Category Archives: Humor

19Jun/15

“Top 10 Things You May Or May Not Know About Me”

Humor, Lifestyle, ,

Just a fun blogpost of things about me…

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1. My favorite car that I ever owned was my green 1966 MGBGT. I loved that car. It cost a mint in upkeep but I still loved every moment of owning and driving it. I didn’t get it until the 80’s but I sure got all the fun I could out of the years I had it. I would pile all 3 of my kids in that little hatchback area and off we would go on our adventures. We had some great times in that car. Couldn’t do that now…

2. I have had every job from waitress to restaurant manger. From working at a jewelry store to owning a women’s fashions and jewelry store in downtown Frederick. I owned my own store for 4 wonderful years. I had to close it in 1991 when the bottom fell out and 20 some other stores closed as well as mine. It was one of the saddest days of my life. It was truly one of the best, if not the best “jobs” I ever had. I had always wanted to have my own clothing store and I did it, even if it was only for a little while.

3. I have been married twice to the same man. I have gotten divorced twice to that same man.

4. The guy I was married to was 2 years older than me but every other guy I dated was at least 10 years younger than me. I lived with one guy for 9 years and he was 11 years younger than me. What can I say, I liked younger guys..

5. I got pregnant at 15, 3 months shy of my 16th birthday. It was not an easy time, you didn’t get pregnant and stay in school like they do today. My friends were going to prom and I was in the hospital giving birth to my daughter. I wouldn’t have traded places with them for anything.

6. I had all 3 of my children by the time I was 23. We grew up together. I for the most part raised them by myself. Sometimes working 3 jobs to take care of the bills and to get them the things they needed. Sure, I made mistakes and maybe wasn’t there as much as I should have been, but I did the best I could. There was no manual that came along with the whole single parenting thing. Their father chose not to be involved in their lives when they were all still fairly young. Again I would not change any part of having these 3 wonderful kids in my life. They give me a reason to get up in the morning. We have had our ups and downs but we love each other unconditionally…and in our book..Family is forever.

7. I moved to Maryland from PA 30 years ago. I needed a change after the second divorce and needed there to be some distance between us. My live in boyfriend at the time got transferred to MD with his job and I decided to go with him. I have never regretted for one moment my decision to move here. I love it here. I am close enough to my friends and family as I am only an hour away. I moved from Frederick to Thurmont 7 years ago when I wanted to be a little further out in the country. I also have always wanted a big “old” house. Mine was built in 1890.

8. My first journey into entrepreneurship was at the age of 12. I wanted a dog, a poodle to be exact. My parents said I couldn’t get one unless I paid for it. I did babysit but that didn’t get me even close to the amount I needed so I talked the neighborhood kids into donating money to my cause. They all did, much to their parents chagrin. But somehow I got my poodle. I just had to have that kind of dog for some reason and now I don’t even like that breed.

9. I am sure most people know this one..I have curly hair. Naturally curly hair, way to curly for my liking. I have ironed it, I have straightened it. I have cut it short and let it grow very long. I even wore a wig in the 70’s when that was the rage. It was straight. I loved it. Nothing I ever did has changed it. Everyone said, “just wait until you have kids, it will get straight.” Well I am here to ditch that myth. I had 3 kids and my hair is curlier than ever. If anything it is curlier than it was when I was younger. Maybe I will get another wig or cut it very short and be done with it.

10. And last but certainly not least, I have always wanted a place at the beach, by the water. After all the recent hurricanes and bad weather I have revised that dream somewhat. I still long for that beach house but my beautiful view of the mountains will suffice for now. At this point of my life I have many friends who live close to a beach. I  will visit them.

Oh, and one last thing…I absolutely hate the white thingys in eggs…

 

 

28May/15

“What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?”

