Another Way Sister is Like Cebu

She said it, so I can blog it: They are both stubborn as mules.

More ways Winston and I are alike: We do everything big; nothing halfway or half-hearted. We also both prefer to stand on two feet!

Barista Bouquet

Look at the creativity that abounds at Starbucks! This is a bouquet created from straws and coffee stickers by Emily at our favorite Starbucks! Just in time to take to my new office! How cool! Thanks, Emily! And please don't go to Garner's Ferry... You're all we regulars have left!

Lookalikes?

Hint: The MIDDLE one isn't ours...

AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!

Idol Gives Back was a train wreck!

I had it on in the background while I did other stuff so I could see who was voted off, and it turned out to be a scam - no one was voted off last night!

It's enough to quit watching.

American Idol: Give Me Back My Evening

Can anything be so painful as tonight's two hour American Idol "Gives Back" special tonight? Last night was dreadful enough listening to all of those sappy songs!

Now, we have to watch two hours of righteous self promotion? Intolerable, even WITH Bono.

And a Celine Dion/Elvis Presley duo? Yawn! Hasn't Natalie Cole already done that trick with her father? American Idol, wanna give back? Have Prince or Jon Bon Jovi, but Celine Dion! AGH!

Come get me when they announce who is being voted off, which will probably be in the last minute!

Ways We Are Like Our Dogs

Yesterday I promised a post on ways that each of us are like our dogs. Here goes:

Winston and Me: A Match Made In Heaven

• Both impulsive and live for the moment.
• Eat and drink with gusto, always wanting more.
• As Sir Mix-A-Lot sez, "Baby got back!"
• Will pose for ANY camera - anytime, anywhere.
• Wear our hearts on their sleeves. You can always tell what kind of mood we're in, and neither of us can get away with anything - our faces give us away!
• Drink water all night.
• It's all about us.
• Scared of thunderstorms. (But I grew out of it; Winston's still working on it.)
• Always want to ride in the front.
• Ever so slightly obsessive-compulsive.

Sister and Cebu: Separated at Birth?

• Both politely indifferent; you know they love you, but they don't fool with that sappy stuff.
• Food hoarders. When you're long past your last piece of Easter candy, Sister not only still has her entire basket left, she eats it in front of you. Same with Cebu - a bowl of food can last her a week!
• Prefer to stay in the background.
• Both have similar health issues and take lots of me-meds.
• Bark worse than their bite.
• Unruly hair is to unruly fur as bed head is to bed butt.
• Intensely loyal.
• Both love to smell flowers.
• Have been known to stomp their feet if they don't get their way.
• Like their privacy.
• Dry skin.

Exceptions to the Rules

• Sister and Winston both snore. Cebu and I are quiet as church mice.
• Cebu eats grass in large doses. Sister does not.

Now, what have I missed?

Sister Garden, Part Three

I don't know what we're done to deserve such a beautiful rose bush - oh, yes I do, NOTHING - but look at the buds! Gorgeous!

We have two reds about to bloom, too!

A better shot of the yellow iris.

A sweet little bud tucked away. Look hard! It's crazy how much our dogs are like us! Winston is like me - a total ham for the camera! But Cebu, like Sister, couldn't care less about having her picture taken, and in fact, seems to avoid it at all costs. I'll have to do a separate posting about other ways we are each like our dogs!

Sister Quotes

You know you're the older sister when...your curfew was two hours earlier than your younger sister's curfew.

You know you're a good sister when...you understand her when no one else can.

Sisterism: No one can imitate Mom better than Sis can.

You know you're the older sister when...She didn't get grounded for committing the same offenses that got you in trouble.

Found

From Waste Age magazine:

Jason Bitner just seems to attract interesting trash. While working as a sorter at a Chicago recycling facility at the age of 16, he would regularly come across crumbled anonymous notes, torn grocery lists full of strange items and faded love letters, stuffing each into his pocket fro later perusal.

Back then, these brief glimpses into someone else's world were simply a way to pass the time. But eventually, Bitner's interest in the social significance of this material prompted the creation of Found magazine, an underground compilation of letters, notes, drawings and photos that have, either accidentally or deliberately been discarded.

VERY cool; check it out!

What It Looked Like This Morning...

