Thursday, November 29, 2007

1-800-GOOBER


For those of you who do not know..a Goober in my world is someone paid to help you that does not now anymore than you do.

Yesterday I got a message on my cell phone that said I had a new photo. Downloaded and got a text message that said; "All your contacts have been deleted...hope you have fun putting them back in".

Holy Crap Batman!!!!

Called my cell provider. For English press 1..for Espanol press end..if you can't speak English call back when you can....sorry, off track!!!

This is my comversation:

This is GOOBER can I have your cell phone number?

xxxxxxxxxx

Yes C-A-R-O-L-I-N-E how can I help you?

It's Carolyn..no "I" in my name Caro-lynn

Yes Caro-line....

Explained about the picture and he said WELLLLLL Caro-line a picture cannot deleted your contacts are they still there?

If it cannot delete why ask me if they are still there? Beside it only said it was a picture..it was really a text message.

Are they there Caro-line?

Yes Mr GOOBER they are there but I have not turned my phone off. Will I loose them?

NO but......I have never heard of this. Someone is messing with you.

If an Email can kill your computer..why can't a text message kill your contacts?

Beside it was not anyone I know...they put a g on puttin" we don't use "G's" here.

WEll Caro-line can I help you anymore?

I didn't know you had helped me at all..........

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Treasures




Happy Thanksgiving every one, just a little late. Have been out of town and could not blog.

BLOGGER WITHDRAWAL

When to LA for the holiday to see MaMa and family. Ate to much , not a enough time to visit and spent way to much money.

Say Mama and only son. Spent time with favorite sister and other family members.

Mama gave me treasures. She gave me a quilt made by my great grandmother, post cards written by my Uncle Sam when he was joined the Army in 1942. Mama was 18. He went to Duck Hill, Miss. for basic traning and wrote to Mama, Aunt Short (sister) and Mama Thomas.


She gave me her mothers wardrobe closet...I remember MAMA Thomas keeping her dusting powder in the little door with the mirror. Her stocking (she did not wear hose) with the garter that held them up. Her pearls for church on Sunday was in that little door.


Her Sunday dresses hung in the other side. Only the good ones she wore to town and church.

Her and some of the church ladies would gather at her house and make quilts. The back were feed sacks and the patch work front was scraps. They stayed on her bed all winter and was put in the corner during the summer.

She wore house dresses with aprons and smoked till the day she died. She raised chickens and milked her cow. She made her own butter. She could not read but was one of the smartest people I knew when I was small. She could build playhouse and make pies from scratch. She was cool!!!!!!

Friday, November 16, 2007

Beer, Bowling and Hot Wings



Last night was bowling night. We start at 6:30 and normally finish around 9:00. The team we bowled last night pre-bowled so we only had our team on the lane. My first thought was ......
Yes, we can go to Beefs and have wings and beer. They close at 9:00 on week days so can not go normally. Went something like this:

"Let's go guys"

"George your up"

"Jay your up"

Lets get this going.....after me pushing and pushing we finished at 8:30. Not sure I could get us there by 9:00. It was my mission.....

"Get you stuff Jay....have a good Turkey day everyone "
" Come on honey .....let's go"
"Have to go to the bathroom"
"You can do that at the restuarant"
" Let's go"

In the car ...on the road....yeah we have time!!!

How fast your driving?

60...why

Speed limit is only 50

I know but it is 8:45.....have to be there by 9:00.

In the parking lots....9:00...is the OPEN light still on......YES!!!!!!!!!!

"If it is fixin" (southern for going) to close we can go home"

"I don't think so...we will go to HOOTERS!!!!!"

You still servin" ( we don't use G's in the South)

Sure .......life is good

Cold beer, hot wings, ranch dressing, celery sticks, curly fries

Can things get any better !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Of course, being the good Mother that I am, I am on a 900 calories a day diet with my daughter so she can look good in swim suit for her cruise in December. The wings, beer and curlie fries is probably more than I can have for the next 2 days. Salad here we come..but

I tore those wings up.......and it was light beer.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Am I missing something




This is a picture of the storm surge of Katrina on the Missisippi and Alabama coast. After the hurricane hit, peoples lives were changed forever. Not all the people in Mississippi and Alabama live in homes on the gulf. Some of them were shrimper whose only income was from the Gulf. Homes had been in families for generation and most had no insurance on them. When they lost thier homes and shrimp boats..they lost the only way of life they knew. Shrimper's on the gulf are like the Crab and Lobster fishermen you see on the Discovery channel, only not as dangerous.

