Hawt or Hot....which is applicable here?

I know, I said I would write at least once a week, but ya know. This heat is just taking it out of me. Our office has been so hot, that by the time I get home I am just drained. Is it hot where you are? Let me just say this, not only is it hot, it is FRIGGIN hot!!! I just feel blah...oh, and when I get home, I have to run a kid somewhere 90% of the time. Argh! Well...she is with a friend at their lake house this weekend (no, not like the Sandra Bullock one) so I have a few minutes to gather my thoughts and type up a storm.

Work has been going good but there are changes coming in the office that many are not happy about. I will be pretty happy because nothing is really changing for me, but others are not. I hate being in that situation where you know things are going to be bad for others but not yourself. It feels sort of uncomfortable right now and it will be for the next month and a half at least. I am just going to try to go to work, do my job, and stay out of everything else. In this situation it will be better for me to do so. I try to act like nothing has changed and nothing will change. Nuff said about that. My younger son has a new job and he is working like a dang dog. When school starts back I hope they cut his hours some because he has been working like 50 hours a week, and although he loves the money, he is really tired. That's not going to work when he heads back to school. He does attend college here locally, so I am sure that since he is such a hard worker they will want to keep him on. Daughter is gearing up for the start up of school, and since she made the volleyball team this year at her middle school, it should be pretty exciting for her. She is also in band and play trumpet. My pocket book is really hurting since we have turned in her elcheapo student trumpet and bought her her very own professional trumpet which set me back $1700 bucks. She had her choice between a $900 and $1000 trumpet, but damnit, that stuped $1700 trumpet sounded so much better. It's a Stomvi Elite and everyone agrees it was well worth the money. If any of you out there play trumpet, let me know what you think. It does sound VERY good, but ouch. That really hurt.

Also, daughter has been going through a little hard time with one of her friends. I may have mentioned this before as she has been going through this off an on with the same friend since around Christmas. I don't feel like going through my history on this thing to see if I am rehashing, but who knows. Here goes. See...this girl and my daughter have been very good friends for a couple of years. They have mutual friends too and they usually all hang out together (they are all 13). Anyways, this one girl has changed in the last few months and has basically turned on my daughter. She has ignored her, talked about her behind her back, etc. I think the icing on the cake came the other day when she invited a bunch of kids to a movie and then got online and instant messaged my daughter to tell her about it and then proceeded to tell my daughter that she TOTALLY forgot to invite her. Then went on and told her that she just "totally didn't even think about her." This really did hurt my daughter's feelings because she had really been trying to heal whatever it was that was causing the weird feelings, but after that, I think she gave up. What is wrong with this girl? I think she may be jealous, but I don't know. They all hang out in a pretty popular crowd, so I think she may be trying to push her out. I dunno, but it sure hurts to sit back and watch someone hurt your child like that. She is handling it well and just does stuff with other kids she knows. This seems to make things worse between my daughter and this girl, because I think she wants my daughter to be miserable. Which may be impossible because my daughter is the pretty girl with the big smile who likes everyone and has tons of friends. I think it may take more than that to make her miserable.

Oh well. Sorry if that is a rehashed story, but it has been bothering me lately. Daughter will take the higher ground and be nice, but I don't think she will go out of her way to invite this girl to anything special anymore. What do you think? What's up with this little...ummm...girl?

Wowweeee!

Man, has it ever been a long time since I have written in this thing. There is so much to tell and I don't even know where to start. I guess I can start off by saying the job is going well and I have been working more hours. And, although it's suppose to be the lazy, hazy days of summer, our days have been anything but lazy. Our days have been BUSY. I know that is a lame excuse, and I am not sure if anyone even reads this stuff anymore, but I am going to try with all my might to hit this thing at least once a week.

Have a happy 4th!

Okgirl

This is Myspace!

Wow, it's been a little bit since I blogged. I have so much to blog too. Since we last spoke, I have been visited by some of my hubby's New York crew (relatives). Being raised in the South and being around New Yorkers is such a contrast! Where we Southern women are quiet (most of us) and polite, the New York women just go out and tell it like it is, only loudly. It was fun and interesting and they brought the kids lots of gifts so I guess it would be rude for me to say anything bad. Ha! I will keep that to myself.

Work is going great and it looks like I might increase my hours a little bit, but still be part-time and still be able to spend time with my family too. I love what I am doing and I appreciate they let me work hours that are beneficial to both them and my family too.

On the kid front, my oldest son has been in Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore in the last couple of months and has ended up with a horrible case of food poisoning. He emailed me from his ship (he is in the Navy). I had heard stories about people buying food from street vendors and becoming violently ill but after shooting emails back and forth, it seems he got it on his ship. Wow....never expected that. I guess I felt a little let down that he did not get something in some exotic country because that sounds so much better in a story. At any rate, I hope he feels much better soon. The younger son (the one still mooching off of us at home), is in the throws of taking his college finals and where before he said he was going to take a class this summer, has decided he will take the summer off. All I know is he better get a damn job. He is about to eat us out of house and home, and now with gas as expensive as it is, he better find a way to help pay for that too. The kid is almost 20 and it's time to buckle down. The daughter is having so much fun I hate to even blog about it. I know that the teenage years is suppose to be a time of drama and stress, and she has had her share of that, but wow...this kid is loving life. I wish my teenage years were as much fun as hers. I guess I was a lot more shy and introverted than she, but this girl is the very opposite. She makes new friends so easily. The phone is always ringing, she is always texting, there are invitations to do things every weekend. Can't believe she does not just collapse from all she has to do.

