Archive | February 2011

Monday Memos

Feb28

Dear Severe Thunderstorm,

Really???? 4:45am you are waking me up with lightening and thunder??? Please, your timing totally sucks, go fascinate someone else at that hour, you very windy fear monger, I don’t like you and did not appreciate that one bit!

Dear Ulcerative Colitis

NOT NOW PLEASE!!!  This is NOT a good time to be rearing your very mean, unmerciful head.  I cannot afford to have you out of remission, go back where you came from and I’ll let you know when it is a good time, okay?

Dear Mom & Pancakes,

Great comfort food, for dinner especially!! YUMMY!!!

Dear Pixel and Ditzy Kittens,

Please please please let me sleep in come morning.   PLEASE!!!

A Story Of A Sign

Feb27

A friend shared this with me, and it is too good NOT so share!  I have no idea who wrote it to give credit.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his
feet.  He held up a sign which said: “I am blind,
please help.”  There were only a few coins in the
hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and
dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words.
He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon the hat began to fill up.  A lot more people
were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how
things were.

The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one
who changed my  sign this morning?  What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but
in a different way.” I wrote:
“Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But the first sign
simply said the boy was blind. The second sign told people
that they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we
be surprised that the second sign was more
effective?

Moral of the Story:  Be thankful for what you have. Be
creative. Be innovative. Think differently and
positively. When life gives you a 100 reasons to cry, show
life that you have 1000 reasons to smile.

Face your past without regret.
Handle your present with confidence.  Prepare for the future
without fear.  Keep the faith and drop the fear.

The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling.
And even more beautiful, is knowing that you are the reason
behind it!!!

What’s Growing Under My Feet???

Feb24

Mama's Losin' It

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise man grows it under his feet.” — James Oppenheim

LESSON LEARNED

 

I am no stranger to adversity, pain and a broken heart, my life path has encountered these on more than a few occasions and sometimes, through my own fault.  But one thing these bumps in the broken road have taught me is that happiness is right where I am.

I married the starter hubby at 19, full of Cinderella dreams that came crashing down soon after the engagement.  Hey, when the groom shows up to the wedding drunk, it MIGHT be a sign that you should yank up those skirts and run like hell for the hills.  My daddy even leaned over and whispered something to the effect that it wasn’t too late to kick off those heels and bolt if I was so inclined.  I missed that less than subtle hint, and I guess everyone thought I was aware that my very soon to be husband was plastered.  I wasn’t even remotely aware that the ridiculous grin on his face had zero to do with making me his wife, and everything to do with  over consumption of alcohol until communion, when he downed the entire chalice of wine himself.  We had already said our vows, were legally wed….EPIC FAIL!

Then I met and became legally bound again a few years later and once again had blissful dreams of happily ever after.  While married I was happy, and loved him very much. But it was all a dream while I slept for those years.

When Sleeping Beauty awoke from that beautiful dream, a shattered heart was the reality.  But it didn’t take me long to pull from memory and stop dreaming of somewhere over the rainbow in the distance and start finding happiness right there in my own back yard (thank you Dorothy).  There, in my present reality, I found happiness.   In those people that chose to wrap around me in love and support, I found comfort.  In the little things like the sun shining, a great song on the radio, a scoop of my favorite ice cream, or a special text from my niece* when I went home before we all moved into one house, I found happiness growing under my feet.  As it grew like a vine it wrapped around me, and on bare branches roses of hope and joy bloomed.

I am a fairly easy person to please, pretty low maintenance.  I don’t need a lot to make me happy.  A favorite candy bar, a warm hug and a really deep kiss, my hand wrapped in someone else’s, the giggles of the kids in the neighborhood as they play outside, the purr of my cat in my ear when she wants me to wake up and scratch her head, my daughter’s dog running at me all excited to see mommy (gotta love visitation with the pooch!), curled up with a cup of coffee and the Divas on a winter morning in front of the fire place, or on a starry night on our deck, a sweet text “good night” or “good morning”, hugs from the twin 6yo nieces, these are the things that are now, under foot, growing the REAL happiness in life, in the current moment.

