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.