Category Archives: Personal Musings

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Hidden Talent, Where Are You?

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Since I’m part of the Post A Week Challenge on WordPress, I regularly receive emails with topic suggestions for posts. 

Here is Topic #59:

What’s your hidden talent? Also included were these follow-up questions: What is the skill or ability you have people are always surprised to learn you possess? What hidden talent do you wish you had?

Hidden Talent. Powerful words.

I usually read the suggestion and then toss it. But, this one has been really bugging me and so, it’s still hanging out in my inbox. Why?

I’ve been mulling this one over and over. I don’t think I have a hidden talent. Does everyone have one and I missed out?

I can’t sing like Susan Boyle (my kids will attest to that!).

I’m not really that creative or artistic. My artistic claim to fame was drawing elephants on my notebooks in junior high.

I can’t balance a lawnmower on my chin (I saw someone do this on Ellen!).

I don’t really have fashion sense so I can’t design the next “pajama jean”.

I can’t play any musical instrument except maybe the recorder (I bet I can still do Hot Cross Buns). Not really a “talent” since every kid in elementary school can do this.

I can cook, but it’s not hidden.

I can organize anything and anyone to death, but again, not hidden and  not a “talent”.

I can do the daily Indy Star crossword puzzle in about 13 minutes (my personal best). (impressive, right?)

I can fold fitted sheets like nobody’s business (thanks, mom!).

Because I am a TV hound, I can recall obscure actors and actresses names. Not really sure this is all that unique.

 Maybe….

I installed our new kitchen disposal and saved us $600.  Is that a talent?

Seriously, though, I think my 4-year mid-life crisis (4-yr anniversary is this April. You’re wondering about the start date. I’ll get to that.) has been all about finding my hidden talent and I haven’t found it yet.  You’d think after this long, it would have revealed itself by now. Maybe I’m looking too hard.

Okay, the start date of my mid-life crisis?  How can it have a start date? Well, it was the day that I quit my full-time job. When working at this crazy job, I didn’t have time to contemplate my life or what I would be doing down the road. I was just trying to get through the day: wake up, take kids to daycare, work, pick up kids from daycare (and when older, take them to practice of some sort), fix dinner, help with any homework, watch some TV, talk to family, do more work, go to bed….. you get the idea.

When I finally got the time to stop and think about what I really wanted to do (4 yrs ago), I literally locked up. “What the hell am I going to do?” I’d been going 100 mph for so long, I didn’t really have time to find my passion or time to discover my hidden talent (if it’s there).  Yoo hoo, hidden talent, come on out!

Well, I’m still here trying to figure it out. But, in the meantime, I’m still doing insurance (on a part-time basis). Not really the big switch I had fantasized about.

Maybe I need to enter the acceptance stage of this pursuit and come to grips with the fact that I may not have a hidden talent. At least one that I can use to blaze a new path for myself at this point in my life. 

Nah, I’m not completely ready to throw in the towel just yet. The one thought that keeps me focused on my pursuit is that I don’t want to be the old lady in the office that they keep around only because she is the vessel of knowledge of all of those that had gone on before her (you know, the office “tribal elder” that knows how to do everything).

I’ll just have to keep trying and be patient…..

Unknown's avatar

The Breast Food I’ve Ever Eaten

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Recently I came across a headline in my twitter feed that really made me do a double-take.  The topic of breast milk wasn’t the eye-catching part. It’s what’s being done with the breast milk: cheese and ice cream.

Breast Milk Ice Cream A Hit At London Store

Excerpt from the article (to read on the entire article, click on the title):

The rare offering proved a hit with customers at the Covent Garden store — the first batch sold out within days of being introduced. A serving of Baby Gaga, which is reportedly flavored with vanilla and lemon zest, goes for 14 pounds — or about $22.50.

In an interview for British TV, store founder Matt O’Connor says, “It’s pure, it’s natural, it’s organic, and it’s free range — and if it’s good enough for our kids, it’s good enough to use in our ice cream.

