The vaca that didn't want to end

Yea!!!! I'm FINALLY home. I say finally because I didn't think I would ever get here. What a great time though.

My sister and I had a blast, the sun was hot, the rum flowed like water, the eye candy delish. In fact we had such a good time, we felt a need to continue to donate money into their casino. We even laughed about that by the time the trip was over. Visited the straw market in Nassau, they have more knock off bags than I have ever seen in one place in my life. Little Ms can't make a decision is the proud new owner of 3 Kate Spade bags, I managed to control myself and only give a home to one.

However all good and warm things come to an end, and so this happy feeling does as well. We were leaving on Sunday, and I went to the airport a little early with my sister, her flight left earlier than mine. I had a quick jump to Ft Lauderdale, followed by a flight direct to Pittsburgh. Only when I landed in Ft L, my flight was cancelled!?!?!



ummm what? there was no snow, no rain, no nothing...there WAS however, a mechanical issue, and I guess no other planes in all of the eastern us to replace the broken one. After waiting for a stand by position on a flight to DC, that was an impossible dream, i got a free night in the Embassy Suites in Ft Lauderdale. Which may have been a bit more enjoyable had it not been drizzling, and I had had someone to chill with. Of course i forgot to add that I had nothing...NO THING with me. I had a camera, a comb, and my book. Plus because the casino had been so stingy I also had about 100 bucks, and a maxed out credit card.



WOO HOO PAR TAY.



So i got cozy with some sushi from this palce near the hotel and watched Star Wars, I couldn't even use my phone too much, my charger was in my checked bag.



Got up the next morning and headed to FLL, this time I had to go to Charlotte then another flight to Pburg, and another quick jumper to the city near my home. Get to Charlotte (home of a Jamba Juice..mmmmm), and got onto the worst ( although thankfully short) flight of my flying life.



I was in the middle seat.which I totally despise. I am a wee bit claustraphobic, and sometimes all of a sudden I'll just feel like there is no air and I literally have to restrain myself from jumping up and running. Which may be frowned on, what with all the heightened security these days. Being seated in the middle of a PACKED flight, on an older plane, next to a very nice, but very overweight gentleman with a nasal issue. NO AIR



Got to Pburg, and at this point I had been in airports for oh about 17 years. Ok maybe it was more like 20 of the past 30 hours, but still, I was happy to be almost home. Next flight is a quick 35 minutes....35 wee little minutes on a small plane that will probably have 10 other people on board. yea for air.



Turns out there were 4 of us, get on the plane...only the plane doesn't want to go, get off the plane, wait 30 minutes, get on the plane again. Now were cookin, headed to the runway...oh no not so quick. Turn around ...get off the plane (I swear I am not making this up).



At this point i ask the girl at the desk if there is a flight available to another close city, ok first she says to me "Did you check a bag?" why yes I checked a bag..."We won't separate a passenger from a bag." was her reply, my retort? "You separated me from my bag yesterday, no problem. I don't even know where my bag is"



she huffs...I swear she HUFFS and does the eye roll and pecks at the computer. "well we have one in 15 minutes, but you have to go through DC" see this is my life, the night before I would have killed to get to DC. Last night if I could have gotten to Dc I could have been home. But NOOOO last night I couldn't beg my way to DC...today I can go to DC and then head back home again. Because I might want to spend another 6 years on planes and in airports.



At this point we were down to 3, one of the passengers decided to cut his losses and just head back home. So myself and a very nice woman and her daughter sat and waited, and waited .....and waited just a wee bit more. Finally an hour and a half later we board the plane. While we are waiting to take off I peek out the window and see my bag...oh sweet bag how I missed you, being placed on board. I joked at least by having to wait so long, my bag caught up to me.



So we quick head home and into our very small airport and go to get our bags, their bags come through....and thats it. I wanted to cry, i even peeked under the flappy thing the bags come from to see if anyone was there to get my bag that I KNOW was on the plane. No one....so I go to the desk....no one. So i ask the TSA guy, can I back through and tell them I need my bag.



WHOA....THAT IS NOT ALLOWED.



Just to give you an idea of how small this airport really is, the guy who works the desk, also de ices the planes, AND handles baggage. Ok Rite Aid is bigger than this airport, however I could NOT enter the gate area without a TICKET.



BUT my BAAAGGGG.



If I could just wait a few minutes someone will be out. Only 15 minutes later no one was out..so I left. Iwas tired and hungry and missed my kids and was 20 minutes from my house and just wanted to go home.



At 10:30 pm my phone rings..the airport wants to know why I didn't stop at the desk to check on my bag.



I had no strength to answer, I just told them weather depending I would be down for it the next day. Weather has been icky and I still don't have it.



So ends the vaca that didn't want to end.....but at least I made it home and can laugh about it now, and I still have tan lines!!!! wooo

mirror mirror

Mirrors are something there are not a lot of in my house. I don't even own a full length, and the mirror in my bathroom hangs at neck level. I manage just fine this way. I have never been one to scrutinize my appearance nipping, tucking, starightening, etc. My clothes are boring casual, I don't need one.

I know my body is not in the shape it once was. But I accept it and know I am healthy, and exercise regularly, and try to eat well most of the time. Then every once in awhile I go somewhere and catch a glimpse of something I am normally able to avoid. Like my upper arms.

And I want to crawl into a hole and hide.....

I wonder if I would work harder if I had a 3 way mirror in my home, or would I just lose my mind? I'm thinking the mind would go, it's on the brink the way it is.

sorry

I have wondered for a good portion of my adult life if our God was a vengeful God. My husband says no, and if I were him, I would be inclined to agree. I just keep telling him God hasn't gotten him yet, but he's due....ooohh baby is he due.

It was proven to me again that God may just be a wee bit on the vengeful side. Literally, as I was reading my last post there after I had published it, you know when I kinda said "ha ha I get to go away", oldest cell phone rings, not once or twice or even three times. It rings incessantly, I hear him switching from call to call, I know what's going on already, but I was in denial.

School is closed again tomorrow. I will never learn.

hey Mon

DUDE...I'm freakin freezing. Gar I HATE winter. I told my darlin dear husband on Fri that this winter thing, it's clearly not working for me, and he has precisely 9 years in which to make enough cash and sell most of what we own so that I may rest my growing ass somewhere warm for 7 or 8 months a year.

He has agreed to comply, which leads me to believe 1 of 2 things....

1. old people really do not like cold, as much as he loves snowmobiling, he too as he ages, wishes for snow without cold

or

2. i have super Jedi powers i wasn't aware of all these years.

The lakes are beginning to freeze, so my snow should not be so bad from here on out (knock on wood), and I really have no business whining cause I am heading to Bahamas in 48 hours for a long weekend with my one sister, leaving the male species to fend for themselves while I sport some flip flops.

It's ok to hate on me , if you want. I'll understand.

RIP

I had this long post in my head all day an ode to February so to say. Then it happened.

After struggling through spelling homework for 45 minutes, my youngest was clearly finished. I sent him to get his bath and get ready for bed. Before the tub water even began running I hear a wail of

"NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"

I go to the room, ready to break up whatever arguement is escalating and there is the youngest sobbing, not just sobbing..SOBBING.

*sniffle* "m m my f f fish is deaddddd"

why God? why tonight? He was tired to begin with, couldn't this wait for a night when he wasn't already cranky?

I explain to him in my best mommy voice that most goldfish live for just a couple of months, his are like almost 5 years old. if they were people they would probably be 200 by now. This does not help matters, not one little bit. The wailing continues.

He also has a thing about his fish, yeah we've been through this 5 other times. We have to bury them, in the flower bed between the trees, near the pond. Only there's currently 2 feet of snow in the flower bed, between the trees, near the pond. So I mentioned maybe we didn't have to bury this one.

*sniffle* "but he'll be loonneeelyyyyy"

Do not open the foil packet in the ziploc bag in my freezer.

