Barbara Walters and me

I had a wonderful night yesterday. I got to meet and shake the hand of a personal hero of mine, Barbara Walters. She was doing a speech and book signing at a college in my area. The kid, the boy and I went to see her. She was very elegant melodic smart and just about anything you could think about her except one thing. She is a very tiny petite woman. Some how I always thought of her as tall. But I believe she shorter then I am. Barbara Walters has been a role model of mine for years. I remember watching her as a little girl and being amazed that a woman was doing a mans job. At a time when there was no women really visible doing such things. Except weather girls and Miss America neither one I wished to be. I think she was the one who really spoke to me about what a woman could do. Let no one or no man stand in your way .Because of her I believed I could be whatever I wanted. Before I became aware of her I really didn't want to grow up. All I had seen was housewives and Mothers. Being a Mom didn't bother me but being a housewife did. Unfortunately I didn't follow her example but it was nice to believe I could. Like I said to her last night I'll say here thank you Barbara Walters.

Say A Little Prayer

If you have been reading this blog you know that my dear friend Cindy passed away. When Cindy was alive her birthday is the 4th of July. Usually Cindy, her sister mother and her nephew would go see fireworks. Now her nephew (refer to as N) is a fatherless child. Cindy's brother died when he was a baby. N's father loved fireworks so every year they would take N with them. When N was about 8 I started going along and something about this child tugged my heart. He was so sweet generally a good kid. But I knew he was lost, as only one fatherless child to another can know. It's not that the large extended family didn't try. But life goes on things happen and quiet fatherless children go unnoticed. I see him several times a year for next 6 years. Then a little over 2 years ago Cindy died, three months before that his grandfather died and 6 months before that his other aunt died also. He was close to them all. We all went one last time to see fireworks after Cindy died and N was there. I watch him grow from a child to a very tall and large teenage. Still sweet and still lost. Now N lives in a not so nice part of town. He is half Hispanic and it shows. He dropped out of school and went to stay out of state for awhile with an uncle. He just returned home 2 weeks ago. Now I don't know if he is in a gang. But yesterday while he was on the street someone shot him. The bullet missed his heart by 2 millimeters. He is in intensive care and is expected to make it. In the same hospital where his family has all died. Hopefully he won't. I am filled with such sadness for this child. I wish I could do something for him but I don't know what to do. Except to say a little prayer for him and I hope you do too.

For the love of hot dish

Well here's some more about the librarian convention. Now I love the Twin Cities and Minnesota but I have to say they are not known for their food. Except for hot dish. Which is in case you don't know is simply this: take a can or two of veggies, a can or two of soup, add meat, and macaroni. Then bake in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour or two. That's hot dish. Now hot dish can be tasty and if I only could have found some in the cities. This is the first vacation I have ever went on and lost weight. We were staying in the downtown area of Minneapolis and there weren't very many places to eat. In the downtown area there was not one fast food place. And everywhere we went to eat the food was awful. They even have an area of town called Eat Street. This is where the supposedly good places are to eat. So not true! We ate at a place called "The Bad Waitress". While the decor was great the food sucked and was priced high. It should of been called The Bad Food Joint. We stop at Micky D's on the way back to downtown and that was the best meal I had on the trip. One night while the kids went to a reception I stayed back at the hotel. I got 3 menus from the front desk for pizza. Now I live in a city known for it's pizza and I wasn't expecting it to be like home. But when I read the 3 menus I was appalled. All of them had the following pizzas: A Reuben (corned beef sauerkraut), a Rachel (a Reuben with turkey), hot dogs and tater tots, and one with garlic mashed potatoes. After seeing what they put on pizza I could not order one. I would be kicked out of my hometown if I did. So I went to the vending machine and had candy bars for dinner.
So if you want to save money forget the fancy weight loss spas just head for the Twin Cities. No decent food and the downtown has miles of a skywalk to get lost on. But, if your like me, pack like you're going to a third world country. Bring food!

281

I told you that I went to a librarian convention in Minneapolis. One great thing about the convention besides the nice people is the freebies. I got 281 free books, lots of pens, book marks and office supplies. Free books it was like I died and gone to heaven. And you get to meet authors and speak with them (all but Avi). It was 2 1/2 days of free things even food and drinks (alcohol too). That's my ideal vacation it could only be better if the lodging was free. Now my kid got more books then I did. Now we didn't do much shopping we maybe had one small bag. We knew it from past experiences we would get tons of books, so we rented a ford explorer or something like that. That vehicle was huge and by the time we got all of our books in it and the one shopping bag there was barely any room left for us to sit. I seriously thought the kids were going to strap me to the hood like a deer (this was Minnesota remember). But we managed some how to make it back home without leaving a book behind this time. Of course it took a week to straighten my body out so I stopped looking like a carnival sideshow. I think for the next one we will hire a limo.

Unpacking or choices?

Well I haven't blogged much lately. But most of March sucked big time. But it ended great. I took a trip with the kid and the boy. To Minneapolis a Librarian's convention and then to Winona to see family. So now I full of wonderful things to blog about if I ever unpack. I hate unpacking from a trip and I will do anything to avoid doing it. Like I am doing right now. Unpacking sucks in part because I over pack every single time. I do that because I like choices. I like to get up in the morning (ok maybe the afternoon) and dress according to how I feel. If you are gone 5 days and only pack 5 outfits you have no choices. I like choices. That's why I love to eat at buffet choices. And that is why I wish we had more presidential candidates. Instead of a democrat, republican, independent (Ralph Nadar), and some one from the green party who no one knows who he is. Choices! See why I named this wild woman rants. I start off on one thing and go to another. Speaking of which I better get off and go unpack. Stay tuned for the highlights and low lights of my trip. Uffa Da!

This is the winter of my discontent.

This is the winter of my discontent.
Discontent with winter it's been too long and harsh.
Discontent with where I live. In a large city and too far from my kid.
Discontent with my body too large too painful.
Discontent with my social life it's non existing.
Discontent with money not enough of it.
Discontent with feelings so mixed so intense.
Discontent with where my life is.
Discontent with where my life is going no where.
Discontent with my age.
Discontent with extended family relations non existing.
Discontent with life in general.
Discontent with the winter of my discontent.

Hooking up with an old love of mine

Recently I have had the pleasure of hooking up with an old love of mine. It had been far too long of a time apart and was missed terribly. Now your probably thinking that this is a man. No! A woman? On no! It is my love of reading. It has been years since I have had this feeling about reading. I always used to get this tingly feeling when I opened a book and then it went away. In the years since the feeling went away I read some books and I stockpiled books. In the hope of getting that feeling back. And about a week or two ago the feeling came back. I sat in my reading chair that I got a year ago in anticipation of the feeling returning. So anyway I sat in my chair and picked up the book, opened it and the feeling return. I had to close the book because I was crying with joy. It is back and I am so happy! I am once again finding pleasure in my old love. In fact today I was a bit annoyed because I had things to do and didn't get to read yet. But I will!

I have sat often wondering why it went away. The feeling went away shortly after two terrible things happened in my life. The first was my dear friend Cindy terminal diagnosis of stage 4 breast cancer and my chronic pain condition flaring up. The chronic pain does make it difficult to focus and find a comfortable position but it is doable. And as for Cindy well I spent as much time as I could with her. As we both knew that we didn't have years to spend together. And I am grateful we did that. So between those two things I lost my love for reading. Now it is back and I will take leave of you now. A good read awaits me.