a99kitten's Musings

I think I over-did it this week/weekend.  Apparently it’s not uncommon for back/spinal issues when you have a broken limb due to the hobbling/cane or crutch use. Awesome. I ended up with a pinched nerve which hurt WAY more than the broken ankle. Went to the chiropractor and he said it was a mess. Nice. My whole right side is messed up from being off-kilter for 5 weeks. Sigh. For someone who has never really hurt herself or been ill, this truly SUCKS. Oh well, 2 chiro visits in and it’s getting better. Not great – I still need BioFreeze for my upper back/shoulder and my right arm. And use a heating pad. And wish I had those pain shots the football players get in their muscles to get back onto the field…I’ve been doing a lot of stuff around the office that I had put off these past 4 weeks so that probably didn’t help. Oopsie #1.

I took the buds for walks yesterday and today. Yes, I know. Not supposed to. But they needed a walk and needed to get outside. We just meandered sloooowly around the neighborhood. They wanted the beach but there was no way I could do that and even I recognized that. We were walking so slow, I know they were thinking “Jeez Mom, any slower and we’d be walking backwards…” but we walked around and sniffed and peed on a lot of stuff (well…they did that!) But I think the extra hobbling/walking didn’t help my back/shoulder/arm. And then the leash use. My chiro actually said working on the computer was the worst, especially mouse usage. Excellent. So leash usage is OK! (in my own head anyway) Oopsie #2.

BUT – I am now wearing my smaller aircast brace when at home and to bed. And I really like it so much better! Tried putting a sneaker on with it – HA! No…not yet. But at least I get to wear that at home. Yay!

I was also running around (OK, let’s be real…hobbling around) getting stuff done in the house. Nothing major – just stuff. But lots of stairs in my house. So between all of this, my calf/ankle/foot is pretty sore. BUT – not as swollen as after a full day of work. So there is that. And my shoulder/arm hurts. And I’m tired since I can’t sleep well. Ready for the work week! Meh. I’ll take the hobbly ankle over the back/neck/arm pain. That needs to go away now.

Mother’s Day was OK. I bought some more flowers on Friday and the ones I bought last week are still nice looking so now I have 4 vases of pretty flowers all around. Love it! Hung out w/the huskies all weekend. Was cold, cloudy and windy on Saturday. But Sunday around 11am, the sun finally came out! So I made myself 2 homemade mimosas and sat outside in the front yard with the huskies. Well, Storm hung out with me and Angelus was busy looking for a present for me (digging for gophers…luckily for me and the gophers, he didn’t find any.) Mother’s Day is a bit weird. I do miss my Mom so hearing everyone else go on about theirs  can sometimes put me in a melancholy mood. But it happens. Way it is.  And I had a good conversation with my mother-in-law who really is the best you could ask for. Plus my brother’s birthday is coming up very soon and I wanted to hike his ashes up to a certain peak in Tahoe but now I can’t. Thanks ankle. But I will have to figure out another day for that.

The body pain is just hurting and making me tired which then allows me to get sad. Got to remember that. And when I do – I will feel better. Mind over matter is my motto. I read a really good quote on tumblr last week. I don’t recall it exactly but I think something like “I’m not crying because I am weak. I’m crying because I’ve been strong for too long.” I thought that was a good one. Maybe a famous one, but I’ve never heard it. Every once in awhile you just need a cry to get it out. And then you’re fine. I didn’t cry this weekend or anything. Although Grey’s Anatomy was sappy! Hell – I never even cried after breaking my ankle. Thought about it. But I just rubbed some dirt on it instead (well…it was all rubbed in there from the fall anyway.) But I can’t say I won’t get sad on my brother’s birthday.

GAH! Enough emo. What I did do this weekend is buy a cute purse! Kate Spade Jardin Tweed:

I love tweed. I have a black and white with gold hardware tweed. But now wearing spring and summer colors – this one was totally needed! PINK! With other light spring colors and PINK chain and lock! Cannot wait to get it! And it was on sale! With free shipping! :) Oopsie #3 (but who cares!?)

