Mediocre Post At Best (But at Least I am Writing!)

I need to get back into this blogging thing. I miss it. My usual excuse is I don’t have a topic. And, well, I don’t have a topic. Just some random things rolling around my brain. So here it goes. Excuse the total and complete lack of cohesion. No theme – Mrs. Mazur, my grade 8 English teacher, would be ashamed!

The Gym
The gym continues to be a source of entertainment. Great place to people watch. I have nicknamed a few new characters.

1. Mother and Daughter Misery: They come together and work out on the weights. Neither of them smiles. Ever. I find it amusing. They don’t even smile when they’ve finished their workout. If you can’t smile then when can you smile?!
2. Middle-aged Muscle Woman: The nickname says it all. But the weird thing is she looks over at me and often stands in a position to block my view of the mirror. And hey, if you can’t watch yourself in the mirror then what’s the point?!
3. Phone Talker Girl: A twenty-something girl who talks on her phone the entire time she works out. Treadmill? She’s talking. Elliptical machine? She’s talking. Doing sit-ups? Talks every fifth round. She’s not quiet about it either. It’s amusing and yet oh so annoying!

Facebook
Like most people I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. There is something that happens every now and again that I just can not understand. You know those memes that say “Share if you love your daughter” or “I am proud of my son, click like if you agree”.  It puzzles me. What part of a person’s sense of self is being served by posting things such as this? I think most people assume that people on Facebook love their children. Am I being too simple? What is the point of advertising their love in this way? If you have the answer please enlighten me!

Revenge
Have you ever been completely betrayed by someone you considered a friend? Experts say revenge will serve no purpose. For the most part I try hard to control those negative kind of emotions and usually I am successful at it. But sometimes dark thoughts creep in and boy do I want to seek revenge. I won’t of course. I do wonder though if maybe the experts are wrong. Maybe revenge feels really, really good.

Exacerbating is Not the Same as Exasperating
Way back in April Joey gave me the topic of exacerbating for the letter ‘E’ in the a to z challenge. I basically wrote an entire blog post thinking of the word exasperating rather than exacerbating. Said in my best Will Farrell voice “IDIOT”! Remember that scene in Wedding Crashers? It is hilarious. Here it is should you wish to review it.

 

Music
Simple question – why do so many great bands come out of Britain? The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks, Donovan, Led Zeppelin, Coldplay, Mumford and Sons. This list goes on and on. What is it? The weather?!

Love Actually
Speaking of British I am in love with Hugh Grant. And, like Paul McCartney if Hugh would just give me a chance I think he’d like me. :) But I digress. Around Christmas time I re-watched one of my favourite movies of all time Love Actually. If you have never seen this film you must. There are many great scenes in this movie but there is one I have watched again and again on youtube. I don’t think I have ever seen two actors communicate emotion better just by simple facial expressions and body language. To set the scene, Kiera Knightley’s character has dropped by the home of Mark, her husband’s best friend. Mark took footage of their recent wedding and she would like to see the video. Mark has been resistant in sharing it with her. Okay enough said. Great clip. If you have 5 minutes watch it.

That’s all for now. I hope it won’t be another two months before I write again.

Lots of love,
The Inconsistent Blogger :)

I Will NOT Become a Stat – Part One

It’s dusty in here. Almost like the owner just up and left the place.

I hate when I qualify as a “stat”. When I started blogging I read that most bloggers give up around month six. My last post was at the end of June. I started my blog in January. You do the math.

In all honesty it is summer around these parts and the summer is always a buzzin’ good time for me. Sometimes a little too heavy on the buzzin’ part.

I spent four nights at The Treehouse - Babs’ cottage near Westport. Babs once did a guest post for me about some Facebook folly. She is also a frequent commenter here and well, she corrects my spelling and grammar. I know, I know. An editor WITH a cottage? How lucky can one girl get?  My children did not accompany us this year so I quickly regressed to my younger days and behaved as though I was 18 years old. That’s where the heavy on the buzzin’ thing comes in.

The Treehouse dock. The only thing missing is me on it.

Needless to say it was a great time spent with great friends. We drank, ate and made merry. On the last night we played our favourite card game “Gravy”. I laughed so hard I pulled an abdominal muscle. Seriously.

Oh. And I bought new shoes. Weird statement to throw in there when it comes to vacationing at a cottage but hey, I love shoes. And hey, Babs’ cottage is close to Kilborns- shoe emporium extraordinaire.

The purchase.

