Lazy day

I have the warm comfortable feeling that a couple of glasses of wine after a long, lazy day can offer. I was leaving work this morning and heading out of Elk when I remembered something that Jason had mentioned the day before. He had been craving pizza. Being in a good mood I decided to pull into Pizza Hut and grab him a pizza for lunch. It was going to be fifteen minutes so I walked out to the pick-up for a book. As I was opening the door I looked over at the golf course and realized what I really wanted to do was to go for a walk.
I've not been on many courses, but I have to say I have always thought this one was lovely. The sunshine was warm but there was still a cool morning breeze blowing. The butterflies and moths, of so many different colors, were fluttering around in what I am going to describe as a mating dance even though I have no idea if they mate at this time of the year. I steered clear of the few golfers that were out. Tramping through the rough I studiously watched for rattlesnakes and stirred up more than a few flights of birds. Often I think that golf courses are wasted on golfers. How can you get stressed about hitting a ball with all of this beauty around you? Someday I think I may take up golf, but never seriously. The only games I take seriously are tetris and minesweeper.
I didn't follow any paths, but made my way to the pond. At some spots the water was clear and I could see the moss waving in the currents and small fish darting about. In other parts the pond scum blocked my view but held a green, foamy beauty of its own. The fish were jumping enough to provide me with just the right amount of company. After I had circled the pond I figured it surely had been fifteen minutes so I walked back towards the pizza.

Miss Universe brought Bella over right after I got home. She was heading to work. Bella took a nap, so I took one too. after that I started three different movies but I just couldn't commit to any of them. I decided to watch the presidential debates instead. (recorded) After that I was getting restless so I went in and started cleaning the kitchen;it needed it. Bella decided she wanted me to jump on the trampoline with her. Well the dishes hadn't been more important than laying around all day so they could wait longer. After jumping until dark I did finally do a bit of cleaning.

Bella and I then went to Anna's for a glass of wine. We hadn't been there very long when Anna started an ear candle in her husband's ear. This scared Bella and she wanted to go home. She had tears in her eyes and kept whispering,'i want to go home.' I read her a book to distract her until the candle was finished and we stayed for another hour or two. We talked about movies, actors, and tv shows. It was very relaxing. We should probably go to bed now but, these types of days should last as long as possible.

I have been working as a trainer in our local office for the last two days. It is nice to be able to walk to work again and to come home on my lunch hour. Using my lunch hour to do dishes and run errands is not the same as reading, but shit is getting done.
Yet Lee is irritated with me because I keep forgetting to transfer money so he can buy clothing online. A bit naively I at one time thought that by having boys I would save time and money on clothing. Then the world shifted. Boys now spend as much time thinking about outfits as girls do. They buy expensive clothes, pick out belts, and own more shoes than I do. I remember back to when I rebelled against society by dressing much like a boy. I picked up Levis off of the floor pulled them on, covered my torso in a simple wrinkled t-shirt, then shoved on a denim jacket. Now I wouldn't have the time or energy to dress like a boy;it is much easier to just wear a sundress.

My dinner party went very well. The chicken was delicious. The recipe was simple mix mayo with apricot jam, add seasoning, marinate and bake. I baked a chocolate cake and covered it with a thin layer of Nutella;it was the perfect end to our meal. We drank a Blackstone Merlot and a Blackstone Pinot noir while we laughed over a bit of everything. It was lovely.

The last few days

A diagonal line will never be as attractive as it is on my work schedule. A diagonal line through a day denotes a day off. Today is a diagonal line. Last night I stayed up late again reading so I slept until 10:00 this morning. That is a lovely feeling. My body has told me many times over the years that the ideal time to sleep is from 2:00 to 10:00 in the a.m. If I had my way I would never argue with that logic.

The book I finished last night was The Time Traveler's Wife. It is the best fiction book I have read this year. After I finished reading the story I went ahead and answered all of the book club questions in the back before putting it down. Still not able to put the story away I went out and watched part of a hooters beauty pageant with dh just so I could find somebody to talk to about it. He was kind enough to feign interest while I talked as long as he didn't have to turn the channel. Then I took a few minutes to point which breasts I thought were real before going to bed.

