I like to consider myself and my husband pretty 'genuine' and 'real'.  In essence if you ask us a question, we will tell you how it is, no holds barred.  My husband without a doubt is more tactful and diplomatic in his responses! Therefore, I feel there really is no middle ground with us, people either like us or they don't.  I do believe we have a few family members that occasionally visit and a few friends that come over.  We don't get many invites and we don't go many places but we are happy and we are real!

We are able to be ourselves, we are able to speak our minds.  We don't worry about what we wear, what our hair looks like, who has the newest boat, house, electronics, etc.  We live to live for what we want not what we should want because everyone else has or wants it.  

You ask, why am I going here? What sparked this topic of genuinity? My repulse, that's what! Like most others, I am a part of the community. I work, I am a mother, I am involved in my children's activities and I frequent the grocery store on occassion.  Unlike most others, I am extremely observant in reading other people's body language, listening with a third ear, reading between the lines and intuitively know when people lack empathy or regard for others and can tell how people feel from looking at them, some tell me it is a talent, at times, I feel it is a curse.  Anyway, there is too much lack of empathy, miserability and dishonesty, too much! I have seen and felt a lot of sadness and miserability lately.  

Do I have all the answers? No of course not. I do know that we are whole and happy people.  Our secret, be true to yourself, don't use credit cards, if you don't have it, you can't buy it.  If it works, you don't need a new one.  If you want something that is not a need, budget for it and you can have it in time, patience is a virtue.  God needs to be first priority in all you do! Family is a close second, have meals together daily and at least twice on weekends.  Love what you do and who you are with.  If you don't, don't do it or don't be with...  How do you know what your likes are? Find your passion.  Don't be a yes man to get to the top, get to the top by being yourself and showcasing your true talents. If your busy say no, if you don't want to do something, say no. Don't ever feel you have to do something that you don't want to do, don't ever feel like you have to give excuses, you don't, be real.  Do I help people, of course I do, it makes me happy to give of myself and to help people.  People don't need to ask, I just know when to reach out my hand.  I would suggest however that, you attend weddings and funerals and pay the IRS.

Now in my husbands words

So, that's where we're at right now, but is everything there where we've been since day 1?  Are we done getting our act together?  I think you can figure out the answer to that.  If it wasn't for my best friend, I wouldn't give as much thought to what is important.  I still don't give enough thought to some situations.  Not because I'm callous, but because it takes an effort to change and care about it.  Do we still have room for improvement?  Oh, yeah.  We eat too much at times, spend our money on wants instead of needs, but compared to where we were, I think we're doing better.  We have moved past the wrong thinking of children, where you compare yourself to others.  "Johnny has a nice new boat, I deserve one too!  The Jones' are going to Hawaii for vacation, we should be able to go too!  I'm bored with staying at home, lets go spend the weekend in Detroit and go out to eat and spend a couple of hundred at the casino." 



So we are obviously on a journey, not at our destination. And it's not right to compare ourselves with others, because we should only control what we can, which is ourselves. But it's frustrating to see people we know who live far outside their means and don't appear to give a care at all about their future.

Personally, a part of me would like to assume that I'll probably die of cancer or something depressing so I don't need to plan for or care about my or my family's future.  And that may happen, or North Korea may stupidly try to nuke us, but it's irresponsible to think and act that way.  We'll just try to do better, be smarter, and compare how we're doing with how we want to do, not with others.

Fuggedabout it!!

Christmas with the Cranks

Why do so many people dread Christmas?  Two words: Time & Money.  Most people feel like they are expected to spend a lot of each for months leading up to the actual holiday, and then when the holiday is over, people pay for it for a long time afterwards too.

Oh the joy last night eh Clayt? Carrying in the already assesmbled tree from the garage or shall I say dragging it in.  I was like, why is the top half of the tree dragging behind the other half? Come to find out it was broke.  Nick to the rescue, I happily used the needle nose and rigged it- good enough til next year.  Now if we can just get over the eminating gas smell from the tree being parked next to the gas cans.  I'm torn, not sure if I want gas scent from garage or mold scent from basement next year? A potpuri of thought until it's settled away in a few weeks after old St. Nick creeps through.....

Where in celebrating Jesus' birthday do we even get a tree from?  I'm sure if I checked on Wikipedia it would have a nice story about Germans decorating outdoor trees with candles and other baubles, but why not just save the tree (be it real or gasoline-scented artifical) and drill a hook into the ceiling to hang a star from?  If you want a tree, pile all those presents up into a pyramid that looks like an 8-bit tree?  I'm sure the kids would be happy to help with that, since they don't have the motivation to help get the decorations out and put them on the tree.

