Delusions of... Everything

Fess Up Friday

Last night I took a trip to Asthmagirl's house.  I'm going to admit to you all right now that I have condition that just won't go away.  It required monthly (or every 6 week) visits to see my good friend.  She cures me of this condition until another month passes, then she has to work her magic all over again.

I have gray hair!  *GASP*

How lucky am I that I can go to a good friends house to temporarily cover this affliction?!  I only hear gossip I care about.  I almost always get to see K-3 who I adore, sometime K-2 who I also adore and I love to hear all about her career and once in a blue moon I have the pleasure of seeing TOG (asthmagirl's husband).  The Brute Squad is always there to greet me at the door, kiss me and beg to be picked up.

Sometimes our conversations tend toward the venting, sometimes they are very serious, sometimes we spend much of the time laughing, no matter the topic of discussion I'm always happy to see my friend.

Last night we got down to some serious planning and plotting.  We took notes.  We rubbed our hands together and said, "MWHAHAHAHAH".  Summer is just around the corner and we were making some plans that include you!

Check out Athmagirl's blog today to see what she has to say about all this planning and plotting!

Fess Up Friday

There is so much going on at the moment.  I'm not ready to write about any of it yet, but you will all hear about it soon!

Yesterday I took a trip to the thrift store.  I found something I love. Something I planned to buy after money is flowing again.  Something that I got for $10 that might have cost me $85 in a normal store.  Something that looks like they were maybe worn once.  Something I don't make a habit of buying at a thrift store, but I could not pass these up.

What treasures have you found lately?!

Confession

Yesterday I started a post continuing my adventures of living in Hawaii but today, after reading it, I don't like it, so I'm going in a different direction today.

Yes, I follow American Idol, there I said it.  I haven't been a faithful follower but started watching in season 6 when Star Wars Son announced he was curious about the show and planned to watch the upcoming season.  We do much of our tv watching as a family so we all got hooked.

There are many thing I don't like about the show.  If I watch strictly for it's entertainment value and not take it seriously, I enjoy it, if I think about the process too much it's not as enjoyable.  The first year we voted faithfully, now we don't vote at all... Maybe we will at the end.

This year I have 4 favorites.  Crystal Bowersox is at the top of my favorites, I think she will be a successful recording artist whether she wins or not.  After Lee DeWyze's performance last night he is now tied for my second favorite with Michael Lynche.  Rounding out my top 3 is Casey James *sigh*.  He is at the top of my "omg he is so cute" list.  His performances have lacked that special something... until last night.

Last night was Lennon/McCartney night and Casey chose to sing Jealous Guy by John Lennon.

*heavy sigh*

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Fess Up Friday

I'm tired today.  I have jobs I need to apply for, so instead of taxing my brain to write a blog post I'm re-posting something from a year ago.  Enjoy this re-broadcast!

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I wear used clothes almost exclusively.  I really hate clothes shopping at the department stores. I do, however, enjoy thrift store shopping.  Thrift stores are an adventure.  Walking through a thrift store door is walking into the unknown.  So many possibilities.

My love of the thrift store started when money was tight.  When the budget squeeze loosened I found myself still drawn to the thrift stores.  It's a huge challenge to find a great pair of jeans or a sweater for 99 cents. 

Admittedly I don't need a fancy wardrobe.  I work in the office of a steel fabricating company where most people wear coveralls.  My other careers of agent at the Pike Place Market and Day Care Provider didn't require a fancy wardrobe either.  For years my standard outfit has been jeans or capris with t-shirts in the summer and jeans or slacks with sweaters in the winter.

I'm comfortable in my attire and best of all when it gets stained I'm sick of it, it's much easier to donate it back to the thrift store and buy something new new to me!

Fess Up Friday

I have an overwhelming need!

I've been spending a lot of quality time with my camera and I've decided I NEED a new lens!  My favorite kind of shot is the close up.  I love the close up.

I mentioned to Handy Man about my need.  He put on his Geeky Guy voice and said, "You don't need a new lens, you need an extender."

Really?  Is that really what I need?  I can't imagine that an extender would work better than a Macro lens.  Since I haven't used either I really don't know.

In the old days of film I used a doubler with my zoom lens.  Is that the same thing?

