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President Barack Obama takes the oath of office.
The Moment arrived in our living room under the glowing morning light through the stained glass window.
Welcome to The New Era. Now, let's get some coffee and let's get to work. There's much to do, so much.
Just one more day, dollins. One. More. Day.
The countdown to the end of the Bush Administration and beginning of the Obama presidency is down to its last 24 hours. This house in the Society Hill section of Philadelphia is getting ready.
Uploaded by WHYY, Online on 19 Jan 09, 10.40AM PST.
I did nothing more than drive over the hill to Palo Alto, had lunch, shopped for small items at Ikea and drove back home and yet? Tonight? My hip - oy! She whines, she throbs, she whines again, she throbs some more!
(Arrrrgh. I have to get that hip arthroscopy soon. Still waiting to hear from the surgery scheduler. Maybe I should send a box of See's Candies Nuts and Chews or Soft Centers?)
I tried to tough it out but gave in to the whine and took a prescription medication that, according to medical science, would render me useless at the controls of a forklift. Or, a laptop keyboard.
I know my limitations. I recognize that I'm in no shape whatsoever to be blogging. Therefore, instead of driving under the influence of a controlled substance while speeding on the Super Information Highway (or, "The Google", as per President George H. Bush said the other day), I will back away from the keyboard, officer.
In the meantime, please enjoy this image of a most charming encounter in Carmel, Calfornia - my Brit pooch Malcolm snogging with a Frenchy poodle in a Euro-trash striped polo shirt. Bask in the Anglo-Franco doggy love glow, dollins.
We're spiffing up little by little here at Chez State of Grace. Landscaping (pics soon!), cleaning up weirdo stuff that's been around the house forever (i.e., giant terracotta cartoon-y looking pig - outta here), and adding nifty things around the house like this mirror put together with found materials.
We bought this beauty in Carmel, California. Normally, the only thing we buy in tony "Carmel-by-the-Sea" is lunch and a latte. But, the economic downturn is creeping into the fancier parts of the country, much to the delight of The Great Unwashed non-fancy folks like me. Actually, among the Carmel ladies-who-lunch, I'd be among The Great Un-Botoxed, but that's a whole other blog post.
About the mirror - The artist recycled a tin ceiling from an old house somewhere in the Midwest. He cut the ceiling into frames and mirrors and added strips of copper for reinforcements and accents. It was love at first sight and it was on sale. And that's always a win-win.
It's as heavy as it appears but Hubs suspended it in the window frame securely with mega-strong but thin cables. A good thing - we really don't want the mirror to swing and crash backwards into and out that window.
Also purchased - a sake cup for the toothbrushes. I like to do that, mix up the household items, though I will draw the line on using a cheese grater for my cracked heels.
Oh, I am a clever, resourceful and unabashedly self-congratulatory hausfrau. But, I'm also trying to be a eco-warrior hausfrau and this mirror from recycled materials is a score on that count.
Come on over and brush your teeth or powder your nose in front of our nifty new/old mirror. I ask you, what other blogger extends this kind of warm and fuzzy invitation to her readers? Really, no one else. Such is my love for you, good dollins.
(Right now, Hubs and I are having a very intense conversation about work, our kids and the fact that we're getting old and that time is going really, really fast. Bleh.
I don't want to write about the icky mortality issue. You don't want to hear about it. Trust me. Instead, I give you this gem - somewhat related to mortality issues - from The Best of Craigslist.)
************************************
Originally Posted: Thu, 19 Jun 15:59 CDT
Date: 2008-06-19, 3:59PM CDT
FLAGGERS: Over half the United States population has legitimate
concerns about what will happen to their pets after the rapture occurs.
Please respect their faith and allow this service to remain posted,
just as the waste removal and grooming posts remain posted. Again, over
half of the US population feels that this is a concern to them. If
there is a specific problem with the ad, please email me. Thank you.
Have you ever thought about what will happen to your pets after Jesus
comes back to claim the souls of the saved during the Rapture and
deliver them to heaven to enjoy ever lasting life? The bible clearly
teaches that only those that have accepted Jesus as their savior will
enter heaven (John 14:6, Romans 3:23), and we all know that pets do not
have the cognitive ability to do this, so what will happen to your
beloved pets? Surely without you there, they would be stuck inside your
empty house, starving to death with no one to feed them, let them out
to potty, or clean their litter box. This is probably not what you
envision for your pets after you are gone. This is where I come in.
I am here to offer you pet care service for after the rapture. As an atheist, I will surely still be here on this earth post rapture and would love to look after your pets for a small fee and make sure they are still well taken care of after you and your family have been raptured. You will be able to look down on them from heaven and see them being well cared for by me and living happy, healthy lives. Do not let my atheism scare you! I am a moral and loving pet owner and would never do harm to any animal.
