Do they just make dog food?

Since winter has hit here in the 'Burgh, Hot cereal as an evening snack is consumed more often than not. Quaker Oats. My mom made them. My dad made them. Boiling water and a dash of salt, add the oats and stir for about 3 minutes, dump in the bowl, add sugar and milk. Yum-O!

But another favorite is Ralston. But can ya find it in the freakin' store? NO! The name is from Ralston-Purina. Ya know the people with the red and white checkerboard logo? No a single Purina cereal in the cereal aisle. Do they only make dog food these days? Don't they make hot cereal anymore? I googled the name Ralston and found a website where you could "mail order" the product, but when you click on "order form" it says that is no longer available through mail order. So, I click on the little logo up in the corner that says "Home town Favorites". You can order it through them. Why do I have to order it? Why can't I just get it at the store any more. Yes, I'd like cheese with that whine..........

Maybe I am being too nostalgic. Is that possible? Do I miss my childhood? You wouldn't think so! Not MY childhood any way. I had good times, don't get me wrong, but my mother was something else. She was the disciplinarian and I will never forget the disciplining I got! I am not saying I was an angel--far from it. But not all the "discipline" I got or at least the severity of it was deserved. Maybe I am missing parents quite a bit. Just feeling blue, I guess.

Speaking of my childhood, I found on e-bay the Suzy Homemaker Magic Oven.

Actually, my nephew found it, and I kept searching till I found one it super condition with the original box. I bid on it, so, hopefully, I'll win. Now if I could find the sink, washer and dryer..........But, this is really cool.

TV has been pretty suckie lately. Everything's a damn repeat. I am so bored with it anymore. So, I've been dinkin' around in Photoshop with some pictures I took while we were at Nemacolin Friday night to see the Gunslingers play.

I did all the special effects; the snowflake, the

highlighted edges, adding the Winterfest '07 and

Nemacolin Woodlands on Scott's picture, I added the header to the top of the one of me, Dean and our friends, Lisa

and Tom, and I made th e star shape and added "She Rode the Bull" to Colleen's picture. As some of you already know, Scott is the Lead singer in the Gunslingers and Colleen is his girlfriend. "She Rode the Bull" is a Gunslinger song that has been playing on Froggy Radio and will be on the forth coming CD. So, since Colleen was so enclined to ride the mechanical bull at Nemacolin, I was so enclined to take this picture. I already had the star and the words in my head when I snapped it! The snowflake thing just came to me as I was dinkin' around tonight. Pretty cool, though, huh?

So, it is finally winter. Snow and cold temps. I hate it. The good thing? It's already the end of January and we only have had 2 weeks of winter weather. So, really, we only have February and March and MAYBE some of April for cold weather. But at least April, even though usually cold in the beginning, isn't frigid like it now. So, I am gonna go and try to be warm......................

Are there people really that STUPID??????

Dean and I have Verizon Wireless for our cell phone service. Or contract was up on Sunday, and we were eligible for phone upgrades of up to $100. But only for one phone. We had to buy the second phone, then we get a slip for a $50 rebate. So we opted for the "Motorola V325i Bluetooth Camera Phone".

The CSA (Customer service agent) is very helpful and gets us resigned and transfers our phone books (contacts/stored phone numbers) to the new phones. BUT, we have to BUY the accessories package which would include the leather case that Dean has on his phone, the car charger, and the earphone. Neither of us use the earphone, so he takes $10 off of the 49.98 he was going to charge us. So, we are out the door of the Verizon Wireless store for 89.98 + tax. We get home and Dean opens the package that contains the car charger and leather case and as he does he notices that there is a price sticker on the back of 29.99! So, did we get ripped off for $10? He called them. The man on the phone said that no, those sell for $39.98. Dean told him, "I'M lookin' at it and it says 29.99." well sir, says the Verizon rep, they are 39.98! Dean says "If I went to Giant Eagle, and there was a package of Steak marked 1.99 a pound, but it rang up at 5.99 a pound, Giant Eagle would have to sell it tom for the 1.99 per pound. The rep said " We're not Giant Eagle" Dean is going back to the Verizon store with the package..........

