The Fool's Fodder

I think I am done here

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Merry Christmas to all my readers… all one or two of you (hope you are able to tear yourself away from Facebook to read this HA!) You are the greatest bunch of people I have never met And I hope that 2010 is everything you need and want it to be!

And to all a good night

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I hate that Thanksgiving is ignored, but I don’t think I will have much time this week to switch templates twice. I am lucky I had time to install and tweak this one.. let me know if ya see anything wonky.

Tanks

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Seems like every place you go, they want you to get their rewards card. No fees blah blah blah… but they track your spending and then give you bonuses. And they all have those cute little put it on your key-chain fob thingamajig. I have them all on a separate ring (where I keep the keys I don’t use as often. The grocery store ones are neccessary can’t get the sale prices without it (course if you forget then they can just scan the store copy) this irks me. And now I have more fobs than keys on this ring. (got a new one Saturday from Toys R Us, for every $150 you spend they send you a $5 gift card. Course I spend that in gas just getting over to TRU, but it may be useful with all the fall/winter birthdays and Christmas coming up.) I like the email coupons too.. My place of business uses those as well. We have them for a couple restaurants as well. Anything to boost business I guess. I hope it helps. These are scary times we are living in!!

What would be great would be the ability to earn cash back bonus points for the amount of bullshit you have to endure in any give week. This would be great for me, given the insane family I married into. They are just unbelievable. Truly unbelievable. And I wonder sometimes if this is something they strive for, because trust me they are over achievers in this area. In the last two weeks alone I would have enough in my rewards bank for.. maybe a cruise.. for the four of us! Yesterday took the cake. My MIL decided she wanted to spend some time with my daughter. Guess the fact that she has no friends to speak of and her daughter (SILw/MS) is grating on even her last nerve has taken it’s toll. So she invited the Drama Queen out for the day, they were to see a play at the local college (where MIL works) and then take a tour. I guess MIL had it in her mind she was now going to discuss my daughters future with her.. because it is obviously her place to do so. Well apparently she got her times messed up and the play had ended Saturday so they shopped a bit instead after the tour and then went back to her place where she then… unloaded a whole mess of past bullshit going as far back as the divorce when The Mr was 8 years old… She also quizzed her about her boyfriend and let it be known that she has had many boyfriends over the years. I am a least grateful that she did not go into detail, like she did when she told me ALL about them. So of course DQ comes home in an odd mood and tells us all this stuff… she even admitted that The Mr would never kick his 16 year old kid out to live in his car like she did. (To this day there has never been an apology for that. She still insists that she was doing the best that she could.) Course we also filled her in on the stuff that was left out and tried to give her a less one sided view of what really went on. But damage was done…
I think I will suggest she take SILw/MS’s kids out next so she can tell them all about their older bastard sibling and how Mommy was married once before she met Daddy. I am sure that will be next… and I am kinda hoping it is.

Maybe I am not all that much better than them after all

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Ala. woman lets daughter ride in box on top of van
ALBERTVILLE, Ala.—An Alabama woman has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child after police say she let her daughter ride in a cardboard box on top of their van. Albertville Police spokesman Sgt. Jamie Smith said the 37-year-old woman was arrested Sunday after police received a call about a minivan on a state highway with a child riding on top.

Smith said the woman told police the box was too big to go inside the van, and that her daughter was inside the box to hold it down.

Smith said the mother told officers it was safe because she had the box secured to the van with a clothes hanger.

The 13-year-old daughter wasn’t harmed and was turned over to a relative. A jail worker said the mother was out on bond Monday.

Things like this make me think mandatory sterilization… how bout you?

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Have you done your part yet? Time to give so that someday it won’t ever hurt again!

The great people behind the Boobiethon 2009 are still going strong. Let’s help them meet exceed their goal this year!!

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… perfect for forgetting to put KK’s snacks and lunch in his backpack.. he has to have his first snack just after the day starts. Did my little drive of shame.. now I am off to work, where I hope to not lose it. Melt down is imminent

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For Boobies! I will see if I can manage to keep this theme through the Boobiethon … might have to come up with a picture this year, since I am low on funds…. hmmm… maybe

Also what happened to my HTML buttons? I must have farked something up.. or am I smokin sumthin and they never existed??

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Yeah so quiet! Kids are off for the first day of school, both excited and anxious. KK has to get up at 6:30 in order to be ready for his scheduled school lunch… will make things interesting at home in the evening. But… we will make it work.

SO Oct is just around the corner… time to think about Boobies

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The Duggars are expecting #19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Having this new pretty blog… and no time to write or play!

BOOOOOOOOOO!

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I think I got all the links I had before over there… can’t remember anymore than what I have now.. if you aren’t listed lemme know. Now to figure out the acronym thingy….

Oh, did I install the twitter thing yet?

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It’s called Lazy Day…. had quite a few of those last week. Had a tough time finding anything I like, found one I loved, except for the images… found another that broke the page.. ugh! So here for now… until I get some ambition or something better comes along

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Here we are in our new home… isn’t it… plain and unexciting? As much as I would love to play with templates I must go to work. I do have the next two days off so I will play some more around back to school shopping and housework, and laundry etc.

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Just spent some time playing with some PHP… and I remember now how much I LOVED PHP. Really! No sarcasm. I loved it. Once I started learning it I was hooked… unfortunately I am behind some. Good thing I am a quick study. And yes my friend. That does mean a WP conversion is coming. It will most likely have to wait until school starts so I have a day to myself without appointments etc… but that gives me time to come up with a kickass theme!

I am getting excited about blogging again. I am thinking about incorporating some of the nablopomo ideas.. maybe not month long, but as categories can’t hurt. At least it will give me some place to go when I have the ol’ writers block! Even if everyone is leaving the “blogisphere” for facebook, there is a lot in me that needs outing.

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Dear ExpressionEngine User,

Our records indicate that your ExpressionEngine download account will expire in 30 days.

Your current copy of ExpressionEngine is yours to use forever, but in order to continue being able to download new versions and updates you must renew your subscription by August 29, 2009.

The cost of renewal is $19.95 for one year.

To renew your subscription please visit the ExpressionEngine Store at:

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If you have questions regarding your renewal please direct them to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for using ExpressionEngine! We appreciate your support!

Sincerely,
The EllisLab Team

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Goodbye Kodachrome

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I have said time and again how I think it is wrong to not be completely truthful with your children. Yeah we tell the little white lies about Santa and the Easter Bunny, etc., those are pretty harmless. What is on my mind today are the things SILw/MS is keeping from her children.. IE the fact that she was married for a year to an idiot for a year before she met their Dad.. and that their Dad has a kid from a previous relationship. They have an older sibling! SILw/MS has gone to lengths to keep this information from then, even making her mother take down a picture of The Mr and I that was taken at their wedding. Guess she doesn’t want any questions asked about where it was taken. So now she has made MIL, The Mr. & I, and The Drama Queen (who was three and remembers the first husband quite well) all accomplices in these omissions. If any of these kids ever come to me and ask the question, I will not lie. And really, I don’t get what the big deal is. So she was married before and he knocked up an old girl friend. I would want to know if I had another brother or sister out there somewhere. I had wondered if it was a moral thing maybe? But then when SILw/MS and her husband were married, their son together was in the wedding (he was 11 months old and crawled down the aisle so cute, but she cried cuz she wanted him to be walking by then.) so obviously they aren’t preaching to save it for marriage. Though knowing her she probably would anyway. She is a “Do as I say and not as I do” kinda person, ya know?

Anyway, before I get all heated about all that again. Who’s the hypocrite? Me I think. The weekend before last we went to ME to see my nephew graduate from high school. My parents went too. My mom showed up at my sisters house about an hour before we were supposed to leave totally shitfaced. My sister was already upset that her husband was late getting back from a call (he is a paramedic and she wanted him to pull his time at 10am but he stayed on until noon and of course got a call around 11:30 which had him out longer than she wanted) My Nephew was already gone when my parents arrived and my parents left the school before the graduates left the stage (we had to sit in the bleachers and my Dad’s back was killing him.) Since my sister had blasted my Mom at her house they went back to their motel instead of going back to the house after (his party was the night before and we were pretty much getting ready to go home after the ceremony) I don’t think Nephew even realized they didn’t come back since his buddies all came over, but my sister decided to tell him all about it. Which put him on a rant about it part if which he felt the need to post on Facebook. Don’t know if I have mentioned it before but my Dad has a Facebook account and I am pretty sure he saw it. In this instance I am thinking that Nephew didn’t need to know that his alcoholic grandmother showed up drunk for his graduation. All that truth did was hurt him. We all know she has a problem, obviously, so that wasn’t news to anyone, and no one really should have been surprised that it happened to begin with. I am sure that the drinking started well before the graduation party the night before and went on after they left.

I am by no means trying to hide what happened.. guess putting it out here on the internet is proof of that, though you will notice no names are used here… that is just to keep me out of the search engines though. I guess I really would have tried to protect my kid from that… probably goes back to the guilt I feel for subjecting my children to that behavior for 4 years while we lived with them… maybe I am just posting it here to try and work through it all..

Or maybe I am just a hypocrite when it comes to my family over The Misters family… That though has occurred to me as well

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The song on the last post was written by Richard Marx, I was going to post the mp3.. maybe I still will. The words themselves are so powerful, but to hear is sung just gets to me. He wrote it about his Dad who passed away a few years back. It is on the new ‘album’ (guess they don’t call them albums anymore, but I still do) that he released recently. I have it on my iPod, which I have worn out listening it.

At the time I made the previous post, my Dad was sick. He is better now, but still having some issues. It is all a long story.. he had a in office procedure, then ended up in the hospital with an infection. It was so scary… He is now on a whole cabinet full of medication.

It has just been a horrible couple months and as much as I wanted to get it out all, I didn’t want to give it life by putting it down here. Though it was pretty impossible to just ignore. I guess though that I am very grateful that he went to see the doctor in the first place. Losing my uncle last year put that in motion. I imagine having some one your age just drop dead has to make you think. My mom is planning on getting her stuff taken care of too. She is way over due. She has marked her calendar for September, after Dads stuff is all taken care of and their vacations are over. That is how she deals. I don’t think I would be looking forward to having a camera shoved up my ass either.

So.. that is what has been going on. Other than that I have been working my butt off, literally actually, I am down another 10 lbs. I was quite shocked to see that, I have been avoiding the scale. I just keep reminding myself what that # would be if I actually had been exercising (besides running around the store for 6 hours a day)

Oh also! I was told at the beginning of the school year that they would need me to go along with my son if he had any field trips, if I couldn’t the nurse would have to go along. No problem! I think.. that would be fun I think…. next think you know it is April and they haven’t had a single one. I figure it just isn’t in the budget. Then I get the phone call… and I get a list of dates… FIVE field trips one in May and then 4 in June… then I get the notice home that they send to all the parents and there is a 6th added… So my work schedule for June looks like Swiss cheese… but it is cool. Get to go to Plimouth Plantation on the 2nd. Haven’t been there since I was his age so that is cool. The week after that is the Tom Thumb Museum.. been dying to go there myself. The week after that is the Jenny Grist Mill. Then there are two walking trips the following week to the town playground for a picnic and to the library. Then school is out for the summer and I have to figure out how to find time for The Drama Queen to take drivers ed. Good lord!

AND… this domain is expiring in a couple weeks… I don’t think I am ready to give it up yet… but I am not sure if I want to spend the $$… hmm…

Anyway.. there’s my update…. finally…

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Through My Veins

I SAW YOU IN THE WINDOW
OF A CAFÉ I PASSED BY
AND THOUGH CLEARLY MY REFLECTION
IT WAS YOUR FACE I RECOGNIZED
AND AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
I’M STILL RIGHT HERE
WHERE YOU LEFT ME
AND I’VE BEEN CALLING OUT
BELIEVING YOU WOULD ANSWER
BUT I’LL TRY TO LET GO NOW
CAUSE IT’S YOU RUNNING THROUGH MY VEINS

OH, OH
IT’S YOU RUNNING THROUGH MY VEINS

More later….I PROMISE!

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I have lost my joy… and even worst I can’t remember what it was I liked to do when it was just me alone chillin….

I picked up my camera today for the first time in forever… took a couple pictures of the trees out back.. then put it away. Just wasn’t feeling it… in the old days I could have snapped off a whole roll of film without even thinking about it

Over there on the night stand is not one but two Stephen King books… barely into the second chapter of one, and haven’t even opened the second. In the old days I would be buried in one of his books until it was done and then I would be in mourning that it was over.

I have a cross stitch project I promised my brother and SIL for their wedding… haven’t even started it. The floss is pulled out and the Aida is on the hoop… that is as far as I have gotten.

My blog has been neglected

I have no desire to create a new template, but I am so sick of this one…

I could go on and on, but I won’t I am depressing myself. Or maybe that should be depressing myself more.

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So…. I have been meaning to post about this for a while.. I guess I have just wanted a different outcome… but oh well…

So last summer my daughter asks if she can set up a facebook account. Her cousins both have them and so does her best friend etc. I tell her that I will sign up and check out the security etc and if I find it acceptable I will let her sign up. I had set up an account some time ago because So Lost had one, but deleted it. I had used my real name and felt extremely exposed. So anyway I signed up and put my real name in and everything… then I put my high school info and and it showed me a very small list of some people I went to school with… and there were two guys who I was pretty close with. One who was actually one of my best friends who kind of just blew me off when I decided I didn’t want to take our relationship in a romantic direction. So I send them both friend requests and forget all about facebook for a while. While on vacation in NH last summer my daughter brings it up again… since her cousins were checking out their facebook pages. I tell her to go ahead and sign up, but like Myspace I will be monitoring at all times. I decided to check out mine too just for something to do and found that both guys had Accepted and written notes to me. My husband was there that day and had a funny look on his face when I told him about it. But he was happy I had found some old friends. I moved forward feeling he was ok with me talking to a couple guys from my past. So for about a week or so I wrote back and forth with the two of them until T my former best friend who wanted more just abruptly stopped. The other guy and I are still chatting and since then more and more of my classmates have joined and we are all catching up and sharing family photos and I have also reconnected with quite a few old friends from the last 20 or so years that I have lost contact with for one reason or another. So I am having a grand old time and yet… I am still hurting over another rejection from this dill hole.. but maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with me… maybe his wife freaked out or something. Doesn’t really matter because I am seeing how rich my life is as I tell my story again and again and all these great things came with out having him in my life. If the time comes that he decides he wants to catch up some more that will be fine too. I have let bygones be bygones.

So yeah I am loving it there. And? I am me there. My whole name first last and maiden and I am enjoying being exposed and loving it. Wow!

Funny how when I first wanted to write this post it was going to be a purge of all this negative asshole did it to me again shit.. but now it was the complete opposite. Interesting… I am still growing

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Rice triumphant in final pursuit of Hall
For Jim Rice, the sting from 14 years of rejection suddenly became as far gone as many of the 382 home runs he belted during his career with the Boston Red Sox. Down to his 15th and final at-bat on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, Rice received the enormous honor of being elected into the Hall of Fame on Monday. [MORE]

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Should have done a ton of different things today, instead we stayed in bed in our pjs and finished season 1 of Torchwood. I am an official addict now. (Thank you SSG for the fix!) I’d post more but we are starting season 2 now

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Like a flower
Waiting to bloom
Like a lightbulb
In a dark room
Im just sittin here waiting for you
To come on home and turn me on

Like the desert waiting for the rain
Like a school kid waiting for the spring
Im just sitting here waiting for you
To come on home and turn me on

My poor heart
Its been so dark
Since youve been gone
After all your the one who turns me off
You’re the only one who can turn me back on

My hi-fi is waiting for a new tune
My glass is waiting for some fresh ice cubes
I’m just sitting here waiting for you
To come on home and turn me on
Turn me on

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I HEART Rik Mayall

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I am a big purging blog entry in my head that I have no time to sit down and write. Ugh! I suppose I will have time next week on one of my 5 days off

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because I did absolutely nothing. Not one G-D thing. sigh… now I have to do it all tomorrow. Ugh

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Every time I watch Biggest Loser I cry. I get how these people feel. Tonight has been worse though. The young guy who is the heaviest contestant to date reminds me of my nephew. He isn’t as big, but he could be easily. He eats his feelings just like his parents.. just like I do..

This is going to be tough!

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MIL gave us a gift card to her favorite supermarket for Christmas. This place has been raved about around here as well so we checked it out… and were left wondering what all the fuss was about. I think we could have done just as good at the place around the corner.. and saved on gas. Meh.. to each his own I guess

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Adios 2008! And Good Riddance!! Bring on the new year!

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Phew! What a week it has been! I am really glad it is over too.. Now for the let down. Oh right I am already down, can’t get much lower. Can only get better right? One more week and this shitty year will be over. The last of the store stuff will be dealt with and then we will be free of that ‘cept for the bills I am dealing with. Almost done with the apartment and hopefully will have that rented soon. We have come down on the rent so hopefully that will happen quickly…. hopefully… yes I still have hope. After all that we have been through. Amazing

For the most part I have just been riding the wave. I had been dreading the Christmas Holiday in Retail Experience™ but at the same time since the store I am working is a little different than what I have been used to, I didn’t know what to expect. I decided it was much better to just go with the flow. And that worked. I was still smiling every day and bopping when I could to the Christmas muzak. I was told by one that I was too cheery… heh! But then Tuesday I had to deal with a miserable bitch and my mood tanked. It took everything I had to try to get back to that cheery place, but I didn’t quite make it when I had to deal with another even more miserable bitch on Wednesday. I think that about ended the cheer for me. I am back to the old ugh retail mentality. I am hoping that I can get back to where I was before Tuesday… I don’t want to hate my job, because I have enjoyed it so far even when it has gotten stressful or monotonous because I work with some fun people and I knew that I was making money and because my abilities were appreciated. So… hopefully…

Yesterday we did Christmas with my family at my parents house. There was some drama but that isn’t even worth getting into. We have to figure out a way to deal with it in the future is all…. the kids made out like bandits as usual and I think the gifts we bought went over well…. I am now wishing we got the same thing for my Dad that we got my brother in law because he ooohed and ahhhed over that quite a bit. sigh! Such is life I think. My grab gift from my brother was the DVD set of The Young Ones. Anyone remember that show? Oh how I loved it! Especially Rik Mayall (Drop Dead Fred) It has been on my Amazon wishlist forever but it was so expensive that I couldn’t justify the money and never bought it myself … so I love it and feel guilty at the same time. I am hoping that the guilt I feel at him spending that much on me did not over shadow how completely thrilled I am at having this. My sister told her kids how I forced her to watch it when we were kids. Heh! She could have left the room! So I watched the first episode when we got home last night and just giggled with delight and thought.. what happened to the crash and burn I should be feeling right now? Hmm. I did do quite a bit of laughing today… actually my stomach muscles are proof of that. I got to spend time with my sister and her family… and saw almost all the babies I have been missing since I have worked almost every weekend & got tons of hugs and kisses…. hmm.. Maybe it isn’t going to be as difficult as I though to get back there. Gotta remember the big picture!!

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How I spent Christmas Eve Eve

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So we had our first Christmas get together today. Our gifts for FIL & SMIL were handmade by the kids and myself. They loved them. The ornaments are hanging on their tree as we speak. Made me very happy.

