Happy New Year 2011!

It's almost New Year's eve. It's the time when you want to start "anew" with New Years resolutions.

Every year I vow to stop swearing.

That lasts for a total of one hour.

Every year I vow to be nicer and calmer.

That last for about 2 hours.

Although I will make another attempt this year.

I will also try to be a bit more open minded and not so judgemental.

I will also try not to be so paranoid and neurotic about things.

I"ll keep working on my "sainthood" status.

It's not easy, but I'm consciously working on being the best that I can be.

I've given up donuts and cookies. I will continue to stay away from foods that I can not control.

I have to laugh when I see the sale paper ads this time of year. It is loaded with exercise equipment and diet suppliments. Many people must buy these things as a part of their New Year's resolutions but let's face it by March, these exercise machines end up being coat racks and dust collectors.

I think it is almost impossible to start a diet at the peak of winter.

There is a shortage of fresh veggies and fruit. The winter just makes you hungry for comfort foods. I can only hope for is to not fall off the wagon and give in to the sugary comforting carbs.

I try to get out there and go for a run everyday even if it's a short one. I try to stick to an ongoing routine. The same goes for working out in cell block#9. The progression is slow but it is still progressing.

I work (and struggle) to improve myself in body, mind and soul.

It's working.

I think.

Happy New Years!

post holiday letdown

I had a very nice Christmas.

I hope all of you did too.

Now this is the part I have a hard time with.

The day after.

Yes, I am one of those jerks that go into post holiday depression.

It's like the party is over and now you have to pay for it by being thrown into a dark dank cold endless prison pit for three months now.

It's as if something switches off. And now, I will have a dull suffocating migraine for the entire month of January.

It happens every single year without fail.

I don't know if it is because it is so dark, cold and dry or what. It's not just a mental thing but a serious physical thing for me.

I don't know how the people who live in northern countries deal with winter for six months of the year.. ugh...

Thankfully, I only put up a small Christmas tree so it is not such a daunting task when you have to take down the decorations. I leave the "santa frogs" out and all my Christmas cards up longer to enjoy.

Right now, here on the east coast, we are getting pounded with a major blizzard.

We are expecting two feet of snow.

Thankfully, I declined a few customers over the holiday. I wanted to spend time with my family rather than to go to work. I refered them out to other pet sitters in the area. As I look out the window with the snow still coming down I am so glad I made that choice. As much as I like my job the weather plays a huge role.

I am also glad I had adopted "Patches"( the rescue cockatiel) too. He has quite the personality.

There is nothing I enjoy better than spending time with all my birds, especially on cold snowy dark days. They bring so much joy to my life.

I think everyone should have pets, especially if you suffer with the "winter blues". I am going to go downstairs now and play with my birds. :-)

It's Christmas eve!

OK here it is-Christmas eve!.

Many people have their interpretation of "what Christmas is".

It ranges from cries of "it's a Haaaaaallmark holiday", "it's a pain-in-the-ass time of year", "Crass commercialism" to "just a day off of work","a reason to get the family together", a religious holiday celebrating the birth of Christ" and "a time to reflect and show kindness to others", or whatever.

I dunno, I'm enjoying this time of year.

I am reading this book right now called "Father Joe". I don't have the book right in front of me right now but the author is one of the former castmates of Monty Python. Parts of the book is funny coming from a wise-ass sarcastic comedian but most of book revolves around the simple non judgmental common sense thoughts of a benedictine monk without all the rules and bias that you would think that would be hammered at through Catholic indoctrination.

The author met this monk when he was just a boy.. The author tried to fight Father Joe's gentle and noninvasive ponderings by desperately trying to trick the monk up with his moral dilemnas and shenanigans all without success. Father Joe was an unique calming soul without judgement and without the expected lectures.

I kind of makes you think.

Keep life simple.

Don't over think things.

So many people are unhappy and angry by way of their own doings.

People can be selfish, self absorbed and make life complicated for others around them as well as for themselves by committing themselves in a ridiculous cycle of self imposed drama.

Step off the ever ending treadmill, remove the ear buds, put down the iphone and just breath and watch the leaves from the trees fall.

Thrive to keep your life simple and clean.

Your soul will benefit from it.

Have a Merry Christmas, no matter how you celebrate it.

The nuttycracker

When I was a kid, my mother would take us on a day trip to downtown Boston to see the Christmas village at Jordan Marsh. We also went to see Edaville railroad and Pleasure Island at Christmas time to get into the holiday spirit.

