Wednesday, April 29, 2009

AMERICAN IDOL

Tonight they began with five and then there were four. Ryan put Kris and Matt on one side. He put Danny and Allison on the other. He then asked Adam which group he belonged in. That flustered Adam and he didn't want to answer. He finally said Danny and Allison. He walked to them and then Ryan said no, you are in the bottom three. Stand with Matt and Kris.

After lots of others singing, they came back to the point of the show. Who is going home? One of the bottom three is going to be safe. I knew it was going to be Adam. Even Matt and Kris seemed to think that. WRONG! Kris is safe. Matt and Adam, my favorite Adam, are the bottom two. How did Adam end up here? He is the odds on favorite to win the whole thing. I can't stand this. If Matt is safe and Adam goes home I will just spit. Then Ryan says, "Adam, you are safe." Thank goodness. Matt is gone.

But now we have only 4 left. It will be really ugly next week.

SWINE FLU, WEDDINGS, WICCAN

Some blogs are written without much help from me. I just listen and bring it to you.

Today one of the clerks, C. asked if I had heard about her being cursed. NO. Yesterday she was asked to take a couple who spoke only Spanish. (C. is bilingual.) She took them out of order since she was the only one who could help them. She called them over and then another woman, let's call her, Rude, went ballistic. She went up to C.'s desk and started yelling, "Why did they get to go ahead of me?" Yelling and carrying on. Another clerk took Rude and the whole time she complained, loudly. "Why do those Mexican speaking people get to go ahead of an English speaking American?" And many more ugly things about C. and the non English speaking Mexicans. She kept glaring at C. at the next desk. Rude received the papers she needed and as she left she yelled at C. "I hope you get Swine Flu!" Charming.


Not many weddings, only two. We had the reluctant groom and the I am getting married bride. He so didn't want to be there. I thought he might back out. He didn't. That bride has married trouble.


Then I had the pink wedding. The groom had a pink stripped shirt on. She had on a gorgeous pink lace dress with killer pink heels. They were just darling. And their friends had on touches of pink. So in love. They must have been rich. They had just come back from Cancun and were leaving tonight for a MONTH in Tahiti. Who in their 20's has that much vacation and money?


As they were getting their certified copy of the license , the clerk asked me to try and read a license. It had red splotches of ink on it,not legal. And the line where you identify your position to legally marry ( minister, priest, marriage commissioner, judge, etc.) was hard to read. I kept looking at it and finally it hit me Wiccan. It was signed by a High Priestess. I wish I could tell you the name. But not allowed. But it was a cartoon character and we all laughed. And yes, Wicca is a recognized religion. So it is legal.

Monday, April 27, 2009

WILL THAT WEDDING DRESS STAY UP?

Today there were lots of weddings. I did 7 in 3 hours. Not terribly busy, but busy enough I wasn't bored. Lots of nice happy couples. People from everywhere: Israel, Jordan, Peru, California, Pakistan, Vietnam, and the UK. I was planning my blog about the sweetly in love couples, the fun blended family, the shy Muslim couple. And then the last couple arrived. The planned blog is blown to hell.


This couple had maybe 20 people with them. Everyone was dressed up in black. They arrived right before the cut off time. When I received the license, not all the guests had arrived. We had reprinted the license so I took it out to be re signed. I called their names and they just sat. Now they are the only ones in the lobby, they have to be the couple. I called it three times and finally the groom sauntered over. I said I needed the bride also so they could re sign. She sauntered over even slower. She almost had on a strapless dress, but didn't seem comfortable with it. Tug here, tug there. She had a large bust so the dress should have stayed up. It didn't. Constant tugging it up.


Finally everyone has arrived and we head to the elevators. It became like herding cats. I couldn't get them on the elevators. They just stood and wouldn't get on. At last we are upstairs and in the wedding room. I call the bride and groom over to find out what they want: rings? own vows? stand alone? cameras? which ceremony? They both kept wandering off while I am asking them questions. The guests would not sit down and be quiet. I had to use my "school teaching" voice and get them all settled down. I finally told the couple to get their attendants and to stand up front. (I had stayed late for them and I was getting tired of them.)


