Flapper's Folly

Christmas is over, hopefully your tree and decorations are put away, and if you are like most folks, you now have  a lot of holiday photos.  Most likely the photos are digital and sitting somewhere on a computer, a memory card, or even still in the camera.

I think the  biggest benefit of digital photography is being able to take all the pictures you want. With no  worry about the cost of film or developing, you can snap away. So instead or 40 or 60 images, you now can have hundreds from one holiday season. I know some folks who use their digital cameras much like a film one and print them soon after they are taken.  At our house, that never happens. Indeed they are scattered. The card was emptied onto the laptop or one computer or another every time it is full and soon we don't know where all the pics are or if we ever even looked at them.

Today I came across an article online at Southern Living all about organizing one's digital  photo files.  There are lots of good ideas in the article and included are downloadable templates to make the cute CD covers at left.  There are many more than those pictured and something to suit nearly every occasion. I printed one out and it fit like a charm with no adjustment. There is space provided for the date and event or subject.

We've been using a digital camera since at least 2003 and have racked up a lot of files.  I'm thinking how nice it would be to clear that space on hard drives and place the images in these neat little envelopes in a notebook. Guess I know what I'll be doing in my spare time this week. 

Posted by Rockelle at 5:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's been a year since the last entry here and there was a blank year before that.  At one time I was posting almost every day and people actually read what I wrote. Strange, I know.  So I'm back to try again.  I have a new tool called Window's Live Writer and I'm giving it a spin today.  

I've become addicted to Rate My Space on HGTV.com, a site where people post pictures of their rooms and others can rate the rooms from one to five and leave comments.  It's great to be able to look into other folk's houses and see what they have done.  I am about to redo the guest bath and plan to finally subject my own decorating faux pas to critique. I also wanted to take pics of the project as it progressed. I was also thinking I might share product info and new techniques.  Then it dawned on me. There stands the blog!

  Be aware... In my mind it sounds kinda like this:

So I'm going to use my blog to chronicle my bathroom redo. Pictures coming soon.

Note:  The song "There Stands the Glass", written and performed by Webb Pierce, was number one on the charts in 1953.  I was born three years later.  Although I have probably only heard this song a handful of times in my adult life, I know every word to it and it regularly pops into my mind.  I can only guess my mother listened to it during her pregnancy and it is proof that we learn in utero.       

Posted by Rockelle at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Recently the Puter Ho and I acquired a new vehicle. The '97 Pontiac I brought to this union had served well, but when the air conditioner crashed and the cost to repair it was a huge percent of the value, we decided it was time for it to go. We have a nice sedan, but it's getting a lot of miles on it and we're tired of renting the Home Depot truck to bring relatively small things home. Neither of us wanted a pickup, so a small SUV seemed the solution. A friend had recently gotten a Honda CR-V and we liked it and decided it was time to enter the small SUV market.

After a bit of research, off we went to test new vehicles. The CR-V was first. It's a nice size, but comes with few amenities, especially power seats. The Puter Ho is 6 foot and, sadly, I'm a foot shorter. Adjusting seats and mirrors is an almost daily hassle. Listen closely, because the height issue is very important. The back door on the CR-V opens sideways. No sweat. But no power seats, so we start to explore. Up a bit in size and the doors open "up". No problem, but grasping and pulling them down turned out to be a problem. I kind of jumped and hung on. I'm too friggin' old to hang like a monkey to close the back door. Even the car-like Nissan Murano's back door was difficult for me to close.

We test drove every small to midsize SUV in the Metroplex. LIke Goldilocks I climbed in, adjusted seats, drove, and opened and closed rear doors. One was just right... This sweet thing drove like my sedan , only better, the seats and mirrors remembered individual settings and glory of glories, the rear door opened and closed at the touch of a button. It was perfect. Oh yeah. In all it's cushy leather and Steinway wood trim, it was everything I ever wanted. And cost more than my first house!

We bought it. Why? Because I could manage the rear door and the seats adjusted so easily. That's the truth. My daughter said I needed a bigger rock on the hand that steers it. My mother said that "at my age" I deserve it. The Puter Ho said it had to have the Navigation package which cost what the car that goes with the first house cost.

So why is this post titled "Old Hippie Chick"? I'll tell you. I'm ashamed. I love the car. I love the comfort, the kickass sound system, the navigation, the rear door. I love it all. Hell, my cell phone rings, it mutes the radio, and I answer it on the steering wheel and just talk. But there is a part of me that is ashamed to own it. It is soooo not me. I'm all natural and not materialistic. Really. I am the ultimate hippie chick. We can leave off the "old" part. It's the first thing I have owned that really grates against everything I stand for.

In the past I've sneered at bleached, tanned, manicured bitches driving such vehicles as they gabbed away into their phones. Remember. I'm not like that.

I don't even have to touch my phone.

