Had the shoulder surgery Tuesday. Although it hurts like a mutha, some of the related pain is slowly going away-the pinched nerve seems to be relieved, for one thing. I have a huge surgical bandage pack over the area, but I get to take the thing off tomorrow and get my first peek. Luckily it was arthoscopic surgery, so I am only supposed to have three relatively small boo-boos. Joy of joys-I WILL FINALLY GET TO TAKE A SHOWER AGAIN!!!! Washcloth bathing and washing hair in a sink truly sucks.
I spent most of the down time puttering around the house. I finished Danielle's jacket, so I have taken up crocheting again. I have a bunch of quicky cap and scarf patterns, so I made D a couple of 70s-style hats (close-fitting with the flowers on the side) and a scarf to match one of them. I am officially the cool mommy at both her school and the Youth Center. If the 4H guy and I can get it coordinated, I will be teaching a course in beginning crochet for the kids who want to learn. One of the patterns I have will be perfect as it makes up in literally one evening.
I also spent WAY too much time watching the Ted Binion retrial. Dang! There are some real nut jobs on the moneyed side of the Beltway! The doctor should have been retired long ago. If after 30+ years in country, the man still can't "speaky the English" or understand it, maybe it is time to give it up. So far, the prosecution has said nothing to convince me that Sandy Murphy and Rick Tavish did the deed. They might have been around, but I think Ted did it to himself because he was upset at Sandy for doing Rick. Who knows?
Friday, October 22, 2004
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Holiday for me!
Tomorrow is a federal holiday for me, but school is in session for Danielle. YEA!!!!!
I got lucky with Freecycle today and scored a trash compactor, which I pick up tomorrow after I drop off D at school. It isn't a necessary thing, but it will be nice to have because I don't like putting stuff in the trash with the cats in the neighborhood.
I'm trying to get my Dr. Demento fix from the Newsgroups, but Cox is being a pain in the ass with its frequent timeouts. I should be able to get all my files quickly with the increased bandwidths, but not when I keep gettting "connection timed out" and a countdown. I guess it's supposed to be to prevent piracy, but that is not the only use for the groups. Sucks!!!!!
I have a lot of projects cut out for sewing while I'm on sick leave next week. I still need to get the red velvet for Danielle's Halloween costume. She decided upon a princessy thing with a royal blue satin skirt and a red velvet overblouse. To top it off, there will be a rainbow-striped hooded cape. We are going Trick-or-Treat on base with her friend Brianna and her family. More candy than around here, and less walking.
In "Nutcracker" news, Danielle and two of her friends get a cute bit at the end of the Mouse King battle: what they will be doing is dragging in the stretcher for the dead King and trying to get him on it, but not being able to do it right. She calls it her "solo" and is thrilled to bits. They get to do it every night they perform, so it will be a bonus for her. I don't know yet if I am going to be a room mommy, but one night I will have to lay out the money to see the show properly. Hopefully, Bob is going to try to get out to see one show. Depends on the scheduling...
We finally got the tickets to go home for Christmas, but ended up losing a day. Since NBT still doesn't have the cast breakdowns posted, I needed to make sure I didn't lose a shot with booked seats. So we will leave on the 24th and not the 23rd, getting to Savannah in the evening. Rental car waiting, New Year's Eve riverboat cruise planned, maybe a trip to the beach on New Year's Day like last year. Spend a day with some friends and go out to the PX and snoop around, probably. I will also spend some time at the shop, too. And I need to check out the new Target at Savannah Mall. Yeah, I know they're all over the place, but I'm curious to see how they remodeled the old Belk's.
On to more laundry and trying to decide what dinner is going to be. I forgot to take out hamburger for meatloaf, so it may be fish filets and vegetables. Danielle will eat whatever if I let her choose the veggies.
I got lucky with Freecycle today and scored a trash compactor, which I pick up tomorrow after I drop off D at school. It isn't a necessary thing, but it will be nice to have because I don't like putting stuff in the trash with the cats in the neighborhood.
I'm trying to get my Dr. Demento fix from the Newsgroups, but Cox is being a pain in the ass with its frequent timeouts. I should be able to get all my files quickly with the increased bandwidths, but not when I keep gettting "connection timed out" and a countdown. I guess it's supposed to be to prevent piracy, but that is not the only use for the groups. Sucks!!!!!
I have a lot of projects cut out for sewing while I'm on sick leave next week. I still need to get the red velvet for Danielle's Halloween costume. She decided upon a princessy thing with a royal blue satin skirt and a red velvet overblouse. To top it off, there will be a rainbow-striped hooded cape. We are going Trick-or-Treat on base with her friend Brianna and her family. More candy than around here, and less walking.