 

*one night when I left the Divas, while preparing to move out of the Black Hole’s galaxy, my niece texted me, “don’t lose your green card, we want you back!”.  It made me tear up to know someone wanted me.

 

Wine & Cheese – 27th Serving

Feb23

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 27th serving of some wine and cheese!

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

WHINE

:(   I really hate it, but I am job hunting again.  I simply want to find a decent paying job, hopefully with benefits, that I can put down roots and STAY for a while.  I am not one that likes to job hop, I like to get in there, put down roots and make it mine.

:(   The weather…really I am ready for spring to arrive.  Last week we had a few very nice, warm days and I was able to walk. Now it is cold again, and that 4-letter word (SNOW) is in the forecast.  I will go out and walk anyway but just SO tired of winter, it is so depressing.

:(   Angry Birds…the creator is a sadistic person, no doubt.  This game is SO addicting, I keep running down the battery in my phone playing it.  Snickering, helmeted pigs and furious fowl…do yourself a favor, if you have not played…DON’T DO IT!!!!!

CHEESE

:)   Changes…like cutting my hair reallllllly short just because I could.  Might have to stick a pink streak in it again soon too, until I find myself employed again.

:)   TV in my room!  Even though I rarely watch it, it is very nice to have a television in my room.  My son gave me a 19 inch, HD flat screen that he no longer was using, I love that kid.

:)   Online radio!  I am a big fan of K-LOVE radio, and I can listen online when I’m indoors.  I love that station, the DJs and the “positive, encouraging” music.

DESSERT

I posted this once before but it still  makes me crack up!  Meet Marcell The Shell  With Shoes On.

Monday Memos

Feb21

Due to the hostess of Meet Me On Monday taking a break, I’ve decided to start Monday Memos.   Short little  notes to whoever  or whatever happens to strike my fancy at the moment.  Who knows, maybe I will turn it into a meme if I can ever figure out how to get a  linky tool to really function well.  And then there is not knowing if there is any interest!

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Dear Pixel & Ditzy

I didn’t have to get up today.  I realize that you are hungry, but you aren’t going to starve to death  if you have to wait until I FEEL LIKE GETTING UP to feed you.  My bed is not your play ground, please resist the urge to play “cat and the mole” under my blankets when I’m trying to sleep.

Dear Menopause

Okay this business of walking around in my own personal tropical climate COULD have its benefits if only I had control over the switch that brings on the sudden hot flashes and sweating.  Until you can provide me with such ability could you go fascinate  someone else? Thanks.

Dear Bunn Home Coffee Maker

You are without a doubt my favorite kitchen appliance.  A fresh pot of coffee in under 3 minutes, who could ever complain?

Dear Little Seedlings of Diva Angie

Diva Angie's Seedling Nursery

Please grow, please please please!!! Don’t make me come down there and sing to you!  Yeah, that is what I thought, scary thought isn’t it?  We get that it is only your third day snuggled into the fresh soil of your cute little nurseries, but GROW, DAMN IT!

Dear Creator of Angry Birds

I hate you.  This  stupid game on my phone is taking over my free time.  I have no will power, I want to kill the pigs.  Helmets? REALLY???? ON PIGS????  Perhaps there is a special place in hell for sadistic people like you!

Day 12 – Something I Am OCD About

Feb17

All About Me  In 30 Days – Day 12

I first want to qualify that I am not truly OCD, at least I don’t think so, about anything.  Not in the true definition of OCD at least.

But I AM picky about certain things being a certain way.  One thing I am OCD about is my bed.  It has to be made every day shortly after I get up.  I cannot and will not get into the bed if it has not been made.  I am not sure why this is but my bed must be made  before I can get into it. 

Part of it, in my opinion, goes back to my feeling that my bedroom should be my nest, my haven, my safe place.  I like my room to be in order, things put away and the room clean.  It gives me a sense of peace when I am in my room.  I chose the color to help bring about warm and happy feelings, picked my bedding because when I saw it, it sparked good feelings.  Things being put away and in order helps with that peacefulness.

I’ve always felt that the bedroom should be special.  If married it should be a warm, inviting, restful place.  Again, a nest and haven for the couple.  It should be off limits to the rest of the family and to friends.  Oh, and no animals.  For now, because I am single,  I really do not mind my cat being in my room, or the other cats that come in and sleep on the bed with me.  But if I were married again, no animals share the bed or the room.  Rover and the kittens can sleep in the guest room, on the floor outside the master bedroom, anywhere they like except mine and the spouse’s room.

The center of the bedroom is the bed, so the bed MUST be made.  No ifs, ands,  or buts about it.

A Walk In The Park

Feb13

It is SO nice  outside today, 59 degrees here  in the Queen City!!!  That called for a walk.  I cruised up to my favorite park of walking trails.  I admit, some areas were slushy and snow covered, some kind of soupy, but I was OUTSIDE and not freezing.  I was also walking, something I need to be doing!  And it felt fantastic!  25 fitness minutes on the trails now logged in my fitness minutes on SparkPeople.

Here are some of the sights, I cannot wait until summer when it is green again, and the  trails are dry!

 

 

T.G.I.T.W.!!!!

Feb12

Thank God It’s The Weekend!

 

I am SO  thankful it is finally the weekend!  I was beginning to wonder if it would ever arrive.

With it arrived a new award, given to me by Cinful Cinnamon (thanks SO much!) with the guidelines for acceptance.  I’m flattered.  And the best part? We get to keep this one going.  I love sharing good  things like this!

Here’s how it works:

1. Thank & link back to the person who awarded you this award.

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 15 recently discovered bloggers.

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

First off, many thanks to Cinful Cinnamon, by the way, loving the new look on your page.

Now, 7 things about myself:

1.   I have a pajama addiction.  I can’t help myself, I LOVE jammies!!!  If I see a cute pair and have the extra cash, I buy them.  I bought a pair this past evening in fact, $10 on clearance.  TOO cute and PINK!

2.  My cell phone is like an appendage to me, it is always within my reach.  A week ago I went out shopping with my mom, sister and daughter, and forgot my phone.  I was in withdraw and had to keep touching other people’s phones just to breathe! (only a slight exaggeration)

3.  On the computer, in my blogs etc, I am very outgoing, but in person I am painfully shy.  I’ve been working hard to improve that over the years but still, until I have time to get to know someone I am very quiet, causing people  to think  I am  rude or stuck up.

4.  Not  news  to most, but I’m a social media  addict.  Hooked on Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare.

5.  I donate blood as often as possible, I think it is one of the simplest yet a critical way to give back to the community.

6.  I have over commitment issues.  I usually take on way more than reasonable and get way too involved in things.  I have to be very careful not to sign on to help in too many areas, like at church.

7.  I am a terrible procrastinator.  I do tend to do my best work under a bit of pressure, but the procrastination coupled with my over committing can lead to a very stressed out Marti if I’m not careful!

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

And  now to hand out this award  to 15 recently discovered bloggers.  If you are listed here (I will attempt to contact all) please, take the award and pass it on!!!  Some of you may have already received this award in the past, but it is recently that I discovered you so just let it slide if you already have it.  :)
Joan’s Journeys

The One And Only Oka

Tranquil Acres of Alexandria

Undeserving Grace

Crazy Daze & Nite Dreams

A Little of This and A Little of That

Her Random Thoughts

Truly Simply Pink

Don’t Blink

Tiny Little Reveries

Be Still A Minute

One Brownie

My Little Life

Casa di Cass

3 Bedroom Bungalou

Meet Me On Monday – BONUS/Extended Edition

Feb7

Welcome to the 34th 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!! Java will make this SIMPLE and FUN!!!

***BONUS EDITION!***

In addition to the 5 questions from Never Growing Old, I am doing the rest of  my blog post for today at the end of this  Vlog (Video Blog).

Questions:

1.  Did you watch the Superbowl?
2.  What is the last book that you read?
3.  What is your favorite kind of cake?
4.  Do you snore?
5.  Do you play an instrument?
—————————————————————
My Answers!



Where Is The Food????

Feb5

Okay I’m not really starving, but I am facing a harsh reality.  There is a big reason my butt is growing so big and my jeans are getting snug:  mega portions!

Over the past 3 days I’ve been adding my foods to my SparkPeople nutrition tracker and noticing that if I actually measure out my portions, holy heffers no wonder I’m weighing in at 170!!!!  Okay so I know if we eat appropriate portions we’d likely all start dropping pounds, but DAMN!  I measured out my Special K cereal this morning, 3/4 cup and 1/2 cup of vitamin D milk.   Then I looked at the tiny bowl in which it was waiting for me to dive in.  Tiny bowl is what I chose so that it appeared full.  It was full.  It still appeared rather small…too small.  It isn’t hard to see that my usual portion would be about 3 times that much.  SIGH.

I have had  no major issued getting my water intake up to the 64 ounces a day, that is a piece of cake for me.  But taking time to measure out my foods is another story, and staying focused.  My pink heart post it note on my mirror still is a #1.  I didn’t go on with my workouts.  I know I know,  don’t give up, just do it today and start over.  I AM going to do that!   It is hard to establish a new routine and stick to it though, and I’m quickly meeting my resistance on the road to a more fit self.  I refuse to give up!

One place I DO need to starve myself is my social network addictions connections.  It likely is somewhat related to my expanding bum!   Last night Diva Mom, Boo, me and my daughter had dinner then went shopping for a bit.  I went out of the door without my most prized appendage…my cell  phone.  I  experienced varying degrees of withdraw, especially when we had to stop at the Verizon store on the way to Target.  There, in a valley of cell phones, I was naked.  I had to touch my daughter’s for a moment so I could keep breathing and hold back the panic attack.  Then when we came home we watched Police Women of Cincinnati, CSI: NY, and then CSI (we DVR’d them).  When I crawled in bed I realized my usual nightlight was not glowing from the desk…my laptop.  I had gone an entire evening from the time I left the office without being on the computer.  I think hell must of experienced a frost warning, the Packers may win the Super Bowl, and I should go buy a lottery ticket.  An entire evening without the computer??? Be afraid, be VERY afraid.

Time to get my life train back on the track from its derailment.  Obviously I’ve gotten my priorities in life completely out of whack, but now it is time to refocus!

On that note, time to change the sheets, get myself together, and go buy yarn. I have blankets to finish!

MEMETASTIC – THE TRUTH REVEALED!

Feb4

Yesterday I put up the 5 ‘facts’ for readers to determine which one of the 5 was true.  The idea was to show my skill at embellishing things, criteria for the acceptance of the MEMETASTIC award.  Any believable tale must have a grain of truth in order for it to at least seem like it could indeed be fact.

I posted 5 facts, each with just enough truth to be believed as possibly true, but only one was true.  Time for the big reveal!!!

:: DRUM ROLL::

TRUE OR GREATLY EMBELISHED FALSE?

F :)   Everyone who reads my posts knows that I am a reformed cat hater.  Call me the Crazy Cat Lady, I love the little fur balls now.  We have 3 cats in our home, all females.  While we aren’t overly picky about which breed of feline we have, we insist that they all have to be polydactyl cats!  Yes each of our kittens has more than the normal amount of toes on their paws!  Usually cats have 5 toes on their front paws, ours have 6 or 7 depending on the cat.  Nothing normal about the Diva Den, why would we have normal cats?

While it is a fact that I am reformed from hating cats, loving them to pieces, we do not have a single polydactyl (aka Hemingway) among them.  Frankly the last thing we need is a cat who has anymore reason to presume itself special!

F :)   I love being pampered, and one of the ways in which I pamper myself is getting my nails done.  I have had acrylic nails nearly ongoing for about 7 years now.  I never got pedicures often, too expensive and frankly I don’t have real cute feet so why draw attention to them was my thought.  Recently I noticed a trend at the nail salon in which women are getting acrylic nails on their feet!!  I finally gave in and decided I have nothing to lose so had them done on my toes.  For the first time I feel like I have great feet, all nicely painted on those picture perfect, acrylic nails.  Now, I love my feet, and if it was not so cold I’d have flip flops on already to show them off!

It is true, I have had my nails done for years, and love that, I find the whole getting one’s toenails done to be just kinda freaky!  NO thanks, I’ll just stick to a pedi and some pretty polish.

F :)   Two of my supporting cast, my brother Mike, and his wife, Trina, are actually both my cousins.  Mike is a cousin from my mom’s side.  His mom was one of my mother’s first cousins who was pregnant out of wedlock.  She wanted to keep him in the family, but was unable to raise him.  My parents adopted him and raised him as their own.  Trina is one of my cousins, our dad’s are brothers.  They always had a special friendship and attraction to each other growing up.  As an adult, Mike consulted with a lawyer and found that because he was a second cousin to us siblings, and not a birth child of my parents, he and Trina were not related and therefore not really cousins.  They have been happily married for 18 years and have 2 kids. So, my sister-in-law is also my cousin, and my niece and nephew are actually like 2nd cousins once removed or something weird like that.

I loved that many of you thought this was true, as it IS rather believable that it could indeed happen.  However Mike is my blood brother (all of my siblings are blood) and Trina is related by marriage only.

T :)   In a bizarre twist of fate, we grew up with a cousin as a neighbor and never knew it.  The boy behind us was around the age of one of my brothers when we were growing up.  I received a friend request from him all these years later, and did not recognize his name any longer.  He told me that he was my cousin, and had grown up in the house behind us.  I thought it was a stalker at first, since I knew the kid behind us and they were not related to us.  Turns out, my dad’s cousin had given birth out of wedlock and placed him for adoption.  All that time growing up we had a cousin living there and playing with my brothers and never knew it!

This is the true story/fact!  Growing up the kid behind us, Bobby, actually turns out was a cousin.  His birth mom and my dad are cousins.  It was all these years later that he asked to be my friend on Facebook then explained to me why.  His adoptive parents remembered our last name so when he found his birth mom, and learned his birth name,  (it is highly unique) he hunted down his unknown cousins.  Kinda cool!

F :)   One time when getting my nails done, it was taking longer than anticipated at the salon due to a high volume of customers.  I was last in line so when my now ex-husband came to pick me up they had just started my nails.  He was irritated by the delay so I convinced him, with a little help from the nail tech that was now free, to get a pedicure.   He finally gave in and found out it was a rather NICE experience.  If you have ever had one, you know that they will put clear polish on your toe nails if you aren’t having color done.  After some teasing he acquiesced and let them paint his toe nails bright red.  He has worn them red, to my knowledge, ever since.  Turns out he found having his toe nails colored was a kind of turn on for him.

I would NEVER post something like that about Pete/ex-hubbster if that were true!  Pretty sure none of the firefighters fell for that one, as they have undoubtedly seen his feet a few times at the fire house.  He was irritated, and he did get a pedicure after a LOT of pressure (Hey, Chad Ocho Cinco gets them weekly, as do many men, more men should keep their feet looking nice!!) I do not believe it was an experience he ever repeated and he drew the line in the fun me and the nail techs were having (at  his expense – though he was a good sport), when it came time to polish his piggies.  He enjoyed the massage chair, the foot and calve massage, but he drew the line on nail  polish!!

There you have it, the truth and the fabrications!!

I AM A PROUD MEMETASTIC!!!!!

Feb3

MEMETASTIC!!!

‘M’ over at The Professionally Insane, gave me this awesome award yesterday!

Photobucket

I have to say this is absolutely the cutest  award I’ve received!  This award is a fun one! In order to claim this award, it requires a cunning, and finely tuned skill : lying fabricating fibbing creative embellishment…

As a condition of my acceptance of this award I have to demonstrate my supurb skills by writing five facts about myself.  Four of these ‘facts’ have to be  ficticious deceptions   enhanced realities (some grain of truth but a lot of enhancements!).  But somewhere among the lies fibs fabrications falsehoods AHEM *cough*cough* ::crossing fingers behind back::  embellishments, will be one solid truth.

The next part of this acceptance is that I have to pass this onto five other bloggers. 

SO feel free to comment and let me know which fact is NOT embellished and is in fact, 100% true!  I’ll post answers this weekend!

TRUE OR GREATLY EMBELISHED FALSE?

