Cookies and Crapola - Madness for Week 8

Madness - as in losing my mind, wondering what the hell it is I'm thinking most of the time
Although if I wonder maybe I'm not mad, just odd

Stress can do strange things to a person

I'm tired

If my ship ever does come in I'll be stuck at the RR crossing on my way to the airport

Every time I get in the car I want to run away

Fly away

Swim away

I'm buried beneath worry over the cats - and money, and family, and healthcare, and ...

There's so much to think about I get foggy

Ready to hang myself

Or at least wave a white flag

As I go around and around looking for the bright spots

So that's my story at the moment

Siren is doing well, he has responded to his meds and resumed his normal behavior

Isadora is going back to the vet today for more tests. She is not eating or drinking. She has not responded to her meds. She hides and when I manage to get her out she cries and shrinks away.

Cookies and Crapola - Week 7

two great people on my mind this week

Peaceful Journey to Dick Clark

The "Ambassador of American Music"

The Times Square Alliance has designated a part of their 2013 Wishing Wall for memories of Dick Clark.

pic from last year's wall


Each New Year's Eve all wishes and dreams and notes posted on the Wishing Wall are combined into the tons of confetti released at midnight.

You can participate from anywhere in the world by filling out a Wishing Wall form HERE

Another legend - Pat Summitt will now serve as head coach emeritus of Tennessee's Lady Vols basketball team after 38 years as their head coach. Pat is the winningest head coach in NCAA history - men or women - any division. She stepped down this week to concentrate on her health. She has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's.

Ms. Summitt will be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

When asked how his mother would cope with her latest challenge her son, also a basketball coach, said she would follow her own advice ...

"Left foot, right foot, breathe."

Cookies and Crapola - Week 6

A wee bit of crapola - I finally have an appointment for the primary care doc, it's May 10th. Yep - takes a month to get an appointment. Then comes the beginning of referrals and ...
Frustrating but so much better than nothing.

Happy 65th Birthday to David Letterman. He is, in my humble opinion, the best (other than Carson) and always will be. He brought irreverence to late night and was the first to do on the street skits and to include the audience as part of the joke.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker helped save his neighbor from a fire. Booker arrived home Thursday evening to discover the apartment next door on fire. A member of his security detail was already getting people out of the building when Booker was told that there was one woman still inside. Booker ran in with another one of his security people, found the woman in a back room and carried her out through a kitchen that was fully engulfed. The woman suffered burns on her back and is in the hospital. Booker was treated for smoke inhalation and burns on his hand and was released late that night.

Hope had a park play date with her best friend Daniel and one of the Moms took this photo. Daniel doesn't look thrilled to be hugged but Hope is clearly happy.

We're celebrating a Big Fat Greek Easter tomorrow with a house full of people.

Have a Good One Everyone.

Cookies and Crapola - Week 4

I have spared you from me all week but now ...

I'm afraid there is mostly crapola this week. As Jon Stewart would say - "let's take a closer look at this clusterfuck"

My entire big fat head is encased in infection. My sinuses, my gums; I think my hair might need to be shaved off to allow my head to bake in the sun.

For several weeks now my bad ankle, the one that needs surgery if I ever get to see a doctor, has been hurting more than usual. I have the support boot I got four years ago and I wear it on really bad days but I'm not even sure if it fits correctly anymore. I could be doing more harm than good.

And so I pamper it by walking at an odd tilt

Which of course causes all other sorts of issues.

I am so sick of myself. Cleaning, laundry, errands, taking care of the cats - they all become larger than they are.

I know to stay in the moment and I practice gratitude and humor yet sometimes ...

like an idiot ...

I get frustrated.

I'll bounce back ...

Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning to do afterward.

~ Kurt Vonnegut

Cookies and Crapola - Week 3

Let's start with a cookie in the oven. I think I have finally found a primary care physician. Now I just need to wait for the insurance company to confirm my choice, then wait for an appointment, then ...

After finally getting coverage for the first time in nearly 4 years it's so frustrating that it takes months to find a doctor.

It's not like healthcare is time sensitive or anything

I want to adopt Jennifer Lawrence. I didn't know much about the actress before the media circus for 'The Hunger Games' started. I saw her on the red carpet at some award show and thought she looked like every other tall blond actress in a tight dress. I was wrong.

She's incredibly funny and sweet and self-deprecating. She gave a wonderful interview to David Letterman. When asked about dealing with the red carpet she said she had to remember "to suck it all in" and was usually so nervous that she "acted like a chihuahua, shaking and peeing"

And what goes with cookies?
Ice cream of course

I said I could do it myself, I didn't say it would be easy

Have a good weekend everybody
Today is Chocolate Covered Raisin Day so have some, fruit is good for you.

Cookies and Crapola - Week 2

Let's see if I can keep up a regular post with a theme. I enjoyed sharing the bits and pieces of last week's first Cookies and Crapola post.

We'll start with a giant stinkin' heap of crapola. The Trump boys ...

These overly entitled miserable sacks of nothing but Daddy's money went on a killing spree while on an African safari. They slaughtered an elephant, a leopard, a buffalo and an alligator just to name a few of their kills. Then they posed with the dead animals for their "trophy shots". You can read about it  here  but I warn you, there are photos.

Here's a mix - for some it's cookies and for others it's crapola.

Where every single college team in the nation plays for a spot in a bracket that people walk around with close to their hearts. It goes on forever and ever and ever more. I like basketball, I even played basketball in school, but this is just too huge for me.

I missed my second tai chi chih class on Wednesday. It was nearly 80 degrees out and the classroom was not air conditioned and the windows don't open. I walked in, felt the heat and turned right around and left.

Outside I had this titillating conversation with the building manager.

"It's hot as hell in there"
"The air isn't turned on" he replies.
"I noticed that, hence the hot as hellness"
"Air comes on in May, it's March" he tells me smugly.
"Yes, but it's 80 degrees today"
He counters with "Yes, but it's March"

I walked away to my air conditioned car.

As always my cookie is Hope.

We played dress up in her room. She has a trunk full of costumes.

Have a good weekend everybody.

Cookies and Crapola

My new favorite saying. An elderly woman at the grocery introduced me to it when a ridiculous display of coffee started to fall on me as I gingerly tried to pull out a can. I muttered 'fuck this' under my breath and, as she breezed by me on her motorized chair, she laughed and said ' it's always cookies and crapola my dear'.

It's been a busy week. The last of the old office equipment was dragged out of the basement and taken to the recycling yard. After that I took Hope to the park ...

On Wednesday I was out all day in search of wellness. I finally got Medicare coverage and navigated the treacherous waters of supplementary coverage but I can't find a primary care physician. Cookies and Crapola.

On my way to an appointment I saw these lovely young people ...

They thought I was taking pictures to report them for some biking infraction. I told them I took their picture because they were so "fucking free and beautiful". That made them happy and taught them not to assume.

Wednesday evening the moon peeked at me as I went to my first Tai Chi Chih class. More about the class once I feel I know what I'm talking about.

May your weekend be more Cookies than Crapola.