Saturday, March 31, 2007

Signs

The other night we went to IHOP for dinner and then we had to go to Fred Meyer for some groceries. In between those two places, we passed two areas of people holding signs asking for money. We have noticed a new adjective on peoples signs lately--STRANDED. This prompted a discussion between my kids and me about whether is it possible in this day and age in a large town to be stranded. We talked about the ways that one could become stranded; car broke down, wallet stolen, etc, and decided that of all the adjectives that the beggars put on their signs (homeless, hungry, veteran), that stranded seems implausible. We also talked about the use of the phrase GOD BLESS at the bottom of the signs, if it makes a difference to potential beggar contributors whether or not the beggar is "Christian". It was a very interesting conversation.

Until we got to Fred Meyer, that is. Fred Meyer is where we saw a girl holding a sign saying "Puppies For Sale". Max suggested that she might do better if her sign read:

STRANDED
HOMELESS
HUNGRY
VETERAN
PUPPIES FOR SALE
GOD BLESS!

And at that point what could have been a compelling discussion turned into a big hilarious joke. That is the way most conversations end up around here, I'm afraid.
It's hard living with a comedian sometimes. But most of the time it's just really funny.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Nothin' From Nothin'

Leaves nothin', to quote Billy Preston. And that's what's been happening in my life. I mean, there's the nothing you can write about, and then there's NOTHING. As in, I woke up, went to work, came home, ate, watched a little tv and fell asleep. Multiply that by the past week or so and you have my life. But I will try to wring a little something out of that.

1) I did housework on Sunday. I used the principle of bracketology
to figure out which chores I liked the least, and did those first. It actually worked, and I got a lot of crappy stuff done that needed to be done. Like vacuuming. I have lived a long time, and one of the perks of living to the age of 45 should be that you don't have to vacuum anymore. Plus, I feel bad about all the swearing I do while vacuuming, especially on Sunday. I have a theory about a PMS-vacuuming connection, but that could be just an excuse. Anyway, it was a fairly productive day.

2) Spring is coming! The tree in my backyard is getting leaf buds on it, hopefully things will be green soon. Plans are to plant fuschias in hanging baskets this weekend, and also start my tomato seeds, which was the one thing I did not do on Sunday.

That's about it. Today was a crappy day, my kids were unkind to each other and to me also. So I'm going to bed now in the hopes that tomorrow will be better.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Hellllooooo!

If you watch Seinfeld, you will know how the title of this post is to be said. If not, watch this. I have to say that even though I don't watch the reruns regularly anymore, they still make me laugh. So does Everybody Loves Raymond. Also when Leo farts in the car. I can't help it. I'm juvenile.

OK, back on track.

1) Basketball fever has hit my home. Both boys have it. I got them a basketball hoop that came with the wrong part so it sits half-assembled in my garage until the new part arrives. I also bought them a perfectly good basketball, but Max has a problem with it because it's not a professional leather one. I told them that they would have to buy it themselves, so they have decided to go down to the bottom of the hill where the beggars hang out and hold this sign:



Please give generously, that basketball hoop wasn't cheap!

2) Spring is coming! Daytime temps have been in the 50's and there's lots of talk in the lunchroom about gardens and planting. To that end, I bought a couple of packs of tomato seeds and a seed starter kit and will be planting my tomatoes shortly. I decided to grow them in containers on my deck, we will see how that goes.

3) My dental hygienist has been bugging me to switch my toothbrush for a Sonicare one, so when Costco had a coupon for $25 off, I took the plunge. Wow, what a difference! My whole mouth feels much cleaner, it's amazing! I hope the change is reflected at my next dentist appointment.

Well, that's it for today, have a good one everybody.

Monday, March 19, 2007

One Year Ago

This happened.

And now it is a year later and last night Supper Club was at Sara's again. Her little girl Grace is so much bigger than when I first met her. And Sara is expecting her and Tyson's second child. Time flies.

I'm not just visiting Spokane any more, I actually live here now, and I'm starting to feel like I live here finally. Much of that has to do with these Supper Club girls that have become my friends too.

Looking forward to seeing what the next year holds.

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Best (and Longest) Parade Ever

I don't even know where to begin. Here is just a sampling of what I saw at the Spokane St. Patrick's Day Parade:

1) A medical marijuana float.
2) The Leaning Tower of Pisa.
3) A giant fez that was playing "Waterloo" by ABBA.
4) A float of porta potties by a company called American. On the side of the float was a banner that read "I'm proud to pee in American, Where at least I know it's clean!"
5) Pugs dressed in green being pushed in strollers by their owners. Also dachshunds and Irish Setters in various stages of dress.
6) A leprechaun. A real one. I swear.
7) A panda riding in a boat.
8) Every kind of vehicle you could imagine. Cement mixers, moving vans, old cars, new cars, boats, firetrucks, riding lawn mowers, tractors, buses, motorcycles, and the list goes on.
9) Ronald Mc Donald.
10) The Lilac City Roller Girls.

And that's just for starters. At just under 2 hours long, I am convinced that half of Spokane was in the parade and the other half was watching them. And since this parade is open to the community, I have decided that next year I do not want to be on the curb, but going down the street dressed in green. Here is what I propose:

An Inland Northwest Bloggers Float.

It can be done. I know some bloggers. Who know other bloggers. And so on. And so on. All we do is get a truck, decorate it, decorate ourselves, climb in the back of the truck with our laptops, and we are in the parade! I am serious, people! I know it's a year off, but you will be hearing about this from me again. Bloggers are the one group that was not represented in the parade. And if they will let the little old ladies in the red hats have a float, they will let us have one. Just think of the possibilities!
That's all I'm saying, bloggers, just think about it.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Bad News and Good News

The bad news is that Spokane's beloved Gonzaga Bulldogs are out of that college basketball spectacular known as March Madness. They lost last night to the Indiana Hoosiers. Better luck next year Zags! However, the WSU Cougars are still in the running--GO COUGS!

