Hollywood Rant

I so wish I could move away from here with my family-away from Hollywood, away from South Florida, maybe even away from Florida in general. It's probably not good that I'm in this frame of mind right now, since we're trying to buy a house here, but I've felt this way for a long time. I just try to make the best of wherever I am and since we can't leave due to my husband's business being established here (and I'm grateful that we're doing well at the moment) I try to find the best of where we are, rather than always looking at the worst. Yesterday morning it was difficult for me to deny the reality of our violent world, however. My husband received a phone call in the early morning hours from a friend who he drives to work, advising him to come from a different direction when traveling to his house. It turned out that a 36 year old man was shot to death during a robbery at the Hess gas station. Our friend lives near the Hess located on US 1, where this horrible crime took place and yesterday morning it was an area best avoided due to the activity that was going on there. I was saddened to hear about this incident, partly because I'm human, partly because I used to work at such a gas station and so understand the vulnerability of the clerks employed at such establishments, partly because these sorts of offenses are so senseless. There is absolutely no need to shoot someone, to kill someone, because you want to break the law. The people robbing this gas station could have worn masks; they could have gone in, taken the money, and left without hurting anyone. It's not like the surveillance camera didn't get a good picture of them-hello!!!! Leaving the clerk alive would not have lessened the chances of them getting caught; the video camera tells the tale. I understand that we live in difficult times. People are losing jobs or having hours cut back, prices at the grocery store seem to climb higher with each visit, most of us live with some fear of what the coming year will bring economically. The sad truth, however, is that most of these violent crimes are perpetuated by people looking for money for drugs. That said, South Florida is a hotbed for drug activity; I've had the pleasure of being offered crack cocaine for sale while riding my bicycle up 19th Avenue (I'm being deeply sarcastic in my use of the word "pleasure" here). Where I grew up, this would never happen. Hell, you can't even buy alcohol in the town where I grew up.

I understand that crimes, violent and otherwise, happen all over the country. It just seems that we have more than our share of it here in South Florida. This state has become a dumping ground for child molestors, drug dealers, perverts of every shade, transients and on and on into the night. A sex offender search in my immediate area alone turned up HUNDREDS of people. When I conducted the same online search in my hometown, I turned up 0. A search in the neighboring town revealed a few, but nowhere near the staggering number of offenders who live here. For those who feel that just moving northward in Florida will help the situation, the crime is just as bad in Palm Beach County, in part due to gangs running rampant in that area (a former boyfriend of mine and I actually had a gun pulled on us during a traffic altercation-thankfully the light changed and the people in the car drove away without shooting us), and a sex offender search for Boca Raton, which tends to be known as a more upscale city, revealed that even there many such offenders find haven.

Seeing as how it isn't possible for us to pull up roots and blow out of Dodge, I'm thinking that maybe I should invest in a good can of bear repellant, the kind of stuff that will knock a grizzly off his feet. As long as I'm not accosted by someone supercharged on PCP, that should help to protect my daughter and me. Ain't South Florida grand? They call this heaven.

Sunday Night After Camelot Days

After much cajoling, I finally convinced Hubby that it would be fun to go to Camelot Days at the local park. I have a thing for anything medieval/Renaissance and thought it would be a fun activity for our little one. Sundays are usually reserved (by N, anyway) for football, and while I have no problem with that, we didn't get to hang on Saturday due to Hubby's work schedule (damned knocking pipes!!!!). So, at around 3pm we loaded into the car and drove to the festival. The weather today was glorious-windy, cool and sunny. It was a perfect day for being outside taking in the local jousters, fairies, knights and such. While the food was-well-kind of yucky (setting aside the huge cookie we all shared, which was absolutely yummy), we had fun walking around, checking out the sword shop (I was unable to convince N that a Celtic handled sword would be a great asset to our house), the clothiers, the belly dancing show. I was completely enthralled with the bellydancing show; all of the women were AMAZING. I left the park thinking that it might be a lot of fun to take a class (they have a bellydancing class locally, at The Goddess Store) if I could convince one of my girlfriends to take it with me. I wouldn't feel so awkward if I did it with someone else, you know??? I might check out the store and find out when and if they are offering sessions in the near future; I think it would be great fun and might even be helpful (for the next time I need to convince N that I need a sword-just kidding). Anyway, off to watch Barack Obama and family on 60 Minutes! I hope you all had a fun weekend.

Park Day

I had the best of intentions with regard to going to the gym this morning, but the early hours just got away from me too fast. Hubby isn't feeling so hot this morning, we both were moving more slowly than usual (I had some trouble getting out of bed this morning-Hubster hogged the blankets last night but put the fan .. turning in, and I was cold in between stealing the covers back!), and before we knew it 8AM had crept upon us and he was rushing out the door. I don't like to rush my daughter around just because I'm behind, so I figured that I'll stick to my Friday morning gym ritual and then go on Saturday morning again. I actually enjoyed going to the gym last Saturday morning; it motivates me to get out of bed and then I feel great for the rest of the day. This weekend is Camelot Days at T.Y. Park and I'm going to try as hard as I can to convince N that we should go. We had a great time last year when we went and, even if N doesn't want to attend, I might take my little one and go anyway. It's difficult for me to resist any even with a medieval theme, and my little one will love all of the costumes and craziness.

