Krista's Rants & Raves

My Magic Wand

2008-08-24T14:32:00.002-05:00

I have come to discover that I have a magic wand! It's called Mascara! Now this isn't your ordinary Mascara. All of us women have and covet our mascara. It does work wonders on the eyes, and gives us a whole new look. However, my mascara has other powers!

I have realized that anytime I pull it out of my little make-up bag of tricks, and start to apply it to my eyes, Boom! My child comes running!

This is not just a morning trick either!

It doesn't matter what time of day, or where I am!

I can pull it out, give it a little twist and pull action, and raise it to my eyes, and Voi La, my son appears! It is the most amazing thing I have ever scene!

I can get dressed in the morning, do a touch-up after lunch, re-apply later if needed, and no matter what, when or where, POOF, there's my son!

I will forever keep my mascara bottle in my pocket. I have got to learn how to harness all this power!!!

Haunting Song from the Past

2008-07-06T16:19:00.003-05:00

Does this ever happen to you . . . . You’re driving down the road, radio on full blast, wind blowing in your hair, and you hear it. You know, that song. The one that at one point in your life was a really good song, until someone else attached some bad memory to it. Now, every time you hear it, you just switch off the radio. You don’t even bother turning stations, or skipping to another song, you just flip it off!

This annoyed me one day. I was driving down the road and heard that song. I had just had a most wonderful day with my husband, lots of fun in the sun, great food, lots of friends. It made me realize that I did still like that song, just not the memory attached to it. So, why can’t I change that!! Why do I have to give power to a bad memory and ruin a perfectly good song?

I changed it all at that very moment! Right then and there I attached a whole new set of memories to it, and Ta-Da, old song ~ new memories!!

Now when I hear it, I think of a very happy, very wonderful life! One in which my past is non-existent!!

So long sucker!

Vanity, Tanning Beds & Melanoma

2008-06-18T21:52:00.001-05:00

As some of you know, and in case you don’t, I’m one of those fair skinned blue-eyed blondes. However, if I can get out in the sun, I can get a nice tan going, and if I get in the tanning bed, well, all the better, not to mention quicker.

Two months ago, after a tanning session, I noticed a spot on my back, and it was small but kind of itchy. I’m prone to the occasional mole and freckle, but this little bugger was different. I kept an eye on it, as much as I could, considering the location on my back, and then started to notice that the very small area around it wasn’t tanning. It was just white and the center was kind of a tiny red splotch.

Apparently this was weighing on my mind more than I thought, because I had a bad dream about it. I am totally one for following my instincts, so I stopped tanning to see if it would go away. It didn’t, though the itching stopped.

So one Sunday, my husband and I were at Pro Cuts and somehow the stylist started talking about skin cancer (coincidence, I don’t think so!), and I casually mentioned my little spot. She asked to see it and I showed it to her, and then she made this wrinkly face and said “You better get that checked out.” Okay, so now I’m freaking. Already in the back of my mind all the possibilities of what it could be, I decided to call the doctor on Monday and he got me in on Tuesday.

The doctor said he didn’t think it was anything, but didn’t want to take any chances so he cut out the little bugger and sent it to the labs. Now I have to admit, I am a total weenie when it comes to things like that. I get all nervous and totally jitzy, and by the time he’s through with the procedure, it’s like I’m drunk or something. Come to find out, later, the injections he gives to numb the area are full of epinephrine! No wonder I’m completely wired!

A week later, to the day, my phone rings and it’s my doctor. Never a good sign when they take the time to make the call themselves. He tells me he is sorry, but it is a malignant melanoma, BUT it’s the non-spreading kind. WHAT, all I heard was malignant melanoma!! Malignant melanoma!! I’m on the verge of panic, tears forming in my eyes, my voice is cracking, but I hold it together while he explains that all he needs to do is go back in and take out a larger area, and then it should be fine. He puts on his secretary and schedules me for the two days later.

Well, my husband takes me because I had to take 3, yes I said 3, valium just to keep myself calm. I’m half asleep on the way there, and then he gives me that damn numbing epinephrine concoction. So much for my valium!!

As of now, I’ve got a much larger incision, which is starting to heal, ugly, but healing, and now, again, I’m just waiting on the labs to come back, which should be any day.

So, keep me in your thoughts ~ and wear SUNSCREEN and stay out of the tanning beds. Why does Vanity reign over our lives these days!?!

My Neighbor & The Raccoons!

2008-06-18T21:11:00.001-05:00

I have this neighbor. She is an elderly woman, whom no one ever seems to visit. I rarely see her out, but am happy to give the friendly neighborly wave when I do. She was having trouble one day with getting her garbage cans in, so my son and I crossed the street to lend her a helping hand. It was my first real encounter with her, and what an encounter it was. She told me how much she had wanted to meet me because she knew that we were “kindred spirits”. Uh-oh, what have I gotten myself into. We were invited in to the house, and it was just hard to say no, though I have to admit my instincts said get out while you can. The conversation took many strange turns.

