Noury's Creative World…

All of you that have a washer and dryer at home do not know how blessed and fortunate you are.

I remember when I became incredibly happy when the delivery of my first washer and dryer was made to our home in Virginia.  I was at work and Ron called me to let me know “they” were home.  When finally I arrived at our townhouse, I went immediately to the basement and touched those apparatus and almost cried.  It was such a happy and joyful moment.

Now I look at my getting-higher-by-the-day pile of briefly used clothes and think how much I miss my buddies.  There are so many things that require washing, drying, and folding.  I have to walk around 50+ steps outside my condo to get to the coin operated machines.  No quarters, no washing or drying.  One more thing to think about.  The collection of quarters.  Life on the going down hill in the chapters of my soon to be thought about book.  Maybe the title should be something like this; Happy Contessa and the battle with her briefly soiled garments.  Have to be a bit sophisticated describing very common things.  We are different, you know.  Yeah!  With no washer or dryer to make my life a bit easier.  I am different alright!!  It looks to me that I am almost checking out of this life turn and ready to enter next.  Man, what’s going to happen next?  Going from three (3) toilets to one and maybe none.  Who knows!!  That will be the day.  I remember when I was growing up, there was no toilet inside the house.  There was outside what you call in this country, an outhouse.  It was not funny.  I have come a long way, baby.

I should probably stop complaining and be happy and gracious accepting the fact that at least there are a washer and a dryer in the very close vicinity.  I am blessed in some way.  Things could get uglier.  How ugly?  Going for a month without washing a single piece.  Better get some extra undergarments.  Thanks God for the big “W.”

Well…so it was today…12 August, 2011…a day of missing my buddies…and being somewhat thankful for their substitutes.

Make it a very happy weekend.  Every time you use your washer and dryer, think how fortunate you are.  See you next Monday!

Your Happy Contessa

“You can never plan the future by the past.”  Edmund Burke, Irish stateman, author, political theorist and philosopher.  12 January, 1729 – 9 July, 1797.

I was cruising, along with half a billion people on the planet on the very familiar site “Face.”  There was a note by one of my “friends” that suggested I go here and there and check this and that and voila, something showed up that left me speechless.  All my phone contacts, “friends” or not, from my cell, were listed in front of my eyes.  I have been trying to delete this list without any success as of this moment.

Since then I have been pondering…what is it that “they” don’t know about us.  I must admit, as I said yesterday, that most of the time I volunteer my information.  But come to think of it, look at your receipts from a store.  Sometimes it even lists your underwear size number.  A good thing sometimes, to keep us in check in case our size has jumped and we have a receipt to keep us informed that we need to change our eating habits, or in other words, starve a little.  But we know from experience that we cannot fool our very smart brain by eating grass and making it think that we are ingesting a steak.  Go fool somebody else, Missy.  That’s my brain talking to me.

I am saving the post as I go along.  No dummies here any more.  I hope.

Now going back to the issue of privacy.  Who in the world do we think we are fooling by being paranoid about our “private stuff.”  Ha, ha, ha.  Everything is out there.  It’s been to all the black holes in the universe and back many times.  What “they” don’t know, doesn’t exist.  “They” know what creams we use, what sport teams we cheer, speed we drive, if we sleep well or not (taking pills), and how many times a day we pass our beloved carbon dioxide.

In other words, when I saw the list of my phone contacts, which I gather it happened when I had a Blackberry, which I gave up because too many interruptions to let me know when one of my “friends” sneezed on “Face.”  I returned that fastidious apparatus as soon as I was able to get to the store, but the damage had been done.  We get so tech-happy whenever we are awed by it, but remember, my dear friends, always and I mean always, the price is paid either at the entrance or the exit of everything in life.  Sometimes we are walking around with a little knife on our backs and we don’t even know it.

So…it was today…10 August, 2011, a day of being in awe at technology once more and a day to realize that we are not really alone.  We are all in this together even if we want it or not.

Your Happy Contessa

“The best way out is always through.”  Robert Frost, American poet, received four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.  26 March, 1874 – 29 January, 1963.

Let me make this clear…picture is totally unrelated to the subject of the posting.  Couldn’t find a picture of the Transcendentalists so I thought, these guys look like they get along and communicate very well with each other.  So that will have to do.  Enough of my wild imagination.

Some of yesterday’s posting, the one that decided to reside in a black hole, was somehow touching on the way of life of that group of people called “Transcendentalists.”

These were revolutionaries in the fields of religion, politics, social issues and whatever it was they decided to make their opinion matter.

I was typing, let me stop right now to save this post, yesterday,  that probably we think about luminaries from our past in a realm of almost perfectionism.  We only go by what the books we have available tell us, in their own edited versions, about this so glorious people.

