I admit it....

Hi....

My name is.....

And I am angry...

Really angry...

Buy who says anger is unhealthy????

I just walked 5k...

For the first time in a couple of weeks....

With a decent time (for me)...

In the rain...

Without getting wet....

Really....without getting wet.

My Under Armour Storm Hoodie repels water as advertised...

I am impressed...

And less angry than I was....

Have a heart....

It is bitter cold in Northeast, Ohio....

I am working from home because I can....

But I am very disappointed that I did not get a text/email from my employer's alert system mandating a non-critical no show or at least encouraging it...

And I am disappointed in the small amount of other businesses that are listed as closed.

No one should be out in this weather in Cleveland unless they really have to be.

I know other parts of the country are used to this, but in Cleveland it is not the norm, and most are not prepared....

Just had to say my piece or peace - however you want to think of it....

For the record...

I have received a couple of strange comments from unknown persons lately....that I deleted.

One of the commenters commented again, asking why the previous comment was not approved...

So, for the record....

Here are my self-imposed rules of comment moderation, subject to change anytime I feel the need to do so...

IF...

I do not recognize you, either as a FB friend or fellow blogger...

AND ...

You do not give me some clue as to how you know me or found me...

AND...

I go to your web site and it has either soft porn or radically political posts that I do not want plastered on my page....

...your comment may be deleted.

Just saying....

Out with the old....

It's finally here - the last day of 2013.

Yay!

I am not too sad to see it go.

It has been a crazy kind of year.

Some good, some not so good.

Too many things to write about here and why dwell on the past....blah blah....

Now is the time for some new starts.

So I have been thinking about what I should resolve to do or not do in this coming year.

I know I should lose weight, get in shape, and eat healthier, but what fun is that????

I know I need to get my life in order and straighten out my finances, but again, what fun is that???

If you have not guessed, I have decided to resolve to have some fun in 2014.

And how am  I going to do that???

• Let go of faltering friendships. 

It seems that I have been pretty good at screwing up friendships lately.

I moved about a half hour south of my previous residence  - my bad. Apparently that is a little too far for some to travel.  The friendship is there if I visit while I am in that part of town, but I do not seem worth the effort for them to make the trip south.  Of course when I moved up north a few years ago, my southern friends played the same game. And then there are the friends who I hear from when they need something, but other times not so much.  If I do not contact them, we tend to stray far apart.  To my so-called friends who are sometime, someplace friends, I say this:  you know where I am and how to get in touch - your move.

And me being me, I tend to say my peace or piece, however you want to think of it, when one of my friends says something so totally off the wall or hurtful that my logical mind just cannot keep my mouth in line.  To my so-called friends who tend to say/do things that screw with my mind or try make me feel bad about something in my life and then do not understand when I get defensive, I say this: I am who I am  - take me as I am or not....your move. But tread lightly - I am a bitch - as you know.

And how is that having fun you ask?  I tend to fret over these friendships and continually try to mend them which takes away from the fun times I should be/could be having with other friends.The fretting stops here.   

Which brings me to my second resolution.

• Cherish my good friends.
  I do have a couple of really good friends who I would do anything for and who are and have been there for me through good and bad. To keep this resolution, I plan to spend time with my good friends at least once a month  - having fun, doing something we enjoy, and continuing to share our  life's ups and downs....
  
• Attempt to stay socially active...
  I really miss the internet cafes that have been closed down over the past year.  One of the big reasons I miss them is because I do not get to see all of the people I met while cafeing.  I miss my cafe buddies.  Cafeing was my way of getting out of the house and meeting new and interesting people.  I have had a lot of advice from people I know about what I could be doing in place of cafeing - the two most popular being to join a church group or a gym/fitness program.  Well I am not into religion so that would not work for me; I would be kicked out  for speaking my piece.  As far as a gym - I do not want to pay money to sweat - nor do I want to talk to people while I am sweating.  I can walk outside for free; and I tend to  by walk by myself - my thinking time...
  So...after running it past my daughter yesterday (she helps keep my thinking in line) I have decided that I may try to go to the newly opened Hard Rocksino once a week or so.  I enjoy gaming and talking with the random people who are also there gaming.    As long as I can control my spending and at least break even, it may provide the social outlet  I need.  I did really well cafeing  - as far as breaking even; in fact I was enough ahead before they closed to pay off some of my smaller bills. I do not usually have the same kind of luck at casino type venues, but it is certainly worth a shot.  I know that if I do not at least break even, I cannot continue to play - so that is motivation to quit while I am ahead. I will keep you posted.

• Continue to make my apartment more homey....more me.
  I do not spend a lot of time/money on decorating.  I am not into worrying about matching the right colors/window coverings, etc.  I do like that lived in look - because it is so easy to maintain:)
  I have done a few crafty things over the last few months to make my place  a little more more me....

To keep this resolution, I plan to do or purchase at least one thing each month whose sole purpose it to make my place scream my name....

• Walk in at least two organized 5K events this year.
  I really enjoy walking and I enjoyed walking in A Christmas Story 5K Run.  To keep this resolution, I intend to walk 5K two  to three times a week (weather permitting).  I find it is really hard to walk on unshoveled walkaways...
  
• Take a vacation to somewhere warm.
  My son and his girlfriend are seriously considering a move to Belize this year.  If they make that happen, I intend to visit.  If they do not make that happen, I intend to go away for at least a few days to one of those all-inclusive, preferably tropical, resorts.  I deserve it - or so I keep telling myself:)

So there are my resolutions - written down and posted...

