I am also a whiner...

Hey blogger friends.

I am here to tell you that I am back.

I  have started blogging again...with a different profile..

Visit me at Whine is Cheaper if you'd like.

I am not totally giving up on Phillipia...

I have decided to keep this blogspace for ranting, and I promise to post here more often (I do have a lot of ranting to do).

Whine is Cheaper provides an outlet for my milder whining...

I have been away from blogging for so long that I am having a tough time getting my new blogspace decorated and cozy the way I would like it to be. I have to re-learn a lot. Slowly, but surely, I will get there.

I miss you all and hope you will find the time to come whine with me soon.

In my not so humble opinion...

So some of  you know I like to Internet Cafe "Crawl" - as I like to call it....

And I just feel the need to say my piece to everyone who is trying to close down the Internet Cafe business in Ohio....

Your reasons amaze me...

To those of you who want them shut down because they are taking business from your business ....this is America...we thrive on competition...

Even if your business is charitable - find a new way to fund-raise if the cafes are really hurting your funds that bad...

Being charitable should not give you a monopoly on an activity...

And seriously, most folks that visit the cafes will not visit the casinos more often if the cafes close....has anyone done the research?

Admittedly, they may BINGO at your church/school more....but see my opinion above...

If the activity is illegal, why were they (not 1, but over 800 establishments)  given a license to operate in the first place?

For those complaining that it hurts family when people spend all their money at cafes...well I hope you plan to spend as much energy closing  every bar, casino, racino, smoke shop, lottery system, sweepstakes games, etc,  that promotes any any activity that is conducive to addiction...

All things in moderation, folks...

It is not the manufacturer of a product that should be blamed when individuals abuse said product...

Same for gun control...

And legalization of marijuana...

Just because you "can" does not mean you "have to"...or that you should not moderate yourself...

The whole of the population should not have to give up something because some of the population has unbridled tendencies...

Or because some of the population thinks they are above having to compete fairly....

I have had my doubts....

About my faith.....


I used to be Roman Catholic..


But I am done practicing that...


Quite honestly, I really have issues with many of the Roman Catholic Church's teachings...


Who the hell do they think they are?  


Righteous bastards...


And I really do not believe there is only one God...


Buddha seems like an OK higher being to believe in if you so prefer...


So what is my religious preference???


I ask myself this a lot lately...


I use to consider myself Christian....


Until recently...


I started thinking that if I were truly Christian, I would believe in the deity of Jesus....


And I am not sure I do....


I mean I think he was probably a really good guy and all...


And I think I try to live like he taught that we should...


Not because I believe he is God's son...


But because, for the most part, it just seems the right way to live...


Love one another...


Do unto others...


I really have a hard time believing that immaculate conception miracle tho...


On Father's Day, Joseph gets the card...


And not one of those "like a father to me"  cards...


And his dying to save us.....not so sure...


So where does that leave me????


Not a fun person to be in a conversation with about religion, that is for sure...


Believe me, I do not initiate such conversations...


But when someone draws out of me that I no longer practice Catholicism and that I am not quite sure what I believe but I know that I am not interested in any organized religion right now...


And then they gasp at my lack of faith and tell me to read the bible...it's all right there...and they know I will  find my way back to the truth...


I tend to get a lil snippy and have to change the subject really quick before I haul off and ruin the friendship...


So, again, where does that leave me?


I have decided that I am a Cultural Christian...


Just like some of the Founding fathers...


To be honest, until  very recently, I did not realize there was such a thing...


Thank Google for cluing me in...


And helping me understand who I am ...


Gotta love Google...

Need Pocket?

In my last post I mentioned LDBoy's latest purchase for his office.


He was not the only one doing some power shopping last weekend...


CareBear and Marge and I went wedding dress shopping...


No, I am not getting married, once is more than enough for me....


And tho we did try to talk Marge into trying on maternity wedding dresses and sending photos to LDBoy, she did not think he would appreciate the humor in that....


My CareBear is getting married to the love of her life this December...


Hopefully I told you that already, but I have been remiss in my blogger duties over the past few months and maybe I did not....


Now you know....


She is going to be a beautiful bride....


I was going to post the pic I took of her in the dress that made the final cut, but that idea got shouted down....


Apparently, it is suppose to be a surprise....


Just let me tell you that the dress is sooooo her....


Why?


Because it has pockets....


Every wedding dress should have pockets, but as we realized, most do not....


Just where are you suppose to put those little bottles of confidence???

Need energy?

LDBoy and his business partner(s) have decided that always working from home is not all it is cracked up to be....


Tho they do not (yet) have kids wanting constant attention, they do have dogs....


Puppies and older dogs who need constant attention...


And girlfriends....


Tho, I believe that the girlfriends were the primary reason for setting up the home office in the first place and most likely it is the girlfriends that are most happy they will be working from another office....


Yeah, it is nice to have an unpaid assistant who makes lunch and runs errands and....


