Maryland & Back to NJ in a Day

While driving back from Maryland on the infamous I95- while watching oncoming traffic- I wondered if I95 could be seen from the satellites as the Great Wall of China. It would be the Great Wall of I95. A moving oops- traffic jam all up & down the Eastern Seaboard! Also known as: too much traffic not enough real estate!.

How many varieties of cars there are! Black, blue, green, silver, red and all the colors in between.

Then there's sedans, SUV's, Humv's etc & etc.

There are the drivers which you see mostly from the shoulders up. Those on ear piece cell phones that look like they are talking to themselves, the smokers, the eaters, the coughers & wavers. and How about the honkers, no turn signalers, the car ragers and the ones the hubby says are : driving with their heads up their asses!.

Don't let me forget the motorcyclers and crotch rockets that drive in every lane and down the centers.

The ones who don't know where they are going- reading maps.

My all time favorite are the ones driving 70 or 75 MPH while reading their favorite books!

ANGEL baby

So what do you think! Should we put back outside for the animals to get? I couldn't! My eldest daughter is feeding and he likes it this way, only occasionally eats the food in dish although watered down. Is using litter for tinkles. I am concerned today doesn't look as happy! Will keep ya posted. Am taking to vet this week.

I'm falling and not in Love

Well I've gone and done it this time. While doing a yard sale this week, I missed my footing and fell, gracefully of course,to a gravel driveway. I fell hand first and three of my fingers looked like the were going in the wrong direction. (and I didn't even go to Pax's party).

After inspecting the hand thoroughly, the hubby said nothing is broken, but did it hurt! The rest of the day was spent with a pack of frozen hot dogs on it, which did help with the swelling and pain. Sunday am my fingers looked like they had turned into sausages! Complete with a purplish hue. Thankfully it is my left hand, I'm right handed, but I never realised how much one uses the other hand while doing stuff! I am really doing the "seek and find" on the keyboard now!. My left hand is practically useless! Good week for the grandchildren to be here!

The kitten is good. The grand's love it. We have decided it's a boy not a girl Name is Angel, although car wash is still being wanted by the kids!

Found out how Merci found out it was Pakistan! She ran the Mouse over the pic and it showed the name of the place, And I thought she was soooo smart. She really is about computers teehee!

Kittens Cats & things like that

Ok folks, believe it or not I am a grandma to a kitten now. The other eve my hubby came walking around the house with our dog on the leash and something in his hand. I couldn't tell what he had. Well lo and behold it was a yelping kitten. He found it in the backyard, not more than 3-4 weeks old. What could we do? leave it out there to get killed by the other animals that live out there? No, my daughter immediately fell in love and we now have something new to tend to!
We are feeding with a dropper at present and are going to get some kitty food later today.
I hope it does well and survives the grandchildren coming up next week! If it does survive I guess God intended it to be here! A couple of weeks ago our grandchildrens' cat ,daughter had before they were born, left the house and never returned! They were all heartbroken. So now granny has one despite her allergies.
I already have a sinus infection and suffering a great bout of Lyme Disease (on second round of antibiotics & headaches!) so whats a few allergies!
We haven't decided on a name yet but Angel is the current favorite. I like Mimi. Heard names from the grandchildren: carwash, fluffy, speedy & lexie.
I am starting to call my home a little zoo- a dog, 2 turtles and now a cat!

You Be the Judge

My daughter and I have been having this discussion for years now. Something like, which way does the toilet paper roll go on the dispenser.

"Which way in the dishwasher do the knives, forks & spoons go". She maintains that they should all go up\; the bowls of the spoons, tines of the forks, & the blades of the knives. O did I mention in some things she is compulsive? Plus she learned this at summer camp when she was 16 or so.

I maintain that they should go down so as not to touch the ends that go in your mouth when used. Additionally, you won't cut your hand on the knife or prick with the tines.

She also maintains they be all like things together. I think this is a great idea, but maintain just as long as they get in there, I could give a fat rats ass. Actually, I really could care how they go in especially when dealing with 4 grandchildren. You should see the number of utensils that are used in a twenty-four hour period.

To sum it up- I really can't get all that excited about it. There is a dishwasher and it's name isn't mommanator!

Just an added note read on treehugger.com you shouldn't prewash your dishes by hand either to conserve energy=water, electricity etc. as most dishwashers today with the products we use will get much of the stuff off. If a problem is found then prewash heavily soiled objects- IE. cooked on stuff in the pots & pans.

And a quiz- where do you think the pic was taken?

WOW-WOW

Down here in Maryland my daughter found a new grocery store. You wouldn't believe it! It had a child care place sorta like Ikea only better! The kiddos can go in for 1 1/2 hours free, then you must pay. Well we took the 4 cherubs this week. The youngest one has a real problem being left anywhere. He was the first to go in and they all loved it! In fact they didn't want to come out they were having so much fun. They had computers they could play with. The kids really love time on the computer. I usually have to take a number to get online. Not really I use it first in the am and they can use much of the rest of the day.
Back to the store- it was very clean, actually my daughter & I had fun in it. Racing to get items. I really hate grocery shopping!
The kicker is that when you checkout they give you money off on your gas if you buy at their station, which is accross the street.! She got 20cents per gallon off her next fill up! With the price of gas these days that is amazing! Gas here is 20-30cents a gallon higher than in NJ.
I certainly would frequent this store-prices were comparable to the store she presently goes.
It's called Giant Eagle - so if ya see one give it a try. We don't have in NJ yet, at least I don't think so.

7 Wonders again

just found out they are having a vote again for the Natural Wonders of the World here's a site you can go to for a vote. www.new7wonders.com get your vote in!

