fa la la la la I am alive

Is it Christmas time already??
I was looking at this space today and realized that I hadn't posted since Thanksgiving!

Mr turkey lives in my woods, he survived Thanksgiving.

Sorry for the disappearing act my friends. Sometimes time just gets away from me; especially around the holiday season. I hope you know that regardless of my absence from this blog-and yours you all are never far from my thoughts.

Wondering what I've been doing? Yes-No...well I'm gonna give you the highlights.

I've gotten into the routine of getting up in the morning and making breakfast for the little one before school, everyone else is either, not home at school or work...I do have my limits about what time I get up!!. He's in fourth grade and loves french toast. (yes our family from Cyprus is still here)

We decorated the house for Christmas. Can you believe it took me and Bill three days to do the inside and outside of the house. Bins and bins of stuff, all with memories attached each and every piece. My step-daughter watched with wonder as we unpacked it all. Nutty? Probably but after the kids died those things even the small memories became important. I'm pretty pleased with myself (brag alert) that I even made real wreaths for my door and Mom's this year from our blue spruce trees, boxwood and pine cones.

I had my yearly dinner party for my girlfriends last week. I cooked , they came and then we drank wine and enjoyed each others company for a very nice evening. Since it was female only Bill took the grandsons out for dinner and a bit of shopping at Toys R Us.

We shopped for Christmas gifts a few days ago. We approach our shopping like a hungry dog approaches a bowl of food. Bill and I headed out just before lunch and hit the mall(s) and didn't get home until well after dinner time with a trunk full. I have a new appreciation for gift cards, that's what my Mom does in most cases. Anyway, tomorrow after a doctors appointment we'll finish a few odds and ends.

My husbands had fabulous insurance which is a benefit of his retirement and we thought it would be safe from any negative health care changes we've heard about in the news.  I received a notice that my blood pressure medication will no longer be covered as of January 1st. so I'm off to the doctor to explore my options.

I've been on my cpap for my newly diagnosed sleep apnea/hypopnea for a bit less than two weeks. I've read a lot of message boards about how hard it is to sleep with the masks and the machine buzzing and so forth. I'm hear to tell you it's all nonsense. From night one I've slept like I haven't slept in a long time.

We're having Christmas at our house this year. It will be fun with the kids here which as you know means Santa will be coming :) Then Bill, Mom and I are heading up to NY for my cousin Katie's wedding on the 28th out on Long Island. Then if that isn't enough traveling, the second week of January I'm off to do my guardian thing and visit my ward for her yearly care plan meeting. I'm looking forward to my meeting with the teachers from her day program, her group home coordinators and  her social worker so we can set her goals for this coming year. Then afterward her and I get to hang out, go shopping, share some meals and visit with her Mother in the nursing.

That's about it for now, folks.

One more thing! Have a  wonderful Christmas & Hanukkah.
May your holiday be filled with love, peace and joy.

wordless wednesday- Giving thanks for family

Stuffed onto the couch after stuffing ourselves Thanksgiving nite. 

      

the beggar at our door with a twist

Last month the grandsons found a cute little kitten on the front deck. 

Poor little thing seemed hungry and quite frankly it seemed lonely. It meowed 

and meowed at the door for hours and hours begging to come in the house. 

We finally called the next door we suspected since he had other cats 

the little one came from there.I came to find out after being forwarded

to another number he'd been hospitalized and left the kitten unattended.

No wonder he was trying to get in my house!

I don't think I was out of line when I told his mother that if he wasn't taking care of the kitten

that we'd find it a home for him. His mother promised to come pick the little fellow 

up later that day and take him to a family member who would care for him.

So we took him in and gave him a good meal.  

Not unlike my cats Tarzan and Cheetah he's a light orange almost buff with a few stripes on his tail. 

After part of the day at our house the little guy went off never to be seen again! 

NOT!!

Two weeks ago the kitten was back crying at our door again. 
Oh brother!

Meow Meow... I started looking for homes again. This time however

I didn't bother calling dumb ass next door. He'd knew exactly where to find

his kitten if he wanted to. Then we waited to see if he'd come 

over to find his kitten. I'd grow old waiting!

