weeloworld

check out my fav childhood toys

2008-11-23T14:15:00.000-08:00

Facebook | Your Photos

these are a few of my favorite childhood toys..
click on each toy to see full picture and comments below

Radio Days

2008-11-20T10:41:00.001-08:00

What an honor it's been to play radio host with Tony Infantino at WARM 101.3.
He is my long lost sibling..such a generous guy and easy to have fun with.
Gonna be back on with him tomorrow at 6 AM..tune in!

'Meh': Apathetic expression enters dictionary - Yahoo! News

2008-11-17T17:19:00.000-08:00

'Meh': Apathetic expression enters dictionary - Yahoo! News

FINALLY!
For months now I've asked every cool person i know what the hell "meh" means after reading it in a comment line on someone's blog.
Sounds like it's been around a while. I'm slow on the draw..but at least so are all of the cool people i know.
meh.

it's getting WARM around here

2008-11-16T10:26:00.000-08:00

a mighty wind is blowing
and the temps are dropping
but tomorrow morning at 6 it's gonna be WARM.
tune in to hear me play the part of guest host on WARM 101.3 with Tony Infantino.

also friday at 6am...
fun fun fun.....

call to action

2008-11-11T09:03:00.000-08:00

I just found out that the Sock Monkey is not a member of the National Toy Hall of Fame.
My friends, it is time to act.
Go to the Strong Museum of Play website www.strongmuseum.org and nominate this ambassador of good will to his rightful place in toy history.
That's what this democracy of ours is based on, the power of the vote.
Straps and i thank you for your support!

p.s If a box and a stick can make it into the Hall, nothing should be able stop our mighty Monkey!

chill

2008-10-18T17:35:00.000-07:00

factoid:
i was born on election day in 1960.
this year election day falls a few days before my birthday and i have a big pre- b-day wish.
i am emotionally invested in the outcome of this race.
one side effect of this political intensity is that i completely lose my sense of humor and get all wound up from mid Oct. till the results come in.
after watching my friend squeeze the hell out of her Incredible Hulk doll while watching one of the debates, i realized that i too needed some kind of anti-stress implement.
i bought George (also known as "Straps")about 2 weeks ago and don't know how i lived all of these years without a sock monkey.
when the goin' gets rough, i rub his ears, and oddly, relief seems to come.
7 bucks at CVS in case you're interested.
cheaper than talk therapy.
no side effects like drug therapy.
old school charm.
highly recommended chill tool.

Political junkie

2008-10-01T17:35:00.000-07:00

Politics are my sport.
Debates are my Super Bowl.
I get so cranked up for these things..even though I know pretty much what they are going to say ..and not say.
I watch and hope for a few knockdown punchlines, a few major gaffes here and there..
or best case scenario, a trainwreck.
I know that this is serious stuff, and i am passionate about my beliefs, but i get swept away in the drama of it all...
So it is with relish that i look forward to tomorrow night.
A few friends, a few snack items, nerfballs, and nerf guns to fire at the TV when the spirit moves us to do so.
Does it get any better than this?

Good Morning Rochester

2008-09-25T15:19:00.000-07:00

If you ever saw the movie Stand By Me, maybe you remember the part about the Barf-a-rama. If you do, then you have a good visual of what my life has been like for the past 5 days.
Despite that, I was able to get up and get my butt down to the studio of WARM 101.3 to sit in for a while on the morning drive show with Tony and Kristie. Besides feeling like i was going to pass out, being nervous, and wondering what the hell might come out of my mouth since i seem to have a hard time controlling it, all went surprisingly well. lucky for me, everyone there was a professional , they were great people, and they of course did all the heavy lifting.
the studio was breathtaking...17th floor with windows looking over the sunny morning city. i have such a love of radio, and it was such an honor to be asked to sit in. more than ever i have respect for these people that get up at insane o'clock and are so energized and smooth. Tony asked me to jump back on when Kristie is out on maternity leave. this was one of those surreal days.

oBLOGation

2008-09-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

I've learned a lesson.
never blog just because you haven't written in a while.
a friend of mine commented that he wished i would update my blog.
that night, tired and uninspired i banged out a half hearted entry.
the next morning at work, he said to me..
"you know how if you have a bugger hanging out of your nose, you'd want someone to tell you?
well, your last blog entry was really weak."

he was right. i knew it.
i was so happy to be on the receiving end of such honesty.
it's rare.

lesson learned.
if you have nothing to say, don't try to say it.
i just happily deleted the old entry.

yesterday i attended the funeral of a close friend's wife.
besides feeling the sense of loss and grief and finality, it really made me do a review of my own life. mostly i was confronted with all of the mistakes i have made and all of my shortcomings.
i wish i had a delete button for those things and cleaning up my life could be acheived as easily as editing a blog.
i am so grateful for the people in my life that love me unconditionally
and care enough to tell me when i've got a bugger hanging out of my nose.

garbage picker lottery/ curb enthusiasm

2008-08-07T17:42:00.000-07:00

the other day while looking out my kids' bedroom window, i saw my neighbor carry out a hotshit bookshelf to the curb.

it looked like it was from pottery barn or crate and barrel or west elm.

all i knew was that i wanted that thing. ( i know, thou shall not covet thy neighbor's goods..but it doesn't say anything about covetting thy neighbor's trash).

before i could even make a beeline for it, some lucky son of a b pulled up, opened the back of his SUV, and picked up MY shelf.

dang.

a few hours later i was talking with a pal of mine that had stopped by about how i wanted to feng shui the heck out of my living room.

when i walked her out to her car, we spied a tan micro suede chair and matching ottoman on the curb.

"let's go" she said. "we're getting it".

"are you sure this doesn't break some law of garbage picking etiquette?" i asked.

"we're getting it !" this girl was fired up.

we went over and i stretched out on the thing. Nice. Real nice.

minutes later the chair was mine.

next the neighbors brought out two more bookshelves.

"i don't know..."..i looked at my galpal.

"we're getting them too!".

we dragged both shelves onto my lawn.

jackpot!

my living room got an instant make over just like they do on those decorating shows on cable..or at least i've been told since i don't actually have cable.

the only thing i'm going to be watching now is the curb..like a hawk..

who knows what other goodies may be headed my way.

i'm hoping that they'll upgrade their tv soon, so i can snatch it up and watch the Home and Garden Network from the comfort of my newly feng shuied living room.

my across the street neighbor has been leaving me updated voice mail messages about anything new that appears on the curb since she has a better vantage point. gotta love that.

p.s. the stuff looks much better in real life than in the photos..i can barely pull myself out of that room now.

tiki text

2008-07-20T08:01:00.000-07:00

k,mj

]'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' 6,

in case you're wondering, bunnies do text.
we still can't figure out what she means.
better ask the vet when we get her fixed.

there were no moles to whack at the fair so we bought a rabbit instead.

smashing part two

2008-07-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

back to the Monroe County Fair..
the second best thing about the fair
is playing Whack-a-mole.
there is something about the weight of the mallet on those adorable plastic mole heads..
it's exhilarating.
i know.
i have issues.
but unlike carpenter ants, i will never kill an actual mole.

i am aware that you can play Whack-a-mole at Seabreeze
but it's just not the same.
it lacks that all important sleazy carnie vibe.
plus the first time i ever whacked a mole was at the county fair
so there is that all important element of nostalgia.
i was swinging the mallet with one hand and holding my cheek with the other.
it was the day i had my one and only wisdom tooth pulled, as i mentioned in my last entry.
what i didn't mention was that i cannot pass up italian sausage with peppers and onions on a hard roll..even if i had to eat it on one side of my mouth..and even if i could barely open my mouth to begin with.

now i'm remembering earlier that same day sitting
in the dentist office scared out of my mind about the whole tooth extraction thing...
they gave me a happy pill to chill me out.

i was in the waiting room filling out info on the clipboard they handed me when the drugs kicked in.
where it asked for next of kin, i wrote Robert Redford..
i put down some other bogus info ..and was laughing my ass off.
a big thanks goes out to whoever it is that invented anti-anxiety meds.

