The "How Smart Are You?" Quiz

I was casually scanning my e-mail today when I came across this little quiz that someone had sent me. And, I thought you might just enjoy answering a few questions to test your mental dexterity.

The six questions are deceptively simple. Keep that in mind when answering them.

So, good luck. The answers are at the bottom of this post, so no fair peeking until you complete the quiz.

Let me know how you did.



1. What do you put in a toaster?

2. Say "silk" five times. Now spell "silk". What do cows drink?

3. If a red house is made from red bricks and a blue house is made from blue bricks and a pink house is made from pink bricks and a black house is made from black bricks, what is a greenhouse made from?

4. Twenty years ago, a plane is flying at 20,000 feet over Germany. If you will recall, Germany at the time was politically divided into West Germany and East Germany. Anyway, during the flight, TWO of the engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last remaining engine is also failing, decides on a crash landing procedure. Unfortunately the engine fails before he has time and the plane crashes smack in the middle of "no man's land" between East Germany and West Germany. Where would you bury the survivors - East Germany or West Germany or in "no man's land"?

5. If the hour hand on a clock moves 1/60th of a degree every minute, then how many degrees will the hour hand move in one hour?

6. Without using a calculator - You are driving a bus from London to Milford Haven in Wales. In London, 17 people get on the bus. In Reading, six people get off the bus and nine people get on. In Swindon, two people get off and four get on. In Cardiff, 11 people get off and 16 people get on. In Swansea, three people get off and five people get on. In Carmathen, six people get off and three get on. You then arrive at Milford Haven. What was the name of the bus driver?

ARE YOU READY FOR THE ANSWERS?

1. Answer: Bread. If you said "toast," then give up now and go do something else. Try not to hurt yourself.

2. Answer: Cows drink water. If you said "milk," please do not attempt the next question. Your brain is obviously overstressed and may even overheat. It may be that you need to content yourself with reading something more appropriate such as "Children's World."

3. Answer: Greenhouses are made from glass. If you said "green bricks," what the heck are you still doing here reading these questions?

4. Answer: You don't, of course, bury survivors. If you said ANYTHING else, you are a real dunce and you must NEVER try to rescue anyone from a plane crash. Your efforts would not be appreciated.

5. Answer: One degree. If you said "360 degrees" or anything other than "one degree," you are to be congratulated on getting this far, but you are obviously out of your league. Turn your pencil in and exit the room.

6. Answer: Oh, for heaven sake! It was YOU. Read the first line!!!

So, how did you do?

I think the key to staying young is keeping your outlook positive and your mental capabilities at maximum levels. The fastest way to lose brain cells is to let them stagnate.

A close friend once gave me a counted cross-stitch that says, "Of all the things I ever lost, I miss my mind the most." Hopefully, I won't ever lose my mind.

Three Pictures For February

Franny of Franny's Fables has thrown down the gauntlet and invited all her correspondent blogpals to participate, if they are so inclined, in an unusual meme with no rules. The topic is "Three Pictures For February" and the object is to post three pictures from three previously picked topics and show how they pertain to us. Participants can add a sentence or two to explain how the picture fits with the theme. So, Franny, thanks, and here's my version.

1. The Only Dragon I know

I'm his Number One Fan!

2. A Reason To Return Home

Husband says, "We'd better not be away from home when my team is playing!"

3. The Eighth Wonder of the World

Do you wonder how this ignorant dufus has stayed in office without getting impeached?

So, blogpals, hope you join in this little exercise if you like. It will be interesting to view others' interpretations of the same three topics.

Just one word

Stumpy Grinder and his wife Martha were from Portand, Maine. Every year they went to the Portland Fair and every year Stumpy said, “Ya know, Mahtha. I’d like ta get a ride in that theah aihplane.” And every year, Martha would say, “I know, Stumpy, but that aihplane ride costs ten dollahs . . . and ten dollahs is ten dollahs.”

So one year Stumpy says, “By Jeebers, Mahtha, I’m 71 yeahs old, and if I don’t go this time, I may nevah go.” Martha replies, “Stumpy, that there aihplane ride is ten dollahs . . . and ten dollahs is ten dollahs.”

The pilot overhears them and says, “Folks, I’ll make you a deal. I’ll take you both up for a ride. If you can stay quiet for the entire ride and not say ONE WORD, then I won’t charge you. But, just ONE WORD and it’s ten dollars.”