Full of domestic energy today I have already seared a roast, de-glazed the pan with a Merlot, added it all to the crock pot with potatoes, onions, and carrots, made a pie crust, and invited Anna and her family over for supper tomorrow night. The roast and apple pie are for supper tonight. My mom gave me a large bag of apples and promised to buy the vanilla ice cream if I bake the pie. Tomorrow I am going to try out a chicken recipe, which I found at chicklit, and serve it with french bread and couscous.

Saturday night my neighbors through a party and didn't invite us. They are new to town and just invited the few friends who moved from Missouri with them and a mutual friend of ours. He was supposed to invite as many people as he could to make a party of it. Anna asked if I had been invited. She wasn't invited either so we joked about calling the police about the noise. We carried our beers to the computer and started watching Eddie Izzard on youtube. Some friends of ours came over and insisted we go to the party. She went right over while I went home and cooked supper for my family. Side note: if you are going to chop garlic and onion after a few beers be careful. Later dh and I went over and made joke about not being invited. It was a good night. I wound up in bed at four in the morning. Luckily my family never complains when the family breakfast doesn't start until noon.

Miss Universe

Miss Universe had a very tiny stroke yesterday. She is in the hospital while the doctors try to find out the cause of this stroke which happens to be the second tiny one she has had this year. It hit home that I have been taking the election a little too seriously the last few weeks. I was angry for people who appear to be deciding their candidate based on personality, race, or gender. Watching the news yesterday evening I was beginning to feel downright depressed by the people I was listening to. Could Clinton backers really switch to the McCain/Palin ticket just because she is female, or even worse, because they are angry? As a country we need to free ourselves from the bone crushing grip the fundies have on us. If not the freedoms we have enjoyed could become a permanent idea of the past. We really need to pull together not bicker over things that we can work out later. I was thinking thoughts like these when the phone rang. Actually I had just thought that I would never encourage anyone to go to another church again, not while pseudo Christians were preying on vulnerabilities of others to get votes, when the phone rang.
It was Rolando asking if I could watch his kids for the night while he stayed with Miss Universe at the hospital. This was real. This was the fear and anger that I had been faking earlier. The whole country could come crashing down and as long as I had my family safe and healthy around me things would be o.k. I hung up the phone and said a prayer for my sister. In the middle of the prayer I wondered if I should now apologize for my earlier thought. Afterwards I decided that my thought was still valid since it is organized religion that I despise, not God himself.
Miss Universe has not been herself lately. Instead of jumping up and down, being loud and boisterous, she has seemed tired and unwell. She is the girl who will walk into a room and randomly start dancing a jig while dressed in scrubs just because she knows we will laugh. She is a 'How the hell are you? Have a beer.' kind of girl. She is the warm, funny, loud kind of sister that balances out my cold heart. I love her so much and can't stand the thought of her being sick.