right after the procedure, my mom took me to see my aunt susie, her sister ,who had a bit part in a Burt Reynolds movie. she played a hooker in a scene that took place in an old western saloon.
i kept waiting for her 15 seconds of fame.. but my painkiller was wearing off.
i sat there crying during a comedy..
but the movie was so horrible, i think i would've been crying anyways.

i had totally forgotten this chapter of my life.
those memories probably would've remained dormant in some dark corner of my brain never to surface again, if not for the love of whacking moles.

smashing

2008-07-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

recently for health reasons that i won't bore you with
it has become necessary for me to give up some of the things
that i enjoy most on earth:
hot fudge sundaes,
chocolate,
frappachinos
pizza
pasta

it is bumming me out. big time.
one side effect of this new diet is
that it forces me to find pleasure in other ways.

so it is with great excitement that i
am counting down to one of my fav guilty pleasures :
the Monroe County Fair Demolition Derby..

i remember back in high school riding in my friend larry's demo car
illegally (no windshield) to the fairgrounds
for the big event.
i had never witnessed one before
and it did not disappoint despite the fact that i had a wisdom tooth pulled earlier that day
and was in pure agony after my meds wore off.
i loved the danger, the swagger of the drivers, the rowdy beer drinking fans.

it ain't summer without the demo. i can almost smell the fumes.........

to do

2008-07-08T17:52:00.000-07:00

drive in movie
weed back patio before snowfall
urban photo safari
long long bike ride
get a god darn hammock
live music
camp out
figure out how to make beets edible
take bunny on a playdate with new neighbor's bunnies
stay up all night reading
install AC in bedroom before snowfall
sit on butt
play tennis play tennis play tennis
float
play in sprinkler
set up kiddie pool before snowfall
rest
relax
repeat

summer things never change

2008-06-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

summer is here
no homework...
relaxed schedule....
freedom....

i'm watching my kids struggle a bit with the adjustment
from too much structure
to all out 4 wheel drive recess

takes me back to summers i spent as a kid
pre X-box, guitar hero ( i am a guitar zero..but have plans to make a big push)
pre netflix, blockbuster , ipod
pre yahoo google blogger...
what the hell did i do with all of that time?

i did a lot of what i like still like doing now..
hanging out in or on the water
although i now prefer non-chlorinated
hitting tennis balls
listening to music
typing away
losing myself in the lives of others on a page...

today i listened to some Beatles...Let it Be..Naked
i'm still typing away
and right now
it's time to break open my new can of tennis balls .
popping open that airtight can is easily
one of the best sounds on earth .
a nostalgic pop
that packs a powerful punch of
sweaty, joyful childhood memories.

watched Venus swing it today.
Wimbledon still has the power
to make me get my butt to the court..
as a kid in the 70's tennis was at it's peak.
you had to stand around and wait for a court to open up.
not once in a while, but every time you went to play.
the cult of personality was overwhelming:Connors, McEnroe, Martrina, Chrissy, Nastase, Borg, Billie Jean, Arthur Ashe.
somehow as luck would have it, Jimmy Connors played an exhibition in Rochester against Vitas Guerilitis..and i got to see and HEAR them live. Tennis is so much about sound..the lusty grunts, the sneakers squealing, the gorgeous plunk of a perfectly hit backhand .
and in the case of jimmy connors, the never ending stream of one liners hurled at the line judge, his opponent or himself when he blew a shot.

every winter i forget how much i love the game.
every summer
i remember.

top five

2008-06-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

top five things on my mind:

1) where are all those carpenter ants in my kitchen coming from?
2) will the ant traps work?
3)why do i feel guilty about killing said ants?
4)is death by ant trap more humane than death by squashing?
5) if you see an ant walking out of a box of cereal, do you throw the whole box out?

quote of the day

2008-06-08T05:26:00.000-07:00

"Fearlessness is the mother of invention."
Arianna Huffington

as one who has spent much of her life being plagued by fears and phobias,
i'm wondering:
can someone change their essential nature?
can someone find more courage and more heart without making a trip to see the wizard?
are we able to make fundamental changes to who we are, or just incremental?

i'm feeling restless today.
want to change everything
from the color of the walls of my house
to the color of my hair
want to live somewhere different
drive something different ( of course!)
see something different
do something different..
but i'll probably wind up mulching.

when i feel the need to change the externals,
it's probably a sign that the internals
are what need to change.
when the internal changes
everything else may stay the same,
but everything looks different.

i feel
summer coming..
it brings with it
a warm strong sensuous wind
that blows the dust off
the year that has been,
and brings electricity.

the juxtaposition of things

2008-05-31T06:14:00.000-07:00

this morning after turning the computer on, i was greeted as usual by Yahoo homepage
telling me everything that i missed while catching 8 hours of shuteye.
the headline was: "Japanese woman caught living in man's closet". Apparently a 58 year old homeless woman sneaked into a man's house and lived undetected in his closet for a year. a year. he became suspicious after he noticed that his food was mysteriously disappearing.
on the same page i clicked on a story about brad and angelina's new digs in the south of France. since they're having twins i guess they needed a little more room and bought a 1,000 acre chateau on the French Riviera. Further investigation showed that not only does this new pad have it's own lake, moat, vineyard and forest, but 35 bedrooms as well!
i'm thinking that my whole family and several of my closest friends could sleep in those closets for a year and be pretty comfortable. getting past security may be an issue. a better idea may be to hang out in the closet at their New Orleans or California houses while they're hanging out in France. With two new babies and a new mansion to deal with they'll be way too preoccupied to even think about their stateside cribs!

this doesn't make cents

2008-05-21T16:38:00.000-07:00

today i learned that it takes 7 cents to make a nickle.
the world is full of perplexing truths
and trivial realities....
and that is one reason why i find it endlessly fun to be alive.

my small challenge for the day was to try to fill up my gas tank without whining about it to my kids who were onboard at the time. i failed. sounding like a geiser i
couldn't hold back from telling them for the umpteenth time " i remember when gas was $1.00 a gallon".
meanwhile my husband read an article in Reader's Digest (the large print edition pictured in my last blog entry which is given to me by one of my 80 year old customers when he's done with it, and i enjoy it lots because i don't need to use my reading glasses, (ironic that the large print editon therefore makes me feel younger)...anyways Paul read an article about this guy that is obsessed with squeezing every last mile out of a gallon of gas. he gives out specific guidelines for doing just that which Paul has completely taken to heart. He is experimenting with our Toyota which i can no longer drive until his experiment is over. the guy in the article got 30mpg out of his wive's SUV.

my new pal, head of marketing at Chrysler emailed me to see if i had heard about the new jeep incentives..($2.99/gallon for 3 years..or 700 gallons /year)...
she also wanted to wish me luck and contact her if i get on deal or no deal so she can cheer for me. gotta love her..
speaking of cheering..go David Archuletta!

life's simple pleasures, just add guilt

2008-05-14T17:28:00.000-07:00

seems like a lot of the stuff that brings me joy, these days also induces guilt.
summer of 1977..slammed on a bikini, grabbed a beach towel, slathered on the baby oil, cranked up the radio...bingo...heaven.
now the sun is a double edged sword, not enough means too little vitamin D, too much
means skin cancer..(come to think of it the baby oil in '77 probably already did irreversible damage).
chocolate, up until recently, a daily staple of my diet, and a great source of comfort to me, now is a no-no because it causes reflux!!!
and reading magazines, (i have always been a mag-hag), has become an un-green activity...trees are killed, landfills filled.
guess that leaves blogging...(am i wasting electricity?) green guilt abounds.
oh yeah, and did i mention the SUV i've fallen in love with?
15 miles per gallon..............
that's enough to take the joy right out of my joyride....
think it's time to read my mags on a blanket in the sun with a bag of chocolate
and some Prilosec while dreaming of my Jeep.

fun with failure

2008-04-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

since my new goal is to embrace failure and to fail as much as possible,
if i succeed at something, will i fail to meet my failure goal?
and if i do, would that be a success or a failure?
i'm confused.

here is my inspirational quote for the day:

