Oh my love

Well, well well, I never thought it could happen to me. I have absolutely NO idea what to blog about. I thought about just not writing a new post until I have a definite subject in mind, but I am so close to my 50th post that I can't just do nothing.

I think I will write about things that make me happy. In fact since this will be my 47th post I guess I will list. . . . . . . .

30 things that make me happy. Oh come on 47? No, no, no that would be too long. I bet even Mandi wouldn't stick with me.

#1. I love blogging. I already did a post on this quite a while ago but it still stands true so I figure why not. I love meeting new people, from all around the country and even from down under. I enjoy putting all my thoughts down and reading it over and thinking to myself, hmm, that's pretty good. So I will give a big Thank You to Donald and Lisa for getting me into it.

#2 I love babies and young children when they first wake up. They are so soft and so warm and SO squishy. It's also frequently the only time of the day when they are willing to sit and cuddle.

#3 Similar to number two. I just love those same babies and small children when they come out of their baths. They are just so fresh and clean and they smell so sweet. I love to wrap them in a big fluffy towel and take our time getting lotioned, dressed and hair brushed. Too bad that usually within an hour or two all that sweet smelling freshness has gone right out the window.

#4 I love finally making it home after you have been away for a while. I never love my home more than when I am climbing out of a disheveled, crowded (crowded even if it's just two of you. I have no idea why, it just feels that way) car. It feels so good to be home. It feels so good to go plop down on your bed and stretch out and stay that way for the next hour while sweet husband does all the work of bringing everything in from the car. (Hey, I did the PACKING!)

#5 Consequently, I also love the first moments of really being on your way when taking a trip. By this I mean, after you have fueled up (OUCH) after everyone has picked out a goody or two from the store which of course then makes the gas bill even ouchier. Oh yeah, and everyone has used the facilities at the Gas Station one last time. After ALL this when you are all in the car and you pull out and head for the Highway and you know you are really (finally) on your way. Yeah, I love that.

#6 I love when you first walk into your Hotel room. Don and I learned years ago to not scrimp on Lodging. We don't usually stay at the most expensive ones but it is usually a three star one. I love coming in and it's so nice and fresh and clean and just waiting for you to mess it all up. ( Not on purpose of course it's just the way it happens) And then knowing that it will be all clean again that evening when you come back from your day out.

#7 (Keeping with my travel theme) I LOVE Disneyland!!! I love everything about it. I also love neighboring California Adventure. A lot of people diss good ole CA AD. I don't know why. It has some of the coolest rides I have ever been on. We have only been there once in the whole time we've been married. It was five years ago this summer. We only had Shawn and Courtney with us. It was the best vacation we have ever taken with kids. It really is the HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH!!!

#8 I love movies. Here are the most recent ones I have seen. Hancock. Loved it but a little too much swearing. WALL E. Cute and fun. Not for younger than 8 in my opinion. sex and the city. I know what most of you are thinking. But I have been watching the edited show on cable for years and love it. I love the sisterhood and friendship of it all. And yes I think there were way too many gratuitous sex scenes, that I could have done without, but I still loved it. I love going to movies. I love the Big Screen. I love the whole Movie going experience! As long as the other patrons are behaving themselves. (But then you know how I feel about that.)

#9 I love my family. One of my favorite things in the whole world is to all be together. Eating, talking, laughing, wishing that everyone else could be there with us. Watching my Granddaughters play. Watching them love each other. Seeing how much the cousins can enjoy each other.

#10 I love spending time with my two daughters. I spend more time with Courtney than Heidi. But only because Courtney is more geographically desirable. I love being with them both together and being with them individually. We really have a lot of fun.

#11 I love when my Husband comes home from work. Enough said.

#12 I love Hanfords every other Friday off. Again, enough said.

#13 I usually love sewing. I am really in a slump right now though. That happens to me every few years or so. For some reason I can't get interested in sewing anything. My poor Etsy shop is clearly feeling the strain. But when I am in the mood there are few things more satisfying than picking out fabric, picking out the right pattern and within a few hours to have made a beautiful little dress that either I will give to a little granddaughter or sell at my shop.

#14 I love Jujyfruits. There I've said it. I'm not sure why but for the last year I have stopped liking food. Even food that I used to LOVE. Things like Prime rib, lobster and shrimp. I almost can't stand meat at all anymore. But the one thing I have not lost my taste for is candy. Isn't that shameful? My favorite candy is jujyfruits. They stick to your teeth like crazy, but that's okay, you just peel them off and then have a second round of jujyfruit goodness.
Please try not to judge me.

#15 I love when you are driving somewhere and every light is in your favor. It just feels so nice to slide right through every light either because it just turns red as you get to it, or it stays red for you as you come up to it, or you get through right before it turns red. I really like that.

#16 I love books. I love to read. I would almost always choose reading over watching TV. I don't think I will list my favorite books though. There are a few of the books I love already on my profile, so if you are interested you can go there, but really I put a very small sampling of them. I don't really have a favorite author because I read so many different genres. But I really do love Stephen King.

Wow. I guess I am done. Who knew? I thought I could come up with thirty. I don't think that this means there are only sixteen things I love. No it just means that Don just got home from work (happy me) and he just came and said "Well it looks like you aren't making dinner so lets get Shawn and go to Quiznos. So I guess we are going to Quiznos. That's another thing I love BTW, not worrying about dinner.

The Greatest Hits of my niceness

Well it's Saturday. That means I have gone a whole week with being nice. I have to admit, I did slip a couple of times. Last night Don and I went to Chinese Gardens. There was a young family there that had a screaming baby. I usually try to be patient in these situations, because I have had to deal with screaming babies myself. In fact, in my line of work (that would be defined as owning a baby of your own) it is pretty impossible to avoid screaming babies. That, of course, is what babysitters are for. And in the absence of a babysitter, there is always Daddy. Daddy is really good for taking screaming baby out to the lobby or even the parking lot for some calming down time.This family had obviously not availed themselves of the babysitter option. But they did have a Daddy.

Daddy just seemed to be a little unaware of his responsibilities.

For some reason last night I was just very aware of that loud baby. I rather loudly said, Man I sure wish they would do something with that baby. Don, of course was not amused. He told me I needed to keep my voice down. Don is funny that way. He suffers from a bad case of CTMWPTOY. Okay I will be nice and translate that for you. It means "Caring too much what people think of you." I on the other hand (at least in Don's opinion) could stand to be infected with a mild strain of CTMWPTOY. Fortunately for me it will never happen.

I seem to have a natural immunity to this particular disease.

My point here is that on my last night of my week of niceness, I tripped right as I was reaching the finish line. Not to worry though. That baby was making so much noise I don't think the parents would have heard me even if I had been using a Bullhorn.

Question: If you say or do an unkind thing to someone and they are not aware of it, does it still count as an unkind thing?

Personally I say NO it does NOT. So I guess I am cleared of all charges.

Like I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts, this seemed to be a pretty slow week for niceness. I usually do practice the common courtesies. I try to be as pleasant as possible in most instances when I am required to engage with unknown people. And if those people are nice back then there is seldom any problem at all. I think in my last few posts I have pretty well documented the temptations I have had this week to not be nice, and how smoothly I have sailed through. So I have come to the conclusion that my week of turning over a new leaf and being nice to everyone, especially those people that are so stupid or grouchy or ignorant, has been a smashing Success!!!

I have had time for some serious reflection. I have thought about it and realized that most of my good deeds this week were more or less me stopping myself from being unpleasant. I didn't have much of a chance to actually do something that was nice, I just refrained from being mean.

I think that just maybe I should have held myself to a higher standard.

This has started me thinking and trying to remember times when I have committed a kind act and not just held back on a mean one.

I have come up with a few. Although they didn't occur this week I think I will offer them up as examples that I really can be an extremely decent person.

First example: This happened a few years ago before my dad died and when he still had a pretty sound mind.

I was driving to my parent's house in the neighboring city of Pasco. They lived on Court street at the time in a nice little duplex. I saw this older guy, who was in front of me, but in the next lane. It was pretty obvious that he was trying to find an address. I sped up to him and motioned for him to pull over. I had really felt prompted to do this. I'm not usually the kind to tell other drivers to pull over and speak to me.