They did not have the network news, FaceB, instant messaging, email, etc, to screw up their images.  I think if these people were to live in this era, oh boy, there go all the books, essays, classes, lectures about our brilliant ancestors.  They wouldn’t have a chance.

I know that change is good.  Don’t change, you perish.  Sort of.  But I believe that we are a too expressive and out there society.  Look at me.  You know a whole bunch about my life that even my own mother, that does not have a computer, know about my moving here, there and everywhere.  So much for families’ secrets.  There are none.  We strive in tell all or we are not important.  Remember, I am including myself on this techno mess.

Going back to the brilliant thinkers of the good old days, back then, they had time to think, read, learn new languages through books, share opinions that in a way shape the telling of our history as a country.  I am glad that everything in life has its own time and place.

I am saving this post as I go.  My weakened neurons couldn’t take a consecutive failure.  I would be totally disconnected from all of you.

So…it was today…9 August, 2011…a day to take out the August calendar and see whose birthday I have already missed and who knows what else, and opining about the good old days.

Your Happy Contessa

“Money is the root of all good.”  Ayn Rand, Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter.  Developed the philosophical system known as Objectivism.  2 February, 1905 – 6 March, 1982.

You will not believe what the heck just happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I lost my over 300 words posting.  I am nauseated right now.  It was a masterpiece.  This is about the fourth time this has happened.   It goes to hell in a basket.  I do not have any other explanation.  You don’t have an idea how my almost disappearing neurons have to work to come up with something decent five days a week.  And, just like that.  Gone.  You have been deprived of a great piece of work.

So now let’s go to the usual mediocre writings that sometimes I manage to put out.  I am still with my head shaking.  What is is.

Well…let me just try to capture some of the thoughts I was exposing in the gone-to-the black hole post.  Sorry, this is too much to handle.  Let me take another subject matter.  The prima dona in me is just too upset to have a high level of thinking discussion right now.

This is my 201 posting.  Labor pains have been too intense.  I just delivered a child that didn’t want to come into the world yet.  This posting.

I am going to keep it short, unless later I can come up with something better to enlighten all of us.  I need an electric shock right now to get my almost disappearing neurons back to the place they were when I started earlier.

My apologies to all of you.  Go and enlighten yourselves.  I know you can do it.  I am working very hard at doing that for myself.

Carambola!!!! Oops, shouldn’t have said that.  The unsophisticated side of me overcame the always composed and classy contessa side.  Have to let some of the steamy frustration out, otherwise I will explode.

So…it was today…8 August, 2011…a day of another disappearing posting and trying in vain to capture the genius in me.

Your Happy Contessa

“Let us not overstrain our talents, for if we do we shall do nothing with grace.”  Jean de la Fontaine, most famous French fabulist and poet.  8 July, 1621 – 13 April, 1695.

Well…my lovely visit has gone back home to Washington D.C.   I really miss her and the getting up and being on the go constantly.  Did not have to address the issue of taking things that I have shoved into spaces, closets, under the bed, all to make the place look pretty, into consideration.  Now the situation is here,  I am on your face-kind-of thing.  Dealing with getting rid of some more stuff.

Last Friday night we had dinner at this very cozy and attractive looking French Bistro.  From the moment we went in, we knew we were in for a memorable dinner and experience.  Our server, Jennifer, was a charming young woman and then…they sat us on a corner unit of a burgundy velvet sofa, just as it happened in Paris, just that in Paris, it was leather.  What a coincidence!

I had (Lapin aux pruneaux) rabbit for the first time in my life.  Doing a lot of things for the first time ever.  The rabbit (sorry Peter) was simmered probably for hours together in red wine, with prunes, raisins, carrots, onions and some other spices.  Rabbit tasted to me like chicken.  But this was so flavorful.  I had rice pilaf, and steamed green beans.  Dessert was the apple tart showing at the beginning of the posting.   C’est magnifique!!

Daughter had (Carnard aux peches) duck in a cherry sauce, with steamed spinach and mushrooms.  We tasted each others’ delicious dish and hers was very good also.  Very appetizing presentation also.  She had the creme brulee for dessert.  How can you go wrong with that.  We ended up walking down Park Avenue as a way to end the evening.  Very nice in the quietness of the evening, but we were not the only ones that had the idea.  It is so nice to have a place that allows you for an evening stroll in the relaxed moments of the evening.  Of course, there was a train going by, but that only added to the charm of the moment.  My blessed trains!!!

All and all, I am so happy to have had her visit with me and helping me change my furniture around.  Now it looks so cozy and inviting.  Before, everything was against the wall.  Just like in HGTV, she changed it all.  Thanks, darling.

So…it my weekend ending today…7 August, 2011…a day of catching up with my laundry, and facing the stuff bulging out of the closets.

