SIGNS OF SPRING

Last weekend, Spring became official for me.

I bought my first pair of sandals.




First sale to be rung up was this cute pair of strappy black Aldo sandals. LOVE THEM!!!!








Then there was this pair of just for fun flipflops with sparklies all over them. OH. Something shiny!


And tomorrow, UPS will be delivering these red shoes that I bought from Zappos.com. I had never heard of them until my daughter told me that one of her professors orders from them all the time. Shoe shopping by internet.




America! What a country!!!

EASTER STORY

Meghan got a ride home from school for Easter weekend with a sorority sister, Meghan G. A year ago, Meghan G's dad was put on a list for a new liver. Recently, his name went to the top of the list. As I understand it, that means his health had deteriorated to the point it was becoming urgent, but he was still healthy enough to undergo the surgery.

They got a call early on Easter morning that a new liver became available.

The entire range of meaning of that was not lost on anyone. While Meghan G's family has been given new hope, another family is suffering on this Easter Sunday.

He is undergoing the surgery right now. God be with him and his family as they go through this. God be with the donor's family while they suffer their loss, and bless them for making the decision that has helped other families.

UPDATE: The surgery went well. Hopefully, all others benefitting from the generosity of the donor and his/her family are doing as well.

NEWS LITE

Warning: This is a mini rant. If you continue to read, consider yourself warned.

Back in my former life (when I was married) we subscribed to Time Magazine, which arrived every Wednesday. My husband had a meeting every Wednesday night, so I had the magazine all to myself. I'd fix a big salad for dinner, get out the magazine and read it from cover to cover. It took an entire evening to do that.

Then came the divorce. I've meant to subscribe, but never got around it it; until recently.

Several months ago, an adorable neighborhood urchin showed up selling magazine subscriptions. I took the opportunity to get back onto the Time Magazine bandwagon. The order form said I should start receiving the magazine in 6 weeks time; and sure enough a magazine arrived.

Maxim.

What?

And, the first time Maxim arrived was when my son-in-law was visiting. I shudder to think what he thinks is going on in his mother-in-law's world.

I called and after a number of transfers, got ahold of someone who had to have been all of 15. She informed me that "yeah, we don't offer Time or Newsweek anymore, so we sent you Maxim."

Again, what?

They snail mailed me a list of magazines I could choose from; which I snail mailed back. Really, who snail mails anymore? Because I was so inconvenienced, they were going to offer me two magazines, and I chose some cycling magazine and a running magazine (my daughter, the one who does not read this blog, wanted me to get the running magazine).

I'm still getting Maxim even though numerous calls have been made.

However, while in the checkout lane at a local computer store, I got roped into trying Time for 8 weeks for free.

It arrived this week. No one told me that it's no longer Time Magazine, but is now Time Pamphlet. Seriously. What used to take me all evening to read can now be read during commercial breaks.

Too bad I don't read Maxim, because it's much thicker.

Apparently, that's how things are now days in the magazine business, heavy on the titillation; light on the news.

UPDATE TO PLAYBALL THREAD

Today, we have a guest blogger, "anonymous" from the Playball thread. I was going for the "pictures are worth a thousand words" effect on that thread. "Anonymous", who sometimes comments as "Hydeman" posted a comment about last Tuesday night at the New Busch Stadium and I thought what he had to say deserved to be brought out of the comment section:

Additional Notes from Someone Who Was There....
- Sly was wearing a dress and heels at work. She walked several blocks to the stadium, then stood and walked in, over, under, around and through the stadium for about 2 hours, then walked several blocks back to her parking garage. She didn't complain about her feet hurting, but we all knew

- In the second camera-phone photo, you see the upper deck in right field. Access is by elevator (for wimps), by ramps (for sissies), and by stairs (for real men). 116 stairs from ground level. Come to think of it, do real men count stairs? Hmmm.

- The AA team, Springfield Cardinals, beat the AAA team, Memphis Redbirds, in the first-ever baseball game in the new stadium. Memphis' Shaun Boyd hit the first home run in the new stadium. For extra credit, remember that it was hit off of Sidney Ponson, pitching for Springfield that night, but really he's one of the St. Louis Cardinals' starting pitchers this year.

- The mascots were out in force. Springfield had their bird, Memphis had their bird, and St. Louis had their guess what -- bird. All red. All cardinals. We had a covey of them. I know there's a bird-flu joke in there somewhere, but I can't think of it.


Ed Note about the stair climbing: There was no frikkin' way I was climbing stairs in high heels. Judy (hydeman's girlfriend) had knee issues, so she and I opted not to climb stairs (or count them). The elevators have actual real live operators, for some reason. When Judy and I were taking the elevator down, we asked for the second floor. The operator told us the elevator didn't open on the second floor, that we'd have to get off on the third floor and walk down. Oh-kay, a little odd.

We did that and we arrived on the second floor as the elevator got there. The doors opened and the operator announced "Mezzanine." I swear, I did not make that up.

PLAY BALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At 4:30 this afternoon, some friends of mine called to tell me they had an extra ticket to tonight's exhibition game between Memphis and Springfield. My first time at the new stadium!! YAY!

It looked magnificent!

As it was at the last minute, I didn't have my camera, but had my phone. The following are shots I took with that; not the best, but something.



My friends standing in line to have their purses checked by the security guard to ensure they weren't going to blow up the place.






The scoreboard from the old stadium.








They have a "Build-a-Bear Workshop" inside the stadium. Only it's a "Build-a-Fredbird Workshop."










I love a ball stadium at night under the lights!

April 2, 2006

If you had any access with any form of the media on Sunday evening, you knew parts of the midwest were getting hit with storms.

My parents and I had the good fortune of skirting everything.

Meghan and a friend of hers rode out one of the storms in the shower room of a truck stop with their 50 newest friends outside of Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Yes, Hopkinsville, KY where tornadoes touched down today. Now that she's home safe, I'm finally breathing at a normal rate.

Jenni flew out of Nashville this evening, apparently just minutes before the storm. She said they were rushed onto the plane and into the air, trying to beat the storm; then had a very bumpy flight. No surprise there.

The following are shots of the clouds we saw this evening while traveling up I-57 from Marion to Mt. Vernon, Illinois.














We apparently got home after this area had been hit. The retirement center where my parents live is operating off of a generator. All of my clocks are blinking and the readout on my microwave is in Spanish; and the readout on my home phone is in Greek.

But we're all safe.

Thankfully.

UPDATE: I did a little research, and those clouds are Mammutus clouds. They form in sinking air; which doesn't sound good. But apparently it is a good sign. While a rare cloud formation, they appear after the worst of a storm has passed.