Tag! I'm it.

I have been tagged by my great friend Mandi. I've only been tagged once before and I managed to make a super long, extremely wordy, post of it. So watch out here I go.

Five weird things about myself you don't know.

1. Hmmm, this is going to be hard. I'm not exactly a secretive person, which means I've probably revealed more about myself already than common sense would ever dictate. I think though that I will start with this one.

I love a good Dictionary.

And by this I really do mean a GOOD Dictionary. I can't stand those wimpy little dictionaries that don't even have a word like conundrum a word that means "a riddle, or something confusing". No these dictionaries have cat but not contraption. Is there really anyone out there that needs help spelling jam, or house? I am actually a pretty good speller, but that's not the point. Sometimes I just like to verify that I have a spelling correct. And as many of you know the spellcheck here on blogger is pretty dismal.

2. When I was a child, I hated soda pop, potato chips, popcorn and chocolate ice cream. For the most part I like all those foods (and drinks) now. Well that's not entirely true. I only like chocolate ice cream if it's a nice dark chocolate with lots of interesting things swirled into it. Like those small containers of Godiva ice cream?

Heaven.

Also I still don't like many Cola drinks, or any soda that is highly carbonated. I do however LOVE popcorn. Especially Movie popcorn. I don't like a lot of the microwave popcorns however. They are WAY too salty. I hate that. I usually look for Home Style. Just the right amount of salt and artificial butter flavor.

3. I love to read. I don't limit myself to a certain genre either. I can enjoy a well written kid's chapter book as well as Anne Rice's Vampire series. I think books written a couple hundred years ago, can be not only entertaining but also extremely interesting from a historical standpoint. You get to see into the social and moral thinking of that time. They really did think and act in a way that would be very foreign to us today. And don't think for a minute that their morality was superior to ours. Believe me we have definitely evolved in this area. To see what I mean pick up a copy of "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" or "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe. NOT the children's abridged version either, get the real thing and read them. They are a fascinating look into the thinking and values of the 19th century. I love most of Stephen King's books. However I have never been able to make heads or tales out of his "Dark Tower- Gunslinger" series. I also recommend Chris Bohjalian. A few of his books can be slightly graphic but he tells a really good story. I won't get into any more of the books I read. It would take up way too much space.

And yes, I guess this isn't too weird that I read a wide variety of books, but hey, I'm reaching here.

4. I somewhat enjoy the smell of Skunk Spray. In not too concentrated doses of course.

5. I have mentioned this before so maybe this won't count, but I love speaking in front of an audience. I love giving talks to groups big and small. I didn't always of course. When I was in school I was so shy and introverted I never raised my hand, or spoke out if I could help it. I don't even remember when I discovered the joy of public speaking. It has been within the last twenty six years or so, I do know that much. I think it all started about twenty six years ago when I saw an incredible Psychologist, Dr Orr. He helped me to completely change how I saw myself. I had some real issues left over from my childhood. They are still there and sometimes they come out at the most inopportune times, but for the most part I am a much more confident and happy person than I was thirty years ago. My love of public speaking was one of the bonuses that I got from that. I have discovered that I have a real talent for it.

Well there you go. Five things about me that are perhaps a little bit weird, that you may not have known about me. You know what they say, confession is good for the soul. So on that note, I choose to tag, my little brother Mike, and my niece Alicia.

Have fun with it.

What has happened to all the red ones????

Okay, let me start out by saying that this is going to be a ridiculous and silly post.

Even by my standards.

I can't help it though. It's something that I have been spending more time than I care to admit, thinking about.

And you know how they always say to write what you know. So I figure, why not.

Now to make sure we are on the same page and for people who are only casual readers of my blog, it is somewhat important to know of my great love for Jujyfruits. I have actually only been a hardcore addict for less than a year. I used to stick with Milk Duds, Good and Plenty's, StarBursts and M&Ms, oh and of course, Gummy Bears and Worms, either regular or the sour ones.

Lovely candies all.

I was never very tempted to try Jujuyfruits, I remembered them being quite sticky. And I don't know about you but I don't like having to peel something off my teeth and gums. I felt that this was asking a little too much. I don't even remember when I bought my first box of them. I do know that I would buy boxes of Mike n Ikes, or Dots on a far too regular basis.

Somehow I never found them very satisfying.

So one day, strictly for nostalgia's sake I guess, I grabbed a box of Jujyfruits instead of the Dots.
It had been at least 30 years since I had last eaten a Jujyfruit. I knew that they were a chewy, stick to your teeth and gums type candy that came in the usual fruit flavors, and for some reason, licorice.

I was completely amazed.

Somehow in the past 30 years, I had developed a new liking for them. Who knew? Yes they still were sticky, but all of a sudden that didn't seem like a good reason to banish them to the "I don't like this candy" category. They had such a nice flavor, not at all vague like Dots and Mike n Ikes tend to have.

In no time I had become a Jujyfruitaholic.

Now let me make this all a little more clear. I have type two diabetes. I can hear you now. SHAMEFUL! She should not be anywhere NEAR candy. Technically, yes that is true. Of course there are extenuating circumstances.

Really.

Point 1) You see I take this injectable diabetes drug called Byetta. Before Byetta I could not get my blood sugar below 150 (that's fairly high) and that was with taking two other pills to lower my blood sugar. Byetta really does work very well to lower my blood sugar. It actually, quite often works too well. Frequently my blood sugar will be as low as 45. 45 is getting into, slip into a coma and die territory. That's bad. Now onto Point 2) Byetta does work but it can also make you nauseated.

I know that my blogging friend Stephanie knows all this because she takes it too.

So here I am an hour or two after dinner and I feel my blood sugar dropping. Not a pleasant feeling. This is the point where you need to eat (or drink) something sugary. Remember Julia Roberts in "Steel Magnolia's"? You know, with the orange juice? Well that is a pretty accurate depiction.

Except I don't shake like her and my head doesn't spin a complete 360, but you get the point.

