I stopped by to visit Blog Fodder, a game I used to play.  But the last entry was done in July.  Guess I'm a little late, but better late than never.....

So anyway...

What fashion trend you followed was very cool then, but now looks
ridiculous?  Karen wanted to know.

My first thought was: 

Exersoles & Levi Cords. 

Exersoles were “earth shoes” of sorts, made by Thom McCann (remember them?), they had thick rubber soles and the cool thing was to write all over the soles, which were over an inch thick so you could see them well.  

Although I couldn't find an exact photo, they were similar to these:

  Only the soles were even fatter... more like these:

Ugh.    Oh and another one:

How totally bodacious we were in our mini skirt with lacy ankle socks and high heeled pumps! 

And… how about Leg warmers! 

The 80’s were just so… so… I can’t even find the words.  I would be willing to bet those fashions will come back soon though. 

I'm slowly but surely catching up with my Blog Fodder entries.  This is Blog Fodder #9. 

Rob wants to know:

Name a sensory input(s) which trigger a mood change be it uplifting, depressing, poignancy or remind you of a past event or period in time. Examples - the smell of an aftershave or perfume, a song, a baby crying, the sound of a vegas slot machine, the feel of clean sheets, the taste of a childhood drink.

Ruby, our German Shepherd, was killed Saturday, 3 days before she turned a year old.  I’ve been wanting to do a post for her but I haven’t really been able to stomach it yet.  My daughter, on the other hand, has been busy doing things for Ruby in Ruby’s name since Saturday. 

She has framed pictures, planned a hook rug for her, created a Virtual Memorial, began writing a book & a song about Ruby and plans to paint a painting of her.

Right now my mood change would have to be a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and a strong sadness, occurring whenever anything to do with Ruby (or any dog for that matter) comes my way.  Just the little memories... ie:  throwing away scraps and not giving them to her, pulling up in the driveway and not having her jump all over the car, her neighbor doggy friend coming looking for her, opening my front door to look out and she is not laying right in front of it….. protecting us and trying to be as close as possible.  I never knew I could feel this way about an animal – I’m not a huge animal lover although I tend to own lots of animals, thanks to my daughter!  I wonder how long this Sensory Input Trigger Feeling thing will last? 

Blog Fodder #7 - Come on, give it a try!

Karen askes 

It's hard for me to pick between these two choices....  slightly Ironic, isn’t it?  I lean more toward common sense being more important but then again without some the intelligence to back it up, where is the common sense coming from?  Lessons learned?  Everyone has the tools to be intelligent, the hard part is learning to use what you have.  At times intelligence might even stop you from using your common sense.   Kind of a vicious circle.  And how about this?  If I could add Survival Smarts to the question this would be my pick.  

Life is just one big long lesson!  

Intelligence is based on IQ testing, which can be very controvercial.  Not all people test the same, some are intelligent in some areas while others in others.  

Common Sense is a whole! 

(Yes, you will have to sign up, but it just takes a few seconds and the test is very worth it.) 

I took the test last January and I have an IQ of 124 - right int he middle of "gifted" and "superior".   Here's a little chart in case you want to check your's out!  

My IQ is pretty good.... but....  Honestly though, my own personal Common Sense likes to play tricks on me. 

I seem to lose my Blog Fodder entries all the time.  A few weeks back I lost an entry twice in one morning but did finally get the third version published.  This was about the same time that my other computer shit the bed and I bought a new one and also about the same time that I began writing on Word first and then pasting into Tripod.  Today I went straight to Tripod.  I was just going to shoot off a quick entry but it turned into a rather long post that I was ready to publish, when walah….  “Internet Explorer has encountered a Problem and will Close Down – you may loose whatever your working on.  May lose?  Try your about to lose it, for sure!    I repeat,  can you say &*%%^$^%$&&* - I can, and very loudly for that matter.

Blog Fodder  #6  was submitted by Kimbofo  - who also coincidentally was picked as Michele’s Site of the Day yesterday.  Congrats to her!    

