Space Center Houston

Last weekend was great. E. came for a visit from SF and we did some tourist stuff (sort of unusual for us)

We went to Space Center Houston and only after paying to get in there, did we realize that the Johnson Space Center next door was having a free to the public Open House Day. Since the main reason we went to the Space Center was to tour the JSC, we kicked ourselves for not checking first. However, because of the Open House, they had laid on lots of exhibits that weren't usually there, so it was fun. Plus in Space Center Houston itself we saw a movie and went through an exhibit of actual historical spacecraft, rockets, spacesuits and moon rocks.

It was sad as E. left, knowing that he is heading to Washington DC for four months and it will be a while before we see each other again. The plan is to get me to Washington around the end of July if possible.

And tomorrow I'm heading for England to visit my family for a week. I'm looking forward to that, except that I hate flying and 10 hours in the air is torture.

See you on the flip side!

The Open Toed Shoe Pledge

Alright Ladies, it's that time of the year again. Just a friendly reminder!! Please raise your big toes and repeat after me:

As a member of the Cute Girl Sisterhood, I pledge to follow the Rules when I wear sandals and other open-toe shoes:

I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. And the sides and tops of my feet will not purge out between the straps.

I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free. I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.

I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow.

I will shave the hairs off my big toe.

I won't wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there.

If a strap breaks, I won't duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.

I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl's if my feet need him.

I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids' sizes. This is out of concern for my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.

I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages.

If I have been privy to the magic that is Foot Soup, I will share that knowledge and experience with the non-initiated.

I will be brutally honest! with my girlfriend / sister / coworker when she asks me if her feet are too ugly to wear sandals. Someone has to tell her that her toes are as long as my fingers and no sandal makes creepy feet look good.

I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.

I will promise to go my local beauty school at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about $10 and worth EVERY penny).

I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show signs of wear... nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals..

Don't keep this to yourself - pass it on to other sisters/ladies/female friends and enemies. If they don't have email - print it off and take it to them.

Women Over 30 (or 40, or 50)

This is for all you girls 30 years and over.... and for those who are turning 30, and for those who are scared of moving into their 30's...
AND for guys who are scared of girls over 30!!!!...

This was written by Andy Rooney from CBS 60 Minutes.
Andy Rooney says: As I grow in age, I value women who are over 30 most of all. Here are just a few reasons why:

A woman over 30 will never wake you in the middle of the night to ask, What are you thinking? She doesn't care what you think.

If a woman over 30 doesn't want to watch the game, she doesn't sit around whining about it. She does something she wants to do. And, it's usually something more interesting.

A woman over 30 knows herself well enough to be assured in who she is, what she is, what she wants and from whom.

Few women past the age of 30 give a damn what you might think about her or what she's doing.

Women over 30 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming match with you at the opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant. Of course, if you deserve it, they won't hesitate to shoot you, if they think they can get away with it.

Older women are generous with praise, often undeserved. They know what it's like to be unappreciated.

A woman over 30 has the self-assurance to introduce you to her women friends.

A younger woman with a man will often ignore even her best friend because she doesn't trust the guy with other women.

Women over 30 couldn't care less if you're attracted to her friends because she knows her friends won't betray her.

Women get psychic as they age. You never have to confess your sins to a woman over 30. They always know.

A woman over 30 looks good wearing bright red lipstick. This is not true of younger women.

Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman over 30 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.

Older women are forthright and honest. They'll tell you right off if you are a jerk if you are acting like one!

You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.

Yes, we praise women over 30 for a multitude of reasons.

Unfortunately, it's not reciprocal. For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman of 30+, there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants making a fool of himself with some 22-year-old waitress.

Ladies, I apologize. For all those men who say, Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free. Here's an update for you.

Nowadays 80% of women are against marriage, why? Because women realize it's not worth buying an entire Pig, just to get a little sausage.

Blonde Bimbos in Bumper Cars

Writing stuff down in your blog can be a good way of getting things out of your system, clearing the air and generally venting. I've done this a couple of times already with my Pet Peeves Part One, Pet Peeve Part Two
and Don't Make Me Eavesdrop.

Well it's time for me to do it again.

First, step back a few months -- I'm not sure if I mentioned this before. When E. came for a visit just before Christmas, we almost got creamed before we even got out of the airport by some moron talking on his cellphone when he should have been watching the traffic in front of him. The only thing that saved us was a driveway in just the right place. We heard a screech of brakes and looked sideways to see the driver (cell phone still glued to ear) skid to a halt LEVEL WITH THE PASSENGER DOOR and a couple of feet to the right, in the driveway!!

Well today, the moron happened to be female, and putting her makeup on while driving. I saw her behind me, dabbing powder onto her nose and squinting in to her rear view mirror instead of looking at the road. We were creeping ahead one car length at a time and we made three car length starts and stops safely. I was just thinking "You know, she'd better watch what she's doing" when there was a THUNK and my car was pushed forward a little way.

Oh man, I was PISSED!! I spat out a few very unladylike words (stupid f***ing b*tch, I think) as I turned off my ignition and got out to inspect the damage.

She, on the other hand, was LAUGHING!!! I glared at her, bent down to inspect my bumper, which luckily didn't have a scratch on it, glared at her again and got back in my car, giving my door a good satistying slam - which prompted the guy in the SUV next to me to give me some "calm down" motions with his hands.

What possessed her to think she could DRIVE and PUT MAKEUP ON??? Well, she was blonde... but I supposed I'd better not go there...

So... if you live in the Houston area, and happen to see a 29-ish blonde in a red sports number, give her a wide berth.

Taking Time for Me

Once a month I take time out for myself and head into the nail salon to be pampered for an hour or so. I love it, I can set aside any stress in my life and just give myself over to the wonderful Vietnamese women doing my pedicure and manicure.

The best part is sitting in the massaging chair with my feet in a hot bubbling spa. Some people fall asleep in there, but I do try not to -- I'd hate to discover I'd been snoring and/or drooling!

Some days they aren't too busy and you can get one lady giving you a pedicure while another does the manicure. On other days, like yesterday, they are too busy to be able to do that. Then the pampering session can stretch up to two hours and more!

But that's the way things are in my life now. I think back a few years to the situation I was in -- I really let things go. It was partly the relationship I was in, it was partly a complete obsession with a web site I was running at the time. But I would get home from work and get on the computer and work at home till midnight. Barely took time to bathe and eat, let alone anything else. Ok, so I *was* getting paid for the web work, but I took it to extremes.

Remember when Houston was closed down by Tropical Storm Allison? Guess what I did for three weeks? Yep, you guessed it - my butt hardly moved out of my computer chair as I wrote articles and built new sections for that website.

In fact I still work on it, but I'm happy to say I have my life more in balance now. I'm in a different relationship now, one that has helped me value myself (hence the quitting smoking, losing weight and all the other changes that have happened in the past two years). The website no longer takes up every waking moment of my life and I can now participate in other activities, like horse riding, gardening, computer art, walking etc.

Oh.... and getting a manicure and pedicure once a month :-)