Thin Crust

I hate when I arrive at a point in my life when I feel like I'm disappointing people left and right. Usually, that means that I've stretched myself too thin. And because I was given my mother's desire to be everything to everyone at all times, that's easy to do. I need to learn that it's okay to say no sometimes. Why, oh why do I feel like if I say no, I'm doing something wrong? I fully understand that it's more wrong to say yes if you can't follow through than to say no and be done with it if you really can't do it. But it's so much harder than that for me. It's something to work on for sure.

On another exciting note, we have a rather large catering gig next week quite unexpectedly and we've been asked to teach a pasta making class at a local specialty food supply shop in April! Very exciting stuff. This is what we want to do. It's stressful now because we do the stuff we love on the side (squeezing it into our schedule where and when we can). But one day maybe we will be able to do only this - making awesome food for people to enjoy. Here's hoping!

Can I say something about facebook? I love it just as much as the next person, surf it daily, stalk (strictly in the harmless sense), whatever. But there are some facebook behaviors that I just find terrifically annoying.

1. I understand that you have the right to talk to whomever you choose on facebook and that you can show the world your relationship status, but do we all need to be a part of the lovey-dovey wall posts?  Also, wouldn't you prefer to say those things in person, directly to that person? An I love you here or there is great, fine even. But I don't know. That's still something I prefer to say to my husband face to face.

2. Photo tagging is a great feature on facebook. You can find all sorts of pictures of yourself or your friends that you never knew existed. It's pretty cool. However, I really don't understand friends that not only post gratuitous pictures of themselves ALL  the time, but tag themselves in them and write captions like: Not the best pic of me! Well, then don't post it! And you know you're just asking for validation, waiting for someone to say: No!  You look great! PS - this does not apply to pictures of you that other people post and tag - just to be clear!

3. Dear friends, I love you and know a lot of you do this, but your posts that are formatted like this really drive me nuts. I would appreciate it if you would stop - immediately. Kthnxbye! OR Love, Me

4. Statuses that are strictly and always a play-by-play of your day or a constant strand of complaints or whinings are not appreciated. Every once in a while is okay, absolutely. I do it too, but not all the time! You're bringing me down, man!

Whew! I feel better! Just something I've been needing to get off my chest! Thanks for indulging me.

Totally unrelated, but I am currently watching Grey's Anatomy and the cast members are singing. They are actors and actresses, not singers. ABC, BAD IDEA! Don't do it again. It's just weird. I like your shows, but this is wrong. They can't even really sing and I can't believe they agreed to this. Sorry guys, you tried and it's not good.

Finito!!!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some real spring weather. None of this teaser crap where it's stunningly gorgeous for a couple of days and now it's gray and rainy for a week. Boo!

Well, get excited because I can feel a revival coming. A revival of my desire to cook. Not tonight of course, I've popped a frozen pizza in the oven, but soon. I got a taste of it again when cooking for awesome friends last weekend. It is a bit of a cycle though. I come home tired and the last thing I want to do is cook, but when I do cook, it really relaxes me and relieves some stress. I'll have to remember that and work through the fatigue and the desire to be lazy, and force myself to cook. I know it will do me good! And, don't worry, I will be sure to share my endeavors, either here or on The Saucy Italian.

Speaking of food, in celebration of meeting our big deadline (a day ahead of time, ahem) our wonderful project manager wanted to treat us to lunch. So, we went to the bitching burger joint across the parking lot that I've written about before. Before we went, we noticed there were some fire trucks outside, but by the time we were headed over, they were gone. After we had been seated, been given our drinks and had our orders taken, the fire trucks came back. We noticed it was a little smokey, but no one was panicked, even the firefighters casually strolled in. But then they kept walking around, and came back in with more equipment, then carried a ladder into the kitchen. So, they evacuated the restaurant and, after a few minutes of waiting around, announced that they would not be able to open back up for lunch and gave us a voucher for a FREE hamburger! Score! Needless to say, I will be returning tomorrow to cash in on that. Also our boss is treating us there for a little celebration party tomorrow afternoon, so the timing is perfect.

It's nice to get to the other side of a difficult struggle. There is such a sense of relief. I know we all felt like it was the last day of school before summer break today. We've met all of our deadlines before, but this one is different. We have half the staff and have had to deal with countless cleanups of other's mistakes and messes. Yes, I can safely say that (no matter what anyone else says or thinks) this was an incredible accomplishment and I am happy to have had the learning experience with some of my best friends.