We have three cats total, Besides the orange cats that I mentioned 

earlier in this post we also have a large tabby named Linus. Because 

the cats are indoor/outdoor cats we have two kitty doors; one each

by the front and back doors. The kitty doors are necessary for two primary reasons

one; because we've lost two cats to packs of killer hunting dogs and second because we'd spend all

of our days letting them in and out like human door man if we didn't. Cats are like that. 

BACK TO THE KITTEN

By the second day of kitten living  on and under our deck I said to 
Bill. "If he learns how to get in the kitty door, he'll never leave." 

And dumb ass neighbor still hadn't come to get him.

That night we went to bed resolved to find a home for the little guy.

And the next morning.... 

WE DID

Bill and I woke up and..... the kitten was in our bed, between us,  under the covers 
sound asleep on his back. 
Remember what I said about the kitty door? 
From my mouth to Gods ears. 

We named our little orphan kitten Oliver Twist. 

(an apt name since he steals ANY food from the garbage or any other place you leave it unattended)

Wordless Wednesday- going vintage again!

Take a vintage seat...

Although you might want to wait until after I refinish these babies! Not wordless I know! But  I was thinking (can you hear the wood burning?) my last chairs were done in red/yellow remember?  here
Any suggestions on what colors I should do these?

Cloned and loose in Philadelphia

I was sipping on my morning coffee when the phone rang. My immediate reaction when I heard the recorded voice on the other end of the line was to hang up. After the endless recorded political messages we received during the past political season I want to poke myself with something sharp.  But I listened because I’m good that way.

BOY DID I GET A SURPRISE.

The recorded voice on the other end on the line said “this is the fraud alert department on your MasterCard and we have detected some suspicious activity on your card.” If you used your credit card at the Shop Rite in Philadelphia on Nov 5^th you can hang up; if you did not incur this charge then press ONE.

Philadelphia? I hadn't left the house in days. How was this possible? My card was safe in my purse, Bill's in his wallet.

I PRESSED ONE

I was connected with a representative from the bank who went on to tell me that my credit card was used eight different times on that day in seven different Shop Rite grocery stores in and around Philadelphia and in a gas station store. The charges ranged in amounts from $49 or less seven times at the groceries and $1 at the gas station once. Since we were still in possession of our cards the conclusion was this.....

MY CARD HAD BEEN CLONED

They had already declined further use of the card once they became suspicious. After I confirmed there was a crime being committed (rotten thieves). We immediately closed the account and generated a new account and new cards would be issued and password was generated.

WITH SCISSORS IN HAND I CUT MY CARD INTO TINY LITTLE PIECES.

After hanging up with the bank gal I went onto Google.com and looked up cloning credit cards. I was curious to see how that was done.  This is what I found; you can read about it here. As I read thru a few other articles I was surprised to read that thieves were getting sophisticated to the point of posing as representatives of the bank to gain access to people’s information.

I RAN TO THE PHONE

And called the bank, thank The Lord the lady I had spoke to was legit.

The thing that takes my breath away……

Sleep, that's right! Sleep!

Did you ever get out of bed in the morning and feel unrested?

I spend a good eight hours in bed every night and I never feel rested, EVER.

My neurologist suspected something was going on.

I obviously wasn't sleeping well so he set up a test to find out why. 

A sleep study is what the test is called. 

I went and had a sleep study.

I lay in the bed looking at the back of my eyelids for what seemed like forever before sleep finally came. Who could blame me really! The room is nice but with the camera on the wall over the bed it was slightly icky. The wires that the sleep technician has attached with some glue like substance were hanging off the back of my head and I looked like a demented monster with a braid.  ( I actually have a picture of myself and it's so bad I won't even include it in this post for fear it will scare the readers away)

The results…

I have obstructive sleep apnea and hypoapnea as well. During my test my breathing either stopped fully or partially (for an average of 23 seconds or more) or slowed so much that my blood oxygen levels dropped dangerously low a lot.  

How many times could something like this happen in one night, you might wonder?

Basically I had 102 respiratory events (apneas hypoapnea’s) and 290 arousals which are basically abrupt changes in the level of sleep or from sleep to wakefulness.  It’s a wonder I’m not a walking zombie every day.

What does this mean to my health?

This  basically means I’m at risk for all sorts of health problems if this is left untreated, the biggies are heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, headaches, diabetes,  sudden death, obesity.

Crap!  

