They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing. The Merchant of Venice, 1. 2

well, long time no write....

I have been pulled in many directions since last I posted here.   I have been busy writing theatre reviews for two publications:
www.STAGEmagazine.org    and     www.DelcoNewsNetwork.com

I have been busy spoiling the grandchild mentioned in my last post--Tiny Lady arrived on March 26, 2013 and weighed in at 8lbs.-13oz.    She is the sweetest, most beautiful little girl in my world.  She has a darling little personality and loves to make us all laugh.  I may finally have another actor in the family.

But the most impactful thing in my life has been the lose of a job I'd held for six years.   The company I worked for downsized at the first sign of a drop in business and when all was said and done, about 1,500 of us were out the door.

And I have found myself in the impossible position of trying to get gainful employment at 61.  It has been exceedingly frustrating.  People write you off after a certain age.  They make assumptions that you can't possibly be current on business practices or technology.   What did they think I was doing for the past 15-20 years?  I was working--using current technology and staying abreast of business practices.  Hello.

I've had several phone interviews and at least a dozen face-to-face meetings.  I've registered with every employment/staffing agency in the area.  And nothing.

One employer told a recruiter that he hired someone else because he/she had press release experience and he really needed that.  I had handed the man a copy of a press release I'd written during my interview!!!   And I'm a regularly published writer.   Sheesh.

I have run out of Unemployment benefits, I have used up the small 401K I'd managed to save up and I'm at the end of my rope.

I try to present a professional and positive outlook when I interview. (It gets more and more difficult as each week goes by.)   I can only assume I am the victim of age discrimination, but how do you prove that?

I need some blessings to come my way.  I put this out in the universe and pray for your help.

When we are born we cry that we are come... to this great stage of fools.

I guess you’ve all been wondering what happened to me…


Well, I’ve been busier than a one-armed paperhanger. I may have actually given myself a theatre overdose. [I never ever thought I’d say that!!!] You see, I am now starting rehearsals for my 3rd production in 4 months. [I know, I was clearly out of my mind when I said I could handle that.] I’ve been deep in rehearsals since mid-July. And will continue with that until January 4th of 2013.

BUT—then I’m taking some time off.



Because… [Drum roll]… I’m going to be a grandmother again! My daughter and her awesome fiancé are due to become parents in March.

It has been a whirlwind courtship, but when you know, you know.

You Know?

They seem to be a really good team together. He is a wonderful man and he adores my daughter. What more could a mother ask for?

They had been talking about marriage, but the “Peanut” sped things up considerably. I have to tell myself it was meant to be… she is 37 and a half with one barely functioning ovary. As she said when she called to tell me:”How does that equal pregnant?”

She found out about the baby the week her son turned 21. This may be the biggest gap between kids on record. And telling her son was a little weird for them. “Happy 21st. Here’s your 1st legal beer—oh, and a sibling.” My grandson is very excited about being a big brother—of course, we’ll see how he feels when there’s a crying baby in the next room…

This will be a very different experience for all of us.

This baby will not be a part of my daily life like M was. I won’t be getting daily hugs and a “Hi Mimi.” I’ll only be able to read The Monster at the End of This Book to “Peanut” once in awhile. I may not be there for the first smile, the first time the baby rolls over or sits up. The first steps… All things I enjoyed with my own two, but appreciated more with my grandson. [There is something to be said for maturity…]

With this baby, I will have to drive 25 minutes to see him or her. I won’t have as much input into shaping this child as I did with my grandson.

I always tell people he is a perfect example of “It takes a Village.” The whole family took part in getting him started in life for the first nine years—and he took in the best parts of each of us. His outlook on life is rather unique. He has some of my sarcastic humor, some of my late husband’s gentleness, some of his paternal grandfather’s philosophical approach to things…

The only exception to this is his father. He has not had anything to do with this amazing young man—his loss.

That is something else that is very different this time around. My future son-in-law is totally there for my daughter. He has gone to the doctor’s appointments with her. He made the choice to give his dog up for adoption because Blue was too high-strung to be around a baby. He’s even down-loaded a “daddy-to-be” app to his i-Phone so he’ll know what to do as the pregnancy progresses.

Occasionally my daughter is having a hard time dealing with this. She is too used to going it alone. She has been M’s sole parent his entire life. She has kept the two of them fed, clothed and housed on her own since he was 9. Yes, the grandparents bought clothes and such, but the major responsibility was hers. And she embraced it willingly. She has been a devoted mom to her son. “Peanut” is getting two really cool people to guide him/her through life.



