Conversations With A Woman 2.0

Sunday, October 31, 2004

BLOG EXPLOSION IS LIKE CRACK!!!

...MUST....HIT....NUMBER....ONE....MORE....TIME....

...MUST....NOT....SURF....TOO....FAST....

For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about, let me be your "Pusher."

I'll tell ya something though...I've never had this many people stopping by my site and having to stay for at least 30 seconds. I signed up 10/30/04 at about 7pm. By the end of the day, I had 40 hits. For today, as of this moment, I've had 104 hits!!! Whew! Thanks to all of you that have stopped by!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...

I was surfing along and came across "Blog Daisy" and she gave an interesting idea for a blog topic: "What's in your purse!" Here is my answer to that age old question:

Wallet
Peppermint Dentyne Ice
Comb
Wadded up paper towel with used gum in it.
Daytimer
1/2 a bottle of Wal Mart Brand Aspirin
3/4 a bottle of Target Brand Naproxen Sodium
Note pad
Cell phone
Envelope of Coupons
Hair
Sonic Peppermints
2 bottles of prescription drugs that shall remain nameless
Fire Dentyne Ice
Eyeglass cleaner
Lip balm
Pony tail holder
Moisturizer
Antacids
A tin of Ulta Mints
Mystery trash

What's in your purse or wallet or backpack?

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 10:20 PM

Saturday, October 30, 2004

Hello there new readers!

Just wanted to give a shout out to all the Blog Explosion folks peekin' in on my blog. I hope you'll give me a read, comment on what you read and come back again!

If you haven't joined Blog Explosion, it's this thing-a-ma-jig that helps bring traffic to your blog. Give it a look and help a girl out by tellin' 'em I sent ya!

Also, if you are REALLY feeling generous, click on the above little ads for me so I can earn some moo-la. If you'd like to earn some moo-la the same way, check this out.

This concludes this shameless plug. We will now return you to your regularly scheduled blog, already in progress...

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 10:29 PM

Just in time for Halloween!

Check out these fun things:

Evil Clown Generator

and

Celebrity Defacer

Have fun!

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 11:07 AM

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Linda Gail O'Hara Roden Dyson Murray

If you knew my Mother long at all, you soon came to realize how much she revered Native Americans. It wasn't just the paintings and pictures and charcoal drawings she had on her walls, it was how much she respected their view of themselves and their place in the world.

My Mom passed away one morning in late October, 1996. My sister, nephew, aunt and I spent the following week after her death cleaning out her house. That following Monday I returned to work.

After I had gotten settled in at my desk, a co-worker who I knew of, but didn't know much about, stopped by my desk.

"Joan, I would like to talk to you in private when you get a chance."

I followed her to an empty conference room, bracing myself for whatever it was she had to tell me. We sat down and she began to speak:

"Joan, we heard about your Mom passing away after you called Phil and told him. I am so sorry for your loss. Now, before I go further, I need to tell you that I am a Native American. I believe that I have the gift to communicate with the other side, that is, people who have passed on."

She paused for a moment to see how what she said would effect me. I must have not shown anything negative because she then continued her story.

"I was driving home from work that day and I looked out my window and saw a hawk flying beside the freeway. It struck me as very odd since I was practically in downtown Dallas. Hawks don't usually hang around urban places, especially North Central Expressway at rush hour! The next day the very same thing happened again! I felt like I was supposed to pay attention to this sign that had been given to me, and I felt very certain that it had to do with you and your Mom. I got home from work that second day, put on my comfortable clothes and went to think about it on my back porch. There on my back fence was that very same hawk! It startled me, but I settled down and just sat staring at the hawk while the hawk stared at me. I truly believe that this hawk was the embodiment of your Mother's spirit, Joan. I feel like your Mom's spirit wanted me to let you know that she is happy and free now and not to worry about her."

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I could sense that she was feeling self conscious that I was judging her about what she just said. However, in reality, I was just overwhelmed with what I had just heard.

"I know that probably sounds weird to you, but..."

I finally snapped out of my bewilderment and spoke up.

"Oh no! You have no idea how much what you just said meant to me and what a gift it is to me!"