Posted by Rockelle at 5:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Okay. It's true my last entry here was in January 2005. Over a year; fourteen months to be exact. So why write now? I still read lots of blogs and I began to notice that many were celebrating anniversaries. Two, three, even four years blogging and I realized I had passed the milestone of not blogging for a year.

During this time the Puter Ho urged me to get back to it, but there seemed so many reasons not to. There was a point when I felt that continuing with the current administration in office would only drive me to drink or at least develop an ulcer. Words just could not, cannot, express my disgust. So, there was that. Then this other thing happened. Last May, almost a year ago, I became a grandma. Yep. I would like to say an obscenely young one, but actually it's perfect. I'm not too young, my daughter isn't too young, but I am young enough to be around a long time and hopefully play with my great grandchildren some day. There was also painting and redecorating the house. Falling on a watermelon and painfully bruising my ribs (NO, the watermelon didn't bust :P ) A host of other obstacles have stood between me and a return to blogging.

Then a few days ago my husband was looking at the stats of several sites he is part of and found that my little blog was still getting quite a bit of traffic. And not just spiders and crawlers and such. Folks are still linking to bits and pieces. I guess I felt that once I did it, it was gone. So with the Puter Ho beginning a new web venture, I'm determined to take a moment now and then and share my thoughts, experiences, and observations. And I promise not too many pics of our dear little Madeline.

Posted by Rockelle at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

One of the greatest joys of my life is that my children love each other. It's also one of the biggest surprises. A daughter 25 and a son 21, four years apart so each had plenty of baby time, I've often felt they would gladly murder one another if the opportunity presented itself. Having no siblings myself, I could never understand the bitter fighting and, what seemed to me, absolute hatred they exhibited as children.

From salted hot chocolate to grass burrs hidden in beds, there seemed no end to their meanness. Once they were both out of car seats, I would sit in the backseat with my daughter while my son sat up front with his dad on family trips to avoid the horror of the two them sitting back there. Often more disturbing than the fighting itself was the constant tattling. “He said.” “She said.” “He hit me!” “She took my __” It went on and on.

Now they are adults, (more or less) It’s hard to think of them that way. They are both married. Yes, probably too young, but it tells me that even though their parents’ marriage didn’t survive, they still believe in marriage. Both have wonderful spouses whom I love as my own.

Most surprising is that they love and care for each other the way they do. They confide, commiserate, advise and admonish. They spend hours on the phone sharing their lives, their hopes, and their fears. It’s almost unimaginable. Oh, but it is wonderful and more than I ever hoped for.

I’ve always envied siblings, thinking how great it would be to have someone who had always known you. A person you shared your life, your history with, in a way no spouse or friend or even a parent ever could. I see my parents as they enter old age becoming close once again with brothers and sisters and I thank God that my children will have that. It’s a blessing to know that although I will die and marriages and friendships can dissolve, they will have each other. And always be on the same side.

Blake. Nicole. I am honored to be your mother…

Posted by Rockelle at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm BACK! Yeah. Drowning in chardonay and Pink Floyd. I've spent the last months working my ass off on the house. Hoping for the triumph of sanity. Now all bets are off. I wasn't a huge fan of Kerry, but a definite "ANYBODY BUT BUSH" person.

So what now? Can I find my muse? We'll see. Oh, hell yes, we are going to see a lot with another four years of this.

Does nobody remember Nixon????????????????

My color is blue. In more ways than one.

Posted by Rockelle at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

When was the last time you paid attention to the body count in Iraq? As of this morning, 23 of our troops have died since Saturday. That's since Saturday. Now I'm no slouch at searching the internet, but I can assure you, you will be hard put to find a total since the beginning of action. If you know, please share, because I could find no official total.

What's happened to our media? Yeah, they still make a big deal about the innocent Iraqis we kill, but where are the figures on our troops? I remember watching Cronkite as a kid and seeing neat little bar graphs of fatalities during the Viet Nam "conflict"..... Where are those now? Where are the people that were protesting when this thing began? Has the friggin' Bush administration so intimidated the media and everyone else that there can be no dissension?

What's going to happen? One can't help but draw parallels between Iraq and Viet Nam, and it wasn't settled in one, or even two administrations. Even if Kerry wins, and God knows he must, how will he be able to get us out? What really turns my stomach is that I live in Texas and most of my fellow Texans will vote for Bush because he's a Texan and he kicked ass.... HUH????? It's scary.

One of my biggest disappointments is the youth of our country. Aren't young people supposed to be idealistic? I can see how it fades as you age, but shouldn't our kids care? Are they all so caught up in aquiring the latest whatsit and living vicariously through reality crap tv that they don't notice or care what is happening to their country? Or are they just totally disillusioned, believieng that nothing they do matters?

If there ever was a time to sing God Bless America, this is it.

Posted by Rockelle at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)