And the people spoke...

I know some of you have lost entries…just ‘poof’ and it’s gone? Well, I lost a long list of nifty topics. It was not much, just a lot of rambles, but they were my rambles.
I’ll get to the jury duty details in a minute. I’ve got other, more boring stuff for you to wade through first.
One of my entries on my other blog back in November of last year was about my daughter’s and Hubby’s birthday. They share the same day, as does Dr. G, the doctor who delivered her and her older sister. In that entry, I added a little “Happy Birthday” shout-out to him as well. I mentioned him by name.
Fast forward to last month - a colleague of his did a google search of Dr. G’s name and he came across that blog. So he passed the info onto the doctor and the Dr. G emailed me! It’s been about 30 years since he moved away. We exchanged a few howdy’s and whatcha’s. He’s in his 70’s now and living in Virginia. For the record, he was a great guy and the best doctor I’ve ever had.
As some of you have noticed, I’ve been somewhat slow in posting entries. Much of it is due to me not being bored – Hubby’s not working out of town as much, and my keyboard is too loud to type “after-hours”.
Another reason is due to me having to attend to all those boring and mundane everyday activities like dishes, laundry and such; and then sometimes it was because I was either too busy or too lazy.
My daughter asked me to make a wedding gift for a friend of hers (which I did) and it didn’t turn out near as well as I wanted. It was an altered scrapbook album cover. I would give it a B or B- if I were grading it. Of course, I was aiming for an A+. I have this little perfectionist streak in me. I know handmade items will look handmade, that’s the whole point, isn’t it? I just don’t want it to look like a 3 year old did it.
I’m also trying to sort through tons of medical ‘Explanation of Benefits’ forms in order to get reimbursed by our Flex plan. I couldn’t find a couple of claims that I needed, so I asked the insurance company to mail me copies. They mailed me copies of ALL of my medical claims. And since this has been a busy year for me, medically speaking, they were numerous.
Plus, I’m trying to do some “fall” cleaning for an upcoming garage sale and I’m finding it hard to part with my things. I’m a packrat and I know it. And it’s mostly junk, but still…
For instance, I have a sunflower yellow Fiestaware cream pitcher and sugar bowl set. It’s not a reproduction, my mom had it way back when. Do I keep it or sell it? How much? Stuff like that. From my granny, I’ve got paddle-like wool comber thingies, some old butter molds, 1920’s post cards - stuff like that. I keep it because I like it, but I’ve got no place to display it in this small house.
I’ve also got lots of other folk art type items that I’ve picked up over time. Most of it is nothing but junk, junk, junk.
Like this – about 5 years ago, I bought about 20 of these small, stuffed baby dolls (about 4” tall) and they all have different facial expressions. They were so adorable, I had no idea what I was going to do with them; I just thought they were cute. Now they are in a box somewhere. I have extra sheets and tablecloths. I have a ton of extra pots and pans and dishes that I don’t need.
Not to mention jeans. Levis, Wranglers, what have you. I probably have at least 30 pairs, all different sizes. At one time I was going to make a quilt out of denim. Or potholders. Or something.
Nonetheless, out it all goes. I promise.
However, I must say in my defense, I was raised mostly by my grandparents and they had that Great Depression mentality that required you to keep everything…”just in case”, you know?
Anyway, I’m going to use the money that (hopefully) the garage sale brings in to celebrate with Baby Jack, who by the way will be One Year Old next month. We’re going to visit him and be attendees at his birthday party. We leave on the 18th.
It’s so sad not be able to visit with him much. Even worse, they’ll be moving somewhere else next year. I hope the Navy keeps them in the USA.
Isn’t it sad how you see actors doing a guest role on a TV show. They are the same age as you, and they look really, really OLD?
Ok, about this jury duty thing. This was my third time to be summoned for the process.
The case before us was a Felony DUI (driving under the influence). In Texas, having two prior convictions for DUI makes the third one a felony offense.
The defendant was a diabetic, 69 year old man who, on 6/11/04 @ 8:50pm, ran a stop sign and crashed his car into a tree. He then walked to a nearby house and entered the garage.
According to the two witnesses who helped him out of the car, he smelled of alcohol and appeared to be intoxicated. They called 911 and tried to stop the man from walking/stumbling away.
Approximately 15 minutes after the crash, a state trooper found the man crouching in a nearby garage, hiding behind a table. The trooper testified that in his judgment, he believe the man was intoxicated. The man was not given a field sobriety test at the scene because he indicated to the trooper that he was injured. The trooper could not continue and turned the man over to the EMTs for immediate care.
