We’ve lost Paul Curran, our master guest columnist and prolific comment-leaver

There is simply no way to express our sadness at the loss of such a great writer. Paul Curran was an online friend to many of us, bringing humor and support wherever it was needed. Rest in peace, my friend.

markbialczak's avatarMark Bialczak

Those of us who’ve grown to love the lively words that bounced from the head and fingers of Paul Curran will never be the same.

The writer from Canada has died, according to his neighbor Steve Watson.

I received this email on the contact tab from my blog:

With great sadness I have to tell you that Paul Curran has passed away. Paul passed last week.

Our guest blogger, Paul Curran. Our guest blogger, Paul Curran.

Your Barrista -- Paul Curran Your Barrista — Paul Curran

Now Your Barrista – Paul Curran Now Your Barrista – Paul
Curran

A series of the column head shots Paul sent me since 2013 to just a month ago.

I found the email this morning. I arrived yesterday. Steve Watson was listed as the photographer in the If We Were Having Coffee Sunday column Paul had me post here on Sept. 11 after his emergency operation.

I could not find an obituary through search engines.

Paul lived in Hamilton, Ontario…

View original post 518 more words

Posted in Guest Posters, Paul Curran, Relationships, That's Life | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Get Out There and Vote! Me, Me, Me! (Again)

I tried running for office (sort of) back in 2014, but got absolutely nowhere.  Of course, back then, I had something like 2 followers, so that might have contributed to my political failure.  Now that I’ve become so popular all over the world [snicker], it’s time to give it another go.  

At this time, I’m throwing my [knitted beanie] hat into the ring and re-running my prior campaign post, with just a little tweaking (and different pictures, because at least one of the prior pictures developed a bad link, darn it). 

Don’t forget your sharpened pencil when you go to that voting booth! Considering the current choices, could you do any worse?

write-in-vote

Election Day here in the good old U.S.A. is on Tuesday, November 8.  Don’t forget that you are not bound to the candidates listed on the voting roster – there is such a thing as a “write-in” vote.

The “write-in” vote will come in handy this year, because I know y’all will want to cast your ballot for Cordelia’s Mom a/k/a CookieCakes for [pick an office, any office, even dog catcher would be fine – except that dog catcher would be my last choice because I wouldn’t want to give any of the dogs back after catching them].

Why should you vote for Cordelia’s Mom? So glad you asked.

I know nothing about any of the issues involved in any political race. Nor do I care about any of the issues.  Heck, I’m not even a registered voter.

Therefore, you can rest assured that I will view each issue from a fresh perspective and will not be influenced by any rules, laws, or customs surrounding those issues. Voting on issues will be strictly by dart-board or coin-toss.

I dislike everyone regardless of skin color, nationality, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, or economic status.

Therefore, you can be sure that I will not favor any one group over any other group. Everyone will be treated equally shabbily.

I do not have money and have never had money. 

cm-mugTherefore, your political contributions will be especially appreciated. You will be rewarded by seeing your name in print on my blog (woo-hoo!), unless, of course, you wish to remain anonymous.  You might even get a Cordelia’s Mom, Still coffee mug (or, you can just go buy one – see Café Press link on sidebar).

I’m not interested in obtaining a 300-lb girlfriend in jail.

Therefore, you can rest assured that the aforesaid political contributions will, in fact, be used for the last-minute race to the [pick an office, any office, even dog-catcher would be fine].  I haven’t quite figured out what to do with any left-over funds – I’d have to research how that is handled by other elected officials, and follow their lead.  After all, they aren’t going to jail, so they must be doing it right.

I’d be more than happy to “work from home.”

Therefore, I will save the taxpayers the expenses of a physical political headquarters. From what I’ve seen, not too many politicians actually work out of an office anyway.  (Although there might be some taxpayer expense to expand my home to accommodate all those dogs I will be catching.)

I have no platform.

Platform shoes went out of style awhile ago, and my aging feet couldn’t handle them anyway.

Oops, that would be “political platform” – duh. Ain’t got one of those, neither.  I just roll with the flow.

But I do have a slogan.

CookieCakes has what it takes.”

Means absolutely nothing, but sounds good, doesn’t it?

***

Ballot

OK, people, go for it. Take those pencils to the voting booth, pick your favorite open political office, and write in your vote for “Cordelia’s Mom a/k/a CookieCakes.”

On Election Night, I’ll be waiting eagerly by my TV, glass of wine in hand, for the results to come in – and I know you won’t let me down! Whether my wine turns into a celebratory toast or a sorrow-drowner, know that I love each and every one of you regardless of skin color, nationality, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, economic status, or preference for toilet paper over or under the roll.

[I am Cordelia’s Mom a/k/a CookieCakes, and I approve of this post.]

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Images:  First image downloaded from Bing.com; final image by Jesse Palmer

Posted in Humor, Re-Blogs, That's Life | Tagged , , , , , | 23 Comments

The Day That Wasn’t

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

PUPPY CODY LOVES HER LTTLE BED NEXT TO THE BIG BED

I had great plans for my Saturday, after the usual hellish work week.

