My family and I spent last weekend up in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. It’s a fantastic town that has an amusement park, tons of shops and great restaurants – in addition to a gorgeous beach. This wasn’t my first time in town, but it was my kids first and we all had a blast.
There was one weird thing that happened, though.
You Know You’re White Trash When…..your car looks like this:
Do you remember the good old days when we built towers & houses out of primary colored Legos? If you don’t have kids (yet), or your kids aren’t old enough for Legos yet – you are in for a big surprise when the time comes.
Before you get the wrong idea about my story (based on the title of my post), I should say that I love Legos. They’ve kept my children entertained for hours over the course of their lifetimes! The thing is, you can get a tub of Legos if you want to do your own thang, but there are all sorts of sets out now a days that are based on some really cool characters (Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and Star Wars just to name a few), that are popular with the kiddos. I mean, I’m all for using brain power to create masterpieces instead of rotting it away in front of a television, but man oh man, some of these new fourteen million piece Lego sets are tough to assemble. For the record, I’ve put together many sets over the last couple of years and consider myself to be an expert on the matter.
Look at me throwing out all those big words at you so early in the morning. Ok, well since you’re still here, you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about. A genericized trademark is when a brand name has become the generic description for a product – or service in some cases. You know, some people (myself included) say Kleenex instead of facial tissues or Band-Aid instead of adhesive bandages.
I was listening to the radio the other day and they listed a few genericly named trademarked items and I thought to myself “self, that would make a cool post idea”, so I’m going to share the ones I remember hearing on the radio and a few more I found on the internet.
Let me start by telling you that what I’m about to say is strictly my opinion, so don’t go getting your panties all in a bunch…ok?
I love the show So You Think You Can Dance. It’s one of the few summer shows that I look forward to every year. All of the contestants are amazing this season, but one thing has been really bothering me about one of the girls this year. Her hair.
Remember last week when I showed you how I made homemade crayons? I was so proud of myself and the way that they turned out. So proud in fact, that the other day I decided that I needed to make a few more. Not necessarily because I wanted to relive my crafting glory, but because I needed to make sure I had enough to put in the goody bags for my kids upcoming birthday party.
On the last batch of crayons I’d made during round #1, I noticed that one of the sections of the mold melted, but I didn’t really think much of it. Since I’d made so many crayons earlier in the week, I just figured it was par for the course. So, I peeled some more crayons until my fingertips were bleeding, loaded up the remaining sections of the mold with crayon chunks, popped them in the microwave (on a potholder), set it for 12 minutes and went in the other room to do something else.
Why is it that every single time I see a van like this, the first thing I think is that there’s a good chance it’s a van of death? I mean, according to every single crime drama on television today, all serial killers, child abductors/molesters and rapists drive vans like this – don’t they?
Back in the day I remember getting hit on by some pretty seedy looking fellers in dingy bars like Christophers (Raynham, MA), Brendan’s Pub (East Bridgewater, MA), which has long since closed and the Turnpike Cafe (Canton, MA) -aka “The Pike”. Seeing as I occasionally hung out in places like that, I’ve heard my fair share of ridiculous pick up lines and although a few worked, most were real bad.
I mean, let’s face it, getting hit on in bars these days can be flattering (depending on the person & circumstances), but it’s not really safe to take it any further than that these days. Was it ever, though?
Music has always been a huge part of my life. Whether I’m in my house or in the car – there is always music playing. Remember the “old days” when we had to sit next to the radio with a cassette tape and wait for our favorite songs to come on the radio so that we could record them? Or buy the entire record, tape or cd. It feels like it has been an eternity since then.
For someone like me who spent many, many hours sitting by my radio in the hopes the DJ wouldn’t talk over the beginning of the song so that I could tape it, the invention of the iPod id truly amazing. Back then, we couldn’t imagine a place where we could buy one song at a time – and have so much storage space to keep them all in one place.
In an effort to keep it fresh, here are a few things you may not know about me.
1. I set my GPS to a male Australian accent and named him Lance. Sometimes when we’re alone in the car, I talk dirty to him and I’m pretty sure he likes it. Hey – I need to find some way to occupy myself, right?
