Blingo

The Mother near the mother load of D&D coffee!

Yup, I just made up another word!  I had to come out of the blogging retirement of a big move, so why not a new word.  Actually, this isn't a new word, just a new word to you.  Back when I first started to blog I remember telling The Mother all about it.  She was at first confused what a blog was, since, well, the word blog doesn't sound like anything real at all.  Once I explained to her that blog stands for web log, she got it.  Then we started to joke about all of the new lingo floating around that is related to technology, and that people could actually study this.  We decided that this new area of study would be called blingo, short for web lingo.  If you study blingo you would be called a blingologist.  This thought all came back to me when I was recently reading a blog about twitter.  This blogger admitted that for the longest time when they read about "apps" they thought people were talking about appetizers!  How funny, and we all know that tons of people must have thought this same thing! 

Here's to The Mother, maybe one day you will become a blingologist - you could make a mighty fine one!

Enjoy ~SJ

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's day to those two very special ladies in my life, with the continuous encouragement and support from the two of you so many things have been accomplished.

Enjoy ~SJ

It been a week....

.... and SJ has not posted anything new to her blog. Sorry readers, I think I am back into a state of blogging doldrum. Life has been filled with the same old routine - school, homework, sleep, eat, and maybe a motorcycle ride squeezed in. The Music Man and I did go to a great concert at Bates College last night with some friends, but other than that, nothing to exciting to blog about. The Mother is on her journey northward and will be arriving at the Shamrock on Wednesday, very excited to see her after her 6 months in Florida. Tomorrows goal is to take a picture of something exciting to post.

Enjoy ~SJ

The Mother - Update

In case you started following The Mother's blog a few weeks ago when she started it, you might have noticed a lack of blogging on her part. This is not due to a lack of inspiration, or a lack of interest, it is due to a technical problem. Her little Florida home has been suffering from mystery electrical problems, this has resulted in two broken T.V.'s and a computer that won't turn on. The update last night was that the computer has been fixed, but not hooked up again. I hope that The Mother returns to the blog-o-sphere soon.

Enjoy ~SJ

The Mom

Too funny, just had to share. (Not that The Mother ever had to say these things....)

Runcible Spoon Mystery

The Mother always read to me, and at an early age I started memorizing and reciting my favorite stories; Hey Diddle Diddle, Sylvester And The Magic Pebble, and The Owl And The Pussycat just to name a few. The last one is still a favorite of mine.

I

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea In a beautiful pea green boat, They took some honey, and plenty of money, Wrapped up in a five pound note. The Owl looked up to the stars above, And sang to a small guitar, 'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are, You are, You are! What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

II

Pussy said to the Owl, 'You elegant fowl! How charmingly sweet you sing! O let us be married! too long we have tarried: But what shall we do for a ring?' They sailed away, for a year and a day, To the land where the Bong-tree grows And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood With a ring at the end of his nose, His nose, His nose, With a ring at the end of his nose.

III

'Dear pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.' So they took it away, and were married next day By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince, Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand, They danced by the light of the moon, The moon, The moon, They danced by the light of the moon.

The mystery for The Mother and I (during the kindergarten year) was what a runcible spoon was. This was before the internet, so we went on a trip to the library to find out. After a little research we found out that a runcible spoon is defined as "a spoon on one end and a fork on the other".


This all came flooding back to me today because while in Wal-Mart today I bought myself a new fork/spoon to keep in my desk at school. I am tired of not having the right eating utensile and having to spend half of my lunch break going to the cafateria in search of one. This new fork/spoon that I purchased is called a "spork". I always understood a sprok to be that utensile that you get when you go to KFC, a spoon fork thing all on the same end. The utensile that I bought it what I thought a runcible spoon is, fork on one end, spoon on the other (pictured to the left from the company website).

According to Merriam-Webster it is defined as "coined with an obscure meaning by Edward Lear: a sharp-edged fork with three borad curved prongs". If you notice it is Edward Lear, the authoer of the Owl And The Pussycat who coined the term. Wikipedia goes on to further try to explain what a runcible spoon: "A runcible spoon is a utensil that appears in nonsense poetry, which also uses the adjective "runcible" to describe objects other than spoons. It is fundamentally a nonsense word".