I don't know if you have ever noticed at your local pharmacy that they sell these rolls of candy for Diabetics. They don't call them candy of course. I don't really remember what their official designation is but they are basically hardened orange flavored discs of sugar.

Yuck!

I figured that if it's okay to pop a couple of those in a low blood sugar moment, then why not a handful of candy. I have even asked my Dr about it and she has told me Fine. So I have gotten in the habit of keeping a goodly supply of Jujyfruits around just for these moments.

And now, I have finally arrived at my whole reason for this post.

You certainly can't ever say that I don't give sufficient background info.
For close to a year now I have been buying boxes of Jujyfruits. They are 88 cents a box at Walmart. I hardly ever leave Walmart without at least one box in tow. Lately though I have noticed a disturbing trend. My favorite color Jujyfruit is red. In fact my favorite flavor in several other candies is also red. Except for Starbursts. When it comes to them I am a pink and yellow girl all the way. I digress. Back to my Jujyfruits problem.

Yes, I really do have a problem.

Lately, as in the last few weeks, my nice boxes of Jujyfruits, have had a disappointingly low number of reds. I'm trying hard to not show just how disturbed by this I really am, but I have actually counted all the reds in a box and then how many yellows, orange, green and licorice pieces there are.

I am right! There are fewer reds!!!

I'm not sure what to do with this information. Normally I would write a strongly worded letter to the Company, But, if it is a conspiracy to cut down on red candies, it might not be safe to let them know that I am on to them.

I have watched enough TV to know what usually happens to whistle blowers.

The plot thickens.

Another candy I really like are the Fruit Slices (Gum drop candy in the shape of an orange slice.) at Walmart. They are a store brand candy and they sell for a dollar a bag. They have four colors. Orange, green, yellow and red. Now to be fair, there are fewer yellows than any other flavor. Then there are the reds. They are the flavor I like best. Then there are the green ones and the orange ones. A typical bag of fruit slices will have fifty percent orange and the rest will be the other flavors.

I am not at all happy about this.

First of all it is SO unfair. They already carry bags of Orange Slices, yes that's right. All orange ones. They have their very own bag. So where do they come off thinking they can monopolize the bag of FRUIT SLICES. My son Donald will verify this for me, by the way.

Of course his spin on it will be that I am crazy.

When I buy a bag of Fruit Slices I take several bags down to try to verify how many reds each bag has. Lemon too, I do like the lemon ones. I can go through quite a few bags before I find one that seems to have more than the usual paltry number of red ones.

I buy that bag. I take it home and eat all of the red and yellow slices.

And what do I do with the ever abundant oranges and greens?

Simple, I give them to Donald and Lisa and the girls. I have given them quite a few bags of orange and green fruit slices. Alexandra and Lorelai will eat anything. In fact they seem to love them. Donald, asked me the other night "Mom, do you actually buy this whole bag of candy just for the red and yellow slices"?

I know. Can he possibly get any Cheekier?

I don't think I even gave that question the dignity of an answer. After all we are talking a dollar a bag here. So what if I don't want the orange and green ones. So what if I offer them to my grandaughters. I look at this as a, win- win situation.

So here we are, my story seems to have come to an end.

I will keep buying my favorite candies and hope that one day the reds will come back in their previous numbers. Until then I will keep an ever watchful eye on what appears to be "The red candy Conspiracy".

I hope I'm not in too much danger.

Lindsay is eight do you know what that means?

My number two grand daughter, Lindsay turned eight in August. In the Mormon religion, well I guess I should say that in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we baptise our children when they turn eight. Unlike other denominations we don't baptize our babies, we believe that babies are absolutely perfect and do not need baptism. We further believe that for most people, in our church, eight years old is the age that they become accountable. Meaning that by eight they pretty much have figured out right from wrong and can be trusted to do what is right.

Notice I said "most" people. We believe that people who are cognitively disabled, like my youngest son Shawn for instance, for the most part are not in need of baptism. Of course many of them are baptized. Just a little later in life.

Shawn for example.

We didn't have him baptized when he was eight because he had too little understanding of the whole thing. If he had asked to be baptized of course we would have signed him up, but he had no real interest. In fact he was finally dunked this past March. He was quite pleased with himself, and he tries to follow the commandments.

Well this last Saturday the 20th was my grand daughter Lindsay's baptism. We, that would be me, Don and Shawn, went up to Spokane to be there for her.Donald and Lisa came too, with their three little girls, Alexandra, Lorelai and Elisabeth.

Our baptisms are pretty easy to understand. We had a song, an opening prayer, and some welcoming remarks from Jeff and Heidi's ward mission leader. Then there is a talk on Baptism.

I did that. I love giving talks. And speaking at something as special as my sweet little grand daughter's baptism was a wonderful blessing.

After my talk, Lindsay and her Dad, (my son-in-law Jeff) went into the baptismal font. It's probably about the size of a twin mattress and is filled with maybe three feet of water. There is a door and steps at each end. Lindsay came from one door and went down the steps into the water and Jeff came down the steps from the opposite end.

Total (although very quick) immersion is necessary.

If any part of the person being baptized isn't completely immersed, like say a hand, a toe, or even a bit of hair, it needs to be done again. I have heard of instances where the baptism needs to be repeated several times, it's rare but it does happen.

After the baptism Lindsay went back up the stairs she came down, the door leads into a dressing room where she puts on dry clothes. Jeff did the same going to the Men's door and changing room.

Then Heidi and Lindsay came back into the room where we were all sitting. Heidi had gone into the changing room to help Lindsay.

Jeff had no help, but he managed anyway. (LOL)

When we were all seated again, my oldest grand daughter Abbey and her two little cousins Alexandra and Lorelai went up front to sing a beautiful little song. They were so sweet and they sang so well together. We could really feel the spirit. Shawn who was sitting next to me was tearing up.

Shawn feels things quite deeply.

I explained to him that he was feeling the spirit and that this was a really good thing. He seemed relieved. He told me afterwards that he thought he was sad, but he didn't really feel sad. It was a very touching thing to see him feeling the Spirit so strongly.

