Life is full of little trade offs…The trick is to find balance.

As all of my Faithful Readers know, I have two jobs. I work at the Cube Farm by day, and The Big Box Store by night…the blue one. I think you know what I’m talking about.

Lately, I’ve had thoughts of defecting to The Other Big Box Store. The red one, with the bulls-eye.

I have a friend at The Cube Farm who has been talking to me about switching over, and I think I just might do it. I have to say, though, that I have been at The Blue Store for long enough that I’m comfortable there. The whole problem with that place is that it’s impossible to get your work scheduling straight, it’s disorganized, dirty and they have such a high turn over rate that there is never enough help. As a result of not ever having enough help, many of us “Floor Help” end up cashiering instead of keeping our departments straight. I hate cashiering, and my right elbow and wrist hate it too.

Every time I go to The Red Store I marvel at how clean it is, how every employee has a scanner to use and that things just seem to be more orderly in general. It’s so tempting to defect, but I would be giving up a lot of benefits I get at The Blue Store that wouldn’t be available to me at The Red Store. Hm…lots to ponder.

Life is full of all sorts of trade offs, and some have been very worthwhile. Let’s take last night for example.

I picked up The Flirt, and we went shopping last night. We bummed around the mall, just going from one store to another looking at stuff. At several points he grabbed my hand and held it as we walked.  Wow… have you got any idea how long it’s been since a man has picked my hand up and held it? Oh…many more than I can count.  That Flirt is full of all sorts of delightful surprises, and I’m looking forward to finding out what else he has up his sleeve.

So, what’s the trade-off?  I gave up time with my boys at home for the evening.

I think the whole trick is to find balance. Sunday evening The Flirt came over for pizza and movies, and we all had a good time. Hopefully I can find and maintain just the right balance, and not let my social life get the better of me.

I think we can do this… Well, I guess we’ll find out!

A bluff called back

Well…I thought calling someone else’s bluff was an exhilarating experience.

It almost doesn’t quite compare to having that call met, but also challenged.

Heh…

I never really thought feeling 14 again would ever be any fun. Apparently I was wrong!

The healing properties of calling a bluff

Let me just say upfront that I have been a very naughty Sparrow. I called someone’s bluff today, and it was a little bit more satisfying than I expected it would be, but not for the reason you may suspect.

You’ve heard me talk about The Flirt…my best friend’s brother. Well, the flirting has reached epic proportions, and after so long I finally called his bluff. We’ll see what he does about it, but that isn’t the important thing here really.

The important thing is that I have learned that I am not dead inside… and I was really convinced that I was. It’s also important that I learned how powerful a person I can be. And, that I can have fun with a man again. What a revelation.

It’s been an educational day.

 

A new social life…who’d have thunk?

Recently, my social life has taken a turn for the better. I’ve actually been out with friends on each of the last three Saturdays, and it’s looking promising for this one and the next too.

Hmmm…who’d have thunk?

I had been pretty convinced that I wouldn’t ever have a social life again. And, the fact that this new and improved social life involves a man, well…that just blows the lid off of everything I had thought my life would be like going forward. We’re just friends…no kidding. However, he’s shown me that there is life after divorce. A fun life. He’s an incorrigible flirt, and a lot of fun to hang out with . The fact that his sister is one of my best friends in the whole world just makes it all the more fabulous.

My kids have even told me that they think I should go out and have fun. That was the ringing endorsement that I was looking for, and didn’t even know it.

Well, I guess I’ll just have to go forward with that and see what happens, won’t I?

You have all the weapons you need…now fight!

I just got home from taking the boys to see Sucker Punch.

When I asked the boys what they thought about it, Younger Son said: “Hot girls with weapons. What’s not to like?”  I asked Older Son what he thought, and he indicated that it was “pretty good”, but that was only because there are hot girls with weapons. This is what I get for asking teenage boys what they think about a movie with hot girls kicking ass like hot knives through butter. Not only that, but there was lots of good explosions and other interesting graphics.

What did I think about it? It was a different movie, very existential and layered with symbolism; a story that is actually stacked about three stories deep, almost an Inception style concept. My favorite part of the movie was this recurring phrase: “You have all the weapons you need…now fight!” I like this theme. I like it a lot.

Another theme that ran through this movie was that you never know when help will arrive, or what form it will take. You must keep your eyes open and think on your feet.

