Fat Tuesday

Here it is already: Fat Tuesday. The year of 2006 has been going by quickly. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday which means here comes another Lenten season that I'm not ready for. The fasting, the no meat on Fridays, and the confessions!

This year for Lent I decided to give up the wonderful vending machine at work. Most times I refrain from buying from it, but recently my favorite cookies in the whole wide world have been for sale: Keeber Fudge Stripe. YUM! I love those cookies! At work this morning, I wanted to go vending machine free today, but I couldn't. The fudge stripe cookies were stocked in the machine. So I broke down and put the 65 cents into the machine and eat the cookies. So delicious! Goodbye fudge stripe cookies. I'll see you after Easter.

After running 4 miles on my treadmill tonight, I was thinking of what to make for dinner. My original thought was to have canned ravioli. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to get something else for dinner. Today is Fat Tuesday and I'm supposed to eat a lot because tomorrow I have to fast. I decided to get a Hot-N-Ready, an order of Crazy Bread and sauce from Little Caesars. I had a couple pieces of pizza, bread and now I'm full. Tomorrow, I can't eat the cold pizza because of the pepperoni: no meat on Ash Wednesday. I could always pick off the pepperoni, but I won't. I'll just have to stay away from my refrigerator or I'll just ask my husband to eat the pizza, because if he doesn't I know it will be very difficult to keep away from the leftovers.

Marilyn

These are thoughts I had after recently reading the books The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe by Donald H. Wolfe and Marilyn: The Last Take by Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham. Both of these books said the Marilyn Monroe did not die from an overdose, she was murdered.

Marilyn had affairs with the Kennedy brothers, John and Robert. When John stopped seeing Marilyn, she turned to Robert. Both books stated that Robert got upset with Marilyn because she couldn't keep up with current events during their conversations. That led her to write everything down in notebooks, including government secrets. When Robert broke it off with Marilyn, Robert's brother-in-law, Peter Lawford was forced to break the news to her. Marilyn wanted Robert to personally give her a reason why he stopped seeing her. If she didn't get a reason from Robert, she was going to hold a press conference to expose everything written in her notebooks. That obviously scared the Kennedy administration.

The night she died, Peter, Robert and a doctor were pulled over by a police officer near Marilyn's house because they were speeding. The officer let them go only with a warning. A couple of hours later Marilyn was "found" laying on the bed, face down, holding the phone. Her filing cabinet locks were picked and all of her notebooks and FOX paperwork was gone. Marilyn's death is said to be the biggest cover-up in Hollywood. If the Kennedy's didn't want Marilyn to go public with her notebooks, why didn't they just steal the notebooks and destroy them? If they just stole the notebooks and Marilyn went public about the affairs and the secrets, do you think the press would have believed her? She wouldn't have the proof to back up her claims. By killing her and covering their tracks by making it look like an overdose was the only way to silence her forever. With Marilyn dead and her notebooks destroyed, the Kennedy secrets were safe.

Its a shame that she died so young. She was beautiful and a great actress. Who knows what she could have accomplished if she had more time.


Marilyn Monroe
June 1, 1926 - August 5, 1962

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham

Currently Reading:The Many Lives of Marilyn Monroe, Sarah Churchwell
Next Up: Cary Grant: The Lonely Heart, Charles Higham and Roy Moseley
On Hold: Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth Century America, Gary Laderman - currently on backorder.

Random things......

My husband finished painting the living room trim and started to nail it back onto the walls. I'm so excited! I can't wait to have my house back to normal again. I'll have to post some pictures when everything is hung on the walls and when the furniture is moved back.

Saturday, February 25 is my belated Valentine's Day. My husband and I both had to work February 14, so we decided that our makeup dinner would be the February 25. On Valentine's Day, we did exchange gifts. There was no way I could keep his gift hidden for another 11 days. I just wanted him to have it so much, a beautiful white casual shirt.

This year I started to notice a trend in high school athletes: sweatpants. When I was in high school almost 10 years ago, you wouldn't catch any of us in sweatpants. Sweatpants were sooooo 1980's. We wore windpants and so did the entire world. I hate sweatpants, I have always hated them and you'll never catch me in them. Just wearing them makes me feel like a slob and it means that I have just giving up (Thanks Seinfeld). Now its all the rage with the high school crowd. Probably in another 10 years the kiddies will be wearing windpants because sweatpants will be out again and they will say, "Sweatpants, that is so 2000".

I'm a photographer so I see a lot of stuff that just makes me wonder. Why is it at volleyball and wrestling tournaments do parents bring a banner that reads "School's name and sport"? I see parents dragging them to every tournament to hang in on the bleachers. I just don't understand why someone would have paid money to make a banner. When I go to tournaments or any game, I have to bring back a program. The program usually lists what schools are participating. So, why is the banner needed? Is it for school pride? It is to show people that this team is playing? Whatever it is I'm sure the players aren't looking up in the stands for their school banner.

