Just Jazzy 107

Got Family?  Embrace your time together.  Make good memories.

Life pulls us in many directions. Family pulls us back home.

Arrested Development Running Gags

Pilot (Arrested Development) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Arrested Development (season 1) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A running gag is a literary device (usually a funny reference, or silly joke) that appears repeatedly throughout a work.

The 4th season of Arrested Development was released on Netflix on the 26th of May. I have watched a few of the episodes, and will reserve judgement on this new series until I’ve seen more, but it has received mixed reviews so far.  Everybody who loved this show and was sad when it was cancelled knew the original three seasons would be a hard act to follow.

This weeks Prompts for the Promptless  prompted me (see how well that works? a prompt that prompts?) to pick a running gag from the original series, but there are so many of them it boggles the mind.

Luckily for me, (and for you too, since having someone tell you about something funny is never as good as seeing it for yourself) I found this video on YouTube.  So here’s 18 running gags.  They never got old for me.

None of these characters appears to have changed or matured much during the long pause, but that’s okay.  I’m just happy to see the dysfunctional Bluth family all together again.

Big Trouble

Found this on the Facebook page “Jus’sayin”. Thought it was worth just sayin’ again.  I have used all of these deadly terms and meant these exact sentiments.

So, when a woman says “That’s okay, it’s fine, it’s nothing; so wow, go ahead and do whatever”, you have probably never been in worse trouble in your life.

The Great Declutter Plan

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Operation De-Clutter has officially begun here in Casa Mia.

I am writing this little declaration, not because I believe anyone will find it fascinating, (and if you do, holy cow, I hope your day improves), but because having it in writing is likely to motivate me to carry this through to a satisfactory conclusion.  In other words, embarrass and guilt me in to keeping my word about it and finishing what I’ve started.

It wasn’t rocket science to figure out that the thought of actually getting rid of stuff permanently was what was holding me back.  So now I have a giant purple plastic bin into which I will be lovingly placing precious articles with which I cannot possibly part.  (Unless they’re confiscated behind my back and I don’t notice they’re gone, but no one has volunteered to do this for me.)  So I’m on my own.

Yesterday I donated three bags of miscellaneous toys and puzzles to our local County Clothesline.  And hardly made a dent in the “toy room”.  But it’s a start. I have donated three big green garbage bags full of clothing to another charity.  My bedroom/office is next.  Walls and shelf surfaces will soon be bare while I sort out only the necessary from the purely frivolous.  There are things in here I don’t even like, but they were given to me or have some sort of sentimental value or have been around so long I don’t really see them anymore.  They are on their way out.

There will be many steps to this process – I expect it will keep me busy for days and days. Maybe the whole summer.  More purple bins are a very real possibility.  At the end of it all, everything will be put in the storage room with the door closed where I can’t see it.  Then we wait.  If in, say, six months, I haven’t missed or longed to see whatever is in there, out it goes.  I will be ruthless.

We never used to be such crazy hoarders because we moved around so much and learned to give it away or toss it out before the move, rather than pack it up, only to pitch it out at the new location.  Living in the same house for almost thirty years means we haven’t done a big purge for a very long time, and we are currently running the risk of being buried in the collected rubble.  I’m just a little overwhelmed by it all.  Time for a change.

So Good Luck Me!  Get this done, and then we’ll work on the behavioural collecting problem that started all this in the first place.

Just Jazzy 106

Stop being so hard on yourself – you are a work in progress.

Bad attitudes and habits are hard to break, but don’t worry. They are easily bent with gentleness and time.

Just Get It Off Your Chest

Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres depicts the Comtesse d’Haussonville, wearing a dress. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I won’t digress. 

 I won’t suppress.

I’ll  express – tonight’s a mess!

With my finesse to hide duress

He’ll never guess

the cause of my distress.

Unless –

I confess.

I hate this stupid dress!

Trifecta Challenge:  This weekend we are asking for a thirty-three word confession.

Recipe for a Good Saturday

In amongst my conglomeration of strange notes on a messy desk I came across this funny little list.  Looks like a recipe, right?  But what the hell is it for?  I wrote it down thinking I would remember why without also jotting down a bunch of details, I guess.

I have a feeling there’s some major ingredient missing here, along with instructions.  It looks like things one should add to something else or pour over some kind of meat maybe?? Throw in a crock pot?  I don’t know.  But since there’s no quantities for the first five ingredients, I think it would be safe to just skip them.

So go ahead and measure out those two cups of red wine.  And serve immediately.  Double this recipe if sharing with a friend.  Who says doing stuff in the kitchen can’t be simple, easy and fun?  I would definitely add this one to my recipe book if I had one.

Unidentified glass of dark red wine. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just Jazzy 105

♪♪♪….well, you know…..we all want to change the world….♪♪♪

We can make this world better by considering the big picture. Then we have to work on our own small piece of the puzzle.

Just Say Whatever to That Vision Board

An example of what a cardboard Vision Board could look like (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Prompts for the Promptless Season 2 Episode 2:  Vision Board

A vision board is a collage or collection of images of tangible and intangible things you want in your life. 

Wow.  People who actually make these things for themselves must be super focused and organized and on the ball.  And of course have a really good idea about what they want out of life.

I wouldn’t even know where to start.  My needs are simple, my wants are few.  My head is empty.  Therefore my (imaginary) vision board at the moment is pretty bleak and blank.

I’ve always tried to be very careful about the big and important stuff I wish for because things rarely turn out with the results I expect.  It’s so much easier to just let life happen without trying to control and force and manipulate the crap out of it.  There’s been nothing so far too hard to handle, and a million unexpected moments of joy that I never imagined could happen until they did.

Or maybe I’m simply too old and lazy for such brave visions of the future.  I have a year to go before retirement.  I would like to survive it.  Is there a picture to represent that?

I guess I could put it into words and hang that on my wall – GO TO WORK.  STAY ALIVE.

But then what if tomorrow I get run over by a bus?  Does that make me a failure?  If I had a board covered with pictures of places I’ve never been and people I’ve never met and expensive things I can’t afford and my family had to look at that after I’m gone, it would just make them sad.  Poor lady, never got to do any of the crazy things she imagined she might.  I would not want them to think my life had not been full because of a few small things it lacked.

If I had made a Vision Board for myself when I was 20, it would not have included pictures of me married to an outdoor camping wildlife enthusiast or living in tiny remote settlements in Canada’s Arctic.  But that’s what life handed me, and I happily accepted.  I never imagined myself living in Alberta either, but here I am.

English: Zodiacs navigate between icebergs in Arctic (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I never wished to travel, but I’ve gone on some amazing trips.  Next spring I might end up in Greece.  But if I don’t, it doesn’t matter.  I like my life more or less the way it is.  That either makes me content and easy to please, or utterly unambitious and boring.  I suppose I am all those things.

There will be no Vision Boards for me.  I can see how they would work for some people, helping them to keep their goals and aspirations in view, reminding them where they’re going and what’s important, and inspiring them to stay focussed and full of purpose.

Meanwhile, I’m happy to wander around in the dark and deal with whatever I bump into. At least I know it won’t be one of those boards.

And if I find myself on a beach like this one, I’ll try really hard to cope.

English: Goudouras (Crete, Greece): the beach Nederlands: Goudouras (Kreta, Griekenland): het strand Français : Goudouras (Crète, Grèce): la plage (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Just Jazzy 104

It’s entirely possible that we will never be “old enough to know better”.

When did “sugar and spice and everything nice” turn into “caffeine and wine and simply divine”? Does it matter? Love, love, love wherever you are in your amazing life.