A meteor in my wine glass. Is God sending us passive aggressive messages? and other musings.

This photo from our favorite Vashon beach place looks like a meteor is in my glass. How about that meteor in Russia anyway? Sometimes when i read news like this i fear the End of the World coming. Is God trying to f*ck with us? Cause if He is (do we capitalize the H when talking about God or is that only Jesus? louie, i'm sure you can weigh in on this.)  anyway, cause if H(h)e is, then i want to go out and spend all my savings on....what... i don't know really. But i would hate to die before i got to use it.       

1. Let's dish on the Academy Awards first. I might be live blogging that day. Anyone want to join me? When's the date again?

Anyway, i have seen hardly any of the movies, but of course that doesn't stop me from having opinions. I rarely agree with the artsy fartsy picks of these awards for Best Picture. (Movies like Chariots of Fire and The English Patient and Shakespeare in Love bore the shit out of me.)

I did see Lincoln. AND i fell asleep through part of it. Someone said, i think it was Joan Rivers, that everything about Lincoln was done well, but you were bored anyway. (It is, after, all a Steven Spielberg movie.) That's how i felt. Which means Lincoln will win. But i wish Argo would. (Even though i haven't seen it. I love rooting for Ben Affleck ever since he ditched J-Lo.)

And i wish that 9 year old girl with the name that starts with a Q wins. I DID see Beasts of the Southern Wild, at the recommendation of my nephew Brian, and really thought she was the whole movie. It was like she wasn't even acting.

I didn't much care for Sally Field who seemed to be playing a version of Sybil in her Mrs. Lincoln role, so i don't want her to win. And i think Silver Linings Playbook is a movie i really want to see, but i read the book and it was good, but i can't imagine this as an Oscar winning movie.

And I'm over Helen Hunt in the same way i got over Meg Ryan. Use to love them. Not anymore. Helen has gotten too skinny and fragile looking in her aging years. And damn, i thought i had a high forehead (which i hate) but you could show movies on hers ....if she was just a little paler.



2. Two girls (who aren't family) who I would be proud to have as daughters:
I am running with an 18 year old girl. We are training for this half marathon together. I don't hate running when i am running with her! Her name is Katie and she is the niece of my sister- in- law Marie, (who is modern hippie/Kylee's mom.) We are running over an hour now and we talk the whole time and when we're done running we're  surprised, not only by how fast we are running, but that the time went by so fast. I'm hoping with Katie i can run this thing in 2 hours flat, taking two minutes off my time from last year. She might pull ahead of me as she keeps training. She's a good runner and.... of course, young!

The other young woman is Sarah/louie's daughter Emma (who i think 24 years old). Actually with Emma, i also want her, not only as a daughter, but as a very good friend. Emma is so smart, insightful and kind and tolerant AND a great conversationalist, like my niece Kylee and nephew Brian. (Emma gives me hope for the teaching profession.) And i would actually seek her out for personal advice if i needed it, (more so than with some folks  my own age).

What they have in common is i have known them since they were babies, and I got to watch them grow up. Katie and Emma feel old souls. These two are more mature at their age and more grounded than many people much older, (and I include myself, even as I often describe myself as a baby who changed her own diapers.)  I love their strong opinions and critical thinking about life and the world. I feel like they are moving in a direction that tells me they know who they are and what they want. It's rare to find these qualities in young women today and I am awed by them. It doesn't happen very often that people awe me.



3. Product endorsement. I found these sheets at Costco and they are amazing and i am not talking about the Spalena sheets i posted about years ago. These are 400 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets by Charisma. They cost only $50 for a king set. I went and bought a set for our queen and a second set for our king. I love these sheets!


So who's with me blogging on Oscar night?  And who do YOU want to win?


Notes to Self:                                                                                      

Sunset: 5:37 pm ( we're getting there!) Today's high temperature was 50 degrees and it was sunny part of the day!


Total page views: 39,989 ...wow i am almost at 40,000. Didn't i start this four years ago? Maybe i should post a link to Facebook and see if i get more followers. The only problem i see with that is family members checking in and me censoring myself. I don't want to worry about what i post here.


Another weird thing about the stats: The Big Bird blog during the Obama debates was the high page view this week with 30 views. Why would someone be reading that this week? It was posted back in October and is very old news.  (But it was pretty funny in parts.)


Longest run this week: 60 minutes


Shout Out: Jennifer, Jaxie, EoDe....

I had an idea, then i forgot it. Runaway Brain Musings.

Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, "Where have i gone wrong?" Then a voice says to me, "This is going to take more than one night." -- Charles M. Schultz

I'm back to waking up at 3 or 4 am with that Runaway Brain. You know the Runaway Brain? It happens after i wake up, usually after a weird dream where i am either lost in the hallways at schools, or i've lost some important material thing (most recently not only a boarding pass, but my whole purse and i only realized it as i was getting on the plane), or i'm falling off a bridge for a very long distance ( i always wake up as i'm falling).

My dreams suck....

Anyway the Runaway Dream goes like this:

1. Damnit, i forgot to call Sarah W. on her birthday or at least email her. ...I am a terrible friend.

2. How could i forget when i saw it on Facebook?

3. I wish Facebook was never invented.

4. I probably should dump ______ fill in the blank with whatever Facebook friend posted something stupid, like about politics or some fetus baby thing.

5. I really need to check my online banking tomorrow...

6. Oh no, did i pay the utility bill yet?

7. I hope i didn't offend.... fill in the blank ______________ (for anyone i was out with the night before.)

8. I don't like our kitchen tile. I think we should pull it up and put down lighter bigger tiles.

9. I wonder how much it would cost to scrape off our popcorn ceiling?

10. Does our popcorn ceiling have asbestos?

11. Maybe we should just buy a new house?

12.  But what if my WEA pension goes in the toilet, given the way unions are starting to join the Post Office, 8-track, cassettes and cds, newspapers, and landlines.

13. I need to get a job after retirement so i have purpose.

14. Or not.

15. I hope we don't really owe too much in taxes.

16. Maybe i should write a book instead of blogging.

What do YOU think about when you can't sleep?

Notes to Self: 
Sunset: 5:27 pm
High temp: 46 degrees
All time blog views: 39,762
Weird thing about blog stats: This week my top viewed page was from Aug. 16, 2009 entitled "Rules I have for myself". It got 57 views and it's an old post that is not normally in the top. (Bad Boyfriend always wins that one.)
Shout out: louie? louie?

Today's Menu....No Specials.

I got nothing to say but i needed to change it. So here's a lame post. again. 

What I've been doing for the past hour: searching for a vacation place on the beach. I may have found one! It's near Pt. Townsend. Actually not THAT close, 32 miles away. But i like the looks of this place. Click below.

This place looks cool!

Longest run this week: 75 minutes.

What aches: my hips.

In my glass: Fresca with cranberry juice.

What's coming up: Bowling in another week AND bowling lessons this Wednesday!

State of mind: Bored. Kind of cranky. You know that kind of mood where you aren't really in a bad mood, but you're not in a good mood either? And you don't feel like doing anything really. And then you feel alittle bit guilty for feeling this way cause, hey, everything is fairly copacetic so there is no reason really for feeling ambivalent or uneven about the day. But i do anyway. Feel that way, i mean.

Reading: Teddy Roosevelt diary AND Life of Pi.

Music: none. I like the sound of the dishwasher running. It's comforting and i didn't want music to drown it out.

Besides vacation places, i'm searching for: the perfect pair of jeans. I bought Citizens for Humanity jeans but they are too low even though they say mid-rise and not only that, the denim fabric feels so thin i am sure they will wear out quickly and they are EXPENSIVE! i do like they look though. What are YOUR favorite pair of jeans?


Notes to Self: 
Sunset: 5:20 pm
High Temperature: 51 degrees
All time blog posts: 39,471
Page views yesterday: so pathetic i'm not even including it. why do i blog?

Disappointments & Satisfactions - vacation link added.

Disappointment: At first glance, i think we might owe $5000 in taxes after trying to break even by deferring Brian's income. I hope I'm wrong.

Satisfaction:  We have no dependents and my retirement is only 7 months away.

Disappointment: It's only Feb. 1st, which means we have 5 more months of this crappy gray weather, cement/semen color skies, tofu colored skin tones, bad hair, dark moods and ugly patio foliage.

Satisfaction: Today was sunny, for more than two hours! And i don't have to have my windows washed because you can't tell they are dirty this time of year.

Disappointment: My New Orleans trip that i was going on in April with my brothers is not going to happen for ME ever since I found out my mom is coming. So i decided not to go.