They agreed and up they go. The pilot does all kinds of twists and turns, rolls and dives, but not a word is heard. He does it one more time, and there is still no word. So, he lands. He turns to Stumpy as they come to a stop and says, “By golly, I did everything I could think of to get you to holler out, but you didn’t.”

And, Stumpy replies, “Well, I was gonna say something when Mahtha fell out . . . but, ten dollahs is ten dollahs.”

This little joke just begged me to define, in one word, what marriage is all about. So, I thought and thought, and came up with a choice word or two about the subject.

There are some who might say that marriage is all about love, or money, or sex, or convenience, or friendship, or even accumulating. There are also some who say their marriage was arranged. Many didn't want to be lonely. There are those who found spouses at match-em-up.com. A lot got hitched because of a baby. Some even got married because of a shotgun. In my generation, a girl's biggest ambition (according to her high school or college yearbook) was to find a husband, get married, settle down, have babies, and be a good housewife (complete with pearls, high heels, and a frilly apron).

Today, men and women get married for some or all of these reasons. The trick to staying married, however, is learning not to say that one word that will kill all the love, friendship, and affection between the two of you.

So, treat your marriage like it's an adventure that must be taken before you're too old to enjoy or appreciate it. And, don't think twice about spending that ten dollars, because he or she is worth it!

Welcome, Sister

If I've done anything constructive this year, let it be known that I have talked my sister into starting her own blog.

My sister, who lives in Las Vegas, is a master gardener and is an expert in many things. But, she will have to tell you all about herself. All I can say is that she's an interesting person and has a lot of great things to talk about.

So, welcome, sister, to the land of the blogosphere where you are free to say whatever you wish on your own blog.

I hope all my blogfriends check out her site. You won't be disappointed.

Going to the health club

This is dedicated to all my blogger friends who have joined health clubs, take tae kwando, karate, are exercising on their own, or who have even thought about exercising. Great. Keep up the good work.

A woman felt as though her body had gotten totally out of shape, so she got her doctor's permission to join a health club and start exercising. She decided to take an aerobics class for seniors, and she went to the club for her first class. She bent, twisted, jumped up and down, and sweated for about an hour.

But, by the time she got her leotards on, the class was over.

Snowy weather

Okay, so we've had a bit of snow over the weekend. We've stayed in watching the Olympics, NASCAR, UK basketball, a few movies, the news, eating, sleeping, flipping to the weather channel, and watching the snow come down. We even thought it was amusing to watch the cats come into the house covered with snowflakes. Because we've become a little snow crazy, I thought I would share a little snow humor with you. It might just brighten your day a bit (as it did mine). These are dedicated especially for those who found themselves in a similar circumstance this past weekend.

Now I KNOW that none of you would do this in your front yard!

After the last cartoon, I KNOW where your minds are!

Do you sometimes feel like you are being held up by some silly wabbit?

Take heart. Winter is almost over for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. We've seen tempting clues that spring is just around the corner. Just last week I saw daffodils and crocuses blooming and there were trees budding. Spring is almost here (I hope).

In the meantime, we are definitely getting out of this house today. My mantra for the day, MUST GET GROCERIES, MUST GET GROCERIES, MUST GET GROCERIES.

Watch out for those tricky wabbits.

Love those grandkids

Husband and I made a trip yesterday to visit with darling daughter and the grandkids. We had a great day and I just wanted to share a couple of snaps to show you their smiling faces.

Dancer Girl and Little Sister took a ride around the yard before the rain started. Dancer Girl is driving her Princess Car back to the carport inbetween raindrops.

Little Sister will turn two years old in about a month. She's so grown up and is talking up a storm.

Since we were unable to be with the girls on Valentine's Day because of a snowstorm, we were able to celebrate yesterday instead. They didn't seem to mind. Chocolate is chocolate no matter what day it's delivered with love.

We cherish those moments we get to spend with the girls. They are growing so fast and are losing their babyish mannerisms. Right now they love us unconditionally. We hope it will be a very long time before they will be too grown up to want to spend time with their grandparents.

This Is Jeopardy!

My blogfriend Susan sent me a long list of trivia that I really liked a lot. She knows that I love trivia and has even suggested that I try out to be a contestant on Jeopardy.

I have watched Jeopardy since its inception in 1964 with Art Fleming as host. This show has evolved from a cutesy daytime piece of fluff entertainment to a whiz-kid, big money brain teaser. Don't you wish you were Ken Jennings and had his brainpower?

I love it. In fact, I'm so passionate about this show that my family knows not to talk to me or call me when my show is on. When they are visiting at the house, all activities come to a standstill at 4:00 p.m. when those familiar words and goofy music come over the television speakers, "This Is Jeopardy." Time to play.

