Reboot!

Where have I been?  Well, pretty much redesigning my whole life. I've become a Professional Virtual Assistant and have been working really hard to get my business up and running. So, if you or anyone else you know needs some Administrative Support, let me know!

Starting (well, actually growing it into a full-time gig) a business has taken the majority of my time. I have heard it said that Entrepreneurs work 80 hours a week for themselves to avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else.  I think 80 hours a week might be an underestimate, but when you do what you love and are passionate about, it doesn't seem to be as hard to be motivated to do it.

We are mere minutes away from the start of NaNoWriMo 2014, as well. 

But, I wanted to have a place to post reviews and the like, so here I am!

Delivery Failure

A couple of weeks ago, POSSLQ and I wandered into Kroger for some grocery items, as we often do.  Near the front door, there was a little booth with several tickets on it and a nice lady proffering a pen so you could put your name and number on the ticket.  The "catch" was that you had to listen to her pitch for the Dallas Morning News.

So, we listened and we actually signed up for the special deal she was offering and she said that we should start getting the paper by Wednesday (this was 2 Mondays ago).  Well, Wednesday came and went and no paper...and then Thursday, Friday and Saturday... Sunday we went to Kroger again to do our grocery shopping and there was another woman at the little booth and we mentioned signing up and still having not received the paper and she told us to contact circulation and inquire "WTF??" (her words).

So, we zipped off an email to circulation.  The following is what we received in reply:

Thank you for your request for new service. We apologize for the inconvenience, but unfortunately there is no service in your area due to safety concerns. That payment should be put back into your account. If you require further assistance, please call customer care at 214 745-8383 or 800 925-1500.


Thank you, The Dallas Morning News

So now I have some issues to address:

We have lived at the same address for four years. In that time we've had no "safety concerns".  Unless you count my concern for the parental tendency to let small (under age 6) children run around outside until well after midnight with no apparent adult supervision.  

All other types of delivery services, UPS, FedEX, Pizza Hut, several fine Chinese takeout establishments have absolutely no issue delivering to my apartment. Even after dark (in the case of food delivery) and some of these folks (food delivery) carry CASH.  I did, once upon a time, live in an area of Minneapolis, MN that was so sketchy that you couldn't get a pizza delivered there because too many drivers had been robbed/beaten up. 

More importantly, though, is this:  they had charged the credit card for the subscription OVER A WEEK AGO and had not contacted us AT ALL to tell us that we were not EVER going to receive the paper. I'll bet if we had not contacted them, they would have kept taking payments, as well (and I will be watching LIKE A HAWK for them to try to do so).

They had our address, a phone number and an email (all required to subscribe) so there is absolutely ZERO excuse for them not having made an attempt to contact us.

You would think, with newspapers complaining about subscriptions falling off as more and more people turn to the internet for their news, that they would at least TRY to make some effort at customer service.

Dallas Morning News, I am deeply disappointed by your lack of customer service.  You lost what would have been a good, long-term customer.  And I'm not going to be quiet about it.  While I am guessing that one lost subscriber doesn't matter to you, your poor customer service will drive others away and it would be so easy to remedy... if you had just reached out to us first, I wouldn't be so upset. It's disappointing that common courtesy is no longer common.

Back out of the Rabbit Hole...

Apparently I fell down a rabbit hole and lost track of time.

Which is a way better story than the truth, so I'm just going to stick with that!

Working on my fall cleaning and trying to get myself back on track.  What a long, strange trip it's been.  And yes, I know that most people do SPRING cleaning. I just can't go a whole year between major cleanings.

I do have some reviews I want to put up and a couple of other ideas... so, hopefully I'll be around more often!

Do any of YOU do Fall Cleaning?

Quick Note

So, you'd think that not having a job would give me all sorts of time to come and blog... and then you look at the blog and see the last entry was February.  And now it's APRIL.   Yeah... about that...

