Selecting Shoes

Can you believe this collection of shoes?!  Let me say at the start these are not my shoes. I whipped out the new camera recently and took this picture in the home of a friend. But, I believe you can tell alot about the person from just this picture.  There were additional shoes in the closet - dress shoes, boots, work shoes, etc.  You get the picture. Leave me a comment describing the person who is the owner of this collection and I will then tell you "the rest of the story" and we will see who is closest to being correct.  And, so you know, the owner of the shoes will not see this journal entry or your comments.

Is this a ploy for comments?  Maybe, but mostly I was so shocked by the revelation of this rack of shoes I felt it was journal worthy!  And, it was a good way to start practicing the download from my new camera.  Of course, I think it may be getting old that I am always saying, "Wait!  Let me take a picture!!"

Tags: shoes, camera, comments

Remembering Big Chief Tablets and Protractors

I was in a WalMart this past week and saw the stacks and stacks of school supplies. Already the parents and their kids were clogging the aisles making decisions about back-packs, pen styles and whether or not little Brittany needed the Neon markers in addition to the primary colored ones.  Of course, she did!

Moms with the glassy-eyed look of a wearied warrior perused preprinted schools lists that will invariably be incorrect.  This will result in another trip to the store, with a panicked second grader, on the evening of the first day of school.  First graders don't get it - yet. 

Do not venture into WalMart or Target in August if it can be avoided.

Buying school supplies with my kids was fun, in a masochistic kind of way.  I walked a fine line between trying to stay within budget and yet allow them to make "cool" choices. Those were the Transformer years and Star Wars and the New Kids on the Block, each vying for their market share.  My daughter's Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox would probably be worth something on e-bay today. My kids had a little of their own money at the time and if they wanted something that was unreasonably beyond our budget constraints they had to purchase it themselves. Funny how that reigned in a lot of impulse buys. I do remember my son loved mechanical pencils, even in elementary school.  It was more expensive but we let him start the school year off with one.  If he lost it he was back to a yellow #2 until the Christmas break.

I can remember my own school supply days choosing folders in a variety of colors, new pencils and art paper.  It was such a fresh start each year and even though I made the appropriate groans about returning to school, I loved the social interaction and the routine. Of course, that typically lasted a week before I was counting the days until the first holiday. The big choices I recall were if your folders came with or without pockets. The plain ones were 7 cents each and Mom stocked up for four kids at three schools so getting folders with pockets was a big deal.  And, crayons. I longed for the box of 64 Crayola Crayons with the the built-in sharpener but can only recall getting it one time.  It has since become a recurring theme in some online surveys and memes I have completed.  Blue-green was my favorite color and could only be found in that box of 64.

When I was in the 7th grade, and in love with Davy Jones from the Monkees I believe, I had a canvas notebook that was in bright colors and lots of paisley.  It had a matching spiral notebook as well and I loved it!! I saved that special notebook for just the right occasion and still had most of it left at the end of the school year. That was also the year I remember Mom writing the subject on the front of each folder I had for class, in broad tip Magic Marker.  Her handwriting was beautiful and I can still remember how neatly the words, Science, Algebra, and Speech looked on the front of each.

Don't ask me why, but when I was in line behind a family at WalMart the other day, and they were purchasing four of each color of folders, the orange ones triggered the memories that prompted this post.  My Science folder was orange. 

I had to control my desire to hit the school supply aisle!! 

                                            

 

Tags: school supplies, crayons, Monkees, Transformers, New Kids on the Block, WalMart, Star Wars

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Been there ... want to go again

1. Charlotte, NC, USA
2. Dallas, TX, USA
3. Naples, FL, USA
4. London, England

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My Caffeine Level for Today

Found this over at Shelly's CyberChocolate. I am not surprised it is only moderate.  This has been a long week!!

Created by OnePlusYou - Online Dating Site

Tags: meme, caffeine

Random Thoughts

I am still shocked to find myself excited if I find gas less than $4 a gallon these days. I remember it was 35 cents a gallon when I started driving.  Of course, back then I also charged 50 cents an hour to baby sit!  I was much in demand and often got 75 cents or $1 an hour (Woo Hoo!!) from the parents with difficult children. And, that still wasn't enough.

