THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER
Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!

OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

CBS, NBC , PBS, CNN, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, ‘It’s Not Easy Being Green.’ Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house where the news stations film the group singing, ‘We shall overcome.’ Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper’s sake.

Nancy Pelosi & John Kerry exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.

Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.

The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant’s food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant’s old house, crumbles around him because he doesn’t maintain it.

The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2010

Do you watch it?  OMG!  I love this show and have from the very beginning.  Mostly I think because my mom was always such a talented seamstress, and I always wished I could be like her.  I can’t, and really have NO desire to learn to sew or design clothes.  But this is such a fun show!

This widget is from the Lifetime website for Project Runway.  These are my top three picks of the contestants this season.  Who do you like?

One of the cute blogs that I follow had this  post today.  It’s an interview to get to know her better and it’s part of the 32nd st Blog Parade this week.  I liked it so much that I thought I’d join in.  So here is the link to parade and my answers to the questions.  Hope you enjoy!

1. What’s your favorite time of the day, and why?

My favorite time of day is around midnight, because I love the night.  I’m a night owl, and it’s quiet, cool, and it’s a beautiful time of day.
2. If health wasn’t an issue, what food could you live off of?

Pizza… definitely pizza, it’s my favorite.  And with my gall stones right now, I can hardly ever eat it (though I do anyway.  LOL!)
3. If you could have one wish granted (besides wishing for more wishes), what would it be?

To win the WSOP Main Event.  Becuase I love playing poker, I’d be the first woman to ever win, and I’d be a millionairess!

4. What’s one thing that you get teased about a lot?

The fact that I can’t eat or drink anything without making a mess.  LOL!  All my shirts have stains on the front, usually from my coffee… it’s my “eating” and “drinking problem”.

5. If you could choose one movie, book, or TV show to spend your life in, which would you pick? What type of character would you be?

Wow, this is harder than it looks to answer.  I’ve read alot of great books, and have seen a lot of great movies… but most of the movies & tv shows I watch and the books  I read are science fiction, crime dramas, or fantasy!   Not sure I would REALLY want to live my life in them.  But I guess if I had to pick one, it would probably be Star Wars and of course I’d be a Jedi.  I’ve had more dreams about that than anything else, so that makes the most sense.  Maybe the other one would be from the book Vampire Lestat and of course being a Vampire.  Or maybe from the books by Marion Zimmer Bradley the dark over novels and I”d be a psychic elven type creature.  LOL  see what I mean.

6. If you could have one talent that you don’t already have, what would it be?

Being able to figure out the math statistics of poker on the fly under pressure!  LOL!  It’s all about poker for me.

7.If money were no object, where would you go on vacation?

Australia!  I’ve always wanted to go there!

8. If you were an awesome singer, which genre would you sing?

I’d probably sing country, because my voice fits it better.  LOL!

9. If you could have a $10,000 shopping spree to one store, what would it be?

Best Buy or Target… maybe WalMart because you can buy just about anything there!

10. If you could live in any point in time, when would it be?

I like right now.  Women have rights, technology is amazing…. Even though our economy is in bad shape, it won’t be for long, so really this is a pretty good time to be alive.

11. If every outfit in your wardrobe had to be one color, what would it be?

Green… most of my clothes are green anyway because I like the way I look in green.
12. If you were one of the seven dwarves, which one would you be?
(Doc, Grumpy, Sneezy, Sleepy, Bashful, Happy, or Dopey)

That all depends on the day… I”m a little of all of them.  I”m very bashful with new poeple.  I try to be happy all the time, but wake me up wrong and I”m GRUMPY!  I take care of the people I love, so I”m often playing Doc, my allergies kick up and I”m sneezy, and because of my sleep apnea I’m sleepy alot of the time.  And I never mind playing Dopey ever once in a while.  LOL!

13. What’s the last album you listened to?

That would be Duran Duran’s Astronaut.  Got it of a swapping site.

