Football Widows

As I have posted before, Sweetie is a huge sports fan. 

Today was the Super Bowl. His team, the NY Giants won. Yeah. I wanted them to win for several reasons, one because they were up against the NE Pats. I don't like anything about Boston, including their sports teams. If my team (the Steelers) are not in the Super Bowl then I always route for the underdogs.  The Pats had a perfect record going into the game and NY took them down and prevented a perfect season. 

Overall I am pretty happy that they won.

 

I can see, however, women can tune out football and their men while they watch it. After all men do that to their partners when they are watching the game. I actually was reading at some point and tuned out the game and Sweetie. I suppose when something has your attention, with a little bit of focus you can turn out even your friends, and loved ones.

Maybe Sweetie is somewhere explaining  on a blog that he is a "book" widdower.

Hair

I have returned to my sports roots. Sweetie is a sports fan. He watches football, even if it is not one of his teams (the Giants or Jets) and watches the Yankees (even on the Internet), as such, since I like spending time with him, I too watch sports.

I have seen a lot of football this season. This is fine. One of my fondest childhood memories is learning the rules of football while watching a game with my Father. I am from Pittsburgh and came of TV watching age in the 1970s. The Steel Curtain. One for the Thumb in '81. I have a terrible towel, and I am in some sort of team photo with the Steelers that was taken at my Jr. prom as they were in the same restaurant we were eating in before the prom.

So me watching football is not that odd. I also like golf and hockey (again I am from Pittsburgh and they still do not have a professional Basketball team).

What I am finding somewhat interesting about current day football, is the hair of the black players. Where did they get such long hair that it hangs outside of their helmets in the back? Being a black woman my entire life I understand how black hair grows. I can not imagine that these football players have long enough hair to hang outside their helmets. So this means one of a few things. Either they are getting a relaxer to straighten their hair and then having it braided, and or they are getting extension. Either option leaves me wondering about the extent of their vanity to sit in a beauty shop chair and have either process done.

Then again, I do recall Frenchie Fuqua's shoes with goldfish in the clear Lucite heels, and other 1970s football players and their full length man furs, so maybe the vanity is something that has been present in football all along.

I am not against metrosexual tendencies in men. I like a man who cares for his skin, his hair and wears cologne and nice clothing. Sweetie is not a metrosexual but for him rugged and jeans wearing works. As explained in an earlier post, I find Johnny Depp and Prince sexy with their makeup and androgynous beauty. But I have a problem when you blend the image of a professional athlete and a beauty chair. Be rugged and have callouses on your hands, or be a metrosexual and use hair product and a hint of eyeliner, but don't blend them. Please.

Primary Season Is Far too Long

I am sitting here looking at the New Hampshire returns. Now more than ever I am regretting the 24 hour news cycle. Since 6:00 pm MSNBC has had moment by moment coverage of the returns, even though they were not allowed to talk about any real returns until the polls closed at 8:00 pm.

Who are these people who demand such coverage. I would be more than happy to see returns once they were all in. I don't need to know the returns with only 10% of the precincts reporting. I think CNN even has a real time counter. How are they doing that, more important, why are they doing that?!?

We as a nation are over informed, over stimulated and I am thinking about unplugging from the news cycle. The problem is that Sweetie is a news junkie, he watches CNN, C-SPAN, and the weather channel. If there is a good, well written TV show he will watch that, but as you can imagine they are few and far in between. The Office, Scurubs, David Letterman and Curb Your Enthusiasm are favorites. I also like the Daily Show, all Law and Order shows are also my favorites. Sweetie watches TV in the same way that some people only read non fiction. Oh yes, I totally forgot, he is a huge Yankee's fan, and loves football (The Giants). When I am at home I like to spend time with Sweetie, so he does watch some things that I am sure are not his preference, like the shows I like on HGTV (I like the designer shows, and the house transformation shows, he prefers DIY with This Old House and any wood working shows). All in all it works well, as I do like being informed, though not as informed as Sweetie likes to be.

