Oink!

Just a local public service announcement.

The vaccine is here! The vaccine is here!

Peoria City/County Health Department received 10,000 units of H1N1 vaccine today...finally. So, if you're interested in getting the shot, next week's schedule is as follows:

Monday, Nov. 9th 4-7 p.m. at IVC High School in Chillicothe.

Tuesday, Nov. 10th 4–7 p.m. at Woodrow Wilson School in Peoria.

Wednesday, Nov. 11th 9 a.m. - Noon at Expo Gardens in Peoria

Thursday, Nov. 12th 3:45-6:45 p.m. at Illini Bluffs High School in Glasford

Friday, Nov. 13th 1-4 p.m. at the Henry Fire Protection District in Henry

(If you choose to get it Tuesday or Wednesday, you might get yours truly as the vaccinator. Lucky you! heh)



The CDC is recommending that only pregnant women, household contacts and caregivers to infants under 6 months, all people from six months to 24 years old, and those 24–to–65 who are more susceptible to flu complications get the vaccine.

And here are the symptoms, also via the CDC:
Fever, which is usually high, but unlike seasonal flu, is sometimes absent
Cough
Running nose
Sore throat
Body aches
Headache
Chills
Fatigue or tiredness, which can be extreme
Diarrhea and vomiting, sometimes, but more commonly seen than with seasonal flu

Wash your hands! Cover your cough! Stay home if you're sick!

Unfortunately, my grandbaby was diagnosed with it today and is getting started on Tamaflu. Get well soon, honey. I love you!

There's a reason they called it "The Great Depression"

It was depressing as hell.

I caught

The Grapes of Wrath

last night on TCM. Actually, it was a Steinbeck three-fer...East of Eden, The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men.

Anywho, The Grapes of Wrath is one of those movies that I have to watch every time it's on.

Unfortunately, it always leaves me depresseder than hell (Hi, Mary!) and feeling like I need a shower.



I'm not sure why I'm so attached to the movie. I suppose it's because I had parents that were young adults during the Great Depression and they had stories...horror stories really, though not nearly as...well...depressing...as those of the Joad family.

See? Even the family's name was depressing. Joad. It's hard and coarse and harsh-sounding. Just like the circumstances that they lived...if you could call it that...through. I guess that's why Steinbeck won both a Nobel and a Pulitzer for literature.

The movie, depressing as it is, can't hold a candle to the book. At the end of the movie, there's at least a glimmer of...hopefulness. In the book? Not so much.

Aaanyway, every time I watch the movie, I understand a little more. And can relate it a little more to what's happening in our world right now.

Take, f'rinstance...last night, for the first time, I really picked up on the whole underlying "Socialism is Good...Capitalism is Bad" theme that seems to be the movie's "message".

I suppose I didn't really understand it before. But, given the current situation we're in, for the first time, I got it. I finally understand why Socialism looks so attractive to people during tough times...why it flourishes.

Why it's flourishing right now.

And I'm even more depressed because I can't understand why we can't have some kind of...coming together, I guess...of the best points of Socialism and Capitalism. Because there are good things about both perspectives.

My brain hurts. Far, far too much thinking. heh

Six degrees of separation...

...of my newest "favorite things".

I'll start with

Sunsweet Ones

They're prunes...ah...excuse me...dried plums. I'm sure that calling them dried plums is a little more palatable to the general public. Whatever. They're prunes.

They're good for you. They're delicious. They're really handy to stash in your desk at work for a little nosh. They're also damned dangerous. Four or five of those sweet, gooey little blobs of dried fruit is like Drano for your colon.

Try 'em. But be sure to be somewhere close to a bathroom within three or four hours of tryin 'em.

Bathroom. That leads me right into my next favorite thing. My new shower curtain, snagged recently at Tarjay.



The print is really reminiscent of the work of mid-century artist/illustrator,

Charley Harper

I love it. It makes me smile every time I walk into the bathroom. After eating prunes. heh

Which segues right into my third, newest "favorite thing".

Relics

, 3402 NE Adams in Peoria.

I've glanced at the little shop uncounted times on my way to and from work, but never had the opportunity to stop. I read

Miz Peepers'

post about it last night and decided that today was the day.

Love. It. It's cool and funky and just...well...my kinda place.

But what does this little shop have to do with bathrooms and Charley Harper illustrations you might ask?

Well, they have a selection of darling little pendants with Charley Harper-like illustrations of birds and trees.

I didn't get one because I just couldn't decide which one I liked best. But for $12.95, I think maybe I could fit a couple into my budget.

I did scoop up a Gingerbread Cookie (Oooooo!)

Black Crow Candle

They're made locally and they're just about the best-smelling, longest-lasting candle I've ever found.

They had a huge selection of old advertising cards, circa 1940's, from one of the chi-chi, but unfortunately now-defunct downtown department stores, so I grabbed a few of those, as well. I love the simple, clean graphics of them. I think I'll frame 'em and hang 'em in the spare bedroom.



And, for my Starbucks Coffee stash...



So that, dear readers, is how my mind works. From prunes to quaint little shops.

Scary, huh?

A perfect example of the dumbing down of America

"I don't know when the oil needs to be changed. All you do is press a little button. It automatically runs a vehicle health report and it sends it directly either to my phone or email."



Um...I don't know when the oil needs to be changed??? Howz about takin a peek at that little sticker up in the left hand side of your windshield that the nice service guys put there every time they change the oil, Binkie?

If you don't have the slightest idea when your oil needs changed in your car, you're too stupid to be driving, anyfuckingway.

And, of course, having your choice of colored ambient lighting is very important when choosing a new vehicle.

