June 20, 2013

I'm A Female, Not A F***ing Idiot!!!!...

So I was going to post a quick blurb about this on facebook and then realized it was a lot more, shall we say emotionally charged than a few lines on facebook could express.

Plus, it was taking a lot more than a couple lines in my status area.

So here is a slightly longer, emotionally charged (read: pissed off) blurb about an experience I had about 15 minutes ago.

AJ got a new bike for his birthday (did I ever post about that? probably not).  We decided to put the training wheels back on his old bike and see if Ryan liked it.  We did, and she did.  So we went and got some paint stripper and some spray paint to make it her bike.  She chose purple.

Today I decided to get it done.  I scraped off all the factory stickers, took off the front wheel so I could also replace the tube, stripped the paint, sanded it with steel wool, rinsed it, let it dry and then covered the handlebars, gears, etc and taped it up with painters tape.

I was just finishing up checking it over and making sure nothing was peaking out that shouldn't be painted and that it was completely dry.  As I go to stand up a car drives by and stops in front of the apartment next door to us.  There had been this guy at the building across from me most of the time I had been working on the bike.  It was that guy.  He gets out of his car and walks up and hands me a card for his computer repair business and makes a random comment about my 'fun project'.  I say some nothing comment like, 'yep, its getting there'.  He then says 'So you're going to paint it right?'  I quickly tell the whole color switch from one kid to the other and so forth.  So he says, 'When you go to paint it you may want to put it over on the grass or something.'

For a split second between the two of us you could hear crickets.  But inside my head all I heard was the rushing of heated blood and a constant screaming.

Thank you, Mr. I Don't Live Here but Happen to be in the Neighborhood Fixing Someone's Computer so I May as Well Share My Manly Wisdom with this Lowly Little Woman.  I'd never thought of that.  I guess I just assumed that if I wished really hard and asked politely the paint would stick to the bike and not the ground.  I'm just out here sweating my a$$ off, stumbling along hoping that a computer repair man would come tell me what I was doing wrong.  (where is that darn sarcasm button!?!)  Grrrrrr...

All I wanted to do was glare daggers at this guy and tell him to go 'F' himself after I had finished ripping him a new a$$-hole.  But, I am a lady after all, I just said 'Yes, I have a drop cloth that I put down.'  Ultra polite and everything.  But apparently he wasn't done letting me know he knew more than I did about painting a bike.  So he says, 'Just be careful of over spray too.'  I looked around, although I knew where everyone was parked, since they are my neighbors.  There were three cars, the closest of which was mine and it was across the road at least 40 feet away and there wasn't a thought of a breeze in the air, I looked back at him.  I guess he realized I was loosing my patience and he was being an idiot because he was already half way back to his car.  I didn't say another word and went back to my work.

Needless to say I finished painting the bike in about 10 minutes.  I didn't get any paint on the road or on anyone's car or myself for that matter.  I even carried that little 16" bike back into the garage all by myself when the lawn guys started coming by with the leaf blowers.  And I didn't even need to be told by a man that little bits of dirt could stick to the still tacky paint.

It's one thing to want to be helpful.  It is a whole other monster to stick your nose into someone elses business.  It's not like I was out there in a mini skirt and stilettos shrieking every time the big bad scary screw driver broke one of my nails or if I got grease from the chain on myself.  There are few things in this world that irk me as much as a situation like this does.  Being treated like an idiot because I'm a woman and being talked down to like I'm a three year old.  Those are two big ones.

Well, there is my, much too long for facebook, rant about the idiot I encountered today.  No picture of the bike yet since it's still drying.




Today I am thankful that I live in a country and a time in history that I, as a woman, can be so outspoken when I feel I have been insulted or treated unfairly and not have to worry about the consequences of doing so.  

June 06, 2013

That Lost Feeling...

