It has been a long time since I have written anything. Not that I haven't had times when I would like to just write whatever was on my mind, but I determined when I started this blog to only write about things that either shocked me or I found to be a bit quirky or humorous (at least to me). To be perfectly frank, I haven't really had anything like that happen to me for several months. Now this could be due to the gift of Swine Flu that came to our home and took us down one by one, or the simple fact that a couple family members had surgery and I have been trying to make sure they are back up and functional by Christmas.
Anyway..long story short..I am still here..and hoping for a quirky, humorous and somewhat shocking new year. I hope the same for you!
Monday, December 21, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Garage Sale..or ......did that guy really just do that?
It’s been a while since I have had much to write about, but something happened today and though it may not be a big deal to anyone else, it kind of ticked me off.
Over the spring and summer, those of us who live in this house have been doing what some refer to as “spring cleaning”. Some members are gone or are going away for awhile and so things have been sorted in this manner: “keep”, “give back to the rightful owner”, “why did I ever keep this, it’s going in the garbage now” and the ever popular GARAGE SALE.
Yes folks, I got up the nerve to do a garage sale again this year. Now you must understand that I have done a garage sale almost every year for the past seven years. Every year I wonder the same thing, where did we get all this junk? So, it was no surprise when I had 12 large boxes of stuff to try to assign a monetary value to. This is inherently a difficult task as one must decide what is the most money you can get for an item that you think is or was cool, that someone else may not think is cool, but you want to price it low enough so that you don’t end up carting it off to Goodwill come Monday morning. Since I was alone most of July and part of August (not completely alone, but during the day I was) I spent a great deal of time firmly planted in front of the portable A/C unit we invested in a couple of summers ago so we wouldn’t die. (Did I mention we live in a Maritime climate and anything above 70 is considered a heat wave?); while planted close enough to the unit to feel like a spring day, I marked every item and packed it into boxes so all this junk could take up space neatly in the garage until “GS” day.
I picked the weekend just after the local kids went back to school as that would bring a larger crowd than one during the summer when neighbors and friends seem to be out vacationing or hiding in their homes away from the heat like me. I rented tables because I have learned over the years that people don’t like to bend down to look at your stuff and I don’t sell my washer and drier every year. On Thursday morning off I went to the rental place and picked up my tables, brought them home and during the unloading process promptly broke my right thumb nail off down to the quick. I knew then I was going to being having fun! I got help setting up the tables in my garage and then had wonderful help unpacking the boxes and arranging all the tables. I know this may sound like my garage is monsterous, but it’s not. I sacrificed parking my car in the garage to the god’s of the nighttime/outside for a few nights so I could set up tables and have them ready in the morning. I also decided this year I would move all the tables out to my spacious driveway so that I wouldn’t have to keep telling people that the items neatly put away in my garage were not for sale.
So, all this to tell you about something that just irked me…I have bags of rubber bands for sale leftover from a long ago paper route. A couple in a van pull in to my driveway and they get out to wander around. The seemingly pleasant man says hello when I greet him, and as his wife continues to wander, he stops in front of the bags of rubber bands. He then asks me if they are still good, when I answer yes, he picks up a bag, TEARS IT OPEN!!!!! Takes out a couple of rubber bands, plays with them and throws the bag back down, upside down so anyone else picking them up wouldn’t see the bag had been opened. Excuse me, but what the heck?????? That is kind of like “you break it, you buy it” isn’t it? Or does that not apply to garage sales? In the end, his wife disappeared in to the van and Mr.Tear the bag open didn’t buy anything. Hrmpf.
Over the spring and summer, those of us who live in this house have been doing what some refer to as “spring cleaning”. Some members are gone or are going away for awhile and so things have been sorted in this manner: “keep”, “give back to the rightful owner”, “why did I ever keep this, it’s going in the garbage now” and the ever popular GARAGE SALE.
Yes folks, I got up the nerve to do a garage sale again this year. Now you must understand that I have done a garage sale almost every year for the past seven years. Every year I wonder the same thing, where did we get all this junk? So, it was no surprise when I had 12 large boxes of stuff to try to assign a monetary value to. This is inherently a difficult task as one must decide what is the most money you can get for an item that you think is or was cool, that someone else may not think is cool, but you want to price it low enough so that you don’t end up carting it off to Goodwill come Monday morning. Since I was alone most of July and part of August (not completely alone, but during the day I was) I spent a great deal of time firmly planted in front of the portable A/C unit we invested in a couple of summers ago so we wouldn’t die. (Did I mention we live in a Maritime climate and anything above 70 is considered a heat wave?); while planted close enough to the unit to feel like a spring day, I marked every item and packed it into boxes so all this junk could take up space neatly in the garage until “GS” day.
I picked the weekend just after the local kids went back to school as that would bring a larger crowd than one during the summer when neighbors and friends seem to be out vacationing or hiding in their homes away from the heat like me. I rented tables because I have learned over the years that people don’t like to bend down to look at your stuff and I don’t sell my washer and drier every year. On Thursday morning off I went to the rental place and picked up my tables, brought them home and during the unloading process promptly broke my right thumb nail off down to the quick. I knew then I was going to being having fun! I got help setting up the tables in my garage and then had wonderful help unpacking the boxes and arranging all the tables. I know this may sound like my garage is monsterous, but it’s not. I sacrificed parking my car in the garage to the god’s of the nighttime/outside for a few nights so I could set up tables and have them ready in the morning. I also decided this year I would move all the tables out to my spacious driveway so that I wouldn’t have to keep telling people that the items neatly put away in my garage were not for sale.
