Hey Noreen

Glasses or Contacts?

Noreen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:03:40 +0000

I can’t see well enough to read a paperback book without some kind of glasses. The big questions is whether I should get a new pair of glasses with bifocal lenses? Or should I wear contacts for distance vision and start carrying around a pair of reading glasses for just when I need to read?

Summer

Noreen — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 00:57:18 +0000

One day I will meet the person who thinks that this is what summer should be all about. Until then, I will make it happen on my own. Because I am worth it and this is what I like.

Baby Shower

Noreen — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:59:49 +0000

Everyone around me is having babies. Nothing makes you feel so old as seeing everyone else pushing baby strollers and realizing that pushing strollers was something you did over 30 years ago. I have to go to another baby shower next weekend. I might as well stock up on baby gifts and keep them at the ready.

The Fourth on the Lake

Noreen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:04:01 +0000

This year we are celebrating the fourth of July on the Lake. We have food, swim rings, bug spray and a great spot on the beach with a view of the fireworks. I miss watching the big show in Washington DC at the monument, but this show lasts 20 minutes and we don’t have to fight the crowds of people. It’s much more peaceful and refreshing to be at the Lake.

Transformers Sequel Rocks

Noreen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:05:24 +0000

After two months of hype and a bombardment of movie trailers, we took the 6 year old to the second day’s showing of the new Transformers movie, Revenge of the Fallen. He was so excited, he sat on the edge of his seat for most of the movie. We did it up all the way, with a big overpriced bag of buttered popcorn and a large coke that he plopped into the armrest cup holder like a pro.

The movie was great – a lot of fighting and destruction – just what the kids were hoping for.

However, I think the movie has way too much smutty reference and bad language for a children’s movie. Maybe the Hollywood suits were trying to also appeal to the older kids and young men by including all the sexual scenes and cursing. But in my mind, it was totally unnecessary and almost ruined the product for being appropriate to the younger ages that most appreciated the movie.

It could have been just as great a movie without the smut. In fact, if they had a financial incentive to do so, I bet if they stripped out the nastiness and replaced it with other clever dialogue then relased it, audiences would still love this movie.

Can He Dance?

Noreen — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:51:51 +0000

A group of women were chatting about a guy we all know. He seemed like the perfect man, by his own accounts. He claims to cook gourmet meals, has mastered housework and child care as a single parent with shared custody, has a ton of money from extensive education and a prosperous career, respects women. What more could we ask?

Well, I asked if he can dance and he reluctantly admitted that, no, he has never bothered to learn to dance.

Everyone left the discussion, bitterly disappointed. The search continues.

New Year Hopes

Noreen — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 13:43:54 +0000

Best wishes to everyone for a wonderful New Year. I truly hope that 2009 is a year of great change and prosperity for my family and friends.

Love, good health, and peace to all.

Noreen

Happy Halloween

Noreen — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:46:10 +0000

We always get several dozen kids ringing our doorbell on Halloween night, looking for handouts. I like to pass out the fun sized candy bars. I make sure that they are all peanut free because I know that a lot of people have allergies to peanuts. I put all of the goodies in a large bowl near the door and I let the kids reach in with one hand and grab a handful. If the kid is really little I’ll let the kid take two handfuls. By nine pm the porch lights go out and I head to bed, hoping that when we get up in the morning the mailbox will still be intact and the cars un-egged and unvandalized. So far we’ve been lucky; but some of our neighbors have not been so fortunate in years past. I guess the kids didn’t like their candy!

Silk flowers

Noreen — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 20:41:22 +0000

I happen to like silk flowers. They are pretty, and they are very realistic looking. Better than that, they never need watering and if they get knocked over there is no mess of a pile of dirt you have to clean up! And even better, the cats don’t eat the silk flowers and then puke them up on the sofa twenty minutes later! A while ago I was watching a decorating show on HGTV and the designer was saying that no matter how pretty the silk flowers are, artificial flowers are always tacky. Well, I disagree completely! I think they are wonderful!

Mashed potatoes

Noreen — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:38:02 +0000

I love potatoes with my supper. I love them just about any way you can fix them, boiled, baked, nuked, mashed, fried. Whatever you do, don’t try to take my potatoes away from me! For several years now I’ve been relying on the instant dehydrated potato flakes to make mashed potatoes for supper. They were fine with butter and gravy. Recently I got a coupon to buy Bob Evans brand of mashed potatoes (not the instant flakes) and I gave them a try. I have to tell you that I liked them so much it will be very hard to go back to ever using the flakes again! Boy, were they yummy!

