Lisa Kelly aka “Clusterfook” lost her battle with ovarian cancer tonight and won her place playing with the angels. She was a wife, mother of two, and a blogger who left her mark on the world with her humor and candor about her life and her illness. If you wish, you may leave condolences for her family at Clusterfook.com.
That’s My Sweetie
My friend Susan sent me this:
1. He’s sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? SG1, History Channel or Top Chief
2. You’re out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch
3. What’s one food he doesn’t like? Summer squash
4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Coffee and most anything (except summer squash).
5. Where did he go to high school? Cathedral (but he wanted to go to BHS with his friends)
6. What size shoe does he wear? 10.5
7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Tools
8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Grilled Cabot cheddar cheese and albacore tuna on 9 grainbread
9. What would he eat every day if he could? Ice cream
10. What is his favorite cereal? maple with brown sugar oatmeal
11. What would he never wear? A sweater
12. What is his favorite sports team? Boston Red Sox
13. Who did he vote for? I know but you would have to ask him
14. Who is his best friend? I am
15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? Turn the radio up to sonic in the van so it blasts him out of his seat when he uses it on the weekends.
16 What is his heritage? English
17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Chocolate
18. Did he play sports in high school? No. He had bad asthma
19. What could he spend hours doing? Working outdoors
20. What is one unique talent he has? I can’t really tell it here but it’s a very good one.
I Always Knew I Was A SuperWoman
This is me! OK, I’m a little older now but this is really me. If you don’t think so, just say something mean about anyone I love (and that’s a very long list) and see what happens.
FIRSTS
This meme was floating around Facebook so I paddled it over here:
1. Who was your FIRST prom date?
Joel Benjamin. I met him at camp and he came all the way from Albany, New York to take me to the prom. We ended up double dating with the guy who took me the next year. (Those camp romances never last.)
2. Do you still talk to your FIRST love?
No, but people update my mother on him every once in a while
3. What was your FIRST alcoholic drink?
Manhattan at my boyfriend’s parents’ Christmas party. I liked it so much I had two more.
4. What was your FIRST job?
Stewart’s Root Beer Stand where I met the Manhattan boyfriend. He was working at the miniature golf course next door.
5. What was your FIRST car?
A Volkswagen Beetle with NO heat
6. Who was the FIRST person to text you today?
Nobody yet
7. Who is the FIRST person you thought of this morning?
My bird Wesley – he thinks he’s a person
8. Who was your FIRST grade teacher?
Miss Hooper at Charlotte Central School. She turned into Mrs Lancaster after Christmas. The next year she got pregnant and they made her go home when she started to show so she wouldn’t make the 1st graders “ask questions”. Ah, the old days.
9. Where did you go on your FIRST airplane ride?
Pittsburgh.
10. Who was your FIRST best friend?
Claudette LeClair
11. Where was your FIRST sleepover?
Skye Farms Camp
12. Who was the FIRST person you talked to today?
My sweetie husband
13. Whose wedding were you in the FIRST time?
My own
14. What was the FIRST thing you did this morning?
Plug in the coffee pot
15. What was the FIRST concert you ever went to?
Ike & Tina Turner. 20 years later I got to see Tina in her own concert.
16. FIRST tattoo?
None yet
17. FIRST piercing?
Pierced my own ears at 17
18. FIRST foreign country you’ve been to?
Besides Canada which hardy counts if you live in Vermont, the Dominican Republic
19. FIRST movie you remember seeing?
Sleeping Beauty. The thought of the witch in the mirror terrified me for years. I wouldn’t look into the bathroom mirror at night unless I turned the light on first.
20. When was your FIRST detention?
I was not a detention kid. Not that I didn’t do things, I just kept a low profile.