Santa’s shopping is done. I shall start my wrapping tomorrow… as well as making some more ornaments for MIL. I will need to come up with something to put them in. I am sure I have a gift bag somewhere. Can’t wait until it is all over. Still haven’t put up the tree yet. The Mr says why bother at this point. I guess we really don’t need it. The kids don’t seem bothered by it at any rate.

My only day off this week beside today is Christmas. So far I am being kept on. I am thinking good thoughts for next week. I have been told I am on the staying list, but with our current economy I know that anything is possible. One store in our plaza is currently liquidating with another possible casualty soon. Scary times!

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I am home today. Just wallowing in self pity and maybe folding some laundry… and making some ornaments for Christmas presents.. if I can get in the closet in The Karate Kid’s room. That is where my glue gun is… I hope

Found out that The Mr’s bonus won’t be coming until after Christmas. I have no money to get the kids gifts. None zero zilch big fat goose egg…Got $10 in the checking account and the car insurance and The Mr’s karate will be coming out either today or tomorrow so we will be in the red.. or even more in the red. I can make The Drama Queen understand they will get some gifts once we have that money… but The Karate Kid still believes in Santa. Ugh I am just sick about it…. don’t know what to do. we just need a couple hundred to have some things for them to open and asked The Mr if he thought his father would lend it to us.. we would give him a post dated check for repayment so he would know it was coming back…but then we already owe him $16,000 and neither of us really want to go there. He thought maybe he could ask his mother, but we aren’t sure she has it. I know my parents don’t.

Ugh what a downer I am… I don’t even want to listen to myself. Bleah!

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“unmountable boot volume” YAY!

Sigh!

Off to our visit with our Diabetic Educator… wonder what wonderful news we will hear there…

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Happy 37 to The Mr! Welcome Home Babe!

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I was supposed to have a lovely short shift today, and planned accordingly… and then they asked me to stay late, so now I am behind even more. Ugh!

I think that the boy is coming out of honeymoon phase. His BG levels have been up and down.. mostly up. We have a check up on Thursday which is good.

Pile of laundry to do, but no ambition… can’t go to work nakey though

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So The Mr left early yesterday morning for Georgia. A work thing. I got a text while at work that he had landed safely and that the hotel was nice. I was hoping for a call before bed, but didn’t get one. I am sure he was out whooping it up til all hours and will regret it this morning while sitting in his meetings. He will be home late tomorrow night. I do not enjoy sleeping alone, but I piled some extra pillows beside myself so that it was seem there was someone there. The only thing missing was the snoring.

Apparently I got The Karate Kid’s bus driver in trouble. Ya see the big kids like to pick on the little kids. The Karate Kid is one of the picked on kids. Mostly because of his friendship with the little girl across the street. She is a tiny little thing too. Anyway the kids were picking on the little girl across the street, calling her names, so The Karate Kid went and told the bus driver. The bus driver went back to talk to the kids and they denied saying anything saying instead that they were talking amongst themselves. So the bus driver then says, “Sit down Karate Kid and Stop being a tattletale.” When he told me this I was pretty pissed as you can imagine. He was pretty upset because everything we have taught him and everything he was taught in Karate was to tell an adult when something like that happened. I told him that if it keeps up he needs to talk to someone at school about it since bullying is wrong as he knows. Anyway, I mentioned it to the little girls mother the next morning and apparently she made a phone call. She said the bus driver was to be given a written reprimand this morning. Which I am glad for, but wished it could have been warmer than the 16°F weather we had this morning since she was late because of it.

Just got an email that Disc 1 of Doctor Who Season 4 is on it’s way. I am hoping we can get through season 4 before Christmas, when the season 5 teaser will be on… then comes the withdrawal before season 5 starts… We went through this with 24 too when we missed the first two seasons… played catch up then comes the withdrawal and aggravation of having to deal with commercials… although we do have the DVR now so that helps.

I am off today and really need to catch up on laundry and clean the bathroom… which I am thinking off passing off to the Drama Queen. Is that mean? Nah she wants money so she can earn some.

Had my hours cut some this week.. which is fine but my shifts suck. 11-3 leaves me little time to do much. At least I will be home before the Karate Kid gets home. I was told they want to keep me past Christmas, which is great. Just hope they can afford to do so. I have been in the game for too long to not know anything could happen

Time for breakfast. I need to take better care of myself if I am ever going to kick this stupid cold.

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Dear Fellow Constituent:

The George W. Bush Presidential Library is now in the planning
stages and accepting donations.

The Library will include:

1. The Hurricane Katrina Room, which is still under construction.
2. The Alberto Gonzales Room, where you won’t be able to remember anything.
3. The Texas Air National Guard Room, where you don’t even have to show up.
4. The Walter Reed Hospital Room, where they don’t let you in.
5. The Guantanamo Bay Room, where they don’t let you out.
6. The Weapons of Mass Destruction Room, which no one has been able to find.
7. The National Debt Room, which is huge and has no ceiling.
8. The Tax Cut Room, with entry only to the wealthy.
9. The Economy Room, which is in the toilet.
10. The Iraq War Room. (After you complete your first visit, they make you go back for a second, third, fourth, and sometimes fifth visit.)
11. The Dick Cheney Room, in the famous undisclosed location, complete with shooting gallery.
12. The Environmental Conservation Room, still empty.
13. The Supreme Gift Shop, where you can buy an election.
14. The Airport Men’s Room, where you can meet some of your favorite Republican Senators.
15. The Decider Room, complete with dart board, magic 8-ball, Ouija board, dice, coins, and straws.

Note: The library will feature an electron microscope to help you locate and view the President’s accomplishments.

The library will also include many famous Quotes by George W. Bush:

1. ‘The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.’
2. ‘If we don’t succeed, we run the risk of failure.’
3. ‘Republicans understand the importance of bondage between a mother and child.’
4. ‘No senior citizen should ever have to choose between prescription drugs and medicine.’
5. ‘I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy – but that could change.’
6. ‘One word sums up probably the responsibility of any Governor, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.’
7. ‘Verbosity leads to unclear, inarticulate things.’
8. ‘I have made good judgments in the past. I have made good judgments in the future.’
9. ‘The future will be better tomorrow.’
10. ‘We’re going to have the best educated American people in the world..’
11. ‘One of the great things about books is sometimes there are some fantastic pictures.’ (during an education photo-op)
12. ‘Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.’
13. ‘We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.’
14. ‘It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.’
15. ‘I stand by all the misstatements that I’ve made.’…George W. Bush to Sam Donaldson

PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY!

Sincerely,

Jack Abramoff, Co-Chair
G.W. Bush Library Board of Directors

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I have been reminded this past month, about all the lovely “retail” things I always enjoyed so much! Even before Halloween the Christmas stuff starts coming out. (Even earlier where I work due to the the whole crafting thing heh!) People moan and groan about that… then the big push once Halloween is over all you see is Christmas this and Christmas that. “What happened to Thanksgiving?” they ask. That’s just the way it is… and if I am to be 100% honest. I am really grateful for that.

Thanksgiving has always been a family day. A day to kick back and be with people you are sometimes too busy with life to visit with. To sit around and enjoy the people I love and just be family. No stress of getting the right gift. No fighting crowds (unless you forgot something for that dessert you were supposed to make or whatever) Even cleaning up after the super huge meal can be fun when your doing it with loved ones. Kids running playing, adults laughing and talking. Holding babies you can hand back when they get cranky.. zerberts for toddler cheeks. Ooooh is it tomorrow yet??

Do we really want to commercialize that? Hell to the NO people!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all have a happy and safe holiday! For Friday shall surely be HELL!

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Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here’s what you’re supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this post and paste into a new e-mail or blog. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you……Tis the Season to be NICE! (Found here)

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Bags are great, but it is more fun watching paper be torn

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the weekend after The Mr’s birthday

4. When do you take the tree down? New Years Day.. unless I don’t feel like it

5. Do you like eggnog? Not really

6. Favorite gift received as a child? My froggy necklace

7. Hardest person to buy for? FIL & SMIL

8. Easiest person to buy for? The little ones

9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes in a snow globe… it was a gift

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail! Only way to do it!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? The plastic travel bag from MIL last year

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Christmas Story

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? I usually start in September after school starts.. this year not so much

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes

15.Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I love all the snacky stuff

16. Lights on the tree? Yep.. multi-colored only!!!

17. Favorite Christmas song? Carol of the Bells

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? It will depend on when my sister can be with us. If that falls on Christmas Day then we go to my parents house 20 minutes away

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? You know Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen. Comet and Cupid Donner and Blitzen and of course Rudolph Heh! And a bit of trivia… Donner and Blitzen were originally called Dunder and Blixem

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? We have a start and a Father Christmas.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Ugh! We used to do one Christmas Eve and then the rest Christmas Morning, but since we go to my SIL’s on Christmas Eve then have enough to open then so the rest are done on Christmas Morning. Plus the Karate Kid still believes in Santa. At least so far

22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Bitchy shoppers

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? All the ones my Grandmother gave us over the years before she passed

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And just go there… what/when would I choose?

This was taken in a lagoon in Cancun back in 2006

How ‘bout you?

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A while back I was searching for something diabetes related and came across this site that had quotes from parents of diabetic kids. I wish I could find it again so I could send it to my inlaws. One of the quotes was something along the lines of stop eating all those vegetables and have some cookies. Another was – “You’re not going to bed until you finish your ice cream!”

I have been tweaking the Karate Kids insulin in the mornings. He was always low at his lunch time check. I had him at a good balance before halloween, which threw it off a hair, he would spike, but we knew why. So he was going along ok until last week, without candy he was seeing some higher numbers at lunch, so yesterday I added a .5 of a unit. Guess what? I got a phone call that he was low. So I decided I was right all along and went back to what I was giving him before. Then I realized that the juice boxes I bought had 10 less grams of carbs than the ones I been buying. So was I right? Or was it because he got the carbs he is supposed to instead of the extra I had been giving him… or is it something different entirely… It gets so frustrating because I feel like I am force feeding him half the time. Don’t get me wrong he is a good eater, it is just hard sometimes to come up with 60 carbs for a meal. We had it cut down at his check up a couple months ago, with an adjustment to the insulin to coincide, but we have had to go back to the 60 carbs (30+ for snacks I was doing 40 for his morning snack at school until I bought the wrong juice boxes) and I am back to force feeding again. I hate for the hour before he leaves for school to be all about me pushing him to finish and him fighting me. It sucks! And the thing that is most frustrating is I don’t know how long this will last. He is still considered to be in “Honeymoon” so any day now that could all change… or a year from now… who knows?

Anyway I just really wish I could find that page again. It was so dead on what I go through on a daily basis.

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Because I am sick of repeating myself!!!

What’s the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes?

Type 1 Diabetes is a disorder in which the body does not produce insulin (a hormone that aids in moving sugar from the blood to the cells).  This type of diabetes can be due to a virus or autoimmune disorder in which the body does not recognize an organ as its own and attacks it.  In this case the body attacks an organ known as the pancreas where insulin is made.

Those with Type 1 Diabetes are required to take insulin injections to move sugar from the bloodstream.  This type of diabetes is usually diagnosed before age 40.

Type 2 Diabetes occurs when insulin that the body produces is less efficient at moving sugar out of the bloodstream.  Some sugar is moved out of the blood, just not as effectively compared to a person with normal insulin efficiency.  High blood sugars are a result of this.

Diet, exercise, weight loss, and possible medications are the treatment for this type of diabetes.  Occasionally, someone with Type 2 may be placed on insulin to better control blood sugars.  This type of diabetes is associated with physical inactivity and obesity.  Type 2 Diabetes used to be thought of as the adult onset type of diabetes.  However, an alarming rate of children are now being diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes.

Unlike you that have Type 2, The Karate Kid can have what he wants as long as we follow a schedule and keep to the diet he has been given. He can have carbs!! Unlike you who are controling your diabetes with diet and aren’t supposed to, but do anyway. That is what the insulin injections are all about. So you can stop now with the repeated questions. They scare him and make him feel bad. He knows exactly what to do and what not to do. And so do we.

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Every moment of my day has been spend either working, or getting the second floor ready to be rented. So I am either covered in glitter or paint most days depending. I am exhausted and thinking I may be battling anemia again. Just what I need right now!

Just updated to the new build of EE. The usual drill if you see something wonky. I haven’t even had the time to check out what it was about, but I know it was a security issue

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So The Mr took time off last week to work on the apartment so we can get it rented out and I can climb out of this hole I am sinking into. (I say “I” because all the bills we have are in my name, -he pays the majority of them and I only pay a small portion, but I still freak because they are all in my name) And as he pulled the crappy tile board off the walls, he came across some problems. We didn’t have enough money for more tile board until Thursday and he had to go back to work on Friday. So FIL came over yesterday to help him get the new stuff up and clean up an electrical issue. Then they attempt to put in a new sink and vanity. While pulling the old sink out, the waste pipe crumbles… it is now broken off below the floor. That is when I walked away because the blood pressure started rising. Some how this also involved pulling the tub out as well…. The plumbing needs to be pulled out for that as well, but we were going to wait until the place was rented and go after it through our bathroom ceiling. (A money issue) Apparently not anymore. Oh and my bathroom ceiling tiles (a drop ceiling) need to be replaced again because they couldn’t get the hot water to shut off completely. It took me going down to the basement and turning a lever on the hot water heater for the second floor. Really doesn’t build any confidence in these two at all!

The walls look great though.

Today I primed doors. And pulled at least 100ft of scotch tape off of them all together. Holy hell what was up with that woman? Tomorrow I paint. Then I need to sand walls and measure for window treatments. We haven’t decided what to do about the front windows. The Tenants pulled the shades down that were there when they moved in and buried them in a pile of crap for four years so they aren’t going to cut it.. and the front windows are less than 24” wide so we are either looking at custom order blinds or cheapies that are mounted on the outside of the casings. We have blinds on ours which are directly below… and I believe the rest of the second floor is all blinds so that is probably the way to go. Besides I like them better. Wish I had helped myself to more from the store when we left!

After that I have to take care of the windows in the hallways. Of course once that is all done I will get to clean the stove and fridge and then clean up the mess made by the men. I think we should hire someone for that, but I am not Mayda Munny (Bonus points for anyone who knows who that is)

(more…)

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So yeah, time to say goodbye to the pink ribbon for another year and embrace FALL! Yay! I added a new feature to the middle column there with the twitter feed (Yeah figured out what I fracked up there, too) I wanted something where I could add little things that weren’t quite small enough to tweet and yet not big enough to warrent a blog post. So there they are The “Eyerolls” YAY!

And now I am off to spend some time with my son who turned 9 today. 9 Next year it’s the double digits! Ugh!

As always if ya see something wonky let me know

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Been a while huh? I really wanted to get this entry down before moving forward with all the other gook in my head, but it has been a couple of hectic weeks and I didn’t want to just whip something down. As I mentioned two posts ago, my uncle passed away. He was 66 years old. He and Aunt M went up to the camp on Lake Winnepesaukee along with most of my male cousins. I guess they were all planning on taking care of winterizing their boats and taking those last spins around the lake to enjoy the foliage. Around 9pm Friday night my cousins went into Wolfeboro to a bar to watch the Sox playoff game. I am not sure what time Uncle S and Aunt M arrived at the camp, but I do know that Uncle S went into the main house, while Aunt M went to the bunk house which is shared by them and my parents (each have a side) I guess Aunt M decided to go to sleep. She has some form of cancer of the blood which is in remission, and she was very tired. My cousins got back from the game around 11pm and found Uncle S in the camp, sitting in a chair. He was already cold. If there was any signs that this was to be his time, he never let on. My mom has taken this hard. He was only 11 months older than her. Her older brother who she fought with so fiercely you would have thought they invented sibling rivalry. And also her biggest protector. She often tells of a story where he nearly ripped a car door off its hinges getting her out of some guys car. Guess it was some bad boy. Mom was and still is quite naive.
  I was the first grandchild on my moms side of the family and since my mom was the only one married, I was quite spoiled. My grandfather and uncles doted on me. I was quite lucky to have all the attention to myself. Apparently this went to my head and when Uncle S married and had children of his own I got quite jealous. There are home movies to prove it. Heh!
  Uncle S and Aunt M have two children. Their daughter, who is their youngest, lives here my town, only 10 minutes away. Whenever her children had a dance recital or some other fun thing Uncle S and Aunt M would come to see them and we would inevitably run into them out to dinner at Friendly’s. My cousins favorite place. I looked forward to these times. Since we have all grown up and have our own families, it seems like the only times we see each other are weddings and funerals… and just about all of us are married.
  The wake and funeral were awful and wonderful at the same time. It was so nice to see everyone, horrible to be there for that reason, and wonderful to see the outpouring of affection for one of my favorite guys. The minister at the funeral did a really nice job. There wasn’t a lot of the “He is in a better place” shit, instead he acknowledged the pain. One thing in particular was about closure. He said he wanted the word removed from the English language, that closure represents the closing of a door. It was a word that had no place in this setting. I have to agree. He was buried at the same cemetery as my grandparents, and where my parents will be as well. It is one of those places where they do not do headstones, Just nameplates. Kind of weird that there is another cemetery almost across the street with headstones in it.
  My Dad has taken this hard as well. My Dad is two months older. He said several times it should have been him. That was hard to hear. Especially since 4 people I went to school with lost their father this year. I would like to think we have a lot more time. But this past month just makes me realize all the more that time is precious!!

OH! I can’t write about my Uncle without telling you about “Fool”. The name I have taken for this blog comes from him and my grandfather. It was one of those lovely “terms of endearment” they loved to use for each other. Just typing it can’t do it justice you have to hear the “ya fool!” to really appreciate it. That was just one of his little phrases, but it was my favorite.

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** The Massholes who decided it was fine to cut into the funeral procession. You suck!

** The Drama Queen’s Theater teacher who gave her an attitude when she explained she wouldn’t make practice due to a death in the family. You suck!

** To The Mr’s boss who had The Mr’s full-time associate call him during the funeral. You Suck!

** To whatever power thought it was a good idea to take away a husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, friend. He was only 66. You suck!

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My uncle died last night. Alone in a chair. Gotta go be with my mom

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Well it has been craaaaazy here in the Foolie house. I started my new job on the 21st. Learned the registers. I was scheduled from Noon until 5pm. I spent a couple hours watching and learning then when the person that was training me went to lunch I was put on my own register. The next day I was off then back to work Tuesday from 10am until 5pm. I was on my own register for most of the day and for part of it I was the only cashier! Hmmm. Was this general practice or where they just showing the confidence they had in me? Hmmm The day after that I got to play on the sales floor and set some planograms. Apparently I work too fast for them because they ran out of things for me to do. I also got to cover lunch breaks on the registers, all alone again. This time I was asked to answer the phones as well… I had to ask then how to put a call on hold. On Friday, my last day of the week, I got to put out ornaments. As well as run back and forth to the registers when they got busy. I was asked repeatedly how I liked what I was doing. I found out yesterday that the reason I was asked was that they had just spent a week training someone who couldn’t handle the busy Saturday and quit. Obviously not cut out for retail!! The fun thing about working until 5 pm is racing home to drive The Drama Queen up to school for play practice. Then I hurry home to get The Karate Kid fed (after BG check and insulin) then we chill for a few hours and then it is back to school to get The Drama Queen, and sometimes her friend, after BG check, bedtime snack, and insulin. I am getting a little tired of the whole “and sometimes her friend” thing. They want to car pool, but will only drop off and not pick up. Bullshit people!

