Deep In The Forrest

Well, happy "National Pigs in a Blanket Day" everybody! I'm not one to lay heavy on the pork, well I know some folks use various ingredients on those little 'delicacies', but just thought I would share as it's one of the more prominent things to celebrate today. Since it's a Monday, I figured it would perk everybody up a bit, who doesn't love party food? Or if you've a respect for farm animal life, we can honestly celebrate the cuteness of an actual real adorable Pig in a blanket, I kinda prefer that myself, anyways, how bout you? The other holidays we can celebrate today are: Administrative Professional's Day Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day National Pigs-in-a Blanket Day World Meningitis Day So, as you can see, I felt like the Pigs in a Blanket thing was the best choice to make something cute out of it... Not that "Administrative Professional's Day isn't cute, but hey they all get enough attention. Pigs go unapprecia...

How about a few 'down to earth' type updates, just the daily 411. The changes in the weather seem to have taken their toll on my sinuses today, I've been trying to keep it clear to no avail. Hopefully that's all it is, a few minor sinus problems rearing their ugly heads :) Other than that, I've just been really busy at work and trying to stay afloat in the other areas of my life, trying to stay motivated enough to maintain some semblance of a workout schedule. Then of course Taxes have been a major pain again this year, but hopefully that will resolve o.k. Just gotta do what we gotta do sometimes. I still try to find a few minutes each day to enjoy some relaxing quiet time, to stay grounded and relieve some of the stress. Last night we made eggplant Parmesan (healthy version). What I mean by that is that we try to put better ingredients in it and watch the sodium content. You have to look for hidden evils in the stupid ingredient lists sometimes on food, like "...

I am a sheep in the ever-growing cyber-meadow of life... I have a google homepage. I decorated it with all kinds of "cool web parts"... I get the Quotes of the day, because frankly I love quotations. I always have. I get a giggle out of some, and inspiration from others. I even write one myself here or there. When scanning my google homepage this morning, the following quote stood out to me (for some odd reason). "Write a wise saying and your name will live forever." - Anonymous Way to prove a point huh? Isn't it true though, I mean wise sayings, philosophical word vomit, it's always a hit... Some people we know already, the actors and famous folk who've spewed 'words of the wise', and sometimes it's because of the wise word vomit that said individual might get noticed, right?? I think this "Anonymous" has the game all figured out though, he or she is also quite cocky enough thinking that the "one word name" is going to ta...

Lately, aside from my philosophical stent with Picasso the other day, I have felt rather wordless. Wordless is kind of unusual for me... normally, I have a great deal that I can usually carry on about (interesting or not). So I'm trying to work myself out of that. I tend to get worked up sometimes, and I crawl up into my shell and try to retreat from the world, and can become anti-social when that happens... wanting to keep to myself, and hide. This week, so far hasn't been that ecstatic for me. We had the holiday Monday, as I mentioned yesterday, and that was o.k. because I got to visit my Mom, Dad and Sisters. Yesterday was one of those hum-drum days though. I think it was a full moon, and it was so uneventful and boring to me. Nothing seemed to go right, and also I didn't eat right and ended the day feeling like shit... I managed to walk a mile before band practice, which got me feeling a little better, then practice went not-too-bad, so I felt better after that too, the...

Nothing else to call it really, and not been very witty. I (guess) you guys have noticed that I didn't post all weekend. Well, I thought about it, but I had nothing interesting to bring to the table. I tried to think of feelings and ideas or anything I really had on my mind, but came up blank. Hope you'll forgive me. I will post more today and this week. I'll get back in the swing!! Today's Weekly Words Challenge, brought to us as always by the Fabuloso Tink of Pickled Beef , is themed "Envy" and "Triangle". I admittedly dug into my archive of photos from fall, which were not that long ago, but still MINE... and brought to you the following items... I'll do better next week!! Triangle(s)... Always capturing signs and windows, etc from Restaurants downtown... This bar called "Swig" has a very cool logo, which does in fact include "Triangles"! What would a Memphis photo be without the Pyramid?? Memphis' ultimate Triangle! En...

... I have not. (That's my best Yoda voice by the way). Feelings of things brewing, not necessarily bad, just a state of energetic unrest like things are happening. I don't know what yet, but we'll see as the week progresses. Other than that, I stayed up too late last night and couldn't get up early this morning like I had planned. Nobody's fault, just me. :) Now I went out to lunch in my car and I went down and parked by the River, I turned the music down kind of low and I relaxed and had my lunch, and the sun was beaming through the window, so I relaxed back in my seat a moment and closed my eyes and just tried to let the tension go. It was nice. I opened my eyes and there was a Mockingbird sitting on top of the little trash can next to where I parked and he sat there for the longest time staring at me... I wondered about him. Then I watched the lazy river roll by, and there were objects floating in it, like big limbs, bushes and debris (occasionally). I thought a...