Humor, Lifestyle, , ,

How often did you hear that as a kid?

me

When I was a young girl about the age I was in this picture, people started asking me the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I never hesitated even for a second. I always said I want to be a nurse, for no other reason than my Aunt Norma was one and I thought that she was very cool. Also, I loved my doctor and I watched Dr Kildare. What did I really know about nursing or what a nurse really did? But it looked very exciting and romantic on tv.

Around the same time I started writing a novel. It was called “I Walk Alone” and was set in Paris. I was the lead character, of course, and also, of course I was beautiful, tall and fashionable. And had long straight hair. None of which I had or was in real life. I met a man(in my novel) and he was handsome, rich, famous and mysterious. And he lived in Paris. I have never met a man who was any of these things in my life with the exception of mysterious and believe me, that is not a good trait in a man for which you want to form a relationship. Ok, I have had a few boyfriends and a husband that you could call handsome or at the very least cute.

I never finished the book. I found it recently as we were going through things in my parents home. I found all my writing materials. They were all in a box in my parents attic. My past desire and childhood dreams all together in one box. The children’s books I wrote when my kids were little. Books I had tried desperately to get published to no avail. I took a “Writing Children’s Literature” course and thought surely I was going to be the next Dr. Seuss.

Sadly, the being “the next Dr. Seuss” thing never happened. My kids loved the stories and still talk about them to this day. So guess it was worth it. Sadly, life got in the way of my dream of being an award winning novelist, as life has been known to do. By this time, I had gotten divorced and 3 kids and as many jobs didn’t lend itself to much time for writing. But finding the box that day brought it all back. The hopes, the dreams..the book signings.

I am finally writing now, some 50 years after that first novel I attempted to write. Not to be a best selling novelist or the next Dr. Seuss, but for me. I write because I love to write and because it fulfills something deep inside me that has always wanted to get out. I don’t know, maybe it’s a need to be “heard”. Really heard..

Growing up I don’t think my parents ever really listened to me when I talked or spoke of my dreams. In reality I don’t think they had the time or they just really didn’t know how.  I have always tried to listen to my family and friends and even to just anyone who was talking to me. Maybe my ability to listen has given me the ability to write. I know I have a million stories inside me waiting to get out. And I am thankful I can finally do just that!

As a side note, I am glad I didn’t become a nurse. I don’t think I would have been a good one.. I am not a fan of blood and gore and all the stuff that goes along with nursing..and honestly, white has never been my color.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

25Apr/15

Very Interesting….

Humor, Rants, , ,

Or not…. our trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield.

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My daughter and my 3 grandsons were visiting this week from VT. We decided to take the boys(12,10 and 7, keep these numbers in mind as it may explain some things) to the Gettysburg Battlefield. The oldest was studying the Civil War, and especially Gettysburg. So we decided to take them there, since believe it or not they had never done this while living in MD. You know how sometimes you really don’t get to the places closest to you. We both thought this would be extremely interesting for them. However, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

On the way there, I was sharing stories of my trips to the Battlefield and all of the knowledge I had picked up over the years. I really love going there and remember the first time I went in the fifth grade. I try to go at least once a year. It never gets old for me. I shared how many lives were lost over the three days the battle lasted and all of the souls I feel still exist there till this day and the fact that I can feel them. They thought that was gross.The oldest grandson shared some stories he had recently learned as well so I’m thinking wow, this will be a great experience for all of us. Imagine my surprise when the boys didn’t share my enthusiasm.

The first clue came as we pulled up to the Peace Light. This is one of my all time favorites and so we decided to start the tour there. I was so excited for them to see it and experience the same feeling I get every time I go there. The excitement building in the pit of my stomach as we pulled in the parking space. I envisioned them all running up to it and asking me how it stays lit like that in this wind. The real scenario was a little different. The two oldest didn’t even want to get out of the car. “Why do we have to get out, we can see it from here”, really..that’s what we got. I made them get out and go up to look at it’s majesty. They reluctantly ran up, looked at it for a full second and ran back to the car. The 7 year old, my daughter and I explored. First fail.

