As We Age… (Thanks Dana!)

Since I work in a male-dominated industry and some of the men I work with seem to have forgotten that I’m actually female, I have experienced some of their quirks from the perspective of a fly on the wall. Like the time one of my coworkers who shall go unamed lifted a cheek and ripped a big fart even though I was sitting at the next desk. One male behavior that has always amazed me is when they criticize random women on the street…”She could afford to skip a meal”…when they are in no position to be throwing stones, if you know what I mean.

This email struck a chord:

Have you ever been guilty of looking at others your own age and thinking, surely I can’t look that old? Well…you’ll love this one…

My name Alice Smith and I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist. I noticed his DDS diploma, which bore his full name.

Suddenly, I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 30-odd years ago. Could he be the same guy that I had a secret crush on, way back then? Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought.

This balding, grey-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate. After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Morgan Park High School.

“Yes. Yes, I did. I’m a Mustang,” he gleamed with pride.

“When did you graduate?” I asked.

He answered, “In 1975. Why do you ask?”

“You were in my class!” I exclaimed.

He looked at me closely. Then that ugly, old, bald, wrinkled, fat assed, grey-haired, decrepit, son-of-a-bitch asked: “What did you teach?”
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The Lace Reader

If you’re looking for a good book to spend the weekend with, head over to BJ’s and pick up The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. I couldn’t put it down and it’s going on the “keep” shelf so you’ll have to go get your own.
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Here’s the review from Amazon:
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Amazon Best of the Month, August 2008: Brunonia Barry dreamt she saw a prophecy in a piece of lace, a vision so potent she spun it into a novel. The Lace Reader retains the strange magic of a vivid dream, though Barry’s portrayal of modern-day Salem, Massachusetts–with its fascinating cast of eccentrics–is reportedly spot-on. Some of its stranger residents include generations of Whitney women, with a gift for seeing the future in the lace they make. Towner Whitney, back to Salem from self-imposed exile on the West Coast, has plans for recuperation that evaporate with her great-aunt Eva’s mysterious drowning. Fighting fear from a traumatic adolescence she can barely remember, Towner digs in for answers. But questions compound with the disappearance of a young woman under the thrall of a local fire-and-brimstone preacher, whose history of violence against Whitney women makes the situation personal for Towner. Her role in cop John Rafferty’s investigation sparks a tentative romance. And as they scramble to avert disaster, the past that had slipped through the gaps in Towner’s memory explodes into the present with a violence that capsizes her concept of truth. Readers will look back at the story in a new light, picking out the clues in this complex, lovely piece of work. –Mari Malcolm
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Oopsie…

JERUSALEM (AFP) – A four-year-old girl was left behind at Israel’s Ben Gurion international airport on Sunday as her mother, father and four siblings rushed to catch a flight to Paris, police said.

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“I saw a little girl in tears. She was looking for her parents,” a policewoman told reporters.

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“Luckily she was able to give me her name. I grabbed her and ran to the gates but it was too late,” the plane had just taken off, she said.

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According to police, the girl’s parents only realised she was missing when the pilot of the plane informed them just as the aircraft was taking off.

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“It is usual that travellers in a rush forget their luggage but not a child. This never happens,” a police official said.

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The incident was a stark reminder of the US box office hit “Home Alone” in which a little boy was accidentally left alone as his family rushed to the airport and flew to Paris for a Christmas holiday.

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But unlike the movie, there was a happy ending for the little girl who was able to join her parents. She was flown to Paris on the next flight out accompanied by a flight attendant.

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The forgetful parents will be interrogated by the authorities upon their return home and risk being indicted for negligence, police said.

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Exposure Therapy

On the way home from Myrtle Beach a few weeks ago, we stopped at Sesame Place (http://www.sesameplace.com/) since we already had tickets and dinner reservations with Elmo. It was really fun! It’s a water park so there was some exposed skin that would have been better off kept hidden, but what the heck? We were free to flash our excess skin around without any inhibitions. Norah wasn’t a big fan of meeting the characters in person, although she LOVES them on TV. I saw a show on exposure therapy a while ago, where the therapist made people face their fears…the woman who was terrified of snakes had to hold one for hours, the guy who had panic attacks in elevators had to ride up and down numerous times. Norah had her own semi-successful exposure therapy session with Cookie Monster:

And Elmo:



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Ketch-Up

I’ve been trying to keep up with posting pictures, but it keeps getting away from me. Here are some recent (and not so recent) pics:

Dinner with the Fonsecas at Bugaboo Creek:

Party at Club Checkerberry’s Ce-Ment Pond:
(That green thing’s a Mankini.)
Click to enlarge…if you dare.


Myrtle Waves in Myrtle Beach (where Ben lost Aliya for a half hour and had to get Security involved):

Mommies’ Night Out to see Sex In The City:


A visit to Fay Park with the Fonsecas:

And last but not least…

Max’s Birthday Party! Yay Max!!












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