For a small deposit of only $50, you can be assured that your pets will be well cared for from the time that you are raptured until the end of their natural life. They will get adequate amounts of food, water, and shelter as well as plenty of exercise and socialization as I would imagine there will be a lot of pets that will be abandoned by Jesus the pet hater that will need to be cared for.
If interested, please email me for my PayPal address (you can also send me a check if you prefer) so you can assure that your pets will be taken care of after Jesus comes to take your soul to heaven. $50 is only a small price to pay to know that while you are enjoying everlasting bliss, your pets will be cared for until their end days. Thanks and have a great day!
Please do not flag this ad. It is very serious.
Are you from a family who can't take a group picture without someone in the group looking goofy? Well, we're the sort of family where every single one of us does the goofball thing.
Here we have the following goofs, L to R:
Hubs strangling his son Andy's stepkiddo Josie with her own scarf
Me in full Charlie Angels' mode. I look just like Kate Jackson, don't you think?
Andy, pulling off Distinguished Goofball Lawyer quite nicely.
Stepkiddo Jenn doing something clearly goofy.
And, Irene, Andy's wife who decided to save our dignity in public by being the most mature and gracious of all of us. No goofing, but dang, look at those hot-cha boots!
I love my people. I grew up in an un-funny, downright grim household. Funny was often mistaken for sarcastic and that was punishable with a smack. Horrible.
My life now is heaven. Who knew heaven would be so...goofy?
I'm not trying to show off my gams in this post, really. It's a pretty dorky look anyway, with the baggy shorts and dark ankle socks. Very Eurotrash tourist ensemble. All I need are dark leather sandals and voila, I'd be ready to hop on a San Francisco Cable Car or stroll around movie star footprints at Graumann's Chinese Theater.
Rather, this image is a self portrait of my legs in the fugly but practical exam shorts that is the required eam apparel for us patients at the Stanford Medical Center Orthopedic Clinic. No poorly designed exam gowns with the open ass flap at this clinic, thank God. That wouldn't work, particularly in the gait analysis - asking a patient to walk down the clinic hallway as the she clutches the back of the gown to keep from mooning the nursing staff is really no way for a doc to evaluate a gait.
I'm posting the fugly shorts because right now I want to be in them waiting for my pre-hip arthroscopy exam. I have yet to hear from the surgery scheduler to get me on their calendar but so far, nothing. Oh yes, yes, yes - I have called and left multiple but very, very polite messages to ask if I could kindly get a call back. No responses yet, so I thought that if I post a picture of the shorts I could manifest the appointment. Ask the universe, and all that handy New Age stuff.
I need to get this treatment done. My legs used to be tough, badass, thrash-through-the-jungle bitchin. I had strength and endurance and, unless I ran a race or completed a particularly brutal hike and ski session, the legs were always reliable and would never ever ache for no apparent reason. Now, they do ache, sometimes throbbingly so. The apparent reason is because my limping is getting worse due to the hip "going out" more frequently. I'm not doing anything other than the every day chores of life, and so this is alarming to me.
I need to get the hip fixed.
So, here's to the dorky shorts. May this blog post manifest my surgery date soon, please, universe? Thanks very much. Achingly but cordially yours, GraceD
**UPDATE**
Hey, I might be on to some hocus pocus here that's better than The Secret - manifesting your wishes via blog post! Rachel, the very nice surgery scheduler called a few minutes ago. I was so happy to hear from her that I channeled the youthful Judy Garland and cried out -
"Ohhhhhh! I knew it would be yoooouuuu, Rachel!!!!!"
Then, I broke into a chorus from Meet Me in Saint Louis. Specifically, Judy Garland's rousing "The Trolley Song".
Now, Rachel didn't have an appointment for me, but she called and that counts. We discussed referrals to other surgeons at the clinic who could possibly do my surgery sooner. Rachel said she would follow up on that and get back to me. Which she did! In 20 minutes! Rachel - that rockstar and goddess - initiated a call to the folks who handle another doc's schedule and told them she had spoken to my doc and he said it was okay for me to see someone else. The other doc's folks said all is good and that they will wait for my call. And, of course, I called the nanosecond I got off the phone with Rachel. Left a message. Now, we wait again.
Let's manifest a call back today from the other docs by posting this pic of my MRI imaging, ready for evaluation from a local doctor I consulted for a second opinion. He told me to go to back to Stanford, that they're our regional pros for hip arthroscopy. Sigh.
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