The U.S. FDA is a bit leery of using “donor human milk.” On its website, it explains why:

Risks for the baby include exposure to infectious diseases, including HIV, to chemical contaminants, such as some illegal drugs, and to a limited number of prescription drugs that might be in the human milk, if the donor has not been adequately screened. In addition, if human milk is not handled and stored properly, it could, like any type of milk, become contaminated and unsafe to drink.

The reference to “free range” is funny.

Underneath the ice cream article there was a link to the article shown below due to the similar topic so I had to click on it.

Chef Dishes Up Breast-Milk Cheese (March 2010)

Excerpt from the article (to read the entire article, click on the title):

When Angerer posted a recipe for “My Spouse’s Mommy’s Milk Cheese” on his blog, customers began calling his eatery begging for a taste. So he began offering an appetizer of breast-milk cheese with figs and Hungarian pepper at Klee Brasserie. While response has been generally positive, Angerer and Mason admit the dish has been a decided turnoff to some.

“I think a lot of the criticism has to do with the combination of sex and cheese,” Mason told the New York Post. “But the breast is there to make food.”

The ice cream article said that women answered an internet ad and that they used the breast milk of 15 women. Did they specifically need 15 or was that how many answered the ad? How much breast milk is needed to make how much ice cream? The article didn’t say. 

I would be curious as to why these women were compelled to answer the ad. Are they being compensated? What would be adequate compensation? Free ice cream? That might have made me think twice – ice cream is one food that I can’t live without or resist.

There are SO many questions – way too many to list in this post.

The article about the cheese said that the chef used 2 gallons of his wife’s breast milk to make some cheese. Whoa there! TWO gallons?! How long did that take? I can’t even imagine.

How much cheese did this produce? The article didn’t say. But, according to some cheese recipes online, 2 gallons of milk will make about 1.5 lbs of cheese (I think I did the math correctly). That seems like a lot of work for 1.5 lbs of cheese.

What do you think about these articles? I’m not sure what to think. The concept does have a “eewww” factor for me, why? Is it the “combination of sex and cheese” like the cheese article implies? I don’t think that’s it. The FDA statement in the ice cream article does list some valid concerns.

The one thing that I’m certain of is that I would never pay $22.50 for a serving of ice cream – I don’t care what’s in it.

Would any of you sample the “Mommy’s Milk Cheese” or the “Baby Gaga” ice cream?

 

Unknown's avatar

Did She Work Here?

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Wow, this is a shocking story – Woman Dies at Desk but Nobody Notices.

This headline caught my eye. This is crazy, right? What does this say about us as a society? Didn’t anyone tell her to have a good weekend? Not to work too late? Or, invite her out for an after-work cocktail?

I haven’t really thought about dying much, but I definitely don’t want to be found at my desk. Where would I want to be discovered? Haven’t thought about that one either, but my place of employment is at the bottom of the list.

A security guard found her the next day around 1:00pm.  She was only 51 years old and had just become a grandma  the week before – so sad! She is just 6 years older than me. wow, wow, wow. . .

Is that how she would have wanted to be remembered? Remembered as the person that died at her desk? I seriously doubt it.

This got me thinking about how I would like to be remembered. Since I haven’t really given this much thought, my feelings regarding this are fuzzy and unclear. I obviously want to be well thought of in the spouse, mother, daughter, friend, sister departments. Would there be anything else? Hmmmm…… I’ll have to get back with you on this one.

When I saw her age, it really struck me. Life is crazy, fleeting, and unexpected. If there is something I really want to do, I better start working on it. 

What am I waiting for?

link to photo

Unknown's avatar

From Fearful to Fearless

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On my drive home from work today, I was thinking about the word fear. What am I most afraid of? Let’s see….

The Big Kahunas: 

  • Loss of financial security
  • Failure (all kinds – parenting, relationships, work, etc.)
  • Stagnation
  • Not being relevant

The Minor Things:

  • Spiders
  • Snakes
  • Jiggly foods (pudding, jello, creme brulee, oatmeal, etc)
  • Driving in Ft. Myers, FL (see my Florida Dreaming post)
  • Pine nuts
  • Hidden dangers (they are lurking everywhere, but where?)
  • Dentists
  • Public Speaking
  • this list could go on all day!