Unless you want some sushi.

the snow already

I know I recently requested "some" snow to get my nagging husband off my couch. I do not recall asking for 2 solid weeks of it. Some days we get an inch or two some days we get 6, Monday I awoke to probably 10 new inches. It is getting kind of difficult to tell where the old starts and the new begins. Mainly because I live at the nexus of the universe or something with the wind gusts and all, and drifts get as high as I am tall, but also because there is so much of the damn stuff.

Maria is not a happy camper. Tommorrow they are calling for an actual storm with like a foot or so. hmph

Bitching was not the pointof my post though. This morning, what with snow falling and wind chills below zero, the kids actually got a 2 hour delay. I love the 2 hour delay, not really a whole day, where they will be doing that infuriating talking to me all day, but just enough time so we are not quite so rushed in the morning.

With my middle guy catching the bus at 6:45 am, and the other 2 out the door an hour later, there isn't too much time to relax in the AM. It's nice to have a good breakfast, and the sun actually be out when they leave. No one is too exhausted and they all get up so much easier. With mornings like that the whole day seems easier.

This is the snow from the roof about to hit the snow drifts on the deck. what a view (can u read sarcasm) I used to look out that window and see my ponds, now I see snow, ooh AND ice.

And this poor unfortunate chair is the victim of my laziness this fall, I mean clearly I did not have enough time between October and the middle of Jan to put it away

hey google.....****^$*) off

you know when i switched over to the google deal this past weekend, i had to change my sign in info. when i attempted to enter my password, THE password, the one I use for every last God forsaken thing., Google told me it wasn't secure enough and I had to choose a different password.

Hey Google.....I use the same password for everything because I am an idiot who cannot remember her own last name half the time.

Now I have to do everything TWICE because I keep forgetting it changed..the inconvenience.

Ichabod Crane we are not

If you grew up in the Capital District of New York, you right now get the title. For those of you who didn't, let give you some background.

Imagine it's a snowy Weds morning, you sit by the radio eagerly awaiting the announcement. "Albany public and parochial schools (or whatever district you were in) closed." Nine times out of ten, you wouldn't get your wish. Instead you would pull on those damn rubber boots that never came off easily at school, over 4 pairs of socks (I would have given my right thumb for thinsulate back then), thrown on a coat, hat gloves pulled pants on under your skirt, because God forbid a pair of pants be allowed when it's 5 degrees out and snowing, and trekked the 9/10 of a mile to school.

And yes I am aware that was a very long sentence, and yes I know exactly how far it was because if you lived a mile from school you got a free bus pass.

Who were you cursing the entire bone chilling walk to school? Those damn kids from Ichabod Crane School Ditrict. Why? The mere thought of snow shut that school down tighter than Sr Lois's supply closet.

To this day their snow day free for alls puzzle me. I mean it's upstate NY, the Adirondack Mountains are all around....IT SNOWS. Sometimes it snows ALOT, and it's COLD. Those Ichabod Crane people thought they were in Florida or something.

I thought of good 'ol ICSD this morning, and if my kids knew better they would have been cursing them too. This is what they had to wait for the bus in

65000 calories and some tv

.....or what I did with my Saturday. Don't you love days like that. OK so my big ol ass doesn't love days like that but I did. I actually got up early and headed out, I was out of bread and youngest had baseball signups. But by 9:30 I was home, back in my sweats and plopped on the couch reading a magazine.

I did do a little work, like cleaned the birdcages (eeewwwww, birds are the WORST pets, anybody want a parrott or 3?), and got the stragglers that didn't get filed when I did all my work earlier this month finally put where they need be. Made 3 square meals, and , and I finally switched to "new" blogger so I had to go to all the trouble of setting up a google account AND changing my layout, cause it's PINK. (sigh) and work hard browsing my pics. And , ummm thats about it.

I was later cruising channels looking for something to watch, and you know TV just sucks. I have no idea how people sit down and watch TV every night, I just don't get it. It is either lame shows or movies I have seen more than 10 times. So my remote finger scooted to the PPV channels, which I always forget about and watched not one, but TWO movies I had never seen.

Little Miss Sunshine, which was effn hysterical. A little raunchy but just my style. And DaVinci Code, which my 13 year old surmised precisely "This movie is confusing". I f I hadn't read the book, I would have no clue about what was going on. And I just didn't like Tom Hanks in that role.

Thats why I usually avoid seeing a movie if I read the book, it is always a let down and it's hard for me to switch my picture of the character to who the actor is. Of course thats also why I couldn't read Lord Of the Rings until after I had seen the movies. Cause Tolkien was just high, and I needed that visual.

I sure hope I can take it easy today, my heart can't stand the excitement.

it's gone to the cats

Ever live in the boonies? No? you may not get this post, in fact you may be inclined to call the nearest Humane Society on me when you're done.

Anywhoo

Because I have cats, you know actual pets, who spend a good portion of their time in my house, take their meals in my kitchen and snuggle up on my bed when I am out earning their keep, our home also attratcts a good deal of "feral" cats. You know crazy strays. I'm not quite sure when they became so numerous, but there are quite a few. We realized it may be an issue when one day last summer.

My son had some friends over and they were snacking on pizza and wings on the deck. Being men, they just left everything on the table out there when the shindig was over. About 4 am I am revived from my slumber by what sounds like a pack of wolves skittering on the deck. I stumble up the stairs, carefull not to trip over my 2 house cats who are cowering on the stairs, to the door to see no less than 15 cats fighting over pizza and chicken bones, you know at the table.

I had decided then that maybe I should stop leaving food for my cats out there, obviously I was attracting attention. But the cats couldn't stay away, our garbage is just too tantalizing. All those picked at plates that find their way to the trash, it's like my youngest is trying to feed them. Of course to blame it all on one person is just not fair, we are a house of carnivores and what the coons don't get the cats will.

I told the story of Charley one of the strays who decided to join us ( of course as soon as we named him he disappeared, loong story). Now I have a chapter to add.

During the last 2 weeks the weather has gone from unseasonably mild to actual winter. Cold, lots of snow and frozen garbage. At one point someone left the garage door open and two more visitors wandered in. They wouldn't come out of hiding behind Mt Crapmore, and being an animal lover, I couldn't stand the thought of them being cold or hungry. So i put some food in the garage for them to eat and figured they would escape at the next opportunity.

I was wrong, seems my house cats showed them the "here's how you get into the ceiling" trick, and I haven't had a decent nights sleep since. I know they are coming out of the ceiling, they eat the food. I even saw the one stalking me under the old coffee table thats down there. And there are kitty prints all over the sports car. Come nightfall though those little buggers are prancing all through the ceiling. Hissing and fighting with each other. Guttural growls from every corner. It's like some kind of turf war going on.

Only guess what? IT'S MY TURF!!!! and I would like to get some sleep.
******************************************

You know I totally just realized, if you had told me 18 years ago that I would have feral cats living in my ceiling and keeping me up at night I would have had to have you institutionalized. How the mighty have fallen.

watch what you wish for

I'm not really sure which is worse, listening to my husband whine over a lack of snow or this

Right this minute I might say he could whine for snow the whole rest of the winter and I wouldn't care. I actually used to enjoy winter. But now I remember why, we lived in a place with normal winter. A few small storms, a couple big snows, and regular old days in between.

Then we moved here. Now it hasn't been bad. I actually have no business complaining. But that's never stopped me before, and it won't now either. I HATE it. HATE...HATE...HATE. The icky icy slush in every parking lot, the icy wipers that you need to stop and smack on the windshield 10 times in a 40 minute drive. The fact it takes 40 minutes to go anywhere it used to take 20 to get to. The deck that I have to shovel off so that an hour later in can be covered again. The white outs, ummm love me some white outs. Nothing like cruising along at 50 mph to suddenly not be able to see 15 feet in front of you. And I can't forget the blowing drifting snow, and that my house is the eppicenter of said snow (as you can see from the pic).

Oh yeah and the best part, my driveway. I have 4 wheel drive and sometimes need a running start to get out of it. Even if it's cleared, the plows come by and leave a foot of snow at the top of it, which, if it gets cold enough will form a wall of ice. As long as I'm ranting over Penn DOT ,we shant forget that at least once every year my mailbox gets it, then I get to dig my mailbox out of the ice and snow to retreive the mail, and try to figure out how to put a new one up with everything all frozen

good times , good times

little story

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there were 2 girls. We'll call them M and T. These girls were very good friends, through everything. From Brownies to boyfriends, to boy bands(lol),to weddings, to having children of their own. Their friendship hit hot spots and cold spots, but they always were friends.

One day M was none to happy about a decision T had made. It really was none of her business, but she stuck her nose in where it shouldn't be and decided she knew everything. And T was wrong.

T attempted to patch things with M, but she had pride too and figured if M was going to be that way let her be. That my dear readers was 13 years ago. In that time M thought about T at least once a week. She thought about T's kids on what would have been their first days of school, and wondered how it went. She heard T had had another baby and felt bad she couldn't offer congrats. She heard T had gotten a divorce and suffered that she hadn't been able to help her friend through what was most likely a very hard decision. She wondered what her dear friend had been up to all these years.

Then one snowy Saturday night, M had her home and computer all to herself. She was killing time and looked people up on Classmates. There was T, so M being ever curious, shelled out the 15 bucks to see what her old friend had been up to. M saw pictures of T's children she had posted and could take no more.

Really she remembered why the friendship went sour, but she couldn't remember why it had bothered her so much. It didn't directly affect her, she knew that a long time ago. Pride and stubborness had gotten in the way. M took the step and sent T a short note through the site, asking her to send her an e mail.

And send she did, about a 3 page email chock full o silliness and pictures. M responded back, with an apology and silliness and pictures. And it was like the last 13 years were erased. Phone #'s exchanged and marathon phone calls loom in the near future. Turns out T had thought of M alot the last 13 years too, and missed her just as much. M will be in T's city in a couple weeks, and cannot wait to see her old friend, armed with many pictures and stories from all those years.

We all have someone from our past that we let slide out of life for no reason. Bring that person back, trust me you won't regret it. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some pics to gather up.

so it begins

The Hubs and I have found the secret to many years of happiness. We avoid each other at all costs. OK maybe avoid is a bit strong, we do enjoy spending some time together. But I find it is usually in my best interest to have a bit of a break once in awhile.

That time is now.

I know it may sound a bit cruel or uncaring, but right now...right this minute in fact, I just want him to leave my house and do something, anything. Please?

I thought his recent trek to Washington would cure his snow itch, it really only made it itch more. The saying around here is "If poppa ain't happy, ain't nobody happy". Never is that more true, he was fighting with the 8 yr old last night over a video game. It's like some 37 yr old kid is living on my couch, eating all my food, and complaining to the end of time over the fact that we have yet to receive any snow.

Like I control the snow. Believe me if I did, there would be 6 feet of it on the ground and he would be snoozing away the daylight awaiting his nightly snowmobile trek.

If it isn't going to snow then I want Spring so I can throw his ass out to work for 3 months. Absence does make the heart grow fonder you know.

In which I pay homage to many years of mindless TV watching

this pretty much describes how I feel today

good ole days

in light of my post below, i think i'll just live in denial and pretend this is here and now

lessons

Oldest had Winter Ball last night. He took his new girlfriend and they had a lovely time. He is still grounded, but got time off for good behavior. I will post a picture of the very stunning couple as soon as my desktop decides to stop being an ass, and let me sign on the ole internet with it.

He learned a very valuable lesson last night. In PA, until you are 18, you have a Jr license. You cannot drive between 11 pm and 5 am, with that license. Speedy Mc Leadfoot, decided the square sign with a 45 on it did not apply to him and got pulled over at 11:40 pm. Had the cop been so inclined oldest could have lost his license until he was 18. There is a zero tolerance for speeding with a Jr license. Instead he gave him a warning and a citation for Jr license violation.

This kid learns lessons ALOT. Last summer he luckily blew a 0.0 on a breathilizer, after chugging a forbidden mug o beer at an outdoor festival. He said he was so scared he almost soiled himself. But he got off. His whole grounding is over a BIG error in judgement, luckily we caught him before he had an opportunity to get into big trouble.

He coasts through alot of things and comes out clean. Before football camp they have to have completed certain Accelerated Reader points to participate. He waited until the day before and tried to read an entire book.

Just so you know Friday Night Lights the book, is NOTHING like Friday Night Lights the movie.

He took the test and initially failed, however even though he failed, he aquired enough points to participate in camp.

I worry about the fact he seems to have a golden touch. Or a ton of luck. I'm not sure which it is. He falls asleep in a class, and teachers can't stay mad at him. He is one of those kids. When he brought that ticket in last night I said to him, "You know you got lucky, right?" I say that to him so much it's scary. What happens if his luck runs out one day, or the day he comes across someone he can't bluff or charm his way by. Have I failed in some way because he feels like no matter what he does everything will be ok? Or is that not such a bad way to be.

This parenting thing is HARD

As much as I enjoy watching him become an adult, I long to have my little boy back. I can just tell him to go to bed with no TV if he's bad. And clean his room...lesson learned.

in search of...

Have you been shopping lately? Holy crap. It's no wonder I am in a clothes rut. Who is creating the sizes on these items?

must be oompa loompas, because noone else could label that t shirt I saw today as a large and be serious.

For the love of all that is Holy!!!! are you freakin kidding me?

Now I am the first one to admit I am no longer the leetle thing i was back in the day. I know I am carrying around some major junk in da trunk, BUT (hahaha butt) something labelled an XL (16/18) should not only make it past my thighs, it should not casue me to lose consciousness while attempting to see if I had missed a secret button somewhere or something. It should not only fit, but it should be big.

cmon, you know they do that sometimes....the secret button, snap or hook n eye..they do it right? i'm not the only one.

They keep trying to pawn off teens and eating disorders on models. Blame it on the damn clothing manufacturers. I am sooo sick of it. Go into a Hollister store, they do not even carry a misses size over a 9. I bought my neice a pair of sweat pants there for Christmas, they were a Large, she couldn't get them on. Yet her jeans are a 9/10.

There seems to be no happy medium anywhere. I either dress like an old lady or continue on in my jeans and tshirt rut. I even tried plus sizes for tops and sweaters. I guess plus size means you got some knockers cause most of the necklines hit my belly button.

Yeah thats HOT

I miss buying new clothes I do, I used to love to shop. Now I avoid it like the plague. Nothing but disappointment and anger comes of a shopping excursion. Then I am FORCED to buy a bag just so I feel better. My friend and I have a saying "shoes and bags, they always fit".

yeah so the title is for real

I honestly and truly have nothing to say. I really don't. I got rid of my kids and my husband, and I am so enjoying the peace and solitude that I dare not even begin to think, for fear I will start talking to myself and ruin the bliss.

So I sit quietly and get work done....COMPLETELY uninterrupted. It's reeeaaalll nice. For the first time in my adult life my books from the previous year are complete and mailed to the accountant before June. My employees W 2's are out, all my end of the year filings are filed, my bills are paid and there is none of that signing on frantically to pay directv at 6 am, and my new software is up and running.

I even contemplated switching my Blogger account to new blogger, they are getting a little pushy. But I think I will let that slide just a bit longer. Of course now I have no option but to go clean the house....

I knew there was a reason I kept those kids around...diversion.

Enjoy your peace wherever you find it today

knock on wood

Thank you, thank you, thank you..Sweet Baby Jesus, thank you. My husband has decided to wander off in search of snow and is currently booked on a flight to The Nordic Northwest. He is scheduled to leave on Sat am (uber early) and not get back until Weds am.

