I have to tell you, this weekend rocked! We took the boys bowling on Saturday for Boyscouts and had so much fun. Most of the boys had never bowled before so we had the bumpers put up for them. It was so cute, they got so excited everytime it was their turn. While we were there I got to talking with one of the other moms. She mentioned wanting to go play Bingo but not having anyone to play with. I told her I would go, I haven't played in awhile so what the hell. We decided to go ahead and go that night.
I haven't played Bingo in about 4 months and even then I had only been to this bingo hall 4 times. There was a lady there selling little charms that hold your bingo tickets. I never buy these things, I am not a full fledged bingo nut. But this woman came up and told me she was selling them for another lady who used to play there but has been diagnosed with cancer and is really sick from the treatment. She makes these things but since she is so sick now she isn't able to come up and sell them herself. Well there is my sucker button. Say the "C" word and the only thing that can roll out of my mouth is "How much?". Since I was on a budget but still a sucker I spent 3 dollars on this little troll doll that came out of the money I had brought to eat with. By the end of the night I didn't mind at all spending that $3 ... I won the jackpot. I was beside myself, could not believe it, started blubbering. Yes winning $1000 made me act a fool. I am now thinking that I have become one of those women who are going to go play bringing their little lucky charms that nobody can touch with them. Because when I got home I placed the little troll doll on the mantel and nobody can touch her, she's lucky damn it.
I was excited about winning because then we could put more money down on the trip to Greece that we are sending our daughter on. That's a huge relief off of my back. I was informed by my husband that I was not putting all of that money down on the trip, I had to go by some things for myself. His requirements were they couldn't be for the house, the children, the yard or him. That man knows me way to well. So yesterday I was sent out of the house to shop for me. I did and that only fed my incredible weekend. I found this really cute pair of cargo pants and a couple of shirts. Guess what size the pants are? Go ahead guess. They are a 7!!!! A 7 and they are baggy!!!!! I have cut my pants size in HALF.
March 27, 2006
March 21, 2006
Betrayed
I had the unfortunate experience of feeling a deep betrayal yesterday. It was horrible and gut wrenching. What surprises me the most is that it wasn't from my husband, my friends or anyone that I knew. It was complete strangers. How can you feel completely betrayed by absolute strangers? Not just strangers in the street, but strangers you will never come in contact with; ever.
I was watching The Today show, as I do every morning, and it was during one of their segments that the betrayal occurred. They had decided to do an experiment. They took a little girl around the age of 8 and set her on a busy street in the middle of New York City. They then had a man come and pretend to be snatching her. Now, both the girl and the man were aware of the situation, the test was to see if anyone was going to react. The child was good, she kicked and screamed and fought. She would yell over and over "Someone help me, this is not my dad!", fighting the whole time. Do you know that those people kept walking?! They would look back over their shoulders but nobody would do a thing, they didn't even call the police "just in case". They continued this experiment several times. I think it was on the 15th time that they got a reaction. What I found to be ironic was in whom the reaction came from. There were 3 young black men, my guess is their ages ranged from 17 - 19. They walked with confidence and would have fit into a stereotype that would have placed them as a bit rough. I have no doubt these three young men have been followed in stores in fear they would steal something and have probably experienced people walking across the road so they wouldn't have to pass close by them. When they passed by the little girl and the man they kept walking, never looked back but they were listening to what she was saying. They glanced back and forth at eachother several times but none spoke a word. They were approximately 20 - 30 feet from the situation when all of a sudden all three of them dropped what they had and their hands simultaneously, spun around and took off at a dead run toward the man. The moment they turned their demeanor immediately changed, their shoulders hunched and they were on the attack. None of them spoke to the other but they knew what they were doing. The young man who had walked in the middle ran at the "attacker" head on, the man to his right ran around and came at him from behind, the man on his left curved around and came at him from the side. They had surrounded him. The "attacker" immediately let go of the girl taking several quick paces backward and yelled they were on TV. The kids stopped running at him but never continued moving forward, just in case. I cant tell you how much pride I felt at that moment.
Throughout this segment I had been so appalled. They interviewed all of the people involved that had just walked by and the answer was always the same, nobody wanted to get involved. My heart was ripped out of my chest. I can handle making a fool out of myself, I have no problems with that. But I could never face myself in the mirror again knowing a little girl had been snatched and I saw it but didn't do anything out of fear that I was wrong in my assumption. All I could think of was a quote I remember hearing, I think it was George Carlin who said it, "I have been so betrayed by the human race." When the three young men were interviewed they responded by saying they weren't sure what was happening but by what that little girl was saying they weren't going to let it continue. The man who was playing her attacker compared their reaction to a feeling of being surrounded by a pack of wolves. He said it was obvious they fully intended on getting ahold of him. One of the boys just smiled and said "Yeah".
