Finding it hard to find inspiration .....

I have been having a hard time getting back into the swing of things after my vacation. I haven't been posting on Facebook, haven't written a blog ..... just haven't really known what to say. There are of course so many things in the news to talk about:

1. Journalists held in Libya, the horror & celebration in Libya
2. CEOs pledge to end campaign support
3. My first earthquake experience that shook my 10th floor office
4. Hurricane Irene & my weekend plans that won't happen
5. The fact that I am already feeling twinges of empty nest syndrome because the teenager is driving himself to work these days and the little one in starting kindergarten on Monday
6. Kim Kardashian's Wedding (actually I would never talk about that .... just wanted to see if you were paying attention)
7. Warren Buffet's call for higher taxes on the rich
8. The fact that my fabulous vacation has resulted in a serious lupus flare which has left me itchy & exhausted
9. Steve Jobs & the future of Apple
10. The aftermath of the riots in England
11. The 10-year anniversary of 9/11

As I look at this list I realize I am a little overwhelmed. There is so much going on in our world right now ... and not much of it seems to be happy news. You really need to read the fine print in the news to find stories to make you smile such as people in Japan returning money they found after the tsunami. But again, that is positive news in the face of horrific news. For once I would like to turn on the news or boot up the computer and have the headlines be: No one has been killed today, everyone ate 3 meals, the weather is beautiful everywhere and everyone is getting along. Just for one day! Of course the reality of the day after those headlines would probably throw the world in to massive depression. I realize of course that I am babbling and not being very creative.

I will say that I have watched two really great Masterpiece Theatre movies this week: Bleakhouse and North and South. Aside from the fact that I love classical literature (I have actually started reading Bleakhouse, I apparently missed this one during my Dickens phase), I am amazed at how the themes of these particular stories are still in the news today!

Bleakhouse is primarily about a civil court case involving a will that goes on for years to the point that there are only two distant heirs left. By the time the case is settled, there is no money left because it has gone to the attorneys. It is about poverty, despair, drug addiction, inequity. In a word it is a bleak existence (but all works out in the end for the heroes and heroines).

North and South is about unions. The battle between those whose job it is to maintain a profitable business and the workers whose job is to feed the family. I was shocked at how much of an issue this still is today when the original novel the film was based on was written in 1855. Elizabeth Gaskell questions religion, female roles, family, honor and extreme poverty. I feel like if you changed the clothing and the accent you could be talking about so many places in the world today.

I have completely digressed from my topic that I have had a week lacking creativity. But I guess that is ok. So, I will end with answering my last 30-day blog questions .... and then I must be off to plan how I am going to spend the day tomorrow preparing for Irene. I am a firm believer that if you are prepared the storm will swing on by (most of the time, and if it doesn't at least you are prepared)!



The Outsiders



My first celebrity crush: I don't really remember. I know that these two posters were on my bedroom ceiling for a very long time when I was a tween - and I am pretty sure I had some sort of tween crush on all of them (except for Molly Ringwald - although I did want to be her).

The last person who texted me: that would be the teenager - several times a day! I actually love the fact that we communicate more than we did when he did not have unlimited text on his phone. I always know where he is, what he is going and who he is with. It is a great parental invention!

Five Things Within Touching Distance Right Now: I am not going to include the laptop - that is kind of a given.

1. The five-year-old (he fell asleep next to me and I have not had the ambition to put him back to bed).
2. A glass of Diet Pepsi
3. 3 remote controls (Television, DVD player & cable)
4. Map of New Hampshire (from when I was preparing for vacation)
5. A ceramic hurricane-like lamp that my Nana made

Someone's facebook status I can always count on to annoy me: I don't know how to answer this one. The only people I am friends with on Facebook are people I actually like and am friends with .... anyone who annoys me I have already blocked.

And last ..... name everything in my pocketbook right now:

• $5.00 cash & a handful of coins
• My wallet - id, credit cards, health insurance cards
• checkbook (yes I still carry one)
• monthly calender (yes I still have one of those as well)
• small photo album of the kids (it actually only holds wallet size pictures)
• aveeno hand cream
• nail file & clippers
• Soft as lips vanilla lip balm
• gum
• small pill box with Tylenol and Tramadol
• keys
• ID card for work

That is all I can think of (my pocketbook is actually downstairs and I am not going to get it :)

I hope everyone has a safe Hurricane Irene experience this weekend - see you on the flip side!