Rapier's Wit

Holy cats, Batman! 🤯Has it really been 4 years since my last entry? Yes. It is long overdue...much like the Tropic of Cancer in that one Seinfeld episode. Is it ironic that my last post was about working at my local public library?  My gracious! So much has happened since that last post. For one, I no longer work for the library. I do, however, miss the camaraderie of the place and the level of family-like vibe. I worked several jobs and never found a fit. The library was the closest, but I still felt unsettled. Having worked in the same place for 21 years where I felt frustrated and underappreciated may be the reason I just refused to settle. I mean, if I am going to work until the day I die, I better make it a place that sparks joy. My current place of employment provides that and I have the greatest co-worker. That is correct. Singular.  I am co-owner of a resale and consignment shop. It sort of just happened. Working for myself is so different! I've always been employed...

I adore my Wednesdays. You may wonder why. Most people celebrate TGIF! FRI-YAY!! Fridays are okay, too. However, Wednesdays mean I am off work from the office. I get to sleep in (dogs willing). Easing into the day rather than racing to beat the clock. Wednesday means a cup of coffee tastes better because I can sip and enjoy it while watching WGN Morning News. I still have to go to work, but it is my day to work at the library. My happy workplace. As I have stated before, full-time status is not possible so I sought out employment elsewhere. Luckily, I managed to maintain my job at KPL (Kankakee Public Library). What makes it my happy place? The environment is unlike any other place I have worked. Positivity. A warm, welcoming staff. It possesses a culture unlike anywhere else. Treasuring hump-day has put many things in perspective. Still having to work yet finding myself relaxed and happy brought on an epiphany, if you will. I was presented with such contrasting work pl...

It is 12: 05 as I begin to write this. A new year has begun. Woo-freakin'-hoo! Once upon a time I viewed each new year as a welcome to hopeful new beginnings. Now, it is more about me screwing up while writing a check. ** The neighborhood yay-hoos are setting off fireworks and it irritates the piss out of me. Loud booms bring me no thrill. I'm overtired which makes Miss Riss a tad cantankerous. I could have waited until daylight to start writing this, but prefer to write while inspired - good or bad . ** Set the bar low and pretty much anything relatively okay equals something faboo except in dating and dining out. 2018 wasn't a total shit show. Early in the year I quit a job that made me absolutely miserable. The people I worked with were, to be blunt, a collection of everything I never wanted to be and prayed I never encounter again. As individuals they may have been acceptable specimens, but together they defined Mean Girls. I walked away from it and have not regre...

Happy holidays! 🍷 Merry Christmas! 🎄🎅 Merry Chrstms 🍷🍷🍷 Mefry Chrimas 🍷🍷🍷 Merf chrissssssssss 🍸🍸 mmmmerrrrrrrr 🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸🍸 heh 😴

As reported on Facebook, my sleep has been filled with oddball, subconscious visions. WEIRD dreams, yo. It seemed a perfect blog topic. It could become a regular thing. If my dreams do not fulfill the spot I might suggest friends report their sleepy time oddities to me. Anonymity would be the name of the game, naturally. As for me, there's no shame in my game. Typically, my dreams aren't vivid. From time to time there will be one but recall is fleeting as I'm awakened by my 53 year old bladder. In an effort to quickly fall back to sleep once nature's call has been answered, I don't allow my brain to explore what had been experienced during nocturnal slumber. Weird dream #1: In this dream I was dating one of my favorite characters from my absolute favorite television program: Schitt's Creek. If you haven't seen it yet, but are a fan of Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara (Second City TV and Christopher Guest flick fame), you must find it. I watch it on P...

