Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
Mystery Solved and Other Thoughts
OK – so it looks like I have been in a tizzy for about 2 weeks for NO REASON – I thought I was missing out on great things my fellow Sanford bloggers Amy, Jay, and Stacey were writing that I couldn’t see….. I was all excited just now when I saw that Amy had a new post and I could actually see it now that I have the WordPress Blog Surfer feature…………..I thought everything was fixed!! But, there was still nothing between today’s and the August 27th post! I left Amy a comment and she confirmed – no post since August 27th!!! The feature on Blogger that tells if there is a new post LIED TO ME!!!! Uugghh!!!! I can only assume that the other two were the same Blogger lie……I feel so betrayed!!! ha-ha That doesn’t explain the problem my Mom had with her link to my blog a while back (which lead me to believe I was having the same problem and the reason I was sure it was something wrong with my links), but her’s was probably a one-off thing cause I was able to fix her’s by having her try using a different link and then refreshing her old link!
So – mystery solved!!!
I am actually really happy that it (whatever “it” was) happened cause it pushed me to make the switch and I am so much happier with WordPress than I was with Blogger…..and don’t you just love the picture at the top of my page? WordPress has so much nicer layout designs – I loved the one I had on Blogger, too – I have a thing for lighthouses – but that was the only one that had any character to it at all!! This one is so soothing and calming and pretty!
I didn’t get to a movie this afternoon……I just couldn’t decide which one to go see and I was feeling all lazy and sleepy, so I just curled up with the girls and relaxed and napped and vegged out watching LifeTime movies and did absolutely nothing!! My best friends came over to have lunch to help me through all the left overs from yesterday’s party – they were on their way to Myrtle Beach and decided to come have lunch here instead of going to the trouble at home or eating out — I’m glad they did!!!! They were at the party for a little while yesterday, so they knew what I had here to eat, so it was a no-brainer for them!
The Emmy’s are on tonight – so is Army Wives! Guess I’ll be watching Army Wives when it reruns tomorrow night! But, that is at the same time as All My Children on SoapNet, so I’d better remember to set my recorder for All My Children at the regular ABC time tomorrow afternoon! Man, for someone who doesn’t really watch a lot of TV – it tends to just be “on” and I flip channels a lot – I sure have a couple of days this week that need to be juggled!!!
BTW – your’s truly will be on “Live at 9” – Charter Cable channel 16 – at 9:00 on Tuesday night talking about CIS and the upcoming Gala! Check us out!
I was really craving a blueberry bagel this morning – I thought long and hard about going to Bagels & Stuff, but just didn’t have the oomph to motivate myself to go out! I really need to get into a regular habit of stopping by there and getting some to have here for the weekends – I really love their bagels!!!
Yesterday, Today and Oh, By The Way
Let’s start with today and go to yesterday later…. I have a dilema! There are THREE movies out right now that I have been waiting for and really want to see ASAP! As I will expain later, yesterday was a little busy, so I didn’t have BOTH Sat and Sun available to go to the movies – which would have given me the opportunity to go see all three if it wasn’t so expensive to go to the movies! The movies are (in order of preference) Ghost Town with Greg Kinnear (I love Greg Kinnear), My Best Friend’s Girl with Kate Hudson (she is great in everything she does), and Burn After Reading with a large impressive cast including George Clooney and Brad Pitt (YUM). Ghost Town is my first choice, but it’s not playing in Sanford – I have to go to Southern Pines to see it (or Cary) – and if I go to Southern Pines (or Cary), I could see all three, but that would be a little much and more cash than I am willing to shell out in one day for movies……so, I will pick one and then see the others another weekend! Only problem there is that there are several that I am looking forward to coming out in the coming weeks – so I will end up in this same boat again!!!
