Blogging A to Z — Dave Barry

Posted on April 5, 2015 by renbog

DDay 4 of the Blogging A to Z challenge takes me to letter D, and I have chosen to honor Dave Barry. If you don’t know who he is, I’ll briefly enlighten you. I stumbled upon Dave Barry years ago by accident — I don’t remember if it was my dad or me who found him and then shared his writing with the other, but it doesn’t really matter. Dave Barry is a humor columnist, and I love him because he is funny and because he helped me form a unique bond with my dad, who also loves Dave Barry. My favorite memories include my father and I taking turns reading his Sunday column out loud to each other, laughing so hard we had to stop to breathe. His writing is clever, snarky, sarcastic, and offbeat. He writes with a very distinct voice. And, of course, there is my favorite line to read in any Dave Barry column — “I am not making this up.”

If you like to laugh, I recommend Dave Barry. Learn more about Dave Barry here, and read one of his representative columns here — it has all the things I mentioned above — including “I am not making this up.”

Posted in Blogging A to Z | Leave a comment

Blogging A to Z — Cats

Posted on April 3, 2015 by renbog

CDay 3 of the Blogging A to Z Challenge brings the letter C. I thought I’d write a little about my cats. I’ve had cats for the majority of my life. When I was born, my mom had a Siamese cate named Barnaby. He wasn’t really my cat, but I lived in his house so there is that 🙂

My first real cat was James. He was a gray kitten with white paws. He died not long after I got him in an accident I don’t like to to talk about much less think about. Moving on.

My next cat was Pussywillow. I had her for 16 years. She loved chicken. She would actually try to eat it right out of your mouth as you were eating it.

223243_1043454700097_9980_n

Me with Monster Monster.

Then I had Monster Monster. I actually found him on a highway exit ramp. When I brought him home, I remember him sitting on my chest and looking at me so intensely. Then he reared up and came down with both his little paws on my eyelids. He must have been watching me blink. He was a big, strong cat. he could jump from the floor to the top of the fridge, where he would wait for people to walk by so he could swat them on the head. he ended up going to live on a farm because he just thought the world was his toilet.

Then there was Scooter. My brother rescued him from the car wash he worked at. When Becky was born, Scooter had a hard time adjusting so he went to Ohio to live with my mom.

206878_1037183863330_3817_n

Misty, who was known to climb the Christmas tree.

473904_3869619912461_233540649_o

Shasta, who was so laid back because she was deaf.

Then when Becky was a little older, we adopted sister barn cats, Misty and Shasta. Misty was mostly my cat; Shasta was mostly Becky’s. Misty died in 2010; Shasta in 2013. And I’ve been without a cat since then.

I miss having a cat. Yes, I have dogs, but there’s something about kitties that I just love. But it’s likely I’m done with cats. My dogs are plenty high maintenance 🙂

Posted in Blogging A to Z | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Blogging A to Z — Becky

Posted on April 2, 2015 by renbog

BToday’s letter is B for the Blogging A to Z challenge, so I’m going to write about my favorite “B” (and also my favorite “R”) in the worlds — my daughter Becky. By the way, before she was born, I insisted she would never be called Becky — she would always be called Rebekah. You can see how far I got with that. So I’m going to share some of my favorite stories and Beck-isms today!

  • Becky started sleeping through the night when she was only 6 weeks old.

    224098_1043454460091_7954_n

    Becky with Jim at his college graduation. She was only a couple weeks old.

  • She loved to have me push her on the swing in our backyard and she would say, “Sing Hontan to me.” She loved the song “Colors of the Wind” from Pocahontas (or Hontan, as Becky said) and she wanted me to sing it every time she was in her swing.
  • She also relentlessly asked for “Little Bunny Foo Foo” when she was little, too.
  • She once found a caterpillar in the yard and proceeded to make friends with it. She pulled it around in her wagon and talked to it. She put it on a swing and pushed the swing. Then she said, “Swing with me!” And promptly sat down on it on the swing.

    225805_1046673860574_3293_n

    My favorite picture of Jim and Becky.

  • My mother had the privilege of seeing Becky’s prized collection of ladybugs — a jewelry box filled with dead ladybugs. Still don’t know if they were dead or alive when they were collected.
  • She would stand at the top of the stairs and call down, “Mom, I’m not doing anything up here!” Which would prompt an immediate investigation.
  • She would also stand with her hands behind her back and inform me, “Mom, I don’t have anything behind my back.” Which would also prompt an quick investigation.

    230716_1053941242254_3638_n

    She was so darn cute!

