Oldness Sucketh.

Rarely do you get such a blunt answer when asking a health care professional questions about your various body pains. I was getting worked on by a massage therapist and I wanted to know why I have such persistent back pain. He answered, "Getting old sucks." This, after a friend told me earlier in the day that her brother thought I was in my twenties. He was in disbelief when he was told I was nearly 40. I hate calling off plans because I'm hurting too much. I hate not being able to jog in the mornings. I LOVE TO JOG!! There's so many things I need to get done, and it seems like I'm in the mood to do those chores when my body hurts the worst. Dang it. Well, otherwise, life is good. My family's doing okay, the bills are mostly getting paid, dogs are fine, and I'm halfway thru my training at Cosmetology school. Yep, went back to school. Learning to cut hair, do nails, and have fun. I was prompted to go back to school when I found my work schedule with the events was getting leaner and leaner, with the paychecks getting smaller and smaller. I tried interviewing for jobs but a harsh reality of being involved in local politics dictates that people cannot hire someone who might have political enemies. At least they were honest. So here I am, an underemployed, old, aspiring hairstylist. Who has a handful of political enemies. Should be fun times coming up!

Festivus

If you're not a Seinfeld fan, you're not familiar with the fake holiday known as Festivus. It was the creation of one of the surly Seinfeld characters who refused to go along with the commercialized over-hyped Christmas traditions of expensive gifts and maxed out credit cards. "Festivus for the rest of us!" he'd proclaim. Instead of a Christmas tree, he would erect a Festivus pole in the house. The family activities included a show of "feats of strength" where they'd kind of beat up on each other.
But Festivus dinner was the best because the saying of Grace was replaced with the "Airing of Grievances." The best.

So, Gary's used to having expensive holidays, Christmas in particular. He's used to big extravagant presents. He was worried about this year, with his surgery in September we haven't been able to sock away money to buy very much for presents.
He was kinda speechless when I explained that I'm more of a Festivus kind of person. I don't like Christmas gifts, and I get no pleasure from spending a lot of money on things that I know will end up in the garbage. I prefer to have one thoughtful gift that will always be remembered. Think about it; what did you get for Christmas last year? Can't remember?
I got one present, a Kindle, and it was soooo appreciated. I spent a lot of money buying up E books on Amazon and my reading kept me pre-occupied. I've always loved to read but last year at this time I was quite miserable and lonely. The Kindle was with me everywhere.
Gary kept bugging me, "What do you want for Christmas?" And I kept giving the same answer, "I'm really not a gift person. I don't want THINGS."
I felt bad for him, because I wasn't trying to be evasive or difficult. I just didn't want him spending a lot of money on stuff.
On Christmas morning, I got this:

A new fancy Kindle. Good call, Gary.

And since Gary wants a hundred things for Christmas, I gave him this:

There's enough cash there for something really nice. I shopped around for some things that I knew he'd like, but it was all things that a person wouldn't be able to return if it wasn't just right. He's been into the gold mining lately and with that hobby comes requirements for different equipment and gadgets. There's quite a large group of people in this area who are into the mining as well, and they periodically sell off their used equipment. I considered buying up some used mining equipment, but figured a gift of cash would be safer.
He promptly spent it at Sam's Club.

Mental note: don't give Gary cash. He'll use it on a year's supply of paper towels and protein bars.

I Know

Can't say I've been that busy, just pre-occupied. But that's no excuse!

Since August I've been doing quite a lot and I'll have to get to typing in order to catch up.

Mexico, Kansas City, Vegas, Off Road Races, World Finals, it just keeps going.

I'll start right now.

In August I began tackling a very detailed and complicated "To Do" list. With five bedrooms in this house and only two of them inhabitable, I decided to start cleaning.

The master bedroom got a little touch up, but the real difference was with the other master suite. It was stuffed with spare furniture to the point that if someone stayed in there they couldn't walk. They couldn't really get to the bathroom. And I couldn't clean.
So it was cramped, dusty, and the furniture was everywhere.

I cleaned it up in about twelve hours with Shay's help. Didn't get a "before" picture, but here's an after:

Yes, that's a full-size Monitor Lizard on the bed. Something that Gary had hidden under a pile of stuff in one of the other bedrooms.

