another tragedy strikes......

Once again, the death toll rises at our local high school. Tuesday morning, 3 teens, 2 of them brothers, were killed in a collision with a school bus. This only minutes from our home, and at the time when my kids bus was picking them up--so imagine how frantic I was until I found out that it was not their bus......
Anyway, my point is this. Why do parents let their kids drive to school when a perfectly good school bus is available? It's free--actually as taxpayers, we do pay for it, but...----it's available, it saves your gas money.....
And you do not have to get the phone call telling you to get to the hospital to ID your kids.
The news reports moan that the road is a dangerous one and something should be done. Yes, it should. In the form of drivers watching what the hell they are doing. In the form of slowing down, watching up ahead for situations you may need to deal with defensively. Does anyone teach defensive driving anymore?
I have also heard that seat belts may have helped. Ummmm, DUH! Why would anyone get into a car and not wear one? Yes they can be uncomfortable at times,. but they beat being dead.
As Earl Pitts would say, WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!

Whish year of the '80's are you?

I'm a 1983.

Here's the link:

http://quizfarm.com/test.php?q_id=117423N

Have fun y'all!!!!!

updates on drama.......

For anyone who knows me and my family, you know there has been a bit of drama in the past month or so. Actually it's been quieter since the drama queen walked out about 3 wks or so ago. She has maintained some contact with her grandma on her dad's side, but not a whole lot. Well last night she called her grandma and asked her for $1000 to get a car. Grandma promptly told her she didn't have it. Kris said she's pay her back, but Grandma said that wasn't the problem, the problem was she did not have it to loan. Mention of grandma taking out a loan for it was made and rebuffed, based on the fact that apparently the hospital is getting ready to go on strike again, and the financial institution would not loan it under the circumstances. Apparently momma took Kris car shopping yesterday.
So daughter shows up at Ron's work this morning, just chit chatting away. Ron was waiting for the hit for money, but it didn't come. Good thing, we don't have it anyway, not that we would lend it for that. Sorry ya'll I do not believe in teens driving. but especially not when I do not feel the teen in question (and this includes about 90% of them) is responsible enough to be behind the wheel. Heck I don't think most adults are mature enough, including me sometimes.
She says she will probably come over Wed. night this week. I told Ron, fine, but she needs to leave the drama at the door. And that I am not going to absent myself from her presence just so they can chit chat. In other words, if I feel like sitting down in my living room and participating in whatever conversation or show is going on, I will. Not to be rude, but not letting anyone run me out of my home, or any room in it. I can be nice and pleasant and chit chatty, as long as she maintains the facade, but if it gets out of hand, then I will just as politely tell her to stuff it while she is here. No name calling, no cussing, no snide comments.
He did say she seemed to have calmed down some from when she was here last. I hope that means that she has done some thinking and growing up, but we'll see. I will continue to pray, for her and me, and hope for the best.

classic......

"The difference between you and me is I make this look goooood."
Yeah MEN IN BLACK is on in the next room. Big improvement over BATMAN RETURNS, which was apparently the movie of choice earlier. Which was why I picked that time to put laundry away and listen to the late Porter Wagoner on Grand Old Opry Live on GAC.
When the best movie on all weekend was Animal House--and I can;t watch that in front of the kids......
When I've been sick for a week and and damn tired of it----I can deal with just about any of it except this hacking to the point of throwing up cough.....Doggone antibiotic doesn't seem to be doing anything. Doc says with my BP I am not to even think about taking any sudafed or related product. After two days of nothing but anitbiotic and nasal spray, I said screw it and went back to the sudafed as well. Breathe and have my BP shoot up dangerously, or don't breathe and my BP gets better, but I don;t. What a crap shoot.
Anyway, it's not contagious, so I suppose we're going to church tomorrow, then on to mom's for Sunday dinner of some sort--my brother's b-day is Tuesday, so we'll get together tomorrow and tell him how old he is getting----36 this year.
The good thing is, we slept in today--till about 10 or so---and then got up and cleaned, and now my house, except for my bathroom and bedroom, look great. Well ignore the supper dishes in the sink---I've already run the dishwasher twice today, and received my water bill, and I will probably go in and run it again before I go to bed in a bit.
Ben had a friend over to stay the night tonight--and believe it or not they have been asleep for at least the last half hour or so. I'm getting ready to boot Kate to bed, Chris just went and Shellie is long asleep.
And I'm going. ATT won't let me access their site to make my cell payment tonight, so to heck with it.
Night all........

it sucks to be sick

but that is what I get for standing out in 30 degree temps at 5 am yesterday unloading a 53 ft trailer for work. Actually it started Sunday, when I became very stressed out at work. Getting sick seems to be the way my body reacts to stress of any kind anymore. It's like it really lowers my immune system or something. So today I woke up at 4 am and right off the bat when I hit the bathroom, I coughed up green stuff, and blew yellow stuff and blood out of my nose---for those of you with weak stomachs, I really do apologize. but my stomach was pretty weak when it happened. Then I got to work and got to work on putting out the cologne sets. Yummmmmmmm.....

Not.

My roommate from college got it right when she called me today and said what's with this work stuff? Why can't we be independently wealthy? It's all our parents' fault for not be rich enough to allow us to play through adulthood...........

Believe me, that was ALL sarcasm.....LOL....

Well off to surf some before getting the kiddoes ready for trick or treat........

Happy Halloween y'all......

The saga continues.......

Teenage drama queens........should be outlawed.......

At any rate, we apparently are the cause of the 17 yr old exiling herself once again from this house. She spoiled for a fight Monday, didn't get it, proceeded later on to mouth at me, not talk to me, so when I wouldn't fight, just calmly told her to talk to my face, not around me like I wasn't there, she got all shades of p.o.'d and I finally told her if she wanted to act like a little b****, then fine. And I shut up. She called me a b***** and called her mom to come get her.

Now her dad followed her out the door and told her and her mom a few truths about themselves, and her mom has threatened to beat my ass if I ever talk to her daughter that way again. The child has alienated her grandma, the church secretary, her dad, her sister, etc. Prayer is the only thing we can think of to help. I am, as usual, 100% at fault according to her. Whatever. Her stepdad gets this too, so at least I am not alone. But she sees me as the evil influence. Again, whatever.

It should blow over soon, at least until she feels put upon again. She can;t handle not being the center of attention.

Me, I'd just as soon read.........

WTF--part 3000

The below letter, deleting pertinent names and locations for obvious reasons, is in the mail to the middle school principal, the Superintendent, and the president of the school board. This in in response to a letter that I refused to sign and send back----the school is no longer going to give students a grade of zero on any assignment, because it can "be devastating to the 6 wks grade". Instead, the student is going to have to do lunchtime detention with the teacher to complete the assignment, and if they do not complete it within 2 detentions, then they have to do afterschool detention until it is completed. I would happily provide the text of the letter the school sent home, but my scanner is s***.

"I have read the letter on zero tolerance of zeros that was sent home to be signed by the students and parents. I am not signing and returning it for several reasons.

I do NOT agree with the decision by the Academic Teams leaders/teachers. I firmly believe that there should be personal responsibility, not bail-outs by the staff. While exceptions to every rule do occur, and should be dealt with on a case by case basis, I do not feel a blanket bail-out should exist. I believe this relieves students of being responsible for doing and turning assigned work in on time. I do not feel this is in their best interests, as they will not be allowed to do this in high school or college. It is giving them a false sense of security, that they will always be given extra time or extra chances on anything, and life is not like that. My children are taught this from an early age, and have had to bear responsibility when, by their fault, they have received zeroes or lower grades due to an assignment not being done as it should.

I find this policy to be unacceptable for that and also for the fact for many students, the school bus is their only way home from school. Should it get to the point that a child should be forced to attend after school detention to avoid the zero, then how do they get home? Many parents work, and may not be able to get away to ensure their child gets home.

I have talked about this policy change with several parents as well as those in the workforce and those involved in higher education, most notably a Marshall professor with 25 years of college-level teaching experience. All have said this policy is a very bad mistake. As stated earlier, there are no do-overs in college. No one is going to check over a student’s shoulders to make sure that he/she is doing their work. It is up to the student. It is called personal responsibility. If a child must receive the zero to get the point across that doing the assigned work is mandatory to pass the class and move on, then so be it. If we do not teach our children this lesson at a young age, they are certainly not going to learn it when they get older. When are they supposed to learn this?

Obviously there are those parents who simply do not care, nor wish to be bothered with the details of their child’s education. Shame on them, but the school system simply cannot afford to pander to the self esteems and fragile egos of students and parents by promoting the “no-zero’s” standard. In doing so, the system is merely protecting it’s own interests, not those of the students, who will one day be forced to realize that the “protection” they were given in middle school is gone and real life is in front of them, and they are not going to be capable of dealing with it. Playing with the numbers to make one’s institution appear to be meeting standards is, simply put, fraud.

I would ask that the committees or whoever made such a decision would rethink it. I am also forwarding a copy of this, as well as the letter that was sent home, to the school board. While I am sure they have had a hand in approving this, I am making them aware of at least this parent’s feelings on this.

Thank you,"

Think about it----how many do-overs do you get in life? How many people----friends, relatives, coworkers, etc., do you know who never had to be responsible for anything growing up , and now are faced with the horrible realization that no one is going to do it for them?

I fear greatly for the future if this kind of crap is not stopped.

Beyond the realm of stupidity....

That would be the WV legislature. Not to mention all of us who let it slide when the legislature threw out the provision that in order to home school your child, you had to have been educated a minimum of 4 years beyond the grade you are teaching. Makes sense, doesn't it. I do sort of remember a flap at the time about the provision keeping parents without a college degree or some post high school education from teaching their children at home beyond the grade school years.

