What is the real treat?

The other night on my way home I decided to buy and treat myself to,  not one but two dark sweet chocolate bars. They were delicious even though the caffeine kept me up most of the night. With out a problem I quickly demolished them both.

The next morning I noticed the wrapper,  much to my surprise,  had something in it. I had missed two little squares! I put them in the freezer.

A few days later dying for something sweet, my memory kicked in;  there was  chocolate in the house; mind you I never keep sweets around.  Sure enough there were the 2 small squares sitting where I put them.  I screamed with delight at my find and relished the taste of each small nibble wishing I had not been such a glutton and had left more.

 The moral: The 2 bars were great and I enjoyed them.... BUT THE  TWO LITTLE PIECES WERE THE REAL TREAT! 

Carol Sue Gershman

My Neighbor

O. K. I will take the responsibility. I did something terrible in my life; I was mean and thoughtless, inconsiderate and arrogant and now I am getting it all back through MY neighbor. 

MY neighbor thinks he lives on a farm. He does not realize that there are people around him meaning me underneath of him. 

MY neighbor likes to smoke, so what if I breath in second hand smoke?

MY neighbor likes to lift weights in his apartment and plop them on the floor, so what If I am startled each time and my pictures fall off of the wall?

MY neighbor likes to re- construct his apartment. So what if I have to put up with drilling and banging for 6 months?

MY neighbor does not care that the saw dust is falling all over my patio. So what if I have to take a broom and hose and clean up the mess?

MY neighbor likes to open and close his sliding glass doors constantly. So what if I hear them rumble most of the day?

MY neighbor  comes out side to relax and talks on his cell phone in a loud pitch. So what if I have to hear his conversations?

MY neighbor has tried to blow his smoke in another direction; so I must love THY neighbor for trying.

Then again who knows what MY neighbor will do next? How about a yelping dog?

How about blasting music coming through the walls? How about late night parties? 

Oh Lord bless MY neighbor just as he is.

Then again, maybe I should move to the farm.

Then again, what about MY next neighbor?

Carol Sue Gershman

The toilet

 How is your toilet? I live in a up scale building and one would think that an up scale toilet would come with the apartment!

 

No! my toilet is a prima dona and simply does not like having anything in it.

 It sits aristocratically in a corner of the bath room,  shiny white and clean and shouts out, "keep it light."

 When it comes to paper, my toilet simply does not tolerate such nonsense. It says, "how would you like it if I stuffed you all up with paper? If you think I am going to try to get it all down, forget it, go away and stop annoying me."

So I called in the plumber and he agrees with the toilet. "Look lady, save your money, don't you see how nice it acts when just a little something is placed in it? You need to be careful and not aggravate this toilet as he left with his plunger.

So each day I ask my toilet how it feels. Would it be OK if????

Then again, maybe it is time to move! 

Zach's Bar Mitzvah

He stood like a rock sure of himself, enjoying the ceremony that he was starring in. My little difficult grandson has turned out to be a sweet gentle loving brilliant kid. He has great intensity inside of him and I can hardly wait to see what bursts out as he grows. This ain't no ordinary kid, but we ain't an ordinary family as ordinary goes.  The guests came pouring in. We ladies dressed like queens preparing ourselves for the wonderful event.  Friends and family showed up at the same hotel and Zach's other grandmother there was highly honored. We all knew that she would be leaving our world shortly as she had taken ill; but tonight she was radiant and we were grateful that she was there.

Zach read the Torah, all the family were invited to be part of the ceremony and he stood with composure and in his own words said, "I know my stuff." It was a long ceremony but nobody cared as we were totally engrossed listening to a language far over most of our heads, but this 13 year old got it?

We were swept away to the cocktail party on my son's estate  of 200 acres on a Vermont farmland with ponds, pools and tonight there were two huge tents to enhance the lawn.

