Thursday, July 29, 2010

Some Lessons I Have Learned...

I could have gone funny with these with things like "Never play leap frog with a unicorn" or "don't put your money where your mouth is - you don't know where it's been..."  But that's definitely not the way I went...  Sorry for the rant, but it was needed...........

Warning – some of these may not be popular opinion (especially the first one), but they are mine...

Okay... Some lessons I have learned...

- That the word “illegal” no longer means anything if followed by the word immigration. I have absolutely no problem with immigration. But do it right.

- That if I were to pop out a litter, people would give me free crap and a tv show. One or two at a time obviously isn’t special in this world anymore...

- That I don’t need to pay my mortgage. All I have to do is cause a big scene and get the news involved with some sob story and I’ll get to keep my house anyway.

- That I can rack up as much debt as humanly possible and not pay it back. According to a commercial I hear frequently, if I have more than $10,000 in debt, I have the RIGHT to settle it for far less than that.

- That if I complain enough, people will give me whatever I want in order to shut me up. Like the woman in my office that complained about the new radio station we’ve been listening to enough to get it switched back to the one that everyone else hates.

- That if I am bad enough at my job, people will just start by-passing me completely and dumping my responsibilities on people who are efficient and too polite and hardworking to say “no.”

- That it’s perfectly acceptable to blow through stop signs, go through crosswalks while people are still in them, and speed as long as my car happens to be black and white with a light bar on the top.

- Also that I can blow through stop signs if I am a parent dropping their child off at summer school and am in way too much of a hurry to get to work to be able to realize that the people coming down the main street have the right of way.

- That if I hurt myself in some way - it is no longer my fault, but the fault of the person that sold me the thing I hurt myself with or that owns the place where I hurt myself.

Basically, it’s all about personal accountability and being a responsible human being... Everyone is so busy holding their hands out and expecting the world to give them everything that they don’t take the time to do the right thing. When all the “housing crisis” insanity was going on here in California, J called our mortgage lender out of curiosity to see about all the nice breaks that they were offering... And he was told that because we are current and always make our payment (plus extra!) that they couldn’t do anything for us. We would have had to have been at least six months behind in order for them to be willing to do anything.  What the what what?  We would have to be completely irresponsible in order to be rewarded?

There is a serious problem today with this way overblown sense of entitlement. Just watch the audition episodes of American Idol. I will never forget the 16 year old boy a couple seasons back... When told that he couldn’t sing and would not be going to Hollywood, the tears and bleeping began. The line that stuck with me was along the lines of: “I wanted to be famous by now.”

Umm... Kid? Come here and take seat with Auntie Kelly for a minute, mmkay? You are 16, have no discernible talent, and have done nothing to try to become famous. If you want to do something, you have to be willing to try more than playing World of Warcraft all day and going to one audition for a television show that is on a downward spiral... Now wipe those tears, go to school, apologize to your mother for shoving her away and swearing at her when she tried to comfort you...

Actually, hold on – Mom, can you come here for a second? Ok. Please stop reinforcing this behavior... When your son shoves you away and curses at you, don’t tell him that he “will be famous! They don’t know what they are talking about!” It’s not true. You know it, I know it, and now America knows it... Take your son home, wash his mouth out with soap, make him do his homework, and teach him how to work for the things he wants.

Woah – tangent. Sorry.

Where was I???

Oh, right... Look, I get that it sucks to have to be responsible. I certainly didn’t sign up for this whole “grown-up” thing. But it’s what happens... And if you break the law, you should be punished. If you sign a contract, then you should follow through. If you leave an unsecured loaded gun in your backseat and your 2-year-old grabs it and shoots you, you pretty much deserve it.  It's not the gun manufacturer's fault. (And you are really lucky that you were the one that was shot and not the 2-year-old.)  And if you buy a bunch of stuff using your credit cards, pay it back! Nothing is free, people! No one owes you anything.



I feel like I should be doing some of that “Mel Gibson” deep breathing from his phone calls... haha

I’ll hop down off my soap box now...

