Smart Phone Technology

It's been almost 10 years since I began this blog. WOW.

Today begins a new era - updating on my cellphone!

Will be editing background etc in the future.

DOCTORS

I am so very tired of doctors and not just for my fibromyalgia.

Husband and I spent 7 hours in emergency today.  They still don't have a clue what's wrong.  Usually they figure it out - was just in the hospital last month for pericarditis and of course all the lung issues since we quit smoking almost 2 years ago.

So, he still has the pain the doctor originally sent him to emergency for this morning.  Wonderful medical system we have.  Go home and take some painkillers.  Drugs are what makes the money for everyone so just take more - terribly strange world we live in. 

I firmly believe there is a cure for cancer but non of the large companies that make all the cancer treatment medication or their doctors or employees would make money if we cured cancer.  Such an injust world - it's all about the almighty dollar.

Sad Day

Today is indeed a sad day - put a notice up on my site I created years ago Westsyde Web Designs that is mentioned here in my blog.

Just finding it too hard to do web design and have for quite awhile. Love my one client Animal Talk and doing periodic updates for her, however, not really able to take on any new clients and haven't for quite awhile. I'm planning to do something different with the site - maybe upload photos I've taken or jokes or....

My fibromyalgia just exhausts me all the time and I'm finding it increasingly hard to just think. Good old fibro-fog as it's called.

Hoping to talk to you again soon.

Fibromyalgia Update

Fact for today:  fibromyalgia is one of a hundred forms of arthritis.

So let me tell you about some of the positives of having fibromyalgia.  You get to eat, sleep and be exhausted all day.  That's pretty much where my condition is right now.

The time you are awake you feel so fatigued you cannot accomplish much.  Doing things in sections like chores is the only way I can manage.  Loading the dishwasher: prepare dirty dishes, sit down, load half of the dirty dishes, sit down, finish loading, sit down. 

Forget about doing laundry for your family - you might be able to do one load with everyone's underwear and/or socks.  That still leaves piles of clothes doesn't it?  Yah and it takes forever to get to the rest of it.  Small jobs like: sort laundry, sit down, load washer, sit down, put in dryer, sit down, unload clothes and sort, sit down.  They don't always get put away though - may take a week sometimes.

The great thing about my teenage daughter - she's at the stage now where she wants to smell/look good so she'll throw in laundry as well.  She may only do a load of her own clothes, but heh, that saves me the energy to do a load.  My daughter has been doing most of the laundry (towels definitely every few days) while I worked.  Now that I'm off I try and do what I can but she's so terrific - I couldn't have worked this long without her help doing chores.  I haven't washed a floor in years - she's done them.  It kills me to know I can't do these things and then if I feel guilty it causes more stress - aggravating the fibromyalgia even more.

Are you wondering about the pain? Well that was in remission prior to this flare up, however, it is now back. Major pain in different areas of the body - piercing, aching, stabbing, radiating, intense burning, throbbing, shooting and deep muscular aching.


As I try and get myself back to where I am able to work full time, I am working on our family history.  Went to geneology.com on the Net - I'd started a page years ago and have hardly had the time to go work on finding relatives of my father Johann.

This is what I do know:

My father, Johann Schmalz, was born in 1919 in Russia near the Kuban River near a city called Krasnador(before 1920 was named - Ekaterinodar after Katherine the Great. Dad was born in Semenovka south of the Kuban River. He had 10 brothers and sisters and his father, Georg Schmalz (born 1883-1919) died 2 weeks prior to my dad's birth on January 13th. My grandfather Georg Schmalz, lost both his parents by the time he was 18.

At one point my dad's mother, Klara Schmalz (nee Zwenger DOB: 1884), was sent to Siberia for hiding food in the family farm's well...around 1930. Her father, my grandfather, was once thrown in jail for praying for rain during a drought.

So if you can help me find some ancestors, that'd be great!

Now it's nap time....

Fibromyalgia and the Hen House

Fibromyalgia - what is it exactly?

According to the Mayo Clinic's website it "is a chronic condition characterized by widespread pain in your muscles, ligaments and tendons, as well as fatigue and multiple tender points - places on your body where slight pressure causes pain.".

It's much more than that though. Stress seriously aggravates it and will make it "flare up". Other symptoms include: sleep disturbance (so your body doesn't heal itself at night like normal), mental fog (your mind works slower) and many other irritating little things (harsh light/noise bothers you for example).

By the time I was diagnosed with it in 1992 I'd already done research on it for many years. It used to be thought that this condition was "all in your head". Finally science caught up to the old wives' tale and figured it out. It was probably an old wife (female doctor) that informed the male dominated medical society that it really, really does exist!

