TGIF (now known as The Sports Page)

This is somthing that goes back to my student days in Detroit. We used to call it happy hour and we would change our venue from week to week but ultimately would end up at The Ramp Room ( so named because is was on the ramp to the Lodge freeway). Many happy hours spent there and other places (remember that the drinking age used to be 18. When I was 21 it changed to 21 so I never drank illegaly( I don't think my kids can say the same!)

Anyway, where I work now, I go out to the bar on Fridays with some of the teachers that work with me. Not so many go because of other committments(sp?) but I wait every week for one of the teachers to send the invite out(in case others would like to come....we like to invite all!!)

Now the guy that sends the invite is a very talented, creative person and everyone waits to see what the invitation will be on Friday. I am including 2 of my favorites.

To: EveryOne> Subject: a view into my mind>>

A LITTLE INTERNAL MONOLOGUE (believe it or not as an example of my thought patterns this isn't too far off ). Hmm, what to write about this week, I already did the wheel of fortune thing, already did my surreal joke...... wow I'm choking here I can't think of anything remotely clever or interesting to write.....maybe a dirty limerick, nah I should keep it rated "G".... I can't remember the last "G" movie I saw, it had to be a cartoon.... I like cartoons.... I remember old Tom and Jerry cartoons, what was the name of that depressed dog on that show, Drippy? No Droopy that's it. I wonder if they have Tom and Jerry DVDs on Ebay, maybe I should check that out, I would be willing to pay at least $13 for one....Why is 13 an unlucky number, why not seven? Is it because it's prime, no because so is seven.. Seven was a great movie, one of Pitts last good movies, why is America so obsessed at who he's dating, I think it's ridiculous the amount of attention that celebrities get for dating other celebrities, J Lo and Ben who really cares, neither of them can act Ben peaked in the movie Chasing Amy.... hey--I just wasted half a page and I have no Idea what to type for the Sports Page, oh well I'm not even going this Friday, so this will have to suffice.....Have a great weekend!! MG


Next one coming up


To: EveryOne> Subject: I love Thesaurus. COM>>

Come out today to the

SPORTS: adventure, amusement, athletics, bingo, business, distraction, diversion, enterprise, festivity, follow-the-leader, frolic, fun, jest, joke, lark, line, merriment, merrymaking, nothing game, occupation, pastime, piddly, plan, play, proceeding, pursuit, recreation, romp, scheme, sport, sports, undertaking

PAGE: folio, leaf, recto, side, signature, surface, verso

BAR: alehouse, bar, barrel house, barroom, beer joint, beer parlour, bucket shop, dive, drinkery, gin mill, grog shop, honky-tonk, hospice, hostelry, hotel, inn, joint, lodge, lounge, night spot, nineteenth hole, pub, public house, roadhouse, rum room, saloon, speakeasy, suds shop, taphouse, taproom, watering hole

and have a

ALCOHOL: booze, canned heat, cocktail, drink, ethanol, firewater, hard stuff, hootch, intoxicant, liquor, methanol, moonshine, oil, palliative, red-eye, rotgut, sauce, smoke, spirits, tipple, toddy

DRINK: absorb, belt, booze, consume, dissipate, down, drain, gargle, gulp, guzzle, imbibe, indulge, inhale, irrigate, lap, liquor up, nip, partake of, put away, quaff, sip, slake, slosh, slurp, soak up, sop, sponge, suck, sup, swallow, swig, swill, tank up, thirst, tipple, toast, toss off, wash down, wet whistle


and

TALK: articulate, babble, blab, broach, chant, chat, chatter, chaw, chin, comment on, communicate, confess, converse, describe, divulge, drawl, drone, express, gab, gabble, gossip, influence, inform, intone, notify, palaver, parley, patter, persuade, prate, prattle, pronounce, rap, reveal, rhapsodize, run on, say, sing, soliloquize, speak, spout off, squeak, squeal, tell, tell all, use, utter, ventriloquize, verbalize, voice, yak

with your

CO-WORKERS: accessory, accomplice, associate, coadjutor, collaborator, colleague, confederate, friend, friendly, helper, partner

I go to the bar just to see this guy in action....he is a hoot and I am the only over 50 person there every week.....Everyone else is under 30..It is nice to know who your friends are..

but if my sister lived near...I know we'd share a few ourselves.

Have a great weekend....whether you go out for a drink or not!

RE: civic duty

In case anyone is following the news here....
JAIL BREAK...6 inmates at this states' largest county jail ESCAPED LAST WEEK
Guess where this was???????
yep you guessed it....where my hinny was bussed last week.....RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET!!!
Throw the damn key away already.