Huskies, flowers, sunshine and retail therapy = good fix :)

So yesterday, May 1st , not only marked the day of dancing around may poles with flowers in your hair (the OG dirty hippies!), or the stupid union s who high jacked the day to celebrate a massacre and disorder by THEM (jerks) or even the day Osama was gotten rid of. No, it also marked the 4 week mark of my ankle break. Much bigger news – I KNOW!

Anyway – got my check up today. X-ray showed it was still broken. Dammit. Was hoping it was a dream like Bobby taking a shower and coming out and seeing Pamela and that whole dreadful season was a dream…I digress…my doc showed me the break. I saw 2 breaks. He said my break is called a spiral fracture. He said because we are looking at the x-ray straight on, it looks like 2 breaks. He said imagine taking an empty paper towel roll and twisting both ends until it spiraled up. That’s my bone.  Uhh….no…let’s NOT imagine that!

But he said (obviously) not healed yet, but still aligned so that’s great. I asked “should it still hurt this much?” He scoffed. Out loud. Sheesh. He said yes. The soreness, pain, swelling – all normal. Now, if all of a sudden I get a SHARP sudden pain = not good! But achey, uncomfortable pain = all fine. That’s good…I guess. He pressed on my BROKEN fibula and asked if it hurt – YES! WHAT THE HELL? Then pressed on the tibia side – no – didn’t really hurt, just sore. He said yep – all normal. Witch doctor.

I asked how long did he expect till the bone is healed. 6-8 weeks. WHAT? More?! ARGH! I asked when could I exercise, walk the dogs. He scoffed…out loud…again. I said come on – a mile or 2? Not 20. No hills! He said well, in 4 weeks I could try it with my boot on. But I will be hurting. A lot. Sounds fun! :/  He said he’d prefer I wait to do anything like that until I get my next x-ray in 6 weeks. Ugh. But he said I should schedule physical therapy appointments for a couple weeks from now. I don’t want physical therapy appointments – I want dog walking on the beach appointments.

I did get a smaller air cast thingie to wear at night – no more boot to bed!!! YAY!!!! And I can wear it around the house too. Not out and about yet. But progress….

Conspiracy theorists have been saying Osama has been dead for years and the US was waiting for the right moment to use it. Now, I love a good conspiracy theory and I’m not going to say that’s impossible, because I’m sure it is possible. But I’m pretty sure Obama would have waited to closer to Nov 2012 for that for maximum approval rating.

But why was he disposed of so soon, with no pictures, etc? Islamic tradition calls for burial at sea? A religion followed by a  LOT of people in a dry desert region?  Wacky. But even if he died 5 years ago, 3 years ago or yesterday, I don’t care. He’s dead. Good.

But after reading my twitter feed, you’d think Obama actually landed there himself, shot Osama and was back in time for dinner. People – Obama didn’t catch him. Much like Bush didn’t catch Saddam. Our military and CIA did. Likely with information gathered from some good old-fashioned torture of some good old-fashioned bad guys. Yes, both Presidents gave the OK on those missions. And were kept up to date. But let’s get real here folks. Much like I won’t say Obama is entirely responsible for the current economic crisis (but yes he does have some culpability), he is not responsible for this. I was getting pretty pissed at the ignorant jack-asses on twitter, who probably actually believe, that said “Bush, his administration and the military did nothing for 8 years. Only till Obama came along to get it done.” Umm…really? Wow. And these people vote?  Yikes.

And I was happy to hear the guy was dead as he was responsible for 9/11 (unless of course you believe another conspiracy theory which was again trotted out on twitter last night…and RTed by not just one Hollywood celeb…sigh) and he was an evil SOB who I am glad is gone from the face of the Earth. BUT, Al Qaeda and terrorism wasn’t eradicated you know? I mean, do you *really* think Osama was still giving day to day orders and running the Al Qaeda missions? He was a crusty old man on dialysis living large in a suburb mansion with no phone or internet. Pretty sure he was no more than a figurehead at this point. So let’s remember we have a lot more terrorists to kill and not pat anyone on the back for erasing terrorism (yes, saw that on twitter too…seriously..these people shouldn’t be allowed out of their homes unsupervised.)