Now, as for yesterday!!! It was a most enjoyable day!!! I got an idea in my head a few months ago to have a doggie birthday party for Megan and Amy when they turned two years old in mid August. I thought it would be cool to invite all the neat dogs I know to come and help them celebrate – and, of course, include their mommies and daddies, too! It would be a play date for the dogs and a picnic/get together for the adults. So, I mentioned it to a couple people to see what they thought about my idea and it sounded good to all of us! The original plan was to find a good date in mid August, but when I started planning it, some medical issues I was going through were coming to a peak and I wasn’t sure how that was going to shake out. Once that was resolved, I was in the middle of finalizing plans to reconfigure the front part of my fenced in back yard – the date for that kept getting pushed out and although it would have been fine to have the party either pre or post fence changes, I was concerned that they would be “in process” on the weekend we chose (which would have been a disaster), so I decided to wait until I knew the fence was going to be done! THEN – it was getting into Labor Day…………..it was beginning to look like this party was doomed to not happen!!! Also – it was now past Megan and Amy’s birthday, so it changed from a doggie birthday party to just a doggie play date party……we finally all agreed to a date and plans began!!! We had a trial run on Thurs evening with a couple dogs just to see how it looked like things would go. I discovered that Megan didn’t do so well with strange dogs in “her” yard and Amy was OK after a few minutes, but still seemed a little stressed. So, I decided that it would be way too stressful of an experience for them and I won’t deliberately put them through something that would be traumatic for them. They do GREAT with other dogs at Rae-Zor doggie day care and at other people’s homes, but not so much in their own yard…..so I decided to take them to Rae-Zor for the day and let them play and have an adventure there, instead of at the party! Otherwise, I was considering canceling the party, which I am so glad I didn’t!!
Katie, on the other hand, loves every dog and person she comes into contact with and I just knew she would take over being the perfect hostess and just love the whole thing!!! And she DID — she was right in her element all afternoon! It really made her extremely happy to have so many new friends to meet and kiss and play with!!!
There were 6 families with a total of 12 dogs invited to the doggie party – one family didn’t make it, one stopped in for a little while on their way to other plans – we ended up with 8 adults and 8 dogs for the majority of the party! It all started about 3:00 and turned out to be one of the best ideas I’ve had in a long time!!! The dogs all got along GREAT – they ran and ate treats and played ball and ate treats and played in the pool and ate treats and got a ton of attention from the adults and ate treats……did I mention there were treats? They each got a little gift bag with a ball, some chews, and some treats to take home with them! They had a BLAST!!! They were all so happy – wagging tales, playing, and minimal barking (my neighbors were probably happy for that when they noticed so many dogs in my yard). And, as for Katie — well, she was the Queen of the Ball — this was HER party — no doubt about it!!! And since the dogs all got along so well and pretty much entertained themselves, the adults were able to play with them some and also enjoy some conversations and food. It was a good time for all…..
After the party, I went to get Megan and Amy from Rae-Zor. Rae said they had a great time and played a lot and even got a pedicure (I asked that they clip their nails while they were there). They got home and sniffed every inch of the yard and me trying to figure out what happened here while they were off having an adventure of their own!!!
So – it turned out great for all concerned!! I was disappointed, though, that most of the pictures I took turned out blurry and that I didn’t get all the dogs captured in photos – not sure how I missed some of them, but I did….. ;( Here are a couple that paint a good picture of the theme for the day — dogs having fun!
OK – now for the “Oh, By The Way” part:
Katie, Megan, and Amy have been outside enjoying the cool morning in their yard. They were going nuts this morning – literally! There is a big black walnut tree just across the back fence that hangs over my shed. The nuts fall onto the roof of the shed and make a noise as they roll off the roof onto the ground. This time of year, they are falling pretty heavily! That also means that the squirrels are actively working to gather as many as they can to store away for the winter! On cool mornings like this, the squirrels are really into it and running all over the branches of the trees along my fence line. The girls go crazy in two directions — first, trying to get at the squirrels that are taunting them beyond their reach — second, chasing down the falling walnuts! They also crack open the hard shells trying to get the nuts out – it is funny to watch!
Gas prices are starting to go back down – the stock market is making its way back to a recovery from the major drop earlier in the week – the temperatures are starting to hang around that mid-high 70s mark – we’re just three weeks away from the CIS Gala on Oct 10th —- things are looking good!!!!
