Facing my Worst Habit: It's a Nailbiter!

All my life, I have hidden my hands.  Just don't look at them.  Please, just don't ever look at them. 

I feel this way about my hands for two reasons.  One is within my control.  One is not. 

First, I am a nail biter. Not just a now-and-then nail chewer, but an all-the-time, down-to-the-quick, bite-it-till-it-bleeds/hurts nail biter. The only time I ever managed to stop biting my nails enough to be willing to present them at all was for our wedding, 31 years ago.  Even then, I bit the thumb nail. 

That thumb nail. 

Which brings me to the second reason that I feel as I do about my hands: I have a birth defect that, while not all that obvious otherwise, becomes quite obvious when you look at my right hand. I was born with three thumbs - one on my left hand (duh!) and two on my right hand (huh?). 

The rouge right thumb was removed when I was 18 months old.  This is the only existing photo that shows it… kind of.

Fast forward fifty-seven years later, to yesterday.  Kat came home for the weekend and suggested that she and I “get our nails done.”  Apparently, this is something that her friends in junior high and high school did with their mothers and Kat always envied them.  So, she decided, it was finally time.

“No WAY am I going to willingly show my hands to a stranger!” I protested.  But Kat would have none of it. “It’s time to face your insecurities and to confront this habit,” she told me. 

(Is this the beginning of the child parenting the parent?  You know how that ends, don’t you…?)

So off we went.  But first, the before photo.  It was hard enough taking the damn photo, but attaching it here is…

OK, fine.  I can hardly look.  And you should just take a quick peek and move on.

There you go.  Move on now.

Yes, you may call me Stubby. (Pretty bad, eh?)

I pretty much wanted to turn around and leave.  Instead, we did this:

Yes, I freaked out when she put those dragon claws on me!  But Kat reassured me that they’d cut them shorter. 

I started by telling myself that this woman had probably seen far worse than my stubby nails, and that she really didn’t even care about my nails.  That made it easier to stay in my seat.  Once I relaxed into it, I even liked it!

And the best part?

LOOK!

(My hands sure look older than I had realized.  But look!  I have fingernails!)

(And possibly arthritis?!!)

Even my retarded thumb doesn’t look all that bad!

  

I just might replace that biting habit with a new habit of getting my nails done!

Thanks, Kat!  Cheers to you!

It’s the A-Boo-minable snow kitty!

Abby “trains” Shasta

(Or is it the other way around?)

I was unfortunately a little late in getting this on video, capturing only the tail end of the scene.  Before this, Abby was actively teasing Shasta, pretending to throw the ball, then just not letting go, and dissolving into laughter as Shasta bobbed her head up and down, intent on the ball.  Hilarious!  Abby definitely knew that this was HER ball that Shasta could want, but not have.  Toddler power!

This little 18-month old has a bigger, better sense of humor than many adults I know.  She cracks everyone – including herself – up! 

Duh.

Geeze, they did a study to answer that question?!

To those attending next summer’s Menlo-Atherton High School “Classes of ‘74 to ‘76-ish” Reunion…

(…indicated here on Facebook…)

Let’s just acknowledge this little tidbit of wisdom (sent to me from a co-worker) and move on, shall we?

(Image via Google Images)

I was sitting in the waiting room for my first appointment with a new dentist.

I noticed his DDS diploma on the wall, which bore his full name.

Suddenly, I remembered a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy with the same name had been in my high school class some 30-odd years ago.

Could he be the same guy that I had a secret crush on, way back then?

Upon seeing him, however, I quickly discarded any such thought.

This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was way too old to have been my classmate.

After he examined my teeth, I asked him if he had attended Morgan Park High School.

“Yes! Why, yes I did! I'm a Mustang,” he gleamed with pride.

“When did you graduate?” I asked.

He answered, “In 1975. Why do you ask?”

“You were in my class!” I exclaimed excitedly.

He looked at me closely.

And then, that

ugly,

old,

bald,

wrinkled-faced,

fat-assed,

gray-haired,

decrepit

son-of-sea cook

asked….

“What class did you teach???”

If she’s 26 years and 6 months, there must be a wedding dress!

Last night we were all just chillin’ when somehow the subject of wedding dresses came up.  With two 20-something young women in the house and shows like Say Yes to the Dress on TV, this is not all that unusual -- not that anyone in our family is even close to getting married… but that doesn’t stop them from offering opinions about weddings – and wedding attire.  I think this whole shenanigans started with Elisabeth’s assertion that “There is NO WAY anyone these days would ever wear a dress like your wedding dress!”  

To which I, of course, answered, “What’s wrong with my wedding dress?  I love my wedding dress!”

At which point eyes rolled.  Of course.

At which point I invited Elisabeth to see the dress for herself.  “No really – go get the dress!  It’s in the garage on the freezer, in a box…”

At which point, more eyes rolled.  (Actually, the same eyes rolled. Again.)

