New glasses..same old me..

Why is it when we think about getting new glasses, we think it will change our whole look?

 {Coke bottle bottoms...computer glasses}

 {regular glasses..you know..to see..??}

I've had to wear glasses most of my life..however, I've only actually WORN glasses for about the past 15 or 20 years..and that first 5 years it was "iffy" at best.

When I was a kid, they wanted me to wear a patch over my right eye, thus making my left-lazy eye stronger.

Didn't work.

Well, maybe it would've if I'd actually done it.  But can you imagine a kid in the 5th grade wearing a patch AND glasses? I'd have been the laughing stock.

A half blind pirate.  In Arizona.

A female pirate..at pirate-ette?

And I would have seen the laughing.  Because I was wearing glasses..

But I didn't..so I didn't.

And that was OK until a few years ago when I started mis-reading stuff..

Sinex Nasal Spray for Murine Eye Drops...

Air spray for Hair spray..

Speed limit 85 for speed limit 35....

Doggie cookie for MY cookie..

Maple syrup for cooking oil....

Hair gel for caulk...just kiddin' on that one..

So, finally gave in.  Never wanted to be one of those people that had to reach for their glasses just to actually "see"...

But here I am.  And it's something one has to have on their face for every day of the year.  365  (or is it 635) days a year?  The. Same. Glasses.

You wouldn't wear the same earrings, right?    Oh, but I do..silver hoops.

OK, you wouldn't wear the same T-shirt..    Oh wait..I do.

Shoes? Yep. I have one pair for winter, one pair for summer and one pair for Zumba.

Watch?  Don't own one..well, one that doesn't work that Sister Kathy gave me 'cos she knew I'd think it was cute..and I hate the whole "on-time" thing anyway... 

Wow.  I am totally boring. Dull. Blank-o.

And, mostly late it seems.

I rely on my internal clock...which is always right..never  on some silly daylight savings time and it always the same time-zone-thingie  no matter where I am in the world.  {who am I kidding? I've never been anywhere in the "world" .... except New Jersey ;-D  }

Just like "north" is always in front of me.  And "south" is the other way.  Simple.

East is to the right and west is the left....

I like simplicity. And with all the talk about simplicity..I figure I've been ahead of the curve..a pioneer..a trend setter..

However.... I still wanted a new look for my glasses.  Or me.  I got nuthin.  Same me.  Same look in glasses.   Different day. decade....

{OK..these may be a bit different...}

But hey, I'm always looking north..and it's always fun-o'clock.

Have a fun hour..or 24 if you'd like. Then blog about what you did..we'd love to hear :-)


-me

wanna know what you get with cheap..er..thrifty neclackes??

No. not the green ring around your neck.. but that reminds me.. remember when you were a kid and you bought cheap rings and they turned your finger green so you put clear nail polish on the inside so they wouldn't turn your finger green but you mistakenly got super glue instead of nail polish  and you couldn't get that stupid cheap-ass ring off for a MONTH!!!?!?!?!

Oh, wait.  That was me...

byegones..

So this morning, getting ready for work, I put on my trusty white T-shirt and think it needs a little somethin' somethin'..some color, some bling!

Grab this silver-pearl-seed-bead-jobby I got at an unnamed cheap  frugal accessories shop in the mall..

Looking good!  I bend over to tie my shoes and I hear all these rain drops..then I feel all these rain drops on my neck and chest and it sounds like it's actually raining inside my room?? Wha??

I look up and see (albeit briefly) thousands of tiny seed-beads flying off my necklace..hitting the floor like a bad game of marbles..

I grab for my neck..have you ever tried to contain thousands of seed beads from cheap necklaces flying off the fishing-line they call chain??

It looked like I was sneezing seed-beads..every time I moved any part of me, more seed-beads fell out ..I didn't know which way to go..seed-beads flinging everywhere..in my hair, behind my ears...


Got some down the from of me and they escaped while I was waking the pups..some others fell from my pants legs {?} at work..

I was afraid to cough, or sneeze or fart anything ...for fear of projectile seed-beads attacks ..

Reminds me of when Emily was little  {at our house for Thanks-mas} and making something with glitter.  Every time she got up from her little chair, there was a cloud of glitter and every time she sat back down..the clouds came from under her bum..

I said it looked like she was "fartin' sparkles" and her Dad said "Spartin Farkles??" We named the  turkey Spartin Farkles that year..and I keep threatening to write a children's  book...The Adventures of Spartin Farkles..

Well, have a sparkly-farkly-glitter-filled day, OK?  And don't invest in cheap..well OK, CHEAP necklaces...

-me

Whoa..I just looked at my post number....

..it's 1,111  Reeeeally.

