Saturday, October 29, 2011

Playing tourists in Las Vegas

So where was I on Thursday where I had no Internet access?  Some remote area of northern Nevada?  A desolate canyon in Utah, perhaps?

No, try the Rio Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. Mike and I had the carpets cleaned and so while they dried we decided to get out of the house and be tourists.  There are some great mid-week deals here, and we were able to get a room at the Rio for only $49. 

One thing you have to watch for when you book a room in Las Vegas is the resort fees; you may be enticed by the advertised price only to find you'll be paying significantly more in the end. The Rio and their associated brands (Caesar's, Bally's, Harrah's, Paris, Planet Hollywood, Flamingo, Imperial Palace) do not charge resort fees, which is nice. 

BUT, as I found out, WiFi will cost you $13.95 a day.  Ah, there's the rub.  Non, merci.  Especially since I'd already opted for a $10 upgrade for a room with a view of the Strip.  No more "feature creep" for me.


I stayed at the Rio once before back in 2003 when B.H. and I were still living in Utah.  I remember being very impressed.  This time the room seemed kind of standard to me, and I had even requested a refurbished room.


Certainly nice enough, though, and with 600 square feet, there's plenty of space.  I think part of the problem is that waking up every day at home in our own beautiful master suite, I'm pretty freakin' spoiled.

Anyway, Mike had a Halloween function at the kids' school, so I checked into the room early and we made plans to meet downstairs at the I-bar when he got there.  Being me, I had to have some fun with this--I packed a super short miniskirt that I don't even wear when I'm doing comedy, a sleazy Ross cleavage blouse, and (what else?) my 4-inch heels.  Plus--and this part is hysterical--I even curled my hair (!!!).  Now that would be a picture.

I kind of felt like a hooker sitting there waiting for Mike to arrive, but he certainly seemed to appreciate it.  Later in the poker room, a guy said to him, "It looks like you've already won"--ha!  It's all about keeping it interesting, folks.

Later we took a break and went back to the room to watch Modern Family.  What a great show; I'm convinced it will go down in television history right up there with Seinfeld. I know--who goes to Vegas to watch TV, but I'm always a little surprised to see the old boxy televisions in hotel rooms. 

A couple of other things about the Rio.  We did have a fridge (which I loaded with a six-pack) and there was a coffee maker, but you had to go downstairs and buy the little packets for $8.00.  Um, no.  But I'll tell you, the customer service in that place was superb.  Every single person we encountered--the girl at check-in, the bartenders, the security personnel who not only offered directions but escorted us to our destination--everyone was pleasant and courteous and not once we were addressed as "you guys."

The next morning on our way home we stopped in at the M Resort for breakfast at Hash House a Go-Go.   They have several locations throughout the Vegas valley.  The portions are generous and the food is delicious.


We sat overlooking the pool, which was nice.


I took that shot seconds before I nearly spit my coffee all over the window when Mike unexpectedly started talking like Adam Sandler.

He also does impressions of Spiro Agnew
Anyway, it was a great little getaway and we would seriously take advantage of the low rates again.  But where next time?   

Where are your favorite places to stay in Las Vegas?

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Late post today

Hey, I'm somewhere without Internet access (can you imagine?) and I don't have the patience to peck away too long on my iPhone, so I'll be posting late today. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Animal rescue. Well, kind of. Okay, not really.

Standing on my balcony last week I thought, "Gee, that lion out by the pool is kind of boring, all white and everything."


Upon closer look, I concluded the poor thing was in dire need of a makeover.


Not good.

Mmmm.  Well, I happen to have a little bit of time on my hands these days, so I took a trip to Michael's craft store to buy some supplies.   I spent a whole freakin' day transforming that poor lion into what can only be described as a work of art.

Look at him now!


I can only imagine what the neighbors think.

The face was the hardest part.  At one point I had a red-eyed evil lion face going on, and I thought, "Jesus H, I don't want to scare the kids."  It was so funny I almost peed my pants from laughing so hard.  In the end, I came up with this face.



The hearts on his nose and chin and the nail polish give him a much softer look, don't you think?


If Mike doesn't already think I'm nuts, he certainly does now.  When I told him I was going to paint the thing, he replied with his standard, "Whatever you want, my love."  And then when I spent hour upon hour applying layer upon layer of color on it, he realized he was in new territory and probably wondered what the hell he's gotten himself into.