Of the Big Kahunas listed above, the fear that is foremost on my mind these days is stagnation. Not Changing. Not Moving.

Why stagnation? It’s taken a couple of days, but I finally came to the conclusion that the thought of waking up two (four, five, etc.) years from now doing the exact same routine that I’m doing now scares the shit out of me. Stagnation. It even sounds icky when you say it. That’s the ‘worry’ that is consuming my brain. It was a relief to finally figure out the crux of my melancholy that I’ve been feeling. What am I going to do about it? I’m not getting any younger!

Unfortunately for me, my fears of failure and financial ruin are not helping me in my quest to conquer my fear of stagnation. Egads, I’m in trouble.  On the scale from fearful (1) to fearless (10), I would say that my fear level is 4ish (not quite Monk) and I would like it to be a 7 or 8 (let’s be real, a 10 is just not in the cards!).  How do I get there? Is it even possible? 

I’ve been slowly working on this for the last four years. I finally started trying new things to help me get over my fear of not doing something perfectly the first time (this has always been a stumbling block for me).  I haven’t done anything mind-blowing like cage fighting or cliff diving, but here is a short recap:

  • Quit my full-time job without having anything else lined up (that was scary and very much unlike me)
  • Tried a kick boxing class and loved it! But, they eventually stopped offering it at my workout place :(.  I still have the pink gloves in the hopes that it will come back.
  • Took some oil painting classes last spring. This class was a small step in helping me get comfortable with not exuding perfection every time I try something new. My first, second, and third paintings are not that great and it’s okay. I can actually say this truthfully (that’s a big step for me).
  • Started a blog. Putting yourself out there is scary – I don’t do well with criticism. It’s been a great process for me and I’m getting more comfortable with being a little more “real” in my posts and accepting any comments that may come my way. However, in the spirit of full disclosure, the comments have been kind so my resolve has not really been tested.

These steps have been fine, but I feel like I’ve got to do something greater, bigger, different. I’ve had an idea swirling in my head since November, but it requires a lot of fearlessness. Where am I going to come up with all of this courage?

That is the million dollar question.

Leaders are visionaries with a poorly developed sense of fear and no concept of the odds against them.  They make the impossible happen.  – Dr. Robert Jarvik

Unknown's avatar

Florida Dreaming

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I missed my Weekly Post in the WordPress Post-A-Week Challenge this week (it was due Monday) – Shoot!  But, I did have a good excuse – I was in Ft. Myers with My Gals for our “Moms Gone Wild” long weekend! What would I do without my gal pals?  I think I would be a hot mess without ’em. (One of my gal pals laughs when I use the word gal because she thinks I’m not old enough to use that word yet. Are you giggly yet, Ti? I’ve used it 4x already!). 

Woot! It was A LOT of fun. I love those trips – they really rejuvenate my spirit. That sounds really hokey, but I’m not sure how else to describe it. I feel like I can do anything when I get back.  And, then the reality of life hits (especially when you come home to Ice Storm 2011)! Ah. . .  vacations are for dreaming.

The picture in this post is actually of Naples – we went there for the day.  The beach is SOOOO pretty. Shopping around in Naples that evening made me feel young – even at 46, we seemed to be some of the youngest gals there. 

So, what did we do and what did we discuss while on our wild weekend? We did very little, ate wonderful food and talked A LOT!

Retirement:

Of course, being in Florida with all of the silver hair and silver cars got us talking about retirement. What are our plans? Would we be snowbirds? It seems 75% of the group is looking forward to being snowbirds. I told them that I didn’t think that would be in our future for a lot of reasons, but mainly because my husband LOVES Fall.  They don’t seem to have Fall in Florida. I’m also having a hard time picturing that time in my life at this point since it’s probably 20-25 years away. Let’s be honest, I’m having trouble picturing my life even 3 years from now.