I went on to explain to her about my Mother's great respect for Native American's and their ways and how one of her favorite things to do when she lived in Texas was to watch hawks sail lazy circles in the sky. She was always wistful watching them and marveling at their freedom and how majestic they were.

I thanked my co-worker for taking the time to share her thoughts with me and went back to my desk. At that moment, I was too stunned to really react or respond more than I already had.

That following January, I packed up the U-Haul, put the cats in the front seat, and drove to Atlanta from Dallas to make a new home for myself. On the second day of the trip, I was driving through Alabama on I-20 and passed by a speed limit sign. Perched on that speed limit sign was a hawk. As I passed by the hawk on that sign, I felt a renewed sense of purpose - that what I was doing was the right thing to do, and that Mom had just given me her blessing.

My Mom has been gone from this earth as we know it for eight years. I still miss her terribly and I expect I will until the day I leave this earth as we know it. However, she left me with my beautiful sister and my extraordinary nephew and for that, I am truly grateful.

I love you and miss you more than I can say, Mama. I hope that where ever you are, that you are sailing lazy circles in the sky and that you are happy and free.

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 6:02 PM

Thursday, October 21, 2004

Happy Memories of my Parents

Jef and I went to see "Wimbledon" this afternoon and afterward found ourselves sitting outside the theatre watching the sunset and talking.

We were talking about DVD's and he told me about owning "Logan's Run" which led us to thinking about other movies that came out around the same time that one did. One of my favorites that I haven't seen in years is "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." It made me think of when I first went to see it when I was a kid.

Dad, Mom and I loaded up in Dad's 1966 Chevy truck, that he named "Bessie," and made the trek to Ft. Worth on a cool Thanksgiving afternoon. We were going to the movie on a holiday and I remember thinking that was too cool! Back then, I didn't realize movie theatres were even open on Thanksgiving!

We saw "Close Encounters" and Mom, Dad and I were just hypnotized by it. Enjoying Science Fiction was something that all three of us shared and we just loved the movie.

It was dark when we pointed the truck back toward home. As we crested the hills on the highway, we imagined that the oncoming headlights from the other side of the highway was the alien ship in the movie. We laughed and made the noise that the alien ship made when Richard Dreyfus was trying to communicate with it.

Until I described this story to Jef, I hadn't thought about this happy time in quite a while. Since my parents divorced when I was 13, I sometimes forget that there were some good times that the three of us had together. I am so glad that I was reminded today.

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 9:49 PM

Monday, October 18, 2004

I am feeling quite boring...

I didn't do much this weekend and I don't really feel like I have anything to report, but I feel like connecting with my online "peeps." So, "HEY PEEPS!" (and no, I don't mean those little marshmallow bunnies and chicks)

Fall is receding for a bit, and I'm not very happy about it. The temperature is supposed to get back up in the 80's this week. I was sooo loving the cool crisp days! I know they'll come back with a vengeance and I'll be bitchin' and moanin' about how cold it is, but until then, I want my Fall days back!

The one good thing about Fall seeming to come so late in the year is that the leaves on the trees outside my back sliding glass door have not started falling off yet. As a result, the people in the apartments down the hill and across from me, cannot see me running about nekkid. OK...I don't really run around nekkid, but I do run around in a T-shirt and some drawers without thinking about it when the leaves are hanging on. When they fall off, I'll have to start closing the vertical blinds and Shelby (the younger of my kitties) will not like that at all. When they are closed, she feels compelled to run her tail along the length of them making all sorts of noise.

What was kinda funny is that Shelby was originally my roommate's cat. She brought her home as a kitten and she grew into a teenaged cat and started to go into heat over and over and over. If any of you who have experienced this will know, a cat in heat is OBNOXIOUS and gross. Back then, she would back her hind end against the vertical blinds for personal gratification. My roommate would be in the other room and I would yell out, "Hey! Your cat is masturbating in the front room!!!" My roommate would yell back, "Shut UP!!!!!!!" I'm pretty sure that my roommate hated me when I did that, but it was funny anyway.

Now that Shelby is fixed, she simply runs her tail along the vertical blinds to be annoying, and she's successful.

