(Bee)ye (Bee)ye for a While...

I will be off the air for an indefinite period of time. Gotta research hosts to get online at home. May take awhile. Until then, here's a most awesome bee picture! I got totally lucky!

10 Things That Make Me Realize Life Is Good

1) Having my cats on my lap, all snug and curled up. This just makes me feel loved and all’s right in my world (and their’s).

2) Not having to get up when my alarm clock goes off. I love being able to turn it off, roll over and go back to Snoozeville for a couple hours, especially when three furry kids are heaped up on and around me so that it’s a great big warm Cuddlefest. This morning before the alarm went off, there were a lot of sneak attacks, ambushes, hissing, snarling, and fighting going on but when my alarm went off, every furry kiddo was curled up on or beside me, so I stayed in bed for an extra half hour to enjoy the warm kittiness.

3) Being in a bookstore and browsing the shelves. I can so lose track of time and the outside world.

4) Finding a new book by one of my favorite authors. Total book glow!

5) Cooking a new recipe that has all (or most) of my favorite ingredients and being able to eat as much of it as I want.

6) Making my Christmas candy. I work with crushed cookies/cream cheese/melted chocolate and listen to Christmas carols all day long.

7) Getting a call from one of my friends or my mom and making plans to do something together and then finding things to talk about so that hanging up is next to impossible.

8) Driving my car with no particular place to go or schedule to follow and all the radio stations are playing good songs and the sun is shining and the windows are open and the road is fairly clear and there’s a general feeling that everything is “just fine and dandy”.

9) Having a weekend or day where I can just stay in my PJs, sit in the Chair of Death, and read one book after another. The only time I get up is to eat, use the bathroom, or play with the cats.

10) Laughing. I love having a belly laugh surprised right out of me. I love having my Favorite Co-Worker get the giggles and then I start giggling which makes her laugh which makes me laugh which then leads to both of us laughing so hard we get tears in our eyes and then she has to go pee.

The Name Game

I saw this on AllSorts blog and thought it was good for a laugh. I made some changes to some of the ways to get the names in an effort to help keep your real ones private and to be more fitting for the type of name AND I added a few of my own "name" ideas. Follow the directions indicated in the parentheses to get your name!

Rockstar name: (first pet + first car) Cooter Coupe

Gangsta name: (favorite ice-cream + favorite domesticated animal) Mint Cat (my co-worker is CookieDough Dog!)

Fly Girl/Guy name: (first initial of first name + first 2 letters of last name) S-Su

Detective name: (street you lived on as a kid that you can remember + favorite mystery author’s last name) Pepperwood Allingham

StarWars name: (first 3 letters of pet’s name + first 2 letters of your first name) Hob-Sa aka Doo-Sa aka Moo-Sa

Super Hero name: (“The” + favorite color + favorite alcoholic beverage) The Black Slambo

Nascar name: (using the first names of your grandfathers but shortening one to be one syllable and adding ie/y to the other) Frankie Jules

Stripper name: (favorite scent + favorite candy) Cherry Whopper

Weather Anchor name: (favorite teacher’s last name + major city that starts with same letter) Pickerel Paris

Drag Queen name: (favorite flower + favorite weather element) Hydrangea Thunder

Hippy name: (your typical breakfast + favorite tree) Oatmeal Golden Chain

Cartoon Character name: (favorite toy as a kid + favorite baby animal) Barbie Kitty

Cowboy name: (weapon or ammunition + natural disaster you have an affinity for) Shotgun Tsunami

White Trash Trailer Park name: (seafood item + stinky body part) Tuna Pits

Grey’s Anatomy nickname: (Mc + an apt adjective that applies to you) McBlivious

Rapper name: (felonious action + favorite appetizer) Trippin’ Dip (my other co-worker is Tokin' Popper!)