Ooppss – the girls see another squirrel – I’d better let them out before they have a melt down!
Issues….
I have been considering the move to WordPress for a while now, but the issue I was having lately was the one that pushed me to make the final decision. BUT – I found that it obviously wasn’t a “Blogger” thing because the move and entering in all new links to other blogs didn’t make the problem go away!
So – here is my issue – maybe someone can come up with a suggestion for me:
There are three blogs that came up on my Blogger blogroll as having new posts, but when I went to them, their blog was still showing an old post as the most current one AND they won’t show the title of their most recent post on my Blogger blogroll. Here is the situation:
– The first one it happened to was Amy Burns’ blog on WordPress – I show that she posted something new one week ago, but the last post I see when I go to her site is dated August 27th – “Melissa’s Wedding and the Biggest Cake Ever!”
– The next one it happened to was Stacey Craft – she is on Blogger – My Blogger blogroll had an update that she posted something new after Amy did, but the last one I see on her site is dated August 26th – “I often wonder how did I get here?”
– The last one (so far) that it has happened to was Jay Riley’s blog on WordPress – it looks like he posted something new 2 days ago, but the last one I see is dated August 27th – “I’ve Been Wiki’d!”
I had my Mom have the same problem with my blog – she kept looking for updates and finally asked me if I gave up on keeping it up. Of course, I didn’t, but she went over a week without seeing a new post! I had her try several things, but what finally worked was using the link in her Internet Explorer favorites instead of her AOL favorites. I’m thinking now, though, that it might have just been a coincidence that the issue was resolved by doing that!
I have tried several things — using my links in both IE and AOL, linking from my blog and from my favorites, typing the links in from scratch, using my desktop computer instead of my laptop, linking from a different computer that didn’t already have the link in the history, deleting and reentering the links, a suggestion that Joe Jon had about clicking on the header to get the most currently dated post, deleting my temp internet files, history, and cookies, sent a help note to Blogger to see if they knew what the problem was (no response – another reason I finally decided to switch), and now changing my blog service! NOTHING HAS WORKED!!
Can anyone help? I don’t want these (and maybe other) blogs to be lost to me forever!
Hello, WordPress!
Well, this is my first post on WordPress — all the other posts in this blog were originally written on my blog on Blogger. I transferred them all over here so that I can keep all my thoughts – past and future – in one place!
I had a lovely dinner with friends at the Down Home Buffet – I was really hungry, too – I hadn’t eaten since lunch yesterday! I did have a pack of peanut butter crackers about 9:00 am…. I wasn’t hungry last night or this morning – then, a meeting went through lunch, so I didn’t get out until 2:00 and decided that it was too late to eat lunch cause it would spoil my supper! By the time I got to eat tonight, I could have eaten the table and chairs and not bothered to fill a plate! ha-ha
Well – I have a ton to do in the morning, so I am going to go get some sleep!
What Day Is It???
I rarely pull up the blind over the kitchen sink – I usually just open the slats. But, I wanted to let some more sun in when I got home this afternoon, so I pulled on the cord to pull up the blind. It felt like it was caught on something or stuck — I pulled a little harder and the whole blind came crashing down into the sink!!! If it had just come out of the bracket, I could have put it back……but, no…….not my blind!!! It broke the brackets AND bent the top part that goes into the brackets when it hit the center divider on the sink AND the cord broke!!!! No fixing that blind!!!
I’ve been thinking about changing from Blogger to WordPress, but I’d hate to start all over again with a new blog and get my address out to everyone who has it! I won’t lose what I have here – I’ll leave it active and put my last post as an “I moved….” message directing people to my new address, so no problem there! I don’t know why I am hesitating — I’m comfortable with Blogger and I would have to learn a new system…….I don’t know…….I’ll have to think about it some more!!! I registered on WordPress and set up a shell — I’ll play with it a while and decide if I like it or not!