Why do I say "knock on wood" , he is not afraid to take an airline credit should he decide otherwise. I am waiting with baited breath.....for I need me some alone time.

here's to....

my hubs (even though if he ever read this we would probably end up divorced). Today he turns 37 a full 2 mos and 25 days before me. And may we not have a repeat performance of 30, when he ran out and got his tounge peirced (EWWWWW) and he is so NOT like that. It was his first and last delve into the whole body art thing. Thank God for surgeries, when you have them they make you take that crap out and your wife kinda loses the stud. (go me)

May we make it through another year without killing each other to spend yet one more New Year's together, as we have every year for 16 years now. And that's ALOT of New Years.

As happy as I am to see 06 GONE, I am a little weepy today. The years go by too quick. Before the year is out my oldest will have become a senior and it's just too much. This time next year I have a feeling I will seriously be wanting to put the breaks on everything. But as the years progress they seem to go even quicker.

Damn time....Here's to a happy, prosperous, healthy year.

it must be new years

Why do I say this? Because it's time, it's time for my kids to once again leave the nest and go back to school. I actually went to my bedroom last evening and put laundry away...JUST SO I COULD BE ALONE. How sad is that?

Between work ending, a lovely vacation and Christmas break, my family is really starting to grate on my nerves. Is that horrible? am I the only one? Will I actually (really and truly) look back to these days of incessant neediness and miss it some day?

Sometimes I wonder.

I took the boys to the mall yesterday, just to you know maybe spread out a bit. Garr they fought the whole way in the car. Sulked and kicked at each other while I was attempting to get what I needed at Staples. Whined if I was in a store that wasn't "someones favorite", or called becasue I needed to be at Hollister STAT! (!!!!) there was a "huge" sale. Ok, since when is a hoodie for 30 bucks a sale? Not in my book, so we sulked because I'm cheap. This from the oldest who wears a uniform to school anyway.

Then we went home, and asked the oldest to drive to this one pizza place because we really like their pizza. It's maybe a 10-12 min drive. He doesn't feel like it. Well I didn't feel like getting outta bed at 6 am one day to you know...give birth to you, but i did. I didn't feel like being your indentured servant and driver for the last 16 years, but I was. Now go get the damn pizza. And please when you get home make sure to whine extra hard about why we couldn't just order from the place that delivers....because you had to wait 10 whole minutes when you were there.

TEN MINUTES! the nerve. I have to wait 48 hours to get your butts back in school, you'll live.

football is like my lover

hmph...last nights game proved to be indicitave of the entire season. a few points short after a good game. at least they put the fear of God in those damn Giants, who now will probably end up playing the effn cowboys and I'll have to just wish the stadium opens up and swallows both teams.

bye football...i'll be waiting

It's the Superbowl...kinda

As mentioned earlier, I am a Washington Redskins fan.

This year I feel like I should be saying that in a meeting or something..."My name is Maria, and I am a Skins fan"

If you don't follow football, take my word for it, it's been UGLY.

There have a been a few shining moments, beating Dallas was tops in my book. Winning in New Orleans was pretty sweet, and I did enjoy the game I took the fam to. Went to watch Atlanta beat them soundly earlier this month, but at least my boys enjoyed that, and they managed to get attention from one of the Falcons WR's, who gave them a wave. You would have thought it was the second coming.

Which brings us to tonight...

Growing up in "Giants Country" (if there was a font of disgust, I would have used it just there), I had 2 options when I decided I enjoyed the foolsball. 1) root for the hometown team, or 2) pick their arch rival and root against em. I chose the latter.

Why am I telling you all of this? Because tonight is the night, last game of the season, after tonight Skins hang em up for another year. Giants pretty much have to win to play post season...And you heard it here ...Skins are playing spoilers, sorry Tiki..after tonight it's going to be over. Skins are going to send you home one last time, and be heroes for the rest of the NFC. I am stoked, and I will be calling out every Giants fan I know after.


****I reserve the right to delete this post if they lose ******

HAIL

back

we're home...yeah. can you sense the excitement? Our trip was wonderful, relaxing, great weather. No one fought an obscene amount. Only the day we tried to go to Magic Kingdom killed us, it was VERY crowded. But we stayed to the bitter end (mostly to get our $400 bucks outta the place) and watched the parade and fireworks. The days at Universal were awesome, it was practically empty. Of course now we know why, everyone was at Magic Kingdom. Went to Coccoa Beach for a day, and it was so relaxing, warm sun, empty beach. It really was a great trip. We even found a PS3 and brought it home...BONUS.

With a drawback or 2.

A little history for you, no trip is complete without a visit to the ER or urgent care. It's always something....swimmers ear, strep throat, a foot that blows up so much it really looks like one of those cartoons where the guy blows into his hand and makes it bigger. That was more funny than anything. You name it. I was in Kona for 2 weeks in 04, and made 3 trips to Hualalai Urgent Care....nothing says paradise like heading across the street to Wal Mart for your meds.

So this time it was me, Thurs night. After feeling like I was trying to give birth to a 10 pound gas bubble for most of the afternoon. I told hubs we HAD to go to the ER, I no longer cared if they laughed at me behind my back for coming to ER over gas. I just wanted to feel better. So we went, and spent thurs night until 5 am in the Sand Lake ER. It was nice as far as ER's go. And I got some great pills to make the rest of the trip go by real smooth. Nothing major, just a slight fem problem that my Dr will be able to remedy, (as soon as she gets back form vaca...glad I'm not dying).

Then because 06 could not go out on a high note, we get home late on the 23rd. There were just a couple boxes that were delivered while I was gone, I had asked a friend to stop by and put them in the garage so they would not just be laying outside. Turns out a certain grinch helped themselves to the boxes OUT OF THE GARAGE.

I KNOW!!!!!! Can you believe someone could sink so low? It wasn't even much, and unless this person had a Falcon fan, chess player, drummer and kid who wanted Guitar Hero 2 they were useless to that person. Just the point. Plus all of those gifts were for my 13 yr old, at least I was able to tell him what happened, and that I would buy him new ones. But the kid had 3 gifts under the tree on Christmas morning, and it bothered me.

but we did have a wonderful time, especially the part when I called one friend on the 20th, I was sitting at the pool, she was frantically searching for some I cat or something. ahhhh...life is good. Happy New Year ...I am hunkering down until it gets here..glad to see 06 in the rearview.

venus and mars collide

My husband is a bath kinda guy. Me? I honestly prefer a shower. So in our bathroom we have a big ol' jacuzzi tub, and a separate shower. Never the two need meet. Until yesterday.

Because of a plumbing glitch, the tub desperately needed a disinfecting. So the hubs was forced to use my shower. When I said to him.."I don't have any bleach right now, just use my shower". I had no idea the what I was bringing upon myself. OK, I should have. I mean we've been married for like a jillion years. I should have run immediately and bought some bleach. Looking back, I wish I had.

So I got into my shower, and oh no he did not..He did, he changed my shower setting. I had to tiptoe up (shower head comes out of the ceiling) to change it back. Also, because he is 6'4, and I am not even close to that, the water was hitting me smack dab in the face. Because, gawd, I guess he needed to shower his head as well, so he moved my shower head to accomadate him. hmph

I avoid drowning, and I reach for shampoo. He has messed up my collection of 1/2 empty shower products that I don't use anymore but refuse to throw away, AND put the wrong shampoo in front. AND used the scrub, but not put the top back on right. Oh the list of wrongs goes on and on. So I did what any normal woman (who is leaving for vaca in less than 24 hours and desperately trying to keep the peace) does.

I put a teaspoon of coffee in his choclate milk (he hates coffee), loosened the top of his mouthwash, so when he picks it up he'll grab the top and have a minute of frustration. Hid his cell phone under the bed and moved his shoes. Lots of little things, that will make him say..."I could have sworn I left it right here", but nothing that can be linked to me.

Because passive aggressive is my middle name.

Well I have some gifts left to wrap, and some clothes to pack and boys and girls.I AM OUTTA HERE...ciao

run don't walk

consider this my psa for December...should you see these innocent looking buns in your store, RUN , DO NOT WALK, away from them as quickly as possible.

