe

there has been enough time, it wouldn't do it anymore.. well

here is the results...

DRUM ROLL.... ta ha...

before with straight hair...

 after the perm...

After the trim...

and then after the color of auburn..

my girl pal, says she never noticed my freckles before, as much as there is now... 

It sure is different.  going to take a LOT  to get use to.