That is not a reference to three square meals a day (The Hubby would tell you I wouldn’t know what that is anyway).

I recently saw a discussion (online, of course) on the realization that this one particular family of 2 adults and 1 child in diapers went through 10 ROLLS of toilet paper in ONE month.  Let’s just ponder that for a moment…. 2 adults… one month… 10 rolls.  (Try not to let your imagination go too wild – I can’t catch you if you faint over!)

The poster made a concerted effort to track toilet paper usage for the next month, and by the mere process of tracking it, they cut down on usage.

Then they made the effort to cut back.  She went to four squares per visit to the loo. They cut down to about half of their “normal” usage.

The intriguing comment she made was really about her grandmother, who lived “in a rural area” without “city water” – meaning they had their own water well and septic system.  You know, like we do here.  Well it seems to cut back on paper going into the septic system, her grandma had a “pee rag” (that was incredibly hard to type – it conjures up all sorts of images that I just don’t want to have).

While we never went that far, with up to six kids in the house, plus the two adults, toilet paper was an issue at our house when I was growing up.  Well, it wasn’t always, but after some particular incident (no – it wasn’t me!) the 3 Square Rule was put into effect.  So for a long period of time, we were issued our 3 Squares and that was it.  And generally speaking, that was enough.

This has been on my mind for the last several days for a couple of reasons.  One, it is just so bizarre to read about other people’s toilet paper habits. (And yes, it’s kinda weird to be writing about it too).  Two, I have been sick since Sunday and have spent lots of time in the bathroom – I seem to have gone through 10 rolls myself!  And three, having read the comments about how wonderful it was that the poster had cut back and “saved the environment”, it just seems to be further proof that Al Gore truly has invented the Internet just to push his green agenda.  (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!)

Ick… I hate being sick.

I spent yesterday in three places: the couch, the bed and the bathroom.   I spent today in two places: the bed and the bathroom.

I have done nothing productive – AT ALL.

Urggg!!

I am starting to feel a bit better, so hopefully by tomorrow I will be all set to get everything done that I need to.  I still have to get The Boy some school supplies (school starts Wednesday!).  I guess I won’t have a chance to clean up his room before he gets back from his camping trip.  I need to get my grocery list organized (as well as my menu plan) and then drag myself to the stores.    Plus, there’s some work (you know, the kind you get paid for) to get done.  And it would be nice to be able to pay some attention to my husband.

The Hubby has been very good to me while I’ve been under the weather.  He even went over to take care of the chickens and goat for me last night.  He’s made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen and made sure I’ve eaten and kept hydrated.

He’s a keeper!

no, not the famous Freddy Fender song, but my life in front of the computer.

It amazes me that I have spent the last three and a half HOURS in front of my computer.  In that time, I signed up for numerous coupons, freebies and read interesting (and not so interesting) blogs.  I found a coupon for $5 off a $20 purchase at Walgreens (good on Friday and Saturday only) – so I spent about a half hour or so figuring out what to buy and how much it was going to cost.  (Hint: lots of stuff at about 40% off overall).

But is it really wasted?  I mean, there are worse ways to spend my time.  TV comes to mind.  Of course, the tv was on for some of the time I was in front of the computer, but I wasn’t paying it much attention.  The Hubby was playing the XBox mostly, so what else could I be doing?  Cleaning? Nah…  Organizing?   Maybe…  Finding things for the tag sale I have planned in my head?  Probably should be….

On the other hand, there are better ways to spend my time.  I could be reading a book, learning something new, or writing a great blog post.

Oh, wait… I just did!

Well, the first two days of “animal watch” have gone almost without a hitch.

Every year, my parents take the grandkids camping.  That means a whole week of just me and the Hubby… and my mother’s animals.

This year, her menagerie includes: 4 kittens, 6 hens, 1 rooster and a GOAT.  Yes folks, a goat.  A baby goat.  A cute, lovable baby goat that thinks he’s a dog and wants to follow you around everywhere and be with you and keep you company and cries when you leave him.  Yup, that kind of a goat.  Plus, he jumps.  And he has horns, which are a bit stubby, but still not pleasant to feel at the back of your legs when he is trying to get your attention.