I don’t know that it was worth paying theater rates, but it would definitely be a good rental. While this movie displays a lot of violence and cruelty, it also has an interesting undercurrent of empowerment in the face of adversity…albeit in a cheese-tastic sort of way. And, while I tend to be a lover of happy endings, this one had a mixed ending. I won’t spoil it for you, but I will say that it’s not going to be the ending you think it might be…or should be. It’s certainly not the ending I would have chosen, but it did work.

I’ll give this movie one big thumb up, out of a possible two. Good movie, but not worth the theater charges. Make this one a rental.

 

The Best Birthday Ever: Part 1 – The Good

Today is my birthday. Usually I don’t say anything about my birthday, but this year it was the best one ever. It’s also been a bit bad, but I’ll elaborate on that in my next post. First, the  good.

I worked at The Big Box Story this morning from 8-Noon, and then went to lunch with Mom & Dad and the boys. When I met up with them, Older Son let me know that one of my oldest best friends called to let me know that she was coming to town, just for my birthday. Mind you, she lives four hours away. She just decided to get up and make the trip with her three boys. We’ll call her Kay. I had a super big amount of stuff to do today, and so I kind of dropped everything to make sure I could spend some time with her since she made the trip. At 2:30, we met at a local bar owned by another friend. We’ll call her Dee. We were sitting here having a nice chat, when ANOTHER old friend came in. We’ll call him Jay.

Kay apparently texted Jay to let him know she was in town and why, and invited him along for the afternoon. We all sat together, reminiscing about old stuff, and talking about new stuff. Topics discussed were all over the map and ranged from alternative views on the Bible to what’s up with our kids. We sat there from 2:30 to about 6:45, and it was a fabulous afternoon.

What struck me was no matter how much time had gone by, and how much things had changed, things still stay the same. I was always the odd duck of the group, and I never could figure out why they would ever hang out with me, but they did, and I’m glad. Jay was always the bawdy one…quick with a naughty joke, but then always had something deep to say later on. Kay was always the one who knew everyone in a tri-state area. She can’t go anywhere without running into several people she knows. Dee, who owns the bar, was her usual sweet self and was a joy to hang around. People really don’t change at their core…not really. Habits can come and go, but people have a kernel of their true selves that never changes. This can be good, and bad. I’ll get to the bad in the next post. And the scary.

For now, since I blew off all the work around the house I needed to do today, I need to get going on that. I have company coming tomorrow for a few hours, and haven’t had the time to get the house “company ready”. Uff-da…too much to do before I go to bed tonight, but it was worth it. I’d definitely do it again. Spending time with these people for four hours was definitely worth it.  There were a few people missing who I’d have liked to visit with, but still – It was truly the Best Birthday Ever! I am reminded again, that work and home is not all there to life.

How old am I, you wonder? I’m 42, and not shy about admitting it. I’ll revel in it, and think I’ll do like my Granny does. She’s officially 87, but insists that she’s 79 and holding.

Your friendly neighborhood flasher, and her new HDTV.

My eleven faithful readers have read all about how I had new windows installed recently. What I you haven’t heard me talk about is my new curtains, which is because I don’t have them yet. Well, most of them.

I do have new curtains for my room, but they aren’t up yet. I have some really pretty sheers up, but I just haven’t gotten around to getting the new curtains up yet. As it happens, my bedroom window faces a heavily traveled highway, so I have been getting dressed in the bathroom since the curtains aren’t up yet.

While it’s not unusual to hear people honking their horns outside my house, due to an intersection across from my driveway,  it’s not terribly frequent in the morning hours. The other morning, there was a lot of honking going on, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why there was so much honking. Later in the day, I was thinking about when I could make time to put up my new curtains. One thought rolled into another, and another, and then I realized I couldn’t remember taking my clothes to the bathroom to get dressed.

Oh…My…God…(Sound effect: palm hitting forehead)

Apparently  I was in such a hurry that morning I ran back into my bedroom, threw off my robe and got dressed, not thinking about the fact that there were no curtains other than the sheers. In the dark morning, sheers will be very see-though, especially when the room is well-lit with an overhead light. Well, I guess some people had a surprise during their morning commute! I really need to make time to put up those curtains tonight!

In other news, I got talked into buying a new TV. We got some money for Christmas, and our TV was needing to be replaced. While we could have limped along nicely until our tax refund comes back early next year, we ran into a good deal and the boys are smooth talkers.  As I speak, Older Son and Younger Son are communing harmoniously while putting up the new HDTV, and it’s a good sound. I rarely hear them making happy, getting-along sounds together, so this is music to my ears. I’m betting the movie we watch after the new TV is set up will take my mind off of the fact that I flashed about 30 cars the other morning. We’ll be watching Despicable Me. My favorite part of this movie is the Minions, and I’m quite convinced that if I had Minions like these, my life would be just that much more fabulous!

