The Unusual Phone Tree

Today, I sold a baby item Linden had out grown on Craigslist. Although the item was not special, and I didn't make much off of it, I doubt I will ever forget this particular transaction. Well, I'll never forget the phone call I received regarding the purchase anyway.

Yesterday, I received an email asking if I still had the item, and if I did, to please text my address to a phone number that was supplied. So I did.

Later that day, I received a phone call from a woman that lives in Kyle, about 15 miles away. Her daughter-in-law was the number I had texted earlier, the number which had been supplied by the woman's daughter - who is expecting. It seems her daughter moved out of the state recently. She (the daughter) found my item listed on Craigslist and contacted her sister-in-law (who lives in Pflugerville - 35 miles on the other side of Austin) and asked her to pick up the item. When the sister-in-law saw our location, she called her mother-in-law and asked if she could pick it up, since she lives in Kyle.

As the woman on the phone told me, she would love to pick it up for her daughter, but she doesn't have a car. However, her mom is driving from Austin to take her to a doctors appointment in the morning, and she (the grandmother) is willing to drive her (the mother) over to pick up the item.

How could I refuse the request to save the item for the next day?

I could hardly wait to meet mom and grandma, and I sort of secretly hoped a few other relatives might show up for grins and giggles.

Although, I do have to admit to being a little jealous of how the entire family pulled together to ensure a young mom from out of state would end up with this incredibly exciting used vibrating bouncer that has only mild scratches and light fading.

In fact, I've come up with my own slightly skewed phone tree for the next time I want something from Cedar Park (about 35 miles north). I'll call Dave, in ND, and see if he can pick it up for me - because he does live north of me. Then Dave can call Kathy, in AZ, since that is much closer to Texas than where he lives. Kathy, being the smart one, will remember that Greg and Stephanie actually live in Texas and call them to pick it up. Then Stephanie's no-nonsense German raising will have her calling Oma and Opa to pick it up since they really are closer to Cedar Park than I am.

Or, maybe I'll just go pick it up myself.

Or, and tell me if you think this is weird, maybe I'll only buy stuff in the area I live in.

A Bump in the Road

The Break Down

This afternoon my car broke down on the side of the road. I had Will and Linden with me. My car has been acting funny for a few days. At first, we thought it was the battery, and I made sure to charge it overnight and charge-up our jumper box to put in the vehicle. So when my car began to show signs of dying, I made the decision to pull off of the busy road I was on and onto a less traveled path. My thought being, I would quickly jump the car and get back on the road . . . I was only about 3 miles from the house.

The problem was that the jumper box had lost it's charge. Now, I was stuck. I called a friend I had just been visiting with at a local park and asked if she was going to be driving by and could help out. She would be by, but first she had to drop off her grand daughter - in the opposite direction. So I settled in for the wait.

The Wait

I had pulled into a small area where a road had been shut down but still remained, just barricaded. The area was isolated and had thick shrubs. At the end of the road, there was a huge pile of some sort of gravel or dirt. Will spent forty minutes playing king of the mountain, sliding down the hill, or walking along the top ridge. I opened doors on either side of the car and the light breeze lulled Linden to sleep. My main concern was trying to balance my time between staying close to the car and keeping Will in my line of sight - unfortunately, this didn't leave me visible to people driving by.

The Help

We had only been there a few minutes when a scary looking older man in a small truck pulled up. He looked over the kids and I, then asked, "Anyone know you're out here?" I answered, "Yes", and he rolled up his window and left.

A nice woman in her mid-thirties stopped about fifteen minutes into our stay and offered us a jump. She didn't even know how to open her hood or how to fold down the rod to support it. The real suprise came when we realized you could not access the negative post to her battery - it was covered by her fuses. She tried calling her husband for help, but he was in a meeting. She finally left, without us ever figuring out how to get to her battery.

Then there were three different drivers that all did the same thing; they slowed down and yelled, "Got help coming?" As soon as they heard, "yes", they took off - never hearing the "But I could use a jump." Damn that slow southern drawl!

The Cost

The boys and I ended up spending about an hour outside. There was a cool breeze and plenty of shade. Will got to do something I dreamed of doing as a child - climbing a huge pile of dirt on the side of the road.

My friend and my hubby showed up within minutes of each other to help me out and I made it home safely. Turns out, it was the alternator. Steve spent all evening replacing it; and it cost a pretty penny.

Speaking of which, Will found a pretty penny while we were waiting for assistance to arrive ... along with a pretty dime.

Facebook

Cons

Like most people on Facebook, I spend half my time complaining about it. Here are just a few of the irritating things I dislike about Facebook:

1. Friend requests. It just seems rude to turn down a request to be your friend, but ... Do you really want the weird guy from work knowing everything about you? Do you want your church friends to see photos of you out with your party friends? And who really wants to reconnect with every person you went to elementary school with?

