• March 16, 2013 •

Snot. That's the word of the day & I'm not talking about my children's attitudes. I slept 11 hours last night (thank you NyQuil) & haven't been able to stop blowing my nose since I woke up at TWO in the afternoon. The LCFD Easter Egg Hunt is going on as we speak, but 1) I look like crap. 2) I feel like crap. 3) How many people will I end up sharing this with if I go? It would be bad enough to share this with the entire FD, but all the little children who are there too? It's bad enough that my son hugged me on his way back out the door (he came back because he forgot something here at the house), he hugged me & said "Armpit sweat." (he rode his bicycle here). I said "I see your armpit sweat & raise you a case of the flu". He dropped his arms down from around me & said "FOLD". Smart boy. Yesterday after having finally had the energy to log on here & blog, I had an Eggo (it was all I could handle at the moment) & cleaned the house which took every ounce of energy I had. I cleaned the bathroom counters, dusted the bedroom & dining room lights, organized the liquor cabinet in the kitchen (those are some DUSTY bottles ... we don't drink), dusted the video game system & neatened that shelf, mopped the hall, neatened the top of my desk & ended up rearranging stuff in my office AGAIN ... day 3. This time it was moving the cork / white board from the wall behind the desk (I couldn't reach it) to behind the crafting table & also had to rotate it so it was tall instead of wide because of the space between the corner of the wall & the window, put the map that WAS over there to behind my desk where the cork / white board USED to be, then my poor Day-Timer got moved again. It started on the wall behind where my desk now is. The lamp & a speaker needed to go there, so I took down the shelf I made for it to sit on & put the Day-Timer on my desk in front of the lamp & speaker. My FD radio got moved to the left side of my desk next to the left monitor. That was all day 1 & 2. Day 3 (last night) I realized that the Day-Timer fits perfectly in the tiny little shallow drawer on my right here in the desk. I put it there last night. This afternoon I pulled out the drawer to write in the Day-Timer & realized that would be perfect IF I were left-handed, which I'm not. I opened the right door on my desk & ended up moving everything in there that was on the typewriter shelf that pulls out (yes ... typewriter. It's an old desk) & put the Day-Timer & Pens on that shelf (fits great & is easier to write on for a rightie). I heard the neighboring town get toned out for a structure fire. I could barely move ... knew I couldn't make that one when we got toned to it. They 1st asked for another neighboring town & then  asked for us. Boy was I glad we weren't ALL down with a cold. This afternoon when I woke up I took the dogs out, but since Kyle was up before the rest of us & DIDN'T take the dogs out, it was too late. THIS is why I pulled every ounce of carpeting out of this house. Vinyl flooring is SOOO much easier to clean. I love carpeting ... I miss it ... but I love pets & sometimes they have accidents or they eat too fast & get sick ... so goodbye carpeting. I do miss how pretty it was though, & warm, & soft. Oh well. Here I am sick as heck & it's a beautiful 82° day outside. At least I have my office window open. :) Speaking of NyQuil & colds ... I just got a phone call & saw that I had a text message. I checked the text message & it was from the county ... a MVA at 10:30a this morning. I slept right through that one. I didn't even know we HAD a call this morning until just now & it's 3:40p.

Baby boy names in Ireland top 10:

1. Jack
2. Sean
3. Daniel
4. James
5. Conor
6. Ryan
7. Adam
8. Alex
9. Luke
10. Dylan

Ed & I have known each other, what 30-some years? ... It doesn't have to be St. Patrick's Day for Ed to have a drink. He once drake to coleslaw. -Johnny Carson 1987

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Keep knives safe - & sharp - in a block made from eco-friendly bamboo.

You should own 1 for paring, 1 for serrating, & 1 for mincing, dicing, & chipping; for the latter duties, a mezzaluna (my personal favorite) fits the bill.

Most prevalent Irish family name now & throughout history is Murphy.

Old Irish saying states: "No man ever wore a scarf as warm as his baby's arms around his neck."

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Robert Blake acquitted of wife’s murder (2005):

On this day in 2005, after a three-month-long criminal trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, a jury acquits Robert Blake, star of the 1970s television detective show Baretta, of the murder of his 44-year-old wife, Bonny Lee Bakley.

Blake, who was born Mickey Gubitosi in 1933 in New Jersey, made his movie debut at the age of six, in MGM’s 1939 movie Bridal Suite; the studio soon featured him in its Our Gang series of short films. After changing his name to Robert Blake, he starred in the 1960 gangster movie The Purple Gang and numerous other films. In 1967, Blake memorably portrayed Perry Smith, one of two real-life murderers at the center of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, when the book was adapted for the big screen. As an actor, Blake was best known for his Emmy-winning work as the street-smart plainclothes policeman Tony Baretta in the ABC series Baretta. The show ran from 1975 to 1978, and Blake won an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series at the end of its first season.

During his criminal trial, Blake’s defense team portrayed the aging actor as a rather pathetic figure and argued that Bakley had a pattern of sending letters and nude photos of herself to famous men and had trapped Blake into marrying her by becoming pregnant. The couple’s daughter, Rose, was born in June 2000, and though Bakley initially claimed that the child was fathered by Christian Brando, son of the celebrated actor Marlon Brando, a paternity test proved the baby was Blake’s. Blake and Bakley married that November. Their brief, unhappy union lasted until May 4, 2001, when Bakley was shot to death as she sat in a car outside a Los Angeles restaurant.

Blake was arrested for the murder, and the prosecution produced two former stunt doubles who claimed the actor had recruited them to kill his wife. During cross-examination, the stuntmen were revealed to be cocaine and methamphetamine users. In their acquittal of Blake, the jury made it clear they didn’t believe the stuntmen’s statements, and also concluded that the prosecution had failed to place the murder weapon in Blake’s hands.

In November 2005, eight months after the criminal trial ended, Robert Blake was found guilty in a civil trial of “intentionally” causing Bonny Lee Bakley’s death; he was ordered to pay $30 million to Bakley’s children. Rose remained in the care of Blake’s eldest daughter, Delinah. Though he did not testify in the criminal trial, Blake did take the stand during his civil trial to deny the accusations.

Say to co-workers after lunch, "You've been drinking, haven't you?"

Spend time with your children now, 1 on 1. Listen to them; understand them. Look at your home, at school life, at the challenges & the problems they're facing, through their eyes. Build the Emotional Bank Account. Give them air.

U.S. President Woodrow Wilson held the country's 1st presidential new conference 100 years ago on this date.