Guilty Pleasures~ Ten On Tuesday!!

"Short is the joy that guilty pleasure brings." ~ Euripides

"Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil." ~ Plato

"Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do." ~ Voltaire




Ten On Tuesday asks us today to name ten of our guilty pleasures.. I personally have more than ten to choose from.. I could most likely give a lot more than ten if I needed to.. Thankfully they only asked for ten so some of my secrets will still be safe.....

A guilty pleasure is something one considers pleasurable despite feeling guilt for enjoying it..Often, the "guilt" involved is simply fear of others discovering you're lowest obsession or embarrassing tastes, rather than actual moral guilt....Fashion... music... reading material.. and food.. are all examples of guilty pleasures...

1-}~ Chocolate.. I love it.. especially dark chocolate or chocolate covered cherries.. chocolate covered orange slices are fine indeed.. brownies.. chocolate pie.. chocolate cake..chocolate! YES!!

2-}~ Coffee.. I can drink it from sun up to sun down and have even been known to take a cup with me to bed..lucky for me it doesn't keep me awake..

3-}~ Home baked bread.. with REAL BUTTER!.. yes I am aware that it is fattening.. but it's too late for me to worry about that.. if I am going to the trouble to bake bread.. I want real butter.. (and yes it is a lot of trouble to use a bread machine!..)

4-}~ Tequila.. OK you don't have to drink any.. that means there is more for me.. salt and lime would be nice but I can drink it without.. Now before anyone gets all in a snit..and thinks me to be a drunkard.. I love it but haven't had any tequila in about a year.. but if you were running out to buy me some.. get the good kind please!..

5-}~ Birds singing in my greenhouse room.. yes they are caged.. they have adequate water and food.. they are babied and petted and have extra large cages... all but one of them has a mate..the room is glassed in all around and filled with plants.. they sing constantly so I am assuming they are happy.. they even have baths where they splash and play in the afternoon sun... but yes.. they are caged...

6-}~ Old fashion dolls... Barbie and before Barbie and after Barbie.. Barbie's friends.. naked dolls and dressed dolls and yard sale dolls and flea market ladies.. I really love the 18 inch versions of old fashion dolls.. I will take any that are in your way.. I love dolls.. My wonderful husband usually gets me at least one for Christmas as do some of my children.. Yes.. I am too old for dolls.. but I do enjoy sewing and crocheting them clothes..and I do of course need one of every kind for a pattern design model.. Do you have a kind that I don't have????

7-}~ Donny Osmond albums... I have a few.. I want some more of those too.. I have an old record player that still plays.... I used to share this great music with the kids in my life until they said it sucked.. after that I just played it every single day of the long long summer for spite... I listened to some of them a few nights ago while Dave and I were finishing up the bedroom we remodeled..
it doesn't have a television.. it has instead our albums and my very old record player....

8-}~ Ice cream.. I love ice cream..don't even go there with the fattening thing again.. I've already said it was too late for that.. I love the kind that has a lot of STUFF in it.. like cherries and chocolate and stuff!.. I'll eat any kind except for butter pecan.. I like pecans and I like butter but not in my ice cream..

9-}~ Leggings with a long t-shirt.. I am well aware that those are for "young" people.. I have been told that they are out of style.. Of course everything about me is out of style.. I still have a few pair and sometimes I sleep in them.. sometimes I wear them all day and cut the grass wearing them and feed chickens wearing them.. I cook and clean wearing them too... Dave doesn't mind if I'm out of style.. sometimes I even wear them with my old Indian moccasins... maybe I'll wear that outfit the next time I come to a family gathering... at your house...NAH I wouldn't do you that way.. scared you though didn't I?

10-}~Video games.. Roll playing games in particular.. I love games that allow me the chance .. for a little while.. to be someone else.. I play all the facebook games..I love the Sims games... I have played nearly every roll playing game to be offered for free on-line.. I have been a farmer and an island castaway...A mafia king pin and a chef in a fine restaurant.. I have played all of the Final Fantasy games and worn out two PlayStation-2 consoles on roll playing games... I can be someone else for a little while.. I can even be an alien.. then with the flip of a switch.. I am still me... in my out of style leggings... in my old house.. with my cup of black coffee.. and my caged birds cooing and singing.. chickens crowing and Old records playing.. And in the end.. I like me well enough!! Have a great night!
Patsy

It's Wednesday and YES !! ~ I'm still weird!!!