Ok, let's get to the heart of my being so pissed off I can barely see to type. Yes my blood pressure is probably that high. My husband's ex, give her the benefit of the doubt (which I honestly doubt she deserves, but...) has mentioned that in order to keep their younger daughter from "straying" or in other words, being a teenager and rebelling (more on that topic later--it's a long story to which I don't quite have all sides of yet), she is threatening to pull her out of high school and home school her. After a small go-round this afternoon with the older child, a senior, over why the younger did not come here on the afternoon school bus as she was supposed to (part again of the long story), I called the local school board to find out what the minimum requirements to home school were.

Imagine my utter shock when I was told that it was to have at least a GED. OH PUHLEEZE. I will concede that having a GED does not mean you are stupid. It does not necessarily mean you couldn't hack it in the minimum high school program. I know there are various reasons for not obtaining a high school diploma, such as family hardships, i.e. having to go to work to be the support of your family and probably a host of other valid reasons. I would even include the total lack of personnel in the school system who even give a holy crap about anything about you, much less try to help you.

However, in this world today, a good education is mandatory for any level of success. At minimum, a high school diploma from an accredited high school, preferably a post high school education of some sort. I don't mean it has to be a traditional 4+yr college with a bachelor's degree and beyond. Junior college---like the local business and technical school, or the vo-tech to get mechanical training and the like. Something to enhance your chances of making enough of a living to support yourself and family without having to resort to welfare.

Yes, I have a bachelor's degree. It was great for getting me my first post-college salaried position, possibly even my second. But after that, all it did was put me more years in debt than I ever dreamed of being, and even more than that, it helped to teach me how to reason, how to learn what I do not know, how to successfully deal with people in life. Now, my upbringing had quite a lot to do with that as well, as has my own common sense (yeah I know, that's debatable). But I have enough common sense to know that with only a diploma from a, sorry Mom, backwoods-later-to-be-taken-over-by-the-state high school, (and Mom, she graduated 20+ yrs after you did), I would not have the balls to pull my child out of school to homeschool her simply because I do not like some of the people she is hanging around. Which is what it boils down to.

But unfortunately, because the WV legislature has given her the right to do so, she can, without a by-your-leave from anyone, even the child's father. So that gives us one less piece of leverage to use to gain custody. Which is something we are seriously looking at, and the child in question is 15 now, not 7. So she herself can pretty well choose to stay with us.

And I don;'t think necessarily that you have to have a college degree to be a good parent and want the best for your kid, but if you are going to educate them yourself, would you not want to be several years ahead of the child in education? I would. Simply to keep enough ahead of the child to be effective in my teaching. I have had family members who have homeschooled their kids, most in the grade school years, and then putting them into regular school to complete their diploma requirements. These people are not dummies. They kept their children home when they were young, instilled the values as well as the knowledge to help them succeed in life--and high school, and then let the schools teach them. These kids are still young--as I look at them from the back side of 40, but they seem to get along alright.

But I do not want to see my bright, individual, unique stepdaughter yanked from her friends and school to sit at home and be taught, or not, by her mom, when I feel her opportunities would be severely limited by such action.

When I get the rest of the long story, I may change my mind as far as she is concerned, but I doubt it at this point, based on past history. But I still give huge thumbs down to our state legislature, and all of us parents who didn't call them on it soon enough, for throwing out a provision that , to my mind, would ensure a better education for our homeschooled kids overall.

No offense intended to those who are doing their job right.........

Ok I've calmed down somewhat...

Just some catching up to do.....

The talk from a couple of weeks ago about the 17 yr old--her dad sat her down to talk with her, and yes he got the "poor innocent me, I'm always a victim" act. He told her it was BS, but she continues to not listen. She even nabbed her 15 yr old sister on the bus after school the next day and told her off for telling her dad about her threats against her. So they are not best buds now, her words, not mine. Then she kicked her claiming it was just an accident.

Uh huh. Been there done that still have the tshirt to prove it. It was a favored tactic of hers when her dad and I married and I got onto her for something. Until I called her bluff and did it back to her a couple of times.

She has also exiled herself from this house for an undetermined length of time---in other words, when she thinks all is forgotten, she'll start coming over again. Sad thing is, we are at a point with her where we do not and can't give up on her, but if she refuses to acknowledge that we may have a point at times, what do you do? Keep trying every time the opportunity presents itself, I guess. I am not saying much about any of it to her--I am only the stepmom after all, but letting her dad set his foot down when it needs to be done. Of course he and I are constantly discussing what is going on so that we are on the same page when it comes to the playing one against the other, as it usually does.

On the other hand, her sister is getting some much needed daddy time, because sister isn't here to monopolize it. And it is doing her good. She seems much more open to talking, and more like the 15 yr old she is.

And my brother has taken the nerd test-----proving to all what a nerd he is........LOL........

My eye is still bothering me, but I think it is because it is drying out from having the contacts in all day. It's still really bloodshot, but my vision does not seem to have suffered, so I am taking it that things are all right. And I'll wear the glasses after church tonight and tomorrow while sleeping the day away since I am working overnight with the tech who is installing our new register system at the store. I may wear them at work then too. Give the eyes a break.

Another WTF day......

This may end up being a rant; I don't know yet. But I should stop listening to any news or spins on the news from any camp or I am liable to blow a gasket before it is over with.

To start with, I pay for my health insurance and that of my kids, along with whatever my employer may or may not contribute. It's a pretty hefty chunk out of my paycheck--I get paid every 2 weeks, so the weekly contribution for that as well as my taxes are doubled. My husband is insured at no cost to him, by his employer, thanks to being grandfathered in due to the policy in place at the time of his hiring (although he has gone without many annual raises due to the "well, we are covering your contribution for insurance, which gets more costly every year" excuse). My parents paid for their insurance coverage, as do most working people I know.

So who the hell decided that health insurance was a right? That money from my pocket should go to insure those who for whatever reason are not insured? I thought we had a program in place for that---Medicaid. Yeah I know it's about as worthless as any HMO or PPO. But the govt is already taking money from my paycheck to fund it, and I do not see why I have to fall for the "it's for the kids" SCHIP propoganda. Nancy Pelosi can rant and rave all she wants---send it to the Pres--I hope like hell he vetoes it. Bills like this are free money given to those who want others to pay for their own choices. I didn't have to carry the insurance my employer offered, nor did I have to carry any other plan. I chose to because it seemed like the logical thing to do. I
don't even have to carry any insurance on my boys, because in my divorce papers, it only says that the ex has to provide coverage, not me. I go ballistic over the unions and the like who strike for "better health coverage" or because the employer wants them to help cover a little more of the cost of the insurance. What, give the employee a reason to be held accountable for their decisions? What a novel concept, holding adults accountable for their choices.

Ron and I both realize that his insurance, should he have to start shelling out to keep the coverage, would go by the wayside in a hurry. That is why he is also on my insurance policy, as a stopgap. But he wouldn't quit or strike just because his employer quit covering him. He would simply opt out of the coverage and rely on mine until he found a policy we could live with.

But to rant and rave because enough people in the House, and hopefully the Senate, realized what a horrifically expensive measure this bill would be and that they couldn;'t put a bigger burden on the already beleagured taxpayer, well that just shows that the current leadership of the House likes the feel of her hand on my wallet way too much. I have nothing against kids getting needed treatment, or anyone else for that matter, but this smacks of pure idiocy to think that the people of this country can afford to foot the bill for everyone who wants a handout.

I do not get any kind of aid from the govt. No food stamps, no reduced lunch for the kiddies, no nothing. We struggle to make it on what we bring home. We carry a mortgage on a middle of the road house, we carry insurance on our almost 10 yr old vehicles, we feed our kids and pay our utilities and sometimes have a little left over to do something extra. That's life. We do not live high on the hog, and if we overspend one week, we know we have to cut back next week.

What is the matter with people?

On the other hand, I also heard about a not very well publicized amendment to the defense bill, I think, put there by Ted Chappaquidick Kennedy---to add to the hate crimes legislation at the federal level. Number one, is it really the fed's place to tell us what is a hate crime and what isn't? I believe that the feds are mandated to deal with 3 crimes--treason, counterfeiting, and honestly can't think of the 3rd right now--sorry the kids are demanding my attention too.

Even beyond that, aren't most crimes hate crimes? They sure aren't committed out of any great affection for the victim. I despise special protection laws. I am a white middle aged female. The only group more endangered and in need of protection is the white male group. And to add to that, we are Christian. Now let's talk about endangered species. Where is our protection? We can't pray in public, can't talk about our faith, can't practice it without catching crap from someone who has protected status. I do not care if you are white, black, gay, straight, whatever. We are all equal in God's eyes, and therefore we ALL deserve "special protection".

Now, Kennedy, put that in your pipe and smoke it.

not quite as big a nerd as I thought i was

HAHAHAHAAHHHAHHA!!!!!





Just took the nerd test from the above site. Interesting. But I figure you have to be a nerd to take tests to tell you if you are a nerd.

Great day today. Got to work at 5am, and by 7am I had knocked myself in the left eye with a box while unloading the truck. I honestly thought I had split my contact and it was embedded in my eye. Actually I don;'t know what actually happened but my eye is nicely bloodshot still yet, and I will be surprised if I do not have a black eye tomorrow. My contact seemed ok when I got home today and took it out and cleaned it.

Finished Ben's quilt. Hallellujah.

Now time to tuck Shellie in. Thank God.

need to vent

But unfortunately I need to vent on so many things it's not funny. I can't make up my mind which to do first, so I guess until I do, I will not post a vent.

Although right now the 5 yr old and her room are coming dangerously close to be vented about. I've been after her for a week to clean up. I've even organized her room so that picking up should be easy. I've helped her, directed her and just plain out and out threatened her with the big black trash bag and the reminder that the trash truck runs on Mondays....she jsut doesn't get it. Now she is stuffing stuff at the foot of her bed and hiding it. So today I have had enough and told her it better be done NOW. So here goes the first check, as she is claiming she is done......