Saw tons of tweets about how the stock market would go up and oil will go back to $2.00 a gallon. Wha? Sure the stock market might get a little bounce, good time to sell any over-valued stocks in your portfolio. Because it will go right back down on a bad earnings report or bad jobs or housing starts report. Wall Street likes good news and all but is a realistic machine. And oil/gas….well last I checked Osama didn’t run any oil fields. Qaddafi dying would be a bigger deal. Or Chavez. Or the entire Saudi royal family (going out Moldavian-style like on Dynasty!) But not Osama. Not unless Al Qaeda firebombs all the oil fields. But then it goes UP you goobers – not down. We will never see $2.00 a gallon gas again IMO. Not unless Marty comes back from the future with fusion technology very soon. Keeping in mind some of that is due to our dollar being so hammered and devalued (now that we can pin some of on Obama’s administration) that $2.00 today is like $1.00 just twenty years ago.

But again, people don’t think about stuff like that. And politicians know it. They read the headlines and remember what’s out there right now. Obama released his birth certificate (finally) and then was funny at a Washington Correspondents dinner (and this made him cool which means a LOT more to young voters than experience, knowledge or anything else…sad) and then killed Public Enemy Number One. So he is Superman to a lot of people. At least for now. Until more bad jobs reports come out. Or voters run out of their 99 weeks of unemployment. Or some other thing happens to erase whatever good people think he did. The business of politics. And even more so now with social media and instant news flashing in front of your face every 2 seconds. People’s attention spans are shrinking fast. But Obama’s approval numbers were the lowest they have ever been, so I guess it was a good time for him to pull this out…assuming you believe the conspiracy that the government had Osama’s body on ice already. But again, would have been a better play closer to re-election time so that theory seems a tad unlikely.

Besides, Superman is a putz. He just renounced his US citizenship. I’ll take Jack Bauer over that jerk.

I watched a movie tonight that made me sad. For silly reasons I guess. It was The Switch with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman. Jason B is being an uncle/dad to Jennifer A’s kid (but he really is the actual dad but he hasn’t told her yet…you need to watch.) Anyway, she calls while out of town and he has to go and pick up the kids from school and de-louse the kid. That made me remember when my brother was living out here in CA with me (he was 10 I think) and his school (private so small enough to panic all of the parents quickly!) had an outbreak of lice. So I brought him home after buying everything in the store to delouse and washed his hair with the special shampoo and comb and washed everything single thing we owned in the house.  And we laughed about how stupid it was (but I was paranoid!) He didn’t have lice so yay – it worked. I guess I would be a decent Mom even to little humans. Sometimes.

But anyway, I got sad. Remembering. Weird trigger that’s for sure.

Then all of a sudden I heard the huskies barking. Loudly. They don’t do that often. I had taken my boot off to watch the movie and as soon as I heard the barks I jumped up and hopped to the window to see them. They weren’t up front. Crap. I remembered that I have the back door open which means back yard. That meant they were out back. Which means they likely saw skunks. NO! I cannot deal with deskunking a dog by myself on 1 good leg! Or worse – them getting a critter (raccoon, cat, etc.)

I hopped to the stairs, slid down them on my butt, hopped to the back deck and then outside. They were on the lower back deck looking and barking at something. I called and called them. They were not listening. This means critter. I hopped down to the lower deck and corralled them.  By the time I started to hop back up stairs with them my ankle was hurting a LOT. As well as my right leg, knee and arms from the hopping. Uh-oh.  I need the good leg! I finally got up to the sofa. Rested a bit. Pressed start on my 2nd movie and cursed the little rat bastards. Angelus did end up with a bite/scratch on his nose. I didn’t see it right away but when I brought him in for sleepy time, I saw a spot on his nose from a distance. Then saw it was blood when he got closer. Sigh. Cleaned it with antibiotic wash. He seems fine and likely annoyed he didn’t get revenge on the critter that did that to him. But I’ll stress about it until it heals. *grumblsnarfgrrfracknberry*

But I wasn’t sad anymore. Tired. In a pretty decent amount of pain. Annoyed. But not sad.

