A Little Excitement

About an hour ago, I was getting ready to fix myself some dinner when I heard the door open & saw on my security monitor a shirtless young man pacing the lobby.  It's 48 degrees outside and the lobby is only 4 paces by 3 paces, short trip.

I didn't bother with my weapon, because this just didn't seem like an occasion when I would have to shoot someone in the kneecap.

"I was just attacked ! he cried."  The kid, as it turned out, had stayed here a couple of nights ago and apparently was working with & now bunking with my "guests" in room three.  In tears he asked for the key to said room so he could get his stuff. " I was attacked and my shirt ripped off me.  I need to get in that room and get my stuff."  He was pounding his fists on the front desk while the tears ran down his face.  I lost interest around then.

"So sorry," I say to the weeper,"but you aren't a registered guest & I 'm not letting  you in the room."
"I need to call 911", he sobbed . I handed him a phone.  I'm a bitch, but not a heartless bitch.  He related his sad tale to  the police and cried that the "lady" at the Dixie Belle wouldn't let him get his stuff.  While waiting for the cops, he asked to call his fiancee long distance, so I gave him my cell.  I went back to my desk, but could hear him crying for sympathy from his lady love.

In the meantime, I called the DH, (because he hates to miss a little drama.)  The DH and the cops got here around the same time, so I let them sort it out and finished fixing my dinner.

Here's the boring tale.  The shirtless weeper & one of his roomies got drunk and argued over what ever young testosterone driven boys get intense about & the weeper got the worst of it.  After he described his suitcase and cell phone, the DH and a cop went in the room, retrieved his gear and sent him on his way to cry on his fiancee's shoulder.  Poor girl.

Most Comfortable Bra Ever?

Yeah, that's me.  I've been working out.

For months now, I've been on a mission to find a comfortable everyday bra.  The one I have loved for many years has been discontinued and my remaining stock is discolored, the elastic is sprung and they're basically unwearable.

On an internet search, I came arcross the "Coobie."  Get it?  A coozie for your boobies.  I immediately ordered two and after a trial run of 4 days declare the Coobie my new favorite bra. 

The deceptively thin straps hold the girls up quite well and are interchangeable with supplied clear straps which come in handy here in Florida where we wear relatively skimpy summer clothing.  One size fits all...I know...but I have to assume it really does. No wires, no hooks.  It slips on over your head.  The Coobie comes in a delicious assortment of colors, because the lace trim looks so cute peeking out.

I ordered two nudes, but will be going back to the website & getting some sassy colors.  Ah yes, price.  The scoop neck is $20.  I got the Vneck @ $22 and there's a bandeau also.

No one is compensating me here.  I'm just so happy that my girls are happy andI wanted to share.

Catching Up

I just finished this novelized history of New York City.  It was a good book, and it made me think of some of my more memorable trips to NYC. 

I was 19 years old on my maiden voyage to the big scary city.  I took the train from Trenton where I was at school.  I had a role in a production of the United States Steel Hour.  For all you kids out there.  TV was live in 1962 and you had to be there.  I stayed at the Barbizon Hotel For Women (just like the movie Stage Door, with Kathryn Hepburn and Ginger Rogers.)  The US Steel Hour drama was called "Street of Love" and starred Millie Perkins and Doug McClure, neither of whom talked to us lowly cast members.

Every broadway show I went to was memorable especially my first which was "The Unsinkable Mollie Brown", starring Tammy Grimes.

I had the real working girl experience when I stayed at a friends west side apartment while working as a model at the Catalina swim suit showroom.

Lunch at Windows on The World at the top of the world trade center with a gaggle of my misfit friends was a unique experience where we laughed until we cried and looking back on it a kind of surreal day.

I've watched football in Yankee Stadium (Army/Oklahoma), eaten in Chinatown, shopped in Bloomies, had a carriage ride through central park, ice skated at Rockefeller Center, enjoyed the MOMA and the Met, toured one of the largest transatlantic cruise ships in the world, rode the Staten Island ferry, and yes got thrown out of the Playboy Club and mistaken for a hooker at a hooker bar and way too much more to tell.

The day I took the DH to the city was exceptional.  We walked in Central Park, where he got taken by a hustler, saw "Le Cage Aux Folles" on broadway, and had dinner at the Rainbow Room at the top of Rockefeller Center where I must say, we were treated like royalty. 

Me and New York go back a long way. The city has always intimidated and excited me and my feelings in that respect probably put me in good company. 

