Things Can Always Go Wrong

On a recent Sunday night, I threw a small dinner party for my two oldest friends in N.H.  One of them was the first woman I met in my neighborhood who subsequently introduced me to practically everyone I needed or wanted to know.  She's plugged in to our tiny burgh.   She's the person I go to when I need to know who is doing what, owns what, selling what, whose kids are doing what.  I laughingly refer to her as "The Town Crier".

While the dinner turned out beautifully, it was a comedy of errors under construction.  The paper towels caught fire & could have burned down the house were it not for my soapstone counter & my eagle eyed friend who saw smoke trickling out of the screen door as we sat on the rear deck.  I thought it was the bbq!  We snuffed the fire before it had a chance to blacken my new white cabinets or worse yet, burn down the house.

Back in the sweltering kitchen, continuing the meal prep as the humidity played havoc with my hair, my sanity & my overactive hot flashes, I was sweating profusely as I worked at the kitchen sink gazing out the window as my dog, Dewey, began to shake his head dramatically from side to side.  He was shaking something in his mouth which, to my horror, turned out to be a very long snake.  My guests couldn't see him from the deck because a large Japonica bush blocked their view.  I began screaming.  By the time my husband reached the dog, he'd snapped the head off the snake and was dragging two feet of snake body about.  UGH.  Now, being a California Girl, I'm thinking it's poisonous, you know, rattlesnake, coral snake, something like that.  Apparently it was a very long harmless garter snake.  That didn't appease me much.

When our guests left that evening, they thanked us for "a great meal and great entertainment."  I somehow always make these New England ladies laugh.

               Our beloved Dewey, referred to as "Sideways Dog", in his youth



HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Virtual Shopping

This has gone viral and I can see why.  Looks like fun and would sure eliminate the anxiety caused by pulling clothes on and off, ruining one's hair on a good hair day, squeezing into something too small, figuring out if it looks good on me or not.  I usually sweat bullets when I shop due to hormones and such. 



Prom Night

Snaps my husband took of my favorite girl,
my best friend's daughter.  They call her Breezy.
I've been watching her grow up since she was 8.
I don't have daughters and I am especially fond
of her.  She is just the kind of daughter I would
like.  Saturday night was her senior prom and,
as you can see, she looked adorable.  Her
dress is cocktail length, one of the few.  It was
a mob scene with kids, parents, relatives and
friends.  It was literally pouring rain but nothing
could dampen these kids' spirits!  After all, it's
a day you remember the rest of your life.

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And if you don't think time passes quickly, here's a photo of her three years ago...

How things change.

Theme Thursday Mirror

Disclaimer:  I totally lifted this from my 12/30/09 post on my other blog Women of a Certain Age.  No sense reinventing the wheel. 

Every Christmas, Santa fills my stocking with delightful small items; but this year he blew it.  This year, he  included something I viewed with intuitive alarm:  a small, round extreme magnification make up mirror.  Now, I don't know about you, but when you are a women of a certain age, you do not want to view yourself in the extreme.  You may need an average magnifying mirror in order to better see your face without squinting while you apply makeup.  Extreme is another matter. The number of times this thing enlarged my eye was so unexpected and abrupt, I dropped it in dismay.

I look in the mirror every morning before and after makeup.  I am an optimist.  I generally feel I have very few lines or wrinkles or even age spots.  My skin is still on the oily side so I haven't the crepe paper texture so often associated with aging.  However, this mirror shows all my blemishes, crow's feet, enlarged pores and more.  It's like putting myself under a microscope and recoiling from what I now see.  Aarrggh! 

Don't get me wrong, I am trying very hard to age gracefully, sans face lifts, botox and whatever else people use to slow the process.  But, I still have my illusions and that mirror will shatter them if I keep it.  Can't break it as I'll have seven years of bad luck.

I think I'll wrap it and give it to one of my friends.

