If Only . . .

A few postings ago I talked about going to a surprise retirement party for Larry. Another former co-worker showed up and it was really great to see her. We had been good friends, but had lost touch with one another, except for an occasional Christmas card/letter here and there. We verbally exchanged emails, and she sent me one this week.
I responded, but rather than retell the Diana break-in story, I referred her to this blog. I also suggested that if she was really bored, she could read all my postings to catch up. Well, I must have been really bored, because I went back and re-read them. When I came to the one where I was psyching myself up to diet, I thought, "Well crap!", because if only I'd stuck to my intent, I'd probably be 10 pounds lighter right now, maybe even more.
Instead, I'm out buying "disguise clothes". In my case, it's anything to hide stomach blubber. It's a great time to find them, because the style is actually somewhat popular. You know the ones I'm talking about. Back in my day, we called them "peasant tops". In reality, they're very maternity looking. They're also very long in length. I don't like that part, so yesterday I shortened one with some iron on hem tape.
My husband and I have been married for almost 34 years. We were both fit and thin for a long time. I actually started fat blossoming before him, even though he's older. But now we're both pretty much in the same boat, thank goodness. Anyway, he observed me working on the shortening process of the top. We were going out to meet another couple to listen to a Blues Brothers type concert. When I was finally ready, he made a comment that the top looked nice. I mentioned that I was trying to disguise my stomach and he agreed, that it worked. He even said that he wished there were tops out there for men that did the same thing. The disguise worked - but I know it's only temporary.
Damn weak will power!

It's Getting Old

Kris, Adam, and Danny are all performing on Regis & Kelly this week. I couldn't wait to hear from Kris, who was on yesterday. Anxiously I sat watching only to be disappointed because they interrupted the show for Obama's supreme court nomination. ERRRGH! Today Adam sang "Mad World" and it was beautiful - no yelling involved. But it's annoying to listen to the commentators ooh and ahh over him, saying things like he is more talented than any other idol contestant - ever! (Kelly's comment today) If he's so much more talented than all other competitors, then you'd think he wouldn't have needed the show to launch his career. I agree that he's extremely talented, but I'm getting tired of Adam drool.

American Idol Withdrawl

It's Tuesday, and there's nothing to watch on TV. I've been an American Idol fan since Season 3, when Fantasia won. My favorite season EVER was when Carrie Underwood won. Part of it had to do with her being from Chechotah OK, and the other part was that she was darn good. I also favored David Cook, due to the OK connection.
This season has been interesting. I've always hated the pre-season hoop-lah. I can do without all the really bad, wanting attention performers. But I get interested when they finally choose 12. This year, I liked the blonde haired (with pink streaks) girl who was the first of 12 to be ousted. I hated the long haired chic who had her entire arm tatooed. I still can't believe she made it through to the top 12. The only other female performer I enjoyed was the red haired chick (Alison). Wow! I finally remember a name. Actually I remember Lil' "something" (I think it's Rounds), but I didn't care for her.
I liked Adam from the get-go. I didn't understand why he wasn't already a star. I also liked Danny. He had a beautiful strong voice, with a touching personal story to boot. Then there was Kris. My daughter really liked him, partly because he was from Conway, AR - a town 15 miles from where she lives. His parents actually live in her town (Maumelle), which is a suburb of Little Rock. Therefore, I too, was a fan of Kris.
By the time the final 3 were determined, I didn't vote. I was tired of Adam's "same old, same old", but still felt he was deserving. Kris's Kanye West's song was phenominal, and I still liked just about anything Danny sang. But when Danny got eliminated, I guessed that Kris would win. Both Danny and Kris were Christian performers. Danny's votes would now go to Kris.
I'm not sure the best person won - but I sure think it would be a great ticket to hold for this year's tour.

Evils of Aging

Found Diana's car keys (with another house key attached) in my car the next morning. Mind you, the retirement party was "dry". Once again, proving that the title of my blog is SO appropriate.

You're Never too Old to ... Break In?

