Coming out of the Dark Ages

Do you remember when you were a kid (obvious this won't work for the generations older than myself) and someone had a black and white TV? First you were fascinated because it looked so different then you started asking the internal questions. Why don't they have a color TV? Why don't they just go buy a color TV?

Then I became an adult, a wife, a homeowner, a parent.

For my kids, it is like this, but with the old tube TV's versus the big flat screen TV's. Instead of the questions being asked with they, my kids are asking we. Okay, if you need help following me here. Why don't we have a big flat screen TV? Why don't we just go buy a flat screen TV?

My simple answer has always been. Why? The ones we have all work just fine.

Lately, do to my utter dislike of the cable company, I've wanted one of the new internet ready TVs. I've been waiting patiently (its been about two years now) for our old (15 year old) TV to die. It's still going strong. Basically, I want to get rid of cable and my land line and just use the internet. We don't watch a whole lot of TV so we could get by with Netflix and www.hulu.com. Plus the kids can watch all the www.disney.com and www.nick.com programs online.

Like everyone else, I've been browsing the Black Friday ads. I've only shopped Black Friday one other time in my life and that was five years ago when I went to buy a camera, which I didn't even have to wait in line for.

The high priority present this year happened to be I-pod touches. In order to get a good deal, I was going to have to venture out on the crazy Black Friday shopping event. This year, almost all the stores were enticing shoppers with TV doorbuster sales. I saw this as an opportunity to exploit only if I could convince my handyman to wait in line (handyman not so good with lines or waiting) with me to grab a TV while I grabbed the I-pods.

Surprisingly, he was willing to wait in line and even go an hour early just to ensure getting our needed items. It was a successful mission. We were able to get what we needed and a 50" flat screen TV for $330. What a bargain. I'm not sure I would've bought a new TV if the prices weren't so cheap lately.

Buying the TV turned out to be the easy part. Rearranging the furniture and cable hook-up location (handyman wasn't very happy about this) was a little more time consuming. I'm not ready to dump cable just yet (I still need to get a Roku box) so I had to go to the cable company and switch out our cable box in order for the TV to work.


Anyway the kids can come out of the dark and enjoy their color TV now. I have to admit it's pretty cool.

Have a safe weekend.

Quasi Narcissistic Guru

I love oxymoron's. Oooh that might explain too much. Back to being serious...

The key to life, obviously my opinion (oh yeah, this whole blog is about my opinion-very narcissistic of myself), is finding serenity. I have to chuckle because this topic always takes me back to the movie "City Slickers" when Billy Crystal is obsessed with finding the one thing (imagine him holding up his leather gloved index finger). Okay now back on track...

Serenity, for me, is finding the calm within. I'm not a holier than thou, meditating guru freak (I don't have anything against meditating or anything along those lines, again only my opinion), eat only wheat grass to cleanse the body type of person, but I believe I've found that one serenity moment for myself. It doesn't happen very often. In actuality, there have been years between moments, but today I actually experienced one.

It's always been when I'm hiking. I find my self surrounded by trees and nothing else. Even if it is cold out, the trees comfort me with warmth. The quiet sets in, but suddenly there is a gust of wind. Nothing you can feel, just hear. The wind sways the trees above, sounding like music, swirling in a noticeable pattern. Every gust is a musical note, drawing my attention upward, basking in the calmness that stills my body. My eyes slowly close to the quietness that supports me, the wind creates a vacuum, sucking away the craziness of life, and restoring the peace in my soul. Even if it's only just for one second, the calmness allows an awareness of my spirit to guide me to a simple happiness deep within.   

Okay go ahead and shake it off.

This is my story and I'm sticking to it. Maybe if everyone found their inner peace, we would be much more happy as a collective whole.

Go out and find your inner peace. Searching for it, could be fun.

Back-to-Back Pressure

The pressure hits, my eyes flip open. The silence is complete throughout the house. Not even the sound of the furnace pushing heat through the vents is present. I'm afraid to move. I don't want to feel the ache. The debate begins.

