Giving Up FaceBook for Lent

1. One of my grandnieces was inspired to give up FB for Lent, and then one of my kids said that she's abstained from FB for a good part of the year for 3 years now.  I found that inspiring!  So, I'm gonna do it, too!!  46 days off! 

2.  I haven't gotten the hang of FaceBookese, anyway.  All kids are "cute," "adorable," "precious," "brilliant," etc., but what do you say when all of those adjectives have been taken in any one post on any one kid? Within the past week, etc.  

3.  Lots of people appear to be rooting in their old photo albums to find more
comely photos of themselves in the past to decorate their FB pages.  OK...we all looked YOUNGER at one time, and for some of us, that means we looked skinnier and less wrinkly.  I don't think skinnier or less wrinkly is necessarily a better way to look than we do now.  (Ms. Wrinkle City talking here....)

4.  Seems like we just get so we can relate to our children, who have had their loathsome moments, and bingo!  there's grandchildren--all cute, adorable, & brilliant--even more appealing than the children, who used to be skinnier and less wrinkly.  If you live long enough, though, the grandchildren will manifest a few bumps and scrapes, too. Then, if you're lucky, there's great-grandchildren.  The g-g-cs are swell.  Brand new!!  What's not to like?? 

5.  Well, Happy Lent, all.  You won't have me cluttering Face Book with my sour mug til after Easter.  Enjoy!!

Happy Preznets' Day!

1.  So George Washington did not graduate from/go to college!  This does not qualify all the other non-collegian putative presidential candidates for running this country.  Just because you didn't go to college, doesn't mean you're smarter than a box of rocks.

2.  Please also tell me how George W. Bush (famous preznet) got into & out of Yale and into the Harvard MBA program without huge infusions of Papa Bush's/Grandpapa Bush's dough???

3.  Remember the story of the shepherd boy who so often cried "WOLF!" when there was no wolf  that nobody believed  him when there actually was a wolf??  We have this problem here in D.C. among the weather predicting alerters for "SNOW!" and "BAD WEATHER!"  Read this a.m. that the Mayor Herself has "released funds" (some of her cash?) for SNOW REMOVAL.  If it falls.  Which it hasn't yet. 

4.  I applaud her optimism that the snow removal team/task force will actually remove much snow from major arteries (never mind your street).  Everything will be closed, anyway, starting with all the gummint offices, schools, and the liberry.  My advice:  Stay home and watch TV.  You can catch last night's Downton Abbey online if the children are using the TV.

5.  Hot toddy is really just tea with booze and lemon juice.  Any tea/booze will do.  Lime juice is not verra good in place of lemon, however.   Here's
to warming drinks for when the marshmallows run out.

Happy Valentine's Day

1.  Coming up from the cold/flu fog, thanks to lots of rest and a big order of curry lakhsa that fed & warmed me over two days.  tonight?  I'll order in some pizza, maybe. 

2.  The outside temperature is not so low on the thermometer--16F--and the sun is shining bright, but it feels like 2F cuz of the wind.  Having grown up in Fargo,  my mind says this really isn't cold, but my body disagrees.

3.  Tomorrow is St. Valentine's Day. Not enough time to mail anything.  So...Happy Valentine's Day to all who read this! 

4.  Where has Google.com gone?  I used to be able to look things up, like "Who was St. Valentine?" on Google.com, but now I get Amazon.com.  Don't want to buy a book about St. V,  just find out about him.  Was he a Roman soldier, a martyr (probably)?  And why did the Church dump him from the calendar?? 

5.  So the Pope now says not having children is selfish!  Whatever happened to "Who am I to judge?"

What Is Super Bowl Sunday??

1. Christmas without the decorations, gifts, and cards.

2. Easter without the bonnets & jelly beans.

3. Thanksgiving without the tuekey, cranberry jelly, and pumpkin pie.

4.  Downton Abbey on tape.

5.  Rude Hippo craft beer!!

FaceBook lingo

1.  I'm afraid I can't talk FaceBook lingo, especially when it comes to commenting on my grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

2.  I never saw any of my grandparents. All but one was dead by the time I arrived, so

3.  My own children have experienced their grandparents, however, and I've learned a few things.

4.  The all-time favorite grandparent was Grandpa Carew.  He came home for lunch every day and sat in his recliner for a rest afterwards.  The grandkids who were there clamored to get up into his lap as he rocked gently.  "Teef! teef!" they'd holler, and he would clatter his false teeth at them.  "Do 'gin!" and he'd oblige.

5.  Sigh.  I do not have a whimsical personality that translates into FaceBookese.  And I do not live across the alley--several large bodies of water away, in fact.  So I see them online.  If the kid can reach his mouth with a spoon, I do not say he has "mad skilz!!"  If I would say anything at all, it would be "God in heaven...who is feeding you all this frosting s**t?"

Who knew??

1.  My new painting book (Daily Painting by Carol Marine) says Murphy's Oil Soap will clean your paint brushes even if they've gone overnight or longer without your removing the paint from them.  Did I believe this?  Not really.  I've had this one cheap old 2" brush that's had old paint hardening the bristles for months.  Ms. Marine says to soak such a neglected brush overnight in Murphy's Oil Soap right out of the bottle.  Just the bristles, not the metal band above them.  So I did it.  Poured the MOS into an old plastic glass, stuck the brush into it up to the metal band, let it sit overnight, and

2.  BINGO!!  my pore old brush is now soft and flexible and paint free.  You have to rinse out the Murphy's Oil Soap, of course, and the old paint with it, but I wouldn't have believed this if I hadn't done it myself.

3.  This is not house paint--it's artist's oil paint. But even so.  What a happy discovery!! 
That's it for today.  But I had to share this with you.

Think Old and Deaf.

1.  When people from the bank or the dentist call me and want me to call them back at a certain number or a certain time, I often tell them "think old and deaf".  In other words, don't talk SOOOO FAST.  (and yes, I have already requested that without much effect).  Sometimes I go so far as to say, "do you have a great grandmother?"  I'm assuming that their grandmothers are all at Zumba class or getting a PHD in Polish literature online. You may be or have a grandmother like that yourself.  Great grandmothers, however, often have slowed down a bit.  Especially if they are deaf and need your help to understand what the hey you are saying. 


2.  Why is there such a premium on SPEED in communications--like on the phone?   Does it cost more per second?  How about the relative cost of having to call someone back four or five times if
they don't get your message straight the first time?  Do-overs aren't free, are they?


3.   It doesn't help to talk to old deaf people LOUDER.  What rings our bell is speaking SLOWLY and DISTINCTLY. 

4.   Most of us started out hearing just as well or better than you.  But life intervened.  And now we're a little deef, y'know.  Take a deep breath.....

5.  "What?"  For Chrissakes, slowly and distinctly.....think "old and deaf."