Why do I hate the Pittsburgh Steelers?

I have a absolute hatred of the Pittsburgh Steelers...always have. Why? I don't know. I mean, I hate the Packers but you have to if you are a Bears fan...that is natural. But the steelers? I mean I hate the cowboys but again that is natural if you don't live in Dallas. (I think it was all those years of "america's team". Really? So if you are a fan of any other team you aren't an american. Bullshit Baby!!) I hate the celtics but that is because I lived in LA for many years and was a Laker fan (natch....natural!). I don't really hate any baseball teams but that could be as I don't really enjoy baseball.

It is a puzzle to me. I don't hate the city of Pittsburgh and have a dear friend who hails from there. Also I've heard it has really begun to turn around and is quite the nice place to stay. Don't hate the pirates. In fact the pittsburgh pirates brings a smile to my face as I immediately think of Chuck Tanner and "we are family"(SHUT UP ALL OF YOU WHO ARE TOO YOUNG AND THAT MEANS NOTHING TO YOU!! - YES I KNOW I AM YELLING...I HAD TO SUFFER THROUGH A BITE OF LAMB/TURKEY MEATLOAF - THAT IS ENOUGH TO MAKE A SOFT WOMAN HARD!)

Ahem. Still no clue, but I bet I'm in good company with many people who hate teams but have no logical reason for it. Must have been fondled by a steelworker or been locked in a room with black and yellow as a child.

Neglect

So I've neglected you my little blog. I want to push out the normal excuses over how busy I've been, blah blah blah...but I think it is just lazyness.

Its been an odd week. You would think some of the folks I know who are those mean bitter "i just want mine and am afraid you might get something I didnt" would at least be happy but noooooo they just keep bitterness alive. Sort of like the chant "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" it appears they run in packs yelling "KEEP BITTERNESS ALIVE!!". They applaud the folks that say they hope this current administration fails and that it is their #1 job to make sure the President is a one termer (Really - not the economy? healthcare? security?)...apparently that is the apex of patriotism....To want to see your government fail. But that is not the worst of it...it saddens me how they begrudge people who are getting basic service assistance from the government simply to maintain life. Yep, that unemployment insurance sure can help you live life high on the hog!! I think I'll quit my fairly well paying job to make 293 a week! I mean I can then get food stamps!! 132 a month!! Oh yea, that whole welfare mother thing!! I can get an additional 132 a month for each kid!! Don't even count in the other assistance I can get for children. YEEHAWWW I'd be really living than man! ARE YOU PEOPLE SERIOUS??? Oh yea, let me remind you of these "I am a self made man" types of folks who begrudge the downtrodden....yea you had nooooo advantages in life. Most of these people grew up in nice fluffy suburbs, with good school systems. Got a great education because of who they were born to. I'm not saying people had sunshiney lives, but my god.....grow a little compassion, understanding and stop labeling an entire group of people because Fox news told you something about a handful. Actually why don't you stop watching Fox news altogether? Or listening to GBeck? Or Rush? Or Laura? Or Ann? Why don't you use that nice education that living in a nice place got ya and investigate? Read? Confirm? (Hey my liberal compatriots...that goes for you too, no one is getting off the hook here). Head out of your ass time people. Lets look at facts YOU found....not ideas someone told you about.

Oh, well.. I know youse won't do it...its hard work to figure out what you believe. Much easier to let someone else tell you what you believe. Worked a bit for Hitler's, Stalin, Sadaam Hussein and Pol Pot's followers ! Great job America!!

Sigh

As the mother of a college graduate who is returning to the fold and a college sophmore about to head to her first apartment I have forgotten the excitement/anxiety/anticipation (all those vowel words) about the first day of school. The blueness that those sweet summer days are over, the after dinner runs to Sonic for a treat are a pleasant memory and staying up late watching the fireflies are now in the ago. Forgotten is the feeling of a new start, a renewed energy and the joy of a fresh box of crayons. It is amazing how those memories come crashing back with the simplest provocation......the shrieking of the neighborhood children as they crowd into carpool vans, walking up the streets in their new backpacks childhood gossips on their lips, freshly licensed teens driving too fast up the street, music blaring, devil may care in their heart. Again, one more reminder of why living in this neighborhood is sweetness itself.