I love the name of my blog, I truly do. I remember back when I started blogging being shocked at the fact that it wasn’t already in use. And although not everyone knows what a Masshole is (it’s a so-called bad driver from Massachusetts), it totally fits me and my sassy personality. Sure, it’s bordering on profanity, but I’ve found that more people get it than people who don’t.
Not that I would ever, EVER even think about changing the name of my blog, I decided to take a few minutes and come up with some alternate names for it. I have no idea if any of these are actually in use anywhere else, but if they are – no worries, I promise I’m a Masshole for life.
Has anyone ever asked you what your worst subject in school was? Probably, right? Well, for me there is no question about what my worst subject was.
Math.
I was in romper room math for basically my entire life and still to this day I stand behind the statement I made to Mr. Lemish, my 10th & 11th grade math teacher. Letters do not belong in math equations. Period. That kind of “math” serves absolutely no purpose in every day life, so I don’t understand why they place such importance on learning algebra, calculus and trigonometry. Seriously – you can’t even argue with that. Continue reading »
Can you imagine living in a world where rainbows shine around every corner, there are miles and miles of deadly gorgeous poppies, little people pop out on queue to sing songs about candy and inanimate objects miraculously come to life? Me neither. But it sounds familiar, right? Of course it does and unless you’ve lived under a rock all your life, you know I am talking about the land of Oz .
Here’s something totally random. I had some downtime yesterday and instead of doing anything productive – say like the mound of laundry that was piled up right next to where I was sitting, I chose to spend it surfing the net. I wasn’t really looking for anything in particular – or was I? I can’t recall at the moment. Anyways, somehow I ended up coming across a site that listed some pretty interesting anagrams. Before you even ask me, anagrams are a word, a phrase, or a sentence that is formed from another by rearranging its letters. Got it?
One thing lead to another and I found a whole bunch of sites that had a bunch of interesting anagrams. These are the ones that I thought were interesting enough to share:
I am an avid scrapbooker. I don’t talk about it much because, well, it’s boring. I totally get that and that is exactly why I don’t post about my scrapbooks here. You’re welcome. But fear not, even though I mentioned them, this is not going to be a post about scrapbooking, but rather a little lesson on elementary school grammar. I’m certainly not a grammar nazi, but I can spot a spelling error or run-on sentence a mile away. It’s just my thing. Let me explain….
Yesterday I was on Ebay looking for a few things to use in a scrapbook. My family and I went to Disney World last December, so I was checking out some of the Disney christmas stuff that people were selling. After spending a little while on the site looking at a whole bunch of different things, I spotted something I liked, so naturally I clicked on it. Continue reading »
I’ve been stressed the past couple of weeks about one thing in particular. Getting hugs. I’m attending Bloggy Boot Camp in Boston tomorrow and even though I already know many of the other bloggers that are going to be attending, there are some bloggers that I talk to, but haven’t had the chance to actually meet yet. Most of my good friends already know that I don’t like getting hugged, but I have anxiety about the people that don’t know me as well. They may not be aware of my insanity the fact I don’t like to be touched, so I wanted to put it out there in case anyone else who is attending happens to read this.
Do you have recurring dreams? I do. I’m one of those people that remembers my dreams, usually in great detail. Some of them make sense, and some are so off the wall it makes me wonder if someone slipped me some LSD. But there is this one dream I keep having over and over. No joke, I have the this dream I’d say about once a month or so. The location/setting of the dreams occasionally change, although not always, but the two people in the dream with me are always the same.
Wanna know what the dream is? Is the suspense killing you? I dream that I’m solving an X-File case with Mulder and Scully.
Have you stopped laughing yet?
I did watch that show religiously when it was on, but anyone who is familiar with the show knows it’s been off the air for about 10 years now, and it’s been that long since I watched it, so I really have no idea what it made that kind of impression on me, but here I am all this time later dreaming about it.
Anyone else have recurring dreams?
Let’s talk online dating today, shall we?
I had a conversation with my younger brother the recently about how he needs to find himself a girlfriend. You see, he’s 29 years old and he still lives at home with my parents. He’s had some personal issues in the past, so I’ll cut him a little bit of slack for that, but it’s definitley time for him to get out there and 1. move out of my parents house and 2. find a nice girl.
