Victoria's Blog

Does anyone else have trouble navigating KTVI's website, besides me?

I find myself clicking around constantly trying to find "weather" or "traffic" or "streaming video" or even "chat". Even that rarely works though, and clicking a menu item sends you into a cycle of clicking around aimlessly trying to figure out how to JUST GET THE WEATHER, or JUST GET A TRAFFIC REPORT, or JUST FIND CHAT.

Why not add a button that says "CHAT", which actually points to chat? Or a button that says "Weather" that doesn't come up with multiple choices, none of which seem to give the desired results?

I find the site extremely cluttered, and extremely user-unfriendly. I hate to be a big whiner, but I've been noticing this for months and with all the flooding, and the need to keep abreast of current information, I find myself going to other news sites because KTVI's site is frustrating to try and navigate.

Anyone else having similar problems?

Our clubhouse is on the brink. We didn't think the water would come up as high as it's now predicted to do.  We rushed out there this afternoon and grabbed what we could and stacked it up on blocks, lumber, etc. All we can do is pray that when the water comes in, it is not so swift that it washes everything away.

 

 

 

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Looking out.

Well the time has finally come when my 17 year old daughter has left home.  She's been threatening to leave since she began driving last summer and discovered what independence means: the ability to go where she wants, commit to work schedules, drive to and from school, or friends houses.....

All it took was a visit from a law enforcement officer at school last August, to spill the beans to my daughter and her friends-----confirming that at 17, they can "legally" leave home and will have the backing and blessing of law enforcement.

We've learned some important facts in the past week:

At 17, no law enforcement agency will intervene, nor will juvenile authorities. Your child is free to leave and nobody can force them back.

At 17, the school district doesn't treat her as an adult. We still must sign for a bus pass, field trips and release of school records.

At 17, we are still responsible for her financial decisions, medical coverage, and all other aspects of her life until she turns 18 (unless WE emancipate her legally).

Irony: My child must still have my permission to go on a field trip at high school, cannot vote, cannot drink, cannot enter into any kind of legally binding agreement with anyone, and yet--

can move out of my house without any consequence, and into the house of her boyfriend and his enabling codependent drama-loving family who are providing her a place to run away to.

It's devastating to lose a child in such a way. It's like she's died. We miss her, and grieve for her, we worry about her until we're sick with it. She's careless and dismissive about it, because of course it doesn't affect her as it affects us, her parents and her siblings.

I am going public with this because I want other parents to know this is how the law in Missouri affects many families who go through this. 

Unless the laws change, be prepared for a lot of grief.  People have been working for years to try and change our Missouri laws, but even the change in statues has not helped because law enforcement and the courts still do not recognize or honor the changes.

Be prepared for a lot of frustration and grief.

Victoria

Have you ever seen a nationally recognized celebrity from a distance, or had the chance to talk with one up close?

What was it like?  Were they nice or rude, self-important or gracious?

Who would you most like to meet?

My top pick would be Rush Limbaugh, followed by President and Mrs. Bush, and Bono from U2.

All from different political perspectives and points of view.

(I did see Tim Ezell at Sonic about a month ago when I was picking my son up from work. It's hard not to stare, but I tried to do it discreetly!

Today most kids are off school and many parents are working from home, like me. I'm making one of my favorite recipes for "Hamburger Stew" which my mom made for my brothers and me when we were kids many years ago.  My kids (teens now) have enjoyed making this many times, and I hope one day their kids will too.
Hamburger Stew

• 1 lb ground beef, browned and drained


• 2 cans stewed tomatoes (sliced, diced, any)


• 2 cans sliced whole potatoes


• 2 cans french-style green beans


• 1 bottle Heinz 57

Open cans. Do not drain. Combine all ingredients in pot and bring to boil-reduce heat and simmer. Serve with breadsticks or rolls.
The really great and easy thing about this recipe is that you can adjust the ingredients to your taste, and double or quadruple the amounts. The secret is the Heinz 57-use additional bottles for additional 'kick'-add a can of water to make more broth. I have made this many times and always get good reviews, and many requests for the recipe.
Enjoy!
I look forward to reading your favorite snowy day soup or stew or other recipe.
 

Do we believe the Blue, or blue-green streaking lights reported over South Carolina last night were meteors, or something more?

I'm inclined to scoff at UFOs, and yet--I had an experience with seeing a UFO years ago that was never resolved to my satisfaction.

My dad and I were coming back from my brother's graduation in Salem, very late at night. We were driving along I-44 on a desolate stretch of highway, and suddenly we were surrounded by brilliant white light. Our instant reaction was to believe that someone had come up behind our car very rapidly, with extremely bright lights. As we turned though, it was evident that nobody was behind us, and the light was coming from above our car, and to the rear. We slowed down and started leaning out the windows to see, and what we saw was something like a glider, with bright bright lights, shaped something like a pointy ice cream cone. It was so brilliantly lit that it was distracting.

The craft followed along hovering over our car, then veered away from the highway and glided along beside us, hovering just above the treeline, and then it began to descend. The craft didn't make any noise. We thought it was crashing, as it began to drop lower and lower-eventually it disappeared behind the treeline completely, and everything went dark as suddenly as it had lit up earlier.

We pulled to the shoulder of the road and waited for some noise or explosion or evidence that the craft had landed, but nothing happened. It was as if time stood still for a couple of minutes. We waited and listened and watched. Not a sound, not a shred of evidence or proof of what we'd just seen.

We got back on the road, discussing whether we should get off the highway and go investigate, or call someone. If we called, what would we say? How would we report the unexplainable? What would the authorities say if we did report it? Eventually we decided to say nothing and we continued home.

