From NCIS to Jane Perrine

SCREAM! Husband has been watching NCIS all day, and Fio is at the point that she'd gladly wipe out Gibbs herself just to get the TV turned off. What is about about men and TV power figures?
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Your Fiorella is planning to return to the Verizon store tomorrow for the third day running. It's a matter of getting her "new" cell phone set up. The problem this time is that she apparently needs to update something or other in order to transfer a picture to FB. You can bet the guys will be drawing straws when they see her coming--short straw has to take care of the stupid old lady.
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Easter is a-comin' and Fio has prepared mini-baskets of chocolate eggs for four neighbors who have been especially helpful to her. She's also given Stephanie and Lisa, her two favorite bankers, little bags of chocolate Easter coins. Now she's preparing for the family celebration, which will feature Baby WALKING!
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The bluebonnets are gorgeous this year--not ours, but the ones in the neghbors' yards and along the road.
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In case you're wondering how to say "Happy Easter" en el espanol, it's felices pascuas. Thank Jane Myers Perrine for that infromation. It's nice to have a friend who taught high school Spanish and is willing to share.

Thinking Things Over

The torn-open chocolate bunny boxes are piling up on the floor of Fiorella's car like an alcoholic's beer bottles.
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There are too many people in this nation and the world who, for reasons unknown to Fiorella, want to be told what to think and what to do. Fio is not one of these people.
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Remember "If you build it, they will come?" Only in the movies. In real life, all you end up with is a cargo cult. Advertisement up the wazoo is the only way to go.
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Trump calls Maxine Waters a "low-IQ person," but we all know what that is code for.
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One thing you can say about Trump's administration is that it's been a boon to defense lawyers.
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A Beggar on the Intersection Island

Fiorella was chawing down on her first  chunk of chocolate when she spotted the beggar woman on the intersection island holding up a scrawled sign that said, "ANYTHING WILL DO."

Guilt wormed through Fio. Should she hand over her second chunk? But what if the woman was allergic to chocolate or she was diabetic, or what if she rejected Fio's offering because it didn't have a wrapper around it or because she just plain didn't like chocolate? And what if Fio was just making up excuses to herself  for not sharing  her chocolate?

What should she do? How could she decide?

The light changed, the traffic started moving, and the woman turned around and reclaimed her bag and water bottle, so Fiorella finished off the second chunk of chocolate herself.

But did she subconsciously deliberate deliberately so she wouldn't have to share?

Birthday Time!

Today is Husband's birthday, and we are going to celebrate whether he wants to or not. Minnesota son and Fio have arranged to pick up a chocolate cake from Papi's Pies and take it to the rehab hospital where Husband is recovering from knee-replacement. Then we will party, party, party. That's what birthdays are for.

Fiorella is a birthday nut. Her parents always recognized hers with gifts and joy, but she looked around and realized there could be more to it--like a decorated cake and a big party. Thus, when it came time for her own children's birthdays, she went all out. She did the same for everyone else's birthdays too, like those of her parents-in-law, who weren't big celebrators. But Fiorella wouldn't let them off the hook. Every birthday, the family drove over to their home with a decorated cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to them. One of the nicest--and saddest--things her mother-in-law ever said was "Fiorella taught us to enjoy birthdays."

Fio will get into heaven on that.

Greetings!

We're having two Easter celebrations this year, yesterday with both sons, their wives, and Baby, and Sunday with Daughter as well as Minnesota son and wife. Chocolate bunnies are rampant.

HAPPY EASTER! CHRIST IS RISEN!

Pre-Easter Scribblings

Fiorella was out tossing rocks across the driveway when one of her neighbors came walking down it with cookies in one hand and an Easter lily in the other, Fio was overwhelmed. Sure, she had delivered a small Easter basket to Neighbor a few days beforehand, but if this was tit for tat, Fio had been solidly out-tatted. Especially since Neighbor also promised Fio a big load of rocks.
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Two of Austin son's dogs got bitten by a snake yesterday, and she prays they are doing well. Thank  you, God, for vets.
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While Minnesota son is talking electronicsand other male mysteries over with Husband today, Fio plans to spirit his wife away to Papi's Pies for a treat.
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Fiorella hasn't been as circumspect as she'd hoped, but her chocolate bunny consumption is way down from preceding years. She's also kept the Peeps in check. But come Easter morning, all bets are off,
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Ah, Easters of the past. Dying eggs the day beforehand, wearing a new dress to church, Easter egg hunts. Will Baby experience these, or are they now out-dated?

