Age is Just a Number

How in the World......

Okay, you gotta see this.  Spouse-man blogged.

For your convenience, he is now linked up.  I have standards you know;  you gotta at least blog more than once.

It is worthy.

Talk to the Dog

Don't you wish sometimes dogs could talk?  Tell you about their day?

Hey, Mom!  I barked at a lot of people today and it was fun!  I chased the squirrel too!  Then I napped.

Dogs could be a sort of a Webcam on your yard.    Today, if I asked Maya what her day was like, she'd say something like this:

Mom!  Mom!  I am soooo glad you are home, I am scared clear to death!  A really ugly dude came by the house with a pipe wrench looking thingy and bashed in the window on OUR Jeep!  He touched OUR Jeep, the one that takes us all over the place.  He was really Stew-Pid though, cause he couldn't get that dumb 'ole radio out of the dash, so he just took the face off and left the rest in there.  And it was so scarey when he was bashing the window - Mom, really, I barked a lot, but I just couldn't do anything and I was scared.  I am so scared still now that I can't raise my tail and wag it;  all I can do is just let it droop.  I was traumatized, Mom.  And it was right in the middle of the day, too!  All sunny and stuff, with all the traffic going by.  I am sorry I can't wag my tail for you, cause I am still traumatized.  Things just aren't right in our yard now.  Are you really gonna put me outside tomorrow?  What if the ugly dude comes back?

Ahhh, our furry friends.  Loyal to the end ... Never a dull moment.

Tulips for You

This post is dedicated to my friend Tulips 4 Me... taken at the Home Show.

Texting Your Brains Out

Over a year ago, after I took the last of the heat for "not delivering messages" to my stepdaughter, The Mother got her a cell phone so that she would have 24/7 access to said stepdaughter. Spouse-man held to his guns, though, that she did not need a cell phone and would not get one until she got into high school. The end result? She was given instructions to not bring it to our house when she came over. She honored that, for the most part. Then she got into high school … then she got a phone plan that encourages texting over actually talking by giving more text minutes then talk minutes. I don’t get it personally, but Paul Harvey suggested that in the future we’d evolve to lose our voices and grow more fingers. I digress.

It’s an interesting thing about teens and cell phones; they become fused together and meld as one. She is rarely without the thing, and her fingers are busily flying over her little keys. Can they get Thumb Carpal Tunnel Disease?  I notice that she acknowledges some down time while a fork and spoon are in her hand.

Here are the things that really irritate me the most with a) Teens with cell phones b) My teen with a cell phone c) My teen with an infinite amount of friends d) My teen with The Mother Bungee with a texting cell phone:

* When talking to her, while I was cooking dinner, about her school counselor, she gets a call by vibration and suddenly I hear a "Hello?" in the middle of my sentence. How rude is that?

* While Spouse-man was tucking her in, the cell phone vibrates from under her pillow. Um, it’s bedtime folks.

* Every time Spouse-man tried to call her over the week with all her other activities going on, mysteriously he got her voicemail. Hmmm, why is it she seems to be on cue when everyone else calls?

* I seriously wonder how much her mother is talking to her during "our" time. Ok, now we get into that touchy subject of whether we are keeping The Mother from her.

* I have personally experienced that mysterious Bermuda Triangle of cellular communication where she claims she’s been waiting on me for an hour to pick her up and has called numerous times. Nothing on my missed calls list, sure about that?

* I stepped out the front door where she was sitting and she quickly put it in her back pocket. Okay, you caught my eye - What’s there to hide?

* I glanced out the front door where she and her dad were sitting on the front porch and she was multi-tasking; talking to her dad while texting someone else. How rude is that?

I would love to find a book by Miss Manners on the topic of cell phone use and give to both my stepdaughters. With my older one, I finally practiced just shutting up after getting rudely interrupted in the middle of talking, with her perky "Hello?" to her caller that I didn’t know was coming in. And you know what? She never comes back with "Sorry, please continue telling me what you were saying."

