Saturday, April 27, 2013

Yard Sale 101

Just came back from attempting the upper-middle-class development up the road, yard sale - half a million dollar homes & they don't build no sidewalks?!  Anyway ... I bunked into some annoying behaviors out there, so I thought I should blog a Yard Sale 101 ...:

DO NOT have family reunions in the middle of the street.

DO NOT price things that are close to what a person would pay in a retail establishment.

If all you've got is your kids selling their anime crap or some other niche stuff, could you put a sign saying what's there, before people slug up a steep driveway?!  Part two of that is this: if you're selling stuff your kid has grown out of, and it's soft teen porn - do NOT put it on the same table with the religious books you've read & are ready to pass along!!!

If there are a line of cars snaking down a road, KEEP IT MOVING!  Do not stop to stare open-mouthed at what's for sale and for pity's sakes, don't have a reunion with Belva and stop the traffic!

If you are pushing a baby in a stroller, don't be texting, mama - there is TRAFFIC, and it may just bunk into what's in front of you, first - the baby!

DO NOT run in front of traffic! Wait until you make eye contact, smile, and wave thanks, before running across the road! 

Do you really need to drag along that baby that is going to get too much sun and whine, and ditto the preteen boy who really would rather be anywhere else?!  Babysitters!  Relatives!  Someone!!!

Bring plenty of singles and only if it's been going on for a while, ask if they can break a twenty.


 

Friday, April 26, 2013

The Millennial Upstairs (correction to an earlier blog post)

Earlier this week, there was a big problem with the kids upstairs from me - beyond a drunken party that got out of hand, it surely sounded like there was a young woman being beaten ... and there were other neighbors who witnessed a naked young woman being dragged by four men from one apartment to the other, as she desperately banged on doors for assistance.

I do not live in a wild place or bad area, because my nerves can't take it; I had to take necessary, anti-anxiety medication, and have been trying to deal with this emotionally all week long ... earlier this afternoon, I finally got a chance to talk to the young woman living above me whose apartment it is, and I got the "horse's mouth" story, and I learned that while they may be millennials and I'm a woman looking at a half-century mile marker, alcoholism doesn't change its face:

The young woman who sounded like she was being beaten - she is a woman who drinks and a switch flips; and in her case, she just goes nuts and starts assaulting people, including her own boyfriend ...

The woman who was being dragged?  That's another story of alcoholism, too, for this woman is mentally disturbed and trying to self-medicate with what she can purchase over the counter ... which she does alone in her apartment with the lights off and her clothes off, as well - one of these "stinkin' thinkin'" things that makes sense when you're drinking, see ... and then she hit this spot where she decided she was lonely, after all, and she wanted her brother home, so she just strolled outside buck naked four doors down and went to collect her brother from his party --

And just about everyone else there, except for her brother, was speechless and stunned at what late-stage alcoholism can look like, literally - except her brother.  The brother said, without missing a beat, "She gets like this guys!  Help me get her home, okay?"  And so they picked her up bodily and went to bring her home ...

And around that time in hearing this story, I distinctly recalled being 19, married, very drunk; a passenger in a car driven by my just as drunk husband; and he got verbally abusive, see ... and we stopped for a traffic light ... and I was 19 and drunk and it seemed to make sense for me to turn to look at the men in the car next to us and mouth "help me!" -- these good guys jumped out - ran to the passenger door - pulled out my husband - and beat the tar outta him!  Boob being wiry and young, escaped; he jumped back in the car and we drove home, and walked into my in-laws house where we were living, screaming, "MA! Some guys beat up Bobby at a light - no reason at all! Get bandages!!! We just don't know WHY!!!"

About that same form of alcoholic thinking hit this young woman as she beat desperately on her neighbors doors for "help" as her brother and his buddies were trying to get her naked, drunken self back into her own apartment for safety, because don't you know? you can't get into any trouble whatsoever! drinking by yourself in your own home! or so the alcoholic thinking spirals round & round ....


And so that is THAT, and THAT will keep me sure sober for another day!!!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Jeannee and her nerves ....

Part of a longer story, but suffice it to say for now, this old story:  I was once involved in a traffic accident that was purely the other guy's fault - he had one of those two-seater foreign jobs and tried to squeeze between stopped traffic, one of which was my Blazer and - yeahhh, wreckage!  And I have a very distinct memory of my father (who was a passenger) telling the cop, "My daughter's the nervous type ..."

