She lives on in the plantation

In the process of showing my family around my house, Jaimie, my number one blog reader, inquired about Connie's pineapple plants. I wandered to the end of my pool deck to point them out and show her the pineapple Tom had made in my mom's honor.

I've written before about my mom's plantation. After she died, I finally did what she'd wanted me to do for years--I planted them in my backyard. Okay, well, my husband planted them.

Five of my mother's plants are in the back yard, and one is in a pot in the front yard. For the most part, I leave them be. My mother had me cutting, trimming, watering, etc., but I've chosen to do what I guarantee the big plantation owners do--ignore them and let them do what they do. Occasionally, I look at them, as I did recently when my friend Robin visited. I pointed out the plant in the front yard, and we had a discussion on shade vs. sun because that pineapple plant is HUGE!

Apparently, I need to roam more often through the plantation because Jaimee and I found this...

I admit I became as giddy as a schoolgirl. It takes one pineapple two years to grow, and in the years my mother worked with pineapples, she only produced three of the fruit. I wrote about them here and here and probably a few other places. The fact that we had a pineapple growing less than a year after her death? It had to be a sign. Hope? Peace? Something!

Then, I turned to plant #2 and OMG! it too had a pineapple! Two pineapples!

But wait! As I turned--HOLY PINEAPPLE--there sprung another from a third plant. My plantation inherited from my mother had THREE fruits on three different plants--plants she'd nursed from the tops she cut off fresh fruit purchased in the grocery store. Plants she continued to baby even from a wheelchair. I got a bit weepy.

Then, I apologized to her for not bringing them home when she'd begged me to because, obviously, these babies needed my soil!

I doubt they will be ripe and ready for the anniversary of her death next month, but you can bet I will toast her dearly with a pina colada when they are--because what else do you do with pineapple?

Spring Break 2015 - The beginning

One group left Florida and I planned for the arrival of the next group. Robin and her girls left on Saturday afternoon and headed back to the frozen tundra where snow flurries were swirling. I spent the day cleaning my house and getting ready for our week of Spring Break.

We stayed up way too late, but Darcy got home from her four day trip to her state thespian competition and had to tell us all the stories, and I had a good book. No worries. The next day was Sunday and we could sleep in. So we thought.

A ringing doorbell before 9:30 put an end to that. Our family had arrived several hours before their expected time. They were eager and thus had driven straight through the night to get here. They had arrived at 7:30, but had stopped to eat to give us some more time. Little did they know...

How well we could hop out of bed and get moving! We took them to the beach despite the windy and cooler day and ended the night with steaks on the grill.

It was very windy and only 66 degrees

He drove all night long and needed just a few winks

With wind comes waves

We are looking forward to an exciting week!

She said what? and more tidbits of my IN visitors

My friend Robin is down visiting with two other women, Stephanie and Karen. The four of us met yesterday morning for breakfast and a day at the beach. While we were sipping our coffee and waiting for our orders of creme brulee and bananas foster french toast Robin talked about her insomnia. (We also talked about our ailments and our medications. Ah, women over the age of 50).

Robin: "I had it again last night. I don't know why. I mean I had it the first night we were here too."

Me: "Well, that was probably because of the long drive down here."

Robin: "That's what I thought; the drive down was long and tiring, but I don't know what the problem was last night."

Karen: "Well, what were you thinking about?"

Robin: "Nothing. I put my earplugs in."

*****

Me: "Could we please have some more creamer? I like a little coffee with my creamer."

Waitress: "Absolutely. I know how that is."

Robin: "And could you bring some more French Vanilla if you have it? I don't like the Hazelnut. It tastes like old people." 

*****

The women are staying at The Condo. One evening while visiting my house they asked me if there was a pitcher in the kitchen of The Condo because they wanted to make some iced tea. They had looked, but hadn't found one. I nodded and told them that yes there were a couple of pitchers there in the top of one of the cabinets. 

Now my mother had the kitchen gutted and redone several years ago and when she did this she had cabinets put in that go all the way to the ceiling. The only way she could reach the top shelf comfortably was to stand on a little foot stool that she kept in the kitchen. Robin looked at me and started laughing. There is no way she could reach the top cabinet even standing on the stool.