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

Winston Churchill

it has been interesting to note that when talking to people about my attempt to get on Deal or No Deal...how many folks feel it necessary to impress upon me just how slim my odds of getting on the show are...like i don't realize that...like that should stop me? what's the worst thing that can happen...
i don't get on....
i'm growing quite tired of naysayers..
i continue to choose to live in the realm of possibility.

death and taxes

2008-04-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

what a week.
i can't ever remember being this sick for this long.
i can't remember being this disappointed in a tax return since the late 80's.
i can barely handle either one individually
but concurrently?
i'm struggling.
the good part is that the taxes are done.
and i've been able to read quite a bit
when not sleeping.
and i'm on my third (and hopefully final)
draft of my deal or no deal application.
now be gone virus!
i've got stuff to do..

talk talk talk..time for action

2008-04-12T06:40:00.000-07:00

when i told jessica that i had an idea for a book
she said:
"that's nice. but i'm really tired of you having all these great ideas
and never doing any of them".

it was one of the best whacks in the head i have ever received.

perhaps it was just to prove her (and myself) wrong that i actually wrote One House.

this is the year of action.
and with that in mind,
i am on to the next thing
that i have talked about ad nauseum..

today i will take advantage of the viral infection that has kept me in bed for a week
and i will complete my application for deal or no deal.

i have dreams..some of which involve cash that i don't have
and i have to be willing to find creative ways to finance those
dreams..

i am inspired by the book The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
a memoir about a mom that uses her ability to play with words and wins a staggering number of jingle contest prizes that keep her family afloat.

now that i've publicly stated my goal, i'm accountable.
gotta run.. i hear howie calling.

Chrysler calling

2008-04-06T06:03:00.000-07:00

it's true.
the squeaky wheel (squeaky girl?) gets the grease.
in a very funny and surreal turn of events
peeps at Chrysler corp heard the car talk segment,
then contacted car talk to find me.
i got a really nice call and email from a woman named Eileen
that works in Chrysler Public Relations. she said they want to help me along the path of
owning patrick henry.
she put a woman from Jeep advertising (Kendra) in touch with me.
got a message from her on friday.
she too sounds very friendly and energetic and wants to talk to me about incentives.
what ever becomes of it is immaterial.
just love the fact that they took the effort to help someone get closer to fulfilling a fantasy.

Radio Therapy

2008-03-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

i've been a radio junky forever.
started off in my bedroom as a kid calling WAXC
and requesting "Dancing in the Moonlight".

being a mail carrier has allowed me to take the addiction to new heights
since i can listen for 4 hours a day..and get paid at the same time.

my sister took me to meet our true radio heroine, Diane Rehm, several years ago.
we stood in line, waiting anxiously for her to sign our books and when we got up to her we stood there like a couple of idiots..stammering and sweating..we were in awe!

had an "in-studio" expeience as a guest on the Bob Lonsberry show that i'd mostly like to forget. i brought a motion-activated barking dog with me for a prop (since i was on there to talk of things postal) and somehow the son-of-a-bee started barking while Bill Low was delivering his newscast. i remember diving for it and ripping the batteries out while getting a "not-so-smart" look from the producer.

my best radio memories involve listening to Click and Clack on Car Talk
on saturday mornings. sometimes they made me laugh so hard that i would listen to the same show all over again when they replayed it on sunday.
this past saturday i lived out a radio fantasy by being CALLER # SIX on their show.
(insert client # nine joke here).

talking to them and hearing them talk back...was completely surreal...reminded me of the first time i saw the HOLLYWOOD sign in person after years and years of seeing images of it.
needless to say i was in a state of SHOCK and AWE..but they managed to calm me down
and of course crack me up.

you can hear it for yourself on cartalk.com. (that is, if you have real player or itunes downloaded on your computer).
the date of the show was 3/29/08.
i'm proud to say they titled the show "Give me Liberty or give me Xanax" in reference to my desperate call.
i'm still buzzing a bit.
think i may just need that Xanax!

jeeps and peeps

2008-03-21T17:58:00.000-07:00

the jeep obsession continues, unabated.
thought perhaps the car crush would wane.
my sister-in-law cathy said she had a crush on the Honda CRV but it went away.
my other sister-in-law jen reports that she purchased her car crush quite a few years ago and they are still going strong.
what to do...
went to the dealer for a test drive.
(the word "dealer" seems appropriate considering i'm acting like a bit of an addict.)
for some reason when we got there, the Liberty seemed much bigger than it did at the auto show. too big.
so we decided to test drive it's little brother, the Patriot.
cute as hell, more affordable, much better gas mileage. makes more sense.
it drove nicely..
comfy!
pretty smooth...
i could see us buying one.
but...yet....
i went back into the showroom and sat in the Liberty just for kicks.
it speaks to me...
next up..
gonna check out another dealer and
take the Liberty out for a drive..
i'm afraid
that i'm gonna
fall deeper in lust.

happy easter peeps!

Counting jeeps

2008-03-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

this is a cry for help.
last sunday i went to the auto show with my kids.
we went to satisfy jonah's Volvo addiction.
our plan was to sit in and drool over the Volvo c30
and the new volvo hardtop convertible.
that part went as planned.
what we didn't plan on was the three of us falling madly in love
with the same car.
we all fell instantly madly and passionately for the Jeep Liberty.
we read motor trend and consumer reports magazines.
we know all about jeeps less than stellar reputation for reliability.
oh yeah, and the roll overs and the bad bad very bad gas mileage.
but we fell for it anyway.
remember back in high school when you fell for the wrong person for all the wrong reasons but you didn't care?
that's us.
we know it's stupid.
we don't care.

the interior isn't remarkable but it's cool in an understated way.
the exterior is slightly sexier, especially if you purchase the chrome detail package..and why the hell wouldn't you for an extra 1,000 bucks and some change.
but here comes the real reason for buying the car.
it reeks of FUN.
driving to the dentist would be fun.
driving to the tax prep person: more fun.
why?
because of the retractable roof.
surely you've seen the commercial with the guy singing "rock me gently" along with
several woodland friends that he is joined by along the way.
until you've actually parked your butt in this jeep with the roof cranked open,
you won't get what all the lust is about.
once you do it, you will.

i have spent way too much time on the jeep website creating my own liberty, and
checking into financing.
i have spent way too much time pointing out all the libertys on the road to what ever sorry soul may happen to be driving with me.

my husband, ever the voice of reason, continues to point out all of the ways in which this would be an idiotic purchase.
he reminds me that cars are about getting from point A to point B as safely and inexpensively as possible.
and he is obviously right.
but unlike the three other members of this family his butt has not been parked on the seat of the divine jeep liberty.

i already have a name for the car that i should NOT buy.
his name is Patrick Henry.
give me liberty or give me death!

i am trying to visualize myself at the pump cursing myself put for being such a bone head.
likewise i picture myself writing a check for a car payment for 5 years..when i could be car payment free.
nothing seems to help.

as my friend said, you get into a relationship thinking you can change the other person..and you think the jeep will change!! but it won't.

so what is a love crazed, lust filled girl to do?
my kids assure me it is a must-buy car.
our lives would change. it's all about FUN!
fun is even in jeeps tag line.

i thought as a parent , i was supposed to influence my kids but in actuality, it is the other way around.

i've even talked to current jeep drivers, hoping they would regale me with tales of woe..bad gas mileage , constant repairs, and the like.
but no, they all speak of their silly jeep with love in their eyes..
it's worth it they tell me.
and then there's the guy whose wife is contemplating going to Jeep Camp this summer
where you meet with other cult members for off road activities and music.

