Wednesday, July 30, 2008

To worry or not to worry

that is the question.

I don't worry. It seems I am in the minority. Those that worry tell me they just can't help it. I don't think they believe I really don't fret over things. When heavy things come up in my life, I'll retreat to somewhere quiet and think about the situation. I'll try to cover every angle and if there's nothing physically I can do to make it better, that's it, I'm done. Worrying over it won't make it better, so I just don't do it.

I had a medical test this week. The lady performing the test asked if I'd gotten any sleep the night before. Not having a clue what she was talking about I assured her I slept very soundly. I thought maybe they couldn't do the test if I were sleep deprived or something. No, she just figured I'd be worried about the results of the test. I assured her that I don't worry. I mean really...had the results been bad (they were good by the way), what would a night of worry have accomplished? Would have made me tired and cranky and not able to handle bad results. Since they were good, if I'd spent a sleepless night I'd not have been able to enjoy the good news. I know she didn't belive me, but it's the truth.

It's hard for me to understand the worrier. Lord knows some of my best friends worry themselves sick over things. I love them, I just don't understand them. I'm sure they don't understand me, so we're even!

Thursday, July 24, 2008

The spider in the mirror

Let me preface this by saying the reason for the mirror you're going to read about here is age and not vanity!

I have a magnified, lighted mirror. Oh, it's not magnified 3 times, nor 10 times, oh no no no, it's magnified 15 times. I think it's made for make up, but since I wear none of that, I use it for what I bought if for. I use it to see the bags under my eyes to put my eye cream on. Yep, that's right. When I'm not wearing my bifocals, I can't see where to put the lotion on my face. It's hard to put eye cream on when wearing glasses, hence the magnified mirror. I also use it to see my lips so my lip goo goes on just the lips and not the moustache around the lip. What can I say? Getting old is hell.

The other day, Tuesday to be exact, I was putting my lip goo on and caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It was coming from the lighted portion of the mirror. When I looked, I saw nothing. I went back to applying lip goo and saw the movement again. Upon closer inspection, I saw a teeny tiny spider inside the lighted rim of the mirror. He was just scurrying about. Probably the heat from the lights on the mirror were toasting his buns. I'm just guessing spiders have buns as without my glasses, I couldn't really see any. I couldn't really see if he were a he either...but we have a 50/50 chance there at least. I gave it no further thought as there was no way for me to get him out of there, and I didn't really care if he fried or not. I know, PETA will be after me but I don't like spiders and could care less if they all died. There, I've said it and I don't regret it either. I'm not a catch and release type of girl. See a spider? Kill it dead. Only good spider is a dead one. We won't EVEN talk about the one that was in my bed last night that forced me to go outside and sleep in the 5th wheel!

Today in readying myself for work, I was again in front of said mirror applying potions to my wrinkles. Movement again. I'd forgotten all about my trapped arachnid. He's still there. His tiny little see through body walking about the circle of light. I got thinking that sometimes I feel like that spider. Kind of trapped and just going around in circles. I don't feel like this often, but the last few days I have. I have so many things to do and I'm just not doing them. I keep putting things off that should just be done. I'm not taking time for me. I'm not taking time to do the things that are important to me. I thought about that all night out in the trailer when I couldn't sleep and decided to change that.

I'll do it tomorrow.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Instant gratification

I think, therefore I am...oh wait that's something else.

I think we're definitely a nation of 'I want it, and I want it now' people. This has come to my attention so much in the last week. I've always known we were like that of course. It's just so much more noticeable in the recent economy.

I'm afraid for the younger generation. They haven't been around to learn how to dig themselves out of debt when they get in it. They don't know how to tighten the purse strings. They haven't been around the proverbial block. Well boys and girls, this is one helluva block! I sure looks like it'll only get worse before it gets better. I don't think they're watching the same movie I am!

Things got tight here, knowing it wasn't going to better itself, we did what we could. We both went and got jobs. We quit traveling. We combine trips for necessary things. I ride my bike to the library. I quit buying some food things that we like as the price just kept going higher. We quit going to movies and we go out to dinner only very occasionally. You just do what you have to do. Or so I thought.

I was at work the other day and the dishwasher was telling me how he'd found a new car insurance company and would be saving $300 every six months. "Ed", I said, "that is fantastic!" Ed is a nice guy, but he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He's 50 some years old and the dishwasher. Need I say more? He was talking about digital cameras and DVD recorders. I wanted, therefore, to make sure he knew what he should be doing with that $600 a year. In my opinion, he should pretend he's still spending it on car insurance and bank it. Build a little nest egg. OK, so it would be a pullet egg, but hey, it's a start. I gave him my opinion...looking him in the eye so he'd understand. I saw a glimmer.

The girl I make salads with (no comment about my being 50 and making salads either! I'll have you know I'm a sharp knife indeed!), told me that her boyfriend had refinanced their car so their payments will be less money for longer. I gave her the 'oh you should keep paying the larger amount and the money will come off the principle" spiel. Oh no she says.....we want more spending money! Hellooooo you're 27 years old and you make salads. For a living. Every single day of your life for the past 10 years! Is this honestly what you want for the rest of your life? I mean I love my job, oh I really do. It's a job, not a career! She gets financial aid for college classes, and then spends the money on other things. Heaven forbid she'd get an education to improve their station in life. Oh no, if she did that, they couldn't have the Nintendo Wii or whatever that new game out there is. She's got no plan for the future. She lives for the present and what she wants, she wants now. No wonder other countries call us greedy Americans. We are!

Gas, as you all know, has gone up in price a bit more in the last year. We had planned to go visit my second son every two weeks this summer. He, after all, houses my first grandchild. He lives 3 hours away from us and it's $100 round trip in our gas guzzling behemoth. We haven't been once. We're now going to go once this whole summer instead of once every two weeks. You know, you just gotta do what you gotta do. Or at least I thought that was the idea.

People I know are still driving around like it's no different than it used to be. Someone needs to stop this madness. It's greedy. It's financially stupid for them and it's bad for our country. We need to stop and reassess. We need to start living more like some of the other more frugal countries. We should just stop with the instant gratification already.

Did I mention I've gained over 10 pounds in the last 3 weeks? Instant gratification.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A boy and his best friends

When you're 6 months old, your needs are simple.

A Grandpa to talk to every day.



A doggie to snuggle with that loves you more than her doggie treats!


And of course, your giraffe!

Life is good when you're 6 months old and have your friends near!

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Oxymoron

I loved George Carlin. I'm sorry he's dead. He made me laugh and think. Two things I really love to do. I thought of him last night as I sat here drinking chocolate milk, eating Oreo's and reading my Weight Watcher magazine! I turned to Den and said 'Now this is what George Carlin would definitely consider an oxymoron'.

I will miss him.