Do I try to get up to relieve the pressure and risk waking the kids?

Or do I try to go back to sleep  by pretending the pressure doesn't exist?

The silence is wonderful and I want to savor it, but pressure calls. Softly, my foot steps pad over to the bathroom. The plan was to make it quick, get in, get out. Of course my muscles have been holding in the pressure so long, they won't let go. I need to hurry up and the pressure to release the pressure is not helping. My children tend to have a six sense when I'm up. Trying not even to breath hard, I try to imagine the water trickling out of the faucet. Initially this helps, but the flow of the stream feels to be a trickle, not helping my urgency to finish up and get back to my warm bed. My muscles are refusing to release the stream so I lean forward trying to help the flow.

All in all, this all ends up taking five minutes. It must've been some world record for the longest pee (I'll have to look that up). Tip-toeing it back to my bed, I'm all snuggled back into the warmth when I hear the first sounds of movement. Mission not complete. Frankly, I wasn't even all that satisfied from the relief of the pressure because my muscles were still so tense.

I guess the moral of the story is don't drink so much water before going to bed.

Have a great day!

Keyless and Stuck Outside

The weather has drastically dropped this week, needless to say it's really cold outside. Normally I don't relent to the treadmill until it snows, but it's really cold outside and I don't feel like fighting the wind. In the spirit to curve the sugar intake, I decide to take on the treadmill early.

So I head down to the basement, I plug the treadmill into the wall, get on the belt and there's no key. The treadmill doesn't work unless you have the pullout key. I look around and nothing,. For the past ten years, the key has never been messed with. Now I am extremely PISSED. Good thing the kids were at school when I discovered this. I end up going outside anyway and taking a nice long jog. It definitely cooled me off. On the positive side, it was sunny outside.

Maybe it's a sign I can get a new treadmill. I can only guess one of my lovely children or their friends were the culprit, but it's lost and nothing I can do about it. The handyman of the house said he could possibly hot wire it when he gets home so maybe a new treadmill isn't in my future.

For now, I'm stuck running outside.

Stay warm and enjoy your day!

Sucrose Overdose

Halloween candy has dragged on a little too long this year for me (the girls got too much good stuff this year). I've eaten my fill and then some so it is time to put the candy away. The image that keeps coming to mind is Violet from "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" movie when she eats the candy that makes her blow up like a large blueberry and the Oompa-Loompas have to roll her out of the scene. I'm feeling a little bluish. Thanksgiving is only two weeks away. I need to stop the madness. 

In order to sever the sugar pipe, I go for some hot chocolate to help curve the craving (I know its still chocolate and sugar, but it's supposed to help). It's the first step to withdrawing from sugar.

Boil the water
Add chocolate powder to a cup
Fill cup with boiling water
Ready to drink

Simple process except it doesn't quite taste right. Then it hits me, I just put Nestle Quik in the cup instead of the Hot Chocolate powder. If you ever do this, don't add the Hot Chocolate powder to it. It doesn't help just start all over again.

Note to self: separate Nestle Quik and Hot Chocolate Powder. 

Seeded Victory!

I think I've found the hardest piece of fruit to eat and possibly the messiest. Commonly baffled by the small quantity of substance that it offers, I always come away full and satisfied especially considering the energy expended digging down attempting to fight to the last seed. I've never met another fruit that battles to a bloody mess for every spoonful of seeds. Between the vicious blood-red juice squirting you in the eye or splattering across your face, your neck, your computer, your book, I find myself diving in for another slippery, juicy red seed only to be attacked again. In a masochistic moment, I keep going back for more just to conquer that last stubborn seed hiding under the flesh against the wall of the fruit. Don't judge, feeling victory over a seed is still a victory.

Can you guess what fruit I am describing?

I know the suspense is killing you.

Pomegranate!

Now, go out and vote! Then stop at the store and try a pomegranate.

Have a great day!