The Plans are in Place

I am very excited because we are going to the new Harry Potter Theme Park in Orlando. I want to try some butter beer and maybe ride a broomstick.

In the meantime, the following tune keeps going through my head:

Snape, Snape, Severus Snape.
Snape, Snape, Severus Snape.
DUMBLEDORE!
Snape, Snape, Severus Snape.
Snape, Snape, Severus SnapE.
DUMBLEDORE!

I don't think God made me a Blogger

When I started this blog about two years ago, I was very excited and planned to write every day. But just like the small diary with the keylock I had as a teenager, one or two pages were posted and then the diary was forgotten.
I still hope that when my life eventually slows down, I will have more opportunity to express myself to myself thru this medium so one day I can look back and remember how I felt at specific times.
So, what's going on with me now............
I am about half-way through my fourth semester of grad school. The courses I am taking this quarter are both electives - Christology and Philosphical Foundations for Theology. Christology is interesting and I am doing fine with little effort. Philosophy, on the other hand, has never been easy pour moi and the class has been a struggle. I am hoping to escape with a "C" - yuck.
My full-time job is great; I love what I do and I feel like I am making a positive impact on the world. The part-time job is super busy. Money is very good, but I am about to the point where I want to give up that job altogether. It's been a fun ride, but I am tired.
I miss my daughter. She and her boyfriend plan to come here for Christmas and I am uber-excited!
The weather is decent and the bills are paid. Count your blessings!

Aging and Maturity - the Great Equalizer

I just spent the past weekend with a bunch of girls I haven't seen or spoken with since May, 1980. 30 Year high school reunion.

Some of these fine ladies never shared classes with me, and we never got to know each other while at school, but we all spent time catching up with each like we have always been family. The common experience of four angst years of high school is a bond which can't be broken.

We missed many of our classmates who could not be with us and hope to see them in five years!

It's Movie Club Thursday!!!!!

The local chapter is definitely meeting today. On the agenda - this sweaty little number:

Crabby Attitude

I don't know why but Saturday just wasn't my day.

I spent most of the day alone at home reading the latest tome for my homework assignment. Not my favorite book, but I am open to expanding my mind in the name of a Master's degree.

I went to work in the evening. For reasons I still don't understand, I found each and everything there.....irritating. I snapped at everyone. Fortunately for me, they didn't snap back. I would have deserved it.

I suppose the most telling part of this post is "I, I, I". Almost every sentance begins with it.

Companionship

OK - even though the nest has been empty this past year, I am not lonely. However, companionship has advantages.

Today is my first class in summer semester for college. Last semester, I took two classes, and I was the sole student here at my local campus, even though I had a number of classmates in Tampa (via teleconferencing). My physical classroom is shared by two other live bodies this semester, and what a difference that makes. The course is Ethics and we have already discovered that I take a much different stance than they do on matters, but we are all happy to learn from one another.

Companionship - a guilty pleasure that we social creatures should not have to do without.

The mother/daughter bond

The past nine months have been an adjustment since my daughter moved across country. So many years it was just the two of us. We have the quintessential Gump "peas and carrots" relationship.

Cell phones and unlimited minutes/text plans have made the adjustment somewhat easy. Rarely a day goes by when we don't communicate several times.

Last week was nice - she came to visit during her spring break. The time flew by so fast - doctor's appointments, pedicure/manicures, movies, beach, shopping. By the time she arrived, it was time to take her back to the airport again.

I shouldn't fuss too much, this was the fourth time we have travelled to see each other in nine months. Is that too much?

She is moving on with her life, and I am very happy with the direction it is taking.

A good night's sleep

The azaleas are barely, oh so slightly, beginning to bloom. They should be gorgeous for Easter next weekend! Oh, and those dad-gum gnats are back, too.

On a random thought, I dropped a cool $225 last night at Target. I can remember a time when that seemed like half of the world's fortune! The money was well spent, mostly on linens for the daybed and a fancy-schmancy new blow dryer. I did splurge on my bed by purchasing a new mattress cover. Top of the line, too, at least by Target standards.

The combination of a cushy new mattress pad and fresh clean sheets created such a blissful slumber. I didn't want to climb out of bed this morning :)

It was a very cold winter

It dawned on me today just how cold, and how prolonged the winter stayed here in Savannah.

One week from today is the high holy day for our city. I can't recall a time in recent memory (at least 10 years) when the azaleas had not already been in full bloom and were dying or gone before St. Patrick's Day.

There aren't even buds on the bushes yet. We may be fortunate enough to have azaleas for Easter!

My Waterpik

I didn't update on my snow post because it was a bust. Imagine that.

Anyhoo, about two weeks ago, I decided now that I am a grown up of 40+ years, I needed to protect my periodontal investment with a Waterpik. After checking the company website, I decided the hand-held model suited my needs just fine.

Thank goodness there were no hidden cameras video-taping my early uses of the toy. For four days straight, the closest comparison I can think of would be to turn a ceiling fan on high, then throw a water balloon at it.

