Happy 4th of July!

July goals

Okay, so I'm not only in for July's NaBloPoMo but I'm also going to double down and set a weight loss goal as well. Not only will I post on this blog every day this month but I will also lose 10 pounds. Oh yeah, I know I'm crazy!

I have no heart for self discipline but here we are. And because I always need a visual aid (and even numbers):




So, for July from 158 to 148 (or less) pounds. Goal to be achieved mostly by sensible eating, walking each evening and random exercising. I will be held accountable by my DAILY or more postings to this blog.

Prepare to be bored!

I have a girl crush on Donna Brazile

Yeah, I know. I'm married. And straight. And yeah, I'm a Republican. But that doesn't mean that I can't be in love with Donna Brazile. And why not? She's just lovely, she's uber smart, she's funny and she speaks her mind (when it suits her).

What prompted this confession? I was in the kitchen just now doing dishes when a CNN talking head introduced a "behind the scenes at the DNC convention" segment featuring Donna. I just about broke my neck getting to the TV. Yep, that's a sure sign of a fangirl. The segment sucked only because it was too short. (Hey, CNN! If you have access to such an awesome resource why not utilize it more rather than focusing on those lame no name commentators who have nothing better to do than offer their lame opinions of your coverage of the convention? Most industries save the back patting for a post-event staff party.)

Here's another confession: I tune into This Week with George Stephanopoulos each Sunday to watch only the round table. I have it timed perfectly, I flip the TV on just in time to watch Stephanopoulos introduce the weekly participants. Let me tell you, if Stephanopoulos doesn't announce George Will and Donna Brazile I am sorely disappointed. I don't know what it is about their debate but I find it calming and soothing; it gets my week started on the right foot.

Golf Guy has even learned that a 15 minute dose of the round table = a week of a more happy, well grounded Minima. He'll interrupt what he's watching to make certain I get to catch the show. Why? I can't really put my finger on it. Maybe it's just the idea that there are people in the world who can disagree civilly on the fundamentals. Maybe it's the idea that not everyone associated with politics has lost their damned minds. Maybe it's the idea that the adults may still be in charge.

Anyway, Donna Brazile? She's one of my heroes.

If you're interested in politics, biographies or behind the scenes of the 2000 election I suggest you read her book, Cooking with Grease.

Is this what passes for Muzak these days?

I unfortunately had to spend a good amount of time in my local bank branch today in a (probably futile) attempt to solve a problem. While I was there this song from Evanescence was being modestly pumped out over the loudspeakers as though it were a perfectly mainstream selection. I thought they were insane...until I saw the 70+ year old fellow who was waiting before me happily tapping his toe to the tune.

Freaky.

UPDATE: In response to inquiries - I'll only say that it was Bank of America, I won't rat out the branch and in case some super sleuth quizelles it out - everyone waiting seemed perfectly happy regardless of the music selection.

UPDATE II: Problem totally solved. Awesomely solved. In fact, I am in awe of the efficiency of the solution. It cost me time (but waiting to jazzy tunes!) and anxiety but not an arm and a leg (yeah, we're poor enough that an overdraft penalty means tuna for a week). Love you Bank of America!

UPDATE III: Okay, I was closing a savings account w/ auto deposit. Spoke to three people on the phone: regular person, slightly more informed regular person, supervisor. You'd think it'd be just that "easy". Nope. A month later I was looking at a negative balance (due to service charges due to canceling direct deposit on " closed" account ) on an account that I'd closed and penalties. KUDOS to my bank VP for telling me that "the problem is that the first guy you spoke to was an idiot". No, SERIOUSLY, he said that!!! It then took him a week to straighten all the charges and penalties. BUT HE DID IT! For little old me, hardly their biggest depositor. Heck, my balance is a little above zero at the end of each pay period, but he took the time to help me. Killing me not to name him and give him the recognition that he deserves. I'll settle for :

Thank you Bank of America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"How can I control my life when I can't control my hair?"*

The good news is that I don't look like Posh Spice (that was a joke!) but the bad news is that I skipped the haircut. There were transportation issues that I simply wasn't motivated enough to overcome. It's just as well as I still haven't picked out a hairstyle and the last thing I want is a hairstylist (and a stranger at that) talking me into something freaky.

I think I may try again on Monday while Golf Guy is taking his PAT.

