Razzmatazlady

Category: Random Thoughts

  • “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing”

    That’s the title of my favorite Aerosmith song from a long time ago. Today is Steven Tyler’s 60th birthday and he’s just as cool today as he was 30 years ago. Maybe cooler.

    Check out his profile on the IMDb website http://imdb.com/name/nm0878911/bio. You’ll learn lots of stuff such as his “real” name and why he decided to get sober. He’s a pretty amazing person. Click on the photos tab for some great pictures. There’s one of him with his two daughters.

    What you won’t learn, however, is that he is a childhood friend of our very dear friend, John, from California. They grew up together in New York and they’ve stayed very close through the years.

    Even though we’ve never met Mr. Tyler, I can say with some assurance that if he’s half as genuine and good-hearted as John, then he’s a special person, indeed.

    So Happy Birthday, Steven Tyler…maybe some day I’ll get to meet you. Click on this link to listen to “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”.

  • The Fourth Day Of Spring…

    Well, it’s the first of the week. The weather-person who predicted the snow would all be melted by the first of the week was so-o-o-o-o-o WRONG. It’s 15 degrees outside and last I looked that’s not melting weather.

    The good news is that it’s SUPPOSED to reach 40 degrees today. If that happens we’ll probably have less snow. And less snow is good. It’s sunny – not a cloud in the sky – so that’s a start.

    I haven’t posted for a few days (obviously) because I still have that “bug” I picked up somewhere and I just plain didn’t feel like doing much. I sat down at the computer several times, stared at the screen, mulled over a few pretty good ideas to share but just didn’t have the gumption to put them into words. I was either really not feeling well or I was just being lazy. Or a little of each. Probably a little of each.

    I’m feeling much, much better this morning – yay! Have lots to do. Remember that new kitchen bribe that Jack offered? Planning stage has been launched. A few revisions, though. I don’t want to “gut” the kitchen, anymore. The present footprint is just fine with me. I don’t need a fancy-schmancy huge gourmet kitchen. First of all, this isn’t a big house by any means and it would look silly. Gotta keep the ego out of it. That’s where a lot of people go wrong, I think. That old ego.

    Also, I like the challenge of getting the most bang for my buck so that’s going to play a huge role. A really huge role. It will probably slow me down a little but that’s o.k. If I can make my new kitchen a little “greener” in the process, that’d be great.

    So I’m off with my cup of coffee and my pile of kitchen magazines and all those clippings that I’ve collected over the past ten years. That’s what I’m doing, today.

    It’s gonna be a good week.

  • St. Patrick’s Day in Kansas City

    It’s a rainy day in Kansas City on this St. Patrick’s Day. Did you know that Kansas City has one of the largest St. Patrick’s Day parades in the United States? This will be it’s 35th year, in fact.

    However, it’s “raining on their parade”, so to speak. Thunderstorms are the theme of the day and it doesn’t show any sign of clearing up. Have no idea how the parade went (it was supposed to go from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm.

    Did you know that St. Patricks’ Day parades did not originate in Ireland. They’re born in the U.S.A. Back in the day, they were a way for the Irish in this country to celebrate their heritage.
    I remember St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago. Probably everyone knows that the Chicago River turns green every year on St. Paddy’s Day and has done so for the past forty years! But what you probably don’t know is why the river turns green or how it turns green.

    Here’s the story. And it’s true. As he was walking down a Chicago street, a plumber was approached by a man named Stephen Bailey. The plumber was wearing white coveralls and they were stained a beautiful shade of green – a perfect emerald green, in fact.

    Turns out that it was caused by a stain that plumbers use to detect leaks in the pipes that empty into the Chicago River. The stain starts out orange and turns green. What’s interesting is that when the dye is dumped into the river it turns the water orange – bright orange! Then, like magic, it turns the entire river green. Bright emerald green. Perfect for St. Paddy’s Day.

    There are tons of St. Patrick’s Day traditions in almost every city in the country. I’ll do some “homework” and next year I’ll have something post on this holiday!

  • Addendum to my earlier post…

    I forgot to mention that this visit to Dallas was excellent. Partly because we enjoyed our little friends Pretzel and Kitz, partly because we visited some old friends here and renewed that friendship, partly because the weather was decent (BIG part) and partly because Jack and I both noticed that Dallas is a very friendly town.

    We are impressed with how cordial everyone is. Wherever we went from supermarkets to restaurants to doing “touristy” stuff. And when we walked down the street there was always a smile and a “hello” from those we met.

    I just wanted to mention that. I think it’s important.