After the girls sang, Grandpa DeCoursey gave a talk on the gift of receiving the Holy Ghost. When his talk was over Lindsay went to sit in a chair as Jeff, both Grandpas, Uncle Donald and also the two other men from Jeff and Heidi's ward laid their hands on her head while Jeff gave her a blessing and conferred the Holy Ghost on her.

In our church, men are the ones who hold the Priesthood. We don't consider this sexist at all. We believe that Heavenly Father gives the job of holding the Priesthood to men, and women are partners with God in bringing children into the world. Some of us think, and I'm only half joking here, that men are given the Priesthood because they need more help being good than women do.

I think that most of you know about my dear, youngest little grand daughter Elisabeth. She was a little bit fussy during the service, which is so unusual for her. Lisa couldn't do much about it because she was playing the piano.

I'm not sure what Donald was doing.

However, yesterday afternoon when Jeff and Heidi got home from Church. (We didn't go with them but we had stuck around so we could say a proper good bye to Lindsay.) Heidi told me that in Relief Society, (that is what we call the women's meeting), that her friend who had ended up holding little Elisabeth, was so touched by her story, (Donald and Lisa were talking to her afterwards about Elisabeth's problems.) That she used Elisabeth in her lesson that day. She talked about what a special spirit she has and how even though she is in such a poor disabled little body, that her spirit is so calm and happy. She used this example to illustrate how blessed we are to come to earth and receive a body.

After the baptism we went back to Jeff and Heidi's. Heidi is a really great cook but she decided to go the easy route and had gotten a meat and cheese tray and a bag of rolls from Costco. She did make some deviled eggs that were excellent.

Donald made it quite clear that he didn't like any kind of deviled eggs.

And that was fine. In fact Lex and Lori decided to pick up his slack by having two eggs each. I had such a lovely time sitting with my four grandaughters and visiting with them.

Lindsay had decided that instead of a Costco cake for dessert she would much rather have a dessert bar. Heidi made lemon squares and some kind of snickerdoodle bars. Lindsay made brownies all by her self. (She was quick to point out they were made from a mix.) Abbey had made chocolate chip cookies all by herself and she did not use a mix.

I really admire Heidi's ability and just plain willingness to turn the kitchen over to the girls like that. I had a much harder time with letting my children do things on their own the way she does. It was always so much easier to do things myself. But her girls are learning all kinds of things at a much younger age than they ever would have on my watch.

That is a really good thing.

Well that is what I did with my weekend. I have neglected my blog a bit but I think what I got in return was even more fulfilling. And just think I only have to wait a little more than two years until Alexandra turns eight.

Goodbye Across The Universe

I am totally in Love!

With a Movie.

A really great Movie.

The name of my new favorite movie is "Across the Universe". You have probably heard of it. It came out around November or December of last year. Courtney and I had seen the previews for it and we both really, really wanted to see it but for some reason we never did. Well fortunately for me, we happen to have a few premium channels.

And with those channels comes the ON DEMAND feature.

That means that HBO and Starz, have movies that you can watch whenever you want to. Since I'm not usually much of a TV watcher I haven't really used On Demand all that often.

Well that has sure changed.

A few weeks ago I was tired and bored. An interesting combination. I was actually tired, bored and restless. For once I wasn't in the mood to read. So I turned on the TV to find something to watch. I had quite a few movies recorded from HBO and Starz that I imagine were feeling pretty neglected.

I do that.

I record something with the DVR that I want to watch, sometime, but somehow, that sometime never seems to come.

Is it weird to feel bad about neglecting those previously recorded movies?

Probably, but that's how I sometimes feel. Sorry movies, you will get watched eventually, but not today.

So anyway, here I was in my bedroom scrolling through all these programs that I had recorded just for times like this, and since none of them are what I wanted to watch, I end up checking out the On Demand. I tried Starz first.

They are of course listed alphabetically.

That means that without even needing to scroll down, there it was! Across The Universe.

Now I was interested!

For some stupid reason though, I also felt a little apprehensive. Why would I feel that way???? I'm not sure, but I think it was mostly because I had wanted to see it so bad, and now without even meaning to I had found it and was going to watch it. I guess I was experiencing a kind of reverse buyer's remorse.

To sum up, I decided to not expect too much. I also figured there was a good chance I wouldn't like it after all, and would want to turn it off after 20 minutes or so.

Now one thing I want to emphasize is that this is a movie that is great to watch for the first time, but it is better with each repeated watching. That is because the first fifteen minutes or so are mostly establishing sequences. Or in other words introducing you to the main characters. I was confused by it a bit. There also are so many little things you probably won't catch on your first time that you will discover on subsequent viewings.

Oh foolish me, to think I may not like it.

In case you don't know anything about it, the story is set in the late sixties and early seventies.

My time!

It is also a tribute to the Beatles music.

My music.

The basic story concerns Jude (played by the delicious Jim Sturgess, just try to not fall in love), a young man from, of course, Liverpool, who comes to the states to find his unknown father. Unknown, because Jude was conceived when his father was in England during World War 2. Daddy went home to America never knowing he had left a little bun in Jude's mother's oven. Jude makes his way to America, where he tracks down his father at Princeton. Jude is expecting his dad to be a professor but instead he is Princeton's maintenance man.

Jude is more surprised than upset by that, after all he is a working stiff himself.

While at Princeton Jude meets Max (Joe Anderson, thoroughly enchanting). A rich, privileged, student who is basically a bad but lovable boy who plans to drop out of school. They become best friends. Jude accompanies Max home for Thanksgiving. This is where he meets Max's sister Lucy(Evan Rachel Wood, She is PERFECT). Lucy's boyfriend has just gone off to Viet Nam. Jude is instantly smitten with Lucy and it is obvious that there is a real chemistry between them. Jude and Max move to New York. (This is after Max tells daddy that he is dropping out of Princeton.)

Before too long Lucy's boyfriend has died in the war. She graduates and goes to New York to spend time with big brother Max for the summer before she goes off to college in the fall. She and Jude fall in love, and she never ends up leaving New York.

