That’s how I try to live my life! Lately though, the last week specifically, I have found myself struggling because I miss Sarah, work is crazy, my ears hurt, my throat hurts, I have no energy, and I miss Sarah! All that to say that I’ve been finding it hard to “perform with commitment, humility and love” this week but as I set everything aside to write this week’s blog post, I will attempt to “put all power that I have into it” because somehow, this crazy blog does connect to my soul.
This week has been so crazy busy and emotionally draining that I’ve had to turn to medicine to get me through the week. For those of you who know me well, you’ll know that I’m pretty much anti-medicine unless, of course, it’s really needed (i.e. I don’t pop an Advil or Tylenol every time I feel ill!). So I’m sure you’re wondering what kind of medicine I’ve been taking this week. Well, I found the best medicine to cure my aching heart, to calm my nerves, to help me focus and to increase my energy. That medicine is…wait for it…laughter!!! That’s right; laughter is what’s gotten me through this week. Tacky, yes! But oh so true!
“Laughter is the best medicine.” ~ Proverb
Tonight, I had a great laugh with one of the funniest people I know…my brother! Not only does he inspire me, he has the ability to boost me up when I need it the most. Most people (especially our parents!) get really annoyed by my brother and me when we’re together because we act a little nutty. Something like “lollygag pernicious” can keep us laughing for days. Almost every time we talk, we bring up the “so you get the game for free” incident of 2011. I know that doesn’t mean anything to you but to us, it’s a split-your-ass laughing reference. The best thing about phone conversations with my brother is when we try to say goodbye. I can see how people would get annoyed by us. It takes us a long time to hang up because of the endless “you hang up, no, you hang up” and the “love you soon, talk to you too”. My bro is a funny guy which makes me a lucky girl!
Also nominated for best laughter of the week is my wonderful daughter, Sarah. The best medicine she provided came via text message so I thought I’d share a couple of our text conversations that made me chuckle this week:
Sarah kindly sent me a text message to let me know that I had a typo in the first sentence of last week’s blog post “Chopin-inspired Risotto”. I quickly corrected the error then I received another text message from Sarah that cracked me up. Here’s the conversation:
Sarah: Typo in the first sentence of your blog.
Me: Damn! Where?
Me: Found it…”I’ve”
Sarah: Yep
Me: Nice way to start my blog…with an error :(
Sarah: I wonder how many people closed the page as soon as they saw that :P you’re losing readers with your stupidity.
Me. That comment cracked me up and made me want to cry all at the same time :)
Sarah: I was kidding, don’t get all worked up.
Me: It was hilarious!!!
Me: I need to incorporate that into an upcoming blog post :)
Sarah: Everything I say or do may be used against me in a blog
Me: Precisely!
Here’s the second text conversation that had me peeing my pants:
Sarah: I’m taking a nap so please don’t text me, but could you order….
Me: I’ll call the lady to place the order. Have a good nap. Text me later.
Sarah: Dear lord! I told you not to text me!
Me: LOL!!! Sorry.
Sarah: Stop, seriously. I will disown you or file for emancipation or whatever.
My kid is hilarious!!! Thanks for all of that medicine this week, Sarah! :)
Of course, another funny person in my life is my BFF. When we’re together, we are as silly as can be. We pretty much turn into 10 year old girls with our incessant giggling. Because I’ve been overwhelmed with work this week, I’ve spent very little time with BFF this week so I don’t have any “funnies” to share with you but if you’ve read most of my blog posts, you know that hanging out with BFF can cure any ailment! She dishes out some of the best medicine a girl can ask for :)
Even though I’m bombarded with work this week, I still found myself sitting in front of the television quite a bit watching Gilmore Girls, Dancing with the Stars, The X Factor (I had to see what the fuss was all about!) and The Big Bang Theory. Although some would say that watching Gilmore Girls is probably not the best show to watch whilst missing Sarah, it makes me happy and has provided quite a few laughs.
The season premiere of The Big Bang Theory was this week, and as always, it provided much needed laughter. This show has never failed to get me laughing. Every time Sheldon speaks, I laugh.
