#65 - Can You Read This?

Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on !!

#64 - Defective

Defective Nice robot animation, but can you spot the mistake.

#63 - And Now For Something Completely Different

I just love this!

ENJOY!

#62 - Get the Skinny on Your Zip

Are you curious about your neighbors?

Do you want to know the average income for your zip code?

How educated is your community?

Get a satellite view of your home...

Get the "skinny" and much more at:


ZIPskinny - Get the Skinny on that ZIP (demographics by ZIP Code)

ENJOY!

from BUFFALO GAL

#61 - Welcome to Free TV Online... Anytime

Here is an absolutely terrific new website :

Fancast - Fancast: Find and watch TV Shows, Movies, Videos, Celebrity News, and Gossip

The selection is varied and there should be something for everyone.

Check it out and ENJOY!




From Buffalo Gal

#60 - Time to Roll Out the Excuses

HEY!

It's January 2nd!

And never too soon to start cashing in on the best of the best excuses for not paying 2007 taxes!

Check out these doozies from:

THE MOTHER OF ALL EXCUSES (Taxes)

FROM: BUFFALO GAL

# 59 - Do You Know How to Get to...

Buffalo Gals can find the nearest conevnient food mart in a blinding blizzard but, do we know how to find Istanbul?

YOU BET!

Practice your geography wizardry with this great new website:

This Traveler IQ
challenge is brought to you by the Web's Original Travel Blog

ENJOY!

FROM BUFFALO GAL

#58 - Dalai Lama Paper Dolls

Now you can play dress up with the Dalai Lama!
(I am not kidding.)

ENJOY!

FROM BUFFALO GAL


More details available here:

Welcome to Dover Publications

#57 - Weird Al on Japanese Telvision

Found this old clip, and thought it was hilarious.

ENJOY!

Weird Al performing Eat It in Japan
Funny Jokes at JibJab

#56 - This is Unbelievable: Talking Cats

Okay, okay...

Most of us Buffalo Gals love our pets.

You need something to get your through the long cold winters around here...

but these video clips beat the cake.

Take a peek and ENJOY!

Talking Cats
Funny Jokes at JibJab

#55 - STRAY CATS

copyright 2006, Loretta Kelly

Available at for purchase at:

Featured Product Stray Cats Tote Bag
$13.99

#54 - PORTRAIT

Just found this.

This portrait is one of my earliest that was painted for an online friend in honor of the birth of her grandchild.

#53 - NASA, Duct Tape and Nervous Breakdowns

Just when you thought that space travel was getting safer...

NASA has developed a contingency plan in case an orbitting astronaut has an emotional breakdown in space:

The Smoking Gun: Lost It In Space - February 23, 2007

In true engineers can fix anything with duct tape bravado, fellow astronauts are instructed to use the almighty duct tape with a Haldol chaser.

#52 - And It Only Gets Worse From Here

So Suzanne Vegas had a sellout.

Her music is scoring a pharmaceutical commercial.

I have sated myself with Ginger Snaps, washed down with moo juice chaser.

I am settled back into my chair...

all nice and ready for some more Twilight Zone Marathon and...

It gets worse.

Yes, really bad worse.

Burger King has a new commercial.

And if the guy with the big scary headed costume who claims to be the real "Burger King" is not scary enough...

Now.

Oh, now...

Exceuse me while a shudder...

The Burger King has kidnapped the feminism anthem of the 1970's

Yes.

I Am Woman has been reqorded to I Am Man.

Not just any man, but meat chompin, ashamed to admit tasting quiche, harumphing Wisconsin cheese butt men.

Singing about their manly urges to spit out tofu and eat the Whopper.

All to the tune of I AM WOMAN.

Here's what I have to say to you... you testosterone laden creepy looking Burger King:

I AM WOMAN... Hear me wretch.

Welcome to 2007 folks.

Can it get much worse?

#51 - Suzanne Vega Sellout

Okay, okay...

You get to be my age and you get all jaded and stuff, thinking you have seen (and heard) everything.

That is until a few moments ago.

I am watching television on a quiet New Year's Day... waiting for the next episode of Twilight Zone when I hear the haunting beautiful orchestration of Suzanne Vega...

as the backdrop for a pharmaceutical company advertising blood pressure medicine!

Sellout!

Sellout!

Well, now...

I am so upset I think I am going to blow New Year's Resolution #1 and whip out that unopened package of cookies right now.

Blood pressure medicine indeed!

Feh.

Pass the milk.

#50 - Buffalo Guys & Gals at Work

Well, the storm of 2006 saga continues here at the Cozy Cottage.

Jerry and Little Bear have been on the road for almost two hours now looking for any place that still has some bottled water in stock.

Nothing so far. Jerry headed south about an hour ago and let's keep our fingers crossed.

In the meantime I continue to boil, boil, double, triple boil and then nuke the stuff.

