Haven't blogged for a while.

Well, I am guilty of not blogging for a while I guess. Since last year, some good things have happend in my life. Through Facebook, I have reconnected with many friends from my past who I have not had contact with for many, many years for various reasons. Since high school my friends got married, had families and went on with their lives. Through those changes, we lost touch with each other but still kept each other in our thoughts. Circumstances have changed now in their lives which have allowed them to have more freedom. One friend, Patty, lives in North Carolina and has a daughter, Jessica. She has a crazy work schedule and just doesn't get to PA as much as she would like. I haven't seen Patty for 15 (?) years. Growing up, Patty was the sister that I never had. We shared many secrets and helped each other through lots of teenage stuff. Patty lived up the street from my Grandparents house and we were actually born on the same day. Through our high school years, we discovered two other kids that were born on the same day as well. We figure there are a couple of scenarious for this: a) since we are born the end of November, we were conceived mid to late Feb. so there must have been a power outage, a blizzard, or some other phenomenon that kept people inside with not much to do, b) there was a big party that all of our parents attended, or c) Valentine's day. I can only imagine that Nov. 24, 1968 was an extremely busy day at the Philipsburg State General hospital, as it was called at that time. The doctor must have made a nice payday from all of us being born on the same day. Patty and I like to say that we met in the nursery and that bond is what has kept our friendship going all these years. Well I will have to talk more about my boring life later. I am off to help my Mom and Stepdad unload furniture from their recent move from El Paso, TX to Brisbin, PA.

My cats

I have two cats who are my kids. My girl, Daisy, is a dilute calico who is 12 years old. I have raised her since she was a baby kitten. I have watched her grow from a kitten into a senior citizen cat. I love her more than words can say. This poor cat has had to endure the nicknames I have given her and the jingles that I sing to her. I know it sounds crazy but it is completely natural for me. My grandfather was always taking my name and rhyming it and making jingles with it so this is where my love of rhyming came from, I suppose. She has been here for me during some dark times. I know she is getting to the point where I only have a few more good years left with her and it pains my heart to know that I must someday say goodbye to her. I have told her many secrets that I have never told another living soul.

My boy, Stanley, is a grey tiger stripe cat. I adopted him almost one year ago from the SPCA. At first, I wasn't sure how Daisy would react to having another cat in the household. She had been an only child her whole life. The first couple of days were a little stressful but Daisy quickly accepted him. Stanley (formerly named Mayhem) had been surrendered by his former family because of a change in their lifestyle. He is a very sweet boy who is spoiled rotten by his Mama, (me). He loves to drink from the bathroom faucet. We must fight for 'sink space' every morning while I am trying to get ready for work. He must smell and inspect everything I do. I must open my deodorant and let him smell it before I apply it. He must smell all of my makeup and hair stuff before I use it. It really is very cute! I have also created a monster of sorts. He LOVES to be outside. Since I live only feet from a main highway, it is too dangerous to just open the door and let him out. I bought a harness and leash for him and now he thinks I should take him outside all the time. He gets lots of attention when we are outside 'walking' around the neighborhood. If I can make people smile at the sight of a cat on a leash then I am glad. Stanley is 4 1/2 years old. His birthday is January 27th so he will be five years old in a few months.

my rant

I have a rant that I have to get off my chest.

I have a Myspace account, which I opened to keep in touch with friends & family. I didn't necessarily put this account up to attract a date but it seems like that is what a lot of people think. I seems that most of the men who have contacted me (I lost count at 20) are losers. Very few of them can make a complete sentence or even spell correctly. It is hard to make sense of what they are saying most of the time. They also expect me to be sitting in front of my computer 24/7. Where did they all come from? Where are the normal men? The ones who actually can make a complete sentence and spell the simplest of words correctly. They all claim to be college educated business men. How can you pass yourself off as a professional if you can't even write a sentence above the 4th grade level? Why do I attract these types of men?

I'm not knocking Myspace--I think it's a great utility to keep in touch with people, I just have issues with the losers who keep contacting me. I have resorted to telling them I have already met someone just to keep them at bay.

No, you can't move in with me; don't tell me you love me and you want to marry me after chatting for five minutes on the computer. No, I'm not going to tell you I love you when I haven't even met you. Please don't read poetry to me. Do you really think women are impressed by that? No, I don't want to date someone who lives 2,000 miles away from me. No, you can't know my last name, and where I live. There are just way too many psychos out there and it seems like I attract them like flies!! Please just chat with me and be my friend and if things are meant to happen, they will. I always thought that marriage was supposed to scare men away. How can you say you want to spend the rest of your life with a total stranger? Whatever happened to building a relationship with someone first? Making a commitment to someone is a big responsibility and something I do not take lightly. I only want to do it once and I want to do it right if/when I ever get the opportunity.

Has anyone else had the same problem? I would love to hear from other people who have had a similar situation.

punkin chunkin

My Dad is competing for the third year in a row in the annual punkin chunkin contest being held in Delaware. He has built a punkin' chunkin' machine for the event. He competed last year but did not do very well. He has 'tweeked' his machine and we are hoping for the best this year. I hope to get some pictures of it soon and post them to this blog! I will keep everyone posted on his progress.

This picture is from last year (2007). Notice how the arm is bent. This is a flaw in Dad's machine from last year that he has since fixed. We are hoping for the best this year!

This a picture from this year at my Dad's shop. The arm has been fixed and we are hoping for a good chunkin' year!