Anyway, I got sidetracked....


The partners decided that they needed a fridge for their office..


Mostly to hold their energy drinks - since they are probably thinking that their girlfriends will still make and then bring them lunch everyday....


But where should they look to find such a fridge? 


Craig's List of course...


You can find anything on Craig's List....


Some things you may not want...like a job as a live-in ranch hand in the middle of Ohio...


But some things you may want...


Like this ...

Yep, meet the new office fridge...

It's a sign...

A sign...


Of what I am not sure...


Maybe that I am getting older and losing it....


Not that I ever had much of it to begin with....


Or maybe that I did not need half of the things on that list....


The list...


That I made right before I headed out to run errands at lunchtime....


That I got to the store and could not find....


...anywhere....


Checked my pockets....


Checked my purse....


Checked again....


The list....


That I pulled out of my pocket as soon as I got back to my desk...


Damn...

Why I should have chosen the iPhone....

A short time ago, I was given a choice...


Droid or iPhone....


I chose Droid....


Now I am sorry....


Because Droid is not compatible with this awesome app....


Check it out...


Before you go to sleep tonight...


Especially if you love sleeping to the sights and sounds of thunder storms...


Yes, I said sights and sounds...


Hear the thunder and see the lightning flash...

StormAsleep  

This awesome app was developed  by none other than LDBoy...


With some help from a friend....


I am so proud!


I wish I could say I taught him everything he knows...


But that would be a big, fat lie....


And Moms and nuns do not lie...



But check out  StormAsleep  and let me know what you think...

Working for a living....

I have come to dread Monday mornings...

and Tuesday mornings...

and Wednesday mornings...

and Thursday mornings...

and Friday mornings...

Saturday and Sunday are ok, tho....

Not to be outdone by her mom....

My daughter CareBear and son's girlfriend (Marge) have teamed up on an awesome and crafty blog....


You can visit them at:

http://craftpond.com/

Tell them I sent you....


I think my CareBear is trying to out-blog me...


In addition to the craft pond, she still has her photography blog

http://aphotoforyourthoughts.wordpress.com/

And rumor has it that she is blogging somewhere about the joys of being a young American housewife....

Hmmmm......

Fun fact:

Having an orgasm at least three times a week cuts in half the likelihood of death from coronary heart disease.

I have a lot of catching up to do....

I am not as thunk as you drink I am ....

I love an off-site boss who sends her direct reports coconut rum cake....


And I love it even more when the birthday boy puts the cake in the fridge and forgets about it....


....i.e., lets it age for a couple of weeks....


We are feeling no pain in the office this afternoon....


Where is the breathalyzer when we need it????

Chi-town....

Seems I drafted this post In October but never posted....
What was I thinking????
Well, here you go.....

It's not Asheville, but....


CareBear and K thought they had an opportunity to move to North Carolina....


But that fell through...


Long story....


That ends with another reason to love corporate America...not....


But one door closes....


And another opens...


So CareBear packed her bags and moved with her love to Chicago....


For 4 months anyway...


And I am on vacation...


In Chicago....


Where it is raining as much as (or more than)  it is back in Cleveland....


But we are having fun....


Saturday night we hit the Rivers Casino and had a fun time losing a (very) few bucks...


Sunday we found a bar that hosted the Chicago Browns Backers and (Carrie and I) watched the Browns kick some Dolphin Tale....


While K watched his Lions kick the crap outta the Vikings...


Monday was heaven....at Gino's East....


Tuesday was a stay in and avoid the rain and be lazy day....


Wednesday was a let's find the nearest mall and do some window shopping day...


Which brings us to today...


Today Carrie and I got up early and headed to Milennium Park...


To watch the sun come up over the lake....


And see ourselves in the cloud sculpture that looks like a bean...


And now the clouds and rain are back....


So we are relaxing on the couch...


Watching daytime tv....


My kind of vacation...

I am still here....

I know I have been gone awhile....


I quit posting because people were reading my blog and giving me grief about what I wrote about them...


Guess what????


I do not care anymore...


This is my outlet....


...or at least one of my outlets...


For all the shit I deal with as I go through life....


And since I have not been dealing so well without blogging....


I am back....


Hear me roar...


If you do not like what I say, ignore me....


... or whatever....


If I talk about you at least I am thinking about you:)


And I most likely love that you are in my life in some way....


Even if it is just to provide some good blogging material....


And I intend to catch up with my blogger friends, too...


I realllllly miss you guys....

Just so you know what I am talking about....

As I get older...

My texting may take on a whole new meaning...

But rest assured, I am not there yet....

Really....

