~~Happy Easter~~

The pitfalls of multi-tasking~~

Ok, sew I like to taut myself as a multi-tasker….sometimes even multi-tasker to the 5^th power. Currently, I am on vacation from multi-tasking.

I have learned in doing a small amount of research that experts are finding that multitasking can put us under a great deal of stress and actually make us less efficient. I am beginning to see multi-tasking as an annoyance.

As of late, I have lost all patience with those multi-taskers who walk and text at the same time. I have invented a phrase I like to call “text bumping”…..which comes from that mindless person who is texting on his or her mobile device and not paying attention to the universe…(as in the universe that does not revolve solely around the text bumper) I am the one who “gets the bump” as I am minding my own business. If you get the bump while enjoying that wonderful cup of Dunkin Donuts, all hell can break loose. Words can be exchanged that are less than friendly. Text bumpers beware.

And…you cannot simultaneously e-mail and successfully have a phone conversation. I think we’re all familiar with “e-mail voice,” when someone you’re talking with on the phone suddenly sounds confused and asks you to repeat yourself…repeatedly. This creates stress for the person who is not doing the emailing. Stress raises the blood pressure, and Lord only knows what other health issues can come of it. People, let us focus on the caller and not the email. However, if it is a really annoying family member, give yourself a pass.

Now I do believe there is a difference between multitasking and not being able to focus.

Case in point: husband who is in the background chatting while you are concentrating on dinner -- trying to make 4 items cook at the same time to hit the plate looking edible at exactly the same moment. As you are stirring gravy and putting the veggies in the microwave he says…”stocks were up today”. Your response: Yes, I already TOLD you your socks are in the dryer, now lay off. Well, sew much for a lovely dinner.

There is also a difference between not being able to focus and letting the voices in your head take over. For today I am going to find some little bit of comfort in listening to the voices. Maybe tomorrow I will consider multi-tasking.

~~Another Manic Monday~~

With just a little time to post on a Monday I'll turn to my fav Monday song! Play and enjoy, perhaps it will perk up YOUR Monday!

~~I want a DO OVER~~

I want a DO OVER for setting the clocks ahead this past weekend. I believe the term is “spring forward”. Humph, below is a current picture of “spring” here in the North Country….that’s right….streets of dirty snow…crappy stuff….not even remotely pretty.

Below that is a picture of what “spring forward” is supposed to look like. I want THAT!

Mother Nature you are one cruel, sadistic woman.

Wordless Wednesday ~~polish your self-esteem~~

Whine, whine, whine...pass the cheese~~

OK, sew I know I have been whining everywhere I can and to everyone I can about the northern NY snow and how it keeps coming and coming and coming. Here's a few pictures to show you what I am talkin about. The GOOD NEWS is, here, now, just at this moment, it IS NOT snowing....WOOTS!

The BAD NEWS is that more snow is in the forecast....sew crappy...or crappie as blockheadrod spells it..(**winks at private Pluggers United Team joke**)


The first two pics are what our last storm looked like....the back yard and the neighbor's barn in view...

These next 3 are pics McStevie took this morning. The first is the view from the end of the driveway. Sew once you get the car out of the garage and head down our driveway, it's a real pain to try to see around those wicked snow banks. Yikes!

Another angle from the end of the driveway. Can't see much out those garage windows on the end.

That big bubble in the front yard was where it drifted a bit and then McStevie starting snow-blowing and it had to go somewhere. The ladder is a prop...hehe.

I will be sew happy when spring comes.

Need a Laugh?

Now I know this has gone around the internet, but JUST IN CASE you just got your first colonoscopy and have not seen it yet.....you will resemble this message for sure..

Disclaimer: Before you read, please remember that a colonoscopy CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE. And routine colonoscopies DO SAVE LIVES. The author was exaggerating for the sake of making the story as funny as possible.

This is from newshound Dave Barry's colonoscopy journal:

I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastro-enteritis specialist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis . Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A 17,000 FEET LONG TUBE UP YOUR BEHIND!'

I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of Our enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.) Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humour, state that after you drink it, 'a loose watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle.. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?' How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I had understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn't thought of this is, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house. When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthetist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthetist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' has to be the least appropriate. 'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me. 'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea.

Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling 'Dancing Queen, Feel the beat of the tambourine,' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt.. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that it was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors.

I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald.

On the subject of Colonoscopies...they are no joking matter, but these comments during the exam were quite humorous... A physician claimed that the following are actual comments made by his patients
(predominately male) while he was performing their colonoscopies:

1. 'Take it easy, Doc. You're boldly going where no man has gone before!
2. 'Find Amelia Earhart yet?'
3. 'Can you hear me NOW?'
4. 'Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?'
5. 'You know, in Arkansas , we're now legally married.'
6. 'Any sign of the trapped miners, Chief?'
7. 'You put your left hand in, you take your left hand out...'
8. 'Hey! Now I know how a Muppet feels!'
9. 'If your hand doesn't fit, you must quit!
10. 'Hey Doc, let me know if you find my dignity.'
11. 'You used to be an executive at Enron, didn't you?'
12. 'God, now I know why I am not gay.'

And the best one of all.
13. 'Could you write a note for my wife saying that my head is not up there?'

MY BEST RESOLUTION for 2009

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me.”

Ermma Bombeck

Don’t you love that quote?

It’s a new year. Let’s throw out ALL the old resolutions. Let’s pick one that may be the hardest we have tried yet ~~ to be a BETTER PERSON. For me there can always be improvement. God is not done with me by any long shot.

This year, let us revisit some talents, (in no particular order), dust them off and use them to the best of our ability.

~ Love
~ Acceptance
~ Kindness
~ Gratitude
~ Humbleness
~ Forgiveness
~ Patience

I want to use them and improve them for as long as I can, don't you?