CPAP have you heard of it? It will probably help me with my problem more than cussing but saying it made me felt good anyway.  CPAP is an acronym for continuous positive airway pressure and is the recommended device for my condition. It’s basically a little machine with a mask that pushes air gently thru the nose and down the airway to keep the passages open.

Once the doctor and the insurance company sort out all the details I’ll have one more sleep study to get fitted for a face mask and for them to figure of the pressure of air required to stop my events during sleep.  But I’m hopeful that …

Before long I’ll be sleeping like a baby.

baggage

I have a confession to make. I have baggage. Not luggage but baggage. Maybe you have a baggage too?You know what I mean right? The kind of baggage filled with ideas or beliefs from your past life experience that may affect your life now in a way that either isn't relevant or my even be inappropriate.

  

 I've actually just opened a bag with a childhood issue the other day.

This is how my issue came to light…

Have I mentioned before that I wasn't a good student when I was a child? As I think back I remember actually having bursts of desire to do well but I just could never produce consistently. As a child I didn’t think there was anything unusual with my abilities or intelligence. But hey what did I know? Looking back however I do remember having problems concentrating.  

I don’t think I ever fully understood how well I did in school would be to my future whether college was in my future or not. What we accomplish (or not) is so very important to how we feel about ourselves when we get older as I would come to find out very recently.  And believe me I wasn’t prepared for the intensity of that feeling of insecurity.  

Fast forward to me in my fifties...

It has now been some five months since my appointment as guardian of a friend who is intellectually disabled adult. My duties as guardian are varied and many. I have heard it said that being a guardian can be a burden, they even said it in one of those little booklets they give out. Take my word for it… DO not believe it. Taking care of our most vulnerable whether it’s our children, our elderly or our disabled DOES involve work and an added amount responsibility but the way I see it it’s an act of LOVE.  

Flash back to my school days….

As part of my certification as a guardian besides the background checks and such I was informed I had to take a course at an approved college either in person or online classes were available.(oh no!) And there would be a test which I had to pass in order for me to be certified. (crap) Did I mention I hated tests?

I’ve had enough therapy to know that it was totally unreasonable for me to have anxiety about entering into a school situation.  A teenage girl, a ghost from the past had high jacked my emotions and left me worried and insecure and questioning my abilities.

With little choice I put my big girl pants on and I signed up and took the class. I diligently listened to the lectures, read all the available handbooks and for a total of eight hours I and watched the necessary videos and carefully took notes.  

Then the moment of truth…the test

Do you remember when you were a kid and things seemed so much bigger than they really were? Well, when you’re 54 and channeling your inner 15 year old it’s the same. 

 I aced the test. (exhale)

Do you carry around baggage from your childhood?

faith and caution when strangers knock

When I grew up respect for authority figures was the norm. For instance, I didn't call my friends parents by their first names; they were Mr. and Mrs. Smith or Jones not John and Jane. With my parents there were no mixed messages. I respected the word and rule of my parents with a healthy measure of fear of consequences.  Being that I grew up in a law enforcement family and a Catholic family, cops and the religious were held in high esteem.  It made for and interesting mix of faith and caution when it came to how I developed in all areas. Needless to say I can truthfully tell you my family is an interesting bunch and that I had an interesting upbringing.

Post their police careers my Dad and my Uncle went into business together in the same beach community where our family beach house was located.  And it brings to mind a something that happened when I was about 14 or 15 years old at the beach house. 

I was glued to the TV watching my first airing of The Godfather so I’m thinking 1974 or 1975. Of course timing being everything it is just at the point of the movie when the director/producer finds the horse head in his bed and my heart is racing, I’m alone and I hear… knock, knock, and knock! I jumped about four feet off the couch made my way to the door to find two men in suits standing at the door.

  

Remember what I said about faith and caution?

 Enter faith.

“We’re agent Mulder and Scully (no that’s not their real names, I stole those from the x-files) and we’re agents with the Federal Government (FBI/ Secret Service) is your Dad home? He glanced to confirm my dad’s name on his little pad, Henry right?” Without thought my hand went up to the lock but I didn’t lock it, for now the door as a barrier was enough.

Enter caution

At that point they each produced badges and showed them to me. I remember thinking as I was looking at the badges; I should ask for more I.D. if they’re real agents they’ll have ID too. “Can I see your I.D’s? They showed me their picture ID’s.