I spend more hours than I care to think about looking for work.  And then more hours beyond that taking care of all of the rest of the things that happen just as a result of living life.  That certainly doesn't excuse my absence here, but it's a little explanation.

Also, I try not to blog if I don't have something interesting to say... I figure y'all don't want to hear about my job hunting and since that's sortve what has gobbled up my brain lately, well, there you have the lack of posting here.

Hopefully, though, I will be a little more active now that Spring is here.  I have things to occupy my brain like planting tomatoes and things of that nature.

I am learning to oil paint and working on drawing and trying to become more fluent in Spanish.  So, there have been things going on that have not directly related to the job search and maybe I should be writing about those things.

At any rate, I've missed you and I'll try to check in more often!

L'Oréal Paris Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream Review

I do not normally wear much makeup.  However, since I have been job hunting lately, it's been more necessary.  I was excited to have the chance, thanks to SheSpeaks, to get to try L'Oréal Paris Magic Skin Beautifier BB Cream.  

I have some issues with foundation makeup sometimes, I'm pretty pale so finding something that matches my skin tone and doesn't make me look orange is sometimes a challenge.  I wasn't sure what to expect from the BB Cream, but decided to try some one day when I was getting ready for an interview. I honestly didn't have very high hopes, but I was impressed. Not only did the color (Fair) not look too dark on my skin, but I didn't run into a problem with it clumping or flaking as so often happens with foundation makeup on my skin. The BB Cream gave me the sheer coverage needed to create a natural bare skin finish, while delivering built-in skincare benefits. It primes and smoothes, perfects to hide flaws, hydrates all-day, and corrects and evens skin.  I brushed a bit of mineral makeup over it and headed out to my interview.  A quick check in the car mirror pre-interview showed that my face still looked great.

I'm still waiting to hear about the job, but I can tell you that the BB Cream did help me to feel confident that I was putting my best face forward (pun intended) and I've used it for a couple of other interview situations, as well.  It evens my skin color and texture better than mineral makeup alone and I've had no issues with breaking out when using it nor is it difficult to wash off at the end of the day.

L'Oréal Paris Magic BB Cream retails for $10.95 for 1 fl oz. It is available in four shades. I was a little worried when it came out of the tube looking white, but it blended really well with my skin and was very lightweight and very easy to apply/blend.  It doesn't take much of the product to get good, even coverage.

I would recommend L'Oréal Paris Magic BB Cream! Thanks to SheSpeaks for the opportunity to try this wonderful product!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product from SheSpeaks/L'Oréal to facilitate this review. All opinions about the product are my own.

2013

Ok, I'll admit it... 2012 did not turn out to be the best year in terms of keeping up with the ol' blog here.  I'm not going to make excuses, it's in the past now and I'm looking (and moving) forward.

I have a couple of plans to make this year better in terms of getting posts here more regularly. So even though I am not a resolution maker, I do want to try to hold myself accountable for getting things here more often.  I also have a couple of ideas brewing, so we'll see how things end up working out.

I am also hoping to do some more giveaways this year... so there's that to look forward to, as well.

This is going to be short, I just wanted to check in and start the year off right! Hope y'all had a safe New Year's Eve and I hope that, so far, 2013 has been good to you!

CrossWorlds Cafe Welcomes Author Rodney Lacroix!

If you've spent much time wandering around the blogosphere, you've likely run across my guest today at the CrossWorlds Cafe before...You may know him as the Midget Man of Steel, author of the Mental Poo blog or as @moooooog35 on twitter (and in finer blog comments everywhere!) When I heard that The Bloggess had given his book 'Things Go Wrong for Me' a fabulous review, I jumped at the chance to interview the man. 

 Welcome to the CrossWorld's Cafe, Rodney. It's nice to have some company! Let the questioning begin! 

Alura: When you write blog entries now, are you finding yourself thinking about how it would translate to book form? Put another way, has writing the book changed the way you blog? 