Apparently Lear used the term rundible spoon two different times in his writing, once in The Owl And The Pussycat, the other in Twenty-Six Nonsense Rhymes And Pictures:

The Dolomphious Duck,

who caught Spotted Frogs for her dinner

with a Runcible Spoon

So it seems that even Lear was confused on what this utensile is. Wikipedia goes on to support his confusion by saying "Lear does not appear to have had any firm idea of what the word "runcible" means. His whimsical nonsense verse celebrates words primarily for their sound, and a specific definition is not needed to appreciate his work. However, since the 1920s (several decades after Lear's death), modern dictionaries have generally defined a runcible spoon to be a fork with three broad curved prongs and a sharpened edge, used with pickles or hors d'oeuvres, such as a pickle fork. It is occasionally used as a synonym for spork. However, this definition is not consistent with Lear's drawing, in which it is a ladle, nor does it account for the other "runcible" objects in Lear's poems."

So back to the original question, what is my new utensile called? I don't know for sure but I'm calling it a runcible spoon and if anyone questions me I have done my research.

Enjoy ~SJ

SJ's Beat Gets A Face Lift

* * Please make sure that you understand the title as stating that SJ's Beat for a face lift and NOT SJ **

If you only ever read my blog through your RSS feed Google Reader, please take a second to travel over to my newly improved blog page. I have worked really hard this evening (translation: wasted a ton of time) working on a new heading and picked a new layout. I really am proud of the new pics at the top of the page.

Also, don't forget to go and visit what The Mother has to say on her new blog. She is really on a roll with some pretty funny stuff. Oh, and RVB-ers, what do you think about making her a RVB?

Enjoy ~SJ

The Mother Goes Techy!

As The Music Man put it "the end of the world is near...." My Mother started a blog (without my help might I add). VERY impressive! You have to understand that My Mother is not technology challenged, since she is retired she is just hasn't been immersed in it as much as others are. Well Mom, you have blown SJ away with your creation of your own blog. I know that you will enjoy blogging once you get started (and you already have the hard part all done). I know that you will keep us all in stitches with your witty postings, oh please do the "blingo" blog post soon!

Regular and irregular readers please add The Mother's blog to your RSS feed, or links, or however you keep up on your blogs. Her blog link is: sledgirl

Enjoy ~SJ

M Is For...

...My Mother!

My Mother at Disney World, her favorite place, circa 1992 (sorry Mom for the not so flattering photo, but I have always liked this one of you).


My Mother, maybe my number one blog fan although she never writes a comment, pointed out the other day that I am about half way through my ABC blog postings and she has not been the subject of one yet. She also wanted to point out that she feels she has been the topic of enough blog entries. Well here you go Mom, it doesn't get any better than this!

My Mother and I are close, really close, like best friend close. We talk on the phone at least once a day, mostly when I am in the car driving around. We talk about everything and nothing all at the same time, it is kind of like Seinfeld, conversations about nothing! (Seinfeld, now there is one of our favorite TV shows, right up there with Alf)

When I was in college I think that she sat by the phone from the moment I left Maine until I got back from Boston. If I didn't call her as soon as I got back to my dorm room she would immediately have visions of me "dead on the tracks somewhere". These visions would lead to her calling my cell phone until she reached me. She still has these visions to this day, until I call her and inform her that I am not "dead on the tracks somewhere".

One of my funniest memories of My Mother and I involves the meatloaf birthday cake inspired by Miss Martha. I blogged about this earlier, here is an expert from that blog posting:

Since it was around both of our birthdays we decided to make one of these birthday meatloaves. We followed Miss Martha's directions to the T. We decided that we would trump Miss Martha's meatloaf by putting it on one of the many cake stands that I own (this was the beginning of the end!) We had not thought about the fact that meatloaf is naturally juicy, and if it was placed on a cake stand the juices would have no place to go other than the counter and then the floor. As we started to attempt to "frost" the cake the juices began to run. Gretal, Moms daschund, was of course underfoot and began to lick the running juices. The meatloaf was crumbling everywhere and was getting more and more difficult to "frost". At this point we were laughing hysterically, and I said "Mom, just imagine, there are disastrous meatloaf birthday cakes all across the country right now!"

