So just when did I become a curmudgeon?

You know me. I’m a girl who loves to put a happy spin on things!!! šŸ˜€

And I continually remind myself to appreciate all of life’s blessings.

But, I am human, and lately there are times I donā€™t seem to have the patience I had when I was younger.

It puzzles me that some stuff, which wouldnā€™t have made much of an impression on me in the past, seems to annoy me now.

Youā€™re saying: ā€œOk, Crystal! Deep breath. Calm down. Have a cup of tea.

Hee hee šŸ˜‰

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Well, I do wonder . . .

Ā· What is the dentistā€™s office thinking when they call and change my already scheduled appointment ā€“ not once, not twice, but three times within a month!!! Doesnā€™t that just scream ā€œOur convenience is SO much more important than yours.ā€?

Ā· Why is it that our neighbor usually decides to mow his yard (with a ride-on mower that is SO noisy – the whole neighborhood needs ear plugs!) at the precise moment we are putting the first forkful of dinner to our lips? Nothing like feeling as if you’re having a meal on an airport runway!

Ā· Why is it that banks, retail stores, and credit card companies are allowed to automatically share our information with ā€œwhomeverā€ – unless we ā€œopt outā€ by writing a *snail mail* letter, saying ā€œno thanksā€. Shouldnā€™t it be that they automatically do not have permission unless we ā€œopt inā€?

Ā· Why is it that when I see a shirt I love ā€“ the store is out of my size, and my size only!?!

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OK, thatā€™s enough!

Youā€™ll be calling me [Andy] Andrea Rooney, here! šŸ˜‰

Seriously though, is it just me?

Is there something that makes you go “Hmmm…” ?

Hugs,

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Questions x2

Sometimes, you may be thinking . . .

ā€œHey Crystal ā€“ letā€™s hear YOUR answers to these darn questions!ā€

The truth is I do get requests for that from time to time, so here are my answers for this week. šŸ˜€

1. Do you remember the first movie that you ever saw in a theater? What was it?

cinderella

Yes! It was Cinderella and it’s been my favorite children’s movie ever since. I was probably in kindergarten at the time and my father took me to see it. Mum was home with a couple of babies. I do remember that she and I went to the theater another time, so they must have taken turns babysitting.

As many of you have mentioned, ā€œthe moviesā€ were such a big deal back then! When I was in grade school, my sisters and I would often spend a whole Saturday afternoon at the local theater, where for 35 cents you could see two full-length movies and a few cartoons. And you didn’t need to take out a mortgage to buy candy or popcorn!

2. Describe the set of dishes that you use everyday. What color are they? Do they have a design on them? Do you like them?

dishescorelle

Iā€™ve been through a few sets of dishes since I first got married, but the ones I use right now are by Corelle in the ā€œFrench Lilacsā€ pattern. I love the fact that they’re durable, yet lightweight.

Asking this question has reminded me that I have 4 place settings of stoneware that I loved at first, but have since let stay at the back of the cupboard. They’re very heavy to handle when you’re lugging several of them at once from table to dishwasher to cabinet.

dishespfaltzgraff

The pattern is ā€œGarden Partyā€ by Pfaltzgraff. They really are very pretty . . . maybe Iā€™ll switch to them again for a while! It will be good for my biceps! šŸ˜‰

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Would I like some cheese with my whine?

mermaid1Whew, itā€™s hot! If it were any muggier, weā€™d need an umbrella here. And to think I loved the summer when I was a kid!

Dear Husband says that talking about it makes you hotter. Maybe so, but itā€™s hard to ignore!

Itā€™s been such a crazy busy week with a bonus of high humidity and some lost sleep.

On a nearby farm, thereā€™s a rooster who must be drinking too much coffee! Several mornings he woke us long before dawn, not with just a few good crows – but dozens of them! Weā€™ve decided itā€™s either too much caffeine or heā€™s auditioning for community theater. šŸ˜‰

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Then in the middle of the night on Saturday, one of our smoke detectors began to chirp. Itā€™s electric but has a battery backup. I suppose it must be Murphyā€™ s Law that it canā€™t signal its departure at a decent time of the day???

After all, weā€™d been up for 16 hrs on Saturday!!! There was ample opportunity for it to chirp if desired. Instead, weā€™d only been asleep for a couple of hours when it began ā€“ every . . . forty . . . seconds!!!

