Its not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it.

At work we’re in the middle of a huge software conversion.  This project is all consuming and mentally draining.  There is so much prep work that needs to be done prior to the go-live date it’s overwhelming.  So, needless to say I’m stressed out all the time.  I try not to bring my anxiety home . . . at least not to take it out on my family.  I hope I’m being successful.  

But, my work follows me into my dreams.  I’ve been dreaming about the project almost every night . . . and it’s exhausting.  I’m not getting any real rest because that’s all I’m thinking about.  To make matters worse, the other night I not only dreamt about my regular job, I also somehow managed to work in my part-time bartending job, as well.  Aaargghh! 

Last night I caught a break . . . I didn’t dream about work at all. 

I dreamt I was riding a bicycle.  It was too tall for me and my feet didn’t touch the ground.  I’m peddling along and I realize that the brakes on the bike don’t work.  It doesn't seem to bother me and I keep peddling along at a steady rate of speed. I’m approaching the top of a long winding downhill stretch.  Then a guy comes up along side of me and asks if he can get a lift.  I tell him okay.  But instead of hopping on the back of the bike . . . where he was going to sit, I don’t know . . . he starts running alongside the bike and pushing it to make it go faster.  I’m like, “Whoah buddy!  I don’t have any brakes!.”    He checks it out and discovered the brake cables are all loose.

That’s all I remember . . . what in the hell is that supposed to mean??

Interpretation of the dream from only dream dictionaries is as follows:

To dream that you are riding a bicycle means that you are feeling confused and unsteady.   Riding it down hill, if the rider be a woman, calls for care regarding her good name and health; misfortune hovers near.

To dream that your brakes failed suggests that your life is unorganized and you need to take more control of issues and situations.

You should achieve harmony between all aspects of your life if you want to reach your goals. If you have difficulties riding the bicycle, then it implies that you doubt your ability to achieve success without assistance.

Well, there it is.  I can actually go along with that one!

Here's mud in your eye!

There once was a man . . . a man blind from birth . . . who spent his days sitting alongside the road to Jerusalem.  He had done nothing to cause his infirmary but he was sightless, even so. 

One day he heard the approach of many feet.  Based on the party’s conversation he soon deduced that the group was a rabbi with his followers trailing behind.  He was surprised to hear that they were speaking of him to their leader.

The banter halted and the blind man was taken aback by the abrupt hawking and spitting into the dirt by the rabbi, who was closest to him.  He was further confused by scraping sounds in the dust near where he sat.  Without warning, seemingly out of nowhere, a thumb pressed hard against his unblinking eyeball coating with a moist earthy smelling paste.  He attempted to fend off the attacker when, again, a thumb pressed hard against his other eyeball, covering that one with muck, as well. 

He felt his eyes, to feel what was there. "It's mud," the man exclaimed. "You've put mud in my eyes!"

The gentle voice of the rabbi instructed him to go and wash it out in a nearby pool.

Understanding came to the sightless man.  He had heard tell of healers using mud as a poultice to restore to health to the infirmed.

He made his way to the pool and as the mud washed away so did his blindness. 

The blind man who now could see became a follower of the rabbi . . . whose name just so happened to be Jesus.

The Gospel according to John – Chapter 9

The origin of the toast . . . Here’s mud in your eye.    I kid you not!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.

I think I missed something.  At what point did having duck lips become sexy?  I’m not talking naturally full, plump lips . . . like Angelina Jolie. 

I’m talking people who inject crap . . . and I mean crap . . . into their lips.  From fat transfers from one point on the patient’s body to make their lips fat, to donor tissue extracted from cadavers . . . that’s dead people folks . . .  to collagen.  Collagen sounds like the least offensive but did you know that collagen is extracted from cow hides . . . that would be dead cows folks.  Just sayin’.

And I don't think I'm exaggerating when I'm comparing these lip jobs to duck bills . . . 

Go ahead . . . tell me I'm wrong!

Anyhoo . . . is this sexy?

Or this?  

Seriously, is this sexy??  Just askin'.

(And, yes, that's a dude.)

Toast will always land butter side down

Murphy’s Law . . . you know the one that goes ‘If anything can go wrong, it will’ . . . so named after Capt. Edward A. Murphy, a US Air Force Engineer.    While working on one of Murphy’s assigned projects, a technician flubbed the wiring.  The good captain cursed the man and said, "If there is any way to do it wrong, he'll find it."   Shortly afterwards, aerospace manufacturers began using it during their ad campaigns and Murphy's Law was born.

Murphy’s Law . . . such that is . . . is an adage that has been around for hundreds of year.  Long before Murphy’s grandfather’s grandfather was a sperm waiting to meet an egg.  Good thing the law didn’t apply to him or Murphy may never have been around to make the phrase famous.

Anyhoo  . . . before it was Murphy’s Law, it was more commonly known as Sod’s Law; especially across the pond.  When someone is unlucky they are often referred to as an unlucky sod . . . hence Sod’s Law.

Of course, things have been going wrong since the beginning of time.  I’m sure there was a precursor to Sod’s Law.

