Where'd this weather come from?!

Belle is in heeeeeeeeaven!

We just got back from a good play at Ellison Park and she's a tuckered out pup. Passed out cold on the floor snoring. I love her when she's like this.

Sometimes when she is wet and the sun is shining on her undercoat I see hints of chocolate. I'm convinced it's because Maggie is hiding somewhere inside of her. I told Mom the other day that I picked pretty good puppies. She corrected me quickly and said, "MAGGIE picks really good puppies. She's the one who sent you Belle." Oh, Mags. I sure miss you.

I got a little sunshine on my cheeks, too. Hello, freckles! I miss you during the cold winter months. I wish you'd stick around a little longer. And stop fading. I want to keep you forever! When I was little I would have done anything to get rid of those freckles, and now I can't get enough of them. I wish I had a kid picture of me with my freckles, but I can't seem to find one. Argh.

Anyway, here's a cute little picture of a cute little black lab. It's not Belle, but it is what she's doing right now. Life is pretty okay.

Are you Pinterested?

I've found something really cool.

Okay, so there are probably a million others who have found it, too, but it's this super cool, functional, and FUN website called Pinterest. It has changed the way that I surf the web (and I have more time to surf now than I ever had before!)

I love color, ideas, words, pictures....I love to see home design, crafts, things people have accomplished. Pinterest is a place to organize and store it all without bookmarks. Love just one thing on a site? Pin it! Just one picture or quote? Pin it! Then go to your Pinterest site and you can see everything together. I am seeing themes emerge in my style and it's helped to clarify my own design preferences for when I DO finally get a house again. Some day. Some day.

Love cake design? Shots for pictures? Reminders for wedding ideas? Keep it organized on Pinterest.

I am in love. LOVE!

Might as well face it; I'm addicted.

I am.

I'm addicted.

I think about it all the time. I have to have it first thing in the morning. I can't wait until I get my next fix and today, I drove out of my way to get it. And what's even weirder? My pee smells like coffee. It's for sure an addiction.

In all fairness, I do have better things to do than to sniff my ummm.....urine, but I am a health educator by trade and weirdities of the body fascinate me. (See Grossology books) Because I am who I am I googled this phenomenon may occur and it seems that it's something genetic; 1 in 4 are able to smell the odor of coffee in urine. Hey. Don't be jealous I'm gifted and you probably aren't. I also got exactly one copy of Factor V Leiden. Super jealous now, aren't you? Apparently, it means my kidneys are doing their job and getting the caffeine and other coffee delights out of my system. Thanks, kidneys!

I know it's a little late to jump on the Lent train, but I'm shoving coffee off the bus (see how I used two modes of transportation in one bad sentence?) for a week. That's right, folks. An entire week - no coffee.

Goodbye, my true love. Until next week.

Read this post....and then ask me why I'm still single.

(Buy this magnet here!)

Okay, readers. Something just happened that is begging to be blogged about.... And I do mean begging.

Everybody knows that my skin has shriveled into prune-like wrinkles from sitting in the dating pool for so long. (The mere thought of what's swimming around diluted in that pool totally skeeves me out, by the way.) Every once in a while I decide that I should try online dating again (and so does my mom). I've tried them all: Match, Plenty of Fish, Yahoo! Personals, eHarmony, yadda, yadda, friggin' yadda. Most recently I was subscribed to singleseniors.net or something like that thanks to my very loving and concerned mother. I think she thought that after my little blood clot incident that anyone would be better than no one - even if they were 85 years old (I know, Mom. They aren't ALL that old).

So, anyway.

Sometimes curiosity kills the proverbial cat and my wonder gets the best of me. It is at these times that I unhide my profile on Plenty of Fish, a free dating site. I've learned to refer to it as Plenty Offish, because that's mostly what you get. Essentially, you get what you pay for, right? I was heartily reminded why I refer to this site as Plenty Offish tonight.

Last night I felt like it was time to unhide my profile and see what was swimming around in the leach bed of dating. Not a lot of action until this evening.

Last summer I had ONE date with a guy and helped him with an event happening in my neighborhood. That was the extent of our interaction/contact. Actually, I think he asked me out again after the festival and I declined and hadn't heard from him until today.

I just want to share an exchange that just happened via email on the site between the two of us. This is uncensored folks. I can't make this shit up. BTW: Names have been changed to protect the innocent, including mine. I don't want you creepers out there checking out my profile, which oh, by the way reads:

"Fun loving, humorous, wine drinking (sometimes beer too!) female with gassy labrador seeks caring, generous, supportive man who doesn't take himself too seriously. You like to laugh? Me too. Serious conversation? Same here! Wanna hang out and listen to live music next to the lake. OH YEAH!"

If you recognize these words it's probably because you contributed to this dandy dating bait on a Facebook post. You guys are awesome. Okay, for real....here goes:

Captain Douche Bag: hey how have you been?

Me: Hey there!
I've been pretty good. How about you?
Are you in the process of planning for Corn Hill yet? (Corn Hill refers to the Corn Hill Festival)

CDB: Yes I am, how come?

Me: No reason other than it seemed to be successful last year!

CDB: lol ok did you help me at the event? I forget..lol sorry

Me: It's always so reassuring that I leave such an indelible impression on people. ;o)
Yes, I did help....all afternoon, actually. On short notice and as a favor.

CDB: i know i remember now :(
and thank you!

CDB: oooo we met before we had sex.. no i remember! lol

Me: ???
We didn't have sex.

CDB: lol ooooooooooooooo hmmmm why not ? haha

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand END SCENE.