The whole time the bride's dress is slipping down, and the bride would tug. Her sister is standing up with her and his friend is with him. Before I begin, I ask, "Are you ready ?" and the sister reaches over the bride's head and tugs the dress up. The bride threw a fit, they are ready to scratch out each other's eyes. The bride pulls her dress down, dangerously down. And they are yelling like 5 year olds. I had to tell them I would not do the wedding if they were going to fight. That everyone could just leave. That got them quieted down so I did the ceremony.


All in all not a pleasant group. They acted like they had rented the country club and we were all hired help. Dear Readers, I am never hired help. I am the Boss, the Queen, the Leader of the Pack. I found out later they had been rude to the clerk, the groom threw his ID at her. And the bride was all but flashing her. I don't like people being rude to my clerks. The clerks are very special ladies who work hard and are polite to icky people.


Yes, Joe, I do collect the weird ones.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

YARD SALES

Yard Sales. Not my favorite way to make money. Way too much work for too little money. You advertise the sale is from 9 -4. At 6:30 you have people (usually dealers) beating on your door. "Let us buy now. We will take everything at half price." I am not real nice that early in the morning. So they don't buy anything. Anyway, we don't hold yard sales anymore. We donate to charity and take the tax deduction. But we like to go to them.

Today, several of our neighbors had yard sales. They had lots of children's books and toys, strollers, playpens, and baby baths. And there were dishes, baskets, spices that were still sealed. It was fun to look. And I was really tempted by the spices and baskets. But I can't put anything else in my little house. The most fun was talking to the neighbors. Some neighbors met each other for the first time. Some we talked to we hadn't seen all winter.

We mostly talked about how to kill the gophers. We all have lost plants, bushes, and trees to these furry monsters. They make deer look like amateurs. One neighbor plans to get a chair, a book, and a beer and then sit with a pellet gun. He is going to take the gophers out one by one.

Yard sales are a lot of work. But they are a great way for the neighbors to get together.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

PARENTS

I have been reading my niece's blog. It is mainly about her life with husband Chris and the five children. They both work, yet they seem to be at every event a parent could be involved with. How they do it, I have no idea.

How does any parent do what they do? The sacrifices made monetary, emotional, physical, life style changing are enormous. Yet millions of parents do that every day. Many are single parents and do all this alone.

We only had one child and I worked until he was in his early teens. Many days I was run ragged. Even when I wasn't working I was running in umpteen directions. We bought him lessons for trumpet, and we did without date night. We worked the band concession stands in three states. Yes, he did high school in three states. We even marched beside the band as crowd control. We drove kids for church group, we taught Sunday School, we did what all parents do, our best. But we only had one child. How do parents make soccer games at two different ends of town?

I really admire the parents who have several children and make all the concerts, swim meets, plays, events. I admire them for their sacrifice of their own wishes and lives.

Why has this come up? This week my mother was 92. We have fought since the day I was born. I was not the sweet child my sister was. Nor cute and quiet like my brother. I always had to prove my point. My Mother was a young widow with three kids. She made the concerts, she drove us and our friends (in her 9 passenger station wagon) to out of town ball games. And she bought tickets and foods for the ones with no money. She even opened our home up every weekend for all my friends to party. She and my grandmother fed a pregnant classmate lunch every day to be sure she was healthy, this in the 50's. Most people shunned this young girl. She even proved my boyfriend wasn't a thief and a teacher was.

So Anna, you parented a whole slew of kids. Thank you.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

AMERICAN IDOL FIVE, ONLY FIVE

Tonight on AI they had a double elimination. Because they saved Matt last week, two had to go tonight. They did an elimination right off the bat, no build up, just bam, you are history. Lil Rounds is gone. She just never lived up to her potential. Then they had lots of singers from the disco era to entertain us. Since it was Tivoed, we fast forwarded through that. Then it started. Adam is safe, Anoop in the bottom two, Chris safe, Danny safe, Matt is safe damn, damn, damn. And that leaves Allison. She is in the bottom two. NOOOOOO, this can't be. She is as good as Adam. What is wrong with America?

Anoop and Allison are brought to the middle of the stage and it is announced who is going home. Anoop! Yes, yes, yes!