Ahh...what an exciting life I lead, huh?

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 11:03 PM

Friday, October 15, 2004

MY SISTER HAS BLOGGED AGAIN!!!

For those of you who used to frequent "Ramblings of a Redhead," but got discouraged when she hadn't blogged since September 9, 2004, take heart - she has finally blogged again!!! Please go and comment on her blogs so she'll be motivated to continue doing this!

Woo Hoo!

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 7:52 PM

Thursday, October 14, 2004

Fall is finally here!

Today I left the house wearing sandals because I try not to wear anything but sandals during warm weather. Imagine my very happy surprise to realize that it was an almost nippy 64 degrees outside! Luckily, me and my toes were not going to be outside in the elements, so the sandals thing wasn't a huge fiasco.

I've opened up my back sliding glass door and the cats are sitting in front of the screen smelling the air and watching the world. It's kind of gray and overcast outside and it makes you want to curl up with a good book and doze.

My favorite type of Fall day is when the sky is crystal blue and it's cool enough to comfortably wear sweats. It's days like these that I feel like playing touch football on the lawn at the Kennedy Compound. Of course, I don't know any of the Kennedy's, nor have I been invited to the Kennedy Compound, but hey! a girl can dream, can't she?

This Friday, the high is supposed to be 60 and the low is to be in the lower 40's. My favorite thing to do on the first (semi) cold day of the fall is to make spaghetti covered with chili and sharp cheddar cheese. Mom and I used to make that and although it's not good for you, it's soooo good! ;-)

Something that I've discovered since I've moved out of Texas is that everyone in the world does not know about Frito Pie! What is Frito Pie, you ask? Well, it's very very simple. You get some Frito's, (the smaller kind preferably) some chili, and some cheese. You throw the Frito's in a bowl, pour the chili on top of that and the cheese on top of the chili, and voila! It's done! In Texas, they'll sell this at the Football games by getting an individual bag of Fritos, slitting open a long side of the bag, and then adding the chili and cheese right to the bag. At cold Friday night football games, it's good to warm your tummy AND your hands!

In Texas, it kinda sucked because you would go with your Mom to pick out clothes for the new school year, and they would be too hot to wear until the latter part of October. Many times, because I just couldn't stand it anymore, I would wear some of my new Fall clothes to school in September and be sweating like a pig by the end of the day.

What was Fall like in your neck o' the woods when you were a kid?

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 1:05 AM

Saturday, October 09, 2004

Granbury High School Class of 1985

"Raisin' hell, don't take no jive, cause we're the Class of '85!"

I have been having dreams that contain my friends from high school. I'm not exactly sure why except that maybe it's because my 20 year reunion is due to happen next Spring.

I was extremely fortunate to grow up in a small town and go to a small town high school. My town and my alma mater are not so small anymore, but it was when I was there.

I moved to Granbury when I was in 4th grade and I stayed until I graduated. So for those 9 years I spent 9 months out of the year with basically the same kids. Yes, we had kids that moved in and out, but the core group was the same, and we seemed to be pretty accepting of new people.

The thing I liked best was that our class didn't seem to be as "clique-ish" as other classes. Yes, the clique's were there, but they all seemed to overlap in such a way that everyone knew of, acknowledged and pretty much liked each other. There was not much of an "us vs. them" mentality. However, that is just my perception - I had friends all over the school.

I have completed the free registration for "Classmates.com" and "Reunion.com" and occasionally I go and look at the names of these people that I grew up with. I'm a big cheapskate so I'm currently not spending the money for the "upgraded" account so that I can send emails to people or read about their likes and dislikes. However, it's just reassuring to me just to see their names, and know that they are still out there and that hopefully next Spring, we will see each other again.

If you are a member of the Granbury High School Class of 1985, please drop me a line! I'd love to hear from you!

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 3:32 PM

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

My blog is celebrating it's first birthday!

It was a year ago today that I first blogged. I was turned on to it by my nephew and we turned on my sister (his mother) and then Jef rediscovered his blog and so on and so on and so on.