Nope--she got the couple of items on the floor from last night and left the rest of the crap--she forgot about it. Um yeah. Couple with my back being all out of whack again so much I had to go to the dr. yesterday for it, this is not going to be a good day. I'm going to stitch for a while and see if that settles my mind some.

Ummmmmmmm.........

Ok, news flash for teenagers....Your parents really are not as stupid as you think they are. Chances are that anything you can do or think of doing, we have already either done, thought of doing, know someone who did it....you get my drift......

That being said, and having been a teen once myself (Shut up Dad)......my rhetorical ? is why do you continue to lie to our faces when you know you are caught? The latest is the 17 r old. She knows what she did, she knows she got caught, she knows we all know about it, so why lie about it? Fess up and take your punishment. Actually her punishment will probably be greater than anything her dad and I could devise........We hope not, but she brought it on herself and we aren;t hauling her fat out of the fire.......

That being said, I guess part of it does come from neglectful parents---her mom especially, although her dad and I have our share of blame too.

I am sure that when she comes for her stay this week, her dad will get the innocent act like we got all this past weekend.......He quit beleiving it a long time ago, but there you go......

Now it is time for bed....no jury duty tomorrow so it is off to work at 5am........night night......

Marshall 23, WVU 48

Ah well, at least it wasn't the 40-10 blowout I thought it would be.

10 only for MU having hometown advantage.

But I just wish MU would have sent their team back onto the field after halftime like WVU did. It was a hell of a comeback for WVU, and they earned it. MU's defense was missing in action.

It was also nice to see a game with Marshall where they didn't lose it solely on penalties. Very few penalties for either side.

That's ok, my neighbor and I couldn't win any of our games of cornhole against our husbands tonight either.......

I'm going back to the sewing machine before I have to go pick up my severely lacking in common sense 17 yr old at work. Long story, not quite appropriate for this forum, but suffice to say I'm pretty disappointed in her and her dad at this point --her actions and his lack of following thru on letting her have it over it. She's still not having a very good weekend though, because she is under my thumb unless she goes to work, so hahahahahahahahhahahh.. yeah, right.......

Well, most of our kids seem to have to learn by hard knocks, so let her learn, I guess.....

A day for sleeping....

Day off. From 7:30 am, when last child boards school bus and husband left for work, until almost 3pm when same child gets home from school. I had the whole day to myself. Did I quilt, like my lofty plan was? Did I clean the master bath? Nope, it's the master's, let him clean it himself....HEHEHEHEHEHE!! Did I do anything remotely productive?

Absolutely freaking not.

I grabbed a pop, sat my oversized rear on the couch with the DISH remote and a new novel in hand, and proceeded to read myself to sleep. Woke up, went to bathroom, went back to couch, and back to sleep. I woke up about noon for good and fixed myself a salad for lunch and proceeded to play on the computer until kids came home. As you see I am still here.

Will probably post more later, but I have to be productive now and fix dinner for this bunch of heatherns.

Is it the first of the month or what?

Oh my God. I thought the full moon was last week......But it is the first of the month and the holiday weekend so we had all walks of life in the store today. Ok I am going to reitierate some basic rules for going out in public, especially to any store.....

1. Do NOT come in the door and yell at me before you give me the chance to help you with whatever it is you need help with. It does not make me want to deal with you, nor, like I tell my kids when they bitch and whine, it does not make me want to look at it your way at all. Even if you get what you want, it is only to get you the hell out of my store, and generally with a comment just shy of don't come back. I say just shy, because I do not want home office called on me, but I want you to know just how asinine you acted.

2. Be patient. Yes, there are actually times when everyone employed there is busy with someone else. Wait your turn. Stamping your feet (yes people actually do that) and heaving the big overblown sigh and glaring at everyone in sight or making rude little comments is not going to make your wait any shorter. First come, first serve. Sorry.

3. Yes the customer is always right-----except when you are dead wrong. As in the case of someone bringing an item in to return, being told it was from another retailer, and threatening my job because I don;t give her her money back when the item is clearly labeled with the other retailers' tag. Be reasonable. Be intelligent.

4. Say "excuse me" when you need thru an aisle, whether you say it to another customer or to someone working in that aisle. Both are deserving of your courtesy.

5. Save your receipt. SAVE your receipt. SAVE YOUR receipt. SAVE YOUR RECEIPT!!!! Need I say it again? Every place I have ever been hands you a receipt with your change, as do we. Do not toss it on the ground and walk away, and then get pissed when I won't give you your money back when the posted policy clearly states a receipt is necessary. It is my job to give you a receipt, it is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to make sure you have it before you leave the register.

I'm sure I could come up with more, but I am tired. I need a bath and I need to go to sleep. Probably Nyquil induced as my sinuses have given me the biggest headache of my life--that and tension..........

Happy Labor Day to all who have and will labor.

to explain...

the previous entry on how addicted to blogging I am---I do not visit dating sites on purpose. I have been happily married for 7 years. This is what happens when you hit a link--this one actually a link from the husband of the associate pastor at Ron's church.

Although I am tempted to go to EHarmony's or Match.com's website to tell them about the joys of meeting one's husband for FREE on Yahoo..........

Nah, if you a sucker enough to pay to meet a potential mate, sucks to be you........Then again, I still met mine online, right. But it doesn't suck to be me, because he was the last good one out there....

addicted..........hmmmmmmm

57%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Mingle² - Dating Site

that ought to tick 'em off......

Just a quick little giggle--just spent the last hour hit-and-running on the local paper's online forum. Actually most of my responses were to other's responses, but I hit a couple of today's stories and gave them a quick comment---we'll see in a day or so if I get any mileage out of it.

Come on over for supper tonight ya'll--pintos and cornbread and fried taters, if I can kick my cook/husband out of the kitchen long enough to fry 'em up.

Now I am leaving the 'net to those with nothing better to do, as I have a quilt to finish........

her first day.....

Shellie started kindergarten for real today. She climbed onto the school bus at the end of our road and began her journey. Red Harley Davidson backpack with a pink motorcycle on it and her peach/orange Polly Pocket lunch box in hand. Her hair was all in curls until she stepped out into the humid air, but I got a few cute pictures of her in front of the house before they all collapsed. I don't think she knew whether to be excited or nervous today, but I think she will be ok. At least the school hasn't called to tell me I have a hysterical child there......LOL.

I called my dad right after we walked back up to the house after putting her on the bus. I think that is the only thing that kept me from crying. I know, there is nothing to cry about, but I'm a sentimental mommy---I tear up at baptisms, first performances, etc.

Her 3rd cousin is in class with her, so she knows someone who is family. Her friend from across the road is in the other kindergarten class.

Now I only hope the teacher puts her on the right bus after school. I have to leave for a work meeting but her dad will be here. And I'll have him call me when she gets home--I'll still be in transit at that time.

My only question is--where did that little 6 lb baby girl go? Suddenly she is a almost 6 yr old school girl.

Time flies even faster than I thought.........

almost there....

The first day of school is almost upon us. I don't honestly know whether to say hallelujah or darn. My youngest starts kindergarten, the oldest her senior year of high school. The youngest is really excited, but she thinks it is patently unfair that I could have a day off work, yet she would have to go to school. Ah, the difference between state-mandated education and a private day care.

I think my oldest son is glad to go back to school---besides seeing his friends, he may as well have been in school over the summer with all the summer honors reading/journalling, etc. he had to do. I kept telling him, that's ok, next summer his brother will join him in the summer reading, etc.

The oldest girl says she is not looking forward to going back--her boyfriend has graduated and is now full time into the world of union work, and a lot of her friends graduated. She'd rather just skip the whole year, escpecially as a lot of people around her have told her that she and those friends may grow apart, even her boyfriend and her may grow apart, as they move on with their lives. She thinks it sucks and that what "they" say will never happen, but I told her that life happens. Sometimes people grow apart; different experiences and goals can do that. I have not a single friend left from high school, a couple from college, and one from my first post college job. I never had a huge circle of friends anyway--3-4 really close friends was usually about the norm. But these friends and I have matured over the years and learned to accept and rejoice over the differences in our lives. We also live hundreds of miles apart, as jobs and families have separated us, so any time we have personal, not just email, contact is just awesome. And we talk and carry on just like we were never apart.

I also have one pretty good friend next door to me---we mother each other's kids and laugh and talk and generally amuse ourselves by trading kid/people stories. We both people watch, and our observations are hilarious--to us anyway. Our husbands get along great and our kids are practically inseparable at times. We also have each other's backs. We know we can depend upon each other to check on our houses and kids if we are not there. We also know that we can depend upon each other for moral support, whether it be over kids, spouses, ex's, whatever. We are there to listen and isn't that what being a friend is all about anyway?

snort, giggle, guffaw,

Tanstaafl's a flaming liberal? Ohmigod, someone don't know him vewy well, do he?

Yeah Ronnie got a good laugh out of that one too.

Well after working all day, I came home and canned salsa and cleaned, sliced, diced and froze a bunch of zucchini. Now after cleaning the kitchen up---dishwasher is running with the first load, turning the laundry loads around, and listening to the kids babble, we are grilling hot dogs and frying french fries. Then I think I will go back to quilting my quilt.

Yay!!!! dinner is served---later gators.

booorrrriiinnnngggg....

That was my day at work. I got there at 5am, along with my comanager and 2 stockers and we piddled all morning. The stockers left at 9am, due to boredom, and she and I basically sat in the office and chatted, walked the floor and chatted, each of us ran to our separate banks to put our checks in, and stayed bored.

Yeah there was plenty to do, but they involved tearing aisles down to rework them and that is not something you do on a Friday one week before school starts and the weekend of the local college starting up. You never know when the business is going to hit and then you've got a mess on the salesfloor and customers bugging you all over the place, so you can;t finish the task at hand----because how do you tell your paycheck givers that you can;t help them because you were stupid enough to start a huge ass project with no time to do it? You don;t.

Tomorrow should be better because she and I are splitting the day and that means we will both be at the front end with the cashiers when we are not helping people on the floor---after all it is a Saturday.

