1. I'm a Dallas Stars fan. I'm a fan when they win (woo-hoo!) and I'm also a fan when they lose. There are bloggers and columnists out there who are ready to disband the team, it seems. I love going to the games (so much you wouldn't believe it) and cheering for them. I love the Pantera song they skate out to. I love standing up and applauding when they introduce the service man or woman Brad Richards bought tickets for, and then go on to thank everyone who serves. I love yelling "Stars!" twice during the national anthem. I love the whole experience. This is my team, and I'm going to continue to support them. I'm also going to be happy for each player, and the fact that they get paid (pretty well, too) to play a game. A game. That's right, I said it. It's just a game. Get over it.
2. Richie's here! This is news because he's going to be in S.A. a lot the next few months. It's bringing back bad memories of when we had two houses and commuted back and forth; I don't plan to go back to that life. I can stand it through March, but he's going to have to focus on courting new clients. He may not realize that yet.
3. Tim Sanders is smart. Between the Stars (see #1) and the UT game last night (which, frankly, was okay with me anyway, because I'm originally from Alabama), it was nice to read something about losing well. Or being a good—smart, effective—loser. That's a lesson from which we could all benefit.
4. I love Stitch and Bitch! I mention it because we met last night. Despite the name, it's a group of really nice women who support and encourage each other. Really and truly, they make life better! If I ever think of skipping it Rich insists that I go. He likes what it does for my disposition! You go, you fabulous bunch of women. I'll be right there with you!
5. My office kinda smells like feet. Since there are two litter boxes within ten feet of my desk, this could be considered a step up. (Thank you, I'll be here all week.) Actually, since I keep the litter boxes rather clean (they're close to my desk, after all), they're not really an issue. So the feet thing is distracting. And puzzling. Where the heck could that smell be coming from? I'm a little alarmed that it might be connected somehow to the strawberry banana yogurt I just had. The empty container is sitting on my desk. I don't know if they're related but I keep getting a little whiff of strawberry along with the feet smell. Eeeww.
I'm going to take that yogurt container to the kitchen and rinse it out. Then I'll call my ticket guy and add a few Stars games to our package. (So there, Brandon! Take that, !)
Then it's back to water heaters for me.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Monday, January 4, 2010
So what's wrong with it?
Just move along, not too fast
Try to make the good times last
'Cause I've got all the time in the world
The Subdudes, All the Time in the World, from Primitive Streak
Not me. Towards the end of the 90s, when my parents' health began to fail, our whole family realized—myself, like a slap in the face—that the trappings and traditions are just fluff. The only thing that matters is being together, and if that's facilitated by having a particular date it's supposed to happen, all the better.
We'd sit at my parents' kitchen table and talk. Maybe after breakfast or lunch, maybe with a cup of coffee, maybe just sitting. But we'd talk. About everything—what was going on with us, what we'd heard from friends and neighbors and kinfolk, what we were thinking, what was happening in the world. The kind of talk about all kinds of things that turns out to mean really knowing someone. Sharing life, being close. Being a family.
When we realized that was what we were going to be losing at some point, it became even more precious than ever. And that knowledge has shaped my view of the holidays ever since. My parents are gone now, but I still have my sisters and their families, and Rich's family, and his parents are still alive. We see everybody at other times during the year, of course, but it's nice to know we always have Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to. Honestly, I don't even feel pressure around or about the holidays. Gifts don't faze me: I don't much care what I give; I certainly don't care what I get. Cooking the big meal is actually great fun for me. (It helps that I like to cook, and cooking with my various food-loving relatives is even better.) It's the time together that matters.
So I don't get the whole dreading the holidays thing. That table we used to sit around is in my kitchen now. We still sit around it and talk, sometimes. (The holidays usually happen at other people's houses. One sister and I did have a rendezvous last month, though, for a middle-of-the-night game of Gin Rummy. Or Rummy 500. Or Gin. I'm not sure which; we don't know our card games all that well. But it was lots of fun, anyway.) And even though I pray we have many, many more years of conversation, it won't be forever. So all I can do is enjoy it now. Thoroughly, and as often as I can.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Two things
#1 - Today's date is a palindrome. I understand it only happens twelve times in a century; I haven't actually given it a single second's thought to confirm that. Anyway…01/02/2010.
#2 - It's very, very good to be home!
#2 - It's very, very good to be home!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Christmas, parts 1 and A
We travel during the holidays. Always. Being the childless couple, there's never been any question of whether or not we'd be traveling to our various families' homes for the holidays, only which one we go to first. For 23 years now.
