1)  I think the bulls in Italy should gore 150 people every year.  Or more.  Poor things.

2)  I DON'T think Lance Armstrong should still be doing the Tour de France.  7 wins are enough for anyone.  Go ride at the Velodrome and let someone else win you roid using egomaniac.

3) WHY do we care about Michael Jackson's drug history?  He's already DEAD for pete's sake - aren't there more important things for the news to focus on?  Like what's going on with Anna Nicole SMith's baby or something?  ;)

4) I'm heading for DE tomorrow - with no internets for 6 WHOLE DAYS!!!!!  So - if you need me - call me.  On my cell, of course.  ;)  I'm actually kinda looking forward to the minimal computer time.  It will be a total break.


  I think that's it.  Off to pit cherries!

So - Fae has been missing for - uhm - almost 2 months now?  And we had given up on her, figuring she had either died, or found a new family.  So who shows up out back an hour ago?  Fae.  But a very unhealthy Fae, all bones and sagging skin, not walking correctly, wobbling head and constantly meowing.  So I called the vet, who said to bring her right over.  they have her now.  It was so weird picking her up to put her in the carrier - she weighs - I don't know - 4 pounds?  Maybe?  Quite a difference from her 15 when she left.  I told the vet no heroic measures.  I think she has either been hit by a car or has Feline Leukemia - she's a mess.  And I feel awful.  N is taking it VERY hard that she might not come home.  And I am on the verge of tears constantly.  Bah.  Anyway - if you are so inclined, say a few words for her for a speedy end to her pains, whichever way is best.  Thanks.  :(

a set of solid wood bunk beds and two computer desks with high backs with shelves.  I will pick up and pay for them with cash.  If you know anyone who is looking to sell said items - let me know!  Thanks!  :)

Yet another fat positive magazine is down the drain - Figure is no longer being published - but instead I can get Ladies Home Journal!  No THANKS.  So they can tell me how to lose weight 27 different ways, how to make my body conform to society's opinion of perfect, which,m by the way, is the LEAST common of all attributes, in case you were wondering.  Also - they will tell me why my house isn't good enough, my marriage isn't strong enough and my sex life is boring.  *sigh*  I hate those magazines. 

that on the days when I have nothing to do, I feel fine as frog's hair, but in the days when I have a list THIS long AND book club at the end - I was up with a sore throat, and ear ache and a head ache?   I'm ignoring it all, pretending I feel fine, but I'm getting moving s-l-o-w-l-y today.  Urgh. 

  So- how is everyone?  I feel so out of touch lately.  No one is around, no one writes or calls or wants to do anything.  Even my friends with kids are unavailable.  Except Katie - I still talk to her every day!  lol  She's my constant!  ;)

  Hope everyone has a good day!

8 years.  That's a VERY long time, and a VERY short time all at once.  Today is always a soul searching day for me, a day when I am reminded forcibly to tell everyone out there that I love them.  Hey - everyone?  I love you!  You are all important to me in your very own unique way - and i had a great list of who is important for what, but knew I would end up forgetting someone or not putting the importance someone thought I should on something and piss someone off, so I'll just say - you all matter - from my brother, who truly is my blood, to my multiple sisters, (in law and otherwise), who might as well be.  From my oldest friends to my newest, my youngest to my oldest, my closest to those with whom I only share a passing moment - thank you one and all for being a facet of my brilliant life.  And please remember - you NEVER know when it will all go away, so cherish each moment.


  8 years ago today, we lost Chris and we are so worse off for it.  But he sure made every minute worthwhile when he was here, didn't he?  Go catch a firefly.  He always did.  :)

Aldi is a "discount grocery store" chain that recently opened a new shop in Quakertown.  I decided to check it out, being a thrifty shopper and all that.  So I went.  First thing you must know - you need a quarter to get a shopping cart.  You get it back when you return the cart, but you need one to get one in the first place.  Second thing you need to know - they don't supply bags.  Oh - you can buy them, sure.  But they don't supply them.  Paper bags are 3 cents each and deceptively big looking (turns out the are QUITE narrow) plastic bags are 10 cents each.

  Their food is a reasonable prices - better than most grocery stores and average compared to other discount groceries.  But their brands are their own, mostly.  It's not companies you have ever heard of and at least half the food is packaged/produced in CHina.  So - yeah.  Not my cup of tea.  They sell a LOT of junk food, if that's the sort of thing you buy, they will have it in spades for you.  Minimal stuff my family can eat, and the veggies were sorry.  I would rather go to the Q-mart, pay the same prices or better, and know they are in great shape. 