  • Elbow = Ebbow
  • Thumb = Bum
  • Remote = Marote
  • Tweezers = Tweezlers
  • Versing, as in, “Hey Dad, who are the Blackhawks versing tonight?”

    208100_1026792843561_3195_n

    Becky does NOT like honey. Because Tiggers do not like honey. Makes sense.

553486_3689711694868_624244433_n

High school graduation with her kitty Shasta.

My daughter has grown into quite a beautiful young woman — beautiful on the inside and the outside. Despite her upbringing. How lucky am I?

Posted in Blogging A to Z | 5 Comments

Blogging A to Z — Amtrak

Posted on April 1, 2015 by renbog

AIt’s April 1, so that means it is day 1 of the Blogging A to Z challenge! I was trying to figure out what to write about for today, letter A, and drawing a blank. I thought, “I’m sitting on this Amtrak train and need a topic.” When I decided to just use “Amtrak”.

11075291_10205496360361883_6603760630651343114_n

Me and my baby girl ❤

I am headed to see my daughter who has had a rough week and needs her mommy. She is also coming home this weekend for Easter so I decided to just take the Amtrak to her and then drive home with her for the weekend.

This is my second trip on Amtrak in the past year or so. I enjoy traveling by train. I like being able to sit back and relax.

When I was out of college and doing an internship with the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, I used to take the Amtrak from Chicago or Joliet to Springfield and back all the time. I used to say that I hated taking the train, but really, I hated Springfield. Such a yawner of a city!

Taking Amtrak might not get you someplace faster than driving (like a plane would), but it is nice to not have to worry about driving. I can just sit back and relax! Plus it’s pretty cheap — my one-way tickets from Joliet to Alton was $26 — that’c cheaper than the tank of gas it would have cost me to drive.

So there you go, Amtrak — some free advertising for you today!

Posted in Blogging A to Z | Tagged , | 5 Comments

777 Writing Challenge

Posted on March 19, 2015 by renbog

Recently I started following the author Lynette Noni here on WordPress. Today, her post detailed a challenge she had been tagged in, called the 777 Writing Challenge. Essentially, what you are challenged to do is go to a writing project you are currently working on, go to page 7 of that project, then go to line 7 on that page and share the next 7 lines. Hers is seriously cool stuff! If you didn’t click on the link above, do it now!

Some of you know I started working on a book about a year ago. Sadly, I haven’t worked on it in a really long time. I hit a roadblock in my writing as well as took on a part time job writing curriculum. Add that to my regular job and life and I’ve lost most of my time to write. Considering that next year I am returning to the classroom half time, I anticipate my book will just have to stay put for a while. Sigh.

But I like this challenge, so I decided to do it, too. So here are 7 lines starting at line 7, page 7 of my work in progress, tentatively titled Living Without Dying:

It was completely irrational but it was how I felt nonetheless. I cried like a baby for the first hour in the car. Mark said nothing. Maybe he didn’t know what to say, or maybe he knew that there was nothing that he could say.

That evening when we climbed in to bed, Mark reached over in the dark and held my hand. It was a simple, sweet gesture, but I knew that he was telling me so much. He felt emptiness, too, with Samantha not down the hall. He knew that there was a special emptiness because I’m Samantha’s mom.

Not riveting stuff, but there it is.

Part of the challenge is to tag 7 other writers and challenge them to do the same thing, but I don’t know for sure that I know 7 other writers with works in progress. So if you’re a writer and you want to take up this challenge, please do so, and tag me so I can see YOUR writing!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Fixation Finished

Posted on March 1, 2015 by renbog

I admitted to my husband and best cheerleader this morning that I ma having a crisis. I am so fixated on running this half marathon at the beginning of May that I fear I may be causing myself physical and emotional harm. The physical harm is coming in pushing myself too hard every time I run. My hip starts to feel good and then I push myself too hard. Every time I get the chance to exercise, I’m running. But the problem is I’m now starting to have one step forward, two steps back. I overdid it last weekend on a  5 mile run and was in a lot of pain for a few days following. Some really good PT this past week got me to feeling really good yesterday so I wanted to do 4 miles (my PT told me not to do more than that) and started having pain at 2 miles, so I finished off with about 2.25 miles yesterday, thinking I would be okay. Well, I feel just as lousy today as I did last Sunday after my 5 miles. I am pushing myself too much and too hard and all I’m doing is hindering my healing. And I’m doing all this pushing because of this damned half marathon I’ve been wanting to do. I’ve got a million good reasons for wanting to do this particular race, but if I keep pushing myself the way I am, I’m never going to do it. So I’m done pushing myself. I’m going to run and ride the bike and walk on the treadmill and use the elliptical instead of run, and run, and run, and run. I’m going to keep using the exercises I learned in PT instead of only run, and run, and run, and run.