My civic duty

I was recently called to report for jury duty. Not asked but told. In our county, it is the one day system...you go (to one of MANY courthouses) if they don't call your number you're done for 1 year or you go, get on a jury(time unknown) you're done for 1 year and then it starts over.

Now, I am all about doing my part to keep America going. I vote, I recycle, I keep up with the politics in my community, I floss, I do my civic duty but there are a few courthouses that I never get called to report to.

Like the one that is 10 minutes away from me... No, I have been called 2 times downtown and 4 times down to the WORST part of town beside the county jail....and we live in a BIGGGGGG county. The first time I drove there (yes sports fans there is NO public transportation to this lovely edifice) I was stunned. Not what I would call a "destination place". And I have had my hinny in a seat EVERYTIME I have been down to this place. I have never been picked and once was escorted out the back door because the judge didn't want me to "influence" the other potential jurors with my opinion(you have read the title to my blog, right?) but never been picked.
So, when I got the notice for jury duty--for downtown--I was thrilled--that it wasn't next to the county jail.
I did debate about whether I could go that day....for all of about 3 secs.....they really frown on you not showing up for jury duty...and I knew I could take public transportation, at lunch go to the BIG department store next door and have lunch, shop and generally have a day off from work that was not so bad. Forget about getting picked....that didn't really cross my mind.

So, I truck off with my bag of books and took the train down and started my day.

Checked in at the court house, got my panel number and prepared to read and do my stuff until it was time to go home. Panel numbers were called in random order....quite a few...I was not worried.. and at 12:05 they called my panel number and my first thought...yeah lunchtime I can go!

Yea right .....down the elevator to the first floor and they loaded 48 of us onto the white county sheriff's bus(with the bars) and took us to the court house by the county jail because...and HERE is a surprise......they didn't have enough people show up to pick a jury.

Ya think???!!

We value our lives, this is NOT a jury of my peers and the day it is you know I am on crack and what planet are you from that people actualy want to drive to the ghetto/ war zone to do their civic duty????
PRoblem solved,,,,,,,,ask' em to come to the nice, clean well located court house downtown and transport their hinny's to the ghetto. .... and then listen the judge tell you what an honor it is to serve on a jury blah blah blah blah. got it in one.....no prob.....I will do my civic duty just could I please go to the court house 10 minutes away??
I mean really, those people that live down by the county jail want to come out to the 'burbs almost as much as I want to go by them. Can't we work something else out for this one day and you've served stuff??
So out of 48 potential jurors, 44 of us were questioned(not me which is a SURPRISE), 14 were chosen and they loaded us back on the county sheriff's bus(with the bars) and took us back down to the NICE courthouse.

My only hope was that no one I knew had a camera and snapped my picture as I got on and off the prisoner bus. THAT would have been the highlight....no I am wrong....the highlight would have been to go back to the ghetto the next day and sit on the jury of the African American kid who had stolen a car(and crashed it) was arrested by police(because he was still IN the car) and sit on the jury to decide if he was gulity or not(the reading between the lines here is that the kids butt was in the seat because THIS is what they could catch him on.)


'Yep that would have been the highlight of that day...translation.....waste of time, mine yours theirs anybodys' Throw his ass in jail and be done with it.

There, my civic duty is discharged for another year.

Directions -or lack thereof

HUSBAND: What is the address? ( as we are driving downtown)
ME: 3145 N
HUSBAND: are you sure?
ME: yep I wrote it down--- see?(and I pull out the paper and show him)
HUSBAND: ummm dear...that says 3748 N..so I am now going the wrong way
ME: oh...I could've sworn it said 3145...good thing I wrote it down
HUSBAND: SIGH

BRA

I love reading blogs..... I try and post to those that I really enjoy and I am on my way to find lots to read.
Love the word BRA(blog reading addict)-I had no idea this was even an acronym!

You have no idea how many good blogs are out there.

If you have stopped by here, nice to see you, leave a message...not necessary to lurk but all are welcome!

Good reading and good blogging!

