New Day's Resolution

1-1-11.  Interesting date.

We begin a new year... again.  People left and right are making resolutions to quit bad habits, do more good deeds and be a better person overall.  Out with the old and in with the new, huh?

I have a long list of faults.  I'd be the first person to admit it.  I'm stubborn and I don't do well with authority.  In other words, I like to be a "leader" and take control.  That's probably the kindest thing I've heard somebody say about my issue with authority :)  I can be loud, but I can be too quiet and shy sometimes.  I'm outspoken and that gets me in trouble.  Sometimes I put others first (too much) and at other times, I become too selfish.  I like a clean house, but can get lazy.  And sometimes, I blame others for my problems.  There, I admit it.  I'm not perfect :)

I stopped making resolutions a long time ago.  Mainly because I never kept them.  I'd end up breaking my resolution just a few hours, days, or weeks later.  I made resolutions because I succumbed to peer pressure and for the sake of a frivolous American holiday tradition.

If people really mean to change themselves once and for all (even it's just one annoying little habit), why not just change yourselves that day instead of waiting for the new year?

So how about this.  Instead of making a new year's resolution every year - why don't we make a new day's resolution every day when we get up in the morning?  Learn from your mistakes from the day before, make a promise to improve yourself and set forth into the world.

Take it one day at a time instead of one year at a time.  It just makes more sense to me....

How debit cards work (or don't work)

My debit card is weird.

I accidentally washed it after I left it in my jeans once.  It went into the washer/dryer in perfect condition and came out looking pretty worn.  Oh well, no biggie.  I'll just get a new one, right?

Well, this happened in September.  I tried using my card at Wal*Mart and found out my debit card still worked.  So hey, maybe I don't need to get a new one after all.

About 99% of the time, my card works.  Except at the bank.

I was in Dallas for the State Fair when I tried (for the first time) to use an ATM machine at one of the branches.  It.would.not.work.  I must have made poor J stand there and wait for me for like 10 minutes before I gave up and walked away.  I kept standing there, swiping my card again and again... saying "one more, let me try one more time."  You know how that goes, right?  Guess what, the card finally worked on my very last attempt (my "for real" last attempt).  Whew!

Since then, I never had any problems with my card.  Until I needed to use my bank's ATM again to deposit some checks.  Then it wouldn't work at all.

So after about nearly 3 months of using my washed out card, I finally hauled butt into a branch to get a new one.  Yeah, I know - getting a replacement card online is as easy as 1-2-3, right?  Guess I'm just lazy.

Just thought I would tell the world that my card works funny...

Desserts, Friends - and oh, Christmas Too

Christmas was quiet for me this year.  Quiet is good.  Until I start to get bored.

But you didn't come here to hear about how bored I am, right?  You came here to find out about that pretty little cake I've been raving about this past week on Facebook!

Well - here's how it turned out....

See this adorable puppy?  Just looking at her makes you feel like you wanna squeeze her tight, scratch her ears and bathe in her wet licks, right?  Right!  Well, this adorable little ball of fur managed to ruin my cake. Go ahead and laugh.  There, don't you feel better now?  I know it felt good after I was able to laugh about it.

Thanks to my "lack of thinking ahead" as J would put it, Midnight (aka 12am) had a blast with my cake.  She brought a whole new meaning to "finger lickin' good"  After I had put the initial frosting on, I left the cake on the counter a bit too close to the edge and went upstairs to take a shower.

J came home while I was getting ready and casually asked me if my cake was done.  I was a bit preoccupied so I told him "yeah, sure, the frosting's done but I need to add something else on it."  He gave me a weird look so that got me thinking that he was the weird one.  Um yeah, the frosting's on, can't you see that?

I came downstairs, took one look at my cake and well - internally, I lost it.  12am had licked the frosting off half the cake!

As a result, I had to cut my cake in half and brought the good half to a friend's house.

At least we all got a laugh out of it....

I tried to salvage the cake the best I could and tried (and pitifully, might I add) to add trees on it like I saw in the picture.  I gave up, gave the frosting to J and told him "have fun with it."  He went ahead and randomly dropped green frosting on top of my cake.

Final outcome:  The cake looked funny, but at least I got the ornament part right.  And the cake was still delicious.  The homemade buttercream frosting was the best part.

How a 4 Year Old Thinks

I love my 4-year-old.  Even when he's being difficult.  I love him even more when he says insightful (and just plain cute) things.  He's funny when he tries to be grown up (although it wasn't funny at the time).

