Could you find your favorite site?

As I said a couple of days ago, I am using Marty's computer. I haven't used it for over a year and a half. And I didn't put in any bookmarks then. So now I am searching for my favorites. Plus my calendar is on my computer. Yes, I have a Palm, but it just dropped my Tuesday appointments. I know, I really erased them. I need my backup on my computer.

I read lots of comics on line. Luckily I could remember the names of some of them and one site I used. That I could google and then bookmarked. Chowhound.com is easy to remember and to find, as is Facebook and my blog site. Thank goodness I have my favorite blogs on my blog.

But I read lots of blogs I don't know the names of. I know, dumb. But one is something something Dr. Pepper and something. Then I have one that has a list of 50 blogs, no idea of the name. Another is a comic strip artist's name. I hope to track it down by the comic strip's name. My cooking sites, no idea where to begin. Those I will just wait until my computer is back.

I go to several news site, networks and radio. A lot of them I can find through google. It will just take time. And then there are the dumb sites: jokes, funny videos, games. Those I will live without also.

Today has been fun. Marty is off blowing glass and I am alone with the computer. No rush to read my mail, no guilt that he needs to do work. I have played, done some work, and truly enjoyed using his computer as mine.

But could you find your favorite sites on another computer? How much do you depend on what is on your computer?

ODDS AND ENDS

This is my week so far. Weddings, helping at school, feeling icky, not eating, marathon sleeping.

Weddings this week were fairly normal. No drama, no silliness, just nice people getting married because they love each other.

Wednesday night I started feeling icky. Not sick, just not right. I fell asleep in the chair around 10:00 and at 11:30 Marty woke me and sent me to bed. It was as if I had been drugged. Heavy sleep. Out of the period of 10:00 Wednesday night to 8:00 Friday morning I slept 26 hours. The time I was awake I couldn't concentrate to read or write my blog. And I wasn't hungry! Me, the one who never feels full. Very strange.

If I hadn't declared myself well this morning, I would still be sleeping. But I had to be well today. The dirty clothes hamper was over flowing, and the dust bunnies were ready to take us hostage. I have done laundry and cleaned the house. I have captured all the dust bunnies and I am worn out. Maybe a little nap will help.

I NEED TO VENT/Marty is a saint

When I blog I try to write interesting things, funny things that happen, good food stories, and to share things on the net for you to check out. Not today. I am venting big time.

Today I am ticked, mad, and I hate computers! My laptop has been really slow. So last week, the wonderful Marty spent 2 hours on the phone with Dell and they decided I need more memory. He did this without being asked. A great gift. The memory came yesterday, he installed it, and it was fast, fast, fast.

This morning the computer would not come on. We punched hell out of the little button, no lights, not a flicker, nothing. So I said I will call Dell and deal with it. But first I'll get dressed. (stalling, not wanting the pain of on hold, disconnections, and non English speaking tech support). When I came out of the shower I heard the speaker phone playing on hold music and selling Dell stuff. Saint Marty had called them for me. I did my hair and make up, dressed and he was still on hold. I thought he might pass me the phone, but he didn't. He hung in there through one hang up, and a second call and got things done. Unfortunately my computer has to go to the Dell hospital, again. So I could be sharing a computer with Saint Marty for at least a week.

Now Marty is a loving kind man. But sharing a laptop is going to be ugly. He works out of our home using the computer constantly, and if not working he is surfing the net. I may be venting in a couple of days about no computer time for me.

Oh he is running errands, so I have his laptop for a couple of hours. I will have to make a huge honey do list for him to get him out of the house.

Amazing book

Today at school the sub read a great book. ( Ms H. has jury duty). I don't think the book is available to the general public. It is published through Scholastic Books and is, according to the back of the book, sold only to the "school market". So you may only get to read this in a classroom, buy through the book sales, or school library,

The book is THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES AND THE BIG BAD PIG. EUGENE TRIVIZAS wrote the book and HELEN OXENBURG illustrated it. It is the classic fairy tale in reverse. The wolves are cute, fluffy ( their mother had rollers in her head fur and her tail), and brave. The pig is big, mean, and destructive.

