Since Halloween is fast upon us and it is my favorite holiday (yes I love Christmas too but for very different reasons none of which involve presents except maybe the giving of them), here are some fun Halloween facts for you!
Halloween was brought to America by European immigrants.
Tootsie Rolls were the first wrapped penny candy.
Every year we spend about $2 million on Halloween candy!
Halloween is second only to Christmas in terms of retail sales.
In 1962, the Count Dracula Society was formed.
Gargoyles are believed to ward off evil spirits and guard the home.
Halloween falls on October 31st which is the end of the Celtic year. Halloween is rooted in Celtic lore. It is called All Hallows Eve and is over 2,000 years old.
Hope you enjoyed fun facts on Friday! Happy Halloween y'all.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Alone
I hate being alone. I've lived with it for the last 6 years or so and I'm pretty tired of it. I've embraced it as best as I can and I enjoy certainly aspects of being on my own. But overall, I'm tired of constantly doing everything by myself and having no one to talk to on a regular basis. I have no one to share my everyday highlights with.
The reason I feel this way at this particular moment in time? I've seen a particular ex-boyfriend twice in the last month. He's the only X I would've ever considered as my soulmate. He was my first true love and even though we have maintained a friendship over the last 11 years, he still gets to me.
Unlike most men, I genuinely enjoy his company. He's a nice guy, he's interesting and intelligent, he treats me well & we have fun together. The kicker? He doesn't want to commit to me; I don't think he ever has. I have no clue why really because he doesn't have "commitment issues" with other women..just me. So when I do see him it brings back a lot of feelings and makes me question many things like why we've never gotten back together, what it might be like if we did and why I even bother thinking about these things at all.
But the hardest part of seeing him is the aftermath. It seems to conveniently fall around the time I have PMS so my accessibility to tears is higher than average (ahh, I cry easily is what I mean) and my overall sensitivity is terribly high. I feel alone and quite sad after we part. There's never an easy way to just get over this; I just have to let the emotions come & go which they usually do in a matter of days.
There really is no purpose to this blog..I'm just venting and killing time before my plane leaves for Denver. And considering the snowfall they've gotten of late, I may be waiting awhile. Wish me safe travels!!!
The reason I feel this way at this particular moment in time? I've seen a particular ex-boyfriend twice in the last month. He's the only X I would've ever considered as my soulmate. He was my first true love and even though we have maintained a friendship over the last 11 years, he still gets to me.
Unlike most men, I genuinely enjoy his company. He's a nice guy, he's interesting and intelligent, he treats me well & we have fun together. The kicker? He doesn't want to commit to me; I don't think he ever has. I have no clue why really because he doesn't have "commitment issues" with other women..just me. So when I do see him it brings back a lot of feelings and makes me question many things like why we've never gotten back together, what it might be like if we did and why I even bother thinking about these things at all.
But the hardest part of seeing him is the aftermath. It seems to conveniently fall around the time I have PMS so my accessibility to tears is higher than average (ahh, I cry easily is what I mean) and my overall sensitivity is terribly high. I feel alone and quite sad after we part. There's never an easy way to just get over this; I just have to let the emotions come & go which they usually do in a matter of days.
There really is no purpose to this blog..I'm just venting and killing time before my plane leaves for Denver. And considering the snowfall they've gotten of late, I may be waiting awhile. Wish me safe travels!!!
Monday, October 16, 2006
On Being 30 and Single
I'm almost mid-way through my 30th year on this planet and recently I was remembering how difficult it is to be over 27, single and living in the Midwest. Thankfully I don't live there anymore and don't have the worries I did before moving away. There was quite a bit of media coverage given to the most recent census on US households. It turns out more of us are single than married!
I've wondered why that may be. Personally I'd trade in my singles card for the married sort given the right man in the right circumstances (I seem to have a history of finding potential "right men" at very, very wrong times...I'll let you decide if you think they may not have been "right" at all given that fact). But it seems I am in the minority - or the rest of America is still waiting for their "Mr/Ms Right at the Right Time".
So why do so many of us want to stay single? A good number of us live together but haven't (or don't want to get) married. Is it because of our ridiculously high divorce rate? Did too many of us grow up in blended families with more stepmoms and stepdads then we could count? Or is it simply that women don't need men for financial support like we used to (even though we still make roughly 30 cents less on the dollar than men...but that's for another post)? Or perhaps it's some quirky combination of all of them.
