Um…yeah. I think so. You might not. But when senior members of Congress go overseas and work to undo months and years of careful thought in how we deal with terrorist states it goes beyond the pale. It comes close to, if not over, the line of giving aid and comfort to the enemy. All this trip will accomplish is to serve the public relations agenda for Syria and undermine any gains we might be making behind the scenes with those animals. I think Ms. Perino said it best:

“This is a county that is a state sponsor of terror, one that is trying to disrupt the Senora government in Lebanon and one that is allowing foreign fighters to flow into Iraq from its borders.”

And a certain leader of Congress is headed over for a friendly chat. Nice. We’ll have to see what happens. But this can’t be good. The only upside is people are seeing the true colors of those currently in power in Congress…vote in millions of pork barrel spending in private so nobody can see who put the earmarks on a military spending bill that the president will now have to veto because of the excess earmarks, effectively defunding the troops currently in harm’s way fighting on behalf of all of us, send Congress on vacation, and then go visit a terrorist. All in a week’s work, I guess.

Scary. Very scary. But unfortunately what I expected when she was effectively voted into the leadership position this last election. I’ve spoken with some who voted democrat…and NONE of them even knew who she was. This is the result.

Note: I know some of you reading this might strongly disagree with me and think it’s okay for members of Congress to undermine the president and do what they think needs to be done when he’s on the other side. That’s your opinion. I have mine. I welcome comments, but I do ask that you keep it clean and clear of personal attacks. They are never helpful.

Yup. Know why? I use the DVR to watch that show, because really all anyone who watches the show wants to do is see the questions, guess the answers, then hear the answers to see if they’re right.

I watched it tonight via DVR and I kept an eye on the clock to see just how much time they waste with commercials and useless chatter.

It’s a 15 minute show, people. Use your DVR. I know any 5th grader that is short of time would. Use it. You won’t be sorry.

P.S. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I like Jeff Foxworthy. But he has to keep it too clean for the show. Nothing he says on network T.V. is really worth playing back.

Last week, I got a call from one of our neighbors who moved away more than four years ago to another state on the east coast. I had not received a Christmas card or a call really for years. Email was nonexistent except for one time when they needed me to talk to someone about their mail. We used to hang out sometimes while they lived here, but we weren’t BFF’s or anything like that.

So anyway….she calls and says they’ve got tickets to come to Dallas for several days next month. We talked a bit about tickets and travel and what was going on in our lives….but I could tell maybe she was hedging for an invite. I just did not want to deal with it because frankly we haven’t seen them in years and they’re traveling without their kids to do some hein’ and shein’ (if you know what I mean). It will be just me and The Boy here that week, and frankly I didn’t want the disruption their days of partying and late nights would cause.

So…. I dropped the question she was probably hoping I wouldn’t ask…”So, where are you staying?” I am almost certain she was waiting for me to invite them to stay with us. It was pretty quick after the question that she started asking about other people they’d known on an acquaintance level in the neighborhood. So it was pretty clear I’d made the right call. I told her she might want to start looking into rooms since it is race weekend and most places they’d want to stay would be booked. She made some vague comment about putting a room on hold early just in case. We hung up soon after that. Probably because she didn’t get what she wanted from us and needed to move on to the next call. I can’t think differently, judging from what she said.

Note: Don’t get me wrong…if I know you and we remain in touch and we are truly friends, of course the door is always open. But after years with little to no communication, people can change. Considering the way things went with my call after I asked the question, I am SO glad I did instead of having to deal with it.

So the question is….if you’d heard from old neighbors whom you didn’t know that well and hadn’t spoken to in years…would you freely hand out the invite for several nights’ stay in your guest room, or would you have erred on the side of caution as I did and politely inquire about where they planned to stay?

One of my guilty pleasures is I like to have a few caramels with my lunch after I get back from the gym (this is four or normally five times a week if we’re counting). Anyway, I like to sit with my tray and watch one of my other guilty pleasures (“Days of our Lives”) while I eat. The other day as I was making my sandwich I glanced over to see this:

I said, “No, Kitty!”

He said, “Dammit, now I’ll never get the caramels.”

Poor kitty. Now go visit The Friday Ark.

We’re spring breaking! Ah yes, the spring break. Tommy is home for all of it, so we spend most mornings sleeping in (all of us). Then Tommy gets up and makes coffee. The Boy and I stumble out of bed around 10, and then we relax around breakfast and coffee until around 11, at which time I manage to drag myself to the gym.

After lunch, it’s hours in the pool and naps followed by The Boy’s favorite dinners. Tonight I get a break and Tommy is cooking a brisket!

God, I love spring break. Excuse me while I go shower, lunch, and nap…..no pool today as it’s about to rain.

In honor of this most auspicious day, here are a few toasts from me to you.

May your neighbors respect you,
Trouble neglect you,
The angels protect you,
And heaven accept you.

May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven
half an hour before the devil knows you’re dead.

Here’s a toast to your enemies’ enemies!

‘Sláinte!

Lesson #1: If you’re gonna go dumpster diving in your next door neighbor’s trash can, make sure to do it before other neighbors return from taking their kids to school.