Well, the holiday season is in full swing. This year you won't be getting a bah humbug from dear ol' St. Riss.(Yeah, I saw that mighty eye-roll.) via GIPHY Sorry (not sorry) about the seizure inducing GIF. As my previous post expressed, it has been a mighty long time. Usually, by this gift giving season, yours truly finds all the cheerfulness quite menacing. It all starts with the 30 days of gratitude in November. This year, I do have plenty to bitch and moan about, and I will surely share some of those laments later because it can be entertaining. At this very moment, however, I feel content. If you are reading this and aren't a friend in reality nor are you a friend on Facebook -- who hasn't unfollowed or hidden my posts -- then it is new to you that I no longer work for Lenscrafters after 21 years of employment with the optical giant retailer. They decided a one hour lab was no longer needed in several locations including the one where I was a manager. Suck...

Time certainly does fly. However, it isn't always because one is having fun. Nearly three years have gone by since I last submitted an entry in this space. Pinpointing why I ceased publishing my thoughts and ramblings escapes me. Loss of a muse. Perhaps the increase of click-bait on social media derailed my readership. Possibly, it's because people had no desire to click on a link, read what I had written. Writing became less about me and more about me trying to please the masses. So, here we are again. What shall we chat about? So much has occurred in 154 weeks. Worry not. I shall not bore you with the trite details. Major life changes that may come up in future posts. Rather than force words to flow onto the page, I choose an organic form of composition. Essentially, when the mood strikes me to share my mental jibber jabber. Please save the link to this blog. Check in from time to time. Share it with your friends and followers. I'll write whether or not anyone els...

It is FINALS week at my son's university, much like the majority of colleges around the country. He has always put forth a lot of effort to achieve good grades. There are times, despite his studying and perfect attendance, the good grades do not materialize.  As a parent, I try to encourage him without nagging. He resides with me. I see him studying. He stays up late working on essays, homework, etc... I pray a lot for his success.  Today happens to be my mother's birthday. She died from ovarian cancer in June of 1981. It doesn't matter how many years pass, I miss her. There are times it is even more painful. She loved to sing. Her passion for music has always been evident in my family. On Facebook early this morning I posted that it was my mom's birthday. At the moment I hit send, I began to cry. It has been quite some time that I wept over missing her - not that it lessens what her absence means. I put out a wish for her to assure me she was with me. Ba...

This post is from August 22, 2010! Man, what a difference 5 years makes. I've been through a lot in that time. One major change is that ... well, the change has occurred and the subject matter of the post below is moot. However, it is amusing to me all the same. I found it while looking through notes posted on Facebook. I didn't realize they existed anymore. I thought Facebook had done away with them long ago. Anyway, enjoy my ramblings about being 45 and facing hormonal changes. Also, enjoy my collar bones and singular chin in the photo to the left. I'd lost over 40 lbs. I'm mega fatter in comparison now. Sadness. Working on that again.  Right to the point: I'm a girl who has needed a check up from the neck up. Thumbing through the Yellow Pages for a shrink isn't what is inferred. Although, that would probably do me a world of good. After all, there are plenty of reasons for the manner in which I act and react to situations in my life. Knee jerk reactions t...

Today was my three month check-up. In August chemotherapy for breast cancer was completed. Oof. What a freakin' year that was for me ... for my son. Hell is a great way to describe it. I refuse to call it a journey. To me, a journey implies something fantastic and adventurous. Cancer and the treatment is torturous ride through hell. The only upside is that treatment is available, it was caught earlier enough, and I have decent insurance. Something a lot of people assume about cancer treatment is that the patient will lose weight. Nope. Not always the case and certainly not the case for breast cancer patients. Weight GAIN is most common. Whoopie! Just what a gal wants. No appetite yet you pack on the el-bees. So, I'm heavier than ever in my life. Every day is a reminder that although I am alive (thank you modern medicine), cancer will haunt me forever. Angst strikes at the most unexpected times. As anyone who has struggled with the scale, weight is difficult to lose, but it ...