The wolves build a house of brick, the pig can't blow it down so he takes a sledge hammer to it. They rebuild in concrete, he takes a jack hammer to it. They then build in armor, Plexiglas, barbed wire, padlocks, and the pig uses dynamite.

The last house is built of flowers. We have a happy ending. The writing is clever, children will love this book. And parents will laugh at clever writing that the children won't get.

I hope you can find this for your children, grandchildren, yourself. I loved hearing this story today.

NEW BLOG TO FOLLOW

If you look to the left you will see a new blog I follow. This is by my niece Lisa Kay. If you look at the picture of her with her husband Chris, you will see a family resemblance. She can not deny we are related. I have always said she should be mine instead of my sister's. It looks like Lisa will write about her life with 5 children.



Check out the blog, Tomorrow is another day, and if you like it, share the link with your friends.

RAIN, COOKING, RAIN, COOKING, MORE RAIN

Marty and I have always been into cooking. We each have meals that are "ours" to cook. We have meals that we cook together. And then there are the everyday meals, loser cooks tonight. We are cooking more and eating out less. Maybe for two reasons: the economy, the rain.

I don't want to think about the economy, so on to the rain. And we have rain again. The dark days make you want to cook comfort food, and at the same time cook complex dishes. So we are doing both. In the last 2 or 3 weeks, we have had Chili Mac, Cincinnati Chili, Pool Hall Chili, just plain chili; homemade soups; pot roast; Cornish Hens; cake; Chinese meals; Mexican meals; Italian meals; and last night's killer meal. (I mean that in a good way. ) A lot of rain, a lot of lunches and dinners to cook. By the way, Cincinnati Chili is really complex flavors as is my Pool Hall Chili. So don't laugh at all the chili dishes.

As I have mentioned before, we test recipes for Cook's Illustrated. Last night was Pub Style Steak Tips in Onion Mushroom Gravy. Oh my word, it is so good. Just the aroma while cooking was wonderful. Sirloin tips cooked medium ( that was one flaw in perfection, cook those babies medium rare ) in this rich deep flavored gravy and serve it over rice. It is almost as good as a Beef Bourguignon. Yet there is no wine in it. The flavors mainly come from porcini mushrooms, the beef broth they soaked in, and soy sauce. We have leftovers in the frig and it is all I can do to stay out of it. Marty cooked the recipe as they wanted us to. The next time we will use beef tenderloin, cooked rarer and make more of the gravy. We like our rice wet with gravy.

This will be Marty's to cook. Usually we test the recipes the night before the deadline to report. Not this one, it sang out winner just reading it. He had to cook it NOW.

So Richard and Louis, when are you coming up for dinner? This is your type of meal.

Dana, all is forgiven

February 6 I wrote an opinion ( Thought 4) of a book by Dana Stabenow Prepared for Rage. If you remember I was very disappointed in the book. I just finished her newest book, Whisper to the Blood, a Kate Shugak Novel. I loved it! It also is a different series than Prepared for Rage. Maybe I just don't like the protagonist in Rage. No, that was a poorly written book.

Whisper is better written, it didn't telegraph what would happen. The plot was tight, had surprising turns, characters were well defined. The book deals with a huge gold mine starting up in a National Park in Alaska. The pro and cons, the history of the rape of the land are explained well. And old murders are finally solved, maybe. And new murders happen. I would suggest if you haven't read this series, begin at the beginning. This book really falls back into the history of Kate, her foster son, family, and old relationships. I think the book would be hard to follow if you haven't read the others. At least read three or four books back.

OMG

You are not going to believe this one. Today I had my 6 month dental checkup. My dentist was going to call me about a problem she would be checking on. I said just email, that will save us both time. She loved it, said give your email address to C. Names are not given to protect the dense.

I gave my email mis_janedoe@yahoo.com and then spelled it out. m i s _(underscore) j a n e d o e (at) @ yahoo (dot). com



C wrote misunderscorejanedoe@yahoo.com ( these are not real addresses, so the link goes nowhere) Luckily I looked at it before I left.

