Month: July 2010

Well it is Saturday and I slept until 8:30, I can hardly believe it, I am not a late sleeper, but after the past evenings I have had with my upstairs neighbor I needed the sleep. My new neighbor, what can I say about him, he is loud at night, very loud, lighting firecracker outside my bedroom window at 1:30 in the morning, playing his music or television, I don’t know which so loud my apartment vibrates. I complained twice to the apartment management, the third time they told me to call the police as he is ignoring their letters and phone calls. So, last night when he started up I called the police, not 911, but the regular police number, explained the situation and what was going on, the very nice dispatcher on the other end of the line was sympathetic and promised to have an officer go speak to him. I thought well it is not an emergency so it will take them hours to get out here. No, it was about ten minutes later when an officer pulled up and marched upstairs to have some stern words with him. I know they must have been stern because I did not hear a peep out of him all evening, no firecrackers, no loud music, nothing. I hope that is the end of it, if not I will be calling them again.
One of my favorite movies is on right now, Miracle; I love that movie, perhaps because I can vividly remember the events that it is depicting. The 1980 miracle on ice when the U.S.A. brought home the gold and beat the Russians at hockey. An amazing event and a well told story. Thank you Disney.

It starts at an early age, the princess in the castle waiting for her knight in shining armor to rescue her, we hear it in stories, we see it in Disney movies, and we are fed a steady diet of it. We then grow up and it is still there, most of the time sub-consciously, we want that knight, that prince, someone to rescue us. Whether it is from our over-bearing parents, loneliness, bills, taking care of the household chores, we just want to be rescued.
Eventually we will find him, we will see him for what we want him to be, later on, after reality has settled in we begin to see the armor as tarnished, hung up or slung in a corner of the bedroom. Then we notice the underwear on the floor, the toothpaste squeezed from the middle, or whatever else habits we had chosen to overlook until this moment.
Here is the problem, we continue to look toward fantasy, if we, as women, as mothers of daughters want that to change we need to teach our daughters about real Queens and Princesses. We need to teach them about Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled a country without a husband, she never married, never fell into the knight trap, or her mother, Anne Boleyn, she convinced a King to change the religion of a country, true she lost her head in the process, but her influences can still be felt in England today.
The idea of waiting for someone to rescue us might seem antiquated, however, we still do it, we still look at the men who rescue, the fireman, the policemen, the military, the uniform may have changed the concept is still the same, it is the armor. The rescuer that we seek, when will we begin rescuing ourselves?
We have made remarkable progress toward this end, we are now the ones in uniform, and Disney movies are showing princesses rescuing not only themselves but working with the prince to rescue each other. I believe the desire to find a rescuer is inherent, perhaps even survivalistic, a holdover from caveman days, it is hard to fight against something that is so ingrained, so a part of our psyche that even after generations of women fighting for equality, we still want it.
I admit, I want it, and I am about the most independent woman there is, I named my daughter after both Elizabeth the I and her mother Anne Boleyn, however, I still want someone to take care of me. Not financially at this point, but when I am sick or when I have had a rough day, or just to take over making sure the bills are paid on time. It is exhausting doing it all by yourself. Perhaps it is not a rescuer I crave but a helpmate, perhaps that is what the instinct is evolving into, looking for a helpmate, someone not to rescue but to work with toward common goals. My parents were a prime example of that, they always worked in synch and in harmony with each other to achieve their goals and to even make sure the household ran smoothly. That is what I want, what they had.

Today is Thursday and I have stopped for Starbucks, yes I do realize it is not Friday but I do not care! I needed it, like a drug addicted needs crack. Which begs the question that came up in a conversation I had with my friend Gladys yesterday; would I be me without caffeine? Interesting question, I like to think I would still be happy, still be positive and still be slightly hyper. But I don’t know, and here is the real question, is it worth experimenting with? Should I go cold turkey and quit all caffeine for a certain period to test it? I will let you all decide.
This Friday is Tessa’s 3rd birthday and Monday is Alex’s 19th birthday, each mark a milestone and each makes me feel ancient. Tessa’s birthday party is Sunday, I am very excited to go, she is such a doll and I love spending any kind of time with her.
Well Spain won against Germany yesterday as I knew they would, not because I know anything about soccer but because the octopus said they would win.

This morning, while getting dressed for work, I was watching the season premier of Warehouse 13, during one of the scenes C is for Cookie started playing. Of course this started me thinking about Sesame Street, then that led to thinking about all of the great children’s shows that shaped my early childhood.
I was teetering between pre-school and Kindergarten when Sesame Street appeared on the scene, but I loved it instantly, the Muppets, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch appealed to me, it was really the first time I became aware of television. This led to other shows, Mr. Rogers, Captain Kangaroo, who did not love Mr. Green Jeans and Moose, Zoom, The Electric Company! Hey You Guys! Loved it! Zoom, ubbydubby, I have not thought of these things in a long time. How ubiquitous that Warehouse 13 would set this off in my head.
I, of course, moved on to other television shows, American Bandstand, The Partridge Family, Bewitched, oh Bewitched, that totally started me on my way to loving shows about things mystical. Seriously, I wanted to be Samantha, able to twitch my nose and anything could happen, and that black dress she wore when she went to visit the “other world” where witches lived. I still want that dress. You know this begs the next question; can you be a Christian and still want to be a witch? Are the two separate? I don’t think so; the Bible is filled with mysticism and mystery. I believe I can love shows like Bewitched, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, the Vampire Diaries and anything else I can think of that is otherworldly and still retain my deep belief in God.
Now begins the new season of the summer shows I love, Warehouse 13, Entourage, True Blood and Eureka. Thank goodness, new television shows to fill my time! And the hobby continues!

