...Happily reading the "This is what my family did this year" letter from my younger step-son, Jayson. Life is good, Rodney got into two racing magazines, he had a great year racing. Sandy computerized their whole small business. Jayson's doing well in school and has learned lots of nifty tricks on how to eat without wheat flour (poor guy, but he's very clever so I know he's got a lot of good ideas).
Then he hits me with the heart failure paragraph: "D.J. has recently landed a job in the school system, working with computers. He is very happy. They have a new addition to their family! A brand new Baby!"
GASP! (That's me inhaling an ice cube.) PEE! (That's me peeing myself.) HISS!!!! (That's me scaring the crap out of the cats.)
I remember very clearly a conversation at DJ and Sarah's wedding (my older step-son and his lovely wife). In that conversation I said, "Take your time and enjoy each other for a while before you make me a grandmother. And while we're at it, I might as well tell you that I refuse to be called grandmother. I like Nana or stick to Mom like you boys call me. But NOT grandmother!" And I was assured at that time that grandkids were definitely not in my near future. And I was greatly relieved.
Not so at Christmas--no relief; simply sheer, horrifying, stark terror! I AM NOT OLD ENOUGH TO BE A GRANDMOTHER! 39 be damned, in my heart I am still 21! (Hey, I have to be old enough to drink, now!) And my boys are still 4 and 6 down in there, so they CAN'T be daddy's! No, no, no, no, no...
Finally, after all this trauma, I've decided I should at least read on to find out the name and sex of my grandchild. I find that the newest Mickle is...a dog. And his name is Tasselhoff. I don't know if the Burrfoot is part of his name or not. I nearly peed myself again out of sheer relief.
I love my boys very much. But they just take too much pleasure in bringing me to the verge of heart failure.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
Christmas Season Among Us Heathens
So what does a pagan do at Christmas time? We celebrate just the same as everyone else, depending on our brand of paganism. Just like any religion, there are many different versions and levels of intensity.
Being a relaxed kind of person (except when I’m in stress mode), I take a relaxed sort of view on my religion and what rules may be involved. The biggest rule, which I have found among pretty much every religion I’ve looked at with any depth, is the Golden Rule. In case you live in a cave and don’t know this rule, it’s “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Don’t even say I took it from the Bible. It got started somewhere and like many Christian things, was most likely robbed from some pagan teaching somewhere.
As for Christmas at Christmas time, this is another prime example of a pagan event stolen by the Christian church and morphed into a celebration of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s really the Winter Solstice. Yep, a pagan observation. I could go on, but that’s not why I’m writing tonight. Anyway, it’s OK for me to celebrate at this time of year, because the timing coincides with the Yule Tide celebration and Winter Solstice. You may have noticed several other religions observing important celebrations at this same time. Hmmmm…
I’ve already mentioned my cute little Mylar tree. (I found a wreath that suited me, by the way. It’s not iridescent Mylar, but it’s not red and green, ether, and it’s very natural looking.) Under my tree are two packages. One is from my best friend, the other from my other best friend, my sister. Ann’s package is still in its FedEx packaging. I was instructed to not touch it until Christmas, except to put it under the tree, and that’s what I’m doing. The cats may have other ideas… Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…there’s a string hanging off this package…
My best friend also sent me some stocking treats, so I went back to the room of death and found the Christmas box again and dug out my stocking, filled it and set it out. I’ve purchased some canned food and catnip mice for the fur bellies. I can’t set their stockings up until Christmas Eve, though. They’ll tear the stockings up trying to find the catnip. I thought about buying them one of those kitty condo things, because I know they’d enjoy it. Money won out and I bought noodles or something. I forget now. Oh, maybe it was the beer. I promised a friend I’d have decent beer when he came home from Iraq. I still have to earn forgiveness for having cheap beer for the people who helped me move. He’ll forgive me eventually. Hey, he’s a hasher; he’s supposed to be used to cheap beer!
On Christmas, I’ll probably go hang out at Deb’s in the late morning after I’ve given the kitties their treats and opened my own presents. My friend Rick is having company over and feeding everyone in the afternoon, so I’ll probably wander his way and have dinner. It’s not in my nature to not offer help, so I’ll probably bring some food of my own to share. I’ve wanted to try my hand at brochette. (That’s not the right spelling, but spell check doesn’t have it in Italian, and I can’t remember the right way.)