I NEED HELP!
I'm suffering the effects of driving a suburban minivan for too long.

not knowing where else to turn, i just called the Click and Clack radio show on NPR
and left an extended and emotional message on their producers answering machine.
now all i can do is wait for their return call.
it's in God's hands now.

case closed

2008-02-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

inspiration comes from the weirdest places.
for example my kids' neighborhood spy team.
i saw how much fun they had creating secret missions.
it gave them purpose, power and brought them closer to their pals.

i decided it was time to start a team of my own.
we are not spies, but we have cool silver briefcases.
since the group is called The Sisters of the Secret Silver Case Society
i can't divulge too much about it.
but we have a mission or two....
and our first meeting is tomorrow!

life is short.
grab it by the handle.

fighting mid-january winter blahs

2008-01-25T14:14:00.000-08:00

every freezing, overcast, never ending rochester winter
makes me think of living somewhere more sane like virginia where my mom is
or arizona or california where other family members live.
i picture myself walking to my car without a jacket in february.
i picture myself going for a bike ride in march.
it's just a fantasy. and it only lasts for 3 or 4 months.
the rest of the year, i am perfectly happy to be an upstate new yorker.

i heard of someone a few years ago that had come down with a strong case of the winter blues
and decided to try to cure it in an ingenious way. his idea was to go out to hear live music for thirty days in a row.
the person did in fact do just that, and if my memory serves me, it worked.
how cool is that?
i've always been inspired by that story even though, with two young kids and a job that starts early in the morning i knew that cure would be close to impossible for me
to pull off.
so, i'm trying a compromise cure.
live music once a week.
there is a groovy bar not too many miles from my house that has an open jam on thursday nights.
so far i've ventured there twice.. even though the thought of going out in minus zero temps at 9 at on a work night seems like a nice idea..but maybe i should just get some rest..
i tell myself i'm just going to go for "a little while", but let's face it..once you're out and you hear that electric guitar start to wail and that skinny trombone guy start blowing..you're just gonna stay a little while longer.
yeah. i'm dragging on friday.
but it is such good medicine.
and those blahs?
they're fading.

my new squeeze..an examintation of my relationship with the bald guy with the white t-shirt and one earring

2008-01-21T06:27:00.000-08:00

clean.
the word brings up a complex set of feelings for me.
i understand the concept..but have never quite embraced the practice.
if cleanliness is next to Godliness, i'm in a world of poop.
cleaning was something my grandmother embraced.
get out of her way..she was a machine!
she threw things out without a thought. if it was in her way, it was gone!

i've always seen cleaning as a punishment of sorts.
something cinderella had to do because she was the stepchild!

when that little poster came out in the 80's that said
" A clean desk is the sign of a sick mind" i was happy as a pig in..well... you know.
l felt understood..vindicated.
now i was sane and the neat freaks were the crazy ones.

i've matured now and realize nobody is right or wrong, sane or insane..
it's just what you can live with and how you choose to spend your time.

with each new year i vow to get rid of stuff and organize my life.
it's never happened.
this year it might.
i have more time.
and a different perspective..cleaning and getting rid of stuff will free me!

yesterday i went to the store for M&Ms and syrup and came home with many, many dollars worth of other stuff ..including Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. four boxes of them. they were on sale.
my sister-in-law jen told me about these things years ago..she swore by them.
she was right.
these suckers live up to their name. THEY ARE PURE MAGIC.
if i wasn't so proud i would include "before and after" pictures involving my bathtub,
but i just can't.
after years of trying to get rid of this crud in my tub, years of abrasives and all the elbow grease i could muster, including help from a battery powered scrubber, the only thing that cut through this crud was the Magic Eraser.
No elbow grease at all. Just a gentle back and forth motion, and years of junk started disappearing.
MAGIC.
It was so addicting that i began cleaning other stubborn surfaces with the same result. The hint of mold on the bathroom ceiling..gone. The soap scum on the tile..gone.
i had to hold myself back from putting the thing in my mouth and trying to polish the stained enamel on my teeth....so much easier and cheaper than white strips!
MAGIC is so rare in life!
Magic is FUN!
Mr. Clean, who used to scare the bejesus out of me as a kid, was now the object of my passionate
obsession.
After cleaning the bathroom and brushing my teeth the right way...a kernel of doubt crept in to this blissful love fest.
WHY does this stuff work so well?
It is so strong and powerful..it must be toxic. Was Mr. Clean not the lovable guy i was coming to think he was? Was he really a dangerous guy that i should avoid, no matter how much pleasure he brought me?

i went downstairs to find the packaging.
there were warnings about keeping out of the reach of children.
there were warnings about direct contact with skin.
What was missing was the list of INGREDIENTS!
My heart sank. that could not be good.
so now i'm left to do my homework.
i'm afraid i'll get on the Internet and find stories of
just how nasty these magic pads are.
and then i'll be faced with a sad choice. clean or green.
will i have to breakup with a man that has brought me so much satisfaction?
i can't bear to find out.

make stuff do stuff

2008-01-17T14:46:00.000-08:00

not too long ago, on a dark sunday night,
there was a loud knock on my door.
by the time i got upstairs to answer it
nobody was there.
just this cool handmade pirate ship,
with old postcards for sails
floating in a sea of
blue crepe paper and glistening streamers
along with a blue dolphin helium balloon
weighted down by a book.
(you can click on the image for a closer look).

i knew who it was from.
but was completely shocked by the
time, energy,love, creativity,
and fun that went into
this caper.

it was a good lesson..
don't just do what's expected.
do what's unexpected..
and you can make someone
seriously, deliriously happy.

so far so good

2008-01-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

i don't want to jinx it
but i like the way this year
is rolling so far.

the imagined contemplative new years eve by the fire
wasn't to be.
friends across the street
wooed us over to their
outdoor fire and hot dog roast
complete with tv on a stand! genius!
watching tv outdoors
was strangely satisfying.
it felt like we were renegades breaking some unwritten societal rule.
if you've never watched the festivities in Times Square while wearing snow pants,
i highly recommend it.
there was a

never ending
supply of goodies
including hunks of homemade fudge
cheese fondue to die for
potato skins
mini roast beef sandwiches
flowing wine and beer
followed
by champagne
party hats
horns
lots of
stories
laughter
and
confetti
everywhere

some people just know how to
do it up right.

it was the best ringing in
of a new year that i can remember.
thanks jerry and crew.

and a happy new year

2007-12-28T18:07:00.000-08:00

my friend lindsay told me that 2008 is going to be an amazing year.
an electric year.
lindsay is a smart person and a bit of a psychic.
so
if she said it, chances are, she's right.
she said that if you turn the number 8 on its side
it becomes the symbol for infinity.
and apparently, that means good stuff.
i'm willing to believe it.

new year's is the best of holidays.
only slightly edging out the fourth of july.
last new year's eve was spent standing on the main street bridge
in the pouring rain
with a kazoo in my mouth.
i hope for better things this new year's eve.
like a fire in the fireplace.
staring at it with my family.
something good to eat.
a modest amount of drink.
clear and peaceful thoughts.
my wooden pen and journal.
as usual, i will fight the urge to
create a long list of re-run resolutions:
eat better, exercise more, read more, spend less, be more patient ....
intentions are always good but
resolutions tend to intimidate me more than inspire me.
so i will just try to focus on a few things:
start as many days as possible with meditation
keep rooted in the now (which is all we really have)
and beat my son john at arm wrestling.
there is so much more i want to
strive for, experience and accomplish,
but i'm going to keep it simple.
and leave some room for
adventure,
fate
and
electricity .

giving what you would like to receive

2007-12-25T07:51:00.000-08:00

last night while at a christmas eve gathering, the subject of gift giving and re-gifting came up.
one very honest soul admitted that she bought a present ( a book)
for her son mostly (entirely?) because she knew that she would be able to read it when
he was done with it.
so in actuality, it was a gift to herself, but with his name on the tag.
most of us have probably done the same thing.
i'm sure that i have.
feeling strongly that this concept needed it's own name,
i dubbed this phenomenon "pre-gifting".

another person told an amazing tale of a friend that gave her a gift this year with the condition
that it be returned to her within six months.
that's a new one on me.
but seemed like it needed a moniker as well.
we called this a gloan (meaning :gift- but -really- a-loan) .

we spent the remainder of the evening trying to come up with a name for a business
for one of the people at the party.
it started off as an earnest pursuit to help jim brainstorm some viable ideas
but eventually devolved into a mostly lewd and lascivious laughter fest. that session of hardcore laughter
was the best present i have received
in a long time (other than my laptop).

merry christmas .
with wishes for a hearty HO HO HO filled new year!