Sunday I work 8-2, which is good because it's my folks 41st anniversary and I'd like to spend a little time with them that day. My and Ron's is on Monday--7th--which we will spend waiting on the AC people to get here and hopefully fix our unit. Probably just in time for the next Ice Age. He is taking the day off to be here, since he knows a little more about the things than I do, and my boss was nice and scheduled me off that day.

He really isn't such a bad guy, as long as you do your best.

Anyway, I could probably sit here and find something to bitch about, but it really isn't worth the effort tonight. I'm tired and my head hurts from my late afternoon nap, so I'm to go take some tylenol and stretch out with a good book--as opposed to cooler temps when I curl up with a good book.


HEEHEEHEE.........

By the way, for those of you who are High School Musical fans-----I banned Disney tonight just because #2 premieres tonight.

IT'S TOO HOTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!

Yes it is. 97 at 6pm. AC down for the count--we hope not anything worse than freezing up.

School shopping is done for the moment. New shoes, backpacks, a couple of new shirts/outfits. These kids don;t need much. Actually Shellie got quite a bit---a cute skort/tshirt outfit for the 1st day, a couple of tshirts and a pair of jeans from Wally World, and a bunch of winter items from Goodwill--sweaters, long sleeved shirts, etc. She didn;t need a backpack, though--she has a red one with a pink Harley on it. Too cute. She thinks it is too small; I think she just wanted a different one, but she has hardly ever used this one.

Opinion-----Don Imus settled with CBS and immediately got sued by one of the Rutgers players he offended. Hello? You were slandered, libelled, humiliated? Chick, no one would know who the hell you were if you didn;t open your mouth to expose it. So you got called a name. Who gives a rat's rear end? I get called all kinds of names by people each day, part of dealing with the public. Can I sue everyone who calls me a bitch of any kind? Puhleeze. Grow up honey. Contrary to what the NAACP says, life is not fair nor is it meant to be. Most people learn that in kindergarten.

Get a life, honey.

And to the duct tape robber from Ashland------get a brain, baby. That sh** hurts when you pull it off. Not to mention it apparently didn;t keep people from ID'ing you.

Off to bed with the fan blowing full blast on me.

fat

Yes, I am. Yes my oldest son is also probably, according to the ever changing charts. We know this. We don't enjoy shopping for larger clothes and being hotter in the summertime.

However the thing we least enjoy is being stereotyped about it. We are not lazy, nor do we sit around all the time and stuff our mouths full of whatever food is there. And I am so tired of seeing the crap that passes for medical research these days.

For example, the news ticker at the top of the screen states that obese kids miss more school. Not in my household. My kids go to school pretty well regardless of how they feel--that's the rule. I give them a "fake" sick day a year---you know, the one where they just don;t feel right, and they can't give specific symptoms, but yet they look green around the gills---at least until the school bus disappears. But the rest of the time they pretty well have to cough up a lung and fevered and throwing up blood or something before I let them stay home. It's down to---if you want to go to the doctor, you can stay home from school. This goes for the thin ones as well as my oldest. I'm the same way--I don;'t stay home from work unless I go to the doctor and they order me to.

I don't let size run our lives. We know that exercise is the best thing for us to reduce our weight, and I think one of the worst things a school can do is only require gym for one of the four years of high school. Chris has already had his, so now my challenge is to keep him moving when he is not in school. I know my limits on what my body will take, due to prior injuries/conditions. I also know that some of these conditions are exacerbated by my weight.

I have been reading the blog of a friend of my sister in law. This blog is called Jellyfilled. The articles she finds about how researchers think us fatties should be treated and what our supposed problems are are just amazing. From books that talk about, let's be honest now, a return to the Nazi way of thinking on those of us who are different from the desired norm, whatever that is, to articles that are meant to shame and denigrate those of us that are heavier than the size zero that walks the catwalk, the amount of crap out there is unreal.

Yeah, I get down on myself for my size. I am the biggest I have ever been in my life--however at the same time, I am also the most active and healthy I have been. And isn;t that good? I mean, I lowered my cholestoral on my own, eschewing drugs----the same with my blood pressure. Because I wasn't even 40 yet and did not want to be on a never ending, always increasing drug regimen. Because I have a husband and family who, although knowing the risks and beliefs associated with my weight, have been supportive and Ron especially has been instrumental in boosting my self esteem to where, let's face it, I may not like my size but I accept it. And I find that when I fight it less, I lose more weight.

So here's to me, and all those like me.....

Rock on, dude!!!!!!

The quote from my darling 5 yr old as she learned something new this weekend. We were all at my mom's enjoying their pool Saturday after the rest of the family had gotten all hot and sweaty going geocaching with my friend from college. Shellie was doing her usual routine of not wanting anyone to teach her to swim or float, she just wanted to do things her way. Typical.

So imagine all of our surprise when she dunked her head underwater and leaned forward like she was taking off into the breastroke and then came up grinning. So I told her is she had just taken her other foot off the floor of the pool she would be swimming. Guess what? She took it to heart and right there began to teach herself to swim. By the time we got out of the pool about half an hour later--only because I still had to hit the store for dinner supplies---she was swimming with her face underwater for about 5 feet.

Sunday she did even better, going about 7-8 feet--I think the pool is 15 feet. Very proud of herself, and she got to show off for Daddy as well when he came over after work to hang with the family.

But the cutest thing of all was how the first time she did it, her head came out of the water and she planted her feet shoulder-width apart in the pool and stuck both arms in the air over her head like a rock star after an awesome performance and yelled "ROCK ON DUDE!!!!!"

And to her, and us, it WAS an awesome performance!!!!!and proud doesn;t even begin to describe how we feel.

ah, college roomamtes....

My college roommate from my senior year at Miami University (yes, that would be OHIO) came this weekend for a long overdue visit. We had not seen each other since my wedding day almost 7 years ago. We stay in touch, via the occasional email, phone call, etc. But this face to face weekend was fantastic. We met at the nearby McD's so I could lead her to my house Thursday night and spent Friday and Saturday amusing my kids and husband with stories and craziness that was always the hallmark of the best of our times together.

We played cornhole--she had never before--and tossed in the party version of Name that tune--the '80's version, much to the amusement of my husband--who steadfastly maintains that the 80's sucked musicwise--he listened to Metallica and Iron Maiden, etc., then, while we were Terence Trent d'Arby-ing it. My 15 yr old step daughter was highly entertained as well--to see stepmomma buzzed from great Ohio wine and laughing it up and so on. Not to mention that she smoked her dad on the 80's trivia. What a girl!!!!

Mary also took me and Ron and the kids Geocaching---never heard of it--it's like looking for buried treasure using your GPS system. Very neat. The first try--at B'ville Park, was unsuccessful, but today at Salt Rock they found the cache, and have a pretty decent idea of where they went wrong at one near the high school. I may just have to get a cheap GPS just to let the boys keep it up.

More later but right now, Footloose is calling my name!!!!

Rock on 1980's!!!!!

UFO's

I think I'm going to start a stitching blog. I have so many thoughts and projects that I could blog about. Until I have the time to do it though, y'all are stuck with me.

By the way, UFO's are not shiny full-of-lights objects with little green aliens on them, they are unfinished projects (objects). And I am chock full of 'em.

Just for example:

Cross stitch: floral edged tablecloth
quilt blocks from a kit I bought years ago
"That's what little boys are made of" from Cross my heart
Various baby bibs (my baby is 5 yrs old now!!)
blue/violet floral pillowcases (jsut started on the last trip to CT)

Knitting: afghans for Kris, Kate
getting ready to start afghan for niece Erin

Quilting: need to quilt together all layers for 5 quilt tops
Shellie's quilt top in progress (windmill pattern)

sewing: flannel nightgown for Shellie

This is jsut a partial list.

Then a older customer came into the store about 3 wks ago and overheard me talking with a cashier about the stitching projects we do and would like to do., and brought back in a stash of OLD cross stitch books/mags---she can;t stitch anymore with her eyes, so she gave me a stack of these books for free. I am still going thru them to see what I want to do. Plus in organiszing around my computer I have found a huge stack of patterns I pulled from online, from various free websites, plus a lot from places like Dragondreams and Vermillion Stitchery, when they have their free patterns or series on their sites. Thank you ladies for your wonderful patterns.

Well I am now tyring to listen to a problem my oldest has at work, so ......

Is it hot or what?

It's noon and it is 91 and climbing. Yeah I'm taking the kids to Dad's and getting in the pool--just as soon as the sun goes off of it a little--about 2 hrs from now or so. At least it will be something besides baking outdoors or laying around doing nothing indoors.

Anyway, waiting for my best friend from school to come down to visit tonight for the weekend. I sense a game of Phase 10 and 80's name that tune coming on. The rest of the family is liable to lose their collective mind. Mary and I are a lot alike, but we differ in some very major beliefs---not so much the beliefs, but how to get to the goal. We agreed a long time ago to just disagree and go on with life. She should be in late tonight.

Other than that, just working on Shel's quilt top, trying to get Chris to go thru my stash of fabric to pick his border and backing fabric for his quilt, and thinking about how to quilt mine together so that I can use the machine to do it, not by hand. Kate finished the scarf to a knit your own teddy bear kit my mom gave her for Christmas a couple of years ago, but now she and I are both stuck on how to knit the bear itself. The instructions don't help much.

Which reminds me--I need to email my sister in law to tell her I have the yarns for Erin's afghan--she just needs to pick 3 of the 4--I couldn't narrow it down any further than that.

So I am outta here for now.

While I am thinking about it....

An article in the HD today talked about a back to school subject, one they have written about every school year for the last few years---appropriate clothing for girls. Everyone bemoans the fact that girls clothing, even for little ones Shel's age or younger, is geared for sexiness, showing off butt, boobs, belly.

