My Two Cents | Bead Happily Ever After

So just when did I become a curmudgeon?

Posted on May 6, 2010 by crystal

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

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

But, I am human, and lately there are times I don’t seem to have the patience I had when I was younger.

It puzzles me that some stuff, which wouldn’t have made much of an impression on me in the past, seems to annoy me now.

You’re saying: “Ok, Crystal! Deep breath. Calm down. Have a cup of tea.

Hee hee 😉

Well, I do wonder . . .

· What is the dentist’s office thinking when they call and change my already scheduled appointment – not once, not twice, but three times within a month!!! Doesn’t that just scream “Our convenience is SO much more important than yours.”?

· 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!

· Why is it that banks, retail stores, and credit card companies are allowed to automatically share our information with “whomever” – unless we “opt out” by writing a *snail mail* letter, saying “no thanks”. Shouldn’t it be that they automatically do not have permission unless we “opt in”?

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

OK, that’s enough!

You’ll be calling me ~~[Andy]~~ Andrea Rooney, here! 😉

Seriously though, is it just me?

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

Hugs,

Questions x2

Posted on September 16, 2009 by crystal

Sometimes, you may be thinking . . .

“Hey Crystal – let’s hear YOUR answers to these darn questions!”

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

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

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, “the movies” 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?

I’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 “French Lilacs” 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.

The pattern is “Garden Party” by Pfaltzgraff. They really are very pretty . . . maybe I’ll switch to them again for a while! It will be good for my biceps! 😉

Would I like some cheese with my whine?

Posted on August 11, 2009 by crystal

Whew, it’s hot! If it were any muggier, we’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 it’s hard to ignore!

It’s been such a crazy busy week with a bonus of high humidity and some lost sleep.

On a nearby farm, there’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! We’ve decided it’s either too much caffeine or he’s auditioning for community theater. 😉

Then in the middle of the night on Saturday, one of our smoke detectors began to chirp. It’s electric but has a battery backup. I suppose it must be Murphy’ s Law that it can’t signal its departure at a decent time of the day???

After all, we’d been up for 16 hrs on Saturday!!! There was ample opportunity for it to chirp if desired. Instead, we’d only been asleep for a couple of hours when it began – 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!

But you don’t want to hear me whine. I should just answer the weekly questions, right? 😀

Ok, Favorite birthday memory . . .

I think I’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!

Stay cool wherever you are!

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

Sunscreen at Night?

Posted on March 25, 2009 by crystal

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

Have you noticed that there’s sunscreen in many of our moisturizers, lately? Whether it’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 don’t spend much time basking in the sun, or even outdoors at all (except for dashes to and from the car). It’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.

Doesn’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 don’t need sunscreen. And, if I should be venturing out for the evening, surely I’d have at least 15 minutes of moon exposure before I’d have to worry about skin damage! Don’t you think? 😉

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

That’s Progress I Guess . . .

Posted on February 17, 2009 by crystal

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!

Today, more than ever, I’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. It’s become a constant chore.

Then there are the telemarketers – the countless numbers of them that are somehow exempt from the “do not call list”, either because they are only “doing surveys” 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!!!

And how about the nuisance of deleting email spam? Whether it’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!), it’s time-consuming to have to sift through it all.

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 we’re warned that all hell could break loose if we casually discard papers that are financial/personal for we could be “tempting” 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.

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. I’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? 😉

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