Depressing or inspiring . . .TV

Have you ever watched a TV show and either half way through it or at the end of it, thought, "Now why didn't my life go that way?"

I have watched half of a 20/20 episode about millionaires and how they went from living in a car to owning 4 houses and worth billions.  Of course the first one had to do with one of the only people that has made billions through theater.  Of course!!

It was a piece on the owner and founder of Cirque de Soliel . . . .made billions doing theater.  PS, this part really made me miss theater.

One of the following segments was on a man, who with $750, started what is now a multi-billion dollar company.  So I pose a question to you . . . .what do you/me/we have that is worth something to someone else?  Between you and I, we could do $750 . . . ..

Cell Phone Pheasko

I like that quote, it makes a lot of sense.  

Once I start reading my book, hopefully I will find many more like it.

So, have you ever thought about cell phones?  I come from a generation that grew up with out them and by the time I was 16, you were AWESOME if you had one, but not looked down upon if you didn't.  Now, if you are 16 and without a cellphone, you are considered an outcast.  

As an adult now, I try to remember what it was like without one.  I begin to worry.  It is a love/hate relationship with cellphones.  You hate them because they won't stop ringing, but when you get a flat tire, you thank your lucky stars that you have one to make the call to the tow truck or your dad.  I have a cell phone, and when it rings, it rings.  There are also stretches of days where it won't make a sound . . . .and yet, I carry it with me everywhere and panic when I don't have it.  I will literally turn around and make a 15-20 minutes drive just to go home and get my cell.  Because, as we all know, if you don't answer your cell, something is wrong.  Oh, and don't forget to mention that you cannot remember a single phone number any more when you used to be able to recall 50 phone numbers at any given time.  I can however, say, that I am not really up on the whole "app" thing.  I have a couple but I know people who have and "app for everything".  I would prefer it if they would actually come out with the bud light app that can pour beer from your phone, talk about false advertising.

Then there are people who refuse to carry one.  I am currently in a relationship with someone who has not owned a cell phone in 3 years. . . .and loves it!  Doesn't worry about who is trying to call, doesn't care that it drives me nuts that he doesn't have one, doesn't like it when I have mine because it makes too much noise.  And is totally fine with it.  He would prefer to make smoke signals if he was in trouble than carry a cell phone with him.  Oh, and he doesn't have to worry about the bill.  Lucky duck.  

Sorry, the rant is due to the fact that I am at home, relaxing, I have walked away from work for the day and yet . . . .I still have the cell phone in my pocket, waiting to ring, in case someone needs me. 

Quotes

Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option.
-Unknown, S at work had this out and it just stuck with me.

The Day After

Oh my goodness, I have missed a couple.  Sorry, I was busy feeling old. . . .   Yes, I remember the bear hunt dad had to go on when we were little.  It was not like the song that they make you sing in elementary school.  I also remember that dad let me look at them the morning after.  That was more than a little traumatic.

So, my birthday day was great!  I woke up and took a nap, someone had told me that that was OK now that I was old.  Then I went out for dinner with my boyfriend and a couple of our friends and for the first time in my life, I ended the evening in a casino 30 minutes from my home and got to bed at 3am (PS - woke up at 11am, I have not slept in like that since I was 19).  That is something that you should do on your 21st birthday . . . .not your 30th!  And I got a card from Auntie D that stated "Congratulations, you are over the hill" and she wrote in "1st",  I am over the "1st Hill".  Great!  I think that that particular card summed it up for me.  When you turn 21, you are crawling up the hill and right when you reach 30, you realize that just beyond the horizon is another hill, but at least you are standing up at this point.

You are so right about holidays and special occasions, enjoy the day and the moment.   There is no use is being upset if it is not what you expected or planned. Anything can be fun if you are in the right mindset and as far as Christmas, I have not celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas in a long time, but as long as we are all together long enough to have Auntie B knock someone over to get a present at the dice game . . .that is Christmas.  

So, it is officially past my bedtime and I am spent.  The last two days of celebrating my birthday have been fun and I have to go back to work tomorrow. 

