Candy Sparks’ Friends

Don't Get On Your Grandma's Nerves!

nobody@vox.com(Strive2Be) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:41:25 -0400

Wow, just remember not to get Grandma mad. That kick was from when her grandson, now a respected member of the police force, stole from her penny jar when he was 8-years old. Next comes the tackle with the head-lock. Yikes! Poor kid! LOL. (The story isn't real, but the photo sure is. Grandmas have tempers).

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Kong! Cakes.

nobody@vox.com(Brandy) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:47:29 -0400

Derek my co worker joined a band called Containing The Plague. They changed the name to Kong and they are excited about it. But the other thing is today is his birthday kong cakes! I had to sink my teeth into one!

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My 5 Random Facts About Me!

nobody@vox.com(dearbarbz) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:25:51 -0400

FiVE.RANDOM.FACTS.ABOUT.BARBZ

I tag... leigh. :o)

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Brain Power

nobody@vox.com(Cat) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:59:33 -0400

I've been back to the old peoples home a couple of times. Old people must feel the cold because they have it bloody hot in there. I always leave feeling dehydrated.

But its been good. I just go around and talk to people or read the paper to them and help them on the computer. One woman loves the computer and gets a lot of emails but she didn't know how to forward emails. That was a bit sad actually. I thought, do your kids get so damn busy that they don't even have the time to show you how to forward an email. Anyway I showed her and left some written notes and told her to email me if she had any problems. She sent me an email saying thank you and how much she appreciated the help and how I hadn't made her feel stupid.

Because I've noticed that people do tend to talk to old people as if they're stupid. They do if to my father. And he probably does look a bit stupid because he's had a stroke and he's all crooked. And though he may be cranky and difficult and stubborn he is definitely not stupid. But people tend to talk to him VERY LOUDLY and in a manner that
would make you assume he was a five year old with a particularly bad learning disability.

He was in hospital recently and I sent Daz to visit him and he said he could hear a few nurses yelling at Dad when he was walking down the hallway. They were telling him he was being difficult and that he wasn't trying. And then they were talking about him in front of him instead of talking to him. They were saying he wasn't trying because he wouldn't sit on the edge of the bed like they wanted him to. Well he only has one side that works so it's hard at the best of times to balance on the edge of a bed. So Dad got Daz to pick him up and carry him to a chair and they all freaked out because you're not allowed to lift people. Nurses won't even lift people any more because of a bad back policy they have. So they told Dad he'd have to sit in the chair all day until the machine came to lift him back into bed but he said bugger that and told Daz to lift him back into bed. Then he told them if they all just stopped yelling at him and spoke to him like a normal person everything would be much better.

Thats all anyone wants really, to be treated with a bit of respect.

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steeples from a long over due bike ride

nobody@vox.com(jeffington) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 16:39:52 -0400

no matter how far i ride my bike there are signs that god is present and here is several steeples from todays ride

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Walking.

nobody@vox.com(dearbarbz) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:57:16 -0400

DC Trip - Fuel for all the walking!

I walked a lot in DC--more that I've ever walked before. At the end of each day, I felt like my legs could fall off and I was so tired and my feet hurt and ugh---it was just unusual for me. I love NYC, and we walked a lot but I didn't feel so exhausted from walking like I had in DC.

What I noticed, from both my experiences in NYC and DC, is that people are significantly smaller than people around here in Virginia (the "south"). I saw no overweight/obese people in NYC or in DC---and if I did see any, they were tourists. And I realize that it's because the people in those two cities walk everywhere. There's no need to drive in NYC or in DC because you can walk or take the metro----either way, you're stuck walking. Unlike here in VA, where there is no metro or train, so you're stuck to using your own car, you're stuck to driving everywhere---even for just five minutes to the store!

In effort to staying healthy by eating right (cough, cough), I made a promise to myself. I promise to walk more. If it takes 15 minutes or less to DRIVE to wherever I need to go, I will walk instead. Which means when I decide to go to the arts & craft store, Starbucks, & grocery stores---I will WALK.

Cheers.

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Black and white wednesday

nobody@vox.com(LaidOutInLavender) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:24:06 -0400

not level

wavey bricks and window

squash bud

springy vines

curly vines

I e-mailed the yoga studio yesterday and it sounds like a lovely place, they are also interested in showing local artists and having art shows as well. Hmmm. This also may be a possibility for me as well. I will wait for a couple shows to see if I fit in or not. Maybe! She is also going to purchase a bike rack for my lovely Red Clementine and hopefully others who choose to ride a bike to class. Next weekend they open. Sounds like a great place, I have high hopes. I almost cry when I think of going to this class, I just know this will be an answer to one or two of my problems. I am open to the change it will bring into my life and I also am open to whatever blessings yoga may bring into my life, even if it is not what I want or expect. My only concern is that is is right next door to :
1. The cupcake bakery
2. my fave pizza joint
3. an antique mall
4. a dive bar
three I will have to work to not spend too much money at and one I will have to walk by with yoga pants on and I hope the leering will be a minimal thing.