christmas comes early

2007-12-16T16:50:00.000-08:00

this morning, before i even got out of bed,
santa came and dropped a laptop on top of my pajama-clad lap!
this is my first entry made with my adorable thinkpad.
now i can realize one of my long held dreams..blogging from bed.
when and if i actually do get out of bed, i can go to starbucks without having to look enviously at all the happy people avec frappachinos mysteriously tapping out words on their notebooks, wishing that i could be a member of that exalted wi-fi club. now at last i can join the ranks of those
people.
funfunfunfunfun!!

wishing you a merry little christmas

2007-12-14T18:40:00.000-08:00

a retro picture from a wee weelo christmas circa 1964 or '65...
looks like i was working the cindy- lou who from who-ville thing.
red is still my favorite fun fashion statement.
need to get me a festive pair of slippers like these.

fa la la la la la la la la

2007-12-02T12:03:00.000-08:00

christmas morning 1967:
come downstairs
count gifts under tree
make sure i have more than my sister. (I don't).(Harumph!)
check to see if santa ate the plate of cookies. (he did).
rip open many brightly wrapped packages and pretend to be surprised
even though i begged unmercifully for the stuff
and went on a full tilt search mission throughout the house every night for the last month trying to find where my parents hid my unwrapped gifts (i found them).
recount opened gifts
ditch all the big items
play with stocking gifts
because they are always the coolest.

christmas morning 2007:
come downstairs
watch my kids count their gifts
to see who got more..(he did! No, he did!)(Harumph!) (Harumph!)
hope they don't notice that i forgot to put santa's cookies out. (they notice).
watch them open the gifts that i had time to wrap

answer their question about unwrapped toys
by saying that santa is trying to be "environmentally conscious" this year and wants to "Save the trees!"!
(they're not buying it)
watch them not act surprised because they
mostly got what they asked for
watch them eventually
ditch all the big items
because stocking gifts
are still the coolest.

lost and found

2007-11-22T09:46:00.000-08:00

today i am grateful for many things.
i am grateful that i did not burn any of the pies that i am bringing to my brother's house too badly.
i am grateful for the ice cream and whipped cream that will cover up any minor imperfections in the pies.
i am grateful that this week i found my favorite shirt when i was pretty sure it had vanished off the face of the earth.
i am grateful for moments of lightness, and peace.
happy thanksgiving!

making lists and checking them twice

2007-11-14T15:46:00.000-08:00

i love lists.
not just "to do" lists...although they rank high on my list of lists that
i create most frequently.
there are short lists, like :people i can actually imagine driving cross country with
without killing before making it to Iowa.
there are long lists, like: funny people that also happen to be jewish.
there are medium sized lists, like: things i would do differently if given the chance.
now for us listaholics there is a place to go to indulge this soft addiction.
www.gubb.net.
you can compile an infinite number of lists..each with it's own color scheme..and you never have to wonder where you put the darn thing. the coolest part is the little pencil icon that crosses items off when they are accomplished. it's astonishingly gratifying.
i'm on vacation right now.
on the morning of my first day off, i ran down to my computer full of energy, purpose and optimism as i created list after list of what i was going to do with all of my vacation time.
unfortunately i have spent so much time on Gubb monkeying around with my lists that i have only completed 4 or 5 items.
should have put "play with Gubb lists" at the top of my list.
i definitely could have checked that one off!

things i tell myself though they ain't really true

2007-11-08T16:13:00.000-08:00

we tell ourselves stories don't we?
i realized this this morning after eating a huge bowl of postal cafeteria oatmeal, which i do on most mornings.
the story i tell myself about my oatmeal is that after i eat it, i can then eat as much crap as i want
because somehow the oatmeal will act as a homeopathic Drain-o and purge my body of all the hydrogenated, sugar-filled cookies, brownies, muffins, and little debbies that i also consume nearly every morning.
oatmeal is rightfully touted as one of those majorly healthy power foods.
but i'm thinking i may just be better off without it.

the things we'd save from a fire

2007-11-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

With the recent wildfires in southern california,
i have been thinking about
which material possessions i would grab
as i dashed from my flaming abode.
the kids, husband and bunny are safe.
i guess i would throw my fireproof strongbox out the window
knowing full well that it's not really fireproof
and that only half of the important papers that should be in it, are in fact, in there.
family photos, of course..(if i only knew where they were.)
john menihan's art work
my journals
the kids' artwork and writing
my curious george purse ( with my wallet in it hopefully..it would be a drag to have to get a new license).
and my red sneakers.
i find that i can deal with any difficult life situation more easily
when wearing the red sneakers.
i really don't feel attached to too many "things".
not that i don't want lots of stuff.
i just don't have lots of stuff.
i think i like looking at stuff and wanting stuff
more than actually owning it.
owning stuff is a pain because you have to put it somewhere
and then remember where you put it.
and you have to USE it or else you feel guilty for
buying it and not USING it.
the other day i was looking at a catalog
filled with items to help with meditation practice.
i showed jonah a zen clock that bongs a nice chime throughout the day to remind you to be mindful.
i also showed him a neat meditation mat.
then i reminded him that my birthday was swiftly approaching.
he shook his head and said "Mom, did Buddha sit on a mat and have a meditation clock?"
"No, Jonah, he probably did not".
"Then I really think that you don't need one either".
guess he gave me a little lesson on non-attachment!
Did I mention that Jonah was born on Dec.8, the day of Buddha's enlightenment?
So Buddha didn't have a clock or a mat , but i bet, if he could have, he would've had red sneakers.

Reunited

2007-10-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

i know that things are just things, but some things have the power to make me enormously happy.
the color red is one such thing.
Curious George is another.
my Curious George purse changed my mood every time i wore it.
i lost the purse several months ago and while i tried to carry on with "life as usual.." there was a real sadness connected with this loss.
i bought the purse right before jonah was born almost 11 years ago.
his first gift.
which i quickly co-opted.
i have never seen another one like it.
my purse has been the envy of many women. total strangers have approached me to proclaim their fondness for it.
when it vanished,
i tried to retrace my steps, to no avail.
the last few months i have looked and relooked, finally giving up and accepting that i may never see it again.
tonight while looking for a winter comforter i found my favorite fashion accessory
hiding on a peg in a closet underneath a hoodie.
what a complete rush of joy
to see george's happy monkey face again!
there are some things
that go beyond thingdom.
my red sneakers.
my elvis power ring.
and george.
welcome home buddy.
it's crazy how much i missed you.

new word...and new magazine

2007-10-19T10:52:00.000-07:00

two days ago i learned about a new boomer oriented magazine at work.
wally brought it over to show me.
it's called geezerjock and features articles for and about aging weekend warriors.
you can even buy geezerjock clothing at a place called bluehair active wear
oddly enough, a friend went to the doctor yesterday. he was dressed kind of sporty-like and didn't his doctor call him "GEEZERJOCK"? I'm not kidding.
you can tell that boomers are editing all of the major mags now.
AARP had a teaser on it's cover about 10 ways to look better..
didn't AARP used to run teasers about 10 ways to feel better?
we boomers are so vain. yes, carly, we do think the song was about us.

and now for the word that i learned today.
i was reading an article in New York magazine entitled "Everybody Sucks". the graphic on the first page of the article was a computer keyboard. in place of individual letters on the keys, each key was adorned with a put down...for example: nut job, dork, freak, fugly..and then i saw it...SADULT!!!
wow! that hurts. rather be a nut job than a sadult!

side effects

2007-10-13T17:22:00.000-07:00

last friday my son came home from school sick.
the next day i started feeling like garbage.
on monday i took my son to the doctor for a strep test.
the quick test came back negative.
two days later find out he was positive.
go to my doc for a throat culture.
it was negative but they decided to start me on penicillin just in case.
after a few doses i'm not feeling any better AND my mouth starts feeling sore inside.
i go home and check the medication info for side effects..something i am loathe to do because once you read them it can scare the hell out of you.
i scanned the patient prescription literature.
there it was.."mouth sores may occur".
and then i read this:
"ALTHOUGH UNCOMMON, YOU MAY DEVELOP A BLACK,"HAIRY" TONGUE WHILE TAKING THIS MEDICATION. THIS EFFECT IS HARMLESS AND USUALLY GOES AWAY AFTER TREATMENT".
now i'm feeling really sick.
too bad it's not closer to halloween..could be a great addition to a werewolf costume.
wonder what the side effects of the medicine they give you for "BLACK HAIRY TONGUE" are?

objects of my obsession

2007-10-06T10:56:00.001-07:00

we all need to have our happy place.
mine has always been the ocean.
this baby is more accessible..and i can always fill it with sand if need be.

i think the carriage house is the winner.
of course it needs a few more windows
but other than that
it's perfect......
i'm in love!
just goes to show,
one woman's shed is another woman's creativity castle!