MINE!!!!

Today was marrying day. And it was a little bit crazy inside and outside the building. Crazy!

Two of our deputies arrested a man outside the building, and then had Oakland PD come as backup. ( OPD's jurisdiction). He was exposing himself to women going by. Two and a half hours later they are still out front, going through cars, talking to people, checking things on their computers. We learned that they found marijuana and and that he was a registered sex offender. How dumb was he to expose himself in front of a county building with a police station in it?

This office sells marriage licenses; death, birth, and marriage certificates. They only have records of deaths, birth, and marriage that happened in Alameda County. You have to get these in the county the event happened, and if out of state in that state. We had a couple come in wanting a birth certificate for the woman. The clerk learned the woman was born in Colorado. No record of course in Alameda County. The woman went ballistic. She had lived in Alameda county all her life, she knew it was in the system, and on and on. And did I mention she was drunk? Yelling, cursing, she finally left screaming the F word at all of us and flipping us the bird. Since she was leaving, the deputy just ignored her. Not worth the time of a report.

And the crazy wedding. He was 86 she was 43. He was making all kinds off sexual comments about his wedding night. Rude, crude and I told him he was to say nothing except what I told him. I did not want to hear about what he was getting tonight.

One of the weddings was a confidential wedding. No witnesses are required. The record of the wedding is not public record. It takes a court order for someone to see the certificate. Usually policemen and public figures have this type of license. The groom was very military and she looked shell shocked. I sat down with her and asked if she really wanted to marry. She said she was scared. He stood to the side as I talked to her. I told her she had 90 days to use the license. And it was better to walk now than to marry and divorce. They married. He was stiff, but seemed very concerned for her. After the ceremony they stood and hugged. The feel was not romance but love with sadness. I really would like an ending for this one. I hope they will be OK.

But there were two great ones. First I had a lovely young couple who oozed love. ( They were in their mid 20's) with three children. Bride in white dress, pink necklace, and pink carnations. Groom in black suit and a pink carnation. Two little boys (3 and 4) in long dress pants and vests, and a baby girl in white and pink. The room was full. The boys were to bring the rings up.( Mom and Dad had had their rings for years. They took them off and gave them to the boys) The boys brought the rings up. Daddy looked at Mom's ring and said "This ring is soooo last year. Thomas give me the new one." And then he gave her a new bigger beautiful ring. How cool was that?

But the last wedding was the most fun. A couple had their almost two year old son with them. Her aunt was the witness and child wrangler. They wanted the son to bring the ring up. The aunt gave him the rings and he brought them up. He let Mom take the ring for Daddy. Then Daddy reached for Mom's ring. And then the little one curled his fingers around the ring, yelled MINE, and ran.

We did finally get the ring.

WHAT TO WRITE?

So many things to write about, what to tell. I think I will write about my family in Louisville.

Two weeks ago Papa Jack fell on the ice and he shattered his right wrist. (yes, he is right handed) He then had to have surgery on the wrist. Jack had a very rough week. Major pain, no use of the right hand. But he is improving greatly. He saw the surgeon today and is healing fine. He is now allowed to drive and do most anything except lift with the right hand.

Then last Thursday night my SIL Ann ( She is a nurse and was doing much of the care giving for Papa Jack) caught a violent bug. That is so a medical term. She dehydrated in about 2 hours and collapsed with a fastly falling blood pressure. EMS took her to the hospital and lots of unpleasant tests were run. As I said she had a bug/virus. She is doing fine now. But she scared my brother something awful. He called me, Big Sister, while waiting in ER. With the 3 hour time difference he knew I would be up and would talk to him while he waited. But the phone didn't ring and the message didn't come through for 10 hours. I felt so awful I wasn't there for him.

These are the times that make living so far away hard. I am not there to help. They told me they would tell me to come if they needed me. So much falls on Henry Hall (Hank to the rest of the world) and Ann. And I do appreciate so much all they do.