I will never meet those three brave young men. I will never throw my arms around their necks and tell them that they restored my faith in the human race. But they did. I hope someone of importance saw that segment. I hope someone sees that and takes a good hard look at the judgment those boys would have received based on their appearance. I hope things change.
I was watching The Today show, as I do every morning, and it was during one of their segments that the betrayal occurred. They had decided to do an experiment. They took a little girl around the age of 8 and set her on a busy street in the middle of New York City. They then had a man come and pretend to be snatching her. Now, both the girl and the man were aware of the situation, the test was to see if anyone was going to react. The child was good, she kicked and screamed and fought. She would yell over and over "Someone help me, this is not my dad!", fighting the whole time. Do you know that those people kept walking?! They would look back over their shoulders but nobody would do a thing, they didn't even call the police "just in case". They continued this experiment several times. I think it was on the 15th time that they got a reaction. What I found to be ironic was in whom the reaction came from. There were 3 young black men, my guess is their ages ranged from 17 - 19. They walked with confidence and would have fit into a stereotype that would have placed them as a bit rough. I have no doubt these three young men have been followed in stores in fear they would steal something and have probably experienced people walking across the road so they wouldn't have to pass close by them. When they passed by the little girl and the man they kept walking, never looked back but they were listening to what she was saying. They glanced back and forth at eachother several times but none spoke a word. They were approximately 20 - 30 feet from the situation when all of a sudden all three of them dropped what they had and their hands simultaneously, spun around and took off at a dead run toward the man. The moment they turned their demeanor immediately changed, their shoulders hunched and they were on the attack. None of them spoke to the other but they knew what they were doing. The young man who had walked in the middle ran at the "attacker" head on, the man to his right ran around and came at him from behind, the man on his left curved around and came at him from the side. They had surrounded him. The "attacker" immediately let go of the girl taking several quick paces backward and yelled they were on TV. The kids stopped running at him but never continued moving forward, just in case. I cant tell you how much pride I felt at that moment.
Throughout this segment I had been so appalled. They interviewed all of the people involved that had just walked by and the answer was always the same, nobody wanted to get involved. My heart was ripped out of my chest. I can handle making a fool out of myself, I have no problems with that. But I could never face myself in the mirror again knowing a little girl had been snatched and I saw it but didn't do anything out of fear that I was wrong in my assumption. All I could think of was a quote I remember hearing, I think it was George Carlin who said it, "I have been so betrayed by the human race." When the three young men were interviewed they responded by saying they weren't sure what was happening but by what that little girl was saying they weren't going to let it continue. The man who was playing her attacker compared their reaction to a feeling of being surrounded by a pack of wolves. He said it was obvious they fully intended on getting ahold of him. One of the boys just smiled and said "Yeah".
I will never meet those three brave young men. I will never throw my arms around their necks and tell them that they restored my faith in the human race. But they did. I hope someone of importance saw that segment. I hope someone sees that and takes a good hard look at the judgment those boys would have received based on their appearance. I hope things change.
March 17, 2006
Open mouth insert foot
Yesterday I decided to be productive. Last year a friend of mine had come to visit bringing me a grocery bag filled with bulbs. I wanted to plant these flowers, I really did. Seeing as I am still learning to adjust to this whole country life thing and having been born and bred in large cities there are some things I just don't know. As much as I wanted to plant these flowers I had no clue as to which end was up on these little bulbs. Knowing that if I planted them upside down they would never grow and I would have just dug a mud hole for nothing. So, I didn't plant them. Apparently the bag at some point got knocked off of the porch. The other day my sweet, loving little boy came inside clutching the most precious little handful of flowers. "Look what I got for you mom!" He said. I was torn, the mother in me melted but the neighbor in me cringed. All I could think was that I knew those pretty little flowers didn't come from my yard, they had to have come from my anal retentive neighbor whose yard looks like a botanical garden because he has nothing better to do than groom it daily to make the rest of us look like crap. The man mows his yard twice a day with a friggin tractor, stop it. So I asked my little angel where it is he found his new treasure and he informed me they indeed came from my yard. When he showed me where they came from I was floored. My little bag of bulbs had bloomed. What does that mean to me? I now know which end is up.