Updating Fio

Fiorella has been blessed by two daughters-in-law whom she not only loves, but likes. Thank you, guys, for your good taste in females, and thank you, Jen and Lauren, for being not only wonderful women, but good people .
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It's Easter season, so Fio's put on about three pounds. Who can resist chocolate bunnies?
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Fio's been out on the acreage a lot lately, exploring areas she probably shouldn't be feeling her way through alone, but what the heck--getting lost every now and then is part of the game. It's also a good way to meet neighbors.
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The gigantic rock pile that neighbor Marvin delivered is fast diminishing, but that's okay because (1) the mura pequena is nearing completion, and (2) in her explorations, Fio's found several new caches of rocks.
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Fernando came yesterday and planted three nandenas for Fio, mowed the lawns, pulled out the remannts of a dead tree, and cleaned up the driveway. And you wonder why Fio gave him an Easter tip.

Photo, Computer, Sonia, Easter, Spanish

As you probably figured out from yesterday's post, Fio tried to add a photo onto her blog, but ended up messing up the post instead. She promises not to try this maneuver again until some knowledgeable person is standing behind her and telling her exactly what to do. Apparenty a big part of the problem is that she has a Droid and her blog is on gmail.
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Speaking of computer problems, Fio is not thrilled to announce that she accidentally deleted about three hundred pages of text and notes as she was closing down from reviewing her current work-in-progress. Luckily, she has a Carbonite back-up and is on good terms with Click Computer Repair.
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In a complete change of topic, Husband is training Sonia Dog to close the back yard door after herself. It's going to take a while, but it will be worth it.
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Fiorella has plans for Easter. She'll buy enough chocolate tomorrow to take some around to the neighborhood people who have helped her with her murita de rocas (little wall of rocks), which should be finished off in a couple of months, maybe sooner. Spoiler alert: Fio will be wearing the bunny ears Husband picked up for her at Target yesterday.
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One more thing--Fio has decided to check out Target and Walmart for DVDs for people who are trying to learn Spanish. Duolingo was too repetitive, and telenovelas talk too fast.

Who, What, Why, When, Where

(1) Why is the Easter chocolate put out on the supermarket shelves the second the Valentine's chocolate has sold out? Can't Fio's diet be given a sporting chance?

(2) Who will show Fiorella how to move photos onto her blog again? She has a beautiful baby photo she wants to show off.

(3) How did the Austin American-Statesman screw up its comic section two weeks in a row, once last week by not including it in the paper, and again this last Sunday, by reprinting the previous Sunday's comics? Please--inquiring minds NEED funny papers.

(4) What is it about these people who are still posting nasty stuff on Facebook about the Obamas? Why aren't the hoeing their own political gardens? When will Trump's fans finally figure him out? What will it take for them to realize they've been taken?

(5) Where does all Fiorella's time go?  Why is she writing this post at 11:30 at night when she's half-asleep and feeling blue?

Husband and Mother

Yes, always-innovative Fiorella has done it again.  To celebrate Husband's birthday, she cut two copies of P-A-R-T-Y out of her remaining stash of gold foil from Russell Stover, taped them to the bottom of the mantel, then taped a BD card between them.

The girl can't help it.  Her mother was like that too, although not as daring as Fio.  Whatever needed to be done, Mother figured out a way to do it, and she had an artistic eye too.  She made most of Fiorella's clothes, and Fio fondly remembers the Christmas dress embroidered around the neck and arms with red and green yarn.

Fio has long suspected that her mother had the same creative gene in her that Fio does, but it got smushed along the way, which made Mother determined that Fio have the opportunities she'd missed. Thus Baylor Children's Theater, oil painting classes, piano lessons--whatever Fio took an interest in.

Bless the memory of Mother.

Fio on the Upswing

We will assume Fio is up and running now.  .Last week was harrowing, and chocolate was the cause of it all.

Husband and Fio had about fifty dollars worth of Easter chocolate in the trunk when she hit the cop car, and she ate a huge chocolate rabbit on Tuesday causing her to stagger into the bathroom for Tums at 4:30 Wednesday morning, which resulted in her tripping over her own feet and skinning her arm on the knobs of a cabinet as she fell, followed by her spilling an icebag destined for her arm all over her computer on Thursday afternoon, which resulted in her computer blowing its brains out.

But the evil rabbit is gone, the car is in the shop, Fio's arm is semi-healing, and all the stuff from her old computer has been transferred into her new computer.  Now if she can just get the new guy to behave--the blog is working, but the email is weird, she has to turn cartwheels to get to Google News, and she's lost some icons.

More updates to come.

