New Year Resolutions

Every year I make a resolution to do several things different and every year I fail. Why? Because new year resoulutions are meant to be made on January 1 and broken by January 27! This year I lasted until February 1st.

This year I resolved to: eat better so I could lose weight, excercise more by taking my dog Winston for long walks, to manage my money better by creating an emergency fund for emergencies, to clean up my credit so that I can be a better steward of what I have been blessed with.

Of course eating out all the time has little to do with eating healthy. Winston, my bearded collie, likes to pull, sniff and pee on every bush in creation. There is a problem with irresponsible owners who ignore the leash laws in our community, so Fluffy feels free to snarl at me and my dog while we're walking and minding our own business.

My emergency fund plan lasted 2 pay periods when I had, you guessed it, an emergency! I am in the process of refinancing my house so that I can afford to live like a human being again. (Don't every get an ARM- that's for another tale)

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting different results. I'm not insane, but something is definitely not right.

salute to MLK boondocks style

I found this on youtube.com. It operated on the premise that instead of dying, MLK remained in a coma for 40 years. When he awoke, he was truly disappointed with the state of Black America.
Some of you may be offended by the use of the N-word.

I have 2 words for you...oral surgery

I have been under the weather. Friday, Jan 6th I left work early because I had an asthma attack. I took my breathing treatment and shot in the ehinnie like a big girl and went home to rest.
The following Monday, I was in pain so I called my dentist and asked to come in. I had a filling (I thought)fall out earlier.
My dentist looked and said the tooth could not be saved and referred me to an oral surgeon.
As it turned out the tooth had cracked below the gumline and was abcessed. The roots went into the sinus cavity.
Can I tell you that flexible spending accounts are the best thing that I've done for me in a while?
I ended up taking the entire week off. As my friend Lena put it, I looked like I was in a fight and lost.
Today is my first day back and I'm leaving early to have the stitches removed.
Can you say ouch somebody?

Season premiere of 24

Today at work we began a discussion of the new season of our favorite tv shows. The odds on favorite is , of course, 24.
We are all so very excited by Keifer Sutherland's recognition in the form of the Golden Globe Award. Yay, Keifer! Big props, man!

So in honor of Keifer and crew. Here's a clip of the Season 5 teaser as provided by Fox and youtube.com

For other Farscape fans

I found this posted on youtube by justinroniuk. It is an unaired episode of the pilot. The quality is a bit grainy, but we get to see Creighton. Enjoy!

A History lesson

I usually don't post twice in one day, but this was just too deliciously tongue in cheek not to share. Some of you may be offended. Too bad!

This is from youtube.com and was created by GrandPooOfAwesome.

something new to me

A friend told me to go to youtube.com to check out some of the latest anime series; so last week I went to their site and found the funniest clip from Southpark that I had ever seen.
For those of you who love the series...it's at it's irreverant best.
check this out.

Sometimes it's just good to be.....

I'm not really planning on doing a whole lot today. In fact, after I get off work, I will probably just go home and chill for the rest of the evening. I had all these plans of running a zillion errands, but frankly I am tired.

Anyway, Christmas will be very light this year in terms of gifts. But you know what, I really am okay with that. And if any expectant recipient of my largesse is disappointed, that's okay too.

Since October, I have been working non-stop to take care of a tax problem that I have. So I took a part-time job to raise additional funds. As always, when you try to save life happens. This time life appeared in the form of my furnace going out. Fortunately it could be repaired but I will need to replace it this year.

Reflectively speaking, it's been an eventful year (hot water heater died, child's heart condition and pre-diabetic condition diagnosed, loss of tuition money, fractured ankle and loss of pay, etc...). I'm glad it's almost over and grateful for the perspective I've gained. But when all is said and done, today I'm just tired.


Sometimes it's just good to be.....

Merry Christmakwaanzahanukah to all!!!!

Holiday Madness

I am definitely the underachiever of my crowd. I called an old friend who lives in Boston to wish her a happy birthday. She happened to mention that she recently heard from an old college friend who is now a minister and his wife was just named the first surgeon-general of the state of Michigan!
Additionally, another college friend of ours is now a professor at Georgetown U in DC. I wonder what I did wrong besides be a another kid who didn't make up her mind what she wanted to do in life and then she had a job rather than a career:-(

All kidding aside, this is the time of year when relatives come out the woodwork to emotionally blackmail you into doing things that you either can't or don't want to do.

Yesterday, I got a phone call from my former mother-in-law inviting my daughter and I to VA for Christmas if we had no plans. I was taken surprised but touched. Unfortunately for her, my mom is traveling to Charlotte to spend Christmas with me this year and I told her that.

Today I get a call from my ex-husband telling me that he called my daughter to invite her to spend Christmas with him this year and that she seemed a bit torn. He said he knew that my mother was coming and wanted to know what I thought about her spending Christmas with them since they haven't seen her in so long. I told him that I thought he was extremely selfish since he already knew the girl's grandmother was coming to see her. But the decision is hers. I did propose the possibility of her going up after Christmas an spending the new year with him if she wanted.
I wonder who they think is going to bring her since I do not plan on driving 12 hrs round trip by myself to take her there and come back.

I'll keep you posted!

Contrast in climates

Today is such a beautiful fall day. It's a temperate 70-somthing degrees and I feel great.

I had a good time raking thatch this weekend (and if you believe that I have a bridge that I would like to sell you;-) Actually, My big beautiful bearded collie, Winston and I went for a lovely drive with the wind flipping our hair in the breeze.

Here at work, we are going thru our annual justify-yourself-and-your-entire- existence exercise otherwise know as self-appraisals.

I don't know why we bother since we already know there will be so many exceeds consistently, exceeds, and so on down the evolutionary scale. All I can do is to take comfort in the fact that, considering the circumstances of my life, I did the best that I could do this year.

My son, David is beginning a new job today and learning a new skill. I told him that sometimes when God appears to take something away from you and you have to do something else to survive, you're adding to your skillset and thus making yourself more marketable. He looked at me like I had grown 2 heads or something.

My daughter is alternately working hard at school or freaking out depending on her workload. I often tell her that she needs balance, but I guess it's easy for me to say since I mostly do the same thing.
Parenting is hard work especially since I have adopted a handsoff policy. I mean, I'll be there for emergencies, etc. but I really would like to see a bit more independence in her.
She tries, but it's been hard for her since she has had a series of unfortunate events happen to her: Freshman year- she had the whole blood disorder contracted from food poisoning thing that almost killed her. Sophomore year- she remained in remission after a year from the blood disorder only to have the doctors diagnose her with a challenging heart disorder that severely limits her activities and may soon require a defribrillator implant.
Junior year- her insulin levels are elevated resulting in a skin disorder that neither one of us can pronounce.

How do you tell your child that everything will work out when each time she tries to stand on her own feet, she gets a punch in the stomach? She's only 20 now and has been going thru this since age 18.

I welcome any positive comments.