Whole, half, or 7/10's?

I’m no math whiz.  In fact I am a typical right brainer.  I admit that I even had to look it up to see which side of the brain governs what mode of thinking.  Right is creative and artistic whereas the left-brain is rational and logical…kinda like Spock in the Star Trek series. 

Why all this talk about ½’s and wholes?  Well today in my local paper there was an article about teacher raises and how since some got raises other jobs face elimination.  The end result is a larger class.  Larger by 7/10’s of a student. 

Now this evokes all sorts of pictures in my right brain method of thinking.  Does the student stand in the hallway and poke his arm and leg in the door?  Since no right-brainer in their right minds would divide a student up into ten pieces, (Other than Pablo Picasso) I am assuming a left brainer came up with it.  Personally when something is above 5/10’s I round up.  So how about saying the class sizes would be increased by one!  Logical? Hmmm-- maybe I’m starting to use my whole brain ya think?

In a perfect world?

It’s only a few weeks till Easter and I have to admit my most favorite thing to do is to color Easter eggs. Very soon I will be taking out the food coloring and mixing up colors only seen in my mind’s eye.  Some will be pretty and some will definitely be Egg-ly ducklings.

Guess I just love colors...and this time of year offers me the chance to color play with abandon.

There is a certain drawback however.  Food coloring is a bit hard to remove from body and surface.   I usually end up with blue hands almost till Memorial Day! 

I was thinking that if the chickens would cooperate and just lay the eggs pre-colored, it would save me from becoming a Smurf-ette.  What do you think?

Linking up with Sunday Sunday Sketches. See you there…

Password please

Password please!

“What’s the password?”

“Porky.”

“Ok, you can enter.”

And that’s how it went when you were 9 or 10 and you had a clubhouse that you put together with leftover pieces of plywood and other scraps.  Or, if you were lucky you had one that your dad built and it actually had a door and maybe an old table and a couple of chairs.  If you were that fortunate kid then you had to have a password to keep out undesirables—like your little brother.  It didn’t need to be at least at least 7 letters and have at least one number and one symbol and it wasn’t case sensitive!

Fast forward 30 years or so and passwords are no longer simple words garnered from Saturday morning cartoons.  They are an infuriating necessity of daily life.  You get on the computer to check your email—password, you log on to your bank--password…this site, that site…. password, password, password!

Sometimes for no apparent reason you are told you must make a new password.  You whine, you complain but then you resign yourself to the inevitable.  The process starts anew, you toss out a password choice but it’s no good.  It must be longer.  It must have some odd symbol. And you must answer several questions so that if you forget this password the answers will prove that you are in fact…you.

What was the name of your first Grade teacher? 

Ok, on to the next one.  What was the name of your oldest cousin on your mother’s side?

What street did you live on when you were four? 

Are you kidding me?  If I had an answer to those questions I would never remember my responses.

I guess I should just quit complaining and realize it is just a small inconvenience of modern life. Even though my little brother is a grown-up now there are always undesirables to keep out.  Oh no, I forgot my password again; guess I’ll just have to go through the question phase again. Well let me see, what was the name of my first pet’s vet???

2011- 2012 the winter that wasn’t

Dear Winter,

Where were you?  I didn’t see you in December, or January or February.  In fact you never showed up.  And boy that was not very nice after I sent you that beautiful invitation. And today it’s the first day of spring and you didn’t even send a note of apology. You messed up the party…

Shovels and sleds were deep discounted in February. 

Kids had no snow days. It didn’t matter if they wore their pajamas inside out or outside in!  You really shouldn’t have disappointed children like that; you could stunt their growth.

There was no run on toilet paper and bread and these items remained readily available all through the season.  Think what that did to the economy!

My coat gathered dust in the closet and my cool new snow boots are still shiny and new. Shorts and flip-flops appeared (on feet and bodies not just in stores) in January!  And next season the cold weather gear may be out of style and I’ll have to buy others!  Your messing up my savings plans.

I got a deer tick on a hike…in December!!!  Really now, I’ve never had one before and it seems to me you are stepping on Summer’s toes!

Mosquitoes, gnats, and flies appeared a tad bit sooner than usual.   You are showing partiality towards the insect word and that is just not fair!

I’m sneezing, wheezing and hacking while my car turns pollen yellow (yes, I’ve named a color) in minutes.  And Robbie, the robin is all messed up and is already starting his “poop on my car” cycle early this year!

A lot of people like this early, early, summer but as for me, I’m still mad.  I’m mad at you for not attending my party.  I don’t know if I will even send you an invitation next year.  I may just invite Fall.  He always comes.

Yours truly,

Crystal

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I've painted a box and inside I am...

and offering a simple Irish blessing...