  The thrid thing you need to know?  That they DON'T post anywhere?  They ONLY take cash or debit.  Nothing else.  And you have to bag your own stuff.  The cashier rings it out and puts it all in a cart, then you take the cart to this big shelf along the wall and bag it all yourself.  But they don't have self checkouts - which is kind of ironic, I think.  ;)  I DO like that they let their cashiers sit.  

  All in all - I won't be going back there often.  I prefer Swann's or BRL.  they aren't as clean, but the prices are just as good, the brands I know, and they bag stuff!  lol

I am not mormally a bitchy person.  Nor a rude one.  I HAVE my moments, mind you, and I am quite aware of them, but usually - if I am in a bad mood, I will let you know right off the bat - and if we are in a debate - expect some bitchy - as you will probably be bitchy right back.

  That said - why do people assume everything typed is nasty and bitchy and immedietly back-lash me?  I didn't say "yo bitch - I hate you".  If that's what I meant, that's what I would say.  I just wish people would stop - and I do mean STOP - instantly deciding the most negative thing possible about anything typed. 

  And see?  Now you are going to assume I mean you and get all mad at for this too, when it's more like a PSA. ;)

the best way to get some to walk away from you is to try and make them choose you over other people they love and care about.
  I'm just sayin.

We had a lovely meeting!  Everyone got in on the discussion, voiced deep and thoughtful opinions, and had fun.  We have shifted our next book to Persuasion by Jane Austin.  Next meeting is June 30th!

By: Charles Martel

I think socialism may meet its Waterloo in the United States, and that Obama may be its Napoleon.

(Let me define socialism as an economic system where the government, through its power of coercion, expropriates wealth and redistributes it according to both stated (and unstated goals), such as equality and stability (and the maintenance of political power and wealth for the government elite via the power of the purse).

In Russia and China, socialism was imposed on desperately poor countries that were already used to privation, government theft and lack of freedom. With no traditions of wealth or liberty to guide them, the subjects of those sorry countries shrugged and assumed their masters’ yoke.

Once the administrative powers of socialism insured a true equality of misery for the overwhelming number of subjects at the bottom of the heap, there was a sense of resignation followed by a distorted sense of progress–”At least there is no more civil war.” “Now we’re all in the same boat. Chin Lee can no longer lord it over us just because he once owned 80 pigs.”

In Europe, which had a high standard of living but then destroyed it in two wars, socialism was a combination of idealism, pragmatism and opportunism. Idealism in the sense that perhaps the sharing of resources would prevent future wars; pragmatism because people whose cultures have always stressed the state over the individual could be more easily swayed to accept a regulated economy than the Americans’ wild and crazy free market economy; and opportunism because the same Americans were providing military protection that freed up billions and billions of dollars for investment and allowed Europe to remake itself as a giant theme park.

So far, socialism has had a good run—at least in the sense of acquiring power over all wealth, which is its goal.

But when you get to America, the soil for socialism is less fertile. Yes, there are hot-house experiments with it that seem to be working, such as San Francisco, or Berkeley, or Washington, DC. But like all hot-house flowers, they are very fragile. These ones depend on fools and outsiders for their sustenance: tourists in San Francisco; the American taxpayer in Washington, DC; and in Berkeley a self-hating, self-deluding professoriate on one hand and thousands of dependent, subsidized students on the other.

On a grander scale, large U.S. socialist experiments like New Jersey, Michigan and California are coming to an end. You cannot run an economy on a fantasy, namely that you can keep fisting the Golden Goose’s cloaca without at some point rupturing and destroying the poor thing. That so many people who should know better hold on to the fantasy that socialism can work is a result of the Europeanization of large parts of the U.S. population. Europeans have never had a firm grasp on how wealth is created. To them it’s either a matter of whoever is the strongest stealing somebody else’s wealth (eastern Europe) or a benign state redistributing wealth that comes from some mysterious source (France).

In America, though, where people have been free for several centuries to create their own wealth, there is a direct knowledge that a government printing press or power of taxation has nothing to do with generating it. There are tens of millions of people who understand that and who nod instinctively in agreement with Tea Party signs that say, “Honk if I’m paying your mortgage!”

