Birthday Weekend Hangover

No, there was no alcohol involved. Not for me at least.
Saturday we celebrated our granddaughter's 4th birthday. Spent the day at one of those Chuck E Cheese type places. Our 2 year old had a blast on all the rides. She rode these cars on a roller coaster type track. She'd ride one car, get off and climb on another. This went on for 10 consecutive times. Finally we had to move to the Ferris Wheel and Merry Go Round. Mom, dad and grandma had enough of waiting for her to leave the cars.
Sunday was a longer day, as we were hosting a Sweet 16 for our middle daughter. Some family drove three hours to celebrate her birthday. Something we all appreciated. Overall, it was a fabulous weekend. Now I'm exhausted, but back to work. Busy, busy, busy.

Hope everyone else had a fun filled weekend too.

Caught!

Like many Americans I spent most of Friday glued to the television. We don't live far from Boston and we have family who live pretty close to the chaos that ensued.

My thanks go out to all the Boston PD, FBI, Swat and others involved in the capture of the second bombing suspect. They truly are heroes in my mind.

Continued thoughts and prayers for those hurt or lost in the Marathon tragedy.

General Hospital and Plastic Surgery

Growing up I would run home from school every day to watch General Hospital. Over the last twenty-five years while raising kids I’ve tuned in, sometimes regularly, sometimes not. The beauty of soap operas is you can miss a year and still know what’s going on…that’s the downfall too. They drag out story lines for way too long.

As the 50^th anniversary approached there was quite the hype about returning stars. I looked forward to seeing old faces, so for two weeks I recorded the show. I realize Hollywood makes a big deal about actors and actresses getting older, but damn, some of these actresses have had too much plastic surgery done.

I don’t get it.

Why would you want to go under the knife to the point you can barely smile? Or that you look like you’re permanently smiling? Have they not seen what’s happened to other actors?

Why can’t we allow people to age gracefully? Why do we insist they need to fix themselves to look ten, twenty years younger?

I know for me the fear of looking like a plastic scary doll isn’t an option. I personally couldn’t get the work done that these Hollywood types are.

What are your thoughts?

A Bit of Good News

I don’t share the contracts or assignments for articles, but I do like to share when I receive good news for stories.

Sunday I received a letter from Chicken Soup for the Soul letting me know I made the finals for the Lemons to Lemonade book. I had to sign a release form. While I may not make the book (keeping fingers crossed), it’s nice to know I made it into the finals. The book comes out in August 2013 and hopefully my story will be in there.

I’ll keep you posted!

What's Going on in this World?

I had a blog planned for today, but in light of what happened in Boston yesterday I decided against it. The heartache for the people involved is deep. We were lucky our family living close to the bombings were all okay.

My thoughts and prayers are with those in Boston today.

Five Year Limit

A few weeks ago the hubby and I were watching a Dateline or one of those shows about a woman who after almost ten years of marriage, her husband is arrested and convicted of rape and murder. The woman didn’t believe her husband was guilty.

Fueled by her rage over the conviction, she set out to prove his innocence. It took her twelve long years, but she did it. She found the true killer and her husband was set free. When he was released from prison it was a joyous reunion for them.

Sadly, they divorced eight months later.

My husband was commenting about how wrong that was. Here’s my take.

People change. Twelve years is a long time to be apart. I told DH five years is a long time. He looked at me appalled.

The brutal facts are people change. They must if they’re to grow. Would I leave my husband if he went away for five or more years? I’d like to say I wouldn’t, but the honest truth is I’m not sure. I love him with all my heart. I just know people change.

So what are your thoughts?

Freaky!

The hubby and I, along with our youngest daughter traveled to Upstate New York last week to visit my family. Our other two daughters stayed home to spend time with their significant others family. They were staying at our house to watch the dogs and make sure our home was safe.

The first morning I woke up early and spent some time in the room upstairs at the hotel. We had a two bedroom place. Anyway, I took a shower around 6:15. When I got out I heard loud music.

My first thought was the toddler was awake and hubby was trying to amuse her with music. As I left the bathroom I realized it was the alarm clock beside the bed. I thought it strange, but being it was our first night, maybe the guests before us had set it. Hindsight I wonder if it were intentional.

So I turned it off and went about my business. Later that morning my oldest daughter called and the first words out of her mouth were, “Thanks for the alarm.”

I’m confused. As we talk some more she tells me that the alarm clock in our bedroom went off at 6:30. It woke her and the kids up.

Ummm, we NEVER set the alarm clock. There’s no need for us. I’m always awake around 4:30 but rarely sleep past 6. Hubby wakes on his own by 7. And even if we did oversleep, we have a 20 month old who would wake us up.

A chill passed through me when I realized both of our alarms went off at almost the same time. I say almost because I can’t confirm the exact time of mine because I was in the shower.

Weird.