:)   Everyone who reads my posts knows that I am a reformed cat hater.  Call me the Crazy Cat Lady, I love the little fur balls now.  We have 3 cats in our home, all females.  While we aren’t overly picky about which breed of feline we have, we insist that they all have to be polydactyl cats!  Yes each of our kittens has more than the normal amount of toes on their paws!  Usually cats have 5 toes on their front paws, ours have 6 or 7 depending on the cat.  Nothing normal about the Diva Den, why would we have normal cats?

:)   I love being pampered, and one of the ways in which I pamper myself is getting my nails done.  I have had acrylic nails nearly ongoing for about 7 years now.  I never got pedicures often, too expensive and frankly I don’t have real cute feet so why draw attention to them was my thought.  Recently I noticed a trend at the nail salon in which women are getting acrylic nails on their feet!!  I finally gave in and decided I have nothing to lose so had them done on my toes.  For the first time I feel like I have great feet, all nicely painted on those picture perfect, acrylic nails.  Now, I love my feet, and if it was not so cold I’d have flip flops on already to show them off!

:)   Two of my supporting cast, my brother Mike, and his wife, Trina, are actually both my cousins.  Mike is a cousin from my mom’s side.  His mom was one of my mother’s first cousins who was pregnant out of wedlock.  She wanted to keep him in the family, but was unable to raise him.  My parents adopted him and raised him as their own.  Trina is one of my cousins, our dad’s are brothers.  They always had a special friendship and attraction to each other growing up.  As an adult, Mike consulted with a lawyer and found that because he was a second cousin to us siblings, and not a birth child of my parents, he and Trina were not related and therefore not really cousins.  They have been happily married for 18 years and have 2 kids. So, my sister-in-law is also my cousin, and my niece and nephew are actually like 2nd cousins once removed or something weird like that.

:)   In a bizarre twist of fate, we grew up with a cousin as a neighbor and never knew it.  The boy behind us was around the age of one of my brothers when we were growing up.  I received a friend request from him all these years later, and did not recognize his name any longer.  He told me that he was my cousin, and had grown up in the house behind us.  I thought it was a stalker at first, since I knew the kid behind us and they were not related to us.  Turns out, my dad’s cousin had given birth out of wedlock and placed him for adoption.  All that time growing up we had a cousin living there and playing with my brothers and never knew it!

:)   One time when getting my nails done, it was taking longer than anticipated at the salon due to a high volume of customers.  I was last in line so when my now ex-husband came to pick me up they had just started my nails.  He was irritated by the delay so I convinced him, with a little help from the nail tech that was now free, to get a pedicure.   He finally gave in and found out it was a rather NICE experience.  If you have ever had one, you know that they will put clear polish on your toe nails if you aren’t having color done.  After some teasing he acquiesced and let them paint his toe nails bright red.  He has worn them red, to my knowledge, ever since.  Turns out he found having his toe nails colored was a kind of turn on for him.

Okay, now it is time to present this award to 5 other bloggers that I follow!  In no particular order mind you, just others I LOVE to creep on!

Julie – byanyothername

Cinnamon – Cinful Cinnamon’s Blog

Beth – Two Monkeys & A Washtub

Pinkim – Truly Simply Pink

Oka – The One and Only Oka

Enjoy ladies!!! Cannot wait to see your facts!

My Favorite Valentine’s Day Tradition

Feb3

My favorite Valentine tradition…is the boycott.  The UN-Valentine celebration.  Yes, for nearly 22 years of marriage, I did NOT want anything for Valentine’s Day.  And I never will want anything.

See, to me it is a big scam.  Once a year, men and women who normally do nothing special for their honey-baby-mine outside of birthdays and Christmas, are guilt driven by displays shoving it down their throats some creative marketing to do something to prove their love.  They don’t do it because they were driving home from work, or out running errands and thought, “wow, I love my sweet schnookems, I think a little token of my love is in order“, at which time they buy a card, or candy bar, or flowers, and surprise their dear, sweet cupcake.  The only reason they think to buy love  gifts is because everyone else is doing it so there is pressure.  Not only from store displays, but billboards, TV  and radio commercials.