Kimbofo wants to know “What is your most memorable meal? Why?”

This is a goody for me because food is one of my absolute favorite things of all times!  In giving this one some thought, I was originally going to post about Lobster and the fact that every birthday of my childhood contained a Lobster Dinner at a restaurant on the night of March 27^th.  But I thought of something more memorable and it just has to be Sunday dinners at my Nana’s house.

Every Sunday, since I can remember, Nana and Papa have been cooking for their crew.  In my younger years we would all sit at the dining room table and eat together, but as the population in the family multiplied it became more of a “come in and let Nana fix you a plate and then find a seat and eat”.  My Papa, who recently passed, made the best soups of all time!  What I wouldn’t give for a bowl of his soup right now.  Each week his special soup was a little different, depending on the ingredients in his fridge and each week it got better & better!  Papa was so proud of his soups!  My Nana, makes the best dinners of all times and there is nothing but pure love that goes into her preparations!  Love for all her many children.  Here is my Nana, you can just see it in her, can't you?

I stopped in to Blog Fodder this morning thinking I missed another week and I was going to have to do two entry’s.  I was so happy that we actually skipped Christmas week. 

This weeks topic was suggested by practigal and this is my #5 Entry.

So all morning I was debating on what to write about.  The focus was handed to me in a rather different way.  

About an hour ago my daughter was picked up to spend the weekend with her Dad.  He arrived with his new girlfriend (we are social able most of the time) and she was looking at a picture I have framed on my windowsill of Samantha as a baby.  I decided to pull out Sami’s baby picture book.   

Maybe I shouldn’t have, it might have bothered her a little, but I wanted her to see Sami and what she was like as a child vs. a 13 year old!  Do you think I should have showed her the book or was I out of line with her being the new gal and all?   

Regardless and onto my In-law entry….  Looking through the book was great.  I hadn’t been there in so long and there were lots of pictures bringing back memories of my in-laws.  Eric and I never married so they really were just “common law in-laws”, but it’s all the same.  Eric and have been apart for 7 years but I still have a good relationship with them.  I had a great relationship the in-laws, not the norm I know, from the get-go and they credit me with pulling Eric’s life together.  Looking back, I think they were right.  Once we split he went right back down the tubes.  Donna (Mother In-law) still considers me her daughter, and tells me that often.   

Oh but these In-laws were guilty of sugar crimes!  You see, I was very into having a healthy baby.  I had natural child birth and was pretty particular about what I fed Samantha.  I don’t agree with those feeder bottles.  I am of the opinion that they are one of the major causes for overweight children because they are eating foods way too soon, but that’s another topic.  Once Samantha was ready to start eating solids, my Mom handed me down a baby food grinder.  Our dinner would go in the grinder and she would eat the same foods as we did.  (I didn’t go too far, she did have baby food for lunch)   The In-laws all time favorite thing to do was sneak sweets into my baby girl.  As I looked through the album I found two specific pictures to share and prove my point.  Not to mention that I caught them many a time. 

I wasn’t really upset, but pretended to be, just so they could feel sneaky and all. 

The two pictures below are my evidence!     

My first incling of this sugar obsession in order to spoil my child occured when they were visiting our home from VA to MA.   I came around the corner into the kitchen and the grandparents were wiping donut cream off my daughters’ mouth and Mommaw was saying “quick, hide the evidence”.  Busted were they!  They have yet to live it down!  

From Blog Fodder Headquarters - entry #4:

Moving right along, our next topic of the week was submitted by Shane, over at Reflekshins .

What is the best practical joke you have ever participated in, or one that was done on you?

Wow - this is a hard one.  I've thought about it throughout most of today and I can't come up with anything brilliant.  I love practical jokes but I don't think I've ever been the butt of one, nor have I played any on anyone, that I can remember anyway.

