If you were a kid in the 1930s through the 1980s, you may remember the big book each year Sears put out (so did JCPenney and Montgomery Wards)... the Christmas catalog with all the toys you ever could imagine! My sister and I used to circle in markers the items in the wishbook that were what we wanted for Christmas as our list for Santa.

I know Sears still produces their wishbook... it's a much slender book than used to be, but since I've moved this year, I didn't get the book in the mail. I "googled" it to find the online version of the 2009 Wishbook catalog, but (what great luck!) I ended up at a website that has copies of VINTAGE Christmas catalogs - page by page and back to 1933... I wanted to share this with you:

http://www.wishbookweb.com/

Check it out! What history of pop culture! And may bring back some childhood memories.

I went through the 1976 Wishbook (I was in 5th grade at that time). OMG... there were so many toys i loved and had... Holly Hobbie, the Barbie Camper.

What are some toys you remember having and loving?

Does that describe you?

Or, are you more like me.... this (given the same task list as described):


I'm one of those nut jobs who has her car's clock set 10 minute fast. For some reason it still fakes me out and makes me hustle a bit to get where I'm going. I've heard a lot of people do this clock setting thing... it's for people like "us"... who just squeeze too much in.





To me, it is a fascinating exploration about the self and others behaviors... how people move through their day. Somewhere in all of this is the cognitive/neuro aspect of time concept, as well as the consideration of core values, as to WHAT is more important? The task, the appt. time, the interruption, etc. We are constantly making choices with our time... and maybe some of us are lazy or march to a different beat and refuse to be defined by someone else's imposition of set times for things.

How do you move through your day?

I've modified the various recipes you see in cookbooks or on the back of the Jilly corn muffin mix box because... well, mine's the best.... I like my cornbread a little sweet (so I add sugar)... And I've added chicken to to the recipe, so now the whole thing is DINNER IN ONE DISH!

Main Course:

Doreen's Chicken Cornbread Casserole

1 regular size can whole kernel corn, drained
1 regular size can creamed corn
1/4 c. white sugar
2 boxes Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 container sour cream - 16 oz.
1-2 cans (6 oz.) chicken meat, drained (or use leftover boneless, skinless chicken)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix all ingredients. Bake in casserole dish or 9"x13" baking dish for about 40 minutes or until fully cooked in center (Stick a knife in it & make sure it comes out clean and not gooky).

This makes a great side dish for office Thanksgiving buffets and it's inexpensive to make.

So I went to Home Depot AGAIN for tools and stuff. This flooring job is way harder than thought. On the way out, a handsome man pushes he cart alongside mine in the parking lot and says, "Hi, I'm single."

I laughed. "Yeah?"

And he said, "I'd like to get your name and number so I can ask you on a date." He told me his name, then flipped open his phone to enter my information.

"Uh, that's flattering, but are you out of your mind? I'm not giving you anything. I don't know you and you could be a wacko."

"I'm not. And this is way better than a bar scene. Let me give you my number."

"No, I know I would never ever call."

"Then come to my new store I'm opening...." (gives me the address, tells me about it...) We went our separate ways.

That made me smile for a long while today. Maybe for some of you, this sorta thing happens all the time, but not me.

Anyway, I am working at home today PLUS sharing work time with using a mallet and beating the crap out of the wood carpet gripper stuck to the concrete, which I have to remove, then prep the floor before laying tile. I still have more carpet to remove (under the bed)... My hands hurt.

Here are some pics:

1. Piss Pot Dog Forgiven (I just know this one is the main culprit)
2. Carpet removed so far
3. The vinyl tile - "Redwood", which seems to nicely match my cherrywood hardwood/plank flooring throughout the house. 88 cents each 12"x12" tile. Not bad.

When I'm quiet on my blog (as I have been)... that's not a good thing. I blog because I HAVE to blog... I must write to find out what I'm thinking (that line is actually credited to author, Joan Didion). But it's true, as I write, there is self-discovery somewhere. I think that is true for many writers who are self-reflective or tortured souls.

I'm NOT where I'm supposed to be this week. I'm supposed to be in Kansas on top of my game, dressed up and smiling and talking with a buncha scholars with my bigass presentation I prepared. I canceled my trip. And, although I'd love to bitch and complain and point fingers and name some names here at my blog about what happened, I won't. Suffice it to say, I had a little run in with one of the top dogs at the association about their scheduled event and some inefficiencies. Apparently, there is still "old school" law in academia and I didn't bow and curtsy just right in our communications, which ended up in a battle of academic egos...and believe-you-me, I have an ego the size of Minnesota... it's healthy and when I'm right, I'm right. So, I'm right and I'm not in Kansas this week as a consequence.

And it's a good thing, too... that trip woulda been $1,000. I just got my property tax bill in the mail and I might as well owe a million dollars. It just never ends. Work your ass off, suffer credit issues from a divorce, get an attorney to straighten out things... throw money to everyone. I could go on... I am frustrated by house projects that need dollars thrown into them.

My kids are at an age of everyone working different schedules, there's no chance of sitting down at a dinner table or catching up in a nice way. I feel alone amid people.... sometimes lost.

