Got an email earlier in the week about the birthdays that my Facebook friends were having. Looking through the list because I can’t remember everyone’s birthdays.
So I noticed that Bill’s uncle has a birthday today. Then, reading on, I noticed that his aunt’s birthday was today also. I thought to myself “That’s cool…Aunt Betty and Uncle Jim share the same birthday how cool is that that a brother and sister share a birthday”…….
Wait for it….
YUP, they are twin brother and sister!!
So, here we are halfway through 2011 and my first question is “How the hell did that happen?” Seriously, it was New Year’s like a second ago…right? RIGHT??
Ok, freakout over. Back to your regularly scheduled blog. To say that 2011 has been a wonderful year with no problems or struggles, would be a bold face lie. But it has had it’s good points! So grab a snack and enjoy the read.
The suckiness factor kicked in right away...on January 5th, we received word that my brother-in-law’s grandmother passed away at the age of 94. Some may so “wasn’t your grandma”…true, she wasn’t but in a way she was. K&P (sister and brother-in-law) have been married for 16 years and I have known GG since then. She sold wedding invitations as a side business, so she insisted on taking care of ours when we got married. She and my Grandma were good friends and she was half of the “Yentas”. You see, it was GG and GE (my grandma) that introduced my sister and her husband.
Then the following week, Brianna got sick. At first we thought it was a bladder infection, but that came back clear and we were told it’s a virus and it just had to run its course. The next morning, I stayed home with her and the poor little girl had no voice. My girl, who has inherited my gift of gab, sounded so awful and had this awful barking cough. Broke my heart. As the night went on, she kept sounding worse and about 8:00 it seemed as if she was really struggling to breathe. So, we got dressed and off to the ER we went. Luckily, we got in quickly…and she has croup. Breating treatment + 2 year old = one FUN night (note sarcasm here). We ened up leaving the ER around midnight…neither Mommy or Daddy slept well that night because we were worried that she would have more problems. After a few days, she became her little silly self all over again…
More to come later…
It has been way too long. I was a faithful blogger before my daughter was born. Besides having a newborn, turned infant, then turned toddler, so much has gone on these past few years! I’m going to start with this year and work my way back in time. Just you wait and see!!
I really need to get better about updating my blog. I realize that my “fan” list is short, but there are times when I want to express my thoughts and feelings, but don’t know where to go. It may be an issue that I don’t want posted out on Facebook (which I am completely addicted to).
For my first entry back into society, I am posting something that was copied to me from a friends blog… www.erinweed.com Erin and I are high school classmates and she is the Director and founder of Fight Back Productions. Enjoy!
Do you have a flaky friend who is constantly re-scheduling a coffee date? Or a pal that seems to avoid making plans in the first place? Do you start finding yourself feeling bitter towards these people, or even talking smack about them to others because this hurts your feelings? In many of these instances, the outcome is not desirable. Maybe the smack-talkin’ gets back to the “disser” (person doing the dissing), or the “dissee” (person getting dissed) ends the relationship abruptly and (seemingly) for no good reason. Avoid writing off a friend that you truly care for, until you’ve tried setting a boundary first. The outcome may surprise you.
I’m finding the phenomenon of “flaky friends” is becoming more and more common, as our lives get busier, technology overwhelms us, work gets more demanding and we try to dissect this whacked concept of work/life balance. (Which by the way, I’m convinced is a total farce). Something’s gotta give. Especially for women, it can be hard to set clear boundaries about our expectations and desires in both personal and business relationships. I believe that many of us lack the basic skill of boundary setting, which leaves us feeling bitter and powerless. And it’s not surprising so many of us lack this skill, because for most people, we’ve never been taught to use clear communication! In many cases, we’ve been encouraged to do just the opposite.
Here are some tips on how to use verbal boundaries. Ideally these boundaries are set in person or over the phone, but they can be written as well. Just be VERY careful about the written boundaries, because without the tone or inflection of voice, words can be misinterpreted quite easily.