Truffles!

Noreen — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 23:11:56 +0000

Have you ever eaten a “real” truffle? By that I mean the fungus? I never have – I’ve just eaten the candy “truffles.” I understand the the “real” truffles are more expensive than I could ever even think of eating! So I guess that’s one of those foods I’ll probably never get to try. Oh well…..

Home made bread

Noreen — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:41:55 +0000

There is almost nothing better in this world than home made bread baking in the oven. I like to buy the frozen bread dough loaves at the store, and when I have the time at home I pull them out and cook a couple of loaves.

Today is such a day. I have two loaves of bread rising in the oven, and I should have them ready to eat with supper. Home made bread makes a plain meal a lot more “comfort food”-ish. No one in my house complains about supper when there is a freshly baked loaf of home made bread on the table!

Teaching my son to cook

Noreen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:01:41 +0000

Recently one of my sons informed me that he would like to learn how to cook some of his favorite meals. You could have knocked me over with a feather! I am thrilled to finally share some of my skills, talents, knowledge with my kids!

The first “dish” he wanted to learn how to make is my version of lasagna. So, the next time I went grocery shopping I bought all of the ingredients. The next time we had a few hours together we cooked a pan of lasagna together. Hopefully he’ll remember how to do that and I hope that he will be the “official lasagna cook” from this point forward. It would be really nice to have more help around the house in the way of people sharing the cooking duties!

Patch or Pill?

Noreen — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:50:37 +0000

My first exposure to administering drugs into the body using an adhesive patch (rather than a pill or a shot) was back in the early 1990’s when my son was very sick. He needed help with pain killers and his body couldn’t tolerate any more more abuse of his digestive tract. So he was prescribed a state-of-the-art pain patch. It looked like a large square band aid that you peeled off a backing and stuck onto your arm or shoulder area. The medicine is absorbed through the skin instead of through the stomach.

Now they have patches for many different types of medicines and many types of conditions, from anti-smoking to birth control to motion sickness. This is one of the great but mostly unheralded advances of modern medicine. It made a tremendous difference in the care and quality of life of my son and I know it has helped millions since then.

Just Too Busy

Noreen — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:50:06 +0000

The new Eagles album is out and the first cut to get airplay around here is the song, “Busy Being Fabulous.” I think it is a great slam on the celebrities and too powerful snobs like politicians, CEOs and bosses everywhere. With a very simple and constant refrain, “you were just too busy being fabulous to care about us.”

I wonder if anyone actually said those very words to one of them or if they were able to figure it out for themselves?

Weight Surgery in Tampa

Noreen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:11:02 +0000

My aunt moved to Tampa a few years ago, to be closer to her kids. They moved there a few years before then, and my aunt just could not bear to be so far apart from them, so she finally packed up her things and moved there too. I just got an email from her that she is going to look into having some weight surgery done. She is thinking about the lap-band procedure. She found a doctor to go talk to about it by looking up “lap-band tampa” in a search engine on the Internet. I hope she does some thorough research on the subject before making any decisions!

Firewood falling from a truck

Noreen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:07:10 +0000

My neighbor told me today that his car was struck by some firewood falling from the truck that he was driving behind. It did over $800 worth of damage! I’m glad it wasn’t me!

Pay Day Loans are in the news a lot

Noreen — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:52:43 +0000

While my nephew has been visiting, we have been talking about how some of his friends have been looking for ways to get their hands on some cash to help them make ends meet while they are in college. Some of them have had credit problems in the past, largely because they are college students and it is hard to go to school and make ends meet. I told him that they might want to check out the completeloansource.com website and see if they might be able to help them. They offer a lot of different types of loans for almost any need, including High Risk Personal Loans for Bad Credit, auto loans, debt consolidation and Pay Day Loans. I’ve been hearing a lot of articles on the news about how many people are using pay day loans lately to help make ends meet.

Nephew is visiting for the weekend

Noreen — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:47:55 +0000

I’m so excited that my newphew is coming for a visit! I’m looking forward to showing him around town!

A dream vacation

Noreen — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:50:38 +0000

When I was just sixteen, my parents bought me a motorcycle. I loved riding that bike! I found a Motorcycle Tours company called Eagle Rider that rents Harley Davidson motorcycles for dream vacation trips! I’d love to rent a Harley on a vacation and be an Eagle Rider for a few days! According to their website they also rent ATVs, dirt bikes, watercraft, snowmobiles, and scooters. I’ve bookmarked the site for future reference when planning my next vacation!