BIG DEAD BUG in my butter

/in /by

Yeah, you read that right. My stomach is turning right now. Today is my hubby’s 42rd birthday (god, how did he get so old?!) and so I wanted to make him a lovely rum cake. When I pulled the sticks of butter out of the packaging, I noticed this big brownish-black thing at the end of the butter.

I knew immediately what it was.

What else could it be?

I looked away…sad for the bug, sick to my stomach. I plead with my husband to take care of it for me, please. I didn’t want to know — so I handed him the stick. As I glance over at him, I see him about to pitch the entire stick in the garbage.

“Wait,” I yelled. “Why throw away the entire stick? I mean let’s face it. We eat these things all the time — and getting another stick doesn’t guarantee ANYTHING. Just cut off the bad end.”

The hubby agreed and so he cut off a couple of inches — and gave me back the remainder of the stick. Then he pitched the chunk in the garbage.

“Don’t you want to know what it was?” I asked.

“No, I don’t,” he replied.

I don’t want to know either because I’ll get nauseated but I do want to know — I want to know what precisely it is.

The hubby had no desire to investigate it and I couldn’t do it either. Oh well, I’ll let that one go… I want to be able to eat that cake but right now after thinking about it, I don’t that I will be able too. It’s really gross.

After the ordeal, I decided to see what brand it was. In all the years of my life, I have never seen a bug in butter. It ended up it was our local state’s name brand! Uh… I’m not surprised so I decided to call to see if they’d at least replace my butter for Pete’s sake.

“Yes, I am calling because I just found the most disturbing thing in my butter. I found a BIG bug squished into the end of it!!”

“What you need to do is send in the specimen to our facilities, let me give you the address,” says the woman at the butter company calmly.

I’m thinking OH. MY. GOD. This is a normal occurrence. She wasn’t shocked, she didn’t seem taken back — she acted like this happened everyday.

I wanted to throw up. She didn’t react like a normal person who is surprised AT ALL. Gross. The facility must be crawling. Next time I am going to pay more and buy the national brand — screw this — even if I have to pay more. Ewwwww…..

So the woman gives me the address and she says to me that they will investigate this. Investigate this? What the crap?! Then after the investigation they will ship me a refund.

Can you believe it?

I asked if they pay my postage if I send in the sample and while the woman said yes, I don’t believe her at all. I’m not buying this butter ever again!!!

The company didn’t pay for any of my postage with cash, but I must say that someone in the company sent me 4 coupons for free butter.

Nice to Meet You

/in , , /by

Upon first introduction, my wheels are spinning. I am checking you out, watching you — very closely — to get to know who you are. It isn’t always about what you say, but what you do as well. I’m not judging you in terms of good or bad — rather just trying to identify who you are.

I am unlike most other people you will meet because within a matter of minutes, I am able to tell you all about yourself. I will be able to describe your personality with about an 85% accuracy. I will be able to tell you things you never even talked about. You give me clues when you speak honestly and confidently — or when you lie — where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Without saying a word, you give me your moral code and fiber just by saying a handful of sentences in an individual or group setting. I also don’t have to talk to you to give you my summation. I can just be a bystander to the conversation.

When friends introduce me to other friends, they often freak out that I see so much when I start describing detailed facts about my new introductions.

It’s just who I am. You could blind fold me, and I’d still be doing it.

Ghost sells for $65,000

/in , /by

Have you heard of the Indiana woman who put her father’s ghost up for auction on eBay because supposedly her son was convinced Grandpa was haunting the house? She hoped by selling his ghost (and the cane of her father), that her son would be convinced he left the house — and he would no longer be afraid. This is a true story.

It intrigued me so I went to investigate it for myself. I found a video interview of the woman and her husband on MSNBC.com. I wanted to see what they had to say firsthand. I wanted to know if this woman was honest. The story could be plausible, in a clever effort to rid a child of fear. However, it could be a ploy for money.

After watching the video, I do not trust this woman. More than likely, this is a person who is out for financial gain. Regardless, I am going to view this with a clean slate and see what I find…

Review of the Video – Ghostly Sale:
NBC’s Ann Curry interviews Mary and her husband, Mickey Anderson. Below I recount spots in the video that make me question the people and their motives.

