Forgetful!!!!

OMG's I can't believe I did it again!!!!! Yesterday was my Mom's birthday (her 50th!) and I forgot to call her and actually wish her a Happy Birthday. I did get her an e-card sent. And I ordered her gift on Monday (which was belated in and of itself, seeing as it's a 1 year subscription to Alaska Mag and it'll take 4 to 6 weeks for her first issue to get to her). But, I still forgot to call her. I can't believe I did that.

I'm SORRY MOM!!!!!!!

Mom's giving herself the gift of learning to ride a motorcycle. She's taking a motorcycle safety course and should complete the course today and be given the certificate of completion that will allow her to get her motorcycle license. She's going to be a motorcycle Grandma. I think that's cool. (Not that I feel like riding a motorcycle myself.) DD just rolls her eyes and goes on about how wierd it is. SOMEDAY she'll think it's cool, too. LOL

I guess my middle sis sent my Mom a Tucson Harley t-shirt, a Harley "do-rag" and a Tucson Harley pin for Mom's b-day. *grin*

I told Mom she needs to learn how to snow-board next. I mean, she already knows how to surf (she's been living in Hawaii for a few years now), and down-hill ski (and cross-country ski, for that matter), she's getting her motorcycle license. She snorkles & goes scuba diving. She's gone sky-diving, and went in a glider plane for her birthday pressy to herself. Now she just needs to learn to snow-board. Oh, and maybe roller blade. (Do you already know how to roller blade Mom???) *wink* Then she'll be able to keep up with the grandkids no matter WHAT they do! One of these days, DD's going to have all her friends going on about how she's got the coolest grandma in the world!!!! And heck, Mom even bakes an awesome batch of Chocolate Chip cookies, and it's HER recipe for Banana bread I'll be using today. She's recently earned her Master's in Social work. (That's why she moved to Hawaii, to finish her degree, then she found a social worker job there.) She even crochets and sews!!!!! Oh, and did I say that when she & Dad met, she was an egress-mechanic on fighter jets in the Air Force??? Not much my Mom can't do!!!!

But, about being forgetful..... I forgot Dad's birthday back in Dec. My middle sister called & left a message & said "oh, did you forget?!?!?!" Yes, I did. So a day late, I ran into town, picked up his gift, a card, and some cake and took it over to his place. *sigh* What IS it with my memory lately?!?!?! I didn't totally space on my sister's birthday, mainly because I had her sent 2 books from Amazon. But I think her card was a bit late. My other sister's b-day is coming up at the end of May. DH is of the opinion I shouldn't even bother with her, as she forgot mine until our middle sis reminded her. And then she called from the resteraunt to wish me a happy b-day. I told him I try to be a nicer person than that, and at the very least I'll get her a card, and hopefully remember a gift as well.

I've also got 2 birthdays for the nephews to remember NEXT month. (I need to check my calendar & find out WHEN the birthdays are, precisely.) I DID remember the MIL's birthday, Great-Grandma's Birthday, and SIL's birthday (all only a couple of days before, but enough time for DH to find them each a card & a gift, and since they all live in town, that made it easier to get them something on time).

It's like forgetting Dad's birthday set off a chain reaction, and now I can't seem to keep track of ANYBODY's birthday well enough to actually get things done in time. LOL And I've got all the b-days written on my calendars, 2 of them. So, that's no excuse either. *sigh* I don't know what I'm going to do. If I'm this forgetful and I'm only 28, how dang forgetful am I going to be at 35, 45, or 55..... *shaking head*

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Went to the Ice Dog's game last night and they lost, by 1, in a shoot-out, AFTER over-time. Actually, by the offical end of the 3rd period we were tied 2-2 with one of the best ranked teams in the division. It went into over-time and there were some incredibly close calls on both sides. Then we went into the shoot-out and we got point 3 on our 3rd shot. Then they got point 3 on their 3rd shot. Then we each went 3 more shots (for a total of 6 shoot-out shots each) before they got a 4th and we didn't. So, they won, 4 to 3. It was a good game, though.

