Defending Michael

I am brave enough to say this.

I am not convinced that Michael Jackson was a child molester.  I realize that many of you are throwing things at your screens right now. But let me present my case.

There is no denying that Michael Jackson was a whack job. He had a fucked up childhood and was a drug user and was basically a child inhabiting a man’s body. Someone that weird is an easy target for such accusations because so many weird things about him were true. So anything that gets said about him must be true.

First, and most convincingly, in my opinion, is that the parents of one of his accusers was willing to take a payoff rather than persuing criminal charges. Now, call me crazy but if I honestly believed that some sicko had touched Bridget on her jumbly bits,  no amount of money would be enough to convince me to let him off the hook. I’d want him to rot in prison while in the service of his cellmate, Bubba. I would not rest until he got what he deserved. I think the parents of this kid were just looking for a payout.

Second, when criminal charges were brought against him, the DA couldn’t get a conviction. Now we all know that just because someone is found not guilty doesn’t mean they are innocent. But public opinion against Michael Jackson was already at an all-time low at that point, and even still, the jury said there wasn’t enough evidence. I know you are all thinking of OJ right now, but the OJ jury was on his side from the get-go. I don’t think anyone was on MJ’s side at that trial. I think the jury was dying for a reason to convict and they weren’t given one.

I’ve said it before and I’ll continue to say it. When someone is THAT weird, you can say just about anything about them and everyone will believe it. I’m not saying that I believe with 100% certainty that he was innocent, but I’m not convinced he was guilty either.  Only his accusers know for sure now. But with all the hate being spread especially now, I just wanted to throw some positive energy his way.

In my mind, I’ll choose to remember him as he was when I loved him when I was kid, circa 1983-1984.  I hope he’s a peace now.

Another Favorite Thing - Sonya Dakar Drying Potion

Throughout my life, I’ve been lucky to not struggle with acne. Even as a teenager, I got my share of breakouts but they were usually just caused by cheap makeup caked on, topped off with a heavy layer of Rave hairspray to hold up the bang flower. I found that if I was diligent with cleansing, I could keep it under control. Anyone else here wash daily with Noxzema and then peel off layers of skin with heavy applications of Sea Breeze? I’m surprised my face didn’t melt off like the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The flip side of that luck, though, is that I never really outgrew breakouts. I wasn’t covered with them, but they were pretty regular. I went to see my esthetician when I turned 30 and demanded a solution to the problem that I was getting zits and wrinkles around my eyes at the same time, and I just felt that wasn’t fair. She hooked me up with the right (and cheap!) products for me and I have stuck with them with great results. I still get pimples every now and then, but usually they are hormonal or because I have been lax about washing my face.

I never really had found a good as-needed spot remover that worked for me. Until now!

If you ever get the occasional breakout and need a never-fail solution, you should try this:

I have been using this for a few months and it has never failed to get rid of the pimple overnight. And it even works on those painful, under the skin kind that bother you for two days before deciding to break through to the surface. $25 may seem a bit steep for the tiny bottle but you really only use a dab at a time so it will last for a good long time.

Oh, but if you are pregnant, check with your doctor before using anything for your pimples. That just makes good sense.

Love/Hate

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve been compiling a list of things I love and hate about our new house.

LOVE:

1. It’s really pretty! It has great moldings and trim around all the doors and windows.
2. The floor plan is pretty smart and doesn’t have the kitchen opening into the family room. I know realtors would have everyone believe that the open floor plan is a huge bonus, but I hate it. If anyone is doing anything in the kitchen, the noise of it fills the family room. I like having my kitchen separate from the living spaces.
3. Has a fireplace with gas logs, which I prefer to wood. It’s just easier and less messy and safer. I can’t wait to have a fire!
4. Our wet bar! I love it!
5. The master bathroom is very large and the toilet is in a separate little room. That means that Jake and I can share the bathroom a whole lot more than we used to. You know that we don’t use the bathroom in front of each other AT ALL so having that means less waiting for one person.
6. Our master closet is HUGE!

HATE:

1. The driveway is on such a steep hill that if you aren’t careful getting in and out of the car, you could lose a leg.
2. Have I mentioned we are infested with sugar ants?  I know they are just a nuisance but seeing them in my kitchen just makes me feel like they are crawling all over me. We are treating for them, but the exterminator let me know that they are actually pretty difficult to get rid of, and will likely require more than one treatment. Apparently when a house sits for a while, they build their little colonies. We moved in and disturbed it all, plus started having yummy food for them, so they are venturing out.  But until I can come into the kitchen and not see ants crawling around on the counters, I will not be at peace here.
3. No linen closet. Seriously? This house was built in 2004. I cannot believe that there is no linen closet.
4. The laundry room is upstairs. Initially this would go on the “love” list because you don’t have to lug laundry down any stairs. But the problem is that it’s located right outside Bridget’s bedroom door, so you can’t do laundry when she is asleep. And Bridget’s room is the one that makes the most sense out of the three extras for her to have, so we’re not moving her.
5. No central air conditioning. Now, everyone will say that it doesn’t get hot enough here to need central air. But I call bullshit. Seventy-eight degrees outside is enough to warrant having the air kick on, especially in the upstairs. And while it’s been barely sixty degrees for the past couple of days, we did have some really warm days where the upstairs was positively stifling.
6. For the size of this house, we still don’t have room for some of our furniture. We don’t have a dining room so my dining room furniture is in storage, along with all my china and crystal, and our big bookshelves.