I have taken Susan's long list and pared it down to 15 very "interesting" facts, some or most of which you have probably never heard of. I thought it would be fun to have you test your knowledge and play along with me to my own version of Jeopardy.

How can cats move their ears in so many directions and independently? A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

Why doesn't a crocodile taste his food before he gulps it? A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue.

Why did the freshwater fish forget to send a Valentine's Day card? A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

What slimy creature gets more sleep than I do? A snail can sleep for three years.

Why does the ostrich look in a hole in the ground when it gets frightened? An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

What is the reason babies learn to crawl before they can walk? Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.

Why do cats caterwaul and dogs look at you hangdoggedly? Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds. Dogs only have about 10.

Why can't husbands be tamed? In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

What's the cause of half of the expressway wrecks caused by drivers with bad colds? It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

What is the leading cause of the "Busybody Syndrome"? Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

Why is dynamite so explosive and deadly? Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

Why was the most important and time-saving appliance in kitchens invented? The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

Why should we be very, very afraid of Bird Flu? There are more chickens than people in the world.

Which Flintstone character got the royal snub of all time? There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.

Why is acid reflux disease the biggest complaint heard by physicians? Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

So, how did you do? If you were able to answer all the questions, you get the Ken Jennings award. If you only were able to answer some of the questions, you get the Motherkitty award. But, if you were stumped by most of the questions, well, I guess you shouldn't consider being a contestant on Jeopardy. Maybe you could try out for The Price Is Right?

Thanks, Susan, for brightening my day and tickling my brain synapses a little.

Sending you all my love, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Oo, she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
And with a love like that
You know you should be glad
And with a love like that
you know you should be glad

-- The Beatles

Here's my Valentine's wish for all my loved ones, my lovely blogfriends, and everybody else in this whole wide world. May you all be surrounded by love and happiness, not only on Valentine's Day, but every day of your life.

Here's a huge Motherkitty hug.

How do you apologize to a cat?

NOTE: I wrote the following several years ago. I wanted to share this little essay with you because I love my cats. I presently have six females who are all spayed. I have had cats in my life since I was five years old, both male and female, but after the following incident, I decided that I couldn't bear to have any more male cats in my life. Too much guilt.

A young, male cat lives at our house. He is the alpha cat, the leader of the pack, the king of his jungle. Because of his ferocious nature, the three spayed females are forced to live in the house. He has been known to beat the crap out of the females, even when they were doing nothing more than looking around outside, sniffing the air, and watching the birds. He likes to keep them trapped under the central air conditioning unit if they happen to be caught outside to demonstrate his dominance and to state that this is his territory. He still had his balls, thus his nature was to lord it over everyone else.

One day last week this male, a carouser by nature, limped home with bloody wounds to his right leg and left ear. He looked sad and puny, thin, dirty-looking, and really messed up. No doubt he had been out and about, doing what all young un-neutered males do, trying to find a date. For several days he stayed at home to recover, limping from one end of the deck to another, following the sun to absorb its warmth. On Wednesday, however, I found him lying on the back step with fresh blood dripping everywhere. Much as I hated to, I decided it was time for a visit to the vet.

Over the years, I calculate that I must have owned around 100 cats. We have had litter after litter of kittens and I have either given them away, they were eaten by the cruel cars out on the road, or they mysteriously disappeared. Eventually, I got tired of the mess and the expense, and I decided to get the females spayed and the males neutered. I had had enough of the heartache of losing all those cats and kittens. Our backyard is a graveyard for lost pets. For the past 10 years or so, we have managed to whittle ourselves down to these four cats, all "fixed" except for the male. They seem to be smarter than the rest because they have managed to outlive the others.

Anyway, to continue the tale of the mangled cat, we finally found the cat carrier out in the garage. As soon as he saw it, however, he knew he was going for a ride and promptly voiced his displeasure. Picking him up was scary, but we managed to back him into the cat carrier without getting scratched or bitten, all the while telling old "Tom" what was going to happen to him. This guy had probably never visited the vet but once or twice before in his lifetime, so in addition to being hurt, he was told he would have to ride in the car to go see someone strange who would probably hurt him. We hoped our soothing litany would calm him, but no sooner had we gotten settled in the car, we were now innundated by the pungent, pervasive aroma of male urine emanating from the cat carrier. So, in addition to having to endure his pitiful cries, we had to smell his nauseous stink while we drove out to the vet. All during the ride, we continued to assure him that he would be okay and that the vet would take good care of him. In fact, we told him, before you know it, you will be as good as new and home where you belonged.