Anyway, enough with that. I knew I had it before they diagnosed me with it. My doctor at the time said "no point diagnosing it because there's no cure, etc." Well luckily, and in a totally karmic way I went to see her one day and she's not there but a locum just out of university with the same maiden name as mine, was - thank God. It's a strange surname (Schmalz)so it was bizarre that this young female and I had something in common. She referred me to the best rheumatologist in our city because this locum had listened to lectures given by this specialist.

So....moving forward, I began understanding why my body was fighting me on an hourly basis. I kept exploring all the various theories and remedies related to this mysterious condition. Numerous times over the years it went into recession but about 2 months ago it really flared up and I've been forced to quit work for the time being to heal.

You can imagine what kind of stress working with a group of women causes. These women were 99% negative and 150% vindictive. Ok, so I'm talking about the average "hen house" mentality!

As I sit at home pondering the fact that my cobwebs have cobwebs (it incapacitates you to the extent that you're bedridden and can't do simple things without total agony), and look around at all the unfinished work to do in my house, I start to begin to heal myself again.

The ladies I had worked with and for, were skeptical about my condition I'm sure. They never ceased to stop bitching about everything and everyone else - including their "best" friend at work. Oh yeah, I never heard as many complaints about what incompetent co-workers we worked with, in my life. I'd previously worked with a majority of men - they don't f*&k around - you screw up at your job - it's out in the open not behind someone's back.

So as I worked with these "hens" there was always the feeling they were sharpening their knives to inflict pain on another to make themselves feel better. Usually the victim wasn't even in the room because of course it's easier to attack someone who isn't there in the flesh. LOL.

The butchering went on non-stop fueled by the managers who should have put a stop to it before it got out of hand. The mentality seemed to be: if I project my own inadequacies onto Jane then I look more competent. Yup they acted more like kids in play school pointing their finger at a weaker child when they in fact, had broken the toy.

Now don't get me wrong - in this group there were a few mature woman as well but most of them got sucked into the vortex of bitch hell. I am also guilty of the same. With all the negativity compounding on a continual basis, it created an invisible being that hovered around us all. Soon as we walked through the doors at work we went into bitch from hell mode lacking sympathy and compassion.

As much as I've talked about this with my closest friend, my husband, the anger is still causing me to be stressed out which in turn causes more pain. I will be updating this blog more regularly now just to work out the frustration.

OLDER - NO WISER

Well here it is a year later and no wiser...lol.

Haven't been out on the Harley yet this year - damn winter lasted forever this year - worst in over 12 years in this region.

Blah to the winter and RAH to the riding season!

Westsyde Web Designs

Westsyde Web Designs is a small company I started in 1998 when we moved to our current location.

I'd worked full time since I was 18 and was now about to be a stay at home mom.

I started by mainly doing websites for friends and relatives.

People found my web site on the internet and started asking me for quotes.  I had done any advertising but the way I coded my site drew people to me.

Quotes? LOL I had no idea what to charge. At the beginning I bartered my services for things we needed. If it was a photographer, my family had portraits done, etc.

I did provide free estimates eventually and have designed sites for numerous customers. Some have gone out of business and as I explain on my site, to promote your business, you still have to do all the traditional marketing and hard work. Having a web site didn't guarantee that millions of people would see it. I was able to place their web site on the first few pages of Google however, which is almost impossible. Further to the marketing - they didn't really do any marketing on the side and gave up on their dream.

I don't give up though and over the years even though my fibromyalgia would flare up and I would have to stop working on it, it's still up and running...click on my link to check out my site: http://www.westsydewebdesigns.com/

Animal Talk - What is it?

Animal Talk is the website of a good friend/client of mine: Lauren Bode.  She has given us information on our cat Apache (also know as Patch) with only knowing his name and seeing a picture of him.  She had never seen him in person nor had I conveyed any information about him.  Perhaps, because she is psychic she was able to read me?  Not sure how she was able to do it but am happy she has this special ability.  


What she told me was truly unbelievable and using techniques she suggested, I have been able to train Apache to listen to what I tell him.  Really!  See this post I called Patch our Wonder Cat.


Lauren is like a horse whisperer - she works with other animals but specializes in horses.


Lauren speaks for animals. She willingly provides a voice for the non-human creatures of our world in the hope that she may assist them to obtain greater health, better understanding of their expected roles and better relationships with their human partners. Through her classes and daily contacts, she encourages others to develop closer bonds, appreciation and mutual trust with animals, and a respect for all life in this world.

Patch, our Wonder Cat

Patch, our wonder cat (also know as Apache-his real name, Fat Butt, Piddy, and numerous other names that come to our imagination.

Patch once left home without us and went on his own adventure. He was gone over 3 1/2 weeks and we were at our wits end worrying about where he went. My husband, who was not that attached to him when we first introduced them to each other, was the worst worry wart of us all! LOL In fact, you know how men can be, he taught Patch numerous tricks and would reward him with some special treats. Patch comes everyday at a certain time to receive them - he rolls over and gets a treat.