"Know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change. But pretty soon, everything is different." ~ Bill Watterson

"It seems everyone in Hollywood is getting pinched, lifted and pulled. I'm looking weird because I'm not." ~ Robert Redford

"Yesterday's weirdness is tomorrow's reason why." ~ Hunter S. Thompson

How weird has your day been? My day hasn't been so very weird yet today.. But it's Wednesday and I'm sure something weird will sneak up on me before the day ends... I can almost promise that each and every one of today's questions will be weird.. My Answers will be weird.. I did try a weird new recipe today.. Apples and cabbage.. cooked together and seasoned with a little bacon grease.. Sounds weird doesn't it? Dave gave me a really weird look as I sliced the apples into the frying pan with the cabbage.. " You do know that~ Umm~ Umm~ that is cabbage right?" I just smiled at him.. I know it sounds weird.. I thought so too the very first time I had it.. Try it if you ever have a head of cabbage and a few apples that all need to be cooked before they ruin..Or even make a trip to the store with this dish in mind.. Sometimes weird is Good! I'm a weird Mother.. a weird writer and now a weird Cook! I never stop reaching new heights of weirdness.. Now on to the weird questions for today..

1:)~ What was a “fad” you remember from your childhood? I don't actually remember a "fad" from my childhood.. well there was the weird and ugly go go boots that weren't really boots at all but just Patent leather things like socks that went in regular shoes.. Mama bought all of us girls a pair of those when she saw them at K-Mart in Charleston.. I was laughed almost OUT of the fifth grade when I wore mine to school.. I am sure they had Fads back then but we were kept pretty close to home.. we didn't have much time for Fads.. There was a fad that I did become aware of when I was about eleven years old.. David came home one day with a big piece of red cloth and sat down at the sewing machine.. He split his pants legs open up to the knee and cut huge triangles from his bright red cloth.. he then sewed the material into the split making a gored leg on his pants.. I loved it.. He had several pair.. He might think it too weird to admit now but I loved him and his super coolness back then.. he was always stylish.. a weird style for sure but he was up to date! I looked and looked for some material to make myself a pair of those super cool gored legged pants.. Finally one day Mama came home with a big sack full of bright and cheerful new kitchen curtains.. The old ones were a few years old and a couple of them were even a little faded... I was going to miss those old curtains with the bright colored chickens and the wide yellow checked ruffles.. Suddenly as I helped hang new curtains I came up with a wonderful weird idea.. I was almost afraid to mention it to mama.. but since she had planned to throw the old curtains away anyway.. she agreed to my plan.. I went to school the next morning in my own weird creation of gored pants.. wide yellow ruffled gores filled the split from ankle to almost hip.. twin roosters decorated the butte of my old jeans.. with-in a week all of my friends and even a few enemies were wearing gored legged .. pants.. None were weird enough to use chicken curtains but everyone loved mine.. Everyone except my Grandma Morris.. she saw them and had a fit.. She tried to make Daddy burn my wonderful pants.. she said I'd be a rooster myself if I wore them.. That was so weird.. I didn't even know what that meant.. Mama said I could keep them and wear them.. I wish I still had my pants.. I'm pretty sure I wore them out.. I'm also sure that if I had tried that before David made his pants I would have been labeled weird.. I mighta even got a whipping.. he could get away with stuff.. Thanks David for clearing the path for the other seven of us!! Even if the whole world called you weird I'd still say you were the coolest!!