Surprisingly, Dancing with the Stars actually provided some laughter instead of only invoking sympathy for the people who are humiliating themselves on this show. I’m not sure why but whenever someone gets hurt, I laugh. I don’t mean, fall off of the roof and break your back kind of hurt (that would definitely not make me laugh…I’m not that much of a masochist!) but rather stubbing your toe, getting your toe run over by a bicycle, hitting your funny bone, lightly hitting your head, pinching your finger in the door, or getting kicked in the groin (or as kids today say: “getting tea-bagged”…is that right? I’m trying to be hip but I think I’m failing!). Okay, for the people on receiving end, not so funny but for me, I can’t help but laugh. Maybe it’s a nervous reaction but nonetheless, there’s laughter involved. Take a look at what made me laugh on Dancing with the Stars this week (go to 1:23 in the video):
I don’t know about you but I found myself rewinding that scene over and over again. So freaking funny!!!
Like I didn’t watch enough television programming this week (so much for being tv-free!), I decided to sign up for Netflix. For those of you who don’t know, Netflix is an online service provider for streaming television shows and movies. You pay a monthly fee and have unlimited access to online movies and tv shows. You can watch it on your laptop, iPad, iPhone or television through Wii or Playstation. It’s pretty cool! Anyways, the first movie I watched was Along Came Polly which is one of the most hilarious movies EVER! Check out my favourite scene:
Again, I had to rewind that scene over and over again. The tears were dripping down my face. Yes, there’s definitely something wrong with me! :P
Last year, while watching Big Brother, I sent this video to BFF. She knows how much I love the scene in Along Came Polly, so much so that I included the “Best man is the house” reference in my Maid of Honour speech at her wedding but sadly she didn’t even catch the reference (she was struggling to compose herself!). Because she knows that I love that scene, I thought she should know that the following scene from Big Brother (2010) made me pee my pants (not literally!). Here’s the e-mail that I sent with the video:
I tried recording it with my camera over a dozen times but kept laughing so I had to start over. This is the best I can do...it's still a little jumpy because I'm keeping the laughter inside. OMG it's hilarious…I'm so sadistic :O
Wow...I can’t stop laughing long enough to type. I just don’t know how anyone can say “I ripped my whole ass” with such a straight face. Go ahead, try saying it!
Did you find any of the above funny? Ever wonder why some things are funny to one person but not to another? Don’t worry, I don’t have a mathematical equation that will help us figure it out but I'm sharing the link to a great CBC Radio segment on laughter which tries to answer the question “why do we laugh?” It’s an enlightening conversation about laughter. I especially enjoyed the part about how women or men laugh/giggle when they’re around someone they’re attracted to due to nervousness. How many different laughing situations or types of laughter are there? Nervous laughter, “that’s really funny” laughter, “you’re an idiot” laughter, people getting hurt laughter, pity laughter, laughing at myself laughter, piss my pants laughter, awkward laughter, contagious laughter, belly laughter, calorie-burning laughter, making fun of you laughter, makes me cry laughter,...any other types of laughter?
In addition to getting a crack out of people hurting themselves (again, it’s not when someone is seriously hurt…geez!), I especially like laughing at myself. I’d like to say that it doesn’t happen often but the truth is that it does. It seems that as I get older, there’s more and more laughter directed at me, from me (and others too, I’m sure!). How is it that so much about me makes me laugh?
Well, this week, I found me laughing at me more often than usual because it was the only thing I could do to stop myself from crying. So sad! I know :(
You need not feel sorry for me though because after numerous “I’m-not-going-to-cry-so-instead-I’ll-laugh” situations, I did end up smiling. From almost crying to laughter to smiles…sounds like a great transition! I think these situations have taught me that even though I want to cry, the situations really are not that bad and I need to just suck it up!
“I’m-not-going-to-cry-so-instead-I’ll-laugh” Situation #1:
On Wednesday morning, I was blow drying my hair so I bent over to blow dry the hair on the top of my head, and as I was bending over, my glasses fell off of my face, onto the floor in two pieces. Oh no! You should know that I was running late and had to leave in 15 minutes to see Dr. Acupuncture. I struggled to find the crazy glue (you try looking for crazy glue in a junk drawer without your glasses!) then I struggled to glue my glasses together. I ended up with crazy glue all over my hands and on one of my lenses. I now have a crazy glue smear on my lense which will not come off. What did I want to do in this situation? I wanted to cry! What did I do instead? I laughed! So much so, I’m not sure if it was the tears of laughter in my eyes that were hindering my ability to crazy glue my glasses together or if it was simply my lack of vision. It’s shocking to me how blind I am without my glasses! Well, I guess it’s the universe telling me that it’s time to buy new glasses.
