Trendy hair styles! I used to follow the trends, long or short, big or butchy…but I finally gave up.
I wear my hair very short, and likely will never change that. I out grew the need to follow styles and trends because it just wasn’t practical. At one point my hair was HUGE, curly, teased, down to my waist in back, the classic 80′s style. That took 45 minutes to accomplish every morning and after a while I just simply could not do it anymore. I needed something fast and easy, something that could easily be recovered after climbing off the back of a motorcycle, helmet or not. I found a style I love, SHORT. I spike it out a bit in the back, or just let it go. That is as far as I will likely go with changes. When I get a wild hair to do something different, I spray pink in it.
Welcome to the 33rd edition of “Meet Me On Monday!” Blogging is a funny thing…we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, “who is this person!?” I know them…but yet I don’t know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to “meet” each other!
Every Sunday Never Growing Old will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!
“Its a great way to to meet new friends and for others to get to know me better….one Monday at a time!!!”….as quoted by the Chacogirl!! I will make this SIMPLE and FUN!!!
Questions:
1. What do you put on your hot dog?
2. Do you play Sudoku?
3. What is your favorite vegetable?
4. Do you color your hair?
5. What is your favorite brand of clothing?
————————————————————— My Answers!
“Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on.…” ~ Samuel Butler
I wonder if we thought about that daily, how differently we might behave? If we were playing a violin solo, in public view, while learning to play it as we went along, most of us would be diligent to practice, and try very hard to put on a good performance. But in the game of life we don’t always strive to be our best, we often forget who is watching us as we perform.
When my marriage came to an end, it shocked me. I was devastated and really took it very hard. A marriage ending is much a like a death, and there are stages that you go through just like when losing a loved one. In many ways I think it is harder when it is a divorce, as you have to go on and from the background you are forced to watch the other person move on without you. If they wanted out they are off and living their new life, often before you even know the marriage is over, so their present is often your own future. They are going on, you are still picking up the pieces of your heart trying to figure out how to glue them all back together again and just learn to breathe.
As I moved through the grief stages I thought I did a fair job of handling things considering no one handed me the sheet music to play with the announcement or when we filed the paper work. I was expected to play an unfamiliar symphony with no conductor. In many faiths you cannot get married without going to classes. I think classes in how to get divorced would be a great requirement in order to even file the papers to get things started. Anyway I thought I had done a fair job of handling things. That is until the other evening when I made a comment to my daughter about how ugly my brother’s divorce has gotten and how vindictive and mean I’ve learned his ex-wife-to-be has become. My daughter, wise beyond her 20yrs, looked at me and said “you aren’t one to talk”. That brought me up short. I never saw anything I did as being close to the ugliness I see coming from my sister-in-law. But the more I thought about it the more I could see that my kids were impacted by my solo show, regardless of how well I thought I had played.
I could have fought hard and forced the ex to sell the house, and dragged things through court, but while I made a lot of threats in hurt and anger, I didn’t do that. I did send a good number of mean spirited texts and emails to my ex, often threatening to get a lawyer and fight for all I could get, but I didn’t mean them. I never did get a lawyer, never went after anything, I just acted out in emotional turmoil. But what I didn’t take into account was how much my kids would see and know, or how they’d be affected, as I was playing that violin. There were things I said in front of them, and I’m certain there were things their dad shared that he would have been better not too. It really caused some issues and hurt to my daughter that I was being less than kind. Referring to her daddy as “he who shall not be named”, “Lord Voldemort” and assorted other not so nice nick names really did not do much good, they caused her to withdraw from me to the less hostile environment at her daddy’s. My son is more removed in that until last week he didn’t live at home any longer so he was able to stay fairly neutral. He didn’t over hear either his dad or me talking to others or to one another so he wasn’t impacted like his sister. At times I made no attempt whatsoever to play the music, I was too busy bashing the ex virtually over the head with my violin, it wasn’t a very nice performance.
A very wise man that has been through a number of divorces himself, made the comment to me one day that divorces usually turn into drama fests and fights because of those outside of the marriage. The friends and relatives on both sides feed the fires with comments and opinions that would be better left unsaid. They tend to get one side of the story but not both, form an opinion and then pick up their tuba in an effort to enhance the production, influencing their side to go for it all, etc., embellishing the facts or even telling out and out lies, trying to make one side look bad. In the end, it serves no good purpose but to make a bigger mess of an on stage musical that never should have opened the curtains. And in the end, the outcome is not usually changed at all by the fighting and attacks, the courts have a pretty standard method for how things get divided up and doled out. The only parties that hurt are those hearts caught up in the middle, usually the kids. Even in my late 20′s, as my own parents divorce was taking place, I heard remarks made by friends and family members that had taken my dad’s side. I’ve never forgotten those things, and while it is forgiven, I have no desire to be around those that judged and pushed the drama rather than just staying neutral.
As you play your violin solo of life, keep in mind that others are hearing and watching your performance, and often we are unaware of those in the audience. You usually only get one shot at each piece of music you have to play, make sure that you give it your all in such a way that the critics can give you rave reviews. Oh, and don’t try to play your tuba during someone else’s violin solo, trust me you won’t be doing anything to enhance their performance.
My brain is not up to a lot of deep thought today so it seemed like a good reason to do a list. Not to mention I was inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Midwestern Mama, who did a list post today. Her list is random facts about her, none of which I knew but nothing truly shocked me. My list is 10 random things that made me happy this week, or at least smile!