Time with My Mother typically involves laughing and imagining. When I was little we would create these elaborate stories about our pets and the secret lives that they lived when we were not home. We would write stories together, typically involving animals. We would read books aloud to one another (we still do this today). My Mother instilled in me the value of creativity and humor. My Mother also tried to instill in me the importance of folding laundry, but for some reason that one just didn't stick.

My Mother is a retired teacher, who now enjoys substituting. Every now and then she subs in my classroom. This is always a little treat for my students since math is not her strongest subject, but she tries very hard when she is in my classroom. The students always love her since she will entertain them with a few stories about me when I was little. Of course these stories usually involve telling them how much of a math geek I was at a young age, but they entertain the kids none the less.

I think all tolled up she is the best Mom you could ask for. She always makes you laugh, is always there to talk to, she doesn't judge you even when she thinks you are making the wrong decision (lets not go down that path), and will always come over the fold my laundry and make fresh cookies.

Enjoy ~SJ

In The Spirit Of Christmas, Kind Of

Today's Close To Home comic reminded me of the last time My Mother, Grandmother and I went shopping on Black Friday.


We all decided that we wanted to go and check out the amazing deals at the Christmas Tree Shop. I dropped of My Mother and Grandmother at the front door and went in search of a parking space. I knew from looking at the parking lot that find a spot was going to take some skill and maybe a blessing from the Parking Space God. After a few laps around the lot I decided to cut to the chase and stock someone coming out of the store. I drove to the front of the store and waited from someone to come up, and then I just followed her to her car. I was in luck, the first lady that I followed had a prime spot right near the front! She walked with her overflowing cart and I crept slowly behind her. She got to her SUV (also overflowing with bags) and proceeded to put in her bags, I waited. Once she got all of the bags into the car I thought I was all set ready to get the car parked and on with my shopping. But no, this SUV driving overflowing bags lady had another thing planned. She began to WRAP (in the beautiful new gift bags she just got in the Christmas Tree Shop) her presents! Yes folks, you read that right, here she is in a parking lot brimming with people looking for spaces, and she takes her time and wraps presents! Well, to say the least I was a little ticked off. I was tempted to roll down the window and ask her if she wanted help addressing her Christmas cards as well, but I decided to not say anything at all. Back to the front door I went to start the whole routine again. The second time I found a man coming out of the store (again, shopping cart overflowing), I followed him to his vehicle and waited. Once he was done loading his car he yelled over to me "I'm going to leave my cart here for you, there are none inside!" He left and I pulled into the spot. The simple act of this man being kind wiped the slate clean of the SUV Woman's rude behavior. Once I finally got into the store My Mother and Grandmother had been wondering what took me so long, and informed me that they couldn't find a cart. I re-told the whole story, and we were all thankful for the nice man who not only let me have his spot, but also the cart.

Enjoy ~SJ

"I Like To Think Of Him As Mistletoe With Webbed Feet"

Miss Piggy was on The Today Show last week (My Mother told me about it, no cable for SJ). I decided this evening to check out this clip that she keeps telling me that I needed to see. The title of this blog is my favorite Miss Piggy line form the clip, and notice the awe on these well accomplished news anchors. I have heard that when people work with a Muppet they forget that it is a puppet and feel as though it is a real person, check it out

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Enjoy ~SJ

The Year Of The Pajamas

When My Mother and I are together for Christmas we typically open one present each the night before Christmas. We each pick out the present that the other should open, taking great pride in the selection. A few years back, when I was going to college in Boston and My Mother was the owner of the Shamrock, we sat down around the tree on the night before Christmas and gave each other the one present to open. I could tell before opening mine that it was going to be some sort of clothing item, I opened it excitedly hoping they might be new pajamas. They were red flannel pajama bottoms and little dachshunds on them. I started to chuckle and encouraged Mom to open her present. Well, low and behold we had gotten each other the same pair of pajamas, matching mother-daughter pajamas to sleep in the night before Christmas! You have to understand that My Mother and I would wear our pajamas all the time if it was socially acceptable. My Mother has even been known to host a Christmas or two outfitted in her most fashionable pajamas, and no one even knew. Maybe the most ironic part of this whole story is when we opened the rest of the presents the next morning we discovered that we had also purchased the same set of nesting bowls for each other. Odd, I would have to say yes.

When I saw My Mother last weekend in Florida for our early holiday celebration (the difference in ticket prices between last week and Christmas was crazy!), she gave all of use matching pajamas. Of course we posed for the photo-opt. Note that Gretal the dachshund is right there with us.

