That's my goofy guy! 

moxie crimefighter 

stacy sunset 

backyard 

no makeup 

antique3 

antique2 

antique store 

pool2 

pool 

pooltime 

trev 

the kiddoes 

A Short Bittersweet Story

Ok, I'm just gonna take a few minutes to tell a short story before I go to bed. My boyfriend's folks came up to visit this past weekend. They were in town to go to a birthday party for an old friend (and when I say old, I mean OLD, it was her 100th birthday party) but they didn't get to go. It seems that the day before the woman wanted to take a limousine ride all around town to visit all of her favorite places. Her childhood home, the home she shared for more than 50 years with her husband, the school she taught in, the city's finest park (which is my favorite place to be in the entire world. I even lived on the gulf of Mexico for two years and it was beautiful, but this park is even more special to me) and then she went back to the nursing home and died.

I love this story. It sounded like a perfect day to me. And how many of those do we get in our lifetime?

This is Sherry Britton. She was featured prominently in that movie Pretty Things that I mentioned in my last post. I tried to describe what these women looked like, but that just doesn't do it justice like this juicy picture! 

It's Not a Sermon, It's Just An Another Attempt At Indoctrination

I talked to one of my best friends the other day. She now lives out of state, so I don't know when I will get to see her again, but anyway, it was nice to get all caught up on each others lives. Her boyfriend is in Afghanistan and luckily will get to come home by February. She told me a harrowing story about the day she heard on the radio as she was going to work about 16 soldiers dying in a helicopter crash over there. She said she had to pull over to the side of the road because she thought she was going to start hyperventilating. I would have too. It makes me think of Sunday's "sermon" at church. I use quotation marks because it wasn't a message from my pastor but a tape he played for us of a sermon he witnessed at a recent convention. This guy was something else. But it gave me a perspective that I was wanting to at least hear about. The conservative, right-wing kind that all the liberal websites and magazines I personally read are so quick to disparage. They believe we HAVE to be over there because if we don't stop the spread of Islam then we are all DOOMED. We have to increase the number of Christians in this world in order for World Globalization to be a "success". Also he linked the triumph of Capitalism over Communism (The Fall Of The Iron Curtain) to the increase in the number of Christians in Communist nations. Because Marx was an Athiest and his goal was to keep the masses in poverty. Now they are all Christians over there and they aren't so poor any more. Jesus because He is so pure and good and right is a threat to the nations of Islam and that's why they hate us.

You know what? Now that I have had the chance to type all that out and read it back to myself, I think... WHAT A FUCKING CROCK! If I asked an Economics professor if all this was true what do you think they would say? I think I'm going to back to reading my Vanity Fair, Salon.com, and watching Bill Maher. Thank You Very Much! But, at least I heard the other side, the side my mother adheres to. And it gave me something to think about and now something to get all riled up about. Do I think my friend's boyfriend should be over in Afghanistan? You bet I do. His job is to infiltrate the local town and gather intelligence, and get the bad guys out of there. By bad guys I mean terrorists and not simply Muslims who don't love Jesus and America.

That was my political rant for the month. Guess what? Brat Camp is on. I watched this last week and loved it. Little shits, all of them. And they have to endure the harsh routine of "Wilderness Therapy". Strangely, there are no black ghetto kids in the program. These are all white punks from the suburbs. Guess the black kids go straight into the juvenile justice system and stay there, huh? I bet a program like this costs a minimum of ten grand. At least. And that was my social injustice rant for the month.

The Best Movies I Saw This Week: Lots of good ones. Kinsey. My boyfriend fell asleep during the first half, and that was even after I told him how culturally significant and important Kinsey's work was. That's Ok. I fell asleep during Bad Boys 2(A movie he was dying to see). I also watched a disturbing documentary about child beauty pageants on HBO. The mother was a total cunt rag stage mother from hell to her adorable daughter Swan and then wondered why they were on a losing streak. So the Mom took her to a couple of gay guys who were professional coaches and then sweet little adorable Swan seemed to blossom overnight because the guys made it seem like it was all glamourous fun and not boot camp. And then Swan WON the big pageant! Last night I watched a movie called Pretty Things, also a documentary on HBO. It was all about Burlesque Dancers and it was fabulous! Whew! Those ladies sure were gorgeous and so were the outfits. Not a fake titty in sight. They all had lush, ripe, heavenly curves. And with the total and complete saturation of sex in our media and in our faces every single day, it would have been an exotic treat to see one of those ladies who gave you just a sexy little peek and a slight whiff of the maybe obtainable. Now with that said, I still think stripping is bad. It's not what I would ever do. I think it's a dirty sleazy job that is one step above actual whoring. That's the truth. But those ladies really did a good job of obscuring that.

Best Album I Listened To: Come On Feel The Illinois by Sufjan Stevens. It's a complete song cycle about well, Illinois! I can't really say much more about it because I didn't listen to it all the way through. I just listened to enough of each track to make sure that each downloaded song was a good copy. But I am going to put it to the floating in the pool and listening to moody music test tommorrow.

