my mom the turkey day hero

my mother is a truly amazing woman…she has 6 kids (7 if you include her husband). she can cook Thanksgiving dinner in her sleep with one hand tied behind her back, watch two of her grandsons, keep the older children out of the turkey, keep the husband out of the turkey, watch something on tivo, divide vitamins (i think we’re all old enough to know these are prescriptions, mom), have her finest chico’s outfit on (she’s very well known at the local chico’s store) and i’m told she is able to jump single story buildings in one leap….all this from a 5′ tall (that’s pushing it) little cuban package of “oh no you didn’t”. she will let us (all 25 of us or so) invade her house today for several hours while still smiling in between the conflicts, the food, the loud noises, the spillage, the football, the unexpected guests, more spillage and the cute grandkids. the crescendo of the day is when she loudly announces “i don’t want to see or hear from any of you kids unless someone is bleeding or the house is on fire!” we know that is the sign for “get out now; mom has had enough.” translation: i’ll see you tomorrow for turkey day leftovers…

we love you too mom…

Thanksgiving Day Schedule

1. Wake up and smell the coffee
2. Drink some
3. Walk to Starbucks with the girlfriend and the five dogs and drink more coffee
4. Get a pumpkin scone (i’m very festive)
5. Come home and wander around for two hours
6. Go to Mom’s house with the girlfriend for an intimate family gathering of 25
7. Eat a lot of turkey and fixins
8. Watch football
9. Fall asleep spread eagle on the floor with at least one, possibly two jeans buttons undone (for some reason this amuses the girlfriend)
10. Repeat steps 7-9
11. Go home

There are miscellaneous items interspersed between steps 7-9 such as:

• Talk real loud hoping someone can hear you over the din and will actually listen to what you have to say
• Ask Dad several times over to change the tv from the SciFi channel back to the football game
• Watch one or two family members get a little more tipsy than they said they would
• Try NOT to think about work
• Marvel at how cute my little niece is
• Feel lucky to have a really great family

Be thankful….or in the immortal words of Elmer Fudd “Be vewy, vewy, thankfew.”

i wanna be a blog hero!

ok…maybe  that’s a little dramatic…i do, however, have blog envy. “why”, you ask? your posts are incisive comments on today’s societal issues regarding religion and politics and are extremely thought provoking vignettes on real life issues…not so much. i had a relatively normal upbringing and don’t know enough about politics and religion so i only post on others…yes virginia, i have blog envy. i do find others extremely inspiring and they make me “wanna be a better blogger”. if anyone knows of a remedial blogging…well, blog, please let me know…in the meantime, should you be tag surfing and you happen upon this post, here are some really great, inspiring or just plain funny blogs you should check out (in no particular order) swimming in my head, in repair, sideon’s sanctuary, the good, the bad and the ugly and whisper in the void. do yourself a favor and check these out. i subscribe to all their feeds and find myself checking not once but several times a day to see if anything new has been posted or commented. ok…

*me: my name is wutupdogg and i’m a blogaholic…

response: hi wutupdogg…

i digress…my girlfriend laughs and watches me sneak off to the office to read or post a blog and when i come back trying to act as if i merely had to check something for work on my computer, she busts me with “did you do all your blog stuff, honey?”

anyway, gotta go check the feeds again…it’s been 30 minutes since my last blog check…

acknowledgements:

*gbu2…thanks for the call and response usage. i have given you your own footnote here to credit you.

sideon…thanks-i’m going to use the creative tags as you have recently and see what happens.

wwjd

what would jesus do?

i think jesus would love everyone and not put us into categories like gay, white, black, fat, stupid, low class, rich…whatever…i am always struck by the actions of some of the so-called religoius right when you see them proudly holding banners that say “jesus hates fags” or “aids is God’s way of punishing homos” or any number of other innappropriate things for one HUMAN to say to another. i am gay and religious (or at least on that journey). does that mean i don’t stand a chance of going to heaven? does that mean i’m wrong? i contend that we are all God’s children. why would He make anybody be a way that would persecute them the majority of their lives…i know some people think we “chose” this lifestyle…even better, why would we “choose” to live a way that would set us up for ridicule, prejudice and hardship? i have been extremely lucky in that i have a family that could really care less about my sexual orientation and who accepts me AND my relationship. i think that has set the tone for my life BUT i see the vote on proposition 8, amendment 2 and the one in arizona and it makes me sad to see such hate for a portion of the human race. i don’t want to hate those people back. i don’t want to boycott their companies or communities. i think that just perpetuates that hatred. i know somebody has to do something.

so again i ask…what would jesus do?

i don’t think He’d do what’s being done right now…i think He would want to clear the table and start all over again.

are you kidding me?

