FOUR FOR FRIDAY
Q1: Did you watch last night’s televised debate between President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry? If so, despite which candidate you support, who do you feel did a better job? If you didn’t watch, are you planning on watching either of the two remaining televised Presidential debates or next Tuesday’s Vice Presidential debate?
It was so obvious-John Kerry sounded and looked very Presidential while GW Bush paused a lot, said ‘you know’ and ‘ummm’ and drank a lot of water. He is better speaker all around and Bush knew it. Bush also repeated himself and couldn’t even fill some of the allotted time he was given.
I do plan to watch the remaining two debates. I can’t wait to see Edwards against Cheney!
Q2: Have you ever given something up–either for religious reasons or just because you wanted to–for a specified period of time? If so, how did that work out for you… were you able to stick with it for the duration of time you had originally planned or did you cave earlier than planned? If you can remember, what was it that you gave up and why?
Oh the Lent question. I am pretty good at giving up meat on Fridays, though I get tired of it during the duration of Lent. Another time I tried to give up food is during diets. I tried not to eat hamburgers once during a Liver cleansing diet and I think that lasted one month. I am not a big hamburger eater, I substitute ground turkey now. But I like a Junior Whopper once in a while. My willpower stinks because I am by myself so much and could be busier. The busier I am, the more weight I lose anyway.
Q3: If you could change jobs tomorrow in order to start working directly for anyone in the world–either dead or alive–whom would you choose to work for and what would you do?
I’d love to work at Martha Stewart Living magazine and help design craft items for her magazine. I think that is one of the classiest magazines out there.
Q4: Halloween is just 30-days away. What’s your best Halloween-related memory and/or costume?
Once I dressed my brother up as the grim reaper when I was into Monty Python. He wore my grandmom’s hooded, bulky bathrobe. I made him a sickle and did his makeup. I really loved dragging my costumes to elementary school. Once I wore my mom’s wedding dress that she had cut off (it didn’t hold any meaning to her anymore). I also loved trick or treating with my brothers. I made most of my son’s costumes. The last time he dressed up, five yrs ago, he was a crewsman from the Titanic. He had a whistle and a life preserver. He has been the Phantom of the Opera and a Wizard to name a few of the costumes I assembled for him.

“Oh baby, baby it’s a wild world!” I really can’t believe a well known performer wasn’t allowed to enter the USA last week. I loved his music! He’s been around for 30 yrs. He did a benefit concert in the states not that long ago. They saw Islam and he was ‘branded’ and kicked out of the country. What’s right and what’s wrong? I am a practicing Catholic and every time I open the hymn book and see ‘Morning Has Broken’, I think of the former Cat Stevens. What’s wrong is when innocent people are getting decapitated at a whim. The families beg for their loved ones lives and those pleas fall on deaf ears. It is a wild and crazy world and Cat Stevens plays no part in the insanity.

Well, not literally! But that is my mom’s name and two of her sons are in Florida at this time. My one brother lives in Fort Lauderdale and his power is going off and on. I’m still mad at him for calling my family room a bordello because I have a red sofa now. Oh I do hope the dear boy is safe (as always-and his ‘little dog’ too).
My other brother is down in Disney World with his family (wife and two sons). They were suppose to come home today, had checked out of the Contemporary and decided to call the airport to see if the plane was on time and surprise!!-all flights have been cancelled. They high-tailed it back to the hotel and got another room. No one in either Orlando or Fort Lauderdale is allowed to leave their buildings. My older brother is suppose to be able to leave in a few days. This was his 50th birthday trip. I don’t know if I would have picked September to go, but you never know. They had great weather all week.
Crossing fingers and doing some praying.

This is the other little book I have from Amishland in Lancaster, PA. These are fun books and only cost about $1.00 or so.
My husband-he always had such a good abedit (appetite) but now he don’t fress (eat) much anymore.
He is as airlich (honest) as the day is long.
This country is full of dirty biscotza (skunks). LOL
Come here once just a bissel (little;short time) I want to talk to you.
The dear little bubbelly is so sweet-like; she is nice-behaved.
It takes a lot of croosht (crust) to “sponge” on your relatives all the time.
It feels so good when I can crotz (scratch or rub it).
to be continued…

I do feel a wee bit better today. I know what one of the problems was and you guys can’t relate unless you have women in your life. I love when people start to question my behavior and ask if I am PMSing or ‘when is it due’? Sometimes I’m freakin’ tired!
I am still living in disorganization and plan to get rid of some of the growing piles today. No painting though-can’t hack that. It’s going into week 4 for this project. I have so much to do. It’s not like the tv shows-Trading Spaces, etc. The designers go in the rooms, talk to the homeowners (I would say they don’t go by what the owners want lots of the time); they sketch their plans, order stuff. I am sure it’s at least a month’s project for them. So I don’t feel too bad. And it’s not like I am getting tons of help. I just bought 2 more quarts of paint. One in the room color that may not match-thanks saleslady-I’ll have to do under the window with that can and one a darker gold for my complimentary wall I decided to do. If this room needs painting in the next 10-12 yrs (that’s if we still live here), I am hiring help. So there!

