TRIGGER 2::: My eyes were.......bothering me for quite some time. Sometimes I felt as though I was hallucinating when the headlights of an oncoming car on the other side of the median would appear to be driving directly toward me. I knew I had to get my eyes checked, but for whatever reason or another, I never did. Then.........

...one day, while S and I were in her car (she was driving I believe) a commercial plane flew overhead. I innocently asked, "could you see which airline that was?" She looked at me unbelievingly and said, "are you serious?" "okay that's it! You are going to get your eyes checked!" We still laugh about it because you know DELTA is written in gigantic letters.

I now wear glasses.

From #16. LULU'S LINES

TRIGGER 1::: I am thankful for..... so many things that I don't know where to begin. I'm thankful for my great parents who not only contributed great genes but also an environment from which I learned about love, dedication and loyalty. With that, I am thankful for who I have become - someone who is open to learn new ideas, listen to differing opinions and someone who has learned that we don't all have to agree on the big issues in life, but it is our unconditional love that will allow us to "live and let live." With the great foundation I received from my family, I am a healthy, intelligent person with an open mind who has valuable friends and family to share her life with - (or with whom to share her life - smile)

I could have answered this question simply, I am thankful for who I am.

I remember when I was younger trying to carry a "purse." I will never forget the one I bought; the only thing was that I didn't have to carry anything so I never used it. What did Mom and Dad do with it?

Many years later................................ a couple months ago, I realized I was carrying more and more things around and my pockets were just getting too full. A wallet fits in my back pocket nicely, but I don't always have a back pocket. Besides that, sometimes I have sunscreen, a couple bottles of water, a camera and information packets with me. The solution? I got a purse. Yes ladies and gentleman the bug has not one but two "purses." I choose to call them hand bags or any other name.

I look quite stylish actually.

Monday Madness - 17 Nov 2003

1. Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? If not, when will you be starting?
I don't shop for Christmas.

2. What are your favorite holiday goodies (baked goods, etc.)?
The traditional type Christmas cookies are my fave but only if I know who made them.

3. Do you decorate for Christmas? Inside, outside or both? When will you be putting your decorations up? I usually put out a few Christmas(y) type things - sometimes a tree.

Otto, you're questions are always great; sometimes, I just don't have much to say. Love ya seeester!

On my way to school the other day, approaching a stop light where there is plenty of traffic in the early evening, I see that the light is once again OUT! This isn't a good thing; I need to get moving. There are three lanes going in each direction - yes, each which means North, South, East and West. That's 12 lanes total. I need to turn left which requires me to be in the middle of all this mess. In case you're not quite visualizing this, turning right wouldn't be as stressful. I decided it was my turn and started creeping out as I see cars from two other directions also wanting to come out, so we all dodged each other as I tapped on my horn so as to say, "hey, I'm here! It's not a hummer, but don't hit me!

Whew! I made it.

From Otto's Monday Madness..... (It is still Monday over here by the way)

1. How many 'meals a day' do you eat? This is tough for me to answer ...in the perfect world, I would munch on healthy foods throughout the day. I try to eat something when I first get up because it is important to "break" the "fast." Although I am hungry first thing in the morn', I don't really have an appetite for something - i'm doing well to eat some bread. By about 10am, I am starving and eat whatever I can get my hands on which is usually some kind of food that is traditionally thought of as for lunch or dinner. By two pm (ish) I eat again and here is the dilemma - not hungry at normal dinner time, go to class and come back hungry. I need to get a handle on my eating habits, don't I?

2. Do you enjoy cooking? Why or why not?
I don't generally enjoy cooking only because it is such a process to go through just to sit down and chow. I do however enjoy cooking with Susan because it is more of a bonding thing that way.

3. Who cooks most of the meals in your home? hmmmm, I don't know. I think it's balanced, but Susan really does the real cooking - I just fix things. I do cook eggs though.