The trip started on Tuesday, so that was an easy day.  All the critters were pretty much taken care of for the day.  All I had to do was get everyone settled for the night.  My mom has the chickens trained (yes, apparently is possible to train chickens) to go into a cage at night.  So all I have to do is close the door (I don’t know why she didn’t train them – or maybe the goat – do to that part of it!) and lock them up for safety from the predators that like chicken at night (no – I am not talking about The Hubby!!)  Then in the morning I let them out, put out some hay for everyone to munch on and we’re good to go.  I go back in the afternoon to take care of the kitties and back at night to put everyone away for the night.

Tonight I was a bit later than I thought I would be and it was actually dark when I went out there.  So I had the flashlight with me.  As the light scanned over the pen, there were eyes looking back at me.  I was a bit nervous that I was going to have unwanted visitors in the pen.  But no, all was ok – sort of.  The door to the small pen had gotten closed and the goat and several of the hens got stuck in the larger portion of the pen.  So I had to pick up 4 hens and 1 rooster and get them into their night time crate without causing too much commotion.  All while the goat was trying to get my attention and give him some food (hungry little guy!)

But we’re all hanging in there!

When I was growing up, we never took vacations. Our family would go with my father on “business trips”. He would do what ever it was he had to do, and my mom would take the kids all over the city we were in (remind me to tell you about Washington DC sometime!). There was one trip to Florida that resulted in my parents buying a timeshare (a long tale all of its’ own, including egg shells in scrambled eggs).

So, apparently my parents started putting a priority on taking vacations. At the very least, they were now committed spending money on them. I was about 15 at the time, so my older brothers were 19 or 20 and out of the house by that point.

My parents decided to take vacation – but without any of us kids. I highly suspect the last time my parents had gone anywhere alone at that point was probably their honeymoon (and I think their honeymoon was just somewhere local – no where fancy like Hawaii). So, I was left in the care of my grandparents who lived across the street from us.

Towards the end of the week, my parents called my grandparents. Apparently they missed me. Missed me so much that they wanted my grandparents to drive me to them in the Poconos to spend the weekend before their vacation time was over. And my grandparents agreed to do it.

Now, I am not sure who (mom or dad) talked to who (grandma or grandpa). I’m not sure how it happened, but apparently history was being made. My grandmother HATED travelling (which I never knew until she had passed away). So somebody did some arm-twisting to get it done – I’m just not sure who did it. In all honesty, my grandmother was a softie, so she may have wanted to make me feel good by letting me go. My grandfather could be a bit gruff and shall we say, set in his ways. She may have had to convince him that “we should take the poor girl to see her parents”. Or it could have been my grandfather saying “Let’s go drive her – it’ll be nice to take a trip”.

So we drive from our lovely little hometown and worked our way to the Poconos Mountains. I think we left on a Friday after school was out, so of course we were driving when it was dinnertime. So we started looking for a place to stop and eat. The roads we were taking were, as family tradition dictates, back roads – little 2 lane highways were God forbid if you get behind a truck you are so stuck! So we find this place. In my memory, it is a German restaurant, but really the thing I remember is how dark it was – dark furniture, low lighting.

We get seated. The hostess gives us each a glass of water and the menus. I am hungry (after all, I am a growing girl!) and so looking forward to dinner. My grandfather looks at the menu, looks at my grandmother, looks at the menu and says, “We’re leaving.” I look at him; I look at my grandmother. I look back at Grandpa. Clearly there will be no discussion. Grandma is a bit distressed – they served us water! – but she also knows it’s no good to argue. We get up, walk past the hostess, me looking at the floor and wishing there had been bread at the table before he looked at the menu.

We get into the car. He says, ” I’d never pay that much for dinner – that’s too expensive! We’ll find something down the road.”

Now, I have no idea if we actually did find anything “down the road” before we got to the timeshare. All I can remember from that drive is sitting down and getting up without a word to the staff.

But, on to the “making history” portion of the story…

My grandparents actually had a pretty good time (I think). I have some pictures from the trip – just to prove that my grandma actually was there. One of them is of my grandfather, on the second floor of the condo, looking down at me. The stairs were a spiral staircase – which, when I think about how hard it got for grandpa to walk is amazing to think of. But the one I have to share is this one, actual proof that Grandma left her safe little hometown to make her granddaughter (and her daughter in law) happy:

And this was apparently the last trip she ever took out of state before she passed away from cancer. I am so glad she went and had a good time!