Cocktails took place in their newly renovated home, finished of course in time for the party. The mock kitchen was in;  nothing yet worked as there was no time, but nobody really knew the secret. There was  sushi and shrimp and stations of ethnic food with more passed delights,  and then we were led into the  tent magnificently lit with neon signs, you know how it goes, with Zach's  name in lights. The best part of the party was the high energy! It was impossible not to have fun. We lit religious candles danced and ate the wonderful food. There is perfection in life and this party was exactly that.  Congratulations Zach for being the great guy you are today and for bringing us all together. You did a wonderful job! 

Carol Sue Gershman

 

Air lines, they fly safely but kill us in other ways

 I had to book a flight at last minute.  I drove myself to the airport;  Only two days over night parking,  how much could it cost? I found out  $22.00 a day for a valet to park it close to the entrance. I felt like a queen avoiding the  shuttle bus that I usually take. The plane ride up was fine but would my son be at the airport to greet me? With my son there is always a mystery; maybe he will be there in person, maybe he will send a car  or maybe I will be taking the next plane back?  He doesn't like to use the telephone to tell me his plans and does not pick up his phone when I call, but I know deep in my heart that he or a car will be there waiting. There is an element of a game or a surprise he likes; he knows it will throw me if he doesn't  call and for what ever reason,  it does; but sure enough as I landed the phone rang, this time it was his secretary telling me a car with a green shamrock on it was waiting.  I ran through a couple of levels with my suitcase to find where the car was parked but sure enough moments later I was in a lovely limo type cab on my way to meet the family at the hotel. They were no where to be found, so I went out and got a manicure. and met everyone for a rewarding evening a few hours later.

 I was attending the funeral of my daughter-in laws mom and it was as heartwarming as any funeral can be, the weather was divine. I was glad to be there as part of both families and my son and his wife were proud that I came. A lovely lady lost her life, another victim of ovarian cancer; now I must carry on for the both of us and be a better  grand mom  to our precious kids.

Off to the store to buy a Halloween card in her in her tradition.

After some corned beef and pickles back at the house I went directly to the airport and my son drove me with no surprises. It was nice to spend time with him.  I boarded the plane as it drove up and down the runway for a half hour only to hear the announcement  that that plane was not going to take off. O. K. not so bad, why get in after midnight?  I was sure they would put me up at a hotel and get me on the first flight out the next day. I achieved the latter but after calling three supervisors and standing on a long line,  they came up with a distressed price at a hotel a few miles from the airport.  I found my own-and a suite for less price.  the shuttle came and I was asleep before I hit the bed.  At least I would get a good nights sleep.

This would work  fine because I ditched a pair of shoes that were falling apart at the previous security check-in the night before only to find I missed them. But no, it didn't work, the airport discarded them permanently. And this time they took my toothpaste and lotion too which pushed me over the top. I called the supervisor and talked them into letting me keep my precious tooth paste and expensive remover. The seats were cramped in; but the plane did take off and I managed to sell a book to my seat mate. I had not counted on another day of parking so with the hotel and parking fee I could have booked a first class seat on another airline. But I am safely home!

Carol Sue Gershman

And so she passes

Such a lovely lady Carol was, the mother of my daughter in-law Robin. She talked a mile a minute and the first time I met her on the phone I could not get a word in. She said of her daughter, "she is a nice girl." It made me laugh, it was as if she was saying don't worry about your son, he is marrying a nice girl. We spoke occasionally and met for family gatherings. She re-married a man who swept her away to Thailand and then sent her back home alone after he fell for a Thai lady, never to be heard from again. She survived the pain only to be diagnosed shortly afterwards with a far worse pain, ovarian cancer in the third stage. Following a neighbor of mine who died of the same, I felt then that Carol did not have a chance. She was brave struggling with an up beat attitude for 41/2 years trying to lick it. I would receive many humorous jokes over the Internet telling me how high her spirit was. She met another man just before she was diagnosed and this man stayed with her until the end. A true hero. Our grandson was to be bar mitzvah ed and it was Carol's goal to make the festivity even though she was heavily in treatment. She came up to me before the party began to say hello. She looked good but quite different, much more sophisticated  and very much more subdued. During the day she went from an almost bald head to wearing a wig for the evening party. She said she felt free without the wig and only started to venture out without it recently. She always had thick dark wavy hair. She danced at the party and seemingly had a good time probably knowing that this would be the last time she would see her family and friends. Two days after the party she checked into the hospital where she spent the last two weeks of her life surrounded by family and friends. Today she closed her eyes for the last time.

