TALK TO ME, MARY J. BLIGE

I don't know why, but Mary J. Blige has been speaking to me through song. She has a few songs that I really,really love..but "Just Fine" and "Take Me As I Am"(?), really have felt like an anthem. I encourage you to listen to them. Maybe it's being comfortable with the person I've become, maturing, or a combination that has contributed to what feels like a new attitude and perspective on life. I don't know, I just know that a sense of comfort with the person I am, and my life has settled in. Maybe life begins at 50 or 51, who knows? I just know that the need to please, and not "rock the boat", or peace at all costs are not things that guide my mindset or my voice any more. Crazy? Maybe.....but I can't discount the sense of peace that has settled on me. I really wish I could explain it more...but as long as I "get it" and am comfortable with it, that's the important thing.

IT'S ALL MINE, IN 2009!!!!

Yes, that's what I said and that's what I mean! I've decided that this is going to be my year....I suppose they're all technically mine since I'm living them. I'm claiming a wonderfully joyful, peaceful and blessed year!! I set goals in 2008 and have attained 2,3 or maybe 4. I don't have "my life" with me today, so I can't look at the check list. I should explain what I mean by "my life". "My life" is a portfolio sent to me by Consumer Credit Counseling as a reward for finishing the program. That's right, I was a part of the program and thank God I was. It was the beginning of the light at the end of a very dark financial tunnel. Anyway, they sent me a fantastic portfolio that allows me to keep track of my budget and a filing section to put all of my bills, according to due date, in. When I got the portfolio I wrote down 10 financial goals I hoped to achieve. If you read this blog, then you know of at least one that I have achieved. I have become accustomed to carrying the portfolio with me to work everyday, so I have nicknamed it "my life". So that's the explanation. Oh, and I won the football pool for the OSU vs. Texas game. I won, the Buckeyes did not...it truly was the saddest 16 seconds I've seen in a long time. I digress.

So, this year I'm going to try very, very hard to put some money away-not huge amounts but if you know me, $5 is a huge amount for me to save. :) I would like to achieve at least 2 of the goals on my list. I'll let you know what they are WHEN I reach them. And no, none of them pertain to exercise or weight loss-I killed that ghost last year. Love me the way I am or not at all!! I think Mary J. Blige says it best, "...my life's just fine". That's my new ring tone by the way...maybe that should have been the title of my blog. Yes, I am aware that I am rambling...too much to say I guess.

I had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. My brother, and his girlfriend, came home from Vegas. I was so excited, but I told him he makes me sick...literally. On the day prior to his arrival in Columbus, I came down with viral laryngitis with a sinus infection. I completely lost my voice!! It was a blessing for some...they had some pretty good laughs at my expense. The voice came back, the day before he left. So our plan to sit and have a good talk was a bust. I blame him, like a good sister should. It was so wonderful to see him though. Oh, and we had a Christmas get together, at my brother's house in Gahanna, and guess who spilled red wine on his brand new sofa? That's right.....ME!! I felt awful, fortunately it came out. I was "talking"(more like raspy whispering) to Brandi, and you know that I cannot talk without my hands, and with one wild swipe of the left hand, knocked the cup out of the right. Laryngitis or not, nothing really shuts me up!!!;)

Wow, I had a lot on my mind. I apologize for boring the begeebers out of you...I will give you a break and only say one last thing....ta, ta for now!!!
Or maybe two last things.....HAVE A WONDERFULLY FULFILLING NEW YEAR!!!!!

YAY FOR ME!!!!

See the picture of the Honda? I have one almost exactly like it, except mine has a spoiler on the back and a sunroof. Notice 2 key words in the previous sentence? No, not spoiler.....no not sunroof......yes that's right....I AND MINE!!! That's right.....that car now belongs to ME!!! YAY FOR ME....I PAID OFF MY CAR LOAN, I PAID OFF MY CAR LOAN!!!! WHOOPEEEEEEEEEE. Oh, and did I mention I paid it off a month early????? I buckled down, and started paying more on the car loan than the monthly payment; just a little more at first and then as other things were paid off, I started putting that money towards the car.

My brother and sister-in-law gave me a CD series on getting out of debt, I can't remember the title, and it was truly helpful. I followed some of the advice and put a budget in place that I could stick with. I have broken my expenses into weekly, rather than monthly, payments and that as helped a lot. I no longer feel as though I'm struggling to get things paid, they are getting paid. Not that I now have tons of extra cash, but the extra I do have can now be put on other things. I have 2 more goals and when, yes when, I reach them I will share with you.
Ta,ta for now!!!

WHO KNEW??????

Let me preface what I'm about to write ....Mo, you have a beautiful, kind hearted, gentle and very spiritual daughter. I love her enormously and I couldn't have picked a more wonderful person for my son or granddaughter.