Also I have decided to close comments on all entries after a week. I am tired of the stupid spamish comments on posts over a week old with links to shit. They do searches for “Remember my information” and ” Notify me of follow-up comments”. I usually delete them and/or leave some nasty comment in place of their “Oh wonderful article” comment…. they even do this on Memes and Mutterings. Yeah take a hike!

The tenants were supposed to move out on Sunday. They are still here! I guess they wanted their new landlord to put in new floors and she hadn’t done that yet. From what the kids say Mr Tenant wants to sue… yeah so do I if their asses aren’t out by tomorrow!!!!!!!!

Oh so what else? Not much I can think of… OH I almost forgot!! BOOBIETHON!! If I have time I will be going pink for the duration… well pinker! I recycled an old template! YAY! I won’t have much money to donate this year so I am thinking I will have to show the boobies! Hey why not right? It’s a worthwhile cause!! So how bout you? Donate! $$ or Boobies!!

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So about an hour after I left the place where I am now employed they received my background check back and called. Course I was out picking up The Drama Queen who stayed after school for some help with the teacher I mentioned a couple posts ago. By the time I got the message and got to call back the woman had left for the day. I tried her this morning, but was thinking in the back of my head that she had been there all week so far and was probably off. I was correct, and of course she was to close tomorrow. So I was a little discouraged and settled in to wait some more… Then the phone rang and it was the store manager who was very excited to ask me to start on Sunday if that worked for me… of course I said yes. I will go in tomorrow to fill out all the loverly paperwork but I am officially employed now. Yay! One more stress off my back! Phew! He also said that we would talk again in 90 days and see how things looked for the both of us and discuss any other opportunities.. for which I am torn, but try to keep an open mind. Who knows where things will be in 90 days given our current economy right?

Now I have to figure out how I can go out and get a couple of work outfits since I have nothing in their colors in my wardrobe…

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* Something is up with my Twitter thingy in the middle column.. not sure if it is me or Twitter. Don’t feel like playing with it, so maybe I will ignore it and hope it just goes away… sounds like man logic doesn’t it? Or maybe that is just The Mr.

* Had my interview. Met two members of management, took a “survey” and filled out paperwork for a background check. Was a nice chat. On first impression the people I talked with her nice, friendly and fun. Have to wait for “survey” & background check results. Should hear back in a day or two, and be able to start beginning of next week.

* Almost sent my diabetic son off to school without any food to speak of.. no snack or lunch. I was way out of sorts. I realized as we were about to head out to the bus.. which he almost missed because of this. He got out there just as she was pulling away, but she stopped. I then came in and cried. Gotta find an outlet for this soon or it is going to come out in front of the kids again and that wasn’t so pretty last time. Totally freaked The Karate Kid out.

* Tenants are moving soon. I am looking forward to a couple of quiet days as bad as it will be not having another months rent.. I think I liked it better when their kid wasn’t so social

* Speaking of The Karate Kid. We had his first post diagnosis visit with his nutritionist & his endocrinologist yesterday. They say he looks good. He has gained back 15lbs since July 16th. His A1C was 7.3% (the goal is 7 so he is right where they want him!) They made some adjustments to his diet and insulin, which we requested. I am hoping that I made the right decision… we shall see

* It will be fall soon, I am going to have to look for something a little less springy.. though I love my hearts! I should probably do that sooner rather than later, since hopefully I won’t have the time to soon. *fingers crossed*

* The Drama Queen tried out for a play yesterday. There are two going into production at the same time, she really wants to do the musical, but tried out for the nonmusical… musical tryouts are coming up. Going to have to work them into my schedule. *positive thinking*

* Kids birthdays are coming up… they want iPods and all that fun stuff.

* I am really getting tired. I had a weird dream last night about an old friend… I think because I was recently in contact with him and well.. that is a topic for a new post… maybe tomorrow.

* My house is going to be so clean over the next couple days!

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So we are on day 8 of the school year and already I am hearing from The Drama Queen’s teacher. She has signed up for this cool system called TeacherEase I think and we can log on and see Drama Queen’s grades and correspond. It is very nice! So far only her English teacher and US History teacher are using it, and only the English teacher is updating. It is Honors English II. Currently The Drama Queen has a mid-range C average, and that is only because she was able to redo an assignment. She redid it and showed that she is actually capable of doing the work, and then handed in another half-assed paper today. Honestly I want to smack her! It is so frustrating. I am regretting a lot of the slack I gave her over the summer. Obviously I am failing her here. How do I get her to hold herself accountable? I mean come one she is a freaking Sophomore in high school and all she cares about is talking to her friends about boys. Ugh!  We finally got her to go out for the Theater Group that she really wanted to join last year, but I have a feeling that is only because one of her friends has joined also. She never used to be like this… the hormones have definitely kicked in!

Oh and emailing an English teacher has got to be the most nerve wracking experience! First I am worried about my sentance structure and spelling and punctuation and I keep trying to reword things so I don’t sound like a dolt. I just could see her reaction “Yep no wonder she is inconsistent, her mother is a MORON!”  Her email to me was so formal and I tried to hold to that standard, but as my reply progressed I became me more and more… which actually is really cool because in her reply to my reply she became more her and it became a more relaxed conversation… well as relaxed as you can get in email. It is nice to be up to date on the situation and not fighting to catch up at progress report time. I look forward to meeting her at conferences in a couple weeks.. and until then? We have the website and all it’s splendor.

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..‘til you have to find a job!

So a couple weeks back my dear friend So Lost mentioned that she was fed up with her host and I suggested mine. Since her old host was being such a DICK I offered to give her a hand getting her blog migrated to her new host. I figured how difficult could it be? I had done the same thing a couple times myself. No big deal. Heh. Yeah well the DICK host was one of those control freak types. So it was a bit of a challenge getting to her database & getting it backed up. Then I had the fun of removing all the spam crap they add to any header or footer files. But I got it all set and worked out all the bugs on one of my old domains so I knew it was in tip top shape. Then I uploaded it all to her new host so it would be ready to go once the DNS resolved…. so we waited, and waited… in the mean time she mentioned that she wanted to move her business site as well. So I worked on that while we waited (Same old DICK host as before, same weeding out of spam etc, etc) She also asked me to make it prettier. So over a couple days I got that all put together, while constantly checking to see if the blog was up yet, it wasn’t. So where do we turn now, first the registrar of her domain, and then the host. Both blamed the other. Typical, but I was really hoping it would all be the registrars fault since I was the one who suggested the host. Eek! So I finished the business site, found her a new cute contact form and everything. Showed her, she liked it and so I uploaded it to the new host and changed the DNS info. The site resolved the next day. Oh cool! Yay! The blog? Still in limbo. WHAT. THE. FUCK??? I decide to take a risk and delete the domain from her hosts server and then add it all new and shiny and stuff and then import all the files and database AGAIN. And guess what? She was back in blogging heaven! Yes! The best part? She has a nice new feed that can be read by my linklist module and now it shows when she has updated! W00T!

I was on a wave, a high if you will for about a half hour… then I realized hmm I don’t have anything fun to play with. So I was forced to actually go out and find a job. *sigh* I filled out several applications, and felt good about at least one of them. Though they are all in retail and the idea depresses me so… if only I could find something that challenges me, like how I spent my last two weeks. I would be in my glory! But I can’t afford to sit around and wait for someone to come along and need my services so job hunting I will go… and secretly hope that a mass collection of people need a little help that I could provide (And of course it would be way too much for one person to handle so I would have to share with my fellow out-of-worker SSG )

It could happen, right?

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So let’s see since my last worth-while post I have returned home, received some cash, spent said cash, received notice of intent to vacate from our tenants, had a near nervous breakdown, done the best to find something to distract myself, did the cheapest back-to-school shop ever, and pretty much wore myself right the hell out. So much for all that relaxation on vacation

I realized also that I am kinda a bitch. And not in a good way. Something I will have to work on, I think. The tenants moving has hit us at the worst time ever. And really we wanted it to happen, but didn’t. We got tired of the bitching and late rent payments. But at the same time, at least it was money coming in. So they give us their notice and I am kinda glad and kinda not. I wonder why they are moving, is it for the reasons we want it to be (cuz we out and out refused to give in to some of their ridiculous demands. Or because they are moving on to something better. This is where the bitch in me comes out. I don’t want them to be moving to better. I want them to be moving to worse. Because honestly you don’t get to screw me over for four years and then do better. Then we find out that Mr Tenant has lost his job. Pretty sure this happened after they gave notice, but they may have known it was coming. This could also be a reason for the move. But it is also something we could have worked with them on.

So now we will most likely go a month without rent… at least one probably more. We noticed a lot of for rent signs on the street yesterday. The one across the street has been up since before school got out for the summer. But that could be because they aren’t advertising.. maybe. ugh!

So tomorrow is the first day of school. More reason to freak out. I found out that the school nurse is one of the gossipy women from PTA. Course that doesn’t mean that she is a bad nurse, just hope her socializing doesn’t interfere with doing her job. SILw/ms likes to hang out and chat with her and you know what that is like…

OK enough with all that, before the nervous breakdown descends. Nah not going to happen. I won’t allow myself the satisfaction of a nervous breakdown. I am not nearly that nice to me

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A Meme:

Swiped from Chatty, who stole it from Nat.

Play along if you wish. Here are the specifics:

To do this yourself:

Type your answer to the questions into a flickr search

Using only the first page, pick an image

Copy and paste each of the urls in the Mosaic Maker

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush?

6. What is your favorite drink?

7. What is your dream vacation?

8. What is your favorite dessert?

9. What do you want to do when you grow up?

10. Who/ what do you love most in life?

11. Choose one word that describes you?

12. What is your Flickr name?

If you decided to play along, let me know in the comments so I can check it out!

Here’s my Mosaic

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Is that a good thing? Been up since early this morning. Couldn’t sleep. So I grabbed the camera and went around snapping here and there.
The sun was just starting to come over the trees and the lake was a still as glass. With a little bit mist rising off of it. (Did I ever mention that I read “The Mist” while up here on vacation when I was younger. Yeah I loved the horror stories while in the middle of the woods… Bwahahahahah! Heh! Yeah I have lost it!)

So yeah I have been here since Saturday morning… somewhere around 8am. I think I have slept twice. Pretty sure that makes it Monday. Must be Monday actually since my brothers have gone home and back to work. The kids have been havin’ lots of fun Papa took The Karate Kid out for a little spin in the boat after the big kids went tubing so I got some time to just float for a bit.. I think it is the first time I got to just swim and not worry in years. Made me a little sad. Cuz that means it has been years since The Mr and I have been up here for any extended amount of time together. *sigh* We are hoping that next year we will be able to take a week together.

On the agenda today? More of the same swimmin’ sunnin’ and floatin’. Rains are coming again tonight some time…with the thunder-boomers…

Oh the kicker! Kinda funny. When I was a kid without a really decent camera we were here during a full moon. I guess I was about the age where something like that would suddenly be appreciated. Anyway it was amazing when the moon came up with the reflection on the water looking like a golden path up to the heavens or some magically place. So every year I check to see when there will be a full moon and if I will be here during so I can get a better picture. Also a year or so ago my Dad gave me his tripod which has been stored in my truck since. The point of all this drivel? Well we had a full moon this weekend! Yeah! I missed it coming up because I was tending to the Karate Kid… And? well I took the tripod out of my truck when I was packing and decided I wasn’t going to need it. Ah well There will be other years right? And I still have those 110 pictures to look back on.

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Another big step! Tonight The Mr and I are going out and leaving the kids home. The Drama Queen will be babysitting The Karate Kid and giving him his insulin at bedtime. I am a little freaked out about it.  But back in May I ordered tickets to see Jeff Dunham. The Mr and I get a kick out of him. I think I was a fan of the Jalapeno on a Stick way back in the Half Hour Comedy Hour days… was that VH1 or MTV… I think it was MTV… We have caught his shows on The Comedy Channel and he is really the only one that gets me to laugh consistently all the way through. I remember how excited I was about getting the tickets. Then not so excited because I was planning on taking two weeks of vacation instead of just the one and then realized that show was during the first week. But really the thought of two whole weeks with out The Mr wasn’t really sounding all that fun. Then The Karate Kid got sick… and the idea of leaving him really tore me in half… The idea of never getting to get out without him again hurt even worse. So I talked to The Drama Queen to see how she would feel about giving him the shot and she was a little freaked, but watched me a couple times and then did it herself without hesitation. The Karate Kid said that she didn’t hurt him as much as I did. Heh!

And really, we can’t afford to just throw good money away, right? Besides I could use a laugh or two… or twenty!!

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So in the last week we have had our first visit with the nutritionist, had our water heater die a horrible and messy death, bought a brand new water heater, had the lovely plumber over, (who showed me his entire rear-end while installing our oven some time ago, guess plumbers crack is so last century) to install our new water heater &  had our follow up visit with the CDE At least for all the water heater stuff I could shell out tons of money from the comfort of my home. The nutitionist and CDE visits require looooong-ass drives. But I am totally over that because I don’t have to worry about doing that again for another month… and then after that it will probably be every three months… and we may be able to transition to a satellite hospital closer to us.

The Karate Kid is doing great. He decided a few days ago that he was going to do all the glucose checking on his own. So he is doing his own finger pricks and using the monitor and then I record the results and give him his insulin. This is a big step for him and it was all his own idea so I am pretty excited and proud about that. Funny how the little guy who just a month ago was crying because he was going to have to go to his primary care dr for a check up and had to have blood taken from his finger for the usual checks. He asked me today if perhaps they will let him do it himself next check up. The mark the nurse left on July 15th has finally healed up. I am sure that had a lot to do with how dehydrated he was and all the other symptoms that went with it.

We got a copy of one of the letters sent to Karate Kids primary and it had a lot of info I didn’t know or didn’t remember because that first night is such a blur. I do remember his BG count was around 990. His A1C test was over 11% (a healthy person should be around 4 or 5% I think) don’t know about the Ketones. I know that it was high.

And we got the orders for the school nurse for the beginning of the school year. I will have to pick up some supplies and refill some prescriptions… probably will do that tomorrow because I am going to need some things before we go away. I am really nervous about that too. Being in the middle of nowhere is really great, but being in the middle of nowhere with a newly diagnosed diabetic… not so much. Mentally I am equipped. I have all the tools and the instructions to care for him. Emotionally I am a wreck. One of the big things my family loves to do on vacation is eat… and not a lot of good stuff. It is going to be difficult trying to balance all that. I’m not really all that worried about that, because he knows how to balance his carbs himself. Tonight for instance he decided to forgo the chocolate milk so he could have a little ice cream. The lows are what scare me. What could happen during the lows terrifies me. Then again on the bright side we will be vacationing with my BIL who is a paramedic.

I don’t even know where I was going with this post. I am constantly looking for silver linings. They are there… I see them. Still… if I was offered a do-over for this year I would so take it!!

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I Have to Laugh or I’ll Go Nuts.. Or Maybe I Am Already Nuts

So about two months ago, before Karate Kid’s diagnosis, The Mr.  tries to get something at the store and his debit card doesn’t work. It is pretty worn out on the back, so they tried to key it by hand. It came up declined. He comes home and tells me and I, of course, have a fit. I go back with him and use my debit card because I know there is money in there and it goes through fine. I begin to wonder if this has something to do with the fact that the bank account for the store was overdrawn because of fees (the loan bank kept trying to get their money even after we forfeited the store). I tell him next chance he gets he should get a new one. Course with the possiblity that it is because of the overdrawn account he puts this off. This is a real pain in the ass because he has to use mine and I end up without it for days on end. So we get notice that the business account is closed and the have notified the interested reporting agencies etc. They won’t be after us any longer for that. So then The Mr tries his card again… and again no luck. So on the next free day he had (which was yesterday) he went down to get a new card. He goes to the teller who tells him there is some kind of alert on the card. He is sent over to the asst manager who tells him the card was canceled because someone used it to try to buy something in Amsterdam for $2500… Luckily there wasn’t enough money in the account to cover it so it was flagged and viewed as suspicious. It may be that his card number was stolen after shopping at Hannafords, but we can’t find any proof that he actually shopped there with the debit card.. so who knows. Anyway they issued him a new card. I have looked over our statements and there is nothing out of the ordinary there. I guess we got lucky!!

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How the hell are ya?? I am tired. Very tired. I haven’t been sleeping well at all. Not sure if it is the whole “My husband had to file for bankruptcy after his business failed and then went back to the company he despised and now just complains incessantly, while I am being chased by one of his vendors that he had promised me would be paid off before any others because he needed me to sign a personal guarantee for and now will be taken to court if I don’t come up with $2000, even though I don’t have any income to speak of” or if it is the whole “My son was just diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and is in what is considered the ‘Honeymoon Phase’ and will most likely be coming out of it right around the time school starts so I will not be there with him and what if his sugar tanks and what was that noise, is it him? Is he up? Is he ok? Why is he up in the middle of the night again? What does that mean? Was it even him? Am I driving him crazy by constantly asking him if he is ok?” thing. Add to that a little “bounced a check while in the hospital with the boy because I wasn’t here to transfer funds and was a little too preoccupied to even think about it and now have to deal with fees on that” oh and by the way The Mr needs gas for the truck… oh and then there’s the tenants who decided to go camping this week… won’t be home until Sunday… wonder when I will get the rent?? Ugh!

Calgon take me away! It is horrible to feel so exhausted that you know you can drift off any minute only to have a noise (the air conditioner kicking on or off or something outside the window) snap you away and send your heart racing. Sometimes it isn’t worth just laying there. It gets to be too frustrating and so I get up and do whatever I can quietly so as to not wake anyone up..or if I do tough it out I end up wide awake when The Mr leaves for work and go through the same thing all over again… course I am a raving bitch the next day either way. The other nasty side-affect? I can completely space out and not even realize what is going on around me. The other night we went out to dinner and I was waiting for something and The Mr and our son walked away a bit and after a few minutes I realized that my daughter was actually talking to me. I think I hurt her feeling pretty good, too. & That really sucks! I appoligized and she said it was ok, but I still didn’t seem to thrilled with me. Not that I can blame her. She has been forced to take a back seat over the last couple weeks because of everything with her brother. I hoping that The Mr can get a day off next week so that I can take her to a movie and we can have some mom & daughter time. We haven’t done that in a real long time!!

One good thing to come out of the whole insomnia thing is the new design I am converting. It was written for Wordpress and that can be such a pain in the ass to convert to EE, but it actually hasn’t been too bad, even if I am up at 2am playing with it. You can get a sneak peak here. It is still a long way from finished, and I still have to build the other templates to go with it but I am liking how it is shaping up. Let me know what you think. There are still a few quirks to work out. Like the date disappearing from every post but the first. I am sure there is just a tag out of place somewhere. I haven’t checked other browser either, just FF. Don’t know if I will either, I guess that will depend on the insomia….

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Makes For A Very Dull Fool!