  • On The Road Again and Housesitting Info

    Well, we’re leaving L.A. in an hour or so and I might not be able to post again until Wednesday or so.

    Still haven’t found my camera but we’re all pretty sure it’s somewhere amongst all the antiques. Jen has one that she says she never uses so she’s letting me have it. If we find the other or if I buy a new one, I’ll send it back to her. I’m so happy to have a camera, again!

    The apartment is looking good. We’ve got drapes up and pictures hung and all of her little stuff here and there. Bought a really nice buffet at a thrift store that she’s using for a dresser in her bedroom. The nice thing about it is that there are eight drawers – two of them have dividers in them – great for sorting stuff like socks, etc. Hard to describe but take my word for it, it’s great.

    I’m a huge fan of thrift stores and resale shops and garage sales, etc. It’s the ultimate recycling.

    A comment from Lori on yesterday’s post about housesitting made me realize that I haven’t ever mentioned my other Squidoo Lens. It’s all about housesitting. So here’s the link. http://www.squidoo.com/houseandpetsitting. There’s lots of info there.

    While you’re at it, I’ve updated my other lens (My Quest For A Greener Life) at http://www.squidoo.com/QuestForAGreenerLife and I’m working on two more.

    So stay tuned…

  • The Art of Writing Letters

    We went to Port Angeles on Thursday and my sister and I went through a big box of old family letters from the 1950’s to the 1970’s. It got me thinking about how differently we communicate today. Back then, writing letters was no big deal. That’s how families communicated with each other. Birthday cards, thank you notes, holiday cards of all sorts were just so routine. The mail was something everyone looked forward to getting. There was fun stuff in the mail, for heaven’s sake!

    There was a letter that my mother wrote to my father and my sisters and me while she was away in Ireland after her father had a heart attack. It was 19 pages! 5 x 7 stationary. Nine full sheets. It was great!

    Now, it’s all junk mail. The occasional card or thank you note but even those are going by the wayside. Of course, sending letters costs much more, now. And it’s s-l-o-o-o-w. We don’t have the time for the art of letter writing. I mean, writing, as in handwriting. So the art of writing letters is a thing of the past.

    Well, I submit that it doesn’t have to be. In this age of the internet, why not start writing letters via a personal blog? Sure, the letters wouldn’t be handwritten but they’d still be meaningful and family members would stay in touch. That’s the crux of it – we don’t stay in touch. Maybe a phone call now and then or an email with a couple of pictures attached. I’m totally happy with phone calls and emails; don’t get me wrong. But there’s a level of communication that’s just missing, that way.

    Think about it. A blog can be a private, family message board. I’d send a “letter” telling all the news about Jack and me and maybe post a picture or two. I’d probably ask some questions about what the grandkids are up to and tell about our plans for the next few days or weeks. Then I’d post it.

    Hopefully, somebody would reply with a “letter” about the comings and goings of that particular branch of the family….swimming lessons, spelling bees, sports activities, bumps and bruises from playing too hard. What the weather is like. Pictures of your garden, the kids, your trips, the new paint job in the kitchen, whatever.

    How the pets are doing. Happy Birthday messages. Anniversary messages. Whatever. Hopefully, more than one person would post letters, too.

    There could also be “letter blogs” between friends. Especially far away friends. Yep, I like that idea.

    Something to consider…

  • Groundhog Day

    Today is Groundhog Day. I checked the official website of Punxsutawney Phil who, as everyone knows, is the official reference regarding the end of winter. He comes up from his little hole in the ground and looks to see if he has a shadow. If he does, winter is six weeks away. If he doesn’t see his shadow, spring is just around the corner and he remains above ground. Here’s the scoop as reported this morning:

    Phil’s official forecast as read 2/2/08 at sunrise at Gobbler’s Knob:

    “As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me. Six more weeks of winter it will be!”

    Well, rats! If the little bugger had been here in Washington state, it would have been a different story, entirely…

    If you’d like to check this report for yourself, just click on this link to the official website.

