February Photo a Day - Day 4

A stranger...

I felt a little weird thinking of taking a picture of a complete stranger.

Would they think I was a stalker?

Then I saw this guy....

holding a sign, claiming to be disabled.  He was missing his right arm and holding his sign with the left hand, asking for money.

I am the first person to be willing to help someone in need. Especially a vet.

What you can't see in the picture is the form under his jacket, where his right arm is actually hidden.

This guy needs his ass kicked. By a one legged retired veteran.

Feb Photo per day - Day #3

Take a picture of hands..

Hmm....whose hands?  My hands?   My kids' hands?

How about the hands I see at work every day?

You're in good hands!

Feb photo a day - day 2 Some pretty special words

Todays mail brought a few surprises for our family. First, I received my 50th anniversary edition of "To Kill A Mockingbird". So excited!! I've waited for this since Dcember!

The second surprise for us was an acceptance letter from Washington State Univerity for my oldest. It was her first acceptance letter. Her excitement was barely dampened by the fact it is her last choice for school. To know that someone wanted her was enough for her.

But wait...someone does want her. Me. I want her to be seven again, learning to ride her bike. Or laying on the sofa with me watching "rug rats" on Nickelodeon. Or waiting in line at the theater for hours before opening night for the newer Mary-Kate and Ashley movie.

For the first time, it's real to me. She's going to be graduating soon and heading off to school. Don't know how far way yet, but I do know this: I won't be hearing these special words as much:

"see you at home, Mom. Love you"

February Photo a Day - Day 1

Well, I must say.  For how long its been since we've seen each other, you haven't changed a bit. Still the same.  Frozen in time. 

Me, on the other hand... not so much.   Some changes are good, like getting into shape.  Some changes, I could do without - like every day waking up to a new gray hair.  


I've missed you!


I'm having fun playing with a challenge from Chantelle's blog over at Fat Mum Slim http://www.fatmumslim.com.au/.   It's a photo a day for the month of February. I'm a day behind (story of my life) but I'll catch up!


Check it out...sounds like a super fun challenge. 

Here is my picture from day 1:  my view today.

Emotional

Why is it that when a guy has a bad day, he gets to be left alone with his XBOX and his Call of Duty video game that lets him relieve his stress by blowing up people on TV?

But when a woman has a bad day, she is "emotional".    But wait...that doesn't mean leave her alone with her cup of coffee and a Martha Stewart magazine so she can lose herself in dreams of clean house, perfectly organized storage areas, and well planned dinner menus.  It means she gets told that she's "emotional".  Followed by "oh honey, what time are we eating?"

Of course, I'm venting.  No one really asked me what time we were eating.  Just what was for dinner.

My return to the blogosphere is prompted by a need to vent. Not to anyone in particular; just to vent.  Because my emotions are getting the best of me, apparently.  Could be true, I suppose.  But when I come home from work and see DD#1 laying in the same groove on the sofa that she occupies EVERY DAY after school, I feel my blood pressure rise.  When my eyes scan over to the recycling bin and I see the cardboard boxes literally falling out of the area, I'm about to blow.  And then DD#2's piles of dolls, my little ponies, AND cheerleading pom poms STILL scattered about the living room where they had been left three days ago...I lose it.   Steam coming out of my ears, I march into the living room to address both girls. 


But then I stop myself. Because I know I'm emotional.  And I don't like the first words being said to me in a day to be grumpy ones. 
So I start my rant with "I don't mean to walk in the door and come unglued, BUT...."

Considerate, right? 

I guess being "emotional" can work both ways...lol

My first post of 2010

Oh I am so fired from blogging. I am a bad blogger. Bad....  not that the entire cyber-world is hanging on my every word but I like to think that one or two people have missed my musings.   Um, yeah....awkward silence.

Now that the holiday craziness is over and life is settling to the normal level of chaos which we keep, I thought I'd catch up on my reading and writing.  I have tons of other stuff to do, like clean the house, fold the clothes that have sat in the dryer for two - oh wait, no THREE days now.  Nothin' like a good fluff before folding, I always say!

I've had a very interesting start to 2010.  As I sit back and watch the world unfold, I find that I am exhausted by every one else's drama.  When did everyone else's baggage have to become my baggage?  So I've decided no more.  I am not going to find myself sucked in to all of this unneccessary drama. My life is good. My husband loves me, my kids are healthy, my cat is a bit crazy (but we love him anyway...).

And yet...
My good friend's daughter is just out of prison and living in a halfway house, counting down the days until she is out on probation.

Oooh, I must make her a magnetic calendar to keep track of her days until she gets out.

My other friends are maintaining a schedule only matched by speed freaks, their only child seeing one parent at a time for weeks on end.

Ooooh, I should offer to babysit so that he has some fun times and the parents can have a night out together.

My oldest's BFF is going through some serious family issues; being the product of divorced parents who despise each other does not do well for a young person's emotional development.  But I don't need the drama.

Yet I let her keep us on the phone for hours at a time asking if she can come live with us because she knows both her parents are nuts.  But I can't help her because I DO NOT NEED THE DRAMA.

I answer the phone at work a few days ago.  "Hello Elizabeth, how are you?"
Elizabeth is crying on the other end of the phone.  She needs to know if she has coverage under her auto policy for cleaning up her car because her husband committed suicide in it the night before.

I spend the next thirty minutes just letting her cry and offering to find a service to handle trauma clean-up.

Then I hang up the phone and go into a room by myself.  I cry.

I'll take my little dramas anyday. Those are just little reminders that I'm alive.  It's the big ones that I don't need. Or want.

BTW - I went home and hugged my family just a little bit longer that night.  Make sure you do too.

An Easy way to say thanks to our troops

XEROX IS DOING SOMETHING COOL




If you go to this web site, http://www.letssaythanks.com/ you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.



How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and it only takes a second.



Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.



This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough thank you's.



Thanks for taking to time to support our military!