I have to review a book and two articles I read for a meeting tomorrow morning — I need to refresh my memory so that I can discuss them intelligently! I better get to it so that I can get to bed at a decent hour! Hey – what’d ya know – I remembered that TOMORROW is Friday and I need to prep for it! Woo Hoo! There’s hope for me, yet!
Myra’s – Just don’t get no better……
I went to Myra’s for dinner — she never ceases to amaze me! I went fully intending on having her absolutely wonderful meatloaf — I was craving it all day and would have been so disappointed if it wasn’t on the special board tonight! It was on the board, so I settled in and got ready to order it! Then, I was told that Myra said she knows how much I like the meatloaf, but that I should really try the chicken parmesan. My response was that it has cheese on it and I’m allergic to cheese, so that was out – I went ahead and ordered my meatloaf! Then she said she could make it without the cheese and it came with spaghetti and meat sauce and a salad — hhhmmm – that sounded good! So, I thought for a minute and changed my order! I had the chicken parmesan with no cheese – of course, once we decided to leave the cheese off it wasn’t really chicken parmesan anymore – it was chicken over spaghetti with meat sauce! ha-ha But, it was sooooooooooooooo good!!! And was WAY too much to eat – I could only finish about 1/2 of it and even that didn’t help save room for dessert!!! And — Myra put a small piece of meatloaf on the side so I wouldn’t go into meatloaf DTs – just a couple bites, but it was enough to satisfy my need for a meatloaf fix!!! ha-ha
Thoughts for Tuesday and a Belated Movie Review
I realized that I never posted a review for “Traitor” — I went to see it a couple weekends ago (not sure exactly when, but I think it was the first or second week it was out). Since it is so belated, I won’t go into a ton of detail, but I am going to take the time to post a brief review now — better late than never!! This isn’t the type of movie I would normally go to, but it was intriguing to me, so I went! I wasn’t sorry — it was actually quite good! There were some spots that I wished it would move on, but the story was good, the acting was GREAT (Don Cheadle was amazing), and they refrained from over doing it on the blood and guts! It was scary to think that these types of things actually happen all over the world – terrorism is a major threat! Anyway — I found this movie to be very interesting and exciting — I really enjoyed it!!!
I went to CCCC tonight to have my friend, Christy, color/cut my hair! I gave her a vague description of what I thought I wanted and she gave me a GREAT cut!!! Christy used to work with me and left about a year ago for a great job with the state. I miss seeing her and like to use getting my hair done as a good excuse to spend some time with her (not that I need an excuse, but it helps!) Christy is really good at hair — she’s in school right now, but is about ready to finish up! I love the cut she gave me tonight!
I have three sleepy cuddle-bugs on my hands tonight!!! I am sitting in the middle of the couch using the laptop on the coffee table — I have Katie sprawled out on my left, snoring like a freight train — I have Amy curled up on my right with her paw on my leg so I can’t sneak off while she sleeps — and I have Megan balanced on the back of the couch directly behind me – if I lean back, she will make a perfect doggie shawl around my shoulders!!!
Movies I am looking forward to opening:
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Night in Rodanthe – Richard Gere and Diane Lane – from the writer of The Notebook and Message In A Bottle – both major favorites of mine!
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Beverly Hills Chihuahua – live talking dogs – looks GREAT!!
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W – Josh Brolin as George W. Bush
I am really looking forward to Saturday — I am having a little get-together that promises to be a lot of fun and the weather looks like it is going to cooperate – in fact, it looks like Saturday is going to be very pleasant, in deed!!!
Guess that’s it for now — hopefully, I can get some sleep tonight — I have been having some pretty serious insomnia for about a week now……..
Movie Review – The Women
Ding, ding, ding — Chick Flick Alert!!! Guys, you probably won’t like this movie! I usually don’t jump to that conclusion – usually, most chick flicks make great date movies and there is generally something that the guys can relate to, as well. But, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that this one may not fall into that category!
With that said — this is a PERFECT “Girls Night Out” movie! Ladies – leave the guys home to take care of the kids or have a poker night, call as many of your female friends as you can get together, and go see this movie! I think the more friends that go see it together, the more fun you’ll have watching it!