Today is our park day with the homeschool group. I feared a rainout when I first awoke, but the sun is now making a valiant effort to smile brightly upon us. Even if the skies drizzle a bit here and there, it looks like we might be allowed some quality playtime. We meet at around 12pm, and I plan on bringing a picnic lunch with us, possibly from a nearby kosher restaurant that has killer sandwiches. Though, after spending a ridiculous amount of money at the supermarket yesterday (the cost of groceries has spiraled out of control) I have to admit that I'm reluctant to spend any extra money today; we might end up with tuna sandwiches from home!!! Still, that falafel from Levy's is calling out to me......argh!!! Whatever we eat, we should have a fun day. I like that my little one gets to run around with the same kids each week and I'm learning more about homeschooling from the other parents in the group and socializing a bit as well.

Happy Wednesday!!!!

Some Dry Eyed Rambling

It's getting late, my eyes are tired and dry after about an hour of playing with my profile page (no kidding, it took me about an hour to get it the way I want it) but I figured that since I was here anyway I might as well say hello. And good night, but I'll leave the good night for later.

We had a great weekend. Hubby worked on Saturday but I got up early, hit the gym, then came home and made a dreamcatcher for my little one. She has been having nightmares and I thought it might help. It was lots of fun putting it together; I bought two small grapevine wreathes, some crystal beads (I picked out green, Little One picked out amethyst), yellow/white ribbon, feathers, and six silver metal stars (three for each wreath-on Sunday I made one for my hubby's and my room as well- in keeping with the tradition of the number three being sacred in Celtic tradition). Then, we supercharged her dreamcatcher with some words of blessing and hung it in her room in front of the window. It's located as close to her bed as possible but is also in the window to catch the first rays of the sun as they stream through the blinds. So far, so good. I hung ours on Sunday, as my husband looked at me with raised eyebrow (such a skeptic, he). After the dreamcatcher festivities we met some friends for lunch at a nearby deli where my mind was stimulated by some much appreciated adult conversation. My husband joined me later at the home of a couple we know (I'll call them R and W here), where we ate steak and salad. Though I'd previously been doubtful about R's claim that eating meat without a starch helps food digest more easily, I have to say that this was the first time I'd eaten a steak without feeling heavy afterward. I think that his theory bears more investigation; I ate a baked potato with chicken for dinner tonight and felt positively stuffed afterward, although the sour cream, butter and bacon bits might have contributed to that condition. So much for going to the gym this morning. Sigh.

As far as our adventures into possible home ownership, no word yet as to whether or not we're going to get the dreamhome we've been hoping to move into toward the end of this year. Three or so weeks ago the realtor told my husband that the bank had accepted our offer. When N called him this afternoon to ask him some questions, he advised that he hadn't actually received the acceptance of our offer in paper form yet. Whaaa???? Either it was accepted, or it was not accepted, or it was not accepted yet. I'm hoping for the first, fearing the second and thinking that the last is probably the most likely answer. Maybe they told the realtor that our offer looked good and just haven't gotten around to completing the paperwork, or maybe they haven't made a final decision yet. This whole ordeal has been stressful as hell; I'm looking forward to the day we are able to move into a home we love and I can begin planning gardens and painting walls. The sweat and toil of cleaning, digging and decorating (all of which I love-well, not the cleaning so much) is nothing next to the anguish of not knowing. Already I feel uprooted and I've yet to pack a box.

Well, for a tired gal I sure did let forth a sea of words! Time to go to bed and let our dreamcatcher work its magic

Almost the Weekend, and Some Light at the End of the Tunnel?

Without getting into any sort of political discourse, I will say that I am happy with the results of this year's Presidential election. For the first time in a very long time, I feel a true sense of hope that this country might be pulled out of it's currently wretched financial state at some point in the near future. Of course, the change will come slowly, but the fact that change is in sight at all is a positive thing. At least in my eyes.

On another note, our house hunting might soon be over. It's still too soon to say for sure, but we are hopeful that the loan is going to go through and that, come the end of November, we will be closing on a new house. I feel pretty good about contacting our current landlady to let her know that we are going to be moving out, though I'm still a bit nervous about doing so. Those sorts of discourses are never pleasant, and with things being what they are in the world I hate to tell someone we're about to remove a source of income from their pockets. I feel we've been great tenants-we have never been the sort to complain about anything and always pay our rent on time- and I want to be sure we give her ample time to find someone else to move in. I lit our house candle again last night and had a good feeling when I snuffed it out that this whole issue is about to conclude and that we should have an answer soon as to whether or not we will be putting our Yule tree up in a new home. It will be nice to know one way or the other, so that we can begin preparations to move (never fun, but in this case it will be exciting).

My day today started with coffee with N, then a phone call from a good friend (I love you W!!!); hopefully it will continue to proceed forward in as nice a way as it began! Happy Friday, everyone!

WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!!!

This is just sick-it's scary what is happening in our country with our food industry. It seems like when it comes to what we eat, the government is more interested in making money than keeping us safe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUB79WJ9ktQ