I knew this as soon as I mentioned the stool, but then I turned to the other two women to tell them that they could use the stool to get the pitcher and suddenly I knew why Robin was laughing. All three of these women are short. I'm a giant next to them. I'm not sure they could reach the top of the cabinet even standing on the counter. 

Karen: "Yep. I had to use your mother's grabber just to turn on the ceiling fan."

*****

Yesterday the girls decided to take a three hour boat ride off the causeway. Robin parked her Camry in the sand and when the ride was over and it was time to leave she discovered she was stuck in the sand. Deep. She attempted to get free with the other two pushing the car from the front. No go. Stuck. Robin looked around and noticed several men standing around watching them, whispering to one another. She put Stephanie in the driver's seat and she and Karen tackled the pushing. There were several minutes of inactivity when Stephanie worried she was going to accidentally run over the two in the front, but after some minor seat adjustments and confidence she put the car in reverse. Robin and Karen pushed with all of their might and POP out came the Camry and all was well.

Robin told me she looked over at the men, threw her arms up in the air, and shouted, "That's how Indiana women get the job done!" She was quite proud of that. I was disappointed I hadn't been there to take pictures.

Oops

I tried to run the dishwasher before leaving for school. My husband waved me off telling me people had to take showers. I assumed he would run it when he was done showering and before he left for work. I was wrong. Which I discovered while making coffee for my friend and me and while I was talking, a mile a minute as usual, telling a story.

I stopped my story to gripe about the injustice of saying one thing and not following through and thus "dirty dishes". And then I continued on with my story while opening the dishwasher and pouring in the detergent so that the contraption that makes my life a tad easier could do its job. As I was talking and pouring, I noticed that the rinse aid side was empty, and so after putting away the detergent I causally reached under the sink, got the bottle of blue rinse liquid out, and began pouring that into its little slot. I was still talking.

At some point during my talking and pouring it registered, a mere blip to my brain, that the blue rinse liquid was awfully thick. So I stuck my finger in it and massaged it around so that it would flow through the holes better and I kept on talking. At this point my friend, whose ears had to be on fire, asked me why I was pouring Dawn detergent into my rinse container. THAT got me to stop talking.

Both bottles were side by side in my cabinet. I just grabbed the wrong one. I had vision of suds coming under the dishwasher. I ran around my kitchen waving my arms in the air. What to do? What to do? My friend suggested a turkey baster. I spent considerable amount of time running around looking for that. By the time that was in hand the liquid had disappeared into the holes and into the nether regions of the rinse container.

My friend and I were in our bathing suits planning on having coffee poolside. We looked at one another, shrugged, closed the dishwasher and turned it on. We figured we would deal with it later around the time of the rinse cycle. If we had suds, we had suds. There wasn't a thing we could do about it now.

Of course, we forgot the dishwasher once we were outside. By the time I remembered it the dishes were done and dried. And Clean! My dishes have never looked cleaner. There were no suds on the floor. There were no suds on the dishes. I ran a few items under the faucet and there were no suds. I believe I have just proved that the rinse cycle on a dishwasher is nothing but a scam to sell a product that is obviously not needed. Either that or I've proved that Dawn Dishwashing Liquid has yet another facet besides cleaning dishes and oil soaked wildlife.

Happy Monday

My goodness how time flies! Last Monday we had a day off from school. Madison and Darcy think that the days we have off, lately one a month since January, are due to the fact that we don't have snow days and thus the powers that be try to give us an equivalent. I think they do it because the end is nearing, and testing is happening, and the panic is setting in so let's have a teacher day. Either way we love it.

We spent our day shopping. While the outside world revolved so too did our inside world. Darcy has suddenly become the school traveler. First, she and her good friend Sarina got a superior award at the district competition in Theater sending them our of town to the state competition next week. Then by some fluke, and I say that because these two were not even planning on entering this competition they just wanted a decent grade, Darcy and another classmate won first place in the county competition of National History Day. This requires another trip out of town to the capitol to compete for the state competition. All of this meant Darcy needed to shop. Madison came along for the ride.

