Where do you want to be in 5 years?

Tags

5 years, A.A.S, Bachelors degree, chookooloonks.com, degrees, goals, God, ideas, Karen Walrond, legal studies, libraries, library, life, M.L.I.S, Momversation, Paralegal Studies, parents, plans, school

Tonight I happened to read a blog entry on the website Chookooloonks.com. This website was created by Karen Walrond, who I discovered via Momversation.

I love Karen’s site and reading all that she posts. Her photography is amazing and when I read her blog entries I feel like we are sharing a cup of tea and having conversations so real they are nearly tangible in their intensity. Not to mention she has a wonderful speaking voice that I have heard many times in Momversation videos and that always helps to set the relaxed yet intense tone of her blog.

Tonight she talked about planning and asked her readers the question if we knew where we wanted to be in five years, and did we wish we did, or did we even care? Here is my response

My parents used to tell me “Want to make God laugh? Make a plan”. I firmly believe this to be true. Don’t get me wrong I have goals that I have set (and reset) for myself over the years, but I find when I plan it out, it inevitably gets twisted.

Ten years ago I would have said I didn’t know what I wanted to do or to be. I was interested in history, in teaching and I loved books. I, for the love of all, was not going to be a librarian like my mom. I had already spent six years in libraries.

Ten years later, I have my AAS in Paralegal Studies,  and I was attempting my Bachelors degree in Legal Studies. I had it all mapped out. That is until I started working in the library after a year and a half hiatus. Once I shelved my first book I knew I was home. So I changed my major and I am going to take that degree and my 14 years of library experience and I am going to get my Masters in Library and Information Sciences.

If I had to project what my life would look like in five years, I have to honestly say, I don’t know. I would like to be finished with my M.L.I.S., I would like to have a full time job with benefits, and I would like to be living on my own and sharing my life with all the people that I love and that I have connected with in the past 30 years.  I want to have people over, host the Super Bowl, and to have time to devote to things like writing and photography and crafts – things that have fallen by the wayside since I went back to school.

Will that happen? I have no idea. I’m not making any plans…

Am I happy with the idea of not making solid long term plans? Yes. As I have grown I have seen how quickly life can change and I don’t want to miss on out on beautiful moments because I was too busy focused on life’s to do list.  I am content enough to say that I want to do x, y, and z things in life and leave it at that. Are there moments when x, y, and z can’t come soon enough? Sure, of course. I am just not ready to lay down the law of a strict timeline just yet – but you may want to check back with me on that when I hit 40….

Cleaning Euphoria?

Tags

apartment, blankets, burden, cleaning, clear, clear out, clutter, decluttering, euphoria, goodwill, home, house, junk, living room, pillows, popcorn, rubbish, salvation army, stuff, tissues, totes

I have spent the last three days or so clearing stuff out. I have thrown away at the very least half a dozen plus bags of garbage, and I have a half a dozen large boxes/totes and a garbage bag of clothes to take to the goodwill.  Woo hoo! Right?!? Not so much. Even with all that gone I still feel like this house is overloaded with stuff. I am so ready to have that feeling of cleaning and space euphoria and it’s not quite there. I must say I am a bit dismayed.

This means there can only be one cure. I need to get rid of more junk. It never fails to amaze me at how quickly it accumulates. I went through some of my things awhile back -specifically items to go into whatever place I am living in after this house. I managed to purge half of my collection. Afterwards I felt the most amazing sense of euphoria at what I had accomplished. I was hoping to feel that same sort of release today.

I thought by getting rid of this many things and organizing my other totes in the basement I would feel like the burden of it would be lifted, but it’s not. Ever since the end of school I have been looking to streamline the amount of stuff in the rooms that I am in the most.

Times like this I dream about the day I can move out, and what that place will look like. I am envisioning clear counter tops, book cases with minimal knick knacks – e.g. one vase. The one thing that will have “clutter” is the living room floor on movie night. Blankets, pillows, popcorn and tissues will be all over the floor. Now that is my kind of clutter.

Media and Politics

Tags

America, Americans, camera, cnn, Congressman Weiner, Fox News, mitt romney, News, photo, pic, politics, romeny, tweet, Twitter, underpants, underwear, weiner, weinergate

I have posted on here before of my opinion of news sites and what they choose to post. More often than not I find myself rolling my eyes rather than feeling educated. Today I went in search of Mitt Romney to find out more about his platform and what people are saying.

Was I greeted with Romney news? Sure, after I look past Weinergate: A Tale of a Man, A Camera, and Twitter. The top, not one, two, or three, but FOUR, news stories were about Congressman Weiner and how his Twitter account was hacked and a picture of him in his underwear became Twitter-fare. It might be funny if it weren’t so pathetic.

