chaos

Father’s Day 2015

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 6 Comments

fathers day

As I was thinking of what to write for my Sunday post I realized that today is Father’s Day.

For me this is a hard day to get through as my own daddy passed away in February of last year with stage 4 kidney cancer.

Our family was with him when he passed and that is something to be thankful for.

I was blessed to have him in my life for 43 years.

I was a “daddy’s girl”. I guess I always will be.

I am the eldest child and my brother is 3 ½ years younger than me.

I was always the rebel and the one who paved the way for him to be the “golden child” haha

My brother and I are very close and I know that on that account, I am lucky.

Father’s Day is bittersweet for him as well.

Two months after my daddy passed away my nephew was born and he became a father.

I remember walking into the hospital room seeing my little bro holding his newborn son and bursting into tears as I felt like I was in a magical place.

I was seeing a photo in my mind of our father holding me with the same look of pure love I was now seeing on the face of my brother.

Like father like son.

My own son was blessed to have known his “Pops”.

He still talks about him, misses him and promises he will tell his cousin all about Pops and how great he is.

I said “is” because that is how we keep him alive is by talking about him.

We aren’t obsessed with making sure he is in our conversations daily, however I know that a single day doesn’t go by without me thinking about him and I know my mom and brother feel the same.

My parents were married for 45 years.

A true until death us do part.

Our house was not “Leave it to Beaver” bliss but then there was Always love, even in the best and worst of times.

My daddy was ALWAYS there for me and so many others whenever needed.

He had more patience than anyone I know.

I know when he was younger he had a temper, he often told me about it and I heard stories from family and friends.

However he realized very young that a bad temper would get you nowhere and being calm even in a storm was the better way to move through life.

Often times when someone passes we tend to canonize them and make them more “saintly” than when they were living.

I can say that isn’t the case with my father.

My daddy was a well known and loved respected business man.

He knew and met people from all around the world.

The love and light he cast out to family, friends and strangers was astounding.

When he died, after the funeral, which was massive, there was a reporter from the local paper there to do an article on him.

I couldn’t find the words to describe the man who is my father.

Understanding, strong, loving, caring, compassionate, believed in equality for all humans, was the Yoda of golf, hunting and fishing, always there, never judging, always thought before he spoke knowing his words were taken to heart.

How do you really convey that?

I have said many times I do not like crowds.

I am pretty weird about it nor am I going to draw attention to myself.

However when daddy died I had made him a promise.

I keep my promises.

I sang “Amazing Grace” a Capella at his funeral.

There were hundreds of people there but I sang for him and my family as they knew it was his favorite and I would sing it for him.

I completely zoned out and saw him there smiling as he always did while I sang my heart out with tears streaming down my face.

I didn’t care about if I was off key or looked strange.

I only cared that my daddy knew how much I loved him so I sang to him.

This will be my second Father’s Day without my daddy “here” with me.

I know I will shed tears.

I know I will sing his song out loud.

I know that many of my friends and family members are also thinking of their fathers, grandfathers, brothers, uncles and friends who are no longer with us.

I know I do.

But I also know my daddy would want me to remember those who are still here too.

So to all of the fathers out there, and mothers who are both mom and dad, I send out a Happy Father’s Day to you!

I hope you all have a fabulous Sunday!

I am including one of my all-time favorite photos of my son and my daddy.

It means the world to me.

It’s my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 33 Comments

It can sometimes be hard for me to get to sleep.

I am always thinking of all of the things I need to do, people I should call, projects I should get done.

I do decent, I would guess, on judging myself about getting things done.

I try to set a schedule and follow it. I make sure I am flexible.

I love that dude Murphy of Murphy’s law because I know he sets out to wreak havoc on my life at times.

I have to even admit sometimes I have no choice but to laugh or I would run screaming and never, ever stop.

I try to plan when I am going out of town or doing something outside of my day to day normal life.

Take for example earlier this week.

I had started a new job and was getting into the grove of it.

This means the boy must also get into my new grove and fortunately it doesn’t affect him too greatly and we go along smoothly.

Monday and Tuesday go well so we are heading into Wednesday where I have plans to travel and he will go to school and then to this grandparents after and I will go take care of my business.

All I can say looking back is thank God I was off Wednesday because I so would have had to have called in after my early morning wake up.

I’m not sure why it is when something dramatic happens, it seems to happen when I am in full on REM mode and getting much needed sleep.