Well, I am! 

In fact a previous neighbor here nailed it when - in conversation one day - I referred to myself as someone who tries to be the invisible tenant and he said, "Oh, you do that very well!"  ;) He caught himself - worried he was being insulting - but I reassured him: if he thought so, and he was my neighbor - then I've done the right thing :)  I want to be quiet, live quiet, be no trouble at all ... and with that because of my nerves and all - I need to live around people who are the same!!!

Overnight I had a problem w/ an upstairs neighbor, that seemed to me, at the time, to be a group of 18 year old kids who just got carried away - went outside and talked to 4 of the boys standing outside, and I was not resistant to being apologized to and begged not to call 911 -- okay, sure, I'll give y'all another chance ... and they did!  They quieted right down as if someone put there hand on a switch!

Went to bed around 3, got up at 8, still not thinking anything more about it - until another neighbor flagged me down when I went to take CoCo outside --

Apparently what I heard, wasn't what she saw from peeking out in fear from her front window.

Let's just say -- this is real, real BAD.  Awful bad.  To where if - what happened is what we think happened - and I don't see how many other ways to look at it! - some poor young woman, whatever kind of loud "Girls Gone Wild" kook she may just be - is going to be in therapy at least for the next few years, anyway ...

I'm shaking.  I've been, and I can't stop!

My neighbor - who has lived here since the 90s, mind you! - is literally looking into her options for moving.  And once I can becalm my nerves, I'm going to work on my application for a place I've got a reference to --

Sure, it'll be cheaper.

And there's a laundry facility on the floor.

And my friends already live there.

And its back in my home state.

But you know what the most appealing part of it is right now?!

It's with a bunch of senior citizens, and such souls are generally quiet ... they've got shot nerves, too!!!

God have mercy on us all.

 

the soubrette brunette: Friday Favorites #7: Retro and Romantic

the soubrette brunette: Friday Favorites #7: Retro and Romantic: After spending a few days trying to think of what I wanted to feature, I decided that this week's Friday Favorites would be a lot of re...

Monday, April 22, 2013

Caked Vintage Blog: Sadness is inevitable

Caked Vintage Blog: Sadness is inevitable: Lately I have been feeling uncontrollably sad.  Typically I am pretty good at manipulating my more negative emotions into positive ones, but...

What does Jessy have to do w/ my old Math class?!

About 20 years or so ago now, I was actually trying to be a community college student! ... One of the things that brought fear to the heart was that I was going to have to take a Math 101 type of course - Math having been the bane of my existence since around second grade ;- this wasn't very good news! ... the so-called college counselor (who didn't give me ALL the information, as you'll see) let me know there were options:  for example - I could take this class in a gap period, between regular semesters; the class would be about three weeks or so ....

Three weeks V a semester and get it the heck over with - oh, sign me up!!!

What the counselor at Middlesex County College of Edison, NJ, failed to fill me in on was that the gap class was an INTENSIVE.  Now, if it was a subject like English or History that I had some depth of knowledge on already, I would have probably been okay -- but to get into something that I've always struggled with and have it go at warp speed - with a teacher that there was a cultural clash with?!!  I wasn't the only student who was in tears by the end of the first week and taking a withdraw-fail, by the start of the second!!!

I thought about this earlier today with Jessy the former waitress who was in the horrific ATV crash that killed her fiancee ... saw a friend of hers and asked for an update on how she's doing???

Well, see - Jessy doesn't have health care.  And the University of Virginia hospital she's at in Charlottesville, was having far too many critically ill patients with no health care, who then couldn't afford to go to rehab - so they'd go from a hospital bed, to discharge, and have all these health problems that weren't addressed by being in a short-term physical and occupational rehab situation.  So what U Va Hospital did was to create an in-hospital rehab for such patients, so at least they would have *some* rehabilitative work before being sent back to their lives ...

This rehab is about two WEEKS or so long.

If Jessy had health care, if we as a nation had health care for everyone, for a female in her early 20s who worked good and hard for six years as a waitress and who has a child to go home & take care of, I figure she'd be sitting in a rehab facility for several MONTHS.

And of  course I thought of my old college Math class ...

Please pray with me - for Jessy and what she faces; and for all the Jessy's out there - some of whom I'm sure - whomever you are, whatever place you occupy in this world - you must know! - and for our broken system of so-called health care.

LOST IN THE 50's: A wish come true....