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Apparently I Suck A Little At Remembering...

Once again I really couldn’t decide on just one post for Mama Kat’s Writer's Workshop... I was going to do three, but practiced a tiny bit of self-restraint and decided to stop at two...


Mama's Losin' It

First is:

“Write about your wedding song. What was it and why did you choose it?”

Now, I am a BIG TIME Beatles fan. I have been for years. I have more Beatles cd’s, records, dvds, vhs tapes, and memorabilia than I know what to do with... And I know all their songs. All of them. Well, every so often I will burn myself a kind of “mixed tape” of Beatles’ songs so that I can listen to my favorites without having to pull out a bunch of different cd’s... (And I know that an MP3 player would make SO much more sense, but I just never use my boring old iPod for some reason... It just doesn’t even cross my mind... Now I feel silly and will have to go home and load all of my music... haha) Anywho...

Way back when J and I were first dating, I was in mushy-romantic mode and made one with all my favorite Beatles love songs... It could have ended up being any of them... I’m trying to think what all of them were... We had “And I Love Her,” “Maybe I’m Amazed” (even though it is a solo Paul song), “Something,” “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” “Here, There, and Everywhere,” “Till There Was You,” and a few others...

And I honestly could kick myself right now. I was so sure that our song was “And I Love Her,” and I am still 99% sure it was... But I just listened to “Here, There, and Everywhere” and that seems like a good possibility too! Oh no! It’s supposed to be the guy that forgets these things!! AHH!

No... I’m sure it was “And I Love Her.” I think. Oh em gee. What is wrong with me? Haha! No, it was... (Ok, so maybe 5 years and the day going by in the blink of an eye have made specific details a little fuzzy...)

So anyway – either way... We listened to this cd a lot and whenever either of those songs came on (I’m not just saying this to make up for fuzzy memories... I can actually feel his hand on mine as soon as I hear the first notes of either...) he would hold my hand and we would sing along and he would kiss my hand and we would generally be sappy, silly, goofy, and new in love... I am pretty stinking positive that it was “And I Love Her” because I had always loved the guitars in it...

Huh... Great... My cute mushy story just turned into a big lump of confusion! Oops... Oh well – I’m gonna have to find that cd, because I’m pretty sure I remember which number track it was...

Well, after that disaster, I’m afraid to do the other prompt, but here we go...


The second one:

“Post a picture and a description that fits into this quote for you: ‘How far to heaven? Just open your eyes and look. You are in heaven.’ – Shankar”




As with everything else, I couldn’t choose just one... These were taken on our honeymoon cruise to Alaska. The first picture is of a gorgeous, serene lake in Juneau. It was amazing. I could have stayed there sitting on a log by the lake staring at the water and the glacier and mountain in the distance all day – I didn’t even care that it was raining a little. The soft rain just made it more perfect somehow. I adore Juneau and could very happily spend the rest of my life wandering the trails around the lakes and glaciers there...

The second was when we were in Sitka nearing the end of our trip. It was beautiful and there was a gorgeous forest that wasn’t very far from where we were brought to shore, so we walked there and then hiked around – snapping pictures the whole time. I remember just being in awe of how beautiful it was. I was getting sad that we were going to have to go back home and leave it all behind... At least we have amazing pictures to remember it by...

And we WILL go back there some day...

Monday, July 19, 2010

:-(

Boo.  When I made the switch to my new domain name, I lost all of my comments... Comments make me happy... And now they are gone.  Oh well...  Not the end of the world, just a momentary unpleasantness.

We had a pretty decent weekend this past weekend...  Went shopping Saturday evening with my friend.  She definitely made up for not finding much when we went to the outlets.  She ended up getting a BIG bag of clothes.  I got a few more things - and then even more as I was waiting for her to try everything on... I couldn't help myself - I noticed a really cute shirt that I had somehow walked right past on my first round through the store.  Then we moved on to shoes - she got some ridiculously feisty red high heels.  I got much more pratical black patent leather Enzo Angiolini heels for work.  I think I scored the best price savings... My pretty new shoes (which are on my feet right now) were originally $186.  I got them for $30! With that kind of savings, I think I was obligated to buy them whether they were needed or not!! I love a good sale!!