Next week will be awful. Five are left. And it looks like the public likes Matt, who I can't stand. Someone I really really like will be cut. That is the way it works, we can only have one Idol.

COOL BREEZES, COOL HOUSE

Finally, we are having comfortable weather. It is 73 degrees and the fog is coming in. We have the windows open, no fans or AC going. Mother Nature has cooled my house today. Tonight, probably the windows will be closed and the down comforter will again be pulled up.

Thank you Mother Nature on today, Earth Day, for normal weather.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

THEY LIED, IT ISN'T COOLING DOWN

Today was to be several degrees cooler. Well, it wasn't. It was as hot as Monday. It is now 11:30 P.M. and it is 76 degrees. We did turn off the AC, but the upstairs is hot and around 79. It will be another night not hot enough for AC and not cool enough to be comfortable. The weather people say tomorrow should be 10 to 15 degrees cooler. They better be right. I have worn all three of my short sleeved tops. Until I wash clothes again, I am out of hot weather clothes.

Monday, April 20, 2009

MONDAY, WEDDINGS, SCHOOL, AND STILL HOT

Today, it was 95. Broke the record for this date by 9 degrees. It is 10:45 and it is 76 degrees. Doesn't sound bad does it? Well, on a normal night it would be in the 50's. Too damn hot.

School was hot, dripping wet hot. I did paper work, graded papers, organized papers to go home. And I worked one on one in reading and math. One little girl has come so far. She is so immature ( I know she is 6, how mature can she be?) she has the attention span of a gnat, has a 100 reasons why she can't do the work. Sometimes she refused to read or do anything. But she is finally trying.

We worked on math and reading today. She was adding numbers like 10 +8. Most kids have to count every number to get to 18. She knew you just change the the zero. She understood. YEAH! Then she read a little book to me and totally understood it. And then the big test: Dolch word list. This is sight words such as once, was, could, should. These are words that don't sound out well. She nailed the lists. I told her what a great job she was doing. She explained to me she has a tutor now and now her brain is finally working, stuff is going in and now she can remember it. She was so proud of herself. This is why I get up early every Monday and work with the little ones. I really feel I have helped her.

I have complained about the Clerk from Hell, she isn't our only problem. The clients are just as bad. They put the info in the computer, they then check the license when we print it out, NOT. We had one we printed the license 3 times, and probably should have 4 times. The couple bought the license and came back in the afternoon with their witness. Problem, the witness had signed the license, yet hadn't seen the wedding ceremony yet. We reprinted the license and the couple resigned it. As I waited for the wedding room I noticed the witness' name (who was the groom's mother) was spelled one way as the mother and another way as the witness. I asked her which way was correct. She didn't have her glasses so couldn't read it. I spelled it for her. Her son said the second name was correct. We reprinted the third time, fixed the names to match. I did the ceremony. Mother signed and wrote her name a third way. We sent it in the state anyway.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

IT IS HOT, REALLY HOT

Today at my front door, in the shade, it was 88 degrees. We live in the cool part of the Bay Area. We usually have lovely cooling fog this time of year. It burns off and it might get up to 70 degrees ( which is too hot for me) and comes back in at night. It is only April, this is the kind of weather we have in September or October. When we do get a little bit warm, the temperature will drop 15 to 20 degrees by early evening.

I nearly cut the air conditioner on today. The house wasn't hot, but it wasn't comfortable. We had guests, I was cooking, two ovens going, and burners on. Not nice in the kitchen. Did I say it was hot? Well it was.

Marty was showing friend Janet R and her husband Frank how to divide cymbidium orchids. I stood in the shade with a sun hat on. They were in the sun working. I brought water, beer, and deviled eggs to help them keep up their strength. We were all wilted by the time we sat down to lunch.

Later this afternoon I have been sitting with the fan aimed at me. As I said, I don't do heat. I just went out to check the temperature. I thought I would open up and let the house cool down. At 7:10 P.M. it was 83 degrees. It is still cooler inside, just not cool. Tomorrow is to be hotter.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Marty in San Francisco

Today Marty went into San Francisco to get a hair cut and to buy house slippers.

He went to several stores for the slippers. If I had been asked I could have told him, slippers are mainly sold at Christmas. The rest of the year, they are hard to find. He did finally find what he wanted, and they were on sale AND that price was marked 50% off. Maybe this is the time of year to buy slippers.

