Are you ready for some (Professional American Tackle) FOOTBALL?

~*~

Y'all might remember back in the good old days when Jay hosted a blogger+ Fantasy Football League.

That's right ... when he hosted ...

This year Jay decided to leave us hanging (I think this is the last spot left where I can attempt to guilt him just a little bit more).

No matter how much I tried to shame him, he would not reconsider. In a moment of weakness I set up an ESPN Fantasy Football League hoping that I could talk 12 people into playing.

I'm half-way there.

And the draft is this weekend (not to worry, it's an autodraft - you don't even have to be sober in town).

Now I'll be honest, I have NO IDEA what I'm doing as league manager. I'm counting on Mike to help me out when I'm quietly sobbing in my recliner chair because I cannot figure out how to award trophies.

But?

We'll have fun!

I promise!

How could we not have fun in a league called "Show Me Your TDs"??

And it's FREE!!

If you are interested in playing, leave your email addy in the comments section, or email me at dana.luann@gmail.com and I’ll send you an invite

I need to fill out the league in the next day or two.

Please??

Pretty please??

Pretty please with a cherry on top??

I'll show you my TDs

~*~

Stream of Consciousness Sunday: Letting Go

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What do you do for a Sunday post when you've run out of secrets? You find something else to challenge you, like a 5 minute Stream of Consciousness post.

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Stream of Consciousness - I've never written one

Why?

Because I cannot imagine writing without spell-check - without editing - without reading, re-reading, then publishing and re-reading again to insure what I've written is what I really want to say.

Stream of conciousness writting requires I relinquish control - go with my gut. For someone who over-thinks everything from the brand of ketchup I purchase to how much reminding, cajoling, and bribing I should expose my son to when it comes to completing his homework, not thinking is a challenge.

I wonder - often - how those who see to just go-with-the-flow manage that attitude. How can they manage to make decisions without hours (or months, depending on the size of the decision) of contemplation and information gathering. Wait! That would be overthinking things, wouldn't it?

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Needy? Or Greedy?

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There's a new gig in town. The politically correct call them "Personal Funding Sites". 

I call them internet tin cups.

I saw my first Pledgie on tumblr. A blogger claiming he hit hard times - couldn't buy groceries - didn't have a suitable living space to visit his daughter.

People gave.

The blogger disappeared.

I thought it was odd that people were so willing to give to a virtual friend stranger, and even more odd that they were so surprised when the guy disappeared from tumblr.

tumblr seems writhe with these types of "fundraisers". I've seen requests for everything from airfare and hotel accommodations to SNARK NYC, to requests for first/last month rent so that someone who claimed to be in an abusive relationship could move.

Lately, I've been seeing more of these "personal funding requests" on facebook and on personal blogs. Hell! I even set one up a couple of years ago for former HNT-er Boo when she lost two of her children in a house fire. 

I get it.

Catastrophic events happen.

Sometimes people need a little help.

I don't take issue with that.

What I do take issue with is people who use these "personal funding sites" for  less-than necessary expenses, like a tattoo or paying for a ticket so they can avoid a parole violation. 

What happened to saving up for for the things you want?

Or accepting the consequences for your choices?

What is this sense of entitlement that seems to be running rampant these days?

You can't finish up your tattoo because you don't have the money? I guess you'll be running around with a half-done tattoo until saving up for it becomes a priority.

Going to jail for a parole violation if you don't pay your ticket for soliciting? Guess you shouldn't have been soliciting!

We see it from famous people too - The George Zimmerman Defense Fund, and Octomom seeking donations to fund a new home.

Maybe I'd have a little more empathy if I hadn't moved out of a half-million dollar home with little more than a bed for my son, a sofa I bought before marrying husband, a futon, and 3 boxes containing plates, silverware and a few random pots and pans.

I had to get an emergency food disbursement from the local food bank because I had no money left over after paying for the moving truck. I went weeks without television or internet because I just didn't have the money to have those luxuries turned on. I shopped at Goodwill - exclusively - for 2 years.

I didn't put a PayPal link on my blog hoping y'all would bail me out. I scrapped through the tough times because the tough times were a result of my poor decisions.

That's how it works ... or should work.

Accountability. It's one of the things that keep us from making same mistake over and over again.