MARTY COOKS, I WASH DISHES

Marty was in a cooking mood today. And that is just fine with me. He cooks and I come behind him and wash up. First he made an Upside Down Apple Cake. (We were testing the recipe for Cook's Illustrated) Every mixing bowl of every size was dirty. We had an egg bowl, sour cream cup, flour mixture bowl, apple corer and peeler, measuring spoons, apples in lemon water bowl and on and on. But all the dirty dishes were worth it. This is the best tasting cake ever. We will make this again.

Then he wanted to make Hot and Sour soup and Mu Shu Pork. I washed dishes for ever. We had bowls big, little, in between; cutting boards; skillets; pots; knives; spatulas; measuring spoons; cups; chopsticks; and everything else in the kitchen. But the soup was great. It had a sweeter vinegar taste than what we had eaten before. The Mu Shu Pork was good. But not the Mu Shu we expected and prefer. It had too much sesame oil flavor. He made the Chinese crepes and they were good. But again, a lot of dirty dishes.

I have found through the years, Marty loves to prep food. He loves everything in its own little bowl. He will have 10 bowls of assorted sizes lined up ready to pour into a skillet or mixing bowl. I make little piles of food on wax paper or the corner of the cutting board. Neither is a better system, it is what works for each of us.

We had a lovely meal. We ate cake first because we couldn't wait to taste it. Then we had soup, and then the Mu Shu. This little Sunday night meal lasted about 3 hours. We ate, then cooked, and ate, and then cooked. A fun night in the kitchen together.

I published this and then Marty read it. He wanted me to make a few things clearer. He washed dishes also. And he made three very complex dishes from scratch. Anyone would have dirtied up every thing in the kitchen.

VALENTINE'S DAY, Joe, you were missed.

Today is Valentine's Day. This is the one of the biggest days of the year for marriage commissioners. The county opened up on a Saturday and we married couples from 9:00 to 1:00. In reality, we let in the first ones at 8:40 and we were there until after 2:00. We had 40 appointments and we took walk ins also. I think we were the only county doing weddings today. We are always the only one who does walk ins. Two volunteers and several staff were doing the weddings. We had three rooms to marry in. We had a system and it was working. We marry those that are there.

The staff had a fundraiser to get money to decorate the wedding rooms. Roses all over the building, hearts,and garlands. White tulle was draped from the ceiling down to the floor. There were rose petals laying in the tulle. Tulle pew markers were in one room. The staff went all out. The public and I were stunned with the beauty of the rooms. Some couples thought they would just be married in an office.

I did for sure 18 weddings and probably 3 or 4 more. I lost track and not sure if I counted all the walk ins I did. The day was fabulous, exciting, and boy do my feet hurt. As soon as I did a wedding, they would hand me more paper work and point me to the next couple. I rarely went downstairs to get a couple. No breaks were calculated into the schedule. We just did weddings.

We had limos with large wedding parties. Brides in gorgeous long white dresses, bridesmaids in red, and the men in black. Lovely bouquets of red roses with crystal dew drops on them. Bouquets of gardenias that made the room smell like heaven. Little girls in red and white satin dresses dropped rose petals in front of the bride. We had brides in red velvet, in red satin, and brides in jeans.

And we had TV crews from all networks. They filmed any wedding party that did not object. Some were not comfortable with the cameras, others loved it. The crews were very respectful of the couples. They even removed their equipment from the room for the shy brides.

The only down note. Joe was not there to marry couples today. Joe, you were missed. And trust me I would have much rather worked with you than a nameless volunteer.

It was a lovely day, a fun day, and a perfect day. I didn't get the awful couple who were fighting ( the groom did not want to be there and hid in the bathroom for a loooonnng time). I had only happy happy couples.

CORALINE maybe spoilers

Coraline is wonderful. Fabulous! Too good for children. And a little scary. I didn't check the rating, but if Snow White 0r parts of Fantasia ( Bald Mountain terrified me as a child and a little bit as an adult) seemed scary to you as a child, this is more so. If you have children under 10 to 12, see it first. Or check with parents who have seen it. It is intense, children are in danger. Parents vanish. Good things become very evil. There were children who looked 6 to 10 in the theater with us. They were restless and they did not understand the plot. Know your child's fear level. It is not a horror movie, but as I said, parts are intense.

