Pappaw's Birthday

The joy of family

Family gatherings are always stressful events for me. In my family every single person thinks they are in charge. We have our own little groups (some of which give the air of looking down on others). Of course, we have our grudges against each other for reasons real or imagined. But this weekend we had a gathering where none of these issues matter. We celebrated my grandfather’s 90th birthday.

My grandfather is an amazing man. He lost his father during the flu epidemic of the early 20th century. He came of age during the depression working with WPA. His job was to pick up trash along the highway. It was a job he was grateful to have. His meager paycheck was taken home to his mother. In his twenties he married a beautiful woman (my grandmother who is still beautiful). During WWII he was a member of the US Air Force and was bunkmates with Vincent Minelli. After the war he worked in a steel mill, eventually working as a lobbiest for his union. He “retired” at least three different times, each time taking on a new career that interested him. During this time he raised a family of three, built his own home and was a responsible and involved citizen of his community and church. After he raised his own family he helped to raise his grandchildren and his grandchildren’s children. In other words, he has lived an amazing life.

Four years ago he had his third open-heart surgery. After the first two we all expect him to recover quickly and return to his active lifestyle. However, this time his recovery was slow and his attitude was bitter. His memory began to slip and he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. He had a stroke and lost vision in one of his eyes which caused his doctor to recommend his license be revoked. This brought forth more anger and bitterness. Over the last few months his vision reached the point of legal blindness. He can no longer see the television or read the paper. His response was to slip into an attitude of nothingness with brief glimpses of even more anger and bitterness at what he had lost.

I say all this because this weekend I was able to see the man he once was. He wasn’t active physically but his mind was aware. He talked. He smiled. He even laughed. Being around his family-children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, siblings, nieces and more brought a joy to his face that I have not seen in over a year.

For each and every one of us the most important thing we could do was to be there for him. Our petty differences didn’t matter. Only his happiness mattered.

patios, 5ks and shows - total randomness

we have a large yard and it has a lot of grass. it can take several hours to mow. today the decision was made to eliminate some of that area. we are going to put out patio bricks over a large area outside the door eliminating some of the time we hve to spend on the mowers. i am very excited about this.

it's that time of the year again. the komen race for the cure is in october and i am organizing a team from the theatre. unfortuntely for me summer hours took away two months of training. i'm not back at square one but i am close. my goal had been to run the whole race but now the realistic goal will be to run 1 to 1 1/2 miles. i want to do the race in 40 minutes which is a little over 13 minutes a mile. i know that is not an impressive time but for me it will be the best time i've walked/run since i was in high school (eight minute mile with bronchitis, thank you).

odd couple just finished up and it was the most fun i've had stage managing any show. we had a small cast who got along fabulously. now we are working on dearly departed. i'm playing an 85 year old woman. btw, wigs are itchy.

the family reunion plannig is back on track. bellydancing classes are back. so are acting classes. next month i'll be adding a couple of computer classes for work.

Today's Lesson: The Double Standard

The bad news is...staying news-free is nearly impossible. The good news is that the media has once again proven how narrow-minded the liberal left truly is. McCain chose a VP who happens to be a woman who has an infant child, a blue collar husband and a very pregnant 17 year old daughter. The last few days have been nothing but coverage of these stories. Even the entertainment shows are covering this crap. And yet...the liberal left misses the fact that Barak Obama's mother was 17 and unwed. It attacks anyone who dares approach a very ADULT Chealsey Clinton that has campaigned for her mother. The liberal media thinks that anyone who dares to approach these subjects is leading a vicious and unethical attack against innocents...except when it benefits their cause.

So to the liberal left media...you've just opened pandora's box.


We now return to being utterly uninformed.

Underappreciated Professions

Last weekend I had my first pedicure in three years. I love pedicures, especially the ones that come with a massage chair and actual foot and calves massages. And I absolutely love the way my freshly painted toes look for days and weeks after.

While I was there I began to think what a nasty job this must be. The pedicurist is constantly messing with another person's dirty, nasty feet for eight or more hours a day. Corns, calluses, bunions and various fungi. So many disgusting types of nails. Cracked heels and hairy feet (not to mention some very unshaven legs). To do this with a smile and a good attitude takes a special person.

