Dumbest Conversation

I had the following conversation over the phone today:
Ring, Ring, Ring

"Hello." (Other chic)
"Hello, may I speak with Rita please."
(me)
"This is Sara."
(okay maybe Rita and Sara sound alike, they both end in "a")
"Can I speak with Rita?"
"This is Sara."
"Will Rita be in today?"
"No, this is Sara."
"I'll call back tomorrow, bye."

Duh, do you think the girl's name is Sara? I still can't believe this conversation ever even happened. I could make this shit up if I tried.

It's not easy being green

My husband has this strange obsession with grass...and I don't mean the kind you can smoke. He is out in our yard everyday trying to make that thing greener, and healthier. It borders on the ridiculous. By the end of the summer we are going to have the best looking lawn in all of Ottawa County!...or at least Waukazoo Woods.

But his obsession is a bit annoying. Instead of doing things with me, he's out in the yard. Damn yard. Watering, mowing, fertilizing....the funny part is, we hardly spend any time other then working on it, in the actual yard.

There for I'll say it again...DAMN YARD!!

Parrots--Gone to the Birds

Holland, Michigan isn't an area that caters to the young and fabulous. It is an extremely conservative, right-wing, religious community that circles around what's best for the family. They have had some pretty stringent rules in Holland such as stores and restaurants not being open on Sundays...even McDonald's. Those rules have relaxed a bit and you are free to eat all the fast food you want now on Sunday. But they still have some stringent rules regarding alcohol...like you can't buy it at all in Ottawa County on Sunday. Sunday's are for church. You also can't just open up a bar. You can't get a liquor license without having so many food to alcohol sales. Therefore most of the bars are restaurants.

There is one "bar" downtown--Parrots. It's been there for a long time. I'm not sure how it managed to get around all the rules and such but it did. Parrots serves mainly the Hope College crowd. Young, conservative, religious college goers that sneak out for a drink against the colleges rules of no alcohol.

Anyways, one night my husband, our friend Ben and I ventured to Parrots for a night out on the town...actually the weather was too nasty for us to drive elsewhere. It was my first time in Parrots and it will be my last time as well. The bar itself was nothing special. Dingy, smokey, with some pool tables and some local rock station; it felt like a drinkin' bar except that there were 4 other people in the bar and one of them was the bar-keep.

We took a seat at the bar on some stools. Ben took the stool closest the wall, my husband the next, which left me on the end with a bunch of stools open to my left.

Halfway through my cheap beer a young man sat down next to me. He proceeded to strick up a conversation (people do this to me frequently, I think because I look approachable). No biggy, I can handle a nice light-hearted conversation. But it went downhill from there. Before long this "boy" launched into something about supporting G.W.Bush in Iraq and recently enlisting because of it. Oh boy. This is not bar conversation! He then went on to tell me that "all Muslims were bad and we should bomb the hell out of them." Can you believe someone said that outloud? This quote has stuck in my head since that day.

I tried to reason with saying that there were "bad people" everywhere, all different colors, ethnicities and religions. That Christian extremists that bomb abortion clinics are bad too. That most Muslims are peaceful people, not war-mongering banshees like he was describing.

This kid didn't see it my way nor did he stop. He used every racial slur in the book. My husband and friend just looked on in amazement as I got more and more pissed off at the kid. They couldn't believe their ears either.

I flew the coop before I even finished my beer.

I still don't understand how someone can have so much hatred for people I'm sure he's had limited contact with. It's not like Holland, Michigan is a hot bed for middle-easterners. But this kid really hated these people.

Hatred seems to run deep with some people. It's like they never learned to love anyone who wasn't the same as them...and there fore everyone not like them is bad. I don't get it and wish it would stop.

Parrots is for the birds. I won't go back there. That experience has tainted how I look at that place forever. It will be forever be associated with the conversation that went wrong.

Back In Harmony

My nice little world is back in harmony since the return of my Shadow. For those of you who don't know, Shadow is one of my two precious kitties. Shadow has kept me company for the past 6 years. I love my kitties. They keep me company and give me cuddles and love when I need it. Yes, I'm a cat person.

Last Friday night Shadow escaped from the house like Houdini. I looked for hours and hours and hours for days upon days. I visited the local vets, the humane society, ran an ad in the local paper, hung signs and talked to more of my neighbors then I had since we moved in a year ago. All in the desperate hopes that they might have seen my cat.

Thursday evening while I'm driving home from work my husband called to tell me Shadow came home. I actually had to ask him if he was joking with me because it had been almost a week with no signs of him. But he wasn't. I rushed home and there he was. He looked a little worn out, hungry and ragged, but he was home. I think he was glad to be home. He hasn't shown any signs of wanting to go back out there.