Marty and I took in the 4:49 showing today for Coraline. I was a little shocked, we paid $9.50 per person with a senior rate. And then we had popcorn and shared a big COKE. Talk about sticker shock. Maybe it was more because it was 3D. Still it was so worth it.

The animation is great. 3D is so wonderful now. I remember 3D in my maybe early teens. Talk about a headache. The head pain after the movie would be awful. Today, the glasses fit over my glasses with no problem. No headaches. The 3D is not shocking as it was 50 years ago. Yeah, I am officially old. It just deepens the beauty of the film. Objects don't thrust out at you, or jump at you. The movie is just there in depth.

The story is of a young girl who feels unloved and neglected. Neglected she is. The family has moved across the country and she is very unhappy. She discovers a secret door to her "other" family. And then it becomes a horror film with great beauty. Coraline finds out which father and mother is really best, and what is a friend. Coraline becomes a friend to the neighbors and a saviour. This is a movie of great beauty and with a message. And it is highly entertaining too. It works for adults and for children. Again, parents go with your younger children.

It is being shown in regular format and in 3D. If you can, see it in 3D. So much fun. Even the previews were in 3D. When you go see it, stay through the credits. They are fun with flying 3D dogs.

We give this movie an A+.

A JUMBLE OF THINGS

Mother Nature is mad at Louisville. Today they had 60 mph winds, and tornadoes in the area. Think about it: an earthquake, IKE, the worst ice storm in history, and today winds. This has happened in just the last year. This time my folks are without power. Right now it is warm for February, so they aren't going to freeze, but still not good.

Tonight Marty proved again why he is a keeper. Janet Rudolph ( book group moderator, 2 blogs on the side of this blog) was hosting an AT HOME. That means she had authors coming to talk to our group and other invited guests. Last night she had heard from maybe 4 people. Not a good showing for 3 authors. I did not plan to go for several reasons. But I asked Marty to go with me and we went. This is so not his thing. But he went so the room would look full. I went because I care about Janet R as does Marty. Turns out, several showed that hadn't said they were coming and we really weren't needed. It was a nice evening. I was proud of Marty staying awake. As soon as we got home he sat down to watch TV, and was immediately asleep. He is a keeper.

This was marrying day. One wedding I had a Momzilla. Everything I asked the couple, Mom would answer. And then she would tell us what to do. The couple just stood there and waited for her decisions. I started the ceremony and Mom walked up and pulled a flower out of the bride's hair. The bride objected and Mom told her how bad she looked. Then she played with the bride's hair and repinned the flower. When Mom had everything the way she wanted it I started over. I sure hope the couple lives far away from her. Not a nice woman.


And then there was my last couple. I called their names, no answer, I called it again. I know I am standing next to them.( there are no other couples in the lobby) Finally someone said just a minute we're taking pictures. And there were 5 women on the bench with crossed legs, skirts hiked, and Paris Hilton smiles. The picture was taken and I called their names again, and they said just a minute, one more picture. This ticked me. They were just rude. I said let's go. Finally I got them upstairs. I really did not like anyone in the room. They all were phony, the bride was talking to me about the ceremony, stopped and did a Colgate smile for a picture, then continued. They just rubbed me wrong. All through the ceremony she posed, fake smiled. In the middle of her vows she checked where the cameras were and posed. It also felt like they treated me like lowly scummy hired help. And we all know I am the Queen of Marrying.


One couple made up for the two above. They were mid forties. The clerk, Miss P told me the bride wanted me to hurry and get them into the wedding room. She was afraid the groom would walk. And then I found mistakes on the license and we had to correct it. Miss P called to them only 2 more minutes. I got them on the elevator and realized he had had a little fortification. He was sober but had had some nerve tonic. I started the ceremony and realized the bride is a bouncer. The happier she was the more she bounced. I almost got the giggles. After the wedding they both hugged me, they were so happy. I commented on her bouncing while she was so happy and he said the perfect thing. "That's why I love her." And that is why I love doing weddings.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Abraham Lincoln's birthday is Thursday. So at school today Ms. H asked me to read a story to the children. It was a picture storybook about Lincoln's life. I told about going to his log cabin in Kentucky and the little church where he and Mary Todd married. Then I began to read. Remember these are first graders.

