The Countdown Has Begun!

(Today's word will be in red and bold.)

Wooooo hooooo!  The countdown is officially underway as of yesterday; less than a week until  my friend, Patty, and I are in New York City!

I've been excited about this since winning the "Meet Taylor Swift" trip last April!  Now, after one cancellation, (to Ottawa, Canada), in August, our rescheduled trip is just about to become reality!

So far, we don't know our entire itinerary, just our flights, where we'll be staying, and when we'll be at Good Morning America to meet Taylor.  No worries though, we've been assured all details will be in place, and given to us before we leave for the Big Apple next Monday.

Definitely not wishing my life away, but I honestly can't wait for this adventure!  To keep things under control however, I've limited myself to one word, if I feel my excitement getting out of control.  Since just writing about this trip gets me excited, I'll end this post with that one word:  EEK!

Oh, Canada!

Oh, Canada!  What fun we were to have next month!  The perfect month for a birthday celebration in Ottawa, Canada!

Alas, though, it's not to be!  I shan't be going the furthest east I've ever been after all; SIGH!!!

Yes, it's true, a friend and I were supposed to go to the Capital Hoedown in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on August 11th to see, and meet, Taylor Swift; the day before my birthday. It was the contest that I'd won from KUPL last April.

Unfortunately, I received a call earlier today, letting me know that Taylor's concert has been cancelled; and things are in the works to get us to another show.  

At this time I'm not sure why the August concert was cancelled; or when and where the new concert will be. I'm still excited though; just going to have to wait a bit longer for the big trip. 

I'll put another post out whenever I know more about this situation. 

Simon in the Morning's "Hunger Games"

Twice a day for the past week, the "Simon in the Morning" show has been hosting their version of the "Hunger Games".

Each morning at 6:20am, and 8:20am, Scott, Jolynn and Jake would announce two "districts", (zip codes), to compete against each other.  One caller from each zip code would call in and be given a type of food to name off.  Each person would name a food from that day's category, and the first person to take longer than 5 seconds was eliminated.

My zip code was announced at 6:20 Tuesday morning, so I called, and actually got through.  I and the person I was pitted against had to come up with various ways to prepare eggs.

I don't remember all the types we came up with, except the other person did say "candied" eggs at one point.   No one was sure what that meant, however, I thought it could mean the candy eggs like you get at Easter.  The last type I mentioned was "poached", and the other person couldn't come up with another type, so she was eliminated.

I was excited that I'd qualified for the trip to see Taylor Swift in Ontario, Canada; however, did I really think I'd win the grand prize?  No, I didn't.  I knew I'd have a 1 in 10 chance, however, I just didn't think it would happen.

On Friday, the final two were qualified for the grand prize, and a few minutes later Scott, Jolynn and Jake were to announce the grand prize winner.

I know that when a winner is picked, it takes time to call them, get it recorded for playback on the air, etc.  That usually means a winner is picked and called right away.  I was at work, waiting to start my day, and my phone wasn't ringing, so I knew I wasn't going to be the winner.  The longer the phone didn't ring, the more certain I was I didn't win.

All of a sudden though, my phone DID ring, and it was an outside line.  The caller ID was KUPL's number!  So, I answered the phone, and there they were on the other side of the line, Scott, Jolynn and Jake!  They asked if I knew why they were calling and I said I thought so; then Jolynn said, yeah, they'd just called to talk with me and tell me who'd won the contest.

 Normally it's hard to pull anything over on me; I'm not a trusting person, and don't take things at face value.  In this case though, already having it in my mind that I wasn't going to win, the length of time it took for the phone call, and the fact that I'm always giving them a bad time, (teasing), I figured maybe they really HAD called just to tell me who the winner had been!  I was totally suckered on that, and I give them kudos for getting me good!

As it turns out, *I* AM the grand prize winner to go see Taylor Swift in Ontario, Canada!!!  The whole process of picking the grand prize winner was even the subject of the Simon 90 video for the day.

Needless to say, that was around 9am; I haven't quite been the same since!  I honestly don't think I really breathed for about 2 hours after I found out I'd won! 