But I woke up sick.  Not sick as in having the flu.  Not sick as in, Now that’s a flare-up!  Just sick as in, Everything hurts and I can’t function!

Every joint in my body ached, my guts and back hurt, and I couldn’t keep my eyes open.  I had planned to do intensive cleaning, catch up on bills, and maybe write a post or two – none of that happened.

After sleeping in, I managed to drag my ass out of bed and have breakfast.  Then I took a nap on the couch.  Next, I fiddled on the computer a bit, but found I couldn’t focus on the screen – so I went upstairs, climbed into bed, and took a longer nap.

It was time for Puppy Cody’s walk.  Normally, we take her in the car over to the track at the school, and then we all get a good half-hour’s brisk walk around the track and around the school.  Saturday, I managed to get into the car, but that was it.  I napped in the back seat while Cody and Dad got their exercise.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Now it was time for dinner.  Fortunately, hubby is perfectly capable of feeding himself, because all I could handle was a bowl of nuked soup and a croissant.  Then I took another  nap on the couch.

Another short stint on the computer, mainly catching up on other people’s blogs, and it was early bedtime – barely 9:00 pm!  While normally, I’m up several times during the night (thank you, colitis), today I slept like a dead person until 6:45 am, when Cody needed to go out for her morning business.  After that, it was back to bed until almost 10:00 am.

But I must say, I’m feeling much better (you’ll note I managed to stay awake to write this post – yay!).

Will I get that deep cleaning done today?  Probably not.  No need to push myself, right? And we have a date for dinner with my daughter and her boyfriend – this date was cancelled when said daughter had some medical issues a couple of weeks ago, and then cancelled again last week because she wasn’t feeling up to it.  It would be very inconsiderate of me to cancel today – so I’ll just take it a little easy until dinner time.  That’s not to say that I won’t at least dust and clean the bathroom – I’m not that much of a slob!

I guess my body was telling me that I’ve had enough stress for the time being and it was time to take an enforced break.  Sometimes it’s wise to listen to one’s body.

Tomorrow, I go back for another week from hell.  Only 558 days to Social Security!  Hubby and I are taking bets as to whether I’ll make it that long.

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Images by Cordelia’s Mom

 

 

Posted in Health, That's Life | Tagged , , , , , | 42 Comments

JUST ME AND THE KIDS (Guest post by Stephanie)

I’m honored to present a new guest poster – Stephanie of Making Time For Me.  No, Stephanie’s not “new” – she has more followers than I do!  But she might be new to some of you, so after you’ve enjoyed her guest post, click on over to her site to  check out her other tales of family life, marriage, raising kids and stepkids.

stepkids-2

My husband wrote this quote on his Facebook Page for Mother’s Day.  When I read it, it was so simple and yet it made me cry.

I came across this quote today (9/28) in my Media on WordPress, and it immediately sparked a post within me. Paul, my husband, started a new job on Monday.  A job that, no matter how it plays out, will mean some changes for our family.  Changes particularly around time.  He has been working 7-4ish, Monday through Friday ever since we started dating.  Well, his weekday hours will be about the same, but he is going to have to work a couple of Saturdays a month now.

When I was talking with a couple of co-workers about it yesterday, I said, that just gives me more time with my kids.  In this giant family, it is a rare occasion that 1 parent is at home alone with the children.

This will give me an opportunity to do some fun things with them, engage with just them and allow them to teach me how to play their video games (they usually ask Dad).

More than anything it will give me time to pull each of them aside, upstairs away from the chaos and check-in. Just Mom and them.  Time to build those relationships and bond more with them.

Paul and I have been married for nearly 5 years.  So my oldest 3 kids have been in my life just over 5 years. Yet, because they are only at our house every other weekend…I am not as bonded with them as I would like. Slowly, the older boys and I have built an amazing connection, they have a more outgoing personality to begin with.  The 10 year old though, she is naturally very quiet and reserved.  She says about 10 words to us (Paul and I) the whole time she is here.  I know that she loves me and she knows that I love her.  I want to have a conversation with her, though.

I am thinking that on the Saturdays where it is just the kids and I, I make purposeful conversation with each kid.  Bring them upstairs to sit on the couch with me.  Each for a few minutes so that we can connect and talk about things that are on their mind.  Even if it is just to tell me about something happening at school, or with their extra-curricular activities.  With each of the 6 kids, a few minutes of 1:1 Mom time!!  Sounds good to me, although I am sure they will hate it.  LOL!  After all, it will mean that I am taking them away from their video games.

-Stephanie

Making Time For Me

Cmugrad817.wordpress.com

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Let’s all give Stephanie a round of group hugs.  Marriage and family life is hard – blended families take it one step higher.  But it sounds to me like Stephanie has a good handle on everything.  Sort of makes you want to go over to her house on a Saturday and sit on that couch with her and her kids, doesn’t it?

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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com

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Image by Stephanie

Posted in Guest Posters, Relationships, That's Life | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments