11/30/2010 Whadya Mean I Can't Drink Gravy and Lose Weight?!

I had such a marvelous time on Thanksgiving,
throwing my dietary caution to the wind.
I rolled in, basked in, basted myself in
and guzzled gravy.
Whadya mean I can't drink gravy and lose weight?!
It did take me two months to lose those five pounds.
Rather shocking it could all return in one day.
It was worth it.
Seeing the delighted faces of my sister and brother-in-law
and my marvelous children and my adorable husband,
all around the feast
giving thanks for our blessings.
It's not like I have a gravy habit or anything.
"Hi, my name is Gretchen and I'm a gravyholic."
Okay, I do have a gravy habit!
But I have come out of denial
and that's the first step.
Right?

11/30/2010 Sledding on Thanksgiving

Happy Holidays Mr. Blog!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Mr. Blog because
of the snow. Rare thing here.
Last snowy Thanksgiving was 1985.
Terry and I went sledding with the kids.
They even invited us to go to their special hill.
Well, I learned that special, to a sixteen year old,
means STEEP.
Not just any steep, but
HAIR STANDING ON END STEEP!
Terry, having been a teen boy
trying to kill himself when he was young,
didn't even walk up the golf course to see their hill.
I got up there and Teddy said, "Right here mom."
It was your basic cliff.
My sons hate me most of the time for making them
do chores so I desperately wanted to bond with them,
but I wanted to live too.
So I backed up the trail about twenty feet and crawled
under the golf cart trail rope
and swallowed my pride.
I sat down in my little plastic toboggan
and gripped the sides for dear life
and flew down the cliff
screaming with terror!
When the worst was over and I only had twenty
feet to go
I relaxed my grip.
Bad move Mr. Blog.
My toboggan flipped out from under me
and I basically body surfed on my stomach
down the end of the course.
Brrr. I'm cold still thinking about it.
Troy came over and managed to get me out of
my face-plant position
and once vertical again
I could see the shining respect in the eyes
of my sons for a few seconds.
So I'd say the bruises were worth it.
There will come a day when
I can no longer manage
"The special hill."
But until then,
"Look Out!"

11/23/2010 The Advantage of Growing Up in Holly Park Housing Project

I'm starting to run down from chores Mr. Blog,
might need a nap.
I forgot to tell you earlier about the advantages
of growing up in Holly Park Housing Project.
My mom was so broke she could never follow recipes.
She couldn't afford ingredients.
To this day,
I only own one cookbook.
Why use recipes anyway?
What a waste of time!
Right up there with clothing, hair and make up
for time wasters in my mind.
But my mom was a genius at stretching her
welfare checks and here are a few of her tips:
Tomato soup can be stretched by doubling the water called for
if you ad a quarter cup of milk and a dash of pepper.
Tuna fish can be quadrupled if you use cottage cheese salt and pepper.
I wish my mom was still alive and young.
I thought she was such a horrible, critical person
until I had children.
She just wanted us to be nice people Mr. Blog.
That's all.
Ciao!

11/23/2010 Scorched Soup

What a pretty day Mr. Blog!
The snow is so pretty on a sunny day.
If I didn't have a million chores I would so be sledding.
So I can't believe
I scorched my soup.
Ugh.
My first two rounds each fall are terrible.
You can't rush your soup Mr. Blog.
I'm sure you know that.
You need a good three days to make soup.
Elixer soup is very elusive.
Now I have three gallons of this disgusting
mass of bleh to eat.
Ever since Sandy Johnson's mom took us to River Ranch
in 1967 during Spring Break
and our teenage camp staff had trouble
starting a fire during a rainstorm,
I have hated scorched soup.
I remember shivering in the hut
at the top of a hill
waiting for hot tomato soup
and being handed the most
vile scorched soup in history.
At least I can put my two soup pots of goo
on the kitchen deck
in the snow
and not waste
refrigerator space.
Ciao!