14. What’s something we’d be surprised to know about you?

hmmm…. that’s a good question.  I’m  not sure if anyone would be surprised to know anything about me, because I’m talking all the time about all my various opinions… I”m VERY opinionated!  LOL!  I was going to say there wasn’t anything, but then I started writing about the things that I was sure of you all knowing, and then I came up with one.  I”m fearful of losing my sweatheart.  Not that I think he’s going to leave me, or that he doesn’t love me… it’s an irrational fear that lurkes deep inside, that one day he’ll up and leave.  This is one of those gut wrenching fears, like the thought of something bad happening to your child.  Something that is way down deep in the back of your mind, that you don’t think about often, because it hurts too much.  I realize that it’s irrational and kinda silly. But it’s still there, and I don’t like it at all.  I ignore it for the most part, but ever once in a while it creeps up on me, usually at night when I’m trying to go to sleep.  LIke all my other irrational fears… they keep me up at night sometimes.

So, that’s it.  All you could possibly want to know about me…. right?  Or maybe you have a question you’d like to ask?  Well go ahead, ask away!  Leave a comment with a question and I’ll answer it… within reason of course. 

That’s basically what my doctor said to me on Saturday.  I went in saturday to see my doctor so I could get a refill on my perscriptions, talk to him about a few minor issues, and get my handicapp placard renewed. Relatively easy, non-controversial stuff, or so I thought.  You see, my back isn’t just bad, sore, or out of shape, it’s actually broken.  You know, BROKEN!  It has been broken for 20 years now (wow!  It was 20 years ago Feb. 10th!)  So how could I be “too healthy” to need a handicapped placard???  But that’s exactly what he said to me, I can walk, I don’t need a wheel chair or oxygen, so in his mind, I’m too healthy to get a handicapped placard.

Here’s the problem with his logic though… I’m in pain a lot of the time.  If I walk for very long or very far, I’m in more pain.  Sometimes to the point where my foot starts tingling like when it falls asleep, and my back seazes up and I can no longer stand up straight.  2 years ago I had back surgery to try to alleviate some of the pressure and hopefully fix the problem with the nerve damage, but it only helped a little, not completely.  It was after that surgery that I got my handicapped placard because I was having trouble walking.  Walking is not easy for me most days.  Some days you’ll see me walking really well, but not a lot and not for long.

I tried explaining all of this to my doctor, but he kept telling me that I didn’t deserve the placard because I could still walk.  I should walk more not less and that there were people who couldn’t get these placards at all.  WHAT?!?!  As far as I can tell the only one who can’t get a placard are HIS patients if they don’t show signs of physical disabilities (like wheel chairs or oxygen tanks).  I even asked him who couldn’t get a placard and he said “I don’t know, but there are people”.  WHAT?!?!  Who says that??  You can’t say that there are people who can’t get the placard but you don’t know who they are or why… that’s stupid!  what kind of rediculous logic is that??

Basically he admitted that he’s one of those people who sees someone park in the disabled parking with a placard, but when they get out of their car if he can’t SEE their disability, then they must not be disabled.  Because after all, everyone who is disabled needs a wheelchair or shows some visable signs of it.  And you know, I knew there are people out there like that.  I’ve seen them look at me when I use the parking spot and I get out of the car and I LOOK healthy enough.  I know what goes through their minds.  But that’s ordinary people who don’t know any better.  A doctor should know that most disabilities don’t have any outward appearances!  I guess I was wrong in that assumption though.  Not all doctors know better.  AT least not that one!

Needless to say, I’m not going back to him.  I got my prescriptions refilled, and he GRUDGINGLY signed my renewal for the placard, and then I left.  I didn’t talk to him about my other issues and I won’t be going back to him.  The only reason I went to him in the first place was because I have  no insurance and he has this “plan” where you pay $40 a month and get to come in to see him whenever with a $20 co pay.  I went to him when I first had my gall bladder attack around Thanksgiving.  He seemed good and kind then, so I figured it was a good deal.  Well, I was wrong.  UGH!  So now, when I need to go to the doctor again, I”ll go to my old doctor and pay $75 for the visit.  At least I know she’s a good doctor and won’t judge me on appearances!!!  grrr

I found out about this wonderful little challenge on Facebook.  Several of my friends there had joined and invited me to join as well.  Sileen Nixon is a wonderful woman, who I had already been following on Twitter, who helps people see the positive.  I love following positive people on Twitter, because they generally send out wonderful little tweets to put a smile on your face.  This Wonder Woman challenge is a free group that helps you to remember to nurture yourself as a woman, just 15 minutes a day will help.  So I thought, I’d post about it here and share my journey through nurturing myself for the next 30 days.

