Romance....where did it go?

Blue eyes,
Blue waves,
Blue moon,
Blue Nun,

Memories....

My sister informed me that my niece got engaged last night. Her boyfriend of several years took her to dinner at the Space Needle and proposed, diamond ring and all. VERY romantic. How nice for them. When Sandy proposed to me, it too was romantic in a different way. We had been on an 8-day hiking trip with some other people. We were climbing the 2nd highest mountain in America; Mt. Whitney, in California. When we got to the top peak, Sandy got down on one knee and proposed. Someone took a picture and there I am, freezing, and all bundled up, looking like the picture of loveliness. I laughed about it later saying, "if he can propose to me after 8 days without a proper shower, he really must love me!". Sandy even went so far as to properly ask my father for his daughter's hand in marriage. My dad, holding back tears replied, "it's about time! I was ready to run an add in the newspaper for someone to marry her!" He was joking of course. I was 23 then and Sandy was 33. Other than the fact that Sandy is the type of husband who brings me flowers for no reason (most women I know would LOVE to have a husband like that!), I can honestly say that I don't recall any other romantic memories from Sandy in all the 19 years we have been married. There is something lacking there. Now, don't get me wrong...we have had romance and even romantic getaways that were wonderful, but it always seems to be ME that plans them. I would love some day to have a planned romantic night, one that I didn't plan myself. But for now, I can enjoy the romantic stories of my niece (congratulations, by the way) and fondly remember the past. *sigh* Oh, that reminds me...our anniversary is coming up soon..I better get to planning....(o;

And the Oscar goes too...

Hmm....the Academy Awards last night. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. They actually were rather boring. I'm a big fan of Ellen, but I gotta say, she wasn't as funny as usual. She had some great lines here and there, but basically it was a bit lame. What was up with the vacuuming? I didn't find it too entertaining. And the winners....well, no surprise there either. It was basically a show that showed us 10 seconds of every movie ever made with some awards thrown in. Boring. The only thing I really enjoyed was those silhouette dancers. now THAT was entertaining!

I must say, the dresses this year were prettier than previous years. No Bjorks wearing a bird. But I swear, I hate it when the press asks, "WHO are you wearing?" If I was there on the red carpet and they asked me that, I would reply, "WHO am I wearing? I didn't know I was wearing anyone. I thought I was wearing a dress". But I won't be on the red carpet any time soon, so I don't have to worry about being asked. (o:

Anna Nicole Smith, Donald Trump, and other celebrity rants.

Is America still at war? Are our troops still getting killed every day? Well, you wouldn't know it from watching the news. Instead, every news channel I switch to, Anna Nicole Smith's picture is all I see. Her and her "so-called" boyfriend-fake husband, Howard K. Stern. I'm sick of it. Yes, it is sad that she died and very sad her son died, but why does this have to be constant news to us on a daily basis when we are a country still at war and our troops are dying every day?? In order to stay updated on what is happening in the world and with the war, I have to read that damn ticker that speeds by on the bottom of the screen, all the while Anna Nicole's court proceeding is carrying on the full screen of the tv. I admit, today while flipping from one news station to the other, I got caught up in the proceeding. Howard K. Stern was on the witness stand trying to vie for the body of Anna Nicole to bury her in the Bahamas, where apparently her son is buried; while the camera would go from him to the judge to the attorneys to the mother, then back again. And this judge! Well, he would make Judge Ito from the OJ Simpson case, look good! To me, this judge loves his 15 minutes of fame. Loves to be on TV. It seems to me he is dragging out these proceedings so he can drag out his 15 famous minutes. Shouldn't this be a no brainer? Before Anna Nicole died, she buried her son in the Bahamas and then proceeded to buy a plot next to his for her own body to be buried next to him. Case, then, should be CLOSED. That was her intent so why drag this on? AND when it comes to the paternity of this poor baby, just simply order DNA from the 6 men or more who keep coming forward claiming to be the father, and again case closed! Why does it seem so easy to me? It all comes down to this judge that loves the spotlight. And so all the while our troops are fighting a war that shouldn't have happened, we have to endure watching this circus instead. Bury her in the Bahamas, where she will be next to her son, and get paternity tests. Then maybe finally we don't have to see the same footage over and over of Anna Nicole Smith embarrassing herself on national television.

But the only good that came out of the media going on and on about this Smith case was that it finally took the publicity away from Donald Trump. I think if I had to see his ugly-haired mug on tv, complaining about Rosie O'Donnell one more time, I would scream. He acted like a spoiled child and I was mad that the media kept giving him an outlet to do his pouting. So, Rosie made a comment about his morals....big deal. I agree with her. Who made him, as Rosie put it, the "moral compass"? And so with that he had to try and get back at her by insulting her looks, her weight, everything else he could come up with. At first I thought, "Ok..he is mad...he needs to have his word". but his word kept turning into a tirade and after awhile he just looked more and more rediculous and frankly, I was embarrassed for him. Well..only for a little bit. Then I just had to laugh. Who is he to cut down anyone's looks?? My gosh, can you even imagine that man with wet hair? One side of his head would have hair that is a foot long, while the other side is 2 inches. I bet that is a comical sight. His hair is so strange...it isn't even a comb-over. it is more of a swoop and swirl with ton's of hairspray holding it in place. I'm just glad we don't see him ranting anymore on every channel. But he will probably be upset that Anna died when she did and took the spotlight away from him.