Do not believe their innocent appearance. They are evil, Satan's tool. You will not be able to resist their cinamonny goodness, and the glob of gooey icing on top.

You might think that one small sliver cut off the side will satisfy you. It will not. You might think that scraping the wee bit of icing off the top of the packaging will cut it. NOPE. Before you know it you will have to go buy more to avoid the embarrassment of telling your family you are weak, weak to their power.

tis the season

Throughout much of my life as a mom I have been a Christmas nut. Decorations everywhere, gifts galore under the tree. Stockings stuffed, toys EVERYWHERE. Months obsessing over was there enough? and I loved it, don't get me wrong. I loved every second of it. Christmases when I was young were nice, but they were always stressful. My mom just doesn't enjoy it. She did it because of us kids, but her heart was not always quite in it. I swore my kids would have Christmases of their dreams.

Then one day a couple years ago, I was cleaning the playroom. I realized my Christmasness had to be curbed. My kids had too much. I had too much. I didn't need another Santa figure, or singing stocking. I didn't need 4 Christmas trees in my home, and my kids sure as heck did not need toys that would still be unopened in May.

The first year was hard, but I did ok. Everyone had gifts under the tree, but I knew I could have done better. The next year I restarined from buying any more decorations, and we took a vacation in January. The youngest still believes in Santa so there were gifts under the tree, but not so many. Last year I did great! of course money was tight so I can't really take all the credit. But that was nice, the gifts were well thought out and nothing was left unopened in the corner of the playroom. I also started something last year, the kids have to clean and purge before Christmas. Video games and toys that they have outgrown or don't like get donated.

This year I have found my stride. We are headed to Orlando for the week before Christmas. The only one with more than a couple gifts will be the youngest. He still believes, or he is smart enough not to tell me he doesn't. But even he is getting less. I put very simple, but nice lights outside, cut way back on decorations in the house. This year my siblings and I all decided not to exchange and I told my friends let's not exchange. And you know what? Not only did everyone agree, it's GREAT! I love it, in fact when I walk through Wal Mart and see the crap lining the aisles they are trying to pawn off as great gift ideas, I scoff. There were days I would have snatched those things up..."Just one more small thing"..this year I am smiling thinking of how nice it is to be stress free, and counting down the days till i feel the warm Florida sun on my face.

Christmas can be anything YOU want it to be, I see that now. It doesn't feel empty or fake without gifts and crap everywhere. For us it's spending time relaxing and enjoying all the fruits of the months of hard work, together, as a family.

and just where the hell do you think you've been?

my answer is long and drawn out and, quite frankly, goes completely against my decision to avoid the bad joojoo. so i will give the brief list of excuses

• my car had a run in with a majestic (albeit very large) creature of the woods. completeing my vehicular accident tri fecta, for what i can only hope, is the rest of my life. it also transformed me from just a chic who had a couple accidents this year, to a murderer.
• my desktop chose to stop connecting to the internet, turning it into a very large and expensive paperweight. i still have the laptop, but don't really like to use it.
• my oldest is serving 6 mos - life for Completely Irresponsible Behavior While Operating a Motor Vehicle. he may get an outside visit for his birthday in February. He may avoid the max, which according to the mom rules book, i am entitled to lay upon him because the car is mine, and i pay for the gas and insurance. we'll see how nice he can be
• work got UBER busy at the end of the season. This is actually quite a blessing and I am very thankful for it, the bills can get paid all winter this year. WOOOIE
• i have been a bit of a road warrior, also a good thing. only not so comfortable because rental cars just suck. I took advantage of the first time in recent memory i did not have a kid playing post season football and ran amuck. it was fun, lets just say Thanksgiving weekend? yeah, I was strolling on the beach.

so in between, killing deer, grounding kids, travelling near and far, and work, i was also just a wee bit down in the dumps. and lazy. i really hate this time of year. not Christmas, just winter. the sun is out all of 30 seconds a week, it gets cold, and even if it's a warm day, its still cold. i am just one of those people, i need the sun. as of right now i have 9 more winters to get through. then i can bail, not that i'm keeping track or anything.

so we are heading to Orlando in a week (which is a VERY GOOD THING AND I AM SUPER THANKFUL for), and by the time we get home we will be past that magic Dec21 mark. From then on, as most of you know, the days begin to get a wee bit longer. not enough to matter to most people, but it matters to me. so i bide my time, safe in the knowledge the end of this misery will come again. that and the fact my sister now lives a block form the beach, if only she wasn't 6 hours away.

state of me

my complete and utter lack of posting over the last couple weeks may lead you to think i had actually decided to do something, you know, constructive with my time. as if. i can assure you nothing of the sort is going on. i have been in a bit of a funk. and really looking back, it's not been the greatest year. there have been worse, but this one isn't going down as the great and wonderful '06.

in a fit of melancholy i was looking through some old pics, and i found one of my husband and i shortly after we met. we look like a couple of kids, and after the shock wore off, i realized that is exactly what we were. kids. kids who each had such a screwed up childhood (in his case) and young adult hood (as was mine), we thought we knew it all. people our age were still in college, living off mom and dad, spending their money foolishly. we were paying a mortgage and raising a child, soon to be 2 children, and working 60 hours a week. it's a wonder i am a wee bit bitter now.

and it's not that i'm bitter over what other people had, i am bitter over what i didn't even have an opportunity to try. but i look at my hub, and i see in his past, that even i was lucky by his standards. and i realized my oldest is at the age i was when my life changed forever.

i guess the change ahd been in motion for a year or 2 before, but i was young and unaware. if it wasn't on MTV, did it really count? but at the ripe old age of 16 my life was thrown into a tailspin, and my parents true identities surfaced. i and my siblings were tossed into the ugly world that can exist when your parents are more worried about themselves, then they are you. and let me tell you..it can get u g l y .

that moment i was forced into adulthood, ready or not. some of my decisions were bad. i know that now, but i can't go back and change them. i can only move forward and not make the same mistake twice.

and i am moving forward from here one more time. things have been tough around here lately. i am starting to think i have some sort of 8 year curse. every 8 years i am doomed to a year or so hell. but the i look back to 8 years ago, and i realize things aren't so bad this time. i have just gotten a little softer. i should be thankful for that. and i am convinced i have some BAD joo joo following me around. and the only way to shake it, is to stop looking for it.

so this morning when i walked upstairs, i didn't get mad over the pile of shoes, jackets, and bags laying by the door. instead i was thankful my kids are able to walk up those stairs, and go to school, and not be afraid to be careless with their things. children in this country sleep with shoes on, because they fear someone will steal them. that isn't my family, and i am thankful for that. my children will never know the trauma i knew, they will not have to worry if they can make ends meet at 20. and decide which food item they don't need so they can buy diapers.

my husband and i worry that we are doing our kids an injustice by not giving them more responsibility. but then we remember how much that responsibility sucks when you finally do have it, and instead we are proud we have acheived a status in life to have a chance to spoil our kids. and let them be the poeple we weren't at 22, the people they should be. and thats a good thing too.

do you think tom-kat wil have these problems?