The best bargain came from Darcy. She found a dress that was originally $50. The price tag had marks all over it and while she was modeling it for me she saw a price checker. Turns out the dress was on sale for $10.63. Then when I added the coupon I had cut out of the paper the night before it came to $8.51. Bam! The most expensive? Madison's prom dress.

Tom Texting: "$124 at Windsor?????"

Me Texting: "Maddy's prom dress."

Tom Texting: "Oh. Sigh."

Happy Monday!

Credit, credit, and there it goes...

I live by my credit card. I very rarely carry cash; an issue my mother always had with me. A credit card is just so simple. Whip it out, swipe, sign, pocket, and you're out the door. At the end of the month my bill comes and my husband can then see all of the places I have been. It has worked well for us and our credit card company even spells out in nice, tidy, little columns what we have spent in categories such as food and clothing.

Several months ago my husband put an alert on our card so that every time we went over a certain amount he would get an email. He did this because of a conversation with a co-worker about hacked cards. It was slightly annoying because my husband would then ask me what I had been doing at such and such place spending such and such amount of money. That ended when he did this in front of my daughter after I had purchased a birthday gift for her. Oops. Cat out of the bag there. Turns out he got the last laugh because during the Christmas season last year while I was in line at Target with a cart full of gifts he called me to ask if I had been in Naples, FL. (Seriously, he does ask me things like that)

We had been hacked and my credit card company, knowing that I was out spending money in my area and couldn't possibly be in Naples, FL (unlike my husband) called to question the charge. My husband, who had received the email of spending, but had no idea it was an out of town charge, spoke with the card's Fraud Department and canceled the card while I was in line with a cart full of Christmas cards. I called him a Grinch. Luckily I was carrying a back up. The new card came in a week, and I gave a lot of sad faces to relatives visiting for the holiday when they invited me out to eat. They took pity on me and paid my bill.

Fast forward to this month. It was a Sunday and all four of us were home. Madison and Tom were getting ready to head out the door to go bowling, (Tom's new exercise to spend time with his soon college bound kid) when he suddenly stopped and asked (I kid you not), "Did you spend $254.62 at a restaurant today?" I am so use to this type of question from him that it doesn't even phase me and I responded in the negative. Hacked again.

He immediately called the credit card company and told them, "Call the restaurant and tell them to hold this person." The credit card lady (and I) knew that once someone pays a bill he hightails it out of the restaurant and she ignored this statement and connected him to the Fraud Department. He tried his scenario again with this department, and getting frustrated at her not jumping on his suggestion, ordered Maddy to look up the restaurant which the credit woman told him was in a city several miles away. She did and she dialed the number and my husband stood with two phones on speaker, one phone connected to the credit card fraud department, the other with the restaurant. Of course the couple, two men, had left already having had their fill of free seafood and drinks. The hostess freaked out and called her boss. The boss, who was out of town, shrugged and reminded the hostess that the restaurant had cameras. He would deal with it on Tuesday. The Fraud Department closed the account and ordered up a new card. Tom hung up both phones.

At this point, hearing about the cameras, I jumped in. I am miss crime watcher, reader, and player. Cameras meant that we could run these yahoos through facial recognition...something my husband managed in his line of work! The bastards would go down! Tom got excited at the thought and went in to work the next day meeting with the Economic Crime Unit. Of course, bureaucracy is full of holes and nonsense and my husband has no patience. When he found himself in the same town this week taking a class he went to the restaurant and secured the video. It will be turned over on Monday to the crime unit. He didn't feel I was experienced enough to take it further. Whatever.

Then about two days after the credit card hacking we discovered that our debit card had been hacked too. Somewhere where I use a card and where Tom uses a card we had been swiped. I want to catch these two yahoos just to find out where this happened. Three times in less than three months? Some merchant is about to lose my business. Suddenly now I'm thinking we need to start hiding our money under the mattress.

