Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Friday, April 29, 2011

Wow


Link: http://youtu.be/zEQskIsHKT8

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

This Made My Eyes Water And My Nose Burn. It Tastes Like BURRRNING!

In a Northern United States accent: "Gasp! ... Pollen! ... Pollen!"

Link: http://youtu.be/WLY-8_PfxAw

Friday, April 15, 2011

A Key?

Jedi parenting 101

Link: http://youtu.be/wsBon3DTwIY

Saturday, April 9, 2011

America... The Way It USED To Be

Friday, March 25, 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Only Father-In-Law I Ever Had

And he was a wonderful, sweet and kind man.

Manuel Lopez Jr., 78 years young, passed away Saturday, March 19, 2011, surrounded by his family. Funeral: 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. George Catholic Church. Interment: Mount Olivet Cemetery. Rosary: 6 p.m. Tuesday in Mount Olivet Funeral Home Chapel. Manuel was born Dec. 25, 1932, in Del Rio to the late Manuel Lopez Sr. and Maria Lopez. He had a passion for life and despite illness in his last months was able to play golf, take road trips to visit family and friends, play his accordion to much applause, walk on the beach with his wife, and see to it that this year's tomatoes, onions, squash and cucumbers were planted. A professional musician in the 1950s, influenced by the conjunto sounds of South Texas, Manuel was a pioneer in blending it with the jazz orchestra style. His bands toured to dance halls, helping to introduce this blend to the plains state regions of Oklahoma and Kansas. Retired from the city of Fort Worth, Manuel was an active member of St. George Catholic Church and a kind, dear friend to all who knew him. The sound of his laughter and song will be greatly missed. Manuel was preceded in death by his son, Manuel Lopez III; daughter, Janet Jeri; sister, Beatrice; and brother, Alex. Survivors: His devoted wife of 57 years, Dorothy Lopez; daughter, Elizabeth Lopez-Jones and husband, Frederick; sons, Gary Lopez and wife, Kim, and Kenneth Lopez and wife, Cathy; granddaughter, GerRee and husband, Lee; grandsons, Gary and fiancée, Katie, Chris and fiancée, Anjeline; grandsons, Rory, Joshua and Travis; granddaughters, Kryston, Erin and Kendyl; sisters, Elida, Argentina, Dina and Tina; brothers, Max, Jose, Arturo and Frank; and numerous beloved extended family and friends.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Family Portrait?

Monday, March 21, 2011

Your Guess Is As Good As Mine

Happy 23rd birthday, my dahling daughter!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

You Will Fall In Love

I someday want to be at a party like this.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JX13LwnZss

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

LA Without Cars


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C4aYYmZOgA

I LOL'ed

This video was titled, Best 4 seconds ever. I've watched it so many times, I'm up to about a minute and a half.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eYlMCNHKn4

Friday, March 11, 2011

Just A Thought

In light of the recent earthquake in Japan, I took some time out this evening to watch some footage on YouTube that people have put up that were there. Scary stuff to this Texas girl who has never experienced such a thing. Out of all of the video footage I saw, and there are more to come I'm sure, there was one thing I didn't see in ANY of videos.

The most notable natural disaster that has hit my country that I can recall was hurricane Katrina. The big hurricane that hit Louisiana and the surrounding states several years ago. Granted, I was not there, but again, lots of footage on YouTube.

The difference between the two? There was not one single video I found for the Japan earthquake that involved looters.

Nature, You So Cool


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxRT60-kw78

Thursday, March 10, 2011

My Favorite So Far


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIr8-f2OWhs&tracker=False

One Of My NEW Favorite Things!

If you visit the link, YouTube has TONS more of these guys! I'll be tied up for the next hour or so there listening. You should, too!

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvYZMqQffQE&tracker=False

Thursday, March 3, 2011

This Is What I Do When I Rip Up My Bills, Too

I highly recommend it.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP4abiHdQpc

I Love The Coolness Of This Band Director

In high school, I was in marching band. Thinking back, it was the main thing I really enjoyed about high school. I was blessed with two very musically talented children and when they entered high school, I got to experience the whole marching band thing all over again, except through my children's eyes. My son gave me even more with two years of college marching band.

