Another Year….Another present to make me feel younger-er….
Accomplishments for 2012 so far:
- Still haven’t come near a cigarette (or cigar) since January 9th. Every month that I don’t smoke, I buy myself some sort of cool fitness item or equipment thing. The latest is this stupid gadget that I love, Nike Fuel Band. It’s ridiculous and a waste of money but I couldn’t think of anything I needed from my husband except motivation to keep moving.
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- The last one was a Bike!!!! I am very excited about the basket on this bike. I’ll post another photo when I make the flowers on the basket look just right and my husband keeps trying to capture me flying down the street at night with the neon lights on my spokes.
- I am on day 14 of that damned INSANITY workout with Shaun T from Beach Body. I fucking hate working out or physical exercise!!!!!!!! I haven’t lost much weight but I haven’t missed a single workout and have noticed a huge difference in how much energy I have every day. Weight Watchers didn’t work after the quitting smoking so I’m doing the Elite Nutrition thing with Insanity. Honestly, I am only interested in having the energy to get through my Bucket list these days. In a minute, I will explain the significance of this.
- I saw Hunger Games in IMAX with my step-daughter even though I haven’t been In a public theater since Avatar. We had a great time including the awesome mojitos before the show. I jumped out of my seat once when the wolf like things jumped at me.
- Then I saw The Avengers in IMAX 3D. I haven’t been a fan of the 3D thing but it was pretty amazing and I am pretty sure I will pay to see it again on the Big Screen. I may have conquered my 8 year long fear of public theaters because I can’t wait to see Prometheus as well.
- I have caught up completely on both “Community” and “Parks and Recreation.” Thank you Jennhoney for inspiring me to do this. I never regretted a second of this viewing.
- Also, I was so depressed when my sister returned home from her visit here, that I watched all 7 seasons of Gilmore Girls again because it always makes me feel better. I will finish my Luke’s Diner sign for my kitchen this month.
- My sister was 12 years old when I was born and I was 13 when her daughter was born. Teresa (my sis) IS AND ALWAYS WILL BE my Lorilei Gilmore and I love her so much. She is so much cooler than she’ll ever really know and her kids turned out even cooler than we did so she’s pretty amazing.
- My husband and I have tickets to see ZZ Top (who were on his bucket list) with Three Doors Down in June. It’s called the Outlaw Tour but I thought 3 Doors Down was some sort of Indy Rock Group (who knows?) I know that song Kyptonite and that’s about it. Also, we just found out that we can see BB King in August in Biloxi, Missisissippi. (BB King Live is on both of our bucket lists).
- Finally….while I’d like to pretend that my absence on Tumblr has been completely attributed to being so fabulous and amazingly busy with my awesome work, family and social life; the fact is, I had a pretty discouraging message sent to me a few weeks ago by someone that I was following and that I know that some of the others I follow, also follow. Are you following?
- Anyway, the comment this person made was that I was too OLD to be on Tumblr and didn’t have anything relevant to offer or contribute to the target demographic.
- I have to admit I let this bother me more than it should have and considered the idea that I should just stay away from social media because it just wasn’t meant for my generation, because, in reality, I’m happy with my day to day life and family and if I have a lack of real life social life, it’s merely because I truly enjoy my family and tiny community I live in. In just the past year, for the first time, I’ve actually thought of my age as something potentially negative. It hasn’t escaped my notice, and possibly yours, that I am a bit older than the average Tumblr user. But the truth is, even though the message that was sent to me stated that I really didn’t have anything to offer the Tumblr environment, it was so wrong on so many levels. I may be a few years older than most of you but all in all, things have turned out pretty good for me and I know I have something to offer people, if not here, than somewhere. I’ve made huge mistakes in my life but corrected most of them. My husband and I have raised 5 children and didn’t do everything right but at this point, we have two daughters who are married and call us often to get together because they actually like us and are very well adjusted.
- The three boys we’ve raised (one is my biological child and the other 2 are brothers we adopted in 2005 after Katrina and who still live with us) are doing well and not in any hurry to move out. (I’m not sure if this is a testament to doing the right things or all the wrong things). They will tell you we were pretty strict but always very open to any avenue of conversation and non-judgmental. We listened to them and kept the lines of communication open but still ruled the roost. We have one more son who will graduate from high school in 2013 and who wants to attend LSU. Keep us in your prayers or at least send good vibes if the prayer thing doesn’t fit the bill.
- The bottom line is this….I don’t think I’ve ever really discussed my age but as of a few minutes ago, I turned 45. I’m in better physical shape than I was when I was 35 because back then my life was all about the kids and work and I never much thought about the impact on my body that my self-negligence was causing.
- There are a few people that I follow that have young children and I would never tell them to choose themselves over their children but I would suggest that they definitely take the time to care for themselves because if Mama ain’t happy then ain’t nobody happy!!!!!! Am I right?
- My youngest child will graduate from High School in 12 months and 3 days and in 13 months, my husband will retire. He has to decide to bail on this country or find another line of worked and stay. For now we’re pretty sure that we’ll spend 3 months in Panama and 3 months in Costa Rica and if neither of those two places work out, we’ll think of something else. I plan to keep working as an illustrator and/or do volunteer work as a teacher in South America and trade in my Mini Cooper for a Vespa. I still love you all so much and as soon as I break through the internet barriers at work, I’ll be back here with a vengeance.
- Hey you…the person who sent me that nasty message…I could totally respond to your “ask” and expose you for the asswipe that you are….but after months of deliberation, I decided not to because I just want you to know that you didn’t win. I will retire at age 46 with a completely adorable and mostly still sexy “partner in crime” and the best I can figure for you is that you will retain only distant relationships with people who find you mildly intelligent and amusing…but in the end, you probably should have heeded at least 1/2 of my advice and been a little nicer us “old folks” because we do have some things to offer. If not advice, than stories of our completely crazy and out of control children!
- Again, to the person who thought it necessary to try to make me feel bad for being born in the late 60’s/early 70’s…….Fuck you! We had M*A*S*H and a young Robert Downey, Jr. …Also, I can call off work tomorrow and not give a shit because, while I may not be indispensable, I’m worth keeping around at work because the really young kids are innovative and cute but can’t figure out how to create press ready art with a fucking bleed…AND my own kids actually admit to their friends that they like me again! Good luck with your cocky self. (Seriously….if your kids are unfortunate enough to have you as a parent, I still hope they turn out okay because it’s really not their fault you are so douchey!)
- And seriously…lastly….if you ever worried that you would somehow become uncool at the age of 40 and not like British TV, superheros, Schools for Wizards, Vampires, Jane Austen or Zombies, then I am here to tell you that it just gets better!!!!! I love you all.
