11 Rules for Life

It's so true.

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things they did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world.

Rule 1 : Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.

Rule 6 : If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8 : Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9 : Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11 : Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

When You Gotta Go

I love to travel, and do so whenever I can afford it. Several years ago, we traveled to London. This was my first trek out of the continental US, and I was surprised by a lot of things, one being bathrooms.

The bathroom in our hotel (a country inn) was very primitive-looking, with the toilet sitting on a dark wooden box that obviously held the pipes and ran across the entire wall. The toilet in the airport had the tank up high on the wall over the toilet, like we see in Victorian pictures.

Our most eventful bathroom story was when we had a long day of shopping and tried to go to the bathroom in Harrod's. This fine, upscale store, with multiple floors and lavish everything, also had an attendant outside the bathroom and a machine in which to deposit your pound sterling. At that time, a pound was about a dollar and a half, and for the three of us in the group to go would have cost us four fifty. To go to the bathroom!

Two of us begged off from being "scalped" by the bathroom mafia, but one of our group could not wait and paid the pound. After depositing the coin, the attendant smiled and held the door. Inside, he said, was a lavish bathroom with soft hand towels and another attendant standing by to keep the sinks and floors sparkling. Hey, for a dollar and a half, they should have even wiped your butt.

We take many things for granted in America. One is a certain amount of privacy. In other countries, this seems to be a bit more relaxed. Take for example, the VERY public urinals of Amsterdam. Men don't seem bothered by this, and don't ask me what they have for women. I have no idea.


In Japan and Taiwan, they have a very unique style of toilets that look like this:


And this:


It's called a "squat toilet" and I also found instructions on how to use it here.

We Americans take many things for granted, and at age 51, I admit I may have some bathroom hang-ups. I won't go in a bathroom that has no doors on the stalls. I won't go in a toilet that is nasty, no matter how bad I need to.

On the other hand, I have used an outhouse, as my uncle and aunt used to have one. They had a mountain cabin and I guess there were no sewage systems back then on the mountain. All I remember was it was dark, stinky, and had flies. Afterwards, my dad told me I was lucky not to have seen snakes, as they tend to love outhouses. He then recounted how his family used to love to get the Sears & Roebuck catalog because they would use it for toilet paper after everyone was done looking. They also used dried corncobs. Can you imagine? If it's not Angel Soft, I don't want it near my hiney.

So after posting about my granddaughter every post for a month, I thought you all might like to read something a little different, and I guess this qualifies. C'mon, share your favorite bathroom story!

Sitting on My Butt

I seem to be going through a very lazy period right now. I get up, shower, dress, and sit on the computer, read, or watch TV all day. I did all the laundry last Sunday. We ate out tonight for dinner. My granddaughter has gone back home. I have a lot of things I could be doing.
I'm trying to read all the Harry Potter books before the 21st. ha. I am halfway through number one. The seventh comes from Amazon then. Oh well, even if I don't read them all before the new one comes, I'll still have it to look forward to.
I keep thinking I need to update this blog but nothing really exciting is happening right now. I like to have periods like that though. My friend said it's because we've gone through all the things with the new baby being in the hospital, and now that it's over, I'm trying to recharge. Maybe. I do tend to isolate to recharge.
I wanted to start a walking program going to the mall every day. But my feet still hurt and I guess it may take awhile for them to get better even with the orthotic thingies. I don't want to push my luck. I need to lose some weight. I think menopause should be menopounds because they sure seem to be adding up lately.
My husband is on the phone with his dad. His dad walked out on him and his mom when he was sixteen. As my husband puts it, "When I have to, I take him off the shelf, deal with him, and then put him away." He didn't want to talk to him tonight but his dad keeps calling and calling, so he had to call him back to stop it. His dad and step-mom are fighting again, and they call my husband so he can listen to their arguments. Lucky him.
I think the last half of this year will surely go smoother than the first half has, although I know we've been blessed in many ways, it just seems like there's been a lot of bad luck, too.
Well, I'm feeling boring again so I'll stop.

Hey, Where are the Chair Legs? Where are MY legs?

I'm always up for trying new things, and one thing my son, David, loves is a Japanese restaurant near his house. It has all types of tempura, teriyaki dishes, miso soup, sushi, and rice bowls. My daughter is here visiting with the baby, so we thought it would give she and her brother a good chance to catch up with each other if we met him for lunch. They have booths that are surrounded by privacy walls on three sides, so we thought that would be perfect, since we have the baby.

When we arrived, they said "No booths available. We have table?" I looked at my daughter, since she has all the baby equipment to balance, and she said fine. We were lead to the back room, told to take off our shoes and shown to a table in the corner. A table for four, with four seats on the floor, and a table without legs. I'm fat, my daughter is not too flexible giving she just had a baby, my son is 6 ft 5 inches barefoot. We just couldn't see how we would make that work. It was hilarious watching each other trying to get around that table. I swore if I ever got down there, I'd never get back up again. We laughed so hard. My son couldn't resist taking a picture, and even though its a terrible picture of me, I still think it was one of the funniest experiences we've had in a long time.

I Have Granny Shoes!

