Thematic Photographic 132 – Curves

If you have never heard of this, click here
A brief intro - Carmi takes kick ass photos, he challenges you the reader to come up and post a photo that matches his theme challenge. It is always enjoyable, so click on baby!

This week it’s time to reflect on Curves. This is my view in my cubical of DOOM. We recently moved and a new co-worker kindly installed a bar from the ceiling so I too could have fresh oxygen. I also happen to sit at the end of a long corridor. It makes me happy to see green.

Hey I spy with my little eye a few more curves as well.

Thematic Photographic 131 - Blue

Its been a LOOOONG while, but I am jumping into Carmi's theme of the week and I am wicked late as he updates the challenge tomorrow, but what the heck.


If you have never heard of this, click here
A brief intro - Carmi takes kick ass photos, he challenges you the reader to come up and post  a photo that matches his theme challenge. It is always enjoyable, so click on baby!




This week its time to reflect on Blue.  Some back story. My mom has always bought my dad blue shirts because it brings out the blue in his eyes, and I though she was bat shit insane for doing it. Then I had Spotty, with eyes like this.

What did I find when I went looking for a photo to post? The fact that I only found about 2 photos that do not have blue in them. I am insane. I am also going to be doing a separate post of my favorite photos of Spotty. Not for you dear reader, but for me. I LOVE looking at my boy.

Here are some of the thousands of blue photos, that I have already used in my blog. Holy crap I say!

Ok, I need to stop, this isn't the half of what I have already posted...good grief Charlie Brown!

SG1 Season 8

Dr. Jackson: I was just going over some research material on the delegates they're sending. Camulus was the one who sent the original message. Then there's Amaterasu, Japanese Sun Goddess, and the last one is Lord Yu.
Dr. Weir: Yu?
Dr. Jackson: Don't. Every joke, every pun, done to death, seriously.

Dr. Weir: Oh, I'm not sure anything can surprise me at this point.
Camulus: I wish to request asylum.
Dr. Weir: Well, it seems I was wrong again.


Col. O'Neill: Sweet. What is it?
Dr. Jackson: We don't know, you made it.
Col. O'Neill: No.
Dr. Jackson: Yes.
Col. O'Neill: No.
Dr. Jackson: Yes.
Col. O'Neill: No.
Dr. Jackson: Yes.

Col. O'Neill: I've spent my whole life stickin' it to the Man. If I do this, I'll be the Man. I don't think I can be the Man.


Dr. Jackson: Yeah, don't take General O'Neill's decision personally.
Col. Vaselov: Frankly, his attitude is offensive. It leads me to wonder if he knows the cold war is over.
Dr. Jackson: His attitude has nothing to do with you being Russian. He's an equal opportunity offender.

Lt. Col. Carter: Did you notice anything peculiar about him, sir?
Gen. O'Neill: I thought it odd he was shooting up the Gate room.


Ba'al: You dare mock me?
Gen. O'Neill: Ba'al, come on! You should know. Of course I dare mock you.
Ba'al: You have one more day.
Gilmore: Is it really wise to provoke him?
Gen. O'Neill: It's what I do


Dr. Lee: Well, I mean, we can input the parameters for different scenarios, but the vast majority of the simulation array comes from the mind of the user. The programming is actually built by interfacing memories from the individual’s consciousness with the chair’s matrix.
Gen. O'Neill: Carter, all I heard was "matrix" and I found those films quite confusing.
Gen. O'Neill: I thought a failsafe was meant to be somewhat safe from failure


Teal'c: On Chulak, a dispute between a man and a woman that cannot be resolved necessitates a pledge break. It must be requested by one and granted by the other.
Dr. Jackson: And if that doesn't work?
Teal'c: A weapon is required.


Gen. O'Neill: I never thought I'd hear myself utter these words: I need that report.