Enjoy ~SJ

Happy Holidays!

As a child My Mother prided herself on the amazingly witty holiday newsletters that she sent out. Every year I say to myself that I am going to write one as well, it hasn't happened yet. I also think that those nice holiday photo cards people send out are great, also I have never managed to send one out. I heard on the news that I missed the deadline to get holiday cards out in the traditional mail. I decided to try my hand at making a holiday collage of pictures that I have taken this year.

Enjoy ~SJ

Tracfone Fleecing Update!

Nothing bothers me more than poor customer service. As you may remember I blogged about the poor customer service that I encountered when trying to help my very non-elderly Mother with her tracfone. While on the phone with customer service I told them that I planned on blogging about the poor service and warning everyone not to get one. Well I followed through on my statement and thanks to Stats Counter I can see how popular that blog was. From my "Recent Keyword Activity" page I can see that people have searched for tracfones and the elderly three times and landed on my site. You just have to love stastitics!

Enjoy ~SJ

I'm Dreaming Of A White Thanksgiving

So this is the view that I woke up to today......

How beautiful I know. I always find it so eerie when there is snow on the ground but the pond is not frozen over yet. It made me hum to myself all morning "I'm dreaming of a white Thanksgiving". I might not be the version that you are accustomed to, but here in the woods of Maine you never know when you are going to have a white Thanksgiving. Just one more thing to be thankful for.

Then for added excitement I had recess duty (yes, we went to school and no we did not have an extra hour to get ourselves there). To keep the snow on the ground and not flying through the air the other woman on duty and I decided to get the kids to build snowmen. It is amazing how entertained by snow 8th graders can still be. Here is my beautiful work of art (yes, those are pencil arms).

And then I just read today's Garfield comic, I think that it might just be mocking us all.

C Is For....

Cat!

I know that you all know I am a appreciator of the feline kind. Through my life I have almost always had a cat in my home. These felines have always held a special place in my heart, one of the most special ones is Sterling Silver.

My Mother rescued Sterling from a pet store after multiple visits. They met each other prior to My Mother's back surgery when My Father would take her on short drives to get her mind off the pain. Sterling made sure that when My Mother was in the store she played it up extra how cute and tiny she was. Since Sterling was the runt of the litter she was an exceptionally tiny kitten. So small in fact, she needed to step to get in and out of the litter box.

Sterling was a loyal cat, who would rearrange her busy day when you were sick to lay in bed with you. She always greeted you at the door when you came home, and was always polite around visitors. Sterling was known for her "voice", and used it often. On one occasion a telemarketer thought Sterlings "talking" in the background was my baby crying!

Sterling had a silvery colored coat, thus the name, complete with double paws, huge ears and eyes, and no tail. My Mother and I always joked that she was too busy making sure that she got nice fur, ears, eyes and paws, that she forgot to get in line for a tail! Tail or no tail, Sterling is still a purrfect cat in my book.

My Mother and I always joked about Sterlings extensive "life" outside of our home. After September 11 we decided that Sterling had become Jewish "to be show her acceptance of diversity". This fictious story extended to the observation that the "Shalom bus would pick her up to go to Temple on a weekly basis". The stories went on and on..... the never ending creativity.

Sterling started out as a childhood cat, and then once My Mother started going to Florida for the winters, she become my first pet as an adult.

She enjoyed spending her summer days chasing the ducks up the stream and the chimpmunks along the rock wall. In the winters she found a sunny spot in the house to take long cat naps.

Like all cats Sterling got old, and after 14 years of being my loyal cat it was time to say goodbye. I burried her behind the house in an area that she enjoyed spending her summer afternoons. Her grave is marked with a small pile of stones and a marker reading "In memory of a faithful friend and companion".

Enjoy ~SJ

"Tracfone is fleecing the elderly!" or SJ's Encounters With Customer Service

Ok, so the title of blog might be a little stretched, but I did make this statement today. My Mother has been visiting over the last few days and has been telling me how unhappy she has been with her Tracfone service. It isn't necessarily the reception part that she has been unhappy with, but rather a service that she signed up that did not end up being followed through with. Long and short is since Tracfone is a pre-paid service she signed up for an automatic addition of minutes every month. Since signing up with the service she has not been credited for the additional minutes, but of course Tracfone has charged her debit card. So I told her that I would call Tracfone and cancel her service as well as get her a credit for her non-credited minutes.