Had some peevish moments when a couple of bone-heads broke the metal ribbing between the glass panels surrounding the actual rink. There were 6 or 7 guys (most of them looked military with the army crew-cuts) with their feet on the glass, down at the base. They'd periodically stand up, grab the top of the glass panels, and shake the shit out of them. Well, eventually they caused the metal (aluminum?) ribbing between two panels to pop off, allowing the panels to seperate. It took several minutes for a ref to notice that there was a piece of metal on the ice. Well, the ref refitted it, told the guys to knock it off, and the game started again. Well, as soon as the puck was dropped, those several jerks started hauling on the glass again, and kicking it at the bottom, and the piece of metal popped off again. Well, this time three security guards came over, and a couple building maintenance people, escorted 3 or 4 of these jerks from the game, and took about 15 minutes to properly replace the metal piece. No LASTING damage was done, but if the hockey players hadn't been aware of the metal, somebody could have been seriously hurt, tripping over it.

As it was, DH was rather peeved to see these guys get escorted from the building, saying they shouldn't get kicked out for that. I reminded him that it's abuse of public property for them to be kicking the window & shaking it so forcefully, and they're lucky that nobody was hurt, and they didn't do any lasting damage. As it is, it's a well known fact that you can get in serious trouble for throwing something on the ice during a game, and after the metal piece popped off the first time, they should have stopped shaking the glass. When they continued, even knowing the fragility, they showed a pointed disregard for the safety of the hockey players, and the disregard for public property, and that's why they were getting kicked out. I think it's perfectly fine. It's my tax dollars and DH's tax dollars that go to replace things that get broken when people are careless with public property. I don't care to have people wasting MY tax dollars by breaking things through their irresponsible behavior. I mean, not to say I want public property to be shitty & improperly cared for, but I wish people would get it through their heads that just because it's PUBLIC property, that doesn't mean they're within their rights to wreck said public property if they'd like.

We need to be reminded that public property doesn't mean you can treat it as you would your own property. Public property means it's there for EVERYBODY'S use, and therefore we need to treat it in a manner that allows it to be used by others in the community.

It happens at my library where teenagers come in and carve on, or write on, the tables & chairs, scarring them & marking them. Sometimes even burning holes in them with lighters or lit cigs. They seem to think that because their mommy's & daddy's tax dollars pay for the furniture, they should be allowed to treat it however they want. Not so. That furniture is there for everybody to enjoy and to use, but it doesn't belong to ANY ONE OF US, it belongs to ALL of us. And therefore we should be especially careful lest it become unusable for ANY of us! I remind the little ones that they wouldn't go into their grandma's house & stand on the chairs, and they shouldn't come into the library & stand on the chairs, or sit on the table, or shake the trees (we've got four 30 year old fig trees in the lobby, which a lot of people seem to love to shake & try to climb on, but they're really rather fragile). And besides, if you carve your intitials (or worse) into a table, that means that the table has got to be replaced, which is like tossing EVERYBODY'S tax dollars into the garbage for the hell of it, and replacing the old furniture with new furniture just for the sake of replacing it. I know I don't like my tax dollars wasted. Unfortunately I don't think these kids are going to see it that way, until they start paying taxes themselves and see their OWN tax dollars wasted by some punk who doesn't give a rat's ass.