He pulled over.

I was kind of surprised. Surprised in the "did I do that?" kind of way. He got out of his car and came over to me. I asked him if he was trying to find his way. It turned out he was. He told me where he was trying to go. I wasn't much help because I don't know Pasco that well. But, I knew that my dad, who just lived maybe a mile away from where we were, knew where everything in Pasco was. I told him to follow me to my parents house and that my dad could help him.

I led. He followed. I found my dad. Dad was thrilled to help the guy out. Dad explained to lost guy which way he needed to go. It turned out that lost guy had been going in the opposite direction and had really gotten himself lost. Dad drew a map.

Just in case.

Lost guy was so thrilled that I had stopped him and taken him to get directions from my dad. He actually tried to pay us. Of course we told him no. And you know what? It felt good. Niceness really can be it's own reward.

Example #2

This happened a few months ago. I had a late Water and Sewer bill I had to get paid. For some reason I am always forgetting this bill. I think it might be because it comes every two months instead of monthly. I just can't seem to get into the habit of paying it. My garbage bill is even easier to forget because it is every three months.

Oh well this is neither here nor there.

The point is, I was in city hall waiting in line to pay my late water bill. I was kinda annoyed that I had forgotten once again to pay that stupid water bill on time. There was this lady in front of me though that made my stress look microscopic. Apparently she was REALLY behind on her water bill. And her lateness wasn't because she forgot, it was because she plain didn't have the money. It sounded like her water was going to be cut off the following Monday.

This was late Thursday afternoon.

She had brought in, like, around 65 dollars cash. She told the clerk that it was all she had. She also said that she wouldn't have any more money until the following Friday. The Clerk was trying to be as nice as she could be, but her hands were tied. The poor lady still needed another 26 bucks to pay off the entire amount. She was practically in tears as she told the clerk that she would try to borrow the money from somebody and bring it in by Monday. It didn't sound like she was very sure about it though.


Now here I was standing right behind her and hearing everything.

My first thought was "yeah, no money to pay your bills, but I bet you have money for cigarettes and beer." All of a sudden though, I felt sick that I could be so cold. She didn't look like the kind of person that would do something like that. And then even more surprising, I realized that even if she had spent her money that way, that I had no business judging her. I also thought to myself that there had certainly been times in the early years of our marriage that Don and I had been just that strapped. Then I thought to myself, how very scary it must be, to need such a small amount as 26 dollars and not have any way of getting it.

That's when I had the idea to pay it for her.

The more I thought about it I knew that I would do it. The problem was I didn't really know how to go about it. At first I thought about stepping in and asking her to let me pay it for her. That just didn't seem like too good of an idea though. If I had been in her position and someone had offered to help me that way. Well yes, I would have been thankful and relieved but I would have also been pretty embarrassed too. I would be feeling pretty awkward too. I would feel the need to get the person's name and address and promise to pay them back. The last thing I wanted to do was add to her stress or even worse embarrass her in front of all the people still in line behind me.

So I waited for her to be done.

As soon as she was out the door I went up to the clerk and quietly asked if it was possible for me to pay off the rest of her bill. I tried to keep it as quiet as possible because even though she wasn't there anymore I still felt the need to protect her from embarrassment. The clerk was thrilled to let me pay it for her. She told me that this was the part of her job she hated, she always felt so bad when dealing with these situations. The clerk wanted to know if I would like to leave my name and address or phone number to give to the lady in case she wanted to contact me. I told her that no I did not want to do that. I just told her to let her know it came from someone who has been in that kind of situation before. The clerk couldn't wait to contact the lady and let her know that her bill was paid up.

So, with one simple, didn't hurt me at all, act, I helped to make the lady's day that hadn't had the money. And the clerk was so happy to be able to inform the lady that her bill had been taken care of that she let me know that I had just made her day. and I suddenly felt so nice that my day was made as well.

It just felt SO GOOD, to do something nice for someone.

So you see there really are times when I can go above and beyond. I just wish I could remember to be this way more often.

I'm sure that all of you have similar stories that you could share. When I'm not being cynical, I really do have to admit that people generally are good. It's just that the bad ones are so obnoxious and extreme that it makes it hard to focus on the good.

I hope this hasn't been too preachy. And I hope that we will all have a NICE week ahead of us.

Pats on my back

Well here I am in the home stretch of my quest for niceness. I have had several nice moments.

Here is a good one.

When going through the round-about closest to my neighborhood, I was pleased to see that there was no traffic in any direction.

One small hitch though.

Apparently the young woman in front of me doesn't understand the finer details of round-about usage. She STOPPED. There was clearly NO need to even yield, seeing as how there was NO ONE around period. But apparently this little Lucy Law-abider is so very conscientious about following the rules of the road that she doesn't just yield at a deserted round-about, oh no, Miss Lucy, comes to a complete STOP. And not even just a complete stop, oh no, she looks around to make sure that no one is anywhere in a three mile radius. Of course there isn't. Now I am sure you have figured out how infuriating for me this was. And just as I am raising my hand to honk like crazy, and just as I am really preparing my harshest, Look Of Contempt,

I suddenly remember my current pledge of niceness.

Humbled and Shamed, I put my hand back on the steering wheel, and I slowly remove the LOC from my face.

In other words, I do NOTHING.

Well nothing but patiently wait for her to decide that entering the round-about isn't as life threatening as it would appear, and to slowly, cautiously, creep out into the big scary round-about and go on her timid little way.

Now this may not sound as impressive as I think it should, but allow me to put it in perspective.

Donald, that would be, Donald, as in first born son. Donald, as in total Hot Head. Donald as in, must use his horn at least 20 times a week, to notify everyone else on the road of how stupid they are. Well Donald would have HONKED and he would have made it a good solid honk of at least a 30 second duration. He also would have thrown the most withering LOC at her while also screaming unfriendly obscenities. ( He may deny some of this.)

So now you can see how virtuous I was, to not do any of the unpleasant things that crossed my mind right then.

I have, of course, an even bigger example of what a changed person I have become.

Thursday is the day that I always take my mom out. I take her to do whatever shopping she feels is necessary. And then I take her out to lunch.

Lunch is the part she likes best.

The retirement home that she lives in doesn't have a very good culinary reputation. And that is just the NICE way to put it. Today I went kinda cheapy on her and we did Burger King. She didn't mind too much.

There were, of course, the usual "Fast Food Problems." Our order was taken, payed for, and then promptly forgotten. And when I say forgotten, I mean FORGOTTEN.

We had order #5.

First #6 was called then#7. By the time numbers 8 through 10 were called it became pretty clear that we were never going to see any food in this place without intervention. Dutifully, I go up front. I kindly (yes, believe it or not kindly) point out to the young man who had taken our order and also the manager ( he obviously didn't want to miss the excitement so he rushed over) to hear that we had not received order number 5. They jumped into action. They ascertained that indeed I had not received my order yet. I was so happy that they reached this conclusion on their own, and that I didn't have to lead them to my table and show them LOOK! NO FOOD. Manager guy told me that they would quickly get our order made and even bring it out to us.

I go back to my table. I tell my mom that we should get our food now. We wait......we wait some more.......after even more waiting I go up front to see if our order has even been started yet.

It hadn't.

Now the manager is feeling the heat. Somehow I had gotten the wrong impression that they would drop filling the orders they were working on and get right to my order. No one had told me that they planned to work my order in when they had a free moment. Again manager guy tells me that they would bring it out to us when it was ready.

Well, lets cut to the chase.

Finally a full 18.5 minutes after I had first place our order the manager brings our food out to us. Believe it or not, I was nice to him.

Nice, but not stupid.

He told me how very sorry he was. I told him that an apology was nice but for as long as it took I think I should get my money back. He went up to the register got my money and brought it to me. You would have been proud of how graciously I accepted this much deserved compensation.

See? Being NICE and still getting results, I'm thinking I may be onto something.

Now comes for my most current act of niceness.

As we left the BK parking lot I saw a beggar. You know, the ones with the signs claiming all kinds of unfortunate circumstances. And of course the finishing touch. The ubiquitous "God Bless." I had seen this woman when mom and I came out of BK and as I helped her into the van and put her walker away. I realized that we would be driving right past the Sign Holding Woman.

These beggars really tick me off. I read an article once, saying that these people make on average 300 dollars a day. So forgive me but I would not even give these people a moldy hamburger to feed their dog. The DOG by the way is one of their favorite props.

You might say that I am a bit of a connoisseur of beggars. I like to read their signs and get a good chuckle. Some of them get pretty creative. This woman was obviously a seasoned veteran. She was just scruffy enough to not be too repulsive. She was such a step above your average, poorly trained beggar that she didn't even have a dog with her, or a nap-sack. Oh no, none of those obvious trappings.

She had a red gas can.

I had to admit, I was IMPRESSED. And the fact that she would not have any use for that gas can, I'm sure wouldn't register for the people that have maybe a split second to decide whether to stop and contribute or not.

Her sign had the fairly generic message. "Stranded. Need help. GOD BLESS" but the " red gas can."

That was a stroke of genius!

Of course if you took a few seconds to think about it you would realize how stupid it was. Does she actually think that the people leaving Burger King are going to have some fresh gas in a container just for the next homeless person they run into. But the point is that most people, at least the ones who are suckered by these people, will not even think about how ridiculous that gas can is. I realized that I was in the presence of a true Master.

Well this is when my new niceness comes in.

You have no idea how much I wanted to quickly roll down my window while coming to a stop and motion her over. And when she was close enough I'd say "Wow you are really good! The red gas can prop, GENIUS!! Lady I salute you!!! You really know your stuff!"

Oh if you could only realize just how much I wanted to do that. But just as I was slowing down, I remembered my vow of niceness. I also realized that I did have my mom with me. I honestly don't know how she would have reacted but seeing as how I would have been speaking around her because she was in the passenger side and that was where pseudo homeless lady was standing, I'm pretty sure that mom would have been uncomfortable to be even slightly involved in Susan's little confrontation. So I didn't do it. I did it, well ,I guess I didn't do it, for MOM. I did slash didn't do it for the fake homeless lady.

And now, I have the reward of the good feeling that can only come from doing a NICE thing for one's fellow man. ( Well in this case one's fellow fake homeless person)

I am just so pleased with myself. I think that niceness is becoming such a habit for me that I may never go back to my old ways. I will try to keep most of my niceness to my self however, because the last thing I would want, would be to give Jan cavities. I will probably do at least one more post on Niceness. So if they are becoming too nice for you I will understand if you prefer to skip it.

Now I can't get any nicer than that.

Two for One

Lisa tagged me with the six things thing. So I will list in six words (or more) what I know about myself. It will be a short list, because after all, it's only six. I have a hard time keeping things short but I shall try.

1. Loyal

2. Generally Happy

3. Nice!

4. Loving

5. Generous

6. Insightful

Well that was quick, I guess I know me better than I thought. I tried to think of a word that means, Happily Free Spirited, but I couldn't so I didn't. Is it cheating to add one more description in your remarks after you have done the six? Probably, but that's another thing about me,

I CHEAT.

Now don't get your panties in a bunch. I only cheat when it's of no great importance. And I really don't even think of it as cheating. I prefer to think of it as,,,,

Leveling the playing field.

Oh and here is what some sticklers might consider cheating. I'm not going to tag anyone because so many people have already been tagged that I probably can't come up with five. And also I haven't stuck to the script so anyone I tagged would probably end up more confused than anything. I do want to be Nice though. So I will write six words for six people (one word each that is, not 36 all together) that may not have had the chance to do this little exercise in self diagnoses.

1. Dani from Kentucky - Fun

2.Mandi from Australia - Free Spirited

3. Jennifer from Texas - Athletic

4.Donald from my womb - Confident

5. KaTrina from Missouri - Adventurous

6.Debi from Pasco - Admirable

There how is that? I can't ever leave things alone, I always have to make them my own.

Alright. That was ONE. And as you can tell from my title this is a two for one post.

So, to number two.

Jan did a lovely post recently on the things she would wish for. She said three wishes, but, I think one of them must have been for more wishes (that would certainly be my second wish) because she did much more than three.

I know that a lot of people out there are going to be thinking "Wow, Susan sure does have a lot of time on her hands" But, I have spent countless hours of devoting my thinking to the whole three wishes thing. And unless your wishes are being granted by the Genie in "Aladdin" I think that wishing for more wishes is a perfectly acceptable thing to wish for.

Susan's Wish list (that she has spent a lot of time refining so it pretty much covers everything.)

Wish #1. I wish that everything I wish for will always turn out the way I intend it to, that nothing that I or any normal person would consider bad or harmful or to cause unexpected trouble will ever happen because of something I have wished for.

Wish #2. I wish for more wishes, as many as I need and only to be used when I need them, so that if I was ever to say, I wish that person would drop off the face of the Earth or some such thing that I really don't mean I would not have to worry about it happening.

Wish #3. I wish that I and anyone else that I love and care about will have a body free of excess weight, with no disease, with perfect vision, to be whatever height they want to be, and with the hair that they would like to have.

Wish #4. I wish I could have a beautiful singing voice.

Wish#5. I wish that all the leadership positions in the world would be filled by good honest people who would serve their fellow men with only the very best and unselfish motives.

Wish#6. I wish for all of the neglected and abused, malnourished and uneducated children in this world to be found and helped so that all they know is how it feels to be loved and cared for.

Wish#7. I wish the same thing for all of the pets who suffer from abuse and neglect.

Wish#8 I wish that all of the lonely, sad and unloved teenagers and adults would find people that love and care about them and that have the resources to help them.

Wish#9. I wish that school teachers would earn more money and that any of them that are burned out or abusive or just plain incompetent would be quickly replaced by those who would do a better job.

Wish#10. I wish that every gang member in any city in our country or anywhere else in the world, where they are a threat to society, would see how evil they are and leave their old lives behind them and spend the rest of their lives doing good to make up for the evil they caused.

Wish#11. I wish that a true cure for cancer, heart disease and any other of the leading causes of death would be found and made available to every one who would need it.

Well I could go on and on, but I think I will stop here.

Jan this is the second time I have copied you with a post that I have been meaning to do but you beat me to it. I think our great minds really do think alike.
I hope you have enjoyed reading all these NICE thoughts of mine. And just like Jan said, I would love to hear about the things you would wish for. Either in a comment or a post.

I know that Jan won't mind because she is
1. Generous
2. Fun
3. Friendly
4.Loving
5. Wise
And
6. One of the glues that holds the blogging world together.

Thank you for reading
Nice Susan

UPDATE: I started to leave this as a comment on Jan's blog and then, when I realized how heartfelt it really was and I knew for a certainty that this would be the wish of my heart, I knew I would have to take it back from Jan's comments and put it here. Sorry Jan, but I know you will uderstand.

Oh and by the way Jan my 6th word for you would have to be Christ Like.

I wish that I could have one day every week when I could spend the day with just one of my children at whatever age I wanted them to be. I would so love to hold each of them again as babies. I would so love to go back to a time when I had treated them too harshly and just circle them in my arms and let them feel just how much I truly love them. I really think that if I could really truly have one wish that would be granted no matter how impossible it sounded that this is what I would wish for.

Some NICE pictures!

Here I am, two days into being nice. And I have decided that I must be nicer than I have given myself credit for because I have hardly done anything differently. Of course I didn't leave the house even once yesterday. And today I only went to church. (I'm usually nice while I'm at church.) So to be honest I really haven't been tested yet.

So, since it's been a slow day for niceness for me I decided to do something nice for the people who read my blog, those that I haven't actually met in person. You know that I mention my kids quite often in my posts. And for quite a while I have thought I should put pictures of my children up so that you will all have a face to go with a name.

And as luck would have it my oldest son Donald was here tonight for dinner with his two oldest girls. My DIL Lisa is in California. She has been invited to come and audition for Deal or No Deal. Isn't that just COOL? And also, so very NICE? Her whole graduating class from her High School in Orange County Southern California have been invited. This is the show's newest gimmick apparently. It is for their class's ten year reunion.