First I had to explain why a 7 year old would be helping to build a log house. Why they kept moving. Pioneers, no cities ( that they just couldn't believe), no electricity.

One of Lincoln early trips was to New Orleans where he saw a slave market. The book showed slaves in chains. Later in the book it showed a battle during the Civil War. And then Booth shooting him. All this is history. But these are 6 year olds and they didn't know what some of the words meant. They had hard questions.

They saw the slaves and said that is wrong, awful, mean. We didn't discuss that very much. Too big a topic for a volunteer reading a book. Then they wanted to know what Civil War meant, what The Confederate States of America meant. These I answered the best I could at their level. Then they asked what happened to Booth? We discussed him getting away, and finally caught. We even talked about hanging murderers. They didn't know what hanging is. Try explaining that without giving them nightmares. I did find it interesting they didn't know hanging. My generation grew up on Westerns and the bad guys were always hung, from trees, gallows. : )

I told you Ms. H is sadistic. She has branched out from art projects to a painful period of our history.

I GOT PAID

Randy Strong, me, and my salary.

The salary.

I work part time in a hot glass studio. My husband assists Randy Strong and I sell in the glass gallery. I don't work for money. I get paid in glass. And it is way better than money. Last night Randy brought an incredible piece to me. I am one lucky happy lady.

THE PLAY

Friday night we went to the Willows Theatre in Concord Ca to a play. We have had season tickets for close to 20 years, so we just show up. Until the last play we have enjoyed every thing we have seen. This time we were a little "do we really want to go tonight. It is raining, it's icky out. Let's stay home." But we went.

It was the West Coast Premier for Be My Baby. The play is the story of an older couple who can't stand each other traveling to San Francisco from Scotland to adopt a baby. The baby is for her niece and his nephew who are married. A week's travel becomes weeks. If it can go wrong it does. And it is weeks of hilarity. A well written play, very funny, and the actors are great. If you live in the Bay Area, go to the link and get tickets, and see the play. We enjoyed this so much. We laughed, we empathized, and we laughed some more. This is a very, very entertaining play.

I changed my topic. HAIRBALLS ARE BACK

I have a blog all written in my head. It is all about the wonderful play we saw last night. I was gonna write it, I was gonna be happy. Not gonna happen.

I took the garbage out this morning and saw it. It was awful, sad, and made me furious. Our beautiful orange tree is flat on the ground, sideways. I could hear the oranges screaming, "We are almost ready to pick. Don't let this happen!" The hair balls are back. I just know they have eaten all the roots of a mature tree. They struck again.

By a fluke, the owner of the blow and go crew was next door. He just knocked on the door and said he would stake the tree for me. He doesn't think it was gophers because the tree is still alive. He is hoping the heavy fruit and the wet ground caused it to fall. So he has worked on it and we will see. I think it is gophers, the rose bush went the same way.

Maybe later tonight I will tell you about the great play.

Scattered thoughts

Thought 1

Yesterday I hosted a brunch for friends. They brought wonderful salads and I made a frittata and dessert. I felt very Donna Reed even June Cleaver and went whole hog: tablecloth, linen napkins, sterling, Haviland china, and Randy Strong gold leaf water glasses. I even used my grandmother's salt cellars. Today, Lean Cuisine at the kitchen table. Nothing like variety in life.


Thought 2


Background: We are in California and people have to mow lawns 12 months of the year. It is raining, has been for a couple of days. The grass is really wet. Today the blow and go crew came. They cut the neighbors lawn, can you say mashed down and chewed? And then they "blew" all our wet magnolia blooms and pine needles off the walk. And yes it was raining while they did this. Well, they are fairly cheap and as you can see faithful.

