Things I Hate - Because That's the Kind of Mood I'm In!

Category: Food & Drink

Beer Nuts - Not sure why but whenever I smell Beer Nuts I throw up a little in my mouth.

Clam Chowder - Ditto above.  Sadly, for me, my husband loves clam chowder and orders it often.

Fish - Maybe not hate - more like can't be bothered.  Why order fish when you can get a nice juicy steak or some tender chicken.  Fish doesn't have enough substance.  I do however make an exception for canned tuna.

Sardines/Herrings - Cold fish that still look like fish, complete with the skin, bone impressions, occasionally a tail  - and all packed in a nice thick oil or a cold cream sauce.  Disgusting.

Tomato Juice (V8) - It just doesn't seem right to drink anything cold and tomatoey.   Could be a flashback to my Mom making me sit at the table and eat my tomato soup no matter how long it took me.

Raspberries - I don't like the seeds.  They're not chewable and they don't get digested.

Category:  Music

Heart - Their music is just harsh and ugly sounding.  Barracuda, Crazy For You.  Nah, it's just bad

The Police/Sting - It all started with the song Roxanne, I hate that song.  He sounds like a cat in heat wailing away.  The more I thought about it I realized I don't really like anything they do.  Too repetitive and  Sting always sounds so whispery.  Every Breath You Take - creepy, stalker song.  Message in a Bottle- hate the way he says anozher instead of another.  The Police suck.  Admit it.  You've just been afraid to go against popular convention.

Jazz - I just don't get the point.  Sounds like disjointed noise to me.  I can barely snap my fingers or tap my foot in time when there's a good beat.  Jazz just messes me all up.

Category: People

Republicans - Do I really need to explain this one?  Today I heard they want to cut school lunches for poor kids.  These people truly do represent the worst in us.  Greed, spite and callousness.  Plus none of them have a sense of humor.

Bad Drivers - They come in many varieties.  The left lane hogs driving 10 miles below the speed limit.  The guy who zips in front of you if give him even an inch, no blinker.  The cell phone talkers who weave in and out of lanes.  Although I'm more likely to cut them some slack now that I know they all have brain cancer.

Mean People - It's just as easy to cut somebody some slack as it is to go for the jugular.  It's just that one shows you have a shred of human decency and one shows what a cold hearted so and so you are.

That's enough for now.  I'm not in the hating mood anymore.  I just baked some mini blueberry muffins and am magically in a much better mood.  Excuse me while I go grab a couple.  I'm so damn easy to please.

PS:  I hate it when I burn the muffins.

The Builder

Jim went off to work on "the basement".  Over the last two years he has been helping a former client work to transform his basement into a home theater.  It's taken so long because Jim can only get over there every few months or so.  They're willing to wait for Jim's here and there work day.  They know he does good work.

When I met Jim he was a roofer.  Roofing is hard work.  I remember watching him sling a bundle of shingles on his shoulder and climb up the ladder, no hands.  It made my heart drop to watch him scale a two story house, jump up and then scramble all over the steep roof as though he were still firmly planted on the ground.  He had no fear.  He did a lot of roofs over the years. To this day when we drive through Ann Arbor he'll point out roofs that he did.

Flat roofs paid more money so he moved into that business.  Smelly, dirty work, tar over everything.  But we needed the money since our family was growing.  Over the years he got the chance to do other work, finish carpentry, mostly remodeling.  Homeowners liked him.  Not only was he honest, friendly and hard working, he had a knack for helping people develop their vision and then he delivered.  His clients always came by word of mouth.  When you do good work your name gets out there.   That's why the basement people wait for Jim instead of hiring someone full time.

As Jim moved into his 40's the work got harder on his body.  He got the chance to change careers into computer support.  I was doubtful at first.  He had zero experience with computers, turning a computer on was the extent of his skills. But he worked hard, didn't get discouraged and now travels around as a network and computer support freelancer.  He is also the family's computer expert.

He still does good work and his computer clients like him.  But I know he misses the chance to build things with his hands.  When you fix somebody's computer there's really nothing to stand back and admire.     So, he grumbled a bit about working on a beautiful summer Saturday but I can tell he was itching to get his hands on a hammer again.  Came back for some special tools after about an hour.  Seems they need help with the stairs.  It's not easy to build stairs he told me. Well, stairs that are straight and true anyway.  I'm  sure he'll take a couple of trips up and down those stairs when he's done, proud of the work he's done.

Eat, drink and ...... you know the rest.

I always find myself liking the grasshopper better than the ant in Aesop's Fable.  The ant seems like a dull sort of fellow.  Aways working and never any time for play.  

Sure, sure. I get the message.....the moral......


"What!" cried the ant in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter?  What in the world were you doing all last summer?"

The ant's just stingy.  Surely the music and laughter that the grasshopper generated all summer earned him a little bit of the fruits of the ant's labor. Instead of viewing it as one extreme against the other - constant work vs. constant play - I prefer to think of it as two sides of a well balanced coin.  What good is being well prepared for everything if there's no joy in it?

