Category essay

A stop at the beer store

Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

I stopped at the beer store on the way home from work. My days have been increasingly more difficult.

Sigh.

I’m trying really hard to do a great job at my “new” career path. But it’s hard to change fields sometimes. Sometimes people do things to help AND hurt your feelings at the same time.

Since I started writing grants 9 months ago, I have submitted 22 grants (okay, I think it’s 19 grants and 3 contracts) so I must be doing something right, right?

Beer Store Goodies

So to wash down this not-so-good day, I bought Rita’s Fruit Margaritas in the giant can, Yuengling and snacks— some chips and some candy.

The breadth of choices in the beer store made me happy.

I came home, made a quick fairly processed dinner and poured a drink as we unboxed the teen’s Universal Yum box from France. We were partaking in the delights when suddenly one of my candy’s was crunchy.

The teen’s was not.

I broke a crown off a molar.

Yup, today is not a good day.

The Road Trip Home

Angel Ackerman 4 Comments

The witch travels from Washington DC home with Mercury in retrograde

I thought I was on top of everything. I hoped to leave DC around 9 so I could be home by 1.

But then M’s housemates made this lovely kale frittata for breakfast.

I love kale and I love breakfast!

So I enjoyed a slice. And then another.

Everyone followed me out to the car and wished me farewell… and then M noticed a nail in my tire.

M called AAA because I don’t have my membership card. While he did that, I called my AAA home office and asked them to email me a pdf of my membership information. They assured me that I was in the system, but a pdf still made me feel better.

M and I chatted about the international cleaning staples: Lava soap, Brillo pads and Borax powder.

The AAA man came expediently, plugged my tire and sent me on my way.

After 25 miles, while on I-95 about to merge onto 695 outside Baltimore, my tire pressure light came on. I did what I always do, I called my dad and started to freak out and cry.

He advised me to get off the highway and have someone check the tire.

So I got off 695 on the first exit and pulled into a CVS parking lot while I checked the tire visually, then tried to reset the light, and then gave up and used the AAA app to locate local gas stations.

Interesting tidbit, it didn’t tell me which were gas stations and which were actual service (repair) stations.

I ended up at a Sunoco, I believe A.C.E Automotive. I pulled up in front of what looked to be an air compressor hose. I stepped into the office and explained what had happened earlier and asked if anyone could check my tire pressure.

An older gentleman finished writing up someone’s car repair invoice and told me to move my car “by that silver car.”

The silver car was my car.

He checked all of my tires. The back tires were around 26 psi. The drivers side front tire was 31 psi and the freshly repaired tire was 20 psi. The person helping me filled them all and went to get a spray bottle to check the plug.

After it looked like the plug was good, he then told me to drive a mile or two and come back.

I still couldn’t get the light to reset.

So I drove a bit and came back and filled the car with gas. I asked the gentleman his name, and introduced myself. His name was Gary and he reminded me of my dad.

Meanwhile my dad is texting me. My dad encourages me to be cautious and not to hesitate to buy a new tire.

Gary checks all the tires and they are holding pressure. He knows I have 175 miles to go. He tells me to text my dad that I’m fine and I don’t need a new tire.

I try to pay Gary and he tells me I don’t owe him anything because “that’s how people should be.”
I stop at the visitors center right over the Pennsylvania state line and finally am able to reset the tire pressure light. I thought about how much those lights scare me. “Back in the day,” we got in the car and took our chances. We didn’t have warning lights. Cars just broke down.

And now a light comes on and I’m calling my dad in tears terrified I’m going to have a horrible accident.

But at the visitors center, the light goes out. I buy coffee from the vending machine.

And I notice the rest stop has free wi-fi. How cutting edge of Pennsylvania.

I was considering stopping at a truck stop to buy a tire gauge, but I did not.

I also promised myself if I saw a Popeye’s I would get a chicken sandwich. I did not.

I got home at 3.

That was a long day.

For more on my weekend away:

Saturday mini-break in DC

Sunday Funday paperwork

Things I noticed on the bus in DC

Things I noticed on the bus in DC

Angel Ackerman 1 Comment

Today M and I went to Georgetown for Falafel, more exciting adventures in Washington DC with forty-something friends from their university days.