Daughter has made a new interesting friend that is currently going to an exclusive private school and will be attending our public school next year. This girl is very sweet and nice but wants to go to public school because she is tired of going to a school where mommies and daddies award their daughters frequently from gifts from Tiffany's. Umm....I have never had anything from Tiffany's and I think that children should not get things from Tiffany's either...unless they got them off ebay and possibly they are not authentic. She has some funny stories of how these girls act and treat others that do no have the same things as them, not because their parents cannot afford them, but because strangely some parents choose not to spoil their children by giving them such frivilous things. My daughter buys her jewelry at Claire's and is damn proud of it thank you very much. Last weekend she asked me for a strand of long pearls that she could wrap around her neck several times, we headed over to Claire's, and I forked out $6.50 for those elegant pearls thank you very much. Oh, and I threw in a $4.00 pair of earrings too.

So take that you snobby girls!

Me

I snagged this from Whit:

Faithful Architect

Try it..it's awesome!

Hey Y'all

Well, for the 1 or 2 of you out there that still read this blog, ummm...if that many, I am finally going to update. I feel a little guilty because I know there are plenty of bloggers out there that are much more busy than I, but jeez, ya know, I guess I am just lazy. Lots have been going on and much will be going on soon. This weekend will be mine and hubby's 16 anniversary. How do we plan to celebrate...how else??? A visit from my mother in law!!!! Seems hubby's aunt he has not seen in years has made a pilgramage from Upstate New York to Florida to visit my mother in law, and they have decided to take a trip up here and visit us this weekend....JOY! Just how I wanted to spend my anniversary! YAY! Nothing like having a couple of George Costanza wannabees in your house when you have a supposedly important, supposedly romantic type of thing going on. Looks like there will be no romance for us for awhile. Oh, and speaking of which, even if romance was attempted I don't think it would be anyways because yesturday when hubby was suppose to be home painting the guest bathroom that is totally torn apart in anticipation of our visitors, he was fishing. How do you think I felt about that? Use your imagination. I am sure you ladies can imagine what was running through my head on that one.

On the kid homefront, my younger son (19 years old) will be attending his 3rd prom this weekend. Yes, I said his 3rd prom. Although he graduated last year, one of his friends that is a senior this year asked him to take her, so off he goes to another prom. I hope this is the last time we have to order tuxes until there is a wedding around the corner and hopefully that won't been too soon. As for daughter, she is the one that is keeping me the busiest. I can hardly get anything done because of her social/school/church activities. That girl keeps me running. She is still "going out" with the same boy she started going out with after Christmas. I have been hinting at her that it might be time to start playing the field because at the age of 13, I don't think they should be attached to one person for such a long time. This is the time she should be having fun and going to movies and stuff like that with groups of friends, etc. She is doing that, however, he goes along with them all and I don't know, I just wish she would not have a boyfriend and just concentrate on having fun. There is plenty of time for all of that. He is a good kid and treats her extremely well, so I guess I should be thankful he is not some jerk like the last one.

Unfortunately, it's time for me to go clean another bathroom. I am sure that when the New Yawkers leave I will have plenty to blog about. I love New Yorkers, but I don't want to share my anniversary with them.

See Y'all!

It's all down hill from here

It's Thursday! Whoot! My day off. I haven't written anything in a while due to busy schedules and just feeling tired. Recently I have just felt so blah. Even on days off I have things to do and it seems I never really get real time off. I swapped my Monday with one of the girls at work because she has something to do on Tuesday, so I was thinking I was going to get a long weekend, but I looked at my calendar and I have a training session on Monday afternoon, so no, no long weekend for me. *sigh* Looks like within the next couple of months I will be changing my work schedule to Monday-Thursday with Fridays off. I really should not complain because there are people that work 40-50 hours a week and they have no choice, but yuck. I can do this.
Everything is getting so expensive and having a child in college and a daughter with a Hollister addiction does not exactly help. Upping my hours will give me some extra cash to get some things paid off and I should be looking towards the future, like daughter starting college. That's how it is around here, one gets out, another goes in. I really do like my job though, I just hate getting up and getting out in that dang traffic (just like everyone else I am sure). And just judging by the amount of applicants we have been getting lately, I should feel fortunate that I have such an awesome job, working with awesome people, doing something I really enjoy.

Wow, I just gave myself a pep talk. Go me!