With a wedge heel.

From The Treehouse I had one night at home and it was off to London for me and my teenager, Colin. We visited my brother and his family in their newly renovated flat in West London.

Beautiful.

London offered all sorts of fun and fancy including preparations for the Olympics, Big Ben, the Tower of London and Hampton Palace – home to none other than Henry VIII – who, by the way, I am totally obsessed with. All of this and the horrific story of a lady with a hole in her face. Please stay tuned for Part Deux of this post which I promise will be produced in the next few days. It feels good to be back. :)

I have been at this post for an hour and a half and due to the complete RIDICULOUSNESS of the photo uploader the majority of my time has been spent dealing with the photos. I have only had time to muster up about 300 words. If anyone reads this and could tell me an easy way to deal with the uploader and also how to get the captions CENTRED under the pictures I would greatly appreciate it. Also, is there a way to eliminate the horizontal line that begins the captions? And why did the first picture of my new shoes cut off the end of my toes? It did NOT look like that in the original! Grrrrrrrr!

50 Ways to Have Fun with a Missing Letter

To wrap up the week I am going to ask you to join in on a couple of goofy but fun things that happened to me this week. Please participate if you feel so inclined. Continued laughter is always a good thing.

First off, I heard a hit song from 1975 the other day and I have not been able to get it out of my head.

I have to admit, I turned the volume up and had myself a good time listening to this song of insanity. As I smiled and hummed along I started to count the ways in which Paul Simon explains you can leave your lover. You can:

1. Slip out the back, Jack.
2. Make a new plan, Stan. (is this one of the ways to leave or is it what you do when an attempt has failed?)
3. You don’t need to be coy, Roy. (this is not a way to leave, this is advice on how to act)
4. Hop on the bus, Gus.
5. You don’t need to discuss much. (more advice, not an actual way to leave)
6. Just drop off the key, Lee. And get yourself free. (it’s that easy?)

According to my calculations that is only 4 ways. So my question is this – where are the other 46 ways? When I cued up the song on youtube lots of people had left comments suggesting other ways to leave. The first person suggested “push her off the cliff, Cliff” which, to me, was a zero on creativity. There have got to be more inspiring ways than that. Can you think of any? Perhaps we really can think up 46 more ways to leave your lover. I doubt it, but maybe.

My second bit of fun this week came at work when a system-wide memo was released from our workplace with the word “public” misspelled as “pubic”. Once we’d heard about it and laughed about it, my friend stood up from the table and said she was off to the “pubic washroom”. I then added that the faux pas must have been ”pubicly humiliating”. And so it went. Feel free to add to this ridiculousness. I am dying to see if you come up with some new ones.

The Hard Sell

Well I did it. A couple of weeks ago I got back on the horse. It really wasn’t nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be and I am so happy to be back at it. But there’s a down side. After interaction with a girl at the front desk I somehow signed up for 3 sessions with a personal trainer. She was, shall we say, very adept at the “hard sell”. I do believe, judging from her appearance, that her main role - perhaps her only role at the gym is to sell. So the last couple of weeks I have enjoyed some weight lifting classes along with my 3 sessions with David, the trainer. Tonight I had my last one hour session with big D and let me tell you it was a good workout. But, there’s a down side. Or should I say, there’s a side to it that both puzzles and annoys me all at the same time.

We worked out for 45 minutes and then he led me into the “conference room” where he explained all the wonderful ways in which he was going to build my strength, help me lose 10 pounds, make me more energetic and make me look like Jennifer Aniston. Okay well, maybe he didn’t include that last part. But after going on and on and on he finally got to the price. “So, let’s see,” said David, “that’s 84 sessions over 11 months and it’s $54 per hour so that would be (click click click on the calculator) $4536. Plus tax that is $5125.68. Today you leave me with a 10% deposit, that would leave $4613. You can pay that in monthly installments for $419.37 per month. Oh and I’m not going to lie to you, the financing charge is 10% so the monthly amount would be a little higher than that.” Well let me just say I went totally stiffy goat.

When I picked myself up off the floor I explained to David that, should I win the lottery at any time in the near future, I’d be back to sign up. Seems to me, it’s hard to do anything these days without someone trying to squeeze every last penny out of you. In the meantime, I think I’ll stick to my own plan.

