Mark Borchardt quote

...You’re standing around a broken car, and everyone is saying, "Man, you’re never gonna get this piece of shit working." But when you do get it running, everyone wants a ride.

Someone tried to burst my bubble today -- instead of letting it get me down, I'm reminding myself of this quote and how true it is.

So true.

I love my sister

She just called me from the conference so that I could hear Nate through the phone. Isn't she a great sister?

Nate and Colin -- the event planning guy? -- are doing an XM broadcast. Only glass separates the sister from the Nate. She said he's even dreamier in person and that I should have given her a card because she would have networked (stalked) for me.

I asked her to look into his eyes extra long for me and I don't care if it creeps him out.

She just called me back and told me to go check my e-mail.

!!!!

See how he's standing and checking his phone? I'm going to pretend he's reading a text from me.

My report ends here, she's off to get her make-up done at the Revlon booth. So chickerific -- wish I were there.

Kiss Nate for me

My sister is on her way to Florida right now -- she is going to an Oprah's people seminar. There will be speaking panels with Gayle, Nate, Marriane Williamson, Suzy Ormond...

My sister's best friend is going to be on the Rachel Ray show and I think she got tickets, or learned about it when she taped the show, I don't know -- I'm just making stuff up right now, but it has something to do with the Rachel Ray (Rae?) thing and now they are in Florida. (I will tell you when she is going to be on as soon as I know. She's on because she's late all the time. So if I forget to say, and you watch the show and see a woman from Wisconsin who is late all the time and it makes people mad. Well, then you can say, "Hey! I know her! That's my blogger buddy's sister's best friend!" It will be exciting for all of us.)

I'm only mildly envious of the Florida trip because, truly, if I were asked to go, the thought of packing and doing something seems daunting to me right now (even thought half of me is looking for a place to run, I'm in some kind of emotional winter here and the thought of action makes me tired).

Anyhow, enough about me, and more about me. If I were thinking I would have sent some knobs for her to give to Nate -- this is my second missed Nate opportunity.

I know, I'm rambling. The thing is, when my friend and I decided to start a painting business, we did a little "putting it out there". I said, "I want Nate, on Oprah, with my stuff," and the very next week "O" magazine had a thing where you could submit pictures of your decorated house so Nate could see how people are living and maybe you get selected to be on Oprah with your decorating self. I have enough painted focal points to maybe catch an eye -- it's not Architectural Digest, but it may be creative enough to be talked about on Oprah.

Well, I kind of never got around to submitting the pictures -- I took them, but by the time I got around to getting an envelope and looking up that address again, I had missed the dead line -- It's the same reason I haven't won my 10,000 dollars from America's Funniest Videos yet either.

Opportunity knocks again when my sister is here this past weekend and she tells me she's going to the Oprah thing. Do I grab anything painted and say, "Here, give this to Nate." Along with a note letting him know where he can get such fun gems for all his clients -- do I do that?

No, I didn't.

Which is okay, because I'm truly not ready and it probably wouldn't be right to make my sister do my stalking for me. But still, two degrees of separation here -- it's getting close my friends.

Speaking of Oprah moments, if I were a psychologist I would win a prize for the paper I would write on the new phase of development I've observed, which is The Oprah Phase.

It's true, think about it. I've worked with some people coming up out of some pretty hard circumstances and I always know they are at a pivotal point when they get to the Oprah phase . This is the point where they see themselves on Oprah, usually telling a survivor/look at me now, story. This is a good sign, because it means they've found hope and a vision for the future -- it seems to be the point at which they either throw in the towel in a "I'll never be on Oprah" type of resignation, or they go for it.

I could go on with my theories of how she can be a working part of the psyche, but I'm sure you already know. Is she not one of the members of the committee in your head? She gives great advice up in there. I give her credit as being my first sponsor. Plus, when you see someone on Oprah, what do they say? They say, "I can't believe I'm on Oprah, I always dreamed of being on Oprah and now I'm on Oprah." Of course I'm talking about people who are being celebrated and not the folks who are there for the cautionary tales.

Fun assignment time -- What is your Oprah story? If you blog it, let me know in comments, or blog away in my comments, but do tell your, why I'm going to be on Oprah, If I were on Oprah, I should be on Oprah, I have a friend who should be on Oprah -- story.