I'm glad my cuddle-puss is back home and I can go back to my little harmonious life with both my cats under one roof.

Gone

My cat ran away. I'm very sad.

Piss-Off!

Piss-Off!

I'm really pissed off still. Yesterday evening when I was going through some old junk mail, I opened a piece addressed to me from an old credit card I use to use. Apparently I forgot to close the account when the balance was paid off and someone had used the account. This I couldn't figure out. How could someone use this account. I hadn't used it since before I was married...way before I was married and I had cut up the card into tiny little pieces.
Well, there was a charge of $1,300 and a late fee on the statement I received. Of course I was like "What the hell?!!!" With trembling hands I dialed the 1800 number on the statement. After about 8 different menus I finally got some drone who apparently did nothing and had to transfer me to the fraud department. Do they do this so that you get even more upset while you hold for another 10 mintues???!!!! So when I finally got Jessica** on the other line, I was very upset. There was probably steam coming from my ears. Jessica pulled up the account and the CHECKS there were written...yep, checks. Someone had gotten there hands on some of those stupid checks (that I usually shred upon receiveing) and decided to pay their own bills with them on my tab. What kind of person does this?!!! Anyways, Jessica didn't believe me when I said I didn't write them. One was written to another credit card company whom I don't even have an account with and the other was written to some chic Mrs. Steiner. That's probably who stole the money. Probably wrote the check out to herself. Freakin' scam artists. After stating about a bazillion times that I don't have an account and didn't know this person, they finally believed me and were going to close the account and reopen another...and clear the charges off of my account. I told them not to bother giving me a new account. I don't want a freakin' account with their company. My balance was zero, close the damn thing out for me.
To whomever did this too me (and I have a feeling it's whomever is living in apartment 22G now--Mrs. Steiner) "PISS-OFF YOU FREAKIN' DISHONEST, CREDIT CARD STEALIN', LOW LIFE SCUM!"

**Don't remember actual names

A home is a home is a home…not.

Inspired by something MissJackie recently posted about being “home-less” I wanted to share a bit about my home. I love my home. I really do. I haven’t loved or felt at home in any of my prior living establishments (with the exception of my parents home). I was just the tenant. I paid my rent just like all the other people in my complex.

Over the course of ten years I have lived in many different places starting with the dorms back in 1994 at WMU. The dorms where an adventure. I think all college students should experience the dorms. It's truly a test of how you can survive with lots of different people in a extremely confined spaces. From the dorms, I moved into an apartment with some fellow students. I won’t call them friends because I don’t think these two girls wanted any other friends other than themselves. From there, I moved back into the dorms after a summer spent at my parents house. Good ole Zimmerman. This is where I met my good friend Lisa. It is also where I learned how much fun college could be…whether that is a good thing or bad thing, it was fun. I then moved into an apartment with my dorm roommate and a fellow education major for the summer. That was fun. When school resumed in the fall I moved into a house with 4 other girls…big mistake. 5 girls, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. Not enough room for all the cattiness. Then it was back home to the parents while I did my student teaching...no money to live by myself then. It was from there that I moved across country with my then boyfriend (now husband) to sunny Cali to live in the smallest most expensive apartment I had ever lived in. Who would have thought that for $1000/month that you could find anything smaller? I could not believe this. From there, we upgraded to renting a house. That was much nicer, but still didn’t feel like home. Then we were forced to move, so we found the biggest apartment that the three of us could reasonably afford. We stayed there for 3 years….me, my now husband, and James (some of you have met James). That was all over about 9 years!!! How many places was that??? I lost count.

Anyways, now my husband and I own a home in Holland, MI. We love our home. It isn’t anything particularly special. It’s a brick ranch. Not much to look at from the outside. Inside we have 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a dinning room, living room, family room and kitchen spread out over about 1900 sq ft plus an unfinished basement. Not too shabby. But that is not what is so special about this house. It’s the patio. We have a screened in patio that is an additional 333 sq ft. We are currently getting ready to do some work to the patio. Tile specifically. We just bought all the product we should need. Some nice terra cotta colored tile that will compliment the chocolate brown color of the house. We are excited to do our first project. I can't wait until its done...to sit on the patio on a nice Michigan evening, have a glass of my fav wine and read a good book with no bugs landing on you! Ahhhh! What more can I ask for?

A home is more than just the walls where you live and sleep. A home is also the feeling you get when you walk inside. You just know you are home. The structure itself is almost comforting.

I love my home. After a long day, it is comforting to walk in those doors and know that I’m home. I can relax. I can be myself.

Go Pistons!!!

I'm getting ready to watch the Pistons tonight. I'm way excited. Go Pistons!!! We want a repeat!!!