Of course I was supposed to start yesterday, but I was sick with sinuses, and my nurturing myself was to take 2 Nyquil Sinus pills and some benadryl and go to bed as soon as they hit.  LOL!  So I”ll consider myself as having started yesterday, even though I really didn’t do anything. Today though I’m going to do a few things to nurture myself!

My Goals for today:
(will post how they went tomorrow)

1. Read the book “The Golden Cross”
2. Meditate for at least 15 minutes
3. Exercise on my Wii Fit for at least 15 minutes

Since it’s kinda slow today  here at work (my home office), I should be able to get all of these things done.  I hope you’ll join me on my journey to self nurturing!  Come back often to see how I”m doing, and leave a comment about how YOU are doing with Nurturing yourself!

Valentines day was Sunday.  Steve and I went out to play some poker tournaments, including a “Couples” tournament.  We had fun, even if we didn’t win anything.  I wore some jeans, that I was finally able to fit into again.  I started fitting into them a few weeks ago after I lost 15 lbs because of my gallstones.  Well Sunday, when I put those jeans on, fresh from the dryer, it seemed that they fit me a little better than they had before.  I didn’t take the time to weight myself, mostly because I had been cheating a little to much and last week I had a mild gall bladder attack.  Then yesterday I woke up, and went straight to the scale (ok, maybe not straight to the scale.. I went potty first).  I nearly had a heart attack when I saw what the scale said!!  I am down to….. drum roll please……………………………………………………………………………………

180 lbs!!!!!!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am now 180!!  That’s another 12 lbs that I’ve lost since thanksgiving!  Of course I had gained a few pounds back and lost them again, and lost a couple more pounds since then… but this is a HUGE weightloss for me now.  I haven’t been 180 since I first move to Vegas!!!  I’m so happy and excited!!

THEN….. I found one of these…..

A GREY HAIR!!!!!

I think having teen aged boys has done it.  It’s only one grey hair though, so I’m not too horribly upset… of course I did also lose 12 lbs, so that helps to lessen the blow of getting older too.  LOL!

Miss Vagaygay – a Short Hair Story
By Christine

Once upon a time there was a warm and friendly girl named Miss Vagaygay.  She was in love with Mr. Willie, he would come and visit her often and make her VERY happy.  Except once a month Miss Vagaygay’s Aunt Flo would visit her, and Mr. Willie & Miss Vagaygay couldn’t “visit” for a whole week.  This made both Miss Vagaygay & Mr. Willie very sad and cranky (even crankier than Miss Vagaygay usually gets when visited by her Aunt Flo).

Then one day Miss Vagaygay met this WONDERFUL friend named Mirena.  Mirena told Miss Vagaygay that she would take Aunt Flo away for a very long time and only bring her back when Miss Vagaygay wanted her back (which would probably be a very VERY long time because Miss Vagaygay didn’t really like her Aunt Flo very much at all).   After that Mirena became Miss Vagaygay’s bestest friend in the whole world.  And Mr. Willie liked her too because then he could visit Miss Vagaygay whenever he wanted and never had to wear a rubber raincoat.

And then they all lived happily ever after.. “visiting”  like bunny rabbits!!  WooT WooT!

The End

Did you like this?  Want to read more intimate posts about Vagaygays, Pussies, & Vags?  Well click on the button below!  Sheesh, don’t stick around here, cuz I’m not gonna keep writing about them. 

So, After I was diagnosed with gallstones I stopped eating so much fat.  I ended up losing 15 lbs in almost as many days.  Then over the holidays, I didn’t stick to my diet and I gained 5 lbs back.  Well since New years, I’ve stuck to my diet much better and have lost 7 lbs so far.  I”m feeling really good, even cute!  So this whole “eating right” thing is working pretty nicely for me.