The only thing that may not be different is “Crazy Uncle J.” My son is still as goofy as ever… He was 15 when he became an uncle, and M was like a toy to him and his friends. He would do stuff like put Playdoh mustaches on him when he was an infant, slingshot him from the dining room to the living room in his Johnny-Jump-Up when he was about 1 and teach him highly inappropriate things to say when he was a toddler.

We’re already hiding the Playdoh….

Words, Words, Words--another variation...

air or heir

fare or fair

Been—bean


Bare—bear

Meet—meat

Deer—dear

Fair—fare

Heel—heal

Lead [to be in front]—lead [an alloy]

Pear—pare

Rear [at the end of something]—rear [to raise up]

Stare—stair

Tear [to rip something]—tear [the product of crying]

Wear—where

liar [to tell an untruth] or lyre [an instrument]



And we wonder why people have such a hard time with English…..

Words, Words, Words ~ HAMLET [a variation]

But words are things, and a small drop of ink,



Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces


That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think;


'Tis strange, the shortest letter which man uses


Instead of speech, may form a lasting link


Of ages; to what straits old Time reduces


Frail man, when paper - even a rag like this -
Survives himself, his tomb, and all that's his.


from Don Juan by Lord Byron


Words do live on eternally, don't they.    Especially now in this age of the internet.    We all need to be very cognizant of what we put out there.   You never know who's got a cell phone that can video tape you.  Just ask Michael Richards or Mel Gibson...

In some ways, it's a good thing.    Hatefulness is exposed more quickly--and people pay the consequences.
 

This is the short and the long of it. ~ Merry Wives of Windsor

Feh!

I am just so over this whole working for a living thing…

Thou art thy mother's glass, and she in thee Calls back the lovely April of her prime. ~William Shakespeare

As we approach Mother's Day next week, I thought I'd share this...

******

WHY GOD MADE MOMS

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:


Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.



How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.



What ingredients are mothers made of ?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.



Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.



What kind of little girl was your mom?
1. My Mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there , but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.



What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?



Why did your mom marry your dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.



Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.



What's the difference between moms & dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers wi thout scaring them.
3 . Dads are taller & stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.
4. Moms have magic; they make you feel better without medicine.



What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.



What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Dye it. You know her hair. I'd dye it, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head .



WHEN YOU STOP LAUGHING --
SEND IT ON TO OTHER MOTHERS, GRANDMOTHERS, AUNTS
and anyone else who has anything to do with kids or just needs a good laugh!!!

“So so” is good, very good, very excellent good; and yet it is not; it is but so so.

Ye Olde Blogge Goeth Green Today...


[originally posted 9/8/2009--and still quite appropos, sadly]

That’s kinda how I’ve been feeling lately. I’m having a hard time getting jazzed about life. And I don’t know exactly why. I don't like it when I feel this way, but I don't know what to do to change it. Stuff that I usually enjoy just seems like too much effort. Cher's "Snap out of it" technique just doesn't do it.....




I think it’s a Fibromyalgia thing. I don’t have as much pain as others I know—or I’ve just gotten way too used to it—but I do have a whole laundry list of other weird symptoms. I have a constant high-pitched sound in my ears; I learned that was probably Fibro related doing research online. I seem to constantly have a cold or a virus of some sort—fibro has wrecked my immune system. I get blurred vision—another symptom I learned about doing research. It just gets better and better…..



And of course, there’s the whole sleep thing. God I miss the days of my youth when I could crash for 8 hours no problem. I didn’t know how good I had it. Now it seems like the frickin’ alarm clock is going off right after I’ve finally nodded off. And always just as my dream about Paolo the Pool Boy is getting interesting...... Then I lay there and play “If I don’t do such and such, I can stay here for an extra 5 minutes.”



They say you can’t—or SHOULDN’T— make up for lost sleep on your days off. But that’s what I find myself doing. Then I feel guilty for it. I can’t win.



Any suggestions? Would winning the lottery help? I know Paolo would, but he's yet to show up in my real life.....


3/27/12--the illustration kinda sums it up--my life seems to be melting away and I can't stop it.     I am so exhausted by Saturday that I wind up crashing most of the weekend.   The only plus there is if I don't leave my room, I can't spend any money I don't have.

Something's gotta give--soon!