Things That Make Me Laugh Out Loud! :D

This Blog can cover anything, and everything, about my life, which does involve several serious topics, along the way. I have a really good sense of humor, though, and I LOVE TO LAUGH, especially OUT LOUD! I even seek out those things which I can count on to always (or almost always) make me laugh, because I know the importance of laughter in one's life. It is a joyful, freeing, and even healing experience, especially when you fully open yourself up to it, giving yourself over to it completely. Laughing helplessly feels so good (although, a word of caution about that: Occasionally, people have literally DIED LAUGHING! Think I'M KIDDING, about that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deaths_from_laughter). The Bible says that "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." [Proverbs 17:22] Being very much into holistic health, I pay great attention to anything that the Word Of God wisely has to say about how we should best care for our triune self: body, soul, and spirit. There are no guarantees of our living a long, healthy, or happy life, on this Earth; but I seek out the things which are more beneficial to me, with that goal, as much as possible, like laughter, and Green Tea! I always welcome whatever, and whomever, brings light, love, and laughter into my life!

Earlier today, I took the time to check out some of the pins sent to me by Pinterest for one of my favorite board categories: Cute funny animals. Even when I tell myself I will just look at a few rows of them, I almost always end up still scrolling down the screen an hour later, laughing out loud at so many of these! Not only are the animal antics really hilarious, but those added, anthropomorphized, attributions that the pet parents include, with these photos, making them into memes, are also extremely comical. If I ever had to narrow down my HUMOR 'fix' to ONE source ONLY, I might have to pick Pinterest, for these very funny fur, feather, and fin memes! Another thing that makes me laugh, almost every day, is just watching the birds, squirrels, and rabbits, outside my apartment, simply being themselves! I find myself smiling every time I see them, because they all do such amazing and amusing things, at times. I am happy to provide them with birdseed, and other treats (yes, they're spoiled, now!), to be able to draw them near, underneath and around the large evergreen bush beside my patio, so that I can see them, up close. I enjoy these blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, and all the others that come to feed, as well as their calling and singing to one another, and most especially, them feeding their fledglings, all of which fascinates me in a never ending way. I share their joy with them, vicariously, so as not to scare them away. For me, this is one of life's simple but profound pleasures, and a very good example, I think, of what this anonymous quote is speaking of: "Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things you have for which you would not take money."

Because of my sense of humor, which this post is about, while in my comedic (or, 'crazy'!) frame of mind, I have even given my houseplants 'sex education' lectures! I had originally bought a very small Aloe Vera plant, for around $5.00, from a lady who owned a flower and plant shop, in Omaha's Old Market, at that time. BOY, did I get my money's worth, out of THAT purchase! 'AL O' (named that, by me, for obvious reasons) grew so quickly that I had to repot 'him' almost right away. An offshoot soon came from 'his' side, which I then repotted, as well, and named 'Vera'. This happened like with Adam and Eve, only it was 'AL O' and 'Vera', now, and these two also started their own population explosion, with an ever multiplying number of offspring coming from them! After buying several more pots, for all of their descendants, and still not keeping up with their progeny, I had 'The Talk' with 'AL O' & 'Vera'! I told them that their prolific procreating was a growing problem (pun intended), leaving even RABBITS a distant second, in this behavior! There ended up being FOUR (not POTS but) LONG TRAYS, of their babies, on tables in my living room! I finally gave them a less enriched, cactus, soil, at their last repotting, to TRY to get them to slow down, from making so many little ones, in a desperate form of Aloe Vera BIRTH CONTROL! They are still getting enough nutrients from their soil to remain green, but it did reduce their reproductive activities. Since I only have so much space for all of my houseplants, this situation with them had called for 'drastic' measures, from me!

While we are on the subject of my houseplants, this is my funny story about 'Chris' tree: When I lived in an apartment in downtown Omaha, many years ago, I had a private patio. Being young, and unconcerned about cancer back then, I would sunbathe topless, out there, since it was surrounded by very high, plastered walls, with only the occasional, hovering, helicopter to invade my privacy and force me back inside until the pilot gave up his voyeurism and went on his way. One day, I noticed a very tiny little plant growing there, in the slender strip of soil, alongside the concrete floor of my patio. It was an evergreen 'tree', but so small that it only had 4 needles on its entire 'trunk'. Not long after, I plucked it, and potted it, to move with me to a new place, so it became an indoor plant then. As it continued to grow, and was finally beginning to look like an actual, though miniature, evergreen tree, I named it 'Chris tree'; short for 'Christmas tree'. Each time, over the years, that 'Chris' would eventually outgrow its pot, I would replant it, in an ever-larger one. Gardeners had advised me that, with it having been a houseplant for so many years, now, it could never be replanted back outdoors and survive the often extremely cold, at times below zero, Omaha winters. So, as the years passed, the time came when 'Chris' was no longer "tiny", and really needed a large floor pot! By then, I lived in an apartment in west Omaha, across the street from where I worked, at Oakview mall, in an upscale, anchor, department store, as a retail sales associate. I walked between my apartment and my job, cutting through the parking lot of the hardware store every day, on my way home.