Your Happy Contessa

“When I am though changing, I am through.”  Martha Stewart, American magnate, author, media personality, magazine publisher.   3 August, 1941-.

Had to go and render homage to the Swedish in Orlando.  You know what I mean, IKEA, the never-ending have fun store.  You simply cannot leave with your hands empty.  Well, my lovely daughter did leave with her hands empty.  No space in suitcase for anything much.  Have to travel light.

I purchased a plastic bag organizer.  You just shove them in the plastic receptacle, and voila, the bags come out free and ready to be used.  I am big with plastic bags.  Take my garbage out minimum twice a day.  Do not want to nurture critters or any funny looking creatures in my place.  Already had a close encounter around 2 am one day in the bathroom, and I could have care less what the code of silence is at this community.  I just blew the thing apart with my sandals.  That will show them, I thought.  But, in reality I promptly went to the store, the next day, of course,  to find the most potent and fastest bug killer that has ever been produced.  I mean business.  Only one prima dona in this house.  That’s me.

Oh, yes, going back to our visit to the Swedish.  Love the color scheme of that store.  My favorite two colors.  Dark blue and yellow.  Those were the colors of my North Carolina home.  We did not eat the meatballs.  Had so ever good tasting, mmmm,mmmm chinese food.  My daughter introduced me to steamed dumplings stuffed with pork meat, and then broiled, with the most mild soy sauce I have ever had.  So tasty.  Also, she had the chicken lettuce wrap.  So flavorful also.  You make your own wrap.  Try it.  You will also love these two items.  Then we went around the shopping center, a big, big one I must say.  We did not honor the shopping center itself with our presence.  We visited some of the stores in the periphery of the mall.

Then, on the way home we stopped at my now very favorite supermarket, to get some ice cream for favorite daughter, while I checked for ripe fried plantains.  No luck today for my plantains.  So it was dulce de leche yogurt for the girl.  I am planning to experience that new texture.

So it was today…4 August, 2011…a day to experience new chinese cuisine elements…and new yogurt flavor.

Please do have a very memorable weekend and of course, stay “cool.”  I shall return on Monday.

Your Happy Contessa

“I have done my best.  That is about all the philosophy of living that one needs.”  Lin Yutang, Chinese writer and inventor.  10 October, 1895 – 26 March, 1976.

Very lovely and well maintained.   Today my daughter and I went to have lunch at the “Village” where I have moved.  We had a very tasteful meal, in a very quaint and cozy little restaurant.  Service and meal were at par with the village.

After having our senses and culinary quests satisfied, we went for a stroll up and down Park Avenue.  Guess what…the train is following me everywhere.  There it was right on the middle of the park, beautiful park I may add,  Amtrak letting people off and getting people on board.  Cannot escape the train, and more trains.

French bistros, French pastries, boutiques, and everything imaginable to entice you to depart with your currency.  I caved in and bought another pair of white slacks.  I love white for the summer.  Now I have three pairs of white capris.  Making sure I don’t run out of them when I need one.

So much for my intent on holding on to my dollars really tight into my hands.  Brain was more powerful than my whole body.  Incomprehensible.

Let’s see what kind of collateral damage is done tomorrow on our quest for having an adventurous good time.

The young kid wanted to go to a movie.  What?  My body is already begging for a bed to relax and she is all ready to go.  Psychological smart came into the picture and help from the heavens.  It started raining, praise God!  Nice reading weather and time to chill and relax indoors.  Hope she is a happy camper.  There is always tomorrow, my tired body is saying.  Good thing I have an understanding daughter.

So it was today, 3 August, 2011…a day of eating, spending and enjoying having my darling daughter around with me.  What a good day!

Your Happy Contessa

“I’ll think of it all tomorrow, at Tara.  After all, tomorrow is another day.” Scarlett, from Gone with the Wind.

Spent the whole day getting ready for my lovely daughter’s visit from the land of the indecisive people, Washington, D.C.

Vacuumed and vacuumed.  Fixed things around and fixed more things around.  Took a nap and listened to all the trains go by.  Now, surprising myself, I sometimes do not hear any of the trains.  Is that an indication that I am losing my hearing?  Have to start checking those ads that offer hearing aids, costing only a few thousands.  Maybe I should not check them at all and use the money instead for a trip to Bali.

What was this posting about again?  Oh, yes, a trip to the Orlando International Airport.

First I forgot about the rush hour traffic.  Hello!!!  The airline said the plane would be landing around 6 pm, but oh no, I answered the phone when I am away from the house only 10 minutes, and she says, “I am here.”   Talk about looking to the skies and praying for a helicopter or some other miracle.  Highway 17-92 and 436 will have to do.  And look out for the pilots on the road out there.  Plenty of them.