Both my parents are gone now (just FYI, my father died New Years Day, 2000, and my mother died two days before 9/11, which was a very bad week for us). So every Christmas belongs to Rich's parents, who live in Denver. Yes, Denver did get some snow this year! That's actually a little unusual, since the snow usually falls in the mountains (duh), and the clouds have nothing left by the time they get to the city. But this time there was snow. And freezing packed snow. On the roads. I finally witnessed how one drives on icy roads. Swear to God, I had heard people talk about it, but they never said what you actually do differently. You slow down, for one thing. Way down. You also leave a boatload of room all around you. And so does everybody else. It's a cooperative system, and works well when everybody knows what to do. I drove myself to church on Christmas Eve, successfully, feeling like such a big girl!
Then we left for home. I-25 south was great, and everything was fine until we got to Wichita Falls. Or, actually, to about 20 miles north of Wichita Falls, where we started running into re-frozen packed snow in the underpasses. And when I say "re-frozen packed snow" I mean huge ruts, 6 or 8 inches tall, high enough to scrape the underside of the van. Brutal! Then they weren't just in the underpasses where the sun hadn't melted the snow, they were at random spots on the road. Then they were all over the road. Non-stop. And there were other drivers who scorned slowing down or leaving plenty of room. They went zooming by, slowing only when they slid off the road. We saw dozens of cars that had gotten stuck one way or another and been abandoned. I'm guessing the next warm day in Wichita Falls will involve a bunch of people looking for rides to their cars.
We finally, finally made it to the south side of town, where we asked about the road ahead. All bad. We checked into a cheap motel (where we both decided showers could wait 'til we got home the next day) (and, in fact, we both wanted to use hand sanitizer after touching the bathroom light switch) and waited 'til the sun came up to finish the trip. The fine workers of Wichita Falls had apparently been working all night, and the sun did its job, so the roads were fine the next day.
One night at home and we were off to see my family.
So we're in San Antonio right now, where icy roads are never an issue (thank you, Jebus!). I'll be going to a Spurs game with my sister tonight, we'll open Christmas presents tomorrow night, and there's be lots of games and good food!
I feel bad about leaving the cats again so soon. Not the dog, because our pet sitter is so good, the dog doesn't even miss us. The cats are a little more standoffish towards her (and her significant other, who also moves in when she pet sits, and I'm grateful there are two of them there), so they get a little lonelier. However, since I never intend to leave home ever again after this marathon travel adventure, they won't have to go through it again.
Both my parents are gone now (just FYI, my father died New Years Day, 2000, and my mother died two days before 9/11, which was a very bad week for us). So every Christmas belongs to Rich's parents, who live in Denver. Yes, Denver did get some snow this year! That's actually a little unusual, since the snow usually falls in the mountains (duh), and the clouds have nothing left by the time they get to the city. But this time there was snow. And freezing packed snow. On the roads. I finally witnessed how one drives on icy roads. Swear to God, I had heard people talk about it, but they never said what you actually do differently. You slow down, for one thing. Way down. You also leave a boatload of room all around you. And so does everybody else. It's a cooperative system, and works well when everybody knows what to do. I drove myself to church on Christmas Eve, successfully, feeling like such a big girl!
Then we left for home. I-25 south was great, and everything was fine until we got to Wichita Falls. Or, actually, to about 20 miles north of Wichita Falls, where we started running into re-frozen packed snow in the underpasses. And when I say "re-frozen packed snow" I mean huge ruts, 6 or 8 inches tall, high enough to scrape the underside of the van. Brutal! Then they weren't just in the underpasses where the sun hadn't melted the snow, they were at random spots on the road. Then they were all over the road. Non-stop. And there were other drivers who scorned slowing down or leaving plenty of room. They went zooming by, slowing only when they slid off the road. We saw dozens of cars that had gotten stuck one way or another and been abandoned. I'm guessing the next warm day in Wichita Falls will involve a bunch of people looking for rides to their cars.
We finally, finally made it to the south side of town, where we asked about the road ahead. All bad. We checked into a cheap motel (where we both decided showers could wait 'til we got home the next day) (and, in fact, we both wanted to use hand sanitizer after touching the bathroom light switch) and waited 'til the sun came up to finish the trip. The fine workers of Wichita Falls had apparently been working all night, and the sun did its job, so the roads were fine the next day.
One night at home and we were off to see my family.
So we're in San Antonio right now, where icy roads are never an issue (thank you, Jebus!). I'll be going to a Spurs game with my sister tonight, we'll open Christmas presents tomorrow night, and there's be lots of games and good food!