I guess it’s from overdoing it in the house and not being careful about what I eat that made me feel so crummy this morning. My schedule was completely screwed up yesterday anyway. It was my mom’s birthday. I drove solo down there (46 miles round trip) in my van that needs the gasket repair. I brought her an Indian Summer bouquet with mini-sunflower, white tea roses, yellow roses, some goldenrod type flower and something that looked like rosehips. She loved it. She opened her gifts from me later. She had overdosed the air with this spray that my brother had sent from Florida to mask dog pee. Her dog is doing that again around her house. To her he’s just a bad dog and she puts up with it. My sister-in-law Colleen and little 5 yr old niece Tori came to take us to lunch up in Media at a restaurant called ‘The Town House’. It was a pleasant lunch, I got a Reuben sandwich. We then went to C&T’s house to have some cake and chat a bit. They took us home and we decided to go to the movies. Before we went, I vacuumed in there, probably a big mistake for my sinuses. The movie ‘Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow’ was excellent. See my previous post. We came out of the theatre and I said I wanted to grab a bite before I had to make the trip home. We went to Wendy’s and their salads were wilting big time and we hardly ate what we ordered. I came home just in time to see Survivor. Yippee, I could now relax! Nope, Brian came back home early from the open house at the school and started to talk about that. I was interested, but the talk between father and son was overwhelming. It was still in high gear when The Apprentice
came on, unfortunately. I also ate a slice of pizza at 8 pm.
The first thing I had to do this morning was call billing at the doctor’s billing as they said our insurance wouldn’t pay for Brian’s June bloodwork. I was on the phone between the two of them for almost an hour. Not a good thing to do when you first get up, thus prompting a coughing attack. I was stuffed up, coughing, felt sick, all rolled into one. This happens when I am PMSing too. I think it was a combo of all the events from above. Gotta treat yourself good, ya know?
All in all, I think mom had a nice birthday which is a miracle after the year of suffering she’s been through. I wish I could help her clean more, but the dog dander is obviously making me sick.
Tonight, Cosmo is going for his rabies shot. He saw the cat carrier in the kitchen and went half in to check it out-and whoa Nellie-backed right out again. He’s been getting on a window ledge in a room we have in the basement for hours on end. I think he is watching the squirrels (or groundhogs) go after the chestnuts that are falling now from the trees. Cats are funny companions.
Tomorrow can only be better.

Since I just came home from seeing a new release, thought I’d do this one:
1. Do you remember the very first time you watched a movie on the big screen?
Now this makes me feel really old, it had to be ‘The Sound of Music’ when I was about 4 or 5. My mom and grandmom said it was going to be a real treat and it was so boring and long for little kids. Couldn’t wait until it was over.
2. What was the last movie you saw on the big screen?
Just took my mom to see ‘Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow’. I was surprised that a lady of her mature age would want to see this sci-fi, action type movie. It was based in 1939-40, just the age when she was going to see Saturday matinees with Buck Rogers, etc. This was done in sepia tones with some coloring. Loved the ‘bigger than life’ cinematography. If you happen to see it let me know what the last word spoken in the movie was. My mom said something at that very moment. Incidently, Jude Law and his ex-wife Sadie Frost are co-producers of this movie.
3. Did you ever like a movie so much that you paid to watch it more than once?
The Poseidon Adventure, Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark and Back to the Future. The movie house in the town where I grew up had cheap prices, like $1 for the above movies, so why not see them more than once.
BONUS) How much does a movie ticket cost in your neck of the woods?Full-price shows here are around $8-$8.50 and $5.50-$6.50 for a matinee.

The finished collie ‘portrait’ for Kyle of Love Quilts. 

I have a bid on this print on eBay for over my sofa. I absolutely love the colors and shapes, plus it looks like a younger version of Bri and me-it’s 24″ x 36″ Wish me luck. 
It’s called ‘The Kiss’ by Klimt