1. I got my nails done this week! They were very long, street walker nails is what my youngest brother, Mike, called them once. They are at a much more manageable length now.
2. I got my hair cut and highlighted this week! It was way over due and driving my nuts so I was quite happy to be squeezed in to Debbie’s schedule and have it done. Even better was finding my daughter there having her hair done, and my sister showing up to get her’s cut as well! Family night at the hair salon.
3. I got a new purse. I have had the same one for well over a year now, going on two to be honest. It was time. I LOVE it! Black leather, and big enough to carry my Kindle in, which is critical as that goes everywhere with me now.
4. My mom brought home cookies the other day when she returned from a trip out. Pecan Sandies…with dark chocolate chips! YUMMY!!
5. My niece shared a Youtube video of Marcel The Shell, which totally cracks me up. Here it is if you need a chuckle:
6. I tried out the Chinese place across the street from my office last week, and this week tried cashew chicken. I now have a new, favorite lunch to munch in addition to the Chipotle addiction I have.
7. I found a brand new tube of Oil Of Olay In Shower Body Lotion!!! This stuff is SO good, and is the single best cure for dry skin in winter. I thought we were out, but while digging through the supply basket for face soap I found the in shower lotion. YEAH!!!!
8. I had a craving for something yummy, and fattening…and discovered we still had some Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream in the freezer, YEAH ME!!
9. My cat purring in my ear as she fell asleep was so soothing!
10. I finally have a TV for my room!!!! My son moved back home with my ex, and had a spare, 21 inch, flat screen TV (HD!!) and he gave it to his mama! Cable box will be here tomorrow and tomorrow evening I will be able to watch TV in bed, in my room.
SO, as you can see, all in all, this has been a GREAT week, even though I am sick and feeling like 10 pounds of crap in a 5 pound bag, life is still good!
I am EXHAUSTED. And sick. Some how I managed to contract the cold or whatever from hell and lose my voice. My head is stuffed up, I am lucky to get out enough voice to even be heard, and last night had the pukey stuff to go with it. This so is NOT what I wanted to be doing. I wore out completely what little voice I did have by the time I finished work yesterday. Just after crawling in bed and drifting off to sleep last night I was suddenly wide awake and very very sick. Without much detail it is suffice to say that I never made it out of my room, and owe my sister big time. I was completely unable to sleep all night between the sour stomach, mega night sweats and not being able to breathe. I stayed home from work today and slept as much as possible.
The cats seemed to pick up on the fact that I was not well, as they all came and checked on me several times. Noel was in bright and early this morning and groomed my hair line on my forehead. That is a big hairy deal as she is anti-social. Guess they were worried that the food wench (I am the one that typically feeds them both times in the day) might be on her death bed.
Ditzy napping with me
My cat slept at my feet quite often. Then later, during an afternoon snooze, little Ditzy kitten came and napped with me. She is such a doll. While the other two will check on you, Ditzy is a cuddler and she wanted to snuggle in for her sick watch over me. She purred for close to 20 minutes, even as she drifted to sleep, which was flat out adorable.
This getting older stuff and creeping through early menopause is for the freaking birds. I have about had it with the whole deal and I’m only 47 and this has a LONG way to go.
My mood swings are controlled thanks to the meds I am taking and those are supposed to be assisting with the hot flashes. If this is what they are like with assistance, holy heffer what would they be like without??? Better living through chemistry I suppose.
The worst part is at night…like last night. As if it is not bad enough that I’m awake every 55 minutes thanks to the decongestant I am taking, I keep having night sweats! The day time hot flashes are bad enough but this night time stuff has to end. I feel like a malfunctioning Easy Bake Oven! Just stick a cake mix in my arm pit and in 5 minutes you can have freshly baked cupcakes.
Combining this with the cold medication made for some wicked weird dreams last night. Keebler Elves take me captive and force me to consume cremated remains in my fudge stripe cookies and protein shakes. Seriously, I have to watch what I read before I go to bed until this cold/allergy attack from hell moves on. My son had a post on his Facebook status that read: Would you add a cremated dead guy to your protein shake for $1,000,000?? (Dead serious). At first I thought GROSS, not a chance. Then I actually started to figure how much is really left of the body after it is cremated and….YUCK what is wrong with me? Evidently there are a whole lot of desperately broke folks on his friends list because it spawned a lengthy series of comments most in favor of it, like me, but wanting to know how MUCH of said dead and over baked corpse had to be consumed in the shake. Where the fudge stripe cookies came in from is beyond me. Perhaps it was the cookie dough ice cream I passed on when I got home, or the Snickers peanut butter candy bars I also bypassed in the kitchen despite craving chocolate and other assorted junk food last night. When I woke up in a fog I muttered out loud that I had about had it with the hot sweats and night flashes. Yeah, it’s the drugs.
Anyway I cannot seem to find a happy medium in body temperature. I’m either freezing to death or over heating. I’m sitting here writing this with the window open next to me and it is 30 degrees outside. Which is a heat wave compared to the single digits and negative wind chill temps a few days ago, but really??? We gals get to have ALL the fun in life.
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Have something on your mind you want to share? Hop on over to Shell’s place by clicking the icon above and pour your heart out!
Welcome to Wine & Cheese, my weekly, Wednesday whine session.
