Just get on and sit down!!!

When I drive to work in the mornings I have to drive through Channleview. Which, as most of you know, it the town I grew up in.

Let me tell you a little about "The View"...Channelview is a lower middle class area, sure, there are some people with money but those are usually families whose dads have worked at the chemical plant for 20+ years. I remember when I was growing up, there were a couple of people I went to school with whose fathers were executives, but for the most part everyone else's parents were working class. The majority of Channelview is non-deed restricted, which means you could have a $250,000 home and someone could buy the property next to yours and build a trailer park, and there is nothing you can do about it. Over the years, more and more trailer parks have popped up around the Channelview area. Which is fine, I don't care if you live in a trailer! In a trailer park, for those of you who have never seen or been to one, you can have as few as 5 trailers or as many as 30, depending on how big the piece of property is. So, if you have a trailer park with 20 trailers, more likely than not, you are going to have A LOT of children living in said trailer park. That brings me to what I want to bitch about this morning. I think there should be bus stop rules!

1. If there are two trailer parks located right next to each other, combine the kids at one entrance.
(This morning I was behind a school bus that stopped at one park and picked up about 12 kids, then as soon as she closed the bus door her yellow lights came back on and drove about 10 feet to the next park and picked up another 10 kids. Why is this necessary...combine the kids and get moving, I need to get to work!)

2. When you see the bus at the end of the street, start hugging your kids goodbye and telling them to have a good day before it stops at your residence.
(So, you have a cluster of kindergarten age children and every one of them has a mother waiting with them, which I get, you don't want a 5 year old running into the street...why do you wait to hug and kiss your child when the bus stops making all 10 of the cars behind the bus wait 5 minutes for you to tell your kid you love them. Seriously, you see the bus...hug your kid. It's not hard, I need to get to work.)

3. After you have all met at one location, you've seen the bus, hugged your kid, start lining the kids up, that way getting the kids on the bus is more efficient.
(Seriously, 22 kids in a cluster can't all board the bus at the same time. Put them in a line so they can get on the bus and I can get to work!)

4. You know what time the bus gets there, be standing in the line with the rest of the kids.
(Every morning I have to wait even longer because there is a mother and a child running from the last slot in the trailer park and the bus sits there. You're not there, you get left...that's how it was when I was riding a bus.)

5. Once the kid is on the bus, tell them to find a seat and sit down.
(Get on the bus and walk towards the back until you see an empty seat and sit down. I don't care if you don't that kid, make a new friend, read a book, whatever...just hurry up because I need to get to work!)

If they would follow these easy rules, it would probably knock about 15 minutes off my commute.

Until next time...

Mandy

2010: New Year, New Mandy

Here we are, a new year and a new decade and if you are a conspiracy theorist...only two years left of Mayan calender and two years away from THE APOCALYPSE! :P

I started this blog on January 1, 2007, and every year since I have listed the things that I want to accomplish for the upcoming year. Some things, I've accomplished and others I've let go of by the second week of January. I want to become a better person. I want to let go of things that I haven't been able to let go of in the past. I want to be able to appreciate the things I have and not dwell on the things I don't.

So, with that being said, here's my list of New Year's making Mandy better...

1. Lose weight - This is on the list every year. And, this is one of the things that I always give up on after a couple of weeks. Here's the problem, I LOVE FOOD! Seriously, food makes me happy. I think I have always used food as something to fill whatever void I have in my life at the time. I have to change my mindset. I can't keep looking at food as a crutch to get me through life's little hiccups. Also, my friend Latischia got engaged over the Christmas holiday and she asked me to be her Maid of Honor. And not to sound cheesy, but I do feel honored. I have done research on what my duties include...and wow, there are a lot. I have added one to my list and that is to lose weight before I have to stand next to her in a bridesmaid dress. I don't want look like Violet Beauregarde in all of her wedding pictures. Her wedding is in October, so I figure if I can lose 5 lbs. per month, that will be a total loss of 50 lbs by her wedding. I think this is a reasonable and attainable goal. When I'm done with this post, I will go directly to the Weight Watchers website and find a meeting close to my home. Weight Watchers has always worked in the past, so why not try it again!

2. Get back to church - In 2008, I was going to church regularly, and you know what, I felt better. And, I figure if the Apocalypse is coming in 2012 I probably need to get right with Jesus. (I'm kidding, I don't really believe the world is going to come to an end in 2012.)

3. Be patient - This is a big one for me. I'm one of the most impatient people in the world. I think that's probably why weight loss irritates me so much...if weight doesn't just fall off me, then I'm like, "Fuck it, it's not working." I've been working on the whole "patience is a virtue" thing and slowly but surely I think I'm starting to relax and accept that things will happen I just have to give them time. I was talking to Terra yesterday, and she was telling me about some issues she was having with her boyfriend and I told her that she and I both need to exercise a little patience, that things will happen when they are supposed to happen and that we both need to recognize the little things that our guys do, because the little things add up to bigger things. I've started to step back and take notice of the little things that The Guy does, things that he does not because he has to, but because he wants to. The relationship with The Guy is progressing, but slowly. And, when we first started seeing each other, I was impatient and over-analyzed our situation to the point of driving myself insane. Recently, I've looked at relationships the way you're supposed to look at weight loss...The slower you take it off, the longer it stays off, or if you're talking relationships, the slower you take it, the longer and happier the relationship will be.

I'm tired of rushing through life, maybe this year I'll step back and take a look around...you never know, I might just like it.

Until next time...

Mandy