Scattered Musings (in no particular order)

So far today, I've seen the following interesting or startling things:

• A man washing his dog in a car wash
• A woman so keenly interested in the Titanic disaster, she has devoted an entire room in her house to it
• Several melted "Twix" candies
• The (brand-new!) radiator in my car wobbling like a Weeble-Wobble
• A $37.95 shirt on sale for $8.00
• Four generations of women from the same family

Here are my thoughts on these items (in no particular order)...

Man's Best (and smelliest) Friend:

So there we were, my Chica and Me, driving down the road on our way home from the Titanic Lady's house (I told you it was no particular order!) when she spotted this guy in the local Spray-N-Suds with his dog. I didn't see it at first because I'm a careful driver and I was watching where I was going. But she started laughing so hard, and managed to say what sounded to me like "dog...car...wash!", so I made an immediate U-Turn in the middle of the road to see what she was looking at. This, apparently, is an unsafe manuver and I was instantly in trouble. In my defense, however, I did glance in at least one mirror before I did it, (I think) so it was perfectly safe. And besides...

...but I digress...

So there's this guy, and he had the dog's leash in one hand, and the spray wand in the other just hosing the dog off. And the dog was LOVING it!

My Thoughts: It was quite amusing. Seven out of ten.

I'm Flying Jack!:

Leo and Kate were only on the edges of this one, folks. This lady has a big-time fancy going on here. We were there for the Grand Opening of her Titanic Room. She had reproductions of a newspaper from shortly after the wreck, announcing the disaster and all the crazy stuff about "Men of Means" that were killed. She had a model of the ship, and a reproduction tea cup and saucer from the cruise line that owned the Titanic. And yes, she played the movie, but it was really only to add to the atmosphere and no one payed much attention.

My Thoughts: This nice lady was REALLY into her Titanic! But as odd as it may sound on the surface, it was something she and her husband had spent years together working on. It brought them closer and gave them something to share. Ten out of ten!

Is it hot in here, or is it just me?:

Good golly miss Molly! Here it is, the day after Halloween, and I'm just trying to enjoy one of the many left over bite-sized Twix candies I just happen to have in my possesion, when the Sun decides it would be better if it DRIPPED out of the shiny foil wrapper instead of remaining in one yumy, chocolaty good piece long enough to get crammed into my mouth!

My Thoughts: As it turns out, it gets HOT in Arizona! Who knew? Two out of ten!

Filth! Flarn! Filth AND flarn!:

I (allegedly) bought a 1998 Oldsmobile Achieva on 27 September. I've had possession of it for barely two weeks of the 35 days since then! Things keep breaking...it keeps...I can't...AAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!

I will address this issue in its own (future) post. I'm too emotional right now! Chica is the only thing keeping me sane!

My Thoughts: A bit like Showtime's "Dexter", I'm afraid. Negative twelve out of ten!

Taking the Bear (market) by the horns:

Mervyns Department Stores, like so many other businesses right now, is going out of business. The up side to this is that I get to buy a $37.95 shirt for eight bucks! The down side is, it's just another symptom of our struggling economy.

My Thoughts: Three more days folks! Let's try to hold on for three more days! Then we can begin complaining about how the new President-Elect has completely failed to magically solve all of our financial problems, end (or not! Your choice!) the War, buy us all houses, make nice with Europe, get tough with China, or wash our dogs for us in a car wash! That's what we do, right? Blame our elected leaders for everything and refuse to take responsibility?? Oh, it's not? My bad. Three out of ten. Or seven. Depends how you look at it.

The Well-Tended Family Tree:

Four generations of women in one house at the same time! The Titanic lady's Grand Opening was attended by her mother, daughter, and grand-neice (her sister's kid)! That is phenominal!

My Thoughts: Family is so very important! Sometimes we forget that it's our family who makes us, molds us, supports us, loves us, grieves with us, and sometimes saves us from the pitfalls of the world. I saw a very close-knit family today who didn't even know they were inspiring me! I love them for that! Several million out of ten!

Scattered Conclusions:

Sometimes we face challenges we can quantify (A dirty dog, a 1998 Oldsomobile Achieva, you know how it is!) and sometimes ones we can hardly fathom (Jack floating away in "Titanic", political and financial anxiety in a shakey economy, melted candy: like that.) but it's our family that helps us get through it all.

Wife, husband, parent, sibling, child, cousin, God-child, God-parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent, step parent, step child, priest, coworker, old friend, pet, social worker, foster family. Everyone.

It's all about family people. Love them. Be good to them. Share your candy with them! And remember that you are never alone, never forgotten, and never unloved.

After all, if you're reading this, you're part of MY family! And in my family, that's how we roll!

Until next time...



-Sage Words