Good Thing They Weren't Elephants

No photos for this post.  It wasn't a pretty sight. Today I checked on some of the rooms which had not been occupied recently.  One never knows.  Unit #3 looked ok on cursory inspection, but when I checked the bathroom, in the shower corner I found a bunch of black dots & smudges.  I also found them on the clean bath mat, and later on the carpet by the door. 

It didn't look like insects or rodent poop, so I had the DH check it out.  He was convinced that it was indeed an invasion by a herd of mice.  There was a hole in the floor of the shower where I saw the biggest concentration.

On reinspection, I found the nasty evidence in other places.  The foil stove top liners were chewed, there was poop behind the toaster and around the sink.  I spent an hour in there, cleaning and recaulking the shower to at least plug up the obvious entrance.  Then I set 3 strategic traps.  This is war!

Thank god they weren't elephants or the poop would have been over my head.

Proud Mama

Here's my DD Danielle receiving her Bachelor of Science degree with top honors from Flagler College.  I was privileged to be there as she was honored with the award for being valedictorian of her graduating class.

Kudos to a woman with such determination that she held down two jobs, raised a family and still managed to earn her degree with excellence.   She is an example and an inspiration to women of any age that if one desires something with passion then one should go for it.

My Winter Escape

I've escaped!!  Well, not completely.  These photos are of a vacation rental I took for the month of December.  I was there the first 4 days of December then had to come back to the DB to take care of some business.  Going back in a couple of days & the DH will join me for the weekend.

The deck is very private and the stairs at the back lead to a rooftop deck with an ocean view.  From the sliding glass doors I can see my own private jungle & I think I'll stick a Christmas tree out there.  I'm not really into Christmas these days, but a tree will look festive.  The place is a little spotlessly clean doll house.  A tad dated, but it has everything I need and is close to the DD and family.

Oh!  Let me bitch for a moment.  I'm paying big bucks for this little get away & when I went to the office to ask about inviting my family to  come into the park and have dinner with me, I was told I'd have to pay $5 a head.  I'm outraged.  I understand the need to monitor the comings and goings, and I would agree if they were overnight guests, but I'm going to have to pay everytime I have someone stop by That's just wrong.  I paid the $20 to have my children to dinner, but that's the last time.

Because I feel it's wrong, I refuse to cooperate.  The DD lives in the subdivision across the street, so I will run a shuttle service in my own vehicle.  I'm reminded of the old drive-in movie days when we used to hide extra people in the trunk.  I won't violate the park policy of no more than 6 people visiting a site, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $5 every time my grandkids want to stop by after school.  I want to have my family over to decorate the tree and have dinner and no way am I paying $30 for 6 guests to visit me for a couple of hours.  Arrest me, throw me out.  Fat chance.

On a positive note, my first few days of relative aloneness were worth the price of admission.  I slept late, shopped, walked, read, cooked and reveled in the pure pleasure of a solitary existance.  I did what I wanted, when I wanted and answered to no one.  I had nothing to do but please myself.  The escape was so worth it and I can't wait to go back.

Hotel Nazis

We get visited by the Florida hotel nazis twice a year and my most recent visit was in July. Two very officious people showed up flashing badges and frowns.  I had to open up three rooms and my laundry/ storage area for inspection.  I've been doing this for 9 years now & usually I get written up for not having my cleaning products properly labeled.

The Florida regs are pretty basic.  Label your chemicals, don't keep chemicals where they can contaminate linens and towels, have working outside fire extinguishers and smoke alarms in each room.These folks wrote me up for stuff I didn't even know were violations.

A cigarette burn in a chair (I have since sewed it together,) a missing ceramic tile in a bathroom (I smacked some joint compound in the hole,) a bit of mold in a refrigerator gasket (I cloroxed it and now do that on a regular basis,) and missing ceiling tiles in my laundry room.  I agree, the tiles needed to be replaced.  They've been like that for 9 years.  After getting the write up, I asked the DH to please, please make that job a priority, because at reinspection, if the violation hasn't been addressed you will be fined.

I've been begging & pleading since July.  I wrote notes and pasted them on his computer.  No luck.  So what I did was go out & buy myself an electric staple gun & hid it.  Can't let the DH touch my tools.  They disappear into his black hole.  Tonight I snuck out to the laundry and tackled the project myself.  Not a piece of cake!  In fact it was a bitch.  The staple gun didn't do the job, so I nailed the damn things up there.  By the time I had 3 tiles done,  I was done.  I'll go out each evening a do a couple more until I fill in all the missing squares. 

If you look close, you can see my handiwork.

I know, it's terrible, but once I fill in all the squares I won't have to worry about a fine.  I'll do a few each day.  PS  I did rotate the photo, but it didn't come out right either.