  • Watch when Mickey Anderson is asked by Ann Curry whose idea it was to put the ghost up for auction. Listen to how Mickey responds. He stutters by saying “um, and “ah” a lot. He also says “she” when he means “he”. His answer doesn’t roll off his tongue. He clearly struggles in his reply. When a story is genuine, you don’t struggle. It flows naturally. I don’t believe he is being honest here.
  • Watch his wife’s response as he talks to Ann Curry about whose idea it was to list the auction. She is sitting there carefully listening to her husband’s every word. She makes stressed faces as he talks. Why? Is she fearful he might not say the right things? Did she coach him on exactly what to say — and she fears he may not say it exactly as he is supposed to? She nods her head in confirmation at other times concurring with what he is saying. Then when he finishes, she cracks a smile and looks relieved. Why? I think the answer is obvious: perhaps the answers were practiced?

    (Let Mary’s expressions guide you. They will guide you more appropriately than will her words… )

  • When Ann Curry asks Mary if she is scratching-her-head (figure of speech) because the auction (at that point) was sitting at FIVE THOUSAND (odd) dollars, listen to Mary’s response. Ann Curry is in shock. Why doesn’t Mary respond that she, too, is shocked (at the price)? Wouldn’t you be if a non-material item on eBay was selling for thousands?

    Wouldn’t any normal person be shocked?

    I speculate a person who is lying wouldn’t be shocked. They’d suppress their feelings because they wouldn’t want to let out a hint of excitement about their true motivation — which would more than likely be monetary gain. An honest person would exude shock, like everyone else.

  • Mary says,”I figured who is going to want this? I figured we could get a penny out of it.”

    She says she could get a penny? Isn’t that a weird response? Who would think about a penny? Again, Mary is downplaying this – downplaying her interest in monetary gains.

    I suspect people would have one or two motives in this situation: to help their son (in a weird albeit abnormal funky mystic-kind-of-way) — or to get their hands on money like the money made by the crazy woman who sold a grill cheese sandwich just a few weeks before!! Which motive is Mary thinking about?

  • Watch when Ann Curry says, “What are you going to do with the money?”

    Mary blows air through her teeth and lips. That’s a true, trustworthy expression of frustration. It truly indicates how she is really feeling. Her reply, “If it…It really depends on what it (the amount) goes up to now….We told him he is supposed to get all the money…but if it goes up from there… we are giving to charity, too.” Mary fears Curry is honing in on her desires to take money — and she is sick of it! She doesn’t want to talk about it anymore.

  • Mary goes on to say that she has had tons of e-mail telling her what she should do with the money. Look closely, you see an expression of anger (a microexpression, I suspect)! She is mad about that. She doesn’t want anyone to tell her what to do with her money but she tries to hide it. Where are her thoughts about her son & charity? Does she not have any? Her emotions are not consistent with what she is saying.
  • Ann Curry goes on to ask…”Have you thought about ‘what if’ this doesn’t work? What if you sell the ghost and Collin still thinks the ghost is in the house? What are you going to do then?”

    Look at how cocky Mary is when she replies so confidently, “I don’t think that is going to be a problem (pause) because… I’ve been reading e-mails to him…” The pause between the word because and I’ve is interesting. She is thinking as she speaks.

    A mother whose son is honestly afraid of ghosts knows that situations like this aren’t that easily rectified. Mary’s confidence doesn’t add up to normal behavior.

  • Watch Mary’s husband as she talks about how excited her son is about giving the ghost away. Why is her husband so somber? If his son was excited, wouldn’t he be genuinely enthused as well? Would he be joyous? He’s not. Why? Does he know things are less than honest, perhaps?

Another inconsistency from Mary in other news stories is that she says her son says Grandpa was “mean” yet she swears he was the nicest man you’d ever meet in her actual auction description. This shows Mary is inconsistent. Inconsistency points to less than honest behavior.

When people don’t tell the truth, they just don’t respond normally.

In the end, what is even more odd to me is why the son, Collin, isn’t part of the interview. Why didn’t they have him on with them? People might say that is because they want to protect the identity of their child — but clearly that is not the case because they offered a photo of Collin in the video above. Were they afraid to have Collin speak? Children are usually brutally honest. Is Mary afraid of this?

In the end, I personally don’t trust what this couple is saying.

Rainbow of Color

/in /by

I just took this a few minutes ago…



Eyes-for-Lies Child

/in , /by

Since I had my epiphany back in October, I have been re-examining my life. Little bits and pieces are now making a lot more sense. I am understanding so much more about myself,like why I am a great negotiator. Suddenly I understand how come I have been able to settle large legal battles without ever going to court, and without having to hire my own attorney. These are the perks!!

