Murdock's Mama: Just Thursday!

thehistoryofellen.com

NEW SITE

The new place for my site is thehistoryofelllen.com

It is not really the history of ellen, because, who cares? It is just the only way we could get the domain.

Please read and comment.

Cursed Giani Bernini

I lost my diamond ring.

But found it.

It was in my purse.

I actually blubbered like an idiot. And then I realized how much that ring means and how much I love my poobawooba.

Valentine's Day is bullshit hallmark holiday crap, but I buy into it everytime. Notice the spelling of "by."
Today, my valentine did my bidding:

A cinnamon dolce latte delivered to me and a cinnamon bun (I only ate 1/2)
A subway sandwich and sun chips delivered to me.

He is a peach. He is now out shopping for the best bargains to make me a Valentine Dinner of Spaghetti and meatballs.

I love him. And I can't believe I still feel the same way about him after all these years, because my first marriage....well - that is another story.

I am watching a Dick Van Dyke and Debbie Reynolds movie from 1967 right now about divorce.....I lvoe old movies - especially from the 60's.

Twelve, again

We had 12, then Baby was gone
11 it was and we ofcourse did fawn

Gone she was, off on a jaunt
I wish I knew where she did haunt

Alas, to kitty and me we don't speak
our languages to us may as well be greek

Glad she is back, ne'er to go
For in my heart, e'er she grow

Giani Bernini

My Giani Bernini bag may be gone.

Katherine gave me a gift card to Macy's and I took an afternoon to decide what to use it on - carefully. I chose a gorgeous leather tote that had a small purse inside. I love it. I have treated it with TLC ever since I got it. But today, on a trip to Colonial $#$&^%* Williamsburg, it bit the dust. We were having such fun, a gorgeous day.

I reached in to grab a sip of my bottle of water, and came up with an empty bottle. Yes, the entire bottle of water had drained out, into my bag. Everything was soaked.

My cell phone is a paper weight, all paperwork is trash, a pack of gum gone, and my purse, saturated. I literally dumped out the water into a puddle.

I felt Donna Summer's emotion, someone left the cake out in the rain and I'll never have that recipe again.

Odds I'll get to replace a high priced Italian leather bag = 0.









Unless I get my husband a new lens for his camera, a new guitar, a new music player and headphones, and some other gadget or two......and then my guilt will consume me for the things we NEED. And, I hate to admit, I don't really NEED an Italian leather tote with wristlet that feels like butter.

Back to the hippy Chairman Mao satchel with the hole in it.

UPDATE: NEW CELL PHONE IS AWESOME FOR ONLY $29. LG VOYAGER!
GIANI BERNINI BAG = SALVAGABLE.

Before and After

So, I got chosen to be an Inaugural volunteer. There were 15,000 of us (100,000 people applied). I didn't know my assignment, besides "parade" until I got there. My start time was 5 am. I got to the Rosslyn metro at ten to 4, the time it opened. I walked from my friend's daughter's apartment, about a mile away - it was scarey and dark, and cold. When I arrived, the station had a line to get in - a large group of high school kids from somewhere were there with several teachers and being schooled on the metro.

Once on the platform, there was a 15 minute wait expected for the next train. I was right in front so I just waited. Finally, the train came. It was full. I mean face pressed against the glass full. Nobody could get on. The next train came three minutes later. I was also full, but the crowd behind me surged, and before I knew it, I was on the train, completely on the other side. The energy was amazing. Everyone, at 4 in the morning! was happy.

I got to my staging area, and began a grueling wait for my leader, that was only made better by the fact that it was in front of a Starbucks, and I met new friends with hand warmers! I finally found out that I would be helping people from the metro find the mall and parade area. Then, my luck just kept growing.

I greeted people, and tried not to freeze to death for a few hours. Everyone was smiling and happy and polite. "Happy Obama Day!" "Happy Inauguration Day" and "Welcome to Washington!" is how I greeted people and all of them responded in kind. I had to dip inside a news stand for a minute to regain feeling in my legs, but all in all not a bad time. Then, the guy with free Starbucks showed up! Limos whizzed by, fire trucks, speeding SUV's with flashing lights and D.C. seemed to be buzzing.

I wondered what happened to the homeless people usually in the park where I was and someone said that they had been sheltered for the day somewhere. Hmmm. What did they do afterwards? Dump them back out there?

