The day before vacation

Getting ready for vacation is so stressful, mostly because my husband is so freaking calm to the point of comatose while I am a whirling dervish of stress and trying to be organized and not forget anything and also breathe ...

Stress is more stressful when no one shares it. Because then, you're not only stressed, you're borderline neurotic, too and DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN... oh, sorry.

Really what I need is a vacation.

Ah, irony. There you are again.

So, tomorrow we start the drive to the coast. Yes, drive. Don't get me started; he won't fly.

We'll see how it goes...

Vacation...

We can barely afford it, but we're going to take a vacation this year, and go to Cape Cod.
I'll get to meet my new baby niece, not quite a month old. I'll also see my dad for the first time since our falling out (it's a long story. And boring.).
My younger child wants very much to see my dad. Me, not so much. It's just easier not to.
But, it may in all likelihood be the last time I see him. I wish I could muster up more interest in the situation based on that fact alone. Will I feel bad for the distance (both metaphorical and geographical) between us after he's gone?
Right now, I'd say no. After he's gone, I may feel differently.
Oh, but there will be beach time near a bona fide ocean on this vacation, to offset my 39-year-old angst.
So there's that.
We'll see how it goes.

Right now... it's June and I'm out of excuses

I just love this photo. Memorial Day at Phipps Conservatory. Good lookin' guys, huh?

I'm going to steal Uncle Crappy's idea and try to blog every day for the month of June.
I think my previous goal of every day for a year? Too ambitious.

I just need to write more.

We'll see how it goes...

Hannah Louise

My first niece, born on Mothers' Day.

I wish my mother could've met her. And my kids.

She would have been an awesome grandma.

(it's a cell phone photo, but she's still perfect)

Restart button

First, it was just a few days, then it was a week then it turned into a month.

I thought I would blog every day for a year, my 39th year, in honor of my mother.

Yeah, I suck.

So, restarting on Mother’s Day (Mothers’ Day?). Sincerely going to make a second attempt.

It's just this sort of thing that makes me wish I went to law school

It's not easy being a journalist; the job itself isn't super-hard if you have half a brain, but the reputation/public perception that we're all scandal-mongering, muck-racking dirtbags is hard to fight when you have people like Rick Sanchez representing the profession:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
The Uninformant
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Honestly, we're not all that ridiculous. Some of us have pride. Scruples, even...

and I do mean idiot box...

One of the most endearing things about my husband (or most annoying, depending upon who has the remote), is his affinity for bad television. When I say the man will watch *anything* on television, I am not exaggerating even a little. As I type this, he is watching a show on public access television in which two African-American women are discussing... I have no idea what they're discussing. One's going to St. Louis, the other one wants to eat M &Ms. I have tuned out. My husband has not.
That is exactly the sort of thing he likes to watch. Public access is must-see TV. The guy who yells, "Read On!" to his companion, who reads passages from the Bible? Husband loves it. Oh and shopping channels? The more hideous the jewelry/outfit/artwork the better. Quacker Factory leisurewear? He'll watch it for hours.
Yet, if I try to sneak in an episode of Grey's Anatomy, I'll never hear the end of it. Not only does he watch awful television (his reasoning is someone has to watch it), he is very judgmental of the TV-watching habits of others.
Some nights, we just have to reach an agreement to put on hockey and be done with it. We can at least agree on that...