Does having a Brazilian make you a slut?!

The other morning while driving to work, the radio station I normally listen to had put a question out to the listeners...Are you a "slut" if you have a Brazilian? I was sort of shocked at the responses. Of course all the men answered no...because ladies in case you don't know, that is a HUGE turn-on for a man. But what surprised me the most...was the women!! They were nasty about it. I really thought that wouldn't be the case. So it doesn't matter if you have been with the same person for 21 years (faithfully), but because you choose to have a Brazilian that makes you a slut. I am proud to say I have one and I did it for me!!! The fringe benefit for my husband is just that...a fringe benefit. He never asked for it or even thought of it. He was just as happy before as he is now. As for me, I will continue getting them done. I love it!! Just for the record, I am not and have never been a slut. I won't get into why I like it, not here anyway. But I am still the same person I was before with just a little less body hair. Wait...I wax my eyebrows too....ohhhhh, maybe there is something slutty about me!!! :) Wouldn't you love to know...

Battleship Cove...day two

So Reveille sounds, and I bound out of my hanging cot. I get my toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash and hairbrush and off I go to the ladies room. It is still mostly dark in the sleeping quarters. Since I slept fully dressed, it was easy to run. Somehow the mother above me actually got down and to the ladies room before me as I soon found out as I bumped into her . Oh well, there is room enough in there for the two of us!! I clean my face and do my teeth. AHHH...much better! I look at my hair...not bad. Looks almost the same as when I went to sleep. Wait, did I sleep? No...not really. But I am pretty sure I had to have dozed off at least once or twice. Only waking up in pain when my skin touched the ice cold bars or my hands fell asleep because of the awkward positions I was in during the night. I have to tell you that it was hard not to move around much but you tried to avoid the "squeaking of the cots" and tried not to hit the person above you. Anyway, I felt much better now that I had gotten freshened up. Next I will go and get my clothes to get changed into for the days events. On the way back to the sleeping quarters I run into a father from the other group who proceeds to tell me that I am "way to perky for having slept on this ship last night". I just laughed and high-tailed it back to my cot for my clothes. By the time I get back to the ladies room, there was a line. Not really a big deal since I already freshened up. So I patiently (yes I did just said that I was patient) waited my turn to get changed. By the time I get back to the room, my husband had managed to have our son ready and was already packing up our stuff (have I mentioned yet how much I love that man!!!). I helped pack us up knowing we only had a few more minutes to get to the mess hall for breakfast. Once again, the food was decent (an outside company caters for these overnight ventures). The parents look "haggard" and the children are all still "wired". We put our orders in for the "bag lunch" they will also be providing for us. Then off we go again to finish the "scavenger hunt". At least it is a little warmer today, or are we just used to the cold by now? It's hard to tell. We finally finish by early afternoon. After going completely through all the ships. The den leader now turns these books in for the prize that they are supposed to get. Do you want to know what we went through all these ships for? A pen! Not even one with the ships name on it. A pen with an elephant on the top that lights up when you push the pen against something hard. HELLO...these are 9 year old BOYS!! They want military items, or at least something pertaining to the ships they have been on for 2 days. We are not happy, but we take it and go back to the ship to collect all of our gear to take back to the cars. We have other things we would like to do today.
We move on to the gift shop and museums. We see more ships that were commissioned at one time in one museum. The other, just a marine museum containing a conglomeration of things including a whole section on...the Titanic. Why? I am not sure...the iceberg was nowhere near Massachusetts, am I missing something? Did they not have anything else to display? Did I mention that they originally closed the doors because the only person running the museum went to lunch!! There is only one person in the museum on a Saturday morning? Someone saw our group pitifully standing outside the closed doors and came and opened up the doors for us. Then just left us in there, trusting don't you think? In NY, no one would have left people unattended in a place like that. After we did a walk through which took a total of maybe 15 minutes we sat down to wait for the speaker of the museum. We soon decided that we didn't really feel like waiting another half an hour for someone to speak to us so we just left. Off we now go to the city of Boston.
Our intention for going into Boston was to go on the "Ghost Walk". For some reason unbeknownst to me, we didn't do it. We visited what we were told was the "Central Park" of Boston, and what did we do? Froze our butts off while the kids played on a playground, watched tourists tossing up leaves while taking pictures of themselves, watched people ice skating (the boys had no interest in doing that), talked to the mounted Policemen and had free Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate. Soon we decided to go to eat...another lunch (we ate our "to go" lunch on the ship for some reason before we left). OK, so we find a nice pub. Good food, nice spirits. Caught a good buzz for the first time on the trip (I know it's a boy scout trip, but we all drink...some more than others). By the time we left, I think the other patrons were happy to see us leave. I don't know why, we were not loud, rowdy or anything. Well we were finally just warming up with the introduction of alcohol. However, as soon as we walked out of the restaurant..."buzz" be gone. At least for me, I really didn't have too much to drink in the first place so my buzz was barely there to begin with. So off we go to do some sports memorabilia shopping for the boys and to buy a bathing suit for one of the boys that forgot his at home (yes, in winter and in Boston we attempt to buy...a BATHING SUIT...plain shorts it is!). After walking through the city for a little while longer we finally decide to go back to the hotel which is actually about an hour away.
When we finally arrive, the boys don't want to do anything but go in the pool and hot tub. They all run in the rooms and change as quickly as possible. You cant imagine how fast they can move when they want something. It is AMAZING!! We sign in with the lifeguard and let the boys play and the parents relax with...MORE drinks. SURPRISE!!SURPRISE!! I must say, we had a great time because normally my husband and I cannot drink at the same time because someone always has to be the "responsible person". Finally the evening comes to an end, the pool is closing and everybody is getting tired. So we head back to the rooms.
Showers are getting done when suddenly there is a knock on the door, they decided to order pizza and now we are having a pizza party. We did not have any pizza, We were still full from dinner. But I did hear that the pizza was not half bad. Considering everybody always says..."outside of NY...pizza, bagels and Chinese food are not good options". So I guess Massachusetts pizza was OK...5 pies later I would assume it was more than edible.
We however, showered and relaxed knowing that we were off and running by 7 a.m. the next morning. So...lights out on day two.