This was originally written October 24, 2009. It popped up on Facebook's "On This Day" feature.  Today is Saturday and next Saturday is Halloween. I requested the day off. It wasn't really necessary since my son is 15 and no longer dresses up and sets out as a beggar for the night pleading for candy. Those days of knocking on doors and holding out your bag (in my case a pillow case) seem to be dwindling. Because of the lack of porch stomping, costumed children I make certain to buy candy we like. Left overs must be pleasing.  It's a shame that the children of today have to miss out on the random hijinx of days gone by. Maybe I'm off base and the kids from less fortunate areas are taking a charter bus to the affluent neighborhoods. I know we weren't above that. We'd convince someone's parent or, more likely an older sibling who could drive, to take us out where it was rumored that full size candy bars were being handed out. The last yea...

No. The Rapier household does not have a washer and dryer yet. The water that comes into my house is rusty. I don't want discolored whites. Orange, in this case, is not the new black. The plumbing and water heater are all relatively new. The pipes from the main water line to the house, however, is as old as running water, I am told. So, with that in mind, I do not invest in the modern convenience of having the units in my rental home. And no, I don't want to buy additional laundry additives that takes the rust out of the wash water. I did that when we lived in the country and it ruined my cottons. Sheesh. For your viewing pleasure. He was not at the laundromat today. He's on loan from LovingMaleModels on Instagram Today was a much needed laundry day. The idea of spending my first weekend off in over six weeks (last weekend) in a laundromat held absolutely zero appeal. Additionally, the weekends are the busiest time of the week to visit said laund-O-rama. Being there d...

Razors are expensive. If you go to the drugstore or super store, they are in special dispensing shelving units. Some even go so far as having a lock on them. My guess is they are considered a high dollar item that is easily shoved in pockets. Cheap razors delivered to your door are available from a couple different companies. The one that caught my attention is Dollar Shave Club.  The original  commercial was clever. The others that followed were equally humorous. I've been a member for a couple of years. The package I opt for is the four blade razor. That is only $6.00 per shipment. My body hair has never been wild and woolly. If I chose to, I could easily count the hairs on my legs. Ever since chemo, my underarm hair barely exists. Luckily, the hair on my head came back thicker!  OK, so back to shaving. Monthly shipments are unnecessary since I'm far from wolfy. Each shipment received comes with a nifty bathroom reader called The Bathroom Minutes . It is like t...

My house is a filth pit and I blame Netflix. For years we have had a Netflix subscription. Long before streaming was available I paid $14.99 per month to have unlimited DVDs sent to my home. The only real reason I maintained my cable subscription was for my son who was a youngster. He needed entertainment between school, homework and video games. Anyway, it was all about the movies. If there were television series available I did not bother because it seemed such a, well, a bother. Flash forward to the age of streaming video! It took me quite awhile to catch on. We accessed it through my son's Wii gaming system in the earlier days. If there wasn't a great movie available, I did not partake in what my $7.99 per month afforded. There was no original programming that I know of back then. When the makers of Arrested Development  announced they would be creating a new season exclusively for Netflix I about doo-dooed my pants. It was then that I discovered a lot more was availa...

Music is almost always playing in our house. My son often has ear buds in. He'll listen to a variety of tunes. Often, he will listen to variations of the same song. We sing in the car together. Mostly, on those occasions, we are tweaking the lyrics to humor ourselves. My kiddo was never in choir. The only concert he sang in was in 2nd grade Christmas. His struggle to maintain the choral stance on a riser was a true test. His Asperger's Syndrome diagnosis made it difficult. Still, he had love of music. He was in band (trombone) for a couple of years. It wasn't his true love, but he stuck with it until scholastic requirements meant he couldn't take band as an elective. I have a love of musical theater and talked him into auditioning for a couple of shows. He enjoyed it. It is structured socialization. Plus, it was mother-son time without me appearing to be a helicopter mom striving to have quality time. Mancub is now a sophomore in college. He transferred to the loc...