Mike had never even heard of me painting anything but a bookshelf, and the truth is, I'm not an artist.  At all.  I just bought some paints and started fooling around with no real plan in mind.  Just like in real life, when I got to a point where I didn't like where it was going, I changed course and tried something different.

There's a lot to be learned from my little surge of creativity.  I'm sure a "real" artist would go, "That's a total piece of shit," but who cares?  No one does anything perfectly right out of the gate, and there's always going to be someone who can do better than you can.  So what?  I had a ball with it, and the kids love it.  The 11-year-old told me, "I knew you're a writer, but I didn't know you could do that!" Hahahaha!

The truth is, it actually came out better than I expected.  I now sit at the kitchen table and laugh at its goofiness, which is a lot better than saying, "We gotta get rid of that goddamn thing."  It's cool now.  And now I have one more thing for my resume.

Okay, maybe not quite yet.

Saturday, October 22, 2011

That elderly couple who died holding hands and the story we don't hear about

Surely you've heard about the couple who was married for 72 years and died holding hands within an hour of each other.  The story's been all over the Internet.  Here's the article that appeared in The Huffington Post:
For one Iowa couple, true love lasted until the very end. Married 72 years, Norma, 90, and Gordon Yeager, 94, died in the hospital holding hands last week, one hour apart. The couple was hospitalized after a car accident just outside of Marshalltown, Iowa. They were given a shared room in the ICU where they held hands in adjacent beds.

At 3:38 pm last Wednesday, Gordon's breathing stopped. Though he was no longer alive, his heart monitor continued to register a beat. The nurse told Gordon and Norma's son, Dennis Yeager, that the monitor was beeping "because they're holding hands, and [Norma's heart beat] is going through them," Dennis recalled in an interview with Des Moines' KCCI news station. "Her heart was beating through him."

Norma died at 4:38 pm, exactly one hour later.

Gordon and Norma's children say they're glad the couple passed this way. "They just loved being together," says Dennis. "He always said, 'I can't go until she does because I gotta stay here for her.' And she would say the same thing."
Sweet story, huh?  Okay, not to be a bummer wet blanket, but there's a part of this tale that hasn't gotten the publicity.  If you dig a little deeper, you'll find this article, with the following information.
The accident that claimed Gordon, 94, and Norma Yeager, 90, happened Oct. 12, when the couple left their State Center home for a drive shortly after 8 a.m. At the intersection of Highway 30 and Jessup Avenue, just west of Marshalltown, Gordon pulled "away from the stop sign and failed to yield to a westbound vehicle," according to Sgt. Joel Ehler of the Iowa State Patrol.

The driver of the other car, Charles Clapsaddle, 64, of Marshalltown, was unable to stop to avoid a collision, Ehler said.

Clapsaddle was treated and released from Marshalltown Medical & Surgical Center, but his wife, Barbara, was reportedly transferred to Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. A man who identified himself as their son, John, said in a comment published on a story on the Times-Republican website that his mother suffered internal bleeding and a broken neck.

“She is currently stable but remains in the critical care unit,” he wrote. “There will be a long road ahead for her recovery. 
Ehler said Yeager was facing pending action by the Iowa Department of Transportation to have his license removed, but citing privacy concerns, said he could release no additional details on what prompted that action.
So the story behind the story is that old Mr. Yeager probably should never have been behind the wheel and now a woman has a broken neck (doesn't that mean paralysis of some kind?) and a long, long recovery ahead of her. One can only imagine the financial devastation this will cause to her as well.

I say shame on the news media for focusing solely on the touching details--the wife's heartbeat on the monitor is quite powerful--and not taking the opportunity to educate the public on the dangers of elderly drivers.  As one commenter on this site put it:
"My prayers are for Barbara Clapsaddle & her family. Mr. Yeager should never have been behind the wheel of that car. I lost my husband to an elderly driver, and I am disappointed in this article--a missed opportunity to bring to attention the horrible ramifications of some elderly drivers who selfishly refuse to give up driving and their children who cannot be bothered to take responsibility."
What say you?

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Good news!

Remember I told you about that amazing job prospect on my radar screen?  The one where I'd be doing software training in resorts all around the U.S. and Europe?  Well, I got it!