So, all this to tell you about something that just irked me…I have bags of rubber bands for sale leftover from a long ago paper route. A couple in a van pull in to my driveway and they get out to wander around. The seemingly pleasant man says hello when I greet him, and as his wife continues to wander, he stops in front of the bags of rubber bands. He then asks me if they are still good, when I answer yes, he picks up a bag, TEARS IT OPEN!!!!! Takes out a couple of rubber bands, plays with them and throws the bag back down, upside down so anyone else picking them up wouldn’t see the bag had been opened. Excuse me, but what the heck?????? That is kind of like “you break it, you buy it” isn’t it? Or does that not apply to garage sales? In the end, his wife disappeared in to the van and Mr.Tear the bag open didn’t buy anything. Hrmpf.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Eyebrows
So, what is the deal with women who shave off their eyebrows and then draw on new ones?
The other day my daughter and I were at a local fast food establishment in the drive-thru buying a meal for her to consume. We chose to go through the drive-thru to order a bag of deliciousness rather than walk inside as we were in a hurry to get back home to hide out while the sun tried to suck every drop of water from our bodies (you see, we live in a normally comfortable climate, but this year has been hot, waiting room for he** kind of hot). Once we completed our order, I drive up to the window to hand over my hard earned cash for the bag. As I come to a stop at the window and it slides open, what greets me, freaks me! I have to tell myself to close my gapping mouth and to not turn immediately to my youngest and yell “WHAT IS SHE THINKING? DO YOU SEE THE EYEBROWS ON THIS CHICK?”
I am finding it difficult to even come up with an explanation of what I saw right there in front of me. Well, OK, not exactly in front, but peering down at me from a drive-thru window with hand outstretched holding a bag of food. The gal had completely shaved off her own natural eyebrows (or uni-brow - we can not be sure now). Covered her face in foundation and then had carefully, yes, I am going go with meticulously, drawn on new eyebrows that she felt were more appropriate to her appearance.
Please let me be clear, I am not saying that should one have no eyebrows for health reasons, that eyebrows should not carefully be penciled, maybe even tattooed on, which can be artfully done. But, this was clearly not the case in this incidence.
So, back to the eyebrows, the inner corner was a small square and when I say square, I mean, measured and sized. Then, coming from the center of the square going straight up and in a sweeping curve, the “eyebrow” came around to the outside corner of her eye, almost touching her actual eyelid. Gathering all this information about shape, curve and sweep took me all of 2-3 seconds. Enough time for me to thank her for the food, turn to my daughter and say, “check out the eyebrows” before the gal pulled her head back inside that drive-thru window.
From this, came a lengthy conversation about eyebrows with my daughter whom I am sure, will NEVER shave off her own to pencil, paint, or graphically design new ones on her own face.
The other day my daughter and I were at a local fast food establishment in the drive-thru buying a meal for her to consume. We chose to go through the drive-thru to order a bag of deliciousness rather than walk inside as we were in a hurry to get back home to hide out while the sun tried to suck every drop of water from our bodies (you see, we live in a normally comfortable climate, but this year has been hot, waiting room for he** kind of hot). Once we completed our order, I drive up to the window to hand over my hard earned cash for the bag. As I come to a stop at the window and it slides open, what greets me, freaks me! I have to tell myself to close my gapping mouth and to not turn immediately to my youngest and yell “WHAT IS SHE THINKING? DO YOU SEE THE EYEBROWS ON THIS CHICK?”
I am finding it difficult to even come up with an explanation of what I saw right there in front of me. Well, OK, not exactly in front, but peering down at me from a drive-thru window with hand outstretched holding a bag of food. The gal had completely shaved off her own natural eyebrows (or uni-brow - we can not be sure now). Covered her face in foundation and then had carefully, yes, I am going go with meticulously, drawn on new eyebrows that she felt were more appropriate to her appearance.
Please let me be clear, I am not saying that should one have no eyebrows for health reasons, that eyebrows should not carefully be penciled, maybe even tattooed on, which can be artfully done. But, this was clearly not the case in this incidence.
So, back to the eyebrows, the inner corner was a small square and when I say square, I mean, measured and sized. Then, coming from the center of the square going straight up and in a sweeping curve, the “eyebrow” came around to the outside corner of her eye, almost touching her actual eyelid. Gathering all this information about shape, curve and sweep took me all of 2-3 seconds. Enough time for me to thank her for the food, turn to my daughter and say, “check out the eyebrows” before the gal pulled her head back inside that drive-thru window.
From this, came a lengthy conversation about eyebrows with my daughter whom I am sure, will NEVER shave off her own to pencil, paint, or graphically design new ones on her own face.
Friday, August 28, 2009
A Thank you... to the girl in the red car
Here it is, my first blog. Why did it take me this long, you might ask. Over the years, and yes, I mean YEARS, people have said to me "You should write a book." Each time someone said it, I would laugh it off and change the subject. I never thought my writing was that good, nor did I think my stories were that interesting, but.....one day, there she was, the girl in the red car and I knew I had to start writing.
The girl in the red car
I was heading for the post office on a sunny summer morning. The light ahead was red and I pulled up behind a red car to wait for the light to turn green. When the light turned green and we started to cross the highway overpass I noticed the person in the car in front of me raise both of their hands to their head. Going down the road at 35 mph, I watched in amazement as the girl (I learned this later as I passed her) began to brush her hair. I am not talking about a quick brush through. I am talking about LONG HAIR..brushing through it, head swishing from side to side, flicking it, brushing it..all the while heading down the road AT 35 MPH!!!!! Not only that, we had gone through two more stop lights and were now heading down, straight down a very steep hill. What the heck??? What was this girl thinking? I am sure my mouth was wide open and perhaps even a few cuss words were flying out as I observed this hair brushing extravaganza.
So, thank you girl in the red car. Thank you for bringing me to this place in my life where I can feel free to express all the amazing, astounding, confusing, frustrating and ridiculous things that I observe here and there as I go about my daily life.
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