The next project was the Gun Room, which had a pile of stuff so big you couldn't open the door. Shay and I tackled that one, pulling out a massive pile of cardboard boxes that turned out to be empty. Every single one. I picked up the gun cases and accessories and put those in the closet. After the large objects were moved I found a wallet. Yep, someone's wallet that went missing during a big weekend two years ago. Gary called him and let him know it was finally found.
The cardboard went out to the trash and the carpet in the room got cleaned up. That enabled me to move Gary's stuff for work in there-- a bunch of spare ATM parts that he keeps here.

The next room was the bunk bed room. It's right next to the front door and most people that walk in don't even know it's there. There was a great bunk bed that had been slept on once or twice by Gary's sons, and it needed to find a new home.

After much campaigning, I managed to get it a new place to live. Now we can move the furniture that is in the trailer out back into the bunk bed room. Eventually it will be another guest bedroom, but right now it will be storage while we gather items for the big garage sale later this month.

And, oh, what a garage sale it will be....

Big Kid

Shay is 13 years old, but he's nearly 8 inches taller than me. And he hates being 13 years old.

Once in a while, the real Shay will emerge. It's not easy to get him to come out and play, but I keep trying.

Polite

You know that song, "No more Mr. Niceguy," I'm sure you've probably heard it hundreds of times.  I think it's Alice Cooper.
For the past several months I've taken on that attitude.  I'm certainly polite 95% of the time, but there are people in my life right now who are finding out how many cuss words I know.   People who have been not so nice to me.  People who have taken advantage of me, or perhaps have tried kicking me when I was down.....  They're also finding out how much and how long I've kept things bottled up.  I'm not unleashing tons of anger on every single person who's done me wrong--it's not like that.  I'm giving the "What-for" to those who have been sort of picking on me for quite some time and they have continued to do so once I pointed it out to them.  I know, I'm portraying myself as a hysterical woman, but it's not that extreme.  I'm just not holding my tongue anymore.

And today I let the attitude slip a little on a stranger.

This morning a guy honked his horn at me in an empty parking lot because I suppose he felt he had the right of way.  He didn't.  We both approached a turn at the same time from two different directions.   I didn't stop and let him by, so he honked.  Normally I'd just ignore and keep going.  Today I put the car in park, shut it off, and opened my car door.  Empty parking lot, with just the two of us there, and I fully intended on walking over and kicking a dent in the door of his little Jeep Cherokee.  Instead I asked if there was a problem.  He declined to answer.  He just gestured at me like I was holding up traffic. All the backed up traffic in the empty parking lot of a closed grocery store.
People who honk for no apparent reason (as if they're a good samaritan preventing a traffic accident) are really a pet peeve.  There was actually a study released last year--printed in the AAA magazine I believe--that said there is rarely if ever an accident avoided by someone honking their car horn.  Horns are generally used to piss off other people driving.
If an accident is truly being avoided, it's because the driver used defensive techniques like braking and steering.  No time to honk in those situations.

So, this gentleman wasn't skillfully avoiding a collision, he just wanted to be an ass.
And I called his bluff. 
I didn't scream and yell, stomp around, pull a gun or anything---I just didn't ignore it and shrug it off like I normally do.

Let that be a warning to ya!!!

Yeah, right.

Cat Scratch Fever

I can't believe I didn't know that Ted Nugent plays a concert in Laughlin, Nevada every July. I had no idea! Found out by accident, really, and we excitedly drove the 90 minutes up to Laughlin to enjoy the show.
What a great show--if you're Republican! Ted has a way with words, in between his songs--and his political views are more than just a little to the right. It's funny how easily he will say something insulting about the French people, right on stage in front of an audience of thousands. And he mentioned several times that we need to get the idiots out of the White House in 2012.

We met some of Gary's friends for the concert, and fortunately I brought enough pairs of ear plugs to share with everyone. It was loud, loud, loud. We were in the 12th or 13th row, quite close to the stage and the enormous speakers.

When "Uncle Ted" came out for a couple of encore songs, the security guards loosened up and let people walk up to take photos at the stage.

Great show. Lots of entertainment!

Meeting With The Boss Lady

This gave me a laugh. Gary and his boss on the bow of the boat, as we're floating down river at sunset. Obviously talking shop....

Eventually I had to interrupt.