Happy Independence Day!

This is me standing outside the National Archives last October. No pictures may be taken inside, of course, because the flash is not a good idea for the precious documents stored there. It was a pretty thrilling day for me, seeing the Delcaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights... handwritten by those who are long gone, but who did so much for this country, and who have inspired me for years!

It's going to be a quiet day here in the LeftLeaning house since both DSD and BabyBoy have to work. I am going to work on my book review and continue to prepare for the company due in next weekend.

I hope your day is wonderful and blessed with laughter, love, and some great food!

No Sex! No Jobs! No High Speed Rail!

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Blogger Is Working...

Check this out!

In the containers on the bottom and the side are radishes. They are also in the bottom right corner of the bed; I have some which should be big enough to pick soon. The BIG bushes in the middle are the green beans and I've put more seed right above and to the right of them. On the other side of them are the broccoli, but they can't be seen here. In the back left are the peas (there were actual tiny peas on them this morning!) and then cucumbers and squash growing to the right of the peas. There are tomatoes on the first plant in the 5 gallon bucket, but the next two have just been planted outside. Everything you see (except that first tomato plant) has been grown from seed

I am so proud.

There are 3 more tomato plants, 2 pepper plants, rosemary, and parsley outside of the picture. I have Ball freezer containers standing by for the surplus of beans and peas that I hope to have.

I am hoping to can some salsas and sauces also, but I don't want to jinx myself by buying all of the stuff already!

An Analysis of Jon Stewart's Rally Speech

Speech Analysis of Jon Stewart’s closing speech at “The Rally to Restore Sanity.”

            On a breezy October day in front of a crowd of 215,000 with the Capital Building providing a dramatic backdrop, Jon Stewart explained why we were all there.  With only about fifteen minutes left of an entertaining three hour program that included Ozzy Osborne, R2D2, and The O’Jays, Mr. Stewart turned serious and described what he was trying to accomplish with this rally and that while it was and had been fun, it was important that the people who were there, and those watching at home, remember that we could all work together in the United States to get things done.  That most of us do every single day.

            Jon Stewart was very careful to tell everyone that our country is in crisis.  That our country has far to go to get back to anything resembling normal and that times are difficult. But then he explained times are difficult, but that does not mean that we are staring at the end of the world, or even of life as we know it.  That we can get past this and get through this and we can come out on the far side, stronger for it.

            Mr. Stewart lay into the media with both barrels, lambasting those who are supposed to deliver our news to us as not only unfair and unbalanced, but as over dramatists and reactionaries who are not giving the people of the United States anything resembling true news.  “The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems and illuminate problems heretofore unseen, or it can use its magnifying glass to light ants on fire, and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous-flaming-ant epidemic,” he said, showing his characteristic humor even while expounding on his theory that as a comedian, he is not a politician.

            My favorite part of Jon Stewart’s speech was when he played a video of cars merging as the road narrowed from three or four lanes into two as the cars entered a tunnel.  Jon made guesses about each driver of each car as they merged, “that’s a school teacher who thinks taxes are too high…there’s a mom with two kids who can’t think about anything else...another car, the lady’s in the NRA. She loves Oprah…An investment banker, gay, also likes Oprah,” and explained that these cars and these drivers at this particular space and time was us. The United States. America. A microcosm of the good and the bad and hateful. Each and every one of us.  Mr. Stewart explained that America is a bunch of really busy people trying to get through each day and that we are and that we will and that while it does not appear to be true, we will all be better off in the end, because we can work together and we can compromise and we can accept and learn from each. No matter where we were born, the color of our skin, where we go to church or who we voted for in the last election. That we will be fine. One compromise at a time.

A Brief Hello!

Back to work, back to school, very lazy about posting during the holidays, that is me in a nutshell. But our Christmas was filled with family (some of which I actually like) and our New Year celebration was filled with alcohol and good friends without a hangover on Saturday.

On top of that, apparently Penn State wanted to lose the Outback Bowl more than the Gators did, so Coach Meyer finished his time with the Gator Nation on a high note!