Rodney: No. About the only thing that has changed the way I blog is work, which tends to get in the way. Luckily, they don't really expect that much from me around here (please note this was written at 2 in the afternoon at my desk on a Wednesday) so it's not that big of a stretch. What I HAVE changed is how much I want to do more WRITING for the blog and be less dependent on the visuals. The visuals are what sets me apart, to be sure, but I think the most fun I had with the book was in writing the introductions to each chapter. Just off-the-cuff writing and it's what I'm best at. 

Alura: It's always fun when you blog about the things your kids say and do. Do your kids read your blog? If not, do you think they'd be freaked out about knowing that people get to read stories about them? 

Rodney: Oh, no. No they don't read it. The language and pictures on there are in no way appropriate for 12 and 9 year olds. They DO, however, know that I write about them and have seen some of the posts. They have also helped me make a lot of the videos that you'll find on my YouTube Channel (youtube.com/moooooog35) and we have a TON of fun doing them. My kids are totally funnier than me and it's my job to make sure they don't know that. Captain of the ship, and all.

Alura:  Now that you've gotten the first book written and published, can we look forward to more?

Rodney: This book was categorized into parenting/dating type things. It actually takes you into 2010 where I start dating again after my divorce. Some of the stories involving my girlfriend (SORRY LADIES!) are even more current than that, but don't particularly need the date context. "Axe for Men" stories are timeless.

That said, yes. You can plan on some sequels. There will be pets involved. I've said too much.

Alura: So, will your post-divorce apartment experiences end up a book of their own?

Rodney:  OMG there are SO MANY of those that, yes, I can see the post-divorce chronicles being their own pseudo-book. Such Hell. The only thing I miss about my apartment is that I paid less than half of what I pay in a mortgage now. However, I don't have to listen to people screaming at 3 am in languages I've never heard of so it's kind of a wash.

Alura:  Are there any topics that you would not discuss in your blog? 

Rodney:  There ARE a couple of personal family things that are - currently - off limits to the public. Some of these questions may get raised as you're reading the book and thinking, "Hmmm...I wonder what the back story on THAT is."

I'm also starting to be more cognizant that my kids are now older and - well - they have Internet access. I try to do my best to embarrass the shit out of them when we're all out, but having stuff WRITTEN that OTHER kids can bust them on? Not cool. That's why most - if not all - of the stories involving my kids are from when they are at a pretty early age or are just funny in general. Other than that, I think I need to start getting their permission to write shit. Ugh.

Alura:  So, I have to ask at least one tough question (and hope it isn't too much of a book spoiler!)  If you had to choose one of the following events to live through again, would you rather relive the Post Ex-Lax Bike Ride or your Vasectomy?

Rodney:  Vasectomy. Totally.

At least with the vasectomy, I know I'll never get someone pregnant. With the Ex-Lax story, there's no guarantee that it will be the very last time I shit my pants.

Alura:  Where can my readers get your book? 

Rodney: They can click on the links below - lots of options!

http://bit.ly/UIgJBw - Barnes & Noble (paper only, no Nook version available)

http://bit.ly/12o6h8N - Amazon
http://bit.ly/ZpoiVk - Kindle

Alura: Rodney also has a Zazzle Shop, so you can get yourself some cool gear!  And if you like to snack when you read, you should check out his cookies available through Bitter Baking Company!

Thanks for stopping by the CrossWorld's Cafe, Rodney... Please come back!  I'll bet there will be interesting stories to tell if you do a book tour!

Torani brings flavor to the Holidays (and EVERY day!)

Torani makes the holidays tastier! In fact, Torani makes EVERY day tastier! I was fortunate to receive Torani syrups from SheSpeaks. I got Hazelnut and Gingerbread to try!

Experimenting with the Torani has been a lot of fun, and the holidays present even more opportunities to use Torani syrups to make festive beverages... Hot Cocoa, Coffee and even Eggnog can be spiced up with Torani. There are so many potential combinations and so many fabulous Torani flavors and if you are at home using the Torani syrups, you're in control of your beverage. If you always feel that your favorite coffee shop is too heavy handed with the syrup or that they don't add enough, you can experiment and find "the zone" that tingles your tastebuds. Plus, you can add a little zip to your holiday foods with Torani, as well. A little dash of Torani syrup mixed into frosting or whipped topping can change the whole flavor and be an unexpected pleasant surprise for your holiday guests. A little Torani gingerbread syrup mixed into your morning waffle batter? Divine!