Elderly aunt and in-laws are going to move into a hotel for awhile.
I think our little space is just too little for them so they are opting for the luxury of running water, with no pets and hyper cabin fevered seven year olds to deal with.

My 81 year old mother is on the ground floor of her eight story apartment complex policing the laundry rooms and scolding the "water hogs" who are actually doing laundry during a water ban.

Yep.

That's my mom.

She grew up through a Great Depression, WWII (that ended the life of her only brother), raising a kerjillion kids and more hurdles than anyone can imagine...

and not one complaint out of her.

I think she slipped into Civil Defense mode with the laundry room today.

I keep offering to have us stop by with supplies or whatever she needs and she gets annoyed.

"I can walk, can't I? I'll go to the market myself if I need something."

Sister Peg got her fireplace going with those duralog thingies, they bought a generator in Pennsylvania last night, and I think they found the basement floor.

Other sis still without electric, and doing the boiling water gig too. Tons of downed tree junk on their property and my nephew (who is a volunteer firefighter) is comatose right now after working himself into exhaustion with all of the emergency calls.

Yet the other sis, who is a medical professional, is back on call and darting to the hospital to help out on her day off.
This is why people hang around Buffalo.

Our economy stinks, our weather leaves something to be desired several months out of the year, but we stay put because of family.
And good neighbors.

Last time we had a major chunk of tree falling down weather, Hubby and I lost three giant trees simultaneously on our property.

Our neighbors were over to our house with their chainsaws before we even knew the trees had fallen down.

A few weeks ago, our community looked terrible on the headline news during the Ralph "bucky" Phillips manhunt. (We live about 15 minutes from where the chase was going on). And, of course, there were a bunch of yahoos helping Bucky hideout and griping about the State Troopers tying up traffic and what not.

They're a very small group in this area...

and they got all the press because well, heck I don't know why...

because they were behaving like dingalings.

The national news failed to mention that people were baking and bringing fresh hot meals to the troopers at their main headquarters during that manhunt.

And during this storm, some good neighbors cooked hot chicken and brought it over to our elderly aunt...

after snow ploughing three feet of snow from her front door.

In the city of Buffalo, good neighbors are hiking to the markets to buy groceries for elderly and shut ins, checking to make sure everyone is okay.

And there are relief stations with hot food cooked by volunteers.
One of our major shopping malls is shut down for business and is being used as headquarters for all the electricity guys coming in as far away as from Boston.

They are handing out free supplies to people in the community who are going to be without power for a long stretch of time.
Reports are now saying maybe next weekend.

My husband gets a call this morning to get the trauma counselors out and about. His agency provides such services...

they were there for 9-11, Katrina and Rita.

The problem this time is that the trauma counselors are trapped in the middle of the mess, but other folks step up to bat.

And that's why folks stay put in Buffalo.

When Katrina hit last autumn, the hospital my sister works for emptied out a whole floor to take in Katrina survivors. Our city was ready, set to go immediately with emergency teams and such. There was disappointment all around when FEMA and the powers that be did not accept our city's offers to help.

Same with September 11th, our volunteer firefighters, paramedics and mental health counselors were there promptly.
Buffalonians come across as gruff, probably a bit backwards, blue collared, and not too warm fuzzy.

But, we get the job done.

#49 - Friday the 13th in Buffalo (originally posted MySpace 10/14/06)

So it snowed last night.

YES!

S-n-o-w-e-d.

And being a Buffalo gal I was rather blase' about the whole thing.

Unlike my southern born Honey.

He's bantering on about a snowstorm!

A snowstorm!

Yes, right... okay sweety... calm down.

We sit down to watch the late night news, and all local reports are going on about a massive power outage and trees falling and ice and snow and...

I say the bad luck thing you should never say 15 minutes before the clock strikes midnight to Friday the 13th:

"Good thing we still have power."

We hear a clunk and immediately are thrown into toal darkness.

TOTAL can't see your hands in front of your eyes darkness.

poop.

Light some candles and realize that this is going to be a bad one.
First of all it is freezing cold outside and without electricity we have NO HEAT!

And no SNORE MACHINE for Hubby who saws the wood at night like a lumberjack.

I state that I am taking the futon you go sleep in the other end of the Cozy Cottage.

Several candle trips, flashlight checks, goodnight honeys, and many quilts...

I tuck in on the futon surrounded by the kitties and Tilly the Wonder dog.

Tilly?

She only snuggles up like this during a thunderstorm...

and then BLITZ!

Bright blue flashes outside.

Snow lightening.

Trust me it is a sight to see...

especially out here in Cozy Cottage ville where there is no ground light.

So I sleep for a few hours.

Power comes on, power goes off again.

But, no complaints here.

My guys got to stay home.

We had a stuffed animal throwing contest. The best ever.

Little Bear built a fort under the dining room table and all was good here.

A ton of time spent on the phone making sure family members are tended to.

We are the only ones with power we discover.