Last weekend, my mother and I went to see "A Christmas Carol" at one of the local small playhouses. I have to say, it was terrific. We both really enjoyed it.

A few years ago, my best pal of many years suggested we 'doll up" and see the "Nutcracker" (ballet) in Boston. I've never been to it so I thought, "that sounds like it would a classy elegant festive thing to do!". We wore our best holiday velvets and (faux) fur coats.

When we got there it was packed with kids.

Grouchy spoiled kids dressed like they were going to play video games. The parents weren't that much better. I have no idea why parents would drag their kids to a ballet.

I got to tell you, after five minutes, I was questioning myself of why I was there as well.

It was awful.

After watching teddy bears prancing around I thought to myself, "what the f*&%!"...

It only got worse.

Adult men dressed like "tin soldiers" with rosy red cheeks and flesh colored skin-tight tights that seriously enhanced their man-hood were up on their tippy toes scooting around the stage..

My immature sophomoric side came out full force at this point.

I started to giggle, whispering to my friend, "oh my God..we are on the second floor balconey and I can see those guys puds"...

She elbowed me to shut up.

"A gay man's dream..!"

Another elbow to the side.

"Oh no! They are bending over!"

Another jab to the side.

Now I was out of control but it only got worse.

Somebody near us had passed some serious noxious gas.

It was as bad as my mother's ancient old dog Tony's rotten farts. I wrapped my scarf around my face with my eyes watering. I leaned to my friend and said, "oh Jesus, let's get out of here FAST. Some pig really let one rip". She agreed and she was also gagging.

We bolted for the door.

Seriously, it was the worst thing I ever went to.

When ever I see the commercial on TV advertising "the Boston ballet's Nutcracker" I burst out laughing. My husband would then say to me, "I would never take you to see that".

I chuckle to myself, "Thank God!"

Victorian tea Christmas rip-off

My husband and I traditionally make reservations to have our own little Christmas dinner at a nice restaurant just before Christmas.

This year, we decided to something different.

We made reservations for an afternoon Victorian tea party at a Victorian bed & breakfast Inn. You had to make reservations far in advance because seating and times were limited before the Christmas holiday. You also had to pay in advance which was $64.00 per couple. I thought that was a bit steep for "lunch" but I figured, OK, it must be pretty la de da. I've been to high tea before in Bermuda (and London) and I really enjoyed it. As I had posted in a previous post I am bit of a tea snob.

I think this is where I made a mistake.

I guess I had high expections.

When I sat down, the server handed us each a tea bag and pot of tepid water.

I thought to myself, "you've got to be shitting me. This tea isn't even brewed? Gross."

I said nothing and just tried to stay positive.

(In Bermuda, we each got a pot of freshly brewed tea.)

Next, the server came out with a small plate of four tiny bite size sandwiches. I ate them in a period of two seconds figuring that they were just appetizers.

That was the meal.

(In Bermuda, we got a multi-tier of all different sandwich halves to sample. I was actually full from just munching on those sandwiches and did not need to have dessert.)

Then the server then came out with the dessert plate which consisted of four petit fours to share. I whispered to my husband, "I think this is it". He whispered back, "oh no, they must be coming back out with a main meal soon".

That was indeed it.

When we left the inn, we sat in the car in silence for a few minutes before speaking letting the reality sink in that we got totally ripped off.

I was the first to speak and said,"OK, that was a f*&^ing rip-off...and I'm still hungry."

He replied, "Yeah, I think you're right. That wasn't like Bermuda's high tea".

"You wanna get some Chinese food?"

"Definitely!!!!"

I guess we have to fly to Bermuda to enjoy a proper high tea.....

Life is like an art project

The one thing I really like about this time of year, believe it or not, is the all the events and parties I get invited to.

No, I'm not a 'party person" but I do enjoy dressing up for an special occasion and seeing close friends and family.

I'm not a social butterfly by any means. If anything, I'm a bit standoffish. I was the kid in the playground by myself but it never bothered me. It bothered my mother since she was "Miss prom Queen" but it never bothered me. I had to consciously learn to be social.

I have a real hard time mixing at my local Chamber of Commerce "mixers". It's a real conscious psychological effort for me to put on my "Mitt Romney" face to shake hands and talk about my business. I tend to sit by myself. It does not come naturally for me. Some people are born naturally charismatic and have a knack of being someone of interest.