Oh, I guess I got a little sidetracked. Because the whole moral of this story is that Donald was here tonight so he came upstairs to the computer with me and helped me find pictures of my three youngest.

Those would also be the three kids that just won't leave.

Well to put a NICER spin on it, Kelly is just a real late bloomer and he just hasn't decided what he wants to do with his life yet. But, he is starting school in the Fall, so High Hopes for Kelly.

My youngest Courtney wants to leave and get a place of her own, but she needs to learn to budget her money better.

And my Shawn.

Shawn will always be with us because he is autisitc and mildly mentally retarded. And he is my little Angel and I wouldn't let him leave even if he wanted to. Not to worry though. NOT to worry. We don't have a hostage situation here, Shawn is perfectly content to stay right where he is. In fact if anyone asks him if he would like to live in a nice group home, well first he would freak out, and then he would most likely yell and get into one of his moods. So Shawn Stays here.

All right, now to get to the point of this whole post. First I have pictures of my beautiful baby girl Courtney. These are a few of the pictures she has on her My Space. She has more pictures on this computer than all the rest of us combined so I have taken the liberty of swiping three of them just for you. Courtney is twenty and currently works at Target, where she is quite happy.










I'm having second thoughts about this one. I thought I could crop it but all blogger will let me do is change the size. But this is an honest portrayal of my youngest. So if it makes you more comfortable just picture her with a tee-shirt on instaed of her bikini top.



There that is my youngest. Isn't she pretty. And most the time she is really sweet too. (Most the time)

Alright, now my youngest son. My Shawn. I have written so extensively about him that he needs no more introduction. So heeeeeeres Shawn.





This one was taken Christmas of 2006 he was twenty here.



This one was taken just a few weeks ago for his twenty second Birthday. The white box thingy right in front of him is a brand new first aid kit that I bought for Donald and Lisa to give to him, which reminds me, Donald did you ever pay me for that? I can't remember. Oh by the way, this is a shot of Shawn smiling. I had to include a smiling shot because no one smiles like Shawn smiles. It takes up his whole face.

I love to see this kid smile!

Okay now we come to Kelly. Kelly is twenty six. It's kinda embarrassing to have a twenty six year old still living at home but like I said, he is a bit of a late bloomer. We have high hopes for him. Hopefully before he hits the big four oh. One more thing I could only find this one picture of him. This was Christmas 2007 I believe but it might have been 2006, I'm really not sure. He looks a little tubby because, well he was. He has since lost weight and doesn't look 5 months along anymore.

Sorry Kelly.

Kelly just came home and saw the picture I had of him at Christmas. He said I could keep it up but he wanted to put up a current picture. So of course I told him YES. I'm nice like that.This is a very current picture of Kelly. Doesn't he just look so NICE?

Well these are my live-at-homers. My two oldest, Donald and Heidi are not here because I don't have pictures readily available. Of course my DIL Lisa has plenty of Donald on her blog. And Donald has a few of himself so chances are you have seen him already. And Heidi? Well Heidi doesn't blog. She scrapbooks. There is a picture of her and her husband Jeff however on my Lil Brother Mike's Fifth of July video. She and Jeff were doing a duet of Bohemian Rhapsody. She has on a black shirt and some really cute glasses. So if you are desperate to see Heidi, go HERE.

Well, does all this make me a doting mother? It probably does. And you know what? I am fine with that. Because doting Mothers are just so NICE!!!

Susan plays NICE

I realize that I have written two pretty gripey posts in a row. Don't worry, I have NO intention of apologizing. In fact it looks like I hit a nerve. A lot of you seem to feel the same way as I do. Which, believe me , I really do appreciate. But I feel that I am being pretty negative and gloomy about the current state of things. There will always be stupid, clueless, malevolent or just plain crappy, parents. And I don't see a shortage of dimwitted, incompetent, ignorant, minimum wage earning type people any time in the near future. So I have decided, strictly for my own peace of mind and mental health, to

Don't Worry and Be Happy.

In fact I have decided to spend this coming week being . . . . . NICE! Yes that's right NICE.

I haven't really done that for a while, you know.

And, as I was coming home from the craft store (To buy something pre-made. I don't really do the craft thing anymore) and was driving on a street CLEARLY posted at 35 miles an hour, which everyone knows, means you go 40 on. (Well, everyone except for my sweet Lisa who even though she is from California, will not drive one mile over the posted speed. Trust me, Donald and I have tried.) And as i was stuck behind a gray haired couple of the geriatric persuasion who for unknown reasons were barely doing 25. And of course my normal reaction is to be really pissed (sorry Dani) and to, while not exactly, tailgating, I do try my hardest to let them know what a problem they are being. And as I saw us all being passed by a guy on a motorcycle. (He used the center turn lane) I decided, enough of this crap, and I took to the center lane and passed them myself.

It was okay. There were No cops around.

Well after I passed those old befuddled lollygaggers, I felt quite pleased with myself. But right after the good feeling, for some reason I started to feel bad.

I was not expecting that.

I started thinking to myself. I reasoned with myself that perhaps, just perhaps, they were an out of town Old Couple, who had traveled four hours from the Seattle area, to, maybe, see their grandson play in a ballgame, or maybe even to celebrate a birthday, and just maybe their son and his wife had moved to a new house and a new neighborhood since the last time they had been here, and even then, they had needed a lot of help getting around because after all they are old and they aren't very good with directions, and here they are just trying to find their way in an unfamiliar city so they are going really slow so they don't miss the right street sign. And they feel bad that people are lined up for almost a mile behind them, and then this young whipper-snapper on one of those noisy motorcycles that these rude young men seem to like so much now-a-days pass them and if that isn't bad enough that women behind us who has been almost tailgating us for several blocks is now passing us in that center turn lane herself.

Welcome to a little sample of me trying to make excuses for people instead of getting mad at them.

And of course, since I had gotten around them and was able to go my accustomed 40 I wasn't mad anymore. In fact I was feeling quite generous. This led me to start reminiscing on the past month, well I guess maybe this past spring and summer.

Oh who am I kidding the past two years. At least.

And with all this thinking, it occurred, that just maybe, I'm not always as kind, patient and understanding as I should be. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not an ogre, no, no, no, no, no, NO.
No, I don't plan to turn green and sprout horns anytime in the near future. I just have to be honest with myself, well, and to admit that certain people that I am related to (mostly those ones I have given birth to) might be on to something when they tell me that I am just too damn negative. Yes yes, I can see some truth to their accusations. Not that I see myself as someone who can never enjoy life or just be happy and satisfied.

Well, this is all a really long preamble to me stating , right here and now, That starting uh, tomorrow, I will be nice.

I really am nice most the time. I do my share of thanking people. I do my share of being helpful. I smile at small children. I offer helpful suggestions. I tip.

It's just that in between all that niceness I sometimes stumble into curmudgeon territory.

So for this next week I am going to be only nice.

I realize that it will take a little practice. Especially when driving. So I am going to start every journey, whether just up the street to Walmart, or across town to hmm, Richland's Walmart, with a nice smile on my face and a song in my heart.

Hello car full of obnoxious, oops, I mean young and carefree, teenagers. Yes, yes, you silly people I see that you just cut me off and almost caused an accident, but not to worry, I am happy to let you drive in front of me. After all I am NICE!

Why you funny little Taco Bell worker. How considerate of you to ask me three times if I want hot or mild sauce. You little Dickens. And NO, I don't want any sauce but THANK YOU for making absolutely SURE. After all I am so very NICE

Oh my goodness. You funny little children running up and down aisle 10 at Walmart. Look at you having so much fun playing with all those toys that your parents have no intention of buying for you. Ooops, I'm sorry, was my shopping cart in your way? Yes I can see that I should have seen you tearing up this aisle and quickly moved to give you the right of way. Oh you little darlings. Where would the world be without such lovely children???

Do you see how quickly and willingly I can change?

I am so impressed with myself that I can barely wait for tomorrow and the rest of this next week.

Yes, the world is going to see a nicer Susan. A humble, kind, generous and benevolent Susan.