11/17/2010 Two Left Shoes! Or How I Applied for my Homeland Security TWIC Card

Well! What a kettle of fish
I found myself in this morning Mr. Blog!
I was sitting in my green Lazy-Boy recliner,
drinking coffee and looking online for sub jobs,
and an icky one for senior high English
at Bothell High School popped up and I
was just about to take it when
I looked at the date.
November 17th.
A bell went off in my head and I looked over my
shoulder at my giant calendar at the 17th and it
said, "TWIC 11:00AM."
I jumped up and realized that
I thought it was tomorrow and panicked.
I called Brenny and she said I'd be just fine
and that the drive would be safe and easy.
Thank goodness I had all my documents ready.
I jumped in and out of the shower and
started working on my hair to get it cute
for the picture with my curling iron
and burned a big spot on my forehead.
It took a few minutes to curl my hair
over the burn mark and my scalp was killing
me from having the curling iron too close to it with the
hair dryer on high at the same time.
I fried my brain.
Literally.
I was all ready to go when I looked down and realized in my haste
that I had on two left shoes!
I KNEW they felt weird.
I solved that problem and shot out the door.
It was cold and rainy and I told myself to remain calm
as I drove up Lake City to 145th and cut over to highway 99.
It was scary driving through the Battery Street tunnel.
Every monster from 'I Am Legend' to '28 Days'
was up in the ceiling ready to drop on me
so I had to really concentrate and be ready.
Once I got out of the tunnel it was pleasant to see
the waterfront and all the ships and ferries.
Made me thirsty for a cruise ship job for sure!
Once I got to Georgetown I had memorized the streets
to pass so I'd find my left turn.
Well, the streets didn't all go through because of the
railway yard right there,
but I noticed I was on the right hundred block and
took the next left.
I was in front of the Georgetown morgue!
It said KUBE Haunted House on the side and I thought
of Michelle Moyes. She told me at the Duchess tavern party a few
weeks ago that she went there with her son and some friends!
What a small world. I love her.
When we lived in Holly Park housing project,
there was one other white family in our little square and
the mom's name was Sandy Cole and
she had a son my age named Steven.
When she moved out in 1960 to West Seattle,
she would call my mom to meet her for bowling at the
Georgetown bowling alley. We went there for years
until we moved North to the University Village area in 1966.
So it was fun to be there in Georgetown and remember my mom.
Thank goodness I was a half hour early because the
winds were blowing about 60mph!
By the time I got inside the building from a block away,
my hair was standing straight on end from all the hairspray
I had applied to the carefully coiffed curls earlier.
THAT didn't work out too well for me Mr. Blog!
I got to the ladies room and nearly passed out when
I looked in the mirror.
Like I had stuck my finger in a socket.
I brushed like crazy to get it to lie down a little
and went and waited.
I sat next to the nicest man that had gotten hired by
Northern Pacific Railroad as a conductor!
Imagine that!
He had been and electrician twenty years and the business
moved and he needed to start a new job.
I learned that so far the trains and cruise ship people need TWIC cards
but the man, Dan, told me eventually all travel industry people
will need them.
I chatted and waited a half hour until I got my turn.
I had my $132.00 cashier's check and my passport
and had applied online in advance so it was pretty fast.
I had socks older than Dan, the TWIC man,
but he was charming and friendly as he processed me.
They had an awesome infra-red hand and finger scanning device
right out of a Star Trek episode.
I kept waiting to get beamed up but I didn't.
I hope I get my Transportation Worker Identification Credential.
There were some really weird questions on the additional
form I had to fill out there related to terrorism.
I think I'll be okay.
It was 11:30 when I cruised North on East Marginal Way
and downtown looked really dramatic with the dark purple
storm clouds behind it.
It looks nice except for all the new buildings.
They are all ugly as a baboon's backside!
The only pretty one is the Smith Tower.
When I was a kid we were so proud to have the
tallest building West of the Mississippi!
When I drove up on the Alaska Way viaduct the
view of the water was amazing!
Purple and churning and
the ferries in Elliot Bay were being tossed around
like ping pong balls out there!
All I could think about was working on a cruise ship
and sailing all over this planet.
I just love Earth.
It is SO pretty.
I got up to 80Th and was faint with hunger so I went
through the Taco Bell drive through for a few soft tacos.
I tried to eat while I was driving but got covered with
cheese shreds and tomatoes and lettuce
so I pulled into K-Mart on Aurora and 130Th.
Pam and I used to shop there years ago and I remembered
why I quit shopping there.
They have no greeters or floor sales people!
Poor K-Mart.
All they needed was floor staff instead of remodeling
and they'd be packed like Nordstroms all the time.
I had to go all the way back to lay-a-way to find out if
they still carried housecoats.
House coats were like casual dresses that snapped fast
up the front that were popular with housewives in
the fifties and sixties.
You could be dressed fast, but not dressed up enough
to go past the mailbox or anything.
Mostly for drinking coffee in and I had worn my last one
out five years ago and just been throwing on a muumuu.
Well, I decided a housecoat would be perfect for the
crew quarters on the cruise ship for lounging.
Only snag was, they were all ugly as sin.
I found the least ugly, with a paisley handkerchief
pattern but couldn't decide on salmon or turquoise.
I asked a lady nearby which on she liked better and she
said she liked the teal.
I'm not sure about teal or turquoise or how they are related
but I have no fashion sense or interest so I
took the teal.
It was an exciting thought to add that ugly housecoat
to my growing mound
of cruise ship gear in the side of my closet.
Packs of gum, snorkel gear, new shoes.
Now all I need is to get the job!

11/16/2010 The Smell of Friendship

Oh Mr, Blog,
Thank God you're here.
I'm so lonely and depressed.
I got my errands mostly done and went to
Third Place Books to avoid another
Maeve Binchy withdrawal and do you know
what I smelled?
The smell of friendship.
It was coming from the commons area where friends
were meeting for lunch.
A combination of lovely food odors
mixed with wet wool coats and hats.
Musky dirt from heavy boots
and sour milk from baby bibs.
Paper from books and newspapers
and lilting dirty hair.
I was so filled with envy and longing.
Retirees meeting for lunch
and young mothers with their babies.
And I fall in a gap.
Too young to retire.
Too old to have a baby.
Just the odd man out.
Again.

11/16/2010 The Cure

Hi Mr. Blog,
Boy am I groggy.
Terry was nagging me about being jobless
again last night and I had trouble sleeping
from worry.
I read that counting the under-employed,
there are nineteen million Americans without
jobs right now.
The technology that was supposed to make life easier
backfired and put everyone out of work.
So, you know what Mr. Blog?
I can only put one foot in front of the other.
I can only try to wake up.
I can only get a job if there is one.
But for now,
I have to find the cure to wake up.
Coffee.

11/15/2010 Time to Cowboy Up!

Ahhh, Mr. Blog.
Thank God for you.
I've nearly worn out the knees on my PJs
from being on my prayer bones so much lately.
I finally got the nerve to cowboy up and
schedule a meeting with a local principal
to get some look-see time on my resume.
The fact that I get requested to sub
tells me that the teachers trust me
so I must be doing SOMETHING right.
Right?
It is a dreary looking day but making that call gave me the
inspiration to blast through my housework and get a move on.
Ciao!