In "Nutcracker" news, Danielle and two of her friends get a cute bit at the end of the Mouse King battle: what they will be doing is dragging in the stretcher for the dead King and trying to get him on it, but not being able to do it right. She calls it her "solo" and is thrilled to bits. They get to do it every night they perform, so it will be a bonus for her. I don't know yet if I am going to be a room mommy, but one night I will have to lay out the money to see the show properly. Hopefully, Bob is going to try to get out to see one show. Depends on the scheduling...
We finally got the tickets to go home for Christmas, but ended up losing a day. Since NBT still doesn't have the cast breakdowns posted, I needed to make sure I didn't lose a shot with booked seats. So we will leave on the 24th and not the 23rd, getting to Savannah in the evening. Rental car waiting, New Year's Eve riverboat cruise planned, maybe a trip to the beach on New Year's Day like last year. Spend a day with some friends and go out to the PX and snoop around, probably. I will also spend some time at the shop, too. And I need to check out the new Target at Savannah Mall. Yeah, I know they're all over the place, but I'm curious to see how they remodeled the old Belk's.
On to more laundry and trying to decide what dinner is going to be. I forgot to take out hamburger for meatloaf, so it may be fish filets and vegetables. Danielle will eat whatever if I let her choose the veggies.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Desperate Housewives?
ABC must have come to the suburbs of Las Vegas to do their research. For sure, they had to have made special trips and taken lots of notes and pictures of many of the ladies lunching (LWL) in Summerlin!
I spend a lot of time around these women while waiting on Danielle to finish ballet classes and, DAMN!!! Women pretty close to my age are dressing like Christine Aguilara during her "X-tina" phase and with less success. There is one mother in particular that, God love her, is a sweet woman and does a lot of volunteering, so I give her some props for that. However, she weighs about 50 pounds more than she did in college, but still wears the same size clothes. It is scary to see a 30-something woman squeezed into tube tops and short little ruffly skirts that she is afraid to even bend over in. Edwina from AbFab is the closest example in terms of style/shape/clothing size. But she's tame, compared to some.
We have an entire squadron of "trophy wives" cluttering up the scenery, too. Silicone "D" cups for acres and aren't they proud of them? Tube tops, bikini tops, shirts only closed with one or two buttons to let as much bosom hang out as possible and all with the leathery skin of too many sessions without any sort of sunscreen. We had one come in today with an "adorable" little three-piece set: capri pants, shirt-jacket and halter top. The woman was older than me (or just sun-dried beyond accurate age judgement), yet she was showing more boob than some of the women in the adult reviews. The grandfather of one of Danielle's friends just shook his head and went "uh, uh, uh!"
Another perennial exhibitionist is the bleached-blonde that eschewed foundation garments of any sort beyond the occasional thong. She favors cutesy little skirts and butterfly poncho-y tops that let all sorts of things flash at random. Shame is, her little girl (who looks to be about seven) tends to dress like mumsy-all tummy hanging out and tight clothes.
My very favorite is a volunteer who favors tight tanktops to show off the DDs her much older hubby bought her last year. She also wears tight pencil skirts and 5-inch heels that make her mince not unlike Mrs. Tudball from the "Carol Burnett Show." She walks very slowly with those shoes and everyone tends to make some really catty comments as she passes.
And the things you overhear with the cell phones and casual conversations! These women don't seem to understand that you just do not talk about your hubby's business dealings or his mistress. People also do not want to hear you natter on and on about the problems with the maid or how much the most exclusive private school in town is raising its tuition (last figure heard-about $8-10000 depending on the grade). There's one mother whose husband seems to be into speculative business investments and she loves to discuss them. That is, when she is not moaning about how crazy the man is!
We have the rabbi's wife whose kids always seem to get the better roles in the productions because he has some money and they sit on the board. There are also a lot of women that have three or four kids trailing behind and nothing to fall back on when the husband leaves them for some youngster he picked up at one of the casino clubs during a "business meeting."
Most of the working moms in that area tend to be in real estate or "exclusive" boutiques. A very few work in education (the above-mentioned grandfather's wife is a school principal; he's a college professor). One mom used to be a network administrator, but quit her job when she landed a rich husband. Now she complains a lot about being bored now that the kids are old enough for school.
Then there are the moms like me-we aren't rich and we all work because we have bills to pay and families to take care of. We are the women in jeans and t-shirts, wearing underwear that comes in a 3-pack from WalMart or Target. There are a few that have tattoos. Victoria's Secret? No one really wears silk drawers all the time when they have to bend, stretch, twist and turn all day. We drive across the valley to the Academy because they relocated into the toney section. We pay our tuition just like the rich moms and yet we are treated with less respect because we are not living in 5,000-sf sarcophagi with almost no lot space (my little double-wide came with more land than some of the Summerlin lots).