As to the word finally up there. I am Southern, I hear it as finely, and I wrote it that way. I kept looking at it, I knew it was wrong. And finally I figured it out.

Marty goes to a barber, Joanne, whose shop is in a hotel. Since the first of the year she has been looking to rent the other chair. (She is just a little persnickety about who works in her shop.) A woman (let's call her Betty) recently interviewed and Joanne thought she could work with Betty. But before she could start working Betty had to prove she knew how to shave someone. One of the hotel employees agreed to be the guinea pig. Betty lathered up his face and then pulled out her razor. It was a disposable razor. Joanne yelled stop and get out.

Still looking for a barber.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

CHECK THIS OUT!!!!!!!!

I have mentioned my niece blogs also. I put her blog on the side and said go read it. Now you have to read it.

A great article has been written about her son. I am thrilled for him for a couple of reasons. It is great to be recognized for your basketball skills on the internet. And now maybe he will get that college scholarship we want for him.

Go to her blog and then on to the link she provides.

Kiel, Aunt Janet is so proud of you.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

STILL SEVEN!!!

This is your American Idol report.

Last night AI ran over again, even with the revamping of the judging. They just need to cut the stupid lead in to each singer. The wonderful Adam brought the house down, Allison was sooooooooo wonderful. This is a 16 year old child and she has the stage presence of a seasoned performer, and her voice, oh my. Matt did great, even Anoop did well for a change. Chris or is it Kris?? was fabulous. And then there was Lil. Every week she gets worse. Danny was good as he consistently is.

Tonight your bottom three? Anoop, YAY! Lil, and Matt. At this stage with only 7, someone you like is going to be in the bottom three. Matt was good, even if I don't like him. Danny probably was not as good as Matt on this particular night. But Americans vote for lots of reasons: voice, past history, this performance, good looks, sad life.

They announced that Anoop was safe. Damn, damn, damn. He HAS to go home. Last week after shrugging off Kris ( they were the bottom two and Kris tried to hug Anoop in a we will get through this way last week) in a very rude way, his arrogance is up my nose. And he mouths off in a very rude way to the judges.

Lil and Matt hold each other and it is Matt who is in the bottom. He sings for the chance to be saved. Marty and I say he needs to go, even tho Lil was worse. He is not consistent. Simon says Matt you can't win this contest. Lots of boos. And then they use their one time save. Matt is safe.

Next week TWO will go home. There are no saves left.

Monday, April 13, 2009

WEDDINGS AND A NEW TYPE

This afternoon was easy, no big push, just one wedding after another. I did none the first hour or so, and then around 2:30 business picked up. I only did 5 weddings. I know to some that sounds a lot for an hour and a half. But I keep comparing now to last summer and fall when we were doing 15 or more in an afternoon. That was when we were allowed to do same sex marriages. We had heterosexual and same sex couples. Our client base has been cut in half.

The couples today were sweet, in love, and fun. One couple really stands out though, for a couple of reasons. The bride did not know she was getting married today, until the groom told the clerk and her. In the elevator she looked at him and said, " If I had known we were getting married I would have dressed better." She had on a sweat shirt, a baseball cap, and jeans. No rings during the ceremony ( they already had done that a long time ago), no camera. I offered them a couple of types of ceremonies. And she said do you have a broomstick ceremony? Yes, I did.

This is an old marriage custom with some African Americans. We have a ceremony and we have an old fashioned decorated broom. The bride was happy that I could do the ceremony. The ceremony is basically traditional, except for a couple of poems, and the broom. We laid the broom in front of them and then did the ceremony:

In good days and bad days, no matter the weather

I join this man and this woman together.

Let no one cause any turbulence or thunder

To put this man and woman asunder.

Then I did the traditional ceremony. After I pronounced them, another poem:

I therefore announce you both the same.

Be good, live long, and keep up your name.

The broomstick is jumped, and the world is wide.

You're married now, so kiss the bride.


And they then jumped the broomstick.

SCHOOL TODAY

I volunteer in a first grade classroom. I do pretty much anything Ms. H wants me to do. Check papers, sort the week's classwork alphabetically and assemble it to go home.I work one on one in any subject that a child needs help.

