Friday night we had a Ladies that Lunch gathering, only instead of lunch it was evening snack things. I like when we do these things on a Friday night because some women that cannot come on Saturday afternoons get to come to the Friday evening ones.
Of course I had to do a blatant self promotion and remind everyone about Conversations with Shanon J and Angie B. A couple of the women didn’t know about it, so I gave the website to listen to past shows and gave them the station call letters to listen life. In case you missed it, http://www.convosate.com to listen to past shows, and KHVN 970 AM for local listeners in the Dallas/FW area.
So, when everyone was leaving I had the opportunity to speak with one of the ladies I don’t get to see that often. We were catching up and she asked me how I came to have the opportunity to be on the radio. I gave her the brief story of how Shanon and I had been friends for years and she is the one that had enough faith in me to actually let me speak on the radio.
In the course of the conversation I mentioned the one we did on men and women and friendship, she asked me if I thought that men and women could be friends after having had a dating relationship. My answer, is no, after a person has had a romantic relationship with someone, whether it has been physical or not, it was romantic in nature. I do not believe that men and women can have a friendship after that. Let me tell you why, it will always get in the way, it will always be awkward, you can never introduce anyone to them because they will know.
I find this particularly troublesome, because it is easy to fall back into those kinds of relationships and it is inappropriate. No one needs that kind of stress in a relationship, so there you have it, I do not believe that once you have been in a romantic relationship you can go backwards and have a friendship.
That was my Friday night in a nutshell. Saturday was much quieter, laundry and a movie with the Irishman, we saw Gerard Butler, he totally rocks.
Sunday, Dinner/Lunch with Elizabeth Anne, the work on Monday morning, this week I shall have a 3 day work week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I get to have Tess Thursday night and Friday, so excited! I don’t know what we will do but it will be an adventure!
Tell it Like it is Day
I have several thoughts right now, one I am saving, the other is this, if you don’t want people to comment on your life do not put it out for all to see on social media. When you put your life out there and tell all on Facebook, Twitter, or whatever then people get to make comments. Period. It’s the way of life these days, perhaps people should start thinking of keeping some things to themselves, or tell friends in person, face to face as it were. I suggest you choose a diverse group, not just people who will agree with you. When I face tough issues I like to confer with people who will tell it to me straight, no mincing words, sometimes we need people to be harsh with us. Tell the truth even if we don’t want to hear it.
My daughter, Elizabeth Anne is like that, if you tell her something, she will tell you the truth, she will not sugar coat it, you will get the unvarnished opinion of this young woman. Hmmm, sounds like she has a double dose of both mine and her father’s personality.
I am enjoying today, I will be leaving here shortly to go spend some time with one of my favorite people, Wanda, she got a new computer and I am going to help her set it up. So excited!
I have a confession to make, I started watching the Real Housewives of Atlanta, huge mistake, I am now sucked in, Lord help me. I have to tell you I am really liking Nene Leaks, that woman minces no words, tells it like it is, owns her past, and puts up with no-nonsense. Count me as a fan.
More Funeral Songs
Well here we are, my first Friday of the week, yes, I have two Fridays in the week, I work Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. I know what you are thinking, when is Starbucks day. Well it will be on the real Friday of the week. I will be getting Passion tea for now.
I am sitting here listening to the immortal words of the Bay City Rollers, my very first boy band love; I want at least one of their songs played at my funeral. I can’t decide which; I think Bye Bye Baby will be to cliché. Maybe I’m a Fool to Love You is definitely in the running, along with Dedication, oh, Rock and Roll Love Letter, so many to choose from. Maybe I will choose several; one can never have too many Bay City Roller songs played.
No weapon formed against me shall prosper, I’m more than a conqueror, I love that line in the song Stomp. Another song I’ll have at my funeral, Elizabeth Anne I hope you are taking notes, because I will depend on you to make sure it all is just like I want.