How is it possible that in this country where we have the greatest informational resources known to man, what comes over the wire is a story of a man who has taken a lewd photo? Now I know some will say that he says he didn’t take it. I will believe as soon I see an elephant fly. The man never denies having not taken a photo like that, and regardless of whether or not he sent it, I believe that it is him. Let his lawyers prove otherwise.

For me this issue calls to mind many questions.

1. As a political figure, why on earth would you take a photo of yourself in your underwear? That is just stupid.

2. Why would anyone take a photo of themselves like that? I get it, long distance relationships create tough times for couples, but after seeing time and again, photos like this surfacing, why take the chance?

3. What does this say about us as Americans that not only are we giving this man the spotlight for an image that, frankly needs only be seen by his wife, but that it has taken over the political sections of news websites over and above a man who has just announced his run for the leader of the free world.

Only in this country could a man, his underpants and Twitter trump the issue of the presidency.

No More Miss Nice Gal

Tags

brother, cell phone, crazy, drama, ex-girlfriend, finish last, gals, Mississippi, nice, nice gals, nice girls finish last, phone company, Verizon, vulgar

Nice gals always finish last. Is this true? I don’t know. Some would say that it is not, other would say it is. I say today it feels true.

My brother, mother and I all went in on the same phone plan to save money. I called my carrier and got my brother a free phone – because he wanted one just like mine. I did that for him because I wanted him to have a nice phone and he really liked mine. Then I check the bill. He or someone has racked up nearly 100 dollars in charges such as downloading ringtones – I can’t see my brother downloading Justin Bieber. His ex girlfriend however, I can.

She currently has the phone. The phone bill is about to go over its minutes. I have tried to get it back, but to no avail. She wont meet me because I am a stranger, even though I wanted to meet in a public place. (She cant meet a stranger but its ok for me to pay her phone bill.) Then we offer to pay for her a cab to go to my brother to drop the phone off but she wont do that because she doesn’t trust cabs. Bottom line it this woman is nuts, a user, and a liar. She also has an extremely vulgar mouth. I can’t remember the last time the f-bomb was used at me, or I was called that word.

I am just hoping to get the phone back from her. If I shut the phone off, then I really have no way to contact her to get it back. She has also threatened to throw it in the Mississippi. Funny she can make it to the river to drop it in but not to the home to drop it off. The genius has said all of this in a text message, so if I ever take her to court I have proof she has destroyed the phone. She claims to not have a car to get to the home so I have given her until 6pm tomorrow to get the phone back to me or I call the police, report it stolen, and call the phone company to shut the service off. Then I will start court proceedings against her for the cost of the phone and the charges to the phone. I have checked it out and I think I can prove it was her who downloaded the ringtones by looking at the calls that took place around the times that the ringtones were downloaded. I can prove a couple, but I have to investigate further. I want to be prepared if I have to go to court.

This nice gal will not be finishing last.

The Art of the Blinker

Tags

adults, art, blinker, brake, car, cell phone, Charmin, driving, french fry, killed, make up, razor, teens, toilet paper, turn signal, vehicle, Wal-Mart

Yes it is once again time for me to stand up high on my soap box again about the use of the blinker. Its a lost art form, I am convinced. I don’t know if I can resurrect it from endangerment with my blog, but I am sure going to try.

I was on my way to work this morning and while traveling down Rt. 3 I saw my turn. I promptly turned on my blinker and applied my brake. The fellow behind me, obviously not used to seeing such an event, did not slow down. (Yeah I am talking about you, you douchebag, didn’t think this would make the internet huh? Think again pal, its 2010. Everything you do makes the internet. You are darn lucky I didn’t make a video and YouTube your doucheyness.)

I tapped my brake lights in hopes that he would see me and slow up. No such luck.  I tapped them again because my turn is swiftly approaching. Still this fellow is not slowing down. I wind up having to merge to the shoulder of the road and then make a higher than appropriate speed turn because I was afraid of being rear-ended. Not only did this moron risk my life, but there was someone pulling out of the same drive that I was pulling into. Had I not been able to merge onto the shoulder, this man would have been at risk.

All I am saying is when you drive, pay attention. You don’t need to drive and multitask. Driving IS multi-tasking.  If you are going to put on lipstick, let’s not do it while your foot is on the gas pedal. When your foot goes down, so should your make up, your cell phone, your french fry and your electric razor. A car has proven to be, over and over, a lethal weapon. You could kill someone, or render someone permanently immobile for the rest of their life because you had to text the hubby to pick up toilet paper from Wal-Mart. Really, is someone’s life worth Charmin?