It does seem that by retiring to Florida, you could be taking your life into your hands. The driving there was the worst driving that I’ve personally experienced anywhere.  While in their invisible silver cars, the snowbirds don’t stay in their lanes, they cross lanes without warning and they speed like crazy (and some of them may actually be asleep)! I may not have the proper constitution to be a snowbird.

Getting “Work” Done:

This is a topic that’s in the news All. Of. The. Time!  Why did it come up on vacation? Well, because we watched the Housewives of Beverly Hills during our stay – the topic is hard to avoid while watching this show. It seems that nothing on/in these women is natural any longer. I hate the pressure put on us (even regular housewives) to have procedures to keep us youthful looking. Would I commit to never getting anything done?  I’m not sure I can say that, but I’m really not planning on it. Surgeries of any kind scare me and I’m afraid of the slippery slope effect.

Other topics:

Kids:  Duh!  They make us crazy (which is why we briefly run away), but we still love ’em.  So, we confer with and console each other in order to provide reassurance that our kids aren’t the only ones that talk like they are possessed, have trouble following instructions, or act like they will never manage to care for themselves as they get older.

Husbands:  Similar to the kids topic above – they make us crazy, but we can’t live without them.  Mike doesn’t usually talk like he’s possessed or have trouble following directions (depends if he sees them as valid or not).  And, I’m hoping that he will be able to take care of himself as he gets older!

Movies:  We watched the worst movie all of us had ever seen – Sex in the City 2.  The series was so ground-breaking and entertaining.  The movie, not so much.  It would take too long to explain how bad this movie was. If you haven’t seen it and had it on your list as a ‘must see’, erase it and replace it with another movie. I’m saving you 2 hours and 26 minutes of your life that I can never get back.

I wish we had had one more day of fun in the sun, but our houses were falling apart without us (okay, maybe not falling apart, but you get the idea).  They needed us home!

Here’s to mini-escapes that keep us sane!

Unknown's avatar

2010: Jenni’s Year in Review

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OMG!  The holiday season is finally over, I have recovered from the flu and Christmas has been packed away for another year.  I’m ready to get back to “normal” – whatever that is.

Over the last couple of weeks, I have been mulling over my 2010 year – it was a fairly interesting year.  And, it was supposed to be the year that I figured out what the @#&* I’m supposed to be doing with my life.  Let’s review!

1. Painting Lessons

In my quest for personal growth, I started painting lessons.  I did put them on hold as I felt that I wasn’t on the same page as the instructor.  My intention was to keep painting at home – which I did (sorta)….. there is a half-painted picture in my office right now. 

2011 RESOLUTION:  To revive my painting hobby because I really did like it.  Having some free time would help.

2.  Blogging

I started a blog in March of 2010.  I’m not sure what really triggered the need to have an online diary of sorts – do people really care what I think?  Who knows? But, I’ve got one and I like it!  Sometimes it really does help to put thoughts in writing.  Also, I have encountered a whole other world out there – I’ve “met” quite a few interesting and clever people. 

2011 RESOLUTION:  To be a better blogger. What do I mean by that?  Well, be more consistent in posting and be relevant and interesting. (Whoa!  Being consistently interesting is a lofty goal – how about moderately interesting?).

3. Entomology Lesson

Spring Break 2010 will go down in history as one of the craziest vacations for the Engledow family.  This is the trip where we learned that bed bugs are real AND really disgusting!!  In case you missed it, you can read all about it –  “Don’t Let the Bedbugs Bite!” & Other Sayings. 

2011 RESOLUTION:  NEVER, NEVER to encounter another bed bug EVER!

4.  Driving Lessons

My oldest daughter, Rachel, turned 16 (I seriously have a 16-yr-old??) and got her driver’s license (on my birthday!) – Holy Sh!t!  That was stressful.  I am getting used to it now – she helps me with various errands AND taxi duty (for herself and her siblings) – the taxi duty help has been awesome. It’s funny because when this all started last February I thought it would have taken me longer to get to the comfort zone with her driving.  This winter has been a struggle, but we are getting through it.  She is a very conscientious kid and a good driver.

