dreamchaser...

2011-06-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

My grandmother turned 100 in January. She got her first cell phone last week.

She told me stories when I was a child of covered wagons. Going to school with no shoes. Having 2 dresses. She went to school in a single-room schoolhouse. Fed and milked the cows in the mornings. Picked cotton in the summer. Ate what they grew. Dirt roads. When the neighbors got sick, got hurt, died, had a baby, everyone else pitched in to help the rest of the family. She got married when she was 15. My grandfather was a cowboy. He became a Pentecostal preacher and started churches through tent revivals. Baptized Christians in the river, lake, etc. MeMa did laundry for a little extra money. Worked in the town school as a cook in the kitchen for a little extra money. They'd travel around northern Texas, gather a congregation through the tent revivals, physically built the community church, moved on after a few years, established themselves in another community, started over. Somehow along the way they had four children, 2 boys, 2 girls, my mom is the youngest. PaPaw passed away when I was 2 months old. She lives in the same house that he built when my mom was 15...for 50 years.

She's seen 2 world wars, Korea, Viet Nam, the Depression, television, cars, computers.

The numbers of people she has met in her lifetime is staggering. The families she has helped, nurtured, prayed for, babysat, attended baptisms, weddings, funerals are too numerous to count.

Next weekend is her 100th birthday celebration. Happy Birthday, MeMa! Thank you!

2011-06-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

from MI-5 vol 6 epi 8:

Harry: "So I'm to believe you're a Communist now...a born again Marxist."

Juliet: "A Democrat. First. Last. And always."

2011-06-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

We played cowboys and indians without fear of offending anyone. Shooting each other with the loud cap guns that smelled so cool when they popped.

My curfew was dusk, not dark.

I had to clean my plate at supper before I could get up, even if that meant sitting at the table at 10:00pm in front of a plate of cold roast.

Having to ask permission to be excused from the supper table.

The word "supper".

Drinking from the garden hose, but letting the water run through it first because it was hot.

Running around barefoot. All the time.

Waking up on Saturday morning while it was still dark outside, taking my pillow and my baby blanket into the living room, turning on the tv and there was still static on, turning the volume down on low, laying down inches in front of the tv, and going to sleep until the National Anthem with the American flag and the Air Force planes came on the screen and woke me up a second time. Yippee! This meant Bugs Bunny and Road Runner were about to come on!

Not knowing how to tell time yet, but understanding that when Bugs Bunny went off and The Superfriends were over, it was time to turn the coffeepot on for Mom and Dad.

My burgundy mary jane shoes from the Hush Puppy store.

Trying to walk on my hands in the front yard and being enormously unsuccessful.

We didn't have hand sanitizer, but I did get my mouth washed out with soap. And Ivory was the worst!

No one wore a seatbelt in the car; I loved to sit between Mom and Dad on the marshmallow-of-an-armrest. Kids helmets for bicycles, skateboards, and roller skates weren't even invented. And roller skates had metal wheels.

How many times could you jump on a pogo stick without toppling over?

Catching crawdads after a big rain down at the creek with a piece of fatty bacon on a string.

Why did the crawdads come out when it rained?

My fourth grade teacher calling my mom and telling her that some people who just came in to the school weren't the best girls for me to be friends with.

Yes, ma'am. No ma'am. Yes sir. No sir. Please. Thank you.

Pong on Atari. The only channels on tv were ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS. Sesame Street (with Cookie Monster, NOT some stupid Veggie Monster), Electric Company, Zoom, Mr. Rogers.

Riding my bike for the first time and crashing because I didn't know how to turn yet...so I went successfully straight...into the silver metal garbage cans.

Looking both ways, several times, before crossing street because even with my 8-yr-old comprehension of weight and speed, a car was bigger than me and could hurt me, and not because I was entitled to cross the street because I was a pedestrian and if I was hit my parents would sue.

Being spanked with the belt because I lied, cheated, stole, was disrespectful. And I'm not a serial killed or a uni-bomber now as a result of my parents fulfilling their responsibility of disciplining me when I was a child when I earned it.

Riding my purple bike with the metallic purple banana seat (and the Queen of Hearts card clothespinned to the front wheel so it made a neat flapping sound as the wheel spun) home after school and sitting down with my mom knowing that I'd have her undivided attention as I told her every detail of my day...

2011-06-22T20:43:00.000-07:00

"Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt..."

Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act I scene iv.

2011-04-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

from Sons of Anarchy: "Anarchism stands for the liberation of the human mind from the dominion of religion; liberation of the human body from the dominion of property; liberation from the shackles and restraints of government; it stands for social order based on the free grouping of individuals."

2011-03-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

From the "LOL" episode of Californication: "Just the fact that people seem to be getting dumber and dumber. We have all this amazing technology...the internet was supposed to set us free, democratize us...people, they don't write anymore. Instead of writing, they blog; instead of talking, they text. No punctuation. No grammar. LOL this and LMFAO that. It just seems to me that it's just a bunch of stupid people pseudo-communicating with a bunch of other stupid people in a proto language that resembles more what cave men used to speak than the King's English..."

Raves...

2010-12-24T13:30:00.000-08:00

Annie Lennox

I think my Blackberry (I use my phone instead of an ipod or mp3 player) has been stuck on her music lately! I can't get enough! "Loneliness" from her Bare album and "Dark Road" from Songs of Mass Destruction album just keep getting to me... She also sang with David Gray (!) on his Draw the Line album, and that particular song "Full Steam" is incredible! Those two make my guts churn with emotion and passion!!!

Macadamia Nut Hair Treatment...(I'm targeting the Hair Masque in the tub at the left of the pic)

This is an amazing product for hair conditioning!! I use it once a week, maybe twice, and it makes my hair feel like silk but not heavy or greasy. I'm letting my hair grow and minimizing my heated styling products as much as possible, so I want something that will keep my hair in good condition. The scent is nice, kinda earthy and organic. I also use the treatment oil (the small bottle front and center in the pic) just before I blow dry my hair. It help to keep my curly hair from getting frizzy and again has an earthy fragrance. These are products that I will continue to use over and over!
Bag: Steve Madden Studded Ruffle

I have sooo been enjoying this bag! I prefer a larger bag so that I can fit all my stuff and still have plenty of room for my book-of-the-moment (currently it's Water for Elephants). Whilst this pic doesn't do the bag justice, it's a slightly matte finish with curved ruffles. The detail that sets off the bag are the gold studs (about the size of an English pea) about every 2 inches on the ruffles. The cloth lining is a light pinky mauve, and it is very comfortable to carry. The gold hardware where the strap attaches to the bag is super shiny and makes the bag a stunning fashion piece!

May your raves outnumber your rants!

Cheers!

Rants...

2010-12-24T13:20:00.000-08:00

Centurion

Matt and I LOOOOOOVE action movies, preferably historical fiction-type!! Raw. Gritty. Not violence for the sake of having violence...you know what I mean... We were disappointed in this one. Yes, it was raw and gritty. But I didn't get into the story and the characters. It didn't feel believable. They tried, but it missed the mark. 3 out of 5 stars.

Kerastase Nectar Thermique

If there was ever a product I desperately WANTED to love, it is this! This is a leave-in treatment for the hair and can also be used for a heat protectant. I've had this for about 6 months now and have used it straight out of the shower, after towel drying, during blow drying, and just before flat ironing. Nope, not gonna work! It smells good, a bit chemically, but still good. It just makes my straightened-hair-that-is-naturally-curly frizzy and unshiny. I just can't make this product work for me.
Origins Vita Zing with SPF 15

I should have known better when the label stated the leading SPF product is avobenzene!!!

While this picture looks invigorating, fresh, and potentially miraculous, sadly the product is a huge disappointment! At first the creme smells clean and fresh, the scent of sunscreen is overwhelming! My skin is combo/oily, and this felt like I had just put back on my skin what I'd already washed off! Also, in the past I have had trouble with avobenzene SPF products, and as a result I avoid any facial products that have SPF already in them. While it is a pain to take an extra step, I prefer to use a separate SPF product...not products that have SPF mixed in. I usually do more research on products before I purchase, but I let the packaging "shop" for me. As a result, this early Christmas gift from Matt will be returning home to the Origins counter tomorrow!

May your raves outnumber your rants!

Cheers!

Best Thai in Seattle!

2010-12-23T23:58:00.000-08:00

Panang Curry...brings tears to my eyes just salivating for it!!!

Cheers!

Homing Pee-con

2010-12-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

What makes us choose to enter the particular restroom stall that we do? Aside from the fact that the one we choose "looks" the cleanest...duh! Is it necessity? Is it gut instinct? Is it because we want to continue the conversation with our girlfriend and we choose 2 empty stalls next to each other?

Matt and I went to downtown Seattle on my birthday weekend. We parked in front of our old apartment building in lower Queen Anne, walked to Seattle Center, and rode the monorail to downtown. I loooooove downtown Seattle with the energy and lights and stores and water! Pike Market, Westlake Center, Pioneer Square, Capitol Hill, Pacific Center. And a coffee shop on 2 of every 4 street corners! Starbucks, Tully's, Seattle's Best, Ebar, Cafe D'Arte, Cafe Ladro (my fav!) While I'll take a sip of my husband's toffee nut mocha or vanilla bean latte, I don't care for the flavored coffee drinks. Gimme a triple small shot in the dark with a little walking room at the top, and I'm good to go! Let's mainline that caffeine!!!

I digress...

Before we got on the monorail to downtown, I went into Seattle Center for a quick pit stop. The older part of the building of Seattle Center smells of an old school building. Just that faint scent and brown-ish gray-ish creme-ish colors on the floor and halfway up the walls take me back to my Kidwell Elementary School. The restroom didn't smell of a nasty public restroom but of the old school buildings. Kinda quaint, actually.

There are 64% less germs in the first stall of the public restrooms. I'd heard that somewhere. I picked the first stall. If there are less germs in the first stall, maybe it's because no one chooses the first stall because there's always more space between the wall and the stall. We're afraid people coming around the corner will see us in that inch of space sitting there (or hovering as I do). So women choose stalls further down the line.