...at the Lawnmower Exchange event.

Some people got in line as early as 7 a.m. for the 10 a.m. event! Hopefully not all of them idled, though! More than 150 lawnmowers were collected for recycling. and 115 lucky people received a voucher for a $199 Neuton mower.

Happy Earth Day Weekend!

This Week's Quotes and More

"Lipstick is power." Barbara Follett


"There's something liberating about not pretending. Dare to embarrass yourself. Risk." Drew Barrymore


"Be Bold. Be Bold, and everywhere Be Bold." Herbert Spencer



You know, even if no one is reading this blog, I've decided it's a great way to scrapbook and beats the heck outta cutting and pasting down in the studio.

A quick shout out to my friend, Christian, and his wife who are expecting baby number 2 this Fall. Chris has become quite domestic since his rebellious days here in Cola Town in the early 90s. If you're reading, Christian, thanks for the call this morning. It was great chatting with you. Let's do so more often, even if just via e-mail.

Today was my first day without meetings and presentations all week, and the enormity of leaving KMB after nine years hit me front and center. I'm ready mentally, but I have A LOT to do in the next three weeks. I worked on a list, caught up from the week and decided to worry about it on Monday.

Reading a great book: Too Soon to Say Goodbye, Art Buchwald. I've never read his books, only his columns, and this one is a treat. Even though it's about dying in hospice, it's laugh out loud funny. As I said when he died, his story is quite amazing. It's a quick and easy read; pick it up the next time you're in the library. The part about the kidney stone in the first few chapters is a must read for anyone who's ever had one or loved someone who has. I think Beth has been tempted to create a shrine for a couple of hers!

Sister Gardening, Part Two

"Think of all the beauty that's still eft in and around you and be happy!" Anne Frank

We now have THREE purple irises blooming! Unfortunately, they are a little worse for wear after last night's storms.

Here's a yellow iris by the bird feeder out front, again, a little weathered by the rain.


Our "three season" azaleas. They bloom every season except winter. We bought them VERY small, and in nine years, they've really grown.


Remember the rose bush I mentioned that had 20+ buds? This is it, and the first one is about to open.

These are from our mailbox garden. I've heard them called Sweet Williams and "pinks." They look like baby carnations to me. We have LOADS of them in our mailbox garden.



And here is one of the sweetest blooms in the garden! (The other sweetest bloom was chillin' out in her secret spot and wasn't having any part of picture taking!)

Sister Gardening, Part One

Thanks to Sister, we have the best approach to gardening - hands off. We've planted lots of cool stuff that is really maintenance free, and it comes back year after year with little to no work!

Imagine our surprise when this beautiful iris appeared yesterday! Breathtaking! Someone gave us about a dozen iris bulbs straight from their yard, and Sister planted them and forgot about them. we have three others in the same little garden that are all about to bloom.

Will post more pictures as Spring and Summer progresses. Besides the irises, we're watching a rose bush with more than 20 buds on it right now!

STILL Going Back to My Roots

A gray hair update. It's been at least since January 29 since I've done color. It's really starting to look noticeable, especially in the temples, but not so much in this picture!

And it may look okay from up above, but it was a bad hair day! We took a Carolina Recycling Association tour of Amcor, a company in Blythewood that makes #1 plastic bottles, and we had to wear hair nets! (I guess so we wouldn't get hair in the plastic?!) Yep, too bad I didn't have the camera THEN!

Amcor was VERY cool - they make two BILLION soda and water bottles each year - up to 7 million a day.

This Ain't No Forest Acres Bunny!

Check out Herman the Bunny. This is REAL!

You know how we take Winnie and Cebu on Forest Acres "bunny hunts?" If they saw this, they'd never be the same.

Our evening bunny hunts are slowly picking up. The two bunnies at the end of Reamer Road are back this year; that's the one regular spot for now. One day last week, we saw those two plus two others. The best time seems to be between 7:30-7:45 p.m.

Be on the lookout, and send us any bunny sightings!

Happy Tax Day

This Just In!

And you Blog readers get it first!

I've just accepted the position of Recycling Coordinator for Lexington County, effective May 14.

More later - I'm on the way out the door to the Y.

"Painting the Office Butter Cookie"

As promised, pictures from our adventure painting Sister's office.