Restrooms and teenage girls

There is a phenomenon I've noticed in the restroom.
I know that teenage girls are a breed unto themselves and there are many things I don't understand about the behaviors they do, but having been a teenage girl a LONG time ago, some of their behavior is so strange it borders on the BIZARRE! (to me)
I have been in the stall and heard girls (different ones at different times) discuss everything from their love life -and yes they have a VERY active love life according to the conversations , STDS-who has them who doesn't, BJ's -who gives them, who doesn't, who is good at them, who is not ( my husband says he would love to go back to high school if they are playing spin the boy instead of the bottle and said boy gets a BJ! instead of a kiss), drugs-who does, who doesn't and who SHOULD!!, and the list is endless.
So --the phenomenon I am ALWAYS amazed about is when they then enter the stall to take care of the business that brought them there in the first place, they are unable to do so until someone hits the hand dryer and it kicks on and hides the noise of teeteeing in the potty.!!!! Not only does that surprise and stun me, but that they don't care who is in the stall while these conversations are happening is also shocking!
Many of the things I have heard, even had I done it when I was young, I would have NEVER repeated it to anyone, much less the entire bathroom audience. (To be fair, maybe there were girls in the high school I went to that did that kind of stuff.....but I never knew about it or was so out of the loop that even if they talked about it I wouldn't know what it was they were talking about! For instance, the girl that changed into gym clothes next to me for my entire senior year, was pregnant and when her water broke I thought she had wet her pants......but I don't think she knew she was pregnant either!!!!)
I will be honest and tell you that I have sat in the stall far longer than I needed to so I didn't have to see who these little dumplings were/are that are sharing so much with the public at large. How could I possibly keep a straight face?

Dogs

The husband and I have been married almost 30 years. We have owned a dog our entire married life. We currently are the owners of Tessie, a 10 year old chocolate lab, and Mason, a 6 year old yellow lab/german shepard mix we inherited from our goddaughter. In all these years of dog ownership, husband has been "top dog" at our house and has been truly a good dog owner. He cleans up after them if mistakes are made(I didn't say he LIKED it but he will do it) and so do I. Even the kids have cleaned up accidents. So, when I came home and found a note that Mason had had an accident in the living room. , thought not much of it and went and saw that it looked clean and went on about my business. When husband came back he casually mentioned that I might want to check the living room because he had used dishwasher detergent to clean the accident.
Me"WHAT??? Why on earth would you use that? We have never used that. What about all the other products we have?"
Husband "Well, I thought it wouldn't make so many suds." Suds???from Natures miracle? Is he crazy??????
Me " So how did that work out for you?"
Husband, "Ok except I think it had some bleach in it since my hands are smelling of bleach."
Me,"SIGH."
I'll be able to tell when it dries whether we will be getting a new carpet or not.
Bleach........in dishwasher detergent....who would've thought. One more thing you learn the hard way!

How can you be too loud in a bowling alley??

To those of you that know me, you know I am a bowler. I know, I know....if someone would have said I would not only own my own shoes but own MY OWN BAll 5 years ago I would have laughed them off the face of the earth!!! But there you have it, I am a bowler and I LOVE bowling..
Sometimes I am really good and sometimes I am really not. Mostly I do it because it is fun-but I have also gone from bowling 98 to an average of 162--which makes it more fun let me tell you. I have yet to bowl a 600 (599 is the closest I've gotten and close only counts in horsehoes and hand grenades) but I love trying. I have even gotten the husband to join a couples league every other Sunday night.
While I look forward to every other Sunday in anticipation of throwing that perfect game.....husband is spending as much time dreading it. I think it is because it is the only game,sport, activity that I am actually better than he is. (He has a 130 average...mostly because he doesn't care as much as I do.) The truth of the matter is , the more you bowl the better you get. I used to bowl in 3 leagues and he only bowled in one so that proves MY theory (I now only bowl in 2....I had to fit work into my days!!!)
I bowl to have fun not to win money and it's a good thing since I am not THAT good..
I have a huge problem with the bowlers who are oh so serious and need their individual space don't get me wrong....I am a rule follower from way back. I KNOW the rules and I follow them -I also expect YOU to follow them but we can have a lot of fun doing it.So, while I am bowling and having fun, I really hate to be told that I am being too loud.
Now I ask you.....HOW CAN YOU BE TOO LOUD IN A BOWLING ALLEY???........have you BEEN in a bowling alley?????? it is not the library(where I do work during the day so yes I DO know how to be quiet.....it is my job to make sure EVERYONE is quiet where I work(and if you know me , you KNOW how hard that is for me.....)
I can assure you, being told to quiet down in the bowling alley is not how you want to meet me. It's not a tournament, we're not bowling for millions, there are no Cameras rolling, we're not at the opera or the symphony ( and quiet is a requiremnt at those places) so shut your trap and throw your darn ball and don't make me come over there and give you a lesson in bowling etiquette ..
And, yes I bowled well tonight......200, 170, 163
SIGH......still not a 600 and I don't care HOW loud I was.
So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Snow

So I have spent the better part of an afternoon trying to figure out
1) how to add links to my sidebar(futile effort....had to get the 22 year old to do this with his eyes rolling into the back of his head) and
2) how to add pictures to a blog(not as futile but said 22 year old has left for the less annoying environment of his mother to downtown Chicago....after a 7" snow storm(......makes me soooooo happy) and I have been somewhat successful with the pictures...but not really....