What’s with these kids?

A Worthy Website

I stumbled upon this website earlier this year :   Sierra Trading Post   If you've never heard of it, in short, it is a fun place to shop for big discounts on items for active minded folks, specifically including clothing, outdoor gear and home decor (okay, garden stuff is active minded stuff).  You probably won't find lace here.

It is actually a rather tidy database with sort features to narrow your query, like only finding the closeouts on my size of shoe.  I've had fun window shopping, loading up the shopping cart and eventually closing out the web page after I've long forgotten what I thought I really needed.  No foul, no $ spent.  However, I have ordered a couple things for our upcoming adventure, like a wrinkle free skirt.  I am long on the lookout in the shoe section.   Spouse-man even likes it and sorts on pants or shirts for under $20.   He has yet to purchase anything because when he found several pants for something like $9.95, he went back the next day and they were sold out.  So that's a bit of a key here; if you see it, need it (or want it), it's best not to dawdle.  I've had good experiences with their customer service, and with returning an item for a different size:  I had the new size in the house before I had a chance to get the other one to the post office to send back.

This post is not entirely a commercial break for Sierra Trading Post though.   The noteworthy point I wanted to point out is that upon browsing through my shopping cart just to see what kinds of ridiculous items I thought I needed, and eliminating all but the $11.95 pair of all-purpose khaki pants, I proceeded through the checkout and noted at the top of the screen this:

John 10:10    ... I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

Not many businesses, I think, have the nerve to put their beliefs out there, so I thought this was intriguing.  I dug a little deeper and found their We Believe page:

About Us > We Believe Sierra Trading Post wants to be your first choice for outdoor clothing and equipment. In order to be the best, we follow three simple "We Believe" statements. 1. That our customers must be given the best possible service. 2. That we must keep our operating costs as low as possible- to keep your savings as high as possible. 3. That our business ethics must be consistent with the faith of the owners in Jesus Christ and His teachings. We invite you to write our founder and president, Keith Richardson, if what we do does not match what we believe... We Will Make It Right I admire this business because I think it takes a lot of courage to stand up and put the name Jesus Christ out there for the public to see.  So, I wonder what people think when they know this is a mission statement behind a business.  Does it cause them to want to shop here; to want to support this business?  Does it drive them away, thinking these folks are freaks!  Do customers think they can get a better deal with some sort of view that Christians are naive?  Or, get taken because they think Christians are hypocrites?  My cynical side starts speaking up because maybe I have the same thoughts;  I've seen a few too many hypocrites.  You know the ones; they raise their hands and voices in church and run you down in the parking lot getting out.  That ain't what I want.  Not to take the fun out of shopping (have I mentioned I am not a world class shopper?) I also don't want to pay full price for clothing - needed or wanted - so I'll keep going back to this website <insert smiley icon here>.  Any other views?

Don't Need Much ... 'cept for 10 Things

This idea is from Jeanie, so thought I'd give it a try.  What a crack up.....

Type into Google:  " [Your name] needs" and see what comes up.


Donna needs:

!    two hands to keep things steady.   At least my feet weren't required for this exercise!

!    to find the ten things I need.   If I needed to find the ten things I need, do I need the need or the 10 things?  It's like asking the inverse of the question.  I am confused.

!    a good crowding.   Well it's better than a good spanking!

!    companionship of other female Asian elephants in a healthy environment at a sanctuary.   A healthy environment at a sanctuary sounds suspiciously like a Spa ... 'til you add the female Asian elephants.  It could get crowded.  But then I need a good crowding.

!    a loving, nurturing adoptive family who can accept her.   Lord knows that!

!    12 1/8 of ribbon to make 5 bows.    Well, I do sew after all.

!    a pot.   And I garden too....

!    help.  'Nuff said.

The Bungee is Getting Tight

Boing!

