Night Night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.
I can remember hearing that when I was a child. It never occured to me that bed bugs were real. Then I read about Medieval times and I discovered that bed bugs and lice and all sorts of miserable insects were commonplace. That might have been the start of my interest in herbs. A number of different herbs, including lavender were strewn among the rushes or straw that covered the floor of a castle’s common room.
Bed bugs were eliminated in the United States, but they have reappeared.
Heads Up
The subject I want to put before you is a difficult one to present without sounding whiney, and that’s not my intent. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you have probably figured out that I have married a man who has four children, but we have not had any children together. I met my step-children when they were between the ages of 12 and 19, and I had very little impact on their lives other than to teach them not to make social calls to us after 9:00 at night, and not to snicker when croutons are served with a salad.
That’s not what I want to write about, though.
Photo history
Have you been divorced? Do you have a child who is divorced? Were your parents divorced? Do you have a relative who has been divorced??
Okay…..do you have family photographs with the ex-spouse? The question of the day is, do you leave them in the picture or have them air-brushed out? Or perhaps you feel more strongly and have CUT them out of the picture!
Somewhere I have photographs of my first wedding. I suppose I even have some pictures with my former husband and some of my family members. They are not in an album, so I’ve just tucked them away. It never occured to me to have him air brushed out of those pictures. After all, he’s part of my history. I don’t dwell on him, but I don’t deny his existance, either.
Smiles
Last night’s announcement got me to thinking about smiles, and what they convey. Rather than tell her Dad she was pregnant, SD (step-daughter) chose to write it out on a cute little Winnie the Pooh card and hand it to her Dad. She had one of those anticipatory “I know something you don’t know” smiles. You could tell something was going on. It’s possible that we didn’t make a big enough fuss. We’ve expected news like this for the last couple of months. I hope we didn’t dampen her joy at sharing the news because we didn’t shout and cry. There were plenty of broad smiles and hugs.
Deuce
I haven’t talked a lot about my grandson, but I’m not shy about saying that I’m a Gramma. My reason for limiting what I tell about him comes down to safety. I don’t want my babbling to create an unsafe situation. I will proudly tell you that he is a handsome young man, with good manners, and empathy for those around him.
It seems that now I’ll have TWO grandchildren to brag on. My step-daughter and her husband joined us for dinner this evening, and shared the news. She’ll be having her baby in late May or early June. Honest, I haven’t nagged about this, but it will be fun to have a baby in the family. *G*
I’ve got to go plan a baby quilt!
Numbers
Everyone has been talking about numbers lately. It seems contageous.
Out of curiosity, I went to Site Meter to see how many visitors I’ve had, and in four more visits I will hit 3000. Of course, this includes my own visits. When I get to shift from AOL to a dsl line, I will take myself out of the picture, but until then, my ever changing ISP number makes it a pain to edit my visits out.
I’m not sure of my exact start date with Site Meter, but I think we cranked it up about this time in June, so I figure it has been just about three months.
Bogie, I’m sure by now you have rolled over the 5,000 mark. Congrats, hon!
Wahoooooooo!
October is coming, and October is synonymous with the Texas State Fair. I was visiting Speedbump and Jamie two years ago in October, and they offered to take me to the Fair. I really should have taken them up on it. It turns out that the Texas State Fair lasts an entire MONTH! Texans have always done things in big ways.
Here in Illinois a fair may last from Tuesday or Wednesday to the following Sunday. I think the State Fair may run ten days or so. But I don’t think we have ever considered letting it run an entire month.
Perhaps the Texas State Fair runs so long because it takes so long to get to Dallas from every corner of the state.
Tex and Jamie….if you go, take pictures of the quilts for me, and wave at BIG TEX!
Chatter
I’ve just come home from the dentist. One of my teeth needed a crown, and today she made the impressions so the lab could make the crown.
I want to know why dentists ask you questions when they have their fingers in your mouth? Here I am trying to sit still so the “blue goo” can harden, and she asks me, “Are those new socks?” I’m good at charades, but I just grunted at her, and let her decide for herself what the answer was. I know she was trying to divert my attention, but she needs to come up with a better list of questions.
I’m sure that billy and bogie could come up with suggestions!
As I’ve Matured
This is another post QT has shared with me. Author, if you’d like to step forward, I’d be happy to give you all the credit! Comments in Parenthesies are mine.
As I’ve Matured
I’ve learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is stalk
them and hope they panic and give in. (My apologies to those who have been stalked.)
I’ve learned that one good turn gets most of the blankets. (Boy, is THIS true!)
Taxes
This came across my desk yesterday. My friend, QT, who sent it, told me the author is unknown. If you are the author, I’d be happy to give you credit for compiling this post.
Taxes
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
Capital Gains Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Court Fines (indirect taxes)
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel permit tax
Gasoline Tax (42 cents per gallon)
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax Interest expense (tax on the money)
Inventory tax IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Local Income Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Septic Permit Tax
Service Charge Taxes
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
Sales Taxes
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Road Toll Booth Taxes
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone federal excise tax
Telephone federal universal service fee tax
Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
Telephone minimum usage surcharge tax
Telephone recurring and non-recurring charges tax
Telephone State and local tax
Telephone usage charge tax
Toll Bridge Taxes
Toll Tunnel Taxes
Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
Trailer registration tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
COMMENTS: Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago and our nation was
the most prosperous in the world, had absolutely no national debt, had the
largest middle class in the world and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What the hell happened?