Battleship Cove...Day one

It has finally arrived, the trip all the boys have been talking about. The day after Thanksgiving we get up at our normal time. At 5:20 in the morning for us and 5:45 for my son. He is so excited, he actually did the morning routine faster than normal. The battle we go through every day of this child's life did not exist on this very day. Anyway, that's a whole separate blog. I was up late the night before packing because I still had the holiday at my house. We also had some of our closest friends visiting from another state and there was nothing going to have us miss their visit. So late to bed, early to rise. But I was organized. Holiday was done, house was clean and packing up the truck first thing in the morning went well. Nothing was forgotten. So we eat and head out to meet the group at the den leaders house. We are on time but have to wait for the others. Finally everybody arrives. We are now running late, no time for coffee which is not received well by some. We have to be at the Orient Point Ferry at 9:00 a.m. for our 10:00 departure. We have a high speed convoy out to Orient Point. We pulled in the parking lot as the clock turned 9:00. So, all is good. The ferry leaves on time and in an hour and 15 minutes, we will pull into New London, CT. We convoy out and head over to the ship. Timing is going very well. We arrive at about 1:00 p.m. By now, we are starting to get hungry. Good thing we all planned on going out for lunch. Oops...change of plans. It turns out, some people brought sandwiches (just in case)and wound up eating them on the way. So only 2 families needed to eat. So on went the GPS and into town for food we go. On a previous wrong turn, we passed through there and remembered seeing some possible options for lunch. So the 2 families park the trucks and start walking. We come across some local people and ask for suggestions on where to eat. We are sent to something that looks like a little hole in the wall because the food is fantastic. So, we tried it. The food was awesome, portions were tremendous and for the three of us including tip was less than $20.00. So full bellies, we head back to the ship. Just in time, they are letting us board early. So we start lugging in all the "gear". We bring it all to the "sleeping quarters". OK, the big room with floor to ceiling hanging metal cots sleeping about 50 people. We choose our beds (for a lack of a better word), throw our stuff down and off we go. We are sent on a scavenger hunt through the 4 ships. The boy scouts must complete this for a prize. We head off to begin the scavenger hunt, but we know that we need to be back for dinner at 6 p.m. It is brutally cold and windy outside of the ships so you actually welcome the close quarters of the ships. Single file and keep ducking down through some wickedly small doorways. If you were over a certain height or weight...forget going through these ships. Six o'clock comes around quickly. So we head back in the dark and cold to the Battleship. As we re-enter we are told there will be no more walking outside because things are freezing. So all activities will be indoors and the scavenger hunt will have to be finished the next day. OK, so we eat and do a fire drill(back out into the cold night we go!). Then we do knot tying, storytelling, meet a crew member from when the ship was commissioned and see a film about the ship itself. Then we get to watch the feature film..."The Incredible Mr. Limpet". When it ends, we are told that we have 10 minutes to get to the other side of the ship and prepare for lights out at 11:00 p.m. So change, brush teeth and set up the sleeping bags. Well they played Taps and lights were off...no joke. We weren't even ready. Oh well! It is so dark you can't see anything. Now try and climb up moving cots and get into bed. You are so close that the people above and below you are approximately 8" from you as you are lying on your cot.