2:)~ If a talking Patsy doll were made, what are THREE phrases it would say?~ How weird it would be to have a talking doll named Patsy! ... Effenbee actually made a whole family of Patsy dolls.. Patsy Ann.. Patsyette.. Patsy JR.. None of them talked and though I have seen them for sale on e-bay.. I don't own one... they are way to rich for my blood.. and to be honest I think they are weird looking.. I am sure there have been other dolls named Patsy offered for sale.. most companies give their dolls common names.. Patsy is considered to be a common name.. I will say though that most people I personally know named Patsy are weird.. and if not truly weird then at least UN-common! Most people who are name Patricia choose other names such as Tricia or Pat .. even Patti.. I am glad mama chose Patsy to call me.. I like being the weird me I have became as Patsy.. Can you really see me as a Tricia or a Patti? Me neither!! And I hate being called Pat! It makes me feel weird.. I don't like it .. don't do it.. Do you think anyone would want a weird doll named Patsy that could talk? She would never shut up.. she would talk the buzzards off of a gut wagon.. ( Jimmy said I could!) She would say way more than three things.. She would say weird stuff like.. (1) " Sometimes ya can't understand.. Just accept.. it's easier that way!" (2) " You can't fool me.. I was fooling fools before you were a wicked gleam in your ugly Daddies eye!" (3) " Don't make me have a killing!" ~ she would also say things like "no food till this puzzle is done.." and "Load up young- uns we're heading to Olar!" and "that's my brother's cousin".. see I told you she would be really weird.. you would never get her to shut up.. she would hide in your closet and learn all of your secrets.. she might even black mail you.. On the other hand she would be a true loving friend as long as you didn't tick her off..

3:)~ Do you think how a person dances gives you a glimpse to how they perform in bed?
Here we go again.. weird sex questions.. I am going to answer this with a simple yes I do..
Maybe my family will neither disown me nor have a stroke.. I am still allowed to think..
and now I will add to my answer by saying that a person to decrepit to dance is most likely also to decrepit for other activities.. I also like to see people dance together when you can see by the tender way they hold each other that they have a deep and abiding love for each other.. It really has little or nothing to do with their sex lives..I enjoy watching others dance and always smile when I see a couple who dance well together.. Call me weird.. I like watching people do a lot of things- even walk..

4:) ~ Describe the ugliest outfit you have ever worn in public. Do y'all remember the weird "Hammer Pants?" On the very first public date Dave and I had... I wore hammer pants.. They were a silky weird.. man- made material.. a deep dark purple.. MC Hammer would have been so proud of me in them..I also wore black silk super high heeled shoes and a many colored.. Striped top in the same weird.. man- made material.. They came together .. I gave a lot of money for those weird and ugly clothes.. We walked in the club and People took notice of us.. He was wearing tight Black jeans and a Purple silk shirt that he borrowed from one of his co-workers..
Both of us had our long hair in a braid.... People turned around and stared at us..I think maybe we were weird... It was a red neck club and we were dressed like pansies.. All that purple had to be weird for red necks.. We are lucky to have survived I guess.. But man when we took to that dance floor.. then those people cleared out and watched us... We were wearing ugly clothes but we danced well together.. We have often had people stop to watch us dance.. either we dance well together or we were just so weird that they had to stand still to take us in?... I think I still have those hammer pants.. Yep!! Ugly!! Ugly!! Ugly!! If you ever need something weird to wear I can Most likely loan you something..

5:)~ Have you ever worn or tried edible underwear? What are your thoughts on it? This is such a weird question.. When Dave and I got married our neighbors all got together and gave us a party.. we didn't get toasters and blenders because we already had all that stuff.. we got weird stuff like jars of cherries and whipped cream .. we each got a set of matching pajama's... and as weird as it may seem we did get some of those edible underwear.. His were boxers and mine were a thong... they were both red .. one was cherry and the other strawberry flavored.... I am going to be perfectly honest even if it is weird.. we came home and opened the packs.. we tasted both pair.. they were nasty and left a weird aftertaste in our mouths.. we balled them up and stuffed them back into their packages and threw them into the trash can.. We brushed our teeth and finished watching a movie that we had paused to go to our wedding shower.. Later that night after he had went home to his trailer across the field.... as I was laying in my bed thinking about the day.. I thought about the fact that my kids would be home early the next morning and I went and got them because I didn't want my kids to ask me why there were underwear in the trash... I know I was being weird.. But Dave and I were careful about our Kids.. I put the edible drawers into several plastic bags and put them back in the trash a day or so later.. I don't have thoughts on edible drawers.. that to me would just be weird.. I wouldn't wear them... I think they would make your butt sticky... that would be weird... and they taste nasty... Maybe I'm just old and a little tiny bit weird but I haven't ever had a thought about edible underwear other than when I was given a pair and just now when you reminded me of that fact.. Now who is weird.. Me or YOU??!

