Bang, Bang

• I hate Mondays. Especially when I walk into my office where there is a mountain of stuff piled everywhere! I hate when the stuff that was abandonded on Friday is still menacing on Monday morning.
• I have my event tonight! My "coming out" party so to speak. I am wearing a fun suit and have my hair all down and blown out. Trying to look sophisticated and worthy of the title "Executive Director." I am nervous. I have to speak. Have to make an impression...have to create a new, exciting image for this organizaiton. But, I am also looking forward to this! It will be my first party with wealthy liberals. It will be first time at one of our board member's houses that I hear is fabulous! I am going to try and fit in. :)
• Mike and I found another house this weekend. It is a 4 bedroom contemporary in Waukesha. We will put an offer on it an see what happens...fingers crossed again that something happens with one of our houses. We both had open houses on Sunday and am still waiting to hear what the reports are. But. In the meantime we are out pounding the pavement every Sunday looking at what is out there. Mostly there is nothing special. However, this house is perfect. It has everything that we want/need. The yard is awesome and filled with plantings. The master bedroom is vaulted and has room for a computer space, walk-in closet, balcony and we could still do cartwheels. There is a lovely fireplace. Plenty of room for the giant plasma tv to be mounted on the wall. I hate waiting. And am trying not to get my hopes up. But, it is not working well.
• This week softball starts. Games both Tuesday and Wednesday night. Yeah. Then Wednesday night my college roommate comes to town and stays through Friday morning. Friday we're having Mike's sister and her family over for a "make-up dinner" (we had dinner with them a week ago Friday, but we didn't have it at my house...long story, should have blogged about it). Then Saturday we leave for Madison for my family's annual Spring Fling--we're staying overnight and then Sunday my great aunt and uncle are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. Imagine 60 years.
• So. Busy week. I have stuff I want to blog about. But no time. Oh well. Maybe one day I'll return to writing. For now, I just shoot off a bunch of random information.

All dressed up...and no where to go

My lunch meeting cancelled today, which is a bummer. We'll reschedule for next week. But here I sit in my office wearing a skirt/suit and heels and I have no where to go. Isn't that a shame. I could be wearing jeans and a sweatshirt and no one would be the wiser. At least I have the office to myself and can have She Wants Revenge blaring through itunes. Wonder if the neighbors mind??

Marriage Proposal

As I walked up to my office this morning I could tell this guy was looking at me. I had my sun glasses on, I looked down hard at the pavement. I'm not a big fan of the chit-chat with strange men routine. Not at all. And then he started speaking. And shit, I had no choice. Or, I could have pretended that I was French (which I have done before with some real authority) or ignored him. I chose to be polite. And then he asked me if I would marry him. Or go out with him. Or have lunch with him. NO. NO. NO. oh, and thanks, but NO. I wasn't cruel or mean, just firm. And then I got into the elevator hoping to God that he doesn't work here. Or w could have the marriage proposal of the week office club. Wouldn't that be great?

Regrets.

People often ask me if I hae regrets. I always say, "no, I have none."

I am ammending that. I do have a regret. That I ever married my ex-husband.

Let's just say that after a long, bitter exchange about "legality" issues I am hot under the collar.
Oh, and another regret: that I ever encouraged him going to law school. Big mistake. Now he can throw legalese at me whenever he feels like it. He is refusing to share the insurance cost citing: "Legally I don't have to pay half." And I quipped, "Well, I haven't nickeled and dimed you for co-pays for the past 4 years." And he said "That's your problem, not mine." And I bit my tongue hard. This from a man who didn't have a job for 4 years--I carry insurance becasue he didn't have the ability to pay nor provide insurance for the girls. And child support was set at an amount when he had no income. i'm tempted to haul his ass back into court and have our agreement ammended.

Ok, I feel better. Rant concluded. The marriage is still a regret though. Period.

Don't burn that bridge!

Many of you know that I have a temper. And can get irritated and pissed off with people easily. And I work in a hightly political environment and have for 6 years. There have been times where I have told people to "go to hell" becasue I didn't like their prinicpals. I have not always taken the poltically correct way of life. I tell it like it is and that is pretty much it.