Assume the position you want to sleep in because all movement creates creaks that echo throughout the room. You also have to be careful not to hit the other person as you roll because remember there is only about 8" between the two of you. So, again...pick a position and don't move! For 7.5 hours!! Now, can we talk about the snoring...wow...mostly men and boys were there. Do you have a concept of the level of noise? Needless to say, there was no sleeping for me and many others. By morning, it smelled "ripe" in there from the feet, morning breath and possible "pooting" throughout the night. So when Reveille played I was out of bed like a bullet out of a gun. I had been waiting for that song to get out of bed. FINALLY!! I thought it was never going to start playing!! I grabbed my toothbrush and hairbrush and went to the bathroom as quickly as possible. Oh, I forgot to explain the bathrooms. The first one they showed us was a actually the men's room. Although we were told that it WAS our bathroom. Urinals in the open with 2 stalls with broken doors. The boys had to be kicked out when any female needed to go. Once in there, you had to lift the door into place with your foot and then try to lock it. I will not even get into how disgusting it was either. Luckily, on the way to the mess hall, we found an actual ladies room. MUCH MUCH better, until the boys try to go into them. I think I've covered day one, if I forgot anything I will mention on another portion of this blog.

What we do for our children...

The things we do for our children...it goes beyond words. We try to give them even more than we had ourselves. Growing up never wanting for anything really makes this a difficult task. However, we find the ways. Some might say I was spoiled. I don't think so. I did work for things as I got older. I will admit that I was privileged. When my husband grew up, if you wanted something, you worked for it. But when it comes to our son...the sky is the limit. He is as bad as I am. So here is the newest. A Boy Scouting event called Battleship Cove. OK, let me start this with...Roughing it to me is "no room service". So, what is Battleship Cove you ask? Well it is a wonderful outing in which we spend the 2 days and 1 night on a battleship in Boston. When do we pick to go...Winter. Boston in the winter. Good timing!! Anyway...this little overnight trip is now costing somewhere in the ball park of $500.00. That is not including supplies to go with (including sleeping bags...which I intentionally don't have because I don't camp! Did it, didn't care for it!) Anyway...non stop fun for the boys, but the parents...5 hour road trip...a lot of climbing through ships and sleeping in hanging cots with a ship load of riled up boys! So sleeping is not happening! Lights out at 11:00 p.m.(better than what we were originally told...8 p.m.) and then up again at 6 a.m.. That doesn't bother me because I am an early riser. We are up at 5:20 a.m. during the week anyway. There is so much that I could go on about but I will spare everyone. I wonder if we can sneak out for a drink at the "Bull & Finch" Pub? I bet everyone there WON'T know my name. For those who know me very well, the answer is...no, there will be no "nookie" on a boy scout trip...oh well, I guess that will have to wait until the hotel room the next night (oh yes...needed a room. Hot shower, indoor pool, sauna, whirlpool, restaurant, etc. Mom needs something to recoup with). We had better have booked a suite!! I should check with the husband on that!! Anyway...never in a million years would I have thought I would do this. Who was I kidding...my son asked and I didn't even hesitate. I said "of course Daddy can take you". Never in my wildest dreams did I think the other mothers would fight to have the moms be allowed to go. Now turning this into a "family" trip. What am I missing here? I am sure there will be many more things that I will do for my son that I might never do on my own. Ah....the things we do for our children.

