Category: General

This weekend went by way too fast; it was once again cram packed with activity. First off on Saturday it was a shopping excursion with Elizabeth Anne. So much fun, I love shopping with that girl. She is hysterical. First it was a stop to our favorite place, Taco Bueno, yum, where I proceeded to get a tostado that was almost all lettuce, huge disappointment. But other than that snafu, all was good, well other than taking Park, who knew that was a huge parking lot! Not me, will not be going that way again.
Saturday night was a retirement party for a dear friend, I am so beyond happy for him. I finally got to meet his family; they are just as nice as he is greatness. So much fun getting to see him so happy and relaxed and surrounded by his friends and family. I am happy and jealous at the same time!
Sunday was shopping for household things; I still have not gone grocery shopping. It is a chore I absolutely hate. But it is a necessity as the Irishman’s children will be with us on Tuesday thru Friday morning and well, children do enjoy eating. I did make a stop for a treat for myself, I went to La Madeleine for their tomato basil soup, which is the most amazing thing I have ever put in my mouth. I don’t get it that often because it is cream based and full of calories, so it is a once in a while treat. It has been about a year since I last had it. It was time.
I was in search of boots for me yesterday, I found none that spoke to me, so I bought none. Oh, the most amazing thing happened in the mall, I saw my ex-step-brother-in-law’s ex-wife! She looks just like Demi Moore and no I am not exaggerating. It was nice seeing her again; she has not aged a day and is still just as nice.
I fell asleep at 7:30 and woke at 1:00, finally went back to sleep at 2:00, then the Irishman woke me at 3:12! My alarm did not go off! Apparently it is an IPhone glitch. I hope it is fixed by tomorrow morning.
So, the past two weeks the Irishman has been fixing the coffee in the mornings, except for Saturday and Sunday, major confession time. He makes better coffee than I. I always thought I made good coffee, turns out not so much. His is way better, so just for that fact alone I have to keep him around! Wedding on!
Happy Monday peeps! Go out and make your week a great one!

Every woman has a fashion piece in her wardrobe that makes her feel like a rock star. I am convinced of this. For me, it is my Betsy Johnson brown leather belt. It just rocks and when I wear it I feel like a rock star. I wear it with my lower cut jeans with my brown lace up boots, which totally rock. I feel different, I walk different, it is just a feeling that I could totally live the rock star life. And when I say rock star, I mean rock star, not pop star. I feel like I could have been Deborah Harry in her Blondie days.
I have a lot of designer pieces in my wardrobe these days, but none make me feel like a rock star like that Betsy Johnson belt. I could never have afforded it except for the fact that a department store was going out of business and it was at a super reduced price. Love it!
I know I haven’t mentioned this in a while, but I am not doing well. I still miss my friend, I think about her every day, there is so much going on right now that I would love to have her opinion and advice on. I’ll be honest, I don’t know where to turn for that advice, she is the only one I know that had experience in what I am going through. I know that sounds selfish and I should be happy that she is at peace and no longer in pain, but I miss her so very much.
On a happier note, today I am going to see Jeffrey and Elizabeth, possibly Freddy and Arthur and Mickey, Doggie and the other various animals that live with Elizabeth. I am more and more realizing that I did a great job with my kids. They very simply rock.

This morning I heard a song by Styx, yes, Styx, it was Babe, I loved that song. I loved Styx, well, I loved Tommy Shaw. Who did not love Tommy Shaw? He was so cute! And he has stayed that way. So many rock stars from that era have not stayed cute, but Tommy Shaw looks exactly the same. Nothing short of amazing people. I had the biggest crush on him, I wanted to marry him.
So many teenage crushes, when I think back there were so many cute boys from that time. Tommy Shaw, Scott Baio, The Bay City Rollers, Peter Frampton, Leif Garrett, Andy Gibb, John Travolta, Robby Benson, Rick Springfield, Shaun Cassidy, OMG who did not love the Hardy Boys! So many! I miss them. I miss the much simpler time period. The only thing I had to worry about was my hair being perfectly Farrahed and which poster to put on my bedroom wall.
However, the hair products are much better today than they were then, and I do love my mineral makeup, and the skin care products have improved greatly, I don’t think I could give up my Mary Kay products of today to travel back to yesteryear.
And microwaves, I could not give that up, now that I think about it there is a lot I would not give up to travel back to that time period. I guess I will have to settle for listening to my albums and looking at my disco ball.