Today I was lucky enough to read an incredible book to the class. There has not been a book read this year that captured the attention of this class as this book did. These are lovely children, just a little busier than most. We have the bouncers, the can't sit stills, the talkers, the stir it up ones, we have children with the attention span of a gnat. This is a difficult class to control and to get to listen at the same time. This book did it.

Herb, The Vegetarian Dragon is beautifully illustrated, written so well, and has a purpose. The purpose is to show we can have different life styles and still be friends. It is probably not PC. It talks about dragons that eat pretty princesses. And the dragons love to eat knights in their crunchy armor. It shows a dragon about to be beheaded. It talks about war. The children loved it. They all sat and listened, they answered questions, they begged for the pictures to be shown again. They were enthralled. And I loved the story too.

Check out the website. Read the first two chapters. Click to see more pictures, play the song. If you have primary age children or grandchildren, this is a book to buy.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Blogs

A friend from college has started a blog. I haven't seen him since maybe 1966. But through Facebook we connected. And now he blogs. It should be very good. He is a college writing instructor and a theater critic.

But the reason I loved his first blog today, it was all about food. Well, he had family and church in there. But food was and is the star today. And you all know I am a foodie.


Check out Roger Drew's blog.

Friday, April 10, 2009

So very civilized

We had such a civilized day today.

The alarm went off at 7:30 and Marty turned it off. Then he got back in bed. I said are you declaring a holiday, and he said yes. We got up at 10:20. It was wonderful to sleep that late. That is about the only perk of being self employed, you set your own hours.

We read our three newspapers, had our juice, pills, and coffee (for Marty), and then decided whether to have lunch. We decided to wait until I cleaned the bathrooms and Marty did a little work. We had lunch at 1:30. Marty did a little more work. I played on the computer. At 3:10 we left to go to see a movie, Duplicity. Very good, fun, and convoluted. I can't tell you about it, that would ruin the fun of it.

We got home close to 7:00. I then made my wonderful Fresh Tomato Soup. (secret ingredient, balsamic vinegar). We have since watched TV. Some mindless and some educational. Dirty Jobs is so too educational. I learned how to milk the venom from a black widow spider tonight.

All in all a lovely, fun, civilized day.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

CORRECTION to AMERICAN IDOL POST

I made a huge error. I said Matt was in the bottom three of American Idol. Wrong. It was Anoop.

It still should have been Kris.

Sorry about that.

American Idol

Did you know part of the world did not see Adam's total performance or see Simon give him a standing ovation? Tuesday night the show ran long and DVRs weren't set for extra time. ( After missing an ending of AI years ago, we always set our TIVO for 10 minutes more. )

We worried that Adam wouldn't get the votes, how would AI handle it fairly? If he were low would he get an automatic save because of the screw up? Well, he was the first one saved. And they didn't bring up the glitch. So he must have had lots of votes.

And the bottom three: Scott, Matt, and Lil. I can't stand Matt, but he is and was so much better than Kris, who was awful Tuesday. Lil was poor on Tuesday and Scott was boring and just mediocre. Again America put someone there who shouldn't have been, Matt.

Who went home? Scott. He is weaker than the others. No star potential. His blindness was not why he should go home. His blindness kept him on longer than he should have been. There are incredible blind musicians. But they have personality, depth, something extra.

Hopefully Lil received a scare and will up her game. She has just been sliding through.

Adults vote! The Teeny Boppers are putting the cutest in the top. They aren't voting for talent.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

April 8, 2009: Lunch and Monsters

Today we celebrated 42 years of marriage. Most of it has been very good, even excellent in some cases. Marty's brother asked us one time how we had made it this long. Our answer was we had never been mad at the same time and lots of luck. Marriage is not easy, but well worth the trouble, heartache, and work. I am a very lucky woman. And Marty is a lucky man.

Today we went into San Francisco for lunch and whatever else we found to do. We ate at Foley's an old time SF bar. We like the food, love the Bloody Mary's, and hate the noise. Liquor and food always wins out.