Not much has really been going on - I spent most of Thursday and all of Friday curled up on my couch sick... At least I didn't get the stomach bug J had had earlier in the week...  I got low fever, double ear infections, a sore throat, and a killer headache though...  Fun fun.  We had spent all day (until we headed over to our friends' house to hang out and go shopping) Saturday lounging on the couch watching season 4 of Dexter.  Finally finished the season and am DYING for the new season to start up in a couple months!!

Other than that, just trying to keep cool - I am most decidedly not a hot weather person and summer finally decided to show up last week.  It's supposed to be cooler this week and I am hoping that actually happens...  I know, I know... It could be much worse - it could be even hotter, it could be humid... I've lived in hotter and I've lived in humid and I am definitely grateful not to be in that anymore...  I just think that since there is high premium paid to live in Southern California, it should be 72 and sunny with a light, cool breeze 365 days a year... Is that really too much to ask?

That just sparked a random tangent (mental garbage, right?) - I have a serious love/hate relationship with Southern California.  Don't get me wrong, if I have to live in California, I much prefer Orange County to LA or Riverside or something...  LA's too busy, too congested...  Riverside - too hot, too dusty... I like Orange County.  We have the beaches, the mountain, pretty weather most of the time...  But it's so damn expensive here! I know it's not as bad as, say, San Francisco or New York or something, but it's still crazy.  There is no way that my little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house (even though we have a big yard, which is rare in SoCal) should EVER be worth almost $75K more than my parent's gorgeous gigantor house in Texas.  (Seriously, the place is over 3 times the size of my house...)  And it's not just houses... Everything costs more.  Gas is probably around fifty cents to a dollar more...

My husband is a California boy - born and raised - and there is no way I could talk him into leaving here.  And when it comes down to it, most days I wouldn't want to leave either.  But every so often I look at listings in other states (Colorado is usually first on my list) and see what I could have for half the going rate of my home and it's crazy to me... 

Don't get me wrong - I am very grateful for what I have.  We own a home, it's big enough to get by, our yard is more than big enough to facilitate the expansion we would really prefer to do to get more space, we live in a safe area...  And it is 72 and sunny with a cool breeze for a large portion of the year....  So don't mind me...  Just venting....  I will go home tonight and kiss my husband and thank him again for being quick enough to jump on buying the house before the market went crazy and stretch out on my couch and be happy for the roof over our heads, food in the kitchen, jobs that provide enough money to pay for it all and still be able to go shopping with friends, and our ridiculously high-powered air conditioner that keeps me from ever feeling the heat unless I have to go somewhere...

And then I am grateful for the seat coolers in my car.  Seriously - that is one of the best inventions EVER.  Out of the way, sliced bread, no one cares about you when they have cool air blowin' on their butt to help keep them cooler on a hot summer day!

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

I Feel So Legit Now...

So I did something today that I had been wanting to do for a while... I bought the domain name for my blog! I am now officially Mental Garbage.  I kept putting it off and putting it off, but then I kept getting nervous that someone would get it before me... So I jumped. :-) 

It still forwards from the old address, so there shouldn't be any need to change anything...  But now when you look at it, it will be like a "real" website... :-)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Conundrum

I love to read... Really love to read... I have way too many books stuffed on my poor bookshelves, but I just can’t help myself. And I love to re-read too, so I never get rid of my books. I don’t even like loaning them out. It gives me anxiety.

In an effort to save space, I have been thinking about getting some sort of E-Reader. There are quite a few at the top of my list:
There’s the Kindle, of course, because Amazon has a MASSIVE selection of books.
The Sony E-reader because it comes in red!
And then there’s the iPad. Weird, I know, to want an iPad purely to use as an e-reader. I never said I was normal...