11/11/10 My Birthday Part Two

Wow, Mr. Blog,
I am having a serious nap attack.
After I saw you yesterday, I had an e-mail
from Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines
that my application had been PROCESSED.
Being processed is so much better than being
REJECTED!
Woo hoo for being processed.
I heard a commotion outside and the department of
corrections was weed-eating in front of our house.
I went out and offered them coffee or Kool-Aid but
they didn't want any.
They didn't know our house was there and they were supposed to be
working in front of the park but you know what?
They worked for another hour in front of our house
hedge trimming and raking!
Our house looks so spiffy now!
It was hot and sunny of all things and when Patty called
she said she had time to go for lunch and coffee.
Brenny had sent me $25.00 for my birthday and
so Patty and I could go to Toshi's for lunch.
I had the beef shish-ka-bobs and they were so good.
Then Kim, the owner, came over and gave me a bouquet of
the long stem Korean candies.
She said, "I think it is your birthday soon."
I told it was today and she gave me a big hug and smile.
Then Patty and I went and sat on the patio of the
Kenmore Starbucks and had huge fancy drinks.
I love the gingerbread one and Angela had given me
a Starbucks card for my birthday.
We basked in the sun and drank coffee for hours
and it was so pleasant.
When I got home I dug right in calling retirees for
JoAnn's union presidency run.
I got 36 confirmed votes before the kids came home
and it got too loud to make calls.
Pam and Al came over and they brought two
pumpkin pies and sang me happy birthday with Terry.
I let the kids go visit friends 'cause I like
the peace and quiet sometimes.
We had a lovely pie and hot tea party and when I blew out
my candle I did wish for a cruise ship job.
Brenny says I get special birthday powers this month
and I hope she is right!
I got great presents: my fav pink Dove soap from Pam
and an apron to die for from Suzanne and handkerchiefs
and a cool box from JoAnn.
I am such a freak Mr. Blog.
I put my Dove soap and new hankies
in my closet with my cruise ship supplies.
I have a huge stash of gum and other things
that are brand new to take along.
After Pam and Al left I made Terry watch,
'Fried Green Tomatoes' with me and I had forgotten
how sad and traumatic parts of the story were.
I went through three hankies!
The kids came home and I asked them to watch TV in the
basement so Terry and I could have a nice date.
Now this morning the weather was back to gray and cold!
I made the Ts all waffles and eggs and then started getting stuff
ready for the Saint Brendan's Arts and Crafts Fair this weekend.
At noon, Terry and I drove to Lynnwood to use the IXTAPA
Mexican restaurant gift card Angela had given me
and that was lovely.
Fun to have a date with my darling husband once in awhile.
We zipped down to Aurora Village and Terry let me pick out
some sneakers for my birthday gift.
I had never seen Dr. Scholl's brand shoes but they
were so comfortable and all leather in white.
You'll never guess where I put them Mr. Blog?
In my closet of cruise ship job goodies!
I won't even take them out of the box until
it is time for my first shift.
I know, I know.
How do I know if I'll get hired?
I don't.
But thinking about just the possibility
gets me out of bed in the morning.
I swear to God it looks like it is going to snow Mr. Blog!
I looked all over the internet trying to find out when
the earliest snow in Seattle happened
but I couldn't find out and gave up.
The earliest I can remember was the Thanksgiving
of 1963. I was seven years old and we had dinner with
all my aunts and uncles and cousins at my Auntie Ann's big
house in Laurelhurst.
A few flakes started down and I was going with cousin Care
and little Boo and baby Danny back to Cougar Mountain
and when we got out to Cougar Mountain the snow
got deeper and deeper and my cousins fell asleep
but I was watching out the front window between Uncle Frank
and Auntie Jean and as we started up the big hill
it got icier and icier and steeper and steeper
and it was so dangerous and thriller.
Then near the top, someone had made a snowball and it
started down the hill and got bigger and bigger until
it was the size of a garbage can and
I thought it was going to hit us!
Funny that I don't remember what Uncle Frank did,
but we all lived and got up to their house way
up near the top of Cougar Mountain.
So, Mr. Blog, do you know when the earliest snow in
lower Seattle has ever fallen?
I really, really need to know!
Ciao!