Here's an example of my mom traveling: last fall in Hawaii she bought all this stuff and put it in her carryon bag, and it was wayyyyy more than 3 ounces of liquid according to my nephew Brian who was traveling with her. (I wasn't there, it was a family destination wedding.) Brian the nephew told me it was really embarrassing how she was upset that she couldn't bring her liquid stuff on the plane. Because i hardly EVER travel anywhere and the last person i would ever travel with is my mom. So after looking forward to this trip since October, i am backing out. (This example is only one of many, i have more.)

Here is a beach place i think we might book. It's near Pt. Townsend. It's beautiful inside! I want to put it here so if i ever loose the bookmark or forget it, i can come back here.

Click here to see photos

Satisfaction: So instead of New Orleans, I am looking into renting a house on the water in Cannon Beach and going to the fabulous cooking class place that i went to last summer with the galpals. They have a wine/small plates event in March.

Disappointment: My night sweats are back after being gone for a few months.

Satisfaction: There isn't one, except maybe the things i think about at 3 am that i need to remember when i wake up in a soaking wet t-shirt.

Disappointment: I didn't get chosen for one of the 5  News Tribune Guest Columnist for 2013.

Satisfaction: Relief that i don't have to come up with a bunch of columns to submit on deadline.

What's going on with YOUR life?

Notes to Self: 

Sunset: 5:13 pm
Today's High: 50 degrees
All time Posts: 39,337
Low: 35 degrees
Longest Run this Week: 75 minutes (TODAY.... training for the May 19 Capitol City Half Marathon again).
Shout Out: Amulbunny !

Stuff I Used To Want When I Was Younger

I loved her hair, her clothes, her eyeliner!

This is from Restoration Housewife's actual ad that  shows these cost $12.95 back then!

I thought she was SO beautiful and i wanted to be her. 

First off, I found out tonight in a form email from Pat O'Callahan (that I copied and pasted on Facebook) that The News Tribune did not choose me to be their Guest Columnist. Apparently thinking i was qualified to take over Dear Abby and for dissing folks for praying to Jesus on Facebook when He doesn't have a Facebook page did not resonate with the editors.

I didn't really think i had a chance, because you have to know our newspaper. But i hoped that maybe the Tribune might decide to take a chance on me and wouldn't it be cool if they did pick me and let me run with anything i wanted to write?

I am not the greatest writer but some of those folks they have chosen for Guest Writers are BORING and BANAL,  (Is that redundant?...probably why i didn't get chosen, i have a propensity to do that.)

One story was a woman writing about her grandmother's recipe and how as a little girl she loved making it with her... i forget the recipe i just remember thinking OH, how cutesy Norman Rockwell is that... barf!.....OK,  enough about that. But you can bet when i read these Guest Writers in the coming months i will be blogging about them.

But before i get to it, let's do a short Menu for The Day, it's been awhile.

MENU OF THE DAY:

Book: I am reading River of Doubt, a Teddy Roosevelt biography and Susieatl, i think you read this. I posted the question on your FB page. Did you? It's good. I also am getting ready to read Louise Erdrich's Roundhouse, and Zodiac (because i saw the Jake Gynllenhall/Robert Downey Jr movie recently on Encore about the Zodiac California serial killer back in the late 60's & 70's ...)

Music: I can't remember if i mentioned that i recently discovered Ray Bonneville. My nephew Brian introduced him to me. If John Hiatt and Bob Dylan (the way he sounds now) had a baby, the baby would be Ray Bonneville.

Best Thing That Happened: Girl Night last Saturday with jj, louie, and louie's amazing daughter Emma at HG Bistro. And a nice long run, with my new young 17 year old running partner, Katie. (Kylee/Modern Hippie's first cousin on her mom's side). She and i are training for the half marathon together and we run the same pace.

Shout Out: Susieatl.... where you be?


Ok, on with the Stuff I Wanted....Come and post your stuff!

************************************

1. White GoGo boots. (We're talking Shindig era, 1968.)

2. Real skates, you know, the kind that were boots that you laced up, not the stupid key tightening kind. 

3. I wanted Twiggy's short pixie cut. 

4. Every Monkees LP... i had i think one of them and then a bunch of 45s, like Last Train to Clarksville, etc. 

5. Remember mohair sweaters when they were popular? I so wanted one of those. (Just as well, i think i would have been allergic, and actually they were ugly too, like the GoGo boots, but i didn't think so back then.) 

6. I wanted a Stingray bike with a sissy bar. I had the big Schwinn girl bike with the boring handlebars it seemed like an old lady bike. then mini-bikes came out and i wanted one of those too, but knew that would never happen.