They are pretty crafty little guys. :)

From the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting. Being live blogged by the WSJ: http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/04/30/live-blog-the-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting/#

“Gold bugs, don’t read this:

Buffett harps on and on about gold. He says it has no utility, and about how silly people are who are getting in now — when gold prices are near nominal highs. “There’s no question that rising prices…can start affecting behavior,” Buffett said. “People like to get in on things that are rising in prices. Over time, it has not been the way to get rich.”

He’s listing all the things he’d rather have than all the gold in the world, because all you can do with gold is admire it or, as he says, “fondle it.”

Munger repeats what he’s said previously that gold investors are preying on fears. Gold is considered a safe haven investment, because investors tend to flock to buying gold assets when they’re freaked out about the health of other assets and the economy.”

Umm…duh! :) I love you Warren but I want my gold and silver exactly so that I can fondle it on demand! And keep the value safely in a lock box and not a company’s balance sheet. It’s called a hedge for a reason. Also I want to do this someday:

Another hero :)

But yes, it is at an all-time high (well, not if adjusted for inflation – we are still way off of that number which is something to keep in mind) so it does seem silly to jump in with 2 feet now. Except that financial experts and the media have been saying that since gold hit $1000 (2009.) So who knows. It’s called speculation for a reason. And I happily did not sell any after all the “experts” said it will go down from here last summer (when it hit $1250.) It’s now over the big $1500 mark. Plus I do think that China especially is playing a huge role in its run up so it’s not just a bunch of crazed gold bugs stocking their underground bunkers with gold coins, guns and MREs (not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Between China and India, you have a lot of new money going into the purchase of it. And both cultures value it highly. So it’s not quite the same market conditions as when it went crazy in the late 70s only to crash (ish).

And yes, most of the ads for it are definitley aimed at cashing in on people’s fears. Kinda like the earthquake & flood insurers advertising after a disaster (cough *Geico*) or oil traders after some backwards Middle Eastern country has an uprising. Or flu shot ads at the drugstore right before flu season. As long as investors (buyers) understand that, it’s not a bad thing. And if they don’t understand it, they should keep their money safely in a barely-interest paying CD.

So Mr. Buffett, I love you and trust you. But I will happily disagree with you on this. I believe you don’t like technology companies much either (you and Bill must argue about that one!) So that’s why you are ONE of my investments but not all.

But please…stay alive for 50 more years. We do need you!!!

I ordered this dress a few weeks ago and finally tried it on. It looks SOOOO cute on!!! It will be perfect for a wedding I have to go to in 2 weeks. Would be even more perfect with some cool heels but I think I’ll still be in my boot so I will wear 1 cute-ish yet shorter heel….hopefully the cute will counteract the Frankenstein…

I’m glad I ordered it as soon as I saw it – they are already out of my size!

I accidentally ordered a couple other things from there today. 30% off using the code BRKING30 – it’s for being a “King or Queen for a day”. Leave it to American retail to try and cash in on the royal wedding somehow ;)

Ordered another cute dress, a light tweed jacket and a couple tank tops. Great spring casual-ish wear! BR is tuff with their sizing though. Sometimes even their XS are waaay too big. But then sometimes, they cut them weird so it’s tight in some places, roomy in others.. And sometimes their S is just right. I love their continuity….

The email I received this AM was titled “In The Pink”. Pretty sure that email campaign was directed right at ME (=sucker for cute pink stuff!) SO of course I clicked on it. This whole spending a lot of time in front of my computer is bad for my wallet!

It’s amazing what not doing anything and sitting on your arse does for the healing process. Last Monday and Tuesday I went to work and worked full days. At work i do try and stay seated most of the time but yes I do get up for the copy or fax machine or to go the bathroom which now seems about 10 miles away from my office. Plus I can’t really elevate my leg properly so it does get swollen. Plus my knee actually gets torqued under my desk trying to keep my leg elevated so it’s just a giant painful mess.

