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......