Prizes

Sunday night after a long afternoon of lounging by the lake, Hubby and I went to visit some friends of ours. Mr. & Mrs. G have a little girl that turns 3 today. She is a very smart and lucky girl. She was born 3 months prematurely and has suffered from some physical ailments since birth due to lack of oxygen during childbirth.

It has been a blessing to watch her grow up. Baby G starts preschool in a couple of weeks and is very excited about the prospect of going to school like the big kids. She doesn't seem the least bit shy or scared about the situation before her.

Somewhere in the middle of our visit with the G's, baby G asked if we had brought her a prize. I kind of laughed at her and said "Your birthday isn't until Wednesday. You'll get your prize then." Mrs. G said something like "Baby G, they didn't bring prizes with them." Baby G started to get upset that we hadn't brought her a prize. My thoughts of course are, is it a prerequisit to bring a prize to visit with the G's?

But what happened next has really gotten me a thinkin'...Mrs. G went and got a nicely wrapped prize, handed it to me from behind her back and whispered, you can give this to her. ???? Huh???? So I did as I was instructed.

I have been reflecting on that moment for a couple of days now. Apparently so has my husband. As we sat down to feast on our evening meal last night he looked at me and sad "If we have kids, they will not be asking the company for prizes. They will get a strong repremand from me if they ever do anything like that. It is unacceptable."

I agree. I may not have kids, but I do know that this little girl can manipulate her parents already at the tender age of 3. Feeding into behaviors like this only encourage it. I wouldn't have been embarrassed if they had addressed the situation in front of us. I actually would have liked to observe it. I do know that kids need to be disapplined in the moment when they are very young. They won't put the two situations together immediately unless you connect that behavior for them.

Anyways, I would be embarrassed if my kids started asking everyone for prizes. Greedy bastards.

American?

I believe that I am an American. Last I checked I was born in Michigan. My parents are both residents of the US. Thus, I am an American. I'm so American I even vote!!

Tonight on the evening news someone said "if you don't support the war you aren't American." What does that mean??? If I don't agree with the war, someones gonna come and rip up my citizenship? This is just stupid.

I don't agree with the war. I live in a gray area. I don't believe that our men and women should be fighting for the freedom of people abroad when we have our own problems here on US soil. I'm not saying I don't support the troops. (here is the gray area) I believe that all men and women who give there lives in the service of our great nation should be respected and honored. I wouldn't want that job and I'm glad that there are people that do. Therefore, I support our troops, but I don't support the cause.

I'm still baffled by the whole "not being an American" comment. Does this mean if I disagree with the Prez in any way, I'm not an American?

Last I checked our country was founded by people that questioned the status quo. That weren't statisfied with the way things were being run. I think that our founding fathers were about as American as they come. We are suppose to question our leaders. It more or less says so in the first amendment of the constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

So, yes I'm still an American eventhough I don't agree with George W. I'll be an American today, tomorrow, and forever. And I can question anything I want. And I don't always have to agree.

A beach is a beach

There are beach cities all over the US. East coast, west coast, and what I like to call "the other west coast"--that's right, the other west coast baby. I'm talking about West Michigan...and all it's glorious beaches along Lake Michigan.

This summer we were invaded with our fair share of tourists. Tourists from other midwestern cities that come to escape the hussle and bussle of city life for a quiet beach community. I don't mind the tourists too much. They keep the economy going around here. They keep the bars happenin'.

Recently I had a conversation with someone and we were discussing that how if you didn't know that Grand Haven was in Michigan the beach could have been on any of the coasts in the US, heck it could have even been in Rhode Island. It is complete with it's light house on the end of a pier. I love it. I think the view is gorgeous.

I have lived in on other coastlines. I love the crash of waves from the Pacific Ocean. I love the salty smell in the air.

Sure Lake Michigan has its down falls, but I still love it. I can still hear the crash of waves along the shoreline. The air is clean and the water seems clean. There are dunes to climb, waves to jump, and sun to catch. Yes sometimes the lake is cold...but it did get into the 70's this summer which is very nice on a hot day.

With that I must say, I don't regret leaving sunny So Cal for Michigan. I still have my beach. I still have my sand.

New Car Smell

So I bit the bullet and bought a new car last night. I'm not all that sad to see my Saturn go. But I am, however, excited to drive my new car. The Saturn was a great car but had seen better days. I'm just glad I didn't have to get that cracked windshield fixed.

Here are some pics. So far, I love it.