I feel so good about myself right now that I just might go TWO weeks with this being nice thing. And who knows, maybe I will inspire many others with my good attitude and positive outlook on life. Maybe there is someone reading my blog (Someone who NEVER leaves comments) who will be so uplifted by this post that she or possibly he, will also decide to be NICE. Maybe this unknown person will be nice to everyone they come in contact with and all of those people will feel so good from being treated with kindness that they will be motivated to be NICE themselves.

Maybe, even the blankety blank ooops, I mean misunderstood, Oil Speculators, will feel so sorry for being the cause of so much grief by driving up the cost of gas, that they will immediately do whatever an Oil Speculator does to help bring down the cost of gas.

Wouldn't that be just so darn NICE?

Maybe, just Maybe, that Wiley old Bin Laden will be so overcome with remorse for his slightly bullying ways that he will immediately turn himself in along with all of his men.

You know the possibilities are simply ENDLESS. If everyone can try to be nice for just one week, who knows, maybe we can change the World and make it a nice place to live. So I guess this has suddenly become a call for everyone reading this to spend the next week, or even two weeks, being NICE. Be understanding, be open minded. Be forgiving. Show love to all those funny people who really don't deserve it. Lets check back in a week and we will see how we have all done. Shall we?

Well I am signing off for now. I think I will go do something NICE!

Fast Food Frustration

Well, are you ready for more bitching? It is really funny because this was the post I had planned to write yesterday, but my movie experience was so horrendous that I couldn't let it go unacknowledged.

Now why is this funny?

It is funny because Jan, who is the writer of one of the blogs I always read and who is just a super sweet person, wrote a post today on the very topic I had planned. And you know what? I had thought (about a month ago) how fun it would be to throw out a topic and whoever wanted to write a post about it could and then we could all read each others ideas.

I still think that would be a fun thing to do, so if after reading mine and Jan's if you have your own experiences you want to share, well feel free.

You may be wondering what topic I am going to write about. It is about a little situation I like to think of as "Fast Food Hell"

I will start with Taco Bell.

You go to Taco Bell. You go through the drive-through. You place your order. They always, and I do mean ALWAYS ask you if you want "any hot or mild sauce with that? Now my answer to this is always "NO". The thing is it really doesn't matter what you answer. In fact I think next time I'm going to just say something random like "sweaters".

Why doesn't it matter you may be thinking? Although you will only be wondering that if you have never patronized your local Taco Bell. The reason why it doesn't matter what you answer is because when you get up to the window to pay, and before they hand you your food, they will always ask; "did you want any hot or mild sauce with that? I always just stare at them incredulously. In fact sometimes if I am feeling extra combative I will even say, I already told you I didn't want any sauce. There was actually one time when I was asked at the speaker, again when I paid, and then an unbelievable third time, as they were handing me my food. If I wanted "Mild or Hot sauce with that?"

I don't know? Maybe they are for some reason expecting people to keep changing their minds about their desire for "mild or hot sauce". I don't really know why. Is it possible that Corporate tells them they must ask at least twice. Was there once an incident when someone answered NO on the first time, to then go ballistic when he received no sauce, so now they are required to ask each drive-through customer at least twice.

I actually wouldn't be surprised if that is exactly what happened.

Yeah, lets annoy everyone by asking twice just in case someone changes their mind. So what if we piss off at least seventy five customers in a row. Sometime during the day there will be at least one person who will suddenly decide that yes, now that you bring it up for the THIRD time, I realize that I really do want mild or hot sauce after all.

I'm not sure. This one may call for further research.

Now Jan mentioned McDonald's. For good reason too. I dare you to go through their drive through and not have them mess up at least one thing. Jan included the dialogue. And though it may seem a little copy-catty, I will too.

McDonald worker (hereafter known as MW) "May I take your order please?
Me (hereafter known as Me) "Yes I want a Grilled, Ranch, Chicken SnackWrap, please.
MW : Do you want that crispy or grilled?
Me : I already said I want it Grilled.
MW: Okay so you want it grilled. Do you want that with the honey mustard?
Me : NO, I already said I wanted it with RANCH.
MW : Okay, so you want a Grilled Chicken, Snack Wrap, and you want that with Ranch? Or did you want that with Honey Mustard?
Me : (First I heave a BIG SIGH) " I said I wanted it with Ranch! RANCH!!!
MW : There is no need to repeat I heard the first time that you want it with Ranch. Is that right?
Me : (Thoroughly beaten down by this point.) Yes that is what I want. A Grilled Chicken Snack Wrap with Ranch. And that is all except for an Ice Water please.
MW : Okay. You want a Grilled Chicken Ranch Snack Wrap? And an Ice Water? Did you want Fries with that?
Me : By this point I have completely lost my mind. After all didn't I just clearly tell them that this was all? So I patiently tell them that No. I do NOT want Fries.

Now just try to tell me that this hasn't happened to you at least once????

My next example happened just tonight, as luck would have it.

I decided that Don and Shawn and I would go to Arby's and get dinner. I decided on Arby's because Arby's quite often sends out coupons. And then in case you missed those, they send out more, usually a week or two later. So I had in my possession valuable Arby's coupons.

We go to the Arby's on Clearwater. It is not usually too busy which makes it a good choice. We go in. We are the only ones at the counter. There are three workers up near the counter. Oh good I think, quick service tonight. I see the young man that seems to be manning the register. I smile. I make eye contact. He starts to ask for my order. Just then the SHIFT SUPERVISOR, I know she is a SS by her name tag, well she quickly comes over and tells nice, friendly, willing to take my order guy, that he needs to take the drive through orders first.

What??? Clearly I was not expecting that!

So nice, friendly, previously ready to take my order guy, heads off towards the obviously much more important, Drive Through People.

We stand there and wait, and wait, and wait.

He finally comes back. I am using several coupons and I hand each one to him as I order that particular item. For Shawn I get the four Arby Melt Sandwiches for five bucks. Don and I are each going to get one of their Subs for the coupon price of 2.99. The only problem is (Oh wait I forgot to mention, for some reason Shift Supervisor Girl has taken over for nice, friendly, eager to take my order guy.) So the problem is she now needs me to repeat everything I have already ordered. This is annoying but it can be done, so I do it. On the Sub Sandwich order for Don it is quite simple. He wants the Turkey Club.

Very nice, very straightforward.

Now I am the first to admit that I can be a little High-Maintenance at times. One of my problems is that I cannot stand the slimy, processed, cheese flavored oil that passes for cheese at most Fast Food places. I tell Shift Supervisor Girl that I want the french dip sub. And then I tell her that I don't want cheese on it. That instead I just want lettuce tomato and their Red Ranch Sauce on it.

Now really, how HARD can that be?

I notice that she is ringing up two more charges. I ask her why. She informs me that if I want tomatoes and lettuce I will have to pay extra for them. I point out to her, that I don't want CHEESE, and that Cheese, surely costs them more than two thinly sliced tomatoes and a little bit of shredded lettuce. She informs me that her hands are tied. The only way to let them know in the back how I want my sandwich made is to put it in the machine. And, if she puts it in the machine she has to charge me for it. I ask her why she just can't go back and tell them how I want it fixed. She looks at me like I had suddenly started speaking Swahili.

Oh one other thing. When we get there I notice that there are two Cherry Turnovers. Don and I both want one. I had already told nice, friendly, boy that but I had to tell Miss SS as well. She pointed out to me that one of the cherry turnovers had just been sold to the Drive-Through, so she only had one left. I told her I wanted it and that I would take an apple one too.

After all Don's not picky.

Well they finally have our order ready. Nice, friendly boy brings it out to us. He is quickly followed by Miss SS. She has come to tell me that someone in the drive through wanted MY cherry turnover so now all they had was apple, and did I want an apple one. I told her NO I DID NOT want an APPLE one. She very grudgingly tells me that she will bring me back my money.

She goes back to the front. She starts taking orders. By now I have looked at our tray and noticed that not only is there no cherry turnover, but the apple one for Don is missing as well.

I head up front. It has been at least five minutes and she has made No Effort to bring me back my money for the missing Cherry Turnover. She says "I was just now going to bring that out to you." Uh huh, sure you were. I then inform her that they didn't put the apple turnover on our tray. She says in an extremely haughty voice that if we want an apple turnover we will have to pay for one. I look at her in amazement. I inform her that we had already ORDERED and PAID for it. She insists that I had only ordered and payed for the cherry one and then she points out to me that I have just gotten my money back for that. At this point I am so relieved that I had asked Mr Nice and Helpful to bring me our receipt when it didn't come on the tray along with our food.