So on to the true reason for this post. Now knowing which end is up on these bulbs I decide I am going to go ahead and plant them. I dig a large area surrounding my back deck, by myself I may add. I break up all that damn dirt with my shovel, smooth it out with a rake, dig careful little holes and plant my precious little flowers. By the end of the day my back is aching a bit from all of the hard work I did...By myself. My husband realizes that I don't feel like cooking dinner and offers to take us out, sounds good to me. While we are at dinner I am telling my husband about how this getting old shit is for the birds, my back is killing me. He then informs me that its only that my body isn't conditioned for that kind of physical labor and maybe I should work up to big projects rather than jumping in so my body wont hurt so badly.
"I planted a few friggin flowers I didn't dig a pool."
"You know what I mean, baby."
"Not really, right about now if I go with what I think your trying to say your about to wear your dinner."
"Baby, I didn't mean it bad. I was just saying, well, like when you started walking the dog everyday it made you really sore at first."
"Your about to walk home."
"Well, I walk a lot every day I'm conditioned to it." (laughing)
"You think I'm playing?"
"Honey, don't be that way. Your taking this all wrong." (he starts to say something else but I cut him off)
"There is absolutely nothing you can say to make this better aside from 'honey I'm an ass and don't know how you put up with me'. "
"I'm an ass and don't know how you put up with me."
His admission is the only thing that got him a ride home as I was still considering letting him walk. When we got in the bed to go to sleep he snuggled up to me and said, "It has occurred to me that you took what I said as a reflection on the physical shape you are in."
"You think?"
"Well, you took it wrong, you are looking great. You have lost so much weight and look so good. You have been sticking to a work out routine longer than I could even dream of trying. You eat right which we both know I cant do. What I meant was your back wasn't used to being hunched over all the time and in the future let me help you so that way your back doesn't hurt."
"Your still an ass."
"I know."
Then he kissed my shoulder and we went to sleep. I love him but sometimes he should really think before his gums start flapping.
So on to the true reason for this post. Now knowing which end is up on these bulbs I decide I am going to go ahead and plant them. I dig a large area surrounding my back deck, by myself I may add. I break up all that damn dirt with my shovel, smooth it out with a rake, dig careful little holes and plant my precious little flowers. By the end of the day my back is aching a bit from all of the hard work I did...By myself. My husband realizes that I don't feel like cooking dinner and offers to take us out, sounds good to me. While we are at dinner I am telling my husband about how this getting old shit is for the birds, my back is killing me. He then informs me that its only that my body isn't conditioned for that kind of physical labor and maybe I should work up to big projects rather than jumping in so my body wont hurt so badly.
"I planted a few friggin flowers I didn't dig a pool."
"You know what I mean, baby."
"Not really, right about now if I go with what I think your trying to say your about to wear your dinner."
"Baby, I didn't mean it bad. I was just saying, well, like when you started walking the dog everyday it made you really sore at first."
"Your about to walk home."
"Well, I walk a lot every day I'm conditioned to it." (laughing)
"You think I'm playing?"
"Honey, don't be that way. Your taking this all wrong." (he starts to say something else but I cut him off)
"There is absolutely nothing you can say to make this better aside from 'honey I'm an ass and don't know how you put up with me'. "
"I'm an ass and don't know how you put up with me."
His admission is the only thing that got him a ride home as I was still considering letting him walk. When we got in the bed to go to sleep he snuggled up to me and said, "It has occurred to me that you took what I said as a reflection on the physical shape you are in."
"You think?"
"Well, you took it wrong, you are looking great. You have lost so much weight and look so good. You have been sticking to a work out routine longer than I could even dream of trying. You eat right which we both know I cant do. What I meant was your back wasn't used to being hunched over all the time and in the future let me help you so that way your back doesn't hurt."
"Your still an ass."
"I know."
Then he kissed my shoulder and we went to sleep. I love him but sometimes he should really think before his gums start flapping.
March 16, 2006
Just say no
I do believe that I have figured it out. You see, originally I believed that my children were trying to kill me. Wanting to travel to far off lands and do crazy things like go to college causing their mother to suffer undue heart failure. I no longer think it is an attempt to cause my death, I believe the problem to be drugs. My daughter must be doing them, for this she is grounded. In order to understand where I am coming from you need to know the conversation that occurred a couple of days ago...
my daughter: "How does it feel to have a child getting ready to graduate? Are you feeling old yet?"
me: "Actually it feels really good, I'm so proud of you."
my daughter: "You know, the girls and I have been talking and I think I have my summer planned. I am going to be so busy!"
me: "Yes you are. You have college to get ready and go off to, plus the trip to Greece and going home to visit your grandparents."
my daughter: "Oh yeah, I forgot about visiting Grandma and Grandaddy."
me: "What did you think you were going to do?"
my drugged out child: "Well the trip to Greece plus the girls and I are going to Florida for a week and we would like to try and go to Costa Rica for a week as our Senior Trip."
me: "Your grounded."
druggy: "I am not! For what?"
me: "I told you not to do drugs."
druggy: "I'm not doing drugs. Mom, I will be 18 I can go if I want to."
me: "that's exactly why your not going, because you think 18 is grown and it's not. Hell, you will be lucky if your little butt makes it to the stop sign."
druggy (laughing): "You cant stop me from going mom."
me (laughing): "Keep thinking that. I think you should discuss this with your dad."