*Quote lifted from an unknown comedienne. Lynne Koplitz, maybe?

At times like this...

What is it about emotional trauma that makes a woman want to go out and get a drastic haircut? Yeah, I haven't had my hair cut professionally in YEARS (at least 10) but I think I'm heading to the mall tomorrow to have it all chopped off. Don't mock the mall salon. Tomorrow is Sunday, where else can you get your hair cut on a Sunday? (My hair hasn't been professionally cut in years but now it has to be taken care of tomorrow?! Dunno.)

Right now my hair is just a couple of inches past my shoulders, up from near middle of my back at the beginning of the year - cut it myself, as always. HA! It looks HORRIBLE. Fat chicks should not have wavy shoulder = double chin length hair. It is NOT complimentary. Way to broaden that silhouette!

I think if I screw up my courage tomorrow I'll go just below my chin (but professionally layered in such a way that I don't look like a mushroom).

It's not that I'm squeamish about cutting my hair or short hair, not at all. I've had some pretty damned drastic haircuts in my day, (but I was thinthinthin then...and young!).

Golf Guy doesn't want super short. (The way it was when we met? Ahem.)

I just want something that doesn't get in my damned way during the next 4 months while I shed 50 pounds. (Yeah, that's my goal.)

My big bugaboo is having some stranger touch me. Just the thought of someone being within my PERSONAL SPACE long enough to give me a decent haircut gives me the heebeejeebees. I don't like people touching me. I REALLY don't like strangers touching me.

Not to mention having to make polite conversation all that time. I just don't think I have it in me.

Okay, gotta stop because all this post is doing is giving me a million and one reasons NOT to get a PROFESSIONAL haircut tomorrow. G-d forbid tomorrow morning I chicken out on the PROFESSIONAL part and end up in front of my OWN MIRROR AT HOME with a photo of Posh Spice and a pair of scissors.  (The tattoo? I guess I'll just have to grab a Bic pen. Classy!)

Dogs' lives are too short.

Their only fault, really.

Baloo Stripling

August 1992 to July 2008

We love you and miss you.

Who's a pretty boy? Boo is!

Mariachi etiquette

Golf Guy and I rarely make it out of the house for dinner. The occasional breakfast? Yes. A sometime lunch? Maybe. But dinner? I honestly can't remember the last time we had "a date night". It just Never. Happens. So when I was so bold as to insist that he take me out to dinner last night he could hardly say no. Where to? The best Mexican restaurant in town, El Norteno - it's cheap, authentic and tasty.

Did I mention that the best part of having dinner with my husband is the conversation? Yeah, we talk a lot. A. LOT. It's one of the things we look forward to each evening - just catching up.

Anyway, last night: combine one authentic Mexican restaurant and...a mariachi band? Mariachi bands are loud, very loud. That equals no conversation at all, and frankly I'm STILL rather uncomfortable from the experience.

Seriously, what is the etiquette for a dinner time serenade? My order arrived just as the mariachi band got to our table and we all know that the beans and cheese are best when they're hot, right? But now there's a 4 man band standing there. Singing to me. And it was some incredibly romantic song since they apparently decided that Golf Guy and I were dating rather than having been together for nearly 20 years.

So while I'm being serenaded, do I get to dig into my Chile Colorado or do I smile politely as my food gets cold? I finally decided to enjoy the present (translated: revel in Golf Guy's discomfort) and postpone the eating for the moment. (Mm hm: cold beans.) This is making a memory, right?

Oh well, I won't remember those beans in week but hopefully I'll remember those awkward and uncomfortable moments with Golf Guy forever.

About Me

Living in Florida, 40 years old, happily married to Golf Guy (not his real name and, as you may have guessed, in the golf business).

We have one cat, Baxter. His real name is Bastard, the cat I mean, not my husband. We try not to call him that in polite company but trust me, he worked hard to earn that moniker. He's a good kitty most of the time but when he's bad, he's very, very bad.

Anyway, I'm a reformed political blogger. I was at it hot and heavy for four years and then one day, not very long after John McCain won the Republican nomination, I deleted my political blogs in fit of pure spite. Of course, I have no idea who I was actually spiting.

A few months later I've discovered that giving up politics is hard but giving up blogging is even harder. I have no idea what this blog will be about. Mostly it's here to serve as an outlet for my snark.

Contact:
minimally me @ gmail DOT com