ADDICTED AND LOVING IT

 Marion Pellicano Ambrose

OK, I admit it! I play Farmville! I don’t know why I get such pleasure from planting and harvesting cartoon crops and raising a farm full of chickens, cows, llamas and reindeer, but I do! Is it because I’m such a “black thumb" in real life? Not only can’t I get a thing to grow, but my silk plants lose their leaves around me! But there has to be a deeper, more meaningful meaning for my addiction to this phenomena!

"What Do I Know About He Said, She Said?"

HE SAID...
Tony Walker

Someone help me please!!! I just realized that I am not a man!!! 

Let me rephrase that... I am not a typical man. 

In the week since the Lounge opened, I've been told that my closest friends who are men & I are the minority because we do/help with the dishes, laundry, kids, etc. Now I read the post by Jillian, "Seven Minutes, Really?" (Click the purple to read) & I am shocked. Did some clown on "The Doctors" show really say he gets bored if he spends more than seven minutes pleasuring his woman?! (Click the purple to see the show clip) Either that guy is a moron or I am... don't respond to that Boyle....

IN MY DAUGHTER'S EYES

Jennifer Copp

A little piece of heaven today, I found myself in the most beautiful flower shoppe, Argyle Florists. When you walk in you enter a room filled with flowers and the smell of fresh cut roses.  A few steps in and you are in an amazing green house filled with a beautiful pond with coy fish and a bird in a beautiful cage. Incredible statues all over, I could have been happy in this one room for the rest of my life. I thought to myself how fortunate to find this place, I felt like I had found a magic garden. At that very moment I forgot about my day, it didn't matter the circumstances that brought me there because I was there. It was like the light at the end of the tunnel.

No matter your circumstances there are things to look forward too, so I thank Ricky who brought me to the flower shop to buy his wife's beautiful bouquet. After he had to wait for me at the gas station where my car had been towed. He had picked me up on the Parkway,  my car's transmission had blown - I was stuck. At 41, I had already learned that I didn't like to be stuck!

Tomorrow I wake up and fix yesterday. I will remember the little piece of heaven I found and look for it again in something new. A new venture, stolen moment, special place that makes me feel alive. It gets me through the days as I build myself back up. If I teach my kids anything I will teach them that lesson.

"Look I yell to Lily, look!", at Mommy's car on the flatbed.

"WOW! How cool! Mommy's car never got a ride like that before today! My car is so lucky! "

Lily giggles,"Yes, Mommy it is so lucky"! 

Lily smiles and I know I have her believing me. My job is to make her believe.

Life is beautiful ~Even in hard times!

SEVEN MINUTES, SERIOUSLY?!

Ms. Jillian B. Hart

Usually I prefer to block out the world and fall into the musical fantasy land that I have created on my ipod while performing like a hamster in a wheel trapped for the ensuing miles on the gym’s treadmill.  I do however keep the TV monitor on with closed caption - more often then not to catch a closed caption of world events on CNN.  

My last visit to the gym I found myself restlessly channel surfing while the tunes cranked in my head via ear buds.  I stopped to pause on the opening of The Doctors and put the remote down when Jillian Michaels entered the set.  Being a big fan of Jillian’s and Biggest loser, for the first time ever, while keeping pace, I did the disconnect from my ipod and clicked into the TV’s audio.  I was not to be disappointed.  The panel of doctors was all of the female gender and the audience was filled only with testosterone producing onlookers.   The gentlemen proceeded to ask the feminine forum of heath experts questions regarding women that ran the gamut. The questions ranged from anatomy, cellulite, walking in heels, beauty treatments and of course SEX!

SOUL FOOD

SOUL FOOD

Barbara Ward-Finneran 

Not every action will produce the desired results. Experimenting and making mistakes is part of the process of realizing your potential and dreams. Power through the challenges melding your unique talents with that desired purpose. Be convinced in thoughts, words, and deeds that every task brings you closer to that personal victory and the rest will follow.

Keep the promises that you make to yourself!

Photo Courtesy of Drawn 2 Designs, LLC

Wanna Laugh?!?!

Tony Walker

Sal died in a fire and his body was burned pretty badly. The morgue needed someone to identify the body,

So they sent for his two best friends, Tony and Kevin. The three men had always done everything together...