Example Conversation: Good friend keeps postponing that long overdue martini to catch up on life. Maybe you say…
“I know how busy you are. Frankly I don’t know how you have time to do it all! That said, every time we set a date and it gets cancelled at the last minute, it’s not a good use of everyone’s time. So I have an idea…let’s make a pact to be realistic with our time, and only schedule dates that we’re going to stick to, even if the house is burning down. Realistically, maybe that’s just once a year, but I’d rather our face time be less frequent if it means we both can really count on it. You are a person I truly want to spend time with, and life is too short to miss out on laughs with good friends! How does that sound to you? <THEY AGREE, IT SOUNDS GOOD> Oh, that works for you? Great! Well let’s look at our calendars and figure out a time to make this godforsaken martini happen already!” *laugh*
Try this with someone in your life – I’d love to hear your comments on how it went. Obviously there may be a million other reasons why someone might keep postponing on you, but this strategy usually works if the person is purely busy and disorganized. If they are actively trying to avoid you for some reason, that’s a whole other blog post. It also might be handled differently in a professional setting. That topic is coming soon. Running a company of 20 people (nearly all of them female) I think I have some good insights to share!
http://www.erinweed.com/2010/01/27/setting-boundaries-with-flaky-friends/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+erinweed+%28Erin+Weed%27s+Blog%29&utm_content=Yahoo!+Mail
Just some fun reading! If you fear Friday the 13th, then batten down the hatches. This week's unlucky day is the first of three this year. The next Friday the 13th comes in March, followed by Nov. 13. Such a triple whammy comes around only every 11 years, said Thomas Fernsler, a math specialist at the University of Delaware who has studied the number 13 for more than 20 years. By the numbers Here are 13 more facts about the infamous day, courtesy of Fernsler and some of our own research: 1. The British Navy built a ship named Friday the 13th. On its maiden voyage, the vessel left dock on a Friday the 13th, and was never heard from again. 2. The ill-fated Apollo 13 launched at 13:13 CST on Apr. 11, 1970. The sum of the date's digits (4-11-70) is 13 (as in 4+1+1+7+0 = 13). And the explosion that crippled the spacecraft occurred on April 13 (not a Friday). The crew did make it back to Earth safely, however. 3. Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall buildings skip the 13th floor. 4. Fear of Friday the 13th - one of the most popular myths in science - is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13. 5. Quarterback Dan Marino wore No. 13 throughout his career with the Miami Dolphins. Despite being a superb quarterback (some call him one of the best ever), he got to the Super Bowl just once, in 1985, and was trounced 38-16 by the San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana (who wore No. 16 and won all four Super Bowls he played in). 6. Butch Cassidy, notorious American train and bank robber, was born on Friday, April 13, 1866. 7. Fidel Castro was born on Friday, Aug. 13, 1926. 8. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13. 9. Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest. 10. Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12." 11. Woodrow Wilson considered 13 his lucky number, though his experience didn't support such faith. He arrived in Normandy, France on Friday, Dec. 13, 1918, for peace talks, only to return with a treaty he couldn't get Congress to sign. (The ship's crew wanted to dock the next day due to superstitions, Fernsler said.) He toured the United States to rally support for the treaty, and while traveling, suffered a near-fatal stroke. 12. The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number - 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen. 13. The seals on the back of a dollar bill include 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 stars above the eagle's head, 13 war arrows in the eagle's claw and 13 leaves on the olive branch. So far there's been no evidence tying these long-ago design decisions to the present economic situation. Origins of Friday the 13th Where's all this superstition come from? Nobody knows for sure. But it may date back to Biblical times (the 13th guest at the Last Supper betrayed Jesus). By the Middle Ages, both Friday and 13 were considered bearers of bad fortune. Meanwhile the belief that numbers are connected to life and physical things - called numerology - has a long history. "You can trace it all the way from the followers of Pythagoras, whose maxim to describe the universe was 'all is number,'" says Mario Livio, an astrophysicist and author of "The Equation That Couldn't Be Solved" (Simon & Schuster, 2005). Thinkers who studied under the famous Greek mathematician combined numbers in different ways to explain everything around them, Livio said. In modern times, numerology has become a type of para-science, much like the meaningless predictions of astrology, scientists say. "People are subconsciously drawn towards specific numbers because they know that they need the experiences, attributes or lessons, associated with them, that are contained within their potential," says professional numerologist Sonia Ducie. "Numerology can 'make sense' of an individual's life (health, career, relationships, situations and issues) by recognizing which number cycle they are in, and by giving them clarity." Mathematicians dismiss numerology as having no scientific merit, however. "I don't endorse this at all," Livio said, when asked to comment on the popularity of commercial numerology for a story prior to the date 06/06/06. Seemingly coincidental connections between numbers will always appear if you look hard enough, he said. |