I have been waiting for this movie and it did not disappoint!!! I saw it at the Saturday matinee and the theater had several women – no men – laughing and enjoying the movie! Everyone left talking about how much they liked it!
How could you go wrong with the top notch cast: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Debra Messing, and Jada Pinkett Smith as four women who have been best friends for years; Eva Mendes as the girl at the perfume counter at Saks Fifth Avenue in NYC who is having an affair with Meg Ryan’s character’s husband; Candace Bergen as Meg Ryan’s mother and Cloris Leachman as her housekeeper; and cameo appearances by Bette Midler and Carrie Fisher. I had heard that it was an “all women” cast, but still expected to see glimpses of some male characters – the husband or at least some guys in the background in crowd shots. But, no — there wasn’t so much as a male silhouette!!!
I won’t go into the story – I alluded to it already and the promotions provide more info. Instead, I want to write about what the movie was “about”…..it is about the strong bonds of true female friendships and how those relationships are not perfect! They will have their ups and downs, but if the friendship is true, they will always eventually forgive and find their way back to each other! It is about the importance of self esteem and being true to yourself! It is about being yourself and knowing what that means and living to develop that – regardless of what others may think!
And it sends an important message about accepting personal imperfections: In an early scene, Annette Bening is approached by a sales girl at Saks to try a sample of wrinkle prevention cream and Annette just walks on past her saying “this is my face – deal with it!” But more importantly, it deals with young girls who think they need to look like super models – Meg Ryan’s 11 year old daughter is lovely and thin, but she is obsessed with thinking she is fat! Her mother tries to tell her that she is lovely and not fat, but what pre-teen listens to their mother? She counts points and Annette Bening’s character finds out that she is smoking to help her keep from eating! So, of course, she tells her that she is perfect and lovely and she shouldn’t think she is fat. The girl tells her that she just wants to look like the models in her magazine (Annette plays a fashion magazine publisher)! But, Annette looks at her with a dry expression and says “Honey, no one looks like they do! THEY don’t even look like they do! They are so airbrushed and touched up….”
It is funny – very funny! There are some wonderful one-liners – my favorites are ones that I wouldn’t share here (but if you’re interested, ask me when you see me……he-he-he)!
So – you see why I don’t think guys will find anything to relate to — leave them home and take a few girl friends and enjoy a good laugh!
White Walls
I bought my house almost 5 years ago. It was fairly new when I bought it, so there wasn’t a lot that needed to be done, but I did have some things I knew I would want to change. I wasn’t crazy about the beige carpet all through or the linoleum in the kitchen and bathrooms. Changing them would be a big expense and they weren’t horrible, so I decided to wait and do them later. Also – every wall in the house is WHITE! I always thought I would like white walls – clean, bright looking rooms! But, when I saw the rooms with nothing in them and all those blinding white walls staring at me, I knew I was going to need to paint. But, the question was – what color? I gave it a lot of thought and decided to just move in and see what adding color with furniture and accents would do and really think about what I want to do with each room. So, I moved in with the white walls.
When I got settled in, my priorities changed – I wanted a house with a fenced in back yard and an attached garage. I couldn’t find a house I liked with BOTH, so I decided to settle for a garage cause putting in a fence would be easier than adding a garage! So, my first priority was the fence and then some landscaping. And the walls remained white!!!
I kept the desire to paint the walls on my radar. I have avoided putting a lot of things on the walls so that when I am ready to paint, I won’t have to take a bunch of stuff down and then re-hang it all – I have some stuff up, but not a lot! And every year it is put it on my list of things I want to accomplish that year…………but other things keep getting moved up on the priority list!
I have replaced the carpeting with wood flooring in the living room, foyer, and down the hallway. I have replaced the linoleum with dura-ceramic tiles in the kitchen and guest bathroom. I have replaced the white appliances with stainless steel appliances. But the walls are still white!!!
