Thunderstorms and Me Don’t Mix

I hate thunderstorms.  I actually am very terrified of them.  Each time I hear the roar of thunder I want to jump out of my skin.  I’m so terrified of them that I don’t know how to explain how it makes me feel.  On a really bad storm I can have such a panic attach that I swear my heart has stopped.  I dread monsoon season every year because I never know when a thunderstorm is going to hit. 

I don’t know how people that live in areas where weather is very unpredictable live. A few months ago we were at our daughter’s house in North Carolina.  We were outside enjoying a nice evening when the clouds started rolling in.  I kept saying that the clouds just didn’t look normal.  There was something about them that seemed to have my hair standing up.  I can’t explain it but I was slowing starting to get scared.  I finally said that I had to go in because I couldn’t take it anymore.

So I go in the house with their dog, Jax.  I open a bottle of wine hoping that having a drink will help calm my nerves.  Next thing I know I hear the thunder and my heart stops.  I start to panic, Jax starts to pace and my husband tries to calm me down. 

Just as I was starting to calm down the weather radio went off.  I thought that I was going to climb out of my skin.  My daughter picks it up and says that there is nothing to worry about it was just announcing that there was a severe thunderstorm.  I refilled my glass of wine and tried to relax.  Then the radio went off again.  This time the Jax is pacing even more which is really starting to freak me out.  Once again my daughter says that it is just a severe thunderstorm and I refilled my glass of wine.

While trying to relax the radio went off for the third time.  I really started to panic, Jax was pacing even more and the clouds outside were looking pretty scary.  My daughter picks up the radio and says “Oh”, I knew at this point that it wasn’t just a severe thunderstorm that there was something else going on.  She tried to play it off as though nothing was happening but I knew things weren’t right.  Jax was pacing even more and I should have just put a straw in the wine bottle and drank it that way.  I looked at my daughter at asked what was going on.  She finally admitted that we were under a tornado warning.  I have never been in a tornado warning, watch or anything having to do with a tornado.  I really started to panic.  Since my daughter doesn’t have a basement I didn’t know what to do which really made me very nervous.  My son-in-law said that if it goes to tornado watch we needed to get into the pantry or the bathroom.  I refilled my glass and prayed for the best. 

A tornado never did hit but it was a moment in time that I would never forget.  People that live with this kind of stress on a regular basis amaze me.  I don’t know how they do it but I’m glad it’s them and not me.  I don’t ever want to go through that again. 

The Friendly Sky’s

About a month ago my husband and I went to see our daughter.  When I made our flight reservations I was so excited knowing that we were going to visit that I didn’t pay that much attention to little details such as what time we had to be at the airport and how long our layover in Atlanta would be.  We ended up having to be at the airport at 4:00 am and our layover was 30 minutes long.

So we get to the airport at 4:00 am and since we got our boarding passes the day before we were able to check our bags at the curb.  We head straight for security.  We were commenting on how fortunate we were that the line wasn’t very long.  We do the usual strip down and got into line to go through the metal detector.    They were having everyone go through what I like to refer to as the “naked x-ray machine”.  There are about 30 of us in line waiting patiently to enjoy this experience.  I get pulled out of line and told to go through the metal detector, what a relief.  My stuff goes through x-ray with no problems, I’m now thinking “if the rest of the trip goes this smooth it’s going to be amazing and the first for me”.  Shortly after this we get to our gate with plenty of time to spare. 

Finally we start being boarded on to the plane.  We sit down and I look in the pocket in front of me to ensure that the barf bag is there, I don’t have one and neither does my husband, but I figure everything else is going so smooth I’m not going to need it.  I get air sick real easy and I like to know that it is there is I need it.  I set the screen in front of me to watch the flight across the United States and pull out the Air Mall magazine and start looking through it to see what they have that I can’t live without.  We bring to taxi to the run way for takeoff.  The takeoff was so smooth I was amazed.  I didn’t feel sick or anything. 

