hold on folks...STATE OF THE UNION tonight!!

I don't know if I will survive the viewing of the "big" address tonite, but I am always ready for a good laugh. Historically, the Senate and Congress members always manage to give more than enough standing ovations and major applause - yet, for once I would love to see the majority - just sit quietly and unresponsive. Considering booing and throwing things might be considered a treasonous act, with major repercussions.

I have this one recurring dream lately that the Prez has finally had enough and a major reality check has set in, he grabs Laura, dog Barney and buddy Dick, and says "let's get the hell out of here!" Kind of like the obstreperous child, throwing a tantrum, taking his football and going home.

According to CNN, Mr. Bush may propose making health insurance benefits "taxable income" - yet give families a deduction on the first $15,000 (singles $7500.) This is ludicrous. Anyone familiar with taxes know that you can only deduct medical expenses over 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI), and if your income is in the higher brackets there are cut-off limits. Now for the poor lowly worker making $12,000 a year - health benefits for a family are running - on average - $500/month. You have just made that individual liable for $18,000 of income. After the 7.5%, this individual would only be able to itemize $4650. this would barely qualify for itemizing, and therefore the individual would have to pay taxes on an additional $6K they never saw.

I know I probably did not make that very clear - but my premise is - HEALTH INSURANCE SHOULD NOT BE TAXABLE INCOME. Only a moron would come up with such an idea.

Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, but remembering back when Bill took office and she made health care a priority, she was shoved into a back room. Now it seems the reality has come back "in their faces" and DUH BUSH wants to cure the problem. And we all know that curing any problem is NOT his forte. I really need to find some drugs before I watch this spectacle tonite. I can just see all of Bush's minions running around trying to see who they can seat in the gallery to make HIM look good or sympathetic. I really liked the old days when rotten vegetables could be thrown at the stage/speakers. But oh no - have to be politically correct. Kind of takes the fun out of life.

Each to his own - I plan on being the skeptic as usual - and can't wait to see what samurai frog has in his analysis. He is a young man and very astute. Three cheers for the generation behind me!! He enjoys the porn much like Slyght (the Porn King from his college days.)

Gonna take a break and reaarange some dust in the house now! Everyone stay healthy. TTFN

*** I will be leaving for Boston on Thursday (25th) and back on the 30th. So Happy Birthday to me on the 26th. Maybe we will get snowbound in New England like we did 5 years ago. One can only hope.

I am just to old for this shite...

It took TWO solid days for theson and me to get the basement cleaned up and organized. It is amazing how a basement becomes a netherworld for the "not sure where it goes" items. When I get tired of something, yet hate to send it to the trash heap, i just PUT IT IN THE BASEMENT. Well, I am here to tell you that in less than 2 years, I amassed a helluva lot of JUNK.

Let me tell you a little about THIS basement. When we bought this house in 1986, what was beneath this house could hardly be called a basement - more like a cellar, with half dirt floor (and one corner of the house held up by a tree trunk), and half concrete slabs. Whenever it rained we had a veritable swimming pool. Can't tell you how many sump pumps we burned up. My husband never made the wisest choices in purchases (this house) and NEVER seemed to fix any of the problems. He did come in handy (sort of) after he died. I used a considerable sum of the life insurance proceeds to improve this house. Ultimately, the house was on jacks for almost a month (a very scary sight), and a new foundation was poured and block wall basement put in. It was worth the $$$ and the few cracked walls.


Never having to worry when it rained was delightful...until September 14, 2004. That is when Hurricane Ivan blew as far as the Ohio Valley and we got 6 inches of rain in 3-4 hours. My basement ended up with over two feet of water and a property loss of over $20K. Cleanup took a couple of days, everything had to be tossed out into the yard and the muck cleaned from floor and walls. After that fiasco, I bought a lot of shelving and tried to keep as much as I could off of the floors and back to my rainy day worrying.

I also had my office in the basement and my desk was ruined and I lost a lot of important paperwork, plus my comuter which held a lot of irretrievable data. So for the last two years I have operated my business with the laptop from my kitchen. (Thought about removing the stove and putting in file cabinets!)

But, I digress. I started the cleanup process on Tuesday morning, and after tearing a gash in my hand, yelled at theson to get out of bed and come help. Of course it was my fault because I hadn't called him down earlier. We finally called it a day at 5:30 pm and about 2/3 completion. My body literally cried out in pain and I took Tylenol PM and rolled my fat ass in bed by 9 pm. This all seemed so much easier twenty years ago.

