After listening to a radio show this morning, I wondered how many of us use prepared foods. Especially for the holidays. They asked people to call in and tell what they “cheat” with. The biggest thing people admitted to was the stuffing. I’ll admit that I use that stuff only once in a while. Maybe only a few times a year. But making a whole turkey from scratch, it wouldn’t occur to me to use anything other than my own homemade stuffing. I should also admit that I’m not really a huge fan of stuffing to begin with but I do like what was passed down to me.

I make real whipped cream. I have to use a glass bowl and put the beaters in that and freeze them for an hour or so before I want to whip it up. That’s what the MIL did and it was the best so we still do it that way.  We will have real squash and real mashed potatoes and real gravy. Our turkey will be frozen but hey, that’s real. I can really only think of the cranberries that will be canned. I can’t stand them and neither can my kids so my mom brings a can. The rolls will also be gotten from a bakery.

What’s on your plate for Thanksgiving and how much “help” do you have with prepared foods?

Two women friends had gone for a girl’s night out. Both were very faithful and loving wives, however they had gotten over-enthusiastic on the Bacardi Breezers.

Incredibly drunk and walking home they needed to pee, so they stopped in the cemetery.

One of them had nothing to wipe with so she thought she would take off her panties and use them. Her friend however was wearing a rather expensive pair of panties and did not want to ruin them. She was lucky enough to squat down next to a grave that had a wreath with a ribbon on it, so she proceeded to wipe with that. After the girls did their business they proceeded to go home.

The next day one of the women’s husband was concerned that his normally sweet and innocent wife was still in bed hung over so he phoned the other husband and said: ’These girl nights have got to stop! I’m starting to suspect the worst. My wife came home with no panties!!’

‘That’s nothing’ said the other husband, ’mine came back with a card stuck to her butt that said….. ”From all of us at the Fire Station. We’ll never forget you.”

Have you ever taken tools or supplies from work?

I’ve had trouble staying asleep for the last couple of months and I wondered if this is normal. For the better part of my life I’ve had trouble falling asleep. I can remember when I was in school, I would lay there and lay there and not be able to fall asleep. Then it got to the point I was just counting down hours until I had to get up and then worrying about how tired I was going to be. It was a horrible problem for me for most of my life. Lately, I can fall asleep but keep waking up every hour. Sometimes I’m wide awake and have to force myself to stay there and go back to sleep.

I find I need 8 hours of sleep to feel my best. I don’t get 8 straight hours though even on really good nights. I wake up rolling over a few times each night but I don’t think I really “wake” up doing that. I can handle life with 6 or 7 but I don’t feel as well. Then I wonder how much sleep everyone else gets and needs. Paul goes to bed an hour or two before me but he gets up that much time before me so it equals out to how much we get.

Then I wonder “how” everyone else sleeps. I sleep in VERY cold conditions. I like it COLD and DARK and I have a big fan going so the noises are consistent. I can’t stand a tv on or a radio. The sounds can only be a consistent sound that stays the same, or has a type of “hum” or I lay there and listen. I can’t sleep on my back ever. Only on my sides or stomach. I like to use the same blankets and sheets year-round. It’s the same temperature year-round. Well….it’s colder in the winter but I do have it pretty cold in the summer too. I know people shiver in my room and sometimes in the winter, I can see my breath. There were a few times last winter that I could see frost on the walls and ceiling so I turned on the heat. I didn’t think that was to good for the house. I do have an electric blanket and I turn it on 2 hours or so before I go to bed but I don’t sleep with it on. I also have a down comforter on my bed and I’m ridiculously spoiled with my sheets. I don’t even want to talk about my sheets because I know I sound stuck up when I talk about them but I LOVE THEM.

I was off the oxygen for a long time when I came home from the hospital but I have to admit that when I went off that last medication, I really haven’t felt as well so I went back to using the oxygen at night and there are times I just have to take that off me. I can get wrapped in the tubes and it hampers my sleep more than helping. But the other medication was playing games with my vision and that I couldn’t have.

What I’m really wondering is this, how many hours of sleep do you get each night? Can you sleep with windows open and hear all those “outside” sounds or do you have to have it quiet with a fan or another consistent sound? Do you have special blankets and sheets that you use year round? What temperature do you like it in your room when you’re sleeping? Do you have trouble falling asleep or do you have trouble staying asleep or do you only sleep for a few hours and give in and just get up? Do you then find yourself napping all day and do you think maybe it puts your schedule out of whack? Do you love your pillow and how often do you replace it?

Sorry if I got to nosey but I’ve come to think I have weird sleeping habits! Sleep tight everyone.

I stole this from Tony over at Old Fart’s blog. I couldn’t seem to help myself. I LOVE IT!!!!

What do you wear to bed?

When I saw this on Dr. Phil last week, I really have to say, it made me chuckle. Rudeness really does tend to be a personal thing and everyone thinks different things are rude. They had camera’s going on the audience as they came in and sat down and one whole section was late. They all came in up to 15 minutes later than what the time stamped on the tickets said. Of course they all had good reasons for being late ranging from being caught in traffic to “I’m always late, it’s who I am and people know that about me.” Then they recorded everyone answering cell phone calls, texting and taking pictures even though there were strict warnings about turning your cell phones off when entering the studio. It was kind of funny that when people were talking about themselves, it was “different” or “justified.”

