The Dog Nobody Has Time For

What a great idea, right?  Let's get a dog!  And let's be super responsible people by going to the no-kill shelter and supporting what they do by getting a dog from that place!  Hooray!  Everyone will help take care of the dog and feed the dog and take the dog for walks and play with her in the backyard.  Every day!  We promise!  This is so great!!

Today: We're too busy.  We're too tired.  I can't sit in the family room without vacuuming first because of my allergies.  And the dog is sad.  We go to work and school every day and she stays home.  At first it was fine.  We have a nice backyard with a great fence and lots of room to wander.  But the dog won't stay there.  She is so lonely and bored that she jumps over the fence.  Climbs over it actually.  A six foot fence.  So now we have to keep her chained up in the yard while we are gone.  And when we come home, nobody wants to play with her.  She's excited to see us, but we are so tired from our days that we just take her off the chain and go to our rooms to do homework or whatever.  (As I mentioned, I can't sit in the family room because my allergies go crazy.  If I want to sit there without watery eyes I have to vacuum and dust first.)  What a life.

So now we are talking about giving the dog away (or I guess I am talking about it).  "Noooo!!" everyone says.  We promise, we'll help.  We'll take her for walks, we'll clean up the poop, we'll play with her.  We promise!  And then everyone goes to their rooms.  And the dog sits on her bed and looks sad.

Anyone want a nice dog?  She's a good dog...house trained and pretty low-key.  Except for the climbing the fence thing.  She'd do great with other dogs to keep her company.  Great with kids.  Very nice dog.  Free to good home.

The Ocean Sucked Up Another Frisbee

Have you ever wondered how many frisbees there are in the ocean?  I can tell you there are at least four because that is how many I've seen lost ocean in the past year.  Not just regular frisbees, but the kind that look like a donut - like the one in the picture below.

If you've ever played with a frisbee like this, you'll know that there is a metal ring inside it that makes it fly like a dream.  And if you are like me, you need all the help you can get with your frisbee tossing skills.  I can't throw a regular frisbee to save my life!  I've had lessons from all sorts of great people, but not one of them has been able to teach me how to throw it properly.  That metal ring not only helps the disc fly extremely far, but it also makes the frisbee sink.  And you wouldn't believe how fast that sucker will sink.

The first time it happened quite unexpectedly.  My son and I were tossing the frisbee and congratulating ourselves on how far we could toss it and how much fun we were having.  And then, plop, into the waves it went.  And disappeared in under 2 seconds.  How can that be?  It was neon yellow and it should be easy to find, right?  I saw it...right there...it must be here...why can't I find it?  And then some tears (mine) and some anger (son's) and then oh well it is gone.  Bummer.

So we bought another one.  And the same darn thing happened.  Despite our promises to be more careful and not to play with it too close to the water. 

Last November we were walking along the beach and we saw a father and son playing with the same kind of disc.  And wouldn't you know it...after a few tosses...plop.  Into the waves.  We watched them searching for it in just the spot it went down.  No luck.  A shrug of the shoulders from the dad and a panicked look and some words from the son.  (Apparently it was his brother's disc and they had promised to be careful with it.  What do you want to bet it wasn't the first time they'd lost just such a disc in the waves?)  I empathized and told the dad a short summary of our same experience.  We laughed together.

And then Christmas came.  What luck!  My son got not one of these frisbees but THREE from his wonderful Auntie S.  Two large sized ones and one mini.  Hooray!  We can play frisbee again!!  But not at the beach said my son.  We won't make that mistake again.

So guess what we brought with us to the beach last weekend.  Yup, one of those frisbees.  And guess what happened.  Yup, the same thing AGAIN.  Would you believe it - after ONE toss.  I tossed it to my son and the wind was blowing pretty hard and it whipped that pink disc right into the ocean.  It went under the waves and got buried in the sand and boom.  Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.

Good thing we have two more of them at home so we can try again. 

The Breakfast Club

One of my facebook friends - a good friend from years ago - updated her status recently saying that Ferris Bueller's Day Off holds up to the test of time whereas Flashdance does not.  She's right.  That got me to thinking...what other movies stand the test of time?

My daughter is weeks away from 15 and loves movies like Easy A and Pitch Perfect.  One thing that a lot of the movies she likes have in common is references to The Breakfast Club.  "We should watch that movie," I kept telling her, "so that you can understand what they are talking about."  Then I started worrying.  Would The Breakfast Club live up to the hype?  Would it be a movie that my daughter would "get" just like I did when I was 15?  Would I get it still at 42?