So, as I am looking throught the User's Guide for our new phones, I come accross a page titled "Use and Care". Then below that it reads "To take care of your Motorola phone, please keep it away from: (and it lists) liquids of any kind ie. sweat, rain, water, extreme humidity or other moisture. extreme heat and cold, dirt and dust (those 2 are self explanitory), cleaning solutions-to clean your phone, use only a dry cloth. Do not use alcohol or other cleaning solutions. (damn, I was gonna shine it up real good with some Glass Plus), the ground-Don't drop your phone.I had to chuckle at that one) and last, but not least it lists, are you ready for this?-MICROWAVES! Don't try to dry your phone in a microwave oven!!! What? Are you kidding me? Now, you know that some idiot somewhere did this and thus the warning to not do it. Was there someone out there that is really that STUPID? Of course there was. Can you imagine the conversation when he took his cell phone back to the store and told them it didn't work. You know that they asked him what he did to it and he said, well, you see, after the Steeler game, I went to the restroom and had it hooked on my pants. And when I took them down and went to sit down, my phone hit the rim of the bowl, came off my pants and fell in the toilet. So when I got home, I needed to make sure it was really dried out, so I nuked it!!! LOL God, some people's kids!!!!!! They are the typ of people that they had to put the warnings on certain electric appliances that say "Do not use while bathing. Can cause electric shock and/or electrocution" . What do we tell them, Bill?..........

"Idol" Chatter

Why, oh why, is Rosie O'Donnell sooooo upset about American Idol? On The View today, she bashed the shows goings on with stuff about how scarred these people will be for life because they have been humiliated on national television. PA-LEEEEZ. These people aren't idiots and have to have seen the show and know what it's all about. You know whether or not you have talent. Your friends would tell you if you didn't. I would. I'd say "Dude, don't do this. You will be a laughing stock. Look at William Hung. He got a damn record deal and he totally sucked! Taylor what's his name won and the only thing I've seen him do is a Ford Truck Commercial. Carrie Underwood was a winner. She has 2, count 'em, 2 hit country songs. So, it's just a matter of what you do with the national exposure.
Then Rosie blasts Paula Abdul about how much she drank her "Coke" (wink, wink) Was it Coke? Yeah, maybe mixed with some Captain Morgan. Probably Diet Coke and the Captain. Did she look bombed? Hell yeah. But remember the game show Match Game? Brett Summers was usually always a panelist on top row, middle. Her claim to fame? She was married to Jack Klugman (Oscar-the slob-on the tv show The Odd Couple with Tony Randall playing his neat freak room mate). Anyway, the rumor had it that she was usually bombed at the end of taping because it wasn't ice water in that glass...........
So, she has a gripe with Donald Trrump. then it's Idol and Paula. Does she have so poor a life (poor quality, not monetarily) that that is all she has to do? Is any body bashing her about her life and her girlfriend? No. Rosie needs to get off it and leave people alone. Use your celebrity for good, not evil.

A toy I had...

In an earlier post, I said that if I could have any toy now from when I was little, it would be the butterfly ball and my easy bake oven. I thought about this a lot over the holidays and my nephew (from Just Popped in my Head fame) even tried finding one for me on ebay. He sent me a couple of pics of what he found but they weren't it. So, as I have been thinking about this, I have determined that it was not an Easy Bake oven. I think it was a Susie Homemaker oven! I think I thought it was Easy Bake cause it used a light bulb to produce the heat as well. The mind is getting old and the memory isn't as good as it used to be. So, my search goes on........

A Little Celebration of our own

Well, we had Jordan this weekend and celebrated his birthday, his FIRST birthday, by taking him to get his picture taken. He did great and when I get those pictures back, You know, they'll be posted on here! On the right is some I took at home. He had a real nice Elmo cake. And enjoyed it immensely.