What a year it's been! It makes me dizzy to think of the things that have happened! Whew! I checked with my "Extreme Tracking" system and they had the following to say about me:

I've had 3800 hits in the last year
I average 10 hits a day
I average 70 hits a week
I average 292 hits a month
The time most people come to visit me is from 5-6pm
The day most people come to visit me is Tuesday
I've had 2912 hits from people residing in North America
I've had 797 hits from people residing in "Unknown" areas
I've had 47 hits from Europe
I've had 20 hits from Asia

Pretty interesting, huh? Well, maybe not to you, but it is to me!

I didn't watch the Vice Presidential Debate. Instead, I chose to read the "Official CNN blogs" as their "Official Bloggers" blogged through the debate. They had a right winger, a left winger, and Jessi Klein, who comments on VH1's "Best Week Ever." I feel after reading all three of these, that I know pretty much how things went down. I also read these blogs after the Presidential debate.

I must admit that I am a CNN.com junkie. However, I will be honest and say that I am a CNN.com skimmer. I skim the headlines and pick and choose what I read. Sometimes it's so damn depressing! It never ceases to amaze me the myriad of ways people choose to hurt each other and themselves.

I think Fall is finally coming to the Southland. It's not supposed to get above 75 during the day for the rest of the week and be in the 50's at night. I'm glad. I was beginning to wonder if Autumn was coming this year. Is it me or is it starting kinda late this year?

For all of you that may have stopped by to see what this "Conversations with a Woman" is all about, I thank you for your support. Here's to another year!

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 12:26 AM

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Things I am mulling over today

I have several things floating through my head today. I’m going to throw them out there and if you feel led to ponder them yourself, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts!

If you want to shrink something, you must first allow it to expand.

You can walk around with a bullet in your chest for years, but until you get the bullet out, you can never truly heal.

Love one another.

(and one just for fun…)

If you call a goat a pig, have you really accomplished anything?

I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts if you are led to share them!

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 1:40 AM

Monday, October 04, 2004

I HEART the Gilmore Girls

They had a "Gilmore Girls" Marathon on the Family Channel today. I love that show. I also love "7th Heaven," "The Waltons," and "The Cosby Show" and "Little House On The Prarie."

Yes it's true - I am a big ole "family oriented show" geek. There! I've said it!

Don't even get me started on the "Extreme Home Makeover" show! Try as I might, it's almost impossible for me to get through one of those without crying.

On the other end of the spectrum, I also like watching that show, "Cheaters." Have you seen this one? A person says, "I think my girlfriend/boyfriend/husband/wife/baby mama/baby daddy is cheating on me - follow them around and find out for sure!" The "Cheaters" folks have "Private Investigators" follow the cheating person around and catch them in the act. Then the host, Joey Greco, tries to act all sad and concerned while he confirms the person's worst fear. Then they go and confront the cheater in public! There's screaming and crying and pleading and cussing and then the relationship is over - right on national televison.

I try not to watch this show. However, if I'm home on Saturday night and it's on, my remote magically changes the channel to that show. I would like to say that it's only because the show is filmed in and around Dallas, and I'm from that area, and I like to see if I can recognize where they are, but that would be a big lie. Aren't I pathetic?

What are some of your "guilty pleasure" shows?

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 1:17 AM

Friday, October 01, 2004

I had a lovely Friday.

As per my previous post, I woke up laughing. That's always a good way to wake up.

I met Jef at Uncle Julio's Casa Grande for lunch. We both had the "Sonora Platter" which was most yummy. It contained a tamale, enchilada and a taco along with some beans and rice. Jef and I are Texas expatriates so getting some good Mexican food is always a treat!

I bid Jef a fond adieu and motored to the AMC to see "Shark Tale." I like getting there early enough to get the exact seat I want, which is in the back row right in the middle. I sat down with my industrial sized Diet Coke and the Whoppers I got for dollar since I was a member of the "Movie Watcher" club. I was very pleased to see that all the kids and their parents were sitting at the front of the theatre. Alas, that was not to be true for long because along came a gaggle of 7 year old boys. There must have been about 20 of them and I think somebody was having a birthday or something. Luckily they pretty much settled down once they had been distributed their popcorn and an Icee. Thank God for that!