Every week on Wednesday I devote a blog to whining. Despite being a really happy, positive person, I do have things that annoy me at times.
I never let anything grate on my nerves for long but thought it would be fun to vent them periodically in my blogs.
I also feel that good things, the cheese in life, should be acknowledged as well.
I’m even going to throw in a bit of dessert, a piece of virtual chocolate, something that made me laugh or smile just a bit more than normal.
If you’d like to read the past editions of Wine & Cheese just click HERE for all of the past postings.
Sit back and join me now for the 25th serving of some wine and cheese!
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WINE
Colds suck. Allergies suck. Whatever it is that has invaded my body, be it a cold or allergy attack, YOU SUCK. I have lost my voice and my nose would be running off my face right now if it weren’t for Mucinex D.
Mucinex D – YOU SUCK. I am a hot mess through the night with the lovely (heavy on the sarcasm) dreams I have all night. Not to mention waking up approximately every 55 minutes on the nose and wondering WTH I was just dreaming about. Something to do with Keebler Elves and ash remains in my protein shakes (thanks to my son’s Facebook status – see yesterday’s Post It Notes post), and I don’t even drink protein shakes! If you didn’t work so well at clearing my head so I can breathe I’d break up with you!
Winter you suck the worst of all. I HATE this weather! My skin is so dry I have to practically bathe in body butter to avoid looking like an alligator. I’m tired of being cold, tired of snow, tired of my car being so filthy it looks gray rather than white. Be gone!
CHEESE
Hats off to Debbie, who got me in on a moments notice to chop off my wayward locks and spice them up with some highlights! You are the best! And my sister’s hair cut, very sweet! I love it and might just go that way this summer myself.
Family night at the hair salon! Running into my darling daughter then my sister showing up and all of us being there at the same time was great! And to my lovely daughter, your hair is so adorable in that style, SO glad you cut it off again!
The body-less head that is attached to the kitchen table, you are making my day. The cats are so confused. I admit it is rather creepy when I walk in the kitchen and see it, but the cats reaction to the woman with no body at the table is priceless. As much as you felines annoy the rest of us, this is worth the creepiness of seeing you 3 trying to figure out where the rest of her is, and why she won’t blink and you poke her peepers.
DESSERT
Warning! Today I am coloring OUTSIDE the lines ~ seen on a Facebook status.
YEAH!!! I love Tuesday, because it is not MONDAY, which frankly makes Tuesdays good right out of the starting gate. Add to that, it is Post It Note Tuesday, a meme where you can let it all out on post it notes! Just click the yellow note to join in the fun. Then post away! Oh and if you need help making the stickies for this meme, go HERE to make your own in 4 lovely colors.
This week I am posting status lines I’ve seen recently on Facebook. Some were funny, some touching, and one just flat out made me thing WTH??? Have an awesome day everyone!!!!!
The Marvelous One
If you do not live in this area, you really miss out on the fun of watching the panic that will set in as SNOWPOCOLYPSE decends. Sometimes called White Death. Known to most of the nation simply as SNOW. Yes snow, that stuff that happens in winter. It is a typical occurrence here in the Cincinnati area, snow happens in winter. But you’d think we lived in the Florida Keys and never seen the stuff before the way things will progress here.
It starts at the local news level, where I believe some sort of kick backs from grocery stores must take place. For days out the weather men will begin predicting the coming snow storm (of 3 inches of snow) like they report on a pending hurricane on the coast. The way people will react to the news you’d think that is exactly the level of catastrophe we’re looking at taking place. As the doom draws near, the panic begins and by the night before the big event, insanity has taken over the minds of otherwise intelligent individuals.
Idea go / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Tomorrow there is a weather forecast of a ‘really big snow’. Yes, this one is above average, we might get up to 7 or 8 inches of snow. I’ll wait while readers in areas such as Buffalo, NY, laugh to the point of tears. *insert pause* This type of snow fall here will paralyze this town. In Buffalo and other areas I doubt it is even news that it snows. Here, it is the leading story for days on end. Because the snow is due here tomorrow, today is the day to get a front row seat at the grocery store. In fact, park every extra car you own in the lot. Anywhere will do, just go lay claim now to those spots. You’ll thank me this evening when you can sell those spots for about $20 a piece to the fearful coming to wipe out the grocery store.
Ah yes, the grocery store. Out there, somewhere, is a winter survival guide that lists French Toast as the staple food to get one through a really bad blizzard. I know this because by 10pm this evening there will be no bread, milk or eggs to be found in this city. I have yet to figure out what else can be made from those 3 ingredients, but I am not exaggerating when I say the shelves will be empty. You would be lucky to find a package of out dated, moldy hot dog buns at the back of what was once a well stocked bread aisle. Hens cannot hope to keep up with the demand for eggs, and the cows will be drained dry. It is frankly pathetic. Really folks, if we are going to be snowed in for any length of time, what good are 10 loaves of bread, 8 dozen eggs and 5 gallons of milk??? Why not steak, potatoes, some veggies, dessert (ice cream!), a few cases of beer and a few dozen bottles of wine, some snacks and a bunch of fire wood? That sounds like better choices to me. Just saying.
