Celebrate the new year!

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Hope you have a fun and safe New Year's Eve!

Well, we all celebrate in our own way, now don't we?

Wishing you all the best for the coming year.  Happy 2011!

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I can pose for a sculpture .. as a fertility Goddess, I kind of resemble one. Yikes!

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Ah yes, the doctor's visit.  He's still a jerk but he's a popular jerk and he gets high marks from his patients on everything but the waiting room wait.  But he asks what we would rather, get in quickly and out just as fast?  Or wait longer and have him spend some time with you.  He's got a point there.  He does spend time with you, he's just a smart-ass.  That's a good thing in my book.  Don't like doctors who keep up the doctor professional facade and never say how they actually feel about anything. I like that he has been known to tell me stories about how his wife thinks he's an a-hole, and how he asks me if the boyfriend is still around even though I've gotten fat.  To him that must be a sign of true love. I can always count on him to ask something .. how's your mom?  Which today lead me to say "she died".  "Oh, I'm sorry.  Yeah that was a tough 6 months.  I'm sorry.  Not surprised, but sorry."  "Did they give her good care over there?" referring to the hospital she was at that he is not affiliated with.  And when I assured him they cared for her very well he was off to another subject.  


My weight.  Gah.  It always goes there.  I told him my toes have started to burn pretty much all the time which he pronounced to be diabetic peripheral neuropathy.  Which of course you know I googled as soon as I could.  Basically it's nerve damage caused by high (uncontrolled) glucose.  I didn't tell him but I am starting to feel it in my hands now and again too.  Not on a constant basis.  And just think - if I lost weight I would not have to worry diabetes or high blood pressure, I would just have to look out for the other common things that have occurred in my family like high blood pressure, breast cancer, and colon cancer. Oh joy.  But a disease that is because I am an emotional eater?  Unacceptable. 


I'm not taking any of this lightly, am coming up with a plan.  Hot toes  makes me very nervous.

Kim Kardashian has nothin' on me!

Have I ever mentioned how much I like shoes?  I love shoes!  But there is a problem.  I have wide Flintstone feet.  I mean, I like my feet, they're cute and all but they are really hard to find shoes for.  Cute shoes, trendy shoes, heels.  Gah.  And I tend to be uncooperative about the shoes I am willing to put on my feet as well - I refuse to put my feet in something that is not uber comfortable, or something that tries to make my feet into a shape they are not.  That narrows down my choices quite a bit.  

beautiful shoes but my feet just aren't shaped like that!

Unfortunately they ARE shaped like this - but you won't catch me wearing these!

I did manage to find an awesome pair of leather ballet flats I was able to wear for a while, until my cat pooped in one of them, end of that story.  Doomed to never wear cute shoes?

These are what my closet contains ...

For when I wear brown

my breast cancer shoes

New Balance's version of toning shoes

Old pair of Airwalks I can't part with

Earth shoes, when I want to feel a little fancy

An old pair of New Balance I haven't worn out yet

Hmmm... do you notice a trend?  If you watch any of those "style" shows, they make people feel like freaks if they wear anything other than pointy toed shoes.  And supposedly ANYone can find pointy toed shoes that will fit them properly.  Well, SO????!!!  Does that mean I HAVE to wear them?  Do I have to be embarrassed because I love New Balance and ... and ... Doc Martens?  There, I said it.  My name is BetteJo, I am 51 years old and I wear Doc Martens.  (When I'm not wearing 'gym' shoes)

I literally have 2 pairs of these.  Just in case.

I would totally wear these!

And now that I've seen these - I'm going to be trying to find a pair!

So there!  I have to be me regardless of style or trends.  But there are people out there who can really make you feel like an odd ball sometimes.

What makes you feel like you don't fit in?  Everybody has something, don't they?

Abigail Grace

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But we call her the evil one.  She started out as my daughter's cat, but now she is mine.  I would love to NOT have 4 cats, and I would love to find a home better suited to Abby.  But it would be very difficult.

We don't know what happened to Abby, only that she was abandoned.  She will bite you as soon as look at you, especially if you come at her with your hand outstretched.  But she will come and sit on my lap and grab some of my shirt or pants with her mouth and do her kneading with her paws, and sometimes she will lay down and go to sleep on my lap.  She wants love, but it has to be on her terms.

