ANTICIPATION

ANTICIPATION

Yeah ok fine… I used a Lewis Black album title to start… deal with it. At least I acknowledge its been used before, carly simon..

It is Tuesday and it’s 3 days from the unofficial start to the 2012 biannual reunion festivities. Those flutteries in your stomach get buttered and your heart grows, not from the buttery blockage, but in anticipation of the largest family party on the planet. Well, to us.  

Weddings funerals birthdays anniversaries… none of this compares to the reunion. You don’t have to worry about who you’ll meet. You don’t have to worry about how you act. You know EVERYBODY and they know you. And through your own dealings and attitudes you learn to accept even those you secretly hate for even one weekend. Yes, even I will be loved if only for a weekend. J

Its magical to see everyone getting along as a family should. Albeit dysfunctionally like ours usually does. (and no, Chris, the ball was out. Or as Joe would inevitably say “le buell se outeu! Bleu blaehu deu entre. Se quis, bojour croissant. En passant…” no, that’s chess. And in English, it’s just as annoying… but it’s why we go. It’s family.)

But the anticipatory element is like a child’s wonderment of first, why the hell is a tree in the house, why are we wrapping it in lights and all this for a fat red guy to give us gifts? That last part keeps us good for the last 14 minutes of the year in preparation of Christmas. Well, the week before the reunion is like that first realized Christmas to me.

Nowadays texts and email keep us in communication with one another. Social media I am not a fan of, but a lot of you will be facebooking the event. And the closer the day comes, the more I think about those who won’t be celebrating with us for whatever reason. Not important reasons like nate and kirstin’s new cousin making me a new cousuncle again… that’s an understood reason as to why you won’t be making it here. In fact we all probably hope you wouldn’t come due to the soon to be one week old’s just getting used to the clean, healthy Chicago air. – an aside about air… it’s one of those things that makes you happy it isn’t made in China.  

As for those we won’t be seeing with legitimate reasons why they won’t come, I’m talking about why we golf. I don’t golf but once every 2 years. (minus the occasional joe murphy golf tourney). And it’s in memory of my uncle Vincent joy. Just saying his name makes ya happy. Vinnie joy! (joy’s in his NAME!)

I’m talking about why we’re here. Rita and pete. Aunt kay. Uncle ange. Aunt Gladys. Aunt Theresa. Aunt patty. Uncle joe. Aunt connie. Uncle mike. Jiggs. Uncle jim. Great gramps n gram zarbo! It’s all in the name, kids!

Yes, I mentioned jiggs… he was a feisty little guy and was a tremendous fan of uncle mike’s. He’s probably sitting with uncle mike in his pink leotard right now waiting to pound me into the ground for mentioning it was pink and in fact whilst I’m down there, jiggs will lick my face into something a woman would find attractive. Until then, mirrors be damned!

Jokes aside, I think about them in a high regard. I wonder if they’re all together making sure the event goes as planned or making sure that for this once joe will award gib the point without a fight. Or maybe they’re all just chillin in a box. Either way, I hope they’re together.

As we will be. Soon!

Only 2 days and 12 hours to go, but who’s counting…

III

Ps… 730 days from Sunday…

MONEY SAVING "FREE" FUN...

"FREE" FUN

Has the adage "freedom isn't free" been overused much yet? That I am not too sure...

But I have figured out a few things in life.

First, helping others is key to making life go by faster. And the faster life goes the faster you die. So my helping out folks is high on my scale of speeding up time.

Second, helping people can be fun, beneficial, and downright exhilarating when it comes to the nightly process of gambling. I’m not talking casino gambling or poker with the buddies, I’m talking couponing. It’s a fun skill I have “learned” by following paint-by-number easy instructions on a website and in the long run, it’s a great help to a lot of friends, family, and struggling people I know here and there.  And it takes up an exorbitant amount of otherwise stale time, hence, I’m that much closer to the grave...