Tom and the bank worked together to change accounts and while that was going on I made due with what I had in my cabinets. I alternated driving my two cars until finally I had to use the back-up card to fill one with gas. When my kids asked to go to Starbucks, to go to dinner, to go to the grocery, to go anywhere where there was better food than what we had at home, I reminded them we had no way to pay for it. My mother would be rolling in her grave (if she were in one) at that, but I kind of liked having no real responsibility when it came to making meals and shopping. That lasted until about day five and then I broke down and used my own card to get some food (while they were at school). It was a long week.

I'm not sure what we will do from now on. We are nervous about handing over our cards to anyone now. We want to be the one to do the swiping, but even that isn't all that secure. I keep nagging the girls to come up with a solution that will solve the problem for the world and make some serious money, but they feel they are too busy with school. I'm definitely carrying some back-up cash now (love you mom) and we have filed for extra protection. As annoyed as I get when my husband inquires about my purchases, I do see now that it is important to stay on top of things when it comes to credit cards. We definitely communicate with one another more now too.

Me texting: "Hey! The new credit card just came and I activated it. The girls and I are headed to the mall!!"

Tom texting: "OMG!"

Happy Patty Day

This is my new St. Patrick's Day staple. I love Reuben sandwiches. As a kid I wouldn't have been caught dead with one of these in my mouth, but as an adult I love them.

I have a favorite little restaurant a mile from my house that makes the best ones. Yum! But on this day I make my own. I buy the corned beef at the deli, slap it on some rye bread with some baby Swiss cheese and sauerkraut

Add some Thousand Island Dressing (which I forgot when grocery shopping and had to go back for)

Butter the tops and bottoms of the bread and throw it in a buttered pan on the stove and cook.

This year I added it with an Irish cheesy potato and cabbage baked casserole and some chips. 

Top of the evening to you all!

Out of the mouths of my babe

Darcy: "The name Susan is becoming extinct."

Me: "Uh, ok? That came out of nowhere."

Darcy: "I know, but it is."

Me: "Where did you hear that?"

Darcy: "I didn't. I was just thinking. There are so many people named Susan and they are all old so pretty soon it will be extinct."

Me: "Oh, my. I will be sure to let Aunt Susan and SueG know that they are old and becoming extinct."

Darcy: "Wait! SueG? I didn't think about her."

Me: "And that will make Aunt Susan feel even better."

Darcy: "DON'T TELL HER I SAID THAT."

Me: "Sorry. That is definitely an "Out of the mouths" moment for the blog."

Darcy: "MOM! Please! DO NOT put that on your blog!"

Sorry Darcy. Somethings just have to be written down to save for family gatherings.

Wednesdays wonderings

And this week I was interested in researching...

1. Thomas Sanders - Since embracing the social media craze I have become interested in Vine, the app that records 6 minutes of video. One of the major Viners that has taken social media by storm is Thomas Sanders (foster_dawg on Twitter/Instagram). He was recently on The View, and I felt like a proud parent when I watched him. He is from Florida, and his Vine's are hilarious and quite creative. I believe he attends the University of Florida and so I Googled him to acquire more information (stalking my daughter calls it). I mean if he does attend there then I think UF might just move up in the rankings of colleges my daughter will attend next year, no?
2. Amanuensis & Brougham - I read a book, The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, and came across some new words. In my younger days I would have a) asked my mother the meaning or b) continued on none the wiser because looking up a word took effort. But that was then and this is now and now I look up words because the answer is always at my fingertips. Amanuensis means one employed to write from dictation or to copy manuscript. Brougham is a four-wheeled boxlike, closed carriage for two or four persons having the driver's perch outside.
3. Mogo - This word popped up in a new game app that Madison got me playing called Say the Same Thing. In this game you give a word and your opponent gives a word and you each keep giving words that have to do with each word previously stated until you both say the same word. I'm playing a stranger and his word was Mogo. My word was Earth. I didn't know his word and so I looked it up. Mogo is a fictional character and planet in the DC Universe. We have yet to say the same word.
4. Raffle Tickets - In "where to purchase them" as I am helping out with a talent show at school and apparently I volunteered to get these. I have no memory of raising my hand and stepping forward, but lately, it seems I do this all the time. Apparently unconsciously. I have decided to make my own as Walmart sells a template for printing.
5. Francophile - This word popped up in the book, The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. It is the book that the new television show is based on and I was curious. Francophile, which sounds dirty when said aloud, is a person who is fond of or greatly admires France. The book is very good, by the way.