Challenges

Do you like challenges? For the most part, I don’t. They remind me of that game “Truth or Dare”. Being rather shy and insecure as a kid (I know – shocking, isn’t it?), I never liked that game – way too much pressure. So it is with great surprise and horror that I just did something that is comparable to accepting a dare. I joined the Blogging from A to Z challenge. This challenge entails writing a post for every day in April except Sundays. As the title suggests, the posts run through the entire alphabet from A to Z. Other than that, there are not a lot of rules. As long as the post concentrates on something that begins with that particular letter of the alphabet then I’m doing it right. I was so hesitant to click the “join” button but I finally realized that if I can’t complete the challenge, nothing is going to happen. It is not like I am risking a paid job. Plus, I got a badge for my site just by joining. And I think you all know how much I love badges (small things amuse small minds). In fact, I wonder if I really want to do the challenge or if I just wanted another badge on my footer. So, what the hell! I joined. Now I have to start thinking. I already have an idea for B and for P. Only 24 more letters to go. Hey! To make this thing a little more interactive, why don’t  you pick a letter and give me a word or topic for that letter. I know the 5 of you don’t like to comment very often but come on, speak up – throw me a bone would ya?!!

Pull Up A Chair

Hi. How are ya? It’s been awhile. You look good. New haircut? Lost some weight? Okay, I totally stole that opener from another blog. Do not fret, that site will get full credit in the post that follows. First though, I need to tell you to pull up a chair if you are going to read this to completion. I was wondering what to write about and, as usual, tons of ideas went through my head. I tried to write and well, it all sounded lame. In the last while or so I have discovered a few things that have really made me laugh or smile or say “cool” right out loud. So today, my faithful readers (all 5 of you) I am going to do my very first “list” post and share with you what I’ve been checking out lately. The reason I say “pull up a chair” is because some of them are links. This will require some time. And, being more than just a pretty face (haha), I realize that time is the most precious of commodities these days. We like things quick and fast. Well, most things. LaughingAnyway…… if you give up some of your valuable time, I think you’ll be glad you did. Personally, I think that every link is well worth the click. However, I’ll leave the clicking up to you. Pick and choose as you like.

Ten Things I’ve Discovered Lately That Made Me Laugh, Smile or Say COOL

*listed in no particular order

1. This song and the video that accompanies it is trés cool. It is done by a friend but I am not telling you to watch it just because I know him. It is really good. Really. And, at the end, you are going to say “cool”.

2. I decided to look up top Canadian blogs (because I am patriotic like that) and I found this one. It is SO funny. I read a few posts and even the next day was laughing out loud thinking back to some of them. I’ve returned more than once and you will too. And the blogger, also known as the CEO of the company, despite being busy, is accommodating to requests. Register using your email. I asked him to put that there and he kindly organized some low level staff to do it. So use it. I hope he can keep the business going. With the winter being as it was this year it can’t be easy to keep up a profit Snow Shovelling in Canada.

 

3. This one’s really easy, requiring no clicking at all. I got an email today from FatCow - my hosting account for this site. It explained that all the electricity they use is produced by wind power. I am not at all one of those over-the-top green people but something about wind power fascinates me. And FatCow was offering a choice of a few different “badges” to add to my site to advertise their eco-friendliness. Adding a new “badge” to my site gives me a huge THRILL! (I don’t get out much.) Scroll to the bottom of this page. Go do it. I’ll wait……Did you see it? Not sure about you, but when I saw it I really did say “cool” right out loud.

4. Speaking of wind power did you know that if Canada and the US had enough wind turbines they could produce all the electricity they need and then some. Kind of begs the question so why don’t we have more turbines? I think it’s because people don’t like what they look like. So ridiculous (insert rolling eyes emoticon here). But….that’s a topic for another post. The science blogger I learned this from sends out a couple of blogs per day and many are short “science facts of the day”. Maybe you are saying to yourself wtf is she talking about? Just trust me on this one. I find myself sharing these little scientific tidbits with whoever is around me. Even if they’re strangers.Try it. You’ll like it. And you may even make some new friends. Science-Based Life – Promoting the Public Understanding of Science

5. This is the blog that I stole my opener from today. Another Canadian blog. I found it very entertaining! So take some time and read about Sex, Drugs & CT Scans.

6. I’ve been grooving on this song lately that makes me smile every time I hear it. It makes me think about when I was young. Upon viewing the video, some of the images are also reminiscent of when I was young(er). Yikes. Have a look and a listen. And remember back to when we were young and we thought we could set the world on fire. Enjoy.