I know there are a couple of great photographers who visit my blog, help me! 

The weather has been beautiful the past couple of days.  I took a stroll with my camera through the yard and noticed while it's been cold, rainy, sleety, and snowy my yard has been slowly coming to life.

The trees are budding.

The flowers are budding or are in bloom.

Spring is not my favorite season, but after the winter we've had I'm so glad to see some signs of it!

Fess Up Friday

I have an intolerance to dairy and wheat.  This means I rarely get to eat what I love, specifically Italian and Mexican food.  I also cannot eat pizza.  It sucks so much.

When I was young I had chronic colds.  Sore throat, plugged nose, ear aches and laryngitis.  I missed some school, but mostly learned to tolerate it.  By the time I was a sophomore in high school I was missing more school than I could afford so my doctor sent me to a ear, nose and throat doctor.  That doctor did a bunch of allergy tests.  Besides getting all the skin tests the doctor decided to also test food allergies.  He started with wheat and moved to dairy.  When they test for food allergies you cannot eat that food for 6 weeks and see if you still have the symptoms.  I started with wheat and still had the symptoms.  After about 3 weeks off the dairy I started to feel so much better.  My nose was no longer plugged and my throat was no longer raw.  It felt great to have those annoyances gone.

Fast forward to a couple years ago when I was seeing a Naturopath.  After checking me over and asking me a lot of questions she said that I should not eat wheat.  I was appalled and stubborn.  In my head I was thinking there is NO WAY I can give up wheat.  Do you know what that means?!  No bread, pasta, pizza crust, bread crumbs, etc, etc.  I gave an half assed effort to give those things up, but I didn't take it seriously.

The spring of 08 I started feeling seriously crappy.  Tired all the time, headaches, joint pain, mood swings, sneezing, heart palpitations.  The last one was the scariest.  Being that I'm a computer addict I googled my symptoms thinking maybe it was menopause and what I got was wheat allergy.

It was pretty devastating to read that.  Even though I heard it before from the Naturopath I knew I had to give up my beloved wheat.  At first it was really hard.  If you read labels you will find out many things you would never suspect have wheat.

After a couple weeks of being wheat free almost all my symptoms were gone.  I felt amazing, better than I had in years.  I even went on a trip to Boston and stayed wheat free!  I found out that after you cleanse the wheat for a few months you can introduce small amounts into your diet without it being bothersome.  The challenge is to stop once you start.  Then the holidays came and it's been a slippery slope back to eating wheat since.

I've decided that wheat is like heroin to me.  I really cannot have it.

On Monday I gave up wheat again.  It sucks so much.

Fess Up Friday

This is the "I got nothing" edition of Fess Up Friday.

I've been working on three different posts that won't come together.  One of them I really need to get off my chest.  I can't seem to write it without sounding like I'm spewing all over everyone.  I have three different versions in my drafts folder.  The third one I just spent over 30 minutes trying to compose.

I decided to say F-it and tell a funny story instead.

In April 2002 our next door neighbors invited us to his 40th birthday party.  We weren't good friends with this couple, but we had a good neighbor relationship so we decided to go.  Plus part of the party was at a local winery and I couldn't say no to that!

It was our first time at the winery.  We were mingling and looking around as other guest were arriving.  I noticed this slightly creepy guy staring at me.  He was wearing one of those gym suits, you know nylon pants with the matching jacket.  Every time I looked up there he was staring at me, even while he was talking to other people.  I took Handy Man's arm and never let go.  I was completely freaked out!  After sampling all different wines it was time to move the party to our neighbor's house.

Handy Man and I went home first to say good night to the kids who were having a great time with grandma.  Once at the party we start mingling again and decide to grab some food.  I got caught talking with someone, so Handy Man went on ahead of me.  By the time I got to the food line Handy Man was gone.  I was dishing up my food and all of a sudden creepy guy was there standing next to me.

Tammy... (he says my maiden name, in that "I'd know you anywhere" tone)

Oh shit!  He used my maiden name, that means I know this guy from my high school years or before.  I looked at him closely and with no recognition said,

Yes, and you are?

It's me, Mike...

OH SHIT!  I nearly dropped my food plate.  It couldn't be.  I could hardly speak, but I manage...

