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Your Epidermis is Showing…
My friend NYJ (That’s New York J, as opposed to me, CAJ, for California J) is addicted to this procedure called Microdermabrasion. She says they basically sand blast your face to get the dead skin and stuff off, and your skin is SO much softer and absorbs moisturizer much better. The process is performed at a spa, and supposedly makes a world of difference, which is why the full series is worth the approx. $1,000 you pay. I’ve seen pictures on the web, before and after type photos, and yeah, it looks amazing. But I saw NYJ recently, and she looks the same as she did the last time I…
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How is this NOT Los Angeles?
There’s an article in today’s Contra Costa Times about ‘pet hotels’ that bugged me. I know I’ve written before about people with too much money, but suddenly $400 cashmere baby hoodies seem more reasonable than they once did. (OK, no, they still don’t). The pet hotel in the picture is in Philadelphia. The dog is being fed Filet Mignon. Artfully prepared and presented on a gold platter. WTF?!?! I mean, our dog Genevieve is spoiled. She gets ‘premium’ dog food that you can’t get at PetsMart and those places. She gets two walks a day. She has a dog bed in the living room. But come on. $125 dollar a…
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The Idiot Box
This was a weekend made up largely of watching TV. My plans with my friend had changed, my back was tentative, and for once, no birthdays or dinners to attend. I suppose we could have started getting my ‘home office’ ready for when I start working from home, but I wasn’t so interested in that. I think I’d prefer to do that on ‘work time’ rather than ‘my time’, if you know what I mean. So, on Saturday I watched Battlestar Galactica on the computer (downloaded from iTunes, since Comcast doesn’t give us Sci Fi channel unless we pay more $$$). Like I said on Saturday, that’s a darned good…
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Back woes…
I have been suffering from some upper back pain lately, which has been travelling down my arm and into my thumb. Not fun. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I have begun seeing a chiropractor. It’s helping, but not as much or as fast as I had hoped. I switched from cute high heels to almost flat comfy shoes. It has been suggested to me by both my husband and a loyal reader, that perhaps my problem comes from the way I sit at the computer. Well, people HAVE been known to make fun of me and the way I sit at the computer, because I hunch over…
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Short and Sweet
I have to keep it short and sweet today…Maya has homework that she forgot about last night, so I have to wake her up soon to do it. I have a deadline at work. And, most importantly, my friend Rosemary is coming into town from Pennsylvania! HOORRRAY! So I’ll be hanging with her and her family this afternoon and tonight, before she departs for Lake Tahoe. Sigh. Nice weekend ahead. So, in the political turn that this blog has taken in the last two days or so, I’ll bring this up. Then maybe no politics for awhile, OK? OK. There’s a law suit that has beenn filed by the National…
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Cancer Sucks…and so does Senator Enzi.
On the heels of the loss of Dana Reeve to lung cancer, comes the news that Ann Richards has cancer of the esophagus. God bless her, Ann Richards is an amazing woman, and was the (democratic) governor of Texas before George Bush. Some blame her for losing that race, thus giving GW the chance to run for President. Others blame Clinton for letting his pants down (literally), thus creating the Republican backlash that was heard throughout many states, and, they say, caused Richards to lose to Bush. Without going into the miserable ‘what ifs’, all I can say is that I have the utmost respect for Richards, and I hope…
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New Shoes
So I’ve been having some problems with my back as of late…a pain right next to the shoulder blade. Mostly I ignore it, because I’m lame that way. Anyway, recently it has started to spread down my left arm, through the elbow and the thumb. Ouch. One night, I couldn’t sleep because of it. Well, only little infant babies have an excuse to come between me and my zzzzs, so I decided to finally do something about it. What to do, though? Go to the doctor? The chiropractor? Physical therapy? All good options, with me leaning more toward the chiro or the PT. For no real reason other than I…
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Happy International Women’s Day!
