I was hoping to have our Christmas decorations out and possibly up by now.  But they are still packed away on shelves in the basement that are too high for me to reach (and I'm not climbing on a ladder and bringing down a bunch of heavy boxes.)

This was our tree last year.  I want to add some other colors this year.  Last year we decorated with the #wedding in mind (red theme).  The tree is 9' tall.  I wish we had bought a 12' tree.

Life is good

 

(I guess this could have been a pulse)

Went to Guitar Center yesterday (Black Friday) and bought a PA system.  Have a karaoke gig next Saturday.  I am thinking this may be what I do when I go into semi-retirement.  I should probably make up some business cards for Saturday.

We also went to Kohl's where I think I pretty much have all of my Christmas shopping done. 

The crowds were manageable.  In Guitar Center we got immediate service and in and out with what we needed pretty quickly.  At Kohl's we didn't really have to stand in line because as soon as we got in line (there was only one person ahead of us) someone opened another register and told us to come over.

Next Saturday I'm going to an adult 'toy' party.  I've never been to one.  I've never used one of these 'toys'.  I am afraid I'm going to embarrass myself.  But I hope whatever I decide to buy comes with instructions

10/31/1994 - My divorce from husband number 1 was final.

10/31/2002 - I moved to Xanga from MDD.

10/31/2010 - Current husband formally proposed to me.

Note something significant happens on Halloween every 8 years for me.

I'm thinking I'll finally retire on 10/31/2018 (3 years later than I had hoped.)

 

I just heard that there are those that consider Black Friday offensive because it intimates that it is the day black people do their shopping or some such bullshit.  What?  Puhleeze.

I'm sure my readers all know this, but here it is anyway.

Most retailers operate in the red until the day after Thanksgiving, which is the biggest shopping day of the year.  By the end of the day, enough shoppers have dropped enough money that they are no longer operating at a deficit and are finally "in the black".  In Accounting, negative numbers are red and positive numbers are black.  -1,234.56 or (1,234.56) vs. 1,234.56

Why do some people have to turn everything into a racist issue?

 

When I was in 5th grade I started playing the clarinet.  In the summer before 10th grade my parents bought me a top-of-the line clarinet (the same model Benny Goodman played) so I practiced 4 to 8 hours a day and ended up quite good at it.  One year of college, two semesters of music theory, and I lost interest in it. 

Starting in 9th grade I joined the school chorus.  This was my real passion.  But I didn't really think I had the talent to be a singer even though I took private voice lessons at a music conservatory.  In fact, my first year of college I signed on as a music major specializing in the clarinet instead of voice.  I was set up to take class voice because I didn't have anything ready for my audition for private voice lessons.  The voice class teacher told us right in the beginning that we would not get an "A" for effort.  She said she graded on talent.  So I thought I would end up with a C in the class.  At one point, she told me I had a 'very pretty voice' and one other time she asked me what I was doing in class voice instead of private.  The illogical part of my brain figured she must be tone deaf if she didn't know the answer to that (of course, years later I can look back and see that they would never hire a tone-deaf music teacher!)

Throughout my adult life I've always wanted to play music and sing.  In my 20s I taught myself how to play the guitar.  In fact, at a party I was invited to, one of the band members let me show him on his guitar that I had learned to play "House of the Rising Sun".  I was very proud of that until his wife said to me "that's everyone's first song."  But I learned to play a lot of stuff.  I remember playing both harmony and melody, and playing from a book, reading the music, and not just strumming the chords above the music.

In my 30s I bought an organ and learned to play that a little.

In my 40s I tried piano

Now I'm in my 50s.  I have a piano and two guitars.  I play AT the piano but have come to the conclusion that I will never play well.  I have both an acoustic and a classical guitar.  I'm taking a class at the local community college in guitar right now.  I want to be able to play all kinds of guitar - classical, jazz, and just strumming patterns to accompany myself singing.  One of the songs in my book is "Teach Your Children" - I think I can do this one.  It will take some practice, because my chord changes aren't very fast and I have to get used to making strumming patterns second nature because once I start singing, I can't remember the pattern.  But, I WILL DO THIS! 

This is my sister Debbie and I practicing together.  She is taking the class with me.

I used to.  I thought my second husband was my soul mate.  And it could be that he is/was.  We have always been very good friends, and probably always will be.  I still care very deeply for him and love him in a special way, but not as a woman normally loves a man.

Some would say my current husband is my soul mate.  We have known each other since junior high school.  We had music classes together, hung out in the same crowds, and even dated after high school.  But we lost contact for 35 years.  About 7 or 8 years ago, a friend from high school was sharing some of his 'senior pictures' with me - and one of them was Roger.  When he sent it to me, I swear my heart skipped a beat.  (Although I was married to my second husband at the time.)  I sat there and stared at the picture for a long time, wondering whatever happened to him.  Over the next year or two, every time I ran across that picture, I would have the same reaction - it was physical and something I couldn't help.