Oh wow, how are you?  How do you know birthday boy?

I've known D forever, we go way back to high school.  Are you married?

Yes.

Ahhh, me too.  He looks disappointed.

Well ok, I'm going to find my husband eat.

Ok, it was GREAT seeing you, I'm sure I'll see you around the party.

Holy Shit, was all I could think.

I found Handy Man out on the deck and said...

The first guy I ever had sex with is here.

I don't want to know, he said.

Oh yes you do, you are so much hotter than him.  I'm embarrassed to point him out to you.

Laughter

Later I see him with a very pregnant woman (who I later found out was his wife) and point him out to Handy Man.

Again with the laughter.

I still can't believe I didn't recognize him.  I also can't believe I ever thought I loved him AND had my first sexual experience with him.  Sometimes it's best to not go back!

Fess Up Friday

I feel like an impostor.

This blogging journey has taken me to many wonderful blogs.  Blogs of people who are amazing writers.  I'm embarrassed to put myself in their company.  If I comment at their blog, they might stop by my blog and wonder what the hell I think I'm doing!  Really!  I seriously think this.

This is a perfect example of my delusional self.  I started blogging without even thinking about it.  I jumped right in.  How hard can writing be I wondered?  It. Is. Really. Hard.  I'm so envious of all of you.  You paint pictures with your words.  I take pictures and hope they enhance my words or at least make sense of them.

The truth is I love blogging, even though I'm not a talented writer.  I like that it's a challenge for me to come up with something to say and then try to get what I want to say out of my brain and onto the blogging page.  Honestly it frequently does not translate the way I want it to.  I have a hard time putting words together that truly convey what I'm feeling, or what I want to say.

I love that when my kids or my husband do something they ask me if I'm going to blog about it.  I love that SWS and Bri-Brute are both considering starting blogs.  It really feels like a family adventure.

So I'm going to keep blogging, even though I embarrass my self much of the time.  I've never really cared too much about embarrassing myself.  I'm learning so much from reading your blogs.  My vocabulary is expanding and I'm learning new ways of presenting drivel information.  I plan to steal copy some of your ideas and make them my own...  Deb had this great post about books that I will be using and Jason had this one that I'm going to do soon too.

When we steal copy ideas from others when scrapbooking we call it "scraplifting".  I guess we could call it "bloglifting" in the blogsphere.

Fess-up Friday

I wear used clothes almost exclusively.  I really hate clothes shopping at the department stores. I do, however, enjoy thrift store shopping.  Thrift stores are an adventure.  Walking through a thrift store door is walking into the unknown.  So many possibilities.

My love of the thrift store started when money was tight.  When the budget squeeze loosened I found myself still drawn to the thrift stores.  It's a huge challenge to find a great pair of jeans or a sweater for 99 cents. 

Admittedly I don't need a fancy wardrobe.  I work in the office of a steel fabricating company where most people wear coveralls.  My other careers of agent at the Pike Place Market and Day Care Provider didn't require a fancy wardrobe either.  For years my standard outfit has been jeans or capris with t-shirts in the summer and jeans or slacks with sweaters in the winter.

I'm comfortable in my attire and best of all when it gets stained I'm sick of it, it's much easier to donate it back to the thrift store and buy something new new to me!

Fess-up Friday

I keep lists.

The is the Books Read in 2008 list.  I read 35 last year, not counting the ones I started reading and just couldn't finish because I wasn't "into" them.

Movie watched in 2008, there were 130 total.  (Apologies for the blurry pics this morning, the cat had me up at 4:45 and I still have sleep in my eyes.)

A master list of everyone's favorite meals.

Home improvement projects - Actually this is Handy Man's list, but I contribute.

This shows a recipe, menu list and shopping list.

Songs played on my ipod list and my favorite kind of list... the crossed off to do list.

I also have a list of authors I'd like to read, and a bucket list.  The author list is on my desk at work and the bucket list is in one of my journals in the bedroom closet and I don't want to wake Handy Man just to photograph it.  The bucket list I started years ago, but just started calling it a bucket list after seeing the movie.  I check things off with the date as I do them and I add to it now and then.

As you can tell I love my planner.  It goes everywhere with me, but I guess that's for another Fess-up Friday.