DETERMINATION

Will Shakespeare wrote a very short play entitled "Comedy of Errors" and I had a front row seat in my own production of this tale last night. I simply wanted to go celebrate the birthday of a friend. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? All I had to do was get in my car, drive to Wake Forest and let the partying begin.

Fate stepped in though and decided she'd have good laugh at my expense. I was running late and had just gotten on 540 when I noticed my gas tank was on "MT". I didn't want to push my luck so I got off at the next exit and pulled into the closest gas station. As I was standing there, with a smile on my face, pumping gas...I heard the lock in my car engage. WTH? Smile erased, I frantically tugged on the driver's door. I was locked out! My car betrayed me and locked me out. I could see the keys in the ignition, my purse sitting on the passenger seat (with my cell phone it) and my reflection in the window looking baffled and incredulous.

I headed into the convenience store and asked the clerk if I could borrow his phone. He was nice enough to hand it to me and I began the long frustrating task of trying to reach my husband to bring me his spare key. After several tries I finally reached him and he hurried to my location to let me in. WHEW...let the evening begin.

"Oh no you don't," said Mistress Fate as she laughed at me. I thought I knew exactly where we were meeting. Although I'd never been to the place before I had driven by it numerous times. However, I didn't know that they had recently torn the building recently and relocated the restaurant. Arrrggghhhh...GPS was telling me the new destination was 21 miles away, I couldn't reach my friend on her cell, but I was determined I was going to meet up with my friends. Fate be damned! So I started following the GPS directions and called my friend a couple of more times. Third time was the charm...she picked up. I was headed in the wrong direction. Thank God she was able to give me directions to get me to the festivities. They had a glass of wine waiting at the table for me when I arrived. Nothing ever tasted so good! So despite Mistress Fate's best efforts...I had the last laugh and a good time celebrating with my friends.

NEVER ENDING CLEANING DETAIL

I didn't want to let go of my soft, fluffy, comfy pillow this morning. I'm glad I've taken on the duty of letting my daughter's dog out every morning or I probably would still be laying in bed. Just that act of getting up and standing on the back porch while Dolce "takes care of business" each morning is enough to at least turn my engine over. I may not be going full speed, but I'm not laying under the covers, accomplishing nothing either.

I have to clean house today. I HATE that job. It stays clean for a couple of hours when you're done and then it becomes dirty again just to spite you. It's an endless rotation of dusting, scrubbing, vacuuming...okay...I'm depressing myself. If I'm not careful I may end up back in bed clutching that squishy pillow again.

So enough talk. I'm off to grab my arsenal of cleaning products, broom, mop and duster and get busy. Unless someone out there wants to talk me out of it............

MANI ANYONE?

I was bad today. I said, "screw the budget" and got a pedicure. Since being laid-off I've been doing my own mani/pedis, but it's just not the same. Do my nails look good afterwards...sure, but my back aches from leaning over to get to my tootsies and there's all that setting up the foot bath, polish, trimming tools and towels. There's no lovely leg and foot massage either. Not as relaxing when I'm rubbing my own calves. Nope doesn't do a thing for me.

So today I decided, because I've been feeling down lately, that I needed a little pick-me-up, so I splurged on a pedicure. That hour was like heaven! I always thought I'd hate getting pedis cause I don't really like people "playing" with my feet. One time trying it was all it took to get me totally hooked. These manicurist aren't playing with my feet. They are serious about getting my little piggies looking the best they possibly can and I could honestly fall asleep during the whole process.

I thought I'd feel guilty about this little indulgence, but I don't. Not in the least. I wish all our problems in life could be solved with a nice coat of nailpolish and a quick massage!

SCOOTER GUY

I try to find something every day that gives me a good laugh. Without laughter...your soul dies.

Yesterday, I was heading to Six Strings Cafe in Cary to listen to a friend of mine, Mathew Conklin, sing at their open mic nite. I wanted to be there at 7:00, but got a late start and knew I wasn't going arrive when I wanted to. This can make me a little tense at times...okay, okay it can make me rabid! As I was sitting at the red light at the entrance to my subdivision, hands gripping the wheel, already cursing anyone who was going to slow me down...I glanced to my left to see if could 'turn right on red' and here comes a guy on a scooter, going about 35mph...putzing along through the lite. He looked to be about 40+, but the huge motorcycle helmet on his head hid most of his face. He wore khakis and a lite weight argyle sweater in various shades of blue.

At first he really annoyed me. I mean I was in a hurry and here he was just barely moving along. When he finally passed me I whipped around the corner onto New Hope Road and glanced over to give scooter guy a dirty look. As I turned to look at him, he was staring down at his watch and slowly shaking his head. I ROARED with laughter. Here's this guy, obviously trying to be somewhere at a certain time (as I am) and he is riding a 35mph maximum speed scooter and looking at his watch like that will enable him to go faster. I couldn't stop laughing.

Sometimes we can hurry so much that we miss the joyful things in life. I giggled till I got to Capital Blvd after seeing that site. I arrived at my destination, relaxed, happy and in a good mood. I had a lovely evening, Matt sounded great and all was good with the world. Thanks scooter guy...you're my hero!

IN MY OPINION

I participated in a focus group last night. I was amazed at the different people they managed to gather together. All ages, nationalities, sizes and shapes,from all walks of life.

We sat at a large conference table and gave our opinions on different forms of media, the company who hired us was considering. A lot of really good suggestions and comments were made. There were twelve of us. Eleven of us spoke. The man sitting to my left never opened his mouth. He sat staring at the table the entire hour we were there, except for the three minutes we all watched a video presentation. Heck, he might have been staring at the table even then. I had my back turned to him, so who knows. Anyway...he'll collect his fee just like all the rest of us.

There was no camaraderie with this group. I did a pizza taste test a few months ago and we all had a good time before the actual testing began, talking and jabbering together. The group last night barely made eye contact. When I arrived there were eight people already seated. I did a quick scan of the table and smiled at each person. Only one smiled back. Sigh...we're so comfortable in our own little shells aren't we?

Anyway, this was a simple, fun way to make a little extra cash and I look forward to being asked to participate in another one. Maybe I'll just sit there, not say anything and collect my fee. NAH...I've got too big a mouth for that!

A MOTHER'S PRIDE

"The acorn doesn't fall far from the tree". Silly quote, but I can finally relate to it. I'm proud to say I finally discovered a quality that my daughter inherited from me. Up until now she's seemed to exhibit only her father's genes, but this past week I saw a little bit of me shining through. She's creative!

A dance club, where she's been working on weekends for some extra cash, had an Alice in Wonderland celebration last night. My daughter did all the decorating for the event. She made baskets of flowers with playing cards scattered throughout, roses painted partially red which she stuck in artificial trees, small bottles filled with food colored water and marked "drink me", even a table with a tea set and teapot were displayed. She came up with all these ideas on her own and I was just bursting with pride.

One of my favorite activities is planning events. I've staged some pretty elaborate parties over the years and I miss putting these kind of celebrations together. It was fun to watch my daughter get just as excited about her creations as I used to get about mine.

I'm passing the torch! We've got a mini family reunion coming up soon and I can't wait to see what sort of ideas she'll come up with to help make it a huge success! Out with the old and in with the new!