The job is about 75% travel; 85% domestic and 15% European.  I've never started a travel job while in a relationship (if you read my book, you know I met B.H. while on the road), but Mike and I are determined to make it work.  I will miss him, of course, and there's a part of me that can't bear to leave this gorgeous house we've put together.  But this job seems like a great fit for me--I'll be sooooo happy to do training again instead of sitting in a goddamn cubicle all day doing technical writing--and my new boss seems cool as hell.

I start on November 7, which is excellent since I still have a couple of glorious work-free weeks.  I'm pretty psyched about it--you know me, I love to travel--but in the meantime I am soaking up every minute at home with my beloved, doing the final touches on the house and just enjoying each other. 

I'm really going to miss our daily walks.  Here are a couple of pics from our walk yesterday.



Las Vegas is picture perfect this time of year, and we've been lucky lately since there's been no wind.  When you have shitty, fragile hair like mine, the wind is not your friend.  I didn't have a good hair day for the whole year B.H. and I lived in Wyoming and believe me, that is not good for your self-esteem.   

Funny, I've been thinking a lot about B.H. lately, I think because I'm so incredibly happy these days.  I would never have made it out West had it not been for him, I really believe that.  In my book, I was pissed when a spiritual teacher told me that some people come into our lives as boats, to take us from one place to another.  Like everyone who marries someone they're crazy about, I expected it to last forever. I didn't marry a goddamn boat.

When I first met B.H. I was also in a very happy time of life; I remember telling him I was at the top of the Ferris wheel.  Then within a couple of years we had been married and divorced, and I totally felt my life was in the shitter.  How could it take such a dive?  It was so hard for me to understand, and I blamed him.

Now it's obvious to me that he was the perfect boat and once he took me to my destination, he really did need to go his own way, as painful as that was. He forced me to rebuild and dammit, I did.  And I'm pretty, pretty, pretty (Larry David) happy about the way things are turning out.

I'm on top of the world!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

A woman's place is in the (totally separate) kitchen

I'm digging life these days, what can I say?  People are much more interesting when shit is hitting their personal fan, but I'm happy to report that life lately is (yaawwwwn) pretty damn comfortable.

This is my third week of being out of work and I have no shortage of stuff to do.  Mike and I have been walking again--there's a great perimeter road near where we live--and every day our house looks more awesome.  The other day I super-cleaned the kitchen and then took a picture of it because, yes, I am that queer.


Whatever.

Do you know that this is the only house we looked at that had a kitchen completely separate from the family room?   (The opening to the family room is at the end of the kitchen.) The open floor plan model that's so popular these days doesn't sit well with me; who the hell wants to cook (which is bad enough in itself) and have to listen to whatever the kids are watching/playing on TV?  Mike's last house was like that and I was going positively bonkers. The old houses I lived in back East all had separate kitchens, and through they were pretty tiny, it was a much better setup.

I have fond memories of my mother sitting at our kitchen table on Lincoln Avenue having a cigarette and drinking coffee with Mrs. Sacca, the mother of mine and Lori's best friends, Donna and Gina.  This was back in the heyday of Mom's agoraphobia, when she was generally in a piss-poor "Jesus Christ all-goddamn mighty" screaming mood, so when we saw Mrs. Sacca strutting down the street heading for our house, we knew the clouds would part for a while.  There's nothing like neighborly gossip to lift one's spirits.  I can't image the open floor plan of modern houses being conducive to girl talk.

More about Donna and Gina.  My sister Lori and I have been friends with these girls since before Kennedy was shot, which means we've been friends for almost 50 years.  They're "Vatican twins," born less than a year apart, and are sandwiched chronologically in the two years between me and Lori.  They say no one knows your life better than a same-age sibling, and Donna and Gina know my life as well as I do.

Donna, me, Gina, Lori -- BFFs since 1963
Hey, am I the only one who's freaked out that it's been almost 50 years since Kennedy was shot?   Jesus H, that's just unreal.

Anyway, getting back to kitchens... Mom's house today in Boise is all open, but it works out great for her and Stepdaddy.  B.H. and I lived in a house in Utah with a kitchen/living room combo, and it was fine for us, but I still don't get it if you have a family. Mothers, and especially wicked stepmothers like me, need to stir the cauldron in solitude.  If a woman's place is in the kitchen, at least let us have some peace and quiet.

