Happy Birthday, happy birthday.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOOOOO MEEEEEE! Yeah, I was pregnant and breastfeeding for the last three birthdays, so give it up to momma!

Jeesie Creesie! Will it ever end?

The spam/junk mail deal, that is. Would you believe that along with a message via email from one of my other blog sites(along the lines of Yahoo 360! Live Journal, Facebook and Myspace) someone was inviting me to be their "friend" but...it wasn't an actual invite from someone interested in being my "friend" because of the funny/insightful things I write, post, etc...

It was actually junk mail.

Or spam as this is via the internet.

I am serious! It was from someone under the guise of looking for another "cyberfriend" who was out there in cyberspace and happened to have landed in my planetary cyber atmosphere looking to push their products("Want a $3000 gift card from The Olive Garden? Then complete this survey," "Need Viagra?" etc. ....)

.....Or services.

One of my other personal sites gets only invites from female "friends" that want to be more than friends with me(along the lines of "Hey. Saw your profile, you look like fun; I am a single, blond female from Macedonia looking to have a good time," etc....). I mean, really; she obviously didn't look at my profile unless something about me just SCREAMS "Lesbian!" Really, do people really respond to these ads and messages and to do they actually end up having a good time or does it end up along the lines of that movie "After Hours?/?" I've checked them out to see what their profiles are all about and they all say the same thing, basically. They also seem to be the same person in all of 'em.

Weird.

For services, their looking for a good time. Well, hells bells who isn't looking for a good time? For products, I almost always must complete some sort of survey that takes about 45 minutes to complete and I have to use my credit card to obtain at least two of the items/services(no, it's not the "good time seeker" services). Yes, I know. Why bother even looking it up, right? Can't help myself. I'm curious.
Yes, I know what happened to the cat in regard to curiosity.

I am so glad I'm able to block those messages....too bad it doesn't prevent others from sending the same information.

I started to cry....

For some reason I started to weep when I saw this image. This is a photo of the old ice cream joint in the neighborhood where I "grew" up(which I use the term loosely in for so many reasons, not enough time to go over any of them at this moment). It was just north on Wolcott past 37th Street in the McKinley Park neighborhood. It just brought back so many overwhelming memories of having such a difficult time w/my parents, my school as I was "chastised" and horribly picked on for coming from a different religious background than the one of my grade school upbringing..and just...life being a preteen girl in Chicago.

This place, Oren's, was heaven.

And a haven for me, even if it were for the few minutes that it took to make my transaction. I was able to escape even if it were for a few minutes to an entirely different world, where everything was sweet, and happy, despite crowded surroundings and disarray in the shop. The dusty old greeting cards that had designs from the late 50s and cost $.35(yes, 35 cents!), the brick-a-brack he had all over from cheesie Mardi Gras beads to various old tin cans(YES! Tin cans) from different types of soda stacked up against the wall, the various beaded projects brought in and created with love either by grandchildren....or fans; the thick and sugary smell of ice cream and maraschino cherries that almost grabbed you by the throat and practically choked you along with that faint scent of musty old paper. To this day whenever I smell old paper I think of Oren's. The anticipation of having either a bag of Swedish fish, shoelaces, or a Green River and feeling absolutely rich in spirit and mind being able to afford all three, and various hot summer days cramming in the store to sit on the ragged and ripped cherry red vinyl bar stools that itched and scratched your legs when you made your way onto it.... and how your legs were almost adhered with rubber cement to said stool when you attempted to make your way out of the shop ....almost removing a bit of skin in the process but happy with goodies in hand and tucked into a brown paper sack, smelling of whipped cream and those candied cherries.

It saddens me so much to see that it's gone. It almost feels as if a small part of me is gone. A tiny teeny part of my one bit of happiness during such a difficult time.

Poor Oren died of liver cancer back in the summer of 1996. Going to his wake stirred something in me as he was terribly thin in that casket, not resembling his usual self as he was always a chubby and jovial man. Almost always had a smile and a joke for you. Standing there, taking your order then making his way to create it wearing his little paper soda jerk hat and gray Dickies pants and flannel shirt, giving him a Bob the Builder's grandpa look...but he didn't build houses, porches, or any other handy work. None that I'm aware of.

What he did build was a little bit of happiness for everyone. Whether it was to make a simple Green River, a walking sundae, a toaster oven pizza, or a plain old ice cream cone with the best bubble gum ice cream, Oren made you happy and made you forget all that crap stuff that made life the way it is at times; complicated, hard, horrible, sad, difficult and just downright sucky.

And for a brief amount of time this old lady became a little girl again...slightly happier than before and forgetting all about the part of her life that's compicated, hard, horrible, sad, difficult and just downright sucky.

And as brief as it was, she was happy.

Why is it....

....That when someone tells you to "kiss their ass/arse" they usually end up describing in great detail .....their ass/arse, I mean?

Example? Sure, why not...IE, "Kiss my white, hairy Irish, arse" and "kiss my smooth and dark black ass." I've even heard someone mention for someone(not I and not lately) to kiss an ass that had a pimple on it....

OK then! TMI!

As if we need a graphic account of what their ass looks like. We're already picturing your ass when you initially tell us to kiss it and believe me; it's very unappealing.

And absolutely inappropriate.

Perhaps they feel that they need to describe it in great detail so that when they tell us to kiss it then we can find it with no problem as...well, hey we may actually miss the spot to kiss them, and they did specify ass/arse, but details, details please.