I won't tell anymore of the plot, but trust me it is so good.

I can't really recommend it for those of you that are uncomfortable with PG13's, at least the ones that really deserve the rating. There is drug use, there is a small bit of swearing, there is some violence as well as some beautifully and tastefully filmed nudity. I admit that I watch R and PG13 movies.

And I don't like them filtered either.

I'm not comfortable with letting someone else decide what is inappropriate for me to be watching. If there is excessive swearing, especially repeated use of the F bomb, I won't watch it. I actually hate that. I love words and I can't stand listening to characters whose speech is so limited that all they can say is F, F, F, ten times a minute. So don't worry, it's not like I watch every R movie that comes out, I just don't limit myself if it's something that grabs my attention.

Across The Universe, has definitely GOT my attention.

I loved it so much that after 10 minutes I knew that there was no way I would be turning it off. In fact even though I love the WHOLE movie, I would have to say that the first 15 minutes is probably my MOST favorite part of the whole film. That is also the part of the movie that has most of my favorite songs.

Sadly, On Demand only will show a movie for so long.

When I first came across it about the middle of August it was a NEW movie. Meaning that they had just put it on the On Demand menu. I was happy for that because I intended to watch it a few more times. After those few more times, I loved it so much that I have now watched it close to 20 times in all.

What can I say? I have a very addictive personality.

A week ago they put up the "ends on this date" notice besides it on the list of A movies.

OH NO!!!!!!!!!

The final day was the 17th of September.

NO, NOOOO!!

I realized that I was running out of time to watch my new obsession. Oh BTW, in the meantime I had ordered the deluxe CD of the soundtrack from Amazon. It took forever to get here, but I've had it now for almost a week. I have burned a copy of it to listen to in the car. I don't want anything to happen to the actual CD itself, and, yes that's right, I haven't leapt into the 21st century and gotten myself an MP3 player.

I'm a little old school I still like CD's.

Well today is Wednesday. It is Wednesday the 17th. But then I'm sure you knew that. You probably weren't aware however that, that means today is the LAST time On Demand will be showing Across The Universe. Yes, yes, I guess you could say I'm in a little bit of mourning.

Why don't you just buy the darn movie I can hear you saying.

Well I planned to. But Courtney told me NO WAY. You see my loved ones have a hard time on gift giving occasions, because I usually go buy the things I want for myself so I can't ever think of anything for them to get me. So for Courtney's gift giving sake, I have decided to hold off on purchasing it so that she will have a sure bet for what to get me for Christmas.

Is that noble or what?

My only hope is that Starz will put it back on their On Demand lineup again. And pretty quick, too. Because I don't think this is going to be an easy withdrawal. In the meantime of course I do have my CD that I can listen to whenever I want.

I will just have to find other things to do to take up the time that I have spent in the last month watching my New Favorite Movie.

It's going to be a long month.

Exciting UPDATE!!!

Well here it is Thursday the 18th and guess what??? That's right!! Across the Universe is on again as a NEW movie. Happiness is me. Of course the thought does occur that now we will see just how obsessed I really am. I mean if it's going to become a permanent fixture on Starz on Demand, I wonder how long I'll keep watching it almost every day. Hmmm, it sounds like more research will be needed.
So goodbye for now, I'm off to, umm, watch something on TV?!?

My good Red Lobster story

Sometimes it pays to have a Courtney!

She is useful for all kinds of things. A great shopping buddy. Someone who is usually free with advice if I have committed a fashion faux pas. Someone to go see movies with (that would be the ones that my husband and her boyfriend would not want to see) And a generally good person to spend time with.

We have girl nights out once in a while. And that will be the subject of this post. First though a little background.

Courtney works at Target. She really enjoys working there for the most part. For those that don't live around here, it is important to my story for you to know that our local Red Lobster shares the parking lot with her Target. (That would be versus the Richland Target that shares their parking lot with a non-chain Mexican Restaurant.)

It is a little known fact that several of the people who work at Red Lobster, like to spend time at Target. I am assuming that would mostly be on their break times. Although not necessarily.

Because another little known fact, is that Target has groupies.

Yes, that's right they actually have people that come to the store every single day. These are people who will be waiting in the parking lot at 10 to 8 in the mornings, breathlessly waiting for those familiar red, bullseye, glass doors to be opened.

This is not an exaggeration. Same people. Every day.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

If you fit this description, don't worry I don't judge.

Now Courtney has gotten to know a lot of the regulars in her time working there. She even has a few favorites. One of the people she has made friends with, is the manager of Red Lobster. He is a really nice guy. I'm not sure just how often he visits the store but he seems to know my daughter fairly well.

This, by the way, is where my story begins.

Courtney and I, and sometimes, also, my other daughter Heidi, will go to Red Lobster now and then.

We have been met with varying degrees of success, when it comes to customer service. A lot of the time the service is just fine and we eat, pay, tip, and go on our way. But sometimes, sometimes, the service is horrible.

There was a time, quite a while ago, where we sat for twenty minutes before a waiter or waitress even acknowledged that we were taking up space at table 19. It was another ten, before we had water. And, apparently, the wait-staff decided they might as well round out the time to an even 60 minutes.

That was how long we had been at our table before we received our salads.

I don't even remember how long before we had our entrees. All I know is that mine was cold, which means it must have been sitting there for quite a while before our server figured out that we weren't there just to fill up on the cheddar bay biscuits. Oh yeah, one more thing, even though we asked a couple times we never did get any more to drink either. Courtney and Heidi had "all you can drink" sodas. I had water. We never will know how much Heidi and Courtney could have drunk because we didn't get a single refill.

Don't worry. We found the manager. We complained. He comped our bill.

The story however doesn't end there.

Courtney, one day not too long ago, ( while at Target), was engaged in conversation with her new friend Brian, the before mentioned manager of Red Lobster. He had not been Manager at the time of our disastrous lunch. He happened to ask Courtney how she liked the place. She told him that sometimes she really liked it but sometimes, we all swore we would never darken their lobby again.

He wanted details.

