Thursday, February 24, 2005

A Great Gift to Give My Daughter

Tuesday evening my 16-year-old daughter and I went to a beautiful salon/spa, laid on a bed in a little room and I paid Big Money to have us each tortured in turn. Any web site you read that uses the words "painless" and "laser hair removal" together is not to be trusted.

I cannot find the right words to explain fully how much it hurt.

And yep, we're gonna do it again. It takes more than 1 treatment for permanent hair removal. And it's really, really expensive*. I can't even afford it, so I haven't yet figured out all the details.... yikes.

But never having to shave our legs and pits again, plus some other formerly hairy areas, makes it worthwhile.

Think of it, 16 years old and never having to shave your legs again. How awesome is that. Worth every single penny and all the pain**.

*If I were rich, this story may have been different. Anesthetics = too much added cost. I think. Anyway, you know damn well that all those bodyhairless rich bitches got totally good drugs first and didn't feel a thing.

**I am not going to session #2 sober &/or unmedicated. Medication for daughter, also. What the hell, if she wants beer, that, too!

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Reilly in Repose

Irony

My 16-year-old daughter went to a birthday party this past weekend. Most of her friends were there, mostly sophomores, but lots of juniors, seniors and freshmen, too. Since it turned out to be "pretty lame," she was home way before 11pm. And with our usual routine, we sat together and talked and talked.

Turns out that 3 girls in my daughter's circle of friends (1 or 2 of them are still 15 years old) have all lost their virginity. With the probability, but as yet inconclusive, of a couple more girls in the same club. I'm not really surprised (when I was in 6th grade, a 13-year-old classmate had a baby), but I am surprised at who the girls are, and that they're so open about it. Or maybe it's not that they are openly talking about it, but that so many kids know about it all. All the details.

I know their moms, and I'm pretty sure they'd be unhappy about it.

What's ironic is that I was just recently asking advice from 2 of those 3 moms about letting my daughter go to this poker party that another girl has planned on the ideal weekend of when her folks will be out of town. I asked them how they felt about it, would they let their girls go, didn't they think an adult should be present, etc.

I don't think I'm overprotective, but my gut instinct was not to let my daughter go to that party, mostly because the little hostess is so thrilled about her folks not being around to bug them, and also because she seems to me to be a bit "fast" and I was worried about her real plans for the party, i.e., BOYS and BOOZE. I trust my kid, and I know she can handle herself, but I don't want her in a situation that may have some nasty fallout.

What's also ironic is that this girl I was thinking had sluttish tendencies turns out to be one that was totally not on the list of non-virgins. My bet would've been on her as the first. Huh.

And anyway, I know I don't have to worry about my daughter -- the birthday party started to get a little out of hand, what with too many kids there and too many different "clicks" (some big time drinkers, for one thing), so she and 3 of her friends just bailed pronto. No fallout on my smart girl.

Sunday, February 06, 2005

Sunday Morning

Been up for 3 hours, since about 6 am. Got up with the alarm so that hubby could get into work on time. Once again, this 3-2-2 shift SUCKS.

From where I'm sitting right now, I can look out our dining room (well, really it's not a "room" but more of a designated area) windows and see several deer picking their way through the snowy woods. It's pretty cool. I can also see some grass of our lawn, as we've had a warm few days and the snow is melting. I can also see our really, really muddy driveway.

And I can hear Sponge Bob on the TV. My 10-year-old son likes it. I cannot stand that show. I can hardly stand to listen to it. I've just told him to turn the TV down for about the 5th time in 4 minutes. I guess I'm hoping he'll get the volume down so far that I won't be able to hear it. I'm torn. On the one hand, he should be able to enjoy some TV that he wants to watch while he leisurely enjoys his Cinnamon Toast Crunch... on the other hand, it's making me so cranky he won't enjoy much soon.... ugh!

I have 4 loaves of pumpkin bread in the oven, and it smells so good. I found the recipe in a magazine article about a day in the life of the Amish or some such thing; I think it was a country woman's magazine or the like. Back in the late 80's when I was in my Rodale book club, back to nature and grow your own food phase. It is the best pumpkin bread EVER. The recipe makes 4 loaves and has 7 cups of flour and 6 cups of sugar. Gotta love that ratio. It's more like a spicy pumpkin cake. And this morning I realized that I hadn't made any in about 3 years. Hubby loves it, so it'll be something nice for him to come home to (other than the Super Bowl, 'course).

I'm timing the baking of the bread/cake with a small Sunbeam digital timer. And you know what? It's the very same timer I used when I baked the very first loaves of this recipe! I've had that timer for about 20 years. And not to jinx anything, but I've never even replaced the batteries in it. And I use it almost daily. Daily! That's one great timer.

I also have this Bulova quartz travel clock that I got the same time as my timer. The timer and the clock were both part of an award thingy from my employer. I take that clock with me on nearly every trip anywhere -- vacation, business, camping even. It'll sit for months in a drawer, and I'll pull it out and it's still on right on time. It, like the timer, works perfectly. And... I've never replaced the batteries in it, either.

Now I must go take the bread out of the oven. Right after I destroy the TV.

Thursday, February 03, 2005

When Not to Use Your Own Name for Your Business

and: How to Prove You Put Very Little Thought into Your Company Slogan



On the way home today, I saw a small white car with red lettering on the back and on the driver's door advertising their business, which is some kind of office machine authorized dealer, I think. Their business name, with their slogan, looked a bit like this:

Hasselbring

CLARK

"A Reputation for Service"


Ahhh.... exactly what kind of service? for that matter, what kind of reputation? and what kind of service would one expect from a company with the name of Hasselbring???

I'm sure they're very nice, it was just one of those things that struck me as odd/funny, especially the slogan. OK, not so funny - mostly odd. Well, OK, really, mostly dumb. OK, I'm going to put it right out there: That's the doggone dumbest slogan I've seen painted on a car in a good, long while.

But, hey, wouldn't Hasselbring be a great last name for a football player?!