Oh joyful joyful 3 day work week. I am very excited about the days off, although I know they will pass very quickly. Today is, in essence, like My Friday . I understand that this is not the case for everybody, and I don't mean to gloat to those of you who have to go on working like normal, with no holiday. You see? I am a sensitive, kind and loving Aunt by nature, and remain so until someone sets off my radar, or ruffles my feathers. I like to think that I don't get mad easily, but depending on what it is and the lengths someone goes to in order to visibly enrage me, I will oblige! After all, I have the blood of Redheads and Cherokee Indians coursing through my veins. (You just can't really see the Indians because I was not blessed with enough brown to be seen by the naked eye... Hahaha!! But if you look closely enough, you will see that I am quite full of Native American wisdom, spirituality and enchantment and have been told by a few that I have a lot of soul for a white ...

Maybe if I lived with a man who awoke at the crack of dawn to greet the day with great fervor... maybe I would be able to wake up alive and bursting with energy. Instead, I must peel my eyes open daily, drag myself out of bed only to have to look at the man I love, still lying there cozy and hibernating like a bear in the dead of winter under the warmth of the delicious electric blanket. See, I detest waking up in the morning (aside from the general glee at the realization that I am still lucky to be alive come daylight). I usually sleep too long... which is as long as I can get away with, then I have only enough time to bathe and throw myself together and hurry off to beat the traffic and come hurdling into the office Fashionably Late (if I may say so, as a 'techie' without sounding dimly like a slacker). Luckily, I enjoy what I do so it's definitely not "work dread" keeping me glued to my mattress, it's just simple exhaustion and lack of motivation from lyi...

Hard day today, was late getting back from visiting with parents and my outing with Jinks . Very trying and stressful visit home this weekend as my Dad was in some strange phases. Still battling this crap, where I am having sinus problems and now coughing like hell. Feel like I have barely gotten any sleep or rest, so that's what I'm planning to do now... if my "dolt" can allow things to be peaceful enough long enough for me to try. I will feel better hopefully tomorrow... until then, AJ

Weekend coming to a close here... I'm basically sitting back chilling while Mr. J watches yet another History Channel feature about Nostradamus. This is a good thing, especially if I want to go to bed and have night terrors. I thought I would do a Sunday night post to include some ranting and some rambling. Some of the rants, I've talked about before so no doubt will it be a repeat and probably bore some of you who read me. However, lots of times when I mention topics such as "bad customer service" and "public assholes", I get a great deal of followers who wholeheartedly agree. I mention customer service workers, once again, because over the weekend I happened to go through a well-known franchise drive-thru, and noticed more crap-assed behavior on the part of the "cheery" workers there. I make my order, they repeat it (so far so good), then I get to the first window. I noticed right away that the girl waiting to take my money keeps the window clasp...

Well, something like that! I'm hurriedly making my preparations for this weekend's big Hot Springs trip. If you weren't around last year when Mr. J and I went but want to see, you can Catch Up Here . Feeling the pressure of last-minute details, I have to get the car serviced and ready, pack, make preparations for my animal-children (Sal and Rodney), and get our road music and audio prepared. Last year, we listened to a very cool Book on audio by the author, Dan Brown... it was entitled "Angels and Demons" . This time, we have on hand "Digital Fortress". Dan Brown's material is quite engaging, and he always has some little technological twist in his books (so far). These are the only two I've ever read or listened to, if you will. So that's fun. Of course, I also have my very ecclectic collection of music... anything you can imagine from "Yaz", to "The Ramones", to NOLA's "Down" and "Morbid Angel" (j...

Happy Guruvaar , That's to say it is "Fifth Day" (if you begin your count on Sunday)... a.k.a. sometimes as "Thursday". :) So TGIAF (that's Thank God it's Almost Friday!) I wore the most annoying Sandals this morning... the kind that "slip on", and are made of a forming, corky-squishy material and I've worn long enough to get a footprint set... so sometimes, when I walk I get those "Foot Farts". Foot farts are made when you get an air pocket under your feet in certain types of shoes, mainly sandals and it makes a sound very similar to when you do Armpit Farts . It only happens on my right foot, however. But, it can be very embarrassing when the office is unusually quiet, and it always is... that is, when you have the foot farts . For some reason, things have been vanishing on me lately. Does this ever happen to anyone else? Just like socks in the dryer... You swear up and down there is no logical way that said object or possessi...

Meetings and agendas, work and general stuff... It's mid week, we don't have much longer before weekend time again. Crossed the bridge on my lunch break, and jumped over into Arkansas for a minute, then came back to prepare for my 1:30 meeting. I love to get out sometimes in the car, even if only for a few minutes to listen to some music because it always relaxes me. I'll often be caught listening to oldies, or old "feel good" rock music. Today I happened to get stuck on some Van Halen. I love original "Van Halen". I was feeling in the mood for this today, and I thought it was a good video to post for Wednesday (Hump Day)... Hope you enjoy this, and I hope it gets you over the Hump and Rocks you on to the weekend... So Stay "Unchained"!!

