Bizarre Quiz of the Day:





Which Woman of Beauty Are You? Find out! By Nishi.


I returned to Nishi's site for that one. It was worth it. LOL

RANTS

Actually, ranting at myself today. I should be updating this blog a heck of a lot more often, I know. I apologize to any and all fans (Kou,Theryn, and/orSal, ) who might be checking this for updates. I seem to have found a life or something, I suppose. Either that, or my computer is preventing me from coming here as often as I'd like.

I wanted to mention the whole MONEY debaucle. Why? Because Sal put it on her blog. Of course.

It begins innocently enough. With me at the computer. Matt, my 11 yr old red-headed son, comes up and asks if he can go to Target. Knowing the child has no money, I ask, "Why?" in a perplexed fashion. He answers that he has $15. "Where did you get that?"

His friend, my next-door neighbor's son, gave him $15. "Why?" "He said he got a lot of money from his dad, and that he wanted me to have it because I'm his firend." A long discussion ensues where I try to explain why taking money to be someone's friend is a bad thing, which I'm sure he only got "give the money back" out of. Now he's just angry. He storms off, but eventually comes around.

Later on, I had to take Matt to his psychologist. I have no car, no bus money, and my bank account is overdrawn I discover. (That was a fun moment.) Guess who has the only money in the house? Matt! Figuring it must be there for a reason (and knowing I can pay it back anyhow) I inform Matt that part of the $15 is now going to be bus money. Of course, it's in $5 bills, so we have to go make change. So, off to McDonald's we go. We got a special deal (2 double-thick chocolate-banana milkshakes for $3) and got change. It is now like 1:45, and I have to be at the doc's at 2:30. It's a half-hour bus ride. The bus simply didn't come. At 2:10, I realize that short of a racecar of airplane, we aren't going to make that appointment. So, we return home.

I deal with the psychologist (who wasn't mad I couldn't come, remarkably). Matt asks if he can go to Target. I figure at this point, why not. If need be, I'll just pay back the whole $15. It's been a heck of a day anyhow, hasn't it? So, off he goes and spends every dime of the rest of his money. (Pokemon cards will do that.)

Much later, the neighbor comes over. I'm (go figure) on the computer. "I'd like to talk to you and Matt about something," she says. There's an aura of anger around her a mile wide. Let's bear in mind this is someone I have an....intolerence....for. (I'm getting over it.) "Is this about that money ****** gave Matt?" I ask. "Oh, you know about that?" she says. Her combatant attitude suddenly vanishes. I'm not sure what she was expecting, but it was really weird. Her anger aura is still going strong. "Yeah. I explained to Matt that he shouldn't take money to be someone's friend," etc, etc. Explain that I did use the money, because it was an emergency on my part, and that I'll pay it back if she needs.

"No," she says. "That's fine. It's all *******'s fault. You see," and here's the grand bit of this story. "****** just picked the money up off the counter at his dad's house." Apparently, the father (who I had assumed was paying child support to my neighbor and using ******* as a go-between or something) was going to pay some bill or other with the money, but hadn't. So it was lying around in the bathroom (which is freaky to me, but whatever. Strange detail, that.) and ******* picked it up and carried it off home. He then proceeded to lie to his grandmother and spend $40 on a Gameboy game, gave $15 to Matt, and probably spent more than that in other ways she didn't divulge. She waved away my offer of paying it back (for about the 3rd time that story) and took ****** off to his father's house for a chat.

Much, much, much later, they both come back to the house. ******'s punishment was first to apologize, then he was going to work off the money with his mother. I offered Matt's help, and Matt apologized for having taken the money 'to be his friend' as well. But the neighbor said that wasn't really neccessary, so it's forgotten.

*whew* It was quite the day. And I kind of like her better knowing her son isn't the perfect little angel she makes him out to be. Anyhow....

RAVES

Well, the rants was so long, I'm not sure there's a good rave left in me. LOL. Well, how about my new Women of the World Spirit Page? I made a really awesome webset for it, at least if I do say so myself.

The set is created from an album cover from about 1958-1962 or so. It was a time when young adults (I'm talking 20-30 year old's) went to clubs and actually danced together. It was a time of 'beatnicks' and jazz, when there were names for the dances (samba, rhumba, cha-cha) that matched the exotic flavor of the music.

I got it from an awesome website "Club Velvet" that is still up, but out of operation. I spent just HOURS pouring through the really awesome album covers on his site. All of them unique, all of them interesting, and most of them with the most humorous names ever.

"Mallet Mischief", on which the set is based, is a selection of songs featuring a xylophone. But there was something about that woman with the pearls. The look on her face, the gold of her dress, the length of her pearls, I dunno, that just appealed to me. In fact, it was so interesting, that I had been thinking of her for three days, including in my dreams. It didn't surprise me that I created the set from start to finish in about 2 hours. That's a kind of record for me. It just flowed so easily.

Drop me a note and let me know how you liked it, if you did.

Until next time, keep your sword sharp and your bow strung! Herete!