We took the entire tour and at every single monument I had the hopes that maybe they would start to see the “light” or get excited and want to get out and truly “see” one. Even the towers…what boy doesn’t love climbing up to the top of a tower and lean over and scare his Grandmother to death…evidently these boys. Again the 7 year old was out of the car and up the tower before I could open the door. I kept thinking in the back of my mind, wait till we get to Devils Den, they will love this. The view, the chance of falling off the rocks, the thrill of it all. So we finally pull up and once again they don’t want to get out. We made them go and as we start up the path to the top they say, “ok, its freezing, we’re going back to the car”. In all honesty, it was darn cold and very windy and cloudy which didn’t help. But these are the same boys that wear shorts all winter long to school everyday no matter what the temps. My daughter turned to me and laughed and said, “I have the car keys, they won’t be able to get in”. I smiled. We returned to the car to see two shivering boys standing there with a not so fun expression on their little frozen faces.

We made them get out one last time, at the Pennsylvania Memorial. I love this one too, another of my favorites. We told them it was the last one so they could make an effort. We all went up to the top and literally almost blew off. I was freezing but wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of knowing how cold I was.  We saw Lincoln’s statue and read the Gettysburg Address and went back to the car and headed home.

Later that night, I talked to the two older boys separately knowing I was going to write this and just wanted to get their real feelings on the trip. I said, we take them places all the time and we get the same reaction, it is a waste of our time and their time, so why should we bother. I asked both boys why they was so disinterested and wouldn’t get out of the car. To a word, they both told me they did really enjoy it. Each one said this as well…”Grammy, I was just cold.” I know one thing for sure the 7 year old really did. Not sure I’m buying the excuse from the other two, but they sure sounded sincere.

I fear we are raising a generation of kids that have no interest in our past and how as a nation we got to the place where we are today. They would rather stay home and play video games than visit a historic site. This makes me sad. What do you think?

 

 

 

03Apr/15

I’m Bored….

Humor

Well no I’m not, but a lot of people are these days.

I hear this expression all the time, at least once a day. Most of the time it is coming from kids. Kids in stores with their Mom’s, they want to be anywhere but there. Kids at family gatherings and they don’t have their iPads or a tv to keep them busy.

I get it, they are so used to playing their games or sitting in front of a box all day watching some show that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, they can’t function without the constant stimulation of a screen of some sort. I recently saw a commercial for an aquarium and the kid is asking his Dad how they got the graphics so real on the screen, while in reality he is looking into the tank at the aquarium.

This all makes me sad. I was never once bored as a child. Never! I was outside from the minute I woke up until it got dark and my parents yelled for me to come inside. We rode our bikes, jumped rope, played games and used our imagination. Now I know not all kids are bored and looking for someone or something to entertain them. My own grandkids are full of imagination and are outside all the time. Although, I have heard them say they were bored once in awhile. Their parents quickly gave them something to do to take care of their so called boredom. And it wasn’t always something they would want to do.

What really is astounding is to hear this from adults. I am constantly amazed when I hear this coming from them. How can one be bored? There is so much to do and see in this world. It just boggles my mind that someone could ever be bored. I can honestly say I have never uttered those words. I have been off work now for two months and not once have I even been close to being bored. There aren’t enough hours in the day for me.

So my advice for those who “are” bored is simple. Go outdoors and bask in the beauty of Mother Nature. Go for a walk. Write someone a letter, on paper, with a pen. You remember those, right? Volunteer at a food bank or pet rescue. Call a friend or relative you haven’t talked to in some time and catch up with what is going on with them. Or just get lost in a good book. Learn something new, do something you have always wanted to do. That is what I’m doing with my writing. I have always wanted to do this and now I am. It doesn’t matter what comes from this, I am doing it for me. I am enjoying it so much. It isn’t always easy but believe me, I am not bored.

What about you? Are you ever bored?

#bored