Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Random bits

We found a neat toy for the cats the other day. It's a furry little mouse that squeaks when it's batted about. For all the toys the cats have, ever since they've gotten this one, it's the one they play with the most often. And they play with it several times a day (before, they might play with a toy once a day unless one of us actually plays with them with a toy). Even Fat Cat will play it 3 or 4 times a day, and he's 9 years old and likes to sleep most of his life away........lol.
Yesterday was our anniversary. DH and I have been married 2 years now (where in the hell does the time go?).
And we traded my Dodge Grand Caravan (I've had it for 4 years, and all this time I thought it was a 1998, and here it was a 1997) for a 2001 Ford Windstar. The Windstar is nice, has front and rear heating and A/C, middle captain's seats, back bench seat, a trailer hitch and towing package, and a CD/cassette/AM/FM stereo. The seat belt/shoulder harness fits without an extender, and I fit behind the steering wheel just fine (although I think I should have the driver side airbag de-activated, since there sure as hell isn't 10" between my chest and the airbag, and that's with the seat as far back as it will go). They say the color of the Windstar is green, but it looks like dark gray to me, so it's a really odd shade of green, if that's what it is. The body is in great shape, and it runs really good. I won't have to fill the gas tank quite as often as I did on the Dodge, since the Ford has a 26 gallon tank (the Dodge had a 20 gallon tank). I don't know what kind of mileage it gets, haven't driven it much yet. It needs tires; they aren't bald or anything, but with the little bit of snow we have here, I'm spinning the tires when I take off from a stop sign (I'm stopping just fine, years of driving old cars with shitty tires and worse brakes has given me a lot of experience with stopping in bad conditions). So next week we're making an appointment to get tires put on it.
I see they arrested the governor of Illinois and he's out on his own recognizance and back governing. Business as usual in Illinois, what a surprise (NOT).
I also see that Oprah is beating herself up over gaining back the weight she lost (how many times has this happened?). She's been losing and gaining and losing and gaining for at least 20 years, you'd think she'd have learned by now that it doesn't matter what diet you use, NONE of them work for permanent weight loss. I used to watch her show, back when she was first on, and thought it was great that this fat woman could be successful on TV. Then when she went on that liquid diet and came out in the size 10 jeans with that wagon of fat, representing the weight she had lost, I quit watching her show as much. And every time a diet failed, and she beat herself up for failing (dammit, she didn't fail, the fucking diet failed, like they always do), I watched a little less, until I totally quit watching her at all. I just wish she could figure out how to love herself as she is. No person's worth should ever be dependent on their appearance. She says she's not worried about being thin anymore, she just wants to be stronger, more fit, and healthier. That's good, but if she's still equating health with thin, I don't think it's gonna happen. Oprah has been successful at whatever weight she's been, you'd think that would tell her something about herself. She has drive and ambition and intelligence, otherwise she wouldn't be as successful as she is, and being thin didn't get her there, and being fat didn't keep her from getting there. Oh, and Gayle, with a friend like you telling her that being 200 lbs isn't healthy, she sure as hell doesn't need any enemies. You aren't her doctor, you aren't Oprah, you don't know for sure what her health is or how long she's going to live, so take a big dose of STFU about her weight.

6 comments:

  1. You know, it's funny - when Oprah got big, I was either in school or at after-school jobs during her show.

    Once I was out of college I was working.

    I don't think I've ever SEEN the Oprah show. Not that it matters, per se, it's just strange that something so "huge" and "longlived" is totally unknown to me. Kind of like Bonanza :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Congratulations on your 2 year anniversary AND the new van!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. living400lbs - now you're making me feel old, because I remember watching Bonanza when it was first on TV (and I remember some other westerns that probably no one has ever heard of....lol).

    Kat - thanks :) The nice thing about the van is that it's the first vehicle I've ever owned that only had one owner before me (every other one was so old that several people had owned them before I got them). So it's been well-cared for (the people who owned it are in their 70's, and live here in town).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Happy Anniversary Mariellen!! Many more years of joy to both of you!

    --Mshell

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congrats on your 2 year anniversary! Do you still feel like you are in the honeymoon stage of your marriage? I've been married ten years and there are days when I feel like a newlywed, and days when it feels like a century. Marriage takes work and some days I'm on strike!
    Kudos to you for the new Windstar! I have had two vans in the past 10 years, a Plymouth Voyager and now a Kia Sedona. As I have grown more "apple" shaped over the past years, I find that I am touching the steering wheel now with my tummy. Not enough to keep me from turning the wheel, I feel safe enough to drive. I didn't know there was a 10 inch rule, but I think I'm ok there too.
    The Oprah thing has got me scratching my head trying to come to terms with my own true feelings about my weight. What I saw of her statements about her weight has me hopeful. She wants to be healthy now instead of thin, to paraphrase. I am sure she struggles like I do with really believing that and thoroughly making that her mindset about her body. Those nagging voices are hard to silence on the days when your body feels sluggish, in pain, or out of whack. It's almost easy to say to yourself that all will be better if I just lost weight, even when you know that diets don't work. Still a work in progress-me.
    Thanks for sharing your life!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Michelle - Thanks :)

    Regina - Some days it still feels like the honeymoon phase, other days it feels like we've been married forever....lol
    The thing with 10" between your chest and the airbag is what I read in the owner's manual, and I think it's a safety issue. That airbag comes out pretty damned fast, and since I wear glasses when I'm driving and have an upper denture, I really don't think it would be a good idea for it to hit me in the face at a high rate of speed, even though they do collapse right away. The seat belt/shoulder harness will keep me from going through the windshield, and probably keep me from hitting the steering wheel too (and if it's a head-on collision, I don't think anything is going to keep the steering wheel out of my chest). I need to talk to someone who knows more about vehicle safety than I do. Maybe I'll do a search and see what I can find.
    The Oprah and her weight thing is a puzzle, for sure. I have days when I'm in pain and just know that if I was thinner, I wouldn't hurt so much (yeah, right, being thinner isn't going to replace the cartilage in my knees and isn't going to get rid of the fibromyalgia). But I keep telling myself that dieting isn't going to make me permanently thin, so I have to deal with the body I've been given and be thankful for what I can do. Not easy to do all the time, but I do have days and weeks when I don't even think about it.

    ReplyDelete

Comment moderation is enabled. If you're a troll and trying to slander someone or just being generally an asshat, your comment probably won't see the light of day. If you want to have a reasonable, civil discussion, welcome, and feel free to comment.
To the troll at IP: 70.242.65.196 , adsl-70-242-65-196.dsl.stlsmo.swbell.net, your comments will not be published, nor will they be read. They will be automatically deleted. Get a life, sad sack.