Feeling Blue

I was feeling a little bit blue the other day for a variety of reasons -- car repairs, house repairs, autumn, shorter days, jobs... So my husband and I decided to head out to happy hour.

There's a little pub that we hang out at regularly. We've been going there for years and have a group of friends we hang out with there. I was hoping to run into a couple of them.

Shortly after arriving, we found out one friend is having legal difficulties and another had a family member die in a horrible house fire. Both situations made me rethink my worries and put things in perspective.

So I've spent a small fortune on car repairs and have some house repairs yet to handle. And my husband's and my job concerns are nothing when I think about the friends of mine who have lost their jobs. And when you think of the other losses our friends have experienced, my troubles and concerns are insignificant.

So, though we went out because I was feeling a little blue, I did not come back feeling better. However, I am feeling thankful that I have the problems I have, and though they are somewhat annoying and can be tough, I'm able to handle them (so far).

Whiskey in a Milkshake?

Today I saw the online headline, "Who put the Whiskey in my Milkshake?" Though it ended up being a legitimate story about milkshake recipes that contain Bourbon, it brought back memories -- weird memories of growing up with three older brothers.

One day before junior high school, I decided to have Shredded Wheat for breakfast -- the large biscuits that were much bigger than a Brillo pad, but looked like they were made the same way. Because it was pretty cold outside, I decided to warm up the milk. This was before microwave ovens, so I put about a cup of milk in a saucepan and ran upstairs for a second.

When I got back downstairs, I poured the warm milk on my cereal and began to eat. The weird thing is that all three of my brothers were at the table eating -- we didn't normally all end up eating at the same time. With the first bite I noticed that the milk didn't taste right. "Does the milk taste bad to you?" I asked. They all said it tasted fine to them.

After a couple more bites, I was positive there was something wrong with the milk. "The milk is spoiled," I announced. "I'm throwing this out." The reaction from my brothers was immediate. They said stuff like, "You can't throw that out, Mom will be mad." They continued to tell me I was wasting food, etc., but I threw it out anyway. I have no idea what I ate instead.

Flash forward to several years later. Someone brought up this insignificant breakfast morning at a family event. It went something like, "Do you remember when you heated milk for your Shredded Wheat and the milk tasted spoiled?" Confused I said I knew what they were talking about. "When you were upstairs, we poured Dad's Scotch in your milk."

Yeah, just what I needed -- Scotch for breakfast.

So, from experience I can tell alcohol in milk does not work. And if Scotch is bad in milk, I can't imagine Bourbon would be any better in a milkshake.

Green Eggs and Ham turns 50

I was surprised to find out that the Dr. Seuss classic Green Eggs and Ham turns 50 this year!

I remember this as being one of the first books I could read by myself. (Actually, Hop on Pop was the absolute first. It was also my dad's least favorite kids' book.) I have probably given it as a gift to tons of little kids. And because of the great rhythm and rhyme, the book has been put to song, made into a musical, read to school kids by a million celebrities, was made into a rap by a comedian and Jesse Jackson read it with a flare on Saturday Night Live.

While watching a news story about the anniversary, I learned that Dr. Seuss wrote the book as a bet. His publisher bet him he couldn't write a book using only 50 words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham and the author won the one dollar per word wager.

Only 4 Months to Go!

My husband turned 50 yesterday. Yep, his birthday is 4 months to the day before mine.

Though it was uneventful for him, I'm really not surprised. He never gets worked up about things like age or weight or gray hair...

In the meantime, his turning 50 has made it all the more real for me. I have only 4 more months to be in my 40s! I cannot believe I'm going to be 50 in such a short amount of time! ARGH!

OK, panic attack over. (I think.)

Funeral Planning -- Already?

I recently received a mailing saying that I may qualify for the Funeral Advantage Program that assists SENIORS with their funeral expenses.

"Obviously this is a mistake," I thought, as I skimmed through the info in huge type. Alas, I was wrong! "Thousands of Ohio residents age 50-85 have been accepted so far..." the flyer read. I had to re-read that part. It actually says that people aged 50 are considered to be seniors!

Needless to say, I was appalled. I have not even reached middle age* yet! How on Earth can this company call me a senior? (To be fair here, it did not actually call ME a senior. It called people 50 and older seniors. I have lots of time until I'm 50 -- more than 4 months.)

I was so upset, I needed unbiased confirmation that 50 does not define someone as a senior. So I did what every person who has Internet access does -- I checked Wikipedia. It says:

The age which qualifies for senior citizen status varies widely. In governmental contexts it is usually associated with an age at which pensions or medical benefits for the elderly become available. In commercial contexts, where it may serve as a marketing device to attract customers, the age is often significantly lower. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senior_citizen]

Earlier in the listing it says that many dictionaries define senior as 60 and above, even though few people retire by age 60.

Whew! So, I am happily correct that I am much too young to be reading this flyer directed toward senior citizens. And I just want this company to know, when I am finally old enough to care about your service, I will NOT be contacting your company. (That will teach them!)
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*Please don't bust my bubble on this. If I plan to live to be 100 or older, I have not yet hit middle age. And I can live in denial for a long, long time.

Early Alzheimer's?

This past Spring I drove by the most beautiful purple irises I had seen in a number of years. They were tall, full and a really deep purple. They definitely brought back memories.

I strongly remember that there were a bunch of extremely beautiful purple irises in front of my grandparents' house on the south shore of Lake Erie. I always wondered about them because no one ever used the front door, they weren't visible from inside the house, and my grandma didn't seem overly concerned about landscaping, though I remember Dad planting a few rose bushes in the back she could see from the window.

Some of my favorite memories revolve around this house, this land and Lake Erie. Growing up we spent a lot of time up there fishing and swimming.

So I told my sister about the irises and how much they brought back memories. She said, "What irises?" Even after describing them, she had no idea what I was talking about.

Since my aunt had lived in that house for a number of years, I decided to ask her about the purple flowers. She said there were no irises at the house.

Now I have got to wonder -- why on Earth do I think there were irises? If they weren't at Grandma's house, where were they? What other things do I think I remember but never happened?

Land Shark!

At a recent baseball game, one of the moms told me a story about feeling old.

At work that day she had to interrupt a closed-door meeting. She knocked on the door and someone from inside asked "Who's there?"

She replied, "Land Shark!"

There was no reply from the other side of the door.

She felt pretty foolish, even though someone walking by chuckled.

For those of you who need an explanation, the Land Shark was a reoccurring skit on Saturday Night Live (back when it was funny) which was introduced in 1975.

... the Land Shark is considered the cleverest of all sharks. Unlike the great white shark, which tends to inhabit the waters and harbors of recreational beach areas, the Land Shark may strike at any place, any time. It is capable of disguising its voice, and generally preys on young, single women.

Yeah, when NO ONE in a group has ever heard of a Land Shark, I think you are approaching old.