November 10, 2010 My 54th Birthday

Ahhhhh, Mr. Blog!
It's my birthday!
I haven't been home for my birthday in five years.
Brenny would buy me a ticket to visit her in Hawaii
and I'd pay her back later with my sub money
or Terry would buy me a ticket to get me out of his hair.
My kids think I'm 49!
But you know what Mr. Blog?
I feel twenty-nine!
Now that I'm sleeping for the first time in seven years
I feel fantastic.
Those stupid hot flashes all night nearly killed me
because I'm a big sleepaholic.
I've always slept ten hours a night.
Now that I'm older I only sleep eight
but feel good. No.
I FEEL GREAT!!!
So Brenny called and I was telling her how Terry and I
watched 'Second Hand Lions' a few nights ago
and that the story starts when the old men die
and goes to flashbacks of their youth.
I told Brenny that we needed a batch of better
adventures if we were going to have some really
good memories when we are ninety-two.
She reminded me of some of our adventures that
I had forgotten about
and I decided to write them down.
Turns out I love to write.
When I finally get hired by Holland America
to be a librarian, I'll get a few sets of good books
for my reading club.
I cut out the reviews of books I want to buy
and save them in a binder.
There are some I really, really, really want
badly but can't afford them.
That one about the London Tower
and the dust bowl and the history of salt.
I just got so spoiled working at the Post Office
and the airlines.
I could buy all the books I wanted
and I did!
When I was flying I switched to used paperbacks
so if I forgot them on a plane or at the hotel
I wouldn't care.
I read all the Louis L'Amores and
tons of little romance novels.
So it is a blazing sunny day!
I am so happy.
I'm going to finish calling people for
JoAnn's election,
go out to lunch to Toshi's
and Patty is coming over later to go to Starbucks!
Sissy is bringing over a pumpkin pie later
for a family singing
and you know what my wish will be when I blow out
those candles!
A TEACHING JOB.
I don't care where.
I just want to use my degree Mr. Blog.
I feel guilty wishing for something for myself.
I really want all the people in the world to have good health
and happiness and prosperity the most
and that should be my first wish.
But I love my husband and
our kids are eating us out of house and home!
So tonight I'm making Terry watch
'Fried Green Tomatoes' with me!
He HATES chick flicks
but it is my birthday
and as long as I tickle his feet
he'll be able to stomach it.
I'm just so happy Mr. Blog.
We have perfect health
and a great house
and loads of fun together.
YOU have a great day too!
Ciao!

11/8/2010 Trying to Stay Calm

Oh Mr. Blog,
The sweet torture of it all.
I was surfing the internet a few hours ago
of all the cruise lines and what should I find?
Several are HIRING Christmas cruise extra staff!
I nearly died!
When I think of Christmas hiring,
I think of the post office or Bon Marche
or other retail stores catering to shoppers,
not cruise ships.
I just counted over two dozen extra holiday cruises
on the Holland America website!
I need to calm down because I just got
requested to sub tomorrow and I need to sleep.
This morning right before I woke up,
I dreamed I was on a Holland America ship in
the Club Hal and I and I was leaning over some kids
at an arts and crafts table
watching them make bracelets out of old buttons.
Funny thing is, I have never seen a bracelet
made from buttons.
So I call Brenny and she said she just saw one
Sunday morning at the Mu'ku'u market!
Isn't that wild?
So, thanks for letting me talk about it.
Get it out of my system.
I did drop off an updated resume at Holland America
week before last on my way back from
my Norwegian cruise line interview.
I just want to teach Mr. Blog.
I don't care where.

11/8/2010 I Want to be a Church Lady

Hi Mr. Blog,
I am so sore from bowling yesterday.
Someone told me after the tournament last
year they had, "Bowling Butt."
Hahaha. That is so cute.
So I had a message on the phone machine last night from
Lynn Pearson at the church and called her back.
She asked if I was interested in a volunteer job
next fall on the nominating committee.
I told her I wasn't but I really am.
But you know what Mr. Blog?
As much as I miss being a scout leader
and PTA volunteer,
I have promised myself that I will not do
ANY volunteer work until I have a full time
paid job teaching.
Whether on land or on sea,
I want to work.
Work for cash.
I WANT to pay taxes!
I love our roads and parks and
everything single thing about America.
I love how I can be a church lady soon
without someone wanting to shoot at me for not
following the popular religion.
I love my freedom.
Brenda says we are both freedom freaks
and I suspect she is right.
SO, the minute I get a job
I'm calling Lynn Pearson
and I'm saying, "What can I do?"
Do you remember when Dana Carvey used to do that
Church Lady skit on Saturday Night Live?
That's how I want to be.
The Church Lady.

