A Charmed Life

The Piggy Bank Redemption

You know how they say, "blondes have more fun"?  Well, it's been such a harried week in this house, I think blinds are having more fun!  So I took my very hefty box of pennies down to a Coinstar machine for counting. I don't bring regular change there, because it's easy to count and wrap myself, but pennies are too much of a pain (and I truly hate how my hands smell after counting coins), and there's no charge to count coins when you turn them into, say, an iTunes certificate.  My rule is that pennies automatically go toward filling up my Preciousss nano with music.

But, it is "Pay It Forward Friday", so I passed along the redemption code for $8.20 cents.  Not huge for a "good deed for the day", but that's where anyone reading this comes in. Tag, you're It.  Happy Friday!

It's A Thin Line...

It has been a long, rough week here at Casa Charmed.  Seph saved the day with her joy at turning two, and is cracking me up with her charming requests to take all of her meals in her beloved Red Radio Flyer Wagon.  It took some of the sting out of putting our dog to sleep and spending hours on the phone dealing with my somewhat senile but mostly just stubborn Sicilian father.  But I still feel like griping and blowing off some steam, which is why the meme I saw over at Julianna's looked so appealing.  But, it is Friday, and I'd like to pay forward a little happiness for the coming weekend.  So, instead of just Ten Things I Hate, I'm going to include Ten Things I Love.  Think of it as a karmic Tums.

Deb's Top and Bottom Ten:

Food: I can't stand liver.  I keep trying, because it smells good when it's cooking (all those yummy onions), but it still tastes like a bloody nose.

I love...chocolate.  Dark, dark chocolate.  And pastries.  Mmm, cannoli.  But only back home, they suck out here.  Oh and creme brulee.  But only if the top crackles nicely and the custard is cold and silky.

Fruit:  How can anyone hate fruit?  Although, I did once, and only once, eat a persimmon with the skin on.  If anyone is about to bite into one now while reading this, STOP.  It will cause hair to grow from your teeth to the inside of your cheeks.

I love pretty much every fruit I've ever tasted.  But I'll cast my "favorite" vote for pineapple eaten on Maui.  Those crafty Hawaiians keep the good stuff for themselves.  I don't begrudge it to them because they have to eat poi, too.

(I can't say I hate poi because I'm too smart to have ever let anyone serve it to me.  It looks like someone stuck a squid in a blender with a whole bunch of wallpaper paste, and from what I've heard, doesn't taste that much better.)

Household Chores:  Ironing gives me a backache.  Which would cost me more in chiropractor bills than a big spray bottle of Downy Wrinkle release, plus then I don't burn myself.

I love to cook, though.  And anyone who's ever sampled my cooking has never thought to criticize my wrinkled clothing ;)

Celebrity or People: I hate Brendan Fraser for never ringing my doorbell and begging me to make sweet, sweet love to him.   But I guess there's no accounting for taste.

I love...Brendan Fraser, for never ringing my doorbell and asking to make sweet, sweet love to my husband, thereby completely wrecking my rich fantasy life.

Event, Situation or Incident:  I once had a dentist (filling in for my regular one, no pun intended) bungle a root canal and then stick the Novocaine needle directly into the dying infected nerve he'd missed the first time around.  I think I screamed loudly  enough to knock everyone else's fillings loose.

My favorite event was of course the birth of my daughter.  Not only did I finally get to meet my beautiful little love, but I felt like a complete badass for having made it through natural childbirth ;)  Which hurt way less than that bungled root canal.

TV Shows or Movies:  The absolute worst movie of all time?  "Very Bad Things".  Don't even rent it as a gag.  It should have been called, "Very Bad Movie".

Love, love, love...Looney Tunes cartoons.  I do a great "Marvin Martian" impression, too ;)

Music: That's a tough one.  I listen to just about everything.  Wait, I've got it, I hate the music from educational baby toys.  They make perfect earworms.  Oh, you hate that, too?  What a small world...

I love...XM radio.  I probably change the station almost as often as I blink, just because I can.

About Shopping:  Stoopid mall closes at 9PM here!  Back in NJ when I actually had to work retail, it closed at 9:30 PM.  My child goes to bed at 9pm...when am I supposed to shop?  (The last time I was in a dressing room with a toddler, my SIL and I were taping together a broken diaper with Nordstrom stickers.  It made for a wonderful laugh but not very good retail therapy!)  Also, sales tax on clothing bites.

Love?  That I get to shop for size 8's now.  And cute baby girl clothes for Seph and my nieces.

About the World: I hate...that we're slowing destroying it with our greed and ignorance.  I love...that so many of us are trying to turn that around.

About Myself:  I hate...my big Roman nose.  Roamin' all over my face, is what it is.  However, I love the fact that I could probably smell a gas leak...in Alaska.

I hate...an empty email-box.  I love...comments on my posts!  I tag...everyone lucky enough to have the time to do a meme!  If you don't...pick one of the above, and tell me about it, and yourself =)

In closing, a very funny quote from the comedian Drew Carey:  "Oh, you hate your job?  Why didn't you say so?  There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar". 

Relax, it's still Friday.  Have a great weekend!

Blessed From The Past

You know that feeling you get when you stick your hand into the pocket of a coat or purse that you haven't worn in awhile, and pull out an unexpected 20 bucks?  That sensation of surprise and happiness that just seems to come on a day when you're really needing something nice to happen?  That happened to me yesterday, except even better.

I've been doing a bunch of spring cleaning at my house (I'm a procrastinator, so sue me), and while recycling a bunch of old magazines I came across a small, leather-bound book with a church embossed on its cover.  I recognized it immediately as a blank journal that D., my best friend from college, had given to me before returning to her home in eastern Europe.  She'd given me a few over the years (I have sort of a fetish for nifty journals, and usually have a blank notebook next to me that I scribble my thoughts is), so I hadn't written in this one at all.  The only writing in it was her note to me on the front cover: "To Debbie- my best sister and a wonderful friend.  No matter how far apart we are, you will always be a sister and a best friend to me.  Smile, -D."

Reading those lines again after thirteen years would have been cool enough, even though D. and I are still in touch- in fact, I called her on her birthday just over a week ago.  She attended both of my weddings (although I was too embarrassed to ask her to be in the second one!), and we've both flown cross-country and overseas to visit each other.  She would have flown out to see me when I had my daughter, except that she was unexpectedly pregnant with her son at the same time.  So our friendship isn't just in the past, something I consider myself extremely lucky for.  Still, I worry sometimes about us staying close while being so far away. 

Something I hear quite often from my close friends is that I worry too much.  They're probably right, which is why this particular "blast from the past" was so perfect.  The journal flipped open to a page several leaves up from the back cover, and I saw a note I'd never read before: "Hello, Debbie!  Just wanted to surprise you.  Did I?  By the time you will find this, I [will] be in Lithuania missing you.  Hopefully, this note will cheer you up and make you smile. Remember, whenever you need me, I'll be there in thoughts and prayers.  Love Yah."

Whenever I've come across "found money", I've bought a present with it or taken a friend to lunch.  I've always believed that good fortune should be shared.  So, to my friends far and near, I want to say: "By the time you read this, I will be thinking of and missing you.  Hopefully, this note will cheer you up and make you smile. And if you ever need me, I'm always here. Love ya! -D."

Need to work up some good karma for your upcoming weekend?  Pay it forward, and have a great one.