I wasn't there so I can't really say what all was said, but Brian, was so horrified that he told Courtney to come see him the next time she felt the desire for sea food.

A couple of weeks ago Courtney and I thought a girls night out would be fun. We decided on dinner at Red Lobster. And as luck would have it Brian was there. He came and chatted with us a bit and he assured us that we would be very satisfied with our dinner and service tonight.

Our waiter came. He was really friendly. He brought us water right away. He was there to take our order the second we wished to order. He mentioned that he had heard that we had had a couple of bad experiences before. He promised that we would have NO cause to be unhappy on his watch.

He also mentioned that we should expect a discount and free dessert, on the house.

The entire time we were there our waiter just could not do enough for us. We were brought our food in record time. Our glasses were never empty. I've never seen so many cheddar bay biscuits in my life, we didn't want for anything. Brian came over a few times to make sure that everything was good.

It was.

It was amazing how good it felt to be waited on like that.

We got two free desserts. To go. We were pretty full by then. The bill came and we were only charged for ONE dinner. Courtney insisted that we leave a huge tip. We both left six bucks. I think a twelve dollar tip is pretty darn generous. Oh, in case you're wondering, the bill came to 15 something with tax.

Wooh Wee!! So this is what it feels like to be famous.

There was only one eency weency thing that wasn't great. My shrimp for some reason tasted like diesel exhaust. Don't worry, even I know when complaining is the last thing you should do. So I didn't. I did feel a little bit guilty though to not give them a heads up on the off tasting shrimp.

But you know, the whole "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth" and all.

Not to mention the fact that Courtney would have died from shame and then killed me on our way out to the parking lot. I do know when to keep my mouth shut.

Well that is my Red Lobster story. My good Red Lobster story.

I guess I also told my bad Red Lobster story but that was to help explain this whole thing, so I get credit here for a Positive Post.

I know enough to not expect this kind of treatment next time I go to Red Lobster, even if Courtney accompanies me. It was a great experience, and one I wouldn't have had without my daughter along, so you see, it is good to have a Courtney.

Fat Clothes

This is something I have been meaning to write about for quite a while. I have lost around 45 pounds in the last year and a half. It feels really good to be down by that much but on the other hand it also sometimes feels like just a drop in the bucket.

At least on my negative days.

Yesterday, Courtney and I went into this new pet store that has opened for business called Petland. They have puppies and Courtney was simply dying to show them to me. The place is next to where we get our nails done.

Yes, Courtney seems to be intent on keeping her new nails. Especially after she read my post about them.

Okay. Me, Courtney, pet store. My point.

My point here is that one of the girls (well more of a young woman I guess) who works there used to work at the Store HOT TOPIC. HT was Courtney's favorite store for quite a few years. She has outgrown it now and really never goes in there. But, when she was one of their most devoted customers she was always dragging me in there. (IE, I was the one with the money.) Well this young women that knew Courtney (and me too apparently) saw me as she came over to offer us help and the first thing she said to me was, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe how much weight you've lost!"

That felt really good.

It would have felt even better, of course, if I had lost enough weight to not still be big, but, ya know what? I'm willing to take an honest compliment any time, anywhere. This of course, doesn't really have a whole lot to do with my chosen topic today, but I figure it does make for nice filler. Plus part of my point is that I am smaller than I used to be.

What I really want to talk about are Fat Clothes.

I know this is sometimes a problem with regular sized clothes as well but if you aren't needing clothing any larger than a size 14 I invite you to "come take a walk in my shoes." First of all let me paint a picture for you of how clothing manufacturers see us big girls.

Apparently our arms hang past our knees.

This is quite evident in the fact that almost every long sleeved top in a plus size has arms that hang anywhere from an inch or two past my hands to oh, maybe a foot. I do realize that I am a short n fat, as opposed to a medium n fat or a tall n fat. But I refuse to believe that even the tallest of we big girls has an eight foot arm span. I don't THINK so. I do find plenty of nice, long sleeved tops that fit me quite nicely of course. I just have to hem up the sleeves. That is somewhat harder with a sweater or a jacket. I do admit that sometimes you just get lucky and stumble across some really nice looking sweater with sleeves not designed for your average Neanderthal. Of course at least part of the time the sleeves are short enough because they are actually three quarter length.

Yes indeed. The good ol, three quarter length sleeves, are a big girls best friend.

Next. Shoulders.

It seems that these same manufacturers believe that any women past a size 14 has linebacker shoulders. I swear, this is true. I can't count how many times I will see a cute top, and take it to the dressing room and try it on, only to discover that it's neck is so wide and deep that the only way it will work for me is if I don't mind mind half of my bra showing. And, on the off chance that the top I am trying on has a small neck it is pretty much a sure thing that the shoulder lines will be practically down to my elbows. If you can't picture what a shoulder line is, it is where the top of the sleeve meets the end of the shoulders.

Yeah. You see? Not a pretty picture.

Believe it or not, I am still not done with arms.
Say you pick out a short sleeved top. As long as it is a knit top it's not usually a big deal. But, and this is a big one. If you happen to like one of the many woven (that means not a knit for those not so familiar with fabric terms) tops that are so ubiquitous now a days, well, all I can say, is you better beware of those tight sleeves. I actually covered this in one of my past posts titled "Susan's fashion flubbery".
If you are needing a plus sized woven top, as many of us do, then don't be surprised if it fits quite nicely everywhere but the sleeves.

They will be too tight.

If I want one of these kinds of tops, I will almost always need a size that is way too big on me just so the stupid sleeves won't be too tight. I absolutely HATE that. So along with them thinking we have really long arms (they probably picture us all with hairy knuckles too, I bet) they also see us with super big broad shoulders, but then, in spite of the arms and the shoulders, they assume we have slender arms.

I don't get that. I really don't.

Have any of you ever seen a large woman who had shoulders that would make a football player proud, bent over slightly, moving herself along with her long yet amazingly thin arms (picture a gorilla)??? Well, HAVE you??? I thought not.

Now, if you will further humor me, I believe I will take on. . . .