When her father returned home from work she did discuss it with him and that turned into the funniest conversation I have ever heard. My daughter is officially mortified because she realized just how serious her dad was. He informed her she was welcome to go to Florida, that we would have a great time. Of course, she said we weren't invited. SO he quickly pointed out how he makes a lot more money than she does and has vacation time, he can go where he wants to. He then added that it would probably be a lot more fun for all if he looked into getting one of those thong bathing suits for himself. Her response to this? "You wouldn't?!" He just smiled and said "Try me."
I love that man.
my daughter: "How does it feel to have a child getting ready to graduate? Are you feeling old yet?"
me: "Actually it feels really good, I'm so proud of you."
my daughter: "You know, the girls and I have been talking and I think I have my summer planned. I am going to be so busy!"
me: "Yes you are. You have college to get ready and go off to, plus the trip to Greece and going home to visit your grandparents."
my daughter: "Oh yeah, I forgot about visiting Grandma and Grandaddy."
me: "What did you think you were going to do?"
my drugged out child: "Well the trip to Greece plus the girls and I are going to Florida for a week and we would like to try and go to Costa Rica for a week as our Senior Trip."
me: "Your grounded."
druggy: "I am not! For what?"
me: "I told you not to do drugs."
druggy: "I'm not doing drugs. Mom, I will be 18 I can go if I want to."
me: "that's exactly why your not going, because you think 18 is grown and it's not. Hell, you will be lucky if your little butt makes it to the stop sign."
druggy (laughing): "You cant stop me from going mom."
me (laughing): "Keep thinking that. I think you should discuss this with your dad."
When her father returned home from work she did discuss it with him and that turned into the funniest conversation I have ever heard. My daughter is officially mortified because she realized just how serious her dad was. He informed her she was welcome to go to Florida, that we would have a great time. Of course, she said we weren't invited. SO he quickly pointed out how he makes a lot more money than she does and has vacation time, he can go where he wants to. He then added that it would probably be a lot more fun for all if he looked into getting one of those thong bathing suits for himself. Her response to this? "You wouldn't?!" He just smiled and said "Try me."
I love that man.
March 13, 2006
It's Time
This weekend was absolutely beautiful! It was up to 80 degrees and gorgeous here. With warm weather comes my favorite time of year...Baseball! No, I don't like to go to professional games or watch it on TV; I like to watch the kids play. I got the phone call last night with my list of boys on my team. I was tickled to see I have a lot of the same kids I had last year. I've gotten to know these kids and they really are a good group. We start practicing Wednesday, I don't know when our first game is yet.
For those of you who weren't around here last spring you can go back and read some of my posts from last season, I get a bit excited about my team. So yes, prepare for my rants about idiot umpires and my excitement from winning a game.
This is my favorite time of year!
For those of you who weren't around here last spring you can go back and read some of my posts from last season, I get a bit excited about my team. So yes, prepare for my rants about idiot umpires and my excitement from winning a game.
This is my favorite time of year!
March 12, 2006
Strange
It's been 7 years since we moved here to Mayberry. I have never regretted the decision, I really love it here. In those 7 years I have only been back home twice. Once to take care of my grandfather who was dieing and the second I was guilt ridden into. I know it probably sounds awful but in that time I have never had a bout of homesickness. I really don't see much to miss, the crime, the people; nope not much. Sure, most of my family is there and as much as I love them, they are crazy. A lot of people probably say that about their family but mine really is. Between the drunks and the drug addicts they aren't the kind of people you want your kids hanging around. It's kind of sad really but a necessity to maintain my sanity.
There is a portion of my family that I didn't see very often, only holidays, that I really enjoyed. Imagine my surprise when I opened my email this morning and found pictures from my mother of my Great Aunt's 90th birthday party. I have always liked her, she is such a neat lady. The surprise was the emotion I felt, homesick. I hate that I wasn't there to see her, I really miss her. I am shocked and surprised to find myself considering a trip back there for Thanksgiving just to see that side of the family. I would really like to do that. If there were some way to make that trip and see them without having to deal with the extremely disfunctional side of the family I will do it. It's just figuring out the second part. Forgive me, not a very eventful post, just dealing with a new emotion here. I'm not used to this.