Since he’s apparently having trouble finding a nice girl to go out with, I suggested that he sets up a profile on one of the reputable online dating sites and go from there. I personally know several people that have met their spouces/signifigant others online, including myself, so I know for a fact they work. And actually, Online Dating Magazine estimates that there are more than 280,000 marriages a year as a direct result of people meeting on an online dating service (Online Dating Magazine – January 2011). That sound pretty effective to me.
But it’s not ALL about marriage, either. Dating is fun. Times have changed and aside from Speed Dating and being introducted by friends, where else are you supposed to meet people? In a bar? I think not.
My brother wants no part of it. He is stuck on the fact that people lie on their profiles – and I’m sure some do. There’s no doubt that there are some crazies out there in cyber space, but in most cases, you can probably weed them out before you ever meet – or shortly there after. You may have to relocate and change your identity, but that’s all part of the fun, right? I keep telling him that I think he’d have a better chance on a site you have to pay for such as eHarmony or Match.com because if people are spending their hard earned cash on these types of services, they’re probably more serious about meeting someone. I’m pretty sure I’m wasting my breath, though.
I think there is still a stigma about online dating & I really am not sure why that is. What do you guys think?
I would definitely consider myself to be an internet mommy. I’m home all day with a highly energetic toddler and I’ve come to rely on the internet to socialize. I keep several windows up on my computer all day long (my blog, Facebook and Twitter), so I can communicate with other human beings older than the age of three. Most of you know that I work from home, which allows me to spend time with my kids, but I’ve noticed lately, that the lack of ”adult” interaction during the day is starting to get to me. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE being able to be here for my kids, and I truly do get tons of stuff done while I’m home all day. I really do. But a part of me actually sort of misses getting away from it all to go to work. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think I could ever give up being home all day – ever, but I truly do miss the office gossip and being a social butterfly sometimes.
I have met some amazing people online and I’m not discounting that in the least, but you know how sometimes you just want to talk to another adult face to face? Well, sometimes I get the urge.
But, since I am an “internet mommy” and I am slowly being driven insane by 4023 days of chicken nuggets in a row for lunch, constant spilled drinks, and endless hours searching for lost Matchbox cars underneith the sofa, it occured to me that I’ve started to watch the clock recently. For the past few weeks, I’ve gone out of my way to make sure that I tuned into the Disney Channel at exactly 1:30 pm. Wanna know why?
Because I have a crush on this guy:
His name’s Scott, I want to run my fingers through his hair and yes, he stars in a kids show called The Imagination Movers. Is this what it’s come down to? Out with Tom Brady and in with a dude from a show on The Disney Channel? Apparently so.
I was talking with a friend of mine yesterday about how they were coming to the area next month. Well, not exactly my area, but close enough. But anyways, it got me thinking. My friend is actually going to be in the Providence area, which made me think of the last time I was in Providence. Other than a quick trip to Roger Williams Zoo with the kids a few weeks ago, the last time I was down that way was when I went on the Providence Ghost Tour. Those of you who know me know that I LOVE that sort of stuff. Don’t get me wrong, Providence is only about a half hour from my house, so it’s not like it’s all that far.
Anyways, thinking about the ghost tour made me think about what I’d do with someone that came to visit my neck of the woods from out of town and the answer is actually pretty easy. I’d take them to Plymouth. Yup, Plymouth as in pilgrims, indians and the first Thankgiving. I spend a good portion of my time in Plymouth for one thing or another. I love all the history and I especially love the haunted lantern tours, so that’s what I’d do with anyone that came to visit me. I’ve been on the Plymouth lantern tour at least 6 or 7 times and they are so much fun, but I have yet to see a ghost.
After that, drinks at The Cabby Shack would be in order. I suppose we could take a trip by the Mayflower or the “rock”, too, but take it from someone that’s seen them a thousand times, they’re not all that they are cracked up to be. But trust me….ghosts & drinks would make for a fun night. Especially with someone as cool as me….lol!
So now I need to know, if you were coming here to Massachusetts, what would you want to do? Go into Boston? The Cape (Cape Cod)? Salem?