Yeah everyone gripes about it---when what they should do is REFUSE TO SPEND MONEY ON THAT TRASH!!!!! Vote with your checkbook----if it shows what it shouldn't, then don't buy it. I don't and won't. I have two stepdaughters, 17 and 15 (almost), and they don;t always bring appropriate clothing to our house---therefore they do not get to go out with me---and I have no problem with that, or with throwing them a tshirt of their dad's to cover themselves with. The rule is, if the pants don't cover any more than your public hair, wear a shirt that covers you to your hips or below. If the shirt bares your belly or your boobs more than appropriate for the setting we are going to, i.e. church or school, you get to wear dad's shirt or jacket. The 17 year old mostly gets the message, but the 15 yr old is following in her footsteps, trying to be sexy---"everyone else is." So I throw her a different shirt, or warn her ahead of picking her up about what clothes I expect her to have with her.

I have gotten the argument that clothes that cover the body can;'t be found. Bull$%$%. Look a little harder. I can always find clothes that cover--and believe me in my size, that's fantastic, because they are downsizing us larger women too. (Things that make you go, "yuck"). I just have to shop around sometimes, or buy a bigger size to ensure coverage.

Shellie wears clothes that are cute--if they are a little small, she changes before we go somewhere. She is already learning what is decent and what is not. Trust me, my 5 yr old is not going to school with her little 5 yr old "cleavage" or butt crack showing. I don't believe in tank tops, spaghetti straps, daisy dukes, short skirts with no short underneath, flip-flops or heels for school. Which leaves jeans, longer shorts, tshirts and pullovers that come down over the waistband of bottoms, and tennis shoes.

Now I'm going to bed.......

The boys are back in town-ow-own..........

Yes, the boys are back. Boys. 15 and 13. Yeah they are still boys. Although Chris looks like a giant next to my mom---and is very proud of that fact-----and Ben is on the fast track to gaining some height. After pulling an all nighter to get back home, we arrived at about 6:30 this morning. Right now I hate the whole world of Nascar. I hold them personally responsible for the fact that we were unable to find anything resembling a hotel/motel/roach motel room from the PA border near Scranton all the way to Friendsville MD, in the western part of the state. At which point we gave up any pretense of stopping for what remained of the night (it was already after 1 am), and drove thru the night down I-79 to home. Believe me when I say, that although I care nothing for Charleston, it was beautiful at dawn this morning when we hit the outskirts and saw the lovely sign for I-64 west to Huntington. And when I woke up again to find my darling, patient, persevering husband, who had driven about 90% of the time from Chambersburg, PA to CT to home again, had turned off Rt 60 onto the back road that leads to the back road that leads to our road---I could have kissed the ground he walks on, I was so happy.

The Pocono 500, or whatever they want to call it, was today. therefore every hotel owner in 3 states jacked up prices----at the Holiday Inn just off I380/84 Scranton, we were quoted $219.99 for a room with 2 double beds, no smoking. Ex-squeeze me? Do I look stupid? Ok yeah we were traveling on a race weekend thru the state it was being held in, but we were not born yesterday. So we traveled on. The Econolodge at Wilkes-Barre was full, the owner apologetic. Suggested we try again south of Hazleton. Cool. We stop and get something to eat and fill the tank up, and drive on. We stop at Frackville, no luck. Decide to get closer to Harrisburg before we try again. We hit a couple of places there, no luck. Ok how far do you really want to drive to get to the speedway on race day? Apparently there are a lot of people who want to get up real early. Does no one camp like they used to? Anyway, it continues like this until we just give up. Not mad, just really tired and a little frustrated.

Still really tired. But we came home, I went straight to bed. The only things I grabbed out of the car before going in the house were my purse and the duffle bag with my stuff in it, so I could take out my contacts. I took them out, stripped down to my tshirt and collapsed into bed while the men unloaded the car. Within about 10 minutes, everyone was inside and on the way to snoresville. I woke up about 10 for the bathroom and left a message for mom, who had Shellie, that we were home and sleeping and would be there later to get my girl. I called her again about 1:30 to tell her that I'd be there in an hour or two.

Now we are all home, safe and sound, and I am going to bed. My back is all out of whack--don;'t even want to think about what Ron;'s is like--and I have a lot of work to do tomorrow before Dish gets here.

Goodnight!!!!!

Where to eat?....

Usually Ron and I know where we are going to stop and eat on our trip to CT each year. Usually the Bob Evans in Fairmont, Bridgeport---around there somewhere. (One of us will see the signs for Clarksburg and say "Hey isn;t Bob Evans coming up pretty soon?"). We usually wing it for dinner---the first year it was Burger King across from the motel because we got hungry driving thru NY and all we could find were freaking Dunkin Donuts last year for dinner we stopped in a pace well off the interstate called Apple Valley Inn--it's in PA off I-84, but I don't remember the exit. It's well past Scranton and getting close to the NY line.
In the morning before we pick up the boys, we hit Denny's near the motel (we've also stayed at the same Days Inn the last 2 yrs.---not this yr though), for their humongous breakfast, and then Friendly's in Hazelton, PA for a later lunch.
My big problem with eating out on this trip is that where we live has a smoking ban and so do most of the counties around us. Which means I, being asthmatic, do not have to suffer to eat my meal. I do not have to hack and choke my way thru my food because some ignorant jerk can;t wait half an hour to smoke. Unfortunately PA does not seem to have such a ban, at least wher we stop. And when you ask the waitress to seat you in NON smoking as far away from smoking as humanly possible because you are allergic, you get this look like---sucks to be you, then-----and that just makes me mad, because it is my health and that of my family we are talking about. If you want to smoke, fine, I don;t care, smoke your flipping lungs out for all I care. But do it in your home, your car, on your property. Not 5 steps from the entrance to Walmart, or the hospital, or restaurants. And damn sure don;t do it inside the restaurant.

Now that my rant is over, I really feel like Mexican food from Tenampa. Oh well, I guess I will fix tacos when we get back. I need to go get Ron out of bed, get us both showered and dressed and Shellie dressed and packed, and get on our way. That's the problem with eating out on this trip---we are doing this off our past schedule and that may throw off where we are used to eating.

Vive l'adventure!!!!

one more day.......

ONE MORE DAY OF WORK!!!!!!!!!
THEN WE ARE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD..

Now I can't remember what color my posts are.

Anyway, one more day of work for me and Ron and then we are packed and off to the whatever state of CT. To get my boys and bring them back home. Lord, it has seemed so long since I have seen them---5 weeks actually did kind of fly by this time, but it still seems like forever.

I do still need to get an oil change before we leave---I guess that will be after work tomorrow while Ron gets to get Shel and clean out the cooler(s). I have already bought the water and the snacks. Not very many snacks, I don;t need them. But he and I really don't eat that much in the car, so mainly what we need is liquids. Especially since it is going to be nasty hot pretty much the whole trip. I also will need to fill the tank up on my way home tomorrow and stop at the bank.


Cable update-----no phone call and no tech at my door before I left for work at 12:05pm today. So much for promises. Ron came home and found a nice little door tag that said they had been here for a service call and no one was home, but that the problem should be fixed. They even called and left a message on my answering machine. Yeah so cable is back on, but they did not follow what they said they would do by being here this morning, plus the very fact that they were able to "fix" the problem without access to the house proves that all they had to do was go to the pole , most likely. That's all right. We'll call and cancel just as soon as Dish installs and we know that it works, and I will personally take it to the Ashland office and get a receipt for it. Screw 'em.


By the way----whoops, I deleted a comment before I checked for the gentleman on whether it showed his real name or his blogger ID. Sorry. Try it again, please, and I will try not to be so scatterbrained.


No comment from the peanut gallery...........

Time Warner is O-U-T out!!!!!

I have had it, I'm done. Time Warner Cable sucks big rotten eggs---I would say something else, but this is sort of usually a family program. They are going to get to come get their cable box and remote. If I have to drive to Ashland --my local office--almost an hour's drive away from my home, I'm going to be pissed. And they are going to know it. (Come to think of it, the best place to get the camo's my husband wears to work--and which need replaced badly---is in Ashland also--could combine the trip, but I can still be pissed).

What prompted this is that I have now gone for 2 days with no cable. Yes my bill is paid up to date. No I was not disconnected. I am just getting a screen of nothing but snow and I may not be able to get someone out here til Monday to check it out, since I am apparently the only one left in my neighborhood with cable, and they don't send someone out to check the box at the poles until at least 3 people call to complain. This is what I am told AFTER I have gotten pissed and pissed off the tech and demanded to speak to her supervisor. He at least was polite when he came on the phone, after only a couple of minutes of being on hold, which beats their usual record by at least 10 minutes. So I apologized for the words I used to his clerk, explained my problem and supposedly the local office will call me first thing in the morning to get someone out here in the morning. After I explained that I work for a living and won't be here after noon.

That's ok. When/IF they call, I'm going to tell them that since I won;t be home to use the tv for a few days anyway, they can just come out Monday and pick up their equipment, because I am going DISH. I told you I have had it. At least with DISH I can be mad with 200 channels. The kids will get a shocker, because I WILL block several channels, including MTV, Comedy Central, FUSE, BET, and so on. And they will never figure out my code. But there are plenty of other channels for them to choose from. I may just block Nick and Disney as well. I'm kind of tired of them, and there are plenty of Discovery type channels they can watch.

We leave Friday to start our trip to get the boys in CT. I made the executive decision to leave then and drive about halfway, stop, then drive the rest of the was, pick them up and at least get back into PA before we stop for the night. Of course this probably ticked off the ex, but right now, I'm not too concerned. He picked them up at 8-9 am 5 weeks ago, technically I could pick them up at the same time and be well within my rights. But I will be nice to all of us, but especially my mom, who for yet another year is watching Shellie so we can make this trip and not feel like we have to find the child a new home before we even get out of the state. The way I have it planned, we should be back midafternoon or so on Sunday, maybe a little later, but well before anything resembling dark.

I can;t wait to have them back!!!I have missed them something awful lately.