The pilot announces that we can now turn on our electronic devises so I turn on my Kindle so that I can read a book and my husband gets out his iPod so that he can listen to music.  Everything is going so smooth what could possibly go wrong?  All of a sudden we hit the worst turbulence that I have ever felt.  I begin trying to focus on the person in front of me while taking deep breaths because I have no barf bag.  I look at my husband who is busy playing his air guitar along with his air drums and I’m thinking “thanks for comforting me”.  While I’m trying to keep breakfast down I hear a woman a few rows behind me scream our “sweet Jesus we are all going to die”, my anxiety level went through the roof.  I have never seen flight attendants move so fast.  They were at this woman’s side in seconds trying to calm her down, but of course at this point she is now praying loud and getting louder by the second.  My husband finally looks at me and realizes that I’m about to bring breakfast up and I really need his help.  He puts down his air drums along and holds my hand and reassures me that we will be ok that it’s just pot holes in the sky, which always works for me.  The turbulence lasted for about 45 minutes. 

We then hit a strong head wind and we were due to land after our connecting flight was scheduled for takeoff.  We discover that a large group of us, there were nine of us, were headed for the same location on the same flight.  The flight attendant was able to find out what gate we needed to go to and since we were such a large group they actually held the plane for us.  At first I was impressed until I discovered that the plane was so small that our group took up half the plane.

Once we landed we had to run from the A gates to the D gates, the prayers worked and we had a smooth landing.  The group took off on a mad dash with the understanding that whoever got to the gate first was to tell them that the rest were close behind.  We had to take the train to get to our destination gate.  We get on this train just as the door was closing.  The train takes off and I fall back on my husband who pushes me forward which pushes me into the arms of a complete stranger who attempts to help me to stand up.  We get to the B gates and people get off and on and once again we take off.  I promptly fell back and once again my husband pushes me forward where I land on the same stranger.  At this point I’m so embarrassed and not sure what to say so I just look at him and say “we have got to stop meeting like this people are going to start talking” he busts up laughing and agrees with me.  What a relief that he got my sense of humor.  At the next stop I held on to the pole so hard that I thought that I was going to rip my arms off when the train took off, but I managed to stay upright.  We finally get to the D gates and the mad rush begins.

We run to our gate knocking over several people in the process.  We get on the plane and find our seats.  I get all situated, look to see if there is a barf bag and sit back to relax.  Just as I got comfortable the man in front of us turns around and starts talking to us.  As I looked up to talk to him I realized that he was the man that I had fallen into on the train.  I was embarrassed but tried to play it off as though that kind of stuff happens all the time to me.  I hope he believed me.

Just getting to my daughters was quite an adventure and I look forward to doing it all over again, of course I would like to spend a little more time in the Atlanta airport. 

My Friend the French Fry

The first of the year my husband was told by his doctor that he needed to lose weight.  We decided that we would do this together and so our journey begins.  The first thing that we did was sit down with every diet book and magazine that we had in the house (we could not believe how many we had in the house) and came up with a plan.  We wrote everything down so there would be no guessing as to what we could or could not have.  This plan included making changes in the things that we were consuming.  This was first off an eye opener but also very difficult because we decided to give up some foods that I really love such as French Fries.

French fries go with everything.  You can enjoy them by themselves or with a side dish such as a hamburger, steak, fish, or even shrimp.  You can enjoy with an ice cold glass of wine, a cold beer or even champagne, whatever you like.  You can dip it in ketchup, cheese, or even fry sauce.  You can put chili or cheese on top, or even use them as a nice crunchy bed for ribs.  What other type of food is so versatile?

OMG, has this been the hardest thing for me to do.  I had no problem giving up cookies, chips, pretzels, cake, chocolate, bread and even alcohol but giving up French fries has been almost impossible.  I find myself dreaming about them.  I think about the texture, the slight taste of salt and yes even the grease that glistens on it.  I miss how four shoe string French fries (yes four is the correct number) dipped in a vanilla milk shake taste.  I can envision the crunchy salty taste of the fry mixed with the sweet taste of the milk shake, oh how my mouth is now watering.  I can hardly wait until the day that I can treat myself to this delicious combination.

Until that special day I will be content sipping on my virgin rum and diet Pepsi munching on carrot sticks dreaming about the perfect food, the French fry.

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

It seems that every year goes by faster than the year before and this year was no exception.  This last year feels as though it flew by.  I hope that 2012 slows down a little so that I can really enjoy every moment of it. 

Every year many people, me included, make resolutions.  I often wonder why we bother after all who keeps these resolutions.  I can’t think of one person that has ever kept a resolution.  So this year I have decided that I’m not making any resolutions or goals.  I have decided that I’m just going to continue . . .