2. Notifications. You make one comment on one photo/status/wall post and then you receive 27 notifications telling you that other people have also commented.

3. Games. I don't want to send you items, see your farm, vote for you in a fake pagent, or buy your fake baked goods. I don't care that you just won 1,000,000 points or have advanced another level.

4. Online. Each time you decide to check your profile, every one of your "friends" will know you are online and will decide that this means you are free to chat.

5. Performance. There are many times when the site lags or freezes due to a heavy load.

6. Changes. It seems that every month or two you have to learn a new way of doing something you've been doing with no issues for the last few years. It's annoying - I don't like change.

Oh there's more; privacy, political or religious postings, sharing my info., forwarding tons of things, etc. Nothing major, just your ordinary complaints.

Pros

Here are a few of the reasons I love Facebook.

1. When you are isolated by location, health, or circumstances, you have a way of interacting with others - even meeting new people. Any form of social interaction is better than none.

2. You are in control of your profile in as much as you select which photo represents you and what information is supplied. I'm amazed on how nice we all look, how successful we are, and what great families we have. Sometimes, I go out to my profile just to remind myself of how well I'm doing.

3. It is a quick way to update everyone in your family at once about any major, or non-major, issues. It's also a good way to share photos of growing children with everyone and not have to mail out photos every year. Also an easy way to keep up with what family members are doing.

4. There have been more than one time when playing the many games on Facebook kept me sane. I may not be thrilled to see game posts on my feed now, but I use to be one of those people making gaming posts/requests. I get it.

5. It makes me laugh. I have several funny friends and relatives who's posts crack me up. Not a day goes by that I don't at least smile, if not outright laugh, at something I've read on Facebook.

6. You can hook up with people from your past that mean the world to you, but managed to loose touch with through the years.

Tonight

Will was playing on the computer this evening. He is often on the computer and is proficient at searching for and playing many free games.

I came in about eight to check my email and was shocked to find four receipts in my inbox from Facebook totally over $96 - for games. Back when I use to play games on Facebook I had attached a credit card to my account for automatic purchasing, and I never removed it. Will had followed some links and hadn't realized he was making purchases.

I immediately followed a link on the first receipt to dispute the transaction. It took less than five minutes to find and dispute all claims from this evening. By the time I removed my financial permission and returned to my email, Facebook had refunded every penny.

Tonight, I'm loving them.

The Wait of a Book

I Love to Read

Take the most avid reader you know and multiply them by ten and you have someone like me - except they don't read much.

I read more than anyone I have ever known. However, I don't want you to get confused thinking I read anything good for me. I seldom pick up a book to learn something new, to study history, art, or physiology. I'm not into the New York best sellers list. I read to relax, to escape, to occupy myself ... I read junk. (Or, according to Steve, I read porn.)

I've been an avid reader since elementary school. By sixth grade, the local library made me an honorary librarian - complete with certificate. In Junior High, the school gave me a pin and made me the first student librarian because I had read over 75% of the books. When the girls were small and I could only make it to the library once a week, I'd check out fifty to a hundred paper backs each time I went in.

I can actually remember reading three entire separate books in one day, on more than one occasion.

eReaders

When eReaders first began to come out I was not interested in owning one at all. They'd be bad for your eyes, have to be constantly recharged, could easily get broken, and they cost to much. It took several years before I begin to think I might enjoy one.

Then I got one for Christmas.

I am still amazed at how quickly I adapted to reading books on an eReader. I did lick my finger and try to turn the page a few times - but that's expected. And not going to the book store or the library was an adjustment too.

Overall, it's been great. My reader is lighter than a book, so it doesn't hurt my wrists. The font is adjustable in size and the contrast is adjustable for daytime or nighttime reading. It opens directly onto the last page of book I was reading before I turned it off - no more lost places or bookmarks.

The Heavy Book

When Tori blogged about a good book she had recently read, I asked her to lend it to me and she did. It's been sitting on my dining room table for six weeks collecting dust.

I'm interested in the book, but every time I walk by and see it I'm reminded that it's a book. It's heavy - it's a thick book. (I bet it hurts my wrists.) I'll have to flip pages. If I don't finish it soon, I'll have to stuff it in my purse or carry it around with me for days. So, I keep waiting, putting it off.

I stumble across it every two to three days and have a moment of guilt over not reading it yet. But feel no compulsion, what so ever, to pick it up and start.

At this point, I'm considering buying the electronic version of the story. Then I wouldn't have to wait to read it any longer.

The Non-Allergic List

I started feeding Linden baby foods this month. Two weeks into the experience and I realized I was doing something different than with my other children. I was only trying him on one new food at a time and trying if for several days to make sure he did not have an allergic reaction before introducing something else.