You Tube is also a phenomena that I don't understand. Sure some of the videos are funny, but to me they are similar to chain letters and the jokes that people forward. Again, I am not part of that wave. I am far from a troglodyte, actually I am very nearly an early adopter (I would be one if I were not so cheep) but there are levels of information I choose not to participate in. Over stimulation, over informed and subject to people's personal lives on video are too much for me.

Dear reader, you can call me to task as I do have a blog, and it is filled with my personal musings, but it isn't that easy to find and I hardly ever tell people where to find it. I think that counts.

By the way, I did not go to work today due to a stomach ache, so I did not get dressed, so I have not repeated an outfit yet.

Little beings that the universe trusts us to raise

I love my puppy Zak. He is a Bichon who is currently 10.5 months old. He is at a kennel because Sweetie and I are going to Pittsburgh to see my family for Christmas.

Since getting Zak at 3 months old, he has not spend a night away from either Sweetie or me. It was very hard driving to the kennel to leave him there. We were going to take him, but he is still at a point that he does not like long car rides. We were going to take the 5 hour drive to Pittsburgh with Zak, but his whining, and motion sickness made us think twice. I came to the decision quicker than Sweetie, but once we inspected the kennel (on line) and I talked to people who have used it we decided to give it a go. He has 2 hours of play dates a day, he gets to eat his own raw food diet, and drink his own water. He is also sleeping in his own crate and has a few toys. I hope he is fine.

When we first got Zak I was a bit freaked out. Here was this adorable creature that is totally dependant on me for food, water and hygiene. I saw my carefree single woman days flying away from me. As a small puppy he ate 3 times a day and went out every 2 hours during the day and about every 5 to 6 at night. He had several accidents (not his fault) and I thought we would never be able to go out to dinner, or to the movies again. I actually had to stay home from work one day -- well I worked from home, because Sweetie had to go to NYC to take care of some family things. Had Zak not been so sweet and cuddly alone together I would have returned him. I kept threatning that if Sweetie was delayed in returning that when Sweetie got back Zak would be gone.

It took me about 2 weeks, and now I am to the point that I can not imagine what it was like without him. He is far cuter than he is cuddly (twice as cute as he is cuddly) but we deal with it. He will cuddle, but only on his own terms. Which I can respect.

When we were packing his food and toys and crate where he sleeps, I actually got a tummy ache as I realized that we were sending him away for the first time. How do people do that with their kids! Yikes.

I am glad that I don't want children, I don't think I could take it.

Sleep Health

I spent last night and the better part of today in a sleep clinic. I am exhausted. It is ironic because when you are at a sleep clinic the last thing you do is sleep. In addition the people who monitor your sleep have sleep issues them selves as they are working overnight.

There should be a better way to do this.

I have sleep apnea. Until I was diagnosed I had no idea how many people have it. When ever I meet someone and mention it, I am astonished at the number of people who have it and use a c-pap. They are the machines that you sleep with to prevent you from not breathing while you sleep.

Other than being exhausted all of the time from waking several times an hour, while you sleep-- I was about 50 time an hour-- you also can develop high blood pressure, weight problems, memory problems and a host of nasty diseases from being sleep deprived. Since I got my c-pap machine I have started to get REM sleep that I was not getting for probably decades. Insane.

I am definitely more rested, but I am still sleepy enough that it is draining to function each day. So in order to determine what other sleep disorders I have I had to go for a day time sleep test. This was extremely painful, mainly because the test consists of you sitting in a room, reading or watching TV and then only being able to sleep when they tell you. So about every 2 hours you can take a nap, of about 20 min. This goes on all day.. I am so tired that I could sleep for a week now. YAWN.

I am going to bed, it is around 9 pm and I am sure that I will sleep through the night. Thank goodness Zak also can sleep though the night, so I don't have to worry about him. Not that I do because Sweetie takes care of most of Zak's bathroom needs. I am very lucky to have such a great man in my life.

Tis The Season

Yesterday I went out into the frozen tundra of Climax Michigan to cut down my own Christmas Tree. I have never done anything like this before, and it was awesome.