In reflecting back to my childhood, I got a really good laugh. My favorite card game? It was Lie. I loved that game and if you were a childhood friend of mine, I can guarantee you played it with me, over and over again.

I didn’t even remember how to play the game upon reflection so I looked it up on the web. I guess it is officially called “Lie Detector”. I never knew that. Here are the instructions if you have interest. I wish I knew who taught me this game.

In any case, my best friend in fourth grade moved away to Pennsylvania, and being that we were good friends, we kept in touch. Low and behold, somehow or another, I got an invitation to fly out to visit them over the summer. The year was 1977. Star Wars was just opening in theaters. I was 9 years old.

One evening during the visit, I managed to convince my hosts, very religious baptists who lived a very strict life by the book, that the perfect game that evening would be Lie. I can only imagine their horror! Back then, of course, I was clueless. Thankfully, they knew I wasn’t a religiously-raised child, and still accepted me, corruption and all.

We sat down at their modern danish-style wood dining room table which was long and large to accommodate their family of five. I explained the game to the my friend’s Dad who was joining us. Her mom was off doing chores. Three of the four walls of the dining room were solid glass, and displayed a stunning wooded view beyond. We were totally secluded. It was pure heaven to me! I loved to travel (even alone at age 9), loved the outdoors and nature, loved my friend and I was going to play Lie. It couldn’t get any better!

Once the game started, nightfall arrived. Since this game came really easy to me and these kids were horrible liars, I actually got a little bored, and it was during this boredum that I realized that the glass walls made for great mirrors.

I could actually see everyone’s hand of cards reflecting in the glass, so when their turn came and they lied, I could call them on their bluff 100% of the time. In the game, when it is your turn, you play your cards face down, and declare what they are as you place them on the deck. You have to go in a sequence. If you don’t have the correct cards, you can lie, or you can draw and pass. If you are caught in lie, you pick up the cards below. The first one to play all his cards is the winner.

Now with my discovery, I didn’t have to read faces anymore!!! I could use the mirror and be absolutely “perfect” at detecting lies. I knew then I was good but now I could be flawless! I was so excited!!!

I sat there, and at first, randomly applying my magic because I didn’t want it to be obvious. Then as the game went on, I applied my magic 100% of the time. My target and hardest to read of course was my friend’s dad. When I started nailing him, 100% of the time, he got wide-eyed. I remember him staring over at me in disbelief. I’m sure he was thinking “What the heck is up with this little nine-year-old kid?” At first, he didn’t know what to think. You could just see pure disbelief. He’d smile and then his smile would drain away from his face. His wheels were spinning.

I had really stumped them all — i n a b i g w a y. So bad, that my friend who wasn’t in on the joke stormed off to bed quitting out of frustration. She was sick of picking up all the cards (who wouldn’t be?). This wasn’t the first time I had won, but it was the first time I was doing it so swiftly.

My friends father was totally baffled. I still remember his face as he stood up after the game ended, and I declared victory again in giddy joy. He started seriously questioning me. He just couldn’t figure me out. He was a well-recognized engineer at a well-known fortune 500 company, and this 9-year-old child totally stumped him (grin, grin).

I remember being all giddy and laughing like a fool. Then as he stared me down in total disbelief, I got serious and tried to claim magical powers, but no one at the table was buying it yet they couldn’t come up with a logical explanation for how I had been so accurate.

I’ll never forget the look on my friend’s dad’s face as long as I live.

I majorly disrupted this evening affair. Mystery was in the air.

With incredible pressure from my girlfriends father (hard puzzled looks, and refusing to accept my magical responses), I finally broke down and confess to my sins. I didn’t want to, but the intrigue was so intense, I felt I had no other option. It was clear answers were required.

If only you could have seen the shock on their faces! Remember, these were strict Christians, whose children were raised with a paddle, and weren’t allowed to talk back. They lived in fear of the paddle, and here I come with my silly game!

I knew no such boundaries as a child. I was allowed to talk back within reason and express myself because my mom believed it taught me to think for myself. Oh boy, did it! How embarrassed she would have been if she were there that night!

I still wonder what the parents must have thought about me at the time. I wasn’t a good influence as I taught their children how to cheat playing an innocent card game called “Lie”.

I can only imagine they were happy to send me back home in a few days — thankful I wasn’t going to influence their soon-approaching adolescent children! They must have felt complete horror though they did laugh at my clever antics! Thankfully. They were good people!

It’s one of my favorite memories from childhood. This family really welcomed me with open arms when I was frequently rejected as an odd child. I will always have a soft-spot in my heart for them.