More life lessons taught to me by my kids

As the school year begins its descent into summer, I am full of emotion. Every day I hit a different one and try to find some time to let it wash over me before trying to analyze or push it away. As the days slide off the calendar and the hand rounds the clock that will cause that slide I feel a mild panic that at times I worry will become full blown. And as the mother who they look to for strength (?), guidance (?), security (?) I feel I have to remain, well, standing in a stoic way. I'm failing.

The other night one comment made by the husband led to a discussion by the three women in the house, the husband quickly disappearing out the door and into the night with his male counterpart, the dog. Madison, Darcy and I expressed feelings and emotions and we laughed and we cried. I kept telling myself to listen, to really listen to what they were saying, and to not hear only the negative about myself. This conversation wasn't about finger pointing, but was about growing up and standing still and happiness and sadness. Each of us admitted to things we hadn't shared before, and with that came some "oh" and "ah" moments that brought us closer to an understanding (?), to a truce (?), to a respect (?). Afterwards we fell into bed and slept the sleep of the unburdened.

Somewhere in my thirties I looked in the mirror and realized that I wasn't the twenty something girl I felt inside. It was a huge realization and daunting and eye opening. My life was changing and as it changed I stubbornly kept that twenty something girl inside, hoping maybe she would return to the outside? Lately, I've returned to the past. I seem to want my kids to know that I experienced all of this once upon a time too. It is important to me that they understand that I understand. But then Madison, while acknowledging that she got it, also told me that our experiences are never going to be the same nor were our feelings or our emotions. While they may show some similarities they are different. She is wise, that girl.

For the last eighteen years I have had a job. I have been a mother that stayed home to raise her children. It was done consciously and was well thought out and planned prior to having said children. I don't regret it one minute, never have. I was where I was needed, where I wanted, and I was more than decent at the job. The problem with the job is that it is nearing the end and soon I will be...retired? While I think about that I find that I have no time to process it, to really touch base with those feelings, because I still have the job for a few more months with one and few years with the other.

The oldest is ending one lifetime and preparing for another. This fall she will leave the nest and trot out into the world to seek her next phase. I can't help wanting to cushion that path. There are so many things that have to be done and accomplished in order for her to move on, and I want to do what I can to help, but I'm not sure what that is. Do I push? Do I stand back and allow her to push? Do I make suggestions? Do I nag? There are so many roles and all of them are overwhelming, and when I think about what I should or shouldn't be doing the panic begins to creep in, and apparently I become crazy or angry or unmanageable. I know I am frustrated. Which is not helpful to or for any of us.

On the other hand I remember this same time in my own life. The fear of leaving home for me was too great. I was young, inexperienced, and had no confidence. I knew too that the family I loved might fall apart without my glue to hold it together, and so I stayed home and went to school in town. I remember the indecision of schools and majors and remember watching friends leaving. I thought my own experiences and feelings might help me in helping my daughter, but she set me straight. She wants me to listen to her feelings, to her experiences. Really listen and not compare. She must do this on her own, her way, and sometimes she wouldn't mind a gentle reminder or a subtle push in the right direction.

Yesterday she received a letter that regretted to inform her that she did not receive one of the scholarships she had applied for. She cried. I hugged. She cried some more and talked about how tired she was. I listened. I didn't try to make her feel better. I didn't try to justify things. I offered instead a hug, a back rub, food. It wasn't easy, but I tried. I might have slipped some when I tweeted my feelings (who knew she followed me so closely on Twitter) or when I asked if this school was really on her list, but I thought for my first exercise that I did an above average job.

Never mind that I held the envelope up to the sun to read it before she ever came home. Let's face it, habits aren't easy to break and this is going to take me some time. But I'm trying.

My little thespian

A few weeks back Darcy was invited to join the Thespian Troupe at school. This entailed a resume and a week of dressing and performing as a different daily character chosen by members. She was quite excited about it all and probably put more work into this than into her school work, but the end result was a good one.