 Huh..Should it mean something?  I mean, other than  I am as much of a jabber-type-e as a jabber-talkie..?

Nah. Just a number ..a really LARGE number..  So if you're getting tired of reading this, it's ok..you can stop.  I'll miss you..but that's a lot of reading of my saying nuthin...

But anyway.  Grandma Evelyn went back into a-fib .  They don't think she'll need to have the procedure again (a cardio version) - they will be trying to get the heart rate stabilized with meds..

Here's hoping ..and better yet..praying :-)

Tomorrow, February 8th,  would have been my Mother's 96th birthday..wow.

And the next day is my daughter April's  blanky-blank birthday..{ yes, I do know how old she is..but you'd probably have a hard time believing I had her in the 5th grade...so yeah, she must be going on ..ah...thirty something.  Yeah.  That's it..

{April's the tall one in the back..}

So Happy Birthday Mother, and Happy Birthday to her granddaughter, April, my very first beautiful baby..

Grandma Sullivan loved you and she was so very proud of you..and we are too :-)

Love you April Marie!!

-me...and Dad

OK, so...

..I was talking to my sister Kathy {hi Kathy!!} and was telling her about the whole shite-shirt-simplicity-thing I am doing. 

By the way, it's working beautifully. No worries in the mornings..they are cheap inexpensive enough and paired with some equally cheap thrifty necklaces or scarves, no too bad..

Anyway...here's the T-shirts.  Wal-Mart.  $6..long sleeved and scoop-necked.  Not too heavy a weight..can be dressed up or down..I usually try to pick up 3 or 4 at a time..I tend to dribble.. miss my mouth....always like to have a fresh, super white one available.

Also, Kathy, here's what the Zumba sticks look like..got a pair on order for you :-)  They have shaky-shaky-noise-thingies..

Thanks everyone for the wonderful messages for Ella.  She's doing great and she may be a hummingbird of a girl, but those hummers are tough little birds!  She'll be fine..it's times like these though that I wish I lived closer..

{Ella and Jaime Lee Curtis at a book signing }

I'll see her in April and am looking sooo forward to it!

Have a good Monday and I'll leave you with one of my favorite photos I found last week...

-me

Bullying..it is not a joke, or a "kid thing" or fun...I know

I know we've all heard horrific stories lately about the rise in bullying - just this week a young boy was beaten, dragged and hooked on a fencepost in the snow..all by classmates who  thought it was a cool thing to do??


But this wouldn't happen to our kids, right?     Well, not so much.

Ella.  7 years old.  A mere wisp if a girl.. my grand-girlie.

Yesterday she was on the 5th step of a riser (bleacher) and a "bad boy" { a known bully } threw. her. off.

She landed on her side, which is now quite bruised, but, thankfully, no broken bones, no head injury..just a fear of going to FIRST GRADE. !?@#@?#$

I was not home last evening to get her "good night" call, but on her voice mail message she said she couldn't sleep because her side hurt, she misses me and she loves me..

This all said in her tiny, soft 7-year old voice.

This is not the first incident for this boy..hopefully it will be the last.  Brandi & Johnny are going to her school to speak with the nurse, teacher and principal.

There was a incident report filed.  His parents are being called...

I, of course, want more.

I want to meet the parents, to see the boy, to look at him and try to understand what he told himself that made it alright to toss a little girl from a 5th step on to the ground.

I want to know the schools "zero tolerance" policy will be upheld.  I want to see the parents and the child together receive counseling..

**Bullying is a form of abuse. It involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person's (or group's) power over another person (or group) , thus an "imbalance of power”. 

The "imbalance of power" may be social power and/or physical power. 

The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a target. 

Bullying types of behavior are often rooted in a would-be bully's inability to empathize with those whom he or she would target.

...and I want to tell Ella that bullying is not acceptable..that she will never have to worry about being bullied again..that she need not be afraid to go to school.  Ever. Again.

But I can't make those promises.  Not until parents take responsibility for the lives that they brought into this world.  Not until schools REALLY, TOTALLY, SERIOUSLY enforce a zero-tolerance bullying status fairly and consistently.

All I can do is to tell her how much Grandpa and Grammie love her and how her Mommy & Daddy will protect her and how she needs to be brave, and report bullies she sees, to tell the teacher when she feels bullied and is afraid.

And hopefully, this tiny hummingbird of a child will never have to feel afraid of going to school again.

-me

PS - please visit:
http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/kids/   to see what YOU can do...

What a week...so far..let's see what Friday brings....

As you may or may not remember..I work in Customer Service.

And, I think there must be a full moon..or a full sun...or something, because we've had some real doozys..in emails, on the phones and on "live chat"..