However, today I realized that there is a man that I am soooooo happy I have stayed in good favor with, despite our spats and disagreements. He now is in charge of major political money and has all the right relationships...he is committed to helping my oganization grow and get $$$$ from big donors. I saw him today--we did the big hug/big kiss/let's do lunch thing. This is a man that said not nice things about me when I first ran for school board, he was wrong...and we have developed an interesting realtionship over the years.

And today I realized that it is my job now to kiss ass. Which I am totally fine with. I am now squarely in the political arena. There is no taking the "moral" stance of blatant truth telling. Now, it is about building relationships and making them love me and my organization.

I so love this job and am so good at it. :)
I should have been in this political world along time ago.

I break rules.

I stole this from Jenica's blog.
But I am going to add in stories, mostly 'cause I think it's fun for me.

The Rules:
1. You can only say YES or NO!
2. You are NOT ALLOWED to explain ANYTHING unless someone messages you and asks!

Taken a picture naked? : technically I was not naked.
Made out with a member of the same sex? : no
Danced in front of your mirror? : yes
Told a lie? : yes
Gotten in a car with people you just met?: no
Been in a fist fight? : yes, twice. I punched two guys -- different occasions, once when I was 17 and once when I was 28. They deserved it.
Had feelings for someone who didn’t have them back? : yes
Been arrested? : no, although there have been numerous moments when I could have been arrested protesting. And then there was the time I spit in Mayor Guiliani's face.
Left your house without telling your parents? : yes, my bedroom was on the first floor and when I was a teenager I figured out how to take the screen out and leave it open just a crack so that I could come and go as I wanted.
Ditched school to do something more fun? : yes--the memorable trip was senior skip day when we went to Great America. No one got punished becasue there were at least 100 of us who ditched.
Slept in a bed with a member of the same sex? : yes
Seen someone die? : twice.
Kissed a picture? : yes
Slept in until 3? : yes
Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by? : yes
Played dress up? : yes--as adults Jenica and I have tried on "prom" dresses at numerous retail outlets. I think I still own a dress or two that I bought but never wore during one of our dress up escapades.
Fallen asleep at work/school? : yes--I fell asleep almost every day in chemistry sophmore year. Hence I had to repeat it junior year.
Felt an earthquake? : no
Touched a snake? : yes, Margaret made me hold a 9' boa constrictor two years ago and I have a polariod to prove it.
Ran a red light? : yes
Had detention? : no
Been in a car accident? : no
Pole danced? : no
Been lost? : yes
Sang karaoke? : yes
Done something you told yourself you wouldn’t? : yes--I never thought I would get a tatoo. Now I have three.
Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? : yes
Caught a snowflake on your tongue? : yes
Kissed in the rain? : yes
Sang in the shower? : yes
Got your tongue stuck to a pole? : no
Ever gone to school partially naked? : yes, in high school we had "spirit days." I wore a swimsuit and towel on "beach day."
Sat on a roof top? : yes
Played chicken? : yes, on land and in water. It was something that my 5 brothers and sisters would do for entertainment.
Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? : yes
Been told you’re hot by a complete stranger? : "hot" not exactly, but once when I was walking in NYC, a man walked by and he was completly staring at me, then he tripped on the sidewalk and fell. I smiled and he was mortified. It was a pretty funny moment, very straight out a movie scene.
Broken a bone? : not intentionally, but drs had to break my pinky toe and screw it back together again becasue it was growing improperly.
Mooned/flashed someone? : no, but I have been skinny dipping, which in my case involved stripping off my clothes and running into the ocean, therefor mooning the onlookers.
Forgotten someone’s name? : yes
Slept naked? : yes
Blacked out from drinking? : yes, only once. My 30th birthday bash. I was completely and utterly hammered.
Played a prank on someone? : numerous times.
Felt like killing someone? : no
Made a parent cry? : yes
Cried over someone? : yes
Had/Have a dog? : yes, favorites were Cubby and Ruby.
Been in a band? : no
Drank 25 sodas in a day? : no, but in college I drank a 12 pack of Coke almost every day. That was before I discovered how wonderful coffee is.
Shot a gun? : yes--I took some target practice when I lived in France in a pre-pheasant hunting ritual. I never actually shot at anything that was alive though.

