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Nov
21
serious as a heart attack
Filed Under smoking cessation, tobacco, addictions | Leave a Comment
I can’t tell you how nice it was to spend a little time with my dad and step-mom, and watch them enjoy my son. He’s still small and cute and fun, and he doesn’t annoy my dad yet. (My dad has little patience for rambunctious kids - he’s a little crotchety these days.) But of course, as was the time I spent with my grandma and aunt, the trip was much too short.
Today, my husband’s boss’ father-in-law (did you get all that) had a heart attack. When my husband told me, the first thing I did was call my dad. My dad smokes and has a rum and diet pepsi each night. He takes medication for high blood pressure. He’s had a couple emergency room visits when his blood pressure got too high. He’s been a nurse for almost 30 years, and he still behaves this way.
So I called him to tell him I love him and to quit smoking. I’m not naive enough to think that not smoking would solve all of his health problems, but I can’t see how it would hurt. He’s quit quite a few times, and plans to quit again on his birthday this year. It’s becoming an annual event. The quitting, I mean.
It doesn’t matter. I’m proud of him every time he quits. Then he starts with a cigar a few months later - or sometimes a year later, but it always starts with a celebratory cigar.
Apparently he’s smoking organic cigarettes now. I’m not sure what this means. Are they still just as carcinogenic as regular cigarettes? I’m sure they cost more, but are they any better for his lungs? Are the harmful chemicals in the tobacco, or are they additives, or both?
It seems a little like switching from vodka to wine coolers when you have liver disease.
I don’t want to lose my dad. Ever. It terrifies me to even think of it. Losing one parent was hard enough, and I appreciate my dad so much more now as an adult than I ever did as a kid.
Nov
21
WaMu
Filed Under saving, banking | Leave a Comment
I never heard the term “WaMu” until I moved to California. I’m sure it’s not a regional phrase, since the bank uses it in their advertisements, but I thought it was so clever when my friend said it, I thought she had made it up. I don’t bank with them, but if I were going to change banks, I would choose their free checking account.
Here’s why. They don’t charge for outgoing wire transfers. Right now, we have a few different accounts with different banks. I sometimes transfer money from bank to bank, and I always pay a fee. This discourages me from transferring money, which means I don’t always transfer what I can or should to savings. This annoys me.
If WaMu does it for free, why doesn’t my bank?
Nov
21
Ah, the tropics…
Filed Under travel, weddings | 2 Comments
While I was on vacation, I got to watch my Aunt’s wedding video. You may (or may not) remember that she was supposed to get married in Nov. - hence the trip - but had moved her wedding way up, so I was unable to go. Anyway, we watched the video, so it was a little like we were there. It was beautiful - everyone looked great, the music was lovely, and we all cried watching her mom (my grandma) cry. I especially cried when my Aunt added extra vows to her new husband’s son - including him in the ceremony by promising to love him along with his dad. Beautiful.
So, it got me thinking about weddings. I’m patiently waiting for my own ceremony. I’m also waiting for Stephanie’s wedding (hee hee). And in the meantime, I buy every copy of Martha Stewart Weddings - even though they’re mostly ads of things I’d never buy.
I want to get married in the Dominican Republic in Casa de Campo at the Altos de Chavon. There’s a gorgeous little chapel that overlooks the bluest water. One small problem - it’s a Catholic chapel, and they’d never allow us to marry there - but if I had my druthers, that’s where it would be.
We’d get all our clothes off of this cool site weddingtropics.com, and we’d live happily ever after. The boys would wear Guayaberas (wedding shirts), and the girls would wear sandals and bikini’s with sarongs. (In this dream, we’re all built like Jenny McCarthy.)
Where would your dream wedding be?
Nov
19
travails and travels
Filed Under travel, family drama, family | Leave a Comment
Our trip was very interesting. Half of it was spent with family - fun and stressful at the same time. It’s hard try to coordinate the events for 12 people and still make everyone happy. Impossible, really. The second leg was spent at Pinehurst - world renown resort with 8 golf courses.
Pros: I got to see my awesome grandma, aunt and her new husband. I got to see my sister and her family. I got to see my Dad and step-mom. The visit with all of these people was too short and too full of activity, but it was wonderful anyway. I got to see UCF beat UAB. I got to spend quality time (although, not enough) with a few old friends.
Cons: My sister and my dad kept using me as a go-between to make plans when they were the ones with strong opinions on what we should be doing. Five days isn’t enough time for a small reunion. The family members who weren’t there were greatly missed.
As for Pinehurst, I will tell my tale in a future post. It was lovely and snobby and beautiful and overpriced.
Needless to say, we’re already making plans for the next vacation. This time, I’m voting for Vegas or Branson Missouri.
Nov
19
whew!
Filed Under Uncategorized | 1 Comment
After a whirlwind 8 days of travel, family and friends, I feel like I need a vacation! Isn’t that always the way? I’m short on time, but here are some topics I want to discuss in the next few days:
- Lisa Williams - I love her.