Fun stuff

More painted things. I finished the lamp to go with the "Cinderella" table. This bookshelf is one of my favorites. I have this little baby/toddler chair that I will paint to match -- between that, the knobs and bookshelf -- wouldn't that make a great baby room? A room fit for a royal prince or princess -- just need some golden or ruby bedding...

Thank you God for saltines

I am sick.

Today I am upright and was finally able to change my shirt since Sunday. I still pretty much can't look at food, and yet -- I'm so hungry. Rich brought me saltines and I think they are going to stay down.

It was bad, it was just like the New Year's Eve sick thing. I hope it never happens again -- that was so not cool.

asperger colored glasses

Oh friends, now it all makes SO MUCH SENSE -- Rich has asperger's syndrome (and so does another, particular, meticulous word spewing, "robot", member of his family -- I'd bet lots and lots of money).

I have 10 years worth of frustrating situations crystallizing into truck loads of logic filled gems. We are both recovering alcoholics, but there has always been a little more to Rich's picture than that. Alcoholic's have that Jekyll and Hyde thing, but you are dealing with Jekyll OR Hyde. There are blood sugar issues with alcoholics and if you give a Hyde a sandwich, typically, you are rewarded with a decent human being in a matter of a few minutes.

With Rich, the crankiness left, but the obstinance remained.

Until now, the dichotomies in Rich's personality made no sense -- he comes off at times like a sociopathic Thomas Merton.

Asperger's would certainly explain how he can be a loving human being, see the beauty of things, care deeply about his fellow humans, have a conscience and be an enormous asshole all at the same time.

The defining piece of the puzzle for me, finally explains how he can be so freaking smart and still not get the point of what I am saying, sometimes not even when I have broken it down to the most literal of terms. If catching an inference meant the difference between life and death, the man would die. (certain inferences though -- I need to think on this one because he can catch and obscure reference with the best of them, but that's not the same as inference -- I have to do more track backing to see if this is true. I do know there is a particular line of reasoning that hits a wall with this one and now it makes sense why it is so.)

I call him "literal man" and I guess now I don't have to be so pissy about it.

I'm not sure how I feel about this realization. I think it will make knowing which battles to pick a little easier -- I won't waste so much energy trying to communicate in a way which he clearly does not understand -- not because he's an asshole, rather, he's not wired for it. No matter how simple a thing it is I may attempt to communicate -- it's not simple if you don't have the goods to process it. It's like realizing I've been arguing over the color of something with someone who is color blind -- me and most of the world can see that I am wearing pink lipstick, but no matter how I phrase telling him so, all he will ever be able to see on my lips is, blue.

If you know you are dealing with color blindness, it's pretty easy to see the futility in trying to talk someone's eyes into working correctly with their brain and how you would just have to take each other's word for what it looks like to the self. If you don't know that one of you is color blind, here you are stuck with one seeing pink and one seeing blue -- you're both right, but without that key bit of knowledge, you're both in logic hell. You can agree to disagree so that nobody has to die, but let me tell you it's not the most gratifying thing and depending on the subject at hand -- can be very cold, cruel and lonely.

There is tremendous relief and letting go, along with instantaneous forgiveness of some fairly deep emotional deals, however, there is also the realization that his intensity doesn't have pill cure (for him, but maybe I could get some xanax -- that should be in the Physician's Desk Reference -- xanax: prescribed for all family members of those diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome).

That may seem a bit harsh, but until you've been repeatedly held hostage in story telling situations, don't judge me. I say it not to humiliate my husband, but more as a question to asperger spouses -- this is a thing, right? The story thing -- sometimes it's life of the party stuff and other times the entire world could be looking at their watches and nada, zilch, zip -- still working it.

Trying to make up for the Hitchcock PR debacle?

This is about the birds people -- they came and cleaned my gutters today. I'm not kidding. I did not know this was service they provided, but it happened today.

We have a lot of trees and this time of year it's not uncommon for flocks of birds to take a rest in them on their way south. Today it got a bit creepy -- many birds, different varieties -- the local bullying blue jays were pissed. There was fighting and apparently, actual mud, stick, rotting leaves, roofing nails and acorn slinging.