I am STILL working on the post about DC and the blogger meet-up. It will happen.

But someone (I don't remember who) asked me to post the analysis I did of Jon Stewart's Rally Speech. The analysis was for my speech class and (reading back over it) I think (with a great deal of false modesty) I did a pretty good job.

That will be the next post.

I would like to post about the upcoming end of the world also, but maybe someone already has?

Happy 2011 To Each and Every One of You!

A Couple of Pictures from the Rally

I'm Leaving.. On a jet plane!

Which is a bonus, because until our new airport opened we only had props!

For stalking purposes:

BabyBoy & I will be on the 6:05am flight out of Panama City and will be arriving in Baltimore at ~ 9:15 (we are changing time zones, it is only a 2 hour flight).  We will be taking the B30 bus into D.C at a cost of less than $10.00 each, instead of the $100 or more it would have cost to fly into Dulles.  I think the bus takes us to the green line, but I will have to check. We will eventually be switching to the blue and orange line (it's an omen) which we will take to the FoggyBottom metro station and then make our way to our hotel! (Pretty fancy, huh?? Thank goodness for credit card points or we would be camping under a bridge!)

The plan is to check in and then wander around D.C. gaping like tourists and asking strangers to take our pictures, because, we will be tourists and we will need to have proof we were there.

On Saturday we will be meeting TrueBlueTexan at 9am at the refreshment stand across the street from the National Air and Space Museum. I think there may be many other bloggers there at that time for a giant group hug... or at least some handshaking with alcohol wipes. :-) (If I still have this hacking cough, may I suggest a 4 foot radius? And, possibly a Lysol bath after?)

I am planning to carry a sheet or blanket to sit on during the festivities, I think, because I am not carrying chairs on the plane, but I have no idea where we will be parking our behinds.. or if we will.

I also do not plan to be arrested for jumping on Bruce Willis, but if I am... trust me it was worth it! :-)

Someone on Facebook was trying to set up an "Insanity after the Sane Rally" party, but it didn't seem to take off. I think there will be plenty of open pubs and bars and restaurants to re-examine the day.

What did I forget?? I hope you all make it!

Because you should see what a cute couple we are!

Before the game, waiting for the team.

Before we knew what was in store!

I WAS ready for some football, but the team was not.

Well I had a lovely weekend in Gainesville. Great weather. Excellent food. Lots of fun.

My team lost.  Again. Third week in a row. This hasn't happened since the mid 80s. Crazy.

Me and Treebow at the Ballyhoo Grill for dinner Friday night.

Dinner was amazing. I am touching his Heisman. 

Why am I not allowed to put more than one picture in this post????? 

Well, there will be another picture in the next post then. Or another post just for the next picture. Annoying. 

I haven't posted much about my love of college football (especially the University of Florida Gators) because there hasn't been a lot to post, they've looked AWFUL, and there have been so many other topics to cover. I'm not going to say much now, except.. "What happened here?" 

Well, there IS always next year!  

GOOO GATORS!!!!

A Theory of Stupid

A couple of people requested that I email them my friend's theory about why the world is getting more and more stupid, but there is no reason not to post it. I am pretty sure he is not going to do studies on this issue. According to my son there is a movie out called "Idiocracy" but I have only seen the first few minutes of it.

My friend theorized that the average IQ (at least in this country) was dropping by leaps and bounds. He said it was because educated people finished high school and went on to actually become educated. Bachelor's Degrees, Master's Degrees, and Doctorates all take time and money and effort to attain and most people who do attain them do not do so with a wife and 10 children following them around (or a husband and 9 children, ha ha!!). Sorry that was sexist.

But, my friend said, some people married fresh out of high school, before they have enough sense to know that the world is not always fair and they start having children immediately. And (on average) uneducated people raise uneducated people. And those who start when they are 18 continue until their child bearing years are over. (And some men continue to have 2nd, 3rd and 4th families!!)

Of course people with advanced degrees normally wait until they are older to marry and to start having children, and then it is possible that there are health concerns that may or may not allow them to have children or which may limit their number.