I have seen commercials advertising gadgets that allow parents to see how the teens are driving. Great! My question is “Who is monitoring the parents?” Teens learned this behavior somewhere, most of them didn’t just “learn it from their friends”. Friends can be blamed for a lot of influences, but the day we see change is when parents realize they are the first ones to influence their kids.

Mangoes and other fruit.

Tags

apples, fruit, honeydew, juce, mango, mangoes, peaches, pears, pineapple, raw, strawberries, supermarket, watermelon

I know that this will be a rather silly post, but I am feeling a bit silly, so lets just roll with it, shall we?

I do not understand the fascination with mangoes. Can someone please explain it to me? I have tried mangoes all sorts of ways, and I am really just not a fan. I can have fruit salad and I will be chomping along, mmm, pear, tasty peach, tart pineapple, and then I hit this bit of something that is harder than the peach and not nearly as tasty and sweet and oh, it must be the mango.

I have tried to be fair to the mango. I have tried it raw, juiced, with cream, in candies and I still do not like it. It has an odd, acidic, peppery sort of taste to it to me. Today I was at the grocery store and they had these fruit cups that I like and I was selecting which ones I wanted to purchase. I made sure to get some of the citrus mix, which is grapefruits and oranges, peaches, pineapple and then I hit on one that had mangoes. It looked so tasty, but I knew that the appeal would turn to disgust the moment I bit into the funkiness that is the mango.

I love fruit. Cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, (cherries are a little shady), grapes, apples, oranges, pomegranates, pears, bananas, kiwi, peaches, nectarines. Summer time is like a fruit buffet. I love it. I love the seasons of fruit. Peach season, strawberry season, apple season. But, in my house, it is never mango season. I walk past it int the store. It looks tasty, I should like it. So many people love this fruit. What is it I am not seeing, am I doing something wrong? I stare at it and eventually I move on, not encouraged enough to try it one more time.

So, I am looking for suggestions here. Am I doing this wrong? How can improve my mango detection skills? Are some mangoes better than others? How do you cut the stinking thing without obliterating it? Any advice would be appreciated, but until then, mangoes and I will continue our stare-down in the supermarket.

New Year’s Resolutions

Tags

declutter, family, life, New Years, New Years resolutions, self, time

This is the time of year when I get asked if I have made any New Year’s Resolutions. My answer is usually no. This year, I have thought about it. While I still don’t really like the idea of them, I do think are some things in my life I would like to change, and so why not now?

The first thing I would like to change is my time and commitment to my family. I should keep in better contact with them and I don’t. I should write more and call more often than what I do.

The second thing is I would like to change how I spend my day. I think I could spend my days in a more productive manner. By this I mean not just making my lists and following through, but to budget my time better with those tasks.

And because all great things come in threes, my third thing is to continue decluttering my life of things I don’t need. I have a lot of stuff. I could do with less stuff. Sometime in this year I would like to move and when I do, I want that process to be as painless as possible. I don’t want to take 30 years of life with me when I go. I am sure just the last 10 would do just fine.

Its Shop N Save, not your bedroom

Tags

bathe, children, clean, clothes, dress, grocery store, obama, pajamas, Shop N Save, shower, smell, society, store

 Seriously, why can’t people leave their pajamas in the bedroom? Or at least their own house? 

I went to the grocery store today to pick up a few items. While I was there, I ran into countless people I knew, and even more folks who looked like they rolled out of bed. I can’t tell you how many parents were there and they were wearing their pajamas and house slippers. They weren’t getting one or two items, they were getting cartloads. I saw more than one set of children in pajama pants, and it was cold! Why are we pairing pajamas with boots? What example does this set? 

Now I am not a really prissy kind of girl. I follow three simple rules. 1. Be clean 2. Smell good. 3. Wear clothes that fit. 

I love to be clean. I don’t and will never understand people who do not bathe. That to me is gross. I have a couple of different body washes that I love. It’s so lovely to step under warm water and smell that wonderful scent all over your skin. Why on earth would someone say, Gee no thanks, I don’t need to be clean? 

I also love to smell good. In fact, I just went out today and bought a new cologne. It is a rather nice one that I can wear to work. It’s not uber special, but it is nice. I love my colognes. I don’t leave the house without one on, and if I don’t have time, I have one in my purse or I throw one in my purse. I also use scented lotions. I come into contact with people, the least I can do is to smell nice. Plus putting on a special scent makes me feel good. For me a scent can alter my mood. I can feel fun and flirty, or sweet, or warm, or sexy or my favorite, that kind of scent you just get a hint of and want to get a bit closer to just smell one more time. 