Abby would probably be better in a house with no other cats, and the person who adopted her would have to be a cat whisperer.  I wouldn't give her up to anyone less than that because at least here - I know how she is treated.  A lot of people don't take kindly to a cat that bites.  

So I make it my mission to become (at least) the one person she doesn't bite, the one person she isn't afraid of or doesn't get spooked by.  

But I tell you what - it's slo-o-o-w-w going!  We've had her for .. over 5 years now, at least.  Pretty sure she's not going anywhere!

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Maxine Monday

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Jesus' birthday thru the eyes of children

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I'd just like to know who 'Mike' is.

Merry Christmas all .. (5 people or so who read on a regular basis and anyone else who drops by) I wish you peace and love and all that gooey stuff people wish for other people they like.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Norah (with an H) wishes you a Merry Christmas!

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Sparking my imagination!

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The purpose of this blog was to promote my jewelry. What jewelry?  The jewelry I design in my head all the time, what did you think I was talking about?


I really enjoy making jewelry but I don't particularly enjoy photographing it or trying to sell it.  But sometimes the smallest thing sends me skittering off in a new direction and doggone it if I'm not going to be fabulous at it - again, in my mind.  


Today I was trying to catch up on my blog reading and I read this post, over at The Beading Gem's Journal.  Pearl writes the most interesting posts, links to awesome tutorials and introduces readers to new techniques and trends all the time.  I particularly enjoy some of the articles she writes about the history of gems and jewlry.  She makes it so interesting!


I tried chain maille after reading something on her blog.  After I read that post on her blog today, and watched the tutorials - off I was for literally 2 hours scouring the internet for a starter metal stamping kit.  2 hours I really should have been spending doing laundry, cleaning my house, and maybe wrapping presents.


Finally I managed to convince myself this is a gift for myself I need to wait till after Christmas to buy (probably because it's too early in the day to be shopping on Ambien).  But just wait - I'll be terrific at it, you'll see!


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Maxine Monday

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Some years are better than others ..

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Christmas shopping is done. This is the part where every day is Christmas for me, because packages are waiting for me when I get home from work and me being me - I never remember what I am expecting until I open the box!  Oh!  For me?!?


This year however, there have been some annoyances.  I will generally not spend the amount I did at the store I did, except they were offering 40% off if you typed in the code at check out.  It was plastered all over the site, very clearly stated which items were included in the sale and which ones weren't.  Except - when I clicked submit - 40% did not come off my order.  GAH!


Sent an email, received a reply saying I had not typed in the magic word, they were very sorry.  Um .. NO!!!  I know I typed it because for a second I questioned my spelling of the word and then had to laugh because the word was 'holiday'.  I typed it.


Sent another email, politely explaining that I did type the word and being a reputable company I was sure they would address the issue appropriately.  Giant exhale.  Got another email - over a hundred bucks will be credited to my card. Thank you very much.

The other thing?  Another store I don't usually shop at because it is expensive.  For me.  I bought a .. er .. piece of  clothing.  Someone had taken it off the rack somewhere, plastic hanger and all, slipped a thin bag over it and then - the best part - broke off both ends of the hanger INSIDE the piece of clothing, and dropped the whole thing in a box.  It wouldn't have fit if they had left the hanger whole.  !!!!!!!


You KNOW I sent another email for that that one.  One of those - 'character limit 250' things.  I actually don't expect much from this one I mean - I didn't ask for a refund or anything, I have what I ordered but man - you just expect better service from some places, y'know?  I'll let you know what they say. But I say SHEESH!!!!

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Maxine Monday

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Just call me mother of the bride!

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The wedding plans have begun.  *gleefully clapping hands*  Fun!  


My vegetarian daughter and her vegetarian fiancé are getting married in a somewhat industrial part of Chicago in the west loop area.  In a former meat packing plant.  I know, right?  And it is very cool.  Really.  It is called The Catalyst Ranch. 


Like I said, The Catalyst Ranch is in a building that was a former meat packing plant, now reclaimed as a cool, urban meeting place.  There is even one smallish room called 'the sausage room' where sausage was made many years ago and you can still smell a tinge of it coming from the brick in that room.  Many companies use the location for meetings, focus groups, more out of the box stuff.  There is play-doh on the tables, hats and wigs on the coat rack and plenty of fun things to spark creativity.  Very cool place for a meeting, let me tell you.  And - they do weddings.  More fun!  The business supplies will be removed for a wedding, so there may be things in the pics that won't be there for the wedding. 