LOST IN THE 50's: A wish come true....: Have you ever dream to find a special piece of vintage clothes?   For me, I have always dreamt to find a felt circle skirt...   ...

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

Love this! fashion

Vintage Vixen: Mama Mia! My Catsuit Makeover: Despite an appalling synthetic sequin trim and naff floppy cap I couldn't resist snapping up this hand-made Abba fancy dress c...

This. Is. Hard.

Today is the day that Mike - Johnny's cousin - is moving all the stuff out of Johnny's apt (right on the other side of the common wall from me), so he can store it up at his place (Johnny, you may recall, has been in the hospital about a month now & its pretty definite he's going to need long-term care) ...

So, ok - trying to be helpful, you know -- I decided to carry out the small things I could lift -- set them on the sidewalk -- then Mike can put them in his pickup truck however he wants them ...

I did okay and all until I reached for Johnny's boots.

My throat closed, my heart & my eyes fluttered, and I found myself trying to choke down tears (past that closed throat) ... those were the boots that carried mine and CoCo's friend outside to sit with us!  I wanted to cry - I mean really REALLY let myself cry, salty tears bouncing off the jawline, with sobs that say how you really feel, in a way that I haven't since he was probably about first in the hospital ... he's not walking back in here - hell's bells, Betsy, he ain't walking too much of anyplace at all and then only with medical help and hospital slipper socks!!!

It just hurt my heart.  

Daily Post Prompt

A woman named Cheri Lucas, I believe it is, wrote this excellent Daily Post Prompt:

"In the DC comics universe, a planet called "Htrae" ("Earth" spelled backwards) is populated with bizarre versions of superheroes. A Seinfeld episode made the idea of this Bizarro World popular, where the characters encountered their opposite selves.  Craft a scene in which you meet an opposite version of yourself -- or a story in a bizarre, backwards world."
 That's actually very simple for me to do!  The opposite of what Jeannee is today, right now, sitting here typing this out, is the Jeannee I thought I would grow up to be when I was in high school (especially the latter years) :  a happily married mother of at least six children, a homemaker; someone surrounded by family and pets and as many beautiful and neatly-kept items as I see now in online blogs ... and in walking through the Target store, like I did earlier today ... There are some people's blogs that I follow just because they are the opposite version of myself, because they are living the life that I thought I would grow to have -- so reading them, I guess you can rightly say!, delivers me to Htrae!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Walmart's bench ...

I had big plans for the 'Big City' today, but wasn't too sure how much I could actually do, what w/ the fibromyalgia kicking up ... gamely, I went down and 

and I got in the checkout line of Walmart and 

oh, honey ;-

I was too fatigued & overwhelmed w/ body pain to even consider driving the 16 miles back home

Usually when that happens, I'll sit in my vehicle and rest first BUT - argh!  Sunday - 'the world' is at Walmart (apparently no one goes to parks or anything anymore ;- ) - and so I knew I would be constantly jarred by incessant honker-gesturers impatient for me to pull-out so they could get the space that yeahhh I wasn't planning to vacate --

ergo --

I decided to take the bench right inbetween the two doors - yes, one marked entry, one marked exit, but they're interchangeable - 

well, let me tell YOU!

I have not enjoyed peoplewatching so much since the last time I found a mall I could smoke cigarettes in while doing so!!!

It was the most interesting parade of humanity I have seen in - well, forever!  In fact what skittered across my mind was something available on the Chictopia website, that I have always before sighed and rolled my eyes at ('dammed trashtalk is everywhere in this day and age!') but how appropriate it seemed today! - it's called - wait for it --

'Everybody is Ugly'  ;)~~

I don't even know how long I was there - but apparently it was quite a while, because the Greeter started glaring at me in an un-greeterly manner ;)

Hey!  I'm resting AND having FUN :) 

And I'm going to do it again, real soon!!!  

Friday, April 12, 2013

God put Hurtado there ....

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_23004479/man-critical-condition-after-sawing-own-arms-at?source=most_viewed

Remember this, what the hero firefighter has said:  "Hurtado said he was a bit emotional talking about the experience "not because of what I did - more because the grace of God decided to put me there that afternoon. I could have picked the other Home Depot. God decided for me to go the Home Depot that I hardly ever go to and be able possibly to help a person and save their life.""  

A Parent.

People look at me quite oddly when they see me "pulling loose hair" out of CoCo - as in : "whatever is she doing to that poor dog!"  ;-

Let me clarify this, in several dimensions ...

