The weather has finally gotten warm! It was in the mid 70's yesterday and is the same way again today. We got some yard work done yesterday and everything looks so great. The Forsythias are ready to bloom and the hyacinths are coming up.

There are lots of little misc. thoughts floating around that I want to write about but don't really relate to each other or are in any particular order.

Kelly's family got a new dog. Kelly's mom (Noreen) called and said some friends of hers found a Westie in their neighborhood. He was really clean, obviously well taken care of but had no collar. They were unable to find his owners and couldn't keep him themselves so Noreen called Kelly. They brought Murphy home last Saturday. Snofie and I went over to meet him last night after Skyline. He is so cute, I wanted to bring him home with us.

Ciera, our waitress at Skyline loaned Snofie her spiral curling iron. This morning I did Snofie's hair. It took me a while, about half her head, to figure out how to use the thing. None the less her hair turned out great and more importantly she liked it.

On Monday Snofie and I both went to the doctor. I got an antibiotic and an Albuteral inhaler. Oh my god, I will never use one of those again. Silly me should have realized it was a steroid with side effects but it didn't hit me until it was too late. I took it twice on Monday and was up literally the entire night. I actually could not close my eyes and looked at the clock every half hour until 7am when it was time to get up. To get my eyes to close I put a pillow on top of my head and then my arm over top of the pillow. So, Tuesday I went to work and was wide awake until about 2pm. I am totally thankful that I am feeling better and have banished the evil inhaler.

I have had a terrible cough for the past 3 weeks. The cough was really annoying but I felt fine. Then this weekend it finally caught up with me. But I am pretty proud of avoiding an infection up until now...and I bow down to Airborne... That stuff really works. I went to the doctor today and got 3 prescriptions: an antibiotic, a decongestant / expectorant and an inhaler because he said when I cough I am having bronchial spasms. Mom has used an inhaler all my life for her asthma but I have never used one. I was a little freaked out but it seemed to go ok. Seeing the inhaler lying there on the table makes me think of a really great movie: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle... the nanny terrorizes the family but it all works out in the end. And speaking of movies... there was a show on the History channel today about the real people who lived in the Ammityville Horror house. I hope it's on again because I only caught half of it. It was about lawsuits that have been brought against the Lutz's and whether there was really anything that happened in that house.

At Skyline last night Kelly and I talked about The Prom again with Ciera and we began reminiscing about our own prom. Oh my god, was that really 20 years ago. Gosh, I suddenly feel old. We decided that we would bring in our prom pictures next week. When we got home I dug mine out. I have 2 sets of pictures because I went to an all girls school and my boyfriend went to an all boys school equalling 2 proms. Mark Pawlowski was my boyfriend. I wonder whatever happened to him.

As I was digging through old papers and photographs I came across my journal entries from the summer of 1994. During the summer of 1994 I lives in a tiny little second floor apartment with my bunny rabbit, Murray and was manager of a small menswear store. It was a memorable summer because it was the summer I met my husband, PoPo Pop.

5/18/94

Guys I wouldn't mind dating:

1. Po Po Pop

2. Kevin with the freckle on his lip

3. Rick the blonde lawyer

(I don't remember Rick and Kevin turned out to be gay.)

6/21/94

I asked JK what he thought about my having a thing for PoPo Pop, whether he thought I was barking up the wrong tree or not... Anyway, he didn't say too much. I am going to invite PoPo Pop to go out with all of us on Thursday... if I get up enough nerve.

(I did ask him and he said he couldn't because he had to go to Weight Watchers!)

7/10/94

I have been in Philadelphia since Thursday. I am so glad I got the chance to come out here. My goals are:

1. To sell more... at least $3000 a week

2. To get to know PoPo Pop better.

I can't stop thinking about him... I wonder if he did maybe possibly like me if he wouldn't ask me out because I used to date JK? Because JK works with him and all... I really do hope he would ask me out.

7/21/94

I still do want to get to know PoPo Pop but when he asked me out it was really awkward. JK thinks it was just because he was nervous. He said I heard you like me... why... and, I'll go out with you if you want. Well, that just made me feel about 2 feet tall. When I see him tomorrow I am going to say something like: I want to get to know you better but I feel like you asked me out because JK told you I like you instead of because you want to... Do you want to take me out or do you feel like you have to?