Again, working till 5 pm yesterday, we completed the task. My office is now usable again, an entertainment area is set up, all the junk went to the landfill today, and a run to Goodwill tomorrow will complete the challenge. Whew!! Maybe I can get some pics of the completed task and put in blog later.

I should have more interesting things to write about soon, as the political front is always heating up, because of the morons in charge.

Everyone stay well. TTFN

...and it is a good move to rent or buy!! THE ILLUSIONIST

I have so many DVD's, that when purchased I can hardly wait to view, yet never seem to get the time. I did purchase THE ILLUSIONIST last Friday and immediately watched it and was just blown away. I find it hard to even say "magic" as the term "illusion" is more apt. The main stars are Edward Norton as Eisenheim, the Illusionist, Jessica Biel as Sophie, his long lost love from childhood, who is now engaged to Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). Paul Giamatti plays chief inspector Uhl, and probably his best performance to date.

Eisenheim has managed to enthrall the citizens of Vienna with his Illusions, and Prince Leopold (who is now engaged to Sophie) seems to have one obsessive goal of exposing the Illusionist and his illusions. Chief Inspector Uhl, also fascinated by the shows, would like nothing better than to be told how they are done, while also being the sycophant to the Prince.

I would love to tell you what ensues, but highly recommend any and all to either rent or buy this film. This is definitely one to be viewed more than once. The characters are easily defined early as to who you love or love to hate. So wish I could tell you more, but I would hate it if someone revealed all the important nuances to a flick I haven't seen. Please, try to get your hands on a copy, you won't be disappointed.

We have been inundated with rain for three consecutive days, which seemed to end last night. Now the weather is supposed to turn to either ice or ice and snow. But as I have said before, my goal is to be a weatherperson - as they are 90% inaccurate most of the time, yet they never seem to lose their jobs. On an off-note, I remember when my children were in grade school, the school superintendent, who made the ultimate decisions as to whether school should be delayed or cancelled, utilized the abilities of his pet dog to make that decision. If the dog refused to go outside - NO SCHOOL/CANCELLED. If the dog hurried, did his business within a certain time frame - TWO HOUR DELAY. Now how is that for science? I don't know why he bothered to complete a college education.

This is definitely a rambling post today, but I was running short on ideas. Theson is now home from Minnesota, after tending to Jules, after her eye surgery. So I will be using his help to CLEAN the basement. Could be a bad idea, as all he wants to do is THROW EVERYTHING AWAY!! Sometimes a good thing and sometimes not. We shall see.

Everyone stay well and TTFN!!

Yes....SOAPBOX TIME AGAIN!!!

Watching the "Commander In Chief" (and I use the term loosely) last night, addressing the nation about seding more troops to Iraq, got my blood pressure up again. The man is an idiot!!!! Neo-con, warmongering idiot. First of all, and this has nothing to do with Iraq - can we say the word N-U-C-L-E-A-R ????? It is not NUCULAR - it is pronounced exactly as it is spelled - guess this moron never had phonetics as a youth. Really chaps my ass - cannot stand stupidity - especially if you are going to stand in front of MILLIONS of people and TRY to give the impression you might have a brain.

OK - back to the address. The people of this nation gave a definite mandate in the last election, that they have had enough of this Iraqi debacle. The prez made statements such as, Iraq has an established democracy now (I paraphrase), because of our intervention. Query me this - what democracy? An election alone does not constitute a democracy. His new "sound plan" assures the American people that if Iraq does not help themselves, we will be done with them. Right - can't see this happening. Take a country that thrives on fighting (a few thousand years cannot be changed in ten) will never become a passive democratic society. It appears that these people are only happy when fighting with another sect in their region. (DUH - since biblical times.) Hopefully this democratic Congress can save the youth of our country from having to fight a war that our CIF arbitrarliy started. And how about the ten officials (well paid I would assume) to chair the Iraq Study Group? Bush has completely ignored their recommendations. Hello - remember Osama Bin Laden? He seems to have become some detail placed on the back burner - when in actuality his connection to Al-Queda, was the catalyst for this debacle. OH God, give me a nerve pill. I view this administration almost as a dictatorship. The prez says you either do it MY way or out comes the VETO pen. I know our country was founded on REPRESENTATION. When is the last time anyone can remember - your representatives - coming to your locale, and polling the constituency, about their collective feelings on matters? NEVER. Once elected, these individuals, garner a large paycheck - for little actual working hours, and vote their OWN consciences and not the views of the majority of their voters. I have always been a strong advocate for "town hall" meetings for these elected officials - where they would be more accountable to those who elected them to REPRESENT the majority.