About 40 minutes after the wreck, while at the hospital, the man tested positive for the ‘follow the finger eye test’ (I can’t remember the technical name for it). Because of medical testing that the hospital did (EKG, x-rays, etc.), the man’s blood alcohol level was not tested until approximately 2 hours after the accident. At that time, it showed a concentration of .14% (nearly twice the legal limit).
Could we find him guilty without reasonable doubt? Reasonable doubt...see, that’s where they get you. It's not as easy as you'd think. Some doubt, yes. Reasonable doubt...hard to define.
In Texas, the legal definition of Driving Under the Influence is:
Having consumed a substance that would cause impairment of mental faculties OR;
Having consumed a substance that would cause impairment of physical faculties OR;
Having a blood alcohol level of 0.8%; while operating a motor vehicle.
According to the prosecutor, the defendant was driving while intoxicated, with a suspended driver’s license and was found hiding in a garage after wrecking his car.
The defendant’s story was that he had driven to the store at his wife’s request, lost control of his car on loose gravel, slid into a tree and then walked to a nearby friend’s house in order to call for help. He began to drink the vodka (from a bottle that he had previously stashed in the garage) in order to prevent an anxiety attack.
He testified that it was then that he became intoxicated and not when his car hit the tree.
He did not deny being intoxicated. He denied being intoxicated while he was driving.
His story was possible, right? And you have to remember that all of the physical evidence that the prosecutor entered into the record was acquired after the defendant said he drank the alcohol.
So it all came down to the testimonies. Several people testified against him, but all but two of those encountered him –according to his testimony- after he drank the alcohol. One person, besides the defendant, testified in his defense. His wife. And that was a sad sight.
So we had to decide his guilt or innocence based on the defendant’s testimony and the testimony of those two witnesses who were with him at the accident scene.
Could a 220 pound, self-professed alcoholic walk 200 yards, then find (in the dark) a hidden bottle and consume approximately 16 oz. of vodka? Would he have become intoxicated within 15 minutes? Would he have been able to stand up? To even talk? Why did he not tell anyone this?
It took more than 3 hours to discuss our thoughts and decide. The verdict had to be unanimous. Some of the jurors believed the defendant’s testimony. Some of the others (me being one of them) found some of his testimony to be unbelievable.
Eventually, we believed that he did not have enough time to become intoxicated, based on the timeline of when the car hit the tree and when the trooper found him in the garage.
AND
We believed his physical faculties were impaired when he failed to control his car at an intersection, causing it to crash into a tree.
AND
We believed his mental faculties were impaired when he decided to walk away from the accident and consume alcohol, knowing that law enforcement officials and medical authorities were coming. We also believed his mental faculties were impaired to the point that he did not realize that the consumption of alcohol at that time would damage his credibility.
We had been told earlier that if we found the defendant guilty that after we gave the court our decision, then we would enter into a second phase of the trial concerning punishment. During all the deliberating and discussing, it became apparent to all of us that we felt sorry for the old guy and that he needed help. I believe that we all thought that his sentence should involve some sort of behavior therapy.
After we passed judgment and the judge announced our verdict of guilty, his lawyer stated that the defendant would prefer that the court would decide the punishment and not the jurors.
What a mistake. This judge is not known for his leniency. We would have been far easier on him than the judge, I’m sure. I hope he gets the help he needs. I don’t know what his sentence is, but I’ll let you know when I do.
But you know what? Between all the
"Objection, your Honor"s,
the "Sustained"s,
and
the "Overuled".s,
the scariest part for me was when my cell phone announced a "Message recieved" notice with two very loud beeps during the prosecutor's closing arguments.
Argh....
And by the way - I don’t think all those political, left-wing nuts (like Teddy Kennedy and John Kerry - all those people who don’t understand what ‘ Separation of Church and State’ really means) – I don’t think they realize how centered we are in our spiritual beliefs - we began our deliberation with a prayer.
On a side note of how things work sometimes...I called my little sister, "The Tough Jailer" when it was all over. I told her who the defendant was and she said, "Oh, ya'll didn't convict him, did you? I know he's guilty, but it's sad. He takes 12 medications a day. He's a nice old man."
The moral of the story is Don't drink and drive unless you want to go to prison.