Pants.

Yes pants. I think that plenty of you average sized ladies might even be able to relate to some of this. What is it with pants anyway? How hard can it be for manufacturers to make jeans and trousers that fit and flatter most body types? And please, please, for the love of all that is good and decent, don't ever assume that just because a label says something like; "Sized to fit your body", or, "Slim fit, We promise these jeans will make you look a size smaller". Please don't think for a moment that you can believe those labels. In fact it has been my experience that businesses who want to cover up something that consumers will undoubtably be unhappy with, they will slap a "For your convenience" or a "To better serve our customers" sign up. Hoping of course that their customers will be so impressed by those fancy sounding promises that they won't realize that prices have been raised or customer service has been cut back.

Never trust those signs. They are all "code" for, SUCKERS!!!

I digress,
back to the horrors of pants shopping for the larger woman. It can be extremely hard to find a pair of plus sized pants that don't have a huge stomach and thighs combined with a much smaller waistband. I don't get it. Doesn't it stand to reason that if you fit into the waistband that maybe, just maybe you don't need all that extra room in the stomach and thighs? Now I don't have a problem with a relaxed fit. No, because generally if you are a little bit bigger than the norm, chances are that you won't have washboard abs.

I just don't think it is necessary to have a waistband followed by a tent.

And then if they are a so-called "fitted" fit, they are so tight past the waistband that if you manage to squeeze into them you better not plan on sitting down for the day. Why can't they make a pair of pants that fit in the waistband, aren't puffy in the stomach, and have just enough room in the thighs and legs to allow you to comfortably sit, (we all are at our biggest while sitting you know) but not make you look much bigger than you really are while standing?

Could someone please give me an answer to that one.

A little more nitpickery. So many jeans and other pants these days claim to be made out of STRETCH fabric. Some of them are nice and stretchy. These are wonderful. They can be a little more form fitting while still being very comfortable. Sitting down? Ahhh, so nice to not feel squished in a pair of jeans that while standing in them felt perfect. Bending over? How nice that I don't leave my pants behind my behind. They actually move with me. Yes stretch fabrics are such a great idea, that there's no way a man could have had anything to do with them.

The problem though is fake stretch fabrics.

Once again you can't take the label's word for anything. A lot of jeans and pants say stretch today. But quite a few of them have no more stretch in them than your average towel. This is where you really need to try on.

Try on and, trust your own instincts.

Don't think that there is something wrong with you because they don't seem to have nearly as much stretch in them as your frayed, holey, patched up pair of your "wear them almost every day" old favorites. The truth is that many pants that say they are stretch, for all practical purposes, are NOT. So be real careful when you go to try them on. These are NOT shoes. They won't develop more stretch the longer you wear them. They will most likely remain as unstretchy on the day they are completely worn out as the day they were brand new.

I have lost enough weight now that quite often I can fit into the regular sized extra larges. That might not sound like such a big deal, but for someone who has lived in plus size hell for many years now it is quite an accomplishment. In fact I don't really care if I never get down to my old normal of size 6 to 8. That would be great of course but I won't ever count on it.

I'm too much of a realist.

What will really be my crowning achievement, will be the day I can walk right by the "Women's Plus" aisle and know that if I want a really good fit I need to go to regular sizes and try on a large to extra large.

A small dream but hopefully, an achievable one.

One Grandma Moment In Time

I have been meaning to write about this for quite a few days. I popped into Donald and Lisa's on Labor Day. Donald was doing exactly what I expected him to be doing.

Puttering around in his garage.

Lisa was taking the opportunity of the first time in weeks to really do a thorough cleaning of the house.

When I came into the living room there was Alexandra with a sleeping baby Elisabeth propped up beside her. You couldn't really call it holding her baby sister. Elisabeth had just kind of melted into Lex. Lizzy is such a cuddler that she quite often just molds herself to you if you happen to be holding her when she is sleeping.The point here, is that it was so cute to watch and no-one took a picture. Don't feel bad though for no picture. Lisa has taken at least 1500 pictures of the girls in the almost twelve months since Elisabeth was born.

So they're good.

After a few minutes Alexandra asked me to take Elisabeth because her arm was starting to hurt. I had seen that coming. I bet her arm was pretty numb and tingly by then. So of course I took little Sleeping Beauty.

I love holding that little girl.

Lorelai came to sit by me, and believe me, when Lorelai sits by you, she really SITS by you. To her way of thinking, sitting by grandma doesn't count unless every part of her cute little, three year old self, is touching as much of me as is humanly possible.

(Without actually sitting in my lap.)

She does it the same way if I am in a chair at the table. Her chair must be touching grandma's chair or it doesn't qualify as sitting by grandma. It's not always easy to get things done when Lorelai sits by me, but I wouldn't want it any other way.

Lorelai's intention that day was to convince me to play "memory" with her. I had plenty of time so I said yes.

Lorelai really likes to hear YES.

She dumped the game out on the floor, and I had to tell her that grandma was to old to sit on the floor to play memory. I told her we could go play at the table.

After a moment's consideration Lorelai said YES.

Alexandra wanted to play as well so Lorelai and I both told her YES!

We started to spread the cards out on the table. Within seconds I realized that there were way more cards than we needed. To have put them all down would have taken up half the table.

How long does Milton Bradly think a three and five year olds arms are?

The girls and I got to work picking out pairs of the jumbled cards. That's the problem with taking out unwanted cards for the game of Memory. They have to come out in pairs. And when they are loose in the box it can take a while to pair then up and then set them aside. Oh, and you also have to keep reminding Lorelai that no matter how much she likes all the pairs you are discarding, you just can't use all of them.

Good bye pair of duckies. So long ice cream cones. See ya later cute pair of alligators.

It was wrenching to discard so many and see the look of despair on Lori's face but we had to cull the herd. Alright, we are down to a manageable number of cards, lets place them (in an orderly fashion) face down on the table. Lorelai practically had a ruler out to make sure they were all the same distance from each other.

Trust me she gets that from her mother. We Sorensons aren't usually know for such orderliness.