Thinking back I’m sure they had already deduced that I was home alone but I didn't want to tell them that myself after all I was a kid and they were strangers.  When I mentioned I’m going to call Dad and tell him to come home they ask if they can come in the house. Funny how even a thin storm door between them and me gave me the tiny bit of courage.  I said no and told them to wait outside. Then I locked the storm and wood door and dialed Dad.

Dad arrived in five minutes and they all came in together. Introductions were made and they got down to business at hand which if you’re curious had something to do with someone or other and counterfeit money being passed in local businesses.

Then surprisingly one of the agents said to Dad with a grin, “I’m guessing you were a cop?”  “Yes.”  Dad replied. “And you know this how?”  The agent went on to exclaim. “Only a cop’s kid would grill us about our credentials and then leave us on the porch, you raised her well.” And he shook my Dads hand as if to congratulate him.

Then Dad turned to me. “Why didn’t you let them in?” All three pairs of eyes turned towards me and I knew they were very curious to hear my explanation. I took a deep breath knowing I had faith that I used common sense and exercised caution the way my Dad had taught me in order to keep me safe in an unsafe world.

Then I explained.

“The decision was simple.”  “How was I supposed to know the badges and I.D’s were real if I’ve never seen one before?”  “For all I know they could have come from the five and ten cent store.”

I find this is really disturbing

This obituary was pulled from Nevada's Reno Gazette-Journal on Tuesday.  

Marianne Theresa Johnson-Reddick born Jan 4, 1935 and died alone on Aug. 30, 2013. She is survived by her 6 of 8 children whom she spent her lifetime torturing in every way possible. While she neglected and abused her small children, she refused to allow anyone else to care or show compassion towards them. When they became adults she stalked and tortured anyone they dared to love. Everyone she met, adult or child was tortured by her cruelty and exposure to violence, criminal activity, vulgarity, and hatred of the gentle or kind human spirit.

On behalf of her children whom she so abrasively exposed to her evil and violent life, we celebrate her passing from this earth and hope she lives in the after-life reliving each gesture of violence, cruelty, and shame that she delivered on her children. Her surviving children will now live the rest of their lives with the peace of knowing their nightmare finally has some form of closure.

Most of us have found peace in helping those who have been exposed to child abuse and hope this message of her final passing can revive our message that abusing children is unforgiveable, shameless, and should not be tolerated in a "humane society". Our greatest wish now, is to stimulate a national movement that mandates a purposeful and dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America.

My stomach just kept on turning and turning the more I read.
What's your reaction?

things that keep me up at night

I went to the doctor today for my Restless Leg Syndrome. For those of you who don't know what it is it's a sleep disorder/neurological condition which causes a drop in dopamine in the brain resulting in a number of symptoms.

I get a creepy feeling in my legs and an urge to move. This usually starts after dinner when I sit and increases in intensity when I go to bed. When I lay down the sensation is accompanied by an aching deep in my legs, primarily in the bottom half but sometime the entire legs. Relief comes from moving, sometimes just rubbing my feet together or stretching will help but mostly I need to walk.

Anyway,  my regular neurologist wanted me to see the sleep doctor in his practice, he's concerned that along with the RLS that I might have sleep apnea. Bill's been saying that he thinks when I sleep on my back I stop breathing for bits of time. I snore as well which makes it easy for him to hear the pauses in my breathing. At least he thinks so.

I have insurance (I've always considered it to be good insurance) so I went into this without much worry of being covered or even the least concern of the cost. His charge is $1,689. If the insurance company pays less I would be responsible for the remainder.This is for a full night in the sleep lab and the full diagnosis of the results.The lady in the office told me that my insurance company has a reputation of not paying much.  But my deductible is reasonable so I'm not all that worried.

So I said to myself, self.....  I've been to the doctor a number of times this year and surely I've built up something towards my deductable right? My deductible can't be more than $250.00-$300.00. Well I checked and I have two words holy crap! My deductible has been raised to $1,000. Damn it to hell! Don't get me wrong I'm so grateful I have insurance but $1000!

I thought Obama-care was supposed to save us money. Put one in the not true for me column.

I hope my Political Representatives, my President and my insurance company are bedding down all nice and cozy tonight (sarcasm). I know they don't lose sleep on the little guy or gal.

Jen plans to keep breathing, my legs will keep moving unfortunately, and I'll try not to dwell on my soon to be dwindling bank account, damn it!

mom's the word....