  • Musings of a Lucky Woman

    I’m a lucky woman. Jack has over the past 35 years tolerated (and financed) most of the whims that I’ve had without grumbling (much). And I’ve probably had more than the average share of whims. You could say that I’ve been a jill-of-all-trades.
    I was a real estate agent for a few years. Loved real estate when I first started in the profession UNTIL I began actually getting clients and listings. We had recently moved to Kansas and our youngest daughter was about seven years old. I thought that if I went into real estate that I’d be able to be spend more time with the family. HA! Not so. Poor old Jack cooked Sunday dinner almost every Sunday while I was holding open houses. I had a couple of buyers and sellers who were impossible to satisfy and, after one particularly stressful period with an absolutely idiotic buyer, I finally told Jack that I’d either have to get out of real estate or he’d have to lock me up!!! I’m sure there have been times when he thinks locking me up would have been the right choice…
    I worked for four different federal government agencies over a period of about ten years. Then I owned a secretarial service in one state that evolved into a free-lance business when Jack’s career moved us to another state. After he retired we purchased a small concessions business (franchise) that was lots of fun and quite profitable.

    I’m also a certified graphoanalyst . I spent two years studying graphology or handwriting analysis. I just gobbled up the lessons and passed the course with flying colors. What really interested me was the prospect of learning how to determine personality and behaviour by analyzing handwriting. It’s a useful tool used by many businesses for employment selection. The courts frequently employ graphoanalysts to study ransom notes, altered records, forgeries, and disputed legal documents. I really, really wanted to be a graphoanalyst.

    But it was while I was taking my final exam that I realized how invasive the field is. It can take eight hours or more to analyze a couple of paragraphs of handwriting. I was analyzing a sample of handwriting from somebody I knew and was really startled by some of the traits that I was uncovering. That analysis haunted me for several weeks when I decided that I just couldn’t look into people’s souls like that.
    Let’s see, what else have I done…well, I’ve raised four children (with Jack, of course) – my proudest accomplishment.
    I’ve studied interior design. I’ve been an Accredited Staging Professional, staging homes to prepare them for resale. I’ve bought and sold antiques and collectibles on EBAY and in an antique mall. THAT was great fun but not as lucrative as I would have liked.
    So here I am off on another search for my identity. It’s just that I can’t imagine a life without something creative to do. I guess you could say that I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up!
    Yep, I’m a very lucky woman.
    1/26/2008

  • A Little Silliness

    There’s a bookstore here in Mesa that has earned my respect. It’s called Changing Hands (www.changinghands.com) and it’s an independent bookstore that was named Bookseller of the Year 2007 by Publishers Weekly. They have new and used books, gifts, storytime for preschoolers including sign language and bilingual storytimes, and a very impressive calendar of events.

    Changing Hands donates books to veterans groups, senior citizens, and prison inmates just to name a few. They also support local Girl Scout and Boy Scout book drives, school book drives, etc.

    And get this…they offer bus fare reimbursement and a bike rack for their employees!

    Anyway, we were over there, today, and I bought a (used) trivia book called This book of More Perfectly Useless Information. It’s great. Pure silliness. Here are a couple of little gems that are on the very first page:

    “Trivia was a Roman goddess to whom sacrifices were offered at crossroads. Because travelers often engaged in idle gossip at crossroads, Trivia’s name (referring to three roads coming together) came to be associated with the sort of information exchanged in such places.”

    “Every time Beethoven sat down to write music, he poured ice water over his head.”

    In the category of “Onlys”, we find these snippets:

    “Almonds and pistachios are the only nuts mentioned in the bible.”

    “The only two people in the Baseball Hall of Fame who had nothing to do with baseball are Abbott and Costello.” (Go ahead, check it out.)

    And this little gem, “Snails make only once in a lifetime, but it can take up to 12 hours.”

    Well, that was fun!

  • Changes to Lake Mary Musings

    Michael came home today grumbling because he tried to leave a nice comment about my blog and it was a complicated process so he just didn’t. I checked it out and he’s right. It’s complicated. Since he is such a good friend and since he’s being kind enough to let us stay at his place and since he’s not the only person to mention this, I decided it’s time to get in the groove with this blog stuff!!

    Basically, I don’t think there IS an easy way to comment on any of my posts or any other blog posts that are hosted by Blogger. That’s the situation on any blog site, I’m sure. But for people who are just occasional blog readers, it could be annoying. What to do?
    Well, I just registered my own custom domain at www.LakeMaryMusings.com . How cool is that?
    I think that I’ll be able to add an email link or a “contact me” link. Not entirely sure how this will work. It may take me a few days to work out the bugs. I’ll keep you posted!

    I should point out that this won’t be the domain for my Dream Job website – that’s something else entirely and I’ll share that info at some point – but it’s a piece of cake to register a name if it’s available. And who else do you know who’d want “Lake Mary Musings” for a domain name, for heaven’s sake?? So it took me about five minutes, ten bucks, and that’s it! Ta Da!

    We’ll see what happens! Nothing ventured, nothing gained!