Spring Breakin

Okay...where have I been? Well, I have been on Spring Break of course! Instead of following all the others to the Gulf beaches, me and daughter decided to do something totally different. Hubby had some important stuff going on at work and could not take time off, so we decided to take a girl trip. We headed north to Lexington, Kentucky to see horses. This is something we have always wanted to do since I grew up with horses and daughter loves them too. Hubby is not so much a horse fan, so this was something we could do together that we had a genuine intrest in. We had Quarter Horses when I was growing up and yes, I admit, I was a country bumpkin - but who cares? I had a lot of fun although it was hard living in the city and wearing cowboy boots to school when everyone else dressed differently. In the words of Barbra Mandrell, "I was country, when country wasn't cool". Of course in the early 80's I fit right in because of Urban Cowboy, everyone wanted to be country. Darlin, I was already there. We lived in the city, but had land in the country and that's where we kept our cows, horses, ducks and pigs. Occsionally we had goats too, but they would end up eating their way into someone else's land or something and just disappear. It was hard because we had to go out there several times a week and check on the animals and other things, but we had neighbors out there that kept an eye on things too. When I was a teenager I actually showed horses in Western Pleasure and sometimes run barrels or pole bend too. I know, I am such a city slicker now it's hard to imagine, but put on some Hank Williams Jr., and the old me comes out. I go back to the horse show and rodeo days.

Anyways, daughter got her top braces on Monday and so we gave her a day to get settled into those before we headed out. We ended up leaving Tuesday morning around 10ish and drove straight up. We were going to stop at Kentucky Down Under, but it started snowing and it was absolutely freezing so we decided to save that for on the way back. We didn't have much for breakfast because we had decided we were going to stop at the very first White Castle we could find and pig out (we love White Castle but do not have one around here). We did stop at the very first one and yes, we did pig out. We got into Lexington around 4ish and stayed here:


That's the Campbell House Inn. It was very nice, but I will warn you, it's right accross from the hospital so occasionally during the night you will be awaken by ambulance sirens. The rooms were very nice and it was pretty much center to everything we wanted to do.

Wednesday morning we got up and headed to The Kentucky Horse Park. Okay, this we pure heaven for my daughter. We got to see some retired race horses as well as other horses that were on the premises. She was very excited to see Cigar! We also did the Saddlebred Horse Museum the same day. The people there were very nice and the horses were awesome.

Daughter making a new friend.


Thursday morning we got up and had breakfast and drove over to Keeneland Race Park. They were not having any live races that day, but simulcast ones, so it was not that busy. We walked around the area and took some great pictures. There were some people there that had been working their horses so they let us hang out with them and watch things that went on behind the scenes. That was a great experience for my daughter. She really loved it. She met up with some thoroughbred horses that were getting shod, so we watched and one of the owners gave my daughter some peppermints to feed them as they waited their turn.




Exciting note here: We went into the simulcast area and I decided I wanted to bet on a horse for the first time. I went to the information desk and asked how to do it. After it was explained to me, I let daughter pick the horse and it won! I won five whole bucks! Needless to say, I stopped while I was ahead and took my winnings and bought moon pies and cherry cokes with it.

After that, we decided to head out to Pleasant Hill, Shaker Village. This was really a beautiful place. I love shaker furniture and crafts and this was a place I had always wanted to go. Since Kentucky schools had already had their spring break, it was virtually deserted so daughter and I had run of the place. It was fantastic! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!



Staircase in the hotel/dining house


We ate dinner at Shaker Village and it was fantastic. Too much food to eat, but definately worth it if you ever get the chance to head up that way.

Friday we headed back home, but stopped in Lousiville on the way back to visit Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby Museum. It was much better than I thought. We got to go behind the scenes and see where much of the action starts and finishes. It is amazing when you see all the work that actually goes into all the racing. Here are some pictures:

The grandstands


Down the track


We never did get to stop at Kentucky Down Under because guess what? It was snowing on the way back too! Besides that, daughter wanted to get home and see her boyfriend and her friends. We had a great time and I am glad we decided to do something different. Hubby was completely jealous that we went without him.

Life or something like it

Here I sit. This morning finds me sipping coffee and looking at all the magazines and catalogs I have not had time to read. Oh well. It's nice really, sitting here doing nothing. The last few days have been stormy with threats of high winds, hail and tornados. Today is beautiful, sunny and a little cooler thanks to the cold front that whipped through here yesturday. That's a good thing because 80 degrees in March is totally too hot. Ya know, I have about a million things to do today, but I am just not motivated. Yesturday hubbby and I started working on our storage closet. Well, really just hubby started on it because the majority of stuff in it is his family stuff. He sat down last night and started going through some old paper work. We inherited some timeshares but have never used them because when his mother gave him the huge bag of literature, contracts, brochures, etc., we have never had time to sit down and figure it out. It doesn't help that his mother never throws out one shread of paper that is mailed to her house. Never. I think she took every piece of mail that even mentioned the timeshare and shoved them in paper bags. ARgh! The timeshares are all paid for and there is 3 of them. What really pisses me off is that one of them is in Destin and we just figured out last night that our week is next week (which is Spring Break) and I have already made plans to do something else. I guess I could change it, but I think we already had to tell them that we were actually going to use it that week or they rent it out or something. I don't know, it's too confusing and hubby is figuring it all out. It's sad that these timeshares have not been used in about 10 years. Hopefully we will get it figured out and use them. Believe me, we could all use a break around here.