So by Tuesday night, my leg hurt. I think there is the pain/ache from the break and all of the associated swelling and bruising and healing going on all around it. But then there is the weight of this boot on my leg. It’s dang heavy. Plus I have to keep it on tight so my calf is just really over it. Then I think my other leg is just sore & tired from having to do all of the work! And when it hurts this much going to bed, I know I won’t sleep well. I sleep with the boot on since if I move my ankle the wrong way (which is any way really) during the night – OWWWWW! F***!!!!! (happened once, don’t need another lesson!) So I have a blanket on top of my bedspread to put my booted leg on and then just sleep on my back. Super comfy (no, not really.)

Sure enough, Wednesday AM I was exhausted and in pain. So I stayed home from work. Laid on the couch with my leg up and icing it throughout the day. Felt a bit better. But I still didn’t seem to sleep all that well. Woke up exhausted on Thursday. So stayed home again. I knew I had a LOT to do that had to be done ON Friday so rest up and work all day Friday. Again, stayed on the couch mostly except for when our accountant called with a gazillion questions about things that are downstairs in my home office (way to not wait until the last minute dude…grrr.)

And then I heard a ruckus outside. Lots of kid noise. So I hobbled over to the window and see 2 little boys in the street (one of them being our neighbor) poking something in the street, throwing pine cones at it. I think “if they are killing a critter I am going to go down and beat those serial killer in-training little bastards with my cane!” So I hobble down and out my driveway and down my street to the corner. They had already walked away and by the time I near the middle of the street, I see them coming back so I shout “Hey – you” and they look at me like the crazy lady I’m sure I looked like. “Yeah – you” I say. “Did you kill something out there in the street?” The one who is my neighbor comes right over “No, no – it was dead already and I was trying to move it out of the street.” Dead already huh? What is it I asked. He said it was a headless mole – wanna see? Umm. No. Thanks. He said maybe a cat got it? Sure – plausible. I do come across them on occasion (or more exactly – the huskies are sure to find them for me on our walks.) I did believe him because my neighbor’s kids (well, the boys) are the most polite, well mannered little kids that I have ever met. I call them the Stepford children. They call us the Huskies so it’s fair.

He starts walking back with me and asks “did you come all the way out here like that for an animal?” and points to my boot and cane? Yes I sure did. I wanted to make sure there wasn’t something suffering out here. “Oh…wow” he says. Then he starts chatting about the headless bunny they found in the park by the school. Umm..thanks kid for that pleasant visual. I say perhaps a mountain lion or coyote. He says we don’t have those here. Yes we do I say. No I don’t think so he says. So then I say “Vampire maybe?” He just looks at me like I just told him there are indeed ghosts. And then turns around to go back to his friend who is waiting for him. He turns around and yells “BYE!” They really are well mannered children. Meanwhile, Angelus was looking at me from the yard with a look of “Mom, I could have told you it wasn’t alive if you asked…”

I hobble back upstairs and collapse on the couch. My leg hurts now. You can feel the swelling against the boot. So ice time again. But if I didn’t go out there and check, I would have been inside wondering about it and not able to get it out my head that a critter was out in the street suffering in pain. I couldn’t deal with that.

But Friday AM I woke up after a decent night’s sleep and my leg felt as OK as it can. So 2 days of arse-sitting (new Olympic sport??) with my leg elevated correctly and icing it was good for it. So off to work I went and got a lot done. By around 2pm, my leg was hurting but I needed to finish some stuff. I left a little after 5pm in a decent amount of pain. Brilliant timing on my part – 5pm on a Friday. Just me and everyone else going home. Doh. When I got to the Safeway by my house, traffic was stopped on Highway 1 so I swung in to get a few things. I was tired and grumpy but wanted to do it now while I was right here and it beat sitting in traffic.

