Conversations With A Woman 2.0

To those of you that have served in the Armed Forces in the past or in the present, thank you for your service to our country. You are appreciated.

Man! This is allegedly the kick off weekend of the summer and it's been nothing but cool and rainy in the Atlanta area! I think it MIGHT have broken 70 degrees, and I'm doubtful of that. It makes a person want to hibernate in the house, and that's what I've ended up doing. I thought about going to the movie, but I figured everyone else probably had that same idea and I just stayed away from the crowd.

I had a lovely lunch outdoors with Jef on Saturday before the rain started. We went to this place over in East Atlanta that Jef has been raving about for a while because they have great salsa. It turns out they also have a really good jukebox and let me tell ya - I LOVE me some jukeboxes! I got 7 plays for $2 and Jef and I enjoyed some exceptionally yummy food while getting caught up on each other. It was really nice.

After that, we drove by the future home of "Bound to Be Read," which is the used bookstore that 2F and Jef have been working to get off the ground for the last couple of years. It's SO exciting to see this dream becoming a reality!

We then motored down to Best Buy so that Jef could purchase the DVD for "Forrest Gump." Supposedly he needs to make a character in his current movie script (coming to a theatre near you in the not too distant future!) a little "Gump-ier." We looked around at the CDs and lamented that there are not any really good used CD stores around like there used to be.

While Jef and I were talking at the restaurant, one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE songs came on the jukebox, "Oye Coma Va" by Santana. That song reminds me of how liberated I felt in my early 20's. I felt very grown up because I could buy a bottle of wine and drink it at home with some cheese, crackers and grapes. This is also when I started wearing big "Jody Watley" sized hoop earrings, took a "younger" lover (he was 18 and I was 21) and I thought I was so bohemian. I think about that now and it makes me laugh at how young and naive I was, but I loved that feeling of freedom, and every time I hear "Oye Como Va," it reminds me of that space in time and I can't help but smile fondly at the young woman I was.

Now, don't get me wrong - although I look fondly back at that time, I'm enjoying now a lot, too. I feel like I'm going through a renaissance right now. Coming out of a dark period in my life and plunging into the light. I have looked around and realized that I'm not getting any younger and there's still a lot that I want to do! It's very exciting thinking of the prospects that the future might bring! It's just a matter of going out and getting it!

It will be interesting what the theme song for this time in my life will end up being!

I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you have a great week!

:-)
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My next big goal, now that I've found a job, is to find a mate. It's kind of odd to be my age and to have never been married or in a committed long term relationship, but yet I have accomplished that. There are millions of reasons that I could name off on why it hasn't happened yet, but let it suffice to say, life got in the way.

Now I've decided that life is no longer going to be an obstacle to my walking down the aisle or having a "Kurt and Goldie" or "Tim and Susan" type of committed relationship.

I am still young enough to produce children, but I'm not feeling that is what I am meant to do. I have accepted that the possibility of my being a step-mom and/or step-grandmother is a very real possibility and I like that idea. I have a great role model in my sister for that - you should see her on the floor explaining the intricacies of model trains to her step-grandson, or teaching bad manners to her step-granddaughter! ;-)

All I know is that ultimately, I want to share my life with a wonderful, kind, funny, smart, responsible but still a kid-at-heart, type of man. I don't think that is too much to ask for, and damn it! I deserve it!

Send me some good vibes, would ya?

:-)
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It's a lovely Sunday morning at Casa de Joan. I went to bed early so that I could wake up early and enjoy some quiet time before church.

My desk is situated right beside my back sliding glass door. I love to look out into the trees behind my apartment and watch the birds. The last couple of days has brought a lovely Cardinal couple and a Blue Jay to visit my porch. I have asked for a bird feeder for my birthday, but in the meantime, I bought some bird seed and have just been throwing it out on the porch. The Cardinal couple and the Blue Jay enjoyed a nice dinner last night and the Cardinal couple were back for breakfast this morning.

My presence doesn't seem to bother them as long as I don't move quickly. The male Cardinal still looks at me while he eats to ensure that I would not hurt his mate. It was interesting to me to see how he would eat a few bites, then hop over to the female and check on her and then hop back to eat a few bites and then back to check on her again.

When I was young, there was a time when my parents and I lived with a hippie couple. He ran a Nature Preserve and she was an artist. Since their house was on the Nature Preserve, we were constantly surrounded by animals. It was nothing to come home and find an Owl or a Hawk being nursed back to health, or to wake up to the sound of a Mama Racoon and her babies talking to you through the screen on the window.

One time the man was nursing an injured Mama Possum back to health. He was holding the Possum on her back and he told me to put my hand in her pouch. I did, and it was probably the warmest and softest place I ever felt.

I love my little "suburban nature preserve" on my back porch. You can hear traffic, trains and construction, but drowning that out in my ears is the beautiful sound of birdsong.

:-)
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Here's a couple of things I've found recently that I thought I'd share.

This is HILARIOUSLY sick and twisted. I tip my hat to the lovely and talented yayaempress who linked it before me. MrBob - perhaps you might want to show this to your daughter's rabbit that you have to rabbit-sit from time to time? ;-)

This site is so interesting to me! First, it brings out my inner voyeur and secondly, you go from laughing your ass off to being really sad, all within a couple of minutes! I got so into it that I added it to my blogroll!

Enjoy!

:-)
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A lot of people say the above phrase in a derogatory way, but today I'm not. I was thinking about why I haven't blogged much lately, and it's basically been because I haven't thought of anything especially interesting to share. Why is that? Well because I go to work, come home, do stuff around the house and collapse in the bed so that I can wake up and do it again.

I never thought I'd be so happy to have a daily routine!!!