You know that scene from Princess Bride....this elegant wedding, dramatic music and the regally dressed priest opens his mouth and out comes "Mawwiage". that is one of the funniest scenes from a movie i have ever seen.

anyway winter is upon us and my marriage turns to mawwiage. when the saying Opposites Attract was created, hubs and i thought we would prove it. now that some of the attratct is gone (cmon its been 16 years), the opposite is still going strong. never is that more obvious than in the winter.

during the rest of the year he is busy with work, so it rears it's little head every once in awhile. the air conditioner debate that will never die, the "I don't care how little the car is it is more comfortable than taking your mommy SUV" lie that he continues to live by. and my favorite, the "But the lady at the bank said we had that much money in the checking account" theory. I have solved that one, I opened another account and put money into it as soon as checks go out, then he can zero us out with no fear.

but now it is winter, that lovely time of year when there is no work, just the 2 of us sitting around ALL freakin day, looking at each other. and it gets UGLY. he is a night owl, i am in bed by 10. he is an internet x box 360 junkie, i prefer a good book. he goes to bed every. damn .night .and leaves the tv up so loud that i wake up at 5 am and think sigourney weaver is sitting next to me fighting aliens. i HATE that. he is eagerly awaiting enough snow to break out the snowmobile. i am wishing it would be 70 and sunny every day, just for once.

and there is nothing to separate us...he NEEDS company every second of the day. my dream is to be deserted on an island for 6 months with nothing but books and water for 100 square miles around. it isn't all bad though, there will come a time mid Jan or so when our hours will never mesh, he will be up until 5 am or so and snooze the day away. wake at 3 play x box with the kids for a bit and head out on his sled (God willing, ok maybe i do wnat some snow), returning at 2 am, at which point i will hopefully be able to sleep through his internet browsing and tv watching.

is it March yet?

i have been on the road ALOT the last week or so, in my travels i overheard this while scanning on the radio....

"The Lord gives us mountains so we may learn to climb"

Lord, thanks for all the climbing lessons, can I learn to sail now?

hail

i am a redskins fan. sometimes it isn't very pretty. some days it seems like it may not be one of the better years. however yesterday's sweet victory was magnified even more by the fact that my husband is a cowboys fan. the look on his face when the flag was thrown for the facemask penalty was priceless. my screams of victory could be heard for miles around .....

the blocked field goal

the facemask

sweet victory

conspiracy theory

this morning on the news, it was reported that Lego expects a shortage of their hottest sets this Christmas season. I don't need to tell any toddler mom how in freaking possible it is to find that Elmo everyone wants this year. I myself fell victim to the XBox 360 craze of last year, umm so why did i feel my kids would simply die if it wasn't under the tree? not sure, but i had people in 3 states looking for it, my sister even almost grabbed one out of someone else cart. ultimately i failed because i could not see paying 3 times over retail on Ebay for the damn thing.

here's what i have to wonder.....who do these toy companies think they are fooling?

i mean it's not like Christmas jumps up and surprises them. hmm nope it's Dec 25th again this year.

nothing pisses me off more than when they do this, i remember my mom, myself and one of her friends, lining up at 5 am one Saturday in Dec 1984 or so, for Cabbage Patch. and women fighting over them at toys r us. i was scarred for a long time over that one. we walked out with one, and paid some guy in the parking lot $75 for another one.

and I swear they do it on purpose, "let's not release enough for demand, and tell everyone we expect a shortage. woohoo they'll sell like hotcakes until Easter" meanwhile some poor inventory clerk is falling over Elmos somewhere.

attn toy people I AM ON TO YOU

I myself only fell victim one other year, Power Rangers back in 93 or so, my oldest LOVED the power rangers. i was "new" to Christmas and got suckered. this was before Ebay ( gar was there ever such a time?). i was forced to wait and pray and hope, and i got lucky..i hit up an Ames one morning and hit the motherload. i felt like i had won the lottery. Ames will forever hold a special place in my heart for that.

but i gotta go for now...i need to buy some Legos.....

the game

we have a winter ritual around this house. unfortunately it seems to be starting early this year. i like to call this the "You Cannot Touch the Thermostat Without Me Knowing" game. Ok so the name kinda sucks, but I never said i was creative.

my house, being the structural and architectual wonder that is, is actually a mobile home (shoot it's a double wide!) place atop a foundation. we have un upstairs and a downstairs, we just thought it would be cheaper to buy the top half..( an untruth my hubs will hear about until the end of his days). so here's what he did, he built this foundation with the plan of using it for a bedroom and a playroom with a foyer heading into the garage. so far so good, then it came time to bust a hole in the upstairs and put in some stairs, directly under the thermostat.

aannddd the garage is still "not quite finished". does anyone else see where this is going? i mean HELLO??!! we live in the effn frozen tundra. it's COLD here in the winter, and our garage gets cold, and the cold seeps into the house through the door and wanders up the stairs to (you knew all along) The Thermostat.

so the game begins, i, being ever frugal, keep that thermostat down low. if i didn't the heat would kick on incessantly, what with the gale force wind blowing up the stairs. the oldest and my husband seem to feel it needs to be at least 100 degrees in the house at all times, and noone should ever be expected to you know, maybe PUT SOME DAMN CLOTHES ON, i mean it is winter, we all should wander around in shorts and t shirts.

i just can't do it, i can't just run the heat all the time. plus for as much as i like the warm weather, i can't stand when it's hot from the heat. if it's 80 in here in the summer, it's all good. but that is a natural heat, i don't like that icky fake heat.

anyway after i go to bed, without fail, someone will turn the heat up. and at some point in the night, i will wake up, realize the heat is running and come upstairs to turn it down. same thing during the day, if the heat kicks on, i go over and turn it down. it really is a never ending cycle.

but i chuckle at their determination, silly boys will never learn.

she's a looker

because our government tells me that after jan 1, i need to have a passport to go to the bathroom, we took the kids today to get pics done so we can apply for passports.

promise me here and now, if i am ever lost or captured, or whatever it is that happens to nice mommies who , in an effort to remain sane wander off in some strange place in search of quiet, you will NOT let them use the passport pic for the news.

use my drivers license pic, it's much nicer. well at least it doesn't make me look like a very chubby uni bomber..with eddie munster eyebrows.

Happy Birthday

My baby sister today, turns 26. TWENTY SIX, for those of you doing the math, that makes her 10 1/2 years younger than me.

I still have a hard time thinking of her as an adult, even though at her age I was a married mom of 2. I can't think that way. she, thank God, has gained enough wisdom through my mistakes, to remain both single and child free.

I always feel a little guilty, when i think of her. I was horrified when my parents told me she was on the way. Ugh, my firends were going to know my parents had sex???!!!??? ewwwww And there were times during her toddler days when I wanted to throw her at any passing adult, just because at 12, thats how you feel sometimes. But now I'm glad she's around.

I kind of think of her sometimes as my first child, with 3 other kids around, I was her babysitter...constantly. But I learned early on this was my shot, one of my sibs would be cool as hell. The girl knew all the members of Duran Duran before she knew the abc's. And she was my little princess, she wanted the pink fur jacket, and the tea sets, and the pretty dresses. Unlike my other sister, who spent her tween years pretending she was a boy.

One of my best memories was taking her to see New Kids on The Block. She was so excited, she screamed through the entire show, and made me proud by not lowering decibels, not even once.

She amazes me, she has her faults. We all do, but she turned out pretty damn great considering what her life was like. She had been through more at 7, than I ever could have imangined at her age. She never knew the normal family I had when I was her age, and she survived. My other sister and I had each other. My brothers and her had a lot of shiznit to deal with, and they all turned out to be so great...I'd like to think I am to thank, but really I'm not.

I am sometimes in awe of her abilities, she is so confident and sure of herself. I wish I had a 10th of her hutzpah. I really do. Whatever that girl attempts, gets DONE, it's amazing. So Nance..here's to ya....even if I forget to call you later, because someone has too much homeowrk or something...Happy Birthday, I love you!

1 of 2

I have a longer post I want to try to squeeze in later. It is my baby sister's birthday after all. But I just heard a commercial that made me laugh.

Because I am a freak, I listen to Hawaiian radio channels sometimes (i swear only 1 or 2 days a week, SWEAR) on the internet. So anyway, I just heard a commercial for affordable 3 and 4 bedroom homes starting in the low......400's.

Garr, gives me a whole new respect for property values round here....

the healing begins

we weren't able to pull out a win, but the game meant more to my son (28) and his friend (55) than anyone really knew. his friend's regular # is 53, his brother wore 55 when he played. so he wore his brothers #, and everyone had a 55 on their helmets. and i cried when they hugged. and i know that they are helping each other in a way i might never understand.

junk

ok here is a quick random, in no order whatsoever of what all has been going on.