7.  My son posted this on his Facebook the other day. Considering the boy lives his life on wheels I thought it was rather profound that he posted this picture with this quote. Made me very proud of his courage. And his attitude.

“It only hurts when I’m not laughing.” – Jackie Chan

8. Angry Birds. I’m late to the game I know but I installed it on my new smart phone. My friend and co-worker developed a strong addiction to this game last year. Now I know why. Try it. It’s never-ending fun.

9. I’m no prude and normally I enjoy half-naked men. But not necessarily as they are walking down the street pushing their child (grandchild possibly) in their little plastic car. And not necessarily while out on the driveway sudsing up the car. The unseasonably warm weather and sunshine have gone straight to some people’s heads. And chests apparently. Made me smile and think wtf? all at the same time.

10. Do you think journalists phrase things in a certain way kind of, sort of, on purpose? Do you think they smile when they do it? I do. Newspaper article, second paragraph, first sentence. I’ll let you decide.

Hope you enjoyed my first list post. If you check out any of my links or if you have something you’d like to share that makes you say “cool” then please, do share in the comments section below!

Rest Your Soul

*I’ve been consumed the last couple of days with a criminal trial going on in a town fairly close to me. It involves a child and bad things and, although this is NOT about violent details, if you are the type that would rather not hear anything about stories like this then I’d advise you not to read it.*

Are monsters born or bred? The trial began this week against the man who, with the help of his girlfriend, kidnapped, sexually assaulted and murdered 8-year-old Tori Stafford. The girlfriend is already serving a life sentence having pled guilty in a previous trial. But she has been on the stand the last couple of days and many in the courtroom describe it as meeting evil face to face. Someone on the radio today was asking people to call in to give their reactions to what they’ve heard about little Tori’s last few hours on earth. I will not print the details here – they are easily attainable elsewhere - and they’re not my motivation for writing. Suffice it to say the girl suffered. A lot. The feelings and emotions upon hearing of Tori’s fate are not easily explained. If there were an emotion that was a mixture of deep sadness, horror, sympathy and sickness all rolled into one that might come close to describing the feeling.

So many questions roll around my head in a situation such as this one. First off, the girlfriend – who has admitted to being the one to lure Tori and the one to actually murder Tori. She was the beginning and the end. A “favour” for her boyfriend. They had been dating only 3 months. 3 months. At what point in time did it ever become normal in this girl’s eyes for her boyfriend to casually mention he’d like to kidnap someone? Why did she not find it dangerously creepy when he asked her to help him get someone young. And that ”the younger the better” as they were more “easy to manipulate”. Was this not the first clue that the guy was beyond anything even remotely approaching normal? What makes a young girl go along with such a thing when in fact she should be running straight to the police and reporting him for even vocalizing such a thing? This is the first of many things that baffles me.

Reportedly, she was happy to finally have a boyfriend who was “a good guy” and who “had a job”. How desperate had her life become? Adopted at birth, then apparently bounced around a few foster homes, trouble with the law, detention centres – her life was no picnic I’m sure – but to stoop to this level of gruesomeness? At what point did her conscience shut off? And if it was something in her unstable upbringing that tilted her toward such heartlessness, how come no one ever noticed? It is abhorrent that one person’s upbringing can be someone else’s demise. The number of times this woman could have set Tori free, let her out of the car, told her to run – they stopped for a coffee – a coffee for God’s sake – and still she participated in the little girl’s imprisonment. What was she thinking when Tori innocently said she wanted to go home and that she promised she wouldn’t tell anyone? The poor little girl. She obviously knew she was in trouble – that being taken away in a car like this represented something that needed to be kept secret. Imagine. Eight years old and trying to strike such a bargain. It is torture just thinking about it.

And what now of Tori’s parents? Her closest loved ones? It’s easy for people to watch and listen and be horrified at what happened but Tori’s parents have entered a prison from which there is no escape. The conviction and sentencing of these two monsters does only one thing – it protects others who may have met the same fate at their hands. It is the law and it is a consequence. But it is not closure. At the end of it all, everyone else goes home and back to a life they’ve always known. Tori’s parents will never be so lucky. There is nothing, nothing, that will erase the fact that she is gone forever.