The movie was good. However, after having laughed until I thought I'd break a rib or something after seeing "Shrek 2," it paled in comparison to me. The one thing that really made me belly laugh was seeing the Puffer fish that was being voiced by Martin Scorsese with a Zebra striped pimp hat on.

After the movie, I wandered down to Borders and got all the magazines that I would never buy, but love to look at and sat down to read them all. I was most distressed that I could not find Barbie Bazaar.

I was skimming through "People" magazine and I came upon an article about the guy who played Chewbacca in the Star Wars movies. I was most surprised to find out that he currently lives in the town I grew up in, Granbury, TX! It's just so weird to see my hometown's name in "People" magazine, doncha know!

Have you registered to vote yet? In the state of GA you have just a few more days to do so, and I'm pretty sure the other states are coming to a close as well. Go forth, young man or woman, and get thee to registering!

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 11:27 PM

I woke myself up laughing this morning

I was having a dream about Jef. We were in a convenience store that also had some movie theatre seating in it. We were listening to music from the 80's and 90's and Jef was impressing people with his vast knowledge of Pop Music from that era.

Jef then went back to the cooler where the beer is kept and Susan Olsen, (the woman who played Cindy Brady when she was a kid) came up to the cooler, reached in and got a vase full of roses out and presented them to Jef. Jef said, "No thank you." She continued to insist on giving him the roses and he said, "Really, I have no use for the flowers."

People in the audience gasped, and Jef looked up and said, "Really, I mean no harm, I just don't need any flowers!" It was here that I noticed that Jef was wearing that black hat and a leopard vest he used to wear in the early 90's. He went and sat down in the audience next to Kent. I went and sat down next to both of them and the song "Sweet Lullabye" came on. (I think that's the name of the song that had the Pygmies singing on it.) I looked at Jef and said, "Sing this song!" in a way that was like I was daring him. He stood up and started singing the pygmy part of the song. I was so amazed that I started laughing, and that's when I woke up.

Anyone care to analyze that?

So I trundled into my computer, since I laughed my bladder awake, which meant that I had to pee, which meant I was up anyway, so might as well check out what's going on in the world and write down my freaky weird funny dream about Jef.

Before I did that, I checked on all the blogs I read to see if anyone has updated since last night. (I even check my sister's blog daily hoping against hope she'll update, but alas, her last entry is from 9/9/04. ) Natalie at Picklejuice hadn't updated, but I decided to check out the link she had to her friend Melly who has a blog called "Ordinary Morning." Oh my goodness she made me laugh! I was sitting here like a big goober in a darkened room with my big fluffy robe on and my hair all askew and laughing like a hyena.

Yesterday morning I was sleeping along just lovely and I'm awoken by a smell so incredibly foul - Fred had just pooped. You would have thought that she came up on the bed and took a dump, but no, it was just the invisible stench that followed her from the litter box back to her comfy sleeping place next to me. I laid there and didn't open my eyes in hopes that the smell would dissipate and I could go back to sleep, but it didn't. Finally, I had to get up and go in the other room. Fred looked up at me with a "What?!?" look on her face before drifting off to sleep. I'm beginning to think she did that on purpose so she could have the whole bed to herself. She's crafty like that! Also, I thought I heard her laughing evilly as I left the room.

I swear, some days I'll wake up and I'm on a 1/4 of my Queen sized bed and Fred has the other 3/4 of the bed. Then she gets really miffed when I scoot her over so I can claim at least 1/2 of the bed. She's a geriatric kitty, so I let her bitch and moan. I figure she deserves it.

There are somedays when it's really evident to me that I had a night in which I was snoring really loudly. It's usually when I wake up and both cats are huddled in the far side of the living room with their paws over their ears. I've been sleeping with the windows open and I wonder if my neighbors hear my snoring so loudly? When I walk out of my apartment, no one points and laughs or anything, so I can't really tell.

OK, all of this talking about sleeping has got me wanting to sleep...I'm going to wander back to my bed for a little bit.

Have a great day!

:-)

// posted by Joan @ 7:53 AM

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