Although they sold floor pots, I kept forgetting to go in, after work, and buy one, because I was rather mentally drained, by then, and distracted by my sore feet, after working my shift on the sales floor, attending to all the customers. I simply seemed to have a mental block about it! Yet, every time I came in the door of the apartment, and looked at my now nearly Christmas-tree-sized evergreen 'baby', so 'grown up' from the original tiny 'trunk' with the 4 small needles on it, my heart broke for the plight I had unwittingly put this tree in when I had plucked it from the patio to take it with me, when I moved away. (While the next tenant living there, after me, or the apartment staff, could have pulled it up out of the ground, as well, for any number of reasons, such as weeding, had I left it behind, there, the life of this TREE, and the quality of its life, was now clearly, and completely, in my hands.) Determined to NOT forget AGAIN, to buy it a large floor pot, on my way home after work, after several days in a row of my DOING that, I did what I often do, when something comes across my mind while I am busy or preoccupied, and I want to be sure I don't forget about it: I write myself a note, on my wrist, where it will later catch my eye. So, I made a quick note on my arm, using an ink pen at the cash register, just as I was beginning my next shift at the store, before I got busy, and tired. I waited on lots of people throughout the day, including ringing up their sales, and handing back the change after some of the cash transactions were completed. Finally, as my relief worker arrived, for the start of the next shift, I was finishing up my very last transaction, and had just given this woman her change, when this other employee grabbed me by the hand, as this customer was walking away with her bags. Looking at me in a very serious, and deeply concerned, way, and lowering her voice, as well, she asked me, "DEB, . . . YOU DON'T DO DRUGS, DO YOU?!?" Very shocked, and confused, by such a question from her, I asked her WHY she would even ASK me such a thing? Looking down at my arm, she drew my attention back to the note that I had written there, 8 hours earlier, so as not to forget to buy the floor pot that evening as I was headed home from work. The words that I had written there, which could have been visible to any number of store customers, as I was working at the register ringing up sales, folding, and bagging, their purchases, and making change, were in plain sight, in order to be seen by me, with no thought of anyone else being able to do so! Those words were: Buy pot for Chris.

I was a nightclub dancer, in this Go Go bar, many years ago. It was difficult to see very well in that darkened room, with all the little lights around the stage constantly flashing in my eyes, as well. Even the low ceiling of the stage was painted black, and because it was well worn, from all the dancers touching it to balance as we whirled around, the paint had been chipping off, in somewhat large flakes, for awhile now. One night, I was on stage when, in the middle of my dance, I put my hand on the stage ceiling, to better balance myself in the stiletto heels I was wearing. Just as I did that, I noticed a larger one of the paint flakes fall, from where my hand had touched the ceiling, and it actually landed IN the top of my costume! It amazed me that it had even been heavy enough to drop all the way in to my top, rather than simply land on, or stick to the sequins of, the outside of it. I no sooner had that thought, as I was still prancing and shimmying to the music, when that PAINT CHIP started SQUIRMING, down inside my costume! Knowing that this couldn't be right, I quickly slid my finger down into my top, to try to find out what this actually WAS, in there, and touched a fairly large insect, which was trying its best to move even deeper down into my costume in order to avoid any more probing from me! (Apparently, NEITHER ONE OF US was very happy about our chance encounter, on stage, that night!) Stifling a SCREAM, I quickly flipped it out of my top, using my finger, onto the floor of the stage, and saw that it was a black water bug or roach. UGH! It had matched the color of the stage ceiling, where it had previously been, before I had inadvertently interfered with its plans. Literally without missing a beat, of the Latin song that the DJ had played for me, I emphatically stomped it, once, with my high heel, and finished my dance, with both relief and a triumphant flair! I even got a tip for that move, from a customer, who didn't realize that I had actually been KILLING A COCKROACH, which had just been INSIDE MY TOP! In fact, this guy complimented me, for my dramatic flair, citing that particular move, during my dance, as showing my 'artistic expressiveness'. So, I got both a scare AND a tip from that experience! Who knew that a cockroach dropping into your bra can IMPROVE YOUR DANCE MOVES?

