Thursday Thirteen #1

Thirteen Things about Bankerchick 1. I am a banker and a chick 2. I have 2 grown Darling Daughters 3. Married 40 happy years to Mr. Bankerchick, who is retired. 4. I am going to retire early in 2 years. 5. I am really unhappy that tv has programmed Medium and Lost against each other. Medium won. I pick up Lost online 6. I have a stinky cat named Nala who is so fat she can't reach her butt. Other than that she is a beautiful cat 7. I am responsible for keeping that butt clean, UGG! 8. We are waiting the birth of our new puppy in March. She is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. Like the Queen's dogs! 9. I once saw someone walking her dogs when we were touring Windsor Castle. 10. I love History, especially English history. 11. My husband and I dream of going to Great Britain and stay for at least 3 months in a cottage, and tour the countryside. 12. I am going to retire to Missouri with my husband, so we can afford the retired life and travel. Can't afford to retire in Southern California. 13. I am a native Caifornian who has live all over the country, thanks to Mr. Bankerchick. Yea! I did it in one sitting.

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Wordless Wednesday #2

Friday's Feast #1

Appetizer:

Where on your body do you have a scar, and what caused it?

Gallbladder surgery, the small belly button type, and one where I stepped on a shard of glass that went in on the bottom of my right foot and came out at my ankle. It predicts the weather!

Soup:

What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?

I had preenclampsia with my first daughter 34 years ago and they came out and told my husband they thought they could save the baby....My MIL made some calls and put me on her church's prayer chain and I made a complete turn around within the hour. We are both fine now.

Salad:

Name a television personality who really gets on your nerves.

Larry King and George Bush when he is on TV, or anywhere.

Main Course:

What was a funny word you said as a child (such as “pasketti” for “spaghetti”)?

My imaginary friend was named Guaw Guaw. My cousin's name was Betsy and all I could manage was Bubby. I still call her that.

Dessert:

Fill in the blank: I have always thought ______ was ______.

I have always thought Tom Cruise was Sexy especially in Risky Business. But now I think he is just plain weird!

FRIDAY FIVE

I am sorry to see Thursday 13 go, especially just as I had finally decided to Play. I tried to come up with 13 for the last one yesterday, but only made it to five, so here they are today.
WHY I LOVE TO BLOG:

1. It is addictive, and I am an addictive personality, however, at least, blogging is not full of carbs.

2. When I am blogging I am not eating, no carbs or fat there, either.

3. I have found lots of people who are great writers, funny. They give me a chance to remember things things I haven't thought about for a long time; and keep me from having to search Utube on my own for a laugh, thus more time for blogging.

4. Bestest Blog of All-Time's Carnivals, It's what got me started. Also Bestest Blogs, random button.It saves me time and that is where I found most of my favorite links. .The blogs on Bloggers random button make you have to sift thru other blogs that can be offensive to my delicate sensibilities ;>0, some are in languages that I do not understand and some are just plain wierd. I find the links on BB just diverse enough.

5. Most important it my kids like it. DD1 says it keeps her updated between phone calls. I am not sure what DD2 thinks as she never comes out of her room when I am home. T that statement will probably tell me whether she is reading or not, the computer is in the family room.

Wordless Wednesday #1

BABY HUEY

Does anyone else name their cars? This has been something we have been doing for the last, almost 40 years. Apparently this was something Mr.Bankerchick and his dad often did. Even my first car a ’54 Ford was, not so lovingly, called the Green Monster!

We started this tradition together, in our early married years, when we bought our first of many sports cars. We got a brand new ’69 yellow, Datsun 1600 roadster. When we were driving it home, it started to overheat, so we parked it in the drive way and called my cousin (who was the service manager at the dealership) to rant about our brand new car that didn't work! He came and looked it over, yes it seemed to have water in the radiator., hmmm…he took a hose and put it in the radiator, low and behold it had a bubble and just needed to be burped, like a baby. Hmmm…yellow like a duck…Baby Huey! The name stuck, everyone in the family called it Baby Huey. It was an appropriate moniker, as he was very yellow and had a black convertible top. We drove that car for 5 years when DH had to be sensible and so retired it (sold it to my cousin) when babies came along.
Mr. Bankerchick worked over the years for Toyota , Hyundai, Isuzu, and GM and we had our share of company cars and employee lease cars and we never named them. It was only when we started buying cars for me and the kids that a new or used car was bestowed a name. I use to drive some of the older cars listed in the kids pictures below. I also drove a wonderful Isuzu pickup named Big Blue. Then Mr Bankerchick drove it when I got the aptly named Miss Tiffany. Last year we traded Big Blue for Ruby Big Rig.

The biggest problem is now that we have names for our cars, we find that we have anthropomorphized transportation units. We have been heard talking to them like we expect an answer. "How to you feel today Miss Tiffany?" "Is the load too heavy for you Ruby?" etc.

