On the Road Again...

I've recently moved from the BIG city to a little country town just north of Austin, Texas. Just so you know, I'm originally from the country in Missouri, so I thought moving back would be much the same as I remembered it. That would be a big fat NO, but in a very good way! Ya see, livin' in that there country in Muh-zzurah is plumb diffrent!

I grew up in a very small town, both in size and in small mindedness. In my hometown, outsiders were categorized as anyone who had not been born in the town, or who were not direct descendants of someone who had. Therefore, once an outsider, always an outsider. Luckily for me I didn't care to be an insider. I was doing time, that's all. Don't get me wrong, I had some really great times in that little town. I also met my best friend and my husband there and they remain the rocks in my life that know me inside and out, and love me just the same. Believe me, that is difficult stuff on my snippier days!

Anyway, I digress. So I moved to this little town called Pflugerville. Now I know it's not just me, aren't you thinking right now in your head PFLUGERVILLE, really?? A friend of mine asked if I had really moved to a town called Pflugerville, to which I answered "Yepper, I sure did" ( I don't know why I said Yepper, but for some reason I did)! Now, in my mind the letters P and F should never arrive in the same word together, but in this case they not only arrived, but they celebrated their arrival. Well, Pfff, it took me a month just to get used to typing P and F together. My mind just didn't wanna wrap itself around it. This little arrival now causes me to have to spell my town name to everyone I speak to on the phone because if not my mail will go to some town named Flugerville, not Pflugerville. I imagine that Flugerville is in some far off place where things are normal and flowers bloom year round, where everything is just right and orderly. Here in this town they take the greatest pride in their little town name. So much so that you find little references to it all over town. Such as the local pizzeria named, Pfizza and Wings. The local sports teams must yell Pfight, Pfight, Pfight at their ballgames as the Panthers take on some other team. The town slogan is: Pflugerville, stuck between a rock and a weird place. In reference to Round Rock and Austin, who's slogan is Keep Austin Weird. At any rate it's been quite an experience living here.

I've found Pflugervillians to be quite nice. I really don't know if they are supposed to be called Pfloogers or Pflugervillians, but the term Pfloogers is just too close to boogers for my liking so I refer to them as simply Plugervillians. After the bustle and disinterest of most city folks, I found these people to be very nice and helpful. They are so nice, in fact, that even as you drive through toll booths they just smile and wave at you as if you are their next door neighbor. I have a toll tag but I've taken to driving through the cash lane just so I can see them and wave back. A couple of weeks ago I had the nicest conversation with one of them as I drove through...I meant to just drive on through as I normally do smiling and waving, but as I did, the person working looked so forlorn that I stopped and just spoke to her. She's the nicest lady and now when I drive through I really do know her, well I sort of know her, lol. So far, my time here in this little country town has been refreshing!

So, the next time you drive through a toll booth try this simple experiment. As you go through, wave really big and smile like it's the best day of your life. You might, just maybe, receive a smile in return. If not what's it matter, smiles are free after all so hand them out like candy!! I guarantee that if you don't receive a smile in return it will make you giggle just trying, so you win either way!

Well, I'm pfinished, pfinally! ( I know, I know it's corny but I just couldn't resist)

Pfarewell! Until the next post.....

Miss T

Adventures and Escapades

I flew out to California to surprise my daughter for her birthday last week and on the flight out I had to use the restroom on the plane. Is it absolutely necessary for the airlines to make the restrooms so tiny? You go in and can barely turn around! You would think that they could give up one seat on the plane and make the restroom larger. I feel so badly for larger people that have to use it, or for people like me who are tall it's a real pain in the butt (no pun intended) because you have to scrunch up the whole time you're in there. Do you ever think about what would happen if the plane had problems and you were stuck in the bathroom during that time? I think about it every time I use it. It would not be a pretty sight.

After I landed I took a cab to my daughters downtown apartment. I think it was the mission of the cab driver to see how close he could get to the car in front of him! The freeways in LA are like lines of ants. If they're moving they are moving at lightning speed with one mission in mind. The problem with LA traffic is that most of the time you are not moving. We had many escapades this week and for most of them we only needed to go a few miles, those few miles took us 30 minutes or more.

After arriving at her apartment we made plans for all of the fun stuff we would do, in short we made lists because that is what my daughter does. She is more organized than anyone else I know. Later I decided to shower and discovered that her shower is actually a gym. The showerhead is installed so low that it’s like working out every time you want to wash your hair. I am 5’10” the showerhead is at about 5 ft. So when I wanted to wet my hair I had to squat down to do it. I guess the apartment builder initially put it there for the oompa loompa’s that would live there. I eventually got my workout done after much squatting and standing. Thank goodness there are no cameras in there, it would have been quite a sight!

My daughter and I went to a Dodgers game and had a blast, went hiking in the mountains and hiked up a trail that had a beautiful mountain stream running alongside it. We went to Knotts Berry Farms, walked the streets of downtown LA and went to the beach and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine. We ate too much food and walked what seemed like a hundred miles but we had the time of our lives. I could not be more proud of the young woman she has become. I look at her and know that I am truly blessed!