My other blog? http://texasmammie.spaces.live.com Ya'll come visit, ya' hear?

Happy Birthday - again

Once, when I was in standing in line, I noticed a woman in front of me who was close to my, um...time line. While I was standing there, I began meditating about some of the curveballs I've been thrown over the years.
Let’s begin with just a few... I've had some very questionable haircuts, I’ve recently acquired a another hitch in my get-along, I’ve got an extra droop here or there, and oh, yeah, some slight weight gain…you get the picture.

That's when it dawned on me. Our minds grow at a different rate that our physical bodies. Isn’t that amazing? And ironic?

So I began to ponder, just how many of us really understand the worldwide phenomena officially known as
“The Ohlman Laperectorization Defluxapating - Capacititable Ostracalculator Obstreperating Teterazition Syndrome” (O.L.D. C.O.O.T.)?
Well, not many, I would hazard a guess.
In layman's terms, it means that after a certain age, we experience a type of reverse mind/body connection. While the mind still ages, it does so at an incredibly decreased rate, and at the same time the body's physical aging process is accelerated.

For example, when you're born, your mind is new. When you're 4, you think you have the mind of a 6 year old. This process continues as you grow - your mind races ahead to be a 16 year old while your body is still barely 13. When your physical self is 16, well, your mind may think of itself as 18, 20 or even 22. Before you know it, you can wind up with a 23-year-old mind in a 17 year old body.

Then one day, out of the blue, KINDALIKABOOM! you have a Distinct Mind/Body Connection. You think like a 25 year old AND you are 25 years old.

But then (and this is the part you need to pay attention to), your mind undergoes what is known as the Stop, Drop, and Rollback experience. It goes into a reversal mode. Your mind may stay at 25, but your body goes on aging year after year, until one day you realize your body is now 32.

For the record, let me state that some minds actually begin to regress as the body ages, but that characteristic is usually only seen in males. To help clarify "The Ohlman Laperectorization Defluxapating - Capacititable Ostracalculator Obstreperating Teterazition Syndrome" (O.L.D-C.O.O.T.) and the "Stop Drop and Rollback" processes, we will discuss only normal people.

OK, are you still with me? Mind's age- 25, body's age- 32. Now, when your mind is 32, your body is actually approaching middle age or beyond.

Over the years, professionals, idiots, and professional idiots alike have all pondered the same age-old question, "Does your mind ever think it is Middle-Aged?". A mind that's 50 years old? I would imagine that when and if your mind even thinks it's anywhere near 50 years old, then someone, somewhere is already planning your funeral.

Were you to ask me, "What about your mind"? I would reply that's yet another story entirely, but for the purposes of this entry, I would only say that my mind is still intact (as far as I can tell).

My youngest daughter (who will be 31 in a couple of months and has been to college, so I know she knows what's what) perked me up by saying I was probably in the top 2 % of women who have the "It" factor in women/girls of my age group. Somehow, even though I didn't believe it (actually, I didn't even understand it), it clicked something, somewhere deep within me.

So, I cut my hair 1" shorter, added a burgundy sheen to it and I got hooked up with a guy who really knows his hair gels. Throw in some bronze eye shadow, big hoop earrings and Mammie's got a brand new look.

Ooops, I'm digressing, again.

My biggest fear is not growing older - (in fact, it's not even the opposite) - it’s growing older and no longer having a zest for life.
I fear looking like my mom. I fear wearing pink polyester pants that are too short. The fear of - gasp - wearing socks with sandals, of being seen in stirrup pants, of wearing that indestructible mutant housedress, commonly called a “muumuu” (add knee hi's to the outfit at this point).