My daughter was in choir but she also joined the marching band and did flags for a couple of years. It was awesomeness having both my kids in the same band.
The song this band is playing is by Rage Against The Machine and the song is called Killing In the Name. You can check out Rage Against The Machine performing this song here. I'll add a caution for strong language. I can say with one hundred percent certainty that there would have been NO way our school would have let us cover this song, but it sure would have been fun. I applaud the open mindedness of this director.

Before a marching band ever hits the field with their marching routine, they first have to learn and memorize their music. This video shows a typical marching band practice in case some of you are curious why they have no chairs, and why they are not on a field.

Please take note of the red shirted piccolo girl. She will one day be 43 years old and think back on this time and remember that this was what she enjoyed the most about high school.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqG4oSfQYIY

SaWEET!


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_USPTmYXM

Stay Hungry... Stay Foolish


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Like!

This video satisfies my gaming nerd and music nerd all at the same time.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJrGYpYx8CQ

Monday, February 21, 2011

Friday, February 11, 2011

Learn


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNStNUizxhE

Family 5

Messing with your kids while they sleep is a major perk in being a parent.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh_xuEbnAQc

Reason Number 3 Why I Don't Have A Dog

I always knew they were secretly smarter than what they let on.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFbDSh-0Arw
On a side note, I LOVE me some Neil deGrasse Tyson. If ever I'm asked the question, "If you could have dinner with one famous person dead or alive, who would it be and why?", my answer will forever be, Neil deGrasse Tyson because he's smart, funny, nice looking and I could sit and listen to him talk for days.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Bohemian Rhapsody

I surprised myself by knowing all the words to this song, then I thought... how does one NOT know the words to this song?

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qadUoaWkRW8

Feel The Beat


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdmd5fenroU

February

It's February! Been snowed and iced in for the last 4 days. Supposed to get above freezing today which will enable me to get back to work.

My voice, it has returned. Last week I was almost all the way better. This week, I'm back to normal.

I have to wonder how Winter was ever my favorite season.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Learn


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvf29R7nXlM

Doctor, Doctor, Give Me a Cure

I went back to the doctor yesterday to find out why my voice is still absent. She concluded that it was excess mucus. I was skeptical at first of the diagnosis. But I got handed a handful of samples (I love doctors who do this because they save you SO much money) and got home and used a nose spray called Omnaris. I haven't Googled it yet because I know I'll prolly quit using it if I do because of disclosed side effects. I also got handed a couple months worth of Singulair. Which, if you've seen the commercials, has about a zillion side effects that are scary. But it's to the point now I'm willing to take these drugs to get well enough so I can work. I say, "well enough". I am well enough now, I just don't have a voice and that, my readers, is my job. About 5 minutes after using the nose spray, I had more voice than I've had in two weeks and I was SO excited. It went away again after about 15 minutes, but it was enough to convince me that the doctor knew what she was talking about. And she didn't seem concerned at all that it had been so long. And she didn't scope my throat which made me happy. She was concerned about the noises in my chest which led to a breathing test called Spirometry which I passed. Passed meaning I have normal lung function. The noises are my left over sick and I'm productively coughing all that up on a daily basis. Yum.

My oldest brother, who has been a police officer since he was 21 (he's 47 now) gave me the best piece of advice that anyone has ever given me, as far as being a dispatcher. "Doesn't matter if you know what you are doing or not as long as you SOUND like you know what you're doing." Meaning, when all hell breaks loose for my officers, what they need to hear over the radio is calm and in control. I attribute my successful dispatching career to this one piece of advice and when someone new comes in, I ALWAYS share that with them as well. Like most professionals in communications, it matters how I sound over the radio. Of course, having sound coming out at all helps tremendously.

So all of my training, all of my 20 years experience, all of the schools I've been to... none of that matters when you don't have a voice. I am just so very thankful that I have such a support system at work. I may never call in sick again, but for now I can rest assured that my job is not going any where. Even though it may be because everyone is tired of covering my shift, they tell me to get better soon and that they miss me. But I'm okay with that. Makes a girl feel needed. :-)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Happy Birthday Nanny

My grandmother is 107 today. I went to see her a bit ago. Hard to talk to someone who can't hear or see when you can't talk. But she knew who I was eventually... for about 15 minutes anyway. You see, her short term memory is gone. So every 15 minutes she forgets who she is with, or that even anybody is there since she can no longer see due to Macular degeneration, so she has to ask. But she always has a smile for whoever is there.