A psychic friend advised me years later that he learned his lesson and would never go wandering again! True Story. There was much more she conveyed and all was true.

He is so smart - I taught him not to bring live mice, then dead mice into our home. Then I had to work out something because he'd started leaving the head mice on our doorstep - not inside because he knew I'd be mad. I then told him what a good mouser he was and to take trophies he brought us and leave them in the yard next door - it was a pigpen anyway!

FIRST HARLEY RIDE OF THE YEAR

Went on our first Harley ride of the year last Friday, March 7th.

OMG to feel the wind and smell the manure on the fields not far from our house in the city was heaven again! There were even swans (we live in the middle of our Province) that hadn't flown south yet.

I'm dying to take the riding lessons this year - just need to find some spare cash...lol...

Dad was in a bad motor vehicle accident Feb 9th in which he broke his neck, fractured his right hip and ribs and was just really black with bruises. Had you seen his car you would have thought he'd died. Was hit by a truck and any normal 89 year old would not have survived. When doing the insurance business for him I found this palm frond (given out at Easter by Catholic church) he told me he'd received from my grandmother (his mother-in-law). It was in the shape of a cross. I swear his angels hav been with him in every accident. I'm not very religious anymore with the hypocrisy of the Church being what it is, but I firmly believe in angels among us.

Harley Mamma!

Hubby took me out again on our bike - oh what a feeling. To my good friends that already "live to ride" - now I really know what you're always so hyped about. The feeling of sitting on the back of this mechanical beast so totally relaxed, enjoying the scenery and feeling as if you've gone to heaven.

To those of you who always wonder what those crazy guys and gals on Harleys find in sitting on a piece of metal with nothing enclosing you, protecting you, coddling you so nicely you feel like a baby in the womb - I shit you not - try it!

Now to save the $$ for the lessons and a bike - wohoo, lottery come to me. It's definitely not cheap but the thrill of it, the fantastic smell of the lilacs in bloom, seeing a dog in the doggie park beside the road racing this machine with 2 bodies dressed like Dath Vader, and having kids on bikes giving the thumbs up to two old farts, makes you want to cry with pleasure.

Time Flies

This is sad...almost a year now and I haven't written a thing - too many web sites to work on...so little time. Turned the big half century last month - woohooooooo. Still alive and kicking. What does age really mean? Well - not much. Still feel and act 17 or so. Working towards retirement and trying to figure out how to do it financially. Need a web site? Contact Westsyde Web Designs for small business sites at reasonable rates: http://www.westsydewebdesigns.com

ABUSE OF COMMENTS FUNCTION

Unfortunately there is always one bad apple who spoils the rest for anyone.

My last post on First Contact became someone's idea of advertising - they put their ad into my comments section. It truly is unbelievable what some people will do to put their business on the internet.

Perhaps if you wish to have a web site created for you haroldingals43739408, you would have the decency to just start your own blog and hope people come to it.

FIRST CONTACT

Do you believe in First Contact?
Most of you will probably be asking - "What does that mean?". Some of you will know exactly what I mean by that phrase. We are going to be visited by those that have been watching over us for a very long time.
The phrase first contact has been around for a very long time as well. Of course, it refers to contact with people from outer space. I don't like to refer to them as aliens - they don't look like ET as far as I'm concerned.
There are many people who are lightworkers - people that believe that the world will become good (light) again, as opposed to what's going on now on our planet - dark and evil things. I consider myself one. Love and peace will return to our world eventually and I want to be partially responsible, even if in some very minute way, for bringing the "light" back.

JUST CHECKING IN

Since starting work end of August last year I haven't had much time for anything.

Getting up at 3:30 a.m. isn't the most enjoyable thing I do. I've always been a night person - up till 2 or 3 or all night - working on web pages or reading.

So there I am at my desk at work at the ungodly hour of 4:30 sometimes depending on which shift I'm scheduled, and thinking of wanting to build web pages for a living. Unfortunately, the programs people can use (some for free even) to build their web sites, pretty much makes it difficult to make your living at building sites.

If I were independently wealthy I'd be able to do it but until then ... anyone out there want to donate money? LOL

Mammogram

I went for my very first mammogram today. I'd heard of so many women complaining about how painful it is. It wasn't for me or two other friends of mine. I now wish I had done it years earlier but was afraid of the so called pain.

The technician that worked the mammogram machine told me that she could tell right away that it would not hurt. Apparently it has something to do with the type of tissue one has and I was lucky I guess.

Go get it done! The size of a tumour found by traditional self exams are the size of a lemon by the time they're detected. The size through a mammogram is equivalent to a pea or so and the chances for treatment are so much greater when found this early.

