I like Bruce Willis movies a lot more than the Mel Gibson movies. Mel was hot when he was young, but age has not been kind to him and his social behaviors are atrocious. I have no interest in supporting that arrogant jerk with my entertainment monies.

Had to send a message to the perp. Not to keep things stirred up but to hopefully chill things for the next gathering – whenever that will be. At the risk of her giving me a bunch of grief back. Oh well, let’s see if free advice is worth anything.

“The older I get – and its pretty old now, g/f – the more I appreciate peace and harmony. Even though people have strong emotions, it is usually not worth having a discussion escalate in a family gathering. The family (any family) has a natural pecking order and people who disregard that are at a disadvantage.

So let me say that, when I married Steve Sr and had to find my way in his large dysfunctional family it was always challenging for me, especially during holidays. When all else fails, I would tell myself, “You can’t reason with crazy and you can’t argue with stupid.” Not that I’m calling anyone crazy or stupid – just sayin’ that sometimes nothing you say will have a good outcome no matter how right you think you are or how wrong you think someone else might be.

There’s another saying I love, too. “Don’t let the turkeys get you down.”

My family dinner will be pulling people for 4 different states, but not all of us will be there. My sister is hosting the dinner in Virginia. We can’t make that long a trip right now, but my thoughts are with them. the worst thing about not being there is that the people not there get talked about and they aren’t able to defend themselves. Rumors and arguments from family gatherings have a way of lasting for months afterwards. That’s how families do.

I like to get out of my comfort zone. Sometimes it just means ordering a different food when you go to the local diner. It might mean taking a different route home or just going for a drive one afternoon. Or watching a couple of shows that you never heard of on a cable channel that you usually skip over.

I have been thinking about that a lot lately. I don’t know what I would say in just a few sentences. If I could spend a couple hours with someone, I would probably cover a lot of things about self esteem, good manners and honesty.

If you believe in luck, I hope you enjoy good luck. I found a four leaf clover this morning. Maybe I will have some good luck, too.

The three ships of Columbus.

Three blind mice.

The three sisters from Vienna.

My sisters blog and we all have a blast reading up on each other’s days and keeping up with the family.

Just wanted to shout out to my sisters – you rock!

Everyone around me is having babies. Nothing makes you feel so old as seeing everyone else pushing baby strollers and realizing that pushing strollers was something you did over 30 years ago. I have to go to another baby shower next weekend. I might as well stock up on baby gifts and keep them at the ready.

Well, I asked if he can dance and he reluctantly admitted that, no, he has never bothered to learn to dance.

Everyone left the discussion, bitterly disappointed. The search continues.

Now they have patches for many different types of medicines and many types of conditions, from anti-smoking to birth control to motion sickness. This is one of the great but mostly unheralded advances of modern medicine. It made a tremendous difference in the care and quality of life of my son and I know it has helped millions since then.

I wonder if anyone actually said those very words to one of them or if they were able to figure it out for themselves?

To the rest of the Leap Day birthday boys and girls, hope you enjoy your special day today, and that this year ahead is your best one, EVER!

Now that Santa has come and gone, and our new year is off to a good start, I am glad to finally have my own little space on the internet to share my thoughts, ideas, feelings, rants and raves.

I’m still learning my way around the blogging thing, but I’m a quick study and I’m looking forward to this new activity.

I hope you stop by often and enjoy reading what I have to say.