Tuesday, July 29, 2008

on getting older

Further on the topic of coming of age, I've been realizing something lately. And it's not just that I probably need to pick a hair dye and just dye the grays already. I received season ten (the last season) of Friends on DVD for Mothers' Day. This is the first tv series I own on DVD. I never thought I'd get into it, but turns out I kind of like having my favorite episodes at my disposal. I watched the first four while I was in labor with Baby V.

For my birthday last week, I got season one of Friends, so I was able to compare how freaking YOUNG they all looked at the beginning compared to season ten. Wow. Okay, so they aged and it shows. That's normal, healthy, even, since the alternative (at least in Hollywood) is creepy. The thing that's been making me introspective (like it takes much) is that I prefer them all in the later seasons. Especially the only guy I'm attracted to on the show - Chandler. Tom and I watched a movie with a young Hugh Laurie in it and there is a scene with an almost butt shot. I "ewwwed" and Tom laughed and said that since I have a crush on him, I should like that. I replied that he looked too young in the movie - I prefer him now. Tom laughed that I prefer middle age paunch, scruffy beard and wrinkles. I guess I do.

So do I prefer older looking guys now because I'm older too? Or would I have preferred them all along? The guys on my list (you know, my list of five freebies?) have changed as I've gotten older. Maybe there's something to this thing about getting older. I don't really mind. So I prefer guys who seem comfortable in their own skin, so what? That's the one thing I'm most proud of about myself. I'm happy being me, something I could NOT say even ten years ago.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Going green and coming of age...

My cousin and I were talking (at the impromptu yard sale, which was a relative success - it bought Tom his birthday dinner and the week's gas, if nothing else) about the various changes we've made in our lives recently, especially in regards to the environment. Now, I'm not a liberal, tree-hugging type. I'm basically a Libertarian, very quiet about my political beliefs, but mainly they consist of the government staying out of my (and everyone else's) life. But lately, I've been getting greener and greener. And allow me to be my most controversial ever and say that I don't believe in global warming - well, more that I don't believe man is responsible for it. I believe that it's just a natural part of the Earth's cycles. But recycling, being conscious of my energy use and basically living a green lifestyle isn't about global warming - at least not to me, and not to the real vocal "green" types if they were smart too. Regardless of what's going on with the Earth's temperature, using our resources wisely just makes sense.

My cousin's mother (FTR, my mom's sister) told her that she went through the same "green" (although probably not by that name back then) thing when she was in her early 30s. So now I'm wondering if this is a coming of age that is related to my early 30s or the social environment in which she spent her early 30s (that would have been the mid-80s) and the one in which I'm spending mine. I think it might be more that society in general was more environmentally aware in both of these times, but who knows?

All of this leads to me considering cloth diapering my little V. I wanted to have it all in place before she was born, but as it turned out, everyone gave us diapers (what else do you give a fourth baby and third girl - and not even one born in a different season?). So once she either uses or outgrows the gift diapers, I'm going green. So I've been researching like crazy and asking anyone who might know anything about it. Now I'm getting ready to take the plunge. I'll let you know how it goes.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Just having a rockin' Friday night...

Gone are my wild days of...oh, yeah, I never partied or went to bars. So why do I feel weird about sitting home on a Friday night watching Monk and Psych (thank you, USA Network, for fresh summer programming in the form of these two shows)? I'm going through some old stuff for our big yard sale tomorrow (me and two of my cousins - it's a bit last minute, but I've been clearing out stuff to donate all week, so I'm just moving my "donate" pile to the "sell" pile).

This big clearing out is part of our move. All that's left is the basement. Duh-duh-duh. The basement is where we hide all of our extra junk. During the winter when it's too cold to spend time down there, all the crap just piles up. Since this involves Christmas, all of that stuff is just tossed down there. It's been cleaned up some, but still needs a massive cleaning out.

I've learned that I'm a bit more of a packrat than I thought. I think of myself as having a reasonable amount of emotion attached to possessions. But then Tom (who is a total thrower-outer) went through the kids' toys. And got rid of lots of stuff - like the stuffed animal we bought last summer at the beach or books we've bought from Scholastic (okay, not the finest quality). All right in the trash. First of all, this could have been donated or sold (see first paragraph). Second of all, some of that is nice stuff that our younger kids might like to use. And then I decided to just step back and let him do it and I probably wouldn't miss any of it.

At least between the two of us, we have a reasonable attachment to stuff. Mine is "keep what truly means something - that you can tell a story about or explain the meaning of." His is "get rid of anything you don't use daily." I think between the two of us, we have it.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

The things that make me happy...

I was just walking around the farm (um, yeah, we're moving to DH's family's farm, did I mention that? The move is in progress) the other day thinking, gosh, it's been a while since I've had a good computer virus to chase down. Not that I want anyone to purposely get a virus on their computer, but you know, if one should appear and I could eliminate it, that would really be nice.

And then Tom comes up to me and says oh by the way, the computer's really messed up. Stuff's popping up all over the place. I was way too excited about it. But really, it's true. It really makes me happy to fix a virus (a term I'm using to represent any badness that affects one's computer). So I got to spend an hour or so last night taking care of the latest. I'm pretty sure this need to fix the computer myself says something about me. I get obsessed with finding whatever's wrong and really don't rest until I get it just right.

Yes, as my brother-in-law would tell me, I could just switch to Mac and then I wouldn't have this problem. But I like PC's. I really do. I have switched to Firefox, though, and I love it. No pop-ups and the whole tabbed browsing thing - which really works for me.