Through my sleep filled senses I think I hear “Mommy” but surely that can’t be happening because it is dark out and why am I feeling some kind of wetness on me that I know isn’t a night sweat and it’s kind of thick?

Is this a nightmare?

Then I hear the “sound” all parents know.

The one that you immediately jump up asleep or not because that means something disgusting is happening to your child, and you don’t want to be in the line of fire.

Yes, the dreaded puking in the bed.

Let me just say my child drinks a lot of milk and the last thing that went down is the first to come up.

It was like I was in a waking nightmare.

It was heinous.

It was on me.

I rushed to turn the light on and make sure he was ok when I looked into the mirror.

And I froze.

I look like I had on a milk mask that had splattered.

And I couldn’t breathe deep or that could go very poorly.

So I grabbed towels and washrags out from under the sink and proceed to wipe myself down when the boy says. “Mommy I got throw up on me. Oh hey you got a lot on you too that’s funny.”

And I am happy he’s ok and not still sick but I want to go “Really kid?! Cause this can’t be real!”

But I know that it is.

And it is my life.

I wouldn’t change it for the world because for every bad, gross, icky moment there are 20 more that are happy, funny, full of love and so much better.

So yeah, this is my life.

I just wish he would have aimed for the floor instead of me.

He will learn eventually.

After all when he got sick later, after I had stripped us, the bed and cleaned up and moved us to another room, he got sick in the bucket by the bed.

Bless him!

I wouldn’t change a thing because it wouldn’t be my life otherwise.

Be glad this didn’t happen to you.

If it did, I am so sorry but at least you aren’t alone!

Happy Saturday My Fabulous Friends.

Keep Hope Alive!

 

Mis-Procedure

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 14 Comments

Everyone has their bad days.

Unfortunately sometimes someone else’s bad days overlap your day in some ways, and then it becomes a part of your day so you get a bit of a bad day, depending on how you look at it.

I usually roll with the flow, because really, I don’t have much choice when life just happens while my plan is in motion.

Not to say that it doesn’t irritate or make me angry but when a situation is out of your control, you just can either deal with it calmly or get all angry and scream and yell. It’s not that you aren’t angry about it, but it is how you handle it.

Today was one of those days for me in a kind of big way, however I was able to hang with my girls so I was able to find the humor and laugh about it but I am still kind of irritated.

I went to have a procedure done on my back.

I have been going to the same doctor for over 8 years so I KNOW the majority of the staff including the director, doctors, nurses, offices manager, etc.

I was going in for a more intense procedure I can only have done every 6 months, but it helps my mobility so well that it is worth it. I have to take a full day to recover, more so than my “maintenance” procedures that I have done intermittently throughout the year.

I do certain stretches and exercises to make it easier on myself but I am truly graceless and end up overdoing something, pulling something or falling down on a somewhat regular basis.

It’s my life.

I own it!

After I “came to” in recovery I was talking to the nurse and said, “You know I don’t hurt like I usually do after that procedure, you know how it feels like you’re more beat up in the back, doc has the gift.”

At this point she is looking at me with a type of concern on her face and gets another more senior nurse who I just love over to me. I will call her “Steph” because I talk to her a lot! Steph and “Julie” are my favorites I can’t help it!

“What do you think you had done?”

“You know the nerve burn thingy we can only do every 6 months. Why? Oh come on really guys is this a joke?”

They have been known to prank me because like I said I have gone there so long once one of the doctors came out when I was regaining consciousness and said, “Ready to go back and get started?” laughing at me so I thought I they were messing with me again.

Sadly they were not!

It seems even though we had talked about it, I made the appointment for it, my insurance approved it, and somehow they did the “maintenance” nerve blocks and epidural.

I was kind of pissed really.

I mean I have to take time off, make sure the boy is taken care of, get a ride to and from, because obviously I can’t drive myself for a procedure where yes, they knock me out with the Michael Jackson drug propofol, and I do Not want to be awake when they stick needles in my spine because I have done it and it is JUST PLAIN WRONG!

Which is why I have been with this group because they aren’t a pill mill, medieval or quack doctors by a long stretch.

When my dad was going through cancer treatment I talked to Dr. T for a long time about dads treatments, when I was supposed to be doing my customary office visit. We talked about my health issues and more. He is super compassionate and caring and just a good guy. We talk about our families and kids.