Do it...make that appointment today.

IF I DIDN'T HAVE BAD LUCK I'D HAVE NO LUCK AT ALL

I've always wondered where this expression came from.
Lately that's the only kind of luck I seem to be getting.

Quote: Life is a mirror

"Life is a mirror. If you frown at it, it frowns back;
if you smile, it returns the greeting"

~ W.M. Thackeray

Work - the four letter word & America the "Super Power"

America - the "Super Power"?  I debate that self created title by the "richest, smartest, most powerful country in the word".

O.K., I have the patience of 100 women (I'd say men but that wouldn't apply now would it? How many guys do you know that are patient) but sometimes my job tries my very last nerve.

Having to deal with American customers on the phone all day, I would like to share how these brash people deal with things.

They whine, threaten, scream, demand, cry, use profanities (including the worst one which is a part of the female anatomy and I know you guys know which one that is) and act like they are a toddler.

Some of their dumb questions: "Are there black people in Canada?"  "It's October - do you have loads of snow right now?"  I'm in a semi-arid climate and although we get snow, it's usually later in the year and our igloos aren't toally covered.  LOL

"Super Power" they want us to believe? More like "Stupid Power".
Check out the meaning of Super Power and decide for yourself if they are - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower

NEW MAMMA OF A DOT COM - WESTSYDE WEB DESIGNS

O.K. so I now have the purpose of my life figured out and my angels have finally spoken to me. Those of who you aren't sure what I'm talking about - I believe there are angels around us all the time and I received the wierdest message this week.
It cleared up so many things and made me stop procrastinating. I finally registered myself a dot com - I'm the proud new momma of a dot com!! I am so excited.

Those of you who know me will understand how this has been something that's been long overdue. I've fiddled and worked on web pages and created sites for myself and others but had yet to try and make a go of it as a real business.

It's a home based business in Kamloops, B.C., Canada and perhaps one day it will be a bigger business. Or not.

I'm just doing it, not so much for the financial aspect, but the personal gratification that comes from my wanting to be creative as well as organized and interact with others outside the home. It allows me to set goals, meet deadlines, network, cultivate a clientele base and yet not apply too much pressure on myself. More for fun but serious as well.

Check it out Westsyde Web Designs



I'd be happy to receive any and all comments on my idea to make customized personal e-cards that for a small fee customers can order.
The unique page would be an ideal gift to give someone who has everything or have designed for yourself. An inexpensive presence on the World Wide Web without having to sign up for a free web site where you need to know HTML to publish your page.
Westsyde Web Designs also provide Business Web Site Design and consultation services (engine optimization, domain and registration information, etc.). Come visit for a free estimate.

Send email to mail@westsydewebdesigns.com

SCHMALZ ANCESTORS

Trying to find family connections I posted the following on Geneology.com back in 2001:

My father, Johann Schmalz, was born in 1919 in Russia near the Kuban River near a city called Krasnador(before 1920 was named - Ekaterinodar after Katherine the Great). Dad was born in Semenofka south of the Kuban River. He had 10 brothers and sisters and his father, Georg Schmalz (born 1883-1919) died 2 weeks prior to my dad's birth on January 13th. My grandfather Georg Schmalz, lost both his parents by the time he was 18.


At one point my dad's mother, Klara Schmalz (nee Zwenger DOB: 1884), was sent to Siberia for hiding food in the family farm's well...around 1930. Her father, my grandfather, was once thrown in jail for praying for rain during a drought.

Please comment here if you know anything about the towns mentioned, the Schmalz family living in that area in Russia or any Zwenger relations...thank you!

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN YOU ASK?

Life has been doing me in! Between reformatting my hard drive and being sick (fibromyalgia) I've been at home...lol

I do intend to contribute more regularly in the near future.

Thanks for being here.

Take care of yourself - I care.

FLICKR - Web Page to Store Your Pictures

If you don't have a web page or server where you can place your pictures to link to your blog - here's one that Evan Williams, who thought up blogger.com, uses called Flickr.

Bliss

You can upload your pics to it in a very simple manner, anyone can do it, share them with everyone or just friends or no one...it's up to you.

This is so kewl and easy! Check out the girl on the right - the picture is from another blogging page called Blogthings. Thanks Mini for the link!

I posted it right off my Flickr page...if you click on the girl or Bliss it will show all my pics (there's none yet) or you can surf around and look at other people's pics (that are marked public).

p.s. if you're having problems with it go here

All you amateurs - don't quit

A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit. Richard Bach

Official launch of Blissy's Blog to the world!

I have never posted this to anyone other than hubby before but I felt some of you might find it interesting . . . or NOT . . . LOL.

Blissy's Blog: Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Click on the link above to see how it all started - if you dare.