When I was a teenager, I was very lucky to have a small 13 inch black and white television set in my room. This is when cable tv first came out (hard to believe that cable hasn’t been around for ever!). But of course, we did not have cable. I was stuck with ABC, NBC, and CBS on the main dial, and various “independent” channels on the UHF channels.

But you would never know what you could catch on those UHF channels. I actually saw music videos – and it wasn’t MTV! And I swear I say Jon Stewart on a comedy show, sitting behind a desk with a female counterpart. Anyway…

It was those summer months… stay up late… sleep in late… that I got exposed to “old” movies. Now they have their very own channel – TCM (Turner Classic Movies). I saw some great movies:

1) Portrait of Dorian Grey

2) The Ghost and Mrs. Muir

3) African Queen

4) all the Bikini Beach movies with Annette Funicello & Frankie Avalon

5) The Invisible Man and The Invisible Man Returns

6) Fred Astaire – Funny Face, Top Hat, Holiday Inn, Royal Wedding, Daddy Long Legs

7) ELVIS movies – the cheesier, the better!

8) Arsenic and Old Lace

9) My Favorite Brunette

10) My Three Angels

11) Twelve Angry Men

12) Katharine Hepburn – Stage Door, Bringing Up Baby, Philadelphia Story, Desk Set

13) Father of the Bride and Father’s Little Dividend

14) Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House

15) TopperAt Home With Faith › Edit — WordPress

16) Rope

Maybe that’s when I really started to love movies. I loved them just as much as books. I’m sure that some of them were “bombs” when they were released, but 40 years later they were entertaining enough for me! It’s the same now – there are plenty of movies out there – they weren’t blockbusters or career-defining roles for the actors, but it’s a good way to pass an hour or two. I still haven’t seen The Crying Game (released 1992) yet!! (I hear it was kind of good, with a twist!)

So we are starting a Movie Night with some friends from work. We will rotate from house to house, and each host gets to pick the movie(s) we watch. It’ll be fun to see what other people have in their collections and see if they are favorites of mine or new movies I haven’t discovered yet.

8/9 – Editor’s Note:  I apparently forgot about Fred McMurray’s Absent Minded Professor and Son of Flubber.  I was upstairs this morning, not being productive (a.k.a. surfing the net for new blogs) and I heard his voice coming from the downstairs tv.  I listened for a moment and shouted down – “is that Fred McMurray?” After getting an affirmative response, I said – “what movie is it – Flubber?”  Reply back: “Absent Minded Professor”.  I say to myself – yup, Flubber.   Robin Williams might have done it in ’97, but Fred had it down in ’61.

No, I am not referring to my own legs.   Check this out:

Pansy lays down like this often.  I’ve given it the nickname “chicken legs” since it looks like a chicken sitting on my cutting board, with the legs protruding out to the sides, ready to cut off.  I’m not sure I’ve ever had a dog lay down like this.

She’s been attracting attention from our neighbor dogs lately.  I’ve been letting them roam outside in the afternoons and if they see that Joker and Ace are out, they both run over to the edge of the property line and start making noise.  Sometimes it’s just Chewie barking, sometimes it is just Pansy.  It’s hardly ever both of them at the same time.  I can get Chewie to come back to the house without too much trouble, but Pansy has been ignoring me calling her.  Actually, it’s not that she is ignoring me, it’s that she’s trying to get the attention of Joker and Ace.  They are labs (one black, one chocolate) – fixed of course – so they love to play. They never bark at Chewie or Pansy – they just sniff and jump and run and, well, play.  Pansy has been inserting herself in between the two of them, getting them to chase her, nipping at them – generally being a pesty little sister.  And when I drag her away, she’s as happy as can be that she got to play with them.

Some of the best words are spontaneous.

I specifically remember the first time The Hubby told me he loved me.  It was 1988 – Valentine’s Day weekend.  It was also the time of the Winter Olympics.  I used to watch figure skating all the time.  We were at Howard Johnson’s hotel – he splurged on a Valentine’s Day special.  We were watching the skating. I looked back at him and said, “I love figure skating.”  He looked back at me and said, “I love you.”  I don’t think he knew he was going to say that until after the words came out of his mouth.

And he’s probably been wondering how he can take those words back ever since!

No, it’s not about Stephen King’s book… it’s about writing (which, I guess, is what his book is all about!).