Not only am I a Granny, but now I have Granny shoes. I saw the podiatrist and he said I have plantars fascitis, need to keep my feet up, use ice, and wear these supports in my shoes that he gave me. He also said no sandals, going barefoot, or wearing house shoes. So I tried to fit them in my sneakers, but ended up having to put them in some black lace ups I had when I used to work. And so here I sit, with black Granny shoes. I have gray hair, Granny shoes, wire rim glasses, and love to sit in the rocking chair with the baby. I guess I've officially graduated from Granny school.

My friend who is getting the divorce got another lawyer. Her church took up a fund for her to pay an attorney who is suppose to be a real aggressive type, so hopefully she will have her life resolved soon. She's depressed, but doesn't want to hear that. I told her she needed to see her doctor about meds, and she sure didn't want to hear THAT. But she told me "she's so tired" and that sometimes she just wishes she would die so all this would end. If that's not depressed, what is. I'm concerned for her.

It's been fun this weekend watching my daughter with the baby. She's really such a good mom already. I got up last night with the baby so she could have some time off. She got up at 4 and said she was missing the baby. ;-) I look at her giving the baby a bath and remember when I gave her the first bath and it seems like such a short time ago, but it was almost thirty years. I told her to enjoy this time because it's over with before you know it.

I bought all the Harry Potter books, and when my son was hospitalized a few years ago, I read the first one and part of the second. I've gone back now and began at the beginning, so I'll be one of the few people in America who will begin and read them all straight through the series, because I figured I'll be ready for number seven when it comes out on the 21st.
That's about it for now.

Weekend Plans

I spent the day doing some shopping at the fabric store, doing some secret shops, and making some baby blankets. My daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter will be here tomorrow for the weekend, and we are excited to see the baby. I think my next sewing project will be to attempt some more jeans.
My friend that is going through the divorce last heard that the judge had canceled their court date because she felt "they were so close to settling everything and should go into mediation." That was the last thing her lawyer told her. That was over six weeks ago, and since about that time, her husband has been giving her $100 a week child support for eight children. Yes, eight. When she asks, pleads, begs to him about it, he simply says he has bills of his own to pay and she will just have to manage.
She made over twenty calls to her attorney, was told first he was out of town, then that he would return her call, and eventually, she just started being sent to his voice mail. She was at a loss. I am no expert on legal matters, but I do know she has a woman judge who went through a divorce herself. I told her maybe she could go up to the courthouse and plead her case with the clerks in the circuit court's office and see if anything could be done. They told her to draft a letter and they would present it to the judge. I helped her write it. We basically said everything I just said above, plus the fact that he had enough money to move his new girlfriend into the house he still jointly owns with his WIFE, bought his girlfriend a car, and my friend can't manage on 400 a month for eight children.
She got a letter back from the judge's office. It was a copy of an order that her attorney set up mediation immediately, and that the next court date was set for the first week of August. Attached was a note from the clerk saying they had contacted her attorney and he said he was no longer her attorney. This was the first she had heard of that. Her lawyer agreed to take the case for a set amount of money rather than hourly, and he decided he wasn't making enough on it, so he dropped her with no notification. She has called numerous attorneys and has been told they either "don't handle contested cases" or that they need a big retainer, which she does not have. So she has cried for two days, and I have no idea what to advise her, except to show up on the court date in August and explain her situation. She is so intimidated by the whole thing. It's such a shame that it is this way.
I have a doctor's appt at 2:45 with the podiatrist. I've never been to a podiatrist, but I think I have something wrong with my heel because it hurt all the time I was walking at the hospital. When I sit it feels fine. If I just walk around the house, it's ok. But when I get out and walk at a store, etc. it swells and throbs. I don't even know what a podiatrist does when you go, but I guess I'll find out.

Baby is Home and So Are We

Our grandbaby is home from the hospital, and my daughter says she is doing well adjusting to being home. She is still on oxygen, but not a lot, and the doctors think she won't have to have it long. She's taking a lot more at a feeding, and they see the doctor tomorrow to see how her weight is doing. I haven't seen her in two days and it seems like two months.
My husband and I were cooking breakfast and started thinking about how we could see her. He reminded me of a wooden TV tray my daughter wanted to borrow to use beside her rocking chair. He said, "Do you think we could convince them to come to get it?" Then he remembered my son-in-law wanted a place to store some of his work tools he's not using right now, and our case was building! But I called and mentioned those two things and maybe they could come soon, and my son-in-law said he's trying to figure out something.
I wish I wasn't allergic to cats. I tried everything I knew to do, taking weekly shots to build up my tolerance, etc. but nothing seems to be helping with the cat thing.
We sat down last night and made up a picture album with all her pictures we have so far. We put them in an Anne Geddes book and it has a baby on the front. Really cute.
I'm trying to get back into the swing of things now that we're not spending all our time at the hospital. The carpet cleaning guy is coming tomorrow. We really need to get out and buy groceries, as we let everything run out since we weren't eating here much. I've got a lot of sewing projects in the works. I have plenty to do and just need to get motivated to do it.
I've gotten encouraging emails from many of you during the baby's hospital stay. I just wanted to say how much I appreciate all the thoughts and prayers, even though I didn't get to answer everyone yet. I know the prayers made a big difference in how fast she recovered from her surgery and everything.
If any of you sew, I have a sewing question. I bought a jacket awhile back that is a patchwork of different batik fabrics. The jacket is too small, and I'd really like to re-work it so I can wear it. I thought of taking it apart and adding some matching fabric to it. If anyone has any ideas, let me know. (What do you think, Jessica???? )