Thankfully the Writer's strike has ended

I have to admit I was starting to get a little tired of finding my own entertainment. I mean that is what is so gret about TV you just turn it on and you don't have to think too much about it. Well unless you are watching Lost, that show requires payign attention but it is worth it.

My schedule has been on the insane side with school, and work, and trying to keep up with things at home. So entertainent has not been on the top of the list. However, today at church you could not help but notice the fascination kids have with stickers. I sat with the Skinners again today, and this time Cole was nicer, no pointing and saying "EWWWWWW". He even gave me 2 chewed up teddy grahms to hold. Also on our row was Em, Renn and Sir O. Some of Coles best buds. He and Sir O have a love hate relationship. They love each other but they also love to fight, not share, and push each other. Yep typical toddler stuff. These two together are simply precious. Both are amazingly adorable little boys with incredible blue eyes. Sickening really. Well back to the stickers. Em brought a bunch of little stickers for entertainign Sir O and of course Cole had to get in onthe action. They both had stickers all over them. Sir O even had one in his hair and Cole had one we put on his ear. Eventually Cole decided to pull all of his stickers off him and put them on the arm of my shirt. Sir O remved his and put them onthe chair next to me.

Now these were not the only kids that had stickers today. A few rows up I saw the adorable miss Abrie playing with some stickers. She was sticking them on the back of her mother's shirt. I don't know who was more entertained, Abrie, or those of us sitting behind them. Abrie was more than happy to share her stickers and she and Macie both went to visit with their friends the Orr's. Man am I going to miss all these guys when they move. Not only will my entertainment spectrum shrink drastically but there will be some great people I will not get to see.

In Loving Memory of Joey April 1, 1993 - February, 12 2008

Shortly after midnight today Joey was put to sleep. It was a VERY tough decision but it was what was best for him. Here is a recap of the events that led to the decision to let my “baby” go. Thursday night my Mom and I discovered him with a bloody nose. We took him to the vet first thing Friday and they said they thought it was just a side effect from some medication he was on for his thyroid. They said he would be fine and sent him home Saturday. Well things got a lot worse for him over the weekend. We called the vet and they said he just needed rest but if he didn’t get better to bring him back on Monday. He stopped eating(and this boy never turned down food) and we noticed him walking into things. We suspected he lost his eyesight. Although he was still able to find his way to the toilet to get a drink of water. (that’s my boy). He would get up and start walking around then sit and cry because he was scared and didn’t know where he was and we would go pick him up and take him back and lay him down some place comfy. His tail had stopped working.(it was always twitching and swaying normally, and he could not even curl it up around him.) He had stopped purring and when he tried to it sounded funny. It was heart breaking to watch. He was such a sick boy.

So Monday it was back to the vet and we found out he was completely blind because his retinas detached. They suggested taking him to another vet, an internist to see if they could figure out what was going on with him since he seemed to be going downhill so quickly. Which of course we did right away hoping there was something we could do for him. At first we were hopeful they would be able to find a way to help and get him healthy again even though we knew he would never see again. However with each test they did it got worse. By 11:30pm they called and said he was bleeding internally someplace and they were not sure where, his liver was failing, his blood pressure was dropping, he had a urinary blockage and his red blood cell count was down. They were talking about blood transfusions, a catheter and feeding tubes. A lot of aggressive treatment for our boy and no guarantees when it was all done he would be well enough to come home. Plus no matter what he would be blind.

We just decided we didn’t have the heart to put him through all of it. We would have been selfish to do all that to him. He went downhill so fast and we have no idea why and decided the only fair thing to do for him was to say goodbye. He had a good, happy and full life and it was clearly his time to go. So we drove down to the vet and held him one last time and made sure he knew we loved him. Yes I cried like a baby the whole time. He was clearly in pain and his eyes were big and vacant. The fact that he didn’t even squirm a little as we held him and said our goodbyes showed just how sick he was. The Vet came in and after we said our very tearful good byes and put him to sleep. It was quick and painless for him. He laid his little head down and was gone. They gave us a little paw print of him to take home and bake and we opted to have a individual cremation and will pick up his ashes in about 2 weeks. Oh and we never really did find out what caused all this to happen and what was wrong with him to begin with. That was another reason we decide to let him go, they could not figure out the root cause...

