** Quit Treating Me Like An Old Lady!! **

In my newspaper column this week, I wrote about the good and bad things regarding aging. I have one real pet-peeve and it seems to happen a lot lately. It concerns young (and some not-so-young) waitresses calling me "Hon" or "Dear" when asking for my order. I really do not like that!!! It even happened once when I was the youngest one at the table....not by many years, but still....I was the youngest.....and I was the only one referred to that way!

Yesterday, while Tammy and I were at lunch and chatting about all kinds of subjects, we talked about this same issue. She is about 10 years younger than me, but still is feeling the "age thing" beginning to bother her.

I said we should come up with a response for when we are called "hon" or "dear". Suddenly, out of the blue, the following retort came to my mind:
"Uh, excuse me, but I don't care for that name. Would you please call me hot stuff"?
We both busted out laughing and giggling until we had tears rolling down our cheeks, pain in our stomachs and I was doing my "laughing-snort"! Thank goodness the restaurant was fairly empty and we didn't seem to be getting any strange stares.

If anyone did look our way, they probably thought: "Look at those 2 older ladies acting like teenagers! How embarrassing and weird is that?! Geez!"

** I've Lost Count..... of many things....**

The answer is: 9 or 10: Number of days in a row that we've had 90+ degree temperatures.


The answer is: 7 or 8: Number of days since I've been able to go out for my neighborhood walk. (due to the high temperatures, plus very high humidity.)


The answer is: 3: Number of hours I've been up and I'm so lethargic, I'm still in my jammies.

The answer is: 60: Number of minutes until I'm meeting my friend, Tammy, for lunch at one of our favorite places.....Bread Co. !!

The answer is: ZERO: Number of minutes I have left to waste!

Hello Sunshine! Hello blue skies! Hello friendships! Hello joy and happiness! Hello gift of life!

My 15 Minutes of fame goes on, and on, and..

About 13 years ago, I was listening to a local radio station, when the DJ asked listeners to call in with some of their favorite St. Louis Cardinal baseball memories. My phone call was answered and all of a sudden, I was talking on the radio! I mentioned being a fan since Stan Musial days....yes, I was a mere child back then!.....and how my (then 9 year old) son Mark, and I were the big baseball fans in our house, watching games on TV, etc. The next thing I knew I had won 2 tickets -- for Mark and me --to that night's Play Off game against the Atlanta Braves! They were great seats, too....about the 8th row back, right along the first base line.


Not only was I on the radio, but a local TV station's reporter and camerman showed up at the radio station when I went there to pick up the tickets.....THEN they went to Mark's grade school and did a little piece there! Mark said about 2 words....."yeah" and "yeah"!

In the past couple of weeks, I've had 2 male friends tell me they heard me on the radio again, because that same DJ was celebrating his 25 years on St. Louis FM radio, and played all his favorites bits.

The only unhappy, unfortunate, and heartbreaking thing about the entire day, afternoon and evening was the fact that the Cardinals LOST, with a score of something like 14 - O!!!

Well, you win some and you lose some.....

Thanks for the memories........again...JC!!

~~ We're Having a Heat Wave ~~

We're having a heat wave ~~~~ a tropical heat wave!! ~~~

We've already had a few days of 90+ degrees here in the St. Louis area. I just checked The Weather Channel's website: www.weather.com and the prediction is for about 10 more days of the same.

Well....it IS summertime, isn't it??

Father's Day - June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day to my husband, Ron! You are one of those wonderful dads...the ones who actually are fathers to their children! .....and you're a pretty good husband, too! :-)

We had a fabulous day on R & M's boat!! Great people, food, fun....what could be better?!

** I'm Doing the Writer's-Happy-Dance **

Wooooo-hoooooo! I received a wonderful e-mail last night concerning a story I'm working on. It was from the book publisher and she likes it! She likes it! (remember the old Life cereal commercials....."Give some to Mikie. He doesn't like anything! .......Mikie takes a bite or two, then more...and the kids yell, "He likes it. He likes it!"....I know, I'm showing my age again. Oh well, why not? I'm proud of my age!!)

HOT & HUMID - LET'S HELP OTHERS

Two days ago I wrote about all the rain we've had, and how badly I need sunshine, and that I wouldn't complain about the heat & humidity.......well.....We have a "Heat Advisory" today! The following is from http://www.weather.com/

"THE HOTTEST WEATHER SO FAR THIS SUMMER IS EXPECTED TODAY ACROSS EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. HIGHS IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S COMBINED WITH VERY HUMID AIR WILL PRODUCE AFTERNOON HEAT INDEX VALUES AROUND 105 DEGREES."

I realize these temperatures and humidity levels may be normal for some people, or unthinkable for others, but here in my part of the world it's pretty normal to experience, at least a few days every summer.

I will do my best not to complain.....which should be pretty easy since most of the time I'm so very fortunate to be surrounded by air conditioning. Anyone interested in helping people withstand the heat, by donating dollars and/or air conditioners, a couple of suggested sites are below.

If you don't live near the St. Louis area, please check out agencies in your part of the world.

http://www.habitatstcharles.org/

http://www.heatupstlouis.org/CoolDown.html

RAGBRAI -- I'M GOIN' TO GREENFIELD JULY 2009

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RAGBRAI is an acronym for:

Register's Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa

It is a non-competitive bicycle ride across Iowa that draws recreational riders from across the United States and overseas.

The 2009 is schedule to start in Council Bluffs and visit the towns of Red Oak, Greenfield, Indianola, Chariton, Ottumwa, Mount Pleasant, and Burlington from July 18 - 25.

**Greenfield, Iowa is home of the Adair County Free Press, owned by the Sidey family since it was founded in 1889 by Edwin J. Sidey. I am honored to write a weekly column for this historic newspaper. **

~~ Note the Greenfield Opera House on the left side of the logo....and the photo I took of the Greenfield Opera House last fall when I was there! It's another historic site. ~~

ONLINE WRITING COURSE

Hey Everyone.....I signed up for Kelly L. Stone's online writing course. I think it will be a great class. I hope more of you will also sign up. It sounds like a fabulous deal for only $25.00. I 've never seen anything online for such a reasonable price!
**Scroll just a little farther down and click on the area to sign up**

Living in "Some-Kind-of-Ville

Yesterday morning I wrote about my Blahs, due to the gloomy weather. But after I arrived at work at 12:30 for my afternoon shift, I was so busy there was no time to think about anything other than chatting with customers and ringing up those sales! We were soooo busy it felt like Christmas time. I loved it! I much rather be over worked, than under worked!

When I arrived home, Ron and I talked about our busy days. Somehow the word Margaritaville popped into our conversation. And that led me to say I had been in BarnesandNobleVille all afternoon......

Well, it was funny at the time. I guess you had to be there......

Online Writing Class, with Kelly L. Stone

Mid-Willamette Valley RWA Presents:

Title: No Matter How Busy You Are, You Can Find TIME TO WRITE!
Instructor: Kelly L. Stone
When: July 1-31, 2009
Cost: $25

For more info or to register go to:
http://www.midwillamettevalleyrwa.com/online.classes.htm