Of course, we had to start the morning with Starbucks!



Beth checking out paints at Sherwin Williams. Thankfully, she'd already chosen a color and Sherwin Williams just matched it, but we HAD to look. As you read in Saturday's post, I LOVED the pinks, but Beth was actually looking at a beige here. BTW, after nightmare experiences at places that sell paint AND other stuff, including Sear's, I recommend that you go to a PAINT STORE for your paint.

Beth's office before. It's hard to describe the shade, but it was a grayish-white that looked like it had lived a hard life. If I were having to name it, I would call it "Rode Hard and Put Up Wet White."

It's me, standing on top of the desk, stripping the walls. I did a GREAT job removing pictures and spackling the holes. Notice the mod hammer Sister gave me to use! Despite the fact that there areno other pictures of me working, I DID help.

Sister gettin' busy! Somewhere along the way, we realized we needed a ladder and called out for reinforcements (and lunch), but she wasn't going to waste any time!

Beth, sitting on top of a bookcase, again throwing to the wind any notion of needing a ladder!


Although she may be having second thoughts...

Look in the dictionary under "improvise," and you will see this picture. Beth stood on the door knob while I moved her back and forth. The look on her face is one of exasperation that I get quite often; I was taking too long to get the picture and she was about to fall off.

Sister's office after. Butter Cookie. The pictures don't show a huge difference, but it really was a huge improvement. It was cleaner, brighter and just had a better mood!

Sister's best "We Can Do It" pose. Wait. No. She's just showing off after her collision with the wet wall!

And the best news is that I DIDN'T really break out (not yet, anyway), thanks to the preventative Prednisone pills. My face started to burn before we left on Saturday, and I did get a bump or two, but NOTHING compared to previous bouts. (Knock on wood and pass the Prednisone!)

Mary Pink, Checking In

Y'all are in for a treat! I know it's been a while since you've seen a Sister Act adventure, but I'll be posting one soon. Today, we are painting Sister's office! In fact, we're right in the middle of doing it now, but I'm taknig a computer break. Stay tuned for some great before and after pictures, as well as some great ones of Sister's acrobatic painting.

The paint pictured on the roller isn't the actual color we used; Sister chose "Butter Cookie." But while she was browsing, I found the most fabulously named shades of pink, including: Hot, Fussy Pink (ooh, I had to be careful with my typing on THAT one), Desire, Impatient, Dragon Fruit, Pink Moment, and my personal favorite, Merry Pink! BTW, I think I may adopt "Merry Pink" as my new nickname! Wouldn't you LOVE to be the person who gets to name paint colors for a living? Oooh, or better yet, lipsticks or nail polishes?

For those of you who've been with the blog for a while, you know that I have issues with paint and should see the start of a BE-YOO-tiful rash on my face by the end of the night. I'm already experiencing mild burning around my lips. But I consulted with Doc Word long before we pulled out the paint and started taking a steroid this morning.

Scary!

And there are more!

Mow Down Pollution and Watch Me on TV Tonight

From this morning's news conference at DHEC on the Lawnmower Exchange coming up on April 21. WIS-TV interviewed me, so be sure to watch tonight. You can read about it on WIS-TV's Web site, and I think the story is even posted on their video headlines! Click here for more details on the event! It's a great deal - you can get a $400+ mower for $199 by trading in your old one. And if your old one if like my old one, THAT'S a real deal!

Leave It to Congress

(NBC) The earlier start to daylight saving time this year may not of had as big of an impact as expected. This year daylight saving time was moved up to March 11th instead of April to help save energy in the evenings. However, there has been very little impact on power usage because more energy is being consumed in the morning. Congress is still examining the impact of the change.

Sister Act Editorial Note: No @#$%, Sherlock. All of that Outlook chaos for nothing. I'm STILL showing up late for appointments. When is Congress going to get a clue? (Yes, Sister, it's official - I'm an old white man! But at least I'm not an old white man in CONGRESS!)

Getting Your Ready for Sunday!

Take the Easter candy quiz! I got six out of ten right - I even missed a Peeps question! Happy Easter for those of you I don't talk to before Sunday!

April 5 Calendar Quote, A Day Early

"There are no good girls gone wrong, just bad girls found out." Mae West