I got my car back!!!! YEAHH, of course it was done last friday, they called at 3:45 to tell me it was finished. BUT they closed at 4:30 and i couldn't get there until Monday to get it.

on saturday my oldest claims he had "no brakes" , and hit a guardrail, and then had a tire blowout.

on Sunday my middle guy had the best game of his short football career.

also on saturday my hub took the kids out to buy "a weight set", they came home with 7 boxes of contraptions that looks like it belongs in an NFL weight room.

they decided to put it together in the middle of our living area. not exactly the look i am going for.

we realized our shower has been leaking and now the rug needs to be replaced.

it is officially winter, 3 days of those neverending snow showers. and nary a day above freezing.

tommorrow for our last football game of the season, they are calling for rain turning to snow. same for saturday, which is our trick or treat night. woo hoo a weekend in the rain.

i am taking the month of Novemeber, and getting all those 1/2 projects in my house DONE..once and for all. already got the garage done.

7 weeks until we leave for Orlando...yeah.

this also means 8 weeks until Christmas...just what you needed to see.

ah yes, youngest has a spelling test tommorrow that will most likely be disappointing. not only are the words difficult, but the test is mere minutes before the Halloween party and parade. that is just asking for disaster.

why God? WHY?

have a good weekend.......

a break from the maudlin

my youngest is understandably frustrated by being not just the youngest, but the littlest. he longs to be older, stronger and of course...bigger. i have an archway into the kitchen, where i mark the kids growth. until, as was the case with the oldest...i couldn't reach anymore :).

this morning was probably the 10th day in a row, i have caught the youngest checking himself against his last mark. shoes on, shoes off, hair flat, hair unkempt. he is just too darn cute.

so i told him this morning to stop being in such a hurry to grow up. and he told me he had to get bigger before the oldest moved out so he could kick his butt. sweet brotherly love

still here

actually ALOT has been going on around here lately. however every time i write something it feels frivolous. the person who died on saturday was my oldest sons, best friend's, brother. and my son is having a very hard time dealing with it. the worst thing is, i don't know how to make him feel better.

i can give him hugs and tell him it's ok to feel how he feels, but the timeline of events surrounding this persons death are complicated as well, for both my son and his friend. and my son feels almost guilty sometimes. not that either of them were in any way involved, it's just too much to put down here.

keep my son in your thoughts, and prayers if you are so inclined, as well as his friend's family. we have 2 nights of viewings ahead of us and a funeral on thurs. it's going to be a long week for him.

a woman i know lost one of her children early this morning. he was only 21. the one thing she keeps saying is she wishes she could tell him one more time how much she loves him. hug your kids extra hard tonight, give them one extra kiss, read them one more story. call them and tell them how important they are to you. you won't regret it.

he's a man

so to say...my middle guy turns 13 today. he is the spitting image of his dad, but the rest is just like his mom. he is my peace between the 2 storms i call oldest and youngest. he is so smart, sometimes he freaks me out. and most importantly he taught me that there was enough love in me to split between all the children i would have.

Happy Birthday!!!!

POTTER

remember a week or so ago, when I said i was going to read the Stand? well turns out i never did. when i went to grab it, my eyes wandered to another book that was waiting patiently for me, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix.

when the Harry Potter books first came out, i chuckled over the adults who read them. when the movies came out i took my kids, and i enjoyed them, i really did. but i still couldn't see myself sitting down to read them. after the last movie, The Goblet of Fire, I was hooked. i couldn't wait to find out what happened next. so i waited a month or so for paperback , and grabbed what i thought was the next installment. turns out i grabbed the wrong one. thankfully i figured this out within 30 pages. grabbed the right book and looked at it for about 6 months.

i finally finished it last night, i have to say i'm impressed. it was a really good book. God the older i get the more of a hypocrite i turn my old self into. so anyway i'm now real glad i was so brain dead as to buy the wrong book at first, casue now i'm all ready to dig into The Half Blood Prince......and when someone asks me what i'm doing i will still say..."reading that stupid Harry Potter book".

welcome Charlie

During the summer we had a skittish nighttime visitor to our house. he was known simply as "the gray cat". he would sneak in late at night have some cat food, and on occasion doze in a chair. but as soon as he heard anyone come near him, he would scurry out the door. summer turned to fall and we would notice "the gray cat" in the garage, again as soon as anyone came near...away he would run. as the nights grew chillier and i stopped leaving the door cracked for the cats i would put some food out on the deck or in the garage. i was really worried about the poor gray cat, soon winter would come and everything would be shut up tight at night.

i should have known, 2 nights with no house/garage access and "the gray cat" decided maybe he could stand us after all. in he wandered (with some encouragement) one evening. within 24 hours he was snuggled up next to the youngest at bed time. he's still a little skittish, and there is a HUGE turf war going on with the other 2 cats. but he's decided we're worthy of him, so we named him Charlie.

beware the evil germ

has anyone else seen this series on the Today show? for the last few weeks they have been testing everyday places for germs. schools, grocery stores, gyms, airports and hotels...things we use frequently.

every time they bring out these swabs and petri dishes, scream in horror over water stains on ceilings. EVERY thing shows some kind of germ, this could cause the runs, this one could cause the flu, this one could make your head spin, or your arm fall off. ARRRGGGGHHHH

guess what? GERMS ARE EVERYWHERE, this isn't news. germs have always been everywhere. and 99.9% of human beings have the ability to resist these germs and our bodies naturally fight them. just because the stacchioplibicloty (or whatever the hell they find) could cause the runs, doesn't mean it will instantly send you screaming for the nearest germ ridden public toilet, squeezing for dear life.

of course even if you make it to the toilet, the festival of disease waiting for you there will probably land you in ICU. i can't stand it anymore.

things like this series, are turning americans into the most neurotic people on earth. seriously, other cultures are laughing at us. it isn't just the germs, it's everything. our media outlets have become the be all end all of doom sayers. even the freakin weather channel with their "It could happen tommorrow". ok yes a major hurricane could hit NYC and destroy our financial hub. but really what are the chances?

i am not a dirty person, except on the occasional "no shower Sunday" (patent pending), but i am not afraid to flush a public toilet, and i don't freak out if i have to wipe my kids nose before i can completely sanitize my hands. i am not afraid to eat a rare steak, and sometimes the 5 second rule does apply. i do not bring my own blankets to a hotel or wash the sheets that are on the hotel bed before i sleep on them. i go barefoot at every possible opportunity, and i am still alive, after 36 years. wow

do not take a drink

because you will spit it all over your monitor. omg...check out the rest of these 2 guys videos, some of them will make you howl

Nobody's Watching OK Go

did i piss off a gypsie?

i am not an overly lucky person. fortunate? yes. lucky? no. some people wonder the difference, i don't win 50/50's, i am NEVER in the right place at the right time, in order for me to "come out even" requires a series of cosmic events seen less frequently than hailey's comet. but it's ok, i'm used to it. i am not going to win that great vacation, but it's ok because i am fortunate enough to be able to pay for it every couple of years.

so i have accepted this about my life for many years now. lately though, i am thinking i may be jinxed. the other night it was raining ...and getting cold. it was also trash night. so the kids took the trash out in the cold rain and came in. i noticed a few minutes later there was a bag on the back deck. because i am so effn sick of picking up trash that the critters have been throwing across the yard all summer, i decided to just bring it up myself.

threw on my flip flops and a hoodie and went out, recovered the grill, picked up some random socks and sweats that had been left out over the weekend. grabbed the garbage and was oh so happy that the last few minutes had been productive. the air felt good, the rain had let up, i was looking forward to getting my heart pumping for a couple minutes. and.......

proceeded to slip down about 7 of my hard wood front stairs. luckily, my back broke my fall. it seems wearing flip flops on slippy stairs in the dark, maybe wasn't the greatest idea. here's the worst part, the garbage bag i was carrying smacked me in the head. it wasn't enough i was laying unable to catch my breath, pain searing up my spine and arms, a bag of garbage has to whack me in the head?!!? come on

i sat there for a minute catching my breath, wiggling my toes, water seeping into my jeans and hoodie, and throwing the dam trash off myself. walked up the traitor stairs back into the living room....where all 3 of my kids look at me and say "What was that noise?" (!!!!!!!!!) lucky for them it was an effort just to breathe at the minute.

i STILL managed to find a ray of light in all this, yesterday i woke up, anticipating pain in every limb. shockingly enough only my back hurts, and only on the outside where it's bruised. which means i am in pretty damn good shape ...thankyouverymuch, AND i had had a kink in my neck for a couple days before, seems the tumble worked the kink out. of course so would a massage, but i gotta take it where i can get it.