Happy birthday, Nanny. I love you so much.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Drizzle

It's what we have today. Dreary, cloudy, drizzly.

Workers came Thursday and tore out the rest of the ceiling in the back bedroom and hauled out the mess. Then they put up some insulation. Friday they came back and put up more insulation and installed the drywall then taped and bedded everything. Looks nice. Monday they will come back and texture.

Now I'm sitting here drinking hot chocolate and enjoying the solitude listening to my cool Pandora radio station. Got some incense burning as well as a candle.

It's a quiet Saturday morning and I'm still not back at work. My supervisor called yesterday and was all, "Hell NO you're not coming back sounding like that!" and I'm all, okay. Maybe Monday. Monday is my deadline. This all started the 23rd of December. I'm long past the point of being tired of it, and frustrated. My mom is long past being worried.

I Find This Hilarious


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSnCu43QzeY

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

More Weather

When the weathermen talk about flash flooding, THIS is what they are talking about.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYUpkPTcqPY

Family 3


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR-iDNsq388

Reason Number 2 Why I Don't Have A Dog

Their ability to outperform me musically.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiblYasnzWE

Be Informed!

If you or your family have been touched by breast cancer, as has mine, take 20 minutes out of your day to watch this.

I am thankful that I live in a time where information like this is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and I am so grateful to the sites that I visit that encourage me to think outside of ALL the boxes. I think everyone should think outside of their boxes, too.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqbM1ZrpTQg

The Frontier Is Everywhere


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY59wZdCDo0

Monday, January 10, 2011

Zen Kittehs


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8B9h94NcjK8

Where I Like To Go Sometimes

Why I Like Cats

Hours of senseless comedic relief...

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb43-o74ha8

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Waiting

Sitting here waiting on the call that will tell me what time my new refrigerator will be arriving. I'm half excited for a new one, and half sad about the money I spent. But I got a cool one. One of those new fangdangle ones with the freezer slide out on the bottom and huge fridge space. I think this is the one I got:

I'm anticipating easier access than what I have with my double doors now. The only thing I will miss is my double filtered water system I had going. Cricket is going to miss it more than me, I think.

In spite of the way things have been going around here, inside my head I'm planning cheap home make over ideas. At the moment, paint ideas. New ceiling calls for new paint. New paint needs a focal point. I'll be shopping for an interesting art piece or rug to inspire the room. In the meantime, I have a kitchen I can work on and an item of furniture that almost made it to the curb will be turned into a cart to hold my microwave to open up more counter space.

Doctor tomorrow to find out why I still can't talk... after 12 days. Also insurance guy early to look at back room ceiling hole.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Rant

Well... It's been a pretty crappy year so far. Last year ended bad and I really had high hopes for 2011. I'm sorely disappointed 2011.

Last year ended with getting sick at Christmas and the ceiling in my back bedroom on the floor and big old hole looking up into unknown critter land. This year started with me STILL being sick. Had to call in for the next few day yesterday because I have absolutely no voice what-so-ever. I was at least able to make it through three days of work last week.

Got the back room cleaned out and emptied of all things, all things being strewn, neatly, around the rest of my house, awaiting the arrival of the insurance guy Monday morning. I was trying to stay positive and thought this a very good time to just go ahead and start painting things around here since I'll prolly be here for a while longer, and just get in a better frame of mind about my home and really try to start enjoying being here. And I had really gotten to a decent place last nice, even without an out loud voice.

I awoke this morning to find that my refrigerator has gone out. I can hear it running but everything in the freezer has all but thawed out. I had just made an awesome soup last night, too. I don't know what, if anything, is going to be salvageable at this point. All I can do is sigh... quietly.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Think

“The reason why the universe is eternal is that it does not live for itself; it gives life to others as it transforms” ~Lao Tzu

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re66MWWl8q8

Reason Number 1 Why I Don't Have A Dog

The cuteness would destroy me.