I now have the technique down pat and love the results. A couple of pointers out there for anyone who is about to use the Waterpik for the first time:

1. Use warm water. Even room temerature water feels like ice when it hits your gums and a throbbing rate. (I tried using distilled water from a bottle - from now on, warm water from the tap)
2. Wear a raincoat.

SNOW!

The last time it snowed in Savannah, GA(not pronounced Georgia, but pronounced "G" "A") was Christmas 1989. I wasn't here for it :(

So 21 years later I am 47 years old and as giddy as a kid in Montana anticipating school closings in September due to wintery weather. By tonight, we could have as much as 3 inches!

Imagine that.

Home Depot, II

Just further proof that the Home Depot ROCKS.

The Loyalty Program

How did we get suckered into the marketing? Who was the genius that came up with the affinity program?

I have become that person who won't buy it unless I'm getting some miniscule kick-back. Cashiers hate me. I whip out that debit card, but then insist they process it as credit - thereby forcing them to produce an extra slip of paper, await my signature - credit gives me kick-back points I can use for Barnes & Nobles gift cards.

I am at the point in my life where I now fly at least 4 times a year. Not impressed, you say? It's a big deal for me. And I'll pay $30 extra to get those onepass miles over a slightly more affordable route. By 2012, I should have my first free round-trip!

The hugest delimna is hotel loyalty. I have points with Hilton, Marriott, and Starwood. When I travel for the job, I don't have the control over where to stay, and I have nightmares over even a 5,000 point bank expiring due to non-use.

The one loser in my little consumerism game is Delta Airlines. I am one of those people who have always used their middle name, and several years worth of skymiles was accumulated with that name. New TSA guidelines show tickets must be issued with the name matching the identification, and my id has my first name, my middle name, and my last name. Do you think that the good people in Delta marketing were willing to change the name on my one pass mile from my middle/last name to first/middle/last name? HELL NO. So, bye-bye, Delta, hello, Continental!

This says it all:

Men are such peacocks

My new favorite show - "Conveyor Belt of Love".
Roosters, peacocks, bower birds, all males are the same. Love it, Love it, Love it!

Liberation

This year's Christmas is like none other for me. Three things factor into the change:
1. This is my first Christmas without Dad.
2. This is my first Christmas without my daughter.
3. This is the first Christmas I haven't bought any gifts. Not a single one.

I had major unexpected expenses this month - $797 to be exact - paying an insurance deductible and buying my daughter a last minute ticket to fly here for her grandfather's funeral. That money had been my Christmas budget plus some utility bills. No cash is left over for gifts. And after a year of listening to Dave Ramsey, there is no way I'm putting anything on the credit card. I would rather be perceived as a Scrooge before I charged a gift that someone will open, smile at, then never use.

Because the daughter is spending Christmas elsewhere, I have felt no compulsion to buy her anything. It would be too costly and difficult for her to receive the gift then ship it back to her home from her current locale.

Dad's death has put a damper on things, too. No decorations have been pulled out, no tree set up and no fruitcake baked. Without him here, those other things just don't seem to be as important anymore.

With that said, I have felt an unexpected liberation from consumerism this year and it is a nice feeling. I haven't felt the stress or pressure of trying to remember who I've forgotten, I haven't fought the cars and people at the malls, and I'm classifying this as a guilty pleasure.

The Home Depot

Find a big concrete warehouse, fill it up with sawdust and plumbing, stir in some orange dye, and you have The Home Depot. Normally one would not consider the inner workings and relations of the company staff, but our family has had the priviledge of enjoying the benefits of the wonderful staff of the Home Depot for 20 years.

Dad was fortunate to be hired as a sales associate back in 1989. The trucking industry had been restructured (thanks to the earlier Carter administration) and for years Dad had a difficult time maintaining employement. It was hard to justify paying a 50+ year old man over $40K a year when you could get a recent college grad to do the same work for $20K. A childhood friend of Dad's, Sister Jude Walsh, R.S.M., had a nephew who was the store manager of the new HD location in town, and she put in a good enough reference to get Dad on the payroll.

I can remember how happy Mom and Dad were when he landed the job. Even though their fiberglass business drew enough cash to live off of, the HD job enabled them to once again have health insurance! They also took advantage of the other perks - particulary the employee stock option purchase, buying the max every paycheck. The stock soared in the 1990's and with it, they were able to cash in enough to build their dream house on the marsh.

In 2002 Dad was diagnosed with interstitial pulmonary fibrosis. Best guess is that the disease was contracted after working with that fiberglass so many years. A terminal disease, best hope was 4 years worth of life on average after diagnosis. However, an experimental drug, Acctimune, was (and is) still in the trial phases, and Dad was a candidate for the trial. Good news was the HD's EAP program was also willing to pay the $5K per month this drug costs, since insurance wouldn't pay for a non FDA approved medication. So for 7 years, HD provided my father with an extended lease on life.

It has now been 6 days since Dad passed away. So many stories are now coming out from the HD about how much he loved every co-worker and how much they loved him. The past 3 years have been particularly difficult for him as he went to work each day, but having that job and having those co-workers gave him a reason to keep living and getting out of bed every morning. Any other retailer would have fired Dad years ago. He was a liability and cut into the bottom-line net profit. But the Home Depot not only kept Dad, every few months they went out of their way to find ways to accomodate him in better ways to keep him comfortable and extend his time there.