Thoughtfulness

This past weekend hubby and I visited with father-outlaw and his brother before he returned to California. I suggested that we take dinner with us knowing that they had probably cleaned out most of the fridge. So before leaving our house for the beach house we packed up all the fixins for spaghetti (garlic bread and salad included).

We visited for a while and then hubby and I started making dinner. Hubby commented that "This was all Jenn's doing. She's so thoughtful." Father-outlaw responded with "We could all learn a bit from her."

Damn right. That's because I think of other people besides myself. Ya'll could learn a thing or two.

Random Acts of Violence

I have a difficult time understanding acts of violence. How can people hate so much that they must inflict violence against others?

This past weekend my sister had her car vandalized. Her back window was smashed in and her back bumper dinged up. Nothing from her car was actually stolen. So what's the point of that? That's break in the window and not take anything. Hello? There were CD's and shit in there. Basically whoever did this just felt like destroying someone elses property for shits and grins. Pointless. I guess I could just understand it better if something was stolen. Then the criminals at least had a point to breaking in; they wanted someone elses shit. But no, these criminals just felt like busting up some stuff.

I'm sorry. I just don't get this random act of violence. Just like I don't get murder, rape, and hate crimes. What's the point. You really hate someone enough that you feel you have the right to mess them up? (yes, I know I already said this, but I really don't get it) Seriously, I have never hated anyone enough to even think of these types of things.

Well, at least my sis is okay and she wasn't in the car with her baby when this happened.

Wanted: Lack of Motivation

The months of July and beginning of August have been busy. Insanely busy. Although I did manage to finish the Harry Potter book, not much else has been done purely for myself.

I must say the tiling project is done, thankfully. And most of the family is gone; only papa-outlaw remains.

Eventhough this weekend I went to the beach twice (I even wore sunscreen this time), neither time was all that relaxing. Saturday was spent with the outlaws before mom-outlaw left to go back to Cali. Beach and the outlaws just isn't relaxing, despite the atmosphere being about as laid back as can be. After a few hours down by the water, we headed up to the homestead to cook dinner for the outlaws at their house. More work if you ask me.

Sunday we were at the beach again, this time with friends and their adorable daughter. Eventhough she is adorable, she is still work. A 3-year old at the beach is work no matter how you slice-or-dice it.

So at the end of my weekend, I was exhausted. I needed a weekend from my weekend.

Come Monday night, I had nothing to do. No plans. Housework could wait a day. I lack any and all motivation right now to do anything except recooperate from company and stress.

If anyone finds my motivation, please hold on to it for a while. I'm not ready to be motivated. I don't want to be motivated. I want to go drink a cold Newcastle on my newly tiled patio and then go to bed early...actually, I think I might just go do that now.

Pure Sweetness

Last night I had the privledge of interacting with our 4 year old niece Maddy. She is sweet as pie. Her heart is sooo big and so genuine that the words that come out of her mouth often amaze me. This picture is from the wedding a little over a year ago (yes that's me in the poofy dress).

So last night her dad, brother-outlaw brought her over to see the kitties before they left town the next day. She has a deep fascination and love for animals. When Shadow, my escape artist cat ran away, she was sincerely concerned for my other cat, Lindsey and her not having a playmate. That's how much she loves and cares for these animals.

Anyways, last night she came over and tortured my cats. Shadow is pretty tolerant. He'll let you poke him and hold him and won't scratch, bite or hiss. Lindsey usually goes into hiding when the noisey ones are around. But Maddy still had a blast chasing Shadow up and down the hallways.

At one point she started shoving one of our couch pillows into the cat condo. I of course was puzzled as to why she would do this as were all the adults. So brother-outlaw being the good dad that he is asked Maddy, "why are you putting that pillow in there?" Her response "so they have some place nice to sleep." Perfectly logical when put that way. It was just so kind of her to think that they might need some place as comfy as her own bed to lay their furry little heads.

She also was very concerned because there was no food in their bowls. It wasn't feeding time, but explain that to a 4 year old. She actually whispered it to her daddy that they had no food. He in turn told her to ask me if it was okay if she fed them. Which she did eventually in her own kid language, and of course I let her feed them.

Her love was just so big for these two cats. She genuinely didn't want them to be hungry or uncomfortable. She absolutely amazes me in her pure sweetness for other living beings. I wish we all had that much love to give.

Village Idiot

That's me. The village idiot. The town cryer has dubbed me so.

This past weekend I spent some time out at the beautiful Lake Michigan. The weather really couldn't have been better. Blue sky. Slight breeze. 80+ degrees. BEAUTIFUL.

