...A Look Back

Today I decided to delete all info from my MySpace profile! (Does anyone even use that anymore?) I had one blog entry on there, but I want to paste it here. I might have done this already back in January '08, but I don't remember so I'm going to put it here again.



I am writing this on Thursday evening, January 10th, 2008.

My puppy, my friend, my little girl, my "Fuzzy Sugar Lips", my doggie, my Windy....

August 13, 1996 - January 11, 2008

I love her and I will never forget how perfect she is, how much love she gave, how much fun we had, how much joy she brought, what a personality she expressed, what feelings and loyalty she constantly showed us.

She loved her treats. She would "help" me bring in my clothes when it was time to do laundry on the weekends. She greeted us when we walked in the door even if we were gone for a minute. She stood next to me when I cried, she wagged her tail when we laughed. She helped open presents. She ate apples right off the core. She guarded Tyler from falling down the stairs when he was a baby. She never bit, snapped, growled or hurt a thing. Ever. She ate turkey basters when she was a puppy. She moaned every time she laid down in her recent years. She loved when I gave her "ear rubs".

The fur on her lips turned white with age and we called her sugar lips.

She would sit on the bath rug next to me when I got ready for work. She would munch on the snow outside while she waited for us to let her in. She was afraid of tennis balls. She had this way of talking to us right before we gave her a treat, and her mouth would curl up as she let out a friendly growl, then it grew into happy barks. She wouldn't even think of eating food we had on our coffee table when we had people over. She loved rides in the car, even when I just took her around the neighborhood. Just to see her stick her face out the window was priceless. She never jumped on people. She would sit in the same spot by the living room chair before we left to go somewhere as if she was guarding the house for us. If we sat on the couch and patted our lap, she would plop her head in it.

She hates rain. Even if she had to go out so bad, she would stay put until the rain stopped. It is raining right now and tomorrow she will be gone. Eleven years of nothing but the best friend any family could ask for. We did not own her. She was not "our dog". She was a member of our family. And she will never be forgotten.

...If You Can Dish It, You Should Take It!

Answer me this.

Why is it that when I say, "I'm in the mood to eat [insert vegetarian food here]", people sometimes react by saying, "Gross I cant believe you eat that crap," but then someone else says to me, "I'm in the mood to eat [insert meat here]" if I were to give them the same reaction they gave me, then why would I suddenly be labeled as a preachy vegetarian who looks down upon people for eating meat? (And if you know me you know I don't feel that way.)

If its ok for people to openly express disgust and turn their nose up at what I eat, why am I not allowed to do the same to them? If you can dish it, you better be able to take it!

...Pantyhose, a Memoir

Another memoir from my retail days.


I worked at JCPenney in high school, in the women's accessories and purse department for about 6 months. On a hot summer day I wore a tea length dress to work. (Mid-calf length.) We had to dress nice, no jeans, no sneakers, which worked for me, I didn't mind.

I stood at my register, mindlessly ringing up customer's purchases. A manager came to my station to clear something for me, a return I guess, my memory fails me at the moment... It was a Saturday. There were people everywhere.

"Thanks for helping me out!"

"No problem." The [female] manager starts to walk away. "Oh, you are required to wear pantyhose when you wear a dress to work."

"...I am? Why?" I think of the 90 degree humid weather outside.

"It's the dress code, it's in the handbook, you have to."

She walked away. I never wore pantyhose with dresses. In my mind, even at a young age, pantyhose have always been the definition of old fashioned fashion rules. I really saw no point. To me, at that age, I thought the only women who should wear were those who need the tight support pantyhose to help their circulation. The ones they sell at Walgreens, that stick out the bottom of the cardboard so you can feel how supportive they are.

I'm all for colorful tights to wear as a part of an outfit. I just bought some adorable Betsey Johnson tights printed with colorful cartoon strips. Sheer, nude colored pantyhose are just not necessary anymore in this day and age.

Who likes the swishy noise they make when your thighs rub together as you walk? Unless you're rail thin, this happens to you, admit it.

I mean, did my manager think I wasn't wearing any underwear beneath my dress? What exactly were pantyhose going to do to improve the way I looked? My legs were smooth, I'm thin, my dress suited my figure. If I had them on, they probably wouldn't match my skin tone and be completely obvious. Pantyhose are supposed to be unseen and invisible. So...why wear them at all?

We also weren't allowed to wear open-toed shoes, according to OSHA regulations. Luckily I did not run the risk of having them web my toes together in a pair of strappy sandals.

I guess that rule was in place in case something fell on us. Then I began to wonder if something fell on me, while I was wearing a dress and sheer nude pantyhose, would they prevent me from getting a gash on my leg from whatever fell on me? I guess a buckle on a purse could give me a good scrape. Or maybe a large paper cut from one of the price tags. If in fact that happened, my pantyhose would have been ripped.

Have you ever seen a woman with a rip in her pantyhose or tights? Instantly makes her look like she woke up in a trailer park that morning. Would I still be required to wear them if something that fell on me made them rip and I still had four hours of my shift left? Or, since the department in which I worked sold pantyhose, would they require me to buy a new pair?

Would I get to use my employee discount?