So I did it.  I rented The Breakfast Club (and asked myself, why don't I OWN a copy?) and invited my daughter to watch it with me.  I warned her ahead of time - they smoke pot in this movie and they say the f-word a lot.  "Mom," she said, "I go to public school.  I know about that stuff."  "Well just don't do that stuff, ok?" I said.  She rolled her eyes just a little bit and agreed not to.

I should tell you that when I rented it I rented some other movies, too.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower (my daughter just read the book and wrote an essay for her lit class), Skyfall (my 11 year old son stayed up with me to watch that one...everyone else fell asleep), and End of Watch (still sitting on the kitchen counter...haven't had time to watch it yet).  When the guy behind the counter handed the movies to me he said, "The first three are due back tomorrow by 5pm.  The Breakfast Club is due back..."  "Never?"  I asked.  He laughed and said, "by Friday."  I half expected him to agree with me and say, yeah, just keep it.

So my daughter and I watched The Breakfast Club.  Many of the classics stand up.  Mess with the bull, get the horns.  Pixie Stick and Captain Crunch sandwich with mayo for lunch.  Lipstick application talent.  No Dad, what about YOU?  But what struck me the most was how UNREAL the characters seemed.  When I was 15 these kids were REAL.  But now they just seemed so fake.  Who brings sushi for lunch in Saturday school?  Who has a two story library with a DJ booth in their high school?  LOCKERS?  Forget about it!!!  And Judd Nelson...remember how hard core he seemed?  Now he looks like a 25 year old guy trying to look 17 and dressed like half the kids in my daughter's class.  Weird.

And speaking of lunch (see sushi reference above), why is it called The Breakfast Club anyway?  They eat lunch in the movie, not breakfast.  What the heck is that about?

The other thing that struck me is how every character talks about how much he or she HATES his or her parents.  Did I feel like that when I was a teenager?  I remember feeling misunderstood by them and being angry that they didn't let me stay out until 1:30am like my best friend, but hate them?  I don't think so.

My daughter and I talked about that afterward.  We're a pretty close family and we talk about a lot of things.  I never told my parents much of anything when I was a kid.  But anyway, I told her I was concerned that she might think that hating your parents is normal.  Do kids hate their parents?  I guess some kids do, but I don't want my kids to be in that group of some.  She laughed and said she doesn't feel that way and she knows it is just a movie.  She liked the music (see Pitch Perfect) and she loves that she now understands Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me" and the fist in the air (see the end of Easy A).

And she doesn't hate her parents.  At least not today.

Looking for Inspiration

I spent some time today looking for inspiration.  For what you ask?  Do I need a reason to be inspired?

I want inspiration to be strong enough to lose 15 pounds.  I want inspiration to be a better cook and to want to actually provide healthy home cooked meals for my family.  I want inspiration to do some daily exercise.  I want inspiration to go back to school to get an advanced degree.  I could go on and on.

I find myself incredibly exhausted these days.  Exhausted but unable to sleep.  I think part of the unable to sleep factor is that I am doing plenty to exercise my mind but not enough to exercise my body.  That and the fact that I am a bit overweight and I drink too much Diet Coke.  I get a night or two of good sleep and then I have a night or two of terrible sleep that leaves me even more exhausted.  It is a never ending cycle.

So where will I find this inspiration?  I am not quite sure yet, but I'll keep searching.

I ♥ Reading

I love to read.  I gobble up books like I gobble up fast food breakfasts (I'm addicted to that too...but that's a story for another day).  Books are so wonderful...and there are so many of them out there!  If there is one thing that I can be sure of, it is that I'll be busy reading for the rest of my life.

I have a yearly goal to read one book per week.  I haven't quite reached that goal (in July 2009- June 2010 I read 48 books, in 2010-11 I read 44), but I keep trying.  I don't have a particular reason for setting that goal, it is just something I keep in mind.

I have to keep a journal listing the books I read because I used go to the library and check out a stack of books and then get home and realize I had read most of them.  The journal helps me keep track of the goal I mentioned, but also helps me avoid duplicates.

Speaking of the library, I am a library fanatic.  The librarians at my local branch don't necessarily know me by name, but they definitely know my face.  I am there at least every other week checking out books.  I've started requesting the books that I want to be sent to my favorite branch and then I just have to pop in and pick them up.  I love that I can do this!  Browsing the stacks is fun, but I don't always have time for that.