Oddly, a small thing like a new toothbrush can really make someone’s day sometimes. Add in a care bag of goodies they may or not have needed and you may just be the hero of the week for them. Anything from diapers to wipes to razors to laundry to shampoo to household cleaners to cough and cold meds and vitamins… I can go on… these little things make people’s day. And life is a long list of little things that make the bigger things go by so much easier than thought before.

So I decide to check on my amounts this morning to see how much I have saved in the business of couponing and lo and behold I just creaked over $1,100 saved at CVS. So I decided to call them and see how much I spent.

Firstly you have to remember a lot of this stuff I got for free following a free website called the “krazy coupon lady” to the core. A lot of the stuff I have no idea what it is or what its used for but its free so who cares? Someone knows what it is and what its used for so let them have the item! (even tampons and condoms, two things I rarely use… half a boo…) Some of the suggestions on the website turned out to be false due to regional sales, but for the most part the girls are pretty much spot-on. When they aren’t, you just pass up the deal and move on to the next deal. They even let you know about deals that are unadvertised.

Then add in the cost of the coupons. Yup, they cost money too. I get 2 newspapers a week to help with my addiction, and it has been a great investment. My yearly cost for weekly coupons in the newspaper is $208/yr…  ($4/weekend x 52 weeks)… some coupons are printed, so you need a printer too. picked up an all in one printer for 79 bucks that kills the deals and has already paid for itself.

So I called CVS this morning because on the site it says what I have saved, but not what I have spent. In the first 3 quarters of 2012 so far, it’s currently mid july, I have spent $278.20. this is on miscellaneous sales items I have used coupons on and in calculations I just performed, I have saved myself 75% off of everything I have bought in the store with a simple piece of paper found in your newspaper, or online among other places.

Mind you, yes the coupons cost money, and yes, I could just stay home and not do this and save money by not spending anything on anything… but I have a few bags full of stuff I give away for nothing, and the appreciation I get from it is not only gratifying, it’s the cherry on top of the addicting adrenaline rush of walking out of the store with pounds of weight in your shopping bag while spending a penny or less on some well calculated transactions.

The only problem I find with this is one-fold…: CVS is right next to rite aid, and I haven’t even looked at my YTD savings/spending with them yet, but I’m sure it’s not off the mark by much. The rite aid receipt says I have spent over a grand due to the points I have accumulated, but how much of that was whittled down due to couponing is yet to be determined.

Plus with both stores, the two I “rape”, money spent doesn’t include those rebates I get back.

Though I am upset I didn’t get into this years ago. the woman at CVS customer care said since 2003, I have spent just shy of 3 grand at CVS. I can only imagine what that would have been had I started couponing then… or I can speculate 75% off $3k would be $750 spent in that time.  meaning I’d have saved $2,250 too. yet it’d probably be more as well due to the amount of trips I make there now vs during that time of regular shopping (couponless). . . I’d also have to have a permanent stockroom for the stuff I have on my own shelves may need their own house soon.

I wonder if 214 Herr St. is still on the market…

III

TEE BALL AT THE HERSHEY THEATER? CLOSE!

Waking up on a Sunday morning I realized something was amiss.

First off, what the hell am I doing up on a Sunday morning? Is it that I’m 35 and now that my “headin up the hill” years are upon me I have to start acting this way? No. It's that my cat has been screaming into my face how much his last clean water change at 515am wasn’t good enough and now that its 7 it needed changed yet again. I fell asleep at 3am! Son of a mother!

Second, I think long and hard and I can’t figure out if I wrote another write up about Carly’s dancing or her teeball or which was better or which she enjoyed better or which she remembered to so while playing or dancing……….. I dunno.