Thought 3

I called Mother today to check on Papa Jack. He is doing well. He reads the news online everyday. He tried this afternoon and of course can't work the mouse left handed. The cast on the right arm and the pain make it impossible to use that arm. I am trying to convince my Mother (who is almost 92) to work the mouse for him. Until they got the new computer she played games online. But with the new DSL and faster computer, the mouse is too fast for her to control, too many things open up. I kept telling her that it didn't matter if four boxes opened up, nothing was broken. Maybe she will try again. I think it is cool a 92 year old even knows what a computer mouse is.

Thought 4


Why do good authors go bad? I have tried reading a book all week. I love this woman's work. But I could not plow through it. I knew after 30 pages everything that was going to happen. I read another 80 pages and thought boring. I did a Noemi and read the last 2 chapters. I was right. The book telegraphed every move and was tritely written. So skip Prepared for Rage by Dana Stabenow. She really is a much better author than this book.

Happy news

Just a quick update on my Papa Jack. All your good thoughts and prayers worked. He came through surgery fine. .

And to make it the perfect day of good news. It is raining today. Yes that is good news is California. We have a major drought going on. Hopefully it will rain for weeks.

A little of this, a little of that

Warning, spell check is not working tonight.

Yesterday was a tough day. It began well. I finally after three Mondays of no school or I was sick, I was there. The kids were a little wacko. Like they have regressed. But it was a good morning. I was glad to be back. I was glad to be working one on one again.

Then I rushed home, changed into Big Girl clothes, and went to marry couples. It started off very slow, but then the 3:00 rush came. Lots of couples. One couple was Japanese, both born in the 1940s. The clerk, who is Asian made a point to tell me they were Japanese. I called their names. This is where profiling comes in. I was expecting a traditional conservative couple with accents. I know, not nice. But they were born in Japan and that is the way the people of that generation that I have met, are. NOT. This lovely sharp dressing woman came up, no accent. Fun and gorgeous. He was just darling. Cute, huggable. I just wanted to laugh and party with them. He had bleached curly hair. Sort of a street walker yellow. He had a several ear piercings and ear cuffs. His suit was beautiful and he wore a lovely white on white shirt. And he had a zoot suit chain. Loved them. And they kissed, multiple times after the ceremony. Most of my Asian couples will not kiss in front of others.

My last wedding was my favorite. The bride was beautiful in a street length strapless wedding dress and prissy white jeweled flip flops. He was in white and ecru. One witness was in a Coast Guard uniform and there were two other guests. Everyone in the room, except me was in the Coast Guard. Two women and three men. Again profiling. These women were lovely, feminine and I am sure knew 20 ways to kill someone. They were dressed to the nines, yet they had that military bearing. I love military weddings, because I love our military.

Then I checked my phone messages before I headed home. My SIL asked me to call. It turns out my Papa Jack ( Mother's husband of 47 years who is just a little older than I am ) fell on the ice Monday. (Unless you live in a cave, you have heard how terrible the ice storm in Kentucky was. And it is still snowing. ) He shattered his wrist and will have surgery on Thursday afternoon. He has other health issues going on this week also.

I am just a little upset and uptight. I do love my Papa. And I am concerned with how upset Mother is. So I am asking all for prayers and good thoughts for Papa Jack on Thursday and the upcoming weeks during the healing process.

FACEBOOK PART 2

Well, I have played with Facebook all weekend. I went hunting for friends from Corbin High School and Eastern Kentucky University. So far none of them are on Facebook. I then looked for friends in my contacts' list. Not too many there either. And 90% of the ones I found are 45 years old or younger. Facebook is really a young person's site.

That said, I have declared myself young. The site is fun and I think it could become very addictive. I know people are highly competitive as to their number of friends. They are hustling to get just one more friend. I am happy to have any friends. During my search I ran across people with no friends. That is what it says, "Joe Blow has no friends." How sad is that?

One of the interesting things is you feel a little like a spy. People you don't know are "talking" to people you do know. I think people forget what they write is out there for the world to see. You are not just talking to your friend. Anyone can read it.

I will continue on Facebook. Gotta stay young.