Cards all laid out? Check. Everyone seated comfortably? Check. Lorelai very close, but not actually in grandma's lap? Double Check.

Alright lets start the game.

Now when playing a game of memory it is almost always best to go last. That way you get to see the most overturned cards by the time it is your turn. Three and five year old girls don't understand that concept. Especially the three year old.

Going first is of special importance to Lorelai.

The odd thing though, she was insistent on going first, however, she wanted GRANDMA to go first. Go figure. Of course, I was more than happy to go first. I planned to help them both with little nudges and hints anyway, with maybe a little more help for Loreali.

Did I mention that she is only three after all?

I went first. No Match. I made sure to have them pay close attention to what cards I had turned over. This was met with varying results.

Alexandra's turn. No Match. Not too happy but also the BIG girl. She handled the disappointment pretty well.

Miss Lorelai is up. No Match but close, close. The disappointment wasn't handled quite as well but assurances by grandma helped the mood. My turn again. I get a match. I actually hadn't meant to. I thought I was one card off and I was hoping that one of the girls would know where the real match was. ( I guess that would be reverse cheating) That little smarty pants Alexandra was aware of the same match and she was quite disappointed I had gotten to it before she did.

So much for trying to throw the game.

A few more turns. Alexandra gets a pair. Big excitement. Lori, to her credit is actually not too upset. I, of course, had told her that I just knew that she would get a pair on her turn. With just a minimum of help from me she did too.

I'm not completely sure how far into the game we were when Lorelai turned over two cards. They didn't match, but she knew which one she should have turned over instead.

So she did.

Triumph.

With just a small teeny weeny cheat Lorelai had her first pair. Lex didn't even complain either. I'm not sure if she was being generous or if she hadn't noticed Lori's flagrant flounting of the rules. It was at this point that one of the girls, (I can't remember which one) pointed out to me that when they play with Mama, they leave the cards turned up, if they aren't matches. I agreed that if they wanted to play that way we certainly could.

Same game, New rules.

It gets back to Lorelia's turn and suddenly there are matches to be had all over. (I had foreseen this happening) She gets one pair right after another. This is due to the rule that if you get one match you get to take another turn, and another, as long as you keep getting matches. If I had been really thinking I would have foreseen that and changed the rules to just one turn, even if you did just get a match.

I guess I was a little sloppy on the new rules.

Well obviously, Lori was the winner by a landslide. Lex had only one pair. To make it worse and despite my trying not to, I had ended up with four pairs.

The Good Big Sister thing was wearing a little thin for Alexandra. Sure it's one thing to be generous with praise for little sister when she is clearly struggling, but to have her beat your pants off? Well that is just plain asking too much.

At this point I realize it is time to enforce new rules. Those would be back to the old rules with the small change of even less cards. Again this caused some anguish for Lori. We simply could not get rid of the puppy or the flower so the skateboard and the sun had to go.

Game two starts out on a pretty even playing field. This time Lex chooses to go last. Believe it or not I was able to get her to understand the advantage of being last.

That made Lorelai first.

She actually got a match. That was quite exciting for everyone. We were all feeling the camaraderie at this point. My turn. I get a match.

The excitement builds.

It doesn't last long however. Alexandra does not get a match. Lorelai's turn. No match. Sombre times for all. I (deliberately) mess up a match, hoping they will notice, no good, neither of them were paying attention. I give them a pep-talk on the need to pay close attention to all the cards as they are turned over. Alexandra pulls an upset by not only getting a match on her next turn but by getting another match on her bonus turn.

Lorelai pouts.

With just a little bit of help though she gets a match of her own. We continue the game with me trying my hardest to skewer the results. This, by the way, is pretty frustrating. My helping can only do so much if I can't get Lori to pay attention.

Clearly this will be our last game.

Well, lets cut to the chase here. Lex wins the game. She wins by a lot. She even has given Lori a few of her pairs to make her feel better.

Apparently though, Lorelai will be happy with nothing less than total domination.

I manage to console her after a while. She wants to play again but by now I am completely exhausted. You try playing Memory with two little girls and not come away feeling battle scarred. Plus ,I had been there for close to two hours and even though he hadn't called my cell phone I figured Don would probably be wondering what had happened to me.

He knows it doesn't take three and a half hours to take my mother to dialysis.

The girls were sad for me to leave but it was time to go. I went and laid down by Elisabeth and gave her ten minutes of love first. Then I got up put my sandals back on and told them all good bye.

A little tired from the game, and verging on low blood sugar, but almost two hours that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

Nothing in the world can compare to the joys of Grandmahood.

The end.

Nothin better or a really long meandering account of the last few days

Wow.

That is the best word I have to sum up my last few days. My little bro Mike and his wife Cindy and their kids came to visit this weekend. We always have so much fun when we get together. The only problem is that I quite often get headaches from laughing so hard.

It's okay though, it's one headache I'm willing to trade off for.

Last night we had dinner at my house. Nothing unusual about that. I almost always have Sunday dinner at my house with Donald and Lisa. It's usually the highlight of the week for all of us. But when we get to add other family members to our little group it is even better. We had grilled New York steak, roasted potatoes, oriental salad, Lisa's delicious ambrosia fruit salad and a limited supply of garlic bread. Limited, because I completely incinerated the first loaf.

(Good thing I had bought two.)

We enjoyed roasting marshmallows and eating smores. We were so loud I'm pretty sure we gave my mom a headache. Oh well, there's always ibuprofen.

Friday was also a good day. Courtney and I had a mom and daughter day. I went to the mall with her. I usually hate the mall. No parking, too crowded, high prices, ya know what I mean?

But it was amazingly not too tedious. Courtney had a Macy's coupon for 25 dollars off 100 dollar purchase. Now I grew smart about those kinds of offers a long time ago.

Courtney has yet to learn.

If you were already planning to go to Macy's to make a 100 dollar purchase, then these coupons are wonderful to have in your possession.

I doubt that happens very often though.

I mean how likely are you to receive one of these handy little coupons at the exact moment you also plan to go drop a hundred at Macy's.