Yesterday was Election Day, I love Election Day. I don’t do the early voting, I like to go on the actual day of. So that is what I did, yesterday, in the pouring rain, the pouring, cold rain. I thought it would be a quick in and out, but I guess everyone had that idea. There was a line all the way around the gym. I went to the Methodist church to vote, and that is a big gym, the size of a school gymnasium. The line went fairly quickly and an hour later my voice was heard via the vote. I didn’t get a sticker though; my polling place was out of them.
I never tell who or what I vote for, I might tell my children, but that is it. My parents never told. The only president anyone knows for sure that I voted for was Ronald Reagan. I loved him. He was my first presidential vote. You never forget your first.
I do find it rude when people ask about the way I voted, to me it is sacrosanct. It is a secret ballot. I like it that way. I never vote party lines, I will say that. I listen to the debates, read everything I can and then try and make an informed decision on what I think will be best for not only my family, but my community, my city, my state and my country.
Enough of civic duty stuff. I am having a tough time getting back into the swing of things; it is rough getting up at 3:00 am. Last night I fell asleep at 6:30 p.m. then woke up at 2:00 a.m. Today I am going to try and stay awake at least until 7:30. Wish me luck!

Yesterday I posted something on Facebook that was meant to be sarcasm but some took very seriously. I said that if Portia DeRossi could live on 300 calories a day so could I. Well that was sarcasm; I will not be doing that. However my 500 calorie 50 grams of protein diet is very real, one I got from a doctor and a nutritionist. It is meant to be a cleanse. You can do it for up to six weeks; however I only do it for two weeks, usually after the first of the year. I usually need to do a cleanse due to all of the holiday indulging!
I received a lot of the Irishman thinks you are sexy the way you are. Well, my weight issues don’t have anything to do with him. Although if I gained a lot of weight I can tell you he would not be happy. We all have issues with the way we look; we could be perfect and still find a flaw. Ask any super model they will tell you what they don’t like about themselves. As for me, I would change my arms, thighs, face, stomach and calves. But since I cannot afford that much plastic surgery at the moment, I will continue to wear clothes that disguise my problem areas and only dream about the day I can fix me. After I am fixed I am sure I will find another part of me to focus on.
I woke up to fall in the air, it was crisp and cool, perfect boot weather. Amazing! I love it. And yes, I am wearing boots today. My favorite black, BCBG quilted boots. Love them.
What is everyone else wearing this beautiful cool morning?

I hate when people spell my name incorrectly. How hard is it to spell Angie? Apparently incredibly hard, at least at work it is. I don’t know how to train these people to spell my name correctly. They keep spelling it Angi. Seriously? WTH!
Ok, got that out of my system, my weekend was jam packed again, Tessa Saturday, she spent the night. So much fun. That girl is just funny. Real conversation: Me: Gigi needs some coffee. Tessa: Me too! Me: How ‘bout chocolate milk? Tessa: Why not coffee? It was funny, BTW she did not get the coffee, she opted for the chocolate milk.
Sunday was Halloween, so it was to Jeffrey’s house to see Tessa dressed as Jessie from Toy Story, then back home to see Jess and his son, dressed as a fireman, son, not Jess. Cutest fireman EVER! I did get to snap a picture of Jess, his son, and Chewie. As many of you know Jess is Chewie’s real owner. It was a great photo op, it is a great picture.
Today at work by 5am, but no worries, cause I will get to leave at 1:30. I am trying to get back into a routine. I am looking forward to this coming weekend, I will get to celebrate my friend Bill’s retirement with him and his family and more friends. So looking forward to that.

Today is Halloween, the day you dress up, hand out candy and just have fun. I have always loved Halloween, I love dressing up, love the haunted houses, love horror movies, just all of it. Dressing up for Halloween is come as you aren’t. For me that is someone who is beautiful, young and magical. Yes, I said it, magical. All of my life I have wanted to be Samantha from Bewitched, then it was Sabrina from the Archie comics, Witchy Poo from the Saturday morning programs, well you get the idea. It was another form of escapism for me, like reading was.
I loved watching the old black and white horror films, Dracula, The Wolfman, and Frankenstein’s Monster, all of them. I wanted to simultaneously be a witch and a vampire. I wonder if you can be both.
Then came Buffy, I wanted to be a slayer, and yes I know I was an adult at the time that came out, it didn’t matter, it spoke to the teenager in me. Plus the writing was amazing, the delivery of the lines perfect from every actor on that show.
I don’t know what it is about Halloween, but I still love it, I still love dressing up, if I had not been so busy with United Way and then other happenings I would have planned out a costume. It takes months of prep work for the right costume.
I hope everyone has a great day and celebrates accordingly!

