Just popping in to say hi.

Sorry I haven't posted. Not much to say... well, not much EXCITING to say, that is! I'm looking forward to a nice, long holiday weekend. Who knows? Maybe I'll get on the computer and do some serious, overdue blogging. Stay tuned...

Oh, and look at this sweet face. AAWWWW, I just couldn't resist, and I wanted to post a clearer picture for someone :o)

I had a request for a picture at the mall. I never did take one... but will you settle for the grocery store today?? :o)

At the deli counter:

TV land

I once posted about my obsession with vacuum cleaners. Well, obsession is too strong a word ..... Let's just say I, at one time, had many floor cleaning devices.

It occurred to me today that my husband has an obsession with TV's. We've got one in almost every room. (Okay, that may be an exaggeration, but it sure seems like it.)

With our recent purchase of a flat screen, something had to be done with the TV it replaced. It sat and sat and sat... until this morning. All of a sudden it was imperative that the displaced TV be moved upstairs into our bedroom. And, I had to help him.

OMG. Was that thing heavy. I'm not sure my back will ever recover.

I hope he's happy. LOL

You Should Spend Your Summer in Europe

You're in to almost all forms of culture - art, music, architecture, food... And spending a summer at the beach sounds pretty darn boring to you. So head off to Europe, where you can have your tiramisu (and even eat it on the beach!)

Where Should You Spend Your Summer?

I feel like going to the mall .... not to work!! lol

Barb and her brother

Every once in a while I'll get a flashback to some episode in my life, some good ... some not so good. I took a bath earlier, hoping the hot water would somehow clear my lungs. For no reason at all, I thought of a guy I dated briefly. I worked with his sister at the time. She had a party, and that's where I met him. Just a quick introduction ... I don't recall a big conversation between the two of us that night.

I remember she came in to work and told me her brother wanted to ask me out. She wanted to know if it was okay to give him my phone number. I said sure, although I was a little apprehensive. He had epilepsy, and I didn't know exactly what that meant. I mean I knew a little bit, but didn't know if there was more ... so I read up on the illness. I remember another friend of mine being impressed that I researched it.

I was young and not exposed to much out of the ordinary. He lived a pretty normal life, although there were a lot of things he could not do that we take for granted. Like driving - because of the possibility of having a seizure - and drinking - because of the medication he was on. Not that he would have been a drunk, but this one hit him especially hard. He felt very self conscious that he couldn't drink with every one else. I remember the smile on his face when he grabbed a bottle of O'Douls and sat with his brothers. He was very happy, feeling very much like "one of the boys."

The memory, though, that flashed before me tonight and got me thinking of this was ...

We were going to the mall. Just a typical weekend, me dragging the poor guy to the mall I guess! Anyway, I was driving and he was talking to me. He stopped for a few seconds and got flustered. I had no idea why. Again, call me stupid, but I was pretty naive. He was very embarrassed when having to tell me he had a mild seizure. I didn't skip a beat and said I wouldn't have known if he hadn't told me. If he kept going with his story, I wouldn't have blinked an eye. And that was the truth.

I remember his sister telling me later that he was besides himself. That one brief moment changed him. He was more confident -- way less self conscious about his seizures. I'm glad I could do that for him. I certainly didn't know one sentence would be so powerful.

I think his name was Joe. I don't know what ever happened to him. I hope he is happily married. I know he deserved to be. He was a kind and thoughtful person, and very hard-working.

What happened to us? What always happened. I felt smothered and/or bored and moved on.

You won't believe this is me....

I am sick. It's raining out. I cleaned the bathrooms and kitchen. What better time than now to pop in a DVD and relax? Only I find out the DVD player has been dismantled and I can't figure out how to get it hooked back up! @#%&! Hubby is so in the doghouse!

I guess it's back to channel surfing and hacking up a lung ...

Lazy Saturday

I had the laziest Saturday of my entire life. It certainly wasn't planned that way ... I had all sorts of things I was going to do.

I thought I had allergies this past week, but I woke up this morning with a cold. It completely wiped me out. Every time I tried to do something, my body fought me. Totally frustrating!!

Hopefully, I will be better tomorrow and I can get everything I want done!!

rambling

I wonder where tonight's post will take me. I've got nothing particular on my mind, although my mind seems to be racing. Is that A.D.D.?

My house is so quiet. We had the threat of a thunderstorm earlier. I could hear the thunder off in the distance, and it sounded fierce. It rained hard for a few minutes, but that's all we got. I was kind of disappointed. I seem to think I enjoyed thunderstorms when I was growing up. I haven't the slightest idea why. Well, actually, I do have a few memories involving a friend and our getting caught in a couple storms. I remember we laughed hysterically, so that must be it. But, then again, we laughed hysterically about everything -- as I remember it.

Let's see... what else....

Here's a view of my dog as I type this. She looks pretty content, don't you think?
OMG ... this dog has quite the life! lol