My Type of Motivational Posters Part Deux

Here's Part One...nearly two years ago. Sigh...where does the time go? Seems like just yesterday this blog was born and started being ignored.

Are women born this way?

Cutest part is the "mama" at 6 seconds.

I'm just a girl who can't say no. Well, I used to be. As of today, I am a bitch.

There are many reasons I haven't been round these here parts recently, but there is a common thread that weaves through most of them.

Despite myself, I'm a volunteer-er.  I'm a helper.  I'm a go-to gal.   I'm that one who people know they can depend upon in a crisis, a pinch or whatever.   I say yes.   I can't seem to stop myself. They neeeeeeeed me.  I can heeeeeeeeelp them.  Why should I not?

I'll tell you why not.

Beware the pitfall of consistently saying yes. The thing is, the one time you don't, it can throw the recipient of the unexpected, "No" into such a paradigm shift that things can get ugly. Fast. At first they waddle in circles for a few minutes, spinning their arms saying, "Does not compute. Does not compute. Danger. Danger. Does not compute."

Then things tend to settle into a comfortable anger on their part. After all, there must be some malevolent reason why their request was denied; you've always managed to find some way to rearrange things to help out in the past. This recent alteration in your behavior clearly indicates that YOU have suddenly turned into a dickwad.    

Anyway, this is where I find myself. I've heard stories of it happening to others (oh, the irony), and now it's happened to me...I find myself the target of resentment and mistrust because I HAD to say, "No.  Not this time."  Ah well, deeeeeeeeeeep breath.

Coincidentally, I recently finished two other volunteer positions:  the HUMUNGOUS main one that sucked the life out of me and my family for months (hundreds of hours over 13 months), and another far smaller one (errrmmm...probably about 40 hours spread over three weeks). Which means, suddenly, I am volunteer-obligation-free.   For the first time in years.

Yowsa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so...you know how there are a ton of book/seminars/videos/etc. flying around out there about how awesome the word 'yes' is?  Embrace 'yes' and your life will soon expand to the point of overflowing with sparkly goodness, true love, flying unicorns, and a fat bank account!  That kind of crap?

Why does 'No' get a bad wrap?  "Oh, it's so negative!" and "'No' is so limiting"..."'No' is mean and ugly and probably smokes behind the garage."  You've heard it all before.

Not. true.

'No' can be a most freeing, honest, concise, and profound word.  "No, I really don't need to spend seven bucks on a bar of soap, no matter how fancy the twine bow is," or, "No, that's okay, I understand," or, "No, that makes me uncomfortable."  How about, "No, I can't attend your event; I need to stay home and darn twine to wind around the soap I make," or best of all,  "No, I think I'd better not."

No, wait.  I think this is the best 'No" of all, "No, I disagree.  But we can still agree on other things."

So, I am reclaiming 'No'.  No is not evil nor unfair.  'No' is just itself, and as Mr. Roger's taught me, what makes you YOU is what makes you SPECIAL.  ~chucks 'No' under the chin~

What I am getting at is this...I pledge to you that starting tomorrow, No Watch Me Christine is going hard-core.  I promise to say NO every day and to report back to you all the juicy details.  

Does this mean I am going to actually report back to you daily?  NO!  

But, maybe.

I always keep my word.

Bye-Bye BlogHer Ads

Cleaning house here...getting ready to get this li'l ol' blog back up and running.

First thing to go...BlogHer Ads.

Buh-bye!

I'll be doing more cleaning, and soon she'll be fresh as a daisy and ready for spring!

WTF Blanket

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

My advice to the writers and producers of the Sex and The City sequel, because I think I am that important.

Not too long ago, one weekend afternoon I was faced with a mountain of laundry (plus other random chores) and a quiet house (husband was out with the kids).  That's quite a rare occurrence. The raining made it a cozy, stay-at-home afternoon...also rare.

So, I flicked on the TV and checked out the movies I could order from our cable company (again, a rarity). I wanted something mindless as I was going to be in and out of the room and didn't want to be bothered with a plot (I am so deep).

Sex and the City it was!

Despite the fact that I did occasionally watch the TV show, and admittedly sometimes even enjoyed it, I had no desire to go to the theater with my friends to endure watch the movie without being able to openly mock it. I mean, two-plus hours of Samantha's rasping double-entendres in her roller coaster delivery? In fact, double-entendres from all four of them? Hard to take. 

(As an aside, my husband and I often entertain ourselves by lapsing into Samantha's vernacular to make anything sounds dirty, "Oh, you're go-ING to make an OM-elette, are you? Let me HELP you with the SPAT-u-LAH.")

Anyway, this movie fit the bill mindless visual and auditory entertainment.  Sadly, though, after a while I found myself thinking...and remember, I was trying to avoid thinking; it was supposed to be a No Thinking Afternoon of mindless entertainment and laundry folding.

The movie predictably starts (well, after an odd montage from the TV show to bring unfamiliar viewers up to date on it's complex character arcs and plot points) with a voice-over from Carrie, which went something like this, "Year after year, twenty-something women come to New York city in search of the two L's...labels and love,"

Really?  

Really?

Twenty-something women don't move to New York City because that is where their career takes them?  Nor for access to museums and world-class restaurants and Broadway and kick-ass pizza by the slice, and the sheer excitement of living in one of the world's most diverse, fast-paced metropolises...and, and, and?

I shook that thought off, and as I watched the movie I was dumbfounded by that Carrie was so freaking obsessed with labels.  Sure, designer apparel was also revered in the series, but at least Carrie brought her own Molly Ringwald "Pretty in Pink" irony to her wardrobe.  None of that in the movie...it was slathering over labels for label's sake, even to the detriment of the other "L" (Opps!  Sorry!  Guess I should have warned to about the quasi-spoiler there!).

As the movie continued, I was struck by the fact that despite being released less than a year ago, it is horribly dated.  The conspicuous consumption rampant in this movie, I thought to myself, just wouldn't be relevant in this post-October 2008 economy.

Yeah, and then the next day I found out they are filming a sequel.

One of the funniest things I've seen in a long, loooooooong time.

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.