There is a portion of my family that I didn't see very often, only holidays, that I really enjoyed. Imagine my surprise when I opened my email this morning and found pictures from my mother of my Great Aunt's 90th birthday party. I have always liked her, she is such a neat lady. The surprise was the emotion I felt, homesick. I hate that I wasn't there to see her, I really miss her. I am shocked and surprised to find myself considering a trip back there for Thanksgiving just to see that side of the family. I would really like to do that. If there were some way to make that trip and see them without having to deal with the extremely disfunctional side of the family I will do it. It's just figuring out the second part. Forgive me, not a very eventful post, just dealing with a new emotion here. I'm not used to this.
March 07, 2006
Confession
My husband and I have found an new show that we really like. We have been watching it for a few months now. It comes on the National Geographic channel and its called The Dog Whisperer. I would link to it except my computer is being rabid at the moment and not allowing me to put a link in here. Anyway, this guy on the show is pretty amazing. He can take a dog with any problem and just by teaching you a few techniques has them perfect in under 30 minutes. He teaches what he calls dog psychology. After watching his show and learning some things I have had the revelation that I am a bad pet owner. Hell, after watching his show I have never known a good pet owner.
Well we cant have a bad pet owner now can we? So I do the only thing reasonable to do...Attempt to be a good pet owner. The most important thing for a dog owner to do is take the dog for a walk. Regardless of how much land you have for them to run on you need to take them for a walk. Easy enough, I can do that. So I begin the routine of walking the dog. The dog does great we are enjoying ourselves, this is something we can do every day. Good for the dog and I'm thinking maybe good for my ass. Slightly self serving, I know but if we are both getting something good out of it it cant hurt, right? Then I wake up the next day. My muscles are screaming "What are YOU doing old woman?!" The back of my thighs and my butt have found themselves contracting into periodic Charlie horses for absolutely no reason what so ever. I am going to die. Death by dog.
I am not a quitter, we are going to walk every day. I may end up with a firmer behind from all of this but if you come anywhere near me you are going to think I'm 80. I have the perma smell of Bengay. Anyone know if they make this in a bath soak? Can I get a Bengay dip?
Well we cant have a bad pet owner now can we? So I do the only thing reasonable to do...Attempt to be a good pet owner. The most important thing for a dog owner to do is take the dog for a walk. Regardless of how much land you have for them to run on you need to take them for a walk. Easy enough, I can do that. So I begin the routine of walking the dog. The dog does great we are enjoying ourselves, this is something we can do every day. Good for the dog and I'm thinking maybe good for my ass. Slightly self serving, I know but if we are both getting something good out of it it cant hurt, right? Then I wake up the next day. My muscles are screaming "What are YOU doing old woman?!" The back of my thighs and my butt have found themselves contracting into periodic Charlie horses for absolutely no reason what so ever. I am going to die. Death by dog.
I am not a quitter, we are going to walk every day. I may end up with a firmer behind from all of this but if you come anywhere near me you are going to think I'm 80. I have the perma smell of Bengay. Anyone know if they make this in a bath soak? Can I get a Bengay dip?
March 04, 2006
Total girl moment
OK I am going to take a moment and be a complete girly girl. I know, very annoying, I try to keep those moments to a minimum but this really is for a good reason. The other day the weather was so nice I decided to pull out some summer clothes. In going through the box I found an outfit that was really cute but I had only worn once before. Not because I didn't like it but because my ass seemed to exceed the limits of the fabric shortly after making my purchase. I decided to give it a try, I have lost some weight and see how it looked. Holding my breath, I slowly slide them up and begin to suck in my gut to button them. Only to realize I didn't have to suck anything in. OMG! Not only do I not have to suck anything in but they are big, big like I have to wear a belt!! In my excitement I jerk them off to look at the tag, I must know what size they are. Are you ready?? They are a 9! I haven't seen below a size 9 since before my son was born. I am beside my self not wanting to believe what I am seeing. So what do I do? What any normal girl would do and attempt to shake myself back to reality. This is a fluke, a mistake. I pull out the dreaded bikini. I put it on to reassure myself that I am crazy and not really below a 9. Sadistic, I know. Well guess what...It's loose. I don't believe I will have a risk of being harpooned this year. Hell I might actually wear it in front of people.
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