Happy Halloween!!!

Remember when we were young, Halloween was so awesome!!! You made your costumes, none of these store bought costumes!! Being old enough to be a "Hobo" was "cool". We carried pillowcases and trick or treated from the time we got home until well after dark. We ran home to empty the pillowcases because we collected that much candy. It was ok to eat the candy as you walked. You were even able to go to the same houses more than once. The reason they never picked up on the repeating was because there were so many kids out. The roads were packed with kids. Even the teenagers dressed. Now, they walk around in their everyday clothes with shaving cream and feel like they are owed the candy. Or they consider the shaving cream all over their body their costume. Now...a lot of people don't have the kids out going door to door. We worry about the candy being collected and only allow them to visit people's houses that we know. We still scrutinize every piece that they collect. In addition, these kids don't walk the distances we did for candy. Oh well...now we live through our children. I think I am more into Halloween than my 9 year old son. I decorate like crazy. No inflatables. Just good old fashion decorations with a few new twists, black lights and outdoor music playing. We have the house that the kids love to come and see. Surprisingly enough, they all tell us. They love to come both during the day and then again at night. My son loves hearing the kids saying to the others that this is "Ryan's house". He is proud of the decorations and each year gets to set more up. This year he was in charge of the skeletons coming out of the ground along with the tombstones. He was happy! Happier with decorating than walking around for candy that mom and dad could just buy from the store at anytime.

"Finally getting what I deserve..."

That's such as horrible thing to say isn't it? This can bring positive things, I guess. But the one time in my life I have ever heard that said was by my sister. I don't often talk about her because it is very painful. I never knew siblings could be so jealous of each other. I had a sister that was four years older. I looked up to her, I wanted to be just like her. Okay, I guess I idolized her. I didn't know that she was always jealous of ME. I only found this out about a year ago. By this point in my life, my sister had been dead for 8 years. I was estranged from my family for 11 years when she passed. I had just lost 2 grandparents and a sister within 6 months and just had my first child (soon to find out my only possible child and by no fault of my own). She died after battling Cancer for about 10 years (this going on the whole time I was away and I had no clue). When I did find out, I was pregnant. But I was willing to help even without seeing anybody from my immediate family. We had not reconciled yet, but I had recently become close to some cousins again. I offered to have my bone marrow tested as that is what she desperately needed. I was a likely candidate being her sister. However, when she was approached regarding this matter her answer was: "I am finally getting what I deserve now that she's not around". She said she didn't want to "owe" me anything. My falling out with my family was actually with my parents over my now husband not fitting into their "mold". Nothing to do with her. So why was she so angry with me, I didn't get it. I was only 18 when I was thrown out of my house. I wasn't aware of any problems between the two of us. But what a horrible thing to say, isn't it? Anyway...she passed within the year. So...did she finally get what she deserved?
There is a saying, "God don't like ugly". Is that why things went the way they did? To this day I cringe whenever I hear the phrase "finally getting what I deserve". Be careful in what you say, things can be interpreted in many ways.

The "awesome thirties"...I have really found myself...

So people think that turning thirty is getting old. The numbers never bothered me. I actually have enjoyed the thirties, the latter half being the best part. I feel 35 was the biggest turning point for me. All of a sudden everything began to fall into place. I know what I want, have no problem saying it and don't hesitate in going after it. This applies to just about every part of my life. I even became more health conscious, less stressed and eager to try new things. And sex...wow...that changes too. I thought I couldn't possibly enjoy it more than I already was, but was I ever wrong!!! You become so much more aware of you and your partner's likes and dislikes. Your more sensual and experimental. You go after what you like, no holds barred. You finally have come into yourself and are enjoying every minute of life. What could possibly be better? Maybe the forties? One can only hope as I only have this year left in the thirties. I cannot wait to see what I become in that decade.