We decided that we would go for a Blue Spruce tree, we both like the color, the number of needles per branch and the smell. Since we are going to Pennsylvania for Christmas we thought it was not to early to have and enjoy a fresh tree. I am quite excited, we decided to rearrange the furniture in the basement room were we spend 90% of our at home time, and put it in the corner so we are facing it when we are looking at the TV.

Cutting down a tree is fun, basically because all I had to do was pick out the tree, and stand around looking cute while my Sweetie cut the tree, and the owner came in a tractor to haul us and the tree to the cleaning and payment area. Once the tree is cut they square off the bottom cut, trim any branches so you can put it in the holder, and then they hoist it up on a string to blow any dead leaves, small animals and dirt off. Then the tree is put through a machine that wraps it in a net and off you go.

Although I am not a country girl, the hot coco, cookies and the smell of the fresh cut tree made me happy to live near a place where for $35 you can buy a bit of American Christmas Lore.

Relationships

As a single professional woman, many of my friends are also single. I am quite happy being single, though I suppose I need to reclassify my self as in a relationship. I live with my boyfriend "Sweetie". We have been living together for a year, and after 20 years of living alone it is a hard adjustment. I love him and am happy that we live together. I can not imagine my life without him, yet being in a relationship is hard, and if one is an independent woman it is often ever harder.

My married and coupled friends say the same thing, but until I lived with someone I really did not understand what they meant. So to decipher the code, I am going to explain what I mean about it being hard. When you are used to being alone first you have to get used to share space with someone. Someone who may not share your same life style habits, like the level of how you like to clean, or really how you like to keep the house. I tend to be neater than Sweetie, not that I am hyper about it, but I now fully understand what my mother meant when she said she hated to come home after a long day into a mess.

Another issue is life rhythms. I am more of a morning person than Sweetie. I am also far less patient than he is, and I tend to like to do things when I think about them rather than taking some time to do further research, or think more about it. Sweetie likes to ponder, research and move once he is sure he is getting the best deal on the best product for what ever you are looking for. This makes sense, and makes him less impulsive, but in combination for how I tend to act we drive each other a bit crazy. I dont want to make a hasty move that he is not comfortable with, but once he starts in with his research I tend to loose my momentum, as such things that we both want to do often don't end up happening, because we loose interest or momentum.

Neither of these issues is insurmountable, but it does tend to get in the way of gazing into each others eyes, and in some certain situations we may wait to long and end up not getting something we want or need. Oh well, I think this is what people mean about learning about your self in a relationship in a way that you can not discover alone.

Blogging Question

If you blog on Google and no one reads it are you really a blogger?

I just read some of the "to do list" blog. I used to write and finish my to do lists every day. Now I tend to write honey-do lists for Sweetie. My friend's husband makes very funny to do lists, and includes random things like bringing a plate of food to relatives who live in other cities (I suppose for this to be funny one must know the family).

Now, most often my to do lists are filled with projects I have to complete, and the clothes I need to take with me on a trip. Are lists about things we love also to do lists? I used to journal every night with a gratitude list. That was actually a very nice way to end the day. Lets see today (at noon) I am grateful for-- snow (it is snowing here in SW Michigan), my puppy Zak who one day should end up on the pages of this blog, my boyfriend Sweetie, he is very handy and fun to be with, my job- as it is intellectually stimulating.

Hmm maybe I should be less mundane. I am grateful for the women who will give me a Brazilian bikini wax, I am grateful for massage therapists who work out my stress, I am grateful to men who wear good smelling cologne (not overpowering, but appropriate and good smelling-- this was more important to me when I took the subway every day in NYC as I was close enough to many strangers to know what they smelled like (yikes)). I am grateful for the Keebler Elves and their cookies and wholesome snacks, I am grateful for the first person to create stuffing for a turkey, I am grateful to the American farmers who grow things for me to eat. I am grateful to all of the manufacturers of organic bath products. i am grateful to people with faith. I am grateful to people like my hairdesser, my doctors, my dentist and my therapists who help me be me.

I am grateful that I can be grateful.