This past Holiday weekend was jam packed, so jam packed that yesterday I was too exhausted to write anything. Now, I am ready, and do I have a story to tell.
Yesterday evening I was so tired I decided that perhaps going to bed early would be in order as I had to wake at 3:30 a.m. so off to bed I go at 7:30 p.m. I fell asleep easily and soundly. I wake at 8:22, what I presume is a.m. the next morning, in a dead panic, because I have to be at work by 5:30, I called our attendance group, only to learn, yes, it was 8:22 p.m. the same evening. I was rather thoroughly embarrassed. Am happy to say I went back to sleep and woke to the alarm clock this morning at the appropriate time.
It must be a family trait; my grandmother did this exact thing once when I was staying with her and my great Aunt Effie. It was a Saturday evening, Grandma went to take a nap, and she slept for a long time. Great Aunt Effie and I went about our day, and into the evening, we were watching Love Boat, which tells you how long ago this was, when Grandma burst out of the bedroom, hair askew and says why are you two just sitting there? Get dressed we’re late for church! Well confusion abounded, we looked at each other and look at Grandma and said um it’s Saturday night, she just stared at us for the longest time, then my great aunt says Lela the Love Boat is on. Grandma shook it off and said well move over I like that show.
I hope this is the last time I do this, what a strange feeling, that you are late, that you missed your alarm clock going off.
I had way too much salt this weekend, so, back to my hot tea and cottage cheese today! Hope everyone has a great short work week!

I know that today is the 4th of July but as I waxed on yesterday about the holiday and my ancestry today I am not so inclined to continue in that vein. No today I have something else on just dying to come out, so here goes.
I have a gift, I have had it my entire life, I can tell within the first five minutes of meeting someone if they are trustworthy or not. I can also tell when people are lying; I am like a walking lie detector. I have never really had to put the first gift to use much until I went to work for the large telecommunications corporation where I am currently employed. This gift is wonderful being a Union Steward, I can tell you who not to trust, who to believe, and who you can trust to keep their word. Some people do not believe in my gift and well let’s just say I have seen more than a few people burned.
I will admit sometimes my radar is off; sometimes I can be friends with someone for several years before their non-trustworthiness shows itself. And their proclivity for telling non-truths, so just beware if you are my friend and decide to lie to me; I will always know when you are lying. Even in text message, even in email, especially by voice and totally in person.
And no, I am not speaking to anyone in particular at this point and time; it was just something I was thinking about today. You see, God did not bestow an inordinate amount of gifts on me, I am not a great beauty, oh I am cute, don’t get me wrong, but supermodel beautiful, no, I am not a rocket scientist, smart yes, but genius level, no, I didn’t receive a beautiful singing voice and I can’t draw to save my life. But I can tell when people are lying and if they are trustworthy in a short amount of time. However, I do possess many talents though, I can read over a thousand words a minute, type 95 words a minute, I have a mind that absorbs everything I read, see and hear and I can tolerate high amounts of caffeine.
The difference between a gift and a talent is a gift is something God bestowed upon you at birth; a talent is something you work at. I work at my talents, oh maybe the caffeine thing should be re-categorized into gift…..

Things are a little more back to normal now, perhaps not all the way but getting there. I have a new schedule at work which will begin July 18th, it is 5:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. this was my first choice. Monday through Friday I might add, I don’t know exactly how I got that schedule, I honestly thought there was not chance whatsoever that I would get it. But it will be nice during the summer and also during the holidays, as our schedules go for six months. When I get off in the afternoon on a weekday the malls will be less crowded hence quicker to get holiday shopping done.
Ok Jess I promise, no tooth decay today, well maybe a little, Tessa is spending the day and night with me! I am going to get her this morning and well let me just say this, let the fun begin! It is once again an action packed weekend, with Tessa here today and tomorrow, then Sunday will be with fiancé and his children at my friend Gladys’ new home celebrating the 4th of July and celebrating her and her husband’s new house. Very exciting! I am so happy for my friend Gladys and her family, they bought the home they have been wanting for quite a while, her daughter is sleeping all night, and her soccer team is doing fabulously. So yay Gladys!!
I have currently become re-addicted to Yoville, you can now do these jobs and make tons of money and win prizes, yes virtual prizes but still, like, are you ready for it… COFFEE!! Perfect game for me! It is sad, sad, sad that I am thinking about buying a Yoville game card from 7-11. I will resist the urge, I promise!

So, I have the best fiancé in the world, no, don’t argue, it’s true. Yesterday he surprised me with a book that I have been wanting for a while. Now, I know what you are thinking, he probably got tired of hearing me talk about it, but no, I mentioned it one time. You see this is the way he is, thoughtful and generous, not just to me, it extends to the people around him.
There are many reasons why I love him so much, but the biggest reason is his thoughtfulness, the little gestures he makes. He sees them as no big deal, like the time he brought me my favorite candy, sour skittles, he stopped at two different convenience stores on the way to pick me up to find them. It was just a small gesture, but it meant the world to me. That he thought that much of me to bring me a bag of my favorite candy. He knew that I lost my headset to my Iphone; I was convinced it was in the apartment, refused to buy another one due to this delusion, one day out of the blue he shows up at work with a new headset.
It is not that he buys me things; it is that he is thoughtful; he always opens my car door, opens doors for me when we go into buildings, I don’t insist on these things, he just does them, and you can tell his parents raised him the right way.
Ok, now that I have made everyone slightly ill with my girly ramblings, I will go on to other things.
Jan, yes we need to get together for one of our lunch/dinner outings! I know we have so much to talk about!!