Just today we were talking about the boy and how he can’t believe he will be 5 soon as he remembers treating me before, during and after I had said child.

A few minutes after I came out and am eating my snack, Julie comes over and asks me how I feel.

I laughed and said, “Well I guess I will see you sooner than I thought since I get to come back and then he will make be better. By the way no pain or bruising with the IV because you and Steph rock!”

I am on heavy medication, please note this, because hopefully all of this is making sense!

She immediately walked over to Steph, who is stressed and on the phone.

I also want to say I had asked nurse #1 for pen and paper so I could write my web address down for them to visit my blog so if they are reading this MY Nurses ROCK!

Seriously I love this group!

Always will even in spite of this crazy day.

Maybe the meds are still working!

Steph comes back and tells me it was a mistake make in the office, yep knew that! And that I can come back and they will work me in and of course today is no charge.

This means so much to me as everyone knows insurance only pays so much and the facility can choose to make you pay if they wanted to. I am already on a payment plan with them because healthcare is expensive and it means a lot to me to have a medical facility work with you on payments. They know my life as I share with them if I can pay more or if I can’t. Newbies always get the director and I think he’s a great guy. Some people day he can seem like a jerk but he’s really cool and just doing his job. We end up talking about life and world events so it’s always enjoyable to chat with him!

So once again I will get to travel to my doctor as him and his colleagues are some of the best in the business and every doctor I go to (female, doc in box, general practice, ENT), I always tell them who I go to and what for, what I may be prescribed. I am always told, and they do research, this group is well respected in the medical community.

So while I get to come back in two weeks, it means I get to fight the irritating traffic but I get to see my friends again.

And I will Finally get the full relief I Need for my spine.

I guess I will file this under acceptance with a dash of happiness and sweep the irritation away as there isn’t a damn thing I can do about it.

Might as well keep hope alive and find he humor!

I am just looking forward to a weekend with friends laughing until I snort and cry most likely. Actually more because these folks make me laugh every time I am around them and I know I am lucky!

And that one friend who will most likely make me laugh so hard I wet myself!

All in all I’d say it’s been a good day!

Have a Fabulously Graceless Friday My Friends!

And a special shout out to ALL my girls, my nurses, friends and my doctors!

You all are Fabulous Human Beings!

Glad we are on this beautiful orb together!

My little parrot

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 1 Comment

When I found out I was pregnant, I read book, magazines, articles, blogs and specialty parenting sites.

I wanted to go in with as much information as possible and continue to research and read and learn about this small creature that is my responsibility.

You read about the stages of development and somewhat think you are mentally prepared for the stages.

You know deep down that anything can happen and things won’t be like the information overload you get, but you think you’re ready.

You are not.

Trust me.

It may not happen daily but, at least for me, a few times a week my offspring catches me totally off guard but something he does or says.

The past week seems to have been full of zingers!

He is four, soon to be five in September, and of course, knows “almost everything.”

He’s very self-confident and also can be shy.

He’s outgoing and loving.

He’s funny, witty and working on his jokes.

He has a slight lisp and still have the little boy voices so things he says that are beyond his years tend to throw me off and in many cases make me laugh.

He is full on boy!

He likes to “help cook” in the kitchen and with some minor adjustments, my OCD has accommodated him in his quest to help.

He helps pick up and “cleans” because he sees me do it and he wants his toys to not disappear if he leaves them scattered about.

He watches as me to see what I do and sometimes copies my actions.

He has similar facial expressions to me.

The boy can’t hardly taking a photo without sticking out his tongue… I may have taught him that!

Since I have always worked with him on manners, the age old “yes mam, no mam, thank you mam, please” phrase has been drilled into his head and still is. We also do “yes sir…” to make sure whether male or female he knows how to respond. When he burps or poots he is to say excuse me and usually does.

But it seems all boys, and some men and females, have to verbally note when they fart.

We call it barking spiders, pooter scooters and poots. Most recently he learned the phrase “passing gas.”

He finds them all hysterical.

Sounds coming from his butt are the best in his world.

I figure give him all the cleanest terms for his body and its functions as I can while he is young.

Recently he said “Mommy I had a big barking spider come out of my anus.”

Ugh! Hopefully he will still use the term booty or butt for now!

Trying to teach him the correct names for his anatomy is a challenge!

He also copies things we say.