This will be a busy week. Yesturday my daughter had band competition in which they received all superior ratings. Go them!! Today is a more calm day spent running various errands. Tomorrow daughter gets her teeth cleaned and then spacers to prepare her for braces. She will get her braces on next Monday. Her trumpet teacher is begging her to not get them. It will be interesting to see how tough she is playing trumpet with braces. Poor girl. Sadly, she will get them on the day before we leave for our Spring Break trip. Won't that be fun looking for places on the road that has soup or soft foods? Friday is the big luncheon thing I am planning at work. I decided on Bennigans for the food since it sounds Irish. Today I will be heading out to Party City to get festive plates and stuff to decorate our conference room. Thursday I plan to make a cheesecake with an oreo crust and dye it green. Creative huh?

I guess I better get off my creative butt and get out there and get stuff done.

Have a great day!

We interrupt spring cleaning for this

Have you guys started on your spring cleaning yet? I am sorta starting on it today since today is my day off. I have started in my daughter's bathroom for some odd reason. I have been going through her cabinets and stuff and throwing out old hairbows that she has not worn since she was like..umm 2 or something. Also, all those little cheapo make up kits that people give when they think it's cute for your kid to get all dolled up like a hooker. Those kits have been replaced with MAC and Too Faced stuff with an occasional Clinique thrown in (for some reason Clinique really irritates her skin). I cannot wait to start on her closet. I am in such a throwing out mood. I am not sure which room will be next, but I am hoping to be done with this one today.

I am in charge of our monthly get together luncheon at work this week. It was supposed to be this Wednesday, but I changed it til next Friday which I didn't realize until I changed it, that next Friday is St. Patrick's Day. I guess Mama Fu's isn't going to be the ordering out food of choice for next week. For some reason, I don't think noodles and chinese type food has anything to do with St. Patrick's Day. They do have a green background on their website though. If I get funky St. Patrick's Day paper plates and decorations, do you think anyone will notice we are eating chinese?

I was sad to learn this morning that Dana Reeves has died of lung cancer at the young age of 44. Please keep her family and her children in your thoughts and prayers.

Unbelievable, but true

This morning I did something so crazy and off the wall, I just had to post about it. The other day a girl at work approached me for a donation for a very worthy charity and in exchange for that, I could run in a 5k. HAHAHAHHAHAHAAHHA - right. Well, guess what? I did it this morning. Me, I ran in a 5k. Now I have not run in any kind of k since about 4 years ago when I did a 10k for some crazy reason. But anyways, I had been walking a little bit lately and I figured I would just walk the whole thing, but I ended up jogging about half. Here's the punch line: I came in first place for my age division in the female group. Can you believe that? That was so worth blogging let me tell you. I needed record of this day.

Go Me!

Thursdays Grrrrr's

Today's Grrrrr's include:

Getting up early....grrrrrrr
Grumpy kids.........grrrrrrr
People that don't understand how to play Deal or No Deal...grrrrrrrr
Sinus infections......grrrrrrrrr
Running out of allergy medication......grrrrrrr
Mean and jealous teenage girls.....grrrrrrrrrr
30 degrees one day and 70 degrees the next.......grrrrrrrrrr
Laundry..........grrrrrrrr
Having to work on Friday.......grrrrrrrr

You got grrrrrr's?

Random:

1. Before I walk out the door, I always check to make sure I turned off the stove - even when I didn't use it (anal huh?).
2. I can't seem to catch up on my housework...more grrring here.
3. The one surface in my house that always seems to get cluttered fast is my countertop with mail and stuff.
4. If I sleep past noon, I feel that I've slept in too late.
5. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to get orgainized.
6. I hope to have my income taxes done by TODAY!!!! Yippeeee!!
7. This year I'd like to make more time for getting orgainized.

Argh and stuff

I so do not want to go to work tomorrow. I ended up not going to the visitation tonight because now my sinuses are so backed up I cannot even hear out of my left ear. Yeah, things are just great around here. This afternooon I picked daughter and her cutie pie boyfriend up from church. Do you know how you can tell he is a good boy? He carries her trumpet for her! Now, keep in mind he has to haul around his trombone, but still, he carries her trumpet too. Chivalry is not dead folks. Finally, she got herself a little gentleman. Of course, they are in 7th grade and I can tell you right now it will not last. It is rare these days to fall in love at such a young age and have it last forever. Kids today have such short attention spans. I laugh at these kids with their "I Love Yous" because truly, they do not even come close to knowing what that means. I mean, this whole boy/girl thing is totally new to them and what they "love" is all the attention. I know my daughter does. She told me a story today of how some boy picked her up on his shoulders today at school and ran around with her draped accross his neck threatening to put her in the garbage can. She tried to sound frustrated, but the whole while she was smiling which makes me realize she really enjoyed all the attention she was getting. When I was straigtening her hair tonight we had a great talk about how all of the middle school kids were acting and how everyone thinks they are all in love, etc. She is such a smart girl. She told me that it was fun to say, but all in all she didn't understand love (do any of us really?) and that she felt she would probably not know what it was until she was much older. She also told me that she really likes to get to know a person before she "goes out" with them (although they don't go anywhere at this age), and she wasn't like most girls that just wanted a boyfriend (and there are boys like that too, they just want t girlfriend - gasp!). She really wants to know the boy and make sure he is someone she can relate to and has something in common with. But as for real love, she knows this stuff right now is just puppy love and infactuation, and the good stuff comes later. This is just the warm up. I admire her for being like she is. Strong, confident and very sure of who she is. She is much stronger and smarter than I was when I was her age. I got my heart broken easily and fell for any boy that would give me the time of day. She is not like that at all. With her, you have to be worthy and if not, then that is it.

