Da Goddess

Making the Internet and the world a little bit kinder.

Don’t Come Free

Flambe: a fancy, blazing lamb dish from McDonald’s.

You heard it here first.

Oh yes, it’s that time once again. I started putting new items on Zazzle. If there’s something you’d like to see on there that I haven’t yet created, give me a shout out in the comments and I will create something just for you.

Store!

Chain of fools

Or not

I should write something funny here. Let’s pretend I have and call it a day. Be sure to giggle as if I did my job. Thanks!

I see a bull dog. Do you?

Good golly, yesterday was ridiculous. I had a doctor’s appointment and ended up stuck there for six hours. SIX. HOURS.

I wasn’t really bothered by the long wait at first. Bored? You betcha. It was the fight for meds at the end that did me in. For some reason, the computer said I’d just picked up meds at the end of May, but they were wrong. They tried handing me a prescription. I said, no, I get the script filled here. Then one of the nurses tried to say the system was down and no meds could be dispensed. Well, me being tired, hurting, and now very frustrated, I said I wouldn’t leave without meds. I eventually prevailed, but it took an extra hour to achieve what should have been a ten minute transaction.

In the end, it all worked out. It just took a very long time. I was grateful that I was there alone and didn’t have LD visiting, sitting around with me. I realized this as I sat waiting for meds and a nice woman with five kids (ages 3-10) was just leaving…and she’d been there as long as I had! Those kids were very well-behaved, too. I know what it’s like, though, and I felt bad for her and for them.

It’s amazing how seeing something like that can change your perspective quickly.

Course, that doesn’t mean I still wasn’t feeling bitchy by the time I walked out of there.

Collected from various conversations. Spouters of such remain anonymous. I’m sure you can figure out why.

“Thanks. I’m flattered you’re interested in me, but I’m currently not involved with someone I could potentially be in love with.”

“I thought life was supposed to get easier as we got older and, presumably, wiser.”

“You’re not touching my doodle hole. I don’t care how many drinks you’re willing to buy me. No. And really really NO.”

“Well, you know, if you want, we can still see each other. Just because I decided to go back to my wife/husband doesn’t mean we can’t date.”

“Country music is the only music!” “What about western?” “Oh, yeah, there’s that, too.”

“Do you really think it’s wise to wear that shirt to a biker bar?” (Shirt depicts two stickmen…engaged in…a certain activity)

“Sno Balls are better.” “No, they’re not. Cupcakes are.” “No, Sno Balls rock because they have coconut.” “Which is why I prefer Hostess Cupcakes. I hate coconut. Although Sno Balls are better than none.”

“But…damn, I just…I turned southern and was internally exclaiming, “why, I nevah!”. I got the vapors and everything. I…I perspired!.”

“Springsteen: the sound of constipation since 1984.” (The year Born in the USA came out.)
“We’ve had a 25 year love affair…in my mind.”

“Curiosity didn’t kill the cat, it caused enlightenment.”

Okay, okay. That last one was mine. Fine, I’ll cop to the Springsteen quote, too.

From last year.

I was digging around in my archives for images to work on for my photo editing class (12 hours over two days…that’s a lot of class time!) and found this shot. I love this dog so much! She’s a sweetie pie.

Taken with my 50mm lens. That beautiful creamy fall off is what you get with a shallow depth of field. f 3.5, ISO 100, shutter 1/160th, manual mode (for those with inquiring minds).

BTW, just in case you were wondering:

What’s the difference between “inquire” and “enquire?”

These are two spellings of the same word, which means to seek information about something or to conduct a formal investigation (usually when followed by “into”). The corresponding noun is enquiry or inquiry.

Either spelling can be used, but many people prefer enquire and enquiry for the general sense of “ask”, and inquire and inquiry for a formal investigation:

•I enquired his name
•The first enquiry in my inbox today was about lost property.
•We are going to inquire into the incident.
•The lawyers asked when the inquiry will be completed.

I share because I care.

You’ve seen both of these images before. The pirate queen was textured and such previously, but I revisited the image and reworked it a bit. The shell, well, that was the image that really went through the wringer this time. First time around, I had only edited for color and contrast. This time I went to town on that thing!

I learned a lot from the online workshop. (LOVE IT!) And can’t wait until the next set of classes. (This one is two sessions long…have another marathon session tomorrow.)

What do you think?

The end of 8th grade is here! The ex took a quick cellphone pic for me and here it is. Yeah, couldn’t be there, but got an early a.m. pic and text session with LD. That’ll do for now. I’m so proud of him for all the hard work he put into school this year. I just want to hug him and kiss him and squeeze him and call him “George”. Yeah, “George”. (obviously the lack of sleep and the muscle relaxer are making me very silly.) Anyhow, Mr. Honor Roll is in fine form here. Totally Mad Men-ning it. What a handsome young man.

Damn, I make beautiful kids.

LD graduates from 8th grade on Thursday. It doesn’t look like I’ll get back there to witness the big day. Needless to say, I’m bummed about that, but I know he’ll be surrounded by the rest of the family and photos will make their way to me. Still…he’s my son and I want to be there.

Making this even more difficult is the fact that, after a couple of years of struggle, LD’s found his way onto the Honor Roll. He’s worked very hard to get good grades and maintain them. He’s done a wonderful job and I’m very proud of him. I only wish I could be there to cheer him on.

I also wish I could see Mojo and the rest of the family. I miss them.

Mojo is getting ready to head off to work at a summer camp. I’m really glad she found a way to get out and do something different. My sister and brother-in-law sent her to camp during the summer for years and now she’s going back for work. It ain’t retail and it ain’t indoors and in my book, that’s a good thing. Wish I were going with her.

My dad is getting ready to go in for cataract surgery. And my mom, well, she’s plugging away at her art classes and drawing and painting up a storm.

Sigh. I hate being away from everyone. Why does SoCal have to be so expensive? Arrgh! Nineteen months in Vegas…400 miles from my loved ones and I’m having a hard time dealing? Makes me think I’d not do so well living even further from home.

Okay, enough of my whining. I’m proud of the kids and missing them terribly, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Now I think I know how my dad must have felt when he got laid off from work and had to start traveling after he started his antique business. He missed birthdays and other special days — not by choice, but to make a living for the family. Seeing it from this side? I get it and I have even more respect for what he went through back then.

Funny how that works, eh?