But that decision is scary, because I fear DESPERATELY losing progress I’ve made so far. What if I lose my taste for running? What if lose what fitness I’ve built up so far? If that happens AND I stop for a donut one day, I’m terrified that I will immediately fall back to my “fat” eating habits and boom, the 40 pounds I’ve lost so far will be back on in a flash. Because this has happened to me before. I feel like I need a goal to focus on to keep me motivated.

But as my husband reminded me this morning, the half in May and the half in September (the two I’ve seriously contemplated running) aren’t the only half marathons in the world. So while I don’t have to rule those races out, I certainly don’t have to do either one of them, either. There are plenty of races to be had.

So, fixation gone. Now, just focus on keeping healthy and active within reason, and as my hip improves, I can start to think about a race somewhere at some time. No more blinders on about half marathons in May.

I hope.

Posted in Emotional Outlet, Exercise | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Fifty Shades of Whatevs

Posted on February 16, 2015 by renbog

I read, okay devoured, the Fifty Shades of Grey books when they came out. I loved them. I enjoyed reading them. They were fun to talk about with others who had read them. I loved the Twilight books so it wasn’t much of a leap to love the Fifty Shades books since they started out as Twilight fan fic. The books actually “inspired” a great family story/drama. My daughter, who was 18 and on her way to college, decided to read the first book. She’s not a big reader (much to my chagrin) but if she wanted to read this book, why would I care? I had a member of my extended family jump all over me about it, saying I was a bad mother for letting her read the book. My response was my daughter is 18 and out of high school and on her way to college; she is old enough to look at porn; she is old enough to make her own porn; why the hell would I stop her from reading this book, which has been billed over and over again as “mommy porn”? KMA.

Since that time, I have heard all sorts of crap from people about the books and now that the movie is out, the whole stupid pot is stirred again. So, for what it’s worth (not much at all), here are my thoughts on the whole Fifty Shades brouhaha:

  • Are the books bad writing? Who cares. I giggle at the people who pooh-pooh the books because the writing is bad. Why does every book a person reads have to be “good writing”?
  • Is it wussy porn? I guess so. I’m not a porn connoisseur. I don’t care. Isn’t porn a matter of personal taste, anyway? Some people like it, some people don’t. If you don’t like porn, don’t read the books or see the movie. If you like porn and it’s not your type, don’t read the books or see the movie. Seems pretty simple.
  • Abusive relationship, blah blah blah. Whatever happens between CONSENTING ADULTS IN THEIR BEDROOM really isn’t any of my business or yours. If Christian and Ana (or you or me or anyone else) likes the kind of sex that happens between them, why do you care? If it’s not happening to you, you shouldn’t have an opinion. And while we are on that topic……
  • I don’t care if the BDSM community thinks the books or movie is an affront to their lifestyle (if that’s what they call it, I’m not sure). The book was never meant to be a primer on BDSM. It’s not a reference book. It’s a work of fiction. Fiction is only based in reality. It doesn’t have to be actually real or factually accurate all the time. Fiction. get it? Please stop trying to enlighten me on the “real BDSM”.
  • Christian Grey is not some ideal man that all women are dreaming to find. He’s far from ideal. All the daddies out there worried that their baby girls are looking for Christian Grey can stop with the “letters to their daughters” about how their future husbands will be better men than Christian. BTW, Christian is a fictional character, so he doesn’t really exist. If your daughter is out looking for Christian, you’ve got a bigger issue to deal with.
  • I am not sinful or immoral because I read the books and saw the movie. My marriage is not in the early stages of decay because my husband watched the movie, too. If a married couple is going to see their marriage come undone because of some books and a movie that has sex in it, that marriage has bigger problems, too. I implore everyone once again to please stay out of my bedroom and the bedrooms of others. Please do not feel the need to save my soul from eternal damnation. Believe me, if I am destined for hell, that fate was sealed long before Fifty Shades came into my life.
  • I don’t care if you don’t want to read the books or see the movie. What I do care about is the people who get on their high horses and look down on me because I read the books and saw the movie. I know that not everyone likes this kind of book or film — I’m not judging you if it’s not in your wheel house. But I do get pissy when you act holier than thou because you didn’t deign to touch the story while I clearly slummed my way through it. (Cue Ana’s subconscious looking at me disapprovingly over her readers.)