This past weekend was jam packed, a very enjoyable lunch with Alexander on Friday, car wouldn’t start in the parking lot of Target, until Alex touched it and then of course it magically starts. Then downtown for the Mary Kay Career Conference Friday night and Saturday, no sleep was had Friday night. Then Saturday evening I took the Irishman’s girls to play with Tess, pizza and movie night was in store for the girls.
Sunday was spent trying to do everything I normally do in three day, did not get done, I have so much laundry to do, I hate doing laundry, with a passion, however since I am the only one that does it in my house and I can’t afford all new clothes I guess I will have to do it.
I have done something to my right hand, my thumb to be exact, I don’t know what is wrong with it, but it is swollen and hurts. So, I did the only thing I could do, I bought an ace bandage for the thumb, it is actually called a thumb stabilizer. Hopefully this will help it heal, whatever I have done to it, crazy nuts, that’s what it is. I looked it up on WebMD and according to the site I have MS, not a good thing, I hope it’s not that.
This past Saturday was a new episode of Conversations with Shanon J and Angie B, I am incredibly proud of this one. It is about single parent dating, as anyone who knows me, knows this is my irritation in life. Parents, really mothers, behaving badly, remember moms you reap what you sow. A very real thing, if you have not heard the show, you can listen from our website http://www.convosate.com, we have an in studio guest who will either tell me I am way off the mark in my thinking or will actually give me affirmation I have been right all along.
More Parenting Rant
Now that I have gotten on the subject of parenting I can’t seem to let it go! well here goes another rant, I have been told over the years that I am lucky that I have good kids. Luck? Luck had nothing to do with my children and how they behaved and continue to behave. It was by hard work, discipline and raising them in church. Yes I fully believe raising them in church had a huge part of how they turned out.
I remember one time, when Elizabeth Anne was about 2, before Alex was born, we were in Wal-Mart and she was just sitting in the cart, calm, no issues and I saw a woman from church. This woman had a child about a month older than Elizabeth that was out of control, running up and down the aisle, pulling things off the shelf, she was saying, “now honey” ugh. She looked up and saw us, and she said how do you do that? I said, do what, she said get her to just sit there. I looked her straight in the eye and said healthy fear. Elizabeth Anne, even at that age knew there would be consequences to running up and down the aisle and behaving badly. This woman allowed her child to rule her home and there were never consequences to any actions.
Sure there have been rebellions over the years, however when you set clear-cut rules, with clear-cut consequences for actions, and follow through, there will be fewer of those outbreaks.
I actually had a child correct me once, not my child mind you, in my own home! I was so shocked that a child would correct an adult. I looked at that 7-year-old and said never do that again. This is my home, you never correct an adult, you might be able to do that in your home with your mother, but never with me. Shocking that this child was so casual in her correcting. I was honestly floored.
Same child was allowed to run wild in public, I put an end to that when she was with me, she was running wild in the mall and I told her that if she continued I was going to march her to security and call her mother to come and get her. The look on her face was priceless, no adult in her life had ever taken her to task before. Same child no longer behaves that way in my presence. It was crazy.
When I hear horror stories of some people’s children I think, it is true, what you sow you so shall reap. If you sow the seeds of discipline issues, of disrespect, of passiveness, of godlessness, then when these children are older you will reap that. If you sow the seeds of respectfullness, an ability to speak their mind without being rude, if you sow the seeds of faithfulness, of showing them the love of God, the holy spirit, Jesus, then when they are older they will return to that if they do turn away for a while.
If you let your children know there are real consequences for their actions, you are preparing them for the world, preparing them for the workplace, for life. If you do not, you are preparing them for a life of discontent. Your choice, will you choose wisely?
Happy Birthday Elizabeth Anne
When I was pregnant with Elizabeth Anne I used to pray to God to give me a little girl with long dark hair that was perfectly straight, with big dark eyes. One who was full of life, independence, one who had morals, one who would grow up to be a woman of her word and was beautiful, He said I can take care of some of those things, the others you will have to raise her up to do. Well I got all of those things and more, I could not be more proud of the way Elizabeth Anne turned out, she is not only beautiful, but full of opinions and not afraid to voice them, she is nothing short of amazing. I like to think I had a little bit of influence in how she turned out, although it is hard to tell as she is so much her own person.
