Living Proof

There has always been a huge vast difference between Madelene and I - to the point where I actually asked her why she was even with me. We laugh at our differences now, but earlier in our relationship, I really wondered if it would work out for us. Mad's a hustler. She can (and sometimes does) work12 hr shifts sometimes every single day of the week (including weekends sometimes) and can come home and be able to go out and have fun or do some sort of project around the house. I'm the type where you get me to work a total of 3 hours and I'm ready for a break. I wanna play. But, if I'm on a mission, I wanna go go go. Sometimes my work projects take more than 12 hrs to complete if I'm heavily into and trying to concentrate, but thank God it's not all the time. Here's where our differences 'together' are funny. Take for instance, Madelene and I going grocery shopping together. Here's where I get into "mission mode" - where all I want to ...

Every family has their little secrets. Some are 'skeletons in the closet' type of secrets, and some are well, just to hide the little insanities that brew within. I'll start out by saying I love my mom. I'm definitely a "mama's girl", and at the risk of being yelled at, I have to come out and let others know about her little quirks. (I have mine as well which I will list.)  I wasn't going to write about this until I paid her a little visit this morning while my oldest sister was there enjoying coffee and muffins with her. We started talking about how the in laws on my sister's side loves our family and thinks we're "normal", compared to what they have seen. We're quite the opposite and very dysfunctional in a way which I wouldn't change one thing about it. I find it a blessing. It gives us hours of laughter. When I walked inside the kitchen area, mom and my sis offered me a muffin. My mom keeps a pile of little paper plate...

Remember back in the 90's, all you had to do was either call or email a friend to check up on their "status" to see how they were doing, and generally, you'd get a pretty honest answer? ...Not so much anymore. These days, it's not that simple since we have social media websites that let us tell the world 'how we're doing' or 'what we're doing'. There's no need for an email or phone call anymore. Just log onto Facebook or Twitter and check to see if that person's still breathing. I remember a few months back, a friend of mine came over for dinner. She looked depressed and not her ol' chipper self. I asked what was wrong and she said, "Everything." Her life had come to a place she had never expected. I was baffled, because on her Facebook account, she always had a "smile" - not in photos per se, but in her general status updates. They were all filled with happiness, a life well lived and even at times, a li...

This is my work station for today: computer, heating pad & Advil. I'm having a bad day. I'm having a bad week actually. It's been getting worse and worse this year for whatever reason (or reasons I will deny till I'm blue in the face), but it's absolutely unbearable. I've always been able to tolerate the symptoms of PMS, (the week before menstruation - some people confuse the two) , but this is just craziness. First it starts out with a tinge of lower back pain. I have to move more in order to feel human. But then, it defeats me and I'm bundled up in the corner of my bed popping Advils like it's candy. I can barely walk. I can't bend or I'll just topple over like a big ol' weeble wobble. My third day into it, the pain radiates down into my legs. Some say it's sciatica and others just don't know what to do with me. By that time, I've developed a pair of horns on my head and a forked tongue. It's these times when those a...

I'm not sure what you think about when you hear the word "beautiful" in regards to a woman. Most think the generalized society's point of view: super model gorgeous, tall, thin, perfect features - stuff you see in magazines. I love air brushes. But seriously, there are women out there that are trying to achieve and maintain society's version of "beautiful" and I see it almost every single day of my life. There's a fine line of keeping up with your general appearance and obsessing over 'what other people think'.  The other day, I tweeted, "Being super beautiful must be like making a high salary. You won't settle for less, but the inevitable means 'retirement'. Common denominator: age. True beauty comes from within, and that lasts forever." I have seen the most "beautiful" women become the most ugly creatures on earth in a matter of seconds. I've also seen less attractive (whatever that means) become beau...

(This photo was a Halloween shot at work. The theme was 'the futuristic office', so I chose my future would be working at home, hence the robe, towel, cup of coffee & flip flops. I'm actually wearing purple silk pajamas from Victoria Secret in there.) There was a time where I thought my life would only consist of a cubicle, dim florescent lights and a boss that would badger me for the rest of my days until the day I retired. Home life was all about resting. I didn't even notice the little things around me, like a beautiful view of the mountains, a hot cup of coffee to be enjoyed slowly or just listening to music, unwinding with a glass of wine. It was simple: get up, grab coffee on the way to work, sit in traffic, deal with bullshit at work, dive into traffic again, eat a quick dinner and go to sleep...do it all over again. I remember one of my coworkers had given our boss two weeks notice. One day, while sitting at the lunch table, we asked her why she was leavi...

You can only do so much for someone you care for when it comes to helping a friend out with personal problems in their life. We all want to be that friend or spouse who is there for anyone at any given moment, “I’m here for you” seems to slip out of our mouths too loosely, and for some people, they take full advantage of that. In any friendship or intimate relationship, there needs to be a balance or it becomes a therapy session. Have you ever felt as though you’re someone’s therapist when you spend time with them? The conversation is one-sided and the person actually doesn’t even realize it. You try to connect with their eyes and nod here and there while dozing off into another land after the second hour of their session. In primitive days (yes caveman days, bear with me here), people were told to find a mate who has broad shoulders, not only to carry in the wood on a snowy day, but broad shoulders in terms of carrying your burdens, woes and problems in life. It should be a give...