But my kitchen looks wonderful… too bad I can’t raise my arms. I will honestly destroy the next person who doesn’t clean up after his/herself. I don’t care which of them it is!

The bathroom is next, but that will have to wait until Friday. Tomorrow we meet with out Nurse Educator to learn more on the ins and outs of insulin dosage. Can’t wait!! After that I won’t have to call in every night and talk to someone different about my son, answer the same questions I answered the night before and then have then mess with something, only to change it back the next night. *sigh* One more night of that, hopefully I will get our educator again tonight (Talked with her last night) she is the only who really made me feel confident.

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Wow what a week it has been. About this time last week The Karate Kid was being moved from the ICP (Intermediate Care Program) to a room on the floor where they put all the diabetic patients. I was still trying to wrap my mind around all of it.. I got easier after we were moved to the floor because I knew he was going to be ok and we were becoming a part of the treatment. We decided his schedule and they built a plan around that. So far it is working out well. This past week has been all about tweaking the plan now that he is doing more than playing air hockey and roaming the halls of the hospital. We have to call in every night with his numbers and they change things a bit. Usually only by a half of a unit. Giving him the insulin and checking his sugar has become pretty routine. We let him choose the finger and the place he will receive the injection. We haven’t been able to talk him into trying his belly yet. We have been told that a lot of kids prefer that area, I know my grandmother did hers there. He isn’t having that! It probably has a lot to do with the fact that he has very little body fat.

His weight is improving. When we went to the doctors on the 15th, he weighed 50lbs. Sunday at my parents house he was up to 57lbs. He has always been slim, but he had been looking more thin than normal. I guess I should back up some and start at the beginning.

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It has been a long four of days! So much that I need to purge, but I am really pooped right now and I need to get some rest because my baby brother is getting married tomorrow and I have to try to incorporate a new diet for The Karate Kid into the day. The long and short of it is, Both kids had well visits with the pediatrician Tuesday. They were due, and I had some concerns about the boy. I got home from the visit and found a voicemail message asking me to call the office back ASAP. I did that and was told to go directly to The Children’s Hospital in Boston. Which we did. And found that he has Type 1 Diabetes.

Purging will come later, it is time for his bedtime glucose check & injection.

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So the meeting yesterday with the trustee went well. It was quick and painless. The Mr. was given a continuance to the 30th because the trustee wanted an appraisal on the house and we didn’t have that. We got it after and faxed that to his lawyer along with a certificate for a 2 hour long course he had to take on personal finances. He shouldn’t have to go back on the 30th now… or at least that is what he was told. Now we wait 60 days and then should have a discharge. Then I have to find a job. We have really tightened our belts here and they can’t get much tighter. Karate & Kickboxing have been canceled until further notice. Scraping so we can afford to go to NH in August. Have to have some fun right?

I am back in the position I was in two years ago wondering what I will find for work.. will I like it… how will it affect the family and everything else. Ugh! Hate it! I have some time to set my mind straight… until then I am going to get all the things done I have been putting off. Both kids need physicals and eye appointments. Both should need new glasses as well. That is going to suck. Should run us around $500 all together. Ugh! There’s our deductible though. Gotta space them out though.

I have to find a way to get rid of some of the store crap. Our register system Quickbooks POS, a computer system, fax/copier/printer. Not sure which is the best way to go. Maybe want ads… Not dealing with shipping on them that is for sure!

Also going to spend some time on a new design here. I want to incorporate my Flickr pictures or maybe create a Gallery again. I have twitter there on the side, it’s kind of blah… some other stuff too. Course if I am working I may not have any time to maintain everything so maybe I shouldn’t bother. I dunno.

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I am so tired of money things…I have never been a shopper, but I enjoy buying for others. At least I did… now it just makes me want to hurl.

Got four birthdays this month… one taken care of the second and third are a double dose… can’t attend the party because of SIL2B’s shower. I have no idea what to get them… and no money to get anything with. I would just give them cash but I know for a fact that SILw/MS will keep it. She has said as much to me at past parties.

Got the bridal shower next Sunday. I gave them their wedding gift months ago when there was an accident in front of my parents house and damage done to both SIL2B’s car and my brothers car. They were upset about having to dig into their wedding fund for this. Turned out they didn’t. Also I had no idea there were plans for big showers/bachelor parties etc. The Mr spent $100 last weekend on the bachelor festivities, that ended lamely because baby bro was afraid SIL2B would be upset. Ugh! I grabbed a couple of cheap gifts for the shower so there was something from me and the drama queen to open… but even that was money I don’t have to spend

Now I gotta come up with $35 for a personal finance course The Mr has to take because he is filing bankruptcy… a course that has to be taken within 45 days of the meeting which is tomorrow… hopefully they will take it after or he will have to refile because he hasn’t done it yet. Pisses me off a bit but I am not going to get into that.

Course the kids are wanting this that and the other thing… and I can’t do it… and I am wondering where the money for school clothes is going to come from.

If only Calgon take me away actually worked… course I can’t afford Calgon, so the point is moot. Heh!

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Here’s how my week has gone so far… and what I have to look forward to…

Tuesday night we went up the street to see fireworks! We had a great spot right underneath them. The Karate Kid giggled the whole time.

Yesterday the kids went up the street to the candy store and came home with their cousin in tow. Apparently he was driving by with his father and dad ditched him. At least that is the story he gave. SILw/MS didn’t seem to thrilled about it. Gave me crap on the phone. I nearly hung up on her. Bitch! Wasn’t my idea for your kid to come over here so stick it!

Tonight we are hoping to get up to Plymouth to see the fireworks there. Probably also show The Karate Kid around there (The Rock and Mayflower replica) since he hasn’t been since he was small. Really want to play it by ear because our plans aways manage to go awry some how.

My second youngest brother is planning my baby brother’s bachelor party for tomorrow… and now my sister and BIL are making a special trip down for it, so I will get to hang out with my sis tomorrow… yay!

Small bumps along the way. Only thing that makes me want to move from this town is having SILw/MS living less than a mile away. Ugh!

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“Let me ‘splain” (pause) “No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

Don’t have much enthusiasm for writing lately. Mostly because it will all just come out as whiny poor me crap.

I had a minor meltdown the other night and scared my children. I managed to squelch it before it got too bad, but now I feel it lingering at the edges.

Can’t sleep.. tired…discouraged…disgusted…frustrated…fed up.

Blah… Just blah…

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Will be heading home tomorrow… sigh! I love the time here, but can’t wait to get home and sleep in my own bed.

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Just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Birthday to a great Bloggy friend and amazing photographer. Stop on over and say Hey won’t you?

I have started and stopped this entry so many times, because my words don’t feel strong enough to express exactly how much your friendship means to me. The support you have offered over the mess I have been through over the last few months has meant the world to me. I thank the Cola gods that I stumbled upon your blog all that time ago! Have a great day Susan!! May all your birthday wishes come true!

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There’s a joke there… but it would give away too much I think… then the biotches might find me!

You may or may not have noticed a couple of post appearing where before there were none. I have spent most of this week either sick or caring for sick children. I am trying to catch up on my Home postings. Since they are so long, I thought it would be easier to read if I pre-dated them so that they all had their own spot. I know that breaks the NaBloPoMo rules… so I am withdrawing from the challenge, but I plan to continue. This has become more than I had expected and I want to keep going. I am thinking once I finish, if I can keep the momentum going, I will continue with a monthly theme here. I have found my voice again and it doesn’t seem to want to be shushed right now. I may change the format around a little here, maybe a dual blog so I can keep all the themed posts in line but also have anything else I might need to say off to another side…maybe kinda like an e-zine format…. kind of, but not really. Am I even making sense? It is very early in the morning and I really not all that awake yet. Anyway if you have been following along with my family posts you will see them all fall in line after this one until I catch up to today. (Or you can hit this link and find the whole category)

I also want to add a thank you to those of you who have commented (minus one spammer who was dealt with swiftly, why do they always find the moment when you are down to strike?) I wasn’t sure how putting all this out there publicly would feel, but you have made it easy. Merci!

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Last night The Mr. and I went out to the movies. Saw Sex and The City The Movie Then had some pizza in the food court and chatted. We talked some more on the ride home.

The fun part was just as we left the house. We went to the gas station at the end of the block and just as we were pulling out, my phone rang. The kids. They were fighting. The Karate Kid was sobbing. So we had to go home and break that up. The Mr left me in the truck to go in and deal with it. I liked that part, but after 10 minutes went in myself. We left late, but were able to see a showing an hour after the one we planned on seeing. (Was hoping to get in a double feature, cuz I was being completely selfish) I am hoping they got all the fighting out of their system since today it is supposed to be nasty out and I can’t send them outside. Wish me luck on that!

I am thinking of doing the NaBloPoMo for June. The theme is home… something I think about on a daily basis. I think I will definitely go for it!

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I decided today that I am answering. I am sick and tired of dealing with it… and if they speak English… intelligible English… then I will tell them what they need to know (Namely the name and number for The Mr’s attorney. They are filing today anyway so they will stop soon…. yeah two months later.. not sure what is up with that shit either.

I have hit the angry stage. Angry, no I am pissed! Pissed that the second that I had a moment of security it was ripped out from underneath me again… then to be put through so much stress and aggravation for 18 months, and for what? So he could be happy and then have him decide he didn’t want to do it anymore.. So I push and push some more. To what end? It is over but for the crying, the annoying phone calls he doesn’t have to answer, and bankruptcy. 

Now when we closed I had the mail forwarded so we had everything we needed to file… yesterday we received some bills that were current. Hmmm… digging deeper into the pile I find one that has the store name on it, but a different corporation with it… hmmm. I think the bank may have found a buyer. So now we are receiving his bills. I need to figure out how to fix that…. which really got me in a tizzy yesterday. Silly I know but the bigger issue is blowing all the little ones out of proportion. The Mr seems not so happy that someone else is making a go of it… maybe makes him feel like even more of a failure.. I don’t know.  But I got really ticked off at him. I calmly told him that I really wished I could just put all this shit into his lap and say “Not my problem”. He just did this sort of half smile and said he was sorry and appreciated all my help. Never once saying don’t worry I will handle it which is what I wanted to hear… not that I would let it happen. I need to get my point across better, but I know in doing so I will start a huge fight because I can’t seem to get my anger in check. And yesterday was impossible for that anyway since he had worked two back to back doubles and hadn’t see the kids since Monday night.

This year we were supposed to put the house on the market and find a single family home. We will not be able to do that for a long time now.. we can’t ever refinance our mortgage because his credit is now in the dumper. Not to mention the fact that we owe his father $16,000. Some how we have to figure out a way to start paying that back…

Ugh! I can’t stand this shit. And yes I have “Make the World Go Away” playing in my head right now… which is sad and comical at that same time

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snagged from Fizzy

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My niece (EMT) and BIL (Paramedic) are two of the rescue workers

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I am taking a break from wallowing in self-pity. It just really sucks to be me today, but only cuz I want it to. I mean I could look at things positively and there is a silver lining here I know there is. But instead I am ignoring it. Because I do the pity and loathing thing real well. Probably the thing I do best.

Every little thing is getting on my nerves. I attempt to nap and I can here the Tenants TV. It isn’t super loud, but I hear the base tones… and my ears want to listen. I hate that. I thought for sure that last night would be the night I could sleep. The Karate Kid has been having a rough time with allergies and has needed either a drink or an antihistamine or something every night since Friday (that was the sleep walking night). But instead The Mr. has a big thing at work and has to pull a double last night, then work today which was to be his day off… and he has to get up early (his alarm went off at 4:55am) So guess what time I have been up since… yep. There was no shutting off the brain again.

Makes me irritable! I am extremely short tempered. I had to respond to an email from The Mr’s lawyer, but I have it still in draft because every time I go to finish it up I start tearing him a new one. Then today I got an invite to SIL2b’s bridal shower. Her maid of honor lives in Utah… which means I have to call long distance to RSVP. It doesn’t matter that I don’t pay for long distance calls, it still set me off. Oh and it is a “garden tea party” and we are expected to dress for it… even though it is in her parent’s back yard. (Same place as where the wedding is being held) The wedding is a casual affair, so why she is expecting us to dress up for the shower, I can’t guess. Whatever. Ah!

Bah! I have so much more I could bitch about too.

16 more days of school… The day after school gets out I am heading to the lake… At this point I may end up going alone, but I am going! Nah I won’t do that to my kids. I know they look forward to it as much as I do. I am just really looking forward to getting away from the constantly ringing phone!

Ugh! I am such a bitch I am pissing myself off. Phfffft!

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Don’t I know it Indy!!

Ah Memorial Day weekend! Oh how I love thee… especially the Cape traffic! Yippee!! Took the kids to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last night. I have been a big Harrison Ford fan since Star Wars. The movie was a bit different than the past installments. You could tell what was CGI and what wasn’t. And Harrison seemed to be doing most of his own stunts as he did in the past. Which is fitting since he is 65 now and you could tell he wasn’t moving as fast as he used to. I thought it was a bit campy and in my opinion jumped the shark, but I still enjoyed the characters and having the Karate Kid so into what was going on was a big part of the enjoyment. I was a little worried that it would be a bit much for him at 8 years old. Luckily there was no melting of faces. He loved it by the way wants to see it again and can’t wait until it comes out on DVD. Heh!
Unfortunately he was up a bit later than normal. Whenever that happens, he tends to sleep-walk. So he was in telling me weird things all night long.. most of which I couldn’t understand. None of which he remembers this morning. So I am quite pooped today. And for some reason once The Mr’s alarm went off I was awake and couldn’t just be in bed anymore. I will probably end up taking a nap this afternoon. Got plenty to keep my occupied.. and I am determined to finish my book this weekend. Should be a pretty lazy long weekend. Just how I like it!

So what are your plans??

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I missed catching it with the brakes lights lit. Looked kind of like an angry anime robot or some such thing. With buck teeth.

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Updated to add: available here

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Meme at the jump…. just so you don’t think I ran off or something (thanks to Chatty)

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Got lots planned apparently…. best get dressed so we can get it all in!

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Comments were screwed up, but are now fixed.

I am soooooo tired, but very happy.

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I am going to shut off the ringer and enjoy the peace of not hearing the phone ring. I will not check the business checking account to see how much further overdrawn it is. I am not going to worry about my husband filing for bankruptcy and how that will effect us. I am not going to worry about how long I will have to wait before I can get a job. I will not worry about having to find a job and whether or not I will like it.

Nope today I am going to let myself be excited over the tickets I got for my birthday. We are going to see Richard Marx tonight at the Twin Rivers Event Center in Lincoln, RI. We had originally planned on catching his show at Mohegan Sun, but that came along just after we closed the store and The Mr had just started his new job so we decided to cancel. We were going to take the whole weekend too and check out the casino. But as luck would have it another show was announced.

The last time I saw him in concert was….. Ugh!  20 something years ago…eeek! Hopefully he will be doing some of his new stuff, which sounds really good so far. Course the oldies (ugh!) are very welcome! So I will try to party like I am 20something and ignore the fact that I am out passed my bedtime Heh!

Thanks Babe, you rock!

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What happened to 40? Sheesh I don’t feel like I had any time to enjoy it. And I was really looking forward to that. I really honestly was. I earned it. What can ya do? Just reminds me I need to try to slow things down sometimes and just…. be.

So 41. I guess I will have to take this moment to enjoy it because I will be 42 in what? a week? heh! yeah feels like it sometimes.

Know what is interesting?

At my age my Mom found out she was pregnant with her 5th child.
Also….
At my age my MIL found out she was going to be a grandmother.

I don’t plan on either happening but you can never say never. They are proof of that.

Thank you to my bloggy friends for the birthday wishes in my comments, email, and in your own blogs. You guys mean the world to me! Mwah!

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Just wanted to take a few to wish my honey a happy anniversary

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So I have been out of work for almost three weeks now and all I have been doing is taking care of sick kids. First The Karate Kid with his head cold… then he had a stomach thing… then the Drama Queen had the stomach thing… then Karate Kid had it again.. then The Drama Queen had it again. Then I got it. I am feeling a lot better today. And hopefully I am done cleaning up vomit! Ugh! The sun is brining shightly and I am looking forward to taking a walk to the post office to get the store mail. Not looking forward to opening any of it, just looking forward to the walking part. I hope I have the energy to do this too. I was pretty zonked yesterday. But I do want to make the most of today and tomorrow, because the kids are out for spring vacation next week. I do have to get the “stuff” all together for The Mr’s lawyer. He is dropping all that off tomorrow, then I won’t have to deal with the phone calls anymore. Not that I answer the phone. Thank You, Caller ID!

I have so much to catch up on, but right now I am going to relax and enjoy the day. Going to hit 64F today. Perfect walking weather. I might not even come back Bwahahahahaha

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Love these commercials!

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is hating me tonight. Nothing I write is posting. I give up.. bed time

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Lovely tune.. not so fond of the words though heh!

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Une Deux Trois

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Oh What A Beautiful Day

It is quite lovely out today… a little chilly and quite windy, but lovely nonetheless.

Just updated to a new build. Please let me know in the comments in you find anything wonky!

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Last week in the midst of all the chaos was something good. The Karate Kid earned his brown belt in Karate. He was so very excited and proud of himself that night. It was wonderful to watch. The whole school did a wonderful job with their forms that night. They all trained so hard, and have a lot to show for. Just watching my little boy and seeing how excited he was about what he accomplished took a lot of the bad stuff away for one night. This picture was taken with my phone last night as he was getting ready for his first advanced class. The butterflies were swarming!! For BOTH of us!

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For a while now we knew that things at the store were not working, no matter what we did. We were fighting a losing battle. The economy sucks right now and everyone we talked to was feeling it. No one is spending any money! So everytime The Mr would get down I would do my best to bring him back up again until the fight when I called him a quitter cuz I was getting tired of all of it.. and well also dealing with this stuff

* A 15 year old daughter who is being.. well 15. She is disrespectful, lying all the time and lazy as hell. Everything is a battle with her and I am the one dealing with it alone. The Mr was never home
* An 8 year old who had to have 7 teeth pulled over three separate appointments. Poor little guy was such a trooper too. So good the dentist even remarked how wonderful he is.
* Two sick kids.. the boy lost 4 days of school from it. Now to know my son he is the energizer bunny on speed. But for 3 whole days he did not move from the couch.
* A son who had a little problem in the lunch room – talking when he wasn’t supposed to be. Got himself held in for recess several times. I think we have nipped that in the bud though. His teacher says he very respectful and does what he is supposed to in class. Not sure what changed when they were having lunch.
* Course I got sick too. Still i had to take the Karate Kid to Karate, drive the 45 mins to work etc. etc.

And so I really wasn’t seeing that The Mr really wanted out. And that he was right. There was no sense throwing more of our own money into this place. We needed to get out now, so we could survive it. So we saw a lawyer on the 22nd. He looked everything over that we brought him and basically said, “Hand the keys back to the landlord and walk away.” The bank has a lien on everything in the store so we couldn’t do any going out of business sales or anything like that. That is up to them to do. We set the 28th as our last day. We have some sales/use tax bills to pay so we needed to create a few more sales. The Mr did some one on one stuff offering discounts to the regulars who helped us get as far as we did.. then word got out and the vultures started circling… That wasn’t so much fun really. But there were a lot of nice people in that neighborhood who came by on the last day to say goodbye. Tell us it wasn’t our fault and basically do their best to try and make me cry. There are a bunch I am going to miss that is for sure.

