Overwood - Old Town Alexandria

After my Derm appt at Walter Reed today, my husband took me to lunch at Overwood in Old Town Alexandria. The only thing I have to say about it is...nothing. It was so unremarkable that I have to tell people about it. I had the fried green tomatoes and Kevin and Moose had the Buffalo wings....could have paid less and had the same meal at Chili's. The house wine was also unremarkable and the waiter wouldn't tell me what vineyard it came from. All in all, I'm giving it a 3/5. Nothing to run to, but you don't have to run away from it.

I ended a friendship today. It wasn't a tight friendship, but we had known each other for a lot of years...18, 20, something like that. It was my call. Over the past few months, I have watched this person transform into someone I don't even know.

How tragic it all is really. This other person doesn't even know. She will open her e-mail at some point today or tomorrow and figure it out. The sad thing is, I don't think she will care about my reasons. She will only think that I have some other motivation and blame all others except herself.

Ash Wednesday

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and not being a practicing Catholic, I've given only a little thought to what I should give up for Lent. There are several things I should, but I just don't know...

I remember when I was a kid (12/13 years old) going to Catholic school (wasn't Catholic at the time, converted later) and my friends would give up different things; sour foods, candy, etc. At the time, I thought that that was what it was about. Of course, I would always see them eating pickles or candy from the snack shack, they would go to confession and feel better, I guess. (shrug) Now that I'm older, I know that giving up something that trival is not what it's about. You are really supposed to sacrifice something you love (or at least like alot) to remind yourself of Christ's suffering.

As a "cafeteria Catholic" I like the symbolism of getting ashes, but I'm not real sure I can really give something up. Sure, I could say I'm going to give up sweets (have really cut back on those lately anyway) or sour foods (don't eat them...gave up Chinese candies after I made my self sick on them when I was pregnant with my oldest) or even smoking (rrrriiiiighttt! one glass of wine and that's all over with!). I could even give up wine...what and go straight back to beer?! OOO! I know! My cell phone! (eyeroll...that's NEVER going to happen!)

I guess what it comes down to is that I wish I had the strength of character to really give up something. The strength to put down a bad habit and leave it there. Maybe this Lentin Season I'll try to just be a better person. I'll try to listen more and talk less. I think the real problem is I carry around things that I can't put down (my anger at my sister comes to mind). I could say that I'm going to try to be more forgiving, but I just can't. (grr)

Now that I've gone on and on about this and have still come to no conclusion, I'll stop. Maybe, just maybe, I've made you think a bit tho???

Until next time.

Love,
Shoiley
34th Street
Above the Bakery
In the Bronx

At JuanDisimo's Request

For your birthday, your aunt gave you a maple syrup dispenser shaped like a rooster. Please write her a thank-you note:

Dear Aunt Suze, I can not begin to thank you enough for the lovely gift. I have found just the right place for it and I'm sure that it will be admired by all to see it. Of course since this is such a wonderful and precious thing, I have placed it where only a very few, very select group will ever have the privilage of experiencing such greatness. Love always, S

It's been too long

It's been way too long since I blogged. I know this, because I had to reset my password...I hate it when that happens!

Anyway, when I thought about doing this tonight, I thought I would wax on about my day (it was crappy) and my life (still crapy), but then, I figured out I couldn't log on and had to reset the password, and a new thought came to mind.

TOOO LOOONG! How long is too long? I mean, we go thru life thinking "I'll call/write/email/or other wise be in touch with ________" (fill in the blank for yourself) but the days go on and we don't do it. Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. We go thru our lives with this Scarlett O'Hara attitude and guess what? Tomorrow never comes! You and I live in the real world, with real issues and real timelines. There never seems to be enough time in the day to get to everything that we want to. Hell, there is raley enough time in the day to get to everything we need to do!

Now that I've said all that, am I going to change anything? OF COURSE! Tomorrow, I'm going to get up, exercise, go to work, and in all my free time, I'm going to write the letters I've been meaning to write, make all the calls I've been meaning to make, and reach out to all the people I've been meaning to reach out to...NOT! Seriously, when am I going to do that? In all my free time? What free time????
The truth is, tomorrow I'm going to go to work, try to survive another day, and maybe carve out time for my friends, family, and self. By the time I fall into bed I'll be so tired (and/or will have just a little too much wine) I won't be able to keep my eyes open or my thoughts straigh enough to remember everything I forgot to do. :( grrr

New Year

Let's just cut thru the chase here...I haven't been walking and I haven't been working on my quilting. I have been mostly lazy. I have been working on a knitting project, I just don't know who it's for yet. Last time I started one of these (it's a prayer shawl...no not to wear while praying...just look it up google "Prayer Shawl Ministeries") it turned out to be for my sister in law who was very ill in the hospital at the time. I'll know who this one is for either by the time I'm done or shortly there after. At least that's how it seem to work out for me.
Anyway, I've given a lot of thought the last day or two to addiction. You know, it's realy easy to look at a junkie (if you don't think you can, just watch Intervention sometime) and say "I'll never be like that" or "how did they get like that?". It's easy to never see ourselves as addicts. We are too good for that. We are white, middle class, Prodestant raised, Americans. There is no way I would ever do (fill in the blank) and ruin myself and my family that way. But the truth is, we are all addicted to something. Don't believe me, go without TV, music, Starbucks, the gym or (as my teenage son is about to find out) videogames for a week. How long would you last without your fix of news or favorite TV show? How long would you go without the background noise that fills in for all of us when we don't want to talk to others in our homes? I don't know the answer...I've never tried it.
Okay, enought nattering on for now. I hope your New Year is filled with success, love, happiness, and just enough of what ever it is you need to get you thru your days.

Sara