We then went to see Monsters vs Aliens. It was 3D on an IMAX screen. This movie is way too good for children. The animation is fabulous. The lines in it are laugh out loud. It pays tribute to lots of movies: Dr. Strangelove, ET, Attack of the 50 foot Woman, The Blob, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Many others were there in music, jokes, fleeting scenes. Lots of fun things. One character was named General W.A.R. Monger. This is very cleverly written.

We checked out the spa in the Hilton. I had a gift certificate for a Swedish massage. I wanted to find out details, are appointments required etc. Thanks Luis and Richard. We then walked down to the Golden Gate Theatre to use a gift certificate to buy tickets for Spamalot. Thank you Phil and Lee.

We finally walked to BART (train system) and headed home. We got back to the car and Marty headed to the Berkeley Bowl to buy seafood for supper. He bought oysters, prawns, and scallops. We had a lovely meal.

As we were cleaning up we realized we had forgotten to do the ONE thing we wanted to do. We had such a fun day we forgot to go to Macy's to see the flower exhibit. I guess we will have to go back into the city and see the flowers.

It was a lovely 42nd anniversary.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

April 7, 1967

Memories, memories.

It is a Friday night, April 7, 1967. We are at the First Christian Church in downtown Louisville. Everyone is dressed to the nines, men in suits and the women in dressy dresses, no hats because it is after 5:00. We have a minister, an organist, bridesmaids, groomsmen, parents, spouses of the wedding party. It is rehearsal night for our wedding.

I had been out of the hospital for less than a week. Threats had been made to call off the wedding because of my health. ( one of my students had given me the measles and I had had complications ). I am run down, I am close to losing it. I didn't know if I could handle the wedding ceremony wars. Can I get through the next 24 hours?

Parents are getting on my nerves. Friends are getting on my nerves. But this wedding is going to go on. I told the doctor if he had to wheel me in on a gurney I was not calling off the wedding. And it was going to be Marty's and my wedding, not a traditional wedding. We had few flowers, mainly greenery with lots of candles. And the music, not our parent's choice. I was going to come down the aisle to the wedding march from the Sound of Music. And we would recess to Trumpet Voluntarie. No singing, just classical music And then I started crying. Marty took over and told everyone what to do, where to walk, and nicely told parents to butt out.

I cried through the rehearsal, through the rehearsal dinner, and through the night. I so wanted to marry Marty but I was terrified of becoming an adult. My Mother stayed up with me most of the night and kept saying we will call off the wedding, it isn't too late. You do not have to marry that boy. And I would cry and say but I want to.

Now think about a woman who would say we will call off a wedding less than 10 hours before the guests arrive. That is a strong protective mother. If I hadn't gone through with it, she would have handled it. That was from a woman I have fought with since day 1 and still do. She does come through in the tough spots. And she was thrilled I didn't call off the wedding. She adores Marty.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Weddings, phone calls

Today I had a slow day marrying couples. They were all nice normal people with difficult names. Another United Nations day. I had two couples from India, a Mexican couple, nice white bread names and then the name none of us could pronounce. When I get a name I can't figure out, I always can find a clerk from that country who will help me write it phonetically. Names are important and I try to get them right before I call the couple. But this one no one could figure out. I finally went out to the clerk who had sold the license. She had asked how to pronounce the name and helped me write it phonetically. It was spelled Diacerial. And that would be pronounced Day Sheryl. She was thrilled I got it right.

When I got home I had several phone messages. The most important one was from lovely Deb in New Orleans. She just wanted to talk. It had been over two months since we had chatted. She wanted to know what was up in my life. I started telling her, sick the whole month of March, this happened, and that. And then I said just read my blog regularly and you will know everything. And she said, "No, I need to hear your voice." And that makes me cry.

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Thoughts on love

I heard this on a cooking show yesterday while ironing. I have no idea the name of the show or the cook (she definitely was not a chef).

She was talking about cooking a special dinner with love. And then she said, "You know a man loves you if he lets you hold the remote." But the most profound thing she said was, "It is better to eat soup with someone you love, than steak with someone you hate."

We all have ways to show we love someone. I iron shirts. Marty washes windows. A friend has cut back on entertaining because her husband doesn't enjoy it. A person I know is a dog person, the spouse loves cats. They have a cat, they both love. Another person cooks food she hates for the man she loves. He cooks food she loves. We all do everyday things to show love. These are the important things in a relationship. Not the fancy dinner or flowers.