My sister and gathering advice

I have been trying to think of something really cleaver to say for your Birthday or tell a great story about you but I am not feeling it other than I feel really bad about making you eat dirt when you were a little kid.  Sorry about that.

So I will just tell you that you are a wonderful woman and I am so proud to call you my sister.  Really I am the luckiest sister to have you.  There is no one n-o o-n-e that makes me laugh that way that you do.  Even when you were telling me the story today of you going to the Emergency room with your heart stuff.  How scary for you and yet when you are telling me about it I just wanted to laugh.  Other than that you were at the hospital and your heart is freaking out which is not funny at all.  I hope you have a wonderful Birthday.  Which brings me to my thoughts on parties, holidays, and any celebration or gathering.

My philosopy is this:  Christmas does not have to happen on the 24th and 25th of December.  It happens when the most people can get together or it happens multiple times.

Thanksgiving:  Pick a spot, figure out the food and be thankful that who ever made it could make it and that you are all fed and got to share some time together.

Birthdays:  It is great to have birthday parties.  Again they don't have to be on that day.  But be thankful that who could come did.  Gifts are really hard to buy and some people just do not have the nack for it so go easy on them.  Quite often there is some humor in it all.  Grandma S. for instance.  Do not shop at a store that you (Grandma S.) buy your own clothes at.  Your Granddaughters are not going to wear anything that comes out of that store.  That is just how it is.  Love you Grandma and I wouldn't have that piece of advice for others or story to tell if it wasn't for you.  But I was able to hand off a bunch of those items to older friends of mine that really appreciated them.  I should mention that celebrating with birthday weeks is really fun, because it is all for that person and you are bound to have at least one day that really makes you feel special.  The same is true with a wedding.  It is definately a week long celebration! 

Easter:  You have to have a jelly bean hunt and go to church and other than that I would say follow the guidelines for Thanksgiving.

Most important though is that whoever shows up at that moment is just who was supposed to show up.  Don't be pissed off the whole time because someone didn't come, it makes everyone else feel like they don't matter and puts everyone in a bad mood.  And always make your expecations clear but don't hold it against people if they just can't make it work.  Gatherings are way more fun that way. 

WOW that was a lot.  I should maybe get back to work.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTIE

GUESS WHO IS THIRTY TODAY!  MY  LITTLE SIS.  Did you know that is also happens to be National Dessert Day?  How lucky is she.  Kaj laughed when he heard Auntie was thirty today and said "Auntie is older than my Kevin!"  Kevin is one of the providers at the daycare.  Kevin is actually more in the forty catagory. 

So other than that I don't have anything too exciting other than we are picking up Brandi for the weekend and we are going grocery shopping in Two Harbors.  Last weekend we went for a 4 wheeler ride up to where our house used to be located on the Elbow River.  It is a really nice spot back there.  I wonder if we could move it back!

Almost there

Will you be wearing a birthday suit for your Birthday?

Almost 30!

I don't think that you will have any problem with the 30s.  I can't believe you were only 25 when the little one was born!  Speaking of which he went outside about 30 min ago and I should go check  that his father knows where he is. 

In regards to the bread cutting machine I loved the vibration.  I shook the whole counter it was on. 

At camp a couple of weeks ago a couple of bear cubs got stuck in the lock in cooler for the night.  Do you remember the cubs Dad had to shoot because the mother had to be shot and the cubs were too young to survive on their own.  I remember lying in bed when Dad went to go and do that.  I could hear the shots all the way at Ledge (our cabin/house).  They were so little.  Dad was not a hunter by nature.

Bread Cutter

Wow!  You got pretty deep with that last post.  I hate politics.  I sometimes feel out of the loop or guilty when I do not watch the news, but sometimes it is too much and I just don't want to get into it all.  Sometimes I like being ignorant and living in my own little world of work and family.  Anything past that is slightly overwhelming.  
On a side note, we are still making out way through the two loaves of bread that I made.  I am not good at cutting thin slices, so whenever you have a piece, it is a meal in itself.  I miss the automatic bread cutter that camp used to have.  I remember being told to never put my hand near the thing but it was sooooo impressive how it would cut the loaf in perfect pieces. 