Several years later (August, 2009), I got a friend request on Facebook from Roger.  Same reaction.  My heart skipped a beat.  I went to his page - I saw his pictures but didn't recognize him.  In my head, he was forever 18. I also saw that he had just lost his wife to breast cancer.  I sent him a message saying I was very sorry for his loss.  I looked around on his page and saw that he'd had three sons (he told me later he lost one of them to diabetes just months before he lost his wife - it was his stepson but he raised him as his own because the real father wasn't around).

I didn't really talk to him much, but over the holidays that year, I knew I would be in town, so I sent a message to everyone I went to school with (including a music teacher who was on FB) saying that I would be in town and although everyone would be having their own holiday parties, it would be fun to all get together on January 2 in a mini-reunion.  I had my second husband with me that weekend.  In fact, if, before that night, he had asked me for a divorce, I would have been devastated.

So I won't go into details here because I've detailed this all before.  But what I will go into detail about is the 'package'.

Roger has two grown sons (21 and 25) who are cordial to me (but nowhere near approaching warm).  They are not cold, just - indifferent, I guess.  Anyway, both dropped out of high school, neither has much of a future ahead of them - they both work for a pizza company, one cooking and the other delivering.  THIS is their future, if they remain high school dropouts.  Sometimes I resent them being here, but then I have to remember, they were living with Roger when I started going out with him, and though the oldest one did try to share an apartment with a friend, that fell through when the friend lost his job, so he came back.

So, like it or not, I married the whole package.  And I love Roger enough to allow his sons to live here rent-free. 

If I believed in soul mates, then it could be that Roger was always meant for me, but we each had to have our own experiences before we could get together.  Otherwise, we would both be childless.  As it is, I still consider Steph my daughter (she's my stepdaughter from my first marriage), so I have her while Roger has his two sons as well as the memory of his wife and her son.  If we are soul mates - we were not meant to be together until now.

Are you offended by 'Happy Holidays'?

I've heard people say yes because they only want to hear "Merry Christmas".  Because CHRIST is the reason for the season.

 

I beg to differ.

It's a 'SEASON' - which includes(but is not limited to)

Winter Solstice,

Hannakuah,

Kwaanza,

Bodhi Day,

in addition to Christmas.

I am NOT going to send a card that says "Merry Christmas" to my Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, Buddhist, or non-Christian African American friends.  That would be disrespectful, IMHO.

In fact, I probably won't send any cards that say Merry Christmas, as I am not a Christian (although according to what I was taught, once saved, always saved - I became a born-again Christian when I was 12 years old and a true believer.  I lost my faith two years later.)  I will likely send everyone a card that says "Season's Greetings" or "Happy Holidays" and there will be no

manger scenes,

north stars

or bible verses. 

I'm not trying to save souls, I'm sending my love

and wishes for a happy time over the holidays, no matter how they are spent or what they are called, to my family and friends.

 

While I don't believe in Christmas, I do believe in

the concept of Santa Claus, 

Christmas Carols,

Holiday gatherings of family and friends,

gift exchanges,

Holiday decorations,

Holiday trees, etc.

 

These are all things that make me happy and make me feel the love. 

I believed in this stuff LONG before I ever heard of Christianity.

However, I also would not be offended if my Christian friends sent me a card that said Merry Christmas - as long as they didn't forget "and a Happy New Year"

How about you?  Are you offended by "Happy Holidays"?

 

There is a common misconception among type two diabetics that if you are on insulin (or have to go on it) you are a failure.  It's your fault.  You should have taken better care of yourself.

First of all, yes, there ARE factors you can control:  Your weight, what you eat, how much exercise you get.

But there are ALSO factors you can't control: your genes, your age, your ethnicity.

So that means, even taking the first three items out of the equation, you may have ended up a type 2 diabetic anyway.

The average type 2 diabetic is on insulin about 6 years after diagnosis.  It could be that they waited too long and should have been on it sooner.  That doctors are hesitant to prescribe insulin because people tend to be afraid of the 'needle'.

It doesn't have to be about 2" hypodermics. I use a pen with a very short needle (maybe 1/2") and inject in my abdomen where I usually can't feel a thing.

 

Diabetics are already used to needles because they have to test their glucose.

Insulin is the 'wonder drug' for diabetics.

Diabetes is a progressive disease.  It progresses.  Period.  Even with excellent control.  So no matter how good you are, you will likely end up on insulin at some point in your life.

Insulin will help you regain control.  It may prevent complications because it helps with control.

If you are a diabetic and your doctor "threatens" you with insulin, change doctors.  It's not a BAD thing!!!  And it could be a life-saver for you!

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month.

Consider this a public service announcement

 

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