Then each time I would try something new, I'd recite the list in my head. A list of foods Linden was not allergic to. Not a bad practice, if your child has food allergies or if they run in your family. In ours, the only allergies you have to worry about are the seasonal ones.

As soon as I realized what I was doing, I was stumped. Why? Why go to the trouble of remembering every food introduced when none of my children had ever had a food allergy? What had changed so that I would totally treat the introduction of foods to Linden different than all my other children? It would definitely be a lot easier to just remember the items he reacted to; an allergy list.

It didn't take but a moment to realize it was the introduction of my BFF and her son, who has chronic allergies, into my life that acted as the basis for my unusual behavior. Watching their daily struggle to live a normal life with the many extreme allergies he has ... well, it's left an impression. A conscious one, and I guess, an unconscious one as well.

Lacking any true reason to continue my non-allergic list, I have dropped it. I've also started feeding Linden just like my other children; off the table, mixed foods, whatever he'll eat. He's not had a reaction to anything and I've stopped expecting him too.

I'm just reminded of how much are lives are changed by those we choose to associate with.

Stardust: Part 2 of Clubbing at 40

The Stardust is a club and billiard hall that is three miles from my house. The building is divided with a small stage and dance area on one side and fifteen pool tables in another room. Every night, except Friday, music is supplied via your contributions to a jukebox - get there early enough and with enough cash, and you can listen to whatever you want to.

There are two small pool tables that are coin operated in the dance area. When the girls and I go dancing, we tend to latch onto one of them early. We're all so bad at pool that a game might last half an hour, and we can leave the table to go dance if a song comes on we like.

Before eleven pm, the clientele on the dance side averages between 35-55 years of age. Most of them show up in what they wore all day and have a beer or two before heading home. It's a small town type of place until after eleven, then the kids come out and the DJ shows up to play songs most of my friends don't like (but I do).

Last Thursday, we hit the Stardust because SXSW was in Austin and no one wanted to mess with driving into town. Two of us showed up early to save a table, which wasn't necessary as the place was empty. When we walked in at 7:30 there were two people at the bar, a three some sitting between the pool and dance areas, and two pool tables occupied on the other side.

However, we hadn't even sit down when an Enabler came over to see if we wanted to join him and a set of Twinkies. We politely declined, letting them know we had friends coming. This did not prevent the Twinkies from attempting to engage us in conversation and act as sports broadcasters over every frame of our pool game. Nor did it stop the Enabler from giving us cash for the jukebox.

Other friends dribbled in over the next hour and we ended up with five women and one man at the table. For the first hour we mainly played pool and listened to music, as well as watched others trickle in.

I was pleased to see a four pack of women around are age show up and settle in for the evening. The Freak that was at their table started dancing right away, by herself. The Drunk sitting at the bar stumbled over and asked Ms. Independence, who was sporting a bruised cheek, to dance. She did. All incredibly entertaining.

At some point, the Enabler managed to lure a woman in her early thirties away from the pool tables and over to sit with the Twinkies. He bought the table a few rounds and headed on out. An hour later the lady (and I use the term loosely) left with the Twinkies.

By nine every one at our table was up dancing to every decent song that came on. The gentleman made a comment about it being the first time he'd ever danced with five women and we decided he had to have a photo to commemorate the event. Between the Drunk dancing into us, the Freak scaring everyone she got close too, and the bad lighting, it wasn't an easy photo to take.

While we were out on the floor, the Drunk stumbled over and introduced himself to all five ladies. Shaking our hands and informing us he had a ranch outside of town. "Always a good place to keep them," I say - I love messing with drunks.

"She's crazy," he mumbles, pointing at the Freak - like we needed clarification. She apparently took exception to his talking to us and dragged him off shortly afterwards.

Most of my friends left around ten as they worked the next morning, just leaving two of us to finish up the night. We played another round of pool and danced a few more dances. By this time the DJ was hooking up his equipment and a large Team came in.

This was a first, as the Team was an actual team who had just finished playing softball. Sixteen men and women in their mid-twenties who were still wearing dirty uniform tops and shorts. Several of them had painted black streaks across their faces. They pushed a few tables together right in front of us.

At this point, we're leaning back in our chairs and have our feet propped up on vacant seats. We're slowly polishing off our last drink and just people watching.

The Chairperson jumps up as a member of his Team approaches and moves toward our table to see if he can borrow a vacant chair - we had tons of them. I kicked one toward him and saved him a few steps. We repeated the process two more times. The last time, he catches it and pushes it back toward us and takes a seat. He introduces himself and spends a few minutes yakking, then we run out of things to say to each other. He sits around a few more minutes before grabbing his chair and headed back to his friends.

