Am I A Hypocrite?

I'm worried, faithful readers.  I type this tonight with a heavy heart and a worried mind.  I'm afraid I'm being a hypocrite.  For you see, tonight I went shopping for a pair of shoes like the teenagers are wearing.  And I just finished downloading the extremely cool new song "Ain't No Other Man" by Christina Aguilara to my iPod.  Am I guilty of the same thing I so adamently preached about the other day when I was dissing the older women for wearing young teenage girl clothes?  If I get these shoes, is someone out there in blogdom going to be writing in their journal about seeing me out somewhere wearing teenager shoes?

I've wanted this pair of shoes for a few months, ever since I first saw them in a magazine ad.  They're very cool, and they look comfortable. I've been looking for them in stores around town that carry Skechers but can never seem to find my size and width.  I found them at Zappos.com, one of the best places to buy shoes (who happens to have their warehouse and corporate headquarters just minutes from Louisville). I want to order them, but I'm leery of getting them because I don't want it to seem like I'm wearing teenager shoes. 

I'd like your opinion, faithful readers.  Are these shoes too young-looking for a 43-year old woman to wear, or are they badass?  Let me know.  The fate rests in your hands.

Good Luck, Katie and Rosie

TWIT would like to wish Katie Couric and Rosie O'Donnell good luck as they start their new jobs this week. Katie Couric will take over as the anchor of "CBS Nightly News" this week, and Rosie O'Donnell will be one of the hostesses on "The View." 

These two ladies have tough shoes to fill, and they're taking these positions amid alot of controversy and criticism.  Katie Couric took over the anchor position held by Dan Rather.  She is part of history as the first woman to hold a network news anchor spot. Rosie O'Donnell comes to "The View" filling the spot left vacant by Star Jones.  But they are both professionals, and very intelligent and witty women, and I know they'll both do great.  I wish them the best of luck at their new gigs.  I know I'll be watching both of them whenever I get the chance.

Farewell, Steve Irwin

TWIT is very sad to report the sudden death of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.  Irwin died yesterday after being stung in the chest by a stingray as he was snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.  He was only 44 years old.  Irwin is survived by his wife Terri, and their two children Bob and Bindi Sue.  Irwin was snorkeling in just three feet of water, and was swimming above the stingray.  A cameraman was videotaping, and experts believe that the stingray felt threatened and stung Irwin with it's tail.  The barb went into Irwin's heart and killed him almost instantly.  The cameraman had video footage of Irwin pulling the barb out of his chest and then dying.  Yes, it was a very sudden and gruesome death, but Irwin died doing something that he loved - something that was his life's work.

We'll never forget seeing Irwin as The Crocodile Hunter on cable - we saw him on the Travel Channel and the Discovery Channel for the past few years.  We were in amazement when he would jump on the back of huge crocodiles or pick up gigantic boa constrictors.  He just didn't seem afraid.  He knew what he was doing, and had the utmost respect for the animals.  He even had his own zoo in Queensland, where he could be found when he wasn't being filmed for one of his TV shows. 

I'm sure alot of people called Steve Irwin crazy for his interaction with the crocodiles and other dangerous animals.  He especially drew criticism two years ago when he was filmed feeding a huge crocodile with his then month-old son Bob in one hand and a huge slab of raw meat in the other hand.  According to the film footage I watched, the baby was far from danger, and I know that Irwin wouldn't have done that if he'd thought the baby would have been the slightest bit in danger.

Crikey, you'll be missed, you big bloke.

My Favorite Thing I Did This Summer

I know that we still have a couple weeks left of summer, but today is Labor Day and that is the unofficial end of summer.  It's the day that the swimming pools close, and it also marks the end of wearing white shoes for the year. It used to be the day that people would have their final cookout of the year, but with gas grills, people cookout all year round so we can't really count that in our end of summer countdown. 

I'd originally thought of a "top ten things from summer 2006" list for TWIT, but I really can't think of ten things I did this summer that would count.  It was an extremely long and hot summer, but the a/c at home and in the vehicles made it bearable. I went to alot of Bats baseball games, and loved every one of them.  The Divas went out to eat a couple of times this summer, and continued our tradition of getting together every Sunday afternoon. I had some great times at the VFW, and I attended some great concerts this summer.  But still, nothing would do justice for a Top Ten.  So this will just be My Favorite Thing I Did This Summer.