Photo from freeimages.com

Starting Over

I have just been pursued and wooed to a new job at a local television station. After 27 years in radio sales, I am now going to be the sales mgr of a local station that broadcasts resort information to tourists when they visit. Am I excited? You're darn tootin'! I have been working for a major publically owned radio company for the past six years and I actually thought I'd end my career in broadcasting with them. Zzzzzzz. I now have a new challenge and opportunity to grow with a company that is expanding and entrepreneurial. How great is that?

I didn't have time to think it through...just three days. That is probably a good thing. When you get older, you tend to think too much. I reacted on gut. I liked the people with whom I interviewed. They asked me what I wanted (can't remember the last time THAT happened) and they gave it to me. I keep thinking I should pinch myself but that is my cynicism sneaking in to spoil my fun. It's okay to feel good about myself and believe I deserve this. My Baptist/Presbyterian upbringing doesn't allow for much self-congratulation. I always feel guilty. But, like Stuart Smalley always says,

"I'm good enough,
I'm smart enough
and, dog-gone it, people like me!"

Thank you, Al Franken.



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Where's the Beef?

This is my new mantra now that I've heard the Sarah Palin speech. Shakespeare's line, "it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing" made its way through my mind as I watched her.

I do not underestimate her nor the American people. She has just the right look and delivery to gather many followers. But ask yourselves, what is she really saying? What are her policies? What are her plans for the country? How is she going to help the middle class? Just because she came from a small town and terms herself a "Washington outsider" doesn't give her credentials to accomplish anything. She has to have an agenda and lay it out. None of us should vote with our emotions. Everyone needs to take a long hard look at the issues and decide which candidate is best suited to: revitalize the economy; deliver a health care plan affordable to all Americans; bring home our soldiers; provide environmentally friendly solutions to our energy crises,;fix our educational system...it's a disgrace; stop taxing the middle class and start taxing the top 1%; stop giving tax credits to major corporations; provide tax incentives to companies that DO NOT OUTSOURCE.

Let's get real. She and John McCain represent the same old story. There is NOTHING new in anything they say. She tried to use patriotism and love of country as a weapon against the Democratic ticket. That is, if you're a war hero and you believe in the war in Iraq, you're a patriot. If you're against the war, you're not. That is utter nonsense.

Stick to the issues and lay out your plans Sarah Palin. Then maybe we'll all have something concrete to discuss.

Was once & Will be again

I wear a locket, purchased in Vancouver the
summer I graduated high school, with photos
of my then boyfriend, now husband and I at
Disneyland on Grad Night.

I'm headed home to my high school reunion this month. It is my fortieth.

"Fortieth?" you ask.

Fortieth.

Where did it go? I have no idea. Granted, my real fortieth reunion is next year. I graduated high school in 1969. Somehow, that doesn't make this event any less daunting. I have been preparing for this for six months. I've lost 10 lbs, I'm having glycolic face peels, I've darkened my hair to a chestnut brown and grown it to shoulder length. Many women in my age group (baby boomers) are no longer hung up on the idea that "blonde highlights and chin length" make you look younger.

Is it helping? As it is all about my looks, I'd say "Not much".

My husband and I had a nice talk yesterday and he remarked he wanted me to "find the person I used to be before I had children." He went on to say that having children changes a woman forever. She transforms to Mother first, everything else second. That has certainly been true for me. That conversation began by him asking,

"Do you remember who you were before you had children?"

I really had to think about it. I wasn't sure what he meant. I kept thinking he meant career etc. He finally explained he meant who I once was and want to be again. I'm still thinking about that. I don't know.

I can only say it bears serious thought and it's a good exercise. I'll get back to you.

Jane in Moscow

One of my very good friends, Jane, is in her second, maybe third, act teaching in Moscow. After 20+ years teaching the fourth grade in a New Hampshire elementary school, raising a daughter alone, seeing her through college and recently, elegantly, married, Jane is on an adventure.

She applied to teach in a foreign school and was picked to go to Moscow where I believe she is teaching the children of American diplomats and workers. She went all by herself. Very ballsy, I think.

She has embraced her experiences with great vigor and humor. She should be writing a blog! She keeps her friends informed with a running commentary via email. Occasionally there are photos and I share a few today.

Wish I'd kept the ones of her at the pyramids.