Naturally I soaked up the sunshine in typical white girl fashion with no sunscreen. How could I have been so stupid. The nieces and nephews had it on...but where was I when the slathering process occurred?

Needless to say my fair skin is now a nice bright pealing shade of pink.

I am an idiot.

Pet Peeves

Everyone has them. Those habits of other people that drive up the freaking walls; make you want to tear your hair out and yell "what the hell?" Ok, mine is timeliness. I cannot stand tardiness. I myself cannot stand being late for anything. I don't even like being fashionably late. I feel that a set time is when you should be there and you shouldn't disrespect the other party(ies) by being late. It's very rude.

I use to work with this girl, HB, who just did not know how to be on time. Her commute to work was short like mine. But she was habitually late. Like every day. When you back up someone for phone support, this gets old real fast. The little group of "early risers" used to stand around the coffee pot and take bets on how late she would be, if she would show at all (she was also sick a lot). I just didn't get it. After you figured out you were 5-10 minutes late everyday, wouldn't you set your alarm that much earlier? I find this type of behavior disrespectful not only to the employer, but to the other co-workers in the office that have to work a little bit harder just to make up for your 5 minutes of laziness. Do you know how many minutes of the year that adds up to? Do the math, it's a lot.

You may wonder, what's bringing on this little rant. In one word, the Outlaws (see previous post). They stopped by on Saturday and we decided to meet up on Sunday for dinner. No concrete plans made, just a vague dinner some time Sunday evening. My outlaws do not have phone service at the new house. They are too cheap to get one just for the summer. Their cell phones also do not get service seeing as how close to Lake Michigan they are. So there is no way for us to call them to make these plans. So we wait for the phone call from them to firm up the plans. Mom-outlaw calls at 3:30 and we decide we will go out for dinner (it was just way to friggin' hot to cook). They would meet us at our house at 5:30.

So 5:30 rolls around and they aren't there. Ok. I can tolerate a little late. 5:45, they still aren't there. 6:00...okay this is a little rude. 6:25. APPROACHING ONE HOUR. CAN YOU PEOPLE NOT READ YOUR WATCHES???!!!! At this point, I'm hungry, my hubby is hungry. Every minute that passes I become more and more unpleasant to be around. We decide that if they aren't there at 6:30 we'll leave them a note and go. As we are writing the note and hunting for the every allusive tape, they pull in the driveway. No story, no excuses, no apologies. 1 hour and 32 minutes late, I at least want to hear a good story as to why you are late. If you don't have one, make one up, be creative...It will at least kill the void of the uncomfortable silence because Hubby and I are too pissed to talk.

So when is being late, too late?

The Outlaws

The Outlaws are coming, the Outlaws are coming....One if by land two if by....oh whatever....

My inlaws bought a house near us. A summer house on Lake MI. My father-inlaw has already been in town for a couple of weeks now (he's a teacher with summers off). Tomorrow my mother-inlaw flys in. I'm thrilled can you tell? At least they have their own house now...Let me explain.

You see for Christmas this past year, I entertained the family at my house. Being newlyweds and having a central location, everyone else decided it would be the place to be (everyone else decided this without our consent--but we were forced to go along because the plans were already made). We have a pretty big house, 4 bedrooms 2 baths. We had 4 extra adults and 2 kids sleeping in our house. Our house suddenly felt too small. We needed an extra room, and extra bath, a padded cell. Try stuffing a turkey that has to get in the oven at a certain time, making breakfast for your company and watching a 6month old at the same time because her mom wants to take a shower and grandma is eating breakfast...none of these people being your own family rather your married-into-family, you don't want to impose on anyone; you want to be the perfect host.

I'm fortunate that the meal (for 13 people) turned out okay. No major problems...but lets say, I didn't enjoy Christmas that much last year...and I hated neglecting my own family completely because people were staying at my house. And then Christmas day passed...and they were still there...for almost a week. I've learned from this...it won't happen again this year.

In two weeks the whole fan-damily will be in town. All convening in the same city for 4 days once again. The stars must be in alignment or something. I'm sure I'll have some frightening posts. There are always stories to tell. I don't know if Holland, MI can handle the excitement. I'm am just glad that only one person will be staying with me this time. No 6 month olds screaming through the night. No two year olds feeding my cats an entire bag of cat treats (yes, an entire bag that I had HIDDEN in my dresser). No crowds in my kitchen. No extra trips to Sam's to stock pile for the army I'm feeding. Someone else can have these things this time.