Oh, to be young again.

Now, more medication needed.

Where ya been?

Okay, more like where have I been? You know how life goes. You get busy and caught up in other stuff and before you know it, you are ignorning things you should be paying attention to. That's how it's been here lately. Teenage drama has simmered down and things are getting back to normal. Work is very busy and it's my day off today. I spent most of it sleeping since I do not feel very well due to a high pollen count and screaming sinuses. I did however, make it out for a walk. I am doing a 3k on Saturday and it's going to kill me since I haven't been walking or working out at all like I use to. Warmer weather is upon us and I am hoping that will motivate me to get back out there. After all, swimsuit weather will be here before you know it...ugh.

I am trying to decide if I will be attending a viewing tonight. The father of one of the girls I work with died in his sleep on Saturday night. I hate it for her because I know how it is to lose your father. I think I have spoken about my father on here before and my feelings about him. He was all I had when I was growing up after going from family to family (stepmothers) and him being so blinded by love and what he wanted life to be, that he could not see I was being neglected and abused by a couple of the stepmothers I had. My life was definately not easy, but it made me the person I am today. I guess that is why I am such a protective parent, because I know how easily it is to screw up a kids life. My kids are so fortunate to have loving parents that really do care for them and have lived their lives basically unscathed. We care about our kids so much and the ones that are now grown (21, and 19), tell us frequently that they know they are blessed and they love their lives and although we didn't let them do some of things that some other parents let their kids do, they are better for it. That makes you feel good. I hope my daughter feels the same when she gets older. As for now, she is trying to find herself and discover what she is capabale of. She is capable of of quite a lot. One thing I have noticed about her throughout her young life is that she is closer to guys than she is girls. She has many more guy friends than girl friends. At first I didn't know where she got this, but actually it's history repeating itself. See, I guess since I grew up mainly with my dad, and when my dad did remarry the perfect woman, she had 3 boy and together they had a son, so therefore, I grew up around more guys. Same here with daughter. Not only does she have 4 uncles, she also only has 2 brothers, no sisters. So, like me, she has more boys in her life than girls. I think that is why sometimes she and I do not understand each other. Also, I think that with guys, there is much less drama than girls (well, some guys anyways). Guys aren't constantly competing with one another how girls are, and guys will tell you straight up how they feel. That's how she is too.

Well, anyways, I am not sure why that has anything to do with me attending the viewing tonight. But, I guess lately I have been looking deeply into why things are the way they are and how history frequently repeats itself. Life if funny.

Get out of my life!!!!

But can you drive us to the mall?

Okay. This is how my daughter is right now. I have been informed that I am too nosy and in her business. I have been giving this very much thought and I am trying to figure out if I am too nosy or just protective. This school year my daughter has been through several things that have made me this way. We started out our school year by her being told to go kill herself on her website by a very not nice girl. This girl told her to go cut herself because no one would shed a tear. She also called her ugly and emo, which she is neither, but she had a very hard time with this because she had never been spoken to like this. She had some couseling for this episode which she recovered from nicely when she realized the girl that said all of this was trash and must have some serious issues herself. She was told these things because the little evil girl liked daughter's boyfriend. Next, daughter's little boyfriend (same boy) was doing some things to raise red flags and daughter did not seem to see them. It was hard to sit back and watch, but at the point that I felt my daughter was being manipulated to the point I felt it might put her in a position she was not old enough to handle, I stepped in (examples: prentending to be his older brother online to get information out of her, forwarding his cell phone calls to her so that all of his calls go to her phone, befriending the girl that told her to go kill herself, etc.). Recently, (very recently), this same boy threated her, himself and also told her this, "what if I took a gun to school?" - She was so scared for him. Of course we reported him to the school, he was suspended, and in my opinion, that was a cry for help and I hope he gets it. This has been a lot for a teenage girl to handle in a short period of time. All of this has caused me to check on her often, curious about who she is talking to, what is going on, etc. I am not doing anything like reading notes or anything like that, but supposedly I am being nosy and driving her crazy. She is a good girl and has not given me any reason to not trust her, but I feel I cannot trust some of the kids around her. She has wonderful and great friends and I do trust them, however, I also know there are some really messed up kids out there and those are the ones that scare me. I think I am just feeling protective of her since she has been through so much already. She is strong and seems to have handle all of this wonderfully, but I guess I am scared for her. I feel like her innocence is being stripped from her and I worry about that. I also am now worried this boy might do something where as before, I thought he was just playing games with her. Am I being nosy or protective? At what point do I let go a little after we recover from this latest ordeal? And, why should we feel bad about reporting someone that lost it enough to threaten himself, her and her school?