Happy Boxing Day to all!

Ah…relief!

I’ve been battling a head cold all week. Older Son brought this home from school. Such a giving child, he is.  He managed to get over it within a few days, as did Younger Son. I, for some unexplainable reason, can’t shake this cold. Today I had such a sinus headache, I felt like some small child had pranked me in my sleep by squirting my head full of Elmer’s glue.

Just now, I was kneading homemade pizza crust for supper, and walla! My sinuses cleared, and I can breathe again. I feel like rays of sunshine are shining down on my head and a miracle has happened. The act of breathing is something you really take for granted, until you can’t.

You may have noticed that I’ve been ranting a little bit more than normal, and that’s why. When my head pounds and I’m stuffed up for so many days in a row, I get a little cranky. I think I need to go back and reread my earlier post about digging for blessings, and take some of my own good advice.

In the spirit of boosting my spirits even higher, I went to You Tube in search of something funny to watch, and I found the most delightful video. I remember when my boys were babies, and how they would break out into laughter like this. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Coffee, how I do love thee…

I never used to like coffee. When I was little my mom used to fix me a cup of tea with lots of milk and sugar in it. Once, I came upon a cup full of what I thought was my tea, but it was

Good morning!

someone else’s coffee with a lot of cream and sugar in it, and it was awful. I never touched the stuff again from that moment, until my middle-late twenties.  My (then) husband, myself and our two babies traveled to Michigan to visit his family, and his younger brother introduced me to the joys of flavored coffee. Since then, I’ve been irretrievably hooked. It’s all Jeff’s fault…yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself.

Anyway, fast forward to now. I love to buy my favorite fluffy coffees at Starbucks. We have local coffee shops who also sell delightful coffee concoctions. My kids have recently developed a taste for it as well. Often on Sunday mornings,  one of the boys will go with me to Starbucks and we get us all coffees, pastries and a newspaper. What a fabulous way to start a nice Sunday morning!

Fluffy coffees are expensive, though, and it’s not something we can have all the time. Since buying coffee every day is just too cost-prohibitive, we have a coffee pot. Mom had an extra one, and sent it home with me one day when I mentioned the kids liked coffee. So, it’s been interesting buying different flavors and doctoring our coffee up with flavored creamers and sugar.

Drinking coffee isn’t just about the taste, or the caffeine. There’s something about the smell that calms me down during a hectic morning. It’s also a great smell to wake up to. I love the smell of coffee right away when I get up. It’s almost aromatherapy! In the Winter, drinking coffee can be all about getting warmed up again after being outside. Sometimes drinking coffee at work is a means of grounding and centering myself if I’m having a rotten day. Most days, I only drink one cup of coffee, and am lucky to finish it.  I know it’s a bad day at work when I’m hitting my second cup of coffee before noon. Gods help the person who messes with my coffee. Reach for my coffee cup, and you may only get back a bloody stump where your conniving, thieving hand used to be, especially if it’s early in the morning.

I have a cup of coffee sitting next to me right now. I’m just waiting for it to cool before I start sipping, so I’ll just inhale the lovely aroma and get a good start on my day. (Sniiiiiff….ahhhh!)

My dishes call, therefore I blog about silly things.

I hate doing the dishes. It’s my least favorite chore of all, and I can hear my sink full of dishes calling to me… “Wash meeeee”…but I have chosen to ignore them in favor of spending time with you guys. I haven’t posted for a while, so I figure I can make time. After all, the dishes aren’t going anywhere any times soon. They can wait a few more minutes.

So, now that I have established that I am blogging tonight instead of doing the responsible thing, what to blog about?  How about silliness? Can’t go wrong there. And, since I’m such a huge fan of You Tube, I’ll be sharing some of my favorite silly videos with you tonight.

First up, we have “Creepy Doll” by sung by Jonathan Coulton, a nice girl who plays a mean ukulele, and the comedy duo Paul and Storm:

Next we have a funny storm trooper video that will either make you laugh out loud or make you want to scrub your eye balls with bleach. I laughed out loud…my humble apologies to those of your who ran for your bleach bottles:

And, finally, here’s one of my favorite silly cat videos. Enjoy!