~Tagged~ Just LOVE this game.....

I have been tagged by two of my good friends, Heather of Heather's Handmade Creations and Terronda of uniquecommodity and perhaps there are more out there. I am sorry if I have not included you this time. I am finally taking a moment to step back and play the game, as I love reading 7 things about other people.

Here are the Tag Rules:

~ Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.

~ Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

~ Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their name as well as links to their blog.

~ Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. This last one I am leaving off because it is SEW CLOSE to the holidays and do not want to pressure anyone. If you would like to play tag and would like to use SEWHAPPY as your tagger, by all means PLEASE DO!

So here are my Seven:

I am deaf in one ear…since I can remember...perhaps from birth. It only bothers me in crowds or when someone tries to whisper in my deaf ear.

I was voted best looking in my high school class...which is nice to remember at my current age of 50 somethin. I am still a very high maintenance (so McStevie says) girly matchy-matchy girl since high school.

I wanted badly to be a cheerleader in high school…I only tried out once…my sisters were cheerleaders..but it’s OK ‘cause now I enjoy being a cheerleader for a few causes.

I LOVE peanut butter and always keep a jar at my work desk..sometimes eat it straight from the jar, but especially love to put a little on those miniature Hershey chocolates for an afternoon treat.

My married name is the same as my mother’s maiden name, same spelling, different family. Makes for a lot of confusion with all the “families” living in the general North Country area. I have all kinds of "coattail relatives". Big families are the bomb.

My sister Nancy (a nurse) delivered our daughter because the Dr. did not make it to the hospital in time. That is very special because she has two sons, no daughters - and I love sharing Mandy with her.

I have wanted to be a secretary since I was about 10. While my sisters were playing nurse and teacher, I played with fake file folders at my mother’s sewing machine cabinet that had lots of deep drawers I could use for files. I have been in the secretary/administrative assistant field for over 25 years and still enjoy “playing” with files.

Don't tag me bro' aka...~six secrets~

OK, it's a play on words, "don't taze me bro" by that crazy kid at Florida State who wanted his 15 minutes.....check that 2.2 minutes of fame.






So..anywho, I have been TAGGED by my favorite witch, thegoodwitchtoo to reveal six intimate secrets about myself. Whoa....hold the phone...is Big Brother listening? OK, well, for the good witch Casandra I will dive into the cauldron and give you an idea of the things that make sewhappy so happy!




1) I luv luv to hear young children say and do the funniest things....every family member has heard a little person say something just totally clever or innocent that made you want to smile or laugh a belly laugh. I have many, but the only one that comes to mind at the moment is one year our son, Jeff and his wife, Sheila (named by the family as Jela, 'cause we are too lazy to write out both names) gave McStevie (my hubby, self-named after me watching countless hours of McDreamy and McSteamy on Grey's Anatomy) a new basketball and t-shirt from his favorite college basketball team (The Cuse in Syracuse, NY). Our then 4 year old grandson, Tucker, decided to try on the shirt, to which sewhappy gramma says "you could swim in that shirt". Well, I got a blank look from this sweet child and he looks directly in my eyes and says, no, gramma I'm just gonna wear if for a few minutes. Apparently, he thought we were going swimming. Children are so innocent and precious and precocious all at the same time...they say what they think and often repeat what you say, so be berrry, berrry careful.





2) I luv luv to watch aforesaid Grey's Anatomy and a few other shows...will Meredith ever figure out that she will never be happy, BECAUSE SHE IS TOO FRIGGIN' MUCH OF A NUT CASE! Man, don't you just wanna put your hand threw the tv and wring her little beeotchy neck....get a grip Meredith, life doesn't have to have that much drama, and IT"S NOT ALWAYS ABOUT YOU! oh, thanks I feel sew much better now.





3) I luv luv cheese doodles, most all of them, but my absolute FAV is Wise cheese doodles, the big fat ones that melt in your mouth...oh and **sigh** they love me too.





4) I luv luv Dunkin Donuts coffee. Thanks to my friend Pat in KY! When she lived here, she and I would always travel to Syracuse together for "fabric sightings" and because she gets carsick, she would drive. And, because she had to go by "the Dunkin" before getting to my house she would bring me coffee and breakfast......I miss her so! And...damn her for getting me hooked on that coffee!





5) I luv luv my sewing/classroom. It is my sanctuary, where I go to get lost.... relax....where I spend time out when I have been bad..and I am always bad. I have four six foot tables in it now so I can really spread out and make a huge mess when I'm not having class.

Sew Happy

Time Out Space

6) I luv luv watching my birds all year long. I have one bird feeder I can see from the big living room window and one I can see from the slider in the kitchen/dining. McStevie is a doll and knows how much I luv this so he keeps them well-stocked for me. I have a pair of cardinals I call Fred and Ethel and they bring more cardinals back around in the winter....just sew lovely to watch...keeps my heart warm all winter...and winters are very long here in northern NY.

What we have here is a failure to communicate...

What's your favorite Paul Newman movie??




I am in a bit of mourning for one of my favorite actors has passed away....Paul Newman...Mr. blue eyes...Mr. Paul Newman's Own....wonderful products for his wonderful charities...the list goes on.





Forget the fact that the man has been married to the same woman for 50 years, which is an amazing thing all by itself, but in Hollywood no less. Forget the fact that he starred in wonderful, unforgettable movies ...(Cool Hand Luke, who could ever forget Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Hustler, The Color of Money) and gave the car racing world enthusiasts someone to identify with....he just seemed like a good guy...the best....




I would have loved to meet the guy and just hang out...just to peer into those blue eyes once and hear him say....what we have here is a failure to communicate.....such a great film...such a legend...you will be missed Paul Newman!