I haven't posted in a month and a half, oh my!  In that time, it has been raining almost non-stop and flooded a few times, at one point roads were closed and AJ's classroom flooded!  We have attended a couple birthday parties.  We spent a day at a farm.  We said goodbye to AJ's VPK teacher and school as she retired and they closed the center.  We spent a day at Gumbo Limbo with school friends.  I hosted a 'Princess Bride' themed bunko.  Many wonderful things have happened at Jasey's job.  We cleaned up trash from the side of the road.  We had a couple pool days when the rain let up long enough, Kirby got to go swimming too.  M and D got engaged!  We rode our bikes to school, many times.  We've celebrated silly holidays.  An event 16+ years in the making finally took place.  We went out for a special breakfast on Mother's Day.  I got a new hair cut.  I found out one of my oldest friends is pregnant, yeah!  AJ turned 6!!!  He got a new bike for his birthday.  We had a water balloon fight.  Ryan started riding AJ's old bike.  We hunted for Pirate's treasure.  We went to a school dance and ice cream party at AJ's school and an end of the year party or his class.  We have our first named storm of the season, Tropical Storm Andrea!!  Finally, AJ's last day of Kindergarten was today. :(

Here is a picture of the kids from Mother's Day...cause they're cute :)

And a picture of Kirby swimming in M&Ds pool...cause he's cute too :)

:) I love those three creatures.  

As you can see, I haven't forgotten, we've been busy.  Not only that, but every time I thought of a topic to write about that intrigued me I managed to talk myself out of it, it wasn't my place or it was at a point that I couldn't really write about it yet, no matter what I wanted to say.    Now it's been so long that I feel kinda weird diving into an in depth topic.  

So I'm going to write about something else. 

Have you ever had that feeling...a pit in your stomach feeling...the feeling that you are naked...like you've lost or forgotten something?  Of course sometimes there are real, not very pleasant, reasons for those feelings.  But many times that feeling is for the silliest thing.  I've had the naked feeling when I forget to put my rings back on.  I can remember many times from when I was young that my mom would wonder if she left the iron on.  And, of course, it is inevitable that whenever you leave for a trip you check 14 times for your passport or camera and then still feel like you forgot something.  

Just yesterday morning I left to take AJ to school and realized I forgot my phone.  True I was headed back home after I dropped him off but honestly it didn't bother me to not have my phone.  If Jasey or mom had tried to call me and I didn't answer...well that's a different story.  Although they don't get quite as upset as they did when I was pregnant and didn't answer :)  There is usually one thing that most people will turn around for if the've forgotten it at home, even if it's only for the day.

My thing is not my phone.

For me, it is my keys.

I know that sounds weird since usually you need your keys to go anywhere.  But there are times we take the Jeep or we are in mom's car or I am riding my bike or even when we are on vacation.  If I don't have my keys I feel a little bit out of control.  My stomach does a little flop.

When we go to someones house Jasey is very good about placing the keys in a certain spot.  Though that spot varies to wherever he happens to be standing, is often not in the most convenient area and placement is likely to be forgotten by the end of the evening.  I grab them and put them in my purse.  When I ride my bike I have the garage clicker in my purse so I don't need to go anywhere near my car and I don't need keys to get into the house but I still have my keys in my purse.  Most times while on vacation I will leave a spare key for my car, if needed, and take my keys with me.  If I leave my keys when we leave I will make a mental note and then tell a few people that I left them so they can reassure me when I freak out because I can't find them.  

As I'm writing this I realize it sounds more extreme than it actually is but for some reason I feel like my keys are my life line.  I feel losing them would be like losing my security.  I wouldn't by any means be cool, calm and collected if I actually lost my phone but if I know that it is sitting on the kitchen counter I am ok with it being there until I get home.  I like when it is away from me for a while.  But when I forget my keys I have a little panic attack and have to make myself think about something else.  Unless I actually need my keys I do not go back and get them but I do think about where they are or where they were the last time I saw them to reassure myself that they are not lost.  I know in my head that it's not a big deal but the initial realization that my keys are not with me kinda freaks me out.   

What is your thing?  What item do you need to have with you at all times?  Do you feel lost or out of control without it?  Would you turn around to go get it?



Not the most exciting post...blame it on the rain that continues to fall, it's making my brain mushy.  I guess I should blame myself for that, TS Andrea!! 










I'm thankful that I have keys to worry about.