Since McD’s is closed Sunday for the holiday, Summit is closed Monday, and I only work McD’s on Saturdays and Sundays, I get two whole days off. And this time it’s not a sick day! I intend to enjoy this to the fullest. By that I mean, I’M NOT DOING A DARN THING I DON’T HAVE TO DO!
Everybody have a safe and happy holiday.
Being a relaxed kind of person (except when I’m in stress mode), I take a relaxed sort of view on my religion and what rules may be involved. The biggest rule, which I have found among pretty much every religion I’ve looked at with any depth, is the Golden Rule. In case you live in a cave and don’t know this rule, it’s “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Don’t even say I took it from the Bible. It got started somewhere and like many Christian things, was most likely robbed from some pagan teaching somewhere.
As for Christmas at Christmas time, this is another prime example of a pagan event stolen by the Christian church and morphed into a celebration of Jesus of Nazareth. It’s really the Winter Solstice. Yep, a pagan observation. I could go on, but that’s not why I’m writing tonight. Anyway, it’s OK for me to celebrate at this time of year, because the timing coincides with the Yule Tide celebration and Winter Solstice. You may have noticed several other religions observing important celebrations at this same time. Hmmmm…
I’ve already mentioned my cute little Mylar tree. (I found a wreath that suited me, by the way. It’s not iridescent Mylar, but it’s not red and green, ether, and it’s very natural looking.) Under my tree are two packages. One is from my best friend, the other from my other best friend, my sister. Ann’s package is still in its FedEx packaging. I was instructed to not touch it until Christmas, except to put it under the tree, and that’s what I’m doing. The cats may have other ideas… Here, kitty, kitty, kitty…there’s a string hanging off this package…
My best friend also sent me some stocking treats, so I went back to the room of death and found the Christmas box again and dug out my stocking, filled it and set it out. I’ve purchased some canned food and catnip mice for the fur bellies. I can’t set their stockings up until Christmas Eve, though. They’ll tear the stockings up trying to find the catnip. I thought about buying them one of those kitty condo things, because I know they’d enjoy it. Money won out and I bought noodles or something. I forget now. Oh, maybe it was the beer. I promised a friend I’d have decent beer when he came home from Iraq. I still have to earn forgiveness for having cheap beer for the people who helped me move. He’ll forgive me eventually. Hey, he’s a hasher; he’s supposed to be used to cheap beer!
On Christmas, I’ll probably go hang out at Deb’s in the late morning after I’ve given the kitties their treats and opened my own presents. My friend Rick is having company over and feeding everyone in the afternoon, so I’ll probably wander his way and have dinner. It’s not in my nature to not offer help, so I’ll probably bring some food of my own to share. I’ve wanted to try my hand at brochette. (That’s not the right spelling, but spell check doesn’t have it in Italian, and I can’t remember the right way.)
Since McD’s is closed Sunday for the holiday, Summit is closed Monday, and I only work McD’s on Saturdays and Sundays, I get two whole days off. And this time it’s not a sick day! I intend to enjoy this to the fullest. By that I mean, I’M NOT DOING A DARN THING I DON’T HAVE TO DO!
Everybody have a safe and happy holiday.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Holiday Cheer
So, I'm making all my close friends and family these CD's for Christmas. I sent out an email to all of them asking the general flavor of music they would like to hear. I got my responses and began scanning my stock of music for appropriate choices, and making lists of what should go on whose CD.
I have to admit that I really like every single list I've made. I know that doesn't mean the recipient will, but I'm willing to take that chance.
Anyway, some of the requests required me to step outside my own personal box of music because I just haven't gotten that far in my collection yet. So I have done some shopping for the less expensive compilation-type CD's to accomodate those requests.
Note to Self Number 1: K-mart is not a good source of quality music products. I purchased a couple of CD's the other night for a reasonable price that fit my budget. They both were compilations and would also fit my own personal collection well. I brought them home and proceeded to open them so I could rip them into my pc. The first went very well. I opened it, took out the CD, put it in the pc, and I ripped it. The second was a different story altogether.
After going through all the same steps to dig the CD out of its impervious packaging, I opened the CD case to find...
Nothing.
There was nothing in the case. And it was sealed, completely, just like every CD I've ever bought that actually had a CD in its case. This one was empty.