The other night at dinner I was trying to open a container when he busts out with, “What Are you doing child?!” in a fabulous imitation of myself.

I lost it laughing.

It was one of those laughs that’s contagious and he started laughing and I started laughing harder, then I snorted and he screeched laughing and we are both crying laughing!

I am even doing the “shhhhhhhhhhhhhh” with hysterical laughter and “please quiet” trying to gain control over my laughing.

It was semi hopeless but sometimes those laughs are the BEST feeling ever!

Every word that comes out of my mouth has to be censored when he is anywhere near me.

It’s scary.

There are times when he is all up into a movie and I am talking to someone in the other room or on the phone, thinking he isn’t paying attention but dang if he doesn’t come back a bit later and ask “mommy what did you mean by this?”

Thankfully I am hyper aware of what I say around him because I really did remember reading about “the parrot effect” of young children.

I thought it would happen earlier than now and it did to a degree.

But it seems to be building and building.

I seriously need an editor before I speak in front of him because he sometimes mixes the contexts of the word and it does not sound right!

I’m just waiting for the call from his school.

I know it’s coming!

I just have to remember to breathe and pray it isn’t over anything too bad!

No matter what I will always think of my good friend “Max” and the call she got from her sweet, angelic daughter’s daycare. “Miss Max, Ally said the “F” word!”

Then I feel a little better. For now!

Have a fabulous Thursday My Graceless Friends!

I’m recovering today from a back procedure so no idea what tomorrows post will hold!

Keep Hope Alive!

 

Manual labor and the chic who forgot how it feels

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 8 Comments

Recently I agreed to clean an empty “small” garden home to help out an older gentleman who wanted to sell it as he no longer lived there. His son had moved out some time back he said, and I went over, we discussed pricing and I started the next day.  

First of all, I am so thankful he offered me more than I asked for!  

I was quoting him based on size, etc. knowing full well I would throw in some cleaning he didn’t mention because that’s how I am, and he was a single, older, gentleman who had come referred by a friend. I needed the money and he needed the help.  

Oh.My.Aching.Body.  

It’s not that I am not physically active. I have a 4 year old son and OCD. I am constantly on the move and cleaning, organizing and Running to catch him from numerous things. Trying to avoid as many doctor visits as possible!  

However, when I clean something, especially for someone else, I CLEAN It.  

I scrub and put my whole body into that scrub. I spray, scrub, wash, scrub and scrub some more. I become somewhat obsessed I admit.  

I will get bathrooms, kitchen, doors, laundry room, windows, floors, fans, floorboards Cleansed. 

I was thinking 4-5 hours maybe close to 6, broke down over 2 days, no problem. 

I did get it done in 2 days but it took 9 ½ hours! 

Yes I used muscles that I haven’t used in a long, long time. I had blisters on my hands. My spine, hips, back and booty feel like I went dancing for at least 10 hours solid.  

I wanted to crawl around but that is frowned upon in places and I can’t catch the boy crawling. Or just lying there.  

My son jumped into my arms earlier today and I struggled not to drop him and fall over.  

He asked me if I was “Ok mama? You seem shaky.” Very good observation young boy! I told him mommy had been working hard and her body was sore.  

He then asked if it was because I had cleaned the screened in porch yesterday. I had forgotten about that!  

That explained it!  

In addition to my house cleaning and new job duties (taking care of a lovely older lady who needs help in her home, including getting up and down), I had also cleaned a roughly 10 x 20 area top to bottom. And all the furniture – think Pollen build up from all season long. Nasty! OCD here it was bad!  

I do not mind cleaning and helping. I enjoy making money and helping family and friends clean. I am a freak, this I know.  

But I forgot that I am no longer a spring chicken and that my spine, for real, is not at its peak, and I am, in fact, having a procedure done later this week to burn those irritating nerves back there and get a spinal block and maybe something else my fabulous doctor will throw in. Because he feels sorry for me being all jacked up knowing how I live my life! And I do bend at the knees like I’m told Trust Me! I couldn’t do anything otherwise!  

I mean I go in every three months for maintenance! Seriously! 

Manual labor I can do, I just have to pace myself.  

To those who do it daily, my respect goes out to you!  

It is hard on a body!  

But I love it and of course I will be doing similar cleansings again… once my spine is fixed!

And that house I did? It is Cleansed! The owner said he hadn’t seen it that clean since he had been living there! Score for the gimpy girl!