Um . . .My favorite birthday?  Well, the only one that I can remember is the one that we have pictures of, that is why I can remember it.  I was probably about 6 or 7.  And I had a cat cake, I think?  My parties were always Halloween themed, of course until I got to be old enough to go to the Homecoming Football games, then they were football themed or something of the sort, because they would fall in days of each other.  I have had many wonderful birthdays over the, now 30 years.  I hope this one is just as good!

Politics

Let me just say what a joke politics are.  Even if you are someone that isn't going to be like all the other politicians you end up having to be because that is the way the system is set up.  Those old politicians don't just happen to keep getting reelected they know how to play the game.  The same is true on smaller scales, such as work.  It is the game and either you play or you go find another job and it will most likely be the same their as well.  I am so tired of the Presidential election and it is over a year away.  It seems we never get a rest from elections with the 24 hour news system that we have.  Peter Jennings is/was my favorite news reporter of all time and when the 24 hours news started happening he made a comment something to the effect that we shouldn't be reporting just for the sake of reporting.  We need to make sure we have it right and we need to make sure this is a story that people need to hear.  News has become like gossip.  They report it but can't confirm it and a few days later it comes out a totally different way.  I wonder what the news will be like in 40 years. 

I have been thinking a lot about how much the world has changed in my life time and that of my grandparents.  Someone had a picture of a rotary phone the other day and said our kids aren't even going to know what this is or how it works.  Crazy.  My husbands Dad was born in 1918 which makes him 93 now.  He started out life with walking and horses.  You did everything the hard way or at least we call it that now.  We currently have an excavator, a skid-steer, loader, mini, lowboy, dumptruck, 4-wheelers...It doesn't seem like that big of a deal to have those things.  I just wonder what the world will be like when I am 93. 

Whew, that was a serious type post but there are going to be those kinds of posts sometimes.

So Proud

I am so proud.  Almost 30 and she can finally cook something other than noodles!  I totally forgot that you were 29.  I thought you already were 30(shows you that I am old enough to be suffering from dementia).  Now I am going to have to really come up with something special for your birthday. 

The little one called Granma Becca last night to wish her a happy birthday.  Before he could do it though she just kept going on and on about this grousse that was attacking her back door trying to fight with his reflection.  I have never heard of someone having as many problems with birds hitting their house windows as much as our parents. 

Do you remember learning as a child that when it was your siblings birthday you don't actually get any presents just they do.  And those presents don't have to be shared with you.  Oh that is just a brutal lesson for kids.

What was your favorite birthday party of all time?

Bread and Noodles

Funny you should ask. . . .I just got done mixing dough for white bread in a bowl that cannot, I repeat, cannot handle 10 cups of flour!  I may as well mixed it on the floor.  I am currently letting it rise to then "punch down", rise again and then make into loaves.  Lets hope that I did not waste my time making 2 shoe shaped bricks, but lovely loaves of bread.  My creativity is in baking tonight.  For dinner, I have cooked myself good old egg noodles and french dressing (don't knock it til you've tried it).  

On a slightly different note, I have been repeatedly reminded that I am facing a very monumental, and from stories that I have heard, traumatic day . . . the end to my twenties :(  One of my co-workers asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her that I wanted to go out and get sh!* faced.  (my attempt at PG but keeping the story real).  She laughed and said it was a plan. 

How's your garden?  Is it inside now?  Our Step mother informed me that her tomatoes have taken over 1/2 of the kitchen in their house. 

I also talked to Dad and he is embarking on yet another wild adventure in his, not busy enough, world.  

Getting organized

Some things to get the creative juices flowing.  I would like this blog to also be something the kids would be able to read (after we are dead!) to get more of an understanding of our family.  Family stories. How we grew up.  Moments of maturity. Who were some influential people in our lives. Biggest mistakes...and so on. 

Just the other day I was thinking about Solveig, Yvonne and Kirsten.  I will have to dedicate a whole post to them.  And I think we could also have catagories about what we really think of people, politics, money and so on.  Just some more thoughts to get things going.

How is the cooking coming along?