When we initially looked at this house and heard the situation, I had a vague idea that if we liked the house, maybe at the end of our lease we’d make an offer to buy it. But I know now that I wouldn’t want to live here for the long term. It’s fine for a year, but if we are going to be here for good, we need a house that has more items on the love list than on the hate list. So I actually want to get started on figuring out what our plan will be. Since we made practically no money on the sale of our house, we need to get going to save for a down payment, because real estate here is ridiculously expensive. Also, we might consider building a house and if we do that, it will take time. Of course now that I know that we won’t be here really long term, I’m far less interested in getting it finished. I just want it somewhat liveable. We haven’t even hung any pictures yet, and I sort of don’t care because in my head, we’re just going to have to patch those holes in a year when we leave. But really a year is a long time and we need to make a home for Bridget’s sake.

I guess I should go get to work then, huh?

My Target is Cuter Than Your Target

Have I shown you my new local Target? No? Well, look how cute it is!

I just wish it was a Super Target.  But it’s so cute, I can almost forgive it.

Open Letter to Retailers

Dear Target, Old Navy, Gap, Ann Taylor, White House|Black Market et al.,

NO, I do NOT want to open a charge account at your store. I don’t care what percent I get off my first purchase, I don’t care about your reward programs, and I don’t care that I’m pre-approved.

I think it is horribly irresponsible of all retailers such as yourself, in this economy, to try to entice consumers into more debt. When so many people are struggling just to get by, you are lucky that they are in your store at all, spending their precious money. Maybe your time would be better spent finding ways to thank the customers that are there and paying cash rather than trying to lure them into debt so you can collect the interest. Shame on you.

And while I know that your employees are only doing as they are asked, trying to get people to open these accounts, you would be well served to teach them the ever-important lesson of “No means no!” Because Target? Today, even though I love you so, I almost told the obnoxious cashier who was brow-beating me about the damn charge account to just go ahead and void my $200+ order because I had just about had it with her sales pitch. If I hadn’t desperately needed diapers, I might have done just that. But my tirade would have lost some oomph had I insisted she return everything but the diapers.

LYLAS,
SpuddyBuddy

Reading is Fundamental

Reading is one of my great comforts in life. No matter how exhausted I am, I almost cannot fall asleep at night unless I’ve read a few pages of whatever book I’m engrossed in at the moment. My favorite thing about flying is having a long stretch of time to do nothing but read. Well, I guess I should say my favorite thing about flying without a toddler.

I try to keep up with doing very basic book reviews here so I can keep track of what I’ve read, because sometimes I’ve gotten halfway through a book and realized I’ve read it before. Mostly that happens with chick lit, which I love and is my guilty pleasure. I don’t read bodice rippers, but give me some chick lit, especially British chick lit, and I am a happy girl.

So recently I’ve read:

Rabbit Factory by Marshall Karp:  Oh my god, I had been hearing about this book for ages before I finally  bought the damn thing. It was so good. Karp is witty beyond belief and has created one of the best cop buddy duos in Lomax and Biggs that I’ve ever read.

My Booky Wook by Russell Brand: Read this on the Kindle, which I would not recommend doing - I found that biographies and other books with photographs don’t work too well on the Kindle. It also has endnotes which are difficult if not impossible to deal with on the Kindle, at least my version of the Kindle. They may have fixed that on the newer version and the one coming out for textbooks. I know some folks hate Russell Brand but I find him fascinating. I love to watch his stand up because I love to see how quickly and strangely his mind works. He will honestly say anything, just to see what happens. I really find that interesting. Reading his memoir or autobiography (what is the difference, by the way?) really amazed me. I’m always amazed at the fucked up lives of funny people. A lot of people would just curl up and die, but I think to be able to channel pain and abuse and addiction and turn it into humor is fascinating.

The Geometry of Sisters by Luanne Rice: This was actually the first book I bought on my Kindle. It was ok. Not bad.  Not my favorite read but it kept my interested.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver:  I might be the last person on the face of the earth to be reading this book. It’s been on my radar of books to read for a long time, but recently a friend mentioned it in a conversation we were having about religion and so I bought it on the Kindle. I’m about half way through right now and I am enthralled. Absolutely enthralled. In fact, I need to go find the charger for my Kindle now and go read a few pages before falling asleep.