Day 1 - Taylor Swift (Pop Star Day)

She borrowed Maddy's shirt and shoes and my purse. She thought the Diet Coke was a creative addition, but I really didn't know that Taylor spoke on their behalf. The wig came from our neighbor whose wife was in the salon business. During class she had to maintain her character in everything she did. I'm told she didn't sing.

Day 2 - Merida from Brave (Disney Day)

I thought that the characters for this day were very profiled. Her friend Sarina was Jasmine and her Chinese friend was Mulan and my red headed daughter was Merida. How is that acting? Darcy rolled her eyes at those comments and went about creating her costume. She had the dress so she borrowed the boots and the bow. The bow came from the boys she babysits, but she had to dress it up and make the arrows and the little holder that went on her belt. In drama it was improv day and she had to stay in character through that.

Day 3 - Rose from Titanic (Movie Character Day)

She went thrift shopping for most of this outfit, although the shoes are again her sister's. She had to perform a scene from the movie for the requirement and so...

she and her Jack recreated that scene everyone knows. The school is being rebuilt so the portables came in handy for the ship when it came time to take photos.

Day 4 Tracy from Hairspray (Musical Day)

I think this outfit was another thrift shop find. The wig again came from the neighbor. The hairspray is a can that I've had for probably 15 years that I bought to remove a stain in my laundry. I've probably used it for ballet classes and now this as a prop.

Day 5 - Classy but Sassy Day

They had to dress so that they matched with their mentors, upperclassmen who directed them all week. Darcy's outfit came mostly from her own closet, except for the scarf which her mentor loaned her.

On Friday all of the inductees went to a dinner party with their mentors and were inducted into the troupe. Now we parents aren't really sure when these kids are being sincere...or acting.

Always carry a sharpie

I took my friend out yesterday for a birthday breakfast at a small, quaint restaurant. We sucked down some mimosas, coffee, and homemade french toast while we discussed our woes, our joys, and getting older. Having downed all that liquid, I excused myself for the ladies room. It is a one woman room with antique flowered wallpaper, a pedestal sink, a small armoire, and a toilet.

Said toilet was full from the last person's business. This is an annoyance to me, but I am not squeamish about fecal or urine, and when I encounter this in public restrooms I usually flush the evidence while lamenting aloud about the difficulties of doing so. Having seen the dignified, older woman with the designer handbag exit the bathroom, I knew that there must be a problem with the toilet. Then I saw the note.

I attempted to follow the directions, and when this did not work for me as it obviously did not work for the other woman, I shrugged and used the toilet. When you have to take care of business you have to take care of business. As I said, I'm not squeamish. My friend, however, is a bathroom snot. I have written before about her obsession with bathroom etiquette, and knowing that she was next in line, I knew I would have to fix this issue.

I finished my business, took the back of the lid off of the toilet, reached my hand into the tank and pulled up the stopper. The toilet flushed. I put everything back together again and washed my hands...twice. I left the bathroom and returned to my table. I leaned down to my friend and whispered, "Good Luck. There is an issue with the toilet. I may or may not have fixed it." She rolled her eyes, made a snarky comment about how hard does it have to be to keep a bathroom in working order, and she got up and went into the bathroom.

When she returned a few minutes later she looked aghast. "I couldn't flush the toilet," she said as she sat down. "I did what the note said, but it didn't work." She looked at me. "Did you put that note on the toilet?"

Yes. Because I always carry a small notebook, a roll of tape, and a sharpie for just those types of moments. Call me handy.