One day I hope she can forgive me for caring. If not, oh well, I am just doing my job.

Just where did I put my.....

Self? Where have I been you ask? Well, just busy with work, home, and more teenage drama complete with my daughter having to turn a friend in for threatening to do some horrible things. It has not been that fun a week here at the Ok house. Acutally, everything has not been Ok. I just wonder why when you have such a good, sweet child that truly cares for others, why does she get herself tangled in such stuff? I think I have come the the conclusion that since she is a good, sweet and caring child, she may just care too much. You know how that is? When someone is having problems and you try to help them and they drag you right into their mess? That's what has been going on here and frankly I am tired of it. I hate that I even have to consider telling her to harden her heart and not try to be everyone's friend when obviously, they make it hard to be their friend. Isn't that sad?

Why does she have to harden her heart?

Oh yeah, and it's sleeting outside. I want snow!

All About Okgirl

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6. If you kiss Ok Girl for one minute you will burn six or seven calories.
7. In the kingdom of Bhutan, all citizens officially become Ok Girl on New Year's Day.
8. A lump of Ok Girl the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court.
9. If Ok Girl was life size, she would stand 7 ft 2 inches tall and have a neck twice the size of a human.
10. In Chinese, the sound 'Ok Girl' means 'bite the wax tadpole'!

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

Twenty One

That is the age of my oldest now. He turned 21 on Monday, the same day he was flying home. He wanted to try out his new age and ordered a double Jack and coke at the airport. He was disappointed. It cost him eleven bucks. I told him bad influences are usually expensive. Oh well, live and learn. So far we have had a great time while he has been home. We have been hanging out every day - well, the days he is not hanging out with girls. I miss that kid so much. Although, now that he is 21, I guess he is not much of a kid anymore.

He still looks like a baby.

Happy Birthday Sailor!

I ain't sayin she's a Gold Digger

I. cannot. get. that. song. out. of. my. head. You would think by now it would have been replaced by something with more class, but no.

Nothing much going on lately we continue to have freakishly warm weather. I just want a little snow is that too much to ask? Obviously it is. Work is going good. It's been very busy for some reason, not sure why. This should be our slow time since a new semester already started, but I guess people have nothing else better to do than to look for a job at a University or something. Tomorrow is my day off - hurray! Hubby and I have planned a big day since he is taking off too. First on our agenda will be to figure out why the friggin dryer went out last night. It turns on, it flips the clothes around playfully and mockingly, but it doesn't dry a dang thing. *sigh* After that we plan to take a trip to the orthodontist and look at the mold of my sweet daughter's teeth and sit patiently while we are told what needs to be done and how much we should mortgage the house for to pay for the whole thing. *more sighing* I know things get better. Don't they? On a happier note. My younger son finally landed himself a job. It's not one he will keep forever, but since he is a student, he really only needs part-time. This place will work around his school schedule and he will have a little extra pocket money, so this is good. Also good is my oldest son will be here next Tuesday morning for a whole week. Can't wait.

Did I work out today?

NO!

Stuff, Grrr's, etc.

It's been a little while since I posted so I guess I will get you guys up to speed as to what has been going on lately (ummm the 3 of you that read this). I sent a resume for what would have probably been an awesome job. I emailed my resume Wednesday morning at around 9:30 and by 11:00 I got a phone call for an interview. After much soul searching, I canceled the interview. A friend of mine told me about this position that was open at a very respectable place. It paid much more money than I make now, however, the hours would be not so good (family wise). It was so tempting but it would have required that I move my whole life around (as well as everyone in the household). My daughter would have become one of those kids that is always waiting for someone to pick her up, and I just could not do that to her. My husband already works 50 hours a week, and this would have meant that two of us would have been doing it. Maybe when she starts driving herself, I don't know, I just still feel at the age of 13 that she still needs much guidance. I know I am doing the right thing. Besides, I am very happy at my university job, so why mess with a good thing?

We have been painting some around the house and trying to get some stuff organized around here. It is amazing how much clutter can build up over time. I have been digging through papers and trying to get all of our tax stuff put together so that we can do it quickly and maybe this year, not have to PAY! Grrr on that one.

Speaking of Grrrr's, here is my list of things that make me go Grrrrr:

Mean people (Grrrr)
People that drive either slow in the left lane or the same speed as people in the right lane (Grrrrr)
People that sit right in front of me at the movie theater when all the rest of the seats are empty (Grrrr)
Young girls that dress and act like sluts (Grrrrrr - where are their parents?)
Having spring/summer like weather in January when I really want snow! (Grrrrr)
Standing in line forever at the grocery store in a lane where there are no magazines to look at (Grrrrrr)
Kids that do not tell you thank you for your generosity (Grrrrrr - again, where are the parents?)
Redneck boys that follow your daughter and her friends around at the mall and whistle and say things to make them feel uncomfortable (Grrrrr)
Desperate Housewives being a rerun when you are all ready for some new trash (Grrrrr)
Knowing that your week is practically full before it gets started (Grrrrr)

What are your Grrrrr's?