Motoring down one of the aisles was a guy on the motorized Safeway cart. Dang i think – I should have looked for that! And this guy was grumpy. And taking up the entire aisle and not caring or even looking around. Bumped his cart into a woman. What a jerk I think. When I drove my cart at Costco – I paid attention to not run into other people’s carts! He turned down the wine aisle and and I’m thinking “you already drive so poorly….” But then I saw he was missing a leg. OK – he trumps me for sure. Because no matter how annoyed or grumpy I get with my immobility right now, I know it will heal. So while I will still get annoyed and grumpy about it, I do keep it in perspective.

So I continued my store trip which takes forever since I move so slowly. I see another lady in there wearing my same boot! And it’s not nearly as horrifying as someone wearing your same dress :) We chuckle and point at each other while I think “it’s clearly gimpy day at Safeway today”. Also, I have to say, there were a fair amount of rude people in there. All older men with glasses. Weird. Like it was Grumpy Old Man with Glasses field trip day. Just leave their carts in the middle of the aisle so you can’t get around. When you ask politely “excuse me can you please move your cart?” Mean looks back! Ok, I’ll move your cart for you ass-clown. Using mine to ram it into yours and then into you! Thankfully a younger guy moved the cart for me (on 2 occasions in 2 different aisles. So maybe there is hope for good manners in youth.)

Finally I’m done. Awesomely I find a line with only 1 person in it! Oh wait, it’s because the guy is arguing with the cashier over the proper use of coupon. Sadly, I don’t actually get this until I take my stuff out my cart. They need the manager to come and explain the coupon, point out which items don’t qualify, etc. Seriously, dude? I’ll give you the $2 if you just GO! Finally he does go – to put his non-couponable items away. Wow. Oh guess what? Older guy…with glasses. W.T.H.?

They help me out to the car and I am so happy to be able to sit down but then remember I need dog food. OK. In I go. They saw me hobbling in and immediately ask what I need, they get it for me, one person is already ringing me up and they help me to the car with it. Very nice and efficient customer service! Love that place.

I swung by the bank and the mailbox and then home. I figured this way I did not have to leave the house at all Saturday. Got the dogs out of the car, groceries in the house and fed the dogs dinner. Then I officially collapsed. I was so tired and so swollen I could feel my leg just pressing on all side of the boot. So I got my ice pack and sat there for 2 hours. Sure enough, did not sleep well. But a Saturday of mostly couch patrol (a couple loads of laundry done plus I baked those easy bake Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies!) and I slept much better last night!

Lesson from this week is a full day of work causes pain. As do too many errands or chores. The doctor said stay off of it for the first month. He seems to be right. Who knew all those years of pre-med, medical school, internships and practice would actually be right. Damn it.

So, now I have a wedding to go to today. I have a feeling I will be in pain by this evening. But I need to go to this wedding. A very nice guy who I’ve known for over 10 years, and who lost his wife to cancer a few years ago, found someone to again share his life with. How can you not celebrate that? I’ll be the gimpy in pink not dancing but hopefully with a champagne glass in her hand :)

Being in pain all the time
Being swollen and sore all the time
Having to wear uncute “comfortable” clothes all the time
Having it take 5 minutes to go to damn bathroom, or upstairs or downstairs or anywhere
Not being able to do anything fast
Not really being able to do anything…unless I want it to hurt at some point
Not being able to walk my dogs
Not being able to enjoy outside
Looking into Stormy’s eyes as he wonders why Mom isn’t taking him out like every other day for the past 9 years
Feeling gross and yucky because it hurts to stand too long to put on make-up or do my hair or wear anything besides yoga or workout pants and a sweatshirt
Worrying about gaining weight and feeling fat
Not being able to do all aspects of my job because I’m either stuck at my desk or in so much in pain – I stay home
Feeling weak

Yes, I am fully aware a broken ankle is actually not a big deal. And that it could be way worse. But that does not mean it does not suck. It does not mean that I do not hate it. I do try and keep a positive & rational attitude about it. It will get better soon (ish) as long as I follow doctor’s orders.

But when it hurts to be up and make the huskies and myself a quick dinner – after staying home from work all day because it hurt so much – that sucks. And pisses me off. And I hate it. So I write it down it hopes of blowing of steam.