My heart is leaning towards the Sony because it comes in RED, my head is leaning towards the Kindle because of AMAZON, and my nerdy desire to be seen as technologically “hip” is leaning towards the iPad. (My decision will be made for me if J wins the iPad they are giving away at his office... He dislikes all things Apple, so he said I could have it...)


So I’ve been looking and trying to compare... And I still can’t decide. Not only can’t decide between the selections, but can’t decide if I’m going to get one at all... It’s a great idea - don’t get me wrong. I just love the books themselves... And I’m afraid that I’ll be losing something. I love to curl up with a book and I’m afraid that it won’t be the same to curl up with my little e-reader...

Sigh.

I’ll probably end up going with one... And I’m sure I will get used to it and love it and wonder how I ever lived without it in my life! I mean, I’ll probably even NAME the thing... But for now, I’ll just keep turning it around and around and around in my head... Maybe I’ll put J on the task of deciding which one is better... Oooooh, but no... That would take him away from his current task of deciding on our next cell phones... (Mine is SOOOO close to death – I need him to decide!) After he picks out our next phones, I will put him on that task... He has more patience for looking at reviews and finding out all of the info...

Do you have an e-reader? Which one? Do you love it? Do you miss real books??

Monday, July 12, 2010

I Heart Weekends...

We had a good weekend this past weekend... Friday was the usual - hang out with my friend and her husband and lounge in the hot tub... Saturday we got up bright and early to head out to the desert to go to the outlet mall out by Cabazon.  My friend and her husband had been needing new clothes for a while and decided that 130+ stores would be a good place to get them...

I am not a hot weather person and kept announcing as the temperature kept climbing from 73 when we started at their house in Tustin to 95 when we got there.  Ugh.  Even though it was hot, it wasn't so bad... We could stay in the shade most of the time between stores and all the stores had their AC cranking...  By the end of the 5 hours we spent there she didn't get nearly as much stuff as she needed...  I am pretty sure her husband got a decent haul - I wasn't paying attention...  J got some new t-shirts and a pair of shorts... I actually had a good shopping day for once - I got a really pretty teal top and some jeans from the Van Heusen store, the most amazingly-perfect-fitting pants and a really pretty top from the Ann Taylor store, and a couple new pairs of shoes at the Vans store.  The prices were all really good and most stores were having extra sales on top of it, so it was awesome.  I wanted to get more of the pants, but they didn't have any more in black and everyone was waiting for me so I didn't want to make them wait longer while I tried on other colors...  I did find out that there is an Ann Taylor factory store at The Block near where I live, so my friend and I are going to check it out to see if the prices are as good down here so I can score some more new work clothes! :-)  (She wants to find stuff too... haha)

Sunday was our usual.... And then back to work today... At least for me - J ended up getting sick.  Poor guy is curled up on the couch all achy and crappy feeling with a fever right now...  I better not catch it... I hate being sick....

At least I get to wear jeans to work for the rest of the week!! :-)

How were your weekends?

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Bucket List

Once again I am jumping on the Writer's Workshop Train over at Mama Kat's.  This time I chose Write a list of 100 things you want to do before your turn 100. Otherwise known as a "bucket list" as my prompt.

Enjoy :-)

1. See the Coliseum in person


2. See the Aurora Borealis

3. Sky Dive

4. Visit Ireland

5. Start a family

6. Go back to Malad, ID to take flowers to my Grandma and Grandpa’s grave

7. Fly First Class

8. Learn other languages – including Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, French, Italian, Russian, and German... We’ve already started on Japanese....

9. “Surprise Trust Fall” towards one of those British guards that aren’t supposed to move and see what happens...