Torani syrups come in a variety of flavors and several of the flavors come in sugar-free, as well. And Torani isn't JUST for hot drinks. You can make Italian sodas, cocktails, iced tea & lemonade or, one of my favorites, Cherry Limeade!

The key is to be bold! Experiment! Find new flavors. If you've always felt your favorite beverage could use "a little something", there is probably a Torani syrup that will make it better!

You can find Torani in many stores and if you can't find it near you, just hit Torani's website and order directly from them!

Also, there's a coupon for $1.00 off here, so go and print it!  Then go get some Torani and let me know what you created!

Disclosure: I was not financially compensated for this post. I received a sample of the product for review purposes. The opinions are my own, based on my personal experience with the product.

Short Insomniac Ramble

And then I blinked and it was October!  In fact, MID October.  So very not cool. (At least from the perspective of someone who had a lot of things cooking in September).

The bad news is that I am still looking for a job.  Which means my time is still very much spoken for, as that absolutely must be my #1 focus.  It takes more hours of the week than you can imagine (unless you are currently in the throes of job-hunting).  Frustration is high.  Progress is minimal.  When you dread sitting down to your computer in the morning because you don't know what you're going to find in your inbox (another rejection? a carefully crafted email that got bounced back to you? someone else who wants money?) you know that it is well past time to get back to the working world.

I don't want to go into it too much here... this is a public forum... but the frustration level I am experiencing is really off the charts.  And a little touch of common courtesy would be a huge help.... but it is not forthcoming.

So, assuming things stay at the "up to my armpits in alligators" state that they are in now, I am not sure when I am going to be able to get things moving forward.  But I do know that November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and so November is going to be crazy busy.

Hope you are all faring well and things are going as smoothly as possible.

Brace yourselves!

I have a bunch of things I will be writing about in the next few days which includes a giveaway!  So, stay tuned because things are going to be busy here for a bit (and hopefully they'll stay that way).

Also, this weekend is the Dallas Pride Parade & Festival.   I haven't been to a Pride parade for about two decades so I am looking forward to the Dallas version.  (The one in Minneapolis was a bunch of fun...partially, I think, because of the friends that I went with).  A friend of me is hostessing the first annual
"Pride and Pancakes", which I am looking forward to (rockin' the brunch, then off to the Parade!)

If you are wondering, no, I am not gay.  I wouldn't be ashamed to say so if I was, though.  But I have bunches of friends who are LGBT and I wholeheartedly support them.

So, it's going to be a really busy weekend, which is good, because life has been really, really stressful lately and I am looking forward to doing things that are fun and productive.

And, because of a recent networking connection, I am going to kick the bath products production thing up a notch.  More about THAT soon, as well!

Have a stellar weekend everyone!

See you in September... Wait, it's September NOW?

The summer has flown by... I suppose that being up to my armpits in job hunting has caused the days to run together a bit and I frequently have to stop and remember what day it is... most of the time with the help of either my phone or my computer.

I have a bunch of really cool things to share with you (via reviews) very shortly... the "long" weekend didn't seem very long because instead of doing the things I probably should have been doing, I was catsitting at a friend's place and imagining what it would be like to live in a swanky condo.

Also, due to the job hunting, I am trying new things... like artificial nails (thusfar a failed experiment) and nail polish strips (have been afraid to try them so far and they come in funky designs which make them a bit inappropriate for interviewing)

Hope you all had a wonderful and safe long weekend.  Are you ready for the rat race again tomorrow?  My day will start at 4AM and I have things scheduled tomorrow so I can't go back to sleep.  I think it's probably going to be a long day.

