Friday, January 30, 2009

Catching up !

As you all know, thanks to Techy Flash, we spent a few days in Vegas celebrating our wedding anniversary.
We thought we could sneak away and no one would know the difference.
So much for that.

Hubba likes Vegas and it's OK, I am not a gambler but I do love people watching .
We stayed in a Suite at the new Wynn Encore and happened to pick the same weekend
that Steve Wynn had his birthday party.
It was fun watching all the old guys coming through with their young trophy wives.
Trump was in the house, so was Harry Connick Jr, we did not see them but heard from other spotters.
They had dinner at Sinatra's one of the more expensive restaurants.
I am a very frugal person and when it comes to dining, I refuse to pay 30 and 40 dollars for a meal.
So we didn't eat at any of the restaurants at the Encore or Wynn.
Hubba didn't win any big bucks but then he didn't really lose that much either.
Our first trip to Vegas was 10 years ago and we stayed down town on Fremont at the Plaza.
The day before we came home, we decided to check it out once more.
Most of the Casino's had been remodeled but the lounge shows we liked were gone.

The Casinos down there had good crowds, and even though it is much cheaper
we prefer to stay out on the strip.

It's good to be home, even though the weather is frigid I wouldn't live anywhere else.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

50 Amazing Years!

Today, GiGi and Hubba are celebrating their 50th Wedding anniversary in Beautiful Las Vegas. For those that don't get the Sunday StarTribune, here is the announcement we placed in the Variety section of Tomorrow's paper.

Congratulations, and THANKS for being our Mom and Dad!

We LOVE you!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Born Again American

Was Yesterday a dream?
No matter, this is how I felt
when I got up this morning.


Monday, January 19, 2009

Lynching in Duluth

It was the summer of 1920 in Duluth Minnesota, a crowd of five to ten thousand
people filled the streets in front of the police station
just to watch the lynching of several black men charged with raping a young woman.
Mike Fedo documents the event in lurid detail.

This was the book chosen for our book club for January in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday
Tomorrow while Barack Obama is being sworn in we will be discussing the truths and fallacies
of this Historical event.
I had never heard of this story, it was never discussed in any of my History classes.
Reading the book opened my eyes as to why it had been buried by embarrassed State and City Politicians.

Bobby Walsh was spoiled, and Sandy Teale liked the bad boy image he had.
What ever happened that night at the circus it is highly unlikely
that any one other then Bobby had any contact with her.
Some how a few blacks angered them and the story Bobby told his
dad and Sandy went along with got totally out of hand.
I couldn't put the book down, and it is so strange, even though
I knew the outcome I kept hoping the good guys would get
there in time to save the 3 young men.
This book would make a powerful screenplay, I wish I had that talent.

Tomorrow when Barack Obama is sworn in as President,
I hope that it will be the beginning of a new America.
One problem though is the right wing talk jocks like Rush
Limbaugh and his ilk who will try to destroy him as they did Bill Clinton.
Maybe this time people will turn them off.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Don't let the door hit you on the way out Shrub !

I watched most of that schizoid speech last night.
Can you believe there are still about 30% of the voters
that believe that BS.
This man is delusional, and so is his Dad if he thinks Jeb has a chance in hell of being President someday.
Lets rejoice in the moment shall we ?



Thursday, January 15, 2009

Pet Snowman

Upon request:

Black Andree Part Deux

For those who read GiGi's Black Andree post below, I promised a pic of the family pet. I'm guess fall of 1973, or early 74. Not Sure?!?
Techy Flash

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Because tonight is the Golden Globes I decided to go see one of the favorite movies
that is nominated.
Slumdog Millionaire is the story of 18 year old Jamal Malik, he comes from the slums of Mumbai.
It starts out just hours before he is to answer the final question worth 20 million rupees.
As the show goes into a break he is arrested on suspicion of cheating.
Because he comes from the slums they don't believe he could possibly have known the answers without some kind of help.
We then watch his adventures as he explains how he knew each answer that got him to the point he is at and also the reason he wanted to be on the TV show.

