Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arizona, birthday, Christmas, dinner, family, food, friends, in-laws, Pasadena, Rose Bowl, stress, travel, wine
Why do I do this every year? This Christmas season brought a tremendous amount of stress…..the season always does but this year was a bit more than I should have taken on and I’ll be paying for it for years to come.
In a nutshell this is what we did in chronological order, beginning at the first of the month:
* Attend the Oregon Civil War Game
* Attend MFH company Christmas party
* Had our friends 30th birthday party at our home
* Hosted the junior youth group progressive dinner (the main course of course)
AND ALL OF THIS WAS JUST THE FIRST WEEKEND! Then:
* Flew down to Arizona for a 4 day weekend to visit the in-laws
* Starved and fasted to win the Biggest Loser contest (which I did)
* Hosted the office Christmas party at our home
* Sold a home & took 3 new listings
* Took an entire day to bake treats with my daughter
* Attended 3 Christmas Eve open houses
* Hosted Christmas dinner for my family including out-of-town overnight guests
AND IN THE WEEK TO COME:
* Driving down to Pasadena to attend the Rose Bowl!
All of a sudden I have a raging headache just thinking about it. But the real question is why? Why must I do this every year? And it’s only getting worse; I keep taking on more every year. In all honesty there were a few days when I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown but fortunately I’m way to stubborn to let that happen, so I pressed on…..and had drink or two to get me through.
So, here are some fun highlights of this past month:
* The progressive dinner took place with 16 unruly “youth” in my home and 5 adult drivers. These were all people from my church and the dinner was the day after the 30th birthday party, which had a Las Vegas theme and was too much fun for MFH who spent the entire next day in bed. The host was still in the process of cleaning up the house and the birthday girl was asleep in my daughter’s bed….don’t ask me why but she was. When one adult wanted a tour of my home another person/friend gave her the tour but told her not to go into my daughter’s room because there was someone in there sleeping off a hangover…..she was horrified……it got better when MFH decided to come out of his cave, walked right into the kitchen wearing his PJ’s and looking pretty ripe; the adults were eating and I was mortified. I did A LOT of explaining and some of it was fictitious.
* Every time MFH and I fly anywhere it’s always a nightmare. He gets really uptight and bossy…..which is my job. The highlight of our arrival into the Phoenix Sky Harbor airport was our departure from the airplane. As we exited he walked about 10 feet faster than I could catch up to him and I wanted my roller suitcase so that I didn’t have to carry my shoulder bag……so I asked him to stop, politely. Then I asked again (thinking he didn’t hear me the first time). Still he continued walking. Then I got a little more stern and a bit louder with “Dammit, stop!”. Almost everyone ahead of me stopped…..including him 
I got my bag but not without a fight. MFH marched off ahead of me again and this time I let him have it…..something like “What the hell is your hurry, calm the f*** down!” I’m not sure what he said next but I flipped him off. I’m pretty sure we looked like a couple in love.
* This past Father’s Day we hosted our dad’s and their wives for a very nice dinner. Everything was wonderful, food was great, company was very pleasant, there was just one small mishap. My father-in-law can’t keep up with my father when it comes to wine consumption. Don’t get me wrong, he made a great effort……one that made him very sick for a few days. I mention this because this Christmas my mother-in-law attended our dinner and she similarly also got sick….in my kitchen sink. To be clear it was not from alcohol consumption…..which doesn’t say a whole lot for my cooking.
So now there’s just one more hurdle before normalcy can resume, getting down to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl. Considering all that we’ve done this month I’m actually looking forward to a road trip…..it will force me to sit down. Once we get there however, that should be another story
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arizona, Cardinals, football, God, Pittsburgh, points, prediction, Steelers, Superbowl
I’m not much for professional football, I prefer college football. For me the Superbowl is all about the commercials, the food, the beer….you get the picture. I tell MFH that it’s about the money. College football is about the glory and the potential, they’re not playing for money (per say), professional football is about the money! Either way, we attended church this morning and it got my mind wondering. If God liked football, who would he want to see win today’s big game? So then I thought about breaking it down this way:
Cardinals: I know that the mascot is actually a bird but Catholics have “Cardinals” too. Score one point for the Cards.
Steelers: The 7th Commandment is “Thou shalt not steal”. Okay, it’s not the same as “steel” (I get that, it’s a metal) but it’s close enough so score another point for the Cardinals.
Cardinals: Based in Arizona, a place that God must really smile upon because the weather is always beautiful and hot. Another point for the Cards.
Steelers: Have you been to Pittsburgh? I don’t want to offend anyone but someone once described it to me as the armpit of America, need I say more. Yet another point for the Cardinals.
Cardinals: A beautiful bird, one of God’s beautiful creatures. Point.
Steelers: Not quite as graceful as a bird, but heavy duty, strong and useful. I’ll give a point to the Steelers for that one.
So, when we add it all up, it’s Cardinals 5, Steelers 1. That’s my prediction: Cardinals will win…..but unless I’m completely crazy 5 to 1 isn’t an actual football score so we’ll say that there will be 4 points difference in the final score, with the Cardinals to win. Plus, red’s a better color on me
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Arizona, crazy, envy, family, inlaws, jealously, Mesa, retire, retirement, vacation, weather
I apologize for my brief hiatus, I just returned from a trip to Mesa Arizona to visit with the in-laws. AND I couldn’t have picked a better time of the year to fly south because it’s frickin’ freezing up here in Oregon!
All four of us me, my FD & FS and MFH were all flown down by my very generous father-in-law for four days and nights to spend his birthday with him. We had a great time (thank you for asking) and when we returned home Sunday night I fell into a deep depression….it was cold and I didn’t want to go to work the next day.
So, when I did wake up on Monday morning I was a 38 year old woman who became a 15 year old rebellious teenager with the raging (and often irritating) hormonal see-saw style attitude that literally lasted until I went to bed last night. Fortunately for MFH, I’m over it, somewhat.
Here’s my problem: I WANT TO RETIRE TOO (you have to say that in a very whiney, irritating childlike way). My in-laws are living the life that I want and I want it now!! Not in 20 years, NOW!
The in-laws are snowbirds. They live from April through September up here and are in Arizona during the winter (although the winter for them is 7 months!) They are not what you might call “wealthy”, both of their homes are very modest, in fact their place in Mesa is a park model (which is a small mobile home). They have lived financially “smart” and were both fully retired at 61. They live in a retirement community when they are in Mesa, complete with a huge recreation hall, swimming pool indoors and out, workout facilities, and you wouldn’t believe the activities available to them! Water volleyball, glass & wood working classes, concerts (on site), dinners…..the list goes on. Not to mention the friends that they have made down there…..they are from all over the US and Canada. OH, and I won’t even get started on the daily cocktail hours in the evenings, on the deck, in the warm weather……….
Then I come home to reality. My daughter has her period, my son is a backtalking nightmare, my clients are all in bankruptsy, foreclosure, divorce, or are just generally pissed that their homes haven’t sold and all I can do is wish, hope, and pray that someday, somehow I will live long enough to retire. And then I think “I’m going to have to kill myself to get there!”……I guess that’s why retirement is so sweet.