 Have a Fabulously Graceless Tuesday my friends!

 Keep Hope Alive!

 

Plugged in but not tuned in

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 5 Comments

I was going to title this “Wired in” but plugged in seemed more apropos.

The definition of apropos is “fitting; at the right time; to the purpose; opportunity”.

I say this because even as I turn on my computer to only get into Word and begin typing my thoughts, I looked the definition up on my smarter-than-me-phone to make sure I am using the word apropos correctly in my mind! Too many folks toss out words not knowing the true definition or the way to use said word.

So many people use the term wired in or Wi-Fi, most often heard, to let others know they have “instant access” to the Internet so they can flaunt themselves with the knowledge they have the power to “look up information” on the go.

I freely admit this is quite handy and helpful but sometimes it can be a bit much.

Many of these folks, I’ve discovered, think that they are “extremely intelligent” because they have this “power” at their fingertips.

Everyone shares knowledge or information or news that they gleaned from the Internet by whatever source they chose to quote their info from. Facebook, news sites, spoof news sites.

More than have of those people decided their “source” is the truth and then proceed to tell you how your “source” is false and they hereby know more than you do because they are now “tuned in” to The Right Source.

These people kill me!

“It has be to be true ‘cause I read it on the Internet!”

It used to be they saw it on the television but we’re “evolving” now… sure we are, sure we are.

I am the one who will check several news sources to see if something is authentic before I post it, and even then sometimes find out that part or all of it was not the truth but it got out before the editor fully check the content. And yes, I have even got caught up in Internet hoaxes before I learned to check, re-check and triple check and even then sometimes something may not be true but it’s so “real” it seems like it is true. (HBO teaser trailers come to mind as well as a few other entertainment stations).

I am sure than many folks have heard the phrase “turn on, tune in, drop out”.

I wonder how many people really know where that term came from.

I recently heard it from the mouth of a “kid’ who had the “I’m young and smart and know everything” attitude and asked him what that meant to him.

He looked at me funny and said, “Ya know it’s what you say when you’re ‘in the know’.”

“Very interesting. And deep.” I replied, trying so hard to keep a straight face!

“I think it was a saying from some 80’s song but it means more now. We’ve changed it. Tuned in because it’s our generation that’s going to be in charge now and we have it all figured out which is what they meant by that term. We are wired into the world at our fingertips”.

It was all I can do to keep a straight face and get out of his vision (and sound range too) because I just lost it laughing at his definition of the phrase.

I can imagine once I “shared” with him the original origins of the phrase he would write me off as a crazy, old hippie lady and not take into consideration he could be incorrect on his information.

After all this is the age of information and according to this 20-something (barely) dude, his generation has it all figured out! God help us!

They practically created the internet, not Al Gore! Ok that was just funny if you get the reference. If not, just never mind and continue reading!

I had to call my friend immediately thereafter and tell them of this hilarious conversation and how Mr. Timothy Leary may could the humor in it if he was still with us. I hope! Because it kind of scares me to think this kid could be right.

How he got all that “deep ramble of thought(lessness)” from an “80’s” song I am just at a loss.

When you can Google the term “turn on, tune in and drop out” and the First thing that pops up is “”Turn on, tune in, drop out” is a counterculture-era phrase popularized by Timothy Leary in 1966. Reading on just a tinny bit you learn that in 1967 he spoke at the Human Be-In, a gathering of 30,000 hippies in Golden Gate Park and uttered the famous phrase “Turn on, tune in, drop out.”

His actual speech was “Like every great religion of the past we seek to find the divinity within and to express this revelation in a life of glorification and the worship of God. These ancient goals we define in the metaphor of the present – turn on, tune in, drop out.”

So is he plugged in, kind of. Wired in, I am so sure because he was holding one of those large Starbucks coffees in his hand!

But tuned in? In my opinion, no.

Because he represents the epitome of what I am trying to say here.

That just because you have the “information”, you don’t apply the knowledge of it.

You may use definitions to attempt to show your “power” but if you words lack the knowledge of intelligence, you sound like some of Mr. Leary’s pals that I am sure didn’t fare as well as him, Mr. Watts and Mr. Burroughs on their drugs.

The ones I am talking about that babble in the corner to things we cannot see!

And you only half-assed read on the Internet or you would have known pretty quickly what that phrase really meant and its origins.

