Overachievers Unite!

5e1633b8d97e17891421f9cc2f7ee034_group-project-meme-group-projects_406-304

That’s me, with the long brown hair.  Doing the work.

I’m positive that MOST people are with me on this topic.

Think back to your school days. If you were like me, there were two words that I hated more than any other. Are you ready? Group projects.

Like I said, I’m sure most people hated them just as much as me. It’s not that I’m antisocial. But being a good student, of course I was always paired with the class dud. I never knew why teachers did that. Let the bad students be in a group of their own. {Sarah, if you do that, I am so disappointed!}

Of course, being an A student and wanting to get an A on the project, guess who did all of the work? ME!! Then, the skaters got an A. Because of me!

Mom and I watch “Project Runway” at lunch. When Heidi Klum announces the challenge, she says, “Oh yeah, this will be a group challenge.” You can see the slackers cheer. And the shoulders of the hard workers drop.

I think this hatred is universal. Kelley is always involved in some project at work and talks about the slackers she has to deal with.

Wouldn’t life be easier if all of the duds were in a group of their own? Far, far away.

 

Wouldn’t life be easier if all of the duds were in a group of their own? Far, far away.

A Change For The Better?

8fdb7d62018e00b6656680cd0804ee74

Sorry readers, I am so confused about something I have been seeing everywhere. I can see both sides, for and against. You get to be my third party as I lay down pros and cons. It is my hope that I’ll have a solid opinion after this post.

My dilemma: The recently-released American Boy doll.

Pro: With all the negative influences young boys have, it would be nice to have a positive one.

Con: I discovered American Girl when I was seven or eight. It was Samantha, who lived in 1904.   With the name “American Girl” I felt so special. These were only for girls!

Con: What the boys are wearing. I know that’s the style, but the one I saw looked like a thug, wearing a gray hoodie pulled over his eyes. Wouldn’t you think parents would want him to be better dressed?

Con: It’s part of their “diversity collection.” Code for politically correct.

Pro: The books taught me that anything was possible for a girl. Every kid needs to learn that.

Okay, that didn’t help. I’d love to hear your comments! And can you continue my lists?

Obviously I’m Missing Something

I just read on Facebook that Sears and Kmart are the latest in a long list of retailers that are dropping Trump products.

Let’s see… Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and now Kmart and Sears don’t want to be associated with our president or his family. Come on! The article said they sold Trump housewares. How is not selling a Trump lamp “telling him”? Even more ridiculous are Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom, who have discontinued Ivanka’s line of merchandise. It would be like if Hillary had won the election, and nobody wanted to “play” with Chelsea. Ivanka is Trump’s daughter! She won’t make the laws. She doesn’t even have his last name!

In my opinion, this is going to backfire. America will get sick of stores acting like whiny babies.

Spring has come early to Southern California. No lie, I was going to go on Land’s End website and see if there is something I couldn’t live without but on second thought, Sears is their parent company. I think I’m good. Two can play this game.

I Love Christmas, But…

Day 2 Assignment: Lists

Let me preface this post by saying that I am not in way a Grinch or Scrooge. I LOVE Christmas. But for day two of Writing: Finding Everyday Inspiration I had to come up with a list.

Although I’m no Grinch, there are some things that annoy me about this wonderful holiday.

The 12 Annoyances of Christmas

  1. The church up the street from us having their tree up since Halloween.meme-christmas-600x456
  2. Everyone, especially stores, “celebrating” so early.
  3. Gaining weight (can you say “good food?”).
  4. Commercialism.
  5. Cold (although today is about 60 degrees here and it’s freezing to us, the rest of the country would probably kill for that).
  6. Crowds.
  7. Pressure of finding the right gift for everyone.
  8. Candy canes (not really an annoyance, I just can’t stand them).
  9. Not being able to put my tree up in my room this year (sorry, small black puppy, I’m not really annoyed…).
  10. Any Elvis Christmas music.
  11. Having to burn a pine-scented candle for a Christmas-y smell (our tree is fake).
  12. Sports on TV on Christmas (I have no idea why it annoys me, it just does).

Now You Know

I know I started the WordPress “class” yesterday, but I decided that I would do my assignments when I don’t like the prompt and wasn’t going to write a post. Today, though, is a post day.