We arrived at the vet's office where several others were already sitting in the waiting room with their dogs and cats. No doubt old "Tom" was now in serious shock. After a long wait, our turn finally came. We were ushered into the examining room and we managed to get the cat out of the carrier. Old "Tom" looked pathetic beyond belief, but certainly glad to be out of that stinking cat carrier. The lady vet, whom we had only seen once before, started to examine our guy. He was really scared but at her request, we agreed to leave him overnight so tests could be run. I decided that if he had leukemia, I wanted to put him down so he wouldn't suffer. If he proved negative, I wanted her to treat his wounds so we could bring him back home to recuperate. The promise was that he would then continue his lordly life in the manner to which he was accustomed. Lady vet said she would have to anesthetize him to provide wound care since she thought he was kind of a wild cat and I agreed. We had already experienced his displeasure in the past.

Later that evening, she called the house to say that the leukemia test was negative. I was happy about that, so I told her to go ahead and "fix him up." She told me that he would probably be ready to go home later in the afternoon the next day. Life seemed grand and we were happy.

Came the next afternoon, however, and the sky turned black for us. We were told that the cat was ready to go home and we headed out to the vet's for the pickup. After waiting for about 45 minutes in the waiting room, one of the "girls" told us that the cat was still recovering from his surgery and inadvertently let it slip that he had been neutered. What? we said. Did you say neutered? we chimed in unison. I never said to neuter the cat, I said. My blood pressure rose about 30 points but I was determined that I would handle this situation in a calm, grown-up manner. Pretty soon I see lady vet coming out of the examining room after finishing with another patient and the "girl" who let slip that our old "Tom" was now de-balled rapidly look lady vet back into another room to tell her the bad news. Lady vet then slithered back into the waiting room to explain to us that when I said "fix him up" the night before, she literally did just that. She thought I gave her "carte blanche" permission to do whatever and she took it literally. (I was told the next day by the man vet that "to fix" in veterinarian terms means to neuter.) At any rate, no apology to speak of was given, but we were stuck with a $215 vet bill, several medications, and explicit instructions on how to treat him once we got him home.

While still in shock, we loaded up into the car with the now de-balled mewling cat, and all we could think of was, how do you apologize to the cat for wreaking havoc on his physical body after we had promised him he would be okay? He was now a eunuch in his harem. He would spend the rest of his days getting fat and lazy, and would never again experience the thrill of female companionship. We coulda cried. Old "Tom" must spend the next week ensconced in the garage until he heals, and then he can be released back out into the wild sans his male ferocity and his hormonal drive for self-preservation. So instead of being a puss in boots, he will now be a wuss in his own back yard for the rest of his natural life.

Catching some zzzzzzzs

Have you ever noticed that when it snows, you're sick, you stay up too late the night before, it's overcast outside, or you're bored, and you are confined to the house, you tend to want to snuggle and sleep more?

Where am I going with this, you wonder. It's just that your body and mind are telling you something. Sleeping and napping are restorative and necessary to keep us healthy. Most of us don't get as much sleep as we really need and we go for long periods of time sleep-deprived.

When I was still working, I usually survived on five to six hours of sleep per night. I did this for years. I lived on caffeine all day long, but by the time I got home in the afternoon, I was ready to crash. The problem was that I still had about eight hours of things to do before I could actually go to bed, especially when the kids were still home. For a long time I always felt as if I had run a marathon for eight hours but still had the last five miles to go before I could actually rest a little.

By the time I retired, I decided that I wasn't going to run my life dictated by the clock. Most days I don't wear my watch (only when I go out of the house) and I certainly don't set my alarm.

Alarm clocks were created by demonic madmen who invented the most obnoxious sounds, bells, and buzzers to awaken all the sleep-deprived zombies in the world. People not only have a problem getting to sleep, they also have a problem waking up because they are so chronically tired. Alarm clocks, on the whole, are so obnoxious that I cringe when I see a commercial on TV containing an alarm clock going off.

So now I am free to sleep as long as I want, as deeply as I want, and as frequently as I want. Sounds great, doesn't it? The reality, however, is that I'm usually in bed early, sleep for several hours, then find myself up in the middle of the night for whatever reason, completely wide awake. It's even worse now than when I was working. What's up with that? I have eliminated most of the caffeine in my diet so that couldn't be the problem. I have no deadlines, so I'm not forcing myself to get up at a particular time.