I really would love to join a book club. Maybe I’ll look into that when I get myself settled in. I would love to get exposed to what other people enjoy reading and to discover new authors.

Oh, I also came up with some other thoughts on the Kindle. Another minus for me is that you have to turn it off during takeoff and landing when you fly. This is highly annoying to me because final descent can take a long time, as you all know. So I discovered I had to do something else to pass the time at the end of all of my flights to Dallas and back this past weekend. Theoretically, I think that the Kindle is supposed to be ok to have on, but flight attendants don’t seem to know this and will most likely insist you turn it off.

Catching Up

It’s been such a busy week, I can barely believe that it was only a week ago that I took Bridget on the plane and headed “home” to Seattle.

Yesterday I got myself on a plane and came back to Dallas for the weekend so I could turn in my Chevy Traverse. It was a very sad parting, I will be honest. I am also here to throw a baby shower for my dear, dear friend Sarah. So I had to buy an outfit for that today, because nothing in my closet was really making me happy. Had a nice lunch with my mom, did our shopping and then I had to get a pedicure, because, you know, you can’t walk around with hobbit feet.

The house is slowly coming together, mostly due to Jake’s hard work. As you know, when I’m overwhelmed, I just sort of practice avoidance. I mean, how can be expected to unpack the linen closet when I HAVE NO FREAKING LINEN CLOSET???  I mean honestly. This house was built in 2004. There is no excuse for it not having a linen closet. But I digress. I think that I need to have the house professionally cleaned because I think that I am subconsciously grossed out by the house. The leasing people swore that the house had been cleaned but it obviously was not. And so being in the house just makes me feel kind of gross. That may explain my daily afternoon nausea. And no, I am not pregnant. And yes, I’m sure. So the house doesn’t really feel like home to me yet, but it will.

I guess this post is about as disjointed as I feel right now. I feel happy, excited, sad and scared all at the same time. It’ll all sort itself out though. I’m trying not to be too hard on myself, and while I know Jake would like it better if I could get the house together faster, I give myself permission to wallow a bit. He understands.

And I fun trips planned coming up. So there’s lots to look forward to. Stick with me. I’ll be back to normal soon. And I use the term “normal” very loosely.

I Knew This Part Would Come

The part where it hits me that my life has completely changed.

I don’t do well with significant change. Actually, that’s not fair to say really. I just need a while to adapt a bit, and until I do, I am in a funk for a couple of days. I was really ok until today. I thought maybe I’d overcome that part of my personality. But today tells me that I haven’t.

There is so much to do. I am overwhelmed into paralysis. The kitchen is so overwhelming to me because there is not enough room for my stuff and the task of deciding what to keep and what to put into storage is simply too daunting. I feel ashamed of myself, and then I go in there determined to finish it already, then I can only muster doing one or two small tasks before I can’t take it and have to leave again.

It also doesn’t help that I’m exhausted (Jake and I both are, as our daughter has decided that since the sun comes up at 5:30 a.m. here, then she should obviously also be up at 5:30), and I don’t feel very well thanks to allergies.

Waaaah.

I’ll get over this. This doesn’t mean that I’m not happy or that I think I made the wrong decision. I would be feeling this way had I just moved to a new house in Dallas. My little brain just doesn’t like upheaval any more than Bridget’s apparently. I just don’t express it by biting people.

I Love This Place Already!

I have started a bunch of posts in my head about the trip here and how horrible Bridget was on the plane, how I stupidly did not charge her DVD player so we could not watch anything to waste the time, and how Benadryl has absolutely zero effect on my child. But now I’m here and it all seems pointless. That part is over. And it is awesome here.

The house is as great as I remember it. Jake has done a great job of arranging the furniture. I asked him to make Bridget’s room top priority so that she felt at home when she got here, and he certainly did that. We do have a lot of things left to do and unpack, but that was most important and it helped immensely.

We already found a great pizza delivery place that is not Pizza Hut or Domino’s. Today I’ll be unpacking the kitchen and running some errands and beginning to find my way around town.

Did I mention that I have the option of having at home milk delivery? I didn’t think anyone did that anymore. But I can have a milk man and you can bet your sweet ass I’m going to do it. How can you NOT do that if you have the option?

Change of Plans

Bridget has not been handling all this upheaval in her life very well. She is constantly asking for Jake, Robbie (the dog) and her bed and toys. But beyond that, she is acting out, not sleeping, and generally being an unhappy kid, making my life miserable as well.

So Jake and I decided that this arrangement is not working for her. I’ll be leaving Dallas on Friday night with Bridget. I’ll be back in town next week by myself, but we think that being with her things and in a familiar routine will be much better for her. I hope this is the right thing to do but I guess it can’t be the wrong thing to do.

I just feel badly about all the plans I’m having to flake out on. I have a TON to do before leaving here Friday afternoon. I don’t know if I’ll get it all done, but I’ll do my best.