They told us that it's white, and that it's hairy(but what color hair? Aaahhhh...!) and of Irish descent(or whatever ethnicity they feel they need to inform us they're descended from, whether it's completely obvious or not). I mean, you're right in front of us and you're telling us the color of your ass, so would it be presumptuous if we thought your ass was the same color as your face? Would we really miss it(IE, not be able to visualize the ass kissing process as, well, we are being instructed to do so but are not willing to do so) if there was no description and if we really didn't know what an ass really and truly is? I mean, if one just said, "kiss my ass," would you look around and ask, "well, OK, then. Uh, first of all what is that? Is that a donkey? Is that a body part? I don't see it. Where is it? Whip it out, man! BTW, what does it look like?"

Just wondering.......................................

A Christmas Story...

So, we went to the Indiana Welcome Center in Hammond off of Kennedy near the Cracker Barrel and had a blast! We were able to take Larry(our Beagle and Ian's comfort/service dog) not only in the center but into the Cracker Barrel for lunch(I'll talk about that later). They had on display at the Welcome Center all the window displays from Macy's when they had the "A Christmas Story" 25th anniversary display...the Welcome Center bought a percentage of the movie rights and the displays and now it's a permanent display for every Christmas season. They also have a Santa waiting atop a "Cloud Mountain" for you to slide down after you've seen Santa and get a photo taken for only $5! That is CHEAP compared to the friggin' malls, no?

(Image of Ian pointing at the display from the scene in "A Christmas Story" where the old man got "a major award" and he's in the street commanding his wife to position it making it look like "the 4th of July" that glow of electric sex in the window)

Go see it! The exhibit is free...Santa is no longer there(obviously) but the exhibit will be up until January 10th...plus there's a John Dillinger museum as well. Check it out here, they'll have the exhibit up until January 10th!

Why is it.....

Kids always want what they can't have. Or shouldn't have? Is this just human nature? The lure of so-called "forbidden fruit," which if it IS human nature, this has been with us since the dawn of man...

...and woman.

Actually, I really just notice this attitude mainly with men and kids. Not so much with women. Probably because our lives are full of stuff we shouldn't have and don't want, how much more trouble it would be to have something we really want but CAN'T have....uh...in my regard...to hell with that noise.

My life is in such an uproar w/my autistic son, toddler daughter, co-dependant beagle and aging cocker spaniel(who will be 16 on December 23rd! She's in great shape...she just friggin' smells!), oh...and my high maintenance husband, who will be going on seasonal unemployment very soon...so WTF do I need more trouble?

For instance, my daughter makes it a point to let EVERYONE know how miserable she is if she doesn't get the toy Ian's playing with. When he's kind enough to relent and let her have it...she drops it...then runs after the dogs. Attention span of a sock, I tell ya....a clean sock...but a sock nonetheless.

I just find it amusing that when someone gets said possesion(IE, the one they shouldn't have? Keep up) after the initial and long enduring chase, they most likely will drop it, get tired of it and...move on to another possession they cannot nor should have.

I'm just saying....I'm finishing up the final touches on my term paper for psych class and this is actually one of the topics. It all goes into the "green eyed monster" category....I'll let you know what grade I got and maybe even post the paper...

...well, I'll post it if it's a good grade.

BTW....what are you doing to celebrate the holidays? We're going to hopefully see the "A Christmas Story" exhibit in Hammond, Indy, and go hit the Christkindlemarket here in Chicago....btw...aside from buying "stuff" you may really want and can't have, Christkindlemarket is free as is the "A Christmas Story" exhibit. It's only five dollars to see Santa and go down the slide over cloud mountain. Check out your local skating rinks, Lincoln Park Zoo, Navy Pier and the holiday CTA train....all freebies to do over the Christmas break w/your kiddies. A cheap thing to do w/the kiddies is to take the Metra over the weekend from one stop all the way to another....five bucks per adult for the ENTIRE weekend and kiddies are still gratis!

...what say you?

I love pumpkins!

I do! They're delicious! They're very pretty, they're very nutritious, fun to make crafts/pumpkin faces, etc.. with them.....in fact I wanted white pumpkins to make KISS faces but couldn't find decent looking good sized white pumpkins to do that(much less orange pumpkins as it seemed to have been a crap harvest for pumpkins this year). That's why I've not changed my counter and shall keep the pumpkins up, tracking all of your visits.

BTW...is anyone ready for Christmas? I didn't get the chance to put up tons of free things to do in Chicago for the Christmas holidays for everyone yet as I'm getting over a bad cold(not the H1N1 flu, thank God!), plus my autistic son is home for the holidays and will not go back to school until January 8th(uh...euw!) and my toddler is still teething! Bleeh! Anyway...I shall post that info soon! Hang tight, and hang up your ornaments, wreath, boughs of holly and lights....get into the spirit of things.

I do have a question: how do you feel about saying "Merry Christmas?" I am confounded at how an agnostic friend got his drawers in a bunch because of a poem a friend of mine sent re: not saying "Merry Christmas." He went on and on, droning on about the historical fact that Christ is NOT the reason for the season, how Christ wasn't born on December 25th, how the pagans/Druids were the ones who originated Christmas decor and customs, etc...and he wasn't very pleasant about it. I am very tolerant of other religions, have friends who are Jewish, Pagan, Muslim, Atheist and hardcore Bible thumping Christian...and the rule that applies to all of 'em is "I don't shove my beliefs down your throat, don't shove yours down mine." But he believes he's exempt from this.

Anyway...talk to you soon...wanna see if the Chicago Bears are actually going to beat the Green Bay Packers. Right now, score is 13/7 Green Bay and it's in the third quarter and ANYTHING can still happen...