Most of you already know that I am recently employed again after 15 months of unemployment. It's been an adjustment! Instead of sleeping until I wake up, I have to set an alarm and (gasp!) wake up when it goes off! Instead of eating when I feel like it, I have set times that I have to eat during the day! Instead of hours of mindless television or computer time, I have to be very selective how I spend my evening hours because there are not an endless supply of them anymore. Instead of going to bed whenever the mood strikes or because there's nothing on TV and no one online, I have to go to bed at a decent hour so I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed at work the next day!

It's been an adjustment, but a very happy and much needed adjustment and I'm just pleased as punch to be making said adjustments! Really!

Now I'm off to do laundry - because I wear a new set of clothes every day now! LOL!

:-)
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UCHENNA AND JOYCE WON "THE AMAZING RACE 7!"

OK...I admit it...I got all wound up in "The Amazing Race" this year. The team that I've been rooting for the whole time actually WON! Uchenna and Joyce were nice, they enjoyed themselves, they didn't insult the inhabitants of the other countries they were in, they appreciated the other countries they were in, they helped their fellow contestants, and they weren't bitchy with each other!

Some people would tell you that being nice doesn't win races. I'm so glad that Uchenna and Joyce proved that theory wrong!!!

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S, Uchenna and Joyce! What a wonderful inspiration you are!

:-)
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(Can you name the movie my title comes from? If you can, you won't win a year's supply of Rice-a-Roni, but I'll think you're very cool!)

Whew! What a week it's been! My second week of work had me coming home and collapsing every day. I'm trying get my body used to being on a schedule and it's rebelling mightily! However, I'm slowly but surely getting into a routine!

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! Jef and I decided to meet before church for breakfast at this Bagel Shop up the street from our church. We sat at a table outside and talked, people watched and generally blew off church. It was very nice. Even though we didn't darken the doors of our church building today, I like to think we had "The Church of Jef and Joan!"

After we parted ways, Jef went to hang out with his inlaws for a combination birthday and Mother's Day celebration, and I went shopping! It was so fun to be able to pick up some things that I didn't necessarily need, but wanted to have!!! What a novel concept!

I'm ending my very nice day with a sub sandwich from Publix and a Diet Sprite! Damn! Life is good, isn't it?

:-)
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My friend Thomas over at "Heads or Tales," invited some of his readers to answer questions that he came up with for us. We then had to answer the questions on our own blogs and then ask our readers some questions. So to start off, here is the questions that Thomas posed to me. I answered in all caps:

JOAN
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1) You are leaving a message to people living in the next century. What advice would you give them? LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

2) Do you have more underwear than you need? Just enough? Too little? ONE CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH UNDERWEAR, DAH-LING! I GUESS IF I NEEDED TO ANSWER YOU FIRMLY THOUGH, I WOULD SAY I PROBABLY FALL UNDER THE "MORE THAN I NEED" CATEGORY. I CAN GO MANY WEEKS WITHOUT DOING LAUNDRY! (AT LEAST OF THE UNDERWEAR VARIETY)

3) You are serving tea to the visiting evil, ruthless leader of a country that the US is negotiating a treaty with. You know that you could poison him and save many lives in his country, but it may spark a war that kills the same number of people, now half being American soldiers. You have the poison bottle in your hand: What do you do? THROW THE BOTTLE OUT AND GIVE THE GUY A HUG. SERIOUSLY, I COULD NOT BE **PERSONALLY** RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH OF ANYONE.

4) If you could be an animal (and assured you'd live) for 24 hours, which animal would you be and why? CAT. I SEE HOW SPOILED MY CATS ARE, AND I WANT TO BE TREATED LIKE THAT!

5) What was your favorite breakfast cereal when you were younger, and do you still eat it today? MOM BOUGHT US CHEERIOS THAT WE DRENCHED WITH SUGAR, HOWEVER IF EVER I WAS SPENDING THE NIGHT WITH THE BABYSITTER, MOM & DAD WOULD SEND ME WITH FRUITY PEBBLES AND I SEEMED TO LIKE THAT. I DON'T EAT IT TODAY. I PREFER CAP'N CRUNCH!

OK...now it's my turn to ask questions of my readers! Please answer my questions to you on your blog,let me know that you answered my questions and then pose your own questions to some of your own readers!

BEASTMOMMA

1. What has been the happiest moment of your adult life? Why?

2. When you eat an ice cream cone, are you a licker, or a biter?

3. You just found out that you have 24 hrs until you die. You will be perfectly healthy for the full 24 hrs. What will you do?

4. What celebrity would you have sex with in a heartbeat if only he/she would ask?

5. Do you prefer pancakes or french toast?

LADYBUGEEB

1. What song most makes you think of the one you love?

2. What would you say is your "theme" song? A song that makes you feel on top of the world every time you hear it.

3. What would you eat at your last supper?

4. What is your favorite flower?

5. What motivates you? Why?

CARMI

1. You've just been handed $1,000,000 tax free. What are you going to do with it?

2. What is the one most important lesson you want to teach your kids?

3. What is your favorite beverage?

4. If someone were to ask you to describe your favorite feature of you wife, how would you describe it?

5. What is the most beautiful natural sight you've ever seen?

LUJZA

1. What is your favorite junk food treat?

2. A genie appears before you and grants you one wish. What is it?

3. What are the top 3 things that you get out of blogging?

4. You and Tony are going on vacation alone. Money and time is no object. Where are you going?

5. If you could transmit yourself to the future and pass on a message, what would that message be?

THANK YOU FOR PLAYING, GUYS! THANK YOU THOMAS FOR MY QUESTIONS!

:-)
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