Now add to that a tradition of healthy skepticism toward politicians and government. Although Obama would like to intimidate people, there are way too many of us who have not been beaten down or conditioned by Chicago-style politics to take his bait. Watching that cosseted nancy boy strut and act all hoody elicits laughter among us, not shivers.

Then add the tradition of a free press, now remanifesting itself in Internet blogs, and couple that with the technological savvy of millions of young men and women who have not sipped the Obama-Aid. They are marvelous tools for organizing political resistance, tax strikes and, if someday necessary, the disruption of an overreaching government.

Further, add the scores of millions of guns owned by Americans who are not statists, “progressives” or leftists. The wusses in Britain and Canada may lay down their arms just because the local or provincial dhimmi government says to, but that’s not going to wash with most Americans. For every gun that the nanny state confiscates, there will be 10 that go undetected and uncollected.

Top it off with the rising trend toward homeschooling, which creates truly educated—as opposed to schooled—citizens, and millions of magnificently disciplined and trained (and mostly conservative) veterans who will have something to say if The Narcissist suddenly decides he’s macho and wants to toy with martial law or a suspension of constitutional rights.

Finally, a law of limits. Just as you cannot exceed the speed of light, you cannot exceed the total amount of wealth the world has in your never-ceasing quest to pillage it under socialism. If the U.S. economy is dragged down by Obamaism, what is left to plunder? Once that realization hits all the droolers who think there’s such a thing as a free lunch, they will turn on Obama. Napoleon’s own soldiers will finally see through him.

(I’m not too worried that they’ll turn on us. We’ll be armed—both with weapons and with the most devastating four words in the English language: “We told you so.”)

Valley Grind Book CLub meeting TONIGHT!!!!!

 Main St East Greenville, 7-8pm.

We will be discussing The Hours by MIchael Cunningham

Next up - Paradise Lost by Milton.

 Please come join us!!

Friends - I would love for you to take this!  But you sure don't have to.  :)

1. Your Middle Name:

2. Age:

3. Single or Taken:

4. Favorite Movie:

5. Favorite Song or Album:

6. Favorite Band/Artist:

7. Dirty or Clean:

8. Tattoos and/or Piercings:

9. Do we know each other outside of LJ?

10. What's your philosophy on life?

11. Is the bottle half-full or half-empty?

12. Would you keep a secret from me if you thought it was in my best interest?

13. What is your favorite memory of us?

14. What is your favorite guilty pleasure?

15. Tell me one odd/interesting fact about you:

16. You can have three wishes (for yourself, so forget all the 'world peace etc' malarky) - what are they?

17. Can we get together and make a cake?

18. Which country is your spiritual home?

19. What is your big weakness?

20. Do you think I'm a good person?

21. What was your best/favorite subject at school?

22. Describe your accent

23. If you could change anything about me, would you?

24. What do you wear to sleep?

25. Trousers or skirts?

26. Cigarettes or alcohol?

27. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? (If you have no idea, just say something crazy, it'll entertain me!)

28. Will you repost this so I can fill it out for you?

So - I am cleaning my toilet bowl, and using Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner (registered trademark, copywritten, probably have to pay them 4.00 just for writing their name down) - and it's one of thise bent necked squeezy bottle made specifically for toilet bowls.  Only.  ANd on the front, it says Kills FLU germs*.  Flu germs.  Really?  Who the HELL is going to getting the FLU from INSIDE their toilet bowl? 

*sigh*

http://scifi.about.com/b/2009/06/03/david-eddings-is-dead.htm

Peter Murphy!!!!  July 8th!!!! At the CHameleon CLub!!!!!  Woohoooo!

Date:	2009-06-04 10:40
Subject:	10 Secrets About Fat People You Never Knew - Part 2
Security:	Public
Mood:	creative

6) One Size Fits All - doesn't.
  We want to be out and about in society.  We want to go to the movies, the playground, the theme park, the airport, the salon - but it's very, very difficult for us - why?  Because we don't fit.  Chairs have arms, rides have seatbelts, planes have seats so small it's tight for a size 12 person and then WE get penalized for your decisions to make things have specific parameters.  Don't tell me rides can't hold large people - Disney managed to do it - why can't Cedar Faire? We tend to stay home because we have homes we fit in and that make us comfortable.

7) We have sex.
  And it's even often with very good looking people!  As Jennifer Weiner (awesome author) said in an interview, "Fat people are having sex.  Right now.  Maybe even in YOUR neighbourhood!"  It's true - and you know what?  We like it.  AND we're good at it.  And anyone who ever said more than a handfull is a waste was dating someone skinny at the time.