Now this is obviously a very flimsy theory with absolutely no scientific principles behind it. It was just my friend thinking out loud. There are many, many people who do not fall into this category and I am one of them. I was married at 19 and pregnant at 21 with 1 semester of college behind me. There were no more pregnancies after that. Another of my friends is an M.D., the son of 2 PhDs and he is the oldest of 8 children.

But look around at the poorer neighborhoods, at the children with more than 1 sibling in your child's class. It is definitely possible.

And my ex is currently expecting his 3rd child. He turned 46 today. He has only a high school diploma, although his current wife (who is not yet 30) does have a Bachelor's Degree. But she still married him and she can't figure out how to prevent unwanted children. How high is her IQ?

I AM GOING TO DC!! JOIN ME AND JON STEWART!!

Really. I am rational. I am sane. Most days. And The Daily Show's Jon Stewart wants all of us rational and sane people to join him in the "Rally to Restore Sanity" in Washington, D.C. on the Mall Saturday 30 Oct, 2010.

This is the sort of thing that I always WANT to do, but never do. I always think of the cost and the time off work and blah, blah, blah. This time I mentioned it to a friend who thought she may want to go and then I came home AND BOUGHT PLANE TICKETS!! My friend is going to meet me and BabyBoy there. We will be staying at the Washington Marriott thanks to points from my Visa/Check Card.

I am in total shock that I have done this. Can any of you attend also?? Can we meet? Mauigirl may be there! Who else?!?

Let's all go to DC and show the crazies that Rational wins!!!

And, because we (BabyBoy & I) have never been to the capital of our great nation, we are going to stay for several days and see a few of the sights!

So Says the Prez.. So says me!

More tomorrow on the "Rally to Bring Back Sanity" or whatever it is called and the fact that I have BOUGHT PLANE TICKETS!!!!!!!

One Giant Step for Caterpillars!

I have just discovered the joy of gardening. As I get older (and wiser) I notice that I eat almost everything now that I never would have considered years ago and I enjoy it. Fresh fruits and vegetables from the grocery store are not very yummy, and who knows where they have arrived here from. Plus one day I will (I hope) be an old Southern woman and there is a requirement that we "wear funny hats and old clothes and grow vegetables in the dirt." (Shirley McClain's charactar 'Ouiser' "Steel Magnolias")

So I planted tomatoes and red peppers and cucumbers and summer squash and 2 kinds of basil and some oregano. And I watered. And I talked to the little darlings. And I watched them.

And blooms arrived. And I watered. And I fertilized. Organic, of course. And fruit arrived. And rotted.

I did manage several cucumbers. And a tomato. And a squash.

Ok, new tomato plants and new squash plants and LOOK AT THIS! Peppers growing. On the vine.

And the bugs came.



Nature is a circle. And these bugs provide a service, somewhere in the cirle.

And I do NOT want to use pesticides. So we have donated the pepper plant and 1 tomato plant to these really fat things.

And the cucumbers were taken by what DSD is referring to as 'mites'

But the basil and oregano are coming right along! I think we are going to be eating a lot of Italian food. (Basil/oregano pizza is really yummy! Too bad the sauce isn't fresh!)

Electronically Tethered Part Deux

I love to read. I love it. Anything. Everything. Yes, I was the kid who always read the back of the cereal box and each and every sign on the road. Aloud. (And my mother let me live, so that was kind and giving of her). I read new books as fast as I can get my hands on them and even have to have DSD hide them from me if it is a time I should be reading school books or studying for a test. I usually have a book in my purse, in my car, and in my backpack, with stacks as yet unread at my house.

When I was younger (read: more poor) I borrowed books from the library and I bought at used book stores. Then, of course, I returned those books to the used book store for credit for MORE used books. There were a few that I owned and carried through each successive move, but less than 5 probably. I did check out books (occasionally) that I had already read, but I thought everyone did.