Finally, after an eternity, and after I was informed (9 am) that the Mall was closed - closed? Really? My leader came by with a sweet deal. We could walk towards the parade route, helping people and she had some bleacher tickets!!!!!!!!!! Could it get any better? Yes, yes it could.

We zoomed through security (with a thorough check) and headed towards our bleachers. Right next to the Presidential viewing stand - maybe a few hundred yards. We began waiting. (It was about 11). We danced, we did the wave. We held hands to keep warm. We took pictures. We shared our campaign stories. We bonded. We saw the motorcade with the Bushes, Cheneys, Obamas, and Bidens leave for the ceremony!

We had a loud speaker for the ceremony, but saw none of it. During his oath, the crowd was silent. Holding our breath. Then, cheers erupted all across the city. We could hear the mall crowd. They were packed in from the Capitol to the Lincoln! The man next to me, Addis, a volunteer, is from Ghana. He had tears running down his face. We all did.

Later, after a grueling, and mighty freezing wait, the parade began. We were spotted as volunteers with our hats and were told we were needed... We headed where we were told and ended up in the bleacher right next to the Pres box!!!!!!!!! Not press, Pres! President Obama's seat. Woo hoo. We were needed to fill the bleachers so it didn't look like a sparse crowd. It was a sparse crowd however. Glitches in security I guess prevented people from getting there. And, people who didn't plan ahead and leave by 4, were not getting in anywhere.

The parade was amazing - well the first part was at least. I already posted the best photo - all of them are blurry, and I'll put up the rest on Flickr later. We saw President and Mrs. Obama - they waved at me! We saw the Bidens.... I got the crowd to shout "JOE! JOE!JOE!" and he pointed to us and said "You rock!"

My fellow volunteer friends decided they couldn't brave the cold any more and left. I stayed on for a bit, got some pics of the first family in the booth, and then headed out. I had to walk a ways to find a metro that was available, and on the final block, I turned to see the entire US Navy band, and they struck up "Anchors Away" Again, I was a blubbering mess, but it provided me a chance to warm up for a second.

Then, the ride back on the metro, I met a family from Louisiana who had been there since 2am, saw it all on Jumbotrons and was heading home. Grandma - a former teacher, and 80 years old was with them, and I showed her my pictures.

The worst part of the whole thing was getting out of the metro station - people lost their minds, and I ended up walking to meet Scott. We went for some pizza, and I started to feel my legs again, and the exhaustion set in. I ended up staying home from work the next day, because I was beat, as you can see from the picture above.

25 Random things about me.....

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1. I am lazy.

2. I've been to 48 states.

3. Even though I am married, I often think of myself as single.

4. I started school early (age 4) and left early (end of 11^th grade) and I did get a diploma.

5. I went to 4 colleges over the course of 12 years and ultimately got my degree by taking 21 credits a semester even in the summer and it took three years.

6. William Shatner is not my father-in-law. But he sure looks like it.

7. I've been in the White House three times.

8. I own a Salvador Dali.

9. I've been within 20 feet of Barack Obama.

10. Yes, I actually have 11 cats.

11. I find it easier to be friends with men than women. Well, not really. But, men are easy to manipulate. And they are often more honest.

12. I may be too lazy to think of 25 random things about me. But, I soldier on.

13. Turn ons: music, wine, and muscles.

14. Turn offs: close minded right fighters whose name rhymes with daybitch.

15. I have gray hair in copious amounts that I try (although futiley sp?) to hide.

16. I love to read blogs.

17. As I type this, I have a cat, Felix, laying across my arms and needling my arm.

18. I really think I deserve to win the HGTV Dream home. It is in Sonoma California, and although it does not have a pool, the next door neighbor does, and chances are, they will be more liberal than my current pool having neighbors.

19. I want a hot tub.

20. I am considering plastic surgery. And botox. HA! A tummy tuck would be nice after I lose 25 pounds.

21. This damn cat is heavy. And so am I. Diet starts Tuesday!

22. I am the youngest girl of three girls. My sisters are a year apart and I am 7 years younger and more distant.

23. My mom is my best friend. But I hate when she is worried about my bad habits.

24. I forced my husband to watch Sex and the City. He did indeed enjoy the boobies.

25. Wow, I actually thought up 25 random things about me. I want to read 25 random things about other people now.