Christmas (voted most unoriginal post title, 2010)

I found a cool website called The Ripples Project and you will like it. Check it out.

This morning from the Ripples Project:
Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
-Bobby (age 7)

Which gets me back to......Christmas!

Bumble and the Rudolph gang are out in full view. I sent out cards today, packages last week. I am making peppernuts and truffles and will be doing Christmas cookies tomorrow. We have a tree (fake) up and the outside of the house is decorated beautifully (thank you J & B). Hahaha, not the liquor. Jay and Barry. I always make horrible looking Christmas cookies but they usually taste good. Last year I had none of it. No tree or decorations or Bumble or peppernuts. The house was in total disarray with the remodel and man, my temper was short. Bah humbug!! Not this year, baby.

Maybe some of my joy emanates from the fact that I no longer work at Starbucks. Barry came through the drive-through on my last day and took a picture. After two years I had zero barista moments caught on film. I think I'm going through a little bit of withdrawal, although I certainly have no desire to keep working there. I had some great co-workers and it was better than working in a coal mine. Well, I think so. I've never worked in a coal mine. I knew I had to leave there because I was starting to really dislike people in general. Hahaha. Really. Someone would drive up to the window and I would have their drink and they would fumble around in their pocket or wallet and I would just be rolling my eyes and groaning (on the inside), thinking, "Did you not just order ten fucking minutes ago, and did you not KNOW you were going to have to pay once you made it up to the window? What have you been DOING?" And I'd like to think that's not the real me. That impatient, bitter, irritated person, getting all out of wack at someone just because they're being human. I'd like to think it was a build-up that took two years to get really bad. Man, I hope so. We'll see how many people I snap at over the next week for no reason. To be fair, there were a LOT of customers that yelled at ME for no reason (oh wait, I did forget the ten cent cup discount once or twice. And then there was that awful time I accidentally put vanilla flavoring in a drink instead of peppermint) but I still think I was overly CRAZY there at the end. And by crazy I mean way pissed off at everyone. I'm going to go heal now. Where's the red wine?

I sent out 50 Christmas cards today. I love sending cards. It's a tradition that reminds me of my mom. My parents received about 100 Christmas cards every year. It was such a warm and cozy thing, getting mail from old friends and reading the letters and feeling so loved. And my mom would send out at least that many, and she had a whole little satchel with stamps and cards and addresses sitting on the dining table for a week or so, as she wrote personal letters to each person. I love sending out the cards, although not as many people send cards back anymore. It's one of the disappointments of the Internet world, the ease of dashing off a Merry Christmas in an e-mail. Well, I plan to send cards and pictures every year. If you're not on my list, all you have to do is send me your address and I'll get you on for next year. Anyhow, here's my letter (the picture is funny, with a chicken on B's shoulder and the turtle floating in the air near the cat, but it's a total cut and paste, well, tape, so I can't include it here)........

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

Here are the highlights and general catchings-up from our wonderful, busy, and occasionally nerve-wracking 2010.......

*Jay, myself, my sis, niece, and her two girls traveled to New York last February. My book was a finalist in the Patterson Poetry Prize and we were invited out for a reading. We LOVED the city. The Statue of Liberty, Mary Poppins on Broadway, a limo ride, and a stint on the Today Show (where Jay won us $100 for answering a Superbowl question correctly!) were the best moments. The fact that a winter snow storm was heading into New jersey and my reading was canceled was the only downside. But I went to NY city!!
*I got my Life Coach Certificate. Hahaha. Really. And I am GOOD.
*Barry finished the remodel on the house by putting in the laminate floor and hanging all the doors. He also built not only a stellar chicken coop but an entire flagstone patio in the back yard. It pretty much took over his whole summer but he did a beautiful job. He is making beautiful pottery - we have a studio in the garage and a gigantic kiln in the back yard - and was accepted into several shows.
*We now have a guinea pig, Buddy, that takes our animal count to ten. The three turtles, four chickens, Stan, the dog, and Magpie, the new cat, are all well and happy. Maggie gives Stan frequent bathes and he seems to be resigned to the attention. We lost our beloved cat, Barney, to illness and we miss him very much.
*I resigned from Starbucks and my last day is December 21st. It was a great job...and I’m really happy to be moving on! I’ll be teaching a full schedule at the community college and I’m looking very forward to NOT getting up at 3:30 a.m. anymore, which was my shift at Starbucks. Being at home when Jay gets up in the morning has become a priority these days too, and now I can do that.
*Barry and I became addicted to the Showtime series Dexter and watched four seasons in a month. I recommend it. Not the four seasons in a month...just the show.
*Jay is in 7th grade now, his first year in middle school. He is doing well in school and made the Honor Roll. And he hates Algebra. Unfortunately, my skill level is only up to fourth grade math so I’m not much help. He loves watching the NFL and playing drums. I’m sure the following information is getting repetitious but he is kind, loving, smart and funny. To temper that, he is also obstinate, allergic to chores and embarrassed by my every move.