How incredible is the human mind, Carol undoubtedly willed herself to stay alive for the party

and to be photographed and then knowing it was her time, she let go.

God bless you Carol for your strength and attitude.  

Carol Sue Gershman 

PRETZELS and more and more pretzels

I ordered pretzels, FOR ME  to enjoy at a cost of $20.00.  They arrived with salt in a plastic bag; I had filled in the order incorrectly. Last year I gave a red tin of pretzels as  Xmas gifts. So I called back the company and asked them to send me the red tins without pretzels. It took time for them to understand, but 6 tins at $5.00 each arrived, except that they are over-sized tins and now I do not have enough pretzels. I took the pretzels and put tissue paper in the tin to make the gift look good and realized that the paper was colored and could bleed on the pretzels. So I had to remove the lovely tissue breaking a few pretzels as I did so. There is no real room in my apt. for these tins. I cannot eat them, I cannot fill the tins. So my only solution is to order more pretzels, get white tissue and give out the Xmas gifts now...  

Sarah Palin, Joe Biden

I think Sarah Palin will do well tonight. She does NOT have my vote but this lady is on a mission. Blessed with her good looks and charisma, she will hold her own. She can not help the fact that she knows  little about foreign affairs, and as she has stated, she at least knows where Russia is. She had no time to go to school to be president of the U. S.; this came to her one night in her sleep.  She is used to charming her way through any situation; that is who she is, and if she gets elected she will have won the election by her charm. Some of us know that trick well. It actually is deserving of high honors. Not all of us are Harvard material, it is the combination of the two that sets us apart, but how many have been that blessed? Now take Joe Biden. He has been in government all of his life and possesses great knowledge and that is his ticket. You can be sure that the millions who tune in tonight are looking to be highly entertained by Sarah. ....Remember people like fun, good times and judging by the mentality of the U. S. by electing G. W. Bush twice,  Sarah Palin might fit our mentality well. 

OLD LOVES. Do they really ever really die?

My old love and I still have feelings for one another. Do you know why? Because ours was a romantic love and to him I was the one who got away, and for me he was the one who got away. He left me in the height of our passion. He chose to move on to a more secure situation with another woman. To me she is socially minus but she seems to love him enough never to leave him, which is what he needs. He thinks of me often and in any given opportunity he sends me an e=mail or such. I always answer, then he answers, then I answer and then then we die. We don't pick up because neither one of us wants to; two people trying hard not to see one another. Instead we both fantasize. We prefer to think that the other one is still there, and in all probability we still are, but he remains with his choice. So now the only thing we can do is to continue to dream the dream we sold each other. Carol Sue

MORE on the radio

What fun it was to get all dressed up today and to decide which hat to wear on the radio. One was a huge white floppy hat that fell over one eye, the other a chic black straw. Pictures tomorrow... I chose the black and wore a all white suit. I looked great... Guess what? No video but Charlie the host liked how I looked so I got lots of compliments from him on the air. The room was dark; a new studio with comfortable swivel chairs and a microphone placed in front of me. I was given  ear phones which I placed  under my hat. For what ever reason the room was kept iced cold, but I was so excited that I hardly noticed. Charlie K is a gem of a radio host, he eased me right into conversation and the 15 minutes of fame was over in a flash. During the interview my hat fell off feeling much like Ms America whose crown constantly falls off or lop-sided. It felt better than talking to a therapist, but kind of like the same, as it was all about me. 

It was the perfect first interview, short, sweet, successful.  So much so that I came home and contacted every radio show and TV show in my area. I'm on my way!

Carol Sue  

On the radio today

If I was going on Oprah, I could not be more excited than going on my first radio show. I have worked out an outline and hope the host Charlie asks me questions I can easily answer.

This is EXCITING, NERVE RACKING FUN... more later.... carol sue