So what do you think?
Kitchen/family room combo or a separate kitchen where all the cool friends gather at beer parties?

Saturday, October 15, 2011

If you could live anywhere, where would that be?

Have you ever traveled somewhere and thought, "Wow, I could totally live here"?

You know I've traveled pretty extensively throughout the U.S.  I've also been to Ireland (around the Ring of Kerry), the north island of New Zealand, and to the major Canadian cities of Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Victoria.

Many places I love, love, love, to visit, but can't imagine actually living there.  New Orleans, New York City, Los Angeles, Montreal, Moab (Utah), and anywhere in Maine, Wyoming and Colorado immediately come to mind.

Arches National Park in Moab--that's me in there!
There's only a handful of places, though, where I have actually imagined myself living on a day-to-day basis.

Prescott, Arizona.  This one's at the top of my list.  It's a funky little city just a few hours from Las Vegas and not far at all from Sedona and Jerome--two of my all-time favorite places to visit.  Prescott has a cute and vibrant downtown with tons of restaurants and bars with live music.  They always seem to have a full calendar of cultural events and the people there look educated.  You're not too far from Phoenix, either.  I tell Mike that Prescott would be a great place to live in our retirement years.  And most importantly... they have a Ross.


Bandon, Oregon.  Bandon is a very small and picturesque town on the sea.  I've been to Bandon only once, back in 2008, and the whole time I was developing a mental strategy on what it would take to move there.  It may be a little too small and isolated for me, though. I flew into Eugene, about two hours away, and being so far from a decent sized airport is definitely a pain in the ass--I know that from living in Laramie and Cedar City.  Plus, there would be no place for me to do comedy and I didn't see a Ross.  Nonetheless, this would be a great place to give small-town life a try while I write my next book.  I can't wait to get back.


Carlsbad, California.  Just north of San Diego, Carlsbad is another place with a cute downtown walking distance from the ocean.  We stopped here when we took the kids to LEGOLAND and it's on our short list for a return trip, a weekend getaway for just the two of us.  It probably costs a fortune to live there, though, and we're spoiled by the low cost of housing in Las Vegas.  But on the plus side, a Ross can't be too far...


Boise, Idaho.  I've talked about Boise so much, you're probably sick of hearing about it.  As you can tell, I love a cute and vibrant downtown and Boise has one of the best ever.  Plus they have The Flicks, a movie theater with independent films and microbrew beer and wine you can take to your seat.  As a college town, Boise has a ton of culture and eclectic music.  Bands like Sonic Youth and The Decemberists will bypass Vegas, but stop in Boise.  On the down side, it costs a fortune to fly out of there to the East coast and the Mormon culture is a little too prevalent for my taste.  But they definitely have multiple Ross stores. 


And then there are the places I'd live in a second if it weren't for the damn weather:  Albany, New York; Northampton, Massachusetts; and Portland, Maine.  I've never been to Portland, Oregon, and I bet I'd really like it but that dreariness would make me mental.

How about you?  Where have you visited that made you want to pull up stakes?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Mom, Scrabble, Jeopardy... and Pink Floyd

I was traveling again last weekend, this time back up to Boise to see Mom and Stepdaddy.  As you can see, they're doing very well.


That was taken on the patio of a restaurant on the Boise River.  I've said a million times that Boise is a surprisingly cool place, and let me tell you, there are a million great places to eat there, too.  If you ever get a chance to check out Boise, do it!

We had a ball last weekend.  I'd love to say I kicked their white asses in Scrabble, but the truth is, Stepdaddy blew us away on our first game.  We also watched several DVR'ed episodes of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Jeopardy and I committed the mortal sin of talking during Final Jeopardy, which brought back of flood of repressed memories from childhood. 
"Jesus Christ, I'm here all goddamn day and nobody wants to talk to me and during the thirty goddamn seconds of Final Jeopardy, suddenly I'm the most popular person on earth..."
My formative years might have been MUCH different if only had DVRs had been invented in 1963.