It’s been a great year overall and we are thankful for our many blessings. I hope your Christmas season is brimming with warmth and love, and may your 2011 be prosperous, healthy, and filled with fun and loved ones.

Blessings.

Cha cha cha cha changes.......

I did it. I gave my notice at Starbucks. I have four shifts left. I worked at Starbucks for a little over two years and I have to say, it wasn't all bad. When I first got the job, I felt like I won the lottery. Benefits, early morning hours, FREE FUCKING COFFEE, and a relaxed atmosphere. My co-workers were fun, and mainly, I was going to get a regular paycheck. Woo Hooooo! I did love it in the beginning. I wrote quite often about it here, on my blog. And then two years went by. I still liked it, but there were gnawing things. My poor body was giving out. Damn, I developed a sharp pain in my hip (I'm eighty years old) from the pivot at the drive-through window. My upper body hurt like crazy on a regular basis. The need to BE at work at 4:15 a.m. was making me tired and crabby. My legs ached daily because we were on our feet for the whole shift, running around like a bunch of lunatics, with a measly 10 minute break. Now you may think I should just blame it on a sedentary lifestyle and old age, but it was happening to the twenty year olds too. Plus, big problem, I noticed the customers getting angrier and angrier about coffee. People would YELL at me. About their COFFEE. "Eeeehhh, you didn't put enough vanilla in my latteeeee!" and "You forgot my cup discount. How many times have you done that? You owe me a refund for all the times you didn't give me a cup discount. Can I speak to your manager?" Really, those things happen. And many customers at Starbucks feel entitled to have their coffee exactly how they want it, and they feel they're right to yell loudly at their barista to get it that way. Ahemmm. Not anymore, baby. I still like Starbucks. I really adore most of the people I worked with. I just love some of the regular customers. I'm sure I'll grab a coffee there on occasion. But I don't have to work there anymore. Did you hear me sing that last sentence? To the tune of naa naa naa naa naaaaa na? Instead I'm going to write coffee table books. Hahaha. Not really. Well, maybe.

Another reason I resigned from my job at Starbucks is that I want to be home in the morning with my son. It's his first year of middle school and I think he needs to have me around in the morning to fix lunch and check breakfast consumption and talk about math. B does a great job making french toast and he's been a tremendous morning presence, but I think I need to be there too (so I can eat B's french toast). Although my son is mortified by me in public, heaven forbid I actually speak, he seems to like me okay in the mornings inside the privacy of our home. I don't want to lose touch with the homework and the friends (whose parents I don't even know) and the upcoming school dance news and the possible future acne problems. And mornings, sitting at the dining table with a cup of coffee, a bowl of yogurt and granola, maybe a piece of french toast, and the sun coming up seem like a perfect moment to touch base on the coming day.

Okay, moving away from the self-evolved, responsible person, I have to ask...have you SEEN Dexter? Good lord, this is the best show on TV. Watch it from the beginning. Season 3 is a little weak in places (Rita, just go away) but it's a tightly written, well acted series. A serial killer with a freakish past that works for the police and only kills people who deserve it. Yeah baby. It's gory and smart and sexy and WEIRD. I still need to check out Breaking Bad, and I do want to watch Weeds, so there are other shows out there, since, ughhh, the last Dexter of the season is on this Sunday. If you don't get Showtime, it IS possible to see it on your computer.

Also, getting back to Starbucks for a minute, as I was writing about it I wanted to give you a way to read all the blogs I've written about it in the past. I mean, who can forget the story about the wild cat attack in the blue car (talk about gory). I'm going to attempt to go back over all my posts and label them so I can steer you to related posts. Hahaha, we'll see how long that takes me.