The hardest part for me is finding titles that I want to read.  I look at online lists, lists in magazines, Oprah's book club, Today Show book club, etc. to find titles that appeal to me.  It is hard work sometimes.  The other thing that helps is looking at the comments about the book I am currently enjoying.  Authors who have commented on their own enjoyment of the book are good leads for me in finding other novels to read.  Sometimes I go to the bookstore and just look at the popular titles, write them down and then go to the library to get them.  (I should tell you I don't buy books.  I read them once and don't really have the budget to buy the number of books that I read every year.  Not to mention a place to store them!)

This week I read three books.  Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, The Moon in the Mango Tree by Pamela Binnings Ewen, and Breakfast with Buddha by Roland Merullo.  They were books that I was sort of saving for my vacation next week...but I didn't have others, so I plowed through all three.  Now I am trying frantically to get my hands on 7 or so titles to take with me to the beach next week.

I would love to make reading and making lists of fabulous books into a career.  Maybe someday I'll figure out how to do it.  In the meantime, I'll just remain a voracious reader.

What is a Real Housewife Anyway?

photo courtesy of bravotv.com

I know you watch them.  I know because I do too.  Those "Real" Fake Housewives of whatever city you prefer.  My latest obsession is the New Jersey gals.  The show is a train wreck!!  That's why I can't stop watching it.  I do watch with a somewhat analytical eye...I am trying to figure out what the heck the angle is besides the fact that everyone loves a good drama.

I just watched the episode where Teresa and Danielle get into a fight at a fashion show.  The fight turns into huge drama and another housewife's daughter, Ashley, pulls Danielle's hair.  (Her defense was that she didn't really pull her hair, she pulled her extensions "which really isn't a part of her.")  I hadn't seen this particular episode before, I had only seen the discussions afterward about going to court, pressing charges, etc.  The actual fight was hilarious!  I was watching it thinking about how staged it was.  It is so staged that I almost bought it.  But who would ever do anything like this and who would stand around and watch it happen?  My own answer is nobody...unless they were being paid a lot of money to do so.

So I decided that if I am going to watch the show I really need to have an objective.  I must learn something from the show if I am going to spend time with these women.  So here is my list of things I've learned so far:

1.  Be sure to have multiple friends named Kim so that they can be referred to as Kim G. and Kim D. and Kim (insert letter).

2.  Don't call anyone honey unless you want them to think you want to kill them after you say it.

3.  Refer to your breasts as "buh-bies".

4.  Hire an "energist" to be a personal trainer for your spirit.  Then you have an excuse to be a bitch because your energist told you that you need to get rid of some of your negative energy.

5.  Hire a bodyguard named Danny who served time in prison.  Make sure he has a volatile side so that he can fight all your catty battles for you.

6.  If you want people to think your are super classy, wear really tall shiny "f***-me" boots.  The taller and shinier the better.  These should be just like the ones in Pretty Woman except use real shoe polish (not a black magic marker) if you scuff them...or just throw them away and get a new pair.

7.    If your son gets kicked out of law school because of his poor grades, hire a lawyer to sue the school to make sure he can either get back in or get into another law school.  This shows him how important his future career as a lawyer is to society.  (Don't worry about talking to him about what got him kicked out in the first place.)

8.  If you are scared of someone because you think they want to cause you bodily harm, be sure to get as close as possible to them and put yourself in situations where you can tease them into "hurting" you.  Then freak out and call the police so that you can be a victim.

I can't wait to put these things into place in my life and continue to use the show as a basis for learning.  I will continue to watch the New Jersey gals and enjoy every move they make.  I hope you will too!

The beach

I love the beach.  Especially Mission Beach in San Diego, CA.  I have been vacationing, sailing, swimming, enjoying myself there since I was very small.  I recently celebrated my 40th birthday and the first thing that came to mind for that celebration was spending time in MB.  We rented a house for a week right by the ocean and had a great time...enjoyed family and friends who spent time with us there and just basically hung out and did whatever we wanted to do.  Some of my besties were missing from the celebration (they know who they are), but they were there in spirit.  I cried when we left, like I always do, and my husband reminded me during my teary musings about wanting to live there that it wouldn't be so special if we were there all the time.  He's right, I guess...but a girl can dream.