He's just cool

I got to playing with my new scanner today and decided to share one of my favorite pictures with you. It's of a polar bear. I took it at the Dallas Zoo probably 9 or 10 years ago. I think he's just too cool. By the way, you can click on the picture to make it bigger. Have a great evening everyone!

No matter what

I came across this picture of Johnny Depp on People this morning...

All I have to say is this: no matter what you do to try to look crazy, you'll always be gorgeous to me ♥ LOL sorry, I'm in a weird mood today :D Have a great one everyone!

Calling all beach bums!

What could be better than living on a beautiful beach, snorkeling along the reef and exploring an island anytime you got the urge? How about getting paid for it.

Sounds like a dream job to me. But it’s not a dream. It’s exactly what the Australian government is offering. $105,000 plus a rent free beach home to live on this beautiful island for six months. All that’s required to get this job is the ability to swim, be able to speak and write English and not be shy.

The person who gets the job will be expected to talk to the media, keep a blog and provide video and photo updates. Australia is trying to bring more tourism to the country, specifically to Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.

I can imagine the scene all too easily which probably means I’d love this job. Just the wildlife alone would be worth it to me. Plus you get to live on an island! Now that feels too good to be true. I’m already very jealous of someone. I don’t know who will get the job, but whoever it is, I’m jealous!

If you’re interested in applying for this job you can click here, but I’m warning you A LOT of people are interested and therefore the site is so busy it’s very hard to get to it. I tried for over half an hour before it would finally go to the site.

If you do make it to the site there are links to all the relevant issues pertaining to this job. There is a full job description you can download and details on the responsibilities, criteria and benefits.

If I had nothing else to do I would definitely apply for this job. Six months would go by so fast. Especially on an island. I wonder if it’s a one time deal. Or if you can sign up for another six months after the first ones have past. I imagine that answer is in the FAQ section included on the site. I think I’ll go read them now and have a little daydream about living on the beach.

Note: Today's news revealed that because of the high volume of traffic to the application site it crashed. It took several hours to get the site back up and some portions are still unavailable.

What is wrong with this world?

I wrote last night on the terrible tragedy John Travolta and his family are suffering through. I understand his pain as a mother who has lost a son. So I spent a lot of time last night reading stories and comments left on stories about it. It's the comments that have me upset.

I don't understand how people can take something as terrible as the death of a child and make it into a joke. I was appalled. The worst comments were on the E! Online story. E! is well known enough that I would think they'd show a little responsibility and remove the offensive comments on a story that should be about condolences.

People made jet ski jokes in reference to Jett's name. They made bathtub jokes. They made tacky Scientology jokes. They even suggested that this poor child would not go to Heaven because of his parents beliefs. Some fool even made the screen name L. Ron Hubbard to bash the Travolta's. How pathetic is what I say.

Just what exactly does Jett's parents religion have to do with any of it? It doesn't in my opinion. The only thing that should matter right now is that parents have lost their child. I know the day will come that those heartless people will be judged and I take comfort in that knowledge.

To the Travolta family, my heartfelt condolences. It's been 8 years since I lost my son and the pain is still there. I hope they find peace in whatever way they can.

To the attention seekers and people with unbelievably bad taste, I hope you never have to go through the pain of losing a child. But maybe if you did you would understand what a terrible thing you did making jokes about a child passing away. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

The songs will carry on

I wrote today about the comedians we lost in 2008 on my Happy At Home site. I said there were two things I could not live without and they were laughter and music.

Here I am honoring the musicians we lost in 2008. They will be missed.

January 20th - John Stewart
He was a member of the Kingston Trio and wrote many songs including the Monkees’ hit “Daydream Believer”. He was 68.

February 5th - Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
He wasn’t really a musician but he influenced the music scene intensely when he taught transcendentalist meditation to the Beatles. He was 96.

February 28th - Mike Smith
He was the lead vocalist for The Dave Clark Five. He was 64.

May 5th - Jerry Wallace
Country singer from the 50’s. He had a #1 hit in 1972 for “To Get To You”. He was 79.

May 8th - Eddy Arnold
Said to be the baritone voice that helped to create the Nashville sound. He was 89.

June 2nd - Bo Diddley
He was known as one of the founding fathers of rock and roll. And known for calling his guitar Lucille. He was 79.

August 10th - Isaac Hayes
Soul singer who was most famous for writing the theme song to Shaft. He was 65.

August 18th - Pervis Jackson
The bass voice for the Spinners. He was 70.

September 2nd - Jerry Reed
Country and western singer. Best known for his slapstick songs such as “She got the goldmine and I got the shaft”. He was 71.

September 15th - Richard Wright
Pianist with Pink Floyd. He wrote the song “Wish you were here”. He was 65.

October 17th - Levi Stubbs
Singing front man for the Four Tops. He was 72.

