Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Argh!

One should not enter into a home improvement project unless the following criteria can be met:

  1. there is a definite idea of what the finished project will look like
  2. there are sufficient funds to buy the necessary supplies to complete the work, plus a little surplus for the unexpected surprises that always accompany these projects
  3. there are enough available hours to complete the project while keeping the chaos to a minimum
  4. there is total support and approval from family members, specifically the spouse, who will be impacted by the work
At the moment I have not met ALL of the above criteria, therefore I am not embarking on a new project.

But I really, really want to. 

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Dry Cracked Feet?

In the last year or so I've developed really bad dry, cracked feet. Sorry, I know that's TMI for some of you. Anyway after weeks of trying all kinds of creams and lotions I finally found one that has worked wonders. I apply it religiously twice a day and it keeps things pretty much under control. Another plus, I've also discovered that it works well on rough elbows. Yay for smooth skin!

For the most part I am a woman of routine. If something isn't a part of my regular routine then there's a good chance it won't get done. If I miss even one day of twice applied cream rubs I notice a difference immediately. Therefore I have to make sure there are set times to apply this miracle cream to my feet.

The obvious first time is in the morning after showering, when I'm applying makeup and drying my hair. Rubbing the cream on my feet before doing all the other stuff allows plenty of time for it to dry before getting dressed. I then go merrily about my day.

The next obvious time would be at night just before climbing into bed. The liberal nighttime applications allows plenty of time for the cream to soak in and soften these rough tootsies.

But for me, nothing is ever as easy as it should be. My bedtime routine has been a tricky one to maintain for several reasons. First of all I obviously have to bare my feet before applying the cream, the key word being "bare." I don't know about you but to me "winter" and "bare feet" shouldn't go in the same sentence. When it's cold outside around here it's generally cold inside too. This calls for extra measures to be taken ... extra measures such as wearing socks to bed. Well poop. Now I have to choose between soft feet and warm feet.  Ugh, I really dread taking off my warm socks and climbing into a coooold bed but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Second to my dilemma, I go to bed much later than my husband. It's usually lights out for him around 11:30 but I stay up, on the computer and watching TV, until around 1:00 AM or later depending on how wired I am. The problem? I've yet to find a way to put the foot cream on without disturbing his sleep. First off, where should I sit to apply my foot cream? If I sit on the bed I wake him up as I  plop my fat butt down sit (obviously we don't have one of those mattresses that doesn't transfer movement, nope it's a lumpy old mattress that's almost as old as my marriage). I can sit in the chair next to the bed but it has squeaky springs that make enough noise getting in and out of, that it could raise a dead person. I could also do it in the bathroom but if I don't wait a sufficiently long time I end up sliding across the floor and catapulting into bed. Don't ask me how I know this will happen.

Oh, what to do, what to do? I figure I'm going to wake him up anyway so I might as well play it safe and sit on the side of the bed, and hope for the best. The best being I don't wake him up. The next best being he wakes up but turns over and goes right back to sleep. The worst ... well, I won't go into details but it ends with a grumpy, overly tired husband  ... one who ends up snoozing his alarm clock 467 times the next morning.

On to the next hurdle ... opening the tube of foot cream.   There's no easy way to do it without it making a LOUD popping sound. I guess to a sleeping person it's tantamount to the cork from a champagne bottle going off. Pow!, In a relatively quiet room this sufficiently startles even the soundest of sleepers. Oh good grief. At this point I just pat him on the back and say, "what? Did you have a bad dream?"

Once I've applied the miracle foot cream the third and final hurdle presents itself - getting my cold, greasy feet under the sheets without once again disturbing my back-to-sleep husband. The getting in bed is not the hard part, it's what I do after I'm between the sheets that is ...

Stop! Get your mind out of the gutter.