21. When was the FIRST time you remember getting into serious trouble?
I stole something from the local store when I was 10. My mother gave me “a good talking to” and that was the end of my life of thievery
22. What was the first state you lived in?
Vermont
23. Who was your FIRST roommate?
Teresa. We shared a house together for a year. She had a cat named Beverly and we had two cats – Bear and Little Kitty. My cats would wait for Beverly at the bottom of the stairs and then chase her into the kitchen where they would sit beside her bowl and stare at her intently while she ate.
24. If you had one wish. What would it be?
That it didn’t hurt some people so much to die.
25. First thing you drank today?
Lots of coffee
Polar Bears Unite
My little brother Nick plunged into Lake Champlain this weekend to raise money for the Special Olympics. I donated of course because (a.) I like to be a part of him freezing his ass off and (b.) my granddaughter Tania participates in Special Olympics every year. These were the conditions of the plunge:
* Prep work: A backhoe worked for two hours on Friday busting at least 6 inches of ice thickness out of the area that they plunged into.
* Air temperature: 31 (wind chill brought it down to 20)
* Wind: Gusts in excess of 26mph
* Sky: Overcast
* Water temp: Officially 32.7
Nick sent me this picture. He is the guy in waist deep water that you can only see his arm, because he’s behind the guy in the orange suit. There may be better ones of him later but for now you get the idea of fun of the event.
A Plant That Can Outlast Me
This amarylis is the first flowering plant I have managed to keep alive in years. A friend gave it to me for Christmas. I’ve always wanted one because they are so beautiful, but I would not buy it for myself because I know my track record. These plants must be very hardy to survive me!!
What You Can Do With A Closet
My sweet husband has finished the bathroom!! We are now the proud owners of a house with a bath and a half. He took the closet and a little bit of my study to make this:
Those of you who live in 3,000 square feet may not identify; but those of us in three bedroom ranches know how much a half bath can mean, especially when company is coming. Since we moved to Tennessee we have more company, and they will be very happy to see that the study/guest room now has its own place to pee. Yea!!
TV for Cats
The birds were fighting each other for food on the feeders this morning. It’s cold out there and they are trying to keep warm. We had a snowfall last night that actually covered the grass so the landscape is beautiful. Sammy and Wesley sure had lots to look at.
Wesley
I have a new canary named Wesley. I had a hard time taking a good picture of him because 1. he’s behind bars and 2. he’s a flitter. Just when I think I’ve got him all lined up for a good shot he flits and I lose part of him so I was happy to finally get this one. He is a beautiful singer and a great flitter and that’s why he came home with us. He spends all day in front of the window singing to the birds outside on the feeders. When night time comes, he sits on one of his sticks and starts peeping like a smoke detector with its battery going dead. That means “cover me up, I want to go to sleep now”. As soon as his little green cover goes over him, he’s out for the night. In the morning, cover or not, as soon as the sun comes up he starts peeping and singing. What a great start to my day listening to this tiny little bird singing at the top of his little lungs.
Vacation
We just got back from a week’s vacation in Florida. We have friends we love dearly who visit us on the way to and from Vermont every year and they invited us to stay with them. When they came by last year she was on oxygen and when we got to Florida she was very fragile. Her husband is doing all the cooking and cleaning and her doctor told her while we were there that there is nothing more he can do to improve her breathing. We, and her other friends, encouraged her to get another opinion but the truth is the new doctor will probably say the same. Next spring’s trip may have to be postponed indefinitely or might be made by only one.
I am very sad about this but also very happy that we took time when we did to visit them. We laughed, we ate , we watched TV – all things that she could do. She has a laptop but struggles with more than the basics so I helped her download pictures from her camera and view a video her sister sent. We helped her husband cook and run errands. She wanted a new skirt so I took pictures of some at a local store and brought them home so she could chose without depleting every bit of energy. No matter what happens we got the chance to really be there for them, even if it was just for a week.
You might think it would be too sad to spend that much time in that situation but it wasn’t the case. It was a privilege to be there and it made me feel good to be able to help. I watched them together. They fussed at each other like always but every once in a while he would look at her so lovingly like he was saving up for later. In the end I think I got more than I gave.