It got me to thinking... Why do we choose the restroom stalls that we do? Why THAT one rather than the OTHER one? If both are, upon brief inspection, equally as "clean" and both have enough toilet paper, why THAT one?

When we walk into a coffee shop, of all the empty tables, why do we choose THAT one? Is it so we are farthest from the cold wind of the door? Do we not want to have our back to the door? Or is it some weird flicker of familiarity or energy from that particular table?

When walking into a half-empty movie theater, why do we choose THAT seat over the empty seat next to it? Or the empty seat behind?

Strange, the choices we make. I wonder what goes through our heads when the obvious reasons are eliminated such as: Of course I chose THAT seat at the movie theater because I didn't want to sit next to a stranger when I didn't have to... And, of course I chose THAT table in the coffee shop because I didn't want to sit next to that crying, messy child and exasperated mother...

What flashes do we have in our minds or our emotions that impulsively guide us to a choice? Albeit, these choices are not life altering (except if you are a single man and choose to sit next to that woman with her child in the intention to offer chivalric aid to her, you hit it off with meaningful and witty banter, find out she's also single with an adorable but at the moment fussy child, begin seeing one another, and a year-and-a-half later you are getting married and starting an amazing life together in North Carolina...).

These choices are split second decisions. What makes us choose what we do in regards to such trivial and mundane events? I certainly didn't expect to have an answer to the questions plaguing mankind in the universe. But at that particular moment, walking around that corner on my 40th birthday with scent-induced flashbacks of Kidwell Elementary School, I had a brief whisper, "Why?" and that thought sent me on this rabbit trail...

Cheers!

Ft. Worth

2010-12-21T20:56:00.001-08:00

This past summer when I stayed with my grandmother, Matt flew down to Texas to visit me for a long weekend. We spent the weekend in Ft. Worth and visited the places we used to go when we were dating. I have a thing for pathways, roads, alleys, stairs, and the like. These are just a few pictures of that weekend. How I miss Texas!!!

Hello 40!

2010-12-21T11:52:00.000-08:00

I turned 40 last week. It was not the emotional maelstrom I expected. In the weeks and days leading up to "the day," I didn't feel any weirdness or fear or panic or sadness. Just another day really. I don't think I look 40 (of course we never see ourselves as we truly are, though, do we?). However, I have friends who are 36-45 (and a few younger and some older), and I find that I compare my face and neck and hands to my friends. In comparison to some, I don't think I have as many tiny lines around the eyes as they do. I think my skin tone and texture is pretty good. (God, I sound awful as I type this...) I stay covered up in the sun well and use the highest formula of SPF you can buy and usually a baby formula at that -- at least I tell myself that the baby formula provides even MORE protection than an adult or sport version...

Ha, the mental games we play... But more on that in a moment...

Anyway... I cherish my friends dearly. I am thankful for them in my life and glad that I have liked their personalities for as many years as I have; conversely, I am honored that they like me and see qualities in me that I don't see and they "hold on" to the good bits more than the bad bits. However, maybe it's women's nature (it CAN'T just be me that does this!) that occasionally catches a quick glance at Maggie's eyes when she laughs or at Rachel's skin tone in the sunlight and does a mental side-by-side of my own face to theirs. "Naw," I say, "my eyes are plumper than hers." and "my skin doesn't look quite as dull as hers." "Whew!" I say, mentally patting myself on the back for my diligent exfoliation, consistent moisturizing, and almost military schedule hair-removal sessions. I take care of my hair...regular hair masks of avocado and olive oil, not too much blow drying and flat ironing, adding random highlights or lowlights and not all over bleach-and-color.

Using my girlfriends as an "age gauge"? Vanity? Of course! I'll admit it, and I'm sure they return the mental favor as well. Sharing and exchanging with my girlfriends the latest magazine or blog article regarding new products on the market and rediscovering tried and tested cooking ingredients (olive oil, sea salt, granulated sugar, honey, Greek yogurt -- not all at the same time!) to use on the hair and face -- absolutely!! I want my face to look like a plum and not a prune, after all!

And so I turned 40 without all the fuss and mental breakdown of some. I didn't have a massive panic attack at 30 either. Maybe I'll be due for a total meltdown at 50. Maybe it's genetic -- my mom looks fab at 63! My grandmother didn't start looking "old" until her early 80s. Maybe age is relative. I don't put much stock in the numbers. I guess it's what you do with the numbers that counts. I don't look back with regrets either. I've made some truly stupid decisions in my life...who hasn't?! I don't do the "If only..." or the "What if..." game. That kind of thinking can only rip you apart if you let it. No excuses, No regrets. What I've done brought me to where I am. And where I am ain't so bad. Sure, there are places I want to see and things I want to do, and I'll get there, and I'll do those things. As far as looking my age, I guess that's relative too. I teach high school students, and I think they keep me feeling pretty young...but there are those times when I say a word or phrase or refer to a movie or music that reminds me, "Yep, I'm an 80's teen!"

So... Hello to a new decade! Hello to a new day in the life...

Cheers!

p.s. Hold on! What the heck is that?! I didn't notice those 2 lines between my eyes yesterday!!

Amazing Films!!!

2010-11-30T22:02:00.001-08:00

MeMa 1

2010-11-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

She doesn't know I'm watching her. Her clouded eyes cannot see that I sit across the room and study the wrinkles in her face. Her soft, delicate fingers feel the frayed edging of her house dress. Paper-thin skin barely covering blue veins and bones of her legs. Feet do not touch the floor. Feet kept warm in 100+ degree Texas heat by thick fuzzy socks.

I am her caretaker for now. These 2 months are the opportunity every grandchild should be given to spend with their last grandparent. The opportunity every grandchild should TAKE... I see myself running through her tiny house as a child when I spent summers with her 35 years ago. I now see her moving about from room to room as she has for 50 years in this house. She floats. She doesn't need her eyesight any longer. She knows how many steps from the chair to the kitchen sink. She knows every creak of the wood and every scratch of tree limb on the window.

As I watch her like a guilty voyeur who cannot look away, she reaches over to take the ear phones and cd player from the side table. "Sugar Bear, will you change the cd to that new Gaither Trio your mom and dad got for me?" (I'm almost 40 and I'm still her Sugar Bear. Is it bad of me to be proud that I'm the only grandchild/great grandchild who has a nickname from her?) I change out the batteries and hand her the player. Her delicate fingers moving to find the raised play button. She reclines the chair, and I pull the afghan over her. She's taking her 2:00 nap. I'll still watch her. Still listen to her breathe. Just as I did so many summers ago.

New Post...

2010-11-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

After over a year absent, I've decided to re-enter this universe. I've been itching for some time to begin posting again, but I didn't know what my "theme" would be. I guess I felt I needed a theme. I needed something (a topic, a direction, a punchline of sorts) to make this site cohesive.

Why?

This is my blog. I've missed it. Over the course of the year, I have continued reading the blogs I follow. I just haven't posted anything. It's a one-way conversation. Sort of. Well, not really. *she's rambling*

I find that I often provide commentary to my life. A funny situation occurs in my classroom -- a student exclaims a witty retort, I actually let my guard down enough to be human and my students and I have a "bonding" moment -- and I find I am offering subtitles to the event. There's a voice in my head (not quite the seductive voice of Emma Thompson (at least I think her voice can be seductive) in Harrold Crick's mundane life of Stranger than Fiction) but an afterthought of summation. When I have these moments of commentary, I find my mind wandering back to this orphaned blog.

So, with that, I want to return here. I want to revive this portion of my life. I think part of the reason I abandoned it was because of what I do. I'm a teacher. I'm a teacher in a private school. I felt the OVERWHELMING PRESSURE to watch everything I say and do and react and put out there.... I felt the need to constantly edit myself. I still *sadly* must edit myself. But I now feel I can provide a balance with what is appropriate against how I truly think and feel.

I will still rant when I want/need to. I will post on random topics like what nail polish I just purchased to posting updated pictures of my lethal shoe fetish to new workout routines I'm doing to reflections on literature I'm reading at the moment. Truly, this blog will have no "theme" other than to say: This is me. This is my life. Yep, it's random.

Cheers!

Pike Place Market

2009-10-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

Just a little post about one of our favorite places: Pike Place Market. Yeah, yeah, it's touristy! But it's got so much to do and see! When we first moved to Seattle from Texas, we went to the Market about every other weekend. The sights and smells. We don't go as often now, but when we do it's such a wonderful time! Here's some images for you! Have a fabulous week!

Thank you, Mr. Frost (and Mrs. Young!)

2009-09-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned my high school English teacher Mrs. Young in a prior post. I took her English class for both 10th and 11th grade honors English. In 10th grade she gave us an assignment to memorize Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken", and I HATED that assignment! At the time, I couldn't memorize things very well, so I had a bear of a time trying to get the words down in the correct order.

Needless to say, I got it down and recited it (nervously) to her after school in front of her huge white podium. God, I was so nervous!

And now, 24 years after my 10th grade year of high school, I STILL remember that poem! A few years ago I wrote her a letter specifically recalling that assignment. I expressed to her how much I disliked it. (She and I write quite often, or else I wouldn't dream of sharing my frustrations of her assignment actually TO her!!!!) Anyway, I continued to say that I now appreciate that assignment because it has proven true many times over in my life. Sometimes I've chosen a path in life that appeared more challenging or more potentially frustrating. I often think of that poem and those awkward moments standing in front of her reciting that poem wringing my sweaty hands in fear of making a mistake and disappointing her. As I recall that scene in my mind, I get a little perspective and comfort as I struggle through a particularly difficult "stretch of road" in my life.