So here we are. 9 am on a Sunday. Have nothing to do till 2p, and I just ate a cucumber and celery. Breakfast of champions I’d say not. But I’ll probably win the contest of most active audible bodily functions the rest of the day (a contest I don’t wanna be a part of, but its better than the lactose intolerant cheese eating  Olympics, plus it’s a chance for me to burn off my beard spontaneously)

I digress…

A few weeks ago I decided on a Saturday to fulfill my obligation of a councle (cousin/uncle) to at least once see Carly play in her teeball league before it was done. It was an off weekend of sorts, so I brewed a pot and headed out. Mind you, her games start at 9:30 on a Saturday. A.M…. ç that’s American Morning, eastern deluxe time. But since she’s getting to the age where she remembers things for the rest of her life, I didn’t wanna have her remember me as the drunken foole in her “I don’t remember before 5 or so” years. Heck, I don’t wanna remember me as the drunken foole back then. Luckily I couldn’t remember if I tried.

So when I showed up, Jon and Erin were shocked to see me, but elated at the same time. It was a great time of watching children play the game of baseball. There were a few good players on her team and all things considered, I couldn’t tell you if she won or not. For the most part I was discovering a new talent with Nicholas on the sidelines. I can draw letters upside-down (rightside-up to him) in the dirt like Bob Ross can paint happy little trees with ease. Who’d’ve thunk it? And when she was up to bat, guess who she emulated in her ball location? Every hit was smacked to right center field. Same place I always hit it to.

It was told to me later that me being at her game was the highlight of her day.  For me, that made the Indian man’s tears over litter a real happening. Her fingerprint is on my heart. Love is such a weak word to use in how I feel about that little girl.

Coupla weeks later it was told to me that she had another recital at Hershey theater (see previous post about the first time I went)… so needless to say I jumped at the chance to go. It seemed like an every 2 year thing to me but Jon said it was annual.  For whatever reason I missed last year’s performance… I dunno… It happens.

Joe, Maryse, Manu, Uncle Pat Mac, Erin, Jmac, myself, and Erin’s mother piled into the row awaiting the touch of brilliance we know as Carly to hit the stage. Nick hadn’t come this time and it’s probably for the better. He couldn’t have outdone his previous “doo doo doo, lookin’ over dad’s shoul-der” performance, unlike his sister.

As we waited for the cerebral ballerina to make her appearance, it was learned that another family member had his children in the show. The doctors of Herchelroath had made it… what? I thought they lived in Iowa. Nope. The doc had his daughter in the show and to be honest, I’m not on facebook so she could have been a tree in the background for all I knew. I didn’t get a chance to congratulate her, but at intermission I told her sister who was standing with him how great of a job she did. That’s when I realized Brian had 2 kids. How’s the foot taste? Salty!

The show opened to a raucous military themed tap / stomp and it was fantastic. Jmac pointed out a few folks, and one of the dancers stole the entire show all night. I made the comment to him that now I understand what the judges of a dance show was looking for. Her moves were not just hitting the mark, but she performed the dances. PERFORMED. She didn’t just go “5,6,7,8” like most of the dancers were doing, she felt the music and it controlled every part of her body. She had the moves like Jagger. She was electric. And maybe 14. So to ogle on about her is kinda weird, but she was what this program was about. I figure Carly is on her way to being like her.

Then it happened. Bright lights, big city.

Carly graced the stage with her first performance of the evening and she was again spot-on. You could tell she was focused and determined to get through with zero mistakes. In all honesty, once again, every move hit every moment and as the 14 year old did, Carly felt the music. She stomped when she had to, tapped when she had to, danced in a circle when she had to. All with that cheeky smile that makes all the world wish they had her good looks! (and spot-on rhythm...)

After intermission while enjoying a fresh taste of foot in mouth disease (thanks tough actin’ tinactin for taking care of the bread in my shoes) she was at it again. She has the ability to remember many routines now, and it was as if she taught the moves to every beat of the music. I was on the edge of my seat watching the wonder that was my cousin and proud isn’t even a word I could use anymore. Admired would be better.

Odd how a 6 year old can garner the admiration of a 35 year old. But sometimes in life it happens.

All this after playing teeball again that morning. I know what you’re thinking but no, I slept through that one.

Speaking of...

Goodnight!!!

III