11/7/2010 Bowling for Muscular Dystrophy with Branch 79 Union

Whew Mr. Blog,
that was some tournament!
I am a beat dog from bowling and helping Marta
move stuff for six hours yesterday.
Ugh.
At least JoAnn asked Jodie if I could be on her team.
Thank God!
She and I are possibly the worst bowlers in the history of
Kenmore Fifty Lanes.
She started working at the Bothell Post Office in 1987 right
after I quit.
She is really good friends with JoAnn and carries mail with her up in
Mill Creek.
I got to see some of my old pals that I carried mail with in Bothell
from 1980 to 1987. Mary Constanza and Fernando and of course
Brooks and JoAnn.
I told Jodi I was very worried about JoAnn's run for Branch 79
Letter Carrier Union presidency over Rick Horner
and she said not to worry
that JoAnn the election in the bag.
That's what we thought last time and she lost by four votes
and had to go back to carrying mail after running the union for fourteen
years. She was so good at that job and when she gets a paper cut
she bleeds union blood.
I volunteered to call the 500 retirees but it is slow going
without the phone numbers. I have to go on the internet and
look up each name individually to get the numbers from
the reverse directory from the address.
So there weren't as many teams bowling this year and that made me sad.
Muscular Dystrophy is a terrible illness and usually people are
born with it and they don't ever get to walk.
The young gal the union sponsors was there in her wheelchair.
She is only about twenty and is in a wheelchair.
I hate that.
It is so unfair.
I just can't understand people having wasteful things like...
I don't know what.
But wasteful things of some sort
when there are awful things like muscular dystrophy and
cerebral palsy and ALS.
I'm not sure what ALS is but my pal Jenny Dwyer talks about it
and Jennifer Donahue works to cure pancreatic cancer.
That is terrible too.
Oh, sorry. I get sidetracked when I think about suffering
and don't know what to do.
I didn't even have money to pay my entry fee
but Jodi covered me. I told her I could
write her a post-dated check for my paycheck but she
didn't want me to.
Well, I am more inspired to get a job now than ever so
I can pay for Jodi's entry fee next year!
She is such a little pussycat.
The kind of person that if you got shipwrecked with
would say something like, "Wow, look at all the coconuts,
this will be so fun!"
I'm not even kidding Mr. Blog.
Jodi Olsen in one nice cookie.
And that little Mary Constanza!
She is such a firecracker.
She was having such a tough time raising those two kids
alone when I met her. Little Tony and Julie.
But what a marvelous job she did!
I think a lot about all the mail carriers.
They are out there year round in that brutal weather
with those awful supervisors needling them.
They are my heroes.
Every last one of them.
I couldn't do it.
The managers were so mean that I nearly had a
nervous breakdown working there.
Now the sisters that were on our team
were a hoot and a half.!
Donna D'Ambrosia was a shop steward with Terry
for awhile and then transferred to Mill Creek
and she and her sister Susie were so cute I couldn't
stand it.
How I longed to have a fun sister that
wanted to do things with me.
But I just pretended they were my sisters!
Jodi and I had really good games too!
I bowled 68 these first two and then 106!
I was so thrilled.
Plus, JoAnn's little sister Val was there.
She is probably one of the best people God made.
Val Pyle is just one of those people that after you
talk to them, you wish you could be half as quality of a person yourself.
She is a fancy-pants bowler too when she does this fancy foot
up in the air thing.
Mary has a wild fancy style too!
Very exciting to watch!
Oh, and Carlos' dad Gene came too!
He is really really good.
He has played on leagues for years and years.
Coby Jones showed up and I had met him last year
bowling. He is so funny and cheerful.
It got really fun as time progressed when people started shoving
cash in the neck collars every time anyone got a strike or a spare.
Mary did a really cute booty shake dance and had about
twenty dollars hanging off her back jeans' pockets!
We laughed and laughed and cheer each other on until we were hoarse
AND made another $50.00 for muscular dystrophy.
So that was fun.
I had dreaded it so much because I am a terrible bowler.
But you know what Mr. Blog?
I had one of the best times of my life.

11/3/2010 I Love Basketball!

*Walks in jauntily*
Good morning Mr. Blog.
I am thinking about basketball this morning.
I got e-mails from the kids' coaches that practices
are starting this week
so of course I'm excited thinking about the most
EXCITING SPORT IN THE WORLD.
I wanted to go see a Seattle Storm game so bad
in person but couldn't afford a ticket.
That made me so sad.
Must be nice to have a job and get to go to see
sports and concerts and stuff.
When I carried mail and was a flight attendant,
I went to stuff all the time.
It was awesome.
I wonder why I am being so stubborn about getting a job
related to my teaching degree anyway?
It's really not like me.
So back to basketball.
It is the perfect game.
I think I'll write a poem about it:

Watching Basketball

Running, shooting, feet of thunder
cheering crowds
go down under
finding joy and screaming loud
basketball
feel so proud.
Sons that run and shoot and pass
not like home
where I hear sass.
basketball

Well, time to dash off to Brookside
and earn some Christmas money!
Ciao!