October 24th - Merl Saunders
Musician and keyboardist for The Grateful Dead. He was 74.

December 25th - Eartha Kitt
Singer who was best known for her song “Santa Baby”. She was also an actress, best known for portraying Catwoman in the Batman series.

Attack of the 20 foot man! ...or something like that

Snow is harmless right? Specifically snowmen. Kids out of school for Christmas break that live in places where snow falls abundantly build them all the time. They don’t come to life and wreak havoc on our neighborhoods. They don’t have any magical powers. And they don’t build themselves. Or do they?

According to a man in Anchorage Alaska a 25 foot tall snowman, dubbed Snowzilla by his family and neighbors, just magically appeared in his front yard on Christmas morning. Call it a Christmas miracle. He practically does in his interview.

This is the fourth year that Snowzilla sits in the front yard of the Powers family. He’s equipped with all the snowman details including a stovetop hat and corncob pipe. Halfway through the building of this years Snowzilla, the city stopped Billy Powers and his seven children from finishing the snowman citing noise and traffic complaints.

A notice was put at the base of the snowman as well as on the front door of the Power’s residence to cease and desist from erecting the snowman. The city says it is a nuisance because of all the extra traffic and noise from people wanting to see the snowman with their own eyes.

They also stated that it was a safety hazard. I imagine it takes a lot of snow to make a 25 foot tall snowman. I can actually see the cities side. But I also think he should be able to do what he wants in his own front yard. And I would love to see Snowzilla for myself. I’m torn between which side I stand on in this debate. Maybe by the time Christmas 2009 arrives I’ll have decided.




Click here to read related Snowzilla stories in the Anchorage Daily News

Click here to watch the video of Billy Powers stating his case

Merry Christmas everyone!

I was going to write about Odin for you today but instead I decided to post videos. The one here is Celine Dion singing Happy Christmas (War Is Over). Besides her beautiful voice the video is full of beautiful images. Merry Christmas everyone! Have a great one!

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water...

Last summer we went to the beach several times. On one of those trips my daughter Melanie went with us. It was a great day with just one little glitch…

The kids had gone off together playing in the surf. You could tell they were having so much fun. They were laughing and tackling each other. Suddenly Melanie came running out of the ocean and up the beach towards us with a look of panic on her face! She was holding both her hands across her leg and crying. She yelled, “Momma, something stung me!”.

Luckily a beach patrolman was driving down the beach on his four wheeler. We flagged him down and told him what was happening. He looked at her leg and told us rather matter-of-factly that she had been stung by a jellyfish. He told us that at our beach (Surfside/Freeport, Texas), jellyfish are common. He said it was a good idea to keep 3 items in our car whenever we were planning a beach trip. A clean towel (or two), a spray bottle filled with white vinegar and meat tenderizer.

Use the towel to wipe off the stung area. If you use your hand you’ll just end up with stings all over it too. You definitely don’t want that!

Next is the vinegar. It is said to remove the nematocysts. Nematocysts are the tiny stingers that inject the venom into you. Spray the entire area down to remove them. One word of caution about vinegar: In stings from Portuguese Men of War vinegar worsens the pain. A Portuguese Man of War is not jellyfish although they look very similar to them.

The last item is the meat tenderizer. Meat tenderizer contains papain which will ease the discomfort of the sting. Papain is an enzyme that breaks down proteins. Just rub a thin layer over the affected area. Leave it on about 15 minutes. Be sure and rinse it off after the 15 minutes or it could irritate your skin worse.

Without a doubt I will have these items in my car the next time we are going to the beach. I hope we never have to deal with jellyfish stings again, but if we do, I’m going to be prepared!

(Portuguese Man of War)

(Common Jellyfish)

(Sting on my daughter's leg)

Our Georgia trip

We made a trip to Georgia back in July for the birth of our grandson Gavin. It was an unexpected trip. We had planned on going in September when Gavin was actually due, but he couldn’t wait that long. He wanted to be here now! Thankfully everything turned out ok and he is happy and healthy at home.

While we were there Tim took me to see Stone Mountain. I had never been. I had heard of it. Many years ago my parents had taken a vacation and Stone Mountain was one of the places they visited. I had even seen pictures of what my father had dubbed The Mount Rushmore of the South. I don’t know if that was something it was really called. He was funny like that. He liked to give things names.

But up to the point that Tim took me, I had never seen it with my own eyes. It was breathtaking. I was literally in awe looking at the etching on the mountain. I couldn’t believe anyone could carve something like that.

We took the skylift up to the top of the mountain. Again, beautiful. Heights aren’t exactly my thing but once we were on solid ground I was able to enjoy the view.

There’s an entire park surrounding the mountain. There are places for the kids to play. And I hear they put on an awesome Fourth of July fireworks show. Maybe next year we’ll make it in time to see it. I hope so. I think I could love Georgia without much effort. It’s truly a gorgeous state.