Sure the ant has food for the whole winter but what a boring meal it would be to actually sit down with that self righteous insect going on and on about how many grains he has stored away for the winter.  Berating me for not having the same foresight and fortitude as him.  I bet he hasn't laughed in years. Bah!

I'd much rather pour a glass of wine and sit down with the cheerful grasshopper. I'm sure he'd start off with a happy song on his fiddle and then move onto an entertaining tale.  Well worth the price of admission.

Life is too short to suck all the fun out of it at every step.

Moms - You Gotta Love 'em

Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist.
                                                                           Michael Levine

Happy Mother's Day Mom!  I love you.  Having children of your own allows you to really understand your mother's love.  To know that she would do anything for you.  That when you hurt she feels it.  Your joy is the  best reward your mother could ever receive.  She acts selflessly, with no expectation other than ensuring the well being and happiness of her child.  No thank-yous are needed but are certainly well deserved.

Thanks for getting me to where I am.  For making me the person I am today and just for loving me.

Alice doesn't live here anymore.

This is Alice. I really grew attached to her.  Even started wondering if I could manage a third dog,  Unfortunately they had to put her down at the shelter.  She had started to lunge at people as they walked by her cage.  Not the staff or the dog walkers but potential adopters.  It breaks my heart.  Alice really won me over with her sweet face and despite what I just wrote about her aggressive behavior, she loved the hugs and attention I gave her whenever I took her out to the exercise yard.  I tried to make a point of walking her whenever I went in.  But the shelter has to be very careful about dogs they adopt out.  As much as we like to think there are scores of Cesar Milans out there ready to rehabilitate "red-zone" dogs.  There aren't.  Too, too many pit bulls and not nearly enough people to adopt them.  What have we done to this breed?

I try so very hard to like people as much as I like animals but stuff like this makes it hard.  The way we treat our fellow creatures is inexcusable.  Yeah, I know, we treat each other that way too.  I guess we just suck all the way around.

My Whining Paid Off

Yes, spring is here.  After all the whining I did two posts ago I thought I would let you all see that things are green and springy here in Michigan.  I drove past this willow tree and was struck at how gorgeous it is. Not a bad picture with a phone.

We do endure some of the worst weather here in Michigan.  But it's all worth it when you get to live through one of our beautiful summers.

Just My Cup of Tea

I can't explain why the Royal Wedding brought tears to my eyes this morning.  But wait, before I get started with this blog post I have to put in some disclaimers.  I know that not ALL women feel the same way about this.  Please don't take offense if weddings are not your thing.  I'm not casting aspersions on your femininity.   Likewise, please don't insinuate that there is something trivial or flighty about those of us who were excited about the wedding.  Isn't variety awesome?  We can all like different things.  Your thing doesn't get better just because you make my thing look stupid.  (Yes, I got pshawed by some ladies at work today.)


The easy explanation for the fervor over today's event is that all girls love a fairy tale wedding.  Most of us grew up with a mental filiing cabinet full of wedding ideas and plans stored away until needed.   Love that, hate that, that could work......  Colors, dresses, table settings, flowers......  I just went through this with my daughter.  She definitely knew what she wanted when she saw it.  A bride planning her wedding is like a general laying out battle plans.   The fact that my daughter is an engineer brought an added level of planning detail to the party, you should see her spreadsheets.  

Many women will try to copy as many of the wedding details that their pocketbooks can handle, or settle for a reasonable imitation. Etsy is a website for people to sell their hand-crafted or vintage items.  It's a really cool site.  Their daily e-mail today was titled "Get the Look" and was filled with items to help brides mirror Kate's look today.  At the very least Kate's choices today will set wedding trends that new brides will find hard to escape for years to come.  But you can't match the magic of today.  I mean Westminster Abbey ?  

For me the "dream wedding" is definitely part of it, but it's not the whole answer.  It was also about the monarchy. I love history.  One of my favorite books of all time was a history of the kings and queens of England.  Fascinating stuff, political intrigue, wars, affairs.  William is descended from a long line of men and women who were true, bold, conniving, ruthless, brave, stupid, every adjective you can name.  Through it all they have endured and the Brits love them.  It's sort of contagious.    I got goosebumps when William and Kate stepped out of the church and the crowd went crazy.  

Another reason this wedding really got to me is how obviously in love the couple was.  I don't care what kind of a wedding you're witnessing, that's powerful stuff.   I think Diana would be proud that her boy married for love and not out of duty after all she did to raise them as normally as she could.  

So as my husband complained about me watching the wedding this morning I reminded him of the snoozefest called the NFL draft that he watched last night.  Weddings of those in direct line for the throne of England just don't happen every day.  Cut me some slack.  I don't think 2 billion people tuned in to see if Detroit finally made a good draft pick.  To each his/her own.