Spirit Animals

Your Score: The Bat

Here's your results! Your spirit animal has a Nobility ranking of 9 out of 18.

Your spirit animal is the bat. They are remakable creatures that guide themselves through the night using sonar. They are a fairly common spirit animal, but are neither exceptional nor despisable in regards to nobility. Being nocturnal, they have not really "seen the light", and there is much they are still unaware of, but they have their own special way of navigating the world, which though unconventional, works just fine.

***Wondering how this animal was chosen for you? These questions were carefully thought out to see how important you hold certain virtues such as: humanism, self-knowledge, rationalism, the love of freedom and other somewhat Hellenic ideals. Some of the questions were very subtle. Your score was then matched with an animal of corresponding nobility. However, you shouldn't think this was a right/wrong sort of test, but more of an idealistic values test. It's ok to not hold these values, you'll just get an animal spirit of lower stature if you do!***

Link: The What is Your Spirit Animal Test written by FindingEros on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

H/T to Mrs. Who and VW Bug.

Smooth And Creamy

Maranda Rites -- [adjective]: Similar to butter in texture and appearance 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

H/T to Wes

On A Brighter Note

Elderspawn, my mom, and I went to see Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix today.

I'm not going to review it. I don't want to spoil it for those that want to see it that haven't yet.

Great movie, like all of the Harry Potter movies have been. This one has alot more plot to it than the previous movies and if you're like me and have a hard time understanding different accents, you really have to pay attention to what they're saying.

Way too much popcorn, pop, and milk duds. A good time was had by all!

Our next movie of choice to take both spawn to: Underdog!

Medicare And The Elderly

I don't understand it at all. The man that I take care of in his home hasn't been able to eat very well because his bottom teeth have been hurting him. He can't go to a dentist to have them extracted and get a denture made because Medicare doesn't cover dental care and he can't afford it. WTF? Why not? Oral health is very important to a person's overall health. The infection from a severely abscessed tooth can travel straight to a person's heart potentially killing them. Because of the of dental care he only weighs 114 pounds right now because he can't eat and he's weak and frail.

I even looked up the dental coverage in his Medicare book and it's listed under the huge DOES NOT COVER list.

Guess what? He fell last night and broke his hip. You can break your hip in 3 different spots and his broke in the worst possible spot it can break, at the bottom of the ball joint. Now he has to have complete hip replacement surgery, if he survives the surgery.

Now, had he been able to have proper dental care, he would have been able to eat better, he wouldn't have been so weak, he wouldn't have lost so much weight and maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't be in the position he is in now. Stuck in a hospital bed, with an IV running in his arm, an oxygen tube stuck in his nose, awaiting major surgery.

My theory is that it would have cost the government a whole lot less for this man to have the proper dental care he needed in the first place as opposed to having a $50,000.00 hip put in him. Not to mention the cost of the doctors, hospital, rehabilitation and/or possible LTC placement which he may end up requiring. Not to mention all the pain and suffering he has to endure. It's an extremely high price to pay because Medicare won't cover dental expenses.

The cost and pain endured from a few teeth extractions and a bottom denture pale in comparison to a broken hip.

Just Say No!

Today, my mom bought a bag of the new limited edition Elvis Presley Banana Creme Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Being a big fan of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and liking bananas, I decided to give them a whirl. Well, as soon as I bit into it and the chocolate, banana and peanut butter mixed it almost became a hurl all over the inside of her car.

Blech! Bad news. A combination that should have never come to be. Just say no to them. Save yourselves.

A Couple More Pics From Today

Youngerspawn "playing" volleyball. He caught it, threw it over the net and kicked it under the net instead, but that was our version of volleyball. We used a badminton net instead of a regular volleyball net and the poles for it were made out of PVC pipe so it could be lowered.













Elderspawn out on the volleyball field. He looks so thrilled to be doing this. He really doesn't like any sports to speak of.

Pics From Today

Youngerspawn listening to the instructions on how to steer and stop his Cubmobile, but his helmet kept falling off the back of his head. Proper protection at it's finest! At least the cars came equipped with working seat belts!









