Today we are celebrating, the end of a six month cycle here at work, we will begin our new tours with new managers on Monday, today is Tiffaneys’ Friday, so she and I have decided it is Double Espresso Day. I have picked up the coffee treats on my way to work. Beginning next week I will no longer be able to stop on my way to work as they open right at 5:00 A.M. and that is when I have to sign into my phone. I am not able to be in two places at once.
So, this getting a new manager thing, there are several they could put me with, I usually end up with a “special” one. Please take the quotation marks however you decide to. These six months I will be working 5:00 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. I am very excited about this. Getting off of work earlier in the afternoon is a dream come true. I am especially excited about this during the holiday season, can you imagine getting off of work at 1:30 in the afternoon and hitting the malls before the evening crowd gets there! Getting your shopping done then heading home while the rest of the world is getting off of work! Amazing. I can hardly wait.
Speaking of Holidays, one of my favorites is coming up, Halloween, I love, love, love Halloween, the dressing up, pretending to be what you aren’t and the candy! Who hates a holiday that is basically a candy holiday, you get rewarded for a minimal effort, at least with boys it is minimal, girls tend to take this a little more seriously. I have not dressed up in several years due to I am not at work on that day; I miss dressing up. Wonder Woman was my favorite, I worked with a personal trainer for about six months before Halloween for that one, there is no way in the world I could be her now. But one time in my life I got to be Wonder Woman. It was total greatness; I still have the costume and the boots. Those boots rock, I have wracked my brain trying to figure out how to make those boots work with a real world outfit to no avail.
And now for our favorite segment: Does that Make My Dog Crazy or in this case Lazy.
When Chewie first came to live with me I made a video of him howling for Jess, so he could watch it whenever he missed Chewie. Well recently I shot a video of Tessa at her party and was uploading it, after I was done I was going back to make sure it was watchable on the Iphone. So I am sitting on the sofa with Nocona lying next to me, I play the Tessa video, no problems, then I see the Chewie video, I thought “oh I haven’t watched this in a while”, so I begin watching the video. Nocona is lying right next to me, as the video begins and we hear Chewie “talking” I feel Nocona twitch, I look down, her body is not moving, only her mouth is twitching, she begins howling, without lifting her head. She howls the entire video, not once moving a muscle other than her mouth.
So, lazy or crazy?
Skate Ranch Owasso, OK RIP
So on my way to work I heard the song I want to kiss you all over by Exile, I love that song. I have so many fond memories of skating to that song. I remember this one time Pam went up to the DJ at the Skate Ranch to request that particular ditty, however, since she had a huge crush on him she became flustered and blurted out “I want to kiss you all over!” Of course we all were so embarrassed for her, the horror! She of course turned beet red and tried to recover by saying “I mean play the song.” And she very quickly made her escape via skates.
I have so many memories of that place; the Skate Ranch in Owasso was the place to be on Friday night. Ma and Pa Luper owned it and they were genuinely like family. It is the place many Owassoans had their first taste of liquor, behind the Skate Ranch, of course. It is the place were we could escape for a few hours and skate our troubles away. I loved the Skate Ranch, I loved disco skating and beyond all I loved hanging out with my friends at the rink. The Skate Ranch had the best floor, it was a wooden floor, that kind is the best for disco skating; they had the best nachos and the best popcorn.
Today they have made it into a carpet warehouse, the travesty of it all, how dare they take an iconic Owasso landmark and make it a carpet warehouse! I am outraged that no one in the city fought this, are there no more of us left there? That remember our home away from home? I promise you this right here and now fellow Owassoans, if I ever win the lottery I will buy the Skate Ranch back and restore it to its former glory!
Peet’s Day!
I saw this wedding show this past weekend that featured different wedding cakes. One caught my eye, it was a cupcake wedding cake, and the different layers are all cupcakes! In different flavors, I am thinking that is the way to go. There will be a lot of children there and well let’s face it I am a giant child myself with the taste buds of an eight year old. Cupcakes are a perfect solution. And with the different flavors everyone could get something they like. I could have German chocolate for one layer, vanilla for one layer, strawberry and regular chocolate. The combinations are just endless! I am very excited by this idea.
The Irishman has added someone to his guest list, it is someone he meant to have on there in the first place and just forgot. So now another foreigner is added to the list, the Spaniard, which is good because he knows how to dance. So perhaps he can be a stand in for the Irishman at the disco extravaganza.
Yes I am back to wanting someplace that has a disco ball so I can have all of the disco music my little heart desires. Although the Katy Perry California Girls theme is a close second, with Jess in a Snoop Dogg outfit, wow, I know this is all caffeine induced but seriously people, can’t you picture it! All of the guests dressed like they belong in a Candy Land game! How much fun would that be? I will keep that in mind for plan B.
So as many of my readers know, or maybe you don’t, I let the Irishman off the hook in going to my grand daughter’s birthday party to go watch the final game of the World Cup with said Spaniard and Gladys. I did this knowing how much this sporting event means to him. No strings, no holding it over his head, nothing. Now, my ex-husband asked where he was, Elizabeth asked where he was, when I explained, ex-husband understood, Elizabeth, not so much. I have a feeling she will not be letting him off the hook so easily.
Ok, I found Peet’s coffee in the grocery store, my California friend Michelle goes on and on about Peet’s, of course I cannot visit the coffee shop so I decided to purchase the ground coffee. I wanted to see for myself if it was as good as she has stated. Michelle did not lie, that is all I can say, this coffee rocks. Everyone should run out and purchase it; it has a smooth taste and a rockin kick!
Peace out homies, I hope everyone has a Peet’s day!
Alex
Today is a momentous day, I had to have a double espresso to talk about it. Today is Alex’s 19th birthday. I can’t believe he is that old. I remember when I found out I was pregnant with him, it was a total surprise. He has been the best surprise I have ever had. When he was born his sister, Elizabeth, nicknamed him mr sunshine face, because he was always smiling.
I love you Alex and hope your day is total greatness and that you get off work early!
Monday
Yesterday was Tessa’s birthday party, a huge success in my eyes, the kids had fun with the water fun outside and the adults had fun inside in the air conditioning. What more could one ask for. Today I am wearing an outfit that is reminiscent of the 1940’s complete with ankle strap shoes.
It is Monday and I am exhausted but chipper. I have decided chipper is the only way to be. This is a short one folks, my mind is blank today!
Tessa Renee’!
Today is Tessa Renee’s birthday party; we will be celebrating her turning three. I still cannot believe it has been three years since that little ball of energy entered this world. She is an amazing child; you can tell she is in a loving home with two parents who love her very much. I would like to take credit for my son being the kind of father he is, but I know that it is his personality and temperament perhaps combined with my parenting abilities that has made him the man he is today.
He is truly amazing and I am amazed every day that God decided to bless me with him. Children are a gift from God, they only belong to us a short amount of time, the time goes by way too quickly. While I am proud of the adults my children have become I miss the toddler and elementary school and middle school and high school days with them.
Today is going to be a very hot day here in North Texas, we got some very good weather the last few days, storms and tons of rain, now back to the real July!
I hope everyone has a great day, I know I am going to enjoy seeing my beautiful Tessa have fun with her little friends!
Saturday….
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.
Knight in Shining Armor?
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.
A caffeine free Angie?
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.
Musings
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!