Ok another point to be made. The news ticker at the top of my screen touts a research study or something that gives 237 reasons to have sex. I can come up with several reasons without any help whatsoever from the general public, but I bet I could come up with even more not to have sex.

1. it causes kids.
2. it causes kids.
3. it causes kids.

Need I go on?

Not that I would trade my kids for anything in the world (Ok maybe a winning lottery ticket for the biggest Powerball jackpot ever--just to show local embarassment Jack Whitakker how to handle money), but the fact remains, sex causes kids. Maybe not the first time or the first 300 times, but eventually, for a great many people who probably shouldn't have kids (yes there are days I include me in this), it causes kids.

Just a thought, they know what causes that these days......

Am I old or what?

Ok, yes I am 40 and 1 week old. Yes I have been on short term disability twice in the last 2 1/2 years for my decrepit L5S1 disc and SI joint. Does that mean that a little exertion (i.e. pushing/pulling carts of merchandise from warehouse to salesfloor for two straight days to set an ad) should throw me all back out of whack? Apparently so, because I am in pain. No painkillers in this house either--I used the last of the generic Lortabs about 6 months ago, and I refuse to ask my doc to refill, because I hate the things. They make me loopy(ier) and so sleepy I can't remember my name. I can't function when I take them. So I subsist on extra strength tylenol and advil. Neither of which does the trick.
Neither does the body pillow my family got me as part of my birthday gift, thinking it would help ease my back to curl around it. Nope. Now picture me, Ron and big-ass body pillow sharing a queen size bed when I am queen size all by myself. Yeah, he's probably right--he probably gets about 6 inches of space on which to sleep. But don't tell him I said he's right.

Now on to my bitch of the day. If you are supposedly a teacher, shouldn't you be able to read? We are doing a teacher appreciation thing next Saturday where the teachers get 10% (big whoop) off their total purchase. So as I am coming back in from helping a guy load a recliner into his truck, the CSS stops me and says "do teachers get 10 % off today" I told her no that is Saturday, not today, and the lady looks like she wants to argue with me about it. So I pull open the ad paper and show the CSS where it says very plainly it is Saturday August 4th. Doh!!!!

Ok I have another bitch. I went to my cousin's funeral today. 48, heart attack. From the funeral home in the west end to the graveyard in the east end, traveling on 2 lane city streets, only about half of the oncoming traffic pulled over and stopped for our procession. Do they not teach this in driver's ed anymore? Do parents not teach their kids that not only is it the law, but a sign of respect for the deceased? Jimbo was not a big name mover and shaker in the community, but he did deserve the respect of those around him. All we ask is that for 30 seconds, think aobut someone other than yourselves and ask yourself, wouldn't you want others to do the same for you?

I have to give thanks to the guy on Madison Ave by the DMV who stopped working in his yard and waited patiently until we had passed by before he began work again.

Ronnie just asked me what's going on with me. I've been in kind of a funk today. I guess part of it is just being exhausted---haven't had a day off since Monday, and probably won't get another one till I start vacation Saturday. Then Jimbo dying, and suddenly I feel guilty for not being as close to that side of the family as I am to Mom's, and not really knowing him so well. So I go to the viewing last night and the funeral today, and I think maybe a part of me is thinking too hard about it. But then I think, my God he was only 48. I'm 40. My brother said the same thing hit him--he'll be 35 this fall. Now I'm starting to think we need to get all our papers in order---DNR's, living wills, etc. And I need to call the guy to get our grave markers in place and get them out of my car.

And I need to organize our financial papers/bills, etc. I've got the file cabinet, hanging file folders and manila folders--I just need the time, and now that I have been so motivated to do it, I have had to work and be doing other stuff. I haven;t even touched my sewing machine in a week.

Although I did finally heat-set the iron on's on the kids' shirts from VBS a couple of summers ago. The ones where I had to heat set their footprints on them to keep them from washing out, and I never got them done---now they are finally done. Ben and Chris can still wear theirs--Shellie might get this fall's worth of wear out of hers, but if we keep it nice, I can make her a pillow or make it a part of an eventual tshirt quilt for her. The shirts say "walk humbly with your God." The bible school theme that year was big on doing the walk: like the Steven Curtis Chapman song "you can run with the big dogs, you can fly like the eagles.......but it all comes down to the walk."

And I don;t do all that well with mine. I have to set the goal and keep to it of getting these kids back to church. Chris decided about 3 months ago that he wanted to become a preacher, in the tradition of our Pastor Larry. So I guess we really need to get back to it. He also wants to be baptized again. He was baptized as a toddler in the Presbyterian church we attended at the time, but he now wants to do it because he now knows what it means and what it stands for. I think my altogether indifferent view of infant baptism has changed radically in the last couple of years
because it really is a choice you have to make with the facts in hand, and no infant or really young child has the capability of understanding it. So I am all for Chris being baptized again---this time in the dunking tank, not just with a few drops of water on his head.

Anyway, if I am to get up and get going in the morning, again, on what was supposed to be my day off, I need to get a shower and get to bed.

Countdown 6 days to getting my boys back!!!

Rain, rain......

Please rain some more so my pretty flowers will keep blooming.

I really don't need the thunder and lightening so much, but the rain is nice.

If the pics uploaded for this post, the purple/yellow and the hostas are on the side of my garage--actually all around my garage. The salvia and the tickseed are at the back of the living room. In these shots, all the beds actually needed weeding, which has since been done.

I never liked gardening and yard work when I was growing up--it was a chore. Now I really like how it adds to the overall look and personality of the place.

Well, another evening of thunderstorms, rain(desperately needed), and intermittent sunshine. I took video on my digital camera last night of the lightening show around 8:30 or so. Very cool.

Well off to la la land. Or the land of demanding kids....whichever.

Nope didn;t think the pics would post--this is dial up you know.

Counting down.....

The days until we leave to pick up the boys from their dad's. We leave on 8/4 and pick them up in the early AM of 8/5. Yeah!!!!!!!Picking them up and having them back home is better than getting a "you rock" on Guitar Hero.
Sorry Ronnie was playing when I came home from work.
On an up note, my sister in law called me today and she had picked up the pictures of the girls we had made at Target a couple of weeks ago. So I also have that to look forward to.
Which beat looking forward to cleaning out my file cabinets and etc. over the next however long it takes. I have many other areas of my home and life that can use some organization, but I think the whole journey will begin with the file cabinet. I should be able to do away with a ton of papers and junk mail and so on and so forth. Between the file folders and the shredder--cross cut, naturally--I should hopefully get thru the pile in the computer room. Anything will help.
Well, hubby just locked up and turned all the light off, probably a good clue that its time for bed.
Night all.

Just another day in paradise....

Have I already titled a post like that? Hell if I know. I'm counting down til vacation. Counting down til my day off on Thursday works too.

I got to talk to the boys today. They sounded ok---they had been hiking around the Grand Canyon someplace, and are going to 4 corners tomorrow. Ben finished the HP book, of course Chris and their dad had already finished it. So we talked about the book and their trip and stuff.

Ron's uncle and aunt from Cleveland area came down to WV last night and out to our house tonight. EEK---not them--they're cool, but my house is in the middle of a major reorganization(like when isn;t it....)so not exactly the shape I would have liked it to be in, but oh well... Shellie kept them well entertained by literally performing selections from the Hannah Montana show.

By the way, it has been so long since I played this game---someone remind me what kind of car is a pididdle and which is a pidaddle. I know one is a "one eye", but I forget which as well as what the other is. I know I am hopeless.

The superintendent of schools here in the co. and I have been emailing back and forth the last couple of days on the school supply issue. I am losing the battle on getting reimbursed for the supplemental paperbacks I had to buy for Chris summer reading program for honors, but I can deal with that---he knows I do not agree with it, but states that a resolution for parents in my situation is trying to be reached--maybe a book buyback or something. We'll see. I probably won;t sell the books back, because Ben is headed down the same academic path his brother has blazed, so at some point I figure he will need the same books. But I only have to buy supplemental supplies for them to use here at home, not for school. So that does help some. We'll see how it goes as the school year gets into full swing in the next few weeks. I guess I am just not as angry as I was when it all first came up.

Well, I guess that is it for tonight, unless I find something while surfing that catches my attention.

Who?????

Ok I decided to check out a couple of blogs before I signed off, and on Don't Print This, there is a quiz to see which Harry Potter kid you would be. I am apparently Ginny Weasley.

Hey she gets the hero of the book and is greatly loved by her family and friends. Plus she has a temper like mine.

I can live with that.

The never ending saga.....

Pictures and pictures and more pictures.....you get the point....

I have edited pics until I am blue in the face. The problem is, I do not have a photo editing program that I am completely happy with. I have the one that came with my HP camera, Adobe, and one I managed to salvage from my old HP camera. To get the results I want, I have to combine all 3. Not efficient. Neither am I which is why I need all the help I can get. So I have been on and off the computer today, working on them just long enough to get irritated, then coming back to it later when my head has cleared. No comments from the peanut gallery needed, thanks anyway for playing.

Tonight we played the game of "What do you want for dinner?" Bob Evans here we come.

Shellie tried to get me to take her to lunch today. She got told her choice was to get a Kid's Cuisine from the local FasChek as we drove by, or to eat frozen pizza from the freezer at home. After being told she was not allowed to eat the kid's meal in the family room--ketchup you know-- she opted for the pizza. Then she spilled grape koolaid on the couch right after I had told her to be careful how she was squeezing the bottle. Oops. Her dad has now banished her to the kitchen for everything she eats or drinks, no exceptions. Fortunately the couch is microfiber, so it cleaned really easy, but that's not the point.

As I have finished Harry Potter the 7th, I am now re reading my VC Andrews collection. Right now I am reading "Heaven". There are 6 or so books in that series, and this is the first.

Not too much else going on right now. I think I'll go read for a while.

Endings.......

Ok, I am a geek, a nerd, a bookworm....Whatever.