6:)~ When was the last time you went to a carnival and played midway games? Oh man.. I can't say for sure rather it has been two years or three but that was maybe one of the weirdest nights of my entire life.... The carnival was set up in the field that is in front of the airport here in my little town.. Pretty much across the road from my house.. just an easy stroll for us.... I used to be fascinated by carnivals until i worked as clown for the county fair in my early twenties... being considered another worker there I was shown many of the tricks and traps the Carney's use in order to get a person's money.. I always warned my children to ride the rides and pass the games.. they are all rigged.. You can't beat a man at his own game.. weird as it may sound even the little pick up the ducks pond is rigged.. There is only one duck that actually wins anything worth more than a quarter.. and that one duck is very rarely released by a trigger that the Carney can pull without being seen.. They have so many tricks and secrets that it is a total waste of money to even attempt to win a big prize there.... Needless to say the children whined and begged and escaped to the carnival with a few dollars for rides and enough for an elephant ear and a drink.. they all worked so it was their own money.. ( yes they were weird and informed me that it was their money they would be spending!!) They planned to meet a bunch of their friends there and walked away across our field laughing and talking.. Around Eleven O'clock Dave came in and said that he had a yearning for a elephant ear and that after he bathed and dressed and shaved and all the other time consuming things.. we would walk up there and he could get one... By the time he got himself ready and we were walking out the door it was nearly midnight.. I suggested that maybe they would be closed and it might be better to wait till the following day.. He was having none of that.. after all the kids weren't back yet so he was sure they were still open.. He hadn't thought about the possibility that the kids had walked the girl from down the next road over home.. It was late.. Cooper wouldn't let her walk home alone would he?? Dave and I walked down the dirt road and as we crossed the road I realized that the only people I could see moving looked like Carney's to me.. Dave walked right on .. the woman in the cook wagon looked at us like we were weird.. I knew we were in a bad place.. I tried to explain to Dave that after closing the carnival is not a safe place for regular people to hang out.. He didn't want to hear me.. one of the barkers started yelling for him to TRY his LUCK!! and yes My weird husband decided he would do just that.. he gave the man two dollars and then two more.. I had already moved directly behind him so that no one could get to his pockets.. I had learned that while I worked for the carnival myself.. Many of the children who travel with them are superb pick pockets.... then so help me.. Dave asked the Carney if anyone there had change.. I was aware that a crowd had gathered around us and that we were the only two people there who didn't work for them.. I just knew our bodies would never ever be found.. I told Dave that we were leaving right NOW!! It was then that it dawned on him that we were in fact surrounded and he had just showed them that he had money.. He tried to put me in front of him but I was snug against his back pocket and I wasn't moving.. I finally said to them that I knew all the tricks and even named the Carnival owner who I once worked for.. I had recognized the woman in the food wagon even though she had not known me.. I knew that they would know who the man was.... Then I told them to clear a path and even though a few of them still called to Dave to try his Luck again and again.. across the parking lots and the field.. they followed us all the way to the road.. none of them touched us.. when we crossed the road to our own side of the road I thanked GOD for saving us from our own weirdness.... I told Dave right then that I would never go with him to another Carnival... I haven't either.. The children were home and watching TV full of cotton candy and popcorn.. They had ~ just as I thought ~ walked the girl from the next road over home.. Cooper was afraid a Carney might follow her.. He and Emily then came home through the fields.. Their own shortcut.. Let me say that as a rule the people who work for carnivals are not weirdo killers and criminals.. under normal circumstances and during the hours they are open they will not bother you.. but if you are weird enough to come to where they are set up after closing and flash around money.. then they are just weird enough to take your money.. One thing I learned while working for them was that where ever they are.. when the rides stop and the games close down... they are in their own little world.... they live a very different and yes weirder way than most of us do.. It is best not to enter that world unprepared..