Today The Mr started back at his old company. He is in the “Management Training Program” until a store opens up for him. They changed a lot of the computer systems while he was gone, so there is a lot for him to learn and relearn. The big reasons that he wanted out of there before are gone. So that is a plus. They seem very happy to have him back. So keep your fingers crossed that he gets a good store that will make a lot of money so we can see his bonuses again. (gonna need them since we owe FIL $10,000) He is going to have to file a personal bankruptcy because they had him sign a personal guarantee on the loan he took out to buy the store. Which will help us some on the personal money that went into the store. My name is not on anything so that is one plus. The Mr Homesteaded the house so they can not go after that… although there is nothing to get since we are about 99% financed at this point (we took all the equity out for the start up money on the store) It sucks but my kids will still have a roof over their heads.

Oh and I can not go back to work until the bankruptcy is discharged, because they will count my income as household income. He is filing Chapter 7 so that won’t be too long.. as long as none of them fights it. That’s ok because I have a To-Do list that is 10 miles long and growing and well I can use the rest. Heh!

Today though will be spent playing phone tag and attempting to tie up loose ends. Wish me luck!

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I have wanted to write about this earlier, but things just went so fast it was hard to keep up. But today at 4:30 we are closing the store for good. The End! Here ya go bank, hope you aren’t too pissed!

All the way in yesterday and all the way back I kept saying in my head, “This is the second to last time I have to make this long-ass drive.”

I don’t think it has set in yet, because I keep doing the emotions check and I am still ok… I dunno…

Perfect weather for it today too! Cold and rainy…. should be pretty quiet as far as patrons for the day. Just makes you realize you are doing the right thing I guess

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Not sure I am gonna make it.

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Was going to post a cute little graphic to go with my post… but I am just a mess and can’t get the ooomph to do it. Gonna spend the day with my family today, the babes got to leave the hospital yesterday and should be making an appearance at some point. Thank you all for you well wishes and prayer!! I think this little problem that got her hospitalized was a blessing in disguise.. though it scared her parents to death. She is now being seen by a team of specialists for all the issues that have come along since birth. Why her Dr.‘s didn’t think of that I will never know. But who am I to judge.

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Feeling much better today… not really good, but better.

So much to write about.. so much stress right now, but that all pales in comparison to what my brother and his wife are going through right now. They spent the night at the Children’s Hospital in Boston last night with their youngest who is still in intensive care. This poor little girl is only 15 months old, but they have not been easy months at all. I would elaborate more if we knew what the hell is going on, but they just don’t know.

If you are the praying sort, please send one out for little Julia. She needs it!

If you aren’t the praying sort, well wishes and good vibes are appreciated!!

Thanks!

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Just checking the settings….

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I have been tagged!

Here are the rules:

Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written.
[this is gonna be hard… all my favorites are gone from the old blog]

Link one must be about family
Link two must be about friends.
Link three must be about yourself.
Link four must be about something you love (one of several about my kids)
Link five can be about anything you choose.

Post your five links and then tag five (or more) other people. At least two of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better.

I really hate tagging people!! So any of you want to do this have at it!!

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to:SILW/MS
From: The Fool
Subject: Your Phone Call Last Night
Hey!
I would just like to ask what you meant by “I’m struggling and your obviously not, he’s not” You are obviously still upset that your brother is making something of himself. Always have been… Are you now jealous about your father’s little venture? And why are you even surprised that I know about it and have known for a while and you found out today because you just happened to run into him around town. You have the exact relationship with him that you wanted. You don’t call him. You have your children call him on his birthday and father’s day. You do not try to keep in touch with him and prefer that he doesn’t call you. So why bitch and moan and take it out on me.
Oh and by the way, your father is my family too, has been for nearly 16 years now. He gets that…. you don’t…. not my problem.

I won’t send it because the moment is gone, but if I didn’t have to get off the phone with her when I did… I would have said it all and then some.

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If it isn’t one thing it’s another! And just when I thought there was light at the end of the tunnel, The Karate Kid is down with a bug. Poor guy didn’t move from the couch yesterday, except to use the bathroom. I am having a hard time getting food into him because he is so congested and his throat is sore, and that worries me because he is so skinny to begin with… at least he is drinking water. I did manage to get dinner into him last night. He had some pizza bites, but turned down chocolate pudding. I decided to keep him home again today. Didn’t thrill The Mr, but to effin bad. He will deal with it. He is playing some video game right now and coughing his head off. Time to get some more meds into him!

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UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE UNCLE

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Had a shower to attend for a cousin we only see at weddings and showers. It was a big deal to me to attend and so I did. Unfortunately my whole schedule got thrown out of whack. And now I am trying to get back into whack.

So I tackled the list again. Got the taxes done today and have efiled… just waiting to see if it was accepted and then wait on the return. First year in I don’t know how long that we didn’t have to pay to the state. Gotta love employers that know what they are doing… oh wait! Heh!

Got a ton of pictures taken this weekend. I think that I will have every inch of wall space in my living room covered by March..

Thinking of getting a ton of the pictures together to make calendars for christmas presents next year. I say that a lot and never get around to it.

Laundry time again!

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The itch to end all itches will happen when you can’t reach it to scratch it

So I am on my way home yesterday and just after I pull out of the parking lot to start my 45 minute ride home,  I get this itch on the side of my left thigh. I scratch at it but I am wearing jeans and the scratching through the denim is not really helping. I scratch a little harder and it seems to ebb just a bit… I stop. It comes back seconds later even itchier. This goes on for a while: itch scratch ebb itchier scratch etc., etc. So here I am on the highway scratching away every few seconds wondering what this must look like to my fellow commuters. Heh! I figure that the only way to complete kill the itch is a full on nail to skin scratch. I decide to try reaching down the waste band of my pants. I have my seatbelt on & I am wearing my winter coat which is zipped midway. The coat reaches to mid thigh so I am sitting on it. I decide to lift the coat and go underneath it to then reach down the waste band of my pants. Yeah this is not so easy while doing 70mph. I get it out from under me, but it is too awkward to reach under so I decide to unzip the coat. The coat is now all bunched up and unzipping with my left hand only is not so easy. I pull down it gets caught a little so I have to go back up. But going back up brings the whole coat up and this is not very conducive to unzipping. Plus I have to stop every few seconds to scratch at the itch through my pants… So I very carefully hook my right thumb out while keeping the other four fingers of my right hand on the wheel and hold the coat. This helps, YAY! So I finally get my coat unzipped, and attempt to reach into my waste band. I get in a little and my engagement ring gets stuck so I try to pull my hand out and I can’t… this I am thinking it the perfect position to be getting into an accident in. So I I decide I will just wait until I stop and then deal with it… but the itch is back and it is driving me mad!!! Suddenly my hand is just free. I don’t know how or why and I don’t care I dig at the itch through my pant leg again. At this point I say fuck it and decide I am going to unzip and drop the bottoms if I have to because this itch is going to drive me insane (too late?) So again with my left hand I go at the button. Thankfully this is an older pair of jeans and the button hole is pretty loose from years of use. The zipper on the other hand is not so easy with the left hand only. I tug and tug then scratch and tug some more. I can’t get it to go down!! I puff out my belly to give a little resistance and this works a tiny bit, I pull it in and it goes down a tiny bit more. Finally I am tugging and moving my belly in a way that would make Shakira jealous and the zipper is all the way down. I attempt to just reach in and scratch and I get thisclose… but not close enough and I can’t seem to bend my fingers in this position to do the actual scratching… This is when the ultimate itch hit. I can take it no more! So I roll my hips to the right as if to let off some gas and I can move the hand and bend the fingers I scratch for just seconds but it is enough I have finally done it….

… and this is when I pull in my driveway.

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So that must be why we have only gotten rain for the whole season… oh it did snow twice… both times it melted within a day or two. No major accumulation, very bad for business!! It has rained off and on for two days and is now getting cold again. Looks like it will change over to sleet around my trip home today and then snow later on. *fingers crossed* I sure don’t want to be lugging a ton of 50lb bags of ice melt down to the basement!!!!

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Well Blackie is back… and better than ever with nice new hard-drive. They were able to save a ton of my files… I just have to reinstall all my programs. There are only a couple I am worrying about right now… mostly because I can’t remember what the others were. I guess that means they aren’t all that important right? The most important is my picture screen saver. I have hundreds of pictures in it and some of then are not easily replaceable (like my parents wedding picture, and both of my brother’s wedding pictures.) all but 8 of my Itunes songs were recovered… that was a big plus!!

Course I got a stern lecture through The Mr about backing stuff up… (well all the songs were on my Ipod, so I could have found a way to get them back off… and most of the pictures were as well… it was just the Quickens stuff that I was hadn’t backed up in a while and that was because it had stopped letting me save to disc. I had just upgraded to the newest version… and hadn’t gotten around to trying it again when it conked out. Course they were not thrilled about all the dust inside either. Heh! Well I have been working nearly full time for the last year and a half… cleaning inside was not a priority ya know? The outside was hard enough to get around to sheesh! Heh!

So tonight is the Super Bowl… I am really looking forward to gorging myself on all the food I bought. Don’t really care who wins. (Don’t let The Mr read that… j/k Honey!! Go Pats Heh!  )

P.S. I have to reinstall all my Firefox extensions… what is your favorite one?

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http://glumbert.com/wii/view.php?name=baddayoffice

More later once I have the PC back up and running… and home. It is all fixed, but The Mr. left it at work

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Yesterday it was fine… seemed like it took forever to shut down.. then when I got home from work I went to fire it up and it was stuck in the loading windows thing… would stop blink shut down then try again. Today it is going to visit our friends across the street. The ones who built our work system.. and repaired the kids computer and only charged us for parts. Nice guys.. hope they will take care of Blackie for us

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I remember this phrase used a bit when I was a kid… kinda fits here

Every time I hear some religious group doing whatever in the name of [enter name of deity here], which usually is a contradiction to the teachings they are quoting, I flash to this family that lived across the street from us when I was growing up. They called themselves ‘Born Again Christians’ and were members of the Salvation Army.

Welcome to the unorganized mess of memories….

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Ah I just love owning a two-family! Yeah let’s just leave it at that.

Someone bought the eye-sore down the street and is now wrapping it in pretty vinyl siding. They start at 7:30 each morning. Yuck! Just glad I am not living there. It is bad enough listening to it from here.

I think I am officially done with winter now, thanks. Bring on the sun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gonna rain this weekend, then get frigid, so it will all freeze over.

I need new sneakers. Mine are (I think) going on 4 years old… they are a bit leaky, can’t tell from where but they’re not doing the job like they should… guess it is time to break down and get another pair. I hate shoe shopping. Can never find anything to fit my feet right. Ugh!

I bought a sweat-jacket at Steve & Barry’s with some of my Christmas money. It is an XXL, the large just looked so dinky… the XXL is tight on my forearms and the sleeves are short. Guess the Drama Queen gets a new sweat-jacket… I have always hated buying anything with a sleeve, cuz I must have monkey arms or something. I steer clear of anything with a buttoned cuff.

I hate clothes!

What the hell was that noise?????? Don’t ya just love it when you are the only one in the house (and and that includes upstairs, I know cuz I was the maintenance person today) and ya hear a weird sound… creepy!!!!!!!!

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Yippeee!

/sarcasm

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Didn’t mean to let a week go by without checking in here. I think my ideas for simplifying my life are going really well. Course work stuff is a different story. Can’t always plan things to the “T” there. But all is well, hectic, but well. Tax time is upon us and we are feverishly working on inventory and getting all our shite in one bag for our accountant. I feel a little better about it this year, having been through it already.

I have cut a lot of cords lately. It feels good to not have so many emotional burdens. Since doing so other relationships have flourished. It has made me realize that I really need to concentrate on my priorities better.

I have lists galore! Every night I make a list of things I want to accomplish the next day. And I have a master list for the major projects that need to be taken care of. I am pretty excited to be off today so I can get a project or two done. It feels good to be excited about something again. It sure has been a while!!!

Hmm what else??? Oh got a call from my nephew the other day. He got an Ipod for Christmas from FIL & SMIL, and they couldn’t get it installed so they could get some songs on it. So I let my list go for the night and went over there. (they only live a street away) I almost wanted to run screaming from the house, the computer was soooooo slooooooow. When I comment on this SIL’s husband says “Yeah I hate C*mcast, I want to get Fi*s.” Ummmm dude I aint even talking about the internet. I am talking about getting a window to open… “Oh well I just recently upgraded to XP and haven’t done any defraging or whatever” Oh ok…. I finally get the System Information window to open.. I have to close the other three that he had running with flyers he was creating. That took some doing!! So I get the window open and what do I see?? 64mb of RAM… *sigh* Sorry dude this isn’t going to cut it. An hour wasted… But the kids got to see their cousins so I guess I can’t complain. Try explaining this to SIL… she doesn’t want to listen just ask me to explain and then say she doesn’t understand what I am telling her. She did this a few days ago too with a question about how her husband’s boss should go about making changes to her website now that the person who had been doing it passed away. Ask a question, then say “You’re speaking Greek to me, I don’t understand any of this.” Ugh!

Oh got an invite to my cousin’s baby shower. Went on into the gift registry and nearly died. The cheapest thing on there is a $7 bassinet sheet. Oops sorry I lied there is a $1.49 package of hangers. They are registered at Babies R Us and Pottery Barn Kids. Haven’t even gotten to the Pottery Barn list yet. There aren’t any of those around here… heck I hadn’t even heard of them until now. There is a Babies R Us about a half hour away. (Lived there when I was pregnant with The Karate Kid!!)

The Drama Queen and I are getting some quality time on Sunday. The Mr will be taking the Karate Kid to work with him. He is pretty excited to be spending the day with is son. He hasn’t had much one on one time with either of them, never mind family time… but those are the choices he made. We all deal. I think DQ™ and I are going to see 27 Dresses She has had a bit of a thing for James Marsden since Hairspray… he is pretty easy on the eyes!!

Welp I am going to end this book here and get working on my list. Have a mighty fine day!!

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What I am setting are goals for the new year. Attainable goals! Goals are for winners, man! Yeah!

I have a mental list but I am going to be making a real on paper so it can stare me in the face list of goals.

First I am going to get this family on a set schedule if it kills me! I know there will be times that we will have to deviate slightly, but that doesn’t mean I have to toss the schedule out forever when that happens

Also, I am going to fight the blues and not give in to the depression that threatens to suck me in every year around this time. I am making myself more of a priority.  I am getting back on the wagon and I will meet my weight-loss goals this year. I have set 4 (One for each quarter heh!)

And I am going to push for a day off every week where I have time alone.. just me. This is something that I have to work on allowing myself to do.

Oh there are so many more wonderful changes! I am already setting boundaries so that I am not spreading myself so thin. I am thinking of taking on a side job, which is doable if I manage my time better. It won’t take more that a day or two a month max. Could be cool!! I have already started eliminating the things that bring me down. If this pans out fine if not then I have more time to do whatever.

Just refocusing has triggered the enthusiasm I need to push forward.  It’s gonna be good!!

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This is when I will usually have a year in review post… but the past year is such a blur right now. What stands out..

* Over Feb vacation we took the kids to Disney World. They were so thrilled… but not as much as I was!!

* I turned 40 in April and The Mr through me a little dinner party. My sister, her hubby and son made a special trip down for it and I didn’t get to say more than a couple words to them.

* Over the Summer the kids and I spent two weeks at the lake in NH with my family. It was very hard being away from The Mr for so long… but so worth the trip!!

* The Drama Queen started High School…

* Then the Christmas Drama

That is about all I can remember besides working and working some more.  I hope this year goes by a little slower!

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Well here we are at the end of 2007. The past two weeks have passed at break neck speed.. kind of like the majority of 2007, so I guess nothing has changed there.

I should add a little recap here of Xmas ‘07™

Read on if you like.. this is for my re-memory

Let’s start with Christmas Eve Eve Eve (otherwise known as Dec 22nd)… We got to FIL’s around 5:15, SSIL and her fam were already there. SIL followed us over. After everyone else arrived we went up to the family room for the present opening.. that went well I guess. Then it was back down to the kitchen for dinner buffet style. Lots of nummy stuff to gorge ourselves on. A short time after we finished eating (like the dessert was just finished) and as The Man and his Dad had just started a convo, SIL asks when we are going to be leaving. Suffice to say we didn’t want to have to rush out like we had the year before so she ended up leaving alone… and being a bitch about it. C’est la vie!! We left around 9:30pm

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Tonight is Christmas with FIL, SMIL, & SMIL’s kids… even the black sheep will be there. The kids are excited, especially The Karate Kid, to see cousins they haven’t seen in years because of the silly family feud. I am pretty excited myself. New baby to play with Heh!!

Tomorrow it is my family… babies young and old there…

Monday is supposed to be our get-together with MIL & SIL w/MS … still haven’t heard from her what time to be there… but SIL is supposed to be going with us tonight… unless she “Can’t be bothered” again… we shall see………

Sometimes I would rather just live in a little cocoon with just the four of us… blissfully ignorant of the facts that we are related to assholes…. but what can ya do?

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So last night, when I couldn’t sleep because the wind was making that little clip on the electric meter swing loudly on the other side of the uninsulated wall, I let the emotions take over and I became very evil! I planned nasty things and giggled in my head about the out come. Oh it was beautiful…

Of course today in the light of day I am still a tad emotional, but more in the weepy way than the “Take That!” kind of way. The station we play at work played that Christmas song about the shoes twice today and I got all misty both times…

Gawd…. I love the holidays

Bah Humbug

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Snow… wind…. freezing rain/sleet! Yay!! Woke up to another 4 inches….

Joy & Rapture

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Me and my big mouth!!! A FOOT OF SNOW is covering my car!!!

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Had to pick up my brother and sil at the airport yesterday. Their flight was canceled. They were supposed to be in around 7:30pm…. they ended up switching airlines and getting in at midnight… we were home by 2am… up again at 5am for our regular day. I have no idea what is keeping me going right now, but I am quite achy!! Least we made up for not being able to go to the christening of their youngest…

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So this week is my relax week… or should be if I had all my shit in one bag. I will find out Thursday if I do or not. We have the tree up, I have done the Christmas shopping… just waiting to see if I need some more stocking stuffers… haven’t had time to dig it all back out without having a child up my butt. I think I can take Thursday off so I will do some sorting and wrapping and go from there

Next two weeks I have my Dad’s birthday, Christmas Concerts at the school and belt graduation and then we have one family after another to visit for our family Christmases… then the fat man comes and we get to chill. Got the menu planned out for Christmas. Should be loads of fun!!! Then for the time after Christmas up to New Years Day we will be working on inventory at the store… Ugh! Gotta be done though.