I finished the 7th and final HP book about half an hour ago. My oldest son finished it earlier today--but he also had a cross country plane ride to do it on. No details will I leak, but I was surprised by quite a bit, had some thoughts confirmed, and enjoyed working my way to the end.

I honestly hope they continue to make the last 2 movies, even if they go straight to DVD. I think this last book would make a hell of a flick.

I wish more people would write books like this, that engage your imagination and emotions. That even make you want to root for the "bad" people, because you can see their humanity. Books that enthrall young and middle-aged and old alike. Because the underlying theme is so universal.
Now it is off to craft land--I need to crop and otherwise mutilate the 300 plus pictures I downloaded from my camera today---fun fun fun. It is what I get for not having a working computer for 3 months. Then at some point in the next few days, I want to visit some quilting
websites to get some tips on how to feed a queen size quilt through the standard sewing machine so I don;t have to do the quilting part by hand. AYE YI YI.

Wish me luck.

522 pages done, only 200+ to go.....

Obviously I am talking about the last Harry Potter book. I got two chapters read yesterday afternoon, several more late last night, and am now on page 522. No I'm not going to give away any of the plot--you will just have to read it for yourself. Suffice it to say that there are a few things I have read that gave me a surprise, but then these books generally do.

I'm going to have to get up with Ron in the morning and get into the garden and get the rest of the beans and peppers picked, as well as some tomatoes and some zucchini. It's going wild out there!

Mom and Dad just stopped by and checked out our new dining room table. Oak dark burnished finish with 8 very sturdy chairs---they had better be--it took me almost 4 months for the order to come in--after I was told 2-4 weeks or so, so imagine how long it would take to get replacements.

Halllelujah!! I don't mean to sound whatever, but we have had my stepdaughters since Wednesday night and I'm ready to take my house back. I love them dearly, but I don;t feel like my home is my own when they are here for more than a night or two. And Kris and I were probably coming to the end of our good period together---starting to irritate each other some.
Kate was pretty good--actuallly had her nose stuck in the first HP book all week.

Well, gotta go into work in a little bit, so better get done what I got on here to do in the first place.PICTURES!!!!!!!!!

Thoughts on turning 40....

Actually I have none. It's a birthday and I am not listed on the obituary page. Must be a good day.

I don't get why people freak over turning older. It beats the alternative by a mile and a half at least. But the only thing that even remotely bothered me was the fact that for the last 7 years I have had that day off and this year I didn;t. We normally take a nearly kid free vacation---all we usually have to have is Shellie, since she is ours and there is no visitation for her. The boys are at their dad's and the girls staying with their mom instead of being here on the odd day or so is no problem. But this year we didn;t schedule for us--we scheduled around when the boys would be here, so I worked on my birthday.

And got my driver's license renewed.

And paid the taxes on the cars to renew their registration.

And changed my address on my voter's registration.

And went to work.

But today I got my computer back, so all is right with the world again.

Damn this margarita is good.

Thank you Ronnie!!!!!!

I'm BAAAACCCKKKKK...........

I know--just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water---da dum da dum da dum---or however the Jaws theme goes. Thanks a whole bunch, more than I can say, to my brother the computer guru. He found a power supply for $30 for my faithful 5 yr old HP Pavilion---even after the HP guy laughed me off the phone----and he fixed it and updated it in no time. After 3 months of being offline----Halllelujah!!!

So yeah I have a lot stored up that i would love to talk about--from the table games the state is forcing through, to the stupid teachers and the stupider school board who don't know what in the f$%#%#$ hell they are talking about to dumbass drivers and so on and so forth---and I assure you that we will get into all of it (for those of you who don;t like to hear anything contrary to your own views--THIS IS YOUR WARNING!!!!!) right now I am dying to get into the 7th and final Harry Potter book, so I may not rant for too long today.

Not to mention the fresh from the garden zucchini, beans, fried green tomatoes, etc that we will be cooking for my delayed birthday dinner in just a bit. MMMMMMMMMM..........

Now it is off to email land, so I can email my boys and let them know I am back online--as they are in CT with their dad for summer visitation.......

At least my priorities are not completely screwed up......

late night musings.....

My best friend from my first post college job and I just spent the last hour and a half IM'ing each other. It was great----you have to understand that when I first moved back to the state in 1998 after husband #1 decided he wasn't happy anymore, she and I spent a long time online just sorting things out. Now we just try to email once in a while to keep up, with our schedules. I love my husband and family dearly, but nothing takes the place of old friends.
I have two really good ones-----the one I was talking with tonight, and my old college roommate, who I talked with a couple of weeks ago for the first time in months, and just talking with them, the years melt away. Jobs and responsibilities are different now, and so are our outlooks on life to a great degree. But even after long periods of time apart, we can still talk like we have never had to part.
Makes this old broad feel great.
Even though now we no longer talk about our sex lives or boyfriends, as old married women, there is still plenty to talk about.
And even in trading pictures of children not seen since they were babies, and are now teenagers, somehow the feeling of being old is fleeting.
Because we have reminded each other that we have purpose.......
And we have laughed........

weather or not......

Ok, bad pun. But it was 80-odd degrees Tuesday, and didn't even crack 40 today. Plus we had snow flurries--hard ones. What screwy weather.

But I still don't believe the global warming as spewed out by the Hollywood types.

On another note, starting the process of getting used to a new store manager. I think he will be good for the store, but he will take a little getting used to. His style is quite different from the former manager, who left for family reasons a couple of weeks ago. I think once we get the store into the kind of shape he wants it to be in, it will run smoother but there may be a couple of bumps along the way--not uncommon when dealing with so many different personalities.

I finally just had my say with Ron concerning the shop and his lack of pay from it. He plans on having his say with his partner tonight. We'll see what comes of it.

Kids are officially on spring break. Good Friday is tomorrow and so the boys are looking forward to having the house to themselves while Ron and I are at work. They have their list of chores, and Chris has English homework that will be due his first day back, so he is under orders to do it tomorrow so it's not hanging over his head.

Ben is very impatient for me to come in and play a game of Rook, so I'd better get going--I still have to shower and get some sleep before the alarm goes off at 3:30 am.

one more milestone.....sigh....

Well, I guess it had to happen, but I hadn't expected it to be this soon. Shellie is 5, and has her first loose tooth. She came home from the shop with her dad tonight and teh first words out of her brothers' mouths were "Shellie's got a loose tooth!"
I am devastated. This is my baby. We just got done enrolling her for kindergarten, she is begging to have her training wheels taken off her bicycle (NOT!!!) and now she has a loose tooth. I asked her if she had banger her mouth in any way, or if someone had knocked into her by accident and maybe loosened it, but no, she is just hitting another milestone on the way to growing up.

I hate to tell her this---but she still can;t wear makeup until high school!!!!

It's a Monday........

Yep, the title says it all.......
I worked 5 am til 2:30 pm yesterday----fairly normal shift, except I was onlky scheduled til 1, but a cashier was a no call/no show, so I stuck around until the closing mgr at least had someone on the floor to help with calls so he could be up front. No big deal, well yeah there was a big deal, not with me, but I already dealt with it so.....
So today, I set the alarm for about 6:30 am so I could get up and make sure the boys were well on their way to getting ready for school, but Chris walked in just before it went off and told me that by the way he had an orthodontist appt at 10:30. This was not good news, as I am working overnight tonight to reset some aisles and had planned to sleep until the kids got home from school at 4pm. So not believing it, I got up and found the appt card, and sure enough he was right. So I got a bath and did some laundry and bargained with the 5 yr old because she wanted to stay home with mommy. The deal is she stayed with me today but she has to go tomorrow so I can sleep after I get home around 7am.
So we did the orth thing and ran him back to school, then she and I went to WM and got a couple of necessities, like peanut butter (No, Mom, not Peter Pan!!), and then we came home and ate lunch and I tried to settle her so I could take a nap. Yeah, right. I did finally get a couple hrs sleep, but it wasn;'t good sleep, but it will have to do. I'm getting ready to put her butt to bed--she wanted to "read" after her bath so who am I to turn that down?
But the best part so far is that Chris twisted his ankle at the neighbors playing football. After he had stepped in a hole in my mom's yard yesterday with the same ankle. After we went through the 3 tortures when he broke his wrist a yr and a half ago playing football with his dad. I don;t honestly know if he is accident prone, going thru a stage, or just has that little tendency to get hurt somehow when playing. All I know is he is sitting on the couch with his ankle up and iced, and I really do not want to go have to pull his butt up off the shower floor. So he is going to take his bath in my bathroom, where there is a tub he can sit on the side of if he needs to. His bathroom just has a shower stall. I don;t think he is really swollen, but I have to go check again.
I love Monday's.

But then again if this is alll I have to gripe about (actually it's not--I'm getting ready to have it out with yet another teacher over not getting a response I can actually understand about a grade--she keeps sending her answer through Ben, and even he doesn't seem too sure about what he is talking about.) then I guess I don;t have too awful much to complain about today.

this and that......

Just a few tidbits from what is left of my brain......

Looking forward to the new Left Behind book--the final one. It is called Kingdom Come. Chris read the first chapter online at the Borders website today and says it is really going to be good. I have yet to be disappointed in any of the series. Even if you don't believe in the end of days scenarios, it can make ya think......

On Christmas Day we watched "The Gospel" at my MIL's. Pretty good movie. If you have a chance, rent it and watch it and "Second Chance" with Michael W. Smith. "The Gospel" has Yolanda Adams etc performing in it and the soundtrack is wonderful. I'm more into contemporary Christian, not gospel, but I bought it and that's saying something. "Victory" by Yolanda Adams and "Glorious" by Martha Munizzi are my favorites. Both movies have a lot to say about how different walks of life and different ways of thinking need to work together for change. Among other things.......

