Three Things — 6/20/13

Things I’m loving this week

1. The Thurston Classic Hot Air Balloon Event in Meadville. Definitely worth the drive. If you choose to go next year, get there early for the best seats. (Or, you know, get there really late and just walk right in front of all the people who go there early and sit down.)

2. My new compression socks. I’ve been coveting these socks for years because  I have friends who swear by them and they (the socks) are supposed to “help expedite muscle recovery through enhanced vascular flow in your lower extremities.” Anyway…they’re like $50 and up, and you KNOW I’m too cheap for that, but I happened upon a sale last week at PRO Compression Socks and picked up a pair of look-at-me lime-green-and-hot-pink socks for $30 with shipping and tax.  They arrived on Saturday after I had run about 18 miles — a welcome surprise.  They felt wonderful and…I’m certain Dan was quite jealous.

3. Fresh-picked, local strawberries. I bought this basket at a little roadside stand in Fairview on Saturday morning and ate the entire thing myself by Monday. I hid them so I didn’t have to share. (Yeah, I can be a total hoarder like that.)

4. Puppy/kitty love. Sam just loves his kitty kat and, thankfully, Oliver doesn’t seem to mind wearing a ring of dog slobber around his neck. If only my sweet Bella cat would let Sammy lay on top of her and bite her ears, neck, and face…we’d have a perfectly harmonious household.

Things I’m not loving this week

1. Women behind the wheel of big SUVs. Oh Em Gee. Every time a driver behind me is being an asshole (tailgating, etc.), it’s almost always a small woman/mother.  Is it just me or are small women particularly vicious/angry behind the wheel of a large SUV/car? (And, no, I am not the pot calling the kettle black…so stop looking at your screen like that or I swear I’ll come over there and….) LOL.  But, seriously. Pay attention and tell me if you notice it, too.  I think it’s because they’re all so frustrated ..or hungry…or something…and they feel powerful and anonymous behind the wheel. (Newsflash ladies: we can see through those windows!)

2. The Internet shopping spies. How do the the web pages I visit ALWAYS know what I’ve been shopping online for? I know they know because if you visit, say, Zappos and think about buying some new Saucony Cohesion running shoes in Wildberry, a Zappos ad featuring that exact pair of shoes will show up next time you log onto, say, Pandora or Facebook or whatever.

It’s creepy, right? It’s freaking me out. Yes, of course I know that Google is involved and I’m sure they have exploited and prospered from my blind devotion, but…I don’t care. I love them anyway.

And, you know I bought those shoes.

It’s a matter of time before Dell gets me to buy that Inspiron 15Z that keeps showing up on every page I visit.  Bastards.

3. *taps fingernails on desk*  (I can’t think of anything else that is sticking in my craw this week …that I can publish anyway. ). Wait…..commas. I hate commas. And I hate the teacher who told me to insert a comma whenever I want the reader to take a breath because as every editor who has read my work since then will tell you, THAT’S NOT RIGHT. See, did I even need one before the that? Did I need one after see? I just don’t know anymore. I’m so freaking confused by commas. I blame it all on Rolling Ridge Elementary. They sure screwed that lesson up for me.

Worth Reading — 6/19/13

Marc and Angel Hack Life: 6 Things Optimists Do Differently 

“An optimist is neither naive, nor in denial, nor blind to the realities of life.  An optimist believes in the optimal usage of all the available options, no matter how narrow the supply.  As a result, optimistic people are able to better see the bigger picture.  They can more accurately visualize and mange the present possibilities.  In other words, an optimist is simply a positive realist.”

Essential Mums: Passing on Body Hatred

Mad Mom Diaries: Missing My Mom: The Real Consequences of Drinking & Driving

Latina Fatale: How to talk to Little Girls

Tampa Bay Times: America’s Worst Charities. This three-part series is alarming and eye-opening. Fortunately, I don’t believe I’ve ever given any of the 50 Worst Charities in America, but obviously millions did.

Laurenisms: Party (pooper) bus

Lauren: I just have one question about Deana’s wedding: Do I get to ride in the limo?

Eliza: Yeah, but it’s a party bus.

Kelly: What’s a party bus?

Eliza: It’s like a big limo everyone can fit in.

Lauren: And we get to ride in it?

Eliza: Yeah, I think so.

Lauren: Awesome! (jumping up & shaking her rump) I’m going to paaaarrrtyyyy! Wait…do I have to wear a seat belt? Because that won’t work for me.

Eliza: No, but you have to sit down.

Lauren: Sit down? What’s the fun in that, then? How’s it a “party” bus if you can’t stand up and parrrrr-tay?! (shaking her rump again)

(Oh….to be a fly on the wall in that party bus)

Just Write 75 ~ Little reminders

I went upstairs to do something, but I can’t remember what, so I stand in the hallway, head cocked, trying to remember.

I walk down to Lauren’s room.

Was I coming to get something in here?

