Day 228: A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words... On Seeing Things That Make You Go "Aww"

One word for this... Awwwwwww!

Last week's cliche: Over the hill

Day 227: Stop. Focus. Click... On Nighttime Magic

The holidays are over and the dreary winter months are upon us. However, the holiday lights are still up. So even though it looks crappy out my window during the day, it still looks magical at night.

Day 226: Remember the Time... Just Tell Me It's Going To Be OK, Even If It Isn't

One day it was there.

I was petting Chloe's head and grazed a bump on the back of her skull. I parted the fur to reveal what looked like a large, hard mole. But I've petted my pooch's head for seven years and never came across it before.

So I took her to the vet who looked at it and said it could be something, it could be nothing.

It was something.

Remember the time I wanted to be spoken to as if I were a child and not a mom who was already really worried about her baby?

Instead of hearing the words 'needle biopsy' and 'tumor' and 'excise' while feeling the weight of my nervous pup huddled against my leg that was probably shaking as much as her, part of me just wanted the vet to speak to me as if I were a child to take the fear away:

"Your doggie has a boo-boo, but next week I'm going to make it all better and she'll be fine." 

These are the kinds of words we'd use with children. Innocent children. We shelter them from the harsh realities of the real world because they're just too young to understand how horrific the world can be. And in many ways, I do believe that ignorance is bliss.

However, of course the responsible adult in me wanted to know exactly what the surgery entailed and how serious she thought it would be, but Chloe is my baby. And knowing something might be wrong with my baby that could possibly cause her pain is gut-wrenching. 

I have to keep it in perspective and remember that the vet said there were only a few abnormal cells, so she wants to remove the whole thing just to be sure, but it's hard.


What would I do without my baby?

Day 225: If I Ruled Lichtenstein... You'll Know It When You Look Good

Sometimes I'll be walking to work and see a woman wearing a really cute pair of boots or a really trendy hat or an adorable outfit. I'll see this woman and think these things, but don't always vocalize my thoughts. 

I took a shower yesterday and braided my wet hair before going to bed. It dried overnight so when I shook out the braids this morning, I was left with '80s-style crimped hair just for something different.

Brent happened to call me early this morning, and before we hung up, he jokingly asked me how many compliments I had gotten on my hair (he HATES the way it looks when I do it that way). I told him - truthfully - that two people said they really liked, including one guy who went out of his way to come to my desk just to tell me he liked my hair.

And by the end of the day, the number of unprompted compliments numbered six. - including another guy who told me I looked especially nice overall. And each and every one of these compliments felt good. They always do.

That's why, in Lichtenstein, we'll be more vocal about what we're thinking when it's positive. We won't make stuff up just to compliment someone, but when that thought crosses our minds, we won't hesitate to dish it out.


The world will undoubtedly appear much sunnier.

Day 224: What Did Batman Say to Robin... About The Sniffles

Holy pass the tissues Batman!

Would you rather be extremely sick (bed-ridden) for one week or slightly sick (headache, runny nose, and cough) for one month?

Even though both of these scenarios suck, for me, this is an easy call. I'd much rather be slightly sick for a month.

I hate being any kind of sick. At the first inkling of a headache, I reach for the Aleve. At the first sniffle, I grab some Sudafed. So even when I'm slightly sick, it isn't long until I have relief. (And even though I'm feeling better, I don't always tell people taking care of me that I feel better. Yeah I admit I milk it sometimes!)

But when you're extremely sick, there is no amount of over-the-counter medication that's going to make you feel even slightly better. It's just absolute misery until the sickness runs its course or the antibiotics you get after dragging yourself to the doctor start to take effect many days later.

So even though the horrible sickness would only last a week, I'd much rather be slightly uncomfortable for a month. Or as the people taking care of me would think, so uncomfortable that I can't cook or clean or do chores!

Day 223: Never Have I Ever... Attempted To Finess A Win... Which We All Know Never Works

As you may recall, I have grown to love the challenging card game bridge. I've been playing for a few months now, but still usually raise several questions per hand and am constantly seeking reassurance for my decisions from the elite bridge players at work (which they're always happy to give me, and for that I'm grateful).

I was just getting comfortable playing with a partner and another team of two when it happened - I was asked to play duplicate bridge for the first time.

Duplicate bridge is an eight-person game played by splitting into teams of two, with two teams per table. The same bridge deal is played at each table and scoring is based on relative performance. The element of skill is heightened because essentially the goal of the game is to play your hand better than that of another team who played that exact same hand.

First of all, I have little skill with this game because I'm still learning. I consider myself to be at the point where I understand why what I did was not a good move, but not at the point where I don't make those bad moves in the first place.

So trying to outdo another team made up of bridge tournament champions just had bad news bears written all over it.


Luckily, my friend Brian asked to be paired with me, presumably so that all the other players would have a chance at winning, and we began to play. I'm usually pretty bold - mostly because I like to see what happens if I do something. However, during this game, I was adhering strictly to the conventional rules of bridge and bidding extremely conservatively.

And because of this - and because of sheer luck that the other teams weren't making their contracts - we were in first place at the end of the second of three rounds.


I made sure to screw that up, however, with a disastrous round of no trump and we ended up in third. Not bad for my first time, though!

Day 222: Shakespeare's High School Poetry... On Breaking Control

An epigram is a very short, ironic and witty poem usually written as a brief couplet or quatrain.

 

Many are humorous, but I feel that this type of poem lends itself well to being a quote, so I'm leaning toward making it more of a powerful statement. I'm hoping this helps those who are still out there.

 

It's only an addiction

If you let that need control you.