If you want to start your own blog - and believe me you only need to know how to type to do it! - see the link at the very top in the blue border - Get Your Own Blog. Notice Next Blog? You can randomly look through other people's using that link.

Some of these musings are FUNNY, some SILLY, some SERIOUS. There's a place you can leave comments as well (at the end of each day's entry - and don't be shy!). Also, you are free to email them to anyone you wish and they may make comments as well.

p.s. if you have a blog I'd love to see it and link your blog to mine, if you wish. Who knows, maybe BOTH of us will become published authors.

Spyware Page to Check Out for Help: CASTLE COPS.COM

Castle Cops

The link above is a very useful one for all kinds of problems: spyware, foistware, malware, viruses, trojans.

These volunteers will help you out or if you're brave enough (or stupid enough like myself)...lol...try and do it yourself!

Foistware, Malware, Spyware - No More!

O.K. I've had it with these browser hijackings, trojans, worms, viruses, popups, malware (malicious stuff you would never download yourself), and foistware (that's where it downloads automatically and you have no say - just like the government about your money when you pay your taxes and they spend billions on something like a study of fruit flies copulating in summer - another crime!).

This is a free country but unfortunately (or fortunately sometimes) the internet was never controlled originally and even if they had laws how the hell would they even enforce them? No way on earth they could.

Is it just me or what? I downloaded (as Microsoft recommends - it has a signed certificate etc. so you can trust it) Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP and it's apparently good for blocking popups and certain sheeeeeeeeet like I mention above.

I currently run Ad-ware & Spy Sweeper (both remove crap no one in their right mind wants running on their system) as well as the updated XP (SP2) that prevents popups etc. in the firewall it has attached to it.

Now, somehow these brilliant minds that create all this turmoil in my daily life, have figured out a way to bypass the programs and once removed they'll reinstall themselves again as the programs go to web sites you don't even see opening in your browser!

The fact that you don't see them opening is extremely friggin' frustrating so now I've resorted to using my Content Advisor within Internet Options (never felt the need before to block certain sites from being viewed but I see this as possibly one way of avoiding this predicament).

So I basically have to become smarter than the companies trying to get into my computer and figure out where I surf, what I search, what I buy, when I'm on my puter, and God knows what else they're able to acquire without MY permission.

Have you ever tried removing this stuff? Well I have and it used to be easy. Go to Symantec or some other techie page on puters and they give you step by step instructions. They even tell you how to edit your registry (that's the part of your system that actually runs everything kind of). I was brave enough to do the reg edit and remove the programs so they wouldn't come back. And I was able to really do it - I know some of you might find that intimidating but I love to learn.

Well they (brilliant minds who wish to rape our computers) have managed to make some pretty sophisticated software (as far as I'm concerned) so now there's P A G E S of instructions to get rid of this garbage. So don't be fooling around with your registry unless you are a computer geek as it can seriously make things worse. Always do a restore point or backup your registry before you attempt anything. Basically, don't try this at home kids!

I have spent ages (hours and hours) trying to get it out of my CPU (box that has the brain that runs the puter that lets you surf, im, chat, and all those wonderful things we love to do on the Net) then these vile programs manage to download themselves without my invitation again, for the upteenth time in a day.

Now you can just picture me at my desk tearing my hair out right? I'm losing hair as it is (is that a peri-menopausal symptom I wonder - that's another rant you'll want to read!

I can't afford to be trying to eliminate all this data collection they (brilliant minds that probably paid some 12 year old hacker to write these convoluted programs) are doing.

I have one program that was downloaded that calls itself "Home Page Protector". Sounds good right? You think it prevents these creeps from changing your home page as some web sites attempt to do.

Well what it can do for people who design, create and publish their pages on the Net are some really good things. Here's the blurb on their site describing how wonderful a program it is:

Why use Web Page Protector:

1. Encrypt and Protect everything within HTML web pages;

2. Prevent Web site plagiarism ;

3. Disable offline use ,disable web printing, and Save functions;

4. Prevent downloading of pictures, movies, files, texts, links or other data from your web site;

5. Prevent harmful Links, hide files and link address data;

6. you can bypass any web content Filter and "Fire Wall" and get more visitors to your site;

7. Stop junk mail and spam...

@ @* @**@ @* @** @*@ * *@ *@** @* @** @

This sounds great right? If you design web pages you want to keep things copyrighted and not let people steal your ideas (plagiarism) or your images.

Check out number 6 above - (also notice it's the only one that doesn't start with a capital letter in the description) to me this sounds like they're trying to disable my firewall and my Content Advisor. That's not playing fair.

I forgot to mention the MOST annoying thing all of these programs do - they take up all your CPU causing your computer to run slower than the original Commodores or Tandy somethingorothers (first home computers).

Well it's getting late and you're probably nodding off now reading this particular post (I know I am....lol). . They're not always so boring I assure you.