8) We know how big we are.
  We don't need to have you remind us.  Constantly.  Daily.  Hourly.  From your cars or while you are walking down the street, under your breath or at the top of your lungs, in an insulting manner OR in a 'helpful' one (Hey!  Did you hear?  There's a new gym in town - maybe you should try it out??).  Do you walk up to someone you have never met and say - Hey - you're blonde?  Then why would you say it to someone fat? 

9) We aren't desperate.
  For anything.  At least, no more so than the rest of the humans on this planet.  We don't NEED you to be our friend because we have no other friends.  We don't NEED you to take us out because no one else will.  We don't NEED you to hit on us when we are dancing because you feel you are doing us a public service.  We have friends and family, spouces and significant others, children and grandchildren.  So be our friend because you like us - not because we are a charity case.

10)We have feelings too.
  They aren't buried under our flesh, they are right on top, like everyone else.  We hear what you say.  We see what you show us.  We know that you don't think we're good enough because we don't look like the LEAST COMMON human being on the planet.  And we deserve respect.  Don't assume we are on a diet, trying to lose weight, think we are flawed because we are large.  We don't.  We are trying to love ourselves, and the more you love us, the easier that is.  Love us unconditionally, as we do you.  It's the only way to make the world a happier place.


  Ok - I have 4 or 5 more that I can think of already - maybe there will be a part 3 eventually - feel free to add your own in the comments.  And pass it on.  To those who need the education and those who need the support.  And remember - love yourself wholly, no one else can until you do.

1)  We don't keep a skinny person in our closet. 
  What does this mean in reality?  It means that when we get up and get dressed in the morning, we don't have someone who is a size 2, or even a size 10, hidden away to pull out and stand next to so we can see what society has decided we "should" look like.  We see ourselves.  As we are.  Our positives and negatives.  Just the same as everyone else does.

2)  We don't subsist on Big Macs and ice cream.
  I know it makes it all easier for thin people to just assume that fat peopole stuff their faces daily with whatever food comes withing reach of their hands - but guess what?  We don't.  There are some of us, sure, who eat poorly.  But there are some skinny people who eat poorly as well. There are some of us who eat "more thain there daily allowance" - guess what?  I have seen someone who weighs 110 pounds pack in 2 burgers, fries and a milkshake. 

3)  We don't sit on the couch watching Maury and eating all day.
  We have lives and jobs, just like skinny people.  We are Mothers and Fathers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, secretaries, taxi drivers, cooks, waitresses, artists, musicians and actors.  Just like skinny people.

4)  We have muscles.
  I have always been fat.  When I was in my early 20's, a friend I had known since high school jokingly grabbed my calf, then paused and squeezed it.  He looked up in amazement at me - "Wow!  It's so hard! "  I wanted to say = well DUH - so is YOUR calf.  Then realized he had assumed all the large parts of me were soft and jiggly.  Well - we're not.  We all have a muscle base to carry our frame.  I am no shrinking violet, dainty and gentle - I am strong and active and quite happy to let people know that.  So are most all of the fat people I know.  I know more lazy skinny people than I do fat people.

5) We don't want to wear mu-mu's, but we often have to.
  Fat people are often picked on for their clothing.  But how would you like to have only 3 places, literally, that you could go try clothes on at and 2 of them are seriously expensive?Now - if you are a moderatly fat person - size 14-22 - you can go a LOT of places, but even so, they think all we want are tank dresses and polyester.  We actually would love to dress like normal people.  But unless you sew, you can rarely find things that are like what everyone else is wearing without it being seriously expensive.

is the first meeting of the Valley Grind Cafe Evening Book Club (that's the VGCEBC for short!!).  It's from 7-8pm and we would LOVE a huge group!  Come on down!

Not any special sort  of Sunday, just Sunday.  One child is watching Pokemon (and I HATE Chimchar, who is the main character today!!), one is on his PC playing INsane Aquarium, hubby is in the shower, and the griddle is heating to cook the pancakes I just whipped up.  I am quite content.  ALl is good in the world of Ann.  School's almost over and we rushing headlong into the last 2 weeks.  We are going to Knoebel's in a week, and I can't wait, plus we have a birthday party practically every weekend this month! 

  Thanks, to all of my friends, who are out there thinking of me.  I appreciate it. :)