There are too many good memories to list here but I wanted to list a few. He was very much the comedic relief at times. He was an indoor cat but would escape from time to tome and loved to roll around on the concrete of the front porch, we called it the caterpillar. He sometimes thought he was a dog. He would beg for food(he would take your arm off for bacon or American cheese) , follow you around from room to room and come when he was called. The smallest things amused him. He loved to bat around little balls of paper, twist ties, and bugs. He usually ended up eating the bugs. He purred so loud you could hear him in the next room. He slept in some weird places and for the longest time he claimed a box lid as his very own and would move it around to the location of his choosing to sleep in it. For years he had a little pink panther stuffed animal he would cart around and play with. He was spoiled and loved but he loved us right back.

Here are some pictures of my boy from over the years. I could only find some of the ones I wanted to use.

He was a little peanut when he first came into my life.





And there was never a sock he met that he liked. (or a pair of nylons for that matter)




Bath time was never something he enjoyed so luckily he only had to have a few in his life time since he kept himself pretty clean.




He was beyond disgusted when he got a “little brother” 2 years ago. (The brother has been looking all over the house for him and crying that he can’t find him. It is really kind of sad.)











He loved the outdoors when he was able to sneak out. Otherwise he sat longingly at the front door.






He was a champion sleeper and loved to find a sunbeam to curl up in on the sofa



The latest place he claimed as his was the top of my travel suitcase. He loved it so much I let him keep it as his bed.



I will miss him terribly and there will always be a special place in my heart that will belong to only him. He was a sweetheart.

Retail Therapy, feeding an addiction and avoiding the inevitable.

Yep that is how I would sum up my Saturday night. As a few of you know my cat, Joey is very sick and most like will not pull through without a miracle at this point. Most of the day Saturday I was keeping an eye on him while trying to get some studying done for my midterm. About 7 Pm I decided I needed a little retail therapy. So off the Barnes and Noble I headed. Yes I confess my retail therapy was at the book store and there was not a piece of clothing, a purse or pair of shoes involved, a travesty I know. Instead I fed my photography addiction by purchasing a a couple of photography magazines and a photography book. Now I probably would have stayed at the book store a while longer if I had not had my sense of smell bombarded so strongly. There were several people milling around that were in a major need of a shower, some soap, and had clothing that needed to be introduced to a washing machine, most were teenage boys that I am guessing were playing sports earlier in the day or rolling around in horse poo.

So after I left I was still feeling the desire to avoid working on my midterm study guide since I was finding a lot of what was said to be on the test was stuff we had not read yet and I was feeling a bit stressed over that. I thought about stopping at Lowe's and picking up some Plexiglas I want to play with and the Krylon spray paint I want to help spruce up my camera case. However I decide it was probably best in my current state of mind I didn't play with spray paint. So instead of extending my retail therapy to Lowes I headed home... Oh what a glamorous life I live. I know you are all super Jealous of me and who can blame you...

What do you do when there is a writer's strike #5

With a possible end to the writer’s strike in sight I will hopefully not have to work so hard to find entertainment much longer. However I have a quick one to share with you all. As some of you know I work in a place that has some unconventional pieces to it. For example we have no walled areas except the conference rooms and the bathrooms, no cubicles, no offices for anyone, not even the founder of the company. Our desks and everything else are on wheels which makes moving around pretty easy. We also have an extensive art collection here at work. It is called the ‘West Collection and there are various pieces displayed through out the company. It is not limited to any certain kind of artwork there are paintings, photos, drawings, sculptures of various kinds etc. As we all know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and while I personally might not care for some pieces I know someone else does.

I was only slightly freaked out when I had a 12 foot toddler staring me down at my desk for a few months, and the light box alphabet only drove me crazy for a few weeks till I figure out all the products they came from. However there is a piece I saw outside the cafeteria the other day that makes me want to vomit a little every time I see it and I know it is because it is placed right outside the cafeteria entrance. It is macro picture of a dead fly. Now you are thinking what is so bad about a close-up picture of a dead fly. Did I mention it is 4-5 feet big? Yea the thing is close to 5ft x 5ft.

