Guilty Pleasures...

It's official - Ron and I are becoming old fogeys! We have reached that interesting time of life at which we get home from work and put on our pj's. After that, it's all about what's on TV that night. We have a schedule.

Monday - Dancing With the Stars and Monday Night Football (Ron does that obnoxious switching back and forth between programs at the commercials and we invariably miss something good!)

Tuesday - Dancing with the Stars - results show - gotta know who gets kicked off, right?

Wednesday - Bonus night! - So You Think You Can Dance and GLEE!!

Thursday - another big night - Project Runway, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice!

Friday - Ghost Whisperer, Medium and NUMB3RS

Saturday is movie day. Well, actually, right now it's college football day!

Sunday - NFL games, 60 Minutes, Extreme Home Makeover and Brothers & Sisters!

Whenever an opportunity to do something different on one of these nights, I am ashamed to say that we stop and consider what we might be missing on TV! We are such creatures of habit , but there is something really comforting about putting on my fuzzy jammies and snuggling on the couch while we watch "OUR SHOWS." I nag him at least once a week to look into getting us a DVR or TIVO. Maybe we'll get this accomplished before American Idol starts again!

...old friend....

Just so you know...I so admire your unyielding dedication. In the face of adversity, you are strong, determined and committed. I feel so fortunate to count you among my friends. I am proud of you and inspired by you....and, Girlfriend, I love you!

monday monday....

I'm tired tonight. Still recovering from a day at the pumpkin patch with the Baby Hurricane.You've probably read this before, but just in case you haven't, I wanted to share it. It's called "I will not die an unlived life," by poet and author Dawna Markova. It's a wonderful message...

I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear

of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days,

to allow my living to open me,

to make me less afraid,

more accessible,

to loosen my heart

until it becomes a wing,

a touch a promise.

I choose to risk my significance

to live so that which came to me as seed

goes to the next as blossom,

and that which came to me as blossom

goes on as fruit.

Let's go to the movies...

I don't claim to have any credentials for writing movie reviews. I'm just an average gal with an unhealthy obsession. I started writing my reviews on facebook back in February as a way to let the girls know what their dad and I were doing. As busy as I’ve been lately, I haven’t had a chance to write any reviews for the last three weeks or so. I’ll just give you a brief word or two on the last few movies we’ve seen to bring myself up to date…

The Informant – I’m just not a big Matt Damon fan. Yes, he was in the Bourne movies, but for some reason, I haven’t been able to stay awake for the duration of even one of them! Ron loves those movies! “The Informant” was based on a true story – I like true stories, but lately I wonder how much the writers added or subtracted from actual events to make a film more marketable. At the end of it, I wished that we had gone to see something else.

Whip It – Saw the sneak preview with #2 and #3 while we were in Santa Barbara with them last weekend. LOVED IT! It’s all about GIRL POWER and self determination and doing what you love. Ellen Page is really gifted at giving an understated performance. She’s clever and sarcastic, but not offensive. Very witty. It wasn’t a perfect movie. I squirmed about her relationship with the older guy (he didn’t know she was underage).Otherwise, the skating was fast and fun and exciting. Drew Barrymore was a riot and Juliette Lewis did a great job of making me dislike her. FUN MOVIE!

Fame – There are some truly talented young actors, singers and dancers in this one, but all in all it was greatly disappointing. The musical numbers were great but there were very few of them – not enough to save this virtually plot-less flick. The highlight of the whole thing was when the character “Denise” sang “Out Here on My Own.” She was amazing. There was just not enough time in the movie to cover 7 or 8 main characters through 4 years of high school. Disappointing….

You probably won't get a review of "Inglorious Bastards" or "9" or "District 9" here. My movie buddy isn't interested in any of those films and I don't like to go by myself. Really looking forward to "The Blind Side" with Sandra Bullock and "New Moon" next month.

Weekend

It’s the weekend and I was really hoping to sleep in - it’s funny but the older I get, the earlier I wake up. What happened to the days that I could sleep til 9 or 10 and then only wake up because I was hungry? Oh yeah, I had children! Then my body got used to the routine of getting up and getting on with the day. During the work week I’m up at 5:30 so I guess the fact that it’s 7:30 and I’m still sitting in bed could be considered a success. Anyway, it’s the weekend and I have endless possibilities open to me. What shall I do?

1. Clean house? Really don’t want to but there’s a certain amount that HAS to be done – maybe a load or two of laundry…
2. Read a book? That’s way too frivolous with so many things to do, although I do have a pile of unread books on my nightstand…
3. Watch college football games with Ron all day? I’m sure he’d love that but I’m not interested in being a lump on the couch today…
4. Go to the BBQ like I said we would? Hmmm…I’m sure we’ll be forgiven if we don’t...
5. Go to the movies? You know how I love the movies – that may be the only thing that get’s Ron away from the TV…
6. Maybe I’ll actually use the sewing machine today – lots of pending projects…

Well, whatever I (we) decide to do, I’m going to make the most of it. Tomorrow we get the Baby Hurricane all to ourselves and he will be the one who decides! I’ll let you know how it all turns out!

"Make new friends, but keep the old...."

I work in the non-profit sector. It’s challenging in many ways, but I can’t imagine doing anything else. I have recently gone through a major change in my professional career. Without going into specifics, I will just say that I went from having an enormous amount of responsibility in an administrative position at one agency to returning to direct services with considerably less responsibility at another agency. It was a change in job titles, but more importantly, stress level. In almost every way I can think of, the change has been the best thing in the world for me. I have really fallen for my new job, the agency and my new co-workers and friends – in fact, I regularly compare to whole experience to falling into a pot of honey. I find myself exhausted at the end of the work day, but mostly in a good way.

When this new opportunity came my way, I struggled with equal parts of excitement and dread. The excitement was all about getting back to what I loved and starting over someplace new. The hardest thing about the entire situation, the dread, had to do with leaving behind staff, co-workers, friends and the people that we served. HUGE AMOUNTS OF GUILT. I still feel that guilt. Not only that, but I miss them. I don’t call them like I should or even email them because it feels awkward. On some level, I feel I deserted them. Hopefully, time will take care of that.

The bottom line is that I don’t think I was cut out for primarily administrative work. I’m much happier now that I’m back working one on one with people. I get to play at work again – it means so much to me. Ron doesn’t get that worried look on his face when he asks me how my day was. When my daughters call me and ask how I am, I can honestly answer, “Great!” I look forward to going to work every day. Generally, I’m in much better spirits, my blood pressure is closer to normal, I’m sleeping better, and enjoying the weekends again. It’s so good. It’s hard to admit that I was selfish and did what I needed to do for ME . . . I just hope that I haven’t lost my old friends in the process…

Last roses of the season....

Got home after another busy and exhausting day at work and this was waiting for me in the front yard....

....so I stopped and smelled the roses!