A few weekends ago I went to Oklahoma to attend a surprise retirement party for a former co-worker (Larry). I stayed with my good friend, Diana. Several years ago she bought a house, after being dumped by her ex of almost 30 years. It's an old house, with pink ceramic tiled bathrooms, and brown appliances. The windows are framed in silver, with cris-cross silver on the screens. She likes to open the windows whenever she can, to let the breeze in - and to save on air conditioning. I enjoy that also, since I grew up in Iowa, where we too opened windows whenever we could.
The night of the party, I drove. We were in a hurry because of the "surprise" factor involved - didn't want to miss it. We'd been busy cleaning, decluttering, and organizing all day. We were rushed getting ready, but made it in time. I had a great time seeing and visiting former co-workers. The event didn't last long so we decided we'd head back to her house for "wine time".
During our cleaning, decluttering, and organizing, we'd moved an old hide-a-bed couch out onto her porch. Larry's son was going to come and pick it up. Diana keeps a key to her house under the doormat. She moved the doormat so we could get the couch out. I'm not sure what she did with the key as I wasn't involved. All I know is that when we got home from the party, she had no key for us to get in. She couldn't remember what she did with the key. I can relate - it's an age thing, and she's even older than me.
Our solution was to try all the windows. Hopefully we'd left one unlocked and could just pull the screen off, and climb in. WahLah - it worked! But the one left open was just a tad narrow - and I had to help hike her leg up to the window sill, and then help lift her hind end up to get started. We were laughing so hard, I still don't know how we pulled it off. Then I remembered that I had a camera in the car. OMG - I still laugh revisiting the whole scenario.

Mother's Day Fun

My daughter and grand daughters who live in Arkansas came to visit and we had lots of fun. I live in a neighborhood with sidewalks, ponds, parks, and 3 swimming pools. The kiddie pool is about 2 blocks from my house and it was perfect for the girls. It has a zero entry area, similar to a beach but without the sand. In the middle is a big play area with a slide and lots of spraying devices. The girls were a little timid since it was their first time to visit a big pool this season, so we weren't able to talk the 3 yr old into going down the slide. But here is a picture of her going through what I referred to as the car wash:


Here is the 15 month old enjoying the zero entry area:

And here are both of them enjoying pool snacks:


It was a great Mother's Day!

Double Nickels

Today is my birthday. I couldn't sleep last night in anticipation - HA! I WISH that were it. Unfortunately those sleepless nights come from having had too MANY birthdays. I was born on Mother's Day. My dad was a veterinairian and still enjoys telling the story of being called to the country to deliver pigs while my mom was delivering me. Yea, this was back-in-the-day, when husbands sat in a waiting room, probably smoking. Anyway, my dad finds it amusing that he delivered "umteen" pigs (the number grows, like a fish story), and my mom still hadn't delivered me. I mean how hard can it be to just push out one? Having done this 3 times myself, all I can say is, "poor pig". I mean, really - "umpteen"?
I have received some very nice cards and gifts from my family. But the BIG treat came yesterday when my Little Rock daughter called saying her husband had suggested she come visit me this week because they are getting new countertops beginning Monday. So we worked it out and she and her two daughters are flying here this afternoon. They'll stay until Wednesday or Thursday and I'll drive them home. I'm attending a surprise teacher retirement party for a friend the following Saturday in Oklahoma and Little Rock is about 4 hours from there. What's 4 hours when it means the kids get to come visit for 4 days? Piece of cake. Speaking of cake, I'd better go shopping. A three year old would think it's quite strange that anyone would have a birthday without cake, don't you think?

Hang Up the Phone, You Big Dope!