Connoisseur

When did Fio become a chocolate connoisseur?  She's always liked chocolate, but in years past, all chocolates tasted the same to her. Why is it that she now prefers Russell Stover and Dove to good ol' Hershey?  Where did this new palate come from?  Maybe from the pounds of Russell Stover bars she devoured during the Christmas holidays and over Valentine's week--the bars that, by the way, she can't find on the supermarket shelves anymore. Maybe because she's aware that bitter chocolate sets off a GERD reaction in her.

Whatever, hand over those Russell Stover Easter bunnies.

Politics, Easter, Gratification

Fiorella has enjoyed watching the political scramble lately.  It's been a combination of a circus parade and a badminton match.
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Walgreen's must be observing Lent.  It's just five weeks till Easter and chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs are nowhere to be seen on their shelves.
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Fio delivered a big bag of candy kisses to the guys at Mazda yesterday afternoon when she picked up her car, and she'll deliver another bag to Click Computer on Monday.  She believes in instant gratification for good people.

An Important Question

We have special candy for Christmas, for Valentine's Day, for Easter, and for Halloween.  But where, pray tell, is our Fourth of July candy? Our red, white, and blue candy canes, our chocolate Liberty Bells and Statues of Liberty?

Candy makers of the world, we're waiting for your answer.

Holiday Hysteria

Each political party has its loons--the Republicans have Trump and the Democrats have Sanders. Trump bellows and Sanders froths. Fiorella hopes they'll both give it a rest for the next two weeks, and let us all enjoy the holidays, although Fio's life is still wrought.  She hasn't received the financial settlement yet in re the scamming handyman, and that home refinancing, which was signed sealed, and delivered weeks ago, is still rearing its ugly head in the form of a letter claiming she hadn't submitted proof of insurance, which she darn well had, but now Fio can't find a copy of the letter or the insurance declaration page.  In fact, in the pre-Christmas melee, it's hard for her to find anything.

Ah, well. There's always chocolate.

Eating Chocolate

Aha!  Fiorella has figured something out. She is a stress eater, just like Sonia Dog.

Whenever Fio takes the leash off its hooks, Sonia gets excited and runs to her feeding station and starts gobbling down food and lapping up water like it's going out of style.  And whenever Fiorella is excited, or angry, or distressed, she picks up an extra treat at the grocery store or turns out the cupboards and refrigerator for something soothing to eat--preferably chocolate, but anything will do.

But grabbing for the Dove bar never really solves any problems.  Maybe it's that Fiorella isn't eating enough of them.

Stressed, You Say?

This has been a hard week for Fiorella,  That engine light was still on so Fio had to take the car to the dealer for a $400 repair, she was diagnosed with GERD (good-bye, chocolate), attacked by a herd of mosquitoes, hit the concrete face-first again, is still recovering from having her false vocal chords shot up with botox, is agonizing over revisions of her new book, and is preparing not only for the NY writers' conference, but for her birthday,

The good thing is that she's lost two pounds.

Tidbits

Fiorella is not interested in food per se.  She does not like to read about it, to talk about it, or to cook it.  She does like to eat it, though.

In re, she refuses to accept the weight that the stupid scales credit her with.  It's just that gravity has a stronger pull on her than on other people.

After all, everyone knows that chocolate calories don't count.

Aftermath

Fiorella and Husband woke up grumpy and in pain.  Every tendon in Fio's body had tightened up as she slept, and her nose wasn't working right.  She didn't want to take a hot bath because, as enjoyable as it would be, hot baths innervate her, and she has lots to do today.  Husband is having a problem with thigh muscles, shoulders muscles, and biceps pulling.

Easter is over.  Must be chocolate withdrawal.

Thoughts from Day Before Yesterday

Husband just pointed out to Fiorella what he considers to be a gross misapplication of resources--a baseball player receiving a yearly salary of more than thirteen million dollars.  This is not only wrong in regard to real people, who toil for their daily bread, but in regard to the athletes, whose brief time in the financial sun sets them up for unhealthy lifestyles and unrealistic expectations.
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Have you noticed that schools are the major target of world-wide extremist groups?
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Fiorella went off to HEB to buy last-minute Easter stuff and a couple of replacement bunnies--it's hard to keep chocolate sitting around the house unattended.  While she was there, she ran into Friend Suzy MM four times and they clogged the aisles talking about their dying writers' league.  When she went out the door into the cold wind, she ran into Friend Carol M, and they also talked about the upcoming demise of the writer's league.  Yep, that sucker is a goner.
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Fiorella used to be a teacher, and she enjoyed it, but her real goal was to be a writer.  In fact, she assumed that was the real goal of every teacher.  Since then, she's learned that being a teacher is many people's end goal.  Who knew?