Finally Friday

I like my sister's idea of having a regular Friday something or other. Lord knows (and DOES he!) that Friday is my favorite day of the week. So I will try to dedicate Fridays to be a discussion of whatever it is that's made me oh so thankful that it's FINALLY FRIDAY, again....

And this week couldn't be any easier for such a discussion! The weather up here ALONE has made it so unbearable to just exist, as I skulk between the insides of anything in order to keep from freezing in the below zero temps of the last couple weeks. The part that's even more ridiculous is that it looks so pretty outside when it's that cold. Truly. Things just look "crisp" (for lack of a better word) and typically the sun is bright, and reflecting off the snow. But all you really have to do to be jolted back into reality is look toward the sky to see the exhaust coming from one of the buildings and how it literally hangs in the sky, dark and thick as though it were contaminated. But it's not- it's just frozen. This is NOT the winter of my youth my friends. It's a WHOLE nother animal and it's no house cat, let me tell you! And while the omniscient Midwestern meteorologists (NOT!) are predicting a Minnesota heat wave for Monday (that means upper 20's Mom), I am unfortunately aware that winter typically does not end here until sometime in April...or May.
Anyway, I'm also glad for this particular Friday, as Monday (my least favorite day) happens to be the MLK holiday- which we Federal employees always have off. And what do I plan to do on my 3-day weekend?? Please refer to the second sentence of this discussion, above.
Happy Friday!

Top of the top

Ooh Ooh! I LOVE lists, and I'm also one of those people that love those "get to know me better" Q&A lists too! So when my sister ( her blog: Try, Try Again) published her most recent blog of things I want to do/have done before I die, I HAD to join in! Here are mine in the same fashion as hers (what I've done is bold) and then my top 10 at the end.
P.S. I altered some of the items on the list, as I didn't want to do all of the 100 on the other list....

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Play in a band (not sure if playing with an orchestra counts?)
4. Visit Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Give more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jump
12. Visit Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Mentor a child
16. Get stitches
17. Walk to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grow my own vegetables
19. Go to the Louvre in France
20. Sleep on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Played a lead role in a play/musical
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. See the Northern Lights
26. Go skinny dipping
27. See ALL of the Smithsonian
28. Ride in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Go on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visit the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Learn a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Go white water rafting
39. Go rock climbing
40. Visit Rome
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Buy a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visit Alaska
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Learn to ride a motorcycle- and take a road trip
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Vacation in Italy
50. Backpack through Europe
51. Go scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Be in a movie
56. Visit Australia
57. Participate in the Ireland Habitat for Humanity build
58. Take a kick boxing class
59. Visit Canada
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Volunteer at least once a month for a year
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Go sky diving
66. Find the love of my life
67. Bounced a check
68. Fly in a helicopter
69. Fast for a whole weekend
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eat a 7-course meal in a really fancy place
72. Learn to play the guitar
73. Attend a GLBT Prom
74. Camp in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW)
75. Spend three months getting my body into optimum shape.
76. See the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Publish a poem
81. See the Coliseum
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walk in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visit the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Save someone’s life
90. Sit on a criminal jury case
91. See La Boheme at the Met
92. See a favorite musician at the Red Rock amphitheater
93. Renovate/create the house of my dreams
94. Ride a mechanical bull
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Witness a Supreme Court hearing
97. Learn to surf
98. Visit FBI Headquarters at Quantico
99. Be stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

MY TOP 10-
10. See ALL of the Smithsonian
9. Renovate/create the house of my dreams
8. Go to the Louvre in France
7. See La Boheme at the Met
6. Participate in the Ireland Habitat for Humanity build
5. Volunteer at least once a month for a year
4. Play in a band/Learn to play the guitar
3. Camp in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW)
2. Backpack through Europe
1. Find the love of my life

Would LOVE to know any of yours!

Germ warfare

As I lay here on the couch, recovering from my FOURTH major cold/sinus infection since May, I am reflecting on how it is that only some of the millions of germs that surround us, actually make it through to become full fledged illness. Having very little scientific knowledge, and mainly first hand medical information learned along the illness highway during my life so far, I don't have much idea. Now I know there is that thing called the immune system. Which, it appears, some of us got less of than others. But really, doesn't it seem like there are these sneaky little germs that play some sort of physical bait and switch on us from time to time in order to slide a little virus in here or there? Germ delinquents.
I honestly think I would have been one of those described with the "weak disposition" who was often "sickly", if someone were writing about me in the pioneer days or something. (Weren't we the first to go in the Donner party...?) It's very disgruntling. I guess with the progression of a technologically based civilization that is able to research and test almost anything, we are inadvertently creating these mega bugs- super germs. But not super in the same sense of super man or wonder woman unfortunately. Just super annoying and super disgusting.