Book I'm Currently Reading: My Life by Bill Clinton. I've only got through the first few chapters and Bill is still in grade school. I dunno... I'm kinda bored by this actually so far and that surprises me. I'm gonna stick with it though. I really do want to know how an average boy from an average place became such an extraordinary man.

And The Diet?: Well... I haven't lost any more weight this week because I haven't been trying to hard, but I haven't gained any either! I am so totally PMSing right now and I need food. Fatty, sweet and salty food. Popcorn. Willy Wonka Cakes. Nachos Bell Grande at 11:30 PM right after I get off work. Oh, and the other night after work, I got a Mushroom And Swiss Burger and a peach milk shake from Steak And Shake and it was divine. I sat up in bed and ate all of it. And it just doesn't get any better than that!

Mmmmmmmmmmm...... 

Can you beleive I see people walking around my store looking like this? I really do! And it's not even Wal-Mart! 

Great Is Thy Gratefulness

Well you know that thing I last posted about that I was waiting for to happen for the last twenty years, finally happens? It's still happening every time! This is just the thing that girls like to write in their diaries and I am no exception...

Things are going pretty good around here so I can't complain. I'm not completely broke yet like I was last week, I still have 50 dollars left from my paycheck. And Lord do I know how to stretch 50 dollars out to last the week until Friday/Payday. I remember times when I had 7 or 8 dollars left after paying bills and having to make that stretch for two weeks! Money might still be tight these days but it sure as hell ain't that bad anymore and I am so grateful for that.

You know, it makes me think of something my mother said in church a few weeks ago. So there she is, up there doing her praise and worship thing like she does every Sunday and she says to the congregation "If you have something that you want to share about how God has blessed you this week, please come up here and share that with us." All of a sudden I thought about my oldest son. Now I should have gone up there, but I was suddenly too emotional to really speak coherently. I wanted to say how thankful I was that It's been six months since my son has been hospitalized for respiratory problems. In January of this year, his doctor told me that if he kept this up, they would put him on a respirator. Permanently. The first thing I said was "Well, thank God my boyfriend had enough sense to wire up his room for 220 volts instead of 110!" But inside my heart was just breaking. I didn't want to hear that. To me, it was just one more thing that would be heaped upon this kid, and one more thing that would require even more specialized care. I remember for years balking at the idea of him getting a trach. When I finally relented and he got it, I realized that it really was the best thing for him and it's not that big of a deal now. So, if indeed in the future he eventually does need to be on a vent at home, I have to remind myself of that. But, Thank You God that he is doing really well right now and I haven't had to have a second discussion with the doctor about it.

Last Great Movie I Saw: Harold And Kumar Go To The White Castle. I kept thinking it wasn't quite as funny as Half Baked, but still pretty good. I liked the fact that it ended up with Harold and Kumar doing something positive with themselves (Harold standing up to his supervisors, and Kumar deciding to go to medical school after all) instead of just making it to the White Castle after a long and treacherous night.

Last Album I Listened To: R. Kelly's TP 3 Reloaded. I think that R. Kelly is right on the same level as Michael Jackson. They are both sick bastards who need to stop messing around with children and they are both brilliant songwriters and artists. This is great album which is basically all about sex (whoo-hoo!!!!) and the last track, a 16 minute opus entitled Trapped In The Closet is the best thing on it. I can't remember the last time I listened to a song that literally had me on the edge of my seat and commanded my attention so effectively because it told such a compelling story (ok, so I listened to a mix cd I made of Johnny Cash songs the other day, and those songs tell great stories too, but I have listened to that cd dozens of times and I know those stories by heart. I can't beleive I'm actually comparing R. Kelly to the master of song storytelling Johnny Cash, but I guess I am). The song's ending just left me stunned. I would have never guessed it would turn out that way. And it's not about murder or drugs or evil, it's all about SEX, infidelity to be specific, and it's simply OUTSTANDING! I have always said that my most favorite songs tell a story and this one belongs in the Hall Of Fame of story songs.

Last Great Book I Read: I haven't read any good books lately. I have been spending more time outside in the pool and when I do come inside to relax I have been leafing through back issues of Vanity Fair. I will never get tired of those. And I never throw an issue away! There are boxes of them in the basement. I have considered getting a copy of Bill Clinton's book now that it is paperback.

Top Story In The News: The London Bombings. Over 50 people were killed last week when bombs went off in several London subway trains. Why is going to work in the morning so fucking precarious these days? First it's the building you work in falls down on top of you and now it's the train or bus you take to get there that blows up. If terrorists ever attack the store I work in I'm gonna be pissed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: They just don't pay me enough to get that stressed out!

This is what my boyfriend will look like when he's 90! Still wearing tight 80's pants and sportin' a VERY nice package...

It's so great to be able to fit into my old pants again... (I got this photo off of Manolo's Shoe Blog and when you scroll over it, it says "plumber's crack guaranteed with every pair!")