Pittsburgh mourns...cry babies!!

Good afternoon Stephen...

I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and the woman who took some of my blood (I have to get my blood sugar checked every 3 months for my A1C level), told me she was "depressed" about the loss of the Super Bowl--and I said, "Yeah but both teams seemed to play a pretty good game---" but she interrupted me, and said, "Ben was just too jazzed, he was a nervous wreck, and when HE is a mess, the other guys are a mess---he can't seem to play under pressure at all...they were sloppy, they were not focused, they played terribly!"

Then she added the REAL reason why she was bummed out---"Not only THAT," she said, "But I spent $500 bucks on a stupid Super Bowl party, I'll never do THAT again..."  I said, "Well, ya know, we won SIX Super Bowls, I guess we can give someone else a turn."  She bugged her eyes out like she was shocked, and said, "You know what? You're right...I guess I never realized that really..."

People in Pittsburgh are just greedy! They've gone to the Super Bowl EIGHT TIMES, and have lost only TWICE, so get over it, I say.  Let's worry about WORLD PEACE or HUNGER or GENOCIDE or something that really MATTERS, ya know??  I mean, PRIORITIES people.  They really just have to get things into a better perspective.

My friends on Facebook are all dissing Christina Aguilara's rendition of the National Anthem, "She flubbed the words! How can she flub the words to THAT!! It's a DISGRACE! And no amount of vocal gymnastics will cover it up!!" (My friend Lisa is a conservative Republican...so much "better" than anybody else ya know).   But, I would like to see HER get up in front of a million people and sing all by herself, and let's just see how good she does.  Republicans tend to love telling people how they should live, how they should sing, how they should behave, how they should think, etc....which annoys me.

I guess I'm just wired differently---I tend to be happy with what I am given most of the time. Call me a dirty liberal Democrat, you'd be absolutely right.  I just don't complain so much.  I figure, "it could be worse," and I am content.  Maybe growing up poor helps a person keep that perspective longer than other upper-middle class people, who knows?  It's like, when someone starts getting used to being spoiled rotten, they seem to lose sight of the basics, and being happy with 'em. But hey, go hang out for 6 years with Holocaust Survivors like I did, and you'll change that perspective REAL quick.  Not ONE of them ever took anything for granted.  I like people like that. We are easy to please!!

Sometimes I tell Pete he's spoiling me too much and it makes me feel uncomfortable.  Keep in mind, being a single woman most of my life, if a man took me out for a date, and tried to spoil me too much, that usually meant he wanted to get laid.  So Pete will want to go all out and spend money on something I tell him we don't really NEED, but he'll say, "But you deserve to have something nicer, so let's go for it." I used to tease him, "Yeah, okay, you just want to get laid, I know how you men are." And he would smile with a big grin, "Who ME?"  So, that really just reinforced my whole belief.  Silly Pete.

For instance, I've got a couch and a loveseat that I bought at the same time, at a Salvation Army thrift store in Alexandria VA, for $250.  (Hey cut me some slack Jack, don't judge me! I was poor, living in an expensive place, and single).  So I thought, WOW! What a steal! They were brand new from a furniture store show room...the display.  I've had them now for about 15 years.  They're losing their springs, you sink into them more than you should, but they are still comfortable.  I had to patch up a cushion that had a few tiny holes in it from the dog jumping on it, but otherwise, they are perfectly fine.  Pete says, "When we get the new house, we'll get new furniture." But we don't really NEED new furniture, I can just get a couch cover.  He said, "You deserve to have something new, you've had this stuff long enough. Time to upgrade."

But, that makes me feel kinda uncomfortable---I guess part of it is, that sage green overstuffed furniture is MINE, I bought it with my own money when I had a job and worked and paid my own bills, etc., so giving that UP, is rather hard, because then suddenly it's OUR stuff, not MINE....it's more psychological than anything.  I've always been single, all my life.  This new married stuff is really weird to adjust to.   It's hard to say goodbye to the life you once had, and all the things you've acquired on your own, to assimilate into a "couple," and "ours," and all that weird married stuff.  I guess I'm a late bloomer in that respect.

As time has grown closer to our possibly buying a nice house of our own, (we rent right now), I'm starting to warm up to the idea of getting new furniture.  But, it still feels a bit uncomfortable to me, so we might just re-use the stuff I've got, in the basement or something.  Maybe with couch covers.

Well, anyway, I'm off to watch my daily dose of HGTV....I so love interior design! I am considering taking an online course at Sheffield School of Design at some point in the near future.  I'd love it.

Hope you have a nice week.  I was listening to you sing to me in the car earlier...hey, did you know that ETTA JAMES is older than YOU, but she's still singing?!  .....just sayin'....I love her!!  She's my alter-ego, don'tchaknow.  My hometown friend from Michigan, Charles Johnson, is now a jazz musician in Memphis, (www.kwestproductions.com), and he said to me once: "Girllll, you've got the heart and soul of a black woman, but you've got the skin that gets you IN!" hehehehe  I'd say that's pretty accurate.

Love, Rebecca