And I now have the privilege of passing on that torch of initial terror to my current students!! I will be giving my students that very same assignment of memorizing Mr. Frost's poem and reciting it back to me. It is an assignment that I have held very precious in my life. And while I know and accept the fact that my students will grumble, complain, whine, and beg about the project, I hope (I hope, I hope, I hope, I hope) that someday several of them or maybe just a few of them or perhaps only one of them will remember this assignment and feel the slightest measure of comfort in the fact that I saw their road before them and wanted to give them love and hope on their journey as Mrs. Young did for me so many years ago.

So, in honor of Mr. Robert Frost (and Mrs. Young), I will recite the poem to you. I still remember it word for word (though my punctuation may be off a bit). My palms are no longer sweaty and my throat is now moist and clear. Enjoy...

"The Road Not Taken"

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both.
And be one traveler, long I stood
and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
and having perhaps the better claim,
because it was grassy and wanted wear;
though as for that the passing there
had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay,
in leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh,
somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
and that has made all the difference."

May you appreciate your path!

Cheers!

A Room with a View...

2009-09-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

At the prompting of the Angry Blue man (:P), I thought I would post some pictures occasionally of Seattle and the surrounding areas. Seattle can be a pretty place, and contrary to popular opinion, it doesn't rain as much as most think. It's just a constant drizzle in the winter, so people tend to think that we get more rain than most places in the US. Not so. While we don't get much solid, slap-you-in-the-face kind of drenching rain like Texas (God, I miss the torrential thunder/lightening storms in Texas!), it's just a constant slow trickle that makes you wear a hoodie.

Anyway, here are some pictures of the Ho Rainforest on the Olympic peninsula. It's about a 4-hour drive west of Seattle. I liked it as much for the beauty as the actual name: Ho! :)

The last one in this line is my favorite!!!

Hope the beginning to your week is going well!

Cheers to all! :)

Amnesia Lane

2009-09-26T22:33:00.000-07:00

Just read a post by Matthew at AbodeOneThree (Why homeless boys make lousy role models) and it got me to thinking about life in reverse. When we are young (or even old) we can make some stupid choices in our lives and if we're lucky we get to survive them. I grew up in a good family. Only child. Small town. Bought groceries at the Piggly Wiggly. Everyone knows everyone else's business. Mom got calls from my teachers at school telling her that she shouldn't let me play with Carrie Chambers because her dad was an alcoholic and her mother was "checked out" and the older brother was in and out of trouble a lot so Carrie might be a bad influence on me. I lived a pretty sheltered life.

But there's a point that some of us come to when we have to explore that dark side. I believe we all have a dark side. For some it might be just a muted grey color and for others it's full-on inky blackness. I've always had that dark side lurking in the shadows waiting to rear his beautiful head and whisper warm, sweet nothings in my ear. I believe that we shouldn't regret. Regret is pointless. Do you like who you are now? If your answer is yes, I would hope it is, then everything you've gone through has made you who you are right now. Every choice I have made in my life has brought me to this very moment. I've made some wtf-was-I-thinking decisions, some impulsive and some carefully, deliberately plotted but yet ruined my life for a period of time. Some affected just me. Some affected and absorbed my family as well.

But thank God for the shit of life! Like Monty Python's Life of Brian: "Life's a piece of shit when you look at it." I like who I am now. Sometimes you have those conversations with people, "If you could change anything in your life..." I wouldn't change a thing. Not one step. Not one particle of my life from this instant backwards. Because if I did change something I wouldn't be who I am right here and now. I would be a version of me. I am grateful for the inky black spectre that lurks in the shadows of my life. He keeps me grounded. Keeps me real. Makes me honest. He reminds me that I have choices. He also resides in the consequences of my choices. Forcing me to eat crow. Making me face the mirror. I welcome his presence because without him, I wouldn't be as aware of hope and life and breath and laughter as I am.

Those things in life are the sweetest when coupled with the equal taste of bitter.

! Awards !

2009-09-17T17:26:00.001-07:00

I received my first awards last week and have been hoarding them, basking in the glow of their glory! Reluctant to let them go wishing I could keep them just a bit longer, it is now time to pass them on to their next amazing recipients who will, too, feel goodness and know the glory of all things "truth"!

Ironically, I won these awards during a few weeks of insanity when I wasn't blogging and felt totally cut off and out of touch with all things cyber-reality. I came back after having not read a single blog nor posted a blog for some time to these two awards and felt, here in my own little universe, like someone out there likes me. (I know, I know, it's pathetic and puppy-dog sad...) The words I've said, the pictures I've put up, the emotions I've tried to convey through my posts have made sense and given someone something important enough that they want to return to me a token of thanks. And for these tokens, Indigo and Carlos, I thank you more than you know!!!

This one's from Indigo... (can't you tell?!)

And this one's from Carlos (see, CLEARLY different that the other one!!)

These two awards, also ironically, are the same: The "Honest Scrap" Award (love the name!) And yes, I'm showing both of them because I WANT to! :) And as I understand the guidelines (I've tweaked them a bit...):

1) “The Honest Scrap” award is like a pint in a bar...better when shared with friends!

2) The recipient has to tell 10 true but unknown facts about themself.

3) The recipient has to buy a pint for 10 other bloggers.

4) Those 10 bloggers all have to be notified that they have a pint waiting to be enjoyed.

5) Those 10 bloggers should link back to the one who bought them the pint.

So, now that a few pints have let my guard drop a bit, here's my list of 10 facts:

1. Kylie Minogue's song "I Believe in You" is just for me! When I listen to that, I feel like such a goober because I know she wrote that for those times I need a little pick-me-up!

2. The Power of Prime: when I'm in my car listening to the stereo, the volume number MUST be on a prime number. Even numbers scare me. Odd numbers are better. But Prime Numbers are most auspicious!

3. Mustard on french fries...yummy!

4. I love tomatoes but hate ketchup.

5. When I'm drinking something, like milk or tea, I can't help but count how many swallows I take. It's not on purpose. Before I know it, I'm counting.

6. I am an only child.

7. I can write with both hands at the same time. BUT, what's really cool is, what I'm writing are mirror images of each other. The right hand writes normally, but the left hand is writing everything backwards.

8. I still keep in touch with my English teacher from high school...I graduated in 1988! She is an amazing person, and I am blessed to still have her in my life!

9. I really and truly don't care if there is life on other planets.

10. I peed in my pants when I was in 8th grade because Suzanne Goff wouldn't get out of the restroom in the band hall fast enough. When she finally got out, I rushed in but didn't have time to latch the door shut. I just straddled the seat, and she saw my feet facing the wall and opened the door to ask me what the heck I was doing!

Now, I must provide one pint to each of my bloggies. These are people who make me laugh, make me think, make me shake my head wondering why I couldn't word it just like they do. And thank you Carlos for emailing me how to "link" in a post!

1. Tudor City Girl 's NYC adventures...

2. Mr London Street 's menu porn...

3. Hillbilly Duhn 's TMI...

4. Omchelsea 's Suzuki...

5. JM 's travels everywhere I wish I were...

6. Lora 's, well, she's. just. the. shit!

7. Tennyson ee Hemingway 's blah...

8. lollipop26 's girlie style...

9. Rae 's Wal*Mart shopper in Florida...

10. Shangri-La 's soundtrack...

Enjoy the moments! The good ones don't come around near as often enough but they sure can outweigh the bad ones!

Enjoy your day! Cheers!

Go or Stop

2009-09-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

I've always had difficulty with living on the fence: liking chocolate all the way or not, cleaning the house completely or not, going to the gym on a regular basis or not, etc. I have such difficulty living in the "between". If I'm going to go to the gym, it's going to be a strict schedule: 5/6 days a week or not at all. Cleaning the house: clean it all top to bottom or don't clean it at all. It's either go at full speed or don't go at all. I can't window shop either. The thought of "shopping" without the actual exchange of money is ridiculous. Torture. Just putting $10 of gas in the car rather than filling it up. Huh? Only putting on makeup without doing the hair too. What were you thinking? Cutting the grass without doing the edging/weedeating. Washing the outside of the car but not vacuuming the inside. I don't understand the vast wasteland of the space between "this" and "that". I don't get the gray areas. Either it is or it isn't. To me, there is no gray area. Either you did shower this morning or you didn't. How can you be a left wing conservative? I don't make half a pot of coffee. Life for me is either a red light or green light. I don't understand the yellow. Life either is or it isn't.

I think maybe for me that if there is a middle ground there is no commitment. The proverbial "shit or get off the pot". It frustrates me that people continue to exist in the middle. Pick something. If it's wrong, change it. But don't do something half way, half ass. If there is too much middle, it grows and devours what "is". It allows room for excuses. Did you bring your homework or not? No? Then it's a zero. End of discussion. Did you vote? No? Then shut up about how you don't like this or that.

Pick a team. Root for them. If they lose, ok. If they win, ok. Life doesn't end up in a tie. Either you're alive or you're dead. There is no middle ground, no gray area. We don't move through life in a crouching position half-sitting half-standing. Either our butts are in the chair or they aren't. I just get tired of the, "Well, that's true except when...." or the "Yeah, I agree with you, but what about..."

As Jedi Master Yoda says: "Do or do not. There is no try."

Tom & Ona pt 3

2009-09-15T06:15:00.001-07:00

She sat on the front edge of the dressing table bench while I scrunched up on my knees behind her. Her dressing gown worn down from once heavy cotton to now a thin veil of pink threads, like gossamer. In the dusty dressing table mirror I caught glimpses of her face. Peaceful. Looking into her lap. Still. Quiet. She sat so still. Peaceful. I grasped the big paddle brush in my tiny hand and moved it down through her hair. The brush was heavy in my hand. Bristles bent this way and that. Worn. Aged. Ona's hair hung to the bench, and I brushed from her small head all the way to where we sat. Her grey hair flowing through my fingers like goose down, soft, almost like it wasn't there. She held the strips of multi-color ribbon in her hands, her tiny hands. Smelled like Chantilly. I twisted separated strands of hair around each other in a "braid" and tied a colored strip to the end. After a time, her hair danced with thin ribbons of color. Her long grey hair ablaze with color. Completed with my masterpiece and feeling proud and excited, I called out to Tom, "Come and see! Come and see!"