Leggings are not pants

Just in case any of you were wondering, leggings are not pants. Do I wear leggings? Yes, I do. Do I wear them with tunics or other dress-like shirts? Yes. But, no matter how you slice it, leggings are still not pants. Yes, they're cute, comfy and convenient, but they're made to be worn with other garments that cover your cheeks and (as was so delicately coined on a "Say Yes to the Dress" episode I watched this weekend) your butterfly. Some people seem to have failed to notice that these leggings are made of stretchy, thin cotton - hence the non-pantsness. This makes them comfortable and easy to wear, which is totally great! But, there is also quite the drawback to thin cotton. This:

This actress has just willingly showed off her rear in all its glory. Don't get me wrong, it's still much, much better than mine, but I'm sure she would never want her backside to be shown like this! I believe it's safe to say that if you can make out actual skin through the fabric of your "pants" that they're not really pants.

Another thing that really bothers me, not because it's happened that recently, but it's really an ongoing problem. Whenever anything of consequence happens in the area of the country where I live, the news channels seem incapable of finding anyone who is a) not a complete redneck, b) capable of formulating a coherent sentence or c) actually knows what's going on. If this were only on the local news, fine, so be it. We all know how we are, but it's when it's on the national news that it really gets me. I promise there are a whole bunch of people living in the Southeast of the United States of America that are eloquent and intelligent.

The movie Arthur comes out next week and I have to say, I am really excited about seeing it. It looks pretty hysterical and come on, who doesn't love Russell Brand?

I want to write because I do love writing my blog, but if you can't tell, my thoughts are random and scarcely pieced together at best. But, good news, tomorrow my big deadline will be met, a day ahead of schedule and I'm planning on some good times. I might actually pull out the video camera I bought more than a month ago. That's right, you might be in for the treat of an original Un-fabulous Life video this weekend. Get ready world.

Girls Gone Wild?

I have recently revamped my entire morning routine. It really happened by accident one day when I didn't hear my alarm (5:30-5:45ish and way too early) and woke up on my own closer to 7:00. I still had time to do all I wanted and made it to work on time. Plus, I woke up feeling completely refreshed. So, I'm just trying to go with it and it seems to be working pretty well! One of the best things about waking up then is that I don't miss Good Morning America, which I love. This past weekend I saw the most disturbing story about little girls' swimsuits. A major American clothing retailer is selling triangle bikini tops with padding - marketed (according to GMA) to as young as 8 year-olds. I could vomit. That is sexualization of baby children. That is disgusting.

Last week my husband and I were out to dinner and I couldn't help but watch these two young girls (probably ten) running around in their little girl clothes but with makeup on. And not play makeup, but eyeliner and eyeshadow makeup. It just screamed wrong and was really distracting, not to mention disturbing. When I was a little girl, this is how my friends and I played makeup (E.M.H., if you're reading, I'm sure you remember a certain eyeshadow all over the face incident!):

But these girls were into some serious heavy eyeliner. And where are the parents to say no?! You are too young. Apparently nowhere to be found. I played dress up as a child and experimented with makeup, but I never would have been allowed to wear a padded bikini swimsuit or go out in public with eyeliner on at age 8. That's taking things too far. And people come at this argument from two sides.

1. The parents should draw the line. If there weren't the request, there would be no production of such products. 

2. The manufacturers should never make the products in the first place.

I tend to agree a bit with both sides. While I think the manufacturers of these bathing suits should be ashamed of themselves, I also agree that the parents simply shouldn't allow their little girls to wear such adult clothing items. But the root of the problem is truly the fact that the manufacturers are essentially selling a body image to young girls that you are not good enough the way you are. This type of thought implanted in their minds and left to grow has dire consequences down the road. Poor self esteem pushes them to seek attention in all the most inappropriate ways - smoking, drinking, sex, drugs. The saddest thing about it all is that kids can't be kids anymore. There is no childhood - it's disappearing before our eyes. It makes me all the more grateful for the wonderful childhood I was afforded without so many pressures to grow up so quickly. 

Another side of the problem - oh wait! We have a pedophilia epidemic in our country! eSecurity Planet reports that over the past 5 years, the calls to them reporting child pornography have increased 300%. If that's not disturbing, I don't know what is. I can't go so far as to say that this is all directly related to the sales of some padded bathing suit tops for little girls, but there has to be a correlation somewhere. Retailers in America are so caught up in making more and more money that they have ceased to think about the wide scale social consequences to their actions. 

I could never claim to be the most responsible consumer, but stories like this really make me wake up and pay attention to where I'm spending my money. I for one, would rather spend my money supporting initiatives like this one.

