Babies Tasting Lemons

I'm really glad You Tube wasn't around when I was a baby or I'd be on this clip for sure. 49 years ago my own mother used to do this to me for her own entertainment. Seems like parents are still doing this sort of thing today!

All morning I've been visited by a great big huge Pileated Woodpecker. He is really spectacular with his red head but he moves too fast for me and my camera and I've not been able to capture him at all. But he looks just exactly like this one.



click here to hear its call.

which is distinctly different from this call.

You can't see it..........

 

...but these tall Georgia Pines that are in the view from my front window are dancing. They are swaying back and forth, ever so slowly and I am at times hypnotized by them. In fact, I have decided that it is a great way to meditate and you know what? My dancing trees may even hold some answers for me. They speak to me with their movement in a way I can't explain. If I try to look away, I can't. And though it may sound a little "out there" to some people it doesn't matter because I believe answers to most questions do lie in nature. And if these trees want to speak to me, who am I to try and pretend differently? Usually they dance in unison but today the wind must be coming in several directions as they are swaying in different ways. And I feel connected to them because my own thoughts are doing the same thing. Nothing seems to be working in unison with me. But there is hope and I am gaining speed with my plans of what I want and what will make me happy. Just you wait and see!

A Self Observation

I'm not sure what is wrong with me lately but I seem to be eyeing the world through a somewhat cynical mask. When I read something that supposedly is written to be funny, I feel like the author is trying too hard to be funny and to me it is not funny.

It works with serious things too. If I read something written that's supposedly a heart wrenching story, I feel like it is a sham, a fake and that the writer is over writing it.

And it happens in real time and life too. I hear people in my life trying to be funny and they are not. I hear people say things that aren't all that exciting and trying to make it SO exciting. I hear people tell a serious story that is suppose to have some sort of message and I don't get it.

All of a sudden nothing touches me or makes me really FEEL! What the heck? Sometimes I wonder about me.

Tuesday Ramblings

It is Tuesday and I have conference call this morning. I am also off today instead of tomorrow. My schedule has been off the last week or so. I've swapped with other people who had things to do and covered for vacationing people and that sort of thing. Doesn't bother me but I have to stop and think about it as we are creatures of habit and Wednesday is always my day off usually.

There is stormy weather all around this morning but so far we are in the clear, which is ok by me. There are strong winds in these storms and I can live without those.

My Dr.'s appointment confirmed what I really already knew yesterday and that's the fact that I am going to have to face the possibility of having a hysterectomy. I don't want to talk about it now...we'll talk more later.

And that's about it for now. Got to get a second cup of coffee and settle down for this call. My district manager didn't make the budget for last month and we'll have to listen to her tell us we could have done more if we'd tried harder. Right.
Happy Tuesday!

The World of "Green" Shoes

For some reason I've become interested in shoes made with all natural and recycled materials. For example this shoe's out sole used to be a car tire.




This shoe is vegan and veggie friendly. Hemp uppers, lined in bamboo, coconut button. Cements used are all water based.


The lining of these are made from recycled soda bottles, the out sole from tires too. (soda bottles?? How'd they do that?)These are actually made from recycled T shirts and Jeans and of course recycled soles. They are from a British company called "Worn Again". The uppers are made of leather, but from the left over leather shavings and trimming from tanneries which would normally go to the landfill! I think that is genius!

You know recycling is nothing new to my family. I come from a family that was very poor during the depression and for quite a few years afterwards and my Grandmother always recycled, not so much for the environment but for financial reasons. My mother and her sisters wore Flour Sack dresses, quilts were made of old clothes, canning jars doubled as drinking glasses. And when shoe soles wore out, they lined them with cardboard. Nothing was thrown away, everything had a use. My grandmother use to tell me when they killed a hog they found a use for every single part but the "squeal".

We could learn a lot from that generation, we should listen to them before its too late and they are all gone.

A Good Night

I had the pleasure of spending time with one of my most favorite little friends tonight.

Pictures are from my cell so excuse that they aren't so great.

She and I made pigs in a blanket. We had to make one naked because we ran out of blankets.

And fruit. She loves fresh fruit!
It was nice to spend time with her as we've not gotten to do that in a long time.

Hello March!