5-hour ENERGY® review

Smiley360 hooked me up with a couple of 5-Hour Energy ®  shots and I'll share the experience with you.

First, I like the size of the 5-Hour Energy® shots.  Especially when you are on the go, you don't always have the space to lug around an energy drink.  The 5-Hour Energy® bottle is small enough to fit into a purse or briefcase, you don't have to keep it cold, you can keep a couple of them in a desk drawer without taking up a lot of space.

Second, as far as energy drinks go, the 5-Hour Energy® doesn't have a bad taste to it.  I have tried the Berry flavor, the Pomegranate flavor and the Orange flavor and all taste ok (not like some other energy drinks where I can't even drink the whole thing because it just tastes bad).

Finally, no nasty crash.  I sometimes get a little "flush" after I first drink a 5-Hour Energy®, but it's a very brief niacin flush (think of hearing a slightly embarrassing joke that makes you blush a little bit)

If you sometimes need a little "push" to get you through the afternoon (after, say, that LONG after-lunch meeting), give 5-Hour Energy® a try!

Disclaimer: I was given free samples of the product - all opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced/biased by my receipt of the free samples.

Bright Spots (Recent)

The past few days have been frustrating on one hand and absolutely amazing on the other.  I'm pretty much going to stick to the amazing part in this post.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to meet an Internet Friend.  I've known this person online for about 4 years and we'd planned to meet before now but it always came down to time and money... if you're working, you have the money, but not the time and if you aren't working you have the time but not the money to go on a road trip.  Yes, it's only a 5-6 hour trip to where she lives, but we just could never quite make it work.

As it turns out, her Mom lives not far from us and she came up to visit her Mom and they met up with me on Saturday.  And she was every bit the wonderful person I had thought she would be and her Mom is a very nice lady and we had a lovely dinner and I hope that we can do it again soon.

Tonight, I trekked across town to meet up with an old friend.  She's a trucker and she happened to be hauling a load through town and even though it was a haul, it was important to me to make the trip to see her.  She and I have been friends about 15 years.   When she, my daughter and I would all go out together, people would assume I was her Mom and she was my daughter's Mom (even though there are only 9 years between us).  It's been about 4 years since we had managed to get together (with her trucking schedule and me moving 1000 miles away, it isn't like either of us can just "pop in" any time.  In any case, it was really nice and I appreciated having the chance to get to see her.

Of course, an unintended side effect to my having trekked across town is that now I am all wound up and even though I should PROBABLY be in bed, I'm not there (yet).

I've been keeping very busy lately.  Finding a job is a huge job.  It was nice to meet up with friends and not think about finding a job for a while.  But now I need to get back to the work of finding work!

The Dark Monk & The Hangman's Daughter

I usually read True Crime books, but I'm a BzzAgent and they gave me the opportunity to read The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk for free so I departed from my normal fare and plunged into the world of The Hangman (Jakob) and his family.

I think people will be able to relate to the characters who struggle with what is expected of them vs. what they want/need/feel is right.  I know that was a big source of enjoyment for me with these books.  If you can put aside that these are not historical documentaries and that there are occasionally some stretches as far as believabilty, you will enjoy the books much more than if you sit and pick apart language and historical fact. Enjoy them for what they are... engaging and enjoyable reading.

I don't want to give away the plots but will tell you that there were nights that I knew I should get to bed and kept reading "just one more page".  If you like a good mystery, a little bit of romance and a bit of medieval history, pick up The Hangman's Daughter and The Dark Monk.

I am a BzzAgent and received these books for free from them.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Keeping Up

There are so many things that I want to do and so many things to keep up with as I am trying to find a new job and also keep from getting sciatica from sitting at my desk all day by working on other tasks. Today (Monday) will largely be a "desk day"... Tomorrow (Tuesday) I have an appointment.  I am not making any real solid plans beyond that at the moment.  I have volunteer work on Thursday evening and I think I will end up at a remote office on Wednesday and Friday (that is the tentative plan).