Somehow I suspected that I would want it.

I grabbed it. I head up to the front and show her that I had indeed ORDERED and PAYED for TWO Turnovers! She looks at me and slowly turns around and gets an apple turnover. She hands it to me. She looks so pained that she apparently feels she has just done a huge favor for me.

Well I won't bore you with anymore details. Suffice it to say that we did NOT ring the "Thank You For Such Good Service, Bell."

Now those are some of my most recent horror "Fast Food Hell" stories. Do you have any that you would like to write about? If you do, I promise to read them. Misery is always easier when shared after all.

UPDATE :

I seem to be doing quite a few updates these days. Chalk it up to trying to do a post in under two hours I guess. ( And yes that is approximately how long it takes me to write a post. I'm a really pathetic typist)

Anyway, I forgot to mention this in my Arby's story. My sandwich came. It did indeed have two thinly sliced tomatoes and a little bit of shredded lettuce, but, it also had CHEESE on it. Normally I would go right up to the counter, demand someones attention and point out the unbelievable mistake they made. This is how I always handle this kind of situation. Last night I did not do this. Why? Because I had, had all the FastFood Frustration I could stand for one night. Fortunately the cheese was still cold and not melted like some kind of slimey glue to my sandwich. I took it all off and gave it to Shawn.

Rotten Kids or Rotten Parents?

I wasn't really sure if I should do a post on this but after reading Tiffany's post on a nasty kid and even nastier mother, and hearing about the same kind of thing from Lisa, I have decided to write this. If it steps on toes I am sorry but I really am sick of this.

As you know Pixar's new movie Wall-e is out. And if you are a long time reader you know how much my sweet boy Shawn loves himself a good movie.

So here is the situation.

I know Wall-e is out. Shawn knows Wall-e is out. I am willing to wait until it has been out for a month or so. Shawn is not!

Shawn has yet to master the art of delayed gratification.

So, what do Shawn and I do today when he gets home from Partners and Pals. (That is his summer camp that he goes to that is run by the ARC, a truly wonderful organization.)

Yes, I'm sure you have guessed that Shawn and I went to see, Wall-e.

I knew that there would be a LOT of kids there. And as much as I generally like kids, I don't like kids who have parents who think that their little Jessica or Frankie, can do NO wrong.
Sorry but those kind of kids (and parents) send me through the roof.

I decide to go to the Fairchild Cinema instead of Carmike, probably more through force of habit than anything. We pull into the parking lot. I see, oh, not too many cars. The only problem is that there seem to be a much higher concentration of vans, than I am comfortable with.

Now let there be NO misunderstanding. I love vans. I have a van. I love my van. So no, I do not have a problem with vans. What I have a problem with is what those vans so often contain.

Noisy, obnoxious, overly pampered little darlings, with parents who are NO help, because after all ,they are the creators of these little monsters, whose only objective in life is to make it hard for Susan to enjoy her movie.

Please don't be offended if you have younger children. Well unless you are one of those parents who prefers to look the other way, or even to look right at your kid creating all kinds of nastiness and think to yourself, "Oh how nice little Travis has found something to entertain himself with.

I am fairly sure that none of you fit that description, and you probably feel the same as I do. After all, it is the children of the good parents who are usually the victims of the evil little spawn of the horrible, vile, completely irresponsible, should have been sterilized at birth, BAD PARENTS!

All right enough ranting (well for now at least, it may be a short break though).

So here are me and Shawn. We go in. We plunk down our thirteen dollars. ( Well I do the plunking, Shawn is flat broke) I am actually even able to withstand the temptation of the popcorn that starts to scream my name the second I put one foot on the premises. (Ha, Popcorn, you are truly a worthy adversary, but today, I am Stronger!!!)

We are there for the 4:30 showing of Wall-e. I am actually tempted to ask, first when I buy our tickets and then when we turn them over to the ticket taker (now that would be a mind numbing job. I hope it at least pays well.) If, IF, there have been many children's tickets sold.
I decide that I should keep my mouth shut and give things a chance. After all these are young kids working here, that probably really only notice the Hot Guys or the Hot Girls that come into the theater, and not the mother with four kids trailing behind her with one demanding popcorn another screaming his head off for no good reason and the others wailing about needing to go to the bathroom.

Am I sounding angry and bitter? I hope not too much. Because I have raised five little dears of my own. And they had their share of acting out in public. The only difference was that I wouldn't put up with it and would even turn around and leave if it got too bad.

Sidetrack :

One day I was going to Shopko and this younger looking woman with probably three or four kids were just extracting themselves from their van. Immediately, one brother clobbered another brother, while at the same time the little girl starting demanding that she better get a treat. This youngish looking Mother told them (I heard all this because I was one parking space down) to get back in the van. They started screaming. I started thinking, yeah right, empty threats. But guess what? They were not empty threats after all. She demanded that they get in the van and get themselves buckled in. I was SO IMPRESSED! How impressed was I?

I was so impressed that as soon as she had gotten her last child shoved in the van and managed to shut the door without getting any one's hand cut off, I went over to her and told her how impressed I was to see a parent actually follow through with a threat. I told her that in my opinion she deserved a mother of the year award. She was so overwhelmed with that kind of support, that I really think it suddenly helped her to be not as stressed as she had been.

All right back to today's' story.

Shawn and I head into Theater number one on the right side. I do a quick scan to see which good seats are available. We seat ourselves and prepare our nerves to put up with the boring commercials that Fairchild plays over and over and over and over. While this is going on, several groups of mothers and kids start filing into the theater. And I do mean several. Calm down I tell myself. This doesn't necessarily mean anything bad. Everyone is seated.

There is so much noise that I can barely hear myself swear.

This isn't looking very promising. Of course it is still the super boring commercials, it will no doubt quiet down when things get rolling.

The lights go down. The noise continues. The coming attractions start. It's maybe not as loud but there is still enough chatter that it's not looking good. I try to be patient. I tell myself that this is quite often how it is during the previews and that once the movie starts it will be much quieter.

Oh, one little thing I forgot to mention.

Sitting in our row about three seats down is a mother and probably a grandmother and a little boy I would peg at maybe 5 or 6. A cute little boy. A nicely dressed little boy. A little boy who has apparently never been taught how to behave in a theater while watching a movie. He is talking in a pretty loud voice and momma and gramma seem to either not notice, or more likely, to not care.

A few minute into the movie. Cute little boy, three seats down, still talking. I turn and glare at the mother. No response. A few minutes more of, "OH LOOK MOM THERE IS WALL-E. IS HE GOING TO BLOW UP EVERYTHING? IS HE GOING TO BE IN A SPACESHIP??" I decide to try to nip it in the bud. I face them and as loud as I can I throw a nice resounding SHHHHHHH! at them. Mom throws me a surprised and somewhat indignant look.

Surprised? Surprised? How on earth could she be surprised that there might actually be someone else in that room besides her and her child.

She seems to get the hint and whispers something to him. He lowers his voice a tiny bit and I notice her looking in my direction. What does she want? A retraction? Sorry lady but not on MY watch!

Okay, I think I have come to the part in this little tale where my appraisal of the Movie Wall-e might be helpful.

This is not a movie for children. There is very little dialogue for the first half. There are large parts where the viewer needs to understand what is happening in the dialogue-less film and anyone under probably 10 could have a hard time. It is very slow moving. It is quite nuanced. And at times it even is a little bit boring. And that is from an adults point of view. I don't know many children under ten who would know how to enjoy a non-dialogue, heavily nuanced, slow moving, and somewhat boring movie.

To demonstrate what an inappropriate movie for younger kids it is, I would like to point out that after the first ten minutes (And that is being generous) none of the kids in that theater were watching the movie. They were needing to be taken to the bathroom every few minutes. They were crawling around on the floor. They were bumping into other peoples seats. They were basically doing anything they could do to avoid watching that stupid Movie. So please do yourself a favor. Don't take your young children to this movie. If you really want to do the movie thing, go for another round of Kung Fu Panda. Now THAT is a MOVIE!