The horse you rode in on

When I was growing up in NewSuburbia Illinois I hated it. Or shall I say I hated the idea of it. A subdivision in between two cornfields, no major shopping, at the beginning not even mail delivery. Driving to the neighboring city to the train station, driving miles to the nearest department store, no city vibe, not the experience my heart desired....at the time...... I always yearned for more while playing kick the can, ghosts in the graveyard on endless summer nights and cool fall evenings trying to cheat a little bit of time before the snow covered the ground. Riding bikes on makeshift ramps at construction sites of the new jr high, church and pool....walking to the liquor store with a note from my parents and actually being sold liquor...opening the door of the local ginjoint only to hear yourself be greeted by your parents friends (and promptly walking your underage self out of the place). Suffering hour after hour of plebeian thoughts, midwestern mindsets, puritanical values and big hair........

I fled to the west, disdained my upbringing and started on a new path.....to discover.....what a lovely journey it actually had been to get there. How amazing it was to have the freedom to ride those bikes through construction sites, be known enough so the the liquor store owner would sell you the hootch and knowing if it really wasn't for your folks you would be found out, how crazy it was to be 10 years old and running through the dark neighborhood at 10 at night with your gang, no cell phone, no beeper, no worries....How the plebeian thoughts and midwestern mindsets combined with puritanical values made you safe, cherished, loved...created an atmosphere in which you had a whole town that was your safety net, your cheerleader, your biggest fan....(The big hair, not so much). How wonderful to meet with the people from your past.....how lucky to be given the opportunity to hold one hand out to your future and firmly grasp with the other hand your past...a past full of love, comfort and support.

Reunion

So we were all in flagstaff at a family reunion. A couple of heavenly days with children running amok, delicious food, hiking, grand canyoning, drinking grand canyon brewing company beer (well really just me, nice to be with mormons....meant an endless supply of beer in the little lobby store!) and basketball pick up games. Whenever I attend these events it makes me a little sad as I wish I had been able (made impossible due mainly to geographic location) to know more about my adult nieces and nephews. Luckily there seems to be a bond that has maintained and a closeness that comes from watching a human go from tot to adult. This family is generous of spirit and has a warmth and honesty that comes from having a matriarch who was smart, funny, determined, practical with a well defined idea of "what is the right way". "I'm not sure that is right" and "I'm not saying that my way is the only way, I just think it is the right way".

On top of all of this, I got to spend a few days with my adults, who even tho they truly are adults are still my babies. Seeing them interact with each other and then their cousins...well its worth the price admission (seeing burke and his cousin's husband clint endlessly challenged to basketball games by 10 year olds, hilarious, sweet and a tale to be told through the years!). The icing on the cake was a poolside visit with one of my original babies, cam, her husband and her baby, plus her parents. There is a wonderful moment in life when the people you knew as babies turn into amazing adults and you start to relate to them on a peer level. You still keep the unconditional I'm the auntie love for them but you also realize you want to hang with them on an adult level.

Sigh.....heavenly!

The tweety blanket

The tweety blanket is my blankie. Tweety blanket is about 10 years old. We bought it as the young girl had to have it when we were in tijuana. We had been on a hunt for the ugliest souvenir. This is a contest we have with our good friends. We almost bought a very large cross however the amount of money it would cost to bring it home on the plane nixed that idea. (Very temping as it was lifesize and was on rollers!) Then we almost bought a wooden bar that had tiny teeny little bottles of alcohol and a thatched roof. But then.....lurking in the ceramic shop we found it.....a winnie the pooh and piglet cookie jar. The wonderful ugly horrible thing about this cookie jar is that not only were the colors off (too pastel) but that piglet looked decidedly....um.......gay or a gay stereotype. We had to snap it up. You can't pass stuff like that up. We returned from mexico with gay cookie jar, "gold", a leather san francisco 49ers hat (its stylin), tweety blanket and two fairly traumatized children. A good time indeed!!

Thank you men of Chicago!!

(I wish I had pictures to post but that would have been a bit creepy....)

I'd like to thank all of you men in chicago for making my walk in from the train a glorious one. Not only is the weather fantastic but all of you were as well.....beginning with the guy, with the very well formed worked out butt walking in front of me as I left the train station. Oh thank you kind sir for all the squats you have no doubt done to give me that vision of loveliness....then all the other well shaped men...the older man in the orangey shirt with the khaki pants, very cool sunglasses....the man who looked like he threw 50 pound weights by the look of his arms bulging through his business shirt and the fine italian leather shoes....Much older guy collecting for the veterans on Michigan avenue, clean, crisp, dishy!!! Oh my!!! There are so many others and gentlemen whose eyes I caught...thank you for smiling back. I swear to god it wasthisclose to making out one of you as we passed. Ahhhhh................it IS going to be a great weekend!!!