After a bleary-eyed look at the manual, we discovered that if not stopped, it was prepared to chirp every 40 seconds for a WEEK!

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But you donā€™t want to hear me whine. I should just answer the weekly questions, right? šŸ˜€

Ok, Favorite birthday memory . . .

I think Iā€™d have to say it was my 13th birthday. I was happy to finally be a teenager and delighted that my friends (already teens) got together and planned a little party for me.

Frosting roses; Love them or hate them?

Absolutely loved them as a kid!!!! Now? Well, as Carol says, it depends on where they come from. A real buttercream frosting rose is so good, but save me from those sugared lard imposter roses!

lemonadeStay cool wherever you are!

Wish I could just reach out and offer you a nice frosty glass of lemonade!

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Sunscreen at Night?

Hold the mayo . . . I mean the SPF-15!

lotionHave you noticed that there’s sunscreen in many of our moisturizers, lately? Whether itā€™s face, body, or hand lotion – just about every product has an SPF of 15 (or more).

Now I know we are all well-versed on the dangers of too much sun exposure and the definite need to protect our skin . . . but honestly, this blanketing of so many products with an extra chemical seems unnecessary. I’m not in favor of it for a couple of reasons.

First of all, I live in New England. During the winter, there are weeks when we donā€™t spend much time basking in the sun, or even outdoors at all (except for dashes to and from the car). Itā€™s too COLD out there!

Second, my skin is on the sensitive side, so I have enough to worry about with the usual ingredients in a lotion never mind anything extra.

Doesnā€™t it seem a little crazy to be putting on sunscreen after taking a shower in the evening? You probably are though, if you use a lotion after your shower. If I’m staying at home for the night – I donā€™t need sunscreen. And, if I should be venturing out for the evening, surely Iā€™d have at least 15 minutes of moon exposure before Iā€™d have to worry about skin damage! Donā€™t you think? šŸ˜‰

Well . . . I’m all out of hand lotion, so I’m off to the store. If you need me – Iā€™ll be reading the labels . . .

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That’s Progress I Guess . . .

Do you ever long for the days when life was simpler? I truly miss the little moments of “free time” I used to have before:

junk mail
telemarketers
spam
paper shredding

Ironically, as personal computers began to appear in homes across the country, and a paperless society was predicted, the flood of junk mail continued to escalate to crazy proportions!

junk-mail

Today, more than ever, Iā€™m sorting through and disposing of catalogs, brochures, credit card offers, and sales pitches on everything from replacement windows to service contracts for the fridge. Itā€™s become a constant chore.

Then there are the telemarketers ā€“ the countless numbers of them that are somehow exempt from the ā€œdo not call listā€, either because they are only ā€œdoing surveysā€ or because you inadvertently gave them permission to call you. This permission may have been given when you gave your phone number during a purchase, or perhaps opened a bank account, bought a car, entered a drawing at a local shopping mall, or on any number of other occasions you offered your personal information to a company that’s affliated with the company the telemarketer is representing. Ay yi yi!!!

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And how about the nuisance of deleting email spam? Whether itā€™s for vitamins, “enhancement” potions, or maybe just forwards from well-intentioned friends (who felt compelled to send along that chain letter so that you might escape 10 years of bad luck!), itā€™s time-consuming to have to sift through it all.

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But what annoys me most is the relatively recent chore of shredding! This is a new job. Who was shredding 10 years ago? Big corporations perhaps? Certainly not Mr. & Mrs. Average Citizen. Today weā€™re warned that all hell could break loose if we casually discard papers that are financial/personal for we could be ā€œtemptingā€ identity thieves! Some of the things that you’re advised to shred, like credit card offers, often arrive as junk mail!!! Talk about a vicious circle of lather, rinse, repeat.

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Honestly, if you totaled the minutes wasted with all of this nonsense, you could probably paint a bedroom, knit an afghan, read a book . . . maybe even WRITE a book!

It’s frustrating. Iā€™ve done all of the usual things – getting on the do not call list, removing our name from mailing lists, and not giving our email address and phone number out willy-nilly. Unfortunately doing those things only seems to lessen the problem, not totally eliminate it.

What do you do to tame the junk mail, telemarketing, spam-sending, paper-shredding tiger? šŸ˜‰

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