Somewhere, however, I realized that I was no longer living paycheck to paycheck, that there were a few dollars left at the end of each month and (brilliant idea!) why couldn’t I actually buy a book or 2? (or 200?) This happened to coincide with my mother’s foray into
!Book Clubs! Buy 1, Get 10 Free! *You must then buy 1 book a month at OUTRAGEOUS PRICES for the rest of your natural life*

Ok, it wasn’t quite that bad, but she started buying and I started buying, hard covered books, some in Large Print and then we would get together and trade books.

And there were a lot of books.

One Sunday, several years ago, I decided to catalog all of my books. Sort them. Put them back on the shelves in alphabetic order after placing them in an Excel spreadsheet. What a fun way to spend an afternoon. DSD was not home at the time, but when he returned he almost had a stroke, because there were books strewn across the entire living room.

We have a pretty large living room by normal people standards (as opposed to billionaires or Royalty). Our living room has allowed persons under 5 feet tall to perform a series of acrobatic moves, like cart wheel, back flip, split. But I digress.

At the end of the day all of the books had been categorized and returned to the shelves in alphabetic order and I had an Excel spreadsheet of over 300 books.

So I got rid of a couple (maybe 4 or 5) paperbacks that I wasn’t going to read again and I continued to buy books.

I don’t keep all of them. Some I receive from my mom and I pass on to others or donate them to the Senior Center and Goodwill or I give them to her and she passed them onto various relatives.

But the numbers grew. And grew. And grew.

Until finally poor DSD had a choice to make. Should he call that show “Hoarders?”

Or should he just break down, cough up the money, and buy me a Kindle? For my birthday in April. It was incredibly unexpected and I was speechless for over 30 seconds. And then I cried. And he was very proud of himself. My husband rocks.

So now I own a Kindle. And I don’t have to have books on every surface anymore**. I have them all in my purse. The technology is simple. The reading is easy. The purchasing is easy… too easy, I can spend $30 in less than 3 minutes without ever getting up from the computer.

But there are many, many authors whose work I would never have tried had their books not been Free for download. I have read many books, then purchased the author's next book because the first one was so good. I have downloaded over 100 since the end of April. I have not read even close to that many, but I am loving the freedom that having all (ok, some)*** of my books on the eReader brings.

And DSD is loving the fact that he no longer fears huge stacks of books will fall on his head.

**Ok, they are all hidden behind the loveseat, which is not pushed up against the wall. But I am out of books shelves (and space for bookshelves) and I will eventually read and pass on all of those paperbacks.
***My plan is to eventually replace many of my hard backs with downloaded books, but I will never give up all of them.

Electronically Tethered

BabyBoy, as befitting his status as the only child that I gave birth to, has always been a little spoiled when it comes to new and exciting electronics. For his 19th birthday, I gave him my latest upgrade to get him a very expensive cell phone and I took the freebie. He broke his fancy phone on more than one occasion, including last summer, when it could not be fixed and the insurance had replaced it the maximum number of times. Well, Mom was eligible for an upgrade at that time, so he used it. Thanks, kid.

Flash forward several months and I realized that I wanted a new phone. I DESERVED something nice! The Blackberry Curve was available, giving me a full key board for texting and a little track ball. I hate track balls. What about the Blackberry Storm? All touch screen. Was this Verizon’s answer to the iPhone? Because most people I know hated it. I debated. I pondered. I touched everyone’s phones. I promised myself I would buy until after Finals in December, because Hi! Finals.

Then I saw it. One night while watching TV with DSD



And I had my answer.

I did wait until after Finals to get one. Merry Christmas to me!

I didn’t pay full price for it, but I did pay more than it costs now.

I also had to start coughing up the money for a data plan.

But I love this thing.

New apps every.single.day.

Music and videos and Facebook and, NOW! Blogger also. (Although I did have to add that picture of my reunion from the computer; it didn’t work from the Droid.)

I know many who scoff at being tied to electronic devices. I know many who think we should step away from the keyboards and be social.

But I have the world at my fingertips, all the answers that Google can provide, trivia games on history, U.S. Presidents and college football, plus a light saber (Really) and a Schott Gun to use on unsuspecting motorists. (Pump action. It must be loaded and it has a kick. I don’t hurt anyone and I relieve stress).