So I was waiting for someone the other day and decided to observe how people reacted to this picture of a giant dead fly. Some didn’t notice it, others turned their heads the other way while one person turned and walked away and several others made some faces of disgust. I am hoping they find a new home for the giant dead fly picture.,

What do you do when there is a writer's strike #4

Since the writer’s strike continues I was at church today and found enough material to write installment #4 of what you do when there is a writer's strike.

This week was not a typical week. You see last Sunday evening the president and prophet of our church passed away. Yes it was a sad event but also a happy one. You see he lived to be 97 years old and served up until he passed away, so he lived a full life. I say a happy time though more for him then anyone else. You see he now gets to be reunited with his sweet loving wife who passed away in 2004.

Now the first Sunday of each month is what we call fast and Testimony meeting, it is where members of the congregation can get up and bear their testimony with others. The standard Testimony meeting has tears, smiles, laughs, reflection, and the occasional winces when someone over shares. This meeting though was a bit different with the recent passing of our beloved leader who was adored and respected throughout the world. We also had a lot of kids get up and share their testimonies, for those kids that were a bit nervous there is always someone to help them through it. Today the biggest helper was not parents but a little girl that was more than happy to help her friends share. There was also one parent who got up holding her little girl who started to choke herself as a way to signal to mom, "hey times up, say Amen and lets go...."

But never fear just because there was a higher level of emotion and more people being reflective than perhaps on other Sundays it doesn’t mean that all children have suddenly decided to behave and become the picture of angelic perfection.(sorry to all your parents out there who were hoping that might happen) It also doesn’t mean my attention was so riveted I was not able to find some entertainment in my surroundings. I mean the writers strike is still happening after all.

So today I tried a little something different and took my life into my hands and sat int the 3rd row from the back and was in the action a bit more. I say I took my life in my hands not because of the chaos I had placed my self in the center of but because I removed myself from the back row and I still wasn't sure if there was some official proclamation saying singles must sit on the back row. But hey no lightening strikes, crashes of thunder and the building was still standing. Phew that was close..

So now onto the entertainment portion of the day. How many of you are familiar with the carnival game called “Whack-a-mole”? I am sure most of you have seen it where the little animated critter pops its head up and you brutally bash it down with a mallet, and the person who bashes the most wins the game. Well I think there is a new version of the game taking place every Sunday at church called “grab that child” which I eluded to in last weeks installment. Now the great thing about this game is there is no real rules, well okay there are rules but only the children know them and they are under a strict “not tell “ policy where adults are concerned. Don't worry there is not any hitting of the children, well except by other children.

So here are a few variations on the game I saw being played today.

-While parents are distracted by the people bearing their testimony make a break for it. This can be done by simply walking or crawling away towards the closest open door, crawling under the pews or chairs, jumping over the row in front or behind you, or getting voluntarily handed off to another unsuspecting adult.

-For those children that have siblings or whose parents are unwise enough to sit by other families with children (Which is almost impossible to avoid) there is a tag team version. One or two children distract the nearby adults, and if you think small infants are not part of this game guess again, they are the best little distracters out there. Now this can be done in a number of ways.
There is the more in your face tactics like
-screaming like you have been dismembered for no good reason.
-Having a diaper blowout. (this is more of the “in your nose tactic”)
-Projectile spit up.
-Throwing toys and hitting people 3 rows up, so parents have to mouth apologies and then sit a little lower in their seats

Then there are the more subtle and gentle tactics:
-look at what I drew/colored/made for you.
-Can I have a snack?
-I need to go potty.
-I need a drink of wawa.
-I need to blow my nose (there are those boogers again).

Plus the list goes on as I am sure you are all aware.

Once the distraction has occurred and the child has made the break for it is where the real game begins. Parents try to grab the kids without having to actually get out of their seat and chasing after them. Then there is the grab by other parents than the hand back to the real owners of the child, with the child kicking and screaming the whole time.