Well dinners and flowers are nice.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Damn, damn, double damn!

Background:

I iron my cotton and linen blouses and Marty's shirts. His shirts are 100% cotton, most are oxford cloth and they must be starched and ironed with a heavy iron. I starch them, sprinkle them, roll them up, put them in a plastic garbage bag, and let them sit over night. Then you begin ironing. Some shirts may take 10 minutes, some 20 minutes. So it is a little time consuming. Why you ask do I do this? Two reasons, I can save a lot of money if I iron and I am better at it than the laundry. I iron out wrinkles, not in.

Now on to the story.

Usually I iron downstairs but Marty was working at home and the TV would bother him . I brought up the over the door thingy that holds 10 hangers. It didn't fit the door upstairs well, but it worked. Today I spent all morning and into the early afternoon ironing. I took a couple of email breaks, but most of the time was getting ready to iron and ironing.

I ironed some blouses for me and I finished nine shirts for him. As I hung the last one up the #*+^ ### thingy fell off the door. All my freshly ironed shirts are in a heap. I swore very ugly unladylike words and nearly cried. Marty was nice and said that's OK they're fine. No they weren't. Every shirt had to be pressed off. Wrinkles had to be ironed out.

I need a "Poor BABY".

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Of course they closed. . .

A little background. Next week we will celebrate 42 years of marriage. In those 42 years we have rarely celebrated outside our home. Our first we had a picnic in the living room. It was 1968 and the race riots in Cincinnati had brought a 6:00 PM curfew for the two state area. The next year I broke my foot and I was 6 months pregnant. I wasn't real graceful on crutches. The next 8 or so years we had a child who had a smallpox vaccination, then bronchitis and pneumonia ( this was a result of severe allergies). Then throw in the years of no money, Marty traveling, being in middle of a move, and I had some health issues that cropped up. Every now and then we went out. Usually we celebrated at home and that was fine. We were together and that was the important thing.

We have reservations next Wednesday at Cafe Majestic. This restaurant is known for wonderful food, being quiet, being romantic, and not horribly expensive. It would be perfect. Except today it was announced, they are closed. I read it on the food critic's blog. And Marty received an email from Open Table stating the restaurant had closed. I am bummed!

So what will we do? Another restaurant? A movie and hot dogs and popcorn? Or will we cook some crab or lobster at home? We are still deciding.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

AND THEN THERE WERE EIGHT

Our not so secret vise, our guilty pleasure, the American Idol result show was on tonight. Ryan divided the 9 into three groups. We looked at them and it did not look like top, middle, and bottom. There were bad in each group. What's up? Well that is what they did, they had a bad in each group. The bottom three were Megan, Allison, and Anoop. OK two out of three is sort of right.

But Allison? She has been there before. WHY? She is a great rocker. She works the stage. She is great. But she doesn't have the following. She ended up safe. People, you have to vote for this girl. She is special. Do not let her be sent home before boring Scott. I am begging you, VOTE.

We have Megan who is mugging for the cameras. And Anoop. Both had been so bad the night before. Either one would be fine with me to go home. It was Megan. The judges were asked if they would save her if she performed well. They said they would not even bother to consider her again. She was to sing one last time as a farewell, not as a try to be saved.

Thank you America.

Weddings? Yes

I had two, count them, two weddings today. Who gets married on April Fool's Day?

Well the first couple's license was about to expire. It would cost another $84 to get another one. They were an "immigration" couple who have been together 10 years and have a child together. She is Canadian and here on a vacation visa. Right. Anyway she told me they wanted a quickie. I nearly choked. She meant a fast, short ceremony. So I did the 3 legal sentences and one introductory sentence. And then she was disappointed it was so short. No pleasing some people.

The other couple was Chinese. They both had been widowed. He was born in 1937 and she was born in 1945. They spoke no English. He was almost military, in fact he saluted me after shaking my hand. His son translated for them. She buttoned her groom's suit coat and smoothed his hair before the son took some pictures. And then we had the ceremony. They were so in love, and so tender and sweet. They laughed like teenagers during the ceremony.

Love is ageless.