It's becoming a problem.

When I'm up in the middle of the night, I tend to drift to the computer because I'm up anyway. And, you know what happens when I get on the computer. You guessed it. Checking into the old blog. One thing leads to another, and before I know it, half the night has passed. One look at the nearby window in the computer room and I find that morning has arrived. I can either stay up and be tired for the rest of the day, or I can go back to bed and sleep for a couple of hours. But, that will cause my usual sleep schedule to be off kilter.

I wish I was like my cats. They actually sleep for about 20 hours a day. When they are not sleeping, they are eating, drinking, playing, catching mice and moles, playing in the leaves, pestering each other, laying on my lap, or playing with their toys. When they are tired, however, they close their eyes, relax, and they're out. Even if you wake them up, they can go back to sleep with the flick of a whisker.

I, on the other hand, am still sleep-deprived. So when any of the conditions found in the first paragraph above happen, I find myself dozing throughout the day. Maybe that's why I'm always up in the middle of the night. It's a vicious cycle.

Here comes the snow

We were waiting for the news to come on this evening when a winter weather advisory was flashed across the bottom of the TV screen on our local station. Most of the tri-state area is under a winter weather advisory they said. We simultaneously looked outside to view a beautiful blue, clear sky with no hint of bad weather. Where did this come from, we wondered? This isn't fair. We had big plans for this weekend.

They are saying, according to Accu-weather Radars and all the other latest weather-predicting technology available, that we are expected to receive anywhere from two to five inches of snow starting tomorrow and extending into Saturday. The meteorologist on the five o'clock news said that we might even receive more than five inches. In fact, they are predicting a possible repeat of last winter's monster storm where we received about umpteen inches of snow over a 24-hour period of time. We were snowed in for a week. Which, of course, led us to purchase a massive snowblower that sits gloriously in our garage still unused.

With this prediction of bad weather, we took a mental inventory of foodstuffs and decided we would be able to survive for the next six weeks if necessary. We unwittingly had shopped the past two days and we are definitely set. We have plenty of kitty litter, cat food, toilet paper, shampoo, dishwasher detergent, toothpaste, body wash, lightbulbs, a box of Valentine chocolates, cokes, bottled water, and margarine. In fact, I think we purchased about half the items on the pharmacy's shelves today (including a few personal items too personal to mention).

When I was growing up in the Chicago area, we experienced a lot of snow. It was normal for it to snow massive amounts from late October until April. And, the average winter temperatures were mostly Arctic (meaning freeze-your-earlobes-off cold).

Here in western Kentucky, we have mostly temperate weather and it snows infrequently. With the prospect of a little or a lot of white stuff coming, people in this area tend to get into their hibernation mode. They run to the store and purchase all the perishables they can pack into their vehicles. They stock up on everything they can think of -- just in case. The schools were already closed for the rest of the week because of an outbreak of strep throat and stomach virus, otherwise they would have closed the schools anyway with the arrival of the first snowflake. Everyone takes a little or a lot of snow very seriously around here.

Husband moved his truck from the driveway to the road in front of the house, made sure the driveway was clear of all rocks and other debris, went to the store and purchased engine oil, and plans to go to the gas station tomorrow morning to purchase some gas (just in case he finally gets to use his virgin snowblower).

I sat in the house and watched as husband went about his preparatory chores and I just sighed. I thought, all this fuss over a bit of frozen precipitation. It's not as if we live in Alaska, for God's sake. But then I thought, this impending snowstorm is probably the most exciting thing that has happened around here lately (next to the Superbowl, hunting season, skunks being in heat, and the Grammy awards) and will give the old folks something interesting to talk about for the next two weeks and the kiddies something more fun to play with than their X-boxes.

As a friend of mine says, just bring it . . . on.

Addendum, Saturday, February 11: After all the hype, what we got was a mere dusting of snow. You might even say we only got less than an inch of the white stuff and what a disappointment. They actually got more south of us which ruined our traveling plans, so I guess we will stay home today and watch the Olympics instead. (I think husband is going to have to enshrine our snowblower in acryllic so he can admire it while it remains in pristine condition because I don't think this baby is ever gonna get used.)

What makes you happy?

I had a conversation via e-mail today with a loved one about New Year's Resolutions, attitudes, and what makes people happy. I came to the conclusion that the following should be my new motto for 2006:

Save your sanity and ignore those who wish to do you emotional harm.