So we went today.  Dani & Dan had been there before, and today - they signed the contract.  Woo hoo!  But this was my first time.  I'm excited - it's not your garden variety wedding venue.  And it suits who D & D are.  Fun, young, and out of the ordinary. In a good way of course.  There are a few floors, the room they are using is on the 3rd floor and it's called The Polka Room which will make certain relatives happy!!  There is a lot of color, all the furniture can be moved around to accommodate the ceremony and later the dinner and dancing.  Oh - and the scavenger hunt.  More on another day about that.  There is a photo booth - the old black and white kind that takes pics in strips.  At the end of the night the ranch will give D & D an album with all the film strips shot during the evening.  I have asked Dani to request that any photos of "junk" be left out of the album but so far I don't think I'm being taken seriously.  Cause you know it's going to happen!


Anyway - here are the pics I took today.  Forgive the quality - I used my phone.  I probably included way too many but the place is just so fun - I had to keep taking picture and picture.  Please have a look and hopefully, enjoy!

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Very touching

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Got Moron!?!??

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There was a stupid man on the road this morning.  Stupid because he didn't drive like me - which is of course, fabulously.  The man was in front of me with his bald head and gray horse shoe do, and started out quite slowly after the light turned green. But I was like okay, the light ahead is red, no reason to hurry .. I won't let it aggravate me.  We pulled up to the next light.  Waited, green!  And the light in front of that one was green too!  Speed limit there is 40.  ONLY 40.  The man in front of me started out so slow he might as well have punched holes through his floor boards and been running.  At first I held back figuring he's just a slow starter, he'll pick up speed.  Uh ... no.  He was going about 30 when I finally got close enough for him to notice me.


And he quickly hit the brakes. First of all, that's MY move.  And secondly, I had just gotten up to him, wasn't actually up to his bumper for goodness sakes - and he was going 10 miles under the speed limit and there is a green light ahead he might miss if he doesn't speed up!  I threw my arm up in the air like "what the heck??  C'mon!"  And he threw both arms up in the air like "what?  I don't care if you're late for work - you suck!"


Grrrrrrr...!!!  The lane to the left cleared enough for me to zip out from behind this cretin (no offence to other cretins out there) and speed up to pass him.  Are you ahead of me here?  You know what he did, right?  HE SPED UP!!!!!  The bad bad man!  And yes - that is too what I was calling him!  We missed the light.  Argh-h-h!!


When the light turned green I was able to finally get a head of him and as I pulled back into the right lane, he moved into the left - and then the far left lane - and then into the left turn lane at the next light.  The freak didn't even have to BE in the right lane!  AGH-H-H!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Sometimes I hate driving to work.  Or home from work.  But mostly TO work.  And it's not because I'm usually cutting it close time-wise.  It's because there are just more bad drivers in the morning.


That's my story anyway and please don't burst my bubble.


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Maxine Monday

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Taking liberties

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When it's cold outside frequently you will find blankets on the couch and cats curled up in or on the blankets.  Look at Jake - isn't she cute?

But um ... excuse me-e-e-e..??

Guess she knows how to relax!

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Baby it's cold outside!

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I'm not ready for this!

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She lives with me now.

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The day I went back to work after my mom died, I had a lot of emails to go through.  There were so many things to catch up on, I did not get to my voicemail until the end of the day.  The very last voicemail was from 2 days before my mom had gone in the hospital.  And there she was on my phone telling me she didn't feel very well and didn't know if she would feel well when I came to see her that night.  Gave me a start for a second.  Had to wonder if it was like that joke you see carved on a tombstone - "I told you I was sick!!"


Here at home - a couple days before Thanksgiving my daughter asked me for a recipe so I got down my old recipe box and pulled a note out of it that basically advised me to get recipes from friends and my new MIL, keep them all and one day they would be memories as well as recipes.  And many of those cards - were written in my Mom's hand.
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Got a pension check for her today, put away the backpack I had brought to the hospital with me - only yesterday.  And today I signed up for a teleconference offered at work on grief and bereavement over the holidays.  I mean, I'm doing okay but - little things keep popping up I'm not expecting so it certainly can't hurt, right?