I just found out here that today is International Womens Day. I also found out that some of my friends count on me to keep them up to date on the weighty issues of the day, issues that do not involve cheerleaders or their injuries. To bring the two together, allow me to point you to a column by the always brilliant Molly Ivins, in which she discusses the abismal abortion situation in the ‘great’ state of South Dakota. Lest you feel that South Dakota is alone in their goal of outlawing abortion, similar laws are being considered publicly in both Missouri and Mississippi. For more reading about International Women’s…
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Misc Thoughts…
I don’t have a central theme today…just thought I would pass on some things I have heard about, that may be of interest. 1. I was listening to the ever-beloved iPod this morning, to a podcast of To the Best of Our Knowledge, and one thing they mentioned in passing was these genetically modified flowers that have been developed in Denmark. Not so hot on the genetically modified agriculture, but these are good in a way that few things in this world are good. What do they do? You take the seeds to a country that has been at war, like, say, Afghanistan or Iraq, and you plant them in…
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Testing…
Today is the day that the 4th graders in our district (maybe the whole state?) take their writing test, to make sure no child is being left behind or anything like that. While I was taking Maya to school this morning, I asked her what she thought about the test. She said, “I hope we get to do personal narrative”. I love that kid. Love that she doesn’t get stressed out, just goes with the flow. A BIG part of that is the school. She goes to a public Montessori school (you read that right…public = free), and they have to do all of the testing that everyone else has…
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Best to NOT be Poor. Remember that.
I have a cousin, K, who is poor. She has made a lot of mistakes in her life, stupid decisions, and is stuck with the consequences. So she finds herself the single mother of four young children, trying to get off of welfare, two dead-beat dads, etc. (One may pay some child support, I’m not sure.) How to get out of this situation, you may ask? Well, let’s assume that education is the way to go. So, she goes to the local community college to take classes to get into nursing school. What about the 4 kids? Who takes care of them while she’s in class? My grandmother, who is…
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Monday Already?
How does this happen? I’m just starting to feel like I am getting all relaxed and have enough sleep and wine and time with the family, and BAM, it’s Monday again. Sigh. Anyway, a fun weekend was had, definately. Friday we went to a birthday party for Ted’s sister, and everyone dressed up like characters from Sci-Fi’s series, Battlestar Galactica. I know, we’re dorks. But it’s fun. 🙂 Best Dressed, Sister and Mom, as the President and someone else. I know…I’m not even a good dork, because I don’t know the character’s names. It’s a great show, but Ted and Maya are definately more into it than I am. So…
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Bubble
So last night we finally sat down and watched Bubble, which is the movie I told you about in January. We Netflixed it, and it took awhile to come, but it finally made its way into our DVD player. Summary? Worth a rental. It’s an interesting experiment, and amazing to know that the people in the film are not actors. None of them, I don’t think. Yet, they do a good job of conveying the desperation, or perhaps the boredom, of everyday life, and of how difficult it can be to escape from that. Not that everyone’s life is that boring, but theirs certainly is, and it seems like the…
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Do you ever wonder…
Have you ever been walking along on a sunny morning, maybe with your dog, maybe the kid, maybe both, and you’re maybe walking through a parking lot or something, and you see a used condom sitting there? Of course you ignore it, and if the dog is with you, you make sure they don’t do something gross like eat it or whatever. But then later, you wonder…this is a very intimate thing, it was, literally, the only thing between two people…and here it is, in this very public place…how does that happen? Ever wonder that? No, me neither. But, as I was coming home from walking Genevieve the dog last…
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I Heart Jon Carroll…
Why? Because he writes so well. He and Adair Lara made me want to be a newspaper columnist for awhile. I gave that idea up years ago, but I still like to read his column. Today’s is great. Apologetically, but honestly, I have to say that these are the lyrics that are going through my head after reading this column: “My hands are small, i know, but they’re not yours they are my own but they’re not yours they are my own and I am never broken In the end only kindness matters In the end only kindness matters” I know. It’s Jewel. So sue me.