Yesteday..a man was angry because his test results were not as he expected so he wanted his money back..

Hmmm..he ordered a test, we did the test..he didn't like the results, so he thought he should get his money back?

I tried to help him realize the information was good and rich with research that could help..sent him information and helpful documents ...tried to explain the results..and while this correspondence was going back & forth on email..he told me he was "putting curses on your company that will be multiplied by 4 times":..

Curse methods (for evil revenge purposes only):

- Burying an egg on a person’s land

- Writing a curse on a lead tablet and placing it inside a tomb

- Throwing a wax figure of the person in a fire

- Pointing a spirit bone at someone

- Placing a billy goat in their path

- Leaving a few pennies on their doorstep

I wrote back "Curses, {customer's name}, really? " and ended with "Bless your heart.."

He then wrote back telling me "you reap what you sow.." yadda yadda..

"Oh, Karma! I get it :-) "

Can't please everyone all the time I guess..but I may worry if I pull into the parking lot and see 4 billy goats... 4 eggs  or 4 pennies..

..and please keep your spirit bone to yourself thankyouverymuch..

Like the guy today..on live chat..from Sweden {!)..

After a good chat and helpful information given in my normally-good-natured-way..

He types.."You're cute.."

I said , "Yes. I am. Cute"

He says," I'm on Facebook...would you be my friend on Facebook?"

Ahhh...no. I'm a Grandma..a cute Grandma..but a Grandma..

{he had stated earlier he was 37..}

He says, "That's OK!"

"Um..no. But I do love your cheese.  And chocolate."

"That's Switzerland...not Sweden..."

"Oh. Sorry.  I love your fish.."

{good thing I didn't mention the knives...}

Everyday a challenge. Every day a nut-case.  Life's good..

And everyday is one day closer to retirement ;-D

-me....................no not the picture..that's not me..YET ;-)

Sometimes, I think the world is....

and other times, it seems...

But yesterday is was ..

I had had (not a stutter..I really had had..) a frantic morning.  Needed to get Mom-in-law to her new cardiologist appointment by 10:15am..

And trying to be proactive, I set myself and Mom-in-law up for thinking it was actually 10am.  Figured the extra 15 minutes for anything unexpected.

Well, one would expect to know where one is going, right?

Nope.

OK, in all fairness to moi, I *THOUGHT* I knew where I was going.  After all, they said, "It's at the hospital"

And because she was just in the hospital..I didn't think to ask which hospital.

It wasn't where we were.  And I didn't figure this out until I had driven for, oh, like about a half hour, round and round the 'hospital' looking for anything with the number Suite 500 on it.

In frustration, I called the doc's office..they said...."Oh, it's by the out patient surgery. Just park there and come in :-) "

I find the out patient surgery..I pull into a parking space... it's about 2 degrees with cold wind smacking us in the face..

I pull out the  Oxygen-on-wheels, for which I have virtually no experience, and rush my poor MIL into the lobby.

Only then, when I look pathetically lost, does someone say to me...You're looking for Dr. *** ?

YES! Where is he?

"At the IHC hospital......across town."

Oh goodie.

I call the doc's office ...they tell me  "office protocol says we can only hold the appointment for 30 minutes..you have like 15 to get here..where are you?"

"NEVER MIND.."


Rush MIL back into the car followed by the Oxygen-mobile...drive like..ah..fast.  Practically toss MIL and the Oxy-mobile out on the sidewalk as the valet (yes..hospital #2 has a valet..who knew??)

..and run into an open elevator ( we didn't RUN into it, like painfully, we got into it)..I am stressing...MIL is huffing {bless her irregular heart} and my blood is about boiling..when I hear...

"I read your blog"

Wha??

"I READ your blog.. You have a blog, right?"

Ah, yeah. Wha? who? Huh?

I'm K  from http://www.randommusingsfrommypov.com/..

Oh! Hi! Sorry. {I don't think I apologized..but I meant to..}

Then the doors open to floor #4 and she was gone... and we're on our way to the cardiologist on #5 (Ohhh! the whole "Suite 500 thing! light-bulb-moment! ). ...

And the Appointment Nazi - who informs me as I gleefully announce  {grinning happily}.."WE MADE IT!:" :-)

She: { rolling eyes..grumpyness oozing} ..."You have one minute. Fill out this paperwork. " :-|

So, just when you think the day cannot get worse...someone gets in an elevator and makes it all bright and shinny! Thank you, K, for the light in my day :-)

Big world, small world..we're all in this world together..

{this is not me..nor K..just in case you were wondering..}

Now, let's go and have lunch sometime..away from the hospital!

-me

**This, however, looks a lot like the Appointment-Nazi...**