I know I can get very excited about things, so instead of rambling on and on about it from now, until the day of the show, I've told everyone I work with, all my friends and  family, if I start getting hyper again, I'll just say "EEK!"  Translation:  "I'm sooooooooooooo excited!", and leave it at that.  After all, winning is one thing, however I'd like to keep my family, friends and co-workers; not drive them away!

Remembering The Good Things

It’s been eighteen years since I got a divorce, and a lot has happened in that time.  To be honest, a lot happened in just the first MONTH after my ex and I split; but that’s another story.

For now, I’m concentrating on the good things that came from that relationship.  The best thing of course would be our son; no regrets for that in 25 years since he was born. 

On the other side of the coin, the good things I’m remembering here are a bit on the warped side.  Some would say that I’m being mean towards my ex; I’m not.  To me, the stories are just funny, and I share them.  There may have been a time or two where I was feeling a bit mean at that moment; over all though, it’s not meant that way.  I’ve always said I lost the husband, kept the stories. 

One of my favorite stories about my ex happened before we got married.  He lived in Grande Ronde, Oregon, at the time, and I was in Brush Prairie, Washington.  (We’ve known each other since high school.)

I went to visit my ex, (then boyfriend), one weekend and he’d decided to make “dinner” for me…You have to understand, this is a guy who couldn’t boil water to save his life; despite that, he made “dinner”…spaghetti to be exact.

Spaghetti is pretty easy to make; and hard to mess up…Unless you’re my ex…I give him credit though, he at least tried.  With that said, here’s the “recipe” my ex used to make spaghetti:

Take one package of ramen noodles, any flavor, (he used shrimp flavor).  Make the noodles, (without the flavor packet), in the microwave.  If they’re too watery when they’re done, pour the water off.

For the “spaghetti sauce”, add the ramen noodle flavor packet to ketchup, (yes, KETCHUP); then pour the mixture over the ramen noodles.  Wha-la,“spaghetti”. 

Our honeymoon had it’s funny moments also…Like going to Canada…We could only go for a day, or go, come back to the states, then back to Canada the next day…He would NOT spend the night in Canada…Didn’t feel safe sleeping in a foreign country…Didn’t matter that we’re friends with Canada…Something could happen and we’d be stuck there. 

After our split, there weren’t a lot of funny moments; mainly because we, (my son and I), didn’t hear much from my ex.

One thing I remember though is when my son and I moved into where we live now.  My ex made a rare visit to see our son.  He showed up in a beat up, broken down red Fiero; had gained about 100 pounds, and had long yellowy white hair and beard.   (The weight stayed, but the hair was different the next time we saw him.)

After he left, my son, (who inherited his sense of humor from both me and my ex), said, “oh my gosh, I have white trash Santa Claus as my dad!” 

 I could go on and on, but this blog is getting long as it is.  So, for those who are wondering why I’ve even written this particular blog, here’s why.

A little over a year ago, my ex had to have part of his leg amputated.  He ended up in a care facility to get therapy, etc.  During that time, he and our son started to bond again…They’d had a rocky relationship since we split, mainly because my ex just didn’t come around much.  After my ex’s amputation though, my son would visit his dad, and hang out.  After a little over a month, things were really on the right path.  There were still things my son didn’t like about his dad, but overall, they were back to being a dad and son again. 

Then, on May 6, 2010, it all ended.  My ex was taken to the emergency room at SW Medical Center with chest pains.  He ended up having a heart attack, and died. 

It’s been a rough time off and on for my son, but overall he’s coped with the loss very well.  And like his dad, and me, a lot of the coping has been in the form of humor.  Just little things here and there that make us laugh, or remember my ex for some reason or other. 

That’s why I’m writing this blog for today.  It’s been a year since my ex died.  While we weren’t on the best terms even a year ago, I still feel his life was cut short too soon.  52 just isn’t that old.  I asked my son how he’d feel about me writing this, and he was fine with it.  He thought his dad would be flattered, even if not all that was written showed his best side. 

I guess this blog entry is my way of remembering the good times, and a way of saying to my ex, “we may not have gotten along that well in the end, but I won’t forget the good times we had”.