“I’m-not-going-to-cry-so-instead-I’ll-laugh” Situation #2:
On Wednesday, I ended up getting to my appointment with Dr. Acupuncture on time but once there, I ended up crying so it probably shouldn’t fall within this category but I did end up laughing at myself for crying. So that counts too, right? Why did I cry? Well, Dr. Acupuncture does the Chinese cupping on my back and shoulders sometimes to help my frozen shoulder. In the moment, it’s extremely painful especially for someone like me who
“I’m-not-going-to-cry-so-instead-I’ll-laugh” Situation #3:
On Saturday night, I was invited to attend a Gala. It was a fancy event that required fancy attire. Unfortunately, due to my now duo bum shoulders, I was unable to get dressed in my fancy attire which meant I had to cancel. Why was I unable to get dressed? Well, I couldn’t get any of my dresses over my head and onto my body. Did I want to cry? Of course, I did. Instead, I laughed. I laughed at the hilarity of watching me trying to get dressed. I probably could have pulled a Houdini and gotten into my dress but I doubt that same Houdini move would have allowed me to get out of the dress which means I’d have to cut the dress off of me or get someone to help me out of the dress. Since Sarah’s not here, I’m sure BFF would have volunteered to help me but I would have had to call her in the middle of the night to come rescue me. Unless, of course, I got lucky at the event and ended up coming home with a handsome young man who graciously helped me out of my dress but we all know that I’m not that kind of girl (ahem!). What really made me laugh was thinking that the situation was better than not being able to get into my dresses because they no longer fit me (especially considering my addiction to all things sugar!).
“I’m-not-going-to-cry-so-instead-I’ll-laugh” Situation #4:
On Wednesday night, while wearing my contact lenses, I started fitness class with BFF. Her sister is the instructor so it’s an awesome class but because of my bum shoulders, I’m really not able to do most of the exercises. Instead of crying at how pathetic I look in the fitness class, I laughed at myself. Then I found myself laughing at others who don’t have bum shoulders yet were unable to do some of the exercises (BFF…ahem!) . If you can’t laugh at yourself and others at fitness class, when can you laugh?!?
“I’m-not-going-to-cry-so-instead-I’ll-laugh” Situation #5:
There’s no specific day for these “laughing matters” but it’s been happening to me so much that I must include it in this blog post because it really does make me laugh. It’s my inability to speak. What do I mean? Well, when I’m trying to say “simulate” but instead I say “stimulate”, it makes me laugh. Or when I’m trying to think of the word “extort” but instead say “escort” or when I want to seem really smart so I try to put “enigmatic” in a sentence but instead I say “enema”. Those are moments when I want to cry because I feel so dumb but instead of crying, I laugh at myself.
“The person who knows how to laugh at himself will never cease to be amused.” ~ Shirley MacLaine
Since the day Sarah
If you’re interested in making ratatouille, here’s the recipe:
RATATOUILLE, RATATOUILLE, RATATOUILLE
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 small eggplant, cubed
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
3 to 4 small zucchini or 1 large zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 handfuls of spinach, chopped
1 package of tofu, diced
Basil
Oregano
Thyme
Parsley
Directions:
In a 4-quart Dutch oven or saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onions and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 6 to 7 minutes. Add eggplant; stir until coated with oil. Add zucchini; stir to combine. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep vegetables from sticking.
Add tomatoes, tofu, spinach and herbs; mix well. Cover and cook over low heat about 15 minutes, or until eggplant is tender but not too soft.
“The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter.” ~ Mark Twain
mother, please look up "tea-bagging" in a dictionary and revise your blog.. that was semi-pornographic.
ReplyDeleteLMAO....Sarah I was just going to type that in this comment.... Your mother knows not what she blogs, but we love her anyway. :P
ReplyDeleteHere's the link for the scene from "I Love You Man"
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W3NERMKIBM