Geesh just thinking about all this is making me tired. I must pull myself together so I can make the long trek to work… Ho Ho Ho…

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Been a kooky week. I was sick for the beginning of it. Spent Monday in bed. That was fun! Worked Tuesday still feeling off… was told to take yesterday off. I had a lot planned for today so I started some of it yesterday. Then The Mr came home early (we are losing our part time guy and he wanted to give The Mr some time off since he will be getting none for a while… until we find someone else we trust enough to hand over the reins from time to time) and he sat down and found a movie to watch and asked me to join him… so of course I did derr no brainer there! Heh!! And so I asked if he could do without me again today so I could finish all the half started projects from yesterday. I have to clean the dreaded bathroom, change our bedding and flip the monster mattress… put away all the laundry I did yesterday. and I would like to get some presents wrapped. Not a priority, but I have piles here there and everywhere that I want to get organized and what better way to do so than wrapping them. I usually use a different roll for each pile so I can remember what pile goes to which branch of the family. Makes life easier!

Right now I am blog-hopping and importing some Christmas songs to the Pink Princess aka My Ipod. Right now I am listening to Silent Night and feeling quite calm. I promised I would get the tree out so we can get it up and decorated on Sunday when we are all here and I am actually looking forward to it now… course there is a lot that needs to be taken care of in the living room so it can have a spot to sit, but that is the kids job and they will do that or the tree doesn’t go up. Making it their decision not mine takes the heat off!!

I think that I am about 99% done with our shopping for everyone else… now got to finish the Santa shopping. I would like for The Mr and I to do that together… but that is not as easy as it sounds so I think we will do a good chunk of it online… hopefully I will be able to get him to sit with me tonight so we can do that… now that I have the new router installed and working we can do that from our nightly perch. I am feeling the stress of the time crunch now and not liking that one bit!! I have to get that 1% done too… The Mr is not helping there much so I will take the lead a bit and nag the hell out of him until it is done. Ahh a wifes job is never done hehe!!

Now off to tackle the bathroom… or maybe I should flip the mattress before I lose all feeling in my arms.

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Tomorrow is December 1st. Huh… I still can’t wrap my mind around that. So here is it the end of NaBloPoMo. I made it to the end Yay!! If I do this next time I am definitely going to have some kind of plan to go by. Maybe have some themes. There just isn’t enough interesting things going on here. I did manage to get some more re-arranging done this evening. Got what I wanted to do yesterday- but ran out of time- done. Yay Me Of course this makes some more messes here and there, but those will wait until next time I have some free time. Tonight is going to be crash night. The Drama Queen is off to a friends house and I don’t have to go get her. Score one for me. Not that she lives far, but I get tired of always driving both ways sometimes, ya know? Oh and want a shocker?? Mrs Tenant brought me the rent TODAY and she PAID IN FULL! She seemed all proud when she said “It’s all there” Yay for her!! And Yay for us!! I especially like that I didn’t even get around to stewing on whether or not we were going to get paid or not and how much we were going to get. Yay!

This is such a Yay post. Heh! I don’t have to cook tonight Yay again! I should probably get a snack for The Karate Kid to hold him over until The Mr gets home.

So 25 days until Christmas! Gotta get the tree up!! That is all part of the rearranging. Got 7 of the nieces and nephews gifts done. Got for to go, but they get money/gift certificates. We just have our parents and the kids after that. My parents are easy, and MIL wants something from the store. We will probably get her a G/C like we got one for her last year to the place she goes for massages. The Mr’s father and step mother are harder… The epitome of the people who have everything… sigh! We will come up with something…

The Mr is calling… time to make up my mind about dinner… Surprise me doesn’t work anymore. We have both lost our imaginations… 

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This has been a lot harder than I thought it would be. Guess it was the wrong time of the year for me to get involved with something like this. Oh Well. At least I padded my archives right? Heh!!

Took the Karate Kid for his recheck today. Had one of the younger silly docs. His ears were clear! Yay! The new stuff obviously did the trick. Gonna have to remember to ask for that next time… if there is a next time. The Drama Queen grew out of them by this age. After the long drive up there we had to fly off to Karate. He had his monthly evaluation and kicked major butt! Belt graduation is coming up in three weeks. Then Xmas break! Yay! I can sure use it. I think I am going to be working the full week with The Mr that week… gonna drive in with him though to save on gas.

Got more of the redecorating done today. Also chilled some. The day flew by way too fast!! Isn’t that always the way. So much more I wanted to get accomplished. I was going to continue after we finished dinner.. but now I am pooped.

Tomorrow is another day… Maybe after work.

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I don’t know what is wrong with me. I guess I must have been raised wrong or something. I mean I don’t think it is a good idea to run around in the street screaming at the top of my lungs at my loser friends shouting expletives as well as ranking their moms… I tread carefully in the hallways so as not to disturb the tenants… I wait to take my turn… I follow the rules of common courtesy pretty closely….

I could go on and on, but it is kind of embarrassing to be the only person on the planet with this affliction…

Shoot me now!

/rant

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How is it that I can forget something that has been part of my morning routine since junior high school? For the life of me I can not figure out how it is that I keep forgetting to put on my deodorant in the morning. I have to carry an extra in my work bag just in case… and I use it at least once a week. It’s crazy! I thought I have been on autopilot, but if I were then I think I would have done the pitstick as I got dressed like normal… *sigh*

Least I fit in with most of our clientèle Heh!!

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The drama queen decided she needed to join th masses and dye her hair jet-black. She had beautiful golden hair and now it is black. And now I am finding it difficult to look at her without feeling like I want to cry.. cuz she doesn’t look like my baby anymore. The Mr isn’t thrilled. When I told him it made me sad he reminds me that I was the one that told her it was ok. I am trying to do my best at picking my battles.. I decided this wasn’t one. The Mr thinks it should have been… He now wonders what the next battle will be that she thinks she can win. All because I let her dye her hair. Ugh!

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Today will be my emotional crash day… ahhh! I need it. I am looking at the positive though. I got to spend time with my entire family over the last couple days. That I am thankful for above everything else. That is what I am hanging on to. The rest I am letting slide.

I have to.

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Unfortunately you can not pick the people your siblings fall in love with…

C’est la vie I guess

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Things went ok, I will write more when I am not so zonked. My sister is visiting and I spent all afternoon and evening visiting with her and the kids. Will be doing the same tomorrow. Gonna be a long weekend!!

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I can probably go back to last year at this time and see the same post… if I had that to look at.

I am already dreading tomorrow. I am trying not to do so. I am trying to just let it roll. I just get afraid that this will be the time I can’t hold my tongue. This will be the time I let them know what I think. This is not a good idea. I don’t want to make things worse for The Mr. His relationships with his mother and sister. I am not a praying woman, but I have been praying for the strength to get through it all day today. My idea to do this is to just hang with the kids and the nieces and nephew. I am bringing my camera and I plan on taking lots of pictures!!!!

This gives me an idea for a Christmas gift… hmmmm!!

So what are the plans for tomorrow? For us it will be: Breakfast out just the four of us.. them I am dropping The Mr off for his psychoanalysis at his moms to help get things going. The kids and I will go home and hang out then head over in a few…. Then after all the “good times” we will head over to my parents house for even more fun. And you?

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I think I have been hit with the Seasonal Blues. I guess watching The Biggest Loser wasn’t the best idea for when I feel like this. Just the theme song made me lose it! Ugh!

Anyone got something to smile about?

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The Karate Kid has an ear infection… same ear as before back in September. We got a different script this time. Hopefully it will do the trick. You wouldn’t know he was sick at all. He hasn’t had a fever at all, and only complained about ear pain a time or two…. Motrin took care of that for him. Now I am pooped and want to do nothing but sleep. I suggested a nap to him earlier today, and he was all for it, if I took one with him… course I was in the middle of work stuff and couldn’t just then. I am gonna get him to bed now and then hit the sack myself. *yawn*

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1. Toasty :: Warm
2. Allegations :: Accusations
3. Herb :: Peaches
4. Bacon ::  & Eggs
5. Neck to neck :: Eye to eye
6. Simon :: Says
7. Heels :: Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
8. Fundamentals :: Basics
9. Middle :: Here I am… Stuck in the middle with you
10. Seasonings :: Spices

Wanna?

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Thanksgiving is less than a week away. The Christmas music is being played on the radio and in stores. Christmas commercials have been running for a while now. I am hoping I will get into the spirit of things soon. I think I need to get through Thanksgiving first. We are having dinner at MIL’s with The Mr’s sister and her fam. MIL wants to be sure that SIL with MS is heavily medicated. Seems that is how they dealt with things last year. I did not see her as being fun last year, so I am already on guard. I have been getting weird phone calls from her that put me on the defensive. I don’t like that. I know that the stress I am dealing with is a big reason for that not rolling off my back as it usually does…

The only thing that sucks about the holidays, is the thing I look forward to the most. Being with our families. It sucks that there is so much drama.

What can ya do?

You can go see The Mist on Wednesday night to make up for the hell you will be going through on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

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Saw this somewhere… can’t remember where now… but it made me laugh and I really needed that today

CHECK IT OUT

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Spent the day rearranging my living room… my arms and legs are killing me.. can’t sit here and be boring tonight… will have to wait until tomorrow. 

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Ok I am not “hot” for her, but I love The Karate Kids teacher. You can really tell she loves what she does. Actually each of the teachers he has had to date have been awesome! I don’t know why I am surprised… I guess I am just waiting for his “Miss Fay” She was my 3rd grade teacher and the biggest bitch ever. She was just ugly and bitter and obviously should have retired long before she did. She hated everyone, didn’t matter who you were. Whether you got good grades or goofed off all day.

KK’s teacher rocks! We had parent/teacher conferences tonight. KK is doing well. He is way ahead of where they hope he would be. Again just proof that he has had some awesome teachers!! And we learned that they are changing the report cards…. again…    We won’t see that until January or February. I can’t remember exactly. They do three a year in grades K-5 the first one ends up being near the end or at the end of term two if I remember correctly. They only do two conferences a year too. Guess they make ya work for it if there is an issue during term two. Maybe that is the norm now… just not what I am used to.

The Drama Queen’s report card should be here Friday. Got my fingers crossed on that one. I am hoping she was able to keep the math grade up. I don’t do a very good job helping in that area. I loved math and She hates it… with a burning fiery passion. Just another area where we don’t have much in common. Then you look at her, the way she dresses, the things she likes… and you will see me all over it. Heh! Kind of neat!

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The Karate Kid has a little problem with his baby teeth. They aren’t coming out as fast as his adult teeth are coming in. This is pushing all his baby teeth out of wack. His dentist is concerned about fracturing ?? so he sent us to an orthodontist. We went to see him last week and he said that he didn’t want to pull too many out so KK is to get to wiggling as much as possible between now and January. Then he will most likely pull 4 teeth. This has me really freaked out. He is freaked out and I am trying my best to get him wiggling so we can get the majority out now… and not to think about the rest until later. I am hoping that we get all but the 4 eye teeth out they will then pull those. Ugh!

Never had a tooth pulled myself. Not sure what I can tell him to expect.

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Seems everyone has their hands in my pockets this month. Not such a great thing to be happening the month before Christmas. There just isn’t a good time for it though is there. Where’s that money tree hiding??

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Here it is my 11th day and I haven’t got any good ideas for today. I could tell you how 15 years ago today I was in the early stages of labor with my first child. How About this time that night I told The Mr that I was having contractions, and that he then ran right out and bought himself a pack of cigarettes and then sat and played Nintendo all night while I tried to rest. How Terribly frightened I was about the whole birthing of baby thing… and the lack of confidence I had in my doctors. But most of that I would rather not remember that clearly, so I am not going to dwell on it now..

My eldest is going to be 15 tomorrow… Wow! I don’t feel old enough to have a 15 year old.

15… yikes!

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I have been making this list of all the things I want to do around the house. It keeps getting longer… but nothing is getting marked as done. No time which sucks… but I really want to make time so I can get it all done before Christmas.

I have also got the gift giving list done. This one has a couple crossed off already Yay!  Oh I just remembered one to add.. Ugh!

This is going to be such a tough season for shopping with all the recalls. Too scary! I don’t want to get something for any of the nieces or nephews that could kill them ya know. Clothes and DVDs it is!! Ugh!

Still not sure about getting something for SBIL’s kids. They never get anything for our kids, and we haven’t spoken with them in what… three years? They only live a few miles from here but there is a family feud there. We are… not in the middle but near the middle of it. Sucks! But what can ya do… I guess we can just get a Toys R Us gift card or something along those lines.

Maybe they should all get cash… would make life so much easier… except I know for a fact that SIL with MS keeps it instead of giving it to her kids. So that ain’t happening!

Bah Humbug already!!

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The Wizard of Oz is on tonight. I remember when I was a kid it would play once a year always around the same time, and we would get to stay up and watch it. Mom would pop some popcorn (Jiffy Pop was our favorite) and we would all sit glued to the TV. Every year the same thing… until one year in High School there was a dance scheduled for the same night. I really really wanted to go to the dance, but it really didn’t feel right not to stay home and watch the movie. I went back and forth over and over. I did end up going and had a BLAST. I didn’t really miss seeing the movie at all, but I did miss the tradition. Course now I have it on tape and I think it is on DVD as well. Can watch it anytime I want… but I don’t After that year I kind of got out of the habit… I can’t hear the Miss Gulch on the bike music though without thinking of freshly popped Jiffy Pop! MMMM!!

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I don’t feel very well! Whatever it was that The Mr was fighting has run away from him and caught me

So not fair!!

I didn’t ask him to share!!

/whine

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Bulleted Fodder

** Listening to VH1’s Top 100 80’s songs! Having a blast with it.

** Taking tomorrow off!! Lots of chores to do… maybe a little playing too

** The itch you can’t scratch.. it’s a vagisil commercial. Men scratch their junk all the time… if it itches scratch it

** Dealing with SIL with MS is becoming increasinly difficult… just what we need around the holidays! YAY!

** I have officially started my Christmas Shopping. One gift down…. way too many more to go

** Hush Hush Eye to Eye!

** All these guys who used to be so hot… was I too young to know better?

** The candy is officially gone… I did throw some of it out, when the Karate Kid wasn’t looking

** I have winter skin already.. ugh!!

** Shit I just made a big mess… dammit!

** Guess I can add another to the list of chores tomorrow. Yay!

** The Mr has asked me to join him in bed for some cuddles and chat… bloggin can wait

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My penis is fine the way it is thank you!

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Are there really only 50 days until Christmas? I am too tired to figure it out myself… but I am sure that this is impossible because just yesterday it was March. I am guessing if I blink it will be March again. I hate being so busy that time is getting away from me. I keep thinking about all the time I am missing and can’t get back. I want to be able to sit back and smell the roses, but there just isn’t enough time for that when you are raising two kids and running your own business. Never mind the relaxing stuff… there never seem to be enough hours in the day to get the work done either. Which reminds me I forgot to stop for gas today, which means I will have to get it in the morning… when it will probably be 10 cents more than it was today. As it is the two stations near the store have gone up 20 cents since Friday. Pretty soon it will be cheaper to take the train in… and that costs an arm and a leg!!

I have that I forgot something feeling a lot lately. I am thinking I should carry a little notepad in my pocket so I can write stuff down, but with my luck I will forget it somewhere. Maybe I should get myself one of those digital recorders… wouldn’t that be fun.. course I would probably never have the time to listen to it.. and besides I hate the sound of my own voice. I hate listening to myself when I have to leave a message on the voice mail here at the house. If I could skip over that part I would. I hate it when The Mr plays his messages on speaker and I can hear myself leaving a message for him Ugh!

My brother got laid off today. I think he is probably glad, because he has been complaining about the company for a while. His wife makes good money though so they will be ok for a bit.

All of a sudden I am nodding off. It just hit me all at once. I am so old! I can’t even make it up til 11pm anymore…. Ugh!

Night all!

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So today was the day my mom decided would be good for getting us all together to celebrate the birthdays of my kids and my niece. It was a pretty good day all things considered… Could have been a lot worse getting us all in such a small area. And my SIL2B did pretty good too. I can only imagine what it must be like for someone from a small family to be subjected to the bunch of us!! Well she might as well get used to it!!

Plans were tentatively made for our Christmas get together… gotta do that kind of thing when everyone is together… I say tentative because my middle brother and his wife need to be able to discuss it privately first. It’s their thing. Whatever…

Christmas is gonna be here before I know it. I did manage to get my first gift out of the way (Got my brother a World Series hat… which most likely will be something he has already gotten for himself since he went out the day after and bought some stuff. Oh well…..) The Mr has him in the grab… I have SIL2B. I am going to grab something off their wedding registry, plus I have a couple little things for her.

Today would have been my grandfather’s 93rd birthday. He passed away 32 years ago. I was 8. Cancer… He was 3 years younger than my Dad is now. That kind of freaks me out a little. And makes me grateful for the relationship we have. Kay don’t want to think about that.. back to my grandfather! He was my mom’s father. She brought it up today and I told her I had been thinking about it too. He loved the sun. He was a major sun worshiper… always had the San Trope tan heh! He did this little whistle hum thing when he went into the water at the lake when it was cold. When we went to my grandparents house for our “Friday Night Fish Fry” I would sit patiently in his chair until he came home from work. When he got home he would scoop me up and we would chat while I took the come out of his chest pocket and combed his hair into his face… then he would read The Monster At The End Of This Book to me. It never got old.

I still miss him! I had these reoccurring nightmare’s for years and years until I realized they were about the moment I found out he was gone. After that I didn’t have them again. Sounds weird, but it is really hard to explain…

Happy Birthday Gump!! Wish my kids could have met you… but you can be sure they know all about you. I have many wonderful memories to share with them.

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The wind is whipping… but the basement is dry! YAY!

I am enjoying a moment or two to myself while the kids and husband enjoy The Nightmare Before Christmas in the other room. I am singing along…. The Drama Queen played this one to death when it first came out on video. ‘Tis a favorite of The Mr’s as well. We had a fairly productive day at the store… we were still down from last year, but did way better than either one of us expected with the weather the way it was. Not too many people want to walk in that shit ya know.

Last night we went to see Dan In Real Life it was really good, I think The Mr even enjoyed it… his words, I believe, were “Not bad for a chick flick” Heh!

Gotta work on a new template. This one is old.. I have an idea for a new one, but I am having a hard time actually seeing it through. All I have is the background so far

I need to come up with some topics for the next…. 27 days of posting. If ya have any ideas please post them in the comments…

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Just when I thought we would get through the season without having to bail out the basement, along comes Hurricane Noel We are expecting 3-4 inches I guess in this area… strong winds too. And by “We” I mean “I” because there is just no way for The Mr to take care of it from work. *sigh*

Wonder what that will do for business… course they’re only expecting 1-2 inches in the city.

Hope Mrs Tenant got all her laundry done already… She was very quiet yesterday. Except when she first went out in the morning. This woman doesn’t walk she stomps. I am a little more tolerant about it than The Mr is also. He likes to call names at the ceiling. When he got home last night after his trip to the Dojo, I asked if maybe he crossed paths with her while I was out and she gave him the rent money. Course I already knew the answer was “no” but I thought I would ask anyway. He says he feels guilty because we own so many people too.. I remind him again that we can’t pay our bills when people don’t pay us.. this goes for home and the store. He really needs to stop playing Mr Nice Guy!!! I will be very surprised if we don’t see the money today. You would think she would have just said something. I was here all day yesterday. But not one word… I should have parked myself in her face and made her say something to me. I think we have just been too nice for too long and are going to be taken advantage of because we let it happen. Course we are stuck right now because we are tapped thanks to this wonderful economy and the store, so having tenants who are late is better than having no tenants at all. I am just glad we never got friendly with them… that would make this so much worse. I have heard some real horror stories!!