It doesn't hurt her; I don't pull, but take the loose hairs and white tufts, off her.  She doesn't walk away when I do this.  She doesn't give a warning growl or nip - nothing like that! 

I do this because - if I don't do this - she chews on it (isn't loose hair from your head, especially if its too long and falling out, annoy and itch the hell outta YOU?! it does me!) and then we have problems:  upset stomach///having to run outside to chomp grass to settle it; coughing like a cat with a hairball because hair is so dry! ...

One more thing:  if I do this outside, then it's not in the carpet to be vacuumed up :)

Yeahhh, I am a pet mommy <3

A Parent?!

I was just in the dollar store and was quite taken aback when - as I paused where the aisle T--ed - there was a little girl walking around holding a puppy!!!

The animal had no leash on "in case of", either ... I looked around, figuring a girl of about 7 had to have a parent, yes?!  

Ahhh, there's Mom :  with her hands full between a case of soda and the biggest multi-roll pack of toilet paper - so no available hands "in case of".

Did I mention that Mom, who was mid to late 20s, had on an Ozzy Osbourne baseball cap AND her license plates read "N2Ozzy"?!

Other customers were caught between astonishment like I had and "oh that's a cute puppy!" ... when I got to the register, I smiled at the asst manager working the cash & said, "Gee!  I see you sell cocker spaniel puppies now, too!"

She looked at me like I just told her she had a second head growing out of her shoulders.

Then, she looked down the line - and about lost it!  "M'am!  That girl and puppy have to wait outside!!!"

The mother repeated this to the daughter ... who walked over rightnextto, but NOT outside, the door.  And stood there with a defiant mug on her face, giving me the laser death stare.

Gee ... I wonder from whom she picked that up?!

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

LOST IN THE 50's: Fun at CATALINA ISLAND!!!

LOST IN THE 50's: Fun at CATALINA ISLAND!!!: Sorry guys!!! You have perhaps noticed our absence these last 3 weeks...   We were on vacation far, far away from home....   ...

Monday, April 8, 2013

It's a weird day for yoooou ...

221 Newman St, Metuchen, NJ 08840: 221 Newman St, Metuchen, NJ 08840 —

I was just websurfing to wake-up, you know ... and I stumbled across something weird as hell ... my old friend Sylvia - this was her address w/ her mom ... both are deceased now, yeahhh, I knew that, of course -- but to see there longtime home for sale?!  As soon as I saw the chandelier I was like - whoa!

So you know that song - "it's a new day for yooooou"?  I think I just slightly changed the lyrics, to fit the occasion more, yeahhh ;-

Friday, April 5, 2013

A type of Gratitude List (Fri, April 5, 2013)

I know all about Gratitude Lists ... I believe in them ... I've written (and typed!) them out.  But I was just reading what a friend ALSO writes:  "3 things I did right today" - and boy! has that struck me!  Because as I sit here right now I have not even gotten to the shower (& its 10:48 pm), nor have I made any important phone calls or visits this week ;(  So a list of things I did right (starting w/ today) ???  Yeahhh, I think that'll help!  So, here it goes:

I sat outside w/ CoCo in the sunshine & made her day <3  In fact, speaking of CoCo - she ate very well because Mommy has done her shopping for her sweetheart :) 

I didn't drink.  I didn't run amuck.

I didn't do anything that was immoral, unethical, or a felony.

I didn't overexpose myself in my clothing choices.



 

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The words of Dr Pettit - my heart resonates!

I pinned this Oprah transcript I came across quite accidentally, while researching someone else ... Dr Pettit is the only survivor of a horrific home invasion that took the lives of his 2 daughters & beloved wife.  Oprah interviewed him.  There were things he said that I just sat here reading them and - I had to stop & scribble them down in my notebook!  I pinned the article.  And now, I want to share them on my own blog:

Forgiving the essence of evil is not appropriate.

(About people telling him to live in the moment)  "That's ok for people who have a past they can touch and a future they can dream for - but when you feel like alot of your past is gone and there's no future, the present loses some meaning"  (He then talks next about his faith - specifically, how his belief in an afterlife, and especially about being reunited with his family - have kept him from suicide)

I just don't think you can lose your whole family and have closure.  There's a jagged hole in your heart & in your soul that - over time - the waves of goodness maybe smooth the jagged edges, but the hole remains.