And when I say "remote office" I actually mean that I am cat-sitting for a friend who says she will not mind me hanging out at her place and since I have to feed kitties and tend plants, I will probably end up just packing my lappie and doing my work from her place.  Thursday I will go over there and take care of kitties and water plants in the afternoon and then head out to my volunteer thing from there (need to map the most efficient route).

So, this week will be a busy week.   I think sometimes that I just need a few more hours in the week (hence staying up until the wee hours of the morning... which really doesn't give me more hours but it gives more hours that I am actually coherent, I guess.

In completely unrelated news... I found some "Perky Jerky" on clearance this weekend. It was really quite tasty. I don't know that I'd pay $5.00 a pack for it, but the clearance price was right.  It did not make me feel jittery or, really, any more perky but it did taste good.

Well, I'd best head to bed. Much to get done this week.  Have a great week everyone!

Shakespeare in the Park

I went to see "Twelfth Night" tonight... in a park.  Which is classier than it sounds.  It involved not only Shakespeare, but brie cheese and red wine.  Obviously, I have some very cultured friends because I could not have pulled off the goodies we had for our picnic because I am not all Brie Cheese classy.  Here's what I can tell you, though.  Brie cheese is actually quite tasty (I had no idea).  Chorizo is quite tasty when you slap it on some bread with some brie cheese (yes, I was a complete cretin and put it all together and ate it and it was delicious so I don't care much that I am a cretin).

The production was wonderful. There is another play this Friday which I might go to (we shall see what my schedule ends up looking like).

Other than that, it was a rather odd day. Not in a bad way at all, just not what I expected.  I got some things done that needed to be done, I feel like things are proceeding at a pace I like and I am getting some help from an unexpected source (for which I am very grateful).

Hope y'all are having a wonderful week!  And if you get a chance to catch a Shakespeare in the Park production, do so. With Brie Cheese (if possible).

Unexpected Free Time

It looks like I may be doing more blogging, at least in the short term, because I unexpectedly have some free time. On Friday (Friday the 13th, no less) I was laid off from my job.  I was aware that this was a possibility but thought it would be 3-4 months from now so I was taken by surprise.  Nonetheless, I have time now to do some things that I have been putting off and so I will attempt to make the most of my time, both in getting projects done and in looking for a new job.

My desk is cleaned off, my cat made sure I was awake bright and early this morning, I have a mental list of things I need to do.  First on the list, though, will be cleaning up the office. The less I have to distract me, the better.

More to come!

Boston

So, I'm in Boston and I am officiating at a wedding tomorrow and I really, really need to get some sleep because I am officiating at a wedding tomorrow AND because I know I am keeping my roommates awake.

When I originally planned this trip, I was going to be in a room by myself. I have the bride's daughters bunking with me.... girls I have known for years... and yet, in many way they are strangers and then again when I look at them I see the reflection of The Girl and.... well, I feel even more like I've made a mess of everything.  I mean, more than I usually feel that.

The thing is, I love these girls and it was my idea to have them bunk with me and I hope that maybe, in some small way, this helps them to remember that there are people who care about them outside of the people that they EXPECT to have care about them.

I am the last person in the world who should be giving marital advice, so I always find it completely ironic that I am officiating at weddings.  But there is a part of me that loves it.  Maybe it's a sort of finding redemption for all of the things I feel I've messed up. Maybe it is just feeling I am giving other people a shot at finding the happiness that has eluded me in marriage.

Whatever the underlying reason... I'm in Boston. I'm officiating at a wedding tomorrow.  Hoping it will hold off on the rain until AFTER the ceremony. Although, into every life a little rain must fall...better to get it out of the way at the start, right?

Whirlwind

I'm going to Boston in a few days. I have a ton of things to get done before then.  So, what did I do today? I took a bunch of clothes out of my closet and put them into a Space Bag.  Because that's the sort of thing that I do when I feel overwhelmed.  Yes, "in the big picture" it will make things easier for me, but it wasn't something I needed to do today.  I also cleaned litterboxes (which DID need to get done) and vacuumed the bedroom (also needed to be done).