I taped the Project Runway Reunion show Wednesday and watched it Thursday after work. Heidi and Tim sure did talk to Santino a lot. Santino answered a bunch of questions. He talked the most on the reunion program. So does that give us a hint to who won the show or not? At the end of the program, they made Santino, Daniel V. and Chloe leave so they could ask the other designers who they wanted to win. I was surprised that Nick chose Santino to win because they butted heads quite a bit during the show. I hope on March 8, Santino will be declared the winner of Project Runway. I want Santino to win because he always took and chance and rarely played it safe. I hope that helped him for his runway show at Olympus Fashion Week.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe

Currently Reading: Marilyn: The Last Take, Peter Harry Brown and Patte B. Barham
Next Up:
On Hold: Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth Century America, Gary Laderman - currently on backorder.

Nap time

I get up for work around 4 am on the weekdays. Most nights I get a good night sleep. Sometimes I don't. Reasons for that are working late, playing on the computer, watching TV or talking with my husband. Since I get up so early, usually by 11 am, I'm ready for a nap. I would like to take one everyday, but that doesn't always happen. I thought today would be a good day to catch a nap, my husband went into work before noon and that's when I left work. I stopped at Little Caeser's for an Hot-N-Ready, an order of Crazy Bread and sauce. I went home, ate lunch and watched last night's episode of The Shield.

After lunch, I cleaned my dishes and sat on the couch to read my book. I read a couple of chapters and thought I could catch a nap for a half hour or so. I layed down to go to sleep and my dog Kelly, kept pawing me. When she paws me that means she wants to go outside. I got up and let her out and my other dog Blitzkrieg didn't want to go outside. Laying back down on the couch I started to drift off into sleep. About 15 minutes later, Blitzkrieg started barking. He loves to sit on the stairs, look out the windows and bark at anything that moves by the window. He wouldn't be quiet. I tried going back to sleep, but it was no good because my cell phone started ringing. A co-worker wanted to ask me a question, but before I answered he already knew the answer. After hanging up with him, my husband two-ways me over the NEXTEL. We talked for 5 minutes then he had to go back to work. Probably 20 minutes or so I received another call from a different co-worker curious about his assignment tonight.

I swear everyone, plus my dogs know when I'm trying to take a nap. When I'm laying on the couch that is when I receive most of my phone calls for the day. That is also when the dogs want to paw me or bark loudly over and over. Next time I try to take a nap, I'll lock the dogs in their pen and turn off my cell phone, maybe I'll be able to sleep longer then 15 minutes.

(Photo of Blitzkrieg and Kelly, they like to bark and paw me while trying to take a nap)

Word Cloud

I got this from MWGirl's blog. I thought it looked pretty neat. If you want to make one from the text found in your blog go here.

Living room repairs

Tuesday will mark one week that my living room/entry way has been in the process of being repaired. Tomorrow the construction guy is coming back to sand the drywall. Finally! That means that the ceiling and new wall will be ready to paint. That is very good for me. I'm the type of person who likes the house nice and tidy. With almost my entire living room in the dining room, that is not tidy.

Last week, I was so frustrated because I came home and the kitchen floor was dirty from the dogs tracking in dirt. I wanted to sweep the floor, so I grabbed a broom and swept it up. When I finished I needed the dust pan. I looked for it in the usual spot in the basement staircase, it wasn't there. I walked around the house several times. I looked in the porch, the basement, the living room and the dining room. It wasn't there. It finally got to me and I yelled, "Can't I just sweep the floor!" My husband was sleeping upstairs and that woke him up. I gave up on the dustpan and grabbed a magazine, that was my new dustpan. That really didn't work very well. After using the magazine, my husband came downstairs and said sorry the house is a mess. It is only for a while and by doing this we are improving our house. What can you say to that? I knew he was right, but I can't stand the mess and clutter.

Sunday, I was folding towels and the cabinet that they are stored in is in the dining room. Since all of the living room furniture is being stored in the dining room it is like a maze to just to get to the cabinet. First you have to walk around the love seat, squeeze into a narrow alley between the dining room table and the wall and then work your way around trim that is blocking the door and hanging off the table. All the while trying to get to the cabinet, knocking over trim and whatever else is laying on the table. GRRRRR! Can't I just put the towels away?

My husband is right. This new drywall and ceiling is improving our house but I want it back to normal. In my mind, a clean or tidy house is a happy house.

Did Santino advance to the final three with help?

An article in the New York Post today suggested maybe Santino was kept in Project Runway because he created drama. Is that true producers of Project Runway? Whatever the case is, thank you! Santino has made this season of Project Runway very interesting.