Have I mentioned Mom's not been well? She developed gout three weeks ago in her wrist which lingered. Then two days ago on the same side in the toe. My mother is 85 and walks with a cane so even with the wrist she had to move into my home because not being able to use that wrist made her so unbalanced we worried she'd have a fall.

Needless to say we (my step daughter and I ) had to help her with her personal needs for two days after the men carried over here the other day .Poor mom! If you know anything about gout is very painful and it's your bodies way of saying "you're not treating me well" and "you better to make some changes." She's on limited medication since she has kidney disease but she's responded well enough to ditch the wheel chair and walk with a walker.

After a bit of reading and research we adjusted her diet to a more alkaline based diet with a small amount of acid foods to naturally purge her body of the uric acid that's built up in her system. This is what the web page says and it really makes sense after some thought. "Our bodies are really a complex biochemical laboratory (with a soul thrown in!). They work best at a pH level between 6.75 and 7. The food we eat greatly influences how alkaline your system is and consequently, how well you absorb your nutrients."  If you'd like to take a look at the food list you can find it here. We're hoping to cut short her need for medication by this change in diet. We'll see what the kidney doctor thinks next week at her appointment.

It's my understanding that gout is rather common. If you have any tips of stories that might be helpful I'd sure appreciate it.

I like her because....out of the mouths of babes.

In a few days school will start for kids everywhere if they've not started already.
Anyway it got me to thinking about all the cute stories that I remember about my kids and the grand-kids and their school experiences.

I thought in honor of school I'd share an adorable story about my daughters middle son when he was younger.

Let me just set this story up by saying that he is very shy and did not go to take to school with ease in the beginning. To say she was worried about how he'd do in school was an understatement. Moms! We always have one we worry about.

Needless to say she arrives up at school and there he is sitting up in the front of the classroom with a big dimpled smile on his face. He seemed OK, and in fact he was actually more than OK. She did the meet and great with the teacher and then when they got home she spoke to him about his positive attitude of which she was happily surprised.
Now here's the story and I'm paraphrasing here....



"Emmanuel, Mommy was a little surprised to see you up in the front of the classroom."
"I like my seat" he replied.
"You like your teacher then?"
"Yes Mommy she reminds me of Grandma."
"Oh!" "And hows that?"
He then extended his hands near the front of his chest in a motion she didn't understand.
"You know Mommy." he said earnestly smiling at her.
"No I don't know, you have to tell me."
"I like her because she's like Grandma in the breasts!"

I was being busy taking a break....and being famous.

Things have been crazy busy here this summer. We've gardened till we've dropped. The weather was really wet so we spend a lot of time canning our veggies so they didn't as you might have read and seen in an earlier post.

As you know our numbers have increased as my step daughter and her family have moved in with us until they get settled. We're having a great time getting to know each other again and I must say I love the pidder- patter of kids feet on my floors again. That's not to say that Bill and I won't enjoy our privacy once they move out but for now we've settled into an nice rhythm of family life.

Which begs the question; how long will this situation last?That's rather complicated. Lets just say that in the post 911 climate getting ones green card so you can work (her husband isn't American) is very difficult. That you have an American wife and four American/Cypriot children has little bearing on the time involved or the cost. The Department of Homeland Security/Immigration is rather a mess when it comes to giving directions on the process not to mention the difficulties of the process itself. I think we're in for the long haul.

 I'm grateful we all get along very well.

Oh and btw,  my DSL has been for the birds these past months and Verizon sucks, just sayin. We loose service as much as we have service and as this summer has progressed it's gotten worse. Needless to say we had satellite internet installed this very morning. We'll have to be careful since we have a cap on usage (not something we're used to) but it runs fast and strong. Good riddance DSL!

If all that hasn't been enough to keep me on my old toes....on my rest.

I've taken another trip south to visit my ward and see to her care and well being. I've come to call it "doing my guardian thing". She's doing wonderful and we had a great time on our visit, sharing meals, having ice cream as well as visiting her mother in the nursing home. She is such a happy and energetic woman who knows her mind despite her intellectual disability. And really why shouldn't she? She is loving and lively and sees the world as such a beautiful place; I envy that.

And about the being famous part!