We had a heck of snow fall here yesterday.....very beautiful but a pain to snow blow or shovel--and you can just forget about driving in it. 7" in 5 hours....what fun ! and the city we live in does not see the need to start the plows until AFTER the snow stops. If I did not have a 4 wheel drive I would still be sitting in the front of the subdivision waiting for the plow!!!

On the other hand, the dogs (Mason and Tessie) love the snow.....They have been out making snow dogs!! The snow is higher than they are but they don't seem to mind. Tessie's 10 year old hips will complain tomorrow!
But that is what it is like to get old now isn't it??

Dog in the snow......

If you look really closely, you can see Tessie in the snow near the neighbors blue van toward the front....she is trying to figure out how to get home!!!

7" snow on the deck

Ok....so we weren't real quick about getting our lawn furniture in from the summer time....but it makes it easier to see how much snow was falling yesterday! The dogs(Mason and Tessie) being that they are labs .....love the snow but this is a bit much for Tessie and her 10 year old hips!!! Pretty to look at and a B----to snow shovel. Heart attack snow was the name of the game.....even the snow blower was over worked.

sub cell phone

Ok.....so I've finally named my blog...."Let me blunt" will not surprise those that know me and you don't have to know me well to know that I am a pretty blunt person...



I am the substitute coordinator for the high school I work at. Teachers call in sick and I get a sub for them. Now, I LOVE this job. It is right up my alley so to speak... how could you not love a job where you get to tell people what to do? I work really hard at keeping my subs happy because I want my subs to sub for me when I need them...

Having said that....when I took this job over from the person who used to do it, there was a lot I didn't know. It didn't seem that hard for the teachers to call the cell phone I have for JUST THAT PURPOSE!!!
There are magnets with the phone number on it and the number should be in the teachers possesion somewhere. When a teacher is home and needs to call in sick, I assume the cell phone number is on the fridge....no problem ,.... call ME. A problem occurs when teachers are running late for school and their room/students need to be covered and they don't have the cell phone number with them(because they can't bring the fridge with them with the magnet now can they?).

After a few mornings of a few different teachers calling in late and NOT CALLING THE SUB CELL PHONE which I have on me at all times...I sent an email that, perhaps on reflection , might have been a bit blunt( of course it wouldn't have anything to do with the statement"...and now--- LET ME BLUNT ---or anything in the email I sent everyone would it?????) Short and sweet..... I typed the number and told them to print it out and put it in their wallet, purse, glove compartment...anywhere so it would be available when they needed it.
Really, it shouldn't have been that hard to figure that out. I mean , these people have been to COLLEGE!!!

Need I say that I have no trouble with the teachers calling in now?

I just needed to be blunt .....

Christmas tree in auto accident

We had a real tree this year for christmas. This is not an unusual thing but I was pushing for the fake kind since it isn't as messy. After much discussion with my husband of 30 years(real or fake) I capitulated and went and got the real tree....mostly because we were having 14 for Christmas dinner and maybe it would smell nice.....not that the turkey or the pies or anything I was cooking would overpower the pine in the tree or anything......

So, after bowling on the Tues before Christmas.....I went and got a real tree from a lot not too far away from the bowling alley.. It was negative 3 and I was not that happy that I was out doing this alone so I pulled up, parked the suburban, got out and went and asked the gentleman and the better word here would have been redneck....was he still selling trees....As there was a virtual FOREST of christmas trees surrounding me.. no surprise when he said yes. Since it was dark, cold, late and I really didn't care, I said I wanted a frasier fir at least my size(and for those of you who don't know me, I am almost 6 ft tall), put it in that surburban, how much do I owe you and thank you very much. (Well, it WAS negative 3 and you wouldn't hang around checking out all the frasier firs on the lot either!) Got home, left it in the suburban, got up the next morning and put it in the garage and left to go and finish christmas shopping.
About 7 that night I get a phone call from my 22 year old son who wanted to know when we had gotten a christmas tree and why no one had told him that we had one.
Now, the unusual part of that sentence is that my 22 year old CALLED ME WITHOUT BEING ASKED so I was little surprised. When I asked why did he want to know, his answer was and I quote "because someone left it in the garage and I ran over it when I pulled in" .
Long story short......he had to run back over the tree to get the tree...which had fallen down and was out of his line of vision..out and when we went to put it up later that night...imagine how thrilled my husband was to have to cut 2 feet off of a 6 ft, $60 frasier fir.

Just so you know, the hole wasn't really visible unless you sat next to it on the couch and really, don't all trees look beautiful once you get the ornaments and lights on???
The tree in the auto accident was almost the highlight of christmas but the real highlight was when I turned on the oven, on Christmas morning, to cook a 21 lb turkey for the 14 people coming for dinner and my oven broke RIGHT THAT MINUTE.....but that can be a whole nuther blog don't you think?