If you would have truly read down a bit further you might have expanded your knowledge and sound like someone worthy of being respected.

But instead you mouth off, half knowing information, acting all superior to others because “you know” about “everything” and can tell others how they are “doing things wrong” yet your source is not even factual!

I know it’s not just this generation.

No, it’s far, far worse.

People of ALL generations have decided their superiority over others because they are “Tuned in” to what is “real”. However all of their realities seem to be a bit different so then we have several opinions as to what is real and what is not.

And everyone arguing and fighting over it, harming others in the process.

Forgetting that “turn on, tune in, drop out” is a metaphor for seeking the divinity within oneself. *I am paraphrasing here and inserting my opinion of the phrase.

But I do not expect everyone to agree with me.

Nor do I expect everyone to understand or care.

I just care than when you start quoting phrases and hurling them around at folks and judging them you know what you are really saying and mean. And that you back it up by walking the walk, not just talking the talk.

Put down you beloved smart phone before you walk into a wall or fall off the curb!

When you read, actually pay attention to what the writer is saying but don’t read while walking unless it’s just a glance because you may not be getting the full facts of what you are wanting to know.

For directions or referencing a glance is fine. But in order to “tune in” and find answers, you must first give the subject your full attention.

Otherwise we get a bunch of people who only think they know everything.

That is a terrifying thought to me!

Because those “half knowers” could be running our country one day. More of them than there already are! HA!

Seriously, our very lives depend on people who study, research and learn how to do specific things. Soldiers, police officers, fire fighters, doctors, lawyers, politicians – you get the idea. I personally want the ones who Know not the ones who glanced at the information packet to be helping me and mine!

So give humanity a break and “tune in” for a while before you start your judging and you superiority kick. It’s irritating.

As humans we claim to be superior beings, but are we really?

Deep thoughts for a fabulously graceless Monday morning!

Keep Hope Alive!!!

Sometimes sleep is the best medicine ever

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 9 Comments

This has been one of those all out, keep moving, doing more than the “norm” kind of week.

So my plan is simple for a beautiful, hot Saturday morning.

SLEEP!

Rejuvenate the bod, keep the kid up so he will sleep in too and enjoy it!

I’m so mentally and physically exhausted right now I am impressed I can even type words onto the screen!

Since I am going to bed soon, and blessedly set this post to post in just a few hours, I will be enjoying my favorite past time that I do not get as often as needed.

Oh sleep how I love thee!

I have over 20 topics I want to write on, however I can’t make my brain work to put words on the screen and my mind to form coherent sentences at this point.

I was watching power rangers with the kids earlier and one of the characters went “uh uhhhhh uhhhhhh”. Literally all it said.

I can totally relate at this point.

My friend and I were commiserating on how crazy busy this week has been, and as we watched our boys play, we marveled at all their energy. And were also a bit jealous because we needed more than to become one with the couch!

So we made the joint decision to let them watch another power ranger episode, have one more jump on the trampoline and then put their wild booty’s in the bed.

Fabulous endings for all!

If I make no sense just forgive me!

Some days are like that. And usually I am better prepared and equipped to at least post something more interesting .

But I have sleep deprivation like I did when the boy was tiny and my mind became jello though not from jello shots but from over doing it.

So this fabulously graceless gal will be snoozing away, hopefully, when y’all are read this!

Forgive me as I am merely a human.

It’s time for lights out and oh these lovely sheets are divine, the room is frigid and will be dark soon.

Tomorrow we will wake up, eat, play and visit friends.

Once we get out of the bed!

It’s been too long since we got to sleep in and now is the time!

Have a fabulous Saturday morning and I promise more once I fill myself with caffeine and become coherent!

Stay fabulous and graceless my friends!

Keep hope alive!!!

The “soul mate” predictor

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 16 Comments

There is a new “quiz” out on the Face book that’s called “who is your true soul mate?”.

You’ve no idea how much this amuses me, because if it were true it could help a lot of folks out!

However since it is by http://www.Captainquizz.com I am so sure it’s legit! *Can ya feel the sarcasm drip here?!

I had seen it but don’t do a lot of those “quizzes”, although sometime I admit that I do it just for fun.

I really wasn’t into it but was amused to see my friends enjoying doing it, and who it said their soul mate was. I admit a few friends and their mates were shown as soul mates when both of them did theirs. Kind of impressive when you think of how it matches you to your Facebook friends list!