Hopefully for keeping:)

May your 2014 bring you and your family health and happiness and a lot of fun:)

Hoping your stockings were hung...

I just realized that it has been almost a week since my last post...

Time flies when you are having fun...

Or working too much.

If you are reading this, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and can extend the holiday cheer for another week...

At least....

I had a wonderful day with my kids and parents - got some really cool things.

My favorite part of the day was hearing the kids loving their ornament.

Every year I give them an ornament.  I try to find or design one that depicts some sort of memory for the year.

 It was a crazy year and I was having a difficult time finding something special for each of them.

I finally decided on digital picture frame ornaments and loaded them with pictures I gathered from our family happenings and their facebook pages.  That took me a few hours earlier this week.  My computer died in the middle of it - turns out the battery just gave out for a bit. 

But it was awesome to see and hear their appreciation of my efforts.

I got a lot of cool things, too.  

Coffee and tea and Under Armour sweats and a cheese board and candle....

I am loved.

I love being loved.

But now I need to get back to my day job....

Because they have decided the show must go on and I am holding it up...

Same old story...different year.

It was one of those days....

Did you ever have one of those days?

I had one yesterday.

Things were just not clicking in my brain the way they should.

At all...

I had a few on-line conversations yesterday that suddenly took a turn that did not make sense to me, but oh well, I went with it...

And a little while later I realized, in an enlightening flash (I should coin that), that the conversation did not take such a left turn - I just thought it did.  And my response to it is what really took the left turn....

And having done that more than once yesterday, I decided I must be over-tired from trying to do too many things at once...baking, making candy, watching the Browns lose, talking....

I finally realized I just needed to call it a night.

So I sat down with a cup of rum-laced tea and a couple of books.

I usually read mysteries.  I also like laugh out loud humor, especially after a long left turn kind of day.

I had picked up Janet Evanovich's latest book from the library the other day and was about a third of the way through it.  All of her Plum novels are fast reads for me - usually one sitting.  I cannot get enough of Ranger.  I speed read through all the laugh out loud LuLu/Stephanie antics (laughing out loud at times) just to get to the Ranger appearances.  He is so hot.  I could use a Ranger in my life.

But I digress...

After I finished with Ranger, I picked up my Kindle version of Indigo Roth's "Testament: Funny Badgers."

The first thing I noticed was that all the paragraphs are numbered.  WTF?   Maybe it is a kindle version snafu.  This looks annoyingly familiar.  I actually made it all the way through the first book of the Testament before the enlightening flash hit me. 

Yeah, it was still one of those days.

I am not a big fan of sci-fi or fairy tales.  And honestly, if I did not have a blogger connection to the author, I probably would have put the book down and not picked it back up - not because it is not well-written- it is. It just did not seem like my cup of tea. Or coffee. I drink more coffee than tea.  Not that that matters to anyone.

But I decided I should give Indigo's creation  more of a chance. 

And it was a good decision - probably the best decision I made yesterday.

1Roth kept me laughing.  What do a dating agency, clogged drain, bad back, gps, and fast food restaurant chain have in common?  They all found a part in the early chapters of 1Roth.

Too bad I need to run some errands today; otherwise I could just sit on the couch with my coffee and continue reading.  

But I will be back and will share more about this great read in a future post.



In the meantime, you should check it out for yourself.

The Kindle version is actually free on Amazon for a couple more days. Here is the link:

'Tis the Season.

Happy Holidays.

I just needed to say that.

It makes me feel so politically correct.

And for the record, I do not see anything wrong with wishing all of my friends Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas.

Happy Holidays covers the season; all of it - without offending. After all, I do have some Jewish friends and some atheist friends and some non-Christian friends who are celebrating  holidays other than Christmas at this time of year.
  
Happy to you! All of you!

Now on Christmas Day, you will hear me say Merry Christmas  - because after all, it is Christmas  - Christ's birthday - or the day we choose to celebrate his birthday. Jesus was a good person, and a good teacher, in my opinion.  I like the things he taught - do unto others and all that. His birthday is certainly worth celebrating. And since he is no longer here on earth to receive birthday presents, let's celebrate by giving each other presents and spending time together.  I am good with that.  You can all celebrate my birthday when I am dead and gone.  Give each other presents.  It would make me happy.  And cake - chocolate cake:)

If you believe Jesus was more, you are entitled to your opinion - and your celebration of that belief.  

But  for the record, I do not believe that you have to believe Jesus Christ  is God or the son of God to celebrate his birthday.  Just as we celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday.  I do not think anyone believes MLK is a god, but his birthday is certainly worth celebrating.  In my opinion, they could step up that celebration a bit and give us all a paid holiday....

Personally, I do not believe Jesus was or is  the son of the one true God.  I am not sure I believe in the concept of one true God.  I believe there are gods that each of us worship in our own way.  If they help us through life, more power to us  - and them.

I also do not believe that Jesus was immaculately conceived. That is just a little too far-fetched for my logical mind.  I have a feeling Joseph the carpenter probably felt the same way. In fact, I bet he was pretty offended that someone else was taking credit for his son.  But then again, maybe not.  It did get him off the hook for Mary's pre-marital pregnancy. Lucky for him DNA technology was still far off in the future.