Remember the whole debacle with our trip to the Bahama's in June? You might also recall I contacted Christopher Elliot the consumer advocate/journalist, the story is here. Want to know which agency and airline was involved and what the outcome was?  WELL, our story made it's way to an article in a major publication, just click here.. Washington Post!

WE'RE FAMOUS!!

Adjusting to changes

No matter whether changes are good ones or bad ones they always are a bit challenging for me. If you've noticed I haven't been on the blog for a while. The fact is there's been a big change in our lives recently.

Good; but a change all the same.

As you know Bill and I live alone with our cats.

Not anymore! But life's still peachy.

Bill's daughter and her family had made plans to move from Cyprus to the US and live on a temporary basis with another family member until they were established here with jobs and housing. We were thrilled that the five of them (she, her husband and three of their four sons) were coming back after some 25 years.

Well as things sometimes happen their living arrangements didn't work out and they were in a huge bind with no jobs or place to live for themselves or the children and going back wasn't an option. This is my husbands daughter and the fact is we've missed so very many years of her life.

So we ended up inviting them to come and stay with us until they get established. Now we are seven and not two and having a house full 24/7 is something that going to take some getting used to as we carve out our personal spaces and routines. To be honest I miss my privacy but it is awfully nice to have kids in the house again.

Bear with me if my posts are sporadic while we visit and get to know each other again, spend time with the boys and support them as they find jobs get their lives together here in the US.

farmer jen

Our garden this year has been a mixed blessing. We are grateful for the abundance of veggies but frankly it's a real mess. To  much rain has the weeds out of control and the supports to the tomatoes flopping in one direction or another.

This is two days tomato harvest if you could believe it! I don't think we've ever had to break out the canning jars so early in the season for tomatoes but we are overrun. And that's a good thing! It's no lie when I tell you we eat them for breakfast lunch and dinner..

After we put all of those extra tomatoes thru the mill, cooked and canned them it amounted to 14 quarts of tomato puree/juice. Now we can use to make sauces, soups, bloody mary's, or to just drink fresh tomato juice whenever we like. We'll do this canning several time this season hopefully and have enough to last thru the winter plus to give as gifts.

I already showed you the finished product, my pickled beets already canned in my first smart phone post the other day here. This is what they looked like before. Have you ever eaten the greens? We even cooked the greens with some onion, bacon and a touch of cider vinegar and ate them with dinner.

We had to pick our potatoes a few weeks early so we didn't get as many as we had hoped. This is the basket of the larger ones. I also have two more baskets of medium and small. They should last many many months if we keep them cool and dry.

Is anyone doing any gardening this season. How's your garden growing? 

my crush

My friend Paula is doing a July Blog Challenge. If you click on the link below the banner that says Paula's Place it will take you to her blog if you'd like to join. If you click here it will take you to the list of daily topics for the month also at her blog..

Paula's Place

TODAY’S TOPIC

Who was my childhood celebrity crush?

Do you remember the movie Sandcastles? I would be surprised if you did. It came out in 1972.  I remember being absolutely crazy about it's male star Jan Michael Vincent. Here's the story....Jenna is a lonely  musician, who meets a stranger Michael played by Jan-Michael Vincent. 

photo credit

Their romantic meetings are on the beach are something of a mystery since everyone she knows tells her he doesn't exist; that he was in fact a criminal and was killed. There are very strong feelings between the two and I remember being completely enamored with this story and him after seeing this movie.

I was 12 at the time.

day or night

My friend Paula is doing a July Blog Challenge. If you click on the link below the banner that says Paula's Place it will take you to her blog if you'd like to join. If you click here it will take you to the list of daily topics for the month also at her blog..

Paula's Place

TODAY’S TOPIC

What is your favorite part of the day and why?

I grateful for any day I wake up happy and healthy! That being said I do have the most energy in the morning provided I get a good nights sleep and I usually get a burst of energy about 8:00 p.m too. Comes in handy to get in a bit of tidying up or for doing a load of laundry in before the end of the day. 

But as far as one particular time, I have no favorites!

what bothers me

My friend Paula is doing a July Blog Challenge. If you click on the link below the banner that says Paula's Place it will take you to her blog if you'd like to join. If you click here it will take you to the list of daily topics for the month also at her blog..

Paula's Place

TODAY’S TOPIC

Jen’s five biggest pet peeves.