Book-aholic

That's me, a book-aholic. If there were some kind of book-aholics annonymous program, I'd probably have to go. I can't seem to get enough of books. I love those houses that you go into that are just filled with books where you approach the walls and stacks of books in awe. It's comforting to me, books that is.

I still remember the first chapter book I ever read, Charlotte's Web. Oh how I loved that book. I think I was about 7 or 8. I still have that book. I'm a collector you see. I have lots-o-books. To list a few of my childhood favorites: Anne of Green Gables (the darn series), The Secret Garden (boy was I mesmerized by the language and mystery in that one in 6th grade), To Kill a Mockingbird (8th grade), and A Separate Peace (8th grade). My parents fed my addicition with books when I asked for them. Going to the bookstore was a special treat that I absolutely loved. I could spend my entire allowance there.

This year for Christmas we did wishlists on Amazon. My husband asked me what I really wanted off of my list and I told him "the books, please." And he obliged. I received 4 books. Unfortunately, I burn through books so fast that it really didn't keep my addiction fed long enough.

During certain times of the year I don't read as much as others. But right now is my prime reading time. I love a good book and the beach, a good book and a glass of wine, or a good book and quietness. Books allow me to escape. Escape into other people's lives. Escape into there personalities...I can appreciate the characters that I can relate to. I can appreciate the characters I loothe. Books with good character development are the best.

Last week my latest shipment came. I ordered 4 books and 3 of them arrived (I pre-ordered Harry Potter...so that won't come until next week). I was so delighted to see the package at the front door. I'm already through with one of the books. It was really entertaining and enjoyable for a summer read--A Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing.

I also have a problem getting rid of books. I can't seem to let go. People have told me to have a garage sale or to sell them to a second hand store, but I just can't. I can't. They are mine. They are my stories.

This morning they had something on the news about how the pope feels about Harry Potter books...well to hell with that! I think it's great so many kids want to read. Do you really think they are running out to cast spells on people...now come on!! But that's another post.

Anyways, I love my books. Some day I'll take a look at my shelves and give ya'll a listing of my top ten. For now...I think I'll go feed my addiction.

Oink Oink

I have not been able to write like I usually do. Between the tiling (which isn't complete yet) and my father-inlaw flying in, there just hasn't been time. Not to mention that he has been hogging my computer.

I was all poised to write last night. I had an idea--a thought I needed to express. But my father-inlaw beat me to the computer last night. My oh-so-loving husband set him up on my computer to download some picutres and do some emailing that he needed to take care. I thought "oh this shouldn't take long," but I was wrong. He got on my computer at 8 pm...at 10 he was just finishing up his email. 2 hours, 1 email. I was too tired and the creative spirit had left me by then. Urg.

So, if there aren't very many posts, it's not for lack of not wanting to write. Damn computer hog.

Hey, Have a Scoop

This morning I awoke just like I do any other morning. The alarm goes off...I quickly scurry to turn it off....Turn on the TV to catch the days weather (because in Michigan you never know what the day might bring)...Only today I didn't see the weather. I saw some horrific scene in London. Horrible. I could only imagine what the people in the subways were going through. I just couldn't believe it. So I watched a few minutes longer then I should before getting in the shower. I went through the remainder of my morning routine, got in the car and headed off on my 35 minute commute to work. I figured this would be all over the news. I have a radio in my car and one on my desk. I should be able to stay up to date on the events, no problem. How wrong I was.

Firstly I put on my favorite radio station. Nothing. Not a single mention of it in ten minutes. Hello, world, can we say major event happening? Yes, it didn't happen here in the good ole U-S-A, but come on now. Isn't this newsworthy? I did find out that it is national ice cream day. Wahoooo. Vanilla or chocolate?

Frustrated, I tried to tune in an AM station thinking I would have a better chance with the news there. Wrong. Just call-ins talking about the middle east and how bad everyone over there is. Not what I wanted to hear. I wanted the facts. I wanted to know how the leaders of the world were taking stands on all this. I didn't get it. But hey, it's national ice cream day. Strawberry anyone?

When I got to work, I had the radio on all day. No updates. No news. Music and babble. That's it.

Hearing that it was national ice cream day and not hearing the real scoop has pissed me off. Where are our priorities? Isn't England one of our "friends?" Why wasn't I hearing anything about this? Are we so f**ed-up that we don't care about other nations besides our own? Where's the compassion in that? Have we no feelings for the other people of this world? I don't understand it all.

Tiling

Here's the progress thus far.

Tiling my life away

Sorry I've been away....we are tiling...I'll write more when we are done and post some pictures. Until then hope ya'll are well and had a good 4th of July.

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.