(click on it to enlarge)

How much for a bushel of apples?

2007-10-05T17:15:00.000-07:00

Last sunday i took the kids for a drive to a nearby apple farm.
we needed to get out of the house, enjoy the day, and buy a bushel of apples.
pretty straightforward agenda.
we got to the place and it was a mob scene.
wound up parking in a field quite a ways away from the building.
in order to get to the building you had to walk through the field which would have been no big deal EXCEPT for the fact that on that particular day there was an "open house" for these shed-type buildings set up there.
i tried to walk on by, but they were calling my name.
there were many models to choose from.
all were dolled up with windows and shutters. one had a FRONT PORCH. another had an upstairs.
i've given up on the vespa and now am fully fixated on building an adult playhouse in my backyard.
what would i do in there?
sit.
look out the window.
listen to music.
write.
read.
paint.
lie on my back.
can't i do those things in my house?
yes.
but it's different in a creativity shack.
outbuildings have figured into my life in a magical way since childhood.
my dad's sister had the "little house" down by the pond (and pavilion!) in her backyard.
she and my cousin used to paint and create stuff down there.
our neighbors in fairport had a barn in their backyard...right on Main St.
it was a kids only barn . we hung there constantly and felt like we were out in the sticks..far from our sterile suburban lives.
my first boyfriend also had a mini barn in his backyard and i probably loved it as much as i loved him..and that was A LOT!!
after moving to East Rochester our pet goat, Clea, even scored her own imitation log cabin in her pen.
it's my turn now!
the person in charge of the open house could see she had a "live one" in me and gladly gave me fact sheets, phone numbers and info about the fall sale ..along with a price list. for a 10x10..only $68.00/month . that is of course without the windows and shutters....and no porch!!
we bought our apples.
and some carmel sauce to dip them in.
donuts.
milk.
pumpkin pie.
but i left my heart there in that field with a bunch of vinal clad glorified tool sheds.
two weeks ago there was an article in the sunday paper about a growing trend towards people building adult playhouses rather than additions.
it feels good to know i'm not alone.
now i've got to check out the town zoning laws.
and convince my better half.
after all, he built a sauna out there years ago.. and it looks lonely.

my own master card commercial

2007-09-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

anti aging facial :

$150.00

botox injection:

$375.00

laser resurfacing :

$1,250.00

laughing at your laugh lines:

priceless

good news /bad news

2007-09-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

the bad news is that global warming seems to be taking hold of the planet.
the good news is that this winter will be warmer and drier than usual. and that means i will (theoretically) hate my job less than usual in the months of december through march.
global warming : bad
increased job satisfaction: good.

so now i am faced with yet another in a never ending stream of moral dilemmas.
what size should my carbon footprint be?
small enough to not destroy the planet
but large enough to ensure an ever so slightly more comfortable winter.
better talk to al gore about this one.

fantasy vs. reality

2007-09-27T14:51:00.001-07:00

a very minor magical tiny little miracle..but still

2007-09-16T13:30:00.000-07:00

there's nothing worse than having to spend money on something that has to be done, but you can't see...like a new roof or a prefunctory car repair. when i spend money i want to see it in action...like an utterly comfortable yet attractive new piece of furniture..or a geeky/sexy vintage looking motorbike (yes, i'm still on that kick).
so when the toilet in our powder room started acting up 6 months ago..the first plan of action was to tinker with it.shaking and adjusting all the things i could think of . sadly, that didn't work.
next came phase two: ignore it and hope that it would stop on it's own. that didn't work either.
it was becoming a real nuisance . something had to be done.
i went to the last card in my hand: threatening it with a visit from the plumber.
last night at dinner my son told me that the toilet fixed itself! and today it's STILL fixed.
just call me the toilet whisperer.
next issue: what to buy with the money i saved on that call to the plumber?
better yet, maybe i can make a business out of talking to people's appliances and undercutting the cost of having a professional do the job.
think i might have to move to california to start up that biz.

Vespa-rate housewives

2007-09-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

so much for trying not to be materialistic.
i fell head over heels yesterday for a red retro looking Vespa.
i have convinced myself that buying one is the only responsible thing for me to do, what with global warming and all.
60 miles to a gallon.
it's a beautiful thing.
mentioned it to a few people.
all agreed i would meet an untimely death ("pretty soon mom you'll be looking up at us" jonah assured me, implying that i will end up in God's basement. "and you'll look like a geek riding that thing" added john).
but sometimes a woman's got to do what a women's got to do.
"you can't spend our college fund money on that mom".
what college fund???
stay tuned.

Adultitis..get the facts

2007-09-05T16:54:00.000-07:00

Stop whatever you're doing..well keep reading this first..then check out my new link
Escape Adulthood.
Get diagnosed ..see if you have adultitis. ( I do).
Then get help..there is an escape plan. Bless these folks for creating it.
I will share the results of my treatment program with you.
Hopefully i will be more successful than Brit, and Lindsay!

the S word

2007-09-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

my children jumped down my throat last week when i casually mentioned buying back to school stuff.
"how can you say that to us?" johnny wanted to know..obviously scarred by my attempt to prepare them for the return to early bedtimes, homework and other unspeakable things.

i get it. i was a kid once.
ok. still am one.
but thinking back.. and this may be another case of revisionist history...i distinctly LIKED going back to school.
loose leaf paper.
new glue.
virgin erasers.
but mostly the CLOTHES.
bell bottom cords.
new track shoes.
NEW NEW NEW!!! STUFF!
clean slate
new teacher to love or hate
never seemed to go down the middle.
maybe a new boy to obssess over.
notes to be passed without being caught.
and somewhere on the list..
learning .
library books to help me mind travel
assignments.
liked that word.
sounded like something secret agents carried out.

september is renewal
more so than january one
life starts over
open your book
pick up your pencil
amd begin

Some stuff I still find myself wanting even though I'm trying extra hard not to be materialistic

2007-08-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

1) haunted by the desire to drive a fun car. a two seater convertible. stereotypic mid- life crisis I know..but I've craved this since I could drive. doesn't eveyone? maybe I can rent one for a weekend and that will blow it out of my system.

2) one of those scandinavian leather sling- type recliners. good lamp. good books. time to park
my butt there.

3) an out building/creativity shack in the back yard. good light. paints. canvas.

4) laptop and wireless internet..so i can blog in bed.

5) a groovy little dog that is cute as anything, gets along with our rabbit, costs nothing and walks itself.

6) a front porch. with comfy chairs

7) a slightly bigger motor for our little boat.

there. i feel better now.

8) oh yeah. i almost forgot .trip to So Cal. and alright..might as well throw in a learn-to-surf vacation in Costa Rica while we're at it.

Ahhhhhh.
Now back to my regularly scheduled life.. which is pretty damn good as is.

9) Okay...and a mudroom..and maybe a minor little kitchen update...

Yep. I'm definitely done.

some recent pub for OUR book

2007-08-13T06:38:00.000-07:00

My book! No my book! Kurt and Wendy get some face time in Messenger Post. Check it out!

http://www.mpnnow.com/lifestyle/x574730522

it's official

2007-08-04T16:55:00.001-07:00

At a certain point in the aging process you look at your face and say " who exactly are you again? you look vaguely familiar."
your eyes aren't the twinkling, bagless, wrinkle-free beauties they once were. your forehead starts getting more grooves in it than one of your old vinal 45's. And you begin to wonder : am I still recognizable ? i haven't seen most of the people i graduated with 30 years ago since the day we graduated. i don't expect them to recognize me. but what about people i knew, say, 4 years ago...i.e. the people i used to see and talk to every day on my old mail route back when i was a semi-spring chicken ( OK, a 43 year old spring chicken, but still..).
well, this week i had to deliver a section of my old route. it was a sunny day and many of my dear old customers were out in their yards. i decided that i wouldn't say anything except "hello", and see if they remembered me. out of about 6 people..4 didn't recognize me at all, one did the old double take, and one said " I thought that was you..you look different!". Thanks so much for that affirming comment. It's official. I'm old. Now I can stop wondering. Glad I got that out of the way!