This particular bar was, and was therefore called, the Backdoor Lounge, of the Smoke Pit BBQ restaurant. It was a small room, with an L-shaped bar, and perhaps 20 tables. In the far corner of the room was a TV, anchored to the wall, mostly to keep the old, and bored, doorman amused and awake, since he had either gotten jaded, by his many years at the job, or had finally given up on his chances, after chasing the young women working there, for so long, becoming extremely indifferent toward, and very grouchy with, us. While there was no way to actually HEAR this TV, over the very loud music, it was possible to follow a televised ball game, or the newscasts, due to the video footage and the information on the screen. One night, I was sitting comfortably, relaxing with my regular customer, whom I was well past having to make 'innuendo infused' chitchat with, or answer the tedious, twenty or so, 'getting to know you' questions which inevitably came from each of the new guys. A TV news story caught our eye, because of the large red BREAKING NEWS banner, and we began to watch the TV, instead of whomever was on stage at the time, out of our concern about this serious situation which was unfolding somewhere. Now, this happened PRIOR to our getting a DJ in that bar, who kept the music going continuously; and this MAY even be the REASON WHY we got one, not long after this! Back then, there was just a jukebox, so there was 'a moment of silence', in between every song, while it changed out the records. This had provided for some FUNNY moments, in there, because of the things which could CLEARLY BE HEARD when the music suddenly stopped, while people were still speaking up, rather loudly, in their conversations in an attempt to make themselves heard over the blaring music! Depending on what was being said at the time, the sudden silence had led to some very red-faced people getting giggled at!

At the time, this guy and I were totally focused on the TV screen, discussing this serious news story with one another. Meanwhile, each dancer was required to do their two song set. Peggy, who went by the dancer alias 'Peaches', after her 'boob job', was just getting up on stage, to do the first dance of her set, when this news story came on, although I was oblivious to that at the time. (I considered her to be my very best friend there! We were always very supportive toward one another, in an environment where it was a tremendous comfort to KNOW that you had someone that was ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU!) JUST as her first dance FINISHED, I was saying to the guy that I was sitting with, still in my LOUD, OVER THE MUSIC, SHOUT, "OH, MY GOD!!! THAT is REALLY HORRIBLE!!!"  Feeling someone's eyes on me, intently, then, and looking to see if it was my turn to get up on stage, since I had lost track of it, I saw that 'Peaches' was up there, giving me a rather shocked and upset look, which said to me "YOU just SAID THAT AFTER MY DANCE, 'Stevie'! (my dancer alias)" Before the next song started, which could drown me out, I said, "I'm SORRY, 'Peaches'! I was talking about this terrible news story that's on TV, right now, NOT YOUR DANCE!" Although that was the real explanation, and I was in no way criticizing her dance, it didn't help matters any, since now most of the customers turned to look at the TV, pretty much ignoring 'Peaches' last song of her set, greatly minimizing her tip potential. I was really digging a hole for myself, with my friend, and I hadn't meant to, at all! I watched the start of her dance, trying to also keep track, now, because I followed her on stage, in the lineup that night, as well. The guy sitting with me said something else about the TV news story, though, with that pulling my attention back to it, because it was truly a really bad situation going on, and I responded to him, "THAT is JUST SO AWFUL!" Unfortunately though, for both 'Peaches' and I, I said that as her second dance had also just ended. So, twice in a row, now, when every one could CLEARLY HEAR those comments, it had seemed as though I was criticizing 'Peaches'' performance, which was not at all the case!