When asking the audience what was rude to them, here are some of the things they said. Being late and people talking on their cell phones and making everyone around them listen were two right on top. Then there was touching a pregnant woman’s stomach. Sarcasm to a waitress as to why food is late. Saying “what’s the matter, your feet broken?” People getting checked out of a grocery store, food on the belt and they leave the line to get “one more thing” and make everyone in line wait. People who interrupt others. The rudeness about driving was so full I can’t even get into it but I’m sure you can imagine. Everything from not signaling turns to cutting people off.

It got me to thinking about the things we do that may be considered rude that we don’t even think about. I had to think to myself that I’m bad at interrupting people. I do it quite a lot actually. I just get really excited about something and think if I don’t blurt it out, I’ll forget about it and not tell that person. But that really shouldn’t be an excuse because when you get right down to it, it’s rude.

What bothers you that other people do? What is rude to you?

What do you do that’s rude and you defend with excuses?

Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons
and proceeded to the checkout counter.

The man at the counter asked the older boy, “Son, how old are you?”

“Eight,” the boy replied.

The man continued, “do you know what these are used for?”

The boy replied, “not exactly, but they aren’t for me. They’re for him.
He’s my brother. He’s four. We saw on TV that, if you use these, you would
be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now, he can’t do either.”

If you could find out when you’re going to die, would you want to know?

Are You Superstitious?

How superstitious are you? How much do you know about superstitions? I’ll give you part of the superstitious saying; see if you can complete it. Have fun!

This is what makes Canada great…..especially in winter.

695-t’ree t’ree t’ree t’ree (695-3333)

It’s time to reflect on what a truly Canadian winter is all about
WINTER POEM
It’s winter in Canada!
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At thirty-five below.
Oh, how I love Canada
When the snow’s up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I’ll hang around
I could never leave Canada
I’m frozen to the friggin’ ground!

Would you rather have a constantly plugged nose or constantly plugged ears?

This is one of the cutest, most heartwarming things I’ve ever seen. I just had to share it. I get tears in my eyes and was smiling at the same time.

Figures of Speech – Death

Given the uncertain and unknown nature of death and the afterlife, it’s no surprise that people have created some catchy, less morbid phrases to describe death and dying. How many of them do you know?

shamelessly stolen from: http://www.tundracomics.com/default.asp

Exercise: chore or fun?

I remember when my boys were young and a few people told me I had them involved in to many things. I didn’t think they were. I saw this on a special report the other night and started to think about it.

This report reminded me of my niece who danced ALL THE TIME. Everyday she had dance. Not only did she have dancing but it was at “the best” dance studio in Minneapolis and wasn’t anywhere near their home. There was a lot of driving involved not to mention the money spent. But it’s all she got to do. Like the gymnast in the story. She finally got tired of never doing anything with her friends so when she got to high school, she quit dance and got to do everything in high school and not just dance.

My kids started out playing an instrument and they both played baseball. Jason played hockey one year and then switched over to basketball. Toby tried a bunch of different things like wrestling, karate and he really liked his guns. They also had Sunday school and confirmation. They only did one thing per season.They both also had swimming lessons all winter at the jr high school. I guess my point is that we didn’t race from one thing to another and they only did the things they wanted to do. I never made them do anything but they did have to finish what they started. Toby hated basketball but I made him finish the season and told him he didn’t have to play again.

Do you think kids now are involved in to many things? Do you think kids just play enough? I always thought playing was very important.

Analog or digital watch?

Last night when this came on the news Paul laughed and said “I’d like to see what you’d be like with no computer!” I turned to him and said “what the hell about you?” What about all your farms and your card playing?” We both LOVE the computer and it’s no secret.

What if you lost your Internet? What would you do? When this was on Good Question last night, we both kind of chuckled. If we lost our power and didn’t have the Internet, I’d be okay. If I know it’s going to be down for a little while for maintenance, I’m okay with that too as I know it’s going to happen so I just do other things. If I were going to go somewhere where there was no Internet, I’d still be fine. I’d miss it but I sure wouldn’t die. But I do like having it and wouldn’t want to go back to the days of not having it.

Some of the people were funny. One woman said she loved her Internet but if she didn’t have it anymore, her house would be clean. One man said if they didn’t have it, he and his wife may start talking to each other again. There were a lot of people who they interviewed and it was kind of humorous.

Back before we had it, I did pretty much the same things I do now. I read and knit. I spent time outside. I will admit that I’m online more than I’m not and I really enjoy the interaction with other people and I love looking things up and playing some of the games but I still read and knit and still do spend time outside and play Guitar Hero. Just not as much I guess.

As for husbands and wives taking. Paul and I are having a pretty good time doing the whole farming thing on Facebook and he’s on his and I’m on mine and we harvest for each other and stuff and before we had the Internet, he was sleeping on the couch and I’d be sitting there reading or knitting so for us, I think it gave us something fun to do together.

What about you? What all do you do online and would you miss it if you didn’t have it or do you wish we didn’t have the Internet at all?