Ok, I can handle that. The wrapper and the little tape strip with the CD name on it were both a shambles, but I felt confident I could make it right with K-mart. I put the empty CD case and the remains of the wrapper and tape strip back in the bag from my purchase. The next day I went to K-mart after work and proceeded to explain my problem. I was answered with that, "You don't really expect me to believe that?" look that jaded retail clerks give everybody who has to return anything for any reason. I asked if I could exchange it for the same CD but this time with a CD in the CD. "Yes, but it has to be this exact one. Bring the replacement up here so we can check it."
Fine. I'm jipped out of a CD and I'm treated like I did the jipping. Ok, fine. I go back to the music department and begin pouring through the compilations again. They are in an even worse mess than when I shopped there the first time. And worse, there's no sign of the exact CD I had bought. There were 2 other CD's along the same lines, but they weren't the EXACT same one I had bought. Oh boy. Bracing myself for a fight, I returned to the customer service counter.
"I've been through every CD back there twice and the electronics clerk even tried to help me and we couldn't find the same one. These 2 are the same price as the one I bought. May I please exchange it for one of these?"
Again with the look. "You're welcome to go back and search the racks for me. I don't mind. All I know is that I was jipped and I'm being treated with disbelief and mistrust for trying to get what I bought."
A break in the facade at last. "Which of these would like to exchange it for? (sigh)"
I read the backs of the CD's I picked up and chose the one that seemed closer to my original choice. "May I check it to make sure there's a CD in it? I don't want to go through this again."
"(sigh) Go ahead and check it." I could hear the "if you must" that was unspoken. By this time I didn't care. I was NOT going through this again! I checked and the CD was in the case. Yay! I took my receipt and went home to rip the music into my pc.
Note to Self Number 2: K-mart is not a good source of quality music products. The fabulous replacement CD was ripped onto my system last night while I watched a movie. Everything seemed to be fine. Tonight I burned the CD for the person that the CD had primarily been purchased for. I used several songs from that CD plus many that were already on my pc.
As I have done with all of these gift CD's, I played it after I had burned it--a sort of quality check. The last 2 or 3 songs have skips in them big enough to scare the man in the moon. They're like gaps in the rings of Saturn. They're like the empty space between galaxies. They're horrible and I want to scream at the thought that the CD I burned onto my pc may have been flawed. I am NOT taking the blasted thing back again. NO!
grrrrr....
So that's today's bit of Holiday Cheer. Happy Freakin' Holidays to you! *&^%...
I have to admit that I really like every single list I've made. I know that doesn't mean the recipient will, but I'm willing to take that chance.
Anyway, some of the requests required me to step outside my own personal box of music because I just haven't gotten that far in my collection yet. So I have done some shopping for the less expensive compilation-type CD's to accomodate those requests.
Note to Self Number 1: K-mart is not a good source of quality music products. I purchased a couple of CD's the other night for a reasonable price that fit my budget. They both were compilations and would also fit my own personal collection well. I brought them home and proceeded to open them so I could rip them into my pc. The first went very well. I opened it, took out the CD, put it in the pc, and I ripped it. The second was a different story altogether.
After going through all the same steps to dig the CD out of its impervious packaging, I opened the CD case to find...
Nothing.
There was nothing in the case. And it was sealed, completely, just like every CD I've ever bought that actually had a CD in its case. This one was empty.
Ok, I can handle that. The wrapper and the little tape strip with the CD name on it were both a shambles, but I felt confident I could make it right with K-mart. I put the empty CD case and the remains of the wrapper and tape strip back in the bag from my purchase. The next day I went to K-mart after work and proceeded to explain my problem. I was answered with that, "You don't really expect me to believe that?" look that jaded retail clerks give everybody who has to return anything for any reason. I asked if I could exchange it for the same CD but this time with a CD in the CD. "Yes, but it has to be this exact one. Bring the replacement up here so we can check it."
Fine. I'm jipped out of a CD and I'm treated like I did the jipping. Ok, fine. I go back to the music department and begin pouring through the compilations again. They are in an even worse mess than when I shopped there the first time. And worse, there's no sign of the exact CD I had bought. There were 2 other CD's along the same lines, but they weren't the EXACT same one I had bought. Oh boy. Bracing myself for a fight, I returned to the customer service counter.