I wish I had an answer but I don't. Since moving to Colorado, I've garnered a group of friends both male and female. And the great majority of us are single or at least not living with our significant other. And all of us want to be married and committed...and all of us are over 30. Some of my friends are in their late 30s or even 40s. But not one of us would trade in being single for being married to just anyone. Could that be a key component of these findings? Are we looking for that perfect match? Is there a perfect match? And if there is a perfect match, how do we know when we find them? Does that perfect match change as we grow older? And if it does, how can we ever be certain we have found our perfect match?
A few of my friends here are divorced but all are hopeful of finding that lifelong partner. I've never married and have never lived with a significant other. In all honesty, I felt like a failure in that regard when I was living in the Midwest. I have cousin upon cousin who married, had children, settled down...the whole lot. And they are all younger than me. There's nothing quite like family gatherings and holidays surrounded by dozens of cousins and their spouses and their babies and toddlers. And every year that number of married couples and babies just increases..almost exponentially it would seem. It's one of the most isolating and truly lonely experiences I've had to endure. It was painful enough to force me to make the biggest change in my life ever: uproot my entire existence and move to a different part of the country, some 800 miles away from my close-knit family.
Whenever my mother gets upset that I don't live close to home, I remind her of that simple fact. I tell her I left to find a husband and to give her grandchildren one day. So hang in there Mom, I'm trying. Perhaps the rest of America is too and that's why so many of us are single today.
I've wondered why that may be. Personally I'd trade in my singles card for the married sort given the right man in the right circumstances (I seem to have a history of finding potential "right men" at very, very wrong times...I'll let you decide if you think they may not have been "right" at all given that fact). But it seems I am in the minority - or the rest of America is still waiting for their "Mr/Ms Right at the Right Time".
So why do so many of us want to stay single? A good number of us live together but haven't (or don't want to get) married. Is it because of our ridiculously high divorce rate? Did too many of us grow up in blended families with more stepmoms and stepdads then we could count? Or is it simply that women don't need men for financial support like we used to (even though we still make roughly 30 cents less on the dollar than men...but that's for another post)? Or perhaps it's some quirky combination of all of them.
I wish I had an answer but I don't. Since moving to Colorado, I've garnered a group of friends both male and female. And the great majority of us are single or at least not living with our significant other. And all of us want to be married and committed...and all of us are over 30. Some of my friends are in their late 30s or even 40s. But not one of us would trade in being single for being married to just anyone. Could that be a key component of these findings? Are we looking for that perfect match? Is there a perfect match? And if there is a perfect match, how do we know when we find them? Does that perfect match change as we grow older? And if it does, how can we ever be certain we have found our perfect match?
A few of my friends here are divorced but all are hopeful of finding that lifelong partner. I've never married and have never lived with a significant other. In all honesty, I felt like a failure in that regard when I was living in the Midwest. I have cousin upon cousin who married, had children, settled down...the whole lot. And they are all younger than me. There's nothing quite like family gatherings and holidays surrounded by dozens of cousins and their spouses and their babies and toddlers. And every year that number of married couples and babies just increases..almost exponentially it would seem. It's one of the most isolating and truly lonely experiences I've had to endure. It was painful enough to force me to make the biggest change in my life ever: uproot my entire existence and move to a different part of the country, some 800 miles away from my close-knit family.
Whenever my mother gets upset that I don't live close to home, I remind her of that simple fact. I tell her I left to find a husband and to give her grandchildren one day. So hang in there Mom, I'm trying. Perhaps the rest of America is too and that's why so many of us are single today.
Monday, October 09, 2006
Paypal Sucks
We've all tried to reach the customer service departments of our multitude of credit card companies, cell phone providers and bank institutions. Currently I'm holding with Paypal. I can't even go into the myriad of trillions of reasons I bloody HATE PAYPAL. The web site won't let me change my address (I recently moved...for the 8th time in 2 years..that's not an exaggeration folks. The address book makers adore me and all of my friends hate me for the same reason). I can't confirm my new address because I don't have a landline and I'm not at any of the old addresses they have on file. I've been passed around between Customer Service, the Resolutions Department (who knew they couldn't resolve something in the one department designed just for that - resolutions??) and now I'm back to the Customer Service Department. The CS people are in the process of passing me off yet again to the Resolutions Department.
Now I understand they must run a very secure site..hell I want them to because I've got bank accounts and credit card info on it. But how many of us today have landline phone numbers? A good majority of folks today have only cell phones. I live and die with mine. So why not update this one little blip? Why must I spend 45 minutes explaining my predicament to 5 different people? Paypal serves a purpose and for the most part it does it pretty well. But after the hoops I've had to run through to simply change my bleepin' address, I curse it! And I will never allow clients to pay me through Paypal EVER EVER again.