Of course, if I don't want to donate to a personal funding site, I don't have to. No one is forcing me to donate. It's not my place to tell other people what to do. Blah ... blah ... blah ...

I have to wonder what ever happened to qualities like pride, personal integrity, and working hard/saving for the things you want in life.

It seems these days people expect to be taken care of - to have their wants instantly fulfilled. Few people seem willing to sacrifice a little while for the bigger payoff.

Judgmental?

Hell yes, but c'mon ...

Do you ever donate money to personal funding sites? If you do, do you only donate to people you think you know?

~*~

After the Secret

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It's true, after 8 months of dating Mike, husband 'found out' - 'found out' being in quotes because I really wasn't trying to hide it.

You might remember that I live in a small town (population 5,000 +/-). Mike and I have gone to Cam's band concerts together, to the market in town together, to the laundromat together. I haven't hidden Mike.

I may however, have lied through omission.

A few weeks ago husband asked me if I had hooked up with an old co-worker of his (he had played poker with this old co-worker and thought he was acting 'aggressive'). I told husband that I hadn't - that his old co-worker had propositioned me after husband and I first split, but I declined - that I would never date someone husband knew/worked with - that I had better taste than that.

All of that is true, but it would have been a good time to say, "No, I'm not dating your old co-worker, but I am dating someone else."

I didn't.

Imagine husband's surprise when, at a wedding budgeting dinner with his ex-wife and his soon-to-be in-laws (my step-son is getting married in September 2013), his ex-wife asked, "Should I make Dana and Cam's invitation a +1?"

When she got a confused look from husband she clarified, "I just thought maybe Dana would want to bring her boyfriend."

How did she know?

Like I said, I haven't been hiding Mike.

I may, however, have been a bit passive-aggressive.

Back in May, Cam visited Delaney (his step-sister). This was before Cam got his license, so I dropped him off and Mike (who was going to be in the area) picked him up.

My guess is that husband's ex-wife asked Delaney about Mike.

I'd also be willing to bet that husband's ex-wife intentionally spilled the beans in front of their future in-laws to make husband look ignorant. 

She's a master emasculator (is too a word ... in the URBAN Dictionary). 

It worked. He looked foolish. He wasn't happy about that (understandably).

In the past 6 months, husband and I have had conversations surrounding divorce - primarily that we are both aware that it is inevitable, and that it will happen as soon as Cam graduates (husband has agreed to keep us on his health/dental insurance until then).

I don't ask husband what he does in his free time.

I don't know if he has dated/hooked up with anyone since I moved out.

I don't care.

I assumed he didn't care either.

I was wrong.

What say you internet? Should I have been upfront about dating 2 years after being separated? Or was it really none of husband's business?

~*~

Sunday Secret

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Birthday's Are NOT Stupid

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I had a birthday last month.

Of course, I felt like I couldn't celebrate it here on the blog after Matt-Man wrote his scathing Birthdays Are Stupid post (the day before my birthday - CONSPIRACY) where he vowed to never celebrate another birthday of an adult ... anywhere ...

But now that my special day is over, and we're in a completely different month, I decided it was safe to blog about it. 

No! Really! That's why I haven't blogged in forever ... maybe ...

*smirk*

It's been a while since I've had anyone around who felt it was important to acknowledge that warm, July day in MCMLXIV. This year was a bit different.

Understand, I am not one who wants a grandiose celebration on my day. In fact, I don't even want to find myself in a restaurant where people might sing Happy Birthday to me.

But it does warm that cockle place in my heart when those who are close to me do a little something to remind me that I am important to them (because I easily forget).

That happened in a very special way this year.

When I awoke on the day of my birth (doesn't that sound impressive??), I did the same thing I do every morning - sat in my recliner and opened my laptop.

And I found this ...

A handwritten letter from Mike that jumped out at me as I opened the cover. 

It was PERFECT, and really, all that I wanted.

What made the day even better were the cards I got from Mike and Cam later in the day.

See? Mike did something for me that no one has ever done before - not only did he pick out a card for me, he picked out a card for Cam to give to me too.

And Cam?

He didn't just sign the card, he wrote a nice little note inside - thanking me for all of the things I do for him that he sometimes takes for granted.

It was the best birthday ever ... if adults were allowed to celebrate birthdays ...

~*~