"I've been through every CD back there twice and the electronics clerk even tried to help me and we couldn't find the same one. These 2 are the same price as the one I bought. May I please exchange it for one of these?"
Again with the look. "You're welcome to go back and search the racks for me. I don't mind. All I know is that I was jipped and I'm being treated with disbelief and mistrust for trying to get what I bought."
A break in the facade at last. "Which of these would like to exchange it for? (sigh)"
I read the backs of the CD's I picked up and chose the one that seemed closer to my original choice. "May I check it to make sure there's a CD in it? I don't want to go through this again."
"(sigh) Go ahead and check it." I could hear the "if you must" that was unspoken. By this time I didn't care. I was NOT going through this again! I checked and the CD was in the case. Yay! I took my receipt and went home to rip the music into my pc.
Note to Self Number 2: K-mart is not a good source of quality music products. The fabulous replacement CD was ripped onto my system last night while I watched a movie. Everything seemed to be fine. Tonight I burned the CD for the person that the CD had primarily been purchased for. I used several songs from that CD plus many that were already on my pc.
As I have done with all of these gift CD's, I played it after I had burned it--a sort of quality check. The last 2 or 3 songs have skips in them big enough to scare the man in the moon. They're like gaps in the rings of Saturn. They're like the empty space between galaxies. They're horrible and I want to scream at the thought that the CD I burned onto my pc may have been flawed. I am NOT taking the blasted thing back again. NO!
grrrrr....
So that's today's bit of Holiday Cheer. Happy Freakin' Holidays to you! *&^%...
Friday, December 02, 2005
Palm Trees and Christmas Lights
So far, I have not been able to break the habit of making a double-take every time I see a palm tree with the trunk wound up in Christmas lights. I know by next year it will probably be perfectly natural to me. But not yet. I bought myself a table-top pine tree in irridescent mylar for $10 at Walmart. It gives one the impression of a pale purple/pink tree (just a shade above white) covered with ice. Somehow that seems more natural than a palm tree with Christmas lights on it. Go figure.
But never fear. My love of the season is in no way dimished. I still drop coins in the Salvation Army bucket on my way into the store as I smile and nod at the skinny, sweaty man in a Santa Suit. And I am very close to making up my mind which wreath I want for my front door--the one that's all red berries, or the one that's pine cones, red berries and fake pine needles. I haven't spotted one in irridescent mylar yet. Or one made of palm fronds. I suppose I could keep looking. Or not.
I have laid out my Christmas decorations with loving care and spent a good hour cursing at my tiny tree with its tiny ornaments because the store where I bought everything else didn't have tiny ornament hangers; they only had gargantu-hangers that you'd use to hang the grapefruit-sized ornament on the giant tree in Rockefeller Center. So, in my usual impatient manner, I bought the big ones because I would rather spend an hour cursing Christmas trees, ornaments and their hangers than wait an extra day until I could find the small hangers. I'm sure I will be cursing just as much after New Year's when it's time to unwind the gargantu-hangers from the tiny branches. But hey, that's a month away. I'll do it New Year's day when I'll have the whole darn day to cuss about it. I'm sure the cats will enjoy the flow of words. :)
But never fear. My love of the season is in no way dimished. I still drop coins in the Salvation Army bucket on my way into the store as I smile and nod at the skinny, sweaty man in a Santa Suit. And I am very close to making up my mind which wreath I want for my front door--the one that's all red berries, or the one that's pine cones, red berries and fake pine needles. I haven't spotted one in irridescent mylar yet. Or one made of palm fronds. I suppose I could keep looking. Or not.
I have laid out my Christmas decorations with loving care and spent a good hour cursing at my tiny tree with its tiny ornaments because the store where I bought everything else didn't have tiny ornament hangers; they only had gargantu-hangers that you'd use to hang the grapefruit-sized ornament on the giant tree in Rockefeller Center. So, in my usual impatient manner, I bought the big ones because I would rather spend an hour cursing Christmas trees, ornaments and their hangers than wait an extra day until I could find the small hangers. I'm sure I will be cursing just as much after New Year's when it's time to unwind the gargantu-hangers from the tiny branches. But hey, that's a month away. I'll do it New Year's day when I'll have the whole darn day to cuss about it. I'm sure the cats will enjoy the flow of words. :)
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