11/2/2010 That Deformed Twix Bar Was the Best Thing I Ever Ate!

*Bounces in merrily and plops on couch.
Oh my goodness Mr. Blog!
My day kept getting better and better and better.
I'm surprised Holland America didn't call and hire me to
work the librarian position on the 14 day Hawaii loop that leaves Sunday!
After I left here I dashed down to rotate the wash and when
I looked in the machine I could see a mangled candy wrapper.
I fished it out and it was a slightly deformed mini TWIX!!!
This was the first time in FIFTY years that a piece of candy didn't
cross my lips on Halloween and I was feeling darn smug.
I had just finished my lasagna at noon and that
DEFORMED TWIX BAR WAS THE BEST THING I EVER ATE!
I ate it standing right there in my cold,
ugly but clean, utility room.
I ate it SO SLOWLY!
I used to think they were disgusting
like the candy plant was cheaping out
adding a wafer inside.
But not anymore!
The chocolate was of a high-tasting quality
and the wafer was delightful.
And it tasted really, really good!
You know, I think there might be a dash of caramel inside.
Patty called just then and wanted to go to Starbucks
and I told her two o'clock
and then ran like a madwoman upstairs
to do my Jane Fonda tape,
get my shopping list made
and then race to shower and dress.
I was so happy I didn't even care
that it was the ugliest day I ever saw!
I dropped off my prescription at my beloved Rite Aid
and dashed over to the Kenmore UPS store.
They have the cutest cards in the world right there!
Right in downtown next to my beloved Toshi's Teriyaki.
Did you know that the owner Kim was also born in 1956?
Her birthday is in July so that makes her three months older than me.
Little rascal.
And I mean little too!
I guess Korean people are pretty short.
She is so cute!
I had seen the great Halloween cards last week when I was in making
color copies of cub scout and carnival games
I had made for cruise ship applications.
I wanted super-cute special thank you cards for the ladies
that interviewed me for Norwegian Cruise line last week.
They aren't thank you cards but I wish I could show you one.
It's a picture of a ten year old witch girl from the back with
her hands on her hips in that sassy style girls get sometimes
and she is looking at a wall with eight different styled brooms and
inside it says, "Sometimes you just have to accessorize."
Man, if I had a job I would have so bought every single on of those
to mail to all my home girls.
Broke my heart that I could only buy two!
So after that I dashed in the rain to Kookmore Safeway
but only saw three kooks on the way.
That was disappointing
but, Safeway had everything I needed and
GUESS WHAT?!
My favorite checker Michelle said her brother works for
Holland America! AND...
HE IS WORKING THE WORLD CRUISE I WANTED TO WORK ON!
I couldn't believe it!
I cried and cried September 25th
when that ship left without me.
I had practiced Russian, Japanese and Chinese greetings too.
Her brother is a guitarist so that is what he gets to do.
Man, playing guitar on a cruise ship.
I'm so jealous I could just spit!
I'm writing him a letter with my phone number so when
he gets home I can buy him coffee and hear all about it!
I can't wait!
When I got home Patty pulled up and we went straight to Starbucks
and frolicked over our coffee for hours and hours.
We got armchairs next to the fireplace!
I know.
I told you it was my lucky day.
She has a JOB INTERVIEW tomorrow and I am so jealous.
I will put her on my prayer list when I get
down on my prayer bones in a few hours.
Her interview is at one tomorrow down at the Bellevue Macy's
so I'll pray then too.
You know I have seen a few miracles
and I really believe in divine intervention.
Well, I need to get back to mending Terry's favorite shirt.
You would not believe this nasty green rag of a tee-shirt in a million
years Mr. Blog!
And the smell!
Even after washing it makes my eyes water to work on it.
Thank God I have chronic sinusitis.
Besides the headaches behind my eyeballs
that make it feel like someone is stabbing me with an ice pick,
it is a really good thing!
Bye bye.