I have lived in this city for 47 years. I’ve survived the blizzards of 77 and 78. Snow emergencies were declared at level 3, no one but the emergency personnel (cops, EMS, fire) were permitted on the roads (mandatory snow days for adults are the best!), and at no time were we close to starving. Possible death by BOREDOM perhaps but not from being snowed in, trapped, lost in white death. WE HAVE SNOW PLOWS!!!! We have salt trucks!! And within 24 hours the roads will, for the most part, be reasonable.
I won’t drive in the bad stuff, my car is paid off and it is rear wheel drive. I’m not stupid enough to chance it. But I will NOT panic. I will curl up in a chair, sip hot cocoa & coffee, in my slippers and jammies and watch the deer that frequent our back yard, and watch the snow fall.
What I won’t be doing is watching local stations on TV. Our local news media will report on the snow fall as if the Lord is returning. From the time the first flake floats gracefully down to earth it will be wall to wall coverage of SNOW FALLING! Every local news station will have every available reporter standing in various parking lots and at intersections throughout the city to report what we might not be aware of…OMGITISSNOWING!!!! Yep, I am not kidding, this is big news. I’ve said it before, if the world was coming to an end, a meteor was headed on a crash course with the earth and we were about to be destroyed before the dinner hour, we in the greater Cincinnati area would be blissfully ignorant of the impending death because OMGITISSNOWING!!!!! Snowpocolypse is news here, BIG news. If you are hoping to catch The Ellen Show, The View or The Young And The Restless, give it up. God forbid the news would break away for the day from reporting that roads are getting slick and the snow is coming down. A fact that everyone in the city aside from those under anesthesia for surgery will be well aware of simply by looking out a window!!! This will continue until the last flake falls and the roads have been cleared, usually within about 24-36 hours.
Someone is shaking our snow globe!!! Run, Chicken Little, buy bread, milk, eggs!! The sky will be falling!!!
Welcome to Wine & Cheese, my weekly, Wednesday whine session.
Every week on Wednesday I devote a blog to whining. Despite being a really happy, positive person, I do have things that annoy me at times.
I never let anything grate on my nerves for long but thought it would be fun to vent them periodically in my blogs.
I also feel that good things, the cheese in life, should be acknowledged as well.
I’m even going to throw in a bit of dessert, a piece of virtual chocolate, something that made me laugh or smile just a bit more than normal.
If you’d like to read the past editions of Wine & Cheese just click HERE for all of the past postings.
Sit back and join me now for the 24th serving of some wine and cheese!
~*~ ~*~ ~*~
WINE
I am whining about cats this week. As in the 4 legged, long tailed, obnoxious fur ball kind of cats.
THEY ARE THIEVES! They like to steel stuff from us all and hide it, or play with it, or even eat it! Ditzy helped her cute self to my blue tooth last week. I had it with my purse, Kindle and phone on my bed before I left for work. She made off with the blue tooth and my mom later found it in the living room. I had seen her playing with it but thought it was a cat toy. The piece that goes over the ear? Well half is missing having been bitten off, and there are teeth marks all over the remainder.
THEY CANNOT TELL TIME! Or maybe they can, and it is just the weekend thing that throws them off? I like to sleep in on Saturday morning, it is my only day to enjoy this luxury. Granted, my alarm goes off at 5am during the week, so 7-7:30am IS extra sleep, but my idea of sleeping in is say 9 or 10! Pixel begins her morning assault at no later than 6:30am. She gets up on the dresser or desk and begins moving objects around. If I do not react she knocks them off to the floor. I get up, go put out fresh food and go back to bed. Soon, she comes back and brings her posse, Ditzy, and they start the tag teaming. If the moving of objects doesn’t work, they wrestle….on the bed. If I do finally give in and get up, they move on. They don’t want anything other than to have someone else up and about.
MY CAT NEEDS A SHRINK! We already know that Ditzy is ‘special’. To say she is mentally challenged is being very nice. She is fortunate that she is so adorable, it allows us to look past her lack of brain matter. My cat, Pixel, needs a kitty cat psychiatrist. She used to use the litter box like she invented the thing and fine tuned it. But now? She won’t allow her paws to touch the litter to cover her deposits. Instead she circus performs around the edge of the litter box, scraping the plastic liner, as if that is going to be effective. Sooner or later she gives up and leaves, and Noel goes in and in complete disgust, while glaring at Pixel, covers the down load that was left behind. Here, a visual aid, maybe some other cat owner can help us? We’ve tried changing litter, nothing seems to work.
pixel
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CHEESE
Not all things cat related are bad, some are quite good!
We found a new litter, World’s Best Cat Litter and, while I am not one to do a product endorsement, I have too. THIS STUFF ROCKS! No annoying perfumes, just NO odor. The stuff is amazing. Of course, you have to change the litter on a regular basis, but this stuff is really good. For the go-green folks, you will love this, it is made from corn! Yep whole kernel corn! It is amazing stuff. If you go to the website you can get a coupon to get a bag free (by rebate). We in the Diva Den highly recommend and endorse this product!
Cats are endlessly entertaining. We often spend Saturday mornings sitting in the living room watching them stalk, pounce and fight with each other or cat toys. They are such a riot to observe! And we’ve all learned from our 3 felines, take time to play! Silly, crazy, wacky, FUN play. I read recently that cats NEED to have play time to avoid getting mental? Well so do we humans. We can learn a lot from our cats!