I fear growing older and not wanting to sleep naked anymore. I want to put my Christmas tree up the day before Thanksgiving - even if I'm going to someone else's house for the holidays that year. I want to sip Dom Perignon any time I want too, not just on New Year's Eve. I want to keep a big box of decadent chocolates on my nightstand (in addition to the one in the kitchen) - just because.

I don't want to think it's too much trouble to make love in the afternoon. I want to be able to get in the car and just drive and drive and drive until I am ready to go home.

As I grow older, I want to still want.

I fear growing older and fading. I fear growing older and thinking that life has passed my by.

I fear falling for the hype about those low-fat, tasteless, easy to chew, fiber-packed, all-you-can-eat Early Bird Dinner Specials at 4:30 pm. I don't want to eat that early.
I fear growing old and wanting to stay home at night because it's too dark to drive. It's nighttime, it's supposed to be dark.
I fear not wanting to dance when I hear good music…I fear wanting things that don’t fit the stereotype…I fear not wanting to indulge in life.

I fear I’ll begin to follow the rules. The old people rules.

I don’t want to be defined by age or by shoulds or should nots:

I want to

be / do / wear / have / sing / feel / drink / allow / explore /keep / think /wish / love / keep / give/ watch / pursue / own / write / want

at whatever age I am.

When I was 18 (now, that was 30 good years!), I was fearless and adventurous and life was full of opportunities. Now I'm in my 50's and life is full of wonder and I am fearless and adventurous. And when I'm in my 80's I want to still be fearless, adventurous and full of life.

On my last birthday, I told people - those who were rude enough to ask - that I was 3 years older than I really was.

My birthday is next Sunday.

So next week, if anyone asks, I'm going to add 5 years to my age.
I'll look good for my age.

I'm not old. Not even when I look in the mirror, do I see old. I only see someone who used to be younger. I'll never be old and I hope to never be boring. I want to be vibrant and joyful and fun to be with - right up to the very end.

Right up until they try to explain the bizarre circumstances surrounding my demise and knowing what I'm smiling about.

So for now, I'm 58. Or 63. Doesn't matter, it’s just a number.

Don't forget to visit me at No Small Parts, the original

Goodbye Steve Irwin, you'll be missed.

Hubby came into wake me up this morning. I slept in. It was drizzly and still sort of dark outside, even at 8:00AM. He sat down on the bed, shook me and said, "Steve Irwin died." My first thought was that he was talking about that nerdy kid, Steve Urkel. Still half asleep, I mumbled, "Urkel? How?" and then Hubby said, "No, The Crocodile Hunter".
I actually thought I might cry. I hardly ever cry about real things.

I began taking care of The Princess when she was 3 months old. One day, when she was about 6 months old, I was flipping through the channels on TV and landed on Steve Irwin’s show. The Princess turned her head and began watching very intently. I think it was his voice and accent that caught her attention, but nonetheless, he certainly captured her attention.

So we began watching him everyday, every time he was on the tube. And during this time, I too became a big fan of his. I cried when he cried over his dog. I flinched when the croc bit his hand. I watched when Bindi was born. I guess I lived vicariously through his adventures. He seemed like a genuine nice guy. I guess if he had to die young, this is the way he would have chosen.

I’m so confused about my decision to leave MSN's Spaces, I feel like I’m leaving my family. It makes me homesick and gives me blogger’s block. I was reading fellow Spacer's way before I began to do this and I’ve enjoyed the fact that they read my junk. One of the reasons I began blogging was to meet the people I read. I didn’t always leave a comment, but be assured that most of them I've read since day one.

On one hand, I’m afraid if I leave, they’ll forget about me. I know some won’t, but I know that some will. Out of sight, out of mind, ya know? On the other hand, visiting Spaces really takes a lot of time and when I try to comment, my computer takes forever and sometimes it even freezes up. I’m talking time-wise - from signing in to commenting – it could be anywhere between 1 and 9 minutes.
And if the space has music? Unless I really liked them, forget it.
Blogspot is sooo much easier.
Decisions, decisions…

On a different note, I got called for jury duty again. This will be the 3rd time since I’ve lived here. I’ve never actually served on a jury, but I still got paid for showing up. What is it, $12.00 a day? Maybe it’s $6.00. I can’t remember. Unless I get picked, it’s another way to waste a day. If I do get picked, I don’t know who’ll watch The Princess after school and on her days out.
Her other grandmother lives closer to her than I do. However, she only wants The Princess when she needs a prop to show off her grandparental devotion.
I did an entry on her and her new husband titled The Enigmas. I’ve never met anyone (other than her sister) like this woman. If I did nothing but post entries about her and her husband, I would have at least one new one every day. It would take me weeks just to explain the backstory.