So I relay the news reports to everyone else and we try to figure out how to get our elderly aunt out of her northern Buffalo home with all the travel bans in force.

My sister, Peg (who also happens to have lupus) is bailing out her basement as it floods. All the trees on her property are no more. She refuses to stay with us... insists on bailing without our help.
Tough gal she is.

:)

Other sis is doing okay.

Trees crashed into her front porch, but she's a Buffalo Gal too...

you take these things in stride. No heat, but plenty of doggies and feeling confident about no heat for the night.

Another sister MIA. No power, no phone. Her cell phone service is out and so is her MEDICAL pager service. She should be fine. Her household is good with weather crisis.

My elderly Mom whose retirement apartments get priority got power by this evening while my elderly in-laws have a possibly live power line lying across the driveway.

But, more news comes rolling in...

WATER EMERGENCY.

I have been chugging tall glasses of tap water all afternoon.

Should have watched the news.

We now have to boil the dink out of the water and conserve.

Latest news report is that we probably won't have water for much longer.

Water shortages have started as there is no power to pump the stuff.

My mom has no water now, and here it is a little after midnight, and I am boiling what water is left.

HAPPY FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH.

We're fortunate, because we have electricity.

Over 380,000 folks in our area are doing without.

We watch the news and see one of our Buffalo theater cronies and his wife hanging out at a local shelter. Good old Les, figures he would nab a photo op out of this mess!

Aieeya!

We probably will have houseguests by tomorrow.

We are hearing that there will be no power in some areas until next week.

Well, then...

life is never dull around here.

And I'm off to boil more water.

Hope I got enough cookies stashed around here to keep Winga out of our hair.

#48 - My Birthday Thus Far

When I was young I never really thought much about life in my 40's.

I had some vague notions of being a published author and living a cozy life with a Hubby and child to dote over.

But, you know... never put a heck of a lot of thought into it.

I am 44 today.

A palindrome year.

And now I am officially older than my best gal pal, Ellen. She died last autumn of ovarian cancer.
I miss her everyday. Sometimes I cry, sometimes I laugh, and every now and then I still scold her.

Like today.

She was always supposed to be the one who was a few months older than me.

Damn it, Ellen.

I think a lot about her right now. We hit the one year anniversary of her dying...

and when someone that close to you dies...

trust me the shock doesn't even begin to wear off until the first anniversary bounces on by.

I keep thinking of picking up the phone to chat with her.

Heck, I even miss our bickering.

It's her fault that I'm blogging.

She would not stop pestering me about it.

"Have you read my blog?"

"Did you start Winga's blog?"

"Blog?Blog? Blog?"

So I did start a blog just to get her to shut up about it...

and well, she had cancer..

you do things less grudgingly when someone you love has cancer.

So everytime I blog away...

I feel closer to her.

And in honor of Ellen's free spirited ways...

I had Oreo cookies and coffee for breakfast.

Mom came by...

in time to catch me with Oreo crumbs all over my face, in my mismatched fuzzy clothes with the kitty socks, watching reruns on television.

She brought me flowers and sweets.

I swear I am going to put myself into a diabetic coma!

She kept telling me not to tell her how old I am.

I am the "Baby" of 7 girls.

So I make everyone feel old.

Must have slipped because I told my 81 year old mother this morning that I am now 44.

"I'm so sorry Mom... so sorry about that."

My Mom is tough.

She can take it.

She is my hero.

After that visit, I danced around the kitchen singing to myself and have been playing on the computer ever since.


Rather liberating it is.

Oh!

I got TWO letters from our sponsor child today!

He lives in Thailand and I just love hearing from him.

The post is screwy though. It takes months to send a letter to him and hear back again.
The poor kid was sick and in hospital in July. I wish I had known!

He wants us to come visit his village and his family.

And we so want to go.

Damn.

I need to get rid of this stinking lupus. I'm not even supposed to be around people, let alone leave the country.

(The drugs knock out my immune system).

Blah. Blah. Blah.

Whiner rama bama.

Heck... I'm old.

I get to do what I want.

What I REALLY want is to feel good enough for the next few hours to have fun with Little Bear and Hubby.

They have a ton of little packages wrapped for me, they ordered a cake (MORE SUGAR!) and I know Little Bear is going to be running around the Cozy Cottage today doing his version of decorating.

Well, the bus should be pulling up in just a moment.

Gotta go!

Oh!

postscript:

If you can afford $25 a month... please consider sponsoring a child. The need is intense and they actually do an incredible job with your support.

Christian Children's Fund

#47 - My First Middle-Aged Dream

Okay...

I think I am officially middle-aged now.

I dreamt last night that I was a Cub Scout den mother...

in tract housing...

chasing after a mob of screaming kids with Clorox wipes...

and...

baking cookies.

Lord, help me!

#46 - Thoughts on Turning 44

I have more lovely lady lumps than Fergie.

Nyah, Nyah!

Oh... that's just middle aged spread.

Never mind.