Cats provide the greatest means of recycling register receipts. Assuming there are no coupons on the back that can be used, of course. We call them crinkles, a ball made of a long register receipt. This too will provide endless entertainment to us and the cats, who will play soccer with the crinkle. Now we know that there are crinkle balls that can be purchased, we have those, and the cats prefer the home made ones. One crinkle and 3 cats = lots of laughs. It should be noted that if the crinkle ball by chance lands in the water bowl, it is no longer a good play toy and should be disposed of! This will disappoint the cats.
I do have the blues, bad today. I have been battling it for a few days but today was the worst.
I miss my kids.
I mean REALLY miss my kids.
And in that missing them is a great deal of bitterness trying very hard to work it’s way past the armor wrapped around my heart. Bitterness toward their dad. Bitter, mean, nasty stuff that wants to worm its way in and make me spew all kinds of hateful words that I am refusing to let enter my mind. I’m in a battle and refuse to let go and fall into that trap again.
I miss seeing my little girl (20 years old is still a little girl to a mom), even when it may have only been when she was deep in sleep and I got some mumbled gibberish when I kissed her good bye in the morning when I left for work. Yes, I still kissed her goodbye and told her I loved her before I crept out, and she was 19. I desperately miss her frumpled up hair and sleepy face when she’d wander into the kitchen in the mornings. I miss her contagious laugh and gorgeous smile that was a part of nearly every day when we shared the same home. I miss those nights when her dad was on duty and she’d come out to the hot tub with me, with her cell phone in a zip-lock baggie so she wouldn’t miss a word from her boyfriend, and how I loved seeing her in love. I even miss her pissy, PMS driven days filled with attitude and crabbiness. I miss my baby girl so much.
I miss hearing my son’s tales of work, though it causes me to worry about him. I miss his crazy sense of humor and how he could make me laugh until I cried. I miss when he would come for a visit and then fall asleep on the couch because of exhaustion from his insane schedule. I loved watching him sleep, missing the little boy that sat in my lap once and held my face in his tiny hands, seeing me crying, and wiped my tears away saying “don’t cry mommy, it’ll be alright”. I miss him asking for my laptop to show me countless videos that he thought were hilarious. He will be moving back in with dad and his little sister, into the house that was our home, MY home, filling the walls with laughter and fun again.
I feel so disconnected and unneeded to them now. On Facebook I am blocked by their dad, so the comments on my kid’s pages, and often the string of replies makes no sense at all to me because I cannot see what is there unless someone that is a mutual friend of them all shares it so I get the joke. Often I comment and mine are lost in their exchange with dad and I feel invisible. It is like I disappeared and sometimes I wonder if I am even missed at all. They will be a family in the house that they grew up in, but I’m not there. The house that I was instrumental in providing, the one we’d have not had without my mom’s help, and I’m the one on the outside. I was the one forced to leave my home, my kids, MY FAMILY.
The pain has been fresh and overwhelming the past few days again.
I miss my house, my neighbors, the dog…..but mostly….
Welcome to the 31st edition of “Meet Me On Monday!” Blogging is a funny thing…we tell our most intimate thoughts for all to read and yet most of the time I find myself sitting and wondering, “who is this person!?” I know them…but yet I don’t know them! I want to know who the person is behind all those words so I thought of a great way for all of us to “meet” each other!
Every Sunday Java will post five get to know you questions that you can copy and paste into your own Monday post and we can all learn a little more about each and every one of us!!
“Its a great way to to meet new friends and for others to get to know me better….one Monday at a time!!!”….as quoted by the Chacogirl!! Java will make this SIMPLE and FUN!!!
Java will add a linky so we can follow who participates and get to know them better!! Be sure to link the POST and not just your whole blog!
Questions:
1. Do you like your ice cream in a dish, waffle cone, pretzel cone, sugar cone or cake cone?
2. Do you read the newspaper daily?
3. Marinara or meat sauce?
4. Last time you cried?
5. What word/phrase do you find really annoying?
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1. Do you like your ice cream in a dish, waffle cone, pretzel cone, sugar cone or cake cone?
If I am eating my ice cream in a cone, it has to be a waffle cone, preferably one that the end has been dipped in chocolate and nuts or sprinkles. The way I see it, if I am going to indulge in something fattening I might as well go all the way with it, right?
2. Do you read the newspaper daily?
Honestly it is rare that I bother. If I do take time to read it then I do it online but most of the time it just ticks me off so I tend to avoid it. On Sunday I will read the comics and browse the coupons but beyond that I have little use for the newspaper anymore.
3. Marinara or meat sauce?
OH meat sauce! I am not picky if it is ground beef, chicken or turkey, as long as there is meat in that sauce, YUM!!!!
4. Last time you cried?
Hmm..I teared up in church a few times Sunday. And then again at home while writing my blog yesterday but that time it was happy tears.
5. What word/phrase do you really find annoying?
I truly detest this phrase, it is just dumb. Of course it is what it is, as if it is something else?
Okay so my sense of humor is a bit warped, I cannot deny that. But this is funny stuff, ya just gotta admit it! Some genius is no doubt going to make a mint off this idea. A wedding ring coffin! I want one, I think it is a total hoot. I’d never bury my rings, what a waste of potential cash that I plan to sell them for instead! But it is highly amusing to me. Maybe cremate the wedding certificate/license and put it in an urn inside the casket too? Sick I know. Thanks to The Peachy One for sharing it on Twitter today, made my whole afternoon!