5.  Aging Lessons

I turned 45 in 2010.  That was a hard birthday – waaaay harder than turning 40.  I’m not sure why, but I do know it had something to do with my quest for personal growth  a.k.a. “What the hell am I really doing here other than taking up space?” quest.

2011 RESOLUTION:  Age is just a number – I still feel like a 20-something and will act like it whenever possible!

6. Swimming Lessons

A friend of mine will be doing a sprint triathlon (biking, swimming & running) this June 2011.  She was a little wary of the swimming so I volunteered to do the swimming training with her (what was I thinking??).  We have been swimming since September (I think) and it has been great!   Swimming is a great exercise and I hope we keep it up past her triathlon.  This training has motivated me to exercise more which is good for this old broad!

2011 RESOLUTION:  To continue swimming and to push myself to continue exercising.

7.  Lesson in Food Consumption

I had a weird food reaction this year – don’t worry, it’s not a gross story.  The story involves pine nuts which I have eaten all my adult life until this past October 2010.  You can read about it in two posts:  “Doc, I’ve Got What?” and “Shut Your Pine Mouth”.  I haven’t  had a pine nut since October.  I recently made a pesto sauce for dinner and used macadamia nuts instead – it tasted wonderful and my taste buds are still intact.  I have to say that this food thing was the weirdest thing (after the bed bugs) that happened to me this year.

2011 RESOLUTIONS:  I will NOT eat pine nuts ever again!

8.  Turkey Lessons

Yes, I’m 45 years old and had NEVER cooked a turkey until this past Thanksgiving!  It was quite a milestone and learning opportunity for me.  I was actually really excited to try it – a new adventure in cooking!  Thanksgiving 2010 went well and the turkeys (I cooked 2!) were really tender and tasty (can I say that about my own turkeys?).

2011 RESOLUTION:  Continue with new cooking adventures.

9.  Animal Lessons

The Engledow family grew in 2010.  You can read about it in “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs (and Birds, Rats, etc)”.  We added two parakeets and a rat in November and December.  We have an update:  Our sweet boy, Jack, had to give away Marshmallow (the rat) this week.  It turned out that he was allergic to Marshmallow.  Weird, right?  Apparently, it’s not that uncommon and it’s an allergic reaction to the rat’s urine (eeeew!).  He didn’t show symptoms in class because they cleaned the rats’ cages every day – he cleaned Marshmallow’s cage once a week at home.  I am very sad for my boy.  He was so excited to have Marshmallow.  We gave her to a friend of ours on Monday and he can see her whenever he wants.  BUT, the good news is we still have Jahmal and Dexter! 

 

 

I’m looking forward to 2011 to see what it has in store for me!  Hopefully, my purpose will be revealed in 2011 🙂  In the meantime, I will be here cooking, painting, blogging, swimming, parenting, going suburban-housewife crazy, and ????

 

 

Unknown's avatar

Excuse Me . . . Are My Boobs in Your Way?

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I was getting caught up on the news by surfing the web and came across this little gem:

Executive says she was fired for her ‘distracting’ breasts

By John Springer / TODAYshow.com contributor TODAYshow.com contributor / updated 11/15/2010 2:31:44 PM ET 2010-11-15T19:31:44

 

How can you pass up a title like this one??  As I was reading the article, I was just shaking my head.   It made me think of this scene from Legally Blonde ~

The hubby and I were chatting about the article while he was doing the dishes.  We agreed that you can’t  fire someone if s/he has distracting earlobes, arms or a wonky eye.  Of course, as you read the article you find out that she was fired after she filed her second sexual harassment grievance.  Hmmmm……  The timing on the firing seems somewhat suspicious, doesn’t it? 

Maybe she forgot to read this “article/ad” that I posted on Sep 4th  – “Want a raise? Wash your v*g*na.” .  Could she have saved her job by reading this important article?  I guess we’ll never know.

Here’s a snippet from the “distracting breasts” article that just cracked me up!  {Of course, this came from her complaint and is her side of the story.}  But, why would she make this up?