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During the first period we'd spotted, across the rink, one of DD's hockey teammates, so during the break between 1st & 2nd periods, we were walking around trying to find S. so that DD could say hello and catch up. Well, we walked right past this couple who was standing talking to a former coach of DD's, and DH looks at me and said "Was that M. and A?" (His cousin & cousin's wife.) I responded that I didn't know, and who was he talking about.... Finally saw who he was pointing at, and yeah, it did look like M. & A. but what the hell were they doing here??? They moved to Conn. a few years ago, and Grandma didn't say anything about them coming to town last time we talked to her. MIL hadn't said anything bout M & A being in town the other day when DH was talking to her, either. So, went over, and sure enough.... Evidently A's brother died a week or so ago, and they've been here for the last several days for the funeral and visiting family. Now, they've got 4 kids, younger than DD. The oldest is about 6 and DD hasn't seen her since DD was about 3 and M & A's oldest was a baby. In fact, seeing as their second child had a birthday this weekend, they decided to celebrate it here in town, and invite all the family. That's today at 1 pm, up in the hills. And DH is at work, and my car hasn't been plugged in, so we won't be able to make it. I'm a bit bummed about this (even though I am glad to still have my day to just be lazy & not leave the house), because it'd be nice for DD to meet these cousins. And the 6 year old also plays hockey, though only her second year, so the two may have something in common.

M & A were astonished at how big DD has gotten, and that she's been playing hockey for 5 years now, and that she's a goalie (it's rare, the child who actually likes playing goalie, and the parents that will actually allow their child to play goalie). They weren't aware that we've owned our own home for 7+ years now. (Well, we actually have 23 years left on the morgage, but at least we're not renters still.)

I wish we could catch up and let the kids meet. M's sister K. also has a boy that's about 2 months older than DD, but we haven't seen them since DD was about 6 months old. Of course K used to be rather snitty toward me, too.... Always trying to one-up me. Actually made a comment when DD was born (everybody kept going on and on about how pretty a baby DD was) that pretty babies often grew into homely kids. *sigh* She was rather jealous that her little boy had "dumbo ears". Then again, so does Will Smith, but I think he's a good looking guy. And I never said anything negative about her son's ears or appearance. I thought he was a right cute little guy, myself. But, back-handed comments like that run in the family. M & K learned it from their mom (Aunt C, MIL's younger sister).

MIL's quite good at making back-handed comments like that, sometimes they're compliments with a bite, sometimes they're just a nice way of saying a nasty thing. SIL does it quite well (her comment when the older nephew was born that NOW the inlaws had a grandson so they wouldn't need to bother with DD any more) also. And after SIL's second son was born, MIL actually had the audacity to tell SIL (in my hearing) that MIL hoped SIL's next child would be a little girl so that MIL would have a granddaughter to dress up. I told DH about this, and he confronted MIL and reminded her that she DOES have a granddaughter, but we don't want her spending all of FIL's hard-earned money shopping for clothes that DD doesn't need. (We did tell her that if she wants to take DD shopping a couple of times a year for a pretty church dress, that was fine, but no more than 3 or 4 outfits a year. As it is MIL spends thousands of dollars a year on new clothes for herself, for SIL, and for SIL's boys. All of them have more clothes than they could ever wear.) This is all part of the reason I'm glad I'm not blood related to that family. I just hope DD grows up without that bitch-bone.

Interestingly enough, neither Aunt M (MIL's older sister) nor Great Grandma (MIL's mom) seem to have that bitch-bone. Or, maybe they just mellowed out of it. When Grandma & Aunt M. give a compliment, they really mean it, and they don't do it in a back-handed sort of way. And when they disagree with something or don't like something, they'll just come out & tell you about it. They don't insist on being catty & back-stabbing with it.

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Ok, enough with the ranting. I really need to stop griping so much. I was reminded the other day, through a series of syncronis events, that I need to avoid harshness in my environment (both chemically, and mental/emotional), and that not only should I work on having a peaceful mind-set and a outlook, but I need to model that peace & calm to those around me as well. It's really hard to do sometimes. And I find myself ranting & griping, and I know I should be focused on the good, and on bringing peace to those around me..... *sigh*

So, for a nice thought..... I'll be baking that banana bread later, who's coming over for a slice??? *wink* I'll try to remember to post a pic of the completed loaves (or, at least one of them) so y'all can wish you were here to share it with me. *BWG* Truly, if you could make it, you'd be invited.

I Hope You Have a Blessed Day.