The original reason for waiting was that I really didn’t know what I wanted to do with the walls – I wanted to live there and see my “stuff” in it before I decided on colors. That is no longer the issue – it didn’t take me long to decide on colors and what I wanted to do! Now, the “excuses” I come up with every time I get ready to do it are:
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“I should wait until spring (or fall) when the weather is nice enough to open all the windows and keep down the new paint smell” — then, when the nicer weather comes, I decide to do stuff outside to get it done before it gets hot (or cold)!
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“There is so much heavy furniture to move, I’ll need to wait until I can get someone to help me” — then never actually ask the friends who would gladly help!
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“I have 9 foot ceilings and the ladders I would need to climb to reach that high would be higher than my comfort zone for heights – I should get quotes to see how much it will cost to just hire someone to do it” — then the next excuse quickly follows…
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“If I hire someone who will just come in and get it all done so I can stay off ladders and not bother someone to help me move furniture, it will cost me a fortune!” — then I hear of people who will do it reasonably, but I never call them for a quote!
Next spring, I am definitely getting a quote and having someone come in and paint it all at once and be done with it……….but, that will depend on whether or not it will cost a fortune and what other projects may need to be done first — after all, I’ve lived with them this long……
Uugghh — I guess I’m doomed to have white walls FOREVER!!! I should have just got it over with before I moved in!
Best News of the Day!!!
It appears that the Durham County Commissioners became heroes for the many dogs who are left chained to trees by their owners. The passed a sweeping ban on the tethering of dogs that will take effect in 2010. The only sad part is that they have to allow the 15 month educational period before they can fully implement the ban, but I understand that it can’t happen over night. I applaud the Durham Commissioners and hope that Lee County Commissioners will move in the same direction – ASAP!!!
If you have read this blog at all over the past year or so, it is no secret that I am a dog lover! I am a huge supporter of rescuing dogs who, without intervention, would be doomed to live a life not fit for a rat! I have three of those of my own – Katie, Megan, and Amy – and up until a little over a year ago, I had another rescue – Puddles – who was my pampered princess for over 16 years! I have a long history of taking in strays and loving them! I would have a house full of dogs, if I thought I could give them all the individual love and attention that they deserve, but for now, three is my limit!
I get sick to my stomach when I see a dog tied to a tree or the side of the house and no one around to give them the attention they deserve! Or worse, yet – when they don’t even get their basic need for shelter and water met and they are neglected to the point of shameless abuse! Tethering just makes a dog frustrated and unruly. I have never understood why someone would make the effort to get a dog and then tie them to a tree and only interact with them when they take them a bowl of food once or twice a day!
I know that not everyone who tethers a dog is guilty of the level of abuse and neglect that prompts the need for a ban such as this one, but it happens more than most people want to know! I do like the stipulation that the Durham Commissioners made to allow tethering when a responsible adult is within eye sight of the dog. That allows for people who have dogs that live in their homes and are loved and cared for, but can’t have the luxury of a fenced in area for their pets – either because of cost or restrictions where they live. They can walk the dogs on a leash, but if they are out doing yard work or something, a tether in certain conditions allows the dog to be out there with them and remain safe from wandering off and getting hit by a car or lost. That is good!
If you make a dog a part of your family, they will give you so much more in return! Give them a way to run and play safely, let them in your house and your heart. Right now, two of my dogs are running around their fenced in back yard playing safely with each other and the third one is laying next to me on the couch with her head on my lap while I am typing this!
OK – so maybe I go a little over the top when it comes to the way I treat my dogs – they are treated like children, live in my house, sleep in my bed, and I am shocked when they actually act like dogs! ha-ha BUT – my point is: If you don’t want to invest time, love, and companionship to a dog — don’t get one!!!! What is the point of having a dog that is tied to a tree and not a part of your life? Be a responsible pet owner — love your pets — they will love you back 1000 fold!!! I promise you!!!
Sorry for the soap box — but I am obviously very passionate about this and was so elated to read about Durham’s ban and the editorial by the Herald’s Editorial Board that I had to write a comment — and I just couldn’t stop my fingers from rambling on about it!!!
Now — go have a great day — I know I will………and be sure to hug a dog!
Kim's Thoughts 
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