I'm not on facebook or care to be on any of those social networking nonsense either. I really don't get it, seriously.

The people I want to see, I see.

I look at going to these social events like it is an art project.

I spend hours deciding on what to wear, putting on make-up and thinking about topics of conversation. Everything is an art project to me.

Sometimes my 'project' is successful and sometimes it is not, just like my many paintings.

It's a conscious thoughtful planning event. I map things out in pictures.

I am guessing engineers approach everything too like they are solving a mathmatical equation as well.

I know my husband does.

Just putting a tie on he has to calculate carefully how the end result will look.

I bought this new covergirl ageless foundation make-up to cover up my aging imperfections. I figured Ellen Degeneres wears it.She's looks pretty good and she is a "no fuss kind of gal" so I figured it must be pretty good stuff.

Don't buy it.

It's like putting tar on your face. It took three days of cold cream to get this shit off of my face and it just sits in the lines on your face. The worst part is when I thought if I could add a little oil of olay to it to thin it out, a few days later the make up dried up like a lump of clay and had to be thrown out. The blush was just as bad.

I still like Maybelline's age rewinder foundation the best as well as Bonny Bell's bronzer. The bronzer doesn't feel like make-up and it looks really natural. Maybelline still has the best eye make-up of all the eye make-up I've tried. And believe me I've tried all kinds of brands and it's crazy fad colors and I keep going back to Maybelline.

Estee Lauder and Mary Kay so far have the best lipstick. Avon is OK but Mary Kay's lipstick doesn't 'bleed".

Yes, it's not any different than buying paint at an art supply store. Some of the new products are just crap and some of the old and true products are still the best.

Life is like an open canvas.

Early Christmas present

As I was walking Mattie (the naughty little Jack Russell terrier) a neighbor on her street pulled up to me in her car asking if I knew of anyone who would be interested in adopting a 3 year old male puggle (part pug /part beagle dog mix). I responded, "Not that I know of. Why do you ask?" It turns out the dog has seizures and the owner doesn't want to pay the $9.00 a month for medication to control the seizures. If the owner can not find someone they can unload the dog onto they will put the dog down. Needless to say I was horrified that a so-called pet owner could be that cheap and refuse to put up less than $10.00 for medicine for a family pet. As far as I knew the dog didn't have behavioral issues but just this medical problem that was easily controlled.

I then responded,"Oh for God's sake! Why don't they just take the dog to a shelter instead? There a plenty of people who would have pity on a dog with a handicap!" The woman responded that all the shelters in the area are completely full and can not take anymore animals in.

About a month or so ago I visited a close friend of mine up in Maine.

She loves cats. She greeted me at the door with a sheepish grin and told me she had just adopted a new kitty. She wanted to know if I would take a ride with her to the shelter where she obtained the latest cat to her clan so she could drop cookies off to the staff working at the shelter.

The shelter was a mad house. It was completely crammed with all kinds of animals. I saw a pair of conures (small parrots) next to the front desk and asked the staff about them. These poor birds needed medical attention and a new lifestyle change including a new diet. They had "scizzor beak' which is attributed to a long history of a poor diet which in turn affects the liver. They also were feather pickers. There are many reasons why they are feather pickers but I am guessing again, poor diet and because of other deficiencies. The staff was hoping I would take those birds but I did not.

I have ten birds already and I just was not prepared or interested at the time in taking anymore birds-especially ones with 'special needs" since I already have a 'special needs' bird already. IF I were to take in another bird I would have to plan properly. Whenever you take in a new addition you really do need to plan ahead and not just on a 'whim".

A month went by and I drove up to Maine to see my friend again. She had told me about a newly renovated 'bird rescue" and wanted to know if I wanted to go visit the facility, plus they had a store there to buy all kinds of bird supplies. I said, "sure!" She said to me,'why don't to bring a carrier...just in case..."

I responded, "I'll only take home a bird if it is an older male who is a pied cockatiel!" I figured by setting up those guidelines I would not be bringing home any birds since pieds are uncommon in New England.

Well, guess what? There was this beautiful 10 year old male pied cockatiel who had been at this rescue twice. I figured, "oh what the heck" so little "Patches Kennedy' came home with me. I immediately took him to the vet for a "wellness check" and he checked out A-OK, so far.

He's a vocal comical little fellow. I can't save all the birds but I saved this one.

"Patches" is my this year's Christmas present! :-)