As soon as the Team arrives, Ms Independence, who looks to be in her early fifties, morphs into a Cougar and starts draping herself over the young men. A Babysitter in her group jumps up each time she does this and leads her back to their table. This cycle is repeated no less than six times before the Babysitter decides it's time to take the Cougar home. Getting her out the door took another half hour - every the Babysitter would let go of the Cougar, she'd be back over trying to sit in the lap of, or drape over, one of the guys. The guys were all good-natured about it, which just made it funnier.

A few minutes before the Cougar made it out the door, the Drunk was escorted out by his own Babysitter (and the Drunks Babysitter managed to get him out the door on the first try).

With most of the Usual Suspects gone, our people watching teetered off and we headed out about eleven thirty.

A little dancing, some drinking, a few games of pool, people watching and good company . . . not a bad night at all at the old Stardust.

The Usual Suspects - Part 1 of Clubbing in your 40s

I've been clubbing on a semi-regular basies for about two years now and I thought I'd share my perspective of what going out in your fourties is like.

Keep in mind: I'm out with a bunch of women my age, and we tend to go places where we're comfortable. The experience is probably totally different if you're younger.


THE USUAL SUSPECTS

I'm an avid people watcher and I've categorized many of the types of people I come across when clubbing.

Ms. Independence
This is most commonly a woman, but I have come across a man or two, who is newly out of a relationship and out to prove something. They drink too much, laugh way too loud, are very 'handy', and they will go home with ANYTHING. Don't dance to close to them, they'll take it as an invitation - and they are hard to get away from.

Twinkies
This is a set of two same-sex individuals that are incapable of acting without each other. They will go to the bathroom, bar, or dance, only at the same time. They can often be seen leaving at the same time with two (or one) person of the opposite sex. Don't bother asking one of them to dance unless you have a friend to take with you.

The Team
This is a bunch of individuals that are use to being together and not interested in interacting outside of their group. They may work together, be related, belong to the same social network, or play on a team sport together. While seeing groups of people together at clubs is not unusual, they are usually more open to interaction from others - not these guys. Save your breath and just ignore them.

The Chairman
This person is usually part of a group. He/she will jump up and make it their job to locate and drag over a chair for anyone who slows down when approaching their table. They're also known to grab extra napkins, glasses of water, and ash trays as needed. Nice to have in your group, but not worth asking to dance - they never have any time to call their own.

The Freak
Sadly, this is most often a woman. It is someone who isn't out to prove anything and doesn't need alcohol to scare the shit out of everyone. They dance by themselves, usually in a manner that is way over the top. They are also known to randomly draw unsuspecting people into conversation while on the dance floor then follow you back to the table and try to join the group. They also have no idea what words like 'that seat is taken', 'no thank you', 'could you leave now' mean. Some times the only option is for the entire group to get up and relocate, sans the Freak.

The Enabler
This is someone who drinks very little and never dances, but funds the activities for others. It's usually an older person who is living vicariously. They are prone to snagging people for their friends and bringing them back to the table. They're pretty harmless, and known to buy drinks for pretty much anyone.

The Rock Star
This is a woman that likes to dress scandalously (spandex pants, see through tops, etc.) and wear make up thick enough she looks ready to appear on stage. At our age, not a pretty picture. She's almost always alone and never joins another group. Since she looks easy, she gets asked to dance a lot. While she adores the attention - may even need it, she's most likely to leave alone.

The Drunk
This is usually a man. Most of the time, it's a normal old Tom, Dick, or Harry that has worked all week and just wants to have a good time. Desperately, wants to have a good time. They usually show up about three sheets to the wind and it goes down hill from there. They're generally nice, fun to talk to, a riot to watch, and if you catch them early enough, they'll dance with anyone that asks them. Just don't wait to ask them to long, or they'll step on your toes, spin you into poles, and trip on the way to the dance floor.

The Babysitter
This is the responsible one in a group. There isn't a Babysitter in every group, but most groups don't need them. The Babysitter is most noticeable when combined with a Drunk or Ms. Independence. Once someone in their group hits staggering stage, the Babysitter will start trying to convince them it's time to leave. For some reason, this always takes about thirty minutes. You can always tell how often a person plays this role, by how fast they can get their drunk friend out the door.

The Cougar
An older woman trying to pick up younger man to prove she's still attractive. Has many of the same traits as Ms. Independence, but they're more calculating and able to handle their liquor better. They are also mean and prone to defending their territory - perceived or otherwise. Stay clear of.

In conclusion
Once you've identified the usual suspects many fun hours can be filled with placing bets on who takes who home, how fast someone falls down, who gets asked to dance first, if those pants will rip while she dances, and so much more.

Catch Part 2 to read about my last girls night out and the appearance of the usual suspects.