My (marketing) job is exhausting me and for the good work I do, it's only the tip of an iceberg of all i could be doing to really make the best contribution to the company. I took the semester off from teaching and the college is requesting commitment to come back... but here's the thing: there is a backload of students wanting to take my classes and I fear they will double me up with hundreds of students next semester and there is no add'l compensation for number of students... This is a real threat, for over the years, my caseload of students has quadrupled, which has meant 100 term papers in a semester to grade and when I break it down to dollars per hour, a scully maid makes more money. So I'm not a happy camper about teaching right now, even though I love the work and my students.

I can only please one person per day... today is not YOUR day. Tomorrow doesn't look good either.

Oh, and P.S. I just discovered my CHEEEEEWAWAS have been little piss pots under my bed. I'm ripping carpet out of my bedroom this weekend and I'll figure out new DIY flooring that I can handle.

I have issues. And it's only just after 9 A.M. It will take me hours to come down from this....

Someone made me mad as hell. It's the kind of "professional" thing where you just can't say, "You're an asshole." It's the kind of thing from which you should just walk away and be the bigger person. You don't win when you hit a brick wall and try to fight when someone is throwing their weight/power/status around.

I'm not very good at silence or walking away. I'm not very good at letting people get the best of me. I rarely let someone else have the last word. But today I will walk away because it's not worth it.

Today I will be quiet, pensive, productive and alone. Let the world turn without me.

"Analyze. Overanalyze. Analyzing. Analyzed. ANALYSIS!" But not "analyzation". Right?

I was helping a friend today... editing a paper.... saw the term "analyzation" in the text, but before I commented to him... wanted to verify. So I googled and looked around. Most online dictionaries do not have the word "analyzation" listed, but then I saw one that did... and it bothered me...

I got to thinking..

I've noticed that words enter our dictionaries because they are incorrectly used and then just accepted. A lot of slang has been adopted by Old Webster. I am reminded...

I used to find it irritating that people incorrectly said, "irregardless". The word is "regardless" or "irrespective," but NEVER "irregardless"... and then about 10 years ago, I became aware that the dictionary added the dreaded "irregardless". That's just moronic, to say the least, for the latin prefix "ir" means OPPOSITE... and would negate the "regardless" part , making the very word "irregardless" to mean a double negative, or more specifically NOT WITHOUT CONCERN which is a positive and NOT at all what anyone would mean when they used the reference.

And a couple of other troublesome words...

- Oriented versus orientated
-Preventive and preventative

And while I'm on a roll... as an instructor, I really hate when my students mess up these:

- your and you're
-their, there, and they're

And you know what else bothers me? Just knowing... KNOWING...that you are reading this and thinking I'm weird.

That's alls I gots ta say about that!

I blogged a while ago about my upcoming presentation in Kansas as a new scholar at the International Association of Relationship Research (IARR). I just completed my "poster" for a poster presentation. It is 4 feet by 4 feet and I'm having it produced in color on crease-proof fabric, which will later be a momentum I can hang in my office.

My research will be conducted online... I'm creating a website and it's under construction now.

Take a peek (you can view my poster there, too)....

THUMBNAIL View - Click to go to Website



www.thelovesurvey.org

Heard on the news that someone checked into the psych ward wearing only a thong & riding a goat. I'll come get you, but this shit has to stop.

I gotta tell ya.... There is nothing quite like jumping out of bed in the morning in a race to the bathroom, and stepping in something cold and sticky that oozes between the toes. What a way to start the day.

Dog crap.

Shit happens.

Yesterday I went to the thrift store for treasure hunting fun. I couldn't believe what I saw and overheard while I was there.

The clerk (a volunteer) probably aged somewhere in her 70's, was behind the register counter. An elderly man was just leaving the store. She called him back, "Excuse me, sir? Are you the gentleman who is running for County Commissioner?"

"Yes, that's me," he said and he went over to her.

"Your check last week didn't clear, " she said. "You owe $47.50 for that patio set you bought. Could you cover that with cash? Or stop in later to do so?"

I couldn't believe how nice she was.

He replied, "My checks are good, my money's good. And I shouldn't have to pay.... I nearly got killed taking that thing home and off the truck, plus one of the legs was wobbly."

She said, "You need to pay or you'll be banned from ever coming in here again."

He put his finger in her face and yelled, "Don't you threaten me! My money is good....."

By this point I'm hiding behind the coat racks afraid this guy is gonna start throwing shit. I see a few other women with their jaws dropped.

He stormed out of the store.

I asked the clerk what that man's name was so I will be sure to not vote for him... She should've phoned the police on that slime!

And I looked him up online... he's held positions with the county but he also has an arrest and jail record.

When I think about who gets into office... who our leaders are, it is frightening!

But I got a coat for $4, so that's a good thing.

.... of anything, really?

Have I ever written about my "Ant Theory" here? I won't repeat long and wordy, other than to define it as: we're all just the same looking ant living pretty much an ordinary existence and then someone squishes us and we die. You are me and I am you, we are pink inside, and nothing really stands out as tremendously different or important.

I always seem to return to the validity of this theory.

How small and very insignificant I am.... blogging here as if there is something profound underneath it all. Pfft!

Seen on a tee shirt, "sometimes it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"

And that's about alls I got to blog about.