MY SON....WHO KNEW???? For the past month, I've been privileged to be a part of the Meeker Family morning routine. It has been a wonderfully joyous experience, because I get to see Nila fresh from sleeping. God has blessed her with truly happy spirit!! As most of you know, Angie is working full-time and Bob has the role of caretaker during the day which includes Nila, house, laundry and cooking. Now, as his mother I can tell you there were no inidicators and I mean NONE when he was little he could pull it off!!! Now, I also know, that with age comes responsibility, maturity...blah, blah, blah. He is GREAT in this role. I watch him cook breakfast, fix Angie's lunch, rearrange furniture (well I don't see him do that, but I do see he's done it when I drop Angie off at home after work). I was there this morning and he was doing dishes, cooked Nila's breakfast and was making Angie's lunch. I can't tell you how proud I am of the man he's become....and not to get too sentimental, but oh if his Dad, Grandma Rosie and Aunt Cheri, could see him...WOW!!! Funny, my mom asked him a question on Thanksgiving...and his answer, in my mind, was very powerful. All you need is his response, "when I became a Dad". Nothing else needs to be said.

Bob and Angie are wonderful parents, I know Bob makes me proud, and I know Mo, you feel the same way about Angie. God put them together for a reason and he doesn't make mistakes!!! This is for Bob.....you know I love you and you know I couldn't be more honored to call you my son, my confidant, and friend-I think you're absolutely the finest man I know.
Ta, ta for now!!

OLD FRIENDS

Saturday, I had lunch with an elementary school friend and what makes it special? She was my best friend in elementary school, we would hang out at each others house, we would walk to Green Gables (a drive-in restaurant)when we had about $1 each (a lot then), we would listen to records, dance, we were on safety patrol and I could go on and on but I won't. After 39 years....yeah I can't believe I can put those years in a sentence pertaining to myself, we met for lunch. It was wonderful!!! I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to see her again and I would have known her anywhere. She always had such a wonderful smile and she still does; that's how I would have been able to pick her out of a crowd after so many years.

It was funny/odd to talk of our grown children and grandchildren!! I'm certain way back in 7th grade, grandchildren....children for that matter, were not first and foremost on our minds!! She moved away early into our 7th grade year, there was some difficulties at home....and I'll leave it at that, and she went to live with her Dad. Moving put her in a different school district, and has it usually happens, I saw her a couple of times after that, but young kids move on with their lives and make new friends. When I was in high school, and on the drill team, our high schools played each other in football and I saw her at a game...nice but not the same. The last time I saw her was December 1975, she was buying shoes for her wedding, and we discovered we were getting married on the same day!! Funny huh?

I have thought about her often over the years and turns out she had thought of me too. I always wondered about her, where she was, how she was and hopefully she was still alive. I say that because a lot of people that I went to school with have died, and they died young!! Which, in an odd way, brings me to how I found her. I was reading the paper one afternoon and as I turned the pages of the obituaries a name popped out at me...her last name. She did not have a very common last name, so it made me read the obituary and her name was listed as a surviving relative. There was a website address to send an online condolence, which I really debated about. I didn't want it to be all...."hey, sorry about your loss, but are you the girl I knew in elementary school?" You know.....morbidly stupid???? So, I offered sympathies and my email in case it was the girl I knew from school.....and since we met for lunch you've figured that it was her.

I really can't tell you how happy I was to find her!! We had a 3 hour lunch...well we ordered but we did not eat, and have agreed to see each other again! All in all, it's been fabulous, except she has managed to hang on to my 7th grade school picture....whew, now that's bad!!! Ta, ta for now!!

CARS......ARRRRRRGH!!!!!

Why, can somebody please tell me, why when a person (me) has less than $1000 to pay for an automobile....does said automobile breakdown? AND,AND.....the repairs cost more than is owed on said automobile????????????? I am at wits end....so close, so very close to owning the car, working so very hard to pay it off before the loan is due. I GIVE UNIVERSE I GIVE!!!! I'M TIRED OF FIGHTING YOU, I'M TIRED OF TRYING TO BE RESPONSIBLE AND DO THE RIGHT THING....I'M CRYING UNCLE.....YOU WIN!!!! I don't have the repair money, nobody I know has it for me to borrow!! So, again, I give up, I'm through with trying!!!

I'M ON TO YOU OBAMA!!!!

Obama will stop at nothing to get votes. This time he's working with a Saturday Night Live Alum and "30 Rock" star/creator Tina Fey to play the role of Sarah Palin. In reality, there isn't anyone named "Sarah Palin". This is a character made up by Tina Fey to infiltrate the Republican party and destroy them from the inside...as though they don't do enough damage on their own!!! Given that John McCain is old, Obama figured that McCain with his senility, would never know the truth!!!! Ahhhhhhh but what Obama didn't count on was ME!!! I'm spreading the word!!!