Tony arrived first, and when the mortician pulled back the sheet, Tony said, "Yup, his face is burned up pretty bad."

"You better roll him over." The mortician rolled him over and Tony said, "Nope, ain't Sal ..."

AGING GRACEFULLY

Marion Pellicano Ambrose    

 I’ve spent more years than I’d like to admit, looking in the mirror. While I was never overly thrilled with what I saw, it wasn’t too bad. I mean, I wasn’t hideous or scary to look at! But lately, I just don’t know!  Suddenly I’m asking myself, “Since when did I get a turkey neck?” and “Why do my eyes look like they have railroad tracks coming from the sides?” Unfortunately, 40  happened! Then it wasn’t long before life had other surprises for me. While most of me started getting wider and fuller, where the heck were my lips going? The roots of my hair suddenly went from healthy reddish brown to dull, dry white! (Of course you’ll never see it, thanks to my new best friend, L’Oreal!)

     It’s been a frightening journey, but I know from watching my mom and my friends’ moms, that this is just the beginning! When they get together, the conversation naturally turns to their gallbladders or hysterectomies. They compare medications and blood pressure, playing “can you top this?”  And it gets worse! Eventually, instead of thinking about meeting new people and enjoying the spontaneity of life, the major concern of the day becomes “will my Activia start working or will I be miserable all day?”

LUNCH TIME POLL

Dawn Boyle

I am in the process of purchasing a new laptop. I will be using it for work while traveling so I will need to have something that I can install WORD or whatever into. I am looking for the best laptop at a reasonable price....

So today's LUNCH TIME POLL is:

WHICH IS THE BEST LAPTOP?

FISHNETS & OTHER CONTRAPTIONS

DAWN BOYLE

I have a saying I use with my kids to get them to eat different things "if you try it, you might like it". That being said I have one kid that will try anything and the other - not so much.

Growing up I was so scared to put my toe in to test the waters on many levels. I never ate fish, didn't swim in the ocean til I was a teenager and would NEVER go into a haunted house at an amusment park. I have been implementing my try it-like it theory within myself for a few months...it's amazing what I have found out about myself and how I have learned a love for things I would never imagined eating or doing. Take this blog for instance, a couple of months ago Barbara and I spoke about how much we loved writing.

SOUL FOOD

Barbara Ward-Finneran 

Transformation must be for yourself or it will not be valid. The new person who emerges gains freedom from their "demons". The process can be painful - but if done with faith in yourself, hope for all you want to achieve, and love of who you are and will become - success will be a given! Choose it. Choose yourself!

Keep the promises that you make to yourself!

Photo Courtesy of Drawn 2 Designs, LLC

STICKY SWEET

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Patty B

"YOU SHOULD REWARD YOURSELF 

FOR YOUR MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS WITH CHOCOLATE. 

AND 

THE DEFINITION OF "MAJOR ACCOMPISHMENTS" IS VERY FLEXIBLE."

YUM!

YUMMY!

YUM!

YUMMY!

YUM!

YUMMY!

YUM!



WHEN I HEAR WHAT'S SHAKIN' I THINK...
Tony Walker

So Thursday's theme is "What's Shakin." What's shakin is my penis!!!
This piece could've been saved for a "He Said She Said" piece but Delayed Reaction asked "What's Shakin" so here goes.

Men shake their penises after peeing. Since the invention of the toilet bowl women have been carrying on about urine on the seat. Please ladies... chime in here & tell me what the problem is. If a guy pees on the seat what is so hard about wiping it off real quick? If a girl finds pee on the seat what is so hard about wiping it off real quick? Is this really worthy of a centuries long argument?

Personally, I never understand why a guy can't lift the seat up.

LADIES & GENTLEMEN...

START YOUR ENGINES!!!!

DAWN BOYLE

This week is the 53rd racing of the Daytona 500. The big race is on Sunday, February 20, 2011. It is a 200 lap, 500 mile race with a sold out crowd that is one of the highest rated sporting events that people tune in to see. It will be shown on Fox, with a 1:00PM start time.

Apparently there are a bunch of races that determine positioning. Martina McBride will sing the National Anthem and the United States Air Force Thunderbirds do a breathtaking air show to entertain the die hard fans of NASCAR. There is VIP seating and people pay top dollar to attend this legendary sporting event. This is considered the Superbowl of the racing circuit, with more then 40 of the best and brightest drivers jockeying to compete for the title.