Today is just one of those days when I would be completely content to stay in my jammies, sip coffee and read all day. That is not how it has gone but it certainly sounds marvelous to me! I instead pulled myself out of bed (thank you Pixel and Ditzy for the rude awakening), made coffee and launched into my day. I have accomplished next to nothing at all. I did run an errand with my sister to Hobby Lobby, my all time favorite, put a cot in the backroom and I’ll just live here store. It was there that I grabbed a journal I spotted, to use for taking notes in church. “It’s A Wonderful Life” is such a great movie, and a great reminder to take stock in life and the richness in blessings we have. When I spotted it I knew it was for me, it even matches my bedspread, how is that for a sign that I should have it?
The reality is that my life is indeed very rich and blessed. I do lose sight of that at times but thankfully have great friends, and the awesome women of the Diva Den, to gently nudge me back in the right direction when I let the stupidity and shallowness of others to infringe on my happiness.
I just noticed there are 2 cats sleeping on my bed, the same two that woke me up this morning. Wondering, is turn about fair play? Should I bug them until they get up? Oh so wickedly tempting. If only they would understand it was revenge I might.
I have been very pleased with the Friday Featured Friend I started last week. Both guest posters were fantastic. If you’d like to be a guest poster let me know by clicking the invite over at the top of my side bar, I’d love to make you are Friday Featured Friend. It is not necessary to be a blogger, if you just would like to write about something, let me know!
Welcome to Friday Featured Friend, where I feature a guest post from another blogger. Today’s guest poster is Julie C. Gardner, from By Any Other Name. I cannot recall how I stumbled on her page one day but I was hooked and subscribed. A former high school English teacher and a writer (believe me I was honored she’d grace my page and intimidated me just a bit!), she is now working on a few books. A devoted wife and mom with a great sense of self and humor, I give you Julie. Oh and NO she is not related, but the last name and blond hair might make ya wonder! Leave some love and please check out her page where you will not be disappointed!
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Julie Gardner of byanyothername
Like many women, I have a love/hate relationship with exercise. I hate to work out, but love how I feel afterward. Except for the time I went running in a pair of compression pants I’d found in the back of my closet. I had to pry them from my goose-pimpled flesh with pliers. So my “afterward” that day wasn’t so much a celebration as a victory.
I’d received this particular pair of compression pants as a free sample from an Olympic athlete who’s an acquaintance of a friend. I’d put the pants away and forgotten all about them. Partly because I don’t generally require “performance-enhancing” outer-wear and partly because I don’t organize my closets often (read: ever). I also hate laundry. So I when I unexpectedly found a pair of clean running pants (!!!) I got ready to rock it. Compression style.
I cannot overstate the seriousness of the compression. Like cut-off-all-circulation compression. But when I slid these pants on, nothing jiggled. Win.
Four miles into my run, however, I discovered the pants were either (like the Grinch’s heart) two sizes too small or my lower body was not compression-pant caliber. My thighs weren’t jiggling because they were busy purpling. And not in a good way.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first fashion-disaster in my exercise history.
To witness that, we revisit the 80’s, when someone (I blame Jane Fonda) decided to do ass crunches to the throb of “Little Red Corvette.” I was right there on the cheaply-carpeted floor pumping away to lyrics that boasted a thinly-veiled celebration of the vagina. I’d be sausaged into black tights (because even as a virgin I knew black was slimming) and a neon-colored leotard with matching headband. You know. To keep the sweat off my brow.
NOT Julie or Marti
And the really sexy part?
My fellow sweaters and I would thread a belt through the leg holes of the leotard and fasten said belt at the waist, thereby hiking the spandex over our hips to belly button height. Not exactly modest, but at least there were two bunched-up layers of Danskin between the outside world and my own virginal “Little Red Corvette.”
Then we gyrated and flailed and tormented our buns of steel. And we managed all this while caked in eye make-up and plastered with hairspray to ensure we looked “radical” in our aerobic studio’s requisite wall of mirrors. Why? Because Olivia Newton John had invited us to get “physical” and I couldn’t say “no” to the hot chick in Grease. I wanted to be the hot chick in Grease.
Fast-forward to the 90’s and I was anything but hot. My skin sucked. My hair sucked. Everything. Sucked. I probably shouldn’t have traded aerobics for happy hour at Acapulcos. But as a result of this trade, my ass (like the Grinch’s heart) grew three sizes. And my rare attempts at exercise were executed in clothes meant to hide my freshman fifteen (twenty. whatever).
I wore really, really, big shirts over skin-tight biker shorts that left permanent indentations in my lower-thighs. The idea was that if I were wearing a bed sheet, no one would notice the size of the mattress. It didn’t so much work. So I didn’t so much exercise.
Eventually, someone married me. And eventually, I had two kids (don’t get me started on maternity-wear). Then, surprisingly, we survived Y2K. Which meant we had to keep exercising. Damn.
At least, in this millennium, there are options available to women seeking sweat. One can choose ultra-short running panties (if one were clinically insane), capri or full-length tights. Spandex, lycra. Wicking and non. Loose shorts, tight shorts. Long sleeves, tank. With or without breast implants, it’s all acceptable.
Too bad it’s also all extremely expensive. Which is why I’m back where I started – in a love/hate relationship with exercise. I will continue to love how I feel after a workout. But I will also continue to hate getting dressed for it. At least until leg warmers come back into style.