I was trying to sleep in yesterday.  I made my room dark so I could sleep in.  Yeah right, I should have known better.  When there's kids, you're not going to sleep in.  Period.  So while I was unsuccessfully trying to sleep in, my son jumps into bed with me.  He wakes me up and says "I'm hungry."  I tell him "Go ask Becki to get you some cereal" (ha yeah, I know - I should be doing it).  He gives me a stern look and says "But Mommy - it's morning.... see?" and points to the very little light that's coming in through the window.  "There's light so it's morning... and morning means you HAVE to wake up!"  I couldn't argue with that so I got up.

I've been using the counting system with Logan and it works 95% of the time.  One day he wanted some ice cream.  I told him no because he wouldn't eat dinner.  Guess what he said?  "I'm going to count to 5, you have to give me ice cream."  He got a spanking and hasn't tried to count with me again.

Retelling this story as interpreted by someone at church:

We were at drama rehearsal and the director was talking about a scene that will take place in a church (and pointed to the stage where the church will be built).  Logan turned to a hearing person at church and said "How can that be church?  This (pointing to our floor) is our church.  How can he take this whole church and put it in there?"  I got a good laugh.

The extinction of theme songs

While I was growing up I had a secret pleasure.  I thrived off TV theme songs.  I remember being proud of the fact that I could recite the whole theme song of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and I remember thinking I was all that because I could "rap".

Theme songs were the bread and butter of TV.  Theme songs does for TV that junk food does for your mouth.  You just can't help but go "wow."  You could watch your TV shows week after week and not ever get tired of the song that introduces the spectacle that you'd be watching for the next 30 minutes or an hour.  Now, when I watch TV, I can't help but feel incomplete.

Producers have done away with TV theme songs to make room for more ad time.  They have also shaved off a few minutes of each episode, but that's a whole 'nother thing to complain about.  What used to be one of the best things about TV has been reduced to about 10 seconds of perky music, or for most shows nowadays, nothing.  

The reason that theme songs were created was to make time for credits (after all, you DO have to credit people for their work, right?).  This also gave the viewers an added bonus of enjoyable TV moments.  I guess the reality of all this is that when it comes down to it - money matters.  In an effort to earn more  cash, they've lost sight of the thing that perhaps drew in and kept their viewers.  Maybe this is why ratings are lower?

I remember way back when the theme songs lasted for about a minute while images of the actors and their names flashed on the screen.  I remember way back when I laughed or smiled before the show even started.  I remember being eased into something gently rather than have something thrown in my face.  It was the equality of easing slowly into a hot tub, savoring the moment rather than just jumping in.

Not only have they pretty much eliminated theme songs, they've also messed with the credits.  They are usually shown during the opening scenes of the TV show, but who actually watches that?  I know I don't.  Some TV shows have credits stashed at the end, running through them quickly in a 1/2 window while the other 1/2 is showing an advertisement.  I've even see TV shows run through the credits so fast (in 5 seconds or less), that you'd have to pause to actually be able to see what they were.  Pretty sad.

Not all is lost, though.  There are a still few TV shows that have theme songs, but I wonder how many seasons they'll go before they wise up.  True Blood, Dexter, United States of Tara are among a few that are still clinging to the old tradition.

I give it just a few more years before theme songs become completely extinct, and before that happens, I'd like to acknowledge some of my favorites..

Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - a nice rap that catered to their African American audience, and also tasteful enough for us "whites" who like to feel involved.

Saved by the Bell - a classic.  Enough said.

Growing Pains - a great "family" song about loving, smiling and getting through hard times together.  How can you not like that?

Doogie Howser - the perfect perky song.  It doesn't get any better than that.

Can you come up with some of your own favorites?

Busy Summer

It's been quite some time since I have written something.  Actually, it's been a long time.  I look into myself and ask for forgiveness, a forgiveness that will probably never be given.  I try to absolve my lack of writing with self-assuring excuses.  "I have a full time job now, which I love, that's keeping me pretty busy", "I no longer live alone (although the kids were gone almost the whole summer), therefore I have somebody to do things with", and the clincher, "I actually have a life."

My life today is a complete 180 from what my life was like a year ago.  OK - a little over a year ago since I just recently celebrated my one-year anniversary at my job.  My life one year ago looked like this:  No kids (they stay with their father every summer), no job, and no money.  I also lived alone in a 3rd-floor apartment.  I didn't go out much.  I escaped into computer games a lot, and I mean a lot.  I also found peace in writing because then I could complain to something/someone and ultimately, it gave me something to do.  After almost 7 years of being married and being a housewife, I had enough of staying home.  I wanted out.  I think at that point it was quite possible that I could have been tested insane.  Maybe.