One April Fools Day when I was living away from my family in Massachusetts I called my sisters & my Mom.  Three separate conversations and told them all I was pregnant again.  Samantha was about 3 or 4 and I was a struggling Mom and I'm not too sure if this was a joyful surprize to everyone or not, but I got the usual "congratulations".  Later that night I called them all back to "april fools" them - I think there were a few sighs of relief.  Teehee   ; -)

Thats all I've got for now folks.....  If I can think of something better I'll pop back in.  Maybe I can play a joke before next week so that I have something to write about!  I'll think about that. 

It's raining today.  I love rain!  I love storms!  I love any kind of weather that is different from the norm.  My roof is tin and I awoke to the sound of the pouring rain hitting my roof.  There is nothing like the sound of a tin roof in the rain!

This week's Blog Fodder topic,  Blog Fodder #3,  has been posted.  Judy @ Welcome to my World of Dreams submitted the question:   "Do you have any memories of a childhood illness?"  

I like this one.  I have a few stories about illnesses and a few are even funny.  I'll start with the not too funny one though.

The worse sickness that I can remember was my 8th birthday.  I know it was my 8th because my mother made me an 8 shaped cake and I have a photograph of me laying on my bed, too weak to even sit up, with the 8 shaped cake laying on my tummy so I could try to blow out the candles.  I had a birthday party most years and this 8th year was going to be a pool party and I was so excited for it!  What a cool party, a pool party!  Mom had arranged to take us all to the MDC rink & pool in Weymouth, MA and I had waited with anticipation for over a month.  Of course, the whole thing had to be cancelled.   

I was a slight hypochondriac child.  I was constantly spraining an ankle, limping, going to the nurse at school, wanting to use crutches etc.  During one occasion I went up the stairs to my bedroom limping on my right leg, but when I came back down, according to my stepfather, I was limping on the wrong foot.  I can't remember if he pointed it out to me then or if he told me this story later in life.  My 13 year old daughter is very much like this as well, and it is a struggle to deal with because I've been there, done that.  

We had a boat when I was a girl.  We would go on day excursions from Hingham Harbor and explore the Massachusetts South Shore waterfront.  On this particular weekend we got to the boat and I was suddenly inflicted with the worst stomach pain of my life.  It wasn't sea sickness, I felt like my appendix was ready to burst.  Still, to this day, I can't remember feeling anything quite this bad, with the exception of labor.  I was not running a fever or nauseous or anything - just severe pain in my belly.  I spent the entire time on the boat (and off for that matter) bent at the waist so my upper half was horizontal.  I couldn't get any relief at all unless I was in this position.  I laugh now just thinking about it because I literally walked that way the whole day.  My mother laughs too, at the memory of it.  Can't you just picture it?  Can't you just picture what others must have thought?  I could not walk straight up.  I never did figure out what that illness was all about but I was fine the next day and walking up-right again.  

Lastly this story must get the Honorable mention....  Nana raised 9 children, but she never had one quite like me and she will tell you that to this day!  Nana took me to Florida for a week to visit her parents, my great-grandparents.  It was a wonderful trip and special because it was just the two of us.  Somehow I managed to catch the chicken pox towards the end of our vacation.  The first thing I did when we got on the plane to go home was to announce to the passengers that I had the chicken pox.  I was young and didn't know why my announcing such a thing was a problem, but Nana got upset that I told everyone.  Yes.... thinking back I don't think I would have wanted to be on that plane!  

Last week I wrote a wonderful Blog Fodder #2 - TWICE.  I lost it - TWICE.  I guess now it's time for me to re-write and pray that I don't lose it again....     

Blog Fodder #2 was submitted by Nikki-Ann who wants to know: "Tell us about somebody who has changed your life, even if just a little bit."

The year was 1987, I think.  I got on a Greyhound bus with a suitcase of belongings, as much as I could squeeze in.  I was going to a place foreign to me, Virginia.  Christiansburg, Virginia was my Greyhound destination and I was greeted by my aunt Colleen with open arms.  I barely knew my aunt anymore, but this was a new adventure and I was eager to get it started.  I watched the small City of Christiansburg disappear as we drove home, gorgeous rolling hills, fresh air & farmland began to surround us.  What beauty!  I could appreciate it... but I was also a little unsure of what Floyd, Virginia might offer me.  I had lived south of Boston all of my life and Floyd was literally a one-stoplight town, similar to Mayberry. 