Wow.. I made it through another weird Wednesday... I even talked to Trudy and she remembers the weird boot things.. she was smarter than me.. she said she never wore hers..I bet Mary didn't either.. I guess I was the only weird one.. Oh well if Mama and Daddy only raised one weird child they did pretty good and I don't mind being the strange one! At least I am a jolly and sometimes funny weirdo! Have a great day!
Patsy

It's Weird Wednesday!! Are you ready to laugh?

"He had that rare weird electricity about him - that extremely wild and heavy presence that you only see in a person who has abandoned all hope of ever behaving normally. "
~ Hunter S. Thompson

"A man isn't poor if he can still laugh." ~ Raymond Hitchcock

"You get weird and unsettling behavior in the country." ~ Sara Paretsky


Hi and welcome to weird Wednesday and it's weird questions... I managed to answer eight questions today without feeling to overwhelmingly weird... for some weird reason the web sight that I usually get my questions from hadn't posted any questions today so I had to get these from a couple of other places.. If you have a question.. either weird or even just plain.. I will be glad to answer it on a Wednesday.. Just ask me in a comment and I'll get back to you with my weird answer..

Now on to the wildly weird questions for today!

1:) What sin do you most enjoy committing? ~ Wow! I cold say so many things in response to this question... who gets to decide that it's a sin?.. can we vote to decide rather or not it's a sin?... How do we know what's a sin for you is automatically a sin for me? .. what if I don't know it's a sin?.. Are sins supposed to be enjoyable? They didn't teach me that in Sunday School.. there they said sin was all bad and made you feel sick inside.. I guess if I have to admit to having a sin ... and I'm still not convinced that I do.. I will say eating.. Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins and that is the act of over indulging.. I actually think that could mean over indulging in anything pleasurable and not just food... OK I'll say eating too much.. No way I have time to go into all the rest of my sins on this blog.. and as always I'm sure my kids would rather not know! They would think I was weird if they knew I had sins.. Mom's don't supposed to have sins..


2:) Would you rather be rich and ugly, or Poor and good looking? OK what's up with this? Something weird is going on... I'm poor and ugly and that's not a choice... I'm a tiny bit fluffy too (as in Fat!) and that's not a choice either.. I don't want to be rich or especially good looking.. I'd like to have enough money to live without worrying rather or not the light bill gets paid.. I'd like to be able someday to go grocery shopping and fill two carts and not add it up as I go along...
( maybe I'll fill three and not shop again for a long long time!) Hold on a minute.... I guess I'd rather be poor and ugly since that's what I already am.. and money brings problems I don't need and if I was a beauty queen I might have a stalker or something weird like that.. Can I mix the choices up and just be plain old weird me? .. Good!!!! that's what I want to be!

3:) When was the best time, or what was the best experience, you've had with a sibling? Any time I am with a sibling is usually good times.... I like one on one time with them talking or going for a long walk... I love going hill sliding at what used to be rairoad tracks.. I love it when we play games together at family gatherings.. I am the very; very; all time very; best game maker upper.. Weird huh? who woulda thought?... But it's true.. I make up games and they play them like they are real games.. I once had kids wearing plastic shower caps covered with shaving cream and other kids throwing pretzels at them... no body thought it was weird.. they played and danced and laughed as if it wasn't weird at all.. the winner was who had the most pretzels on their head.. I know it was soooo weird.. I have made them hop like rabbits with a huge beach ball between their legs and have made them sew a whole line of folks together with a big wooden needle.. I have had them hop with a clothes pen on the toe of their shoe and have seen grown men crawl with a child holding their feet.. The picture is of all the nieces and nephews trying to get a chunk of bubble gum from under a pile of whipped topping with no hands.. the entire team had to have a two inch bubble for that team to win.. we had so much fun.....Wow.. I want to make up some new weird games right now.. I love all seven of my siblings... I love their spouses and their children and grandchildren... all times with them are good times.. It would just be way to weird to choose one time and say it was best.