It's pretty self-explanatory - getting to meet Reba McEntire is without a doubt my favorite thing I did this summer.  In case you didn't know,  I took a much-needed vacation in July and went to the west coast, and at the end of the trip, I stopped in Las Vegas to attend Reba's concert at the Las Vegas Hilton.  I forked over extra $$ and got the VIP package, which included front row seats and the opportunity to meet her after the concert.  When I got to the theater, I almost had a heart attack when I found out that my seat was front row all right -- it was front row on the stage.  Yep, the VIP seats were a few rows of seats on the side of the stage. When Reba would walk or dance over to the side of the stage where we were, she was about two feet from me.  You could almost feel her breath when she sang or talked.  After the concert, we were given backstage passes to wear and then we waited in line to meet Reba.  I was very impressed by Reba's people - we weren't herded through like cattle.  She took the time to talk to each person for a minute or two. While we couldn't use our own cameras for the pictures, they had a professional photographer take them.  Of course they gouged us by selling them back to us, but hey - it's Vegas;it's par for the course.  Getting to meet one of my almost-lifelong idols was truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and truly the highlight of my summer.

Link Of The Week

They're often the subject of bad jokes, but like them or not, a lawyer is someone we need to have at our disposal.  We need to have their phone number programmed into our cell phone or have it written in our phone book at home.  They're like an umbrella - when you need on, you need one.  Fortunately for me and my family, we've always known two or three lawyers through the years.  (This isn't an advertisement, but if you'd like their names, email and I'd be happy to give you the info.  They're very good at what they do.)  Some of you might not know any lawyers, and chances are if you haven't had to contact one already, you probably will in the future - if for nothing else than to get your will written.  I found a site that could help you out if you're looking for a lawyer.  It's simply called Law Help.  Just got to http://www.lawhelp.org and click on the state where you need/want a lawyer and it will give you the info on how and where to find a lawyer.  For example, I clicked on Kentucky, and it brought up the Kentucky Legal Aid Society, a non-profit, very partial group that will help low and middle income people find legal service.  I came across this site about six months ago, when a friend asked for my help in getting her daughter out of a big mess in Florida.  The Legal Aid Society was able to get the girl in contact with a lawyer who took her case pro bono and helped get the girl out of the mess. 

Another Email Survey

1. What was the worst nickname you had as a child?   You can use your imagination and come up with what rhymes with "Puckett"
2. What is the most embarrassing thing that happened to you at school?  Nothing really embarrassing happened to me, although I did witness the most embarrassing thing I've ever seen.  A girl in my 3rd grade class had leukemia, and was able to attend class while she was in remission.  She'd lost her hair from the treatments and wore a wig, and one day during class her wig fell off. 
3. What was your most memorable haircut? The very popular pixie haircut.  I was in first grade and had extremely long hair, and one evening when Mom was washing my hair, it got caught in the drain.  She said "Until you can take care of your hair yourself, it's going to be short." The next day I got a pixie cut.
4. Which fashion trend makes you cringe when you look at old pictures?  A shirt that I refer to as the now-horrid "Little House On The Prairie" shirts.  I bought a special one to wear to the Olivia Newton-John concert at Rupp Arena in the fall of 1981.
5. Who was your first celebrity crush?  David Cassidy
6. What was the first concert you attended?  John Denver and the Starland Vocal Band
7. Were you ever in a school play or recital? What was your role? I was in plays and musicals all during school and at church.  My favorite role was Babe the blue ox in my class's presentation of "The Life of Paul Bunyan."
8. What was your favorite Halloween costume?  An old bald man with Groucho Marx glasses and mustache.
9. What did you want to be when you grew up?  An entertainer or a businesswoman.  Imagine that?
10. What was your favorite cartoon?  Deputy Dawg

Yet Another Dichotomy In Life

I asked a co-worker about his son's martial arts class today. The boy is in the first grade, and has been taking this martial arts class for about two months.  He said that last night, his son tested and passed and now is the proud wearer of a half-white half-yellow belt.  Very impressive for such a little guy in such a short time.  My friend went on to share an interesting observation - one he said would be appropriate for TWIT.  After hearing his story, I couldn't agree more.

The story involves the building where his son takes his martial arts classes.  The martial arts instructor sub-leases the big room with a cheerleading class.  Picture if you will a huge room with mirrors on each end - half of the room is occupied by little girls doing flips, splits and trying to form human pyramids; the other half is occupied by a group of boys and girls of all ages, wearing white uniforms and doing kicks and karate chops.  My friend went on to say that last night, he took a few moments to observe everything going on in the room.  The cheerleading side was the loudest - the cheerleading instructor was yelling at the girls.  The martial arts side of the room was the most quiet - the only sounds were the "hiiii-yaaah's" that the students would say.  This isn't what you would expect, is it?  We would expect the cheerleading side to be all cutesy and calm as the teachers taught the girls to do the cheers and routines - you wouldn't expect them to be cussing and yelling at the little girls.  Nor would you expect the martial arts side of the room to be as calm as it was - you would expect them to be saying things like we heard in "The Karate Kid" - show no mercy to your enemy.  It's just not something you'd expect to see, is it?  Life is full of dichotomies, isn't it?