Feel Like Complaining

Geez, my life sure has been boring this past week. I can hardly think of anything to complain about. I just got back from getting a haircut. I've been going to Great Clips since Rita left me. It sits in a little strip mall and as I was ready to turn into the parking lot I see one of the stylists standing on the sidewalk holding a big sign advertising the store. I've been seeing a lot of that lately; advertising for oil changes, furniture sales, and car washes. I can't think of anything more demeaning as to stand out with a sign prostituting a business, especially the ones that have to wear some dorky costume. And they look so happy doing it don't they? You can see the misery in their face. I'd like to see the statistics on if it even works. If I'm driving by a business and see some poor shlub holding a sign up I don't stop and think "Hey, good thing he's out there 'cause I really need a new couch today." Will I even remember this guy w...

There are four age milestones in our family this year. First, my mom will turn 80 this summer (and she still loves her IPad). Every year she gives us kids calendars with everyone's birthday on it, including our ages. This is done mostly for my brothers who have no concept of time and rarely get a card out. I can count on one hand the birthday cards I have received from my younger brother. Anyway she had talked about all of the milestones in 2011 and tried to make my older brother a year older than he would be. So every calendar has a big '60' in red ink on his birthday, when in fact he only turned 59. The teasing hasn't stopped all the way around yet. My younger brother will be 50 in October. It's a sad day when your 'little brother' turns 50. It's alright for your older brother to get older but when your little bro gets older then there is no hope for you. My husband will turn 65 in October too. I will officially be married to a Senior Citizen. How ...

This sure makes my life sound boring. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From our archives, 100 years ago It was a busy day for police, to be sure. From the front page we have one story about a man who shot at his mother and stepfather in a dispute over wood used to build a chicken fence, and another about some thieves who cracked the safe at Spokane Table Supply near downtown, stealing $200.00--and dined on champagne and "fancy sardines and preserves" as they worked. A few pages later, we read about a fight at a lodging hose on Front Avenue that sent a man to jail and another to the hospital with multiple wounds inflicted by a broken beer bottle. Oh, and both men were naked at the time of the fight. Then there was this headline: "Small boys play catch with dynamite; mother faints." Apparently some contractors had left the dynamite at a job site on Second Avenue, where a group of boys found it. A Spokane police officer happened upon the boys tossing the explosive among them...

Concert ticket buying is in full swing. I just wish we could see them all. We saw Elton John just a week ago tonight and had a great time. My next favorite John (Hillstrand) is coming with his brother Andy  and Sig Hanson (from Deadliest Catch) in July for The Captain's Tour. I am kind of disappointed that they've gotten so popular that they now have to charge for their appearances. But.....that doesn't mean that I don't want to go! When my daughter and I saw the Hillstrands three years ago, it was for a book signing. All we had to do was buy a book and stand in line for a couple of hours. It was well worth the wait. This particular show will have the Captains telling stories, showing clips that have never been seen before and a Q&A session. Tickets went on sale this morning and since I had to work I left hubby in charge. Yikes! He did fine though and we got some pretty good seats. I had no idea my other favorite Jonny Lang would be coming back to town so soo...

Surfing the web as usual, I've got 4 tabs open in my browser; my blog, Facebook, MSN and my mail. On Facebook I see that a local news channel has posted a new tsunami video. It was 5 and-a-half minutes of pure terror. It was videotaped from high on a hill and it showed the giant wave coming in and plowing houses under and wiping out car laden streets. As it got closer the voices on the hill got more animated, women screamed and cried and people below the hill ran up as fast as they could to safety. All of a sudden the picture on the camera became blurry and then stopped. Halfway through the video I looked up at the title of my blog. Then I felt ashamed. What in the Hell do I have to complain about? A lousy pound of fat that doesn't want to leave my body? My neighbor's dogs? My family? Devastation happens all around us but I keep right on complaining. It's not all I do but I do it plenty. I've said before that I love to blog but talking about flowers and kitties ...

I had the craziest dream last night. I was walking along with an Island Girl when we came upon this dude named Levon, the Man From Across The Water. He was all excited about something but wasn't making any sense. "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?", he yelled at Island Girl, myself, and Tiny Dancer who had just appeared beside me. "Is he trying to pick us up?" I asked them. "I don't know but he's got his friend Daniel with him", noticed Tiny Dancer. Suddenly I felt like Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds with all this male attention. Tiny suggested we go the the Honky Cat and listen to Bennie And The Jets. I said I'd rather go to that new romantic restaurant, Candle In The Wind and hear some Crocodile Rock. Since the others didn't want to go, Levon and I split off and headed down the street. "Can You Feel The Love Tonight?" he whispered in my ear. I thought he was moving a bit fast though and had to remind him that Saturd...

Ever since I started my diet last October, the weight loss has been quite easy. I could count on dropping a pound every 4-5 days. Little by little it has slowed some but the last 5 pounds were difficult and now......up and down a pound or two for two weeks before finally losing it. And I'm pissed! I Zumba three times a week and exercise at home 3 more times a week. My dietitian said that loss comes slower the more you lose and exercise can increase weight. She typically suggests a cut in calories but since I'm exercising so much, not to do that for awhile. So what the Hell am I supposed to do? I have cut back a little, just cutting out a few exchanges a day randomly. It's probably not what she would suggest but I feel I'm already sacrificing enough without being told to eat less. I know that I shouldn't value what I have accomplished by numbers on a scale but that's what keeps me going. When I don't see a change day after day after day I get depressed....

Yesterday marked the 10 year Anniversary of our dog Nellie making her home with us. When our daughter was five we thought a dog would be a good playmate for her. I personally wanted a smaller dog because I always had cats and loved to sit down and have a small furry body climb up on my lap. We went to a few shelters before ending up at the Humane Society. After awhile the noise is deafening (and depressing) when you walk down the long row of cages where the big dogs are. Our daughter wanted nothing to do with that so we ended up in the puppy/small dog room. I was looking at a few small neurotic yappers and she had her focus on a black dog in a bigger cage. Clearly not a little puppy, they said she was around 4 months old, but we think she was probably closer to 6 months. She had only been there a week brought in from a neighboring community by an older woman who found her digging in garbage to eat. Left to her own devices at such a young age the woman essentially saved her life by br...