SpringTime

Finally, it is here. Spring has sprung and I hope that it lasts. Here in the Midwest it has been cold and rainy and a few snowflakes from time to time. My favorite seasons are spring and fall because of the warm temps, but not too hot. I am probably one of the few people who doesn't like summer. But for me, it is because of the heat and humidity. We have started taking vacations during the cooler weather and we have been

delighted with the beauty of each season in different areas of the US. I love the springtime flowers in the Florida Panhandle and the orange and red leaves in Michigan in the fall. I am a fibromyalgia sufferer and hot weather is not my friend nor is extreme sunlight. This now limits the kind of vacations I take and the activities that I can do. I will be posting articles about fibromyalgia from time to time and also my own insights about the disease.

Twitterbug

I have definitely caught the Twitterbug. It is kind of like the flu. If you are exposed to it, you will catch it. I like it for a lot of reasons. I can chat with other Twitterers about American Idol, DWTS, cats, blogging, what kind of day it is, actually anything that I want to. My favorite people are the cat and dog people, as we all know most pet owners are good people and love and take care of their pets. They are kind to others and have interesting things to say, even if they are speaking for their pets :). It is a good way to get connected and make new friends.

The Elton John Show And My Seat Buddies

You know now that I saw the Elton John Show in Las Vegas. I was seated next to the woman who offered the free ticket. She was from Ohio and had been in Vegas for ten days existing on her comps. She had left her husband behind and was having a great time by herself. Sitting to her left were two men who when they entered into our row and seeing that we were sitting together assumed we were friends and proceeded to talk to us like we were all the best of friends and known each other forever. They introduced themselves and I swear they tried to hit on us. Now for the people who don't know me and what I look like I am fairly tall and definitely not slender by any means. Put it this way, I no longer skinny dip, I chunky dunk. Ohio lady was short and about as wide as she was tall and reminded me of a bag lady. The two men looked like Mutt and Jeff. One tall and skinny and the other one lets say for politeness sake, very.......robust. Mutt filled his seat and half of Ohio lady's seat which in turn pushed her over into about half of my seat which in turn put me into half of the next seat. After Mutt and Jeff arrived a man entered our row to my right and sat two seats from me. The first thing he announced was that by the time the show was over, we would all wish that we weren't seated near him. He was loud and drunk and went on and on about how the bartender had cut him off and how he couldn't understand why?! We all figured it out very quickly. I will call him drunk guy #1. Now enters the man who sat next to me holding a glass beer bottle. Thank God he was skinny! He nodded off during the show, but never did snore. I was just waiting for the bottle to fall out of his hand and break into a million pieces. Finally drunk guy #1 reached over and removed the bottle from his hand which woke up drunk guy #2. He sat there a minute and then looked at drunk guy #1 and then looked at me and said "I've been to this show about 6 times and it gets better every time I come." As far as I could see the only thing he saw of this show was the ceiling as his head was leaning back and looking up the whole time. I felt like I got more than my money's worth. The show around me was ever bit as interesting as the one on the stage. If anyone can relate, please leave a comment.

Las Vegas & Elton John For Free

This past November my husband and daughter and I went to Las Vegas for 4 days. We had the opportunity to stay and eat at Caesars Palace for free, so of course we took that offer. There are so many things to do and see at Caesars Palace that you could never leave the building for days and not have a lack of things to see or do. Our trip was relatively free except for plane fare and gambling. I was the only one who won enough to brag about. I won a jackpot the 1st day and got a royal flush on the last day. Yeah for me! But my biggest delight was to see Elton John's show with his red piano. Oh yeah, I got to see that for free too! Of all the music stars that I would like to see perform in my lifetime, Elton John was at the top of my list. The show didn't disappoint either. It was as bawdy, sexy, colorful and as crude as you might expect and more. One thing I realized about 5 minutes in to the show was that he sounds even better singing live. He talked a lot to the audience and spoke of Celine Dion's show being there before his. He did nothing except praise her over and over and refer to her as "the skinny bitch" a hundred times. He was comparing himself to her and him not being skinny at all. The singing and the show was awesome beyond description. I would see it again in a New York minute. My next blog will be about the colorful characters that I had the pleasure to be seated by.

My Dad, Me & The Toy Store

When I was very young my dad drove a milk truck for a living. He drove from farm to farm and loaded milk that the farmers had milked from their cows that morning. I was given the pleasure to ride along on those journeys from time to time. It was fun because I got to visit with other kids and see a lot of baby animals and the farm wives would usually give me candy or a treat. After he was finished with each farm he would then drive to a large dairy in town to empty his truck. One day on the way home we stopped at a toy store. The name was Koehlinger's and I got to choose a toy. Now this was my only trip that I can ever recall to a toy store. I don't recall much about what was there to choose from, but I chose a very colorful metal xylophone. Why did I choose that you say? Were there no dolls or cute little girl things? Why wasn't I told that I would irritate the crap out of everyone within hearing distance? I don't know, but I must have fell in love with it at first sight and apparently my dad must have loved me too.

Mothers and Daughters

Mothers and daughters aren't we a funny combination at times? Sometimes we are all loving, caring, happy and enjoying each other. And then there are times when we look at each other and say to ourselves, do I know that person? Our daughters go from wanting to be with us constantly when they are young and being proud to show us off, then to being embarrassed and pretending they don't know us when their peers are around in their teenage years. When they move into the 20's and 30's there begins a new time of growth that at times can be very tedious at best. The mother wants to still have a say in the daughter's life and wants her daughter's life to be happy and fulfilled and have all the best that life has to offer. The daughter wants to be independent and feels that she has learned all that she needs to know from you by now. But in fact, we never do stop learning from each other, ever. I see in my daughter the strengths and desires that I didn't have at that age. Sometimes I yearn to go back to that time. But I can't, so I just go on learning how to be my own age and try to cope with that.

As I Sit Here Today

As I sit here today I find myself thinking about who will win American Idol this year. Now that may not sound so unusual except that I am almost 60 and I suppose that I should have deeper thoughts, but no, today my thoughts are on American Idol. I have found myself voting after each show, predicting who will go home (and I have been right almost ever time, thank you very much!) I seem to be so consumed that my daughter thinks that I need to get a life. She is right I do. So now I will find something else to obsess about, and also American Idol!