Mob name: (pick a RatPacker + “the” + your least favorite body part + first 3-4 letters of your last name with an Italian ending like –ucci, -tolli, -letti, -otti, -lini, -one, -pio) Sammy, the Nose, Sulucci

Chief name: (“Chief” + favorite outdoor activity + favorite undomesticated animal) Chief Skiing Mountain Lion

SpongeBob SquarePants name: (favorite water critter + your one syllable nickname + one of your favorite adjective + “pants”) OtterSam FartyPants

ButtonHoled by the Missionaries

Last Saturday is the day I decided to do all the yard work that needed to be done so I could have Sunday and Monday free of “labor”.

I had just finished mowing the lawn and started edging the driveway. You know, taking off the fringe of lawn that is creeping over your driveway, narrowing it each year you put off this particular project?

I was all hot and sweaty and drippy and untidy and unshowered and covered in grass and dirt kneeling at the end of my driveway when the missionaries waltzed up my driveway all tidy, shining, and pressed in their white shirts, ties, and black pants.

Essentially, I was a captive audience for the Word of God.

Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against people and their religion of choice as long as they are not aggressively seeking to convert me, a zealot, a fanatic, an Inquisitor, or willing to kill themselves and others to score a point for their Supreme Being. To each their own, as long as it makes you happy/gives you something positive to believe in/helps you fulfill your potential/makes you a better person.

The missionaries spent about 15-20 minutes with me (I never stopped edging the entire time) and the speaker of the duo (the 2nd one never said a word) tried to convince me that because I hung around Mormons in high school, one of my best friends is Mormon, and I work with a few Mormons “that didn’t I think this was a direct message from God that I should join up?”

Me (laughing): “No and organized religion is not for me”.

Missionary 1: “How you do you think you are going to be with God after you die?”

Me: “I haven’t quite firmed up my beliefs on what happens after we die because no one knows for sure what happens – out like a light, white robes and harps or horns and pitchforks, serial killers coming back as dung beetles, or astrally going to another dimension. And really, with all the different religions and spiritual beliefs out there, what is the real version of God, the Supreme Being, or the ambiguous Universal One? All religions have commonalities and possibly a kernel of truth buried under all the perceptions/misperceptions/opinions of the human storytellers.” (Condensed version of my words, there is about 5-10 minutes of repartee I’m taking the license of arbitrarily summing up.)

Missionary 1: “I agree with the ‘kernel of truth’ part but I don’t believe in reincarnation and serial killers are in for a spiritual learning experience all their own courtesy of God.” (those weren’t his exact words, but this is what filtered into my head). “I have had my own personal experiences with God and I guarantee being Mormon means going to God.”

Me (laughing): “You can’t guarantee anything you don’t have proof of.”

Missionary 1: “God has given me proof.

Me: “Perception isn’t proof.”

Missionary 1: “That’s where faith comes in.”

Me: “Fine, but I still don’t agree with organized religions as the pathway to ‘wherever’ we’re going.”

Missionary 1: “The Books of Mormon are the pathway.”

Me: “The Books were written by a flawed human being who was interested in touting his own version of ‘THE pathway to God’”.

He had to take a moment.

I don’t want to give you the impression that we were arguing or that this conversation consisted of smooth back and forthing, because it wasn’t. Mostly I was chuckling after his comments before I drew upon all the speculative non-fiction books I’ve read and osmosis-ed through the years for my vaguely shocking, blasphemous, or anti-religious replies. There were long pauses while he tried to come up with pithy rebuttals that would enlighten me into having my own glorifying direct experience with God and cause me to jump up and say, “sign me up, I wanna be a Mormon!” Which didn’t happen, obviously. I mightily resisted the temptation to ask him where he stood on polygamy.

There was more talk, mostly different .0 versions of the Word of God on his part and towards the end, my social tolerance had diminished and I cheerily sent them on THEIR way so I can merrily skip MY way to spiritual enlightenment.

Being Arty with Nature

Just thought I would share some pictures I took this weekend coz I like the way these turned out. Let me know what you think. (Deliberate comment hint much? Yes indeedy!)