Spouse-man has been able to visit freely with his oldest for a while, now that she is out of The Mother’s house and on her own in college. It’s really a cool sight to see from my vantage point. I see The Mother Bungee getting taut; it looks more like a worn out old rope. It just might not snap back.



On one hand I can see The Mother has lost interest in this whole Mom/Competition thing – I’d like to think it’s because we offered up nothing for her to compete with. Also, I think she is ready for more "me time". So there’s been an interesting shift: erratic moments of Mommy Force Exertion mixed with a blatant sense of No Involvement. Maybe peri-menopause is creeping into her endocrine system.

Spouse-man made it sort of a mantra of sorts – just get through this time. He let go when his daughter disassociated herself at 16. He decided that if he was going to have a relationship with her, it would be when she chose it, not when The Mother chose it. What kind of step of Faith is that? It’s happening; she calls, they have breakfast, she tells him about stuff, or not, he gives her fatherly wisdom and there is no strife. It’s not all that simple, of course, but it sure is better than it was when she was 14, 15, 16…

She has expressed her desire to transfer to a college out of state. She hasn’t told The Mother yet. She expressed her anxiety in her words, "but mom pays for abc and xyz" (shocking, I know). I can hear the weight in that statement, I can feel the burn of the brand in her words – The Mother Bungee. Spouse-man said the most magical, empowering words I think any dad could have come up with.

He said, "So? Quit living someone else’s life."

Now I don’t know about how a 19 year old takes that, but hearing it now, at my age, with the knowledge of her life, her upbringing … I felt freedom. I felt freedom for her. I felt the priceless love her dad just extended to her in words. I felt hope for her. I felt how blessed she is to have her dad. I could almost sense her wheels turning in her head. She’ll need to process that – maybe for a day, maybe for a decade.

I have a sense that The Mother Bungee is starting to fray. Like in the movies, the dramatic scene where one cord snaps, it gains momentum and suddenly all the fibers are springing loose with a whipping sound and suddenly the ship breaks free. Wow, what a feeling! I hope this is the case for my step-daughter, not to soothe my ire with The Mother, but for her sake. Freedom to find her way without a price.

Art Exhibit in Town

For those of you who appreciate Art (and who happen to live in the Denver area), there is a free Art Exhibit in town called "From Durer to Rembrandt ...  the rennaisance of faith in art". 

Check out the website here, and get your tickets (yes, free, yes, tickets required).

Let me know if you go, and what you thought of it after you went!

Our Valentine Conversation

Spouse-man gave me a warm and fuzzy card, all pink and red and stuff.   When I thanked him he asked who's name was on the envelope.  Well, mine of course.   He jokingly joked something about his secretary getting the right name on the envelope for him; not to be confused with his girlfriend.  He doesn't have a secretary, or a girlfriend.  His defense?

"It takes all my time to make one woman mad, I don't have time for two." 

Gosh, Happy Valentine's Day.

They're EveryWhere!

Isn't it funny how, when you buy a different or new car, you suddenly start seeing them everywhere.  Like they never existed before, but now they cross your path, pass you on the road, park beside you and and just show up.

We bought a slightly used Jeep Liberty this week.  A neighbor grunted something about "things going well" and Spouse-man replied, "It was in self-defense".

You see, the slick little Volkswagen Jetta we traded in was beating us up with the Check Engine light.  I was starting to get a hives breakout every time the dang thing came on.  I added up the receipts of car repairs and I am embarrassed to share the number in fear that you will think we are slow on the uptake as to when to bail.  So, after the last little orange light glared at me on the dash we drove immediately to a dealer and didn't pass Go to collect $200.  For those of you who love Volkswagens, good for you.  Personally I think they probably still are pretty good, just not ours. 

So far Spouse-man has let me drive it once.   I think he likes it.  Think 19k miles on a 3 year old car is good?   Yeah, me too.  When I first saw these little SUVs the first year they came out, my response to their look was, "Hey, I am surprised I am a Jeep too!"  Doesn't it just look like they have raised eyebrows?  It's growing on me.