4:) What would it take for you to reconcile with your greatest enemy? call me weird if you want to but there is no reconciliation if you are on my greatest enemy list... you three know who you are.. don't be weird and pretend you haven't done anything... In all honesty I wouldn't really say I have enemies.. at least none that I actually know of.. I'm a great person though and that is usually enough to cause someone to hate you.... and if I do have one or two (three!) then they should know ahead of time that I will get even.. I know.. I'm weird!

5:) What would your heaven be like? Heaven will have flowers and animals.. chickens I guess and dogs and birds of all kinds.. and lots of fish to look at moving in the crystal blue waters.. We will have sand for castles and gentle waves to wash them away each night so that we can build more the next morning as the new sun rises.. There will be fruits and nuts and vegetables to eat .. anytime you are hungry.. I guess I'd say a paradise.. a beautiful garden.. with all our family and friends in their OWN gardens down the beach from mine.. I won't mind if Dave lives in my garden but everyone else needs to plan on having there own.. It would be way to weird for us all to live in the same place again.. Heaven is not weird.. we have our own space there... you can visit my garden and even play in my sand but after that you have to go home to your own beach... I get to decide.. the question said MY HEAVEN...

6:) Do you feel that children should be sheltered from unhappiness? I do.... I will even give you a for instance.. Right now there are three children who are being talked about and gossiped over and there are some things being told that will shake their whole existence to the very core.. Their lives have been weird by most of our standards already and now even who they are and where they came from is being questioned and talked about as if it really matters... I am talking about the three children who knew Michael Jackson as their Dad.. I am sick of all the weird things being said and the speculation over who had them and who did what with whom and where.. These kids just know their Father died.. that's bad enough with out all the weird stuff being said.. Who cares if they were conceived in a clinic or in the backseat of a Cadillac... and why does it matter now.. He was weird.. we all know that.. but still his kids deserve some dignity and they deserve to have some privacy... who's to say that we might have been weird too if every step we took we had to watch for someone with a camera.... I'm weird and no one cares... the catch is that I'm not rich and famous and weird.. then someone would care.. then they would take bets on who my kids belonged too and how much I paid to have someone else have them.. and guess what... in the end.. it still wouldn't matter..

7:) What's one of the simple pleasures in your life? Holding Dave's hand... it's really his habit.. I was never in to the whole weird hand holding thing until I met him.. he will be walking beside you and just reach out and take your hand... it is very comforting and peaceful to walk along holding hands with someone you love... he will take your hand as you walk on the beach or in the woods or even as you walk across the parking lot into Walmart... I used to think it was weird but I guess either it got less weird or I got more weird because now I just think it's a wonderful simple pleasure! It's great to drink coffee with him in the chicken garden too.. Y'all should have been with us yesterday as we chased young hens and then had one crow at us.. it's weird when what you thought was a hen crows at you.. Yesterday was great escape day here.. but that's a story for another day... I guess yesterday was weird Tuesday!...

8:) If you went to a beach and it turned out to be a nude beach, would you stay and go swimming? Would you swim nude? I'm not sure.. it depends on how many weirdo's there were already swimming around naked and their parts bobbing or floating around.. does one's parts float and bob? It would be weird to stay and be the only person there with clothes on but it would be oh so much weirder to be swimming naked with people you don't know.. I might stay long enough to see what naked swimming looked like.. I am not being weird.. I'm being honest.. you know good and well that if you walked on a beach and then discovered that the people there were naked you would look a tiny little bit too.. I might not have my glasses on and then I might not even realize they were naked unless one walked right up to me.. I'm not weird I'm blind without my glasses.. You can say I'm weird but deep down you know you would stay a little while too.. who knows maybe you just thought they were naked... maybe they were changing or something..

Ok there ya go with my weird questions for today! Do you have a weird question that you would like to ask me? I will give you my weird answer if you will post your question in the comments section.. I will answer any questions you ask.. I might not give the answer you expected though! I am weird like that sometimes... I hope that not too many weird things happened today.. Have a great Wednesday!
Patsy

Are you Puzzled?