Another game that came to mind today while sitting there was "Memory". Basically this is played by all age groups. The kids have to try and remember where their family is sitting after they wander off. Then there are the parents that have to remember what their own kids look like since they could have as many as a dozen different kids that come to visit. One family decided to mark their kids and place paper hearts on their foreheads. (yes Ginnie I saw that).

As always food plays an important role. The snacks range from goldfish, cereal, pretzels, fruit snacks, granola bars, cookies, crackers and the like. some parents can't decide what to bring so they throw a little bit of everything in the bag. I call it lazy but I guess if I had kids I would see it as genius. :) For the kids whose parents don't bring snacks they make sure to grab a fistful of bread as the sacrament tray passes, and then there are the ones that grab the water and spit it back out into their cup and pour it over the rest of the tray. Yea yummy huh?

It seems like most of the kids today had the wiggles, and were very vocal, singing their own versions of the hymns when they felt the spirit move them. I didn't see one little boy no matter the age able to sit still today, well that is until one particular child showed up. This adorable little boy with his big bright blue eyes and his little faux-hawk, has the most serious look on his face and sits so quietly, he puts all the other kids to shame and most of the adults too..... But while he sat silently eating his cookie and drinking his little yogurt the rest of the kids were practicing their kleptomaniac moves. They will take anything from anyone from books, to makers, coloring books, food, and toys. It is actually rather amusing to see how the kids react when something has been taken from them or they get busted during a heist. Some have got some real skills and who knows where it will take them. Now don't go thinking the parents are not trying to control their pack of thieves, they just strategically disguise it as showing affection and locking them in a bear hug, which to an outsider looks like a great show of affection but to the budding klepto it feels more like a straight jacket,,,,

But the highlight for me was when Cole pointed to me and said "EWWWWWW" not one or twice but three times, can you feel the love? I sure did…

If you missed the previous answers to the writer strike you can find them here.


Episode #1

Episode #2

Episode #3

I would also like to thank just a few of those that have made this entertainment possible
So thanks in no particular order to the Skinner’s, Johnson’s, Milmont’s, Orr’s, Hall’s, Stratton’s, Flinders, Maxwell’s and Bunker’s. For those I might have missed I apologize.

What do you do where there is a writer's strike Part 3

This is my third installment of blogging about solutions to the writer's strike and finding new entertainment. When finding entertainment in your every day life is not working turn to the internet and youtube. There is a group called Improv Everywhere that has been prepared for a writer's strike for a long time and they don't just go looking for entertainment they create their own as you can see in the below videos.

This is one I saw on another blog earlier today and it made me laugh and inspired today's post so I thought I would share it with all of you here. Man I would have loved to be there to take some pictures.



A lot of people refer to Abercombie and Fitch as the naked boy store since for a clothing store they sure do use a lot of half naked guys for advertizements. Enjoy.



Now if you are like me and are not a big best buy fan you should like this one. I think they captured what a best buy employee does perfectly, such great likeness.



For more information on this fun group and their missions they have a website here and you can also see how best buy responded, another reason they are not very likable... Plus lots more funny videos for your viewing pleasure. Now that you have seen the no shirt mission be sure to check out the no pants missions... Or the red heads protesting the Wendy's logo.
Improv Everywhere

Happy Ground hog’s day

I know that big rodent Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog, saw his shadow today in Punxsutawney, PA. SO yes that means six more weeks of wintery weather, have to say that Phil is not my favorite oversized rodent of the moment.

However I have always been a fan of groundhog’s day. Why? Well it sure isn’t because I believe that a fuzzy little critter ripped by someone from his little stump where he sleeps can predict how much winter we have left. I just have a thing for little odd holidays and having grown-up in PA I have an odd attraction to this particular holiday.

I had thought since it fell on a Saturday it would be a fun day to throw a party and when I ran it by a few people they thought it was weird so I nixed it. But what do the rest of you think? Would it have been fun to throw a party with a summer/beach theme? Have everyone where the most hideously gaudy Hawaiian shirts, throw on some shorts or capri’s and favorite pair of flipflops. Serve summer foods like hamburgers and hotdogs, fruit salad, potato salad, and the like. Of course the party would not be complete without a screening of the movie “Groundhog’s Day”