$1,000,000

If I had a $1,000,000 we wouldn't have to walk to the store
If I had a $1,000,000 we'd take a limosine 'cause it costs more
If I had a $1,000,000 we wouldn't have to eat kraft dinner
~~BARENAKED LADIES~~

I was listening to one of my favorite cd's today at work (you probably can figure it out from the above quote) and that song got me thinking: What would I do with a million dollars?

There are always things that I want but many things that I really need right now. I really liked that Coach purse I saw at Marshal Fields, but I definately don't need it. A new car would be nice, but not necessary. The Saturn is to be kickin' just fine. Paying off my student loans seem like it would a good idea.

Would a million dollars be enough to see me through my old age? For some reason, I'm not so sure. With life expectancy increasing, and basically no hope of collecting any of that social security that I've been paying into, would that be enough? (Thanks George W. for spending that surplus in social security that we had when you initially arrived in Washington...but that's another story) What if I'm sickly in my old age? what if housing and gase and all the other expenses keep going up at the pace they have been. Will this be enough?

Being the practical person that I am, I would have to pay off bad debt (the kind you can't write off on your taxes) and invest the rest in something very, very safe. Guess I'll have keep eating my Kraft dinner too.

80 Degrees

It was finally 80 today!!! Yeah!!!! Warm weather. Click on the link of the title to see the weather in my area.

You're Fired

This has been a weird last few days. Yesterday two employees were let go. One by his own choice--he had let on that he was considering other employment; the other one was completely surprised by the whole thing. I know he was unhappy working there, but it never feels good to be let go; you always want to leave on your own terms.

Anyways, I'm completely sympathetic to his situation. I too was "laid-off" at one point in my life. I wasn't happy either. I had watched most of my colleagues leave or get laid-off over about 3 months. We went from a company with 60 employees down to 18 when the "last wave" hit. Looking back on it, it was probably a good thing because I wasn't happy there. At the same time I was more-or-less forced to take the first job that came a long instead of being choosy like I would have liked to have been.

The work at "the job" wasn't bad. It was somewhat enjoyable. My official job title was "knowledge developer"...which is a hybrid way of saying technical writer/instructional designer. I wrote all sorts of courses that were delivered over the web. I didn't mind the actual work. My educational experience made this sort of work almost natural for me. You see I have an elementary education degree and an English minor. So basically, I understood learning principals and could write in complete sentences...or something like that. Anyways, the actual design and implementation of my courses was almost fun. I even liked QA'ing (proofreading) other people's work...it was like polishing a rough stone to make it shiny.

Some of my colleagues from this place, are still good friends of mine. But working with management, or should I say management working us over, was another story.

We were often asked to work on many courses at the same time never giving any ONE course its proper due. I was actually told that they would "push me to the breaking point" to see how much work I could handle. Pay...well, that wasn't so good either.

Needless to say that when I was let go, it was a blessing and a curse. I still haven't found work that I enjoy. I'm currently "trapped" in a profession that I really can't stand. I'm an administrative assistant at a CPA firm. A CPA firm that is also SUPER conservative.

So what should I do with my life. Some have suggested going back to school. But to be honest, I don't know that I want to. Some have suggested finding something I can do from home with my current skills. Some have even suggested having kids. What to do, what to do....

I do hope that my fellow employee finds something better. I know that scared feeling of having to pay the bills and having very little income(Unemployment in Cali wasn't enough to live off of). With that good luck LS.

Apology

Dear Friends and Family:

Lately I've been feeling guilty about not keeping in better touch with some of my friends and family. Some of you know I used to be quite the avid letter writer back in the day. So to those of you that this applies to, I sincerely apologize.

You may wonder what is bringing this on? You see, about a year and a half ago, I lost someone very important to me. I think I've secretly been grieving silently for a while. I was very sad that this special lady wasn't around to share in my wedding and the birth of my sister's child.

You see not only was this wonderful woman a fantastic roll model, she is also the mother of my best friend and my mom's best friend. Without her around I feel like there is someone missing from all these important things.

Lately, my mom has been having a rough time of things. Her dad (my gramps), is battling alcoholism in his 70's. It's killing him. And the whole family is watching it happen. My mom is a natural "mother" figure and has been looking in on him since he moved to town. I can see the terrible strain she's under, and I can only imagine what it must be like to be going through all this without her closest friend by her side.

We've all been as supportive as we can for her but it's not the same as having that one outside true friend that is always on your side.

So let me finish with this: all of my friends and family are important to me. And I'm sooooo sorry if I have ever neglected telling any of you how much I love you.Love you, JLB

Rote Memorization - Worked for Me

I recently had a discussion with some friends about the value of some skills being memorized, particularly basic math. Is there really anything wrong with memorizing you multiplication tables?