My eyes go immediately to a shirt on the floor that I know is clean and the overnight bag she was supposed to unpack two weeks ago.  *sigh*

I go to the closet to find some empty hangers. It’s overstuffed. Long overdue for a clean out. I find it hard to do her closet. I don’t want my baby to get bigger…and older. But, it’s time.

Once I start, it’s not so bad, like ripping off a bandaid. Soon, I’m ruthlessly yanking out adorable little tank tops and capris that she’s outgrown. Now that it’s summer, I move the sweatshirts to the top rack and bring the tank tops down to the lower rack.

I push back the her T-shirts and there are her tiny baby feet and hands.

It always catches me by surprise, though I vividly remember pressing her 1-month-old hands and feet into stamp pads, then onto the brand new walls in her brand new closet in our brand new second floor that Dan finished just a month after we brought Lauren home from the hospital.

It was August and, it was humid. She was wearing a tiny one-piece Carters sundress with little lavender flowers. That dress is tucked away in a box on the top shelf of her closet with several other bitty sundresses, bonnets, sneakers, jeans, jean jackets and overalls I just couldn’t give away when my baby girls outgrew them.

I left her tiny prints on the back of that closet wall because I knew that some day I’d forget that she was ever that tiny. That fragile. That new.

Hell, I can’t even remember why I came upstairs anymore.

____________________________
About Just Write
“What ends up revealing itself when free writing is that everything has meaning. That is a magnificent gift of writing. If we write from a free heart-gut place, our souls start speaking.”

Words to start your week: Just do it.

My Weekend (in pictures)

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Friday Funny: Hump Day

Three things — 6/13/13

Three things I’m loving this week:

1. The Great American Book Sale. Gotta love this annual event, a fundraiser for the Erie County Library, that’s held every summer in the Villa Maria gymnasium. Kelly and I stopped by one evening and filled a reusable shopping bag with young adult and kids books, including classics like Beverly Cleary’s “Socks,” for $6.  If only I could spend my summer days lying around reading,I’d have filled a bag for myself, too.  *sigh*

2. “Tiger Eyes” by Judy Blume. When I learned that Judy Blume was helping adapt “Tiger Eyes” into a movie, I dug my well-aged, well-worn paperback copy out of the bin of books I saved from childhood/teen years and started rereading it again. It won’t take long.  The chapters are about three to five pages long.

3. Watermelon. Even better? Seedless watermelon.  I’m usually against man tampering with seeds and growing hybrid variations of veggies and fruits, but I love me some seedless watermelon.

Three things I’m not loving this week:

1. Rain, rain, rain, rain. Ugh. It’s annoying. Though, it has meant that I haven’t had to water all the baskets, potted plants, and veggies that I will totally hate myself for in late July when my spring planting fever wears off.

Me…Saturday at 5 p.m. after getting up at 5 a.m. to run 19.5 miles, then coming home & cleaning the house, doing laundry and gardening.

2. Marathon training. Trying to fit long runs into a busy life is nearly impossible and running for 3 hours kinda sucks…and it’s exhausting.

3. Nectarines & peaches. Just threw away an entire bag of these again this week. Why do I bother buying them?  Is it ever possible to buy these fruit ripe?  And..if you can actually get them between hard-as-a-rock and mushy-as-baby-shit, is it possible to keep them that way for more than 89 seconds before they are nothing more than food for the fruit flies?

Worth Reading — 6/12/13

A random collections of blog posts, articles and other things I think are worth sharing.

Mark’s Daily Apple: What You Should Know About Poultry Production Claims (eye-opening, for sure)

48 Days: Whatever You Do, Don’t Drop the Egg (Don’t let the title fool you, this is a post everyone should read.)

Balancing Jane: Working Mom’s Ruined Education…or Not (Yeah, so F@#$ you. Stop blaming everything on working mothers because we we’re on to your ploy to pit women — working vs. SAHM — against each other to keep all both down).

Lessons from the Lamp Post: Done! (I love the teachers with the “helpful” signs greeting the kids as they leave on the last day of school. And Eloise’s kids holding up their own summer behavior modification signs. Hilarious!)

Moments of Exhilaration: Stage Fright (“….But I think the bigger fear is that I’ll have the same problem in the future. That I still won’t know what’s best when she’s older and the stakes are higher.”  This is how I feel every. single. day. I have no idea what I’m doing…things aren’t black&white anymore…and I’m scared and the stakes are high. *sigh*)

Laurenisms: Where are the women?

Me: So, Lauren, new school for you next year. Are you excited?

Lauren: I guess so, but you know what’s weird?

Me: What?

Lauren: There are two boy principals. No girl principal. Don’t they know you should have a girl, too?

Me: (laughing) You know what, I think you should tell them that on the first day. Just set the tone for your next four years. Go ahead and question authority, my girl.

Lauren: Well, it’s just not right, Mom. *shakes head*