7/22/94

PoPo Pop came by and said: Do you still want to go out and I said: If you want to but not if it's a problem and he said: I can't figure out why you like me and I said: You are nice and he said: If I'd known you were interested I would have asked you out before now.

7/29/04

I wen to dinner last night with PoPo Pop. He took me to Spaghetti Warehouse. It was so much fun. I really like him. Afterwards we watched "The Pelican Brief" at my apartment. I really like him. Tonight he brought his dog, Samantha over and we went for a walk. He is so cute and so nice.

(Yes, we named our daughter after a dog...)

I love walking down memory lane!

There is this house I like to drive by on my way to pick Snofie up from school. I don't quite know whether it is the house or the time spent driving by it that I enjoy so much. The house is in town, is brick and is old. It is at the end of a very short dead end street and with no leaves on the trees you can see it well from the road. I like to imagine that it is my house. As I drive through town I imagine how it looks inside and how if we lived there, we would walk into town for ice cream or for a parade.

Don't get me wrong, I love my house. I can't imagine at this point in my life living anywhere else. But, the ritual of driving through town everyday and seeing "my other house" is comforting. At about 2pm every afternoon I begin to look forward to my drive through town. Even on rainy days I cherish this time. For 50 minutes I am completely alone. No one talking to me, no one making noise around me and no one invading my personal space. I can listen to whatever I want on the radio and as loud as I want. I can sing, badly, along with Elvis Costello and no one will laugh at me. I can talk to myself and the conversation goes exactly how I want it to.

When I arrive at school the ritual continues. No longer do I talk to myself or sing along with the radio. Instead I turn off everything around me. No radio, no car motor running and no cell phone. I simply enjoy the peace and quite. Sometimes I read, sometimes I write or do a crossword puzzle and sometime I do absolutely nothing. And when Snofie comes running out of school and jumps in the car I am totally rejuvenated.

I wouldn't want any more than the 50 minutes I have. I wouldn't want any more than 5 days a week. Nor would I want to actually live in "my other house". Everything is perfect the way it is.

One of our neighbors distributed fliers about his recent break-in. He had left his car unlocked in his driveway giving the burglar access to the garage door opener and ultimately his house. The burglar took a computer, some money and credit cards from his wife's purse. I appreciate being made aware of this situation and found his safety tips a valuable reminder of things we can do to stay safe. What gets my goat though is a comment he made, "the police showed up minutes later, drove around, filled out a report and left. (We have not heard from them since, not even a follow-up phone call)."

Let me explain how this works, a person calls the police, police show up, police take a report, police leave. Now repeat this about 15 times in an 8 hour shift, 3 shifts a day, 7 days a week with an average of 3 to 5 officers on each shift. The police are reactive. They respond to your calls and if they catch the bad guy they arrest him along with all the other bad guys they catch in the act of committing a crime that has yet to be discovered by the victim. Frankly I do not want my tax dollars used on follow-up calls, "hello, Mrs. ____, today we looked for the bad guy who took your stuff but we didn't find him." The report number is given to the victim so that they can follow-up on their time and their dime.

In my more naive years I often found myself asking my husband, a law enforcement officer, what happened to a particular victim. "Honey, what happened to the guy you found the other day who had been passed out in his stifling hot house for 3 days?" Or, "How is the guy on the motorcycle who crashed into the tow truck?" His answer was always, "I don't know." I did not understand how he could go on without finding out what had become of these people, victims and criminals alike. It finally occurred to me that he didn't know not because he didn't care but rather because if he followed-up on everything he would spend every waking moment doing so.

So, Mr. Neighbor who wonders why the police never followed up with him: I want you to know that the police do care about what happened to you but they have moved on and are responding to other people they also care about. I am growing tired of people's opinion that "the cops don't care." I assure you they do. But what do you want them to do? How do you expect them to find someone who took your stuff when you have no description of the guy? And, if you think you know who took your stuff and you lead the police to his house how do you think they should retrieve your stolen stuff? Thanks to all the bleeding heart liberals out there the police can't do much of anything as the criminal has the same rights, if not more than the victim.

And now I must end this and step down off my soap box. One, because I could go on forever an ever and two because it is time for Skyline and I am starving.

P.S. Slamming the mouse against the desk will not make the computer work better, sorry.

Dear S:

I wanted to write to you and thank you for your for being a constant source of amusement for me here in my cubicle. I would ask though that you please speak up a little when you are berating the IT guys so that I won't have to strain to hear you. I am sure I look funny all leaning over my desk with my ear pressed up against the partition. You dissatisfaction with absolutely everything makes me smile though, it really does.