The first of which was about my “dad”, who she thought had dropped off my son. However, I embarrassingly informed her that it was actually my son’s dad. She was very quick to tell me her thoughts on how old and bad my son’s father looked. She was apparently across the street taking some notes, as she advised me to tell him that he was looking old and really needed to take care of himself. It’s not that I didn’t agree, but really thought it best that I kept that information between my neighbor and myself. So I and my kindred spirit were off to a great start. We got a tour of her house, which included many paintings that she had done of a cat that had long since passed away. And we got to see the room and bed that she had especially for her cat that is her current roommate. Anyway, after an hour I decided that it was time to head back to my world across the street. This is when she showed me how she prepared the food for the raccoons in the neighborhood. Yes, you heard me. She actually prepares them a meal every night, and puts it out for them. Her theory is that we invaded their territory when the neighborhood went up, so this was the least she could do. Now this is truly a kind thought on her part, however, I am not sure that she realizes what she is doing. The woods are infested with these little masked creatures, who thanks to her, have become increasingly brave over the years, not too mention the fact that their population is ever increasingly growing. Now in case you don’t know, raccoons are not well known for coming out in the daylight, however, this is not the case in my neighborhood. I had witnessed one of the older, and larger, ‘coons going into my other neighbor’s garage where it proceeded to open their refrigerator door and start pulling out food. About this time the racket had gotten the attention of my neighbor and came out into the garage. Ok, this is when the ‘coon is supposed to run out, right? Wrong! It just went on about its business, eating her food! She eventually shoed him out, as I sat safely across the street finding this mildly amusing. I should have known better than to laugh. Over the past few weeks one of the medium sized ‘a coon has been visiting our front yard and porch area in the afternoons. I’m not sure what he is looking for or what he thinks he will find, but at the time I thought it was cute. My son and I would perch ourselves at the kitchen window and watch the little masked creature. That is until he started taking out the coins that my son so fervently throws into the wishing “birdbath”. This did not make my little one too happy, so I ran to the door, made a lot of noise, and he ran off ~ with the coin that is. Now, today, I find that same little masked thief in my garage, ripping into my garbage, which I sat RIGHT next to the door. I hear something, open the door, and he just stands there, as if I invaded his territory. I went in, back out, back in and back out before the little devil took off!! What nerve! And 30 minutes later, I walked out the front door and he’s sitting across the street under a tree. I could just see his little mind scheming and plotting!! What to do, what to do!

My Life, My Love, My Advice?!

2008-06-03T12:50:00.001-05:00

I found myself giving out advice today to a friend. It got me to thinking. I’ve been in her shoes, and now, well, I’m not. So while I think that my advice is sound, I can also remember what it was like to hear it from other people. Blah, blah, blah. It sounds good, and it is good, but while you are in that particular moment of your life, it just sucks to hear it.

She is a single mother, looking for that one particular someone that will sweep her off her feet. All of us tell her, be happy with yourself and your life as it is, first; and then, all else will fall into place. But that is a lonely world. It’s just so much easier said than done.

Then we tell her when she does meet someone, to look past those outer imperfections. So what if he is not “all that”. Look deeper, we say. He could be the man of your dreams, if you would only give him a chance. And if he isn’t “The One”, well then we say maybe he’ll be the one to introduce you “The One”.

But I feel guilty saying that. I’ve heard it, and really didn’t listen to it either.

Then it made me realize that I fell in love with a man of my dreams, the one that swept me off my feet, 21 years ago, actually, 22.

It just wasn’t our time all those years ago. I can look back now and see that I had a lot of growing to do, and I guess the same holds for him. There were experiences to be had, without each other. There were lessons in life that needed to be taught to us, maybe so that we wouldn’t hurt each other along the way. Maybe it was so we could have a better life after we finally did get together.

Here was my thought: All the years ago, when I met him, I had no idea, and really not until this moment, that I would spend all that time trying to find someone that could measure up to him. Of course in hindsight, I can see that I was basically setting every man in my life up for failure. I spent the next 21 years trying to find in other men what it was that he had.

I am lucky. The man of my dreams has it “all”. He’s handsome, thoughtful, fun & outgoing, laid back, and a more wonderful husband and father, than I would ever had imagined.

So while I’m telling my friend to give those not so perfect looking guys a chance, maybe I shouldn’t be doing that at all.

Maybe I should be telling her to Hold Out! Wait until you find that man that makes your heart flutter every time you see him. The man that can make you feel like nothing else matters. Not your past or all those miserable years you spent waiting for “the one”.

It can be a long painful wait, but who am I to tell her different.

It was most definitely worth everything I went through to get with my Prince Charming!