I’m going to continue to enjoy life as much as possible.  I’m going to continue smiling at people even when they don’t smile back.  I’m going to continue to cheer my grandkids on at their activities.  I’m going to continue to enjoy spending time with my family and friends.  I’m going to continue to do silly things with my friends such as sitting on the floor with a bottle of wine and lay’s potato chips singing karaoke as loud and off key as we can.  I’m going to continue to laugh out loud when my husband does something silly like bursting out singing “I’m sexy and you know it”; after all he is the sexiest man I know.  I’m going to continue to kick butt in Wii bowling.  I’m also going to continue watching old sitcoms and enjoy every minute of it.  I’m going to continue taking naps on Sundays; I may even start taking naps on Saturday’s as well.  But most of all I’m going to continue to just be me.

As the New Year begins my wish for my family and friends is that you also continue to be you, after all that is what makes you so special and why I like you so much.  So no matter if you decide to make resolutions or not I hope that you have a great New Year and that all your dreams come true.

Empty Nest

In earlier blogs I mentioned that my daughter was getting married.  She was married about two months ago.  What a happy time but also one of the most stressful times.  It’s amazing how a wedding can bring out the worst and the best of people.  This was my second daughter to get married so I figured I was ready for this along with all the emotions that come with it. 

With my first daughter it felt so easy.  She was an easy bride and everything seemed to fall into place.  There were no problems with the planning of her wedding; everything just seemed to go so smooth.  The only issues was her new brother-in-law making out at the head table with his girlfriend and then getting extremely drunk and making an embarrassing toast.  We ended up having to have him escorted out, but what’s a wedding without the one relative that we all pretend that we don’t know and shake our heads as though to say “It’s so not like him to act this way”. 

With my second daughter things weren’t as easy but now looking back it wasn’t that bad.  My daughter was a beautiful bride, just as beautiful as my first daughter.  There were many similarities to both weddings as far as my emotions went; but when she put on her dress my emotions took over.  I started feeling as though I was losing my baby and as the night wore on the feeling got worse.  By the time the happy couple was ready to leave I felt as though my whole world was crashing down around me and this mean man was ripping my baby from my arms.  I went to give her a hug good bye and I could not let go.  My oldest daughter finally stepped in and pulled me away.  I ran to my husband and started crying, where I’m sure he was thinking “what is wrong with her”, I just couldn’t help my feelings.  The next day I was much better and ok with the fact that she was now a married woman and was a Mrs. So and So. 

Since her wedding I now feel as though we are true empty nester.  Other than her Poly Pockets, old prom dresses, and some things left over from her cosmetology school days all of her belongings have moved with her.  What used to be her bedroom is a guestroom with no hint of it ever belonging to my baby girl.  I have decided that I need to embrace this time of my life and really start figuring out who I am.  My husband and I are celebrating 30 glorious years of marriage and the great part is that we really enjoy each other more now than we did when we were first married.  We are happy to just sit together without feeling as though we have to talk.  We love being able to stay out late and not have to worry about a babysitter, getting a child to an activity, or whether or not they have had dinner; they are adults they can figure out whether they need to eat or not all on their own.

Since embracing this change in our lives my husband has his naked room (it’s his den and for the most part he isn’t naked just in his underwear), dinner is chips and salsa, cranking on music from the 70’s and 80’s is acceptable, and we can stay out as late as we want with no worries.  Oh how I love being empty nesters; we worked hard to get to this point and we are enjoying every minute of it.

When did we become so dependent on cell phones?

In the state that I live in recently a law was passed saying that you cannot drive and talk or text on a cell phone unless you use a hands free devise.  Seems like a great idea to me.   They thought about all aspects of this new law except for one thing, people are now pulling off to the side of the freeway to answer or make phone calls.  How stupid can someone be?  Who are they calling or talking to that is so important to not only risk my life but theirs?  When I heard this my first thought was “maybe DMV should make everyone pass a “How Stupid Am I” test instead of a making everyone pass an eye exam”.  I guess they don’t want to do that because in all reality how many people would really pass this test. 