The girls have continued with the tradition, although SIL calls my DD1 car by name, he does not appear to name his own transportation. We will have to work on that! DD1 calls it SallieMae as this Scion was all she can afford to drive while she is paying off law school debt
During high school, college, and pre-SallieMae days, she drove BB and Big Red and a beat-up unnamed, (at least not spoken out loud in polite company) '74 VW Bug. That '88 Toyota helped my brother remodel his kitchen this year and it is still running.
DD2 drives a New Beetle and I'll bet you can guess why she calls it Cricket. She also talks to and about Cricket. She is rather fond of VW's and her first V-Dub was a cabriolet named of course Princess Cabrio-Leia. Ah..... Star Wars babies. It had taken it's previous owner thru college, DD2 drove it thru college and my niece drove it for one year of college before the Princess finally was dethroned!
We have one more car that my husband has dreamed about for years, he bought it about 2 years ago and finally brought it home from the beauty shop fully restored, (I think) His 1954 MGTF. The tradition continues and we present: The Dutchess! Glamour Shots to come!

Just Some Thoughts About My Week So Far.....

TEDS
My doctor recommended these for the swelling in my foot while the bone is healing. Ugh. they only had them in white at the first drug store, so while I am searching for black or nude I will use the support knee highs I already have. The search continues.......

I have had my blog reading curtailed on my lunch hour at work unless I want to use the community one in the lunch room. I don't! Too many inappropriate web sites and e-mails they warned. Not me, honest! I don't want to be on the list if it doesn't stop so, I am going cold turkey!
My husband's mistress has come home to roost. The Dutchess is now sitting pretty in the garage. He has waited a year to get her back from the beauty shop!
I found this in someone elses blog and this little Irish girl is so cute. Have a listen. The demolition company one is a Hoot.
Ok, I gotta go read.......

Bestest Blog of All-Time Valentine Carnival

Below is my submission for Cathy's Rants and Ramblins Valentine Carnival. It was fun remembering!

Valentines From the Heart ....Great Memories

We don't really celebrate Valentine's Day around here. My truly Darling Husband has, since DD1 and DD2 became adults, decided he did not care to have flower, candy, and greeting card idustrial complexes, decide when to tell him how to say, I Love You. He does however, surprise and delight at other times of the year or even just for no reason at all. He is the romantic of the family. We quit giving to the girls when we realized that it could be construed as a pity valentine or if they had someone else to be their valentine.

However, when I was a child Valentine's Day was always fun. We brought our boxes to school and decorated them with paper doilies, red paper hearts and glitter and lots of Library paste that tasted sort of good. This was in the lower grades when everyone had to give a card to everyone in the class. Even back in the nostalgic 50's, it stopped at the pre- junior high grades when kids could start being very cruel. (Then see what a downer that day can bring)

Anyway..... My lasting memories of Valentine's day come during those pre-junior high days in the 1950's. When my cousin's grandfather came to live with her, he was not my actual grandad, but he was My Grandpa Stoner to me too. He was very old, born in the 1880's or 90's and had or did suffer from tuberculosis. Though I didn't know much about the disease then, he had a hunch and had been a tall man, at least 6 feet and he had snow white hair. He seemed to me the kindest man in the world and since he was bent over, to my child's eye he seemed to be talking or listening just to me. Once a year, he took us to downtown Los Angeles, on the bus, to the most beautiful theaters to see, usually a Disney film, and eat lunch at the fantastic, to us, Clifton's Cafeteria. What a great adventure!

On Valentine's Day, he always gave us the most beautiful boxed Valentine our child's eyes had ever seen. They were big like a book and had beautiful lace and sparkles and a satin sachet heart on the front that said To My Valentine, in glitter. Inside was the appropriate verse just to me, and the most beautiful signature I had ever seen, graceful and large, Love, Grandfather Stoner. I still have one packed away, all yellowed and the scent long gone, however everytime I run across it I remember that long ago time and the sweet man who was...My Grandpa too.

Last Weekend

Because I had been house bound for many weekends, last Saturday we checked out Pechanga Casino in Temecula for the day. It is only about 90 minutes away and we had never been.
It was ok, neither of us are big gamblers. DH couldn't find a poker machine that wasn't homesteaded by gamers. So he was not excited. I sat down at a Video nickle slot and tried to figure out how to play. You don't just sit down, put a nickle in and Pull anymore. I couldn't figure out the play but I did determine that hearts (and these were valentine type of hearts) were important! I slipped in a $5.00 bill picked how many lines and how many nickles I wanted to play and pushed spin. It just kept spinning and sprinkling hearts all over the screen. The lady next to me said it had to do with free spins that I was getting every time. I then just watched it pile up credits and make music and SPIN. When it finally stopped about 5-10 minutes later I figured that I ought to see what all the fuss was about and cash out. Was I surprised to find it was $414.50!
Wow that was easy.....sooo I put the receipt away safely and put in another $5, pressed all the appropriate buttons again, then again, then again....and POOF the fiver was gone. So I got up and I was gone. I found my husband, cashed in the receipt and we left. Stayed about 2 hours.