The contents of my front gutter is everywhere.

Not just a cheap whiskey

We've seen this momma Tom and her babies several times now. Once in the back yard, twice on our path to school in the front yard and here again, down by the playhouse.

Not sure where they are living, but it's pretty cool having wild turkeys about.

The girls get all high and squeaky about the babies.

"It's good to be back on the board." -- Winnie

Winnie, after skateboarding all day til her legs were "wiggly".

Once destined for the kindling pile, now a night stand

Cinderella inspired side table.

Frankie is my hero

One of the things I love about my stepson Frankie is that he is his own person, a label defier. Even so, I underestimated his level of self assurance, which was revealed through a sociology experiment this second week of school.

The assignment; do something out of the norm to attract attention to yourself (in all of your classes, not just once) and note how people react to you.

One guy wore his girlfriends clothes, another put something weird behind his ear, another kid turned his desk around and things like that.

Frankie and I aren't exactly inseparable, but there have been events which tell of an unbreakable bond -- like the time he holed up in his room for three days listening to nothing but A Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran".

Love him.

He doesn't listen to bad music to be different, he does it for the love of the songs. It takes a strong person to publicly own The Bee Gees as your favorite band. It takes an even stronger person to stand up in the middle of class and ask, "Does anyone here remember Disco?" and then break into a confident rendition of Stayin Alive.

Oh yes he did!

Sometimes he was stopped after the first chorus and other's he went on for the entire song. He had one teacher stop him after his disco question -- made him sit back down, telling him she doesn't go for this sociology experiment (she made the kid who was wearing his girlfriends clothes go find a proper shirt because, "spaghetti straps are not allowed.")

Can you say stick in the mud?

Her loss -- I'd pay money to see Frankie bust out in class like that.

Meme of 4 tag from Wordtryst

She tagged me a bit ago.

Four jobs I've had

1. food prep (love that Friday night fish fry!)
2. sorting packages at UPS (I was so buff)
3. bookkeeper for an aluminum siding business
4. restaurant floor manager

Four countries I've been to

1. United States of America
2. USA
3. North America (the middle part)
4. America

4 places I'd rather be

1. On a lake
2. In a lake
3. On an ocean front porch looking to a pristine beach and the water
4. The Inn at Lonesome Hollow in Soldier's Grove, Wisconsin (their website pictures do not do justice to the Homestead Suites)

4 foods I like to eat

1. a properly prepared cut of Kobe beef (lived up to the hype and more)
2. the sauteed spinach which comes under the seafood trio at Mr. B's (the flavors come together in such a way as to render me unable to leave a stitch of it, which almost ruins my ability to fit in dessert)
3. I love a chocolate/raspberry combo
4. my grandmother's "slippery noodles" -- elbow noodles and simple cream sauce (another thing I was unable to stop eating until I was in pain)

4 personal heroes

1. my sister
2. my grandmother
3. my friend Peggy
4 Martin Luther King Jr. (pick a quote, any quote, and tell me you don't have goosebumps)

4 books I've read

1. The Mind of God -- Paul Davies (reading)
2. Possible Side Effects -- Augusten Burroughs
3. Magic Trees of the Mind -- Marian Diamond, Ph.D. and Janet Hopson
4. Potatoes Not Prozac -- Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D

4 words or phrases I'd like to see used more often

1. retarded -- if the mentally challenged people still don't want it, I'd like to claim it for the dorks
2. We are using a clean energy source for the production of...
3. Okay mom, no problem.
4. Sure sweetheart, I'd love to.

4 reasons for ending a friendship

I've never had to end a friendship. I've had friendships fade off due to separate paths and such.

I was thinking disrespect of personal boundaries, but then I thought of my friend Scott, who has no regard for mine or anyone else's, and yet -- I love him dearly.

1. Betrayal. I think betrayal would be tough to come back from.
2. Disrespecting any one of my kids -- see ya
3. you can't sleep with my husband -- you'd both have to go if that happened
4. Not doing a meme if I ask you to (hopefully none of you end friendships over a little thing like blackmail).

I tag Mel, Kay, Manic , and TTQ.