What Am I Busy Doing?

I love event planning!  This is what I am a part of right now.  It was something I wanted to do.  I teamed with the new organization in Dwight and it is happening.  I am not in charge.  That is fine with me.  I just want it to happen.  I picked the music.  I am very excited about the group of people that are performing.  I was even able to get my friend, Marcos, to perform.  Since I am not one of the main planners, I should get to enjoy the event.  This should be a great time in our community.  Music, food, beer, softball, and entertainment for kids.  All in our beautiful park.  A town can never have too many music events!!!
I have been reading.  Quite a bit of reading.  That could be a reflection on not being busy enough at work.  Not a good thing.  My book club just read Aviator's Wife.  We read it last year in The Page Turners.  Still a great read.  Still a great discussion.  I think I picked up more about Charles this time.  Did not dislike him as much as I think something was wrong with him.  Maybe autism. 
I am reading, The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge.  A friend and I are reading it together.  Having discussions about it.  It gets into organizing and practicing organization.  Finding who you are, what you should be doing.  The book helps figure out what your goals and potential is and how to achieve those goals.  Not a pleasure read!  It is very interesting.  I am starting to think women in their 50's are more confused about what path we should be on than any other time.  We have more freedom to do what we want, we just have to figure out what we want to do.  This should be a great self-study.  I was at Barnes with The Kid on Sunday.  I picked up a companion book for this study, Character Makeover by Katie Brazelton and Shelley Lamb.  All of this self-study was brought on by my friend giving me a quiz about myself.  It is hard to answer the most basic questions about how I felt, what I want.  That put me on the road to self-discovery.  Sure, I might have too much time on my hands.
That is not a pleasure read.  I am still reading books for pleasure.  Too many free books on kindle.  They are usually predictable, cute stories.  I will post about them another time.  Now, it is time to do some reading. 
What is everyone reading this summer?  Anything great???

Welcome to The 2000s

Yesterday I got off work early.  Picked The Kid up.  We made a stop at Target.  Within 10 minutes I spent almost $400.  It was so easy.  I picked up a Wii.  Added Wii Fit.  Let The Kid throw in a Star Wars Lego.  To top off my exercise collection, Zumba.  I got the Wii set up late this afternoon.  There were other things to keep me busy.  Unfortunately, I had to share my Wii time with The Kid. 
First, I would like to reinforce how right Tru Stories is about not getting Wii before this year.  The Kid's termperment is not the best for video games.  He has some anger issues during games.  I remember now how aggressive kids become from video games.  We will not be buying violent games.  I referred to the Wii has Nintendo a few times.  The Kid could not handle that.  It is not the 90's Grammy.  Too much.  I explained that the Wii is made my Nintendo.  He said it is not referred to as Nintendo.  So annoying when children act like their Grandparents are ancient. 
Tonight Tink, The Kid and I played some games.  Tink is so adorable playing the games.  She loves them.  She played golf and it was the cutest thing.  When she got the ball in the hole it was like winning the Masters.  Love it.  No anger issues.  I will need to find a game that is more on the level of Tink.
I got Wii in the hopes that I become more active.  I am anxious to try it when the kids are not here.  Ready for some Wii action.  By the way, I have video addiction problems.  This could cut into my reading.  That is not a bad thing if I am doing exercise on the Wii. 
Another high point of the Wii, I set it up by myself.  Once in awhile I feel over whelmed by electronics.  This time I just took out the directions.  Followed them step by step.  Easy as could be.  If you do not hear from me for awhile, you know Wii is winning.

Where Have I Been

This is where I have been too many hours the last couple of weeks. I work in auto claims. When it snows, we have more claims. When we have more claims, we have overtime. Some people I work with go crazy working overtime. They work 7:00-7:00 Monday-Friday. They also work all day Saturday. I do not care how much money they are bringing home, that is not worth it. It probably is not as productive as it should be. I can tell when I have hit the wall. I will find myself staring at the computer screen for several minutes, wondering what I am doing. At that point, done for the day. I work enough overtime to be a team player and see some extra money in my check.
I do not work on week-ends. I need the time away from work. I like to be home with my family. The long commute exhausts me. When I add in overtime, it equals too much for me to handle. Last week I stayed at my home away from home for four nights. I stay with my dearest friend. I have the basement to myself. I can put on my jammies and feel comfortable. Sometimes we sit and watch TV together and do not talk. She will play games on her phone. I play on my computer. We chill out from our day. I can say I am going to bed at 8:00 and not have to apologize for it. She can go out to dinner with friends and not worry about entertaining me. That is home away from home.
The only time I read was on my lunch. I did listen to an audio book. More on that later. I will read this week-end.
Today I am relaxing. I grocery shopped on my way home from work last night. I have Italian Beef in the crockpot. I am going to cook a few meals in advance for next week. I paid my son to do some cleaning. I might do a little cleaning. Right now the sun is shining into my living room. Think I will grab a book. Read until I am ready for a nap. Restore and regenerate for next week.