Years ago on this blog I used this image as part of my header. In the early years it was called WildHair . With that in mind, the wigs made sense. What brings it forth today? Well, I was perusing my blog image photo album. Had I been consistent with writing a year ago, this image could have been used as I decided which hair style to don. Chemo made me bald. Most of the time I preferred not to put anything on my head because hot flashes were intense. Head coverings simply made it unbearable. Scarves and hats were my staple until I returned to work. Then, I really wanted to look less like a cancer patient and just blend in. Wigs gave me license to be playful in a way I had never been with my hair in the past. I bought long, short; dark and light auburn; brunette. NEVER blond. Not that I didn't try it out. I looked washed out and terrible. My natural hue is salt and pepper. There was consideration given to sporting that shade, but why? Why not be adventurous? After what I had en...

Today may be September 22, but this gal isn't succumbing to autumn just yet. Here in the Midwest we were robbed of summer. With June being one big torrential downpour, I demand a month extension of sum,sum,summertime!! Like many people, my son and I were enslaved by the sump pump and overflowing water table. We don't live terribly far from the banks of the Kankakee River.We both got our share of exercise running up and down the basement stairs to jiggle the pump. Every 20 minutes day after day after day we dealt with that blasted thing attempting to prevent the basement from flooding and damaging the furnace. I guess the saving grace in all of it is that the under dwelling of the house is more like a constructed cave instead of it being additional living space. I give you actual footage during a downpour that included tornado warnings. Eek! My son was a total champ. In some ways it was a blessing he hadn't found full-time employment. His round the clock job was manning ...

Whoa! So much time between posts. What gives, man?  A quick synopsis: Cancer Chemo Radiation Scans Blood work No more cancer 50th birthday  The most earth shattering event ... we cancelled cable!! I'm also no longer strapped to a wireless contract. I know what freedom truly feels like, kids. Although, Netflix has me wrapped around its little finger. For a time, Amazon Prime streaming held me in its grasp. Rather than renew, I sweated through the withdrawals ... or was that menopause? Anyway, Netflix provides us with plenty of entertainment. Cutting the cord was not nearly as traumatic as I had always pictured it being.  When I called the demon company to cancel I was prepared for battle. If you ever had an AOL account and tried to end the relationship you know what I am talking about. You get passed from automated message to automated message that declares you're next to be helped. Then, a human being answers. However, you press 1 out of habit and accidentally...

A week and a half ago I awoke with pain in my jaw. More specifically, my tooth. This particular tooth has a crown, which by no means equals royalty of the molar world. In the past it has given me a bit of issue, but nothing alarming. X-rays would indicate it was just me clenching my jaw when I slept.In the past, my dentist would readjust it to suit my goofy bite. So, my chemotherapy treatments are scheduled on Wednesdays. Every Wednesday. The treatment I was due to receive is what I call the mega-dyna-whoppin' treatment. That one packs a wallop. Before getting that treatment blood work is done and I meet with my oncologist or nurse practitioner to have vitals checked and to discuss the blood work results. If the stars are aligned then treatment is a go. Sadly, my platelets were not high enough to safely deliver the infusion. So, it had to be postponed. The lighter of the treatments was given with hopes the following week my platelets would be higher. Enter funky tooth. A visit ...

The last time I wrote on this blog was May 12, 2014. So much has happened since that last post. On May 29, 2014 I had an ultrasound guided biopsy on my left breast. There were a couple other lumps that were aspirated. The large lump discovered near my armpit was biopsied. It would only be three days until the call came from the doctor's office. At work, I still insisted the nurse tell me what was discovered. "Invasive ductal carcinoma." I wrote it down on a Post-It along with the appointment to see the surgeon the following day. It was business as usual until I hung up the phone and it hit me. My co-worker said I said catatonic for what seemed 10 minutes. She insisted I just go home which broke my numb state. Sliding the Post-It toward her I broke into tears. In a panicked state, I dialed the doctor's office pleading that he see me immediately. He was in surgery, but the nurse would try to contact him. We hung up and I called my Breast Health Navigator. She talk...