Random things......

Today at Daytona International Speedway was the Gatorade Duals. My favorite driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was in the first of two 150-mile qualifiers. Dale Jr finished third behind the winner, Elliott Sadler and Carl Edwards. On the final lap TNT, decided to show the lesser known drivers who were trying to race their way into the Daytona 500 on Sunday instead of showing the tight battle for the win. Good job TNT! Losers.

I had to tape Project Runway on Wednesday because I go to bed around 9 pm for work. I watched the tape today and found out Santino made it to Olympus Fashion Week. Well, I already knew that. I was just wondering why on the official website for Olympus Fashion Week did they show Santino, Chloe, Daniel and Kara? Kara, by the way, was sent home. I would like to see Santino win, just in my opinion.

Stuck upstairs

Today was the day that a construction company came to my house to rip down a four foot section of the living room wall. When my husband and I bought our house four years ago, we knew about the leaking in the living room. This winter during the heavy downpours of rain, not snow, the ceiling was really leaking bad. My husband and I knew we couldn't delay repair anymore.

I came home from work around 11 am or so and saw drywall missing. The wood behind the drywall was very wet, still. The construction guys said, down the road we might have to replace drywall on the second floor our of house. Great! Along with the drywall, we had the guys rip down our ceiling tiles in the living room and entry way as well. Bye Bye ugly tiles! Man, the previous owner must have been smoking crack when he picked that out. Besides the pattern being nasty, when he installed it, if you want to call it that, the tiles weren't even straight. Loser.
After lunch, the construction guys came back. That was time for me to go upstairs, check the internet and continue reading, The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe by Donald H. Wolfe. After reading five chapters, I was getting tired. I took a nap around 1:30 pm and woke up around 4 pm. I guess I couldn't sleep through all of the banging around downstairs.

I really want to go downstairs, but there is nowhere to go. The construction guys and my husband are working in the living room and the entryway. All of our furniture has taken over the dining room. There is only a small path leading to the bathroom and kitchen. Blitzkrieg and Kelly, our two German Shepherds are outside waiting to come back in. Now, I sit waiting at the computer desk upstairs. How much longer? I don't know.

Five years later........

I grew up a NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt fan. Five years ago on February 18, 2001; NASCAR's most popular driver Dale Earnhard died on the last lap of the Daytona 500. NASCAR.com has a nice Dale Earnhardt Tribute.

Photo Credit: NASCAR.com

Picture Frames and the AOSEPT search

After getting out of work this morning, I went to the craft store in town to pick up the two photographs that I had framed for an upcoming gallery show. This past Saturday, I went to the craft store to sign the matte's. I found out the frames were on sale starting on Monday, I decided to wait for the sale. I went back to the framing department and rang the bell for service. A guy that works in the framing department walked out of the backroom. I told him I needed to pick up my frames. He comes back and said that they weren't put together yet. He said he could do them in 10 minutes. I groaned and walked around the store for the next 10 minutes. I come back to the framing department and he is still not done with them. I wait and wait. Twenty minutes later he is finally done. It took him almost a half hour to frame two 12x16 frames! Mr. Framing employee, please don't quote me 10 minutes again to frame anything again because I know you can't do it.

After finishing up some work at home. I decided to go to Meijer to buy some groceries that we needed. I bought some milk, chips, Dial refill and garbage bags. After picking those up I had to go to the other side of the store to pick up AOSEPT Clean Care solution for my husband and me. I got in the eye care aisle and they were out. I didn't think anything of it, because it has happened before. So I took my cart to a cash register, paid and decided to drive to Wal-Mart to pick up the Clean Care.

I got to Wal-Mart's eye care aisle and they were out too. I asked a associate if they had anymore and she said they had about 10 and they just flew off the shelf. She told me K-Mart should have some. I left Wal-Mart and drove to K-Mart. K-Mart was the same as the other stores, none on the shelf. I was leaving K-Mart and was next to Country Market. I stopped to see if they had AOSEPT Clean Care. They didn't have any either. After leaving Country Market, I stopped at Rite Aide and Walgreen's. They were out as well. I decided to get another brand, I think I remember my eye doctor gave me some free samples of it before. But it just wasn't the same.

I drove to a total of seven stores and they were all out of AOSEPT Clean Care. What's up? I checked their website to see if they had any information on why no stores in Adrian had it on their shelves. Nothing! Hopefully whatever problem they had or are havingis fixed soon because I'm not a fan of change.