All right back to my misery. The little boy next to us is still talking. This is usually the point where I lean over and say, in a very annoyed voice, "Could you please keep him quiet." I had to do this in the latest Indiana Jones movie. Fortunately, that time, there was only one kid in the whole theater. And I think the parents were a little embarrassed because several other people murmured agreement when I said that to them.

No such luck this time. There were kids every where. And, you would have thought, not a parent in sight. They were there of course. They just didn't feel the need to teach their children manners. There was a large group right behind us. They had started out quiet, but their disruptiveness soon seemed to know no bounds. There was something big and heavy that this little girl (Her age? My guess probably three) kept dragging and slamming against the floor behind my seat. I don't know what on earth it was.

Do they have those booster seats there at Fairchild?

I realized at this point that there was nothing I could do about the noise because it was coming from everywhere. I think the idiot parents were trying to unresponsibility each other. This is the point where I would get up and leave and get my money back. But there was a BIG dilemma.

My BIG DILEMMA:

If you will remember I had Shawn with me.

Shawn was really happy to be there watching the movie. Shawn would have been very unhappy if I was to suddenly tell him that we were leaving, and would come back another time. Plus ,I reasoned, unless we went to the late night showing of it, I would still have to put up with the same crap all over again. We were by then 25 minutes into the film, and I had to face the fact that the best course of action would be to put up with the misery. So that's what I did. I suffered through till the end. I tried my hardest to ignore the parents ignoring their kids behaviour. I made it through intact.

If any one ever questions how much I love my Shawn, I will have them read this post.

Oh one other thing. Shawn seemed to like it, but he hardly laughed at all. I think it just goes against his code to not love every Pixar Movie that he sees.

I realize this has been a long and not very fun post. If you are still with me, thank you, and please promise to NOT see this movie with a child under 10. Or if you are really intent please no younger than eight.

One word of advice. If you do take a younger child, be sure and bring some Benadryl!

Golden thoughts

Every Monday, I drop my Mom off at Dialysis. It's kinda handy because the place where I go for fills (that would be acrylic nails, not gas) Is just one parking lot over. So every other week when I drop her off, I go see Annie at Hot Spa Nails and get, "maw nails did. "

I don't do french tips. I like them and I think they are very attractive, but I love color too much to stick with just the natural look.

I usually get some shade of red. I love red nails, and the brighter and bolder the better. Maybe it's just my inner hooker having a say but I just really like my nails red. Not to mean that I never experiment with a pink or two. And every once in a while I will even go with this really cool color by OPI called; Mod About You. It is a shade so pale and opaque that at first it might come off as white but then you see it's subtle nuances of palest pink and palest lavender. It reminds me of the nail and lip colors that were so popular in the mid to late sixties. It is a cream color not a sparkly or iridescent. I usually go for the creams. I just think they look a little more sophisticated, at least on a woman of my advanced years.

And then there are the days when I just throw caution to the wind and choose a color that I know I will be spending five dollars (plus tip) in less than a week to get a polish change for.

I do this probably 3 or 4 times a year.

If Courtney is with me I am more likely to stick with my tried and true reds or maybe a nice pink.

Courtney can be really bossy.

The way that only a daughter can be with her Mom. And I don't think it's just because she has my back. I think it's more the fact that she is most likely in the two weeks that I will be sporting the new color to be seen with me in public at least a few times.

But hey don't we all practice some kind of self preservation? I guess I can't really blame her.

I remember a few months ago when I was actually thinking of auditioning a Robin's Egg Blue. Courtney, of course, let me know in no-uncertain-terms that it would be social suicide for someone as geriatric as me to think she could get away with a color that was so clearly meant for those young women 25 and under. I'm still not sure who's suicide it would have been, hers or mine.

Of course I do have enough social savvy to realize how lucky I am to have a beautiful young twenty year old watching over me and keeping me from some really huge fashion miscalculations (no, that's not quite right, how about calamities)
Well today Courtney was obviously not with me.

I admit I was weak.

I saw this beautiful bottle of iridescent gold by OPI and I was hooked. Here, I will treat you to an example of my left brain trying to reason with my right brain.

R "Oh look! GOLD?!?"
L "On no, you are not going to do this again"
R "Hey, I haven't picked a color like this for a long time!"
L "Yes, and there is a good reason for that too"
R "Oh brother. I make one little mistake with avocado green and you will never let me live it down."
L "You know perfectly well that if you get this color that you will be unhappy with it by the end of the day."
R " I don't think so this time. I think that this time is different and it will just look like a nice classy summer color."
L "Classy, CLASSY? You are going to look like one of those eighty year old women with the blue-white, super puffy, curled hair, that wear gold sandals with clear heels and adorned with fake purple jewels!"
R "Now you're just being hysterical, I know what looks good on me."
L "Looks good? LOOKS GOOD??? obviously you have totally forgotten the PUFFED sleeve peasant blouse incident at Walmart!"
R " Hey that would have been just fine if I hadn't needed too big of a size so that the sleeves would fit my voluptuous arms. And besides, THAT, was clothing that has NOTHING to do with nail color."
L "I give up! You are obviously NOT going to listen to reason today."

Now don't tell me that you don't have these little arguments with yourself at least sometimes.

So, I sat down at Annie's nail station. She took off my old polish. I looked at the gold OPI sitting there so innocently.

She started to grind down my nails with her dremel tool to get them ready for the new acrylic mixture. And the gold OPI? Still looking like a good choice.

She applied the new layer of acrylic nails. Gold OPI? Still looking pretty good.

She shaped my nails. Update on the gold? Still mostly looking like the right choice.

She puts the sander bit on the dremel and starts to wear down the rough spots. I'm starting to think just maybe, maybe, I might want to think a little deeper about the gold.

Time for the buffing and applying of cuticle oil. Gold OPI? Well, I'm not sure but do I really want to go pick out a different color?

Wash my hands, come back and pay, get my frequent nail fill card punched. Left brain is screaming at the top of her lungs trying to get my attention. Go away Left Brain, and leave me alone, sometimes you are just so boring!

Annie holds up the OPI. Annie looks at me with a very questioning expression on her face. "You want gold today? That is a really different choice for you today."

I suddenly feel very bold. Hell yes ,I want that gold! I can't think of a single color in this whole shop I want more than this lovely gold. In fact I realize that I WILL NOT KNOW A MOMENTS PEACE UNTIL I AM LEAVING THAT SHOP SPORTING MY NEW GOLD NAILS.

Oh yeah, sign me up for gold!

She does one layer of gold. Nice. An almost completely sheer but perfectly lovey shade.
Coat number two, I impulsively decide that two coats just will not be adequate. I call for a third round.

Annie usually never questions. If you want three coats, sister you can have three coats.

Third coat and then the clear overcoat.

I go dry my nails under the good ol ultra-violet light. I sneak peeks at them. I tell myself how much I like them, and what a good choice I made. I also notice that pesky old Left Brain is trying really hard to be heard as she yells "I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!" at the top of her lungs. (Do brains have lungs? Hmm, more research.) I sneak a few more peeks. I do have to admit that they (in only the right light of course) could possibly be mistaken for the eighty-year-old super puffy and curly blue haired Lady's nails.

Well I am home now. I have been the proud owner of my new gold nails for about three and a half hours now. Do I like them? I still am not sure, I may have to go over to Donald and Lisa's to get the stamp of approval from Lex and Lori. But then I remember that they also really liked the super hot pink ones I had about this same time last summer.

Apparently there is only one thing to do.




Wait till Courtney comes home to tell me whether I should like them or not.


This will be a looooong wait.

Update; I decided that Mike and Dani were right so here is a picture of me with my new gold nails.

Show Time!

First of all, I want everyone to know that I am being a very brave girl.

Now for my little announcement.












NO. I am not PREGNANT!!!!!! Ooh that would be Nightmare City.

I will let my sweet and completely capable cousin Debi Spurgeon take care of those things.

WAY to GO Debi.

Any way, I am here to announce that my baby brother Mike (I can call him baby because I use to change his diapers and feed him and all that stuff. And I have loved him for every second of his life!) So Mike has finally put together the video that till now you have only heard rumors of.