The Patriot

I would consider myself to be a very patriotic person. I love America and yes, I take some offense when Americans take all the freedom we are afforded for granted and complain about wanting to move to a foreign country. If you want to go move to a foreign country, fine. But don't do it with the mindset that everything outside the U.S. is roses. We've got it pretty darn good and we don't even realize it most of the time. All that said, I have come to see this year (since it's the first that I've ever owed taxes instead of getting a nice refund) that even the strongest of patriots can be reduced to complaining and whining when it comes to tax time. I know that our tax money is needed to fund some really good programs for ourselves and for others. I know that taxes are a 'necessary evil'. But, I would rather still have my savings intact after filing taxes than completely cleaned out. Not having any savings makes me nervous.

Well, here we are. The last week of March, my big deadline for work is coming to an end. Thursday is D-Day. Granted, after Thursday I just have to start worrying about a whole new group of problems, but at least the looming deadline will no longer be hanging over my head. The stress has been a lot to deal with, but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm hoping it looks like a really nice bonus and a raise. A girl can dream, right? I'll be sure to let you know if I'll actually feel any pressure off or if the new pressures will just take right over. I'm guessing the latter.

We we we so excited

I am certain that most of you have seen this, but in case you haven't, you ought to.

Cute girl, irritating voice (mostly due to auto tune), ridiculous video and lyrics, very nasty comments on YouTube. I first saw about this video on Good Morning America. It's pretty obviously a terrible song. The lyrics are what one might expect to come from an eight year old, but Ms. Black is thirteen. The bridge actually states as follows: Yesterday was Thursday/ Today it is Friday... Tomorrow is Saturday/ Then Sunday comes afterwards. Ouch. I mean, really? The whole story on GMA was really about all the mean comments people were posting about the video and Becky herself. And if you take the time to read some, they are pretty terrible. However, there are a couple of things to think about before you get all over the people making the comments.

1. Who put her up to this? Did someone along the way tell her she had an amazing talent along the way? We see this happen every year when they air the auditions for American Idol. Parents or friends misled (lied) and told their child or best friend that they had a good voice and sounded great. Therefore, they start thinking about all the singing competitions available to people now and decide to audition. They get put on national television not to applaud their great talent, but to string them up for a firing squad of criticism. Really uplifting stuff. I realize I'm not a parent, but I know from the experience of being someone's child that there comes a time where you have to steer your children in the direction of their natural talents. I did rec. league sports for years because all my close friends did. But, believe me when I say, I am not an athlete, unless you consider couch potatoing a sport. Which you wouldn't of course, because it's pathetically not. And I don't even remember this happening, but at some point in time my parents steered me in the direction of music and away from sports. It was subtly done with love. My parents wanted me to be successful and have self confidence.

2. If you're putting this crap on YouTube (public domain), you're asking for people to view and comment in one way or another. So, if you don't want your feelings hurt, don't ever put something on the internet. I write a blog. I realize that anyone at anytime could find what I have to say to be completely wrong, ridiculous or offensive and they have the right to comment as such. It may hurt my feelings, but it was ultimately my decision to put my thoughts out there for everyone to see. You make yourself vulnerable. And when you make yourself vulnerable, you always run the risk of getting shot down. That is what is currently happening. But, mark my words. Someone at some record company will feel sorry for her and see an opportunity to cash in on the negative attention given to her song and her video and she'll wind up with a record deal. Or we'll see her in another sequel of High School Musical or on an episode of Glee sometime in the future.

If you hated the video, you'll love the sequel.

Shut the front door!!!

Do you ever find yourself having to deal with someone who just won't shut up?! That's my life five days a week (also, in case you're wondering, I'm not talking about any of my co-workers). This creates some problems really in several ways. First, I have to find a way to not have my mind wander too much just in case this person is saying something that involves some form of participation on my part. It's hard, really hard. I have sudden urges (when I'm consciously thinking about what he's saying) to scream "I have no idea what you're talking about, nor do I care!". But I can't do that because I'm a professional. Most of the time.

I'm also sick of all the gossip surrounding our department and line of work. Besides my office friends, we contract with a bunch of men, although they're more like women than you'd think. I swear they must just sit around and chit-chat all the time, giving each other manicures and brushing each other's hair. Just when the air from one rumor begins to clear, another one sweeps right in. Unbelievable. I thought that men were all about facing problems head on. If you've got something to say about me then say it to my face! But apparently, that's not the case. Well, you know what I say? Grow a couple.