When I got home from taking The Boy to school today, my “nosy neighbor” (you probably have one…the neighbor that lets you know your sprinklers are on too long or your outside light was on all night) was removing an old sprinkler and a hose from one of our other neighbor’s trash cans.

Seriously, who does that? It’s not as if she and her family are in the poor house – we do live in a respectable neighborhood. Here’s the really weird part….as I left to head to school with The Boy, her youngest boy was out on their driveway looking toward the dumpster of interest. What, did she dispatch him to do recon before she headed out to do the deed? The whole thing was just creepy.

I guess I should be careful about what I put in MY dumpster…who knows when she’ll get around to mine….or if she already has. Well, we do provide a nice collection of wine bottles from South America….

Oh, yes he did. The following conversation took place last night:

Me: “I wonder why they have all these commercials for stuff that makes people’s lips bigger, like Angelina Jolie.”

The Boy: “Of course they do, mom. It’s Angelina Jolie!”

Me: “I thought you liked blonds?”

The Boy: “Why, yes I do. But in Angelina Jolie’s case I’m willing to make an exception.”

Me: “Jennifer Anniston or Angelina Jolie?”

The Boy: “Angelina Jolie.”

Me: “Jessica Simpson or Angelina Jolie?”

The Boy: “Angelina Jolie.”

Me: “Nicole Kidman or Angelina Jolie?”

The Boy: “Mom, it’s ALWAYS gonna be Angelina Jolie. It just is.”

Me: “Oh.”

My baby’s growing up. It appears his fascination with what’s-her-face has not faded in the least. Oh well, this is for him. It’s the only picture of her I’m willing to post on my site at this point.

For The Boy.

And I work out to music from the 80s and 90s. There. I said it. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. I’ve decided that the music scene in the past decade or so has absolutely sucked…at least when it comes to music I’d be willing to listen to while working out.
Because while I was working I didn’t have time for anything (much less listening to music – or so I thought), I’d gotten out of the habit. But then…I got my Zen! Which has about 820 MB of music from our CD library…most of which we bought in the 80s and 90s (Tommy’s gone all download hi-tech with his music since then). So I’ve been listening to it…a lot. When I work out, when I clean, when I wait outside school for The Boy. Listening. To my (mostly) 80s and 90s workout music.

Here are some of the songs I heard so far this week while doing my 5.4 miles on the elipticals at level 8 (I try to do this 5 days a week, two of them with intervals….tough to do but okay if you have the music):

1. Hallelujah I Just Love Her So (Ray Charles)

2. Cheeseburger in Paradise (Jimmy Buffet)

3. Love Shack (B-52s)

4. Shake Your Hips (Lou Ann Barton)

5. Wild Women Do (Pretty Woman Soundtrack)

6. Keepin’ Me Up Nights (Asleep at the Wheel)

7. All Shook Up (Cocktail Soundtrack)

8. The Blond Stranger (Jimmy Buffet)

9. If Love Was a Train (Michelle Shocked)

10. You Don’t Treat Me No Good (Sonja Dada)

11. Mustang Sally (The Commitments)

12. All I Wanna Do (Sheryl Crow)

13. Good Thing (Fine Young Cannibals)

14. Legs (ZZ Top)

15. San Francisco Bay Blues (Eric Clapton)

16. Hit the Road Jack (Ray Charles)

17. Real Wild Child (Pretty Woman Soundtrack)

There’s no rhyme or reason for the songs on my MP3 player…other than we own them and I don’t find them annoying or hard to listen to. Rap? No thanks (I call it “crap”). Shrieking heavy metal lyrics with horribly loud, screeching guitar? Double no thanks. Alternative? Some of it’s okay (Michelle Shocked; Sonja Dada; Barenaked Ladies – I have some of their stuff on my player). I even have some Lyle Lovett tunes on my player…some of his stuff’s pretty good.

I guess my music selection is a little old-fashioned. But that’s okay. I listen to music from the 80s and 90s and I don’t care!

It’s swim suit season here in Texas, so last week I made the annual trek to Kohl’s for this year’s laying out/swimming bikini. After much careful review of all the suits available in the store (and there were many), I found that there was only one (count it…o-n-e) bikini with under wire in the top that hid all my girly bits and stayed where it should. What the hell? There were halters with elastic and lined string bikinis, but absolutely no under wire anywhere to be found…except in one black bikini top with white Charlie Brown looking thingees for detail (you know…zig-zag stitching).

Seriously, what is WRONG with swim suit designers?! Do they think that there are no longer any of us biologically (not synthetically) enhanced girls out there? Do they think all women that have been blessed with actual figures are now over 50 and are only interested in the one-piece old lady suits with the space-age material, pointy cups in the section at the back of the department?

Hey, I’m not fat by any means. But I do have curves…real curves that at the age of 40 need a little help. Oh, they’re not down to my knees or anything, but the girls need better support than some flimsy elastic or string. They need under wire, people!

I know, I know…Victoria’s Secret. But I refuse to go in there and have 25 sales people yell out my size for all in the store and at the mall entrance to hear. When has anyone been there that this hasn’t happened to at least once? Hate VS store-front employees. Hate ‘em.

Excuse me while I go look at my Charlie Brown bikini and cry. I’m sure that in a month or two I’ll suck it up and brave the mall to see if I can do better….like maybe at an actual swim suit store.