I feel bad about leaving the cats again so soon. Not the dog, because our pet sitter is so good, the dog doesn't even miss us. The cats are a little more standoffish towards her (and her significant other, who also moves in when she pet sits, and I'm grateful there are two of them there), so they get a little lonelier. However, since I never intend to leave home ever again after this marathon travel adventure, they won't have to go through it again.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Yes, I know how long it's been
Anyway....
I think the back of my neck is aging faster than the rest of me. Not because the skin is crepier (that's crepey-er, looking more like crepe) than everywhere else, though I wouldn't be surprised if it were (I really haven't looked lately). But because it's always cold. I have to wear high collars all the time, now that the weather's gotten cooler, at least while I'm at home. When I go out and have on a jacket, I'm fine. But sitting around the house, the back of my neck will be freezing, even if the rest of me is comfortable.
It's true that it might be because we keep the temperature pretty low. The thermostat is set at 68°F, partly because we're trying to use less energy to offset the summer when, dadgummit, we're not going to be burning up all the time so just go ahead and crank up the AC ahh that's better. We're also both pretty hot-natured and tolerate cold well. Except, lately, the back of my neck.
Why do you suppose this kind of thing happens? I can understand why one's knees might cause problems, or teeth might start to hurt, or even if your skin became impossibly dry as you age. And I might think it's hormonal except that ship sailed long ago and, anyway…just the back of my neck?
I guess there's not really much to do about it except wait for it to change. (That's one thing I've learned about aging: It's going to change.) Maybe I'll knit an around-the-house neck warmer, or grow out my hair. It is curious, though.
Sometimes you just have to live with the puzzlement.
I think the back of my neck is aging faster than the rest of me. Not because the skin is crepier (that's crepey-er, looking more like crepe) than everywhere else, though I wouldn't be surprised if it were (I really haven't looked lately). But because it's always cold. I have to wear high collars all the time, now that the weather's gotten cooler, at least while I'm at home. When I go out and have on a jacket, I'm fine. But sitting around the house, the back of my neck will be freezing, even if the rest of me is comfortable.
It's true that it might be because we keep the temperature pretty low. The thermostat is set at 68°F, partly because we're trying to use less energy to offset the summer when, dadgummit, we're not going to be burning up all the time so just go ahead and crank up the AC ahh that's better. We're also both pretty hot-natured and tolerate cold well. Except, lately, the back of my neck.
Why do you suppose this kind of thing happens? I can understand why one's knees might cause problems, or teeth might start to hurt, or even if your skin became impossibly dry as you age. And I might think it's hormonal except that ship sailed long ago and, anyway…just the back of my neck?
I guess there's not really much to do about it except wait for it to change. (That's one thing I've learned about aging: It's going to change.) Maybe I'll knit an around-the-house neck warmer, or grow out my hair. It is curious, though.
Sometimes you just have to live with the puzzlement.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Stars make a happy birthday!
It's my birthday (why, thank you), and the fabulous Rich took me (or agreed to go with me, which is pretty much the same thing) to the Dallas Stars' practice and scrimmage this morning. The practices and scrimmages are open to the public all week (maybe all the time, I don't really know), and there are lots of fans showing up. After all, [ahem] it's been a long summer for us.
In any case, thank you Richie! It was lots and lots of fun!
In any case, thank you Richie! It was lots and lots of fun!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Shingles and nothing to do with a roof
Don't feel like blogging. Have shingles. Ouch. (There won't be any photos with this post. Really.)
My sister has them, too. We've neither one of us had them before, and we were together last weekend. Shingles are impossible to 'catch,' so it's just a bizarre coincidence, but still very, very odd. And...ouch.
Actually I've revived the 'oooph' noise. After my mastectomy, in preparation for breast reconstruction, once a week my plastic surgeon injected saline into my tissue expander. It wasn't excruciating or anything, but it was uncomfortable, and I usually spent the rest of the day exclaiming the occasional involuntary, "Oooph." That pretty well said it all, and it's apparently back.
I don't have a bad case of shingles, but it's bad enough and painful enough to make me feel very, very sorry for people who do have a bad case.
Oooph.
My sister has them, too. We've neither one of us had them before, and we were together last weekend. Shingles are impossible to 'catch,' so it's just a bizarre coincidence, but still very, very odd. And...ouch.
Actually I've revived the 'oooph' noise. After my mastectomy, in preparation for breast reconstruction, once a week my plastic surgeon injected saline into my tissue expander. It wasn't excruciating or anything, but it was uncomfortable, and I usually spent the rest of the day exclaiming the occasional involuntary, "Oooph." That pretty well said it all, and it's apparently back.
I don't have a bad case of shingles, but it's bad enough and painful enough to make me feel very, very sorry for people who do have a bad case.
Oooph.
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