Recipe? not now - eventually I will visit some of granni39's recipe sites though; I need and want to start cooking.

Halloween is over! Yippee!

Being new to living in the city - not really - I guess we call this suburbia. Back to the point..... being new to living around a lot of people, unlike rural Georgia, I was concerned about how the trick-or-treating thing was going to work. I had class that night so it shouldn't have been a major concern, but I wondered if the doorbell was going to be ringing all night bothering Bravo which of course should also bother Susan.

I was told (after asking of course) that if you don't have you're front light on, they are not supposed to stop. Susan already knew this and wasn't worried. It worked! No trick-or-treaters at our door on Halloween!

The kids should actually be happy that I wasn't here to pass out candy because I would have also given them a lecture. I would have told each one of them that they shouldn't leave their candy wrappers all over the neighborhood.

How dare they? People give little beggers candy - then they turn around and use it to litter our area. Why hasn't this begging tradition phased out yet?

Bah Humbug!

This week's questions will be all about your creativity........

1. What is your most artistic accomplishment?
I read the MM questions on Monday and thought to myself that I haven't really had any artistic "accomplishments," but today some answers came to me; matter of fact, I'm having a difficult time deciding which was the most artistic or the most accomplished.

I had a window blind - it was black - I bought it (only one) at Pier 1 - I can't remember why - I got bored with it one day and slathered beautiful bright colors on it; I think that may be my most artistic accomplishment.

2. What is your favorite method of artistic expression?
I enjoy reading things people(whom I love) write - I enjoy looking at their creative memory books also. I think I will really enjoy that when I get in to it seriously too - matter of fact, I plan to get a bunch done while I'm on break in December.

3. Name one form of art that you haven't yet tried but would like to.
I would like to make a dulcimer and play it.

.... about the strikers...........

The three primary grocery stores around here have had workers on strike for weeks now. The stores are Albertson's, Ralph's, and Von's. Both Ralph's and Von's have become my stores of choice since moving here mainly based on availability. In general, Ralph's has been better with prices, but they each have their thing that I go for.

When they first went on strike, I stayed away. I don't know why - maybe slightly out of fear - contrary to popular belief, I prefer avoiding confrontation. I don't really believe unions are necessary though, so I had a battle with it. Anyway, I purposely crossed the picket line a few times just to make my statement really. That was after one of the picketers was arrested for chasing down a shopper and beating him to a pulp. I don't know the whole story; I'm guessing that at that hour, about 2 or 3am, one or both of them were probably drunk - not that it's an excuse - I just mean the fight probably had more to do with the two individuals than it did the actual strike situation.

moving on........... Just this past weekend with the fires going on and people displaced, I guess the grocery "gods" decided they should make it easier for people to buy groceries, so they "gave us permision to shop at Ralph's" and pulled the picketers off those lines. They said that the Ralph's people have been the most cooperative during negotiations.

I haven't been there yet, but really I don't care about whether the strikers are there or not - I just go to the store that has the best prices for the items I want.

How does a dog feel when he's locked in the car and something weird happens like the alarm going off?

I don't know exactly how a dog feels, but it has happened to Bravo before and today it happened to me.

I decided not to go into the grocery store with Susan as she was running in to just get a few things. I attempted to roll down the window before she shut the car off, but oops I guess I took too long. Then, by habit, she locked the car. I looked down at the control panel and noticed that the car was still getting juice, but it wouldn't let me put the window down. Then................ I remembered one time when Bravo was in her car, we had the doors locked and in a few minutes the alarm went off. I thought................. hmmmmmmmm maybe she'll be back before that happens.
A few minutes later, beep beep beep beep continuously................... Luckily, unlike my dog, I have opposable thumbs so was able to leave the car. I promptly went in the store - retrieved Susan's key and returned. In order to save face - I didn't want the strikers to think I just didn't know how to work the car, so on my way in, I said to the picketers, " sorry about the noise; I have to go get the key"

We had a good day.