As I am approaching the airport area, I am begging God that there won’t be many changes since I left.  Praise the Lord!!  I found Terminal B with not too much of a hassle.  Thanks God too for a very patient daughter.

We then departed and went to eat at…Pollo Tropical…one of my daughter’s favorite places.  Rice, beans, fried plantains and incredible tasting chicken grilled right in front of you.  Add some Spanish good humor and a good tasting meal.  Life is wonderful right now.

By now you probably know that we are not going to default and declare foreclosure as a country.  All in D.C. must be exhausted of the egomaniac show they put all of us through.

So it was today, 2 August, 2011…a day of having my lovely daughter with me…and not declaring foreclosure as a country.

Your Happy Contessa

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations.  I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.”  Louisa May Alcott, American novelist, best known for Little Women.  29 November, 1832 – 6 March, 1888.

Voila!  Remember the air mattress on the floor…here is the now version.  Come to think of it, I should be running Congress.  We would be so efficient, that probably we wouldn’t need to have anyone in D.C.  Everything long distance, we save lots of money and all the pork money would be spread equally among tax payers.  I like that idea a lot!

If the most exclusive and powerful club on earth (the U.S. Senate) would run our government the way we women run a household, we would have a balanced budget every year, and education would be number one on the agenda.   We need to be competitive because other nations are beating the you know what out of us in math and science.  How in the world can a simple individual like me end up with all these common sense and logical  thoughts, while no one in D.C. can,  or doesn’t want to.  I better leave those guys up there to slug it out, I need to concentrate in my humble and small space.

I am making a lot of progress…I just got my furniture last Tuesday, and see the progress.  One more shot of my living room, just like the one I used to have in North Carolina.  Remember, I am not buying much anything new…have to do my share in this economic crisis we are confronting.

I have decided to keep my 32″ tv.  People look a bit taller now, just that I miss the bottom part of the screen.  Cannot win it all.  Color is great and size is perfect.

All in all, I have made so much progress…prioritize, focus, concentrate and execute.  Are you listening Washington, D.C.

So it was today…1 August, 2011…a day that “they” have come to a compromise…and I have come to the realization that they have been playing a game all along, and don’t know how to keep the lid on the mess we are in as far as our economy is concerned.

Your Happy Contessa

“I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes.  I told him if he had stolen a railroad he would be a United States Senator.”  “Mother” Mary Jones, born In Ireland.  Prominent American labor and community organizer.  Co-founder of Industrial Workers of the World.  1 August, 1837 – 30 November, 1930.

So here we are…clock is tick tocking…and the boys…who else…yes, I know there are some women in Congress, but majority rules…so the boys don’t know what the heck to do with a national crisis, that somehow I believe “they,” were involved in creating.

The days of the running their checking account without bother to balance it every month, have come to a screeching halt.

What do you think they are going to do?  According the new IMF’s head, it would have been unheard of the United States of America being considered by rating agencies, to  lower our credit rating as a nation.  We are the number 1 (one) economy in the world.  Imagine what would happen to the Japanese and Chinese economies.  They must be on their knees 24/7 praying to their gods that the boys in Washington get it together.

But…it will never be the same.  This has been a crude reality check for all of us.  I take some responsibility on what is happening, and so should everybody else.  We have been spending, spending, and more spending to our heart’s content.  Spending what we don’t have and having a good time.  Remember the parable of the little ants in the Bible.  We have been all the opposite.  Not learning, as of yet, if you ask me.

My younger generations readers, please save as much as you can every month for your retirement, because before you know it, you will be 62+, now you will have to be 68, and guess what…Uncle Sam a/k/a Social Security will not be there for you, even though you are helping with the fund right now.  Get ready for YORS (your own retirement security).  New language to be adopted.

This crisis is much more serious than we think we know.  As a very dear friend of mine once said:  “it is what they are not telling us that scares me.”  She is on to something.

Now, on the other hand, let’s be positive and hope these guys in D.C. will get their brains together and come up with a solution.  Solution as the one trying to stop a dam’s leak with one finger.  That’s what they are going to come up with probably.

What can we do as a nation?  Be more conscientious when spending and save, save, save for that day when even the government won’t be able to stand on its own feet.  Remember, we are the United States of America.  Let’s not forget that.  What affects one of us, affects us all.  There is no partisan blame here, we got into this together and only together we are going to get out of this situation.  No sarcasm or pointing fingers is going to do it.  Let’s act responsibly whenever we are out and “do I need it or do I want it”  should be our guideline.  I need to remember that.

So it was today…31 July, 2011…two days to “D” Day (Debt Day).

Your Happy Contessa

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!  It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gather its food at harvest.”  Proverbs 6:6-8