So today, the beginning of the month of February, I say Happy Birthday Elizabeth Anne, you make me proud to be your mother every day of the year.
Finally Awake!
I am awake now; it only took two days, so here I am folks, ready to rock and roll! I have my coffee and yogurt and took my vitamins, let’s get this party started! First off I want to say after spending the day with Elizabeth Anne in Sherman on Saturday was truly enjoyable, after the optometrist, which was brutal. We rode in her Jeep and listened to her music, I have to say her musical tastes are as eclectic as my own, I am so proud at the range she has. No pigeon hole for her, she goes from Tracy Lawrence to Kiss, so proud.
She hates my beloved Snowman cookie from Starbucks, that I cannot believe; I think she needs to go to a taste bud doctor. I shall see what I can find; to not enjoy something I do is unimaginable! I don’t even know what to think about that. At least we have Taco Bueno!
We are four shows down on Conversations with Shanon J and Angie B, this is fast becoming one of my favorite days of the week. The days I get to record with Shanon, you should hear the stuff that is off the air. I told her we should make a blooper reel, we are really funny, and at times deep, we got into something the other day that we will have to tackle on the air. However, it is just deserving of longer than 15 minutes. By the way, in case you missed our show, you can catch up on http://www.convosate.com and we are on ITunes, this is all thanks to the Irishman. Also you can purchase items with what has become our catchphrase, What are we doing today God? at http://www.shop.convosate.com. Great stocking stuffers to be had. You can also find our email addresses there; we would love to hear from you, tell us what you would like to hear about.
So, Christmas is fast approaching and I have done no decorating, not from lack of wanting to, but lack of time. I will put up the tree this weekend, I promise, I love the twinkling lights so much, I am going to be a decorating fool.
More shopping this weekend with Elizabeth Anne, she is coming to Plano, so we will be shopping till we drop, then crawling.
Weekend Happenings
This weekend was both uneventful and yet fun filled, I know, only I could accomplish this in one weekend. I admit, if I had not had to go out and replenish my coffee supply and pick up something for Elizabeth Anne, I would never have gotten out of my pajamas on Friday. But I did, and I went on an errand and went to Costco, very exciting stuff!
On Saturday I had headshots taken! Now that was exciting, I want to tell everyone if you need any type of photography done, from family photos to weddings to headshots, J.Renee Photography is the way to go, check them out at http://www.jreneephotos.com, this is the son of my dear friend Sandi, Jason, he is fantastic. It is just amazing to me to see the children I have watched grow up, become productive young adults, not only productive, but talented and just all around fantastic.
Then it was back home to watch television again, love that! I admit I am a television junkie, I cannot get enough. I have no shame about it either, I don’t understand people who say, oh I never watch television. To them I say LIAR, you know they are lying; they just don’t want to admit to the junk they love watching. I fully admit to all of the good and bad television I love so much.
Sunday was spent with Elizabeth Anne; I wish I had the appropriate words in my vocabulary in which I could impart all of the fun we have together. She makes me laugh so hard I cry. We spent part of the time in a Care Now, she thought she had pink eye, turns out it was an allergic reaction to hay. The best part was when she asked the Doctor, can you get pink eye from poo particles, I saw that on Knocked Up. The Doctor said that was a great movie, but no. I was laughing so hard, I had already told her you cannot get pink eye from that. No one ever trusts my wisdom, if it was on Knocked Up it must be true. I told her I don’t think you can go by anything you learn from a Judd Apatow movie. Love his movies but they are not exactly documentaries based in fact.
We went shopping, where she bought something for the gift exchange with her dad’s side of the family, I wish I could tell what she got, but I can’t in case one of them reads me. But it is greatness; I told her I want to hear all about it and who ends up with her gift.
Last night was The Walking Dead, I really should not watch that home alone by myself, in the dark, it is just terrifying. The writing is amazing, the actors are just terrific and it is about so much more than zombies. The range of human emotion and the way some sagas will never change even in the face of the apocalypse is just well done. If you are not watching this show you should really find it and watch from season one, well worth time spent in front of the television for this.