These are often words spoken by Mark Levin, a conservative talk show radio host, when encountering ill-informed liberal leftists. He also doesn't hesitate to use the words "idiot", and "moron". I agree with the guy on most things and can SO relate to wanting to use those same words when trying to reason with let's say, "unreasonable people".
Recently, my daughter posted (on her blog) a picture of herself at 7 months pregnant with her 3rd child. She also added another picture of her husband, who agreeingly struck the same side pose. They were both wearing similar clothing and his picture exposed a not-so flattering result, with of course, a non-pregnancy excuse. If you covered up his head, he looked a lot like his dad - who is in his 50's.
With an entire blog entitled, "Evils of Aging", I've mentioned the curse of weight gain (for me) once I hit 40. So for me, my son-in-law's dad looks pretty much like the rest of us 50ish people - pretty normal for us. I don't consider us "obese", but we're definitely not "buff".
I had just returned from visiting my daughter and son-in-law so I had seen my son-in-law - live. Has he gained weight since they married 6 years ago? Yes. That's fairly normal too, I would guess. But in other clothes I didn't view him to be somewhat the size of his dad. It was the outfit and the pose that were making him look heavier. The blog also posted pictures of the two of them 6 years ago.
I commented that it was a terrible picture of him. Have any of you ever seen a picture of yourself that was the pitts? Bless you, if not. I've had numerous pictures taken of me that I absolutely hate. I've even torn them up before anyone else could see them. I knew my son-in-law knew it was a bad picture.
The other comment I made was that if you covered up his head, he could almost pass for his dad. I didn't mean it as a bad thing for his dad. Heck, I weigh more than my daughter and I'm not 7 months pregnant.
I wasn't trying to relate weight gain to overweight. However, it came across that way to someone. That someone posted "that's not very nice" in the comment section - ANONYMOUSLY. I followed up with an explanation that I did not intend to offend. It was just an observation: 1. Bad picture 2. Looked more like his dad than his 29 year old self. I never mentioned anyone being overweight. I also said that posting anonymously was "not very nice".
Well ANONYMOUS decided to reveal themself. It was my son-in-law's brother-in-law. He stated that he was referring to me relating the bad picture to the "over"weightness of the father, which I had not done. He then proceded to offer up several social rules of talking about one's weight and how EVERYONE knew those rules.
I cracked up laughing! This guy is maybe 26 years old. And he's lecturing me on social rules? How disrespectful of him! I had already offered my intent, but it wasn't good enough for him. He was determined to lash out - on my daughter's blog, nonetheless. IDIOT! MORON! YOU BIG DOPE!
No, that's not how I responded... but I sure wanted to.

All Dressed Up and No Place to Go

Today my husband traveled to a town about an hour from here for some business thing that involved golf. He's also playing again in the morning so he's spending the night at a hotel. He suggested that I might want to drive to that part of town to shop or go exploring, and then I could just spend the night with him. I enjoy that sort of thing so I was open to the suggestion. I called the hotel to see if they allowed pets and the answer was, "no". Then I emailed a friend who has previously offered to keep the dog at her house. She emailed me back saying, "sure, no problem". She already has two dogs and although my dog is good around other dogs, I've been hesitant to have him stay with her without first just taking him there for a visit. She and her husband have been to our house several times, so the dog sort of knows them. Since this was only going to be one night, I decided, "What the heck, may as well".
Before leaving, I wanted to attack a few kitchen counter "piles". I also needed to vacuum. Oh, and I couldn't possibly take the dog over there without first giving him a bath. After completing my tasks, I loaded up the dog crate, leash, etc. and packed an overnight bag for myself. As I pulled out of the driveway, I called my friend to let her know I was on my way. When no one answered the house phone, I called her cell, but no one answered that either. Sometimes she takes a nap so I decided to just drive to her house. I called again while in her driveway. I rang her doorbell. Hmmm, now what. If I didn't get on the road soon, I would end up in rush hour traffic, and it would take twice as long to get there.
I went and got gas, called my husband, and told him I was going to bag it, and go back home. When I got home, I opened up a bottle of wine and got on the computer. At 6pm I heard from my friend - who had totally forgotten about the email. She was apologetic and told me to come on over if I still wanted to go.
Nah - I'd brought everything back inside except for the dog crate. I'd opened the wine and was on the computer. And besides, it's American Idol night - can't miss that. The dog's going to look mighty handsome while watching :)