Jack O'Neill: They want a what?
Sam Carter: A goat, sir.
Jack O'Neill: You can tell them that lamb is far less gamy.
Sam Carter: They want it for a ritual sacrifice.
Jack O'Neill: Yeah, well you can tell them that's not going to happen.
Sam Carter: Yeah, I was hoping you were going to say that.
Jack O'Neill: They can have a piñata. That's always fun.


Gen. O'Neill: Look, T, I'm not gonna tell you how to raise your kid, but I've always found that sticking your fingers in your ears and humming loudly solves a whole slew of problems.

Bra'tac: May you love and fight like warriors. Just not with each other.

Dr. Jackson: They'll never see it coming.
Gen. O'Neill: Which is one of the advantages of a totally insane idea.
Dr. Jackson: Yeah, where'd I learn that from?


Gen. O'Neill: General!
Gen. Hammond: Jack. I let myself in, hope you don't mind.
Gen. O'Neill: Absolutely not! Welcome.
Gen. Hammond: Thank you.
Gen. O'Neill: Miss the chair?
Gen. Hammond: Actually I do.
Gen. O'Neill: Want it back?
Gen. Hammond: As a matter of fact I do. My new one just isn't the same.
Gen. O'Neill: That's not exactly what I meant...


Dr. Jackson: Uh, the name's Olo. Hans Olo.


Garan: Surrender your weapons, or die where you stand!
Gen. O'Neill: Oh, if I had a nickel...

Gen. O'Neill: Five bucks says Carter has a theory.

Gen. O'Neill: Jacob!
Jacob: Jack, we've got a problem. We need to talk.
Gen. O'Neill: Hi! Hello. How are ya? Long time, no see. What's doing? What's up? Hey, buddy!
Jacob: I'm sorry, Jack. It's good to see you again. Congratulations on your promotion.
Gen. O'Neill: Thanks.
Jacob: You deserve it.
Gen. O'Neill: Yes. Well... What's up?
Jacob: The Replicators. They've launched an all out attack on the Goa'uld. If the Goa'uld can't find a way to stop them, the Replicators will easily overrun our galaxy, in a matter of weeks.
Gen. O'Neill: Why didn't you say so?


Gen. O'Neill: Don't be afraid to remind him that we've saved his cute little grey bum several times.


Gen. O'Neill: I've got a better idea, instead of helping you, why don't we sit around and watch you get your ass kicked? That way you'll be dead, and we'll be glad.


Ba'al: You cannot be serious.
Gen. O'Neill: Yes, I can. I just choose not to, some of the time.
Ba'al: With your insolence you're dooming not just your world but all of humanity.
Gen. O'Neill: I think big.


Jacob: Come on, Sam. It can't be any harder than blowing up a sun.
Lt. Col. Carter: You know, you blow up one sun and suddenly everyone expects you to walk on water.


Dr. Jackson: You mean, they wouldn't have erased my memory and left me naked on a planet?
Oma Desala: That was your choice.
Oma Desala: Okay. Maybe not the naked part.


Lt. Col. Carter: This is great.
Gen. O'Neill: I told you.
Lt. Col. Carter: I can't believe we didn't do this years ago.
Gen. O'Neill: Well, lets not dwell.
Lt. Col. Carter::...There are no fish in this pond, are there?
Gen. O'Neill: Nope.


Dr. Jackson: I can't believe I'm finally gonna prove that the Great Pyramids predate the 4th dynasty.
Lt. Col. Carter: So, what are you gonna do? Stand in the picture holding a newspaper with today's date?


Dr. Jackson: Well, this can't be a good sign.
Alt. Col. O'Neill: Why's that?
Dr. Jackson: Where am I?
Alt. Col. O'Neill: Ancient Egypt?
Dr. Jackson: No, I mean the me from your time line.
Alt. Teal'c: I killed you.
Dr. Jackson: Why?
Alt. Teal'c: You were a Goa'uld spy.
Dr. Jackson: A good reason.
Alt. Dr. Carter: It was horrible!
Dr. Jackson: Yeah, I'm sure. Why are you here?
Alt. Col. O'Neill: Yes, excellent question.
Dr. Jackson: You don't know?
Alt. Col. O'Neill: Well, I thought I did, there, for a while, and then I realized I... didn't.
Dr. Jackson: Well, I know why I'm here.
Alt. Col. O'Neill: Good. Let's start there.