“You have very large breasts, so does my wife, and I have talked to her about you and your breasts,” one manager allegedly told Blakely, according to the civil complaint filed in Orlando. “You should wear loose fitting clothes or try to hide your breasts because they are too distracting.”

#1 –  Why would he talk about someone else’s boobs with his wife? 

#2 – Why would he convey this conversation to the very person who owns the distracting boobs? 

#3 – What did he want her to do with them?  Tape them down?  Wear MuuMuus or bathrobes to work?  Smack’em around and show’em who’s boss?

Is he a complete nimrod?  Sounds like it.  I’ve worked in places where some members of the upper management team were severely lacking in interpersonal skills and general common sense.  Yet, they were able to climb the corporate ladder – I’ve never understood that.  This is one of the world’s unsolved mysteries.

Well, I really hope that her complaints are genuine because sexual harassment is serious.  False claims will only hurt the women who have legitimate grievances.

I wish her the best.  Hang in there! (oops, maybe that wasn’t the best choice of sayings?) 

Um. . .  Good Luck!

Unknown's avatar

Exercise Your Right to ……Whatever

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As you may or may not know, I’ve started an exercise program. It was one of the things that I committed to on my 45th birthday. I really wanted to start taking better care of myself now so I don’t have a lot of ailments to blurt to total strangers when I’m older.

We have a really nice workout facility in our city that we joined a couple of years ago. My husband has been working out pretty regularly since we joined, but I really hadn’t until recently.

I’ve really adopted a “tude” recently. I am fed up with being a slave to my family’s schedule – that was my biggest excuse for not working out. Now, I’ve adopted a “screw’em” attitude! If we have to eat dinner at 7:00-7:30pm in order for me to get a half hour of exercise into my day, then so be it! If that means that my oldest who is now driving “gets” to take her brother and sister to piano lessons, then too bad for her! I don’t care if that means she is inconvenienced a bit.

Maybe this sounds harsh, but I feel like I have the right to be a little selfish so I can do something good for myself, right? I actually felt good enough to go out and buy myself my first pair of “skinny” jeans. You may be thinking, “Big whoop!” (Do people say that any more? It was big in the 80s). But it was a “big whoop” for me. I don’t think I’ve actually lost any weight, but it seems things are migrating back to where they originated. I consider that an accomplishment.

I try to get some kind of work out completed about 5 days a week – that seems to be all I can realistically accomplish (which is fine). I have been working out at our gym for these 5 days – I run 3x a week and swim 2x a week. So, that means exercising with others which also means some interesting people-watching opportunities are available.

This workout place has the usual array of exercise bikes, ellipticals, treadmills, weight machines, free weights and an indoor track. Below I’ve listed some interesting things I’ve seen over the last couple of months. I wish I could take pictures, but that would be wildly creepy.

60-70 year old men in Speedos. Really? Some nice regular swim trunks won’t do? Are you going for a speed record?

One interesting man (mid-40s) with black sheer hose on under some really tight black small shorts – see pic. I know this is a woman in the picture, but imagine these on a man with sheer black hose underneath the shorts. Then he had a regular t-shirt on (tucked into the shorts). I just couldn’t imagine a scenario where you would look in the mirror and say to yourself, “Yep, Perfect!”. Were the hose medically necessary? I do know that some people have to wear special knee-high type socks for circulation purposes. So if there were a full version of circulation hosiery available, then wouldn’t you wear sweats over those? I’m just sayin’.

Women, probably 70+, wearing their Sunday Best to walk around the track (I mean dangley earrings – the works). I don’t even have a Sunday Best outfit now, so I can’t imagine wearing this as my exercise garb (at any age).

Women (I’ve never seen a man doing this) talking on their cell phones while sauntering (barely walking) around the track. I don’t think that I’ve seen these women break a sweat. I thought exercise was for getting away from your daily grind for 30-45 minutes.