Can't think of a catchy title, so....

2009-09-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

here goes...

*edit: this is the longest freakin' blog I've done, but please please read to the end! :)

I've been outta the loop the past couple of weeks. As you know, school started again, and I've returned to the high school classroom after a looooong absence (7 years!) Well, seems like a long absence to me...I feel OLD!!

Anyway, to get you up to scratch... I teach high school English grades 9,10,11, and a class of 11th honors. I taught for 10 years in Texas in public education (anyone ever read the book Friday Night Lights or see the movie or tv show? Well, I taught at that school: Permian High School! That's my 15 seconds of fame!) (And, oh yeah, high school football in Texas is INSANE!!!! :D) Now, I'm teaching in a private school in the middle of the woods. Small classes. Involved parents *choirs of angels singing in background!* No school uniforms so a little more relaxed. Aggressive curriculum. Bee-yutiful woodland campus. 145 students total at the high school. *cue second choir of angels singing.*

So school started Sept 1st. I left EVERY SINGLE STITCH of teaching materials to the wonderful English department at Permian HS when I left! 10 years of collecting materials, creating study guides/quizzes/tests for every novel imaginable, transparencies.... Three XL Uhaul boxes full of binders and folders painstakingly organized with every scrap of paper in its own protected plastic sleeve!!! I didn't think I'd ever return to the classroom and left all my materials with them. And now.... Holy Crap, Batman! I'm toast! I've got nothin' but lint in my pockets!

So...needless to say, my fingers have callouses from the computer typing I'm doing trying to prep materials. I'm anal retentive about my presentation and organization. EVERY story needs my own personally created study guide questions (I don't like the quizzes and tests that you copy from the supplemental materials: ugh! generic!) At this moment right now, my curriculum looks like this:

9th graders are studying:
*Mondays: VERY aggressive vocabulary development program developed by the other English teacher (he's Brilliant by the way!!!)
*Tuesdays: short stories/poetry from the Anthology
*Wednesdays: writing a 5-paragraph descriptive essay on a short story we read
*Thursdays: formal in-class reading (right now it's Antigone and Greek tragedy)
*Fridays: out-of-class reading (they read the novel outside of class and we discuss during classtime) right now it's To Kill a Mockingbird
*ongoing...the students read a novel completely outside of class (right now The Good Earth) and will have a test at the end of the quarter

10th graders:
*Mondays: part 2 of the ongoing vocabulary development program
*Tuesdays: short stories/poetry from Anthology
*Wednesdays: writing a 5-paragraph essay about the high school
*Thursdays: formal in-class reading (right now Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution)
*Fridays: out-of-class reading (Wuthering Heights and Gothic writing)
*ongoing...Silas Marner is their independent reading with test at end of quarter

11th graders:
*Mondays: part 3 of vocabulary
*Tuesdays: Anthology as above...
*Wednesdays: 5-paragraph essay about theocracy in the world and why it is ineffective
*Thursdays: in-class reading (The Crucible and the Salem witch trials...tie-in to theocracy...)
*Fridays: out-of-class reading (The Scarlet Letter and Puritan America...theocracy...)
*ongoing: The Old Man and the Sea

11th honors:
*Mondays: vocabulary
*Tuesdays: Anthology and responsive writing
*Wednesdays: 2 essays: theocracy as above and 5-paragraph essay discussing Herman Melville's antithesis of Transcendentalism with Moby Dick
*Thursdays: Moby Dick
*Fridays: The Scarlet Letter
*ongoing: Frederick Douglass' Narrative

!!!!!! YIKES !!!!! Didn't I say "Holy Crap, Batman! earlier?!"

Yup, so my life the last two weeks looks like this:
4am: get up, brew first pot of coffee, feed dogs, breakfast, get dressed, make lunch for me and husband Matt, brew second pot of coffee and put in thermos for the day (I also have a coffee maker in my classroom....the Java God loves me, his faithful follower...
6:30am: get to school, prep white boards, check email, organize all the paperwork for the day, etc...
8am: let the school day begin!!!!
3pm: school's over, gather all above said paperwork that needs to be graded, determine the details for each of the classes for tomorrow, create study guides, quizzes, tests, handouts, check email again, pull reference materials together, refresh myself on Wuthering Heights (just how many Catherines can there possibly be??!!!!)
6pm: leave school for home...relish the 15 minutes it takes me to get home by blasting Rammstein, Slipknot, Static X, or some other cathartic, putrid noise
6-8pm: watch movie, take a walk with Matt, play with pups, 2 blessed hours of non-school!!!
8-midnite (or after): continuing to prep materials for the week, research, grade, grade, grade
midnite (or after) - 4am: fitful sleep with strange dreams like: I moved a student desk and broke all my fingernails off in the process! wtf?!
4am: get up and do all over again....

Oh, and did I mention that I also have a part-time job as well continuing to work with the jewelry company I was with prior to my leaving management. That's about 20-25 hours a week: about 3 days a week and every other weekend....

But, with all this having been said, I truly have NEVER BEEN HAPPIER!!! I have gotten so frustrated with some of my students acting like blabber-mouthed dorks in class and emailed parents already. Yes, it's only the second week of school.... But I also haven't laughed from the gut so much like I have. Talking about Antigone being the daughter of a man who killed his father and married his mother then gouged out his eyes when he found out the truth and that she has siblings who are also her cousins...say wha????? I have had so much fun! I'm strict and run a very tight ship; my boundaries are boldly defined! But the kids can find their own voice and freedom inside my borders and we'll find that we're all just along for the ride!

So, I had almost given up on blogging because I didn't think I would have a life again. But today I had an EXCEPTIONAL day!! The kids were totally in synch, and I felt smart, witty, and powerful (and I was having a great hair day, too, just so you know! :D ) I was even so organized that I don't actually have any "homework" for myself for tonight!! Yippee!!

I thought I'd get back on the blogs after not reading any of my favs for almost 3 weeks. And I found I am the proud and humbled recipient of not one but 2 awards! Both Indigo Wrath and Carlos at The Tired One awarded me the "Honest Scrap!" award! This has turned out to be a 5-star day! I will gather my goods and post my response to you this weekend. I can't believe it! *jumping up and down* *giggles* I have awards!! Thank you!!!

To those who read my blog, thank you! I have been challenged by this thing called blogging. Challenged to be more open and forthright. To be creative. To let my guard down (a bit) *beat of sweat trickling from temple*. And I will continue. I want to continue. Please don't give up on me... I'm dreadfully co-dependent and sometimes just want/need to know that I matter! (Lora/Fever, thanks for your quick response to a blog of mine...your words made me smile!)

Oh! With these awards, I have to include links back to the 10 blogs I forward the award to. I don't know how to link????? Someone help please!!!

Sorry so long. Hope you've lasted to the end here. Have a great Friday, and I'll catch up more on the weekend!

Cheers!!

Rave & Rant

2009-08-26T22:45:00.000-07:00

Today is my Rave & Rant posting. Oddly enough (I say that because I err on the cynical/bleak side of life), I don't have anything to report for the week in the "Rant" category! :D Wow, that's weird to say because I ALWAYS have something negative that I could dig up, and all too often I have to fight like mad to keep my tongue in check. I'm forever wanting to disagree, pose a sarcastic barb, or just go off -- even if I might agree with the person -- I sometimes just want to get someone's goat.

But.... I have had a great week! School inservice started this week, and since I'm returning to the classroom after many years absent, I have quite a bit to catch up on. For the last several years I've done high-end retail management. I am also new to Washington state education (I taught for 10 years in Texas) as well as new to private school (all my years were in public education). I probably have 50 students on my roster right now, whereas in Texas I had anywhere between 180 to 210!!!! INSANITY!!!! I had to get certified in CPR and First Aid today, and it was quite fun. Yes, I enjoyed blowing the dummies and learning that soy sauce is good for a burn! The facilitator had a wicked sense of humor and made the time spent entertaining and informative (love it when you have to sit in a class and you actually LIKE the time instead of feeling like it was 8 hours of your life you'll never get back!) There were other staff members at the class who teach in the elementary schools or the middle school who came to me asking if I was the new English teacher. (It's not intimidating AT ALL when teachers/parents know all about you before you've even been introduced...) Anyway, it's private school and everyone knows everyone's business... But I received the most welcoming introductions and responses. Again, the cynic in me is battling the Zen peacemaker: cynic says they're all wolves in sheep's clothing and they'll stab me in the back as soon as I let my guard down; Zen says to let the goodness flow through me and what I think so shall I receive. Let the battle wage on...I've got a job to do, and I am so grateful and jazzed to be able to work with the students again!!!! I even had one parent get teary eyed after our conversation and give me a hug saying she was so happy I was going to teach her daughter. That made me feel sooooo good!!! I'm teaching 9th, 10th, 11th and 11th honors. 4 preps! But you know how you feel when do something "right" or the pieces of a puzzle all came together? That's how I am feeling. Yes, this school year is going to be a busy one because I also have to work a part-time job as well. Living a dream does not come without sacrifice, after all!! We have a BBQ tomorrow night after the day of inservice for new students and the parents, and since I teach both classes of 9th grade English, I'll have a chance to meet most of the parents and students prior to the first day of school. I cannot wait!!! So, I'm glad this post is all about the "happy"!

May your day be filled with more Raves than Rants! Cheers!

