What would Judi do?

I was raised by a mother who didn't take a lot of shit from folks - if she felt she had been wronged.  I remember hearing her speak of the letters she would write when people pissed her off.  The one that stuck in my mind (because it made me laugh) was the package she sent to whatever food company that sold her rotten hot dogs.  She enclosed them in a padded envelope and mailed them back to the company with a letter of complaint.  Now, this would have been in the early 60's prior to my birth so that's a long time ago.  It's back in the days when mail took a week to get from point A to point B.  So the already rotten hot dogs were in the mail for about a week when someone - a human at that time - opened them.  I do wish I could have seen the look on that person's face.  Instead, I can still picture the look of satisfaction of my mother telling the story, including the ending that included "we had free hot dogs for a year."  Not bad. She taug...

I love Trader Joe's.  One reason I like it is because of the people who work there.  They're always friendly and seem happy to be there.  So when I had a bad encounter today, I was surprised. My girls, A and M, and I were walking up and down the aisles of the Silver Spring store.  It's smaller than the Rockville store but it's more convenient and has most of what we need.  We always get more than we expect there because there are always new things to try.  Basically it's a fun store. As we were walking down the soup/pasta aisle, we encountered a bunch of employees putting stock on the shelves.  Of specific interest were two men who were talking to each other pretty loudly.  We arrived in front of them mid-conversation so we missed the topic.  But we most certainly didn't miss the juicy part: Dude 1: How did she get that (job, acting part, something like that) ? Dude 2: Well, you know she's a specimen. Dude 1: (blank stare) Dude 2: I'...

A person can never be too safe, right?  I'm pretty good with common sense stuff and make the safest choice for things when possible.  But there are some things I never really paid attention to - like what to do with emergencies that don't happen where I live. Lucky for me, I have a kid who likes to read.  She reads anything and everything as long as it's in the bathroom.  This has been a point of contention for me for a long time but in reality, it makes sense. Your mom or sister can't bug you (isn't allowed) when you're in the bathroom.  That rule was set to give me a few minutes of peace when the girls were little.  Now they hole themselves in there (individually) so they can steal about a half hour of silence.  It's weird - and it's caused every single caretaker we've had to think that one kid in particular has digestive issues.  Every time I've had to explain that no, she isn't ill.  She just wants quiet. One of the things we had in t...

Today is Wacky Hair Day in at the girls' school.  This is a yearly event, one that I find odd.  I get spirit week - it breaks up the monotony that is school.  But it is weird to see kids going to school in pajamas or with green spiked hair.  It was odder to see teachers all dressed up.  But it's all good. This is the only part of the week my kids regularly and excitedly participate in.  We've been doing this since kindergarten.  It always involves color and usually hair teasing.  Sometimes braids. Sometimes other adornments. My favorite was the one when they were somewhere around first or second grade.  They came home telling me wacky hair day would be the following day.  They started planning and figuring out what they could do with my limited hair experience.  They came up with this: They were so excited to have big hair and lots of pony tail holders and clips in their hair.  They got on the bus so happy.  However,...

I haven't written for a while.  A long while.  It wasn't because I didn't have anything to say.  Quite the contrary: I had a lot to say.  But none of it was happy or even particularly nice.  It was mostly centered around arrogant medical professionals and the frustration of being the white fluffy stuff in the oreo (my definition of the sandwich generation). I will be 48 on Friday.  I never thought I'd be looking forward to being that old and, really, I'm not.  I'm just looking forward to 47 being over.  It's been a hellish year.  Why? I spent much of the last 6 months taking care of my mother. I now have a house full of stuff that isn't mine. I have a medical diagnosis that could, and likely will, end my interpreting career. I have two teens who are, well, teens. Why is 48 going to be better? I'm no longer afraid to answer the phone for fear of what went wrong with my mom.  She's safe and happier now. I still have a house ful...

I was going to title this a Good News Friday post.  But it's more than that. I've been getting burned out lately.  I don't really feel like interpreting and it's visible in my product.  Actually, it's more than that.  It's not that I don't feel  like it at all.  It's that I'm distracted.  I'm inundated with deadlines and paperwork for various activities and school related requirements.  I'm overwhelmed with overdue dental, orthodontist, and just about every other kind of doctor my kids need appointments for.  I'm sinking in paperwork related to the care of my mother.  I'm in a relationship that I love but one that requires time and effort (not a complaint).  It used to be that work was a relief from all of that.  When I was working I developed tunnel vision (or tunnel feeling?).  The outside distractions turned off and all was good with the world. As my "distractions" become more severe and require more emotion and bra...

I didn't hit all my goals this week.  I'm not happy about that but it is what it is.  I did go walking every day and did see lots of things.  I wasn't on metro this week so there were no people to meet, no stories to hear.  I did work in some places I haven't worked at in recent years so that was fun.  But it wasn't particularly eventful. So, what did I see? I asked my daughter, A, to clean the sand out of the utility sink in the basement.  One day when I needed a few more steps to hit my goal, I walked all around my house, including in the basement.  I went down to find she left her mark in the sand.  I guess that's her way of "cleaning" it. Last weekend, my girls and I went to Eastern Market, one of our favorite places.  We found a great vendor who had hats and all sorts of things that called to us.  The only weird thing about this vendor stand was the super creepy mannequins.  This one wasn't the only one. ...