7. I was a military brat living in Japan during 1969-1973 and during that time many of my friends were wearing POW bracelets. My Dad wouldn't let me get one. Maybe he thought it was too morbid, i have no idea, he never gave a reason. 

8. I wanted to look like Olivia Hussey from Romeo and Juliet. 

That's all i have for now. 

Notes to Self:

Sunset: 5:01 (YAY! We are over the 5:00 pm mark!)

Hi Temp: 45 degrees

Low: 39

All Time Blog Views: 39,087

License to Snark

If The News Tribune hires me to replace Dear Abby then I want to this to be the name of my column: License to Snark. Can't you just imagine the online comments when you ask people to come and add their own?

First let me explain the photo: Today the union rep, in an apologetic way, asked if i would be willing to make a Starbucks run to get coffee for the group she was working with. She knows i can't stand the group she was working with (they are a bunch of Junior League-y type secretaries), but she knows i will do it for HER. When she handed me the list of their order (scanned above) i had to laugh (in a mean way). I am a no-nonsense drip coffee drinker and OF COURSE these women would be high maintenance coffee drinkers. I handed over the list and said to the barista, 'i am too embarrassed to order this out loud'.  She laughed and said 'oh this nothing!'.

Here is what is significant about this: Sarah/louielouie came to visit me at work today on her way home. I had the paper sitting on my desk because i had even made sure to get it back from the barista because i knew i was going to bring it home and scan it and blog about it. And though i had not mentioned this little story to Sarah, she saw it, picked it up and also thought it was ridiculous. Then she said i should write about it.   (We are comrades in when it comes to stuff like this and one of the reasons why we are the best of friends for so many years. )

So on with my Snarks:

1. High maintenance food people make me crazy! I'm not just talking about my usual rants on vegans and gluten free stuff either. Those folks are mostly basically okay with me...  as long as i don't have to cook for them. I'm talking more about the special instructions that must be conveyed to every wait person they have ever ordered from. If you are a huge tipper, then it's okay. But i mean like in 25% tip huge, depending how obnoxious you are with your orders. (For example, my mom should always tip at least 30% for her constant never-ending ordering around of the wait staff - everything from wanting to change her table, her need of extra napkins, always more coffee, etc. etc.)

Here is the extent of my special ordering:
"Do you have a very dark beer that tastes slightly sweet?
"Dressing on the side".
"What's your biggest red?"

2.  Speaking of Dear Abby. She died today. The original one, not the fake daughter one took over and is no better than 1950's advice giving Abby. (I actually thought she died a long time ago, didn't you?) I hope my dissing Dear Abby in my submission for Guest Columnist doesn't disqualify me. Giving advice to stupid people has to be one of the more easy jobs in the world. No wonder she lived to be 94 years old!

3. I run through my neighborhood and there are way too many out there who still have their Christmas ornaments on their house. To me this is worse than putting them up after Halloween. When i am over something i am so over it. (Just like my two previous marriages.)

4. Lance Armstrong. Let's talk about this assf*ck for a bit. He's confessing to Oprah tonight. When did Oprah become a Catholic priest? (Remember how that Million Little Pieces author confessed that he lied about his memoir on her shows? ) I have never liked Lance Armstrong even before he dumped with Sheryl Crow. He's not handsome (I like my athletes to be gorgeous!), he's not charismatic and i have never been into bicyclists. Probably has something more to do with what they wear. (Nobody looks good in a bike helmet.) Worst of all, for me it's not the doping, it's how he lied over and over again in such a huge way. I've been involved with a drug addict before and i can say it was never the drugging so much as it was the lying, the kind of lying that makes YOU feel guilty for even being suspicious. Lance feels sort of like an ex-husband.

5. Let's talk about the Golden Globes. Jodie Foster's speech did not move me one iota. I thought it was weirder than skiddich... And i keep hearing about how amazing and moving it was on Facebook and the Internet. I thought it was all over the map, inarticulate, angry, rambling and not funny when she tried to be. (Plus she was sitting next to, and thanked Mel Gibson.) And she made a big deal of how she was not going to make a big deal out of being gay, which i always knew she was...really, didn't we all? .... even before the movie Freaky Friday. Get over yourself, Jodie! I knew you were gay and i didn't care if you were and i didn't care if you told me or not.

