i stand corrected

Lori Loughin, I thought you would forever be Aunt Becky, mom to two precocious toddlers. I never saw you with the chutzpah it takes to raise teenagers in Beverly Hills. But tonight, as I watched you impart sage wisdom to young Duncan, you also educated me. I didn't think you had it in you, but I raise my glass to you. You can school my kids any day.

hope

It's a cold day here in Greensboro, but I'm filled with hope that comes with the promise of new beginnings. As we take the day to celebrate Martin Luther King it feels almost prophetic that tomorrow we inaugurate our first African American president. No doubt, he will disappoint us from time to time for some it will be more often than not. I think that's the nature of being the President. People will definitely hate you. It's also the mark of what is truly great about this nation, we have the privilege of hating our president and doing so with gusto.

I'm looking forward to watching the inaugural coverage. The day after the election, one of the nurses gathered our co-workers for a huddle. She wanted us all to share our thoughts, though I'm pretty sure just positive ones, about the election. I'm sure what she did would be frowned upon by hospital administration and although I was certainly celebrating, I was a little uncomfortable too. My anxiety diffused though when I heard some of my co-workers' thoughts. I heard stories of African American men and women waking their children up and calling them to the television..."yes, you can" they said. The magnitude of what it means to see someone who looks like you in such an important position really hit home for me in that moment. I think our days of racism and prejudice are far from over, but I am thankful that my own children will never know a world where black man cannot be president.

I'm looking forward to change.

lust

Oh, Vera Bradley, you cunning temptress. Why must you seduce me with such cute patterns?

Purple Punch



Cupcake Pink



Cupcake Green



Hope Garden



(these are in order from the one I like the least to the one I like the best...just in case you're going shopping this weekend.)

Reading a magazine

Did anyone see Speidi on How I Met Your Mother Tonight? Love. it.

are you there margaret? Peter needs some clarification.

At work, we use these really strong cleansing wipes to help prevent the spread of infections. These wipes are seriously powerful, they'll kill MRSA, VRE, HIV, Hepatitis, etc.

Yesterday, one of our mental health patients was standing in the hallway asking my coworker for something. He was holding the container of wipes and looking really confused. I couldn't really hear all of their conversation, but I did pick up that she was asking him for a sanitary napkin. He stumbled over his words a bit and then handed her the package. At this point, I could only hear his part of the conversation. "You need them right now?" "Oh, you want them before you can go to the bathroom?" "Oh, okay....well, this is really the only thing that we have..." and then he handed her the wipes.

At that point she looked really confused, and I could barely contain myself. "Ma'am. I can help you. We have some right in here" and I headed for the supply closet. "Peter..." I called my colleage in. "She wanted a maxi pad."

"No. She said she wanted a sanitary napkin. I thought she meant an alcohol wipe."

I informed him, "She meant a maxi pad."

"Well why didn't she just say that?" he asked.

"She was probably kind of embarrassed. A sanitary napkin is a maxi pad."

Still confused and probably a bit embarrassed, he said, "Show me where it says that on the package! You don't put these things on your face, it's not a napkin!"

"That's what it says on the machines. It's kind an old fashioned word," I explained to him.

"Well, I'm was a history major and I've never heard that word."

snob

There are some words my mom says that just drive me crazy! I've learned, over time, that it's best if I just leave it alone and don't say anything. Although my first instinct is to jump in and correct her. This requires tremendous restraint on my part. Instead, I hold the corrective dialogue in my own mind and pretend I didn't notice. Sometimes I do go a little further and intentionally introduce that word, pronounced correctly, of course, into my next sentence. I may even need to use that word in the next several sentences. Apparently, I'm doing a good job restraining my feelings of frustration because she continues to mispronounce these words, Mexico, Toille, Laguardia, etc. Now, don't think my mom is a complete idiot. In some situations, it's not quite a mispronunciation so much as a weird pronunciation. She insists on calling them Joe Jeans instead of Joe's and it drives me crazy!

To give her a little credit, my mom isn't the only one whose verbal flaws drive me crazy. Pretty much every day there are a few folks whose banter hits me like nails on a chalkboard. I'm continually biting my tongue to refrain from correcting or snapping at them. A girl I work with says, gifth. Not gift, but gifth. Seriously, I saw her tongue between her teeth when she said the word...twice. Other people enjoy slipping letters into words like pastorial instead of pastoral. what is with this? Do people just not hear the difference between these words? Are they not hooked on phonics? Are they trying to spice up life?

Or, am I just the only insane person who can't handle it?

not feelin' it

I'm behind on the posts. I'm just not feeling it right now. I actually had a list of little silly things to post about, but alas, that list is in my stolen purse. I'm hoping inspiration will strike soon. Surely, a stranger will make me wear his jacket, I will insult a homeless man, or my husband and I will share some adorable banter soon. In the meantime, I'm watching tv.