1. I despise poor customer service. Drives me crazy when I’m in a store or buying a product and the person who is helping me would rather be at the dentist. Even worse is when I call to have a complaint/concern addressed (and I’m being respectful) and the person on the other end isn't addressing my problem because they’re too busy taking my complaint personally instead of doing their job.

2. I do not like when adults especially parents forget what it’s like to have kids. It’s seems to me some seem to have short memories and are the first to complain when kids have a temper tantrum or cry in public. You know who you are dagger eye throwers! I don’t know about you but my kids were not angels; are you shocked?? And since they did not come with instructions we learned together, oh the horror. Glass houses people, glass houses. Next time you see a kid meltdown in your local store or restaurant. Take a moment to remember.

3. People just don’t see and respect the elderly as much as they should. Please hold the door open for my 85 year old mother if you see her standing there with her cane. And that goes for all the elderly who appreciate the kindness and even a hello and how do you do. Older people deserve the respect and do not appreciate having doors closed on their faces; but adore a bit of polite attention.

4. Excuse-rs get a grip. Take personal responsibility for what you do and say crying out loud. Stop the dumb excuses. Nobody wants to hear you!

5. I get bothered when people are rude or when they say hurtful things to workers like waitresses, waiters, bartenders and check out people in the market. (basically minimum wage workers) who work harder than you can imagine for very little pay. If it's their view that these jobs which are to serve somehow gives them the right to treat these workers as servants thus subservient then they're SO wrong. To me they're just rude bullies. 

body image

My friend Paula is doing a July Blog Challenge. If you click on the link below the banner that says Paula's Place it will take you to her blog if you'd like to join. If you click here it will take you to the list of daily topics for the month also at her blog..

Paula's Place

TODAY’S TOPIC

What are your thoughts on how the media portray body image for young girls.

I cannot stress enough how many times I told my girls that starving skinny as a stick is not cool.  Don't even get me started on girls who think acting dumb is cute...drive me crazy. 

Dumb is dumb, having brains is attractive. 

Girls need to call on both their intelligence and their emotional intelligence to wade their way thru this. 

We HAVE to teach our kids just as we teach them to walk or talk; why not make sure our kids we teach them to love and care for their own bodies. 

How? 

Eat right, exercise....

Don't let them be inundated so that they believe images from mags, TV of bony models, and TV stars are the norm. Let me just say another thing that I've said before in another post this challenge; kids need to be kids and not be overly sexual in how they dress. 

I also think parents have to help them build healthy self esteem by being loving supports to their daughters relationships, academic and sporting activities. What our goal is as parents is to help our girls to feel as comfortable as possible in their own body/skin. 

jerk

My friend Paula is doing a July Blog Challenge. If you click on the link below the banner that says Paula's Place it will take you to her blog if you'd like to join. If you click here it will take you to the list of daily topics for the month also at her blog..

Paula's Place

TODAY’S TOPIC

Write about the worst or the best date you've ever been on.

Before I met my husband I dated upon occasion but not frequently. Basically I had been involved in another relationship for a few years before him and wasn't in the dating pool.  But when I was dating there was this funny thing that happened that sorta fits this topic.

I was living in an apartment with my dog Baine and my cat Tinkerbell. My date let's call him Mitch came to pick me up for a dinner date. I let him in and he was sitting on the couch while I grabbed my keys and such. 

My dog went over to do his usual once over smell to check the guy out and the guy kicked him. Seriously WTF! Apparently not a dog lover my date....I turned around walked with him to the door (he thought we were leaving together). When he stepped over the threshold I told him to have a nice dinner by himself and that I didn't date ass holes who kicked dogs. Then closed the door on his face.

well isn't she special!

My friend Paula is doing a July Blog Challenge. If you click on the link below the banner that says Paula's Place it will take you to her blog if you'd like to join. If you click here it will take you to the list of daily topics for the month also at her blog..

Paula's Place

TODAY’S TOPIC

Write about someone you really care about.

I was reminded today in a conversation about the fact that you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family. It was about something else but it got me to thinking about who I'd write about in this post.

As I mentioned the other day in my about me post,  I have two brothers and no sisters.  I am lucky enough that I do have someone who fills that special role in my life. She's both close friend and confidante. We talk all the time and we have a comfortable loving bond that transcends friendship. There is no way to know for sure, but I often I imagine that's what a sister would be. 

I'm talking about my sister in law Denise.