WHICH COMES FIRST...
THE ANSWER OR THE QUESTION


Tony Walker


One of the first things I do when I get on the computer is see what's happening at the Delayed Reaction Lounge. I have to tell you a secret... I have no idea why this site is called Delayed Reaction. But when I read Barbara's "How's Your Hump" I started asking myself some questions about this blog, this site, & my life as a whole. 

Barbara thinks that Wednesday... or Hump Day.... is a middle of the week reminder that the weekend is coming but first you must finish out your chaotic week. She asks where is the living in a life of an over scheduled existence. In a world of so many responsibilities, where are the responsibilities to ourselves? Excellent points Barbara. 

That's when I started thinking about the name of this site. Does Delayed Reaction mean we lost ourselves in our thirties so our dreams were delayed? Is it time to revisit those dreams? 

Barbara's question of what about a responsibility to ourselves struck a chord with me. I definitely forgot my dreams for many years. It was a battle with cancer that made me realize

YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD

Marion Pellicano Ambrose

Who hasn’t dreamed of growing up to be Superman, President of the United States, even Mother Teresa? We all want to make a difference, to save the world, to leap buildings in a single bound! But the truth is, it’s probably not going to happen! Here we are, 40 something years into life and not one world crisis solved or one life changed because of what we’ve done! Right?...............Wrong!

  

  The problem with our childhood dreams is that they are so huge! Yes, there are large as life heroes and saints among us, but we have the potential to affect change, growth and salvation too! It’s in the little things we do each day. The smile you give your child when you drop him off at school can change his whole perspective on his day. The “good job” you lightly share with a coworker may be just the motivation to move forward. The point is, we may never know what superhero effect we have on the lives of others!

Sticky Sweet

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

HOW'S YOUR HUMP?

Barbara Ward- Finneran

Mine often finds me exhausted.  Hump day hangs in the middle teasingly reminding that the weekend is approaching yet, reality says you are only half way there.  So much chaos of the everyday life left in the week.  Everything so important that it can't be postponed, put off, or pushed aside.  Often finding ourselves going through the motions of an over scheduled exsistence.  Where's the living in this life? When it comes to following our dreams why do they fall to the end of the priority list?

It's all to easy to let life get in the way.  Wife, mother, daughter, teacher, friend, artist, designer, runner, business owner, (insert your own agenda here) all come with a lengthy list of responsibilities.  None of which are easily overlooked.  But where is the responsibility to ourselves? 

HAVE THE BODY OF A SWIMSUIT MODEL

Dawn Boyle

This week the Sports Illustrated Swim Suit Issue has been revealed for 2011. The coveted cover was won by a beautiful girl named Irina. Brooklyn Decker gets the nod as well in this years magazine, which is about twice a large as last year.

Statistics show that this publication increases bikini sales this week and women joining and actually going to the gym. As I flip through the pages I can see why this one issue makes up most of Sports Illustrated sales for the year.

Delayed Reaction Lounge: HE SAID SHE SAIDTony Walker Since this is a "H...

Delayed Reaction Lounge: HE SAID SHE SAID

Tony Walker

Since this is a "H...: "HE SAID SHE SAID Tony Walker Since this is a 'He Said She Said' column the first idea I had was to take Dawn Boyle's 'When Is Valentine's..."

HE SAID, SHE SAID

Revisited by the other ladies of the lounge....

http://delayedreactionlounge.blogspot.com/2011/02/he-said-she-said.html#more

Sticky Sweet

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Patty B

"If you keep your words as sweet as chocolate, you won't mind if you have to eat them."

VALENTINE'S DAY... "AM I RIGHT???

HE SAID SHE SAID

Tony Walker

Since this is a "He Said She Said" column the first idea I had was to take Dawn Boyle's "When Is Valentine's Day This Year" post & go on about how wrong she is. Everyone loves Valentine's Day! Everyone wants to be romanticized! Everyone wants to spend the day with their lover! Am I right??? You know what? I am not right about this. The more I think about it, Boyle is so right. 