Yes THAT video. The one of our partying at his house on the Fifth of July, Normally the day known as Shawn's birthday.

I am being very brave to send you over there to watch it because like so many talented performers (joke, trust me COMPLETE joke) I have a hard time watching myself on tape. It really brings out my harshest self critic. For that reason I never like pictures taken of me.

Now please believe me. I am NOT fishing for compliments.

No. I really just want credit for being brave enough and a good sport enough to let all my new blogging buddies see me in action, and at the same time help my little brother find a few more readers.

For some reason guys have to try twice as hard (at blogging) to get half as many readers as we girls. So give my little brother a chance and go here (I am now going to call Donald and see if he can walk me through doing a link. If it works you will be there, (at Mike's) instead of here.)

And if you like, and you have never visited his blog before, feel free to introduce yourself and also read some of his other posts.

See what an adoring, encouraging and all around good Sister I am?

Hmm, maybe I am fishing just a little. I just try really hard to give myself good, healthy pats on the back, and I hope that all of you do the same.

The Day After

I have been waiting for my little brother Mike to do a post on the fabulous time we had at his place the 5th of July. He is going to put together a little video of the big to-do we had there that night. Unfortunately he has been pretty busy and hasn't done it yet. When it comes to things like" little videos" Mike is a Master and that makes him a bit of a perfectionist. So I will patiently wait. And I will write about the night of fun we all had on the 5th without the use of audio-visuals.

I'm not sure when it first came up for Don and me and all of our kids and grandkids to spend Saturday evening at Mike and Cindy's. But I am really glad that it did. Up until now I have only heard the stories of the great fun that can be found while visiting at their house. Well I am here to say that the stories are true.

We left Richard and Dorothy's cabins around 4:00 Saturday.

Side note: This reminds me. My brother Mike is so clever and funny that he quite often comes up with some really good ones. This one he figured out when he was somewhere between 15 and 17 (i don't need to be too specific because if I'm off he is sure to correct me.) One day we were talking about places he liked to go, and out of the blue he told me that he always loved hanging out with Dick & Dot. I had NO idea who these two people could be. He informed me that it was the little nicknames he had come up with for Richard "Dick" and Dorothy "Dot". It really cracked me up. For some reason Richard and Dorothy didn't appreciate Mike's creativity. Dorothy especially was annoyed by it. So Mike kinda had to keep the whole Dick and Dot thing under wraps, but I still sometimes think about them by those names.

All right back to our story.

It took maybe 45 minutes to reach Mike and Cindy's. We had never been to their house yet. They bought it a few years ago because the house they were living in at the time was too small and the neighborhood was, oh shall we say, not entirely, decent people friendly.

Their new (new to them, old to everyone else) house was so cute. Cindy gave us the tour and I just loved it. The people that they had bought it from had a really good eye for decorating, and parts of it look like pictures in a magazine.

I also met Rusty.

Rusty is Cindy's guinea pig. I have never had much fondness for pets of the rodent variety, but if anyone could change my mind it would be little Rusty. He had such a cute personality and he apparently considers himself to be quite a momma's boy. That would be Cindy as Momma.

Mike and Cindy also have chickens. Yes, real live chickens, although they also have a few ceramic ones. And my Granddaughter Lindsay fell in love with them. Who knew that Lindsay has been channeling a chicken farmer for all these years. She spent a lot of time outside waiting for eggs to be layed. And it payed off. She was the proud carrier into the house of four eggs. Cindy even let her bring "her" eggs home with her.

Well we got settled in and pretty soon dinner was ready. Mike had some tri-tip steak that he had grilled outside. It was so good I actually ate some. That might sound weird to say but lately I can barely eat meat. After a few bites I can't stomach any more and if I tried I know it would all come back up. But this was some of the best meat I have had in A LONG TIME.

This is also the place I was at when I did my, Hey Look! Pictures of me Blog.

The fun didn't really start that night until after dinner. That was when Alicia and Daniel showed up. That would be my niece and her husband of two years. I think two years at least. Another thing that I'm sure I will be corrected on if I am wrong. (See how helpful family can be.)

Mike has a wii. Heidi has a wii. Donald has a wii. And ME? No wii.

Heidi has American Idol for her wii. Mike has American Idol for his wii. Apparently American Idol has (unbeknowest to me) become everyone's favorite game on wii. So there was NO doubt that sometime during the evening there would be some American Idol wii-ing going on.

It all started out, in what I am sure is the normal way. More than eight people were wanting to play (not me I was at the computer doing my own thing. And if Donald and Lisa hadn't already left to go home by that time, I'm sure the word party pooper would have been flying) Well Cindy and Alicia teamed up so that there would be only eight contestants.

They began. I didn't pay much attention. They continued. Still no attention paying on my part. For some reason though, I suddenly started to pay attention. And suddenly ( I don't really understand why) I had a huge urge to get up there and sing my guts out. At first I thought the feeling of wanting to be in front of these family members, doing something ( namely Karaoke) I had maybe only done once before ,would go away if I didn't announce my intentions.

I guess my mouth had different thoughts though.

I announced to everyone, that I would like to try my mouth, at wanting to sing a few.

It took a moment for it to sink in that, hey, Susan wants to join. It was decided to shelve the game that they had been playing and open it up to what would basically be "Open Mike Night." So here I am suddenly, in front of the TV, and everyone in the room, scrolling down the list of songs available.

It was a pretty short list.

You would think that the wii people would have put more songs on that list or at least more "singable" songs. "Hello?" "What's this?" "Put Your Records On, by Corrine Baily Rae ?"
I LOVE that song! And as luck would have it I even already know all the words. (Gee the first time I buy a CD that I turn out to only like one song on it, finally pays off.)

I sing. I do really well. At least much weller, than I would have ever thought possible. I start to realize that "Hey, singing in front of a group of people can be FUN!" And the fact that they are all family members so there is nothing to fear, barely even registers.
Okay, now I am really into the spirit of the whole thing and I want to do another song. I again scroll through the list of songs, that now seem even more limited than they did five minutes ago.

"Whoo whoo." "What's this?" "SATISFACTION?" "By the STONES?" "YES, YES, YESSSS!"

After all I do know the words.

All right I get into pure Rock Star mode. I am even DANCING!! It starts a little slow.

That's good!

All of a sudden I realize that just because I know the words it doesn't mean I can sing in this particular register. I cannot quit now, though. I must save face. I do the best I can through the first part and then I realize, "Hey if your going to do it, then REALLY do it.

I start to scream sing! Yeh!! " WHEN I'M DRIVING IN MY CAR. AND THAT MAN COMES ON THE RADIO! AND HE'S TELLING ME MORE AND MORE . ABOUT SOME USELESS INFORMATION, SUPPOSED TO FIRE MY IMAGINATION"

THE CROWD GOES WILD!!!!!!

Well, at least Alicia and Daniel and Mike and Cindy seem to be enjoying things.

Now I am really in the spirit of it all. I get Shawn to come up. He's really got a nice voice. He really loves it and does two more songs. Then Mike and I do a duet to "Sister Christian". Jeff and Heidi do a killer duet to "Bohemian Rhapsody." I do a duet with my grandaughter Lindsay to "Walking on Sunshine." Linds' is a little nervous and I try to bring her into it because by now I am fully into "Shaking My Groove Thing" I have'nt had so much fun since.........

...................well, since the day before.


Well, as all good things must come to an end, so did this evening. We all got to bed around Midnight.

Ooops. I forgot this little detail. It was Shawn's 22nd Birthday, so we took a little break between the singing and sang Happy Birthday to him, and had the cake that Sweet Dick and Dot (ooops again) had bought for him. He was quite pleased because, after all, it was his birthday.

The next morning Mike and Cindy served us a great breakfast of whole grain pancakes and farm (oh I mean yard) fresh, fried eggs. We hung around and visited for a while and then it was time to leave. We left with promises on both sides to get together and do it again. And I really hope we keep these promises.

And one last little side note: Mike will be putting the footage of our American Idoling on his blog so if you are interested go to his blog and keep a watch for it. He writes a crackin' good blog and trust me you will like it.