Family and Friends – Page 3

December 22, 2014

Christmas Traditions Can Differ a Lot

When I was a kid, we had Christmas on just one day – Christmas Day – and it was a very busy day for us. We always woke up early and tore into the presents under our tree in the living room. Then we had brunch, got dressed up and visited my Grandmother at her house. We always took gifts to her house for her and she always had gifts for us waiting under her tree. We visited for a couple of hours and then left her house and went to my other grandparent’s house for a huge family party.

I am amazed to learn that many people open their gifts on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas morning. Some families hang stockings and some don’t. Some families don’t even have Santa come visit – I think that is sad. Even when the kids are grown, everyone still likes to get a little gift from Santa!

December 17, 2014

Alligators Dancing for Christmas

graphic of alligators dancing

One of my good friends was born and raised in Louisiana. I found this cute graphic of alligators dancing while wearing Santa hats. I posted it on his Facebook wall and he got a great laugh about it. I think it is so cute!

December 3, 2014

Would love to learn how to salsa dance

I always wanted to take a variety of dance classes when I was married. My ex agreed to taking a brief course in ballroom dancing, but it was a disaster. He kept telling me that I was trying to lead and made a big scene. I used to dance with a variety of partners before we married, and nobody ever told me that I was trying to lead! Maybe my ex just needed to be a little bit stronger in his leading, I don’t know. Regardless, we never went dancing after that, and that made me really sad because I love to dance! I wish I could find a partner to take salsa classes santa monica with me so I could go out and have some fun again!

November 27, 2014

An Ex’s Birthday

Even though we broke up with a lot of bitterness and hard feelings, I still care a little bit about my ex. I don’t ever search him out or try to talk with him, but I do think of him every now and then. I know that his birthday is coming up in two days. I am not going to send him a card or call him up or anything. But I do remember the last birthday we shared together and how special I tried to make his whole day and night.

Unfortunately, he never made much effort to reciprocate. My birthday was a huge disappointment, especially since we had celebrated his in November, so he had several months to figure out what to do to make mine special. But he didn’t bother, and to be honest, I think that disappointment was the start of the end of our relationship.

It was then that I realized he wanted all the attention on him and was never going to be as giving or considerate as I wanted in a partner. And I also realized that the only reason he made such a fuss on Valentine’s Day was not because he was expressing his love for me. He was just dutifully buying me thing so he could have a night of great sex. I’m glad I didn’t waste any more time on him than I did, and although I recognize that his birthday is two days away, I no longer care if it is a happy day for him – or not.

November 9, 2014

Celeste is free from her father

Since Celeste is 17 years old, she does not have to return to her parents as long as someone, me in other words, is appointed her legal guardian until she turned 18. Well I gladly accepted that responsibility. Since I have taken a restraining order out against her father, he can no longer come within 50 feet of my home and establishment. Celeste also took one out and now he can’t come within 50 feet of her anywhere she goes.

It’s a shame that such a beautiful and bright young woman should have to make such hard decisions about her own father but Celeste knows that she in turn must protect herself and her son. The law is on her side in all of this mess. Her hopes and dreams to be her own person, go to college and support herself and her son are what keep her going.

Life is hard at times and tough decisions are all a part of growing up. A 17 year old shouldn’t have to make such hard decisions but she has and has done it without malice or hatred in her heart. She will go far in life with her gentle and loving heart. I only can hope and pray she doesn’t develop a hard heart because of all of this. I honestly don’t think she will because we will surround her with love and respect here. I am so very proud of her.

October 28, 2014

Celeste

Late Friday night, there was a knock on my door. When I opened the door, there stood a young woman with a little boy. She said her name was Celeste and her little boys name was Joe. She didn’t have anywhere to go because her family had thrown her out that evening and she wondered if maybe I had a job she could do to pay for a room tonight and some food for her and Joe.

This is a 17 year old young woman with a 15 month old beautiful little boy. I invited her in and got her and Joe something to eat. I sat with her and talked to see what I was dealing with here. I sure didn’t need a teenager that was on drugs here but I didn’t see any signs of anything like that. All I saw that she had a bruise across her cheek that she had tried to hide with makeup but didn’t do a very good job of it.

She said her father was bad to get drunk and take everything out on her and her mother and she just couldn’t take it anymore. He had gotten angry about nothing and threw her out. She said she was still in high school and had someone that kept Joe for her to be able to go to school. She really wanted to stay around here so she could finish school and then hopefully go to college so she could take care of Joe and herself.

My heart almost broke as I listened to this beautiful young woman talk. I made a deal with her. I told her that she could clean the rooms and help with the other chores around there and she would have a place to live as long as she stayed in school and took care of her son herself. No male visitors to her room and no drugs or drinking. When I saw the tears swelling up in her eyes, I knew this was not a bad kid. Just a kid that had made a few mistakes and was trying to do right by them. I guess I now have somewhat of a daughter and grandson if all works out like I think it will. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes.

October 18, 2014

Warranties Are Important

Sometimes when I talk to my friends and family about things they are buying online, I get the impression that they don’t even take the time to view fine print about warranties and whether or not they can purchase a maintenance agreement. Such was the case when Marcel was telling me that he was thinking about buying a dbx ZonePRO 640 Speaker Processor from an Internet retailer. I asked him if he had checked out how long the warranty was on the product, and he told me he had not. What is wrong with people nowadays? You should always find out that information!

October 6, 2014

Discovering the Fun of Baking

This week I have felt very creative and brave, so I’ve been downloading recipes and learning how to bake from scratch!Thanks to my mom, I already knew the basics of baking. I know the difference between flours, the difference between baking soda and baking powder, and how to measure ingredients properly. But until now, all of my baking has been done using packaged mixes and following the directions on the box.

Now I have a small collection of recipes to use for baking cakes, breads and cookies. I will be moving up to pies next week. I have been thrilled with the excellent results of my baked from scratch cakes so far. I can’t wait to try some of the different icings and frosting types on the different cakes. This is fun – but fattening. I will be doing longer walks and some aerobics with my Wii to help keep off the extra pounds.

September 30, 2014

Public School Report Cards Already!

School has been in session for 5 weeks already, which means that school report cards come out next week for all the public school kids in this area. We do 6 week grading periods, and the first reports are supposed to be parent teacher conferences. I’m not sure they still do that in every school, but I sure used to hate the 6th week of school when I was a kid. My parents would go to the school and sit on these tiny chairs and listen to the teacher complain about me for 30 minutes, then they would come home and beat my butt for whatever holy sin I had been committing in class, like “not paying attention.”

Then the next 6 weeks would be hades, because I’d have lost all my privileges and was not allowed to watch TV or play outside with friends or do anything except homework or read library books. OMG! I hated my teacher AND my parents for those second 6 weeks.

But then, strangely, my next report card would always “show improvement”” and I would be not grounded any more and life would go back to normal. I don’t recall doing anything different during those 6 weeks except suffering – but I managed to get through it and my parents felt better about themselves for being “responsible parents” and my teacher would get her panties out of a knot and accept the fact that not every student is going to be a perfect student.

September 18, 2014

The Internet makes doing business so much easier

When Aunt Jackie told me that she had no idea where to even start to look for an agent to buy car insurance from in her new town, I offered to help her out as best I can. Aunt Jackie is a sweet lady who has never bothered to learn how to use the Internet for anything other than reading and sending emails. Fortunately, I was able to help her look for burlington nc car insurance from here without ever having to leave the house! Just a few minutes online and I was able to hook her up with several options. I sure do love the Internet!