Tom and Ona (pt 2)

2009-08-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

Blackish-red blood smeared his fingers. I held the grey metal bucket in my small hands. Texas summer heat caused the air to shimmer, and the dust devils played hide and seek in alley in the occasional breath of breeze. I could not understand why he didn't try to wipe the blood from his fingertips. If my mom's hands looked like his, she would have washed them immediately. But he didn't care. He just carefully continued to search through the bush and mumbled to himself that he had to pick just the right ones...too early and they would be sour...too late and they would be mushy. The bees flitting and weaving through the branches in the bush caught my attention, but he was calm and didn't seem to mind, so neither did I. Every few seconds he quietly exclaimed, like discovering a new treasure in a library, "Ah! Just look at that one! It's perfect!" And he carefully dropped the freshly picked blackberry in my bucket. We'd been standing there gathering those precious blackberries for what seemed like an eternity to my 3-year old attention span. Asking that I hold the bucket up for him, he peered in, looked at me with a twinkle in his eyes, and said we had enough. As we walked to the house, he said Ona would be thrilled to see our sweet treasures. I rushed ahead of him, up the steps, and into the house calling out to her to come in the kitchen because we had a surprise. He rinsed his hands in the sink and dried them off on a threadbare cup towel. He took three small cups from the cupboard and took the jar of milk from the refrigerator. As he poured the milk into the glasses, I caught his familiar smell. Stronger now because of our time spent outside -- age. He smelled old. Comforting. Like home. I heard the floor boards creak as Ona slowly and carefully walked to the kitchen from her bedroom. My mouth began to water as Tom poured the rinsed blackberries into a delicate blue bowl and handed my milk glass to me. I was thrilled to share such a treat with my wonderful friends.

...to be continued

No Post

2009-08-24T21:49:00.001-07:00

This is a post to say I won't be posting tonight. Interesting day... Will post both today's and tomorrow's topics tomorrow.

Sleep Tight and Sweet Dreams.....

End of Summer Concerts

2009-08-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight brings a close to the summer concert series for our house. This summer we saw a lot of concerts, mostly of the metal variety. We did see Adele in May which was fabulous!!!! We also saw VNV Nation in June which was a dream come true for me!!! The rest of the concerts were festivals where several bands played and the fest was an all-day event starting about noon and ending between 10-midnite. Here's a list of what we saw:
Mayhem Festival:
Cannibal Corpse
Black Dahlia Murder
All that Remains
Behemouth
God Forbid
Job for a Cowboy
Trivium
Killswitch Engage
Marilyn Manson
Slayer

Crue Fest:
Motley Crue
Godsmack
Theory of a Deadman
Drowning Pool
*this fest pretty much sucked! started at 5:00. Crue sucks out loud live. Godsmack was the only good band!

Pain in the Grass:
Static X
Steel Panther
Mudvayne
Chevelle
Saliva
Slipknot
*Slipknot's drummer broke his shoulder on the day of the concert and they headlined, so Slipknot canceled. But we saw them last summer, so no big loss.

Been a good run with concerts. That's one thing I love about Seattle is that the music scene is off the hook!

Hope y'all are having a good weekend!

All things girlie...

2009-08-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

I know this is a weird picture for a post, but hang with me, follow these steps, and you'll have great looking skin with little hassle and even less money being spent!! NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN WILL I PURCHASE ANOTHER OVER-THE-COUNTER EXFOLIATOR OR MASK!!! This 2-ingredient aspirin/milk mask is all I will ever use!!!

What you'll need for your aspirin face mask:

1. 3 generic aspirin (non-coated!)

2. small dish

3. spoon (or something to crush the aspirin)

4. 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of milk

What you do:

Crush the 3 aspirin in the dish until most of the big bits are made into a powder. (You can use BC Powder, but I prefer the larger granules of the hand-crushed aspirin.) Drop about 1/4 teaspoon of milk into the powdered aspirin and mix. Add a few more drops until it becomes a paste. (You don't want too much liquid because it will be too difficult to work with -- you want a paste.) Put the dish in the microwave for about 5 seconds just to warm it up. With your fingers, rub the paste in a circular motion on your face as you would as exfoliator. If you have red bumps, make sure to leave a little more paste on those areas. Explanation is below. The 3 aspirin will be more than enough to cover the entire face. When you've rubbed the entire paste on your face, leave it to dry on the skin for about 5-10 minutes. Then rinse and pat dry. Follow this regime about every other day. In about a week, you'll feel your skin become softer: dry patches will the sloughed away, and oily patches will lessen in oil production. In about 2 weeks, your skin will continue to balance out with dry/oil areas. White bumps will go away, and your foundation will apply more smoothly and stay on longer.

Why it works:

There are 3 key ingredients in this simple mixture: salicylic acid, lactic acid, and acetaminophin/paracetamol. The lactic acid in the milk is a natural ingredient and helps to bring oxygen to the skin and is an exfoliator and anti-oxidant. Salicylic acid is the aspirin and is an anti-inflammatory and helps to shed the top layer of skin (especially when it's massaged into the skin). Acetaminophin/paracetamol in the aspirin is also an anti-inflammatory and helps to restrict blood vessels (will help the red bumps to reduce in size).

I hope you find this recipe useful. Share this with your friends, girlfriends, wives, and mothers. Like I said, after using this mask for about 6 weeks now, I will NEVER purchase another gimmick again...why would I pay $20, $30, $40+ for a product when all I need costs less than $5?!

Cheers!!!

Tom and Ona (part 1)

2009-08-19T19:33:00.000-07:00

"Come and see! Come and see!"

I would be in the backyard playing on the swing set and call out to our next door neighbor to come and see me play. I would try to swing as high as I could before he would get there so he would clap and cheer for me. It took forever for him to finally get to our back gate. He would push me on the swing so I could keep going. Tom made me laugh, and I liked him.

Tom and his sister Ona lived next door to us. We lived in an older part of town. Not much traffic. Big trees with a lot of shade. Sidewalks. Screen doors that creaked open and slapped shut. Houses had a porch where the brick of the post formed a sort of pyramid and came up halfway. Where the brick stopped, the big square wooden column began and pushed its way up to the porch roof. I loved our street. Not many children either as I remember. But I didn't seem to care because I had the perfect playmates! I don't remember who was older, Tom or Ona. Both of them were much older than my parents. The time I remember them I was 2 and 3 years old. We moved away when I was 3, so it had to be before then. I remember that Tom was tall and thin. His hair was grey and stuck out all over. Ona was much smaller, a little stooped, and had beautiful long grey hair that hung below her waist. She seemed older to me than Tom, but I don't know for sure. I haven't talked much about Tom and Ona since I have grown; that time is a very precious box of memories in my childhood, and I don't want it tainted by the facts of adulthood. The more I peek inside that box and rustle through its belongings, the more I remember, and I want it to remain fresh and innocent for me forever.

When I grew tired of swinging, Tom would take me on walks around the neighborhood. We often went to the laundromat a few streets over. An old man and woman were always in the laundromat when we went there. Tom would buy a grape soda in the bottle for me from the vending machine, and he would get a Baby Ruth candy bar and split it in half for us. He would prop me up on the folding table while I drank my soda and he talked to his friends. The summer in Texas was already hot enough, but the air in the laundromat was sticky and heavy. My long hair stuck to the back of my neck and forehead as I sat there. But, oh, that grape soda was sooo good and sweet. Tom would help me down off the table, and as they continued to talk, I looked inside the dryers as the clothes spun around. I felt the heat radiating from the machines. Sometimes, Tom would take a couple of loads of laundry with us and would let me put the money into the machines. I loved pushing in the metal plate for the washer because that meant the water would start pouring into the bin. I was fascinated with the movements and sounds and smells and colors in the laundromat.

When I finished my soda, we would begin walking back home. I held his hand as we walked across the street. His fingers weren't as big as my dad's and weren't as rough. I could see the veins in his hands and arms. He also smelled different. A little of sweat and a little sweet. He smelled just like the old books in the cupboard at my MeMa's house. I don't remember thinking that he was old, just different looking than my dad. He always wore dress pants, dress shoes, and button-up shirts, and my dad wore jeans, cowboy boots, and a cowboy hat. Nothing as a very young child is good or bad, just different. There is no judgment or criticism, just an attempt at understanding. Children have to absorb so much so quickly. Maybe as children we have a huge mental toy box. Our questions of "Why do you...?" or "Why don't you...?" are not meant as criticism but as an attempt to understand how the puzzle pieces fit. How they compare. When we have been given an answer that is satisfactory to us, we put that information in a section of the toy box that seems to make sense so we can come back to it later when we need.

*Please note: I am remembering my relationship with Tom and Ona when I was very young. This time was about 1973-4. There's no devastating or traumatic portion to these memories like you might find on the nightly news. Just happy, innocent, good. And as I am writing I am remembering more and more; I look forward to visiting them again.

Enjoy your day! Cheers!

Rave & Rant

2009-08-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

My Raves and Rants for this week...

Rave: the new Star Trek movie!!! We went to see it on opening night and LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!!! Those familiar beeps within the first 30 seconds of the film immediately takes you there! We went to see it again yesterday at the dollar movie. Soooo great!

Rant: movies that are under 2 hours long. Look, if actors make the INSANE amount of money they do and a movie makes the kind of dough they are capable of, I'd better be highly entertained for more than an hour and half! Movies cost waaaaaay too much money to go and see: $9.50 per ticket!!! That's 20 bucks for Matt and me to go see a movie -- sorry, we don't want to drop that kind of dough when we can see 5 movies at the $2 theater! I refuse to see a movie on the big screen unless it will be some kick-ass action/killer scary if it's less than 2 hrs!

Rant: along the same vein as above..... CDs that are under 10 songs (unless the songs are more conceptual and are longer than 5mins each. Look, each CD holds about 74 minutes of music. Again, if I'm gonna pay $10-$15 for a CD, I'd better be entertained! If the musician doesn't have enough music to use up the full space on the album, don't release the CD until it's full!!! I like U2, Madonna, Sting, Norah Jones, Hatebreed, etc. And each of these artists bring in a grip-load of money! And yet, each of these artists have albums that are less than 70 minutes! One of them has an album that is only 48 minutes! What??!!

Rave: the leaves are beginning to change color on some of the trees here, which means summer will be ending soon....which means this heat will soon cease!! I love the cold, drizzly, gloomy, overcast, dreary weather!!! I've lived in Montana and didn't particularly enjoy digging my car out of 4ft of snow every morning. That's not what I'm talking about. I love the cold, wet weather. I love bundling up in layers, smelling the crisp fresh air, hearing the drizzle plink on the mailbox. I love how it makes me feel cozy when I'm inside enjoying a cup of hot tea or cocoa.