After a lengthy conversation with several different Tracfone reps, I was able to get her the money credited back to her account, but they were not very happy to do this. The funniest part of my whole encounter with the Tracfone reps is that their phonelines were so poor it was hard to hear and understand them, do you see the irony there? Also, I informed them that I thought they were "fleecing the elderly, and not the sheep kind of fleece!". Ok, so maybe My Mother is not offically an elderly person, but she is retired doesn't that count for something? Moral of the story, don't get a Tracfone, nor should you try to talk with their customer reps.

After my Tracfone experience My Mother and I went to Eddie Bauer to return my backpack. It has torn along the seam and since Eddie Bauer has a 100% guarentee just like L.L.Bean I decided to take it back. Now, this is the second time that I have taken back this bag due to the same problem. The first time they took the bag back, no questions asked, and gave me a brand new one. Since this is the second time that the bag had torn along the seem I thought it was time to get more than just the same bag.

Once arriving at Eddie Bauer I went up to a sales person and expalined my situation. She poiletly asked me what I wanted them to do for this horrible inconcience. Long and short of it, she gave me all of my money back in the form of a gift card so that I can pick out another bag on their website. Now this is an example of a 5-Star business, the complete antithesis of the previously mentioned business.

Now onto my third encounter with customer service of the day. After Eddie Bauer My Mother and I met my Step-Father for dinner at Red Robbin. This was our first time visiting the "World Famous Gouermet Burger Makers". I was impressed with the variety of choices, but was able to narrow it down to just one. When our food arrived My Mother discovered one bite into her burger that it was cold. We polietly informed our waitress, and she wisked the cool burger away. Moments later the manager came rushing over offering a salad while she waited for a new burger as well as checking how the rest of our food was. Within minutes a new and hot burger arrived for My Mother. Again, very impressive compared to the first customer service encounter of the day.

Enjoy ~SJ

Another Exciting Quiz!

It has been a few weeks since my last installment of an exciting internet quiz. This time I have found, "What Comic Character Are You?"(I know, you have always been wondering).

My results is......


Ironically I have always been a Snoopy fan. When I was a newborn my Father brought me a little Snoopy stuffed animal. Apparently I enjoyed this little Snoopy and he went everywhere with me. One day while we were all in the car, My Mom checked in on me and noticed that Snoopy's little felt nose was missing! My parents still aren't sure where his nose ended up, but they guessed that I ate it.

So, what comic character are you?

Enjoy ~SJ

Columbus Day To-Do List

For me Columbus Day has traditionally been a day to "get things done around the house". Today, since My Mom and the Music Man were both at my house, the to-do list seemed longer than in years bast.

• Take in the dock
• Put the canoe away
• Put the Sunfish away for the season
• Put plastic shrink-wrap on the windows
• Put plastic on the back doors
• Clean the cat box
• Make apple sauce
• Make yogurt

Amazingly, the to-do list got completely done! Just another overachieving successful day in the world of SJ.

Enjoy ~SJ

Please Don't Feed The Animals

This Close To Home comic reminded me of an adventure that My Mom and I had at the beach.


One day while I was visiting My Mom in Florida we decided to spend the afternoon enjoying the sun and surf on Clearwater Beach in Clearwater, Florida. Now this beach that My Mom and I went to required us to trek about 1/4 of a mile across the "Sahara", really it was just that far from the parking lot across the sand to the water. We settled in on a nice part of the beach not too close to anyone. Before going to the beach My Mom and I stopped at Albertson's Grocery Store to get sandwiches. These were not just any sandwich, they were h u g e, with wonderful toppings. Not long after settleing on the sand I decided to start in on my sandwich. Now I'm sure you can guess where this is going. Moments into unwrapping my sandwich I was swarmped by seagulls. I think that they sent out an all points bulliten to the surrounding five miles that there was an unwrapped sandwich being eaten. The birds were bombing me for my precious sandwich. Eventaully I jut gave up and let the birds have the sandwich. This is when the little German ladies beside me yelled at me for feeding the birds! Yea right, like I was trying to feed the birds, I was just trying to enjoy my sandwich on the beach, so much for that.

Enjoy ~SJ