She laughed and headed downstairs, as if all she had to do was hold up my wedding dress and I’d see how out of style it actually is.

(Duh – it’s completely out of style NOW.  It has sleeves, furgodsake.  And an actual neckline!  Eeeewwww!)

The box was opened, the dress unwrapped, and before we knew it, this was happening…

“I STILL love it,” I insisted.  (And I do – especially on her!)  “That’s good, mom!  You should love it!”

And then we had a full-fledged fashion show, complete with a few doozer facial expressions –some from Elisabeth (which reiterate Elisabeth’s feelings about the dress, and which made me love the dress – and her – all the more) and some from Tom who must have found it odd to see his “little girl” in her mother’s wedding dress.

(So I’m interspersing the photos of Elisabeth with photos of me on my wedding day.) 

As much as we were all enjoying this, Elisabeth was adamant that this meant nothing because she really is, in her own words, a bit “freaked out about the thought of marriage.” 

Gee, can you tell?

It was only after all the shenanigans were over that we realized that Elisabeth is now the exact same age – 26 years and 6 months – as I was when Tom and I got married! 

How crazy is that?!

Christmas Vacation has officially begun!

(There – a blog post like I used to do ‘em, pre-Facebook days!)

If only their love maps had been stronger, this could have been prevented!

Since working at The Gottman Institute, I have a whole new perspective on relationships and keeping them strong.  I would have loved this video before I worked at TGI, but I have a whole new level of appreciation for it now.

Had this guy known his wife better – had he really understood her inner world (that is, had their love maps been stronger), he would have known that getting her a dual bag vacuum cleaner for their anniversary wouldn’t go over well and he could have stayed out of the dog house.  (“You dual bag!”)

I am still giggling!  Kudos to JC Penny for thinking outside the box and making great use of social media in their marketing!

Damn, what a fam!

Just a fun impromptu day at the mall!

At the hat store…

Aleks:

Tom:

Kat:

Elisabeth:

and yours truly (obviously mid-hot-flash)

But where’s PETER?  Unfortunately, he’s back at school at WSU.  We really missed him today!

Guess what occasion is coming up this week?  No really, just guess!

Yup!  She – and this macho guy…

…are turning 21 on Tuesday!

And THEN there’s THIS “child” of ours… our shy (pffffffft!) child, Elisabeth, who apparently felt the need to show us her purchase…

…to the dismay of her father!

Yeah, we have a good time together, this family of full-fledged, of-age adults (as of this coming Tuesday, anyway).

Even Aleks and Elisabeth are buds these days.  Finally.

It’s not often that Tom sports a full-fledged SMILE for the camera, but today was the kind of day he really enjoys – an impromptu day with the family, just simply having fun.

All that was missing was this guy:

But he’ll be home later this week, to pick up Shasta and bring her back to Eastern Washington while Tom and I are in Hawaii.  Yes, we’re leaving in just five short days.  And yes, I’ll chronicle the trip with photos each day, I promise!

Done with the conference, now off to Disneyland!

After a very successful conference, a few of us (that’s Allie, Kyle, Belinda, and me) hopped on a shuttle and headed to Disney land for the evening.

When I worked for Disney in the early to mid 80’s, I had a Silver Pass and went to Disneyland at least once a month (it was, to Elisabeth, what a neighborhood park is to most kids!), but it’s been a while since I’ve been there, and everything had changed!

Well, everything except the good ol’ Disneyland Railroad Station at the front gate.

And Main Street.

The crowds were huge! Like I’d never seen!

Crowds or no crowds, some of us were downright giddy!

   We played like a bunch of school girls at The Mad Hatter…

(Kyle does “Goofy” so well!)

 

Of course, we had to pose in all the usual places…

But we went on a good number of rides and walked most of the park, too.  Problem was, it was already dark, so I couldn’t get any good distance shots, try as I might!

Once we found a place to settle in front of Cinderella’s Castle for the big fireworks show, I was able to get a few shots…

But only video does any justice to the show, which was the BEST fireworks show I’ve ever seen (and just as good, though completely different, from my hotel room)!

The theme of the show was “dreams do come true,” and somehow they were able to include sound tracks and dialogue and sound effects from Disneyland rides over the past 30+ years.  It was awesome, and even sentimental… for me, at least!

The Star Wars segment was a bit bizarre.  Combining Cinderella's Castle with Star Wars was a bit of a stretch – but the lasers were pretty cool (and even more amazing from my hotel room)!

It was well after midnight when we headed back down Main Street.

By the time we got back on the bus, we were all just about spent!  I loved watching Allie enjoy her first trip to Disneyland as much as the most enthusiastic 5-year-old!

It plum tuckered that girl OUT!