Well, my BP is still up, but I choose not to ramble on anymore. Theson is in Minneapolis with Jules, as she recovers from eye surgery. He is cooking (or so he says) and taking care of the basics I believe. At least he is there to cuddle with her during the healing process. Wish you all the luck Jules. No glasses or contacts - how great.

We have had a few days of COLD and now I say "ENOUGH!" I so love the tropical weather yet unfortunately live in a cold zone. Just give me the opportunity to celebrate Christmas in the tropics. I could get used to it I am sure.

Thegrandson loves the cold and we got a dusting of snow yesterday, so he was excited to wear his new boots to school. Doesn't take much to impress the young - hahaha!!

Well, I have errands to run and some house cleaning to tackle. Everyone stay healthy and TTFN.

***TheRuss is recuperating from cataract surgery on one eye and will have the other eye (imagine that he has two eyes) done next week. Recuperate nicely Russ!

Let's start the new year out right!!!! right???

OK - finally got up the nerve to take DOWN all the Christmas decorations and the tree. Since I am always the first one up in the morning (usually between 5 and 6 am.), I managed to "un-decorate" the tree, gather ALL my Santas, and miscellaneous stuff - and put in one area, so boxing them wouldn't be a problem. As soon as theson came downstairs, We jumped in and got things stowed in the basement (what a mess!). Every time he asked if "that was it", I always replied "yes" and immediately let out an expletive as I discovered something else that had to be stored. Try as hard as I might, I can never get it all together. There is usually at least ONE Christmas item that I forget, and I just integrate into my country motif - till next year. No one ever notices.

Theson is leaving tomorrow to spend a week with Jules, since she is having eye surgery and wants him to "take care of her." Could be interesting. I have to give him some easy recipes so he can nourish the cripple during the recuperative process.

It has been great having theson home, albeit off and on. He is great at helping me do some things I find "hard." Getting older is a real pain in the a**!! We got his room all cleaned and organized (hopefully he will keep it that way. Thedaughter is still cleaning her room at this very moment - and I am sure will be dog-tired when done. At least I now have the miscellaneous spoons and forks back in the drawer and the 15 drinking glasses that have been unaccounted for - for weeks. UGH!!! It is a well known fact, and she will even admit, that cleaning is not her forte. But when she jumps in and completes the task it is a good one.

thegrandson just got home and the first thing he said was "where did we get that couch?" Now, I don't think he is suffering from amnesia or anything serious, but that couch has been there for almost 2 years now! DUH!! Brain damage. Those Nerf bullets to the head may have been harder than we thought.

Oh well, this was just a quick update, will be back soon. Everyone stay well and TTFN.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2007

I am sure everyone has made their New Years Resolutions by now - mine is the same as always - "I vow to never make New Years Resolutions again!!!" I have always found that it is a useless attempt at achievement. Yes, I promise to lose weight - until I find that perfect cheesecake. Yes, I promise to exercise regularly - as soon as I get my fatass off the couch. Yes, I promise to eat healthier - until I put that extra sour cream and butter on my baked potato...blah, blah, blah!!! Most of us have good intentions, but my "willpower" done got up and left!!! Maybe I should try hypnosis to regain the old willpower thing - or not. I wouldn't want to take ALL the fun out of my no-nothing life!

I assume the B-Town Boyz had a good time ringing in the New Year, haven't heard from theson yet, and he will be heading home from Columbus some time today. Thedaughter got home approximately 6 am, and has decided to just "stay up" all day now. Currently she is shopping at Walmart with a friend while her girlfriend (with whom she partied last night) is asleep upstairs. Hmmmm, what is wrong with this picture. I stayed up till 11:45 pm, went to bed and heard the neighbors shoot their guns and fireworks and crashed shortly thereafter. I will bet it has been 10 years or better since I went out for New Years with friends. Although a small group of us went to Red Lobster for dinner last night, there was no gala event for us.

Now the sad part comes...taking down all the Christmas decorations. As I stated in an earlier blog, I would be quite content to have the decorations up year round. I find a lot of contentment and solace just looking at a beatifully decorated tree. But then I am slightly demented.

Oh well, West Virginia University is playing in the Gator Bowl at 1 pm, so I must get a few things done before then. Everyone stay healthy and enjoy 2007. TTFN