So don’t sneer at my Droid.

And I won’t sneer at your little free phone.

I Didn't Do It.. But I've Thought About It*

I love Monopoly. We played it a lot when I was a kid when the electricity went out. Monopoly by candlelight is pretty fun.

I also like to win. I am a very gracious winner. I am not as good a loser, but I know this about myself and try to fake it. So I would never react this way:

A game of Monopoly has landed a Michigan man in jail. WDIV-TV reported a 54-year-old man was playing the board game Saturday night with a female friend when he tried to buy Park Place and Boardwalk from her.

When she refused, Fraser police Lt. Dan Kolke told WWJ-AM he hit her in the head, breaking her glasses. The man was arrested and charged with misdemeanor assault and battery.

In other stupidity around the nation:

Jobless Grad sues college for $70,000 - she says the college didn't help her find a job. I say she is a moron for paying $70,000 for a Bachelor's Degree.

A bank teller caught a would-be robber and was fired. It was against the bank's policy; the teller should have just handed over the money.

And a little piece of strangeness from across the pond:

BERLIN - An Audi sedan written off by an elderly German woman as stolen two years ago has resurfaced — in her neighbor's garage beneath a thick layer of dust.
Police said Thursday the 82-year-old from the northern city of Hildesheim took the car in for repairs two years ago and had the mechanics drive it back to her house and park it in her garage.
She got the keys and papers from her mailbox, but when she went to get the car it was nowhere to be found. So she reported it stolen.

Fast forward to Wednesday when her neighbor went to clean up his unused garage so it could be rented. He found the car under "a centimeter-deep coating of dust."
It didn't take police long to piece together that the mechanics had parked it in the wrong garage.


*I know that there are real news horrors and tragedies going on in this country and around the world, I just couldn't process them today. So I thought maybe a little laugh at the stupidity of others would, at least, brighten my day.

Movie Review: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"

I normally do not like movies made from books. There are a few exceptions, as there are to every rule, "The DaVinci Code" and "Jaws" to name 2, but they are few and far between. I have seen every Potter movie so far, in the theater. I have seen most of them on opening day and I reviewed the last one, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" on this blog. It wasn't exactly complimentary. I was expecting to leave "Half-Blood Prince" as angry and annoyed as I left "Order of the Phoenix."

BabyBoy and I had planned to go to the midnight premiere. I bought tickets online, but, due to the fact that everyone I work with and my entire family laughed at the fact that we were going at midnight, I didn't expect anyone else to be there. Silly me. We arrived at 11:15 for a 12:01 showing. All four theaters were sold out and there were A LOT of people standing in the lobby. BabyBoy worked at this particular theater for almost a year and informed me, later, that each theater held over 300 people. So, at a guess, there were about 1,000 people in that lobby.

We had a brief discussion about whether or not to stay or go back the next day. I picked up my prepurchased tickets and handed them to the nice man patiently waiting (and politely begging) next to the ticket window. He paid for the tickets and BabyBoy and I went home!

We arrived back at the theater the next day at 12:30pm for a 1:00pm show. We had no problems buying tickets or popcorn or finding seats. By the time the previews were over the theater was pretty well packed, but we didn't care. Again, I prepared myself for upset, anger and disappointment.

And was pleasantly surprised that I had very little of all three. Even better, I laughed out loud on several occasions. This movie was the one I had been waiting for. This movie showed us the characters and made us care about them.

*****WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*********

There was Harry, obviously carrying a torch for Ginny, but not sure what to do about it.
There was Ron and Hermione, carrying a torch for each other but not sure what to do about it.
There was Ron, accidently consuming a love potion meant for Harry and falling all over himself
(Sue me, I enjoy a little slapstick humor)
There was Draco, sobbing alone in the bathroom.
There was Hermione showing what an awesome witch she really is.

There were parts which were left out:
Memories of the Gaunts and other Riddle memories.
Harry's detentions.
The battle at the end.
The funeral.
The Dursleys.
Kreacher and Sirius' will.
Dobby.. again?