I’d like to get back to discussing the books and movie with my friends who are fellow fans. I’d also like to get back to not discussing the books and movie with people who are not fans. Not once have I said someone is stupid, awful, immoral, or wrong for not having an interest in the books or movie. I wish people would stop saying that about me.

Posted in Rants, Social Issues | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Learned All About IT

Posted on February 16, 2015 by renbog

About a month ago I started having pain in my left hip when I would run. I started out thinking maybe I just hurt my back but when the pain didn’t abate and actually became much worse, I knew something more was happening. I saw a sports medicine doctor who told me that I had IT band tendonitis. I had read about IT problems and how common they are in runners, but I didn’t seem to have the hallmark symptom of pain shooting down the outside of my thigh to my knee. I started physical therapy, and have been in PT for three weeks and have seen marked improvement. I started out walking with a limp and having pain just touching my hip much less doing anything physical, but now I am getting my butt kicked by my PT for a good hour. I warm up with a half mile run on the treadmill then do various exercises, many of them using a resistance band. The first time my therapist foam rolled my hip, she told me it was going to hurt and that I would want to kick her. She was right. How can someone so small and cute cause so much pain???? But now I really welcome and enjoy the foam rolling. Last weekend, I ran two miles and told my therapist that my pain while running was around a 3, maybe 4. Today I ran two miles and my pain was at 1 and even 0 at times.

My therapist gave me exercises to do at home, which I have been doing because I was (and still am) serious about getting better. My therapist has also asked my doctor to order me three more weeks of PT, which I am really grateful for.

I have been very fearful for the past three weeks having my physical activity so severely limited. I have been really afraid of losing all the progress I’ve made. I’ve been afraid that I would lose my motivation and slip back into my sloth-like behavior. I’ve been scared that my weigh loss success would fizzle away because of my diminished activity. So far, my fears have been mostly unfounded. My weight loss has slowed but not stagnated. I’ve lost a little motivation, but my husband, who is my number one cheerleader, has been so encouraging, and with every success I have with running pain-free, I feel my motivation returning and I’m optimistic that I haven’t lost as much of my progress as I thought I did.

I have also learned the importance of incorporating strength/resistance training to my exercise regimen. I know that I have been getting better because I have been strengthening that IT band and everything else.

It sure is amazing what I have learned about myself along this running journey!

Posted in Exercise | Tagged | Leave a comment

Year in Review — 2014

Posted on December 30, 2014 by renbog

This past year saw some pretty powerful moments for me. Here are some of the things that stuck with me from 2014, in no particular order:

  • Strep. At the age of 47, I got strep for the very first time, and I would have like to have died. Eating, drinking, swallowing caused crazy pain. Even breathing was painful. I have said over and over again that I would rather have been in labor because at least you get a break from the pain every two minutes. I got strep in March and again in September. Every time I get a sore throat, I live in fear of what I might see appear on my tonsils.
  • Cruising. I was lucky enough to take three cruises this year — one in March with my mom; one in June with Jim, my dad, and Brenda; and one just last week with Jim, Becky, my dad, Brenda, Joe, Lucy, and Ethan.I gotta say — I love being on a cruise. I can’t wait to do one that is longer than five days.
    December Cruise

    December Cruise

    Me and Jim, June cruise

    Me and Jim, June cruise

  • Curriclulet. I started a part time job writing curriculum for a company called Curriculet. They offer online texts that contain embedded questions and annotations that are aligned to the Common Core. I LOVE this job. I am getting paid to read books and write curriculum — my favorite past time and one of the things I really love about education. My dream would be to keep doing this job for years and years until I retire from teaching; then writing for Curriculet can be my new job!
  • Weight Watchers. Jim and I decided in August that we were tired of being fatsos, so we re-committed ourselves to Weight Watchers. Since the middle of August, I have lost 34 pounds and I feel great. I love the fact that I am in control of my eating because I have a really crappy relationship with food. I also love how losing weight has helped my improve my running and that my running is helping me lose weight.
  • Madison. Once again, my world was rocked this past spring when one of my favorite former students, Madison Angus, was killed in a car accident. She was only a matter of days graduated from high school when she lost control of her car, went down an embankment, and was thrown from her vehicle. If you didn’t know her, then I could try to tell you about her but words don’t describe Madison very adequately. When I learned what happened to her, I noticed that the world was a little less beautiful and a little less bright. She was one of the few truly kind-hearted humans in this world. I think of her every day, along with Mitch Fajman and Allison Rivera, classmates of Becky’s who died when they were seniors in high school. That’s all I have to say about that.