God bless the Home Depot.

Change of Seasons

I enjoy the gradual change of every season. In a dozen weeks, I will be hoping for snow (which is extremely rare) and 20 degrees so I can cozy up with a cup of cocoa. After a few weeks of that, I will be longing for the sunshine and flowers of spring, and the ability to drop the top of the convertible. I will soon tire of that and anticipate the hot temps of the summer, and the comfort of tank tops and flip flops. Then it won't take long before the heat and humidity take its toll and I look forward to Autumn.

My only regret is that I don't live in New England. I have always thought of fall as starting in late September, early October, yet after 47 years in southeast Georgia I should have figured out our leaves don't change colors until Thanksgiving - or after. Oh well. Thanks to Tropical Depression Ida and a low front, we have had a few crisp days.

I wore my oversized yellow fleece for the entire day yesterday, inside and out. Snuggly goodness!

Living out a dream

Sometimes our dreams are grandiose, sometimes they are a little simpler.

As a child, I always dreamed of experiencing the red carpet. Like many little girls, I wanted to be a movie star in the worst way. The lights, the camera, the handsome leading men, and the glamour of costume and jewelry was my fantasy career. Well, guess what, it didn't happen.

I have had a very good life and don't regret it, but I never discarded the hope that one day I could at least visit Hollywood and see where the action takes place. And if there was one, and only one place I could visit, it would be Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Little did I know that my daughter would up and move to Los Angeles. I sometimes try to live vicariously through her and imagine what it would be like to live in the land of celebrities and paparazzi. Fortunately for me, her move has afforded me the ability to "dip my toe" and sample that life!

I made my first visit to see her two weekends ago. Four nights in LA wasn't enough time to do everything I wanted, but future trips are already booked. Of course, the top of the itinerary was seeing her, hugging her, and spending time with her. Second on the list - Grauman's.

It was what I always expected and then some - grandiose old Hollywood opulence. Because they only have one screen, you had to watch what they showed - too bad for me it was "Astroboy". Hey, its all about the ambiance there; who really cares about the movie? Everything was perfect - tall ceilings, oriental murals, even the exit sign was written in that Cantonese penmanship.
The theatre was almost vacant, only about 10 of us in there to watch the movie. Didn't matter to me. The previews came on, then the magnificent curtains closed (just like in the good old days) then reopened for the feature movie.

I was in heaven.

Exasperation

I live in a planned community. There are many individual homes, and there are a few condo complexes; I own a condo. Due to the community amenities (2 clubhouses, 2 pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, fire department subscription, human resources at community level, decorative signs at roads) everyone (homeowners and condo owners) pay monthly subscription for these and the cost is equal - about $25 a month. Each condo complex has additional amenities shared only by those condo owners (monthly terminex service for pests, bi-annual cleaning of exterior of building, landscaping, roofing, parking lot maintenance, and insurance on the exterior of the structure). There are only 8 units in my complex so the cost is high (about $125 a month), whereas the condo complex across the street from me has over 60 units, and their cost is lower (about $115 a month).

I just received a visit from a condo owner from another part of the community. She asked me to sign a petition - the monthly amenities at her complex are going up $8 a month. She is against the increase based on the argument that our economy is in a recession, people are struggling, and their complex is not getting any new or additional services for the increase.

I asked her how long she had lived there - she bought 7 years ago. Had the amenities gone up since her purchase - yes, about $8 increase a few years back. I asked why she is looking for petition signatures from me and the other owners in my complex (the increase only affects her complex) - she said because the more signatures the better, they listen to us all, and we have to be united against this. We discussed how in 7 years the cost of services has increased (lawn maintenance contracts, fire department services, etc.), and therefore, wouldn't an increase in amenities be expected every so often? Her answer - it doesn't matter - we are in a recession and they shouldn't be tacking on more costs. Her argument was that the homeowners only paid so little and condo owners paid so much. I told her when I bought my condo, I was aware of this. I stated "why shouldn't homeowners pay less? They have to maintain their own house structures and lawns and pest control, where we have that taken care of for us." She stated "It's not fair - they get to write theirs off on their taxes, and we don't". I explained they don't get to write theirs off - they only get to write off mortgage interest just like us. I couldn't convince her because she knew a homeowner that included his amenities as a deduction and "no one said nothing to him yet".

Good Lord. Anyone who reads this is probably as exasperated from the reading as I was talking to her. We had a pleasant conversation, but I wouldn't sign the petition. She was truly surprised and amazed that I could not see her viewpoint. I was truly surprised and amazed that she felt that everyone should get everything for no cost - because we're in a recession and people are struggling.

I never mentioned that I don't believe we are in a recession (I think people believe what the nightly news propagandizes), but I did ask her if she worked - yes, she has a great job and so does her husband. I told her I had two jobs and went to school. I don't know if she got my point - if there is a recession, its not hurting her or myself.