Watch what you say. Things have a way of coming back and biting us in the...

You never say things like "My child will never do that" or "I would never allow that to happen to me". Fate is a funny thing, you are bound to hear, see or become what you claim will never be. For example, We had a friend that used to call her child "the poster child for Ritalin" and we jokingly agreed. Eventually the child was always referred to as that. Mostly by his mother, but occasionally by us. Even though it was extremely accurate, it was definitely not a nice thing to say. Well, to make a long story short (not usually my style) my son has taken over this wonderful title and maintained it proudly since he was 5 years old (he is now 9 years old). We struggle every day like no one can understand unless you have a child with the same condition. It is not funny and it is extremely frustrating. My son works very hard along with us to make every day "age appropriate normal". It is a constant challenge and demands a lot of structure. Which is very time consuming I might add. So remember, be careful for ill things being said since fate has a funny way of placing it right back in your lap.

The Butterfly Effect

Did you ever wonder what life would be like if you changed just one event? This is something I am sure a lot of people wonder about. I know I have. Where would I be in life now had I done things differenly so many years ago? It is easy to look at things from your past and wonder what life would be like if things didn't happen the way they did. Would I be married to another man? Would I have a different career? Would I have more children or even would I still be living in the place that I grew up. Life could be totally different. The question is would I have changed anything that has happened in my past. Yes, there are a few things I think I would do differently. Wouldn't everybody? However, the most pivotal event in my life would not be something I would like to change...and that is meeting my husband. The man I am still in love with to this very day after 21 years of being together. I met him through the college I attended. One that I never wanted to attend but did so at the urging of my parents. Agreeing to give them just one year at the school of their choice. If I didn't like it there I could go to the university of my choice. I did what they requested and this altered my life. Dramatically, to one that I would never have predicted. But one that I would never give up. I love the life we have created together. However, there will always be a special part in my heart for some unresolved issues from my past. It is amazing how many people come and go in the course of our lives and not even remain as a memory. Yet others leave marks in our hearts that will never leave.

Getting married. Not. Then yes again...

Aren't you happy for a friend when the announce their engagement? Of course. In fact, you try to make every part of this special event memorable. You wonder what the rush is or why there is an apparent competition with others either getting married or just recently married. But, non the less you smile when all the details are being revealed. Finally the engagement party is planned. You round up your co-workers to "do the right thing" even though the recipient is not the most liked person in the office. In fact, she is quite disliked. Anyway, you collect quite a bit of money. With the money we get a nice suite for them to spend the night (an escape from the "ready made" family), an extremely romantic basket is made to enhance the evening and the balance of the money is given to the couple to assist in planning of this wedding (as it was made quite clear that they needed the money). Their engagement party was unusual to say the least, neither family had anything to do with the other and the co-workers were not acknowledged by anybody including the "groom-to-be" (who I might add is friends with at least half of us). We all leave the party with a strange feeling.
We soon notice that the friend is no longer wearing the engagement ring. Upon probing a little by her closest friends, we discover that the wedding is off. Over time, we realise that the gifts are not being returned as etiquette requires. The room was wasted (we are not sure to this day if they even went that night)and the money was gone. Not another word is said regarding the wedding.
Time passed, but not a lot when not only does she have a new boyfriend. But now she is living with him. Within 6 months from the first wedding date planned, the announcement comes that she is engaged again. To this new boyfriend. Shock and dismay run through the office since last anyone knew she threw this boyfriend out and was no longer with him. And the ring (if at all even real-we are all a little unsure)looks like the one from the first fiancee.
The dilemma is now this: Do you give another gift when the engagement party is announced? Nobody wants to waste their money again even if it is wrong to penalize the new "groom-to-be". But as the old saying goes: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". What is the proper thing to do?