Let me help you realize something…people  don’t feel special if you are guilted in to doing something for them, no matter where the pressure is coming from.  Special is being the only woman in an office building of hundreds that gets flowers, out of the blue, for NO reason other than being loved by someone who was thinking about you.  It isn’t special when there are 50 florist delivery trucks in and out of the complex dropping off flowers for dozens of women because for a change their man did something special.  Not to mention that for what he paid for those flowers on Valentine’s Day he could have sent her flowers 4 different times on other days.  The prices are jacked up because it is a heavily promoted scam to bilk a bunch of money out of people.

If I am special, I want those unnecessary tokens (unnecessary because one’s kiss, touch, hug, attention etc should speak their affection on a daily basis, with some passion and feeling and not just when they want a little some-some) when no one else is getting them.  I want it to be because I was thought of and as a surprise (it isn’t a surprise if everyone is doing it on a national holiday) not because it is expected.  If it takes a month of advertising to bring me to mind  enough to pressure someone into spending far more than they would if they thought of me on their own..then I must not be that special and would rather they just didn’t bother.

This topic is one of 5 for this weeks Writer’s Workshop, with Mama Kat. Click below to join.

Mama's Losin' It

Wine & Cheese – 26th Serving

Feb2

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 26th serving of some wine and cheese!

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

WHINE

:( I have to get this out of my system this morning…I AM SO SICK OF WINTER!!!!!  Sick of cold, sick of ice, sick of the @#$%^&*! SNOW!!!  Enough said, everyone is likely in agreement and what more can be said about Snowpocolypes or Snowmageden, whatever you want to call this winter storm nonsense!

:(   I am also tired of whatever this cold bug, sinus infection is, it is time for it to go bye-bye!  Finally was able to sleep last night without the aid of my Nyquil induced coma.   Now if I could just quit blowing my nose and feeling so tired I’d be happy.

:(   Brace yourselves, we’re going to talk about poop.  Cat poop to be exact.  One of these 3 felines has something very wrong in their digestive track and the smell is worse than anything I’ve experienced in a baby diaper.   Best diet program I’ve encountered, cleaning up a litter box used by a cat with a questionable issue in their bowels.  (See, one doesn’t have to be a mommy blogger to talk about poop!)

CHEESE

:)   ANTIBIOTICS!!!  The  single greatest discovery in medical history, at least in my opinion this week as it seems to be the only reason I finally started feeling better.  Can I get an AMEN?

:)   COFFEE!!!  I gotta say that right now nothing beats a fresh, hot cup of coffee in the morning.  All the better if served up in one of my favorite coffee cups!  Yep, makes your breath smell like butt, however what would the morning be without it?  It would be a sad morning without the hot cup of  java!

:)   SPARKPEOPLE!!!  I’ve neglected to use my SparkPeople account as being sick the last thing I even remotely cared about was what was being fed to my tummy.  But today we are back on the Spark, watching every little morsel that will enter through my mouth.  BRAVO ME!!!!  It is AWESOME and FREE and you will love it if you want to get fit, healthy, lose weight etc.  There is a link on the side bar over  yonder on the right –>

DESSERT

:)   :)   :)   Never do anything that you wouldn’t want to explain to the paramedics.  ~Author Unknown :)   :)   :)

Are You Red Or Pink?

Feb1

It is Day 2 of the LBS 5 Day Writing Challenge. Today the question/topic is:

Are You RED or PINK?

I am definitely PINK!  As a child my bedroom was a lovely shade of Pepto Bismol PINK, it was my favorite color.  Well it still IS my all time favorite (purple runs a very close second), but for a few years I had a purple thing going on, but back to my first love I prefer PINK!

PINK is girly, and I embrace my femininity, I LOVE being a female.  I have many shades of the color in my personality.  Being a girl means it is okay to be emotional, and soft on the inside, light PINK.  But we are also permitted to be strong, courageous and tough when needed.  That would be my deep, MAGENTA side! (just another shade of PINK)

PINK might seem like a sissy color to some, and RED the very hard core and bold, but PINK is deceptive.  Keep in mind that to get the color PINK, you mix RED with WHITE.  Think of PINK as the more balanced form of our sisters that sport RED (no offense meant ladies) as we contain all the strongest characteristics of both RED (bold and flashy) and WHITE (soft and mellow).

This package? Yep I am all PINK!