Welcome to Wine & Cheese, my weekly, Wednesday whine session.
Every week on Wednesday I devote a blog to whining. Despite being a really happy, positive person, I do have things that annoy me at times.
I never let anything grate on my nerves for long but thought it would be fun to vent them periodically in my blogs.
I also feel that good things, the cheese in life, should be acknowledged as well.
I’m even going to throw in a bit of dessert, a piece of virtual chocolate, something that made me laugh or smile just a bit more than normal.
If you’d like to read the past editions of Wine & Cheese just click HERE for all of the past postings.
Sit back and join me now for the 23rd serving of some wine and cheese!
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WINE
Snow. I AM SO SICK OF COLD AND SNOW!!!! There is nothing fun about the skating rink out there disguised as streets that must be traveled as some of us have to go to work, we are not paid to be home. GRRRR..having to drive in it, clean the windows off at work to go home, my feet were wet, cold and I could not shake the chill off all day. ENOUGH WINTER ALREADY!!!!!
Junk Mail. Namely credit card applications. I have enough trouble paying my bills these days I really do not need the temptation of pre-approved credit cards and personal loans that come in the mail, calling to me to exercise some retail therapy. Stop killing so many trees in your efforts to suck me in, I am NOT getting one! BE GONE from my mailbox!
PMS. This month has been bad one for me. Been a while since it was this bad and everyone around me is likely thankful for the meds I am on as while I was cranky I did not explode on anyone, just voiced my heavy annoyance over a few things. Men have it way too easy, they should have to share in this misery of having alien emotions take over their hormonal system.
CHEESE
BRAVO AND HIGH 5′s to the road crews in Cheviot who once again get the golden plow award from me! I drive through Delhi Township, Green Township, the City of Cincinnati and Cheviot when I go to and from work, and let me say that Cheviot has the best roads of all through yesterday’s Snowpocolypse once again.
Bravo to the youngsters that came ringing the Diva Den doorbell and shoveled us out for only $20! You sweet little, hardly 12yo darlings did a fantastic job and we tiara wearers thank you so much!
Chipotle Fairy – I know you are out there somewhere, and will bring me a treat in the form of a steak burrito bowl, with rice, black beans, corn salsa and cheese one day soon. I don’t know who you are or when you will arrive at my desk with your magic wings and wand, to deposit said bowl and a bag of those yummy chips in my very hungry, desperate, broke hands…but I have so much more faith in you than Linus did The Great Pumpkin. (Please don’t fail me!)
DESSERT
If you need a Facebook application to tell you what cereal you are, I’ll save you the suspense… you’re a Fruit Loop. – Funny One Liners Twitter Feed
I know I said I was not going to mention you in my blogs anymore, but I did give the ‘unless it is positive’ disclaimer. Besides, when this topic came up you were the most recent best friend so you won by default.
Simon Howden / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
I don’t know if my suspicions and all the rumors and ‘scoops’ given to me about you near the end of our marriage were true or not, but that is all water under the bridge. I know nothing happens that is not meant too and for whatever reason, the time for the end of our marriage came about. I know I reacted poorly on many occasions throughout that process of hearing from you that you wanted out and up until very recently, I’m just not sure how a person is supposed to react when they think everything is wonderful and their dream suddenly explodes into a pile of smoking debris.
First let me say that I’m very sorry for anything and everything I did or said in the past 23 years of knowing each other that brought pain or added suffering to your life. I am far from perfect as you more than anyone else on this planet well knows. I tried in my human imperfection to be the best wife to you that I could be, and I know that I failed in so many ways, miserably. It is no secret that I’m an over achiever when it comes to failures. But hopefully in that 90% you say was good about us and our marriage, you have some sweet, wonderful, and beautiful memories. I certainly do! I also hope that you are able to forgive me where I fell short.
You were a good husband in many ways. You always worked very hard to keep a roof over our heads when you were able to work, often through intense pain physically. No one can ever say you were less than a driven soul when it came to work, you always gave way more of yourself than you were compensated for, and it is commendable.
You were and are an outstanding dad, first to Michael who you loved like your own, and then to Liesl. Both were very fortunate to have you there and I hope that they know this as much as I do. I know you weren’t perfect, but you did excel far more than you know.
You were also my best friend, like you will never know. You kept me safe, warm, and well taken care of over the years. You tolerated my imperfections as best you could, I am well aware. And you will never know and understand this, but the best thing you did for me was send me away. At the time I didn’t see that, but now I see the good that has come and is coming from that. No, not interested in reconciling, I never wish to be married to you again, I am not the one that will ever be able to bring joy and peace to your life, but someone out there will!
I am sorry that somehow I missed the attempts you made to tell me of my issues. I am sorry that it took you leaving the marriage for me to see the damage I had done to your heart over the years. I have those under control now and I’m a better person for the shocking reality I finally faced. Nope, didn’t face it with the grace a class I aim for in life but then you know how hard-headed I can be at times. I also learned some hard lessons in this past year about my inability to drink without being an emotion charged stick of TNT.
You were right about so much that I am sorry now I didn’t give heed too. A year of mourning and adjustments, and now renewed faith has brought much to light for me. So this one last time I did feel the need to talk to/about you in my blog.
I wish you all the best, with all sincerity. I hope you find someone who can make you very happy, you deserve that. And some day, for the sake of our kids and grandkids to be, I hope we can one day be friends again. You were the center of my world, and I keep a special place in my heart for you. I still pray for your safety when I hear the sirens. You were a great friend, a good husband, a great dad and over all really a great man.