Plenty Offish. Yep. And there you have it.

Fair doesn't mean equal...

At least that's what my BFF Katie tells me (and others).

Yesterday I had a, well.....shall we call it an "incident" on Facebook? It was a stark reminder that fair, indeed, is NOT equal.

I love Facebook as much as the next person. Without it I would have fallen out of touch with so many people I call friends and family. It's been great to see accomplishments and births and new homes and talents and skills of so many of my friends and family. I wouldn't have even known that my cousin's child was born this week had it not been for Facebook. Just sayin'.

As great as it is, it's not always great.

As I was reminded of yesterday.

A friend posted something that was going to happen in their and their significant other's life as a couple. Great! This friend and I have bantered back and forth since we were young and they have always given me shit about football, Penn State, professional things in my life.... Always. Much of the time it is based in sarcasm and can be somewhat sharp. But it's what we did.

Recently, I posted a picture of a poster I presented at a conference in Montreal that had taken a lot of time and effort to complete. Some friends asked me to post a picture, so I did - reluctantly. This person (mentioned above) was the first person to comment on the picture saying, "Is that a typo?" or something along those lines. I felt stinging in my cheeks, because there was a typo on the poster and I knew it. My advisor had strongly recommended that I not have it reprinted because no one would notice at the conference. No big deal. And it wasn't. I doubt that the person mentioned above even read the poster, but felt free to comment anyway. Several of my other friends also commented on the picture, but didn't feel the need to defend or attack the typo comment. Even though it bothered me I didn't mention it and we all moved on in our lives.

Fast forward to yesterday. This is where the story picks up. Yesterday, this typo friend posted the relatively major life event that was going to happen in the context of a relationship that was important to them. I made a teasing comment on par with the typo comment they had made on my conference poster. The manure that followed was straight out of Newfield Central School circa 1989; another person decided they needed to defend the original poster telling the world that my post was "venom" and subsequently posting on her page that I was "toxic" and clearly so unhappy with my life that I couldn't allow anyone else to be happy.

Ummmmm......

Really?

The part that stung? The friend who posted the "typo" comment didn't bother to acknowledge that our friendship was on that level. Ouch. I guess that's what happens when one thinks that their relationship is more important, more valuable, more defendable than someone else's relationship....regardless of what the relationship is. And that's where fair doesn't mean equal, apparently.

In the end, I decided to unfriend the person (who was never really a friend to begin with) for several reasons, but mostly because if they had balls enough to feel comfortable with labeling me as "toxic" when they know nothing about me, my life, or my psyche then their character is not one with which I wish to be associated. And the "typo" poster? I just hid their profile, no longer seeing updates or posts that come from them.

Is it a little thing? Yes. But sometimes the little things sting the most.

My friends could have very easily flamed the typo friend on my post, but they didn't. Why? Because they have faith and confidence that I can manage things on my own.

So, I ask this: In the context of Facebook posts is it our responsibility to flame person B's response to person A's thread? Isn't it the case that person A can delete or comment for themselves? What right do we have to butt in to someone else's post to attack, defame, or belittle person A's friends?

Yeah, I'm a little hurt. Not because I was called "toxic" or because I was accused of spewing "venom," but because someone who posts responses just as sharp and sarcastic wasn't enough of a friend to call off the dogs.

And that's just disappointing.

Deal of the Week

This dress was originally $89.99 at Ann Taylor LOFT. It's a lovely l'il frock, but I wouldn't pay that much for it. Note: It is not that short on me since my legs aren't nearly that long.

It happened to be hanging on the sale rack, all by it's lonesome. It called to me to give it a whirl.

And so I did.

With it's great cut and the airiness of it, I liked it, but not for the price on the rack ($59.99). It was better than the original $89.99, but still not quite there.

So, what did I pay for it?

You mean after the additional 30% off of the sale price?

And the additional 30% off for Friends and Family Week?

And the additional $10 for a snag at the bottom of the hem that even Susan didn't notice?

Hold onto your hats!!

$27.

And that, my friends, is my Deal of the Week!

Making the best of unemployment

I know that I am supposed to be disappointed that I am unemployed. In many circusmtances I would be, but when word came down there would be a "reduction in workforce" due to "cuts in funding" I started praying. Praying that I would be one of the ones who would benefit from the reduction. And for once my prayer worked.

There are a few lessons I've learned while being unemployed, however. The first is that even though spending MUST be curbed, cutting back in the area of toilet paper is not the way to go. Even if I could save $3 by buying cheaper toilet paper, I will never again buy anything other than Cottonelle. It's just not worth it.

Next, I had to resolve the guilt of not getting up and going to a worksite every day. I've since realized that my worksite is upstairs at my writing station. The amount of writing I've completed since being let go has been remarkable. I would have been done with my degree four years ago if I hadn't been working. Okay, probably not really, but whatever....

Today my friend Susan and I met for lunch (Mom tells me I must stop having lunch meetings) and a massage. Don't get angry. Anyone can afford a massage. Here's how...

We went to Brookstone. Yes. Brookstone. You know? The store in the mall with all of the gadgets and the massage chairs? It might be a little ummm....welll....I don't have wrods for what it might be, but we enjoyed ourselves. A lot. Like 20 minutes of massage and a lot of people staring at us.

Have you seen the episode of Modern Family where Claire goes to the mall for a massage? Okay, well, you have to watch a short ad before the clip, but here it is. I had to remind Susan that we did not want to sound like Claire.

So, lesson for the day? Anyone can afford a massage....even when unemployed.