But don't think my weekend was all about Scrabble and recorded episodes of game shows.  Sunday night the three of us took in the Australian Pink Floyd tribute show at the Morrison Center on the Boise State University campus.
Me:  "You like Pink Floyd, right?
Mom:  "Well, I like The Wall."
Me:  "Do you want to see Australian Pink Floyd Sunday night?"
Mom:  "Sure.  We don't have to smoke marijuana beforehand, do we?"
Me: "No, but do you have any Oxycontin left over from your gall bladder operation last year?"
The show was excellent. "Much better than those two old guys we saw a couple of weeks ago," Mom said, referring to Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson.  I'd say Mom and Stepdaddy were the oldest ones there Sunday night, but one of Mom's friends, who's in her 80s, was volunteering as an usher.

"You remember the Pink Floyd, don't you Diane?" she said as we entered the auditorium.

"Oh, yes!" my mother replied.  And then with great pride, she took my arm and said, "I want you to meet my daughter... Um..."

"Linda," I said.  My daughter, Um?  I didn't let her forget that one!

Let me tell you something.  I had a hard time believing my mother's friend was in her 80s; I would have guessed early 70s.  Do you know what gave me the impression she was much younger?  Her posture!  She stood so tall and carried herself like a person half her age.  My first yoga teacher, Nancy Kish in Shelton, CT, always said, "You're as young as your spine," and holy crap it is so true!   

I've said a million times that the way you carry yourself is SO important.  But man, despite my yoga teacher's words,  I never associated good posture with youthfulness.  So let me tell you one more time to stand up straight and smile.  There--you just knocked a few years off your age.

You're welcome.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The company I keep

I swear I couldn't make this up--see for yourself. According to Amazon, customers who bought Bastard Husband: A Love Story on Kindle also bought books with these titles:

Big White Panties
Do Tampons Take Your Virginity?
The Bitch-Proof Suit
Dating My Vibrator
Douchebag Roulette
Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank
Mr. Right for the Night
Gimme Back My Clothes
The Best Thing About My Ass Is It's Behind Me

Is that funny as hell or what?  Of course, B.H. is a freakin' literary masterpiece, but I'm still kind of honored to be in such good company!

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Great recipe for homemade Bailey's Irish Cream

Did you EVER think you'd see a recipe on this site???  (I'm actually a pretty good cook; I just don't like to.)  Anyway, Mike and I have been fooling around making our own version of Bailey's Irish Cream and we've finally perfected our recipe.  This is simple to make, requires just a few ingredients, and the best part is, it requires absolutely no cooking--yay!


 To make this delicious concoction, dump the following ingredients into a blender:

1 cup half & half
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Next, very slowly pour in 1 cup of your favorite Irish whiskey.

Blend on high for 20-30 seconds and you're ready for some drinkin'. It's as easy as that!!!

Be sure to store any leftovers in the fridge in a tightly sealed container.  Shake well before serving.

No kidding, it tastes awesome!   

My Mensa boyfriend figured out the cost of all this (notice I think you have to be in Mensa to do that).  The ingredients above cost us $40.26, but we already had the vanilla extract on hand, so figure on laying out a little more.  We paid $23.77 for Bushmill's Irish Whiskey; the cost will be significantly lower if you use a cheaper brand or get it on sale.  A batch of this (711 ml) using the recipe above costs about $12.50.  A 750 ml of Bailey's goes for about $16.50, so it's a bit of a savings, but what can compare to the "I made this myself" satisfaction?

Taste testing in my pajamas
Give it a try and let me know how you like it!

Hmmm, maybe someday I'll post my amazing mac and cheese recipe...

Thursday, October 6, 2011

The year in review -- what I did at age 53

Last year around my birthday, I wrote this post as a recap of what I did while I was 52.  Since my birthday was Monday (I know, how many times do you have to hear about my birthday, huh?), I wanted to do the same for this past year.

October 2010.  Started off the year in beautiful Lake Placid, New York, on a fun road trip with my daughter and grandchildren.

Connor inherited my "morning hair" gene
Enjoyed the last month with my family in Albany before returning back to Vegas.   Saw one of my comic heroes, Louis CK, perform.

November 2010.  Took my second cross-country road trip of 2010 with my sister Lori; this time our mother joined us.  Oh, what a blast!  Went to the racetrack in Churchill Downs, Kentucky; visited Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbia, Alabama, for the second time in six months; saw the world-famous Coon Dog Cemetery and Rattlesnake Saloon (both in northern Alabama); spent three days in Mississippi (including a trip to Elvis' birthplace, explored hot spots like Albany, Texas, and Pie Town, New Mexico; and dragged Mom to at least four biker bars as we made our way back to Vegas.