When we were around 17 or 18 we were all getting our own cars for the first time & getting some serious boyfriends or girlfriends.... our social lives were the most important thing to us. Remember how creative we all got for Valentine's Day? A trip to the city or some expensive restaurant? We all thought we were so smart.... like the generation before us didn't come up with the same ideas right??? 

Now as we enter our forties, most of the people in my world who are around my age are all out of ideas & steam. We all have brats... I mean kids.... we all have bills piling up (especially if you're paying Long Island taxes)... we're all tired from work & shoveling snow.

(FYI, See yesterday's Hart's Desire for shake up on the snow shovelin'!!! HOT HOT HOT!!! http://delayedreactionlounge.blogspot.com/2011/02/baby-its-cold-outside-ms.html) 

We are out of steam. Many couples I know are so tired after working all day, taking the kids to basketball or scouts or wherever, & taking care of all the other every day activities, they just agree to meet at 10:45 in the bedroom for a little Valentine's celebration. By 11:00 it's over & they're asleep. In my case by 10:46.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE

Barbara Ward-Finneran

Love: Noun,

-a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.

-a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

- sexual passion or desire.

a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

 

WHEN IS VALENTINE'S DAY THIS YEAR....
Dawn Boyle

Today is Valentines Day. I would bet 90% of women hate this day, the other 10% are lying.

Years ago I would get all excited about what I would wear, run around for the perfect gift and spend hours deciding where we would go. Those days are LONG GONE!
It is pathetic this man-made hallmark holiday gets me so upset. I should be treated like a princess every day, which I am not! So why does it bug me that on February 14 my husband acts like he does any other day of the year? Why do I set myself up for disaster? I know his M.O.,
I know he will stop to pick up a card on his way home from work. I know he will grab some grocery store pre-wrapped carnations (my most hated flower). I know he will ask what we are having for diner and when I say I didn't take anything out he will look at me like I have lost my mind. This show has been a re-run since 2001.

LOVE THE ONE YOU'RE WITH

Barbara Ward- Finneran

As I lay down at night and banish the adult chaos and clutter from my mind, the quiet background thoughts of you grow louder in my head. Catching my breath I wonder how someone who is consistently my last thought at night, and so often my first one in the morning, can just be meant to be fantasies and wishes.

Closing my eyes tighter I try to chase the torture from my mind but my heart wins out as I drift to a world where we can exist as one, blessing and cursing the dreams.  Caught between the moment of knowing it's wrong and knowing it can't be wrong...

Fact? Fiction? Facebook feeling? Excerpt from a memory? Thoughts that flow from your mind?  A chance crossing of paths with an old flame.  Longing for a "fix".   Contemplating missed opportunity.  Toying with inviting trouble into your life, just because right now it feels good.  Really good.  Maybe even better then you have felt in a long time.  Perhaps even manufacturing  or magnifying troubles in your “real” relationship to justify the all consuming what if.

BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

Ms. Jillian B. Hart

As twilight fell the light snow was still dancing in the cold northern wind.  The clouds hung low and grey still threatening to once again devour the panorama before him in the depths of winter white.  The cold wet, sweeping through his hair and chilling his skin as he heaved the shovel and tossed the heavy snow on the growing mound.  The sparkling powder was packed and the enormity of excavating a path was exhausting.  His muscles were pumped and aching as the winter wind blew bitter around him.  

His footsteps disappearing behind him in the new falling snow as he anxiously marched through the bone chilling air towards the warm light waning through the windows.   Strong casual strides brought him quickly to the stoop steps and he climbed them two at a time reaching for the handle. As his fingers were about to grasp the knob, the door pulled away from him.  The draft that flew in sent shivers skipping down her spine.  The vision of his damp black pants molded to his muscular legs followed by a form fitting ski jacket, that accented linebacker like shoulders, enticed goose bumps to decorate her flesh, as his deep brown eyes met hers and a smile widened across his face.  His eyes brighten while brows raised and his gaze drifted from seductive eyes, past soft curves, hugged by a sophisticatedly simple knit dress.  It’s vertical line of buttons revealing a moderate peek of cleavage and stopping just high enough to expose a glimpse of tawny flesh before the over the knee stiletto boots wrapped her curvy calfs, like a wet tee shirt coheres to bare skin. A welcomed display that awakened his libido and cause the blood to rush between his legs.