August 1967 vs. August 2007

2007-08-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

then: get up. watch cartoons. eat Captain Crunch. put on bathing suit. run through sprinkler.drink Koolaide. eat Fluffernutter sandwich. lays potato chips on the side. wait for Skippy the ice cream dude. yell to parent for money. buy a nutty buddy. play with neighbors until dinner. wolf down dinner. play with neighbors till dark. take a bath with Mr. Bubbles. put on Curious George jammies. climb in bed. think weird thoughts. stress out over monsters hiding in my room. call it a night.

now: get up. take medication. take shower. try to remember if I took medication. tell myself to eat a good breakfast. eat nothing. drive the minivan to work. arrive 5 minutes late. walk by the donuts..resolve not to eat one. do some work. talk to some co-workers. go by the donuts. pick one up and eat it.more work. more talk. internal discussion about how eating donuts is BAD BAD BAD!! deliver some mail. swing home for lunch. eat Fluffernutter sandwich.deliver more mail. walk through customer's sprinkler. home for dinner. read mail. read paper.check phone messages. wonder why no one calls. check email. wonder why no one ever emails. kids listen for Skippy. kids say" that guy's a ripoff". take ice cream sandwiches out of the freezer. tell my kids to be in by nine. make blog entry. kids to bed. put on Curious George jammies. think weird thoughts. call it a night.

quote to ponder

2007-07-24T17:10:00.000-07:00

word up

2007-07-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

heard about this website on the radio.
for those of you that love messing with the english language, you've got to check this out.
http://www.unwords.com/. you can submit words that you know (or have made up), that aren't in the dictionary but should be. they go through a vetting process, and hopefully your word gets added to their dictionary ( it's more like a "fictionary"...hey maybe i should submit that!)
today's submission from yours truly is as follows:

mor-gasm (more-gasm)..the rush one feels when obtaining yet more highly desirable stuff.

i.e. " Suzie was so excited about getting another pair of Gucci sandals on sale, she practically
had a mor-gasm right there at Lord and Taylor".

deeply superficial

2007-07-12T15:43:00.000-07:00

i am seriuosly disturbed.this morning i rolled out of bed and hit the bathroom. i am one who needs to read while on the commode and so began perusing our local independent newspaper. i was still half asleep ( not sure if that vindicates me from the sheer pitifulness of this story, but still it's a fact). there was a picture of Mahatma Gandhi. while looking at his weathered face full of beauty and wisdom, I found myself thinking ..you know that furrow line between his brow really doesn't do justice to the peaceful guy that he was...kind of made him look worried or angry... STOP right there!! I've gone too far. What kind of person would project their own issues about aging onto one of the greatest human beings ever to walk the earth? !! I've been reading WAY too many botox ads .
at this point can i even be helped?

end of vacation depression

2007-07-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

i've had 10 days off. Ten glorious, fun, productive, relaxing days off.
Tomorrow i return to the Wonderful World of Working Stiffs. My fantasy of being an independently wealthy individual will come to a crashing halt.
i just re-set my alarm for 5:50 am. it's almost enough to make me cry like a goddarn baby. ten days is not enough. Sure, i did get to see a building blow up at Kodak park and I did take my first nap in 10 years, but still didn't get to clean out the dormer..or go to the drive-in.. or ride the jack rabbit..or even lie in my newly acquired hammock. Whaaaaaaaa!
Gotta go . need to put myself in time-out and pull myself together.

Come and Get it !

2007-06-13T06:55:00.000-07:00

Available at Seasons of Fairport gift shop.
Also at the Fairport Villiage Coffee and Wine Bar ..on the canal .
More venues coming soon!
Don't feel like cruising around? Email me for direct sales info.

SAVE THE DATE: August 10th 5pm-8pm book signing at Re/Max Gold ..16 Atlantic Ave.
( near the intersection of Atlantic and University Ave.) Retro food, drink, music and fun ! Co-sponsored by The Society for Reluctant Adults.

child..the third

2007-05-10T09:57:00.000-07:00

Call it my miracle baby...my post-hysterectomy wonder-child.

Unlike the other two, this baby won't be breastfed for two years, won't need braces or a college fund.
There were no contractions and the delivery was painless.
Today I went to watch the press run for my book.
I was unprepared for the total joy and pride I felt for this little bugger. It was a bliss buzz for sure.
Actually got a little woozy .. felt like I was on the verge of tossing my cookies..in a good way.
We'll have it in our hands by next week. It's so cute..I wanna carry a picture of it in my wallet.
Cool that it came into existence so close to mother's day.

R.A. Issue of the day/ The benefits of wearing adult underoos

2007-05-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

You reach a certain age where you can no longer get away with wearing young looking or trendy clothes without appearing pathetic and ridiculous. I've seen it ..and it's rough.
Being a reluctant adult and longing for all things fun and young , I've solved the age inapproriate clothing dilema . On the outside I've pretty much given in to standard 40ish fare..but underneath I've taken to wearing Super Woman underwear on a fairly regular basis. When I find myself in a jam ( like delivering mail in a blinding snowstorm ) they give me a secret kind of strength and belief in my abilities. If you can't posess actual super powers, the next best thing is super undies.

Credentials

2007-04-26T16:37:00.000-07:00

I've always been put off by professionals that pile up all the abbreviatons for their credentials behind their name. I guess I can tolerate MD and Esquire..even CSW...or PhD in the right setting..What bothers me is when they use them for other than professional use. Like on personal correspondence . Okay...Dr. Welby, you're off the clock.. can you just be Marcus for the next 5 hours..?
There is an awsome guitar player named Tommy Emmanuel.. after his signature he always puts CGP ( certified guitar player ). For some reason I love that. It gives me pause. Should I do the same ? And if so ..what initials would follow my name? Wendy Lopez-Swiatek CMC ( certified mail carrier) ...Wendy Lopez-Swiatek ABB ( aging baby boomer)..Wendy Lopez-Swiatek PGM (pretty good Mom)? These thoughts came to me just before waking up this morning.. when my mind was still fuzzy enough to be spacey and creative and not make too much sense.
I think I'll change my credentials at will ..but from now on my goal is to always put some kind of arbitrary abbreviation after my name. I'll sign off now. Wendy Lopez-Swiatek GHF ( glass half full).

Repressed memory syndrome/ In your ear

2007-04-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

I asked my sister Tracey if she knew any more details about the pearl-up-my-nose incident. She's several years older than me and has much better recall of our early years . She couldn't remember anything other than the fact that it did indeed happen the way I wrote about in my blog. Last night I got a phone message from her . She wondered if I remembered the time I stuck a pencil in my ear and the pink eraser tip broke off and was lodged inside . What was my problem ? Are there other childhood memories involving objects and bodily orifices that I've repressed? I'm afraid to find out.

Up your nose

2007-04-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

I'm reading a wonderful memoir ( She Got Up Off the Couch by Haven Kimmel) and in it the author recounts a childhood incident where she got an object lodged up her nostril. Her mother only had three rules of conduct for her to follow. One of them was " Never put anything up your nose". As a parent , I love hearing about things that people remember from childhood regarding parental advice.
What will my kids remember about my words of wisdom? Am I falling down on the job because I never included the nose warning in their set of life instructions?
I don't remember what, if anything, my parents said on that topic..but I do remember getting something seriously stuck in my shnoz.
Back in the 60's there was a commercial for Prell shampoo. Remember Prell ?..it was a really thick and emerald green. I still remember, the smell, the texture.. the shape of the bottle...
In the commercial a woman drops a pearl into the shampoo bottle . The pearl barely moves at all because the stuff is so unbelievably dense. My mom had one of those snap-together pearl necklaces. It was like they specifically designed them so kids could pull them apart and start dropping them into shampoo bottles. Of course, that's what we did. After a while, that got boring so I must've thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I crammed one up my nose ( gives new meaning to "Pearl Jam" ).
Don't remember much of what happened next.. ( repressed memory syndrome).. except for throbbing pain, intense fear, and the fact that Mom or Dad somehow miraculously retreived the sucker . Maybe using the nose Heimlich manuever? My adult nose is kind of odd looking...wonder if this unfortunate childhood stunt has anything to do with my current dissatisfaction with my nasal appearance?