Some friends were amused to note that their “soul mates” were, as in real life, a true, stand by you through anything friend.

Apparently, I am my sister from another mister’s soul mate! She took the test three times so it must be real!

I laughed so hard I wet myself! Just a little.

We have been in each others lives for over 35 years, since we were kids. Literally.

We went through growing up, puberty, those heinous teen years, after graduations, marriage, kids, moving far way, long distance trips, marriage, kid, divorce, death – you get the picture we are from birth to earth Steel Magnolias.

So yes I was Very amused and entertained by this.

Of course we’re soul mates! We didn’t need a dumb quiz to tell us that!

We’ve been through more madness than I will ever tell but always come out of it together!

Soul mate predictor. Ha!

Ok, I will admit I was intrigued to see if she was my soul mate so I took the quiz. Twice.

The first person was one of my moms best friends and though I love her dearly and all I just don’t see it.

Amused by it all I tried again.

This time I got said friends daughter!

I was laughing so hard I spit out my tea!

I thought it would give me the same answer but no, apparently when I take the test I have more than one soul mate.

And you know something?

I realized we do have more than one soul mate on this journey of life if we are truly lucky. Or blessed, however you see fit to look at it.

We define “soul mate” in loose terms to mean the person we are meant to spend our life with as in being a “couple”.

I know I hadn’t really thought about all of the people who are friends and family that I have “clicked” with instantly and jump straight up into their crazy and them to mine and haven’t looked back since as a “soul mate”.

It actually makes sense to me in my twisted, strange mind.

Some of these people I have known all of my life, others I have known anywhere from a few months to years (a lot of those in the 10 plus year category).

I am a collector of people, friends, if you will.

And not in a body part in the freezer kind of way, but in the relationship kind of way!

I have friends from all walks of life, all backgrounds, colors, religions and each one of them views the world from a different perspective. Each one of them near and dear to me in very different ways.

Some of them would never get along but for some of us, we tend to clump together.

No one is jealous of time spent with the others because we are secure in our relationships and where we are on this wild and insane journey together.

So if this Face book “Soul Mate” predictor can’t tell me who my soul mate is, I am sure I will be ok because I already know.

I’m fortunate to have so many I can call my soul mates on this fabulous life experience!

Have a fabulously graceless Friday! I Know I will!

 

Just a “brief” interruption….

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ 10 Comments

I just Love it when someone calls and says, “You got a minute I need to tell you something I won’t take long” so you say “yes” and 20 minutes later you’re still on the phone because said person is now telling you the other 5 things they “forgot” when they called you “for a minute.

Yeah sarcasm doesn’t always translate so well in print but I hope you could feel that one!

There are many people I know with this affliction!

I call them the “just a minute callers” because Every time they tell me “it will just take a minute” and Every time it’s at least 10 or more minutes.

How do you handle that?! I mean without being rude. Which I have been on occasion because I get tired of trying to be nice all the time!

Also those people who you talk to and when it comes time for the end of the conversation to happen, they decide to launch into any and everything they can to keep you on the phone, though saying “I know you have to go but there is just one more thing I will be quick.”

“Quick?” I want to scream at them! Really! I am already behind because your entire conversation was you drawing out your words and repeating yourself and over and over again. Please stop talking!

It really is rude to hang up on people but I seriously want to the majority of the time when I get stuck on the phone with someone like this.

Don’t get me wrong, I can do it too. Usually when I haven’t talked to someone in a while and we don’t get to talk much I try to cram everything in.

However when someone tells me they have to get off the phone, I do my best to cut it short and just tell what needs to be told not all the things I want to say.

When I talk to someone on a regular basis and they repeatedly do it to me it makes me not want to talk to them anymore!

Just because I work from home people “assume” that I have time to take their calls “anytime” and that I am free to do as I please.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Anyone who works from home can tell you that you have to be disciplined to make it work. And it is Work! I may be without makeup in my comfy clothes but I am working!

Although it is somewhat “easy” for me to come up with content for my articles and blogs, it takes concentration and work. Yes, real work!

So just remember the next time you call someone and say “I will be brief I just wanted to tell you a few things” do just That then get off the phone!
Or know that I put you in the “I will take that call later cause they Always take longer than promised” category!

