While You Were Sleeping

So, this is what happened while I was gone    My beautiful granddaughter went from this

           to this  

    
Awwwwwww

And Now I Matter

They found me!  After all these years, they finally found me!  And now I matter.

The Nielsen people hunted me down and want to know what I watch on TV!   I'm important!  However . . . I thought they'd send me one of these - - 

but they sent me this instead - -

three of them, one for each TV in the house.  AND they sent two crisp dollar bills (I'm not sure why - maybe to compensate for not sending one of those boxes).   Anyway, I write down everything in the diaries that we watch for one week, and then they send me 75 more of those bad boys (the crisp dollar bills, that is).

The diary is a bit confusing.  I need to put X's and lines and TV channels, and names of shows, and which TV, and who is watching.   Not to mention the whole DVR thing . . . do I mark when I watch it or when it was recorded?  Or both?  What about about commercials?  We are not a commercial-watching household.  When a commercial comes on, the channel gets changed.  And then changed back.  About a zillion times a day.   And yes, there are directions.   But I am not a very good direction-reader OR follower.  I get confused easily.

But, I will do my best to represent.  I will record every single reality TV show that I watch and every single Hallmark Christmas movie.  I may skip the commercial turning thing, though.

And, at the end of it all, I will have 75 crisp dollar bills . . . and I will have mattered.

 

 

The Magic of the Estrogen Channel

Does anybody know how many hours you can DVR if you have Directv?  I ask because I plan to DVR every single Christmas movie on the Hallmark Channel, and I don't want to miss any of them because I run out of space.  And yes, my husband knows.  And no, he won't watch any of them with me.  At least that's what he says.  He calls the Hallmark Channel the "Estrogen Channel."  Men are kind of funny.  But, if we're dealing in reality, my husband WILL watch the Hallmark Channel if it's on and he happens to be there.  And he WILL enjoy it.  What he WON'T do, though, is ADMIT that he is watching it, let alone enjoying it.  He will complain and make fun of it the entire time, all the while watching me to make sure I am not watching him watching it.  Men and their "manliness" - - a topic for another day.  Another long day.

For me, watching Christmas movies is like someone reading Harlequin romance novels.  They're addicting.  And they all end the same, and we all know HOW it's going to end.  Angry woman meets man.  Woman hates man.  Man likes woman.  Woman is engaged to another man.  Man pretends not to care.  Woman and man fall in love.  Happily ever after.  Or some variance of the same.  But who cares if they're all alike and you know the ending  before it even begins?  Who cares?!  There is something wonderful about Santa and the twinkle in his eye.  There is something so heartwarming about the orphan who doesn't speak because she was traumatized when her mother and father were killed in a horrible car crash, and she is sadder than sad.  And just when said orphan is going to be taken away by a wicked mean old aunt who only wants her for her parents' money and as soon as the money is gone she will dump the orphan onto the street - - yes, just when this is about to happen, she is adopted by Man and Woman and starts talking and everyone cries and starts to sing Christmas carols because it's a MIRACLE!!

There is just something magical about Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel.  Don't you agree?  

Stranger Danger

I just stepped away from the computer for a minute.  Honest.  It really was just a minute.  Or was it?  Somehow that minute turned into an hour, and then a day, week, month . . . seven months.  Time warp?  Black hole?  Temporary amnesia?  Could have been those darn aliens.   But no, I suspect you know that it was none of those things (although aliens ARE real - I've seen them).  No, it was nothing that mysterious, nothing that intriguing.

It was just that four letter word.  L.I.F.E.  Lost Interest For Et.  I know that Et isn't really a word.  I thought about changing the spelling of Life to Lifi, but thought that would be weird.   So, I decided to change the spelling of It to Et.  That is only half as weird.  I stepped away from the computer last April and, all of a sudden, I had no desire to go back.  Although, my boss would have been really mad if I hadn't gone back and he probably would have fired me, so I compromised.  I went back to WORK, but not to blog.  I know that blogging is work, but a lot of us don't get paid to blog.  But many of us get paid to work.  Although most of us don't get paid enough.  To work, that is.  However, I realize that there IS payback to blogging.  Payback is different for every blogger.  For me, it is the camaraderie with all of you in this crazy world of blogging.  You have all been frequent flyers in my heart these last seven months.

I may not have enough thoughts in my brain to fill a page.  And the thoughts that I DO have may not be very thoughtful.   But, I am back . . . until the aliens come.

Stuck

You'd think S would be an easy enough letter, huh?  Seems my brain thinks differently.  If I think too Strenously, my brain will explode out of my ears.   So, I Sincerely apologize.   There will be no S today.   Sadly to Say, this may be my Swan Song.

Reminder

This is a Reminder to all those within the sound (or sight) of my words - YOU MATTER!   You are somebody's daughter, somebody's son.   You are quite possibly somebody's mother, father, wife, husband, sister, brother, cousin, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather.   You are somebody's friend, somebody's neighbor, somebody's co-worker.   You are MY blogging buddy!

In this world of crazy, YOU MATTER!   The small (or big) kindnesses that you show every single day MATTER.   Help an old lady across the street.   Open that door for that person behind you.   Give that stranger a smile as you pass him by.    And Remember, to that old lady, or person, or stranger, at that moment, YOU MATTER!     And you Remind them that THEY MATTER.

So, Reminder to all - - WE ALL MATTER!

Quit

Have you ever felt like Quitting?  Me too.   (As I'm sure you could tell from my lame-O post the other day!)   I don't know if we just run out of juice, run out of motivation, run out of time, run out of heart, run out of courage.   I don't know.   I DO know, though, that some times it's okay to Quit.   Take Man vs. Food, for instance.   I think it would be A-okay for Adam Richman to Quit eating that 10 pound hamburger and 5 pounds of chili cheese fries in 30 minutes or less.   Better to Quit than to explode.    And it's probably okay to Quit your job if your family happens to be moving out of state.   Better to Quit than be abandoned.

There are times, though, when it is NOT okay to Quit.

It is NOT okay to Quit being a parent.   It is NOT okay to Quit obeying the law.  (It is okay, however, to try to CHANGE the law through proper channels.)    It is NOT okay to Quit on your beliefs just because the world says you're wrong.   It is NOT okay to Quit loving.  And it is NOT okay to Quit living just because it's hard sometimes.

Quit.  According to me.