One year olds are busy. He wore me out! Always roaming and exploring, and trying to explore where little ones shouldn't go because it's not safe. Can't blame him for trying and when you tell him no-no, he usually stops and goes on to something else. Wouldn't you love to know what's going on in that little head of his? I would. Life through the eyes of an innocent child............

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It is Martin Luther King Jr's birthday observance today. Dean was off work, since his restaurant is in a bank. No schools, or government offices, no mail. Why is this a holiday? I don't get it. If the blacks need to celebrate someone doing great things for their race, shouldn't be Abraham Lincoln. Did he not stand up, fight a war, the Civil War, over slavery? Did he not write "Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate. . .we cannot consecrate. . . we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth."



I believe that Dr. King was a great preacher and gave the blacks something to believe was their right to have, and alot of his work led to desegregation, but I think that his " I have Dream speech was as well written as Lincon's Gettysburg Address.And as he said, some 100 years later, the black people were not free as intended by Lincoln. It was 1965 and there was segregation. Seperate restrooms, entrances, water fountains, and even swimming pools.
"Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow. I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream." I wonder what he would think of the blacks today? Instead of ghettos and slums, there are now projects over run with blacks who are low income people. They deal drugs, live on welfare and shoot and kill each other. I don't think this was Dr. King's Dream. Not all blacks live like that. There are many successful blacks in our country. But the majority, in my opinion..........
What about George Washington Carver? Why don't we celebrate his birthday? Hmmmmm? Why do we put Martin Luther King, Jr. in the same "league" as Washington and Lincoln by celebrating his birthday? I am sorry, but I don't think he was as great as the afore mentioned Presidents........But maybe because he life was shortened......

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Well, Whisenhunt will not be the Steelers Head Coach. He has taken the Arizona job. So who will it be? Chan Gailey? Russ Grimm? Coach Rivera? I tend to lean toward Rivera. Chan Gailey is tooooo southern to be a Pittsburgher. Russ Grimm would be a hire from the inside and I don't think the Rooneys like to hire from within. I think it will be Rivera. We'll keep ya posted on that one!

Movin' on up

Well, the media frenzy over Bill Cowher resigning has finally died down. There was only one story on HIM this week. That was of him leaving the Steeler offices with a box of stuff from his office. They asked Bill if that's all there was to move out of the office and he said "No. You really accumulate alot of stuff in 15 years! There are four more boxes like this waiting to be brought out."

The media has now shifted to the Rooneys' process of interviewing prospective coaches. It sounds like they will make a decision at the end of the week. Then all that will get back to normal...........
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Is there really a such thing as normal? I claim to have a normal life. Do I? I go to work everyday, come home to my husband who makes dinner, we eat, I do the dishes, watch some tv or dink on the computer, got to bed and do it all again the rest of the week. On the weekends, we go to breakfast, then do whatever activity we have chosen for the day. It could be doing laundry, cleaning, spending time with Jordan, going to the RV show, running errands and so on. It sounds normal to me, but is it?

I always swore that I would not be like my mother. I think I have accomplished that. She didn't go anywhere or do anything. She went to work, came home made dinner, did the dishes, sat and watched tv and went to bed. BUT, she had a schedule for the house. Monday-wash day. Tuesday-ironing. Wednesday-dust and run the sweeper. I don't know what Thursday was, and Friday, come hell or high water was cleaning day, dammit! I decide I did not want my routine to be that rigid. She didn't do anything until the chores were done and lord forbid if they weren't done on the scheduled day! When dad retired from the mill, he did alot to help her. He did dinner dishes, helped clean the house. Then when mom couldn't eat solid food any more after her cancer surgery, she felt she didn't have to cook any more if she didn't eat, so did his own cooking. If it was the day that I was going over to do her hair, then he would cook for the both of us, or the three of us, if Nick was going with me. And the saint that he was, he did the dishes while I went in and did mom's hair.