My friend who is a teacher said in his science class not all his students can multiply. 7th grade and can't multiply? Don't you start that in 2nd grade??? How does this happen???

I remember in second and third grade going through the process of learning my multiplication tables. Boy what a pain. Everyday, the flash cards, the work sheets, reciting them aloud with the class. But with Mrs. Stevens and Mrs. Brown kept us at it until we had it down.

Is there really anything wrong with that? Does every single activity in school have to be enriching? Is there really anything wrong with drilling kids to know certain things?

I know all kids learn differently, yada, yada, yada. It was drilled into us in the ed program at WMU. But isn't giving kids flash cards to they can see it, reciting it so they can hear it, and worksheets so they can practice it, meeting the needs of many different kids. Yes there is value into teaching kids that they can figure it out with grid paper or blocks, but is that practical? You know I regularly carry grid paper in pocket for those occasions when I need to multiply. Yes for certain things I'll use a calculator, but for figuring a tip for the waiter/waitress, I do that math in my head.

So MEMORIZE your multiplication tables. I did.

Party Time

I've been getting invited to a lot of events lately. It seems that weddings, birthdays, and open houses are popping out from everywhere. Some I can't wait to go to, others I don't want to at all (Jilly--I can't wait for your wedding, you are not included in this bunch).

Are you obligated to get a gift to every event you are invited to or only the ones you go to?

Case in point, my brother-inlaw's little brother is graduating. If I'm invited to the open house (which I don't know if I will be yet even though its only in a couple of weeks) and I don't go, do I still have to give a gift?

What about for a wedding that you aren't going to, but the rest of your family is? How do you know what's proper in all these cases. I'm sure there's some book or research I could do on the subject, but I don't feel like it.

Any feedback?

Star Wars Rocked

Nuff said.

A Little Bird

Last night my husband and I went to visit his Grandma in the nursing home where she is currently recovering from chemo and an infection. I could tell when we got there that she was tired and had a long day. We asked her if she wanted us to leave so she could rest, and she said "No." We knew she would say no. She would never turn away family.

So we stayed for an hour or so and chatted with her. She started talking about this past Christmas and how wonderful it was to have everyone together under one roof for the holiday. She told us about how as she was preparing the house for the festivities she kept having a "little bird" tell her to "Enjoy Christmas because it may be your last." That's a very sad thought. It didn't seem to bother her as much as it bothered us when she said it. It's hard for us to imagine her not being the center, the rock of the family. It's hard to imagine, not having Christmas eve at her house. She definitely seemed more at ease about it then we did.

I actually haven't been able to shake this all day. And as she lies there trying to fight off this terrible infection eating away at her, she still seems at peace with the fact that it might be her time to go. Amazing lady that Evelyn!

I am also reminded of a Bob Marley song called "Three Little Birds"
It goes something like this:

Woke up this morning, smiled at the rising sun, three little birds perched by my doorstep. Singing sweet songs, a melody pure and true. This is my message to you. Don't worry about a thing cuz every little thing is gonna be alright.

Bizzaro-land

If your windows don't roll down, why would you go through a drive thru?

I'm still trying to figure this one out.

On my way down to Indy last weekend I encountered this strange situation. The woman in the car in front of me had her door open as she was placing her order at the speaker at the drive thru. Then she proceded to pull up about three feet short of the drive up window, get out of her car, walk up to the window and hand the woman her money. While she is waiting for her change, she picks up all the change around the window on the ground and pockets it. After she collects her change she gets back in her car, pulls three feet short of the next window to get her two cups of coffee.

Isn't it called a drive thru for a reason?

This had been bugging me since it happened. It wasn't so much that she violated the laws of the drive thru (well that was part of it--okay alot of it), but also that she pocketed all that loose change that was on the ground. Why didn't she give it to the lady working the register so her drawer balances, like an honest person? This whole scenario is disturbing.

Is this world full of dishonest, stupid people? I like to think not, but I'm beginning to wonder.

Family

Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to family. Family is very important. It's the only thing true in this world.

I love my family. My Mom is very giving. My Dad shows his love silently. My sister is an amazing young woman. My husband, I love him. I can't imagine my life without any of these people.

But my family extends further than this. I have grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. And of course when you get married your family grows by leaps and bounds overnight. And even though I don't see these people as frequently as I would like, I would still do anything for them because they are family.

Lately I've heard a lot about sisters fighting on all sides of the family. It really bothers me. "Grow-up and get along" is what I want to say to them all. You only get one family. Don't burn your bridges with them--you only get one chance in this life. Regretting not forgiving or helping a family member is the last thing I want to do in this life time.