Friendship rekindled

I was once told (or read) that friendships have expiration dates. I disagreed at first, but the more I thought about it the more I realized that it was true. You have high school friends, college friends, neighborhood, work, common interests, train buddies. And at any given point these people in their various groups may be your most treasured pal. Someone you would call dozens of times a day. See each other all the time…then…something happens, you graduate, get a new job, get older, have kids, learn a new hobby. And you find that you just don’t talk to each other as much. Maybe there is some small slight that has turned into something that crawls up your ass. Maybe your interests just aren’t the same. Whatever the reason you may find yourself dreading calling “the friend”, making excuses as to why you can’t meet up this Saturday. This doesn’t make you a bad person, or a bad friend, sometimes you just need to move on.

There are also friendships that are so deep and treasured that it doesn’t really matter how far apart you have become or how long it’s been since you have chatted, you pick up right where you left off.

Sunday night we were getting ready to go to a family party. I was helping Spotty Chop get dressed when the phone rang. I heard Boy Toy talking to someone and I couldn’t figure out who he was talking to, it sounded like someone he hadn’t spoken to in awhile. When he walked into Spotty’s room I faintly heard a voice. My heart started beating faster; it sounded like someone I hadn’t spoken to in about 5 years. When he gave me the phone I knew who it was instantly, Mrs. Furry Pants!

Furry Pants and I went to college together, she was a year ahead of me, blond, drop dead gorgeous, and perhaps the kindest person I have ever met. We have a habit of loosing track of each other. After college a few years went by and we got a notification that she was getting her masters. We showed up. Several years later we got an invite to a bridal shower; we showed up and then ended up staying for the weekend. Furry Pants was marrying FBI guy. We loved him the minute we met him. We also loved the Akita monster they had named Sage. Who apparently took a liking to us as soon as we pulled into their driveway. FBI guy couldn’t understand why Sage was so friendly to us as she usually hates strangers, hell she usually didn’t warm up to their friends either. Sage ended up sleeping with us that weekend which further blew his mind  as it was the first time since getting her that she was not sleeping with them.

We again lost track of each other, then came an out of the blue email asking if I was the same me that went to Simmons and knew Mrs. Furry Pants. It was Furry Pant’s sister, she wrote to say that sis was pregnant and she wanted to surprise FP and FBI by having us show up. We did and again picked up where we had left off. This time including another puppy named Basil. We had two dogs sleeping with us…on a pull out couch…


After Spotty Chop was born, we lost track again. This time it was in part to FBI guy being deployed in Iraq for over 18 months, FBI’s parents dying less than 15 months apart, having another baby and Sage passing away.


When she told me I started to cry. I don’t know about you, but there are some pets your friends have that kind of become your pets too. They are as important to your friendship as the spouses or children. Not every friend and not every pet, but there are some that make your life worth living. We have been lucky enough to have this happen 3 times in our lives so far.

B-52 and Lennon had a cat named Doodoo. KICK ASS CAT. When we all lived together some days we would find her outside our door. She would come in, climb on one of our laps and just hang out with us. When we were cooking out on THE PORCH she would always bring us things to cook.


Moo and Freakshow had a dog named Damit. The sexiest Chihuahua that ever lived. She was a Fierce attack dog who not only upheld Moo’s honor, by not allowing Freakshow to kiss or get too close to Moo, but she also extended this protection to me. Boy Toy would get a growl and a nip letting him know she had her eye on him. She used to go camping with all of us.

Sage was the 3rd. Big, beautiful and furry! In writing this I realize that we no longer have a “pet”. That makes me feel a bit empty knowing that although our friends still have pets, and they all love us and we love them, they aren’t “our” pets.