Now did I like it?
For me it had 2 strikes against it.
One I don't like the Millionaire show, it just grates on me when I hear the music.
and Two, It was very difficult to get past the poverty in that part of the world.
Especially knowing that many children live like this,
while here in the US even those children in poverty live like princes in comparison.
I had a sick feeling in my stomach during most of the scenes involving children
The acting was very good and and I wonder what happened to some of the kids that were extra's in the movie,these things were creeping into my head as I watched them.
So even though everyone is saying it is a feel good movie, I didn't feel very good watching it.
It was an amazing job of Directing and I wouldn't be surprised if the Director Dan Boyle wins many awards for it.

If anyone else has seen it I would love to hear your impressions.

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Black Andree

My stranger friend Misty blogged about the movie Marley and Me
and after reading her blog, I decided I'll wait till I can watch it in the privacy of my home.
Growing up, we had many pets mostly hunting dogs and
a few cats, until I found out why my eyes always itched and then we didn't have any more felines
I was about 4 years old when we got a brown Chesapeake my dad named Brownie.
He was the protector of my sister and I.
If we were outside playing and anyone he didn't know came near us he would snarl and growl until they left.
As we got older he would walk us to school and when we came out at the end of the day he would be across the street and walk us home.
My folks never had to worry about strangers.

One day when I was about 14 or so he wasn't there anymore, and my heart was broken.
Dad got a couple more dogs after that, but I never got attached to any of them.
When I had my own family I made it clear I didn't want any pets.
The kids were always bugging us to get a dog
I finally broke down when Hubba came home one day and said he had a client who had a
miniature poodle for sale.
A black male pure blood, the last of the litter and they wanted to find a home
for him.
Soon Black Andree came to live with us.
Andy became the boss of us.
My best friend Arlis had a poodle named Alfie and they became best friends.
They even had play dates and overnights when we would go somewhere.
I never regretted getting Andy.
Unfortunately time doesn't stand still and when he was about 15 years old, blind, deaf and incontinent guess who had to be the one that took him for his last ride.

I called my friend who had to do the same with Alfie a short time before and she went with me and that helped.

I swore it would be the last time I ever did that and I still feel that way.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

Rocked my World !

To celebrate my nieces double nickle birthday, her 2 sisters plus my daughter and a couple of friends headed down to The Refinery Spa in St. Paul's Dinky Town yesterday.
Massages, pedicures what ever luxury we wanted was on the menu.
It was my first massage by a male, and though it was heavenly
I can't say I was very relaxed.
The Pedicure was awesome and while she was massaging my feet she looked up and smiled and said "Am I rockin your world",
it must have been my moans of pleasure.
What can be better then having someone who really knows what they are doing give you a Pedicure and a foot massage.
It was a great way to spend the afternoon while the male members of the family sat glued to the boob tube watching play off games.
When we left, a sleet storm had left a nice layer of ice on everything so the ride home was a little hairy even though Runningwoman took it slow.
I think all of us were glad she was behind the wheel instead of one of us.
The crew went to dinner, but I headed home so I could just relax with a glass of wine.
Later this month my niece and her hubba are heading to DC for a Mayors conference and will be there for Obama's Inaugeral.
Her birthday is on the 5th but she will continue celebrating through the month, and will get to attend some really great parties.
I mentioned in a previous post the day after Christmas her Mom is in hospice and
Sister Patti who came from CA. headed down with her other siblings to her moms for the week and to give them a little break.
Remember them in your prayers, it is difficult to watch someone who was once your
caretaker now needing that extra care.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Jett Travolta

My sympathies go out to John Travolta and Kelly Preston.
I don't think anything can be worse then losing a child.
Jett who suffered from seizures was found in the bathroom unconscious
by a caretaker.
They were unable to revive him and he died later at the Hospital
Some say he suffered from Autism but John Travolta denied it.
John said once on a talk show that Jett was his heart.
He and Kelly are practicing Scientologists, and
when I first heard that Jett had seizures,
I wondered if he was on medication for them.
I have a friend who has suffered seizures and it took
some time to get her medicine regulated to control them.
What ever their beliefs, this is
a sad way to start out the new year.
The pain of losing a child never goes away,
it is only dulled and pops up
when ever something reminds you of that person.

Thursday, January 01, 2009

By By 2008!!

I am so glad to see 2008 gone.
I hope with the help of our new President
we will see some better days in 2009.
We have lost some close friends in the past year and
that gets harder every year.
We use to spend every New Years Eve in our home town
with old friends.
Sometime after my mother died we started staying home and
going to local parties.
But this year
after an early dinner out, we spent a quiet evening at home.

I actually enjoyed it.

How about you?