How far exactly does the apple fall from the tree?

2007-04-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

I was looking at some pictures taken during my first hospital stay back in 1994.
Never having had surgery before and fearing hospitals in general i was scared shitless.( so shitless in fact, that i had no need for an enema.)
To cope with the fear of surgery I decided to try and make my hospital stay as fun as possible. I had no bathrobe ( what person under 35 owns a bathrobe ) so when i bought one I went full tilt and bought one that had big old markings on it like a cow costume.
I don't know if most people photo-document their surgical hospital stays ,but I did. In the photos most of my visitors donned the cow bathrobe and posed with me.( I even have a photo of my surgeon wearing it!) My very favorite photograph is the one of my dad wearing the bathrobe but with a bent-up hanger coming out of one of the sleeves where his arm should have been.
He felt I was getting all together too much attention so he decided to get some himself by walking with me around the nurses' station (in the aforementioned outfit)pretending that he was an injured vet that lost a limb in Korea. ( he really was in Korea). I guess i know at least to some degree where my need for attention comes from. Plant corn, get corn...as my friend the school psychologist says.
Two days away from the 11th anniversary of my dad's death and I miss him more than ever.

Random Acts of Immaturity/Spite Singing

2007-04-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

OK..so what exactly is Spite Singing, and who invented it?
Contrary to what you might think..it was NOT invented by Sanjaya, although he seems to be a marvelous practioner without even knowing it.
My personal history with S.S. goes back to the early 1960's. I practiced it mostly while doing the dishes with my sister. She'd wash and I'd dry, so she couldn't escape my singing without getting in trouble for not doing her chores. ( A captive audience is a MUST to make this effective...cars are obviously another great venue for S.S.)
There are two strategies that I follow:
1) Pick a song that the person loves and destroy it by singing it as an operetta or lounge act style
2) Pick a song that they find particularily annoying and just sing it ( repeat if necessary).
Here are two real life examples that I love:
1) Someone I know, after having a fight with his wife,goes into another room and whistles the theme from The Loveboat.
2) Some guys that I used to work with used to sing One Million Bottles of Beer on the Wall....." take on down..pass it around..999,999,999 bottles of beer on the wall"..you get the idea.
Some recent examples are singing the Office Depot theme song ad nauseum at work
and a woman I heard of who sings the song from " Annie " ( ' tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow" when turning her husband down for sex. There are no rules. Be creative!

Is there a link between your name and your degree of reluctancy towards adulthood?

2007-03-28T07:46:00.000-07:00

What's in a name ?
My brother once broke up with an otherwise compatible girlfriend because he just couldn't stand her name. " What's her name ...I mean how bad can it be..?", I asked my bro.
" Her name is Chantel". "Oh...I see",I said. We both agreed there was no future for this relationship. You can date a Chantel, and even have a very good time with a Chantel...but marry one? No way..especially as my brother noted..there is no good nickname for it. " What am I gonna call her..Channy ?.. Telly? ". NO. She was a thing of the past within weeks.
It got me thinking about my own name and it's relevance in my life.
Let's see...Wendy. A name created by the guy that wrote Peter Pan...the story about NEVER GROWING UP..Hmmmm. Can I blame my disaffection for adulthood , at least in part, on my parents giving me this name? Yes. I can... and I WILL! How immature! Which only goes to prove my point. Wendy isn't a name for an old person..it just isn't. So I have two choices: 1) Die young. No thank you... or 2) Continue to act young even when I'm clearly not.

R.A. guilty retro pleasure of the day

2007-03-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

If I read one more article about healthy eating I think I'm going to barf.
I get it, I get it ,I know, I know , I know , I know..Good carbs, not bad carbs, more fruits, more veggies, less saturated everything, more fiber..blahblahblah.
Yesterday I did a quick trip for groceries. Lots of nice normal bland same-old stuff in the cart....like a zombie shopper, I rarely deviate from the list. Then I saw it...seductively beckoning me from the peanut butter aisle...In it's sexy glass jar with the logo that hasn't changed since its inception.. my very first childhood food -crush..... FLUFF. Sometimes you just can't say no to a good old guilty pleasure.

R.A. Issue of the day/Why can't my life be more like a '60's sitcom

2007-03-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

WHERE THE HELL IS ALICE ? It's dinner time, and even though it's Taco Tuesday (about as staight forward as meal prep. can get) I am nevertheless lacking the will to cut up the tomatoes, lettuce and onions brown up the beef, crack open the can of black beans and stuff them into their cardboard -stiff little shells. I NEED ALICE..you know Alice..from the Brady Bunch..with the fetching little black maid/chef/gofer outfit and the "can do , Mrs. Brady !" attitude. If my memory serves me, Mrs. Brady didn't do JACK all day !! I'm tired.. I just want to kinda sit back, let the big A take care of dinner and chill until Idol comes on . Is that so WRONG ???

R.A. Issue of the day/ Is being a negative role model better than not being a role model at all?

2007-03-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

On St. Patty's eve after downing a few glasses of Bailey's, I decided it would be a good idea to drunk dial/prank phone call a buddy of mine from work. He is totally addicted to the NCAA playoffs so I knew he would be home glued to the tube..I also knew that he would hear my messages as they were being made. How immature to make REPEATED prank calls during his high holy religious event. How REALLY immature to involve my children in this ugly display...i.e. " Check this out you guys !'.
At least I did redeem myself by telling them that drinking is NOT cool, especially when you don't do it well.

Some insight into possible reasons that some people are comfortable in the adult role

2007-03-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

I think i had a revelation today...
At work this morning Eddie told me that he has been spreading the word about SRA. Slowly, some of my workmates are hearing about us and wanting to join. Some people even want slogan T-shirts pronouncing their refusal to embrace maturity.

I was telling all of this to my co-worker Carol. After some thought I realized that Carol couldn't join because she seemed to be OK with her adultness. " How come Carol?" I asked her.." how did you get to be like this?".
Turns out that she DID GET A PONY as a child.
I'm on to something BIG here!

reluctant adult issue of the day/working for a living

2007-03-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

I returned to work today after three days off . Three days of lying around trying to feel better and watching back episodes of Desperate Ho-wives and the L word. Such drama, such hair, such bodies, such amazing wardrobes..and absolutely no scenes of these babes at work! It sunk into my psyche ...they don't ever work..IT'S NOT FAIR. when i was a kid i thought i'd grow up and sit around in an office and write slogans and jingles like Larry Tate and Darren Stevens. And here I am schleping mail around for a living. I also thought I'd get a pony..but I guess that ain't gonna happen either. damn it.

Reluctant adult issue of the day/ funerals are still creepy

2007-03-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

Funerals , wakes, memorial services......I've been to more than i can count. The first person of any importance to me (that i was old enough to comprehend ) that died was my swim coach Bob Hannon. He was a warm and wooly big bear kinda guy. The man was so funny that you could easily imagine him being a drive time morning DJ..with his larger than life personality and booming laugh.
I can't remember what he really did for a living ..might have been a teacher. He was a second dad to everyone on the team. It was 1973. I was thirteen and already obsessed and spooked by the concept of mortality. Mr. Hannon died of a massive heart attack.
After hearing the news I was so upset that I couldn't sleep. My dad tried to comfort me. He was buddies with Mr. Hannon and needed to process this whole thing himself. Dad talked to me about fear ..about how he tried to deal with it in his own life. He was right there for me..even though talking about stuff was not easy for him. I decided that I could not handle going to the funeral. Most of the kids from the team went. I was embarrased that I wasn't strong enouhg to go.
Today I am going to a memorial service. I've got to admit..that while I no longer avoid going..the 13 year old frightened kid also attends