So despite the rain forcast, I am taking my $400 this weekend and staying at the Historic Mission Inn in Riverside for a Valentine weekend with my Valentine. I will have more to say after our stay and tour and dinner and brunch. TripAdvisor guests give it high marks.

Since DH retired, he has become a great house husband. I just started letting him do the laundry. Let is the appropriate word here as that was the one household task I didn't want him to do. He finally convinced me and is doing a great job (after sorting and drying instructions) so now our week ends are free for fun and games especially now that I get around easier. The last weekend we tried to get away, I broke my foot, so we are going to stay put in the Hotel, there seems to be lots to do. I can't wait!

Reflections

I am busy working on my Valentine Carnival post at Cathy's Rants and Ramblin's, so I have not had time to think about a post for today. Maybe more later......

It is now later.........

I had no Idea! I am amazed....Elvis Costello what a talent!.

I have a new favorite listen for my commute to work. I listen to accuradio.com while at work and I found this on their Classic Crossover station, and I had to have it. My exposure to Elvis Costello has been minimal, he is on my Roy Orbison: A Black and White Night. and that is it. This is Anne Sophie von Otter jazzy blues venture into Pop and her voice is sublime!

Where Am I Going With This?

I actually started this blog as a way to participate in Cathy's challenge. I found her site when I was clicking on Next Blog, and I became hooked on her and her list of reads, then their lists of reads, so as my list expands you and I will find that I have a lot of different interests.

Because I am following Dr A blog, I am learning that internet blogs can be difficult so I will probably not write:

1. Much about my Job: I work in a highly regulated business, bound most especially, by privacy of clients and employees, I have been in the business for over 20 years and I know the rules, besides the age group of people I train probably all blog and might run across my site. I have my places to vent when all is not rosy. Right now I love my job and with 3 years to retirement I would not like to lose it. No one at work knows I blog and I hope it stays that way, I must admit as the work place becomes younger and my pals retire I don't have a lot of folks around with whom I would share.

2. Anything too negative or at the expense of my kids or husband. They know about this spot, so I will see where their limits are. DH took slight offense at some literary license I took in a post, so I have to take care and speak only the truth (as I see it). They all deserve their dignity and their privacy. I will probably take exception to this once I have grandchildren.

So what will I write about? My pets, my travel, my life so far, maybe some rants on where the republicans and democrats are taking us. As a citizen I don't think much about where we are going as a country. Comment on anything in general. I will be mostly PG 14 and I will start commenting on the blogs I love to read. Also participating in the writing challenges etc. even if I don't get tagged. Also since I have started to write again I will try to figure the techy part of this blogging business. You will note that I have figured out links. Woo Hoo!

Global Warming and Odd Smells

I guess it is warm in England right now and the corpse flower is in bloom. The Huntington Library has one of these as well and its gardens are well worth the risk of its flower possibly in bloom.
I thought last night the plant was blooming somewhere in my kitchen so I went on a hunt. We have had a mouse for several weeks that has been feasting on the traps but has remained un-caught and in the last week we have seen no bits around the stove. I am hoping that he went to the great beyond without our help and has vacated the kitchen for a slow death in the walls because I just can't find what is smelling in the kitchen.

I am back!

I am going to go for a new start in 2007. I got sidelined Dec 22, when I managed to break my ankle and my foot. Sure did mess up my holiday and my vacation. DH and decided to go to UCLA's Royce Hall to see Slava's Snow Show, a great troup of Russian Clowns, and had a wonderful time. We had been visiting with the kids and made a mini-break out of it. Got a hotel room so we did not have to drive all the way home that night. Crossing the street on our way to dinner I fell into a messy pothole and went down and heard a snap.Spent the better part of the night in the emergency room. Spent a very unromantic night at the hotel, (I did have vicodin) eating a Jack in the Box Salad. I spent the next 4 weeks in a cast and not getting my kiitchen painted, as I had planned.I went back to work, I have a mostly sitting job. But the last few weeks have been a pain. I start out well in the morning but as the day goes on I have to prop my foot up use ice and take some advil. It makes me grumpy and I am ready for bed by the time I walk in the door.Christmas Day was swell. I had a few presents that I had ordered online but nothing else. So we decided not to do Christmas Day, we celebrated Christmas Eve with my brother and his family and went home early.On Jan 7 we celebrated Orthodox Cristmas with the kids in Santa Barbara, after DH pushed me around the mall in a wheel chair. I got to take advantage of the sales. That weekend was the only high spot of a less that Happy Holiday. I made the promise that I would start the Blog again, and I have been reading some favorites, but I just didn't feel like commenting. So I am going to get this site set up with links and stuff and come back to the community.