It would be a lie to say I'm not nervous.  I am scared of the travel part. Which is totally absurd for someone who has been traveling on planes since they were very small, but it's the truth, nonetheless.  The last time I was on a plane (I think) was a trip to San Francisco.  I hope this trip ends up far better than that one.

I am afraid of crying during some part of the ceremony. And I am petrified about the whole photo part of this whole thing.   I hate being photographed with a passion.  I don't know what I'm going to do with my hair yet and I don't know what jewelry to wear or not wear and I am wondering if I should go through my jewelry box and see if I can find something nice.

This week is going to fly by.  I'm going to have to get what I want to get done around the house done tomorrow (Sunday) because there just really won't be time during the rest of the week. Thursday, I will be busy packing and checking and re-checking lists. And then I will be off to the airport.

Friday is rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Have I mentioned that while I know the Bride and her children, I don't think I know anyone else who will be at the wedding. Yeah, I am a little freaked out.  Except there is the saving grace that it is unlikely that I will ever see most of these people again, so if I can create and maintain the illusion of being a nice, normal person until Monday, it's a win.  Saturday is wedding. Sunday is brunch and then, in a sort of weird last minute side trip that I feel I need to take, I am going to go on the train down to another part of MA to see my stepsister... who I've not seen in THIRTY years.  No, nothing traumatic happened, my stepsisters were all grown and gone by the time our parents married. This will be my first time seeing my stepsister in my adult life.  How you cram that much catching up into a small timeframe, I have no idea.  And then, at an ungodly hour on Monday morning, I come back home. (Cue more travel anxiety).  And then I will probably take a nap.  And Tuesday morning, I will once again be back on the bus, headed to work...

How long is long enough?

I found myself wondering today if there is an appropriate time one must wait before identifying themselves as "single" following a divorce.  My Wasband listed his relationship status as single pretty much immediately following the divorce while I tagged myself as "divorced".    I don't mean to suggest that it was inappropriate for him to choose the label that he did, but I confess that it made me feel as if our relationship had either never occurred or that it was so unimportant to him that he didn't "count" it (this was NOT a Kardashian 72-day marriage, it was a 12-year marriage).  I think it would be a disservice to any woman he ends up seriously dating in the future (although he has shown no inclination to do so that I am aware of) to not reveal his "previously married" status so that an informed decision can be made.  I mean, it probably would not change anything significant for me to find out someone I wanted to date was divorced but I'd want to know.  What is an issue for one person may not be an issue for another.  For instance, if you LOVE ballroom dancing and the person you end up dating HATES to dance, there will probably end up being an ongoing issue in the relationship.  True, sometimes these things can be overcome/worked around but if you are a smoker, you probably want to stay away from the asthmatic who needs an inhaler at the mention of the WORD smoke, right?

But I don't know if there are rules of etiquette that dictate that "thou shalt identify thyself as a divorced person forever after having divorced" or if that applies only to females or how it all works. It isn't something keeping me awake at night but I have to admit that at my High School's Alumni website, I tagged myself as "single".  Because I didn't want to advertise my divorce to a bunch of people who I have no reason to share too much personal information with.  I have to laugh that my high school considers me "lost", yet mails me things all the time asking for money... so, I guess that, in alumni parlance, "lost" really means "we are assuming s/he doesn't get our mail because we are sure her fond memories of our fine institution spark in her, as they do in all alumni receiving our mailings, the overwhelming desire to immediately drain their bank accounts and send the money to us."

Someone asked me where I've been today, which makes me wonder if the blogosphere has been having parties that I have not been invited to. I wouldn't doubt it for a minute.  I have so many things in my mind right now that I am probably missing out on tons of killer networking opportunities because I can't keep up with all of the emails and social media notifications... But I love all my internet friends, so I'm not complaining, just commenting.

Ok, a dozen things to do, then bed!