10. Be brave enough to donate my hair as often as I can

11. Continue sticking to my workout / diet plan so that I can wear my favorite jeans again

12. Start playing classical guitar again

13. Learn how to sew better – now that I have my sewing machine, I have no excuses

14. Actually make the canvas shopping bags that I have had the idea for in my head forever...

15. Drive a really fast car – I’m thinking Veyron, Zonda F, Murcielago, Scuderia... Something along those lines...

16. Learn how to ride a motorcycle

17. Go deep sea fishing

18. Take a trip on a sailboat instead of a large cruise ship

19. Get my other wedding band

20. Do something a fraction as awesome as this:
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.


21. Finish the blanket I started when I was 11.

22. Read the stack of books waiting for me BEFORE buying any new ones

23. Own a pair of Christian Laboutin high heels

24. Finish the cross-stitch thing I started over a year ago...

25. Hug a monkey

26. See B.B. King play in person (before his bucket list is done...)

27. Have a library in my home - complete with that ladder on a rail to go around the room... Or at the very least, a reading “nook” in my house with a comfy chair and a big bay window...

28. Plant an avocado tree so that I can have my own fresh avocados

29. Finally figure out a good way to organize my shelving thing in my living room so that it’s easier to find the movie I am looking for when I want it...

30. Trim the excess - go through my movies, books, clothing, etc. and get rid of anything I don’t really like and learn to keep things that way

31. Figure out how I really want to decorate my home and DO IT

32. Learn to be ok with going places alone – I already have the movies and restaurants

33. REALLY stop biting my nails...

34. Own a Candy-Apple Red 1969 Mustang Convertible to match J’s Hard Top (which will be dark purple when it’s finished...)

35. On that note - Finish restoring J’s Mustang

36. Further on that note - Finish restoring the Corvette too...

37. Go to New York again

38. Figure out the story to go with the book title I’ve had floating around in my head for years...

39. Figure out how to finally get my skin to stop thinking I’m still a teenager...

40. Try something new every time I go to a restaurant

41. Learn how to cook

42. Learn to dance – salsa, ballroom, swing...

43. Successfully snowboard down the bunny slope without falling or giving up after falling too many times...

44. Visit Carlsbad Caverns again – I vaguely remember going there when I was little

45. Go to the Grand Canyon – I honestly don’t know if I’ve even see it in person...

46. Have a professional bra fitting done to make sure I wear the right size and get some really nice bras

47. Go horseback riding – and I’m not talking a nose-to-butt trail ride

48. Visit Hawaii

49. Visit Japan

50. Visit England

51. Visit Australia and New Zealand

52. Visit Scotland

53. Visit France

54. Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower

55. Learn whatever trick it takes to make my nail polish last more than one day without chipping

56. Learn how to change a tire

57. Make myself be better about cleaning

58. Figure out how to style my hair in ways other than my go-to down, half-up, or pony-tail

59. Learn how to really use Photoshop

60. Learn how to negotiate

61. Get laser hair removal from the nose down – I don’t ever want to shave, wax, or tweeze ever again...

62. Learn to shoot using a bow and arrows

63. Get better at shooting handguns

64. Get 25 out of 25 at least once in a round of Skeet

65. Visit some of the Man VS Food locations that sound amazing

66. Visit San Francisco

67. Sponsor the Wolf Pack at Wolf Mountain Sanctuary

68. At the very least go visit at least once a year and bring some of the things they so desperately need with us like we did when we went before

69. Learn how to start a lawn mower – not that I’m going to take this chore on, but it’s probably a good thing to know...

70. Sing at the top of my lungs and not care what people think – especially while driving in my car

71. Learn to parallel park

72. See the Giant Sequoias

73. Learn to knit something more complicated than a scarf

74. Walk on the Great Wall of China

75. See the pyramids

76. Learn to play the Moonlight Sonata on the piano

77. Be the “Star in the Reasonably Priced Car” and drive a lap on Top Gear!

78. Go to Mardi Gras to see the insanity

79. Find a great cowboy hat like the one I almost bought once... Never thought I would want to own a cowboy hat, but I actually look pretty dang good in them...