Words are wonderful things.  Words are hurtful things.  You can take an idea in your head and share it with the world (or with the people in your world).  It becomes bigger now that you have expressed it in words.  As the dialogue in the movie V for Vendetta goes:

Creedy: Bollocks. Whatchya gonna do, huh? We’ve swept this place. You’ve got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns.
V: No, what you have are bullets, and the hope that when your guns are empty I’m no longer be standing, because if I am you’ll all be dead before you’ve reloaded.
Creedy: That’s impossible. Kill him.
[the fingermen open fire on V, but he still stands after their clips are empty]
V: My turn.
[V proceeds to kill all fingermen with his knives before they manage to reload]
Creedy: [desperately shooting at the approaching V] Die! Die! Why won’t you die?… Why won’t you die?
V: Beneath this mask there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.

With the written word, you can be specific in your meaning.  You have time (one hopes, anyway) to read your words, re-read your words, and review your words to make sure you are conveying the message you want out there.  There is no going back once a word has been spoken – it’s out there, heard by your audience.  But with the written word, you have that control, that ability to soften or harden your meaning.  As a practical matter, you have control of the printed word.  I am writing this on Thursday July 31, 2008 at roughly 7 pm – but when will I post it for all to see?  And how much will it have changed from the time I started to the time I publish it?

But the danger in the written word is in the tone.  When you speak, you have a tone – in fun, in seriousness, in desperation, in love.  When the words are written, the tone is not always heard in the manner it was meant to be.  Emails are dangerous that way.  Ever get an email, asking a question of you?  It is simple enough: “why did you do this?”, but the tone is not simple.  Is it really saying – hey, you’re an idiot – why did you do that? Or is it saying – hey, I’m worried about you – this isn’t like you at all? Or did the author mean to say – hey, this is not what I wanted you to do – and now you’re in trouble. There is, of course, the context of the entire message to help you figure out the tone.  But sometimes, our first impression of the tone is not the correct one, but the one that sticks with us anyway.  I’ve had entire days ruined by an email taken the wrong way, even when I’ve known it was taken the wrong way.

So writing this blog has made me think about the words I use, both in written and spoken form.  I think I’ve always felt it easier to express myself in written form as opposed to spoken word.  I can get flustered, forgetful, nervous and terrified when speaking.  I have always been a shy person, not the first to say hi or join a group.  It’s only within the last ten years or so that I have found my inner voice give way to an outer voice.  I would never have dreamed of reading at the church pulpit 15 years ago, but I do it now.  I also get up in front of the church and speak.  I’ve joked that for the first 25 years of my life I never spoke in church and now they can’t get me to shut up!

But writing this blog has reminded me of how much I like to write.  I wrote on my very first post that I hoped I would write well, and I still hope that.  Sometimes it’s a bit discouraging that no one writes back.  But I will keep on writing, even if it’s to myself.

I had a great idea for a post this morning.   Can’t remember it, so you get this post instead.

July is shaping up to be a hard month.  All this driving back and forth to the city (can I tell you how much I love driving in the city?) twice a day is wearing me out.  I think The Boy is getting worn out too.  It’s getting to be the last few weeks before the play, and things are getting intense, I think.  The Hubby is burning the midnight oil at work.  Travel has been moderate, but he’s been at the office late all week (ok, I know it’s only Tuesday, but it already feels like Thursday night!).

My goal for the week is to go to Tai Chi twice and kickboxing once.  I just can’t spend all the time driving AND taking classes – I have to get some work done sometime, you know.  So, I am on track – I went to tai chi this morning.  We were in the small room again.  Sometimes I like it and other times it feels claustrophobic.  There were six students this morning and it was verging on claustrophobic.  I will go again on Thursday – I haven’t been to a Thursday class for about 3 weeks.  I bet Martiza thinks I’ve dropped off the face of the earth!

We’ve been watching Last Comic Standing.  (We use the DVR and catch up whenever we remember to.)  They’ve come up with some great ways to test the improv skills of the comics.  There was a “boxing match” where they had to “hit” each other with one liners.  There was the prop comedy test – they had to get items from a Bed, Bath and Beyond and then make a routine of props (like Carrothead does).  Whoever wins the contest has “immunity” and can’t be voted off that week.  Then each comic votes who they think should be off the show.  The one with the most votes gets to choose 2 others, and then all 3 of them go in front of a club audience to do their routine.  The winner of that stays on the show; the other two are gone.  It makes for a quick way to get rid of the dead weight on a reality show!