She just stood staring at me, from the stage, with a look of complete and utter disbelief that I had done that to her, however inadvertently, and not ONCE, but TWICE, as she sharply said, "STEVIE!!!", in an exasperated tone. My cheeks were burning hot with embarrassment, and frustration with myself, as I headed toward the stage, and a now glaring best friend, standing up there, waiting for me. I said, in that momentary quiet of the room, "'Peaches'! You KNOW that I was talking about the NEWS story on TV, and NOT about your dancing!" I felt so bad, about it! When our eyes met, though, while she was pulling me up onto the stage, after I had started to scramble up the side without the steps, to relieve her of being up there, as quickly as possible, I could see that, because she knew me so well, she knew my heart, and had decided that she thought it was actually PRETTY FUNNY! Seeing that in her eyes, and in her growing grin, at me, I went from feeling caring concern to comedic consolation, after knowing that she understood, and SHE FORGAVE ME! We started laughing out loud, then, standing on stage together in that moment, just busting a gut about it, before the song for my dance started. The hysterical ridiculousness, of how that had, unintentionally, all come together like that, to then turn into such an embarrassing moment, for us both, had suddenly struck us, leaving us weak in the knees from our full out belly laughing about it, now! When the first song of my set ended, after that, I looked over at her, with a twinkle in my eye and a smile on my face, waiting to see if 'Peaches' was going to pull a 'Pay Back', on me, then, which I probably had coming, from her; but she didn't. TRUE FRIENDS are one of the GREATEST GIFTS we can have in this life!

When my cockatiel, CeeBee  (who is in Heaven, now),  was still very young, he would always start shrilly calling me, whenever I was out of his sight. Bless his little bird heart, he was a real 'Mama's Boy'! Living in an apartment, with him, I was very conscious of my neighbors, and our noise, so I always tried to get him to quiet down, as expediently as possible, when this would happen! One day, I was taking a shower, after first getting him happily settled, so I thought, on the nearby bathroom vanity countertop. He was at least in the same room with me, now, so I was hoping that would suffice, for him. With me already soaking wet, I heard him begin to do that screaming, and knew that I had to act right away to get that stopped. So, I flung open the shower curtain, and dripping water all over the rug, said, "CeeBee, COME HERE!", as I quickly got him onto my hand, and then set him on top of the shower curtain rod, where he would now be able to see his "MAMA!!!". He had never had this 'bird's eye view', of me, before, and it amused me to see him looking all around, checking out the shower, and studying me, in it, so intently. As he kept watching me, I began to ask him, "CeeBee, do you like my legs?', which actually are slender and shapely, and, as if he knew the word, for these body parts, he gave my 'gams' a gander, and then approvingly answered "Whoo Hoo!" So, next, I asked the little guy if he liked my 'behind', which is round and shapely. Again, he responded to my question to him as if he actually, really, knew this word, and the corresponding anatomy, which amazed me in itself, apart from the apparently well-considered critique of his responses. He literally moved his crested head up and down, beginning with that question about my legs, seeming to study the subject, of each one of my questions, before he replied. Regarding my derriere, he even once again answered me with a (behaviorally) very thought-through and enthusiastic sounding "WHOOOO HOOOO!" (These vocalizations of his even sounded like the 'Wolf Whistles' which men do toward women that they are critiquing the body parts of.) Finally, feeling so charmed by his human-seeming behaviors, and responses, and his apparent affirmation of me in the nude, I asked him one last question. "CeeBee, do you like my breasts?" (They happen to not be my 'strongest' feature, as a fairly small--- though cute and perky!--- 34B.) After his looking directly at them, then, again with no prompting as to which body part that even was, CeeBee suddenly ruffled his feathers, and answered me with a very off-key, sour sounding "Aaaack!" Shocked by his astute answer, as well as by his feathered frankness, I said to him, laughing, "GET OUT OF MY SHOWER, YOU LITTLE PERVERT!" My little bird was more like a LITTLE MAN, that day, with his 'Wolf Whistles', at me, and his 'typical male' opinions, about my figure.  

I WELCOME LAUGHTER into my life, however and wherever I find it. I will even go around my apartment talking to myself, at times, making silly puns, just about everyday situations, as they arise, including while I sit on the toilet! It is important to have laughter in my life. It is just as vital, to my overall health and well-being, as it is for me to have Green Tea for my body, and meaningful music for my soul. More important than anything else, though, is my very real relationship with God, which includes praise, prayer, interacting with His Spirit, and reading His Words of Truth! It is true that laughter is 'good medicine', for all of us who are living on this planet; which is also oppressively filled with many extremely dire and daunting situations, and slippery and serious subjects, for us all to grapple with, as those who are currently sharing this Earth, and its issues and outcomes; along with all of Creation. For us to be fully fit, as humans, in the midst of all these things, we should also exercise our Funny Bone, on a regular basis!

My life is--- seriously!--- alot better off, and much healthier and happier, because I giggle and guffaw at every opportunity that I can do so . . . AND THAT'S NO LAUGHING MATTER!  : D