Hard to Read

I am really enjoying the Wally Lamb book. Do not think I will find time for reading this week. Things are crazy busy at work right now. I am trying to be motivated and work overtime. Yesterday was my first day. I left home at 6:30 am. Arrived back home at 7:50 pm. In between those times, I had no fun at all! Today I am leaving at 5:30 am. Getting a jump on what promises to be another great day.
We call it KEEPING THE PROMISE! After working hard all day yesterday the amount of mail coming in just kept climbing and climbing!! I do not want to drive to work on the week-end. So I will put my time in during the week.
Happy New Year!

Family Fun

The Kid had a great birthday. I think he graded it, the greatest birthday he has ever had. That is out of 9. Not bad. I get partial credit for this. The Kid and Coach got a shared gift of Wii. Grandma G added a Let's Dance game and they are ready to go. Tonight I went to watch the fun. Without any coaxing I decided to try my hand at a couple of dances. My first dance I scored over 5,000 points. I am going to say some exercising gets done while playing this game. I want one for Christmas! The problem with that is, I get psycho over games. I start playing and cannot stop.
I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving. Should be fun watching all the dancing! Hope I find some time to read.

What Keeps Me From Blogging

I have not been blogging as much as I was. Some of my fans have complained. Well, my one fan complained. The head of my fan club. So here's to you my fan.
I am easily distracted. Especially, by my beautiful grand kids. Unfortunately, I have not seen The Kid all week. He was busy at Invention Camp all week. I like to think part of the reason he is such a smart kid is because I gave him my passion for reading. Reading leads to learning. Your welcome Coach. If you are wondering what the odd looking thing is in the picture below, I can't tell. Tru Stories owns the Kid she has first blogging rights. Tonight a very exhausted, grumpy kid is spending the night. I like them even when they are tired.

My Tink has been here the last two nights. She cracks me up. Last night I was trying to take her picture. She would not have anything to do with it. She kept covering her face. Tonight she wanted me to take her picture. I will be the first to admit she is adorable. But......not photogenic. I deleted quite a few pictures and kept the two below. They were the best I could get. Tink was loving the balloon tonight. Her brother was getting too much attention telling us about camp. Tink was throwing herself and the balloon into my face to make sure I did not forget she was here. After dinner she was able to get 100% of her Uncle's attention. They are bubble blowing buddies. It is hard to read with this little mess around. She just makes me laugh.

Both of these are posed pictures. She was determined to get just the right picture with the balloon. In the other picture she had been posing. I waiting until she was distracted to get a better shot. A picture without all her teeth showing. She was suppose to stay all night with us. For some reason, at the last second she decided to leave with her parents. That does not happen very often.

Coco is like her mother. She does not take a bad picture. She is so beautiful. She loves to smile. She loves to laugh. Her eyes are beautiful. Her hair is starting to curl. It has just a little red in it. When she is ready to cuddle, it is so sweet. Once I get her comfy she will fall asleep so fast. I let her sleep in my arms more than I should. That will not last forever. Before I know it, she will be too busy to find time for me.
The picture of her in bed is from last night. Her and Tink took baths at my house and put on their jammies. Matching jammies. I really wanted to get a picture of both of them. Tink was not having it. My Coco will pose for me. She does not mind having her picture taken at all.

When I look at the jammie pictures, I can smell that sweet just out of the bath baby smell. That is a great scent. Just out of the tub I love to eat their toes, and their feet. By the time I'm done slobbering on her, she needs another bath.

Most of the time when I look at this face I see Tru Stories. Except she did not smile as much. She was a serious child. This picture at the left looks like Coach. There I admitted it. In one picture she looks like her Daddy. The rest of the time, she looks just like her Mommy. With her Daddy's personality.

So, these beautiful faces can distract me from blogging. They can distract me from everything. Can you blame me?

I just remembered, I do have fans. Not just a fan. Two of my fans inquired as to when I would find time to get a blog up. This is for you my fans. Enjoy!

Friendships

I was a Brownie for a short time. Might not have even survived one year. Turns out it was not my thing. For some reason, there was a little song from Brownies that always stayed with me. It is:
Make new friends but keep the old ones.
One is silver and the other gold.
This is one of my golden friendships. We met in 6th grade. She was my, "what are you wearing to school today," friend. We do not see each other often. We do not even talk on the phone very often. I know she is there if I need her. She knows I am here for her.
When her son was around 1, they moved to the town I lived in. I did home daycare, and started watching her son. We were together quite a bit. My kids loved to stay with her too. Her son started calling me Mom because my kids did. His Mom was Mommy, I was Mom. Our boys liked to play Superman. I can remember the two of us making "real" Superman capes for the boys. They wanted boots too, we did not find those. Our kids had great times together. My daughter was older, she liked to go home with L to have time
away from her family. She liked the special attention she could get at L's house. A was the first babysitting job my daughter had. Our families were blended.
Time marched on. We went in different directions. Now we see each other for major life events. Yesterday was one of those events. A's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding. A celebration of love and family. It was wonderful to be there.
The best part was my dance with A. He told me his earliest memories were at my house. He thanked me for being a part of his life and told me he loved me. What a great kid!
I like knowing there are a few golden friends out there. The people that shared my past. People that knew my Mom and my siblings. We still will not see each other often. If I need her, she is just a phone call away. That is a good feeling.