The problem? I don't know about you but when I have cold feet I have this overwhelming urge to attach them to whatever warmth I can find. That would, of course, be the warm backside of my husband. It's like his body is a magnet and my feet are being pulled to him and it takes every ounce of will power that I can muster to not assail him with cold feet. But most of the time I don't and it's not because I'm a sweet loving wife. Nope, it's more because even the manliest of men does NOT like cold feet touching him, ESPECIALLY not at night, and ESPECIALLY not on a cold night when he is snuggled, warm under the covers fast asleep. To do so is only inviting said husband to take revenge ... do I need to repeat the line above about snoozing the alarm THAT STARTS GOING OFF AT FIVE %^&* THIRTY IN THE MORNING?!?!

Now I know what many of you are thinking, I could just forego the nightly slathering of foot cream. Or, even more reasonable, I could actually go to bed at a decent hour and take care of all this before he falls asleep. But then, where is the fun in all that?  And what, pray tell, would I have to blog about?

Monday, January 21, 2013

Whatever did I do before without Facebook?

The simple answer to the question would be, before Facebook I didn't share with the world every little minute bit of my life.

But now I do.

It's like an addiction.

Sometimes I wish I would stop. Many times I'm sure there are people out there that wish I WOULD stop. The glorious thing about Facebook though is NO ONE is required to read what I write. And, they are more than welcome to stop at any time. They're also free to disagree with me at any time (but be careful doing so on MY wall, 'cause if you tick me off your comment is gone ... and if you continue to tick me off, YOU may be gone too!).

For the most part I try to keep my statuses light and non-controversial, very rarely will you see me post about politics or religion. It's not because I don't have an opinion, or that I don't care. I do. I just don't share it because a lot of the time my thoughts aren't what you'd expect. It might even change the way you think about me. And we all know I have a problem with how others see me. I want to be liked and I want your approval. (Just call me Sally Field, oops, showing my age here) Isn't it ironic then, that I chose to put myself out there on Facebook (and my blog??).

Anyway, Facebook. Status Updates. Light and non-controversial. That's me.

I went back and looked at what I've posted over the last few weeks and decided to bring you some of  (what I consider) my best ones. Those of you who are friends in real life and follow me on Facebook, you can stop reading now since you've already seen it. Unless of course I annoy you on Facebook and you have me hidden ... then, haha, the joke's on you!

 
Ok, this first one isn't so light and airy. Yes, I admit it ... I was in a MOOD. I have several "friends" that every time they pin something on their Pinterest account it shows up in my news feed. Guess what, I don't need or want to see what you're pinning. That's what Pinterest is for, where I can pick and choose who to follow and what boards I like. The rest is invisible to me. Or should be UNLESS YOU SHOW IT ON FACEBOOK every. single. time. you pin. Ok, rant over. I found the simple solution was to hide certain people on FB which, for the record, makes me sad because now I also don't see the "other" stuff they post. Oh well, that's life.

 
Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike Jimmy Kimmel. In fact I agree with my friend Beth's response - if I'm going to watch a late night guy I would choose Jimmy over the other too. But, I don't generally watch late night talk shows, it's just not my thing. I really liked watching Nightline before switching over to HGTV. It provided interesting news stories. Now I just go straight to HGTV and get sucked in there, so no turning back to Nightline at it's new later hour. Thanks ABC for helping, once again, to dumb down America.


Don't get me wrong, I love my cat. I want her to be warm and happy and content. However, I don't want to share my chair with her. I want to be able to get up and go to the bathroom or get something to eat or run out to get the mail and not come back to a chair full of cat. She looks at me with disdain when I tell her to move. She makes me feel guilty for disturbing her ... which wouldn't happen if she'd just stay where she was to begin with. This is the look I get when I roust her out of my chair 
If you look into her eyes I think you can see her plotting my demise.


I know you find it hard to believe but some times I do whine. Notice two people liked this status. All the others probably rolled their eyes and asked, "do you think she wants a little cheese to go with that whine?"

I followed up not long after with this ...