I've been working on an embroidered denim jacket for Danielle for a year (I think as of today) and one of those LWL tried to commission me to make one just like it for her child. She thought $200 would be adequate-as if! I have others asking if I take in sewing. I probably would make a nice little side living doing custom work if I had the time, but not with these gals!
I want my work to be appreciated and not taken for granted. The only sewing I would consider with that lot is helping with costumes, but the wardrobe mistress is a major twitch who thinks all volunteers are trying to take her job (her son is a rising star there and gets free tuition because of her job). Her assistance is a real queen and will undercut anyone attempting to help out.
But who needs ABC when the "Desperate Housewives" put on a show every day at the studios?
I spend a lot of time around these women while waiting on Danielle to finish ballet classes and, DAMN!!! Women pretty close to my age are dressing like Christine Aguilara during her "X-tina" phase and with less success. There is one mother in particular that, God love her, is a sweet woman and does a lot of volunteering, so I give her some props for that. However, she weighs about 50 pounds more than she did in college, but still wears the same size clothes. It is scary to see a 30-something woman squeezed into tube tops and short little ruffly skirts that she is afraid to even bend over in. Edwina from AbFab is the closest example in terms of style/shape/clothing size. But she's tame, compared to some.
We have an entire squadron of "trophy wives" cluttering up the scenery, too. Silicone "D" cups for acres and aren't they proud of them? Tube tops, bikini tops, shirts only closed with one or two buttons to let as much bosom hang out as possible and all with the leathery skin of too many sessions without any sort of sunscreen. We had one come in today with an "adorable" little three-piece set: capri pants, shirt-jacket and halter top. The woman was older than me (or just sun-dried beyond accurate age judgement), yet she was showing more boob than some of the women in the adult reviews. The grandfather of one of Danielle's friends just shook his head and went "uh, uh, uh!"
Another perennial exhibitionist is the bleached-blonde that eschewed foundation garments of any sort beyond the occasional thong. She favors cutesy little skirts and butterfly poncho-y tops that let all sorts of things flash at random. Shame is, her little girl (who looks to be about seven) tends to dress like mumsy-all tummy hanging out and tight clothes.
My very favorite is a volunteer who favors tight tanktops to show off the DDs her much older hubby bought her last year. She also wears tight pencil skirts and 5-inch heels that make her mince not unlike Mrs. Tudball from the "Carol Burnett Show." She walks very slowly with those shoes and everyone tends to make some really catty comments as she passes.
And the things you overhear with the cell phones and casual conversations! These women don't seem to understand that you just do not talk about your hubby's business dealings or his mistress. People also do not want to hear you natter on and on about the problems with the maid or how much the most exclusive private school in town is raising its tuition (last figure heard-about $8-10000 depending on the grade). There's one mother whose husband seems to be into speculative business investments and she loves to discuss them. That is, when she is not moaning about how crazy the man is!
We have the rabbi's wife whose kids always seem to get the better roles in the productions because he has some money and they sit on the board. There are also a lot of women that have three or four kids trailing behind and nothing to fall back on when the husband leaves them for some youngster he picked up at one of the casino clubs during a "business meeting."
Most of the working moms in that area tend to be in real estate or "exclusive" boutiques. A very few work in education (the above-mentioned grandfather's wife is a school principal; he's a college professor). One mom used to be a network administrator, but quit her job when she landed a rich husband. Now she complains a lot about being bored now that the kids are old enough for school.
Then there are the moms like me-we aren't rich and we all work because we have bills to pay and families to take care of. We are the women in jeans and t-shirts, wearing underwear that comes in a 3-pack from WalMart or Target. There are a few that have tattoos. Victoria's Secret? No one really wears silk drawers all the time when they have to bend, stretch, twist and turn all day. We drive across the valley to the Academy because they relocated into the toney section. We pay our tuition just like the rich moms and yet we are treated with less respect because we are not living in 5,000-sf sarcophagi with almost no lot space (my little double-wide came with more land than some of the Summerlin lots).
I've been working on an embroidered denim jacket for Danielle for a year (I think as of today) and one of those LWL tried to commission me to make one just like it for her child. She thought $200 would be adequate-as if! I have others asking if I take in sewing. I probably would make a nice little side living doing custom work if I had the time, but not with these gals!
I want my work to be appreciated and not taken for granted. The only sewing I would consider with that lot is helping with costumes, but the wardrobe mistress is a major twitch who thinks all volunteers are trying to take her job (her son is a rising star there and gets free tuition because of her job). Her assistance is a real queen and will undercut anyone attempting to help out.
But who needs ABC when the "Desperate Housewives" put on a show every day at the studios?
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