Today my neighborhood station dropped the price of gas to $3.76 and I pulled right in to top off the tank. I intended to use my debit card but it wouldn't take it. I then realized it was already turned on and just waiting for me to start pumping.  It had been prepaid for $10. I got all excited that someone had done a random act of kindness or a random act of stupidity by driving off before they pumped.  I paused to contemplate my good fortune.  Then I heard the clicking of someone trying to get the gas to pump. It was a young girl in front of me and I could tell she was expecting gas to come out but nothing was happening.  I called to her and asked, "Did you prepay?"  She had.  "How much?"  $10.  I told her something must be wrong with her pump and quickly filled my tank with the two and a half gallons.  Tee Hee.  Not really.  I told her they had put it on the wrong pump and waited while she went in and they reset the pumps. Gotcha, didn't I? 

In spite of my frequent references to age defining things in my life, I do not consider myself old.  I just keep having moments where my mind will jump the track, typically in mid-sentence and I cannot think of the right word or even what the topic was at the time. It is very frustrating.  Sometimes at work I get up from my desk and head toward a destination and, unless I have a page in my hand that is a clue of my intent, I will stop, look around and have to back track to figure out where I was going. I just tell myself ......

For those of you who grew up in the 60s (and even those who have only read about the 60s), I would like to recommend the television show "Mad Men" on AMC.  It is about to start its second season so rent the first season and also look at the Special Features on the DVD for interesting tidbits about the sets, styles, decor. It is about advertisers on Madison Avenue in 1960 and it is a fascinating look into that era.  It is not, I repeat, NOT, "Leave it to Beaver."  It is at least a PG-13 rating.  And, if you are trying to quit smoking, this is not the show for you.  I haven't seen that many smoke rings in decades.

Oh, yeah.  I tell myself that it is just because I have too many things on my mind. 

Tags: old age, gas prices, nostalgia, Mad Men

What makes a grown-up?

When I qualified for my first credit card, I thought I was a grown up.

When I got married, I knew I was a grown-up.

And, then I had children and thought, now I am officially an adult.

When I was asked to be a chaperone I felt I was a "cool" adult.

I later took on all the responsibilities of single parenthood and said, this is what it means to be an adult.

When I bought my first home I learned mortgage = adult.

I was with my grandmother when she breathed her last and felt that moment was a turning point into adulthood.

I helped my mother make the arrangements for my grandmother's passing and felt even older.  It was the first time I had ever had to help pick out a casket.  [I had always said I wanted to be buried in the cheapest box possible but after I saw the garish pink and blue flocked caskets, I decided to rethink my position.]

When I got bifocals I kept my adult secret to myself.

When I got trifocals I bragged about how easily I adapted.  That's what grown-ups do.

When I became a grandmother I announced that it was a premature event!

When my children complained that my television was too loud, I suggested they had ruined their hearing with their ipods and surround sound.

When I eat at a cafeteria and don't want the blue Jello, I realize my childhood is fading.

When people, whom I consider to be my peers, call me Momma and ask my advice, I tell myself I am flattered.  I'm not sure I am.

When AARP started sending me mailers I considered it junk mail.

When I can eat what I want, when I want it but still choose vegetables I feel very mature.

And, since both my parents are relatively healthy and living on their own I realize I have not had to take on that ultimate role of caregiver or decision maker so my segue into adulthood is not complete.  I am grateful to still be the child.

Tags: adulthood, grown up, grandmother, veggies, caskets, AARP, trifocals, mortgage, child

Fra-gi-le - It must be French!

Wow!  I was very pleased to win the Magic Smoke "What's The Caption" award and I appreciate all the great comments you have so kindly left for me.  I was a bit embarrassed that the one time I am getting "national attention" was when my latest entry was the most unguarded entry I have ever posted. 

http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/entries/2008/07/22/winner-of-whats-the-caption-wednesday-16.../3403

I typically want to go for the upbeat, more positive post and having new readers come at this time was like having drop-in company when your house is in shambles. 

Never fear. I have cleared the papers off the coffee table, washed the sink full of dishes and, much like Hansel and Gretel's crumbs in the forest, I have picked up the trail of clothing that starts just inside the front door. 

So, ya'll come on back now, ya hear?!!

 

If you do not understand the title to this entry, please check this out:

http://www.redriderleglamps.com/majoraward.html

Tags: award, embarrassed, OCD, A Christmas Story