Oh yeah, new secrets here!

Go Me - Part II

I know, not very original, but it's been a long day. This morning after I got kids off to school I drove over to the BMW place to get an iPod adapter installed in my car. Let me just say that after sitting there for 3 hours waiting patiently - it is freaking awesome! I took my daughter's iPod with me so I could try it out as soon as it was in. When they first brought it out, I couldn't figure out how to get it to work. You are suppose to be able to control your iPod with the controls in your steering wheel but since I am no rocket scientist, I just could not figure it out. It took 3 guys to figure it out - evidently they are not rocket scientist either. When they plugged it in and finally figured out how to get it working, I prayed that the first song was not something like "My Humps" or "Gold Digger". Now that would have been embarassing. Instead, my sweet little girl had loaded up "Back in Black" by AC/DC as the first song which was a great relief. The guys thought she must be a really cool kid. Ha! After that I met a good friend of mine for lunch and then ran some errands. My daughter was hanging out with some friends after school so I decided to hit the gym again. Wow...twice in one week. Also, I actually went walking for 30 minutes on Sunday so I am quite proud of myself for doing 3 physical activities in one week. Go Me! Today at the gym I did 30 minutes on the elliptical without having a heart attace and then proceeded on to weights. I worked out for a good solid 58 minutes. I keep visioning myself in shorts and bathing suits which is a great motivator. If I had to wear a bathing suit right now, it would be totally disgusting. Believe me. I didn't do the New Years Resolution this year because I never keep them. I am just going to do whatever, whenever and see what happens. Sometimes it's better to not set goals you may never reach.

Now, let's see if I can keep it up. (I said keep it up *snicker*)

Go Me and Stuff

Hey ya'll. Tonight I totally went to the gym for the first time in like forever. I have one year left on my membership, and I guess I better use it huh? You know something tells ya it may not be such a hot night at the gym when you pull up and you see paramedics running into the gym. I went and got on the only open elliptical machine and watched the action. Evidently, someone's seat fell off their spin bike in the middle of a spin class and she fell off and broke her arm. That would just totally suck. You go to the gym to get in shape, and you come out in worse shape. That would just make for a crappy night. I hope that lady is okay. Anyways, it made me hold on much tighter to the elliptical machine I was on - I didn't want to break anything. I am proud of myself because I actually did 20 minutes straight without gasping for breath or getting bored and stopping. I followed up by doing some weight machines but I really didn't strain myself because I really do not want to spend my day off tomorrow sore and grumpy. I am hoping I can fit in 2 or 3 days a week, but I am not going to set some lofty goal(s) that I will be sure to break later. So, let's just see how this goes. I do feel pretty good after that little workout though. Maybe that's what I need.

Oh, and it seems I got myself into the middle of some drama. A girl I use to work with is having trouble with her man. She has been calling frequently lately, and now I think things have gone really bad with them. She asked me for some advice yesturday and I pretty much told her if I were her, I would run and not every look back. I am a true believer in you should not let anyone treat you like total crap. Somehow I think he found out it was me that told her that, and well...drama. I hate drama. It's bad enough when you listen to your teenage daughter's tales of drama and woe and you thank the heavens above that you do not have any then lo and behold, you are innocently thrown into the middle of some yourself. *sigh* Here I am thinking I am being a good friend and what do I get? Ya know? Is it worth it to help people anymore?

Hey, the 80's called

Okay, here with go with a funny daughter story again. I wish I had funny stories about my boys, but, I guess they are sort of boring. Oh wait, I have a good one about my son in a minute. Okay, well anyways, my daughter went shopping with one of her friends yesturday and she came home going on and on about this outfit she wants at Hollister. You see, my daughter has just recently become a fashion diva and she is vvery excited about it (much to my husbands dismay). She is the kind that you admire, the one that wants to and can pull off any look. She is 5'6" tall and weighs 97 pounds and carries herself proudly. Her look I would say is pretty rock and roll. She wears mainly studded belts, buckle on the side, with slighly rippy jeans (I won't let her go all the way with destroyed), and Chuck Taylors (I think we are up to 7 colors now). Occasionally she will don a polo with a pair of Wallabees and do the prep thing, but she is fortunate that she is the type that she can do what she wants and actually look good doing it and so far no one has said a thing about it. Now for the funny part. She went to Hollister yesturday and she is after a (GASP inserted here) a denim mini skirt that she can wear (another GASP) leggings under. Didn't we do this in the 80's? Is this look coming back or is she just going to set the trend? Oh. My. Gosh. What has happened to my child? She was telling me how she could wear this ensemble with layered tank tops and flip flops or with a funky t-shirt with a big belt slighly draped over the top. I was waiting for her to say she would also pair it with cute lacy bobby socks and pumps and tease her hair real big. Remember that? Oh well, I guess I better not give her any ideas.