In August, I received a huge blessing.  I was offered a job.  For those of you who know me most likely already know this story - so I'll make it short.  A temporary job on minimum wage turned into a full-time job that came with a huge raise.  This full-time job has been keeping me insanely busy - especially this past summer.  I can't complain (although, I do at times).  The pay is enough, I love being busy, I feel worthy and needed, and above all, I have a job.

All good things come with a catch.  Sadly, this means I have less time to do what I'd really like to do.  And when I finally get the time to do what I want, I'm dumbfounded at the time I have on my hands, having forgotten (and then remembering) what it was like to HAVE time, and I end up doing nothing at all, because I want to cherish being able to do nothing.

So - in short, I've been slacking off and I hope to make it a habit to write regularly again.  We'll see.

Next on my agenda: my trip to Colorado!

Colorado and Las Vegas - here I come!

I'm so excited!  I just booked my flight to Colorado!  For more than a year now, I've been planning a trip to Las Vegas to attend the first World Expo hosted by DeafNation.  The original plan was to drive up there with Jon and to make lots of pit stops along the way to see grand sights like Grand Canyon and Route 66.  Somehow, the plan evolved to Jon driving up to Colorado to spend time skydiving (and floating in a tunnel!) and hang out at a Deaf Pilot's convention thingie.  Of course, I'm always up for adventure so I thought it would be so cool if I met Jon there to explore Denver for a few days before we road-trip it to Las Vegas.

After we're done with Las Vegas, we'll (hopefully) see the Grand Canyon on the way back and I'd REALLY love to take Route 66 back towards Texas.

Gears are turning in my head already - what I should pack, what I might need to buy, how to plan the road trip back to Texas, what I want to see, what I want to do and most importantly - how should I preserve the memory!?  Of course, the answer's easy enough - take photos, lots and lots of them!  However, if you know me, you know I have lousy memory sometimes.  Chances are that I would forget where I took that photo, what day I took it and why.  So - I think I'm going to bring along a binder with page protectors (the sleeves you put papers in).  I'm going to drop in momentos like tickets, receipts, maps, brochures and anything else I pick up along the way.  I'll also (or at least try) to make notes on some photos.  The end result: a snappy scrapbook!

Over the next few days, I plan to do lots of research.  With Jon out of town, I'm sure to have a lot more time on my hands (but I will definitely be happy when he gets back).  I'm going to be looking into shows that I might want to see in Las Vegas (maybe America's Got Talent is hosting a show there while we're in town!), things I want to check out (maybe the Titanic exhibit? I'm a fan... and maybe the MGM lions, I hear that MGM has a habitat for them).  So many things to do, so much potential and so little time...

Did I mention I'm excited?  Whoo-hoo!

Still Lost

*Note: This is late, but better late than never...

One of my all-time favorite TV series has come to an end.  I enjoyed its entire 6-year run.  Although I became extremely frustrated at the writers from time to time, it was eventually worth it when the questions were (eventually) answered.

I looked at Lost as a "one step forward, two steps back" TV show.  Whenever one question was answered, much more were brought forth.  Guess that formula worked - millions of us kept watching every season to see what would happen.

The finale wasn't what I was expecting.  In some ways, it was satisfying - an excellent way to wrap up 6 years of confusion.  However, bits of it was disappointing.  I decided to compile a list of why I'm still "lost."  There are still tons of questions that went unanswered and if I'm going to watch something as confusing as Lost for 6 years, I'd expect answers to each and every one of them.

I stumbled across this website and this website had the same questions I had.  What was up with the polar bear, how did it get on the island?  Apparently, I wasn't paying attention.  What was the Man in Black's name (and what's the deal with witholding that information from us)!?  Why was Widmore so invested in the island?  What happened to Walt when he was kidnapped?  Each character was "assigned" a number - a number that was part of the combination to prevent the island from going into electromagnetic "whatever" - but the show didn't explain why that character got the particular number.  And what I'd really like to know is whether Ben is really good deep down inside or if he's just nuts.

Anyway, this website answers covers some questions that I had and others that I didn't think of.  Unfortunately, it doesn't answer ALL my questions.  Guess we're all just meant to be doomed to wonder about the little stuff...

http://screenrant.com/lost-finale-explanation-kofi-61464/