Anyhoo Mrs Furry said “you need to come down and see all the craziness”, and I said “of course we will come down”. There was a pause at the other end of the phone. I could hear her smile and she simply said. “I know, that’s why we love.”

Is there a friendship that’s lagging? Someone you haven’t spoken to in years, but wish you had? I say DO IT! Pick up the phone, send an email, write a note, send out a Christmas card. I bet the other person will say “I will come”, heck they may be so excited that they show up for your wedding a week early…just sayin.

Words of Wisdom from my Dad

On his 74th birthday, a man received a gift certificate from his wife. The certificate paid for a visit to a medicine man living on a nearby reservation who was rumored to have a wonderful cure for erectile dysfunction.


After being persuaded, he drove to the reservation, handed his ticket to the medicine man and wondered what he was in for.


The old man slowly, methodically produced a potion, handed it to him, and with a grip on his shoulder, warned, "This is powerful medicine and it must be respected. You take only a teaspoonful and then say '1-2-3.' When you do that, you will become more manly than you have ever been in your life and you can perform as long as you want."


The man was encouraged. As he walked away, he turned and asked, "How do I stop the medicine from working?" "Your partner must say '1-2-3-4,' he responded. "But when she does, the medicine will not work again until the next full moon."


He was very eager to see if it worked so he went home, showered, shaved, took a spoonful of the medicine, and then invited his wife to join him in the bedroom. When she came in, he took off his clothes and said, "1-2-3!" Immediately, he was the manliest of men.


His wife was excited and began throwing off her clothes. And then she asked, "What was the 1-2-3 for?"


And that, boys and girls, is why we should never end our sentences with a preposition because we could end up with a dangling participle.

Remembering my Roomie

I got a present in the mail

It came with this card

Remembering Roomie

This wreath is made from sweaters Roomie used to wear

They were cut into pieces with loving care,

By Sis, her sister, who loved her so

And wanted a remembrance of her to go

On your Christmas tree each year

To make you smile – now don’t shed a tear,

She is up in heaven with her father she loved,

They are watching down upon us from up above.

When you celebrate Christmas, please keep her in mind

As joyful reminders we try to find

Of days gone by that we shared with Roomie

Filled with good times that we have all seen.

Miss ya kiddo!

So THIS is why people go to Cape Cod…

It’s snowing here again in New England so what better way to celebrate than to post about some summer fun.


My parents rented a place in Brewster for a week this past summer and they graciously invited us down to visit.

People in Massachusetts seem to be in two camps when it comes to summer fun. There are the beach people (the Cape, the Vineyard, Nantucket) or the mountain people (NH, VT). You may be able to guess from previous camping posts we are in the Mountain camp.

I was going to write “I am not a fan of the beach” but that isn’t true at all. I love the ocean, I love the sand, I love the sound of the waves crashing...what I don’t love is…the Sun. in fact if I say the word out loud I will instantly receive a 2nd degree burn, if not worse. However, a free place to stay is…free!

The house my parents rented was a 1 minute walk to the beach. It had 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms (not including the outdoor shower), and 2 porches and the beach is rated one of the safest beaches in the Cape for kids, the water was incredibly shallow and there were multiple sandbars that kept the water warm. It was heaven. We could only stay one night because  I was working on a release. My parents rented the spot again for next year. I am pushing for 2 nights maybe 3…

Christmas Palooza!!!

So before I talk about how our Christmas was (and it was lovely thanks for asking) I need to talk about the drama and trauma that I faced.


Spotty Chop


1) told us late (but not so late that we couldn’t get it) that Santa loved you and was bringing the Xbox 360 with Kinnect to you


But


2) after sitting on Santa’s lap told me “I let Santa know what I wanted” and I said “what was it?” he looked at me as if I were a crack whore and said “I can’t tell you it’s a secret!”