"I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."-

William Wordsworth, From the poem Daffadils


Now that March is here, surely Spring can't be so far off. Even here in the south it seems it has been a long winter. I know the rest of the country is more than ready. March came in like a lamb here and it is although cold this morning, it should warm up nicely to around seventy I think.


The good thing about Saturdays is that I don't have to go in to work quite so early. I get to go in at ten thirty. The bad thing about Saturday is that I have to work. Oh well, thank goodness I have a job. I've worked retail so long now that if I did have a job where I got Saturdays off I'd probably miss having a day off during the week. You just can't please us humans I guess. We always want what we don't have.

I hope you have a great weekend and I wish for you warm weather soon with flowers blooming and birds singing.
Love,
Robbin

All is Quiet in My Little World Today

There is nothing much going on with me today. I was off but had to do my laundry which isn't very interesting. This is my whole weekend to work. I have a Dr.'s appointment on Monday and so nothing to look forward to either in the next few days.

Life goes on. Some people in my world are having a bad time. One of my work associates' mother had a stroke this week and we are concerned for her.

I have a cousin on my mind who lost her job after 21 years of service with Eckerd's Drug Stores. They have been bought out by Rite-Aide and she was a district manager who's district was dissolved and so she doesn't know what to do with herself.

Life's ups and downs. What a roller coaster sometimes!

Hey Ya'll

For some reason in the last week or so I've had so many people comment on my Southern Accent. And not just people from somewhere else, even people from here, Southern people! What the heck? I don't think I'm talking any different than I've ever talked.
They've not said bad things, they've said, "I love your accent," or "you have such a sweet southern accent" or "I love to hear you talk.".................alrighty then. Even yesterday on conference call one of our managers from West Virginia commented on it............pleazzzzzzzzzzze! Have you ever heard someone from West Virginia talk?
If I stand out here, can you imagine what happens if I move to Washington state? I think I'll just shut my mouth! Ya'll have a good day because that is what I am fixin to do! (just kidding, I really don't talk like that!) DO I?

Another Day, Another Well Earned Dollar

Today seemed like it was just plain wild and crazy! We are pretty much short a person at work all week and BOY can you tell it! Nothing is easy, customers have been nice, and not even nutty as they can be, it just seems like we are so buried in everything. The good news is we are doing good business and selling glasses and making budget, so I really shouldn't complain, but MAN are we tired when we get home. I am and I know my co-workers are too. We go and go and don't have time to think in between customers. It makes the day go fast anyway.

On another note, our weather is crazy! We had storms this morning and when I came out of work it had gotten down right cold and very windy!

Like everyone else I am ready for Spring. I am in fact ready for anything NEW! I am so sick of the same old things, doing the same things, seeing the same things. It seems as though I can't get excited about anything much anymore. I NEED something to get me interested in life again. I am waiting for the day and it will come, I get closer and closer with each passing day.

My Horoscope for today says:

More than likely, your strong emotions are coming up against a very narrow-minded mental state that you may be harboring, Robbin. Make sure that you aren't being manipulated by other people into thinking that you need to behave a certain way. Remember that you call the shots. Try not to get overwhelmed if nothing seems to make sense at this time. Take deep breaths and calm down. Everything will work out
fine.

Great! I'm confused enough, must I come up against a narrow-minded mental state that I'm harboring? Oh well, bring it on....I can handle it!

A Busy Day, a New Book, and a Tired Body

It was a busy Monday and a hard one as we were a person short at work, but pleasant enough. I am tired, overly tired but that has a lot to do with some other things going on with me that I am about to take care of, health wise. And when I get that taken care of I can move my life in the direction I want to move. But more on that later.

I bought Valerie Bertinelli's autobiography today, I couldn't resist. I am a sucker for autobiographies of famous people but more often than not am a little disappointed. Years ago before Kelsey Grammer was really all that famous I borrowed a book from the library he'd written about his life. It was great, I still remember things he wrote, his views, his way of accepting things that had happened in his life, and I was impressed. We'll see how Valerie's book goes.

And so I am winding down a little here and will probably be in bed soon.
Pleasant dreams out there.