And before you tell me all the things I could be doing to prevent these attacks, let me explain that I am WELL armored and fully locked and loaded. I know what every over the counter medication does; have multiple steroid sprays and inhalers and prescription allergy "preventers", etc.,etc. I carry them with me EVERYWHERE. (If you've seen Sleepless in Seattle, you can think of Meg Ryan's perpetually allergic boyfriend and get a good idea of my daily routine.) Anyone that knows me will tell you that a Kleenex has been my calling card (or at least evidence of my visit) all my life and had I been a little more forward thinking, I would have invested in their stock a longgg time ago. This onslaught by these invisible invaders has pushed me to the point where I am tempted to declare martial law within the Land of Lynn to somehow put these attackers at bay once and for all! The riots and mayhem going on in my nasal passages deserve some special germ tear gas; or maybe I'll just bring in some germ tanks and germ bazookas and blow that stuff right outta ... my nose?

Car-hopping

Well, I am soon to be the owner of a new (to me) Nissan Murano. I have been excited about this car since I first saw it in Florida about mid 2003. So basically it's been calling out to me ever since. This is a poignant thing because I have NEVER bought a car without being impulsive. They ALL call out to me. I've owned (as in bought on my own) five different cars over the past 14 years, and believe me, if it hadn't been for ending up so upside down in the last car, there probably would have been more.
There have been 3 cars I've always considered "dream cars" since I was young. A Ford Ranger truck, of the circa 1978 design; a Jeep Wrangler; and a Ford Mustang- the new GTs are awesome. And my very first car purchase just out of college was a new Ford Ranger...of the 1994 design, but still- it fulfills the majority of that category! (Mine was navy blue)
I later traded in the Ranger for a used, red, Nissan 240sx sports car. I have no idea why other than I wanted a change and back in those days, if I stopped at a car dealership, it was like being at a toy store and I was bound to leave with something (typically more debt). But the Nissan proved to be a very decent car, and while it was my first step backwards in the equity ratio, I had a lot of fun in it!
Then I got real stupid a couple years later, missing my truck, I traded the Nissan for another Ranger, I dont remember what year, and it was silver like the picture. I had that for a year or so, and then moved up to the big leagues and got a new Ford F150 truck. And this was a sweet vehicle, but unfortunately, it was bought in Iowa, where there's LOTS of black ice in the winter. And I learned first hand how poorly a truck handles in the snow and ice after sliding off the country highways at 55 miles and hour a few times. Anyway- it eventually got traded in too for the last in the line up, the 1995 Isuzu Rodeo which I was chained to for the last 9 years.
All this to say that while I still have 2 more dream cars to hopefully experience one day, this latest car will certainly feel like a dream for quite some time!

Always a welcome guest.

Ahhhh...the spectacular dog-days of summer. Well, they're almost gone where I live, but I'm pleading with mother nature right now to keep squeezing a few more weeks out for me! I have to tell you, I really don't mind the heat (so I rarely have to get out of the kitchen...) I really don't- the humidity bugs me, but I'll take what I get when it's finally warm.

This summer has been rich with fun little weekend trips to bodies of water and the associated lonnnggg car rides to get there and back. Reminds me of my family summer vacations of yesteryear... My mom was always determined that we get to go SOMEPLACE for a summer vacation. Now, as my memory recalls, it seems like we went to some city named Carbonville or something on one of these trips. I don't remember there being much in that town. Maybe dinosaur bones, which I was VERY into at that time. But WOW, what an enterprising name for a city! I also remember going camping and there being these huge moths on all of the trees- some migration thing I guess- I don't think they bothered me as much back then as they did my sister? (Feel free to comment sister). Regardless of where we went, there was always a "delicious" potted-meat lunch to look forward to at our rest-stop picnic table (I still shudder at that). There were also at least 3 vacation-like trips that involved moving cross-country, and taking my sister to her first year of college. Those trips also entailed the extremely long car rides, where there was a distinct line down the middle of the back seat where sis and I sat, and crossing it meant really nasty glares and stuff. Of course I crossed it often.


And I'm not forgetting the every 4 year AIRPLANE trips to my parents' home state of Florida to see all the relatives. Those were great fun as a kid. You can't beat a plane ride to a warm, tropical type place. Especially since we lived in very non-tropical places growing up. We spent lots of time around my Granddad then, playing around in his plant nursery with golf carts and he always was willing to buy junk food treats for us when we were there! Not sure if mom knew that or not?
It's hard to "grow up" and not get summers off anymore. No matter what age I am, I'm still wanting to be riding my bike all over the neighborhood and playing in sprinklers and pools and laying around eating popcicles and soaking up the sun. Up here especially, if you don't take advantage of it while you got it- it's gone in no time and you're right back to wishing for it all over again! You can almost come close to "summer overload" (I know, it does actually feel almost blasphemous to say it). But you have to be outside absolutely as much as possible, from dusk til dawn, and believe me, you need those sun vitamins up here! But, I would absolutely NOT complain, and besides, my tan is certainly not suffering! (Though my mother reminds me often that my skin may suffer from excessive wrinkling later in life....). I think the essence of summer is the permission to be tranquil. It's a season of (hopefully) balmy indulgence. And who doesn't like a little of that! Even my dog enjoys her dog days, once she gets a little "coolin off". Probably what we ALL really need is a good splash of cold water to remind us not to take life too seriously. But please don't experiment on me to see if that works.