Binkie chooses pink. Isn't she special?



I think maybe her parents should have looked into some plastic surgery for those ears, rather than buying Binkie a new car with pick lighting.

Kill me. Kill me now.

Sorry, Ford. If you wanna cater to 20 year olds with the maturity of a 6th grader, I'll be looking elsewhere for my next new vehicle.

This is exactly what's gonna happen...

...if Peoria County doesn't receive it's shipment of H1N1 vaccine.


see more Epic Fails

Maybe I should print this one out and take it to work. Just in case. heh

Happiness is...

...the new remastered Beatles White Album CD I got for my birthday from da Zigster.



So, I'm sittin at the Sheridan/McClure stop light...late afternoon...window down...blastin "Happiness is a Warm Gun".

Now, that's irony.

Thanks, honey...it's awesome!

(What's even more awesome, is that I remembered the words to every damn song.

I can't drive 55

However, I've managed to live that long.

Today marks the fifty-fifth year of my existence.

Jeeezus holy gawd. Half a century...plus five years. Fifty five years. That's just plain obscene.

Whilst pondering the obscenity of being fifty-five years old, I've discovered...and wondered about...a few things. I thought I'd share 'em with those of you that haven't reached this dubious...milestone...yet.

I'll now be eligible for many "senior" discounts. Damn straight. After payin full price for everything for 55 years, I deserve a fuckin discount.

I'm gonna start dressing like an old floozy. Because I can. Hey...I'm 55. Who the hell cares what I look like?

At 16, I thought a 55 year old was like...really, really old. At 55, I've discovered that it's not as old as I thought in some ways...and waaaaaay older than I thought in others.



Have you noticed that vitamins for "seniors" are gray? Why the hell is that? Kids vitamins are all colors of the rainbow. Vitamins for "adults" are usually a nice, bright red or a cheery orange. Us seniors get gray. What? Do the vitamin manufacturers think we're all color blind by this time? Do they think us old farts don't care about the color of our vitamins? What the hell's up with that, anyway? Personally, I'd like my vitamins to be hot pink. Or maybe lime green.

I've come to realize that I'll never be beautiful. I'll never be thin. I'll never be tall. I'll never be stinking rich. But it's perfectly ok. I like the person that I've become.

When my mother was 55, I was 16 years old. I'm so glad I'm not raising a 16 year old. One of us would have to die.

One of life's biggest cruelties is that when your body ages, your mind doesn't. Your mind still thinks you're 22. You body tells you, in no uncertain terms, that there's no way in hell you're 22 anymore.

At 55, I've accomplished the one goal that I've always said that I wanted for my life. To be happy.

I want to live long enough to become a crochety, cantankerous, pain-in-the-ass...but happy...old woman. Who dresses like a floozy.

What the hell's a floozy, anyway?

Country mice in the city

A tale in which Pammy learns the difference between a valet and a bellman

Once again, our quarterly Grannies Gone Wild weekend was a huge success.
Except for the gambling part. That was....not exactly a success.

But we had a blast and didn't lose all our money.

I think the highlight of our trip was the freebie night at the

Ameristar Hotel

Oh. My. Gawd.

(Click to enlarge)



The bathroom. The bathroom. Marble floors. Mahogany and granite double sinks. A bathtub to die for. Glass shower with one of those rain shower heads. Separate room for the toilet...with art in it, no less.



Aaaannnnd....

A wall-mounted flat screen tv! In the bathroom! Just one of three...count 'em...three...in the suite.


Yes, I took a bath in that gorgeous bathtub and watched tv...just because I could.

The room...well, I'd call it a suite...itself wasn't anything to sneeze at, either.


Plush, plush, plussssshhhhhh beds with Egyptian cotton sheets that felt like silk and upholstered headboards that went aaalllll the way to the ceiling.

The step-down "living room" part was perfect, as well, with huge flat-screen, micro-suede sofa, coffee table, small dining table and an occasional chair. The whole end of the room was floor to ceiling windows overlooking the fabulous indoor-outdoor pool, hot tub and plaza.




Jill, chillin.


Loooved the lamps. Unfortunately, they wouldn't fit in my suitcase.


The room was spectacular...and the service was just as good. Even though the room was a comp and all we ever do is play the nickle slots, everyone treated us like we were jet-setting gamblers.
It was absolutely the swankiest hotel I've ever stayed in...even better than the Westin we stayed at during our

trip

to Chicago this spring.

While we could have spent the entire time drooling over that bathroom, we did manage to check out a few of the neat shops on historic, brick-streeted Main Street. We took a break and dined outside on French dip sammies and French Onion soup (Oui, oui!) at

Little Hills Winery

It was a tad chilly, but the gas logs kept us cozy-warm.


'Course, no trip to St. Charles would be complete without a visit with my two babies.


Ahhhh...it was such fun. Can't wait to do it again.

Every three months, whether we need it or not

We need it! We need it!

Yup. It's time for a Grannies Gone Wild weekend!



Ya know, I loooove my Zigster. I can't think of anybody else I'd rather hang with....except my bud, Jill.

I'll be the first to admit I don't have a huge circle of girlfriends. Just a few close ones, most of which I've known damn near all my life. And Jill is one of the special ones.

Noooo...I don't mean she rides the short bus. She's just...well...special. She gets me...most of the time, anyway. I'm sure some of the time, she thinks I'm a frequent passenger on the short bus...but she likes me despite that.

So, anywho...we're off again in the morning on one of our quarterly girls-only weekends.

We'll eat and laugh and gamble and shop and laugh and talk til three in the morning. And then we'll get up, drink coffee, take some ibuprofen...and do it all over again.

It's just how we roll.