Teaser
Yesterday was a fun-filled day, I got my new glasses, I look amazing in them, then buying cookie butter for myself, Elizabeth, Jeffrey and Alex. Then picking Tess up from school, we went on an adventure, we went to the duck pond, where there were so many ducks! I had never seen that many ducks in one place. She played on the playground, then it was off to McDonald’s for some food and more playing on the playground. We went back to her house for playing with the dogs and, well, on the swing set out back.
Then it was dinner and Target with Elizabeth Anne, always love spending time with that girl, at our favorite place, Taco Bueno, of course, then Target.
I had an amazing conversation this morning with my friend Shanon, I cannot wait to be able to fill you all in on that. However, it is not time, just know I am going to have a major, amazing announcement soon.
I have cleaned the kitchen, done laundry and watched Hercules, I miss that show, the bad outfits, the bad acting and the fun. So much fun on that show! Alright, going to have a diet coke, thank you Irishman, and watch The Avengers, again.
Dream State
Ok, so, on Monday night I got no sleep, it wasn’t that I couldn’t sleep, I could sleep, however when I would fall asleep I was having the strangest dreams.
I was dreaming the apocalypse was upon us, in all dreams that was the recurring theme. So in dream number 1 the end is imminent, Jess calls me and says “listen, the apocalypse is coming and I need to run some errands, come over here and watch my dog.” So of course, being the good friend that I am, I go to his house to watch his dog. Now this is no ordinary dog, it is huge, pure white with green eyes. While Jess is gone on his end of the world errands it begins to rain, rain is too mild a word, it was torrential. The dog runs out and will not come back in, I have to go out and get soaked trying to get this beast back in the house. I wake up before I can convince that animal to come back in.
Dream b, it is the end of the world, I decide I am going to Bonham, so I tell the Irishman “listen, it’s the end of the world you go find your kids and be with them I am going to Bonham.” So I load up the car with canned goods, blankets, pillows and my shoe collection. Oh and dog food, I put Nacona in the car and we go to McKinney and get Jeffrey, Alex and Tessa. Off to Bonham we go, the roads are congested and it takes us over two hours to get there.
When we get there I tell Elizabeth I am taking the bedroom off of the kitchen and Tess decides she wants to stay with Gigi. Then I inform Elizabeth Anne I hate the outdoors so I will do all of the cooking. I wake up at that point, I guess we were going to live off of pancakes. I don’t know what my great cooking plan was, these dreams were so weird. I think I am watching too many shows about the end of civilization as we know it. Reading too many books about it, I don’t know, but I know last night I slept and don’t remember anything I dreamed about, so it is all good today.
Narcissism
Facebook has brought out the narcissist in me, I feel a need to point out I have always been vain, and slightly photogenic, however with Facebook I am taking it to the extreme. I have the urge to take pictures of myself and post them. The face only, mind you, but still, I took a look at it the other day and just stared in stunned silence. I have to get a handle on this; no one wants to stare at that many photos of me. It’s insane, then I started looking around at other peoples Facebook pages, I noticed something, others have the same affliction. Why are we so obsessed with ourselves?
When did this happen? Has it always been there and social media has amplified it? I know within myself, it has always been there, I can stare for a long time in the mirror, and as a matter of fact I have to have my mirror time. Of course I have a tendency to just look at my face, nothing from the neck down. The urge to post a photo of myself is overwhelming and when someone clicks like or makes a comment what a heady feeling. I am sure I am not the only one whose ego feeds upon this; I wonder if anyone else has had the realization that this obsession with ones self is not healthy.
Emotionally it can really mess with your head, if no one likes your photo, is it a bad one or am I losing my looks. Those are thoughts I have, I know no one else will probably admit to being as vanity driven as I am, but I think you all know I feel a need to put everything out there. Well almost everything. I am going to go cold turkey and post no more photos of myself unless others are in the photo with me. Such as Tessa or if I can ever get Elizabeth Anne to take a photo with her dear old mom.
Angie World 