Also, when someone says they are “busy”, whether they are or not, respect them please as it’s obvious that they don’t have all the time in the world to chat with you so don’t keep them on the phone. Otherwise you will be wondering why your calls go to voice mail so often! Or they may just hang up on you. It is effective!

Remember sometimes brief is better!

Stay fabulously graceless my friends!

The Piglet is Home & unplanned weekend fun chaos!

~ gracelessnessover40 ~ Leave a comment

My apologies for the late post but my weekend got thrown a bit out of wack but in a very unexpected, very good way!

I had settled in to work and write yesterday when I received a text from a close friend. He was traveling with his older daughter and his younger daughter had been with his mom, then met up with her mom, step-dad and step-siblings.

Apparently mom had “gone off” on her younger daughter and she was extremely upset. Her Grammy was further out and I was asked if I could go get her. This is not a kid that gets “worked up” over nothing. She isn’t whinny, bratty or overly dramatic.

I termed it “operation kid rescue”!

Before anyone gets all up in arms, the father has full custody and the mother, though I know she loves her daughters, is somewhat in and out of their lives. I am merely an old family friend and love both girls like they’re my own.

So I drop what I am doing and go across town to get Miss A. She’s 12 and one of the coolest kids I know. So is her 17 year old sister. Their dad has done a fabulous jobs of raising them.

Let me just say, I don’t care what you situation is, you CHILD should be the Most important person to you and above all else, especially if you are a divorced parent, cherish any time you have with you kid. Do not try to put them against the other parent. It’s cruel, mean and just plain wrong! Once they get older they realize what you are doing and they have the option to leave. Especially if the other parent has done their job and they know they do not have to take the verbal abuse. This really gets my blood boiling because I can not IMAGINE ever doing this to my child! It does not even compute! I will get back to the topic sorry!

I get to her, and thankfully no drama as dad has called mom and Miss A meets me in the parking lot so I don’t have to deal with the mom.

Miss A is a bit down, of course, so we hit Starbucks for her favorite fru fru summery drink (cause I know she needs cheering up and she asked nicely as it isn’t in my “go to” places due to the cost), then ran to Target.

I was looking pretty rough with my comfy pants, t-shirt, no make-up and hair pulled up style but she said I looked beautiful. Anyone see why I love her?!

I gave her the option of going to Grammy’s or staying with me. She chose me because I’m that “cool auntie” and I was thrilled as I was really missing my boy and he wasn’t coming home until the following day, now today.

So we hung out, at pizza, she did crafts, while I wrote some, we watched movies, chatted and laughed like kids. Ok, well she is a kid and I thoroughly enjoyed being around her!

We crashed out and then got up this morning with one thing on our mind. The boy is coming home today!

Let me just say at 12, kids are pretty self sufficient, at least this one is! I didn’t have to do too much per se, just BE there for her to talk to about any and every thing. It isn’t hard. And I rather enjoyed being auntie to her and she is genuinely a fabulous kid.

We got cleaned up, dressed and ready and finally at least I heard the door chimes!

The Piglet is Home! My tater tot, my boy, my miracle is HOME!

He was on vacation with his dad, grandparents, aunt and friends at the beach and having a blast I know but it had been 9 days since I hugged and kissed on him.

But God did I Miss Him!

I think we hugged and kissed for at least 10 minutes when he got home.

Miss A was laughing and hugging us too.  We were so happy to have him home because he is just a joy and so much fun! Did I mention I missed him?

So we ate lunch, packed up and went out to a festival for some much needed fun!

We stayed several hours, playing, people watching and visiting with friends when we finally decided it was time to go.

We got Miss A home just after her dad and sister got home so we all decided to get some grub as it was dinner time.

By the time the boy and I hit the road for home, he was snoozing in the backseat!

Of course he woke up when we got home, didn’t want to take a bath and I convinced him by saying he really didn’t want all that dirt on his clean sheets, there could be bugs in the dirt – kind of probably not true but hey it worked!

He is now sleeping away after watching a movie… and of course it took a bit because he was happy to be home, loving on me, needed more milk, was somehow so awake after being soooo sleepy!

But I couldn’t be happier because the Piglet is home and all is right in my world again!

I will post more “interesting” posts at times and them other times, like today, I have mommy brain but I am so squishy, gooey happy that my boy is home.

I’m going to go, again, and kiss him on the head just because I can!

Have a fabulous Sunday my friends!