  • A little girl with a sequined backpack and pinstripe pants dancing
  • A woman with big snowflake like costume jewelry stones on her knit ski cap
  • A 20-something lanky young man with crisp jeans rolled above the ankle, extra tight
  • a young boy in the back of a crowded bus while his mother had other children and a baby in the front
  • A young couple holding hands, both of Asian heritage with baggy black pants and colorful hair. She wore thin but enormous gold hoop earrings. Emo, maybe?
  • A lot of people with very similar winter coats
  • Most people absorbed in their phones
  • construction
  • Live music (Music on the way into Georgetown DC)
  • Bell bottom sweatpants
  • An obese woman in crocks with her feet on the seat in front of her
  • A hauntingly beautiful woman with a life’s worth of luggage surrounding her, looking a tad scared, taking pamphlets with maps from the info display
  • A young white woman with a canvas bag and a yoga mat
  • A couple hugging sadly outside a hotel on the edge of a flower garden pretty much standing on the “Keep off the Grass” sign

Sunday Funday paperwork

Angel Ackerman 1 Comment

Day 2 of my Washington DC mini break.

I slept so well that when I woke I had forgotten I wasn’t at home. M had a glass of water and a clean coffee cup waiting for me when I emerged from the bathroom. Then, as is custom, we chatted for a couple hours

PJ and Princess

I brought my other traveling companion with me, many of you may remember PJ the bear. He brought his girlfriend, Princess.

So while PJ and Princess are lounging in bed, doing whatever naughty bears do, M tackled some of his upcoming travel arrangements and I filed not just federal but ALL my taxes.

I win adulting for the day.

I rewarded myself with the oatmeal cookie M bought me last night at the 7-eleven. Which turned out to be a very tasty cookie.

Poached eggs with the hottest sauce ever

So now that our big adulting tasks arrived done, M has made the perfect poached eggs and offered me some killer hot sauce.

Death by Wings

Saturday mini-break in DC

Angel Ackerman 3 Comments

My day started early when I couldn’t sleep past 5:15 am. I tossed and turned in bed until I finally got up at 6.

I spent some time with my Goffin’s cockatoo, Nala, before pretending to head to work. I was really going to get my nails done and going to visit my traveling companion, M, in Washington, DC.

The teenager is caring for the menagerie in my absence.

Beth trimmed my nails and filed off the old nail polish and gave me a fill on my acrylic manicure.

I went with a dark plum with a cat eye for my farewell to winter nails.

Beth was running a little behind so M mentioned not to worry he was occupied doing his federal taxes. So after my appointment I stopped home to get my tax forms. I grabbed my divorce paperwork too.

I was on the road by exactly 10 am and I arrived here in DC at 1:30, with one potty break. I had forgotten how much I enjoy driving, blasting my music, singing and thinking. Traffic is not so fun.

M and I then sat on the couch drinking coffee for FOUR HOURS. I laughed hard and often.

Then at 5:30 we hopped onto the bus and headed to Taqueria Habanero. (Taqueria Habanero) I had a lovely sangria with tequila.

And I ordered the pork and pineapple taco and a salmon taco, which was a really nice piece of fish, and ate M’s mole chicken for him. (For food photos, see instagram.)

The two men beside us at the restaurant were very old and very loud and I think they were meeting for the first time on a Tinder date.

Then we went across the street to the 7-Eleven because M wanted to buy me these chips…

… which I ate on the bus ride home. They start out smooth and ranchy.

I also asked M to buy me cookies, which he did. So now we are relaxing in his living room with cookies.

Rainbows & unicorns, part deux

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I never finished my “point” with my post earlier today, Rainbows and Unicorns. I meant to use that post as a reflection on goal setting.

But I got distracted talking about the state of the world.

So, as my friends and I talk about our first world problems, it’s easy to feel bogged down thinking about taxes and the medical system (I owe about $700 for a breast ultrasound right now. Sigh.) Etc. That was when we took a minute to exchange philosophies on goal setting.

I struggle with big picture goal setting. I do much better if someone suggests various big goals and then I can break the goal I select into smaller pieces.