I need to get my butt into bed so ... beotch at ya later. Please comment if you're having these problems because I hate to think that "it's just me". lol

What on God's earth possessed us to have kids????

My daughter and I are fairly good friends. As much as the two of us can be & still adhere to the usually well calculated discipline & rules that hubby & I attempt to set out. As you know this is extremely difficult to manage in this day and age.

We're friends now - but she's only 11! I want to maintain that positive relationship - but not @ the expense of what is important in the job of parenting. I know she will benefit immensely if I maintain my ethics, rules & disciplinary style as she matures.

Guiding children is a challenge & thank God I have only one for if I were to have been blessed with more, I could never keep up with everything one needs to stay on top of - homework, keeping track of who her friends are, making sure she completes each chore as directed (that's a whole other topic) etc.  I'm sure she'll probably think I'm being a bitch but that's life.

I'm heading towards meno and she's almost at menstruation! OMG two women under the same roof that are totally hormonal and PMSing at various times and stages.

{Living with TWO loonie females will definitely be a challenge as well for hubby - for he's probably going through his own male meno...hehehehehe.}

** (Honey, when you read this - just remember I love u!) **

I figure the next 4-5 years will be the ultimate & major challenge of our guiding responsibilities as parents. After that, upon her driving debut and her increasing freedom she will hopefully make carefully considered choices. She is a child and I'm fully aware of how the teen years felt - to this day. Maybe not every issue as there are many more complicated situations than when I was a kid, however, enough to remember the really confusing things. Like boys.

Now this is a nightmare that I just can wait forever to be saddled with. Let me ask you dear readers who have children in their teens & pre-teen years or have raised same - what on God's earth possessed us to have kids????

Just kidding.

Martha, Martha, Martha

Click here for an update to my Martha Stewart comments

Why the heck would you willingly go to jail instead of appealing your sentence if you were innocent ...... I sure the hell wouldn't!

Martha says it's for the benefit of her company. I still wouldn't. She has enough money 10 times over to retire and have her entire family taken care of for life - what's up with her WANTING to go to jail now? Seems odd to me.

If I was found guilty of a crime I did not commit, they would have to drag me kicking and screaming to the heavens, into a jail cell - but not before I tried everything possible to exonerate myself. What do you think?

Is she guilty?

Tell me what you think about it - click on the comments tab below or email me at the envelope link.

O.K. So we know the "New Plan of Action" right?

Well it's another day in the city and it's September already.
Time flies when you're sick....and tired .... and sick and tired...

Fibromyalgia is not my friend - it was easier to be in pain and have the ability to do things than now - since I've started on Celebrex the pain is virtually non-existent unless I'm over tired. The downside? There is always one of those isn't there? I am so fatigued I can't do diddly.

O.K. So we know the "New Plan of Action" right? It's the same one that we take up every September (harking back to the first day of school I imagine) and the one we also adopt on New Year's Day. Well actually, I stopped trying to do the resolution thingy on New Year's - it never worked anyway.

Plan to get into shape, eat right and be perfect. There that outta do it for this year.

D'you think Martha Stewart is going to be taking emails in jail?

I sure could use some advice on just about every friggin thing known to man (or woman).

Been feeling rather perimenopausal lately

Been feeling rather perimenopausal lately - it's even worse than when you're pregnant and the fetus sucks the grey matter from your brain!

Now I'm just plain beotchy about everything - for example I know hubby doesn't like to go shopping and it's daughter's birthday so we need to actually buy something - at the end of the trip we're arguing. I don't want him to be irritated so I try and get the shopping done as soon as possible and he thinks that I'm rushing so that he can't buy what he wants! I just can't win anymore...

Now having looked into perimenopause over the past few years and finding it can last 10 friggin years - it's just another one of those things women have to put up with hormonally.

First you begin bleeding at about 11 or 12 usually (and most girls weren't told about it when I was young) and think that you're dying or something.

Then you get to enjoy the wonderful experience of it (your period) taking a few years to become "normal" and you end up soiling more white pants in high school than a whole school of judo students go through in a year.

Ah then you become "regular" and I must say, luckily I was pretty much so even after going off the pill - my periods could be guaranteed to be 28 days no more, no less. That was definitely a good period (no pun intended).

Then at 40 when they became as irregular as in my early teens it was the same thing - now I went through Super size tampons every half an hour and still leaked- soiling some pretty good underwear in the process!

Sometime in my 40's a gyno decided that I probably needed a D & C so I went through that exciting experience - never again!

Here I am approaching 50 (well I have about 2 1/2 more years to go) and I've become so beotchy and miserable I can't even stand myself - womanhood - 'oh what a feeling, what a rush'.

So if we calculate that I began peri-meno at about 40 when my body totally changed I only have another couple of years of being the hag from hell before I'm finally finished with it.