There were nightly visits to Toys R us, calls to my parents and lots of praying. Guess what? I found it!   Zoobles . Boy Toy wasn’t so sure about giving him a Girls toy. But he got the eyebrow of death and I wrapped that bad boy up. Spotty loved it and was so sincerely happy about getting it, “I knew Santa wouldn’t forget!” Made me cry.


Sorry lets back up the backup…or forward the back up and then kind of back it up again.

Christmas Eve started with our annual brunch with Lennon and B-52. The brunch is our way of gearing up for the X-mas madness. There is never drama or trauma, just friends hanging out, eating and playing. B-52 cooked up some extra diabetic snacks for Boy Toy’s dad which was a kindness. The best part of the visit was Spotty and B-52’s now annual cookie baking for Santa. Spotty decided to kick it up a notch and told us he wanted to use cookie cutters! I think B-52 enjoys this tradition a little. In fact, he told Lennon that he could drive his own damn car to our house because he was not rushing Spotty with the cookie baking. We don’t see them nearly enough. But it makes me happy that a few traditions have held true from 357.

 Oh and look what my parents bought me, this AND  this …Santa is gonna be BLOWN AWAY next year!

Christmas Eve night was spent with Boy Toy’s family. It was a very enjoyable evening. Spotty had fun playing with the Terminator and Hockey. The Terminator’s big brother was home from California where he is a proud member of the Fresno Monsters . He even purchased a Santa suit and wore it for photos and handing out the gifts. He is really turning into a fine young man (and holy crap did that just come out of my mouth?) Spotty got great gifts, we had good food, one of Boy Toy’s brothers stayed home because he had an elephant up his ass, and truth be told, he wasn’t missed…well except by his sons…douchebag! Boy Toy spent a lot of time with the youngest of the two, who just drank up the attention. The oldest is a junior in HS, and was surprisingly more vocal than usual.

We left there about 10 or 10:30pm, Spotty fell asleep in the car thank God because we needed to change his room from "baby/little boy" to "I'm a boy boy now" . Spotty didn’t notice at first (as it was dark) but when I turned on the light so he could find his Christmas jammies his head exploded. We then had to wait at the gate by the kitchen (child safety gate we used when Spotty was born, we installed it into the wall and have never gotten around to removing it) so that daddy could check to see if Santa came (and give him time to set up the video camera) and then? CHRISTMAS TIME!!!

My parents gave us a bonus Christmas gift (Spotty calls it “an extra crunchy bonus”) they told us to stay home and play. Much as I wanted to see my family on Christmas, it was so unbelievably fabulous to not go anywhere.


This is our blueprint for Christmas fun.

Spotty first opens some gifts, then we play with some gifts, then we open more, we eat breakfast, we read some new books, maybe mom & dad will open some stuff in our stocking (we don’t exchange gifts, but Santa brings us presents). We play some new video games, we open more gifts, we play more, we have lunch, or ice cream, or both. By 5pm we still had not gotten to the X-Box. We kind of “hid” it so I had Boy Toy pretend to go looking for something and hurt his foot by kicking it. Well, I am sure you can guess what happened after that.

Sunday we went to my parents, Favorite brother and Froggy were there. We again had great gifts and great food. I made Froggy promise that they would stick to a $25 per person for us because the bro and I can sometimes try and outdo each other if there are no limits set in stone. We opened up our GameStop gift cards and then Favorite Brother handed us a bag full of games. I started yelling, when he quickly assured me that these were HIS games and he eventually wanted them back. That is of course completely different and we are now enjoying Grand Theft Auto (san andreas?) Oblivion and Fable 2 (in addition to the Games Santa brought us Dragon’s Age (original) and Risen. We left around 4 or so, during our first snow storm of the season. Boy Toy got called in to plow later that night/early next morning so I got the 360 all to MYSELF…well after Spotty went to bed. I was in heaven.

And that is how we spent our holiday, how about you?



I forgot to add, this is what Spotty bought for me with his daddy….you should see me driving down the Mass Pike when I have to glare at an Asshat

Dear Spotty Chop you are 68 months old today (if i hadn't lost the post)

(seriously, I just found this, apparently I had written up last months and just never put it up on the blog…as you would say “mama what is wrong with your brain?”)