So I guess I should make a trip through the basement and make sure there is nothing important on the floor before heading off to work.

Ugh my second post for the month of blogging and more complaining… I promise this won’t be a month full of pissy post from me!!

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So here it is my day off and I have a ton of things I want to do… and a ton of things I should do… and not enough hours in the day to do all of it… so.. I will have to pick and choose and not get all twirly* about it.

I do want to keep myself distracted from the fact that it is the 1st, which means the rent is due. Will the tenants from hell be on time this month? Since Mrs Tenant gets paid on Thursdays it is usually the day I have to wait for to in order to get “the rest” of the rent.. which has become more and more money each month. But I am hoping they have their stuff together this month and will have all of it today. Certainly makes my life easier for this week. Being the owner of a two family home has it’s advantages… and disadvantages… unfortunately lately the advantages really don’t make it worth it. But what can ya do? Ah there she goes sneaking out… Time to find some distractions!!

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I am pooped! I actually managed to stay up and watch the whole game last night. I wasn’t sure I would make it much past the 7th inning. But I had to see it for myself. Before this season I thought it would be another 86 years. I don’t know if there was any jigging this time around. Just couldn’t stay up any later!!

Course the whole day was fun filled. It was the Karate Kid’s birthday. My baby is 8 YEARS OLD Wahhhhh! WE went to build-a-bear and he made a Red Sox Bear (pictures to follow on Flickr when I get a chance this afternoon) We took the requisite picture with bear that we have done since he was a new born (my grandmother gave it to him and we took pictures of him with it for her because it was so much bigger than him… then again on his first birthday… she passed away a few months later, but we kept the tradition going) Then we went pumpkin picking…wasn’t much left to pick, but the kids got a couple good ones we will carve this afternoon after homework is done. (and hopefully more pics will follow… I have a coupon for 100 free prints burning a hole in my pocket and it expires Wednesday!!)

After a slight nudge from the Fizzy Girl, I joined the NaBloPoMo thing. It should be a challenge to post the whole month long… But I am committed to doing so… or should that read that I should be committed… whatever. I better get to bed early the next couple nights so I can be nice and fresh and witty with the posting stuff.

Now I must consume copious amounts of caffeine and hit the road.

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The time to read it? Not so much! Of course when Stephen King comes into the home then nothing gets done. After the day I had at work yesterday, jumping into that wasn’t what I had in mind. Lucky for me, my copy of It Girl’s Guide To Blogging With Moxie finally arrived! I was beginning to think I was going to have to get mean with Amazon!

You can see by the bowing covers and wrinkled bindings I have already jumped right in (what better way to calm the nerves during a Red Sox play off game?)

All this time I have been chic.. who knew?

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Heat came on this morning… probably last night too by the way my sinuses feel. Ugh! Sooo not ready for the cold!!!!

Other than that things are going pretty good *knocks on all wooded surfaces in sight* Saturday evening The Mr and I went out for dinner after work. It was pretty noisey there, but things were pretty laid back. We weren’t rushed to order like at some places we have been to lately.. and we had no place else to be so we didn’t rush through our meals either. We just chilled. Talking wasn’t easy since it was so noisy and the couple at the table next to us were fighting. But we have been together long enough that we don’t always need words to get the point across.

Now Thursday I have a dilemma! The kids have a early release for Teacher Development or whatever it’s called, so I am taking the day off. The Drama Queen will be home around 11:30, so that kind of gives me 2 hours to myself… 2 whole hours. I am not sure what to do with myself… I mean there is plenty that can be done around here… or I could just do something fun. One of the many things I have said If I had the time I would like to… whatever. I have a feeling though that when the time comes, I will not remember a single thing I wanted to do. It will however occur to me Friday morning as I head into work what I could have done. Ah well…..

OOoh maybe I will go out and take some fall pictures… hmmm

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So a week or so ago The Mr and I had blood tests for a couple of new life insurance policies…. And I have yet to send in the card so I can get the results of said test. It has been quite a while since I have been to a doctor… It is silly really because I just never make the time to go. Plus? I am overweight and don’t want to hear the whole lectures cuz I know, I agree… blah blah blah….

Things with the store aren’t exactly hunky dory right now… and that is very unsettling… and a lot scary!!

I have been working day and night on store stuff and I of course that means stuff at home slides… the kids school stuff is kind of the last thing on my mind and that means I forget to ask the Drama Queen how things are going and about tests etc.. and the Karate Kid’s stuff is always something we have to do together but not due for a couple days… so I am always scrambling at the last minute to help him get it done. I get frustrated that he isn’t moving fast enough and tend to want to take over. I have had to walk away a lot… Course the fact that I got out of school 20-something years ago and shouldn’t have any homework gets me going too. Ugh!

Well KK is home now and he has a math paper to do and a book to read, report on this book is due on Friday. I have been instructed to help him write this report. (he’s in the second grade)

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The episode of Made, that The Karate Kid’s Sensei is in, is on right now. KK is thrilled, but I have a feeling that he will be disappointed about how much air time he is actually going to get.

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Not feeling very creative… maybe I’ll tweak some more later….

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Been quite a week! Sick kids and a husband who injured himself plus business that won’t run itself equals no fun for me! But All are much better now and I am falling down from exhaustion. Time to take care of mom… so any takers? No I didn’t think so… but that is just fine. I think I would like everyone else to get back to their things so I can have a little quiet me time! Only problem is I will probably sleep through it

(more…)

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I always said I needed a recording of the things I say because I get so tired of repeating myself…

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The neighbors have a chimney sweep working there the last two days. Today is the first time I have seen him. He took forever to back into the driveway causing lots of car honking. Then came the loud cell phone conversation… and now… He is singing at the top of his lungs. I am slightly saddened to be heading off to work now… He is doing CCR now… where’s my lighter when I need it??

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Don’t have much time to think lately. The thing I have always hated about working outside the house is that I never seem to have time for anything. I hate having to schedule things that I could do everyday when I was working from home. I guess I just have to see it as quality time and not look at the quantity. I am here when the kids are here and we are doing things together so there I am not lacking. Unfortunately all the little mundane things I could be doing when they aren’t here are being pushed aside for “later” which is why I can not get myself on to a good schedule as far as sleep. Which isn’t so good when you end up exhausted on a 45min ride through the boring highways of MA. So this week I am trying to be more productive from 6am when I get the Drama Queen up and 9 When I leave for work. I can’t exactly do the vacuuming during that time since there are tenants to consider and of course the Karate Kid need his sleep too. But the other things I worry about and then totally space on when I am too pooped to peep are out of the way. And I will obsess on these things. It is just how I am. (I was so tempted to type how I roll… guess I have been spending too much time with the baby bro)

The little boy across the street is now in kindergarten. Which doesn’t seem possible because he wasn’t even walking when we first moved in. Wow… but anyway.. he went onto the bus crying today. He is having a rough time of it to begin with and then another kid threatened him… someone who also gets on at the same stop. So that makes things worse. Just makes me happy that my kids were both really excited to start school. The only one crying at the bus stop was me… and that wasn’t until after the bus pulled away…. now I they are tears of joy some days HEH!

We still have not found a TV stand that will hold the monster TV we have. I am almost ruing the day it came into our lives. The thing is HUGE!! and beautiful and extremely heavy… I went hunting for a remote for it because apparently I either lost it or the guys who delivered it took it with them when the took the box.. (they had to take it out of the box to get it into the house it is that big!!) and one site I found said it weighs 225lbs another says 245lbs.. Ugh!  I think we are going to have to go back to Ikea… oh that store is dangerous! but no where have I seen something cheap that will hold that weight.. sigh! Everything the size we need is geared for the new flat screens that are light and sit on a pedestal. We aren’t that lucky. We have this monster I suppose I shouldn’t complain since we didn’t have to pay for it (MIL went to a business meeting and they had a Katrina raffle and she put in two $20 chances one in The Mr’s name and one in SIL’s name. The Mr. was the winner)

Ugh as much as I would love to continue to purge here I must run… don’t want to be late for work!

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Ah… so today is the second day of school for the 07-08 year for my kids. And as I mentioned before it is Drama Queen’s second day of High School. Things went really well from the sound of it. The “friend” from last year who got her into trouble a lot is not in any of her classes… and sounds to be a bit of a bitch this year.. time will tell. She hasn’t called her in a while. I think that they are finding that they have less in common as they grow. But then these outs happen during the months that this friend decides she is a lesbian. Other times when she decides she is Bi they get along fine. She is just one mixed up kid and I could go on for days about her home life (Mom is no where to be found, drug addict, prostitute etc. Dad is (I believe) remarried and they live with this woman their son and the womans ex-husband.) The Karate Kid did awesome as expected. He looks forward to the weekends as much as he looks forward to going back to school. Funny kid!!

Course I am now back to my exhausting schedule of 6 day weeks. Although I could have done less this week since one of the kids working for us doesn’t start back to school until Friday. But we had a huge vendor reset and an extra pair of hands was needed. Since there aren’t too many going around (and since he didn’t bring anyone to help him like he said he would and because he loooooves to talk) I get to start back to my normal schedule early. C’est la vie, I guess.

Now the other kids…. We have two guys who work for us. One is working on getting his Master’s Degree. I think he is like 25. He works in Boston during the day and then comes and closes the store for us after. The other is a senior in high school. He isn’t the most energetic kid around, but he is a good kid. I was noticing how maternal I get over these kids. A while back the first guy passed out on the train into Boston one morning. He spent the morning in the ER getting poked and prodded and they decided he was dehydrated. When he came back to work he got a lecture from me, because he scared me and I didn’t like it. And then just yesterday an old bat who comes by everyday to shoot the shit insulted the younger one and I went off on him. This was the kind of stuff he throws at The Mr and I all the time, but then he decided to go after the kid and I go all Momma Bear on him….. now I have to wonder… what will happen when the older one gets his degree and finds full time employment and leaves us??… or the younger one goes off to college and leaves us?? Ok I can’t even think about it

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Some of the stuff we had to throw out had been in that basement longer than we have been here. There was decayed bug carcases everywhere.. *shudders* BUT the basement is now 95% empty as far as storage goes… the remaining 5% needs to go up to the attic… and that I am not looking forward to since the attic and basement are three narrow, steep flights of stairs apart. I am still freaked out about carrying things on the stairs. It has been almost 4 years since I took the tumble and broke my leg and yet I still get a little pang when I have to go up to the attic.. or the second floor on the back staircase. Course the ones here are nothing like the ones I fell on. Those were really steep.

So the TO-DO-before-we-put-the-house-on-the-market list is a little shorter… but not by much since we didn’t finish the ceiling in the bathroom..that will be finished this weekend, BUT it was a lot better looking in there than we thought. There are two layers above the drop ceiling and we were thinking we would have to rip everything out to the studs because of the water leak… but we only had to do a small section. The original ceiling? Green. Why green? I don’t get it. One top of that is some kind of tile board… kind of like a combination of particle board and paper. Then the drop ceiling. Course since you can’t even give rental property away around here these days, we have plenty of time to do what we need to do.

The list for today?
* Gotta mop the bathroom floor again. There is a fine layer of dust in there that I can’t seem to get up. I prefer to be barefoot and hate walking on it like that. YUK!
* Install the CO Detector in the basement. Don’t know why we never put that in, gotta get that in as it is the law
* Laundry.. the never ending battle… might let the Drama Queen do hers so I can get out of doing mine Heh!
* Call and close 2 dormant credit card accounts. Don’t need them, trying to keep our credit report nice and neat
* Work out
* Relax

I think that is it… feels strange not to have a ton more to do… I have that “I’m forgetting something” feeling. I hate that

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The dumpster will be arriving sometime between 8 and 10 am (better window than the cable company ever gave us) and then we will tear apart the bathroom… the parts we haven’t touched yet… and maybe even more than planned since The Mr was looking at tub surrounds this evening while we were picking up new shower doors. Course the toilet is now running none stop. Guess it felt left out.

Oh and we are finally getting our ginormous tv set up. Well that is if we can find a TV stand that will hold a 250lb tv. I see a trip to IKEA tomorrow as well…. or maybe Jordan’s Furniture since they are having a huge no interest for a year sale… we do need a new sofa as well… ah I guess you can’t take it with you, so you may as well enjoy it while you’re still kickin’

Now if only we could do something about the living room carpet… and then there is the tile in the kitchen… oh and we are going to paint out bedroom soon… gonna buy some of our mis-tints cuz I really dig the color! Win-win there!!

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** All the crazies were out in Freaky Town today. I guess that goes along with being next to a bar that opens at 8am. But then again I was bumping into all the loons here in town before heading to work as well. So blame it on the full moon and then we can just assume it will all be back to norman soon. Riiiiight!

** I am getting in a bit of a tizzy here (joining the loons I guess). My baby girl is going to HIGH SCHOOL in a little over a week. HIGH SCHOOL! AHHHHH! It isn’t fair! I need more time! I am sure if I had more time I still wouldn’t be satisfied. They grow up way to damned fast! Gotta enjoy every moment you have (even though the ones between say 12 and 20 make you want to throttle them on a daily basis)

I am really having a hard time with it though. I am so frickin proud of her and everything, but I just am not ready to let go.. though I guess I have been letting go little by little since she learned to hold her own head up. Before I know it she’ll be driving and dating… not sure which is worse….. deciding where to go to college and what she wants to do with her life… Ugh time to change the subject, I am depressing myself way too much

** Know that show on MTV called Made? Well apparently they are filming in a neighboring town. Something about the cheerleading squad at the high school… and someone involved isn’t very disciplined so the ones doing the making decided they need to attend some martial arts classes and they picked the Karate Kids school… they are supposed to be checking it out this week. They will be in the adult class though not KK’s class.. Course I feel so old not having a clue what the show is about. Never seen it but have heard of it… I have a vague recollection anyway. Heh! Sensi was really bouncing off the walls over it too

** Being a total Coca ~ Cola kook, I have been collecting points so I can get myself some nifty rewards. This becomes very challenging when you have sworn off the stuff. But I have some people looking out for me who have been saving their caps and the tops of their fridge packs for me.. and I got my first reward today… it is a Coca ~ Cola bottle flash drive. Heee!  I am such a geek for silly things.

** I really should be getting some work, work done….
** I am breaking out like a teenager lately… I guess that is one way to stay young huh? Ugh!

** My back is peeling. I can’t reach it either and it is very itchy. I offered to let The Mr peel me and he of course thought I was suggesting something else. Which was actually pretty interesting since his mind is never there

** I wish I knew where my bamboo back-scratcher went disappeared to… maybe I can get one of the kids to do it… heh!

** Getting my pictures from both of our vacations developed cost me $40… and that was just mine I haven’t done the kids pics yet

** I flickred them.. I still have to go through and do some editing, but they are up because my sister was bugging me to see them… Glad I did though since I ended up deleting some by mistake when I was trying to get them off the laptop..

** Been flooded with member registrations from fake email addresses… don’t remember that happening as much before… spammers must be gearing up for a big one hmmm…. don’t get to be a member unless you confirm so they aren’t doing themselves any good faking it… hmmmm

** I am very tired. I think someone should put me to bed now

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So I was sound asleep last night when the Karate Kid wandered into our room and asked me a question. What he was asking didn’t make sense and I wasn’t sure if that was because I was half asleep or because he was.. or maybe both. Then I hear this noise. I ask “Are you peeing?” He says no but I can clearly see a dark circle growing at his feet. This will be the last time I let him have one of my Aquafina bottles before bedtime!! He doesn’t remember any of this. Weird.

My parents tell a story of yours truly sleepwalking at around the same age. Apparently I walked out to the kitchen, which was beside the living room where they were watching the 11:00 news, and opened the fridge. When they asked what I was doing I said I had to go the bathroom. I was told to go back to bed. I would have thought that they should have told me to go into the bathroom but that is just me. Anyway, I guess I didn’t pee myself though. I am quite sure they would have told me about that!

The peeing in your sleep thing comes from The Mr’s gene pool. He says he remembers dreaming he was peeing and waking up in a puddle. Maybe that is a guy thing?

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Today is the first anniversary of our first day in the store as owners. How can that even be possible? A whole year. Wow

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So I decided, since it was too cold for swimming Sunday, and I was tired of hearing “When can we go swimming?” from my youngest fish, that we should leave earlier than originally planned. We headed off around 2:30pm Hit a ton of traffic getting onto the Spaulding and then at the tolls on the NH/MA boarder. After that though it was pretty much smooth sailing. Only took me an extra half hour to get home so that was pretty good. Course I had to Pee just before hitting the traffic at the toll but wouldn’t let myself stop because I really just wanted to be home at that point. So when we got here I grabbed a couple things told the kids to grab a couple and ran inside. The Mr met me at the door and came out and unloaded almost all of the rest of the mess while I voided (as my grandmother always used to say) I kinda milked it but man I thought that I would never get out of there.

Then we had dinner and I dug into the mail from the week we were gone. Something from each of the kids schools. Got the Drama Queen’s schedule for new school year, but the letter enclosed with it was for an incoming SENIOR… ACK! It is bad enough that she is going to be a freshman people jeesh! SO I gotta be calling them to see what I am missing.

The Karate Kids school sent an order form for supplies. We have to buy them this year. Been waiting for this for two years now. They just keep cutting and cutting the school’s budget. And the town didn’t vote for the override so here we sit. Hopefully money from that thing I mentioned privately will bring in some much needed funds for these schools. It is bad enough that the High School is in danger of losing it’s accreditation because of poor MCAS scores. This town is going to hell in a handbasket! Ok better stop before going off on a rant here

So I have now had a chance to sleep in my own bed two nights. I looked forward to this, but have been sorely disappointed. I can’t sleep for the life of me. I have no idea why, unless it is hormonal. I thought that it might be because I wasn’t used to the noise anymore after being in the woods for 8 days with the only sounds being insects and loons (boy are they creepy sounding at night!!) so last night I shut the windows in our room. It got pretty cool last night anyway. But that didn’t really help either. I am hoping that I will at least sleep some tonight. I have to take The Drama Queen back-to-school shopping on Thursday and there is no way I will be able to handle that in my current state! Oy!

Maybe a shower will help wake me up…

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As much as I would love to stay for ever, I am also glad to be going home today. I miss my bed heh! And my privacy. And the Mr. The kids are mixed too. Want to stay want to go home. I guess that keeps it from being too much of a good thing…….

Got up to the tower yesterday. I have a ton of pictures to go through. Who knows when I will have time to go through the all, but I have uploaded some to flickr… just have to edit etc. Time… should be more of it don’t ya think?

Until tomorrow.. when I am back in MA

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They are plentiful this year. Guess the extended family didn’t have time for pickin’

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I must be officially on vacation since I can not remember what day it is anymore. We have pretty much done the same thing since getting here Sunday Afternoon. I sit on the beach with my book the kids swim. My sister and her fam arrived yesterday around 1pm motorcycle in tow. She and BIL have now headed back home for a memorial service. A friend of theirs lost a child (38yrs old – Heart Attack) Don’t know if they will make it back tonight. So the kids and Gus are here with us.