Money, Money, Money

A couple here in Georgia won over 270 million dollars in the lottery. MY goodness! That's a lot of money. They opted for the cash pay out and will clear about a 100million after taxes. He is an iron worker, they live in a trailer. The town where they live is a tiny farming town of about 600 people. I guess their lives will certainly change. He quit his job first thing! New cars first thing, and of course a new home. I'm glad to see someone who really needs it wins it. And I hope it makes their lives easier from now on.

I fell asleep during the Oscars last night but I saw most of it. I thought all the dresses looked great this year, I didn't see anything wild or ugly. I saw lots of black but there was lots of red too.

This week is going to be challenging at work as everyone needs off for one reason or another. One person is sick, hoping she is getting better, one person has to be off for an MRI for her back which has been killing her now for weeks, one person has to be off because her mother is having a heart cath and the other person has planned vacation time. So.......we'll see how that goes. I should be able to be off on Friday instead of Wednesday but that depends. Of course if I'd played the lottery and won, I'd not be worrying about any of this........but that didn't happen.

So, here we start a brand new week. Hope your Monday and your week is a good one!
Love,
Robbin

My New Boyfriend

I spent the afternoon watching the movie version of Phantom of the Opera.

And now WOW! I really love Gerald Butler. I mean really, I'm in LOVE!

Last week at work we had a discussion about peeling a banana. (Ok, we have our moments) but I had bought a bag of mini bananas and it said, "Peel from the bottom" and Steph said she had read about peeling bananas that way as that is the way they grow and you lose the strings that way and besides............that is the way monkeys do it and who but a monkey is a banana peeling expert? So.........there you go.

How to correctly peel a Banana

Famous Bus Sightings

A while back I saw a bus in our Walmart parking lot with the name "Grace Potter and the Nocturnals" band on it. I didn't know who they were but you can read about them here and listen to them here........I noticed Blogger is featuring their blog site now here.

Today Keith Urban's bus was in the parking lot. I saw a woman walk up and knock and knock but nobody answered. He was probably not inside but I guess she wanted to see if he was and maybe he'd answer the door................lol. Maybe she just wanted to welcome Nicole Kidman to the neighborhood, I don't know what she was thinking. She finally stopped and stomped off mad! People are so funny!

Our town is right off Interstate 75 which goes all the way down to Florida so maybe he had a show there.

Public Broadcasting Day for Me

It dawned on me tonight that I've developed somewhat of a routine on Saturdays when I get off work and that is funny too because I usually don't have routines. I hate routines, I love doing different things when I want to....I don't do "routines!"

Here's the deal. As I drive home I listen to "Prairie Home Companion" on public radio. When I get home, I settle in and watch Public T.V. , "Georgia Travels" which is interesting to me because it is about my own state and many places are where I've been. And then I watch "Rick Steves Europe". This is still Public T.V. and then I watch the British Comedies. ALSO on Public T.V. (Note to self, I need to donate some money to Public T.V. and Radio as soon as I can).

I usually don't cook on Saturday night, I bring something home or get something easy from the grocery. And then............I fall asleep.

WOW..............my life is pretty boring! I've got to get out of my rut for sure!

My Hopes for Today

I'm hoping for a less chaotic day today. Our Dr. leaves early and that will help and yesterday put us over in budget for the week so we are ok there. So...a nice calm day would suit me fine. That is what I am hoping for.


I can hardly believe that February is almost history for this year. Time seems to fly to me lately. Day after day, mostly the same, and then you raise your head and POW......the months have flown by and before you know it another year has gone by.
I feel the urgency to catch some of this time in a mason jar and hide it under my bed so I'll be assured to have some left to enjoy.

Hoping your Saturday is a good one and you are enjoying your time in life and doing just what it is you've always wanted to......or at least working toward it!

Love,
Robbin

Time in a Bottle

by: Jim Croce

If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I'd like to do

Is to save every day

Till Eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever

If words could make wishes come true

I'd save every day like a treasure and then,

Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time

To do the things you want to do

Once you find them I've looked around enough to know

That you're the one I want to go Through time with

If I had a box just for wishes And dreams

that had never come true

The box would be empty Except for the memory

Of how they were answered by you

But there never seems to be enough time

To do the things you want to do

Once you find them I've looked around enough to know

That you're the one I want to go Through time with