Okay, now for the funny son story. This weekend some of his friends rented a cabin in the hills of Tennessee. This cabin is about 3 hours away from here. Most of the kids got there on Friday, but him and his smarter friend decided they were not going to leave until Sunday afternoon. By the time they got there, the kids that had been there (I am sure partying hard waaaaaay before my son and his friend gets there), decide they are going to bed because they are exausted. He was home by the next day. Now the funny part of this story is when I heard what time they were leaving, I asked him why bother because they wouldn't have time to do anything. This comment was met with rolling eyes and assurances that things would just be getting started. Ha!

I win....again.

Yawn and stuff

This was so me today:

Ahhhhhh

Wow, finally a nice quiet night at home. No where to go, no one to haul around. Nice for a change. This is the night where I catch up on life. Where to start? Well, just went back to work after having a 2 1/2 week break, and I have a holiday tomorrow. The days I have been there it's been pretty busy and crazy. Over the Christmas break, Talulah (daughter) got herself a new boyfriend. I still wish she would wait until high school for the boyfriend thing, but if she is going to do it, at least this time it seems she got a nice one. He is very shy, quite and cute. He does not seem like the smooth, player type that is just out for one thing. Fortunate for us, she does not want a boy like that either. She wants a sweet boy that likes her for her and isn't trying to put the moves on everyone in sight and isn't all full of himself. She has been there, done that and has had enough of it already. Good for her I say. The times that we have been around the new boy (hockey game, movie, etc.) he seems a little overwhelmed by her and her noisy friends, but has a big smile on his face the whole time. He seems to enjoy it. They have the same lunch and sit together along with her friends who are trying to pull him out of his shell. I wonder if they will be successful?

This is a stressful time for parents of teenage girls (and boys). I didn't worry about my boys as much as I do my girl. I guess I know there is more at stake here since I remember how it was when I was a teenage girl (girls getting pregnant while in school, etc). Although I worry about my daughter, I know she is a strong girl and that she will be the best she can be. She is adamant about how she wants her life to be, college, career and maybe marriage later on. I guess I need to let go a little more, but it's so hard. I do not want her making the same mistakes I made. It is so different today than when I was a teenage girl. There are so many more harmful things than there were back then. Diseases you can get now will actually kill you. I remember our biggest fear back in my day was VD - now we have AIDS. Also, kids seem much colder and meaner now. It's almost like they have lost their conscience or something. I don't want her to be like that and I don't want her around kids like that either. I know I can't protect her from everything, but I can be here for her when she needs me and guide her in the right direction. It worked with my two boys and it can work for her too. If we can get through middle school, the high school years are somewhat better. If we can get through the boy thing, that will be good too.

On a much lighter note, the weather here has been freakishly warm. As bad as I want some snow, looks like we will never get it. We bought this really cool sled about 4 years ago and we have not gotten to use it once. It sucks since we have some really awesome hills around here that are perfect for sledding. Maybe one day....

Well, I am going to go read some blogs that I have been missing lately.

Ciao!

Today

Today...what can I say about today? Today was very cold and very busy. Today must have been the day for freaks because I had my share of them. Ever go to the health department (God forbid), tag office or any city or state facility where there is supposed to be customer service? Do you ever wonder why the people that work there seem cold and uncaring? If you would have came to my office today, you would have understood why. Dumb people make you that way.

Nuff said.

Thursday's Child

Wow...can't believe January is moving along so fast. My sailor son will get to come home for his birthday next month, so I will be arranging his plane ticket today. I am happy he will be home because not only will it be his 21st birthday, it will also be my husband's birthday so we can celebrate like a family should, together. Other than that, not much going on. Yesturday was my first day back at work and with more than 2 weeks off, it was really hard to go back. To make matters worse, it was very busy. I was not very motivated I am afraid. A new semester starts next week and of course all the new professors and student assistants are coming in to get their paperwork done so they can get paid. I can't believe they actually want to get paid! Meanwhile, back at home, we have started taking Christmas decorations down. It't time. It's actually past time, but hubby has this thing about leaving stuff up until the Ephiphany. Actually it's not too bad because you don't have to start rushing the decorations down that took you forever to put up, but it's a little embarrasing to be the last ones with all your Christmas stuff up in the neighborhood. Then again, I live in the south and most real rednecks just leave their Christmas lights up all year. I guess I need to stop feeling so anal about everything.

Oh well, I have errands to run and kids to take to a movie.

Have a great day!

Happy New Year

See how I started off the new year? I started it off by totally screwing up my blog. Wonderful. I gotta put all my cute stuff back on here, I just needed a change. Since I am html challenged, it's taking me some time to get stuff done. Besides, along with the holidays, entertaining teenagers, and trying to get/keep my house in order, believe me....this thing is taking a back seat.

Anyways, hope you all had a wonderful holiday and when I get this puppy fixed (if you want to help or have any useful input) come back and stay awhile.

*muah!*