Rave: speaking of weather... This is one thing I miss about Texas: the thunder and lightning storms!!! Massive crashes of thunder that rattle the house! Cracks of thunder that sound like a mighty bullwhip shredding the skies. Streaks of lightning of such awesome power to make me feel small and vulnerable. Counting the seconds between the flash of light and the boom of thunder that lets me know how far away the storm is. I miss the storms...

May your day be balanced and may your raves outweigh your rants! Cheers!

Comfort Foods

2009-08-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Had a bad day? Is it a cold, drizzly afternoon? Just need some peace and quiet to yourself? For me, if I've had a string of bad days or just want something to make me feel good, Velveeta Shells and Cheese is my go-to comfort food. I make a batch of this, curl up on the couch with a great flick, and bask in it's comforting, cheesy goodness.

We all have food that makes us feel better. There's just something about the food that is comforting, soothing, and personal. It may be a food from our childhood. It may be the actual "process" of making that particular food that is what brings the comfort. I would also hazard a guess that for most of us, our comfort food is not necessarily healthy. That's what makes it a comfort food is that like our bad days - hopefully few and far between - the food we choose to massage that bad time is consumed on a rare occasion as well. I can't really see myself coming home to a really, truly lousy, kick-you-in-the-teeth crap day and say, "Oh! You know what sounds great to eat right now? Salad!" Blek! No way! Give me food that contains grease, cheese, bread, chocolate, and/or something fried!

And after I've consumed my shells and cheese, I always DO feel better! (At least my emotions do... My body??? Well, that's another matter...) I do have alternate backup foods that also ease my frustration, anger, turmoil, hurt, anxiety:

1. Ben & Jerry's Dublin Mudslide
2. a grilled cheese sandwich
3. Fritos and bean dip (yep, the gross stuff that comes in a can!)
4. Totinos pizza (the 4 for $5 in the frozen section at the grocery)

The good part about having comfort foods is that they are specific to a certain type of emotion, and like I said, hopefully these emotions do not raise their ugly heads too often!

What foods do you turn to on those days or weeks when you've had enough and want to crawl in a hole and escape? What foods make you feel better?

Ukraine's Got Talent

2009-08-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

I realize this post video is 8+ minutes long. But well worth it! Amazing! She uses a light box and sand as her medium. Sand!! Among the music background for her work here is a group of 4 cello players called Apocalyptica. They are brilliant musicians!! Part of the music she chose is Apocalyptica playing Metallica. Breathtaking!! Enjoy!!

Movie & Music Monday

2009-08-17T17:06:00.001-07:00

I want to recommend the movie Metropolis to everyone! It's a 1927 German film by Fritz Lang. Must be seen in the original black and white, not remastered color! It's prior to talkies, so actors' words are done on cards during the scenes. Brilliant film regarding big business suppressing the massess and the futility of the individual. Makes me want to re-read Ayn Rand's Anthem and We the Living!!!

This music album is VNV Nation (Victory Not Vengeance). One of my top 3 in music: Rush, Rammstein, and VNV. This album cover shown is the most recent. Originally from Britain now based in Hamburg. Two members comprise the band. Saw them about 2 or 3 months ago and just wept the music is so powerful! The style is industrial. All electronic. Somewhat techno/trance. POWERFUL!!! I like their "Empires" album the best. I coupled this movie and this music group together because the style of music could be the score to the movie. The themes and overtones are so in synch: your life may be shit at the moment, as a result of your own hand or the oppression of another, and it may get even worse; you may not even survive; but do not give up, do not quit, do not leave. It's bleak. It's harsh. But it's not hopeless.

Cute shoes

2009-08-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

85% of my shoe collection are heels or wedges, so I usually don't go for these types of shoes. But Penney's was having a fab sale this weekend..... (Yes, I am a shoe whore! I have 72 pairs!) I just watched Confessions of a Shopaholic and just loved how cute it was -- and true: shopping can be that compulsive and make me feel that good! But, I'm a bargain shopper and typically don't buy clothes/shoes unless they're on sale (so I can mentally justify my addiction...) Anyway, I saw these bluish green flats. The upper is ribbed texture with a patent toe, and the black part and sole is sneaker-type. Comfy! The sneaker in the middle have the multi pattern with the pink detailing. They'd be perfect with a black pant and top and these for a punch of color and fun. The creme canvas ones have the distressing around the top and the laces. All 3 pair were $28 total. My typical dress style is black, grey, or brown pants (I rarely wear jeans), and I wear my heels or wedge shoes. I guess you'd call it dressy casual. With these new additions, I can dress down my pants a bit more. Cute shoes! Comfy! Great price! What else can a girl ask for?! :)

Get rid of the "cousins"...

2009-08-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

My hairdresser calls grey hair "cousins", so I had her perform an exorcism of the unwanted relatives yesterday! "Step into the light, Carol Anne..."

What is it about getting our hair done that makes us girls feel so much better? I love going to the hairdresser. However, I'm not a high maintenance girl. I get my hair done about every 3 or 4 months. She trims an inch or two (or sometimes more, sometimes less depending if I'm bored with it). She highlights and covers the cousins. Takes about an hour and half, and I walk out feeling like a brand new woman! Love it! I don't use a lot of product -- don't like all the crap making it goopy or having it feel like straw as soon as I step into the shower. I don't pay a fortune for the products I do have...I'll wait until the jumbo size shampoo/conditioner combo pack goes on sale at Trade Secret! I don't like breaking the bank on my hair, but I want it to look like I do.

There's one thing I'm uncomfortable with, however, is the small talk -- the chit chat -- that goes hand-in-hand with having my hair done. I love getting my hair done because I love the end result, but I find it difficult to do chit chat in that setting. I've been going to my gal for quite a while now, and I do enjoy being there. (And without question she knows how to work my hair to make it beautiful and just the way I want it!) But there's something disturbing to me about the process of some people spilling their guts to their hairdresser. Even though I've been going to her for this long, she's still a stranger. Well, maybe a good acquaintance. But I wouldn't consider her a friend. (I'm more rational than emotional so...) If you look at it logically, I spend 90 minutes in her chair once every 3 months. That averages out to about 1 minute per day. Yet I see my coworker every single day five days a week, but I'm not gonna tell my coworker a fraction of what many people do sitting in that chair during the appointment. I don't get it. Maybe there is something -- a busted fuse, a loose wire, a mental block -- that keeps me from "flappin' my yap" as they say. I don't need to air my dirty laundry, my cat fans (catastrophic fantasies: what could happen if this...if that...), gossip about this person or that person. I don't feel any need to "share"...I just don't get it.

All in all, I guess it doesn't matter. I love her work, I tip her enough to feed a third world country, I continue to call her for an appointment every now and again, and I refer people to her like crazy. Trying to look at the silver lining here -- maybe she appreciates a client who doesn't need so much emotional and verbal TLC. Hopefully, she isn't offended by my lack of in-depth conversation and actually enjoys a small block of her day with some peace and quiet and not having to entertain a client. I guess it's a mutually beneficial relationship. I like it and don't plan on changing the program anytime soon.

My Pups

2009-08-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

Just a pup post! My girlies bring such happiness!! And no matter how old a dog might be, I still consider them a puppy! Love them!

I found my Sheltie mix Sheba in a shelter. She was 4 weeks old and of course not weaned yet. She hadn't got the "balance" thing down yet and kept falling over when she walked. She is amazingly smart, and at now 13 is still as spry as when she was a pup. Sheba has epilepsy and was on medication when she was younger. Her seizures were Grand Mal with several seizures in a row, complete muscle spasm, vomiting, losing her bladder and bowels, lasting 30-45 mins. Had her on phenobarbitol daily for a couple of years until I learned that is can irreparably damage/destroy her liver. I did some research and found a diet for epileptic dogs and did that for a couple of years. I now have had them on an all natural/all raw diet for almost a year, and it's amazing. No seizures. They are now more healthy than ever, vet can't believe it.

My Doxie Madchen (pronounced "may-chin", the d is silent) (is a German word meaning "little girl") came from a wonderful lady who breeds 5 different kinds of dogs. I taught with her back in Texas, and we became good friends. She took beautiful care of each of her dogs. I would go out to her farm once a

week and do "assembly line" bathing. She'd brush and trim, and I would bathe them. Every couple of months she would give the rounds of vaccinations as needed. She was amazing with them!! When I think of all the horror stories of dog breeders, I am appalled and

disgusted. But I also know there are breeders like DH who are such the antithesis of those criminals! Madchen is now 7 but certainly doesn't act like it. I love it when I get up in the morning

and she wriggles like a slinky around my feet. It's like she's doing a tap dance on t

he hardwood floor saying, "Oh, I'm so glad you're up! Feed me! Play with me! Cuddle me! Yippee!"

To all those animal keepers, whatever the breed or type, ENJOY!!

Rave & Rant...

2009-08-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

Rave: Waking up in the middle of the night when it's sooooo hot and flipping my pillow over to the cool side. Ahhh, makes me smile!

Rant: Summer heat and no air conditioning. Most of us in Seattle don't have air conditioning in the house, so we end up sweltering inside or going to a coffee shop or to the movies for some coolness.

Rave: I frequent a local coffee shop that's small, not a huge chain like Starbucks. They know my husband and I there since we practically live there, and they know our typical drinks. I'd had a bad day when I went in the other day and was just frazzled. The gal asked if I wanted my usual iced coffee with 3 pumps of vanilla. I told her I wanted something different. She made this amazing concoction (which probably isn't a big deal, but it's the way it makes me feel that's so wonderful!). It's a vanilla chai frappe. I took one sip of that, and it totally turned my day around! Now when we go in (about 3 or 4 nites a week!) the gals have the drinks started for us before we even get to the counter. Love it!!