Wednesday's wonderings

Let's take a look at what I've learned this past week:

1. Types of burgundy wines - One of the recipes I want to make this week called for burgundy wine. I searched up and down the wine aisle for this and when I couldn't find it I turned to the internet. It is a wine made in the Burgundy region of France (yet not stocked in the French wine section of Publix) and actually refers to two types of grape varieties pinot noir and chardonnay. Unfortunately for me, I found a small section in the grocery where "burgundy" was sold before this information downloaded. All of the bottles were huge so now I have a big bottle of this generic termed wine when I could have just purchased a pinot noir. Perhaps a wine class might be in my future.
2. 15 uses for coffee grounds - My friend sent me this link in a text. I'm not sure why she thought it was useful. Mostly it kept repeating the same usages in different ways. I learned that apparently used coffee grounds are good for your complexion and your hair as well as a nice cleaner for your garbage disposal.
3. CSS financial aid form - Madison announced on Saturday that this form needed to be filled out by the next day. I had no idea what this was seeing as how we had filled out two other required financial forms so I Googled it. It is another form required by certain colleges, three of those colleges Madison applied to. The form was a lot of work and very detailed and by the time we were done with it we felt naked. Your life is not a secret once you finish applying for your kid to go to college.
4. Eating scorpions - A contestant on Survivor ate a scorpion in last week's episode and while he was clutching his stomach and moaning I had to search to see if this was something people did. I didn't find much in regards to this being a smart idea, but I did find that apparently it isn't deadly if you remove the stinger first (which the contestant did do).
5. The Dress - Yep. We were hung up on this phenomenon like the rest of the world. I had seen it on Facebook, but hadn't bothered to open the article. It didn't look like anything I would be interested in reading when it said, "What Color is this Dress?" There was a small picture of part of the dress and I it looked beige and tan to me and ugly as sin. Later when Maddy showed me a picture of the entire dress and asked the same question of me I saw blue and black. I saw it as almost a purple blue and a lighter black color. We ended up spending quite a few hours on this topic on Friday and I eventually had to look up an explanation as to why Madison, Tom, and Kelly were so colorblind. It was very complicated and had to do with the eye and light and filtering and frankly, I just left it as I always do. I'm right and they are wrong.

Two month 2015 resolution check

1. To try something new (whether it be food, an activity, a class, etc.) every two months.- I have done this. In the course of my job as a personal representative I have worked on taxes, visited with a financial planner, had dealings with lawyers, and kept records for the courts. These are all things that I have not done before, and I have learned quite a few things over the course of the last two months. Score: 10
2. To not be so defensive, and to not erupt with anger (yelling) when cornered.  - Hmmmm...I can honestly say that I forgot about this one. When I read it I thought, "I don't do that." But after sitting and re-reading it a couple of times I realize of course I do this, but I don't think I have done so as much as I might have done two months ago. Probably more so with the hubby than with the kids. Does that count? Score: 5
3. To utilize those damn Wyndham points whether selling points or vacationing myself.  - Yes! I have figured out (with the hubby's help) how much our points are worth and how much we need to stay afloat. My brother has left the job up to me and with my SIL's help we have already sold two vacations to relatives. Now we have to put it out there to friends too. Anybody reading this blog need a vacation? Contact me! We offer great deals on 2 and 3 bedroom units at great resorts!! Score: 10
4. To lose the weight I put on last year and to get into shape for Europe.  - Uh, NO. Haven't done this. I'm the heaviest I have ever been in my life. Ever. Yet, with the back issues and my love for fat foods, sugary foods, salty foods, rum, and minimal exercise this one has not happened. Score: 0
5. I suppose I should work on the language thing again since it seems to bother others. Hmmm...maybe I should voice it as working on the language thing because it isn't necessary as often as I use it. Yes, I like that. - Well, hmmmm...For awhile there I was good. I was working hard at it, but seriously, hanging out with my potty mouth friend once a week has been my downfall. First, I tried really hard to change her. Then when I realized that wasn't going to happen I tried to change myself. It hasn't been easy. Score: 3
6. I also like changing up my wardrobe too. My closet is full of stuff I don't wear but once or twice a year and frankly, I'm bored with it all. But the weight has to come off and the body buffed before I can do that so maybe that should be next year's resolution. Hmmmm.... This is a hard one because I have to lose weight. I just went out and tried on clothes recently, even bathing suits, and ugh! I think since the year began I have purchased some shoes and some underwear so I think that should count. But this one is sort of an extra resolution in the scoring department. Like a bonus or an extra credit. Score: 2

Total Score: 28 out of 50 (with 2 bonus points) - Hey, it's a start.