The next day my dad spent a couple of hours making phone calls, going to the library to research, and making more phone calls. Nothing was reported out of the ordinary for that stretch of I-44, and there was no landing strip in the vicinity. We could find no examples of the craft that had come up behind us and then apeared to land, and we could not find anyone who could even identify it.

Over the years we discussed it several times, even going to the trouble of drawing a few examples of the craft to the best of our recollection.

To this day, we have no explanation for what we say, or for the way the craft came right up behind us out of nowhere.

I scoff at UFO sightings because they're so unbelievable, and yet my dad and I (extreme skeptics) absolutely saw a UFO.

Have you ever had an experience with a UFO? Did you tell anyone? Did you figure out what you saw? Did others see it too?

Plenty of people in South Carolina saw the blue streaks. Were they meteors, or something else?

Mom, wife, worker, collector, lover of vintage and retro trash, bling-bling.

I own a red 1991 Geo Metro convertible that is mostly restored. I love that little car because it's fun and unique! My most recent acquisition is an Apache solid state camper. This isn't just any camper, it's a *solid state*, which means it's built like a popup but the sides are hard and it's got windows all around. The Apaches are very popular and sometimes harder to come by, because once people see one, they want one. We are currently restoring the Apache, and get a ton of ideas from the Apache forum online, where Apache owners congregate to share information. Without that forum we'd be lost! I work for a management and holding company owned by some former cable executives. My digital camera has been a great investment for me because I now take pics nearly every day, sometimes even while driving I slow down or pull over to the side of the road and snap-snap away. I can upload and print them in a matter of minutes, and enjoy taking photos of people and gifting them with copies I print out. (At our Christmas Eve dinner this was very popular with the crowd.) I've been online since 1996 first with Compuserve, then AOL which still charged by the hour. I've seen things come and go, watched the growth of blogs and services like Google and ebay, witnessed the demise of many sites-I particpated in political chat forums back in the day when people like Matt Drudge, Mark Levin, Tony Snow, and even Rush Limbaugh were still virtual unknowns, like me. :)

Everything about the Internet is fantastic, and addicting. It's opened up the means by which to communicate with virtually anyone, at any time, anywhere; share ideas, exchange opinions, ask questions, gather information, create, manipulate, learn, explore.

I love it!

This year instead of exchanging gifts in the office, my bosses gave us all a paid day off and we spent our time working at a local food distribution center at 19th and Cole.

My coworker and I were assigned to "hygiene" in a separate locked room, and one of the hardest things we had to do was sort through personal care products to pick out things teen girls might like to have. Combs, barrettes, scrunchies, makeup and body glitter....anything girlish.

How sad that in this day and age we still have such poverty in our society that a young girl would be thrilled with the gift of a hairbrush, or a tube of lipstick. Maybe we should require spoiled snotty kids to work one day in a shelter or pantry before they're allowed to own a Wiii, or Playstation. Sheesh. Talk about perspective.

After working all morning and part of the afternoon, my bosses treated us to a few games of bowling at Pinup Bowl in UCity. Fun fun fun! If you've never been to Pinup Bowl, give it a spin. It's retrofun, and the girl working behind the bar had cool tattoos and was very chic looking.

This holiday season I'm very glad to work for a company that values community service, and fun.

My daughter is working her first job, at SiloX. She had to audition for the position, and was thrilled when she was given a permanent spot.

She came home after her second night with stories about the audition process and her least and most favorite spots, and announced she had been hired as an actress to work in the crematory!!!

I'm thrilled for her and excited by her enthusiasm. It's a perfect match, and I'm hoping she now understands more why I have always encouraged her to pursue drama and arts.

She is truly well-suited for it, with a fabulous dispostion, a talent for mimicry, intelligence, wit, and passion.

And she's kind!

Yea!

One of the photos I uploaded is currently a featured selection on the community boards. I hope people enjoy it, because I am not all that talented when it comes to photographs, and I wasn't sure I would capture the beauty of the sky as I snapped several pics.

I was driving home from work, headed down Tesson Ferry, and in front of me I could see the sun peeking through dark ominous looking clouds.

The beauty took my breath away. I hoped others were enjoying it as much as me, and I tried to remember all the details so I could tell others about it later.

Then I remembered I had my camera with me! I pulled into the church lot that overlooks the Meramec River, angled myself around and snapped a couple of quick pics.

I love the rays that come through the clouds, hopeful, inspiring, simple.

Beautiful.

Welcome to my blog.

I'm Victoria, from St. Louis.

Of course I watch FOX every day. I've been a fan for many years, and I enjoy the professional but relaxed attitude that is conveyed to the viewers.

I appreciate being able to blog via FOX!

I'm a mom, a worker, and a collector.

I love finding vintage Christmas ornaments (including Shiny Brites) which I display each year on an aluminum tree. My first ornaments were bought at a yard sale in South County about fifteen years ago. I got two boxes for $.25/box because they reminded me of the ones I put on trees as a child.

Like many collectors, I'm not influenced by what is valuable. I merely collect what I like and enjoy looking at.

I have a collection of religious chalkware that I've recently started, after coming across two pieces in one day at two different Salvation Army stores. I took it as a sign from above that I was meant to give them a home.

Chalkware is painted plaster, created to look like an expensive prize most commonly given away at carnivals back in the day.

One of my favorite collections was McDonald's Happy Meal Barbies and U-3 toys, which my children and I spent several years acquiring. I highly recommend choosing something inexpensive and fun like fast food toys if you have kids, because toys are something they can identify with, and their enthusiasm will likely grow as they begin to find pieces. The best part is that you can go to flea markets, garage sales, and thrift stores, and the kids will patiently tag along in search of "their" items.

Thanks for visiting my blog and taking time to read a little about my collecting interests.