Rant: When one person (like a customer service person, wait staff, etc.) asks another person "How are you?" and the other person responds "Good" and doesn't extend the courtesy of asking the question back. Common courtesy and decency isn't a dead behavior!

Rave: Netflix!!! Love Netflix!!! I've watched soooo many movies online this summer before I go back to teaching it's crazy! I would not have had the exposure to so many foreign films and documentaries like I enjoy at my local Hollywood Video or Blockbuster.

Hope your day has balance and that you end up with more raves than rants! Cheers!

Blogging

2009-08-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

I feel like my last post could be taken negatively, and I have trouble ending on a negative note. So I want to write something hopeful. So here goes....

This post is a thread of thought from what I read from Matthew http://resurrectedramblings.blogspot.com/ . Actually, from all those posts from blogs I am finding to follow that inspire me, make the contemplate, make me mad but ultimately make me reflect, make me laugh (Lora at http://littlemaniac.blogspot.com/ you make me laugh to tears!) I am so glad we have this thing called internet and blogging. I read some of these posts and we are from all over the US, Europe, Australia, Asia, everywhere! And we can communicate in writing instantly. But what I REALLY love about this blogging is you can go straight to the top with no middle man. Like shopping wholesale. Stephen King is a great author. Word choice, sentence structure, creating an image.... Brilliant! But there's no way that I could ever tell him how great I think he is or quote one of his sentences/paragraphs and it actually get to him, let alone be immediate. But with blogging, one person can share something funny, heartbreaking, thought provoking, or mundane and we can respond to that person immediately and directly. I love this! I know, I know, they don't call it the World Wide Web for nothing! Anyway, keep writing, keep sharing, keep taking those pictures, keep laughing. Cause someone out there is reading, thinking, laughing, crying, observing, responding right along with you.

Cheers!

We do not have children

2009-08-06T12:42:00.000-07:00

I need to release something that has bothered me for some time, years in fact, but I toss it down and bury it only to smack it's ugly head if it rears up on me from time to time. But no smacking this time. I'm going to speak this out loud and address it in my own words (probably to no one but me, but anyway...)

My husband and I do not have children. That is a choice he and I have made for our lives. A choice to have no children.

When we began dating in 1997, I was 26 and he 24. We weren't spring chickens, but we weren't over the hill either. We knew on our third date (3 days after our first date) that we were in love, we loved each other (being "in love" and "loving" are 2 different things, but I digress...), and we wanted to get married. We married a year later (hence the moniker dreamchaser1998), and we wanted eventually to have 4 children. I am an only child, and he has a younger sister. We wanted to wait a year or two before beginning our family. Through that first year, we loved our life together. We were able to do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted however we wanted. At some point towards the end of that first year, we were in a restaurant enjoying our conversation. At the table next to us was a young-ish couple with two children, one was 3 or so (I'm a bad judge of baby/child age) and the other was young enough to need to be in a high chair. The little one was fussy, well, VERY fussy. Crying. Not eating. Making a mess everywhere to the point I felt badly for the waitress who would have to clean up the mess. Matt and I began to get frustrated because we wanted to enjoy our meal, enjoy each other, and we couldn't because our bubble was being invaded and broken. We looked at each other and looked back at the family, at each other, at the family. Then, I said "Do you?" and he said "Do you?" and I said "I don't know" and he said "I don't think so" and I said "No" and he said "I don't either". And from that point on we have not looked back.

I went through a period of time wishing I had a sibling or two so my parents could have grandchildren. My mom would be such a wonderful MeMa (that's what I call my grandmother) and my dad, well, he's a Southern redneck welder and would have the child holding a hammer and arc welder before s/he was teething! I love my parents! I wished that they would have a chance to have granchildren like their brothers and sisters do. But after we'd been married about 3 or 4 years, I realized that all my parents wanted was for Matt and I to be happy, and if having children would make us unhappy, then we shouldn't do it. My mom and I had a conversation about it, I apologized for what they wouldn't have and realized I had made a mountain out of a molehill.

Yes, there are times when I see a baby or child (and I need to mention here that the little one is in pristine emotional condition at the moment) and the hormones say, "Oooooh" and "Ahhhh". But then I realize that that cute little one will turn into a raging monster in about half an hour, and do I REALLY want that? NO!! Do I want to shackle myself to a financial-blackhole-and-emotional-roller-coaster-of-a-commitment until they are 18? NO!! And since I am an only child and like it at times and don't at others, there's no way that I would have just one, so I'd be shackled for longer than 18 years. NO!!

{{{I must interject here that I am not intending to offend anyone who does have children, who do not have children yet, or do not have children but want them and are trying desperately to have them. I repeat: I do not intend to offend. This is my blog. My opinions. My feelings. My comments. I have a right to the expressions of my life just as everyone does. Please do not be offended. Just as I will not be offended when there will be those who do not understand my position. And some of these questions are rhetorical.}}}

So I have some questions. Why is it that Matt and I are treated differently because we do not have children after being together for 12 years? Oftentimes someone will ask us if we have children and we say no, they THEN ask us how long we've been married. What?! Is it weird to you that we do not have children? Is it incomprehensible? Are you assuming that since we don't have children, we must not have been married for long enough yet? And why, oh why, (and I HATE this response!!!!!!!!!) when you ask me if I have children and I say no, do you tilt your head slightly to the side and say, "Oh...." It's that tilting of the head that makes my skin crawl to the point I want to scream!!! That tilt is what one does when, for example, someone asks, "How's your grandmother?" and the other responds, "She passed away last year" and the first TILTS THE HEAD SLIGHTLY TO THE SIDE and says, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that..." When you ask if I have children and I say no, your head tilt is the I'm-unconsciously-judging-you-while-I'm-trying-to-be-engaging-in-an-uncondescending-way kind of tilt. *inner scream!*

You look at me like I've just had my arm or nose or left foot voluntarily amputated. What?!

Is our marriage any less important, less meaningful, less strong, less viable, less emotional, less anything than a marriage with kids??? Matt and I make a choice to be a couple. We ARE the center of each other's universe (well, let's not get co-dependent here, but anyway). When we come home from work, we want to be with each other. When we have the weekend, we want to do what WE want. We only have our dogs to entertain, and we like it that way. If I'm sick, I don't want to have to deal with children who want, who need, who have to have... There are so many times we see couples who follow this mentality that you date for a year then marry, be married for a year then have the first child, be with that child for a year and then have the next, and so on or some similiar variation..... At some point there is a gap that occurs in that couple. How could it not? When you are dating your soon-to-be-spouse, you are all engrossed in that person. You live and breathe together. Then build your life and have a family and then it's soccer and piano and PTA and (if both of you work) stress of the jobs and the kitchen that needs remodeling and cutting the grass and tonsilitis and family vacations and t-ball and ballet and summer camp and football and braces and and and and and and and.... If we need to discuss something, we don't want to wait until the kids have gone outside to play or until they've gone to bed... Where are you? Where is the relationship as it was when you were dating?

Of course relationships grow and evolve as life will force them to do. Matt and I are not the same as we were when we were dating. We've had "life" happen to us. We are even better now. And we truly believe we are better now because we have chosen to not bring a third element to enter our universe. We are not less than you. We are not immature. We are not unstable. We are not less perfect than you. Your life does not have more meaning than ours. Your life is not more fulfilled than ours. Your life is not more evolved than ours. Your life does not have more purpose than ours. Your life is not more stable than ours. Your life is not more complete than ours.

Okay, Okay. To give you the benefit of the doubt, I'll try this: maybe the tilting of the head is a response of incomprehension. Just as I cannot understand how it would be to have children, you cannot comprehend a life without them. (Or maybe, just maybe, there are some of you, maybe just one of you, who actually wish you COULD be like us and not have them after all...) Maybe that tilt means that you can't wrap your mind around the concept that someone truly has not followed the formulaic equation I mentioned above. Maybe you expect EVERYONE to automatically reach in to your stroller or bend down and Ooooh and Ahhhh and make a sweet fuss over your little one. No, not really. Not me.

And yes I am a teacher -- of high school. And I Love Love Love it!!! I love talking to the students. I treat them as what they are: young adults. They have thoughts and feelings and tendencies and opinions and hopes just like us older adults. No, the fact that I do not have children does not make me less valuable of a teacher. I love introducing them to Shakespeare, Milton, Hemingway, Thoreau and seeing what they do with it. It's like being in a room full of sponges, me included. The energy. The life. The laughter. The hope. Fascinating! But, again, I digress...

I even get those follow up questions of: "Well, how old are you?" "I'm 38." "Oh, well then, honey, you still have plenty of time!" Mental retort is: What, to change my mind?! to alter my plan?! to wise up to what I'm "supposed" to do?! Instead, I just politely smile and nod and smoothly alter the path of conversation. I allow them the power to think they have all the answers, that the conclusion they have come to regarding my life (or what they know of it) is accurate and the judgement they've come to is correct, that my life is not complete nor will it EVER be complete if I do not have a child. Case closed. Jury has given verdict that childless couples who choose to remain as such are less worthy than those couples with children. I will let those people believe they know better than us. And yes, when Matt and I get old we will not have children and grandchildren to entertain at Christmas and stay with us during the summer. And yes, if Matt dies before me I will be alone. Utterly alone. With no one. Alone. And vise versa. Yes, yes, yes, we've thought about all that. And we're okay with it. really. okay. with. it. Stop judging us.

So, when you speak to a couple and they say they have no children, try leaving the conversation right there. Let them steer the conversation. Let them follow up, respond, alter the direction if desired. And, I know it may not be easy, but force your head to remain straight up and down -- don't tilt! Do Not Tilt! Allow them to further the conversation by responding to you that they are waiting a few years or they are trying but cannot right now or they are adopting or maybe, just maybe, they don't want children. Don't judge. Don't try to persuade. Don't assume. Don't condescend. Trust me, TRUST me, we are not judging you or persuading you or assuming anything about you or condescending to you. Your choice is valuable. So is mine. Your marriage is important. So is mine. Your future is hopeful. So is mine. You are happy. So am I!