Memorable video:  Running out of gas on the NYS Thruway



Also that month:  The Albany newspaper, the Times Union, printed my submission in their weekly "Life Stories" feature that highlights readers' life experiences; went to LA for a weekend to see my friend Nina (the "Mona" character in my book) and saw Archie Bunker's grave in Pierce Bros. Westwood Memorial Park.


December 2010. Was on the Hannity program on Fox News.  Never saw that coming!  I'm at 1:06.  Trust me, I have no clue what I'm talking about.  I just wish I'd had to balls to add, "Babba-Booey, Babba-Booey!"



Also that month;  Excerpts from Bastard Husband: A Love Story were printed in  Oil and Water and Other Things That Don't Mix, an anthology to benefit charities helping those affected by the Gulf oil spill.

January 2011.  An essay I had recorded during the summer for WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany finally aired.  You can listen to it here.  Auditioned for America's Got Talent, which was a blast.  Took a great trip to Sedona with Mike.



February 2011.  Released  Bastard Husband: A Love Story on Kindle.  Decided I needed some space and rented a small apartment, my own private Linda Land, with an amazing view of the Las Vegas valley.


Also that month:  Took a quick trip to see the folks in Boise and Connor came to Vegas for a visit.

March 2011.  Met the Original Buns of Steel guy, Greg Smithy.  Actually, I flew through the Petco parking lot like Starsky and Hutch and nearly ran him over.


 Also that month:  Took a trip with Mike to Palm Springs and Joshua Tree National Park.


April 2011.  Was the featured speaker at the opening night cocktail reception of the Las Vegas Writers' Conference.  The next day I returned to Albany for my granddaughter's first birthday.

Beautiful Hazel with cake in hand
Also that month:  Took an overnight trip to Burlington, Vermont, with Connor and visited the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory.  Watched my friend Adrian win second place in the Miss Laughlin contest at the annual Laughlin River Run bike fest.

May 2011.  Back to Boise for Mother's Day with Mom.


Also that month:  Shit hit the fan with Mike and I moved into Linda Land.  For good.

June 2011.  Met Mary Wilson of The Supremes at a meeting of the Henderson Writers' Group and the brewmaster of my very favorite places to hang in Las Vegas, Ellis Island Casino & Brewery.  Took another trip to Sedona and Prescott, Arizona, this time with my friend Gail.

July 2011.  Met Norm MacDonald and Kato Kailin at The Fryer's Club, a weekly gathering for local comics.   Announced that Mike and I were splitsville for good this time and a week later got back together for good this time and there's no turning back.  My sister Lori came out for a visit.  Saw Peter Frampton in concert and took a trip to San Diego to check out Del Mar Racetrack.

August 2011.  Gave up Linda Land and Mike and I moved into our awesome rental.  I wake up every day in this room with a huge smile.  (And go to bed each night with one, too.  Giggity.)



Also that month:  Connor came back to visit.  Mike and I took the kids LEGOAND in San Diego and then Connor and I did the Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks.


September 2011.   Headed back to Albany.  Took in the Saratoga Racetrack with the family and was a "celebrity" judge in the Capital District" Last Comic Standing competition.  Bastard Husband: A Love Story was mentioned in this article entitled "The Best Love Stories" in the freakin' WALL STREET JOURNAL! 

All during the year:  Finally seem to have licked my stage fright and can actually enjoy doing stand-up comedy! 




Your life is your own personal creation; it's a reflection of the choices you make.  I am thankful I had the good health to do everything I did this past year.  God willing, age 54 will be even better!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

A question for my readers who remember the Vietnam era

I know I have a few readers over age 60--maybe you can shed some insight into this. 

Last night I was having dinner with a girlfriend and we got to talking about the draft during the Vietnam war.  I was born in 1957, so Vietnam was a little before my time, but I remember how young men would go to Canada or even cut off a finger to get out of going into the military.

So here's my question:  Why didn't they just say they were gay?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

It's taken me longer to think of a title for this post than to write it

I had a nice birthday yesterday.  In the morning I met with the recruiter who's working on my dream job (that went really well) and then I got in some pool time before it started to rain.