So this was my new life.  New surroundings, new friends, a new way of life, new hopes & even new very strong attractions to southern gentlemen (my how they melted my heart)!  I have such vivid memories of the good stuff and forget the bad - for not everything was as perfect as I'd like to remember - but the memories are a part of me and began with Colleen.  I have such vivid memories of those carefree days....  laying in the hammock reading to pass the day; picking puff balls out of the cow field & frying them for dinner;  visiting commune like neighborhoods to watch dancing & drumming & sweats; eating vegetarian food and of going to dances & parties.  Many memories of log cabins, more cow fields, mountains, pickup trucks, El-Camino's & a even mustang here and there.  Memories of fun times with new friends & old, hours spent with Becky, who grew up down the street from me in Massachusetts and also grew attached to Floyd, right along with me.  Memories of just getting to know my aunt and her two small boys.   

My aunt Colleen was one of nine, my mother being the oldest girl.  I grew up attached to the hip to my aunts and uncles, as my Mom was a single working gal and I practically lived at my Nanas house.  I remember Colleen when I was little, mostly through photographs and as I grew I remembered a few sporadic things...  visiting a cottage that she rented near a lake, her wedding & the time she took me to the daycare center she taught at so I could help her teach.  In my teen years Colleen lived in Texas, for she had married someone who wanted to settle elsewhere and from Texas she then migrated to Floyd.  I never got to visit Colleen and I didn't see her often anymore but mother and she were very close and corresponded constantly.  More memories come back from this time period of reading Colleen's Mothering articles & Poetry and when my mother home-schooled me for a year I remember Colleen being her inspiration.  

When life brought a few bumps and bruises my way, Mom was the one to suggest I try "Colleen's Virginia" - which did change my life - most definately.  I stayed only a short time initially, but somehow I was attached to this place.  There is a magnet in these mountains that pulls you in and keeps you here or keeps you coming back.  My daughter was raised here and this is home now, equally as much as Massachusetts has been.    I guess my life was changed by Colleen.... I love her for it and for the wonderful person she is! 

Blog Fodder #1  (Go here if you want to join)

This subject was posted by Jean-Luc Picard

Hmmm - Memorable Memories in School.....

I had the coolest 1st grade teacher.  His name was Mr. Oliver and he taught at Foster School in Hingham MA (just in case anyone knows who he is...  I would love to let him know how much I liked him).  I had just moved to a new school and he was new to the school as well - so we were both in the same boat.  I was a little intimidated at having a male teacher but immediately grew to love him.  Show and Tell time was the best!  He would sit us in a circle, with him in the middle sitting down and spin his legs around and where ever his feet landed, who ever they were pointing at, got to take their turn at Show and Tell.  I think he was our teacher for about a month and then one day we walked into class and was told that we had a new teacher.  No explanation or anything....  The new teacher was a woman and I wasn't impressed, to say the least.  Even in 1st grade I had very strong opinions....  If anyone out there knows of a Mr. Oliver who teaches, let me know. 

I wasn't a very studious child.  I was way more into having fun.  My most memorable experiences in High School probably took place out in the smoking area.  Yes we actually had a smoking area.  You could go grab a smoke between classes and it was always packed with friends!  Lunch was spent eating for the first 10 minutes and the rest of the time horsing around out in the smoking area.  I learned alot in that spot!     

My new friend Moogie - from "Moogie's World" is starting a new Blog participation Game.   

Blog Fodder.....  What an excellent idea!  Essentially we all post idea's on what everyone should blog about and then if you participate and are on the Blogroll you have to write about that topic.  Way cool - one of my big problems sometimes is coming up with things to write about.

So - check out Moogie and her idea.

The more the merrier!