I’m really good at deciphering steps to make a clear larger goal a reality. I do really well with baby steps.

So it was a nice discussion and reminder that sometimes we need to approach our lives and our problems by picking the steps we can bite off and chew, not rush all the way to the end goal.

When you find yourself overwhelmed, break the problem into the very next small step and move slowly forward with each success.

Rainbows and Unicorns

Angel Ackerman 1 Comment

Some of my friends are grouchy. I remind my grouchy friends of their curmudgeon status, if only to remind them that not everyone sees through their crunchy exterior.

One of these friends likes to remind me that the world is not rainbows and unicorns.

We were discussing how overwhelming basic life situations can be. Medical care and the associated bills. The job market and, while unemployment is low, there isn’t much opportunity for professional employees and living wages. Through in some politics. The rising cost of food. The lack of healthy options in our food supply. The exploitation of the developing world.

You see how easy it is to get bogged down?

So this friend reminds me the world is not rainbows and unicorns.

And I reply, probably in the most unflattering whine, “I know the world isn’t rainbows and unicorns, but I want it to be and that makes my heart hurt.”

In other news:

Several of my friends are enjoying my witchcraft series. One walked by something sparkly on the ground, stopped after a few steps and remembered my theory of finding powerful things. He reversed course and found a necklace. The shape and color of the stone appealed to him. So he picked it up.

Friday night & Valentines

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This is going to be a crazy lil bit of everything post. I’ll try to divide into topics with subheadings; I want to be good to y’all.

Nala

I bought her some new toys. Anything paper, like the one above, is a hit. But she seems to be afraid of bigger toys of heavier materials.

This is a photo of everything I got her:

As for plucking, it gets worse and better day by day. I’ve noticed three main triggers:

  1. Change in routine
  2. Overstimulation
  3. Desire for attention

Misty and Fog

The kittens certainly get more tired out since we let them run through the house. They pull they towels off the racks in the bathroom. They scatter the wash in the laundry room. They steal Oz’s food and he’s too big and dumb to stop them.

Some of my past kitten posts:

Kitten update

The third kitten

Nails

Tomorrow I get my first fill on my nails. They still look pretty perfect and I can see my natural nails growing in!

For more on my nails:

Nails

Road trip tomorrow!!!!

I joined AAA last weekend specifically because I’m traveling to Washington DC alone this weekend.

My temporary cards haven’t come!

I’m super excited and mostly ready.

I told my work colleagues and they asked if I planned on touring any of the downtown DC sites. I said no, I plan on sitting on my friend’s couch drinking coffee most of the weekend.

The teenager is going out with her dad so I’m on my own tonight for Valentine’s.

Enough is enough! (Take that, Tupperware cupboard!)

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I’ve been stressed. There’s a lot going on in my life between relationships and work. And for weeks, if not months, I’ve wanted to clean the Tupperware cupboard.

When my husband moved out in late June, I encouraged him to take more of the storage containers in the cupboard. I honestly don’t remember how much he took. But I do know I look at the cupboard and think I have too many containers left.

Purging and organizing makes my soul feel free and light.

Today I finally did it…

I ate way too many pierogies for dinner and then I tackled the abyss.

My heart celebrates order over chaos.

The Power of Symbols

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In my recent discussions of spirituality and witchcraft, a comment from one of my followers (Olivia) pointed out that it makes sense that items that are on an altar should be very personal.

That got me thinking about what makes a symbol powerful.

Items on an altar are symbols of the energies we wish to attract.

So, sure there are certain traditional masculine symbols if you wish to attract that type of energy: phallic symbols and the sun for example. Just like the bowls and the moon are traditionally female.

Those symbols are based on associations most people understand and to which they can relate.

Other symbols retain their power because people imbue them with collective thoughts. Think of the cross; it’s a powerful icon because a massive amount of people having agreed on its meaning for centuries.

For some, the cross inspires hope and love and a promise. Others might associate it with guilt and bigotry.

But most people on this planet know it.

The American flag also evokes such strong associations.

That’s why, when considering what you believe and what symbols hold power, and what that power is, the most important part of the equation is what you hold most dear in your heart.

That will carry the power.