Uuhuh, I rest my case.

I decided that, since I was already there, I might as well look around for a new purse. And yes I actually did need a new purse. It turns out that I didn't really need to look around, I spotted "IT" right away. I seldom experience love at first sight. So, I'm not really sure how it happened but I loved my new purse from first glance.
I do believe a picture would be appropriate here.

Here is the back.

And here is the front. Don't you just LOVE it?????


Should I wax poetic on my new purse? I believe I will.

First of all it is big. I like that. Mind you, it's only nice and big, it's not luggage. Second, and this is actually even more important, it has lots of compartments.

Lots.

I love that!

On the front there are two individual pockets. I will use those for, pocket on the left; jujyfruits (that's right I never travel without my jujyfruits. ) pocket on the right; various lip glosses, lipsticks, compact mirror and microfiber cloth for cleaning glasses.

Then behind these two front pockets but before you get to the main purse insidery, we have a long zippered pocket, empty at the moment, to be filled as needed.

Now we enter the main purse sanctuary. There is a big inside pouch separated by another inside zippered pouch thus making three, mind you, THREE inside pockets, or pouches whatever you like to call them. These are filled (so far) with, compartment one: wallet, checkbook, calculator and one pack of spearmint gum. However, the gum will probably get put in a different pocket.

It usually can't hold up to the rigors of the main pocket.

The middle zippered pouch holds Kleenex's (allergies you know.)

And the last big pocket contains everything else, coupons, Jo-anns ads, and mostly anything else that doesn't have anywhere else to go. (Some might call it my junk pocket.)

Oh yeah, there are also two pockets in the inside front. One holds my cell phone the other's use is at the moment, undecided. Also one inside zippered pocket in the inside back. This one is for nail clippers, my teeny little fold up scissors, my little Altoids tin that I have filled with ibuprofen and about seven safety pins of different sizes. Trust me, these are all things I have needed from time to time.

Need I repeat how much I love this purse? I also kinda like that it is a "Fossil". I have never bought an actual name brand purse before. I also never thought I would spend so much on a purse.

I would like to think that my glorious above description justifies the price I paid.

Hmm, has anyone else ever spent so much time blogging about an accessory, albeit a really cool one?

Courtney, btw, ended up getting herself a darling black dress coat. It looks sorta Audrey Hepburnish to me and she agrees. I would show you a picture of her in her coat but she doesn't want to cooperate.

It is 8:00 Monday night and she wants to go to bed.

She has acquired this new early bed time because she gets up at 4:30 to get ready to catch the bus at 6:00 to be to work by 7:00. I feel that she is being extremely responsible so I don't argue. But it does mean I have no picture of her in her cute new coat.

We (that would be me and Courtney) had a lot of fun though while we were out Friday. I forgot to mention that before all this, we took my mom to dialysis*. After dropping mumsy off, we went across the street and then across the parking lot to get our nails done by Annie.

Woops, Correction.

Annie did my nails. (I have seniority after all.) Kim did Courtneys'. Courts got a full set, I just had a fill.

Funny thing about Courtney and her nails.

She goes without them for months and then one day she will suddenly decide that she simply must get a set of french tips. Since I was going in there anyway, she came with.

Now here is what usually happens when Courtney gets new nails.

She gets her nails. She loves them and talks to me about them at least seven times a day for the first four or five days.

She worries and worries that for some unknown reason they are planning to fall off. Try as I might to convince her that her new set of nails, have NO intention of jumping ship, she still is pretty sure it could happen.

Oh, one other neuroses she suffers from after, oh, say, four days or so; She is absolutely convinced that they have grown out to the point of needing a fill. I look at them for her. I assure her that they are not showing any new growth as yet, and that there is NO reason for a fill after only a few days.

That would be week one of Courtney having new nails.

Weeks two and three;
She realizes that her nails are still intact and for most intents and purposes they are going nowhere. She can finally relax and enjoy them. For up to six, days at least.
Week three starts which means that after 14 days they are most likely ready for a fill.

New worries.

Does she want to keep the white tips or go with color? Debate, debate, debate. From past experience I will predict that she will decide to stick with the french tips for one more round.

Two more weeks pass.

That means time for another fill.

Suddenly, Courtney starts to think that maybe she doesn't want to have to spend fifteen bucks (plus tip) every two weeks. She also starts to think that just maybe these acrylic nails aren't as wonderful as she was thinking they would be, this time.
She also starts to have a hard time deciding to keep the tips white or to explore the wonderful world of nail color.

More debating.

I try to make it easier for her by pointing out that I am leaving to get a fill with or without her.

Okay, now we come to the part where she (at least every other time up til now this is what has happened. Keep in mind that as of right now she has only had this new set of nails for four days.) decides that these stupid nails are just too much work, too much expense and not at all worth all the drama.
I am quickly informed that she will not be accompanying me to Hot Spa Nails.

The nails are pulled off. (She does this herself. There is actually a certain satisfaction that comes from ripping those nails off yourself.)

The fingernails underneath are a real mess.

Courtney proclaims that she is not going to get acrylic nails anymore. Dum,dum,dee,dum.

Six months go by.

Eight months.

Nine months, and guess what?

Courtney suddenly decides that, most of her friends at work have fake nails. Their hands always look so nice. And all of a sudden, she will not know a moments happiness until she can get a new full set of French Tip nails.


Ahh, such is my life with my Courtney.

Well that about covers the last few days for me. It has been lots of fun and entertainment. Oh I also gave a talk in church on Sunday. I feel like I did a good job and I really enjoyed it. I really enjoy public speaking. There's nothing like a captive audience. I also realized today that I have not presented my blog with a new post since last Tuesday, so here is a new post for all my lovely friends to read. Yes, yes I do like to spread the love.

So tell me, how was your weekend?

*Correction: I just realized that I made a big mistake, I did not take my mom to dialysis on Friday. I take her on Mondays and my sister Janice takes her on Fridays. I don't know what I was thinking. Okay Janice, sorry to take credit for Friday.