80. Send my parents on a vacation to Australia like my mom has always wanted

81. Give my dad the red, soft-top Jeep he’s always wanted

82. Say “Thank You” to everyone who has meant something in my life

83. Live long enough to see my first great-grandchild

84. Find out what exactly Cherry Ironport is, while drinking some from the Malad Drive-In

85. Have plums on my mini-plum tree that are actually edible

86. Go to a psychic just for laughs

87. Be in another movie – even if it is just extra work and I’m merely human scenery...

88. Meet Daniel Tosh and “Surprise Trust Fall” him

89. Meet Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, and Alexander Skarsgard and tell them all how smoking hot they are

90. Sit and listen to someone with an Irish accent long enough to pick it up

91. Get some really awesome novelty colored contacts – like red or cat’s eye or white... Something fun for Halloween

92. Figure out a way to work from home

93. Work at Starbuck’s just long enough to have someone start in with one of those really long, complicated orders so that I can interrupt them and say, “TOO LONG. You get chocolate milk!”

94. Write more frequently

95. Visit Fiji and stay in one of those little hotel rooms that’s out over the water

96. Pet a huge jungle cat – like a lion or a tiger... or a panther... Obviously while they are sedated or something

97. Dye my hair a really bright color – like violet or something – just once... Temporarily

98. Pay for someone’s toll at a toll booth – or pay for their food in the drive-thru

99. Laugh every day

100. Dance with my husband for our 50th Anniversary

Thursday, July 1, 2010

I'm Indecisive, So I Decide Not to Decide...

I decided the take my first stab at Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop...  I couldn't pick just one, so I picked three.... :-) Enjoy

List of 10 Things That Are Sure To Put a Smile On Your Face When You Are Not Happy


1 – my husband – J can always make me laugh...
2 – my best friend – She and I can laugh for hours until we are in pain and crying from it... And our husbands just look at us like we are crazy...
3 – when my girl cat is stretched out on my lap and my boy cat has tangled himself up in my hair...
4 – my friends’ dogs – Cowboy and his new sister Roxie are always good for smiles...
5 – funny websites – failbook.com, learnfrommyfail.com, crazythingsparentssay.com – these all help me get through my day haha
6 – plain tart frozen yogurt – it’s way beyond just delicious....
7 – seeing people I dislike get in trouble – I’ve mentioned this one before, and I just can’t help myself... It makes my day....
8 – funny comedians – I rarely listen to anything on XM except the comedy stations... Laugh Attack is my favorite...
9 – Seatbelt Bags – It’s an obsession... But it’s one that J is ok with, so I’m good...
10 – a good book – I doesn’t matter if I’ve read it before... If it’s a book I can lose myself in and just enjoy, I am happy...


People Would Be Surprised To Learn That...

I’ve mentioned it on here before, but I think it still surprises people that I go skeet shooting... And I’m really good. I love nothing more than beating all the boys at it... And impressing all the old-timers that spend all their free time out there... The first station, they are all asking me if I want to use their 20 gauge because they think my 12 gauge Benelli SBE II is too much gun for me and doing the doubles the easy way instead of true doubles... But once they see me shoot, they stop... Hahaha

My dad took me out shooting for the first time when I was about 12... My uncle had a hand thrower for the clay pigeons and I still remember the first time I hit one. It was awesome.

Unfortunately, learning on long guns has left me pretty crappy with a handgun. I can hit the target more often now, but I am still all over the place... I think J’s gun (a Sig Sauer P226 .40 caliber) is just a little too big for me – I have weak wrists... We are trying to find me a hand gun that would be right for me and haven’t quite found the right one yet...


A Snappy Comeback

It took me some time to think of good ones for this... I decided to use situations and the appropriate comeback for it:

When my friend saw me eating a Blow Pop that I had in my purse and he asked me where I got it – “Guy in a van”

When people ask when my husband and I are going to have kids – “When people stop asking”

When someone is in a bad mood and being really childish – “Aren’t you a little old to be throwing a tantrum??”

When someone gets frustrated with something and throws it – “Well, that was an appropriate response...”

If someone asks how you did something or how something works – “Magic” J says “Ninja Magic”

I don't really have any that are right for angry situations.... I usually default to "your mom" or "bite me" for those... Witty, I know.... :-)

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