    Madison in junior high when I was her track coach

    Madison in junior high when I was her track coach

  • Cayden. My friend Liz had a baby boy this fall. She was told it was a girl at first but a later ultrasound said boy. Either way, it was exciting! He’s as cute as can be and Liz is so nice — she lets me hold him and snuggle him! That little cutie has made me think that maybe, just maybe, it won’t be so bad to be a grandma someday in the future — no need for it to happen too soon! I’ll get my baby fix with Cayden!
  • Becky. Every year that goes by brings me a year closer to my daughter being a full-fledged adult. This past summer, she stayed at school and took a summer class and worked instead of coming home. This was also the first summer I’ve spent alone in 20 years. It sucked. She also had an amazing internship with a Democratic candidate for Congress in the fall. She worked so hard at it; I was bursting with pride at her work! She also spearheaded a fundraiser with her sorority that raised $11,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. My kid! At age 19! Blows my mind. She had some downs, too. In fact, she’s got a big change coming up in January that I am hoping will eliminate some of the crap happening in her life. And I’ll admit that her boyfriend Josh is such a good guy; I feel good knowing Becky is with him. He treats her with respect and with care, and he makes her laugh. Speaking of Josh brings me to my next point:
  • Biloxi. I took two road trips to Biloxi, Mississippi in two weeks so Becky could visit Josh while he was doing his tech school at Keesler Air Force Base. I went once with Robyn, Michael, and Alyssa, and once with my mom. I really liked the trip with Robyn because I got to spend some quality time with Michael and Alyssa; I feel like to got to develop a great relationship with them! I actually really enjoyed Biloxi. I’d love to take Jim there. Great beach town with some terrific bars and restaurants!

    My favorite picture from Bioxi trip #1

    My favorite picture from Biloxi trip #1

  • Ron. Right at the start of the school year, I learned my friend and former colleague Ron Moir died. He wasn’t much older than I was. It was sudden and unexpected. He was a guy that was always a way better friend to me than I was to him. Sadly, I took him for granted and now he’s gone. He was one of the most alive people I knew. He told such great stories and had a great smile. His passing made me feel my mortality big time. Damn, I miss him.
    Ron dressed as Little Bo Peep for a fundraiser my students sponsored. For $1000, he dressed this way for a whole day at Channahon Jr, High, and because of it, Room to Read built a library at a school in Nepal. His influence is truly global.

    Ron dressed as Little Bo Peep for a fundraiser my students sponsored. For $1000, he dressed this way for a whole day at Channahon Jr, High, and because of it, Room to Read built a library at a school in Nepal. His influence is truly global.

    One of my favorite pictures of Ron

    One of my favorite pictures of Ron

Next year is 2015 and I’m looking forward to a few things. I plan to keep running with the goal to maybe, hopefully, possibly run a half marathon in September. I’m going to keep plugging away on Weight Watchers, maybe even hit my goal weight. I’ve got some exciting things to look forward to in my job. In fact, I think I am less than ten years away from retirement. Crazy to think of that. My daughter starts her last year of college in 2015. You know what, I’m not going to think about that.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Happy Holidays

Posted on November 10, 2014 by renbog

It’s that time of year again, the time to start seeing angry posts from people complaining about how the phrase “Merry Christmas” has been banned from use in our society. The posts usually consist of memes bemoaning the fact that we are ignoring the “Christ” in “Christmas” or making some comment about how vile political correctness is or attempting some stretch that Islam is valued more than Christianity in this country — all of these are reasons why nobody is allowed to say “Merry Christmas” anymore.

Gimme a break.

Has it ever occurred to anyone that the phrase “Happy Holidays” has nothing to do with Islam, political correctness, or being a lousy American? The day after Thanksgiving — Black Friday — is the traditional day where people being their gift shopping in earnest. The greeting “Happy Holidays” will start being used pretty commonly starting that day all the way through the start of the new year. “Happy Holidays” encompasses all the holidays many people associate with that time period — Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. “Happy Holidays” also encompasses the holidays of Kwanzaa and Hanukkah which also fall within that time frame. “Happy Holidays” also includes greeting politely those people who, for whatever reason, do not celebrate Christmas. Saying “Happy Holidays” is a phrase that is inclusive of all people, not just Christians who are celebrating Christmas. Christians don’t have the corner on the market of holidays in December; it’s presumptuous to assume all people celebrate Christmas. So when someone wishes you “Happy Holidays” try replying with something equally as kind, like, “Thank you! Same to you!” ‘Tis the season, after all.

Come on… I mean, really?

I got nothing…..

Posted in Rants, Social Issues | Tagged , | 1 Comment