Okay, something in my life is maddening.  Rather, someone in my life: myself.

job-search-frustration-ftr

I’m one of those people that gets all excited at first, but then either get bored or quit when it turns out to be harder than I expected. It’s also embarrassing. Mom, who retired as a medical editor, is also now a writer. She and “I” wrote a memoir.   I use quotes because it was about ninety percent her, ten percent me.   Mom researched editors, publishers, and queries. I would have quit long ago.

I’m good at the goals. It’s the follow through that’s lacking.

I have two resolutions this New Year (I normally don’t make them because I know how I am).

Number one is to regularly donate to Loma Linda University Hospital’s Cheerful Encounters program. It’s a program where you can donate simple things like travel sized toiletries, soduku books, etc. to patients.

Number two is much harder. It would take several essays, but I’d like to write them to explain how I went from basically being an atheist to working with a Christian charity.

I’m hoping since you all now know that I’ve made two resolutions, I have to keep them!

Over and Out

Again, I apologize.

It ends in less than 24 hours! There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The 2016 election just might go down as the most irksome (My feelings are stronger than that, but I had to use the word) in history. At least of my lifetime. Don’t you agree, worse than the whole “chad” mess in 2000?

I found this quiz on Buzzfeed, and it tells me that lots of people share my excitement for tomorrow.

Here’s the link.  Have fun!

https://www.buzzfeed.com/sallytamarkin/hold-me?utm_term=.yreVqDb0mZ#.oy67M4r9ow

Enough!

b3af8e1741f80471d8b10ddf603ffc47

I’m so sorry about the subject of this post. If you are like me, you had enough long ago!

It’s as if you are bludgeoned with it! You have commercials where Hillary is attacking Trump. Change the channel and you have another one where it’s the opposite. Luckily, because California is so liberal, the candidates don’t spend much time focused on us. Unfortunately, Dad is a HUGE Fox News fan and that’s all they talk about.

I have already voted. That makes it worse, because I still have to listen to it. I voted to keep the death penalty, raise cigarette taxes, as well as on probably ten other propositions.

I left president blank. You know that I am a Republican. I couldn’t believe my choice of candidate.

As bad as Trump is, I like Hillary less. Besides the trustworthiness issue, she doesn’t seem genuine. While talking to people on the campaign trail she looks forced, like it’s an effort to be there. Like she has little in common with the common folk.

Thank you for allowing me to vent. All I can say is Tuesday can’t come soon enough.

It Would Be Awesome If These Words Literally Disappeared

ban

As I’ve said, I love words. I’ve also said that I could read the thesaurus as a novel. Both are true, but then there are some words/phrases I despise. It’s how we use them. It wouldn’t break my heart if the following were banned.

The list is extremely scary. It actually gives me chills. After all, Halloween is Monday.

  • Man cave
  • Hashtag something- #annoying
  • Awesome- The Grand Canyon is awesome, not your new TV
  • Selfie
  • Literally- Unless you know how to use it
  • Bling
  • Vape
  • Tweet- Only birds tweet

Did I miss any? I would love to hear your additions!

Money Makers

500px-dollar_sign-svg

According to Salary.com, the median salary for an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles is just over $60,000. The average police officer makes less than $50,000.

Now compare teaching the next generation and keeping our streets crime-free to the 20 to 30 million dollars that some celebrities make per movie.

Is something completely backwards?

My sister is a teacher. I’m positive she would be the first person to tell you that teaching is a lot harder than $60,000 worth. And it’s a disgrace about police officers! They put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe. We have family friends whose son is a police officer in Pomona, a crime-ridden city just outside of Los Angeles. But he, like my sister, didn’t choose his profession to become a millionaire.

Maybe sister or our friend can’t cry on command like celebrities (actually she can, which got me in trouble many a time as kids), but aren’t their jobs more valuable than memorizing lines?

A Post-Debate Pick-Me-Up

Did you watch the debate last night? I did. The candidates’ behavior was like you would find at an elementary school during recess. I’m not going to comment on their latest scandals. I just think with the negativity of less than 24 hours ago, everyone could use a little pick-me-up.

I got this story from Liftable. It just shows the power of love.

Enjoy!