So, is normal a defined way of life? Is normal just what's normal to you, but may not be normal to other people? I guess it's not like your temperature where 98.6 is normal and you know it. No question. Normal is what's normal for you.
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Dean and I are getting Jordan this weekend. We are going to celebrate his 1st birthday. It's a week late, but none the less, we are celebrating. I am going to order him a cake, and I just bought him a high chair last weekend, so I guess he'll be going to town on that! Can't wait. I'll post pics on here, for sure.........

Cowher, Cowher Cowher and more Cowher!

Glad this week is finally over! The media has done nothing but hound Bill Cowher about his resigning as head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. For I don't know how long now, that is all that has been newsworthy in the good ol' Burgh?! Is going to retire?, is he going to take another coaching job?, Is he going to move permanently to his new million $ + home in North Carolina? Since the last game the Steelers played and won again Cincy, all that has been on the news, both radio and television, is this impending decision on the part of Bill Cowher. Now that he has the news conference today, I am hoping that the media blitz on this issue will diminish. I am just sick of hearing it! Let the poor man alone! It's his decision, his career and his life! Pa-leez! Between that and Gerald Ford's funeral, that's all they've been reporting! All the media did was blow smoke up our butts about how great Gerald Ford was. come on. He was on the Warren Commission for crying out loud. He's a liar just like all the others. Why can't they find other things to report about? Like welfare fraud? People that sell their foodstamps to get drug money? The number of people living in shelters, or are out of work? How about how the increase in the minimum wage is going to effect the economy? I am not saying that the passing of a President or The Steelers' Head Coach resigning is not newsworthy, but it definitely was overkill in my eyes.

Happy New Year to All!

Happy New year, Everybody! A time to try to stick to those resolutions, forgive and forget from the past year and look with anticipation to the new. My resolution is to lose a bunch of weight by racing season in April.

So, it seems that on an earlier post regarding the Racers for Tots party, I promised to post pictures of the event. So, I am going to post those pictures, pictures from Christmas, and pictures from New Year's eve....

Racers for Tots............

The Crowd, The Toys
The Marines, The Fabulous
Gunslingers!

Christmas...........
This is Jordan's pile, him on his bike and with his Pap-pap (Dean)

Jordan with me, with Grannie (Pam, Sara's mom) with Daddy and Mommy (Henry and Sara), Jordan's wonderment at the tree, a full shot of our tree, and Jordan pointing to the Winnie the Pooh and Tigger motion ornament. It sings too. Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh....

New Year's Eve with the duo of Lacey-Weiss,

Danger Frog (From Froggy Radio), Bucwyld

(Buck Wild is how it's pronounced)

The Headliners--THE FABULOUS GUNSLINGERS!!!!!! And everyone jammed!

Scott's Tiggers always make a guest appearance at the shows, then Me and Dean and last, but not least--- SCOTT!!!

Our New year's Eve celebration rocked! We went to the Pepsi Roadhouse to see our favorite band-The Fabulous Gunslingers-headline the night's festivities! They were awesome, but then, they always are. Bill Staley had to step in for lead guitarist Darryl Novack who we found out last night, it pretty ill. We hear he will have a full recovery, but we do miss him. But, Bill did in fantastic job in Darryl's absence.

There were 2 opening acts- the Weiss-Lacey duo, who were good, but since we've never seen them before, we didn't know any of their material. The second act was a cover band called Bucwyld (Buck-wild) and they were a great act. Did a wonderful job on all the songs they "covered". For anyone who doesn't know the term cover band- it's a group that performs songs by other artists, usually famous, and you hear their songs on the radio. So these guys were pretty good and a lot of fun and energy. There is nothing worse, I think, than a band that "covers" a song and it doesn't sound even close to the original.

All in all, it was a great time. I think it was the best show we have sen at the Roadhouse. That opinion may be biased since our favorite band WAS headlining.......

Happy New Year all! May your loved ones stay near, your enemies far and prosperity bless us all!