In modern times, there are Finagle’s Law, Hanlon’s Razor, and Hofstadter's law; which all pretty much add up to the same thing . . . similar ideas, different viewpoints.  But I think my favorite may be Sturgeon’s Law.  So called after Sci-fi writer Theodore Sturgeon who stated "ninety percent of everything is crap" . . . yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking but now, God knows, anything goes.

Hubby and I go out to our favorite bar once a week for date night.  It typically consists of hot wings and cold beer and conversation.  We talk about everyday mundane things like ‘how was your day’ to ‘remember when Joe Namath wore pantyhose’.

Do you remember when Broadway Joe, former quarterback for the NY Jets and later for the LA Rams, did a commercial wearing pantyhose?  With a cymbal roll, the camera slowly pans up hosieried legs, then crosses green satin shorts and the No. 12 football jersey, revealing famous New York Jets team quarterback (1965-1972) Joe Namath.

Joe didn’t actually wear pantyhose . . . "Now I don't wear pantyhose, but if Beautymist can make MY legs looks good, imagine what they'll do for yours."  . . . but apparently he was secure enough in his masculinity to do a national advertising campaign wearing them.  Of course, they threw in a hot chick smooching him at the end of the commercial so that his sexuality wouldn’t be in question.

Okay, that’s all fine and dandy.  But while digging up the little bits of Joe Namath hosiery trivia I came across something I didn’t expect.  Apparently, men do wear pantyhose . . . except that they’re called mantyhose.  They even come with a fly opening in the front.  I’m kind of freaking out.

 

There is actually a company that sells support legwear made exclusively for men.  They’ve been around since 1999.  It’s not supposed to be a product aimed at cross-dressers but the target is the active male . . . . adding warmth-without-bulk for outdoor runners and bicyclists,  a great base layer for hunters, campers and skiers in cold climates.

Still a little creeped out here . . .

Aside from the noted medical benefits to wearing supportive hosiery they’re made with the man’s fashion sense in mind.  Most men wear them under long pants . . . for support or warmth or whatever . . . and overtly flaunting the fact that they’re wearing tights.  

Some men go so far as to wear them with shorts and they have like designs and stuff on them . . . like fancy girlie hose but with manly-ish take.  Really? Uhm . . . sure.

It makes sense they they’re considered viable solution for complaints by men of aching, tired legs, varicose veins, or other circulation issues. But I’m still a little weirded out about the idea of my hubby wearing stockings.   

I'm trying to keep an open mind but it keeps snapping shut.  Sorry . . . 

 Beef And Tequila Stew


2 Lb Sirloin, Cubed
1/4 C  Butter
1/2 C  Onion; Chopped, 1 Medium
4 Slices Bacon; Cut Up
2 Jalepeno Peppers, Sliced
1 C Baby Carrots
2 Stalks Celery; Chopped
1/4 C  Tequila
3/4 C  Tomato Juice
2 T  Cilantro; Fresh, Snipped
1 1/2 T  Salt
1 Can Garbanzo Beans;
4 C  Tomatoes; Chopped, 4 Medium
2 Cloves Garlic;Finely Chopped




Melt butter in a heavy pot.  Add beef.  Cook and  stir beef over medium heat until brown.  


Remove beef with slotted spoon and drain.  Cook and stir onion, peppers and bacon in same skillet until bacon is crisp.  Stir in beef and remaining ingredients.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until beef is tender, about 1 hour.


To thicken stew, mix two tablespoons of corn starch in 1/2 cup cold water.  Bring stew to boiling and stir in cornstarch slurry.


I topped my stew with dumplings made with Jiffy Baking Mix:


To make dumplings, mix with a fork:


2 c. baking mix (Bisquick or Jiffy type mix)
3/4 c. milk


Drop by spoonfuls onto boiling stew. Reduce to simmer, cover and continue cooking 20 minutes more. Makes 10 to 12 dumplings.  

In olden days a glimpse of stocking was looked on as something shocking but now, God knows, anything goes.

Cole Porter

Awareness without action is worthless

One of my weekend pleasures is watching old movies . . . old like from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.  I like to plop myself down on the couch with a ball of yarn and a crochet hook or knitting needles, watch the classics and just chill.

I don’t know if those movies depict how people really interacted or spoke but it’s good clean fun.  Sometimes the dialogue includes a word that gets stuck in my head, a word that isn’t used in modern everyday conversation.  It dig, dig, digs.  Eventually, I make the effort to check it out. 

One word that comes to mind is ‘picayune’.  I heard it in the movie Mr. Skeffington from 1944 starring Bette Davis and Claude Rains.  Bette was nominated for an Oscar for her performance.  But that’s neither here nor there . . . the point is that that silly word is now stuck in my brain and I’m here to purge it.

This is what I found out about picayune . . .

Used up until the mid-1800’s, a picayune was a small Spanish coin, worth half a real . . . about six cents.  Interestingly, the word is actually derived from a French word meaning ‘small coin’.

Eventually, a ‘picayune’ came to mean something that is piddling or worthless.

So there you have it.