Random Ramblings and Wrap Ups

It's another gray and gloomy day here in NJ and I find my thoughts are scattered.  If it were a sunny day (like yesterday; I LOVED yesterday) maybe I'd be more focused.  Maybe not.  Maybe I'm just making this all up as I go long.  (The latter is probably the closest to the truth.)  While it's gray and dreary, at least it's not too cold.  I know its winter and all, but the only thing that makes a gray day more depressing is old, gray snow.

Since I have no real coherent thoughts today, thought I'd just let myself throw out my randomness and see if anything sticks.

• I had hope for this year; I still do. (My mantra:  NEVER give up hope.  Repeat:  NEVER give up hope.)  However, January (thus far) hasn't brought much positivity to our world.  As always, I am NOT talking politics.  Although I will say I am not real keen on the U.S. Government right now.  Notice, I'm not saying the office of the President...I'm not dismissing his responsibility and negativity, but the WHOLE legislature really disappoints me.  The jobs of our president and congress are supposed to be TEMPORARY and they are ALL supposed to work FOR us.  Doesn't look like that from where I stand.

• I said previously that January and the after holiday time was the most difficult time of the year.  I did find ONE friend who loves this time of year.  I knew there had to be someone out there!  Her thoughts of these days of (usual) cold and gloominess are to take advantage of them.  To us the time to do indoor stuff that you just don't want to do when it's sunny and warm outside. Taking her advice, I've been cooking more over the weekends and enjoying mini-Big Bang Theory marathons with my son.  (Which should be a blog post unto itself when I finally can get some coherent thoughts together.)  Wrapping up the weekend with laughter also makes it easier to face the impending week to come.

• Still haven't gotten to do a Make Up Make Over, but I have tried a few new things (thanks for those suggestions).  Believe it or not, I am pulling away (somewhat) from "frosty" shades and going for matte.  Even more shocking I'm finding that I'm liking cream shadows over powder.  (This was never the case.)  I've tossed some lipsticks that were never really flattering in the first place.  (So why the heck did I buy them????)  I will never have ruby red lips.  May be flattering on some, but NOT on me.  Especially as while I have nice teeth they are discolored and no amount of whitening tooth paste is going to change that.  (And there's no way I'm going with bleaching.)  I like my smile even if it isn't all pearly white.  I'm still resisting the call of Crepe Erase for the neck, especially after reading many negative reviews on line.  (Can I not trust Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman anymore?)

• The alarm clock and getting the kid out of bed:  it's been nearly two weeks and it's still going well.  I don't see how anyone can stay in bed for more than a couple with an annoying bleep, bleep of the alarm clock going off, but my son does.  However, he DOES get out of bed before it stops going off by itself (after 30 minutes).  Except for today when he clearly said he was tired and it was the ONE day this week that we didn't have to rush out of the house.  Even then he was dressed and downstairs earlier than he USED to be.  And he was ready to make his own breakfast.  My son seems to have reached a new maturity and I'm standing back and letting him go for it. Maybe we've both learned something!

• Charlie is still not charming.  Still haven't seen a return shipping label or heard anything from the management team.  Not that I expected to.  I have, however, continued to get sales emails and a survey request.  I actually did the survey in the hopes that I might be asked to give feedback and maybe some if might be read.  No such luck, although I was asked about what I thought was important in a rewards/points card (customer service was not one of the options) and what I thought their new slogan/catch phrase should be.  (Multiple choice, so my idea of "We're charming but not customer friendly" would never make the cut.)  I'll be switching over to my "Valentine's Red" purse this weekend with a heavy heart.

• You don't have to use the bathroom on the 3rd floor.  I work on the third/top floor of an office building.  I sit in a cubicle all day working.  Like many Americans, I'm pretty sedentary during the day.  But I was inspired by a co-worker to get a little more exercise into my day.  The ladies room is down the hall, but I don't have to use it.  When I can, I go down the hall and take the front stairs down a flight.  I go down the hall and take the back stairs down to the first floor.  Then I go down the hall and use the ladies room there. Reverse on the way back to the office.  Is it going to make that much of a difference to my health?  Probably not, but it will get me up and moving a little bit more than usual and that's a good thing.  It also breaks me away from looking at a computer screen non-stop.

• That being said, I have a window at my office.  Actually multiple windows as the building is all glass.  It's one of the best things about my job.  I look out over marshland.  I never knew marshland could be so interesting.  Watching the tides go in and out can is fascinating, and relaxing.  On a clear day I can see the city and the traffic on the turnpike. "Counting the cars on the NJ turnpike" never has new meaning.  On a not so clear day I can watch the clouds.  (Never realized how many "layers" there were.)  Birds soar and veer.  I am so grateful that I have this view.  We all need to be able to look out our windows more and take in a fresh perspective.

• I wish I could turn the world on with my smile. (Now try to get that song out of your head.  I hope you can't.)  Mary Tyler Moore sure could.  I'd like to think that I can turn those in my world on with my smile.  I can say that I can be turned on with a smile from anyone in my world.  What did we learn from Mary Tyler Moore? Not to get a big toe stuck in the tub faucet (The Dick Van Dyke Show)?  That it was okay to laugh at a funeral until you had to cry?  As a "housewife" she was an equal and as a "working girl" she showed us that family didn't always have to be related.  I absolutely HATED her in Ordinary People which proves what a good actress she was.  How could anyone hate that woman?  

• Keeping with a theme, I recently finished her one time "husband's" (Dick Van Dyke) book, Keep Moving.  An easy read with some sage advice from the sexiest nonagenarian I can think of.  (I'd like to say I know but that would be lying.)  If Mary Tyler Moore could turn the world on with her smile; Dick Van Dyke keeps the world in a warm and fuzzy place with his impromptu singing and dancing.    Feeling down?  Google Dick Van Dyke Dance or Dick Van Dyke Sing to turn that frown upside down.

I think that's enough rambling for now.  It may still be gray outside, but the geese are flying south over the marsh and I think the sun will peak out before the day is through.  So remember, maybe you can't always be good, but you can always be kind.  Turn those in your world on with your smile.  As I wrote to a friend today:  love, understanding and compassionate is something this entire world needs more of. Pain your part of the world with it.