To let you know that I am still sane, I am submitting a Top 10 List of Things That Make Me Happy:

10. Music of all kinds (except heavy-metal, head-banging junk)
9. My blogger friends and family
8. Cute, soft, playful kittens
7. The ability and freedom to think, speak, and write as I please
6. A thrilling, entertaining movie/book
5. Nature at its best and at its worst
4. Fabulous food (and my ability to cook well and feed a lot of loved ones)
3. People who love me back, including sweet-smelling babies
2. My husband (and a good sense of humor)
1. Access to Blogger.Com 24/7/365

We've all heard the expression, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." I believe that we face our own personal crossroads many times in our lifetime. Sometimes we regret those choices we make and sometimes we don't. I don't want to waste any more of my time on regrets (thanks Susan), so I have become determined that I would rather be happy and not be brought down by negativism. I'm at a proverbial emotional crossroad today and I've decided to take the memorable path for the rest of my life.

Whew -- that's a load off my mind. Now I can start being happy.

What makes you happy? Do yourself a favor and make your own Top 10 List of Things That Make You Happy. In compiling this short list (which was harder than I originally thought), I found that I had to refocus on what I REALLY thought would make me happy. You will note that I left out material things like lots of money, fame, glory, and high IQ. These things are nice, but they don't necessarily make you happy.

Now the #1 item on my list, that makes me really, really happy.

Superbowl Sunday

I don't know about you, but in our house today is Football Day.

Our son is a huge Steelers fan (has been all his life) and I imagine that you don't want to call him today because he's gonna be watching the game. I just know he's got his Steelers cap on. (When he was in college he had a Steelers cap that he wore constantly. It was so grungy-looking that I wouldn't be caught dead in it, but what can you say about a die-hard fan. I think he still has that hat.)

Husband loves football, so he will, of course, be watching the game. I am prepared. Got all kinds of football food and got plenty of bottled water and cokes. So, he won't have to go far from the TV set, except to go to the bathroom from all the water and cokes.

Me, I will be watching parts of the game. You know, the "interesting" parts. Like the pre-game, the commercials, and the halftime show. Inbetween, I will be online or cooking or doing something else. Occasionally, I will yell from the other room -- what's the score or who's winning? Or, maybe I'll go into the bedroom and snuggle down in bed to watch a really sappy girls movie or read a book.

For all you football fans out there in the ethernet, go Steelers! For the rest of us, I hope you have a wonderful day and that you find something fun to do while the game's on.

Isn't it pathetic?

The past 24 hours or so have been unsettling for me. There were problems with Blogger, couldn't get online, posts kept disappearing, couldn't communicate -- I felt like, oh, what shall we do with ourselves all day? Was I in the throes of withdrawal?

Six months ago I would have gone on with my day and found something really interesting to do on a Saturday. Yesterday I was fretting something awful. Today, Sunday, I'm happy again like a little kid because we are back online and Blogger seems "normal" again. Was it a worm, or just a problem with the system? Who cares. Now I can get my regular blogosphere "fix."

Do you see what happens to a seemingly normal human being who became addicted to blogging? Can you understand that a glitch in the system almost caused a meltdown to my psyche? Who would have thought six months ago that I would feel so badly about not being able to communicate with a bunch of online friends for a day?

This is so terribly pathetic.

Too smart for my own good

Last evening husband and I had a difference of opinion. We usually get along with each other, but something I said inspired him to reach the boiling point. Evidentally, it irritates him that I'm always right.

So, he's vowed to call me Mrs. Duh from now on instead of my real name. That's okay, because I'm still right.

It's an awesome responsibility, always having to correct people, especially people who can't spell, who have difficulty remembering simple things such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, and who people are. It's a huge burden to carry around all that knowledge. One's head gets very heavy and the pressure to always have the correct answer is terrible.

I can remember when I was in school that I always wanted to be first with all the answers. This didn't always happen, but I made it a goal to acquire as much knowledge as I could over the span of a lifetime.

I've reached the point in my life that I have a tendency not to keep my mouth shut when I know some bit of trivial baggage. I guess it's from many years of watching Jeopardy and other game shows. I love to shout out the answers and I tend to do this with other people unknowingly and automatically. It's a burden that sometimes gets me in hot water. Like last night. I should have just bitten my tongue rather than speak out! (I really don't remember what I said, but it must have been something really irritating to get the response it did.)

I guess I offend some people, including husband, but it's hard for a Type A personality to change their spots. I will always strive for all the correct answers (if I don't know, I will look it up and remember it for next time) because it's in my nature.

Knowledge is power, so I guess filling my head with all this trivial garbage is my way of being powerful.