Spring = Here

The weather forecast for this week is 60+ degrees every day.
I think it is supposed to be 70 on Wednesday and upper 60's for the Easter weekend.

Can I just say how much I love being able to wear my capris, skirts and gaucho pants.
And how nice it is not to be freezing cold every single day.

*Yeah*

I'm sore from head to toe.

And I hate Mondays.
But I feel like I whine about that enough.

Friday I came home from work and decided that "oh, no summer's coming and I will be wearing less clothes." So, I hauled out a box of summer stuff, including swimsuits and tried them on in front of a full length mirror. Not awful, the clothes still fit, BUT...I would look so much better if I lost 15 pounds and had nice muscles. I then did 100 sit ups in various ways and 6 different excercises with hand weights to try and make my arms, shoulders and back buff.

Saturday morning came and I hurt. But we had softball prcatice (*note, since I no longer have regular night meeting I have committed to playing on two different softball teams--and haven't played on a team since I was 25). Practice was fine, we took batting practice and shagged balls, but that was it. It wasn't a killer practice. But I was still sore.

Sunday came and my body was aching. And we had football. I always hurt after football, but Sunday was a whole different hurt.

After football Mike and I went back to his house and did home-improvement projects. We scraped and sanded the garage door and side door. We scraped and sanded the entire roof of the sunroom. We painted everything. And we laid a linoleum floor in the sunroom. Everything looks great...but Mike and I finally had been defeated. Every muscle in my body was sore. I spent Sunday night soaking in the hottest water my bath could produce. And it didn't help.

Today I feel like I have been run over by a truck. My arms hurt. My back is sore. And I am limping rather than walking. But it was fun, productive, and maybe even will make my body look better in a bathing suit. And, starting in May I will be playing sports 6 days in a row: Tuesday and Wednesday are softball nights, Thursday and Friday are Volleyball nights, Saturday is softball practice and Sunday is pick-up football. Hence, I guess I will have to accept the fact that limpling will be part of my Monday routine.

I used to be able to play sports constantly without this much pain. I guess I have to face it. There is truth in what everyone has always told me about "getting older." I thought they were whiners. Now I am the one doing the whining.

When pick-up lines work.

This morning I was in a convienece store completing a money transfer. As the man behind the counter called it a "flying bank." It was n't a very compicated procedure, but it did require some assistance from him and took about 10 minutes. While I was being helped by the nice man behind the counter another man came into the shop. I was oblivious of him until he was right behind me. And this is what he said,

"Ma'am, I have been a professional girl watcher for over twenty-five years and you are by far the finest that I have ever seen."

Now. In most cases I would have told this guy to fuck off--find someone else to schmooze over. But this was an African American man in his late 60's. He was shy and cute and said this without any gross nasty inuendo's. He was in his Milwaukee bus driver uniform and had salt and peppper hair; he looked very innocent. So I didn't take offense at all, just said thank you politely.

Then he asked me what nationality I was...and I said I was 100% German. And while I stood there waiting for the guy behind the counter to finish the transaction we had a very interesting conversation. This man is a history buff...and went into the long history of how Germans were one of the biggest importers and keepers of slave, which meant that along the line there were a lot of children born of mixed race and that many Germans in the US actually have some African blood in them. (I have no idea if this is true or not, but it was a very interesting conversation and he had facts and dates and information that seemed to make sense, so I am entertaining the idea). Then he told me that he thought I had melanin in my skin because I have olive skin tone, which is not what German skin tone is. Then he said the funniest thing, actually made me laugh out loud, "And, let's face it you have lips. And you sure as hell don't have a white girl body, you have a behind." I almost hit the floor with laughter. He made my day.

Now, if some 30ish white guy had made the same comments to me I would have decked him. Maybe this man made me less aggressive because he was soft spoken and wasn't actually trying to get in my pants, just give a tall blone a compliment. And, I was flattered. Even knowing full well that he probably says this line to all the cute girls.

ZEN Mom?

I just completed this quiz: http://www.areyouaslackermom.com Your quiz results make you a Zen MomHow do you do it? Even when explosions are all around, you are able to take a deep cleansing breath and chant your mantra "this too shall pass." You are a calming influence on your kids in a hectic world.