But that is not the good news. The good news is that Spokane has a St. Patrick's Day parade! This is awesome because I have never been to a St. Patrick's Day parade and now I get to go to one in my own town! The parade is put on by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, which is a relief because I would hate for my first parade to be put on by the Hostile Sons of St. Patrick, that would suck.



Bagpipers! I can't wait! And corned beef and potato salad for dinner! Oh, that every day was St. Paddy's Day!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

I Think I Love Him

In the fall of 1970 when I was 9 years old, Friday nights were a big deal. The ABC TV lineup went like this: The Brady Bunch, The Partridge Family, That Girl and Love American Style. I don't think there has ever been a TV night I have loved more. Especially that first hour. Greg Brady AND Keith Partridge! I was in love. Big love.





I begged my mom to buy me 16 and Tiger Beat magazines and I cut out every picture and article about David Cassidy that there was and glued them onto binder paper and made a huge binder of nothing but David David David!





I had it bad.





Then I got older and discovered real boys and that was the end of my love affair with David Cassidy.

But around the time I turned 40, I started wondering about other people who were now older too and I googled David Cassidy's name and I found his website, but also there were all these pictures of him in his youthful foxy glory, and I found myself falling in love again. Except now it was creepy because I was 40 and cute cute David Cassidy was 19. Which made me kind of a perv. But that didn't stop me from putting his pictures on my computer desktop. Fortunately it was a phase and again, I got over him.

Now here we are several years later, and the other day I turned on my computer and this is what I find on my desktop:



I KNOW it was Max who put it there, but he will never admit to it.

And in the time it took to create this post I fell in love with that damn David Cassidy again--he is such a fox!

Saturday, March 10, 2007

My Clean Little Secret

About 4 years ago the boys and I took a two week vacation to New York. We spent a few days in the City, and then headed upstate to visit family and friends. The friends were Bart and Dennise. Bart is in the Army and was stationed at West Point at the time. So we were staying at their lovely home and when I took a shower there I noticed that Dennise had stocked it with shower gels from Bath and Body Works. I asked her how she could afford them and she told me that they went on sale twice a year. In Oprah-speak, that was an a-ha moment for me. So after that, I started paying attention to the sales and picking up 2 or 3 bottles of shower gel each time. This has gotten to be a compulsion with me. If the gels go on sale, I can't pass up the opportunity to get at least one bottle. This is a trait I inherited from my mother, I call it the "It Was On Sale!" gene. It is now to the point where I can no longer in good conscience walk into Bath and Body Works. Let me illustrate my point:




It's a conga line of cleanliness!

In order to justify this craziness in my mind I decided that I would rotate the flavors monthly, comforted by the fact that these shower gels have a shelf life of seven years, and if it took me a couple of years to use the entire bottle, so be it.

So here is the master list:

January: Orange Ginger
February: Tranquil Mint
March: Strawberry
April: Honeysuckle
May: Peony
June: Peach Nectar
July: Coco Cabana
August: Pear Blossom
September: Candy Apple
October: Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin
November: Pecan Pie
December: Peppermint

Notice that I have tried to be seasonal in my selections. It's sick, I know. But hey, at least I'm collecting something that's useful and smells good!

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Sitting on the Banks of the River of Humanity

In addition to many other duties at my job, I am also the receptionist. This means I am the first one to answer the phone, and that my desk is the one in front of the reception window. What happens is, I try to get as much work done as possible in between phone calls and people coming to the window. On Mondays after the help wanted ads come out in the Sunday papers, the lobby can get particularly crowded. And since we are in manufacturing and use a lot of laborers in addition to skilled workers, people from all walks of life come in and apply for jobs. And I mean ALL walks of life! I enjoy seeing all the people and marvel at the things they say and do. Most of them ask me for an application, even though they are standing right next to the stand full of them. Then they ask me for a pen. Then when they turn in the application they ask me to sign their work release form from the jail proving they looked for work. Or they will ask me if we drug test, all the while reeking of pot. Even with all that, most people are very nice and polite. One guy this week had an awesome mullet. And today a man came in and he had a wiry gray hair sticking out of his ear that was at least six inches long! You don't see that every day! So even though the many interruptions can be frustrating at times, I am grateful for the river of humanity that passes by my window and keeps me connected to the rest of the world.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

A Story With A Happy Ending

The year was 1981. My boyfriend at that time, Jim Shelby, was working at Odyssey Records on Lighthouse Ave. in New Monterey. Consequently, I spent a lot of time hanging out there. One day while perusing the racks, I came across an album which was a soundtrack to a movie called Dance Craze. It looked like it might be good, so I bought it. Little did I know that album would change my life.

It introduced me to ska music. The English Beat, The Specials, Madness, and many others. Pretty soon I was buying every ska album I could get my hands on, which was easy because nobody else in Monterey, California was buying them. It took me a while to convert my friends, and even then I had limited success. I would drag them to Beat and Specials shows in San Francisco or Santa Cruz. Ska music became as much a part of my identity as my blue eyes or ever changing palette of hair colors back then.

Ska is the music that steered me away from Led Zeppelin. Enough said.
(But I still love me some Zep.)

Anyway, it's 27 years later and I'm a grownup (on the outside) and a parent and life goes on. I have responsibilities and routines because that's what grownups and parents have.

But on Wednesday, I get to go back in time for an evening. You see, The English Beat is coming to Spokane. I already have my tickets. And I am taking my son Max. We both get to be 18 for a little while.

So if you live up here and want to be happy for a night, go see The English Beat on Wednesday at the Big Easy. You will not be sorry.


I'm still trying to convert people!