For each petal of the shamrock

that brings a wish your way--

Good health, good luck and happiness

For today and every day.

It's stinky pear tree time again

This morning I walked out on the front porch.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the sky was a clear cerulean blue.  I stretched and took a deep whiff of spring!  Gag!  I turned to my daughter who was sitting on the porch swing.

“Eww, it smells like rotten mushrooms.”

She looked at me as if I should have known better than to ask such a dumb question.

“It’s the Bradford pears, Mom.”

Bradford Pear trees, an ornamental tree that in spring, have the most beautiful flowering blossoms.  The blossoms carry an indescribable odor that evokes thoughts of body odor and other unpleasant comparisons.  This odor has prompted the nickname “tuna on a trunk.”

I guess pleasant and unpleasant odors are a relative thing.  The bees don’t mind it.  Dogs like to roll in stinky things and breathe in the aroma of urine as if it were the best French perfume.  Sometimes (and I shouldn’t admit this) if I get a whiff of a skunk as I ride down the road I find it doesn’t smell that bad to me. So I guess I will just not breathe so deeply as I gaze at the beautiful spring blooms, and when a guest should ask me what in the world could that unusual smell be?

I’ll just smile and say,” What smell?”

Dagnabbit yet again

Your guess is as good as mine

What is up with the captcha lately? My old friend "Captcha" is all new and evidently updated.  It was bad enough when they were just weird words, now all of a sudden I find not one, but two words-- and they are twisty and mangled as if they just survived an automobile accident.  I practically stand on my head and look this way and that way. Finally I cry uncle and just hit the whirly button which gives me two more chances to sit there scratching my head!  And they say crossword puzzles give you a brain workout.

I know that computers troll the Internet and post anonymous comments on blogs advertising things that I doubt anyone would ever buy, but they keep trying. I get it.  These sneaky computers are getting better at their job. They are getting good at making their comments appear legitimate. Scroll down, however, and one will see the link for diet pills, gambling sites, or male enhancement drugs at the bottom. The Captcha is disabled on my blogs and yes, I do get several Anonymous comments a day that my trusty spam filter catches and corrals. I simply hit delete…and they are gone.  Poof!  I hope I said that loud enough for those pesky computers to hear!  MY SPAM FILTER CATCHES AND I DELETE...

As for commenting on other blogs that still have Captcha. Some sites test your elementary knowledge.  They want to know what 2 +5 equals. No problem. Some ask you the color of the ocean.  Elementary-- my dear Watson and I can handle that without an issue. And then there are the twisty words... and up pops that oh so familiar red highlighted message that tells me I have entered the wrong letters.  I turn my head, I look sideways, and finally I just guess. I wonder, though, if I guess wrong 3 times am I out? Or can I keep guessing to infinity and beyond?

I “guess” we will see. In the words of Elmer Fudd....Dagnabbit!

Where is Crystal?

Remember the game where there was a little guy who was hidden in a jumbled mess? My game is a tad easier than Waldo's. This is just my way of explaining where I have been recently. Just to clarify I visit your blogs, I read them, but I have not always been able to comment as much as I’d like. 

First there was my son’s visit for two weeks of busy, busy, and busy.  There were two birthdays and parties in February.  Then the carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand (yes I am right handed) started acting up.  Next up:  Tennis elbow.  I had a shot of cortisone in my elbow, which eased the pain but made my arm feel like a beanbag that was over full.  After three days (which is what the doc said) it feels better but in two weeks I go for the nerve test and then most likely carpal tunnel surgery…eeek. 

Hopefully (and I my doctor tells me it is so) the surgery this time is much easier than when I had my left hand done and doesn’t take as long to heal.  So hopefully by next month all of this will be behind me and you will be able to find Crystal.

Check out my new blog if you would like some quick, easy and inexpensive craft tutorials!

K-cup Easter basket party favor

Also I would like to say "Happy 1st Anniversary to Kristin and Eva the wonderful hosts of  Paint Party Friday  You need to do yourself a favor and check out all the wonderful art and artists today!

Fantasia or just physics?

Photo courtesy of Mary (my baby)

Every so often something appears on social networking sites that seems to be beyond comprehension.  Then again this odd phenomenon that is making its way across the Internet seems vaguely familiar, as if one has seen it before. 

At the moment the current conundrum is the free standing broom. What can make an ordinary broom stand up in the middle of the floor on its own?  Is it magic?  Is it, as they would have you believe due to the Leap Year?  The standing broom is not new. Sometimes they say the cause is due to the equinox. Sometimes the placements of planets at a given time are to blame.  The real explanation--this time-- has nothing to do with Leap Year.  It's all about balance.  Really, I wouldn’t kid you.  Click the link below:

Truth to the broom trick