You know, there are words and acronyms that just get on my nerves. A.k.a is one. Slated is another. And when a person says "irregardless", I have to bite my tongue. It’s not a word. Don’t go using big words if you can’t do it right.

I love going to second hand stores. It’s too bad that other people are catching on to this. Goodwill used to be the best place to find great bargains and unique items at very good prices. Alas, since the general public has caught on, they’ve gone up on their prices.
Yesterday, I bought a brand new Sak purse for $3.00, a watercolor workbook for .50 and an oval cheval mirror (without the stand) for $5.00.
I plan on using it for the mirror over the new bathroom vanity. The ‘new’ vanity is actually a very old oak 3-drawer dresser. I got it at Goodwill about 3 years ago for $8.00. At the time, I didn’t know what I would do with it, but I knew I’d find a place for it. We are still in the process of sanding, staining and all that. Somebody had painted it a yucky, pinky brown. I think sometimes it’s perfectly ok to paint wood. But in this case, I think it was a mistake.

I have many pieces of odds and ends type furniture and other stuff that I’ve collected over the years. Some I’ve used and some still await their marching orders. Hubby just refinished a very small Queen Anne style table (I bought it so long ago that I can’t remember where or when I got it.) that I’m going to place next to the tub. It’ll be a nice place for a candle and other pretties.
Poor Hubby – when he built his workshop/garage/building, he thought it would be for his stuff. It does have his car (a ’66 Chevelle that’s in pieces at the moment) and his tools, but it also has chairs, dressers, tables, china, trunks and anything else I find.
Did I ever mention that I’m a packrat? I know why, I just don’t want to change all that much, I guess.
The guy that gave us Lola also gave us a claw foot bathtub. It’s not one of the slipper types though, darn it. We were going to use it in the remodeling, but the seating/standing area is not really big enough for two people, so someday we will do something else with it.

I mentioned that I washed Hubby’s cell phone, remember? We’ve been with the same phone carrier for more than 10 years and happy with them – but when we went to get Hubby’s new phone, their store wanted $149.99 for the phone for an upgrade w/ a 2-year contract. They did offer an instant $50.00 off and a mail-in rebate of $50.00 making the final price $49.99 - not to mention the upgrade fee and all that. What a rip-off. I think I’ll email them, like I did with Wal-Mart and voice my displeasure. Since Hubby wasn’t sure which phone he wanted, we decided to go eat lunch and think about it.
We stopped in at Wal-Mart and they offered the same phone he was looking at for $0.00 with a 2-year contract. Wal-Mart just keeps racking up points in my book.

Ok, enough boring stuff. Here’s the fun stuff:

An elderly Texas gentleman was stopped by a game warden in East Texas recently with two ice chests full of fish, leaving a river that was well known for its fishing.

The game warden asked the gentleman, "Do you have a license to catch those fish?"

"Naw sir, I ain't got no license. These here are my petfish."
"Pet fish?"
"Yep. Every night I ‘bout sundown, I take dese fish down to the river and let 'em swim 'round for a while. Then I whistle and they jump right back into th’ ice chest and I take 'em home."
"That's a bunch of BS! Fish can't do that!"
The elderly man looked at the game warden for a moment and then said,"Tis the truth. I'll show you."
"Okay, I've GOT to see this!"
The old guy poured the fish into the river and stood and waited.
After several minutes, the game warden turned to him and said,"Well?"
"Well, what?"
"When are you going to call them back?"
"Call who back?"
"The FISH!"
"What fish?"

If you'd like to read more of my rambles, head on over to my MSN Space, No Small Parts.