But, moving on. Do you really expect that the new computer software will do everything exactly as you think it should? Sometimes it takes 3 mouse clicks to get where you are going and there is nothing that can be done about it. I mean come on, is 3 mouse clicks really that unreasonable? Do you realize that you spend on average about 4 hours out of an 8 hour work day attempting to figure out how to get you computer to do what you think it should do. Everyone else's computers work the same way yours does and no one else is complaining or having issues. Although I do find it amusing that you think you are the step child who had been stuck with the 2ND rate computer I am saying that you are not. Our computers are not second rate, you are just an idiot.

Sincerely,
K

Snofie and I have decided not to watch American Idol this season. We are just not into it. We had a big discussion about how it is okay that we don't watch it. We are into several other reality shows: "Top Design", "Americas Next Top Model" and the show about the search for the next Pussycat Doll. Okay, I know, the last one is totally trashy but hey, they put it on TV and someones got to watch it. Snofie fell asleep during the first 5 minutes of it last night but I enjoyed every minute of it. Since we both were quite tired yesterday we decided that after work & school we would plop ourselves down in the big bed and not move until morning. I love big bed days with Snofie. Before I picked her up from school I stopped by the store for a dinner that we could eat in the big bed and big bed entertainment. I got the family size Stouffers mac & cheese, a magazine and play dough. All were a big hit with both of us. Snofie did her homework and then played. I read my magazine and then crocheted while we watched "Reba" & "Gilmore Girls" re-runs. Last night there was also a new episode of "Gilmore Girls" on. Snofie is really getting into the show now and I love that because in some aspects I think we are a lot like Lorali and Rory.

I have a horrible cough! I sound awful but I feel fine which I am thankful for. I am also thankful for cough medicine. Yesterday I got some daytime and some nighttime cough medicine. They had both in a nice little bundle at the grocery store.

It is snowing again this morning. When will it be spring? We can't wait for it to warm up and for us to be able to get out in our garden. This year I want to add some more bushes in the places where there are holes. I am thinking evergreen bushes. We don't have any evergreen bushes because PoPo Pop doesn't like them. Maybe he won't notice if I throw some in.

Snofie is learning about bats in school. She is so excited to take her bat magazines in and tell her teacher that she is a member of the International Bat Conservancy.

I absolutely love sitting at the kitchen table in the mornings with Snofie. We drink coffee, eat breakfast and talk.

This morning we talked about dealing with difficult people. She is having J issues again. She said that J follows her around and says mean things: "Tara is mean and I don't like her" and "You can't be friends with Hayley." Snofie wishes that J would just leave her alone. We talked about so much and I hope it helps Snofie. I am so proud of Snofie for recognizing that it is not healthy to have a friend that doesn't treat you nicely. And, I am proud of her for basically ignoring J and treating J badly.

Here are some of the things I told Snofie:
1. Some people think that if they put someone else down it will make them feel good.
2. Life if full of dealing with difficult people so it's good to learn to deal with them.
3. Feeling sorry for them sometimes helps your angry feelings go away.
4. Finding a way to keep them from getting to you is a good thing.
5. If you ignore her maybe she will get bored with you and go away.

I really hope that Snofie will always feel that she can talk to me. I also hope that she will keep dealing with the difficult things in her life with grace and class.

This afternoon Snofie and I were driving home from school. Snofie was telling me about an icky girl in her class:

Snofie: I thought maybe she was getting better but she's not. She was really mean today.
Me: What did she do?
Snofie: She made fun of my best friend and told me she didn't like her. I don't want a friend who says mean things like that. It made me really mad.
Me: "Words are windows to the heart" dear, it says so on the church marquee.
Snofie: ...eye rolling...
Me: And see her heart is icky, it has an arrow through it.
Snofie: No, the arrow is stuck up her butt.

That's my girl!

Snofie: What's this?
Me: A fortune from a fortune cookie.
Snofie: When did you have Chinese?
Me: The other day at work for lunch.
Snofie: "Don't worry about the world coming to an end. It's already tomorrow in Australia." Why did you tape it in your day planner?
Me: I'm waiting to use it on you.


My child is really warped, she made this contraption out of string and some of the things in her doctor's kit. I asked her what it was and she said: A Shock-O-Meter collar for my Build A Bear dogs for when they misbehave. She is strange.