I never knew Tori Stafford. But I spoke to her today and this is what I said:

I’m not sure why but having read the details of your last few hours I feel the need to tell you how sorry I am. I am sorry that you left this world while staring into the face of evil. We give so much thought to how human beings enter this world and not enough sometimes to how they exit the world. You were only 8 years old with your whole life ahead of you. I am sorry you had to see the worst that humanity can be. And that you left this world surrounded by monsters. Children dying is never a pleasant topic but for you to have not just lost your life – but to have had it taken from you by other, older people in pursuit of their own “pleasure” – it is, quite simply, unbearable to even contemplate. At 8 years of age you had to endure wickedness that most people never experience in an entire life time. Those two poor excuses for human beings will most definitely spend the rest of their lives in jail and yet, even if they were to be killed for what they did to you – as many would like to see happen – even if they were killed, it still wouldn’t be enough. There is no compensation for what you experienced in your last few hours on earth. And nothing brings you back to the parents that love you and to the innocent world of which you were a part. I am so, so sorry you had to see what no child should ever see. I am so sorry you experienced adults who pretended they could be trusted but who, instead, took you and lied to you and scared you and hurt you. I am so, so sorry. Rest your soul little one. Yours is a story that won’t soon be forgotten.

 

Old Eyes Meet Dystonia

Oh my what a morning I had. First off, I got an email from Pinterest saying I could join. That was an honour. Too bad I can not figure out how to do anything on the site except look at other people’s stuff. Oh well, it’s par for the course these days. It’s twitter that really did me in this morning. I joined twitter last year but never really used it until I started my blog. In many ways I find navigating twitter more confusing than navigating the blog. Thank god for my chief editor and technical advisor Babs who attempts to keep me in the techie-know and makes sure I continue being who I am - which, as you will see, is sometimes just kinda stupid.

This morning I saw that I had received an HM on twitter. (Hidden message for those not in the know – which was me until a week ago when Babs told me what it meant.) Yesterday I started to follow 2girlsonabench and the HM this morning was to thank me for the follow. “Well. Isn’t that nice,” I thought to myself, “for them to take the time to be courteous when the cyber world is so huge.” Right then and there I thought, I am going to do that too. When people follow me, I am going to thank them too just like the bench girls.

What I need to add at this point is that it was the morning. I did not have my glasses on and I need new glasses (translate: stronger prescription required). Please also keep in mind that last year I found out I have this annoying thing called task-oriented dystonia. Basically I can’t really write (with a pen, although some would argue I can’t write period). Typing I can still manage. Basically the pointer finger on my right hand starts to contract inward whenever I try to write. It causes just a little difficulty when typing on my blackberry. And, well, ya, it was my blackberry I was using when I decided to answer the 2 girls’ HM. So I held the blackberry at arms length (remember I had no glasses on) and I started to type but when I was done I had exceeded the character number and tried to delete back. Inadvertently, somehow I pressed send. So the beginning of my tweet went like this:  ”I am new to logging and twitter… “  Yes, I typed logging. The dystonia finger slipped on me. I had to take my son out to his bus at that moment so I could do nothing about the faux pas. As I was coming back in my front door I started to imagine the conversation that the 2 girls would have should they see my HM response. Picture them say…..sitting on a bench. Tricia has her phone.

Tricia: Well this is weird.

Siara: What?

Tricia: I sent an HM to thank this newbie for following us on twitter.

Siara: So. What’s so weird about that?

Tricia: Well she responded and it says “I am new to logging and twitter….”

Siara: Logging?

Tricia: Yes. But here, look at her picture. She doesn’t look like a logger.

Siara: (looking at picture) No she certainly doesn’t. I always think of loggers as big and burly and, well, men.

Tricia: Me too. But she is Canadian.

Siara: But what would a logger be doing on twitter?

Tricia: I don’t know. Maybe she’s a blogger.

Siara: A logger blogger?

(laughter)

Tricia: Can loggers blog?

Siara: Well why not? But what kind of blog do you think she’d write?

Tricia: A log blog?

(more laughter)

Oh dear god I am making such an impression aren’t I? Eventually I was able to delete the tweet re: the logging blogging and resend what I meant to say. Which is that I am new to blogging and twitter and that I think I will adopt their habit of thanking new followers. As I’ve done before let me just end by responding as my son would. /facepalm