I am hoping to get up to the tower sometime today or tomorrow for some pictures. That is if I can drag the Karate Kid out of the water. Sensei would be proud he has been practicing his kicks in the the water. Heh!

Oh I should mention…..For anyone peeking 72.224.186.174 is me at least until Sunday

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In like 12 hours I will be on my way north. I have accomplished nothing and still have a whole list of things to do. However I am pooped and will probably be running around like that chicken tomorrow morning. Ugh! I hate that!

Anyhoo…. au revoir for now

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I know part of it is the stress of going away for 8 days and everything that involves, and I am truely excited to be going… but at the same time I am dreading it. I hate that I have to be going alone but I don’t say so because I am being supportive of The Mr the path he wants to be following. .. the one that we are all following with him…for him. I know in my heart that he will miss us just as terribly as we miss him and I will do my best to keep the kids occupied so that they won’t dwell on it.. but then it will get quiet and we will be drifting off to sleep and I will get sad that I am in bed alone. I will hear my BIL snoring in the next room and miss having The Mr snoring beside me.

This trip is very important to me. Not only because I will be sharing a large piece of my childhood with my kids, but because I am doing it for me as well as them. Yes there is is I am actually doing something for me for a change. That is now always easy for me. I am not giving up on something I want because of The Mr’s path. Not that he would ever ask me to do so. He would never make me give this up again, like he had to last year. But the trip last year fell the week we passed papers for the business loan to buy the store. I will be home in time to celebrate our 1st anniversary. I made sure of that! 

I am also a huge disorganized mess right now. I have stuff here there and everywhere. I refined my lists tonight and I will be working on them tomorrow… it is the only full day I will have to do so since Friday was taken away from me. I was told I didn’t need two day anyway… so I will be doing what I need to do for going away, the rest will either wait until I get back or be taken care of by the one who told me I didn’t need two days heh!

And I am trying not to freak out about being away from the store for 8 whole days. Not that The Mr couldn’t survive without me.. but I am just a little concerned about him and his ideas without me there to say you have to wait until that deposit clears before spending that money… ugh I can’t think about all that now!

Now is for relaxing.. tomorrow is for planning and preparing. Sunday is for 2 hour and 45 minutes of driving.

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The Mr and I went out to see Bourne Ultimatum last night. Behind us was one of “those guys” The ones bad jokes and epitome’s are made of. He took several two way calls with the “beep beep” and everything. Never once even pretended to whisper. Of course he also talked to the screen had to do that… Then he and his female companion chatted, again no whisper. Then he must have gotten some popcorn or something stuck in his throat cuz the then had to do that hack where he is bringing everything he can up and make me gag. I thought the Mr was going to go over the row at him. I was able to tune them out for the most part. Helps that the movie was one of the better I have seen in a long while.

So there are just 5 or so days left until I leave. I have a ton to do and was listing what I needed to do tonight. The Mr told me that since he was going to his kick boxing class that I should just chill and “do my blog stuff”. So I am doing a little of both. I have been poking around in the Plugin Library and there are a few I would like to try. After I have a Hunka Chunka PB Fudge Cone. I haven’t treated myself in a while so I am gonna dig in to some of that… and if I do it in a cone, I won’t eat as much as I could.. Actually just give me a carton and a spoon heh! I love the stuff it is my flavorite!

I heard a song today. It was on a bands myspace page. I loved it and listened over and over again. It is not available for download and hasn’t been released yet. The teases!! I have it bookmarked though so I can listen some more. I should be sick of it by the time it is available for purchase. Heh!

Speaking of music… must have the ipod filled with music for the trip Sunday. Got some new stuff to add to it too. That should thrill the kids to no end heh!

I really should throw The Karate Kid into the tub. It is getting late and soon I won’t want to do anything….. oops too late

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I say … and you think … ?

1. Voices :: Inside my head
2. Have to :: Have it
3. Machine :: La –
4. Seventh grade :: The Locker Partner From Hell
5. Beach :: Blanket Bingo
6. Roommate :: Sharing is caring
7. Cyclone :: My son.. or the shittiest vacuum I ever owned
8. Theater :: Tickets
9. Pregnant :: Bite your tongue!!
10. Phoebe :: Cates

(more…)

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Trying to get caught up at work and get organized at home. Going away in 9 days… slowing going insane over all of it. Why does relaxing have to take so much work?

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Just doing anything I can to get business to pick up today. See everytime I start to do something a pile of people walk through the door.

So far… no good Blah! Been a sucky couple of days here. Ugh! Leaves The Boss (aka The Other Half™) in a very bad mood

Ugh That one needs to bathe!

That one was nice..

Only 45 minutes to go til I can make the long trip home… that should be when it starts pouring again. *sigh*

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Yay! Course I can’t sleep in because The Karate Kid has Kamp. But that is ok. I think that the Teen Queen and I are going to take in a matinee of Hairspray. She is dying to see it. She is a big Zac Effron fan. She has covered the walls of her room with his posters. Typical 14 year old girl. Course her Dad just rolls his eyes. I think it makes him uneasy. He doesn’t want to think about her growing up. Not that I do, but I am trying to enjoy as much time with her as she will allow for now. And make sure we have built strong ties for when the really tough decisions come up. I am not fool enough to think that she will always come to me, I just hope she will see it as one option.

Oh and boy is she pissed at me because she is going to miss the premiere of High School Musical II! Dear Lord! Can’t please them all all the time now can ya? She’ll have a week away with her cousins at the Lake (without cable *gasp*) yeesh!

Rent is due a week from today and I am already getting riled up. Wonder if there will be an excuse this month or will we even see the rent. If things weren’t so tight right now, it wouldn’t bother me. But it is, so it does. Especially when it seems Mr Tenant hasn’t been working as much. Time will tell.

Oh and I have decided I will be making some restricted posts in the near future. There is stuff going on here in town I would like to write about, but don’t want someone Googling that and finding me. So feel free to get signed up. If you have an avatar you can upload one of those too.

Hopefully there will be lots of fun stuff over coming up… I am hoping to get myself talked into getting my hair cut. Haven’t done so in like three years I think and it is getting way too long. It gets stuck in the waistband of my pants and I hate that.

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1) The customer, who does not speak English, who is demanding and grunts to get you to do what he wants NOW! A major lesson in patience!

2) The sweaty money that comes out of the contractor’s pockets!

3) The old folks who come in for just one thing, but you have to go get it for them, then they need another.. and another. This is good exercise! I only wish the store was a little bigger.

4) Bad breath!

5) Bad jokes!

6) Racism!

7) Being called “Doll” “Sweetie” “Honey” or “Darling”

Being called “Pumpkin” This only happens if he hits the pub first

9) Being next door to an Irish Pub. Lots of good music comes streaming through the walls

10) Drunks nearly falling through the plate glass windows when they go to lean “casually” from two feet away so they can call a cab

11) One of said drunks dropping his cell phone then going right on his head when he bends to pick it up

12) Nice friendly businessmen who are full of good tips on running your own business.

13) Lonely Neighborhood Guy who must stop buy three of four times a day to see “What’s new?”

14) Stinky people who smell like they rolled in garbage

15) The Asian man who sucks his teeth.

16) “Well the other people always had it”

17) “When did you take over the place? [Former Owners] were really good friends of mine!” So good in fact that they sold to us almost one year ago and you just found out they were gone—oh if I had a dime for every time I have had this conversation!

18) Oops I don’t have any cash on me I will have to use my credit card/debit card for that 11¢ bolt

19) How it is my fault that you overpaid your bill because I am a novice.. hmmm wonder how experienced I have to be before I learn to read an invoice incorrectly!

20) The cheap-skates who raid the “Give a Penny Take a Penny” Need a penny take one… need a couple take a couple… but really 47¢ ???

I feel better now! What do you love about your job??

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So I was getting out of the car at my parents house and a Jeep goes by with a bunch of guys who let out a round of wolf calls. I am quite sure that they thought they were being funny, but I decided to have fun with it and let everyone know I still had it Heh! But seriously I am not foolish enough to think that way seriously. I mean I don’t think I am scary ugly or anything, but I am a 40 year old mom of two. I don’t think I actually look my age, but then I look at the same face everyday. And I am not happy about what I weigh, but I am working on it. And working hard! But best of all, I like me. Haven’t always been able to say that, but I do.

Remember a while back elsewhere I mentioned how our office chair is on it’s last legs? It lists to the left and sits in a permanent semi reclined position. While I was looking for that thing I lost the other day, I found a warranty from Staples. Today I looked for it.. it was for the chair Heh! Maybe we will get this taken care of!!

Next Sunday is my Baby Brother’s birthday He will be 23.. wow! And next summer he will be getting married. Feels like just yesterday that we were hanging out on my days off.. fun because everyone thought he was mine. Which was laughable since I was the “Last American Virgin” back then. Oh but that was fun too, they all thought I was some slut, but I was not. Maybe I should have been more offended.

Three weeks from today I will be on vacation again. Yay! Can’t wait to see The Lake. If I get there on time, I may be able to see some other family as well. Haven’t seen a lot of them in quite some time. That will be groovy!

Time for “Family Time” Check ya lata

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It was in a spot that I looked 18 times, but now I have it and now life may go on Heh! YAAAY

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discover what candy you are @ quiz me

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than not being able to find something… especially when you live in this tiny hovel like I do… Ugh! And being a little OCD like I am I can not let it go I have to keep looking for it and anytime I try to do something else I get distracted because I am wondering “Where is it?!?!?!?!”

AHHHHHHHHHH!

That ever happen to you? Please tell me I am not the only one

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So this evening I took the kids to Papa Gino’s after karate. The place was empty and we had great service. The food was adequate, and the company top notch. We had a great time, but didn’t dawdle because the kids wanted to see a Disney movie that is playing tonight. As we headed to the door a 20-something male walked in yapping on his cell phone… when he saw us he stopped backed up and held open the door. I was in shock and was sure to thank him. That is when I over heard part of his phone conversation where he told the person on the other end that he “fucked that guy up! I broke his eye socket and now he may be blind in that eye. He has a concussion and broken ribs..” and then the door closed behind us and my jaw returned to its spot on the ground. Wow!

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A 16-year-old boy from Alysham, England got more than he bid for when the PlayStation 2 he bought on eBay showed up with 65,400 euros (about $90,100) in the box. Details about the identity of the seller – aside from the fact that he or she made a very costly mistake – have yet to surface. The system was sold on eBay for 95 British pounds along with two games that were missing from the package. More Here

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Seriously! I want to know what is wrong with everyone who has crossed my path today. I am beginning to think that maybe it is just me? Maybe I am the one who is off..

Every customer I dealt with had some issue with life in general

On the way home I am in the right lane there is a lane beside me that turns right. I am cut off by a driver who decides that she needs to be in my lane after all and goes straight at an intersection… no big deal until she starts to drift into the left lane … but the big man in the big black SUV dealt with that with a swift blaring of his horn.. and then he decided he needed to turn right FROM THE LEFT HAND LANE and nearly took out my front end. I was able to get around him and take my turn but that didn’t stop the THREE other cars in the left lane who did the same thing The good thing about this is that the one who managed to get over first did 2mph Awesome! I only want to get home people!!

I get home and search my roll there and I read about this over at Hey Freak.

Joshua Romano and four friends were swimming in a creek but had to leave because of rain. They spotted the zebra as they were driving down a road near the farm. That’s when Romano pulled out a deer rifle and shot Zambi dead, Ketchum said. The animal was worth about $10,000.

And this

The Upper East Side’s beloved hawk, Pale Male, was the target of a cruel attack yesterday when a construction worker pummeled him with rocks – and now bird lovers are fearing for Pale Male’s life.

I am convinced that these people have to be related to some of the dolts I dealt with today!!

I mean What The Fuck People!

Thankfully I had some jokes in my inbox from my sister to make it all betterer…well at least a little bit.

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I forgot how addicting this stuff could be! Thanks to comments in the last entry I have been in CSS heaven for the last two hours. I should be doing paper work but instead I am coding away without a care in the world. Not sure what I think about it yet. Wanna take a peak?
Clicky the picy to see what I have been playing with. I would like opinions as well. I am using the replacement script there on each comment, but this eliminates the linking to the comment author where available, even if you want it to leave a link. I am sure there is a way around that… I will have to look into it further.  Maybe that isn’t important though.. but if you are conversing in comments with another reader you may want to check their site out if they have one.. hmmm. Then again I know some of my readers prefer to remain anonymous… Still I like the font… it is pretty and has a cool name.

I will think on it some more, but please leave your opinion if you have one. Right now I gotta get that paperwork done so I can get the statements in the mail in the AM

Edit: I am also thinking of ditching categories and going with tags since I hardly ever change the category anyway… any thoughts there? I have seen this Solspace Tag used quite a bit.

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What is it? Who uses it? And Why?

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Godrefy, I am tired! Zapped, drained, zonked… etc.

Had a meeting with a guy today about 401k’s Wee we are hitting the bigtime baby! Getting all responsible and stuff. Yeah. Woo Hoo

Course I spent the meeting yawning. Ugh! I hate that… and the guy beat feet soon as we said we would get back to him by Friday, we also made an appointment for next Tuesday to do the paperwork. Then whoosh he was gone. Guess he was pooped too.

This is a good tired though. Cuz I did stuff and got tired, instead of laying around and being bored and getting tired. Know what I mean? No? That is probably because I am rambling oops babbling like a Fool Heh! Cuz I am tired

Hopefully that means I will sleep tonight. I would like to start now, but I don’t think the kids would be too keen on that. That summer vacation thing and all… Ooh and Thursday and Friday off…. I can sleep in! Heee

In other related work things… (related to the 401k guy) Our payroll company is sucking ass big time right now. And I want to smack our “specialist” in the eye right now. They won’t let ya wipe your ass without talking to your specialist.. only problem is she hasn’t the slightest idea where the toilet paper is kept. Know what I am saying? No? Sorry I will splain some better. See I call about an issue they say call your specialist. I wait and talk to specialist on payroll call in day and she says she will get back to me.. doesn’t have answer will find out. I hear nothing… I talk to her next week and she gives me answer to wrong question. I tell her what I need again. She repeats back and says she will check on it… two weeks later we are struggling with one of the underlings direct deposits and since she can not walk and chew gum at the same time we are still waiting while she checks. I am seriously ready to check out other options, and wish I had come to this conclusion before the end of the quarter… The Other Half is on the fence with it and doesn’t really get involved with this whole area, but wishes I would get my answer cuz that would make life easier for him in the long rung.

I hate waiting. But not as much as The Other Half! Patience is not one of his stronger points. Never has been. He’s been talking with FIL about building us a house. This place is mortgaged to the hilt and there is no way in this market we will get what we owe…. though if the casino goes in and rental properties take off we may luck out… in the mean time there is no way we will be able to maintain two mortgages even if we do rent this unit out. Something I managed to get through his head before… but he isn’t listening again. I think I am being to subtle maybe…

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Well I do have to clean the bathroom… but other than that I have no plans to do anything until 3 when we have to go to that party for the niece and nephew. Dreading that, but it will be over with quickly.

Right now I want to crawl back into bed and daydream (not foolish enough to think I would actually sleep) but it is already 82° out and getting more humid by the second… Hello July in New England… and My Other Half is mowing which means my sinuses are going nuts. Yuck!

Maybe I will for a bit.. the ceiling fan is cooling the room off nicely right now

And Then I will dream that someone else cleans the bathroom Heh!

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I am off today and I keep thinking it is Monday. Ugh! Those silly midweek holidays really throw me for a loop! We had a pretty good holiday. Decided to close the store for the day after a pretty slow sales day on Memorial day. The two days leading up to it were good and last week was our best week to date so we felt we made the right choice. Plus we both needed a crash day. I worked by little fingers to the bone to get the POS up and running finally. So yay I feel like I accomplished something big.. then working on this site in all my “spare time” so by 7:30 Tuesday night I was ready to crash. I sat putting the finishing touches on here then said screw it and went to bed. I was in that space between consciousness and unconsciousness for a while until the TV went off (Darling was watching the Sox game.) It was weird I could hear myself snore on occasion. So I woke Wednesday feeling groggy and like I could sleep another 8 or 10 hours, but the mind was already running so I finished up here. Thought it was fitting to go “live” on Independence Day. I still feel on the look out for certain lurkers… but I think I have covered my tracks well enough.

The plan for yesterday, originally, was to take the kids to see “Transformers” then to head over to Plymouth and the water front area, hang out and then see the fireworks. Well my darling impatient husband could not wait and so we saw the movie Monday night instead. Then we heard it was definitely going to rain and then FIL called to see if we wanted his old grill (yes please!) because they finally got their new stainless steel one (after 2 years of talking about it) And to invite us to a cook out they were having. So we decided to do that and see what the weather brought us. Started out great even though there were record lows reported overnight.. but when we headed out around noon time it was in around 84 ° out. By the time we headed over to FIL the sky clouded over and the temps dropped to 70° It sprinkled on and off while we were there but we had a pretty good time, not letting SIL throw a damper on things… oh should back up and tell ya about that one… hmm.. well FIL called her after calling us saying the same thing “You are welcome to come, don’t feel obligated I know it is last minute. SIL said her husband was off work at 2 and would be going but didn’t know if she could find the place and would have to call us to see if she could follow us over. She called while we were still at work (Teen Queen is not allowed to answer the phone while we are out unless it is us.. keeps her from tying up the line with friends ya know) She didn’t leave a message, and I forgot about it since I was so pooped until morning. I had The Man call FIL to see how many people would be there because he asked us to bring dessert. He mentioned what SIL had said about wanting to follow us over so The Man called her after. She decided that she “wasn’t in the mood” and would not be going. Now this is when a normal person would call their father and say yeah I am not up to it or whatever. But did she? Nooooo! She left it up to us to pass on the message. And we were honest with him. As delicately as we could be and had a nice venting session about her and what she puts us through… then we changed the subject and had some fun… met some kooky people… (warning: watch out for church groups!!) and then decided that fireworks would suck so we took the kids to see Ratatouille instead. Cute movie!

So today I am chillin’ here and trying to ignore the headache I woke up with… almost makes me wish I hadn’t turned down the wine last night, if I was going to have to deal with this anyway. Yeesh! Next week I am back to a normal summer schedule… I think. We shall see. I am not going to sweat it though, gotta just roll with the punches.

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Don’t know if I am completely happy with the look, but I am going with it. Tired of waiting!

So did you make it over?

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Quote meon an estimate et non interruptus stadium. Sic tempus fugit esperanto hiccup estrogen. Glorious baklava ex librus hup hey ad infinitum. Non sequitur condominium facile et geranium incognito. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Aenean convallis, nisl non pellentesque venenatis, justo erat elementum neque, vitae sagittis libero turpis eu nulla. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.

Quote meon an estimate et non interruptus stadium. Sic tempus fugit esperanto hiccup estrogen. Glorious baklava ex librus hup hey ad infinitum. Non sequitur condominium facile et geranium incognito. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Aenean convallis, nisl non pellentesque venenatis, justo erat elementum neque, vitae sagittis libero turpis eu nulla. In hac habitasse platea dictumst.

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