My walk yesterday was no less interesting. I walked by Joan's house, snapped a few more shots of those amazing zinnia of hers and handed her a thank you card for the flowers she cut for me. Her daughter was there so she did not speak to me too long, that is okay I was out for a long time and wanted to go home. But that was not the plan, an old co-worker of mine, Pam, was driving by on her way back to work. She stopped and picked me up and was driving me home when she said I needed to see Catherine (another gal I worked with). She has something she needs to tell me. So I told her, just bring me to work with you. She did, I saw Catherine, her head was in one of those scarves, covering a newly shaved head. She has breast cancer. My heart sank in my chest. She is seriously one of the most passionate people I have ever met, she can describe a food dish with so much joy, I swear, Bon Appetite magazine is her pornography. Haha! She showed me her two scars, they hopefully got it all out (lumpectomy) She has just started her chemo treatment and is still strong as an ox. I hope that continues. She is thinking nothing but positive thoughts and I believe she is strong enough to beat this like so many of my brave neighbors here, you know who you are people.

I have been a slack ass about my home cleaning. I swear I can drag my feet better than anyone ever! I get up to do it, and my body gets so heavy and tired. I could lay down and nap after unloading the dishwasher!
When I was a kid, I lived in a house that should have been condemned. CPS should have swooped in and taken us out of there. Mother would tell me "clean the house" and that was my daily chore. But I had been raised with no tools to do this. She never kept the house clean, she never showed me a routine, she never showed me how to do a little at a time, she never showed me, just expected me to do it. When it was not done, each day she would yell and then spank me. I don't think she did this every day, but often enough that it seemed that way. I would look at the house, dirty dishes in the couch cushions, endless clutter, dust, papers, fleas, crust, broken, junk, mold, stinky stuff. I would see it all, lay down and actually sleep. Overwhelmed has always been my monster in the closet, my monkey on my back, my shadow through life. It is really really hard to shake it.

All that said, here is my to do list for the day
~~1. 15 minutes in kitchen-dishes-counters-floor~~
~~2. 15 minutes in dining room-table-chairs-sweep~~
3. 15 minutes in the living room-vacuum-tables
~~4. 15 minutes of folding and putting laundry away~~
5. 15 minutes in the bedroom- sewing machine area
~~6. 15 minutes in the bathroom-sink-toilet-floor-litterbox~~
~~7. walk after these are done~~ okay, so I did it first
~~8. make sauce for dinner~~

only an hour and a half

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Frances Farmer in the Asylum

nobody@vox.com(Lucy) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:20:59 -0400

Frances in the Asylum

there is a sound under the water

singing

touch it - touch the sound

it fits in your palm

see?

my name is Frances

this I shall not forget

my name is Frances

this I shall not forget

the teacher at the board

has me writing the rule

do not chew candy

one hundred times

till the sun bleeds into the sky

a brilliant red

and I trundle weary home

my fingers closed like

dying spiders

mother will chastise

she will scold

it is what she lives for

to discipline

mother with her bun

pulled tight

with her skin

pulled tight

God I need a whiskey

tonight

I need a fellow traveler

with long arms

to hold me

to rock me

to enter me

and sing me lullabies

of orgasm

upon the sea of night

what was I thinking?

I have lost my thread

I often lose my thread at table

and they jab a needle into my thigh

They have me sewing moccasins

one stitch means I'm bad

two stitches means I'm average

and tree means I'm good

well, four

the whole shebang

means I'm saved

Saved Saved Saved

Mother Superior comes

to me in dreams

her face biscuit-white

how she seems to float

in her long midnight

habit

how she tries to love me

but I won't let her

one kiss is a sin

a heaven

hers and mine

Lucy Simpson

8/2008

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Renee's Journal: The Pulchritudinous Review

nobody@vox.com(Lucy) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:12:27 -0400

Hey Folks.

Renee Zapeda is one talented lady. She is the fellow Voxer behind The Pulchritudinous Review. One of my poems will appear in the second issue. Thanks Renee! Please buy a copy and submit your own work. Visit her Vox to find out more, http://reneemarie.vox.com/. Publishing a journal takes a ton of moxey and hard work. Kudos Renee!!

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Pass the Goblet, Please

nobody@vox.com(Valerae) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 06:35:22 -0400

I've blobbed about R. Stevens and his funny little comic, Diesel Sweeties, before and I'm gonna do it again. Here's a favorite from earlier this year.

The blood of childrens

I pointed out a link to one of his new pieces of merch over at Mariser's last week. In case you missed it:

Dare to Be Stupid...oh wait...that's Weird Al.

If you're not afraid to see what lurks in the dark corners of his mind, go check out Rich's comic and store.

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