Brain sludge...

2009-08-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

What happened to my brain? Have the synapses stopped firing? Is it waaaay early onset of Alzheimer's?

Years ago when I was still in the classroom teaching English to freshman through senior students, my wit was quick and the sarcasm was heavy and biting (cue the sound of Indiana Jones' bull whip crackling the air...) After 12 years with the students, I stopped teaching 7 years ago and went into retail management -- felt I wanted to push my skills in a different direction. I enjoyed it at first...learning the jewelry industry, helping couples purchase her engagement ring, restoring old pieces to secure and beautiful condition again, and lots of wonderful stories.

However, the last couple of years have been like the Nothing creeping under my skin much akin to the inky blackness of The Neverending Story (the original, the GOOD one). Try and try and try as I might to shake it off, dig deeper into my work, try new approaches, the emptiness continued to creep. After many discussions with Matt (confidant/jokester/husband), we decided I needed to reclaim my life and return to the classroom. The Nothing, I think, was the lack of "stuff" I had in my life when I was teaching: reading CONSTANTLY, teaching students (craaaaaazy times!), being surrounded by a team of people who shared my passion of education. I missed that energy/synergy/electricity of high school, off-the-cuff banter, intellectual stimulation (sounds hoity toity...actually, it's quite humble.)

In 3 short weeks, I get my dream back and am returning to the classroom!! I'm jazzed, but wow is my mind a wasteland of sludge and snail-like reflexes for vocabulary! My brain's down shifted to dial-up without the proper tech support. I've surfed quite a few blogs and am entertained and enlightened........ I trust that with continued stimulus and the increase in brain pan activity, my circuits will return to proper firing capacity. Until then, I'll keep feeding the creative fodder with my favorite blogs, books, and other intellectually stimulating material. Monty Python, anyone?! Cheers!

Must join B.A.---

2009-08-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

---soon. Blogging Anonymous. How can this be? Surf. Click. Stop. Read. Smile/Giggle. Click. Stop. Read. Follow. Stream of Consciousness. Click. Smile...

Arrrgggg!!!!

2009-07-31T16:51:00.000-07:00

2 things that tick me off.....

1. People who, for whatever reason, do not say "please" and "thank you".
2. People who are walking out of a door (office building, restaurant, grocery, etc.) and do not hold the door for the person walking immediately behind them.

I mean, seriously, have we become so self-absorbed that we have forgotten that we share this planet with others?! Are we too arrogant to think outside of our own little worlds to realize that the "little things" can often times make a BIG difference?! What has happened to common courtesy??? Do people expect to be tipped if they hold the door for someone?? I think society is too busy looking down: at their feet, at their iPhone, at their Blackberry, etc. We need to look up, people! We should get back to the basics of decency! I realize I am from the South where there are positives and negatives.... But one of the things I SORELY miss about the South is Southern hospitality!!!! We smile at each other when we pass each other on the street or in the grocery or in the mall. We hold the door for the person if they are right behind us. (I realize by using the inclusive "we" I might be overgeneralzing here..... Not everyone in the South is so altruistic. I get it.) My point/question is this: When did we as individuals become a part of the mass that left chilvalry, courtesy, hospitality, and kindness in the toilet???

With that said, I will continue to hold the door for people who walk behind me, I will continue to say "please" and "thank you" when I speak to someone. I will continue to behave in a manner of decency and respect for others as I have been taught by my grandmother and mother and father. My husband still holds the door open for me (car, house, restaurant, etc.) after being together 12 years! I love him for that, and I love him even more for remaining true to what that act means: respect, love, chivalry, kindness. I will continue to hold to the values that are quickly being abandoned by others. It. Saddens. Me. I know there are others out there who believe as I do that there IS hope for decency and common courtesy. I just hope we don't get snuffed out by this gelatinous mass of underachieving consciousness.

Look up, people! Look into the eyes of that person you are about to pass in the mall or office hallway! Give them just the briefest glimmer of a smile----they might surprise you and smile back! And if they don't, smile anyway!

Cheers!!!

Blackberry

2009-07-29T12:52:00.000-07:00

This is a random idea, but one that has saved me tons of money in "spur of the moment" shopping splurges!!

Most of us have a Blackberry (like mine) or an iPhone, etc.... In our phone we keep everything, at least I do. I have an application that allows me to put notes and stuff on my phone. Well, I use that application for shopping, too. I have different headings such as: MAC, Urban Decay, Sephora, house decor, books, music, etc. I go on the website for Urban Decay, for example, and look at the eye shadows I would like to have and enter those colors into my phone. If I don't quite have enough money saved to get what I want, I'll go into a store and swatch what I liked on the website. I'm able to eliminate a lot of items because maybe the color payoff wasn't up to scratch or it didn't look good on my skintone. I do that for all the things I want under each of my headings. Since I go to the website for makeup related stuff, I'll see up-to-the-minute colors/styles. I prioritize what I want/need. Then, when I have the money to get what's top on my list, I go in to the store, pick up what I went in to get, and go! So many times, I've gone in to get something and got side tracked. By the time I eventually got out of the store, I had spent $100+ and didn't even buy what I went in to get in the first place......and most of what I got I regretted buying anyway. Using my Blackberry as a shopping/prioritizing tool has saved me SOOOOOOOO much $$$, time, and energy!!! Of course, half the fun of shopping is ooooohing and aaaaaaahing over new colors, smells, textures.... But at least if I have my list right there in front of me, I can make a judgement call if I want that new fragrance I just picked up or if I want what's actually on my list. In this economy, I can feel confident that I look nice AND that I was smart on how I spent my money!!! Have a great day!!! Cheers!!!

Guppy nail polish

2009-07-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

Guppy nail polishes... I read about these on MissChievous' blog http://mizzchievouz.blogspot.com/ and that they were inexpensive, good color pay off, and long lasting. These are a Korean line of polish from Ebay, and the seller is http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Jolieeeee-Boutique__W0QQ_armrsZ1 . VERY easy to order from. Send her an email with a bulk order and she invoices you. $2.50 each. My total order with shipping was $18.00.

I must say, these are amaaaaaaazing! It's tough to purchase makeup without being able to see in person, but the colors are true to the bottle. Left to right: #32 (blue-purple), #16 (brite coral...actually the picture here is brighter than in person...it's PERFECT for a summer color!), #20 (the perfect brick red), #25 (lite taupe, looks like concrete, smells like Sherwin Williams paint), and #19 (the picture here is much brighter than in person, but it is a hot Barbie pink....again, perfect for summer and a flash of fun!)

The finish is creme, NO glitter, shimmer, or metallic (yay!). Two coats gives complete opacity. I love the brush because it is the professional (flat) brush like OPI. I use a base coat of Sally Hansen, two coats of the color, and a top coat with Seche Vite. It lasts until I get bored with the color and want to change, NOT because it's chipped and looks terrible. I've worn a couple of the colors for 10 days before I took off the color due to boredom, not quality! Check them out: great quality for cheap: if I'd bought these as OPI colors, I would have paid $7.50 ea or $37.50--and that's before the almost 10% sales tax for Washington state!!! :)

!! My Babee !!

2009-07-23T23:58:00.000-07:00

Nothing beats this...

2009-07-23T23:40:00.000-07:00

For many reasons, Calvin and Hobbes is probably the apex of comic strip writing: nihilism, existentialism, Oedipal, separation anxiety, and all things wild and innocent. Not much can make me laugh and cry at the same time. This image says it best...

Thank you Bill Watterson! Cheers!

Templar novels

2009-07-23T17:17:00.001-07:00

My summer reads... I enjoy historical fiction and these two fit the bill perfectly! Author Jack Whyte. Loosely based on Holy Blood, Holy Grail, the characters are immediately intriguing and keep my attention for the 750+ pages for each book! Includes Priory of Scion (Order of Rebirth) and its foundation of beliefs and actions based on those beliefs, Catholic Church and its push for truth/power/influence, Crusades and who was involved, and a good bit of (fictional?) history of Richard the Lionheart and his views on Jews. I'm now reading Holy Blood, Holy Grail again to refresh my memory of the details....ugh, what a read! It has gobs of information and reads like a textbook, but it keeps my mental wheels spinning! Oh! These two books are the first 2 in Whyte's trilogy, the last book should come out this year Order in Chaos!!! Can't wait!!

In the pink...

2009-07-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Ooooo, these are soooo girly!! Bath and Body Works was having a sale last weekend, and these were normally $12 for the lotion and $15 for the body spray. I went in knowing I wanted the spray, but when I found out they had 2 for $20, of course I had to have both! :) The lotion is fruity & bright and the spray is fresh & clean. I usually wear Narciso Rodriguez or Angel by Thierry Mugler. I wanted something a little lighter and one that I could spray on several times throughout the day as needed and not knock someone over because it was too strong. Both are fresh and a bit on the sweet side. I have Pink Sugar by Aqualina and I like that it smells like cotton candy, but after about 30mins, it gives me a headache and I can't take it. These are my two summer favs!!!

Essie: Greenport

2009-07-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

I was on the hunt for the perfect pastel blue. I don't typically care for pastels, but trying to branch out of my comfort zone.... Anyway, I went to Ulta and one of the gals there brought out the two Essie colors, and I just looooved them. Left to right: Shelter Island 684, Greenport 682, and Orly Cashmere Cardigan 40703 (Oooooh just name sounds heavenly...). I tried the Orley first, and the lasting power is top notch!!! I worked in the yard without gloves, bathed my two dogs, washed and detailed my car, cleaned the house, and the polish stayed on CHIP FREE for 11 days!!!! Now that's staying power!!! Sadly, I wore that before I started my blog, or I'd put up pics. Now this one pictured on now is the greenish in the middle. Essie, of course, is challenging to work with as it streaks like mad, so this is 3 coats of color and my Seche Vite as top coat. Love the color... we'll see how it wears!!

Mom and me on my bike...

2009-07-22T23:53:00.000-07:00