I'm rereading the Jack Ryan series from Tom Clancy. Seriously, sometimes I think they need to check this guy's security clearance----Clancy's that is. There is an awful lot of stuff going on today that seems to be severely foreshadowed in these books. This time I started with "The sum of all fears" (which by the way, we saw the movie with Ben Affleck a couple of years ago----severe waste of money--not true to the book except in some of the basics) and am now on "Debt of honor". Thoughts on the Presidency----I vote Jack Ryan for President anyday----a straight shooter, no frills, screw-you-if-you-don't-like-it kind of guy. I think that is what we need today. Not afraid to tell the whole world to sit on a sharp stick and twist. Including Congress and the special interests. Maybe that's why I like the series.

I got huge satisfaction last night--in cleaning out the garage. Ron straightened the shed up so that we could start putting some of the stuff in there instead of the garage. Still quite a bit of work to do, but the Christmas stuff is in there now and I can see what else needs to be done. The kids don;t know it yet but they are going to get roped in on this. Plus I am having a yard sale. Everything a quarter each. Someday. I've got to go thru all the junk, and closets, and boxes, and totes, and organize what I am keeping and what I am getting rid of. Our neighbors said we should have our sales the same day, so maybe we would get more traffic. I want to do it next weekend, but there is no way in the world I will be that ready. And I want to do it as a one day blowout. Get it done and over with. Then resolve no more clutter. Everything will have to have a home. I know I have said this before--that was the goal when we moved here too. But it will be a reality----just gotta get it thru my head to get it over with.

I did get the van cleaned out last night too---that is what led to the garage cleaning. I need to vacuum and detail the inside, but just having the assorted coats and half full water bottles and old ad papers, etc, out is great!!!

I can;t wait to hit the greenhouse this spring--I am only waiting for the stuff I planted last year to have a chance to sprout so I know where I need to replant and what to get and not get. Ron already has his corn, bean, and squash seeds. No 10 cent/pack seeds either--he went to a local supply store and got them-- the same place my dad goes to get his.

Well, I'm sure I have more I could put on here, but the allergy med is starting to make me sleepy and the boys are still up watching CSI Miami so I think I will join them for just a bit, then get a bath and off to bed---work at 7am and it will be a busy day!!!! Later, gator.

carbon accounts??????

WTH? So now you are supposed to have a carbon accont to offset the pollution you cause? Change that WTH to WTF? Because that is what the tree huggers and their comrades are trying-----and succeeding----in doing. No Vaseline either. Sorry to be so crude, but I get really tired of those who keep telling me what a pox I am to this planet just because I am alive. News flash---the earth didn't get this way overnight, and while willing as always to take my share of any blame, I am not willing to give up my lifestyle when those who are trying to mandate the change are not exactly being the most responsible inhabitants of the planet either.
Al Gore.....
Clinton(pick one, they are both the same)....
Pelosi......
the GOP sellouts.......
pick a hollywood star of the week........
I mean, I don't where any of the very vocal global warming crowd are giving up the SUV's and the Gulfstreams or whatever the latest status symbol is, much less carpooling or using the local bus systems, etc. Yet they would like me to give up the van I have ----- a vehicle not bought because I wanted it, but because my family was expanding and we needed a vehicle that had the capacity to carry all of us at once---to buy one of their little hybrids---which would probably cost as much as my house payment each month (and the last time I wrote checks this big for housing was when we rented in Norwalk, CT back in the 90's--at least this time it's an investment and not money down the drain). Nope. Make them affordable and efficient and roomy enough to seat 7, including the booster seat my state demands I keep my youngest in until she is at least 7 or 8, plus all the groceries and assorted paraphenalia that having 5 kids requires--i.e. bookbags, etc, and I might consider it. I have long thought that there needed to be another option besides enriching the oil countries and oil execs, but have yet to see an affordable, viable for the general public option presented.
I try to recycle. We save cans from our pop and turn them back in at the local recycler. I generally reuse the plastic shopping bags for storage, wrapping fragiles in to put away, and for trash bags. If I have a huge overflow, then I take them back to my local wally world and put them in the recycle bin. I only run full washer and dishwasher loads, and unless absolutely necessary, I try to avoid running a lot of anything electric during peak usage times. I now take my ink cartridges to a local place and have them refilled for a fraction of what buying new ones would cost. I am also trying to switch over to rechargeable batteries for the cameras and stuff.
I'm not trying to toot my own horn so much as trying to show a few ways I and my family try to conserve our energy and resources--including our money!! Anyone can do a few simple things. But the carbon account thing? Please. I don't get it. I don't think many do.
Just be responsible with what you are given. Imagine if everyone was.

headline......

"Thousands of Christians protest Iraq war..."

Good for them.

Now my two cents worth....
I am a Christian. I do not like the war. I don't like any war. I much prefer to live in peace. That said, I also believe we need to finish what we have started. Give the troops the greenlight to do what they need to, give them the resources to do so----more personnel, supplies, etc.--- so they can complete the task and get home before something else blows up somewhere else.
I do not believe we need to play policeman for the whole world. And after the pounding we as a country have taken in the last 5 or 6 years over the war, I think it is time to call a halt to it. Let the other countries sort out their own affairs. We as a nation can't seem to get a grip on our own problems, so why take on those of other countries? Let's take care of hunger and poverty and AIDS and the like here first. Then others can come to us and learn from our experience so that they may solve their own problems.

And for goodness sakes, shut these Hollywood types up who keep going overseas and ranting about how screwed up we are and what a jerk Bush is, etc. By the way, The last Dixie chicks cd I bought was "Home", I think, right before the whole flap with them and Toby Keith---and I won;t even listen to it now, much less buy their new one. All of them need to grow up and support our country, and if you don;t like something then VOTE!!!!!!!!Make your voice heard by contacting your elected officials, but quit giving other countries ammo to use against us.

No wonder my blood pressure was up this week and I stayed offline. People are flipping stupid.

will it or won't it?

As in ever be spring? Earlier this week we were all in shorts--at least for a little while--and today I have frozen to death. I wore a hooded, quilted flannel shirt pretty well all day while inside at work. And the heat in the store was working. It probably didn't help that I had to be outside in the elements, 30-odd degrees and a very cold rain, while supervising the unloading of two furniture trucks. I think the only time I have been completely warm was when I took a much needed but wholly unexpected nap this evening on the couch--mostly unexpected because I had 4 of the 5 kids tonight and they all stayed in the living room watching Reba and Still Standing on Lifetime, playing Polly Pockets with the 5 yr old, and my oldest boy actually got most of his English homework done without me telling him he needed to work on it. And the boys remembered to call their dad on time at 7.
And yes, I checked the house out---and they do not appear to have done anything they shouldn't.
I did speak too soon though--I told one of my coworkers today that it would be nice to have a weekend off with the kids and nobody was sick (and yes Iknocked on wood), and now Katiebug is sniffling and coughing. Figures. Oh well.
And my honey just walked in the door and brought me some strawberries which I am eating with some sugar on top and they are wonderful!!!!!
Maybe spring isn;t too far away after all.


On another note, I haven't been online for 10 days, and I haven;t missed it. Neither has my blood pressure or my temper. Even when the teachers threatened a strike, I didn't go online. I vented to friends and family, but that was it.
I guess a vacation was a good thing.........

just a thought....

But if you come up behind me on any road and it is obvious that the car in front of me is going, say, 30 in a 55, do you not think that riding my rear end can get all of us killed.? While the guy in front of me is already irking the crap out of me by going so extremely slow, what do you think you are doing by tailgating me to the point where I am about to tell you to introduce yourself first? I am not going any faster--I can't. Therefore all you are doing is creating an even bigger hazard than the slowpoke in front of me. GET OFF MY ASS!!!

On the same topic, I am getting older and my vision is changing somewhat. If you come up behind me with bright lights on, or with all 4 of your lights in my mirror, do not be surprised if I slow down a little and push my driver's side mirror out so far that you are forced to back off or blind yourself.

By the way, the flashing brake lights in front of you mean get off my rear end.........and I mean now....

what the ........

I know it is March. I know we still a a couple or three technical weeks of winter left, by the calendar. But I would REALLY like to know who the moron is who ordered it to be darn near 60 degrees when the son and I hit Wally World just after daybreak this morning (thanks to the tantrum of the 5 yr old in there yesterday, which cut short the previous plan to sleep in and veg all today), and then when I had forgotten the vital ground beef for the lasagna tonight and had to run to the local FasChek around 4pm, it was then about 35 and flurrying. As in snow. As in I had to go to the ballfield and haul my boys back to the house, with them saying "it;s not really that cold out here" all the way back.

Freaking moronic imbecile jerk. Whoever thought of playing around with my day off that way.

Yeah, Shellie had a major tantrum in the fabric dept of Walmart yesterday, because I refused to pay over $7 for what was packaged as a remnant of Care Bear quilt panel. To buy it fresh off the bolt would only have run me a couple of bucks more and I would be sure that I had the whole panel. Why would I pay that for a partial piece?

But she, the diva, did not see it that way. And in her 5 yr old mind, that meant she had every right to scream, cry, hit, punch, kick--and I mean she kicked me so hard that the cart she was in ended up 2 feet away from me just from the sheer retro force of the kick. That was the point at which I grabbed her wrists, informed her in the "I mean business, don;t screw with me" low pitched voice that she was to cease this behavior immediately OR ELSE. She chose to kick me again, at which point I took what items we had in the cart and headed for the checkout.

And the lecture her dad gave her when we got home and he discovered why there would be no food in the house that night......I am glad I was not in her shoes. He wasn;t foul or anything, but I felt sorry for her, just because I wuold not want to be in her shoes. Then the boys asked if they could run next door and play for a bit, so I said ok, and of course she wanted to follow. Her dad told her no, so then the playoff began. Or so she thought. She came to me a couple of minutes later and asked if she could go over. Apparently thinking that I had turned deaf when her dad told her no. She was extremely disappointed when I backed him up. and more so when we spent the evening cleaning her room top to bottom.

Ah well, such is life......