There were parts which were added:
The Burrow BURNED?
Tonks and Lupin together? Already?
Ginny and Harry together in the Room of Requirement

Those were all odd or strange, but the parts that made me nuts were the parts which were changed:
Harry standing quietly while someone he loved is threatened? Right!
Exactly where the potions book is now.
A better explanation of what other Horcruxes could be out there.

DSD took LittleMan a week after BabyBoy and I had seen the movie. DSD enjoyed it, LittleMan, not so much, but the reasoning behind that is another post that will, hopefully, be up soon. DSD, who has never read the books, understood about Horcruxes (and even figured out one not mentioned in the movie) but had many questions about other things that the movie did not explain, including Fenrir Greyback, because he had no idea who he was or why he looked so funny.

All in all, this was a much better movie than Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire or Order of the Phoenix. As a book adaptation it was lousy, but, just as a movie on its own, it was pretty good.

There will be two movies made out of the last book. Hopefully, between the two of them, they will answer all the questions, those of the book readers and the non-book readers. If not, I hope they are at least entertaining, as this movie was.

Let Freedom Ring

I wanted to write something inspirational on this lovely day where we remember those who started this great experiment we call the United States of America. I wanted to write beautifully about the Declaration of Independence and how we see it now, 233 years later.

I just don't think I have that kind of talent, or that kind of time, since we are headed to the lake shortly. But Mustang Bobby does. Read his thoughts and then, if you have time, read the Declaration. We aren't perfect, but we are the best experiment going.

Have a safe and happy 4th of July.

Happy Birthday America.

Where Did My Weekend Go?

I am back at work (shhhh!) and happy to be here. Maybe I can get some rest!

My plan for Saturday was to be up by 9, bathe Lola, then myself and be at my parents' by 11 for several hours of pea shelling. The best laid plans, you know.

BabyBoy texted me a little after 9 to let me know he needed coolant for his car.. and had no money, so Lola's bath was postponed, so I could get to the bank and deposit some money in his account. (Yes, he is spoiled)

I showered before I went to the bank with.no.hot.water. DSD was preparing to paint the hallway bathroom as I got out of the shower telling him the water never heated up. He went and played around with the hot water heater only to discover there was no power to it. Apparently the man installing the vinyl siding hit something electrical on Friday (he did tell DSD this on Friday morning) and, from what we could figure, it cut the power line to the water heater. Call an electrician out on Saturday? Suck it up for the weekend? We sucked it up. But the electrician was at my house before I left for work this morning.

I finally arrived at my parents' a little after noon. I was late leaving the house, plus there was a 4 vehicle accident on the way. They had already started the shelling so I got right to it and shelled and shelled and shelled. Until after 9pm. Wow! And we weren't finished, but I was tired, my back hurt and I still had at least a 45 minute drive home.

It was great to spend time with my parents, but I honestly didn't expect to be there that long. I had taken Lola with me to see how she would do and she was an angel. But she was starving by the time we got home. She seems to be weaning herself off 2 feedings a day and she barely eats in the mornings. And I didn't take any food for her; I fully expected to be home by dinner time.

Sunday morning began with blanching and freezing the peas I had brought home with me. Scrubbing down the hall bathroom (which DSD did manage to paint on Saturday) so the shower was useable and then helping BabyBoy move home. Then, cleaning our bathroom, showering in a cold shower and making a quick trip to the grocery store.

I barely read my book all weekend and didn't play my video game at all! What is up with that?

This afternoon I am treating myself to a manicure and pedicure and 2 hours of complete relaxation!

I Beat Snopes!

As I mentioned just a few weeks ago in this post, I spent a very long Friday night searching for information on whether graduates at the United States Naval Academy were barred from wearing their ceremonial swords due to the visit of President Obama.

Snopes.com was one of the first places I checked and they had no information on this issue. But now they do! In their What's New section is a link titled Ceremonial Swords where they debunk the myth also.

But I did it first!

I am so proud!