Family 2


Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTz3SjVeRPM

Two Weeks Too Late

Had I seen this a few weeks ago, this is what I would have posted for Christmas Day.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFrcwcBVVjU

Family

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Holiday Aftermath

I don't even know where to begin for this post. I've started it about a dozen times over the past few months and a dozen more the last day or so. Every time being deleted because I sound like a hormonal 40 year old woman who has nothing better to do except sit around and be pissed off at the world. Which, in essence, is exactly what I've been.

I have no year in photos because I think I stopped taking any about 6 months ago. I feel as if my whole life has stopped. Like I'm waiting. But I can't figure out what for. It's that whole being in limbo thing that I know I've talked about on here previously. But it goes beyond that and as clearly as I can feel what I'm feeling, I have no words for what it is I have been feeling.

Don't fret. The Crazy Cat Lady is very much A-OKAY. Well... aside from having the flu for the last eight or nine days, 5 or 6 of those so far spent with NO voice. Oh boy I was sick.

My holidays, which include Christmas, my birthday and New Year's Day, were memorable for reasons other than family and fun. I got a few hours of family time on Christmas day before I had to work a 12 hour shift that night. I got off work, came home and wished bad things on whoever it was that had come and beat me with a baseball bat. Made it to the doctor that next Monday and started the healing drugs. Don't remember much about those first few days except true misery, loneliness and pain. I've never been one to cry lonely, but being that sick I can truly say I experienced it. Waking up with 102 fever, my throat burning and raw from coughing, how I wished for someone to ask for a glass of water from and for them to just tell me everything was going to be alright.

Last Thursday morning, I think?, at 4:30am, I heard a crash in the back of my house. I was already awake. My first thought was, "What the heck did the cats trash now?" Then I noticed all four of them standing with me looking down the hallway. I found that half of the ceiling in my back room had dislodged it's self from where it had been for the last 70 years and was now scattered on the floor covering cat box central. As I was standing there in shock I heard a creaking noise and I quickly backed out of the room as even more came down and glass started breaking. The wind is what had awaken me around 2am.

I had been sick for about seven days at this point. My hormones, well... they started going haywire right around Christmas Eve. I can always tell when they are off when I get offered a Xanax by loved ones. So after about a 15 minute breakdown, I realized my kitties had no where to potty and I SURE wasn't up to cleaning that mess any time soon. So I got my sick butt dressed and off to Wal-Mart I went. New box, new litter, new location in the house. Sure glad my kitties are smart.

The old saying is, 'misery loves company', and I have always found this to be true for most, but not for me. My misery loves solitude. A perfect recipe for depression, I know. I'm still in denial about that, and I do have those that I talk to... when I can talk but I still can't find it in myself to share a lot of my not so cheery self here in the wide wacky web. Sure, I'll bitch about stuff and have and I'm sure to do more! You understand what I'm saying, right?

So I have this blog and I just can't seem to let it go. It's like the hoarder that can't get rid of that 25 cent broken toaster... along with the petrified bread crumbs that have been in it since 1963. I know the moment I do I'm going to regret it. So I don't. Then I'm not here and people stop coming... oh, don't apologize! I do the same thing to other blogs. I get bored with what they have to say, or they are never there and I just take them off my list. It is the life of most blogs, I'm sure. I have one or two that I still read that inspired me to be here in the first place.

In the spirit of the New Year 2011 (I was in bed by 8 that night) my one and only "resolution" is to pay more attention to my blog because I like being here. Being here makes me happy. Getting comments makes me smile. This may be the most I talk all year, or maybe not. But I will be sharing some of me. In some digital form or another. It's not too much of a change from what I've been doing lately, just more often. (crossing fingers)

The ceiling is in the process of insurance claims and emptying the room for future repair. While we wait, the Crazy house will be a mess and there will be a big giant opening into the attic space of my house from whence I'm still hearing critters having relay races up there. The door is remaining shut. At least is wasn't my butt that made this hole. I won't even go into the asbestos box that I live in.

Happy New Year, ya'll.