- Gossip Girl - too raunchy?
- Snapfish gifts - photobooks all around!
- My new job!
- Spa treatments and my related awkwardness.
Hope all is well in your world. More soon…
Nov
7
I have a myspace page. I’m a 30 year-old mother and wife, and I love myspace. Mostly, I keep in touch with old friends, but I love the grassroots political movements happening on there, and I especially love to find new music. But it’s kind of hard - I find someone I like, then I check out their friends, and sometimes they’re good, and sometimes they’re not. Either way, it’s a time consuming process.
I found a new site called Unsigned.com. It’s a huge assortment of unsigned singers and independent bands. Every genre is covered - I went straight for folk music, and found an awesome band called Choonz - gorgeous fiddle and guitar musicians from England. It’s like a treasure trove. I also found a ton of cool bands, like the Club 7 Jazz Band when searching the jazz artists.
I always feel like the radio and the internet are telling me who to listen to, not playing who I want to listen to. Unsigned.com is a nice change of pace. It’s also a kind of social network, so you can join, save your favorite artists, become their fans, follow their links to their websites and myspace pages, etc. It’s also free for musicians to sign up, create their profile, etc.
Very cool site - highly recommended.
Nov
6
yummy recipes
Filed Under christmas gift ideas, recipe, gifts | Leave a Comment
Sometimes I post things that seem like a sponsored post, but they actually aren’t. Like this one - I love the container store (like, obsessively). Look at this cool link they sent me:
http://www.containerstore.com/experthelp/recipes/index.jhtml
It’s all stuff you make and stuff into containers for gifts. My favorites are the easy play clay and the all-natural dog biscuits. I’m totally making those this year.
Now I have a reason to go to the container store As if I needed one.
Nov
6
More crafts
Filed Under sewing, quilting, Crafts | Leave a Comment
I’m officially in the mad rush of sewing for Christmas. Here are a couple projects - the purse and zipper pouch are from Bend-The-Rules Sewing, and the sweatshirt is my own creation. My friend Sara has a question mark tattoo on her leg, and we decided it would make a good logo for her sweatshirt. She got the sweatshirt at WalMart for $10, and I added some cute Denyse Schmidt fabric and blue thread. My first foray into customizing clothing, I think it came out pretty cool. I got the instructions from DIY’s Creative Juice tv show. You can see better pictures (and more projects) on my flickr page. Thanks for checking out my crafts!
Nov
6
An International Phone Card Affair
Filed Under travel | Leave a Comment
My husband’s family is spread all over the world. Mother in France, Father in Mexico, Grandmother in the Dominican Republic. As you can imagine, we have an international calling plan on our phone. But phone cards are still the best bet, sometimes.
We keep a cell phone in the Dominican Republic, so that when someone goes there to visit my husband’s grandma, they have a phone to call the states. Usually, whoever is there just purchases a phone card or two for the duration of their stay. The problem is that there’s a bit of a monopoly on the phone cards, just as their’s a monopoly on many things in the DR. But if we didn’t use the cell, my mother-in-law would have to go to a call center (which is crazy and stressful).
So we found this site, The RichCom.com, which is an excellent source for all international phone card needs. You just plug in the country, select the dollar amount, and purchase them.
My environmentalist mind likes the fact that they just email you the code - there’s no wasteful plastic cards or mailing costs. Some cards work better than others, but we’ve had good luck with all of the ones we’ve purchased.
The other thing I like is that once you’ve put in your search criteria, the results are listed by quality (they assign a star rating), rate (cents per minute) and value in total minutes (i.e., $20 = 540 minutes).
If you’re planning on doing any international traveling, I recommend richcom.com for your calling cards.
Nov
5
Book #64 - World Without End
Filed Under world without end, ken follett, books | 2 Comments
Ken Follett, writer of my all time favorite book Pillars of the Earth, has done it again. With his new tome World Without End, he takes us back to Kingsbridge Prior and introduces us to the descendants of Jack Builder. Coming in at just over 1000 pages - I still managed to read it in about three days. I won’t say it’s as good as Pillars, because it’s not, but it definitely stands on it’s own and is excellent. You don’t need to have read Pillars either, because other than being set in roughly the same spot and alluding to some of the main characters, it’s not a sequel.
Basically, it chronicles the life of two brothers, and two girls. One brother moves through the life of knighthood to earldom while the other brother goes from apprentice to architect. The two girls live distinctly different lives - one being high-borne and one being very low-borne. Their lives continue to intersect and there are more twists than in daytime drama. Throughout, the town of Kingsbridge and the priory cathedral remain central figures, and the new addition of the plague swarming through Europe makes for some serious storytelling.
If you’re into 18th century English townships and priories with all their sordid goings on, I think you’ll love Follett’s latest creation.
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