I'm on strike again...... at least for today

I haven't written for a few days. I've thought about it, but just haven't had the time. I've actually attempted to WORK this past week. I've been to the accountant, the bank, spent some time out in the shop and on a job site and once again volunteered myself at school for the day this Friday.

Sounds good, right? Let's just say that in accomplishing what needed to be done I've succeeded in creating a newer, bigger pile of stuff to fall into the "what needs to be done" category. My desk is a fire hazard.

Yesterday I almost cheerfully tackled the biggest new project of switching all our accounting to accrual instead of cash. After about 4 hours of entering stuff into my accounting software, I printed out this really sweet looking little report of everything financial about our business AT THIS EXACT MOMENT! Wow, was I impressed (almost). Two hours later I proudly pulled my husband over to the computer to take a look at my impressive accomplishment. Big smile on my face, waiting for the pat on the ass that usually follows such a brilliant display of my abilities....... I opened the accounting program and ...... IT LOOKED EXACTLY AS IT HAD ON DECEMBER 31, 2008. Another shining example of how I can manage to go even further backwards while attempting to move forward.

God bless the "save" button and thank you "Murphy" for making sure I hadn't pushed it. Today I am striking from my own business as a way of protesting my own stupidity........

Blog Award - I'm a lucky winner!

I opened my comments today to find a special one from Pedro. He was kind enough to nominate ME for a blog award. Thank you Pedro.... much appreciated for sure!

Now the ball is in my court and I have a few rules I must follow as a recipient of this award:

1) choose 5 bloggers who I think are also worthy of this award to pass it on to

2) List 10 things about myself that others don't know

3) Post a quote

4) Now I can post the award on my blog

So...... here we go!

First of all I've run across many blogs that I enjoy. Here are 5 of my favorites:

1. Mrs. Robinson's House



2. The Gravel Farm



3. The Flawed Blog



4. Handbag Cave



5. Faker

Take a peek at them sometime. Some will make you laugh and others will make you think. Sometimes they'll do both!

Next..... 10 things about me... hmmm.. I guess they won't be secrets anymore

1. I'm pretty much the "black sheep" of my family due to my views and thoughts


2. I'm actually fairly intellegent and if IQ were truly any measure of how successful a person should be, I should me a millionaire any day now :)


3. Even though I sometimes come across as fairly crass, I do actually have a soft heart


4. I enjoy alot of the "old fashioned" hobbies, such as quilting and canning/freezing my own vegetables from the garden


5. I'm fairly creative and enjoy designing and building unique things out of wood and stone


6. I used to dream of becoming a concert pianist and love playing piano (especially classical music)


7. I grew up in an excavating family and worked in the gravel pits or on jobs on and off since I was a kid. I think that upbringing is a big part of why I don't do well in the confines of a typical office setting. It's also where I first learned how to swear like a trucker :)


8. I love to go fishing, but I hate eating fish. Good thing the rest of my family hates fishing, but loves to eat fish... gives me the peace and quiet fishing time and a useful reason for doing it


9. I have a high sex drive. Kind of personal, I know, but I'm running out of things to say!


10. I hate doing laundry and dishes more than anything else (except maybe cleaning the bathroom).

As for a quote, I don't know who said it, but I read it somewhere a few years back and it's always stuck in my mind:

Some people are like slinkies. They aren't really good for anything, but they're still fun to push down a flight of stairs.

The Day the Music Died

Photo of Monument at Crash Site from Wikipedia

American Pie Lyrics - Don McLean
A long, long time ago...I can still remember

How that music used to make me smile

And I knew if I had my chance

That I could make those people dance

And, maybe, they'd be happy for a while.

But February made me shiver

With every paper I'd deliver.

Bad news on the doorstep;

I couldn't take one more step.
I can't remember if I cried

When I read about his widowed bride,

But something touched me deep inside

The day the music died.

So bye-bye, Miss American Pie.

Drove my Chevy to the levee,

But the levee was dry.

And them good old boys were drinkin' whiskey and rye

Singin', "this'll be the day that I die.

"this'll be the day that I die."

Tonight marks a sad anniversary. A great loss to early American Rock and Roll. A case of the flu, a coin toss and a need to get some laundry done sealed the fate of 3 great musicians.

On February 3rd, 1959 in a frigid Iowa cornfield, in a small private airplane, JP Richardson (the Big Bopper), Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly lost their lives along with their pilot Roger Peterson.

Stepping outside tonight in the vast frozen "midwest" a chill runs through me. Not because of the cold, although temperatures tonight are already nearing -20 with the windchill where I live. My chill tonight is because I can't help but think about the events of that evening and how I too would have counted myself "lucky" to have won a coin toss to get a seat on that plane. My chill tonight is because it is so quiet, as it must have been in that field before the wreckage was found. Great artists, incredible music silenced.

The tour bus had a faulty heater and had already caused frostbite to at least one person. I too may have chosen to charter a seat on a plane for $36 rather than face another 5 hours or better on a freezing cold bus in the middle of the night. Add a case of the flu to the situation and I'd have also asked for a seat on the plane to expedite my arrival to a nice warm bed. (Waylon Jennings of Buddy Holly's band gave up his seat to the Big Bopper at just such a request)

I'm 32 years old. I don't remember the events of that night 50 years ago by first hand news accounts. I know of those events only by account of my parents and movies made since that day. I know the music of these men from listening to dad's "oldies" station in the truck all my years growing up or listening to mom's old records on the turntable.

Chantilly Lace, The Purple People Eater, LaBamba, Donna, Peggy Sue, That'll Be the Day..... and the list of songs they left behind goes on and on. Tonight as I sit here playing some of these songs from the past it occurs to me that the music didn't die. The music will live on as long as there are those of us who keep it alive.

Goodnight Mr. Richardson, Mr. Valens and Mr. Holly....... and thank you.