Not working yet….

So I was essentially called mean yesterday. That’s OK. I don’t care. Especially considering what I was called mean over. Someone on Facebook posted a link to the recent Britney Spears appearance on the Kimmel show. And commented that her dancing was lacking. But I guess trying to say it in a “nicer” way, but then not really. People commented back and forth on her Spanx or whatever. So I watched the clip since I have a lot of free time currently (grrr).

Now, I like Britney. Or wait…I like the old Britney. The one had catchy little pop songs and cute videos and she danced all over the place and seemed very sweet. When both she and Christina Aquilera broke out of Disney and into the pop world, I immediately liked Britney better, CA had the much better voice – no argument – but she just reeked dirty whore. And played up to that. Britney’s sex appeal was more the little girl cutesy thing without being whorebag in your face. Not a fan of whorebag in your face.

But ever since Britney lost her mind she has been a lost cause in my opinion. Personally, as a Starbucks shareholder, I don’t want to see pictures of her holding a venti frappucino, because I don’t want people associating them with her out of shapeness. I’ve seen so many paparazzi shots of her holding those plus the giant Red Bull cans (NOT sugar free) and I’m like do you not have anyone in your life with an ounce of diet sense?

I don’t even like her music anymore. She went the way of more electronic than her real voice. Music stars need to stop that. The auto-tuning thing indicates to me that you can’t actually sing and need the studio help. A novelty for a dance song or 2 is fine but not your entire album or career.

But the whole point of a pop star (IMO) is not necessarily your perfect voice. It’s that you put on a show. You entertain. Singing, dancing, costumes, ENERGY etc. This is why people go to see your shows, watch your videos, buy all your crap. So when you see them flailing around on stage like “a sad, fatter, out of shape version of her former self. No excuse since she can hire personal trainers, chefs, choreographers and stylists.” (this is what I said to be considered mean) well…I mean it.

I diet. I don’t eat when I want. I exercise every damn day. And I don’t get paid to look good or be in shape. It’s what I do for me. So if your job is entertain people, and you are not some lounge singer who can do it sitting at the piano with your voice only, you better get with the program and be entertaining. We’ve all seen Britney dance in her old videos and on MTV. We know she can. She’s just horrifically out of shape now. Or doesn’t practice enough. Or likely both. But that’s lame – that would be like me saying I don’t feel like researching the better health insurance or making sure people get paid because I don’t feel like it. It’s my job – so I better do it! And now that I broke my ankle and CAN’T exercise – I’m watching what I eat VERY carefully. If I can do it, then some chick with millions of dollars and people who do everything for her sure can. Yes, she had 2 kids. I get it. But she was young so her body could bounce back with work. She just didn’t want to do the work.

The funny thing is had she been kicking ass dancing and highly energetic, I don’t think I would have said she was fat or out of shape. Boys still would. But boys are superficial jerks. But the fact that she looked like she needed to sit down and take a cigarette (or sandwich) break during her routine, that’s what made me go “ewww.” Also – Britney – SMILE! Sheesh. And her back-up dancers were all so with it and bopping around highly energetic – that highlighted her deficiencies even more.

Now, I’m sure she is medicated up the wazoo on psych drugs. And these will make her puffy and fat, and listless and tired. So that sucks. And I cannot imagine she will ever be let off of those after the crap she has pulled. Her parents don’t want the golden goose offing herself. But if she is going to go on TV, or on tour, she should do something.

And if that makes me mean – whatever.

Here is the routine. Tell me she does not look like she is about to pass out in her Jazzercise class…

I blame this on:

a. broken bones
b. too much free time because of broken bones
c. the internet (if Al Gore can claim he invented it, I can blame it for everything!)

BUT…the color is “ballerina pink”. Pretty sure that’s also known as the perfect pink. :) I was torn between 2 bags in this color. But the other was a more casual, larger bag. This is more refined and preppie. This one won :)

pink!

PLUS, Kate Spade is 25% off for their Friends and Family sale right now. AND free shipping. So there’s that.