Silly little radar

Yesterday I was driving down my suburban street and along the way was posted one of those silly radar thingy's. Now, I might not be the sharpest tool in the shed but does anyone really remain at that posted speed after they pass it? This is what I do, I slow down then speed up, slow down then speed up, just to play with the thing. Our speed limit on our street is 30 mph, so I will go 15 mph then 29 mph and watch the silly thing try to keep up with my speed. Then after I pass it I go the speed that should be posted on our street and that is 35 mph.

You might be asking yourself right now exactly why someone would do that, or does she have anything better to do? The answer to the second question is.....no, I don't have anything better to do. Do you? I mean after all you're just driving down the road, what else could you be doing? I guess you could be fidgeting with your radio or talking incessantly on your cell phone, or you could be one of those drivers that obeys every traffic law. People are funny when you watch them in their cars. Some are very solemn with their hands at 10:00 and 2:00, some are all over the place and you would swear that they are on Mars rather than driving down the road, and some are having the time of their lives singing along with the radio. Those are the best ones, I love it when I look over and see those rays of sunshine. They are just singing their little hearts out and in their world they are Grammy winning singers on stage singing to an audience of 25,000 roaring, clapping fans. Those people make me smile! Although they may not be able to carry a tune in a paper bag, they don't care, they sing nonetheless. It reminds me of that Martina McBride song "Anyway".

So many times we only sing or dream or build or pray , when we think we are going to see a result from it. How sad! Life is too short to expect a return on everything you do! Those that sing in their cars are singing for their own pleasure and they receive an unexpected return by giving me a little giggle and smile. I smile not at them, but at the joy that they are experiencing. Besides, I always hope that when people catch me singing (croaking) in my car that they will smile and know that I am either having a blast or using music as therapy.

I guess as I use up my allotted years in the lifespan gifted to me, I am learning to take things less seriously. I wish I had gotten that lesson a long time ago. But, then again I hate wishing for my past to change. All of those experiences in my past are represented by the laugh lines on my face, the various scars on my knees, the little dents in my heart and the memories that I treasure so dearly in my mind. I guess I don't want any of them to go away.

Hmmm, radar thingy's to deep thoughts. Don't know how I got there, but it was fun.

Martina McBride "Anyway"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FdB5Adws78

Moving to Noopieville

So.... I've thought about starting a blog for quite some time now and have been playing with the idea for even longer.  Each time the thought crossed my mind, I would go to the internet and just about the time I would click to start one, I would tell myself "Am I loopy or what, no one wants to read what I have to say".   Today is the day!   I have finally gotten to the point where I no longer care if anyone wants to read what I have to say, I want to write what I am thinking just for my own pleasure.  

As I was signing up for a blog on Blogger.com, they ask you to type in the characters in the box to verify something?!  I don't know what I'm verifying or anything else, but to get to the blog I want to create I have to type the characters in.  I want a blog, I've finally gotten the courage to start one, so I'll just type in those silly little letters and numbers.  I've often wondered about that box, what does it do, what does it verify, how do the letters and numbers come up?  I'm assuming they are randomly chosen which brings me to the reason why this blog is called Noopie.  It gave me a chuckle that as I was thinking I was loopy for creating a blog, the randomly chosen letters in that little box were Nooppizess.  Loopy......Noopie.....now you kind of get an idea of how my brain works.  Shazaam! I have a name for my blog.  No it's not deeply intelligent, it's not professional, it's not formal, but it is funny.  I mean who names a blog Noopie?  Well, I do.  So in the interest of creating a new word, what doesNooppie mean?  Silly, funny and whimsical, I guess for me that is what it means.  

This last year has kinda been a Noopie one for me (Funny, but doesn't quite make sense in the grand scheme of things).  I've been through lots of ups and downs, encountered some really interesting people, and along the way have learned a lot about myself.  I consider myself a people person but without the longing to be around people.  I do well in situations where I am in front of a computer screen communicating with folks.  It takes away the intense fear that I have about putting my foot in my mouth because I can measure my words a little better.  I still tend to eat a little bit of my own toe jam occasionally, even when I am "measuring".  

My problem is that I am too forthright with my thoughts.  I'm a big girl and can take what most people dish out, but others are not always that way.  There's the crux of my problem.   I spew what's on my mind while they reel from my spewing.  The funny thing is that I have gotten a lot better over the years, thank goodness most people in my life now didn't know me "back when".  So now I have a blog and can spew, measure and eat toe jam anytime I want to.  Quite a selfish act, but as one who has raised three kids successfully I figure I deserve a little selfishness once in awhile.  After all, if they don't like what I write, don't read it.  Ahhh, the beauty of blogging.  So if you've read this and didn't like it, thanks for the one time visit!  Now you can be on your merry way to a better and more interesting blog, and I can continue to write what I want without the worry of what you think.  Life is grand.