And .. I'm trying to keep Mom in the spirit of the Christmas season.  I'm sure that as Christmas gets closer there may be more things keeping her company than a kiss and a dark chocolate candy bar in a stocking, but who knows.  I wonder if my brothers would think posting this picture is in poor taste. But hey, they left Mom with me and I know - she always did like attention.  :)


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Maxine Monday

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Not another one!!

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Yes, I have started another blog.  Don't ask me why cause I just don't know.  It's called "I Know, Right?" because I say that a lot.  I wanted a place to write a paragraph at a time, just random thoughts or things I've seen ... whatever.  It is in no way good reading yet.  2 posts and an about page.  That's it.  But I have linked to it above and I hope you'll check it out sometime. I didn't want it to be something someone would have to make a commitment to - to read.  It's Wordpress and boy is that a different animal from Blogger.  But to me, that means I have to figure it out.  Even if it takes me hours upon hours ...

I Know, Right?

And I wanted to make it pretty, even if the pretty has nothing to do with the content.  Which goes against all rules of blogging but I've never been good with authority anyway.
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Might fall under the category of TMI.

So yeah.  I did it again.  Took pictures with my little USB microscope.  But since it is attached to my laptop when it is plugged in, I tend to point it towards well, me.

This is my multi-colored hair.  That light stuff?  Blonde.  Really, really blonde.  Ahem.

 My cross

Yes really, my teeth.

My bracelet, the practice bracelet I made with aluminum rings that my mom put on when she saw it, and I removed from her arm when she died.

Fingernail.  Kind of gross.

 Laptop keyboard

Paper napkin

Now you want to clean your remote, don't you?

Kitty paw!

 The end of my glasses over my ear

Cuticles

Telephone

Do you think somebody can steal my identity with this shot of my thumb?

And this weird elephant looking thing?  Guess!

**Edited to add - IT'S MY NOSE!  The piece right between my nostrils.  Not quite gross, I spared you.

Maxine Monday

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Here's a thought

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When new cars are rolling off the assembly lines, those pesky turn signals might as well be left off.  I mean really, HOW MANY PEOPLE USE THEM ANYWAY???  Ahem.  I know I do road frustration posts periodically,  but this is something I think every single day I drive.  "Oh, slip in that little space in front of me at high speed without so much as a tiny blink to give me a heads up?  THANKS!"  "I guess I didn't need to know you were going to turn and I sat and waited when I probably could have gone.  But I thought you were GOING TO GO STRAIGHT because well .. NO SIGNAL!!"  


So if you are one of those people who thinks their decisions on the road are nobody else's business so choose not to signal, I am the one SWEARING AT YOU from my car.  Just sayin'.


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What browser do you use?

.I've been using Firefox for a long time.  I like the tabs, I like the add-ons available, I like, I like, I like.  Except I don't.  I kept thinking it was my computer (and it may be, partly) but Firefox kept crashing.  Keeps crashing.  One day it will be fine and the next it will stop responding, crash, freeze, or some new flavor of annoyance.  Makes me sad.



I also use Internet Explorer, but only for specific things usually, mostly for an alter ego I have out there. Google gets confused when you sign in as one person and then turn around and sign in as another, so different browsers are helpful that way.  But I'm not fond of IE for a lot of things.


Downloaded Opera, it's a bit weird.  I mean I would have to put a lot of effort into getting used to it, and everything I try is judged against what I am used to, which is Firefox.  I need familiar toolbars and tabbed browsing and doggone it I liked my color tabs!  Opera is just weird.


So now, I am trying Chrome.  And I am putting in a huge effort to use it and get acclimated to it because I'm thinking it's my best bet.  It's faster, it's totally more stable and it let me import my bookmarks from Firefox.  But a browser becomes a familiar place, a home on the Internet.  And when you thinking about changing, it's not comfortable.  It's like moving the furniture and then going to the bathroom at night with the lights off.  You're bound to bang into something.  At least I am.

So, what do you use and do you like it?  Could you adjust to a new browser with a different look, different ways of finding what you want to, a different way of doing things?


Or would you be like me and spend your time trying to make it work and look like your old browser?