You brought a book to school to read to the class. It was Hot Wheels Dino Racing. Your teacher was cracking up when she told us about it. Apparently you kept the entire class at the edge of their seats. You also prompted them like a professional. “do you see the dinosaur on this page? Who do you think is going to win the race!” She said that she may have you read all the books; it was much too fun to watch you do it.

When you try to pick someone to do something with you you sing:


Eeny, meeny, miny, mo,
Catch a tiny by the toe:
If he hollers let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, mo.

Sometimes you add:


The colors of the
American flag are
Red, white and blue


You love manipulating the outcome, so either dada or I loose.


You asked me on a ride home “mama do you remember the picture you gave me in case I got sad and missed you?” I said yes. “well, I may want that picture again someday.” I let him know it was on the fridge any time he needed it.

We also started buying Scholastic books!!! Oh happy day! I remember how excited I was getting new books and you seem pretty stoked yourself. I am trying to get both books that you can read on your own and books that we can read to you. You are like me when you get a new book. You can’t wait to dive into it and will keep reading until there are no more new books left.

You still play trot trot to Boston with me, well, actually I always have to trick you and tell you I need to snuggle you for a minute, then, when you are up in my lap BAM I spring like a leopard and trot trot the hell out of you. You laugh so hard.

I also will grab your naked foot and do this little piggy…you seriously SCREAM with laughter.


Christmas is coming my son. I hope you get everything your heart desires and more. My present is you, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Dear Spotty Chop you are 69 months old

and I am a crappy mom. I’m not sure why I can’t get my ass in gear and blog. I will write up your letter for your 68th month, but I was worried that if I waited to do that first this letter would never get written.
So we had a month of Christmas prep, Christmas delivery and Christmas aftermath. You were a pain in my ARSE child. Not only did we find out last minute that you knew that Santa loved you and of course he was bringing the Xbox 360 with Kinnect to you, but after sitting on Santa’s lap you told me “I let Santa know what I wanted” and I said “what was it?” you looked at me as if I were a MORE-ON and said “I can’t tell you it’s a secret!”

HOLY CRAP talk about the pressure. I thank every God and Goddess out there that Toy’s R Us is only 2 minutes down the street as I was there every night after you went to bed, going up and down the aisles trying to wrack my brain for what you may want. See the Christmas post to see how I did.

I spent time at your school helping kids shop. The school has a program where you can give you kids money and the school has shopping days with all sorts of gitchy & cute things to purchase. It’s not a fund raiser, just a chance for kids to buy stuff for family and friends. You didn’t want my help, you wanted it to be a surprise. I loved seeing how your mind worked and the presents you got us. The kids I helped were so excited doing this and when I showed them what you had bought me a lot of them had to get the same thing because they saw me wearing it and showing it off. You showed it off to all of your friends at lunch. You were so friggen sweet and proud to show me off as well.

We all had the 24th – 3rd of December off…well actually that’s not quite true, you were supposed to go back to school on Monday, but I had a doctor’s appointment and was off and Boy Toy is laid off so we gave you a choice. Go to school or stay home and play video games. What do you think you chose? The week was spent playing games, visiting Nannie and Papa, baking and hanging out. We look forward to doing it again in February. I don’t think I can get the whole week off, but Nannie and Papa want you and do does your dad. Maybe I can work from home for a few days….

Your favorite after school counselor left to go work with teenagers, this is something he always wanted to do, but he was really sad to leave you. I thought this would crush you, but I didn’t give you enough credit. While you were sad to see him go, you were happy he was doing something important. In fact he had a harder time saying good-bye to you than you did to him.

Oh before I go I should mention that you have starting taking showers by yourself, well at least scrubbing yourself, you still want me in there, and brushing your own teeth. Next thing you know you will want to drive…

But that will have to wait my precious boy, you are still mine to snuggle!