Rain?  In Vegas?  On my birthday???  Grrrrr.  Then I went out to lunch with Mike, and in the evening had some quiet time at home.  Love it.


Jeez, I really gotta learn Photoshop.  Or maybe get a soft-focus Barbara Walters lens on my iPhone camera.  Bright sunlight, why are you so cruel?  No wonder why people say I'm better looking in person.  (I swear to God, I really am.)

Anyway, I spent some time on Facebook yesterday, trying to acknowledge all the birthday wishes.  Thank you, everyone!  Along the way, I came across a couple of funny photos that friends had posted.  I have to share:


"I say three Hail Marys whenever I drive by it..." is what my friend said about that. 

Yep, there's actually a Clown Motel in Tonapah, Nevada.  Imagine the nightmares you'd have in that place, huh? 

Then another friend posted this one, with the caption, "Picture speaks 1,000 words."


Oh, man.  That cracked me up!

Anyway, after a nice day of R&R, it's back to reality today.  As you know, I've been busy as hell since early August, and now I finally have some time to catch up on things.  And to exercise.  Yeah, I remember that...

Have a great day!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Fifty-four today!

I love my birthday! I'm so very grateful to have lived another year on this planet. And to be in love, have a wonderful family, enjoy good health, have an awesome place to live, and not have to get up and go to work today... well, I'm one lucky girl.

A few months ago my Quirky Lesbian Aunt Joyce sent me this picture of me with my parents when I was a baby. Isn't it freaky to think we all started out like little babies like this???


We lived in Texas, where I was born.  (My father was in the army.)  My mother must have sent this picture to my grandmother in Albany.  Look what she wrote on the back of it.


Oh, thank you so much, Mom!   (But in real life, thanks for everything.)

Saturday, October 1, 2011

New year, new laptop... fingers crossed for a new job

This is my first post written from my new laptop--an early birthday present from Mike.  So nice.  Monday is my birthday, so next week you can expect a "Year in Review" post.  I'd say it's been quite a year, but aren't they all?

As always, I'm psyched about starting another year, and there are lots of changes ahead.  Yesterday was my last day at my awesome telecommuting job.  In a way, I hate that it's over; I absolutely love working at home, but who knows--hopefully I'll be going on to bigger and better.  I have an amazing prospect on the radar screen; based on what the recruiter has told me, it sounds like my dream job. 
Of course, my real dream job would be no job at all--I'd love to just write all day, do some volunteer work, and pursue my creative endeavors--but as day jobs go, this one seems perfect.  I don't want to say too much for fear of jinxing myself, but I will tell you it involves travelling to resorts worldwide (!) and I'd be reporting to someone on another continent.  HELL, yeah!  They've already checked my references and things are looking good. 

I won't be interviewing with the hiring manager until his next trip to Vegas, so it will be a couple of weeks until I know anything for sure.  In the meantime, fingers crossed but I have to keep sending out resumes until I get an offer; there's no bird in hand. (A thought I find positively repulsive. Whoever came up with that?)  At any rate, I'm going to enjoy the time off.  It's still warm enough to relax poolside, which is how I intend to spend a good part of my birthday.  How lucky I am! 

Hey, my age is the same as my height this year (5-4). If only my weight (139) matched my IQ.  Or even my bowling average.

Anyway, it's also kind of significant that I got a new laptop right now.  I've had my old one since about 2004, which in laptop years is ancient. B.H. bought it for me so I could write my book--oh, the works of genius that have come from that thing!  Seriously, I do have a little emotional attachment to it, but it was getting slow as hell and it's time to move on.  After all, a new year is beginning; it's a good time for change.

One thing I noticed, though--my blog looks weird on this.  My blogging friend Donna at Mystical Journeys told me a while ago that it looks weird on her computer, but I couldn't figure out why.  It looked fine on my old laptop, my work laptop, and Mike's computer.  I know what she means--the sidebars are so dark you can hardly read the text--and I'm not sure how to fix it. I have a feeling it may be fine on older machines.  Do I look weird to you?  (My blog, I mean.)  Any ideas what I can do about it?

Anyway, life is good and I'm enjoying every minute.  No matter what happens with my cool job prospect, it's all perfect.  Everything's perfect.  Except I still hate my hair.

Hope you're having a great weekend!