And now we have to see over and over, Brittany Spears and her bald head. What is wrong with that poor girl? Where on earth is her mother?? Why hasn't someone intervened and stepped in to help her earlier? Sad. But I think I read on the ticker while watching the Anna trial, that her family has now put her back into a re-hab. I just hope that this time she stays and gets the help she needs and I hope her mother stays in the picture. I suppose I will see more of that in the media as the days go by.

I asked my husband, Sandy, today, "did you hear another helicopter crashed in Iraq yesterday with 6 soldiers killed on it?" he said, no, he hadn't heard. Well, it figures he didn't "hear" about it because unless he was watching the Anna trial and READING the ticker at the bottom, he wouldn't have known. I think that the media is confused on what it important. Obviously, they think celebrity fueds and deaths and nervous breakdowns should be more important than our men and women fighting in Iraq. Sad....but true.

Catching Up

Wow, I can't beleive it has been several months since I have posted my thoughts. Let's see...since my last post, the boys all started school. Dustin is a senior in high school this year! I can't beleive it! Graduation only 4 months away. Then hopefully, off to college. That is, if he gets accepted. That's a whole 'nother blog. Hmm..what else.....Oh, well I had to quit school. I was taking prerequisites to try and possibly get into the nursing program and get my RN degree. Well, turns out that you have tons of math classes to take and math not being my forte to any extent of the word, I couldn't do it. Pisses me off too because when I was 21 I went to school to become a Medical Assistant. I worked as an MA for years with different doctors. I have done just about everything an RN has done, even so far as assisting in minor surgeries. I know patient care like the back of my hand and what is even more frustrating to me, is that there is a shortage of RNs in this country. The local hospital near me, probably has 40 listings for needed RNs. So...here I am...wanting to just get that degree.. and MATH kept me from my dream. It's a shame really. And math was not the only prerequisite needed. I was taking many other classes as well, but those I did well in. I know once I actually got into the nursing program, I would have done fine. Ahh, well, I guess it just wasn't meant to be. So for now...still at home and doing medical transcription part time.
I think all that happened in September. October came around and of course Halloween...our friend's annual Halloween party. This year's theme was to come dressed as a rock star. I couldn't decide who to "be". I mean, come on....I'm a fat woman in her early 40's....it isn't like I could dress like Britney Spears. I thought about going as Madonna, but I don't think the pointed bra was going to be very flattering on me. Soooo I ended up going as Janice Joplin. Fairly easy to do...I have long blonde hair so I just dressed basically like a hippee with alot of jewelry on and those funky glasses. It worked. As for Sandy....well..he went dressed like Frank Zappa, but I think others would argue that point and say he looked more like Ozzie Ozborn. The kids did their usual trick-or-treating.
Then the holidays came around and passed so quickly, like they always do. Spent way too much money, as usual, and ate too much food, as usual. And before you know it...here comes February. OH...but not before our wild, whacky weather here in Seattle. Jeeez...in the 19 years I have lived up here, this was the wildest winter ever. We had floods (not exactly near me, thank god). and winds (yes, THOSE were near me....near enough to knock out power for 4 days) It was a nightmare. Luckily, our hot water was on gas so we at least could shower and wash dishes. But nothing else worked. Sandy has a big grill out on the patio and it has a gas burner attached so we basically lived off meat the whole 4 days. we had to BBQ just about everything in the freezer before it went bad. By the end of those 4 days, I was feeling much like a caveman..living off all that meat. At least we could heat up water and have coffee every morning. Also it was freezing outside and we had no heat and were stuck inside with the 4 boys...woo hoo! At night, we just lit a million candles, sat around in the family room all huddled under blankets and played board games. It actually was kind of nice spending time with the boys and playing games. I even think they were a little disappointed when the power came back on. Needless to say, I didn't have any BBQ'd meat for awhile. So then comes the snow storm. At least we had power! but all these weird weather days kept the boys out of school so they now have all these days to make up. School now won't be out until June 22nd. Any more days off and they will be celebrating the 4th of July at school!
And now, here we are; February 16th. Valentine's Day was nice. I got roses and chocolate. What more could a girl want? And Sandy, once being a chef back in the day, made me an awesome dinner. Steak with bernaise sauce, garlic scampi shrimp, sauteed broccoli, baked potato, wine....ahh. And you wonder why I am fat! We keep telling ourselves that we must lose weight. I know, I know...but so much easier said than done. We discussed both of us going on Nutri-system. You know...off the web so that we don't have to drive some place and weigh in. I've actually lost weight on Jenny Craig so I know those plans work. But I like the thought of having my food delivered and not having to talk to a food counselor about why I cheated that week and what was I feeling when I cheated. Well..I was feeling HUNGRY and THAT is why I cheated. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out. So...I think here soon, we will try the Nutri-System route. So easy, even a caveman can do it. Oh no, wait, cavemen eat all the meat. Hmmm.....BBQ sounds good right now.