Now they have to worry about exposing themselves and thier children to formaldehyde. It is a fact that this chemical is present in most Fema trailer. Kids are sick with colds, allergies, nose bleeds plus a number of other illnesses. The FEMA people have decided not to test the level of this chemical in thier trailers. This testing has been put off indefinitely by FEMA executives. Formaldehyde is used in the embalming process and we do not see a problem with exposing chidren to it? Am I missing something here?????

We can have massive recall for toys with lead in them from China(as we should) but FEMA is not held responsible for a harmful chemical. I know Katrina has been 3 years and people should not still be in these trailers but they are and it is probably making them sick.

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Soap Box



When I came to work yesterday morning gas at the station across the street was $2.83, when I got off 8 hrs later gas was $2.99. Did I miss something in that 8 hrs period? Did we have a major hurricane or one of the refineries catch on fire. We have all these reserves we are saving for our great, great , great grandchildren(who will probably drive solar power vehicles) and we cannot afford to go to work or have any life because the extra we have is being put in the gas tank. These foreign countries are holding us hostage and the gas companies are making million in profit because we cannot open up Alaska or the gulf for enviromental reasons. When did we lose all of our common sense?

When I was a kid and the weather got really bad,dark and gloomy, my great grandmother would tell me God was crying because he was sad. When it rained and the sun was shining, she said they were happy tears......I wonder what kind of tears he is shedding now? We have so screwed up the world he made.....

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Southern Things


I have spent all of my adult life in the South. We moved back to North Louisiana when I was a Junior in high school. Prior to that, I had spent my whole life on military bases both in the states and overseas. What a culture shock that was! I was born in the late 40's and did not move back to LA. until 65. This was the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. We went to an all white school (never did that before) and even the movie theater was segregrated...black in the balcony and whites down below. The clinics, hospital, funeral homes were all separate. For us, me and my sisters, all grown ups were addressed with Yes Mame or Yes Sir.....no there. Needless to say, our school years were a little difficult. That being said, I love most southern things although some of them still elude me 40+ years later.

Recently I had to go to another plant we own about an hours drive from the coast. It is a small south town where the plant is the biggest employer and no commerce. One small store (Piggly Wiggly), hardware store, feed and seed, drug store ,a couple little shops and one restaurant. Right out side of town is a shop called Rays. Apparently Ray is a butcher (think they call them meat cutters now) because he has a sign that says Rabbit Meat, Catfish and Coon..the other side also says deer. Do people actually eat Coon? How do you cook it? What do eat with it? Guess Granny and Jed did cook possum and coon in Beverly Hills. Wonder if it is fatting?

I thought people only hunted Coon, did not know they killed and and actually ate the meat!!! MAMA Thomas use to tell us kids that if you killed a Coon and skinned it , you had to leave one paw on it cause it looked like a cat skinned. We thought she was just getting us kids (we were city slickers) but maybe not.

Some Southern things still elude me 40 years later and no we do not eat coon, rabbit or deer meat. But mine at Walmart.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Everyone called her Bill

My mother's name is Clotilde (clo-tild) but everyone calls her Bill. Mama is 82 and for the most part in really good health. Heart is good, memory is fine, if you take into consideration Mama is 82. She smokes like a chimney and sees no reason to quit at this time in her life. She has a little COPD from smoking for 60 years and shakes a little but other than that she is doing good. The problem is MAMA is dieing. Not from heart problems , cancer, COPD...MAMA is dieing from sadness. It seems so strange to say that and makes my heart sad when I read it.

Mama is tall (5'11') and has always been thin like a model. She had an olive complexion that required not makeup and hair so black it look purple. She was beautiful. She was a stay at home Mom and was the Room Mother at school. She made our clothes and crochet doilies and throws. She never wore pants until 1957 when we went to France and wore spike heels that made her even prettier. She was by all accounts Harriet Nelson or the Beaver's Mom.

Her and POP ( my Dad) were married 47 years when Pop died and I think that was the day MAMA quit living. She sat down on the couch, lit a cigarette and has not gotten up. For the last 13 years we have lost MAMA a little each day. She lost interest in her church (she still goes every Sunday) but is no longer involved. Most of her's and Pop's friend have passed away so she has no friends. She lives on junk food ( cookies,ice cream, etc) and is down to 97 pounds. We thought it might be something health related but the Dr. said it is sadness. Depression really does kill you.

How sad will my life be when both my parents are gone.