Writings by Diane

This week I participated in my Toastmaster International 's club speech competition and I came in second place.  I was surprised that I wasn't extremely disappointed. As one of my favorite quotes from an episode of The Golden Girls goes, “You know, that would have devastated the old me, but the new me? Just an emotional owie!”   I tell my son everyone wants to win, but since we all can't,  it's how you handle losing that makes all of the difference.Sure, I would have liked to have won and gone onto the next level of competition. Did my losing sour my resolve to try again? Absolutely not! I identified the areas I need to improve and will compete in the next competition in the fall.  I also found myself  focusing what I had accomplished. The person I competed against is a professional speaker, so I’m getting out of my comfort zone and strengthening my speech-delivery muscles. After the competition, a few people told me they really enjoyed my speech, so hope...

With Valentine’s Day gone by, it reminded me how different boys and girls are raised when it comes to the love department.  For instance, I remember a woman at my work a few years ago stating that she told her daughter to leave boys alone because they are yucky! Now, since all of my children (biological and bonus) are boys, I was offended by this at first--my boys are the exact opposite of yucky! Then I realized she was trying to protect her daughter. Then again, here is a prime example of how we perpetrate the double standard. If the girls’ parents are telling her boys are yucky and boys’ parents are encouraging them to be polite and talk with girls, how are they ever going to communicate?! How is this ever going to work? I thought of an answer to her (years later, my timing is spot on!!) using the characters of King of the Hill (no wonder it was on for years!): “You know, not all boys are like Boomhauer , only looking to date as many women as possible. And not all are ...

A couple of weeks ago, I was working on an article for examiner.com about the Grammys 2014.  I wanted to mention Bruno Mars’ song “Treasure” as an example of a modern song with an older flavor.  I liked the 70’s feel to it.  The video was like it was filmed during the heyday of Earth, Wind and Fire, right down to the camera angles shooting into the dazzling lights on stage. Also, in my opinion, the lyrics were sweet,  as he crooned to his lady how she should realize what a “treasure” she was, not just to him but to the world.  However, when I looked up the lyrics on line, I jolted; I felt like someone had thrown cold water on me. The first line of the song had a curse word with the initials MF in it. I thought this website must have it wrong, but the more I searched, it became evident that this was indeed the true lyrics. I decided not to use this song in the article and cited other songs instead.  It’s not the first time I've heard a curse word as p...

Mimosa the cat scanned the living room with his chartreuse eyes. With a contented yawn, he stretched, arching his back and spreading out his white furred front paws. His gaze settled on the Lady sitting on the couch reading a library book.                 “It’s time,” he mumbled, which sounded like a quiet meow to the Lady.                 Mimosa effortlessly hopped onto the couch next to the Lady. As soon has his paws hit the couch, he bumped his head gently against the side of the hard backed book that the Lady was holding.                 The Lady laughed as Mimosa continued to rub against the book cover. He was bumping with such force that it caused her to lose her place in the story.  “Mim, what are you doing?” she asked, not really expecting an ans...

Idaho winters are typically wet, snowy and stone cold. The only way I make it through is having a good winter coat. However, shopping for a coat overwhelms me—I go back and forth between severe function and whimsical fashion.  I’m so glad my husband has this sixth sense and can pick the perfect coat for me. He uses simple criteria: it needs to be warm, water-proof and when I put it on, I still look like a woman. Proof positive that he picked a great coat for me was after I wore it, I received many compliments. The plum inner shell really popped within the wintry, glossy white outer shell. One comment that I heard the most was “I could never wear a white coat, I’d be too afraid it would get stained up.” I never considered the color of the coat to be a deterrent for wearing it. However, I had to admit this coat was the only item of white clothing I had recently. I do tend to steer clear of white clothes, believing it would somehow be a magnet for stains. I made a conscious d...

With the New Year upon us, it reminds me that I need to keep one resolution I made a few years ago in the forefront. I have had   lower back troubles throughout my adult life. It plagued me whenever I would vacuum, lift something heavy or put my socks on. All of a sudden, I would feel the searing snap above my hips and my back would lock up. I was literally down for the count. It’s just plain awful when a part of your body is out of commission. It wasn't bad enough that my lower back was in spasms—soon, the pain would radiate down my leg and cause this limb to shudder. For a period of two weeks, I had to completely modify my usual routine in order to heal. Even a simple task like getting a glass of water was a torturous ordeal. It’s times like these when you really appreciate your family. My husband was terrific—he took over my domestic chores without a fuss. Also my son pitched in and was very concerned about me. When I would slightly adjust my position on th...

A few nights ago, I caught the last hour of an HBO documentary Six by Sondheim .  Unfortunately since I was late, I only got to see half of the show—3 of the 6 by Sondheim if you will.  As I watched this documentary about this very talented man, I was reminded of when I first saw one of his musicals.  Years ago, I was flipping channels in the television and happen to stumble upon A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.  I liked the title, it was unusually long. The opening song’s lyrics had such promise and grandeur as the star Zero Mostel sang in a baritone voice “Tragedy tomorrow, comedy tonight !!” I watched the comical misadventures of Pseudolus, enjoying the clever songs, such as “ Everybody Ought to Have a Maid .” I was about to write off that this was a just a silly, bawdy musical comedy, with only interest in tickling my funny bone. Then,  a duet with Michael Crawford (Hero) and Annette Andre (Philia) singing a beautiful song called “ Lovely...