• ATD: At The Doctor's
• BFF: Best Friend Fainted
•  BTW: Bring The Wheelchair
•  BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth
•  CBM: Covered By Medicare
•  CGU: Can't get up
•  CUATSC: See You At The SeniorCenter
•  DWI: Driving While Incontinent
•  FWBB: Friend With Beta Blockers
•  FWIW: Forgot Where I Was
•  FYI: Found Your Insulin
•  GGPBL: Gotta Go Pacemaker Battery Low!
•  GHA:Got Heartburn Again
•  HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement
•  IMHO: Is My Hearing Aid On?
•  LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out
•  LOL: Living On Lipitor
•  LWO: Lawrence Welk's On
•  OMMR: On My Massage Recliner
•  OMSG: Oh My! Sorry Gas
•  ROFL... CGU: Rolling On The Floor Laughing... And Can't Get Up
•  TTYL: Talk To You Louder
•  WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?
•  WTFA: Wet The Furniture Again
•  WTP: Where's The Prunes?
• WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil
• GGLKI: Gotta Go Laxative Kicking In

Thanks to my friend Sandy for sharing....

Creativity at it's finest....

So it is Halloween weekend...


Again....


I should put together some sort of costume...


Just in case I decide to go to one of several Halloween parties that I have been invited to...


Or better yet, to get a discount at one of the cafes as I go crawling this weekend....


I have pondered several ideas....


Pepe Le Pew (aka the closer, because a lil whiff of Pepe and everyone would leave the party/cafe)..


A repeat of last year's Trailer Trash Mother-in-Law (still have most of that gear)...


Black-eyed Pea (great suggestion from a co-worker)


But I have settled on a twist of my co-worker's suggestion...


Are you ready for it????


Black-eyed Susan....


What could be easier?


I am going out at lunchtime to get a name tag and some eye makeup....


Assuming my clumsy self does not take a fall in the meantime and create my own black eye....


And no, I do not need anyone to punch me, thank you very much, for the real effect- I am ok with using makeup....


I may even wear a yellow hoodie for added effect....


And, the awesome part of this is that if I decide to go out with friends, we can easily all wear name tags and black eye makeup and go as a bouquet (or field) of Black-eyed Susans....


Discounts all around....


Happy Halloween, blogger friends!!!!

Hmmm....

I admit....


Sometimes....


When things at work seem really awful.....


I think about quitting to become a Walmart greeter....

Woman accused of choking Elyria Walmart greeter gets jail

Maybe I will rethink that....

Happy National Coffee Day...

Survey says...


Writers are No. 4 on the list of professionals who need coffee to get through their day...:)

Survey: Scientists, marketing professionals need coffee the most

I did not need a survey to know that... 

Not sure I will ever learn...

I was looking at my blog and realized that a couple of posts did not... post, that is...


Not sure what happened.


But I wrote this post in early July and will post now because it did not post then....


And I will try to post again soon about my further cafe crawling/casino hopping adventures...

I have a couple of vices....One, as you know, is gambling...A couple of weeks ago, when I was attempting to satisy this particular vice, someone knocked me on my butt in the casino parking lot....

Some would have taken that as a sign from above that maybe I should give up this vice...
I did not see it that way...

I am still attempting to recover from that little incident...

I would probably recover quicker if I did not have such an aversion to doctor/hospital visits, but that is a topic for some other post...

Another vice of mine is drinking...As in alcohol...Not that I am an AA candidate...Yet....
 

But I do like a beer or two a couple of times a week...

Or a glass (or bottle) of wine or two a couple of days a week...

Or a shot or two or three or four a couple of times a month or so...

Anyway...

I was in the local Big Bird grocery store the other day and decided to pick up a bottle or two of something that would satisfy this vice...

As I am pushing my cart in that direction, I see another customer coming at me with her cart...

Unfortunately, there was a display shelf of wine between us....

And she was not looking where she was going...

She slammed into the wine display....

Several bottles came flying at me....

Several more bottles crashed on the floor in front of me...

 I jumped out of the eay as best I could...
 

Considering I was still nursing my foot from the previously mentioned encounter with someone else who was operating a vehicle without looking where they were going...

Let me just say that wine bottles do not hurt as bad as automobiles...

I walked away with a couple of minor cuts...

Again, some would have considered that incident as a sign from above that maybe I should give up that vice....

But not this someone...

After all, vodka and cranberry sure help dull the pain...

And the frustration...

Because the someone driving the cart conveniently disappeared down the next aisle...

And I was left trying to convince the two young store employees that, even though I was the one bleeding on their floor, I was not the one who ran into the display...

I should have asked to see a manager...

But I just wanted to be on my way...

Maybe I should just stick to coffee...

Okay, I admit I am over 50....

But what am I supposed to do with the doggie in my purse????

AARP: Once you're 50, goodbye Jell-O shots, saying panties plus other dos and don'ts

Showing off my baby girl....

Ok, so that is not my baby girl or grandbaby girl in the pic...


But it is my baby girl behind the camera...


CareBear has started a blog about what she loves to do best...


And she does it beautifully...


A picture is worth a thousand words...


Or, as she says....


A photo for your thoughts....


Check her out...


I think you will like what you see.