My head almost exploded

My patience was put to the test at work today. First let me give a bit of background. I work with two conservative ladies. One who is not so much of a conservative herself but she listens to a lot of them. Earlier this year she made a comment about the Clinton's spending government money. I responded calmly that they were probably no worse than any other politicians. The next day I was greeted by a printed e-mail explaining that the Clinton's were evil personified. That night it took about five minutes on the Internet to debunk every charge in the paper. I was then left with the choice of letting it go and having a bit of peace at work or being right. I chose peace. I wasn't at work yesterday so I missed her telling everybody that Palin's baby really belonged to her daughter. When she goes against code like this I smile. This is the reason I don't think she is strictly a conservative she just believes everything she hears.
My boss on the other hand is ultra-conservative. Unless it would mean criticizing somebody she likes. Having babies out of wedlock is horrible, unless you are somebody she likes. Divorce is bad unless you are her daughter, then it was necessary. She is not a bad person, it is just that her mind has a tight spring that keeps it from opening. If she likes you she will bend over backwards for you. She has always been extremely nice to me. If you make her mad though she will spend an amazing amount of energy trying to prove her point. Once you have made that mistake it is almost impossible to do anything right in her eyes, you have left yourself open to be killed by nitpicking. Still her anger has a very passive-aggressive feel. She will be polite to your face and then attack when you back is turned. The girl who I replaced had her hours severly cut, while nothing was said to her face.
I don't say all of this just to trash her but to explain why I keep my mouth shut when politics come up at work. It is a survival skill.
This morning she mentioned that Palin is on several magazine covers and they need to leave the poor lady alone. I didn't point out how many of the covers she seemed to have posed for, or the fact that she is auditioning to be next inline to the presidency. I left the bait untouched. She then told me about the swat team they have released into Alaska to find something to hold against her. I was afraid my silence would be noticed so I did respond that both sides did that. "It hasn't ever been this bad." She said with authority. "They went a little crazy against Clinton." I pointed out. To lighten the mood I made a joke about them finding something under the podium. "Well we don't seem to have to look as hard or make things up against the other side." She said. I tried to keep my face even as headlines about Rev. Wright or Barrack being a Muslim flashed through my head. She then added, "That's what Rush says." My mind was to busy trying to list all of the things wrong with this statement to hear the rest of what she said.
First of all 'Rush'! She said it casually as if they had just had lunch together the day before. He really should never be called by name unless you used only his last name and filled your voice with as much scorn as it could hold. I knew I could not mention my rule to her. It is simple once you mention or quote {scorn/]Limbaugh[/scorn] everything you say is written off, as you have just proven yourself as clueless and lazy. This is the lady who makes my schedule and decides if I can take off for my children's ballgames and award ceremonies. So I tried and tried to pull the voice of Russell into my head. 'I know the U.S. to be a' Then I would lose it. I tried again and again to pull the quote up, but the ignorance surrounding me bogged it down. Finally I did manage to hear "In England we wouldn't trust George W. Bush with a pair of scissors." At first it was faint then it repeated louder, and then again louder. It did save me. My head did not explode.

Thank you MTV

I rarely watch awards shows, tuning in only when I am in love with the host. By these guidelines I had to watch the VMA's. While Russell was not on his very best form I still laughed like Palin at a book burning. It was disappointing to see how few of the audience members got him, but not all of these are our best and brightest. In the aftermath I am finding the double standard irritating. Nobody got mad because he made fun of Madonna's sexuality, but make fun of purity and that is horrible. If you want to be famous your choices will be the fodder for comedians,that is a given. Why is purity and denial a more noble choice than embracing your sexual nature? Both are decisions and we should be teased for them equally.
Looking back I should have just watched the recording the next day. That way I could have fast forwarded any part that didn't have Russell Brand or Pink in them. Thankfully I didn't have the advantage of hindsight. Dh was watching throwball on our tv that night, so Lee called Miss Universe to see if he could watch the awards with them and I decided to go along. Unfortunately M.U. got called in to work so it was Ronaldo and his kids and me and Lee. We still had a great time making fun of everybody who took the stage. There was an interesting split in the group because Lee and I love R.B. and Rolando and his kids hadn't really heard of him. A few minutes into the show Rolando mentioned that this guy looked a lot like the guy in Forgetting Sarah Marshal. Not having heard of him didn't seem to hurt their enjoyment. They still laughed at his jokes, but were a little shocked by his forwardness.
It was a fun night. The hidden gift for me, which I will always be grateful to Russell for, was realized the next day at work. I had to hear the usual round of stupid political comments that were stolen straight from conservative talk shows. For once instead of a steady feeling of disgust rising in my body I felt the giggles coming on. In my head I heard a voice say "But I know America to be a forward-thinking country because otherwise why would you have let that retard and cowboy fella be President for eight years?" I hope this voice helps me through the next 56 days, because I'm going to need it.