My Business:

On the business front, it’s been really great!  We keep getting more new customers, who LOVE us, and even though we’re supposed to be pretty slow, we’re no where near as slow as we thought we would be.  In fact, we’ve been pretty busy some days.  Not as busy as we were during the summer, but still pretty busy.  This has led us to decide we need to train my mom NOW!  So she’s been coming over, when ever she can, to train.  Her health isn’t great, so there have been just as many days that she’s been too ill to come over, but she’s been doing pretty well.  We need to train her before it gets busy, because we very well may be too busy for just Steve and I.  Which of course is GREAT, but kinda scary too, cuz we were at our limit last summer.  But we’ve made it through a lot worse, so we’ll make it through this too.

Family:

The boys are doing great.  Roger is getting almost straight A’s in all his courses in high school and finishes his work so early he usually has a week or two without any work to do.  At least any work that the school gives him.  I’ve been considering talking to his instructors about putting him in more challenging classes, but I just don’t know.  Roger also has a girlfriend.  It’s so cute!  He’s out on a date with her right now.  They went to see Avatar together.  Very cute.

Jack is also doing really great in his school work.  He may actually be able to finish 7th & 8th grade by the end of this year and start 9th grade in the fall.  I’d really like that so he could get some more interaction with kids his age, cuz I can hardly move him off the couch!

Things are going really great with Steve and I too.  We had a bit of an argument yesterday, but mostly because we were both sleep deprived and kinda tilting from the poker gods not favoring us over the weekend.  We took some bad beats, lost a couple of tournaments, and it really made Steve feel horrible.  He took it harder than I did, but I think that’s mostly because today’s his birthday and he turns 39.  So it was more an emotional thing of feeling old and blucky about his birthday.  I ended up taking 4th place in a big tournament on Saturday and won over $200.  which was great, because it almost made up for the money we lost in the other tournaments and cash games.  Such is poker though.

So that’s what’s been going on with me lately.  How are you doing?  Read any good books lately?  I have, but you’ll have to read about them at Books4Moms.  LOL!

The Twelve Days After Christmas
(Frederick Silver)
(Not sung to the same tune as the other song!)

The first day after Christmas, my true love and I had a fight.
And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite.
Then, with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge,
That my true love, my true love gave to me.

The second day after Christmas, I pulled on the old rubber gloves
And very gently wrung the necks of both the turtle doves,
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.

The third day after Christmas, my mother caught the croup;
I had to use the three French hens to make some chicken soup.
The four calling birds were a big mistake,
For their language was obsence .
The five gold rings were completely fake
And they turned my fingers gree.

The sixth day after Christmas, the six laying geese wouldn’t lay:
I gave the whole darn gaggle to the ASPCA.

On the seventh day what a mess I found:
All seven of the swimming swans had drowned,
My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.

The eighth day after Christmas, before they could suspect,
I bundled up the . . .
Eight maids a-milking,
Nine pipers piping,
Ten ladies dancing,
‘Leven lords a-leaping,
Twelve drummers drumming
(spoken) Well, actually I kept one of the drummers(girls)
Well, actually I kept one of the maids a-milking(boys)

And sent them back collect.
I wrote my true love, “We are through, love”
And I said in so many words,
“Furthermore your Christmas gifts were for the birds!”
(echo of “four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.”

One of the problems is that I really don’t worry about my weight too much. Ive never been overly self conscious about my weight and have rebelled against the “skinny” image that the media shoves down our throats. Plus I’m just a little lazy….ok a lot lazy too. So finding the motivation to exercise and eat right is really difficult for me to do. And since I have an abslutely fabulous boyfriend who loves me know matter what my size is, well there’s not motivation there either. LOL.

So really the only way to get me motivated to eat better is to make it physically difficult to eat. I thought about getting a Lap Band to decrease my stomache size and it would also make it harder for me to eat various foods too. But it is rather expensive to have that surgery done and kinda frivolous too…. at least in my mind for me it is.

Well the Universe gave me the next best thing….. gallstones. I have to watch the amount of food I eat, or I start to hurt. I can’t eat certain foods, or I start to hurt. So it is forcing me to eat less and healthier or else!

So silver lining of all this icky health stuff is that I will probably end up losing a ton of weight. LOL Be careful what you wish for, because you WILL get it! hehehhehe