I got in on the action for one race. They needed another person so I decided to race my own boy.









Elderspawn getting ready to head down the ramp in his Cubmobile.













This is where Elderspawn used his legs to stop, popped a wheelie and got all banged and bruised up.









Back of Elderspawn's calf. You really can't see the bruising below the scrape in this pic because of the flash but it's pretty. I'm more worried about the ankle on his other leg. It's a bit swollen right now, but he says it doesn't hurt and he's walking fine on it.










**Edit** I haven't figured out how that boy didn't break a bone. This morning both legs have huge, dark black bruises on the backs of them. The only thing I can figure out is that he must have gotten his dad's strong bones.

What A Day....

....this has been. First, the spawn and I had to get up early, bathe, dress, pack the van and head out to Wal-Mart by 8 a.m. to pick up 20 gallons of drinking water, 4 bags of 22 lb. ice, 3 containers of lemonade mix and a sub sandwich totaling 24 feet in length in 8 - 3 feet sections. Oh, but, on the way there I had to do a lot of slamming of the brakes as to not hit the idiots in front of me constantly slamming on their brakes. Thus the results was the ruining of my jello and fruit salad. I ended up having to break down and buy some Macaroni Salad while I was at Wal-Mart so I had a dish to pass out there.

When I pull up to unload the van a few other scout's parents came out to help. Well, lo and behold when one of them opened up the tail of the van 5 of those 3 foot sections toppled out onto the ground. Thank goodness they were all on cardboard and wrapped up in plastic bags.

We managed to get it all unloaded, the sandwiches put back together, the totes of stuff unloaded and set out.

Then I headed out to see how the activity set up were coming along. We had:

Cubmobile Races: Ramps, cars and helmets all set up and ready to go.

Volleyball Net: In the process of being set up.

Relay Races: Person running bringing the stuff for it and running it: nowhere to be found, yet. I had brought ropes for 3-legged races and sacks for potato sack races so I pulled them out and had them ready to go.

Shortly after she does arrive, another one of the parents comes up to me to inform me that youngerspawn peed in his pants and asked if I had brought extra clothes. NOPE! He hasn't wet himself for a long time so I figured he'd be fine. Guess I was wrong.

Luckily, the person running the relay races had extra clothes in her van that fit him.

But after that, I kept losing track of her and where she was setting up the relay races. All the while I'm trying to split the kids into 3 different age groups and get things started during which The Cubmaster kept saying to me, "Maranda, what are we doing, what are we doing" all the while I AM SPEAKING. I turned to him and simply stated that I had just said what we were doing had he been listening. Then he tells me not to let my anger show. Don't talk over me and I won't get pissed off, umkay? And, that wasn't anger rearing it's ugly head simply my irritation at you! Then, one of the adult volunteers comes up to me whining (yes, actually whining) about how she wanted to help out with the food and not the volleyball. Now, we had a planning meeting for this activity, which she didn't attend. I sent out numerous emails to which she never responded. And there's a wonderful invention called the telephone. Learn to use it. You don't say anything to me, I put the volunteers where they're needed. I don't wanna hear it.

After this, the day progressed fairly well. That is until it was Elderspawn's group's turn at the Cubmobile races. I missed his first race and asked him to race again so I could get a picture of him. He agreed and lo and behold when he got to the end of the racing area he put his feet down to stop himself instead of using the brake on the car. He managed to get both feet down, bent underneath, and stuck. Even the back wheel of the car was up in the air. He managed to run right over his own legs. He got some nice scrapes and bruises out of that one and where he scraped up his ankle it was a bit swollen but luckily no broken bones that I know of. Figures, only my kids would cause a raucous.

Chow time came, and it wasn't set up in the most convenient of ways. The plasticware and napkins were all sitting on top of coolers instead of sitting on the tables so many people missed where they were at and had to come back for them. And the desserts weren't on the food tables. Heck, they hadn't even been opened. I remedied that one in a hurry. Then we had to make up more lemonade, so of course I had to get the water and mix to make it up and more ice to pour into it to get it cold. Of course, everyone kept on pulling me here there and everywhere so I really never got to eat.

