A little is better than nothing

Well, I finally saw some snow. It wasn't much and it was gone by the end of the day, but it had been two years - so I'll take anything I can get. I still haven't had anywhere near enough. Hopefully a lot more will come, and very soon. I am in desperate need of a snow day (or even two). But doesn't my house look pretty with just a little bit of snow?

Old Spice Commercial ft Bruce Campbell

Here is my favorite B actor in a truly great commercial -

Blogging for Books entry - The Best Time of Your Life

Here is my Blogging for Books entry for this month -

Those ladies were great. Every Saturday morning I would see them running to the the door about 9:45 for the 10am opening. They had really, really nice cars - one even had a Mercedes convertible. I was usually in my '78 Fiesta, waiting for them to arrive and unlock the building. I would get out of the car and meet them at the door. I couldn't wait to see what they were wearing. Such great dresses, skirts, tops, dress pants. And the shoes - oh my! I could not wait until I stopped buying shoes at Payless.

I knew I was lucky. While most of my 18 year old friends donned a McDonald's uniform and worked until the wee hours of the night, my after school job was quite different. I dressed nicely each day and was always finished by 5:30. On Saturday mornings I could easily watch "Alvin and the Chipmunks" before leaving for work, once again finished by dinner so I could enjoy my Saturday nights. And the store was never opened on Sunday. I had the good fortune to be employed at a gift and card shop in the "Village." That little shop has been owned and operated for many years by a number of well-to-do women who wanted some fun thing to do on the side.

Saturdays were always the best. They would sit in their glorious outfits, sip on Bloody Marys (they made virgin ones for me) and talk over the social exploits of the previous week. Their friends would come in to order stationary or to exchange interesting tid-bits. Occasionally, a teenage or college-age child of theirs would pop by. These women were having the time of their lives. They looked incredible! They were always having fun! They had great friends and families they loved!

On the other hand, I resided in high school hell. I was a smart girl, made to sit through that ridiculous movie they showed us every year about how high school was meant to be the best time of our lives. The movie showed all these beautiful teens in cheerleader outfits or football uniforms, laughing together in absolute bliss. I would simmer through those movies, muttering under my breath, "This is NOT meant to be the best time of my life! How pathetic!"

Each Saturday morning I had a glimpse of what else was out there. They were smart women in their 40s who had control of their lives. They always looked great, because they were happy and not entertaining the fashion whims of the world. They were comfortable with friends and family. They had a certain amount of peace. As I sat there fuming in that high school auditorium when the yearly viewing of the movie ended, I knew this was not the best time of my life. I didn't expect to be miserable for many years to come - but I knew the 40s would probably be the best. As I anticipate my 40th next month, I cherish this vision that the best time is still yet to come.

The Good Intentions of a Thank You Note

I am one of those moms who force their kids to do thank you notes. I have been doing this before they could write. Back in those days, I would write a few lines they would dictate to me, and then they would sign their names. It was a long, arduous process - but I believed they should learn to be thankful people and this was part of that development.

Nowadays, all I have to do is leave the list of who gave what and they do the notes themselves. I still address the outside, just out of consideration for the postal service. Sonny Boy finished and mailed all his Christmas thank yous last week. Princess is still working on hers. She takes more time and tries to make each one individual - which is really good.

After she did several last week, I looked over them before putting them into envelopes and addressing them. She had written one to my parents. The words were very nice. At the bottom of the note, she had drawn some pretty symbols - how thoughtful of her! She had drawn a hand with a finger pointing up and the letter "I" written on it. Just under it was a heart, and then just under that was the letter "U." How sweet! Then I looked more closely. The hand with the fingers was well drawn, but the finger that was held up was actually the middle finger.

I was about on the floor I was laughing so hard. I definitely mailed it to my parents. Mom agreed it was unlike any other thank you note she had ever received. I'm sure it's been a while since someone shot them a bird, and definitely a first from a grandchild.

If Princess does some more thank you notes, I'll have to be more selective as to who gets that kind of drawing...

I WANT WINTER!!

One of the things I have always enjoyed about living in a mid-Atlantic state (particularly when I was in the mountains), was having four actual seasons. Each season came and went, and with it all the joys of that season. I like each season (fall the best), and they normally lasted just long enough.

And so today is Jan 5, and we are still in the midst of record setting high temps. It's currently about 60 degrees and raining. Yes, raining. Not snowing or threatening it - but just rain. I dressed in a turtleneck, light sweater and rain jacket this morning - and have been burning up.

I want winter. I want to get at least an inch or two of snow (I haven't seen any in two years now). I want the ground to freeze so that all the fleas will finally die, so that mosquitoes will not keep me inside all summer, and so that the crocus buds will stop and not see an early and short life. I want winter!!

It's been tough in recent days. Every time I am driving around town, and I want to ram into every Hummer I see. Like someone needs to drive a Hummer in the middle of Greensboro - those potholes sure can be hard to navigate. It's their fault!! Global warming is here, and it's 60 and raining today!! I do realize that ramming my '91 Nissan into a Hummer isn't wise - so I have chosen not to do it. Perhaps I just will make a bumper sticker - "SUVs - It's your fault we don't have winter anymore!!" or "Kyoto - Who Cares? Bring on the heat!"

I've never considered moving north (or to Colorado), but I might have to do so to experience four seasons once again.