Being it December 5th with the tree finally standing with the top more secure and not the tilt it was last night- haha funny kids "It looks like a Dr. Seuss tree." Now the joy of the season is the question, Mom, are you going to make Christmas cookies this year? and by the way, I don't want to help with making or clean up, however I am available to eat them all and leave crumbs all over the house while I sneak down the stairs in the middle of the night and crumb up the house. Not sure kids, let me check my calendar, oh look there are a few nights where I actually am home before dark but I may need to get ingredients for work parties or Secret Santa gifts so that may not be a reasonable request if eat is all you want!

Speaking of all the sweets and food, between Halloween and New years day, it is literally impossible to not gain weight.  Thank goodness, because if I were the only one looking like Santa with a bowl full of jelly, I might be self-conscious.  But with everyone cheating and nibbling here and there, going out for special lunches, dinners, pot lucks, making cookies and candies, I am going to be so sick of food by January that it should be a piece of cake (yuck) to get on a diet and stick with it.  What am I saying?  Am I actually looking forward to a diet?  That's like looking forward to going to the dentist so that your teeth will be professionally cleaned.

We haven't even touched on buying gifts yet Clayt? Is that because were traumatized by the thought and blocking it? Heck we haven't even wrote a list or checked it twice yet but I do know who's naughty or nice! I have two favorite gifts I am cognizant of this year, the gift of money my older sister and I give out to those  in need each year and the adopt a family gifts to those in need, and we want to get some meaningful gifts to our kids, because after all, Christmas is for kids, but how do you make your money go far and make them happy?  Even the simplest things seem to cost a Grant ($50).  And you have to spend roughly the same amount on them or each will notice.  So if we want to get them a few things they need, a few things they want, and a few things for their stockings, you can't even touch this for less than $300 a child.  And that is per kid, so at 2 it's $600.  I'm just glad we don't have 4 or 5 kids.  They'd have to get used to getting a shared gift.  There would be no ipod for you, Wii for you, it would be "hey kids, we bought you a Wii to share!" 

So on that note, I think I will take my time to get to work tomorrow and my money to my nearest Starbucks to indulge in a Caramel brulee latte with my faux Christmas cheery A$% smile! and you Clayt?

Oh, I think I'll worry about what I have to bring my new co-workers to make a good impression, sign up for something for the pot luck at work, cover for everyone while they take the holidays off, and try to see if anyone mentions anything about the real reason for the holiday.  I doubt it, since people are so PC that they can't be sensitive to people who may have genuine feelings about the point of the day.

Fuggedaboutit!!

Living in a corner house sucks

Ahhh, finally at days end, I can  sit down and relax! Well, well guess what? The sounds of spinning wheels, oh snow, oh snow, how I've missed you so! Not only do I hear the sound of spinning wheels but look out the window and get the visual of a purple lowrider pick up truck.

I hope they enjoy it while it lasts, because when they try that crap when the snow is 2 feet deep another month from now and they're stuck at the corner and can't go, I'll be laughing my fool head off.  Stupid jerkwads.  Go do donuts in the church parking lot, not outside my bedroom window!

Not anticipating the city plowing us in this year again either.  You'd think that putting out orange cones and having a car at the end of the driveway would deter such behavior, but always they find a way. 

Not to mention people seem to actually WANT to come down our street and idle at the corner, texting or who-knows-what, just sitting there.

The other seasons don't fare much better when you live in a corner house.  The sounds of spring are usually welcomed with screeching around the corner, windows rolled down with crap bass rap music blasting louder than a airhorn, the roaring sound of motorcycles idyling before they blaze away, people walking their dogs while stopping at our corner to allow their dog to drop chimi bombs on our lawn, although I do have to say it is comical to watch my husband return the chimi bombs to their owners in the middle of the night!

Unfortunately, living in the city, the blocks are so small every block has 4 houses on it, and that means there's one on every corner, so if you want to live in the city, there's pretty much no getting away from it.

A pet peeve in addition to the cars is that the people walking cut across our lawn.  Really?  You can't walk all the way to the corner to change sidewalks?

I now understand why there was a 3 foot fence surrounding our home! I will never understand why kids felt the need, the urge, to constantly pluck at our fence panels until eventually the wood was being torn off and left on our lawn. I didn't fathom the repercussions were to invite these derelect irresponsible brats to further step foot on our domain.  Makes me wish I could put some fertilizer spray on my lawn so animals and people that stray onto it purpose get all itchy.

~ Fuggedaboutit