7-WONDERS of the WORLD!

While watching TV yesterday found out we have seven new wonders of the world.

1. why did we have to have seven new ones? Didn't we already have 7 of the Ancient World and 7 of the Modern World?

2. I'm not complaining just wondering what kind of political statement it was.

3. What kind of money making scheme was it?

4. How come they didn't want Europe taking all the cudos , but yet the Roman Coloseum stil got a place? & Whats wrong with North America?

5. What about natural wonders?The Grand Canyon, the Niagara Falls, The Nile River, The Glasiers in Iceland, North & South Poles, the Sahara Desert, the Great Barrier Reef, & the Amazon Rain Forests

The winners are: The Great Wall of China, The Taj Mahal in India, Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Machu Picchu in Peru, and Chichen Itza in Mexico.

Some of the top loosers were: The Acropolis in Greece, The Eiffel Tower in Paris, Easter Island, Stonehenge, Sydney Opera House & the Statue of Liberty

Congrats to Nadal & Venus great tennis! @ Wimbleton

Movies

Here is a critique of the past 2 movies I have seen in the past week:
"Ratatoullie"
I actually went and saw a movie about a RAT, in line I kept saying to myself I'm going to see a movie about a Rat? Actually we took the kids to see it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was fun, alot of action packed humor. It was a bit too long-I am judging this as a 4 year old wouldn't sit still for the last 15 minutes-, but don't know how it could have been cut down. The kids wanted to see it real bad and I'm glad we took them. All in all it was a good kid flick, the computer graphics unbelievable, you could see the strands of hair on the rats body.

"Fantastic Four- Rise of the Silver Slider"
Was predictable, but the action shots were good. I would have liked to see the Silver Surfer without the silver on, he had quite a body! Hubby and I had a good time. Went to our favorite theater which is much cheaper than others, you can actually buy popcorn and not feel like you have spent enough for a good meal.

So what have you seen lately?

Celebrating the 4th??

4TH OF JULY BY THE NUMBERS.
Number of hotdogs to be consumed on July 4th: 150 million
Amount of chicken purchased in the week leading up to July 4th: 700 million pounds
Amount of red meat/pork purchased in the week leading up to July 4th: 190 million pounds Percentage of American households with outdoor grills: 87

SO WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO OUR DIETS FELLOW AMERICANS? WHAT HAPPENED TO VEGGIES, LOFAT-LOCARB DIETS?


Amount of fireworks sold to individuals for personal celebrations in 2006:252millionpounds.
Amount of fireworks sold to cities and municipalities for public celebrations last year: 25 million pounds
Amount of fireworks sold to individuals for personal celebrations in 2000: 102 million pounds Total dollar amount spent on fireworks in 2007: 900 million dollars
Total dollar amount spent on fireworks in 2000: 350 million dollars
Percentage of fireworks sales that take place in late June and early July: 80

SO WHY AREN'T WE CONSERVING ENERGY & WORRIED ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT HERE?- JUST WHO GETS THIS MONEY SPENT?

Dollar amount of fireworks imported to the US from China in 2006: 212 million
Dollar amount of American flags imported into the US from China in 2006: 5 million

GUESS THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT GETS IT HUH? WE ARE STILL INTRADE WITH THE CHINESE! WITH ALL THESE FIREWORKS THEY SELL TO US WHAT KIND OF BOMBS CAN THEY BUILD? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE AMERICAN COMPANIES THAT LOST THIS TRADE? I'M GLAD THAT THERE IS ONE COMPANY IN NJ THAT STILL MAKES FLAGS!
ANOTHER QUESTION: WHY DO I HEAR FIREWORKS HERE IN THE PEACH ORCHARD IF FIREWORKS ARE BANNED IN THE STATE OF NJ?
JUST SOME NOTES FROM THE MOMMANATOR?

Words

Words
Words spoken may soon pass away and forgotten be,
But when spoken in love and kindness,
are like beautiful flowers,
and even though they fade and die from conscious memory,
their fragrance lives on embedded in the deeper mind –forever.
– Dick Innes

found this while on the web today. HOW true!

But those spoken in anger and resentment-OMY
they tear up relationships,
flow with bitterness and are emblazened upon ones heart.

Family Reunion

Yesterday was the annual family reunion here in NJ. We used to do this all the time when I was a kid at grannies house or go to Ocean City for the day. Life however got into the way and the reunion was suspended for quite awhile. Much to one of my Uncles and his wife's credit they resumed it a couple of years ago. It takes place at their home here in South Jersey and it is a ball seeing everyone and talking about good ole times!
My dad was one of ten and the eldest. He passed many years ago(maybe thats why I feel a bit depressed today?). There's one Aunt and 3 uncles left. All of the extended families attend, even those of the expired brothers and sisters. We come from all over to attend- NJ, NH, NC,SC, Penna, & Va, at least thats all I can remember right now.
My dad's family actually originated in Kentucky so in reality it's a bunch of rednecks getting together and having a noisy ball. We also come in a variety of shapes and sizes!!! & now colors.
They have pictures of which we try to tell who folks are, being one of the older grandchildren I can remember most of em, but one had me stuck yesterday. Then there was that pic of me 150 pounds heavier EEK, what an eye opener!
We talked, ate & ate, drank, swam& played games. I even played volley ball with a bunch of teens- was supposed to be guys against the gals, but being me I played with the guys-we won!
Then there was the music- was great mixture of old and new, pop/country. Then the finale was two of my uncles playing guitar & singing. Then the singing of Amazing Grace that left no eye without a tear as that was/is our family song.
What a great day with wonderful weather!