Then, we had popcorn sale prizes to hand out to everyone. Luckily that only took a few minutes to do but I had to get all the kids from the playground out in the park so they could get their prizes. And we were behind schedule.

Then, clean up time came. We had over 9 feet of sub sandwich left to divide up, tablecloths to rip off, tables to scrub down, garbage to pick up and a ton of stuff to load up and haul out, etc., etc., etc. I had to cut out early. Sorry guys. We had the subs packed up and divided up, tablecloths off, most things loaded back up, tables scrubbed and garbage picked up when I left. Needless to say though, I had to put the hammer to the floor getting home and I was still 5 minutes late getting there. Grau really had to punch it to get to work on time.

And it's only 4 p.m. right now

We did have a good 80 to 90 people in attendance today. We did have beautiful weather considering we were supposed to have had isolated thunderstorms this morning. I guess I should be happy about that.

Life Cut Short

Horror. Pain. Agony. Beyond your worst nightmares. An airplane crashing down into your home. A 10 year old left alive and burnt over 80% to 90% of his body. His 4 year old sister perished in the fire. His parents were seriously injured. A neighbor and her 6 month old son, whose house also was landed on and caught fire, perished. As well as the two people in the airplane. It happened in Florida.

Tragic.

The tears fall down my cheeks just thinking about those poor children. Knowing that I have a 10 year old and a 4 year old myself. Thinking about something like this happening to them. Fire, scares me to death.

Is everyone out there in blogland who is from Florida o.k.?

Funny For The Day

OMG! This joke had me laughing so hard I almost peed my pants! I had to share:

A middle-aged businessman took a young woman half his age as his wife. The fantasy of having a young woman in his bed soon became a nightmare when he found that he could not last long enough to satisfy his young bride.

His wife, as understanding as she was exciting, told him that all was well even if he was quick to get out of the saddle.

Determined to satisfy this sweet young thing, the man visited the doctor to get some advice.

"Doctor, I can't seem to hold back for very long when I make love to my young wife and I can't satisfy her. What can I do?"

The doctor smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and said in a professional manner, "Try a bit of self-stimulation before having intercourse with your wife and you'll find that you'll last longer and ultimately satisfy her."

"Okay, Doctor. If you think that will help."

Later that afternoon, his young bride called him at work to let him know that she would be attacking him at the front door when he arrived home.

"Be prepared, my darling. I'm going to ravish you," she cooed over the phone.

Undaunted, the man decided to follow the doctor's advice. But where? In the office? The Xerox room? What if someone walked in on him?

He got in his truck and began the journey home. Soon he decided he would find a spot on the road to pull over, climb underneath the truck and pretend to be inspecting the rear axle, and do the deed there.

A moment later, he pulled over, crawled beneath the truck, closed his eyes tightly, fantasized about his young wife, and began his "therapy".

A few minutes later, just as he was about to complete his therapy session, he felt someone tugging on his pants leg. Keeping his eyes tightly shut to avoid ruining the fantasy he was enjoying, he said, "Yes?"

"Sir, I'm with the Police Department. Could you tell me what you are doing, please?" said the officer.

"Yes, officer, I'm inspecting my truck's rear axle," he replied confidently.

"Well, why don't you check the brakes while you're down there. Your truck rolled down the hill a few minutes ago."

Hot Surnames

It seems a fellow blogger needs a little help. Chlorinejenny of I Don't Play Well With Others put up a post about wanting to take a pole dancing class "to get in touch with your inner sexpot" and needs our help coming up with a good surname to use.

What she needs is a hot, sexy, and erotic surname to use not just your run of the mill kind of surname.

Now, gentlemen and some ladies too for that matter, I know you've all been to strip clubs. At least those of you guys who are on the straight and narrow path. And I'm sure you can come up with a name or two for CJ to use.

Heck, the only names I can come up with are:

Glitter Pasties, Glowing Flaming Pasties, Cherry Pop, Cotton Candy, and Wanderlust.

Pretty pathetic on my part. These are only parts of names I can remember from the Surprise Party I attended last Fall. And before you ask, yes I had fun and that's all I'm going to say to that one!