Wish me luck- I'm still holding.
Now I understand they must run a very secure site..hell I want them to because I've got bank accounts and credit card info on it. But how many of us today have landline phone numbers? A good majority of folks today have only cell phones. I live and die with mine. So why not update this one little blip? Why must I spend 45 minutes explaining my predicament to 5 different people? Paypal serves a purpose and for the most part it does it pretty well. But after the hoops I've had to run through to simply change my bleepin' address, I curse it! And I will never allow clients to pay me through Paypal EVER EVER again.
Wish me luck- I'm still holding.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
7 on Saturday
Since this is my blog, I'm allowed to be self-absorbed so here's another list all about me. :)
7 Things You May Not Know About Me:
1.) I have a heart murmur. Yep, I have to take meds for it whenever I have any dental work done or if I ever get an infection because the germs can get directly into my bloodstream and injure my heart. Know you know why I'm a bit nervous about giving birth!
2.) I have 7 siblings. 7. It's complicated but I really only grew up with two of them and I consider them my family.
3.) I was raised by my dad & basically lived as an only child til I was 11. I still have some selfish-only-child moments..like when it comes to sharing dessert!
4.) I had a German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix dog as a child. His name was BoJo and he was a sweetheart.
5.) When I was a child, I wanted to be an archaeologist, a psychologist, a teacher, a rock singer, a baseball TV or radio announcer, a forensic psychiatrist and a writer. Today, I'm the writer.
6.) I've only broken one bone in my body: my ankle bone. It's still cracked today. But at least it works!!! Thanks to the miracle of physical therapy.
7.) My first kiss was at the age of 15. And the rest we'll save for another day!!
7 Things You May Not Know About Me:
1.) I have a heart murmur. Yep, I have to take meds for it whenever I have any dental work done or if I ever get an infection because the germs can get directly into my bloodstream and injure my heart. Know you know why I'm a bit nervous about giving birth!
2.) I have 7 siblings. 7. It's complicated but I really only grew up with two of them and I consider them my family.
3.) I was raised by my dad & basically lived as an only child til I was 11. I still have some selfish-only-child moments..like when it comes to sharing dessert!
4.) I had a German Shepherd/Siberian Husky mix dog as a child. His name was BoJo and he was a sweetheart.
5.) When I was a child, I wanted to be an archaeologist, a psychologist, a teacher, a rock singer, a baseball TV or radio announcer, a forensic psychiatrist and a writer. Today, I'm the writer.
6.) I've only broken one bone in my body: my ankle bone. It's still cracked today. But at least it works!!! Thanks to the miracle of physical therapy.
7.) My first kiss was at the age of 15. And the rest we'll save for another day!!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
On being short...
Living in the land of non-short folks has some disadvantages. I top out at 5'1" (on a tall day) and there are some side effects to my limited stature. One of those became apparent today at Kmart when I tried to reach for something on the top aisle. So here are my five reasons being short sucks:
1. You can't reach a damn thing at the supermarket/department store/any other store not built for midgets. It's true, I took up rock climbing just so I could contort my body to reach those 3rd and 4th shelves.
2. No pants fit your tiny legs. Petite size my ass. Have you ever looked at stuff in the Petite Dept? It's made for little ole blue-haired ladies over 85. There isn't a damn thing in there for a sexy woman like me.
3. No one can find you in a crowd - at least not without neon-colored clothing or your own personal bullhorn.
4. You get stepped on and pushed around in those same crowds. Nothing is worse than being small, being stepped on and being pushed around by people who are bigger than you (which seems to be anyone over the age 12).
5. And the fifth reason? Most of the men you are interested in are at least 6 feet tall...and like tall chicks.
1. You can't reach a damn thing at the supermarket/department store/any other store not built for midgets. It's true, I took up rock climbing just so I could contort my body to reach those 3rd and 4th shelves.
2. No pants fit your tiny legs. Petite size my ass. Have you ever looked at stuff in the Petite Dept? It's made for little ole blue-haired ladies over 85. There isn't a damn thing in there for a sexy woman like me.
3. No one can find you in a crowd - at least not without neon-colored clothing or your own personal bullhorn.
4. You get stepped on and pushed around in those same crowds. Nothing is worse than being small, being stepped on and being pushed around by people who are bigger than you (which seems to be anyone over the age 12).
5. And the fifth reason? Most of the men you are interested in are at least 6 feet tall...and like tall chicks.
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