Then I get to look forward to more hair on my face, hot flashes, vaginal dryness and night sweats possibly - and here's the kicker ladies - even after 1 year of no periods and being officially "menopausal" - you can apparently still become pregnant- oh the wonders of nature!

I finally have what I'd always wanted - Yes!

For the first time in over 30 years I finally have what I'd always hoped to have:

- loving husband & terrific marriage; and
- a child I can love and guide through life.

Unbelievably what I wanted most is what most women want NOT to have these days - independence. It’s a lot more than that though as I had the independence and what I considered a ‘career’ although these days it wouldn’t be considered a career.

I left home at 18 and ventured out into the world. Almost pushed out of the nest actually. My father had always been very strict with me and on New Year’s Eve 3 months before my 19th birthday (legal age here in Canada) he’d given me a curfew of midnight.

Well let me tell you that at that time (1976) I had friends in high school that didn’t have such limitations – even then 28 years ago, most adolescents were given freedom – possibly too much but that’s another story!

From that time in 1976 to 1998 I was independent by supporting myself and trying to work through a multitude of family pressures, problems, feelings, and basically, growing up.

It took me longer than most of my peers I think because of dysfunctional issues in my life and the way I’d been brought up. I worked though it all and realized that my parents were doing the best they could. I forgave them for what I perceived as ‘abuse’ and in this day and age, it would be illegal to do what my father did. However, I love him very much and have a great relationship with him now. Both my parents live near us and are in good health – thank God.

Now I am able to be the parent I wanted MY parents to be. I have broken the cycle because I’m intelligent enough to change myself, which we all know is what needs to be done as we cannot change those around us.

I am now the woman that stays home and takes care of her family – a housewife!

Since 1998 when I stopped working fulltime I’ve been a ‘stay at home mom’ who found my passion (career wise) was creating web pages. I lost that passion along the way, due to various reasons – mostly related to my fibromyalgia.

Once again, I realize that I love to be creative in a computer type of occupation but have to balance everything else in my life and take things extremely slowly due to my health. It is frustrating at times to realize how aging and health can change a person. I look around at everyone in the world (people I know and celebrities, etc.) and realize – everyone was good looking in their youth!!

So here I am at a defining moment in my life (as Dr. Phil puts it) and I need to work towards my goals – long term.

It’s so hard to stay on track for me with regard to goals. My hubby and I had a particularly productive conversation with regard to our future recently. It felt great!

Now I feel really good about when my daughter comes home from school and I’m able to be there for her but you know I want to find that passion that will drive my life to become more financially enhanced.

I know that I can find that and through setting goals and making little steps for each goal that I will accomplish something in my life.

Knowing the course of action to take and following through on it to get to the final outcome have always been hard for me.

Just wanted to let hubby know that I love him very much and don't tell him enough

- I LOVE U....

Do you ever feel useless? I know how that can be!

I used to be someone who could be counted on constantly and worked full time from the age of 18 until moving to a smaller city to enter our daughter in Kindergarden at which time I became “retired” so to speak. You know of course that a housewife is never “retired”!

I learned how to build web pages and it gave me such joy. For once I was able to do something artistic as I could never draw or paint.

Recently I attempted to go back to work full time as our daughter is now in grade 5, however, I found I was unable to do it full time because of my fibromyalgia (sort of like having arthritis in your muscles). It’s very frustrating. I know, “woe is me”.

I went from being a civilian member of a large city police department with high level security clearance and responsibilities to a housewife.

I am attempting to get back into web site creation with the hope that I can do it part time at home.

Just getting past the fatigue is a struggle in itself.

I have a FABULOUS husband who toils away daily at a job he doesn’t particularly like, just to put food on our table. He also was saddled with a affliction in 2000 when a woman ran a red light and t-boned him. He now has a “post concussion migraine” which he’s had 24-7 since the accident in October that year. I honestly don’t know how he does it every day and I am so very proud of him for doing what he does daily.

So, now you’re probably not feeling that useless are you? Didn’t think so.

In this life we are all given challenges. Some people might say they are from God but I feel that it is just fate that has deemed our lives proceed in a certain manner. How we proceed is the real test of our courage for some people will give up to the easier way – drugs, alcohol, sexual addictions, etc. (believe me, I’ve been there too).

Proceed onward and hope for the best every day. One must remain positive and forge ahead through the quagmire that we are all saddled with.

Martha Stewart - never liked the woman.

Martha Stewart - never like the woman, in fact was jealous of her: perfect, smart, crafty and all the rest. Until she went through her divorce and all that has followed her since.

I have changed my opinion of her.

Now she's the scapegoat for all that is wrong in America, as well as the world -when it comes to women getting to the top!