Young sweethearts holding hands while walking around the track – how nice! Since I’m getting older, anyone 22 or younger just look like babies to me, but I would guess an age range of 17-22 yrs old for the lovebirds. As I was thinking, “How sweet!”, I noticed that he had those huge ear gauges in his ear lobes, his running shorts were sagging (if he hadn’t had undies on, I would have seen his butt crack) and a lovely saying tattooed on the back of both calves (like a bumper sticker). Instead of saying something like ” I brake for skateboarders”, it said, “STAY F*CKED” in capital block letters. It was hard NOT to see it. How nice, right? What does that even mean? It’s so clever that all of the various people on the track that were fortunate enough to see it were left scratching their heads. Of course, I started thinking that by the time he snapped out of his rebellious stage and retired at age 70 from his 9-5 daily grind, that he would be hit on the golf course. There with his golf shirt, khaki shorts and awesome saying on his legs (if it’s even legible at that point in his life). Also, his ear lobes would surely be large enough now that he could use them as beer caddies. How convenient!

An impressive 70ish woman using the 4 ft railing as a ballet barre – she put her leg right up on that railing and put her nose to her knee for a good stretch! Holy cow! She did all kinds of amazing stretches using the railing so I was expecting to get my doors blown off running around the track with her (which would have been pretty deflating). She takes off and boom! No running, just a nice leisurely saunter. I have to say that I was a little disappointed after watching the huge warm-up.

These are the highlights of just some of my workout sessions. My dress code? Baggy shirt, shorts – that’s it. I’m not comfortable wearing skin-tight workout gear to run in. I don’t think people are quite ready for that.

These interesting sights do entice me to go back and see what’s on the people-watching menu for that day!

Unknown's avatar

Bus Stop Fashion . . . It’s About Time!

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Image c/o freefoto.com

Finally, some news I can use!  I have been waiting and waiting for a news segment about…..well, you guessed it!  Bus Stop Fashion.  When I work from home, a lot of the time I have the Today Show on for a while.  Then, I eventually move into the office so I can really crank out the work.  However, I will admit that today I lounged a bit more than usual and before I knew it, it was time for the Hoda & Kathy Lee hour – my lucky day!  Guess what was on today???  This awesome segment:  Mom Chic for the Bus Stop.  WOO HOO!!

Now, this is what I usually wear to the bus stop.  I do want to point out that this isn’t me, but that this Biatch stole my outfit.  You can imagine the embarrassment of showing up at the bus stop in the same outfit as the mom down the street!  I have to say that this outfit is pretty comfy and easy to put on in the morning to get the kids off to school.  But, my mind was open to consider other options.  I mean, I was tired of looking like everyone else – Thank You, Hoda & Kathy Lee!

Pic c/o People of Walmart

Okay, seriously folks, there are definitely A LOT of ridiculous segments on that show.  I get that.  But, come on!  This one really pushed me over the edge!

Yoko, the first model, is wearing a $150 outfit and is carrying a $95 bag.  Why in the world would I buy a $95 tote and a $150 outfit to wear to the bus stop? If I’m getting dressed in that outfit, I’m going out on the town, not wearing it to make sure that the kids are safely aboard Bus #00!

If this segment had been about Fall fashion, then it would have been tolerable, but bus stop fashion?  I just don’t understand it.  The ecomony is struggling, people are out of work, and now women should be made to feel that wearing sweats to walk the kids to the bus stop is not okay?  Oh brother!!

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That’s How You Get a Raise and a Promotion? Hmm..

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One of my BFF’s (can I use this terminology as a middle-aged women?) forwarded me a link to one of the funniest articles/posts that I’ve read in a long time!  The author of this post really nailed it.

It’s a critique of an “article” that is trying to help women get ahead in their careers.  After you read it (link below), I know all of you will be enlightened.  I personally can’t believe that I missed out on this important 8-Step Regimen when I was trying to climb the corporate ladder.  Dang it!  All of those missed opportunities now down the drain.

“Want a raise? Wash your v*g*na.”   (don’t let the title scare you off – read it!).  This article was posted on www.dailykos.com by dhonig on 8-26-2010. 

In the spirit of this article, I have provided you with a skit from Saturday Night Live (this always cracks me up!):  saturday-night-live-espn-classic-ladies-darts. 

I hope it made you giggle a bit.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!