I loved this song long before it became the rice krispies tune. and the pics are nice too.....


Somewhere Over the Rainbow

old and crazy

as fates would have it, we never made it up to see the baby this weekend. middle guy got sick on the way up. i didn't want a) him yakking in the car or needing to stop every 20 seconds or b) the baby being exposed to anything, so we headed home, after just 90 minutes of travel. and my skins lost, there are 4 games i desperately want them to win every year, the 2 games v. dallas, and the 2 v. the giants. so far they are 0 for 2 against both teams now. i am bummed.

during my tavel on Sat night, my little mind got to working. being saturday night, the radio was chock full o hair metal. a few years ago it was 80's flashback, and before that super 70's. when i was young and oh so naive, i remember sitting on the porch with my mom, who was listening to Wolfgang Jack spin some golden oldies, and what did i say? i said what all the rest of us said. I will NEVER listen to oldies.

now i know they aren't labeled as "oldies" any longer, but really where's the difference? and whose idea was it to make those of us past the age of 25 be reminded of just how long ago it was when this was in the top 10? am i not feeling crappy enough that my saturday nights now consist of running my kids, doing laundry, and falling into bed exhausted after a day of errands that cannot be done during the week. i need to be reminded i am now older than dirt because Bon Jovi's Shot through the heart was "their break out hit 20 years ago"? do i need that? really

i didn't think so either.

you will have to excuse me if i am MIA a bit this week. i was browsing an Amazon thing yesterday and saw what i need to do. i need to read The Stand. i have already read it at least 15 times, but it's one of those books, when i feel the urge i gotta do it, and i will not rest until i fall comfortably into that familiar story i love so much. nor will i sleep, or cook, or probably even shower at least 2 of the days. it's how i get once i start that book. and i cannot bring myself to buy a new one, i replaced my first copy when the complete uncut version came out, and that is the one i have to read. even though the pages are most likely going to fall out this time around, i just have to read MY copy. (don't ask, cause i have no clue what is wrong with me)

so enjoy if you have the same glorious weather i do today and tommorow, sorry if you don't, and la di da for you if you always have it. cause they are calling for snow this weekend in my neck of the woods. so i will be on the deck reading today, because i wasn't supposed to be here anyway.

hi ho, hi ho

ok, so i've been a little down in the dumps lately. (ya think?) but really you know how sometimes you cruise through and everything is going sweet, than BAM. you hit the brick wall. i guess the past few months of headache are payback for my hawaiian summer of bliss last year. which at the time i was enjoying mai tais at sunset, i thought i was finally reaping reward for years of hard work. guess i was wrong. either way life moves forward.

soo problems are hoping to be resolved, a new accountant is on the way. (oh yeah, THOSE kind of problems) and i have made a decision. i am taking the boys to orlando for Christmas. that i will enjoy, and am looking forward to. the youngest was only 4 the last time i was there, and i wanted one more trip with him, before he gets too old. so instead of overloading on gifts, that will inevitably end up in the trash by next years spring cleanup, we are taking a trip. plus when we went last time youngest couldn't swim with the dolphins at Discovery Cove, so now it's his time.

i came to this decision once and for all in a fit of delirium yesterday, because it wasn't enough my financial life was spiralling to nether land, God saw fit to strike me with a bout of 36 hr stomach bug that almost killed me. and the unfortunate decison to eat taco bell a couple short hours before it hit. you can only imagine, or maybe you choose not to.

so off i go to use my credit from the missed wedding to book me some airfare, and clean my house. you can picture what a house that was left to my 4 men looks like, after just one short day of incapacitation on my part. it's BAD, haven't they lived with me long enough to know once the garbage starts to spill over it's time to put it out? and they all know how to do laundry, i guess it's just easier to find something "kinda" clean. oh well. ready for a weekend of football, and going to see my nephew on Sunday....CAN"T WAIT!!!

have a good weekend

how to deal....

whoa, seems i hit bottom yesterday. i spent the day detailing my son's car (read avoiding everything), and cursing my MIL who had used it for the last 6 months, it seems she never got around to getting an oil change, ever vacuuming it, and i believe may have smoked a pack a day in the car, and must have opened 458736 packs of smokes in it, because i could have rolled an entire carton with all the loose stuff i found, in between spilling coffee...EVERYWHERE.

plus i ate about 35 jillion calories, because i figured why the hell am i trying to live longer? bring on the heart attack... and without going into too much detail, i can assure you when i retrieved the mail last night at 8 pm, it spiraled even lower. i am hoping it cannot get any worse. soooo..

one issue will be resolved today, one way or another. the rest i can handle. i am going to the gym to beat up some stuff and coming home to deal with my crap.

i quit

this is how i try to envision my life













this is my reality



















now if i were an optimist i would say "be thankful you have had the gifts you have been given". given the last 2 months i am way more inclined to say "for this i work my ass off?" some days i just wish wish wish wish wish i would wake up and have things sorted out. i wish i had a me to call when things aren't going well and let them figure it out for me. you know, like i do for half the freakin world? my damn husband included. so anyway the tale behind the pictures..the first is my la la land, there's diamond head in the background, and there i am standing on my lanai taking a pic at sunset. only i NEVER have to leave. the second is what my car looks like after some ass drove into the back of me because i did not get out of his way quick enough, then didn't even stop until he was cornered at a construction site. who told the cops he had a diabetic shock. i am gonna diabetic shock him.

enter the insurance company, first they try to tell me they aren't sure if it can be covered because i was driving home from "work". i explained i do NOT use the vehicle for work, we merely took it to the place where work was being done that day. finally i said well you have my commercial policy too, so which one are we putting it on. then they ask why was my husband in the car? ummm because he was. (long story behind that but i guess you are not allowed to carry unlicensed people in your vehicle?!!?) am i sure i was driving? yeah i'm pretty damn sure, but let's check with the flagger the other guy almost hit when he tried to storm through the construction site. she had a great view of me when she jumped out of his way toward me. $500 deductible? i have to pay it, if i want i can sue the guy personally for it (umm and probably never see it), but they can't ask his insurance for it. oh yeah and we have this great deal for you all you need to do is bring your vehicle to one of our authorized repair places leave it with them and you don't need to be bothered again until the car is done. sounds reasonable, only they forgot to tell me said repair shop will be closed next week, they are moving. so my car probably won't be back for 3 weeks.

however before i went to the repair shop this morning, my MIL called. now i haven't filled you in on her lately. 2 weeks ago she decided she did not want to be here anymore. so she, her hub and my neice moved away. she had this big plan, and basically told my hub "thanks for nothing" when he wasn't able to lend her the amount of $$ she needed right that minute. so she packed up and left, left us with her trailer to clean out, left 3 broken vehicles in the back for us to get rid of, left a ton of crap in our barn for us to get rid of. stuck us for an employee, becuase her hub worked for us, stuck us with $700 in unpaid electric bills. AND took one of our vehicles she was supposed to pay for. she called this morning to ask if her hub could collect unemployment "just for 2 weeks" until they find work. AAARRRRGGGGHHHH she is 4 hours away and STILL asking for money.

oh yeah and i got home yesterday between the accidnet and the insurance there is an IRS letter sent certified waiting for me to pick up.

i need a drink