You've Got a Friend

In 1982 I was working at a small insurance company. I met two amazing women. We each had boys the same age. Tru Stories was the odd man out and treated as a Princess because of it. The three of us spent so much time together. We would do sleep overs. This solved the drinking and driving problem. We laughed so much. One of the women kept climbing the corporate ladder. Lost touch with her years ago. Two of us have remained friends all these years. There are times we go months and months without contact. When we see each other we just catch up on life. (We lived in the same town for years. Space did not separate us, life did.)
Last night I forced above mentioned friend out of her house (that is difficult to do) and we attended a concert. We had lunch at my favorite sandwich shop. We stopped and visited a friend. We laughed. We talked. We were almost (within feet) hit by a semi that ran a stop sign. We made wrong turns and still found our way. We did a loop through O'Hare (not on purpose). Did I mention laughter? We listened to such fantastic music! Our seats were upgraded. When we got lost, I always found our way. I found my car on the first attempt after the concert. I need to say that again, I FOUND my car after the concert. We were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic at 12:30 am on the tollway. The traffic did not scare me. We stopped for breakfast at 1:00 am. By the time we made it to my house I was 45 minutes shy of being awake for 24 hours straight. To say we had a good day was a huge understatement.

Winter, spring , summer, or fall,
All you have to do is call
And I'll be there, yeah, yeah, yeah.
You've got a freind.

Ain't it good to know you've got a friend

Too Much Pressure

It is official, I am a blogger. How do I know? I received two complaints today that I have not been blogging. I am now walking a mile in the other blogger's shoes. I get upset when the blogs I follow are not updated on a regular basis. My big problem right now is, I am not reading. My blog is about reading. If I am not reading, what am I going to blog about.

I could blog about being a reality TV junkie. After you find out what terrible TV I watch, you will probably have a hard time respecting my opinions about anything. You will doubt I know how to read. The first reality TV show I watched was years and years ago, Real World. It was not my fault. I watched it with my kids. After I had one show under my belt the rest came easy. On regular network TV I watch Survivor and Big Brother. That is not bad. When TLC got into the reality business my viewing took a bad turn. As I write this post, I am watching Little People In a Big World. I watched Jon & Kate Plus 8. I am looking forward to the return of Kate & the kids. We have not even come near the under belly of my reality viewing. Does Hoarders count as reality TV? What about Intervention?

Let me discuss my Monday night viewing. Little People, Big World. I follow that with American Pickers. I suppose a case can be made that American Pickers is not reality. But, it is two guys driving around, showing up to people's houses. I used to watch Hoarders and Intervention on Monday. I had to give that up.

Two weeks ago, one of my favorite reality shows moved to Monday. This is hard for me to put out there. I love Housewives of New Jersey. There I said it. I do feel some shame. I do not follow all the Housewife shows. I watch Housewives of Orange County and New Jersey. That's it. I used to try and hide my habit from my husband. If he walked into the living room, I would quick change the channel. Another trick was to pretend I was reading and did not notice what was on TV. I also use the line that reality TV is like homework. In order to fit in with my co-workers, I need to watch the shows to join the next day discussions.

I will just admit it, I am a reality TV junkie. There are quite a few shows that are lower quality than I watch. Celebrity dating shows, celebrity fitness shows, celebrity rehab shows, those are about as low as reality TV can go. I am not going to lie and say I have not watched a minute of those shows, I just do not do it on a regular basis.

To get back to my favorite reality show, Housewives of New Jersey. I watch this show and DVR it. Just in case something amazing happens. I do not want to miss a minute of it. I was hooked when Teresa went on a furniture buying trip, spent over $100,000 and paid cash. They talk about "the family" like it is a Godfather movie. In the finale last year, a table was picked up and tipped. That is great TV. I also watch the Housewives of Orange County. I enjoy it. It just does not compare to New Jersey. These women speak their minds. They are tough as nails. Some of them have careers. They love and respect their husbands. One of my favorite episodes is the one where they discussed breast jobs. The did not say breast, they even went lower than saying boobie. They used the word, bubbies. Who talks like that? Housewives of New Jersey.

Now you understand why I have not had the time to read. Not only am I consumed with my reality TV, my regular TV shows are showing the finales.

I know some of you out there are watching the Housewives. Waiting to hear from you.