on my way home from work i usually listen to “all things considered”…it’s calm, the speakers speak very evenly and smooth and i like it because it doesn’t get me worked up…most  of the time…tonight, i was listening and beginning my wind down from the day’s events and i hear this:”tivo and dominoes have forged a patrnership”…WTF?! i can be a pretty good couch potato at times but even i was not happy to hear the next piece of the report. apparently, you can sit on your couch, watching tv and when the dominoes pizza commercial comes on , you can just select the onscreen icon and you have pepperoni and anchovies on their way in the next 30 minutes. the reporter sounded almost giddy when he said “you don’t even have to get up and go get the phone!” is this what we’re coming to? i like a little rainy day, i’ve had a long week curl up on the couch every so often but c’mon! thanks tivo and dominoes for making us even fatter and lazier…what a sparkling revelation for us. this little marketing gem makes me want to jump up (or sit on my couch) and scream for joy…as long as i don’t have to exert myself while i do it…

somebody talk me out of this

ok…i’m going to tell on myself a little this morning…

in the last couple of years or so i have often thought of running for an elected local position. i think of this for a few reasons…

1. i want to make a difference (sounds a bit like the question portion of the miss florida contest, doesn’t it?)
2. i love tampa and want to contribute to it’s future and growth/development
3. i really enjoy the political arena for some strange reason

here are the reasons i say no to myself

1. politics can be deceptive, back door, do as i say not as i do, bs
2. i would not be willing to sell my soul for anything
3. i think politics looks a bit like music does from an outside point of view…glamorous, helping people, making a change in your world…in reality is it trudging from one fundraiser to the next, placating the lobbyists, pundits (another word i’m not fond of), dealing with issues that really don’t hold a lot of impportance, handling an entourage, blah, blah, blah…

what have i decided to do, you ask?

i have put in an application for a citizens’ advisory council to the hillsborough board of county commisioners to be involved in the human relations issues they face.

someone tell me i’m crazy and what am i thinking by even “entertaining” this idea. i have been involved for a short while in a local business organization and have made it to the board. what i find curious here is the extreme amount of “politics” that takes place in our little 550 member organization. we take it serious folks. should i look at that as a harbinger of things to come and politely say “no thank you” should i get the call? OR should i nut up and see what all this “politics business” is about before i retrieve my hat from the ring?

just random musings on a dreary gray morning…

enough serious talk for now…the “wife” and i have to take our pug to “Pugsgiving for pugs in the park”

operators are standing by…

church

this morning i attended church for the first time in 6 months…didn’t even realize that fact until this morning. i found myself feeling guilty, sad, a little ticked that i was feeling guilty and sad, happy to be back, peaceful and completely emotional about the whole thing. i was so happy to see my friends (who incidentally welcomed me back with open arms regardless of the time i had missed). what’s the problem you ask? the problem is that i worry that i over analyze at times and that being there after being someone very much involved and missing so much time made me feel like a hypocrite (i painted for the kids, was part of the welcome team and played in the band). why did i feel like a hypocrite? because i got burned out on church with everything i was doing (i’m a big girl and could’ve said no anytime) and i was holding a grudge against my church. isn’t that like holding a grudge against God? actually, writing it now makes me laugh at myself. i felt pretty good in general about going again and will be back next sunday i’m sure. what’s bothering me about this is that i ask myself if i’m looking for religion to “fix” something and put my faith in Him and i’m not sure i completely surrender to that…am i full of bulls%#$? or did i lose you at 6 months? i know there are lots of you out there that are more knowledgeable and comfortable with religion ( i still consider myself a religion newbie) and would be curious to hear what you think or tell me to stop whining and don’t make a mountain out of a molehill.

can somebody answer this question for me?

ok, my girlfriend and i have often wondered aloud ( we do that a lot here) about something. what we’re both curious to know is 1) how and why did mccain (and “handlers”) pick sarah palin as his running mate and 2) why didn’t obama choose hilary as his?

anyone wanna take this one?

Kathy Griffin’s No on 8 Video

Kathy Griffin’s No on 8 Video

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i have never been a big Kathy Griffin fan but i have to hand it to her.

only four more days

i was sitting on my couch, minding my own business, watching something brain numbing on t.v. halloween night, only getting up every few minutes or so to pass out sugar to the kiddies shouting “trick or treat”. as luck would have it, my trips back to the couch coincided with bookend commercials from obama and mccain. i dont know about you, but four or five repeats like that can wear a girl’s patience thin…what to do? order a movie on demand…aaaaaah, the power of technology. i’m not sure i can take four more days of this…maybe this is someone’s way of saying “get off your ass and do something!”.

naaaah, it’s just a coincidence, i’m sure.