The past is done, water under the bridge, buried. Here’s to the future and happiness! Stay safe out there, Mike and Liesl still need their daddy!
Make way, Sister Mary Martha coming through! You can all relax now, no more panic, it is I, ‘the h0ly one’ as someone from my past recently was seen to have referred to me.
OH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD REALLY?????
Okay brace yourselves, I am about to burst the Saint Marti bubble.
First, take note of my halo…what you don’t see it? Maybe cause there just isn’t one? If there is, it would be beyond the ability of any polish to clean that tarnished circle! I don’t have a halo around my head, my thoughts are not all that holy. Wanna talk about a work in progress? “Dear Lord, I pray You will rain down blessings and riches, right after someone shoves him out in front of a passing train.” See? Proper thought life is still under construction!
Wings? Like angel wings? LOLOLOL, no bells going off around me, so no angel getting her wings. Well unless you count falling down in the bathtub as flying…and considering my landing was less than soft and gentle, in fact it left the bruise from hell on my knee, I’m thinking we’re an eternity away from and fluttering from cloud to cloud.
“Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth….” um..yep that area is still requiring intense divine intervention, thee holy bar of soap with which to wash out the mouth. I’m still making truckers blush though not as often. But when I do let loose with a string of obscenities I hold nothing back.
No bible thumping here. If I want to make a point I’ll use a baseball bat and beat it into ya! Don’t want to hurt my bible, it is 27 years old and thumping on ya with it could hurt the binding and rip the pages!
I won’t be pointing out the spec in your eye, dear reader, or sweeping in front of any one else’s door. I have an orchard of sorts to remove from my own line of sight, and it is going to take a bulldozer to clean up in front of my door.
My faith is important to me, and now that I’m back to SEEKing (my word of the year there, SEEK) it IS a focus, but those writings are on my other page, and nothing about that page or those posts is likely to get me through the pearly gates either.
Holy one….ROFLMFAO, a holy hot mess maybe, but don’t be sprinkling holy water on me, it WILL sizzle and burn on my skin. I am far from holy, only a work in progress!
One of my favorite memes, because it is quick and easy, is Meet Me On Monday! If you want to participate or read the other poster’s answers just click the icon!
Questions:
1. Have you (only you..not a group) ever won first place in anything?
2. Are your toes always painted (sorry guys…this question for girls only)?
3. What color eyes do you have?
4. Look to your left….what do you see?
5. Soft cookies or crunchy cookies?
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1. Nope I have never won first place in anything that I recall.
2. MOST of the time my toes are painted but not lately, just have not had the time.
3. My eyes are grey, though a friend has seen them actually change color to a deep blue and then back to grey, while he was looking at them. My emotions seem to dictate that.
4. To my left is the boss’s desk across the office from mine and the door out to the shop.
5. SOFT cookies, fresh from the oven, still gooey and warm!!!!
So much for sleeping in today. One thing about having cats in the house, they view humans as their staff and when they want the unpaid help to do something they will stop at nothing to get attention. Pixel started early today, 7am in fact. I realize that since I am usually up around 5am for work that this is sleeping in to her. My idea was more in the neighborhood of 9:30am or 10. She starts by getting up on my dresser and knocking things off. If that is not a success she moves to the desk or the vanity. I got up and fed her but that is not enough, she wants me awake and at the least sitting up in bed. Her side kick, Ditzy, is now up too and they started tag teaming me when I got back in bed. Mission accomplished, I am awake and up. We reached a compromise of sorts, I have fresh Highlander Grogg coffee, and I am sitting up in bed with my laptop. The cats are now sleeping on the bed with me while I am wide awake. Go figure. Bed head and pink flannel jammies. Despite the allergy meds I am consistently taking now, I am still sneezing and have a growing pile of tissues next to me on the bed from blowing my nose. Great visual huh?
I am so broke this weekend. Too many bills to pay and not enough cash coming in, thinking I might need to consider a part time job on the weekends for a bit until I get some of my debts paid down. Just not making enough to keep up with what I have. Thinking a few weeks off from Chipotle is going to have to happen and I’ll have to pack lunch. Maybe if I stood out front of the place with a metal cup and a sign I could get a free steak or chicken bowl from some sympathetic passerby? Na..one look at this big butt and they’d know I haven’t been hurting for a meal in a while.
This is one of those totally relaxed, stay inside and be warm in front of the fire type of days. I have NOTHING to do outside of the house today after I run to the bank. Laundry, change the bedding, read for a while, maybe write some posts for using later this week. Thinking I might actually finish the blanket Brittany asked me to make, running a bit behind on that. A whole afternoon and evening to just crochet! Ah that sounds wonderful! Only way to improve on that would be snuggling in with someone special while watching a moving, in front of the fire, and hooking this blanket. Just need a good movie to watch, and that is tough for me to settle on, I haven’t watched much TV of any kind except for a few minutes here and there that I just have lost complete interest in it over all.
My list is 10 random things that made me happy this week, or at least smile!
Colds suck. Allergies suck. Whatever it is that has invaded my body, be it a cold or allergy attack, YOU SUCK. I have lost my voice and my nose would be running off my face right now if it weren’t for Mucinex D.
~ seen on a Facebook status. 