Yesterday was the end of our fundraising for out one time gift to United Way. My team raised $9076.00, our goal was $9,000.00. When I set that goal every single person on that team looked at me like I was crazy. But like Sandi always said, if your goal does not give you butterflies it is not big enough. So, off we went working like crazy people. I never doubted we would make it. I worked with some of the most dedicated people I have ever worked with. We worked thirteen hour days, on our feet selling, or cooking or doing both at the same time.
We did it, and then some. Many thanks goes to Gladys’ husband Don, without his generosity offering us a portion of each football jersey sold we would never have made it. Thank you Don! We all heart you!
We had some amazing raffle items, Gina never taking no for an answer, getting us gift certificates from new and exciting restaurants in the area, both Steve and Gina coming in on their off days to help us when their management team pulled them from the team for a two week period, you guys simply rock. Brent and Jose, well, our third year together was the best yet.
Kimmy I appreciate so much your willingness to do whatever we asked you to do on the days you were able to participate. Much love to you.
Gladys, I saved you for last because you are the best! You stepped out and used all of your kitchen gadgets and even got some new ones! You worked tirelessly even when you didn’t feel your best, without you, I know we could not have pulled this off. Whatever crazy idea I had, you were right there making sure it went off without a hitch.
To all the people who bought whatever we were selling, thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

Sunday I was expressing some frustration to Alex about something, he looked at me and said “Mom, not every parent is like you.” I asked what he meant by that, he said not every parent is willing to sacrifice what they want in order for their children to have what they need. He went on to tell me he had watched me through the years and realized that I went without nice things so he and his siblings could have the things that they needed.
It is moments like those that make you think, possibly, just possibly, you did something right as a parent. I see it a lot with Jeffrey and Elizabeth, but to see it with Alex, well that was what I believe the therapist call a break through moment.
I miss when my children were all with me, but I am proud of the adults they have become and or working on becoming, in some instances. I look at Jeffrey and all that he has accomplished in his short life and am extremely proud of him. He has a great family, he succeeds at his job and he is a good person with a huge heart.
I am so proud of Elizabeth, she is so amazing, not only is she beautiful, she is smart and funny and works harder than anyone I have ever known. Sandi always told me if she had ever had a daughter she would have wanted her to be just like Elizabeth.
I am proud of Alex on working on conquering things that are holding him back. He is smart and funny and has a ton of potential that I am positive he will grow into.
As a single mom you wonder if you did enough, if you had enough time to spend with each one, if you gave them the skills to succeed. There are a lot of if’s for dual parent households, in a single parent household with multiple children those if’s are multiplied to the power of ten.
Only time will tell for those of you in the middle of raising children, just know the sacrifices you make now are short term. Eventually you can go back to buying designer shoes and clothes, or whatever it is that you love.

I am not going to write about yesterday, I can’t right now, I am afraid it will become maudlin and Sandi would have beaten me with a stick for that.
So, today I am writing about cookies, yes, cookies. I make these cookies that are Elizabeth Anne’s favorite, they are pure sugar and addictive. Here is the problem; they never turn out the same. EVER. I have been making these cookies since we lived in Atlanta, I first had them there. Same issue every time. I cannot get them to come out the same, sometimes they are perfection, sometimes they look like the “presents” Chewie leaves. It is not pretty. Most of the time they taste amazing, every once in a while they taste like, well, the “presents” Chewie leaves.
I seriously don’t know what to do about this, I follow the recipe exactly, but they never turn out the same. I think it must be me, after all these years, I am the common denominator in the whole recipe factor. I don’t know what to do about it, perhaps it is time to realize that I cannot do anything about it and just make three batches in a row to get the perfect one. Or maybe Elizabeth should take over and see if she can do better than her mom…. Hmmmm…. Interesting thought.
In case you are wondering, the cookies are the no bake oatmeal cookies. You cook them on the stove top then drop them onto wax paper, when they are cooled; the goal is to have a yummy, sugar-filled treat.