Just skittering about today, I have been pretty busy but I still had time to come in and say Hi-ya to all of you guys. The weekend was pretty nice and all, I did not get a whole lot accomplished, but on the flip side I didn't get into a big guilt trip about it either... I just rolled with the flow. Glad you all liked my photos from the Historic Elmwood Cemetery , I enjoyed my photo-visit there and plan on going back soon... If you want to check it out, the link takes you to their main page, and you can read about it. Maybe even visit it if you ever pop through Memphis (after your maniacally entertaining visit to Graceland of course *rolls eyes*). Oh sweet Jesus!! I almost forgot that Tomorrow is Tuesday, and nearly time for me to submit my photo for the (WWC) "Weekly Word Challenge" brought to us by the wonderful Tink, of Pickled Beef . This week's selection is themed with the words "Urban" and "Country". Wish me luck!! I have nothing very enterta...

There is absolutely nothing we can do anymore, it seems, that doesn't kill us or give us a disease. This takes the fun out of most activities, don't you think? I know that most of the time when someone dies from something, or gets sick, it's usually due to an overindulgence IN said activity, but still leaves the rest of us wondering 'What Next on our DO NOT LIST??' Just yesterday I was listening to Howard , and one of their news goodies stated that there was a man who ended up with a very rare lung disease that is usually found only in people with heavy exposure to microwaveable popcorn , like working at the plant where they make it and all. However, this dude did not work with the popcorn, he simply had been eating two (2) bags of the stuff a day, every day for like ten years. Eating it wasn't what gave him the lung disease... it was (wait for it), the steam from the bag... Seems he always liked to inhale that burst of smoky steam from the bag of popcorn upon ...

Today's blouse is cut in such a way that a bit of the wing on my Angel/Devil tattoo shows. When people see this, they always start out asking "Is that a butterfly??" To which I reply, "Oh, no--these two are my 'conscience', you know, like the little angel and little devil that sit on your shoulder... Here they are fighting it out." and I'll pull the shirt or blouse over to the side and allow them to see the entire piece. Usually it will illicit some response one way or the other (usually good)... So I bare to you my little 'consciences' that ride with me on my shoulder all the time... I'll leave it to your imagination to wonder which one wins. ;) Speaking of the battle over good and evil, we've enjoyed a break in the heat (a bit of rain) here this week, which was a relief in lieu of the past month's heat index and temperatures. That I've come to affectionately nickname "The Bowels of Hell". Even just a day or two wit...

Tuesday... what can I say about Tuesday? I know Zig always puts up 'TMI Tuesday' posts, which are always interesting to say the least!! Zig and Mrs. Zig must have some saucy stories to tell. Except for the little day-to-day stresses, my attitude is still forging on and on a positive path, so I'm glad about that. I feel like I am finally getting to a point where I am using the past to my advantage, and while I can never forget it or the people in my past, I am trying to take that and fuse it within myself now to optimize the present. Our pasts, no matter how much we might wish that they were not, are an integral part of us. It has made us who we are now. To reject that is to reject yourself, and that's not going to work. So taking it as a real part of me, can assist me in understanding things that I do, and help me move forward. I truly feel that I am beginning to open-up and embrace the idea of the future... let's hope I can keep it up. Speaking of TMI as well as p...

Hi everybody! I'm just sitting here thinking about how it really sucks that this week's holiday (Independence Day-July 4th) is happening on a Wednesday. It couldn't be a worse day--right in the middle of the week. Unless you happen to be one of those people who have vacation time that they can take to bridge the holiday and the preferred weekend. Example: If I had 2 vacation days available, I would have taken them for July 5th and July 6th. That would have been a FIVE DAY WEEKEND!!! Oh Woe is me. So I've been in one of my 'listening to sappy old love songs, and feeling nostalgic' phases. Why do I do it to myself?? I'm talking some early to mid-90s stuff, even down to stuff that reminds me of high school... I really cannot fathom the lost time between here and there. I don't know where it went. If I had known it was going to slip away from me that quickly, I would surely have never blinked... not once... What things might I have missed by sleeping? I have...

It's not quite over just yet... the week that is. I'm thankful that it is Friday though, that's for certain. Lately I've just been listening to tunes, watching a little t.v. here and there and catching up on some housework when I can. Last weekend, I happened to see "The Shining" and I sat back and watched it (almost) in its entirety. That brought back some memories... Classic. Let's see, other than that I noticed that "Sometimes They Come Back Again" came on, but I really prefer "Sometimes They Come Back". "The Stand" also aired... all of the parts, like a marathon. I can't abide "The Stand". Maybe I should read the book sometimes if I have time, as I am told that the book really shames the movie anyway... don't they usually? Other than that, I don't have much to report. Still feeling the need for a nice escape soon... I would love to take a week's vacation and go somwhere really neato, but I doubt I...

Interesting quote for the day: "We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegut I got my drivers license at 15. That's not totally unheard of, I know but it is still rare. Plus, I've been driving something or another since I could walk so I've been driving for... a long time. Around here, drivers licenses or State IDs (for those of you who can't drive but still must prove who you are), are used for multiple purposes. You must present these to the law upon being pulled over, or going through the ever-popular 'Road Block'. Or simply 'getting carded'. The first time I used mine was when we caught sneaking into the boy's dorm at the local community college. My friend, Kathy was dead set on going over to see some guy she claimed to be friends with. As usual, I was dragged along as an accomplice. So we drive over to 'Quitman Dormitory' I think it was, parked and proceeded straight through the fr...