Wearing clothes that fit is important. Who wants to see a saggy butt? Who wants to see someone wear a shirt that looks like its buttons are potential projectiles? 

I don’t understand why people don’t dress anymore. All I see is ripped sloppiness. Don’t get me wrong, I love my jeans as much as the next girl, but I like to wear boots not tennis shoes all the time. I feel like people don’t take pride in how they look. I like to look polished, not made up, or over dressed, but polished. I like to do the messy wavy –looks like you just had a bit of a romp — hair but it doesn’t look like woodland creatures have been nesting there for a week. There is a difference.  I don’t like to wear a lot of make up, but I like to look like I have defined features. I don’t like to put on the ritz everyday for work, but I do like to wear earrings and a scarf or brooch to go with my necklace. I don’t wear a lot of rings, mainly just one. Sometimes I will wear two. 

Obama talked of change and of changing our country. Maybe we need to change out of our pajamas first?

The Incomparable Etta James

Tags

11:30, At Last, break, commercial, Diet Coke, Etta James, I Just Want To Make Love To You, life, lucky, Lucky Vanous, music, Music Blogging, random

Most folks when they think of  Etta James think of her classic At Last. That is one of her best, but I also think about her other songs as well.  Today I feel a bit sassy, a bit feisty. So, when this Etta James song popped up on my iTunes, I was thrilled. It fit me perfectly in this moment, and so I thought I would share. The first time I heard I Want To Make Love To You was in a Diet Coke commercial with a male model named Lucky Vanous. Eleven-thirty took on a whole new meaning after this commercial.

 

 

That commercial is always the first thing I think of when I hear this, however, I do love the song in its entirety so I am posting that as well. Its fun, its sassy and it’s incredibly sexy. This song just begs you to give the one you love, some good loving!!

 

Is Netspeak the New Contraction?

Tags

accident, accidents, acne, adult acne, blog, blogging, clumsiness, contractions, klutz, life, lmao, lol, netspeak, paint, random, spilling, u, ur

I know, I know. I don’t write, I don’t call. Heck I have even forgotten how to blog. This is all true, mostly. I know it has been an age since I have published. It’s been a crazy few weeks and I haven’t felt like my usual verbose self. The tide however, has now turned and I am getting back into the swing of lifeblogging. I even have an idea for a new type of blog, so look for that in the coming week or so. Man I feel like Santa!  A blog and a promise of something new to come! It’s your lucky day!!

For the record I am feeling a bit out of my wits lately. Nothing horrid has happened – though we still aren’t discussing the paint incident. I just have had a stroke of unfortunate spillings. Seriously, I thought I was supposed to be much older than 30 before this kind of action started taking place. Apparently not. The klutzy phase I missed in HS is now coming on like an ugly case of Adult Onset Acne. Both make you feel 15 years younger than you are – and NOT in a good way. It also makes you not want to leave the house. Good Lord if I can spill this much at home what will I do in a restaurant with a tall glass of ice water just sitting there taunting me?

Life’s little accidents aside though, things are good and I am back to the blogging world. Now, on to “Is NetsSpeak the New Contraction?”

I can remember when I was in school, and I had to write some sort of essay or paper. We were not allowed to use contractions as it was not deemed proper English. As I grew older, the uses of such contractions become less rigid. We had much more freedom over our shouldn’ts and couldn’ts.

Now it seems as though netspeak is the new contraction. U, ur, lol. These are words most people use every day in their texts, emails and chats. They have become symbols of our modern language. They are becoming as universal as yes and no.

At first people looked upon it in abhorrence. I can hear it now “Good Lord can’t people type out Y-O-U?” But, like the contraction, people are relaxing their rules about netspeak. There are differing views on the use of these words. The more traditional view is that our language is going to hell in a hand basket, and that netspeak is an abomination. A more progressive view is that this is the direction in which our language is evolving. They might even argue that netspeak could be considered to grow into a sort of universal language.  Country after country, nation after nation, people can readily identify the meaning behind words such as lol and lmao.

So, where do I stand? While I find lol is very convenient, I rather like typing out y-o-u. I am not wholly comfortable with just a U. It makes me feel stupid actually, as if I have forgotten how to spell versus the idea that I am just saving time by taking out the y and the o. I feel like I am dumbing down my typing. Its not really that much more of an effort to include those extra letters, so  for now I will. One day I may evolve to a place where I use u and ur more frequently, but today is not that day. Today my traditionalist little heart will rebel against modernizing the language that I love –even if I often typo the heck out of it.