"To me acting is like a jigsaw puzzle. The jigsaw puzzle is of the sky and all the pieces are blue. Out of this you have to create a human being and put it together." ~ Henry Winkler

"Writing is mentally stimulating; it's like a puzzle that makes you think all the time. "
~ Stephanie Zimbalist

"I just consider myself a piece of the puzzle and I'm lucky enough to be asked or invited to the party, if you will. I hope I can bring some laughs and grimaces to the fans. " ~ Adam Baldwin

"My favorite puzzle is trying to work out the parts myself, after all it is a solo effort. "
~ Adrian Belew

Today is National Puzzle day. Now anybody that Knows me well knows that I love puzzles. I love all kinds of puzzles. Crossword, and word search, riddles and Find the difference. I love the Puzzle games on-line and the Puzzles that children play with. I love fill it ins and Where's Waldo. I love the three dimensional puzzles that turn into houses and towers and though I haven't put one together yet, I saw one that would be a person when finished. I would have that Puzzle person sitting in my living room now if he hadn't cost more than a real person would! But my favorite of all time is a jigsaw Puzzle. Dave and I and other neighbors too spent many a happy hour when I first moved here, sitting in my tiny kitchen working on Beautiful jigsaw puzzles. The children swear that I would never let them eat unless they finished my puzzle that I kept on the table at all time.. I think they exaggerate a little. I would have fed them. I'm sure they all had plenty to eat every day. I did keep a puzzle on the kitchen table all the time. That much is true. But I didn't (or I don't remember ) Make them work on MY puzzle before they could eat. I will admit that I made them crawl in and under and behind everything in this house and others before; searching for a missing piece. Nothing I hate worse than a missing piece!

I have put together pictures of almost everything you can imagine. I Love the lake and beach scenes and boats as well. I like Churches, Big and middle sized and The Little Chapels in the woods. I like animals and farms and mountains and even a million gum ball machines. I have done race cars zooming around the track and Autumn leaves falling across an Amish looking farm. I have put together dolphins and zebra's and even two naked women that some one once thought to give to Dave as a gag gift. I still want that person Puzzle that I saw~ at least he had on clothes.

I used to give the puzzles to the Family children after I was done with them. I stopped that after Phoebe got nerve enough to tell me that thanks to me, every child in the family HATED puzzles. She too swears that I made them puzzle to eat. Maybe I did.. I'm claiming to be puzzled about that! I was saddened to learn that I turned them against Puzzles. I think they would all relax more and feel better if they worked on Puzzles. I even have a few I'd share with them. The bubblegum one is only missing one piece and the others as far as I know have everything. I even bought two last week. I thought Cooper might work on one when he can't sleep. He laughed at me and said.. " I'll Pass Ma!" I know I didn't make him puzzle to eat because he was too young back then. It Might have been him I sent in; under and over and around places though.. Seeking lost pieces. I guess Dave and I will put these two together when we ever find a minute. Maybe I'll ask him for a puzzle date. This time we'll frame them and hang them on the wall. I have a place for a big picture of Pretty Parrots and for the boats of Chesapeake Bay Virginia. In fact I'm thinking that since I made all my children and nieces and nephews Puzzle before I fed them that I owe each of them their own Puzzle to hang on their own wall. That should Keep Dave and I busy for at least a year. I might even leave out a piece so they will feel like they got the ones we used to do.

Sometimes it is easy to become Puzzled by the things that we face in the world today. It is certainly very confusing sometimes. Older people can't comprehend the way the younger ones live and the younger ones think the older ones are odd creatures. I think they need to spend more time talking and visiting with each other so the generation gap doesn't grow any larger and we aren't quiet as Puzzled by each other. I hope you enjoy today's poem. If you get the chance today solve a puzzle. You will find some at the link below! Have a great day!
Patsy

http://www.puzzles.com/



Puzzled

Please don't think me demented
Until you have walked a mile
Zooming through my thoughts
Zest for life bubbling from your heart
Love for all a must
Excuse me? Were you speaking to me?
Damn; I was puzzled there for a minute!

written By: Patricia Sawyer
1-29-2009

Today is Yo -Yo Day!