Even more important is the care with which these people treat your feet. You'd be surprised at how many people do not know that foot care affects your whole body. Think for just a minute about the last time your feet were bothering you. I'll bet you'll think of another part of your body that was just as sore or tired. There is a reason for this. Your foot has never endings that correspond to every part of your body. It is as if someone laid a mini line of cable from your feet all the way to your head. To have someone come along and massage and care for those sore, aching feet is to have someone take care of your whole body.

So to all you pedicurists out there I send you my grateful thanks.

News-free and Loving It

Normally I consider myself a well-informed citizen. I watch the news. I read newspapers and magazines. I follow politics and world events (and am one of a very few in my circle who knows more about foriegn leaders than just their names). I even make the effort to check congressional records to see how my leaders are voting (as opposed to how they are campaigning).


But a few weeks ago I reached my limit. The media (both right and left) has been increasingly pandering to emotion and ignoring actual news. The offending story dealt with a local teen at a nightclub who murdered two people in front of several witnesses. The murder was also caught on a security camera. What offended me was the use of terms such as "the suspect" and "the accused" along with the litany of "character witnesses" who attested to the fact that this murderer would never do something like this.

I understand that we, as a society, do not want to find an innocent man guilty and that we must do all we can to preserve that freedom. However, if the MF who killed someone carried out his crime in front of several people AND on a security camera shouldn't we just drop the charade and call it what it is. This man is a murderer. He is not a suspect. He is not the alleged murderer. He is the murder.


On to other news rants...

Global warming: If somebody wasn't making money off of peoples fears of global warming there would be no such theory. Let's face it, those who have bought the load of crap being fed to the public by leftist haven't done their research. Actually those "presenting" said research haven't checked the math in their own work...it's wrong. We are now being told that an overall cooling of the planet is the result of global warming. Can we say double talk? And paying someone to offset your carbon footprint? Can't happen people. But if you must pay someone please send a $20 donation to me and I will gladly plant an acorn so that your global conscience will feel better. I think you'll find my fees more reasonable than the machine feeding you the global disaster panic.

US Presidential Election: Let's face it, our candidates suck this year. Obama is an extreme leftist and McCain is so much a centrist he is just a little on the left (check his voting record). Obama, in spite of internet rumors, is NOT a muslim (how many Muslim-dominated countries are liberal?). McCain has the war experience but will be dealing with a Democrate Senate and House. Obama wants to take over the oil companies. McCain wants to give us a gas tax break and charge the oil companies the difference (like this profits tax won't find its way to our pocket books). And, Obama, in all his wisdom looks like he will choose the Banshee for a running mate (if he does, expect some unexpect "accident" to befall him if he is elected).

The economy: There is no recession. There is only an election year with one party determined to regain power. If that means they must convince the masses that the economy has tanked and we are going to be worse off than we were during the depression then so be it. Unfortunately, our goverment has FU education so much that no one really knows what constitutes a receission any more. If you are one of those who don't I recommend finding a dictionary and looking it up.

So now that I've ranted about the craptacular news let me say that I have been in a much better mood since taking my sabbatical.

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Time for an Update

Life has a funny way of interrupting our best laid plans. Sometimes this is for the best, sometimes it is for the worst. Then other times, it just is.

We had planned on my bf moving in this June. Everything was laid out and going according to plan until we realized his lease ended in February instead. So everything was moved up four months and our plans were crunched up four months. Add to that one car needing multiple repairs, one car going completely out, one bout of flu and one bout of pneumonia and you could say that life (at least financially) has been very stressful.

Along with this comes the normal adjustments of having someone living in what was once your own space. For two people in their 30s who have never shared a living space this is definately an adjustment that takes conscious effort. In some areas (cooking, cleaning) we are having fewer problems than I had envisioned. In others (computer time) we are having more trouble than I could have imagined. The upside is we are talking our way through these things.

Bottom line...in spite of some stressful days I wouldn't change his being here for anything.

To update on the training for the 5k...the flu gave me a couple of weeks of set back due to recovery time. I'm now running almost four minutues of my walk and I'm walking four miles instead of one. Not bad but not where I'd like to be.

Career-wise, I think I may have found what I was looking for. I'm hoping things will be finalized on this front within the next few weeks.

I'm still not certain about the direction I want this blog to take so for now it will continue with my ramblings. Sometimes being a Jane-of-all-trades makes these decisions harder.