A truly embarrassing but totally hysterical chapter in my life. As it was occurring I couldn't help but think, "I can't believe this is happening." After it was over all I could think was, "boy am I glad I didn't have to pay for dozens of broken wine bottles," followed by, "thank goodness there weren't more people around to witness this," and "gosh, I wish I had a video to post on Facebook." So there you have it. I CAN laugh at myself!


I really do "love" leaving the refrigerator door open and do it every night while preparing dinner. But my momma did teach me well and I constantly harped at my own kids, "close the door, we're not refrigerating the whole kitchen." It's one of those "do what I say, not what I do" things that will be handed down from one generation to another.


We had day after day after day with clouds and rain. I use to enjoy a good rainy day but not so much anymore. It might have something to do with a back porch and patio that floods every time it rains, Or it might just be me becoming a cranky old woman. Either way, one day of rain I can handle but more than that and I want to scream. And, if I hear one more person claim, "but we need the rain," I might just lose it. I mean seriously, I NEED to sit and eat chips and watch TV but that doesn't make it a good thing now does it? Yes, I know I'm not being rational here but hey, it's my blog and I can say whatever I want . So there! Anyway, I wasn't posting to complain about the rain but to rejoice in the sunshine. Yay, sun!


I was really sad because a favorite show, Fringe, was coming to an end. It was just like losing Lost all over again (and for the record the Fringe finale was much better than the Lost one). I just don't get why shows like American Idol and those dumb dance shows keep going. All the reality shows are a waste of my time (well, not really because I don't watch any of them). And don't get me started about the "new" shows the networks give us only to yank them out from under us after a few episodes. It's almost to the point where I don't want to even start watching something new anymore because I know the chances are it will be gone in a flash. I guess the answer would be to stop watching TV and do something else with my time.

And all who know me laugh. They know that's not to happen in this household!


For the record, I'm not really doing so great with this resolution, but I am working on it.

Sometimes I just can't help myself though.

I come by it honestly. It's a family trait. If you're reading this and you have an ounce of West blood in you, you know you're guilty so don't even try denying it.



This post was from yesterday. I think my husband gets irritated sometimes when I post things like this. TMI Personally I think it's hilarious that we've been eating off/with things the cat has licked. Sure it's a tad gross but you know what? It hasn't killed us yet! Of course if my dogs were still alive and one of them was licking the spoon I would have been thoroughly grossed out but somehow it's just different with the cat.

So there you have it. A sampling of my life on Facebook. Nothing special. Nothing controversial. Just ho hum everyday life. So why, you ask, do I post all this stuff?

I don't know why. Does there really have to be a reason?

Now lets look at the flip side of Facebook. The things I see, the things that keep me coming back ...


My beautiful niece and great-niece in Connecticut that we seldom see in person but are regularly "see" on FB.

 
My husband making a statement that sadly most people don't really get.



A wonderful achievement shared by a homeschooling-mom friend.



A photo of someone who is no longer in my life but will always hold a special place in my heart. So happy to see her smiling face!


A random person that I've found who loves cats as much as I do and provides a special service for them. And shares it on the Internet. Squee!


A photo of a friend's daughter. I taught her at our co-op when she was just a young thing. Now's she's all grown up and so beautiful.


Two friends on opposite ends of the spectrum. A friend from my childhood that is having kitty issues (it's a good thing Tashi is such a cute kitty), and a friend of my son's from college, we share our loathing of a sports team.


Childhood friend and I have the same warped sense of humor.


A friend from high school, another cat lover ... what can I say?



My nephew reminding us that he will be on Hawaii 50 tonight, woohoo!

and finally
 
I can keep track of, tabs on see what my boys are up to without being the overly involved helicopter mom.

I could go on and on, these are but a few examples of what I see on FB and why I keep coming back. Sure there's stuff out there that drive me nuts but I try to keep all that hidden. The other stuff, what you've seen on this post ... that's why I do Facebook.

So, why do you do Facebook? Is it your place to share, to keep in touch with family and catch up with old friends? Or is it your place to go to share an agenda, alienate people, and/or rant like a crazy person? Can you guess which ones will be my friend on Facebook?