I am so appalled at what is going on in the court system in America. As John Small says on his web site:

"How is it that OJ Simpson was found innocent of murder, and Martha Stewart was found guilty of lying about a crime she was not even charged with?"

 Martha Stewart could not be charged with insider trader so was found guilty, in fact, of charges including obstruction of justice when she apparently could have taken the 5th and avoided all the court bullshit and the jail time.

I do not personally believe in lying and she should have initially just said... "yes I made the stupid mistake of trying to falsify an email, I was dishonest but there was no insider trading motive behind it" or admit she was wrong.

In fact, if Martha Stewart had taken the stand in her own defense people would have probably liked her...I do now.

Martha Stewart has risen from which is apparently the "American Dream". She came from average means and has created a multi-billion dollar empire.

Women can admire what she has accomplished and for that Martha I now am 100% behind you and will be, for the first time as a matter of fact, purchasing your magazine to show my support.

In this life we are all given challenges. Some people might say they are from God but I feel that it is just fate that has deemed our lives proceed in a certain manner. How we proceed is the real test of our courage for some people will give up to the easier way – drugs, alcohol, sexual addictions, etc. (believe me, I’ve been there too).<

Proceed onward and hope for the best every day. One must remain positive and forge ahead through the quagmire that we are all saddled with.

My Andy Rooney Post

Another new day...spent the night listening to everyone in the house snoring and talking in their sleep...including the darn cat! I swear it'd be nice to be able to sleep properly. My fibromyalgia causes sleep disorders - sometimes I do nothing but sleep and then sometimes it causes insomnia.

My monitor frizzed out on me last week...not even 2 years old...they don't make things the way they used to .... never thought I'd hear myself saying that shit... after all when I grew up everyone over 30 was really old...they were known as born in the "olden age" so now it's me that's there...way over there as a matter of fact! LOL

I'd love to be able to do a post like Andy Rooney...you know the ones...

"Have you ever wondered why ..." etc.

Usually I can think of some pretty witty things but put fingers to keyboard and all of a sudden I become totally illiterate...is this what writers call "writer's block"?

Working on my very own web page the other day...have made some for other people but never for myself...talk about artist's block...it looks like a piece of crap! Why is that? Have you ever wondered why it's easier to do something creative when you're really in the mood?

Notice how when I write I never put "I was" in front of things? Just seems to shorten everything...you know...in emails when you want to say it quickly and get it off your desktop? and you say things like:

"wondering how you're doing" instead of "I was wondering how you're doing"

or

"hoping to hear from you soon" instead of "I'm hoping to hear from you soon"

as if those few letters here and there saves a lot of time in the overall writing of emails...

I bet if someone (one of those "they" type people) were to do some government sponsored study "they'd" find that you save .13 seconds per sentence or something or another by leaving out "I was" "I am" etc.

So much drivel...so much time to do it in...

(So) now (that) I've done one of those Andy Rooney type columns...(gotta love it...he and George Carlin sure know how to put all our thoughts into concise and expressive language!) I guess I'll go on with the mundane things in life like laundry, working on my non-expressive web page and complaining to my cat Patch ...he always listens!

What do people go on and on about anyway?

Well it's been a week now I think and damned if I can't think of anything to put here....what do people go on and on about anyway?

Sheeeesh...I'm a talented, intelligent, 40's something woman who thought she had a lot to "blog" about...now I'm finding that perhaps I don't want every little thing published on the web...mind you, I would like to be published...so I guess this is where one starts that.

Just did a search on Google...for b(itch)log...and I can't believe I didn't have an original idea...

Check out another b(itch) log called My Bitch Log http://mybitchlog.com (this blog no longer exists)


It just goes to show you...just like in those commercials about patents...I can't even have 1 idea that someone hasn't thought of yet.

Who needs a shrink if you have a Bitch Log

Quote: " ** WHO NEEDS A SHRINK IF YOU'VE

GOT A ** B (itch) LOG? ** "

After a sleepless night I was surfing the Web…hadn’t for eons…the above line attracted me to a blog yesterday.

Once I started surfing the Web and OMG no wonder “they” (those darn people who just know-it-all…or just quote stats for the heck of it . . . nothing is really news anymore is it? Isn’t it all made up?).

Wow . . . I'm diverging here . . . as I was saying

“They” estimate 5 million or so new web pages daily on the WWW…so there must be a sh*tload of blogs.

I guess the thing about a “blog” (does that mean B(itch)LOG or whaaaaaaatt?) is you shouldn’t edit it and that's hard for me. I like to make things "perfect" and so, slightly anal retentive I realize, it will be a challenge.

I did note that a lot of these blogs were people voicing their opinions and hence could it be that rather than "blog" meaning "weblog" the more appropriate term may be b(itch)log?

Well stay tuned and we'll see where this one goes.