Books read in 2006

The Constant Gardener, John Le Carre
The American Way of Death Revisited, Jessica Mitford
Shopgirl, Steve Martin
The City of Falling Angels, John Berendt
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, John Berendt
Portrait of Myself, Margaret Bourke-White

Currently Reading: The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe, Donald H. Wolfe
Next Up:
On Hold: Rest in Peace: A Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Home in Twentieth Century America, Gary Laderman - currently on backorder.

Olympus Fashion Week

Spoiler - If you're watching Project Runway and don't want to ruin the season finale, stop reading.

Twice a year during Olympus Fashion Week, I like going to the official website to look at the designers clothes. This week while looking through the schedule I found Project Runway. I just had to know who made it to the final three. I had to know if Santino made it. I was pleasantly surprised. The page showed four designers: Santino, Chloe, Kara and Daniel V. I thought the final outcome of everyone looked really good. Now, I can't wait to see the rest of their collections.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

Today's edition of And now a random fact about Chuck Norris....

Chuck Norris can get soup from the soup nazi on the first try.

Thanks 4Q.cc

Random things......

Since my book is still on backorder, I had to go to the County Library today. I brought home three books. The book that I'm reading now is Portrait of Myself by Margaret Bourke-White, my favorite photographer, and two Marilyn Monroe books. Both Monroe books are about her last weeks before she died. I swear that I already read one of them, but I'll read it again. Well getting back to the book by Bourke-White. I remember checking it out in college, but I didn't read it. I skimmed the book looking for information so I could write a paper about her. Today while flipping through the pages, I found a sticky note on a page. On the sticky note was my handwriting. I put that sticky in the book about 8 years ago when I checked out the book for my Intro to Photography class. It's sad that no one has checked that book out in 8 years.

Last night while printing my contact sheets of a girls volleyball game that I photographed I wanted to check my email. I logged on and a page popped up saying that due to an internal problem I couldn't check my email. I thought it was just the computer at the office. I went home and tried again. No luck, the same screen appeared at my house. This morning I went to work and tried my email. It was back to normal and I was checking it all morning long. Around 10 am, I got home and wanted to check my email. I logged in and the screen said the page cannot be displayed. Since 10 am I haven't been able to check my email. GRRRR!! Very frustrating!

My husband left today for a conference up near Saginaw, MI. Since he's gone for a couple of days that gave me the opportunity to drive back down to Toledo, OH to my new favorite store, The Men's Warehouse. When I walked into the store, I knew exactly what I wanted and I had the sizes that I needed. I bought him two items but I really wanted to get three. I bought him a multi striped blue sports jacket and a shirt. I really wanted to buy him a pair of denim jeans to go with the outfit. Last week when we were picking up his suits, he said that he liked the outfit expect for the jeans. He doesn't like them because he hates dark jeans. The associate that put that outfit together for us a couple of weeks ago told me that dark jeans do look best with the outfit. I have a while yet, his birthday is in a couple of months. Who knows, I could still buy the jeans and make him wear them.


Margaret Bourke-White photo from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Today's edition of And now a random fact about Chuck Norris....

Everytime Chuck Norris leaves a room full of people the song There Goes My Hero starts playing out of no where.

Thanks 4Q.cc

Fire and the waiting game

Today, a reporter and myself went to go cover a machine shop fire. It was a big fire. Three or four fire departments came to put it out. I took many photographs of the fire and I figured I was done. The fire was mostly out, now white smoke was filling the sky. The reporter that was with me needed to talk to a fire chief. Sounds simple right? The fire chief he needed was still helping out with the fire. While waiting for him, my ears were getting cold. I decided to go talk to the Sheriff Deputy I knew at was at the scene. He said I could sit in the backseat and warm up. About 5 or 10 minutes later, I got out of the car and got more pictures of what was left of the shop. The reporter I was with still had no luck getting ahold of the fire chief. While the reporter was waiting I decided to play with my camera and take pictures of myself in the hubcap reflection of one of the pumper firetrucks. I thought the picture turned out alright. What a beautiful blue sky.

Ralph splits

I found you in 1993. You were a very bad man, but I still liked
you anyway. I watched your every move and knew you were
great. No, I'm not a stalker. In 1993 Ralph Fiennes portrayed Amon Goeth, commandant of the Nazi concentration camp at Plaszow, in Schindler's List. I love that movie. I could watch it everyday because of Ralph. Last weekend, I decided Saturday night would be Ralph Fiennes night. All night long, I would watch his movies. I got through The End of the Affair with no problems. After that was over I decided on The English Patient. Halfway during the movie, the sandman got me. I finished watching the movie Sunday morning. Ralph, brillant as usual.

Earlier this week Ralph Fiennes split with his long time girlfriend Francesca Annis. You can read about it here. Ralph now that your single, you can be my boyfriend. I'm sure my husband wouldn't mind. He knows I already have about 4 pretend boyfriends. One more wouldn't hurt right?