crossroads

When I started this blog, almost a year ago, I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted it to be. My thought was to combine a little bit of our family life mayhem with the often crazy stories from work, tossed with a little slice of life observation mixed with as much tongue in cheek humor as I could. That was the plan at the time and all in all I think I've stuck to it. Sometimes light and frothy, sometimes moving, sometimes just plain silly.Sometimes frankly bitchy. All the parts of me, all rolled into one.


Sometimes I lean a little too far in one direction and other times I tilt the opposite way. At first I spent a lot of time bemoaning the fact that I don't really have a niche. I think it could be simpler if I blogged about just work or just kids or just...anything. But I've always liked the freedom that came from having different wells to draw from. Maybe I'm easily bored, but it suited me. Maybe no one facet of my life was interesting enough on its own, but added up it had potential.


And this brings me to my dilemma.


I've not usually shied away from writing personal posts, but I've always recognized that there are limits to these things. I know exactly what my comfort level is and I can tell immediately when I'm crossing my line. I also know that I get away with a lot of stuff because of what one of my favorite curmudgeons called my "self-deprecating humor." You can say pretty much anything you want as long as you make yourself the butt of the joke. I was born to be the butt of the joke so this works well for me. If I can't make you laugh with me I have no false pride about trying to get you to laugh at me. I'll take it any way I can get it.


My life has done a complete 180 in the last week and it is without a doubt affecting everything I do. I've said and heard and thought and felt things that I never in a million years expected to experience. I'm standing, to be totally over the top melodramatic, on the edge of the old and the brink of the new and there are ravenous sharks in the water in-between. And to be perfectly honest, it's hard not to write about some of it. I've filled countless journal pages and written many email rants and IM'd my little heart out. And it felt really good to get a lot of it out there. (If you've written me and not gotten a rant yet - don't relax too soon. Truly. I'm in catch up mode).


Like I said earlier, I know my comfort zone. I'm not talking about bashing people or using this blog as a bully pulpit. But I'm finding that there really can be a hell of a lot of comedy in tragedy, and sometimes it's hard to not spin a potentially funny story at my own expense just because it's based on something so truly dreadful. I'm going to be single for the first time in 23 years, and if that doesn't conjure up a whole boatload of potential anecdotes I don't know what will. I'm going to be primary parent for three boys who already try to kill me on a daily basis. And no matter how hard I tried, I'm even ending up with Dee Dee in the deal. There is no justice.


So what I wonder from all of you is what your interest level in this is. Would you rather I stayed light and frothy? Sarcastic and snarky? Ratting out my children every time they do something semi-criminal? Or would you be interested in tagging along for this very interesting - and wholly unexpected- path my life has taken?


I'd really like to know.

The Thursday Three

I have to thank you all again for the fun Thursday Three ideas you gave me a couple of weeks ago. I'm all for anything that keeps me from having to think too hard at the moment, so let's run with one of them. Kindly contributed by Angela at the Lurchers, let's talk about



Favorite Pizza Toppings



I have this vague idea that I've done something a lot like this, but so what? I can talk about pizza all day.




#1. Veggies. Name the veggie and I'm all over it. Except for eggplant, which for some reason I can't stand. Peppers, mushrooms, onions, garlic, spinach, zucchini...yum. Especially the mushrooms. If they're wild it's even better.


#2. Feta cheese. The best pizza I ever had in my life was a thin crust feta and shrimp in San Francisco and I still think of it from time to time. I don't do the shrimp very often, but I do like feta. There's a place near us that does a killer feta and spinach pizza. I could eat the whole thing.


#3. Artichoke. Are you sensing a theme? I don't like pepperoni or sausage or ham. So that leaves me with limited options. But I love every one of them. Artichokes and mozzarella - double, even triple mozzarella. Throw on a bunch of red pepper (on any pizza I eat) and life is good.


Let's hear about your favorite pizza toppings. And I promise that by next week I'll be back to my usual smart ass self. Scout's honor.

from your mouth to god's ear

thank you, Carolyn.

and thank you all for all your lovely comments yesterday.

RIP

RC and Film Geek
April 4, 1987 to March 8, 2008

Fun Monday

Our Fun Monday host this week is I.T. Guy and he's still in a movie mood from last week. Here's his challenge:

I need YOU (yes, the wonderful YOU!) to pick 5 memorable lines from 5 different movies (if you could tell us which character said it and to whom, would be a bonus)...and tell us to WHOM (the people in your life) you could have said those lines.

Just 5!

I could probably come up with a whole lot of these, but how about these five for starters?


Snap out of it! (Moonstruck) - to the out of control kid du jour


Calling someone fat doesn't make you any skinnier. Calling someone stupid doesn't make you any smarter. All you can do in life is try and solve the problem in front of you. (Mean Girls ) - to my kids


Tell you what. The truth is...sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it. (Brokeback Mountain) - to my mom.


You complete me. (Jerry Maguire) - to my friends.


Sometimes you've just gotta say "What the F**k". (Risky Business) - to myself.


Now go and see what everyone else came up with. (And why does someone who hates Tom Cruise have two of his movies in here??)

Sunday Slacker

You Can Change Your Life, But It Won't Be Easy

You really, truly want to change. You're just not sure that you can do it. You need a solid plan, supportive friends, and a strong will. Think about times you've made hard changes, and what you did to get through them. A change is in your future - you just need a little help getting started.

Can You Change Your Life?

road music

Some songs are perfect for listening to while you're driving. I don't know why so many of them sound better behind the wheel, but they do. The other day I was coming home from taking the kids to school and I drove around the block a couple of times (gas prices notwithstanding) simply because this came on the radio



(and I'm almost afraid to post a video, because every time I do my comments go down by half, but hell...you only live once).


I can come up with hundreds of songs like it, but you get the idea. What are some of yours?