With this new law I started thinking, “when did we become so dependent on being in touch with everyone that we can’t make it from one destination to another without stopping to talk on a phone, check email, or text someone”.  Maybe I’m the only person that puts my cell phone on vibrate and then forgets to check it for hours and sometimes days.  I really don’t need to be in touch with people that bad, I figure that whoever is calling me they can just wait until I get to my destination.  During Monday through Friday I’m in constant communication with people at work that when I leave I don’t want to talk, text or most certainly not check my email.

I’m going to age myself here but I remember only having one phone in the house and it was located in the kitchen.  It didn’t come with a feature to text, check email, or be able to get on the internet, we didn’t even have voice mail so if we weren’t home we didn’t know that someone had called.  To really age myself our kitchen phone was orange (such a great color) and it had a rotary dial.  Here is the most shocking thing about the orange kitchen phone, we only had to dial 5 numbers there was no such thing as speed dial, I know what you are thinking “OMG she must have been a cave person”. I didn’t live in a cave but we did somehow manage to get by without having to be in constant communication with the outside world. 

I also remember when I could go to the grocery store, doctors, library, public bathroom, or pretty much anywhere and not have to be subjected to hearing phone conversations.  It doesn’t bother me at the grocery store but come on the bathroom this is supposed to be private time; next time think about those in the next stall over, we may not want our private business to be heard around the world.

So next time that you call me leave a message because chances are my phone is on vibrate sitting on the kitchen counter or in my purse.  I’m not sure if I will ever become dependent on being in constant communication because I like my free time and I figure if it’s an emergency call my home phone, yes I still have a home phone, call me old fashioned but I just can’t seem to get rid of it.  My home phone is no longer orange and a rotary dial, it actually is cordless and I have an answering machine.

Mother of the Bride

In earlier posts I mentioned that my daughter was getting married.  One of the things that go with preparing for a wedding is to purchase the Mother of the Bride dress.  Not an easy task; at one point I thought “I’m just going to show up in shorts, T-shirt and sandals”.  But no I kept on looking and praying that the perfect dress would just appear. 

Let me tell you a little bit about the wedding so that you will understand my pain a little bit better.  The wedding is going to be in a beautiful outside location in early September in Las Vegas.  Not sure if you have ever been to Vegas in September but it is still 100 plus degrees.  The wedding planner has reassured me that we will only be outside for about 30 minutes so it shouldn’t be too bad.  Keeping all this in mind I began my search.

When I have to do any searching I usually start on the intranet.  I spent hours and hours looking at dresses in every view imaginable and in every color.  I found nothing that even remotely looked like something I would wear.  So I decided to head to a couple of stores to see what was out there.  OMG what a joke this tip was.  I couldn’t find anything. 

My last hope was a bridal shop.  As I walked in I told the sales woman what the occasion was and that it was in September so it would be hot.  She took me over to the Mother of the Bride dresses.  As I stood there going through each one I kept thinking to myself “add a large pocket book, put my hair in a bun, add nurses shoes and I’m Aunt Bee”, oh lord help me.  I guess the look on my face was enough to convince the sales woman that I wasn’t interested in any of them.  She finally suggested a special occasion dress.  She pulled a few out for me to try on.  The first one that I put only needed some flowers in my hair and I could have passed for a flower child from the 70’s.  I was starting to give up and then I saw the dress.  I asked to try it on.  She only had it in lime green, I should say puke lime green, but at least I could see how it looked on me.  I fell in love with it.  So I ordered it in lilac.

I get a call that my dress is in.  I set an appointment for alterations because unless I grew about six inches it was going to be way too long.  I arrive at my scheduled appointment, put my dress on with my shoes, and walked out of the dressing room.  The seamstress is standing behind me looking at the dress.  She tells me we need to take in the top, not something most women want to hear but it could have been worse.  She then starts rubbing my butt telling me that in her native county of Hungry the men there like their women with junk in their trunk.  She was rubbing it as though she was hoping that a genie was going to magically appear.  I kept thinking “unless you are buying me dinner do not rub my butt; that is reserved for my husband”.  She soon got back to the business at hand of pinning my dress and making the alterations.  Boy was I glad when that appointment was over.

I have since picked up my dress and I’m very happy with the way that it turned out.  So I guess getting my butt rubbed was worth it as long as my dress looks good.  After everything that I went through trying to find the perfect dress I did learn that if I’m ever looking for a new husband I’m heading to Hungry.