6. Jeff Bridges on Jon Stewart was so weird the other night that i don't like him as much as i used to. Did anyone else see this? He was on to promote his Zen book, i think. Only i can't remember because he was so incoherent it was hard to tell what he was even saying. I am sure he was either high or drunk. I love Jeff Bridges movies. I don't like it when i see an actor i love do a terrible interview. And when i think about it, most times when Jon Stewart interviews an actor is when i am most bored. Maybe boring people become actors because they need someone else to write their lines? Jeff wasn't necessarily boring as he was obnoxiously zoned out.

I will think of some more lately. But in the meantime, come and add your own snarks!

Notes to Self: 
Total all time blog views: 38,796
Page views last month: 1333
Total yesterday: 37
Jesus got more hits than Abby. Jesus got 88 hits. Abby got only 42. I am happy with that!
Sunset: 4:51
High temperature: 36 degrees. Low: 28 degrees. (We've had days and days of cold, but it's been sunny too!)
Shout Out: Amy, are you still here?

Here are some photos of what i mentioned in my previous Dear Abby is Overpaid blog post. I said no one over the age of 28 should have straight across bangs in my advice list and then what happens? ...Michelle Obama goes out and proves me wrong. Here is more what I'm talking about.

NO...this is that Vogue Bitch Boss 

Even Sandra Bullock's pretty face can't pull these off! 

While searching, i found this great haircut. I want her hair!

Dear Abby is Overpaid. My second entry applying for Guest Columist to the News Tribune

If you have Facebook, this will be redundant because i just added it on my profile page. I wanted to have it here too so that i have it archived on my blog.

I found out i had to come up with a second entry to apply for one of The News Tribune Guest Columnist for this year. Tomorrow is the deadline. So i came up with a topic:

The only person on the planet, whoever this bitch is, who can pull off skinny jeans! And i do believe she's the only one. Keep reading and this will make sense....

Dear Abby is Overpaid.

Recently there was a Dear Abby letter from a husband who needed Abby to help save his marriage. His wife had snooped through his computer’s browser history and found pages of women’s sexy lips. That was it – just sexy lips. And she got mad, calling it porn. Seriously, this was going to break up a marriage? Abby’s advice? Buy her a tube of red lipstick.

Dear Abby is overpaid because her writers are so stupid. I think if The News Tribune hired ME in place of Abby (for a fraction of the cost!) I would not only dispense the most excellent advice, I would also bring in smarter people.

As a resume for the job I offer up a sampling of my own random advice that everyone can use.

1. On weekends the first thing you should do when you wake up is make your bed. (That way you won't crawl back into it, thereby wasting away your time off.)

2. Wash your sheets on Thursday so that they feel great for the weekend. (Of course this could make it harder to get out of bed, which sort of negates Advice #1.)

3. Two cups of coffee is all any normal person needs. One is even better.

4. Women, do not tweeze your eyebrows after three glasses of wine. Men? Not even when you’re sober!

5. Don't loan your good stuff to anyone who you believe could get arrested at any time.

6. If you are a voracious reader and a bookstore lover, do not marry someone whose idea of literature is People magazine.

7. Here is my revised formula for women who should NOT wear skinny jeans: (I actually had an elaborate formula for this and threw it out. This is much simpler.) Measure your height: If you are not at least 6 feet tall, forget it. I don’t even care how much you weigh or how young you are.

8. Don't show your belly in regular everyday clothes unless you are under the age of 6.

9. If you are older than 28 and wear your bangs cut in a straight even line across your forehead, stop doing that.

10. If possible, always bring your own pillow if you travel.

11. Send handwritten thank you notes, even for small things.

12. Write your legislator when you feel strongly about something. Don't assume some other person will get that message out for you. And if you neglect to take the time to do this, then don't complain when your legislator doesn't do what you feel is right.

13. After you turn 40, make sure your bathroom has good lighting so you don't feel terrible about looking in the mirror. And never, ever buy one of those magnifying mirror that is more than 2 X magnification, or you will never leave the house.

14. Take calcium with Vitamin D every day.

15. Refrain from correcting people in public when they are wrong if you know in their heart they truly meant no harm.

16 When the winter doldrums and concrete colored sky start getting you down, buy yourself flowers, even if it is just one daffodil.

17. Rearrange your living room furniture. You will be surprised what a lift it can give!

18. Listen to music every day.

19. Do NOT listen to sad music if you are sad. I have just the song for you: I recommend buying this little song from iTunes: It’s called “75 and Sunny” by Ryan Montbleau. 



Notes to Self: 
Sunset: 4:39 pm
High temperature: 52 degrees
Low: 46 degrees
Page views today: 48
All time page views: 38,407