“Life is a yo-yo, and mankind ties knots in the string” ~ unknown~


In 1974 President Richard Nixon briefly played with a yo-yo at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.


In 1968, activist Abbie Hoffman was cited for contempt of Congress for, amongst other acts, "walking the dog" during a session of the House Subcommittee on Un-American Activities.


The yo-yo is a toy consisting of two equally sized and weighted disks of plastic, wood, or metal, connected with an axle, with a string tied around it. First becoming popular in the 1920s, "yo-yoing" is still enjoyed by children and adults alike. To use, the player pulls the string through the loop to make a slipknot, puts his/her middle finger through the slipknot at the end of the string and grasps the yo-yo. Generally, the player does not put the slipknot any farther up his/her finger than the first knuckle from the tip. Then the player throws it downwards with a smooth light motion. When it reaches the end of the string, the yo-yo can be made to "sleep," the axle of the yo-yo spinning within a loop of string.


My Brother Frank. always said if you couldn't make a yo yo sleep you wouldn't be able to do anything else with it either. Frank would know. He was the best yoyo-er I ever knew! He could do all the tricks. He could walk the dog and rock the cradle and many more. He simply loved yo yo's. I'd almost bet he still owns at least one. I well remember him saving his money to buy a special Duncan Butterfly yo-yo. They were what ever body else had when we were young. Frank was the best with all the tricks with the one he had but he wanted a new one. He wanted the Butterfly! I also know that he had two lighted yo-yo's too. One red and one green. But I can't remember if they were butterfly yo-yo's or not.


Once when we were in school; the rough boys wanted Frank's yo-yo. They told him to give it to them and he just kept on yo-yoing. They told him they would beat him up and take it and he kept on still. Finally they backed him into a corner and tried to take it.. He quickly shoved it into his pocket and grinned at them and said.. "Go ahead and try to get it and when I start to yell and holler you can explain why you have your hand rammed down in MY pocket." Needless to say the rough boys decided that maybe, just maybe Frank was not a person to pick on. They walked away and never looked back at him. He returned to his yo-yo-ing as if nothing had ever happened. One of them later told me that they didn't even like to yo-yo. They just hated that they couldn't get a reaction from Frank when they picked at him about anything else. And they figured taking his yo-yo would be easy. Frank is still a little like that. He looks and acts real easy going. He really is real easy going.. But you don't really want to cross him..


The history of Yo-yo's goes a long way back. Back to Before Christ. There have been many different companies to make them. I think Maybe Duncan was the most widely known yo-yo company for many years and still is world known for their yo-yo's.


The International Yo-Yo Open is the largest yo-yo contest in the world. It is held every year in August at South Street Seaport in New York City. This contest is hosted by YoYoNation.com and aims to showcase the best yo-yo players in the world. In the inaugural 2007 contest, there were over 8,500 people in attendance.


The World Yo-Yo Contest is held every year in Florida, USA during early August or late July. This contest takes the winners from national yo-yo contests around the world and pits them against each other. Countries such as the United States, Brazil, Japan and the UK hold competitions at the national and regional levels. In addition, national yo-yo contests, without regionals, are held every year by Mexico, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, France, Germany, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Australia.

It's amazing to me that a simple toy can be so popular to both children and adults and last for centuries as a popular item. I personally never learned to yo-yo. I can't walk the dog. I can't even make mine sleep. I do still have an old one from way way back. I take it out and try it every once in a while but I haven't learned anything about yo-yoing yet. Except that it's simplicity will fool you. It appears to be a very simple item. But it is actually not as easy to do as it appears. Most of us can toss it down and it will come back but can we make it do other things? I can't. Frank can! Can you? Never assume something that looks simple really is. Never assume that because some one appears easy to pick on that they are. And be sure to Never try and take Frank's yo-yo! Enjoy life! Try to find joy in some simple things. Try to learn to yo-yo. Have a great day!
Patsy