It’s Teen Time

I’ve been spending lots of time on the net. Reading lots of blogs. Trying to figure out twitter. Still don’t get it. I have RSS on my blog. But I have no clue what it means. Finally found the meaning of “hash-tag”. Had fun making a contribution to #LiesPeopleAlwaysTell (Those jeans make you look slimmer – oh the ways in which I amuse myself.) Even giggled a bit at the word hash. Had to post it on FB - Wow. How hash has changed since I was a teen. Speaking of teens, that’s the point of my post tonight. For two reasons. First because so much of what I am trying to learn is so foreign and new to me. So, this must be what a teenager feels like as they try to meander their way through life, no longer a little kid, but still largely lacking in experience of any kind. And second because as I hop around Blogville I notice so many blogs on parenting young children (so many of them SO funny I might add) but I have yet to come across too many parents blogging about their teens. They’re probably out there and I just haven’t found them yet. Or maybe not. Parenting teens is not always a blog-worthy experience. I have two sons. My oldest boy is 15. He is a good kid. Nice kid. Doesn’t go out too much. Hasn’t wrecked my house or stolen the car yet. My liquor bottles are all accounted for. But still. Something happens to teenagers. I’m not sure exactly what happens but I’m going to tell one short story and then you decide.

My son went away with the school band for the day to play in a concert. On these occasions all the kids are dressed up – black dress pants, white collared shirt, tie, black shoes. When the teenager arrived home that day he had his winter coat on and a hat (it was very cold being winter and all). I looked down as he took off his shoe. Yes. I said shoe – as in singular.

Me: “Where is your other shoe?”

Teenager: I lost it.

Me:  WTF?  You lost one shoe?

Teenager: Well I forgot my dress shoes so I only had these (looks down at running shoes). When it was our turn on stage I took my runners off because I had black socks on so I figured the teacher wouldn’t notice that I forgot my dress shoes.

Me: But why did you come home with only one?

Teenager: I put them to the side of the stage and when I went back there was only one.

Me: So you rode back on the bus to your school like that?

Teenager: Yeah.

Me: And you walked home with one shoe?

Teenager: Yeah.

Me: But it is freezing cold out today.

Teenager: Well I didn’t step in any of the puddles.

Me: (silence)

And this, my dear friends, is the teenage brain fast at work. Yikes. Give me strength.

Being who I am

This blog thing has taken up a lot of space in my brain lately. I keep trying to learn the technological side of the site and am making some (painfully slow) changes. At the same time, I am trying to write as often as possible since this is what it’s all about really isn’t it? One of the thoughts that keeps rolling around my brain is that my blog site needs more focus. This is the “tip” I keep reading over and over again. And so these thoughts go through my head. I have an average of 7.5 eurekas per day. Then I run to the computer where I discover that my eureka was someone else’s eureka in 2004. “Daily smile”, “Daily feel good”, “Laugh a day”, “Laugh a minute” ……..sigh…….all taken. After speaking (well emailing really – do I have to define the mode of communication in 2012? texting, speaking, emailing, skyping, facebooking, tweeting, WHATEV – you get my drift) to a friend- one of my oldest friends (as in known her a long time, not as in she is so f^$#ing old) today about my latest blog  A Car Salesman, An Owl and a Vet she mentioned that it is nice to hear a story such as that, a feel good story. Kind of refreshing since there is so much bad news out there today. So my friend (the old one :) ) inspired me a bit and I got to thinking hey! maybe that is the “focus” I need. All good, feel good stories all the time. I love feel good stories as much as the next guy so why not? But then I came to a realization. I want my blog to reflect who I am. I want to use my blog to get through life – to feel good and to feel bad – because that is what I am and that is what is real to me. I am generally happy. But sometimes I’m not. I generally hum ”When you’re happy and you know it” in my head. But sometimes I hum ”Everybody hurts”. I generally like people and offer them the best of who I am. But I also mistrust people and stupid people really bug me. I generally reach out and want to make people feel good about themselves. But sometimes I don’t give a s*&(. See where I’m going with this? This is who I am. I am the yin and the yang, the light and the dark, the up and the down, the alpha and the omega. Okay perhaps that last one is a bit of a stretch but you know what I am saying. I am human. I encompass all of these things. (Secretly, I think everyone encompasses all of these things even the ones who are so positive all the time that they seem to sweat sugar.) My blog has to be a place that I can let anything fly. Some days something inspires me. Some days something makes me cry. Some days something makes me angry. My blog just won’t be me if I don’t allow myself that freedom. One thing I know for sure (oh Oprah would be so proud of me!) is that I am real and I am honest. What you see is what you get. You will find the same person behind the keyboard that you would find at my job or at a family function or at a social gathering. My blog has to reflect this or it will be strained and uncomfortable and I won’t be able to write. Glad I got that out of my system! One last thing - a big shout out to my “old” friend who is also my only reader! Love ya Babs!